Celtel Nigeria Limited has undergone another name change. It is now to be known as Zain Nigeria Limited.
This re-branding is expected to take effect in 14 countries across Africa. These include Burkina Faso, Chad, the Republic of Congo, the Democratic Republic of Congo, Gabon, Kenya, Madagascar, Malawi, Niger, Nigeria, Sierra Leone, Tanzania, Uganda and Zambia.
Speaking at the official re-branding ceremony in Lagos on Friday, the Chief Executive Officer, Zain Nigeria Limited, Mr. Adebayo Ligali, said the move was prompted by the company‘s drive to become a global player in the provision of telecommunications services.
According to him, the initial Celtel brand, presented the company as a continental player. He said the tune has changed as the company was seeing beyond the African continent, with a global perspective.
Zain Group, the leading telecommunications mobile operator servicing over 50 million customers in 22 countries across the Middle East and Africa, said the re-branding of its entire African operations from Celtel to Zain coincided with the linking of the world‘s first borderless mobile service ‘cne network‘ across two continents.
According to the Chief Executive Officer, Zain Group, Dr. Saad Al Barrak, ”By rebranding to Zain, we are bringing together our African and Middle East operations under a single, strong and unique identity. We believe the Zain brand provides an optimal platform upon which we can build a top 100 global brand with the ultimate goal of better serving our customers.
”It builds upon the success of our African operations and will propel the Zain Group towards becoming one of the top ten global mobile telecommunications companies by 2011.”
To mark the inauguration of its new identity across Africa, Zain also announced the creation of the world‘s first cross-continental borderless network, extending and linking its ‘One Network‘ service between Africa and the Middle East.
According to the company, “the service will be available to 500 million people stretching from the west coast of Africa to the Middle East, covering an area larger than the United States of America, which allows Zain customers affordable cross-border communications, helping friends and families stay connected.”
