FOUR years into its operations in Nigeria, Emerging Markets Telecommunications firm, operating as, Etisalat in the country now has 15 million subscribers.
Etisalat said its subscriber base hits 15 million at the start of January 2013, which now makes it to control 15 per cent market share in the highly competitive Nigeria’s telecommunications market.
Presently, the Nigeria’s telecommunications sector can boast of having 109 million active mobile connections, with the GSM operators having 105.9 million subscribers, while the Code Division Multiple Access operators share 3.13 million and the fixed wireless operators, as at October 2012, had 454, 644 users.
Besides, the $400 million infrastructure upgrade by Etisalat, The Guardian learnt has started.
Confirming the increase in subscriber base, the Chief Executive Officer, Steven Evans said
“At the beginning of 2012, we were moving towards 11 million subscribers. Now, 12 months later we have four million active subscribers to our base, this is a phenomenal achievement”
Evans added: “We have shown an innate ability to turn challenges into opportunities. With this mindset and our focus on quality, innovation and the customer, we have been able to listen, attract, reward, retain and expand our customer base over the last 12 months. Our success now and in the future will continue to rely on executing on this strategy.
According to him, Etisalat plans to further upgrade and expand its network to improve on quality of service across Nigeria.
Evans has disclosed to The Guardian in South Africa in November 2012 that the telecommunications company will spend over $400 million on network expansion across the country.
The upgrade, according to him, would see the company investing more in both 2G and 3G networks in rural and urban centres respectively in 2013, adding that with about 3500 Base Transceiver Stations (BTS), across the country, it targeted 20 million active subscribers by the end of the year.
According to him, the company, which would be five years in Nigeria in 2013, had invested about $2.4 billion on its network, which comprised of $1.8 billion shareholders fund and $650 million facility secured from financial institutions in 2011.
Indeed, the 2013 spending by Etisalat would see it adding about 1000 telecommunications sites. Evans said to fast track this development; the company had signed an agreement with Alcatel-Lucent for the purpose of actualising the plan while providing the highest possible quality of service to its subscribers.
According to him, the deal is the sixth phase of the agreement between the two companies, a working relationship that dated back to 2008 when Etisalat Nigeria entered into an agreement with Alcatel Lucent for the provision of Establish Operate and Transfer Services and the establishment of a public mobile cellular service.
The agreement covers Etisalat network’s Region 2 which comprises Lagos, Ogun, Oyo, Osun, Kwara, Ondo, Ekiti, Edo, Kogi and Delta states.
Evans described the contract signing as a milestone towards the company’s drive to continually upgrade its network to provide better services to its customers around the country.