Lagos — When in August 6, 2001, Celtel (then Econet) launched the first GSM service in Nigeria following the deregulation of the telecommunication industry, little did any one know about the tremendous transformation telecommunication would usher into the Nigerian economy as a whole and individual lives in general. Every aspect of the Nigerian economy felt the multiplier effect.

There came a time for expansion, and a time to spread its reach into various communities in the country. It was an era marked with several intrigues that almost marred the corporate existence of the company.

Celtel in its early years as (Econet) realized that telecommunication's business is about the people and consciously worked towards ensuring that every step it took in moving the business forward had an underlining rationale; quality service delivery to the people despite the difficulties it experienced in its early years.

And as a result, for four consecutive years the company has won best customer care company by different industry analysts.

When Celtel International, a member of the MTC Group expressed a strong interest in (Vmobile) now Celtel Nigeria, which was immediately followed by an official announcement of acquisition of 65% stake of the then Vmobile worth $1.1b, it became crystal clear that a new lease of life would be experienced by the company's various stakeholders.

At various quarters, the officials of the company have appraised the value and the quality of what they met in Celtel and as a result have expressed very high optimism about the future of the company in Nigeria.

Nigeria is the 15th country where Celtel operates and currently its biggest market.

To reinforce the company's confidence in Nigeria, during a two-day visit to Nigeria by the MTC's Group Vice Chairman and CEO, Dr. Sa'ad Al Barrak, he paid a courtesy call to the President, Chief Olusegun Obasanjo GCFR and the Hon. Minister of Communication, Dr. Obafemi Anibaba.

The meeting was an opportunity for Dr. Sa'ad Al Barrak to present some of the plans the parent company MTC Group has for Celtel Nigeria.

Full of admiration for the MTC Group, the President, commended the MTC Group, owners of Celtel International, for electing to invest heavily in the Nigerian telecommunications industry.

The President declared that telecommunications has easily become the most exciting business in Nigeria, adding that with the country's population and good investments from the likes of MTC, the country has the potential for 50 million lines in the next few years.

The President explained to the visiting team that the Nigerian economy is growing very fast at over 10%, and pledged the Federal Government's commitment to proving a conducive environment for business to thrive.

What more could the President have added having been convinced that Celtel is indeed here to stay especially as Dr. Al-Barrak had informed the President that the MTC would invest additional $1.4billion (N182bn) in the current financial year to take its investment in Nigeria to $2.5billion.

MTC Group has expressed willingness to contribute to the development of Africa through investments in digital mobile communications. MTC to date is operating in 20 countries around the world with 15 of them within the African continent.

MTC Group's subscriber base currently stands at 20 million with revenue of $4.2 million from 2006 financial year.

Heard of MTC Group's new vision and strategy codenamed three by three by three (3X3X3) which would culminate in Celtel becoming a major global operator. It is a strategy that will see to the transformation of Celtel in the next four years from a dominant African and Middle East operator to a major global player by 2011.

Mobile telecommunication is growing at very rapid rate. Prior to launching in 2001, several other African countries had begun to experience the wonder of mobile telephone. But Nigeria has to date over taken these other countries as a result of the size of the country in addition to the creative deployment of GSM services in the country. To buttress this point, a recent finding by; "The Pyramid Research findings indicate that Nigeria is home to one out of every 10 mobile lines in Africa today and this will grow to one out of every four by 2010."

It will indeed, pointing specifically at Celtel Nigeria that is embarking on regionalization, an initiative designed to get telephony into as many communities as possible.

The last census revealed that there are 140 million people in Nigeria. If further broken down into regions, the size of a collection of the population numbers from the states within a region would make a lot of economic sense to Celtel.

When the impact of the new investment as announced by Dr. Sa'ad Al Barrak begins to be felt, the subscribers more than any other stake holder would have every reason to understand the meaning of making life better.

-Uju ogboh is of the Quadrant Company.