Efem Nkanga
18 December 2007
Lagos — Glo has put through the first official call on its network in Benin Republic. A statement made available to THISDAY disclosed that the call was last Saturday made by that country's Executive Secretary of the Council for the Regulation of Post and Telecommunication, Mr. Iluogbade.
Mr Jason Wu Ja a representative of one of the telecommunications vendors installing the Glo network in Benin Republic, had placed a call to Mr. Iluogbade's handset at exactly11.58 am on Saturday while the regulatory boss returned the call at 12.01 pm.
Speaking in French and Yoruba to Mr Jason on phone, Mr. Illougbade, who was at the Glo switch building in Cotonou to assess the status of Globacom's network deployment, said, "Hello, bonjour."
He described the audio as very clear. He expressed satisfaction with the progress of work made so far by Glo in its elaborate effort to rollout its network simultaneously in all parts of Benin Republic.
Mr Illuogbade was received by Globacom's Chief Technical Officer, Colonel Herbert Lester who said, "Sir, we are honoured to have you make the first call on Glomobile Beninnetwork. This for us in Globacom is an exciting and memorable event'.
Colonel Leister said Globacom is fully on course, adding that the commercial rollout will soon follow the successful test call.
Globacom won the GSM licence in Benin Republic ealier in the year in a highly competitive bid. The Beninoise government said Globacom was preferred ahead of the other bidders because of its technical superiority and ability to deliver.
The granting of GSM licence to Globacom by the Beninoise government is seen as a boost towards actualizing the vision of the network to be the biggest and the best in Africa. Simultaneously, Globacom is also prospecting telecommunication licence in Ghana, Togoand Cote D'Ivoire.
Globacom, which started operations only in 2003, is currently the fastest growing network in the Middle East and Africa (MEA) region, with a subscriber base of almost 15 million. It achieved a record one million subscribers in nine months of operation. Its coverage extends to over 40,000 towns, communities and villages in Nigeria.
Although Globacom launched services two years after the commencement of GSM services in Nigeria, it has been at the forefront of revolutionary changes in Nigeria's telecom industry, the latest being the 3G plus it pioneered. It also pioneered the Per Second Billing (PSB) system at launch in 2003 when other operators said it was not possible to offer the payment option until 2008. It also led the crashing of SIM cost to industry average of N200 and call tariffs to as low as N10 per minute, thus making it possible for millions of Nigerians to own a GSM line.
Globacom has pioneered a host of other value added services in Nigeria including Multimedia Messaging Services, mobile internet, voice SMS, GPRS roaming and the revolutionary Blackberry.
Its gateway subsidiary, Glo Gateway is already a major player in international telecommunications services, while the fixed line network, Broadband Access is set to launch services in the next couple of weeks.
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