11 August 2008
OBA of Lagos, HRM Rilwan Akiolu 1, was at the head of a star cast of over seven royal fathers who lent their weight in support as Celtel rebranded to Zain Nigeria alongside 13 other countries in Africa on 1 August 2008.
The Royal Fathers brought a touch of tradition to bear on the glamorous launch as Zain announced a world's first in telephony with its One Network that links all Zain operations in 22 countries in Africa and the Middle East.
Present at the VIP Night for the launch were His Royal Highness, Emir of Bama, Alhaji Umar El_Kanemi; Royal Majesty, (HRM) the Olu of Odogbolu, Oba Adedeji Olusegun Onagoruwa; HRM, the Owage of Oge, Okeagbe, Oba Alex Jimoh; HRM, the Deji of Akureland, Oba Adegboju Adeshida, His Royal Highness, Emir oF Dass, Alhaji (Dr.) Bilyaminu Othman, and His Highness, the Turakin Dutse, Alhaji Jamilu Sanusi.
The royal fathers witnessed via satellite transmission the simultaneous brand identity change from Celtel to Zain across 14 African countries. The countries are Burkina Faso, Chad, Democratic Republic of the Congo, Republic of the Congo, Gabon, Kenya, Madagascar, Malawi, Niger, Sierra Leone, Tanazania, Uganda, Zambia.
Zain Nigeria Chief Executive Mr. Bayo Ligali told the eminent guests at the event that Zain decided to unify its operation under one strong, dynamic and easily recognizable brand name to position the company as a global player in the telecommunications industry.
He added that the change of name would not affect the board and management of the company. Rather it is merely a change of identity, which essentially affected the company's brand communication-look and feel.
Zain Nigeria, Ligali stated, would leverage on the power of an international organization with operations in 22 countries and over 50 million subscribers. Zain Nigeria is a part of the unified Zain operation in Africa and the Middle East.
Waxing historical, the Zain Nigeria CEO enthused that in the past two years, the Nigerian company has experienced tremendous growth on account of its membership of the Group, growing from just over five and half million subscribers in 2006 to 15 million at the end of June 2008.
The Zain Group, he revealed, has invested over $2billion on network improvement over the past two years in addition to the $1.05billion it paid for the 65 per cent equity in the Nigerian business.
"In terms of Foreign Direct Investment (FDI), this is quite significant and goes a long way to support the Federal Government's quest for increased foreign investment in the Nigerian economy", Ligali stated.
He stated that "another $1billion is being invested this year in network roll-out including coverage expansion, capacity enhancement and quality improvement, the impact of which is already being felt in the rapidly improving quality of service of our network".
According to Ligali, Zain's ambition of becoming one of the top 10 players in the global telecommunications industry in 2001 is driven by the ACE (Accelerate, Consolidate & Expand) Strategy, which locally translates to Zain Nigeria becoming No. 1 in the next three years.
Zain is now the 4th largest global operator by geographical presence and the number one operator in 14 of its 22 markets. Zain is a fast growing mobile operator in the Middle East and Africa with over 50 million customers in 22 countries, up from 27 million in 2006.
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