Lagos — Six months after launching commercial operations, Visafone has hit the one-million subscriber mark.

This is believed to be unprecedented in the annals of Nigeria's very vibrant and competitive telecommunications industry.

The company, which rolled out operations on February 22, 2008, was recently named 'Telecoms Brand of the Year' at the Nigeria Telecoms Awards.

Visafone began the journey to its milestone in May 2007 with its aggressive acquisition of three telecoms companies: Cellcom, ITN and Bourdex networks.

The company made history as the Nigerian telecoms company with the fastest roll-out as it commenced operations in just six months.

Visafone launched commercial operations in 12 states and over 40 cities across the six geo-political zones from day one - a feat in the industry.

The coverage area has grown to 17 states, over 150 towns and slightly over one million subscribers, in what telecoms analysts attribute to the company's aggressive and exponential growth.

The company offers an array of value-added services, which create "convenience and the joy of communication" to its subscribers.

Products such Visa Tones, Visa Mobile Office, Mobile Chart Service, Web Pay Services, Credit transfer, branded Share your Visa, RC Data Pay, Prepaid Internet are available on the Visafone network.

The company's strategy of making telephony very affordable to all Nigerians through its low-priced handsets and affordable tariff regime for both local and international calls has paid off, in the opinion of industry experts. Visafone provides the lowest on-net tariff of 10 kobo per second and the lowest on net SMS of N5 per SMS.

Visafone says its belief in the empowerment of Nigerians is demonstrated by the creation of a package for the Commercial Telephone Operators which ensures maximum profitability and independence.

Visafone was founded by Jim Ovia, Managing Director, Zenith Bank Plc, who has been at the vanguard of ICT development in the country.

He currently serves as Chairman, Nigeria Information Technology Advisory Council (NTAC). The founder's penchant for ICT has eventually blossomed with the success story of Visafone. He was one of the first Nigerians to introduce internet into the country in 1996 through the licensing of Cyberspace Limited, an Internet Service Provider (ISP).

Visafone says it remains committed to its promise of providing 5,000 jobs to Nigerians in the next five years - which it says will contribute immensely to the socio-economic growth and the alleviation of poverty in Nigeria.

In March 2008, a consortium of banks provided a syndicated loan of $250 million to Visafone. Visafone, a 3G Rev A network, is said to be utilising the funds in aggressive national rollout of its services and building backbone. This is expected to reinforce quality of service, speedy rollout and excellent voice and data to many Nigerians who are already very pleased with the network.

When Visafone launched commercial operations in February 2008, Ninan Thomas, the MD/CEO of Visafone, had promised to redefine the business of talk and communication.

"We will offer the best in terms of Quality of Service: voice clarity, seamless connectivity, wide coverage, 3G high speed data (EVDO) and a host of fantastic value added services," he said then.