Prince Osuagwu
8 September 2008
It came like lightening, at a time when industry watchers were advising the PTOs to merge operations in order to remain relevant in a telecom market where the GSM operator had taken up all the shines.
But for two or three operators, the CDMA market was almost going into extinction in Nigeria because of inadequate fund for operators to carry on the huge cash required for telecom services. And in Nigeria where subscription surges daily, it still requires focused businessmen to catch the phrase that Nigeria is a virgin market. With the population, all it takes an operator is to define a business model, back it up with substantial funding, a good measure of corporate social responsibility, and sit back to see why irrespective of bad national image ocassioned by negatve media campaign of the western world, advanced fee fraudsters and bad leadership, Nigeria remains the beautiful bride to world business suitors.
Perhaps, that is what Jim Ovia, one of Nigeria' astute bankers, who pioneers the company, did with Visafone. On February 22, 2008, the company debuted into the market after acquiring ailing Private Telecom Operator, Cellcom, announced that it had the passport to reach the world and promised to give it out to Nigerians without putting holes in their pocket.
Last week, the company announced that it has hit the one million subscriber mark. That is just after only six months of operation in the market.
Announcing the development in Lagos, the company's Head Corporate Communications, Mr Toni Kan Onwordi, said that the company since inception, has a date with breaking records and creating new ones.
According to him, "our crossing the 1 million subscriber threshold notched up an unprecedented record in the annals of Nigeria's very vibrant and exciting telecoms industry, but this is not our first time of creating records. The journey to this milestone achievement began on August 1, 2007 when the Nigerian Communications Commission issued Visafone its Unified Access Licence. The company made quick history, breaking industry records as the Nigerian telecom company with the fastest roll-out as it commenced operations in just 6 months after it received its Unified Access Licence from the (NCC).
"Yet, Visafone would record another first when it launched commercial operations in 12 states and over 40 cities across the 6 geo-political zones from day one. The coverage area has grown in the space of 6 months to 17 states, over 150 cities and 1 million subscribers underlining the company's aggressive and exponential growth. We were named Best Telecom Brand of the Year at the recent held Nigeria Telecom wards in Lagos.
"However, we remain committed to spreading the joy of communication across the 36 states of Nigeria in the shortest possible time and would always hold the Nigerian public, members of the press, Visafone Strategic Partners, our bankers and all other stakeholders who contributed in one way or the other to our successful launch and growth, at high esteem," he added.
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