Abuja — To mark its first year anniversary, Etisalat Nigeria, a major communications network, has launched a product that will enable subscribers make calls on credit.

Chairman of the company, Hakeem Bello-Osagie, said this yesterday in Abuja when the firm paid a courtesy visit on Minister of Information and Communications, Prof. Dora Akunyili.

The product, "Elite world," will enable subscribers make calls even without units on phone, first of its kind in Nigeria.

Bello-Osagie assured of the firm's commitment to providing quality of service, adding that it will never sell more Subscribers Identification Module (SIM) cards than it can manage.

"We will do our best to improve our services in Nigeria; we will also never sell more SIM cards than we can maintain especially with smaller infrastructure; we are focus on polity in the sector, even the Nigerian Communications Commission (NCC) has ranked us first in quality of service," he said.

The Chief Executive Officer of Etisalat Worldwide, Mr. Steven Evans, said the new Etisalat product, ' is targetted at the rich.

"Apart from the pricing plan, we are also launching our Blackberry service; we have over 100 partners to boost our services so as to build a quality network and to reach the Nigerian populace," he said.

Commending Etisalat for its sincerity and courage to admit that its services are below standard, Prof. Akunyili assured of government's support for the company.

"The President is ready to support any business in this country that is genuine and for any business to succeed in Nigeria, then it can succeed in Sub-Saharan African," Akunyili said.

She, however, admonished other companies in the country to emulate Etisalat for its sincerity, honesty and courage in admitting that more SIM cards with smaller infrastructural facilities in the communications sector was not good.

"I want to specially thank you, not just for doing business in Nigeria, growing two million subscribers but also striving to give us the right quality of service which is in evidence by your ranking by NCC by being the first in four criteria out of the five that NCC uses in ranking operators; and even in the fifth criteria you came second," she said.

The minister said "the new product is important to use because we can use your line and pay later."