Ntel takes off as telecoms industry attracts $32bn

The Nigerian Communications Commission, NCC, has said that about 32 billion dollars has been invested in the nation’s telecommunications industry from Foreign Direct Investment, FDI and local investors, just as Nigeria’s fifth telecoms operator, ntel, has announced the rolling out of its services.

According to the Executive Vice-Chairman NCC, Prof. Umar Danbatta, who spoke at a forum organised by the Association of Telecommunications Companies of Nigeria, ATCON, in Lagos, said before 2001, few people had access to telephone and the internet, adding that only about 500,000 lines were available for a population of 90 million people in Nigeria before the advent of Global System for Mobile Communications (GSM).

“However, the Digital Mobile License auction of 2001 changed the story. Since then, over $32 billion has been invested in telecommunications industry, both from Foreign Direct Investment (FDI) and local investors.

“With over 152 million active telephone lines and nearly 97 million connections to the internet, Nigeria now has 107 per cent teledensity.”

In a related development, ntel, at the weekend, announced the commencement of its phased and commercial operations in Lagos and Abuja.

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This was disclosed by the Chief Executive Officer of the company, Mr Kumar Abass, during a news briefing held in Lagos.

According to Abass, the operation will come with bumper offers for early bird pioneers and data users. He added that the earliest customers would be able to buy and use their services in clusters across Lagos and Abuja from sales outlets, and agents featuring their bright new brand name: ntel.

“The first 100,000 to redeem and activate their ntel SIMs will get free on-net calls for life, while data subscribers will get 3-months unlimited data usage.”

Abass further disclosed that ntel had established the Pioneers Club to reward early bird joiners to its network and those who had reserved their numbers, and who subsequently activated its SIM this month.

Speaking further, the ntel chief executive disclosed that the company’s 4G/LTE-Advanced technology built on the 900/1800 MHz spectrum would deliver unbeatable and game changing customer experience of high-speed internet access up to 230Mbps, adding that it would be the fastest available in Nigeria.

“We are passionate at ntel about the power of broadband to boost productivity, and thereby transform lives. “We expect to see this happen as ntel helps to accelerate the ongoing migration from existing 2G and 3G services to genuinely high-speed mobile broadband on 4G/LTE-advanced.’’

 

 

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