IT NEWS NIGERIA
*To launch National Roaming next month
IT NEWS NIGERIA:
Nigerian Telecoms Company, ntel, has announced that it is set to introduce physical recharge cards vouchers soon to enable its increasing customers credit their mobile line with ease and nationwide roaming plan.
Managing Director/Chief Executive Officer of ntel, Mr. Ernest Akinlola revealed this at the March edition of Nigeria Information Technology Reporters’ Association (NITRA) monthly interactive programme with ICT companies’ CEOs tagged ‘Breakfast With The CEO’ in Lagos weekend.
Up till now, ntel users credit their accounts via qick teller or other bank related transaction and dependent on availability of Internet.
According to the CEO, the much awaited recharge card voucher will come in N500 denomination and above. The Voucher could be used to buy credit for voice calls or data for internet.
He also added that ntel is working to ensure that lower recharge denominations are available, adding, “we are expect resellers to key into our retail plans later and buy bulk in order to sell in lower denominations to our mobile users.”
In answering questions, Mr Akinlola said also revealed that ntel nationwide roaming will soon be launched in April.
He explained that the ongoing discussions with 9mobile for partnership for national roaming is at advanced stage.
“ntel is preparing to roll out National Roaming services (2G and 3G) with two foremost operators, 9mobile Nigeria and MTN Nigeria. Service is expected to go live in Q2 2018.”
“We are still waiting for Nigerian Communications Commission approval and you will be able to use ntel services even in your village”
He added that ntel hopes to expand to all parts of the country, adding that the company could achieve that by taking advantage of existing infrastructure by keying into it through shared services.
“we have plans to be in 10 to 20 states in the next 18 months.”
ntel currently operate in 3 states: Lagos, Abuja, and Port Harcourt.
With ntel’s current coverage, projected to an estimated 10.6m people across three major cities, ntel is positioned already to capture a sizeable number of current 3G and 4G users, the company said.
“ntel is growing at more than twice the speed it grew in 2017: 167% compounded average growth in customer numbers between October 2017 and February 2018. We have recorded 50% overall growth between October 2017 and February 2018.”
ntel, he said has strong shareholder support to bridge immediate funding gaps and external Party investment, adding, this will further boost ntel’s efforts to bring affordable and abundant broadband to all Nigerians.
The Nigeria Information Technology Reporters’ Association (NITRA) under the supervision of Nigeria Union of Journalists (NUJ), on Friday March 9, 2018, play host to the Managing Director/Chief Executive Officer of ntel, Mr. Ernest Akinlola, in the March edition of her monthly interactive programme with ICT companies’ CEOs tagged ‘Breakfast With The CEO.’
