A fortnight ago, Globacom celebrated “the king’s rites of renewal and our cultural heritage” through the instrumentality of epochal Ofala Festival 2017. It was a week-long fiesta of events that hallmarked an art exhibition, a youth carnival, the epic show, cocktail party Eze Onicha, Azu Ofala and a crowning and thrilling musical concert last Sunday.
Talking of Corporate Social Responsibility (CSR), Glo sponsors the CAF African Player of the Year Award, Nigerian Premier League, Nigerian National Football Teams, Nigerian Football Federation, Glo International Half- Marathon, Ofala, Eyo, Ojude Oba and Eleghe festivals.
Not too long ago, Nigeria’s telecommunication firmament was in a parlous state. Tele-density was almost non-existent, with the telephone largely concentrated in the hands of the few rich in the cities. Yet, communication is the most basic of all human attributes. It is the vehicle of information and knowledge. Communication brings light; it is indeed power. A man who facilitates easy communication among people empowers them. He puts within their reach limitless opportunities and possibilities. Gleaned holistically, he encapsulates their desires; their dreams and, indeed, their collective destiny.
Globacom’s entry into the communication equation of Nigeria in August 2003 was a turning point. With Tele-density at an abysmal one to over 400,000 ratio, Globacom moved to avail the long-suffering masses with an unprecedented acquisition drive, unknown and uncommon in this clime.
Floating on popular products and services, Glo’s additional two million subscribers last year makes the network easily the fastest-growing telecoms network in Africa and the Middle East.
This attribute, informed largely by the company’s ambitious roll-out character and frenetic deployment of base stations and cell sites around Nigeria is an eloquent testimony to its leadership credentials. Globacom’s trenchant call for empowerment and ‘good life’ for Nigerians finds fulfilment in its massive coverage of the entire country.
Following this defined strategic path, Globacom has sustained the coverage thrust with unalloyed commitment, rolling out in rural communities, towns and cities. There were instances Globacom rolled out in over 50 locations at once such that today virtually all nooks and crannies of Nigeria enjoy the life-changing benefits of the company. From the savannah in the north, down to the rain forest of the south, across valleys, hills, plains, creeks and wetland, Glo has remained a veritable source of life; spreading everywhere, empowering people, adding value to people’s lives. Globacom, more than any other network, has catalysed socio-economic activities in rustic communities through multifarious empowerment platforms. This is buttressed by its popularity and overwhelming ubiquity nationwide.
Glo has not only covered all the 36 states of the federation, but also over 100,000 towns, cities and communities. It has also covered most expressways and major roads in the country such that travellers stay connected on the move.
Among the numerous strategies of penetration, Globacom collaborated with state governments to launch rural telephony projects. For instance, the deal with the Rivers State government in 2006 led to the building of Base Transceiver Status, BTS, in remote and riverine areas of the state for ease of communication between the communities and the larger world.
Other efforts on the coverage thrust include the partnership with the Niger Delta Development Commission (NDDC), Shell Petroleum Development Corporation, (SPDC) and local government councils to effectively connect the people in the rural areas and communities, regardless of its unprofitability. Launching the schemes in 2007, the company averred that it may not necessarily recoup its investments in many of the areas. Glo donates call centre facilities to the communities so that the people, whether they can afford a telephone or not, have access to communication.
Globacom has also launched its N83 billion nationwide Optic Fibre Cable to improve service quality and extend its coverage to more places in its leadership drive. The Optic Fibre medium not only deepens Globacom’s transmission capacity but also enables it to offer much faster and superior services. This project therefore enables Globacom to accommodate several more millions of subscribers on its network.
Given the determined pursuit of infrastructural deployment around Nigeria, Globacom’s leadership credentials are given added fillip, especially considering the quality and scope. As the leading light in the industry, the challenge of remaining at the vanguard of innovation and convenience is, perhaps, the elixir the home-grown network needs for the sustenance of its leadership position.
The pre-eminent extrication that will eternally remain in Nigerians’ consciousness is the indelible demystification of the exploitative, aristocratic and elitist togas that shrouded telephony in this part of the world under the midwifery of South Africa’s major profiteering outpost in Nigeria, MTN, before Dr. Mike Adenuga, Jnr. (GCON) gloriously intervened in a manner that typifies a revolution via the historic per second billing platform.
This multi-national carrier delivers a quintessential bouquet of pre-paid options, roaming, fixed line network, IP wholesale and IP transit, international private leased circuit, global origination and termination, and value-added services to its exponential clientele. The wireless company also provides Blackberry business solutions; bandwidth services, which compose of leased circuits over OFC, Microwave, and VSAT to various destinations; leased line solution for enterprises; data services, which comprise a range of connectivity and applications, such as international SMS, GPRS, and consulting services for businesses. Additionally, it operates a chain of retail and service outlets, serves carriers, GSM, CDMA, Wimax operators, Internet service providers, corporate customers, content providers, and application service providers. It also has a point of presence and an international traffic hub in London.
In the past years, apart from 2003 when this unique and unrivalled brand was launched, 2008 was another critical year as it was the period it took a monumental step towards realizing its vision of being the biggest and best telecommunications company in Africa when it embarked on the Glo 1 multi-billion naira catalytic submarine cable project. As the indisputable market leading mobile service provider in Nigeria, it is concomitantly one of the fastest-growing communications promoters in the world—a flourishing network reputation that is acclaimed by the Nigerian Communications Commission (NCC) in its evaluative interventions.
Sometime in 2010, it rewrote history, for the second time round, when it became the first to build an international submarine cable that cost $800 million with its own exclusive resources, thus making it the first successful submarine cable from the United Kingdom to Nigeria and equally the first individual African company to embark on such a gargantuan project. According to Dr. Adenuga, the ultra-capacity cable connects Africa to Europe and America. By virtue of this, Globacom has taken a huge step to make the magical possibilities of broadband accessible to Africa. The implication of this is that the facility will bring unprecedented prosperity to this continent. Already, there are confirmatory responses from even the global community amid a superfluity of regional and domestic testimonies. Glo in 2009 acquired submarine cable-landing rights and international gateway services in Cote d’ Ivoire. These add to existing units: Glo Mobile, Glo Gateway, Broad Access and Glo 1 Submarine Cable.
The triumphal entry of Globacom into the Nigerian telecoms space on August 29, 2003, was passionately received with an overflow of nationalistic emotions because that was the preface to indigenization in that sector in the country’s evolutionary profile. At the outset, not many people believed in the growth and sustainability of this telephonic initiative.
I take off my celebratory hat to Dr. Adenuga, Jnr. for this brand architectural plenipotentiary as our Globacom family continues to rule the telecoms space in Africa—and shortly the world! Overall, may there be continual sponsorship of Ofala Festival and others.
