Glo: People-centric, ruling the world at 5

By Olayinka Olugbenga

All roads leading to Cotonou, the commercial nerve centre and capital of the Republic of Benin were agog with activities this day. The entire town wore the resplendent trademark Glo lemon colour with imposing signage, posters, buntings, danglers, A frames, parasols and other visibility stuffs dotting the landscape and announcing the entry of a brand fast gaining acclaim as one of the very best on the African continent.

It was the official launch of the Globacom network in the country. Beninoises who had eagerly awaited the coming of the brand were spruced in Glo-branded T-shirts and naturally gravitated to the arena of launch in their number. The stream of nationals who thronged the occasion included son of former President Nicephore Soglo, Galiou who is the current Minister of Sports and Development in the Boni Yayi government. By the end of the first week of launch, close to one million Subscriber Identification Modules (SIMs) had been bought while 200,000 of the lines had been activated.

The journey to the impressive launch had begun sometime in 2006 when Globacom, having entrenched itself into the Nigerian national life as the people-centric network started a voyage towards extending its world-class services to other parts of the continent of the black race.Globacom, by the way, is one network with a penchant for breaking new grounds and forerunning ‘impossible’ feats. This may actually be as a result of the streak of ingenuity which is signaled by its catch phrase, People, Power, Possibilities. Recall that the brand had warmed itself into the hearts of Nigerians in 2003 as one which liberated the people from the high-handedness of earlier entrants into the telecommunications market in Nigeria.

Added to this, the network while vigorously pursuing its expansion strategy, has earned the identity of the Nigerian innovator. This is because it boasts a wide variety of innovative packages and tariff plans designed to fulfill the needs of a broad spectrum of market segments in Nigeria.

Prominent among the innovations Glo Mobile has introduced are the Per Second Billing, Blackberry, Multimedia Messaging Service (MMS), Magic Plus, Glo Direct, Glo Mobile Internet, GloFleetmanager, M-banking and Glo Mobile Office.

While competition argued that Per Second Billing (PSB) was not possible until 2007 and that no network in the world has been able to launch with PSB, Globacom introduced the billing platform at launch. This caused a stir in the industry and is regarded as the most innovative landmark in the communications industry since the introduction of GSM services in Nigeria in 2001

Against the fact that it could replicate the Nigerian wonder in the country, the company had made a quest for and been granted licence to operate in Benin Republic and has since been competing favourably with others in the country’s telecommunications market. The network is all the more exciting in Benin Republic because the network offers subscribers in the country unencumbered Per Second Billing (PSB) which avails subscribers the opportunity to pay only for the seconds used during each call. This contrasts with the bundled PSB which was the standard in the Benin Republic telecommunications market under which a subscriber paid for 40seconds having been bundled to each 20seconds thus compelling him to pay for unutilized airtime whenever a call is rounded off to the nearest bundled second.

The network launched in Benin with an unprecedented nationwide coverage taking off with more capacity than any of the established networks in the country. Globacom reportedly has more Base Transceiver Stations (BTS) in Benin Republic than earlier entrants into the market.

Barely one week after Globacom flagged off its services in Benin Republic , it won a mobile cellular licence to operate in Ghana . The company had made moves earlier in the year to acquire an operating licence in Ghana paying a whopping $52million for the licence in June this year one week ahead of the deadline given for the payment. The payment of the fee made to the Ghanaian telecommunications regulatory body, the National Communications Authority (NCA) marked its commitment to the resolve to offer Ghanaians qualitative and affordable GSM services

NCA had adjudged Globacom the preferred bidder subsequent to the commercial bid for the license based on the superiority of its technology, pedigree and extensive rollout plan which were enumerated before the NCA.

With the payment of this fee, Globacom is now set to commence the deployment of personnel and infrastructure towards an early rollout of services in the West African country. Close to follow in this trend is Togo where Globacom has entered into serious talks with the authorities in its bid to gain the country’s licence to operate as a service provider.

Having achieved success in Benin Republic and Ghana, industry watchers are optimistic that the bid for the Togolese telecommunications licence will pass as an easy walk for Globacom.As of now, the nation is served by two not too impressive service providers one owned by government while the other is privately-owned. Service in Togo is so poor and erratic that subscribers desperate to make calls often have to go as far as Aflao, the country’s border with Ghana to make calls on another more widespread network. It was therefore not surprising that Togolese nationals trooped out in droves during the Confederation of African Football (CAF) Awards in February this year to appeal to Globacom, official sponsor of the awards to come to the rescue of the nation’s subscriber populace.

Togo , with all the indices clear- cut, is next on the list of flanks to be covered by the Globacom brand as indications are rife that talks are already at an advanced stage.

Similarly, reliable sources in the top echelon of Globacom recently disclosed that the company received an invitation from the Central African Republic to extend its coverage to the country. Against the backdrop of this invitation and previous successes, the CAR, Gambia , Senegal , Guinea Bissau, Niger and Cameroun are territories waiting to be gained by Globacom - the brand ruling the world.