Without pomp or pageantry, Ntel the fifth telecom operator in Nigeria sneaked into the operational landscape with the commencement of operation on April 8 2016. Much like a filled barrel that wouldn’t make a loud noise, the company launched with the best technology and its focus is nothing but to revolutionise telecommunications in Nigeria with high quality service. By SAMSON AKINTARO
When the news came late 2014 that NATCOM Consortium had emerged as the preferred bidder to buy the assets of the moribund National Carrier, NITEL and its mobile arm MTEL, it was initially taken with a pinch of salt, going by previous experiences of failed attempts to sell the company. Alas! It was a success this time and the fruit of that successful privatisation is now ripe for Nigerians to harvest with the launch of a fifth telecom operator known as Ntel.
Coming at a time the odds are against a new entrant, going by the amount of grounds already covered by the existing mobile operators, Ntel appears unperturbed but rather has decided to leverage on its key strengths to carve a niche for itself with data and enhanced quality voice services using its LTE technology.
Already, the voice segment is said to be saturated and of course, a recent industry statistics has shown that though there is increase in the number of voice calls on the operators’ networks, revenue from voice is on a steep decline. This explains why the old operators are now focusing more on their data offerings and pushing same to the consumers. But with the entry of Ntel, stiffer competition has just begun.
Ntel announced its niche at take-off being what it described as Nigeria’s most advanced 4G Long Term Evolution(LTE) Network, promising exciting offers that would see the first 100,000 customers to redeem and activate their Ntel SIMs getting free on-net calls for life while data subscribers will get three months unlimited data usage on select bundles.
Announcing the commencement of operation in Lagos at a media briefing, Mr. Kamar Abass, Chief Executive Officer of Ntel, said the operation comes with bumper offers for early bird pioneers and data users, with the earliest customers being 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.
According to Abass, Ntel’s commencement of operation is the culmination of its journey from acquiring the old NITEL/Mtel assets. “The first 100,000 to redeem and activate their Ntel SIMs will get free on-net calls for life, while data subscribers will get three months unlimited data usage.” He announced the establishment of the Pioneers Club to reward early bird joiners to its network and those who had reserved their numbers, and who subsequently activated its SIM the month of launch, April 2016. The Ntel chief executive said 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.
He said the access was the fastest available in Nigeria and it would enable a world of full mobile broadband experience that would transform both lives and livelihood. He said that the 800 sites bought from Mtel and NITEL would serve for coverage area but that there was also room for collocation. Abass said that mobile coverage would grow steadily and strongly over the next four to six weeks across Lagos, Abuja and Port Harcourt.
“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.”
Exciting Packages
Ntel, according to him, is offering an exciting range of price bundles with high quality mobile experience to improve productivity and it came in three forms; Smartphone Starter, Smartphone Standard and Smartphone High. He urged subscribers to buy a 4G LTE device from Ntel so as to enjoy the many features that the network would offer. He listed the features as; high speed broadband, high definition crystal clear voice, high quality video without buffering, a chance to be one of the pioneers’ club member and device financing.
The Ntel boss also listed their business partners as; agent entrepreneurs, device retail outlets, high-touch and service points, online retail, Ntel stores and experience centres and also virtual top-up channels. He said that they had a point of sale device known as ”Kuchio” that would perform the full range of sales and support activities. “The introduction of Kuchio will push telephoning deeper into the rural area.
“Ntel’s business capabilities are focused on addressing the emerging data ongoing migration from 2G to 3G and 4G. In 4G world, congestion is better managed,” he said. Abass also listed some mobile phones which support the 4G as Tecno C5, Samsung S6 Edge, Konka L5 70S(R1)(R2)(E1), Phantom 5, Infinix Zero 3, Infinix Note 2 among others.
The Lagos and Abuja operation, according to the company, would be followed by Port Harcourt in May, along with expanded coverage in Lagos and Abuja, and subsequently to other states, across multiple geo-political zones, during the second half of 2016.
One of the biggest assets of NITEL acquired by the new telecom operator, Ntel, is the SAT-3 cable system, which is Africa’s longest submarine cable, covering a distance of 28,800km, with a total capacity of about 1,000 Gbps. While the comatose state of NITEL had affected the operation of SAT-3, Ntel, the new owner has successfully resuscitated it to deliver full service.
According to Ntel CEO, the new submarine cable now connects to a landing station in central Lagos, through a network of metro-fibre ducts. He said it connects to multiple districts in Lagos and through high-capacity inter-city connections, reaches multiple cities across Nigeria, thus boosting economic activities of the country, where more Nigerians will have access to the internet to promote e-commerce business and academic research.
Abass explained that reviving SAT-3 has eventually restructured it into a highly stable cable infrastructure that would maximise availability of cost-efficient broadband access, compared to satellite services, and co-location to Tier III standard at data centres in central Lagos. The re-activation of SAT3 by ntel is coming on the heels of the cable’s fourth upgrade which has boosted its system from 420Gbps to 920Gbps in the northern segments and from 340Gbps to 800Gbps in the southern segments.
Ntel’s SAT3 network has the capability of direct connectivity to more than 100 terminals stations around the world, making it the only submarine cable system in Nigeria with such leverage. Ntel’s deployment of superfast broadband internet access will help enable e-learning, e-commerce, e-medicine while facilitating communication and entertainment for subscribers who are increasingly mobile and connected.
But most critically, broadband access will impact positively on the economy, since the national broadband policy has indicated that a 10 per cent increase in broadband access leads to a 1.3 per cent increase in GDP.