By Technology Times Reporter
Globacom owned by Nigerian businessman, Mike Adenuga Jnr (in picture), says that, "We've got the people talking. We gave voice to the voiceless. We make our money here and spend it here, we do not repatriate it abroad."
Lagos. April 16, 2012. Globacom Limited, owners of Glo Mobile, the number two mobile operator by subscriber numbers does not repatriate telecoms revenue earned from Nigerian subscribers, the nation’s Second national operator (SNO) has claimed in veiled reference to its foreign rival GSM operators.
Globacom owned by Nigerian businessman, Mike Adenuga Jnr. says that, “We’ve got the people talking. We gave voice to the voiceless. We make our money here and spend it here, we do not repatriate it abroad.”
The SNO competes for local telecoms market stakes in the GSM space against rivals including MTN Nigeria, owned by South Africa’s MTN Group; Airtel Nigeria, owned by India’s Bharti Airtel; Etisalat Nigeria, owned by Etisalat of UAE and a handful of CDMA operators.
MTN Nigeria is in firm control of telecoms market leadership with 41.6 million active connections with Glo Mobile a distant second with 19.8 million while Airtel Nigeria has 18 million; Etisalat placed fourth with 10.7 million while MTel has 258,520 at the end of 2011, based on official market information by the Nigerian Communications Commission (NCC), the industry regulator.
Globacom says it is also forging ahead with its foray to be a key regional player in the West African telecoms market in driving its ambition to become a major player in the international telecoms market.
A Director of Globacom, Adewale Sangowawa, told a recent media gathering in Lagos that, “for us in Globacom, this is not only a Nigerian project, it is a West African project and please permit us to adapt that popular definition of democracy to say that Glo is the network of the people of West Africa, for the people of West Africa and by the people of West Africa.”
He adds that the company has opened several West African business subsidiaries to offer mobile telephony and extend services on its wholly-owned submarine cable, Glo 1.
“A lot of people and organisations including some media houses are already enjoying the prosperity that huge and affordable broadband has brought to our shores. We urge you to tap into that potential. We also have operations in several West African countries. We have led several industry revolutions in West Africa including the first to introduce Per Second Billing, GPRS/data services, Blackberry and Vehicle Tracking”, he adds.
For Globacom, it is reminiscence time as Sangowawa adds that, “looking back over the years, we are proud to have played a significant role in making telephony affordable to people of all shades including artisans, petty traders and professionals. We are proud that a fully owned Nigerian company is rated as one of the 10 best brands in Africa. We are proud that we built an armoured sub-marine cable single-handedly from the UK all the way to Nigeria with dedicated extension to the US and we are now making arrangements to extend it to East and South Africa. We recalled that when we launched our Glo 1 cable, we said it would bring a new era of prosperity.”
But mtn and folks also contribute to the Nigerian econy by creating employment and doing much to give back to the Nigeiran economy too! Globacom is just boasting
Y do people like mtn so much?