VGC Spends N140m on Network Re-engineering
By Tayo Ajakaye
Nigerian wired line operator VGC Communication Limited in Lagos weekend announced the completion of the re-engineering on its fibre optic network in Lagos. It spent $1 Million on the project.
A tour of some of the facilities leaves no one in doubt of the seriousness of the company to ensure that nothing but first class expertise is the top consideration as it carries out its operations.
Along Adeola Odeku Street, no one would know that VGC network is buried six feet deep into the ground. Unlike the untidy display of telecom cable over electric poles that is the trademark of GTE Limited also on the same street.
The tour of facilities of VGC, reputed for its excellent voice and data network, actually started with the remote station located at Ahmed Onibudo Street. There, transmission and data equipment, power station were shown to newsmen.
At Adeola Odeku, cabinets installed for distribution of lines, number four for Adeola Odeku and number three for Idowu Martins were shown to reporters.
For a company with more than 500,000 kilometres of underground cable in the Lagos area alone, and with more than 15,000 kilometres of optic fibre cable as network backbone, VGC serves as reference point for new and old national private network operator.
The investment made in fibre optic infrastructure in both Abuja and Port Harcourt is also huge and growing. In Abuja there is already in place 100 kilometres of fibre optic; and in Port Harcourt, 100 kilometres of fibre optic as backbone and another 120,000 metres of primary and secondary cable network distribution.
Giving reasons why the company had to upgrade, the General Manager, Engr. Gbenga Adebayo said it was so that the Company could maintain and improve on the high quality standard for which it is well known.
According to him, "We are not waiting for our customers to come and complain about poor service, we are thinking and working ahead."
He pointed out that VGC Comm's entire network is less than five years old, and till last year it still installed new cables, but now, management had taken a strategic decision to overhaul the entire network and position network as that of high value.
He added, "We are clearing the forest, we are doing the difficult work in order to give good and affordable services and value added features on our network backbone. We migrated completely from the underground jointing system, to highly secured surface termination, which will also reduce the service delivery time to our clients.
"We can now connect a new subscriber between 12 to 24 hours, in any area where we have our network, as against an average of seven to 14 days."
Adebayo further stated that the re-engineering will improve the Company's down time, which by last measurement as 0.05 percent in one year to a 0.0001 percent.
"Above all, it will enable us provide uniform and better standard of service above competitors," Adebayo stated.
To accommodate the expanding network, the NCC recently approved additional 40,000 numbers for Lagos area, with the range 460 0000 to 460 9999; 462 0000 to 462 9999; 463 0000 to 463 9999; and 464 0000 to 464 9999.
And although a heavy investment has been made in the network as to make require that the cost of its service be upgraded, Adebayo said "Our pricing policy is 'quality service before price' we are taking all the cost of providing the infrastructure on our self, and we sell only after the service has been delivered to the neighborhood.
"Our subscription price is the lowest in the market, and our policy is to earn income from the usage, and not the subscription fees, these helps us to guarantee service availability, as for every line that is out of service, to us it translates to enormous loss of income for us. The more active our lines, the more the usage and the better the income for us."
The subscription fee is N10,000 inclusive of a handset, N6.00 per minute for local calls and national call rates from N12 to N22, depending on the NITEL tariff plan. International calls depending on the zone costs between N31 and N40.
Though the company is facing some challenges like right of way approvals and hostilities from some host communities and neighborhood associations, the security of the network is assured. And though high customs duty and taxes made operations difficult, the cost would not be passed down all the time to the customer, there would be a human face to pricing; and though there are no skilled manpower around, VGC would not relent in training and retraining its personnel.
Adebayo left no one in doubt that VGC Communications is in this business for the long run for the good of the subscriber all over Nigeria.
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