MTEL is the mobile arm of Nigeria’s incumbent national Operator, NITEL. Since Mtel came into operation in 2002, it has contributed immensely to population of telephone lines in the country. From a network of less than 5,000 mobile lines before the advent of GSM, Mtel within one year of operation in 2003 had added more than 116,000 lines to its network. Yet within that year it awarded contracts worth hundreds of millions of dollars to expand its network to a more than one million line capacity network by the end of 2004.
Even though Mtel is one hundred percent owned by government, it has over the years competed effectively with private GSM operators, which operate in the country. On network quality, Mtel ranks amongst the best in the country. At a time when some of the mobile networks are bedeviled with cases of dropped calls, Mtel has proved that it has class as such cases are far in-between on its network.
Mtel also prides itself as the most customer friendly network in the country. Only in the penultimate week, Mtel began a promotion, which gave out its SIM packs free of charge to Nigerians who could afford to buy N2499 worth of airtime. Such promotion was revolutionary in the annals of the telecom industry in Nigeria. When GSM service commenced in 2001, that same SIM sold for more than N30,000. Mtel says the free SIM promotion is a testimony to its desire to ensure that every Nigerian holds a phone in line with its customer friendly posture. This promotion no doubt brought a heated competition in the GSM industry.
Under the promotion, each customer would be entitled to a free SIM after making payment for airtime worth N2, 499 only. The airtime valued at N2, 499 would then be loaded on the SIM for immediate access to the Mtel network.
Deputy General Manager Corporate Affairs of the company, Abdul-Hamid Umar stated that with the promotion, SIMs pre-loaded with airtime worth N2, 499, would be available for free to members of the public during the promo which would commence simultaneously all over the country. All the SIMs offered free during the period of the promo would only enjoy the airtime validity windows available for the period of the promo. Consequently, the free SIM must be activated immediately for maximum benefits to the beneficiaries.
Abdul-Hamid Umar said the new promo is consistent with the marketing philosophy of Mtel which prides the customers as the king in the market place.
In September, Mtel, as part of its customer friendly initiatives launched its N250 recharge Multicard, the lowest denominated credit recharge card in Nigeria, today. The launch of the card was intended to give subscribers on the network more options in the recharge cost for their phones and make the network more customer friendly.
Before the launch of the N250 recharge card, Mtel had earlier launched the N400 denominated recharge card. At the launch of the product in November 2004, the product entered the market as the lowest denominated recharge card in the country.
The Multicard costs N250 per unit and comes in a bundle. It can be purchased in singles or bundles of four or more units. With the Mtel Multicard, a group of persons can buy a N1000 credit in four vouchers of N250 each.
“The Mtel Multicard was a strategic response by the people’s network to the yearnings of consumers for affordable airtime packages,” stated Umar.
In recent past, Mtel had also entrenched its customer friendly initiative when its international calling rate was slashed from N99 per minute to N45 per minute (peak period) and N40 per minute (off peak period) for calls to all parts of the globe. In Nigeria, today, this is the international calling rate to beat by any of the GSM operators.
As part of its customer focus enterprise, Mtel has also established 12 Customer Service Centres, branded as Mtel Talk centres, across the country. The Mtel Talk centres have all been equipped to render full complement of Mtel services to the consumers.
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