NITEL launches pre-paid service
By Tom Chiahemen,
Senior Correspondent, Abuja
The Nigerian Telecommunications Ltd (NITEL) Pre-Paid
Service was formally launched in Abuja on Tuesday, with its Chairman, Mr.
Vincent Maduka declaring that the company was well-positioned for the modern
competitive market driven environment.
Maduka, who acknowledged that NITEL had been
criticised as being a conservative telecommunications service provider just
emerging from its monopolistic era, said the various measures aimed at turning
the company around had begun to yield the desired results.
“We are, however, not taking this performance for
granted, bearing in mind the highly competitive and dynamic telecommunication
industry and the fluidity of the Nigerian business environment,” he
added.
Describing the launch of the Pre-Paid service as part
of a comprehensive programme, which NITEL had mapped out to transform its
service provision strategies and ensure a better company for all stakeholders,
customers in particular, Maduka said the Pre-Paid Card was “a quietly and
carefully worked out strategy” that would put NITEL customers in charge
of their telephone budget, as the new product ensures that the holder of the
Pre-Paid scratch card has total control on the calls, which are charged to him,
as long as he safeguards his card and locks out his phone to third party
users.
The NITEL Chairman, who announced that the Pre-Paid
card facility would be optional to the company’s customers, particularly
those whose accounts were up-to-date and the large corporate customers, also
said it would systematically reduce the incidence of NITEL’s unpopular
policy of disconnecting defaulting subscribers, otherwise referred to as
“TOS (Temporarily Out of Service).
“We are currently reviewing the policy on TOS within
the context of the pre-paid facility (and will) re-examine the practice by
which monthly access charges are demanded from customers whose lines have been
proved faulty for a
specified period,” he added.
