Tag: 9Mobile

Foreign partners exit inconsequential to 9mobile, CEO assures stakeholders, subscribers

Telecoms company, 9mobile has reassured its customers and key stakeholders that the exit of its foreign partners would not affect the quality of its network or its ability to deliver excellent products and services.

Emerging Markets Telecommunication Services (EMTS), which formerly traded as Etisalat Nigeria, is now 9mobile following the unveiling of a new brand identity last month in Lagos. The change of name and logo was as a result of the exit of its erstwhile partners, the Emirate Telecommunications Corporation and Mubadala Development Company, both of the United Arab Emirates.

Its Chief Executive Officer, Boye Olusanya, reassured the over 20 million subscribers on the network, industry regulator, the Nigerian Communications Commission (NCC) and other stakeholders of the company’s continued commitment to the delivery of innovative and qualitative services. He added that the ongoing brand migration signified strong business continuity with the company’s vision, values and traditions of innovativeness and passion for excellence, still intact.

Olusanya said the exit of the foreign partners and consequently, the change of its brand identity, have not in any way changed the company, noting that the Nigerian employees who led the company’s success in the past nine years were still with the company.

He said: “The departure of any partner has absolutely no bearing on the quality of service that you will continue to get. The people that exist within the business today are the ones that offer that service, the same ones who have been resilient and dynamic to cope with the need for this change, who will also be the ones who will continue to offer you service. And, if they show the same dynamism that they have shown over the last few days, then the service will only get better.

“There has been no loss of perspective in the business or loss in opportunity for the business, so there wasn’t a process that meant that we will be dependent on any of our partners. There is this idea that the departure of one of the partners will lead to problems within the business. No. As an operating entity, we are totally dependent on ourselves.”

Olusanya assured subscribers further that the quality of voice and data service on the network has not been affected by the exit of the former partners and the name change as the company has continued to offer the services it offered in the past, only with different names.

He added that data services would continue be at the forefront of 9mobile’s business, as the company continues to expand its 4G LTE network with the objective of delivering best quality of service across all platforms pan-Nigeria.

August 3, 2017
Digital Payments: Why govts do not allow airtime deposits into bank accounts
Transactions made in cash are losing ground to digital payments, and governments around the world are considering the merits of losing paper currency for good, as Bloomberg puts it in a report detailing how close we are to a cashless society.

While cash payments are losing grounds to digital transactions, one area that is yet to be transformed is the one that has to do with being able to deposit money into a bank account from the comfort of your home.

And one way Nigerians thought is possible to be able to deposit cash into a bank account without having to visit the banking hall, was converting airtime (recharge card) into deposit money.

As with the convenience of flicking a finger or swiping, and consumers have access to all their liquid wealth on their smartphones, and also able to transfer this, they want the convenience to also be able to make deposit into their accounts by dialing some USSD codes or by sending an SMS. Although there are ATMs that accept cash deposit, this would have been more convenient.

Using the SMS option, a bank customer would have only had to:
- Buy airtime (MTN, Airetel, Glo & 9mobile, all networks inclusive)
- Recharge it on the phone line linked with BVN/Bank Account
- Send an SMS (say: Deposit 10000 1234567890 XXXX [where Deposit is the trigger, 10000 is the amount to be deposited, 1234567890 is the account number and XXXX is the PIN attached to the Depositor’s account) to the dedicated number (1234) using the phone number attached to the BVN/account.
- This amount is then deducted from the airtime recharged and credited on the customer’s’ account
Using the USSD option, a bank customer would have only had to:
- Buy airtime (MTN, Airtel, Glo & 9mobile, all networks inclusive)
- Recharge it on the phone line linked with BVN/Bank Account
- Dial *DedicatedNumber*DepositSum*AccountNumber*PIN# send (eg: *1234*10000*1234567890*0000# send) from the phone line linked with BVN/Bank Account
- This amount is then deducted from the airtime recharged and credited on the customer’s’ account
This means that a large population of the poor masses can be able to make little more savings given the convenience that will come with this. The market woman making N500 daily contribution with a thrift collector and losing some amount for the collector at the end of the month can then actually be able to do that daily contribution conveniently; and well other benefits that could come with this kind of deposit convenience.

But, while there are several downsides to this, a chat with a SystemSpecs expert shows that there is one bigger downside, which governments world over have seen, that has barred this from being actualized.

It means that telecommunication operators can now actually be able to print their own currency. And by implication, over time, airtime could turn out to become legal tender for financial transactions.

India’s recent attempt to remove 86% of cash in circulation showed that going cashless is not easy. The country withdrew high-value notes in late 2016, shocking its cash-dependent economy.

In this era of digital transactions, is a completely cashless society possible? What do you think can make depositing money into your bank account from the comfort of your home possible?

Leave a comment below.
August 2, 2017
Foreign investors jostling to buy over 9Mobile – Shittu

…Assures staff and subscribers of government’s protection

The Minister of Communications, Alhaji Adebayo Shittu has said that many foreign investors are jostling to buy over the newly acquired telecommunication firm, 9 Mobile (formerly known as Etisalat) from which Mubadallah recently pulled out.

The minister revealed this at the weekend when he spoke on ‘Political Circuit’, a political programme on Ibadan-based Fresh FM. Shittu said there is no cause for worry for the subscribers and workers of the company. But he did not disclose the names of the foreign firms.

TheNewsGuru.com reports that Mubadallah left Nigeria early this month (July) following unresolved issues on loans by a consortium of commercial banks.

According to Shittu, the Federal Government intervened in the loan crisis rocking the company in order to prevent it from closing down with the attendant negative implications.

Shittu said thousands of direct and indirect jobs would have been lost while investors’ confidence would have been eroded.

The minister said the government would continue to strengthen the enabling environment for investments and job creation initiatives in the country.

Shittu said the country needed more Foreign Direct Investments (FDI) to strengthen the economy.

He said the government could not afford to fold its arms and let any good investment go under, pointing out that the telecoms industry contributed over 10 per cent to the Gross Domestic Product (GDP) in the last financial year.

He described the feat as unprecedented and a mark of the huge importance of the industry to the economy.

Accordintg to him, there are 150 million active mobile telephone lines in Nigeria.

The minister also hinted of his ministry’s plan to encourage telecommunication firms to begin to provide scholarships for students insupport of education.

July 31, 2017
Airstrike kills 22 insurgents in northern Afghanistan

As many as 22 armed insurgents have been confirmed dead after army helicopters targeted Taliban oppositions in Afghanistan’s northern Badakhshan province, Bakhtar news agency reported on Thursday.

The helicopter gunships, according to the state-run news agency, pounded Taliban hideouts in parts of Tagab district late Wednesday, killing 22 insurgents on the ground and injuring several others.

Taliban militants who are active in parts of the mountainous Badakhshan province over the past few years haven’t commented.

July 27, 2017
Etisalat transformation: 9mobile registers domain name

Etisalat Nigeria transformation is underway as the telecoms firm now known as 9mobile has registered a domain name with one of accredited domain name registrars of the Nigeria Internet Registration Association (NiRA), WhoGoHost.

The domain name is www.9mobile.com.ng that, however, still redirects to old brand website, www. etisalat.com.ng.

Whois lookup on the new domain name reveals that Emerging Markets Telecommunication Services (EMTS) is the registrant organization, with EMTS 9mobile’s Paul Ehiagbonare as the admin.

The domain name, www.9mobile.com.ng, is most likely to go live before the end of the month in respect to the 3 weeks ultimatum.

July 14, 2017
Etisalat Nigeria changes brand name to 9Mobile

Following the tales and woes of Etisalat Nigeria’s $1.2 billion loan owned a consortium of 13 Nigerian banks, finally, the troubled telecoms firm has changed its brand name to 9Mobile.

TheNewsGuru reports the new brand name, 9Mobile, was adopted by a sitting of the executives of the telecoms firms today in Lagos after due deliberation.

This is coming after Emerging Markets Telecommunication Services (EMTS) trading as Etisalat Nigeria was given an ultimatum by its Abu Dhabi-based mother firm, Etisalat Group to change brand name in three weeks after the $1.2 billion loan restructuring plan failed, which left chairman Hakeem Belo-Osagie resigning, and a resultant new management board.

Formerly, following customers’ apprehension, the Vice President, Regulatory and Corporate Affairs of Etisalat Nigeria, Ibrahim Dikko had said subsisting agreement means the firm can continue to retain the brand name.

“EMTS is here to stay and we wish to assure our esteemed customers that our core values of youthfulness, customer-centricity and innovation will remain the pillars on which we operate,” he said.

Dikko further said in the statement that “EMTS launched in Nigeria in 2008 with ‘0809ja’ to affirm the ‘Nigerianness’ of our origin and sphere of influence. In our nine years of operation, we have remained a prime driver and avid supporter of the Nigerian spirit of excellence, and we will continue to stay true to our ‘Naijacentric identity”.

The telecoms firm has most probably retained the ‘9janess’ of the firm by invariably deciding on ‘9’ in 9Mobile – of course, its a mobile network.

In retaining its Nigerianness, the telecoms firm had assured its more than 20 million subscribers that a change of brand name will not in any way affect service delivery.

“What is most important now is to… ensure that the business runs and meets its obligations,” the company’s new chief executive Boye Olusanya said on Tuesday.

The telecoms company is, however, yet to make an official statement on the development.

July 13, 2017