'Etisalat Can Accommodate 30m Subscribers'

THE Chief executive officer, Etisalat Nigeria, Mr. Steve Evans, has declared that the mobile operator, which was the last to switch on its network in the country, has the capacity to accommodate well over 30 million subscribers.

He told journalist at a roundtable dialogue on Thursday in Lagos that the operator hopes to add about 1000 cells site to its current figures stressing that it has enough fund at its disposal to create a network that subscribers can rely once they port with Etisalat.

The roundtable dialogue, which was the first by the company since the Nigerian Communications Commission, (NCC) kick-off the Mobile Number Portability (MNP) was meant to address issues regarding the preparedness of the operator to welcome those waiting and those who have already ported with Etisalat.

Evans said that Etisalat is more concern about the experience of its customers that are on its network and those who are waiting to port with it adding that the Etisalat as a brand wants a smooth experience for its subscribers and deliver on its promises to them.

He said that Etisalat spend up to six weeks to get it right noting that the porting process at Etisalat is now solid, and that the operator is still focusing on key reactions of its subscribers.

The Etisalat boss who took time to explain to the media the current level of  its quality of network said that the NCC’s report on its quality of service showed that Etisalat is the network to rely.

According to him, the 95 per cent success call rate earmark by the NCC for operators to achieve was surpass by Etisalat achieving a mark of  between 96 and 98 per cent adding that for network call drop rate, the operator made an impressive performance accept for sites that were affected by the attacks from the insurgents.

He stated that Etisalat is confident that it can run a promo comfortably without its network suffering any failure noting the ongoing double recharge promo has not affected its network even with the other four major that its customers are benefit them.

He disclosed that thousand of subscribers have ported with Etisalat since the scheme was introduced by the NCC adding that beyond that the number of subscribers on its network has increased.

On the current level of investment in network, he said that Etisalat is doing more collocations are expected to come up soon even more investment of huge sums of money has been made by the operator adding that that is why its operating profit has not being growing since 2011.

He said that there is currently an investment worth about $1.2 billion with 13 banks in the country stressing that it is even building new cell sites in areas that it has covered due to its desire to give its subscribers high quality network.

Evans revealed that to make the porting process easy for incoming subscribers, a dispute resolution desk has been set up the company saying that idea is meant to give subscribers real-time porting experience that is hassle free.