nTel, the latest player in Nigeria’s telecoms business, announced on Friday that it has commenced its phased and commercial operations in two cities; Lagos and Abuja.
The company recently acquired NITEL from the Federal Government and it is set to give four other operators already in the market; Glo, MTN, Etisalat and Airtel, a run for their money
Ntel has promised to provide advanced 4G Long Term Evolution, LTE, Network to its subscribers in Nigeria.
Chief Executive Officer of ntel, Kumar Abass, said at a news briefing in Lagos that its operations will come with bumper offers for early bird pioneers and data users.
Abass said the earliest customers would be able to buy and use their services in clusters across Lagos and Abuja from sales outlets, and agents featuring their bright new brand name: ntel.
He noted that, “ntel, Nigeria’s 5th mobile network operator start of operation is the culmination of its journey from acquiring the old Nitel/Mtel assets.
“The first 100,000 to redeem and activate their ntel SIMs will get free on-net calls for life, while data subscribers will get 3-months unlimited data usage.”
He revealed that ntel had established the Pioneers Club to reward early bird joiners to its network and those who had reserved their numbers, and who subsequently activated its SIM this month.
The ntel chief executive said the company’s 4G/LTE-Advanced technology built on the 900/1800 MHz spectrum would deliver unbeatable and game changing customer experience of high-speed internet access up to 230Mbps.
He said that the access was the fastest available in Nigeria and it would enable a world of full mobile broadband experience that would transform both lives and livelihood.
Abass pointed out that the 800 sites bought from Mtel and NITEL would serve for coverage area but that there was also room for collocation.
He added that ntel’s mobile coverage would grow steadily and strongly over the next four to six weeks across Lagos, Abuja and Port Harcourt.
“We are passionate at ntel about the power of broadband to boost productivity, and thereby transform lives.
“We expect to see this happen as ntel helps to accelerate the ongoing migration from existing 2G and 3G services to genuinely high-speed mobile broadband on 4G/LTE-advanced.’’
Abass said that ntel was offering an exciting range of price bundles with high quality mobile experience to improve productivity and it came in three forms; Smartphone Starter, Smartphone Standard and Smartphone High.
He urged subscribers to buy a 4G LTE device from ntel so as to enjoy the many features that the network would offer.
He listed the features as; high speed broadband, high definition crystal clear voice, high quality video without buffering, a chance to be one of the pioneers’ club member and device financing.
The ntel boss also listed their business partners as; agent entrepreneurs, device retail outlets, high-touch and service points, online retail, ntel stores and experience centres and also virtual top-up channels.
He said that they had a point of sale device known as ”Kuchio” that would perform the full range of sales and support activities.
“The introduction of Kuchio will push telephoning deeper into the rural area.
“ntel’s business capabilities are focused on addressing the emerging data ongoing migration from 2G to 3G and 4G. In 4G world, congestion is better managed,” he said.
Abass also listed some mobile phones which support the 4G as Tecno C5, Samsung S6 Edge, Konka L5 70S(R1)(R2)(E1), Phantom 5, Infinix Zero 3, Infinix Note 2 among others.
