Guardian

WITH over 15 million subscriber base and over six years of operations in Nigeria, Emerging Markets Telecommunications Service Company trading as Etisalat in the country has said it hoped to breakeven on its investment in Nigeria by 2015.

Etisalat, which got it Unified Access License from the Federal Government in January 2007 and made it first official call in Nigeria on March 13, 2008, noted that its successes so far has hinged on robust policy; good shareholders and solid banking support.

In an interaction with journalists in Lagos, Thursday, to discuss issues around Mobile Number Portability (MNP) and quality of service, the Chief Executive Officer of Etisalat, Steve Evans disclosed that the telecommunications firm started having positive EBITDA from last quarter of 2011, saying that this has brought robustness to its operating revenue, “but our target is that by 2015, we would have breakeven.”

Speaking on the ongoing (MNP), which is in its sixth week now in the country, Evans said though and as expected, the process had slight challenges at the beginning, “but we have come to realized that the process is gradually stabilising. We don’t have the power now to disclose numbers of those who have either ported in or out of Etisalat’s network now, but I can say confidently that several thousands of people have ported into us.

“We are getting more people into Etisalat through MNP than competition. By the time the process gets more awareness and stability, we shall also get more subscribers.”

The Etisalat CEO who said MNP was not introduced by the Nigerian Communications Commission (NCC) to outrightly take away the challenges of quality of service, noted that the process was meant to engender good competition in the industry and create better choice for consumers.

Evans hinted that the between now and 2014, the company would ploughed between $400 million and $500 million back into the company’s network upgrades across the country.

He hinted that the insurgents in some parts of Northern Nigeria affected some of it sites, “about 30 sites were affected and they are directly and indirectly encroaching on about 70 other sites because they are interlinked.

“However, we have done some replacement and still doing some more. But some areas are still too volatile to reach and we have been advised not to go there yet. We hoped that as soon as the challenge is over, we shall do all the necessary to get services back.”

On the increasing down turn across all the networks, Evans claimed that Etisalat has no challenge with quality of service, saying the networks presently has the capacity to accommodate 20 million subscribers, stressing that with the ongoing network expansions, the capacity will increase to 30 million.

Buttressing his claims, he revealed that Etisalat met all the Key Performance Indicators (KPIs) set by NCC.

For instance in the Call Set Success Rate (CSSR) with NCC’s benchmark of 95 per cent, he said Etisalat stands between 98 per cent and 99 per cent. On Call Drop Rate (CDR), with NCC’s target at one per cent, Etisalat has two per cent.

Evans explained further that with NCC’s network SD-Congestion rate sets at not more than one per cent, Etisalat recorded 0.93 per cent, while the regulator sets two per cent for TCH Congestion (voice call challenge), the telecommunications firm had 0.48 per cent, “this is to tell you that from all indications, our services are of standard, even promos and lotteries have no impact on our networks, unlike others.”

The Etisalat boss hinted that the company is investing heavily on the networks to be able to sustain the present growth and expand its reach in the country.

When asked if there had been any negative impact on the Etisalat brand, since it lost its main face, Hafis Oyetoro popularly known as Saka to competition, Evans jocularly said, “Saka made a big make, but we will be happy if he returns after 90 days.”

To the Director, Regulatory Affairs at Etisalat, Ibrahim Dikko, MNP is an important aspect of competitive market, a futuristic initiative by NCC to improve the sector’s competitiveness.

On the complaints around MNP including 90 days staying on the network and 48 hours porting time, Dikko revealed that even in England where the process has been on for about 15 years, subscribers wait for five days to switch, “but we believe that as the process gets along very well in the country, the challenges around number porting would have been resolved.”