Celtel explains N11.2b investment

The investment of N11.2 billion to expand its network by the Celtel Nigeria in the North Eastern region has spiked up growth in subscriber-base, according the General Manager, Celtel Nigeria for region, Mr. Segun Agoye.

Explaining this at the recent regional media session in Kano, Mr. Agoye said the investment was also ignited by the desire to reach every nooks and crannies of the region.

“This propelled the company to invest such a huge amount towards aggressive network rollout to boost the robustness of the network and this effort is already paying dividend as we have grown our subscribers’ base by over 40 per cent and our base station by over 38 per cent,” he said.

He also said that Celtel is determined to have presence in every home in the communities within the region sooner than expected.

Mr. Agoye further disclosed that donations have been made to orphanages within the region as part of the company’s corporate social responsibility, while boreholes equally have been sunk in several communities to aid inhabitants who have critical shortage of portable water.

Chief Operating Officer of Celtel Nigeria, Mr. Lars Stork, in his remark said that the telco has embarked on some far-reaching reforms to enhance coverage, capacity and quality of the network.

As said by him, a major decision taken by the telco to meet customers’ demand is the decentralization of the company’s operation by adopting regionalization.

“We have identified regionalization as one of the cardinal strategies to expand our business and this is based on the reality that our customers are not just in Lagos, but all over the country, therefore to cater for the needs of our customers nationwide, we have to move closer to them,” he said.

Also, Celtel’s Chief Commercial Officer, Mr. Mike Foley, pointed out that the telco wants more Nigerians to enjoy its services because it is quite aware that telecom is the engine of economic growth and is a good tool for uplifting people economically and socially.

Celtel’s commitment to empowering Africans, he said, has made the company a household name in countries where it has its operations across the continent.



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