The company had, last weekend, commissioned a switch in the Federal Capital Territory (FCT), Abuja, with a promise to bring the total number of switches to 17 nationwide, thus giving the mobile operator a switching capacity of 20 million subscribers.
Chief Executive Officer of Celtel Nigeria, Bayo Ligali said at the Commissioning ceremony in Kaduna that the addition of the switch “clearly represents a timely response to the yearnings of telecommunications consumers for concrete action towards a resolution of the Quality of Service (QoS) challenges in the industry.”
Ligali also announced a plan to commit $1 billion to significantly expand coverage, enhance capacity and improve QoS this year.
Projects, he said, have been designed to achieve these including a 4000 kilometres fibre optic transmission backbone; additional 2000km microwave transmission backbone (supplementary to the existing 3000 km); nationwide generator swap-out and dualization and additional 1000 base stations (to the existing 4100).
These, he said, would enhance the integrity and robustness of the network in the coming months and ultimately result in world class quality of service.
Mr. Ligali also revealed that the company’s Network Monitoring Centre in Abuja would be completed this year to facilitate real-time fault detection and speedy rectification.
“I commit on behalf of my colleagues at Celtel Nigeria that we shall do all that it takes to meet the expectations of our customers by giving them what they want: quality, coverage and excellent customer care,” he declared.
He disclosed that Celtel currently has service in 90 per cent of the covered population of Northern Nigeria, given its importance in the socio-economic and political life of the country, adding that work is ongoing to further expand the coverage and capacity of the network in the region.
Speaking at the occasion, the Chairman of the House Committee on Communications, Hon. Jerry Manwe, who led other members of his committee to the commissioning, praised Celtel for taking concrete steps to address the challenge of QoS.
Manwe expressed the hope that the new switch would result in improved QoS in Kaduna and its environs, just as he challenged Celtel not to rest on its oars in giving Nigerian telecommunications consumers what they want.
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