Zain receives royal blessings

Over seven royal fathers led by the Oba of Lagos, His Royal Highness (HRH) Rilwan Akiolu, invariably offered royal blessings to Zain Nigeria on arrival as they graced the rebranding from Celtel to Zain held in Lagos.

The royal fathers brought a touch of tradition to bear on the glamorous launch as Zain announced the world’s first in telephony with its One Network that links all Zain operations in 22 countries in Africa and the Middle East.

Present at the VIP Night for the launch were His Royal Highness, Emir of Bama, Alhaji Umar El-Kanemi; Royal Majesty (HRM), the Olu of Odogbolu, Oba Adedeji Olusegun Onagoruwa; HRM, the Owage of Oge, Okeagbe, Oba Alex Jimoh; HRM, the Deji of Akureland, Oba Adegboju Adeshida, His Royal Highness, Emir of Dass, Alhaji (Dr.) Bilyaminu Othman, and His Highness, the Turakin Dutse, Alhaji Jamilu Sanusi.

The royal fathers witnessed via satellite transmission the simultaneous brand identity change from Celtel to Zain across 14 African countries. The countries are Burkina Faso, Chad, Democratic Republic of the Congo, Republic of the Congo, Gabon, Kenya, Madagascar, Malawi, Niger, Sierra Leone, Tanazania, Uganda, and Zambia.

Speaking at the ceremony, Chief Executive Officer, Zain Nigeria, Mr. Bayo Ligali told the eminent guests that Zain decided to unify its operation under one strong, dynamic and easily recognizable brand name to position the company as a global player in the telecommunications industry.

A press statement from the telco endorsed by the Head, Corporate Communications and Public Relations Manager, Messrs Emeka Oparah and Emmanuel Otokhine respectively, quoted Ligali as saying that the change of name would not affect the board and management of the company.

“Rather it is merely a change of identity, which essentially affected the company’s brand communication-look and feel,” he said.

Zain Nigeria, according to him, would leverage on the power of an international organization with operations in 22 countries and over 50 million subscribers.

He stressed that with this rebranding, Celtel now Zain is waxing stronger in operation, noting that in the past two years, the telco in Nigeria, for instance, has experienced tremendous growth on account of its membership of the Group, growing from just over five and half million subscribers in 2006 to 15 million at the end of June 2008.

Pointing out that Zain had invested over $2billion on network improvement over the past two years in addition to the $1.05 billion it paid for the 65 per cent equity in the Nigerian business.

“In terms of Foreign Direct Investment (FDI), this is quite significant and goes a long way to support the Federal Government’s quest for increased foreign investment in the Nigerian economy,” Ligali said, adding that another $1 billion is being invested this year in network roll-out to cover expansion, capacity enhancement and quality improvement.

“The impact of which is already being felt in the rapidly improving quality of service of our network” he asserted.

As said by him, Zain’s ambition of becoming one of the top 10 players in the global telecommunications industry in 2011 is driven by the Accelerate, Consolidate and Expand (ACE) strategy, which locally translates to Zain Nigeria becoming No. 1 in the next three years.


ITREALMS Online ... delivering news for ICT4D