Etisalat targets 80% coverage by 2010

•Unveils Easycliq

Despite lateness to the telecommunications sector in the country, the fifth Global System for Mobile communications (GSM) operator, Etisalat Nigeria has said its target is to achieve 80 per cent coverage nationwide before 2010.

This is coming as Etisalat, weekend, unveiled another innovative product, EasyCliq, flaunted for the youths and youths at heart.

Speaking at the occasion, the chief executive officer, Etisalat Nigeria, Mr. Steven Evans, disclosed that before the end of 2010, his company projects to cover estimated 80 per cent of the country on the network.

Presently, he said, Etisalat has launched commercial services in nine (9) cities countrywide, noting that the most exciting thing is that the receptions at these cities are encouraging.

According to him, Etisalat has existed for about 33 years across Middle East and Africa.

He outlined some of the highpoints of the telco, saying at scale-wise, Etisalat’s products are keenly priced currently and financially, Evans said, “We have the financial muscle to grow our business without much ado.”

On the innovation, he said, Etisalat is reputed as an innovative company and assured Nigerians of more ground-breaking products like EasyCliq, while maintaining that it would not lose focus of its customers by mere focusing on deployment rather than quality of service.

Additionally, he said, that in the last nine months of commercial launch, Etisalat has learnt that Nigerians appreciate novel products and would not relent in introducing them into the nation’s ICT market.

“We need to be the innovatist in this market, so it is not surprising that we are introducing EasyCliq to add to our other products already being enjoyed in Nigeria,” he said.

Introducing EasyCliq, leader of the youngsters who developed the product at Etisalat, Mr. Oluwabunmi Akansheye, pointed out that the youth who the product is specifically channeled at are known to be individualistic and keen in keeping friends.

“EasyCliq is a name we gave to our youth prepaid package built on community concept,” he said.

According to the developers’ team, EasyCliq is a unique product that allows users to make calls with bonus on incoming calls, free all night calls and talk ‘n’ share.
Additionally, the product offers unlimited short messaging services, facebook services and one cliq-one tune.

Also speaking, director, brands communication, Mr. Yinka Akande, said that everything about EasyCliq have been developed locally by Nigerians.

While encouraging Nigerian youths to come on board with EasyCliq, Akande noted that the product is not meant for the youths, but equally for the youths at heart.

Responding to question, Director Product Services, Mr. Lucas Dada said that customers have the ability to check their data download size, even as EasyCliq is the first unlimited community by any network in the country.

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