Communication
Airtel Nigeria Appoints new Directors
By Joseph BAMIDELE
LAGOS – In line with its commitment to develop local talents as well as create leadership opportunities for exceptional Nigerians, leading telecommunications services provider, Airtel Nigeria, has announced the appointment of Mr. Femi Oshinlaja and Mr. Wole Abu as Regional Operations Director for its Lagos and Northern Regions, respectively.
According to a statement issued by the Company and made available to Biztellers, the duo will be responsible for ensuring market leadership, driving brand engagement and preference as well as providing leadership for the sales force in the Lagos and Northern operations.
Abu comes into his new role with over 23 years of working experience, with skills built across various functions spanning Human Resource and Administration, Networks, Operations, Legal & Regulatory and Sales & Marketing.
He joined Econet Wireless Nigeria (now Airtel Nigeria) in 2002 as Facilities Manager in the Human Resources and Administration Department from where he was transferred into the role of Project Manager: Network Implementation in the Networks Department.
As part of his attributes of taking new challenges, he was promoted and transferred into the role of Head of Division, Business Support and Regional Sales Manager in Celtel Nigeria and Zain Nigeria, respectively.
Abu has also played the role of Zonal Business Manager in both South and Lagos Regions of Airtel Nigeria. He possesses a Bachelor of Chemical Engineering degree from the University of Benin and an MBA from the Lagos Business School.
Oshinlaja has over 12 years work experience as a Sales, Marketing and Business Operations professional across the Banking, FMCG and Telecoms sectors. Having worked for Multinational firms namely British American Tobacco, Nokia and Diageo, he has also had the opportunity of working in Senegal, Ghana and Nigeria.
Prior to his appointment, he was National Key Accounts Manager in the Nigeria Bottling Company (Coca-Cola Hellenic). Before then, he was the Channel Development Manager in British American Tobacco Marketing & Distribution Company, where he won the channel game against Philip Morris by implementing a competitive strategy in the ‘HORECA’ space.
As National Sales Manager in Diageo, he was instrumental to the set-up of the new Spirits business in Nigeria and within the first year of trading, he led the sales team in exceeding their annual operating plan. At Nokia Nigeria he was responsible for the implementation of retail plan for product availability, merchandising and promotion in all outlets, which consistently achieved volume and net Absolute Gross Margin.
He holds a B.Eng. degree in Agricultural Engineering from the Federal University of Technology, Akure and a Masters in Business Administration from the University of Ilorin. He is also an Associate member, National Institute of Marketing, Nigeria.
Speaking on the new appointments, Chief Executive Officer and Managing Director of Airtel Nigeria, Segun Ogunsanya said the appointments underline Airtel’s commitment to developing top Nigerian talents and also providing huge platforms for exceptional Nigerians.
“As an employer of choice in Nigeria, Airtel will continue to provide unique opportunities for top local talents to realize their full potentials. We are glad that some of the best local talents are driving the Airtel dream in Nigeria and across other Airtel operations in Africa. This demonstrates the fact that Nigerians are truly talented and Airtel will continue to provide the right platform to develop these talents,” he said.
In a significant market projection, Mordor Intelligence predicts that the Nigerian telecom sector is set to surge to a value of $11.43 billion by 2029.
The report anticipates a steady growth trajectory with a cumulative average growth rate (CAGR) of 4.70% between 2024 and 2029, based on the current market value of $9.09 billion.
The transformation of Nigeria’s telecom landscape, fueled by government initiatives to boost internet infrastructure and broadband connectivity, coupled with rising data consumption, 5G deployments, and innovative strategies from major telecom players, is expected to drive this substantial market expansion.
The report underscores additional factors propelling the growth of Nigeria’s telecom sector, emphasizing the surge in smartphone adoption.
the report said “Increased smartphone adoption in Nigeria has fueled the development of a dynamic digital services sector. Currently, millions of Nigerians use mobile apps, including social networking sites, e-commerce, and financial services.
“These apps could leverage smartphones’ capabilities to offer speed, convenience, and efficiency, encouraging more people to invest in smartphones.
“In addition to these expansions and collaborations, the growing adoption of digital technologies and government support in aiding the same alongside the 5G technology implementation across the country is analyzed to boost the demand for telecom towers significantly.”
“In addition to these expansions and collaborations, the growing adoption of digital technologies and government support in aiding the same alongside the 5G technology implementation across the country is analyzed to boost the demand for telecom towers significantly.”
Mordor Intelligence highlights that the flourishing e-commerce and digital service platforms in Nigeria are significant drivers behind the escalating demand for dependable telecom services in the country.
The Nigerian Communications Commission (NCC) has granted MTN’s request to partially disconnect Globacom (Glo) from its network owing to unsettled interconnect charges.
Reuben Muoka, the NCC’s Director of Public Affairs, disclosed this in a document named ‘Pre-Disconnection Notice’ on Monday.
The move follows Glo’s persistent failure to clear its outstanding debts despite multiple attempts to resolve the issue.
Under this partial disconnection, Globacom subscribers will solely receive calls from MTN users, while retaining access to other network services like outgoing calls to other networks and data services.
However, they won’t be able to initiate calls to MTN users during this period.
The statement read, “All subscribers are, therefore requested to take notice that the Commission has approved the Partial Disconnection of Globacom to MTN in accordance with Section 100 of the Nigerian Communications Act, 2003 and Paragraph 9 of the Guidelines on Procedure for Granting Approval to Disconnect Telecommunications Operators, 2012.
“At the expiration of 10 days from January 8, 2024, subscribers of Globacom will no longer be able to make calls to MTN but will be able to receive calls.
“The Partial Disconnection, however, will allow in-bound calls to the Globacom network,” it added
Nigerian telecommunication users, along with others within the country, expended a total of N3.33 trillion on various telecom services such as calls, data, SMS, and more throughout 2022, according to the Nigerian Communications Commission (NCC).
This information comes from the recently published ‘2022 Subscriber/Network Data Annual Report’ by the NCC, which also revealed that telecom companies generated N3.33 trillion in overall revenue for that year.
The report further highlights a noteworthy growth of active voice subscriptions, rising from 195,463,898 subscriptions in 2021 to 222,571,568 by December 2022, marking a 13.86% year-on-year increase.
Commenting on the increase, it said, “The increase in the Operators’ subscriber base was attributed to a number of reasons which includes subscriber loyalty, promos, seasonal effects, aggressive consumer acquisition drive, and competitive product offerings across all the networks.”
It noted that the growth in active subscriptions impacted positively on other derived telecom indicators such as teledensity, Internet penetration as well as broadband penetration.
Data usage also continued its surge in 2022. It increased by 46.77 per cent to 518,381.78TB as of the end of the year.
The NCC stated, “There was an increase in the volume of data consumed at the year-end December 2022 when compared with the year-end December 2021.
“The total volume of data consumed by subscribers increased to 518,381.78TB as of December 2022 from 353,118.89TB as of December 2021. This represents an increase of 46.77 per cent in data consumption within the period.”
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