Creativity, innovation, idiosyncrasy, eccentricity among other peculiarities are simple but truthful realities that mark off an individual, organization or business for greatness and growth, not forgetting such other uniqueness as exemplary leadership qualities, decentralization and delegation of authorities and good following.
Telecom sector dominance by any network operator in Nigeria is not given, it is merited. With an avalanche of mouthwatering incentives, attractive promos, free subscription by fellow Telcos, to lure consumers to their side, then it is obvious that the market is neither for a pretender, nor for a chicken hearted. Competition is the word.
Globacom, a telecoms company that commenced operation in Nigeria with a knack for innovation and Pan-Nigerian policies blazed the trail in per second billing, thereby rescued Nigerians from the Shylock grip of the precursors of modern Nigerian Telecommunication outfits in Nigeria.
It is crystal clear that Globacoms since inception has never introduced polices that are anti-people, be it data or voice.
The record is very clear; Globacoms has never been indicted in any illegal transaction like SIM card registration issues, voice and data manipulations unlike many other networks. It has the record of delivering on their promises on promotion issues.
During the Pandemic Glo introduced various data incentives knowing that many Nigerians would work from home, though many other networks initiated various other promos, but such promos were fraught with irregularities and manipulations. Even as such networks introduced free SMS and data bonuses, they ended up ripping off consumers through charges in their voice and data consumptions. Glo was never in such callous book manipulations.
Ideally in keeping with its usual consumer centric policy, recently the Digital Transformation colossus, Globacom, initiated new data plans for heavy data users to give them more value for their money.
According to Globacom, the plans which are called Glo Mega Data will be particularly useful for home broadband users, such as Small Office Home Office (SOHO) and SME customers and even High-end customers who have the need for higher data benefits with longer validity periods can also avail themselves of these new offerings.
The Glo Mega Data plans include one for N30,000 which gives subscribers 225GB with a validity of 30 days and another one for N36,000 which offers 300 GB and also offers 30 days’ validity. Much more are other categories such as the plan for N50,000 offers 425GB and validity of 90 days, while yet another for N60,000 offers 525GB of data valid for 120 days.
That is just a tip of the ice bag, now the super heavy users have an irresistible offer in the plan for N75,000 which gives 675GB with 120 days’ validity and the plan for N100,000 which gives a hefty 1TB of data valid for one full year.
Globacom said “These fantastic data plans are available for both existing and new Glo subscribers”, adding that the plans are auto-renewable and can be gifted or shared by a subscriber with others on the Glo network. The Mega Data packs can be used on any compatible device such as handsets, modems and routers.
Speaking further on the rationale for introducing the plans, Globacom said it was part of its measures for alleviating the difficulties associated with the covid-19 pandemic.
“With the Covid-19 situation, millions of people rely on the internet to work or study from home, carry out most business and social transactions, hold meetings, seminars, religious worship, among other activities. We have introduced this package to cater for such heavy data users”, Globacom said.
By launching growth initiatives from all fronts, recognition, growth and development have brought fortunes to the organization as Globacom emerged as the biggest gainer among the four top telcos in terms of the most data subscribers gained in the first half of 2020. Glo telecoms group began the year with 29,205,304 and by June had climbed to 37,971,313, a gain of 8.766 million.
In the latest classification from Nigerian Communications Commission (NCC), the second-largest telco by voice subscribers saw the most spikes in internet subscriptions from the month of March and April. Between February and March, Globacom recorded nearly 3 million internet subscribers to emerge the top gainer in that period.
It is obvious that one of the main drivers of expansion for Globacom is its extensive 3G and 4G coverage. Glo remains the first network to achieve nationwide 4G coverage in Nigeria, its major selling point is the GLO-1 submarine communications cable with a minimum capacity of 640 Gbit/s which cost $700 million to complete in 2011. The 9,800km long cable system is situated along the west coast of Africa between Nigeria and the United Kingdom.
The company has also utilized the power of partnerships to expand its business. Glo’s growth initiatives in Nigeria include a unique partnership with the Small and Medium Enterprises Development Agency of Nigeria (SMEDAN) to support 17 million small and medium business owners in the country.
The partnership which covered about 17 million entrepreneurs under SMEDAN is seen as a huge stimulus to boost economic growth in the country.
According to Globacom’s Head, Corporate Sales, Kamaldeen Shonibare, the company would through the partnership empower small and medium enterprises who are members of SMEDAN in their businesses by providing them access to grants, soft loans and capacity training programmes.
The training opportunities, he explained, were designed to equip the entrepreneurs with current value-adding global best practices that will help them reposition their businesses. He said Globacom teamed up with SMEDAN on the initiative because Micro, Small and Medium Enterprises were the engine room for the rapid growth of the economy because of their closeness and importance to the day-to-day existence of the people.
“As a proudly Nigerian company, Globacom is partnering with SMEDAN to catapult Nigeria to greatness through the empowerment of SMEDAN’s over 17 million members. We will support SMEDAN and its affiliates with funds, sensitization workshops and business tools. We will also support the Industrial Development Centres being established in some states of the federation. Our dream is to catapult numerous five thousand naira businesses to a half a million naira enterprises within one year,” Shonibare said.
Director-General of SMEDAN, Mr. Bature Umar Masari said “SMEDAN is happy to partner with an indigenous company which has become a global brand. Ever since Glo demystified the myth that per-second billing for calls was not possible, they have not stopped developing products and services that are beneficial to Nigerians, especially the masses”.
In 2019 Globacom Nigeria Limited also mapped out plans that would help position the Nigerian economy on the right digital path.
While launching the plans at an event in Lagos, the Globacom’s top executives explained some innovations that have been put in place by the company to revolutionize the industry. Among other things, was the use of Artificial Intelligence to deepen Glo customers’ user experience.
Glo asserted that it would launch an Artificial Intelligence platform which would directly interact with customers, whilst helping them with any kind of assistance. These include helping customers to choose the right data plan and call credit, as well as help resolve other issues such as balance enquiry/Value Added Service (VAS) and that the service would be available 24/7.
The company recently announced that it would be expanding several billions of naira towards the development of its 4G network across the country. The move became imperative as a way of accommodating increased traffic on the network which has been caused by new users on the network.
Since its emergence on the Nigerian telecommunications scene in 2004, Glo has remained positively pro Nigerian and unapologetic about it. Globacom since commencement of Business in Nigeria has engineered and pioneered a long list of innovations, which have taken the Nigerian telecommunications sector to great heights attracting the envy and commendations from far and near.
Some telecoms subscribers, who spoke about the quality of data services they receive from both GSM and ISP operators, said in the area of service quality, Glo has extensive 3G and 4G data coverage, and became the first network to achieve nationwide 4G coverage. Glo also enjoys extensive fibre optic network spanning thousands of kilometers. Indeed these have ensured reliable and qualitative data service delivery. Glo network is also known to carry out regular modernization and upgrade of its facilities to guarantee unbeatable and unchallenged seamless services.
Talking about affordability, subscribers said Globacom had over the years, established a reputation for offering the most competitive data plans in the market and attractive packages with unmatched value. Its innovativeness came to the fore when the lockdown occasioned by the Covid-19 pandemic started. During the period, Glo rolled out two unique plans, the Stay Home Data plan, which gives subscribers up to 20 per cent more data and the Sunday Data plan, which offers 1.2GB for just N200 on Sundays.
Also in a bid to maintain market lead in data service offering, Glo announced fresh data plans for customers. Globacom increased the data volumes offered its esteemed subscribers in line with the company’s resolve to make life easier as humanity continues to battle the coronavirus pandemic.
The telecoms company announced mouth-watering data bonuses for existing and new subscribers who purchase any of its data plans including night volume which is operational between 12 midnight and 5 a.m.
For instance, anybody who recharges with N50 will get additional data value of 18MB and an additional night bonus of 5MB, making a total of 50MB as against the earlier data value of 32MB. This is for both new and existing subscribers. New customers who recharge with N100 will be offered 35 MB night data bonus in addition to the usual 160MB, bringing the total to 195MB, while existing customers who used to get 105MB will now have 150MB.
N500 data plan now gives an additional night bonus of 550MB to bring the total to 1.35GB from 1GB for existing customers, while new customers who normally got as much as 1.85GB, will now have 2.15GB data value. For N1,000 recharge, existing customers who got 2.5GB will now have a whopping 2.9 GB total value, while new subscribers who used to get 3.8GB will now receive a total of 4.2GB of data. The data bonuses are graduated to reach N20,000 recharge which now gives humongous 12 GB data bonus, bringing the total to 138GB for both existing and new customers instead of the former 115GB .
According to Globacom, the data values were revised to give the best benefit for money in terms of data volume at unique price points for subscribers. “The prevailing Covid-19 pandemic entails much more being done online by data users. People require reliable and affordable internet services to be able to work, shop, study, socialise and do business transactions online. This is why we have empowered them with additional data value for every recharge made on our network,” Globacom stated.
