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 Published
September 6th, 2010
Glo, the mobile communications division of Globacom,
Nigeria’s second national carrier which
started operations on the 29th of August 2003
celebrated its 7th anniversary recently. This
milestone in the life of the brand founded and funded with
the personal fortunes of Billionaire business mogul, Otunba
(Dr.) Michael Adenuga Jnr is being celebrated few weeks to
Nigeria’s 50th anniversary celebration.
On several occasions, many Nigerians would have been
saddened by the tales of woe and ruins about the Nigerian
nation served up in the international media, and also by
some local media. Such stories usually border on economic
mismanagement, poor capacity utilisation, wastage of human
capital, decaying infrastructure and so on. Reading such
stories would seem to suggest that Nigeria is on the brink
of collapse. Such tales of hopelessness and doom have also
been actively amplified by some western countries that are
still pursuing the ‘failed state’ agenda through their
biased failed states index publications. Many western donor,
research and think-thank agencies seem to be on a ‘wag the
dog’ mission to witness the disintegration of developing
countries in order to trigger in another era of colonisation
and neo-colonisation, and to pillage highly indebted and
poor African countries with ‘dead aid’, grants and dubious
loans.
Gratefully, Africans and Nigerians are still standing. We
are not finished yet, and we are not ever going to give up.
For this reason, the story of Glo at 7 which is intertwined
with the dogged and bullish story of Otunba Michael Adenuga
Jnr becomes more profound at this period in our national
life when we desperately need to identify and celebrate our
true patriots, national heroes and icons. Doing so will help
inspire the coming generation and also add an interesting
chapter to the story of what is good about Nigeria at 50.
Not wishing to go the way of ‘Abiku’, the fabled
reincarnated child in Yoruba folklore that torments his
parents with constant journeys to the earth through births
and early deaths, Glo has against all odds come to stay
despite the bitter experiences which led to the cancellation
of the earlier license granted to Otunba Adenuga’s
Communications Investments Ltd (CIL) during the first GSM
licensing round in Nigeria when NITEL, MTN and Econet
Wireless (Now Zain/Bharti Airtel) got their licences, and
which gave them many years head start in Nigeria’s lucrative
but highly competitive telecoms market .
Though a late entrant into Nigeria’s GSM market, within 7
years, Glo has become
one of the fastest growing multi-national carriers in the
world with a vision to be the biggest and best carrier in
Africa. With an estimated subscriber base of over 25 million
and operations in 4 West African countries (Nigeria,
Republic of Benin, Ghana and Ivory Coast) and many more
roll-outs planned across Africa, the brand is well placed to
becoming a truly global brand made in Nigeria.
Glo Gateway, Glo’s international wholesale voice and data
exchange trading business unit now covers 140 countries
under its roaming services. It is currently connected to 235
networks. Glo’s data roaming for mobile phones, laptops and
BlackBerry handsets has now spread to 72 networks in 29
countries. This now gives Glo the largest roaming coverage
for voice and data in the whole of Africa.
The next big
telecommunication thing Glo has embarked upon is the Glo1
submarine cable project which has been exciting
telecommunication experts since the Alpha beach (Lagos)
landing in 2009. The solely funded $800 million 9,800 km
long high-capacity fibre-optic cable is billed as a
revolutionary telecom endeavour and has the potential to
decrease telecommunications cost and provide excess
bandwidth to all the countries connected to the cable.
It will provide high speed internet services, faster
and more reliable telecom services. Glo1 will potentially
enhance investment and employment opportunities in Africa,
improve teleconferencing, distance learning, disaster
recovery and telemedicine among several other benefits for
Nigerians and Africans.
The future is bright for Glo in its home country Nigeria as
well as in other countries where it operates as the brand
continues to fulfill its brand promise of being the people’s
telecommunications company of choice, providing seamless and
cost-effective voice, data and multi-media services. Known
for its many firsts in the industry, Glo was the first
company to pioneer the per second billing platform which
practically crashed telephone tariffs in Nigeria and helped
demystify the GSM mobile phone concept thus enabling the
average person irrespective of his or her socio-economic
background to own a mobile phone.
Glo has endeared itself to the people by engaging in several
life touching corporate sponsorships especially in the area
of sports and sports development in Africa. It has been
sponsoring the Glo (Nigeria) Premier league for many years
now likewise the national supporters club of Nigeria and
Ghana. Other assets in its sponsorship portfolio include the
Glo Naija Sings, Glo Ghana Premier League, the Ghana
National Football Team, Glo Lagos International Half
Marathon, Glo People Police Marathon, Eyo Festival, Ojude
Oba Festival, Eleghe Festival, the Confederation of African
Football (CAF) yearly awards amongst several others.
All these have been possible due to one man’s
resilience, vision, courage and enterprise. When the story
of this century’s greatest Nigerians and one of the greatest
business minds of the 21st century is written,
Otunba Michael Adenuga’s name will be found comfortably
placed amongst the very best. As the Glo brand enters
another year in its operational life, a time that promises
to be exciting especially with the infinite opportunities
presented by the Glo1 submarine cable, one can only join
millions of Glo subscribers in wishing the brand many more
successful years in the future. For the Chairman, Otunba
Michael Adenuga, millions of Africans are praying for God’s
continued blessing upon his life and the lives of his family
members as he continues to uplift the fortunes of Nigerians
and Africans through his investments in telecoms and other
sectors which have created thousands of employment and
business opportunities across the continent.
Nworah, a company executive wrote in from Lagos.
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