In furtherance of its commitment to invest in its network for the purpose of providing the highest possible quality of service to its subscribers, Nigeria's fastest growing and most innovative telecommunications company, Etisalat Nigeria on Tuesday December 18 signed another agreement with global leader in mobile, fixed, IP and optics technologies, Alcatel-Lucent. The agreement signing ceremony took place at Etisalat Nigeria's corporate headquarters at Banana Island, Lagos.
This is the sixth phase of the agreement between the two companies, a working relationship that dates back to 2008 when Etisalat Nigeria entered into an agreement with Alcatel Lucent for the provision of Establish Operate and Transfer Services for the establishment of a Public Mobile Cellular Service in Nigeria for Region 2 of its network which comprises Lagos, Ogun, Oyo, Osun, Kwara, Ondo, Ekiti, Edo, Kogi and Delta states.
Chief Executive Officer of Etisalat Nigeria, Mr. Steven Evans described the contract signing as a milestone towards the company's drive to continually upgrade its network to provide better services to its customers around the country.
"This is a significant milestone as we move into the next phase of our network roll-out. We plan to increase our cell sites by an additional 1,000 in 2013 and this agreement is towards achieving that target. We are happy to be partnering with Alcatel-Lucent, in fulfilment of our promise to continuously deliver quality and innovative services to our customers every step of the way," he said.
He explained that the agreement with Alcatel-Lucent is for the provision of equipment and services for the expansion of its network in the above states. "This agreement being executed is for phase 6 of the project and it is for the further expansion and strengthening of the network in the region. Under this phase 6, Alcatel is to build additional sites and provide the necessary equipment and services for the integration of the sites into the Etisalat Nigeria network," he further revealed.
Amr El-Leithy, President of Alcatel-Lucent's activities in the Middle East & Africa, Turkey and Azerbaijan said: "This new agreement further strengthens our long-standing relationship with Etisalat covering numerous projects, and demonstrates their confidence in our ability to build, deliver and deploy end-to-end complex networks with strong local expertise and support capabilities. We are committed to supporting Etisalat's growth in Nigeria and ensure world class services for its customers, and we look forward to continuing our successful working relationship into the future."
Network expansion and strengthening in Nigeria are important aspects that Etisalat is committed to. It would be recalled that in September 2012 Etisalat Nigeria also signed an agreement with Huawei for the supply of equipment and services for the expansion of its network throughout Nigeria.
About Etisalat
In just about 4 years of operations, Etisalat Nigeria has become a major industry player with a growing subscriber base of over 14 million in a highly competitive market. Its portfolio of voice and data-centric products include - easybusiness, easy starter, easycliq, easyblaze, easynet and elite world; all tailor-made to meet the needs of its subscribers. For its outstanding performance, it has won several awards including 'Brand of the Year', 'Best Telecom Customer Service' Telecom Innovations Company of the Year, and 'Most Innovative Corporate Social Responsibility Company', among others. Etisalat Nigeria is one of the 17 operations of the Etisalat Group that spans across Africa, Middle East and Asia serving over 170 million subscribers; and it is committed to delivering innovative and quality services to its growing subscribers.