" ITREALMS: Transcorp to relaunch MTel, restores 10 cities

Wednesday, August 22, 2007

Transcorp to relaunch MTel, restores 10 cities

Owners of the Mobile Telecommunications Limited (MTel) and a subsidiary of the Nigerian Telecommunications Limited (NITEL), the Transnational Corporation (TRANSCORP) Plc, has advanced plans to relaunch its Global System for Mobile communication (GSM) operations in the country with better service offerings.

This indication emerged at a media parley with the management team of Transcorp led by its new Group Managing Director (GMD), Mr. Tom Iseghohi, who informed that they have restored about 70 per cent of NITEL fibre optic infrastructure.

He also said that the relaunching plan for MTel would be guided by three outlines, to become the best in clarity, quality of services and access respectively.

He also said that MTel has been revived, hence up and is being test-run in the past five weeks in over 10 cities nationwide.

“We intend to have high quality of service with the new team focusing on the future,” he declared, stressing that there is no need for the new team to concentrate on the past.

Transcorp, he pointed out, would leverage on what it has currently, precisely inherited from the purchase of NITEL, especially in moving MTel, its mobile subsidiary forward and competitive in the GSM market place in the country.

“In the last four weeks, I have been using my MTel but it would not be relaunched anywhere in the country without making sure that the guidelines are followed, that is to offer the best in clarity, quality and access,” he said.

He reassured that the only cities to be relaunched in the coming weeks, would be those that have been confirmed working.

According to him, NITEL has over 400,000 fixed lines and Transcorp tends to leverage on this and open up the telco’s Internet Protocol (IP) infrastructure.

He disclosed that the restoration of NITEL’s fibre optic infrastructure was through a partnership deal with a United States-based company to be revealed in the near future.

The new team, he said, would ensure the fixing of the fibre optic, and fixing the landline with eye on expansion while leveraging on the telco’s Code Division Multiple Access (CDMA) infrastructure for data related services.

In addition, Mr. Iseghohi said that the new team is excited they are already doing something to improve services and access to the network, just as they plan to build over 200 IP Television (IPTV).

Also speaking, the chief executive, MTEL, Mr. Ladi Williams corroborated the GMD on the restoration of the mobile network, noting that the major hiccups of the mobile arm in the past, had been transmission and power, which are being addressed at the top management level.

He said that these are being addressing urgently as the telco plans to relaunch the network in every city where restoration has taken place every two weeks.

Mtel, he said, is targeting 10 million subscribers by 2010, even as its Global Packet Radio Service (GPRS) is undergoing test-run at the Federal Capital Territory (FCT) Abuja.

“And we’re testing our GPRS in Abuja and would soon roll-out,” he affirmed.

ITREALMS Online ... delivering news for ICT4D

No comments:

Featured post @ITREALMS

Night travel: Over 80 passengers robbed, vehicle set ablaze+video – ITREALMS

ITREALMS ... making leadership SENSE with digital news! Over 80 passengers on night travel to the Eastern part of Nigeria with Ifesinachi Mo...