" ITREALMS: Globacom eyes top position in African market

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Wednesday, October 24, 2007

Globacom eyes top position in African market

The Second National Operator, Globacom, has announced its desire to occupy the number one position on the continent’s telecommunications market.

The telco which last week introduced another number range, 0705, on its network, said its ready to assume the leader of the Global System for Mobile communications (GSM) market.

Quoting the latest reviews of the mobile market in Africa and Middle East (AME) region by Cellular News, the telco said it has indicated that Globacom has moved from the sixth position last year to the fifth position in the second quarter of 2007 in terms of growth in subscriber base.

According to the Chief Operating Officer, Globacom, Mr. Mohammed Jameel, with this, Glo has displaced MTN South Africa and is currently aiming for the top spot on the continent.

“With each quarterly review, Globacom continues to post impressive showing in the league of the top 10 operators in Africa and the Middle East region,” he said.

He added that by the second quarter of this year, Globacom had earned 13.95 million subscribers within just four years of operations.

The review also stated that this is about 37.3 per cent of the Nigerian GSM market, while MTN Nigeria has 14m and faces the harsh reality of Globacom closing the gap in the next few months and eventually seizing the market leadership in the country.

Last week, Globacom announced it has achieved a 15 million subscriber base and introduced a new number series, 0705.

At a parley with key Information and Communication Technology (ICT) editors in Lagos, Mr. Jameel disclosed plans by the telco to reach for the leadership position in the next few months.

He pointed out that Globacom has commenced installation of capacity for over 30 million subscribers by the end of this year, adding that over 150 base stations every week are being put in place across the nation, which would bring additional 750 base stations to the network by the same time.

“The equipment for achieving this phenomenal growth is already in the country,” he said.

However, South Africa’s Vodacom maintained its decade-long leadership hold in the Top 10 league, a hold that is being highly threatened by the advances of the Nigerian Globacom.

The review also showed that Vodacom SA added 1.55 million new connections in the quarter, to take its subscriber base to 21.95 million, a regional market share of about 6.6 per cent.

The Telecommunications Company of Iran (TCI) took the second place with 17.8 million subscribers, while STC of Saudi Arabia closed the quarter with 15.5 million connections, to become the third after a gain of just 0.2 million.

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