Glo marks 17 years of innovative telephony service
Glo, Nigeria’s leading mobile telecommunication services provider, has celebrated its seventeen years of operations in the competitive Nigerian telephony market. The wholly indigenous telecom brand was launched on August, 29, 2003. Since it rolled out services in 2003, Globacom (Glo for short), has consistently brought innovation, quality service delivery and benefits to its subscribers.
The firm demonstrated its intention to be a big player on the continent, right from the start, with a telling vision statement, “Building Africa’s biggest and best telecommunications network”.
Its mission statement was equally ambitious: “To be the largest, most successful entertainment, information and telecommunications solutions provider in Nigeria and Africa”.
The two statements were fashioned in the image of the company’s Chairman and Founder, Adenuga, Jr. Although a publicity-shy billionaire, his business accomplishments in virtually every critical sector of the economy are visible. He is known to think and dream big – a very tenacious and dogged entrepreneur who likes to grow his businesses to be the best in the sectors he operates in.
Globacom became a game changer in the telecom sector when it launched operations on Per Second Billing, which the older networks said was not possible. In doing that, Globacom made history as the first network in Africa to launch on per second billing platform. The company became a household name in Nigeria and, within nine months, it made history as the first network to amass a million subscribers in that space of time.
It also crashed the cost of SIM card from N25, 000 to N200 and reduced call tariff from N50 a minute to as low as five kobo per second. The company thus ensured massive telephone penetration in Nigeria as millions of Nigerians who hitherto had no access to telephone services were able to do so. This earned it praises from the International Telecommunication Union, an agency of the United Nations, which commended it for playing a critical role in the revolution in Nigeria’s telecommunications industry.
Globacom also became known as the innovator in the industry with the launch of Multimedia Messaging Service (MMS), mobile banking, mobile Internet, vehicle tracking, prepaid roaming, in-flight roaming, Blackberry services, among others. Glo was the first operator in Africa to launch its operations on the 2.5G network which enabled the convergence of voice, data and multimedia technologies.
The introduction of the 3G Plus technology marked the second time that Globacom pioneered the latest transmission network in Nigeria, having introduced the 2.5G technology at a launch in 2003 when other operators were running on the 2G platform.
Globacom lived up to tradition when it became the first operator to launch a nationwide 4G-LTE coverage in Nigeria, thus availing its subscribers enhanced data transfer rates, unmatched mobile broadband experience and high data speeds and reliability. It has successfully done a test-run of its pilot 5G technologies in readiness for the ‘Big Data’ and IoT deployment.
Globacom has also contributed to boosting broadband connectivity in Nigeria by building and launching an international submarine cable, Glo 1. It was the first time a company would single-handedly implement such a massive undersea project in Africa. In addition to boosting the provision of services to telecom end users, the facility is currently providing the much-needed connectivity to vital sectors of the economy such as oil and gas, manufacturing, banking, commerce, education and health, among others. Glo unveiled its $800 million sub-marine optical fibre cable, Glo I, on April 8, 2011, thereby making it the first telecommunication company to build such a high-capacity optic fibre from the United Kingdom to Nigeria. In another record-breaking move in the telecommunication sector, the second largest telecom multinational, Globacom Limited recently disclosed that it would inaugurate its second submarine optic fibre cable, Glo II Submarine Cable between the third and fourth quarters of this year.
Globacom has in recent years played a major role in the country’s march to a digital future. It introduced a range of customized and community-driven voice and data connectivity solutions which help to manage complex networking systems. Globacom also provides secured as well as verticalized IT solutions such as E-Health, Smart Cognitive Learning, Smart Energy, Industrial IoT and Cloud Applications. These solutions are particularly useful for collaborations, device management, workgroup storage, information security, among others.
Globacom’s fixed connectivity and voice products, such as Boost and Next Generation Bandwidth-on-Demand connectivity, SIP-based voice trunk and telephony, further enhance the company’s capacity to deliver advanced connectivity and fixed voice solutions to medium and large enterprises, large wholesale carriers and ISPs in Nigeria and Africa.
As a mark of its corporate social responsibility, Glo has invested huge resources in different spheres of national life, making it one of the biggest corporate entities supporting the entertainment and sports industry in Nigeria. Glo’s contribution to the entertainment industry gave impetus to the phenomenal growth recorded by Nollywood in the last one decade. It’s avowed belief in local content and talents has many artistes become brand ambassadors of the iconic telecom brand in lucrative sponsorship and partnership deals. In 2005, Globacom and the Confederation of African Football (CAF) signed a partnership agreement for the sponsorship of the annual CAF Player of the Year Awards. The attendant glamour of the ceremonies organized by Globacom elevated the awards, hitherto a footnote in Africa’s football calendar, to a major event in the global football chart. These, among other accomplishments of this top telecom brand has made a major force in the Nigeria telecom space.
While appreciating the several innovations Globacom has brought to the Nigerian telecoms space, among which include the crashing of voice and data prices, poverty-alleviation programmes and life-impacting promos, its over 50 million subscribers are demanding improved services, and further expansion to areas yet uncovered in the country.
A subscriber, Salawu Adewale, praised the Globacom team but urge them to do more in the area of network quality and coverage. “I want to salute the giant stride by Mike Adenuga in the communication world. However, a lot more work needs to be done on quality and coverage. Our sincere loyal patronage will forever be with the original Nigerian brand-Glo.”
Another user, Anana Okwesa, who has been a Globacom subscriber for 16 years, said: “I am proud to say I have had unlimited connection on Glo for 16 years. Hurray! Up Glo!
The Glo brand has continued to wax strong even in the face of stiff competitions. Indeed, it can only get better for an innovative brand.
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