MTN Promises Exciting offer at W.Afri.Tel

Nigeria’s leading mobile telecommunications operator, MTN, has promised to bring to the ninth West African International Telecommunications and Information Communication Technology Exhibition (W.Afri.Tel 2009), value added services and products that the company is currently offering, which are among the latest in the world.
Tapping from the comfortable status of the Group, which only recently announced it has crossed the 100 million subscriber mark, with MTN Nigeria being at the forefront as the operation where the highest growth was recorded; MTN Nigeria is gracing W.Afri.Tel 2009, with a view to consolidating its leadership position in the industry.
MTN Nigeria joining the league of dominant ICT companies that are participating at W.AfriTel, is making a statement that has always been acknowledged in the last eight years that the exhibition is not just a roadmap to the West African and African ICT markets, but it is a programme many people have always looked forward to with enthusiasm. Hence, MTN would be visible at the ninth edition of West Africa’s premier ICT conference and exhibition.
Other leading telecom operators on the continent, such as Globacom, Etisalat, Multi-Links Telkom, Visafone, Anabel Mobile, MTI Plc, ICT Convergence, Harris Stratex, Mi-Fone, ECAS, Skylinks and Gilat Satcom, amongst others, have since booked their places at the yearly exhibition.
MTN had earlier emerged the Gold sponsor for the West African Information Technology Congress (Wafict 2009). The Wafict Congress, running simultaneously with W.Afri.Tel exhibition, will hold from June 2 to 4 at the Ocean View, Victoria Island, Lagos. Engr. Ernest Ndukwe, executive vice chairman of the Nigerian Communications Commission, (NCC), will deliver the keynote address, with lead speakers being Mohamed Jameel, group chief operations officer of Globacom, Mr. Wale Goodluck, corporate services executive of MTN Nigeria, Mr. Thami Msimango, chief executive officer, Multi-Links Telkom as well as Dr. Ekwow Spio-Garbrah chief executive officer of the Commonwealth Telecommunications Organisation (CTO), amongst several other top dignitaries.
MTN Nigeria’s participation at the 2009 event would not mark the telecom company’s first attendance as the company had participated in previous editions of the sub-region’s premier exhibition. W.Afri.Tel, which was introduced in June 2001 by Exhibition Management Services (EMS) of South Africa, has continued to record phenomenal success year-on-year, increasing in size, quality of exhibitors and attendance.
Recalling the huge success of the 2008 edition of W.Afri.Tel, Gillian Pope, exhibition manager of EMS, said her company was deeply touched by the enthusiasm shown by exhibitors and those companies which wish to exhibit but could not because of limited space. “It is on this note we give priority to first come first served. However it also shows the extent the Nigerian market has gone, it has become very important and no operator anywhere in the world can afford to ignore it anymore,” she added.
Speaking on W.Afri.Tel 2009, Mkpe Abang, editor-in-chief of IT & Telecom Digest, Africa’s foremost ICT magazine and sole Nigeria agents for W.Afri.Tel, said noted that despite the so-called global financial meltdown, Nigerian ICT companies and many companies from far and near, which have recognized the potential of the Nigerian market, have continued to see W.Afri.Tel as the best platform for them to reach the ever dynamic Nigerian public. “I have no doubt that W.Afri.Tel 2009 will be another great experience for exhibitors and visitors.”
“It is because of the important role that W.Afri.Tel is playing in the sub-region that IT & Telecom Digest has now taken up the task of organising the Wafict Congress alongside the exhibition,” he added, saying the congress will provide a good avenue for intellectual discourse to further the growth in West Africa’s ICT industry.