Globacom rolls out service in Ghana by September

Telecommunications giant Globacom will be rolling out service in Ghana by September this year as part of its on-going expansion to West Africa region Nigeria CommunicationsWeek gathered.
The launch of Globacom’s network in Ghana will increase the number of countries while the subscribers of the network are to enjoy the current one network concept to three.
Femi Ogunlusi, Ag. chief operating officer, Globcaom, Republic Benin said at the demonstration of one network concept in Cotonou that it has broken the barriers in communications between subscribers of GloMobile in Republic of Benin and Nigeria.
The one network concept according to him will allow Glo subscribers to enjoy cheap call rate and other products across borders.
He explained that Globacom’s pre-paid subscribers in Nigeria making call to another Glo subscriber in Republic of Benin will be charge the Nigeria call rate as if he is call another Nigerian subscriber. Same applies to calls originating from Republic of Benin terminating on another Glo subscriber in Nigeria, where the caller will be charge the Beninese local call rate.
Ogunlusi added that receiving calls in any of the two countries on Globacom network is free in line with the one network concept.
Globacom launched its network in Republic of Benin last June, and since then it has grown to become the fastest growing network in that country. A feat it achieved in Nigeria few months after it rolled out service in 2003.
Presently, Globacom Republic of Benin has covered over 85 percent of the country with presence in Cotonou, Port Novo, Parkau and Abomi and has 750,000 subscriber base while it is targeting 1.5million subscribers by the end of the year.
The quality of service being experienced by Beninese subscribers is made possible by 155 base stations in the country as well as one million switching capacity.
Globacom’s believe in taking good care of its customers is exemplified with the provision of four state of the art customer care centre it tags Gloworld.
It would be recalled Globacom recently launched the one network concept between its subscribers in Nigeria and Republic of Benin. Mohamed Jameel, group chief operating officer of the company, said that subscribers who roam across the two countries would henceforth not pay any roaming charges as they would be charged the same rate they pay for local calls in their countries.
He explained that the One Network concept was to enable Glo subscribers to enjoy an unbroken connection across the two countries.
“We recognize the strong economic and cultural ties between Nigeria and Benin Republic. There is a high movement of people across these two countries. Our One Network service will therefore boost communication in the region as it makes it stress free and much cheaper,” he noted.
 He added that the service would be extended to cover any country where Glo launched its services. Globacom whose vision is to be the largest and most successful telecom network in Africa is preparing to roll out services in Ghana this year and has plans to extend the network to other African countries soon.
 Glo Mobile Benin, Jameel noted, immediately endeared itself to Beninese as it became the first operator in that country to launch Per Second Billing (PSB) and several value added services including Magic Plus, Multimedia Messaging Service (MMS), GPRS, Easyshare and Ring Back Tune. It was also the first network to roll out services across the country at the same time.
In Nigeria, Glo Mobile achieved a similar feat when, despite starting operations two years after other networks, it not only recorded 1 million subscribers in nine months but also became the fastest growing network in Africa in its first year of operation.