Helios Towers Gets ISO Certification for Global Quality

Nigeria’s foremost infrastructure sharing and managed services provider, Helios Towers Nigeria has achieved ISO 9001:2008 certification for excellent quality management systems and processes. The certification is a confirmation of HTN’s conformity with the requirements of NIS ISO 9001: 2008 standards.
ISO 9001:2008 specifies requirements for a quality management system where an organization needs to demonstrate its ability to consistently provide products/services that meets customer, statutory and regulatory requirements. It aims at enhancing customer satisfaction through the effective application of the system, including processes for continual improvement of the system and the assurance of conformity to customer, statutory and regulatory requirements.
ISO standards provide requirements and gives guidance on good management practice and quality management systems. It is now firmly established as the globally accepted standard for providing assurance about the ability to satisfy quality requirements and to enhance customer satisfaction in supplier-customer relationships.
Presenting the certificate to the company in Lagos, Dr. John Ndanusa Akanya, director general, Standard Organization of Nigeria (SON) said that quality is journey that haas no destination, adding that the certificate will serve of launch pad for Helios Towers to provide effective and high quality services to its customers. He stated that quality is the yardstick for competition.Fazal Hussain, chief executive officer, Helios Towers Nigeria, said the company makes operators more successful by providing fully managed tower sites, reducing their capital investment, minimizing their operating expenses and expediting their rollout. It has quickly become the leading shared infrastructure provider and the reference point for quality of service in the industry and is well positioned to remain the dominant provider of   infrastructure sharing and fully managed services in Nigeria, while adapting its business models to the specific requirements of the Nigerian environment.
Helios Managed Services leverages on the existing expertise to help operators reduce opex by 70%. The Managed Services market within the telecom industry is in a high-growth phase as part of lean operator model and is characterized by agreements that vary in scope between Managed Services providers and a broad range of telecom operators.  With declining ARPU and increasing degree of complexity, the operator can reduce the need to build network and services-related capability and lease this from Helios Towers which has expertise in managing this complexity (resulting in Opex reduction).
Helios Towers recently at Africacom won the 2009 best cost efficiency solution for Africa for its offering. Helios has consistently advocated the lean operator model which aids rapid and further roll out by telecom operators with Zero capex and very reduced opex.
Helios Towers Nigeria (HTN) started operations in January 2006, and its first site went live in June 2006. Currently, the company’s site portfolio includes over 1000 for-operator sites across Nigeria’s 6 geo-political zones with a strong presence in key locations including Abuja, Lagos, Port Harcourt, Warri, Kaduna, Onitsha and Ibadan. Services include infrastructure sharing, managed services and backhaul.
Helios Towers is well financed by a range of international institutional investors including Helios Investment Partners (HIP); a $400m pan-African private equity fund, International Finance Corporation(IFC) and Shanduka Group of South Africa.
In this present lingering global economic recession, only well run and stable companies like Helios Towers can attract foreign investment into the country and the company recently secured $250 million funding from IFC for further roll-out 2,000 sites.