MTN Nigeria Communications Limited has further demonstrated its avowed commitment to empowering its customers in rural communities in Owerri and its environs, with a recent launch of its community phone project last week.
The investiture, which was well attended, was held at the Imo Concorde Hotel, Owerri, the Imo State capital.
Chief Ikedi Ohakim, governor of the state was the special guest of honour, at the event but was represented by Chief Emmanuel .C. Amafili, the commissioner for Public Utilities and Rural Development in the state , who formally flagged off the Community Phone project .
Dignitaries that attended the launch included Chairman, Consumer Protection Council, Imo State, Hon. Ekwugha Linus Ifeanyi, Rt. Hon Okey Okechuku Dike, State Chairman, Progressive People Alliance, (PPA), Imo State. Also in attendance was Chief Onukwugha Ajoku, representative of Eze of Ogbu Autonomous Community and Mr. S. Kelechi Ejiogu, Chairman / CEO Jesek Nigeria Limited.
Governor Ohakim praised the efforts of MTN in bringing telecommunication services to the people at the grassroots who he described as the poorest of the poor and the down trodden in the society.
"The people of Owerri will be eternally be grateful to MTN for this initiative. As far as Imo State is concerned, MTN has always been the number one network, and now, this community- based telephone service, coming again from MTN; giving the people unlimited access to talk for almost free of charge, MTN we thank you" the governor stated.
Speaking on the initiative behind the project, Mrs. Saidat Lawal Mohammed, MTN Xtra Connect Brand Manager, said that for MTN, the people in the rural communities would not be shut out from the rest of the world who she said needed to be connected to their kit and kin all over the world to do business with the rest of the world knowing that the world has now become a global village.
" This gives us an opportunity to reach out to some of our customers in the grassroots who have a need for communication and the opportunities it brings to improving all aspects of their lives whether personal or business" Lawal maintained.
Mr. Henry Onaga, chief executive officer of Equatel, a partner to MTN Nigeria on the project said that the community phone initiative is borne out of extensive research embarked upon by his company in conjunction with European and American based firms.
"In 2002, we embarked on extensive research on how we can make people in rural communities talk more for less, the launch we are witnessing here today is a product of this research, the first of its kind anywhere on the continent of Africa", he said.
The procedure for operating a community phone is very simple. The phone booths are located at designated centres. What a customer needs to do is to buy a specially made SIM card which is very affordable then insert the SIM and start to make calls. The tariff also comes with flat rate of N22 per minute to any network .The recharge cards are in N100 and N200 denominations.
On the community phone, a customer can enjoy the same service that is obtainable from a GSM handset. Users can send SMS even as customers can also make and receive local and international calls at pocket friendly rates.
