Why MTN Bought Visafone- Ovia

Mr. Jim Ovia, chairman, Zenith Bank Plc, who is also the founder Jim Ovia Foundation, Wednesday attributed the lack of efficient broadband required for speedy telecommunications service as one of the reasons Visafone was sold to MTN, South African telecommunications firm.

MTN Nigeria had in January completed the acquisition of Visafone, in a move MTN said was in line with a continued commitment by the telecom giant to improve the quality of broadband services for its subscribers.

She said the acquisition, which sought to leverage resources for service enhancement, was also reflective of the company’s concerted efforts to deepen the growth and roll out of broadband services across the country.

According to her, the acquisition of the CDMA network was in support of the National Broadband Plan, for the benefit of Nigerians.

Ovia who spoke at Digital Africa conference and exhibition 2016 organised by Digital Africa Global Consult in Abuja,, insisted that without adequate technology infrastructure to power constant connectivity, Internet of Things (IoTs) would be difficult to achieve.

He said: “We have a lot of devices some of which will be dead equipment. Connectivity is very important and without it, internet of things or internet of everything cannot take place. I wouldn’t say that connectivity is the most important thing, but it is extremely very important.

“In some of this connectivity you need it by way of broadband or by way of fibre optics to give you the broadband or may be a wireless. Or may be the spectrum of between 700-800 MGHz that gives you the broadband speed that you need today, and so you can now understand why Visafone eventually sold its network to MTN.”

According to him, the reason there were so many complaints was because of the resource availability that Visafone had, which had to do with the broadband, he added.

He said policymakers must ensure that Nigeria is not left behind in the technological development of the future, adding that during the great industrial revolution, Africa was left behind.

Ovia added that the present technology that enables economy to flourish is so pervasive that nobody can be restricted as students can now have access to information like their counterparts in South Africa, Russia and other places in the world.