Zain wins Pan Africa Operator Award

Telecommunications gaint, Zain has won the ‘Pan African Mobile Operator of the Year’ at the just concluded Nigeria Information Technology and Telecom Awards (Nitta 2008) for providing telecom service in many towns and cities including difficult spots in the continent, stimulating economic growth and development across Africa, and for promoting excellence and world-class best practices.
The historic Zain 'One Network' service or roaming-fee free or borderless service also came up for mention, with the NITTA Awards Committee describing it as a very innovative service which allows Africans to communicate freely across geographical borders and continents without roaming call charges and without having to pay to receive incoming calls wherever they travel within 16 countries.
Zain One Network reduces the cost of making telephone calls when moving across the borders of many African countries. In addition, users of Zain lines can top up their prepaid accounts with airtime which is available in more than one million sales outlets within the One Network coverage map.
Many Zain customers in Nigeria and several other countries have benefited immensely from the service resulting in increasing popularity of the service in these countries.
Zain One Network was originally launched in September 2006 in Kenya, Tanzania and Uganda, but the service was then extended to a further nine African countries Burkina Faso, Chad, Democratic Republic of the Congo, Republic of the Congo, Gabon, Malawi, Niger, Nigeria and Sudan in 2007 and more recently to Zain's Middle East operations in Iraq, Bahrain, Jordan and Saudi Arabia.
Today, more than 500 million people in Zain's markets, stretching from Manama in Bahrain to Freetown in Sierra Leone can make calls as 'local' customers when they use Zain mobile lines.
In the same vein Mr. Bayo Ligali chief executive officer, Zain Nigeria was awarded the Telecom Personality of the Year at the same event
Ligali according to the organizers has exhibited an outstanding performance in steering Zain Nigeria on the path of growth, during the year.
Nitta Awards Committee noted that despite coming from a different background, the chief executive of Zain has achieved mastery of the Telecom specific management issues within such a short time, taking the driver’s seat and moving his company and by extension the industry in the right direction.
The peculiarity of Ligali as the only Nigeria CEO of a major GSM company in Nigeria, was equally noted by the Award Board of Trustees, adding that he has demonstrated that Nigerians have what it takes to run big telecom businesses successfully.
The awards were presented to the winners at an elegant ceremony held in Lagos, attended by an array of dignitaries including General Yakubu Gowon; Nigeria’s former Head of State, former Foreign Minister, Ambassador Mathew Mbu; Executive Vice Chairman of the Nigerian Communications Commission (NCC), Engineer Earnest Ndukwe; and representative of the Minister of Information and Communications, John Odey, amongst others.