My Naija News - MTN launches Community Phone in Maiduguri

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MTN launches Community Phone in Maiduguri

Thursday, 28 August 2008

MTN Nigeria Communications Limited last Sunday launched its community phone project. The launch was done at a colorful ceremony at the Maiduguri International Hotel, Maiduguri, the Borno State capital. The State’s Head of Service, Engr Aliv who represented the governor of the state, Senator Ali Modu - Sheriff performed the launching to formally flag- off the Community Phone project.

Other dignitaries present at the occasion included the permanent secretary in the office of the Head of Service, Alhaji Abba Kaka Jato, Alhaji Mohammed Idris, Managing Director, New Millennium Resources Limited, Maiduguri and the General Manager, Maiduguri International Hotel, Barrister Hadizatu Mustapha.

The governor praised the efforts of MTN at bringing telecommunication services to the people at the grassroots. The poorest of the poor, the down trodden in the society. “The people of Maiduguri will be eternally grateful to MTN for this initiative. As far as Borno 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 should not be shot out from the rest of the world. They need to be connected to their kit and kin all over the world; they need to do business with people and the people in turn needed 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, the Chief Executive Officer of Equatel, a partner to MTN Nigeria on the project said that the community phone initiative is borne out 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”.

The procedure for operating a community phone is as simple as ABC. The phone booths are located at designated centers. What a customer needs to do is to buy a specially made SIM card which is very affordable, insert the SIM and start to make his or her call. The tariff comes with flat rate of N22 Naira per minute to any network and N37 per second to any network. The recharge cards come in N100 and N200 denominations. On the community phone, a customer can enjoy the same service that is obtainable from a GSM handset. One can send an SMS, make and receive calls etc.

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