For a dream that did not have replica in its massiveness, it was natural that it would give birth to its own biblical Thomases. From licence cancellation to political intimidation, cheap propaganda to attempts at tar-brushing the architect of the dream, Globacom Nigeria Limited took off from the stage of conception and like raw gold that was wrought from the hot fire of the smithy, Mike Adenuga has moulded his dream of a telecom empire for Nigeria and Africa into an impressionable reality.
That raw dream of 10 years ago is one of the few showcases the Nigerian holds aloft as an example of his belonging to the global family of thinkers; that he too belongs to the league of world thinking icons and visionaries who modulate mustard seeds of ideas and watch them grow into massive Iroko trees. It was an audacity to dream.
But those who were diametrically opposed to the Globacom dream could not be said to have done anything unusual. They belong to a family of the world’s pessimism which was always sarcastic to and disdainful of inventions and revolutions. Take for instance the invention in geography that was later known to be the Copernican revolution. Two hundred years before Nicolaus Copernicus’ book entitled De revolutionibus orbium coelestium (On the Revolutions of the Heavenly Spheres), published in 1543, the world was ruled by Ptolemy’s view of the heavens, which postulated that the earth was at the centre of the galaxy. The Copernican Revolution, which became the starting point of the 16th-century scientific revolution, however held a heliocentric model which submits that the Sun was at the centre of the Solar System. In essence, Copernicus changed the way the world reasoned.
Globacom has lived to the billing as the Copernican dream of the Nigerian telecom industry. Take for instance its Per Second Billing revolution. Before the revolution, the industry had been inundated by societal angst against the widely-perceived unfavourable disposition of its foreign competitors which were diametrically opposed to the possibility of the PSB before 2007. The Nigerian public bickered on why callers had to pay N50 flat rate per minute, even if the call lasted for only one second. But like a matador and a revolutionary that it is, Globacom broke the frontiers of pessimism and introduced the billing platform at launch on August 29, 2003. It coasted home with the laurel of being the first operator to launch on this platform. It was a revolution that other networks had to tag along with reluctantly.
More phenomenal was the issue of General Radio Packet Services (GPRS)., Globacom again made history when, in 2004, it earned the laurel of becoming the first network in Nigeria to launch the GPRS. The revolution, enabled by the 2.5G technology, is a platform which guarantees high speed data transmission and multimedia messaging services, among other benefits. It also provides ancillary services, like other value added services which were unavailable on the 2G technology deployed by other operators in the industry prior to 2004.
Aware of its pedigree as a long distance runner in the race to change the face of telecommunication in Nigeria, Globacom again launched the N1 SIM promotion as its own contribution towards marking the country’s 44th independence anniversary. Before then, SIM packs ran into multiple of thousands of naira which alienated a number of potential subscribers. Immediately it dropped its Prepaid Classic SIM card price, not only did it come across to the people as the only network that was people-friendly, it came across again as a barrier breaker.
In the area of innovation, Globacom has always held the ace. It has led in the adoption of new technology and value added services that have pointed the way forward in the industry. In this wise, it launched its network on a 2.5G GPRS platform, leaving other networks under the 2G network.
The BlackBerry, which has become a household phenomenon in Nigeria, was also pioneered in the nation’s telecom sector by Globacom and it took other operators at least one year after to copy the initiative. An integrated wireless, handheld device, which supports push button e-mail, mobile telephone, text messaging, web browsing and other wireless information services, Blackberry has become one of the revolutions of the first-rate telecom industry.
Globacom also scored another plus by being a telecom company that broke the tradition of a consortium in building a submarine cable network. Hitherto, this consortium pooled up resources to create the cable for the enhancement of their connectivity and bandwidth capacity. However, by single-handedly providing the high capacity Glo 1 optic fibre cable, Globacom brought direct connectivity between West Africa, the UK and the rest of the world. The 9,800 km long cable provides huge bandwidth capacity on its 2-fibre pair system. The outcome of this is robust connectivity for voice, data and video and it has the potential to connect 16 West African countries through the branching units to the rest of the world. Some of the countries like Nigeria and Ghana are already benefiting from the Glo 1 revolution.
Perhaps the most phenomenal in the list of Globacom’s interventions is its social support to numerous social strata in Nigeria. There is hardly a state in Nigeria which has not felt the Midas-touch of Globacom. Like a public-spirited woman spreading its bevy of goodies, virtually all nooks and crannies of Nigeria have felt the Public Sector initiative of Globacom through the provision of Public Telephone Operator facilities and training for young men and women. It has also partnered with the National Poverty Eradication Programme (NAPEP), Niger Delta Development Commission (NDDC) and Shell Petroleum Development Commission among numerous others, to support private, corporate and state initiatives to cage the monster which unemployment had become in Nigeria.
Through iconic sponsorships like Glo CAF Awards, the national teams, the Nigerian Premier League, the football supporters club, Manchester United, Live broadcast of EPL matches, Glo Lagos International Half Marathon, the Glo Golf Tour, the Glo Soccer Academy, Globacom has taken the lead in connecting the people to their passions.
Aware that several Nigerians walk the streets pregnant with talents that most times became rotten and dry within them, Globacom made the showcase of talents its centrepiece. For instance, the world’s number one music singing talent reality TV show, “X Factor”, in March this year landed in Africa for the first time. The show which is still on-going is spiced with eye-popping candies like the ultimate winner going home with a princely sum of $150,000 (N24million), the biggest among music reality TV shows in the continent.
Again in 2005, Globacom began a talent-hunt and entertainment spectacle called Campus storm, where it advertises its appreciation to Nigerian universities and the youth as a whole for the unalloyed support and patronage of the network. In the process, it also creates an evening of fun and laughter through which the students drown the pressure of classroom works, thereby easing academic stress. This programme has been lauded round the campuses of Nigerian universities as it has also become a hub of discovering upcoming artistes and is an opportunity for them to advertise their talents to the world.
Perhaps as an underscore of its pan-Africanism, the company is also in pursuit of a vision to become the largest and most successful telecommunications company in Africa. It rolled out services in some West African countries. On June 5, 2008, Globacom began operations in the Republic of Benin. It instantly became the favourite of subscribers and Glo Mobile Benin ramped up about 800,000 subscribers within 10 months of operation. Its sister pan-African intervention, Glo Mobile Ghana, which began business on April 29, 2012, also hit the one million subscribers mark in three months. It has also extended its telecom tentacles to having licences in Senegal, Cote d’Ivoire and Gambia.
In 10 years, Globacom’s operations can be likened to the advent of a revolution. It has bested every imaginable telecom operations in Nigeria and has stimulated a new era of telephony in the country. Let’s toast to the health and further growth of our own Copernican Revolution in telecommunication in Nigeria!
•Osasere, a telecommunication analyst, lives in Benin, Edo State.
