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Tag: Segun Ogunsanya

  • Sanctions not solution to service quality, says Airtel chief

    Sanctions not solution to service quality, says Airtel chief

    Chief Executive Officer, Airtel Nigeria, Segun Ogunsanya has said use of sanctions by the Nigerian Communications Commission (NCC) is not the solution to the quality of service in the country.

    He argued that the ‘fundamentals issues’ besetting service quality have to be tackled head on by all the stakeholders in the industry.

    Ogunsanya, who spoke yesterday at the telco’s Lagos head office in Ikoyi, Lagos, said the company has spent $1.5billion in the last three years to grow its network, saying customers satisfaction remains the cornerstone of its operations in the country.

    According to him, there are about 25,000 base transmission stations (BTS) in country that bristles with over 160 million people, adding that to get a satisfactory quality of service, the nation will need to do twice that number.

    He said despite the obvious disequilibrium in the number of BTS and population, the process of roll-out is not easy as it still takes about one year to secure approval from a litany of agencies that claim to regulate the sector to build one BTS. Added to these are wilful and inadvertent vandalism of optic fibre cables (OFC) by contractors and others who think they could make profit out of it.

  • 1,000 PDP members, others join Lagos APC

    1,000 PDP members, others join Lagos APC

    About 1,000 members of the Peoples Democratic Party (PDP) and chieftains of other political parties in Ikosi-Ejinrin Local Council Development Area (LCDA) of Lagos State defected to the All Progressives Congress (APC) at the weekend.

    They were received by former Commissioner of Health Mr. Leke Pitan; former House of Assembly Speaker Joko Pelumi and the APC Chairman in the council, Elder Lateef Sangosanya.

    One of the defectors, Mr. Segun Ogunsanya, said they dumped the PDP because of the performance of the council Chairman, Prince Olusegun Adetola.

    Lagos APC Vice-Chairman Alhaji Akanni Seriki Bamu urged the defectors to work peacefully with the old members and assured them of a level playing ground.

  • Airtel’s CEO named Credit Personality of the Year

    Airtel’s CEO named Credit Personality of the Year

    Chief Executive Officer and Managing Director of Airtel Nigeria, Segun Ogunsanya, has been named the Credit Personality of the Year, 2013.

     The award, which was conferred by the Institute of Credit Administration (ICA), is aimed at celebrating outstanding professionals within the Industry.

     According to the award organizers, Ogunsanya was recognized for his role in improving the credit profession as well as strict adherence to the ethics of the credit management and its code of conduct.

     A citation read in his honour said the prestigious award is designed to further motivate him to continue exhibiting excellent performance in general credit management, credit operational policies and procedures, as well as capacity building of credit work force in organization.

     The Registrar and Chief Executive Officer, ICA, Dr. Chris Onalo and Former Executive Director/Chief Credit Risk Officer, Zenith Bank, Andy Ojei presented the award to Ogunsanya at a colourful event held in Lagos at the weekend, Saturday, October 5th 2013.

     Earlier at the conference preceding the award ceremony, the Airtel CEO, delivered a paper titled Credit Management in Telecommunications.

    In his presentation, he identified effective credit management system as a critical factor for the growth of stakeholders in the telecommunications industry.

     According to Ogunsanya, organisations within the ICT sector must put in place efficient credit risk management systems in order to avoid collapsed or severe financial problems.

     He added that poor credit management system could lead to reduced liquidity, increased costs of collections and credits, increased finance costs through extra borrowings and declined reputation of the company arising from failure to meet its obligations to its creditors, among other problems.

     The Airtel boss also noted that effectively managing credit and extending same to customers operating in the Telecommunications industry can help attract many more customers inclusive of those who normally would not be able to afford the products.

     The event, which was held at the Protea Hotel, Ikoyi, Lagos, was attended by notable credit professionals including the Registrar/Chief Executive Officer, Institute of Credit Administration (ICA), Dr. Chris Onalo, Andy Ojei, Former Executive Director/Chief Credit Risk Officer, Zenith Bank, Adeniyi Akinlusi, MD/CEO Trustbond Mortgage Bank and Solanke Abimbola, Financial Controller, Airtel Nigeria

  • Operators await LTE licence auction

    Operators await LTE licence auction

    Telecoms operators are waiting for the auction of the operating licences of Long Term Evolution (LTE) of 4G.

    Chief Executive Officer, Airtel Nigeria, Segun Ogunsanya, said the telco has launched the technology in the country, adding that it was a huge success.

    National operator, Globacom, said the contract for its national equipment upgrade which costs over $1 billion is also aimed at the LTE licence. The first contract was struck between the firm and Chines equipment vendor, Huawei; the second was with ZTE. While the former costs $750 million, the latter is $500 million.

    Officials of the equipment vendors said on completion, the telco would only require software upgrade to plug into the LTE when the licence is issued.

    Already, the special purpose vehicle for the merger of MTS, Multilinks and Starcomms, Cpacom, said it would provide superior voice and data services to its customers, which are riding on the latest LTE technology.

    Regulator of the telecoms sector, the Nigerian Communications Commission (NCC) had said it would auction the licences that would allow telecoms operators to deploy LTE or 4G in 2005.

    Wikipedia, a free online knowledge platform, defines LTE as a standard for wireless communication of high-speed data for mobile phones and data terminals based on the GSM/EDGE and UMTS/HSPA network technologies, increasing the capacity and speed using a different radio interface together with core network improvements.

    Executive Vice Chairman/Chief Executive Officer, NCC, Dr Eugene Juwah, said already, people on 800 MegaHertz (MHz) were being upgraded to LTE, adding that the regulator would also auction the 3.5 GigaHertz (GHz) and 2.6 GHz spectra to operators.

    According to him, these spectra are in the custody of the Nigerian Broadcasting Commission (NBC), adding that the broadcast sector regulator has agreed to let the spectra go.

    “We are about to auction LTE licences. We are upgrading people on 800MHZ to LTE. We are also going to auction our 3.5 GHz and 2.6 GHz. They are not in the custody of the NCC but the NBC. They have agreed to make it available in 2015. It took us five years to do this. We are a serious member of the International Telecommunications Union (ITU),” Juwah said.

  • Flag off of Mobile Number Portability scheme

    Flag off of Mobile Number Portability scheme