Communication Minister Welcome Zain Brand to Nigeria
August 18, 2008 by ella
The man saddled with the responsibility of overseeing the Nigerian telecom industry and Minister of Communication, John Odey, today in Abuja the nation’s capital officially welcome Zain brand into Nigeria following the transformation of the Pan African telecom brand, Celtel to Zain, across the continent.
Receiving the Chief Executive Officer of Zain in Nigeria, Bayo Ligali and other officials of the company, Odey said the government welcome the rebranding of Celtel in Nigeria and the introduction of the Zain brand in line with the leading global mobile operator in the Africa and the Middle East, Zain Group’s worldwide ambition of becoming a big worldwide brand.
He commended Zain for investing heavily in infrastructure development across various communities in Nigeria, adding that the mobile company’s massive expansion programme has brought relief to many people especially rural dwellers.
Explaining the reasons for the transformation of Celtel to Zain, the company’s Chief Executive officer said brand identity change was in line with the leading international mobile operator strategy of unifying its brands into one big, strong, easily recognisable and acceptable global brand.
He noted that the rebranding programme will bring a lot of benefits to customers of the company. Some of the benefits include more investment and infrastructure development in the country, access to One Network, Zain’s roaming charges-free service in numerous countries in Africa and the Middle East, improvement in service quality, greater synergy in terms of products and services developments and sharing of expertise and experience, among many others.
The Chief Executive said that customers of the company are now members of the over 52 million strong Zain family worldwide. He explained that the rebranding has not affected the management structure of the company, emphasizing that the management, board and owners structure under Celtel will remain in place under the Zain brand.
He told the Minister that the company is currently pursuing an aggressive rural expansion and connection programme through the introduction of the most cost effective ultra low cost GSM handsets and rural distribution and entrepreurship programme, the Rural Acquisition Initiative (RAI) that seeks to create wealth and jobs and involve communities in the maintenance, security of base stations and distribution of products.
In his response, the Minister enjoined the company to embark on consumer education to explain the reasons for the transformation from Celtel to Zain as well as intensify the rural connection programme, with a view to increasing the penetration rate of telecom in the rural areas.
The visit of the Minister was part of the CEO’s visit to the Abuja, the capital of the company’s North Central Region.
Earlier, Ligali in company of the General Manager, North Central Region, Zain, Dotun Babayemi, Head, Corporate Communications, Zain, Emeka Oparah, Zain’s Head of Government Relations Division, Tobechukwu Okigbo, Regional Sales Officer, Vera Wuraola, Regional Trade Marketing Officer, Ademola Awobokun, and Public Relations Manager, Emmanuel Otokhine had a breakfast meeting with the media, visited Hot FM and the Federal Radio Corporation of Nigeria.
Speaking to the Journalists present at the event, Ligali commended the media for its unflinching support for the company throughout all its transformation process and at other times, and for contributing the growth of the industry through its constructive critical analysis, discuss of key issues and commitment to consumer advocacy.
The North Central Region is the third region to be visited by the Chief Executive Officer.
