Etisalat Nigeria, the country’s newest GSM mobile network operator, has announced that it has passed the one million subscriber mark – less than nine months after the company launched its services in Nigeria.
According to the CEO, Steven Evans, “The swift and steady growth in our subscriber numbers is an evidence of the acceptance we have enjoyed from our customers and the superior service quality we offer. We are delighted to have been able to hit such a figure under a year of commercial operations despite our position as the fifth entrant into the dynamic Nigerian telecoms market”.
Based on figures from the Mobile World, at the end of Q1, the market shares for the operators in Nigeria were:
- MTN (40.6%)
- Glo Mobile (24.2%)
- Zain (23.6%)
- Etisalat (1.3%)
- M-Tel (0.4%)
Of the country’s CDMA networks, their respective market shares are:
- Visafone (3.6%)
- Multi-Links (2.8%)
- Starcomms (2%)
- ZOOM Mobile (1.5%); also known as Reliance Telecommunications or Reltel Wireless
Mobile operator, Zain, and Ericsson have entered a five-year strategic managed services agreement under which Ericsson will operate Zain’s nationwide GSM/WCDMA networks in Nigeria. Under the agreement, Ericsson will be responsible for the network operations, field operations, including optimisation, third-party vendor management for Zain’s GSM/WCDMA networks, and business support systems.
Lars Lindén, President, Ericsson Sub-Saharan Africa, says the agreement will deliver significant financial and operational efficiencies for Zain over the five-year term. “Managed services is one of the fastest-growing areas in telecoms and Nigeria is demonstrating strong growth and increased levels of investment and competition,” he says. “The synergies between the two companies will ensure best-in-class network stability and market support.” 
