Orange Telecom Pledges to Play in Nigeria’s Big Market
An international telecom investor-operator, Orange Group, has pledged to play a big part in the Nigerian telecom sector including mobile, data, fixed and financial technology support services.
Mrs. Victoria Osondu Adefala, stated this when she led a six-member team of Orange Middle East and Africa, on a visit to the Executive Vice Chairman of the Nigerian Communications Commission, Prof. Umar Garba Danbatta in Abuja at the weekend, adding that the group is fully determined to do all it takes to get a slice of the Nigerian market.
“We are here to ensure steady investment for a long term. We also want to support the vision of the Commission in driving broadband penetration for a robust digital economy and leverage on local content development initiatives,” she said.
Adefala disclosed that Nigeria is missing in Orange Group’s portfolio of combined networks of over 140 million subscribers across 18 countries of its operations.
According to her “The large market potentials buoyed by the huge population, impressive Gross Domestic product (GDP) figure, proximity to our operations in the neighbouring African countries, as well as the appreciable friendly operating environment are great motivators for our expansion plan into the Nigerian telecom market”.
In his remarks, Danbatta, who welcomed the group’s decision to invest in Nigeria, reassured the delegation of a robust policy and regulatory environment that provides a quality enabling environment.
Danbatta said the Commission has also taken several other regulatory steps aimed at improving the operational environment such as the ongoing collaboration with Nigerian Governor’s Forum (NGF) to reduce RoW charges on telecom infrastructure deployments; signed Memorandum of Understanding (MoUs) with various government and institutional stakeholders across the country; developed guidelines and regulations to promote colocation of infrastructure, upheld a fair competitive operating environment, among others.
“We welcome more investments into the Nigerian telecom sector. We have enabling laws and regulations that help us to engender a highly competitive telecom market that benefits both the service providers and the consumers. NCC is here to ensure we support our licensees to thrive while also ensuring that they comply with Quality of Service (QoS) Key Performance Indicators (KPIs) set by the Commission because Nigerians will patronise an operator that provides them with affordable services at highest quality,” the EVC NCC said.
