There was this Christian lady that had to do a lot of traveling for her business, so she did
a lot of flying. But flying made
>er nervous so she always took her Bible along with her
to read and it helped relax her. One time, she was sitting next to a man. When he saw
her pull out her Bible, he gave a little chuckle and went back to what he was doing.
After awhile he turned
>o her and asked, ?You don?t really believe all that stuff in there
do you??
The lady replied, ?Of course I do. It is the Bible.?
He said, ?Well what about that guy that was swallowed by that whale??
She replied ?Oh, Jonah. Yes I believe that, it is
>in the Bible.?
He asked, ?Well, how do you suppose he survived all that time inside the whale??
The lady said, ?Well I don?t really know. I guess when I get to heaven I will ask him.?
?What if he isn?t in heaven?? the man asked sarcastically.
?Then
>you can ask him,? replied the lady.
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ECONET WIRELESS IN NIGERIA Econet Wireless Nigeria Limited is a company registered in Nigeria with registration number RC:398557 and is owned by Econet Wireless Limited, First Bank of Nigeria Plc, Broad Communications Limited, First City Asset Management Limited, Ocean and Oil Networks Limited, Bromley Limited, Leadway Assurance Plc and the investment companies of Lagos State, Delta State and Akwa Ibom State. On 9 February 2001, EWN was granted a license to operate a digital mobile GSM network in Nigeria. The license number is DML2G/003/01.
During December 2000, EWI put together a Nigerian consortium to bid for one of the Global System for Mobile Communications GSM digital mobile licences being auctioned by the Nigerian Communications Commission. The consortium was led by EWI and First Independent Networks Limited , a group of local Nigerian entrepreneurs and institutions. EWI and FINL formed and registered EWN, a Nigerian company with address: Cowrie House, 27 Adeyemo Alakija Street, Victoria Island, Lagos to participate in the auction. The EWN consortium was successful in securing a license in the auction, which closed on 19th January 2001, with a final price of US million and First Bank of Nigeria Plc then joined EWI and FINL, as investors in EWN. Subsequent to this, other parties became investors in EWN, namely the Lagos, Delta and Akwa Ibom State Governments, through their state owned investment companies.
EWN and two other operators, subsequently paid for their licences, whilst the fourth bidder, Communications Investments Limited , failed to pay on due date and forfeited its license. The successful bidders will operate for a period, until such time as the fourth license is issued, through the Second National Operator auction in April 2002, in a three rather than the planned four competitor market.
Subsequent to the award of the license, a resolution was passed by EWN board to restructure EWN's shareholding. As a result, FINL was unbundled and all its investors were allocated shares directly in EWN. In addition to the restructuring exercise, an agreement was reached between EWI and the other shareholders of EWN pertaining to EWI's failure to pay for its 40% equity interest in EWN. In terms of the agreement reached between the parties, EWI equity was reduced to 5%.
It is projected that effective national coverage would be achieved through an aggressive rollout strategy. EWN has put together a comprehensive distribution and dealer structure which includes a network of EWN shops and appointed over 300 franchise, authorized dealers and resellers, with the largest being the GSM Centre, which has almost 50 outlets nationwide. In addition, over 2,500 personnel have been trained for these distributors. EWN has also signed agreements with over 50 Nigerian banks and is in negotiation with a further 33, representing over 80% of the Nigerian banking market to distribute Libertie, a Prepaid contract and Buddie recharge cards, to their customer base. Furthermore, Interconnect Agreements and technical interconnection have been negotiated and achieved with MTN, NITEL and the PTOs. Lastly, EWN has awarded a contract to Econet Satellite Services for the construction of its own international gateway.
EWN was the first to launch in Lagos, Abuja, Port-Harcourt, Uyo, Warri, Kano and Ibadan. EWN also offers service in Kaduna, Asaba, Onitsha and will soon launch service in Enugu, Aba and Benin City.
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news
01 Nov 2002
Nigeria: Globalcom makes deal with Alcatel
Telecoms operator Globalcom has signed a US equipment contract with France's Alcatel to launch the country's second fixed-line operation in competition with the state monopoly, Nigeria Telecommunications (Nitel), says Business Africa
In August Globalcom won the bid to set up a rival fixed and mobile system. Globalcom says it will roll out 1m digital mobile lines and 100,000 fixed wireless lines.
Meanwhile, South Africa's MTN, one of the country's two leading mobile-phone operators, has rejected reports that its Nigerian operation is "struggling" and won't become profitable until late 2005. MTN's managing director insists that the Nigerian operation is doing better than expected and will "definitely" earn a profit in the 12 months to March 2004.
Parent company M-Cell paid US for one of two cellphone licences issued in January 2001 and spent a further US rolling out its network. In its first financial year, however, revenues were only US. M-Cell says that MTN Nigeria now has more than half a million subscribers, roughly similar to that of its chief rival, Zimbabwe-based Econet Wireless International. It adds that, far from draining the group, international operations are making an increasingly important contribution, accounting for 19% of revenue last year, up from 4.5% previously. Concerns about profitability in Nigeria have contributed to the poor performance of M-Cell's shares in the past year.
Source: Business Africa.
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