Competition in telecoms thickens as T.Y Danjuma leads N-tel revolution

There could be tougher competition in Nigeria’s telecoms industry with oil mogul T.Y Danjuma, making significant investments in NatCom Development and Investment Limited (N-tel), having already agreed to lead a revolution for the new entrant, as chairman.

BusinessDay gathered last night, that the emergence of T.Y Danjuma, business and oil mogul, as N-tel chairman is catching the attention of other telecoms firms.

Experts told BusinessDay that Danjuma was appointed to lead the company’s vision in changing the dynamics of telecommunication operations in Nigeria. His appointment is coming on the back of previous speculations by analysts, regarding uncertainties in N-tel, having emerged as a late entrant in the telecoms space.

N-tel also announced Tunde Ayeni as vice chairman at its inaugural board meeting.

Commenting on this key addition to Ntel’s board, Kamar Abass, the company’s CEO, said: “We are delighted to have a man of General TY Danjuma’s standing join us. As our new chairman, and as a shareholder, we welcome his support as we add momentum to our growth and development in Nigeria’s telecoms industry. We expect to benefit enormously from General Danjuma’s sterling leadership credentials and in this way, to build on the excellent work of our immediate past chairman, Tunde Ayeni, who positioned N-tel to deliver the leading broadband experiences already evidenced in Lagos and Abuja.”

A telecoms expert, Lanre Ajayi, who is the former president of the Association of Telecommunication Companies of Nigeria (ATCON), told BusinessDay that there is absolutely no worry about whether or not Natcom will deliver better service.

“The mere fact that they have  SAT-3 advantage and are investing hugely in the business financially and with human expertise, shows the company will deepen competition and enhance capacity,” Ajayi said.

Formerly known as the Nigerian Telecommunications Limited (NITEL), Ntel came in expecting to change the face of broadband service delivery in the country.

N-tel commenced commercial operations of its 4G/LTE-Advanced network on April 8, 2016 in Lagos and Abuja. Network services in Port Harcourt are scheduled to commence early in Q4. NatCom projects making investments totalling more than $1 billion by 2020. Ntel is Nigeria’s most advanced mobile 4G/LTE network, leveraging the SAT-3 submarine cable that served as the nation’s only source of internet connectivity in the time of NITEL, to provide fast internet access that enables high-definition voice, data and video services.

Ntel’s network is built on the 900/1800 MHz frequency bands, which are the best propagation frequencies for the deployment of 4G/LTE technology.

The company’s bouquet of services includes: National Bandwidth; International Voice Termination, International Bandwidth; Mobile and Fixed Communications services.

The company made its first on-net test data call in Lagos, January 18, 2016 and followed this with its first on-net Voice-over-LTE (VoLTE) call in Lagos on February 25, 2016. Commercial operations commenced April 8, 2016.

Patrick Atuanya & Jumoke Akiyode