Update1: Etisalat adopts ‘9mobile’ as new brand name

 

Etisalat Nigeria has made swift moves to rebrand by changing its name to 9mobile, as part of its efforts to operate seamlessly, regardless of its recent troubles resulting from the inability to service a $1.2 billion loan taken out by the company in 2013, BusinessDay gathered.

According to reports, Etisalat Nigeria made the decision to adopt the new name 9mobile after an executive meeting in Lagos Thursday.

BusinessDay sources at Etisalat, however say; the decision has not been made public and so, it cannot yet be confirmed as final.

“We know that there was a meeting but the regulator has to give permission before a name change can be final. I can’t say if the Nigerian Communications Commission (NCC) has approved the new name,” Our source said.

Tony Ojobo, Director, Public Affairs, NCC, said the commission has not been officially briefed of the development.

“I am not privy to any letter to that effect. Etisalat Nigeria might have adopted the name as an internal decision, going by the three weeks ultimatum given to them from Abu Dhabi, brand change involves a lot of processes,” he said.

Experts say the name ‘9mobile,’ which seems to have derived from it’s 0809ja slogan, formed when the company started operating with numbers starting with the 0809 prefix, might sail through registration at the corporate affairs commission (CAC) and would most likely be approved by the NCC, who have shown concern for the operator and its over 21 million subscribers.

The decision to change of the name of the company was expected, as Etisalat was given three weeks to phase out its brand in Nigeria, after its Abu Dhabi arm which owns the company’s trade mark licence recently pulled out and new board members were appointed to run the affairs the company following failed negotiations with its lenders.

However, industry watchers had said the time span of three weeks to effect the change was too short for a strong brand like Etisalat Nigeria to completely rebrand.

“Three weeks is a tight deadline to phase out a strong brand like Etisalat. However, this is something  I believe the current board expected and will sort out in due manner. I am confident that the new management has the necessary capability to achieve seamless rebranding that will be planned to avoid consumer inconvenience or keep it  to an absolute minimum,” Olusola Teniola, President, Association of Telecommunications Companies of Nigeria (ATCON) told BusinessDay.

“We suspect that Dangote is interested in buying Etisalat Nigeria, considering that the current 3G license that Etisalat uses for operation was sold to them by Dangote and Boye Olusanya, the new CEO of Etisalat used to work with the Dangote group,” A source told BusinessDay.

Etisalat is the second telecommunications company in Nigeria to change its brand identity, after Econet Wireless, now Airtel Nigeria has changed its identity and management five times since it started operation in 2001.

Telecoms experts say the continuous transition from Econet to Vodacom to V-mobile to Celtel to Zain and finally Airtel, has in some ways affected the growth and stability of the company, when compared to MTN, its rival in the telecoms industry, having started operations in the same year.

Etisalat failed to reach an agreement on possible repayment plans with 13 Nigerian banks, where the took out a $1.2billion medium term syndicated loan facility taken in May 2013, hoping to be able to refinance the existing commercial medium term debt of $650 million, but missed payment in February 2017, due to an economic downturn and scarcity of foreign exchange in the country.

This forced the Etisalat group to terminate a management agreement with its Nigerian arm, given the business time to phase out the Etisalat brand in Nigeria after its appointment of a new management board to run operations.

Ibrahim Dikko said on Monday, via a statement made available to BusinessDay that the company was “intensifying efforts aimed at reaching full closure on ongoing discussions with regards the transition phase.”

“We want to assure that our customers and stakeholders will be duly informed as soon as these are concluded, including details of a rebranding, should that become necessary,” Dikko said.

Jumoke Akiyode