Industry News Page | Telecoms Chamber

AIRTELTIGO OFFERS INDUSTRY’S FIRST: DATA THAT DOESN’T EXPIRE

AirtelTigo Data

Who doesn’t want value for money? Everyone deserves to get the most out of their money for the services or products they pay for and enjoy it to their maximum satisfaction.

So, imagine walking into a restaurant with your dinner date, and ordering that favorite dish off the menu – jollof and goat meat. As you enjoy the meal you get satisfied but have a little of the portion left on your plate.

You wish that you could pack the rest of the meal to take away and enjoy later, but to your utmost dismay, the restaurant does not allow food to be packed away. While you look on thinking of what you could do; the waitress clears the table and, in the process, takes away the remaining food even though you paid the full price for it.

This is similar to what happens to our data when we don’t consume all before the expiry period! Thanks to AirtelTigo, the days of customers losing unused data at the end of the day, week or month is finally over.

Christened the “Big Time Data Bundles”, there are no daily, weekly or monthly validity constraints; data never expires. This is in response to feedback received from customers on how frustrating it is to lose unused data bundles due to the validity constraint. AirtelTigo chooses to evolve to meet customer’s needs with solutions that make mobile telecommunications affordable and accessible.

For the first time in Ghana, history is being written in the telecommunications industry with AirtelTigo offering affordable data bundles that don’t expire. The company is giving new and existing pre-paid customers more data for GHS 1, GHS 2, GHS 5 and GHS 10.

Essentially, customers can get 1.5 GB for only GHS10 to watch their favorite movies online and live football games. The bundles will also enable customers to access their favourite social media platforms such as Facebook, Twitter, and Instagram among others.

The Director of Marketing Operations for AirtelTigo, Pius Owusu Tuffour shares his excitement about being able to give customers value for their money with the ‘Big Time Data Bundle’.

He explained that the company recognises the growing demand for mobile data in the country, but customers want to be cost–effective with their data usage, adding, “There’s no need to be on a data plan that doesn’t give you value.”

He said the company’s move will offer customers great benefits. “We designed this product to provide great benefits to our customers, without compromising on value-for-money. Customers can now enjoy their data without having to worry about it expiring.”

With the ‘Big Time Data Bundles’ offering affordable data with no validity periods now in place, AirtelTigo is significantly reducing the cost of connecting Ghanaians to the internet.

Customers can now enjoy the ‘Big Time Data Bundle’ by dialing *111# and customers can also purchase using a scratch card or through AirtelTigo Money (also known as ATM).

 

Source: airteltigo.com.gh

VODAFONE GHANA LAUNCHES 4G SERVICES

[caption id="attachment_5438" align="alignnone" width="300"]Vodafone CEO From (L) Minister for Communications, Ursula Owusu-Ekuful, Outgoing CEO of Vodafone Ghana, Yolanda Cuba and Patricia Obo-Nai - Incoming CEO, Vodafone Ghana[/caption]

Vodafone Ghana, one of the nation’s leading telecommunication service providers, has launched its 4G service to provide faster data and more coverage for its over 9.5 million customers.

Vodafone is also extending the 4.5G service on its sites to enhance technologies and digital services.

Mrs Ursla Owusu Ekuful, the Minister of Communications, who launched the 4G service, noted that the occasion marked a consolidation of solid partnership between the Government and Vodafone Group way back in 2008.

Mrs Ekuful explained that Ghana settled on Vodafone as partners in the then Ghana Telecommunication Company Limited because it had a master plan for the communication industry and Vodafone was best suited.

“We wanted to achieve liberalisation, accessibility, affordability, and technological dominance. Customers now have a real power of choice, quality and empowerment.”

According to the Communication Minister, new technologies such as long-term evolution 4G were necessary game changers, adding that, “We now live in a whole new world where mobile technology is pervasive and a necessary evil”.

She said Ghana now with 80.3 per cent data penetration was growing close to 100 per cent mobile phone penetration among other things, describing the growth as impressive.

“It shows how far we have come and heaps a welcome pressure on government to ensure that the right policy environment is created to help companies and individuals to grow,” she added.

She described Vodafone’s 4G launch as timely moment for the industry stressing that customers and stakeholders would turn it up when it comes to speed, reliability and stability and government which owns 30 per cent shares in Vodafone Ghana was truly excited about it.

Mrs Ekuful said as a Ministry, it had always been their responsibility to ensure that the telecom sector was properly guided with relevant policies and initiatives that would seek to enhance the sector; make the operators more willing to engage and endanger healthy competition.

“This, we will continue to do without compromising on quality efficiency,” she said.

She said: “4G is great but I see it as a step towards deploying 5G by the industry…Do not be surprised if 5G reaches this shore in no time. I know Vodafone will be ever ready to embrace it when it does come”.

She congratulated Ms Yolanda Cuba, the outgoing Chief Executive Officer (CEO) of Vodafone Ghana, for being one of the progressive and successful leaders of Vodafone Ghana and an accomplished female industry player.

Mr Joe Anokye, the Director General of the National Communications Authority (NCA), said the Authority had confidence in Vodafone to execute an excellent technology solution to the benefit of Ghanaians.

According to Mr Anokye, one of the desires of the NCA was to see the best of technology to empower the population socially and economically.

The NCA Boss said the country now had a healthy sector that was poised to move the nation to the next stage of development.

However, he said issues relating to privacy and data misappropriation were creating problems for the telecommunications industry all over the world.

He said stringent measures were being put in place in both Europe and the Unites States to tighten the sector and protect customers and users alike.

“We have the same approach as we strive to cure the industry of illegal practices, while making our industry an example in the sub-region and the continent at large.

It is our duty as regulators to continue to impress upon telecom companies to consistently become agents of change not only focusing on telecommunication solutions and revenue generation, but also avenues for education and empowerment of the communities in which workers live and work,” Mr Anokye stressed.

He said the launch would benefit the 9.5 million customers of Vodafone and bring more potential customers who would move to 4G to enjoy the benefits.

Ms Cuba said the journey of her organisation had been tough acquiring tougher decisions by management and stakeholders and the 4G deployment remained one of Vodafone’s biggest investments since it began its operations in the country.

The outgoing CEO said the launch of the 4G would enable its customers to experience fast speeds, high end network quality, faster downloads and uploads and described her experience in Ghana as an exciting one, saying, her assignment in Ghana had taught her perseverance, determination, grit, aggression and faith.

Dr Kobina Quansah, the Board Chair of Vodafone Ghana, said the 4G technology formed part of a concerted effort to ensure that customers with Vodafone were not left behind in a fast-moving pace of mobile and digital technology.

He said the launch was in total alignment of Vodafone’s promise of an exciting future for its customers.

Source: GNA

MTN ENHANCES DATA EXPERIENCE FOR CUSTOMERS - LAUNCHES 4G+ SERVICE

[caption id="attachment_5001" align="alignnone" width="291"]SELORM-ADADEVOH-MTN ,CEO SELORM-ADADEVOH-MTN ,CEO[/caption]

Ghana’s leading telecommunications service provider, MTN, has launched its 4G+ service to provide faster data speeds with widest coverage for its customers.
“The 4G+ service runs on a 4G LTE Advanced technology using the combination of the 800MHz and 2600MHz for carrier aggregation, which is an enhancement on the 4G LTE experience.

This provides more capacity and enhanced data speed of up to 20x if migrating from 3G to 4G+ and 5x if migrating from 4G to 4G+”, a release issued in Accra today said.

Announcing the service, the CEO of MTN Ghana, Mr Selorm Adadevoh, expressed delight at the extent to which the 4G+ technology will further impact the development of the country as it provides more opportunities for Ghanaians to fully utilise digital services.

“The underlying belief we have, which drives us in providing more enhanced technologies, is that everybody deserves the benefits of a modern connected life,” he stated.

He said “this year is MTN’s ‘Year of the Customer’ and to make our customers lives a whole lot brighter we continue to invest in the latest technology to enable them experience an enhanced digital lifestyle. Additionally, it will also go to support the growth of the country in the areas of Artificial Intelligence, Internet of Things and Big Data,” he added.

He said, “With faster Internet and wider coverage, the transmission of data can be done with ease, on-the-go, with the best speed everywhere. Higher speed Internet broadband promotes business growth and enriched social lives, ultimately boosting national development.”

Sharing details on the enhanced service, the Chief Technical Officer for MTN Ghana, Mr Thomas Motlepa, said the company had already deployed 1,226 total 4G LTE sites of which 625 sites were 4G+ in all regions nationwide, especially regional capitals and key towns.

He added that plans for full national coverage were presently ongoing.

Source: Myjoyonline

VODAFONE GHANA TO ROLL OUT 4G SERVICES MARCH 19

Vodafone

Vodafone Ghana has announced March 19, 2019 to roll out the commercial services for its 4G network.

According to the company, the earlier date of April has been moved forward due to the commitment of the company to deliver excellent service for Ghanaians.

Outgoing Chief Executive of Vodafone, Yolanda Cuba in a press conference disclosed that Vodafone has invested in about 200 cell sites to deliver the service.

"Prior to the acquisition of the 4G network, we indicated to you that customers will be able to get the service by the second quarter of the year, I’m happy to announce that there has been a massive support from the technical team and all members at Vodafone hence we will launch commercial operations of the 4G services next week 19th of March this year 2019. This will mean an improved network quality for customers and all our services".

Vodafone Ghana acquired a 4G spectrum this year to roll out an improved service across the country.

This makes the company the second to acquire the service since it was introduced by the National Communication Authority.

The company has rescinded its earlier decision to roll out the service in April due to an advanced investment and commitment to get its customers on a 4G before the second quarter of the year.

[caption id="attachment_5115" align="alignnone" width="200"]Yolanda Cuba - CEO Vodafone Yolanda Cuba - CEO Vodafone[/caption]

On the issue of listing Vodafone on the Ghana Stock Exchange, Yolanda Cuba noted that the attention of the board has been drawn on the matter but they are yet to make a decision."It has been a decision for the Vodafone board and not management, I am a management member but I must say it has come to our attention. There is an ongoing discussion between the government of Ghana and the Vodafone board but it's not their focus for now.

Our challenge was the balance sheet which we got it cleared with support from the government of Ghana," Yolanda Cuba said.

She also disclosed that the company is investing about $100 million to upgrade existing sites and new ones it intends to establish.

Vodafone Ghana won one lot out of three to begin 4G operations (2x5MHz frequency spectrum block in the 800 MHz Band) for mobile services.

This followed successful financial negotiations with the National Communications Authority (NCA).

Source: Myjoyonline