Exit of Foreign Partners Won’t Affect 9Mobile, Olusanya Reassures Customers

Emma Okonji

The Chief Executive Officer (CEO) of 9mobile, Mr. Boye Olusanya, has reassured its customers and key stakeholders that the exit of its foreign partners will not affect the quality of its network or its ability to deliver excellent products and services.

Emerging Markets Telecommunication Services (EMTS), which formerly traded as Etisalat Nigeria, is now 9Mobile following the unveiling of a new brand identity last month.

The change of name and logo was as a result of the exit of its erstwhile partners, the Emirate Telecommunications Corporation and Mubadala Development Company, both of the United Arab Emirates, Olusanya said.

The CEO in a statement reassured the over 20 million subscribers on the network, industry regulator, the Nigerian Communications Commission (NCC) and other stakeholders of the company’s continued commitment to the delivery of innovative and qualitative services.

He added that the ongoing brand migration signified strong business continuity with the company’s vision, values and traditions of innovativeness and passion for excellence, still intact.

Olusanya stated that the exit of the foreign partners and consequently, the change of its brand identity, have not in any way changed the company, noting that the Nigerian employees who led the company’s success in the past nine years were still with the company.

He said: “The departure of any partner has absolutely no bearing on the quality of service that you will continue to get. The people that exist within the business today are the ones that offer that service, the same ones who have been resilient and dynamic to cope with the need for this change, who will also be the ones who will continue to offer you the service.And, if they show the same dynamism that they have shown over the last few days, then the service will only get better.

“There has been no loss of perspective in the business or loss in opportunity for the business, so there wasn’t a process that meant that we will be dependent on any of our partners. There is this idea that the departure of one of the partners will lead to problems within the business. No. As an operating entity, we are totally dependent on ourselves.”

Olusanya assured subscribers further that the quality of voice and data service on the network has not been affected by the exit of the former partners and the name change as the company has continued to offer the services it offered in the past, only with different names.

He added that data services would continue be at the forefront of 9mobile’s business, as the company continues to expand its 4G LTE network with the objective of delivering the best quality of service across all platforms pan-Nigeria.