How Glo-Eutelsat Deal will Boost ICT in Nigeria

ICT

Ugo Aliogo reviews the significance of the deal Globacom recently signed with Eutelsat of France, concluding that it will ensure broadband access to all areas outside urban and densely populated areas by giving Nigerians access to communicate and transact business

“Good things come in big packages” is a favourite quote by Dr. Mike Adenuga, Jr., the Chairman of telecommunications giant, Globacom.

This was indeed one of the most incisive quotes that stood out for me when I went through a book of cartoons called “The Memorable Quotes of the Great Guru”, at the office of a friend who works in one of his numerous conglomerates in Lagos.

The three-part publication is a compilation of humourous cartoons of the Globacom Chairman in different settings in his expansive office holding meetings with members of his senior management, and features a series of memorable sayings of the man who is generally referred to as the Spirit of Africa.

While the book is an invaluable collection of motivational anecdotes and wisecracks that will help managers as well as aspiring entrepreneurs and business men chart their course in the business terrain, the particular quote about “good things coming in big packages” was quite instructive for me.

It not only symbolises the bullish spirit of the billionaire entrepreneur but also gives a peep into the mind of the man who continues to intrigue his staff and associates with his deep insight into every area of his businesses and life itself.

The saying helps us understand why Adenuga is reputed for going after only the big things. Indeed, for him, if it’s not big, bold and audacious, it is not for Adenuga.

Nigerians still remember his bold intervention in the telecommunications industry with per second billing and zero-cost SIM which left MTN and then Econet smarting for years to come. Even when he unfairly lost $20m in his first bid for a GSM licence, he refused to budge. He went after a bigger package and won a national carrier licence. Even though he rolled out services two years after the other operators, the wait was worth the while. Globacom came with a series of interventions which opened up the telecoms space and made it possible for all categories of Nigerians to own a telephone. Globacom is today credited with many innovations in the industry in Nigeria and Ghana.

In the oil and gas sector, the story of how his Conoil became the first indigenous oil company to produce oil in commercial quantity is well documented. When he got an oil license in the 80s, he knew how big a package he had in his hands. He refused the allure and pressure from family and friends to sell and make fast money like the others did. He dived into the world of production and despite initial setbacks, he persevered, knowing how good a package he had in his hands. Today, Conoil is the largest and most profitable indigenous oil producing company in Nigeria.

Adenuga replicated the same feat in banking. He knew early enough how critical the sector is to the nation’s development and went into it with every fibre in him. He established and successfully ran two banks at the same time, Devcom Merchant Bank and Equitorial Trust Bank. In the days of Prof Charles Soludo’s consolidation exercise in the industry in 2008, Adenuga refused to take the easier option of merging the two banks. Rather, he successfully met the N25 billion recapitalistation requirement for each of them in 2008. Several years later, the banks merged with Sterling Bank. The entrepreneur has also expanded his interest in banking and is one of the largest shareholders in First Bank of Nigeria Plc.

In real estate and construction, Adenuga is reputed to be the largest shareholder in premier construction company, Julius Berger, besides other interests and estates running into billions of dollars.

One of the biggest packages delivered by Adenuga is the Glo 1 international submarine cable whose cost industry sources put at over $800 million. He delivered the facility which connects Nigeria and fourteen other African countries to the United Kingdom and Europe in 2010. It has indeed proved to be a good thing delivered in a big package.

Many may not be aware that this singular investment opened up the data space with reliable and affordable internet as many telecom operators and Internet Service Providers (ISPs) in Nigeria and Ghana buy their internet bandwidth from Glo 1.

It is in the light of the highlighted antecedents set by Dr Adenuga in the telecommunications space and other sectors of the economy that the recent business deal signed by Globacom and Eutelsat of France can be better appreciated.

The project which is for satellite deployment in the Nigerian market has all the trappings of being a “good thing in a big package” delivered to Nigeria yet again by the Globacom Chairman.

Like a popular Igbo proverb says,”Okuko ga abu oke na-esi na eju” (translates roughly to “the chicken that will be male starts right from the egg”). How big a package the deal signed at the Elysee Palace in Paris is was symbolised by the presence of the French President, Mr. Emmanuel Macron, at the ceremony.

According to news reports, “The partnership between the two companies is expected to enhance the deployment of 500 Wi-Fi relay stations to far-flung rural areas of Nigeria for connection to a Eutelsat satellite”.

According to Dr Adenuga, his company’s relationship with the French telecoms giant has been a long and extremely beneficial one.

“The genesis and bedrock of that relationship was the energy team at the Banque Nationale de Paris (BNP) Paris office, led by Guillaume Leenhardt. A great deal of our early success can be attributed to the professionalism, customer orientation, and creativity of that team,” Adenuga said.

According to him, “we worked extremely hard and well together to meet some ridiculously tight deadlines – working through the night till 6 a.m. only to resume work again at 8 a.m. after a quick nap and shower. Those are days I remember with a lot of fondness.

In 2017, the French government, in appreciation of Adenuga’s humanity and transformative conquests on the African business terrain, honoured him with a Knight of the Legion of Honour (Chevalier de la Legion d’ Honneur), the highest French decoration and one of the most famous in the world. Adenuga became the only and first-ever Nigerian to have received the award since its inception.

With the Eutelsat project, Glo will offer its customers VSAT/Satellite based internet service and Satellite based community wifi internet service in far flung areas where access to internet services are currently a challenge.

This will ensure broadband access to all areas outside urban and densely populated areas by giving all Nigerians a right to have access to communicate and transact business with the communal provision of internet access by Globacom in such areas.

Thus people in remote communities will be able to reach their friends and families and also transact business over the internet in such remote communities. The subscriber can also carry out electronic transactions and payments to workers or companies in remote areas using the Glo-powered Eutelsat Konnect Satelite platform.

Globacom disclosed that the areas to benefit from the massive project include remote Northern/Middle-Belt communities, southern offshore locations, farm ranches and factories/businesses far from townships where access to internet/terrestrial networks are a challenge.

According to the telecommunications operator, the satellite facility is a specialised internet service provision for remote communities where internet access is either currently minimal or not available.

“This is also in line with the federal government’s desire to extend broadband coverage beyond urban and densely populated areas. Millions of Nigerians will, therefore, have access to communicate and transact business with the communal provision of internet access by Globacom in these rural areas”, the company said in a statement released during the week.

Because of the non-commercial viability of rural communities for telecom operators to recoup the huge cost of providing internet services there, they shy away from making the investment. This is why Dr Adenuga’s move is quite commendable. “If we don’t develop our country, no foreigner will develop it for us”, he says in the book.

Another benefit of the Globacom-Eutelsat deal is reduced cost for the Nigerian subscriber. “The service will be offered at very attractive and competitive rates which will be way cheaper when compared to the existing very expensive options of going into bigger towns for internet access or providing internet access over very expensive terrestrial network in such communities”, Globacom explained.

The potential of the Globacom-Eutelsat project are indeed limitless. In spite of his immense resources, abilities and capacity to deliver good things to Nigeria in big packages, Dr. Adenuga remains a very humble man. “I don’t know it all. If I did, I would be somewhere playing squash”, is one other quote that caught my attention in the cartoon book.