Telecoms Santa! Globacom Dazzles Subscribers with Free Internet Data and Airtime

• …Subscribers Set Social Media Aglow With Appreciation

Telecoms Santa! Globacom Dazzles Subscribers with Free Internet Data and Airtime
Across Nigeria and beyond, among Globacom subscribers and non-subscribers alike, awe and surprise have greeted the announcement of two new bonanza packages; Glo Jumbo SIM and Everyday Bonanza, by the telecoms provider. The unprecedented and novel bonanza offerings have expectedly been generating positive talk points and thumbs up across social and traditional media platforms. But for Globacom and those conversant with its robust antecedent in breaking new grounds in mobile telephony (remember they broke the glaring hoodoo of Per Second Billing and crashed SIM prices?), the bonanzas are just a fractional fulfilment of its bond with Nigerians to provide affordable mobile telephony and give back to loyal subscribers Adedayo Adejobi writes

“Wait, wait, what you are telling me now is that if I throw away this my old Glo SIM and buy a new one, that it is pre-loaded (with N200, 000) airtime?”, Happy, an avid Twitter user with the handle @happytotwit, asked incredulously when news of Globacom’s ‘Glo Jumbo SIM’ bonanza went viral days back. “Yesssoo…in fact, e dey do me like dream,” another user of the popular micro-blogging site responded in vernacular.

Happy was not alone in the open-mouthed astonishment that trailed the foremost telecoms operator’s announcement of the Glo Jumbo SIM offer which preloads every new SIM with N200, 000 air time that can be used for data or calls. According to a tweet from its verified Twitter handle, “We’ve landed the 8th wonder of the world just for you. Be the coolest in your clique with the Glo Jumbo SIM.” In several other tweets and retweets, Glo announced and affirmed that it wasn’t just new SIM buyers that were beneficiaries of the bonanza; by dialling *224#, an existing Glo user would be gifted the same amount of airtime.

This offer, which gives the subscriber value that is not only unprecedented but also unimaginable in Nigeria’s telecoms industry, sent blogosphere into a tailspin with excited subscribers and non-subscribers alike spreading the gospel of the Glo Jumbo SIM. AuraCool, a popular Twitter handle, echoed Glo; “This is the 8th wonder of the world, you guys. N200, 000 worth of airtime when you get a new Glo SIM; waooo!!!” Similarly, Tunde Fatuntele, a UK-based Brand expert, in reaction to the news said, “This is just unbelievable but totally true, all new Glo SIMs come with N200, 000.” Olayeye Raymond, a public affairs analyst, quipped, “Only Globacom can do this.” A responder to the news in a national newspaper waxed poetic; “There is certainly no excess in surplus as nocturnal and diurnal subscribers to the Globacom network, excite over gifts of data and other interminable perks showered on them by the telecoms provider. There is no gainsaying Globacom has a capacity for consumer satisfaction so vast that it gives away great chunks to its subscribers in appreciation of their loyalty and patronage. We are proud of them.”

Interestingly, while this new offer is understandably mouth-watering and worthy of the hubbub it has generated, delighting its subscribers is not alien to the promoters of Globacom; in fact, it is all in a day’s job. Since inception, Globacom has stayed true to its promise to give Nigerians mobile telephony at affordable rates. Otunba Mike Adenuga, the chairman of Globacom had stated then, “We are determined to be world class, pure and simple. Our vision is to build the biggest and best network in Africa.” He made good his words in the early days of Globacom by crashing the sky-high price of SIM cards and then, introduced the Per Second Billing, which MTN and Econet (the precursor company of Airtel) had told Nigerians with stone-cold remorselessness was not feasible in Nigeria. Consequently, this began the revolution that made mobile telephony not just an exclusive preserve of the privileged and well heeled but a necessity for Nigerians of all ages, from the North to the South and everywhere in between. Globacom, a Proudly Nigerian company with the wellbeing of Nigerians the core of its business principle, has come to stay. And Nigerians have been the beneficiary of different bonanzas since then.

Alongside the jumbo SIM bonanza, GLO also announced the Everyday Bonanza which will see 50 lucky subscribers win television sets every Monday (750 TV sets in total),150 subscribers will win 4G-LTE smart phones every Tuesday (2250 in total), 100 subscribers will win generating sets every Wednesday (1,400 in total), 100 subscribers will take home refrigerators every Thursday (1,400 total), 200 winners of microwave ovens every Friday (2,800 total), while 650 subscribers will walk home with 4G-LTE Mi-Fis on Saturdays (9,100 total).”
Ashok Israni, Globacom’s regional chief marketing officer, said, “To crown the week-long largesse to its subscribers, Globacom will be giving out a brand new Hyundai Accent to a lucky subscriber every Sunday, making a total of 14 car winners.” He said, “All a subscriber needs to do to qualify for these life-impacting prizes is to recharge his or her phone with at least N100 worth of credit. Each N100 credit purchased entitles a subscriber to an entry. So the more recharge a subscriber makes, the more entries he gets and consequently the greater the chance to win quality gifts every day.”