Mike Adenuga’s 95 Allen Avenue

Mike Adenuga’s 95 Allen Avenue

By Ebere Wabara

The emotional significance of the Romanesque architectural masterpiece at 95 Allen Avenue, Ikeja, Lagos, is that it was the first Lagos accommodation of billionaire businessman, Dr. Mike Adenuga Jnr., GCON. It also had the first branch of Equitorial Trust Bank (ETB).

Today, it houses the latest Glo World emporium with all imaginable exquisiteness. The one-stop multifarious solution provider is an expansive shop to behold. It was colourfully inaugurated at the weekend amid unprecedented pomp and unparalleled elitist panache. If any telephonic challenge is not resolved here, there may not be any other resolution nationwide.

From time to time, all GSM companies operating in the country make self-appraisals and claims about their quality of service and patronage, among other miscellaneous issues largely unsubstantiated—until this investigative intervention.

Let us begin with the only indigenous economic plenipotentiary. Our trajectory will also forensically extend to other GSM outfits. In terms of quality superiority, speed incomparability and clientele affordability, Globacom’s pioneering 4G LTE Network nationwide is not just industry compass for data navigation, but novel velocity of life unsurprisingly from the speediest grandmasters of data.

It did not start today because the chairman of the organization, Dr.  Adenuga Jr., is inimitably passionate about quintessence in all spheres of human existentialism. Of course, the credit for this latest upgrade—and, indeed the glory of everything else pertaining to this ultimate brand—goes to this man of colossus fondly called “The Bull”, who, despite his transnational entrepreneurship and borderless opulence, is humble and caring to a fault!

Globacom was the first network to launch a nationwide 4G-LTE coverage in Nigeria. The market-edge facility is available in 33 states of the country. LTE is a revolutionary Fourth Generation Mobile Technology, which enhances data transfer rates, delivering unmatched mobile broadband experience and highest data speeds and reliability.

The successful launch of the Glo 4G LTE, the country’s first nationwide network implementation of the technology, makes it possible for millions of Nigerians to enjoy instant, efficient broadband internet at speeds far superior to the 3G network, thus enabling them to download ultra high definition videos in seconds.

With the advanced network, individuals who consume huge volumes of data, government agencies and corporate organizations, including banks, oil and gas companies, academic and health institutions, which h require seamless data transfer for their operations now benefit immensely from Globacom’s data intensive applications.

Recently, Globacom was ranked the 4th most admired African brand. In the 2017/2018 Most Admired Brands survey conducted by Brand Africa and published in African Businessmagazine, Globacom was ranked 4th in the Top 10 Most Admired African Brands (unprompted). In the same vein, the company was also rated 5th in the Top 25 Most Admired African Brands (prompted). T57

The report noted “an incredible consistency among the companies that featured in the survey with 60% of the top brands being present in both the unprompted and prompted surveys”. The brands include Globacom, Dangote, Shoprite, Safaricom and Tusker of Kenya and Ethiopia’s Anbessa.

Brand Africa founder and Chairman, Thebe Ikalafeng, said that the study was conducted by Brand Africa partners, GeoPoll , leading research firm in emerging markets, with analyses and insights by  Kantar TNS, the world’s largest insight information research firm, and Brand Leadership, Africa’s premier branding advisory firm.  

He explained that Brand Africa 100 is a valuation and ranking of the Best Brands in Africa. “The valuation is a multi-tier royalty relief methodology that blends a brand’s financial performance and consumer admiration to create a unique index and ranking. One of the primary drivers of Africa’s growth lies in stimulating and growing thriving African and global businesses and brands in Africa. Consumers are the ultimate arbiters of that success. Thus the Brand Africa 100 signals which brands are getting it right on the continent”, he explained.

Other African brands that made the Top 25 include Jumia and UBA of Nigeria, MTN, DStv, Tiger Brands and Amarula of South Africa, Econet and Kwese of Zimbabwe, Ankara Clothing of Ghana, Tusker of Kenya, Africell of The Gambia and Ecobank of Togo.

Latest telecom industry statistics released by the Nigerian Communications Commission (NCC) show that Globacom amassed 214,646 new subscribers in the month of July 2018, taking its customer base to over 40.3 million.

The operator which had 40,108,508 subscribers in June ended July with 40,323,154, showing an addition of 214,646 new subscribers. This was the biggest gain by any operator in July as Airtel, which came second, added 149,880 new customers, growing from 39,898,448 in June to 40,048,328 in July. 

On the other hand, MTN and 9mobile lost subscribers within the period. While MTN lost 999,891 subscribers, 9mobile shed 246,221 customers.

The NCC report also showed that Globacom has since this year added a total of 2,153,374 new subscribers. As at the end of December, 2017, the company had a subscriber base of 38,169,780, whereas the figure increased to 40,323,154 in July this year.  

Also according to the NCC statistics, Globacom principally accounted for the growth in the number of internet users on mobile devices during the review period. Total number of data users in the country rose by 866,656, from 102.81 million in June to103.67 million in July.  

Globacom led the gainers’ chart with 574,821 new internet users, with its data subscription rising from 26.57 million in June to 27.15 million in July. This is 66% of the total 866,656 new internet users in the industry. 

Airtel’s figure rose by 375,724 from 26.71 internet users in June  to 27.09 million in July. MTN also gained 134,197 new data users in July as the figure recorded was 39.07 million as against 38.94 million in June.

However, 9mobile lost 218,086 internet users in July, as its subscription base fell to 10.37 million as against June when it recorded 10.59 million.

Globacom’s increasing subscriber base is said to be a result of the several attractive and user-friendly packages which offer a lot of appeal to prepaid and postpaid phone  users, thus making its services the most accessible and most affordable. For instance, the company which is marking its 15 years of operations in Nigeria, recently launched Glo Yakata which offers up to 2,200% bonus on every N100 recharge and above and Oga SIM which offers 125% bonus on every data subscription.

It is on the regulator’s records that Globacom had, right from inception, been offering tremendous value-added services to telecom subscribers.

Still on the most critical element of telephony in Nigeria: who would have ever believed, before the glorious advent of Globacom, that per second billing was feasible from the outset, especially after competition had trenchantly made it look impossible—in fact, unthinkable, economically unrealistic and unsustainable? Nigerians will forever remember Dr. Adenuga Jnr. amid overflowing gratitude for his inestimable, bullish and catalytic reversal in the telephonic rip-off. Dr. Adenuga’s optimal concern was not return on investment, but the empowerment of our people. That, for me, is the summit essence of life: touching lives.  

Globacom is indeed the fallout of its proprietor’s overall domestication of quintessence and resolute subscription to success paradigms in everything no matter the challenges. His sterling belief in possibilities and illimitable opportunities forecloses the mirage of impossibilities. 

“Mr. Chairman” does not believe that anything is impossible as long as he is involved! Really, with his confounding and inexplicable cerebral sophistication, diligence, aristocratic wealth and the innumerableness of human and material resources at his disposal, nothing should be a drawback to this man of philanthropic satiety and superfluity of compassion.

There is no doubt that Globacom is unflinchingly committed to building the biggest and best telecommunications network on the continent. Its robust antecedents and present investments in ideas and infrastructure leave no doubt about its corporate thrust and potentialities.

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