Economic Confidential, March 2008

BUSINESS

Visafone launches dual SIM phone

Finally Visafone Communications Limited, Nigeria’s newest mobile telephone company has unveiled the first-ever, customised and branded dual SIM phone which can receive calls on both CDMA and GSM networks simultaneously.

Company spokesman, Toni Kan says the innovation from the new entrant player “underline Visafone’s promise to revolutionise the telecom industry and bring the joy of communication to Nigerians.”

According to him, the dual SIM handsets produced specially for Visafone is a compact, state-of-the-art, multi-functional and technologically advanced mobile device with 2.0 mega pixel camera, video and voice recorder. It also boasts Bluetooth connectivity, a video and music player with MP3 capabilities.

“Introduced in two colour variants – white and black – the phones are aesthetically pleasing and will help Visafone grab a huge chunk of the CDMA market which had hitherto been defined by lack lustre phones devoid of the technologically advanced features of the phones in the mobile market”, he adds.

With the introduction of the dual SIM phone, Visafone targets a critical segment of the phone market over 45 million GSM users and hopes to provide, “a convenient alternative for a large slice of GSM subscribers who may not want to give up their GSM phones or carry two phones.”

The phone’s WAP capability lets the user browse the internet directly on the phone while its mini USB function positions the phone as a modem for providing internet access on a desk top or laptop. The phone is also multi-compliant on 800MHz and 1900MHz on the CDMA and 900MHz and 1800MHz on the GSM band.

According to Kan, “the phones, which are competitively priced in comparison to other phones in the range possess the same functionalities, are also expected to be a big hit with the youth market that are in love with multifunctional phones that can take pictures, play music and games as well as a host of other multi-media applications.”

Promoted by MD/CEO, Zenith Bank, Jim Ovia, Visafone is a wholly-Nigerian owned telecoms company that received its Unified Access Service Licence (UASL) as a telecom operator from the Nigerian Communications Commission (NCC) on August 1, 2007 and was incorporated in Nigeria on June 20, 2007 following its acquisition of Cellcom.

Less than two months after its registration Visafone was announced as the Approved Bidder for the 3 carriers in the 800 MHz spectrum put on auction by the NCC after a keen bid that featured Multilinks, GiCell Wireless Limited and TC Africa Telecoms Network Limited to clinch the 800 MHz licence which will allow Visafone to roll out commercially across Nigeria.

“Visafone’s introduction of the Dual SIM phone is one of the many innovations that the mobile phone company is introducing to the Nigerian telecoms market to help revolutionise the sector and make the CDMA sub-sector, which has remained the laggard of the sector a darling of subscribers while offering Nigerians a real passport to reach the world”, says Kan