Abuja The Acting Director General, Bureau of Public Enterprises (BPE), Mr Vincent Akpotaire, has challenged NATCOM, owners of Ntel Network, to create unique services and make the desired impact in telecommunications sector.
This is contained in a statement by the BPE’s Head, Public Communications, Mr Alex Okoh, on Thursday in Abuja.
The statement said that the advice was given by the DG when Ntel management, led by Mr Osondu Nwokoro, presented its post-privatisation roll out plan at the bureau.
It said that the company had to justify its emergence in the privatisation process by deploying the right technology to turn around the sector.
The statement expressed satisfaction with NATCOM’s post-privatisation roll out plans.
It assured the team of the bureau’s dedication to its responsibilities to achieve the objectives of privatising NITEL/MTEL.
The statement expressed optimism that Ntel would fill the position of a strong indigenous telecommunications service provider.
It also pledged that the bureau would work with the National Council for Privatisation (NCP) to resolve some outstanding issues, to expedite the execution of the roll out plans.
According to the statement, the Director, Post Privatisation Monitoring Department of the BPE, Mr Chigbo Anichebe, said the bureau would soon begin the verification of all their deployed equipment nationwide.
Earlier, Nwokoro said NATCOM, the core investors of the defunct NITEL/MTEL, was well positioned to justify the privatisation initiative championed by the BPE.
He said the company was also set to distinguish Ntel as the preferred choice of telecommunications service provider in Nigeria under the name NTEL.
“NTEL network designed for the 900 Mhz (Band 8) and 1800 Mhz (Band 3) frequency bands equip it to operate as the most advanced 4G LTE network in Nigeria.”
He said as part of its post-acquisition plan, Ntel would invest over one billion dollars to support roll out of commercial services to begin in Lagos, Port Harcourt and Abuja.
“This milestone among others is geared towards making the dream of giving Nigerians a pure play advanced 4G LTE network offering mobile services across voice, data and video a reality.’’
According to the statement, the company hopes to generate employment for over 4,000 Nigerians over the next five years. (NAN)