Digital mobile operator, Etisalat Nigeria will roll out 1,000 base stations in 2013 in an attempt to beef up the quality of its network, Managing Director of the company, Mr. Steven Evans, has said.
Evans said this in a statement announcing a contract with Alcatel-Lucent to boost the quality of service offered to customers.
He said the contract was in furtherance of the company’s commitment to investing in its network for the purpose of providing the highest possible quality of service to its subscribers.
Alcatel-Lucent is a global leader in mobile, fixed, Internet Protocol and optics technologies.
The agreement signed in Lagos last week was the sixth phase of the agreement between the two companies.
The two companies had been in a working relationship since 2008 when Etisalat Nigeria entered into an agreement with Alcatel for the establishment of a public mobile cellular service for Region Two of its network, the statement added.
The region comprises Lagos, Ogun, Oyo, Osun, Kwara, Ondo, Ekiti, Edo, Kogi and Delta states.
Etisalat had in September 2012, also signed an agreement with Huawei for the supply of equipment and services for the expansion of its network throughout Nigeria.
Evans described the contract signing as a milestone towards the company’s drive to continually upgrade its network to provide better services to its customers around the country.
He said, “This is a significant milestone as we move into the next phase of our network roll-out. We plan to increase our cell sites by an additional 1,000 in 2013 and this agreement is towards achieving that target.
“We are happy to be partnering Alcatel-Lucent on the fulfilment of our promise to continuously deliver quality and innovative services to our customers every step of the way.”
He added, “This agreement being executed is for phase six of the project and it is for the further expansion and strengthening of the network in the region.
“Under this phase six, Alcatel is to build additional sites and provide the necessary equipment and services for the integration of the sites into the Etisalat Nigeria network.”
The Etisalat boss explained that the agreement with Alcatel-Lucent was for the provision of equipment and services for the expansion of its network in the 10 states.
President of Alcatel-Lucent’s activities in the Middle East & Africa, Turkey and Azerbaijan, Mr. Amr El-Leithy, said his company was committed to helping Etisalat to realise its network improvement vision.
He said, “This new agreement further strengthens our long-standing relationship with Etisalat covering numerous projects, and demonstrates their confidence in our ability to build, deliver and deploy end-to-end complex networks with strong local expertise and support capabilities.”