‘Competition and innovation stand us out’

Ibrahim Dikko is the vice president, regulatory and corporate affairs in Etisalat Nigeria. In this interview with Daniel Obi, he tasks the incoming government to prioritise and see ICT as not just a means of communication but a key driver of the economy, and advises states to partner telcos for developmental activities instead of seeing them as revenue generating machines. Excerpt:

What does your new role as vice president, regulatory and corporate affairs entails?

It is a natural progression of what I have been doing, combining a number of roles that are complementary. With regulation, I am dealing with the external stakeholders as well as corporate affairs, which means looking at what we want to say about ourselves. Our big stakeholders are the customers, government and all the related parties. So, having a focal point where all of this is taken care of makes it more focused for us as a company. It covers regulation, PR, corporate affairs, CSR, and environmental compliance and government relations.

It is true that most companies have government as part of their stakeholders, but could you be specific on what your roles as government relations are?

Anything to do with any government entity is really our major stakeholder. Whether ministry of finance, trade, internal affairs and National Assembly, and handling all the external relations for the company with any related party is generally handled by my team.

Could you assess the 19 countries where Etisalat operates and compare them with Nigeria’s operations?

Etisalat is one of the oldest telecom companies around operating from UAE since 1976. It is the leading Middle East operator and certainly one of the leading telcos in the world. We have operations now in 19 countries. In terms of the subscriber base, Nigeria is probably the largest in terms of numbers. Etisalat has more than 50 percent of the market in UAE, but the country is about 6 million people. Egypt is also big because it is similar to Nigeria. In terms of size, Nigeria is probably the third or fourth largest operations in the Etisalat family.

Here, because of massive infrastructure issues, remember we came six years after the others, we have to invest heavily to build our network from scratch. Today, from about three people as staff in hotels to about 2,000 staff. We had zero base station but now we have built over 3,000. The investment has been heavy and the returns are not what they were in 2001, when some other operators started. Then SIM card cost about N35,000, but now it is almost free plus air time. This means it will take a longer time for our shareholders to recoup their money than other telcos had done in the market.

Can you estimate the investments in monetary terms?

Shareholders have put in over $2 billion since inception, which shows deep level of commitment in Nigeria’s market, and certainly we have been very happy with the support the Nigerian subscribers have given us over the years. The growth has been a testament to how well we have done.

Etisalat is coming from behind in the telco business, what then is the strength?

It was clear that when we came in, we had to do something different to make our mark. It was obvious that we had to differentiate ourselves. We did not compromise on quality and this has been a testament to the reports that have been published over the last three years as Etisalat has always come out top in terms of quality of service. In 2014, we were the only telco that was not sanctioned by the regulator for poor quality of service. Customers have rewarded us by their support because of the quality of service we offer. Secondly, innovation stood us out. We had to come out with things that were not really being done. We had to establish the brand aggressively with different innovations.

Talking about innovations; you appear to have too much products in the market, is this not confusing to the customer?

I don’t entirely agree with this. A few years ago, we conducted a survey and found out that Etisalat had the fewer number of products and they were clear. We had the youth product, the business product and mass market product. We have very clear focus products.

Telcos appear to be giving more attention to data service, can you assess the data market?

Yes, I agree that there is increased focus on data and broadband revolution which government has supported. A survey revealed that in Nigeria, there is between 6 and 10 percent broadband penetration. If we can get up to 30 percent, that would be a huge amount of capacity and this would lead to a variety of things one can do in internet space. There are a lot of things government can do in terms of enabling environment to help speed up that drive.

It is obvious that government will not meet the digital migration as set by ITU in June 17, 2005, what would this portent?

I don’t think it is all gloom and doom. Government just has to accelerate our own pace of work. The longer we delay it we only hurt ourselves the more, not the world.

Why do you think we are not migrating in spite of the enormous potentials inherent in the switch over?

I think government understands all this. But it is a combination of two things – in terms of strategy, where does government place ICT, and secondly, we are a developing country and we have a whole vast of issues that need to be tackled. The other issue is the technical difficulty in doing it. When you migrate the existing broadcasting companies away from their spectrum, how do you compensate them for their economic loss as they have to buy new digital equipment? There are a whole lot of issues to be considered by government before migration.

Taking you back to number portability, which rather caused some excitement in the market, how is the development so far?

It has been good, but there are a lot more we can still do. Naturally, you first start something, check it and see how to improve it. We have taken to the regulator on a number of ideas we think will improve the porting process. Key among them is porting with your credit, which is still being discussed. Right now when you port, you lose your credit and therefore people tend to wait until they utilised all their credit before they port.

Now, we are suggesting that customers port with their credit. We have made this proposition and we are waiting on the operator to take decision on it. Within the industry, we either harmonise it or the operator rules on it. It is giving the customer choice and a reward for a network that is better. Another idea is that giving the customers the chance to sit in their houses to initiate porting instead of going to a shop to achieve that. Thinking within us is also whether it is possible to make the porting time shorter from 90 days. All these are what we are considering.

What do you think the incoming government should do to further promote telco/GSM business in Nigeria?

The telecom industry in Nigeria is no longer a new industry per se, though it is still growing. Irrespective of the government of the day, I don’t think there will be dramatic changes. It is industry that is contributing up to 9 percent to GDP. However, the new administration should set policies to build on some of the initiatives such as the broadband policy. One of the areas they should focus on is passing the new bill on critical national infrastructure.

Our base stations need protection from vandals. What we are saying is, if we do something wrong we should be sanctioned and called to account, but people should not go to site to switch off generators or tamper with the infrastructure. Another thing the new government can do is to prioritise or see ICT as not just as a means of communication but a key driver of the economy. If they focus on it, it can assist to drive economic development and a platform for education and to run government smatter. The effect from ICT is phenomenal. The new minister of technology should try to build on the legacy of outgoing minister. The states should try to partner with telcos for developmental activities instead of seeing the telcos as revenue generating machines.

I see a competition among telcos to sign on celebrities, especially among Nollywood artistes; is this another new phase of competition?

Yes, we have signed on a few brand ambassadors. Like in anything, you want somebody who will be a positive advocate. It is good to sign those who will influence others. We concentrate on those that are known and it is Nollywood because they appear more on TV and this is good for the mass market.