GSM in Nigeria: Two years of the bitter and the sweet

"Laiye Obasanjo Eni ti okawe nlo phone"

(In the times of Obasanjo even the illiterate use phones.)

This refrain which is mouthed as a song by the people of Ibogun-Olaogun, Ifo Local Government, Ogun State, is not only common but popular. It is a song which the people of the 34 cluster villages that make up the Ibogun community, used to celebrate what they see as the achievement of their son, President Olusegun Obasanjo, in the telecommunications sector.

It was also very popular during the campaign that preceded Obasanjo's re-elections. Ministers, governors and members of the presidential campaign train never wasted time breaking into the song at rallies.

Though the campaign and the election has come and gone, Felicia Asabi Isaac still sings this song. Mama, as Isaac, is known quite old and uneducated.

But neither her age nor the blazing sun that cast a shadow over the place where she was being interview could dampen her spirit.

The source of her joy is the newly introduced telephone services that make it easy for her to communicate with her daughter in far away, Yola, Adamawa State.

"It is good because before I had to get to Ifo or even Lagos to call my daughter but now I go there (a call centre). We thank Obasanjo may God continue to help him," Mama said.

Inside Ibogun-Olaogun, Obasanjo's Village

Ibogun is not only Obasanjo's ancestral village but the place where he was born and the place where he grew up. Mama's house, a small bungalow built with mud is separated from the house where the president grew up by a small path. Both houses are beside a modest one storey modern building which the President is putting up.

At the kiosk, Mama's thanks turned out to be misplaced. The phone she uses to call her child was no GSM phone. It turned out to be a terrestrial phone provided by a Private Telephone Operator (PTO) company.

Mama does not know the difference between a GSM phone and a land-line. However she believes that, since their son Obasanjo introduced the 'phone' he must have introduced the phone at the kiosk.

Grace Johnson, a young female mans the kiosk. "We don't have GSM phones here we use land-lines. But we use to call GSM and it goes," she said. "GSM would not work here because we do not get signals. Sometimes it is luck, sometimes we get it, sometimes we do not."

Perhaps, this is the reason why only two individuals own GSM phones in Obasanjo's village. "I do not have a GSM phone," Pastor Daniel Oladapo, the Baptist cleric in charge of First Baptist Church, Ibogun-Olaogun, said. "Only two people have GSM phones in this village."

Johnson admitted that business at the call centre, though slow at the beginning is now picking up, "the first month not many people came but now people are coming." In the whole of Ibogun-Olaogun, a village of about two dozen houses, the two men who own GSM phones are, 'elder' a cousin of President Obasanjo, and Captain Gabriel Ogungbenle of the Salvation Army.

Ogungbenle is the administrative head of the National Health Insurance Scheme's Primary Health Care Clinic, Ibogun-Olaogun.

Ogungbenle got his handset in February 2003, but he arrived Ibogun in July 2002.

Not only has he had the experience of using a GSM phone in a rural area like Ibogun-Olaogun, he has also witnessed the changes agrarian Ibogun-Olaogun experienced since GSM came to town.

"The service is epileptic. But they are installing a mast somewhere at Soremekun by the time they are through I hope it will improve."

Ogungbenle however commends the GSM initiative despite the poor services arguing that it GSM services have helped the people in the rural areas a great deal.

"It has eased communication from the rural areas to the urban areas, particularly, here at the hospital. There was a time when a woman was going to deliver here but our doctor (a visiting doctor) was not around. At night when it looked as if she would not make it, we simply call the doctor who gave us instructions on the phone and the woman delivered a bouncing baby boy."

However Ogungbenle would want the call costs to be reduced as they are, in his opinion, "too high."

"What I do is to suspend my calls till the weekend when I know that the charges would be reduced. I make calls only during the weekend," he said.

Uyo: The more you look...

Ogungbenle's survival tactics are ones which the inhabitants of Ikot Obio-Attah, Governor Victor Attah 's village, would have welcomed as sweet relief. Attah's village which falls under Ibesikpo/Asutan Local Government Area, Akwa Ibom State, does not presently enjoy any form of GSM services.

According to an indigene, although MTN makes claims that it covers Uyo municipality its presence is not felt beyond the centre of the state capital.

"MTN claims to cover Uyo capital city but according to the development plan of Uyo, Uyo municipality extends as far as Nung-Udoe which is the HQ of Ibesikpo/Asutan Local Government Area. According to the Uyo capital City Development Authority, Nung-Udoe falls under Uyo metropolis. Yet the people in this area do not enjoy GSM services."

He also said claims by Econet Wireless that it covers Uyo, Eket, Ikot-Ekpene, Etinan, Oron and Abak are far from the truth.

"Evidence shows that Econet signals in Uyo do not go beyond Nung-oku which is just 5 km from the city centre."

Ondo: A Boom for 'GSM Business Centres'

While citizens of Ondo State may have complaints that are similar to those in these areas of Akwa Ibom State, those who would never complained are the operators of call centres. Even though services are poor, residents nevertheless do not complain. Even the remotest areas of the state enjoy smooth GSM services. Thus Idoani, Owo, Akure, Obale, Bolorunduro, Emure and other small towns in Ondo state enjoy these services.

However because the majority cannot afford GSM phones, the set of people who make the most of the situation are those who own call centres.

"The operators of this centre are so many, they are everywhere. Even places with no water or electricity have GSM. Even a remote place like Iju has GSM," a resident said, in wonder.

Bauchi, Kebbi: Different Strokes...

Bauchi and Kebbi towns, are like two different sides of a coin. Though a GSM service operator claims to have extended its services to Bauchi, the reality on the ground is different.

Services in this town are so bad that it is virtually non-existent.

"GSM has not made much difference here because the services are poor. People who use it complain a lot. Bauchi people are too poor so they cannot afford it, you can only see it with government officials," a resident said. Angered by these poor services, recently, the state government threatened to sue Econet for giving the state, 'sub-standard' service.

The people of Kebbi cannot even complain about services. Neither MTN nor Econet has a presence even in the state capital, Birnin Kebbi.

Osogbo, Ilorin: Half loaf for two state capitals

While Osogbo and Ilorin enjoy eminent status as state capitals, that standing is however diminished when it comes to the GSM coverage enjoyed by both capitals. For one, ownership of GSM phones is the exclusive preserve of the elite, students and for Ilorin, civil servants. It is not usually seen with market women or okada men.

According to an Ilorin indigene who travels to the city from his Lagos base regularly, "our enthusiasm has been dampened. So much hype that we thought we would be communicating across territories. The services are epileptic, it is not effective here,"

At Osogbo, the story is no different.

While the people of Osogbo are happy that the city now enjoys GSM coverage, two years after it was launched they, nevertheless, have two grouses with MTN. One is that it is only the area where the elites live that is covered by MTN.

"The GSM operator has two masts in Osogbo, one at Oke-fia and the other at Gbongan Road. However MTN deliberately erected the two masts at the two locations in order to cover the elite areas of GRA, Oke-fia, Alekuwodo, Fakunle, Coca Cola, Dada Estate and Ikirun road.

"Areas where the poor reside, such as Oja Oba, Isale Osun, Oke Ayepe are not covered by the GSM operators."

The other, is the convulsive service.

"MTN has not been very effective in Osogbo due to the fluctuation of signals. Subscribers experience drop calls, network failure or no network at all."

"The good thing is the employment opportunities that have been created and when you consider the rate you wont expect to see it with civil servants. But civil servants form the bulk of the patronage."

Ife: Status Symbol...

In the ancient city of Ife, GSM phones are like a status symbol seen only with the elites, students and staff of the university.

Little wonder that coverage is very strong within the university campus. Yet it is very weak within town.

Ilaro and Ifo: 'Before, we were in darkness...'

Ilaro is the biggest town in the old Egbado division of Ogun State, now known as Yewa. Then, Ifo ranked a close second.

But Ilaro has been left behind by this GSM revolution. GSM services in Ilaro are nil.

"In Ilaro you only get signals when the weather is cool," said Emmanuel Ponap, a policeman who once stayed at the police barracks in Ilaro.

"It is either the weather is cool or you go to a high place and whenever the sun is out you can not make calls." Making calls is however very important to Ponap. His family is in Lur, Kangke Local Government area of Plateau State.

"There is no signal in my place so they make the two hour journey to Jos to call me. I just came back from home because my grandmother was ill."

For John Olaitan an Okada rider, GSM phones are for the rich, "Ki ise ounje mekunu (it is not a meal for the poor")," he said.

Olaitan said he does not even dream of owning a phone because he knows that even if he gets one he would not be able to maintain it. What he does is that he goes to call centres to make calls.

"Although it has had no effect on my Okada business it has helped my Kampala dress business. I use it to call my suppliers."

But for David Adebowale, an Ifo based welder, the GSM revolution has done more than helped his business it has made him to prosper.

He bought his Nokia 3310 phone three months ago.

"It has done my business a lot of good. I just got a job now before you walked in. I called one of my customers just to check on him and he gave me a contract," he said.

Adebowale said his business has grown in leap and bound since he got his GSM phone.

"Before this phones came we were in darkness. We could not get information. If your customer is in Lagos you would have to risk your life and even waste your time travelling to Lagos to get him. But now I use it to buy materials without even leaving here."

His wish is that the service providers would reduce their charges.

"Although I don't have a problem buying card, when I finish one I simply buy another, since it is for my business, I am appealing to government and MTN to reduce the amount we use to buy cards and lines."

Kaduna: More Tears, More Gains

At first glance, he looks like the ubiquitous street vendors hawking toy GSM handsets but something absent in his sartorial elegance gives him away as belonging to the upper or middle spectrum of the social strata. Truly, Tanimu Inuwa Yakubu is not an ordinary Nigerian, he is a consultant of some sort. He has his finger in every pie. You could say he is something of a Mr. Fix it. He deals in virtually everything within the ambit of the law. And at the same time, he is pursuing a masters degree at Ahmadu Bello University Zaria.

On a typical day TIY, as he is fondly called by friends, clutches no less than four GSM handsets. The four varied handsets are for MTN, ECONET, NITEL and the good old analogue mobile phone. For this propensity, not a few people consider TIY a little cranky. Four GSM lines at the same time? For one user?

Certainly, he must be slightly unbalanced. But TIY thinks otherwise. He carries his babies not for the fun of it but because of sheer necessity. His phone are his 'only' contact with the outside world once he returns to Zaria for his postgraduate studies two days a week.

For a number of reasons, TIY carries these multitude of phones. Long before the advent of the GSM, he had acquire the analogue mobile phone otherwise known as "cellular". But with the advent of GSM two years ago, he promptly settled for MTN because he could not easily access users of the two major GSM providers namely MTN and ECONET with his analogue cellular. So he settled for MTN because it was the first provider to arrive Kaduna. And by the time he enrolled for his post graduate MTN has expanded its network to Zaria, the second largest town in the state after metropolitan, Kaduna. Zaria is about 70 kilometres from the state capital Kaduna. So it was a grateful TIY who showered blessings on MTN especially when he is in Zaria. And because he often shuttles between Abuja, the seat of the federal government, and Kaduna, he could easily make and receive calls from Abuja city centre down to his classroom in Zaria.

For a while everything seemed perfect. He refilled his credit at will, called Econet users at will and sent text messages without hassles. But all these were history. His exasperation began to manifest around last March when MTN operations were in fits and starts especially in Zaria. It became a snag to access especially ECONET and MTN service in the town famous for housing varied institutions of higher learning, has since deteriorated. By then Econet has opened shop in Zaria, so he, again, promptly purchased Econet sim pack. This brings to three his mobile telephone lines.

And when he is in Kaduna, Jos, Abuja or Lagos, he takes along his NITEL GSM line which he had acquired in September 2002 when he noticed that services of analogue phone was epileptic. Except when he is in Zaria whenre NITEL service is lacking, he is always clutching four handsets.

For TIY, the advent of GSM is a mixed bag. It's both a blessing and a curse. But the latter, to him, out proportions the former. For instance, it's a big hassle to refill your credit. According to him MTN is notorious for that. In Kaduna and environs, epileptic operations are the norm. Most subscriber complain of this problem. Other times, their MTN lines are more or less 'tossed' as they can't receive or make calls.

Ibrahim Musa, a journalist, for example recalls him for three days in a row, he couldn't enjoy the service of his provider MTN. He was later made to understand that his pier 03034 was temporarily warehoused.' In simple language, it meant that MTN was load shedding." In other words, if your pier is 'warehoused' because of congestion, you can't make any or receive calls not because your expiry date is up but because of the providers' inefficiency.

Subscribers like TIY, are compelled to acquire several networks at a time mainly because of the frequent system collapse of the providers and the difficulty in accessing a different network. Users now are often compelled to rely on short text messages to either network to communicate. Even this comes a big price.

Sometimes a text message may not get to the recipient until after 24 hours! This has often caused communication problems for subscribers compounding, rather than, easing their lifestyle.

The net result of all these problems for GSM subscribers is the gnashing of the teeth and regret.

Said TIY " I spend a lot of money refilling my credit in all lines but what do I get in return? Lousy services. All the providers are guilty of this. They often charge you for services not rendered. This is sheer robbery and the government doesn't seem to bother!"

Most subscribers in Kaduna are just carrying about their handsets as part of their costumes not so much because they enjoy excellent service even in the heart of the city. Econet in the last fortnight has laid prostrate. Calls on this network often terminate in the first ten seconds or the familiar refrain "the telephone line you are calling is out of Econet wireless service coverage area." Whilst the user is right. There with his handset blinking ready to receive calls.

Most users now are already thinking and seeking alternatives. Unless when it's unavoidably, users hardly rely on GSM to make contact preferring instead to use landlines. For a number of reasons, among which are reliability and cheaper costs, people now use landlines to make contact because GSM in the last two years has been a story of more tears and less gains.

The good, the bad...

But Omilaja's prayer is one that the thousand who make good money from GSM ancillary services would not want to be answered.

Since it was introduced, the business aspect of the GSM revolution has empowered this set of people financially.

These card vendors are usually young people within an age bracket of 14 and 22. Usually, they are fresh graduates from secondary schools.

In this category comes people like Master Dio Abdul. He finished from Model College, Abowa, Ikosi, Lagos State. Today, he is engaged in the selling of GSM recharge cards on Akin Adesola Street, Victoria Island, Lagos State. He joined the business of recharge card hawking in October 2002 after he finished writing his Secondary School Certificate Examination (SSCE) and National Examination Council (NECO) examinations respectively.

"I started this business immediately after my WAEC examinations and ever since then, I have been selling cards," he said. He sells different types of recharge cards, the MTN cards, N1500, N750 and the N4000 booster card.

Also hawks Econet's N1000 and N500 recharge cards.

He said that the larger recharge card denominations do not sell quickly in the market. He said that hardly would people request for any card above N1000 card. Also, he makes brisk business selling, NITEL cards. For NITEL, he sells only the N1000 card with the same reason that it is the one that people often ask for.

On the reason why he chose to sell the cards instead of doing other things that could give him money as well, he said that he chose recharge cards because it falls within the Fast Moving Consumer Goods (FMCG) category and proceeds come in, quickly. "I joined it because if you sell one per day, you already know what your are gaining. So, it makes you to hustle for customers and so that you can have a high turn over," he said.

His story is not different from that of Amuda Adijua who operates a GSM kiosk at Oyin Jolayemi Street, Victoria Island. She said that she is in the business to make the money she needs for the purchase of a GCE examinations form.

"I want to go back to school as soon as I make a reasonable money that can take me to a level in school. But first of all, I have to sit for GCE because I could not make my papers a sitting last year," she said.

For Joseph Ajiboye, the GSM business is no longer on profitable. "When the GSM came, we were very few that started renting phones. But within one year of its launch, it became common in every street, corners and the profit margin dropped drastically. Some of us who are still in the business today is to keep faith with the business, if not, it is n longer profitable," he said. He argued that initially, he makes an average of N3000 profit per day but within one year, it dropped to N1000 and some times N800 per day.

"There are so many people into this business. Since one year now, we have not been heating business as we used to," he said. Mr. Ola Olayinka at Pam Church Street in Lagos Island attributed the drop in profit margin to different promotions the GSM operators did last year. According to him, when the network was first launched, a GSM handset with line cost N30,000 but with the promotions, it came down to N9000 and a lot of people were able to buy it.

"During the time we started, few of us had the phone but when the GSM operators began their series of promotions, a lot of people bought phones and the market was saturated with call centers and recharge card sellers," he said.

When you purchase the whirlwind...

This cacaphony of complaints that have become regular from both the consumers and those who make brisk business from an estimated 3 million Nigerians that has caught the GSM bug. These complaints are perhaps fully summed up in a Yoruba proverb, expressed by Mama Isaac, while complaining about the PTO's inadequacies, even though her intended subjects were not the GSM providers.

'Ewo ni ka fi owo ra oyi kio ma legbe ni subu.'

(Why spend so much, buying a whirlwind that lacks even the minimal force needed to make you stumble).

"When we call and there are problems before finish talking then our money is wasted they should do something about that." This proverb sums up the frustrations the GSM telecommunications revolution has brought with its blessings. But despite its sour, sweet taste, the GSM still holds many attraction for all Nigerians, rich or poor, high or low.

As Adebayo Omilaja, wished after complaining about poor services, "government should categorise the services so that the poor can buy it, particularly farmers. The rich would buy their own and the poor would buy theirs. So that if it comes down to let's say N10,000 a farmer can devote let's say half an acre of cassava to buying one phone!"