By Nnamdi Ojiego

Mr Gbenga Adebayor is a key player in the telecom sector. He is widely known as the Chairman of Association of Licensed Telecom Operators of Nigeria, ALTON but besides this, he is the Chief Executive Officer of Communications Network Support Services Limited, CNSSL, a telecom outsourcing company that provides network management and support services to telecom operators.

Gbenga

In this interview, he spoke on a wide range of issues in the industry, including how his company’s partnership with MTN has provided thousands of Jobs for Nigerians in Jos Plateau.

He also touched on the security and infrastructural challenges in the industry. He revealed that the future of Nigeria’s telecom sector depends on outsourcing. Excerpt

Your company’s name CNSSL, what does it stand for?
The full meaning of CNSSL is Communications Network Support Services Limited. Basically, we are network maintenance and support company with expertise in design, Implementation and maintenance of Fibre Optic Cable Network and Copper Networks. We design, plan and implement turnkey projects, including characterization, right _ of _ way approvals, project management, project implementation, testing, network operations and maintenance.

We are also into designing, planning and implementation of copper access networks, turnkey projects; construction of external line plant (ELP), for Underground and overhead terrestrial last mile cable network infrastructure. All we are chartered to do is to provide network management and support services. We are not customer facing company, we operate from behind the scene. we are only supporting network operators. .

You are partnering with MTN on Customer Service Support. what value  will it add to Nigeria’s telecom sector in particular, and Nigerian economy at large?

The Jos Call Center business is quite interesting because, this for us is an opportunity to impact on the people even though we are behind the machines. We are like a flag bearer for the service providers in particular for MTN being an organisation that provide opportunity for right type of ethics, the right type of corporate governance and very high standard of professionalism.

So we have the special privilege to partner with MTN. The Jos Call Centre is on going. We have entrenched ourselves very well in the sector. We have succeeded over the last half year to entrench ourselves in the local environment

We are also  providing customer service support for MTN fixed infrastructure, which is what we called MTN hi- connect, that is the product that came out of the old VGC communications and there we provide customer service support for those who are with the bundle services- the voice, data and internet services.

Talking about the value, we have been into this for three years and over these three years I will say we have done quite well. We have employed quite a number of Nigerians, we are masters in our field.

The impact is that we have been able to present the interest of the customers through the network owner which is our principal, MTN. We have been able to represent the vision and mission of our principal through the subscribers and by that, we have been able to bridge what I will call that void or that gap between the average subscriber and the network providers, in our case, which is MTN.

In terms of impact, I think we are filling the void, that exist, out of rapid growth that we have witnessed in the entire network. MTN is proactive to the extent that they see the strength of the market, the trend of the industry and provide tailor made solutions to address those trends in the sector.

What would you consider as the biggest challenge for outsourcing business in Nigeria?
Customer service in our environment is a challenge. When a subscriber comes, he comes with the mind set that you have failed to provide the necessary service. But I think over time, this perception is changing. It is also part of the knowledge we are getting from the local environment because our socio-cultural environment is different from anywhere else. We are people who believe in our culture, who believe in our tradition and whatever thing we do.

Again, it is a cultural thing. Even in salutations, an average Nigerian would want to be saluted based on his titles. But when you understand the mind set and perception of the people and when you understand in particular, the emotions of the people, it enables you to flow better with them.

Why did you choose to cite this call center in Jos despite the incessant communal and religious crises in that state. Wont that affects your operations?

That’s why I said we should give credit to MTN. At a time when everybody is running away from Plateau, MTN decided to put maximum investment.

Not only to do the investment, MTN decided to employ so many Nigerians in Plateau. I have no reason to give to you for why it was done rather than to give credit to MTN for taking bold step to make such amount of investment because, it takes an organisation that is national and indigenous in nature to decide to do that kind of investment in an environment like Plateau at a time when people believe that there is no security, no safety for lives and property in the area.

Unfortunately, the issue of Jos Plateau was wrongly  reported. We have over 700 employees in our employment from the state. From what we see the problem of Plateau was wrongly reported. Plateau is okay. the situation is not different from any other part of the country.

Many companies have relocated their businesses to other neigbouring states because they couldn’t attract the right resources and that has affected the local economy of the state. I must say that when we came to Plateau in March this year, we changed the life there by providing jobs for the people. We also give them training with the support of MTN. So, what MTN has done is to bring world class training to equip our people in customer service support for the network.

Talking about man power, are your employees all Nigerians? Do you have foreigners in your workforce?
Our employees are all Nigerians. We are a Nigerian company and we operate in Nigeria. By objective, we are Nigerian, in outlook, we are Nigerian, by mission we are Nigerian, by definition we are Nigerian, by all kinds of things you may like to describe us, we are a Nigerian company and so, those who are working for us are Nigerians. We don’t import or intend to import rather, we tend to develop local content.

In what ways do you think government can assist the industry?
What is important is that government must continue to provide the right infrastructure and the right policy environment. Government must continue to provide the right regulatory environment because without the right policy or the friendly regulatory environment, telecom sector will not thrive.

And most importantly, government must provide basic guaranty of security of infrastructure and people. when I talked about infrastructure, I mean the protection of telecom infrastructures. Today, the greatest challenge of the national networks is insecurity of infrastructure, incessant fibre cut, vandalization of base transfer stations and attack on personnel of telecom companies, among others. Therefore, government must provide minimum guaranty of security of telecom infrastructure, that is the way by which the industry can stabilize, that’s the way by which the industry can create and have a rapid growth.

Implication of not securing the infrastructure and people are many but I will speak on few of them. One is that money that would have been used in expanding the infrastructure will be used in replacing damaged and vandalized ones.

Two, the interest you require to retain and sustain the business, you will loose them to the less developed markets with better social guaranty. Therefore, the peace of Plateau is a guarantee of the future of those youths there who are now given who are now given career assurance because as long as we are there, they will remain employed. And you won’t imagine how many lives we have affected and at the end of the day it is our responsibility both as a people or government to provide the minimum security guaranty that is required both for infrastructure and people.

As an Industry player, what is the future of telecom sector in Nigeria?
The future of telecom depends on outsourcing. Again, the future of telecom as an industry depends on outsourcing. The reason being that telecom has many branches and telecom operation is very cumbersome. It require a large number of specialized minds to run the sector and it is not possible for any single service provider to aggregate and hold the numerous branches of telecom for efficient and effective telecom operations.

Outsourcing has become an enable where you have people of specialized fields providing supports for network operators. Some specialized in employment, others specialized in equipment and installations and many others. The kind of growth we are witnessing and we will continue to experience in the industry  all over the world and in Nigeria in particular, it is not possible for any individual or organisation to cover all the branches. For that reason, outsourcing is the way forward.

When the people are guaranteed of everything- training, career etcetera, they will have no reason to be elsewhere. This is what we set out to do, to be indigenous and to develop the right local content. The future of telecom in Nigeria at the end of the day depends on and in the hands of Nigerians.