The global COVID-19 pandemic expedited the need for technology to become faster, more intuitive, and easier to understand, irrespective of the peculiarities of its users.
This was disclosed by the Chief Executive Officer, Tizeti Plc, Kendall Ananyi during the company’s annual conference, Tizeti NeXTGEN, in Lagos. Tizeti is a solar-based internet and voice service provider.
“The global pandemic expedited the need for technology to be more agile, faster, more intuitive, and easier to understand, irrespective of the peculiarities of its users. Many people were unable to quickly adapt to the new normal of working, connecting to family and colleagues remotely, and accessing various educational, occupational, entertainment, and other services virtually.
“Many firms took an unnecessarily long time to adjust to the constraints the pandemic brought, and this resulted in declined productivity, ineffective transformation, and lost revenue. Technology is only useful when it is creating solutions to problems and we believe that as a leader in the digital space in West Africa, we have a role to build the technology platforms that will allow our user base to be agile and relevant in the coming years.
“We saw the transition from physical everything to the work-from-home model overnight and knew that we had to help people and businesses change the way they work and play,” the CEO said.
He also announced Tizeti’s partnership with a $5 million venture fund focused on startup ISPs that are expanding internet access across Africa.
To enable more Africans to take advantage of digital offerings in a new world defined by the Covid-19 pandemic, Tizeti also launched new connectivity offerings.
According to the founder, the new products encompass the company’s commitment to widening the broadband envelope in Nigeria with more robust internet plans and expanding coverage, especially in Nigeria, Africa’s most populous country; with a focus on accelerating internet availability across the continent through the new venture fund.
“The products also reiterate the company’s focus on delivering a simpler and more convenient technology offering with a smart customer care operation and integrated Customer Relationship Management Systems.
“This is why we have launched new voice and data service for residential, small, medium, and enterprise organizations within Nigeria. Our brand-new Turbo 100MBps Unlimited Internet Plans in Lagos will guarantee 100Mbps unlimited plans (which is 50 times faster than the existing plans in the market), with a free three months pilot to the first 100 signups in the Lekki area,” he stated.
Ananyi added that the company is dedicated to empowering more Nigerians, stimulating economic activities and providing unlimited access to affordable and reliable broadband services by widening the broadband envelope to 10 new cities in Nigeria.
“We are expanding our unlimited internet plans, currently available in cities in Lagos, Ogun, Rivers and Edo States, to Abuja, Ibadan, Kaduna, Kano, Warri/Asaba, Eket/Uyo, Onitsha, Aba, Enugu, and Calabar.
“We are building brand-new, solar-powered, 4G-capable towers in these cities and leveraging expansive fiber-networks built by some of our partners, to enable us to roll out our low-cost broadband service, and bring millions of people online, who can now take advantage of the life-changing socio-economic opportunities that access to the Internet provides,” he added.
According to the company’s Chief Operating Officer, Ifeanyi Okonkwo, Tizeti will leverage its proprietary OS technology, global partnerships with equipment vendors, submarine cable companies, payment providers, and venture firms to provide the resources for these startup ISPs to accelerate the availability of unlimited internet across the continent.
“Successful startups will participate in a 3-months programme at Tizeti’s location in Nigeria or Ghana where they are expected to gain the knowledge and expertise to rapidly launch affordable internet services in their respective countries.
“Tizeti has also simplified its customer experience with a Smart Interactive Voice Response Service that extends its existing Wi-Fi Voice APIs and authenticates callers into their call centres using their phone numbers. This smart IVR reduces wait times and the need to talk to customer service agents by providing tailored information on account holders while on the phone call.
“Tizeti was built to tackle poor internet connectivity not only in Nigeria but on the continent as a whole, by developing a cost-effective solution from inception to delivery, for reliable and uncapped internet access for potentially millions of Africans,” Okonkwo said.
Bottomline
For many countries in Africa, there is still a huge digital divide. It is important for ISPs to play significant roles in addressing this digital infrastructure deficit in Africa with innovative technology and capabilities, to improve development outcomes for millions of people, with better outcomes for employment, education, family and social life, and access to information.
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