STARCOMMS, QUBAIN SHINE AT TOP CELEBRITIES AWARDS

Starcomms Plc., Nigeria’s highly innovative telecommunications company reaffirmed its leadership in its area of operations at the weekend, having been voted by the Nigerian public as the CDMA company of the year in the well attended Top Celebrities Achievers Award.
At the award ceremony, which rallied who-is-who in the various sectors of the Nigerian economy, the chief executive officer of Starcomms, Maher Qubain was also named the Telecommunications Personality of the year.
According to the organizers of the event, Starcomms Plc has proved to the world that the best can come out of Nigeria. Starcomms, the first Nigerian telecommunication company to be quoted on the Nigerian stock exchange has been achieving many feats in the country and has been taking many bold steps as a CDMA company in recent times.
One major achievement of the company mentioned, is its recent offering of roaming services to its customers so that wherever they go in the world they can be reached on their Starcomms mobile phones. This service, which used to be offered all over the world only by GSM companies makes Starcomms the first CDMA company in the world to offer inter-standard roaming facility. The huge investments of Starcomms in the Internet Protocol Contact Centre, was also taken note of by the award organizers. The IPCC allows easy interactions between Starcomms and its customers in five languages and helps customers to pull through any challenge that they may have with their phones.
Starcomms was also praised for being the first CDMA company to latch on to Main One Cable, the new undersea optic fiber cable, linking Nigeria and the rest of West Africa to Europe. This will enable the company to maintain its leadership in the provision of internet access in the country.
The company’s managing director, Maher Qubain was lauded for his dexterity at striking a balance among the growth of the company, the interest of the shareholders and pleasing the customers.
“Qubain has sustained the business of Starcomms in situations where many CDMA companies were floundering. The company under Qubain continues to grow in subscriber base in the face of all business challenges,” noted the award organizers.
In a response to this recognition, the CEO of Starcomms, Maher Qubain expressed his appreciation to the organizers of the awards, noting that his achievements and those of Starcomms are not without the unwavering supports of the customers and staff of the company.
“We received the Top Celebrities Achievers Award with much appreciation and a high sense of responsibility. We consider it a nudge from the organizers for us to continue to work harder at remaining ahead in all our undertakings,” Qubain said.

PICTURE CAPTION

LEFT-RIGH: Vipul Parmar, Manager-Customer Service, Starcomms Plc and Trino Guzman, Head - Engineering Department, holding the plaques of the Telecom personality of the Year, won by Starcomms MD Maher Qubain and CDMA company of the year won by Starcomms Plc at the Top Celebrity Achievers Awards held at 10-degrees Event Centre on Sunday, August 29,2010 with Alex Ikidi, Enterprise Business Executive of Starcomms

COMMUNITIES RECOUNT WATER OF LIFE IMPACT

Community leaders in Lagos, Ogun and Oyo States whose communities have benefited from the Guinness Water of Life project said they have begun to feel the ease of life that the projects have brought to the social and economic life of their people.The Obawole and Olowo communities in Iju area of the Ifako Ijaiye local government council of Lagos State, Owode Community in Ona-Ara local government area of Oyo State and Iperu Remo in Ikenne-Remo Local Government of Ogun State, recently joined the list of communities to be beneficiaries of the Water of Life, which was designed by the company to give access to safe drinking water to one million Nigerians by the year 2011.Describing it as a kind gesture that they will not forget in a hurry, the Baale of Ogbere Gangansi/Owode, in Ona Ara local government council of Oyo State, Chief Ewuola Olagunju said that the water project has helped to alleviate the sufferings of the people as it has provided access to potable clean and safe drinking water.He said that the community will for ever appreciates the social responsibility service of Guinness that has put an end to many years of water problem in his community noting that the water project has indeed alleviated the sufferings of the people.According to him, before Guinness provided the all-inclusive water scheme, which comprise boreholes, overhead storage tank, water treatment plant, a reticulation network of fetching points and a standby power generating set for their use, domestic and commercial life that required the use of water was greatly hampered. The Vice Chairman of Ikenne Local Government, Otunba Tiwalade Sobo while recounting the impact that the Guinness Water of Life has affected the people of Iperu-Remo explained that life has never been the same again for the people noting that access to clean and safe drinking water is now easy for the residents.He added that the joy of having such facility in the community and seeing it meeting their expectation has made the people to continue to show high level of commitment to the management of the water project adding that the community set up to manage the project, has been effective in its duty.And for the people of Obawole and Olowo communities in Iju area of the Ifako Ijaiye local government council of Lagos State, the excitement of having a steady supply of clean and safe water for their use has continued to gladden their hearts The chairman of the Ifako-Ijaiye Community Development Council (CDC), Alhaji Isiaka Obatolu said that the water project has turned out to be a landmark in the community stressing that that was why the community had been mindful of managing the facility with diligence.According to him, the project is a turning point in addressing the problem of potable water confronting the people of Obawole and Olowo communities, emphasizing that the commitment of Guinness in providing water for the community is in line with the state’s policy thrust on public and private sector partnership.

STARCOMMS SIGNS UP WITH MAIN ONE CABLE FOR BETTER INTERNET EXPERIENCE

As part of its efforts to further enhance internet service from IZAP and 1X, Starcomms Plc. has subscribed to a new undersea cable linking Nigeria and the whole of West Africa to Europe. The implication of the new development is that it will pave the way for additional transformation in Internet access and reliable voice service from the award winning telecoms company.
Starcomms subscription to the undersea cable built by Main One Cable Company in partnership with U.S. firm Tyco makes it the first CDMA operator to have access to the facility. According to the Chief Executive Officer of Starcomms, Mr. Maher Qubain, the subscription to Main One Cable will definitely be a boost to Starcomms’ current achievement in the area of fast, reliable and affordable internet services delivery as well as voice clarity across the country. In his words, “across Nigeria, we have received plaudits from our voice and data customers who have been enjoying our unrivalled services. As a company committed to delivering world-class services, we will continue to explore all available means to add value to their business and personal lives." Mr. Qubain further stated that considering the potential of the undersea cable, a new window of opportunity has been opened for Starcomms to introduce enhanced services that will not only increase speed but add value to the life of its customers saying that with Starcomms connection to the cable, its customers can also expect more speedy downloads and unmatched voice call capacity. The 7,000 km fibre optic cable, which runs from Portugal to Nigeria and Ghana, and also branches out to Morocco, the Canary Islands, Senegal and Ivory Coast, is also expected to be a boost to international calls on Starcomms network. This development, according to him will be a boost to some of the value added services, recently introduced by Starcomms to demonstrate its passion for innovative services and the enhancement of its role as a leading Nigerian telecom brand in the industry. One of such is the Afritalk voice services, a non-intrusive and enhanced voice-chat service through which Starcomms customers can chat and make lots of friends across Nigeria. The fact that the mobile number of the person chatting is not revealed to other chat members has endeared it to a lot of customers too. Specifically too, the connection of Starcomms network to Main One Undersea Fibre Optic cable will have a remarkable positive impart on the recent introduction of interstandard international roaming on CDMA to GSM by Starcomms. What this means is that customers of Starcomms will enjoy more efficient and quality voice and data services on their Starcomms phones. The Main One Cable hook up by Starcomms is also expected to benefit parts of the country that are soon to enjoy the Starcomms super-fast broadband internet services, Izap as well as its Ix data services that covers everywhere it has network coverage, which extends to 22 states, 28 cities and 100 towns. Another of Starcomms value added services that customers are expected to benefit from in the Main One Cable services is the StarTrack, a location based service designed to assist Starcomms customers to know the specific whereabouts of their loved ones as well as make it possible for friends and lovers to track each other. Exclusively a customer centric product and the first of its kind in the industry, this innovative service from Starcomms, allows Starcomms customers to register the number of another customer, whom he doesn’t want to lose track of with a text message. Starcomms will then notify the registered customer for his consent, after which his location can be disclosed to seeker.

STARCOMMS SLASHES OFF PEAK TARIFF

Nigeria’s leading telecommunications operator, Starcomms Plc is offering off-peak tariff slash for its customers. Customers are to enjoy N4 per second off peak tariff for on-net calls between the period of 10 pm and 7 am.
The offer is to enable Starcomms customers, particularly the Muslims to share warm thoughts during the Ramadan period, while also giving opportunity to non-Muslims to extend warm greetings to their Muslim friends.
Designed to add value to the social life of all customers of Nigeria’s only telecoms company quoted on the Nigerian Stock Exchange, this unique offer is available to current and new customers in all cities where there is Starcomms coverage for a period of one month.
What it implies is that customers of the innovative CDMA Company will have to pay less to savour the excitement and communal activities that require people getting in touch during the Ramadan period while also enjoying other value added services on the Starcomms network. Moreover, the promo is a boom for those who are not involved in the Ramadan fast as they can have longer discussions on the Starcomms network during the off peak hours.
The Chief Commercial Officer of Starcomms, Mr. Tushar Maheshwari said that, “as a responsive network, we at Starcomms understand that Nigerians love to keep in touch with their loved ones, hence we are using this opportunity to enable not just the Muslims on our network, but the non-Muslims too, the privilege of doing that during the Ramadan period.”
According to him, this is just part of our numerous ways of making our people happier, as a network that speaks their language.” He said that as a customer focused company it is mindful of the needs of its customers and will often look for opportunities to make talking easy for them.
The current winner of the Superbrand award for 2009 and a two time telecom company of the year including the recent winner of the 2009 CDMA Company award given to it for its outstanding performance in the delivery of quality services and value added services, Starcomms has over the years demonstrated its leadership role in the industry both in value for money, innovation, customer care.

STARCOMMS LEADS CDMA INNOVATION IN THE WORLD, LAUNCHES INTERNATIONAL ROAMING

Starcomms Plc has once again demonstrated its determination to render superior and world-class service to its teeming customers. For the first time in the world, a CDMA telecommunication operator is providing its customers the opportunity to enjoy international roaming. As a result of this development Starcomms customers do not need to change their numbers whenever they travel out of Nigeria.
This new development is sequel to an agreement signed on March 23, 2010 by Starcomms with MACH, the leading provider of hub-based mobile applications exchange solutions and Accuris Network, the leading provider of Inter-standard and converged solutions.
Consequently, the over 3.2 million and still growing customers of Starcomms now have the rare opportunity of seamless access to international mobile roaming on all wireless technology networks. This will greatly expand Starcomms network coverage outside Nigeria and simplify the roaming experience of the customer who may have cause to travel outside the country. Already Starcomms has coverage in 31 major Cities covering 175 towns in Nigeria.
With this development, Starcomms now gives its customers the global advantage as they are connected to about 600 networks in over 100 countries in Asia, Africa, Europe, America and the Middle East.
Commenting on the new deal that will boost the Starcomms network, the company’s Chief Executive Officer, Mr. Maher Qubain said “The commitment of Starcomms to providing innovative products and services that simplify lives and enhance living for our customers is a tradition we hold dear.
We know that many customers yearn for the high quality services of Starcomms everywhere they go. So, the pioneering step of adding inter-standard roaming capabilities to our portfolio as a CDMA network in this country is just more evidence of our practice of always being the first to give the customer the best.” The ISR solutions from MACH and Accuris Networks is delivered through a proven services infrastructure and offers turnkey inter-operability between wireless technologies, including CDMA, 1xEVDO, GSM, GPRS/UMTS, WIFI, WiMax and soon, LTE. The solution, which can be implemented using existing connections, offers end-users all of the services that are available on their home network, even when they are travelling. With end-to-end one-number interoperability, operators can provide complete voice and messaging services easily.
The seamless interoperability roaming access that MACH provides for over 600 networks all over the world is in line with the high quality services that Starcomms has been providing its customers in Nigeria. Tushar Maheshwari, the Chief Commercial Officer of Starcomms, while speaking about the new possibilities said, “Starcomms will never trade high standard for any thing. Our focus in providing international roaming opportunities for our customers is not just about the service but about the quality of their experience while roaming with the Starcomms service.
“We have continued to make sure that our customers who have cause to travel outside Nigeria feel at home anywhere with all their contacts having access to them seamlessly.”

KATE PETERS WINS STARCOMMS OVERALL BOXER IN HALL OF FAME CONTEST -STARCOMMS REAFFIRMS COMMITMENT TO BOXING DEVELOPMENT

According to him, Starcomms is committed to the development of sports, particularly at the grass root level pledging that Starcomms will continue to give support to the event which has become relevant to the development of boxing in the state.He said that Starcomms sphere of influence in sports development in the country will continue increase saying just as the company is not relenting in its determination to give its customers unmatched quality of service, so also it will not relent in creating an atmosphere where the young people of the country can develop their talents.He said that sports remains a veritable means for young people to express themselves saying that since Starcomms began the sponsorship of the event a great number of young boxing talents like kate Peters have proved that they have the potentials to take Nigeria to the world in the game of boxing.While rating the performance of the boxers, Gill said that both the Lagos State Boxing Hall of Fame Competition and the Lagos State Amateur Boxing Association displayed professionalism in the organization of the event noting that the spirit of sportsmanship put up by the boxers deserves commendation.Starcomms has for some years sponsored the monthly Lagos State Boxing Hall of Fame Competition, which holds at the Mobolaji Johnson Hall Sports Complex, Rowe Park, Lagos. The event holds on the last Saturday of every month.

PICS CAPTION

R-L, Richard Gill, Marketing Director, Starcomms Plc, presenting the overall best Amateur Boxing prize to kate Peters while Wale Edun, Chairman of the Lagos State Amateur Boxing Hall of Fame looks on.

STARCOMMS INTRODUCES SPECIAL ISLAMIC HANDSET

In the spirit of celebrating the holy month of Ramadan, Nigeria’s leading telecommunications operator, Starcomms Plc is offering its Muslim customers the opportunity of purchasing and owning a unique handset, Qiblah, exclusively equipped with integrated features that are tailor-made to meet the needs of fasting and praying Muslims.
The introduction of the handset by Starcomms comes as little surprise, considering the company’s track-record of availing its customers with innovative products and services that always anticipate their needs and requirements.The new phone has an indicator setting that point to Mecca and comes complete with a compass and prayer time alarm functions. The Qiblah indicator uses an inbuilt longitude and latitude orientation or city references that, when used in comparison to the magnetic north, indicates the direction of the Qiblah so that the Muslim can, from any place he is, know in what direction to face and pray. The Qiblah in Islam is the compass that shows the direction that Muslims face to pray wherever they are. Also, Starcomms has introduced a promotional airtime package for the benefit of customers who purchase the handset. They are to enjoy discounted calls during off peak periods and low cost calls to Saudi Arabia during the Ramadan period. Other customers of Starcomms are also to enjoy discounted calls on off peak and low cost calls during the period.Speaking on the functionality of the Qiblah phones, Mr. Tushar Maheshwari, Chief Commercial Officer of Starcomms noted that very often it is difficult to determine the four cardinal points when one is constantly on the move. Therefore, it may not be easy to determine the Qiblah when it is time to pray for a Muslim whose routine requires moving around. With the aid of the compass installed in the phone, a Muslim customer of Starcomms can easily know which direction to face at prayer time.The Qiblah phones are designed with colourful Islamic visual features, such as lovely wall papers and screen savers as well as inspiring ring-tones. The phone is also a channel for the customer to enjoy the Listen-To-Quran service of Starcomms, which is the first of its kind in the country. The service is designed to update and increase the knowledge of Muslim customers on the tenets of Islam as well as allow them have access to the Holy book anytime anywhere on their Starcomms phones. Customers can access Listen-To-Quran by simply dialing *786 on their Starcomms phones to access the IVR mode to select any particular Surah of Holy Quran and continue listening at fixed cost of N25 per hour.Maheshwari explained that Starcomms has often paid attention to the needs of particular sections of the society stating that during festive periods, it gave special packages to its customers.