Globacom
Encyclopedia
Globacom Limited is a Nigerian multinational telecommunications company headquartered in Lagos, Nigeria. GLO is a privately owned telecommunications carrier that started operations on 29 August 2003. It currently operates in 4 countries in West Africa namely Nigeria, Republic of Benin, Ghana and Ivory Coast. As of June 2009, the company has employed more than 2,500 people worldwide.

Overview

GLO has an estimate of over 25 million subscribers (June 2009) and it is a 100 percent Nigerian owned company. It has a reputation as one of the fastest growing multi-national carriers in the world and the vision for GLO is to be the biggest and best carrier in Africa
Africa
Africa is the world's second largest and second most populous continent, after Asia. At about 30.2 million km² including adjacent islands, it covers 6% of the Earth's total surface area and 20.4% of the total land area...

.

GLO is the first sole company to build an $800 million high-capacity fibre-optic cable known as Glo-1. It has the first successful submarine cable from the United Kingdom to Nigeria; and it has the potential to decrease telecommunications cost and provide excess bandwidth to all the countries connected to the cable.

Ownership

GLO is privately owned by the Mike Adenuga Group which also consists of Equatorial Trust Bank (ETB), Conoil PLC, a petroleum marketing company, and Conoil Producing, a crude exploration company.

Glo Mobile

Glo Mobile, a subsidiary of GLO, is GLO’s Mobile Network Unit. In the first year of operation, it had one million subscribers in over 87 towns in Nigeria and over 120 billion Naira in revenues. Glo Mobile has now spread its reach to other parts of Africa, namely the Republic of Benin
Benin
Benin , officially the Republic of Benin, is a country in West Africa. It borders Togo to the west, Nigeria to the east and Burkina Faso and Niger to the north. Its small southern coastline on the Bight of Benin is where a majority of the population is located...

 and Ghana
Ghana
Ghana , officially the Republic of Ghana, is a country located in West Africa. It is bordered by Côte d'Ivoire to the west, Burkina Faso to the north, Togo to the east, and the Gulf of Guinea to the south...

.

Glo Gateway

Glo Gateway, a subsidiary of GLO, is GLO’s International Wholesale Voice and Data Exchange Trading Business Unit. Due to an expansion program which took place in 2008, Glo Gateway now covers 140 countries under its roaming services, and it is currently connected to 235 networks. 2008 also saw growth in Glo’s data roaming for mobile phones, laptops and BlackBerry
BlackBerry
BlackBerry is a line of mobile email and smartphone devices developed and designed by Canadian company Research In Motion since 1999.BlackBerry devices are smartphones, designed to function as personal digital assistants, portable media players, internet browsers, gaming devices, and much more...

 handsets, which has now spread to 72 networks in 29 countries. This now gives GLO the largest roaming coverage for voice and data in the whole continent of Africa
Africa
Africa is the world's second largest and second most populous continent, after Asia. At about 30.2 million km² including adjacent islands, it covers 6% of the Earth's total surface area and 20.4% of the total land area...

. Glo Gateway recently acquired a license in Ivory Coast.

Broad Access

As a part of GLO’s service offering, Glo Broad Access will be vastly improved by the laying of the fibre optic cable for the metro ring, which is progressing steadily. The Glo Broad Access was launched on the 24th of November 2009. Glo Broad Access offers landline telephones, broadband internet and video, all on a single digital wire line.

Glo 1 Submarine Cable

Glo-1 is the first successful submarine cable from the United Kingdom to Nigeria, and GLO is the first individual African company to embark on such a project.
Glo-1 has the potential to provide high speed internet services, faster, more reliable and cheaper telecom services for the public. Glo-1 will potentially facilitate foreign investment and employment opportunities especially to Africans.

The 9,800 km long cable originates from Brud in the UK and it is laid from this origin to Alpha Beach in Lagos
Lagos
Lagos is a port and the most populous conurbation in Nigeria. With a population of 7,937,932, it is currently the third most populous city in Africa after Cairo and Kinshasa, and currently estimated to be the second fastest growing city in Africa...

, where it will have its Landing Station. Glo-1 will also improve teleconferencing, distance learning, disaster recovery
Disaster recovery
Disaster recovery is the process, policies and procedures related to preparing for recovery or continuation of technology infrastructure critical to an organization after a natural or human-induced disaster. Disaster recovery is a subset of business continuity...

 and telemedicine
Telemedicine
Telemedicine is the use of telecommunication and information technologies in order to provide clinical health care at a distance. It helps eliminate distance barriers and can improve access to medical services that would often not be consistently available in distant rural communities...

 among several other benefits for Nigerians and the people of West Africa
West Africa
West Africa or Western Africa is the westernmost region of the African continent. Geopolitically, the UN definition of Western Africa includes the following 16 countries and an area of approximately 5 million square km:-Flags of West Africa:...

.

GLO in Nigeria

In August 2003, Glo Mobile was launched in Nigeria. Glo Mobile introduced lower tariffs, pay per second billing and alongside other value added services. Although Glo Mobile was the fourth GSM operator to launch in Nigeria, within seven years of the company's operation, its subscriber base has grown to over 25 million.

GLO in the Republic of Benin

In June 2008, Glo Mobile was launched in the Republic of Benin
Benin
Benin , officially the Republic of Benin, is a country in West Africa. It borders Togo to the west, Nigeria to the east and Burkina Faso and Niger to the north. Its small southern coastline on the Bight of Benin is where a majority of the population is located...

. Glo Mobile showed unprecedented growth through the sale of 600,000 SIM cards in the first ten days of operation. Glo Mobile offered Per Second Billing, which charges subscribers for the exact airtime used. They also offered other value added services such as MMS (Multimedia Messaging Service), Glo Magic Plus news and information, vehicle tracking, musical ring-back tones and mobile banking.

GLO in Ghana

In May 2008, GLO acquired an operating license through its Glo Mobile division in Ghana
Ghana
Ghana , officially the Republic of Ghana, is a country located in West Africa. It is bordered by Côte d'Ivoire to the west, Burkina Faso to the north, Togo to the east, and the Gulf of Guinea to the south...

 and plans to capture 30% of the current 11 million subscriber market within 18 months of launch. They plan on achieving this goal by launching with bundled voice and Internet services for Ghana
Ghana
Ghana , officially the Republic of Ghana, is a country located in West Africa. It is bordered by Côte d'Ivoire to the west, Burkina Faso to the north, Togo to the east, and the Gulf of Guinea to the south...

 and through specifically targeting ‘un-serviced’ areas outside Ghana
Ghana
Ghana , officially the Republic of Ghana, is a country located in West Africa. It is bordered by Côte d'Ivoire to the west, Burkina Faso to the north, Togo to the east, and the Gulf of Guinea to the south...

’s two major cities, Accra
Accra
Accra is the capital and largest city of Ghana, with an urban population of 1,658,937 according to the 2000 census. Accra is also the capital of the Greater Accra Region and of the Accra Metropolitan District, with which it is coterminous...

 and Kumasi
Kumasi
Kumasi is a city in southern central Ghana's Ashanti region. It is located near Lake Bosomtwe, in the Rain Forest Region about northwest of Accra. Kumasi is approximately north of the Equator and north of the Gulf of Guinea...

. Glo Mobile was set to launch in Ghana
Ghana
Ghana , officially the Republic of Ghana, is a country located in West Africa. It is bordered by Côte d'Ivoire to the west, Burkina Faso to the north, Togo to the east, and the Gulf of Guinea to the south...

 the first quarter of 2010. This has however been postponed to the third quarter of 2011. On April 8, 2011 GLO launched its maiden operation in Ghana to usher in another major player in the Ghana telecommunication industry.

GLO in Ivory Coast

In October 2009, GLO acquired submarine cable landing rights and International Gateway Services in Ivory Coast.

History

In 2005, Glo Mobile introduced the Glo Fleet Manager which is the most comprehensive Vehicle Tracking Solution offered to save time and money. Glo Fleet Manager helps transporters/fleet operators manage their fleet effectively and efficiently. They also introduced the Glo Mobile internet service which provides subscribers with high speed access to all popular internet sites which have been customized for mobile phone browsing.

In 2006, Glo Mobile introduced BlackBerry which is the leading wireless solution that keeps mobile professionals around the world connected to people and information while on the go. GLO started the sponsorship of the Confederation of African Football African Player of the Year Award. The company also started the sponsorship of Glo Lagos International Half Marathon.

In 2009, Glo Mobile launched Blackberry prepaid services which gives subscribers options to pay daily, weekly or monthly for the service. Blackberry prepaid service gives subscribers free yahoo mail access and free blackberry messenger. The company also launched 3G High Speed Internet services through the sale of its 3G modem. Glo Mobile 3G network is available in Lagos, Abuja, Benin and Port Harcourt.

Sponsorships

GLO sponsors sports events as a way to give back to communities within the countries they operate.

Nigeria

In Nigeria
Nigeria
Nigeria , officially the Federal Republic of Nigeria, is a federal constitutional republic comprising 36 states and its Federal Capital Territory, Abuja. The country is located in West Africa and shares land borders with the Republic of Benin in the west, Chad and Cameroon in the east, and Niger in...

, GLO sponsored until 2009 the Nigerian Premier League
Nigerian Premier League
The Nigeria Premier League is the highest level of domestic Nigerian football. It is fed into by the two First Division groups: the Nigerian Division 1-A and Nigerian Division 1-B. It is organized by the Nigeria Football Association. The NPL Chairman is Davidson Owunmi.- History :The league was...

, Nigerian National Football Teams, Nigeria Football Federation (NFF), Glo Lagos International Half Marathon, Glo People Police Marathon, Eyo Festival, Ojude Oba Festival, Eleghe Festival and the Confederation of African Football
Confederation of African Football
The Confederation of African Football is the administrative and controlling body for African association football.CAF represents the national football associations of Africa, runs continental, national, and club competitions, and controls the prize money, regulations and media rights to those...

 African Player of the Year Award.

Benin Republic

In the Republic of Benin
Benin
Benin , officially the Republic of Benin, is a country in West Africa. It borders Togo to the west, Nigeria to the east and Burkina Faso and Niger to the north. Its small southern coastline on the Bight of Benin is where a majority of the population is located...

, GLO sponsors the FITHEB and CAF
Confederation of African Football
The Confederation of African Football is the administrative and controlling body for African association football.CAF represents the national football associations of Africa, runs continental, national, and club competitions, and controls the prize money, regulations and media rights to those...

 African Player of the Year Award.

Ghana

In Ghana
Ghana
Ghana , officially the Republic of Ghana, is a country located in West Africa. It is bordered by Côte d'Ivoire to the west, Burkina Faso to the north, Togo to the east, and the Gulf of Guinea to the south...

, GLO sponsors the Glo Ghana Premier League, the Ghana National Football Teams and the CAF
Confederation of African Football
The Confederation of African Football is the administrative and controlling body for African association football.CAF represents the national football associations of Africa, runs continental, national, and club competitions, and controls the prize money, regulations and media rights to those...

 African Player of the Year Award.

Manchester United

In November 2009, GLO became an official sponsor of famous football club Manchester United. The sponsorship also includes young players from Benin
Benin
Benin , officially the Republic of Benin, is a country in West Africa. It borders Togo to the west, Nigeria to the east and Burkina Faso and Niger to the north. Its small southern coastline on the Bight of Benin is where a majority of the population is located...

, Ghana
Ghana
Ghana , officially the Republic of Ghana, is a country located in West Africa. It is bordered by Côte d'Ivoire to the west, Burkina Faso to the north, Togo to the east, and the Gulf of Guinea to the south...

 and Nigeria
Nigeria
Nigeria , officially the Federal Republic of Nigeria, is a federal constitutional republic comprising 36 states and its Federal Capital Territory, Abuja. The country is located in West Africa and shares land borders with the Republic of Benin in the west, Chad and Cameroon in the east, and Niger in...

 going to Manchester
Manchester
Manchester is a city and metropolitan borough in Greater Manchester, England. According to the Office for National Statistics, the 2010 mid-year population estimate for Manchester was 498,800. Manchester lies within one of the UK's largest metropolitan areas, the metropolitan county of Greater...

to train with the club.
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