Glo Nigeria

 

Glo Mobile West Africa's largest telco deploys ForgetMeNot Africa's Message Optimiser technology.The service rockets Nigeria's access to mobile email and online chat. No downloads or subscriptions required for two-way mobile email and chat messaging

The digital divide in Nigeria, Africa's leading telecoms market, is being bridged to give Nigerians with any SMS-capable mobile phone handset access to pay-as-you-go two-way mobile email and online chat. Glo Mobile, part of the award-winning Globacom, West Africa's largest teleco provider, is rolling out the new low-cost Glo Messenger service to its entire subscriber base using ForgetMeNot Africa's mobile technology.

 

Nigeria highest population in Africa

Nigeria is the highest populated African nation with more than 150 million people but only 16 per cent (24 million) of Nigerians have access to the Internet, according to International Telecommunications Union (ITU) figures. Glo Mobile has more than 40 per cent (25 million) of the country's 61 million mobile phone subscribers. It is now offering mobile phone users access to two-way email and chat on any mobile phone without the need for subscriptions, smartphones, Java downloads or data connections.

Attractive to young "early adopters"

Glo Messenger is particularly attractive to young "early adopters" because it gives them a considerably cheaper and more convenient way of accessing two-way email and online chat compared to a standard Internet connection. What's more, the service incorporates popular chat services such as MSN Messenger, Yahoo!, Windows Live and Gtalk so that users can send and receive messages, update their status and continue to chat online while on the go with no PC or internet access.

Globacom's Head of Valued Added Services, Samson Isa, said: "Deploying ForgetMeNot Africa software for millions of Nigerians is another step in Globacom becoming the biggest and best telecommunications provider in Africa. It follows our continuing investment in Nigeria's telecoms infrastructure. Glo Messenger gives all Nigerian people a chance to enjoy cheap Internet services and keep in touch with their friends and family both in Nigeria and abroad through two-way email and online chat."

ForgetMeNot Africa's Chief Operating Officer, Jeremy George, said: "Glo Mobile is putting another brick in the bridge across the digital divide in Nigeria, using ForgetMeNot Africa's technology to offer widespread, cheap-to-use mobile email to millions of Nigerians. Only 5 per cent of Nigerian households have a computer and the lack of cable access to the Internet makes accessing broadband difficult for the vast majority of Nigerians. Now they can keep in touch with their friends and family via email and online chat on basic handsets without any downloads."