Alain Saint-Marie, CEO Zain Nigeria

Leading mobile operator, Zain Nigeria has commenced another phase of its Fixed Payphones rollout across the country designed to increase access to a more affordable telecommunication service to more Nigerians.

The new rollout of the fixed payphone terminals in designated public locations is aimed at breaking barriers to communication in several locations in the country as well as empowering more Nigerians to communicate regardless of their income level, location, social status and age.

Speaking on the planned deployment, Marketing Director, Zain Nigeria, Mostafa Younes, said the rollout is part of the company’s robust plan to help Nigerians improve on its Universal Access and Rural connectivity rating and on the number of Nigerians that can afford telecommunications services.

He said Zain Fixed Payphones is being used as a platform by the company to bring tangible benefits to Nigerians and to enable customers experience the Zain brand.

Younes added that with Zain Fixed Payphones, people in various locations in the country, especially students, residents and workers in places where the use of mobile phones is restricted, will now have access to more affordable telephony services.

The service can also be used by people who do not immediately have airtime on their mobile phones, rural dwellers, new customers on the Zain network and customers who do not have the financial means to purchase handsets. Interestingly, users of Zain fixed payphones do not require handsets as their special SIM cards will enable them access any fixed payphone terminal across the country.

The Marketing Director noted that the move, which was the first by any GSM operator in the country, will go a long way in breaking barriers to communication services while reducing the cost of becoming a GSM subscriber as it offers customers with unique phone numbers, PIN and PUK with access to voice calls and SMS.

“We are seeking to deploy the phones in different locations such as the prisons (pan – Nigeria), model markets, bus/motor parks, high foot traffic bridges (e.g. the millennium bridges in Lagos), shopping malls, Zain shops, beside ATM machines, federal and state secretariats, barracks, etc.” said Younes.

Zain Fixed Wireless Payphone is a special device designed to serve people in rural/urban areas, universities, secondary schools, military institutions, hospitals, prisons and other locations where access to telecom service is constrained because of restriction in the use of mobile phones, high cost of handset or call tariff.

He also explained that the service provides voice and SMS telephone services to customers in locations where they are installed. “With the service, a user does not need to own a handset to stay connected with friends, family members and loved ones. With the  fixed payphone SIM card, users will be assigned a phone number; PIN (Personal Identification Number) number and PUK (PIN Unblock Code) code that will enable them access the fixed phone terminals wherever they are located,” he said.

Some of the benefits of Zain Fixed Phones include ease of use, convenience, ability to monitor calls, elimination of the inconvenience of carrying phones or handset, accurate and transparent billing, easy access to communication services, ability to make and receive calls, send SMS at anytime at affordable rate, amongst others advantages.

Users can also send and receive SMS, retrieve voicemails, check credit balance, and send “credit me” or “Call Me Back” (Value Added Service or SMS service from Zain) using the terminal.

Other benefits of Zain Fixed Phone include an opportunity to own a line on which they can receive calls, receive credit or airtime transferred to their SIM card by other Zain customers, and a chance to convert the SIM card into a regular number which they can use on their handset should they choose to own a mobile handset.

To use Fixed Phones to make calls, the user is expected to insert a special SIM card into the device and dial the number he or she wants to call.

The introduction of Fixed Wireless Payphones was pioneered by Zain and the service was initially piloted in selected schools including Covenant University, Ota, hospitals, secondary schools with boarding facilities and more recently at the Nigerian Defence Academy (NDA) premises.

Zain’s fixed payphones target students, travellers, low income earners, those who reside or work in locations where access to phones are either limited or restricted, and also to those who would like to take advantage of the unique benefits of the service.

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