Ntel makes first ever voice call in Nigeria

NatCom Development and Investment Limited (trading as ‘ntel’), on Thursday, made its first Voice over LTE call in Lagos.

Ntel is the company that acquired the core assets of NiTel/MTel (in liquidation).

The test VoLTE call was made at 3.30pm at the company’s new Tier III data centre located on Lagos Island.

VoLTE calls are enabled over a carrier’s high-speed data network instead of on a voice network. They also connect faster upon dialling and feature ultra-clear high-definition voice quality.

The VoLTE call was completed in partnership with Original Equipment Manufacturers L M Ericsson of Sweden and Sony Electronics of Japan.

Following the success of the test call, Ntel will now progress work with Nigeria’s other mobile operators and international partners to perform cross-network VoLTE calls, the company said in a statement.

This, the statement continues, will ensure that Ntel’s customers can connect with each other as easily as they can to both customers in Nigeria and to those elsewhere in the world: a network now comprising more than seven billion telephones, globally.

This crystal-clear, high-definition VoLTE call was made via an Ntel sim card and is set to be a significant differentiating factor for Ntel as it progresses with the roll-out of Nigeria’s largest Advanced 4G/LTE network, due to be launched shortly.

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Ntel CEO, Kamar Abass, said the successful test call was “confirmation that the key network elements are now in place to support the full commercial launch of premium integrated voice, video and data services over 4G/LTE.”

He added “the Ntel network is built on the 900/1800 Mhz which are the most efficient propagation frequencies for the deployment of 4G/LTE technology.”

The company made its first test data call in Lagos on Monday January 18, 2016, a few days after NatCom chairman, Tunde Ayeni appeared before the House of Representatives Communications Committee.

Speaking during his appearance, Ayeni told Lawmakers that Ntel is committed to investing over $1bn to support roll out of commercial services, starting in Lagos, Port Harcourt and Abuja. He also noted that ntel will generate employment for over 4,000 Nigerians over the next five years..