MTN Nigeria’s Free Night Calls Open Doors To Possibilities

2006-11-04 23:06:44 | Viewed 2452 times

Following the introduction of free mid-night calls, otherwise called ‘Happy Hours’ by Nigeria’s leading mobile telephone operator, MTN, subscribers to the network, particularly the youth market, earnestly look forward to nightfall on a daily basis as it ushers them into a virtual island of fun and entertainment. A number of them expressed the view that the free calls do not only gratify their yearning for regular interactions with friends and loved ones in distant places, but also constitute ample opportunity for critical information to be conveyed in details with appreciable ease.

The service which MTN became the first to introduce to the Nigerian telecom industry as part of the freebies for MTN Xtra Cool, one of the products in the customer-friendly extra-ordinary value bundles launched early October has been described by many subscribers as a package of immense value. Speaking on the offer, Michael Bassey a 400 level student of English Language at the University of Uyo, Akwa Ibom state said that ever since he started using MTN Xtra Cool and the concomitant free calls, nightfall holds out a special attraction for him as it heralds the MTN happy hours, which also gives him a leeway to hook up with his friends in far places and converse exhaustively with them. According to him, it also paves the way for a new and more exciting kind of group studies during mid-night hours.

“Staying awake during the MTN happy hours is really worthwhile in that it provides me with the latitude to converse, without barriers, with all categories of my friends, especially those whom I have not seen for a long time or can not afford to talk at length with when I am paying commercial rates. We can afford to talk about a wide variety of issues including our aspirations, our relationships, our fears, our studies, the politics of Nigeria , the sinister occurrences and constant tension in the Middle East , the state of our economy, our religion, the challenges inundating youths and so on,” he said.

Ikechukwu Nwaibe ,a part time diploma student of Theater Arts, Ebonyi State University, Abakaliki, holds the view that the one thing MTN Happy Hour has done for many students of the institution is to give a brand new face to their bed time group studies.

“We can now do our normal group studies while we are in our different homes, exchanging ideas intermittently on phone. Two nights ago, I was billed to throw light on the presence of feminist ideology in Mariama Ba’s epistolary novel, ‘So Long a Letter’ at our group discussions, but it occurred that I had to travel and sleep in Calabar on the same day. That, however, did not affect my obligation, as we simply agreed that I should put a call through to my colleagues who were all together in our group leader’s room at 12.30am. By the next afternoon, the submission day for the assignment, my colleagues had collated our thoughts and submitted to our lecturer even while I was still in Calabar. The MTN free mid-night call is real fun,” Nwaibe said.

For Aishat Ibrahim, a Kano-based Economist whose fiancé has just been engaged as a contract staff with an oil company based in the Niger Delta, MTN’s free mid-night calls, irrespective of the physical demand they make on the user who has to sacrifice his or her sleep, are a bunch of delight to youths and the young-at-heart. “Though I forfeit my sleep to enjoy them, MTN’s free calls are really pleasurable to me. When MTN first came up with 10k per second mid-night calls I was really exhilarated because it provided an opportunity for me to keep in touch with my fiancé whose job schedule demands that he must live for two weeks every month off-shore. It is now possible for us to romanticize about our marital plans, professional aspirations and the challenges of everyday life for four hours non-stop. MTN really deserves commendation for so generously reviewing the former price plan as to make mid-night calls absolutely free. With the free calls, the era of rushing conversations is gone. This time around, I can talk and talk on phone until I almost run out of things to talk about. I am really impressed with the way MTN is rewarding Nigerians for their support.

Nkem Okeke, a 25-year old Lagos based banker commended MTN for introducing free mid-night calls, noting that she chats better now with her friends and keeps in touch with her former course mates. “I am one of the proudest subscribers to the MTN network, and the fact that I work in a bank does not stop me from looking forward to enjoying the free midnight calls because I particularly see it as a befitting reward for my loyalty to MTN since 2001. What I do is get a few hours of sleep during weekends because I know that at night I will be up rubbing minds and catching up on gists with my friends and relatives”. she said”

Ikechukwu Kalu, MTN’s Senior Manager, (Mass Markets) said that the satisfaction of MTN’s teeming subscribers is the company’s goal. He declared:

“With our fibre-optic cable backbone and our impressive network coverage, by far the widest in the country, the youth segment of our market will really maximize the benefits accruing from the free mid-night calls and that is our joy as a company. We will continue to offer Nigerians services that are unrivaled in the market, services that enhance the beauty of life.”

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