I prefer working in emerging markets- Ericsson MD
Leif Edwall is the Managing Director of LM Ericsson Nigeria Limited and Country Manager of Ericsson West Africa. In this interview with our Correspondents Jonah Iboma and Atser Godwin, he speaks about leading the biggest telecoms equipmwent manufacturer in West Africa
What is your assessment of Nigeria’s telecom market?
Telecom market in Nigeria is very hot. There has been tremendous growth since 2001. Prior to 2001, there were very few installed fixed lines, which gave GSM operators impetus to roll out aggressively. From about 400 000 total lines then, Nigeria is now well over 25 million. The expansion of the networks has been quite impressive.
I foresee that there will be about 50 million telephone subscribers in Nigeria in the next two to three years.
A lot of people have mobile phones in the urban areas. How do you think this service can be fast deployed to the rural areas?
The technology is there for telecom to be deployed in the rural areas. But there must be a lot of good support from the regulatory body. The challenge is how to stimulate operators to move to rural areas.
At Ericsson we have specially designed a technology called the Expander that can enable operators deploy service in rural areas profitably. We are doing this in Tanzania. This technology enables the base station to cover wider areas where there are no obstructions. So in effect you will be able to deploy fewer base stations to cover the desired location.
As I said, the technology is not the problem. The challenge is how to stimulate the operators to move into the rural areas.
What is your investment like in Nigeria?
I can’t say categorically, but of course it is huge. Our commitment to Nigeria is total. We have about 400 people employed in Nigeria today.
How long have you been in Nigeria?
I have been in Nigeria now for three years.
What has been your experience?
Well, of course, it is always interesting to work in emerging markets. Before I was in Eastern Europe, and now I am in Nigeria. I cannot say they are totally similar markets, but emerging markets generally have common features. It is a bit tougher. But it is very interesting to see businesses growing. It was the case in Ukraine and now Nigeria. In emerging markets there are challenges. There is excitement. I personally prefer to work in emerging markets.
You mentioned challenges, would you like to mention some of them?
Yes. You do come up against challenges, not totally different from anywhere else, actually. Because the truth is that in any part of the world there are challenges every day. But talking specifically about the sort of challenges you find in emerging markets, there is the challenge of getting financing. It is always harder to get financing for projects in emerging markets. Then, in some countries it is more difficult to get dedicated and competent resources. In some countries too, you find that they keep changing the law on customs and other areas such that you have a lot of surprises coming on.
What informed Ericsson’s interest in biodiesel?
Basically, the base stations need fuel to run. And the fuel that is currently used is diesel. What we are looking at is to use a different kind of diesel. One that is friendly to the environment, one that will enable the local people to be part of the process. Ericsson, MTN and the GSM Association are collaborating in this project.
The whole idea is that the diesel will be produced from crops that are rich in oil, like groundnut, palm oil and so on. The excess of these crops can be bought from farmers. This probably would be otherwise wasted. A local entrepreneur buys this off the farmers and converts the biomass or the crops he bought from the farmers into biodiesel using the special biodiesel processing plant. The biodiesel is then sold to the operator. In this case MTN is used as a pilot test, but once this is successful it will be used in other places.
The idea is that when they have biodiesel, the life span of the generator is improved because the biodiesel is less abrasive. Fewer visits will be paid to the site for repairs. So the cost of maintenance goes down. Because the biodiesel will be produced in plants located close to the base station, the cost of transportation will also go down. The biodiesel itself is environmentally friendly. This is the first project of this kind in Nigeria. Even the oil majors do not have this kind of projects. This is consistent with government’s efforts to try to add ethanol input into petrol.
How do you intend to grow your business in Nigeria?
We have quite a big market share here in Nigeria as you already know. Basically what we do is to get closer to our customers, know and understand their needs and try to meet them. Needs are specific. We try to understand the specific needs of the customer. We try to understand what they want and we meet it.
You recently had a trial launch of 3G with Celtel. How soon will 3G services be fully rolled out in Nigeria?
It will still take some time before Nigeria witness full roll-out of 3G services. The killer-application in Nigeria is still voice. Of course, it will certainly come. But it is difficult to put a time frame to it.
Operators are complaining about multiple taxation. What is your view on this?
That, I think, may be more of an operator question. Nonetheless, anywhere in the world taxes are not popular. What I think needs to be done is to have a medium of continuous dialogue between the operators and the government together with the regulator so that everybody can come to an agreement.
Would you like to talk a little bit about that your project in Unilag?
In both Unilag and Federal University of Technology, Yola, we have a GSM simulation site, where people who are doing research can go and observe the latest technology in GSM. It is for research people, final year students doing projects. Ericsson committed a lot of resources to it. The lecturers who are manning the centres were trained in Sweden. We at Ericsson believe that corporate responsibility must be genuinely responsible. Rather than give some people money and make a lot of noise about it in the media, we think it is better to equip the local people in a way that it will be permanently beneficial to them. When you give somebody training, you are actually preparing the person for the future. We may not be making much noise about it, but I believe it is making more impact.
Could you tell us a little about yourself?
I trained as an electronic engineer. After my training in Electronic Engineering, I worked in different companies before I joined Ericsson. And I must say that besides my electronic engineering education I have also had some training in Marketing.
I have been in Ericsson for about 20 years, and I have been working in different divisions in Ericsson. I was at Eastern Europe, to look into that market. I was in Ukraine. It was an emerging market with very interesting future. I was there for eight years.
What is your assessment of Nigeria’s telecom market?
Telecom market in Nigeria is very hot. There has been tremendous growth since 2001. Prior to 2001, there were very few installed fixed lines, which gave GSM operators impetus to roll out aggressively. From about 400 000 total lines then, Nigeria is now well over 25 million. The expansion of the networks has been quite impressive.
I foresee that there will be about 50 million telephone subscribers in Nigeria in the next two to three years.
A lot of people have mobile phones in the urban areas. How do you think this service can be fast deployed to the rural areas?
The technology is there for telecom to be deployed in the rural areas. But there must be a lot of good support from the regulatory body. The challenge is how to stimulate operators to move to rural areas.
At Ericsson we have specially designed a technology called the Expander that can enable operators deploy service in rural areas profitably. We are doing this in Tanzania. This technology enables the base station to cover wider areas where there are no obstructions. So in effect you will be able to deploy fewer base stations to cover the desired location.
As I said, the technology is not the problem. The challenge is how to stimulate the operators to move into the rural areas.
What is your investment like in Nigeria?
I can’t say categorically, but of course it is huge. Our commitment to Nigeria is total. We have about 400 people employed in Nigeria today.
How long have you been in Nigeria?
I have been in Nigeria now for three years.
What has been your experience?
Well, of course, it is always interesting to work in emerging markets. Before I was in Eastern Europe, and now I am in Nigeria. I cannot say they are totally similar markets, but emerging markets generally have common features. It is a bit tougher. But it is very interesting to see businesses growing. It was the case in Ukraine and now Nigeria. In emerging markets there are challenges. There is excitement. I personally prefer to work in emerging markets.
You mentioned challenges, would you like to mention some of them?
Yes. You do come up against challenges, not totally different from anywhere else, actually. Because the truth is that in any part of the world there are challenges every day. But talking specifically about the sort of challenges you find in emerging markets, there is the challenge of getting financing. It is always harder to get financing for projects in emerging markets. Then, in some countries it is more difficult to get dedicated and competent resources. In some countries too, you find that they keep changing the law on customs and other areas such that you have a lot of surprises coming on.
What informed Ericsson’s interest in biodiesel?
Basically, the base stations need fuel to run. And the fuel that is currently used is diesel. What we are looking at is to use a different kind of diesel. One that is friendly to the environment, one that will enable the local people to be part of the process. Ericsson, MTN and the GSM Association are collaborating in this project.
The whole idea is that the diesel will be produced from crops that are rich in oil, like groundnut, palm oil and so on. The excess of these crops can be bought from farmers. This probably would be otherwise wasted. A local entrepreneur buys this off the farmers and converts the biomass or the crops he bought from the farmers into biodiesel using the special biodiesel processing plant. The biodiesel is then sold to the operator. In this case MTN is used as a pilot test, but once this is successful it will be used in other places.
The idea is that when they have biodiesel, the life span of the generator is improved because the biodiesel is less abrasive. Fewer visits will be paid to the site for repairs. So the cost of maintenance goes down. Because the biodiesel will be produced in plants located close to the base station, the cost of transportation will also go down. The biodiesel itself is environmentally friendly. This is the first project of this kind in Nigeria. Even the oil majors do not have this kind of projects. This is consistent with government’s efforts to try to add ethanol input into petrol.
How do you intend to grow your business in Nigeria?
We have quite a big market share here in Nigeria as you already know. Basically what we do is to get closer to our customers, know and understand their needs and try to meet them. Needs are specific. We try to understand the specific needs of the customer. We try to understand what they want and we meet it.
You recently had a trial launch of 3G with Celtel. How soon will 3G services be fully rolled out in Nigeria?
It will still take some time before Nigeria witness full roll-out of 3G services. The killer-application in Nigeria is still voice. Of course, it will certainly come. But it is difficult to put a time frame to it.
Operators are complaining about multiple taxation. What is your view on this?
That, I think, may be more of an operator question. Nonetheless, anywhere in the world taxes are not popular. What I think needs to be done is to have a medium of continuous dialogue between the operators and the government together with the regulator so that everybody can come to an agreement.
Would you like to talk a little bit about that your project in Unilag?
In both Unilag and Federal University of Technology, Yola, we have a GSM simulation site, where people who are doing research can go and observe the latest technology in GSM. It is for research people, final year students doing projects. Ericsson committed a lot of resources to it. The lecturers who are manning the centres were trained in Sweden. We at Ericsson believe that corporate responsibility must be genuinely responsible. Rather than give some people money and make a lot of noise about it in the media, we think it is better to equip the local people in a way that it will be permanently beneficial to them. When you give somebody training, you are actually preparing the person for the future. We may not be making much noise about it, but I believe it is making more impact.
Could you tell us a little about yourself?
I trained as an electronic engineer. After my training in Electronic Engineering, I worked in different companies before I joined Ericsson. And I must say that besides my electronic engineering education I have also had some training in Marketing.
I have been in Ericsson for about 20 years, and I have been working in different divisions in Ericsson. I was at Eastern Europe, to look into that market. I was in Ukraine. It was an emerging market with very interesting future. I was there for eight years.
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