MTN Humiliates Etisalat!

Chronicled by Afronuts @ Tuesday, April 23, 2013

History has been made in the Nigerian telecoms industry again with the availability to switch from one network to another while still retaining the same number.

People have wondered what consequences this would hold for both the telecoms industry and the consumers. Well from the looks of it, the consumers have quite a lot to gain while the telecoms have a lot to do to sustain their subscriber base.

And MTN made the smart move before any other telecom could.

On the day the porting service would kick off (which was yesterday) MTN immediately launched a TV commercial that not only put them in the forefront but landed a HUGE slap on another competitor - etisalat!

Saka & Princess in an old etisalat commercial

If you've ever watched etisalat's past commercials, you'd probably have come across the series popularized by Hafiz Oyetoro also known as 'Saka' in the Nollywood circuit. Saka was prominent in etisalat's SIM registration commercials last year during the period when telecoms were doing promos to get people registered on their networks. In fact, Saka ended up creating more prominence for the network due to his outstanding comedic performances. At some point, Princess, another ace comedian came on the scene as Mrs. Saka.

Unfortunately, despite the frequency of appearance on etisalat's commercials, Saka was never signed on as a brand ambassador; he was only paid per commercial.

This was might have been a big mistake on etisalat's part. If Saka was never signed on fully, he may not be fully bound by any contract.

So when the need for Porting networks was announced, MTN moved in action and swooped in on Saka. And thus the big slap on etisalat.

How humilaiting!

People had become used to seeing Saka on etisalat. Now they will see him singing in the new MTN TVC saying 'I don port oh!' meaning he has switched from etisalat to MTN!

What a way to get etisalat users considering the MTN network.

 The die has been cast...now I'm sure legal skirmishes will begin. But whatever the case, the commercial is out and its getting people talking...and hopefully porting.