Competition impacting positively on Nigeria’s telecoms industry, says Ikpoki

Michael Ikpoki, in July 2013, emerged the first Nigerian Chief Executive Officer of MTN Nigeria. He was earlier appointed CEO of MTN Ghana in April 2011 after successfully heading MTN Nigeria’s Sales and Distribution Division as its Executive from 2006.  His appointment as the Chief Executive Officer of MTN Ghana made him the first Nigerian in the MTN Group to attain this height. Ikpoki obtained an LLB from Rivers State University of Science and Technology and called to the Nigerian Bar in 1991.Since then, he has continued to amass an impressive academic profile which includes various senior executive programmes at the Harvard Business School, INSEAD Business School and the Lagos Business School. Ikpoki joined MTN in 2001 as a Regulatory Affairs Advisor after a six-year stint with the Nigerian Communications Commission (NCC’s) Legal Division, where he was responsible for giving legal advice and making important input to telecommunications policy and regulation. Ikpoki oversees the largest telecommunications firms in Nigeria, which started operation in 2001 and currently has over 60 million subscribers. Lately, industry watchers, including competitors, are of the opinion that the rate at which the MTN Nigeria, which has a South African root, is going, other players in the industry may be smoked out. But Ikpoki, at a post-event interview with ADEYEMI ADEPETUN, thinks otherwise. According to him, telecommunications service is about competition, which is centered on better customer satisfaction. He also spoke on some germane industry issues. Excerpts.