Chief David Ogba Onuoha-Bourdex, UgoEna Abiriba, was one of the recipients of the national honours award of Member of the Federal Republic (MFR) last Monday. In an interview, he speaks on his venture into mobile telecommunications, long before the GSM revolution, offering his views on telecommunications business as well as the plastic industry where he is currently a player.What led you into the telecoms business'Shortly after the General Sani Abacha administration rolled out its deregulation and privatisation policy initiated under the Babangida administration, many entrepreneurs made attempts at investing into the telecommunications business with minimum success and scarce information for decision making. In 1995, a new telecommunications company called EMIS Telecoms was floated in the country and the investors invited me to buy part of the shares. I bought 10 million shares, but it soon turned out that EMIS was not heading in the right direction. I opted out of the arrangement, losing my investment while gaining immensely from the experience. There and then I was determined to remain in the business and make further forays in terms of partnership.So what was your next step'I incorporated a new company Bourdex Telecoms (RC 278352) that same year. The company employed skilled men and women who were versed in the industry and we went into an initial study of what was needed to roll out the project. I applied to the Nigerian Communications Commission (NCC) for a telecom license. I was invited by the NCC Board to make a presentation in defence of my application. They were amazed at the knowledge at my disposal, my defence and answer to the questions put across to me. In the end I was granted license to run a mobile telecommunications company.Thereafter, I began to shop for equipment through reputable global suppliers. Harris of Calgary, Canada, was my best bet. By October 1996, Bourdex had without formally receiving the final license, which at the time was only signed by the Head of State, but trusting in God, gone ahead to import and build the first switching site in Aba. We had cell sites in the various cities making up the south-east and south-south with microwave links from Aba to Port Harcourt, Eket and Bonny in the first instance. The Microwave links were meant to play a very crucial role, as Bourdex on full throttle became the main service provider and carrier to ExxonMobil for years. Bourdex Telecom also signed a service agreement with Mobil Producing Nigeria Unlimited.When did Bourdex formally commence operations'It was not until May 1998 that General Abacha finally granted the final (PNL) License to Bourdex Telecom to commence operations. The license was however backdated to April 1, 1997 when the initial recommendation by NCC was made to the then Head of State. On July 31, 1998, however, the NCC through a letter amended the Bourdex Telecoms (PNL) license to include mobility thus paving the way for a private operator, outside of NITEL.Dealing with NITEL, what was it like'In spite of the fact we were granted license to operate, we had a Herculean task dealing with NITEL in the area of interconnectivity. There were booby traps designed to make it impossible for us to succeed by certain officials in the organisation.First we made an order for our first equipment and signed the first Purchase Agreement for the roll out of our network with Harris Inc., Wireless Division of Alberta Canada on November 4, 1996. The agreements were for the Phase I and Phase II roll out of our network and this was while we were still pursuing the processing of our license. We eventually signed another agreement with Harris Inc., Canada dated January 21, 1999 for our Phase III deployment as we expanded and deployed to more cities and villages. Finally we signed the Phase 1V agreement with Nortel Networks in May 2004. The agreement with Nortel Networks in2004 was for the supply and installation of equipment worth US$28 million (twenty eight million dollars). For the contract with Nortel Networks, we received a loan of US18 million from the Export Import Bank of the United States. We got another loan from US5.5 from HSBC and coughed up the rest of the funding.Bourdex like other private operators had a running battle with NITEL, because the then MD of NITEL never wanted any private operator to come up, it was quite a battle. Eventually on July 22, 1998, the flag off date arrived and the company registered a voice through its network. The rest is history.How was the patronage'The patronage was huge and the public was happy. It was a turning point for the southeast as the new telecoms company changed the economic dynamics of the two zones. The Federal Government then awarded Bourdex Telecoms a Pioneer Status and the new company won many awards for excellence from several quarters including a commendation letter from Mobil Producing Nigeria Unlimited for excellent service delivery, which changed their service environment.Calls were coming and going to and from many parts of the country and overseas. I still remember the day the late Bishop Chikwe of Mbaise Diocese of the Catholic Church called our office and asked to speak to me. I had not met him at the time and he said, 'My son, I know that for you this phone thing is for a business, but the Almighty Father will bless you because since Nigeria got her independence, telephone has never rang in Mbaise but today it is ringing'. That was reward enough for me.What informed the decision to sell Bourdex Telecoms'Bourdex had the big ambition of playing the game of the giants until a simple policy decision of the federal government threw it out of the market. For you to understand what I mean I may have to go into the details of wireless telephony. Basically there are three major protocols or technologies involved in wireless telephony: CDMA, GSM and TDMA.CDMA stands forCode Division Multiple Access. In this technology both data and voice are separated from signals using codes and then transmitted using a wide frequency range.This ensures that there is more space left fordatatransfer. This was one of the reasons CDMA is thepreferred technology for the 3G generation, which is broadband access and the use of big multimediamessages, and why you will have better satisfaction using CDMA providers such as Starcoms, Visafone, Zoom for your internet as opposed to the GSM companies. CDMA is mainly an American protocol or technology. As of today about 16 per cent of the global market for wireless technology goes to CDMA. For the 3G generation, CDMA uses 1x EV-DOand EV-DV. CDMA has a lot of users in Asia, especially in China and South Korea and those regions where America has a lot of influence.GSM on the other hand stands forGlobal System for Mobile Communications. It is a standard set developed by the European Telecommunications Standards Institute (ETSI) to describe technologies for second generation (or '2G') digital service. Even though it is today sold as 'the latest technology' in several countries, this technology is older than CDMA (and also TDMA). But keep in mind that thisdoesn't mean that GSM is inferior orworse than CDMA. Roaming readiness and fraud prevention are two major advantages from this technology. GSM is the most used cell phone technology in the world today, with 74 per cent of the worldwide market. I personally attribute this to the fact that the Europeans are able to sell their technologies faster than the Americans because of their earlier influence in the colonies they controlled during the colonial era.Back to the government policy, in 2001, the Federal Government of Nigeria decided its national policy on wireless technology and adopted the GSM technology as a preferred protocol for national coverage. A public auction of the available bandwidths was conducted and the likes of MTN and ECONET emerged with nationwide coverage as opposed to the then practice of regional licenses granted to CDMA operators. Bourdex Telecom was therefore given a time frame to migrate to microwave links using 15Ghz frequencies, which involved a major re-tooling as well as major outages.During the exercise, NCC also gave some types of compensation in the form of waivers on frequency fees to Bourdex Telecoms. As a result of all those drastic changes as well as the growing competition in the market coupled with the growing insecurity in that part of the country and increasing power outages resulting in our using most of our revenue on generators and diesel purchases, it was time to take stock.Bourdex Telecoms had to make a business decision, 'to be a small part of a big thing, rather than be a big part of a small thing.' And so with a sizable subscriber base in 2007, including the big fishes-ExxonMobil and ADDAX Petroluem,we decided to sell. For me personally, it was one of the best business decisions I have ever made. You could see that with the licensing of the GSM operators, such companies like Starcomms, Reltel, which is now Zoom and Multilinks, all with their limited coverage, are struggling to stay in business because they have a very small segment of the market as opposed to the GSM operators. Jim Ovia's Visafone bought up most of the CDMA Operators, including Bourdex Telecom. His dream, as he informed me during our negotiations, was to enhance the coverage of the new CDMA company'Visafone' in order to give it a nationwide coverage, and he is doing a good job of it.For how much did Visafone buy Bourdex Telecom'There is a clause in the sale agreement that requires both buyer and seller not to disclose the value of the sale. That not withstanding, we remain visible as key player in the market, even on consulting basis. We may have cause to return to the telecoms business in whatever capacity the future provides.How did you get into business in the first place'I was at a time the cashier at a trading company from Abiriba. In 1975, I was transferred to Cotonou, Republic of Benin, also as a cashier. On my return in January 1976 I had learnt enough to start my own trading business, which I kick-started with the buying and selling of textiles.With my savings of N350.00, I went into small-scale trade complementing it with foreign exchange trade in Aba. It was from there that I made enough money to make an import order and the first order I placed was for rice. It didn't go very well; I had a lot of problems and had to cancel it. I decided to focus on the trade that my people were involved in, textiles, having been introduced to a company in New York.You are now a player in the plastic industry. What inspired you'The1980s were years of consolidation in my import business which included trade in tobacco from Kentucky, import of container loads of household goods and textiles from Japan, China, Taiwan, USA and Canada. In 1991 when I went to Taiwan, I was amazed at the industrial prowess of the people; every household in Taiwan is an industry; they are always busy making something. I learnt from there that I could set up a factory in Nigeria that can also produce and employ people and that was how the plastic factory thing came about.IMB (International Merchant Bank) gave us technical support. The yearly turnover of the factory has since grossed the N1billion naira mark with staff strength of 100 at optimum capacity output. My business interests have diversified into real estate, with the establishment of other companies.Tell me a little about your life as an entrepreneur'Early in the day, my education was interrupted but I was able to complete it after the war up to the secondary commercial level. My father's fortunes declined considerably following the devastation of the civil war. My father was the Eze Ndigbo in Kano and had business outlets there and in Aba. He was financially impaired with the decree that left every Igbo man with twenty pounds in his treasury and of course the ban on second hand clothes in the country. I read everything that came my way even as an apprentice to a trading house from Abiriba in Aba. The first thing I did was to register in the library, and every free time I had was devoted to reading. I borrowed books and read to the extent that I really educated myself through reading. I also had this habit of not running with the crowd. In those days, my friends would go out clubbing but rather than do that I would sit at home to read my books.I attended classes for five years at the Abia State University as a part time student, passed my final degree examination and was awarded a B. Sc honours degree in Government and Public Administration. I have also had an executive short-term programme at Harvard in University. I have been widely exposed to several telecoms workshops in Calgary Alberta and Montreal Canada, to the extent that there was nothing my engineers knew that I didn't know. That made them to accord me a lot of respect because it was very unusual. I could sit on top of my switchboard and do all the programming I needed to do on the switches as well as manage the microwave transmission links to all my cell sites. But that was many years in recovering what the proverbial locust had eaten.How have you been giving back to society'As a Grail Messenger I have been taught the virtues of giving more than receiving. Also as a Paul Harris Fellow of Rotary International, and with so many chieftaincy titles both from my town in Abiriba and beyond, it comes to me naturally to impact positively on society in many ways with scholarships and community projects beyond Abia State. I have also helped in building schools in Abiriba through the Age Grade system. I have been vehicle to also do a lot of philanthropy.When I ran Bourdex Telecoms, I had over 460 people working for me, and during that time, I had trained quite a number of people who ended up as engineers and telecom consultants. Currently with an employee base of well over 200, Bourdex, trained personnel are still very active in the Telecom Sector working as accomplished consultants.
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