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August 19 2004

The number of MTN BusinessTIME subscribers who now settle their monthly bills using recharge cards, is fast growing. According to Afam Edozie, chief marketing and strategy officer of MTN, since the launch of this service, last January, “MTN has seen a steady rise, monthly, in the number of contract customers who use recharge cards as a means of settling their monthly bills”.

The option for customers to settle their monthly bills or simply make additional deposits on their MTN BusinessTime accounts became available via a pioneering new product by MTN, known as Recharge A Contract. All an MTNBusinessTIME customer needs to do, according to Edozie is to buy a recharge card and load the concealed PIN number on the recharge card into the phone, after dialing 557. Automatically, their accounts will be credited with the value of the amount loaded.

We had to evolve this additional option, says Edozie, as a way of further enhancing the convenience and flexibility for our customers who use the post-paid product, MTN BusinessTIME. “We realize that it may not always be feasible or very convenient for our cherished customers to visit the bank or our friendship centre to pay their bills”. He added that with the growing pervasiveness and sophistication of MTN’s distribution channels, it is indeed often very convenient for MTNBusinessTIME subscribers to simply buy a recharge card from one of a variety of sources including neighborhood stores, eateries, filling stations, banks and even beauty salons, boutiques and barbers’ shops.

“While our Friendship Centers and designated banks remain good options for customers wishing to pay their bills, their ability to settle the same bills using recharge cards translates to even more convenience for our MTNBusinessTIME users”, said Edozie.

MTN recharge cards come in denominations of N6,000; N3,000; N1,500 and N750, respectively. The N6,000 denomination, Edozie disclosed, is experiencing a resurgence of popularity on account of more MTN BusinessTIME customers choosing to pay their bills via recharge cards. Edozie added that “customers who choose to use MTN BoosterCard to pay their bills will similarly have their accounts credited with N2,500”.

The underlying principle behind these regular innovations, said Edozie, “remains a constant determination by MTN to offer our subscribers, optimal value from possessing MTN phones”.