Lagos June 15, 2009.  Etisalat Nigeria’s on-going innovative 3-in-1 9jillions promotion has begun to gather momentum with over 500 subscribers winning different kinds of high quality phones in the first leg of the promotion where subscribers get a chance to win two phones per hour for 90 days. This is the first phase of the unique 9jillions promo which is structured to ultimately lead to the $1 million dollar prize money which will be won by one lucky Nigerian. One million dollars is the biggest prize money in the annals of promotions in Nigeria and indeed Africa.

The winners were drawn from new Etisalat subscribers who bought and activated Etisalat SIM cards and existing customers who recharged with N200 or N500 worth of credit and sent an SMS with their location and their full names to the short code, 5000. For multiple entries that increases their chance to win the phones, subscribers have also been texting ENTER to the same short code. Some of the winners of the phones so far include Ayodele Thompson, a computer analyst; Olaoye Adewunmi, a banker with Oceanic Bank; Emmanuel John Ezege, a security guard and Nata Shantania, an engineer.
 
Chief Marketing Officer, Etisalat Nigeria, Wael Ammar noted that the company is quite excited about the level of participation in the promo as the telecoms giant had given out over 500 phones to customers who participated in the promo since it commenced on June 8. According to him, “The response from both new and existing customers has been extremely heartwarming as we have been giving out phones to subscribers who are latching on to the unique opportunity created by the promo. And this is just the beginning for us because at regular intervals during the 90 days that our customers are winning 2 phones every hour of the day, even more subscribers will win millions of naira in our regional draws. And as icing atop the cake of the promotions, one lucky subscriber will win the grand prize of one million US dollars.”  

The CMO went on to state that the “Win a Phone Promo” is not the only way for subscribers to win big on the Etisalat network. Customers can choose to skip the “Win a Phone promo” and the regional finals and head straight for the grand finale by spending one thousand naira on a monthly basis. To qualify for the express ticket to the grand finale, customers who have spent up to a thousand naira within the month just need to text the state they live and their full name to the short code 5123. Multiple entries are allowed with the subscriber simply texting ENTER to the same short code of 5123 after the first time. A monthly selection process takes place every month from June to September. Subscribers will be informed at the end of each month whether or not they have been selected. They will also get details of how to get to the grand finale and stand a chance to win the grand prize.

Other subscribers who do not win a phone and do not participate in the race for the express ticket to the grand finale still stand a chance to win the million dollars as they could be selected as ‘second chance’ winners based on the number of times they entered the competition without winning. They then qualify for the Regional “9jillions” one million dollar game show. Regional finalists go on to the Grand Finale game show where they stand a chance to win $1,000,000.

The CMO also reiterated that all texts sent to participate in the promo cost N10 (ten naira) only.

Etisalat recently began rolling out its network in more cities, towns and villages across Nigeria. Over the last few weeks, more than 200 new cities and towns, highways and villages in different states across the country including Kano, Kaduna, Jigawa, Katsina and at least 10 other States have gone live on the Etisalat network.

About Etisalat
Currently standing at the 140th position among Financial Times’ top 500 corporations in the world, Etisalat is the largest provider of telecommunication services in Africa and the Middle East and serves an ever increasing subscriber base of 74 million people across Africa, Middle East and Asia. The innovative GSM provider currently has unique products such as Easy Starter and Easy Cliq in the Nigerian market. Both offer a wide array of creative and exciting features designed to satisfy all communications needs of its subscribers. Etisalat has been rated as Nigeria’s best telecommunications service provider by the Nigerian Communications Commission (NCC).