Etisalat targets Nigerians with mobile ad service

Etisalat Nigeria chief commercial officer, Wael Ammar, said his company would use Alcatel-Lucent's Optism technology, which he said allowed subscribers to share their interests and preferences with their mobile operator and opt-in to receive personalised, relevant advertising and special offers on their phones.

Ammar said for that purpose, Alcatel-Lucent had created a local system involving advertisers, brands and media agencies.

With the ad service, Etisalat is expected to bring permission-based mobile advertising to the Nigerian market with their new brand called EasyAdz service.

"We are also providing a large and highly profiled audience base for brands and advertisers as well as creating an avenue to connect with our most important asset - our growing base of over 13 million subscribers," said Ammar, "This simply means that we will provide customers with advertising content relevant to their specific locations and choices".

Among the advertisers, signing up for the project included: Nigerian Breweries, Coca-Cola, Sprite and the British Council.