Zinox denies receiving N200m from Enugu State Govt

The Chief Operating Officer (COO), Zinox telecoms, Mr. Theophilus Nweke has denied a recent allegation by the Enugu State Government that it paid N200million to the company for the Coalcity Wifi.

In a statement Monday, Nweke said the company’s records showed that the government paid only N157million as part of its 80 per cent equity in a joint venture with Zinox Telecom, while Zinox contributed its 20 per cent to the joint venture.

He said it was not a contract awarded by Enugu State Government to the company and that as was the state government that drafted the joint venture agreement and as such is expected to know the process to follow.

He said; "What we implemented is Super Wifi and not hotspots and the network covers 4kilometers radius and that can be confirmed but like it is globally you need a subscriber unit to connect to the network. We recommended 500millwatts Wifi USB adapters or 14dbi 400watts flat panel’s subscriber radios to connect," he disclosed, saying that the company felt violated by that allegation and advised the government to investigate who received the difference.

According to Nweke, the partnership was not profit motivated but rather to add impetus to the lofty programmes of Governor Sullivan Chime by turning Enugu state into a technology-driven state with the provision of cost effective internet connectivity at about N10, 000 per year.

He disclosed that the company deployed tested robust and world-class Super Wifi infrastructures across the state capital, adding that the infrastructure deployed are the best in the world running on 2.5Meg C-band dedicated bandwidth (even though the budgeted bandwidth for the first phase was 2Meg only) and was officially launched February this year after a pre-test period of two months.

The infrastructure covers Independence layout, new Heaven Chime Avenue, Trans Ekulu, Okwara Avenue, Presidential road, Government House and it environments including the SSGs, Kenyetta and new layout, Abakpa Nike etc.

Nweke stated that the network was working and fully optimised and that the government was using over 95 per cent of the capacity and has not paid a kobo for the usage of this facility as defined by the partnership agreement.

He said it was impossible to connect over 100,000 users in Enugu city on 2.5Meg bandwidth as expected by the SSG, adding that this will freeze the network.

"We have the greatest respect for the leadership of Enugu state government and will refund 100 per cent within 24 hours if we are faulted by any expert in the world that the technology we provided is deficient at the cost, with all the challenges. We are even ready to buy out the government in the partnership but we all need to sit down and discuss it and not on pages of newspaper as civilized partners", Zinox further said.