United Bank for Africa partnered with Google and ISP partner to launch their Google Station in 11 branches in Lagos. This is part of the plans to roll out 200 stations in the country. Google Station is a means to provide free and high-speed Wi-FI hotspots in open places. It started in Lagos early 2018 and has since extended to Abuja later in the year. This was made possible within the partnership of Backbone Connectivity Network.
Chuks Nweke, UBA’s Executive Director/ Group Chief Executive Officer said the bank is excited about the partnership. He said the move will aid in presenting great opportunities to the two organizations.
“It is an interesting platform which will ultimately benefit everyone. It is a win-win for everyone. Customers will have ease of doing businesses, especially with the growing use of smartphones-, and the 52 million Nigerians who have otherwise been financially excluded will now have access to data through this collaboration and can carry out their transactions with ease” He said
Seemingly, SMEs who had funding hitches could do other things they couldn’t do initially, like; accounting services etc. Additionally, students could run their research from home using the UBA educational App, ‘UBA LEARN’ through the Google Station platform. UBA sees this as an awesome opportunity that will benefit everyone, especially their customers. Group Head Marketing, UBA, Dupe Olusola said in addition to the 11 locations, the organisations are looking to expand beyond the shores of Nigeria to other African countries where UBA operates. The initiative will grant customers access to internet connectivity within environs of the 11 branches.
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The 11 branches where the hotspot will be located are: UBA Bank Road, 810-811 Bank Road, Daleko; UBA Matori, 21 Fatai Atere street; UBA Surulere, 152 Ogunlana Drive; UBA Allen, 13 Allen Avenue, Ikeja; UBA Tisco Plaza, Alausa; UBA Apapa, 11-13 Warehouse Road, Apapa; UBA Marina, 55 Marina, Lagos Island; UBA HQ, Broad Street, Marina; UBA Lekki Admiralty; UBA Oke Arin and UBA Aspamda Plaza, Trade Fair.
Google Nigeria’s Country Director, Juliet Ehimuan-Chiazor mentioned that the institutions remained focused on providing internet services to users for free.
“With the help of our partners, we are offering high-quality internet access in heavily-trafficked areas like airports, markets, malls and bus stations throughout the country, especially in areas where there were no internet connections before. Even with the amazing progress on expanding mobile internet, we are finding that public Wi-Fi remains a crucial step in getting free, high-quality internet to everyone,” she explained.
Josh Woodward, Director, Product Management said “Deploying Google Station in collaboration with UBA and 21st Century is an important step to connecting the next billion users. As a result of the locations enables us to be up-and-running in no time. Even more, their WiFi signal ensures connectivity to Google Station hotspots so users can do a lot of things online and be constantly connected.”