Etisalat Nigeria has continued to reveal the unique offerings on its Easy Starter platform geared towards ensuring that Nigerians can talk a lot easier than they have done previously.
One of these features is the Receiver Pays feature available as a default on its Easy Starter prepaid package. Receiver Pays allows the initiator of a call to request that the person they are calling agree to pay for the call. Should the person agree, the call initiator is not charged for the call instead the receiver pays for the call.
Explaining the unique feature, Wael Ammar, vice president Marketing, said that this innovative and groundbreaking feature will empower a lot of Nigerians even more as they can now talk with their family, friends, business associates and other key people without having to pay for the call. ʽThis is a unique and innovative feature from Etisalat. Any and everyone is now empowered to make calls even if they do not have any call credits left on their phone. Receiver Pays effectively eliminates the need for them to ʽflashʼ as they can initiate a call to the person they desire to speak to and should the person accept to pay for the call, the connection becomes active and the person who initiated the call can talk for free. This is a first from Etisalat Nigeria and it shows that we have come to the market to make Nigerians talk a lot more than they have been doing before now”, Ammar said.
Speaking further, Ammar urged subscribers to take full advantage of this feature as it is certainly a useful tool for moving business and personal lives and relationships forward. ʽIf you need to make a very important business call and you realise that you have run low on call credit or you need to speak to a family member on a topic of urgent importance and you do not have credit on your phone, this feature definitely comes very handy. You would be able to initiate a call to them and when they agree to pay for the call, you are connected and you can talk to them at no cost to you. This service will be a hit with everyone. Students can call their parents or guardians from school for free; business owners can be more easily reached by their staff or customers even when they do not have call credit on their phones; parents in rural areas can stay in touch better with their children in or outside Nigeria with the service for free. This product is very useful for everybody and will surely make life easier all round”, Ammar explained.
Receiver Pays allows callers to request that the receivers of the calls agree to pay for the calls. To initiate a call on the service, the caller only needs to dial 268 before the number of the subscriber they desire to call. As soon as they do this, the receiver is informed that a call has been initiated to them and they are requested to confirm if they would be willing to receive and pay for the call. As soon as they accept to receive the call, the call is connected and they are charged for it.
Another exciting feature of Receiver Pays is that it allows subscribers to have a Permanent List of 5 callers they would be willing to pay to receive their calls whenever they initiate Receiver Pays calls to them. To do this, they simply set up the list of their chosen 5 people on their permanent list and anytime any of the people on this list initiate a receiver pays call to them, the call would be automatically connected without the receiver needing to be prompted. The list can be created and edited at anytime at the subscribersʼ discretion and at no cost. The Receiver Pays feature is available as a default menu on the SIM Tool Kit (STK) or Service Menu of the Etisalat SIM card.
 Etisalat Nigeria launched commercial operations in Nigeria last month with its Easy Starter package. Apart from the regular features available on all SIMs at the moment, Etisalat also has unique features such as Receiver Pays, Missed Call Notification, Homezone and Recharge Others. These unique features are all a first in the telecommunications industry in Nigeria and set the latest entrant into the GSM market clearly apart.
Etisalat is the fastest growing telco in the world serving a growing number of customers across 17 countries in Africa, Middle East and Asia.