Mobile operator, Etisalat Nigeria, has revealed that one of the uniqueness of its newly introduced Easy Starter platform, also known as prepaid, is the feature that enables the receiver of the call to pay.

This, the operator said, affords Nigerians more opportunities to talk a lot easier than they have done hitherto.

Giving this highlight about Easy Starter, the Vice President Marketing at Etisalat Nigeria, Mr. Wael Ammar said that 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," he said.

Mr. Ammar also said that this innovative feature empowers a lot of Nigerians even more as they could now talk with their families, friends, business associates and other key people without having to pay for the call.

"This is a unique and innovative feature from Etisalat. 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 ‘flash’ 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," he said.

He further said, subscribers could take full advantage of this feature as it is a useful tool for moving business and personal lives and relationships forward.

"If 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," he said.

Ammar was precise on the benefits of this service to everyone, mostly students, who could call their parents or guardians from school for free; business owners could be more easily reached by their staff or customers even when they do not have call credit on their phones as well as parents in rural areas could 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 declared. 

To initiate a call on the service, he explained that 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. And if they accept to receive the call, the call is connected and they are charged for it," he said.

Another exciting feature of Receiver Pays, he said, is that it allows subscribers to have a permanent list of five (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," he said.

The list, he continued, could be created and edited at anytime at the subscribers’ 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," he asserted.