Latest Gamatronics Modular UPS Now Available In Nigeria

The Modular UPS is an innovation away from the conventional parallel UPS and is described as highly efficient. And Nigeria's fastest growing ICT Company CWG is making this possible in partnership with Gamatronic an Isreali based electronics industry.

At the energy summit co hosted by the two organization CWG and Gamatronics gave a vivid description of the Modular UPS. That is described as most suitable for the peculiar power need of the Nigerian environment. The Modular UPS is cost saving, easy and cost effective to repair. And has the capacity to function at 96% efficiency rate. The 10-100KVA UPS system is uniquely designed to grow flexibly as power requirements grow. Also has among other features, an easily upgradable on-site through addition of plug-and-play 10KVA modules. This approach provides significant benefits in total cost of investment (TCO), management and security over traditional desktops, says Mahmud Subhi, Africa Sales Manager Gamatronic, at the summit .

On its part, Computer Warehouse Group which has grown to become Nigeria's leading IT integrating company said it will continue to focus on customer satisfaction while yet providing cost effective and efficient services.

Why Internet Is Stil Expensive In Nigeria Rudman Mohammed

Why is internet cost still expensive in Nigeria despite the presence of fiber optic cables?

Yes! the fiber optic cables Glo 1 and Main 1 capacity have landed in Lagos, they are at the shores of Lagos, The issue now is how to distribute it across the country, Also no inland fiber optic cables connecting the different regions yet, and this is quite expensive. the second problem is that we lack local content, unfortunately for Nigeria with all the huge presence in the internet we do not upload. For instance nearly all our websites are hosted in the UK. There are about two billion people that are connected right now in the world and Nigeria is among the top 10 countries connected, in terms of population. But its unfortunate we don't have the content, most of our content is hosted outside the country. This is one of the reasons for the high cost of internet. The third one is the huge operational cost especially power generation. Companies here spend so much money on power. Government need to improve on the infrastructure especially in power generation.

Some people ISP's are of the opinion that connecting to the exchange will further add to the cost of internet.

Hhm ok! It's adding but it is really negligible maybe like 3%. The advantage far outweighs the cost. As I told you, I don't know how many ISP's are here in Nig as some have closed and new ones are also coming in. The cost of connecting fiber from Kano to Lagos is more expensive than connecting Lagos to London. Sabotages, create alternate routes to evade cyber cuts, right of way is expensive as u have to seek from federal, state and local. It adds to the cost and this makes it really expensive. But localizing traffic will in the long run save the ISP's some money and the country about 40 million dollars

What are your strategies to ensure that all ISP's in Nigeria are connected to the IXPN

Right now we are trying to get the ISP's connected not just the local companies but also foreign ones, like now Google is connected. To ensure that our local contents are made local. IXPN is the only independent operator that connects everybody. We are trying to bring in more services so that it can attract the ISP's

Visafone Opens Ultra Modern Shop At Ikoyi

Visafone, has opened an ultra modern shop on Awolowo road, Ikoyi thus expanding its retail presence to 44 shops – comprising 28 mega shops and 16 mini shops nationwide.

Situated at 60 Awolowo Road, the shop is tastefully designed to incorporate a new interactive retail design inviting customers to experience top of the range services like high speed broad band internet and voice connection in a sleek, full-service environment.

Roomy and easy to locate, the shop is equipped with modern technology and other integrated systems and operational enhancements designed to streamline the sales process and increase customer's satisfaction.

In a statement, the Head of Customer Care Visafone, Lynda Amechi said; “The Awolowo shop is designed to give every customer a feel and touch of world class Customer Service. From our caring professional employees to the shop ambience, each visitor is set for a remarkable experience at every step.”

Staffed by knowledgeable telecoms and customer care professionals, the new shop offers customers a broad range of services and top of the range handsets tailored to meet customers' daily communication needs.

Also customers have access to all Visafone services, such as 3G Superfast Internet and affordable Modems as well as other special packages. The 3G super fast Internet offers customers quick and easy access to the Internet at 300 kbps on the EVDO Gold packages, 150 kbps on the Silver package and 153 kbps on shared basis available on the 1x range of packages.

These packages are suited to meet each customer's need of various time belts like All-time surfer, Day Surfer, Night Surfer and Express Surfer which gives customers access to internet at night on week days and 24 hours access at weekends. Also in the offering are the hourly bundles in which customers can purchase either 100 or 250 hours valid for 30 and 90 days respectively, which are available on both 1x and EVDO bouquet.

Similarly, customers also have the opportunity to enjoy the Visa Mobile Office designed to offer them access to and management of Personal Information like email, calendar and contacts from their mobile device.

The shop, which is already opened for business will be formally launched at a later date.

The wholly owned Nigerian company operates with the service ideals of Quality, Clarity and Coverage and promises to renew the joy of communication and give Nigerians the passport to reach the world.

Ericsson, Partners Mtn Ghana On Broadband Coverage

The agreement makes Ericsson responsible for access, transport and transmission of 3G UMTS 900 MHz, with roll-out beginning in the second quarter of 2010.

The trial was completed with legacy 3G RBS 3418 main-remote equipment, previously installed by MTN Ghana.

“By leveraging off their existing installed Ericsson 3G Radio Access Network and enabling UMTS in 900 MHz, not only can voice, video and high speed data calls be carried over the network, but operators benefit from having one network delivering all services with the lowest total cost of ownership”, commented Lars Lindén, President Ericsson sub-Saharan Africa, according to ictnewsafrica.com.

A GSMA report shows that UMTS 900 increases the coverage per Node-B between 44% (in urban areas) and 119% (rural areas), compared to UMTS 2100.

Ericsson has already deployed 3.5G mobile communications and Internet access to rural Ghana, in partnership with the country's operator MTN.

MTN Ghana CTO, Eben Albertyn, said the operator will “continue to grow our network coverage locally as well as into many rural and remote sites – bringing voice and data services to our growing subscribers”.

Ericsson is a leading provider of technology and services to telecom operators, including 2G, 3G and 4G mobile technologies. The company's portfolio comprises of mobile and fixed network infrastructure, telecom services, software, broadband and multimedia solutions for operators, enterprises and the media industry. The Sony Ericsson and ST-Ericsson joint ventures provide consumers with feature-rich personal mobile devices.

MTN is one of the major telecommunications companies in Africa and the Middle East with operations in 21 countries. MTN entered the Ghanaian market in 2006, after acquiring Investcom.

MTN is also the leading mobile operator in Ghana, with a market share of 55% and active subscriber base of over 7 million. The operator covers over 80% of the Ghanaian population, including ten regional capitals as well as many rural and remote sites. MTN Ghana offers prepaid, post-paid voice and data services and recently rolled out its 3.5G network in the country

How Prepared Is Africa For The Surge In Mobile Data Traffick

The global Network giant reported that there has been a surge in mobile data usage in the last decade. For instance Last year's mobile data traffick was three times the size of the entire global interest in 2000. As this was put at 237 petabytes per month which was three times greater than the total global internet usage in 2000. (75 petabytes per month). The ever growing mobile market has created an enormous demand for broadband mobile devices regularly churned out making thereby driving internet traffick like never before. According to the VNI report, worldwide mobile data traffic will increase 26-fold during this time reaching 6.3 exabytes per month or an annual run rate of 75 exabytes by 2015 due to a projected surge in mobile Internet-enabled devices delivering popular video applications and services. Of the 6.3 exabytes per month , 4.2 exabytes will be due to video.

According to the release Mobile video traffic will exceed 50 percent for the first time in 2011. Mobile video traffic was 49.8 percent of total mobile data traffic at the end of 2010, and will account for 52.8 percent of traffic by the end of 2011. “Consumers and business users continue to demonstrate a healthy demand for mobile data services. The fact that global mobile data traffic increased 2.6-fold from 2009 to 2010, nearly tripling for the third year in a row, confirms the strength of the mobile Internet. The seemingly endless bevy of new mobile devices, combined with greater mobile broadband access, more content, and applications of all types — especially video — are the key catalysts driving this remarkable growth.” Said  Reshaad Sha, strategy director at Cisco Internet Business Solutions Group.

The report also added that "By 2015, 4 major regions (Sub-Saharan Africa, Southeast Asia, South Asia, and the Middle East) and 40 countries (including India, Indonesia, and Nigeria) will have more people with mobile network access than with access to electricity at home. The off-grid, on-net population will reach 138 million by 2015."

Going by this report one may ask how prepared is Africa for this mobile data traffic as the continent is still plagued with insufficient bandwidth despite the landing of major sea cables across sub Saharan Africa like Glo1 and main1 in Nigeria, Safaricom in Kenya. Recently “Frost & Sullivan West African Broadband Market Tracker, covering Nigeria, Cameroon and Ivory Coast, finds that the market earned revenues of $929.9 million in 2009 and estimates this to reach $1.932 billion in 2016” . With the huge expansion of internet based activities in business and the social circle, there is need for service providers and the government to intensify focus on broadband connectivity in the content if the continent must meet up with the challenges posed by mobile devices and applications.

Francisca Nnanna

NCC Seek Tariff Reduction From Nigerian Operators

Dr. Juwah who led the NCC team to several conference sessions and exhibition stands, said operators in Nigeria will need to invest more resources in their networks to improve on the quality of service being delivered to Nigerians at the moment. In his words “Apart from Quality of Service, we need to see the operators reduce prices far more than they are doing at the moment. It appears the reductions are currently based on special packages. We don't think that is enough. We want to see reductions that affect the subscribers generally, and we think it is about time the operators did something so that we don't have to introduce other measures that will be drastic to achieve that”

He advised Nigerian operators to take a cue on investments from other operators around the world that are present at the Mobile Congress with a view to deepening their investments in the country to achieve desirable solutions of right quality at the right price.

Dr. Juwah who also received the commendations of the Secretary General of the ITU, Dr. Hamadoun Toure, said the Commission is ready to collaborate with the ITU in whatever way possible to ensure that the broadband vision which he announced recently will be realized for the benefit of the Nigeria and its citizens. He said the Commission will need the assistance of the ITU considering its enormous resources.

The NCC boss added “It is something that we want to deploy to change the face of ICT in Nigeria, and to reduce the digital divide between us and the developed world an also to revive our fixed line services”, he said. He informed Dr. Toure that while international consultants are looking at the approaches to this, the Commission is going to adopt the Open Access model which he said may become the African continent model because of its wide acceptance in other parts of the world.

Dr. Toure said that the plan is commendable and that the Union, will come to provide the credibility that is desired to make the programme realizable in Nigeria.

He added that he pleased that the new NCC helmsman has chosen to move broadband to the centre of f development. Broadband will therefore be a tool for all our development, a tool for e-education, a tool for e-health, a tool for e-irrigation, a tool for commerce, a tool for governance. It is not an end on itself but a means to an end. Our challenge is how we move technology to achieve these objectives, for the continent. It demands an effective regulatory framework and I am sure that the Commission has the right approach”, he said.

The 2011 GSMA forum witnessed more than 60,000 visitors from 200 countries in attendance. The four-day conference and exhibition attracted executives from the world's largest and most influential mobile operators, software companies, equipment providers, Internet companies, media and entertainment organisations, as well as government delegations.

Skyvision Launches Service For Corporate Market In Nigeria

Skyvision global networks ltd, a leading global provider of IP connectivity over satellite and other fiber optic systems has announced the launch of their new services targeted at the corporate and enterprise market in Nigeria.

“with the huge expansion of both national and international corporate activity in the country there is no question that Nigeria is a strategic market for skyvision said Mr. Doron Ben Sira skyvision ceo we are continuing to invest considerable resources in developing our corporate network connectivity solutions for this segment, which is showing steady growth. To meet the ever increasing demand by corporate and enterprise customers in Nigeria. Skyvision established a pop and teleport in Lagos via submarine cables and powerful satellites to improve their connectivity, globally regionally and domestically.

Skyvision's POP is connected to its MPLS backbone network that spans 3 continents and enables connectivity from anywhere in the world to Nigeria using multiple STM-1 cables. The company's comprehensive suite of fiber based services includes skyvision internet transit, skyvision IP-VPN and Skyvision EVPL.

The company has also installed a local hub at its POP to serve enterprise and corporate customers with single hop VSAP VPN connectivity based skyvisions VPN service. Skyvision VPN is a satellite based virtual private network service that allows organizations to connect their WAN sites making it possible to share information and collaborate via voice and data applications.

Skyvisions new connectivity solutions enable both global and local corporate entities to achieve their business goals by improving interaction with their remote locations, raising productivity levels and reducing operational costs” said Mr Ben –Sira

Sky vision is a leading global IP telecommunication service provider to emerging markets, offering solutions that combine satellite service platforms with her capacity platforms with high fiber optic connections. Via its gateways in Europe, north America, middle East, the company provides IP connectivity with access to the global internet backbone as well as an extensive suite of both customized end to end solutions and industry-standard services with a connectivity network spanning 100 countries, skyvisions solutions combine global reach with active local presence and support. Skyvision's customers includes incumbent telecoms, ISP's cellular operators global and local enterprise, government entities an NGO's

Nokia has joined forces with Microsoft in an attempt to regain ground lost to the iPhone and Android-based devices.

The deal will see Nokia use the Windows phone operating system for its smartphones, the company said. It means that Nokia's existing operating systems will be sidelined.

Speaking at the launch of the partnership, Nokia's chief executive Stephen Elop revealed that there would be "substantial" job losses as a result of the tie-up.
Nokia will remain "first and foremost...a Finnish company. Finland is our home and will remain our home," he said.

But job losses around the world, including in Finland, will be inevitable, he added.

Speaking about the new partnership with Microsoft, Mr Elop said that "the game has changed from a battle of devices to a war of ecosystems".
"An ecosystem with Microsoft and Nokia has unrivalled scale around the globe," he said. Microsoft's chief executive Steve Ballmer was also present at the launch, underlining the importance of the deal to the computing giant.
"Nokia and Microsoft working together can drive innovation that is at the boundary of hardware, software and services," he said.

Microsoft's Bing will power Nokia's search services, while Nokia Maps would be a core part of Microsoft's mapping services.

The new strategy means Nokia's existing smartphone operating systems will be gradually sidelined.

Symbian, which runs on most of the company's current devices will become a "franchise platform", although the company expects to sell approximately 150 million more Symbian devices in future.

"It is a transition from Symbian to Windows phone as our primary smartphone platform," said Mr Elop.

Windows may not be the exclusive operating system for Nokia tablets though.

"We reserve the right to introduce tablets using other platforms, including ones we may be working on internally," he said.

There was no specific announcement about when the first Windows-powered Nokia phone will be available.

Mr Elop revealed that the firm did consider a tie-up with Google's Android operating system.

"We spent time with our colleagues at Google and explored the Google ecosystem but we felt we would have difficulty differentiating within that ecosystem," he said.

It was also revealed that talks with Microsoft only began in November, illustrating how quickly the deal has been pushed through.  Continued    Future clashes
The move away from Symbian is a brave decision for Nokia, according to experts.

"This is a clear admission that Nokia's own-platform strategy has faltered," said Ben Wood, an analyst with research firm CCS: Insight.

"Microsoft is the big winner in this deal, but there are no silver bullets for either company given the strength of iPhone and Google's Android," he added.

Nokia's share of the smartphone market fell from 38% to 28% in 2010, according to monitoring firm IDC.

Nokia's upcoming Meego operating system will also be sidelined.

According to the company statement: "MeeGo will place increased emphasis on longer-term market exploration of next-generation devices."

The new platform was expected to form the core of Nokia's future smartphone and tablet strategy.

The company says it still plans to ship one Meego device by the end of 2011.

For Magnus Rehle, the Nordic managing director of research firm Greenwich Consulting, Nokia may have difficulty juggling its three operating systems: Windows, Symbian and MeeGo.

"Three platforms is a lot to work with. I'm not sure there is room for so many platforms," he said.

And, as with any tie-up, there could be clashes between the two firms, he said.

Earlier this week Nokia chief executive Stephen Elop sent a memo to staff warning that the company was in crisis.

The memo, published first by technology website Engadget, said that the mobile giant was standing on a "burning platform".

"Elop has to convince the best people to stay and some people will inevitably be jumping off the burning platform," said Mr Rehle.

BBC News

Huawei Extends License with SPIRIT DSP for HD Voice & Video

World's Second-Largest Telecom Equipment Provider to Use SPIRIT's TeamSpirit Voice&Video Engine in its IMS, UC and FMC Solutions and Applications for Carriers

SHANGHAI, China and MOSCOW, Russia – Feb. 16, 2011 –   SPIRIT DSP , the world's top voice and video over IP engines provider, has announced today that Huawei Technologies, the world's second-largest telecommunications equipment provider , has extended its license with SPIRIT DSP for HD voice and video to carriers.  Huawei's product and services are deployed in over 100 countries and serve 45 of the world's top 50 telecom operators, as well as one third of the world's population.

Under terms of the agreement, Huawei, an existing SPIRIT customer since 2007, will use SPIRIT's TeamSpirit ® Voice&Video Engine PC in its IMS (IP Multimedia Subsystem), Unified Communications (UC) and Fixed Mobile Convergence (FMC) solutions to carriers from the Huawei core network, delivering a PC video softphone to Huawei's carrier customers.

"Today, traditional carriers and service providers are under competitive pressure from the over-the-top providers like Skype, Google, etc., and they need innovative and cost-effective solutions to gain new revenue streams and meet the growing demand for a quality IP communication experience across all devices," said Wind Min, product manager of Huawei's VOIP product.  "We're pleased to be extending our relationship with SPIRIT, a world leading provider of innovative, carrier-grade voice and video over IP software, to deliver this core functionality to carriers, who are well positioned with their managed networks and massive enterprise and consumer customer base to gain majority share of this rapidly growing market."

“We're proud that Huawei as turned to SPIRIT, once again, to deliver this much-needed functionality to its carrier customers,” said SPIRIT's Chairman Andrew Sviridenko . "By leveraging our TeamSpirit Voice&Video Engine, Huawei can quickly offer service providers the highest quality IP communication solution so they can aggressively compete against others, and remain the No. 1 source for voice and video services."

The TeamSpirit Voice&Video Engine is an SDK for real-time communication over IP networks.  The engine includes highly optimized standard voice codecs, such as G.711, G723, G.729, etc. and a patent-free wideband SPIRIT IP-MR TM codec optimized for voice transmission over IP networks.  The engine also includes an H.264 SVC video codec that addresses video packet loss and includes other video quality improvements, including a network adaptation module that compensates for network jitter and packet loss, allowing service providers to offer HD quality voice and video communication services to millions of users.

Nigerian Computer Society on INEC

This is the address of President Professor Charles O. Uwadia FNCS Nigeria Computer Society (NCS) at the Press Conference on the on-going Voters Registration exercise by the Independent National Electoral Commission (INEC)

Protocols: Please recall the Press Conference held on Friday 19 November, 2010 during which we intimated you about our concern in the way and manner INEC was going about the very important task of applying IT for the 2011 elections.

Specifically, we were worried about a number of steps and activities taken by INEC among which were the following:

•  Appointment of an ICT Consultant / Adviser.

•  Contracting three firms to deliver 132, 000 units Direct Data Capture Machines (DDCM) for the forthcoming compilation of fresh voters registers.

•  Conducting of training for personnel who will use the DDCM.

We had observed that the ICT Consultant / Adviser is not a registered member of the Computer Professionals Registration Council of Nigeria (CPN).

We had also observed that two of the contracting firms a. AVANTE INTERNATIONAL TECHNOLOGY INC. and b. HAIER ELECTRICAL APPLIANCES CORPS LIMITED

are not registered with the Computer Professionals Registration Council of Nigeria (CPN).

With these acts, it was clear to us that INEC had downgraded the critical issue of Computer Professionalism as regulated under Computer Professionals Registration Council of Nigeria (CPN) Act 49 of 1993.  

We had in the circumstance demanded the following from INEC:

a. That all personnel carrying out core IT Professional duties in the Commission MUST be registered professionals as stipulated in Act 49 of 1993 .

b. That a ll persons to interface and operate the DDCM MUST be trained and certified by professional institutions registered by CPN.

c. That all contracting firms who are not registered with CPN should have their contracts revoked

d. That subsequently, only registered members of the Computer Profession should be considered for jobs involving computing machinery

e. That INEC redresses the identified lapses within one week of the Press release; failing which legal action would be instituted by us against the Commission.

f. On a more general note, we requested INEC to be transparent and fully unfold its strategies for deploying IT for the entire electoral process so that professionals could offer advice where necessary.

Ladies and Gentlemen of the Press, this is just a recap of our last interaction with the Press on INEC.

We have since consulted our Lawyers on the threat of legal action, and you will be duly informed on the next step.

Events of the last couple of days have proved our fears and concern right. As you are aware, INEC commenced Voters registration nationwide on Saturday 15 January, 2011; the exercise is expected to last for 2 weeks. As Nigerians, we are all living witnesses to the difficulties and challenges many Nigerians are having in participating in the exercise. From the feedback received from our members from different parts of the country, the challenges and difficulties include the following as they relate to the DDC machines:

•  non functioning fingerprint scanners

•  low sensitivity of fingerprint scanners

•  breakdown of the machines due to overheating

•  low level of battery backup

•  inability of INEC officials to properly use the machines or conduct basic troubleshooting in situations where the machines don't work.

•  inadequate DDC machines; we understand one of the Contractors has not fully delivered its quota

•  inadequate printer cartridges

Most of these challenges can be categorized into a. hardware b. software c. operational; these are problems which we believe would have been largely prevented by proper specification of the hardware and software; appropriate testing and certification of the systems; adequate and appropriate training of personnel; and adequate and appropriate contingency and backup arrangement. This situation, we believe, will have been prevented or mitigated if IT professionals have been fully involved in the planning and implementation of the whole exercise.

Ladies and Gentlemen of the Press, for the umpteenth time, let me reiterate the fact that the Voters registration exercise is fully situated within the IT domain and ought to have been treated as such; unfortunately this has not been so. INEC, under the leadership of Professor Attahiru Jega, has so far kept IT professional bodies (NCS and CPN) at bay for reasons best known to it.

Ladies and Gentlemen of the Press, if we are to answer the question which many Nigerians have been asking as to what went wrong in spite of the enormous fund committed to the exercise, the simple answer will be that INEC failed or refused to involve IT professionals in a matter that bothers heavily on professionalism.

On the way forward, we wish to reiterate our earlier recommendation that: INEC should be transparent and fully unfold its strategies for deploying IT for the entire electoral process so that professionals could offer advice and support as deemed necessary and appropriate.

Ladies and Gentlemen of the Press, once again, we thank you most sincerely for honouring our invitation and look forward to wide publicity for the issues covered in this Press release.

Professor Charles O. Uwadia FNCS

President, Nigeria Computer Society (NCS)

FirstBank Launches Nigeria's First Biometric ATM

With the introduction of this technology, globally acclaimed as one of the most secure forms of customer identification, the Bank has again demonstrated its preparedness to protect the data resources of its customers. The solution is leveraging on the Customer Identification System (CIS) platform being developed by information technology team of the Bank.

According to Chuma Ezirin, Group Head, eBusiness of FirstBank, the new technology would be available to existing cardholders, who may wish to add biometric authentication as part of their transaction approval process on the Bank's ATMs in addition to PIN selection while new cardholders, especially those who cannot read nor write and the elderly, would be issued cards with only biometric authentication functionality. “This is a great feat for the Bank especially at this period where fraud prevention and building customer confidence on the use of electronic channels are key customer acquisition and retention strategies. This would also drive financial inclusion, a Central Bank initiative to address the banking needs of the unbanked population', he said.

The deployment of the new biometric solution, according to him, is a giant stride for the Bank as it not only provides convenience and security to our diverse customer segments, but also aligns with financial inclusion strategy of the Central Bank of Nigeria to address the unbanked population.

eTranzact improves access to Mobile Banking in Nigeria

In a bid to improve access to mobile banking services to all mobile users in Nigeria, without the limitation of the make and model of their mobile handsets, eTranzact International PLC has introduced its new global USSD platform.

The interactive Unstructured Supplementary Service Data (USSD) enables all network and mobile phones to utilize eTranzact menu-generated mobile banking applications by sending a text message to a short code and the application comes up on the mobile phone.

According to Mr. Richard Omoniyi, the Group Head Technology of eTranzact, with the USSD on our platform, GSM subscribers on all network can now enjoy easy mobile banking services because the services is very simple , user-friendly, common and acceptable on all kind of phones. eTranzact is the only e-payment provider in the country that enable payment solution via your mobile phones.

The eTranzact mobile banking and payment solution provides users services such as Funds Transfers to any bank account or ATM cards or mobile phone using the ATM CardlexCash service, Bills payment – any Cable TV bills, PHCN bills, Postpaid bills, Airtime TopUp of any GSM/CDMA network, Check account or card balance etc. With the ATM CardlexCash service, you can send money anytime, anywhere to a third party's mobile phone and the funds can be withdrawn at any ATM machine without the use of a physical ATM card.

Mr. Omoniyi said, “As a mobile banking and payment solution provider we are leveraging on the functionality to provide mobile banking services to all mobile phone users. So, users can simply get their mobile banking applications from their banks. The eTranzact Mobile Banking is a global service and can work outside and within the country. This is in line with the company's vision to be a global leader in providing innovative mobile payment services.”

eTranzact Mobile banking solution currently provides its services to major banks in Nigeria, which includes; United Bank of Africa, First Bank, Intercontinental Bank , Access Bank, Oceanic Bank, First City Monument Bank, Fidelity Bank, Union Bank, Skye Bank, Spring Bank, and Wema Bank.

About eTranzact

eTranzact International PLC is Nigeria's first award winning multi-application and multi-channel electronic switching and payment processing platform. The company has operations in Nigeria, Ghana, Zimbabwe, Kenya, Cote d'Ivoire, South Africa and UK and aims to provide Nigerians, Africans and ultimately the world with cutting edge payment solutions.

Ekuwem to preside @ Nigeria Internet Governance forum 2011

The former president of the Nigeria Internet Group (NIG) and the Executive Vice Chairman, Teledom Group International, Dr. Emmanuel Ekuwem would preside over the 2011 edition of the Nigeria Digital Sense Forum taking place between Thursday 24 and Friday 25 March, 2011 at the Golden Gate Paradise, Ikoyi-Lagos, on ‘Internet Governance and Broadband Evolution in Nigeria'.

The Nigeria Digital Sense forum is an annual assembly of the Nigerian Information and Communication Technologies (ICT) with particular reference to the Internet community, offering them a platform to deliberate on how the Internet is governed and its developmental impact to the country as well as contributing to the global Internet Governance Forum (IGF).

The annual forum is organized in collaboration with the Nigerian Communications Commission (NCC) and endorsed by the Nigeria Internet Registration Association (NIRA), ICANN, Nigeria Internet Exchange Point Ltd, Association of Telecom Companies of Nigeria (ATCON), Nigeria Internet Group (NIG), Association of Licensed Telecom Operators of Nigeria (ALTON), Nigeria Computer Society (NCS), Joint Action Committee on ICT Awareness and Development (JACITAD) to name a few.

Disclosing the acceptance of Dr. Ekuwem who was until recently the National President of the Association of Telecommunication Companies of Nigeria (ATCON), the Executive Director, DSA, the organizers of the forum, Mrs. Nkemdilim Nweke, said it was an exciting piece of news.

She noted that Ekuwem who is reputed for his doggedness during the nation's country code Top Level Domain (ccTLD) controversy would be chairing the Nigeria Digital Sense forum on Internet Governance.

Ekuwem, she said, would use the platform to share critical information from his experiences in moving the ICT industry forward and specifically the .ng domains.

Mrs. Nweke also said that the two-day event has been strategically structured to boost participation of individuals and corporate, especially those offering Internet services that are looking for a meeting point with the ever increasing Internet savvy population in the country.

DigitalSense forum, she said, has become an innovative platform of taking internet offerings and services nearer to the populace.

This, she said, is crucial now that most mobile subscribers have internet embedded on their phones for easy and fast communication.

Promising that the 2011 edition would surpass the previous years, she promised of frequent updates in the coming days as DSA plans to hold the event in both plenary and working-group sessions.

In his reacting on his choice as the chairman of the Nigeria Digital Sense Forum, Ekuwem noted that he has accepted the position due to the importance of the subject, which theme would be on ‘Internet Governance and Broadband Evolution in Nigeria'.

According to him, the passion he has for the Internet development has been of tremendous strength to move ahead and with the broadband evolution expected with the landing of two privately-owned submarine cables, a lot is expected in the market in Nigeria.

He commended the organizers, DSA to keep up the good work in pushing Internet awareness in the country, just as he assured that Teledom Group International and its subsidiaries have sufficient reasons to associate themselves with the Nigeria Digital Sense Forum, especially as a technology company.

It would be recalled that last year, DSA was well represented at the West Africa Internet Governance Forum in Senegal, with its Communiqué forming most position of Nigeria at the event, while the global Internet Governance Forum holding in Vilnius, Lithuania between September 14 and 17, 2010.

The chief executive, Teledom Group, Dr. Emmanuel Ekuwem, has won several professional and international prizes including NTA Man of the Year 2010, Albert Einstein's Centenary award of excellence by the Obafemi Awolowo University (OAU) Ile-Ife.
Additionally, Dr. Ekuwem, has won the National Productivity Order of Merit (NPOM) in 2003 amidst other awards.

New Chief Executive Officer Appointed For Helios Towers Nigeria

Lagos, December 2010 – Helios Towers, Africa’s leading Infrastructure Sharing, Co-location and Managed services provider has announced the appointment of a new Chief Executive Officer for Nigeria. Mr. Inder Bajaj has over 25-year professional experience with leading corporate in the telecom services and office automation sector.

He has performed a wide range of roles with line jobs including leading strategic business units, setting up start-up business in B2C/ B2B space, sales / business operations with direct / indirect channel. He has also done many staff roles in functional areas of corporate strategy planning, product management, total quality management and sales training.

Prior to his current responsibilities, he worked with Reliance Communications Limited (RCOM ) where he was President of Reliance Infratel Ltd, a telecom infrastructure company which he built to be a global leader in telecommunication infrastructure sharing . He led a team of 150 people in functional areas of Technical service project/operations, Finance/Commercial, Business Development, Product Management, Customer care and rolled out over 34,000 new towers, in 2 years post formation of the company and today the company has the highest tenancy per tower in the Industry in India.

He was at one time, Reliance Communications Limited (RCOM ) Head of Corporate Planning for the Telecom business where he managed evaluations of Long Term Technology path options, market assessment for inorganic options and leading an acquisition transaction initiative. He was also responsible for the team that secured licence for RCOM’s entry into the Mobile GSM market as well as development of new business strategy and operationalizing of RCOM’s GSM foray, High Speed Data Business and Passive Infrastructure. He was also responsible for developing strategic transformation programs and managing the review process across network, organization, and sales & distribution, customer acquisition / retention

From 1998 to 2003, he was with Bharti Tele Ventures as Chief Operating Officer of Maharashtra Circle, where he led the project team that won the license as 4th operator to set up the company from scratch and launched operations. He also had brief stints at Modi Xerox India as General Manager and Ballarpur Industries as Personnel Executive
Mr.Bajaj brings the experience, expertise, and leadership abilities to position Helios Towers for success in the future and deliver the value expected by its numerous clients and broader constituent communities.
Mr.Bajaj has been appointed to drive the next stage of Helios Towers' growth in Nigeria because of his strong execution skills, his proven ability to lead top performing teams and his track record in driving shareholder value.
Helios Towers has achieved huge success in the Co-location business in recent years and has in particular built an enviable reputation for highest quality of service delivered through leading-edge innovation and backed up by excellent customer service standards. It remains the only Towerco maintaining 99.9% uptime an industry where uptime is a major challenge.
Helios Towers makes operators more successful by providing fully managed tower sites on a lease basis with marked reduction in operating expenses.
HTN commenced commercial operations in 2006 and has demonstrated its ability to operate and compete successfully in Nigeria. It has quickly become the leading shared infrastructure provider and the reference point for quality of service in the industry and is well positioned to remain the dominant provider of co-location infrastructure services in Africa, while adapting its business models to the specific requirements of the environment.

Bayero Agabi emerge African ICT Broadcast ICON

African foremost ICT broadcaster, Bayero Agabi recently added another feather to his cap as he bagged the African Digital Award 2010 for the most outstanding ICT broadcaster in the pastdecade.

Reacting to the award, Bayero who has carved a niche for himself in the area of ICT reportage in Africa expressed appreciation to ICT watch africa, the organizers of the award for the recognition, pointing out that he is particularly thrilled by the award because he bagged it when Nigeria celebrated 50 years of nationhood. Bayero agabi a pan african ict for development promoter remained the only african journalist to have won the prestigious UNEC/AISI MEDIA AWARD twice. This is in addition to over twenty three award both local and international in over a decade.

In addition to pioneering ict on television in west africa agabi is also the executive director of know how media the publishers of the award winning IT publication ITEDGE NEWS.COM in english and french languages, president TRIBE MEDIA COMPANY owners and operators of tribe tv, cyber africa magazine, ait infotech network, and tribe times international magazine. Presenting the plaque to Bayero Dr Emmuel Ekuwem former president of atcon and ceo teledom o described bayero agabi as the most professional and compentent ict journalist he has met in the past ten years. Curently he is the managing editor, Tribe Times Magazine a print medium used to promote Africanity. celebrates the richness of African tribes, her people in Diaspora with distinguishing landmarks the world over. The publication promotes the enormous socio-cultural heritage and natural endowment of the continent and as well connect with her past to celebrate African icons capable of inspiring quality leadership in Africa,

He's also the publisher Cyber Africa magazine and the anchor/ producer of Cyber Africa a TV magazine on the Africa Independent Television Network. Both of which x-rays the development, trends and happenings in the ICT world in Nigeria and beyond with a view to ''Connecting Africa with the New Age''.

BAYERO AGABI journalism career has spanned through over a decade. Starting as a film editor with Channels Television in 1993, Bayero has risen in profile to become Nigeria's leading ict broadcast journalist since joining Africa Independent Television AIT in 1997, where he has coordinated various political programmes that dared the military dictators at that time. So far BAYERO AGABI has won over 26 awards both local and international for his efforts at promoting ICT development in the region. The awards includes; Africa Information Society Initiative / GTZ Media Award for TV (2005) , International Foundation For Excellence (IFEX) Award [Excellent Performance Award (2002)] , Award of Excellence (2005) , RIMA Foundation Award For News Media TV Station 2008, National campaign towards mass Computer/ IT [Award of Honour For Outstanding Contribution to ICT Reporting in Nigeria (2006)] , Best ICT Reporter of the year (Electronic) 2003, IT Reporting media of the year 2009 (Electronic)], ATCON NATION TELECOM MERIT AWARD (2004), An award of THE MOST OUTSTANDING ICT EDITOR OF THE DECADE -electronic, 2010., An award of Excellence (NIGERIA'S FOREMOST BROADCASTER), A TV Video category Award 2007, 2007 AISI (African Information Society Innitiative ) GKP Media Award for TV / Video, Best IT Reporter of the year 2009, Best Software / IT Reporter Electronic, Media (Radio) 2001.

ICT AND NIGERIA AT 50: IMPACTS AND PROPECTS

ICT experts and analyst have said that the impacts of ICT on the Nigerian economy since independence has been enormous and its continuous deployment is very important for the Rapid development of every facet of the country

It has also been stated by stakeholders in the industry that ICT is very key in the timely delivery of MDGs, vision 2020-20 and ICT4D.

Speaking recently at the telecom and ICT evening held recently in Lagos, the president of ATCON, engr titi omo ettu, opined that ‘in order to ensure that Nigeria’s MDG commitments and vision 2020-20 reach their target audience in all the 774 local governments, it will require a substantial completion of fixed broadband infrastructure that gives optimum connectivity within the country and to the global internet’ Experts have also argued that the impacts of ICT over the past years have been huge and it has revolutionalized the ways businesses are done in Nigeria.

Nokia siemens eyes mobile broadband growhth in nigeria

Researches have shown that mobile broadband growth is expected to escalate in Nigeria and nokia siemens is positioning itself to be a huge part of the growth. This was made known by the head, North and West Africa, nokia siemens networks, Mr. Ben Hayen recently at the nigercom congress organized recently in Lagos. While highlighting the company’s views on mobile broadband technology in Nigeria, Mr. Hayen said 3G and LTE were major technologies for emerging markets like Nigeria. He further stressed that almost 80 percent of new mobile subscriber came from emerging markets like Nigeria, thus, it is very important for the company to be well positioned for the coming explosive growth of mobile broadband in the country.

Doubts over second phase of sim registration

Doubts have been expressed over the certainty of the continuation of the Subscriber Identification Module otherwise known as the SIM card registration championed by the Nigerian Communication Commission (NCC).

The recently appointed executive vice chairman of the commission, Dr Eugene Juwah has said that he’s not sure that the senate will approve the second phase of the SIM card registration exercise. This was made known at the information communications technology night held recently in Lagos.

According to him, ‘I am just coming from a senate hearing where we have to defend some of the projects we have. One of them is the SIM card registration’. He further said that the bill has to be passed by both the Senate and the House of Representative before any substantial improvement can be made. It should be noted that the former acting executive vice chairman of NCC, Dr Bashir Gwanda had earlier on proposed a 6.1bn budget to the house of representative for the second phase of the SIM card registration but the proposal was not approved.

Airtel launches new global brand across its operations in Africa

• Abuja, Nigeria – 19 November 2010: Bharti Airtel, a leading global telecommunications company with operations in 19 countries across Asia and Africa, today launched the Airtel brand and unveiled the new brand
• New global identity to unify all 16 African operations and cover 200 million customers across Africa and Asia
• Airtel reinforces commitment to extend it mobile networks and bridge the digital divide
• Customers to experience a new brand and enjoy superior quality of service, reliability, innovation and affordability wherever they live, work or travel

Abuja, Nigeria – 19 November 2010: Bharti Airtel, a leading global telecommunications company with operations in 19 countries across Asia and Africa, today launched the Airtel brand and unveiled the new brand identity across its operations in 16 countries in Africa. The new Airtel brand was unveiled in the presence of His Excellency Dr Goodluck Jonathan, the President of Nigeria, along with Sunil Bharti Mittal, Chairman and Group CEO, Bharti Enterprises in the capital, Abuja.

With the unveiling of the new brand identity Airtel becomes the master brand for all the group’s 19 operations in Asia and Africa covering over 200 million customers.  In Africa, Airtel replaces the Zain brand and comes with the promise of delivering high quality customer benefits through the power of global Airtel brand.  Going forward all future new products and services will follow the Airtel brand structure.  The ZAP mobile money service will be re-branded Airtel Money with immediate effect.

Sunil Bharti Mittal, Chairman and Managing Director, Bharti, said:  "Bharti began its African journey by promising to deliver world-class and affordable mobile services to customers and delighting them with innovative products.  I believe we are taking a major step towards delivering on this by introducing the heart of our business - the Airtel brand - across our operations in Africa.  Our African customers will now be able to enjoy the same best-in-class brand experience as our customers across India, Sri Lanka and Bangladesh.

He further added:  “We remain committed to taking our network deeper into Africa, ensuring our services touch the common man and bridge the digital divide in the continent.  I am confident that over the coming years Airtel will win the hearts of customers across Africa and emerge as one of most admired brands of the continent.”

The new brand identity
The new Airtel brand comes with a promise to meet the emerging needs of customers with innovative, affordable and relevant solutions to empower consumers, giving them the freedom to do what they choose and provide them with the tools to meet life’s daily challenges.
The red primary colour of the logo reflects the warmth and vibrancy of the African continent.  It is the colour of life and of the African sun at dusk.  These qualities are reflected in Airtel’s brand personality of being brave and bold, sensitive and empathetic.  The new curved addition to the logo is a symbol which will help ensure instant recognition across our diverse international markets.

As part of the celebration of unveiling the new brand, Airtel also announced the launch of a new ultra low cost handset package which effectively provides a mobile phone free of charge to all new subscribers.  The package, launched in conjunction with Nokia, will be priced at approx NGN 3,500 (USD $23) and includes a brand new Nokia 1280 mobile phone, a free SIM card and the equivalent value in free Airtel talk time and SMS text messages.
Over the next couple of months Airtel will launch a number of world leading product innovations which focus on delivering relevant information for customers to enhance their quality of life and provide tools that will help them overcome their daily challenges.

We Need Legal backing to Promote Locally Made Computers - D G, NITDA (Contd...)

What has contributed to this is the awareness in IT and the utilization of computers in almost all spheres of our life. During the last administration, a programme was put in place to promote indigenous technology. The idea was to improve on the production of locally made computers and utilization, which brought a lot of benefits. This year, the statistics has moved even higher. Locally made computers are doing well, but like any other industries; we have a lot of challenges. One of which is power. Let me leave computers for now; let us go to ordinary air conditioners. Just a few days ago, my air conditioner had a fault, because there was frequent power problem. If you look at the component that breaks down more easily now, the power pack is rated number one and secondly, the memory because these cannot really withstand fluctuation in power. These are the areas we need to train our people on because the situation in this country is very dicey. That is why we have to look at environmental training to our own systems.

Would you then say locally made computers have done very well?
Yes, they have statistically considering the environment in which they operate. Many a times if you look at the systems, many of them are built with respect to environmental factors in which they operate; the temperature, pressure, facilities in which they operate and back up. We need properly trained engineers to help achieve this and if you look at the number, they cannot actually cope with the demand right now that is why we have to go back to engineering schools to produce more.

Just about four or five years ago, we had about seven or more locally made computers brands. Today, we can barely say we have three surviving ones. What do you think is responsible for this?
You could look at it from angle of business pressure, because business failure could be part of it. Our banks may not even give them enough loans to back up what they have. You need to be able to withstand a lot of hurdles in the market here unlike in the advanced countries where you can get loans on long term repayment. It could be because of sales as well. If you do not have enough sales, your market may not move very high. Demand and supply is also an issue. If some people in the industry are progressing very well, others may not have enough supply. Also, it may be attributed to financial failures globally.

A few years back, during the Obasanjo administration, government gave directives to agencies and parastatals to buy a certain percentage of locally made computers. Is this still effective.?
It is still effective but is only obligatory. I have had some cases where contractors or manufacturers complained that they are not being patronized by Nigerians. Nigerians would rather go for foreign made products. So my message to them is that we should actually patronize our own computer brands. It is only in this way that we can have higher volume of sales so that we can move from low range to high range of computers. We probably need a law that stipulates that locally made computers must be used.

Are you still going ahead with the re-certification of these locally made computers?
Oh yes, we will. If you have a driving license for instance, you do not have it forever even in other countries. Re-certification does not necessarily mean something is wrong. But the reason is that after some time, things sag, elastic materials too sags after sometimes. So when you certify, you actually go back and look at your production. That is why we have new set of productions coming in. Electronic materials are dynamic products, so re-certification means everybody has to stand up to expectations. That even gives more confidence on the products for consumers. Consumers know this people are on top shape. So re-certification is a normal thing in the electronic industry.

Internet (Contd...)

It had been long in coming, but then in 1996, seven years after it was introduced in the United States, the nation’s telecommunication regulator, the Nigerian Communication Commission (NCC) did the right.

It licensed thirty-eight internet service providers to sell internet service in Nigeria.  On January 1st the following year, Linkserv Limited immediately began commercial operations in the country, thus, becoming the Very Fast Internet service provider (ISP) in Nigerian The nation, finally stepped into the internet age. Yet today, fourteen years after, the country is still struggling with the infrastructure of this technology.

Nigeria, like every other country in the world on its first encounter with the internet the internet had struggled to understand it seemingly overwhelming power- still is: we dare say. But then, industry watchers and observers who have keenly watched the country take its first baby step in this direction say the growth so far had be phenomenal.
 
Nigerian Internet Group Formed
In 1995, a year before these companies were registered, a body known as the Nigerian Internet Group had been conceived as a non-governmental organization with the responsibility of promoting and facilitating full access to the internet in Nigeria. The Nigeria Internet Group was formed in 1995 after the first internet workshop organized by the Yaba College of Technology in collaboration with  a number of  organizations including the Nigeria Communication, National Data Bank Literacy Training and development Program for Africa ( University of Ibadan) and Administrative Staff College of Nigeria (ASCON), with the assistance of the United States Information Services (USIS), Regional Information Network for Africa (RINAF) and the British Council. The workshop was put together in order raise the level of awareness of the benefits of internet in Nigeria and provides a forum for discussing the future of networking.

Four years later, in May 1999, the Nigerian Communication Commission (NCC) in collaboration with the Nigeria the Nigerian Internet Group (NIG), organized an Africa Internet Summit (AFRINET’’99), hosted by the Federal Ministry of Communication. The summit which took place at the ECOWAS secretariat from 11 to 13 May, 1999 focused on the sustainable development and utilization of the internet in Africa and sought to create a common forum where African Internet Practitioners can come together and discuss policy issues peculiar to Africa. The Nigerian Government then had been supported by the United Nations Development Programmes Agency (UNDPA ) in a one million US dollar project to assist NITEL establish the internet backbone. UNDPA was also strengthening NITEL’s telecommunication training school to become a regional internet training centre              

Growth
A report by the International Telecommunications Union, focused the period 1996-2009 on telecommunications development on nations of the world. According to the data on Nigeria, which the source claimed was last updated on July 16th, 2010, users of the internet in Nigeria in every 100 person interviewed as at 1996 were 0% and it ran this way for four years. The line lifted off the bottom for the first time in at the tail end of the year 2000. But the figure had been so insignificant: a shocking 0.3%. Between the year 2002 and the year 2004, it rose to 1.5%. Three years later in2007, it struck 7% and then it rose speedily in 2008 to touch 15.9%. In comparison, its North African counterpart; Egypt had touched off the 0% ground mark in 1997, striking two percent in 2002, 5% in 2004 and then rising steeply and speedily to twelve percent in 205 to finish at 16.2% in 2008. As at when the World Bank survey in United States in 1993, users of the internet then had already lifted off the bottom line at 2.3%. By 1995,it moved up from 9.4%to 60.1% in 2002. Today, about 76 Americans out of every one hundred have access to the internet. Another study like the one conducted by World Bank was carried out in Nigeria in 1999 by local based analyst. Their data revealed that the nation had a total of about 3,000 internet subscribers in population of about 140 million people. Internet users as that time too had been estimated to be about a 100,000. It was recorded that about 81 internet host sites were ready fully functional in the country. The host sites had been identified to fall into commercial, academic, research, international and government related areas.

CHALLENGES  
Low penetration has been the major issue. The internet basically remains an urban phenomenon in the country. The rural areas have been shut out from this illumination and there seems to be no hope for them soon. Even in villages where GSM is already present and fully functional, some of them cannot still access the internet. Internet service providers have however said that the blame should not be heaped at their doorsteps.  According to Victor Okeke, a system analyst, ‘’ The vast majority of natives in rural areas are poor and cannot afford computers and phones that could give them access to the internet’’.  He said another major problem is illiteracy.

‘’You at least have to be able to read and write to be able to learn to use the internet and majority of these people are stark illiterate’’, he said.
Comments from an online reader had also identified another major challenge crippling the internet growth in the country. He said, ‘’Coverage will remain to remain this low if they continue to charge us as if it is gold. It is only in this country that we just like making simple things seem as if they are meant for the rich. It is so sad’’. Earlier this year, Mr Nyibo Odero, Google’s Office Lead, English speaking West African had at a briefing with ICT news journalists in Lagos that there was a major IT infrastructure problem in the country and it needs to be urgently addressed. ‘’It is important to make internet access easily available to people in this country and then, the prices even for more a simple standard laptop is crazy’’.

Another Google executive, this time, its vice president Technology, English Middle-East, Asia and Africa EMEAA, Nelson Mattos also told ICT news journalists at same briefing that Nigerians and indeed the entire African continents could never become market potential for internet-broadband access as far as he was concerned. He said the continent remains low and poor on internet infrastructures and penetration to be termed a market spot Journalists had been trying to learn from MR Nyibo and Christian Miccio, Google’s Navigable Maps products manager, how much the search giant was investing in the country whose entire corporate working populace and other private individuals constantly log on to the internet and used majority of Google’s tools before NR Mattos interrupted. He did not avoid the question though his answer was a single word. ‘’Significantly’’ He said that though much has been invested in various African countries, yet a lot of development is still needed. ‘’African nations still need to do a lot to grow’’.
MR Rudman, CEO of Internet Exchange point of Nigeria (IXPN), in an encounter with journalists had said that government must work to provide infrastructures to aid the provision of internet services.

‘’Infrastructure is still a major problem for the industry, as the right infrastructures are not available. They have to be made available to aid bandwidth distribution to remote areas. Also, government needs to subsidize the right of way for the operators to pass through. If the government is charging the operators too high, the cost would be passed on to the consumers. Most especially, government must also improve on power supply’’, added MR Rudman.
HOPE

Experts are however optimistic that the recent submarine cable connected would improve internet service in the country. Only recently, Main one launched its open access sub marine cable system which when completed will span 14,000 kilometre and will provide international internet connectivity in the country. ‘’With the coming broadband connection, it is a major opportunity to improve internet penetration ‘’, said Rudman. According to him, the main objective of internet exchange point (IXPs) in the country was to interconnect various internet service providers and network operators to exchange traffic among their networks, generally to as autonomous system by means of mutual pairing agreement which allows traffic to be exchanged at no cost.
‘’We are making sure that the internet connection will remain local, as all links to the internet  can go through  within the country than for the link to connect from outside the country and back’’, Mr. Rudman added.

Main One Company also announced that it will launch its high capacity fibre cable system on July in Ghana and Nigeria and it did.
According to its CEO, Funke Okpeke,phase one of the system spans 6,800km from Seixal in Portugal through the West African coast to Ghana and Nigeria and will deliver 1.93 TBPs of much-needed international capacity into West Africa where rapid growth in telecoms has been blighted by limited global connectivity.

The foundations of the internet had been formed when packet-switching networks came into operation in 1960s in the United States. Transmitted data had been broken up into small packets data, sent to its destination and then, reassembled at the other side.

2011 Elections and the Nigeria ICT Sector: (Contd...)

Since President GoodLuck Jonathan followed the footsteps of Barack Obama, in declaring his intentions for the presidency via facebook, other politicians in the country have since taken to facebook as a veritable tool for campaign. To many ict analysts this is a good omen.

A visit to the social network site will reveal that Lagos State Governor, MR Babatunde Fashola, former Vice president Atiku Abubakar, Governor Emmanuel Uduaghan of Delta State, Mallam Nuhu Ribadu and host of other have made the site their campaign machinery.

This development is no doubt a testimony to the adoption of ICT by the political class which was hitherto docile.
In a bid to ensure that plans for the 2011 election go well, the Independent National Electoral Commission INEC has since concluded plan with the intended procurement of Direct Data Capturing Machine (DDC) which according to experts in the ICT industry is to enable INEC to conduct an election that deploys encryption, to enable voters register and cast their votes electronically.

INEC’s decision to go digital in the forth coming election has continued to elicit reactions among local content providers as it was alleged that INEC had pointed out that the local content providers don’t have the required technological know-how to provide the hardware and software for the over 150,000 DDC machines needed for the elections.

However, IT experts in the country and other professional bodies have posited that the country may pay a great price down the line if the nation’s data base is left in the hands of foreign agent.

Speaking with Cyber Africa, the chairman Lagos State Chapter of the Nigeria Computer Society, MR Rogba Adeoye pointed out that indigenous ICT firms are capable of handling the project and they should be given chunk of the job. He added that lack of involvement of professionals in the past accounted for the failure recorded in the previous dealings with indigenous companies.

In a similar vein Nigerians have continued to express their reservations over the award of the contract to foreign companies, describing it as a waste of fund when there are a number of Nigerian companies that have the capacities to deliver same result.

Nigeria pc makers battle over shrinking market share (Contd...)

Fifty years in the life of any nations is to many a celebration time. But for the locally made computer companies, it is a mix grill: A mix of blessings and woes depicting the states of affairs in Africa’s most populous country of about 150 million people.

There was no computer company 50 years ago neither was the computer a common sight. It was not even a common sight a little less than five years ago though local pc makers were already a part of the technology space that has evolved in the IT revolution that came to Nigeria a little over a decade ago.

If having pc assembly company was all that was necessary to define all the success story Africa’s most populous country need to define its success in the last 50 years, Nigeria would be rated on the A+list.

In the last decade, more than seven pc makers, UNITEC, Pragmatic, Balogtek, Brian System, Zinox and Omatek, and the more recent Ganiac and Veda have arrive on the scene. Today about three have completely disappeared from the landscape.

The surviving players are only managing to keep afloat for a mix of factors.

Two players, Zinox and Omatek lead the league. Between them, they dominate the shear of the PC market controlled by the local PC assembly companies. The two combine has less than 35% of the entire sales in 2009. In the words of Florence Seriki ceo of omatek computers the recent crash in the banking sector did not blow a good breez on their business. According to her getting as little as LPO finacing is now a gully to cross.

As it presently the market has expanded in terms of patronage and reach that transcends private and public sectors. But it has remained largely a domain of foreign player leaving a fraction of the margin for the local PC makers to contend with. For every one PC that Omatek or Zinox sells HP and Acer sells between seven and three. The remain margin go to Dell, Mercury, Toshiba, Sony, and other foreign brands. All combined, they controlled about 65% of the market giving them a strong edge over the local players, Zinox and Omatek…

Mindful of the need to promote local PC assembly, the chief Olusegun Obasanjo administration issued a directive that all MDAs (ministries, departments and agencies.) must patronized local PC makers and consider foreign brand only if the local brand could not meet up with the requirement. This Government policy was designed to help generate employment in the PC sub-sector and grow local capacity in the computer assembly.

This helped. The policy drive increase sales for Zinox and Omatek; and was largely responsible for the successful implementation of the local PC solutions in the public sector. During the Obasanjo years, Nigeria witness a phenomenal growth in local computer assembly and manufacture helped by the deliberate and conscious effort of the government to promote the local brands.

The public sector acceptance has not been equaled by the same level of private sector acceptance. The private sector has largely remained the confine of the foreign brands with a level of the consistency that has not helped to properly position the local brands in corporate Nigeria.

And then even those years of market favored in the public sector have been followed by a somewhat level of increasing apathy. There is heightening tendency to reject the local made PCs in favored of the foreign brands. HP and the rest of the offshore brands are beginning to win back open acceptance with dire consequence for the local brand.

The consequence is manifold. Sales have shrunk forcing many of the local companies to either close down or reduce their existing staff strength. Faced with reduced intensives from government, absence of robust support infrastructure, inadequate power supply insufficient technical staff and hyper competition from foreign brands, the market is fast ebbing and may completely disappeared for all the local PC makers.

In an exclusive interview with Dr Armstrong Takang,the managing director of alteq, he said that the way the market is today there is no way the local brands can compete. In his words the foreign brands have larger pockets, better customer care, more robust and reliable back up system that the local ones cannot boost of .

No doubt, government needs to increase its support base for the local PC makers. But the companies also need to get their acts right. Too much attention is paid to getting MDAs patronage and so little is done to target the wider market outside government where there is more rapid deployment of PCs.

Besides, as many users is the public sector revealed, though many local made computers come in good quality but they do not compare favorably with their foreign counterpart in terms of after sales support. Here, their major weakness is exposed. Not many local brands can boast of after sales technical expertise that the foreign brands give their customers thus lowering the value of TCO (total cost of ownership). The onus is therefore on the local PC makers to improve their total market relevance before they could up sales and profit.