ICANN increases Registrar’s fee for due diligence

Global Internet coordinating agency, the Internet Corporation for Assigned Names and Number (ICANN) has increased the current registrar’s fee from $2,500 to $3,500, about N542,500, to offset the costs of increased due diligence.

ICANN said that the application fee for submitting an ICANN accreditation application will be increased from the current fee with effective from July 1, 2011.

“All applications received on or after that date will be subject to a non-refundable US $3,500 application fee,” a press statement endorsed by Director, Media Affairs at ICANN, Mr. Brad White informed. The press statement made available to ITRealms Online also indicated that the increased fee will offset the costs for ICANN to conduct additional due diligence checks on applicants during the registrar accreditation application process.

These, ICANN said would comprise the checks on criminal records, credit records, financial history and solvency, corporate cum company structure and ownership. The internet coordinating agency noted that in order to conduct these due diligence checks ICANN assured that it would enable it to perform inquiries through the use of external resources including reputable commercial third party information service providers. These steps, ITRealms Online gathered were the result of community input that called for the strengthening of the requirements for registrar accreditation, and to address changes that have arisen in the registrar marketplace.

The ICANN Board of Directors, therefore, recently voted to approve the fee increase for these purposes at its meeting on April 21, 2011.

Meanwhile, ICANN, on Thursday, posted its fifth and final status report to the Generic Name Support Organisation (GNSO) on the implementation of its recommendations for the Add Grace Period (AGP) Limits Policy.

ICANN noted that in prior status reports, the success of the Policy is evidenced by the 99.7 per cent reduction in AGP deletes since the Policy went into effect in April 2009, saying its committed to analyzing and reporting on the effects of the Policy to the GNSO at six-month intervals for two years after its implementation.

The first status report was issued on 10 June 2009, the second status report on 14 December 2009, while the third status report was on June 1, 2010, even as the fourth status report on 18 November 2010.

The purpose of these reports has been “to allow the GNSO to determine when, if ever, these recommendations and any ensuing policy require additional clarification or attention based on the results of the reports prepared by ICANN Staff.”

Presented in a prior report was that during GNSO calls in April and May 2010, following inquiry from ICANN Staff about whether or not additional Policy work should be considered, the GNSO decided that the success of the Policy and the low number of exemption requests demonstrated that modifications to the Policy were not warranted at that time.

Further, since the time of those calls there have not been any additional GSNO discussions about the Policy and the number and frequency of reported exemption requests from registrars has dropped considerably.

Remmy Nweke:
ITREALMS Online ... delivering news for ICT4D

Verod partner Spinlet on mobile application

Nigerian-based emerging markets investment firm, Verod Capital Management Limited is partnering Spinlet Mobile on music application.

Executive Director, Verod Capital, Mr. Eric Idiahi, who confirmed this at the weekend, said that the company’s investment in the emerging digital music application maker, Spinlet Mobile is undisclosed in the main time.

He also said that this investment comes at a critical time to support the launch of the Finland-based company’s new enhanced service, which will predominantly service the fast growing mobile markets of Africa, Asia, Eastern Europe and the Commonwealth of Independent States.

“There is a strong demand for music download services in emerging markets but consumers have limited access to portals from where they can legally download original music tracks from local and international artists,” he said, stressing that Spinlet is ideally placed to source the content and deliver it to millions of underserved consumers worldwide across the mobile and web channels.

According to him, Spinlet’s current application enables consumers to remotely store, manage and listen to music from anywhere using any mobile device.

“Using the Spinlet music cloud portal, users can also create playlists, stream and seamlessly synch music tracks across devices as well as share their favorite titles using social networking sites, like Facebook,” he said.

Idiahi noted that the enhanced version of Spinlet to be launched next month will combine the best of elements of the music cloud’s existing service with mobile downloading capabilities available on the latest generation of smartphone platforms.

Spinlet’s new application, he said, would be available for major mobile operating systems including Android, Blackberry, Symbian 60, Windows Phone 7 and popular Java-enabled mobile phones.

Equally speaking, the chief executive officer, Verod Capital, Mr. Danladi Verheijen pointed out that Spinlet could be the first acquisition of a leading European mobile technology start-up by a Nigeria-based investment firm.

“We are extremely excited about the potential to leverage Spinlet’s technology across large African markets, as well as support the company’s growth in other parts of the world,” he said, emphasising that the company is seeking distribution and affiliate partnerships with local mobile service operators and original equipment manufacturers to expand availability.

Even as Spinlet is working with leading music labels in Africa, Europe and Asia to further develop its portfolio of localized music catalogues.

ITRealms Online recollects that the firm founded in 2006 by Sami Leino and Ville Leino in Finland, Spinlet started out focusing on building a strong Internet Protocol (IP) portfolio and launched their first cloud-based music service in 2010.

Going forward, Spinlet says it intends leverage social media integration, consumer recommendations and viral product features to drive sales in emerging markets.

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ITREALMS Online ... delivering news for ICT4D

Glo-1 offers ISPs business package

Globacom has come up with a dedicated offer to members of Internet Service Providers (ISPs) in the country through the introduction of a business package by Glo 1.

This, the company said would avail more Nigerian cities to enjoy the benefits of ample internet bandwidth courtesy of Glo 1 international submarine cable.

This is coming on the heels of moves by the company to empower and encourage Internet Service Providers (ISPs) to extend their businesses to more major cities across the country.

Head of Glo 1, Folu Aderibigbe, said that Glo 1 would now offer internet bandwidth and extend help in setting up operations to all ISPs desiring to extend services to major cities where they do not currently have presence.

He noted that most of the ISPs in Nigeria at the moment operate mainly in Lagos alone or in few more cities mainly due to the huge capital expenditure involved in setting up operations in other cities and the unavailability of reliable bandwidth in those areas.

He explained that Globacom decided to address this problem by providing the required bandwidth in all the major cities and removing the burden of huge capital needed by the ISPs to start operations in all major cities where their services are needed.

Globacom, he said, is riding on its MPLS-VPN network spread across the country, has extended Glo1 services to all major cities in Nigeria, thus empowering ISPs to extend the benefits of bandwidth to the cities.

“This is in line with the commitment we made when we commissioned the cable last year to ensure that quality service is available in all parts of the country. We reassure Nigerians that Glo 1 offers 100% connection to prosperity,” he added.

Glo 1 which is the only optic fiber cable that connects United Kingdom directly from Nigeria has provided solution to the bandwidth capacity constraints in the West Africa region.

With its integration with Globacom’s 10,000km nationwide optic fibre cable, Glo 1 is able to give end-to-end connectivity, including last mile solutions, thus providing a one-stop shop for customers’ requirements.

Remmy Nweke

ITREALMS Online ... delivering news for ICT4D

Etisalat reassures on improved services @ PH

Etisalat Nigeria has restated its commitment to customer satisfaction through the provision of quality services and constant engagement with the customers for feedback in order to give them better service. This was the telecommunication company’s submission at the customer forum organised for its subscribers in Port Harcourt, Rivers State recently.

Regional Head of Sales, South-South/South-East, Etisalat Nigeria, Mr. Enekwachi Aja said, at the event tagged ‘Your Voice Counts’ that the customer forum provided an opportunity for the network to listen to customers’ complaints, recommendations and suggestions on areas for improvement.

“Our customers remain the focus of all we do, the reason we have been in business for about three years and so our vision is to always keep the door of dialogue open at all times. We want them to tell us their experience on the network in an undiluted manner, so we can improve on the quality of our service. At Etisalat, we are committed to customers’ satisfaction,” he said.

One of the customers Mr. Steven Ogunleye lauded Etisalat for the giant steps it had taken despite its late entrance into the market, which includes looking for ways of delighting and rewarding customers and always providing best value for money. He urged Etisalat to upgrade its services from 2G to 3G so as to increase connectivity and increase usage of data.

Also commenting, Tamuno Phillip commended Etisalat for its innovative products and services which have endeared the telecommunication company to an increasing number of subscribers despite being the youngest GSM service provider in the country.

“Some of the features on your Easy Starter package have really endeared me to your products and the quality of your services is also quite commendable; please keep it up.” In the same vein, Carol Atoya said that she is looking forward to an opportunity to win great prizes like the One Million Dollar star prize Etisalat gave out in 2009.

He pointed out that when the promo was on then, he did not believe it until a winner emerged because he had always thought that no GSM service provider would give out such amount but alas Etisalat did it, so I am seriously looking forward to another edition of the promo.

Responding to some of the comments, the telecommunications company showed appreciation on the commendations and assured that its 3G technology is scheduled to be launched soonest while other issues raised will be reviewed and attended to accordingly.

The forum gave the opportunity for the customers and the Etisalat family to interact, thus creating an avenue for direct customer feedback on several points about the services of the network.

Remmy Nweke

ITREALMS Online ... delivering news for ICT4D

Broadband deployment: Stakeholders canvass bail-out for ICT sector

Core stakeholders in the nation’s Information and Communications Technologies (ICT) sector have canvassed for a bail-out for the industry, particularly in deployment of broadband.

Those leading this call include the chairman of pioneer Internet Service Provider (ISP) in the country, Linkserve Limited, Chief Chima Onyekwere, president of ATCON and his counterpart in the Association of Licensed Telecom Operators of Nigeria (ALTON) Mr. Gbenga Adebayo, among others.

They made this call at the weekend during a breakfast with the Executive Vice Chairman (EVC) of the Nigerian Communications Commission (NCC) organized by the Association of Telecommunication Companies of Nigeria (ATCON) in Lagos.

For Chief Onyekwere, the ICT regulator, NCC, should have a bail-out fund for various operators within the ICT sector in the country.

He noted that even if today Nigeria deploys broadband nationwide, there is still challenges of compatible user premises equipment for it to be put to use.

“Though if you have developed broadband nationwide, it may not be well accepted due to lack of user premises equipment,” he said, stressing that operators in the industry need subsidy.

“A subsidy from NCC will help a great deal,” he declared.

Onyekwere pointed out that in South Korea and America, governments have assisted immensely in deployment of broadband in their various countries and urged the Nigerian government to queue into this process to move the ICT industry in the country forward, especially if the nation is still desirous of meeting her Vision 20-2020.

In his goodwill message at the occasion, the chairman of the Association of Licensed Telecom Operators of Nigeria (ALTON), Mr. Gbenga Adebayo, noted that voice only and scratch card companies are no longer in business, so much so most of the Internet Service Providers (ISPs) are no longer operational.

He lamented the fact that in addressing issues of national importance like the kind of meeting President Goodluck Jonathan, held last week in Lagos, without an ICT agenda, simply because those at leadership of this country likewise most Nigerians think that all is well with telecommunications or ICT sector.

“We started early to celebrate the revolution of telecommunications, especially with the advent of GSM,” he said.

He proposed that his group and ATCON would join hands to come up with guidelines to help the government and its agencies to understand what is going on within the ICT, which would expose them to some of the challenges.

He however, listed some of these challenges to include lack of right of way, electricity, vandalisation of telecom infrastructure, multiple taxation by various second and third tiers of government respectively, whom he alleged see telecommunications as a cash-cow.

Adebayo also suggested that EVC of NCC may have to go cap-in hand to the relevant authorities of government to enlighten them and show factors depicting that all is not well with the industry, especially the operators.

He went on to urge NCC to probably secure right of way from the Federal Ministry of Works and Environment and offer that as part of the Federal Government’s Broadband initiative like WIRE Nigeria, in order to save the operators the trouble of leaving their competence and be chasing one local government and ministries from the other.

Corroborating the chairman of ALTON, his counterpart in the Association of Telecom Companies of Nigeria, Mr. Titi Omo-Ettu, declared that it has not been too rosy for the sector as Nigerians were made to believe.

He said that they saw it as a challenge that would be faced, Omo-Ettu assured that ATCON would partner ALTON in detailing challenges facing the industry and channel it to the industry regulatory, who in turn has the liberty to send it to the Federal Ministry of Information and Communication for onward presentation to the Federal Executive Council (FEC) which is the apex FG implementation organ in the country.

In his remarks, the EVC of NCC, Dr. Eugene Juwah advised various industry interest groups in the sector to come together so as to encourage the government and its agencies and ministries to take them more seriously, especially on their position in moving the industry forward.

He pledged that appropriate recommendations made to his commission would be channeled to the relevant quarters such as the ministry for actions.

Though, he doubted the interest of the government to come up with a bail out, Juwah did not dismiss the plea for bail-out by the stakeholders.

“We believe government can intervene and should not be seen in a competitive manner,” he said.

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ITREALMS Online ... delivering news for ICT4D

AfTLD v. DCA: The battle for dot Africa

The duo of Mauritius-based African Top Level Domains (AfTLD) and Dot Connect Africa (DCA) are currently bidding for Dot Africa (.africa), Remmy Nweke reports that utmost decorum is required to make the process litigation free exercise.
Preamble:
The 5th annual African country code Top Level Domain (AfTLD) meeting ended in the city of Accra, Ghana, with controversies surrounding the management of the dot Africa domain name.

Report has that while the organizers of the meeting AfTLD said that the event was successful based on the support the group got from the Ghana government with regards to who manages dot Africa or better disposed to win the heart of African Union (AU) on the issue, observers from Dot Connect Africa (DCA), said the event was far from being successful, whereas contending the likely upper hand that AfTLD purportedly gained against its quest to manage the dot Africa.

AfTLD was established in 2002 to act as a focal point for African Country Code Top Level Domain (ccTLD) managers in coordinating, formulating, developing and presenting a unified approach to issues related to the Domain Name System. Just as AfTLD presents a forum for sharing ideas between the regions Internet community with an aim of promoting the utilization of national country’s Top Level Domains.

Equally, DCA is a not-for-profit, non-partisan organisation incorporated in Mauritius Africa with intension to primarily sponsor, establish and operate a TLD registry with global recognition and regional significance dedicated to the needs of pan-African and African community.

The ‘successful ‘Accra Meeting:
However, the Accra event, which held from 18 to 22 April, comprised of a three day Attack Contingency Response Planning (ACRP) workshop for African ccTLD managers, and a 2 day Policy meeting and Annual General Meeting (AGM).

With over 50 attending the AGM, the majority of whom came from 19 ccTLD managers for the event hosted by Ghana’s National Information Technology Agency (NITA) with the support of the Ministry of Communications.

Addressing participants, Ghanaian Communications Minister, Mr. Haruna Iddrissu, appreciated AfTLD for choosing Ghana for this crucial Internet security event, adding that ACRP training came at a right time when Internet access has increased tremendously and cyber attacks are the new generation warfare.

Ghana endorses AfTLD for dot Africa:
According to him, the Ghana Government attaches great significance to online privacy, and plans to pass into a law the Data Protection Bill by July this year, maintaining that Ghana supports the Africa Union Commission (AUC)-led process of endorsing a suitable bidder that will apply to Internet Corporation for Assigned Names and Numbers (ICANN) for the delegation of the dot Africa new Generic Top Level Domain (gTLD).

AfTLD, he said, is the foremost TLD association in Africa, representing sufficient African Internet community interests to manage the dot Africa new gTLD on behalf of the AUC.

Equally speaking, veteran of Internet development and governance in Africa and globally and the current dot GH (.gh) chairman, Dr. Nii Quaynor, while welcoming participations to the occasion, reminded the meeting how Ghana was instrumental in establishing AfTLD about a decade ago.

Imploring African TLD managers, Dr. Quaynor, noted the imminent changes in the domain name policy environment globally, underscoring the fact that African TLD operators, needed to be strengthened to meet the challenges that ICANN’s new gTLDs will bring as many capacity challenges still faced African TLDs, including higher level governance interventions.

He also added that there was a need to continue strengthening African ccTLD capacity to overcome the challenges on security, and affirmed the ACRP as a step in the right direction. He echoed the Minister’s support for an AUC endorsement of a suitable bidder to apply to ICANN for the operation of .africa.

Vote of confidence for AfTLD:
Chairman, AfTLD, Mr. Vika Mpisane told participants that the case of the AfTLD .africa project was an illustration of the commitment of the AfTLD to help African TLDs grow, expressing the believe that AfTLD had a good opportunity to win the endorsement of the African Union (AU) and the approval by ICANN.

“We will do our utmost best to see to it that AfTLD wins the .africa bid,” he assured, stressing that after the presentation of AfTLD’s .africa bid strategy, it was remarkable that all the ccTLDs present expressed their support of AfTLD’s .africa bid.

It was gathered that their unanimous view was that only AfTLD in the African Internet community had the collective experience and know-how of setting up a successful operation of a dot Africa registry, even as some of the ccTLDs promised to lobby their governments to support AfTLD’s bid.

This step was described by industry observers as huge vote of confidence, which goes right against some of the recent malicious views claiming AfTLD was not best suited to operate dot Africa.

DCA reactions:
But reacting to the outcome of the Accra’s AfTLDs meeting, a contending interest, the Dot Connect Africa (DCA) Organization alleged a chameleonic exercise of shifting faces by AfTLD from previously seeking an “AU mandate” to now of seeking an “AU endorsement”.

DCA said it felt compelled to respond to the outcome of AfTLD meeting because of some innuendoes and veiled references to DCA made by some prominent participants.

DCA position made available to ITRealms Online by Mr. Thomas Kamanzi pointed out that at first, DCA’s concerted campaign against the “illegal proposal of awarding an unjustified mandate to AfTLD by the AU” has been again vindicated.

We got endorsement first!
He argued that this was against the backdrop that the DCA already received the same endorsement from the AU more than one year ago, adding that the position of AfTLD currently and its supporters is grossly untenable and very unjustified, insisting that such mandate could only be given by ICANN.

In addition, DCA said it was not taken unaware by the attendance and list of attendees of the Ghana meeting, since it has become increasingly clear by the day that the most vocal voices and viewpoints expressed are the same forces that have arrayed themselves in vehement opposition to the DCA on the issue of DotAfrica.

Equally, DCA group said, the meeting reinforced the widely shared belief that there is a dangerous nexus between a certain cabal within the AU Task Force on Dot Africa and the AfTLD - and this nexus has been established in order to disingenuously facilitate ‘insider’ help for AfTLD’s Expression of Interest to the AU and prospective bid to ICANN.

Unshakeable DCA?
“Therefore, before delving into particulars, the DCA hereby reiterates its unshakeable belief that AfTLD is not suited to operate DotAfrica,” stressing that it has no problem with any organization attempting to compete and win the DotAfrica gTLD mandate from ICANN based on rules of fair competition.

Kamanzi said DCA believes that any eligible organization is free to participate in an open and transparent bid process that is corruption-free, even as it refuses to accept a situation whereby double-dealing are being institutionalized to pave the way to enable AfTLD win an unfair endorsement from the AU on DotAfrica.

“AfTLD cannot maintain its credulity as a fair player whilst being an obvious beneficiary of illegality,” Kamanzi asserted in a press statement, while DCA frowned upon the fact that AU Task Force members on DotAfrica are also advisors and confederates of AfTLD. DCA believes that such affiliations are unwholesome and foster corruption, nepotism, abuse of office, and large-scale illegality.

AU Task Force must work independently
Further, DCA alleged AfTLD could work independently of AU Task Force members on DotAfrica who are in its midst, and are both advising, and influencing matters on behalf of AfTLD. Noting that with a certain amusement, that even though there is nothing materially new that was revealed as an outcome of the Ghana meeting, however, DCA insisted that sustained pressure based on truthful revelations by the group has made the handlers and advisors of AfTLD to change their position, in a rather chameleonic way, from one of previously seeking an AU mandate to that of now seeking an AU endorsement.

“All in all, the Ghana meeting could hardly be qualified as a successful outing, since nothing new came out of it. The meeting only exposes the fact that certain AU Task Force members connected to the Ghanaian government used it to garner dubious support of the Ghanaian Ministry of Communications for AfTLD to bid on DotAfrica,” DCA officer said.

ITRealms Online learnt that DCA alleged that this position is not only contradictory, but an unsolicited interference in the issue of the AU Commission endorsing a bidder to apply to ICANN for the DotAfrica registry mandate.

“It is already clear that the Ghanaian Minister of Communication is under the direct influence of, and is being controlled by, the same “special interest group” that has expressed a vested interest in assisting the AfTLD to win an illegal endorsement from the AU,” DCA claimed, insisting that the Ghanaian Ministry of Communications has lost a certain amount of credibility for allowing itself to be used as a willing tool to rubber-stamp an invidious scheme.

DCA, however, maintained that it will frontally challenge any acts of illegality that are orchestrated by any affiliated AU Task Force members who use insider privileges and access to facilitate an illegal scheme that would grant AfTLD an AU endorsement.

Investigations conducted by ITRealms Online showed that since the last meeting of AfTLD in Accra, DCA instead of lobbying relevant authorities directly involve in the dot Africa project to gain support has condescended to personality battle with some members of AU Task Force on Dot Africa.

AU yet to give dot Africa endorsement:
While AfTLD is still seeking the endorsement of AU, and DotConnect Africa (DCA) claiming it has already gotten the ‘AU mandate’, the African Union Commission (AUC) recently debunked the claims by DCA, saying it has not yet given any endorsement or mandate to any particular organisation on dot Africa, pending the decision of the commission which is currently accepting applications for the dot Africa bid until Friday, June 3, 2011.

“The AU Commission would like to hereby categorically state that it is not supporting any one individual or organization in this bid,” a communiqué made available to ITRealms Online May 12 read.

AU also said that its member states meeting within the framework of the Conference of African Union Ministers in Charge of Communications and Information Technologies had decided to allow competition from any African organization or entity that is interested in bidding for the domain name on behalf of and for the use of the African organizations and citizens at large.

This decision, AU confirmed was endorsed by the Assembly of Heads of State and Government in 2010 and was reiterated in 2011.

Lessons:
One lesson, though DCA may have to contend with is that despite the fact that AfTLD may have its affiliates lobbying for it, members of the AU Task Force do not usually condone antagonisation of its members.

Secondly, it is a clear fact that most countries, especially in Africa currently have their country code Top Level Domains which made up AfTLD managed by government partially alongside the Internet stakeholders in those countries, which makes it invariably difficult to draw a line between the government across Africa and their ccTLDs.

The aforementioned analogy thus paves the way for AfTLDs to receive the kind of lobbying or acceptance its bid which dot Africa supposedly got in Accra.

Conclusion:
The reality as gathered by ITRealms Online was that AU hitherto gave an endorsement to DCA without understanding the efficacy of dot Africa until it was updated, following which it now set up a task force.

An observer of Internet development on the continent when faced with the kind of propaganda going on dot Africa advised Africans and those in AU Task Force on dot Africa not to forget in a hurry the incidents which characterized the African ccTLDs, which in the case of Nigeria coursed the intervention of former President Olusegun Obasanjo to gave birth to the Nigeria Internet Registration Association (NIRA).

She maintained that Nigeria is not alone in such a situation and warned that such a thing cannot be allowed to happen again in the name of leaving dot Africa in the hands of private organisation not well constituted for that purpose, arguing that AfTLD, for instance represents all the ccTLDs, hence it is easier for them to manage dot Africa successfully.

Frankly, such errors of giving endorsement on subjects without expert consultations have occurred in the past and even cost governments across the continent very heavily, yet organisation of a continent like AUC could not do better now than opening up the space for bidding, hence all interested parties are enjoined to take advantage of the bid and concentrate on doing the vital lobbying devoid of corruption or molestation, pending when the deadline clicks this week Friday, June 3, 2011.

These steps if taken seriously could save the continent the undue quarrels over dot Africa, while efforts could be focused on making dot Africa acceptable to people of Africa.

For now, all eyes are on AU Task Force to ensure openness in the process in addition to ensuring a transparent exercise as far as dot Africa bidding is concerned.

Remmy Nweke:
ITREALMS Online ... delivering news for ICT4D

Abubakar seeks harmonious relationship @ NASRDA, NigCOMSAT

The Minister of Science and Technology, Prof. Mohammed Kaoje Abubakar has urged agencies under the ministry to close ranks and work harmoniously.

Abubakar made this call while welcoming a team from the Nigerian Communications Satellite (NIGCOMSAT) Limited led by its board chairman, Prof. Turner Isoun.

Prof. Abubakar called on officials of National Space Research and Development Agency (NASRDA) and Nigerian Communications Satellite (NIGCOMSAT) Limited.

Specifically, he made reference to the recent altercations of top officials of the two agencies over supremacy question.

He noted that both agencies are bona-fide agencies of the federal government, just as he promised to ensure that NIGCOMSAT attains a full-fledged parastatal status under the Science and Technology Ministry ‘to erase doubts as to its legal status” by asking the permanent secretary Dr (Mrs) Dere Awosika to engage all concerned to ensure that “this is achieved” within the shortest possible time.

The minister said that it was out of place for NASRDA to create the impression “that it is the singular authority to launch satellites in Nigeria “adding that this could potentially prevent any smooth enterprise in the sector.”

He also said the proper thing to do is for NASRDA to seek ways of cooperating with NIGCOMSAT Limited to actualise the blueprint for space development and national growth.

The minister further said he was satisfied with the work of NIGCOMSAT’s Managing Director, Mr Ahmed Rufai, hence his recommendation for a fresh four- year term to the President in June last year.

The Minister enjoined the management of both agencies to cooperate and work in harmony, ensuring that peace reigns for the good of Nigeria, and asked the NIGCOMSAT board chairman, Prof. Isoun to see that through during his tenure, maintaining as Minister, he has good will towards all the agencies under his command.

Earlier, in his remarks, Prof. Isoun who led NIGCOMSAT team made up of the Managing Director, Mr. Rufai, Ms Abimbola Alale (Director) and Ms Irene Ekweozoh (Secretary) said the courtesy visit was to acknowledge the reality that NIGCOMSAT is and remains an entity under the Ministry of Science and Technology despite misconceived perception arising from the board’s inauguration by the office of the National Security Adviser (NSA).

Isoun who remains the longest serving Minister in the Ministry (seven years) and mid-wifed NIGCOMSAT during his tenure, said the company has done well and particularly praised the tenacity of its Chief Executive, Ahmed Rufai for putting together an assemblage of over 100 engineers trained in the field of satellite operations and his ability to engage these engineers in the production of various innovative products through an enabling environment to use skills for the greater benefits of the nation.

He listed some of these innovative products to include but not limited to Radio Frequency Identification (RFID) Staff Attendance and Access Control System (SAACS), and electronic voting (e-voting) platform which was demonstrated to INEC in August 2010 among others.

ITRealms Online recalls that these came through the Know-How-Technology Transfer Programme initiated by Ahmed Rufai and his team, after NigcomSat 1 was de-orbited on November 10, 2008.

While canvassing that the minister uses his good office to ensure a harmonious relationship in order to bring about a meaningful advancement in space science and technology, Isoun sought the minister’s assistance in engaging the necessary resources and support for the new Science and Technology Innovation (STI) policy to become a benchmark for Nigeria’s transformation.

Remmy Nweke:
ITREALMS Online ... delivering news for ICT4D

MTN unveils HyNet internet on WIMAX

MTN Nigeria has unveiled another Internet offering tagged HyNet in Lagos based on the Worldwide Interoperability for Microwave Access (WiMAX) technology.

The acting General Manager, Propositions & Marketing Relations at MTN Nigeria, Mr. Jacob Somoye noted that MTN slogan is about ‘everywhere you go’ which means that the telecom operator is determined to take its services to wherever its customers exist.

With the HyNet Internet offer based on WiMAX, Mr. Somoye explained that MTN is offering a new lease of internet access that is affordable and flexible plans which starts from N3,500.

MTN HyNet he said is a prepaid high speed internet service that offers you true multi-user capability at extra-ordinary speeds of up to 1 Mega byte per second (Mbps) with unlimited downloads, stressing that this means there is no restriction to the amount of data customer could download.

He highlighted that MTN HyNet provided over MTN’s WiMAX network offers coverage in some selected cities across the country.

This, he added is ideal for homes and offices that require high speed internet connectivity that could be shared.

“You don’t need to have your staff or family member clustering around a single PC in order to access the Internet. They can simply access the internet wirelessly from their own PCs,” he said.

Somoye listed some of the features of MTN HyNet to include wireless broadband internet service, Wi-Fi enabled modem routers, flexible packages, plug and play.

Equally, Somoye who was accompanied at the launch by the chief enterprise solution officer, MTN Business, Mr. Babatunde Osho, acting General Manager, Enterprise Sales, Onyinye Ikenna-Emeka, and General Manager, Corporate Communications, Funmi Omogbenigun, underscored the benefits of MTN HyNet to comprise combining the speed and reliability of fixed Internet with the flexibility and convenience of mobile internet, ability for customers to enjoy wireless connectivity.

Further, Somoye noted that some of the benefits include that no software installation is required for the MTN HyNet product to work, declaring that customers can actually do it themselves.

Customers, he also said could transfer credit from their GSM account to use the MTN HyNet service, while offering flexible packages which entails that customers could choose their speed and when they want internet access.

Remmy Nweke:
ITREALMS Online ... delivering news for ICT4D

Olufuye sets agenda for 21st century leadership

National President of the Information Technology (Industry) Association of Nigeria (ITAN), Dr. Jimson Olufuye, has highlighted three points that could transform the current state of Nigeria to the much expected leadership role in Africa.

Speaking at the just concluded forum on Economic Development and Innovation as part of the global business representatives to the United Nations Commission on Science and Technology for Development (UN-CSTD) working group on the Improvement to the Internet Governance Forum (IGF) in Geneva, Olufuye listed three points agenda.

He stressed the importance of Information and Communication Technology (ICTs) and the Internet for economic growth and development for developing nations including Nigeria.

Olufuye said that developing nations should embrace ICT for a cheetarpolevault development which is beyond leapfrogging.

He outlined the three-point agenda to include “leadership 2.0, Open and Multi-stakeholder participation in governance and policy focus.”

On the Leadership 2.0, Dr. Olufuye said it involves humility in leadership, adding that leaders need to be humble as they lead by constantly serving and listening to the people with the view of taking action that is best for them.

The second point, he said, is about engaging the stakeholders and the people in an open, inclusive and multi-stakeholder participation in governance.

“This is the approach of the UN on the governance of the Internet where all stakeholders from developed and developing nations and across all geographic regions of the world and on equal
footing participate in open dialogue to shape the future of the Internet,” he said.

According to him, this approach to governance is highly recommended, thus suggesting that it is when there are many ideas that the best idea emanates and that is innovation, adding that President Obama administration is a leader in this approach to governance.

The third point, Dr. Olufuye said is on policy focus, emphasising that the critical policy or point of
innovation so attained must be focused upon in implementation to provide the economic cutting edge economy requires.

“Most decision makers in Nigeria know that when it comes to policy articulation, Nigeria is no way in want. What matters the most which we lack is policy focus,” he said.

While declaring that Nigeria already has an Information Technology (IT) Policy, Olufuye noted that the nation has the development of hardware, software and services with the underlining human capacity and capability development, the National IT Development Agency (NITDA).

For him, NITDA could be chasing shadows and wasting critical development time by trying to formulate a distinct software policy.

“There must be policy focus for development,” he asserted.

Dr Olufuye was at the WSIS Forum in Geneva as one of the five global business representatives to the United Nations Commission on Science and Technology for Development Working Group on the Improvement to the Internet Governance Forum. He is also the Vice-Chairman of the World Information Technology and Services Alliance (WITSA).

The forum was attended by embassy personnel from India, China, Nigeria and Ghana to mention but a few, including members of UN-CSTD namely Ms Marilyn Cade, Chief Catalyst IGF USA and Mr. Patrik Falstrom, Distinguished Consulting Engineer, Cisco.

Other speakers were Mr. Vine Cerf, the Chief Internet Evangelist of Google and one of the fathers of the Internet who together with Bob Kahn invented the TCP/IP protocol on which the Internet is based. Speakers also came from the World Economic Forum, Diplo Foundation, eBay and Google.

Remmy Nweke:
ITREALMS Online ... delivering news for ICT4D

Future of CDMA is in 3G data – Dadson

The Managing Director, Qualcomm West Africa, Mr. Alex Dadson has declared that the future of Code Division Multiple Access (CDMA) is in data anchored on Third Generation (3G) networks.

This is coming as he said Nigeria telecommunications market serves as 50 per cent of the total West African telecom market and has even grown by 18 per cent in 2010.

Disclosing these at an exclusive chat with ITRealms Online at the just concluded 2011 Africa Code Division Multiple Access (CDMA) summit in Lagos, Dadson asserted that the future of CDMA is in data, Mr. Dadson noted that the availability of Third Generation (3G) licenses in the country have helped the operators in developing data-centric networks.

“The trend looks quite good. 3G looks promising and has to be accelerated,” he declared.

Dadson also said that since inception of the Qualcomm office in the West Africa, they have been working successfully with operators in enthroning 3G environment, especially with the CDMA network operators.

Equally, he said that Qualcomm has vigorously being canvassing for a data-centric environment derived by CDMA technologies by assisting operators with the maintenance of CDMA networks in West Africa.

In addition, he said they have offered training whereas marketing the company’s chip cell to the Original Equipment Manufacturers (OEMs), who use them to make mobile phones and other electronic devices.

“We intend to add training to distributors’ scheme on how to sell 3G devices,” he said, while plans are up to open liaison in many West African countries as soon as possible.

He pointed out that given that the telecom market in the country rose to 18 per cent in 2010, adding that with the current status about 55 per cent of the telecom market in the country has been covered, while 45 per cent remain untapped.

Dadson advised CDMA operators in the country to desist from competing with GSM operators, but rather they should be innovative in capturing the better part of the remaining 45 per cent of the telecom market.

Equally speaking the Vice President, Business Development for Southern Africa at Qualcomm, Mr. James Munn said that their next of expansion is to open an office Nairobi, Kenya, which has been targeted for 2012.

Mr. Munn added that though Nigeria has connectivity over 40 per cent, its data usage is still below 10 per cent and urged CDMA operators to focus on this so as to make market difference.

On interconnectivity between operators across various networks, Munn noted that interconnection is a problem across the continent of Africa and could be better handled by African regulators.

On the role of Qualcomm at the CDMA summit, he said that the event which has about 15 operators traversing the continent in attendance is to bring the eco-system together and proffer the ground for solution.

Meanwhile, Visafone said it has made immediate availability for Motorola Milestone XT800.

The XT800 is an Android smartphone developed by Motorola as part of the CDG’s Open Market Handset (OMH) initiative to increase device availability, operator flexibility and consumer choice in CDMA2000 devices.

Currently enjoying commercial success on the open market in India, this high-end smartphone is now exclusively available to Visafone’s customers in Nigeria as the flagship device in its CDMA2000 product portfolio.

Executive director, CDMA Development Group (CDG), Mr. Perry LaForge, said that Visafone’s launch of the Motorola Milestone XT800 is an example of what the OMH programme is intended to accomplish by creating greater device variety and flexible distribution channels for operators.

“We hope this smartphone launch will encourage other CDMA operators to benefit from the OMH program when looking to bring high-end devices with proven success to Africa,” he said.

OMH devices move operator-specific network configuration, service provisioning and subscriber-identity data onto an OMH SIM card rather than in the handset’s internal memory.

A device developed to the OMH standard is therefore designed independent of the operator, since it will work with any operator’s OMH SIM.

This results in devices, experts said, that could be sold on the “open market” and used by multiple operators, and provides consumers with a greater selection of CDMA2000 devices and the mobile data services they desire.

Remmy Nweke:
ITREALMS Online ... delivering news for ICT4D