Experts call for aggressive deployment of VoIP

Experts in the Information and Communication Technologies (ICTs) sector have called for more deployment of Voice over Internet Protocol (VoIP) technology on the African continent to improve connectivity.

The experts spoke at the just ended third Africa VoIP forum in Lagos, Nigeria. According to the experts, it would be advantageous and easier to connect different people any where on the continent with IP technologies such as Wireless Fidelity (WiFI) and Worldwide Interoperability for Microwave Access (WiMax) among others.

They also pointed out that if these IP solutions are implemented carefully and are properly regulated, they have the capacity to change the lives of many people on the continent.

Video and Internet Protocol (IP) Manager at Eutelsat, Mr Gaethan Donlap Kouanga, noted that Africa has been a continent with the lowest number of telephone lines and with the deployment of VoIP people could have better access to voice networks at affordable prices.

Responding to the assumed success of similar VoIP forums held in different countries, he said, people have talked so much about VoIP but have not yet realized its potential in enhancing business growth through its networking opportunities and percentage of growth in terms of traffic.

He also said that, there will be more opportunities in the developing countries if voice services are offered for free both internationally and nationally based on VoIP technology.

"VoIP has improved the working capacity of many countries and with all the services being provided, for example, wireless, and Internet services - they could reduce the cost of Internet access to 10 dollars per month", he said.

The number one challenge, according to him, is the availability of the technology to those that desire it most and stating that in some European countries and in the United States these are basic services.

African countries therefore need voice technologies in order to develop other aspects of VoIP.

Kouanga added that if there have been voice network solutions as is the case in the United States and Europe, the African continent, would have surmounted several of its problems over time, especially in closing the communications gap.

The chief executive Emperion, Mr Morten Hald, equally stated that the forum was a success in the end despite the lack of proximity of many participants. He noted that with such awareness about the issues of interconnectivity between African countries, call traffic experience has improved greatly as customers can now call their voice outlets without much trouble.

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VoIP, engine for developing countries

Remmy Nweke

The Executive Vice Chairman (EVC) of the Nigerian Communications Commission (NCC), Dr. Ernest Ndukwe has described the development of Voice Over Internet Protocol (VoIP) as the engine of telephony in developing countries like Nigeria.

Speaking at the first day of the three-day VoIP forum in Lagos, that opened on Monday, Dr. Ndukwe in a paper entitled "Regulatory Challenges and Achievements in the VOIP Arena" said that this recognition gave his commission the impetus to hire some experts to conduct study on the Nigerian telecommunication market.

This study, he said, was followed by consultations with stakeholders, stressing that at this stage of the nation's telecom market, the study took due regard of global trends in service delivery and technological development,

"The Commission was convinced that a sure way to promote universal access to telecommunications services, at this stage of the industry's development is to evolve a policy framework that recognizes the issues relating to VoIP as an engine for the development of telephony in the country," he declared.

Dwelling on the Nigerian experience on VoIP, he said, that the nation recognizes VoIP as a technology hence it has not been restricted to any Internet Protocol (IP).

"Nigeria welcomes the use of VoIP and encourages telecommunications operator to deploy it where applicable," he said.

Dr. Ndukwe emphasized that this is in consonance with NCC commitment to facilitating fair, transparent, effective and efficient regulation based on best practices, even as it strives to determine appropriate policies for the regulation of the Voice over Internet Protocol (VoIP) within the Nigerian telecommunications environment.

This importance, he said, must have been foreseen by the participants of the first-ever VoIP forum in Nairobi in 2004, which welcomed the regulatory changes being introduced in a few African countries to liberalize the use of VoIP and called on regulators in other African countries to follow the example set by the pioneering countries in order to drive down telephony costs and stimulate the growth of networks across the continent.

He also pointed out that the forum observed, in spite of the dramatic growth of mobile telephony in the continent, that "there continues to be a telephone famine in Africa which VoIP can help to address".

In addition, EVC noted that equally even in those countries where VoIP has been allowed, in most cases monopolies, have been maintained in international traffic, which prevented the anticipated benefits of low-cost of international VoIP from having an impact on the market.

This, he also said, would stimulate international contacts and trade as well as increase traffic substantially.

He echoed the call for increased deployment of IP networks, saying "increased deployment of IP networks, coupled with the growth of Internet Exchange Points (IXPs) in the region, will considerably enhance the retention of traffic within the continent and thus mitigate the costs of extra-continental transits".

He maintained that it would be a factor in retention of revenues by African operators and service providers, thereby promoting indigenous entrepreneurship and wealth.

Just as he agreed with the submission of the Nairobi forum that regulators like NCC should encourage investment on VoIP by opening up the markets through licensing multiple international gateways to increase competition and multiply service offerings. "I agree with these submissions," he asserted.

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GSM, the journey so far

Features of the week:

This month, the Global System for Mobile communications (GSM) services clock five years in the country, REMMY NWEKE and CHIKE ONWUEGBUCHI, in this report, examine the journey so far.

Half a decade later
Oh! It is already five years since the Global System for Mobile communications (GSM) made its debut in the nation’s telecommunication sector.

Precisely on August 8, 2001, Nigerians witnessed a new dawn in what is now referred to as the GSM revolution, with the launch of services by GSM operators, after they scaled through the hurdle of auction conducted by the Nigerian Communications Commission (NCC).

The three operators that made the hurdle include Econet Wireless now Vee Networks, MTN Nigeria Communications and the Nigerian Telecommunications Limited (NITEL).

Specifically, NCC gave the operators till August 8, 2001 to roll out services after the completion of the auction on February of the same year.

Contentious GSM pioneer
The position of who was the first among these operators to roll out has remained a contentious one as operators continued to claim different dates that is most suitable to them.

While Vmobile claims to be the first having taken off on August 6, 2001; two days ahead of competition and three days ahead of the regulatory deadline. Vmobile emerged on March, 15, 2004 and has since transformed its ownership structurally, with the acquisition of the majority shares by CelTel Netherlands recently.

Having recorded its 1 millionth subscriber in December of 2003, Vmobile has over six million subscribers actively on its network with two numbering plans; 0802 and 0808.

MTN Nigeria, on the other hand, also lays claim to having made the first GSM call on May 16, 2001. As part of the MTN Group based in South Africa and acclaimed continental leading cellular telecommunications company, MTN Nigerian, noted it paid $285 million for one of the four GSM licences on offer as at January 2001.

Till date, MTN has invested in excess of US$1.8 billion in building mobile telecommunications infrastructure in the country.

Recently, MTN Nigeria expanded its network capacity to include a new numbering range with the prefix 0806, which is after exhausting its initial subscriber numbering range of 0803.

Nevertheless, as long as this contention persists on actually who was the first to pioneer GSM calls in the country, it is only NCC that can be the arbiter.

As postulated by one subscriber, “being the ‘first’ is for the regulator to unravel.”

Whereas the claim for the pioneer status continues, the third, NITEL was no doubt in battle with anybody.

The auction
Remarkable about the GSM auction was what experts described as its globally accepted transparency. This was also attributed for attracting massive Foreign Direct Investment (FDI) in the country since 2001.

At the auction, all the three initial GSM operators, that is MTN, Econet and NITEL paid the sum of $285 million each.

Presently, Nigeria records about N1.143 Trillion in telecommunication sector alone, which is second to Petroleum.

Expert on Information and Communication Technology (ICT) exhibitions, Mr. John Thomason, had earlier predicted an increased flow of FDI in the nation’s telecommunications sector.

He pointed out that there is renewed confidence on the nation’s economy and particularly on Information and Communication Technology (ICT) sub-sector.

ITREALMS Online recalled that Nigeria’s FDI in telecom sector rose to $10 billion as at December 2005, against $5 million in 1999.

By 2003
As at the last quarter of 2003, when the Second National Operator (SNO) Globacom entered the telecom scene in the country, a different ball-game eventually began as competition somewhat hot up.

This brought about more Value Added Services (VAS) and change of market predictions, which have grown tremendously and as at June 30, 2006, Nigeria has recorded 25 million subscriber base across the networks with Glo in the neighbourhood of 9 million.

Glo’s entrance also marked the sign of good tidings to come the way of subscribers in the country, because sooner than it commenced operation, the telco began to lay infrastructure nationwide.

This step, industry watchers said, was an indication that it is ready for business and in fact has been leading the pack ever since then.

High tariff
On launch of services, however, GSM operators were confronted with the challenges of lack of
basic infrastructure such as erratic power supply, insecurity and transmission facilities.

They had to build their own transmission backbone, provide power supply at all their base stations with backups, as well as security; all these add to high operating cost.

In spite of these inadequacies, operators managed to roll out services in the country and gradually extended to various parts of the country.

Unfortunately, subscribers of these networks were meant to bear the pains of inadequate infrastructure through high tariffs as per minute call was then N50.

Initially, when GSM came, subscribers were billed per minute only, but two years later, when the quality of service deteriorated as a result of congestion experienced basically because the two network operators then dominant, Vmobile and MTN, could not contend the rush for their services by Nigerians.

This was due to high cost of acquiring NITEL lines, which had monopoly of telecommunication services in the country hitherto.

This scenario did not go down well with Nigerians, which prompted National Association of
Telecommunication Subscribers (NATCOMS) to stage a protest by encouraging subscribers to switch off their phones for about 12 hours on September 19, 2003.

They complained among others, the inability of operators, particularly GSM, to introduce per second billing (PSB) options and reduction of tariff charges.

Although, the protest yielded some positive results, yet it took the roll out of the SNO, Globacom, for the introduction of PSB into the system.

Essentially, some of the operators had earlier told Nigerians that it would take till end of this year, 2006, for PSB to take effect before the Glo launch on August 30, 2003.

With the PSB made possible, other operators have no choice than to commence introduction of PSB in their networks, crashing tariffs to N48 and N40 per second and per minute respectively.

Five years after
But five years after, the story of poor quality of service and high tariffs are still the same. It is believed that the bigger a business grows, the higher the profit, especially with telecommunication industry where volume drives the business.

Till date, for instance, Nigerians have been paying N15 for 160 words of Short Messaging Service (SMS) since inception of GSM, even as the like of Vmobile offers N10 SMS off peak, across network as from 10pm.

Compared with other developing countries in Africa such as Cameroun, Egypt and Zimbabwe, network operators in those countries give free weekend calls to their subscribers.

Presently, Nigerians are asking for free intra-network calls at least, during the off peak periods where operators will not incur any interconnect debt.

This year also seems like the year of promos, as Glo began the year with 180 in 180 days, Vmobile continued with its ROSE – Roll Out Service Everywhere, MTN was not left out as it made several millionaires among its subscribers.

Before 2001
However, before August 2001, Nigeria had less than 500,000 fixed and mobile telephone lines in all. Today, the country has about 25 million mobile lines and a little over one million fixed lines for a population estimated at over 150 million.

The nation’s teledensity ratio, according to the International Telecommunication Union (ITU), has marked up tremendously from 0.004 to 18.18 as at March this year. It is regarded thus as among the fastest growing telecom markets in the world.

The real cost of acquiring a phone has gone down from about N100,000 to about N5,000, approximated 0.2 per cent.

The same could be said of the Subscriber Identification Module (SIM) cards, which are now often attached to airtime credit and given out free to fresh subscribers when once they pay for the airtime.

GSM has also changed the way Nigerians live as communications between families, friends and colleagues have been tremendously enhanced.

It has as well opened the windows of employment to most Nigerians, who are now gainfully engaged in operating ‘call centres’ others earn their living by the sale of recharge cards, SIM cards as well as phones and its accessories.

Some states governments have collaborated with GSM operators to launch schemes designed to give jobless people employment by establishing for them ‘call centre’ businesses. Operators have also contributed through engaged social responsibility schemes.

Outside Nigeria

Drawing from the experiences of Europe and United States (US), Chief executive, Infosoft Nigeria Limited, Mr. Pius Okigbo Jr, said GSM services have not been fully exploited in the country, asserting that mobile phones “can do all things.”

He also noted that with an effective GSM services in the country, a bank shareholder in a remote village in Abia State need not come to Lagos to check his holdings. All the bank’s registrar needs to do is to text details of the company’s financial position to the shareholder via a GSM phone.

“Imagine a business life in which a cell phone constantly gives an Ijaw fisherman in Brass weather report about the sea, or a business life in which you can buy an airline ticket through your cell phone,” said Okigbo, referring to a riverine town in Rivers state.

Unified Licensing Regime
As Nigeria moves into the next level of convergence, the Unified Licensing Regime (ULR), it is hoped that things will change for the better. Nigerians want promos such as free intra-network calls on weekends as well as reduction on the cost of SMS, among others.

Before now, NCC has licensed eight telcos to commence operation as Unified Licensing Operators (ULO), of which all are still very enthusiastic about.

These telcos with ULR licenses include Multi-Links, Starcomms, Prestel and Intercellular as well as MTN Nigeria Communications, VGCCL, Danjey and Bodex.

After this anniversary, more operators are expected to join in the ULR game and industry analysts predict that by this time next year, a far great difference must have been made in the sector due to the coming of ULR.

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Night browsing tears ACTON, ISPAN apart

Remmy Nweke

A simmering disagreement may have emerged between members of the Internet Service Providers Association of Nigeria (ISPAN) and Association of Cybercafe and Telecentre Operators of Nigeria (ACTONigeria) on the recent ban of night browsing nationwide.

ITREALMS Online recollects that fortnight ago, ACTON while rising from series of meetings with the officials of the Economic and Financial Crimes Commission (EFCC) both in Lagos and Abuja, issued a communiqué, showing that the ban on night browsing was in tandem with EFCC and other stakeholders, including its members as well as ISPAN.

Browsing is the act of using the Internet for exchange of information. It is also referred to in some quarter as surfing the world wide web (www) and night browsing is engaged between 9pm and 6am.

Noteworthy here is that the membership of the two bodies inter-woven; since some ISPs also offer or provide cybercafe businesses.

Sources close to ISPAN top officials informed our correspondents that the issue of night browsing tops the agenda for the Annual General Meeting (AGM) of ISPAN billed for Lagos, tomorrow, Thursday.

Our sources said the pronouncement from ACTON was in contrary of the actual resolution passed at the aforementioned between ACTON, EFCC and other stakeholders.

Even as EFCC was not comfortable as its name was being drawn into the subject on allusion of making the proclamation credible.

In the disputed communique, ACTON had insinuated that eventually ban has been placed on night browsing at cybercafes, nationwide.

President, ACTONigeria, Mr. Lai Omotola, who endorsed the press statement made available to our correspondents, had said that it was a deal reached between the two entities, that is, ACTON and EFCC.

“Finally, night browsing at cybercafes across the nation is hereby stopped until a more consolidated reason is given to act contrary,” he declared.

Mr. Omotola also said that the decision was in adherence to the recently assented to 419 Act 2006, which was endorsed by President Olusegun Obasanjo, on June 5, this year.

Also it would be recalled that the latest Act transferred the policing of cyber-crimes to telecommunications operators and also empowered the EFCC to enforce its provisions.

The decision followed several meetings between EFCC and ACTONigeria, according to Omotola, which spanned over three sessions both in Abuja and Lagos.

He further said, the meeting fall out included that subscriber identification remained a major content in achieving success in combating cyber-crimes, and to achieve this objective, EFCC suggested that each sector of the telecomm industry, namely the Global System for Mobile Communications (GSM) Operator, Private Telecom Operators (PTOs) and Cyber cafes; should come up with a due care document that would be a standard guide and proffer measures for the effective policing of cyber crime in Nigeria.

Additionally, he said, that at the last meeting of ACTONigeria, a week ago, some measures of due care were adopted, including that henceforth all cybercafes must be registered with the Corporate Affairs Commission (CAC), Nigerian Communications Commission (NCC) and EFCC.

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ATMC lauds CBN on third party cash statute

Remmy Nweke

AS the nation’s daily cash consumption approaches N200 million, Automated Teller Machines Consortium (ATMC), has lauded the Central Bank of Nigeria (CBN) for endorsing the third party cash provisioning statute.

Managing Director, ATMC, Nigeria pioneer and leading off-site Independent ATM Deployer (IAD), Mr. Noble Ekajeh, said that the third party statute would facilitate he provision and dispensation of cash by the non-financial institutions in the country.

This, he said, would also avail non-financial institutions to have access to banks’ ATM, fit notes in sufficient quantities in order to support availability and easy dispensation to the end-users.

According to Mr. Ekajeh, this would assist immensely in adapting of ATM culture in the country.

He pointed out that after extensive consultation with electronic commerce and banking institutions experts, CBN’s introduction of this statute came at the right time.

As said by him, it would empower the banks to give out cash to third party organization outside the core financial industry.

The framework, he also said, permits banks to count such cash giving to non-financial institutions as part of its liquid assets.

However, the banks and non-financial institution that requires these services are expected to sort out the commercial arithmetic implications of the regulation, of which CBN has already provided a framework.

Prior to this development, there were no regulations that empowered the banks to give cash to non financial institution, hence third parties or non financial institutions had to loan cash from the banks to meet their cash need.

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Ilukwe bows out of Microsoft Nigeria

… launches Akwa-Ibom Digital Village

FIRST-EVER Nigerian General Manager, Microsoft Corporation Nigeria, Mr. Gerald Ilukwe, has bowed out of the corporation, and has been appointed the pioneer Managing Director, Galaxy Backbone Plc.

This development came as Microsoft launched the Akwa-Ibom Digital Village (DV).

Galaxy Backbone Plc, is a company set up by the Federal Ministry of Science and Technology (FMST) to drive the availability of infrastructure backbone in the country.

Mr. Ilukwe is to assume duties next month, September at Galaxy office located in Abuja.

His move is coming after a six year instinct in building Microsoft’s rapid growth in Nigeria since the inception in the country in 2000. Till date, Microsoft has office in Lagos and Abuja which were opened in 2000 and 2004 respectively.

Speaking on this development, Mr. Ilukwe said, that he was motivated about the new opportunity and proud of the legacy he was leaving.

“When I joined Microsoft as the general manager for Nigeria, I was forward to being part of a company that would be completely committed to Africa … not just in terms of growing the software economy but also in training, developing and building the capacity of people. Microsoft was and continues to be that company,” he said.

He also believes there are some challenges and opportunities in both areas moving forward but stressed it would be excellent to see the economic environment made even more conducive for multinationals like Microsoft to invest still further.

“I would also hope that the private sector supports the continued development of the region’s technology infrastructure, as well as its people,” Mr. Ilukwe said.

In his comments, the Regional General Manager, Microsoft for West, East and Central Africa (WECA), Mr. Thomas Hansen, corroborated Mr. Ilukwe, saying that Nigeria also held enormous potential for future growth.

“Projects such as the Computers for All Nigerians Initiative (CANI), as well as the Federal Government’s general commitment to technology development, spell good news for the entire local software economy here in Nigeria,” he said, just as he wished Mr. Ilukwe we on behalf of Microsoft in his new position.

“We look forward to appointing a general manager to build our citizenship, government partnership and software business still further,” Mr. Hansen said.

Meanwhile, Microsoft Nigeria in collaboration with the Foundation for Community Health Education, a non-governmental organisation, took a giant stride in supporting the nationwide roll-out of Information and Communications Technology (ICT) facilities as launched a Digital Village recently in Akwa-Ibom.

The Digital Village, donated to Obonganwan Skills Acquisition Centre and commissioned by President Olusegun Obasanjo, is a core component of Microsoft’s citizenship initiative in Africa. It aims at improving ICT penetration, skills development and economic empowerment of the people of the state.

Speaking at the commissioning, President Obasanjo extolled the initiative as a laudable project aimed at reducing social vices through purposeful engagement of the youths.

Mr. Ilukwe said, the initiative is part of Microsoft’s drive to give something back to the communities in which it operates.

“We are looking at introducing ICT know-how and access to the less-privileged to enable them compete effectively in the information society and knowledge economy. It is a demonstration that being poor does not mean being disconnected,” said Ilukwe.

The Digital Village, he said, is designed to serve multiple functions, including being a training centre and offering public access to the Internet, among other things. He expressed optimism that the village would be effectively and efficiently managed.

Programme Manager, Skills Acquisition Centre, Mr. Nsikibo Udofia, assured that the Digital Village will be efficiently and effectively managed. He also said that consultations are underway to bring instructors from the Department of Computer Science of the University of Uyo to train the students

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Four rural access centres for Bangladesh

Remmy Nweke

The Commonwealth Secretariat assisted Government initiative would set up four rural Information and Communication Technology (ICT) access centres in Bangladesh.

The assistance to the government of Bangladesh is worth 20 million Taka (£153,000) about (N36,927,363.01) is to develop four rural information and communication technology (ICT) access centres in the South Asian nation to promote the use of ICT for community development and commerce.

The Bangladesh Minister for Science and Technology, Dr. Abdul Moyeen Khan, disclosed this at a two-day consultative meeting, while opening the event in Dhaka on ‘Establishing a Rural ICT Strategy for Bangladesh”.

“There is a development divide between the rich and the poor. Intelligent use of ICTs for the poor will lead to job growth in the country. ICT development, if implemented properly, can create digital dividends for millions of people in Bangladesh,” the minister said, at the just ended workshop organised by the Secretariat’s Special Advisory Services Division (SASD).

Renowned Indian ICT for development (ICT4D), Prof. Subbiah Arunachalam, is the key Commonwealth expert working on the Bangladesh project.

The project is funded by the Commonwealth Fund for Technical Co-operation, Dr Arunachalam’s duties include helping to formulate an integrated National ICT Strategy for Rural Development, which includes small and rural businesses in Bangladesh.

“Such a project could have a positive impact on the development of new economic activities and job creation in Bangladesh,” stated George Saibel, SASD’s Director. “It is also linked to pro-poor growth and rural development in Bangladesh. This project will strengthen the country’s capacity to respond to the challenges of globalisation by enhancing its ICT competitiveness.”

Ram Venuprasad, SASD Adviser (Enterprise Development), said: “It was promising to see local NGOs and development organisations agreeing to work in partnership to pool their resources to achieve this goal of ICT for enterprise development.”

Representatives of more than 50 non-governmental organisations, international development organisations and government agencies attended the workshop.

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Spurring use of debit cards

Recent report in the nation’s media was awash with the attack on a luxury bus coming to Lagos from Nnewi on a night journey.

The passengers mainly businessmen were said to be traveling to Lagos for transactions and were said to have been attacked along old Benin tollgate by armed robbers; who opened fire on the bus which led to the driver loosing control.

Reports also have it that over N4 million was collected from the passengers.

This brings to focus the essence of the several efforts made in the past to drive the country towards a cashless economy without much success.

Until recently a consortium of banks invested in Interswitch, a debit card switching company years back, that things began to change in the area of usage.

Debit card is an electronically embedded chip card used to make an electronic withdrawal from funds on deposit in a bank.

It is a known fact that Nigeria is cash driven society, a situation that has impacted negatively on her citizenry. Currently, estimated N200 million cash is consumed daily in the country, according to the Managing Director, ATM Consortium, Mr. Noble Ekajeh.

Cash transactions most often induce stealing and embezzlement of public and private funds, most Nigerians have gone to the world beyond as a result of armed robbery attacks on them or buses suspected to be carrying large sums of money, as evident on the Nnewi traders.

Today, the rate of armed robbery attacks on major highways have reached an alarming rate, resulting in the call by Association of Luxury Bus Owners to start tinkering on banning of night travels.

However, banks have introduced systems that will discourage people from carrying large sums of money more especially when traveling, such as debit card.

Equally they introduced online banking which enables account holders in a particular bank to withdraw money in the same bank but in another branch located elsewhere in the country, which also is known as intra-bank transfer.

Investigations revealed that Nigerians are impatient to wait if, for instance, a server of an online system is down and could not access information stored thereof. Therefore, most people still prefer to carry cash in order not to waste time.

But with the consolidation of banks which has strengthened the option of debit card as an alternative means of transaction, although its limited withdrawal has become a subject, Nigerians are expected to massively turn to the use of cards for transactions.

Debit cards issued by banks on Interswitch platform enables account holders to withdraw money from Automated Teller Machine (ATM) of the bank in any other branch at any time.

So, it is worrisome that most people out of ignorance have refused to use the system in spite of awareness been made on its usage by banks.

But the major challenge as gathered by our correspondent in the use of debit cards, have been the accessibility of ATM to bank customers outside major towns and cities.

In Lagos, for instance, most of the working ATMs of the banks are installed or located in Victoria Island, Lagos Island and some areas in Ikeja. There are very few ATM located in the mainland of Lagos and its environs as well as most state capital, where these banks have branches.

As Nigerians continue to yearn for a cashless society, an endearing change can only be achieved through encouraged usage of cards, via promotions, at least, by 25 consolidated banks.

This way, deployment of ATMs would find its path in the towns beyond major cities.

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Barth Nnaji leads experts to Software summit-06

Remmy Nweke

Former Minister of Science and Technology, Prof Barth Nnaji, would lead experts to the third edition of the Nigeria Computer Society (NCS) organized Software Developers’ Summit.

This is coming as NCS has stated its readiness for this year’s edition of the summit, announcing the date for this version.

According to NCS President, Dr. Chris Nwannenna, the summit would hold on September 5, 2006 in Lagos.

He also said that the opening ceremony for this year’s summit would be chaired by an eminent Nigerian scientist and renowned Robotics expert, Prof Nnaji.

NCS boss further said that Prof Nnaji equally a consultant to NASA on Information Technology Enabled Design and Realization of Engineered Products and Systems would get his experience to bear on this edition.

With the theme “Indigenous Software: Multiple Technologies”, he said that this year’s edition, which is the third in the series, would focus on emerging paradigms for the development and deployment of applications software that incorporate multiple technologies.

He further said that areas of focus would include Mobile Applications, Biometric Solutions, Enhanced Geo-Information System (eGIS), Customer-care Framework for e-Governance, Multimedia Applications to Internet Protocol (IP) Telephony, and Distributed e-Learning Architectures and Solutions.

The event slated for Muson Center Onikan-Lagos, he said, is sponsored by Microsoft Corporation Nigeria.

In addition, Dr. Nwannenna, who also is the chief executive, Condata Systems Limited, said experts drawn globally from the software developers’ community would be at hand as resource persons during the summit.

As said by him, participants would consist of developers in software houses, banks, oil companies, and the communications industry, as well as intelligent users, software auditors, performance evaluation experts and students.

He described previous editions of the summit as “overwhelmingly successful” saying it had attracted over a 1,000 participants.

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Eleso bags telecoms awards

Remmy Nweke

Chief Executive Officer (CEO) of pioneer wireless telecommunications company, MTSFirst, Mr. Dem Eleso, has bagged the “Best Telecom Personality” award of the year organized by the Nigerian Telecom Awards in Lagos.

According to organizers of the award, the choice of Mr. Eleso was informed by the remarkable rebirth of MTS and the re-positioning of the company as a major contender in the fast growing and highly competitive telecommunications industry in the country.

“What Dem Eleso has accomplished with the MTS brand is simply an extra-ordinary feat and we are extremely impressed by the turn-around of the company within an incredibly short period of time,” the organizers declared.

Reacting after receiving his souvenir, Mr. Eleso dedicated the award to the resilience, hardwork, determination and support of the entire MTS staff, management, shareholders and directors of the company.

He also expressed gratitude to the organizers for the recognition extended to him and the entire MTS brand.

“In spite of its many challenges, MTS has re-emerged to take its rightful position as a pioneer in the telecommunications industry and will continually deploy the imperative strategies aimed at actualizing its corporate objective “To be the local telecoms champion providing our customers with simple, dependable and affordable services,” he said.

It could be recalled that it was Mr. Eleso-led management team that came up with the business strategy that set off MTS on an aggressive expansion coverage to Abeokuta, Ibadan, Abuja, Port Harcourt while improving services in Lagos with over 12 additional base stations.

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VoIP is engine for telephony in developing countries

Remmy Nweke

Executive Vice Chairman (EVC) of the Nigerian Communications Commission (NCC), Dr. Ernest Ndukwe has described the development of Voice Over Internet Protocol (VoIP) as the engine of telephony in developing countries like Nigeria.

Speaking as a lead speaker at the first day of the three-day (VoIP) forum in Lagos, which opened on Monday, Dr. Ndukwe in a paper entitled “Regulatory Challenges and Achievements in the VOIP Arena” said that this recognition gave his commission the impetus to hire some experts to conduct study on the Nigerian telecommunication market.

This study, he said, was followed by consultations with stakeholders, stressing that at this stage of the nation’s telecom market, with regard to global trends in service delivery and technological development.

“The Commission was convinced that a sure way to promote universal access to telecommunications services, at this stage of the industry's development is to evolve a policy framework that recognizes the issues relating to VoIP as an engine for the development of telephony in the country,” he declared.

Dwelling on the Nigerian experience on VoIP, he said, that the nation recognizes VoIP as a technology hence it has not been restricted or any Internet Protocol (IP).

“Nigeria welcomes the use of VoIP and encourages telecommunications operator to deploy it where applicable,” he said.

Dr. Ndukwe emphasized that this is in consonance with NCC commitment to facilitating fair, transparent, effective and efficient regulation based on best practices, even as it strives to determine appropriate policies for the regulation of the Voice over Internet Protocol (VoIP) within the Nigerian telecommunications environment.

This importance, he said, must have been foreseen by the participants of the first-ever VoIP forum in Nairobi in 2004, which welcomed the regulatory changes being introduced in a few African countries to liberalize the use of VoIP and called on regulators in other African countries to follow the example set by the pioneering countries in order to drive down telephony costs and stimulate the growth of networks across the continent.

He also pointed out that the forum observed, in spite of the dramatic growth of mobile telephony in the continent, “there continues to be a telephone famine in Africa which VoIP can help to address".

In addition, EVC noted that equally even in those countries where VoIP has been allowed, in most cases monopolies, have been maintained in international traffic, which prevented the anticipated benefits of low-cost of international VoIP from having an impact on the market.

This, he also said, would stimulate international contacts and trade as well as increase traffic substantially.

He echoed the call for increased deployment of IP networks, saying "increased deployment of IP networks, coupled with the growth of Internet Exchange Points (IXPs) in the region, will considerably enhance the retention of traffic within the continent and thus mitigate the costs of extra-continental transits".

He maintained that it would be a factor in retention of revenues by African operators and service providers, thereby promoting indigenous entrepreneurship and wealth.

Just as he agreed with the submission of the Nairobi forum that regulators like NCC should encourage investment on VoIP by opening up the markets through licensing multiple international gateways to increase competition and multiply service offerings.“I agree with these submissions,” he asserted.

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