Nigeria to grant 4 licenses in 3G

Industry regulator, the Nigerian Communications Commission (NCC) has said that four licenses would be on offer as the momentum for the Third Generation (3G) license increases.

Speaking at the special interactive session with the Nigerian media in Lagos, Thursday night, the Executive Vice Chairman (EVC) of NCC, Dr. Ernest Ndukwe said that four licenses would be issued on this platform.

He also said that the money generated from the auction would be paid into government account in the Central Bank of Nigeria and in tune used for developmental purposes.

He expressed optimism that with the growing fibre optic infrastructure in place and being deployed by the likes of MTN Nigeria and Globacom, the 3G services would be well offered to the teeming subscribers in the country.

He noted that the reserved price is usually arrived at via scientific process, which currently is placed at $150 million.

He stressed that why the commission decided to auction the 3G is to make it as transparent as the 2001 GSM auction, which was widely acclaimed to be successful and transparent.

“Auction removes all argument; no kick backs and no long story,” he said.

Today, he said, that the commission has all it takes to ensure that the auction of 3G licenses would be a success.

“Today, we have the best of telecom lawyers, engineers in the country,” he said, even as NCC would continue to meet up with the expectations of Nigerians.

It would be recalled that NCC, had early February this year, announced the opening of bid for the Third Generation (3G) and 450 Mega Hertz (MHz) licenses in the country, which has been scheduled for April 2007.

The commission said it would be auctioning the 3G licenses on April 2, while the auctioning of 450 MHz bands has been scheduled for April 16, this year.

This resolve, NCC reiterated that there is no going back on its plan to peg the least price for the 3G at $150 million.

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Only 2 African countries can blacklist stolen phones - GSMA

Out of the over 217 Global System for Mobile communications compliant nations worldwide, only two African countries can safely shun the usage of stolen phones on GSM networks within its territories.

This was contained in a statistical data made available to our correspondent by the Global System for Mobile Association (GSMA), which certified only two African countries as where stolen phones cannot be used.

GSMA is a global trade association representing over 700 GSM mobile phone operators and over 180 manufacturers and suppliers in 217 territories and countries.

The document tagged the International Mobile Equipment Identity (IMEI) DataBase (IMEI-DB) indicated that only South Africa and Kenya are currently the African countries where stolen phones cannot be accessible on any given GSM networks.

GSMA said that out of its 217 country members, 40 were certified as being IMEI-database compliant including the two African countries.

Equally on the compliant list are Belgium, Chile, Cyprus, Czech, Denmark, Finland, France, Germany, Greece, Hungary, Ireland, Italy, Malta, Norway, Portugal, Spain, Sweden and United Kingdom.

In Africa, there are 54 countries most of which have since began to enjoy the advent of GSM including Nigeria, Ghana, Senegal to name a few.

Nigeria for instance, has over 34 million GSM subscribers currently which has been described as the fastest growing GSM market on the continemt.

Also, GSMA said that the provision of IMEI database has become crucial so as to assist in combing handset theft globally, stressing that since 2002 that number of GSM and 3G devices lost, stolen or find unsuitable for use, have remained on the increase, which was attributed to attractive devices.

However, experts at GSMA said that IMEI is a 15-digit number used in identifying the device when it is used on a GSM mobile phone network.

“The IMEI must be unique for each GSM device, so there is need to be a way of managing allocations of IMEIs to handset manufacturers to ensure that no two devices are made with the same IMEI,” the group said, hence the GSMA performs this role.

Noting that the primary goals of GSMA is to guarantee mobile phones and wireless services work globally and are easily accessible, thereby enhancing their value to individual customers and national economies.

Currently there are over 2 billion customers on GSM and 3G devices, and an estimated 82 per cent of the world's mobile phone users.

Founded in 1987, the GSMA plays a crucial role in development of the GSM platform and the global wireless industry, with peculiar focus on emerging services and emerging markets.

The GSMA helps its members develop and launch new services, ranging from mobile instant messaging to video sharing to mobile Internet access, which will work across networks and across national boundaries.

At the same time, the GSMA is heavily engaged in the industry’s push to extend basic voice and text services to more people in emerging markets.

The GSM family of technologies consists of General Packet Radio Service (GPRS), Enhanced Data rates for GSM Evolution (EDGE) and third generation GSM services (3GSM) based on Wideband Code Division Multiple Access (W-CDMA) and High Speed Downlink Data Packet Access (HSDPA) technologies.

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OPS should drive convergence

The Organised Private Sector in the Nigeria’s Information and Communication Technologies (ICT) sub-sector have been tasked to ensure that they are at the driver’s seat of the burgeoning convergence.

Head of Information Technology (IT) Unit at the Nigeria’s ICT Ministry, Mrs. Ibukun Odusote, gave this charge in Lagos, while speaking at the one-day Convergence forum with the theme

“Engaging New Services in a Converging Market.”

She said that the emergence of convergence does not have any two other ways by either being part of it or you are left out of the system.

She noted that though the ICT Ministry of date may not be what Nigerians expect, describing as a political move the mergence of the ministry.

“The merging of information and communications is political and would take time to come to realty,” she said.

Mrs. Odusote also called for abolition of statistic and design units in various ministries in the country, because according to her, IT is usually downgraded by placing it under this unit.

She stressed that the decision of the federal government to compute salaries have exposed lots of inadequacies in the system and have saved huge sums of money for the government.

He also urged ICT professionals to embrace politics so as to enable them go to the likes of National Assembly and contribute towards making relevant laws to position the nation in the comity of ICT nations.

For her convergence is very much in Nigeria and must be made to work through OPS initiatives that could overcome the hiccups and challenges the industry is facing, especially on power generation.

Also speaking at the event, chief executive, Disc Communication, Mr. Bayo Banjo re-echoed the concept that the government has no business being in business.

He pointed out that convergence is another way of telling someone that his technologies are becoming obsolete, stressing that convergence must be built on Internet Protocol (IP) infrastructure.

“As far as convergence is concern we don’t have a choice, because convergence is clear such that a new stream would be taken by going online. So, the old system has become obsolete,” Mr. Banjo said, noting however, that without power, the dream would be disrupted.

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Celtel Nigeria gets N206.997b syndication

Determined to expand its operations in the country as promised, Celtel Nigeria Limited, has concluded plans for syndication worth $1.619 billion, about N206.997 billion.

The deal concluded at the weekend, has the sum of $1.43 billion as syndicated facility while $189 million came as bilateral facility.

According to Head of Division, Public Relations, Events and Sponsorship at Celtel Nigeria, Mr. Emeka Oparah, the facility consists of N125bn (US$984m) in local currency, arranged by Celtel Nigeria, and a US$450m foreign currency arranged and fully underwritten by Citibank, N.A. (Citigroup), which also was sole bookrunner.

Additionally, Huawei Technologies and UBA New York provided US$148.6m and US$40m, respectively, in bilateral financing.

He said that the facility would be used to refinance the company’s existing debt and finance its network rollout programme.

As said by him, syndication of the facility was highly successful in which 13 Nigerian financial institutions led others, 12 banks syndicated the local currency facility, while 11 international banks facilitated the foreign-currency aspect, resulting in over-subscription by 50 per cent on both facilities and an upsizing of both from the initial amounts of US$670m (NGN equivalent) and US$350m, respectively.

He pointed out that the heavy over-subscription of the foreign-currency facility meant that the syndicate was able to accommodate a substantial reduction in a reverse flex based on the margin and commitment fees from the initially agreed terms.

This, Mr. Oparah said, is an indication of the international and domestic banking communities’ strong support for Mobile Telecommunications Company (MTC) Group operating companies, and an endorsement of Celtel Nigeria’s ambitious growth strategy.

Celtel Nigeria’s legal advisers on the deal were Allen & Overy LLP (offshore) and Olaniwun Ajayi & Co (onshore), and the lenders were represented by Watson, Farley & Williams LLP (offshore) and The Law Union (onshore).

Citibank International Plc is the global coordinating agent, First Trustees Nigeria Limited is the security trustee, and First City Monument Bank Plc is the Nigerian administrative agent.

In 2001, Celtel Nigeria then known as Econet Wireless Nigeria Ltd, and subsequently as Vee Networks Ltd, spearheaded Nigeria’s wireless revolution by being the first to offer GSM services in the country.

Mr. Oparah noted that since then, it has continuously grown its subscriber base and is today a major player with a 24 per cent market share in one of the fastest growing mobile markets in the world.

The company assumed its current name in 2006, soon after being acquired by Celtel International BV, itself a subsidiary of Mobile Telecommunications Company K.S.C.

He said that based on the latest syndication, Celtel Nigeria will embark upon the next chapter of its groundbreaking history; namely the accelerated expansion of its already broad network, in order to bring the benefits of mobile communication to more of Nigeria’s 140 million people on the back of its brand promise of “Making Life Better”.

For the chief executive, Celtel Nigeria, Mr. Adebayo Ligali, “This is another landmark transaction by our company and coming barely six months after the acquisition of Vee Networks by Celtel International, it is an acknowledgement of the confidence of the international finance community in our company and in Nigeria.”

Mr. Ligali emphasised that this transaction is indicative of the success being recorded in the federal government’s quest to steer the economy in the path of growth, and in the same direction as the rest of the world.

He added that the company has continued to be a key player in the realisation of the federal government’s vision of accelerated foreign direct investment (FDI).

“More than ever before, we are poised and committed to a more aggressive roll out infrastructure across the country so as to expand our coverage, improve our capacity and enhance our quality,” he stated.

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ICT: Mrakpor calls for adequate regulation

Managing Director, HiRest Africa Limited, Mr. Igho Mrakpor, has called for adequate regulations as the nation enters into convergence of Information and Communications Technologies (ICT).

He made this call at this year’s annual IT Edge Convergence Forum held in Lagos, in a paper titled, ‘The place of the consumer in the ICT Converged world.”

He said that a major driver of regulation in the convergence should be based on the objective of maximising benefits and minimising the risks of consumers.

This, he said, implies that there is need for the creation of adequate regulatory instruments to protect the fundamental rights and responsibilities of consumers arising from the wide circulation of information in the sectors affected by convergence.

Mr. Mrakpor picked on privacy issues for instance, saying that the responsibility for content and the protection of minors, free speech versus libel, appropriate jurisdiction and consumer representation, are some of the issues that required to be addressed in the new environment.

According to him, public policy would also need to provide a supportive environment for convergence in order to ensure that the potential opportunities are grasped in a timely fashion and that the operators adequately protect the consumer from exploitation.

“A key priority of any regulatory framework should be to seek to meet the needs of users in terms of offering them more choice, improving levels of service and lower prices, whilst fully guaranteeing consumer rights and the general public interest,” he said.

Such approach, he said, is fully consistent with wider policy goals that recognises the important role of many of the sectors in bringing the Information Society into citizens' everyday lives.

He further defined convergence as opportunities provided by technology to enhance the quality of life of the consumer by increasing consumer choice, facilitating access to the benefits of the Information society and promoting cultural diversity.

“It is about services and about new ways of doing business and of interacting within society. It is also a response to, and a reflection of, far greater competitive pressure in the ICT industry,” he said.

He pointed out that the emergence of new services and the developments of existing services are expected to expand the overall ICT market. Hence these developments are therefore, positive for the Nigerian economic and social development and should be encouraged.

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MTN explains 0703, connects ABU staff

Leading Global System for Mobile communications (GSM) operator in the country, MTN Nigeria, has explained the introduction of its latest number range 0703, just as it has connected 12 employees of Ahmadu Bello University (ABU) Zaria through its university connect project.

It would be recalled that MTN Nigeria, recently asserted its leadership in telecoms by launching a new number range 0703.

Throwing more light on the latest numbering plan on the network, MTN through its chief marketing and customer relations officer, Mr. Bola Akingbade, said that it’s another milestone.

“Being the first GSM network to have a third numbering code in the country,” he said, noting that MTN led the pack in the launch of the second numbering code with the debut of 0806 in 2005.

He said that the numbering code shares the same qualities with its predecessors, 0803 and 0806, just as subscribers on the 0703 share the same connection, coverage, products and services with other subscribers in the network.

“The 0703 numbering range is another platform for MTN to connect as many as 10 million new subscribers in the country to its network of choice,” he said, stressing that 0703 number range offers subscribers the same superior connection that is currently unbeatable in the nation’s telecom market.

He explained that subscribers on the new platform would enjoy the same existing benefits that MTN products and services.

In a related development, 12 library staff members of ABU participated at a five-day training session that ended last weekend in Zaria organised by MTN Foundation.

This, MTN said is part of the second phase of the MTN Foundation Universities Connect project in the country.

The project, officials of MTN said is aimed at equipping beneficiaries in the Information and Communications Technologies (ICT) knowledge that would enhance their effective usage of the university’s virtual library.

According to the Executive Director, MTN Foundation, Mrs. Amina Oyagbola, the workshop was to impart on the necessary skills for virtual library applications to the staff of the university.

She added that the project would ultimately expose participants to what she described as ‘limitless opportunities’ of the university connect programme in enhancing quality of learning and research.

“This initiative is another remarkable effort by MTN Foundation to improve the quality of education in Nigeria,” she said.

She further explained that the virtual libraries would enrich the content and quality of education received by students through the provision of world-class information database.

The first phase of the universities connect project was commissioned in December 2005 at the University of Lagos, Akoka, while the second phase is expected to be launched soon at ABU, Zaria.

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