Zenith boss advances plan to buy Nigeria’s Cellcom

Renowned banker and chief executive of Zenith International Bank Plc, Mr. Jim Ovia, may have advanced plans to buy over Cellcom Limited, one of the Nigeria’s licensed private telecommunications operators.

Company sources informed ITRealms Online that Mr. Ovia, might have concluded plan for the 100 per cent acquisition of the telco.

Also, Mr. Ovia was said to have acquired the telco for the sum N3 billion with some conditions to cushion some indebtedness in excess of N1 billion.

Our sources added that the acquisition was through one of Mr. Ovia’s entities and an Internet Service Provider (ISP), the Cyberspace Nigeria Limited.

Explaining further, our sources said that the amount N4 billion includes N3 billion slated for the main purchase of the telco, while over N1 has been voted for the payment of debts owed by CellCom as at the time of acquisition.

Additionally, the takeover was said to have began since June 1, 2007.

Speaking on the acquisition, the promoter and chairman of Cellcom Limited, Chief Chidolue said that though he would not like to engage on the matter, but they are still in talks, hence he could not confirm completion of the deal.

Even when contact, a manager in the Corporate Affairs of Zenith, Mr. Victor Adoji, said he could not confirm the story as at the time of filling the report Wednesday, and asked for time.

Further, company sources told HANA that the new owners have moved in since June 1, and had even began negotiations with Huawei Technologies, an equipment supplier so as to revitalize the Cellcom, which currently have estimated 30,000 subscribers since its commercial roll out in 2001, with major presence in Lagos and at the Federal Capital Territory (FCT) Abuja.

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Internet Governance: Stakeholders divided over financing method

The global Internet community is facing a hard time deciding the modalities of funding the Internet Governance Forum (IGF) and the entire United Nations activities.

Stakeholders under the aegis of the Civil Society Internet Governance Caucus were at the weekend undecided over how the proposed multi-stakeholders could be financed to avoid undue influence on the forum and the entire UN processes at large.

While some lauded the idea of ‘multi-stakeholder financing for multi-stakeholder forum’ it was received with mixed feelings.

According to some members of the caucus, the inability to have a good structure for the proposed multi-stakeholders forum as encouraged by the outcome of the second phase of the World Summit on the Information Society (WSIS) and the first session of IGF meeting in Athens last year.

Those who classified themselves as moral advocates among the caucus informed that the absence of this structure means simply that those who fund IGF will push their agenda because they have the wherewithal, “so that others who want their agenda pushed should step up their contributions.”

Those opposing this idea had argued that it would lead the Civil Society groups and the generality of the public to no where, because its not based on public interest.

One of the key contributors on the issue, Mr. Bertrand de La Chapelle opined that the viability of this initiative could only succeed if implemented with appropriate rules of transparency.

Some of the key questions raised at the online session, as gathered by Champion Infotel include “What is the appropriate financing structure for the IGF in order to guarantee regularity of resources and independence from lobbies and pressure groups?

For another veritable voice in the caucus, Parminder Jeet Singh of IT for Change, Bangalore, the mere thinking of multi-stakeholder financing is a very bad idea, “And, an even worse principle.”

He expressed fear that most stakeholders lack the knowledge of what multi-stakeholders is all about, especially pertaining to the Internet Governance Forum, stressing that it is a principle that will take the Internet community to no where and without any good outcome.

He elaborated by saying that for most stakeholders and civil society activists, who usually lack the funding, cannot go to their government, because the government does not share in their agenda.

“For me and many in public interest advocacy it is an important principle, and I can’t let such formulations pass by,” he said, adding that it could be fine for the private sectors to finance public functions and bodies where there is a plurality, like a foundation funding a university programme or non-governmental organisation (NGO).

“It is also fine to extend part financing, under certain conditions, to core public bodies which are monopolistic such as states, UN bodies to name a few, in their constituency and mandate, but then the proportion of private funding needs to be adequately low for any one interest group as well as in total proportion to public funds.

This, he pointed out, should be governed with strict rules of propriety, saying that many in the civil society (CS) and outside the typical Internet Governance cum Information Society (IG/IS) groups who are sometimes suspicious of the term multi-stakeholder feel so because they know such bodies can easily show tendencies to move towards ‘privatised governance’.

Yet for others, they are not under the illusion that the answers to these questions are easy to come by or determine, but expressed optimism these are crucial to determine “if we’re to build a just society.”

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Celtel subscribers scramble for Sunday Unlimited

Last weekend introduction of Sunday free calls on one of the leading Global System for Mobile communications (GSM), Celtel Nigeria, is generating lots of hit as subscribers scrambled for access on the network.

The beginning of the week was a beehive of activities for those subscribers who struggle to take advantage of the promo tagged ‘Sunday Unlimited’ by some subscribers.

Champion Infotel recalls that mid-last week, Celtel announced that it’s offering a promotion that gives unlimited free call services to some of its subscribers.

According to Head, Public Relations, Events and Sponsorship at Celtel Nigeria, Mr. Emeka Oparah, the new offer gives the company’s loyal pre-paid customers the opportunity to make free on-net calls on Sundays only.

As said by him, the latest offer avails subscribers who recharge their phones with a minimum of N500 within the week, that is, between Monday and Saturday, to get 60 free minutes to make on-net calls on the Sunday of that particular week, while those who recharged N1000 within the same period will attract 120 free minutes.

Mr. Oparah also said that the offer, which commences immediately, is open to existing and new pre-paid customers, just as cumulative recharges will also qualify for the free minutes.

Champion Infotel investigations revealed that the network was simply ‘jammed’ as many subscribers who did not engage the network early enough were unable to join their folks in making free calls.

It was also revealed that most subscribers used the opportunity to call their relatives, especially in the South-Eastern part of the country.

One of the subscribers, informed that she was able to make several calls to her loved family members, whom she saw last December and who are on Celtel network.

“In fact, I did not even remember it until a friend reminded me about it,” she said.

Another subscriber, told our correspondent that he it took him time to get on the network, as he continued tried to engage his friends since Sunday morning all to no avail, but was lucky as at 2pm.

For Mr. Oparah, the promo is another innovative way of delighting Celtel subscribers in the country, saying the “new offer is a perfect, innovative complement to our existing offers including the trail-blazing Unity Tariff and the 10 million free minutes currently on offer.”

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Celtel subscribers scramble for Sunday Unlimited

Last weekend introduction of Sunday free calls on one of the leading Global System for Mobile communications (GSM), Celtel Nigeria, is generating lots of hit as subscribers scrambled for access on the network.

The beginning of the week was a beehive of activities for those subscribers who struggle to take advantage of the promo tagged ‘Sunday Unlimited’ by some subscribers.

Champion Infotel recalls that mid-last week, Celtel announced that it’s offering a promotion that gives unlimited free call services to some of its subscribers.

According to Head, Public Relations, Events and Sponsorship at Celtel Nigeria, Mr. Emeka Oparah, the new offer gives the company’s loyal pre-paid customers the opportunity to make free on-net calls on Sundays only.

As said by him, the latest offer avails subscribers who recharge their phones with a minimum of N500 within the week, that is, between Monday and Saturday, to get 60 free minutes to make on-net calls on the Sunday of that particular week, while those who recharged N1000 within the same period will attract 120 free minutes.

Mr. Oparah also said that the offer, which commences immediately, is open to existing and new pre-paid customers, just as cumulative recharges will also qualify for the free minutes.

Champion Infotel investigations revealed that the network was simply ‘jammed’ as many subscribers who did not engage the network early enough were unable to join their folks in making free calls.

It was also revealed that most subscribers used the opportunity to call their relatives, especially in the South-Eastern part of the country.

One of the subscribers, informed that she was able to make several calls to her loved family members, whom she saw last December and who are on Celtel network.

“In fact, I did not even remember it until a friend reminded me about it,” she said.

Another subscriber, told our correspondent that he it took him time to get on the network, as he continued tried to engage his friends since Sunday morning all to no avail, but was lucky as at 2pm.

For Mr. Oparah, the promo is another innovative way of delighting Celtel subscribers in the country, saying the “new offer is a perfect, innovative complement to our existing offers including the trail-blazing Unity Tariff and the 10 million free minutes currently on offer.”

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Many lawsuits against Samsung

Market Intelligence:

In recent times, a lot have happened to one of the Koreans mobile communications company, Samsung Electronics and most worrisome has been the avalanche of lawsuits against the organisation.

Investigations by Champion Infotel indicated that almost on quarterly basis, Samsung has one case to answer at the global level. This industry analysts said is not good for the image of the company and as such attributed it to the dwindling market presence it has in Nigeria, the most populous on the continent of Africa.

Rewinding a bit, at the inception of the Global System for Mobile communications (GSM), the Korean company invaded the nation’s market like a bee with everyone carrying one Samsung brand or another.

But today, the trend has changed and drastically too according to industry observers as more competition kept emerging into the Nigerian market. As mildly put by one observer, if Samsung is in the fifth position among mobile companies operating and battling for the Nigeria’s market and mobile phone share precisely and currently, it should count itself lucky.

Conversely, at the global level, Samsung Electronics was recently sued by Ericsson of being involved in the infringement of 11 patents concerning mobile phones.

This was contained in a lawsuit Ericsson filed on July 28 last year in the United States District Court in Marshall, Texas.

As reported by TechShout.com, Ericsson’s complaint included that Samsung allegedly used patented technology comprising methods of reducing cell phone power usage and intensifying and adjusting radio frequency.

Ericsson had reportedly filed a lawsuit against Samsung on February 2006 and asked the courts to rule that Samsung infringed its patents. Ericsson also asked the courts to rule that phones made by collaboration with Sony Corp do not breach Samsung patents.

Also in February this year, Samsung was involved an Media Player 3 patent alongside Apple and Sandisk, which covered “an MPEG portable sound reproducing system.”

Reports had it that Texas MP3 Technologies had filed a patent suit in Marshall, Texas alleging that the three companies infringed on its patent.

The complaint specifically cites US patent 7,065,417, which was awarded in June 2006 to multimedia chip-maker SigmaTel and sold the US rights to the patent a few months back. Apple’s media player products have used both SigmaTel and Samsung multimedia decoding processors.

Equally, Apple’s second-generation iPod shuffle is said to use a Samsung decoding processor for its multimedia functions, rather than the expected SigmaTel chip, which Apple has used within its first-generation iPod shuffle since its introduction in January of 2005.

Also, Washington Research Foundation (WRF), which assists Washington state universities with commercializing technology, on December 21, 2006 filed a patent suit alleging that Samsung joined by Matsushita’s Panasonic division and Nokia, were infringing on four patents sold under the “Bluetooth” name.

Above all, the fact according to observers have been that these lawsuits have continuously denied the optimal growth of developing markets such as Nigeria and West Africa at large by the likes of Samsung.

A quick reminder here, was the experience of Econet Wireless, which ended up spending more money on lawsuits than it did on deployment of its services in most countries where it has operations, which resulted in retrogressive acceptance attitude by consumers.

As for Nigeria, most supposed dealers of Samsung brands of mobile phones have since dumped the brand for other ones with ease sail in terms of total cost of doing business with a given company, while those who still stick to Samsung brand are no longer involved in mobile phones, hence they now concentrate on other electronics gadgets of Samsung with groans.

A redefinition of its objectives could save the telco from further reduction in fortune, even as it now ranks about fifth; after Nokia, Sony Ericsson, LG, Motorola in the Nigerian market.

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Cisco pushes 900 CRS-1 in 3yrs

Worldwide leader in networking, Cisco Systems, has shipped 900 Carrier Routing Systems (CRS-1), since its first product shipment in August 2004.

The company also said that its CRS-1 is in use by over 85 providers globally as the basis of converged services, which include Internet Protocol Television (IPTV) and TelePresence.

Sources at the San Jose, California office of Cisco, informed that the CRS-1, are the core component of Cisco Internet Protocol for Next-Generation Network (IP NGN) architecture.

Company sources also said that the CRS-1 offers providers a cost-effective means to meet the performance and reliability requirements of advanced service delivery while accommodating ever-increasing IP traffic.

“The rapid growth of CRS-1 sales has been both accompanied and, to some degree, driven by significant IP traffic growth on global networks as video and other advanced service deployments continue,” our sources said.

As contained in a data compiled by Cisco and industry analysts, Internet video produced six times more IP traffic in 2006 than the amount of IP traffic that crossed the entire United States (U.S.) Internet backbone in 2000.

Equally, by 2011, global IP traffic is projected to reach more than 26 exabytes per month; an exabyte is a unit of information or computer storage equal to one quintillion bytes.

In addition, Cisco said that BT and Sprint are among the leading global providers that have deployed its CRS-1 as the foundation of their IP transformation initiatives.

Affirming this, Group Chief Technical Officer (CTO) at BT Group, Mr. Matt Bross, said that the consolidation of BT’s various service-specific networks onto a single IP infrastructure, combined with the growth of Internet traffic due to advanced services like IPTV and collaboration, makes it a reliable, highly-scalable, IP/MPLS core critical.

“Our aggressive 21CN service strategy, driven by the growing needs of our residential, business and industry customers, will increase traffic growth and we wanted to deploy a core routing system that would meet those needs now and in the future,” he said, noting that by deploying Cisco CRS-1 to support the telco’s dramatic growth in 1 services including the step to migrate customers from legacy non-IP-based technologies to SprintLink IP and Global MPLS platforms.

Vice President of Network Development at Sprint, Iyad Tarazi, said that in addition to the company’s wireline investments, “we expect to see exponential growth in wireless data for 3G and Wi-Max services which also require significant investments in our IP core. The CRS-1 is well-suited to meet our needs, thus allowing us to support the long-term needs of our customers.”

It was further gathered that other publicly announced CRS-1 customers included Cable & Wireless, Comcast, China Telecom (ChinaNet), China Education and Research Network (CERNET), Deutsche Telecom, Korea Telecom, FREE, the National Institute of Informatics’ SuperSINET research network in Japan, Neuf Cegetel, National LambdaRail, MTS Allstream, MTN, Pittsburgh Supercomputing Center (PSC), SaskTel, Savvis, Softbank, Yahoo! BB, Swisscom, Shanghai Telecom, Strato Medien, Teliasonera, Terremark, Telstra and VTR to name a few.

Highlight the efficacy of Cisco CRS-1, company sources said its the industry’s most powerful carrier routing system, designed with the aim of offering continuous system operation as well as unprecedented service flexibility and scalability.

Powered by Cisco IOS XR Software, its designed for always-on operation while scaling system capacity up to 92 terabits-per-second (Tbps), even as the innovative system architecture combines the Cisco Silicon Packet Processor, the first programmable 40-Gbps ASIC, with the Cisco Service Separation Architecture for unprecedented service flexibility and speed to service. The CRS-1 marks a new era in carrier IP communications by powering the foundation for IP NGNs today while protecting investments for decades to come.

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Forrester names HP leader in BSM software market

Forrester Research Incorporated, a leading analyst firm has named Hewlett Packard (HP) the leader in the business service management (BSM) software market.

Report released by Forrester on BSM report, said that HP software earned the highest score for business service mapping and the second highest score for both its overall current product offering and end-to-end monitoring.

Analysts at Forrester Research and authors of the BSM report, Mr, Peter O’Neill and Ms Evelyn Hubbert, defined BSM as software that dynamically links business-focused Information Technology (IT) services to the underlying IT infrastructure.

“The acquisition of Mercury Interactive provides HP with a strong BSM solution with a new and improved configuration management database (CMDB) strategy,” the authors wrote, adding that the HP solution allows IT to either take a back-end approach by monitoring the processes supporting the business services through HP business process insight software or by monitoring the front end – the end user experience.

On vendor summary specific, Forrester noted that the strength of HP’s modular implementation approach, allows quick time-to-value and a step-by-step approach to managing the business services of an organization.

The vendor summary also noted that HP Universal CMDB is “a complete system that provides the key capabilities required to support today’s business service management processes,” and that HP Service Desk Customers “are able to receive a closed-loop service health view.”

Vice President, Products, Management Software, HP, Deb Traub, pointed out that key technologies acquired from Mercury have allowed HP to become a leader in the BSM market.

“With the Mercury assets, HP can provide a comprehensive solution that enables customers to monitor the health of business services and applications from the points of view of the business, its customers and its partners,” the VP said.

He also said that the HP Business Availability Center software, a comprehensive business service and application management solution, helps businesses to manage the health of business services and applications as well as optimize their availability, performance and effectiveness.

“Using HP Business Availability Center along with HP Business Process Insight software further enables both bottom-up and top-down analysis,” Traub said.

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M-Net rounds-up Idols West Africa

Digital Satellite Television (DSTV) distributing channel, M-Net in collaboration with MultiChoice Nigeria announced officially the conclusion of this year’s Idols West Africa with presentation of a Dana Picanto car to the star prize-winner and student, Mr. Timi Dakolo.

Speaking at the session with the media in Lagos, Director, Operations at M-Net for Sub-Saharan Africa, Mr. Joseph Hundah said that he was excited at the successful end of Idols West Africa, especially on the auditing process that the series was based on.

“Alexander Forbes in Nigeria delivered a stellar service in ensuring that the voting process for Idols was accurate and precise. We thank them for lending their skill and expertise to the series.”

Public Relations and Communications Manager at MultiChoice, Mr. Segun Fayose, informed that now that the Idols is over, Mr. Timi Dakolo would embark on his newest adventure by recording a four track album with BMG Africa International including his first single I Love you.

“Timi is well assured that the affection of his fans is what saw him through to fulfilling a life-long dream,” he said.

Meanwhile, outside the top two contestants, Omawumi and Timi, the only other contestant to ever draw over 20 per of the audience vote was Temitayo.

An exciting on stage performer, Temitayo garnered the most votes after the top 10.

With the end of Idols West Africa now over, all eyes are now on M-Net next reality series on its highly prized Big Brother Africa 2.

DStv audiences will be able to tune in for the series from August 5, this year.

According to Fayose, it would run for 98 days with 12 housemates.

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ICT Africa to host Finance-IT seminar

Leading Information and Communications Technology (ICT) content provider, ICT Africa has announced its plan to host Finance and Information Technology Summit (FITS) in Lagos, with theme, “Seamless IT integration in post – Consolidation Era.”

Managing Consultant, ICT Africa, Mr. Don Pedro Aganbi who disclosed this said that the summit has been designed to create an interface between professionals in the nation’s ICT sector and their counterparts in the finance and banking industry.

He also said that apart from the conference aspect of the event, there would be exhibition to enable participants exhibit their offerings to the populace.

He said the choice of the theme was to facilitate opportunity to review progress made in IT integration on post-consolidation and to chart a new course for the future.

“The massive investments in ICT by banks following the successful consolidation of the banking sector indicates the high level of faith in IT products and solutions to improve productivity and boost the bottom line,” he said.

According to him, the post consolidation era has been dogged by such issues as, systems audit and security, network security versus providing faster service, risks associated with online transaction, finding cost effective IT infrastructure to handle the new distributed network systems, power problems and data protection, data warehousing vis-à-vis Central Bank of Nigeria (CBN’s) new guidelines, systems reliability and availability, business continuity planning for IT disaster recovery, e-payment, secure deployment of ATMs and corporate governance among others.

The successful consolidation of the nation’s banking sector followed the 2004, 13–point reform agenda rolled out by the CBN with the prescription of minimum shareholders’ funds of N25 Billion.

This, he said, has led to the creation of 25 banks down from the previous 89, a process that has also precipitated massive investment in IT infrastructure by all the banks meant to improve service delivery and to gain competitive edge.

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ICT Africa to host Finance-IT seminar

Leading Information and Communications Technology (ICT) content provider, ICT Africa has announced its plan to host Finance and Information Technology Summit (FITS) in Lagos, with theme, “Seamless IT integration in post – Consolidation Era.”

Managing Consultant, ICT Africa, Mr. Don Pedro Aganbi who disclosed this said that the summit has been designed to create an interface between professionals in the nation’s ICT sector and their counterparts in the finance and banking industry.

He also said that apart from the conference aspect of the event, there would be exhibition to enable participants exhibit their offerings to the populace.

He said the choice of the theme was to facilitate opportunity to review progress made in IT integration on post-consolidation and to chart a new course for the future.

“The massive investments in ICT by banks following the successful consolidation of the banking sector indicates the high level of faith in IT products and solutions to improve productivity and boost the bottom line,” he said.

According to him, the post consolidation era has been dogged by such issues as, systems audit and security, network security versus providing faster service, risks associated with online transaction, finding cost effective IT infrastructure to handle the new distributed network systems, power problems and data protection, data warehousing vis-à-vis Central Bank of Nigeria (CBN’s) new guidelines, systems reliability and availability, business continuity planning for IT disaster recovery, e-payment, secure deployment of ATMs and corporate governance among others.

The successful consolidation of the nation’s banking sector followed the 2004, 13–point reform agenda rolled out by the CBN with the prescription of minimum shareholders’ funds of N25 Billion.

This, he said, has led to the creation of 25 banks down from the previous 89, a process that has also precipitated massive investment in IT infrastructure by all the banks meant to improve service delivery and to gain competitive edge.

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... As HR-Tech conference holds

The management of AlliedSoft Limited in partnership with Microsoft, Hewlett Packard and Intel Corporation, have concluded plans to set the Lagos Civil Centre agog as they host this year’s Human Resource (HR) Technology conference, today.

Tagged the HR Best Practices and Technology, according to the Allied Soft chief executive, Mr. Chuma Ofoche, the conference has become imperative given the growth and emergence of more and more Information Technology (IT) driven companies in the country.

He said that there is need to continuously recognise the importance of proper management of their greatest assets – people through technology solution.

“Human Resources and Human Capital Development will continue to be an increasingly important aspect of business strategy execution,” he said, adding that this conference recognizes the global and local trends in effective workforce management and provides the platform to explore creative ways through which the business of HR management would be supported and enabled by appropriate technology, thus driving organizational productivity to new level of efficiency.

Mr. Ofoche stressed that the conference offers the opportunity for experts in the fields of Human Resources and Technology to come together for the first time in Nigeria, meet and interact with industry experts and get their questions answered.

He noted that the sessions, which have been carefully selected, will discuss various aspects and challenges faced by HR practitioners and demonstrate how technology has stepped up to address these challenges.

“The very seasoned speakers will offer an opportunity for the participants to learn directly from experienced practitioners who are putting some of these principles on workforce management to use in their own organisations today,” he said.

Mr. Ofoche emphasized that the business of HR management has gone beyond routine HR administration like payrolls and benefits administration.

“Companies today compete primarily for and on the basis of talent. This conference redirects focus on how HR managers can support their business by having the capability to do more creative and strategic work in people management,” Mr. Ofoche said.

He pointed out that Allied Soft as the developer of the Exceed HR Management solution, is the foremost HR management solution in Nigeria today.

Allied Soft is also a prominent indigenous technology company certified as Microsoft Gold Partner and also a Hewlett Packard software development partner, he added that the company has deep technical expertise on software development and has been in the forefront of software technology development with many landmark projects in different industry verticals.

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Obim heads HiRest operations @ eastern states

Acclaimed Nigeria’s fastest growing Internet Service Provider, HiRest Africa Limited has announced the appointment of Mrs. Ify Obim as the company’s Regional Director, Eastern Region of Nigeria.

Mrs. Obim is a 1996 graduate of the University of Nigeria, Nsukka (UNN), with B.Sc second class upper division, and is an exceptional sales and marketing professional with over 10 years industry experience in the sales and marketing of various ICT services and products in the Eastern Nigeria market and Business Sector, according to the Director, Corporate Affairs at HiRest, Mrs. Ufuoma ‘Daro.

“Ify is a multi dimensional sales specialist and was at various times, Head of Consumer sales, Business Head and Branch Manager at Linkserve Port Harcourt respectively,” she said.

Also, Mrs. Obim, she added has attended various sales and marketing courses with Lagos Business School and other professional business training institutions and was prior to joining HiRest, the Best Sales Staff Nationwide at Linkserve Limited.

The corporate director, further said that Mrs. Obim will oversee the West and Central Africa Market for HiRest Africa from the new HiRest Africa office at Port Harcourt, Rivers State.

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‘Advantages of Seven Always-On over Blackberry’

Chief executive, Race Telecommunications International Limited, Mr. Theo Manafa, has declared that his company’s offering brand of push electronic mail (push e-mail) known as Seven Always-On, has lots of advantages over competition, especially the Blackberry.

Speaking to newsmen on the efficacy of the Seven Always-On, Mr. Manafa, said Race Telecom version of push e-mail is already making waves globally.

According to him, Seven Always-On has been deployed by over 120 telecommunications operators worldwide, unlike Blackberry, which limits users.

Mr. Manafa noted that in the nation’s telecommunications market today, Seven Always-On is offered at the cheapest price with a world-class service in push-email solution, insisting that it should be seen as a tool not for a few selected elites as projected by competitors.

According to him, Seven Always-On has over 40 mobile handset compatibility while Blackberry has only two, stressing that customers are free to bring their own handsets as long as its listed among the compatible phones on the company’s list.

He added that the list of compatible phones came from seven brands, hence its Seven Always-On mail enterprise edition, enables users to keep in touch presently.

Mr. Manafa disclosed that Seven Always On comes in two editions, the enterprise and personal editions respectively.

As said by him, as a global leader in push email solution, Seven’s patented software is available across enhanced second generation (2.5) and Third Generation (3G) networks around the world.

Seven Always-On, he said, is currently offered worldwide in 64 countries by 120 leading mobile operators and Internet email service providers, including Cingular Wireless, Globe Telecom, Hutchison, KDDI Corporation, NTT DoCoMo, O2, Optus, Orange, SingTel, Sprint Nextel and Yahoo to name a few.

Seven Always-On also partners with the top device manufacturers including Nokia, Motorola, Sony Ericsson, Samsung and Siemens.

“Seven Always-On is offered worldwide as either complementary or direct competitor to Blackberry,” he asserted.

Making a brief comparism of the current offerings in the Nigerian market, he said that on monthly basis, subscribers of MTN Blackberry spend an average of N6,000 while their email servers is routed through Exchange, Lotus Domino, IBM, Novell Group Wise with 10 email accounts and runs only on Blackberry 63,000 and 65,000 series in addition to free Global Packet Racket Services (GPRS) but limited and software is installed on exchange, information will be sent to Blackberry and it will take five days for the telco to finish configuration with the license which is then sent back and takes few hours to set up on the exchange.

For the Glo version, which cost between N8,000 and N10,000 monthly, he said, that they use the same email servers with multiple email account while available on Blackberry 80,000 and 100,000 mobile devices, just as the software is installed on exchange on separate enterprise server provided for customers.

And as for Seven Always-On, Mr. Manafa said that it cost N3,500 monthly whereas it hings on Exchange and Lotus Domino with multiple email accounts available with over 200 makes and models of mobile phones devices for customers without limitation to free GPRS traffic.

He explained that license could be generated in a day, installation takes about one to two hours with dedicated machine is required for push connector installation.

“Seven Always-On means that key people must be able to participate in the flow of information in real time wherever they are,” he declared.

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Glo, FirstBank boosts GloFirst, gets commendation

The Second National Operator (SNO), Globacom and leading financial institution, First Bank Nigeria (FBN) Plc, gave boost to the GloFirst cash card by taking the product to this year’s West African International Telecommunications (W.AfriTel) exhibition, which ended in Lagos recently.

This is coming as the telecom received commendations from its subscribers over the reduction of its Subscriber Identification Module (SIM).

Champion Infotel recalls that GloFirst was launched in Lagos recently to herald the partnership in driving the need to reduce cash flow in the nation’s economy.

Speaking to Champion Infotel at the Globacom’s stand during the W.AfriTel, public relations specialist at the telco, Mr. Tunde Babalola said that with GloFirst, subscribers on Globacom network, who posses the card could now load credit on their phones even without scratching a recharge card.

According to a press statement from the telco, informed that Glo Mobile Banking (M-banking) feature to enable the end users on the network, stressing that it would soon be available for use of Globacom subscriber through the Magic-Plus function.

However, GloFirst, as said by him, could also be used to fund purchases and make withdrawals through the electronic payment solution, the Automated Teller Machines (ATMs) of any bank, thus not limited to FirstBank ATMs.

Champion Infotel observed that the glossy green card attracted many visitors to the Globacom stand at the three-day at the three-day exhibition. made the service easy to use and convenient by putting in place more than 140,000 places where our customers can buy airtime,” he said.

Meanwhile, reports have it that subscribers from across the nation gave kudos to Globacom for simplifying its Subscriber Identification Module (SIM) replacement procedure.

Champion Infotel recalls that the telco recently announced a downward review of its SIM replacement fee from N500 to N200.

Commenting on this development, an Ibadan-based subscriber, Taofeek Aranfaajo, commended Globacom for reducing the fee.

“The network had been in the lead among other service providers in the area of subscriber welfare and affordability of call tariffs,” he said, stressing he had known Globacom as a trusted friend of the Nigerian masses.

“Without Glo, people like us will probably not be able to own GSM lines, we would be at the mercy of those whose main objective for coming to Nigeria was to make profit at the expense of the masses it is also very significant that police reports and affidavits are no longer required,” he said.

This makes it convenient and easy for subscribers”, Aranfaajo, a primary school teacher said.

For a student of Urban and Regional Planning, The Polytechnic, Ibadan, Alao Ajibola, the reduction and the networks tariffs were the most user-friendly.

“I am happy that Globacom has not relented in its avowed determination to make sure that all Nigerians enjoy access to good telecommunications services, the reduction of its SIM replacement fee is another plus for this network of the people. I am particularly pleased that I do not have to spend money and time to procure police report or sworn affidavit”, he said.

Noteworthy is that since it launched of services on August 29, 2003, Glo Mobile has been at the forefront of revolutionary changes in the Global System for Mobile communications (GSM) sector in Nigeria, offering both prepaid and contract packages along with a range of Value Added Services (VAS).

Globacom prides itself as the fastest growing GSM network in Africa, achieving a record one million subscribers and covering over 87 towns in just nine months.

Globacom’s subscriber figure at the moment stands at over 11 million with coverage extending to over 40,000 cities, towns, communities and major roads, thus making the company the second largest operator in Nigeria. The network will soon extend its frontiers to the West African sub-region as it is concluding negotiations with two neighbouring countries.

While vigorously pursuing its expansion strategy, the network has earned the identity of the Nigerian innovator, dangling a wide variety of innovative packages and tariff plans designed to fulfill the needs of a broad spectrum of market segments in Nigeria.

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MTN adds value with Ask Me

MOBILE Communications giant, MTN Nigeria, has introduced ‘MTN Ask Me’ a new Value Added Service (VAS) to enhance mobile phone experience of its subscribers.

The new service, the telco said would place useful information at the fingertips of MTN subscribers,

Chief Corporate Services Executive at MTN Nigeria, Mrs. Amina Oyagbola, said that MTN Ask Me affords subscribers to retrieve up-to-date information ranging from news, sports, education, health, entertainment, business, and a whole lot more from the network.

In enabling MTN subscribers’ access to a wealth of information on the move, she said, the service is designed to help subscribers achieve more from their mobile phones.

“Such information would include latest sports news, daily movement of stock prices on the Nigerian Stock Exchange, fashion and health tips, and many more,” she said.

Mrs. Oyagbola also said that subscribers wishing to enjoy the rich bouquet of information on MTN Ask Me, should send Short Messaging Service (SMS), stating an inquiry to the number, 4078, and within five minutes, they will receive a response, adding that each inquiry costs N50.

She said that the latest introduction was designed and priced to enhance value derivable on the MTN network.

“Our objective for launching MTN Ask Me is to enrich the mobile experience of MTN subscribers. Our subscribers are paramount in all that we do at MTN, which is why we are consistently seeking innovative additions to the bouquet of services available to our subscribers, to make life easier and accessibility of information more convenient,” Oyogbola said.

She emphasized that MTN Ask Me is information on the go; wherever subscriber are, information can be accessed using their phones.

“It does not require the use of a sophisticated handset, the basic requirement for enjoying this service is access to the MTN network,” she said.

Mrs. Oyogbola pointed out that MTN Ask Me would be a mobile encyclopaedia on Nigeria, providing answers to a myriad of inquiries on a wide range of subjects.

According to her, one of the unique features of this service is that subscribers would not need an internet connection to enjoy it.

“By simply sending a text message to the access code 4078, a lot of information will be placed at your fingertips,” she declared.

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Celtel maps out N191.3b for anniversary

One of the nation’s leading Global System for Mobile communications (GSM), Celtel Nigeria, has mapped out the sum of $1.5 billion, about N191,347,500 billion, to celebrate its first one year of operation in the country.

Newly appointed Chief Commercial Officer, Celtel Nigeria, Mr. Mike Foley, who disclosed this in Lagos, said the amount would be expended on its Nigerian subscribers to show appreciate of the network and expand its operations afterwards.

He also said that as a socially responsible company, Celtel always strive to do execute its programmes in line with its vision of bettering the lives of the people in any community where it operates.

On the proposed ‘One Network’ initiative of the network, Mr. Foley said that Nigerian subscribers should not despair, because sooner than later, they would feel the impact of the initiative, which he noted, began in East Africa operations.

“Just stay tuned, it would come, but I cannot give you any specific date for now,” he said.

While assuring that there are prospects for one-network in West Africa, he equally said Celtel would be deploying 3,300 nationwide before the end of this year.

According to him, Lagos alone, has about 700, even as the telco would continue to improve its offerings to the Nigerian people.

Meanwhile, Celtel announced some changes in its Nigerian operations as Mr. Foley, a Canadian assumes the Chief Commercial Officer, replacing Mr. Chuma Okoye, who has been appointed Group Marketing Director, Sales & Distribution at Celtel International Amsterdam.

Foley brings to Celtel Nigeria an extensive and impressive experience at corporate executive level including a broad-spectrum commercial knowledge of telecom and Internet business in several continents of the world.

According to the Head, Public Relations, Events and Sponsorship at Celtel Nigeria, Mr. Emeka Opara, the French Canadian joined Celtel from Emirates International Telecom in Dubai, where he was the Group Chief Commercial Officer.

Mr. Foley, has previously worked in several telecoms networks in such countries as India, Romania, Bulgaria, United Arab Emirate (UAE), Tunisia, Saudi Arabia and Kuwait.

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UNIDO, Microsoft join forces on PC penetration

Vienna-based United Nations Industrial Development Organization (UNIDO) and Information Technology (IT) giant, Microsoft Corporation, have joined forces to boost Personal Computer (PC) penetration on the continent.

This follows the two firms endorsement of a Memorandum of Understanding (MoU) in Ouagadougou, during the first African Sub-Regional Information and Communication Technology (ICT) Best Practices forum, reports Wanjohi Kabukuru.

This, industry sources said was in reaffirmation of their commitment to help bridge the digital divide in African.

The MOU signed by UNIDO’s secretary general Dr Kande Yumkellah and Chairman of Microsoft in Africa, Dr Cheick Modibo Diarra, the continent is set to gain from refurbished computers from the corporations in the West to small and medium entrepreneurs (SMEs) in Africa.

“SMEs are the cornerstone of any economy. By providing computers, software and training to entrepreneurs we aim to foster jobs and opportunities in SMEs in rural Africa. We are committed to developing a model for refurbishment that is sustainable, both economically and environmentally,” Yumkella said.

The initial pilot project, he added would kick-off in Uganda before the end of this year, from where it is expected to extend to other parts of the continent.

This, he said, is in tandem with UNIDO mandate, which is to help countries achieves sustainable industrial development.

“The issue is not about new or refurbished computers, but that our small scale entrepreneurs will be able to take advantage of the knowledge economies now and not tomorrow. We cannot let our people take the same long and slow route to development when it is obvious they can leapfrog to that era now.” Kandeh informed.

“Refurbished computers are like generic drugs and HIV/AIDS anti retroviral drugs (ARVs) in the end both of them work on the same principle. They are affordable and easily accessible. It does not mean when you have refurbished computers you cannot access the Internet,” he said.

UNIDO scribe also said that this is what the collaboration with Microsoft is seeking to demystify.

“We want our SMEs to grow and help our economies to develop and produce more. That way, we can help reduce poverty in the continent,” Yumkellah, who was a former Trade minister in Sierra Leone, said.

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‘Promote education for all via ICT’

Africans and their governments have been urged to promote an all-inclusive education.

Making this call at the recently ended Global Knowledge Partnership (GKP) Africa preparatory meeting (GK III) on Knowledge and Access in Ouagadougou, Burkina Faso, Mr. Moubarak Lo of Senegalese-based Emergence Consulting Group, said this is essential Africa is to enhance its education and creativity among its people and in turn help community develop prospectus in emerging markets.

“Education is important as a matter of priority,” Lo said, reports Brenda Zulu of Highway Africa News Agency (HANA).

Mr. Lo also advised African countries to draw up a master plan to this end, adding that the issue of Universal Access to provide high speed internet connection is also a key factor of success.

He observed that there is need to promote and support formal and traditional knowledge marketization, stressing that Africa suffered the problem of innovation identification due to exploitation of its resources for commercial purpose by selected few alongside their western counterparts.

He explained that there is still hope and possibility of catching up through adaptation and use of existing innovations without big investments in rural development for instance if Free and Open Source Software (FOSS) were to be used.

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Africa must tap ICT benefits – Katang

Chief Executive Officer of Abuja-based Information and Communication Technology (ICT) firm, Dr. Armstrong Katang, has said that for Nigeria and Africa at large to overcome poverty and underdevelopment they must tap from various economic benefits of ICT.

Dr. Katang, who spoke in Lagos at the just ended West Africa Information Communication Technology Congress (WAFICT), noted that the country still faces a lot of infrastructural challenges that impede on the growth of ICT penetration.

He also said that government and the organised private sector must collaborate to expand ICT penetration in Nigeria and on the continent, stressing that what is at stake here is the future of the continent and Nigeria precisely.

He emphasised that the youths represent the next generation and every hand must be on the deck to ensure that plans began early for the future of the country, “If we want to be part of the global economy of the future that will thrive and survive only on ICT.”

In addition, Dr, Katang said, the mission of Alteq is to develop next generation of African leadership through creativity in using ICT.

“Nigeria and West Africa should not just be concerned about consuming technology but the ones that will be relevant to the needs of the people,” he advised.

He pointed out that the quest to create socio-economic empowerment for the future generation of Africa and Nigeria in particular through information communications technology should be the thrust of all activities.

“As an organization our firm is committed to the design, development and use of all technology that improves quality of life. We pride ourselves in offering international quality consulting services at locally competitive prices,” he said.

Recalling the theme of the WAFICT congress, “Driving West Africa Growth through ICT” he said that what it means is that both social and economic life from agriculture, education, and transportation among others must be ICT driven.

“This does not mean every individual must necessarily have a Personal Computer (PC), but the next generation must be empowered with tools and information they require to succeed in all human endeavours,” Katanga said.

He further said that part of the objective of the congress was to create a platform for the present professionals in the industry, as well as the students and youths who are the futures.

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Celtel improves network in South West with N85b

LEADING telecommunications operator, Celtel Nigeria, has said its aggressive network development would gulp the sum of N85 billion in the South Western region of the country.

Disclosing this in Lagos, General Manager, South West region, Celtel Nigeria, Mr. Akin Braithwaite, said the telco has embarked on aggressive network infrastructure development within the South West region aimed at providing its customers with better quality of service and extending its services to more communities in the region.

Mr. Braithwaite also revealed that expansion is estimated to cost the company $65 million, about N85 billion in 2007, to improve network capacity, expand its network coverage, and bring more communities within its coverage map as well as grow its capacity to provide excellent customer care service.

Mr. Braithwaite, who disclosed this at the regional media roundtable by the telco, noted the impact of Celtel’s massive investment in the improvement of its network would be fully felt in the coming months.

He stressed that improvement and expansion have already been witnessed in several communities in the region.

According to him, the changes being envisaged include significant improvement in network availability, reliability, general service quality, product availability, and capacity to provide good customer care service to the company’s customers and expansion of coverage to more areas.

Additionally, Mr. Braithwaite said, Celtel’s latest investment has resulted in increase in the number of Base Stations in the regions; a growth rate of 12.14 per cent and a significant growth in number of communities covered so far and include Ogun, Oyo, Ondo, Kwara, Osun, and Ekiti States.

He said Celtel is currently building a new Master Switching Centre (MSS) with 3G compatibility for the region and a new backbone to link South South region through Benin City, stressing, “When fully operational the backbone will boost Celtel’s transmission capacity considerably, making it possible for customers to communicate.”

The Celtel official said the mobile operator is desirous to satisfy the communication needs of its customers. “We are determined to cover more communities and empower more Nigerians to communicate. We are also working on improving products and services distribution system with a view to making them readily available to our cherished customers.

“The level of human capital in the South West region has been improved to enable us serve our customers efficiently in line with Celtel’s regionalization policy. Our region is now better focused commercially, technically and operationally to accomplish the company’s target of rolling out service aggressively, becoming more customer-focused and cost competitive.

“Celtel is poised to becoming the flagship mobile operator in Nigeria, a network that constantly responsive to the yearnings of its customers. We have demonstrated this with the introduction of Unity Tariff with offer of free monthly SMS, special low midnight call rate, lower international call tariff, same flat rate for calls to all networks and lower SMS rate” he said.

In his address to the occasion, the Chief Operating Officer, Celtel, Mr. Lars Stork, said that the company’s parent company, the MTC Group, is investing massively in Nigeria to enable the mobile operator embark on the ambitious and aggressive network rollout to boost the robustness of its network.

Mr. Stork added that Celtel’s is committed to realising its objective of making life better for its customers, and giving the company the competitive edge in the market place.

The roundtable is part of a series of activities aimed at introducing the regional management team to the media in their respective regions.

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MTN blames poor service on vandalisation

Global System for Mobile communications (GSM) operator, MTN Nigeria Communications Limited, has blamed recent poor quality of services on its network to vandalisation of equipment across the country.

The Corporate Services Executive, MTN Nigeria, Mrs. Amina Oyagbola, who disclosed this, said the telco is concerned over the repeated vandalisation of its equipment and installations nationwide.

This, the telco also said, its mostly concerned because of the impact this have on the quality of services to its subscribers.

“We have had to contend with what appears to be a steady onslaught of malicious damage to our fibre optic cables in some parts of the country,” she said, stressing, “it’s extremely alarming”.

Mrs. Oyagbola explained that telecoms infrastructure have been installed across the country, at huge cost in terms of labor and capital, for the sole objective of providing a rich and improved bouquet of telecommunications services to the Nigerian people.

“It is disheartening and very concerning that unknown persons would set out to deliberately sabotage these installations and in the process disrupt services for millions of Nigerians,” she lamented.

Mrs. Oyagbola recalls that in the last week alone, “critical fiber optic cables have been maliciously destroyed across two of Nigeria’s major geo-political zones, creating serious problems for users of telecom services.”

These, she noted, include MTN customers and customers of other networks wishing to terminate calls on MTN’s network.

“It is noteworthy that the ICT equipment deployed by MTN at huge cost, services the entire telecoms industry and not just MTN,” Mrs. Oyagbola said.

Further, she expressed immense concern at what appears to be an attempt to short-circuit the gains made so far by the nation in the telecommunications sector and appealed to the Federal Government for assistance in this respect.

While assuring customers and other stakeholders that the telco is reinforcing its private security network across the country especially in the areas that house critical infrastructure, Mrs. Oyagbola appealed to the Nigerians to keep a vigilant over telecom and other infrastructure in their localities.

“Such infrastructure, including base stations, switches and transmission cables, are for the collective benefit of the country and should be seen as such,” she said.

Mrs. Oyagbola equally urged citizens to inform the security agencies promptly if they see any equipment being tampered with, just as she pledged that MTN would continue to strive to provide Nigeria with world-class telecommunications services.

“In circumstances where our installations are damaged, we will strive to ensure that services are restored in the shortest possible time,” she reassured.

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Celtel introduces free weekend calls

The Global System for Mobile communications (GSM) operator, Celtel Nigeria, Wednesday, has introduced free weekend calls on the network.

Head, Public Relations, Events and Sponsorship at Celtel Nigeria, Mr. Emeka Oparah, informed that the new offer gives the company’s loyal pre-paid customers an opportunity to make free on-net calls on Sundays only.

According to him, the latest offer avails subscribers who recharge their phones with a minimum of N500 within a week, that is, between Monday and Saturday, to get 60 free minutes to make on-net calls on the Sunday of that particular week, while those who recharged N1000 within the same period will attract 120 free minutes.

Mr. Oparah also said that the offer, which commences immediately, is open to existing and new pre-paid customers, just as cumulative recharges will also qualify for the free minutes.

He said that this is another innovative way of delighting Celtel subscribers in the country.

“The new offer is a perfect, innovative complement to our existing offers including the trail-blazing Unity Tariff and the 10 million free minutes currently on offer,” Oparah said.

“As with the introduction of Unity Tariff; the country’s first ever Flat Tariff Plan which gives phone users the opportunity to call all networks at the same rate, the free weekend calls offer is yet another first by any GSM company in Nigeria,” he said.

He emphasised that it’s indeed yet another clear demonstration of commitment to brand philosophy of ‘Making Life Better’ for its subscribers”.

“Coming less than three months after the commencement of Unity Tariff the free weekend calls offer strongly underscores our commitment to providing unique and valuable products and services to our customers and Nigerians as a whole,” he said.

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The Palms to host ICT Extravaganza

PLANS have been advanced for the Information and Communication Technology (ICT) Extravaganza, at the popular ‘The Palms Shopping Centre, Lekki, Lagos on Saturday, this week.

This is the first of its kind in Nigeria that the western-styled shopping centre, has to organise the extravaganza to mark this year’s ‘Father’s Day.”

Sources at The Palms, informed Business Champion that from July, 15 through 17, the latest electronic and Information Technology (IT) gadgets would be on display for visitors to the centre to see, feel, enjoy and eventually make purchases at discounted prices.

Business Champion also gathered that the shops participating in the exhibition include PC Outlet, Buyright, Nokia, Lighthouse, Vision and Soul, and Woodstock Electronics.

Whereas PC Outlet, one of the official distributors of Acer and Apple products in Nigeria, promises visitors at the show with stocks of 60G ipods, Microsoft Vista ready laptops, the latest sound technology bars from BOSE, the tiniest but most efficient flash drives and a host of other innovative I.T products, LightHouse plans to showcase its lamp and lightings, just as it has in stock latest in elegant, trendy and exceptionally different styles of lamps, fittings, chandeliers and switches all at very affordable prices.

For those planning to visit Vision and Soul during the show, they would be treated to what the firm called an ultra modern electronics store, representing world class electronics brands, such as Pioneer, Nakamichi, Harman/Kardon, JBL, Mafco and Monster.

Business Champion was informed that Vision & Soul also retails top quality electronic products such as Plasma and Liquid Crystal Display (LCD) screens, home theatre, Digital Video Display (DVD), DVD recorders, multimedia speakers, car stereo and accessories, components and cables that come with warranty and after sales service on all its products.

As well, Nokia said its set to dazzle guests with new highly affordable handsets such as the latest Nokia N95, which doubles as a smartphone and comes with a 5 mega pixel camera, and operates on the Symbian Open Source (OS) software, eye catching accessories, and a customer service.

Relatively, the management of Buyright, also informed that as another shop known its stocks of technological gadget at very affordable prices, is set to continue the trend with offer of Personal Digital Assistant (PDA) phone with Television, Global Packet Radio Service (GPRS) cum Universal Serial Bus (USB), phone modems, Internet routers, gold Media Players (MP3), wristwatches, sound pods, and the diminutive Roboacto.

In addition, the Business Champion gathered that WoodStock Electronics, an independent custom electronics design and installation company, specialises on providing solution for residential and commercial audio-visual systems, as well as offers support for some best international brands.

The Palms Mall, managed by Broll Property Services Ltd, is the Nigerian subsidiary of Broll Property Group (PTY) Limited of South Africa.

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