Stakeholders commend NCC on six years of GSM

Features of the week:

Month of August means many things to several people, but for Nigerians the licensing of Global System for Mobile communication (GSM) operators, who adventently opened shops in August 2001, heralded showers of blessings for the economy, regulator and country at large, reports REMMY NWEKE.

In the beginning:

Ogbuefi Soporuchukwu, is a retired civil servant who has gone to his hometown, Awba-Ofemili in Awka North local government area of Anambra State in the Eastern Nigeria to settle.

For him life has not been too bad as he was able to take up on another activity of offering call services to his community. Thank God for the likes of Dr. Ernest Ndukwe, the Executive Vice Chairman, Nigerian Communications Commission (NCC) and probably for immediate former president, Chief Olusegun Obasanjo for being steadfast in continuing with the probably only good legacy from the then Sanni Abacha regime.

According to Ogbuefi Soporuchukwu, telecom has contributed in making life in retirement a little easier apart from offering his contribution via operating a call center in a remote village, where telecommunications services are yet to take root. Basically, he said, there is no base station in the town, just about 200 kilometres from Awka, the Anambra State capital.

Hence, he was able to put up the call center based on special equipment called Yagi antenna, a receiver booster antenna introduced to him by a reverend gentleman who was serving in the community three years ago; through which he now offer telecentre services for his community, enabling the residents to be in touch with their loved ones outside the community and world at large.

All these would not have been possible without the likes of Dr. Ndukwe who guarded the deregulation of the nation’s telecommunications jealously and support of Chief Obasanjo in creating an enabling environment, politically for the non-interference of the government in the globally accepted transparent auction in year 2001 of the Global System for Mobile communications (GSM), thus paving the way for investors to thrive.

Today, Ogbuefi said, the outcome is that Nigeria has over 40 million subscribers and is still counting out of the estimated 140 million according to the National Population Commission at the last census exercise.

This, he noted, left about 100 million Nigerians still gasping for telephone lines, adding that the coming of the GSM, has given him and others who were wondering what to do on retirement a live-line.

Pass mark for NCC:

Assessing the industry and NCC particularly, key stakeholders in the industry, the Association of Telecommunications Companies of Nigeria (ATCON) and Association of Licensed Telecommunications Operators of Nigeria (ALTON), gave the regulator an applauding pass-mark.

President, ATCON, Dr. Emmanuel Ekuwem in peeping into the history of GSM in the last six years, commended NCC for what he called “carrying itself well against all odds.”

According to him, the regulator has not allowed itself to be used either by the operators or through undue influence by the government, noting that NCC was able to provide the enabling environment and encourage investment into the ICT sector, especially in telecom.

He implored the operators to embrace the capital market and become more intimate with Nigerians.

“The operators, especially GSM operators should be more Nigerianised by going to the stock market to allow for more Nigerians to have stake in their operations,” he said.

Equally, Chairman, ALTON, Mr. Gbenga Adebayo, also commended the industry regulator, the NCC, pointing out that the commission led by Dr. Ndukwe has so far done well, just as he traced the rapid growth in the industry to the right regulatory environment.

“If regulatory was a problem, the world players will not be so interested in Nigeria, but today, the world of telecoms, from vendors to operators are looking towards Nigeria,” he said.

He also said that the journey is still far as there is relatively large addressable market, and the government and public must do a lot more to protect telecom infrastructure and support the operators.

A Lagos-based telecom lawyer, Mr. Ihuefo Udeh, said the industry, has fared well but there is still plenty to be done, noting that within the last six years, Nigeria has recorded the highest penetration in teledensity of telecommunications services on the continent.

“We became like the bride to investors and that is why the South Africans have not let us rest since then,” he said, adding that doing business also became easier, and there has been great improvement in the way Nigerians live.

Beyond this, Mr. Udeh said there are still a lot to be done by the government and the operators in order to bring the nation to the euphoria it deserved as a primary telecom consumer nation.

“The government must continue to create the enabling environment for telecoms operations such as security, power, quicker approvals of rights of way, the operators on their side should also be anticipatory as they grow in order to take care of capacity issues,” he advised, stressing that this way, issues like the one we have at the moment (congestion) in Nigeria would not happen.

Mr. Udeh observed that NCC has done a good job by way of taking the industry to this enviable position in the comity of telecoms nations in the world.

“But like everything that is good, there comes a time when re-strategisation is needed in order to meet the present challenges posed by the dynamics which is unfolding in the industry,” he declared, pointing out that NCC has the requisite personnel that are above board, and they must realign their positions to the restrategisaton of the commission, for it to continue to be relevant not only in name, but indeed and powers as well as respect.

Future of telecoms in Nigeria:

The future of telecommunications evolution in Nigeria is on the Value Added Services (VAS), declared Mr. Adebayo, noting that Nigeria has taken a place of pride in the Information and Communications Technology (ICT) development across the continent and a mark in the world.

In addition, he said that the next step of development is to optimise the Value Added Service (VAS) in order to bring more offering to the subscribers.

“We are now going to a future of value added service, where telecommunications will provide platform for social services,” he asserted, adding that some of the VAS expected soon in the market place include eBanking, eLearning, eSecurity, eMotoring, eRoad Traffic, eCommerce, all riding on the infrastructure of telecoms.

He underscored that with VAS enthroned, the economy and social life of the country will benefit from these in the next level of development, just as he do not expect much rural penetration due to lack of adequate incentive to drive such investment by the government.

“I do not foresee much of rural penetration because not much has been done by government to provide incentives in making those areas attractive to commercial network operators,” ALTON chairman said.

He further advised the government to quickly readdress the rural telephony project by providing the right incentives for operators to go into those areas, instead of trying to execute the project by itself, which he noted is against the spirit of deregulation.

Equally, Mr. Udeh said that the future, is good as he looks forward to new entrants coming into the market to make it more competitive in winning the loyalty of consumers.

“At that stage, prices will come down as technologies would continue to improve. I hope we will soon get to that stage where we don’t need to carry four different phones for four different networks at the same time,” he enthused.

And for the chief executive, Telecom Answers Associates, Mr. Titi Omo-Ettu, in the last six years, the telecom sector has won some and lost some but on the whole “we fared better,” even as he did not loose sight that call tariffs presently is still high and service providers appeared to pay more attention to marketing than to engineering which often ends in turbulent weather.

He predicted that the nation is going into the rural telephony and if that is so, “it should be a positive movement especially as it has taken the whole lot of post-liberalisation life of the industry to get here,” noting that technology is shaping the future and Nigeria should not loose sight of that but take advantage of it.

Brief on GSM in Nigeria:

For the benefit of history, the journey of current mobile telephony began in 2001 by finding of favour with the GSM technology followed by the auction. This auction was globally applauded for its transparency, more so coming from Nigeria of all countries, having suffered greatly because of escapades of notorious fraudulent activities of some Nigerians known as 419ners.

And between August 5 and 6 the likes of now Celtel Nigeria, then Econet and MTN began commercial roll out of their services, alongside the crawling Mobile Telecommunications Limited (MTel) owned by the Nigeria Telecommunications Limited (NITEL) now acquired in the name of privatization by the Transnational Corporation (Transcorp).

Two years later, the call for the Second National Operator (SNO) operator was made and Globacom came on stream and hit the market in August 2003.

Today, the rest is history as Nigeria prides herself as one of the fastest growing telecom market in the world, especially on mobile communications with over 40 million subscribers.

Progress and distraction:

In addition, the latest stage of the telecom sector, which is the convergence, commenced with the news that the leading telco, MTN Nigeria bought over VGC Communications for $75 million, about N9.6 billion, whereas 75 per cent of Multilinks, a private telecom operator (PTO) was acquired by Telkom South Africa for $280 million, about N35.84 billion, while CellCom was purchased by Zenith International Bank Plc for over N4 billion.

Till date, approximated nine telcos have been elevated to the next stage of licensing which is embodied in the Unified Access, with the likes of MTN, Intercellular, Boaudex, Starcomms, VGC currently owned by MTN, Dan Jay, Prestel and Multilinks with the latest entrant being ReltelWireless.

In the last eight months, for instance, NCC began the year with the news that it has offered a Unified Access Service Licence to the Mubadala Development Company, a Kuwaiti telco, followed by the pronouncement on the licensing of spectrum in the two Gega Hertz of Third Generation (3G) and 450 Mega Hertz in February which was concluded by March.

Preceding this was the proclamation on the need to stop the use of stolen handsets on GSM networks in the country, just as it donated some industrial books to four higher institutions as part of its corporate social responsibility, before the deteriorating quality of service heightened. Of course, NCC raised concern over this, urging the operators to take cogent actions including stoppage of promos to enable them focus on improving the quality of service.

However, it would be pointed out that the effort to bulldoze its way into getting 3G license by NigComSat Limited, was observed as distraction by majority of the stakeholders especially the industry watchers.

Timely intervention:

Thanks to the Federal Government led by Alhaji Umaru Musa Yar’du for the wisdom and timely intervention, resulting in sticking to the initial committee report that NigComSat could only be licensed after privatisation exercise conducted under due process.

Above all the rule of law should be allowed to prevail if this sector would continue to make progress.

And like Dr. Ekuwem would say, “government have no business in business,” and in line with this was a declaration by the chief telecoms consultant at research and consultancy, BMI-Techknowledge, Rivonia of South Africa, Mr. Andre Wills, about six years ago; “Nigeria’s huge market should be an attraction to many operators who intend to penetrate the continent,” therefore both the government through NCC and stakeholders should endeavour to work towards sustaining the excitement in spite of any distraction whatsoever.

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Success in capital market depends on technology – Udoh

Managing Director, Progenics Corp Limited, Mr. Tony Udoh, has said that nowadays, success in capital market operations depend largely on technology deployment.

Speaking recently in Lagos, Mr. Udoh noted that as technology improves, its dependency increases, especially in automation of capital markets globally.

He expressed delight that the Nigerian Stock Exchange (NSE) has embraced the opportunities provided by computer technology towards achieving higher levels of trading effectiveness.

“It is gradually becoming one of the leading African capital markets in terms of information technology with the installed Automated Trading System. (ATS),” he said.

He added that Progenics has over the years been involved in the building of the solutions that have fired up values and brought new orientations in the stock market, which includes the ability of stockbrokers to do remote trading.

“This means that stockbrokers can buy and sell stocks from their homes or offices. This is achieved with the use of the communication server that is situated at the trading floor; connected to the data base server, which contains the application solutions of the stock exchange,” he said, stressing that it avails the Real-Time-On Line application.

As said by Mr. Udoh, whose company still serves as the Information and Communication Technology (ICT) consultant to the NSE, a whole lot of activities is making life easier at the capital and stocks market currently anchored on deployment of technologies.

“Apart from our effort at achieving seamless management of the floor by the NSE using the ATS platform, we’re also improving activities from the traders’ side with our Symbols Investment management software,” he informed.

Mr. Udoh pointed out that with the introduction of the ATS, bids and offers are now matched by stockbrokers on the trading floor of exchange through a network of computers, thereby reducing delay and minimizing wastage of resources as stockbrokers could buy and sell immediately with the incidence of short selling becoming a thing of the past.

“It will also affords the market the ability to handle increasing order of volume with the same number of people with greater speed,” Mr. Udoh said.

Even as with the automation, the Security and Exchange Commission (SEC) has been connected to the stock exchange to facilitate live monitoring on the floor of the stock exchange in the trading floors in Abuja, Onitsha, Benin, Ibadan, Yola, Kaduna, Kano and Uyo.

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Redenomination: Telecom service charge may rise – ALTON

The Federal Government (FG) and Central Bank of Nigeria (CBN) have been warned over the last Tuesday proposal by the CBN governor, Prof. Chukwuma Soludo, to redenominate the Naira, by the Association of License Telecommunications Operators of Nigeria (ALTON), saying it could lead to a rise in cost of delivering telecommunications services across the networks.

Sounding this note of warning, was the Chairman, ALTON, Mr. Gbenga Adebayo, while reacting to the proposal of CBN governor on redenomination of Naira by August 2008.

According to him, it may not be interesting times for the growing telecommunications industry, stressing that it could impact negatively on the cost of service delivery.

“At the end of the day, if care is not taken, it might impact on the cost of service delivery,” he warned.

This, on the other hand, would be translated to the end users of telecom services, the subscribers.

He recalled that telecom infrastructure in the country of date depends largely on foreign importation.

“We are not yet a manufacturing country, and if the value of our currency goes down in the international market, it will have its impact on the cost of service provision,” he observed.

The ALTON chairman also advised the government and the CBN to ensure they tread carefully to avoid retrogressive actions.

“We suggest that the government should tread softly on this matter. The economy have been relatively stable, and you ‘don’t rock a smooth sailing boat,” he said.

Equally commenting on the development, Chief executive, Telecom Answers Associates, Mr. Titi Omo-Ettu, said that he is excited on the proposal but would like to study it extensively before coming up with a position, wondering however, how Prof. Soludo intends to achieve that, more so when he seems not to have the backing of the federal government, hence the coming of the economic panel to review the plan.

FG, he pointed out, ought to have been consulted before making such a plan public.

Telecom lawyer, Mr. Damian Udeh, also demanded for more time to re-assess the proposal, but was quick to add that the bottom line is that what will change, will be the size of the money. “The zeros you put behind the figures,” he said.

While the Managing Director of Beta Computers Limited, Mr. Will Anyaegbunam, said the redenomination is commendable, he added that all Nigerians need to do is to remove the two decimal in every of the current denominations.

“The Naira exchanging for N1.25 to a Dollar with the rate adjustment by two decimal places leftwards is about the same rate presently at N125 to a dollar,” he declared.

He quoted the CBN governor, Prof. Soludo as assuring that the change is not expected to change the value.

Mr. Anyaegbunam said that for the Information and Communication Technology (ICT) industry specifically, this policy would hopefully encourage the movement to a cashless economy.

“As I will rather pay with plastic money than carry a sack of coins,” he declared, underscoring that with the expected emergence of the Naira as the de facto common currency in West Africa, at least, Nigerians should see increased demand for their products from neighbouring countries.

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GSM operators advised to embrace capital market

Telecommunications companies in the country, and precisely the Global System for Mobile communications (GSM) operators have been advised to embrace the capital market.

The Executive Vice Chairman, Teledom Group, Dr. Emmanuel Ekuwem gave this advice in a chat at the weekend.

This, he said, would enable Nigerians to truly be part owners in these companies and would go a long way in preserving the business especially the telecom infrastructure.

Speaking in Lagos, Dr. Ekuwem, who also is the president, Association of Telecommunications Companies of Nigeria (ATCON), urged the operators to localise their presence by going to the capital market and getting quoted as a public limited companies (Plc).

“The GSM operators should Nigerianise their operations by going to the capital market,” he urged.

He argued that with the level of in-road so far made by the country, there is no gain saying that telcos and GSM operators are not doing well.

This is coming as GSM companies in the country, have been described as the most capitalised in the nation’s economy as of date.

The Executive Vice Chairman, Nigerian Communications Commission (NCC), Dr. Ernest Ndukwe, gave this insight at the just concluded second edition of the Nigerian international GSM conference and exhibition held at the Federal Capital Territory (FCT), Abuja.

Dr. Ndukwe who was represented at the occasion by the Executive Commissioner in-charge of Licensing and Consumers Affairs at Commission, Mr. Stephen Bello, said that apart from GSM companies in the country being the most capitalised, they are next to oil in terms of remunerations.“GSM operators are the first in remuneration and have contributed to the growth of the Gross Domestic Product (GDP) of the nation,” he declared.

He also said that Nigeria as a nation, must build upon the successes achieved in the last eight years of democratic dispensation, especially in the Information and Communication Technology (ICT) sector in the past six years of evolution.

This, he said, would be if the operators ensured that consumers remained the key to their business successes, thereby improving on their service provision, most especially the quality of services (QoS).

According to him, this is a key challenge to the operators presently because subscribers are very much keen on mobility solutions and 24-hour access.

Equally, Dr. Ndukwe said that the taste of Nigerian telecom subscribers have changed, noting that they are now looking out for telcos that would provide them with uninterrupted voice and data alongside other Value Added Services (VAS). While assuring investors into the country of effective distribution of spectrum and usage, NCC said that it would ensure that customers are migrated into various facets of technologies without loosing sight of the impact to the industry and the economy. He pointed out that before now, the cost of handsets were on the high side but is gradually coming down, to affordable rates.

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Okada riders charge for calls on board

Market Intelligence:

Recently, Ejiofor was riding on a motorbike otherwise known as Okada when he got a call on his Global System for Mobile communications (GSM) phone and because the audio was not very clear, he simply requested the rider to stop for a while to enable him get the message correctly.

Unknown to him, the Okada man was busy checking the time that was probably wasted while Ejiofor answered his call.

The drama did not unfold until Ejiofor got to his destination and wanted to pay what was agreed before the journey began only for the Okada man to inform him that his fare has increased.

According to the Okada man, he spent an average of three to five minutes while Ejiofor was discussing his business on phone; he has to add some extra cash for time wasting.

Of course, that extra cash would not be less than N20.

At first, Ejiofor did not understand what was going on until after some intervals have been spent on argument on what was originally agreed and what the Okada man was demanding as charges.

For Ejiofor, it was incredible that even other Okada men stood firm behind their colleagues, because according to them, that was precious business hour that was wasted.

Few days later, another incident occurred at the popular Church Street in Oshodi, where an Okada man had parked to answer GSM call. While the man was responding to the call, his passengers, two teenage girls were fuming in anger that he was wasting their time.

The unfortunate incident was that the Okada man was not short changed at the end of the day by way of paying him less the agreed bargain.

However, the fact remains that in Lagos and other cities in the country, Okada passengers should be cautious of responding to phone calls on their mobiles because they could be charged extra for that, unless such a passenger may be ready to fight it out.

Otherwise the use of headset either wired or wireless for those afraid that their handset would fall off while motorbike is in motion is advisable.

This attitude does not in any way suggest a good customer and business relationship. Without waiting to be beaten twice, Ejiofor decided to avoid this particular Okada man, even when in a hurry, which has turned a bad business deal for the Okada man, anyway.

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Nigeria enters pact with America on software testing

Nigeria has entered into an agreement with the American Software Testing and Qualifications Board (ASTQB) to reposition its software industry.

President of the newly inaugurated Nigerian Software Testing Board (NSTB), Mr. Akinwale Akingbade made this disclosure in Lagos, at the inaugural meeting of the board, adding that some Nigerian higher institutions would soon introduce software-testing courses in their curricula.

“Nigeria recently signed an agreement with the American Software Testing and Qualifications Board to help commence certification examinations on software testing,” he said.

Mr. Akingbade also said that software testing is a very lucrative aspect of computer science that required right skills and that is the reason behind Nigeria’s agreement with ASTQB to strengthen this process.

According to him, the international software testing and qualifications board, the global body in charge of software testing, would award locally trained people who pass the board’s certification examinations a certificate.

Mr. Akingbade equally said that among the plans the board intends to set up a system for the growth of software testing in Nigeria, stressing that the introduction of special courses on software testing in some higher institutions, is just one the strategies.

In addition, he said, that University of Lagos (UNILAG) would soon commence courses on software testing for final year students in the next academic calendar.

He emphasised that NST board is determined to raise the stake of the local software applications to the next level of its developmental stage.

“The time has come for local applications to hold their place with their foreign rivals adding that this would be the policy that the organization would pursue,” he said.

He assured that the software testing board would endeavour to introduce rapid development of local software and relevant experts.

Part of the responsibilities of the board, he said, would include improving of software testing which involves the process of certifying applications that meet international standard.

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Nwannenna hands over to Uwadia

Chief executive, Condata Systems Limited and immediate past president of the Nigeria Computer Society (NCS), Dr. Chris Nwannenna, has formerly handed over the mantle of leadership to the new leader of the society, Prof. Charles Uwadia.

Champion Infotel recalls that at the last international conference and Annual General Meeting (AGM) in Owerri, the capital of Imo State, where Prof. Uwadia was elected unopposed.

Noteworthy, is that Dr. Nwannenna had led NCS on two term that ended last July.

Prof. Uwadia, on the other hand is Head, Information Technology (IT) Centre at the University of Lagos (UNILAG).

Speaking at the handing over ceremony held at NCS new secretariat, Alausa, Ikeja, Dr. Nwannenna enjoined the executive of the society led by Prof. Uwadia to be steadfast in advancing the course of NCS.

He expressed the believe that Prof. Uwadia team would perform upto expectations and called on members and Nigerians at large to support the new administration.

This year’s AGM cum confab was held between Tuesday July 17 through Friday, 20, 2007 at the Imo Concorde Hotel with the theme, “Achieving the Millennium Development Goals in Nigeria: IT Strategies and tools.”

The handover was witnessed by both members of Nwannenna administration and the executive team.

This including the President, Information Technology Industry Association of Nigeria, Chief Jimson Olufuye, first Vice President, NCS, Chief Anthony Ayodele, first Vice President of Institute of Software Practitioners of Nigeria (ISPON), Chief Chris Uwaje, immediate past president of ITAN, Mr. Will Anyaegbunam among others.

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NiRA explains free domain names

The Nigeria Internet Registration Association (NiRA) has explained the essence of its offer of two free domain names to any willing Nigerians.

Giving this explanation, President, NiRA, Mr. Ndukwe Kalu, said that its to boost the nation’s country code Top Level Domain name, .ng in every facet of the socio-economic life of the citizens.

According to him, any Nigerian planning to register a domain name at this time would benefit from the offer of two domain names per individual registrant, adding that the N5000 is for membership registration only.

A domain name is the text name corresponding to the numeric Internet Protocol (IP) address of a computer on the Internet. Thus, a domain name must be unique and affords Internet users access to their website using domain names.

Mr. Kalu, also said that in view of the on-going drive to encourage Nigerians to hook onto the .ng domain name, NiRA board has approved this decision.

“The board would also want to inform Nigerians that for the transition period the subsisting policy of free domain registration would continue, but with a modification to allow for two domain per individual,” he said.

Mr. Kalu who doubles as the chief executive, Amsco Telecom Limited, added that the final policies on this would be made known in a latter date.

He therefore urged Nigerians to take advantage of this two-for-one domain registration and fly the nation’s flag on the Internet.

“We therefore call on Nigerians to take advantage of this and be truly Nigerian with .ng,” he said, stressing that the current membership price of N5,000 is subsisting.

Hitherto, he said, the domain registration services, were being handled by a tripartite arrangement between Mr. Randy Bush, the National Information Technology Agency (NITDA) and Skannet Nigeria Limited led by Sunday Folayan.

“First we would want to thank all those who have made personal and other sacrifices to sustain this process,” he declared, without forgetting the laudable roles of the late director general of NITDA, Prof. Gabriel Olaleye Ajayi, just as he did not left out Aminu Ibrahim of the National Universities Commission (NUC), Demola Amao of Simbanet to name a few.

He pointed out that with the birth of NiRA early in the year, following the successful general election of its first executive board, the association has stepped into a new era.

“While this is so we realize certain realities and the fact that it would take NIRA sometime to fully get into the state of meeting the enormous expectations on it,” he said.

This is coming as NIRA has gotten an office to meet administrative and technical demands, which he said, is located at 14 Ahmed Onibudu Street, Victoria Island, Lagos, which is being manned by a full time Administrative Secretary.

“This office would act as physical point of contact for general correspondence, domain registration services and membership services,” he said.

According to him, the office would shortly publish all contact details including phone numbers, electronic mail (email) address among others, even as he advised the public to channel all enquiries to the temporary office.

“We are working to ensure very prompt and courteous response at all times,” he assured.

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Cyberschuul, Cathybrite partner on empowerment

Information and Communication Technology (ICT) institute in the country, The Executive Cyberschuul is partnering with Cathybrite Associates to empower the nation’s youths and job seekers, especially using online methodologies at a two-day workshop in Lagos.

Disclosing this, chairman of Cyberschuul, Mr. Titi Omo-Ettu, said the workshop has been scheduled to hold at the University of Lagos (UNILAG) on 24 and 25 August, 2007.

The partnership, he said, was spurred by some irrelevances discovered in applications submitted by most Nigerian job seekers recently.

He cited an instance that in 2005, a foreign consultancy firm, which wanted to recruit for a Nigerian firm advertised job vacancy and within two days it has received over 180 applications forcing the recruiting firm to stop.

“Because within those two days, the firm had received 180 applications with most of them standing irrelevant to the stated specifications and almost 99 per cent of the applications looking very similar to each other,” he decried.

According to him, the annoying similarities of the applications, and irrelevance to the stated specifications, “they stopped accepting applications emanating from Nigeria.”

Mr. Omo-Ettu also lamented the situation whereby Nigerians are blacklisted from something beneficial to the enhancement of their skill sets and individual managerial endowments on account of a problem of this nature.

Hence, The Executive Cyberschuul resolved to confront the problem head on, stressing that Nigeria and telecommunications industry precisely would be over-run by expatriate workers and schools continue to produce “unemployable graduates.”

He said that the planned workshop has been structured to create the needed awareness in an attempt to correct the common errors while moulding job seekers, and presenting them for employment.

Mr. Omo-Ettu further disclosed that Cathybrite would soon open a Nigerian office to ensure its services closer to the candidates and Cyberschuul would be involved in the reconstruction of their skills.

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‘Alvarion BreezeMax is complete IP solution’

Major distributors of Alvarion products in Nigeria and Anglophone West Africa, Teledom Group, has said that Alvarion has an all-encompassing Internet Protocol (IP) in its BreezeMax.

The company also said BreezeMax is an open standard of the Worldwide Interoperability for Microwave Access (WIMAX), which is a telecommunications technology aimed at providing wireless data over.

A press statement made available to Champion Infotel, quoted the executive vice chairman, Teledom Group, Dr. Emmanuel Ekuwem as saying that apart from its open standard in WIMAX avails increased broadband capacity.

Champion Infotel recalls that recently the United States-based AT & T Alascom, announced the adoption of Alvarion’s BreezeMax equipment as part of its deployment of WIMAX broadband in Alaska based on its flexible and improved efficacy.

Dr. Ekuwem explained that the BreezeMax Radio Access Network (RAN) combines a complete all-IP, an ecosystem capable of offering nationwide network coverage while increasing capacity at affordable rates.

According to him, Alvarion’s products are being deployed in a massive WIMAX rollout due to the fact that it has been extensively tested to support fourth order diversity for delivering flexible and improved coverage even in difficult terrain.

He also informed that BreezeMax is highly suitable for the mountainous and wooded areas.

He equally cited an instance with the recent decision of Japanese HiTachi Communications Technologies Limited to develop broadband mobile wireless access system using Alvarion equipment because of what the company described as its ability to transmit broadband data stably and seamless handover between base stations.

Alvarion BreezeMax and BreezeAccess, Dr. Ekuwem noted was deployed in Vietnam and Cambodia respectively with the aim of reducing the digital divide and promoting advanced services including Internet access, e-learning, e-government and e-commerce.

He further said that in Africa, Alvarion’s award-winning BreezeMax has been chosen by the leading telecommunications operator on the continent, MTN in its Uganda operations, for the enhanced Third Generation (3.5 Gega Hertz) frequency.

This, Ekuwem pointed out was deployed as part of a nationwide solution to extend data services to corporate, business and residential users.

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Transcorp to relaunch MTel, restores 10 cities

Owners of the Mobile Telecommunications Limited (MTel) and a subsidiary of the Nigerian Telecommunications Limited (NITEL), the Transnational Corporation (TRANSCORP) Plc, has advanced plans to relaunch its Global System for Mobile communication (GSM) operations in the country with better service offerings.

This indication emerged at a media parley with the management team of Transcorp led by its new Group Managing Director (GMD), Mr. Tom Iseghohi, who informed that they have restored about 70 per cent of NITEL fibre optic infrastructure.

He also said that the relaunching plan for MTel would be guided by three outlines, to become the best in clarity, quality of services and access respectively.

He also said that MTel has been revived, hence up and is being test-run in the past five weeks in over 10 cities nationwide.

“We intend to have high quality of service with the new team focusing on the future,” he declared, stressing that there is no need for the new team to concentrate on the past.

Transcorp, he pointed out, would leverage on what it has currently, precisely inherited from the purchase of NITEL, especially in moving MTel, its mobile subsidiary forward and competitive in the GSM market place in the country.

“In the last four weeks, I have been using my MTel but it would not be relaunched anywhere in the country without making sure that the guidelines are followed, that is to offer the best in clarity, quality and access,” he said.

He reassured that the only cities to be relaunched in the coming weeks, would be those that have been confirmed working.

According to him, NITEL has over 400,000 fixed lines and Transcorp tends to leverage on this and open up the telco’s Internet Protocol (IP) infrastructure.

He disclosed that the restoration of NITEL’s fibre optic infrastructure was through a partnership deal with a United States-based company to be revealed in the near future.

The new team, he said, would ensure the fixing of the fibre optic, and fixing the landline with eye on expansion while leveraging on the telco’s Code Division Multiple Access (CDMA) infrastructure for data related services.

In addition, Mr. Iseghohi said that the new team is excited they are already doing something to improve services and access to the network, just as they plan to build over 200 IP Television (IPTV).

Also speaking, the chief executive, MTEL, Mr. Ladi Williams corroborated the GMD on the restoration of the mobile network, noting that the major hiccups of the mobile arm in the past, had been transmission and power, which are being addressed at the top management level.

He said that these are being addressing urgently as the telco plans to relaunch the network in every city where restoration has taken place every two weeks.

Mtel, he said, is targeting 10 million subscribers by 2010, even as its Global Packet Radio Service (GPRS) is undergoing test-run at the Federal Capital Territory (FCT) Abuja.

“And we’re testing our GPRS in Abuja and would soon roll-out,” he affirmed.

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All is set for energy summit - ATCON

ALL is now set for the first-ever energy and power summit being organised by the Association of Telecommunications Companies of Nigeria (ATCON) in the nation’s commercial centre, Lagos, this Friday, August 24.

ATCON President, Dr. Emmanuel Ekuwem, who affirmed this, said that the event slated to hold at the Golden Gate, Ikoyi would attract Nigerian professionals across all sectors of the economy.

He also said that the focus would be on proffering solution rather than apportioning blames on why there have been poor management of energy and power in the country.

On why focus on these areas, Dr. Ekuwem said that ATCON as a patriotic organisation knew like most Nigerians that once the energy crisis is fixed, the nation’s economy would change for the better and would be on the way to greatness.

He equally said that there would be some mini-exhibitions by some interested Nigerian experts including those from bio fuel, solar energy to name a few.

“Energy is to Information and Communication Technology (ICT) what blood is to human person,” he asserted.

Dr. Ekuwem who was flanked by the Executive Secretary and coordinator, for Manufacturers subgroup both of ATCON, Messrs Godwin Morgan and David Roberts, emphasised that the day electricity, for instance, is regularly made available to the industries, more employment would be created for the populace.

He further said that responses so far received by ATCON on the summit have been overwhelmingly encouraging and “all is now set for the summit.”

He reaffirmed that the focus would be on the way forward through bio fuels, hydro electricity plan among others rather than lamentations.

As said by him, the solution to be proclaimed must have Proof of Concept (PoC).

In addition, Dr. Ekuwem said that the event to be presided over by the Minister of State for Energy (Power), Mrs. Fatima Balarabe Ibrahim, would be graced by the Minister of Science & Technology, Mrs. Grace Ekpiwhre and Minister of State for Energy (Petroleum), Mr. Henry O. Ajumogobia, both would be attending as special guests and are expected to deliver goodwill messages to the participants, while Minister, Information and Communication, Mr. John Odey would gave a keynote address at the occasion.

He added that a good number of key players in the energy and power sector as well as operators in the telecommunications sector and other stakeholders in the nation’s economy are being expected.

Other dignitaries billed to make special presentations, he said, include the Executive Vice Chairman, Nigerian Communications Commission (NCC), Dr. Ernest Ndukwe, Chief Executive, Nigerian Electricity Regulatory Commission (NERC), Dr. Ransome Owan and Chief Executive, MTN Nigeria, Mr. Ahmad Farroukh.

Just as special presenters include the Managing Director, L M Ericsson Nigeria, Mr. Lief Edwall, Mr. Maduabuchi Uche of NetTel@Africa Nigeria Group and Managing Director, Orun Energy Limited, Mr. Kwabena R. Smith.

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Ndukwe to preside over AIM session in Geneva

Chief executive, the Nigerian Communications Commission (NCC) Dr. Ernest C. Ndukwe has been named the presiding officer at the forthcoming African Information Meeting (AIM) organised by the International Telecommunication Union (ITU) as part of its 2007 World Radio Congress (WRC-07) holding in Geneva at last quarter of this year.

Head, Public Affairs at NCC, Mr. Dave Imoko who disclosed this, noted that the World Radio Congress is the global meeting of experts that discuss and agree on proposals for various new applications, even as the 2007 edition would hold between October 22 and November 16.

He pointed out that the role of the Radiocommunication Sector (ITU-R) is to ensure the rational, equitable, efficient and economical use of the radio-frequency spectrum by all radiocommunication services, including those using the geostationary-satellite orbit, and to carry out studies on all frequency ranges without limitation on the basis of which recommendations are adopted.

Mr. Imoko also explained that AIM is a special forum organized by the ITU to enable African countries discuss and present the position of the continent on specific agenda issues, in order to finalise the African common proposal towards WRC-07.

He added that the AIM session is coming at the heels of the recent African preparatory meeting for WRC-07, hosted by Nigeria in Abuja and facilitated by the NCC.

The invitation to Dr. Ndukwe to chair the information meeting, he said, is not only an honour to him as a person but recognition of the role of Nigeria as an active member of the ITU.

Dr. Ndukwe has been a regular resource person at ITU organised events and has chaired a number of global meetings and committees of the ITU.

He is currently the Vice Chairman, the Telecom Development Advisory Group (TDAG) in the Development Bureau of the ITU and recently presided over the credential committee at the 2006 ITU Plenipotentiary conference in Antalia, Turkey.

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MTS donates to Police

MTSFirst Wireless Limited, has donated a set of three special emergency telephone lines to the Nigeria Police at Ikoyi-Lagos, to boost the communications network of the law enforcement agency in its overall operations to stem the tides of rising wave of crime in the state.

The hot-lines made available include two handheld lines with numbers: 01-7268024, 01-7268025 and a table-top phone with number: 01-7268020.

Making the donation to the Divisional Police Officer, Superintendent, Victor Okon-Otoyo, at his Ikoyi office by a team of MTS officials led by Mr. Obi Almona, Head of Logistics, MTS, said that the gesture is in line with the company’s corporate social responsibility.

“It is also an expression of care and concern for residents of Ikoyi as MTS marks its third commercial launch anniversary,” Mr. Almona said.

Speaking after receiving the phones on behalf of his division, Mr. Okon-Otoyo said the support shown by the telecommunications provider, would go a long way toward meeting the communication needs of modern crime fighting.

He also promised that the phones would be adequately utilized for public service.

“Fighting crime without communications is mundane, and MTS has with this gesture helped to ease existing communications gap within his division,” he said.

A press statement from MTS informed that in celebration of its anniversary, the telco recently launched a week long promotion, which saw MTS rewarding subscribers, including Business Centre Operators (BCOs) with 10 per cent bonus airtime on every recharge card loaded.

Also, MTS said the promo has afford prospective customers a chance to experience its unique quality and flexibility in an unbeatable phone price slash even as the company continues to excite its subscribers with free, unlimited on-net calls at off-peak period from Monday to Friday and a marathon free on-net delight at weekend.

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Economist ranks Nigeria 62nd in e-Readiness-07

Nigeria has been ranked 62nd in an electronic readiness (e-Readiness) survey conducted in 69 countries by the Economist Intelligence Unit (EIU).

A white paper released by the EIU and made available to Business Champion at the just concluded eNNOVATE 2007 in Lagos, was conducted in collaboration with the International Business Machines (IBM).

The survey topped by Denmark, saw the United States and Sweden following a tie, whereas Hong Kong came third, and Switzerland took the fourth position.

In addition, the survey indicated that Nigeria performed poorly in the overall policy and vision category, but was commended in its digital development strategies.

EIU also said that the survey was based on the state of adaptation of Information and Communication Technology (ICT) by the 69 countries under review and drawn from various continents of the world.

“And the ability of its consumers, businesses and governments to use ICT to their benefit,” EIU declared.

Since 2000, EIU has been publishing its annual e-readiness ranking for the world’s largest economies.

The ranking model evaluates the technological, economic, political and social assets of 69 countries, including the newest addition, Malta and their cumulative impact on their respective information economies.

E-readiness is the “state of play” of a country’s information and communications technology (ICT) infrastructure and the ability of its consumers, businesses and governments to use ICT to their benefit.

EIU pointed out that when a nation does more online or, as is increasingly the case, wirelessly, the premise is that its economy could become more transparent and efficient.

“Our ranking allows governments to gauge the success of their technology initiatives against those of other countries. It also provides companies that wish to invest in online operations with an overview of the world’s most promising investment locations,” EIU stated in part of the white paper.

The e-readiness rankings, EIU pointed out are weighed collection of nearly 100 quantitative and qualitative criteria, organised into six distinct categories measuring the various components of a country’s social, political, economic and of course technological development.

The underlying principle behind the rankings, the survey said, is that digital business is at its heart business, and that for digital transactions to be widely adopted and efficient they have to thrive in a holistically supportive environment.

“E-readiness derives from more than just the number of computers, broadband connections and mobile phones in the country; also critical are citizens’ ability to utilise technology skilfully, the transparency of the business and legal systems, and the extent to which governments encourage the use of digital technologies,” the white paper read.

Global Leader, IBM Institute for Business Value, Mr. George Pohle, noted that in this and previous e-readiness rankings, the EIU has worked in cooperation with the IBM, which through its extensive business research provides strategic insights and recommendations used by senior executives around the world.

The EIU, however, is entirely responsible for the rankings and for the content of this white paper.

“To keep their countries on a competitive track, governments are clearly committing to ICT infrastructure initiatives,” he said, stressing that in order to truly succeed in the global economy, the evidence showed that focus on public-private sector partnerships could be used to ignite economic growth.

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Christon, SUBEB team up on computer education

A Lagos-based business solutions expert, Christon Nigeria Limited, is teaming up with the Lagos State Universal Basic Educational Board (SUBEB) and Fidelity Bank Plc to host a seminar on Computer Education for Beginners in the country.

Chief executive, Christon, Mr. Chrysantus Okon, informed that workshop which is based on the principle of Public Private Partnership (PPP) initiative of the federal government, is to fill in the gap for beginners into the Nursery/Primary Schools on computer education.

The seminar, scheduled to hold on Monday, August 27 at Golden Gate Ikoyi, he also said, has been organised in such a way that it would be where the nurturing of knowledge would take its formal step.

Additionally, he said, that one of the nation’s leading Original Equipment Manufacturer (OEM), Omatek Computers Limited is supporting the seminar alongside Teledom Group, Open Learning Associates Ltd, SimbaNet Limited, Electronic Learning Systems, LG Electronics West Africa and Samsung Digital Convergence.

Mr. Okon further said that the event would equally play host to a one-day exhibition on computer education.

According to him, the seminar incorporates all the nursery and primary schools in Lagos State.

“Each of the schools has been given 5 slots at the seminar, made up of 3 officials on a fee of N2,500.00 each and 2 pupils free,” he said.

While Fidelity Bank, would be handy to provide credit facilities to stakeholders with which they can finance the acquisition of Information Technology (IT)-multimedia and computers in order to adequately equip their schools.

“So as to expand the frontiers of knowledge in computer education,” he said.

Equally, he said, the event has received separate endorsement each from the Association of Telecommunications Companies of Nigeria (ATCON) and from Nigeria Internet Group (NIG) the two IT-flag touch bearers, for having content to bridge the yawning divide in computer literacy in the country.

“Stakeholders in education will benefit from the seminar and exhibition, which promises to be a learn-right teach-right opportunity,” Mr. Okon submitted.

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Microsoft commends Nigerian students on software dev.

The global leader in software development, Microsoft, has commended Nigerian students for having the same enthusiasm on software evolution like their counterparts in other parts of the world.

Manager, Developer and Platform at Microsoft for West East Central Africa and Indian Ocean Islands, Attilla Szenvedi gave this commendation at the final session of the maiden Imagine Cup competition being organised by the company in Lagos.

The event held at the University of Lagos (UNILAG) Information and Communication Technology (ICT) Centre, Akoka-Lagos, he said, has shown that Nigerians students are as intelligent and creative like their counterpart elsewhere in the world.

“I am in awe of all of you participants here today. From what I have seen here today, Nigerian students have the same level of enthusiasm, intelligence and creativity as students anywhere else in the world. You have exhibited great potential and all the applications you developed are of world-class standard,” he said.

Business Champion recalls that Imagine Cup was designed by Microsoft to encourage students to apply their imagination, passion, and creativity to develop technology innovations that can make a difference in the world.

The five year-old global contest has more than 100,000 students from 100 countries competing at the global level, which is on-going in Soul, Korea, just as it had nine categories set up under three main groups, Technology Solutions, Skills Challenge and Digital Arts.

In Nigeria, the Imagine Cup Nigeria had students competing in three categories, cutting across Software Design, Embedded Development and Web Development.

Five teams have been selected to compete in the finals from entries sent by students in universities across the country, which include EasyLaw Academy, Remote Lecturing System (RLS), Smart Allocator, IntelligiAC and ThinkGP.

While EasyLaw Academy presented a web based e-learning application for law students, Smart Allocator developed a solution to simplify bed allocation in hostels, IntelligiAC created an artificial intelligence system to help student affairs departments in universities calculate student ‘Grade Point Aggregates’ more efficiently.

The winning entry was a remote lecturing system, which will enable lecturers to broadcast their lectures from any location developed by Team RLS. The software will enable students to participate in the lectures by logging on to a wireless LAN. The second prize went to IntelligiAC while ThinkGP won the prize for most innovative entry.

Whereas the panel of Judges has been drawn from Microsoft, Intel, HP and the Computer Professionals of Nigeria.

Also speaking at the event, Education Manager, Intel Corporation Nigeria, Olubunmi Ekundare congratulated the students, noting that they invested their own resources to develop the software, which have presented.

“In other countries, the competitors get a lot of support for projects like these. I am doubly proud of all of you, and am delighted to be a part of this initiative,” he said.

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