Developing rural telephony through PPP

Features of the week:

The need to boost rural telephony in the country through public-private partnership (PPP) has become imperative, writes REMMY NWEKE.

Introduction

OVER the years, Nigeria is known as the top black concentration on the continent, with over 140 million population, according to the 2006 population census. This goes to strengthen the declaration by some concerned experts that over 75 per cent Nigerians currently reside in the rural communities.

Apparently at this era of Information and Communication Technologies (ICT) no worthy state will declare an experiential growth without first advancing well-being of her citizenry.

Undoubtedly, the advent of Global System for Mobile communications (GSM) in 2001, spurred rural inclusion in the development of Nigeria as a country. So, it was not surprising that six years down the lane, most of the leading GSM operators, namely the MTN Nigeria Communications Limited, Celtel Nigeria Limited and Globacom Limited are already thinking rural and have claims of extending their services to these communities.

Hence, there is need to examine what stakeholders described as Public-Private Partnership (PPP) in developing rural telephony with focus on Nigeria.

Efforts by the government:

Prior to the new government of Alhaji Umaru Musa Yar’Adua, it was a dream of the erstwhile president, Chief Olusegun Obasanjo to increase telecommunications access and precisely on telephony with an estimated 636,256 lines across the three zones of the National Rural Telephony Programme (NRTP) roadmap before May 29, 2007 when he handed over leadership to his successor.

Although Obasanjo’s dream for rural telephony was not realised, but based on the project and relative facts before him in 2004, his administration was encouraged to take a grant from the Chinese government to the tune of $200 million (about N25,462,000,000.00).

Equally, Nigeria was expected to achieve rural penetration in 36 states of the federation including the Federal Capital Territory (FCT) Abuja, according to the director of NRTP at the Federal Ministry of Communications (MoC), Mr. S.S. Ahmed.

He noted that the second phase of the project, which began last quarter of 2006, was expanded with the addition of Messrs Huawei Technologies, noting that during the first phase, two-Chinese telcos were adopted into the project being executed by only Chinese firms, namely ZTE Corporation, and ASB Fixed.

The director emphasised that zone one made up of Kano, Kaduna, Bauchi, Yobe, Gombe, Borno, Katsina, Zamfara, Sokoto, Kebbi, Jigawa and Plateau, would be managed by ZTE. While zone two, comprised of Lagos, Oyo, Osun, Ogun, Ondo, Ekiti, Kwara, Niger, Kogi, Edo, Delta and Bayelsa states, to be administered by ASB Fixed. Just as Huawei is handling zone three through linking Enugu, Abia, Imo, Anambra, Ebonyi, Rivers, Akwa-Ibom, Cross-River, Benue, Taraba, Adamawa and Nassarawa states into the project.

He explained that by deploying Code Division Multiple Access (CDMA) the contractors; ZTE would deliver about 200,000, ASB fixed, 236, 256 and Huawei 200,000 lines respectively.

The government too via the industry regulator, Nigerian Communications Commission (NCC), introduced the State Accelerated Broadband Initiative (SABI) to further drive ICT penetration within the 36 states of Nigeria, even as the Universal Service Provision Fund (USPF) has been established with Mrs Lolia Emakpore on the steering.

Notwithstanding the initial efforts in 2001 which saw to absconding of a British firm, Rural Radio System (RRS) after collecting over 80 per cent of its contract price worth, $3.2 million (about N4.2 billion) to supply radio to the NRTP in 125 Local Government Areas (LGAs) out of the 740 nationwide, coupled with over payment of $.6 million.

Efforts by telcos:

Since launch in August 2001, MTN Nigeria, for instance, claims to have steadily deployed services across Nigeria and precisely in 223 cities and towns, more than 10,000 villages and communities and a growing number of highways across the country, spanning the 36 states of the country and FCT.

According to Corporate Service Executive, MTN Nigeria, Mrs. Amina Oyagbola, “Many of these villages and communities are being connected to the world of telecommunications for the first time ever.”

She recalled that MTN’s digital microwave transmission backbone, measuring 3,400 kilometre also known as Y’elloBahn, was unveiled by former President Obasanjo in January 2003.

For Celtel Nigeria, a company that prides itself as pan-African with operations spanning over 14 countries, its aggressive network rollout has advanced the desire towards ‘Making life better’ as it claims coverage in over 600 towns and 8,000 communities across the six geo-political zones of the country.

Also, Celtel Nigeria, last May introduced GSM payphones called Jembi Public Calling Office (PCO), expected to create over 60,000 jobs especially in the rural areas.

Public Relations Manager at Celtel Nigeria, Mr. Emmanuel Otokhine, informed that Jembi is an exciting brand promise-inspired product that leverages Celtel’s proposition to her subscribers, declaring, “It’s another tangible experience of Celtel customer centric brand.” He added that one major objectives of introducing Jembi was to improve rural telephony countrywide and give a boost to the economy. Pointing out that Jembi, is a complete business tool, offering the user several services including voice calls, Short Messaging Service (SMS) and Value Added Service (VAS) in either pre-paid or post-paid mode.

“It also has unique security features, flexible record keeping attributes, ability to connect with printers and scanners and a high capacity internal battery which provides over seven hours talk-time. The battery can be recharged easily,” he said.

He further said that Jembi payphone comes in plastic frame body with built-in billing functionality, dual power mode which means it could work with battery or electricity, durable keypad and display features, secured and simple to use with Subscriber Identification Module (SIM) and network lock features among others.

On the other hand, Globacom since launching on August 29, 2003, claims a revolutionary change into the nation’s GSM sector, even as it had in the first year of operation, grown GSM network to a record of over one million subscribers and covering in excess of 87 towns within nine months.

The subscriber figure at the moment stands at over 12 million with coverage extending to over 40,000 cities, towns, communities and major roads, thus making the company the second largest operator in Nigeria, even as it eyes extension into the West African sub-region as it is concluding negotiations with two neighbouring countries.

NCC connection:

This is coming as the Executive Vice Chairman (EVC), NCC, Dr. Ernest Ndukwe recently tasked the Organised Private Sector (OPS) within the telecommunications industry to be proactive on proffering solution that would boost the rural ICT penetration in the country.

Dr. Ndukwe who presided the occasion told participants at this year’s telecom stakeholders forum on the theme: Telecom Franchise & Virtual Operation: Accelerating Service Provisioning in Rural Nigeria,” in Lagos, that it is no longer debatable if the nation’s rural areas are yearning for telecommunications services, but how to cover them should be top on the OPS list of items.

The forum was organised by the Association of Telecommunications Companies of Nigeria (ATCON) in collaboration with NCC and Universal Service Provision Fund (USPF).

While recognising the fact that many rural communities are yet uncovered despite the efforts by telcos, he assured them of the commissions support.

“It’s worthy to note that many rural areas are still uncovered,” he said, stressing that his commission is working hard to ensure that the universal access to all parts of Nigeria is achieved within a short period, just as he reminded stakeholders that coverage in this instance means providing voice and data through broadband solution.

According to him, forum like this should not have more than two government agencies making presentations, but rather, OPS should use that as an opportunity to inform the government and its agencies of their expectations in moving the country and the industry forward by proffering solutions, mostly on the theme.

Actualising rural telephony via OPS

“Government does not have the intention to compete with the OPS in achieving this goal of accelerating ICT in rural areas,” he asserted, assuring that both State Accelerated Broadband Initiative (SABI) and USPF were established to readily work with the OPS to actualise this goal.

He used the opportunity to disclose that USPF would soon publish its plan for the extension of access to rural Nigeria, which must be from button-up structure.

Dr. Ndukwe therefore invited ICT companies to avail themselves the opportunity being displayed by USPF through ensuring that they submit proposals when the plan is published.

Also, the special guest of honour, former Minister of Science and Technology, Prof. Turner Isoun, counselled participants to reach out to rural communities in the country through establishing presence in all the council areas.

Represented by Director of Technology Acquisition and Assessment in the ministry, Dr. Umaru Bindir, Prof. Isoun equally noted that about 70 per cent of the population, which is in the rural areas are yet to have various access as far as telecommunications is concerned.

He advised participants at the forum to ensure that they channel their desire to develop rural communities in the country by engaging other industry groups rather than the major operators, emphasising that this way, they would be attracting interests from other industries into telecommunications sector.

“I want to see industry groups talking to groups of people outside this sector such as farmers so that they would know where fertiliser is and at the most affordable prices,” he said.

And for the ATCON president, Dr. Emmanuel Ekuwem, the desire may be there to involve the rural communities in the country in telecommunications evolutions, but there are questions begging for answers to motivate the step.

These, he said, include how many of the telcos are ready to deploy services to these underserved communities, waive their profits by seeing rural telephony as Corporate Social Responsibility (CSR) among others.

Conclusion:

The viability of this partnership between government and the private sector should be emulated and no doubt, has brought lots of energy in telecom penetration into the hinter-lands as of today, Nigerians could travel from East to West and North to the South without switching off their phones because of lack of network access, except for very interior areas.

As matter of fact, in Nigeria where the market is now are the rural communities, as the minor and big networks battle the major cities like Lagos, Abuja and Port Harcourt.

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OOXML: CSOs allege corrupt tendencies

INFORMATION and Communication Technologies (ICT)-based African Civil Society Organisations (CSOs) have alleged that corrupt tendencies influenced the voting of developing countries, at the recently ended exercise to ratify the Ecma Office Open Extensible Markup Language (OOXML) in Geneva, Switzerland, especially from developing economies.

XML is a World Wide Web Consortium (W3C) initiative that allows information and services to be encoded with meaningful structure and semantics, which computers and humans could understand. XML is great for information exchange, and could easily be extended to include user-specified and industry-specified tags.

It would be recalled that on Sunday, September 2, 2007, member countries of the International Standards Organisation (ISO) voted for the initial draft of OOXML seeking endorsement of the international body, including Nigeria, just as CSOs also alleged that the OOXML has over 200 flaws.

The proposal led in campaign by software giant, Microsoft Corporation alongside over 20 others, claimed that over 2000 partners representing 67 countries on six continents gave green lights for the ratification of OOXML by ISO.

However, at the voting proper, the required 66 per cent criteria was not met as the proponents got 53 per cent, while those against recorded about 26 per cent, even as 23.5 per cent abstained.

According to reports, ISO received a total of 87 votes, of which 70 was given either by the Secretariat country (USA), participating members (“P Member”) or observers (“O Member”) and at various stages of the voting only these 70 votes were taken into consideration.

Reacting to the voting pattern, some members of CSOs from Senegal, Cote d’Ivoire and Nigeria agreed that corrupt tendencies must have influenced the exercise, mostly from developing countries on the continent and beyond.

They argued that about 17 countries, which took part in the exercise were perceived to be relatively corrupted, according to the Corruption Perceptions Index 2006 (CPI index).

“… Mostly supported the OOXML, with approval given by 13, approval with comments 2, abstention 0, disapproval 2,” a senior member of African CSOs informed.

The 2006 CPI index was a research by Prof. J. Graf Lambsdorff of the University of Passau and commissioned by Transparency International.

CSOs further stated that of the most corrupted half (CPI index less than 3.95) 23 or 77 per cent voted for approval, approval or approval with comments) and 7 or 23 per cent for disapproval; 5 abstained.

They emphasised that of the least corrupted half in the CPI index, which is more than 3.95, that is, 13 or 54 per cent voted for approval of OOXML and 11 or 46 voted for disapproval, while 11 abstained.

Some of the critics with hindsight blamed the software giant of aggressive lobbying for a backlash of the voting at the draft OOXML, even as out of the 87 countries that participated, only 69 voted yes or no; 18 of those, or 26 per cent of the total, opposed the bid.

Under the voting rules, no more than 25 per cent of countries could oppose the bid.

The work to standardise Open XML is being carried out by a technical committee of Ecma International, which includes representatives from Apple, Barclays Capital, BP, British Library, Essilor, Intel, Microsoft, NextPage, Novell, Statoil, Toshiba and the United States Library of Congress, among others.

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Still on fraudulent emails

Market intelligence:

A fraudulent electronic mail was making yet another round inviting Non-Governmental Organisations (NGOs) to United States (U.S.) for a summit on development.

Concerned Internet experts noted that several erroneous steps have showed that those behind the fraud are simply gold-diggers wanting to reap people of their hard earned money through payment for event or summit that does not exist and would never held.

The first of such wrong steps by these gold diggers was the caption for the call for participation, which read, “Invitation Participation to first International NGOs & CBOs Summits on development/JACOBSON.”

Expert sources faulted this, saying that Jacobson, a renowned family enterprise in the United States would not make call for participation and the same time trying to stress emphasis on the name – JACOBSON.

The second wrong note for the perpetrators, expert said was that the address for remittance for the summit participation fees was given as in Togo, West Africa, a link that does not have any connotation to JACOBSON in the United States.

Additional wrong note for the perpetrators was the fact that the invitation was not ‘professionally’ scripted to international standard, hence it began with the abridged brief on Jacobson companies, which was founded in 1968.

However, the original call for participation from these fraudsters dated August 2, 2007, stated the event was to hold from September 10-14, and 24 through 28 both in United Kingdom.

Part of letter read: “Dear Colleagues, The present notification has been previously sent to your office through postal mail transmission and through electronic mail transmission but since our Office did not receive any confirmation from you, we send it to you anew.”

And for the finances, the fraudsters invited those interested to send their Western Union to:

Mr Franck JOHNSON, The Africa Bureau- J.I.D.F, 125 Blvd de la Paix, Tel. (+228) 942 7896, Kara-TOGO – West Africa, By Email at: franckjohnson.togo@mail.org.

Noteworthy here is that the likes of InterPol and Economic and Financial Crimes Commission in the West African region should join forces to ensure that such people as this are brought to book, especially when there are glaring links to the perpetrators such as the email used and telephone numbers that are traceable.

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David Mark to preside @ AfriTECC-07

The Senate President, Dr. David Mark has been slated to preside and lead the federal government’s delegation to the two-day African Information Technology, Computers and Courier (AfriTeCC-07) conference.

The conference which holds September 25 and 26, 2007, in Lagos and being organised by ITWorld International Magazine, would also feature keynote presentations from eminent personalities including Information and Communications Minister, Mr. John Odey, Executive Vice Chairman (EVC), Nigerian Communications Commission, Dr Ernest Ndukwe, Postmaster General, Mori Ibrahim Baba and industry captains comprising of the Managing Director, Celtel Nigeria, Mr. Bayo Ligali; Dr Idika Ochaa of Digital Bridge Institute, Abuja and the Executive Vice Chairman, Dr Emmanuel Ekuwem, Teledom International Group.

According to the organisers, the Managing Director, Ericsson Nigeria, Mr. Leif Edwall; Chief Marketing Officer, MTN Nigeria; Mr. Bola Akingbade; Managing Director, Motorola Nigeria, Mr. Ralph Udeogu; Managing Director, DHL Regional Services Ltd, Olusha Pearce; Ralph Ozoude, Country Manager, UPS and Managing Director, Tradeways Express, Larry Chinekezi, are being expected to grace the event.

The list of panel discussants for courier include the Assistant Post-Master General, in-charge of Courier Regulatory Department, Dr Simon Emeje; B.P Ruwase, Executive Director, Panalpina International; Toyin Olufade, CEO, Swift Courier and Larry Chinekezi. Panel discussion on telecoms include: Uchenna Obidike, CEO, Weco Systems Group; Chima Onyekwere, CEO, Linkserve Nigeria; Ralph Udeogu of Motorola and Gbenga Adebayo, Consultant to MTN on VGC Communications integrations.

Proudly sponsored by Ericsson Nigeria, Nigerian Communications Commission (NCC), Nigerian Postal Service (NIPOST), Celtel Nigeria, MTN Nigeria Communications, Bourdex Telecom, Weco Systems, Teledom International, Linkserve Nigeria, Reltel Wireless and Motorola Nigeria, the confab has been described as Africa’s definitive event aimed at exploring the latest business, technology and service opportunities for enhanced revenue generation in telecoms, postal, computers, courier and Internet.

Highlights of the event would include the opening ceremony, keynote sessions, strategic presentations and technical sessions expected to offer new insights and practical experiences on: Critical factors for successful 3G launch in Nigeria; strategies for increased revenue generation with 3G; balancing the base station bottom line in 3G networks.

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NITTA-07 calls for entries

The organisers of the annual Nigerian Information Technology and Telecom Awards (NITTA) have called for submission of entries for the year 2007.

The awards which is in its sixth year, has proved itself as a means of sensitising the Nigerian and African markets, just as plans have been advanced for it to take place on November 16, this years.

The event scheduled to take place at the Musical Society of Nigeria (MUSON) Centre, Onikan Lagos, would also be an avenue to celebrate the nation’s six years of Global System for Mobile Communications (GSM).

According to the organisers, the event is coming as the government through the activities of the regulator, the Nigerian Communications Commission is shifting attention into the much neglected rural areas of the country and accelerated focus in broadband Internet connectivity as a way of reducing cost of doing business, generally.

Chairman, NITTA Board of Trustees, Dr. Tom Adaba, while announcing the date for this year’s event, disclosed that it would form a platform to celebrate the gains and successes of the past as well as the future prospects in the ICT industry.

As said by him, this year’s event would bring the various stakeholders in the industry and related sectors together in what promises to be an evening of sweet memories.

“Planning of this year’s awards which commenced late last year, has reached advanced stage,” he declared.

Dr. Adaba also said more than ever before the board is proud of developments in the nation’s ICT sector.

“Indeed, awareness is vital in telling the history of this revolution appropriately. NITTA 2007 therefore will build on the successes of the last one year and consolidate as well as applaud the actors and operators in the sector who have contributed immensely through their products and services including professional skills,” he said, stressing that by so doing, the board believed that they will be encouraged to do better and in the long run, Nigeria will be the better for it.

Dr. Adaba said that there was need to encourage ICT operators to work for the benefit of the populace as this would lead to increased competition, better quality of service delivery, innovation in products and services, enterprise and increased investment in the sector.

He emphasised that the country is entering a new phase in its ICT infrastructure development with more companies joining the race and network operators upgrading their capacity and recent mergers and acquisitions, among other innovations.

Dr. Adaba urged stakeholders to gear up to be evaluated through the awards programme since it would not only facilitate ICT growth in the country, but would also enhance competition, which is good for the sector and the country.

Champion Infotel recalls that IT & Telecom Digest instituted NITTA in 2002 and, ever since, the programme has yearly attracted the support and participation of the leading ICT organisations within and outside Nigeria, while the massive participation of the Federal Ministry of Communications, Federal Ministry of Science and Technology, NCC and the National Information Technology Development Agency, among other government agencies, has never been lacking.

Equally, various state governments including Lagos, Ogun and Akwa Ibom have shown a consistent presence at the event, just as this year promises to attract even more state chief executives.

Speaking on his company’s plan for NITTA 2007, Editor-in-Chief of IT & Telecom Digest magazine, Mr. Mkpe Abang said as a standard practice with NITTA, there would be competitive categories to be advertised for corporate bodies and individuals to make entries and/or nominations as the case may be and this will be announced in a broader perspective.

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WWTBAM: MTN, Ultima lift group B with N1m

MTN Nigeria Communications and Ultima Communications have lifted the group B participants at its sponsored popular TV show, Who Wants To Be A Millionaire (WWTBAM), with the group going home with N1,000,000, at a special session in Lagos.

Champion Infotel recalls that MTN’s involvement in the programme brought success and stability to the Millionaire show, thus making it the biggest TV show in the country, while Ultima holds the ace as the programme promoters.

The session anchored by Mr. Frank Edoho, saw two of four members each, contesting for the N1 million through correct responses to current affairs and random questions, which eventually was won by group B led by Mr. Kelechi Okorie.

Speaking at the event, chief executive, Ultima Communications, Mr. Femi Ayeni, said that apart from the opportunity to win life-changing money, the Millionaire Tv show is more of education than entertainment, structured around promoting technologies.

Mr. Ayeni said he was thrilled by the participation, and the vision to promote a programme that is helping to build knowledge in the society.

Whereas the group team B got a cheque of N250,000 each, their counterparts in group A were rewarded with the sum of N50,000 each.

Mr. Ayeni further explained that the Millionaire show is not about being knowledgeable in a particular subject but having general knowledge on nearly every issue under the sun.

Later a total of 40 winners were chosen to benefit from the N20,000 audience largesse from the sponsors.

In his remark the Master Brand, MTN Nigeria, Mr. Kola Oyeyemi, promised that like its robust brand, MTN was ready to ensure the show remain a robust statement as it enters a new season.

MTN, he said, has invested up to N10m since the programme began, especially since home play was introduced for viewers and the live audience could also now take something home, adding that more goodies are in the line up.

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PNN to establish 105 mobile phone outlets

Value Added Service (VAS) company, the Private Networks Nigeria Limited (PNN), has received 4 million dollars (about N501.4 million) to be used in establishing 105 mobile phone retail outlets nationwide.

The project being funded Aureos West Africa Fund (AWAF) would facilitate expansion of the company’s operational base while increasing its portfolio offerings.

Chief executive, PNN, Alhaji AbdulRahman Abiola-Odunowo, informed that the investment of AWAF in PNN would further position the company in taking leadership position in her four core areas of operations, especially in provision of integrated site maintenance within the nations telecommunications sector, which began in year 2003.

“With this investment, PNN will now be able to expand its capacity to effectively manage between 2,000 and 3,000 BTS within Nigeria and West African sub region,” he said, adding that in the nearest future, PNN tends to offer sales of mobile phones and accessories in the One hundred and Five (105) retail outlets it will be opening during the next 12 months.

Managing Partner of AWAF, Mr. Jacob Kholi, said that the investment in PNN fits well with its portfolio strategy of identifying and investing in companies that have strong fundamentals in their respective industries.

He stressed that the investment will strengthen the company ahead of its competitors to enable it take advantage of the many opportunities in the telecoms services sector and facilitate the generation of good returns to all stakeholders.

Champion Infotel recalls that award winning PNN is a licensee of the Nigerian Communications Commission (NCC) and was set up to provide telecommunications solutions to both business and individual users throughout the country, while focusing on sales and distribution of telecoms products, supply and installation of telecoms equipment, operations and maintenance of Global System for Mobile communications (GSM) and Private Telephone Operators (PTO) facilities, provision of engineering support services and value added services.

Relatively, AWAF is a joint-venture private equity fund between local Nigeria investors and international finance institutions.

AWAF local investors comprised of Standard Chartered Bank Nigeria Limited and Ecobank Nigeria Plc whereas the international investors are CDC Group Plc (UK), Norfund (Norway), European Investment Bank (EIB), Canadian Investment Fund for Africa (CIFA) and Nordic Development Fund (NDF).

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ALTON wants Fashola to call LASIMRA to order

THE Association of Licensed Telecommunications Operators of Nigeria (ALTON), has urged the Lagos State governor, Mr. Babatunde Raji Fashola (SAN) to call the Lagos State Infrastructure Maintenance and Regulatory Agency (LASIMRA) to order.

Even as it has petitioned the Federal Government over the excesses of LASIMRA led by Mr. Joe Igbokwe, insisting that regulation of telecom companies in the state by the agency is illegal, and denied any health implication due to installation of telecom infrastructure in communities.

Reacting to recent media reports, on the ban of erecting new telecom masts in Lagos State, placed by LASIMRA, ALTON chairman, Mr. Gbenga Adebayo said that the actions of the agency depicts nothing but motives to generate revenues for the state.

He expressed concern over the persistence harassment of its members by LASIMRA officials and dismantling of telecom infrastructure, despite a recent court ruling in February this year.

“We’re concerned that despite the subsisting judgment of the Federal High Court in Suit No. FHC/L/CS/517/06: The Registered Trustees of ALTON & Ors v Lagos State Government & Ors that Engr Igbokwe in the said media address warned that any telecom operator who embarks upon base station erection, and installation without a permit duly issued by LASIMRA would be appropriately sanctioned,” he noted.

He pointed out that the aforementioned court action had challenged the LASIMRA Act through which the Lagos State Government (LASG) sought to regulate the activities of telecom operators within the State.

ALTON also reminded LASIMRA that the regulation of telecom industry in the country is the exclusive preserve of the Federal Government through the Nigerian Communications Commission (NCC).

As said by him, in the final judgment delivered by Auta J. on February 25, 2007, the court held that telecommunications is a matter under the exclusive legislative list of the 1999 Constitution and accordingly “No State Government or State House of Assembly has the jurisdiction to legislate on it, any such legislation is null and void” and “To the extent that it seeks to regulate the activities of telecoms operators in Lagos State, the IMRA law is an encroachment on the Nigerian Communications Act, a Federal Legislation which “covers the field” with respect to the regulation of telecommunications infrastructure in Nigeria.”

ALTON further said that the appeal has become necessary because LASIMRA’s actions and insinuations was not healthy for the development of telecommunications in the country and Lagos State in particular.

According to him, there is no scientific evidence to show that telecommunications infrastructure is a health risk for the host communities as alleged by LASIMRA, warning it could instigate the public against telcos.

ALTON commended the Gov. Fashola, for lifting the ban on road excavations and earth cum tar cut activities by telecoms operators.

“We recognise and commend His Excellency’s recognition of the interest of the business community and subscribers,” Mr. Adebayo declared.

ALTON further noted that in pursuant to NCC guidelines, the commission has continually encouraged operators to collocate wherever technically feasible and operators are currently working towards increasing collocation sites.

Hence, ALTON was concerned that the motives touted in Mr. Joe Igbokwe, the General Manager, LASIMRA’s media utterances lately was engrossed on the telecoms industry without mention of the hundreds of mast and towers belonging to the Power Holding Company of Nigeria (PHCN), Radio and Television Stations, oil companies, banks and state government agencies in Lagos State, who collectively have more mast and towers than telecommunication services providers.

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Convergence Tech launches Ecoroam suite

A privately owned Information and Communication Technology (ICT),Convergence Technologies (CT), has launched a suite of communications solutions known as Ecoroam, that offers cost effective and comprehensive global mobility of internet and voice services to travellers.

Chief Operations Officer (COO) of the firm, Mr. Ladipo Adedeji, informed that the Ecoroam is targeted at business and professional executives to avail them active transactions at any time and anywhere.

Ecoroam, he said, provides affordable, secure Internet and voice roaming to subscribers at travel destinations in over 150 countries using one simple login user interface.

He also said that nowadays offices are characterized by a highly mobile workforce that spends 60 per cent of their time on the “move”.

“In fact they carry their offices with them namely Pocket Pc’s, Personal Digital Assistant (PDA’s) and Laptops,” he noted.

Mr. Adedeji added that the services Convergence Technologies offer include the Ecoroam Internet and the Ecoroam voice.

He explained that the Ecoroam Internet provides executives who are always on the move access to corporate data and applications from anywhere in the world.

“It allows users to access the Internet via high speed broadband connections at an amazing 100,000 hotspots including 852 international airports, 11,200 hotels, 40,000 shopping malls, fast food outlets to name a few,” Mr. Adedeji said.

He pointed out that the beauty of this solution lies in the simplicity of its use expressed in the ability to access all these hotspots around the world through one single account and for a flat rate in 100 countries.

Ecoroam, he further said, provides Global Packet Radio Service (GPRS) access in over 40 countries worldwide.

He emphasised that with the Ecoroam voice service, Nigerian travellers would now be able to roam their local numbers internationally in 150 countries while bypassing roaming rates.

“We want every Nigerian traveller with a phone be it Code Division Multiple Access (CDMA) or Global System for Mobile communications (GSM) to access a first class roaming service that accommodates both post-paid and prepaid customers without stringent conditions and without them emptying their pockets.

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Starcomms to roll out in 3 cities

Leader in the Code Division Multiple Access (CDMA) Third Generation (3G) operator in the country, Starcomms Limited, has advanced plans to roll out in northern cities of Kaduna and Zaria, just as Benin is also on course.

Chief executive, Starcomms Limited, Mr. Maher Qubain, revealed this at the reception organised by the company to celebrate its awards at the 2007 edition of Nigeria Telecoms awards in Lagos.

He said that the telco is determined to further expand her geographic presence in the country, and has concluded plans to roll out in Kaduna and Zaria, in the next one week and Benin within the next 45 days.

He added that when completed, the network’s coverage area would increase to 12 cities and propel it towards the targeted one million mark before the end of the year from the current 750,000.

Mr. Qubain said that only recently the Abuja, Aba, Onitsha and Asaba joined Lagos, Port Harcourt, Ibadan, Kano and Maiduguri as cities where the company’s services are available.

Champion Infotel recalled that Starcomms was recently honour with the Telecoms Company of the Year and Best Cross Over Network of the Year awards won by the organisers of Nigeria Telecom Awards.

“We are committed to giving Nigerians the best they deserve. Presently, we are operating in 10 cities, I want to assure you that in the next 45 days, our network will be in three other major cities, Kaduna, Zaria and Benin,” he said.

Mr. Qubain noted with the company’s aggressive expansion project and the nation emerging as the business hub of the West African sub-Saharan West Africa subscribers should not expect anything less as far as quality services and innovative products are concerned.

He said that new technology is a fulfilment of the company’s promise to constantly make world-class products and services available to Nigerian consumers.

With an average of 25,000 lines per day, the company, which was commercially launched in 1990, is nearing the million mark in its subscribers’ base powered by a robust marketing strategy and the mobile series – 07028 – activated in February this year.

While expressing appreciation for the awards, the Starcomms’ boss thanked the organisers, the media, the subscribers and other stakeholders, for their support and recognising the contributions Starcomms has made to the development of Nigeria’s telecommunications industry.

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Celtel supports MOBO African awards

Celtel International has announced its support for the 2007 edition of the “Best Music Star - African Category” of the Music of Black Origin (MOBO) awards.

Confirming this development, chief executive, Celtel Nigeria, Mr. Bayo Ligali, said that the award ceremony to be held in London on Wednesday, September 19, 2007, would give African music acts including Nigeria’s Hip Hop rave, Tu Face Idibia, and D’Banj (Dapo Daniel Oyebanjo), the opportunity to share global music limelight with several popular acts such as smash hit “Umbrella” star, Rihanna, American rapper, 50 Cent (Curtis James Jackson III), and Senegalese-American hip hop and R&B singer, Akon, among others.

He also said that music acts nominated in the African award category include Wambali Mkandawire (Malawi); Bebe Cool (Uganda); Kabelo (SA); Eric Wainaina (Kenya); Jua Cali (Kenya); Tu Face Idibia (Nigeria) and D’Banj (Nigeria).

Some of the artistes nominated in the other categories include Akon, Rihanna, Kanye West, Joss Stone, 50 Cent, Beverley Knight and Sadie Ama.

MOBO awards were created to honour best artists who perform music of black origin irrespective of their race or nationality.

A press statement made available to Champion Infotel and endorsed by Mr. Otokhine, quoted the Chief Executive Officer, Celtel Nigeria, Mr. Adebayo Ligali said, the telco was delighted to be part of the sponsorship of MOBO award.

“By showcasing music of African origin, MOBO awards contribute to the promotion and reinforcement of the black music heritage which is the core of our African identity,” he declared.

He added that music lovers globally could vote for their favourite Best African Musician as well as for other nominees in the other award categories at the award website, www.mobo.com.

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Operators celebrate GSM technology @ 20

It was a celebration time for the Global System for Mobile Association (GSMA) at the weekend as it commemorated the 20th anniversary of the Global System for Mobile Communications (GSM).

Champion Infotel recalls that on September 7, 1987 15 operators from 13 countries signed a memorandum of understanding that led to the development of GSM, the first pan-European mobile standard and, subsequently, the first global mobile standard.

A report by David Meyer of ZDNet UK, quoted the chief executive of the GSM Association, Rob Conway, as saying that deal was widely regarded as the foundation of today’s global mobile phone industry.

“The 1987 agreement is widely regarded as the foundation of today’s global mobile-phone industry and the birth of one of the greatest technological achievements of our age,” Mr. Conway said.

For the former Vodafone chief executive and one of the deal’s signatories, Sir Christopher Gent, it was the “single most important agreement in the history of telecommunications.”

He asserted that GSM had “done more to bridge the digital divide than any other innovation.”

GSM now has a monopoly among mobile services, with 85 per cent of the market.

The technology, according to experts, have given boost to two and a half billion users across 218 countries and territories, with more than a billion new handsets being bought every year.

More than seven trillion minutes of calls are made and about two and a half trillion Short Message Service (SMS) are sent over GSM networks every year, according to the GSM Association.

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BTE makes a debut

Image and Publics Communications Limited (IPCL) has introduced a cutting a media network known as Business Technology Edge (BTE).

Executive Producer at BTE, Ms Iyabo Oladeji, informed that the company tends to lead in technology business information provision.

She noted that the network started broadcasting in the West African Sub-Region from Accra, the Ghanaian capital on Ghana Television (GTV) and TV3.

BTE, she said, also delivers timely, incisive and informative news and reports on Information and Communication Technology (ICT) and business developments from around the continent with a bias for corporate West Africa using MiTV and DSTV 156 as a launch pad.

“The network consist of a quarterly print version biz-tech magazine, BTE TV, BTE Radio programme, and a popular web portal www.btenews.com which is constantly updated to report business technology news as they break,” she said, in addition to public relations and perception management division.

The TV and radio programmes by BTE, she said, are aimed at promoting knowledge diffusion on business and technology in Africa with a view to achieving a level of interconnection that enables countries in West Africa sub-region create partnerships that build the region.

“Business and Technology Edge will provide companies with the opportunity to showcase their new products and explain the advantages of their brands,” she said.

BTE TV, according to her, currently airs on DSTV Channel 156, MiTV Lagos, 8.30 am every Saturday.

This is in addition to T3 Accra, and GTV Ghana, even as it would soon be on African Independent Television (AIT), Galaxy, GOTEL and Silverbird TV.

“It is a 30 minute morning programme that provides current news, interviews of special guests, and special reports on products and happenings in ICT businesses,” she declared.

Ms Oladeji pointed out that the BTE Radio broadcast is already running on major networks across the sub-region in West Africa including Ghana: Joy FM Accra, Nigeria: Star FM, Lagos, Ray power, Lagos, Abuja, Port Harcourt, Jos, Kaduna, Edo and Yenagoa.

While most of its programme would be anchored by well-trained professionals Pamela Okoro and Lawson Ovih.

IPCL, she explained is in partner with Knowledge Media International (KMI) media conglomerate; owners and publishers of IT Edge magazine, published in English and French languages.

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Rebranding: Celtel now Zain

Remmy Nweke in South Africa

In efforts to unify its trading name, management of MTC Group, the owners of pan-African Global System for Mobile communications (GSM) trading as Celtel International has began another rebranding spree and would now be known as Zain in all its operations.

Effective from Saturday, September 8, 2007, Zain is the new corporate master brand name for the Group formerly known as MTC and is already taken the new name in Kuwait, Jordan, Bahrain and Sudan, while in Iraq its currently known as MTC-Atheer, in Lebanon as MTC-Touch whereas in 14 sub-Saharan countries in Africa as Celtel including Burkina Faso, Chad, Democratic Republic of the Congo, Republic of the Congo, Gabon, Kenya, Malawi, Madagascar, Niger, Nigeria, Sierra Leone, Tanzania, Uganda and Zambia.

Confirming this development, Media and External Relations Manager at Zain Group, Mr Antoine Aboukhalil, informed that MTC Group “adopted a new name ‘Zain’ to unify its different brands.”

He also said that the telco, which is providing mobile services in 21 countries across the Middle East and Africa (MEA), has chosen Zain as the Group’s corporate master brand “with immediate effect.”

He explained that hitherto, four countries operations in Kuwait and Bahrain, both formerly MTC-Vodafone, Jordan formerly Fastlink and Sudan formerly Mobitel, will immediately be re-branded to Zain.

The Group’s operations in the Kingdom of Saudi Arabia would take on the name Zain in early 2008, which is coming after being awarded the third mobile telecommunications licence in July 2007.

Mr Aboukhalil emphasised that the Group’s operation in Iraq, under MTC Atheer, will also re-brand to Zain in the near future after recently winning an extended 15 year nationwide licence.

“All new or acquired operations run by the Group will be branded Zain,” he declared.

Also, a press statement made available to Daily Champion quoted the chief executive officer of the Zain group, Dr. Saad Al Barrak, as saying, that Zain would bring together all its operations under a single, strong and unique identity.

“We believe it is the optimal platform upon which we can build a global brand with the ultimate goal of better serving our customers. It will propel the Group towards becoming one of the top 10 global mobile telecommunications companies in the next four years,” he said.

Mr. Aboukhalil further said that the new pay-off theme of the change of the brand to Zain is now ‘A wonderful world’ stressing that it captured the energy, inspiration and diversity of the group’s customers, employees and other stakeholders.

The new logo and its colourful identity, he said, reflected the Group’s freshness, boldness and vitality with the ‘swirl’ communicating the idea of an aura, something important to human life echoing growth, progression and diversity.

According to him, the new identity was developed in partnership with world leading consulting firms and advertising agencies.

Brand architect and the Group’s Chief Commercial Officer (CCO), Tito Alai said that the name Zain was selected from “a list of over 400 after extensive research across many countries and cultures validated its broad global appeal.”

The CCO explained that although it was chosen for its simplicity, memorability and ease of pronunciation across the global marketplace, as an added bonus Zain was found to be rich in positive connotations.

Alai explained for example, that in Arabic, Zain means “beautiful, good and wonderful,” in Latin it means ‘dark horse’ and it has many positive meanings in other cultures found in the continents of Africa, Asia, Europe and beyond.

“Zain tested extremely well among cross sections of the potential global audience and with the planned investment will become a formidable brand within a short period,” he said.

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IGF: African voices must be heard @ Rio -07 - CSOs

By Remmy Nweke in South Africa

Civil Society Organisations (CSOs) on the continent have advanced plans to send a 20-member delegation to the Internet Governance Forum (IGF) to be held in Rio de Janero, Brazil in November to ensure that African voices are heard.

At a roundtable session on IGF organised by the Open Society Institute for Southern Africa (OSISA) at the on-going 11^th Highway Africa conference in Grahamstown , South Africa , CSOs resolved to ensure that Africa is not relegated at the global meeting.

IGF in Rio is being organised by the IGF Secretariat based in Geneva , Switzerland in support of the United Nations Secretary-General’s mandate from the World Summit on the Information Society (WSIS) with regard to convening a new forum for multi-stakeholder policy dialogue.

Speaking on behalf of the CSOs, Ms Natasha Primo of the Association for Progressive Communications (APC) said that the essence of bringing the crusade to the largest gathering of pen-pushers on the continent was to guarantee that African communicators were not left out.

According to her, the session was basically to raise awareness in the participation of Africans at the IGF by having an understanding of the theme focusing on access, openness, security and critical Internet resources as well as capacity/development agenda.

African CSOs, she pointed out would be sending a 20-man delegate to the global meeting to “Get African voices heard centred on capacity and development agenda. We must make ourselves heard in all the themes.”

She added that the CSOs presently want to continue the crusade online with so as to develop shared position to the Rio meeting with Africa at heart.

“We had a preliminary discussion and we want to take that online for further discussions,” she asserted, adding that those interested should contact OSISA.

The online discussion would kick off on September 15 and that it’s an open invitation to organisations and individuals to join hands with CSOs to make certain the aim is achieved.

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Gender issues, not only women affairs - Panellists

Panellists at a session on ‘Quality and Professionalism in the Newsroom: The Gender Dimension’ at the on-going Highway Africa 2007 in Grahamstown, South Africa, have called on African women to strive towards having a better understanding of what gender is all about.

This, they said would enable them to see gender really as not only women affairs so as to be sensitive to gender issues alongside their men counterparts.

For South Africa GEMSA, Mrs Kubi Rama, gender does not mean a issue affecting a particular sex, but rather for both sexes, adding that if it is one sided, it would contribute to the denoting of womenfolk precisely and the society in general.

Kenyan trainer, Mrs Rose Okolo pointed out that it would take training to truly enthrone balanced reporting on gender issues, stressing that it is only when constant training is given and assimilated that people of the continent could now expect better and balanced gender stories at all levels of media organisations.

Equally, Zambian Brenda Zulu and freelance writer, said that womenfolk are currently blind folded on gender issues, thus they could not see direction on which the world is going, especially in covering of Information and Communication Technology (ICT).

She further said that for her as a lady to delve into the field of ICT dominated by men journalists, she has to work ‘double hard’ to prove a point.

According to her, gender stories are seen by media organisations as not the kind of stories that would sale their papers, adding that all depends on the understanding of the leadership of any given organisation, just as she reiterated the need for training for all levels of media practitioners on the continent.

A contributor at the forum, Mr. Ansbert Ngurumo noted that charity should begin at home as the panellists were all women, and suggested that he expected due process of gender equality to at least begun with the balanced nomination of panellists in an occasion like this.I

n addition, other participants who spoke at the session enjoined women to take the bull by the horn and stop playing the second fiddle in order to exhibit their best, especially by sticking to professionalism against all odds.

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