Telecoms: Unprecedented poor service to hit Lagos

Unprecedented poor telecom quality of service (QoS) may soon take over the commercial nerve centre of the nation, Lagos, due to the excesses of the Lagos State Infrastructure Maintenance and Regulatory Agency (LASIMRA), says the Association of Licensed Telecommunications Operators of Nigeria (ALTON).

This is coming as the group said its ready for dialogue, that is, only if it would be meaningful, as being solicited by LASIMRA.

Reacting to the incessant arrests and detention of telcom officials from its member companies in Lagos, over what LASIMRA alleged as unlawful laying of infrastructure, ALTON said that the trend would impact adversely not only to the development of telecommunications in the country, but also to Lagos as the nerve centre of the nation and would be drastically hit with the increased poor quality of services across the networks.

ALTON chairman, Mr. Gbenga Adebayo, said their attention have been drawn to some media adverts inciting communities against telecom operators sponsored by LASIMRA, asking those communities to call the agency on sighting of telcos site engineers.

He added that the most worrisome now is the arrests of site engineers and confiscation of their tools as well as cables.

“It is with considerable concern that we draw attention to recent closure of some operators’ sites on the orders of the General Manager of LASIMRA,” he said, lamenting that ALTON major concern is that this act of disregard for the rule of law is coming from a state led by Mr. Babatunde Tunde Fashola, a Senior Advocate of Nigeria (SAN).

“We are concerned by the grave disregard for the rule of law demonstrated by LASIMRA and the potentially deleterious consequences of these act,” he declared, adding that telecom regulation is an exclusive of the federal government.

Champion Infotel recalled that on February 25, 2007, a federal high court presided over by Justice Joseph Auta, delivered judgement in favour of ALTON in suit No. FHC/L/CS/517/06, which was on registered trustees of ALTON & Ors versus Lagos State Government & Ors.
Mr. Adebayo pointed out that the court action challenged the existence of Infrastructure Maintenance and Regulatory Agency (IMRA) Law, through which the Lagos State Government sought to regulate the activities of telecom operators within the state.

He noted that based on the judgement, telecommunications is still 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.”

In addition, Justice Auta, emphasised that it seeks to regulate the activities of telecoms operators in Lagos State, therefore, 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.

Consequently, the court granted an order of perpetual injunction restraining the Lagos State Government, the Attorney-General of Lagos State and the Inspector General of Police (whether by themselves or by their agents) from implementing the IMRA law against ALTON.


“It is thus abundantly clear that neither the Lagos State government nor LASIMRA have the powers to regulate telecoms operators,” he said, stressing that LASIMRA has posted ‘Stop Work Order’ on a number of sites currently being built by operators in Lagos State, thus hampering the ability of telcos to deploy more capacity in Lagos and environ.


Precisely, he said, that on Wednesday, November 21, ALTON received a report of employees of Starcomms arrested whilst working on a site in Ketu Area of Lagos.


“Three of them were arrested with equipment and tools worth several thousand of dollars seized from them,” he said and following high level intervention, the men were released and the General Manager, LASIMRA, Mr. Joe Igbokwe, insisted that work must not continue on those sites, and as we speak, the sites remained closed on the order of LASIMRA according to a notice posted on the site,” he said.


Equally, ALTON said that on the same day, four engineers working on an MTN site on Ikorodu Road were arrested at 11.30am, assaulted and detained at a police station known as Government Monitoring Team (GMT) Alausa Car Park Ikeja.

“Several materials were seized from them including antennas, feeder cable and measuring tools which can not be quantified because they were not allowed to take inventory of things seized from them before they were bundled into waiting trucks and driven to detention at the GMT Alausa Ikeja,” ALTON decried.

The group further said that the excuse that LASIMRA’s town-planning responsibilities also extend to “the control of sitting and erection of buildings…” and that “the foundations of base-stations are comparable to those of, at least, a storey building,” is not acceptable.


ALTON said, it finds this excuse entirely unacceptable in the light of the specific pronouncements of Justice Auta in his judgement:

“I believe this is an encroachment on the powers of the NCC… the Lagos State Government is camouflaging under urban planning… the driving force of the law is just to make money for the State, as the state already has numerous laws dealing with urban planning …”

ALTON member companies, he revealed, could no longer access sites for routine maintenance of existing network elements, alleging that LASIMRA agents now prevent workers access to deploy capacity on the various networks.

While apologising to Nigerians over the deteriorating quality of service in the country, he warned that this may increase, especially in Lagos State as end of the year festivity draws near with tendency for increased traffic.

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NCS invests Uwadia as 10th president

Professor of Computer Science, Charles O. Uwadia was at the weekend invested as the 10th national president of the Nigeria Computer Society (NCS) in a ceremony held in Lagos.

NCS is the umbrella body of about six industry interest groups in the Information Technology (IT) industry, from students and professionals including the IT Association of Nigeria (ITAN), Internet Service Providers Association of Nigeria (ISPAN), Institute of Software Practitioners of Nigeria (ISPON), Software Developers Group (SDG) and National Association of Computer Science Students (NACOSS) among others.

Chairman of the occasion and Managing Director, Chams Nigeria Limited, Mr. Ademola Aladekomo, said he has known Prof. Uwadia over the years and is optimistic that he would deliver as president of NCS.

He also said that though NCS in recent years has made some giant strides, there is need to sustain the growth of these strides with the co-operation of all stakeholders including the government.

“We know you for your input so far in the development of Information and Communication Technologies (ICT), we know you for your achievements,” he said, advising him to keep the vision of Information Technology and professionals burning in the country.

Even as he called on the government to pay due respect to indigenous IT professionals and companies because they have what it takes to compete globally.

Immediate past president, NCS and chief executive, Condata Systems Limited, Dr. Chris Nwannenna, described his successor as an amiable, trusted hand and reliable personality.

Expressing optimism on the capabilities of Prof. Uwadia to deliver, Dr. Nwannenna said he is able to take NCS to the next level, higher than what he had achieved during his four years in office.

While praying for his successor, Dr. Nwannenna equally implored him to ensure that positive legacies of the past leadership of the society is not destroyed.

“Do not lay asunder all that have been toiled for over the years, because NCS has grown stronger,” he said and welcomed back some returnees into the society including Mr. Aladekomo and Prof. Ayeni.

“I welcome you to investiture of Uwadia. He is a man am well pleased,” he asserted.Dr. Nwannenna later decorated Prof. Uwadia with the NCS seal of presidency.

Responding, Prof. Uwadia, said that NCS has come a long way right from its inception in 1978 and agreed giant strides have been made towards excellence and promotion of IT in the country.

NCS, he pointed out, has contributed immensely in the last three decades, just as he did not forgot the roles of its member groups such as ISPAN, SPON, ITAN and Computer Professionals Registration Council of Nigeria (CPN) to name a few.

Prof. Uwadia enjoined members to pay up their annual subscriptions to enable the secretariat have sufficient fund to carry out its mandates.

“Without fund, good ideas would not come to realty,” he declared.

Some NCS individual members who have supported the society extra-ordinarily, were recognised, and long service awards were given to staff.

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EFF issues ‘Test Your ISP’ reports

San Francisco-based not-for profit organisation, Electronic Frontier Foundation (EFF) has issued reports on how to test your Internet Service Providers (ISPs) and software to checkmate interference with Internet traffic by service providers.

This is coming on the heels of the recent case established against Comcast Corporation allegedly accused of packet-forging, which enables the company to cheat on users and dissuade them from using file-sharing applications basically known as uploading own content to other users.

Tagged “Test Your ISP” EFF said that the project would assist users to know how to test for packet forgery or other forms of interferences by their own ISPs.

The reports endorsed by the EFF Senior Intellectual Property Attorney, Mr. Fred von Lohmann, indicated that separate tests was carried out in October from EFF, the Associated Press, and others, which showed that Comcast was forging small parcels of digital data, known as packets, in order to interfere with its subscribers’ and other Internet users’ ability to use file-sharing applications, like BitTorrent and Gnutella.

He also informed that despite having been confronted by this evidence, Comcast had continued to issue incomplete and misleading statements about their practices and their impact on its customers.

“Comcast is discriminating among different kinds of Internet traffic based on the protocols being used by its customers,” von Lohmann said, stressing that when confronted, Comcast was evasive and misleading in its responses.

“So, we decided to start gathering the facts ourselves,” he said.According to the EFF reports, protocol-specific discrimination gives ISPs a tremendous amount of power over the kinds of new applications and services that could be deployed by innovators and competitors.

EFF pointed out that to the extent practices like those employed by Comcast change the “end-to-end” architecture of the Internet, those practices jeopardize the Internet’s vibrant innovation economy.

Staff Technologist at EFF, Mr. Peter Eckersley emphasised that the recent interference by Comcast in their subscribers’ Internet communications is a cause for grave concern.

“It threatens the open Internet standards and architecture that have made the network such an engine of technical and economic innovation,” he said.

In addition to an account of the results of EFF’s independent testing of Comcast’s packet forging activities, EFF has also issued a detailed document and software to assist other networking experts in conducting their own testing, which could be find at “Detecting Packet Injection: A Guide to Packet Spoofing by ISPs”: www.eff.org/wp/detecting-packet-injection.

Another Staff Technologist from EFF, and author of the guides to observing packet spoofing by ISPs, Seth Schoen noted that if ISPs would not give their customers correct information, users have the responsibility to detect this themselves.

“If ISPs won’t give their customers accurate information about their Internet traffic controls, we have to detect and document them for ourselves,” Schoen said.

Hence, EFF came up with the idea, encouraging Internet community to explore the reports.

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iWays wins WCA award

Africa’s largest satellite based Broadband Internet Solutions Provider, AfSAT Communications Limited and owners of iWayAfrica Nigeria Ltd, has won the World Communications Awards 2007 as the ‘Best Operator in a Developing Market’.

Disclosing this, Marketing Executive at iWayAfrica Nigeria Ltd now Mweb, Mrs. Muyiwa Esomojumi, said that through its flagship brand-iWay the firm was voted ‘The Best Operator in a Developing Market’ during the 2007 World Communication Awards (WCA).This year’s WCA, which held in United Kingdom recently attracted over 200 participants from global players in the communications industry.

Afsat was commended for its outstanding commitment to employee development and consistent technological development and performance over many years.

According to her, through the years, Afsat has developed its people as a key pillar to business growth and success through continuous training of its staff and distributors.

“The company has worked with leading equipment suppliers such as Hughes and Comtech EF Data, to provide innovative communication solutions to its customers across Africa,” she said.

Commenting on the awards, AFSAT chief executive, Salim Suleiman, attributed the award to effort and vision of the company.

“Winning of this award is a culmination of the company’s effort towards achieving its vision, which is to be the leading communication solutions provider in Africa through the provision of world class efficient and cost effective internet and intra-corporate connectivity solutions,” he said.

Afsat Communications, he noted, was set up in 1992 and has since continued to build an impressive presence in 26 Pan African countries with its over 35 distributor networks.

Through its iWay brand, he added, that it has continued to provide fast, reliable and secure broadband Internet connectivity solutions to it’s over 50,000 satisfied corporate customers across Africa.

Just as Afsat also provides corporate data networks to large banks, corporates and government institutions. Afsat has subsidiaries in Kenya, Tanzania, Uganda and Nigeria, with its headquarters based in Nairobi, Kenya.

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Weco Systems Group restrategizes

In its effort to drive excellent service delivery and build a high performance team, the management of Weco Systems Group recently concluded a restrategic session in Lagos.

The firm said that the session was to corporately renew its programmes and chart a new course for both the company and its customers.

Speaking at the three-day session, chief executive of Weco, Mr. Uchenna Obidike, said that the process was developed towards building a high performance-driven organisation.

“We are in the process of building a high performance-driven organization powered by passion to build a world class company,” he said.

While commending the efforts of the staff for assisting the company to attain its present status, he urged the team to take up higher responsibilities and step-up their game without any limitations.

Mr. Obidike equally said that the retreat with the theme ‘No Limits’ avails the company to operate in a very dynamic and knowledge-rich industry, which has compelled it to invest heavily on skills development and continuous training for its human capital.

He enjoined the team to remain focused and original thinkers, stressing “you cannot do the same thing every time and expect different result.”

In today’s business, he pointed out that the future belongs to those who sees it before it happens.

In addition, Mr. Obidike affirmed that there is no better time for an Information and Communication Technology (ICT) company like Weco than now to restrategize.

“The only limitation is the one we will place on ourselves,” he charged.

Weco Systems Group, a systems integration company, is an end-to-end ICT solution firm, fully owned and managed by Nigerians, even as it was established in 1992 and incorporated in 1994.

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MTS introduces 3 seasons of love

MTSFirst Wireless Limited has introduced a promotional sales package tagged, ‘MTS three seasons of love’.

Public Relations Manager at MTS, Mr. Omo Bazuaye, said that the promo is to celebrate the bliss of the seasons of Christmas, New Year and Muslim festival of Eid-el Kabir with its numerous customers and prospective subscribers.

A press statement made available to Champion Infotel quoted the Chief Sales Manager, at MTS, Mr. Shija Abellegah as saying that the promo which comes with a harvest of rewards for both private individuals and corporate users of telecommunication services, would begin with presentation of awards and prizes to outstanding subscribers on the MTS business centre platform at its Ikoyi corporate headquarters.

He also said recipients of this reward include two customers from Festac town, Mr. Bankole Omogbeyisola and Mr. Mohammed Mubarak.

Others were Uju Obi from Ikeja and Abdulrasheed Ademuyiwa from Mushin, in Lagos.

He added that the promotional sales offer which began on Monday, December 10, 2007, is expected to end on January 10, and has been designed to excite prospective subscribers.

He said that subscribers could buy its flip open camera LGVX6100 phone for just N5, 000 and receive an instant N1, 000 free airtime.

“As a top-of-the class brand, we strive on a cutting tradition of impeccable customer care culture and we have always held our customers in high esteem with the provision of a simple, durable and affordable telecommunications services. And in keeping with our corporate philosophy of making phone accessible to all, we offer existing and prospective customers a banquet of promotional offers for the three seasons of Christmas, Sallah and the New Year,” he explained.

In addition, customers, he said, could become proud owners of the more regular brand of LG phones VX 4685 at N4, 000 and get an instant loading of N500 worth of airtime bonus, adding that customers can also purchase the Dowtel FWT 4100 at N7, 000 (table-top phone) and enjoy two weeks of free weekend Internet access on the MTS network.

The company also offers 20 per cent Internet subscription discount for renewals up to three months and an extra week of free access for users on the 12.00 midnight to 6:00am slot as customers continue to enjoy 5 per cent bonus airtime on every recharge.

All of these, plus lots of corporate gift items await all walk-in customers at its Ikeja and Ikoyi offices while offer lasts.

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Commonwealth connects COMARCI project

The Commonwealth Telecommunications Organisation (CTO) has announced the launch of its project for African rural inclusion known as Commonwealth African Rural Connectivity Initiative (COMARCI).

Chief Executive, CTO, Dr Ekwow Spio-Garbrah while making the announcement, said it has been structured to promote faster telephone and internet connectivity for rural communities in the 18 Commonwealth African countries.

COMARCI, he said, would cost about £1.2 million (about N295,966,12 million) project was launched in Kampala, Uganda, as a sideline event at the Commonwealth Heads of Government Meeting (CHOGM), with a £50,000 seed funding from the government of Malta through the Commonwealth Connects programme.

This, he stressed involves collaboration with the Commonwealth Telecommunications Organisation (CTO) and the International Telecommunications Union (ITU).

“There is no longer debate about the role information and communication technology (ICT) plays in the development process, and especially how mobile phones and the Internet are helping to transform Africa’s economies,” he said.

Dr. Spio-Garbrah added that if Africa is to achieve the majority of its Millennium Development Goals (MDGs), “it must address quickly and creatively the special challenges by poor, illiterate, marginalized, disadvantaged rural populations.”

According to him, this COMARCI project would eliminate the digital marginalisation of rural societies.

“It will enhance education, employment and empowerment in Commonwealth Africa. It will enable the people in Africa to become stronger participants in development by providing access to improved literacy, innovation, entrepreneurship and e-commerce, as well as e-governance,” he pointed out.

COMARCI experts at CTO said, would involve research, consultations and workshops to mobilise investment, funding and technology partnerships to assemble a body of knowledge to develop a connectivity roadmap for Commonwealth Africa, which would benefit the ICT sector, the business community and citizens.

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Starcomms unveils Surf ‘n’ Save promo

Acclaimed largest Third Generation (3G) and Code Division Multiple Access (CDMA) mobile network, Starcomms Limited, has unveiled a new promo known as surf ‘n’ save to afford subscribers seamless and cheap internet services during the festive season of Christmas and New Year.

Chief executive, Starcomms, Mr. Qubain Maher, while announcing the promotion in Lagos, said it is aimed at ensuring that customers are not disengaged from communicating or denied access to data and up-to-date information on developments around the world while retiring to different parts of the world throughout the period of festivity.

He also said that the promo expected to last till the end of the year, would enable subscribers to enjoy lower rates on the various Evolution Data Optimised (EVDO) bundles.

According to him, the EVDO MDC activation packs have been categorized into five packages and aptly dubbed Purples One to Five, with varying validity periods ranging from one to three months.

He explained that Purple One (Purple Always ), operates round the clock with a validity of 30 days for a price of N22,950, while Purple Two (Purple Business) runs from 9am to 9pm with a validity of one month at a cost of N15,500, even as Purple Three (Purple Night) also runs from 9am to 9pm with a validity of 30 days at a cost of N13, 500.

Whereas for the Purple Four (Purple 250 Hours) operates 24 hours with 90 days validity at the cost of N23,500 and Purple Five (Purple Always (3)) has a validity of three months (90) days ,as well as available 24 hours at the cost of N47,850, just as Purple Corporate also affords subscribers 24 hours with 30 days validity at a cost of N20,650.

The CDMA 1X internet services One is available in bundles, which are categorized as Purple Always, Purple Business and Purple Night have validities of 30 days and access periods of 24 hours for Purple Always and 9am – 9pm for Purple Business and Purple Night respectively, and cost N10, 000 and N8, 000 correspondingly.

Corporate rates remain at N12, 500 per month for EVDO renewals as applicable only on the Surf Always package with minimum of five lines purchased and activated simultaneously. Bulk corporate orders will be accepted although deliveries will be made at such time the customer wishes to activate the card and subscription.

Further, he said that the 1x MDC Purple Always activation packages will be available in all Starcomms coverage areas, whereas the Purple Business and Purple Night will be available only in non-EVDO regions and cities.

“All Purple bundles will have to be sold and activated as bundle packages on all MDCs sold,” he said.

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Nokia Comes With Music

Mobile phone manufacturer, Nokia, has introduced its latest, ‘Comes With Music,’ with a year of unlimited access to millions of tracks from a range of great artists - past, present and future.

Nokia said that once the year is complete, customers could keep all their music without having to worry about it disappearing when their subscription is over.

Speaking at the introduction in Netherlands, recently, Executive Vice President and General Manager, Multimedia at Nokia, Anssi Vanjoki, said that with the Nokia ‘Comes With Music’ the telco is set to create the music experience that people are telling the telco what they are looking for, embedded in all the music they want in the form of unlimited downloads to their mobile device and PC.“

Even if you listened to music 24 hours a day, seven days a week, you would still only scratch the surface of the music that we’re making available. Comes with Music fulfils our dream to give consumers all the music they want, wherever they want it, while rewarding the artists who create it,” the manager said.

Also speaking on the new product, chairman, Universal Music Group International Chairman, Lucian Grainge, described it as fantastic.

“It is fantastic to work with Nokia on Comes With Music,” Grainge said, adding that it’s an innovative way for people to discover and enjoy new artists, while at the same time having access to the amazing depth of the universal catalogue.

“Comes With Music allows our artists to reach new audiences in a very easy and affordable way,” Grainge added.

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Workshop applauds FG over campus radio stations

A four-day workshop on community development principles and strategies for campus radio stations ended recently at Lokoja, capital city of Kogi State in the southern part of Nigeria, with applause for the federal government over the decision to approve radio stations for tertiary institutions in the country.

Participants which cut across the representatives of both approved and licensed radio broadcasting stations as well as those awaiting–approval, concurred that the decision indicates positive developments for access to media, communication pluralism and national development in general.

The workshop organised by the Institute of Media and Society (IMS) and the Open Society Initiative for West Africa (OSIWA) also observed that the government policy reform in this regard, which began in 2004, is long overdue for submission.

They also gave kudos to the National Broadcasting Commission (NBC) for assiduously working towards creating a conducive regulatory environment for campus radio stations, and community radio stations to thrive eventually.

Participants pointed out that the operations of campus stations would have immense potentials for the development of Nigerian academic communities, even as the enthusiasm to establish and operate campus stations is high in Nigerian educational institutions.

“But the licence approval process is not keeping pace with demands from academic communities,” a communiqué made available to our correspondent said.Just as they identified tertiary education authorities in the country still require some capacity-building interactions to facilitate appropriate management and optimization of benefits of campus radio.

Participants equally called for continuous regulatory reviews between NBC and stakeholders, decrying, however, that licence approvals have so far been limited to academic communities while applications for licences by other types of community such as rural, sub-urban remain inclusive before the regulatory body.

They further recommended that educational institutions who have obtained or about to obtain broadcast licenses should recognize the diversity of the campus community in the management of campus radio stations.

In addition school authorities should understand and manage campus radio as non-profit and community development tools, encourage the campus radio stations to generate programmes that would be relevant to their primary and secondary communities, as well as establish mechanisms that will ensure accountability and transparency in the day-to-day running of the campus radio stations, among others.

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Ekeh wants FG to deduct state varsity fund from source

Chairman, Zinox Technologies Limited, Dr. Leo Stan Ekeh, has called on the federal government (FG) to deduct from source state university funds to ensure adherence to implementation guidelines.

Speaking as the special guest lecturer at the Abia State University pre-convocation lecture, Dr. Ekeh who dwelled on “Building Graduate Entrepreneur Capacities for Wealth Creation,” posited that many of the states have not shown the commitment required to develop these state universities beyond the status of political symbolism.

He argued that there exists, today, two sets of universities in the public sector, the adequately funded federal universities and the poorly funded state owned universities, pointing out that these federal universities benefit from a resource pool of funds and materials harnessed by the National Universities Commission (NUC), while the state-owned universities depend on the snail pace bureaucracies of the states and the whims of state politicians.

Dr. Ekeh noted that both federal and state universities are Nigerian universities and both produce graduates for the same economy, stressing that both university systems are used to judge the standards of education in the country.

In order to achieve a common world-class standard for the nation’s universities, government should deduct at source the funding meant for state universities and channel it through the NUC for proper utilisation.

He also noted that the recent Memorandum of Understand (MOU) signed by the Federal Government, Afrihub and the CNP, was designed to change the face of tertiary education in the country, and should be extended to state universities.

He further traced the low level of development to unsustainable entrepreneurial practice since 1914.“Low level of education was largely responsible for the unsustainability of the wealth of Nigeria’s first generation entrepreneurs,” he said, outlining that one-man business practice, lack of trust, reluctance to delegate responsibility and authority, the fear of partnerships and a lack of succession procedures as some of the reasons why the first generation entrepreneurs died with their businesses.

Mr. Ekeh pointed out that today’s business environment was very challenging and required a higher level of literacy than was available to first generation graduates.

He advocated for a minimum qualification of OND for anyone who wanted to be an entrepreneur, even if the qualification is acquired on the job.

The Zinox boss equally said that the educational institution has a major role to play in building graduate entrepreneur capacities and recommended that primarily the universities must consciously and systematically brand their institutions.

“Branding yourself forces you to set world-class standards for yourself and not flow with the tide. You must define the standards by which you would be known and encourage your students to leverage on the image,” he said.

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