Firefox 3 download: 1,800 Nigerians join 8m others

OVER 1,800 Open Source (OS) Nigerian software enthusiasts took part in the over 8 million global download day of Firefox-3 penultimate Wednesday.

Sources at Mozilla Download Day Headquarters (DDH), owners of Firefox brand said they were amazed following the number of downloads on Firefox 3 within 24 hours of its official release on Tuesday June 17 while download took place before the end of Wednesday, June 18, 2008.

Firefox is a free Internet fast browser which is in the third version of its release into the global market.

Firefox is seen as an alternative browser to Internet Explorer and is a small but easy to use open source browser that has many advantages over Internet Explorer.

ITRealms recalls that few weeks back officials of Mozilla announced the proposal to stamp a Guinness World Record attempt by inviting enthusiasts around the world to express their readiness to download the latest in its shelf, Firefox 3 within the 24 hours of launch.

Noteworthy is that Firefox 2 recorded 1.6 million download on its launch day, which gave the inspiration for the 8m demand.

And as at Wednesday, June 18, ITRealms gathered that Firefox 3 total downloads was at 8,937,974 as at 10pm Nigerian time.

In response to this invitation over 8 million downloads were recorded on the d-date with over 1,800 Nigerians participating in the world record-breaking exercise with accompanying free customized certificate for participants.

“That’s more Firefox downloads than we’ve ever had in a single day – an impressive feat indeed,” sources from DDH declared.

As at the time of going to press, DDH sources affirmed that over 8 million internet users and lovers of open source application like Firefox participated in the scheme and they were reviewing the download logs and validating record attempts alongside the in-house judges and officials of Guinness World Record.

Mozilla explained that it would only count downloads that were fully and completely transmitted and not partial or complete updates.

“We would also discard duplicate downloads with the help of a cookie system,” officials said, adding that they would be logging the downloads using Apache and these logs would be made available for audit to Guinness World Records as well as two judges, namely Corey Shields and Paul Vixie,” DDH official informed.

They further assured on the transparency of the exercise, saying that Mozilla deployed amMap, which would be associated with an Internet Protocol (IP) address; which is a non-personally-identifying information, but with a geo-location.

“No private or personal information is tracked or collected,” DDH stated.

Just as Mozilla would host 10 per cent of the downloads and retain all the logs for these downloads.

According to the number of pledges made per country, the United States of America, home of the software giant, Microsoft Corporation, a major proponent of proprietary software; usually paid-for applications, topped the list with 2,729,086, United Kingdom recorded 327,082; Japan 409,435; Spain 319,103; Iran 261,424; Luxembourg 280,517; Russia 113,340 and Poland 220,145.

However, South Africa led the pack of African pledges with 19,995 with Mozambique 5,081, Namibia 305, Niger 28, Uganda and Zimbabwe recorded 203 each, Togo 46, Tunisia 4,153 and Zambia 162, among others.


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Steps to observe packet spoofing by ISPs (12)

YOU might still have NAT or a firewall enabled at one end of the connection, or your ISP might be forging or altering packets routinely, perhaps with a technique like transparent HTTP proxying that is invisible to most application software.

It is important to think critically about the significance of evidence and whether results are reproducible or attributable to confounding factors. pcapdiff and the techniques described here are meant to help users find anomalous discrepancies between packets sent and packets received, not to definitively assign blame for the source of those anomalies.

Learning more about TCP/IP and interpreting network packet traces:

For a deeper understanding of network protocols and packet traces like those described here, you can consult the Internet standards documents that specify the TCP/IP protocol suite.

Most of these documents have been published in the RFC document series available at http://www.rfc-editor.org/ and http://www.faqs.org/rfcs/. For example, the Internet Protocol (IP) is described in RFC 791, the Transmission Control Protocol (TCP) in RFC 793, and the User Datagram Protocol (UDP) in RFC 768.

An excellent guide to the TCP/IP protocol suite in book form is W. Richard Stevens, TCP/IP Illustrated: Volume 1, The Protocols (Reading, MA: Addison-Wesley, 1994), ISBN 0201633469.


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ISIF dangles N3.5m for Internet projects

The Information Society Innovation Fund (ISIF) is dangling the sum of $30,000 (about N3,532,200) for each Internet and digital communication based projects.

ISIF is a joint initiative between the Canadian International Development Research Centre (IDRC), the Internet Society (ISOC), and the Asia Pacific Network Information Centre (APNIC), aimed currently at stimulating creative solutions to ICT development needs in the Asia Pacific region.

Under the ISIF guidelines, it provides grants of up to US$30,000 per project to help advance local and regional projects aimed at introducing, improving, and applying Internet and other digital communications technologies for the benefit of Asia-Pacific users and communities.

APNIC Director General, Mr. Paul Wilson said the proposed innovative projects, such as the ones funded by ISIF, are significant drivers to Internet and technology growth in the region.

APNIC, therefore, encourages members of the Asia Pacific ICT community to submit their projects for consideration.

For ISOC President, Lynn St. Amour, it is believed that the Internet could contribute to a better quality of life for people all over the world.

“ISIF helps ensure that local knowledge and experience are directed at tapping the potential of ICTs to address real-world problems with creative, innovative solution,” St. Amour said.

Stressing that in Asia Pacific, for instance, the Internet and mobile phone development are on different trajectories.

Chairman of the ISIF Grants Committee and Regional Director at IDRC, Southeast and East Asia, Mr. Richard Fuchs, said they hope the ISIF research fund could help illuminate and address the new ‘digital divergence’ in the region.

Equally, project proposals from Asia-Pacific based public or private sector organisations, university or research and development institutions, and non-government organisations would be considered. Applications, he said, must be aligned with ISIF programme objectives, selection criteria and administrative guidelines, noting that individuals are not eligible for grants.

The ISIF grant round for 2008 is now open and applications are due 1 September 2008.
A total of US$375,000 (about N44,152,500 million) will be available for grants in 2008 even as the grants would be made on a competitive basis and successful applicants will be required to make project details, outcomes and findings publicly available.


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NITDA ends work on ICT4D plan

National Information Technology Development Agency (NITDA) has announced the conclusion of work on the country’s Information and Communication Technology (ICT) for Development (ICT4D) plan.

Director-General, NITDA, Prof. Cleopas Officer Angaye, gave this indication last weekend at the final technical session by experts working on the document at NITDA’s headquarters in Abuja.

He expressed satisfaction that with the document and that the next stage would be to present it to the Minister of Science and Technology for onward delivery to Mr. President and the Federal Executive Council.

ITRealms recalls that the national ICT4D plan contains some actionable programmes, which cover various sectors for short, medium and long term implementations by identified stakeholders in conjunction with local and or international private organizations.

Equally, the ICT4D sets out time-sensitive action plans with realistic targets and benchmarks for sectoral applications of ICT for national development.

According to Angaye, it is targeted at using ICT to achieve the Seven-Point Agenda and vision 20-2020, to assist Nigeria in deploying ICT to achieve the Millennium Development Goals (MDGs), the New Partnership for Africa ’s Development (NEPAD) development initiatives and the World Summit on Information Society’s plan of action.

He explained that specific sectors with ICT plan actions, strategies for implementation and timeline include education, agriculture, health, eGovernment, infrastructure, human resource, research and development (R & D), legal and regulatory framework, national security and law enforcement, legislature and governance, IT popularization and deployment in communities as well as private sector development cluster which covers trade and commerce, banking, tourism, service sector, industrial sector development, local and foreign direct investment amongst others.

Angaye, also promised the committee that he would ensure that all necessary machineries are put in place to facilitate the immediate implementation of the plan.

Chairman of the national committee, Dr. Takang Armstrong also thanked the experts for their co-operation and input to the successful completion of this national assignment.

He reiterated the need to fully create awareness for the document and facilitate support for implementation by all MDAs, states and other stakeholders.

He also advised on making the document available for states to leverage on it and get the right impact.

The Coordinator of the ICT4D development activities, Director Planning Research and Statistics (NITDA), Dr. Moses Ubaru noted that the conclusion of the development of the Nigerian ICT4D Strategic Action Plan, coming at a time when the present administration was seeking ways of mainstreaming ICT4D in the vision 20-2020 is very timely and advised that NITDA should work very closely with the National Planning Commission to ensure that the final ICT4D document serves as the working document for ICT4D in Vision 20-2020.

ECA consultant, who supervised the work in the last four years, Prof. Clement Dzidonu, noted that the Nigeria ICT for Development plan, would move the Nigerian economy to the next level, describing it as the most comprehensive ICT4D document in the whole of Africa.

He advised on the publication of abridged versions on sector by sector basis in order to have plan ownership template for states and MDAs.

He further advised on the need to immediately set up the necessary guidelines to implement the plan. Resource persons in attendance included Prof Charles Akinyokun, Dr John Dada, Dr. Ado Dan-Isa, Jide Awe, Bankole Olubamise, Hakeem Ajijola, as well as NITDA directors.


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e-Tourism launches VoIP card

Lagos-based e-Tourism Limited, has launched a Voice Over Internet Protocol (VoIP) designed to make communications easier for Nigerians and foreign tourists in any part of the globe to stay connected with their loved ones.

Vice Chairman, e-Tourism Limited, Dr. Felix Obada, said at the launch in Abuja, last week that the card is a pre-paid calling card which could be used on any Global System for Mobile communications (GSM) network for international calls.

According to him the card knocks off the roaming charges by telephone operators as users could now call from any part of the world at localized tariff.

Obada said, “Everything is on communication. Without communication there is no business, so we have made this card very cheap and it can be used anywhere because it is satellite based. It is going to remove the N600 for calls and N60 per text roaming charges.”

Equally speaking, the company’s Managing Director, Otunba Segun Oladunni, disclosed that the advantages of the card include its versatility, call quality, cost effectiveness and convenience.

“People can even purchase the card over the Internet, at the comfort of their homes,” he asserted.

Oladunni also said that the card is currently available in the market and is sold at airport terminals, partner banks, street shops, hotels and over the Internet among other places.

Applauding the Federal Government’s decision to pay more attention to the tourism sector, Otunba Solomon Oladunni, Chairman e-Tourism Limited disclosed that the introduction of the VoIP card also refer to as tourism communication card is a step aimed at engendering growth in the sector.

“We recognize the importance of ICT in developing the tourism industry, which is an industry with endless possibilities and prospects of becoming the most important sector to the economic emancipation of Nigeria in a few years,” he said.

Explaining that recharging mobile phone with VoIP tourism card is as simple as topping up your phone with the normal GSM recharge card.

“Just enter your trigger number, listen to the voice prompt, and then enter your PIN number. Calls with the VoIP tourism card can go as low as N15 per minute as in the case with Canada and America,” he said, even as the card could also be used to make Internet calls via the computer.

Among other products launched at the forum were the Tourism Cash card, National and State Tourism Portals.

Performing the launch, Minister of Tourism, Culture and National Orientation, Prince Adetokunbo Kayode, noted that it is necessary that tourists in the country are assured of seamless communication with their families back home.

“Tourists need to know that they can call home and other places even when on a tour,” Prince Kayode said.

According to the Chairman, Ikeja Hotel Plc, Mr. Goodie Ibru, such e-Applications, have impacted greatly on the hospitality sub-sector, emphasizing that they have aided tour planning, making hotel reservations, car rental and payment for services, among others much easier.


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PwC concludes review of Siemens’ portfolio

Leading auditing and consulting services firm, PricewaterhouseCoopers (PwC), has concluded its review of the Siemens’ Environmental Portfolio for the year ended 2007.

A press statement from Siemens Nigeria, endorsed by Head, Corporate Communications, Mr. Akinlabi Olusegun, said that this has been relevant because the issues of climate change has become firmly entrenched in public awareness.

According to him, the information regarding Carbon dioxide (chemical formula: CO2) CO2 emissions is no longer of interest to just a few eco-activists but is required by stakeholders across board: financial markets, consumers, Non-Governmental Organizations (NGOs), and governments all assess companies at least partly on the basis of such information.

The CO2 value for models are being registered since March 2001 when the first registration and licensing document began.

Defined as a chemical compound composed of two oxygen atoms covalently bonded to a single carbon atom, Carbon dioxide is a gas at standard temperature and pressure that exists in earth’s atmosphere in this state.

It is currently at a globally averaged concentration of approximately 387 part per million (ppm) by volume in the earth’s atmosphere, although this is increasing due to human activities.

The current focus of policy-makers rests with companies reporting their own emissions and setting individual emission reduction targets. But other stakeholders expect more comprehensive information about the CO2 balance, notably the emissions intensity of products or their ability to reduce emissions compared with similar products.

Against this backdrop Siemens AG, said it has created a “Siemens Environmental Portfolio”, consisting of selected products and solutions from its complete existing portfolio.

A definable quantity of CO2 emissions, the telco said, could be saved annually by customers using products from the Environmental Portfolio.

PwC’s global Sustainable Business Solutions partner, Mr. Thomas Scheiwiller, said, “An external independent review enhances the credibility of Siemens’ statements.

Moreover, it helps companies to identify further potential for optimization of processes and structures and enhances the companies’ steering capabilities.”
He noted that Siemens had asked PwC to perform a limited assurance engagement on selected data regarding the environmental portfolio 2007.

As reported in the Siemens publication “Energy Efficiency” the PwC engagement focused on the application of the reporting criteria that have been agreed by the Initiative Greenhouse Protocol (set out in the publication “A Corporate Accounting and Reporting Standard – Revised Edition”).

PwC also conducted its work in accordance with the International Standard on Assurance Engagements (ISAE) 3000. Within the scope of this engagement, PwC looked into the following some core areas including application of the reporting criteria, baseline which entails evaluation of the procedures and systems used to determine the reference values.

Additionally, the report said that on environmental portfolio effect inspection was carried out on the figures for saved CO2 emissions and revenues from the sale of Environmental Portfolio products.

“And we checked the consistent application of baselines and reference values and compared the percentage of Environmental Portfolio revenues with total revenues,” PwC official said.


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CWL, Wincor introduce new auto-cheque

Hardware subsidiary of the Computer Warehouse Group, CWL Systems and Wincor Nixdorf (WN) have unveiled new technique for automating cheques and cash deposits, for use in retail bank branches.

Manager, Marketing and Corporate Communications, Ms Morenike Popoola, while disclosing this at the just concluded Electronic Payment (e-payment) seminar in Lagos, said that these innovative terminals read handwritten cheques and deposit slips, provide on-screen confirmation of the details, complete the credit transaction and print a customer receipt.

As said by her, the same Wincor Nixdorf systems could handle cash by dentifying both notes and coins and providing a fully automated deposit service.

She also said that the Wincor Nixdorf automated deposit terminals (ADMs) automates and reduces time-consuming manual transactions by removing work from the bank’s cashier desks by cutting staff costs, and offer a rapid and reliable service to customers.

Equally speaking at the event organized by CWG, Regional Director, Wincor Nixdorf, Ms Isabel Nitz said, both banking and retailing are now moving towards greater automation of commodity tasks.

“And using the cost savings to provide enhanced customer service, Wincor Nixdorf understands the drive towards self-service, and delivers the products, solutions and services that reduce costs and increase user satisfaction,” she said.

Nitz noted that Wincor Nixdorf is one of the world’s leading providers of Information Technology (IT) solutions and services to retailers and retail banking.

“Our extensive portfolio is centered on optimizing business processes at banks and retail companies. It is aimed mainly at cutting costs and complexity and improving service to the end customer,” she said.

Nitz stressed that the firm leverages on know-how from its core business with banks and retailers to diversify into related sectors including postal and lottery companies and hospitality as well as service station chain operators.

Wincor Nixdorf, she pointed out, has a presence in over 90 countries, with its own subsidiary companies in 36 of these.

With over 9,000 employees WN positions itself as the leader in Europe and the number three in the world for programmable Electronic Point of Sales (POS) systems (EPOSs) and the number two in Europe and worldwide for Automated Teller Machines, even as it has production facilities at Paderborn, Germany, and in Singapore, Shanghai and Sao Paolo.

A new range of self-service retail solutions from Wincor Nixdorf was on display at the event which held at the Civic Centre Lagos, including solutions that allow consumers to price and pay for their own shopping without the need to queue for a cashier.
The systems are designed to enhance the customer experience – running a continuous checkout total as they shop – and to cut cashier costs for retailers.

The Wincor Nixdorf hand-held barcode scanner, Personal Shopping Assistant links to a central self-service checkout terminal that accepts card payments and issues receipts.

The system integrates with back-office stock and finance systems, simultaneously offering swifter service for shoppers and lower operational costs for retailers.

General Manager, CWL systems, Mr. Bukola Aluko, said that Computer Warehouse has the manpower to implement and support the solution in Nigeria and West Africa and is bringing this to add value to the financial sector in a bid to make Nigeria realize her stated goals of being one of the top 20 economies in the world by the year 2020.


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ICANN approves introduction of new names

Global Internet administrator, the Internet Corporation for Assigned Names and Numbers (ICANN) has approved the introduction of new names as Internet addressing system.

Chief executive, ICANN, Dr. Paul Twomey, who disclosed this at the end of ICANN 32nd meeting in Paris, France, said the approval would see to a whole range of new names to be introduced soon.

This follows the recommendation by stakeholders for an increased availability of names that could be used as Internet addressing system beyond the commonly used ones like .com, .org, .info to name a few.

Currently, Internet users have a limited range of 21 Top Level Domains (TLD) to choose from, even as this proposal allows applicants for new names to self-select their domain name so that choices are most appropriate for their customers or potentially the most marketable.

Media adviser at ICANN, Jason Keenan explained in a press statement made available to ITRealms that its expected that applicants will apply for targeted community strings such as the existing .travel for the travel industry and .cat for the Catalan community as well as generic strings like .brandname or .yournamehere. There are already interested consortiums wanting to establish city-based top level domain, like .nyc (or New York City, .berlin and .paris among others.

Keenan quoted Dr. Twomey as saying that the board has accepted a recommendation from the global stakeholders that it is possible to implement many new names to the Internet, which paves the way for an expansion of domain name choice and opportunity.
Twomey stressed that a final version of the implementation plan must be approved by the ICANN board before the new process is launched.

Thus, he said, its intended that the final version will be published in early 2009.
According to him, “The potential here is huge. It represents a whole new way for people to express themselves on the Net. It’s a massive increase in the ‘real estate’ of the Internet.”

Also commenting, ICANN’s chairman, Mr. Peter Dengate Thrush, pointed out that its one of the most exciting prospect before the current board to expand the system which is also being planned to support extensions in the languages of the world.
“This is going to be very important for the future of the Internet in Asia, the Middle East, Eastern Europe and Russia. The present system only supports 37 Roman characters,” Thrush said.

Upon approval of the implementation plan, it is planned that applications for new names will be available in the second quarter of 2009.

In addition, Keenan said that ICANN is not “selling” new top level domain names, noting that there will be a limited application period where any established entity from anywhere in the world could submit an application that will go through an evaluation process.

“It is anticipated that there will be additional rounds relatively soon after the close of the first application round,” he said.

Emphasizing that the latest approval when on stream would ensure that trademarks will not be automatically reserved, but there will be an objection-based mechanism for trademark owners where their arguments for protection will be considered.

He stressed that the proposal came about based on the ICANN’s multi-stakeholder policy development process that served as the foundation for the process design, which involved consultation with domain name industry, trade mark attorneys, the business sector, users, governments and technicians.


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Cisco is breaking new grounds – Emelife

General Manager, Cisco Systems Nigeria Limited, Mr. Maduka Emelife, has said that the company is breaking new grounds with its networking academies all over the world, especially in the last decade.

Mr. Emelife who made this assertion at the recently concluded International Telecommunications Union (ITU) organized regional development forum in collaboration with the African Telecommunication Union (ATU) held in Accra, Ghana.

He said that his firm is committed to bridging the skills gap in developing countries via Information and Communications Technology (ICT) training within the platform of Cisco Network Academies.

He also said Cisco “will remain at the forefront of empowering developing countries not only with leading edge IT solutions but also with the skilled manpower with which to optimize economic value.”

Mr. Emelife further said there are presently over 50 Cisco Networking Academies with six regional academies at the University of Jos, Abubakar Tafawa Balewa University, Bauchi; National Information Technology Development Agency (NITDA); the University of Benin, Edo State; the Nigerian Development Academy, Lagos and the Southwest Resource Centre in Abeokuta, Ogun State.”

Also speaking at the forum with the theme “Bridging the standardization gap in developing countries,” the Vice President, Emerging Markets, Cisco, Mr. Massimo Migliuolo, said emerging markets are gearing up to bridge the digital divide and possibly overtake mature markets, in the nearest future.

Migliuolo who dwelt on “New business models and partnerships for productivity, competitiveness and innovation gains,” said the basis for this optimism is founded on a number of factors.

He underscored the factor in this area to include funding, stressing that it is no longer a problem as international banks and donor organizations are demonstrating growing appreciation of the significantly increasing role of ICT in social and economic development.

The World Bank, he said, for instance, has increased ICT funding available to emerging markets to $35 billion, adding that emerging markets are more willing to adopt more innovative business models than the ones presently in use in Europe or even North America.

Mr. Migliuolo said there is a willingness to go faster, to do more and to grow, hence these factors combined have the potential to launch emerging markets far beyond their present capacity.

The Africa region preparatory meeting which was organized in this region by the ATU and ITU, sought to enhance a greater understanding of and participation in the work of ITU-T by Information Technology (IT) stakeholders across Africa.

In addition, it was organized to sensitize the African region with topics that will be addressed later this year at the World Telecommunication Standardization Assembly (WTA-08), in Johannesburg, South Africa.


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ITAN partners Mandriva, 4 others on OSPC

Information Technology (Industry) Association of Nigeria (ITAN), has revealed its partnership with four major local Personal Computer assembly firms in the country alongside Mandriva West Africa for Mandriva Linux (ML) an Open Source Operating and Application software provider.

The four PC firms include Beta Computers, Brian, Omatek and Zinox Technologies.
ITAN president, Dr. Jimson Olufuye said weekend in Ogun State that the partnership is to boost the group’s Old Students’ Computer In School Initiative (OS-CISI) now branded “OSPC” i.e. Old Students’ Personal Computer.

According to him, the OSPCs are PCs, laptops, notebooks and thumbdrives engendered by old students in the government (Federal, States and Local), private sector and in all areas of national life for primary, secondary and post secondary schools throughout Nigeria.

He said that through the OS-CISI model, at least, one million OSPCs powered by ML and its suites of educational software projected to be deployed to primary, secondary and post secondary schools in Nigeria by the year 2015.

Dr. Olufuye further announced the accreditation of OSPC Original Equipment Manufacturer (OEM) Gold Partners at the event.

These include Omatek Computers, Zinox Technologies, Brian Technologies and Beta Computers, explaining that the OEMs are certified to deliver the hardware powered by ML with embedded educational applications for Mathematics, Languages, Geography, Biology, Chemistry, Physics among others.

The following organizations and governments were also recognized as OS-CISI Strategic Partners in recognition of their support for the OSPC scheme: Centre for Information and Technology Systems (CITS), the University of Lagos; Yobe State Government, Ogun State Government, Kano State Government, Education Trust Fund, and ECOWAS Commission.

Responding, the Managing Director of Mandriva West Africa, Mr Dele Ajisomo, thanked ITAN for appointing ML as its Software Partner on the Project and assured of Mandriva’s full support and assistance throughout the OS- CISI project life cycle viz train-the-trainer training, research & development, technical and professional services through the Mandriva Academy that would be set up with ITAN’s Strategic/OEM Partners on the Project.

Mandriva, he said, is the publisher of the award winning and easy to use Mandriva Linux Desktop and Server products (operating system, Open Office, educational and financial applications, games etc. “Mandriva is one of the most popular Linux editions in the world with a global client base in excess of 7 million” Mr Ajisomo said.


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Visafone launches Mobile Office

Proudly Code Division Multiple Access (CDMA) operator in the country, Visafone, is ready to contest the place of Blackberry in the Nigerian telecommunications market as it launched Mobile Office at the weekend.

According to the Assistant General Manager, Marketing and Strategy at Visafone, Mr. Clifford Onyeike at the launch held at the Civic Centre, Victoria Island, this further confirm’s the seriousness of the telco to make a difference in the nation’s telecoms sector.

Describing Mobile Office, as an innovative product, Onyeike said that it comes with a push electronic mail (e-mail) handset and services.

“The Mobile Office is designed to give the busy executive the opportunity to take his office along with him wherever he goes,” he asserted.

He explained that Visafone Mobile Office provides the kind of features and functions offered by other services in its category like the Blackberry.

He listed some of the features to include “true push instant delivery, low monthly tariffs, fast internet access via CDMA 1x and EVDO 24/7.”

Onyeike further said that Mobile Office could be used as a modem to synchronise email, contacts, calendars, global address access, easy payment for data through recharge cards to name a few.

Accompanied by the Sales Director, Mr. Sam Edoho, Onyeike said that the latest launch joins the bouquet of innovative and value added products and services on Visafone stable, namely Share Ur Visa, Call Me, Credit Me, Family & Friends and Visa mobile chat among others.

Equally speaking at the event, chief executive of Visafone Nigeria, Mr. Ninan Thomas commended the subscribers for their loyalty which have been exponential and attributed this growth to the Visafone Strategic Partners (VSP).

Visafone, he said, has made communications and the tools very affordable as well as accessible with low-priced handsets, reasonably priced data cards and speedy internet connections.

As said by him, the telco has made staying in touch with family and friends easier and more affordable for members of the family who stay abroad based on its low international call rates.

Visafone, which he said, is already in 16 states and 150 cities nationwide even as its subscribers are numbering a million.

“We have not only covered almost half the states in Nigeria, our subscriber base is aggressively moving towards the 1 million subscriber mark,” he said.

Assuring that in the second half of the year, Visafone would focus on maintaining the customer-friendly policies in terms of handset pricing, wide coverage and excellent service quality.

Visafone, he said, would continue to delight its customers with new and fantastic offers focused on spreading the joy of communication to all.

ITRealms recalls that Visafone launched commercially four months ago, precisely on February 22, 2008 in 12 states and over 100 cities.


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Glo World opens @ MMA-2

The Second National Operator (SNO) Globacom Limited, last weekend opened its 41st customer care centre otherwise tagged Glo World shop, at the Murtala Mohammed Airport’s (MMA-2) new domestic terminal.

Managing Director, Glo World, Miss Shade Boye, said the Glo World shop at MMA-2 is located inside the departure hall, and is intended to act as the one-stop centre that is equipped with latest technology to meet customers’ various needs.

She explained that Glo World shop is for personalized customer interface with the system to access account profile, monitor calls, offer Subscriber Identification Module (SIM) sales and activation, value-added services (VAS) including Blackberry, mobile internet and roaming as well as carry out other communication functions.

She said the latest Glo World shop would offer the same excellent quality service that Glo is generally reputed for in Nigeria’s telecoms industry where it is a clear leader.

The special guest of honour at the occasion and Olu of Ikeja, Oba Rafiu Amore, said Glo had become an international brand that is projecting the country’s image abroad.
Oba Amore declared that Glo was an instant success with a lot of potentials.

“Glo is now Nigeria’s economic ambassador that will continue to flourish to greater heights. Glo became an instant success from inception and has sustained its pioneering role ever since,” the royal father said.

Also speaking the lawmaker representing Ikeja federal constituency in the House of Representatives, Hon. Bayo Odulana, said he was not surprised at the achievements of Glo because of the prudence of its chairman, Dr. Mike Adenuga Jr.

“This is one man in our generation who has a midas touch on all that he does. This explains the success story of Glo. His achievements in telecoms and other sectors show that all hope is not lost on our country’s development,” the legislator said.

Some of the Glo dealers in attendance at the occasion expressed delight with Globacom for expanding the frontiers and fortunes of their partnership with the company.

They also said this had made their loyalty unalloyed, as they pledged more commitment to the vision of Glo which is to become the fastest growing and best network in this part of the world.

With a subscriber base of 18 million in Nigeria currently, Glo, from all indications, has continued to grown is all facets.

ITRealms recalls that a fortnight ago, the telco begun operations in the Republic of Benin and is getting set to launch in Ghana and other West Coast nations soon.

At present, Glo is building a land bandwidth for corporate Nigeria through the nationwide laying of an optic fibre that will function as an information superhighway for the transmission of voice and data in an unprecedented manner.


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ALTON advocates customers’ satisfaction

The Association of Licensed Telecommunications Operators of Nigeria (ALTON) has said that customer satisfaction is the only key to post-telecom boom success in the nation’s telecommunications sector.

ALTON made this declaration through its chairman, Mr. Gbenga Adebayo at the recently held one-day Nigerian Communications Commission (NCC) organized Stakeholders forum in collaboration with IT & Telecom Digest “On the Place of Consumer in the Nigerian Telecom Industry.”

According to him, the late development of Nigeria’s telecommunications industry has brought forth the law of supply against demand, thus placing consumers in the back stage.

Pointing out that whilst stakeholders have made continuous efforts to develop and roll out networks in order to capture a share of the market, not equal amount of effort has been made towards consumer complaints resolution.

“It is delightful to note that the regulator has done appreciably well by holding consumer feedback forum on regular basis through the Consumer Parliament and other similar initiatives,” he said.

Adebayo described as unfortunate that other than promos and winning of luxury items, Nigerians hardly see any operator holding consumer forum, on their own, to give an opportunity to their subscribers to discuss unresolved complaints as well as concerns.
“As we enjoy the boom in the industry, this success presents us with new challenges and industry players should take more seriously the state of relationships with customers as a way to derive increased value,” he advised.

ALTON boss also said that today, in the country, where every service providers compete against each other for the same customer, “a single bad contact center experience can have an exponential ripple effect.”

He cited the instance of Marker research which showed that on the average, one unhappy customer would tell 10 people about their experience, and in turn, those 10 people would each tell a further five people each, meaning that a total of fifty people would have heard about one bad experience.

Equally, he said, that studies conducted to evaluate subscribers experience with operators contact center has shown that the key factor determining customer satisfaction is call resolution, which remain a sour point for most subscribers in Nigeria.

“When you call with major concern to some of the help desks, you are either given multiple referrals or a request to visit in person to a service center, for basic problems such as inability to load a recharge card, or complaints about multiple billing and so on,” he said.

The study, he further cited, found that customers whose issues were unresolved are eight times more likely to discontinue their relationship with the operator.

“Therefore in the Nigeria telecom market, customer satisfaction is crucial to building customer loyalty,” he said.

Adebayo who dwelt on “Customer Satisfaction: A key to post telecom boom success” noted that customer loyalty could be measured solely by asking one question: does your customer recommend your network to his or friends and acquaintances?

He noted that although it builds upon customer satisfaction, true loyalty, as measured by recommendation, is a much more powerful indicator of a customer’s return business. Stressing that a subscriber who recommends a company is eight times more likely to be a repeat subscriber than one who is merely “satisfied.”

“The answer is clear: A giant step in building a healthy client base is taken when contact center agents are empowered to resolve customer calls,” he charged, pointing out that some of the current operators solely focus on the bottom line of revenues beyond customer satisfaction and by not doing the right investment in empowering contact center agents with the authority to make on-the-spot customer complaint resolution.

“This will continue to see an erosion of their client base,” he asserted.


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NCC plans to reduce SMS tariffs

Telecommunications regulator, the Nigerian Communications Commission (NCC) has advanced plans to reduce the cost of sending Short Messaging Service (SMS) in the country.

Executive Vice Chairman (EVC) of NCC, Dr. Ernest Ndukwe made this known at the 47th Consumer Parliament which held at Awka, Anambra State, at the weekend.

He said plans have been concluded to force down the current tariffs being charged by phone operators for Short Messaging Services (SMS), in the country, so as to assist more people to communicate more easily and cheaply.

SMS, which is still up to N15 in some networks, Dr. Ndukwe said the commission is looking into the matter and expects the operators to reduce the tariffs soon or the commission will take its action.

“SMS is one of the cheapest things to offer in the network in terms of services, and many young people use this service,” he noted, stressing that it is cheaper and easier and when more people use it.

He pointed out that SMS would also free the networks of congestion.

“If the operators do not react, we will react. We will probably put a sealing on this service”, Ndukwe said.

In addition, he said, that the issue of phone thefts in the country has been of major concern to the regulator, and anti-theft system was been developed with collaboration of the mobile phone operators.

“And that a company has been licensed to manage the system,” he said, adding the system will require that all the mobile operators, including Global System for Mobile communication (GSM) and Code Division Multiple Access (CDMA) networks, to link their data to the system such that once theft of any phone handset is reported, it will never work in any other network in Nigeria.

Ndukwe further observed that checks by the Commission in Awka and the surrounding areas showed that all the operators have failed terms of customer care for its subscribers.

He warned operators to leave up to their responsibilities by ensuring customer satisfaction with the provision of customer care facilities for quick resolution of complaints.

Dr. Ndukwe explained to the phone consumers that the essence of the parliament is to feel their pulse and to assess the facilities which the operators have put together to offer quality services to the people.

According to him, some of the qualities of service challenges in the sector are traceable to the operators while some are beyond the operators but that the commission recently imposed some compensation on the operators to mitigate these challenges.

“This is the first time that any group of customers have been so compensated in any part of Africa and we have not seen it in any part of the world. So, we are proud to achieve that for the consumers in this country,” he said.


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MTN acquires Verizon Business South Africa

The South African-based MTN Group, has acquisitioned the Verizon Business subsidiary, Verizon South Africa (Pty) Ltd to the tune of 100 per cent.

Verizon Business corporate entities currently own approximately 70 per cent of Verizon Business South Africa, with the balance held by an entity controlled by Jay & Jayendra (Pty) Ltd (J&J Group), a leading South African investment company with a broad range of interests in the industrial, technology and mining sectors.

A press statement made available to ITRealms indicated that the transaction was in line with MTN’s stated strategy to provide integrated communications solutions in all of its markets and follows similar acquisitions by MTN subsidiaries in Nigeria, Cameroon, Cyprus and Cote d’Ivoire.

Also, the transaction supports MTN’s strong customer focus and commitment to providing greater choice and will help position MTN to offer a broad range of communication offerings beyond its mobile services.

MTN Group President, Mr. Phuthuma Nhleko, said that the acquisition of Verizon Business South Africa will bolster the scale and product offering of MTN’s existing South Africa-based Internet Service Provider (ISP), MTN Network Solutions, while strengthening its regional presence.

MTN, he noted tends to work closely with Verizon Business to continue to serve global customers with operations in the region and also to identify other opportunities for regional cooperation.

Verizon Business is a leader in the delivery of global Internet Protocol-based enterprise communications and Verizon Business South Africa is an established South Africa headquartered ISP providing full connectivity services to corporate customers in South Africa, Namibia, Botswana, Zambia and Kenya.

“We’re pleased to announce this strategic acquisition, which will enhance MTN’s product offering to meet the diverse requirements of our customers. The acquisition will also provide MTN with access to a significant pool of skilled professionals.

Verizon Business South Africa, with its strong track record of providing advanced communications and information technology solutions to enterprise and government customers, is a natural fit to enhance MTN’s existing corporate offerings not only in South Africa but across the region,” he said.

Equally speaking, Vice President Strategy and Finance, Verizon Business, John Doherty, said that they would continue to refine local market approach to support the needs of multinational corporations worldwide, which it has achieve through either wholly-owned network assets and infrastructure or strategic alliances in key markets.

“Effectively, this transaction is about focusing each company’s operations to better serve its core customers’ needs. MTN’s strong focus on the African region will, we believe, provide effective service to customers based locally; we also look forward to continuing to work with MTN to support the local needs of our multinational customers,” he said.


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Life Academy gets Cisco’s CCNP

LIFE Development Academy, has officially become Cisco Networking Academy in West Africa qualified to run the Cisco Certified Network Professional (CCNP) curriculum.

The Legal Main Contact of the Academy, Mr. Ojuolape Sunday said that the advanced curriculum focuses on developing skills that enable students to implement scalable networks, build campus networks using multilayer switching technologies, create and deploy a global intranet, and troubleshoot environments using routers and switches for multiprotocol client hosts and services.

According to him, the 280-hour CCNP curriculum, requires students to have a Cisco Certified Network Associate (CCNA) certification, also enables them receive a Certificate of Completion while preparing them for the CCNP examination.

Combinations of both certifications form a strong foundation, which may be built upon with additional course work to prepare for the Cisco Certified Internetwork Expert (CCIE) certification. CCIE is the industry’s most respected certification for network professionals.

The Academy’s qualification as the CCNP Academy in West Africa, he said, is important for the country’s development.

This, he said, will accelerate the growth of a highly-skilled workforce that will provide the foundation of West Africa’s ability to compete in the global economy.

“We always find innovative ways to enhance our global competitiveness by offering the best curriculum to the students to generate a continuous supply of competent ICT manpower who will design, develop, implement and manage the more complex networking requirements,” Ojuolape said.

He added that being designated as the CCNP Academy provides an opportunity for the college to disseminate the training that will address the growing requirement for higher level of networking skills for ICT workers in local and international companies.


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e-e-Knowledge scheme stimulates rush for Zinox brand

THE e-Knowledge initiative of the Computerize Nigeria Project (CNP) is stimulating a rush for Zinox brand of computers in the south-eastern Information and Communication Technology (ICT) markets.

Chief executive, CNP, Mrs. Vivian Abii, said that in a display of people who bought into the vision of the e-knowledge initiative, are presently building-up crowd at Zinox offices in the zone in attempt to benefit from the scheme.

She also said that the scheme offers a highly emotive benefit bundled in information age including computer appreciation training.

“In recognition of the prevalence of first time users, the offer includes free computer training for every laptop purchased,” she said.

While urging the governments and people of the South East to take advantage of the various incentives that are embedded in the e-knowledge project to join the information highway, Mrs. Abii urged the added that these incentives include free training, free 6 months internet access at the Secretariat of the Local or State Government that buys into this vision, free computer laboratory for the training of civil servants, original Microsoft licenses, flexible payment terms for cooperatives and educational institutions.

She also noted that all these would be backed up by the Zinox no-story-warranty executed from 13 support centers across the nation, pointing out that the systems come standard with inventory software to enable traders to track inventory, determine daily profitability and keep stock.

She explained that different segments of the population were jostling for computer training in designated centers.

“The old, the young, the literate and the semi literate, the civil servants and the businessmen, everyone is learning to use the new tool for work and play – courtesy of the e – Knowledge Project.

It was also gather that Zinox had an office in each of the major cities in the South East namely, Enugu, Onitsha, Awka, Aba, Umuahia, Owerri, and Abakaliki.

A trader at Ariaria Market in Aba, Njoku Ekwebelem, who bought a laptop and is already enjoying a free training at Ogbor Hill, expressed his deep gratitude to the CNP for bringing computer training to their doorsteps.

He was happy that the e-knowledge promo has compelled him not only to buy a laptop but also to acquire computer training.

Desmond Ikpe, a staff of a Shalom Business Center in Umuahia is excited that there is an upsurge in the number of persons seeking to acquire computer training, noting that all those engaged in training are having a temporary boom.

For Obioma Okafor, who works in a commercial bank in Onitsha, the e–knowledge promo is a blessing because of the affordable prices.

The Computerize Nigeria Project is a Zinox Computers initiative, set up in 2001, to promote understanding for, and adoption of the computer as a major tool of work and play.

Currently, the Computerize Nigeria Project, in partnership with the National Universities Commission and the Federal Ministry of Education is involved in the provision of computers for knowledge workers in the educational sector including students and lecturers.


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‘Etisalat committed to quality service’

ETISALAT has reiterated its commitment to provide Nigerians with its trademark quality of service, just as it assures would-be subscribers that the network was undergoing its final stages of testing prior to its switch on.

Speaking recently at the West and Central Africa Communications Congress in Abuja, Vice President Marketing, Mr. Wael Ammar, said Nigeria fits into Etisalat vision to offer world-class services to the citizens because of the country’s enormous potentials.

Mr. Ammar said this in a presentation titled: ‘Etisalat’s strategies for maximizing growth in West and Central Africa Communications market,’ said the telco’s commitment to raise the quality of services available to Nigerians underlines its $1.4 billion initial investment in the Nigerian economy.

He explained that as a caring operator, Etisalat recognizes the importance and responsibility of balancing profitability and growth along side long term sustainability, stating that its expansion strategy in the West and Central African region is driven not only by market potential but also by the opportunity for Etisalat to add value to lives of the people.

To this end, he said the telco is continuously investing in capacity building, both in innovative technology and high caliber personnel, geared towards robust operations that will ultimately deliver simple and affordable quality service to Nigerians.

On the possibility of infrastructure sharing with other operators, Ammar said Etisalat was open to the idea and was in discussions with other operators on the option.

He also added that the Etisalat expects to be a top tier global telco by 2010 while its projected total investment in the WECA region is expected to exceed USD 5.5 billion. Ammar noted that Etisalat sees Africa’s challenges which are borne out of certain legacies as opportunities that can be harnessed to leapfrog by adopting the latest technologies.

With successful operations in tough terrains such as Afghanistan and Sudan, Etisalat is pioneering technology for tomorrow’s customers and has a vision to deploy its experience and legacy to own a robust network in the country has it done in other markets.


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ITU, Microsoft collaborate on MDGs

WORLD telecommunications regulatory agency of the United Nations (UN), the International Telecommunication Union (ITU) and software giant, Microsoft Corporation have concluded plans for collaboration to make the achievement of the Millennium Development Goals (MDGs).

This follows the meeting between the Microsoft Chairman, Mr. Bill Gates and ITU Secretary-General, Dr. Hamadoun Touré in Redmond, WA, United States of America (USA) last Thursday.

Chief, Media Relations and Public Information, ITU, Mr. Sanjay Acharya disclosed in a press statement made available to ITRealms that the meeting held among the two was along with a high-level ITU delegation including the Director of the ITU Standardization Bureau, Mr. Malcolm Johnson, Director of the Development Bureau, Mr. Sami Al Basheer, and Ms Doreen Bogdan-Martin, Chief of Strategic Planning and Membership.

According to him, it aimed at extending the collaboration between ITU and Microsoft, as such, discussions ranged from improving education through Information and Communication Technologies (ICT), developing digital resources, providing access to low-cost ICT devices and building human capacity to expanding e-health services and other e-applications.

At the meeting, Mr. Bill Gates emphasized that ICT is a key component for achieving the Millennium Development Goals and expressed interest in ITU’s standardization work, especially on audio and video coding.

Dr. Touré explained that by connecting the world and fulfilling everyone’s fundamental right to communicate, the world could be a better and safer place.
“Connectivity must be our focus for the coming years to empower people everywhere with access to information on healthcare, agriculture and the environment,” he told Mr. Gates.

Toure stressed that his dream is to connect the world and he hopes that Microsoft would join in fulfilling this dream.

Focusing on ITU’s Global Cybersecurity Agenda (GCA), Dr Touré highlighted the importance of Internet safety for children and his plans to launch a global coalition to focus on protecting children in cyberspace.

He reinforced the need to empower women and youth and to stimulate job creation in developing countries, saying that human capacity building is the cornerstone of development.

Dr Touré later sought for collaboration between Microsoft and his office to promote digital literacy in ITU’s Internet Training Centres and to make libraries of digital resources available in schools and other institutions in developing countries.

ITRealms recalls that Microsoft under its Unlimited Potential Initiative (UPI), has a specific focus to enable sustained social and economic opportunity for those in the middle and the bottom of the world’s economic pyramid - the next five billion people.

Equally discussed was ways to cooperate with technology companies like Microsoft to explore the options for shared access and inexpensive ICT devices, including mobile smart-phones and low-cost notebooks.


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