ICANN commends NiRA on .ng progress

Global Internet administrator, the Internet Corporation for Assigned Names and Numbers (ICANN) has commended the managers of the nation’s country code Top Level Domain (ccTLD), .ng, the Nigeria Internet Registration Association (NiRA), saying it has done very well within a short time of its existence.

ccTLD is a country’s identity in the cyber space, just like .ng is for Nigeria, .uk is for the United Kingdom, .za is for South Africa among others.

The Regional Liaison Officer for Africa at ICANN, Ms Anne Rachel Inne, gave this commendation at the just concluded annual sixth Commonwealth Telecommunication Organisation (CTO) held in Abuja, the nation’s capital, last weekend in an exclusive chat with ITRealms Online.

She said that Nigeria deserves to be commended on what has happened so far concerning the evolution of NiRA.

“I definitely congratulate Nigeria as a whole on what has happened so far. I am very happy the way NiRA has taken up, it’s set up and the way it’s going forward,” she asserted when asked to rate NiRA in the last two years of its existence.

She also noted the fact that NiRA, lately, has been to all African’s Top Level Domain (TLD) Name Association meetings, in relation with other Country Code TLD managers in the region.

Ms Inne disclosed that NiRA is billed to participate in the meeting for technical managers around security tagged “Attack and Contagious Response Planning,” scheduled to hold in Senegal soon.

“So, I am really happy the way its going. I can only congratulate Nigeria and only hope that this network would be used by everybody at home,” she declared.

Usage of dot ng, she said, would make the network to become one under which things could be done at home and monitored appropriately, especially as it concerns the Internet.

“… Instead of going to dot com or any other Top Level Domain out there, that is not ours,” the ICANN official said.

She urged Africans and Nigerians precisely to recognize this fact.

“It is time our people have to realize that having a domain under dot com is not the best to happen because it comes with somewhat attack, because dot com is an American domain,” she said.

Explaining that dot com is managed by an American corporation and any day any user may have information that is contrary to the expectation of the American government, for instance, “they can ask that corporation to take your website down.”

ITRealms Online recalls that recently NiRA condemned those obtaining dot com in the country including the News Agency of Nigeria (NAN) who went on to get another foreign domain name, nannewsngr.com, after purported intrusion of its Information Management System (IMS) and usage of its electronic mailing list to send ‘absurd’ message to the media community, especially on the health of President Umaru Musa Yar’Adua.

According to NiRA president, Mr. Ndukwe Kalu the option of a foreign domain at this time of the nation’s Internet development by any government agencies is demeaning, when .ng is simply begging to be used.

He explained that nothing stops NAN from basically applying to NiRA for a domain name bearing in mind the critical role NAN plays in the government of the country.

He outlined possible four ways for the attack on NAN to include that someone may have access to NAN news subscription mail list and send a mail to the list but changed the ‘from’ field to the NAN email address or finally, someone probably created an email address very close to the NAN email and used NAN news subscription list to send out mail.

These, he said, are the only four means by which there could have been a breach and each had to do with technology of varying levels of sophistications.


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What to know about firewall (2)

Windows Firewall settings:
To open Windows Firewall, click Start, click Control Panel, and then click Windows Firewall. Windows Firewall has three settings: On, On with no exceptions, and Off.

On: Windows Firewall is turned on by default, and normally you should leave it that way. With this setting, Windows Firewall blocks all requests to connect to your computer, except for those from programs or services on the Exceptions list.

On with no exceptions: When you select the Don’t allow exceptions check box, Windows Firewall blocks all requests to connect to your computer, including those from programs or services on the Exceptions list. Use this setting when you need maximum protection for your computer, such as when you connect to a public network in a hotel or airport, or when a dangerous virus is spreading over the Internet.

There is no need to keep Don’t allow exceptions selected all the time, because when it is, some of your programs might not work correctly, and the following services are blocked:

File and printer sharing - Discovery of network devices :
Preconfigured programs and services on the Exceptions list.
Additional items that you have added to the Exceptions list.
When you select Don’t allow exceptions, you can still send and receive e-mail, use an instant messaging program, or view Web pages.


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Open Source: Key to citizen’s participation

A call was made recently for Africans to embrace Open Source. Remmy Nweke reports that it could boost citizen’s participation in governance.


Penultimate Wednesday afternoon, Ben Ovie-Young, a media practitioner resident in Abuja, was taken aback on opening his mail at a computerized media pool to realize that he had over five online invitations, to join one group or another. So, he screamed, “what is all these invitations about.”

His scream attracted his colleagues to come nearer or peep at the screen of his personal computer’s monitor and it did not take time to figure out what it was; Ben had invitations from a yahoo group account inviting him to a discussion platform by the moderator of the team. He also had an invitation from a friend to join him at YouTube, another friend extended invite from MySpace and yet another from John on Facebook.

Still contemplating on what next, he decided to ask a friend, Yomi Asope, who had sent him a blog post before now to enlighten him more on what he ought to know about all the surging platforms for digital citizen engagement. On signing in his newly set up Yahoo! Messenger, he met two other invites and another from a foreigner who left a note: I like your contributions and would like to have you as a friend.

Though astonished, he went ahead to ask Yomi for explanation, because he knows he had been engulfed with one exploit on the Internet or another.

So, for Yomi, an ‘ordinary’ citizen it is now time to educate the journalist and not just any journalist but that of 21st century. He began by sending him links to what YouTube, MySpace and FaceBook are all about. After which he honoured those invitations and could not believe what he saw as content on those platforms, were simply amazing.

From people using their mobile phones to upload bits and pieces of information from all over the world, Ben Ovie-Young, now realized the import of the theme at this year’s Highway Africa (HA-08) conference at Rhodes University Grahamstown, South Africa, which was on ‘Citizen Journalism and Journalism for Citizens.’

Berger’s theory of Citizen Journalism:
Elucidating on the theme, Head of School of Journalism at the HA-08 host university, Prof. Guy Berger, offered a literary gift to all participants based on the message that African media practitioners should ride on the back of Open Source applications to engage the citizens positively for their individual and societal development.

This, he suggested, is achievable when media practitioners on the continent realize the importance of citizens in their jobs, knowing fully well they themselves are also citizens, thus giving the citizens an open mind as to the acceptance of their contributions in today’s changing information and media world precisely.

Advising African media practitioners to change their thinking cap, Prof. Berger noted that most people erroneously think that citizen journalism emerges when amateurs become journalists. He stressed that citizen journalism actually began “when the journalist thinks about what it means to be a citizen as a journalist.”

Open Source:
An Open source expert at the OS Initiative, Mr. Ken Coar, said as does not just mean access to the source code, because the distribution terms of open-source software must comply with some criterion including the free redistribution, source code, derived works, integrity of the author’s source code, no discrimination against persons or groups, no discrimination against fields of endeavor, distribution of license, which must not be specific to a product, and it should not be restricted or restrict other software as well as all being technology-neutral among others.

Importance of citizen’s participation:
For the acting Group Executive, Corporate Communication at South African national operator, Telkom, Ms. Bintu Petsana, citizens have the right to know about activities and decisions that affect their lives, liberty and must recognize the importance of their participation within the democratic system to make it work and thrive.

She was emphatic that this will become a reality if its recognized by the culture that values right to freedom of expression among other human right issues. Hence, raising a big question mark on the Nigeria’s National Assembly delays in passing the Freedom of Information (FoI) bill since last administration of Chief Olusegun Obasanjo till date.

And for the General Manager, South African Broadcasting Corporation (SABC), Mr. Phil Molefe, many African media practitioners are still in bondage and operate in un-conducive environment that even infringes on their fundamental rights. He encouraged them to endeavour to get involved in the new wave of gathering and exchanging information, because it would afford them to be on top of their careers by being Information and Communications Technology (ICT) compliant.

Accepting the reality of citizen journalism:
Also, members of the academia seem to be in tandem with the fact and role of the Citizen Journalism (CJ) at this era of ICT on the continent, as postulated by some of them at the HA-08.

Speaking at the session on “Citizen journalism and civic education: exploring the theoretical and practical linkages,” chaired by Prof. Fackson Banda of Rhodes University, a lecturer at the Makerere University, Dr. George Lugalambi, declared that citizen journalism is a phenomenon that emerged because the citizens were not satisfied with performance of the conventional journalists.

A gap, he said that ICT is abridging, noting that CJ has made citizens to be politically competent by participating in any political process and expressing their views on the societal subjects.

Equally, a lecturer in the Media Studies Department at Wits University in Johannesburg, South Africa, Dr. Dumisani Moyo pointed out that the last Zimbabwean election was an example of how Short Messaging Services (SMS) through mobile phones were used to disseminate information and exchange opinion as well as ideas about the election by the citizens.

Citizen Journalism, he said, provided a parallel market of information because while the government was not forthcoming with election results, the citizens alternatively provided the avenue for getting information across to themselves without any hindrance.

Particularly interesting, according to him, was the use of SMS to spread humour over the lack of courage by the government to announce results, hours after the election ended.

The political economy of citizen journalism, he said, is that corporate entities like Global System for Mobile communications (GSM) operators across the world and Africa that promote citizen journalism via advertising and selling their own products. “This is because people cannot be part of citizen journalism without the use of SMS,” he cited an instance, stressing that if SMS is in vogue, of course, operators are likely to make more revenue.

In his contribution, a Senior lecturer at the Ajayi Crowther University, Oyo State, Nigeria, Dr. Abiodun Salawu also cited the book by Dennis McQuail, the author of Theory of Mass Communications and said that the story of democratic participating media theory provides the theoretical framework for citizen journalism, therefore, serving as a veritable platform for democracy to thrive.

While advocating for horizontal rather than vertical means of communications, Salawu concurred on the role of ICT in today’s media emancipation also known as citizen journalism, saying that the 2007 election in Nigeria, for instance, witnessed some campaigners sending messages via SMS to the electorates.

One cell-pone per child:
In addition, Vice Provost for Globalisation at the University of Southern California, Adam Clayton Powell III, pointed out that since the evolution of television and the personal computer, the most powerful future technology for the digital citizen emerged in form of mobile phone.

“Just as our ancestors used paint for their rock art, today, we‘re using our mobile phones to send voice and data, in essence a revival of oral tradition,” he noted, canvassing for future African ICT enthusiasts to engage on “one cell phone per child.” campaign.

According to him, to really appreciate this digital future, the world must understand how far technology has come. He traced the current evolution to 1980s with TV, newspapers and personal computers.

“In the ’90s, television streaming over the internet became a reality,” he said, stressing that by the year 2000, PCs, TVs, Compact Disc (CDs), game and social networks became a major part of day-to-day life for the digital citizen.

Today, much more collaboration between print and electronic media is possible through converged content management systems and collaborative open web technologies; through newspapers usage of digital tools on their web pages while hitherto called electronic media adopted print strategies like text stories and photographs on their web pages.

Key to citizen’s participation:
As the telecommunications penetration continues to expand on the continent, it will be paving the way for more citizens to participate in governance through stuffing the Internet with their own stories which could be meaningfully utilized by mainstream media, like the CNN’s EyeReport and Channel Tv’s Ur Report.

After all, it was once said that the voice of the people is the voice of God and as long as open source remained the key to people’s participation in this era, the voice of the people would continue to be heard with the new wave of ICT tools.


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Root zone proposal goes public

Not-for profit organisation responsible for the global coordination of the Internet’s system of unique identifiers, the Internet Corporation for Assigned Names and Numbers (ICANN), has released a proposal for the signing of the root zone file with Domain Name System Security Extensions (DNSSEC), technology.

The release comes as the United States Department of Commerce (DoC) also announced a Notice of Inquiry on the concept of signing the Root Zone.

A DNS root zone is the top level of the Domain Name System (DNS) hierarchy for a given DNS system. DNS makes it possible to assign domain names to organizations, thus, is a system that translates domain names into Internet Protocol (IP) addresses.

Media Advisor for ICANN, Mr. Jason Keenan, said in a press statement made available to ITRealms Online at the weekend, that DNSSEC provides a way for software to validate that Domain Name System (DNS) data have not been modified during Internet transit.

This, he said, is done by incorporating public-private signature key pairs into the DNS hierarchy to form a chain of trust originating at the root zone.

Essentially, he said, DNSSEC is not a form of encryption, noting that it is backward compatible with existing DNS, leaving records as they are – unencrypted.

“DN SSEC ensures record integrity through the use of digital signatures that attest to their authenticity,” he said.

Explaining further, Keenan said, this proposal has been written by ICANN staff, as authorized by its board, with the goal to proceed with appropriate speed and deploy DNSSEC at the root level as a step towards improving the overall security of the DNS.

He quoted ICANN president, Dr. Paul Twomey as saying that the proposal has already been reviewed by a group of global DNSSEC experts.

“The feedback ICANN received from this group indicates that the proposal is technically sound, and appropriate” Twomey said.

He underscored the fact that at the core of DNSSEC is the concept of a ‘chain of trust’, thus ICANN’s proposal builds on that notion and, based on security advice, recommends that the entity responsible for making changes, additions and deletions to the root zone file and confirming those changes are valid.

He pointed out that ICANN presently performs this function under its administrative arm known as the Internet Assigned Numbers Authority (IANA) function, under contract from the United States Department of Commerce, stressing that it generates and digitally sign the resulting root zone file update.

This signed file, then passed to another organization presently being managed by VeriSign Corporation for distribution.

“In other words, the organization responsible for the initial basis of trust - validating root zone changes with top level domain operators - should also authenticate the validity of the final product before it is distributed, “ he enlightened.

“ICANN has more than a year of experience in producing a signed root zone that has already been widely tested by DNS software vendors and the interested DNSSEC community. ICANN also has “built-in” the participation of a group of world-class DNS experts,” Dr Twomey said.

He described this moment as that of challenge and opportunity in addressing the overall stability and security of the DNS system, a mission around which ICANN was formed.


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Ilukwe advises on infrastructure sharing ... As GBP deploys 250 NOC

Managing Director, Galaxy Backbone Plc (GBP), Mr. Gerald Ilukwe has advised on some shareable telecommunications infrastructure on the continent.

This is coming as GBP announced the deployment of 250 Network Operating Centres (NOC) lately.

Speaking at the Information and Communication Technology (ICT) summit organized by the Commonwealth Telecommunication Organisation (CTO) in conjunction with the Ministry of Information and Communication and Nigerian Communications Commission (NCC) in Abuja, last week, Ilukwe who dwelt on ‘Pursuing Successful Infrastructure Sharing Strategies in Africa,’ noted there are some immediate and most viable infrastructure that could be easily shared among operators in the ICT sector.

He enumerated this infrastructure by categorizing them into two, electronic and non-electronic.

He listed the electronic infrastructure to include base towers stations, micro wave radio equipment, switches, antennas, transceivers for signal processing and transmission, while the non-electronic comprises of tower, shelter, air-conditioning, standby power generating sets and back-up batteries, electrical equipment, technical premises and easement and pylons.

Others, Ilukwe named to include data centres, utility and middleware applications disaster recovery as well as business continuity facilities.

On the imperatives of infrastructure sharing, Ilukwe said that it facilitates optimization of investment in infrastructure and the use of scarce national resources like right of way.

He also said that it reduces negative environmental impact through co-location of antenna farms to limit radiation, incessant digging up of roads and pavements as well as proliferation of telecom masts.

“It thus focuses on service innovation instead of network deployment,” he said.
Commenting later after a media tour of Galaxy Backbone site in Abuja, Ilukwe said his team has deployed about 250 Network Operating Centres in FCT for the Ministries, Departments and Agencies (MDAs) for various organizations.

“Today, we have 250 NOCs in Abuja,” he said.

Out of the 250 centres, he said, 200 belongs to the Federal Government including the Federal Road Safety Commission - 85, Nigerian Immigration Service - 65, Nigerian Drug Law Enforcement Agency (NDLEA) - 49 and News Agency of Nigeria (NAN) 6.

According to Ilukwe who was joined in the media parley by the Chief Technical Officer (CTO) of Galaxy, Mr. Martin Ahachi and Marketing Communications Manager, Mr. Ginger Ekeh, said, his office is ready to deploy to the Nigerian Postal Services (NIPOST) based on its recent Memorandum of Understanding (MoU) with the agency recently.

“We are waiting for them to say they are ready and we would deploy,” declared Ahachi.


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DPI plans children’s digital resort centre

Non-governmental organization and organizers of Digitest, the Digital Peers International (DPI), has commenced plans to celebrate its 10 year in style, with top on the agenda being its own children’s digital resort centre.

National Coordinator, DPI, Mrs. Ibukun Odusote, revealed this in a parley with ITRealms Online last weekend in Abuja, said that in the last nine years, the programme has performed to the delight of children, using Information and Communications Technologies (ICT) as its core outreach strategy.

She said that by next year, DPI would be able to provide statistics on where the past participants have clinched to ICTs and how they have grown within the sector.

Before now, she said during the camp which usually last for two weeks, participating children were taught how to create websites, stressing that by next year Digitest will introduce basic programming languages.

“We are going to put a lot of emphasis on programming,” she said.

DPI, she also said, is interested in building a place of its own any where in the country where it may have support from any state government.

“We’re ready to partner with any state that provide us with good land for proper children’s digital centre,” she asserted, emphasizing that the centre will offer learning and leisure and will like to have the 10th anniversary in such a place, even if it means for us to develop by ourselves.

“Although, we would like to have the children resort in Abuja because of its central nature and in any other state that welcomes us,” she said, pointing out that the resort must be structured in a way that it will be commercially viable.

In addition, she said, that the NGO has began to engage the teachers so as to sustain the tempo of what Digitest has been all about.

As said by her, the nation and DPI would be able to achieve more by encouraging that step byway of training based on some selected schools, explaining that at the school levels the teacher will be stimulated to develop interest in ICTs before their pupils come to the annual Digitest camp.

Assuring that DPI has a database of all the sites based on the theme of the year and they have been interesting sites created by children from various background.

Equally, she said, participating children in the last edition held in Lagos, for instance, created their own blogs which is on parallel with the website of the organization.

Projecting into the next 10 years, Mrs. Odusote said that she will like to see Digitest making its mark on the map of Africa.

She enlightened that children must be between the ages of eight and 18, stressing the reason for this age bracket, saying “they have to be in camp for two weeks.”

Children, she said, include the deaf and dumb, who have basic knowledge of computing, that is, ability to boot a system, handle the mouse and simple word processing, and must be nominated by their school principals, parents or guardians, even as teachers in secondary schools either self-sponsored or nominated by their school principals with requisite experience could participate.

Pointing out that 2008 edition has a few scholarships available to indigent students of Lagos State origin for Digitest Nigeria.

She recalled that the 2008 camp which usually held locally and internationally, saw participating children being hosted at the National University in Singapore, where they were trained on lots of Information Technology (IT) linked to the growth and progress made by Singapore and Dubai, even as they were presented with certificates.

She described Digitest 2008 anchored on the theme: “e-business: No barriers, no boundaries” as a huge success, and due to its outstanding support from the likes of Zenith Bank Plc and Omatek.

“Zenith has been steadfast in supporting Digitest and we challenge others to come up,” she urged.


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New Horizons to host IT job fair-08

A new wave of expo is underway in the Information Technology (IT) sub-sector as industry institute, New Horizons, announced its readiness to host the second edition of job fair cum IT seminar at various locations nationwide.

Managing Director and chief executive officer of New Horizons Nigeria, Mr. Tim Akano, while disclosing this in a press statement made available to ITRealms Online, said that it promises to be the biggest of its kind on the continent.

“This is the first time in Africa where all the global IT giants like Microsoft, Oracle, Cisco, Sun Microsystems, EC-Council and New Horizons will be coming together under one roof to discuss the latest trends in IT and how it affects Nigerians as a whole, but more importantly, how individuals can benefit optimally from the numerous IT opportunities,” he said.

The event, he also said, would take place at three locations across the country, namely at the indoor sports hall of the national stadium, Surulere; the cultural centre, Kuto Abeokuta and the CBN centre, Computer Science department, University of Ibadan.

Akano said, the event has been scheduled to take place on Saturday, October 18, 2008, underlining the fact that participants would learn about actionable steps to take towards improving their professional skills thereby making it easier for the unemployed to get jobs of their dreams.

Other invited guests, he said, would include top recruitment companies: People Prime, IRIS Consulting, Michael Stevens, and Clement Ashley Consulting.

The co-founder of EC-Council, creators of programmes such as Certified Ethical Hacker (CEH), Certified Hacking Forensic Investigator (CHFI), Master of Security Science (MSS), and MBA E-Business, Mr. Bavisi, would be in attendance to discuss the importance of e-business to national growth and career development.

Equally, he said that at the fair, participants would have the opportunity to meet with the recruitment firms to discuss their career aspirations, the needed steps to take to achieve their goals and job opportunities in the Nigerian employment market.

“They will also get to know the top paying companies in the country, good universities they can attend on a reasonable budget abroad for their postgraduate programmes as well as available scholarships they can tap into to sponsor their schooling,” he said.

He drew attention to the deplorable situation of unemployment in the country and the need to address the situation with pragmatic and long lasting solution.

He said the former minister for education Mrs. Oby Ezekwesili and the present CBN Governor Prof. Chukwuma Soludo said that more than 70 per cent of Nigerian youths are unemployed, unemployable or underemployed and if the situation is not reversed Nigeria will soon become a nation of criminals.

He explained that ICT is the area in which skills are needed in the world today and those who strive to acquire these skills will be better for it.

He recalled that New Horizons had previously organized a job fair at the national stadium in Lagos, where thousands of people gathered to witness the event - an infotainment night; the first of its kind in Nigeria involving 9ICE and Dan Forste.

“They have also put together a mobile scholarship initiative in a bid to emancipate the youths from the shackles of unemployment,” he said.


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Wireless, key to ICT growth – Masilela

WIRELESS solutions, has been identified as the key to the growth of Information and Communications Technology (ICT) on the continent, reports CHARLES OKOH.

Making this observation at the Commonwealth Technology Organisation (CTO) ICT summit, last week in Abuja, Head, Corporate Affairs, subregion South Africa, Nokia Siemens Networks, Mr. Lucky Masilela, pointed out that employment, education, empowerment and environment as key requirements for sustainable growth in ICT in the world.

According to him, employment will identify the benefits of internet for personal business and use, education will support competence development for information and communication technology (ICT), and empowerment will take care of the low income segments to improve their efficiency with affordable ICT while the environment will see to provision of environmentally sustainable solutions.

He observed that to connect five billion by 2015, there is overall high growth opportunity in developing countries, just as he expressed believe that wireless will drive the growth since cellular penetration supersedes the personal computer (PC) penetration.

Mr. Masilela also identified voice affordability barrier at 2.5 billion human users and Internet Protocol (IP) connectivity affordability barrier at 1.4bn internet users as the challenges of universal access in the global income pyramid, stating that internet for the next billion requires consumer understanding, affordability, access, competence and motivation.

He said diversity in emerging economies requires segmented internet access strategies through connecting the unconnected with shared internet for the masses with no access or voice accesses only and enhance user experience.

He advocated stimulation of the development of online tools and solutions supporting the usage of a local language as basic step, stating that frequency availability for efficient use of technologies is highly required to support affordability demand and that taxation on devices and services can make the difference to drive affordability and usage.


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Co-location requires rational decision – Dorward

Deputy Chief Regulatory Officer (CRO) in charge of Regulatory Affairs for all of Zain’s 22 operating companies in the Middle East and Africa, Mrs. Lynne Dorward, has said that successful co-location of infrastructure in telecommunications sector require rational decision.

This is coming as the mobile operator, Zain Group, is currently co-locating infrastructure in Saudi Arabia and has even signed a Memorandum of Understanding (MOU) in Kuwait for a similar offer.

Mrs. Dorward made this known in Abuja during the 2008 Commonwealth Technology Organisation (CTO)-organised Information and Communications Technology (ICT) summit and exhibitions, which ended last weekend.

“Infrastructure sharing needs to be a rational business decision that should be taken into account at all times,” she declared.

She buttressed her point by saying that the amount of investment that existing operators have already incurred is vital for a successful co-location of infrastructure.

Technical and operational considerations, she said, should include spare capacity and cost of adding and upgrading facilities.

On the environmental decisions, Mrs. Dorward said that it is relevant to satisfy regulatory objectives of free and fair competition and ease of consumer access while at same time respecting operator investment made and risks taken.

She also called for a collaborative approach by working together so that telecom industry would continue to witness sustainable growth.

“Let’s take a collaborative approach and work together,” she said.

Mrs. Dorward cited the origin of co-location of telecom infrastructure to Chile in late 1980’s due to extreme length and narrowness of the country, noting that before now this concept has taken root in the Third Generation (3G) site sharing in Germany and Sweden.

While multiple mobile network operators in India already engaged in effective site sharing, she recalled that as the third operator in Saudi Arabia, Zain already is using site sharing, while it recently signed an MOU with Saudi Telecom Company (STC) to provide same in Kuwait.

She pointed out that it took the emergence of 3G license debacles in Europe between the year 2000 and 2002 for the real impact of infrastructure sharing to be noticed, basically because the economics of multiple 3G network deployments coupled with license fees made the costs prohibitive.

“So, operators asked regulators to approve site sharing,” she said, emphasizing that because the regulators have to overcome initial reluctance but realized that market could still be competitive, therefore they encouraged it.

Environmental impact, she said, brought to the fore the cost of increasingly remote location of power, security and sites among others.


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MTN offers FCMB wireless solution

Leading mobile operator in the country, MTN Nigeria Communications Limited has offered First City Monument Bank (FCMB) Plc, its Wide Area Network (WAN) solution to link the bank’s 89 branches nationwide.

The deal to last for five years is expected to improve the quality of services provided by the bank through the prompt provision of banking services.

Founded in 1982, FCMB prides itself as the first wholly owned merchant bank to be established in Nigeria before it acquired a universal banking license in 2001. A press statement made available to ITRealms Online, weekend, showed that the WAN solution provided by MTN would assist FCMB to enhance its customer experience, product and human capital development.

Speaking on the development, Head, Information Technology (IT) at FCMB Plc, Mr. Olayinka Oni, said the Wide Area Network solution would make better the quality of services rendered by the bank through the prompt provision of banking services and reduction on the time customers spend in the banking halls.

The solution, he also said, is the first of its kind to be adopted by any bank in the country, would reduce turn around time, improve transaction speed, and enhance customer satisfaction.

“It will also impact on long term increase in customer base and long term profit,” Oni said, describing it an exciting development.

“And we look forward to leveraging on the cutting edge Information and Communication Technology (ICT) facilities provided by MTN to offer our growing customers base the excellent services for which we are known,” he asserted.

Also commenting on the deal, the Chief Executive Officer, MTN Nigeria, Mr. Ahmad Farroukh noted that at MTN, they endeavour to leverage on their expertise in the area of telecommunications to provide avant-garde ICT solutions to a wide range of customers including progressive corporations such as FCMB.

“We design and deploy effective business solutions and ensure that services are available to sustain excellent service delivery on a consistent basis,” he said.
Farroukh reiterated that MTN Nigeria is the largest telecommunications company in the country with coverage in over 200 towns and more than 10,000 villages and communities across the 36 states of the federation.

“MTN has built in excess of 3,400 bases stations in Nigeria, and its 3,600 kilometres fibre optics superhighway is the largest private infrastructure of its kind in Africa,” he said.

According to him, MTN is poised to consolidate its achievements in telecommunications by offering superior ancillary products and services.

FCMB on the other hand has pedigree and reputation in the banking and financial industry further demonstrated in 2007, when it attracted over USD300 million in direct investments, as well as on-lending facilities from leading international institutions such as HCBC, CDC, OPIC and the IFC amongst others.


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Main One cable to boost Internet access

Newly commissioned Main One Cable project is set to give a boost to Internet access in the West African sub-region.

The project being handled by the management of Tyco Telecommunications, according to the Chief Executive Officer, Main One, Mrs. Funke Opeke, will expand the frontiers of Internet access in West Africa.

Nigeria, Ghana and the rest of Africa, she said, are set to experience a major boost in Internet access and a heavy reduction in tariffs on completion of the Main One Cable project.

She recalled that a major milestone by her firm, especially for the West Africa sub-region, was the acquisition of the first ever issued under-sea cable system landing license in sub-region.

In addition, she said, Main One has made the requisite contractual payments to Tyco Telecommunications who will implement both phases of the project on a turnkey basis.

“Work has, therefore, begun on the massive intercontinental sub-marine fibre optic cable project,” she said.

Opeke explained that the Main One cable project is an ambitious under-sea fibre optic cabling project that will extend from Portugal to the West and Southern Coasts of Africa.

The first phase of the project, she said, will span 6,900 kilometres, extending from Portugal to Nigeria and Ghana on the West Coast of Africa.

While the second phase is expected to extend by another 6,000 kilometres to South Africa and Angola, using Dense Wave Multiplexing (DWM) technology of 1.28 Terabits per second with two fibre pairs.

With this, she said, the Main One cable has been designed to deliver more capacity to the region than any of the other existing or proposed under-sea fibre projects.
In addition to considerably enhancing broadband access, the Main One boss said, the cable project will help to crash tariffs significantly.

“It will provide open access to regional telecom operators and Internet Service Providers (ISP) at rates that are less than 20 per cent of current international bandwidth tariffs obtainable via the SAT 3 or satellite service operators,” she said.

Additionally, she pointed out, that the project will drive job provision across the continent.

“As a business championed by African entrepreneurs, Main One will encourage local content development via skills transfer of critical networking technologies. We will also enhance job creation with the location of the Global Network Operational Centre (GNOC) for the entire system in Nigeria and a cable station in Ghana,” Mrs. Opeke assured.

Opeke restated that the massive cabling project will provide a major boost to Internet access across the continent which currently stands at less than five per cent.

“In addition, Main One will help to ease the difficulties of switching traffic between African countries, eliminating the inconvenience and added costs of first routing traffic to Europe,” she said, noting that with the support of individual investors within the region, private equity institutions, development finance institutions and a handful of African banks, the development of the project and execution of the contract by Tyco Telecommunications remains in line as schedule for completion in May 2010,” said Opeke.

The Main One contract, she said, is now in force as scheduled and having completed the desk top study, “we are working with our supplier and key partners to bring this privately owned cable project to a successful execution.”


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Joke Silva excites MTN Project Fame academy

As MTN Project Fame finally enters a crucial stage with the 15 students, the academy was excited when Mrs. Joke Silva was introduced as the principal.

For the purposes of the academy, the principal is that almighty character whose voice is final on any issue. In most cases they are conservative, and strict disciplinarians.

ITRealms Online recalls that when Joke and husband, Olu Jacobs were acting, Nollywood was not in the script yet but it is to their credit that they were able to transform and remained the dream couple of the industry.

Describing herself for the purpose of her new assignment, Joke “confessed a person who likes to see new talents emerge, grow and explode.”

She counseled the students to do their best, but to remember that at the end of the day, it is just a competition.

The students in the academy came from various backgrounds across the West Africa nations.

At the academy, resident in Lagos, they would learn to live with each other, imbibe the spirit of competition but above all be taught by some of the best music teachers and producers.

This is the reason the organisers are saying there will be no loser in the entire competition.

Although overall winners will go home with various prizes, including SUVs to cash running into millions, by merely taking part in the programme the participants will go way with knowledge that may last a life time and make them the stars Nigerians expect of them.

With Joke in academy is Benneth Ogbeini, head of music, who is described as funning, music loving and accommodating.

He will be the one to turn those participants which at the moment are just ‘raw materials’ and process them into something unique and extraordinary.

His message to the student is “be yourself, ooze confidence and trust in God.”

Joined in this challenging exercise is the voice coach, Gogo Majin, who described his job as fun and musical, Gogo is advising the academy students to be hard working, be confident, be original and resilient.

That really is the point. Whoever must emerge winner will have to control those three attributes and just be able to pull that magic wand to be extraordinary.

Only if they can look at the confidence and gait running through their principal, the competition will indeed be fierce and will bring out the best from the students.


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ALTON attracted 10 ICT firms @ CTO summit-08

The Association of Licensed Telecommunications Operators of Nigeria (ALTON) attracted some 10 foreign telecom firms from the United Kingdom (UK), to the just concluded Information and Communications Technology (ICT) summit and exhibition put together by the Commonwealth Telecommunication Organisation (CTO), Federal Ministry of Information and Communications in collaboration with the Nigerian Communications Commission (NCC).

Disclosing this, ALTON President, Mr. Gbenga Adebayo said his group was happy to have contributed its quota as far as the CTO summit was concerned.

He also disclosed that ALTON did not achieve this alone because the United Kingdom’s Embassy in Nigeria was in full support of the arrangement.

Speaking after the dinner organized by the UK embassy in collaboration with ALTON in honour of the UK Trade mission, he said, his group would continue to join forces with relevant agencies of the government and private sector toward attracting investors to the nation’s telecom market.

Also speaking, the Publicity Secretary of ALTON, Mr. Damian Udeh gave the names of some of the UK participants to include the British Telecoms represented by Michael Munson who is the account director for West Africa, Iceni Mobile Limited led by its Founding Director, Mr. Dominic Vergine, the managing Director, Miles Media Limited, Mr. Vincent Iweka, General Manager, RPC Logistics, Mr. Ian Hodges,
Mr. Justin Miller, Telecom Consultant and Bphones UK represented by its chief executive officer, Pano Kroko, among others.

In a related development, ALTON has said that customer satisfaction is the only key to post-telecom boom success in the nation’s telecommunications sector and called for the protection of telecommunications infrastructure through the passage of the bills to that effect by the National Assembly (NAS).

Mr. Adebayo who made the call while speaking with correspondents during the recently concluded 2008, West African Telecommunications Exhibition (W.Afri.Tel) in Lagos, said the law is supposed to protect telecommunications infrastructure from vandalization.

According to him, if the government could classify telecommunications infrastructure as national issue as was the case during the days of National Electric Power Authority (NEPA) through the establishment of miscellaneous decree on vandalization, “we would sleep with our two eyes closed and there would be effective service delivery.”

The ALTON boss noted that for Nigerians to enjoy better service delivery from operators, there is need for constant power supply.

He also said ALTON is poised to look at issues surrounding quality of service
beyond mere infrastructure.


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Seriki tasks insurance firms on SMEs funding

Managing Director, Omatek Computers Plc, Mrs. Florence Seriki has called on insurance companies to explore ways of supporting Small and Medium scale Enterprises (SMEs) in the information and Communications Technology (ICT) sector.

Mrs. Seriki who made this call at the InsuranceTechExpo 2008 which held in Lagos said this has become necessary because lending the conditions by the insurance companies would be different from that of banks, stressing that with this the insurance sector itself will grow.

She said as a way of boosting local content, quality must not be compromised, advising that specialization is necessary so that the nation could have comparative advantage in her area of specialization, which will eventually increase local production.

She decried the situation where low capacity computers are brought into the country from abroad.

“It is unpardonable for a computer of 2 gigabytes to be given to Nigerian students where there are computers of 60 gigabytes. Our children are good enough for the latest in technology,” she said.

The Omatek boss also called on banks and other financial institutions to partner with local factories with various schemes aimed at making computers available to the people stating that with this the digital divide can be bridged.

She further said that selling foreign brands will not make the economy of the nation to grow.

“We saw that selling the foreign brands was not the best for the nation, we need to look inward for the nation and the continent to develop technologically,” she said.

Speaking on the need for the expo, chief executive officer, Private Media Mart, the organizers of the event, Mr. Ejiofor Agada, said since many of the insurance companies still operate manually, the expo was intended to showcase to the insurance sector the various technologies that will help them in their businesses.

“These technologies vary from communications, software, hardware, enterprise storage and a host of others,” he said.

Mr. Agada, lamented that unlike other parts of the world, the insurance sector in the country is still struggling to migrate into the usage and optimization of ICT.

He called on IT solutions providers to reach out to the insurance companies rather than seat back and wait for the insurance companies to come before they can market their solutions.

The expo which will be an annual event, he said, acts as a meeting point for both insurance firms and IT solution providers in the country in order to chart a new course for both sectors to move forward.


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NCC’s consumers forum to tackle fake products

WORRIED by the outcry in the telecommunications sector on the increased wave of fake products in the nation’s Information and Communications Technology (ICT) market, the Nigerian Communications Commission would this Friday, October 17 in Markurdi, Benue State, host its consumer forum on this subject.

The forum, according to the spokesman of NCC, Mr. Dave Imoko, is a localized version of telecom consumers’ platform to engage service providers in the ICT sector.

A press statement made available to Champion Infotel involves participants from the NCC, the service providers cutting across most key operators like MTN, Glo, Zain, and NITEL, as well as consumers among other industry stakeholders.

NCC also said in the press statement quoted the regulator as saying that the question and answer sessions would enable service providers and other stakeholders to address consumer problems and establish a way forward for the smooth operation of the sector.

The theme for this forum, “Curbing the production and sale of fake products,” would also engage the panel of discussants in addressing NCC’s mandate of Protecting, Informing and Educating (PIE) the public.

Further, the organisers advised the public to seize the opportunity of this programme which is scheduled for 1.00 p.m. at the Banquet Hall of Benue Hotels, to resolve their nagging questions and contribute to an improve telephone service delivery.

The Consumer Affairs Bureau’s Interactive Outreach Programme (COP) had earlier held in many cities including Lagos, Abuja, Ibadan, Port Harcourt, Onitsha, Enugu, Kaduna, Kano, Jos, Calabar, Minna, Bauchi, Owerri, Yola, Umuahia, Ilorin, Zaria, Asaba, Abeokuta, Keffi, Lokoja and Yeneagoe.


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Mbu commends NITTA as entries pour in

Former foreign affairs minister, Ambassador Matthew Mbu, has commended the Nigerian Information Technology and Telecom Awards (NITTA), for raising the consciousness of the public on the activities of telecom operators, service providers and government institutions in the Nigerian Information and Communications Technology (ICT) industry.

Speaking on the award, which is on its seventh year, Mbu said, the annual awards programme through due recognition to deserving products, services, operators and institutions, has contributed immensely in shaping the Nigerian ICT industry, and ultimately the nation’s economy.

Ambassador Mbu, who was Nigeria’s first High Commissioner to the United Kingdom, made the observations when he accepted to play the role of Father of the Day at this year’s NITTA, scheduled to hold on November 14 at Muson Centre, Lagos.

“Credible recognitions such as those bestowed on awardees at NITTA must be commended and the integrity of this particular programme needs to be commended so that the Nigerian ICT industry will continue to benefit from the quality work and contributions of those who win at each NITTA event,” he said.

Mbu stressed that as Nigerians worry about quality of service issues, infrastructure and skilled manpower, among others, those who excelled despite these hurdles deserve to be recognised and commended.

“And this is where NITTA comes in and is doing a good job and I commend the organizers,” he said.

Meanwhile, the organisers said enquiries from industry operators, service providers and the general public for this year’s event have almost doubled last year’s, a pointer to the fact that the interest generated by this year’s event is extremely high.

“They’ve been various phone calls, emails and indeed visits by various companies, service providers and operators, all wanting to be kept abreast of activities leading up to the D-Day,” stated Mr. Mkpe Abang, Editor-in-Chief of IT & Telecom Digest, organisers of the event.

Incidentally, NITTA 2008 is also the seventh edition of this yearly awards programme, which IT & Telecom Digest instituted in 2002.

According to the organisers, NITTA 2008 would feature awards in such areas as Mobile, Very Small Aperture Terminal (VSAT), Internet Service Provider (ISP), Telephone, Computer, Software, Banking Solution, among others, while there will also be individual awards in such areas as personality, Smart phone, Global System for Mobile (GSM) Handset Brand and Telecom CEO of the year.

For the seventh consecutive year now, Africa’s foremost ICT magazine, IT & Telecom Digest has continued to sensitize the public on new heights through its incisive, robust and prestigious awards programme, NITTA.


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Zinox, Delta State collaborate on teachers empower

Zinox Computers in collaboration with the Nigeria Union of Teachers (NUT) to boost productivity of teachers in Delta State.

Head, Corporate Affairs, Zinox, Mr. Echika Ezuka, said in a press statement made available to Champion Infotel, that the new deal was sealed at the annual World Teachers’ day.

The event attended by the Secretary to the State Government, Dr. Ifeanyi. A. Okowa who represented the Special Guest of Honor Dr. Emmanuel E. Uduaghan, the Executive Governor of Delta State, Commissioner of Education, Mrs. E. Uvo Gardener who was the chair person of the event, Comrade J. A. Ojobu leader of the State Chapter of NUT.

Speaking at the ceremony, Mrs. Garderner told the teachers that now they had the tools to bring glory back to the teaching profession, stressing that they now have the opportunity to enhance their productivity by improving the quality of students that they graduate into the society.

She recalled that the state government has painstakingly ensured that all their entitlements have been paid and as such, the government on her part expects quality service delivery as a form of appreciation. She said that it has become very important for the teachers to raise their standards because of the hydra headed societal challenges that undermine Nigeria’s development.

Mrs. Garderner equally reminded teachers that their products have direct impact on the economy, politics, religion, and all other aspects of national life.

The NUT Chairman, Comrade Ojobu praised the efforts of the administration in uplifting the welfare of teachers in the state, and called for immediate action on the dilapidated infrastructure in the public schools.

The union leader called on teachers to close ranks to ensure they get what is due to them, and urged them to strive to attain professionalism by adopting computer skills which would in turn be passed on to the students who are waiting to become leaders in the future.

The NUT leader extended the appreciation of all the teachers in the state to Dr. Leo Stan Ekeh and Zinox as a corporate institution for his faith in teachers and the teaching profession.

Speaking on the Executive Governor’s behalf, the Secretary to the State Government Dr. Ifeanyi Okowa expressed the Governor’s gratitude to the teachers for giving his administration the necessary cooperation to make good the promises that were made during the election campaigns.

He said the government is doing everything possible to ensure that Delta State becomes the leading educational state in the country, to this end he stated that their welfare would receive constant review while infrastructure in schools across the state shall be renovated and upgraded to meet the changing times.


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Chams increases market share with 3 new subsidiaries

Chams Nigeria Plc, has announced three additional firms in what the firm said was part of its expansion plans to become a leading Information and Communications Technology (ICT) group in the country.

The three new subsidiaries are Chams Switch, Chams City and Chams Mobile. They are in addition to three other subsidiaries namely Supercard, Paymaster and Card Centre Limited that the firm had set up earlier.

Group Managing Director, Chams Plc, Mr. Demola Aladekomo, said, his firm which recently went public would have Chams Switch focusing on electronic commerce and would handle transactional and identification switching.

He also said, Chams City, would provide large scale facilities that could be used for data collection and processing, such as national identity card registration, human resource development and international computer-based examination centres.
In addition, he said, Chams Mobile would play in the mobile telephony sector towards local manufacture of mobile phones.

According to him, the three new firms were set up to take advantage of identified opportunities in the nation’s economy, stressing, that the mobile subsidiary would ensure that phones were made in such a way that they would contain local features that meet the needs of the Nigerian market.

The firm said further Chams City was currently building centres across the country, including the Lagos centre which has over 1000 computers and is said to be the biggest cyber café in the world.

“The Lagos centre hosted the final of the Nigerian leg of the World Cyber Games 2008 on Saturday,” he said.

Additionally, Chams has begun nationwide deployment of Automatic Teller Machines (ATM) and the exercise is expected to cover all the 774 local governments in the country before the end of next year. In all, at least 1000 ATMs are to be deployed in the country and they are expected to run on a platform to be provided by Chams Switch.

Chams and the National Information Technology Development Agency earlier in the year signed a major agreement towards the effectuate implementation of the millennium development framework for Mobile Internet and Outsourcing Solutions. The exclusive deployment of ATMs in the 774 local governments was part of the agreement.


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Sudanese govt to build international gateway

The Government of Southern Sudan (GoSS) has announced its readiness to commence the process of building an International Gateway code named (SSIGW).

This, GOSS said would enable it to make more rapid advances in e-Government as well as other e-applications critical to its development and governance goals, including tele-medicine and e-education.

Disclosing this at the just ended sixth annual Commonwealth Telecommunications Organisation (CTO) forum tagged CTO-ICT Summit, which held at the Federal Capital Territory (FCT), Abuja, the Southern Sudan Minister of Telecommunications and Postal Services, Major General Gier Chuang Aluong, noted that additional operators were licensed by GoSS between 2006 and 2008, with Gemtel already putting infranstructure in place and is due to start commercial operation before end of year.

Also, a number of Internet Service Providers (ISPs) are operational and so are several post offices, even as postal stamps to facilitate mail delivery would soon commence.

According to him, there has been an installation of 40 Codan High Frequency (HF) radios at post offices, which is ongoing with three recently completed.

“With the Memorandum of Understandings (MoUs) signed with the Government of the National Unity (GNU) and neighbouring countries, these advances lay the foundation for more accomplishments in the coming period,” he said.

In the next one year, he said, the Ministry of Telecommunications and Postal Services is developing a master plan through a consultative process focused on both the different line ministries and the multiple tiers of government, along with civil society and the private sector.

He explained that within the master plan, the development and roll-out of a regulatory mechanism would be extremely important as will the implementation and coordination mechanisms.

“The master plan will guide legislative and regulatory reforms centered not only on the provision of basic telephone services, but also on evolving an e-Government strategy and a Universal Service and Access Fund (USAF) strategy,” he declared.
In effect, Major General Aluong stressed that the master plan would be a way to integrate all of the GoSS planning instruments.

Some of the proposed quick-win projects, he said, include e-Parliament, securing and backing-up the gateway, linking operators to SSIGW, incubator establishment and pilot e-Applications.

“Accelerated human resource development, including an Information and Communication Technology (ICT) training institution, will be critically important for success in these and other areas,” he said.

As said by him, other key priority areas include resource-sharing and e-security regime, pilot tele-centers in states, electronic money transfer, automation of Post Offices and introducing International Postal Services (IPS).

Emphasizing that in terms of policy management, the key regulations needed relate to interconnection, frequency management, number planning, tariff administration, competition and consumer protection, as well as enabling e-Legislation such as cyber-laws, Intellectual Property Rights (IPR), Right To Information (RTI) among others.

“In order for GoSS to live up to the lofty vision set by the Sudan People’s Liberation Movement/Army (SPLM/SPLA) SPLM/SPLA to take towns to people, we are fortunate to have strong relations with countries in the region and across Africa and indeed globally, who have already accomplished much in the applications of ICT to meet challenges of governance and development. So rather than reinvent the wheel, the GoSS Ministry of Telecommunications and Postal Services will rely on these relationships as it meets similar challenges within the new Sudan,” he submitted.


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Tavia bags 3 Microsoft awards

Leading Applications Solutions Provider in the country, the Tavia Technologies Ltd, has bagged three Microsoft awards.

Tavia, established in 1999 was honored at the Microsoft Nigeria’s Partner Award ceremony recently held in Lagos State.

The awards were in recognition of Tavia’s efforts in delivering and enhancing value to the numerous clientele across the three main areas of its operations; Web, Wireless and Applications as well as Business Intelligence.

Tavia won Rookie of the year award, Customer Experirnce Award and the Country Managers Award based on the results of the company’s strong focus to consistently provide first class services to its clients.

Tavia Technologies which has over the years carved a niche for itself in the industry took a strategic decision to further deepen and leverage its relationship with Microsoft through skills aqusition partnerships that have enhanced its superior service delivery to its clients.

Commenting on the awards, the managing director/chief executive, Tavia Technologies, Mr. Ayo Olasoju, said the company has invested in human capital development through the enrollment of the staff in Microsoft Partner University and other Microsoft centred training courses.

He also said that Tavia Technologies has built up its in-house Microsoft knowledge base to ensure capacity building of the staff.

In addition, he said, his firm in delivering value driven services, developed international alliances with organizations outside Nigeria who have had an established pedigree of deploying Microsoft solutions.

“We tailored our Solution Implementation Approach (SIA) to best practice as contained in the Microsoft Solutions Framework (MSF) which has helped us to improve on the customer experience we provide during solution implementation,” he said.


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Nigeria has accommodation for 95m subscribers – Yar’Adua

President Umaru Musa Yar’Adua has said that Nigeria’s telecommunications sector has an installed capacity to accommodate 95 million subscribers.

Declaring open the just concluded three-day 2008 Commonwealth Telecommunications Organisation (CTO) summit at the Transcorp Hilton Abuja, Yar’Adua noted that the telecom sector in Nigeria has witnessed major structural changes and monumental growth in the past few years.

“From a teledensity of 0.73 in 2001 to 39.09 in 2008 with an installed capacity of about 95 million,” he said.

President also said that Nigeria has close to 60 million active lines with about 60 per cent coverage and quantum investments of $11 billion.

“Nigeria’s telecommunications sector is one of the fastest growing in the world,” he declared.

Yar’Adua who was represented at the event by the Secretary to the Government of the federation, Alhaji Yayale Ahmed, said that despite the positive indices, the sector is still faced with very real challenges and that his administration has taken a holistic commitment to physical infrastructure development as outlined in the Seven Point Agenda.

“We plan to accelerate Information and Communications Technology (ICT) infrastructure development with the aim of further boosting the growth of the telecommunications sector,” Yar’Adua reiterated.

Nigeria, he pointed out supports the institution of an open and stable telecommunications policy framework that supports effective global regional alliances and partnerships.

According to him, these partnerships must be one which equitably places the benefits of ICT at the disposal of our common humanity.

“I have no doubt that the CTO will, through this conference, provide a veritable platform for serious interrogation of all the variables to this vitally important subject,” he said.

Earlier while welcoming participants to the sixth annual forum and 48th council meeting of CTO, the Nigerian Minister of Information and Communications, Mr. John Odey, described the theme “Ensuring effective connectivity for a socially inclusive and commercially vibrant Africa” as apt.

This, he said, is more so now that Commonwealth nations are taking deliberate steps to bridge the digital divide.

“This can be accelerated through the promotion of stable telecommunications policy framework and responsive regulatory regime that would galvanize all stakeholders to participate in the delivery of ICT benefits,” he said.

In his address, the chief executive of Commonwealth Telecommunication Organisation, Dr. Ekwow Spio-Garbrah, said the summit offers Commonwealth countries the opportunity to take quick and early actions that could get respective nations to abandon the footpaths, feeder roads and by-ways of knowledge ownership as well as transmission and get more fully onto the global information super highways.


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