Before NigComSAT-1 returns

Remmy Nweke writes that all things being equal, the Nigerian Communications Satellite-1, will return to the orbit by 2010, with a follow-up on phase-2 and 3. The development, he says, will mark a turning point in the nation’s thrive to remain ahead of other African countries in technology development.

During the month of January, this year, the Federal Government of Nigeria (FGN) disclosed that the nation’s failed first satellite, the Nigerian Communications Satellite (NigComSAT-1) will return to the orbit by last quarter of next year, 2010. According to reports, its Chinese counterpart has since agreed on the replacement of NigComSAT-1, which was de-orbited early November, 2008.

It was also gathered then that in order to work proactively, the Chinese authorities had reached another deal with Nigeria to split the NigComSAT-2 and 3 into phases as soon as possible to avoid future total breakdown. Thus, this step was anticipated to cushion the effect of any eventuality as regards to the satellite malfunctioning in the near future, with its attendant lose of clientele.

Reports also had it that in the latest deal, NigComSat-2 and NigComSat-3 will be launched into orbit six and 12 months after the replacement of NigComSat-1 by 2010.
“Between six and 12 months after the return of NigComSAT-1, the two-phased out backups will be launched,” a source close to NigComSAT-1 told ITRealms Online.

It was further gathered that as replacement work has reportedly commenced, under-writers across the two countries, have been working on insurance claims of the satellite between China and Nigeria.

NigComSat-1 was insured by a consortium of international insurance firms, including SpaceCo of France, Munich Cray of Germany, and the People’s Insurance Company of China.

Equally, local insurance companies, came together as co-insurers retained about 10 per cent of the risks shared, an equivalent percentage of the premium, even as these much were confirmed by the Managing Director of NigComSAT, Alhaji Ahmed Rufai, during the National Assembly probe of the investment recently.

ITRealms Online recalls that NigcomSat-1 was built by China Great Wall Industry Corporation at a cost of $250 million, about N37,187,500,770 billion. It became the first African geosynchronous communications satellite when it was launched on Sunday, May 17, 2007 and was being managed by NigComSAT Limited till date. This much was achieved under the immediate past President Olusegun Obasanjo’s administration.

NigComSAT Limited:
Incorporated on April 4, 2006 as a wholly government-owned limited liability company, NigComSAT Limited, is the first African satellite communications company to manage and operate the first geostationary communications satellite (NigComSat-1) in sub-Saharan Africa.

NigComSAT was established to carry on business for profit, manage, operate and maintain in orbit communications satellites in respect of; satellite to satellite services, telephony (urban and rural), television, High Definition Television (HDTV), Direct-To-Homes (DTH) teleservice, teleprocessing, telepresence, tele-education, telemedicine, e-government, e-commerce, satellite radio, mobile and paging, broadcasting, broadband internet services, Real time monitoring services in shipping, petroleum pipeline, navigation, global positioning systems, and services or facilities, earth stations, terminals, antenna, frequency bands (C, Ku, Ka or L bands).

NigComSAT-1 has two ground control stations for the orbit maintenance and network operation services of the satellite. These two stations are located in Kashi, China and Abuja, Nigeria, with the latter being the main station and the former servicing as back up.

It’s a technical tragedy, but ...…
Reviewing 2008 in a chat in Lagos, the umbrella body of telecommunications companies in the country, the Association of Telecommunications Companies of Nigeria (ATCON), described the failed NigComSAT-1, as a technical tragedy, urging that government should start work on NigComSat-2.

Speaking through its National President, Dr. Emmanuel Ekuwem, ATCON said that Nigeria required immediate commencement of NigComSAT-2 on learning about the failure of NigComSAT-1, which was reportedly parked after developing charging fault, prior to November 10, 2008 when the government owned up to the failure.

However, he advised that before then, government must truly unravel the cause of the failure of NigComSAT-1, warning that the incident should not deter the government from investing in future satellite projects, saying, “No nation shies away from challenges. We should proceed to NigComSAT-2 provided we unravel the cause of the failure of NigComSAT-1.”

Nigeria must be cautious on NigComSAT-1
United States-based Nigerian chief software architect at Schaide Technologies, Mr. Modibo Yunusa Usman, called for caution on the issues surrounding the recent demise of the NigComSAT-1. He said that Nigerians should not be quick to conclude on the vexed satellite, because it is not the first or will it be the last to experience failure.

Usman also urged Nigerians to see the failure of this initial satellite as a stepping stone to greater height by involving more research work on how to have a better satellite in the near future.

“As we remain the only country in the world with a success on first launch record, I hope our distrust for elected officials and our hand-them- high mentality for perceived failure without understanding the facts will be re-evaluated, at least, for the sake of national development,” he said. Noting that at this critical time in Nigeria’s development, “we must begin to understand that our failure belongs to our leaders as much as theirs eventually becoming ours.”

Stressing that Nigerians must learn to have the facts before them in order to offer relevant criticism instead of jumping into conclusion on the slightest actions, especially by those in the authority. Nigerians, he said, must learn the truth about issues and have the courage to support what is right against popular or partisan consensus.

Concerning the failed NigComSAT-1, Usman said that there are no easy solutions for the failing satellite globally, warning that Nigerians should desist from asking for the sack of those in authorities because something went wrong, “but let us not start by throwing away the baby with the bath water. Let us not discard all we have learnt since the inception of NigComSAT.”

Nigeria, he said, must forge ahead as one great nation and one people in all areas of technological endeavor, because no one else will do it for us, warning that one day Nigeria’s honey moon with big oil wells will come to pass, and argued that Nigerians should focus attention on sustenance of NigComSAT and like initiatives. Asserting, “Accidents do happen, nowhere is this more prevalent, than in the area of orbital and technology research.”

Pointing out that United States has lost over 1.3 trillion dollars in space and orbital research technology since the early 90’s. “US space shuttles and satellites have crashed-exploded and have been lost in space for decades. Even when countless human lives were lost, no one was asked to resign in National Aeronautics and Space Administration (NASA), the government and agency were not chided or rebuked because every American understood that this was a necessary sacrifice for technological advancement and superiority.”

Rather, he said, the American people celebrated the successes of their space agency, NASA, and the brilliant people who work there, advocating for more sponsorship to get the job done better where failures were observed.

Many of these countries, Usman emphasized, have had a rough road to becoming one of the 45, recalling that India’s failed launch destroyed a 2 ton communications satellite on July 10, 2006, while Brazil had 3 failed attempts and lost their satellite on October 22, 1999, while China had 11 collective failed attempts. South Korea also lost their first satellite in space January 6, 2008.

In addition, he said, that Australia, Russia on June 23 2005 took turn in the failed satellite deal with US; Japanese satellite for direct TV broadcast in 2001 and the 500 million pounds European Union (EU) super satellite on 2001 have all been lost in space.

“Almost every member of the 45 country club has lost a satellite in space, with the exception of the more recent newcomers, and yet there has been no call for resignations or even a mockery of the government as some Nigerians are advocating,” he said.

Recounting that the failed NigComSAT-1 should serve as part of the learning curve in orbital and space research, saying it is a little price to pay to achieve technological advancement that would directly impact the lives of Nigerians.

Industry voices:

Equally commenting, a Senior Engineering Manager at Philips Place, Lagos, Mr. Patrick Edeh, said, government must not waste time in launching these satellites - second and third; because, as a country, Nigeria has made powerful statements with the launch of NigComSat-1 being the first black country to have a footprint in space.

“Despite the negative criticisms from a lot of western interests and their cohorts here in Africa, but the fact that NigComSat-1 changed the entire market thinking about bandwidth pricing before its technical problems proved that this is a road we must take,” he said.

For telecom analyst and chief executive of Kemilinks, Mr. Shola Taylor, Nigeria must see this hiccup of NigComSAT-1 as a challenge that is surmountable. “We must see this as a challenge. The satellite industry is a high risk sector but it offers immense benefits for any nation that veers into it. The manpower skill acquisition, infrastructure and possibility of socio-economic improvements are tremendous,” he said.

Taylor, further said, that every serious country wants to have a stake in the satellite industry and Nigerian government deserves commendation for getting into it in the first instance.

In his contribution, a Lagos-based technology analyst and promoter of rural telephony in eastern Nigeria, Mr. Pius Ikedife, drew attention to the fact that there is a lot of misconceptions out there about the satellite industry which tend to portray Nigeria’s entry as a disastrous attempt.

“More than 30 satellites have developed different levels of serious errors in the last 24 months built by the best hands in Europe and United States (US). But people don’t make fuss over this. You simply track down the problems, make amends and move on with newer investment that is ultimately justifiable,” Ikedife said, emphasizing that the lesson in this current challenge for Nigeria is that it must remain up there in orbits with not one satellite but several.

Chief executive officer, Emperion West Africa, Mr. Sansdeep Jayaswal, described the incident as unfortunate, expressing the hope that it would be successfully addressed with more of Nigerian communication satellites in space very soon. “With NigComSat-1, we at Emperion were able to leverage on the lower cost of high quality service to have competitive advantage over others,” he said.

Conclusion:
As soon as this news of the nation’s return to orbit may be or sounded, especially the tentative date filtered in, another casualty was recorded in the global satellite industry by the European satellite operator, SES, which culminated in the shutting down of its ASTRA 5A, based on reported technicalities.

This means that unlike NigComSat-1, ASTRA 5A has a back-up satellite, which paved the way for its operators, SES, to quickly commence procedures for its return to orbit within the possible time.

And as noticeable as NigComSAT-1 failure is, it unarguably offered a rare window of bringing premium services to the market that in bandwidth against what foreign satellite companies could offer.

Although at the moment, NigComSAT-1 is as grounded as the NITEL with depleted clientele, but the truth is that with proper planning, taking into cognizance the causes of the failed NigComSAT-1, its return will be a relief and a milestone.
After all, practice is said to be make one perfect and that saying is not alien to Nigerian.

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Nigerian operators shun fax services

Telecommunications operators in the country are shunning the promotion and offering of fax services to their subscribers, thus paving the way for the dearth of the once popular Value Added Service (VAS), ITRealms Online investigations revealed.

Fax machines have been around since 1842, when Alexander Bain invented a machine capable of receiving signals from a telegraph wire and translating same into images on paper. In 1850, a London inventor named F. C. Blakewell, received a patent for a similar machine, which he called a copying telegraph.

Fax service has its origin drawn from ‘Facsimile’ machine, a device that could send or receive pictures and text over telephone lines. Fax machines work by digitizing an image - dividing it into a grid of dots. Each dot is either on or off, depending on whether it is black or white.

Electronically, experts said that each dot symbolizes a bit that has a value of either 0 (off) or 1 (on). In this way, the fax machine translates a picture into a series of zeros and ones (called a bit map) that could be transmitted like normal computer data.

On the receiving side, a fax machine reads the incoming data, translates the zeros and ones black into dots, and reprints the picture.

But with the coming of the Global System for Mobile communications (GSM) and Code Division Multiple Access (CDMA) into the nation’s polity, this service has been taken over by mobile phones as they are embedded with the facility to deliver fax, overtly with a modem.

Unfortunately, ITRealms Online investigations revealed that this service is not among promotional Value Added Services of most of the operators in the country, be it GSM or CDMA, thus encouraging its demise.

Explaining their positions, some of the operators claimed that they were either in the process of upgrading to accommodate fax utilities on the networks or on the verge of launching their modem very soon.

While some feigned ignorance over the offering of such and on how much they charge subscribers where the claim was that the network offers fax service, almost all of them were silent on that, but said that they simply offer fax service.

For instance, the Corporate Service Executive at MTN Nigeria, Mr. Wale Goodluck, told ITRealms Online that he would soon confirm the status of fax service offering on the network, although it is a fading technology.

“It’s just that fax is a dying technology,” he said, while the External Communications Manager, MTN Nigeria, Mr. Andrew Okeleke, equally promised to respond to our request later after making inquiry from the marketing department. “I am quite busy now,” he wrote, in a Short Messaging Service (SMS) to ITRealms Online.

The same applies to Etisalat as the public relations officer, Mr. Yinka Ijabiyi promised to get back.

Director, Marketing, at Globacom, Mr. Jagat Singh, said, “Yes, fax is possible, but the customer needs to buy a GSM fax modem from us. Take a fax connection from us with an up-front payment of N2,000, plus deposit. Usage rates are not per page, but in minutes and seconds.”

Although the customer care attendants at Glo shop at Victoria Island, were ignorant of the situation and simply retorted to our inquiry that ‘We’re not offering fax service.”

Zain’s Public Relations Manager for Nigeria, Mr. Emmanuel Otokhine told ITRealms Online, that his firm offers fax, but the customer has to buy the modem for about N15,000.

Visafone, Assistant General Manager, Marketing Strategies, Mr. Clifford Onyeike, informed ITRealms Online that, Visafone has its “fax modem ready for commercial launch.”

While the Head, Corporate Communications, Visafone, Mr. Toni Kan Onwudi, also agreed that Visafone has phones with fax facilities that come with a router – modem, so when a customer gets fax message, it could be printed out via the router.

David Babalola of Starcomms, a CDMA operator, told our correspondent that presently his firm is offering that service, but they were anticipating an upgrade of the network soon, so as to offer the service, optimally.

ITRealms Online recalls that during the monopoly era of the Nigerian Telecommunications Limited (NITEL) in the 1980s, faxing of materials was an attractive Value Added Service thus lucrative as well.

But ITRealms Online investigations further revealed that though NITEL staff strike in recent years was not helpful, the trend has become worst as mobile operators are currently focusing on voice only service.

Attempt at any of the NITEL’s service centres scattered all over the country showed they were permanently closed for business, as one of the workers at hand at NITEL office, Mushin-Lagos, told ITRealms Online that “nothing is working here, even ordinary telephone for voice.”

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TechExcel honours Seriki, Aladekomo

Group Chief Executive Officer of Omatek Ventures Plc, Mrs. Florence Seriki and her counterpart at Chams Plc, Sir ‘Demola Aladekomo have been honoured by the alumni of Obafemi Awolowo University (OAU) Ile-Ife, for excelling in their various endeavours.

The event held recently, under the OAU TechExcel Foundation (OTF) initiative.
Whereas Omatek is a local computer manufacturing brand, Chams prides itself as the pioneering company on electronic identification and payment solutions in the country, even as both are publicly quoted companies.

The honour, which culminated in a cocktail for the duo in Lagos, saw the chairman of the event, Chief Ralph Alabi, commending them for outstanding performances and representing OAU in glorious light both locally and internationally.

For Mrs. Seriki, Chief Alabi said that when her colleagues were busy fighting to be recognized by those in government for political reasons, she was busy engaging in empowering young Nigerians through her brand for proper takeover of the Information and Communication Technology (ICT) age.

Hence, he was not taken aback when Mrs. Seriki was honoured by the Federal Government with the Member of the order of the Federal Republic (MFR).

Chief Alabi who also is the chairman of Guinness Nigeria Plc eulogized Sir ‘Demola, for ensuring that his company Chams Plc attained the prestigious Guinness Book of Records as the largest cybercafé in the world.

This, he noted, does not only exist in Lagos alone, but equally at the Federal Capital Territory (FCT) Abuja.

In a citation read by members of the foundation led by the Dean, Faculty of Engineering at OAU, Prof. Titi Kuku, Mrs. Seriki had her secondary education at the Reagan Memorial Baptist, Sabo-Yaba, before proceeding to the Federal School of Arts & Science, Lagos for her A’levels.

She went on to the University of Ife, now OAU and during her Youth Service commenced training of chief executives on the use of personal computers and software application on short courses, which gave birth to Omatek and was recently awarded a national honour of the Member of the Order of the Federal Republic (MFR).

On the other hand, Sir ‘Demola is the Managing director of Chams Nigeria Plc, a leading information technology company with specialty on card technologies. Regarded as highly experienced IT practitioner with some of the landmark achievements in the industry associated to him, arising from his visionary capacity in the sub-sector.

Especially, he was responsible for the establishment of the first Wide Area Networking (WAN) on Personal computer (PC) in the country and under his leadership, Chams ventured into card technologies, which paved the way for the story of Value card in Nigeria.

His Chams IT Mall is the biggest in the world with over 1000 computers in use, even as Sir ‘Demola, was part of the first chief executive programme at the Lagos Business School.

He doubles as the chairman, Board of Trustees, Volunteer Corps, in addition to being the vice chairman, Board of Trustees, Smartcard Society of Nigeria.

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Appin West Africa opens shop in Lagos

Information Technology (IT)-based security outfit, Appin West Africa, has opened shop in Lagos, the commercial nerve centre of the nation to serve its sub-regional market.

Regional Director, Appin West Africa, Mr. Dare Ojo, made this disclosure in a chat with newsmen at the end of a one-day interactive session with stakeholders on ‘Emerging Trends in e-Security,’ and presentation by the Director of Appin Group, Mr. Rajat Khare, in Lagos.

Mr. Ojo said that his firm is deeply concerned over the lapses in the nation’s security system and proffers that technology would go a long way in ameliorating the situation, which gave heed to Appin’s desire to launch its service in West Africa with base located in Lagos, even as the company would have presence in Ghana.

“We’re concerned on the deployment of technology for analysis of security issues,” he said, stressing that earlier that day, they have had a session with students from the higher institutions which are the critical mass either used to perpetrate evils on the society.

He pointed out that his office is already engaging security agencies, banks and stakeholders as a way of strengthening their technology deployment to curb crimes.

“We have the technology to help in monitoring crime at cybercafés in Lagos, for instance. This monitoring will be done by the Police or other agencies so designated by law,” he asserted.

Ojo maintained that with technology adequate security would be taken care of at all levels, because Appin West Africa has a proprietary solution to offer a boost.
Also speaking, Mr. Khare, noted that India and Nigeria have some similarities with their population alongside Israel.

“They have good people, but one thing in common, which is cybercrime,” he said, stressing, for instance, that most people out there thought that everybody in Nigeria is a criminal, an impression, he said, improved technology warfare tends to turnaround.

“What we are bringing into Nigeria is Value Added Service (VAS) to help in analyzing crime and related cases, which Nigeria has high density in cybercrime than India, while India is less than China.

According to him, Appin Security Group came into business to enable organizations and governments to focus on their core businesses and leave information security to core experts.

Appin’s security services have been divided into assessment, implementation and management.

On the assessment, he said, this involves activities including vulnerability, penetration testing, manual audit, black-box and grey-box audit, application security assessment and process audits and policy audits.

Also within this category, he said, are the web applications, servers, network and enterprise applications, then framework and benefits, some of which comprised quick determination of major risks, creation of basis for developing a manageable improvement plans and availing stakeholders’ confidence so as to maintain confidentiality, integrity and availability (CIA of critical information assets.

On the implementation, Mr. Khare said, Appin has the wherewithal to set up an information security management system (ISMS) according to ISO 27001 requirements, which bothers on policy and process design and implementation, training and awareness, business continuity planning, disaster recovery planning and setting up security operation centres.

While on the security management aspect, the Appin’s Group director, emphasized that by using the firm’s proprietary tool for audit and compliance management, otherwise called Appin Radar, “we can manage your information security needs.”

Appin, he further said, has what it takes to monitor every single device or application on your network, “all at one time, on one dash board,” among others.

The well attended event was graced by the chairman, Appin West Africa, Chief Adeboye Badejo, who doubles as the chairman of IMTC Limited, while the managing director of Disc Communications Limited, Mr. Bayo Banjo, presided over the interactive session, whereas the chief film & video censorship officer at the National Film and Video Censors Board (NFVCB), Mrs. Bola Athar stood in for the Director of NFVCB who represented the Minister of Information and Communications, Prof. Mrs. Dora Akunyili, at the occasion.

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Always update disaster recovery plan - Okereke

Senior Manager, Infrastructure Consulting System, Integration and Technology at Accenture Nigeria, Mr. Utokanando Okereke, has counseled Nigerian businesses to always update their disaster recovery plan to cushion the effect of downturn which is inevitable.

Speaking at the 4th Annual NetApp Innovation Conference held recently in Lagos, on “Disaster Recovery (DR) Planning – Are Businesses Prepared?” Okereke noted that a disaster recovery plan outlines how an organization is to deal with potential disasters.

He described disaster as an event that makes the continuation of normal functions impossible whenever it occurs, stressing that this plan usually consists of the precautions taken so that the effects of disaster is minimized and the effected organization is able to either maintain or quickly resume mission-critical functions.

Okereke also explained that disaster could come in several forms including power outages, water damage, terrorism, plane crash, natural forces, health epidemics, fire, major equipment failure, communications failure, human interference such as operator error, dishonest act, sabotage, strike, kidnapping to name a few.

These, he pointed out, are potential disasters that could crumble any business when there is no proper plan in place.

“The Disaster Recovery (DR) plan ensures that organizations are prepared and are able to bounce back to business after any minor or even major disaster,” he said.

He cautioned against the prevalent low level of importance that organizations attach to the issue of disaster in their businesses, which he said has caused so many businesses to close shops in the face of pressure caused by minor disaster.

“DR plan is a must; it should be reassessed, tested and maintained. It should be communicated to all key stakeholders and should have a strong executive management/leadership support and commitment” he submitted.

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NGN: Stakeholders to brainstorm on migration

Operators and manufacturers from Malaysia, Sri Lanka, Japan and other countries in the Asian region will be meeting at a major forum from Tuesday, April 7 to 10 in Colombo, Sri Lanka to debate how best to migrate to the Next Generation Networks (NGN) standardization.

ITRealms Online recalls that the Colombo event follows the recent World Telecommunication Standardization Assembly held in South Africa last October, which adopted a working programme for the International Telecommunication Union (ITU) on NGN standards.

During the four-day event, representatives from companies such as NTT, TM (Malaysia), Dialog and Sri Lanka Telecom will be joined by equipment manufacturers such as Ericsson, Alcatel-Lucent, Nokia Siemens Networks, and Motorola to discuss standardization issues in relation to NGN and the work of the ITU in this field.

The event is organised by the Commonwealth Telecommunications Organisation (CTO), in association with the ITU.

Over 12 sessions have been planned to address issues such as the work of the ITU itself, NGN developments in the region, signaling, interconnections and interoperability, and the ITU mark.

Malcolm Johnson, Director at ITU Telecommunication Standardization Bureau, is expected to give a keynote address at the event.

Equally, government officials and regulators from the region are billed to attend the event, where policy and regulatory issues will be discussed.

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Cancer: Ericsson refutes claim on emission

Global leader in the telecommunications equipment manufacturing subsector, Ericsson, has maintained that its base stations are free of emissions likely to cause cancer of any kind.

Affirming this, the Communications Manager for West Africa at Ericsson, Mr. Olabode Sowunmi, told ITRealms Online that over the years, there are studies by experts on the possible adverse health effects as a result of radiofrequency fields from mobile phones or base stations, which have been consistent as none have conclusive evidence from mobile phones or base stations.

“Regarding possible adverse health effects due to exposure for radiofrequency fields from mobile phones or base stations there are numerous independent expert reviews which have all given consistent conclusions,” he said.

Sowunmi also noted that even the World Health Organization (WHO) has concluded, mostly in its expert review fact sheet 193 that exposure to radiofrequency fields has no linkage to health consequences.

“None of the recent reviews have concluded that exposure to the RFfields from mobile phones or their base stations cause any adverse health consequence,” he declared.

According to him, in one of the most recent expert reviews performed by the European Commission SCENIHR (Scientific Committee on Emerging and Newly Identified Health Risks) published in January 2009, he quoted the study as stating that it is doubtful from three major independent fields that radiofrequency, otherwise call emissions, could cause cancer in human beings.

“It is concluded from three independent lines of evidence, namely epidemiological, animal and in vitro studies; that exposure to RFfields is unlikely to lead to an increase in cancer in humans,” he said.

In addition, he said that the International Agency for Research on Cancer (IARC) report released last October 8, 2008, has indeed commented on possible adverse health effects of mobile phone, just as he was quick to add that IARC has been conducting a major epidemiological study called INTERPHONE on mobile phone use and possible association with head and neck tumors.

The study, he said, is now completed but the overall combined results from all 13 countries have not yet been published.

“Overall, the available results from the INTERPHONE study, so far, do not show any association between mobile phone use and risk to develop brain tumor. The comment in the IARC report regarding increased risk for glioma refers to a joint INTERPHONE publication from the Nordic countries and part of the UK. In this publication no overall increased risk for brain tumors was found among mobile phone users regardless of number of years or intensity of use,” he said.

Sowunmi emphasized that though a slightly increased risk was observed among long term phone users when analyzing a small subset of the data for those who reported use of the phone on the same side as location of the tumor.

The authors, he said, however, cautioned that: “Recall bias may affect the reported side of mobile phone use if cases over report use on the side where the tumor was diagnosed.”

He further advised on the importance of waiting for the final publication of the full INTERPHONE study and also to take all other relevant studies into account.

“Numerous international expert reviews on the health and safety of mobile telephony have given consistent conclusions on absence of adverse health effects due to exposure to RF fields from mobile phones or base stations,’ he insisted.

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Mobile Challenge takes off in April

Mobile Challenge, a proudly made in Nigeria Value Added Services (VAS) contest is due to take off next month, April with registration.

The organizers said, the competition is to seek out the developers and entrepreneurs that are creating new value, new revenue and new innovative services for the mobile workforce and mobile lifestyle in the country.

According to them, the competition is open to individuals or sole proprietors who are legal residents of Nigeria or West Africa who are aged eighteen (18) and above or privately held businesses that are legally resident within West Africa.

Also, the organizers informed that the awards will be granted in the name of the individual or business that entered for the contest.

Messrs Emmanuel Okoegwale and Ken Nwogbo in a joint press statement made available to ITRealms Online said that the M-Challenge will serve as the industry benchmark recognition status for the selected few after meeting the rigorous technical and business evaluation criteria.

“The goal is to identify new opportunities and build a sustainable mobile VAS ecosystem with real life benefits, exportable potentials, recognize the dynamics of the market and gather market information for mobile product portfolio decision making process,” they said

Pointing out that as mobile operators roll out futuristic and innovative technologies like the 3G, there had been no corresponding developments in the mobile value added services with real life benefits.

As said by the organizers, the contest will focus on m-Banking, m-Commerce; e-govt, infotainment and mobile marketing within the technology ranges of Second Generation (2G) to Enhanced Third Generation (3.5G). Educational institution, mobile VAS content providers, content aggregators, application developers, and non governmental organization, will be allowed to participate in proposal submission.

“The contest is aimed at pre-commercial mobile services,” the organizers asserted.
They explained that registrations will begin on April 1, 2009, even as interested developers can visit www.mobilechallenge.org to register.

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Promo: Glo lifts petty trader, 9 others with cars

A petty-trader based in Ibadan, the Oyo State capital, Mrs. Samuratu Olufisayo Bello, and nine others who won in the Glo win and rule promotion, were weekend presented their prizes at the ancient city.

Others were Mr. Isiaka Olagoke, Mr. Udonu Daniel Jackson, Miss Idowu Omoladun Victoria and Alhaji Abubakar Akande, who all won a Peugeot 307 D-sign each celebrated with friends and family as they took possession of their prizes.

While five Kia Rio saloon cars were driven home amidst cheers by Pastor Isaac Olusegun Egbeyemi, Miss Kareem Selimot Oluwayomi, Mr. Ogunsanya Yomi Wasiu, Mr. Oyadina Razak Olufemi and Miss Ayodele Abisola.

The winners were among the 100 others that emerged from a raffle draw held in Lagos, during the mega draw of the promo last year. The prizes were being presented to the winners in batches, in their home states, according to Glo officials.

Mrs. Bello, a petty trader in farm produce said she was thrilled when she received the call informing her that she had won a car. ‘’ I could not believe my ears. I was at a loss for words when my number was eventually confirmed as having won the prize,” she said.

She also said that the day had gone down as the happiest day of her life as she never dreamt of owning a car, much more a brand new state-of –the art car.

Udonu, a staff of a palm oil-producing firm in Ogun State who equally won a Peugeot 307 was excited. Ogunsanya Wasiu, a teacher based in Ibadan also expressed happiness, enthusing that his joy was immeasurable as he could not have afforded to buy a brand new car on his own.

Pastor Egbeyemi of one of the parishes of The Redeemed Christian Church of God who won a Kia Rio, said it was convinced more than ever that God answers prayers.

“God is a God of possibilities. He answers prayers in unexpected ways,” he declared.
Head, Win and Rule Promo, Tonye Briggs, said the scheme was part of the company’s ways of giving back to its numerous customers for their patronage and support.

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ICANN engages Carlton on new gTLD pricing

Internet Corporation for Assigned Names and Numbers (ICANN) has commissioned an independent third-party report and retained Dennis Carlton, who is a Professor of Economics at the University of Chicago, to examine the preliminary reports on competition and pricing of the new Generic Top Level Domain (gTLD).

Prof. Carlton had between 2006 and 2008, ranked the highest economist in the Antitrust Division of the United States Department of Justice and is a Senior Managing Director of Compass Lexecon, a prestigious economic consulting firm that specializes in competition matters.

Also, Carlton has prepared two preliminary reports relating to the introduction of new gTLDs. In one report “Preliminary Report of Dennis Carlton Regarding Impact of New gTLDs on Consumer Welfare,” he stated “I conclude that ICANN’s proposed framework for introducing new TLDs is likely to improve consumer welfare by facilitating entry and creating new competition to the major gTLDs such as .com, .net, and .org. Like other actions that remove artificial restrictions on entry, the likely effect of ICANN’s proposal is to increase output, lower price and increase innovation.

“This conclusion is based on the fundamental principles that competition promotes consumer welfare and restrictions on entry impede competition,” he said.

The other report, “Preliminary Analysis of Dennis Carlton Regarding Price Caps for New gTLD Internet Registries,” addresses pricing issues associated with new TLDs.
Prof. Carlton had submitted that price caps or ceilings on prices charged by operators of new gTLD registries are unnecessary to insure competitive benefits of the proposed process for introducing new gTLDs.

“I further conclude that imposing price caps on the registries for new gTLDs could inhibit the development and marketplace acceptance of new gTLDs by limiting the pricing flexibility of entrants to the provision of new registry services without generating significant benefits to registrants of the new gTLDs,” he said.

ICANN encourages the community to read both reports, as a public comment forum has been opened on these preliminary reports prepared by Professor Carlton for 45 days, until 17 April 2009.

The complete “Preliminary Reports and Public Comment Forum could be found at: http://www.icann.org/en/public-comment/public-comment-200904.html#compri
ITRealms Online recalls that after years of discussion and thought, new generic top-level domains (gTLDs) are being expanded.

They are anticipated to allow for more innovation, choice and change to a global Internet presently served by only 21 generic top-level domain names and as a not-for profit corporation dedicated to coordinating the Internet’s addressing system, ICANN is not doing this to add to its revenue.  

However, an implementation plan is being developed with opportunities for public comment, where there will be processes for objections. There has also been detailed technical scrutiny to ensure the Internet’s stability and security. There will be an evaluation fee but it will recover costs only (expenses so far, application processing and anticipated legal costs).

Promoting competition and choice, according to the Director of Media Affairs, Corporate Affairs at ICANN, Brad White, is one of the principles upon which ICANN was founded.

“In a world with 1.5 billion Internet users and still growing, diversity, choice and innovation are key.  The Internet has supported huge increases in choice, innovation and the competition of ideas, and expanding new gTLDs is an opportunity for more,” he concluded.

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Survey unveils top 50 ICT firms in West Africa

One of the nation’s Information and Communications Technology (ICT) magazines, ITEdge, has unveiled its survey on top 50 ICT firms in the West African region, for 2008.

ITRealms Online recalls that the latest survey is the third in the series of business study and ratings of performances by information technology companies in the market of over 250 million people.

Over 100 companies were ranked across 10 countries by the IT Edge Intelligence Unit (ITE-IU). 

Announcing the survey outcome in Lagos, spokesman for the ITE-IU, Segun Oruame said rankings followed the traditional survey methods which took into consideration, the peculiar challenges of conducting research appraisal on the continent.

The survey do not give an absolute picture of the Economic Community of West African States (ECOWAS) based on Information and Communications Technologies (ICT) scene, offers a broad perspective of the sector’s performance and how the major drivers have been able to impact on the economies of the various countries within the community.

“In a practical sense, the research outcome tends to provide a reasonable gauge of how the industry is performing through a lens focusing on the actors,” he said, stressing that as is the tradition, the high point of this year’s rating was recognition ceremony of the Top 50 Technology Business Companies scheduled to hold in Lagos in April.

This, he said, would form part of a short lecture series on the official release of the West Africa Technology Business Outlook (WATBO) 2008, an annual report of the (ITE-IU) assessing the performance of the West Africa technology business scene based on the strength and performance indices of the sector’s major players across the ECOWAS space.

Technology analysts and member of the ITE-IU, Mr. Gbenga Isama, said there are many effective technology companies operating within the region that deserves recognition in 2008 in their role in information technology 4 developments (IT4D).

“Our preferred tech-biz companies range from pioneering to advanced, with each having its own unique identity. Our research have been done mainly through company websites, press releases and consumer experiences however, we want you to think of our annual West Africa Tech-Biz Top 50 feature as companies that demonstrated technological leaderships and entrepreneurships and still carryout day to day business in a credible manner,” Isama asserted. 

The top 50 covered in the survey include HP, Microsoft, Intel, Daar Communications, Cisco, Sony Ericsson,  NIIT, Globacom, Nokia, Zain, Omatek Plc, and Sonatel. Others are Samsung, Huawei, Interswitch, LG, Starcomms Plc, Ericsson, Multilinks Telecom, Chams and Galaxy Backbone.

The list also includes Skye Bank, Systemspecs, VisaFone, Phase3 Telecom, Dimension Data,Gateway Communications, Zoom Mobile, K-Net (Gh) Limited, and Comium  (Sierra Leone, Liberia), Progenics Corp, TheSOFTribe, Expert Edge, BusyInternet, DCC Satellite and Networks, DOPC, Interconnect Clearinghouse (Nig.) Ltd., and eTranzact among others.

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Global mobile usage reaches 60% - Report

The latest survey by the International Telecommunications Union (ITU) has put the global mobile reach to an estimated 60 per cent of the population of the world.
Also the survey indicated that about 25 per cent are now using the internet.

This revelation came 25 years, when the ITU High Level Committee Report popularly referred to as The Missing Link was aimed at prescribing how to make people of the less developed world have access to communications by electronics and bring all mankind within easy reach of a telephone.

According to the report, what has made the difference is the breakthrough in cellular technology and the fact of the ubiquitous internet.

Experts said that it is not really the ‘decision at the highest political level’ which the Report had prescribed in December 1984.

In Nigeria, telephone authorities have recently released a figure of 63 million mobile phones for a population of 140 million. While in Ghana, the officials said the figure is 10 million in a population of 23 million.

These figures, the expert also said, does not indicate whether such number of citizens have mobile phones but that telephone operators have put those numbers into the market sometimes with more than two phones being owned by each of a large proportion of those who have direct access.

Going by the latest ITU report, the figures provided by various administrations in Africa, the conclusion is that while growth has been fastest in Africa, the greatest population of those without access may also be from the continent.

“In the developed economies it is usual to find number of mobiles being higher than total population, again meaning that those without access are still predominantly in the underdeveloped economies whose access figures might have also been rising,” part of the report said.

For internet access, the Report appears to have taken access to mean the use by an individual of the resources of internet, even when the individual may be unaware of such access.

That is, because much of the internet take-up is thought to have been driven by money-transfer services that allow people with or without bank accounts to send money speedily and safely with the recipient; typically a family member receiving cash at the other end or even use bank services which had relied on the internet.

ITRealms Online recalls that three years, a Nigerian industry research company, Telecom Answers Associates, carried out an audit of internet providers in Nigeria and reported that 7.5 million had access to the Internet, a figure which was one million higher than the estimate published by internetworldstats.com within the same year under review.

However, by end of 2008, internetworldstats.com reported that 10 million Nigerian had access; 10.5 in Egypt and 880,000 in Ghana.

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CeBIT’09 ends with 4,300 participants

The 2009 edition of CeBIT which held in Hannover, Germany came to a close weekend with estimated 4,300 participants.

The managing board member of the organizers, Deutsche Messe, Ernst Raue, said that the four-day Information and Communications Technologies (ICT) exhibition and conference, attracted over 4,300 firms from 69 countries globally.

“A majority of the 4,300 companies from 69 countries drew fresh optimism from being here at CeBIT,” Raue was quoted as saying in a press statement made available to ITRealms Online.

According to Raue, a huge number of exhibitors and visitors, weekend, began to depart Hannover with a renewed sense of buoyancy as well as bulging order books and a solid foundation for new business, stressing that the show lived up to their expectations.

Throwing more light, the organizers said that this year’s participants represented a 20 per cent of the previous year’s figure.

However, there was a marked increase in the trade visitor ratio, meaning that their expectations were often exceeded.

“Companies who came well-prepared reported a jump in significant business leads of more than 20 per cent,” Raue said, noting that in terms of all the significant parameters, CeBIT 2009 attained the same high level as last year’s event.

“We are delighted with the run of the show. This CeBIT has been a good investment for exhibitors and visitors alike, delivering real benefits to everyone,” Raue declared.

While the percentage of visitors from abroad remained steady at 20 per cent, a decrease in attendance from Asia was offset by increased attendance from the Americas and the Middle East.

The opening address by California Governor Arnold Schwarzenegger, representing this year’s partner state, set the right tone to kick off the event.

Raue asserted that Gov. Schwarzenegger had expressed optimistic and determination on the attitude of the organisers to strengthen the ICT industry’s resolve by capitalizing on all the available opportunities.

“This spirit of new momentum was felt tangibly by everybody at the show,” he said.
Pointing out that CeBIT has played growing role as a key communication forum for the international ICT sector and its user industries was reinforced at this year’s event.

“Thanks to the organizers’ collaboration with the “CIO colloquium” - an independent network of Chief Information Officers from leading German enterprises - CeBIT was able to create an ideal match between supply and demand,” Raue further said.

The strong level of visitor interest in the CeBIT Global Conferences highlighted the vital importance of meeting face-to-face to debate the issues and exchange ideas, particularly in times of crisis.

“This year’s list of speakers read like a ‘Who’s Who’ of the international ICT industry,” said Raue, outlining that CeBIT’s significance as an economic policy platform was also emphasized by the presence of over 100 political delegations from around the world.

The spotlight this year was on higher efficiency and lower costs in all areas of business IT.

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ICANN’s board review: Working Group announces comment deadline

Internet enthusiasts have until April 17, 2009 to make comments on the interim report on review of the Internet Corporation for Assigned Names and Numbers (ICANN) board of directors as announced by the review Working Group.

ITRealms Online recalls that following the appointment of Messrs Boston Consulting Group/Colin Carter & Associates to perform the external review of ICANN directors and subsequent publication of the independent reviewers’ report as well as the feedbacks received from the community during a public comment period, the board review Working Group (WG) issued an Interim Report for consultation with the community, which was equally presented at the just concluded ICANN meeting in Mexico City, last weekend.

The Interim Report also refer to as the WG’s “initial thinking” on the questions under review has begun to accept public comments till April 17, in order to allow for further inputs from the Internet community before finalization of a board review WG intends to report to the Structural Improvements Committee and the Board.

A summary of key points marked down for discussion include that WG recognized the complexity of the issues associated with Recommendation 1, which is on the “Reduce the size of the Board”.

According to the interim report made available to ITRealms Online, WG sees value in the arguments to reduce the size of the board, but has no firm views on how this might be made to work in the ICANN context, thus, WG seeks the views of the community on this issue.

Also, WG believes that the board is already moving in the direction suggested in Recommendation 2 “Move to fewer, but longer Board meetings.” While the Board has already addressed the ideas contained in Recommendation 3, which centered on “Consolidating the Board Committees” through it’s restructure of committees at the end of 2008.

On the content in Recommendation 4, WG noted that “Broadening the skills of the Board” is already being addressed through the work of the Board Governance Committee.
Even as the issues contained in Recommendation 5; “Make Board membership more sustainable” was described as complex, and in particular the WG seeks the views of the community on a number of aspects related to Board remuneration and the timing of the seating of Board members.

WG on the other hand, supported the initiatives suggested in Recommendation 6 “Build high performance culture at the Board level” in addition to supporting the initiatives suggested in Recommendation 7, dealing with “Strengthening the strategic focus of the Board” as well as WG backed suggestion to “Clarify the Board’s accountabilities” made in recommendation 8.

Noteworthy is that as part of ICANN’s commitment to accountability, transparency and continuous improvement, the ICANN Bylaws require the periodic review of ‘each of the Supporting Organization, its Council, Advisory Committee (other than the Governmental Advisory Committee), and the Nominating Committee.’

As specified in Article IV, Section 4 of ICANN’s Bylaws, the “goal of the review, to be undertaken in pursuant to such criteria and standards as the Board shall direct, shall be to determine whether that organization has a continuing purpose in the ICANN structure, and if so, whether any change in structure or operations is desirable to improve its effectiveness.

However, each review is conducted by external, independent reviewers selected following publication of a Request for Proposals (RFP) based on Terms of Reference (ToR) detailing the scope of the work and listing a set of questions to be answered.

The organizational review process includes the opportunity for public comment on the terms of reference of the review, its results and any proposed recommendation.

Although a review of the Board is not stipulated in the Bylaws, the Board of Directors decided that it would be appropriate to undertake such a review to identify ways that the performance of the Board might be further improved.

At the Paris meeting in June 2008, the Board adopted a resolution to adopt a Working Group (WG) model to facilitate this review process.

To undertake this task, the WG draws on the expertise of the following current and past Board members: Amadeu Abril, Roberto Gaetano (Chair), Steve Goldstein, Thomas Narten, Rajasekhar Ramaraj, Rita Rodin Johnston, and Jean-Jacques Subrenat.

The WG is being supported by Marco Lorenzoni (Director, Organizational Review) and Patrick Sharry, Independent Consultant.

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IT firms under-spend on Info-Security – Study

Research organization dedicated to the promotion of developmental research and information, the IT Policy Compliance Group, has announced the availability of its latest benchmark report titled, “Managing Spend on Information Security and Audit to Improve Results.”

A press statement from the group, disclosed that based on research conducted with more than 2,600 firms, the study reveals that 68 per cent of firms were under-spending on information security relative to the financial risks and losses they are experiencing.

“Yet incremental increases toward the funding of best practices are responsible for financial returns that can exceed more than 200 per cent for most organizations,” the group said.

The new research sponsored by the Computer Security Institute, The Institute of Internal Auditors, Protiviti, ISACA, IT Governance Institute, and Symantec Corp. outlined a risk-based approach to budgeting for information security that rewards results; the practices responsible for managing business and financial risks from the use of IT; and the substantial reductions in spending on audit in IT.

Regional specialist manager, Symantec IRM, Errol Rhoden, said that like an insurance deductible, “all organisations are willing to sustain some level of financial risk and loss from theft of customer data or some level of business downtime from IT disruptions,” he said

Rhoden said that the research findings showed that an organisation’s loss-tolerance is exceedingly low, and the financial returns for small improvements are extraordinarily high.

The research further said that firms ranked three business risks from IT well ahead of other possible risks, namely confidentiality of sensitive information; Integrity of information, assets and controls in IT; and Availability of IT services.
The IT PCG report equally leverages on current benchmarks to measure the performance of firms against these three risk areas, which result included that worst outcomes, normative outcomes, and best outcomes.

On the worst outcomes, the study outlined that 19 per cent of all firms were experiencing more than 15 losses or thefts of data each year, 80 or more hours of business downtime from IT failures, and more than 15 audit-failing deficiencies.

The normative outcomes, according to the report, indicated that 68 per cent of all firms were operating at ‘normal’ levels experiencing between 3-15 losses or thefts of data each year, between 7-79 hours of business downtime from IT failures, and between 3-15 audit-failing deficiencies.

In addition, the best outcomes had 13 per cent of all firms achieving the best results, experiencing fewer than 3 losses or thefts of sensitive information each year, less than 7 hours of business downtime, and fewer than 3 audit-failing deficiencies.

The financial returns among these organisations range from 22 per cent to more than 3,000 per cent annually.

“Surprisingly, the difference in outcome between the worst performers and the best performers was not as a result of the size of security budgets,” the study revealed, noting that in the actual sense, the differences in size of security budgets were negligible.

“What mattered was how those budgets were used,” the study further stated.

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e-payment: Saraf-Mobile goes live in Sudan

Anew secure electronic payment (e-payment) service, Saraf-Mobile has been gone live in Sudan.

Provided by Mi-Pay and Isys, Saraf-Mobile is offering Sudanese businesses and consumers greater transaction freedom, according to the Communication Manager, Mi-Pay, Ioana Dudas.

The product coming from a leading mobile money services provider, Mi-Pay and Isys Global Trading Group, is a value added service to mobile operators and financial institutions.

The manager also said that the product has combined forces to launch a new person-to-person money transmission service which is now live and fully operational in Sudan.

The new platform delivers, Dudas said, secure payments capabilities to companies and individuals using their mobile phones; creating a cash transfer channel packed with application and service potential for financial institutions. The new pan-Arab service is the first phase in a planned roll-out which will cover 22 countries within the Middle East and North Africa.

With ‘Saraf-Mobile’ Dudas said that Sudanese could now transfer money immediately from one recipient to another irrespective of their location.

“People can send money to family and friends; businesses can receive payment direct from customers’ mobiles; and financial institutions can target and serve the huge mobile consumer base that exists within the region. All that’s required to make a transfer is the recipient’s mobile phone number,” Dudas declared.

Explaining that ‘Saraf-Mobile’ represents a true collaborative approach between Mi-Pay and Isys; while Mi-Pay supplies the open-system technical infrastructure including transaction clearance and settlement interface as well managing the regulatory framework, training and associated skills development, Isys, through commercializing the technology and capitalizing on its network of regional offices, provides local management and first line technical support as well as partner recruitment and local regulatory approvals.

Both Mi-Pay and Isys are eager to emphasize the opportunity for Financial Institutions across the Middle East and Africa. Representing a completely managed, customer ready operator independent service, ‘Saraf-Mobile’ is a fully-supportive channel that enables mobile phones to be used for money transfer. It dramatically reduces the time to market and operational overhead traditionally associated with establishing this type of service model. It also provides potential to evolve new revenue streams for financial institutions by providing ubiquitous payments services such as mobile top-up, utilities payment and money collection.

‘Saraf Mobile’ also creates a new authorised cash channel for both the ‘banked and unbanked’. Individuals can simply go to a ‘Saraf-Mobile’ agent to transfer money easily, securely and quickly; the recipient is advised same-time via SMS to go to their local “Saraf-Mobile” agent to collect the transferred cash.

The Managing Director, Mi-Pay Middle East, Glen Jennison, explained, “Mobile Money Transfer (MMT) can deliver huge benefits to countries and people throughout Africa and the Middle East. With the launch of ‘Saraf-Mobile’, Mi-Pay and Isys are demonstrating their foresight and commitment to the region. There is no need for a Bank account, a plastic card or an ATM. Cash is king in the majority of Middle East and African countries and mobile phone penetration can be almost 100%. The opportunities for ‘Saraf-Mobile’, therefore, are immense. Mi-Pay is proud to partner with Isys to deliver financial service solutions that offer greater access and financial freedom to individuals and business alike.”

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