Umbrella body of chartered professional organizations in the country, the Association of Professional Bodies of Nigeria (APBN), has said that with the current economic meltdown ravaging the globe, Nigeria should focus on technology acquisition with the right educational framework.
APBN President, Mr. Mohammed Jimmoh Faworaja, gave this advice, last weekend, at the end of the first board meeting for the year hosted by the Nigeria Computer Society (NCS) at its secretariat, Alausa-Ikeja, Lagos.
Faworaja, who was accompanied by board members including Publicity Secretary, APBN and Managing Director, International Control Systems Limited, Mr. Allwell Achumba, and Executive Secretary, APBN, Mr. Adebayo Babatunde, among others, were welcomed on arrival by the Executive Secretary, NCS, Mr. Ejide Oladunmoye and the Vice President of the society, Dr. David Adewumi.
APBN boss also said that although the nation’s economy was already down before the current financial crisis, the meltdown offers Nigeria an opportunity to look inwards by focusing on how to evolve its Information and Communications Technologies (ICT) to serve as a mitigation system, so that the impact would not be felt so much by Nigerians, especially the common man.
This, he said, could be achieved by way of structuring the nation’s economy via technology acquisition that must have its roots in the right educational system.
Faworaja noted that the nation’s foreign earnings come from crude oil and America records the highest patronage year in year out, stressing that due to economic meltdown among other strategic reasons, America is now paying more attention to biofuel.
He pointed out that this is enough reason for Nigeria to rethink and in doing this, focus should be on technology acquisition, which must be deeply rooted in the right kind of education and encourage mechanised farming and even continue to supply the likes of America with biofeeds for biofuel generation.
“Definitely, we need to acquire technology like the Indians, but we must get the educational system right,” he declared.
India, he said, spent so much fund on education to be where they are today, especially in software development and physics, stressing that the board is seriously concerned and it is high time the nation realizes that the tide has changed in terms of economic growth by giving 80 per cent attention to the development of ICT and 20 per cent to oil.
He bemoaned that Nigeria which requires over 6000 megawatts of electricity can only boost of about 2000 and now the federal government has announced removal of subsidy, assuring that APBN would study the white paper before responding appropriately.
APBN further noted that in all the 36 states of the federation including the Federal Capital Territory (FCT) there is one mineral endowment or another, advising that states should look inwards by exploring these minerals so as to increase their
Internally Generated Revenue (IGR).
“There is no state in this country without one mineral deposit or another. So, we’re well endowed,” he said, suggesting that exploration of these minerals should form major part of the budget on annual basis instead of waiting for the federal allocation as the case is presently.
APBN presently has 24-member professional chartered bodies, while we have about four undergoing processes of joining the body, while NCS become a member three years ago.
In his welcome address, NCS President, Prof. Charles Uwadia represented by the vice president, Dr. David Adewumi, said the society evolved in response to the pervasiveness of computing and other information technologies in the lives of the 21st century Nigerians.
Noting that the goals from inception of NCS as enshrined in its constitution remained the advancement of Computer Science, Information Technology & Systems and their applications/deployments to professional practice in education, government, the military and industry.
“It shall seek to confer valuable professional responsibilities, on its members and encourage them to support work. This is important to the general community and the professional at large,” he said.
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Wednesday, March 18, 2009
We’ve spent $300m in rolling out telecom towers - Fazal Hussain
Chief executive officer, Helios Towers, Mr. Fazal Hussain, spoke to newsmen on the activities of his company, during which he revealed that his firm has the capacity to accommodate new telecommunications entrants into the Nigerian market. Senior Reporter, REMMY NWEKE was there.
Excerpts.
What infrastructure do you provide for telecom operators?
In essence we provide two services at the moment. We build sites for co-location, meaning sites that allows at least four different operators whether GSM, CDMA, WIMAX to co-exist within one base station. Secondly, we manage sites on behalf of the operators.
We guarantee 99.9 per cent uptime and so far we have more than 1000 sites nationwide
What is your assessment of the telecom industry in Nigeria?
The telecom industry in Nigeria is still growing. First, it was the voice, 2G the GSM and the CDMA obviously, that has been growing after the deregulation and probably at the end there will be about 80 to 100 million subscribers because Nigeria is a large country.
The second wave of technology which is to provide value added services on top of the voice and the third which is data base services of broadband internet based on 3G and Wimax. I believe as far as telecom sector is concerned the consumers will benefit because it is a competitive market and it is very positive as far as I am concerned.
.
What are the environmental challenges you have seen so far?
This is one of the challenges that we are facing in the industry. What we try to do on our part is to work with the community .We go further by engaging the services of the people by employing them to render services in these communities. So, generally speaking, we have been having a good relationship with the host communities.
Do you operate in other countries apart from Nigeria?
Not at the moment, we still have a lot of work to do in Nigeria, but very soon we will be expanding to other African countries.
How about the legal battle between Lagos state Government and some service provide and operators?
First of all, it is legal issue between the government and telecom operators. We are a service provider to operators and we actually provide services that are environmentally friendly, which is one of the biggest concerns of government entities. The concern of the government is that building sites everywhere is not good and that the environment will be degraded if not checked.
So, what we do is to build sites so that four to five operators can make use of that site and the concern of government is taken care of. It is very cost effective for the service providers and in turn they can provide cheaper services to consumers.
Does co-location affect the quality of service in any form?
Absolutely. Let me explain, first of all, we build the sites and we build it to the highest specification and it is designed for multiple tenants. We provide everything power, security, and if any operator wants to launch, all they have to do is to bring their electronics so as to provide service much more efficiently for their consumers and on top of that we guarantee a 99.9 per cent uptime. The market average is 70 per cent and it’s even lower sometimes. There is 24/7 power supply and security. As you know in Nigeria you get public power supply for about six (6) hours in a day, so, 18 hours in a day you don’t have power. So, what we do is to provide battery backup then we have a generator and then backup generator. Also we have personnel on that site with a mobile generator for quick response if there is a problem with the battery and the two generators. This is to ensure that the site does not go down at all.
Today, quality service is relatively poor but in two years time and with the emergence of new operators, Quality of Service (QoS) will be taken seriously as consumer will not tolerate any operator that provides poor quality of service.
What of the capacity to cover the requirements of operators?
We’re very relevant to speedy roll out of telecom and related services in Nigeria. As a matter of fact, we’re the heart of wireless operators.
We do have the capacity and even with the coming of new entrants into the market. We are rolling out as fast as we can. First of all we are rolling out in the major cities and the smaller cities and then the villages. So far, we have spent over $300 million in rolling out so as to meet the demand of the operators. Finance is not a problem to us as we are well funded to provide efficient services to the operators.
Tell us about the corporate social responsibility of your firm?
We create job opportunities for the communities we are operating from by engaging the services of the people in host communities and in all, we have created close to 3000 jobs and apart from that we participate in school projects and other community-related activities.
Congestion of the landscape by the erection of towers and masts?
We are a very responsible corporate citizen and therefore obtain approvals from the appropriate authorities. We have a high specification of our sites and our towers does not fail, they are designed for 25 years .They are not local standard but international standard, so we ensure that we get the approval of the government entities concerned before we build our sites
What is the relationship like with the regulator?
We have a very good relationship with the regulator, the Nigerian Communications Commission (NCC) and they have been supportive to us . We are the pioneers and as a matter of fact, we started the collocation so the relationship has been very good.
What other challenges are faced by your company in Nigeria?
Financially, we have not really faced challenges in the sense that we have been able to raise money internationally. We are actually a company registered in Nigeria but investment comes from abroad. The biggest challenge that we are facing is finding a good quality sites. If, for example, you are given the license to operate telecommunication services in Nigeria, and you want to roll out nationwide, you will spend a lot of money in getting a good quality site and besides it will take you years but we have the money, you don’t have to spend your money, it is a wonderful value proposition .It even allows small Nigeria companies to compete with the big players out there.
How affordable are your charges?
Our charges are very affordable. It depends on the space that you want to hang your equipment, if you are a GSM or CDMA operator, you will probably take more space but the cyber café or Wimax operator, radio station, television station to name a few; you will take small space and you will pay less than the former.
So, our charges depend on the space and specifications of your equipment.
What should we expect from Helios Towers in the next few years?
We hope to see Helios Towers in other African countries. Right now, we are still serving Nigeria because Nigeria is a big market but very soon we are looking forward to exporting our skills to other Africa countries apart from Nigeria.
ITREALMS Online ... delivering news for ICT4D
Excerpts.
What infrastructure do you provide for telecom operators?
In essence we provide two services at the moment. We build sites for co-location, meaning sites that allows at least four different operators whether GSM, CDMA, WIMAX to co-exist within one base station. Secondly, we manage sites on behalf of the operators.
We guarantee 99.9 per cent uptime and so far we have more than 1000 sites nationwide
What is your assessment of the telecom industry in Nigeria?
The telecom industry in Nigeria is still growing. First, it was the voice, 2G the GSM and the CDMA obviously, that has been growing after the deregulation and probably at the end there will be about 80 to 100 million subscribers because Nigeria is a large country.
The second wave of technology which is to provide value added services on top of the voice and the third which is data base services of broadband internet based on 3G and Wimax. I believe as far as telecom sector is concerned the consumers will benefit because it is a competitive market and it is very positive as far as I am concerned.
.
What are the environmental challenges you have seen so far?
This is one of the challenges that we are facing in the industry. What we try to do on our part is to work with the community .We go further by engaging the services of the people by employing them to render services in these communities. So, generally speaking, we have been having a good relationship with the host communities.
Do you operate in other countries apart from Nigeria?
Not at the moment, we still have a lot of work to do in Nigeria, but very soon we will be expanding to other African countries.
How about the legal battle between Lagos state Government and some service provide and operators?
First of all, it is legal issue between the government and telecom operators. We are a service provider to operators and we actually provide services that are environmentally friendly, which is one of the biggest concerns of government entities. The concern of the government is that building sites everywhere is not good and that the environment will be degraded if not checked.
So, what we do is to build sites so that four to five operators can make use of that site and the concern of government is taken care of. It is very cost effective for the service providers and in turn they can provide cheaper services to consumers.
Does co-location affect the quality of service in any form?
Absolutely. Let me explain, first of all, we build the sites and we build it to the highest specification and it is designed for multiple tenants. We provide everything power, security, and if any operator wants to launch, all they have to do is to bring their electronics so as to provide service much more efficiently for their consumers and on top of that we guarantee a 99.9 per cent uptime. The market average is 70 per cent and it’s even lower sometimes. There is 24/7 power supply and security. As you know in Nigeria you get public power supply for about six (6) hours in a day, so, 18 hours in a day you don’t have power. So, what we do is to provide battery backup then we have a generator and then backup generator. Also we have personnel on that site with a mobile generator for quick response if there is a problem with the battery and the two generators. This is to ensure that the site does not go down at all.
Today, quality service is relatively poor but in two years time and with the emergence of new operators, Quality of Service (QoS) will be taken seriously as consumer will not tolerate any operator that provides poor quality of service.
What of the capacity to cover the requirements of operators?
We’re very relevant to speedy roll out of telecom and related services in Nigeria. As a matter of fact, we’re the heart of wireless operators.
We do have the capacity and even with the coming of new entrants into the market. We are rolling out as fast as we can. First of all we are rolling out in the major cities and the smaller cities and then the villages. So far, we have spent over $300 million in rolling out so as to meet the demand of the operators. Finance is not a problem to us as we are well funded to provide efficient services to the operators.
Tell us about the corporate social responsibility of your firm?
We create job opportunities for the communities we are operating from by engaging the services of the people in host communities and in all, we have created close to 3000 jobs and apart from that we participate in school projects and other community-related activities.
Congestion of the landscape by the erection of towers and masts?
We are a very responsible corporate citizen and therefore obtain approvals from the appropriate authorities. We have a high specification of our sites and our towers does not fail, they are designed for 25 years .They are not local standard but international standard, so we ensure that we get the approval of the government entities concerned before we build our sites
What is the relationship like with the regulator?
We have a very good relationship with the regulator, the Nigerian Communications Commission (NCC) and they have been supportive to us . We are the pioneers and as a matter of fact, we started the collocation so the relationship has been very good.
What other challenges are faced by your company in Nigeria?
Financially, we have not really faced challenges in the sense that we have been able to raise money internationally. We are actually a company registered in Nigeria but investment comes from abroad. The biggest challenge that we are facing is finding a good quality sites. If, for example, you are given the license to operate telecommunication services in Nigeria, and you want to roll out nationwide, you will spend a lot of money in getting a good quality site and besides it will take you years but we have the money, you don’t have to spend your money, it is a wonderful value proposition .It even allows small Nigeria companies to compete with the big players out there.
How affordable are your charges?
Our charges are very affordable. It depends on the space that you want to hang your equipment, if you are a GSM or CDMA operator, you will probably take more space but the cyber café or Wimax operator, radio station, television station to name a few; you will take small space and you will pay less than the former.
So, our charges depend on the space and specifications of your equipment.
What should we expect from Helios Towers in the next few years?
We hope to see Helios Towers in other African countries. Right now, we are still serving Nigeria because Nigeria is a big market but very soon we are looking forward to exporting our skills to other Africa countries apart from Nigeria.
ITREALMS Online ... delivering news for ICT4D
Omatek beefs up distribution channels
Nigeria’s leading computer manufacturer, Omatek Ventures Plc, has beefed up its distribution channels through the creation of series of showrooms, reseller outlets and franchises to boost service delivery nationwide.
Disclosing this in Lagos recently at the commissioning of the Omatek Resource Centre and E-Learning Laboratory at the Lagos State Polytechnic (LASPOTECH), Ikorodu, Lagos, the Group Managing Director (GMD), Omatek Ventures Plc, Mrs. Florence Seriki (MFR), said the decision to enhance the distribution channel was borne out of the need to empower Nigerians.
“With financial, greater brand visibility as well as bringing its services closer to the customers,” she said.
Mrs. Seriki also said that the growing demand for Omatek brand of products such as the 8” and 10” Smartbooks, Desktop Computers, Plasma Liquid Crystal Display (LCD) TV, Home Entertainment Products, Uninterruptible Power Supply (UPS) cum inverters and other products have made it crucial to consider expanding channel marketing.
She noted that her firm was conceived to empower the mass of Nigerian students and their instructors who lack access to practical knowledge in computer education.
Omatek computers, she said, would continue to champion the dissemination of information and Communication Technologies (ICT) knowledge in the country through the provision of standard industrial attachment centres, human capacity development through internship programme, student exchange programmes among others.
Apart from providing hands-on experience to student, she noted that the Resource Centre would serve as a service centre to offer after sales service to customers with Omatek products within the vicinity.
On his part, the Rector, LASPOTECH, Mr. Ayodeji Babatunde Iginla, said the Omatek Resource Centre and E-lab marked a turning point in the way ICT-based courses would be taught in the institution.
“Omatek has once again demonstrated it leadership ability and foresight in the area of promoting the awareness on the use of computers and other applications. Your support in this area would further boost learning in this institution,” he said.
While enjoining students of LASPOTECH to avail themselves of the opportunities inherent in the E-Xpress scheme, being an easy and convenient computer acquisition initiative, he stressed that the aim is to improve the standard of ICT-based education module in the country.
Present at the event were members of the LASPOTECH governing council among whom was its Chairman, Prof. Ajose and prominent members like the chairman, Guinness Nigeria Plc, Chief Ralph Alabi, to name a few.
ITREALMS Online ... delivering news for ICT4D
Disclosing this in Lagos recently at the commissioning of the Omatek Resource Centre and E-Learning Laboratory at the Lagos State Polytechnic (LASPOTECH), Ikorodu, Lagos, the Group Managing Director (GMD), Omatek Ventures Plc, Mrs. Florence Seriki (MFR), said the decision to enhance the distribution channel was borne out of the need to empower Nigerians.
“With financial, greater brand visibility as well as bringing its services closer to the customers,” she said.
Mrs. Seriki also said that the growing demand for Omatek brand of products such as the 8” and 10” Smartbooks, Desktop Computers, Plasma Liquid Crystal Display (LCD) TV, Home Entertainment Products, Uninterruptible Power Supply (UPS) cum inverters and other products have made it crucial to consider expanding channel marketing.
She noted that her firm was conceived to empower the mass of Nigerian students and their instructors who lack access to practical knowledge in computer education.
Omatek computers, she said, would continue to champion the dissemination of information and Communication Technologies (ICT) knowledge in the country through the provision of standard industrial attachment centres, human capacity development through internship programme, student exchange programmes among others.
Apart from providing hands-on experience to student, she noted that the Resource Centre would serve as a service centre to offer after sales service to customers with Omatek products within the vicinity.
On his part, the Rector, LASPOTECH, Mr. Ayodeji Babatunde Iginla, said the Omatek Resource Centre and E-lab marked a turning point in the way ICT-based courses would be taught in the institution.
“Omatek has once again demonstrated it leadership ability and foresight in the area of promoting the awareness on the use of computers and other applications. Your support in this area would further boost learning in this institution,” he said.
While enjoining students of LASPOTECH to avail themselves of the opportunities inherent in the E-Xpress scheme, being an easy and convenient computer acquisition initiative, he stressed that the aim is to improve the standard of ICT-based education module in the country.
Present at the event were members of the LASPOTECH governing council among whom was its Chairman, Prof. Ajose and prominent members like the chairman, Guinness Nigeria Plc, Chief Ralph Alabi, to name a few.
ITREALMS Online ... delivering news for ICT4D
Supercard introduces GoCard
Reputed information technology (IT) company with specialty on electronic card technology, the Supercard Limited, has introduced Go Card into the nation’s electronic-based (e-based) service market, even as the Standards Organisation of Nigeria (SON) presented the company with International Standards Orgnisation (NIS ISO-9001-2000) certificate.
Supercard, a subsidiary of Chams Nigeria Plc is famous for its avalanche of cards solutions currently in the Nigeria’s market.
Speaking at the occasion, Director-General, SON, Dr. John Ndanusa Akanya, who was represented at the occasion, commended Supercard for achieving the feat of certification for ISO 9000-2000 and urged the company to continue to strive for better services for its customers.
In his introduction of the Supercards latest in shelf, Go Card, the Assistant General Manager, Mr. Michael Folarin said that GoCard is the first of its kind in the country, mostly because it comes with contactless electronic payment (e-payment) solution for the transport industry.
According to him, with Go Card, Nigerians no longer need to carry cash when entering any form of transport, though they are starting from the sea and land.
He explained that the power of GoCard is embedded in an electronic ticketing (e-ticket) formula that could be used in any Nigerian cities, especially on public transport services.
GoCard, he also said, could serve as a credit card because it comes with storable value which could be loaded into the card due to its contactless feature, through designated agents who are authorized by Supercard or affiliate transport companies.
As matter of fact, he said that potential Nigerian passenger who uses GoCard need not to pay cash when entering transport, saying that it could be flashed through on the turnstile gate on entry and could be perfectly read by a device, which will authenticate the card and make the relevant deductions for a given fare.
“You can also flash your card on balance display to check your balance,” he declared.
Listing the benefits of GoCard, the AGM said it is convenience, accurate secured transaction and his company has deployed balance display at every terminus, be it a station, jetty or even airport.
“It is easy, fast and no loss of cash or change,” he said, stressing that it has its own peculiar merits for transport companies, including improved cash management, security, service level agreement, increased revenue margin, service delivery and better branding, because it could be customized to meet the taste of individual companies.
“Transaction reports can be requested on the web as online reports,” he said.
Enlightening further, he said that the GoCard offer equally comes in various components, encompassing passengers’ card, staff card, agent service card, terminals, turnstiles and server.
“Passengers card comes in card type category, for example, adult, student cards respectively with values of Naira can be loaded on it immediately after purchase,” he said, pointing out that the staff card enables the card to be used for starting off a given system where he or she is in-charge, whereas the agent service card allows an accredited agent to store more value and its value could be transferred into passenger’s cards for retailing.
On the turnstiles, he said, it’s an automated barriers that debits the toll fare from a passenger’s card, thus allowing such a holder passage when the transaction is successful, while the server is the back-end that facilitates report module for online generation.
The special guest at the occasion, Transport Secretary at the Federal Capital Territory (FCT), Mr. Segun Awolowo, who was represented at the occasion, applauded Supercard for this initiative while pledging the support of FCT administration in this effort at improving the transport sector, especially making it electronic, saying that its less stressful.
He enjoined Nigerians to support the initiative by accepting the evolution, noting that since the world has become a global village, Nigeria cannot afford to remain in dark while the world goes on development electronically.
ITREALMS Online ... delivering news for ICT4D
Supercard, a subsidiary of Chams Nigeria Plc is famous for its avalanche of cards solutions currently in the Nigeria’s market.
Speaking at the occasion, Director-General, SON, Dr. John Ndanusa Akanya, who was represented at the occasion, commended Supercard for achieving the feat of certification for ISO 9000-2000 and urged the company to continue to strive for better services for its customers.
In his introduction of the Supercards latest in shelf, Go Card, the Assistant General Manager, Mr. Michael Folarin said that GoCard is the first of its kind in the country, mostly because it comes with contactless electronic payment (e-payment) solution for the transport industry.
According to him, with Go Card, Nigerians no longer need to carry cash when entering any form of transport, though they are starting from the sea and land.
He explained that the power of GoCard is embedded in an electronic ticketing (e-ticket) formula that could be used in any Nigerian cities, especially on public transport services.
GoCard, he also said, could serve as a credit card because it comes with storable value which could be loaded into the card due to its contactless feature, through designated agents who are authorized by Supercard or affiliate transport companies.
As matter of fact, he said that potential Nigerian passenger who uses GoCard need not to pay cash when entering transport, saying that it could be flashed through on the turnstile gate on entry and could be perfectly read by a device, which will authenticate the card and make the relevant deductions for a given fare.
“You can also flash your card on balance display to check your balance,” he declared.
Listing the benefits of GoCard, the AGM said it is convenience, accurate secured transaction and his company has deployed balance display at every terminus, be it a station, jetty or even airport.
“It is easy, fast and no loss of cash or change,” he said, stressing that it has its own peculiar merits for transport companies, including improved cash management, security, service level agreement, increased revenue margin, service delivery and better branding, because it could be customized to meet the taste of individual companies.
“Transaction reports can be requested on the web as online reports,” he said.
Enlightening further, he said that the GoCard offer equally comes in various components, encompassing passengers’ card, staff card, agent service card, terminals, turnstiles and server.
“Passengers card comes in card type category, for example, adult, student cards respectively with values of Naira can be loaded on it immediately after purchase,” he said, pointing out that the staff card enables the card to be used for starting off a given system where he or she is in-charge, whereas the agent service card allows an accredited agent to store more value and its value could be transferred into passenger’s cards for retailing.
On the turnstiles, he said, it’s an automated barriers that debits the toll fare from a passenger’s card, thus allowing such a holder passage when the transaction is successful, while the server is the back-end that facilitates report module for online generation.
The special guest at the occasion, Transport Secretary at the Federal Capital Territory (FCT), Mr. Segun Awolowo, who was represented at the occasion, applauded Supercard for this initiative while pledging the support of FCT administration in this effort at improving the transport sector, especially making it electronic, saying that its less stressful.
He enjoined Nigerians to support the initiative by accepting the evolution, noting that since the world has become a global village, Nigeria cannot afford to remain in dark while the world goes on development electronically.
ITREALMS Online ... delivering news for ICT4D
Gartner excites CWG on Actimize
The recent pronouncement of Actimize, a leading provider of transactional risk management software for the financial services industry from NICE Systems company, by Gartner Inc. in its leaders quadrant in Gartner’s first Magic Quadrant for Web Fraud Detection report, is creating some excitement at the ExpertEdge Software & Systems, a subsidiary of Computer Warehouse Group (CWG).
ExpertEdge Software has partnership with Actimize Ltd to bring into the Nigerian financial market a suite of solutions that offer banks, government agencies and other financial institutions with advanced techniques of fraud detection, prevention and compliance with regulations.
This comes in the heels of CBN’s reports of increasing wave of fraud in banks, just as Actimize has implemented its Fraud and Anti-Money Laundering Solutions across the 700 United Bank for Africa (UBA) Retail Distribution Centers in Nigeria.
Sharing this excitement, the corporate marketing manager at CWG, Ms Morenike Popoola, said that they are well pleased to note the development, when Actimize has been deployed by the West Africa’s largest bank, UBA, which further indicates that the solution is international proven transactional risk management software to help protect its global operations.
She quoted Avivah Litan, an analyst at Gartner as saying that driven by regulations and increased cyber attacks, the Web fraud detection market has undergone rapid growth and consolidation during the past three years.
“Innovation is critical in this market to keep pace with difficult-to-predict cyber attacks that increasingly navigate across multiple customer service channels and the Web,” Litan said.
Gartner officials also noted that the criteria for the consideration when evaluating fraud detection solutions, included cross-channel and cross-account fraud detection, real-time fraud detection and transaction-blocking, built in templates and libraries for detecting various fraud types and a policy editor, or an easy way to add rules to the fraud detection operation.
For the chief executive officer, Actimize, Mr. David Sosna, his company was thrilled over the Gartner evaluation of Actimize in its recent Magic Quadrant, which validates the overall market position of the company and the value it delivers to customers on a daily basis.
“Actimize will continue to be at the forefront of innovation by developing and delivering the most robust technology platform and solutions to help combat financial crime. Our commitment to these core goals is the reason that so many of the world’s largest financial services firms select the Actimize solutions,” Sosna promised.
The Magic Quadrant is conducted by Gartner Incorporated with the latest released last month, February 2009 and serves as a graphic representation of a marketplace at and for a specific time period, showing how certain vendors measure against criteria for that precise marketplace, as defined by Gartner.
ITREALMS Online ... delivering news for ICT4D
ExpertEdge Software has partnership with Actimize Ltd to bring into the Nigerian financial market a suite of solutions that offer banks, government agencies and other financial institutions with advanced techniques of fraud detection, prevention and compliance with regulations.
This comes in the heels of CBN’s reports of increasing wave of fraud in banks, just as Actimize has implemented its Fraud and Anti-Money Laundering Solutions across the 700 United Bank for Africa (UBA) Retail Distribution Centers in Nigeria.
Sharing this excitement, the corporate marketing manager at CWG, Ms Morenike Popoola, said that they are well pleased to note the development, when Actimize has been deployed by the West Africa’s largest bank, UBA, which further indicates that the solution is international proven transactional risk management software to help protect its global operations.
She quoted Avivah Litan, an analyst at Gartner as saying that driven by regulations and increased cyber attacks, the Web fraud detection market has undergone rapid growth and consolidation during the past three years.
“Innovation is critical in this market to keep pace with difficult-to-predict cyber attacks that increasingly navigate across multiple customer service channels and the Web,” Litan said.
Gartner officials also noted that the criteria for the consideration when evaluating fraud detection solutions, included cross-channel and cross-account fraud detection, real-time fraud detection and transaction-blocking, built in templates and libraries for detecting various fraud types and a policy editor, or an easy way to add rules to the fraud detection operation.
For the chief executive officer, Actimize, Mr. David Sosna, his company was thrilled over the Gartner evaluation of Actimize in its recent Magic Quadrant, which validates the overall market position of the company and the value it delivers to customers on a daily basis.
“Actimize will continue to be at the forefront of innovation by developing and delivering the most robust technology platform and solutions to help combat financial crime. Our commitment to these core goals is the reason that so many of the world’s largest financial services firms select the Actimize solutions,” Sosna promised.
The Magic Quadrant is conducted by Gartner Incorporated with the latest released last month, February 2009 and serves as a graphic representation of a marketplace at and for a specific time period, showing how certain vendors measure against criteria for that precise marketplace, as defined by Gartner.
ITREALMS Online ... delivering news for ICT4D
Multimesh drags Copyright Commission to Reps
Multimesh Communication Limited, has dragged the Nigerian Copy Rights Commission (NCC) to the House of Representatives Committee on Justice, over what the company termed as illegal closure of its broadcast stations, vandalization of transmission facilities and falsely accusing it of indulging in piracy.
ITRealms Online recalls that this was as a result of a dispute between Multimesh and HiTV, last year over some contractual agreement that went sour, in which HiTV reported Multimesh to the NCC, alleging it was pirating its programmes.
On the other hand, NCC said, it raided Multimesh station in Calabar, not knowing that it’s broadcast of HiTV programmes were based on a contractual agreement between the two companies, but refused to apologise.
Group Managing Director (GMD), Multimesh, Sir Godfrey Ohuabunwa in his submission to the Committee said that on January 8, 2009, operatives and agents of the NCC “vandalised, harassed and carted away transmitters and other equipments consequently shutting down the station on allegations by HiTV that they were pirating their programmes.
“In the course of this, we had to shut down transmission for three weeks. We lost about N36 million worth of equipments and about N30 million loss in revenue as we were unable to broadcast for about three weeks within the period,” he said.
Sir Godfrey also said his company suffered a lot of credibility problem by the mere fact that the NCC has branded Multimesh as pirates, insisting that his firm has a contractual agreement with HiTV to broadcast their signals in the South-South political zone with no restriction to channel.
“We cannot understand why this action was taken by the NCC, because we have already informed them by writing about the contractual agreement we have entered with HiTV before they raided us. We have tried to settle the matter between us, the NCC and HiTV after the intervention of the Nigerian Broadcasting Commission (NBC),” he said.
According to Sir Godfrey, his firm is not asking for damages, but wanted NCC to apologise over their actions.
“So that we can restore our good name,” he declared.
The Legal Adviser to NCC at the session, Mr. Jacob Fagbemi told the committee it had no prior knowledge that the two parties had a contractual agreement before the incident.
“We are surprised to find out that the two companies had a contract. “We acted based on the petition that HiTV sent to us that Multimesh was pirating its programmes from its station in Calabar. After we have made our surveillance we confirmed that Multimesh was actually broadcasting HiTV programmes. So, we clamped down on the station. We did not do it to please HiTV, but to enforce the law”, he said.
Responding to a question by the Chairman, House Committee on Justice, Hon. Henry Dickson (PDP/ Bayelsa) on if NCC would have raided the station if it knew of the agreement, Fagbemi said they would have acted differently, pointing out that it was not part of the Commission’s procedure to reach out to suspects before the raid.
Dickson also expressed worry over the development, saying it would look as if the Copyright agency was going out of its mandate to enforce contractual agreement that favours one side, instead of dealing with piracy or even bringing the two warring party to a roundtable.
Most of the members of the Committee equally expressed shock at the hard stand of NCC against Multimesh, more so that the company simply demanded an apology, not compensation, but promised to have a verdict that would be favourable to all parties in the case.
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ITRealms Online recalls that this was as a result of a dispute between Multimesh and HiTV, last year over some contractual agreement that went sour, in which HiTV reported Multimesh to the NCC, alleging it was pirating its programmes.
On the other hand, NCC said, it raided Multimesh station in Calabar, not knowing that it’s broadcast of HiTV programmes were based on a contractual agreement between the two companies, but refused to apologise.
Group Managing Director (GMD), Multimesh, Sir Godfrey Ohuabunwa in his submission to the Committee said that on January 8, 2009, operatives and agents of the NCC “vandalised, harassed and carted away transmitters and other equipments consequently shutting down the station on allegations by HiTV that they were pirating their programmes.
“In the course of this, we had to shut down transmission for three weeks. We lost about N36 million worth of equipments and about N30 million loss in revenue as we were unable to broadcast for about three weeks within the period,” he said.
Sir Godfrey also said his company suffered a lot of credibility problem by the mere fact that the NCC has branded Multimesh as pirates, insisting that his firm has a contractual agreement with HiTV to broadcast their signals in the South-South political zone with no restriction to channel.
“We cannot understand why this action was taken by the NCC, because we have already informed them by writing about the contractual agreement we have entered with HiTV before they raided us. We have tried to settle the matter between us, the NCC and HiTV after the intervention of the Nigerian Broadcasting Commission (NBC),” he said.
According to Sir Godfrey, his firm is not asking for damages, but wanted NCC to apologise over their actions.
“So that we can restore our good name,” he declared.
The Legal Adviser to NCC at the session, Mr. Jacob Fagbemi told the committee it had no prior knowledge that the two parties had a contractual agreement before the incident.
“We are surprised to find out that the two companies had a contract. “We acted based on the petition that HiTV sent to us that Multimesh was pirating its programmes from its station in Calabar. After we have made our surveillance we confirmed that Multimesh was actually broadcasting HiTV programmes. So, we clamped down on the station. We did not do it to please HiTV, but to enforce the law”, he said.
Responding to a question by the Chairman, House Committee on Justice, Hon. Henry Dickson (PDP/ Bayelsa) on if NCC would have raided the station if it knew of the agreement, Fagbemi said they would have acted differently, pointing out that it was not part of the Commission’s procedure to reach out to suspects before the raid.
Dickson also expressed worry over the development, saying it would look as if the Copyright agency was going out of its mandate to enforce contractual agreement that favours one side, instead of dealing with piracy or even bringing the two warring party to a roundtable.
Most of the members of the Committee equally expressed shock at the hard stand of NCC against Multimesh, more so that the company simply demanded an apology, not compensation, but promised to have a verdict that would be favourable to all parties in the case.
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MTN extends MobileMoney to 20 more countries
MTN Group has engaged, Fundamo, the world’s largest specialist mobile financial services provider, to power its “MTN MobileMoney” service, which will be available to a subscriber base of over 80 million users across 21 countries on the continent.
The deal, worth 9.7m USD, is the largest mobile banking software deal ever to have been announced, and will bring basic financial services to MTN mobile subscribers in largely unbanked populations of Sub-Saharan Africa and Middle-East.
The deal is an extension of the existing relationship between MTN and Fundamo; over “MTN MobileMoney” from South Africa into 20 additional countries.
MTN MobileMoney is a SIM-based, version of Fundamo’s Mobile Wallet Solution ver 3.1, specifically designed to meet the needs of MTN’s subscriber base. Using HSM technologies that offer ATM level security, and a PIN system that prevents sensitive information from residing on the handset, users are entirely safeguarding against theft and fraud.
A press statement from MTN Group, endorsed by Head, Mobilemoney International Development for MTN Group, Dare Okoudjou, said that the solution is also fully compliant with all banking and FICA regulations, enabling banks to login to the system and manage the banking elements of the service, while MTN focuses on customer acquisition and retention.
“MTN MobileMoney” doesn’t require users to setup a bank account, instead offering a variety of services; from money transfer, mobile payments and balance checking to mobile purchases, and the ability to buy airtime in real-time.
Users have the option to receive a branded “MTN MobileMoney” debit card that can be used to withdraw cash from ATMs.
“MTN MobileMoney” is anticipated to be a key differentiator for MTN, supporting customer acquisition and retention, while strongly reinforcing the MTN brand in outlets throughout the country that accept “MTN MobileMoney” payments. Initial trials of the service in several markets show a satisfactory level of acceptance from both end users and merchants.
“We selected Fundamo for two key reasons; because they could support the concurrent multi-country roll-out and aggressive time to market that we required for our project and because their solution is mature, scalable and well tested in developing markets, as well as being designed from the ground up to be fully compliant with all banking regulations. With Fundamo’s future proof solution we can take full advantage of the mobile payment market,” Okoudjou declared.
Also speaking, the Executive Director at Fundamo, Aletha Ling, said they were delighted to be extending the relationship with MTN.
“We’re delighted to be extending our relationship with MTN, the leading operator in Africa and Middle-East. This deal reinforces Fundamo’s position at the forefront of one of the world’s fastest-growing and dynamic wireless markets. Mobile wallet capabilities have the capacity to change the face of Africa, unlocking basic financial services, improving lifestyles and stimulating wealth through increased commerce. We’re proud to be a part of these changes,” Ling said.
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The deal, worth 9.7m USD, is the largest mobile banking software deal ever to have been announced, and will bring basic financial services to MTN mobile subscribers in largely unbanked populations of Sub-Saharan Africa and Middle-East.
The deal is an extension of the existing relationship between MTN and Fundamo; over “MTN MobileMoney” from South Africa into 20 additional countries.
MTN MobileMoney is a SIM-based, version of Fundamo’s Mobile Wallet Solution ver 3.1, specifically designed to meet the needs of MTN’s subscriber base. Using HSM technologies that offer ATM level security, and a PIN system that prevents sensitive information from residing on the handset, users are entirely safeguarding against theft and fraud.
A press statement from MTN Group, endorsed by Head, Mobilemoney International Development for MTN Group, Dare Okoudjou, said that the solution is also fully compliant with all banking and FICA regulations, enabling banks to login to the system and manage the banking elements of the service, while MTN focuses on customer acquisition and retention.
“MTN MobileMoney” doesn’t require users to setup a bank account, instead offering a variety of services; from money transfer, mobile payments and balance checking to mobile purchases, and the ability to buy airtime in real-time.
Users have the option to receive a branded “MTN MobileMoney” debit card that can be used to withdraw cash from ATMs.
“MTN MobileMoney” is anticipated to be a key differentiator for MTN, supporting customer acquisition and retention, while strongly reinforcing the MTN brand in outlets throughout the country that accept “MTN MobileMoney” payments. Initial trials of the service in several markets show a satisfactory level of acceptance from both end users and merchants.
“We selected Fundamo for two key reasons; because they could support the concurrent multi-country roll-out and aggressive time to market that we required for our project and because their solution is mature, scalable and well tested in developing markets, as well as being designed from the ground up to be fully compliant with all banking regulations. With Fundamo’s future proof solution we can take full advantage of the mobile payment market,” Okoudjou declared.
Also speaking, the Executive Director at Fundamo, Aletha Ling, said they were delighted to be extending the relationship with MTN.
“We’re delighted to be extending our relationship with MTN, the leading operator in Africa and Middle-East. This deal reinforces Fundamo’s position at the forefront of one of the world’s fastest-growing and dynamic wireless markets. Mobile wallet capabilities have the capacity to change the face of Africa, unlocking basic financial services, improving lifestyles and stimulating wealth through increased commerce. We’re proud to be a part of these changes,” Ling said.
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Visafone is 4th largest mobile operator - NCC
Code Division Multiple Access (CDMA) operator, Visafone Communications Limited, has been pronounced the fourth largest mobile phone operator, according to the Nigerian Communications Commission (NCC) website, www.ncc.gov.ng as at December 31, 2008.
Based on the figures released for the period ending December 2008, Visafone had 2,205,868 million subscribers, thus emerging CDMA leader operating in Nigeria, and coming closely behind the trio of Global System for Mobile communications (GSM) operators.
Founded by renowned banker and Information and Communication Technology (ICT) philanthropist, Mr. Jim Ovia, Visafone launched over a year ago and has grown its subscriber-base beyond the 2.2m figure to about 2.7m subscribers as at end of February 2009.
The unprecedented and astronomical growth, as affirmed by the Head, Communications at Visafone, Mr. Toni Kan Onwudi, has been traced to Visafone’s well articulated entry strategy, which hinges on an aggressive pan-Nigerian rollout in 12 states and over 40 cities at inception, low priced handset strategy and superior network centered on excellent quality of service, wide coverage and superb call clarity.
He further said that Visafone, which currently has coverage in 22 states and over 170 cities and towns across Nigeria has in its employ over 1000 Nigerians in various capacities.
A press statement from his office promised that Visafone would continue its aggressive growth across the nation to cover the 36 states while continuing to empower Nigerians by offering employment to another 3000 Nigerians in the next two to three years.
ITRealms Online recalled that Visafone roll out commercial operations on February 22, 2008 and has in that short space of time garnered over 10 industry awards including Best Telecom Brand and ICT Company of the year to validate its promise to spread the joy of communication across Nigeria by offering Nigerians a passport to reach the world.
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Based on the figures released for the period ending December 2008, Visafone had 2,205,868 million subscribers, thus emerging CDMA leader operating in Nigeria, and coming closely behind the trio of Global System for Mobile communications (GSM) operators.
Founded by renowned banker and Information and Communication Technology (ICT) philanthropist, Mr. Jim Ovia, Visafone launched over a year ago and has grown its subscriber-base beyond the 2.2m figure to about 2.7m subscribers as at end of February 2009.
The unprecedented and astronomical growth, as affirmed by the Head, Communications at Visafone, Mr. Toni Kan Onwudi, has been traced to Visafone’s well articulated entry strategy, which hinges on an aggressive pan-Nigerian rollout in 12 states and over 40 cities at inception, low priced handset strategy and superior network centered on excellent quality of service, wide coverage and superb call clarity.
He further said that Visafone, which currently has coverage in 22 states and over 170 cities and towns across Nigeria has in its employ over 1000 Nigerians in various capacities.
A press statement from his office promised that Visafone would continue its aggressive growth across the nation to cover the 36 states while continuing to empower Nigerians by offering employment to another 3000 Nigerians in the next two to three years.
ITRealms Online recalled that Visafone roll out commercial operations on February 22, 2008 and has in that short space of time garnered over 10 industry awards including Best Telecom Brand and ICT Company of the year to validate its promise to spread the joy of communication across Nigeria by offering Nigerians a passport to reach the world.
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Interconnect rates review: NCC appoints Detecon, PriceWater advisors
Telecommunications regulator in the country, Nigerian Communications Commission (NCC), has appointed two firms, Detecon International and PriceWaterHouseCoopers, as consultants and advisors to the Commission for the review of current interconnection rates among the Nigerian telecom service providers.
Acting Head, Public Affairs at NCC, Mr. Reuben Muoka, told ITRealms Online that the two consulting firms are to conduct cost study as well as international benchmarking studies as a follow up to the one conducted in Nigeria in 2006, which led to the enactment of the existing fixed and mobile termination rates in the country.
He explained that the consultants would be having sessions with the operating companies during the months of March through April 2009, while their reports would be submitted to the Commission before end of April, 2009.
The Commission said that with the growth of the nation’s subscriber base, and changes experienced in the operating environment, it has become necessary to review the interconnect rates so as to be in tune with current realities.
Commenting on the development, the Chief Executive Officer and Executive Vice Chairman of the NCC, Dr. Ernest Ndukwe said they were happy for the emergence of the two internationally reputed firms.
“We are happy that the two well respected international firms are involved in the study and we expect the operating companies to give the consultants full cooperation,” he said, soliciting the support of operators.
Interconnect rates are the rates which service providers pay to each other for terminating calls on their fixed or mobile networks.
This is one of the steps by NCC to enshrine its independence drawn as the national regulatory authority for the telecommunications industry in Nigeria.
The Commission is responsible for creating an enabling environment for competition among operators in the industry as well as ensuring the provision of qualitative and efficient telecommunications services throughout the country.
The mission of NCC, he further said, is to support a market driven telecommunications industry and promote universal access.
Meanwhile, a one-day Information and Communication Technologies (ICT) stakeholders forum recently held at Abuja, ended with participants affirming that the sector in Nigeria has advantage over the current recession.
A communiqué issued at the end of the session concluded that the Nigerian telecom industry would not be a casualty to the global economic recession as so long as operators continue to expand their services and creatively providing the Nigerian public with the quality and innovative services that would meet their demands.
Experts who spoke at the forum, noted that this is because the recession is not likely to affect the demand for people to make calls, but rather people would prefer to make more calls than travel.
It was a consensus at the forum hosted by the Nigerian Communications Commission (NCC), with chief executives of the key operating companies and economic experts in attendance, that the sector would indeed provide a lever upon which other sectors of the economy could hold-on to mitigate the impact of the economic meltdown.
But the emphasis was that government must keep an eye on industry because of its potentials to improve the national Gross Domestic Product (GDP), in a nation where the telecom revolution had energized the economy in the past seven years.
There were also submissions from the operators regarding what the government and the regulator would need to do to ensure that the sector is not affected. In effect, even if the recession affects the industry, it is not because the stakeholders were unable to foresee the situation.
Speaking at the forum on his return from the recently held Mob0ile World Congress in Barcelona, Spain, the Executive Vice Chairman (EVC), NCC, Dr. Ernest Ndukwe, said that the Commission is being proactive by examining the impact or otherwise of the on-going recession.
“What we are trying to do is to be proactive and look at possible actions that will help mitigate this recession in the other sectors of the economy rather than wait and take no action,” he said.
The Abuja forum further accept the fact that the telecom industry is very vital to the Nigerian economy, government must continue to closely monitor the industry, while the operators must not slow down on the investments required to meet the expanding demands of the Nigerian ICT industry.
Reiterating the need to attend to the provisioning of policy and regulatory challenges and needs for the industry, Ndukwe pointed out that it not a surprise that Nigeria is currently feeling the effects of this global crunch as the global oil and gas sectors have been severely hit and as a result, the Federal Government revenue earnings have sharply declined as the oil and gas sector, as we all know, remains the largest revenue source for the nation and that decline in government revenue and tax receipts will no doubt result in ripple effects on various sectors of the economy.
“The ICT sector by its nature is critical to development of any modern nation. I wish to stress that in this period of global crisis, the continued success of the Nigerian ICT industry is critical to the nation’s ability to ameliorate the effect of the global economic crisis on Nigeria. Not surprising, there have been concerns voiced within Nigeria, on the impact that the global economic downturn is having or will have, on the continued expansion and growth of the ICT industry in Nigeria,” he said.
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Acting Head, Public Affairs at NCC, Mr. Reuben Muoka, told ITRealms Online that the two consulting firms are to conduct cost study as well as international benchmarking studies as a follow up to the one conducted in Nigeria in 2006, which led to the enactment of the existing fixed and mobile termination rates in the country.
He explained that the consultants would be having sessions with the operating companies during the months of March through April 2009, while their reports would be submitted to the Commission before end of April, 2009.
The Commission said that with the growth of the nation’s subscriber base, and changes experienced in the operating environment, it has become necessary to review the interconnect rates so as to be in tune with current realities.
Commenting on the development, the Chief Executive Officer and Executive Vice Chairman of the NCC, Dr. Ernest Ndukwe said they were happy for the emergence of the two internationally reputed firms.
“We are happy that the two well respected international firms are involved in the study and we expect the operating companies to give the consultants full cooperation,” he said, soliciting the support of operators.
Interconnect rates are the rates which service providers pay to each other for terminating calls on their fixed or mobile networks.
This is one of the steps by NCC to enshrine its independence drawn as the national regulatory authority for the telecommunications industry in Nigeria.
The Commission is responsible for creating an enabling environment for competition among operators in the industry as well as ensuring the provision of qualitative and efficient telecommunications services throughout the country.
The mission of NCC, he further said, is to support a market driven telecommunications industry and promote universal access.
Meanwhile, a one-day Information and Communication Technologies (ICT) stakeholders forum recently held at Abuja, ended with participants affirming that the sector in Nigeria has advantage over the current recession.
A communiqué issued at the end of the session concluded that the Nigerian telecom industry would not be a casualty to the global economic recession as so long as operators continue to expand their services and creatively providing the Nigerian public with the quality and innovative services that would meet their demands.
Experts who spoke at the forum, noted that this is because the recession is not likely to affect the demand for people to make calls, but rather people would prefer to make more calls than travel.
It was a consensus at the forum hosted by the Nigerian Communications Commission (NCC), with chief executives of the key operating companies and economic experts in attendance, that the sector would indeed provide a lever upon which other sectors of the economy could hold-on to mitigate the impact of the economic meltdown.
But the emphasis was that government must keep an eye on industry because of its potentials to improve the national Gross Domestic Product (GDP), in a nation where the telecom revolution had energized the economy in the past seven years.
There were also submissions from the operators regarding what the government and the regulator would need to do to ensure that the sector is not affected. In effect, even if the recession affects the industry, it is not because the stakeholders were unable to foresee the situation.
Speaking at the forum on his return from the recently held Mob0ile World Congress in Barcelona, Spain, the Executive Vice Chairman (EVC), NCC, Dr. Ernest Ndukwe, said that the Commission is being proactive by examining the impact or otherwise of the on-going recession.
“What we are trying to do is to be proactive and look at possible actions that will help mitigate this recession in the other sectors of the economy rather than wait and take no action,” he said.
The Abuja forum further accept the fact that the telecom industry is very vital to the Nigerian economy, government must continue to closely monitor the industry, while the operators must not slow down on the investments required to meet the expanding demands of the Nigerian ICT industry.
Reiterating the need to attend to the provisioning of policy and regulatory challenges and needs for the industry, Ndukwe pointed out that it not a surprise that Nigeria is currently feeling the effects of this global crunch as the global oil and gas sectors have been severely hit and as a result, the Federal Government revenue earnings have sharply declined as the oil and gas sector, as we all know, remains the largest revenue source for the nation and that decline in government revenue and tax receipts will no doubt result in ripple effects on various sectors of the economy.
“The ICT sector by its nature is critical to development of any modern nation. I wish to stress that in this period of global crisis, the continued success of the Nigerian ICT industry is critical to the nation’s ability to ameliorate the effect of the global economic crisis on Nigeria. Not surprising, there have been concerns voiced within Nigeria, on the impact that the global economic downturn is having or will have, on the continued expansion and growth of the ICT industry in Nigeria,” he said.
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Sulaiman leads speakers @ New Horizons seminar
Renowned management consultant and Chairman Accenture Nigeria, Mr. Adedotun Sulaiman, is to lead speakers to a one-day Information Technology (IT) inclined seminar on the ravaging economic meltdown.
The seminar which holds in Abuja tomorrow is being organized by New Horizons Systems Solutions Limited.
Chief executive of New Horizons, Mr. Tim Akano disclosed this in a press statement endorsed by the media relations officer, Mr. Yemi Sokoya and made available to ITRealms Online.
Akano said that the decision to take the bold initiative of sensitizing the public and private sectors of the economy was to avail Nigerian on what could be done to thrive in such turbulent times by through an IT-driven seminar.
“Specifically designed to address the current adverse economic realities affecting the nation and most parts of the world,” he said.
According to him, the planned IT seminar to be held at the Abuja centre of New Horizons located on the ground floor, Amma House, Central Area, opposite National Hospital, would dwell on “Leveraging on ICT in a recessed economy”.
He said this has become imperative because ‘recession’ is a topical issue that is shaking world economies to their foundation going by the number of job lay-offs, sharp drop in market share indices to mention a few effects of the crisis.
Akano pointed out that Sulaiman would share his 40 year-experiences with participants on how they could leverage on technology to thrive in the present chaos, while dwelling on “Effective e-government, e-service in a Recessed Economy.”
Sokoya in the press statement said that other speakers would deliver cutting edge Information Technology, Best business practices and innovative ideas at the seminar include Ken Spann of Microsoft, West Africa, Julius Ayuk Tabe of Cisco West & Central Africa and Tim Akano, Managing Director of New Horizons and chief host.
Emphasizing that the global economic hardship as reflected in reports coming from most economies like United States, United Kingdom, other European nations and Africa showed strong indication of poor business performance leading to job cuts and outright business fold-up are very depressing.
The World Bank in its report just released in Washington USA, stressed that the global economy and international trade will shrink in 2009, the first time since World War II. In the circumstance, CNN surveys say that 50 million jobs will go this year, corroborating the assertions of the World Bank.
The situation is not too different in Africa and particularly Nigeria. The impact of the meltdown has reflected in the proposed budget deficit of N836 billion with other antecedent problems.
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The seminar which holds in Abuja tomorrow is being organized by New Horizons Systems Solutions Limited.
Chief executive of New Horizons, Mr. Tim Akano disclosed this in a press statement endorsed by the media relations officer, Mr. Yemi Sokoya and made available to ITRealms Online.
Akano said that the decision to take the bold initiative of sensitizing the public and private sectors of the economy was to avail Nigerian on what could be done to thrive in such turbulent times by through an IT-driven seminar.
“Specifically designed to address the current adverse economic realities affecting the nation and most parts of the world,” he said.
According to him, the planned IT seminar to be held at the Abuja centre of New Horizons located on the ground floor, Amma House, Central Area, opposite National Hospital, would dwell on “Leveraging on ICT in a recessed economy”.
He said this has become imperative because ‘recession’ is a topical issue that is shaking world economies to their foundation going by the number of job lay-offs, sharp drop in market share indices to mention a few effects of the crisis.
Akano pointed out that Sulaiman would share his 40 year-experiences with participants on how they could leverage on technology to thrive in the present chaos, while dwelling on “Effective e-government, e-service in a Recessed Economy.”
Sokoya in the press statement said that other speakers would deliver cutting edge Information Technology, Best business practices and innovative ideas at the seminar include Ken Spann of Microsoft, West Africa, Julius Ayuk Tabe of Cisco West & Central Africa and Tim Akano, Managing Director of New Horizons and chief host.
Emphasizing that the global economic hardship as reflected in reports coming from most economies like United States, United Kingdom, other European nations and Africa showed strong indication of poor business performance leading to job cuts and outright business fold-up are very depressing.
The World Bank in its report just released in Washington USA, stressed that the global economy and international trade will shrink in 2009, the first time since World War II. In the circumstance, CNN surveys say that 50 million jobs will go this year, corroborating the assertions of the World Bank.
The situation is not too different in Africa and particularly Nigeria. The impact of the meltdown has reflected in the proposed budget deficit of N836 billion with other antecedent problems.
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eFrontier Technologies makes debut
eFrontier Technologies Limited, a registered indigenous technology company that focuses on software development and business automation, systems integration and project management has made its debut into the industry.
According to the Managing Director, Dr. Lylods Atanbasi the new outfit has the vision of dominating the market through continuous innovation and offering of customer centric product and services in the African IT business space.
“We seek to establish ourselves as a highly respectable, competitive and dynamic technology company that provides superior customer service, utilizes modern cutting-edge technology and provides solutions to the diverse and complex technology needs of our customer,” he said.
He also said its solutions target notable sectors such as financial institutions, education, commerce, entertainment, transportation, energy, telecommunications, manufacturing and the public sector.
Dr. Atanbasi further said his firm’s services would extend to eTicketing, eCommerce, mCommerce, document/content management system, hospital management system, enterprise resource planning (ERP), customer relationship management (CRM), business automation/workflow management system as well as provide portals that offer a platform for businesses to provide a consistent look and feel, and present information from diverse sources in a unified way.
He explained that the portals are beneficial to various industries such as education, hospitality, aviation, transportation, manufacturing and the public sector among others.
“Our e-Ticketing solutions create a paperless electronic environment for the relevant industries which reduces cost of operation, improves convenience, reduces ticket process charges and allows greater flexibility to both client and subscribers,” he said.
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According to the Managing Director, Dr. Lylods Atanbasi the new outfit has the vision of dominating the market through continuous innovation and offering of customer centric product and services in the African IT business space.
“We seek to establish ourselves as a highly respectable, competitive and dynamic technology company that provides superior customer service, utilizes modern cutting-edge technology and provides solutions to the diverse and complex technology needs of our customer,” he said.
He also said its solutions target notable sectors such as financial institutions, education, commerce, entertainment, transportation, energy, telecommunications, manufacturing and the public sector.
Dr. Atanbasi further said his firm’s services would extend to eTicketing, eCommerce, mCommerce, document/content management system, hospital management system, enterprise resource planning (ERP), customer relationship management (CRM), business automation/workflow management system as well as provide portals that offer a platform for businesses to provide a consistent look and feel, and present information from diverse sources in a unified way.
He explained that the portals are beneficial to various industries such as education, hospitality, aviation, transportation, manufacturing and the public sector among others.
“Our e-Ticketing solutions create a paperless electronic environment for the relevant industries which reduces cost of operation, improves convenience, reduces ticket process charges and allows greater flexibility to both client and subscribers,” he said.
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Zinox, inventive computer firm - CNP boss
Chief executive officer of Computerize Nigeria Project (CNP), Mrs. Vivian Abii, has described avalanche of schemes by Zinox Technologies as innovative.
Abii who spoke in Lagos, said that she is yet to see any company more inventive and creative in the number schemes to drive Information Technology (IT) penetration in the country, especially within the educational institutions.
“Marketing portfolio from Zinox is full to the brim and there is always something for every need,” she said.
Mrs. Abii cited an example by naming some of these schemes to include Zinox corporate, Model Digital Centre, Staff Computer Acquisition, Digital Lab, Zinox
Students Computer Ownership Project (ZSCOP) to name a few.
She explained that for instance that Zinox Corporate, facilitates the supply of high-end personal computers (PC) for the day-to-day running of the institutions.
On the Model Digital Centre Scheme, she is said, Zinox has used this platform to build an IT centre for educational institution, equip it and hand over to the concerned school, noting that as for the Staff Computer Acquisition scheme, Zinox offers discounts and flexible payment plans through that channel enable teachers and lecturers to own computers.
The Digital Lab scheme, she said, often avails Zinox to donate furniture and other infrastructure to motivate selected institutions to expose their students to computers, even as the Zinox Students Computer Ownership Project affords is seen as a generous platform that affords students to take possession of the computer after paying just 10 per cent of the price.
Beyond these, Mrs. Abii pointed out that Zinox deploys thousands of systems to educational institutions sponsored by corporate persons who believe in the vision and service quality of Zinox Computers.
“Prominent among these include the Universal Service Providers Fund (USPF), who have donated digital centres, complete with internet, to tertiary institutions in the six geo-political zones in Nigeria. SNEPCO has also donated digital centres to secondary schools in the Niger Delta using Zinox laptops and desktops,” she asserted.
Other schools where Zinox laptops have been deployed lately include university of Calabar, University of Benin, Anambra State, University, Uli, Federal University of Technology, Owerri, Federal Government College, Odogbolu, Federal Polytechnic, Bida, to mention a few.
ITRealms Online recalls that Zinox is computerizing all Federal universities in partnership with the Federal Ministry of Education and the National Universities Commission (NUC).
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Abii who spoke in Lagos, said that she is yet to see any company more inventive and creative in the number schemes to drive Information Technology (IT) penetration in the country, especially within the educational institutions.
“Marketing portfolio from Zinox is full to the brim and there is always something for every need,” she said.
Mrs. Abii cited an example by naming some of these schemes to include Zinox corporate, Model Digital Centre, Staff Computer Acquisition, Digital Lab, Zinox
Students Computer Ownership Project (ZSCOP) to name a few.
She explained that for instance that Zinox Corporate, facilitates the supply of high-end personal computers (PC) for the day-to-day running of the institutions.
On the Model Digital Centre Scheme, she is said, Zinox has used this platform to build an IT centre for educational institution, equip it and hand over to the concerned school, noting that as for the Staff Computer Acquisition scheme, Zinox offers discounts and flexible payment plans through that channel enable teachers and lecturers to own computers.
The Digital Lab scheme, she said, often avails Zinox to donate furniture and other infrastructure to motivate selected institutions to expose their students to computers, even as the Zinox Students Computer Ownership Project affords is seen as a generous platform that affords students to take possession of the computer after paying just 10 per cent of the price.
Beyond these, Mrs. Abii pointed out that Zinox deploys thousands of systems to educational institutions sponsored by corporate persons who believe in the vision and service quality of Zinox Computers.
“Prominent among these include the Universal Service Providers Fund (USPF), who have donated digital centres, complete with internet, to tertiary institutions in the six geo-political zones in Nigeria. SNEPCO has also donated digital centres to secondary schools in the Niger Delta using Zinox laptops and desktops,” she asserted.
Other schools where Zinox laptops have been deployed lately include university of Calabar, University of Benin, Anambra State, University, Uli, Federal University of Technology, Owerri, Federal Government College, Odogbolu, Federal Polytechnic, Bida, to mention a few.
ITRealms Online recalls that Zinox is computerizing all Federal universities in partnership with the Federal Ministry of Education and the National Universities Commission (NUC).
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Berners-Lee warns against Internet snooping
The inventor of the World Wide Web (www), Sir Tim Berners-Lee, has disagreed with the proponents of introducing technique that would enable snooping of traffic on the internet among communications networks.
Snooping, according to security experts, is unauthorized access to another person’s or company’s data.
ZDNet reports that Sir Berners-Lee advocated against internet spoofing while speaking at a House of Lords event on the 20th anniversary of the invention of the World Wide Web, Berners-Lee, noting that deep packet inspection was the electronic equivalent of opening people’s mail.
“This is very important to me, as what is at stake is the integrity of the internet as a communications medium,” Berners-Lee said, stressing that precisely, Internet enthusiasts globally should shun any form of interference with the internet.
“…We must not snoop on the internet. If we snoop on clicks and data, we can find out a lot more information about people than if we listen to their conversations,” he said.
ITRealms Online recalls that deep packet inspection involves examining both the data and the header of an information packet as it passes a ‘black box’ on a network, in order to reveal the content of the communication. Targeted advertising services, such as Phorm in the UK, use deep packet inspection to monitor anonymised user behaviour and to target adverts at those users.
In addition, UK government initiatives such as the Intercept Modernisation Programme have proposed using deep packet inspection to perform mass surveillance of the web communications of the entire UK population.
United Kingdom-based ZDNet at the event, Berners-Lee declined to comment about any particular company or government initiative, but said that internet service providers (ISPs) should not perform deep packet inspection.
“If [third parties] are using the data for political ends or commercial interest, there we have to draw the line. There’s a gap between running a successful internet service and looking inside data packets,” he said.
Experts further advised that any Internet user needs to be wary of DPI, its uses and potential misuses.
Berners-Lee expressed concern that the UK government had taken no action over deep packet inspection, in contrast to the US government’s response to the use of deep packet inspection by targeted advertising company NebuAd.
Last autumn, the US Congress decided to review privacy concerns around the start-up, after which the company’s chief executive, Bob Dykes, stepped down.
“I’m embarrassed, as a UK citizen and as a US resident, that the US has drawn a line firmly against deep packet inspection and this country hasn’t,” Berners-Lee said.
Nicholas Bohm, the general counsel for the Foundation for Information Policy Research (FIPR), said the UK government may not have taken any action over deep packet inspection as it was in the process of developing the Intercept Modernisation Programme itself.
“The government’s desire to know all about us may be hampering its doing anything about others who are snooping,” he said.
Kent Ertugral, the chief executive of Phorm, said his company had ensured that privacy principles are adhered to by anonymising the data it collects, while at the same time giving websites the ability to fine-hone their advertising. “We have created something that reconciles the need for privacy, but also for commerce,” said Ertugral.
Prominent cross-bench peer Lord Erroll said deep packet inspection to target adverts did not concern him as much as the UK government’s plans.
“The Intercept Modernisation Programme worries me hugely more than [targeted advertising],” said Erroll. “The impact of an incorrect interpretation of communications by government means anyone could end up in jail, or worse. It’s hugely dangerous.”
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Snooping, according to security experts, is unauthorized access to another person’s or company’s data.
ZDNet reports that Sir Berners-Lee advocated against internet spoofing while speaking at a House of Lords event on the 20th anniversary of the invention of the World Wide Web, Berners-Lee, noting that deep packet inspection was the electronic equivalent of opening people’s mail.
“This is very important to me, as what is at stake is the integrity of the internet as a communications medium,” Berners-Lee said, stressing that precisely, Internet enthusiasts globally should shun any form of interference with the internet.
“…We must not snoop on the internet. If we snoop on clicks and data, we can find out a lot more information about people than if we listen to their conversations,” he said.
ITRealms Online recalls that deep packet inspection involves examining both the data and the header of an information packet as it passes a ‘black box’ on a network, in order to reveal the content of the communication. Targeted advertising services, such as Phorm in the UK, use deep packet inspection to monitor anonymised user behaviour and to target adverts at those users.
In addition, UK government initiatives such as the Intercept Modernisation Programme have proposed using deep packet inspection to perform mass surveillance of the web communications of the entire UK population.
United Kingdom-based ZDNet at the event, Berners-Lee declined to comment about any particular company or government initiative, but said that internet service providers (ISPs) should not perform deep packet inspection.
“If [third parties] are using the data for political ends or commercial interest, there we have to draw the line. There’s a gap between running a successful internet service and looking inside data packets,” he said.
Experts further advised that any Internet user needs to be wary of DPI, its uses and potential misuses.
Berners-Lee expressed concern that the UK government had taken no action over deep packet inspection, in contrast to the US government’s response to the use of deep packet inspection by targeted advertising company NebuAd.
Last autumn, the US Congress decided to review privacy concerns around the start-up, after which the company’s chief executive, Bob Dykes, stepped down.
“I’m embarrassed, as a UK citizen and as a US resident, that the US has drawn a line firmly against deep packet inspection and this country hasn’t,” Berners-Lee said.
Nicholas Bohm, the general counsel for the Foundation for Information Policy Research (FIPR), said the UK government may not have taken any action over deep packet inspection as it was in the process of developing the Intercept Modernisation Programme itself.
“The government’s desire to know all about us may be hampering its doing anything about others who are snooping,” he said.
Kent Ertugral, the chief executive of Phorm, said his company had ensured that privacy principles are adhered to by anonymising the data it collects, while at the same time giving websites the ability to fine-hone their advertising. “We have created something that reconciles the need for privacy, but also for commerce,” said Ertugral.
Prominent cross-bench peer Lord Erroll said deep packet inspection to target adverts did not concern him as much as the UK government’s plans.
“The Intercept Modernisation Programme worries me hugely more than [targeted advertising],” said Erroll. “The impact of an incorrect interpretation of communications by government means anyone could end up in jail, or worse. It’s hugely dangerous.”
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Monday, March 16, 2009
‘Protecting the consumer’ roundtable to hold in Lagos
Arrangements have been concluded for the hosting of a one-day Stakeholders’ Forum, which this year would centre on ‘Protecting the Consumer’ in the city of Lagos.
The forum, initiated by IT & Telecom Digest magazine in 2006 in close collaboration with Nigerian Communications Commission (NCC), is a roundtable for stakeholders in affirmation of the regulator’s disposition to protecting telecommunications consumer.
According to sources from the organizers, the NCC event would bring together under one roof, operators, equipment manufacturers, government officials, consumers and other interested parties, essentially to find ways to better protect the consumer in the emerging convergence in the industry.
The fourth in the series, the organizers also said that Stakeholders’ Forum, is scheduled to take place on Tuesday, March 24, at the Golden Gate Restaurant in Ikoyi, Lagos, with theme: “Protecting the Consumer in an era of ICT Convergence.”
“It is expected to attract the key industry players, companies and individuals in the support industry like power, software, equipment suppliers, as well as the academia and consumer advocacy groups, among others,” Mr. Mkpe Abang who endorsed a press statement to that effect.
Abang, who is the editor of IT & Telecom Digest magazine, noted that the forum is coming at a time when the industry is under pressure from the global economic meltdown, as this year edition is to proffer solutions to problems in the ICT sector.
“The outcome will be used keenly by the Consumer Affairs Bureau (CAB) of the NCC as a medium of reaching out to operators and the various businesses that have developed around the increasingly successful ICT industry in Nigeria,” he said.
Stressing that with a view to getting them all serve the consumers best in an atmosphere free of rancour in the emerging global village being further brought about by convergence in the ICT industry.
While most operators around the world are contending with the biting crunch of the economic downturn, the NCC has severally assured that the Nigerian industry is separated by the government’s continued protection of the consuming public through deliberate policies.
He pointed out that these people oriented government policies formed part of the regulator’s mandate in the last eight years.
“The NCC has introduced innovative consumer protection programmes, which have served as an interface between them (consumers) and operators such as the Consumer Parliament,” he declared.
Therefore, Abang lauded the idea of discussing the place of the consumer in the growing convergence of the ICT industry in Nigeria and by extension the rest of the world, saying its appropriate and in direct consonance with the government set objective.
Abang further described the NCC choice of subject as the most apt and timely, especially at a time like this when the world is in a turmoil over the economic indices that continue to plummet. “For the Nigerian consumers, they should count themselves lucky given the kind regulator that the NCC is and indeed, the other government agencies that recognises their roles at a time like this,” he asserted.
Speakers expected at the Forum would be drawn from operators, equipment suppliers, alternative services providers like the power sector, computer, Internet Services Providers and some concerned consumers of these services.
“They are expected to deliberate and seek for ways of improving the growth that the industry has already experienced,” he concluded.
ITREALMS Online ... delivering news for ICT4D
The forum, initiated by IT & Telecom Digest magazine in 2006 in close collaboration with Nigerian Communications Commission (NCC), is a roundtable for stakeholders in affirmation of the regulator’s disposition to protecting telecommunications consumer.
According to sources from the organizers, the NCC event would bring together under one roof, operators, equipment manufacturers, government officials, consumers and other interested parties, essentially to find ways to better protect the consumer in the emerging convergence in the industry.
The fourth in the series, the organizers also said that Stakeholders’ Forum, is scheduled to take place on Tuesday, March 24, at the Golden Gate Restaurant in Ikoyi, Lagos, with theme: “Protecting the Consumer in an era of ICT Convergence.”
“It is expected to attract the key industry players, companies and individuals in the support industry like power, software, equipment suppliers, as well as the academia and consumer advocacy groups, among others,” Mr. Mkpe Abang who endorsed a press statement to that effect.
Abang, who is the editor of IT & Telecom Digest magazine, noted that the forum is coming at a time when the industry is under pressure from the global economic meltdown, as this year edition is to proffer solutions to problems in the ICT sector.
“The outcome will be used keenly by the Consumer Affairs Bureau (CAB) of the NCC as a medium of reaching out to operators and the various businesses that have developed around the increasingly successful ICT industry in Nigeria,” he said.
Stressing that with a view to getting them all serve the consumers best in an atmosphere free of rancour in the emerging global village being further brought about by convergence in the ICT industry.
While most operators around the world are contending with the biting crunch of the economic downturn, the NCC has severally assured that the Nigerian industry is separated by the government’s continued protection of the consuming public through deliberate policies.
He pointed out that these people oriented government policies formed part of the regulator’s mandate in the last eight years.
“The NCC has introduced innovative consumer protection programmes, which have served as an interface between them (consumers) and operators such as the Consumer Parliament,” he declared.
Therefore, Abang lauded the idea of discussing the place of the consumer in the growing convergence of the ICT industry in Nigeria and by extension the rest of the world, saying its appropriate and in direct consonance with the government set objective.
Abang further described the NCC choice of subject as the most apt and timely, especially at a time like this when the world is in a turmoil over the economic indices that continue to plummet. “For the Nigerian consumers, they should count themselves lucky given the kind regulator that the NCC is and indeed, the other government agencies that recognises their roles at a time like this,” he asserted.
Speakers expected at the Forum would be drawn from operators, equipment suppliers, alternative services providers like the power sector, computer, Internet Services Providers and some concerned consumers of these services.
“They are expected to deliberate and seek for ways of improving the growth that the industry has already experienced,” he concluded.
ITREALMS Online ... delivering news for ICT4D
MTN raises alarm over fraudulent promos
Leading Global System for Mobile communications (GSM), MTN Nigeria Communications Limited, has raised an alarm over the usage of its name and trade marks for fraudulent promotions in the country, saying it does not use Short Messaging Services (SMS) to call up winners.
Disclosing this in a media briefing in Lagos, the chief marketing officer (CMO), MTN Nigeria, Mr. Bola Akingbade, accompanied by the Corporate Services Executive, Mr. Wale Goodluck, among others, warned that Nigerian subscribers on the network to be wary of fraudulent promotions being perpetuated by a few Nigerians, insisting that
MTN does not have any promo tagged ‘Yello Hunt.’
MTN, Akingbade also said concluded its successful Treasure Hunt last February and subscribers need to be cautioned because the operator has never used SMS to notify any winner in its promo, but maintained that any campaign by MTN is carried out to compensate loyal customers and prizes presented publicly.
Hence, the telco has no reason whatsoever to demand sending of recharge cards for winners to redeem their prizes.
“Nigerians must be wary of what scammers are doing. MTN runs promos to reward customers and when people win, we call them and not via text messages,” he declared.
Akingbade equally warned subscribers to disregard any such SMS even if the scammers use his name or the names of any of MTN’s management staff as the sender.
“It does not mean it’s from us and we (MTN) don’t require you (subscriber) to bring this and that before claiming your prize in any of our promos,” he cautioned.
Akingbade explained that the moment a winner emerge in any of the promos and such a person can show proof of ownership, “we will give you your prize.”
Also speaking, the Corporate Services Executive, Mr. Wale Goodluck warned Nigerians, especially those on MTN network not to divulge any of their details to anybody for the sake of releasing their promo prizes.
“Don’t give out any details, be it an account number, Personal Identification Number (PIN) or any other personal details, because MTN does not need such information to redeem your prizes,” he advised.
Citing an instance, that even the MTN Treasure Hunt that ended last month, some Nigerians are still receiving SMS on that, insisting that MTN has no new promo called ‘Yello Hunt’ as being insinuated by fraudsters.
According to Goodluck, in recent times, MTN Nigeria has been mindful of couple of scams and noted that it’s very necessary to warn Nigerians of this ugly development.
Stressing that technology is a good omen, but a few faceless Nigerians are deploying it negatively, which does not help in the drive to rebrand Nigeria as a country.
MTN Customer Care line, 180, he said, has even been cloned and could be used by these fraudsters to send messages that negate the purposes of technological development, which Nigerians are in dare need of.
Goodluck further decried a situation that has given rise to duplication of the operator’s real website.
“The best thing to do when you receive these fraudulent messages is to simply ignore them and delete. Never you reply them,” he advised.
In her comment, General Manager, Corporate Services, Mrs. Funmi Omogbenigun, reiterated that winners in any MTN promos are published in national dailies and MTN official website.
She counseled anybody in doubt to make good to contact any of the MTN friendship centres nationwide.
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Disclosing this in a media briefing in Lagos, the chief marketing officer (CMO), MTN Nigeria, Mr. Bola Akingbade, accompanied by the Corporate Services Executive, Mr. Wale Goodluck, among others, warned that Nigerian subscribers on the network to be wary of fraudulent promotions being perpetuated by a few Nigerians, insisting that
MTN does not have any promo tagged ‘Yello Hunt.’
MTN, Akingbade also said concluded its successful Treasure Hunt last February and subscribers need to be cautioned because the operator has never used SMS to notify any winner in its promo, but maintained that any campaign by MTN is carried out to compensate loyal customers and prizes presented publicly.
Hence, the telco has no reason whatsoever to demand sending of recharge cards for winners to redeem their prizes.
“Nigerians must be wary of what scammers are doing. MTN runs promos to reward customers and when people win, we call them and not via text messages,” he declared.
Akingbade equally warned subscribers to disregard any such SMS even if the scammers use his name or the names of any of MTN’s management staff as the sender.
“It does not mean it’s from us and we (MTN) don’t require you (subscriber) to bring this and that before claiming your prize in any of our promos,” he cautioned.
Akingbade explained that the moment a winner emerge in any of the promos and such a person can show proof of ownership, “we will give you your prize.”
Also speaking, the Corporate Services Executive, Mr. Wale Goodluck warned Nigerians, especially those on MTN network not to divulge any of their details to anybody for the sake of releasing their promo prizes.
“Don’t give out any details, be it an account number, Personal Identification Number (PIN) or any other personal details, because MTN does not need such information to redeem your prizes,” he advised.
Citing an instance, that even the MTN Treasure Hunt that ended last month, some Nigerians are still receiving SMS on that, insisting that MTN has no new promo called ‘Yello Hunt’ as being insinuated by fraudsters.
According to Goodluck, in recent times, MTN Nigeria has been mindful of couple of scams and noted that it’s very necessary to warn Nigerians of this ugly development.
Stressing that technology is a good omen, but a few faceless Nigerians are deploying it negatively, which does not help in the drive to rebrand Nigeria as a country.
MTN Customer Care line, 180, he said, has even been cloned and could be used by these fraudsters to send messages that negate the purposes of technological development, which Nigerians are in dare need of.
Goodluck further decried a situation that has given rise to duplication of the operator’s real website.
“The best thing to do when you receive these fraudulent messages is to simply ignore them and delete. Never you reply them,” he advised.
In her comment, General Manager, Corporate Services, Mrs. Funmi Omogbenigun, reiterated that winners in any MTN promos are published in national dailies and MTN official website.
She counseled anybody in doubt to make good to contact any of the MTN friendship centres nationwide.
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LASIMRA pledges to safeguard telcos facilities
The Lagos State Infrastructure Maintenance and Regulatory Agency (LASIMRA), has pledged to safeguard telecommunications facilities in its environs, especially as road reconstruction advances on Ozumba Mbadiwe and Lekki axis.
General Manager, LASIMRA, Mr. Joe Igbokwe, gave this assurance at a stakeholders’ forum held in Lagos, last week, saying that his agency is keen at ensuring that underground cables and other facilities belonging to telcos, during the ongoing road construction are not damaged, so as not to disrupt service to Lagosians.
Thus, he allayed the fears of telecom operators who had before now suffered series of damages of underground telecom cables caused by contractors handling road construction in Lagos.
Equally speaking at the forum, Managing Director, Lekki Concession Company (LCC), the company handling the aforementioned axis, Mr. Opuiyo Oforiokuma, apologised to operators whose facilities were inadvertently affected and urged them to cooperate with the company by offering useful suggestions on how best to collaborate in order to part of the efforts by the state government to make a better Lagos mega city.
Participants as the forum resolved that LCC should always circulate its work schedules to operators in advance, in order to make room for the harmonization of the work programmes of both parties involved.
In furtherance to end such conflicts, the forum agreed that trial pits should be deployed at intervals of five meters of new project channels.
A communiqué at the end of the forum, showed that apart from deploying trial pits, the operators advised LASIMRA to ensure that contractors handling road construction projects, like LCC receive proper briefing on the depth of trial pits and pipelines of gas, petrol, and water, before carrying out any construction work at site.
This, they argued, will help contractors avoid using bulldozer in piercing underground pipelines, as was the case of Ijegun pipeline disaster, where lives and properties were lost to an inferno caused by petrol pipeline explosion during road construction last year.
The forum specially addressed the alleged willful damage to telecom cables and facilities along Lekki – Epe axis by LCC during project execution.
The forum was attended by representatives of Lekki Concession Company (LCC), the company handling the Ozumba Mbadiwe-Lekki road, and telecom companies included MTN, Globacom, Zain, among others.
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General Manager, LASIMRA, Mr. Joe Igbokwe, gave this assurance at a stakeholders’ forum held in Lagos, last week, saying that his agency is keen at ensuring that underground cables and other facilities belonging to telcos, during the ongoing road construction are not damaged, so as not to disrupt service to Lagosians.
Thus, he allayed the fears of telecom operators who had before now suffered series of damages of underground telecom cables caused by contractors handling road construction in Lagos.
Equally speaking at the forum, Managing Director, Lekki Concession Company (LCC), the company handling the aforementioned axis, Mr. Opuiyo Oforiokuma, apologised to operators whose facilities were inadvertently affected and urged them to cooperate with the company by offering useful suggestions on how best to collaborate in order to part of the efforts by the state government to make a better Lagos mega city.
Participants as the forum resolved that LCC should always circulate its work schedules to operators in advance, in order to make room for the harmonization of the work programmes of both parties involved.
In furtherance to end such conflicts, the forum agreed that trial pits should be deployed at intervals of five meters of new project channels.
A communiqué at the end of the forum, showed that apart from deploying trial pits, the operators advised LASIMRA to ensure that contractors handling road construction projects, like LCC receive proper briefing on the depth of trial pits and pipelines of gas, petrol, and water, before carrying out any construction work at site.
This, they argued, will help contractors avoid using bulldozer in piercing underground pipelines, as was the case of Ijegun pipeline disaster, where lives and properties were lost to an inferno caused by petrol pipeline explosion during road construction last year.
The forum specially addressed the alleged willful damage to telecom cables and facilities along Lekki – Epe axis by LCC during project execution.
The forum was attended by representatives of Lekki Concession Company (LCC), the company handling the Ozumba Mbadiwe-Lekki road, and telecom companies included MTN, Globacom, Zain, among others.
ITREALMS Online ... delivering news for ICT4D
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