Telecom World ’09: Switzerland snubs ITU over visa

Plans by the Nigerian Information and Communication Technology (ICT) professionals to set the city of Geneva agog as the 2009 edition of the Telecom World forum and exhibition opened on Monday at the Palexpo, Geneva, Switzerland, may have suffered a set back as many of them were denied entry visas for the event.

Indications also emerged that Switzerland embassy in Nigeria may have snubbed the Secretary General of the International Telecommunication Union (ITU), Dr. Hamadoun Toure by denying some Nigerians entry visa to attend the 2009 ITU organized Telecom World, despite his intervention.

This is coming as some of the intending participants to the ICT show, and who were denied visas have Note Verbale; an instrument of engagement between embassies, usually issued by Ministry of Foreign Affairs on behalf of the government of the resident state to an ambassador within a given country.

International relations experts defined a note verbale as “an unsigned diplomatic note written in the third person, of the nature of a memorandum but sometimes considered to be more formal. It is also known as Third Party Note and Third Person Note, with the abbreviation (TPN).”

However, some Nigerian ICT professionals, numbering over 20 may have lost out in their bids to be part of the groove at the 2009 edition of the Telecom World forum and exhibition, due to visa denial by Switzerland embassy to facilitate their participation.

ITRealms Online investigations gathered that even the intervention of the office of the ITU Secretary General, who is the chief regulator of ICT sector globally under the United Nations’ classification and chief host of the Telecom World, could not save the situation.

In addition, it was gathered that the consular officer, ‘whiteman - Christ’ had insisted that even interventions by officials of the Nigerian Communications Commission (NCC), which is the coordinating agency for the event in the country could not pacify his position, as he rebuffed every entreaty.

ITRealms Online learnt that a note verbale was obtained last week and sent to the Switzerland embassy situated at Adetokumbo Ademola Crescent, Wuse 2 at the Federal Capital Territory (FCT), Abuja, where some Nigerians took ‘refuge’ in order to meet up with the time for registration every working day, Monday through Thursday for submission of applications without success.

Equally, even those who reportedly were at the embassy as early as 7am, even though the official opening time is 9am, still have their names missing when the official list came out.

However, the Nigerian ICT community had planned to storm the city of Geneva for the 2009 edition of the Telecom World forum and exhibition, which opened on Monday at the Palexpo, Geneva, Switzerland.

A sizeable number of ICT professionals had arranged to be at this year’s edition given the plans by NCC to have a Nigerian pavilion strategically located and adorned in the national colours of green-white-green.

Nigeria’s delegate to the International Telecommunication Union (ITU) organized show is being led by the Minister of Information and Communications, Prof. Dora Akunyili and the chief executive officer of the Nigerian Communications Commission (NCC), Dr. Ernest Ndukwe, while key top industry professionals from both public and private sector form part of the delegation.

The ITU Telecom World 2009 with the theme: Open Networks – Connected Minds, would last till Friday, October 9, 2009 and has been identified as an opportunity for the Nigerian government to showcase her achievements in the ICT sector and create multi-national platform for investors to explore immense business opportunities in the ICT sector in Nigeria.

ITRealms Online recalled that while receiving the Secretary General of ITU, Dr. Hamadoun Toure recently in Abuja, Prof. Akunyili had noted that telecom revolution has been successful on Africa continent, mainly because it touches ground with African values for community and staying in touch. So, she was not surprised that Nigeria alone generates over 67 million subscribers via Global System for Mobile communication (GSM) on the continent.

“Our people like to stay in touch. The digital divide is being effectively bridged by telecom” she asserted.

Equally speaking during the visit Dr. Hamadoun Toure noted that Nigeria has been playing a significant role in the global ICT community and the Nigeria Pavilion would be one of the focal points at the Telecom World.

In his message at the opening session on Monday, Toure said, ITU Telecom World, is the leading global ICT showcase that encompasses the full reach of the ICT industry, thus a premier networking platform where top-ranking industry leaders engage in a strategic dialogue with Heads of State, Ministers, policy-makers and international experts to address the role of ICTs in economic recovery and stimulating future investment and growth.

This global leaders’ summit, he said, focuses on the role and positioning of the ICT industry to chart the road ahead, offering a dynamic and truly global cutting edge exhibition that showcases futuristic technologies and applications.

A significant number of national pavilions, are providing the platform for the ICT industry from around the world to participate in ITU Telecom World 2009.

“And the Forum offers an opportunity to Connect Minds by examining the impact of the global economic downturn; its commitment to connect the world, ITU facilitates dialogue in a solutions-oriented environment. Bridging both public and private sectors, key decision-makers actively participate to advance workable solutions and forge far-reaching impact in ICTs,” he said.

In the context of the current economic crisis, Toure said, this world-class event is a must on the calendar of all stakeholders from across the ICT community: industry executives, vendors, operators, manufacturers, service providers, administrations, ministers, regulators, policy advisors, non-governmental organizations (NGOs) and academics.

The thematic underpin of the entire event, ‘Open Networks - Connected Minds’, he said, sets the aspirational ambitions of world 2009, therefore, linking the concepts open and connected convey diversity in approaches to innovation, problem solving, collaboration and cooperation across all stakeholders.

Particularly, Toure also noted that in these times of economic strain and complexity, these notions of openness and connection are more than a reference to technical standards, and focus most importantly on the modes of dialogue that bring peoples of the world together. The theme conveys common purpose, as well as the ability and willingness of stakeholders to listen, share, experiment and learn from the broader community,” he said.

Over 30 Heads of States and governments, in addition to over 70 Ministers and key chief executive officers (CEOs) have begun to explore the future of ICT industry through discourse, interaction and debates at the conference.

As said by the Head, Public Affairs at NCC, Mr. Reuben Muoka, the forum is for stimulation of economic growth, sustainability and development of emerging markets.

“With its focus on development opportunities, the event is ready to bring together corporate social responsibility and cases to promote for best practices,” he said.
The exhibition consists of world’s latest innovations in ICT – including broadband or Internet Protocol (IP)-enabled services, new broadcasting services, mobile and wireless technologies, next-generation networks, computer hardware and software, ICT applications, satellites and spanning the full reach of the ICT industry.

Nigeria awaits the outcome of the conference to reposition its market as the fastest growing ICT hub in the Sub-Saharan Africa.


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Nigeria, 10 others to benefit from World Bank N31.3bn backbone project

Eleven African countries including Nigeria will benefit from the World Bank assisted Central African Backbone Programme (CAB) worth $215 million, about N31.3 billion, under a 10-year initiative.

According to officials of World Bank, Tuesday, Nigeria is eligible to participate in the programme, which included Republic of Congo, Equatorial Guinea, the Democratic Republic of Congo, Gabon, Niger, São Tomé and Principe, and Sudan.

Even as the initial phase covers three countries, namely Cameroon, Chad and Central African Republic (CAR) and is worth $26.2 million (about N3,825,200,000.00).

Press officer, World Bank, Ian Larsen, made this disclosure in a press statement made available to ITRealms Online, Tuesday.

Larsen explained that the programme will support the countries of the Central African region in developing their high-speed telecommunications backbone infrastructure to increase the availability of high-speed Internet and reduce end-user prices.

The CAB programme, official said, will also help countries to harmonize the laws and regulations that govern Information and Communication Technology (ICT) sector to strengthen private sector investment and improve competition.

The CAB programme, World Bank official disclosed is being supported through a partnership between the World Bank Group and the African Development Bank (AfDB).

Also, the programme is aimed at leveraging on an additional US$98 million from the private sector.

In conjunction with the Economic and Monetary Community of Central Africa (CEMAC), the African Union Commission (AUC) is expected to play an important role in facilitating inter-governmental cooperation and policy harmonization.

Additionally, it was gather that the International Finance Corporation (IFC) will assist governments in structuring Public Private Partnerships under the programme.

ITRealms Online recalled that Information and Communications for Development 2009: Extending Reach and Increasing Impact, the World Bank had found that for every 10 percentage-point increase in high speed Internet connections there is an increase in economic growth of 1.3 percentage.

Director, Global Information and Communications Technologies at the World Bank Group, Mohsen Khalil, noted that report also identified mobile platform as the single most powerful way to reach and deliver public and private services to hundreds of millions of people in remote and rural areas across the developing world.

“Ultimately, our goal is to develop regional and national broadband backbones and significantly reduce the cost of ICT services in Central Africa. Through better and affordable connectivity, the aim is to leverage the transformational powers of ICTs to support economic growth, SME development, employment creation, productivity gains and trade integration in the region,” he said.

Khalil was quoted as saying that addition to infrastructure development, the CAB programme will strengthen the capacity of public institutions such as the sectoral ministries and regulatory authorities and will promote a competition-friendly environment by liberalizing the sector and restructuring telecommunications operators.

Further, the programme, he said, is meant to be a model of regional integration and successful public-private partnerships.

“Its design and implementation require the cooperation of several countries and international and regional organizations. Design goals will be to maximize the use of private financing or minimize the use of public financing ensure feasibility and attractiveness of the transaction, and secure open access to regional connectivity infrastructure and ensure competitive, reasonable tariff of international, regional and national capacity,” he outlined.

For the Acting Director for Regional Integration in Africa at the World Bank, Mr. Rick Scobey this programme is a great example of the World Bank’s increasing emphasis on regional infrastructure as part of Africa’s development.

The World Bank Group and African Development Bank (AfDB), in partnership, are committing significant resources and are making in helping to achieve the goals outlined at the October 2007 of Connect Africa Summit.

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Balancing communication act by Skybank

The recent partnership between Skybank Plc and British Broadcasting Corporation (BBC) is an effort at balancing communication act between developed and developing nations, reports REMMY NWEKE.

Over the years, disparity in global communication has been of concern to well meaning individuals and organizations in most developing nations of the world, especially in Africa and precisely Nigeria.

From the focus on the theory that ‘Bad news’ is ‘good news’ for media organizations such as the multi-national broadcasting entity like the United Kingdom (UK) based British Broadcasting Corporation (BBC), Reuters, Associated Free Press (AFP) to name a few, have faced criticisms in the past over this attitude.

DM MacKay in submission of document to the United Nations Education, Scientific and Cultural Organisation (UNESCO) on ‘Communication and meaning: A Functional Approach’ described communication as having the advantage of application equally based on what ‘flows’ along the artificial communication lines and what ‘passes’ between human beings.

Communication, therefore, according to UNESCO experts, is the transmission of data or information from one actor to another. “One could attempt to communicate by sending a message or a piece of information, or by sharing a thought with someone. Such an act satisfies the definition of ‘communication’, provided there is reasonable assurance that the message has been received, just as every communication have a purpose and the degree to which this purpose has been satisfied determines the success or failure of the communication.

Fundamentally, the issue of imbalances in global communication has been described as a major issue militating against economic growth in Least Developing Countries (LDCs), most of which are located on African continent and Nigeria’s removal from being part of the LDCs remain in contention; for merely exceeding 75 million population, the exclusion by United Nations (UN) agency categorization, has not reflected in the lives of the citizenry in Nigeria. Currently, 33 countries in Africa out of the 52 have been listed as incumbents LDCs.

The UN Conference on Trade and Development (UNCTAD), which played a leading role in organizing the three United Nations Conferences on the Least Developed Countries, (Paris, 1981 and 1990; Brussels, 2001), in circular (E/2004/33) outlined the criteria for LDCs consisting “a low-income criterion, based on a three-year average estimate of the gross national income (GNI) per capita (under $750 for inclusion, above $900 for graduation); a human resource weakness criterion, involving a composite Human Assets Index (HAI) based on indicators of: nutrition, health, education and adult literacy.”

Additionally, the criteria was defined as “an economic vulnerability criterion, involving a composite Economic Vulnerability Index (EVI) based on indicators of the instability of agricultural production, exports of goods and services, economic importance of non-traditional activities; share of manufacturing and modern services in Gross Domestic Product (GDP), merchandise export concentration and the handicap of economic smallness as measured through the population in logarithm; and the percentage of population displaced by natural disasters.

As such, the communication disparity took centre stage recently at a function where communication scholars and researchers noted that the flow of news among nations has remained ‘thin,’ while arguing that much attention is given to developed countries in positive developments, whereas little is given to less-developed nations, especially on the assumption that ‘bad news sells the paper,’ therefore media giants thrive on showcasing bad news in developing countries than the positive outlooks.

Hence, Communication scholars opined that important events within the continent of Africa, for instance, are ignored and reality distorted because foreign global media like BBC and Reuters are looking for saleable ‘stories.'

ITRealms Online recalls that in the 1970s, inequality in global communication gave rise to collaboration by the Non-Aligned Movement (NAM) and debated within the United Nations as well as UNESCO.

Another instance is that a wide range of these issues were deliberated upon as part of the New World Information and Communication Order (NWICO) debates, consisting long-standing issues of media coverage of the developing world and imbalance flow of media influence, new technologies with important military and commercial usage, thus, developing countries were likely to be marginalized at this computer age.

Notable among issues of concern against old information order included news reporting on the LDCs that reflected the priorities of news agencies in London, Paris and New York; reporting of natural disasters and military coups rather than the fundamental realities. At a time four major news agencies controlled over 80 per cent of global news flow.

Others include an imbalance flow of mass media from the developed world, especially in the United States to the underdeveloped countries. Similarly, advertising agencies in the developed world have indirect but significant effects on mass media in the developing countries. Some observers also judged the messages of these ads to be inappropriate for the Third World countries.

Yet, the features of the old information order comprised an unfair division of the radio spectrum. A small number of developed countries controlled almost 90 per cent of the radio spectrum. Much of this was for military use.

Also, there were similar concerns about the allocation of the geostationary orbit parking spots in space for satellites. At the same time only a small number of developed countries had satellites and it was not possible for developing countries to be allocated a space that they might need ten years later, which means eventually getting a space that was more difficult and more expensive to operate.

Satellite broadcasting of television signals into Third World countries, for instance, without prior permission was widely perceived as a threat to national sovereignty. Although the UN voted in the early 1970s against such broadcasts, a major step forward is yet to be witnessed.

Another issue analysts pointed out is the use of satellites to collect information on crops and natural resources in the Third World at a time when most developing countries lacked the capacity to analyse this data.

Obviously, the aforementioned and many more must have given rise to the desire of one of the nation’s financial institutions, Skye Bank Plc, reputed for its commitment to development of Africa to recently consummate partnership with British Broadcasting Corporation (BBC) in its bid to project Africa to the rest of the globe.

This commitment which comes in terms of sponsorship of ‘Africa Business Report’ by the bank, is another plus for Pan African initiative, especially with an estimated global listenership of over 150 million, the partnership is to project the continent to millions of people through the BBC network.

The programme to be aired every Saturday and Sunday at 1.30pm and 8.00 pm respectively on BBC, is proposed to showcase the economic potentials and developments on the African continent as part of effort at correcting the negative reporting of Africa in the international news media.

The partnership talk which commenced last August would see BBC correspondents within each country reporting on the growing trends and latest business developments in the region to the worldwide audience thereby positively projecting Africa to the rest of the world.

Speaking at the launch of the programme recently in Lagos, the Group Managing Director, Sky Bank Plc, Mr. Akinsola Akinfemiwa, explained that Africa had often been negatively reported by the powerful foreign media, giving scant regard to the positive developments on the continent.

“The idea behind the sponsorship of this programme is not primarily for publicity and visibility; rather, our intention is to add value and positively impact on the economic development of the African continent and the social wellbeing of its populace,” he said, stressing that as a proudly Nigerian bank with a Pan African ambition, Sky Bank sees the need to tell the world about the various good initiatives and business opportunities that abound on the continent, thereby connecting Africa to the world and the world to Africa.

In his comment, BBC’s Executive Director, Sean O’Hara, said the programme would be viewed by over 150 million people across the world, emphasizing that it would tell the other side of Africa by showcasing entrepreneurial spirit in Africans.

The presenter of the programme, Komlar Dumor, said it is a privilege for him to present African Business Report during a time the continent is developing its economic growth and business future. Pointing out that Africa has a new generation of energetic entrepreneurs who are determined to compete on the global stage. He declared, “Africa Business Report is designed to capture the energy and diversity of business life in Africa.”

Industry observers have the opinion that the programme could escalate into nourishing the entrepreneurial spirit among Africans as well as setting in motion a healthy competition for innovation, job creation and the ultimate economic transformation of the continent, even as foreign investors are likely to understand the change and key into the new process that is unfolding in Africa by bringing in their capital and expertise, thereby furthering economic productivity and the national income accruable to the respective countries in the continent.

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Experts demand implementation of e-health policy

EXPERTS at the recently concluded two-day 2009 conference on Telemedicine and eHealth under the aegis of Society for Telemedicine and eHealth in Nigeria (SFTeHIN), which held in Lagos, have demanded for the implementation of the national e-health policy in the country.

Participants at the conference made this call in a communiqué endorsed by the President, Society for Telemedicine and eHealth in Nigeria, Dr. Olajide Joseph Adebola, and made available to ITRealms Online.

They said that if decision makers in the Health sector implement eHealth within the framework of the national health policy, benefits of telemedicine and eHealth would become more visible in the lives of the people.

The experts outlined some of the benefits of e-Health to include the reduction in healthcare cost to individuals, families and communities; while increasing accessibility of hard–to-reach population to quality healthcare.

Also, they noted that the implementation of the ehealth policy to the letter, would drastically reverse “brain drain” in the sector, improve capacity building for the health workforce and enhance efficiency as well as utilization of scarce resources.

Participants equally recognized inherent opportunities for Telemedicine and eHealth in the country.

These they said consist of optimization of the existing mobile telephony like the Global System for Mobile communications (GSM) with over 67 million subscriber-base, saying it would facilitate delivery of eHealth services.

They pointed out that numerous examples of the successful implementation of telemedicine and eHealth programmes have shown that it is a veritable option health care delivery in a place like Nigeria.

The on-going pilot projects on telemedicine in the country, the group said, would give a lead to the final take-off of telemedicine in the most populated nation on the African continent, stressing that government’s efforts at upgrading the power generation to 6000 Megawatts by December, 2009 is expected to boost ehealth.

Further, they outlined some of the challenges militating against Telemedicine and eHealth development in the country insisting that a few health centers in the public and private sectors have commenced implementation of some eHealth solutions in Nigeria, but there are challenges to its wider implementation.

Some of these challenges the group said, include lack of public funding, licensing provider, reimbursement, fear of malpractice, high bandwidth telecommunications cost, and inadequate power supply.

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Oracle’s Release 2 for database 11g debuts

SOFTWARE giant, Oracle Technology Network (OTN) has introduced its Database 11g Release 2 into the market place.

This latest generation database builds on the innovations introduced in Oracle Database 11g to help organizations deliver better information throughout the enterprise, at a higher quality of service and at a much lower cost.

Oracle Nigeria, in a press statement made available to ITRealms Online, said Oracle Real Application Clusters (RAC) delivers grid plug and play and new server pooling capabilities that enable organizations to reduce their server costs by streamlining the provisioning and management of consolidated database grids.

Also, Oracle RAC One Node, a new Database option, is available, just as its a solution that allows customers to more easily consolidate their less mission critical database environments on the grid with most of the redundancy and availability provided by Oracle Real Application Clusters.

The combination of Oracle Database 11g Release 2 Advanced Compression and Partitioning supports the reduction of storage costs by compressing data as much as 2-4 times and simplifying use of lower cost storage tiers.

The Oracle Automatic Storage Management is extended to support a general-purpose cluster file system to help customers reduce their storage management costs. Oracle Database 11g Release 2 Automatic Storage Management, Oracle Real Application Clusters, and Active Data Guard allow storage and server resources to be used for both fault tolerance and running production workloads, keeping servers and storage from sitting idle waiting for failures.

Edition-based Redefinition is introduced to allow customer database applications to be upgraded online; this removes the need for separate upgrade environments. Oracle Database 11g Release 2, in combination with the Oracle Database Machine, can deliver up to 10 times faster query performance. It also delivers enhanced query performance with the ability to transparently execute a query against data stored in memory across all the servers in a grid. Automated self-management capabilities can help to double database administrator productivity over older versions of Oracle Database, and reduce the time required to upgrade from prior releases.

Senior Vice President, Database Server Technologies, Oracle, Mr. Andy Mendelsohn was quoted as saying that the firm’s customers wanted features that offer better performance and availability, lower IT costs and ways to deliver better information to their business users.

This he said, gave rise to the availability of Release 2, which completes the vision of Oracle Database 11g to address today’s business and IT challenges in continuation of the firm’s strategy of helping customers deliver the highest quality of service at lower cost.

Speaking also, the Research Vice president, IDC said as organizations face exponential information growth and complexity throughout the data center, they are seeking to minimize IT costs and increase administrative efficiencies.

“Oracle Database 11g Release 2 features enhancements to grid computing, storage management and administration capabilities that are designed to help users achieve greater resource utilization of their information management systems while making the related system infrastructure and storage easier to manage and more affordable,” he said.


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Govt’s role critical in e-payment growth – Elegbe

Managing Director, Interswitch Nigeria Limited, Mr. Mitchel Elegbe has identified government’s role in electronic payment (e-payment) as crucial step toward making the platform a success.

He also said that participation in the entire process of electronic payment by the government and its institutions remain cardinal to increased penetration and acceptance of the e-payment system.

Speaking during the annual Techno Interactive Conference in Calabar organised by Interswitch, which was attended by representatives of all the banks on the theme, ‘Leveraging e-Payment Channels in a Downturn’ he said the participation of government in this area should incorporate all levels of government namely local, state and federal government.

Additionally, Elegbe said, the low level of development in the country’s e-payment framework is attributable to poor participation and acceptance of the model by government, stressing that successive governments still do not understand how e-payment works and how such could be harnessed to benefit governance.

He said if government does not appreciate the importance of leveraging e-payment platforms to drive general administration and governance; it would be difficult to access the gains of technology required to penetrate the polity.

He noted that despite available channels to drive e-payment, most governments in Nigeria lack the roadmap to leverage on the needs and demands of the populace.

Dwelling on the role of Interswitch in the whole process, Elegbe said though with over 100 million transactions monthly, the company was not growing the way it should due to factors tied to the global economic downturn, noting that things were not out of hand, because certain measures could be taken to ameliorate the situation.

The Interswitch boss explained that the company was aware that things were tough economically now; jobs were being lost, there had been a huge drop in spending, card users are scared to use their cards because of increased cases of fraud, and the movement to chip & PIN technology was also causing some challenges.

He, however, said the card company was not resting on its oars to make card users have better experience despite the down turn, and the commitment of government at various levels will further improve the situation.

In the same vein, the Commissioner, Ministry of Finance, Ogun State, Mr. Kehinde Sogunle, said government through technology deployment could enhance internally generated revenue (IGR) process.

He said through the deployment of the Direct Payment System in Ogun State, it had led to the increase of its IGR from N150million to N1billion monthly, adding that more effects in terms of revenue generation were being expected in a few months.

According to Sogunle, technology has given room to good forecasting, planning and budgeting while curbing various anomalies that had over the years characterised the revenue generation process of government.

“There are many gaps and leakages in the system. In addition, a good database which technology provides is important. This will stimulate economic activities, and facilitate the entire development process as far as governance is concerned,” he said.

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e-waste:Stakeholders beckon on entrepreneurs

The Information and Communications Technology (ICT) experts under the aegis of Naija IT professionals have beckoned on entrepreneurs to delve into the nation’s hi-tech generated electronic waste (e-waste).

Reacting to the recent reports entitled ‘Sifting through the mounting problem of e-waste,’ they argued that government should make the country investment friendly in terms of e-waste, so as to encourage ICT diffusion in spite of the attendant waste that could be generated.

According to them, there is a need to spur investors in setting up recycling centre for e-waste in the country.

Experts at Waste Electrical and Electronic Equipment (WEEE) described e-waste as discarded, surplus, obsolete, broken, electrical or electronic devices which causes serious health and pollution problems in developing countries due to the fact that electronic equipment contains some very serious contaminants such as lead, cadmium, beryllium and brominated flame retardants.

Just as in developing countries recycling and disposal of e-waste involves significant risk for examples to workers and communities as well as great care must be taken to avoid unsafe exposure in recycling operations and leaching of materials such as heavy metals from landfills and incincerator ashes.

Equally, the online free encyclopedia, Wikipedia, portrayed e-waste as all secondary computers, entertainment device electronics, mobile phones, and other items such as television sets and refrigerators, whether sold, donated, or discarded by their original owners.

This definition includes used electronics which are destined for reuse, resale, salvage, recycling,
or disposal, among others.

However, some members of Naija IT professionals, who commented on the subject recently, included the Chief Technology Officer of Finland-based WoodGong Communications, Mr. Sunny Odum, and his counterpart at COURE Technologies Incorporated, Mr. Uche Onwudiwe.

For Mr. Odum, if the very simple exercise of maintaining the environment, the homes, the basic needs for daily survival - needless talking of the luxury of living a good life, to mention a few, elude the Nigerian populace, how could hi-tech generated e-waste be dealt with invariably without the private sector, especially with such “crass debilitating and suffocating ignorance abounding the populace?”

While advocating for what he described as a cultural way of dealing with this new order of technology development and the ensuing e-waste problems, which Nigeria looks up to investors to explore.

“The waste disposal service and industrial recycling process is big business in Nigeria waiting to be harnessed. I still wonder why investors and entrepreneurs have not taken advantage of this opportunity,” he said.

Mr. Uche Onwudiwe, noted that efforts have been made in recent past by several Nigerians who are currently setting up industry in this area.

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Text4 million promo: Eight new winners emerge

•As Glo Presents 21 cars

Eight new winners emerged weekend in the Glo’s Text 4 millions super promo as they were inducted into the Glo Millionaires’ Club in Lagos.

Among those who were rewarded with their cheques at the Glo Laffta Fest, which held at the Expo Centre, Eko Hotel include Mr. Alabi Kazeem, a foodstuff seller in Ilorin, Kwara State, Mr. Sikirulahi Lukman Okanlawon, a student at the Lagos State University (LASU), Mr. Ahmed Nataala, a youth corps member serving in Kaduna and Mrs. Elizabeth Obi, a business woman based in Lagos.

In addition, Dr. Bala Adamu, a medical doctor working at the Niger State Government House, Mrs. Iroka Precious, a secretary with the Assemblies of God Church, Mr. Bruce Jegede, a staff of UNTL, Kano Sales Office and Mr. Nurudeen Ayinde-Safu, a civil engineer in Calabar, Cross River State were presented with their cheques.

Many of the new millionaires expressed gratitude to God for using Globacom to make millionaires at this time, and commended Globacom for coming up with the initiative to reward subscribers and for being transparent in the conduct of the entire exercise.

Equally, subscribers who were invited to the event also had a great time as they were entertained by top rated comedians including Gbenga Adeyinka, AY Maleke, Bovi, Basketmouth, and musicians such as Brakket, DJ Zeez, and 9ice to name a few.

The event saw the likes of entertainment impresario, Mr. Kenny Ogungbe, a former President of the Actors Guild of Nigeria, Mr. Ejike Asiegbu and Glo ambassadors, Desmond Elliot and Funke Akindele presenting the winners with their prizes.

21 cars were also given out to deserving winners in the recently concluded Glo “Win N’ Rule” promo at the event. The winners included Mr. Dabiri Rasheed, Mr. Salami Kazeem, Pastor Oguntomilola Ajibola, Mr Oluwadamilare Akanro, and Mrs Ashimi who won brand new BMW 318i cars each.

Others were Okunnu Kazeem, Mrs Mary Badejo, Mrs Wasiat Elias, Mrs Adebesin Olayinka, Mr. Omokorede Olakunle, Memeke Charles, Ibrahim Adesina, Iyabode Samson, Adesona Adebowale and Mrs. Mukaila Ozenat who won brand new Nissan Sunny each.

Mr. Usman Moruf, Mrs. Risikat Alake, Ifeanyichukwu Thomas and Mrs. Chinenye Patrick also collected keys and drove away brand new Kia Rio cars each at the event.

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ATCON drums support for Digital Sense forum

The Association of Telecommunications Companies of Nigeria (ATCON) has given its backing for the Nigeria Digital Sense forum, a one-day roundtable on Internet Governance: Creating Opportunities for All Nigerians, slated to hold next month in Lagos.

Acting Executive Secretary of ATCON, Mr. Ajibola Olude, affirmed this in a letter to the organizers, Digital Sense Africa (DSA).

He said in the letter entitled ‘Endorsement for Nigeria Digital Sense forum’ that the ATCON was not biased in rooting support for the event scheduled for Thursday, November 5 at Golden Gate, Ikoyi-Lagos.

According to him, ATCON’s National Executive Council has decided to collaborate with Digital Sense Africa on the project in three key areas.

These, he listed to include by way of endorsement of the initiative, provision of relevant data and information so as to make the project a success as well as creating a sustained awareness campaign among its teeming membership of telecom companies either through the internet or short message service (SMS).

“Accept our congratulations,” he declared.

Elated Executive Director, Digital Sense Africa, Mrs. Nkemdilim Nweke, described the endorsement as a motivating step by ATCON for the initiative.

She applauded the leadership of ATCON led by Dr. Emmanuel Ekuwem for his foresight and commitment to Information and Communication Technology (ICT) development in the country.

Mrs. Nweke expressed optimism that ATCON’s support has gone a long way in encouraging its members, especially those offering Internet services to take advantage of the platform to take active part by way of exhibiting their internet-related based products, capable of aiding the penetration of Internet access in the country.

She recalled that Ekuwem’s role while he was the president of the Nigeria Internet Group (NIG) a few year’s back is not in question, in that he would always seek and support every step at promoting and boosting Internet access to Nigerians.

According to the DSA boss, her team has since taken its enlightenment to Facebook as part of the public engagement strategies to reach out to Nigerians.

While soliciting for more endorsement from industry groups in the country to support DSA in its objective of creating a rallying platform for Nigerian Internet community, she recalled that the Internet Exchange Point Nigeria Limited (IXPN) has equally given its support to the Nigeria Digital Sense forum holding on November 5, 2009.

ATCON is a professional, non-profit umbrella organisation of all telecommunication companies in Nigeria, inaugurated on December 10, 1993 as a national trade organisation, and has its membership drawn from Nigerian and multi-national companies, who provide telecommunications and information technology products and services nationwide.

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Anabel opens care centre in Lagos

Acclaimed Nigerian first mobile phone manufacturing company, Anabel Mobile, has opened an ultra modern service and repair center in Lagos.

This, the company said, underscore its commitment to a world class service quality.

The center, situated in Dolphin Plaza Ikoyi, according to the Technical Support Manager of Anabel, Mr. Tim Ocheja, has state-of the art technology equipment expected to support users of Anabel devices in the South Western part of the country.

He also said similar care centers have been planned for Abuja, Port Harcourt, Kano, Enugu and Onitsha respectively.

These centers, he said, would provide the warranty, which comes with Anabel devices, noting that the center would also manage any manufacturer’s defects that may arise.

“Anabel mobile has come to stay. We are committed to our customers. Our customers are very important to us. The centers will also serve as a point of contact for replacement parts for loyal Anabel customers. Anabel is the first device manufacturer to subject itself to the NCC certification process and its devices also has SONCAP certification,” he said.

Ocheja, further said, that the center has diagnostic capabilities and could detect problems on any Anabel device once it has been assessed.

“The ultramodern center will serve as a first line of support for Anabel’s entire range of devices such as its Smart Phones and hand held PCs, its digital media devices and its very popular Effizzy dual sim phone, which sports a dual standby mode in addition to WAP and browser capability, MP3 and MP4 as well as FM radio, currency converter and a wide range of games,” he explained.

ITRealms Online recalled that Anabel Mobile was recently identified by the Federal Ministry of Information and Communications as one of the trail blazers in this direction having launched the first Nigerian mobile phone and first Nigerian pocket PC and Smart phone that runs on windows mobile operating system licensed by the Microsoft Corporation.

Anabel presently produces professional series smart phones which are indeed hand held pocket computers, they also produce “digital media devices” which can play video, music, FM Radio as well as its ability to record voice and other sounds.


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Infotech Network introduces pan African awards @ 10

Nigeria’s pioneer Information and Communication Technology (ICT) broadcast programme, AIT Infotech Network will be hosting Cyber Nigeria forum 2009, just as it is instituting African Information Society Merit Awards as part of activities marking its 10th year anniversary, reports CHARLES OKOH.

According to the producer and coordinator of the programme, Mr Bayero Agabi, part of the forum will afford participants the platform to discuss issues pertaining to the internet, security, online transactions, legislation, and internet based products and services, content cost and infrastructure.

He said the event’s overriding theme is Internet as a catalyst for the configuring of a new Nigeria and will be rounded off with a pan African award tagged African Information Society Merit Award.

“This is meant to reward those individuals, initiatives and companies who have kept the industry together in the past ten years. The theme of the event is to underscore the need to focus on the internet as it has become the defining platform for nations, organisations and individual’s success globally today,” he said

Agabi said the future will be completely internet based, and made reference to the role of the internet in the last America election, the power of the internet in the just concluded Iran election and the protests that follows, including new services like Internet Protocol Television (IPTV), IP radio, soft switches, online based media, businesses, transactions and even campaigns.

“We believe it is time we begin to take seriously the internet as a catalyst to move us forward in this century. Part of the highlights of the forum will be the unveiling of Thinktec Nigeria, an initiative meant to raise a national consciousness towards technology development, use and deployment in all sectors of the economy,” the coordinator revealed.

He commended Daar Communications for instituting the programme and funding it this far and call on the industry to help knowledge based initiatives like InfoTech through sponsorship, like they are doing to the entertainment and sports industries.

AIT InfoTech network, he recalled, started as Computer Link in 1998 and became InfoTech Network in 1999 in response to the need to preach ICT for development (ICT4D).

AIT Infotech Network has become Africa’s leading ICT programme reaching over 70 million audiences in Nigeria, United Kingdom (UK), United States (US), parts of Africa and Europe and the rest of the world where AIT signals are broadcasted via satellite.

In 10 years, AIT INFOTECH NETWORK www.aitinfotechnetwork.com, has become the only TV programme on ICT to win the prestigious UNECA/AISIAWARD twice for local content and over other 19 international and local awards.


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Equatel Telecom bags BID award

Equatel Telecommunic-ations Ltd, has bagged the celebrated International World Quality Commitment Award, in Paris, France.

The organisers, Business Initiative Direction (BID), said the award was in recognition of Equatel’s commitment to quality, leadership, technology and innovation, just as telco earned the award for pioneering a unique technology that facilitates the operation of public payphones over Global System for Mobile communications (GSM) frequencies, thereby granting access to subscribers on their personalized phone lines through the use of solid Subscribers Identification Module (SIM) cards that function as virtual handsets.

The technology offers a total subscriber experience to non handset owners, without the necessity of owning a handset.

President and CEO of Business Initiative Directions, Mr. Jose E. Prieto, noted that Equatel and other awarded companies were symbols of commitment to leadership, technology and innovation which make them models for other companies in their sectors.

“The companies from 53 countries from Europe, America, Africa, Asia and Oceania received the International World Quality Commitment Award as a recognition of their achievements in spreading quality culture,” he said, stressing that it was of special international significance for these companies to join B.I.D.’s historic group of most important companies in the world.

Savouring the award, Chief Executive Officer, Equatel Telecom, Mr. Henry Onaga, said it is another plus for his company’s creativity and innovativeness.

“When we developed this technology that won us this award, we had the low income earners in
mind, recognizing that the joy of modern communications has eluded them on account of the high cost of telecommunications collaterals, which act as a barrier to them,” he said.

He pointed out that based on this technology, GSM wireless SIM, offered by his firm supports the community based payphone initiative of different telecom operators, including MTN, Zain among others.

“The award is not only a plus to Equatel but a testimony that the entire bubbling Nigerian telecoms sector cannot be described as a fortuitous occurrence, but has been a product of careful planning and vision on the part of the Nigerian government and particularly the regulator, the Nigerian Communications commission (NCC),” he said.

He, however, promised that the award would provide the needed boost to spur his firm further in effort at bridging the telecoms divide between the poor and the rich in Nigeria.

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MTN apologises to subscribers over recharge challenges

Nigeria’s leading telecommunications services provider MTN, has apologised for the difficulties being experienced by some of its subscribers while attempting to recharge their phones, since last Friday.

According to the Corporate Services Executive, MTN Nigeria, Mr Wale Goodluck, the situation followed a hardware failure in one of the recharging equipment on Friday morning.

A press statement from the operator endorsed by Mr. Goodluck said its “Engineers have since rectified the problem and the voucher server is now processing customers’ recharge requests.

However, due to the backlog of requests in the system, some customers might still experience difficulties loading their cards”.

Goodluck assured customers that the difficulty would ease in a few days.

He thanked MTN subscribers for their support, patience and understanding, whilst apologizing on behalf of MTN management for the disruption and inconvenience caused.


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Ghanaian govt commends Glo 1

Ghanaian government has commended Globacom for making Accra, the nation’s capital one of its landing points of the highly anticipated Glo 1 submarine cable.

Communications Minister for Ghana, Hon. Haruna Iddrisu, who described the development as an added impetus for improved communication in Ghana in particular and Africa in general, said, Glo 1 marks an important milestone in the telecoms landscape of Ghana in the quest to improve upon the delivery of improved communications infrastructure and services that would enhance efficient and affordable data services and management.

Congratulating Globacom for landing Glo 1 in Ghana, he urged the global telecom giant to seize the moment to drastically reduce the wholesale international gateway connectivity price which currently hovers around $4,500 for an E1 in Ghana.

He expressed optimism that Glo 1 would facilitate the expansion of market opportunities for broadband service providers and thereby help in reduction of transaction cost.

Noting that the Ghanaian government is happy that the cable will facilitate a “world class, long distance voice, video and data communications services for Ghana. Glo deserves commendation for this investment which is of immense economic value.”

The landing of the Glo 1 cable in Accra comes three weeks after it first berthed in Lagos, Nigeria, the cable had landed at Alpha Beach, Lekki, Lagos, on September 5.

“The landing of Glo 1 in Ghana will also boost the preparation for the nationwide launch of Glo Mobile Ghana,” he said.

In his remarks at the event, the Group Executive Director, Globacom, Mr. Patrick Adenuga, said Glo 1 cable will deliver transmission capacity that will radically change Africa’s economic landscape by providing unprecedented high speed internet services and make telecom services much faster, more reliable and cheaper for consumers.

He said Glo-1’s current and ultimate capacity is enough to cater for the required broadband capacity of Ghana and the rest of the continent for at least the next 15 to 20 years.

Pointing out that Glo 1 has a current capacity of 640 Gigabyte per second and an ultimate capacity of 2.5 Terabyte per second.

“Glo 1 will provide the needed opportunity for Africa to leap forward economically through an excellent communication network and a cost-effective voice, data, video and e-commerce services across Africa, Europe and the rest of the world” he said, emphasizing that the facility will provide the most comprehensive international communication services on the continent to bridge the digital divide between Africa and the rest of the world.

Adenuga said Glo 1 has 99.9 per cent up time reliability, world-class long distance voice, video and data communication services for African customers, stressing that the cable will support the large bandwidth requirements of direct consumers and other service providers.

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Galaxy Plc supports Nigerian pavilion @ Telecom World-09

Nigerian Pavilion at this year’s International Telecommunications Union (ITU) organized Telecom World exhibitions and forum, is enjoying the partnership of the Galaxy Backbone (GBB) Plc.

The five-day event which took off today in Geneva, Switzerland, is to last till Friday this week.
Manager, Corporate Communications, Galaxy Backbone Plc, Mr. Franklyn Ginger – Eke, affirmed this at the weekend, saying that Galaxy’s participation as a key partner of the Nigerian Pavilion at the event is an opportunity to further demonstrate Federal Government’s commitment to fast-track the country’s uptake of the benefits of the digital revolution going on the world over.

“Galaxy’s participation is a demonstration of our passionate desire to be the agent of change in deepening the role of ICTs in the public sector delivery of services to Nigerian citizens,” he said.

This support, he also said, consolidates GBB’s vision of enabling digital inclusion as a powerful developmental tool for bridging the poverty gap in the country.

“More importantly, Nigeria’s participation would not only to showcase her achievements in the Information and Communication Technology (ICT) sector, but also highlights the immense business opportunities in the sector and related industries, for the variety of investors who will be attending the global event,” Eke said.

ITU Telecom World’09, he noted is taking place at a rather auspicious time especially with the expected role ICTs have played in the journey to economic recovery from the global economic crisis by many forward looking countries. Moreover, there is a significant alignment between the theme of this year’s event, ‘Open Networks - Connected Minds’ and the Galaxy vision ‘to be leading enabler of digital inclusion in Nigeria and Africa’.

“This recognizes the nexus between global best practices and the Galaxy initiative as already obtainable in other countries that will also be participating in Geneva,” he said.

At the forum, countries from across Africa would join together in national pavilions to address the overarching theme of bridging the digital divide at ITU Telecom World 2009, including Nigeria.

The ITU event is an avenue for mainstreaming Galaxy’s key messages on the concept of a connected government through 1-GOV.net which is a common government–wide platform for the provision of connectivity, hosted messaging and collaboration and other transversal services for Federal Government Ministries Department and Agencies (MDAs); and the reality of the National Information Communication and Education Programmes (NICEP)- a nation-wide ICT infrastructure platform for facilitating digital inclusion of underserved communities and hard-to-reach areas of the country. These platforms support the key objectives of the 7-point Agenda and Vision 20: 2020.

The event also offers exciting opportunities for Galaxy with the possibility of networking and securing partnerships with leading international ICT institutions, bandwidth wholesalers, equipment vendors, development partners and solutions providers.

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Brymedia boss prescribes ‘NITELLIGENCE’ to bidders

Bid manager and consortium leader in the bidding for the Nigeria Telecommunications Plc (NITEL) privatization process, Messrs Brymedia Consortium has prescribed what it called ‘NITELLIGENCE’ for whoever wishes to optimize the acquisition of the first national operator.

According to the chief executive, Brymedia West Africa Limited, Mr. Adrain Wood, his firm has devised the concept of “NITELLIGENCE” to describe its special approach to the recovery, rehabilitation, restoration, relaunching and revitalization of NITEL and its mobile subsidiary, MTel businesses.

He also said that it is crucial to have an expert ability to understand NITEL’s challenges, learn, before implementing process could be taken on for the transformation of the telecom entity.

In addition, Mr. Wood, highlighted the fact that gathering of planning and operational information, especially for roll-out campaign purposes is imperative for success transformation of NITEL in good time.

He stressed that know-how, the capacity to efficiently rebirth a Nigerian national institution is very important to have so as to showcase intellect in the implementation process.

Mr. Wood said, based on the aforementioned, Brymedia has brought together a group of Nigerian investment partners from all parts of the country, foreign direct investors and soon-to-be-announced international operator partner.

Further, he said, the Brymedia Consortium has engaged Telecapital Limited as local funding advisor, and appointed the well-respected Renaissance Capital Group, for managing and arranging the foreign direct investment component of NITEL project financing.

Meanwhile, Mr. Wood, has advised that Nigeria needs to attract foreign investment in the neighbourhood of $25 billion to be able to make the dream of being counted among 20 developed nations of the world in the next 11 years.

The former managing director of MTN Nigeria Communications Limited, who was commenting on the 49 independence anniversary, noted that Nigeria requires, at least, $25bn investment into the telecommunications industry in its march towards becoming one of the top twenty economies in the world by the year 2020.

He called to mind that one of the main goals of the Federal Government of Nigeria under President Umaru Yar’Adua is to make Nigeria one of the top 20 economies in the world by the year 2020, stressing that the government is aiming to attain a 100 per cent teledensity before the year 2020 in line with Vision 20-2020.

Noting that by his estimation, a minimum of that amount would be required to bring the national telecommunications network up to world standard, despite the giant strides recorded in the industry in the last eight years.

“A great part of this amount should go to the provision of fibre optic network in every workplace, household, Federal, State, and Local government offices, as well as tertiary institutions and primary schools,” he said.

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ExpertEdge, SAP in multi-million e-Academy deal

Subsidiary of Computer Warehouse Group, the ExpertEdge Systems, has announced its partnership with SAP Africa as an approved SAP e-Academy Centre in the country.

ExpertEdge is the software and a training subsidiary of CWG, a reputed Nigerian Information and Communication Technology (ICT) company, with eight business offices nationwide.

Speaking at the signing ceremony to herald the partnership, Manager, Education Business Solutions, SAP Africa, Mr. Jaco Van Zyl, expressed delight to be associated with ExpertEdge and the professionalism that they would bring to SAP training in the region.

Responding, Manager of Training Services at Expert Edge Training Centre, Ms Lynda Abah said that the centre undertakes training on business applications, network and infrastructure solutions as well as IT management solutions.

“Our services cover trainings on Sun Solaris, Novell, Microsoft, NetApp, Dell, VSAT, Finacle banking application, Oracle, IBM, Java, ITIL, Project Management, TOEFL-Prometic-Pearson VUE Exam testing as well as the recently included SAP e-learning which commences at the Victoria Island office in October 2009,” she said.

The strength of this training centre, she said, lies in the focus on practical teachings, employing the services of seasoned and experienced in-house and external facilitators where scenarios are simulated and solved, thereby transferring practical knowledge to ensure that training sessions are intensive and dynamic.

For the SAP e-learning, she said, CWG offers a world class training experience which is first of its kind in West Africa.

“The academy will give participants the opportunity to acquire SAP skills which are in very high demand globally at their convenience and with minimal cost,” she said.


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