Broadband’ll increase global warming – Experts

As the clamour for the deployment of Broadband continues at the on-going United Nation (UN) organized Climate Change Conference 2009 (COP15), being hosted by the Danish government in Denmark, experts have said that the diffusion of internet based on this model will continue to increase the stake of total emissions of GreenHouse Gas (GHG).

Currently, the GHG emissions in the Information and Communications Technology (ICT) sector is estimated to be between 2 and 3 per cent directly produced emissions.

Just as experts in another school of thought argued that the cuts in greenhouse gases offered at the 192-nation climate conference are anticipated to be very low, thus not clearly enough to assure the world of possible ‘head off’ of dangerous global warming.

According to experts at the recently concluded fourth annual Internet Governance Forum (IGF) in Sharm El Sheikh, Egypt, Broadband deployment and the increasingly intense use of the Internet will contribute to the rise in GHG emissions.

The experts assembled under the auspices of the Dynamic Coalition on Internet and Climate Change (DCICC) were hosted by the International Telecommunication Union (ITU) as one of its initiative on curtailing climate change menace.

The experts drawn from over the 31 DCICC-member organizations believe that the current estimated emissions produced directly will increase as ICTs and the Internet continue to raise. “Broadband deployment and the increasingly intense use of the Internet will contribute to the rise in GHG emissions. Although ICTs contribute to global warming, they can also help in reducing the GHG emissions of other sectors,” some of the contributors at the special session organized by ITU said.

Though they were excited that by replacing the need for travel and by improving transport efficiency, noting that ICTs will help to reduce the carbon footprint of individuals and companies.

Participants at this session examined what the ICT industry could do to reduce its own carbon footprint and extend the hand of fellowship to other sectors of the economy globally.

DCICC, arising from its second public meeting, last week, noted that the Internet has undergone explosive growth in recent years and plays a critical role in all phases of economic and social.

Increased access to ICT, they noted, is a global success story, as there are more than 4.6 billion subscriptions to mobile phones and 1.5 billion Internet users.

They hinted that due to this growth, ICTs currently contribute 2-3 per cent of global greenhouse gas (GHG) emissions and this figure is expected to rise, stressing that in response, the Internet community is determined to mitigate its own carbon footprint through new energy-efficient data centers, servers, applications and networks and through the increased use of renewable energy supplies to power the Internet infrastructure.

“A future high-bandwidth, lower-carbon society potentially offers a platform for economic, social and cultural development that is sustainable,” the final statement from the second meeting indicated.

They estimated that ICTs could reduce emissions in other sectors by at least 15 per cent, thereby making them a significant enabling technology to combat climate change.

The Internet, they insisted could play a key role to enable the use of ICTs in the reduction of GHG emissions in other sectors.

According to them, the Internet facilitates the use of ICTs to reduce GHG emissions
in other sectors through videoconferencing, tele-working, e- commerce, and intelligent transport systems.

“It is vital to set priority areas for action in using ICTs in other sectors; these may include smart buildings, smart electric grids, dematerialization and sustainable procurement. Governments, the private sector, and the user community, each have their role to play in deploying ICTs in other sectors to maximum effect and to promote sustainable development,” part of the statement read.

For them, it is essential that policymakers, stakeholders and governance of the Internet at all levels, national, regional and international; take full account of the need for sustainable growth of the Internet.

“Every effort must be made so that the Internet evolves in a manner that respects the need to control its carbon footprint. In particular, the IGF process, including at the regional level, should highlight to a much greater extent the importance of including climate change as a key factor in any and all policies and frameworks that will shape the future growth of the Internet,” part of the statement read.

They emphasized that given the special characteristics and needs of developing countries, urgent action must be taken to assist them to adapt to climate change.
Pointing out that most developing countries are only minor contributors to GHG emissions, but then they are often victims of extreme weather events and other negative impacts of climate change, such as rising oceans, changes in rainfall, species migration, harm to farmers, degradation of the rainforest, melting of glaciers, and human displacement.

For these countries, the officer in charge of ITU-DCICC secretariat, Mr. Arthur Levin, informed that the Internet and ICTs could serve as a critical enabling tool to mitigate climate change and adapt to it, e.g. through climate monitoring and data collection, which could assist agriculture and other sectors, and in the predicting natural disasters and ensuring a rapid response when disasters strike.

Corporate commitments by Internet companies, he said is need to reduce their energy consumption and GHG emissions.

Increased use of renewable energy supplies and green purchasing policies, he said, are essential parts of the solution, maintaining that global standards, which include agreed methodologies to measure the impact of ICTs on climate change, could promote more energy efficient ICT products and services to drive the growth of the Internet.

“Current efforts to develop, adopt and use such standards are encouraged,” DCICC solicited, reiterating that in order to bridge the digital divide and bring the benefits of the Internet to all citizens is fundamental to tackling climate change.

Providing equitable and affordable access to broadband connectivity to schools, rural communities, and health facilities, are vital to economic development and to making effective use of ICTs to combat climate change.

For the experts at the DCICC meeting, e-waste from the Internet and ICTs is a growth challenge, arguing that efforts must be made to dispose Internet access devices such as mobile phones, and computers in addition to servers in an environmentally-friendly manner, so as to reduce and avoid the use of toxic materials and promotion of the use of designs and materials that facilitate recycling.

“The reuse of ICTs also needs to be encouraged as well as efforts to extend their useful life through improved design,” the communiqué stated.

ITREALMS Online ... delivering news for ICT4D

Grant tax holidays to submarine cable providers – Nwokoro

THE Director, Regulatory Affairs, Zain Nigeria, Mr. Osondu Nwokoro, has called on the Federal Government to grant fiscal incentives by way of tax holidays to international submarine cable access providers (ISCA) to soften the impact of the financial investments on their cash flows, reports CHARLES OKOH.

Nwokoro who was speaking at the Nigeria Internet Group (NIG) organized e-Business conference in Lagos, last week, called for transparency in the process of securing investors for SAT-3 when unbundled from the Nigerian Telecommunications (NITEL) Plc.

Speaking on ‘Governance and Regulatory Imperatives for Optimal International Submarine Cable Access Services Delivery,’ Mr. Nwokoro cited for instance, the SAT-3, saying that it remain central to the provision of international submarine cable access services in the country, hence it needed to be repositioned.

“Over the past decade, the increased demand for bandwidth driven by the internet and continuous international trend of privatization of national telecommunications industries have outstripped by far the resources offered by satellite transmission of voice and data. The transport medium for wholesale international traffic has therefore progressively shifted from copper to satellite and now mainly to fibre optic cables,” he said.

He identified easy maintenance, cost effectiveness, greater bandwidth capacity and extensive geographic coverage as some inherent advantages of fibre optic cable infrastructure over copper and satellite.

On some of the endeavours facilitated by submarine cables on the part of the government, Nwokoro said it will ensure an up to date record keeping and enhanced provision of essential services such as e-health services.

For wholesale users he also said, will facilitate real time efficient and dedicated communications between sister offices in distant locations and a veritable platform for inclusive e-commerce.

For retail consumers, he said it will enable accessibility to on line education and services such as e-libraries allow easy access to a rich pool of information via databases in the world wide web (www) as well as facilitate the provision of real triple or quad play multimedia services.

He equally said exclusive access granted to NITEL, ambivalence towards commercial opportunities due to red tape in operations, high prices, operators and capacity purchasers not being regarded as partners but as subordinates are some of the anti-competitive outlooks of SAT-3 under NITEL.

Other challenges, he listed to include frequent strikes at NITEL, epileptic power supply at NITEL’s PTO rooms, fibre cuts on the access routes occasioned by poor maintenance and absence of  service-level agreement (SLA) with capacity purchasers as some other challenges facing SAT-3.

He pointed out that the desirous for alternatives, propelled users to resort to buying capacity from the Republic of Benin, a consortium member who has sublet some of its capacity, at prices about one quarter of NITEL’s and for better quality.

Nwokoro said open access is a key to the provision of competitively priced services at better service delivery thresholds.

The event tagged ‘Enabling e-business in Nigeria for accelerated economic growth’ the conference was put together by the NIG to prepare the nation for the expected explosion that will come with broadband in 2010.

ITREALMS Online ... delivering news for ICT4D

Mozambique becomes 100th member of ccNSO

Mozambique’s .MZ has become the 100th member of Country Code Name Supporting Organisation (ccNSO) of the Internet Corporation for Assigned Names and Numbers (ICANN), the global internet coordinating agency of the United Nations (UN).

Announcing this development ICANN said .mz admitted since December 3, 2009, would be operated by the Centre Informatica da Universidade Eduardo Mondlane, according to a press statement made available to ITRealms Online.

ICANN noted that since the inception of the ccNSO in 2003, it has provided country code top-level domain name (ccTLD) managers a unique, global platform to share information and experiences with other ccTLD managers and broaden ICANN’s community, as well as to develop global policy recommendations regarding country code top-level domains.

ITRealms Online recalls that ccNSO membership has grown significantly in recent years. In 2009 alone, the ccNSO admitted 18 members, including country code operators for .il (Israel), .de (Germany) and .eu (European Union) to name a few, reports Charles Okoh.

The ccNSO now provides a worldwide forum for ccTLD managers to meet and discuss issues that concern them.

For example, ccTLD operators collaborated in the ccNSO to develop a coordinated response to global Internet security threats, conduct studies on the use of wildcards and re-direction in ccTLDs, and develop recommendations for the introduction of internationalised ccTLDs.

It is also a forum to nurture consensus, technical cooperation and skill building among ccTLDs, and facilitates the development of voluntary best practices for ccTLD managers.

Concerted efforts by the ccNSO (in cooperation with many others) over the last two years will bring to the Internet in 2010 the first top-level domain names to operate without using Western-based characters, an initiative referred to as Internationalized Domain Names (IDNs).


ITREALMS Online ... delivering news for ICT4D

Etisalat introduces pre-paid for Elite world

Etisalat Nigeria has announced the introduction of the pre-paid variant of its Elite World package in response to the yearnings of its numerous customers who desire the benefits of the elite package without the commitment of a post paid contract.

The Elite world post paid was launched at the first anniversary of the Etisalat at the Federal Capital Territory (FCT) Abuja recently.

Chief Marketing Officer (CMO), Etisalat Nigeria, Mr. Wael Ammar said that Elite World, which was initially available as a postpaid product, was aimed at providing a platform for delivering a world class service for the discerning high value subscribers of the telecommunications company.

“Elite World is now available in both prepaid and post paid packages,” he declared, stressing that prepaid consumers now have the chance to join others on the elite world package without the usual requirement for post paid subscribers.

“Customers on the elite world pre-paid also have the option of choosing from 4 monthly minimum plans (MMP), and enjoy bonus airtime and data allowance, which increases with their monthly minimum plan,” Ammar said.

Explaining the details of the new package, Etisalat Director of Business and High Value Segment, Mr. Ernest Akinlola said Elite World prepaid variant comes with all the benefits of the Elite World including a unique feature that allows subscribers to choose whose calls they would receive or not, Blackberry services and the VIP customer treatment.

Akinlola noted that Elite World is fully packed with services and incentives to suit the lifestyle of all Etisalat’s highly valued customers.

“Once you hook up to the Elite World package, you belong to a world where unique discounted tariffs, unmatchable personalized service and a vista of opportunities will all be at the touch of a button on your Etisalat phone,” he said.

Further he said Elite World is tailored to fit the vibrant, executive and busy lifestyles of high-end customers, emphasizing that other benefits of the Elite World prepaid, include access to Etisalat’s unique number range of 080999.

“Subscribers also get the chance to choose their preferred numbers though this is subject to availability on the network,” he said.

ITREALMS Online ... delivering news for ICT4D

ISOC supports W3C on Internet evolution

The Internet Society (ISOC) and the World Wide Web Consortium (W3C) have revealed an undisclosed donation from ISOC for the purpose of advancement of W3C evolution especially creating open Web standards, for the next three years.

President and chief executive officer (CEO) of the Internet Society, Lynn St. Amour and Director, W3C, Dr Tim Berners-Lee, in a joint public statement made available to ITRealms Online, cited an instance of strongly aligned views on the value of an open global Internet and support for the current Internet governance and management model.

It is in this regard that ISOC pledged to support W3C efforts to implement a more agile, inclusive and flexible organizational structure.

Commenting on the development, St. Amour noted that ISOC and W3C have worked together for years in a number of projects, and have deeply shared values about the Internets development.

"Our support to the W3C in their transition efforts demonstrates ISOC's commitment to ensuring the Internet continues to be a global platform for innovation. What's at stake is the Internet's openness, which is a critical enabler of new products and services to billions of users worldwide," he said.

And for Berners-Lee, ISOC and W3C have a long history of cooperation and the Internet ecosystem has benefited from the shared yet independent voices.

"The W3C staff, Members, and community continue to work on making W3C more relevant and valuable to the Web and Internet communities. ISOC support will allow W3C to evolve its structure to ensure we continue to forge solid working relationships with the increasing numbers of developers and users, worldwide," he asserted.

Industry observers opined that the announcement reflected the two organizations' shared aim of ensuring the continued growth and accessibility of the global Internet and Web, as well as the stewardship responsibilities to ensure continued benefit to end users globally.

Further, the two organizations assured on their consistency in operating independently so as to continuously maintain their long-standing, informal collaboration.

A non-profit organization founded in 1992, ISOC provides leadership in Internet related standards, education and policy, as well as serves as the organizational home of the Internet Engineering Task Force (IETF), the Internet's premier technical standards body. With offices in Washington D.C. and Geneva, Switzerland, it is dedicated to ensuring the open development, evolution, and use of the Internet for the benefit of people throughout the world.

W3C on the other hand, is an international consortium with membership organizations, primarily in pursuit of its mission through the creation of Web standards and guidelines designed to ensure long-term growth for the Web with over 350 organizational members Consortium.

W3C is jointly run by the MIT Computer Science and Artificial Intelligence Laboratory (MIT CSAIL) in the USA, the European Research Consortium for Informatics and Mathematics (ERCIM) headquartered in France and Keio University in Japan, among other offices worldwide.

ITREALMS Online ... delivering news for ICT4D

Ibrahim, Onyiliagha join Zain’s millionaire club

Kaduna-based commercial taxi driver, Mr. Yusuf Ibrahim and a Lagos-based motor spare parts dealer in Ladipo, Mr. Anthony  Onyiliagha,  have emerged millionaires in the second week of Zain’s Naira Rain promo.

Disclosing this, the Public Relations Manager, Zain Nigeria, Mr. Emmanuel Otokhine, said the two were among 57 millionaires that emerged in the on-going customer reward campaign.

Affirming this, the Head, Corporate Social Responsibility (CSR) and Public Relations Team, Zain Nigeria, Mr. Emeka Oparah, said that the electronic draw, which held last Thursday, supervised by Alexander Forbes, saw Ibrahim emerging with a shock as he was speechless for some times when the good news was announced to him through telephone conversation at the event.

For Mr. Onyiliagha, the news was a dream come true. “You mean I won 5 million naira in the Zain Naira Rain promo …. This is a dream … it’s like magic and indeed, a ‘wonderful  world’”  the  trader excitedly declared.

Presently, Oparah said the Zain Naira  Rain  promo  has  produced  114  Nigerian millionaires, with two customers emerging winners in the five million naira category and 112 others each winning the one million naira prize money.

He explained that at the inaugural draw held last week an Accountant with an Insurance firm in Lagos, emerged winner of the biggest prize money, 5 million naira.

Chief Commercial Officer of Zain Nigeria, Mr. Shamel Hanafi, was quoted as saying that the Naira Rain Promo is Zain’s end-of-year gift for all its esteemed customers, stressing that the initiative is in line with the company’s brand philosophy of ‘a wonderful world.’

Zain, he said, is offering customers various categories of prizes in the promo, including 368 one million naira (N1, 000,000.00) prizes in the daily draws, a number of five million naira (N5, 000,000.00) prize in the Weekly Draws and one N10, 000,000.00 grand prizes in the final draw.

“This is a strong testimony to the fact that we are genuinely interested in empowering our customers as well as creating a plethora of opportunities for them to fulfill their dreams. Without a doubt, Zain Nigeria, through this exciting offer, is extending its ‘wonderful world’ promise to all its customers,” said Hanafi.

Also speaking, Marketing Director of Zain Nigeria, Mostafa Younes, explained that the promo is open to all Zain customers regardless of their service package, stressing that existing and new customers of Zain have same opportunity to participate and win big in the offer.

He  equally said  that  customers  only need to use as low as N50 airtime to participate  in  the  draw  for  the  particular  day  to win N1m same day, throughout the duration of the promotion.

Younes further said  that  the process of the Naira Rain promo has been deliberately simplified to make it easy for many Nigerians, irrespective of their  education, social and financial profile to participate in the offer and become millionaires.

Customers, he said, only need to use as low as N50 airtime to qualify for the draw for the particular day to win N1m same day, throughout the duration of the promotion.  

Entries are in multiples of N50 thus ensuring that the more a customer’s usage, the greater his/her chances of emerging a winner in the daily draws.  

This principle equally applies to the weekly and grand prize draws.  Entries for weekly and grand prizes draws are in the multiples of N400 and N2500 respectively and accumulated over the period in question.

By January 7, 2010, 368 winners would have emerged in the daily draws, while six winners would have been selected in the Weekly Draw. The star prize winner will be selected during the Grand Prize Draw at the end of the promo.

In all, 375 Nigerians will have become millionaires at the end of the Promo.

ITREALMS Online ... delivering news for ICT4D

Multilinks Staff Light up Abuja Children Home with Xmas Gifts

Employees of Multilinks Telkom in Abuja, last weekend, lightened up the lives of some less privileged children at the Abuja Children’s Home at Karu, a satellite town in the Federal Capital Territory (FCT) with Christmas gifts and party, Adelani Ashamu reports.

The staff of the Code Division Multiple Access (CDMA) service provider telecoms company donated bags of rice and packets of all kinds of daily need items including toothpaste, toiletries, mattresses, several cartons of Indomie etc for the use of both the children and their caretaker.

The Chief Corporate Affairs Officer, Mrs. Ijeoma Abazie  who led the Abuja regional staff and their Head, Mr. Aminu Tijani, said the gesture of the gifts and Christmas party for the less privileged in Abuja was an action by the staff to respond to the inventiveness of the head office, by giving a yuletide treat to the children at the Karu children home.

“The event is in line with the Corporate Social Responsibility (CSR)  of Multilinks to touch lives. The core value of our corporate social responsibility, regardless of whatever budget we have for our social responsibility, is to see other ways of enriching the society behind our products and services. That is to give back to the society, the key reason we are in business,” she said.

Also, she said the management of the telco felt that outside its own duties, there is a need to encourage the staff, in their own individual ways to touch lives of people around them.

“What we are witnessing today is part of the Good Samaritan Blue Basket initiative that kicked off in the Lagos region. Here, staff were encouraged to give whatever they could and share with the less privileged,” she declared.

Additionally, Abazie noted that the function was a continuation of inculcating the culture of touching lives, not only in workforce but the generality of Nigerians.

Mrs. Abazie disclosed that from Abuja, the train of the staff donations to the less privileged will move to the Eastern region of the country where the physically challenged would be given aid-equipment.

She explained “Our next destination is the East; we will give out equipment like wheel chairs to the needy physically challenged in the hospitals and homes like this. We are determined to reach as many as possible this yuletide period”

Ensuring that the essence of the yuletide was felt by the home, a Christmas cake was provided which the children and the Multilinks staff cut together before everybody took to the dance floor.

There was enough for the children to eat and drink at the event which lasted about five hours.

Commenting on the event of the day, the Pharmacist-in-Charge of the home, Pharm. Tijanni Muftau thanked the Multilinks stafaf for ringing joy to the hearts of the children.

“Though individuals and organizations have been responsive by giving donations to the children during festive periods “but this is the first corporate organization to organize a Christmas party for the children this period. As you can see, they thoroughly enjoyed themselves and I am sure they are thankful. The materials they brought were very much appreciated too,” he said.

Pointing out that their coming really touched something in the minds of these children.

“This kind gesture has given a sense of belonging to these children. We only pray that others would also be encouraged to contribute to making a difference in the lives of these children”, he added.

Also included among the daily materials donated to the children, were telecommunication devices like cell phones, mobile internet modems, branded tables, chairs and umbrellas.

ITREALMS Online ... delivering news for ICT4D

Suburban, largest IP-backbone provider – Ayonote

Suburban Telecom West Africa is the largest Internet Protocol (IP)-backbone provider in the region, according to the Group Chief Executive officer, Mr. Bruce Ayonote.

Speaking in Lagos, as part of the events to mark the 10th anniversary of Suburban Telecom West Africa, Mr. Ayonote said that his firm has grown to become a market leader in IP-MPLS with coverage across the region in the past one decade.

The company’s connection, he said, has extended to the neighbouring countries in the region like Ghana, Benin and Togo.

He promised that Suburban would endeavour to sustain the growth made so far in the past 10 years.

He noted that Suburban is a next generation driven telecom infrastructure provider in the country.

“We carry voice, video and data,” he declared, stressing that Suburban has built over 1000 kilometres of cables domestically, with additional 400 kilometers for the regional fibre from Nigeria to Ghana, linking up Benin and Togo in the process.

“Currently, we have over 40 corporate clients,” he asserted, pointing out that Suburban has five subsidiaries, namely in core telecom, broadband, systems, telecom BVI and eXchange.

These five different companies, he said, have individual focus in various segment of telecommunications, just as it has 48 cities in the country and 55 point of presence (POP).

Ayonote, equally said, that the company has commenced the implementation of its forth phase in its determination to deliver to Nigerians and communities where it has presence a world class offering.

Hence, Suburban, he said, has launched a nationwide telemedicine network, regional MPLs network and expanded international capacity to 5 Giga Bytes (GB).

Ayonote, who was accompanied by other top management staff of Suburban, said the future strategy of the company is to consolidate the leadership it attained over the years.

ITREALMS Online ... delivering news for ICT4D

SON certifies Helios Towers with ISO 9001-2008

The Standards Organisation of Nigeria (SON) has certified the operations of co-location infrastructure licensee, the Helios Towers Nigeria (HTN).

According to SON Director General, Dr. John Akanya, the certification heralded with the presentation is a ‘loan’ of certificate, which means that Helios Towers Nigeria has to do all in its capacity in terms of living up with the guidelines provided by SON at all times.

“HTN has the certificate on loan and is presented in public,” he said.
This, he also said, when default may culminate in SON withdrawal its certification, which a special endorsement that it met the requirement of the federal government through its services.

Commending the company for achieving this feat, he specially paid tribute to the workers of Helios Towers Nigeria, saying that the dream of the company to rank top among equals would not have been possible with dedicated employee.

He assured HTN of SON resolve to work with them to ensure that the value of the certification trickles down to the citizens of Nigeria.

“The company that focuses on quality is a company that has guaranteed employment,” he noted.

Responding to the presentation, the chief executive officer, Helios Towers Nigeria, Mr. Fazal Hussain, said the firm is the foremost infrastructure sharing and managed services provider, just as they have developed the Lean Operator Model (LOM).

For him, the certification is a confirmation of HTN’s conformity with the requirements of NIS ISO 9001: 2008 standards, which is evident of HTN facilities nationwide.

ISO 9001:2008, he noted, specifies requirements for a quality management system where an organization needs to demonstrate its ability to consistently provide products and services that meet customer, statutory and regulatory requirements.

“It aims at enhancing customer satisfaction through the effective application of the system, including processes for continual improvement of the system and the assurance of conformity to customer, statutory and regulatory requirements,” he said.

As said by him, ISO standards provide requirements and gives guidance on good management practice and quality management systems.

“It is now firmly established as the globally accepted standard for providing assurance about the ability to satisfy quality requirements and to enhance customer satisfaction in supplier-customer relationships,” he said.

He recalled that HTN, which started operations in January 2006, with the first site went live in June 2006.

“Currently, our site portfolio includes over 1000 four-operator sites across Nigeria’s the six geo-political zones with a strong presence in key locations including Abuja, Lagos, Port Harcourt, Warri, Kaduna, Onitsha and Ibadan. Services include infrastructure sharing , Managed Services and Backhaul,” he said.

Hussain further said, Helios Towers is well financed by a range of international institutional investors including Helios Investment Partners (HIP); a $400m pan-African private equity fund, International Finance Corporation(IFC) and Shanduka Group of South Africa.

ITREALMS Online ... delivering news for ICT4D

HP Store celebrates 1yr with discounts

HP Store is celebrating its first birthday with goodies that would make the Christmas merry for all customers.

Launched in December 2008 as the first HP Store in Sub Saharan Africa the Store stocks HP PCs, laptops, servers, printers, inks, toners and cartridges and accessories.

Located in the highbrow Idowu Martins Street, Victoria Island, Lagos and backed by the intuitive professionalism of some market leaders, HP Store has emerged the Number 1 HP Store in the Middle East, Mediterranean and Africa, MEMA, in terms of revenue and growth.

Manager, HP Store, Mrs. Ugochi Asinugo, attributed the success of the HP Store to the outstanding quality of the products on display, dedication and responsiveness of staff, the availability and affordability of the HP products, and a terrific after sales support.

Asinugo also said, the success HP Stores reflects the growing capacity of Nigerians to run a structured business guided by international standards and processes.

She revealed that the success of the HP Store in Nigeria has justified the confidence of HP while affirming the potentials of the Nigerian market as the largest market in Africa.

Additionally, she said that the satisfaction of the customers was one key factor that calls for deep gratitude, explaining that this gratitude is responsible for the goodies that have been lined up as 1st anniversary and Christmas gifts.

“These benefits include price slash more than 10 per cent on the undisputed market leader the HP Pavilion bundled with either the HP Basic carry case or a HP Wireless Mobile Mouse (Espresso),” she said.

Further, she said, there is also a nearly 50 per cent price slash for the delectable HP Vivien Tam Mini 1079ie PC and the HP Mini 12133 VC7-M; free Hp Deskjet printers for buying either the HP Compaq TX 2710P Tablet PC or the HP HDX18-11010ea Premium Notebook PC.

Emphasizing that the achievement of the past year is an industry milestone, which has put HP Stores in a celebration mood and every buyer at the HP Store this season is a winner.

The HP Store was launched on December 8, 2008, to create a unique HP Experience between consumers and HP technology. It was personally launched by Mr. Josh Brenkel, HP Vice President for Europe, Middle East and Arica ably assisted by the Managing Director of HP in Nigeria, Mr. Imeh and Industry leaders cutting across the IT hardware market in Nigeria.

The HP Experience is essentially achieved through a critical display that is historical in content. Visitors at the HP Store are immediately confronted with the latest state of the arts trends in the development of Information Communications and Technology products. Customers don’t have to plough through tedious inventory, they just walk in and these rare products are sitting there on the shelves, waiting to be requisitioned.

ITREALMS Online ... delivering news for ICT4D

LASIMRA orders firms to submit facility maps

The Lagos State Infrastructure Maintenance and Regulatory Agency (LASIIMRA), has ordered all the service companies operating in the state approximated two weeks from today to submit statistics and maps on their existing underground facilities, especially Information and Communication Technology (ICT) service providers.

General Manager, LASIMRA, Mr. Joe Igbokwe, who made this disclosure in Lagos, weekend, said companies operating in Lagos, has up till December 22, 2009 to submit their statistics and maps on any existing underground facility.

He said, the agency has vowed to sanction operators who fail to comply with this time limit, just as he listed some of the operating companies to include all telecommunications, electricity, water and gas companies that have existing underground facilities in its domain.

Igbokwe also said the order has is imperative to enable the agency properly coordinate and harmonise such facilities, hence it is aimed at using the statistics to adequately confront the problems of damage to underground facilities that may be caused by contractors handling various projects in the state, including road projects for government and corporate bodies.

He promised that the statistics are not to be used in calculation of company’s income tax.

“For the umpteenth time and for the avoidance of doubt, we wish to reiterate that it has no pecuniary or tax undertone. It has nothing to do with tax or levy as the state’s monthly Internally Generated Revenue (IGR) profile has improved considerably and remains enviable among the 36 states comprising the Nigerian nation,” he said.

According to Igbokwe, LASMIRA is making this request on all gas, electricity, water and telecom companies operating in the state to forward to the agency, individual statistics and maps on their existing underground facilities in the state.

As said by him, the maps should be forwarded in hard and soft copies and to reach the agency on or before Tuesday, December 22, 2009, stressing that the information from the statistics would be useful to the agency for record purposes in 2010, while soliciting their compliance to enable LASIMRA serve them better in the coming year.

Igbokwe said the agency was worried that service operating companies were slow in their responses to the issue, having written them initially on the subject matter.

Quoting the reference number of the letter written to service operating companies early in the year as LASIMRA/CS/18/VOL.11/286 dated March 24, 2009, requesting affected companies to make submissions to the agency on or before April 18, 2009, Igbokwe said “it is un-gratifying to note that none of the affected companies responded to the earlier request.

ITREALMS Online ... delivering news for ICT4D

OAU honours Ndukwe with D.Sc degree

The Executive Vice Chairman of the Nigerian Communications Commission (NCC), Dr. Ernest Ndukwe, has been conferred with yet another honorary degree of Doctor of Science in Communications (D.Sc.) (honoris causa) by the Obafemi Awolowo University (OAU) at the 37th Convocation ceremonies of the university which held Saturday, December 12, 2009.

The university said that the conferment of the degree is in recognition of his “contribution to the telecommunications industry and to the socio-economic development of Nigeria.”

According to the Vice Chancellor, OAU, Professor Michael Faborode who recently hinted about the university’s Senate’s recommendation on Ndukwe, said his conferment with the degree is in recognition of his contributions to the Nigeria nation.

Also, he recalled that the conferment of the degree on the electrical and electronics engineer alumnus of the university who has made his mark in the nation’s development, hence is one of the highlights of the convocation ceremonies.

“You know that OAU doctorate is one of the most prestigious. You do not buy it or lobby for it. The Senate of the University has considered Engr. Ernest Ndukwe worthy of this degree,” he said.

The conferment last weekend of the degree on Dr. Ndukwe by the OAU brings to three the number of front line universities in Nigeria recognizing him in that capacity.
ITRealms Online recalls that he had earlier received similar degrees from the University of Nigeria, Nsukka, and the Federal University of Technology, FUTO Owerri and now the OAU.

ITREALMS Online ... delivering news for ICT4D