Ghanaians yearn for Glo’s roll-out

•Plan 6-hr switch off protest tomorrow

Telecommunications subscribers and stakeholders in Ghana are yearning for the services of the Nigeria’s second national operator, Globacom, which obtained operational license in the country since 2008.

This is coming as Ghanaian subscribers are now warming up for a six-hour switch off of mobile phones to protest poor quality of service (QoS) tomorrow, countrywide, just as operators would lose an estimated $6 million, about N909m, owing to the demonstration.

Presently, out of the Nigeria-based three mobile telecom operators in the country that have licenses in Ghana, namely Glo, MTN, and Zain only Glo has not launched commercial services.

Some Ghanaian telecom stakeholders who spoke to ITRealms Online at the weekend in the city of Accra said that they are over-yearning for Globacom’s time to roll-out services.

They also acknowledged the fact that Glo 1 submarine cable landed in Accra, but wondered why the telecom operator has not deemed it fit to roll-out officially its services to benefit Ghana’s economy.

They expressed reservation over the delay in rolling out services by Globacom, close to two years after it obtained operational GSM license.

For a lady described as Ms Kathryn, who runs a travel agency, “As you can see, Glo symbols seem to be everywhere, mostly at the airport, but the company is yet to roll out.”

She pointed that Glo even has a very elaborate office bloc in the city, in addition to the cable that landed last year, yet, there is no service attached to it, as far as Ghanaians telecom consumers are concerned.

Another Ghanaian, a cab driver, Kwame, told ITRealms Online that every day they look forward to official roll-out of commercial services by Globacom, noting that long ago Globacom has decorated Kotoka International Airport, but to no avail as no one knows what exactly could be the company’s plans or problems.

“We are daily expecting to see their service and we are getting tired,” he declared, noting though that Glo service may not be very different from what is obtained now, but it could increase competition and then better services.

ITRealms Online recalls that during the week ending July 19, 2008, the National Communication Authority (NCA) of Ghana handed over a Global System for Mobile communications (GSM) to the management of Globacom led by its Group Chief Operating Officer, Mr. Mohamed Jameel.

Speaking then at the brief ceremony at NCA headquarters in Accra, its Chairman, Mr. Jude Kofi Arthur, expressed optimism that the telecom giant would deliver on innovative products and urged the mobile company to always consider all stakeholders in the industry including the government, fellow operators, the regulator and the public in all its endeavours.

“On behalf of the government of Ghana and the NCA, I present to Glo, the license to operate mobile cellular service in Ghana. This is the end of the licensing process but the beginning of the relationship with Glo,” Arthur said.

Reacting, Mr. Jameel had expressed gratitude to the government and people of Ghana, and particularly the NCA, for having confidence in Glo Mobile’s ability to operate quality cellular mobile service. Just as he promised Globacom would not let them down.

“We’ll leave no stone unturned in our bid to provide world class and innovative telecommunication service for the people. We thank you for the transparent international bidding process,” he said.

Restating that Glo would not hesitate in its determination to execute the vision of the board to build Africa’s biggest and best telecommunication network, assuring that Glo “shall be a disciplined operator and we need the support of NCA.”

According to Jameel, Glo would cooperate with all the other operators, saying that the firm is challenged by the confidence the NCA and the public have reposed on them based on its continental pedigree.

“We wish to assure you that we shall, with your collective support and goodwill, meet your expectation and yearning for quality and affordable telecoms products and services,” he said.

He assured that based on the antecedent of Glo Mobile, both in Nigeria and Benin Republic, the network would deploy robust telecommunication infrastructure and services in Ghana with the government and people as the biggest beneficiaries.

By securing the GSM license in Ghana, Glo became the sixth mobile operator to be licensed in that country.

Although anticipation was that by April 2009, that is, over a year ago, the Ghana operation of Glo Mobile should have gone commercial.

Efforts to reach Glo’s spokesman, Mr. Bode Opesietan, was not successful as he could not respond to either calls, text message and email sent to him as at press time.

But a source close to Globacom, however, informed ITRealms Online that there are some issues challenges causing the delay, including getting permissions for right of way for erection of its masts and vandalization of infrastructure already on ground.

Meanwhile, the Consumer Protection Agency (CPA) of Ghana has announced its resolve to protest against all the telecommunications operators in the country over poor quality of service.


The protest being spearheaded by CPA has been scheduled to hold tomorrow, Thursday, May 27, this year, according to public announcement on the Ghana TV3 and Ghana News Agency (GNA), at the weekend.

The announcement quoted the Chief Executive Officer, CPA, Mr. Kofi Kapito as saying that the demonstration would also present a petition to the Minister of Communications, to express the discontentment of Ghanaians over the poor quality of services provided by telecom operators.

“The CPA is calling on Ghanaians to switch off their mobile phones from 6:00 am to 12:00 noon on May 27 as a protest to signal to the telecommunication companies that without consumers, they do not exist,” part of the statement read.

Further, it said that the ‘six-hour phone off’ protest, would cost the telecommunication companies about six million dollars which would enable them to respect the right of consumers.

Additionally, CPA said the physical demonstration would start from Kwame Nkumah Circle at 9 am and end at 2pm, through High Street, to Rawlings Park, Kojo Thompson road, Kinbu Lane to Ministry of Communications, and proceed through Osu and end at Danquah Circle after a press conference, even as the agency urged all telecom consumer in Ghana to heed the call.
“We invite all consumers to join the demonstration” part of the press statement read.

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ICT: Experts canvass practical liberalisation

A one-day workshop on impacts of liberalisation of Information and Communications Technologies (ICT) trade services, was held in Lagos, recently. REMMY NWEKE who participated, reports on the need for African countries to enthrone policies that could engender economics beyond immediate shoreslines by walking the talk.

Despite the level of growth recorded in the past 10 years of the Global System for Mobile communication (GSM), which invariably gave rise to the recognition of the Information and Communications Technology (ICT) sector, experts are of the opinion that more legal frameworks are needed to further strengthen the market.

This is mostly in the area of engendering liberalization of ICT beyond the shores of individual countries on the continent, particularly in West Africa where there are a mixture of both Anglophone and Francophone nations with seemingly language barrier.

These were some of the opinions highlighted at the recently held one-day workshop on ‘The impact of Liberalization on trade in ICT goods and services’ organized by the Faculty of Social sciences, University of Lagos and led by the trio of Prof. Tayo Fakiyesi of department of Economics, Prof. Ike Mowete of Engineering and Prof. Peter Fogam of department of commercial law, all of the University of Lagos (UNILAG); as part of efforts at disseminating their finds under LICOM’s Nigeria project.

The workshop, which witnessed a good number of stakeholders, mostly from the academia, saw experts urging telecommunication companies in the country to challenge the academia by endowing chairs on technological research across the nation’s higher institutions.

All those who presented papers during the workshop were of the opinions that the sector needs to be improved to fast track economic development of the nation towards stimulating means to encourage inter-country commerce.

Introducing the project in an overview, Prof. Mowete said that it was initiated by Dakar-based Panos Institute of West Africa (PIWA) under the sponsorship of the International Development Research Centre (IDRC), Canada, with focus on the impact of international liberalization of trade in ICT services, the implications of implementation for public policies in West Africa.

According to him, the studies on this project covered Benin, Ghana, Nigeria and Senegal, noting that in Nigeria, a UNILAG team executed the project, which included three professors, stressing that the objectives of the scheme includes to contribute to a better and informed understanding of the challenges of liberalization of trade in ICT services in the sub-region.

The study, Mowete said, was situated within the framework of the World Trade Organisation (WTO)’s General Agreement on Trade in Services (GATS) as basic policy implementation strategies. He also listed some specific objectives to include the identification and analyzing key legal provisions, deduce the perception of sector stakeholders about risks and challenges, characterize the ICT sector with particular reference to the services sub-sector, estimate the costs and assess the merits claimed by liberalization as well as recommendations and disseminate, accordingly.

Specifically, he said that four separate investigations were carried out beginning with a critique of the legal provisions as they concerned trade in ICT services, followed by a survey of ICT services sector in Lagos, which is the hub of ICT market in the country. This attempt came on the heels of the questionnaire survey to obtain perception of players and finally, a cost-benefit analysis.

He disclosed that the purpose of the workshop was to present the outcomes of the studies across the three professors covering the key three sectors to drive trade liberalization beyond any given shores, pointing out that Prof. Fogam would provide the legal provisions, himself would take on the characterization and perception, Prof. Fakiyesi would dwell on costs and benefits.

In his paper, Prof. Peter Fogam noted that despite the rapid development recorded in ICT in the country, the sector is still bedeviled with a high level of inconsistency on ICT policy. Underscoring the fact that total application of ICT in most developing countries are hindered by the lack of comprehensive legal and regulatory frame work. He said that, though, Nigeria has taken a bold leap forward by legal and regulatory measures on ground, but there is need to improve on it.

He also said that the ever changing nature of ICT industry is such that it’s difficult to imagine the challenges that these measures may face in future, therefore, much are yet to be done to meet these challenges.

“Nevertheless, what exist today by way of national communication policy and Communications Act 2003, underscores the facts that a sustainable ICT industry in Nigeria needs an environment of trust created through legal and regulatory apparatus,” he declared.

Fogam equally said that the opportunity brought about by ICT needs a strict legal and regulatory environment for proper coordination, noting that the present ICT status in the country, have been influenced by policies and statutes.

ICTs, the professor of law said, have led to the convergence between the media and the telecommunications in such a way that today, it is possible for one to read newspapers online and listen to radio stations across the globe from different websites through multimedia connectivity.

He stressed the importance of ICT in the affairs of any nation, saying that it cannot be overemphasized, because ICT enhances economic growth through competition, and consistently increases trades and investments. Maintaining that ICT enables the modernization of private sector through improved market access, sales, trade and facilitation of research and development, asserting, “ICT has a very broad range of application that span across various sectors of health, education, agriculture, e-government and e-economic.”

In his contribution at the workshop, an economist, Prof. Fakiyesi reflected on the fact that ICT in the country has raised the level of employment opportunities, but solicited for strict regulatory measures that would check some fraudulent practices associated with it.

According to him, the growth of ICT in the country has its negative effects, including the use of these technologies to commit crimes and fraudulent practices, warning that the negative side has assumed publicity because it has been exploited by some Nigerian youths.

However, against the aforementioned demerit, Fakiyesi said ICT sector has lifted the nation’s economy and there is need for stakeholders to work towards improving the sector for more financially viable growth and development, pointing out that “ICT has raised employment and investment in the country and it has come to stay. It has reduced cost of trade and increased productivity.”

The economist further decried that apart from the improvement on the economy, ICT has also enhanced falsehood, dissemination of harmful information, as well as fraudulent activities in the transaction of businesses.

ICT, he said accounts for about 1.62 per cent of the national Gross Domestic Product (GDP), with over 50.90 per cent growth, just as ICT has substantially contributed to the nation’s growth, especially since 2000 when the sector was practically liberalized.

On the benefit drivable to Nigerians, Fakiyesi said that the increased development has to match with level of service provided, stressing that benefits outweigh demerits in terms of services, but services must improve.

Prof. Fakiyesi pointed out that why academic communities seem not to be involved in the research leading to ICT innovations was due to lack of professional endowed chair in the nation’s tertiary institutions by operators in the sector, which has not been helpful.

He decried the absence of political will by those in government to give the academia the opportunity to research on ICT, but prefer expatriates to supply all that is needed in the sector.

"The environment is not conducive, the political will has not given us the opportunity to work towards research, not that we cannot do good jobs but the political will is not there. The essence of this workshop is to create more ICT businesses in Nigeria and we’re ready to work towards the improvement of ICT sector,” he said.

Universities and some professionals, he said, needed to be consulted when policies on ICTs are being formulated, especially from the tertiary institutions, alleging that some of the people who are making policies on ICT today are not professionals.

And cited an instance with the United Kingdom and American telecommunication companies who go around the universities endowing chairs for research on how to improve their services, insisting that the network providers, should be able to identify their needs and get to the universities to research on these areas.

"In United Kingdom ICT companies go around to universities to establish chairs for research. MTN, Glo and Zain should come to us for research, they should tell us what they want and guide us on how they want it, we’re ready to do research, but these people are not ready to encourage research work in the country. The research should be under their guidance, and the findings should be theirs,’’ he said.

However, deductible from the above workshop is that there is still a long way to go, but if every other country in the sub-region could improve on their policies, definitely the economic activities in the region would increase to provide a better lifestyle to the populace, despite the negative aspects.

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Nwakanma retains seat @ FOSSFA till 2012

Nigerian-born Information and Communications Technologies (ICT) consultant based in Cote D’Ivoire, Ms Nnenna Nwakanma, has retained her seat to preside over the Free and Open Source Software Foundation for Africa (FOSSFA) for the next two years.

Her election came unopposed at the just concluded five-day Idlelo 4 conference and Annual General Meeting (AGM) of FOSSFA, which held at the Kofi Annan Indian Centre of Excellence in ICT, Accra-Ghana, at the weekend.

Also elected in the new FOSSFA Executive Council following the nomination of 21 council members from all regions on the continent of Africa, who constituted the electoral-college for the Exco to emerge, based on the group’s constitution.

These include Gambian Katim Touray as vice chairman, while Egyptian Samer Azmy of Geek2Live was elected secretary general, and Ugandan Milton Aineruhanga emerged Treasurer.

Nwakanma, who is the chief executive officer of nnenna.org, is a reputed consultant on Africa with expertise in development and communications, leading a team of cutting edge specialists on ICT, rapporteurs, researchers, trainers and language facilitators among others.

She was nominated by a council member Mr. Fred and seconded by Mrs. Dorothy Gordon. She would lead FOSSFA till Idlelo 5 in 2012.

The council also agreed to amend its constitution, especially in increasing the number of the exco members to accommodate the post of assistant secretary general and publicity secretary in the next election.

FOSSFA has its origin in the ICT Policy and Civil Society workshop held in Addis Ababa, Ethiopia in November 2002, which was convened by the United Nations Economic Commission for Africa, on the mandate of the Bamako Bureau established by the African Council of ICT ministers in the continent’s preparation towards the World Summit on the Information Society (WSIS), where it was unanimously resolved to create an interim civil society task force on open source tagged “Open Source Task Force for Africa (OSTA).”

The task force has since transformed into FOSSFA with the consent of its members to advocate for the use and implementation of open source solutions at the regional, national and local levels; urge donor governments that have already embraced open source at national levels such as Germany, Sweden, Norway and France to support Africa in this regard.

In addition, FOSSFA has the mandate to create a clearinghouse or knowledge factory - resources, database of local expertise on ‘Who is doing What’, website, CD-ROM, brochures among others and then define minimum standards, guidelines and advisory parameters for the foundation; building localized cum African capacity to work on software development; ensuring a discourse on open source during the National Information and Communication Infrastructure (NICI) policy processes and addendum for the NICI processes that have already been completed.

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Rotary Club commends Etisalat on ethics

Acclaimed most innovative mobile operator in the country, Etisalat, has been commended for promoting ethical standards in community service, business and the professions by the Rotary Club.

Making this commendation, recently was the Governor, Rotary Club international District 9110, Rotarian Emmanuel Tayo Alabi, at the club’s district conference sponsored by Etisalat in Abeokuta, Ogun state between the 12th and 15th of May.

Alabi noted that the 4-day event had been made possible through the support provided by the telecommunication company.

This partnership, he said, was brokered in recognition of Etisalat’s understanding of the objectives of Rotary on the heels of the club’s quest for a major sponsorship of the District 9110 conference in Abeokuta.

Corroborating this fact, the Governor, the Rotary Club conference chairperson, Rotarian Ibikunle Ogunbayo pointed out that Rotary values and what it stands for comprised integrity, high ethical standards, and service to humanity to name a few.

These values, Ogunbayo said, have been a major attraction to the telecoms giant.
“It is hoped that this partnership with Etisalat will go beyond Abeokuta 2010. The partnership will be of direct benefit to Rotary projects and will also provide some exclusive products to Rotarians and their families,” Ogunbayo said.

The Director Brands and Communications, Etisalat Nigeria, Mr. Yinka Akande, said that the telco and Rotary International share a lot of commonalities in values.

“By associating with the Rotary Club, we are telling Nigerians that we have a strong humanistic streak in our company DNA. We recognise Rotary as a body of business and professional leaders with the objectives of providing humanitarian services, encouraging high ethical standards and building goodwill and peace,” he said.

Emphasising that these are in perfect sync with what Etisalat represent and as a global leadership brand, believes that Corporate Social Responsibility (CSR) means creating sustainable value for the society through innovative and sustainable products and services, while minimising environmental impact as well as ensuring best ethical standards in dealing with our stakeholders.

Rotary International is the world’s first service club organization, with more than 1.2million members worldwide. The clubs works to combat hunger, improve health and sanitation, provide education and joint training, promote peace and eradicate polio, under the motto: service above self.

Currently standing at the 140th position among Financial Times’ top 500 corporations in the world, Etisalat is the largest provider of telecommunications services in Africa and the Middle East and serves an ever-increasing subscriber base of 100 million people across Africa, Middle East and Asia.

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Omatek offers special discount for Children’s Day

Omatek Computer plc, has announced a special discount for the 2010 Children’s Day celebration in the country, running for 27 days.

Disclosing this in Lagos, Tuesday, Head of Marketing, Omatek, Mr. Kayode Yeku, said that as a household name in computers and home entertainment products, the company introduced this discount in fulfillment of its promised to make this year’s Children’s Day celebrations a memorable one.

He also said that Omatek Computers is participating at the 2010 Splash For Joy Children’s Carnival, scheduled to kick-off at Parkview Estate, Ikoyi and terminates at the Cricket Pitch, Tafawa Balewa Square, Lagos on Thursday, May 27, 2010.

Mr. Yeku, Omatek would be offering a special discount of 27 per cent, which would be applicable to all 8” and 10” smartbooks purchased within 27 days from May 27, 2010.

“All children who visit the Omatek stand during the carnival will also have the opportunity to benefit from a free computer training programme as well as a unique hands-on experience at the Omatek factory during long vacation,” he said.

According to him, the special Children’s Day offer is hinged on the firm’s e-learning platform which provides students with the opportunity to own their personal computers as a catch-them-young initiative to empower the youths.

He explained that the Omatek 8” and 10” smartbooks are specially designed for students and educational sector.

“They are portable and come in various attractive colours. They are equally equipped with robust Wireless Fidelity (Wi-Fi) coverage of over 50 meters, 160 Gega Bytes (GB) hard disk space,1GB Random Access Memory (RAM), current Encarta package, Little Finger Educational Game and so on,” he declared.

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Coscharis partners Kobian on Mercury products

Coscharis Technologies Limited has been appointed by Kobian Pte Limited as the sole distributor of her mercury products in the country.

Disclosing this at the end of the 2010 Computer, Technology and Office Equipment exhibitions and conference in Lagos, the General Manager, Coscharis Technologies, Mr. George Opara said an exclusive agreement was signed by the representatives of both companies made up of himself and Director of Sales, Kobian Pte Limited, Mr. Sajid Shaikh on behalf of their respective organizations.

Opara also said that the signing of the deal was the climax of over 15 years of relationship between two companies on various brands of Mercury products.

Coscharis Technologies, he noted, started business with Kobian in order to develop the market resulting to the deal.

The exclusivity, he said, would be of greater advantage to customers and resellers of mercury products in the country, stressing that the huge branch network available to Coscharis Technologies would assist the company in making the Mercury products the choice nationwide.

Some of the products, he listed to include Mercury motherboard, casings, Uninterrupted power supply (UPS) of various specifications, keyboard and mouse, Mercury TFT Monitors of 15”, 17”, 19”, Mercury Scanners, Inverters of 1KVS, 2Kva, 3.5Kva, 5Kva, Mercury AVRs of various specs, Mercury online UPS, Counting Machines, Mercury Surveillance Cameras and Close Circuit Television.

Coscharis Technologies is also an authorized distributor for Microsoft, Lenovo, APC by Scheider Electric.

Expressing delight over the deal, Opara described it as a vote of confidence bestowed on Coscharis Technologies.

In his remarks, Mr. Shaikh said that his company’s 15-year relationship with Coscharis Technologies was based on trust and mutual respect, and challenged Coscharis Technologies’ team to strive in making the product a house hold name in the country.

Coscharis Technologies Limited, was incorporated in March, 1993 as an integrated Information Technology firm and has since grown into a significant member of the Coscharis Group, an indigenous conglomerate with a mission to become the leading player in the nation’s IT industry in the provision of a wide range of quality choices to network of dealers and resellers, offering unbeatable technical and financial support to them without compromising on quality of products and speed of delivery.

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MTN ends 21-day Y’ello care in style

LEADING Global System for Mobile (GSM) communications operator, MTN Nigeria, has ended its 21-day Y’ello care, last weekend, reports CHARLES OKOH.

The initiative saw about 1,379 MTN staff participating in over 60 activities aimed at touching lives of the less privileged and donating to public institutions.

Speaking during the commissioning of a renovated wing of the Military Hospital on Awolowo Road, Ikoyi-Lagos, the General Manager, Corporate Communications, MTN Nigeria, Mrs. Funmi Omogbenigun, said for four years now, MTN staff volunteers across the 21 operating units in Africa, Asia, and the Middle East used the platform to impact on the lives of the people in their immediate environments.

She also said that this year, efforts were directed at educating the people and galvanizing them to eradicate malaria and that the event presented a unique opportunity to rally against this mass killer of the people.

“It is estimated that one million people, about 90 per cent of whom are children, are killed by malaria every year. This explains why MTN has joined forces with two global campaigns; United Against Malaria and One Goal: Education for all, both of which aim to eradicate disease and poverty from Africa,” she said.

Welcoming participants, the Commanding Officer, Administration, Military Hospital, Ikoyi, Colonel Onaolapo Oladiran, said the initiative by MTN was worthy of emulation to inculcate the spirit of selfless giving and volunteerism.

“When we were notified of the intention of MTN staff to take up the renovation of a wing of this hospital, we did not quite know what to make of it, and even wondered if there would be any cost implications to the hospital. We feel blessed and we are very grateful that our great hospital was selected to be a beneficiary of this wonderful programme,” he said.

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Cloud computing saves money - ITU

The Director for Telecommunication Standardization Bureau at the International Telecommunication Union (ITU), Mr. Malcolm Johnson, has said that cloud computing saves costs for servers and storage.

He also said that cloud computing offers speed and streamlines application deployment without upfront capital, stressing that for this reason alone, many enterprises, governments and network cum service providers are now considering adaptation of cloud computing to provide more efficient and cost effective network services.

Mr. Johnson who spoke at the end of ITU-T Focus Group on Cloud Computing meeting in Geneva, last weekend, pointed out that cloud is an exciting area of Information and Communications Technologies (ICTs) where there are a lot of protocols to be designed and standards to be adopted to allow people to best manage their digital assets.

“Our new Focus Group aims to provide some much needed clarity in the area,” he said.
Commenting also, the Vice President, Research at Yankee Group, Camille Mendler, said that cloud computing deployments are being announced on an almost daily basis, pointing out that interoperability, is a challenge.

“Cloud computing is the future of ICTs. It’s urgent to address interoperability issues which could stall global diffusion of new services. Collaboration between private and public sectors is required, and ITU is ideally suited to facilitate productive dialogue,” Mendler said.

Chairman, ITU Focus Group on Cloud Computing, Vladimir Belenkovich, said that the group would investigate requirements for standardization in cloud computing and suggest future study paths for ITU.

“Specifically, we will identify potential impacts in standards development in other fields such as Next Generation Networks (NGN), transport layer technologies, ICTs and climate change, and media coding,” he said.

As outlined the first brief exploratory phase, he said, will determine standardization requirements and suggest how these may be addressed within ITU study groups and work will then begin on developing the standards necessary to support the global rollout of fully interoperable cloud computing solutions.

A recently published ITU-T Technology Watch Report titled ‘Distributed Computing: Utilities, Grids and Clouds’ describes the advent of clouds and grids, the applications they enable, and their potential impact on future standardization.

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Indian delegation for WAFRITEL

A delegation of Indian telecommunications companies are expected to grace the 10th West African International Telecommunications and Information Communications Technology exhibition (W.Afri.Tel 2010), which commences in Lagos on Tuesday, next week.
The delegation is coming under the auspices of Telecom Export Promotion Council (TEPC)of India, with the support of the Indian government.

Already, ITRealms Online, gathered that the delegation has secured prime spots at the three-day W.Afri.Tel exhibition at the New Eko Expo Hall, Eko Hotel, Victoria Island.

According to the organizers, a press statement from the Indian High Commission in the country and signed by the Head, Chancery, Mr. Raj Kumar, underscored the importance of the delegation’s visit which depicts Nigeria as high-profile in telecommunications market.

“We are pleased to inform you that Telecom Equipment and Services Export Promotion Council, Government of India will be bringing a high-level telecom trade delegation for exclusively promoting telecommunications and related services from India to Lagos from 1st to 3rd June, 2010,” he said, stressing that the delegation would be participating in the 10th West African International Telecommunications Exhibition and Conference.

“This delegation represents a very major area of focus of our bilateral trade and economic relations which will eventually lead to a mutual beneficial cooperation,” Mr. Kumar said.

Validating this development, the Editor-in-Chief of IT & Telecom Digest, sole Nigeria agent for the show, Mr. Mkpe Abang, said the delegation has since booked several a very impressive and sizeable space, which will serve as a pavilion specifically for their members to exhibit during the expo.

“I am pleased to confirm that the TEPC of India, has indeed booked a very impressive space to exhibit at this year’s W.Afri.Tel; and it is quite clear that the Indians mean business by making this visit at such an opportune moment, to exhibit in West Africa’s premier ICT show,” Abang declared.

Noting that this is coming at a time when Bharti recently consummated the deal to purchasing Zain’s Africa operations, of which Zain Nigeria is the largest of this operation, the Indian trade mission’s visit and exhibition at W.Afri.Tel 2010 is a clear demonstration and testimony to the fact that any investment made in the Nigerian telecom industry is high-income yielding both in the short and long term.


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ICANN invites comments on ‘Meetings for the Next Decade’

Global internet coordinating organisation, the Internet for Corporation and Assigned Names and Numbers (ICANN) has announced the review of its ‘Meetings for the Next Decade’.

ICANN in a press statement made available to ITRealms Online, last weekend, said the time is right to look at the meetings ICANN holds each year from a holistic and truly bottom-up perspective, so as to ensure that such meetings optimally serve the community in the most cost-effective and stakeholder-focused ways possible.

For this reason, ICANN said it’s announcing the beginning of stage one of the “Meetings for the Next Decade” consultation process.

The consultation, ITRealms Online learnt would comprise a detailed survey in six languages, which would be made available online, as the exercise would last till July 5, 2010.

ICANN also advised respondents to send comments via the traditional email-based comment forum where they believe that the survey misses a point that could be important, or where they wish to convey the views of a group or organisation with respect to the questions the survey addresses.

“The survey does allow for a response to be made on behalf of an organisation, as well as by community members speaking in their individual capacity,” part of the statement read.

ITRealms Online recalled that the consultation is part of the programme of the ICANN board’s Public Participation Committee (PPC) and at the staff level is a joint effort of the ICANN meetings department and the Senior Director for Participation and Engagement.

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Abuja to host ITEC-10 in August

Arrangements have been advanced for the hosting of a five-day Information and Communications Technology (ITEC) exhibition at the Federal Capital Territory (FCT), Abuja, in August, this year.

Disclosing this, the Managing Director of the organising company, Medalion Marketing Limited, Mr. Fidel Ikenna Ndubisi, said that ITEC would hold between August 16 and 21, at the Ladi Kwali Hall of the prestigious Sheraton Hotel and Towers in Abuja.

He also said that the forthcoming exhibition and conference would hold on the theme “The role of ICT in improving competitiveness,” and is expected to attract over 150 companies from the ICT sector and 300 professionals and operators.

According to him, the Minister of Information and Communications, Prof. (Mrs) Dora Akunyili, Governor of Anambra, Mr. Peter Obi, and the Acting Executive Vice Chairman, Nigerian Communications Commission (NCC) Mr. Stephen Bello, as well as chairman Senate committee on Communications, Senator Sylvester Anyanwu, would be the special guests to deliver keynote addresses at the event.

Ndubisi further said that the event is being organised in partnership with the Federal Ministry of Communications, NCC, Federal Ministry of Science & Technology, National Information Development Agency (NITDA), Nigeria Computer Society (NCS), Nigeria Association of Chambers of Commerce, Industry, Mines & Agriculture (NACCIMA) among others.

As said by him, ITEC 2010 would be a showcase for Information and Communication Technology products and services, therefore, all stakeholders are invited to the event.

Stressing that telecommunication service providers, mobile phone operators, resellers of hardware and software, accessories as well as system integrators, he said, are expected to grace the five-day exhibition and conference.

He pointed out that the objectives of ITEC would be is to sensitize key policy and decision makers on the potentials of ICT as key drivers for rapid economic and sustainable growth; to provide platform to the professionals to demonstrate and share their experiences and facilitate exchange of ideas, in addition to increasing ICT awareness, while exposing participants to new and emerging trends, products and services in Information Technology (IT).

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Cybercrime trend on the rise – Symantec

Symantec latest Internet Security Threat Report (volume XV) has revealed upward trends in cybercrime from Jan.1, 2009 to Dec. 31, 2009.

In a two very prominent cyber attacks – Conficker in the opening months of the year and Hydraq at the very end, the report otherwise known as the ‘Corps’ highlighted continued growth in both volume and sophistication of the attacks.

Regional Director, Africa at Symantec, Gordon Love said that attacks have evolved from simple scams to highly sophisticated espionage campaigns targeting some of the world’s largest corporations and government entities.

“The scale of these attacks and the fact that they originate from across the world, make it a truly international problem requiring the cooperation of both the private sector and world governments,” Love said.

The Director, also revealed that Nigeria ranked number 43 in Europe, Middle East and Africa (EMEA) and 70 in the world in 2009 for malicious activity.

“In comparison to the previous year, South Africa climbed seven places from 50 to 43 globally,” he said.

In the EMEA region in 2009, 49 per cent of the volumes of top 50 potential infections were classified as worms; which shows an increase from 30 per cent in 2008.

“More specifically, Egypt was the top-ranked country for viruses while Saudi Arabia was the top-ranked country for worms,” Love said.

Worms are malicious programs that replicate themselves from system to system without the use of a host file. This contrasts with viruses, which requires the spreading of an infected host file.

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Ghanaians yearn for Glo’s roll-out

•Plan 6-hr switch off protest tomorrow

Telecommunications subscribers and stakeholders in Ghana are yearning for the services of the Nigeria’s second national operator, Globacom, which obtained operational license in the country since 2008.

This is coming as Ghanaian subscribers are now warming up for a six-hour switch off of mobile phones to protest poor quality of service (QoS) tomorrow, countrywide, just as operators would lose an estimated $6 million, about N909m, owing to the demonstration.

Presently, out of the Nigeria-based three mobile telecom operators in the country that have licenses in Ghana, namely Glo, MTN, and Zain only Glo has not launched commercial services.

Some Ghanaian telecom stakeholders who spoke to ITRealms Online at the weekend in the city of Accra said that they are over-yearning for Globacom’s time to roll-out services.

They also acknowledged the fact that Glo 1 submarine cable landed in Accra, but wondered why the telecom operator has not deemed it fit to roll-out officially its services to benefit Ghana’s economy.

They expressed reservation over the delay in rolling out services by Globacom, close to two years after it obtained operational GSM license.

For a lady described as Ms Kathryn, who runs a travel agency, “As you can see, Glo symbols seem to be everywhere, mostly at the airport, but the company is yet to roll out.”

She pointed that Glo even has a very elaborate office bloc in the city, in addition to the cable that landed last year, yet, there is no service attached to it, as far as Ghanaians telecom consumers are concerned.

Another Ghanaian, a cab driver, Kwame, told ITRealms Online that every day they look forward to official roll-out of commercial services by Globacom, noting that long ago Globacom has decorated Kotoka International Airport, but to no avail as no one knows what exactly could be the company’s plans or problems.

“We are daily expecting to see their service and we are getting tired,” he declared, noting though that Glo service may not be very different from what is obtained now, but it could increase competition and then better services.

ITRealms Online recalls that during the week ending July 19, 2008, the National Communication Authority (NCA) of Ghana handed over a Global System for Mobile communications (GSM) to the management of Globacom led by its Group Chief Operating Officer, Mr. Mohamed Jameel.

Speaking then at the brief ceremony at NCA headquarters in Accra, its Chairman, Mr. Jude Kofi Arthur, expressed optimism that the telecom giant would deliver on innovative products and urged the mobile company to always consider all stakeholders in the industry including the government, fellow operators, the regulator and the public in all its endeavours.

“On behalf of the government of Ghana and the NCA, I present to Glo, the license to operate mobile cellular service in Ghana. This is the end of the licensing process but the beginning of the relationship with Glo,” Arthur said.

Reacting, Mr. Jameel had expressed gratitude to the government and people of Ghana, and particularly the NCA, for having confidence in Glo Mobile’s ability to operate quality cellular mobile service. Just as he promised Globacom would not let them down.

“We’ll leave no stone unturned in our bid to provide world class and innovative
telecommunication service for the people. We thank you for the transparent international bidding process,” he said.

Restating that Glo would not hesitate in its determination to execute the vision of the board to build Africa’s biggest and best telecommunication network, assuring that Glo “shall be a disciplined operator and we need the support of NCA.”

According to Jameel, Glo would cooperate with all the other operators, saying that the firm is challenged by the confidence the NCA and the public have reposed on them based on its continental pedigree.

“We wish to assure you that we shall, with your collective support and goodwill, meet your expectation and yearning for quality and affordable telecoms products and services,” he said.

He assured that based on the antecedent of Glo Mobile, both in Nigeria and Benin Republic, the network would deploy robust telecommunication infrastructure and services in Ghana with the government and people as the biggest beneficiaries.

By securing the GSM license in Ghana, Glo became the sixth mobile operator to be licensed in that country.

Although anticipation was that by April 2009, that is, over a year ago, the Ghana operation of Glo Mobile should have gone commercial.

Efforts to reach Glo’s spokesman, Mr. Bode Opesietan, was not successful as he could not respond to either calls, text message and email sent to him as at press time.

But a source close to Globacom, however, informed ITRealms Online that there are some issues challenges causing the delay, including getting permissions for right of way for erection of its masts and vandalization of infrastructure already on ground.

Meanwhile, the Consumer Protection Agency (CPA) of Ghana has announced its resolve to protest against all the telecommunications operators in the country over poor quality of service.

The protest being spearheaded by CPA has been scheduled to hold tomorrow, Thursday, May 27, this year, according to public announcement on the Ghana TV3 and Ghana News Agency (GNA), at the weekend.

The announcement quoted the Chief Executive Officer, CPA, Mr. Kofi Kapito as saying that the demonstration would also present a petition to the Minister of Communications, to express the discontentment of Ghanaians over the poor quality of services provided by telecom operators.

“The CPA is calling on Ghanaians to switch off their mobile phones from 6:00 am to 12:00 noon on May 27 as a protest to signal to the telecommunication companies that without consumers, they do not exist,” part of the statement read.

Further, it said that the ‘six-hour phone off’ protest, would cost the telecommunication companies about six million dollars which would enable them to respect the right of consumers.

Additionally, CPA said the physical demonstration would start from Kwame Nkumah Circle at 9 am and end at 2pm, through High Street, to Rawlings Park, Kojo Thompson road, Kinbu Lane to Ministry of Communications, and proceed through Osu and end at Danquah Circle after a press conference, even as the agency urged all telecom consumer in Ghana to heed the call.

“We invite all consumers to join the demonstration” part of the press statement read.

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Global iBurst gets NCC’s nod on mobile broadband

Information and Communications Technologies (ICT) regulator, the Nigerian Communications Commission (NCC) has granted Global iBurst Nigeria Limited to offer mobile broadband services in the country, just as the company plans to roll out before the end of 2010.

Global iBurst Nigeria Limited is a subsidiary of Mauritius-based PoP Broadband Limited, while the latest license would enable the company to deploy, launch and operate its network nationwide and provide fast, affordable and reliable internet connectivity to millions of citizens.

Disclosing this, the Group Chief Executive Officer, POP Broadband Ltd, Mr. Osmo Korri, said that the roll-out would come phases beginning with in phase 1 in Lagos and the Federal Capital of Abuja.

“I am very proud to announce this important milestone. I can now confidently say that Global iBurst will change the lives of millions for the better” Korri declared in press statement made available to ITRealms Online.

He also said that Global iBurst intends to offer highly affordable, reliable, fast internet service to millions of Nigerians.

“Global iBurst’s services will cater for the needs of corporate institutions, small medium enterprises (SMEs), business people and most importantly individual home users who have been yearning for internet connectivity due to the high cost of existing offerings.

The iBurst technology, he said, has been successfully deployed in countries like Ghana, Democratic Republic of Congo (DRC) and South Africa, and affords Global iBurst Nigeria to offer all of its customers’ reliable and mobile high-speed internet connectivity.

Describing his firm’s offer as coming with very affordable modems and prepaid airtime, Korri, promised that services would be available in Global iBurst outlets and selected distribution partners soon to be announced.

Also speaking, the Group Chief Operating Officer of POP Broadband Ltd, Mr. Petteri Paasila assured that getting connected on Global iBurst is very simple.

“There are no complex installations and no contract fees, just buy your modem and pre-paid airtime and enjoy high speed internet. This will be a great advantage to our customers,” he said.

He pointed out that POP Broadband Ltd, is a Mauritius-based company with existing broadband operations in three African countries.

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Starcomms introduces music-on-demand

Telecom company, Starcomms Plc, has introduced Music-on-demand and music dedication on its network.

Unveiling this service in Lagos, the Chief Commercial Officer (CCO) Starcomms, Mr. Tushar Maheshwari said that it would avail the telco subscribers to enjoy, a two-in-one service of music on demand otherwise referred to as ‘Say-it-with-a-song’ and music dedication on all Starcomms’ phones.

He said that ‘Say-it-with-a-song’ for instance, allow subscribers to link Starcomms through a short code - 56060 and demand to listen to their preferred music for 10 minutes nonstop on their Starcomms telephone.

He explained that after enjoying their favourite tunes, the subscriber can also ask for it to be dedicated to a loved one who equally is a user of Starcomms phone.

“The sender can accompany the dedicated music with a voice message which he would have pre-recorded,” he said.

The CCO explained that the mechanics of the music dedication service permits the subscriber of music-on-demand to draw from the diverse collections of music in the Starcomms system and send to others they love on the network.

As said by him, for Starcomms subscribers who have the taste for good music and find it uncomfortable to move around with large music collections, the telco’s music-on-demand is ideal as it enables subscriber to create his jute box within the Starcomms system from where he can always access his favourite tracks, but that is after the first registration.

Further, he explained that the recipient of the service receives the dedicated music as a phone call and listens without paying, however, it is the sender that pays for this unique service.

“This service is one of the efforts of Starcomms at bridging the gap between work and play,” he said, stressing that they want customers to have access to their favourite music without the need of car radio or Media Player (MP3) or their stereo sets at home.

“The music-on-demand can be a motivating device at work or during physical exercise while the music dedication can lift the spirit of a loved one wherever they may be,” he said.


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eWorld partners AIT,KHM on healthy-tech workshop

Industry-based entity, eWorld is partnering the African Independent Television (AIT) InfoTech Network, and KnowHow Media on a one-day workshop on “ICT and the Nigerian Environment 2010: Appropriate Taxation and Promotion of Healthy Environmentally Friendly Technologies.”

A joint press statement from the organized and endorsed by the Chief executive of eWorld, Mr. Aaron Ukodie and his counterpart at AIT Infotech Network, Bayero Agabi, noted that the trio organizations would be rallying stakeholders who have various roles to play in ensuring that the Nigerian environment is free from pollution from Information and Communication Technologies (ICT) tools and infrastructure to a meeting that would shape developments and policies in various areas.

Precisely, Mr. Ukodie said that the collaboration is in pursuit of greener and healthier environment which is a topical issue in the global arena and no effort is too much to ensure the right awareness is created and effective and efficient policies are articulated to achieve the objective.

He also said that the conference, slated for July 30 at Sheraton Lagos, would focus on how to promote the deployment, usage and management of environmentally friendly technologies and appropriate taxation in the sector.

According to him, the underlining call for the conference is that ICT applications, power and transportation are some of three main areas which contribute to the bulk of environmental emissions.

He cited an instance with the fact that in Nigeria, the growth of ICT and its infrastructure are beginning to pose a challenge to the environment as it relates to safety, health and economic growth.

“This is evident in the indiscriminate deployment of telecoms masts and antennas - local and foreign manufactured and assembled,” he said, stressing that this is coupled with the arbitrary disposal of non-environmentally friendly computers, and other ICT applications.

Pointing out that Nigeria, over the years has reportedly become a dumping ground for these various ICT tools and products and government’s efforts to control these activities so as to ensure a cleaner and healthier environment as well as largely uncoordinated aspect.

Equally, Mr. Agabi was quoted as saying that in the global arena, various agencies and governments are taking concerted efforts aimed at nipping the situation in the bud and ensuring that structures and policies are put in place to address the issues of greener and friendlier environment, hence this workshop is appropriate.

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Experts task ITU on standardizing cloud computing

The International Telecommunication Union (ITU) has been tasked with the standardization of cloud computing by members and leading chief technology officers (CTOs) in the Information and Communication Technology (ICT).

This called was made by a set of experts in the newly constituted ITU-T Focus Group on Cloud Computing in Geneva, which was formed to assist a global cloud computing ecosystem where interoperability facilitates secure information exchange across platforms.

ITRealms Online gathered that the group would also take a global view of standards activity in the field and define a future path for greatest efficiency, creating new standards where necessary while taking into account the work of others and proposing them for international standardization.

Whereas assuring worldwide interoperability, these experts said standardization of cloud computing is critical to reaping the benefits.

Director, ITU’s Telecommunication Standardization Bureau, Mr. Malcolm Johnson, noted that cloud computing speeds and streamlines application deployment without upfront capital costs for servers and storage, stressing that for this reason alone, many enterprises, governments and network cum service providers are now considering adopting cloud computing to provide more efficient and cost effective network services.

“Cloud is an exciting area of ICTs where there are a lot of protocols to be designed and standards to be adopted that will allow people to best manage their digital assets. Our new Focus Group aims to provide some much needed clarity in the area,” he said.

Commenting also, the Vice President, Research at Yankee Group, Camille Mendler, said that cloud computing deployments are being announced on an almost daily basis, pointing out that interoperability, is a challenges. “Cloud computing is the future of ICTs. It's urgent to address interoperability issues which could stall global diffusion of new services. Collaboration between private and public sectors is required, and ITU is ideally suited to facilitate productive dialogue,” Mendler said.

Chairman, ITU Focus Group on Cloud Computing, Vladimir Belenkovich, said that the group would investigate requirements for standardization in cloud computing and suggest future study paths for ITU.

“Specifically, we will identify potential impacts in standards development in other fields such as Next Generation Networks (NGN), transport layer technologies, ICTs and climate change, and media coding,” he said.

As outlined the first brief exploratory phase, he said, will determine standardization requirements and suggest how these may be addressed within ITU study groups and work will then begin on developing the standards necessary to support the global rollout of fully interoperable cloud computing solutions.

A recently published ITU-T Technology Watch Report titled ‘Distributed Computing: Utilities, Grids and Clouds’ describes the advent of clouds and grids, the applications they enable, and their potential impact on future standardization.

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