National Security: Summit to deliberate on ICT’s intervention

Worried by the spate of national insecurity in the country, stakeholders in the technology sector are warming up for a one-day summit on Information and Communication Technology (ICT) intervention.

Disclosing this, the immediate past president of the Association of Telecommunications Companies of Nigeria (ATCON) Dr. Emmanuel Ekuwem advocated for the use of Information and Communication Technology (ICT) tools in policing of the country through electronic-monitored policing (e-Policing) and called for the establishment of criminal database.

This, he said, would also go a long way in curbing the incessant security breaches, especially in the escalation of kidnapping and other criminal vices as trade.

According to him, the technologies to combat crimes in high places, mostly in the proliferation of arms are available and government and her agencies nationwide should make haste to embrace these technologies, more so now that the general election is fast approaching.

Speaking last weekend on the efficacy of the forthcoming stakeholders summit on ICT Intervention in National Security Emergency, being organized by Gamnet Solutions Limited in conjunction with a subsidiary of his firm, Teledom Group, the Technology Development Company (TDC) Limited, Dr. Ekuwem, who also is the Executive Vice Chairman of the group, noted with dismay that kidnappers are in possession of high-profile machine guns, which cost a lot of money to procure.

He said that TDC got involved in this project, because they see it as a national call and urged other private entities to join forces with the organizers in sensitization of Nigerians and security agencies across the country.

The summit with the theme: National Security Emergency: ICT to the Rescue, slated for Tuesday, September 7, this year, he said, would be a showcase of ICT solutions with the capabilities of assisting the country and security agencies particularly in checkmating proliferation of arms and crimes in general.

“ICT-based coordination of surveillance and monitoring activities across the country, will encouragement investment floor in the country, especially if we establish criminal database for online access at every point of transactions,” he said.

Ekuwem, equally lamented that nowadays in the country, citizens go about their businesses with the sense of fear and apprehension, saying that there is no day that passes without national media not carrying banner headlines of unabated criminal activities and in security at various parts of the country.

He recalled that recently too, the ICT regulator in the country, the Nigerian Communications Commission (NCC), expressed concern over the spate of kidnappings and related heinous crimes perpetrated by unscrupulous and undesirable elements, aside from announcing its determination to mobilize the support of telecommunications operators in devising and deploying requisite ICT tools as solutions towards tracking kidnappers and other criminals.

“With scanning systems in the sea ports, airports, border posts and inland waterways to detect movement of arms, ammunitions and light weapons across the country, would strengthen the efforts of the Police and other security agencies,” he declared.

He maintained that NCC believes the ICT sector has the wherewithal to enhance the efforts of security agencies in the country in halting the wheel of siege of the men of the underworld.

Ekuwem said that the aim and objective of the security summit is to mobilize players in the ICT sector in the country to plan and devise effective technology and systems interventions that would enhance struggle by the security forces to ensure security of lives and properties at all times.

Additionally, he said the summit has been planned to serve as a business networking roundtable for ICT services providers, public security agencies and private security practitioners.

“It will provide ample opportunity for the security practitioners to discuss their work challenges with technology providers and suggest ICT solutions that could meet their operational needs,” he said.

On the impact of insecurity to the national economy, Ekuwem said that it begets rapid retardation of the national economic development by creation of fears in the minds of investors, thereby scaring away local and foreign direct investments.

Just as he said, it diminishes the good image and reputation of Nigeria in the comity of nations, especially against the backdrop of global war against terrorism.

The summit coordinator and chief executive officer of Gamnet Solutions, Mr. Godwin Morgan, told ITRealms Online that the focus of the stakeholders’ summit is to proffer an effective national security surveillance and monitoring.

He said that with the navigation systems for tracking and location of criminal automobiles, it would ease their interception and arrest, stressing that systems for detection and monitoring of footprints and fingerprints of criminals and criminal activities even after they have left the scenes are available.

Furthermore, he said that the presence of personal identity management system for security purposes is paramount to the development of the nation, just as law on lawful interception, data retention systems on the networks and cyber security, would alleviate the challenges of the security forces in combating crimes in the country.

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HA-2010 explores Africa’s voice in new media space

A gathering of continental Information and Communication Technologies (ICT) media practitioners under the Highway Africa conference was recently held at Rhodes University in Grahamstown, South Africa. REMMY NWEKE, who was there reports that the occasion probed the coverage of Africa in the global new media.


This year’s edition of the annual Highway Africa conference ended recently in the city of Grahamstown, Eastern Cape, South Africa with the theme: African Voices in the Global Media Space.

Apart from setting the city of Grahamstown agog, for the first time in recent times, at least in the past seven years, the usually weeklong gathering of African journalists with Information and Communications Technology (ICT) as the unifying factor was lumped into a three-day event, between July 5 and 7, 2010 at the Eden Grove Complex, Rhodes University, Grahamstown.

Highway Africa prides itself as the largest convention of media practitioners, mostly practicing journalists from Africa who write and report on ICT on the continent at Rhodes University Grahamstown campus, South Africa.

Giving an overview of the conference, the Executive Director, Highway Africa, Mr. Chris Kabwato, noted that it is a partnership between the School of Journalism and Media Studies at Rhodes University and the South African Broadcasting Corporation (SABC), with the support of several partners, development agencies and sponsors including the MTN Group.

According to him, for 14 good years, Highway Africa conference has been at the centre of Africa’s debates on journalism and new media, just as it has become the largest annual gathering of African journalists in the world, with the last six years, evolving into a multi-pronged programme with research - mapping the terrain of the challenges of the interface of technology, journalism and the media; education and training - responding to the identified gaps this project makes a practical intervention by re-skilling, upskilling, educating and training journalists; news agency - a niche news agency with a network of correspondents across the continent it offers weekly news digest on ICT developments in Africa; conference - the flagship of the programme and forum for critical reflection on journalism, media and technology and a celebration of Africa.

Kabwato explained that the term ‘global village’ has become a truism, because globalisation is now an accepted reality of modern society. What is now being debated, he said, are the rules of engagement in the globalised world, especially now that trade, migration, sovereignty, identity, and many other issues, form the bottom line of these debates; described as ‘fights’ of the new world which could make or mar a society that chose to remain backward.

In the media arena, Kabwator pointed out that the unprecedented expansion of global media networks paralleled by the explosion of the internet, centred on the World Wide Web (www), as a major media platform, that African media entrepreneurs and other parties have sought to respond to the challenges and opportunities presented by technology, economics, markets and other factors.

Hence, Highway Africa conference 2010, was carefully organized to hold in July when the world was still giving literally120 per cent attention on South Africa and Africa due to the FIFA-organised World Cup, which saw to both a celebration and an interrogation of African journalism and media and how these are opening up and expanding spaces for engagement.

He highlighted that the interrogations were centre on ‘What is the state of African media in comparison with the media of other regions? What broadcasting networks exist and what is their impact? What is the state of the African blogosphere? Who speaks? On what? And what distinctive technologies or applications has Africa developed that contribute to diverse and pluralistic voices being heard?’

Other questions HA-2010 addressed, consist of ‘What media initiatives exist in the diaspora and what is their impact? What media operates in exile due to political repression and how do they communicate with their audiences? What digital policies, strategies and infrastructure are in place that will be ‘game-changers’ for African media? What training programmes should tertiary institutions and media organisations develop to adequately equip the 21st century media professional?’

As said by him, using plenary sessions, keynote addresses, training workshops, book launches, networking dinners and debates, HA 2010 celebrates and interrogates African voices in the various spaces they operate in.

Another aspect of this year’s HA 2010 was the co-hosting at the same time, the World Journalism Education Congress, therefore bringing practitioners in close contact with the educators, who may have forgotten the need to incorporate ICT in the curriculum for mass communicators.

Head, School of Journalism and Media Studies at Rhodes University, Grahamstown, South Africa, Prof. Guy Berger, while commending his colleagues in the classroom for finding the time to share information and knowledge at the World Journalism Education Congress, urged other African countries institutions to emulate Rhodes by coming up with a similar conference to make the message of new media a common discuss.

Prior to the commencement of HA 2010, precisely at the welcome gala dinner hosted by Telkom South Africa on Sunday, July 4, the Highway Africa New Media Awards for this year was also hosted at the session with a disclosure at the Nelson Mandela’s hall by Mr. Kabwato that the awards have been renamed this year to become Telkom Highway Africa New Media Awards.

“Telkom, a founding partner of the Highway Africa conference, has become the full and permanent co-host of Africa’s foremost awards in new media, which will now be known as the Telkom-Highway Africa New Media Awards,” he said, underscoring that the awards was supported by Open Society Initiative for West Africa (OSIWA).

Finalists for 2010 include nominees in the six categories, namely in the individual or student; Not-for-Profit; and corporate, according to the coordinator, Ms. Moagisi Letlhaku.

She further disclosed that a Lagos-based Information and Communication Technology (ICT)-focused blog, ITRealms Online, www.itrealms.blogspot.com, emerged the first runner up at the inaugural Telkom-Highway Africa New Media awards in the individual cum student category for the deployment of new media technologies in dissemination of information on the continent.

Presenting the awardees with their sourvenirs, the Vice Chancellor of Rhodes University, Grahamastown, Dr. Saleem Badat, at a joint conference opening dinner, urged the proponent of ITRealms Online published in partnership with Champion Newspapers Limited, to sustain the pace and contribution of African voice in cyber space.

They also named www.itrealms.blogspot.com the first runner up in the individual or student category by the judges, who equally described it as an extensive blog that updates on Information and Communications Technologies (ICT) developments with about 50 stories monthly.

The organisers recognized the fact that ITRealms Online integrated Really Simple Syndication (RSS) feeds, Picassa album and Twitter feeds.

However, a South African-based ZA Tech Show, a weekly technology podcast hosted by Simon Dingle and regular panelists emerged top in this category. While Kalahari People’s Network – www.kalaharipeoples.net and African Woman and Child Feature Service – www.awcfs.org emerged as first runner up and star winner in Not-for-Profit category, in that order.

As well, in the corporate category, Zoopy.com – www.zoopy.com and Dispatch Online Blogs - http://blogs.dispatch.co.za were announced as top prize winner and first runner up respectively.

For the organizers, the Kalahari People’s Network is a website providing a virtual space for networking and exchange of information among contemporary Kalahari communities and individuals throughout Southern Africa. Even as the African Woman and Child Feature Service builds capacity to report on gender issues and addresses the needs of a marginalized community.

In addition, the Eastern Cape, South Africa-based Dispatch Online Blog is a multimedia breaking news platform of the Daily Dispatch and environs, whereas Zoopy.com is an online and mobile social media community, where users upload, share and interact with videos, photos and audio.

The 2010 Telkom-Highway Africa awards cum opening ceremony were graced by the African Union Special Rapporteur on Freedom of Expression, Mrs Pansy Tlakula, retired Ghanaian president, Mr. John Kufuor and Mayor Vumile Lwana of Makana Municipality, Eastern Cape, South Africa, Head, School of Journalism and Media Studies at Rhodes University, Prof. Guy Berger, among other dignitaries across the continent and beyond.

However, addressing participants at the main conference session, retired Ghanaian president, Mr. John Kuffour, tasked African media to involve self-check mechanism and ensure they push more of the good news about Africa out to the world instead of the bad news, which usually are described as good news in the media slang.

Some of the key speakers were advocate Pansy Tlakula; Archbishop Desmond Tutu; Professor Alfred Opubor; Dr. Diana Senghor; Mathatha Tsedu; Nozipho January-Bardill; Amadou Ba; Professor Mindy McAdams; Cheriff Sy; Robert Kabushenga and Professor Adam Clayton Powell to name a few.

Welcoming participants to this year’s Highway Africa, Kufuor said it is a unique event that offers journalists and the media a platform to reflect on how ICT is impacting on their works and the future of the media, and more importantly an opportunity for journalists and other media professionals to examine critically how they report Africa.

“Its people, its governments and its institutions in both conventional and new media. Your role as journalists is a critical one – you carry the burden of truly informing and educating our people for the advancement of our continent. Your task is to ensure the sustenance of good governance, peace and stability in Africa. It is a role you should guard jealously,” he declared.

The former Ghana leader said that Africa is undergoing a fundamental transformation with more elections and democratic governments coming into office, even as the economic growth rates are steadily improving in spite of the many challenges of the global financial crisis.

“Positive stories of democratisation and modest economic growth in some countries on the continent must spread and lead to a prosperous Africa; a well educated population, an industrialised continent ready to take full advantage of advances in technology and science,” he said, stressing that the stories of Africa’s success should find as much space in the continental media organisation as the stories of her difficulties.

Some of the key sessions comprised of “African Media and the Global Media Development Agenda: How is African media framing Africa’s role on the global stage in relation to the emerging economic order, China, Climate Change, 2010 FIFA World Cup” to name a few.

Additionally, participants examined “Mobile is the Future, The Future is Here” as well as “ICT Trends and Innovations in Africa – what is and what is not happening on the continent; New Forms of Journalism – ICT and its impact on story-telling; and Emerging Media Business Models.”

Some other networking events included the Absa Africa night dinner; MTN Africa united night and soccer viewing at MTN fan zone, in addition to the SA Tourism “Taste South Africa Night” come Wednesday July 7 as part of the closing ceremony.

Above all, there were training session centred on business models for community media and small media; SABC digital skills training workshop: new media skills in search and mapping; Highway Africa workshops on using twitter in journalism & business; teaching online journalism; using Google tools in the newsroom: using ICT in disasters; ICTs for climate change and upstart-MDDA media literacy exchange programme with book launch at various stages.

The joint conference ended with a keynote by Archbishop Desmond Tutu on Freedom of Expression. He later signed the Freedom of Expression campaign.

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Nigeria @ 50: CNP considers mentorship with SoTNE

As Nigeria warms up for the golden jubilee celebrations in October, the leadership of Computerize Nigeria Project (CNP) is considering mentoring 1000 budding business inclined candidates with its Spirit of the True Nigerian Entrepreneur (SoTNE).

CNP is a key player in Nigeria’s quest to actively join the information highway and use its knowledge base to bring true prosperity to Nigerians since 2001, by offering the organized sector the opportunity to look inwards, re-assess the efforts at national development and through hindsight add fresh momentum to the national ethical goals.

Chairman of Computerize Nigeria Project, Prof. Oye Ibidapo-Obe made this disclosure weekend in a chat with newsmen at the Kes Auditorium, Zinox Group headquarters in Lagos.

He said that CNP has done considerably well in speeding up the pace of Information Technology (IT) penetration in the country through the provision and deployment of IT infrastructure and transferred relevant IT skills and processes at subsidized prices through staff and students’ ownership schemes, payment plans for
cooperatives, train the trainer programmes, and numerous media campaigns.

The CNP, he said, believes that the educational sector, both at the formal and informal levels, is not imparting appropriate entrepreneurial know-how to graduates, hence the deluge of unemployed graduates in the country.

And by introducing the SoTNE, Computerize Nigeria considered the lack of entrepreneurial training as an obstacle to the attainment of the millennium development goals in 2015 and the objectives of growth embedded in vision 20 2020.

Hence, CNP has concluded plans to host Nigeria budding entrepreneurs to a one day session to be facilitated by chairman, Zinox Group, Dr. Leo-Stan Ekeh with support of Mr. Walter Kny, Director, World e-Books Library as the special guest, among other notables in the entrepreneurship in the country, to be held in Abuja come October 12 and subsequently across the geo-political zones.

The idea, he said, is to do something productive and entertaining to inspire the true Nigerian cloned on the youths and any budding entrepreneur.

According to him, a mixture of socio-economic and sometimes cultural factors like the inequitable distribution of the oil boom, corruption, ethnicity and religious bigotry have been responsible for the severe challenges in the area of entrepreneurial development.

He pointed out that while a significant number attempt to start businesses, less than a fraction have actually succeed in building viable, structured, productive and sustainable organizations.

“As Nigeria celebrates its 50th Anniversary, the need to encourage a fresh drive towards indigenous businesses as a foundation for the next move of national development has become imperative, giving birth to ‘The Spirit of the True Nigerian Entrepreneur’, sponsored by the Computerize Nigeria Project,” he said.

Prof. Ibidapo-Obe noted that SoTNE seeks to promote this imperative by presenting a step by step study of how few selected Nigerians built their integrated companies.

“This year, we will present Africa’s no.1 digital entrepreneur, Dr. Leo Stan Ekeh as the lead facilitator of the Spirit of the True Nigerian Entrepreneur,” he asserted.

SoTNE, he said, has been designed to harness the strategy, experience, challenges, work ethics, and decision making process of a successful Nigerian Entrepreneurs.

“Our focus is on those Nigerians who made it Nigeria with all the challenges. Leo Stan Ekeh, Chairman Zinox Group shall present to over 1000 budding or prospective entrepreneurs a viable and credible template for achieving the truly Nigerian successful integrated companies,” he said.

According to him, SoTNE would attempt to ‘clone’ Leo Stan Ekeh’s successes in the ICT sector, across various sectors of the economy by sharing the principles he learnt and employed to overcome the peculiar Nigerian challenges.

“It will also help refocus Nigeria towards entrepreneurial development as the much needed foundation for growth and youth unemployment. Project SoTNE will promote practicable entrepreneurial principles for enterprise,” he said.

On the event, the consultant to the project, the chief executive officer of Purrples Consult Limited, Mrs Sola Salako, said that the summit is now accepting application for the budding 1000 budding entrepreneurs to be part of the session in Abuja.

“it’s a free summit and we intend to use the number of registration to categorize how CNP could assist them to become entrepreneurs like Ekeh,” she said, stressing that the database of the registration would equally determine where individual applicants would prefer to attend the summit being slated in other parts of the country.

She did not disclose the manner of assistant to be offered to applicants, but assured that based on their needs; assistance would be proffered, while urging Nigerians to take advantage of this forthcoming summit by ensuring that they are actively part of it.

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Starcomms switches over to IP network with SEGway solution

Code Division Multiple Access (CDMA), Starcomms Plc has concluded plans to switch over its network to all-Internet Protocol (IP) platform, using SEGway solution from Performance Technologies (PT).

ITRealms Online, gathered that Starcomms sees the plan as part of its fulfillment as a forward looking telecom operator.

The carrier designed a hierarchical network topology using PT’s SEGway signalling solution at the core, which allows effortless interconnection of IP elements to existing equipment.

SEGway’s highly reliable and efficient solution reduces signalling complexity and
provides the ability to view and manage the network from a central location.

The robust platform, according to Trino Guzman, head of Engineering from Starcomms, provides a single point of interconnect with other networks, and centralized administration of routing, resulting in the most cost-effective transport between cities.

This technology Guzman also said, avoids all the inherent pitfalls of legacy mesh networks, such as single points of failure, signalling traffic congestion, and costly operations, administration and management.

“It is paramount to us that we work with a supplier that possesses exceptional SS7 expertise,” Guzman said, stressing that PT’s technology delivers exceptional performance, and their team made our network migration easy, transparent, and seamless. PT meets our high standard of pride when it comes to top performance.

For the senior vice president, Sales, Marketing, and Service for PT, Mr. Patt Rice, they are versatile signalling platform places the core network in an advantageous position with regard to the looming number portability regulation in Nigeria.

“SEGway enables any operator to quickly, efficiently, and seamlessly introduce Mobile Number Portability to meet the December 2010 deadline,” he said.

PT’s state-of-the art SEGway platform is a highly reliable signalling system that provides operators a smooth migration to IP and SIP Next-Generation Networks. In addition to number portability, it enables message accounting, and advanced routing.

Equally, speaking on the development, PT president and chief executive officer, Mr. John Slusser, said they were pleased to add Starcomms, a highly regarded, progressive service provider to its SEGway installed base.

“These are exciting yet challenging times for African telecommunications operators as they anticipate substantial subscriber growth and evolution to more advanced networks. PT has made a strategic commitment to the region with leading edge network solutions backed by unsurpassed service and support,” he said.

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Internet: Forum canvasses easier access to Nigerians

Participants at a one-day forum on Internet Governance, which recently ended in Lagos, have canvassed for Internet access to Nigerians to be seen as fundamental.

The forum was organized by Digital Sense Africa (DSA) in collaboration with the Nigerian Communications Commission (NCC) and supported by stakeholders and industry operators.

A communiqué endorsed by the Executive Director, Digital Sense Africa, Mrs. Nkemdilim Nweke, noted that the forum held at Golden Gate Paradise, Ikoyi-Lagos, and attended by over 500 members of the nation’s internet community, dwelt on theme:
“Internet Governance Forum: The Way Forward for Nigeria.”

Part of the 12-point agenda from the forum stated, “Internet access should be seen as fundamental to human development and capacity building of Nigerians.”

While reiterating the need to coordinate the position of the Nigerian Internet community through the Public Private Partnership (PPP) in recognition of the World Summit on the Information Society (WSIS) push for the involvement of governments and all stakeholders in the promotion of Information and Communication Technologies (ICTs) for development, she said, participants received the received the report of the Presidential Inter-Ministerial Committee on WSIS outcome in review of the nation’s efforts since 2005.

“We recognized the effective participation of governments and all stakeholders in developing an Information-based society requiring cooperation and partnership among all of them,” she said.

Equally, she said participants recognized the fact that the Internet has become the centre of modern businesses in the country, the sub-region and African continent as a whole, anchored on the belief that the future lies on the Internet.

Besides, the forum commended the present collaborative efforts between the government and the private sector being champion by Digital Sense Africa, in empowering the Nigerian populace on the values embedded on the Internet, more so in alerting the Nigeria government and officials on the need to have a common front prior to the engagement of the world at the fifth annual Internet Governance Forum (IGF) scheduled to hold in Vilnius, Lithuania on September 14-17, 2010.

They acknowledged security as a major issue of concern for the Nigerian Internet community, but noted that while its being discussed at all levels, stakeholders should not despair, as the platform offered the Nigerian Internet community the opportunity once again to assemble and deliberate on how to take advantage of the available Internet Access, its Openness to address issues on Security, Diversity and its Governance.

Apart from reaffirming support on the release of ‘Affirmation of Commitment’ to the global internet community via the Internet Corporation for Assigned Names and Numbers (ICANN), by the US government through its Department of Commerce (DoC); the forum welcomed the recent court judgment over the controversial 2.3GHz spectrum in Nigeria, saying its reassuring on independence of NCC and the need to move forward through this spectrum allocation intended to boost ICT in the country.

She said that in living up to the call by the West African Internet Governance Forum (WAIGF) at Accra in 2009 as part of efforts at advancing Internet Governance related issues more seriously among stakeholders, the forum identified 12-key issues, including that members of the Nigeria Internet community must be encouraged to participate at the fifth Internet Governance Forum, either individually, group or remotely.

“Make it abundantly known to the global Internet community that Nigeria and Nigerians are very interested in the fight against cyber-related crimes purportedly emanating from Nigeria-based Internet Protocol (IP) addresses.; Urged international internet community to help Nigeria by making sure that only those engaging in fraudulent practices should have their Internet Protocol addresses barred from Internet transactions.

The forum noted that there are several online startups that Nigerians and the youths precisely could involve themselves without being fraudulent, just as parental care was identified as crucial if the fight against ‘yahoo, yahoo boys’ is to be won, by way of their setting up guidelines on either mobile phones or computers of their wards.

“In fact, they should show interest in what their wards are doing online,” part of the communiqué read.

While tasking both the government of Nigeria and Internet community in the country to continue on the enlightenment of the citizenry, participants called for regular interactions; even as both individual and corporate organisations were charged to localize their online presence by patronizing the nation’s Country Code Top Level Domain (ccTLD), .ng, being managed by the Nigeria Internet Registration Association (NiRA).

“.ng was recognized as a goldmine only if Nigeria Internet community can take it up and fly it on the Internet, so as for it to develop alongside other similar ccTLDs o the continent, of course not without challenges like the lack of adequate public power supply, among others,” the communiqué read.

Additionally, participants highlighted the importance of Internet Protocol version 6 (IPv6), stressing the danger of being left behind, even as the forum lamented that about 10 per cent of IPv4 is still unused on the continent and called for the set up of Nigeria Internet Registry to harmonize what is available and monitor the improvement and implementation of IPv6 as the new Internet.

“The Internet Service Providers (ISPs) and telecom operators were encouraged to ensure that their equipments comply with IPv6 specifications to boost deployment of the IP in the country; The urgency for members of the ISP Association of Nigeria (ISPAN), Association of Licensed Telecom Operators of Nigeria (ALTON) and Association of Telecom Companies of Nigeria (ATCON), to connect with the Internet Exchange Point of Nigeria (IXPN) was stressed, in order to keep local Internet local and save foreign exchange for the country,” the forum observed.

The maintained that participation of more Nigerians as Internet continues to be readily available for the populace, especially on mobile is crucial if the nation must cultivate the good nature of internet usage, while urging the National Assembly to speed up actions on the Cyber crime related bill(s), but first of all ensuring harmonization of various bills relating to the same subject to hasten the acceptance of electronic evidence in the country and court trials.

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ECOWAS ministers want N15.1bn for WAN

The proposed Economic Community for West African States (ECOWAS) Wide Area Network (ECOWAN) is estimated to gulp $100 million, about N15,015,119,396.65.

The West African Ministers responsible for Information and Communication Technologies revealed this at the end of a one-day meeting they held in Accra, last Saturday, July 31, in preparation to the African ICT ministers session which took off at the Federal Capital Territory (FCT) Abuja on Monday, in attempt to adopt a strategic document for the implementation of a regional Wide AreaNetwork (ECOWAN).

According to the Ghana News Agency (GNA) a statement from the meeting, a copy was made available to GNA, indicated that ECOWAN has been estimated to cost 100 million dollars.

Also, the West African ICT ministers were quoted as saying that ECOWAN would provide the sub-region with a common platform for the seamless exchange of information for enhanced productivity, expandopportunities for knowledge sharing and promote regional integration.

The ECOWAN infrastructure being developed by ECOWAS Commission, the Ministers noted is a public sector electronic governance (e-governance) platform aimed at connecting the Commission, other ECOWAS institutions and affiliated government offices of member states.

The scope, ITRealms Online gathered, would include infrastructure, application, capacity building,operations and maintenance as well as monitoring and evaluation.

The report further stated that during the meeting, the Ministers considered the report of a preceding experts meeting earlier held in Accra, on Monday, July 26, which proposed the ECOWAN governance and management structure and activities required for its development and implementation.

The implementation strategy is expected to include the setting up of a Steering Committee - the highest decision-making body - comprising ICT Ministers of member states, a project implementation committee composed of stakeholders, and ICT experts from the sub-region, and a project implementation unit to be located at the ECOWAS Commission.

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Experts identify future viewing standard with IPTV

Information and Communication Technology (ICT) experts have identified that the future of television will rest on stable global standards, reports CHARLES OKOH.

Participants at the International Telecommunication Union (ITU), last week, in Geneva during the Interoperability event on Internet Protocol Television (IPTV) were unequivocal that for the first of a new series of ‘ITU Interop’ events, IPTV manufacturers took part in a set of tests to demonstrate seamless global interoperability between their various IPTV devices, which have been manufactured to comply with ITU-developed standards, known as ‘recommendations.’

A communique at the end of the session showed that ITU has been busy pioneering a raft of new standards for the technology, which is set to transform global viewing habits in coming years.

Experts agreed that stable global standards will be key to take-up of IPTV, avoiding costly and confusing ‘format wars’ and reduced choice for consumers.

Industry experts also used the session to sent strong message of support for International Telecommunications Union (ITU) standards for Internet Protocol TV (IPTV).

According to experts, IPTV will deliver all the advantages of traditional ‘linear’ TV in terms of service quality, combined with the many advantages the Internet offers in terms of choice and interactivity. It should not be confused with web streaming, because images are not delivered over the Internet, but rather to homes through a ‘managed network’.

What this means, experts said is that TV programmes do not have to vie with other traffic on an increasingly busy World Wide Web, which could negatively impact the viewing experience.

This fact was supported by a press statement to ITRealms Online, which quoted the Director of ITU’s Telecommunication Standardization Bureau, Mr. Malcolm Johnson, as saying that proprietary solutions may offer fast deployment in the short term, but in the medium and longer term buyers will be subject to vendor lock-in, with the risk of costly upgrades and reduced content and hardware choice.

“Industry consortia-based ‘standards’ are mostly region-specific with little or no implementation,” he said, emphasizing that this event proved that ITU global standards are ready to go, and in fact are already being implemented.

He pointed out that many companies are now selling TV and set-top box products based on ITU-T’s of IPTV terminal standard ITU-T H.721, with products already available in countries including Brazil, China, Japan, Republic of Korea, France, and elsewhere.

He noted that in China and Japan, services based on ITU-IPTV standards are deployed and boast several million subscribers. A test service is being conducted in Singapore, and there is interest in setting up test beds in India and Canada.

In his address to the occasion, ITU Secretary-General, Dr. Hamadoun Touré said ITU-IPTV standards are the result of detailed international discussions which have included many developing countries.

These talks, he said, took into account various aspects of technologies, including Intellectual Property Right (IPRs), maturity, stability and market adoption, leading to standards that provide for high quality and low cost.

He pointed out that since ITU-IPTV standards are based on mature technologies, decided by consensus, interoperability is easier to achieve among different vendors.

Head of New Technology, European Broadcasting Union (EBU), David Wood said IPTV has been around for some time but it has not been the success that people hoped.

“The principal reason is that there have been a lot of IPTVs which means you don’t have the benefits of a large market and the benefits of open markets and competition. What we have now is a common standard which everyone can build equipment to, and this should really make IPTV much more successful in the future,” he said.

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Bhartel Africa appoints Beyers CMO

The latest entrant in the nation’s mobile market, Bharti Airtel, has named Mr. Andre Beyers, its Chief Marketing Officer for its African operations.

ITRealms Online recalls that recently Bharti Airtel bought over Zain African operations in 15 countries.

Andre would report to Manoj Kohli, the chief executive officer, International and Jt. MD, Bharti Airtel.

Affirming this,, Mr. Kohli expressed delight on the appointment, saying that he believes that Mr. Beyers’ experience would be immensely valuable and contribute to the vision of making Airtel the most loved brand in the daily lives of African people.

“It will be our endeavour to achieve leadership position in all our markets by delivering a superior brand experience backed by world-class service, strong distribution network and innovative products that delight customers. I wish Andre the very best for his new assignment,” Kohli said in a press statement made available to ITRealms Online.

According to the Public Relations Manager, Bharti Airtel Nigeria, Mr. Emma Otokhine, Mr. Beyers brings with him over 20 years of rich experience in marketing and brand management, particularly in the telecom sector.

He contributed towards Vodacom’s marketing and brand efforts for 11 years and has spent four years supporting Vodacom’s incubation hub of the fast tracking of advertising and communications relating to new ideas and managing Vodacom’s brand, whilst working for FCB, the South Africa’s largest advertising group.

Additionally, Mr. Beyers, led Vodacom’s marketing function for 7 years (2001 to 2008) during which both customer base and revenue grew manifold, as well as the brand strategy for Vodacom across Africa and also set up the initial marketing framework across Mozambique, Congo, DRC, Tanzania and Lesotho.

Beyers also worked for Eyeballs Mobile Pty Ltd, a Cape Town based Mobile advertising company as its chairman & Marketing Director, just as he most recently was the Marketing Director, Vital Health Foods - South Africa’s leading vitamin and nutritional supplement company.

In his role as the Chief Marketing Officer for Airtel Africa, Andre will be responsible for developing the marketing and distribution strategy, enhancing revenue and customer market share in all markets, development of innovative products, and nurturing the Airtel brand across the 15 countries it acquired in Africa lately.

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Broadband critical for attaining MDGs – Forum

A one-day forum tagged Broadband for Nigeria (BB4Nig) ended at the Federal Capital Territory (FCT) Abuja with experts identifying broadband as the critical and efficient medium needed for the timely delivery of the Millennium Development Goals (MDGs), Vision 2020-20 and Information and Communication Technology for Development (ICT4D).

Experts said that Broadband is a descriptive term for evolving digital technologies which provides consumers a signal switched facility offering integrated access to voice, high-speed data service, video-demand services, and interactive delivery services.

This is coming as the framework document is being fine-tuned by the project team headed by Director, Fantsuam Foundation, Dr. John Dada, which the forum intend to submit to the government.

Communique emanating from the forum presided over Mr. Olusola Teniola, Chief Operating Officer of Phase 3 Telecom and made available to ITRealms Online, noted that in order to ensure that Nigeria’s MDG commitments and Vision 202020 reach their target audience in all the 774 local governments, it will require a substantial completion of fixed Broadband infrastructure that gives optimum connectivity within the country and to the global internet.

According to the communique, the next crucial step is to ensure that this message reaches all the people who will be responsible in developing the policy to make this dream a reality.

Presenting the background and framework documents to participants, president Association of Telecom Companies of Nigeria (ATCON), Mr. Titi Omo-Ettu, said broadband makes bread but bread does not make broadband.

While urging Nigerians to choose Broadband because bread will follow, Omo-Ettu outlined some of the existing initiatives in broadband to include three submarine, namely, SAT-3, Glo 1, MainOne, Wire Initiative Nigeria (WIN) and State Accelerated Broadband Initiative (SABI).

He highlighted the fact that engagement of a consultant to prepare the documents is equally crucial to the review of the consultant’s work and presentation to the stakeholders, which after the ratification could now be presented to Federal Government.

Omo-Ettu pointed out that the ultimate goal is to enthrone the Broadband internet access with speed of at least 4 mega bytes per second (Mbps) that is accessible, affordable and dependable to all citizens regardless of their status, station or location.

He emphasized five key objectives, namely, to enhance the equitable distribution of the value and/or benefits of telecoms infrastructure in general and particularly, broadband among the populace.

For him, it is important to address network infrastructure and end user devices, so as to enhance the capabilities of the Nigerian population to make use of and contribute to broadband, and in so doing increase its relevance to the social development of the country.

Adequate awareness on the ability to use broadband effectively, he said, would aid in closing the literacy gap in the land.

Some of the attendants comprised of director, National Commission for Colleges of Education (NCCE), Dr. Moses Olateju Ojo, immediate past, Senior Special Assistant to the Minister of Communication, Mr. Obi Adindu, acting chairman, National IT Development Agency (NITDA), Mr. Mohammed Bulama, Secretary General of the Committee of Vice Chancellors of Nigerian Universities, Prof Jibril Dahiru Aminu to name a few.

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Aero launches ATM option for customers

Leading electronic payment (e-payment) airline in West Africa, Aero has launched a facility to enable bookings-on-hold payment to be made on Automated Teller Machines (ATMs), which took off August 1, this year.

Head, Commercial for Aero, Robert Prophet, said that this application has been integrated to the aero ticket-sale booking engine to offer customers the opportunity to make bookings for flight tickets from any part of the country and pay on ATM machines.

Also, he said, Interswitch has integrated this to enable payments at all the branches of 20 Interswitch powered banks in Nigeria.

“We are excited to introduce the ATM payment option. It has been our policy to make travel more easy, affordable, simple and convenient. With this payment option, passengers will be able to conveniently book and pay for tickets without having to visit the banking hall or the airline’s sales desk,” he said.

Customers, Mr. Robert said, could access the option by first making reservations either online at www.flyaero.com or by phone via the call centre by dialing in and follow the voice prompt. Payment, he explained could be made at any Interswitch ATMs across the country using the appropriate booking reference.

Pointing out that the ATM machines could only take numeric characters, that is, digit 0-9, as such, every booking code generated from booking on hold will have a numeric equivalent.

He cited an instance that a booking with the PNR ZABABC, would have a numeric equivalent which is 260102010203, which appears alongside the regular booking reference.

“It is the numeric code that the passengers will use to retrieve the booking from the ATM machine to process payment. Aero has launched leading customer focused products into the Nigerian market and we are proud of these achievements. We are determined to continue to offer excellent customer service and maintain reliable and high safety standards,” he said.

He recalled that Aero recently introduced the first mobile web and SMS ticketing service in Africa called “Aero webmobile”. This product allows customers to book and pay for flight tickets using mobile phones.

Aero prides itself as a lead West African aviation in e-airline, introducing various booking and payment option to make air travel convenient for customers.


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Africa internet usage reaches 110.1m

The Internet usage on the African soil has grown to 110,931,700, according to Internet World Statistic.com,

The report made available to ITRealms Online on Monday, August 1, indicated that as at June 30, 2010, Africa’s figure on internet usage has reached 110,931,700, which is 2,357.3 per cent growth between 2000 and 2010.

Also, Egypt seems to be on top of the African growth with 17,060,000 users, 21.2 per cent penetration per population and 3,691.1 per cent user growth, just as Algeria recorded 13.6 per cent penetration and 9,300.0 per cent users’ growth.

For Nigeria, it is 43,982,200 internet users, 28.9 per cent penetration per population and 21,891.1 per cent for users’ growth.

Above all, the chief executive officer of Miniwatts Marketing Group, Mr. Enrique de Argaez, noted that the growth in Africa’s Internet and Broadband sector has accelerated in recent years due to improvements in infrastructure, the arrival of wireless access technologies and lower tariffs. Broadband is rapidly replacing dial-up as the preferred access method.

This process is already virtually completed in Africa’s more developed markets. This report provides 126 statistical tables showing trends and developments in the telecommunications markets of the 38 most significant African countries in terms of telecommunications.

He pointed out that while being the world’s most rapidly growing market for mobile telephony, Africa is also home to some of the fastest growing fixed-line markets in the world.

“Africa still has some of the world’s lowest penetration rates in both market sectors,” he said, stressing that the difficulties of rolling out fixed-line networks across its vast land mass meant that by early-2009 mobile users constituted around 90 per cent of all African telephone subscribers.

Meanwhile, the Internet World Statistics (IWS) in 2008 declared a fantastic growth in the internet penetration globally to the tune of over 1,573,269,743 persons worldwide, which amounted to 23.4 per cent penetration rate as at the last quarter of 2008.

However, IWS justified its percentage mark based on the considerate global population of 6,708,755,756 persons according to the United States’ Census Bureau data.

IWS informed that Internet had fantastic expansion in 2008, because almost every region of the world recorded interesting growth. “All world regions showed growth, however, at very different rates,” part of the press statement read, attributing this development to cultural, social and economic differences.

“It is quite normal due to cultural, social, and economic differences prevailing in each part of the world as well as the already existing number of users in each region,” IWS said.

Further, IWS noted that it did not want to publish this information before now, but due to various conflicting reports, it was forced to, hence it apologized for publishing partial result.

“… Because, we have not finished updating all the Internet World Stats website. Circumstances beyond our control have forced us to speak up and publish partially updated statistics, sorry about this,” IWS said.

According to IWS, useful growth trends were evident at the various geographic regions, noting that the number of Internet users in the world grew by 253,397,634 persons in 2008 alone.

This, IWS said represents a 19.2 per cent yearly increase with regard to the number of estimated users that existed one year ago at year-end 2007.

Described as the “early adopters” IWS said North America and Australia showed the smallest growth in the year under review.

“This is considered a normal behavior because the “early adopters” have already completed their fast growth phase,” IWS explained, pointing out that the Internet penetration rates were already very high in those areas.

The territories and regions identified as “late adopters” logically are just initiating their high growth rates, such as South America, the Middle East the Caribbean, and Africa show this trend, with corresponding high growth rates of 63.2 per cent, 34.6 per cent, 33.6 per cent and 19.8 per cent.

IWS noted that Internet users in Europe increased by 48,709,081 persons, while the region finalizes its fast growth phase, evidenced by the low 14.0 per cent growth rate.

Asia, on the other hand, according to the report, is just starting its high growth phase and the current growth rate of 26.8 per cent would soon go up.

“Asia Internet users increased by 136,689,484 persons and is by far the region with the largest population of Internet users,” IWS said.

The current low Internet penetration rate in Asia indicates that there is much potential for future Internet usage growth in Asia.


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UNN introduces electronic board for teaching

As part of its rebrand efforts, the University of Nigeria Nsukka (UNN) has introduced electronic boards to replace the traditional blackboards in classrooms and laboratories at its campuses.

This, the institution said, was in preparation for full implementation of its information and communication technology infrastructure deployment.

Vice Chancellor, UNN, Prof. Bartho Okolo made this disclosure Monday at a press conference to herald the 39th Convocation of the institution and said the UNN has already commenced the shift by training staff on the new equipment and processes.

“Hitachi has completed training in the University on the use of e-boards such as smart white boards for electronic-teaching and student learning in our classrooms and teaching laboratories. In addition, Google Inc has finalized plans to train 2000 faculty and academic leadership on using Google applications and Module to enhance administrative efficiency, teaching, learning and research” he said.

Also, Okolo said UNN was developing “productive collaborations” with various organisations, institutions and corporate bodies in pursuit of the vision of restructuring the school and turning it into a global centre of learning.

Notable recent successes, he outlined to include construction of a wireless network infrastructure project to deliver 50mbps of lnternet bandwidth by a consortium led by Google Inc at a cost of about N3b; commitment to the construction and equipping of a Centre for Environmental Management and Control by The Shell Petroleum Development Company and admission of UNN into the New York Academy of Sciences.

Prof Okolo stated, “I want to assure you that the University of Nigeria will in the next few years be transformed to what is obtainable in the best universities in Europe and North America. My leadership team is dedicated to the vision of a 21st century learning institution and we are determined to demonstrate that Africa can house one of the best universities in the world.”

UNN will confer first, higher and honorary degrees to 6, 673 persons at the 39th Convocation of the University on Friday August 6 and Saturday August 7. The Vice Chancellor was excited at the increased production of doctorate degree holders, as the number of Ph.D graduands increased to 167 from the 127 of last year. The University will issue first degrees to 5,204 persons and higher degrees to 1,469 recipients.

Governor Godswill Akpabio of Akwa Ibom State and Ahaji Mohammed Danjuma Goje of Gombe State will get honorary degrees of the institution.

Information and Culture Minister Prof. Dora Akunyili, herself an alumnus, will headline a key activity as she delivers the convocation lecture on the topic “Rebranding Nigerian Universities” on Thursday, August 5.

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MTN wraps up FIFA Naira splash promo

MTN Nigeria has concluded its FIFA Naira Splash promo with the emergence of a 57 years old Anambra State-born Deacon Okeke Simeon Chukwuka, as the star prize winner worth N20 million, reports GERALDINE OKOLIE.

The promo which started about three months ago ended on July 13 has made many millionaires from its subscribers since its premiere.

While receiving his cheque, Deacon Okeke, a teacher of 34 years, allayed the fears that MTN promos are fraudulent, asserting that the promo is real.

“Sometimes, I use to see some people on television where they will be displaying bold cheques and I used to say to myself, this could be a planned thing, but now, my eyes has opened, the Y’ello network is committed and genuine,” he declared.

Equally, Prince Adebayo Sosanya, Oladele Saheed, Pastor Ekwealor, Vincent Owolabi, Sunday Abidoye to name a few emerged winners of N2m each, just as over five persons went home with N20,000 prizes each.

In his remarks, the General Manager, Consumer Marketing, MTN Nigeria, Mr. Koya Oyeyemi, said that God has used the management of MTN to change the lives of many families in the country, both young and old; turning them from nothing to something better.

Oyeyemi also said that MTN is committed to better the lives of its subscribers, even as they have done a lot in the telephony services.

“We had N20,000 winners every hour and that’s 24 winners over 90 days, and then we had 20 million naira winners every month, then at the back of that we had about 90 winners who went to South Africa before the end of World Cup. So it’s a huge number of winners that we have had,” he said.

Further, he said that the management’s intention is to enrich the lives of its customers and give them a life time experience for the world cup.

“… Now, this is another part of it to say every other person who could not go for the world cup gets to win different sums of money, but here we are saying when you come across a customer, whose life has been touched with N20m, then you should know that such life is a transformed forever,” he asserted.

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Interswitch unveils Quickteller services on ATMs, mobiles

Premier electronic payment processing company, Interswitch has unveiled Quickteller services on its payment channels across the country.

Introducing the new product, the chief executive officer, Interswitch, Mr. Mitchell Elegbe, who was represented by Group, Chief Marketing Officer, Mrs. Tito Aderoju, noted that currently, there are over 30 million cardholders, majority of who mainly carry out cash withdrawal at the Automated Teller Machines (ATMs).

He noted that the introduction of Quickteller service platform avails airtime recharge and utility bill payment across all the channels including ATMs, web portal, mobile, Point of Sale (POS) to name a few.

This, he also said, were introduced in order to allow cardholders and partnering entities to deliver better value out of their existing investment.


Describing Interswitch as a dynamic organisation, Elegbe said his firm is evolved in an array of innovative services across all channels on the network, stressing that more services would be unveiled soon.

“Our main objective is to make the Quickteller platform robust enough to warehouse every vital service available,” he declared.

Some of the benefits of Quickteller, according to the Director, Payment Solutions & Business Expansion, Mr. Charles Ifedi, comprised of 24 hours by seven days, accessibility and payment convenience.

He cited the payment of DSTv bills for instance, saying that now cardholders could pay for their subscription on the ATM, web or a POS terminal and receive instant reconnection irrespective of whether they have been disconnected previously or not.

Ifedi also explained that cardholders could pay bills such as Zain pre and post-paid bills, HiTV, MTN, IPNX to name a few.

Equally, he said, donations for the Interswitch corporate social responsibility campaign ‘Switch a Future’ could be made to Freedom Foundation using the Quickteller service platform.

“Quickteller platform also enables direct top-ups or recharge of mobile phones for subscribers on MTN, Zain, Glo, Etisalat, Starcomms and Visafone networks.

As said by him, the introduction of the Quickteller value added service platform, corporate organization could now provide 24/7 payment access to their customers across all channels and still get consolidated reports, detailing information on all payments made irrespective of bank branch or the payment channel used.

“Thus increasing revenue and reducing operating costs for the corporate,” he said, emphasizing that money transfer services such as bank-to-bank, bank-to-ATM, mobile-to-ATM and internet bank transfers would soon be activated on the Quickteller platform.

Further, he said, Quickteller services are presently available on all Interswitch enabled channels and mostly via ATMs and banks as nine out of the 15 healthy banks in the country have since commenced the offering of Quickteller services.

He listed some of these banks to include GTB, Skye, FBN, Intercontinental Bank, AfriBank, StanbicIBTC, FCMB, Wema, Oceanic, Union Bank, Fidelity and FinBank.

Other top management staff of InterSwitch at the launch includes Director, Payment Infrastructure & Processing, Mr. Akeem Lawal, chief financial officer, Mr. Dapo Omoni among others.


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MTN offers new value options, weekend calls

MTN Nigeria, last weekend, unveiled new value options for its customers in the country, garnishing it with free weekend calls.

The new proposition comes in form of Smartlink for accomplished individuals; Prolink for up and coming professionals; Funlink for the young and trendy; Bizlink for active entrepreneurs and the Happilink for the families and the working class.

Chief Marketing Officer, MTN Nigeria, Mr. Bola Akingbade, said at the launch that the new value added offers would ensure that its customers enjoy more call time at highly discounted rate across various platforms.

He also said that one of the highlights of the new packages is free weekend calls, stressing that the Funlink segment, affords customers to make free calls all through the weekend to a registered “best friend”.

Both registered ‘best friends’ he said, would be charged only N100 each for this novel service which runs from 12:01am on Saturday to 11:59pm on Sunday, noting that the other market segments offer discounts of up to 80 per cent on calls and services.

Mr. Akingbade, who was accompanied at the unveiling by the General Manager, Corporate Communications, Mrs. Funmi Omogbenigun and General Manager, Consumer Marketing, Mr. Kola Oyeyemi, said that the new market segments include Smartlink for accomplished individuals, Prolink for up and coming professionals, Funlink for the young and trendy, Bizlink for active entrepreneurs and the Happilink for the families and the working class.

“The ongoing customer reward components differ by segment. They all carry a common message for all MTN customers – that you get more for less; that you can go on to express yourself without the worry of creating holes in your pocket,” he declared.

General Manager, Consumer Marketing, Mr. Kola Oyeyemi said, that the unique values that comes with the various packages for various market segments.

Customers on MTN Smartlink, he said, would enjoy retrogressive tariff plan, which allows the customers to pay less for more time spent calling. As an illustration, voice calls price could fall to as low as 25 kobo/second from a peak 50 kobo, a whopping reduction of 50 per cent.

“Those on this package will also be able to buy subsidized 30-day bundle offering that will provide 600 national call minutes, 200 on-net Short Messaging Service (SMS), 100 international call minutes, one month Blackberry subscription and free MTN Back-up, “ he said.

Oyeyemi pointed out that the component of this bundle could be shared among three MTN lines for convenience.

On the Prolink, he said, customer would be able to enjoy retrogressive tariff plan, as well as subsidized 30-day bundle offering that provides 30 community minutes to communicate with subscribers on the Prolink plan, 200 on-net-minutes, 100 on-net SMS, 500 Mega bytes (MB) weekend data and free MTN back up.

Equally on Funlink plan, he said, it provides a platform for ‘my best friend’ and ‘happy hour’ free mid night calls between 12:30am and 4:30 am.

“It has subsidized 30-day bundle offering that provides 50 on-net minutes, 200 on-net SMS and 60MB data volume,” he said.

And for Bizlink segment, he said, customers would enjoy retrogressive tariff plan, with 30-day subsidized bundle, that gives 350 national call minutes, 100 on-net SMS, 150 international call minutes and free MTN back up.

As well, Oyeyemi said that the MTN Happilink has a plan that guarantees bonus on incoming calls.

“There is also the call sponsor that allows any subscriber on the other product plans to bear the cost of a registered caller on Happilink. It has a subsidized bundle offering that provides 22 on-net minutes and 30 on-net SMS,” he said.

Further, Oyeyemi said MTN is the network of choice and would always remain committed to enriching the lives of its customers in different ways.

“With the new value offerings, MTN is consolidating on its leadership in the industry by giving customers services that will guarantee them greater value for money,” he said, emphasizing that MTN is committed to the core passion of its customers.

“And we have taken time out to study the market and based on this provide tailor-made offerings that meet the various market needs,” he asserted.

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