Clinton backs Hillary on Internet access for all

Remmy Nweke
in San Francisco, California, US

The former president of the United States, Mr. Bill Clinton has said that he believes in the concept of Internet for All citizens of the world, supporting the recent pronouncements of the wife, who is current Secretary of State, Mrs. Hilary Clinton on Internet access for all.

Mr. Clinton who a special guest at the 40^th public meeting of the Internet Corporation for Assigned Names and Numbers (ICANN) in Silicon Valley, San Francisco, Northern California, United States, said that he is a firm believer in the continuous openness of the Internet.

“We should continue to do what we do right so as to keep taxes low keep e-Commerce doing great,” he declared.

Clinton noted that it was encouragement from his government that stimulated the kind of growth ICANN has today from the United States government and the world at large.

Responding to the question on the role of government in Internet Governance, the former president of United States said that one thing he likes most in the transformation the internet community has embedded has been the multi-stakeholder approach.

He also urged that this be sustained and emphasised that anything that is criminal in the real world should be seen as wrong virtually, that is, online.

“It is good to apply the same principle online,” he asserted as a firm believer on internet access for all, he is extremely proud of her wife’s disposition on the matter too.

He also noted that by the time he left office, an estimated 95 per cent of schools in the United States have connected to the Internet.

Clinton also made case for the rich countries of the world to subsidise the cost of internet access to the developing countries.

According to him, there is no good government without a strong civil society who work toward provision of good environments.

He noted that it would be difficult to build a good system of governance in an economy; therefore, he urged advanced countries and those economies that are doing well to support development of poor or least developing countries.

President Clinton is the founder of the William J. Clinton Foundation and the 42nd President of the United States, described 21^st century as an interesting time to be alive despite all the challenges posed by what is happening in Africa and Middle East, adding that all these have by one way or another inspired by openness of the Information Technology through the Internet.

For him, the world would be a better place the freedom of every individual is respected.

“We can do better when every other person recognizes the freedom and sensibility of others,” Clinton said.

He warned that lots of institutions are being led today including governments by people who want to hold on to power for self-aggrandizement and creation of empires for themselves.

ITRealms Online recalls that ICANN was formed in 1998 during President Clinton’s second term in office.

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Fixed Line Deployment - Nigeria Needs uniform right of way - Jameel

THE Nigerian state needs to come up with a uniformed policy on right of way in order to grow penetration on Fixed Lines in the country.

The Group Chief Operating Officer (GCOO), Globacom, Mr. Muhammed Jameel in an exclusive interview with Champion Infotech at the weekend, said that uniformity in right of way would accelerate fixed line deployment to Nigerians.

Essentially defined as an easement; right of way is a limited right to make use of a property owned by another, which in most telecommunication cases is owned by the government at all levels, depending on the system of government in place.

Champion Infotech recalls that this had in the past culminated in the Association of Licensed Operators of Nigeria (ALTON) dragging the Lagos State government to court, which adjudication was in favour of ALTON although the implementation has not been encouraging.

But speaking exclusively with Champion Infotech at the weekend, Mr. Jameel who has been on the leadership saddle of Globacom since commercial launch in 2003, noted that there has to be uniformity in the right of way policy direction of the government.

He attributed the lack of uniformity in the processes of getting the right of way to the lull in deployment of fixed line infrastructure for the country.

“This is what has been scuttling the plans for rolling out, otherwise we are there in Benin City, Kano, Ibadan, Abuja and Lagos,” he said.

According to him Globacom have launched its landline services, but the number of lines rolled out has been limited because, there is issues on getting the right of way of various state governments.

He noted that this has also gotten to the National Assembly through the Senate Committee on Communications, culminating in the committee’s recent calls a fortnight ago for the unification of policies around the right of way for telecommunications.

“We need to have uniform policy for the right of way,” he declared, stressing that any effort at getting right of way presently, faces lots of challenges from various states and their agencies.

Different states, Jameel pointed out, apply different rates before assigning a right of way within their domains.

We pay the Federal government, State government, and then we pay local governments and these are multiple taxes,” he lamented.

Jameel suggested that the right of way should be normally a fixed amount, so as to assist the operating companies to plan ahead.

“For instance, an X amount of Naira for that, so that when go and apply to any state government, you already know what to expect in whatever kilometer you want, let’s say a kilometer is an X Naira, then you can multiply and pay, adequately,” he said.

Additionally, he said that there is lull in most of the states across the country in giving right of ways, Globacom is not relenting.

“But, we’re still rolling out in the places like Port Harcourt and Enugu. So, the roll out is a bit slow because of delays in getting the right of way. We don’t have the required right of way (R of W.) to do the trenching and cabling. That is it for the fixed,” he said.

As at 2000, Nigeria claims to have less than 500,000 fixed lines, but since the introduction of the Global System for Mobile (GSM) communications, the nation is now cruising to over 8 million subscribers in less than 10 years.

A fixed line is often described as landline, which concept originated an overland telegraph wire, as opposed to an undersea cable. Further postulation sees fixed lines as telecommunications lines that are not wire free (not wireless), but connected to physical points.

This kind of connectivity has been observed by some experts as the ultimate in data delivery due to its stability while offering telephone access to people at homes.

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Can Nigeria take advantage of Cloud Computing?

Taking advantage of aggressive model like Cloud Computing by Nigerian businesses is aligning itself to the 21st century business outline, writes REMMY NWEKE.

A fortnight ago, Cloud Computing experts has predicted that the technology innovation has potentials to create new businesses, which means new jobs and avenues of engagement with the Information and Communication Technology (ICT) communities, especially in developing countries.

Defined by intellectuals at the open source-driven online encyclopedia, Wikipedia, Cloud Computing is made up of computation, software, data access and storage services that ordinarily do not require end-user knowledge of the physical location and configuration of the system that delivers his or her services. This could be likened to the usage of public electricity power services without bothering where the electricity is actually coming from; whether powered by a Dam far away or extended to your community with simple transformer.

The experts at Wikipedia also described cloud computing as a natural evolution of the widespread adoption of virtualization, service-oriented architecture, autonomic and utility computing. Therefore, it’s a new supplement, consumption, and delivery model for core Information Technology (IT) services based on Internet Protocols (IP), via the ease-of-access to remote computing sites provided by the Internet.

The President of Institute of Software Practitioners of Nigeria (ISPON), Mr. Chris Uwaje noted recently at Lagos Mobile Web conference that normal cloud computing service providers, should be able to deliver common business applications online that are easily accessed from any other web service or software like a web browser, while the software and data are stored on servers.

He highlighted that most cloud computing infrastructure are made up of services delivered through common centers and built on servers, thereby appearing as single points of access for consumers’ computing needs. Whereas the commercial offerings are generally expected to meet quality of service (QoS) requirements of customers, and typically include service level agreements (SLAs) among others.

But speaking at a breakfast session in Lagos, Cloud Computing Executive at Internet Solution, Cloud Services Executive, Internet Solutions South Africa, Mr. Greg Montjoie, declared that cloud computing would enthrone new businesses in the future, more so for developing economies like Nigeria and people need to embrace it as soon as possible, especially those who intend to play in this innovative products keying into the roles for Small and Medium Enterprises (SMEs).

Mr. Montjoie also said that one of the key benefits for businesses deploying cloud services include that employees would be at liberty to log into the office virtual machines and perform their functions which ordinarily were performed at the office.

For him, it’s quick provision of virtual machines as well as very cost effective upgradeable solutions to the end-user, adding that a wide range of peripheral services available is not limited to management of cloud services for businesses, which Montjoie noted are moving towards low risk, high flexibility of Information Technology (IT) delivery vehicles, so as to free-up capital, resource intensive models that tie a business into a single vendor and technology for a long period of time.

Cloud clients, Montjoie said need a solution that allows them to access their office systems from anywhere in the world and operate it on flexible infrastructure that could be ramped up or down on demand. Citing an instance with the Cloud Managed services by Internet Solutions, saying it was designed to provide elastic value added services (VAS) and back office applications from the core of its network; either by using dedicated hosting solutions or virtual Infrastructure as a Service (IaaS), the product suite allows businesses to focus on core services while outsourcing seamless integration of Cloud services into a given network.

Equally, he said that in the current African market and particularly Nigeria, technical resources are not only expensive but hard to find and by using the designed managed cloud services it would free businesses up from making large Capital Expenditure (CAPEX) investments or Operating Expenditure (OPEX) commitments in infrastructure and services that may not be core to mere business.

Hence, he urged businesses in Africa and precisely Nigeria to leverage on economies of scale on offer made out of the best of breed technologies.

Already various players in the ICT communities have come up with different concepts of what they think Cloud Computing is all about and should be in Nigeria, including Hewlett Packard (HP), Microsoft, Oracle, Cisco, and Ericsson to name a few.

This was corroborated with the deal sealed a few days after between LM Ericsson and Novatium partner on simplified cloud computing with PC as a Service, even as demonstration was held at the recently concluded 2011 Mobile World Congress, according to Public and Media Relations manager, Ericsson West Africa, Ms. Omasan Ogisi.

She said, PC as a Service is an operator offering which includes a managed monetized PC desktop and brings the strengths and advantages from mobile prepaid to the personal computer by allowing flexible recharging and diverse subscription models.

This partnership, she said, avails an innovative concept which stores computing features from operating systems to antivirus in the cloud, thus allowing computing to be amazingly affordable and simple without missing the user-friendly experience of more advance devices.

Ogisi highlighted the fact that PC as a service brings together the power of mobile broadband and cloud computing to reach out to the next billion users. She stressed that the partnership tends to transform personal computing experience to the level of simplicity of a household appliance, dramatically reducing battery consumption and allows PC to start in five seconds.

This service, she said, is available to telecom operators across Asia, Africa, Americas and Europe, pointing out that by making use of a cloud-based operating system (OS), PC as a Service removes the complexities of virus protection, software updates, application installation and maintenance.

“These features are moved away from the user to the cloud. The service, including client hardware, is remotely managed end-to-end by experts,” she said, just as it gives a superior and convenient computing experience at a really great value reaching out with an optimal solution for the next billion users, especially in emerging markets.

Ogisi assured that the service holds tremendous promise for telecom operators globally looking at ways to monetize their mobile broadband infrastructure, while ensuring subscriber value, adding that several leading telecom service providers in India have already deployed the concept under their brand names and invited Nigerian operators to key-in.

For instance, HP sees it as a means of taking service delivery to the next level. Experts at HP Nigeria led by Mr. Ime Umo believe that anyone who uses technology today should expect things to be immediate, interactive, connected and solution, stressing that delivery technologies enable services is more important than ever nowadays.

“Successful enterprises don’t just respond to this, they embrace it,” he said, thus cloud computing assures the agility the chief information officers (CIOs) need, thereby helping them to deliver the precise portfolio of services their customers require.

He explained that this could be accomplished by each from the best source, namely, public cloud, private cloud and traditional network, saying that the result effect has got to be flexible which is visible in Hybrid Delivery model. He, cautioned that getting the ‘most’ out of the cloud is not as easy as some novice may think, this is because to create the right service delivery model could mean taking advantage of HP’s Hybrid Delivery cloud, comprising building of the cloud services, consummation of the new cloud services, management and securing of the entire hybrid service portfolio as well as transformation of legacy IT environment to modernity.

For Microsoft, there could need to smile in terms of unpredictability, especially if one is conversant with its Windows Azure, which is Microsoft’s operating system for the cloud. Communication Lead for Microsoft Nigeria, Mrs. Ngozi Ife Anene, notes that this lets customer’s applications to scale up or down depending on the demands of business, which means freeing your developers to flex their creative muscles on a platform that already speaks their language such as .Net, PHP, Java or Ruby.

“Wherever their creativity take them, in the language they need, from any place they choose—they have the power,” she asserted, pointing out that there is also a pay-for-use business model, which ensures that customers do not waste their hard-earned money on services they might not need after all; declaring “now that’s a win-win situation and that’s cloud power.”

While urging for an embrace of cloud computing as business model for Nigerian businesses, Mr. Steve Herridge of Internet Solution, noted that server virtualization, which is key to cloud computing has become a precursor and enabler that Nigeria cannot be allowed to be left out by joining this global technology trend, but there is an urgent requirement to ensure steady improvement on the electricity power supplied to the populace and especially business community in the country.

This, experts submitted would act as a boost to the adaptation of cloud computing as a business model for Nigerian entities, while better the lives of SMEs.

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Resourcery, Cisco partner on digital signage solutions

RESOURCERY plc has partnered Cisco Nigeria on the unveiling of digital media signage solutions to the Nigerian market.

Senior Research Analyst, Resourcery Plc, Olaseni Olorunfemi confirmed this at the weekend, noting that as media experiences become more immersive, requiring more interactivity, organizations understand the need for investment in cutting-edge technologies to give them competitive advantage.

It is on this basis, that the two firms decided to pull resources on Digital Media System (DMS) to enable organizations in the country to create, manage, and access compelling digital media to easily connect customers, employees, partners, or students— anywhere, anytime.

“It is a flexible and comprehensive solution for publishing digital content to digital signage displays, desktops, and multimedia phones. Using the power of the Internet Protocol (IP) network, this solution can deliver live and on-demand content to enable organizational transformation by putting the human face back into business,” Olaseni said, adding that Digital Media is effective because it brings both intimacy and immediacy to communications and information.

Some of the benefits of this technology collaboration Olaseni said, include improved customer experience, improved marketing and branding, quick and effective training for newly introduced products and services, as well as live and on-demand video broadcasts.

“Sales and marketing units can use it to grab viewer’s attention and communicate product and service information to their customers. Corporate Communications department can use it for direct line of communication to employees, customers or for immediate executive communication. Human Resources department can use it for cost-effective training to remote employees,” the analyst said.

According to Olaseni, Cisco digital signs are ideal for organizations in a wide variety of industries, including financial services, retail, government, education, healthcare, sports and entertainment, safety and security, and transportation.

“Organizations can use digital signage solutions to boost sale and improve corporate communication. The solution is currently being adopted in many countries around the world, especially in corporate environments, shopping malls, airports and educational institutions. Quite a number of companies in Nigeria have begun installing this solution as well,” Olaseni said.

Champion Infotech recalls that Resourcery is a dominant player in the African ICT market, empowering its customers through technology, which has continued to leverage on its strategic global alliances to bring cutting-edge solutions to the African market.

Also, Resourcery provides end to end business solutions across multiple platforms and multiple solutions, empowering businesses through the delivery of value added technology solutions.

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Titans of Tech assembles stakeholders on cyber security

THIS year’s edition of Titans of Tech has concluded plans to assemble stakeholders on cyber security issues.

Managing Consultant of Technology Africa, the organizers of the event, Mr. Pedro Aganbi said the likes of National Information Technology Development Agency (NITDA), Computer Professionals Registration Council of Nigeria (CPN), Information Security Society of Africa (ISSA), the Association of Licensed Telecommunications Operators of Nigeria (ALTON), the Association of Telecommunications Companies of Nigeria (ATCON) and the Nigeria Internet Group (NIG) would all be among the list of high profile organizations that would participate in the conference cum exhibition.

He also said that the forum now in its sixth year is reputed for gathering of Information and Communications Technology (ICT) professionals in West Africa, of which this year starts tomorrow at the Golden Gate Restaurant, Lagos for the two day event.

NITDA Director General, Professor Cleophas Angaye, was quoted as saying that the theme of the conference, “Promoting Economic Development Through Effective Cyber Security” is timely and relevant as it lends weight to existing efforts to increase awareness of the issues, challenges, opportunities in cyber security in Nigeria.

Angaye further noted that in this era of digital revolution and widespread adoption as well as use of ICTs, security and issues around it has become more complex, arguing that trend is not likely to slow down particularly as ICT would be more vigorously used as a tool of accomplishing the Vision 20-2020.

Equally, the President, CPN Mr. Ibrahim Tizhe, was quoted as underscoring the fact that a better understanding of the concept will enhance the quality of government’s policy, enable the National Assembly legislate appropriately.

, help service providers see opportunities for business development and jumpstart economic activities generally.

President of ISSA-Nigeria, David Isiavwe added that on the global front where governments across the world were moving towards an electronic based or e-governance direction, the organised private sector and governments across Africa must come together to ensure that adequate attention was paid to the issue of security of systems wherever they might be

Aganbi explained that the attendance of ICT regulatory bodies and associations will add depth to the discussions and boost the profile of attendees. CPN is the legal entity charged with the control and supervision of the Computing Profession in the country. ALTON is the industry body for all telecommunications companies, and those providing subsidiary services to telecommunications service providers in Nigeria, while NIG, founded in 1995, is a not-for-profit, non-governmental organization, promoting the Internet in Nigeria.

He observed that ICT has indeed transformed the global economy and connected people and markets in ways never imagined, stressing that in order to realise the full benefits of the digital revolution, users must have confidence that sensitive information is secure, commerce is not compromised, and the infrastructure is not infiltrated, hence a forum on cyber security is imperative at this time.

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Why we’re repositioning – GeoidTel

INTERNET service provider with operations in West Africa, Geoidtel, has repositioned to deliver efficient services, according to the Chief Executive Officer, Mr. Olubiyi Ismail.

Speaking in Lagos at the reseller’s summit, Ismail said that as the information and communications sector continues to grow Geoidtel has to advance the level of offering to pace with the relevant demand.

The occasion which witnessed prize presentation to deserving resellers and hardworking staff, he said, was to spur the relationship between them and the company better.

Ismail explained by his company diversifying into the Internet Service Provision (ISP) segment was in response to the need to provide faster internet services to clients at low prices.

He noted that before Geoid acquired an ISP license from the Nigerian Communications Commission, the sector was dominated by companies who offered unsatisfactory services at very high prices.

“Our strategy was to offer high quality internet service at very affordable prices and that strategy has paid off because we have acquired quite a sizeable number of customers within one year of operations,” Ismail said.

He disclosed that the company faced certain challenges during its first year of operations, but promised that Geoidtel would offer more support for the resellers in the coming years.

“We faced certain challenges during our first year of operations, but we were able to overcome them. We have also taken certain measures and adopted certain policies which would in the long run enable us to serve our dealers better,” he said, stressing that the company will work with the resellers to ensure that they deliver better services to the end users.

Equally speaking, the company’s Chief of Operations, Mr. Ismail Alawiye, said they created a niche for themselves in the realm of internet service delivery.

“In order to serve our dealers better, we are in the process of setting up operational regional offices in all the geo-political zones of the country. We have dealers across Nigeria and West Africa and setting up these offices would enable us to attend to challenges quicker when they occur” he said.

The company, he also said, would soon deploy a billing management system to aid its service offering.

“As dealers, you will be able to access the billing management system when it is deployed. It will enable you to monitor your accounts with us and this would give room for more transparency in our operations and dealings,” he said, pledging that the company would improve its technical and support services.

According to Mrs. Bola Ade Idowu, Geoidtel’s Head of Sales, the company’s recently commissioned Network Operations Centre would enable the company provide efficient services to its customers. Stating that the company had created a memorable and distinctive brand image in the ISP segment, she added that the company would soon introduce attractive pricing for its products and services.

At the event, Telco Wireless was awarded as the Geoidtel’s Dealer of the Year.

Geoidtel is a provider of affordable high broadband internet connections via (Very Small Aperture Terminal) VSAT. Geoidtel has already put in place two Network Operating Centres where issues of requests and complaints would be swiftly addressed. The Network Operating Centres are located in Lagos, Nigeria and Maryland, USA.

Asides Nigeria, Geoidtel has coverage in other West African countries. Such countries include Cameroon, Benin Republic, Ivory Coast, Burkina Faso and Ghana. Geoidtel also covers Guinea and Senegal where the company already has resellers.

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ZEN mobile devices debut in Nigeria

ZEN Africa at the weekend made its debut into the promising mobile telecommunications market in Nigeria, offers 15 month warranty across board.

The entry marked the unveiling of its series of six smart mobile products, including X410, M20, Z66, Z82, X381; which the General Manager, Zen Africa, Mr. Girish Sharma described as affordable, trendy and quality products backed up with the know-how to entrench easy customer adaptation.

Sharma who said Zen is not perturbed by the seeming avalanche of competition in the Nigerian mobile phone market said that Zen Mobile stands out amidst competition.

One of the strategies of Zen is to ensure affordability of the brand in the hands of Nigerians, even as he lamented that in the last 10 years, Nigerian telecom consumers have suffered from high cost of products that cannot serve their need.

He noted that Zen, one of the global leading brands in smart mobile devices has the mechanism to offer its products at unparalleled affordable rates to give Nigerian mobile phones users an extreme value for money.

“Zen Mobile is here to offer Nigerians a double-edge advantage of quality phones made with best technology which is comparable to any other leading brands in the world at unbelievably affordable prices,” he said.

Outlining the selling point for Zen Mobile of smart devices, Mr. Sharma noted that all the six mobile products come with dual SIM facility, battery life span with X410 series having a 30-day battery backup while all the phones comes with 15 month warranty.

As for the support services, Mr. Sharma said that Zen Mobile already have estimated 10 service centres spread across the country for a start with a plan to have more.

These service centres, Mr. Sharma said have been fully equipped to cater for any need of Nigerian customers, just as they are manned by skilled staff and technicians.

As said by him, the six Zen’s smart mobile series come with X 381 series basic, Dual SIM, Dual Standby with 1.5’’ TFT LCD screen, Micro SD slot up to 2 Gega Bytes (GB), 500 phonebook memory, music and video player, FM Radio, flight mode, touch light, 3.5mm Jack and General Packet Radio Service (GPRS) facility.

He cited the X410 series, for instance, saying that it comes with a 30-day battery backup with key features like Dual SIM, Dual Standby with 1.8’’ TFT LCD screen, Micro SD slot up to 4 G.B,500 phonebook memory ,camera/video, Bluetooth , Music/ Video player, Wireless FM Radio, Flight Mode, Touch light, 3.5mm Jack.

The X430 basic with camera with key features like Dual SIM, Dual Standby with 1.8’’ TFT LCD screen, Micro SD slot up to 4 G.B,500 phonebook memory ,camera/video, Bluetooth , Music/ Video player, Wireless FM Radio, Flight Mode, Touch light, 3.5mm Jack and GPRS.

While Z82 comes with Qwerty in addition to a mobile TV features like dual SIM, dual standby with 2.4’’ QVGA LCD screen, Qwerty keypad, multi colour jog ball, Micro SD slot up to 4 G.B, 1000 phonebook memory, 2.0 MP camera/video, Bluetooth, GPRS, WAP enable, JAVA, Music/ Video player, FM Radio, Flight Mode, motion sensor, 3.5mm Jack Analog TV, Theft Tracker, Face book, Twitter, Nimbus, Messenger, Caller picture and Azaan Alarm.

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Starcomms roots for DigitalSENSE forum on Internet Governance 2011

STARCOMMS plc, one of the nation’s Code Division Multiple Access (CDMA) leading operators has thrown its weight behind the Nigeria DigitalSENSE forum coming up on Thursday, March 24 at the Golden Gate Ikoyi-Lagos.

The Nigeria DigitalSENSE forum focuses on Internet Governance and development in the country in relation to the global Internet Governance Forum (IGF) which would be this year hosted by Kenya in Nairobi in the last quarter.

Confirming this, the public relations manager, Starcomms, Mr. David Babalola said that the management of the mobile operator took the decision to back the forum due to extraordinary success recorded in the last two editions.

According to him, the feedback Starcomms received was overwhelming regarding the ever-increasing number of Nigerians who are well disposed to take active part at the forum.

“its openness was very encouraging both in terms of discussion and participation” he said, stressing that was why Starcomms have to take that advantage to educate and enlighten Internet related issues to its customers.

In addition, he said, the forum would afford Starcomms the privilege of bringing its avalanche of Internet products nearer to the Nigerian telecom consumers, such as its award-wining Izap among others.

In her response, the Executive Director, DigitalSENSE Africa, the organizers of the Nigeria DigitalSENSE forum series, Mrs. Nkemdilim Nweke, commended Starcomms for taking the right step.

She urged other operators who have not yet subscribed to the opportunity offer by DigitalSENSE forum to do so as the deadline approaches from accepting participant who intend to exhibit products and services at the occasion.

Also, she said that there are several other options for support and sponsorship available at the event as the predicted that participants for 2011 would definitely grow beyond the magic of last year, where the venue was filled to the brim.

Talks are on with more operators, which have reached advanced stages to grace the event in ground style, noting that this year’s theme: Internet Governance and Broadband Evolution in Nigeria would have the Executive Vice Chairman, Nigerian Communications Commission (NCC) Dr. Eugene Juwah, while the Minister of Information and Communications, Mr. Labaran Maku and his counterpart in Science and Technology Prof. Muhammad Abubakar Ka’oje are the special guests of honour at the event.

She also disclosed that the Lagos State governor, Mr. Babatunde Raji Fashola would lead the state delegation to the Nigeria DigitalSENSE forum as chief host accompanied by his Commissioner for Science and Technology, Dr. Obafemi Hamza among others, even as the former president, Nigeria Internet Group (NIG) and chief executive of Teledom Group, Dr. Emmanuel Ekuwem would preside at the 2011 edition.

She recalled that Starcomms internet service has been stable amidst challenged being experienced by other operators and assured participants of exciting sessions this year.

Starcomms Plc, Nigeria’s 4th largest telecommunications operator and leading “triple-play” in the mobile, fixed wireless voice, wireless broadband provision, is quoted on the Nigerian Stock Exchange having since July 14, 2008.

The CDMA operator is the first telecommunications operator in Nigeria to be listed on the domestic Exchange. Starcomms commenced operations in 1990 with a customer base of less than 2,000, at the end of December 2010, the network had crossed over 2 million subscribers; making it the 4th largest telecommunications operator and largest CDMA 3G Mobile network in the country. It is also the first CDMA 3G network to cross the one million subscriber base in Nigeria.

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ICT Alliance backs Jonathan for 2011

INDICATION emerged weekend that a cross section of the Nigeria Information and Communication Technology (ICT) has backed Jonathan and Sambo candidacies for the presidential election 2011.

The group under the name, ICT Alliance for People and Environment (ITAPE) informed Champion Infotech that they endorsed the candidacy of Nigeria’s President Goodluck Jonathan in the 2011 April elections, because that seems to be the best option for Nigeria at this time in point.

In a media interaction in Lagos ITAPE described the Goodluck/Sambo team as the mainly appealing on an index scale of most e-ready presidential team that has acknowledged the benefit of information technology in the 21st century and also sought to use New Media tool to reach a critical segment of the Nigerian population.

President Goodluck first launched his Presidential campaign bid on one of the leading social networks, Facebook, and has since sustained a two-way communication platform on his Facebook page to share his ideas and national growth agenda with well over 70 million people most of whom constitute a national followership that could only have been facilitated by New Media tools.

According to the Coordinator of the Group, Mr. Segun Oruame, “Africa needs a political leadership that understands and appreciates the power of technology if it must achieve its millennium goals. President Goodluck has not only proven that he appreciates technology but has gone further to join the youths on various networking platforms to exchange ideas on national issues.”

“For the first time in Nigeria’s national history, you have a political leadership that is engaging an exponentially growing online community to facilitate positive socio-economic changes,” said Oruame, a GKP/Panos Fellow, Head of the IT Edge Intelligence Unit and member of Nigeria’s ICT4D Strategic Ministerial Committee.

According to the ITAPE, the president has opened a new phase in people and leadership communication with vast potential to break the boundaries of ethnic and religious bigotry that has often coloured how Nigerians assess and respond to their political leaders.

“President Goodluck has maintained a never-before available window of communication with which Nigerians can share and respond to him outside of the brick walls of traditional means of governance. Through this window, millions of Nigerians have come to on their won assess him and accept him for the potential for positive change he represents and not on the basis of his tribe or religion,” said ITAPE’s Secretary General Bayero Agabi.

“A great percentage of Nigerians have seen the potentials for change in the Goodluck/Sambo team,” added Agabi, the continental coordinator for ICT Trainers Network under the Economic Commission of Africa (ECA) and member of the IDPM.

According to ITAPE, it was time Nigerians looked beyond divisive politics at the common grounds for national cohesion and development. Since ICT all over the world offers a rallying tool for unity and development, President Goodluck should be commended for opting to adopt ICT as a tool to foster national acceptance, said ITAPE.

The Group acknowledged that virtually all the political aspirants for presidential office have various levels of online representations but the Goodluck team leads in the ability to galvanize a critical online community and influence the thought process of this community to a significant and positive level. “Leadership is not just about ideals but ability to transforms ideals to practical results in the lives of the people and the environment they exist,” said the ICT Alliance.

ITAPE constitute of professionals from across Africa committed to the ideals of political unity, economic prosperity and social transformation using the tools of ICT. Since its founding, ITAPE has encouraged the growth of an online community promoting the ideals of an African continent bereft of corrupt political leadership and attuned to fundamental tenets of an egalitarian society.

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