DotMe! Etisalat’s version of Twitter

L-R: Messrs Steven Evans; Tom Keane, and Enitan Denloye @ DotMe launch in Lagos

DotMe, a new service from Etisalat Nigeria is a way of sharing information and giving updates via Short Messaging Service (SMS) at a very low rate while giving other contacts the opportunity to see the updates.

For an average industry observer, DotMe from Etisalat is its own version of Twitter.

DotME, Etisalat officials said was introduced in the bid to continuously provide innovative telecommunications solutions to its 9 million subscribers, thereby marking a record of the only telecommunications network in Nigeria.

Wael Ammar, the Chief Commercial Officer of Etisalat, expressed conviction that this innovative way to quickly share information with more people would prove useful to both individuals from all works of life, businesses, and other organisations like churches, mosques, and government organisations.

He also said that DotMe is a platform where a dotter, an Etisalat subscriber could publish an information update not more than 140 character like normal SMS on his dashboard, which could be viewed by any other person, both Etisalat users and those on any other network anywhere in the world.

DotME, information sharing platform on-the-go, he said, requires just an Etisalat line for the dotter and credit for the follower to be able to access the latest update by the dotter.

For him, with DotMe the type of phone one is using is not a barrier, as it’s an SMS platform product with no registration required for using it.

According to Rahila Isa Oni, Specialist High Value Segme, while presenting an Intro to DotMe, said the product is designed like twitter and it’s very affordable, a means to pass message across to many contacts at a time with just one naira.

She also said that DotMe would soon be upgraded before the end of the year, but added that with just a Naira, an Etisalat subscriber could post an update by sending an SMS of not more than 140 characters to the short code “8900” and other Etisalat user (s) could access the update with just one naira while other network subscribers pay normal SMS rate as applicable.

“A status message published will run for a period of 30 days unless the status message is deleted by sending (.) to the short code or the status message is overwritten by another update,” she said.

By just sending a dot (.) with a dotter’s Etisalat number in an SMS to “8900” from any network, the person sending the message gets the latest update of dotter, the subscriber whose number is typed after the dot, right on his or her phone in less than a minute.

Complementing the voice and text capabilities of mobile phones by offering a simple and ubiquitous publishing capability, DotMe can be used by individuals as well as corporate organisations and associations.

While answering questions of the press, Rahila said the product can be put to usage in variety of ways, as it can be used by cinemas to pass message across to people about their movie schedule with just a Naira, while supermarkets and stores can also make use of the service in giving update of the goods in stock.

An invention developed by Telsis, a UK-based company, while stressing the importance of effective communications to business and people, the founder and chairman of Telsis, Jeff Wilson said they are pleased to have Etisalat as their DotMe’s launch customer.

Yinka Ayosanya;

ITREALMS Online ... delivering news for ICT4D

Africa tops Internet access growth by 20-fold in decade

The International Telecommunication Union (ITU) has said that the number of Internet users in the Least Developed Countries of the world has grown by over 50-fold in the last decade, with Africa scoring 20-fold of this growth.

ITU Stats Shot Issue 7, showed that Internet user penetration in Africa grew by over 20-fold in the decade to 2010, from 0.5 per cent to 10.8 per cent.

This, ITU said, gave Africa higher Internet user penetration in 2010, than in the Commonwealth of Independent States (CIS) five years earlier. In CIS, meanwhile, Internet penetration grew from 10.2 per cent in 2005 to 34.0 per cent in 2010.

This, industry observers said entails that Internet access multiplied by 50 x 50 during the last 10 years globally in the LDCs with Africa recording 20 of such folds, noting that LDCs forged ahead in mobile but still need to come online.

ITU Stats Shot published recently and made available to ITRealms Online informed that Internet access in LDCs has grown from well under a million to almost 38 million within the period under review. “While the number of urban residents in developing countries living in slum conditions grew from 767 million to 828 million in the past decade, the number of mobile cellular subscriptions grew from 2 to 280 million,” the report stated.

In 2010, ITU said, almost two thirds of people in LDCs had mobile cellular coverage, and mobile cellular penetration had reached 34 per cent – up from just 5 per cent only five years earlier, and close to the global figure for 2005.

“In just two of the 49 LDCs was mobile penetration still below 5 per cent in 2010,” part of the report read.

According to the report, Internet user penetration in LDCs grew from 0.1 per cent in the year 2000 to 4.6 per cent in 2010.

This, the report added, is still far below the target set by the LDC III conference in 2001, of having 10 per cent of people in LDCs online by 2010.

Mobile cellular and Internet user penetration, the report indicated, grew impressively in all regions of the world over the past decade.

Although, it added that mobile cellular penetration in Africa in 2010 was 45.2 per cent, which was higher than mobile cellular penetration in the Americas in 2004 with 42.8 per cent, even as mobile cellular penetration in the Americas grew to 94.5 per cent by 2010.

ITU further indicated that mobile cellular penetration in Asia and the Pacific in 2010 was 69.2 per cent; higher than mobile cellular penetration in Europe eight years earlier by 67.0 per cent, thereby recording mobile cellular penetration in Europe by 117.7 per cent by 2010.

Internet user penetration in Asia and the Pacific grew from 3.3 per cent in 2000 to 22.5 per cent in 2010, bringing it close to Internet user penetration in Europe nine years earlier with 23.0 per cent, stressing that by 2010, Internet user penetration in Europe had grown to 67.0 per cent.

ITU Stats Shot in a publication tagged ‘What a decade...?’ examined mobile penetration over 100 per cent in 97 economies with global Internet user penetration reaching 30 per cent, stressing that the first decade of the new Millennium saw extraordinary progress made in ICT development globally.

“While gaps still remain between the developed and developing world, especially concerning Internet use the developing world is only a few years behind.

At the end of 2010, ITU pointed out that while over 2.6 billion people worldwide still lacked access to toilets or other forms of improved sanitation, there were almost 4 billion mobile cellular subscriptions in the developing world.

Mobile cellular penetration in the developing world reached, the report said was 70 per cent at the end of 2010, just six years after reaching 70 per cent in the developed world.

Emphasising that in 2002, there were just two countries in the world with mobile cellular penetration with over 100 per cent.

“Eight years later, almost 100 economies had mobile cellular penetration over 100 per cent and 17 economies had penetration rates above 150 per cent,” part of the report read.

In addition, report stated that global Internet user penetration reached 30 per cent in 2010, just as Internet user penetration in developed countries reached 30 per cent just nine years earlier in 2001.

In 2000, ITU said, Internet user penetration was under 1 per cent in 72 economies and 10 years later, there were just six economies with Internet user penetration under 1 per cent, whereas the Internet user penetration in the developing world as a whole reached 21 per cent in 2010.

Pointing out that global Internet penetration in 2010 at 30 per cent was higher than global fixed 16 per cent or mobile at 12 per cent telephone penetration in the year 2000.

Remmy Nweke
ITREALMS Online ... delivering news for ICT4D

Nokia, connecting Africans with dual SIM phones

Recently in the city of Nairobi, Kenya, leading world mobile phone manufacturer, Nokia assembled some African media practitioners to herald a continental launch of its colour screen dual Subscriber Identification Module (SIM) handsets. REMMY NWEKE reports that the event was another ploy by Nokia to hook up another set of billions mobile phone users across Middle East and Africa.

A fortnight ago, Nokia, the world’s leading mobile device manufacturer, assembled the crop of African media practitioners to the capital city of Kenya, Nairobi for the launch of its first-ever coloured screen dual Subscriber Identification Module (SIM) affordable handsets for the connecting the next billion in continent.

Welcoming guests to the event, the General Manager, East and Southern Africa at Nokia, Mr. Kenneth Oyolla said it was a privilege to host the continent launch of the Nokia’s latest in stock dual SIM phones, namely the Nokia 101 and Nokia 100.

He also projection that by 2015, an estimated 20 per cent of the world subscribers will come from the Middle East and Africa, stressing that was why this launch of dual SIM phones with different took place on the continent of Africa.

For the Executive Vice President, Mobile Phones at Nokia, Mrs. Mary McDowell said that the mobile phone company is determined to connect the next billion of people and also committed to bringing Internet access to these people as first time users, which would trigger a meaningful mobile experience.

Nokia, she said, delivers on its commitment, describing the two dual SIM phones on offer as inspirational product portfolio with local applications and content. These, she said, allows constituents participation in the digital explosion. Adding that in the last three months, Nokia has introduced several mobile devices for the low-end market with developing countries in mind, mostly with its dual SIM handsets.

According to her, Nokia, focuses a lot on easy dual SIM management, which enables end-users to set one of their SIMs for incoming calls and another for outgoing calls, in addition to providing a smarter feature with Nokia browser for series which uses cloud-based technology, local content and applications that are clearer, simple for browsing experience as well as supporting some languages.

Mrs. McDoWell said that these phones have maps, which offers local street maps at extremely affordable prices, adding that Nokia 101 is the fifth dual SIM phone that goes for about $35 for Nokia 101 while Nokia 100 goes for $30, about N4,500, whereas it comes on vibrant colors including legion blue, festival pink, ocean blue, phantom black and coral red, describing the Nokia 100 as the little brother of Nokia 101 with long time battery life.

She said, Nokia 101 would be available in the third quarter of 2011 for $35, about N5,460 and comes in phantom black and coral red. The Nokia 100, Mrs. McDoWell said, would be available in the fourth quarter of 2011 for about USD 30, about N4,500, while it comes on vibrant colors including legion blue, festival pink, ocean blue, phantom black and coral red in selected markets including Nigeria.

On counterfeit, she said, Nokia is working with governments across the world to steam the growth of fake products, even as they partner local mobile operators, mostly in the last six months in bringing quality Nokia products available to subscribers.

Commenting, the Vice President for Sales at Nokia Africa, Mr. Brad Bockhaug noted that an estimated 29 million people have experienced Nokia Life Tools across Asia, Middle East and Africa with large impact from Nigeria.

As said by him, the Nokia 101 is breaking new grounds by re-enforcing Nokia commitment and bringing high capability to the end users, highlighted the fact that in Nigeria, for instance, there is high retention rate, hence, it is necessary for people, especially the end-users of low income to have durable phones at their disposal.

He also said, Nokia is very confident in growing the market, especially on the continent and described the launch as the beginning of love affair in Africa.

For Mrs. Blanca Juti, vice president mobile phones product marketing, pointed out that Nokia dual SIM phones are most affordable phones to date and packed with features as well as sporting color displays in continuation with Nokia’s commitment to connecting the next billion consumers.

Explaining these products, Head, Nokia Mobile Phones Business Unit, Middle East & Africa (MEA), Mr. Calin Turcanu, Nokia 101 and Nokia 100, aside being most affordable colour screen dual Subscriber Identification Module (SIM) products have their uniqueness.

For example, he said, in Nokia 101, they took the experience of the dual SIM that already have in the market and brought same in most affordable package without compromising on the experience.

The dual SIM functionality, he said, enables users to connect to two different networks to receive calls and messages, citing an instance with the Nokia SIM manager, he said, it allows users to select which SIM card to use to make a call or send a text message, thus helping them to manage costs and maintain network coverage without needing several phones.

Further, he said, the SIM manager allows users to store the settings of up to five SIM cards on the phone, and to personalize them by assigning names and logos for each SIM setting, even as Nokia 101 comes with an FM radio, integrated Media Player version 3 (MP3) and a 103 phone loudspeaker. Additionally, he said, Nokia 101provides support for up to 16 Gigabyte (GB) microSD memory cards, thus allowing users to carry their entire music collection with them.

Nokia 100, the Sales lead for Africa said, it’s perfect for people looking for durability and simplicity as well as affordability when making calls and sending text messages, stressing that with affordable color display phone, people could enjoy new attractive grid-based menu system with fun and easy-to-read icons. Even as Nokia 100 features comprise an FM radio, enabling users to tune into their favorite music stations, whether on-the-go or at home.

Above all, the truth is that Nokia has come to stay and stamp its authority like in other series with low-end dual SIM phones; a sign an observer said signals a committed fight against counterfeit and reclaiming of position within the dual SIM range of mobile phones, especially in the developing economies.

Remmy Nweke
ITREALMS Online ... delivering news for ICT4D

DSA applauds election of Ajayi into GNSO council

DigitalSENSE Africa (DSA) has applauded the recent election of two Nigerians into leadership positions at the Internet Corporation for Assigned Names and Numbers (ICANN), according to the 2011 Nominating Committee (NomCom) outcome.

ITRealms Online recalls that the immediate past President, Nigeria Internet Group (NIG) and chief executive officer, PiNet Informatics, Mr. Lanre Ajayi and youthful Nigerian technology professional based in South Africa, Mrs. Titi Akinsanmi, were elected into ICANN leadership positions in the current year according to the NomCom chairman, Mr. Adam Peake, recently.

While Mr. Ajayi was elected into the Generic Name Supporting Organisation (GNSO) council , Mrs. Akinsanmi joined the At-Large Advisory Committee (ALAC).

Reacting to the development, the management of DigitalSENSE Africa, through its Executive Director, Operations, Mrs. Nkemdilim Nweke, said that their elections is a good sign of beautiful things to come the way of the country through the internet technologies.

Specifically, she said that DSA has confidence on Mr. Lanre, who is ably qualified to serve on that board having just ended his two-term tenure with the NIG and made inroads with his Internet for Jobs (I4J) initiative.

According to her, there is no doubt Mr. Ajayi would deliver on any assignment emanating from his participating in the council’s activities.

Mr. Ajayi, she said, has in the recent past motivated the relevant issues on Internet Governance in the country and across the West African sub-region.

“I am confident that he (Mr. Ajayi) would fly Nigeria’s flag across the global within the Internet community,” she said.

Industry observers recall that Ajayi had his Bachelors and Masters Degree in Electrical Engineering at the University of Lagos, and has trained on Data Communications at GPT, Coventry, UK on a scholarship of the British Council.

He was further trained on Internet technologies and networking in Canada and Switzerland on the scholarships of the Internet Society (ISOC), even as he benefited from the fellowship of the Africa Network operator Group (AFNOG) to train on Internet technologies in South Africa and Ghana.

Mr. had worked for the Nigerian Telecommunications Ltd (NITEL) for 11 years before establishing PiNet Informatics, which is one of the first Internet Service Providers in the country.

While working at NITEL R&D department, he came up with a number of designs and devices which became the first set of patents held by NITEL. Just as he designed the External line plant monitoring device; the anti-cable theft device and he was in the team that developed a Nigerian Digital Exchange tagged ‘the Eagle project’ at a lab in the Massachusetts Institute of Technology (MIT) in the United States in 1990. Ajayi has won several awards for his Research and Development activities among other achievements.

Remmy Nweke
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W.TEC ends Girls’ Tech camp with awards

WTEC Girls in Tech camp 2011:  Ms al Hassan receiving her prize from the special guest at the occasion, Executive director, operations, DigitalSENSE Africa (DSA) Mrs Nkem Nweke, while a staff of WTEC admires the presentation.

The fourth Women’s Technology Empowerment Centre (W.TEC) Girls’ Technology Camp ended in Lagos, recently in Lagos with some of the participants going home with prizes due to their performances.

The Executive Director, W.Tec, Ms Oreoluwa Somolu, disclosed this, saying that participants are now prepared to face with digital world.

This year’s camp, she said, lasted between August 5 and 13, and was attended by girls from high schools ranging from the age of 14 and 17.

She said that closing and presentation ceremony held at Laureates College, Aviation Estate, Mafoluku, Lagos, that awards were given to participants based on two fronts, namely character and academic awards respectively on various categories including Miss Purposeful, which went to a 16-year old girl, Miss Semirat Ahmed from Community Senior High School Ojodu, Abiodun for displaying strongest sense of purpose and focus in her actions and interactions with others and Miss Resourceful went to another 16-year old Miss Temitope Adeolu of Ifako Comprehensive Senior High School, Ifako-Lagos for showing greatest sense of initiative and sense of responsibility.

Miss Amatullah Al-hassan, a 14-year, SSS 2 student from the Essence International School, Kaduna, catch home two prizes as Miss Congeniality and Miss Blossom; for being the best students in camp able to develop and maintain amiable relationships with others as well as for being the girl who blossomed the most over the course of the camp; typically from being very withdrawn and quiet to becoming more sociable and assertive with others.

On the academic excellence awards, three students emerged with Miss Simisola Odegbami, a 13-year, JSS 3 student of Laureates College, Lagos taking the lead, followed by Miss Ebubechi Amobi and Uzamat Jimoh coming second and third prize winners respectively.

Also, the Executive Director, W.Tec, Ms Somolu explained that the girls were observed during the camp and based on a combination of factors, including participation and attentiveness during the workshops and classes as well as level of purpose displayed coupled with hard work, resourcefulness, interactions with camp staff and other campers that the four prizes were awarded to some of the girls.

According to her, W.TEC provides information technology training, mentoring and career counseling programmes in addition to researching on how Information and Communication Technologies (ICTs) could be made more participatory for Nigerian girls and women.

“Technology is an important engine for economic growth and in particular has the potential to spur both national and women’s economic advancement,” she said, stressing that however, women are under-represented in technology fields across the African continent and this has dampening effects on the long-term growth and development of both African women and the continent’s economy.

Research, she said, had shown this stems from a variety of factors including lower numbers of girls who complete secondary school and cultural notions of these fields being more suited to men, which could discourage women’s interest in technology.

In order to reverse this trend, she noted, W.TEC seeks to increase the number of women using technology by offering technology classes, providing information about technology careers and practical applications of technology, presenting female technical role models and dispelling stereotypes of gender-appropriateness of technology.

“Our objectives are for Nigerian women to develop financial empowerment by: training for ICT-specific roles; developing skills that can be used for other ICT-reliant jobs or self-employment. We also want women to develop skills and confidence using ICTs for information gathering, learning and activism for a better quality of life,” she said.

The special guest of the day, the Executive Director, Operations at DigitalSENSE Africa, Mrs. Nkemdilim Nweke, urged the camp participants to take ICT tools seriously and look beyond mere Facebooking and Twitting.

ICT, she said, has more to offer especially with avalanche of social media networks and be conscious of revealing their identity online as they could be subject to abuses.

“You should optimize the Internet as the engine of the new and digital economies,” Mrs. Nweke advised.

The camp was brought to a close with presentation of prizes to deserving students by the special guest and Mrs. Somolu, the proprietor of Laureates College, while the event was supported by Omatek Computers, Laureates College, Rutgers College’s Women in Computer Science group in the USA, Technology Times, TW Magazine, various individual supporters, WTEC board and family members of all the participants.

Remmy Nweke
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Buy Swivel iZap, get 250hrs free

Starcomms plc is offering new generation swivel iZap modem for free to new customers while existing customers renewing on the 250 hours data plan either on iZap or 1x would automatically get an extra 50 hours within the 90 days of the subscription plan.

The Chief Operating Officer, Starcomms, Mr. Logan Pather said at the weekend, the promotional offer would run for the next two months and it is meant to heighten the internet browsing experience of Nigerians, especially those that have yet to enjoy Starcomms.

According to him, Starcomms has listened customers and prospective customers who are desirous of extra browsing time and the opportunity to join the listening network on the data platform.

He further said, this would gave rise to the offer of free modems to customers who are ready to browse for the next three months by subscribing to the purple 250 plan.

“This will give them ample time to enjoy their browsing experience,” Pather said.

Equally, he said, aside from speed for which Starcomms internet service is well known for, the network offers one of the most varied subscription plans in the industry.

“Starcomms internet service plans are available in hourly packages, volume based packages and monthly uninterrupted packages on both iZap and 1x platforms,” he said.

The 50 hours package, he said, was also recently introduced in response to the clamour of internet subscribers, who desire flexibility in the prices of data packages to allow them many choices on their subscription.

As said by him, many of Starcomms customers demanded for a value subscription plan on their internet access in order to stem long period of inactivity on their data account as a result of limited funds at the point of expiration of their last recharge.

“With the plan, they can decide at the expiration of their default package to switch to a more affordable and temporary plan while they get funds together for the higher priced packages,” he said. The free modem promotion on the 250 hours subscription, he said, is also another incentive for those who plan to migrate to Starcomms data plan within the next two months.

Remmy Nweke
ITREALMS Online ... delivering news for ICT4D

Paga targets 15m active users by 2015

Newly fully licensed mobile money operator, Paga, is targeting to grow active users on the platform to 15 million by the year 2015.

Founder and chief executive officer, Paga, Mr. Tayo Oviosu revealed this at a media launch of Paga mobile money in Lagos on Monday.

According to him, his firm intends to democratize Paga usage by using mobile payments as the killer application to build demand and educate customers on the benefits of Paga by continuously delivering products for all segments of the population.

He also said that by increasing Paga Star merchant network through leveraging of the merchant network to deliver branchless financial services to the base of the pyramid with anticipation of growing this network to 30,000 by 2015.

The company, he said, is strategically innovative in anticipating customers evolving needs, and leveraging internal innovation lab to develop new products and offerings alongside its partners.

Oviosu who was accompanied at the media launch by the co-founder and director, sales and business development, Mr. Jay Alabraba, chief technical officer, Mr. Eric Chijioke and chief marketing officer, Mrs. Swaady Martin-Leke, noted that Paga provides several channels for consumers to use its services including Short Messaging Service (SMS), Online, a mobile application, Unstructured Supplementary Service Data (USSD) or automated line for the Interactive Voice Response (IVR).

As said by him, Paga is a home-grown pioneering mobile money service founded in 2009 and launched in February 2011, with the mission to deliver innovative and universal access to financial services for those underserved or excluded, especially payments and savings via the mobile phone.

Paga, he said, is available on all mobile networks and is delivered to customers in collaboration with strong local banks including micro-finance institutions, retailers and various other private and public sector organizations.

Equally speaking, the co-founder Paga, Mr. Jay Alabraba pointed out that its flagship service and core offering is a money transfer service.

“With Paga you can send money to anyone, anywhere with a mobile phone. Paga works on the basic SMS enabled phone and on all mobile networks so customers have the liberty to have their Paga account available regardless of what phone or network they are using,’ he said.

In addition, he said, Paga could be used to purchase airtime, pay bills, pay retailers and perform a variety of other transactions.

“Paga can be used individually or at any of Paga’s nationwide network of dedicated agents,” he said, stressing that Paga agents ear commission on everything they do on the platform, just as there is plan to add bonus performance for the agents.

He recalled that with the issuance of its full operating license from the Central Bank of Nigeria (CBN), Paga, describing the firm as an innovative financial services platform, which is now set to offer all Nigerians an easy-to-use and secure money transfer service.

Paga, the founders said, enables Nigerians to transfer money to anyone via their mobile phone or Internet connected device, as well as by visiting any retail agent in Paga’s nationwide network.

ITRealms Online recalls that Paga, founded in 2009, is a home-grown money transfer service with a mission to deliver innovative and universal access to financial services for all Africans.

Remmy Nweke
ITREALMS Online ... delivering news for ICT4D

ICT critical to outsourcing – Galaxy Backbone

A one-day national conference on Information and Communication Technology (ICT) Outsourcing was recently hosted by Galaxy Backbone plc in the city of Abuja, with the Group Head, Development & Strategy, Galaxy Backbone, Mr. Sadiq Abubakar, describing ICT outsourcing as critical to creating for public sector institutions.

According to him, the strategic value is obvious for those whose primary responsibility is the delivery of public services to citizens and businesses in return for the taxes paid.

Manager, Corporate Communication at Galaxy Backbone, Mr. Franklyn Ginger-Eke in a press statement made available to Daily Champion quoted Abubakar as saying that the overarching role of ICT is to reduce operational costs, wealth creation and driving efficiency in the delivery of public services to citizens by public institutions in a modern economy.

Abubakar further said, ICT is critical and has the capacity to simplify the process of service delivery and to that extent is at the core of the outsourcing industry.

He cited for instance, the establishment of Galaxy Backbone by Federal Government for the procurement and implementation of bandwidth, connectivity, datacenter hosting and other ICT infrastructure for Ministries, Departments and Agencies (MDAs) represents a commendable example of outsourcing.

“Outsourcing involves the contracting out of a business function previously performed in-house, but is not core to the operations of an organization, to an external provider. Such a business arrangement would involve an exchange of services and payments,” he said.

Abubakar stressed that a robust nationwide ICT infrastructure was a major requirement for outsourcing to grow and thrive in Nigeria.

He opined that the concept of outsourcing was not strange to the Federal Government as evidenced by the Galaxy Backbone model, but empathized on the need for all stakeholders in the outsourcing industry to work together to develop a framework that would guide the growth of the industry.

Abubakar listed the benefits derivable from outsourcing in general and Galaxy Backbone in particular to include cost savings, defining quality levels, a defined focus on the core operations of Government MDAs, thus freeing resources investment, people and infrastructure.

Other benefits he listed to include improved quality of services based on service level agreements, access to expert knowledge and experience, access to operational best practice, access to a large talent pool drawn from the private sector and Diaspora and enhanced capacity for innovation.

He emphasized that Galaxy Backbone has also adopted the outsourcing model as a business strategy in order to meet the needs of its customers through the provision of innovative infrastructure services delivered through its extensive and integrated network made up of a tier 3 data centre, Abuja metro optical fiber, 5000 VSAT nodes and a state of the art Network Operations Centre.

“Through this business model, Galaxy is able to partner with industry players to meet market needs and customers’ expectations, contrary to misconceptions about the company being a monopoly,” he said.

Remmy Nweke
ITREALMS Online ... delivering news for ICT4D