Boko Haram threatens telecom infrastructure in Nigeria

The terrorist group largely prevalent in the Northern part of Nigeria, known as Boko Haram – Education is sin; has began to threaten telecommunications infrastructure in the country.

Disclosing this to ITRealms Online, while discussing ‘State of Information and Communications Technology (ICT) Infrastructure at the 2012 Titans of Tech forum in Lagos, Mr. Shola Adeyemi of Airtel Nigeria said telecom operators are now being threatened by the sect terrorist group, who have killed hundreds of Nigerians via terrorist attacks.

Mr. Adeyemi who represented the Director of Government Relations and Regulations at Airtel Nigeria, Mr. Osondu Nwokolo, said that this has become a concern owing to the fact that Boko Haram have threatened government agencies in the past and carried out such threats.

“There are plans to attack telecom infrastructure by Boko Haram based on the fact that we (telecom operators) are assisting security agencies,” he said, adding that aside this threat, some staff of telecom network operators have been physically attacked and even killed in the past as well as infrastructure vandalized.

He also said lamented that states governments are making unnecessary demands through various agencies across the various local, states and federal institutions coming up with simultaneous regulations.

Equally speaking on the issue, outgoing president of the Association of Telecommunications Companies of Nigeria (ATCON), Mr. Titi Omo-Ettu said that the threat by Boko Haram on telecom infrastructure is unfortunately and should be seen as a threat to all Nigerians.

“It’s most unfortunate that Boko Haram is threatening our telecom infrastructure,” he declared, saying that the threat should not be taken lying low.

Although he noted that ATCON is not much worried as the telecom infrastructure in the country is not situated at a particular location or state based on the kind of technology deployed so far which made it possible for various base stations to exist.

He maintained that based on the foregoing, it’s practically impossible to shut down telecom infrastructure in the country as any attempt would mean that networks would be switched automatically.

According to him, if such a threat is carried out, it may hamper services but not adversely.

Remmy Nweke
ITREALMS Online ... delivering news for ICT4D

Cisco extends TelePresence with new Mobile-to-Immersive offer in Africa

Cisco has extended its telepresence with new Mobile-to-Immersive offer for the African continent.

This latest offer, Cisco said would transform how Telepresence is used for high impact meetings, even as it integrates jabber releases for iPad and Windows.

Also, Cisco said is aimed at making it easier for people in Africa and globally to collaborate anywhere, anytime in the post-PC era.

The innovations, ranging from new desktop and mobile Cisco Jabber collaboration applications to Cisco TelePresence systems, make it easy for users to move from one collaboration solution to the next based on how they work and their immediate task at hand, citing for example, moving from instant messaging to voice to video with the click of a button.

A press statement from Public Relations Executive at Cisco, Ms Rose Bambi, quoted Director, Cisco Collaboration Group, Mr. Michael Smith, as saying that in a world that is increasingly mobile, social, visual and virtual, individuals are dictating how, when and where they communicate and collaborate inside and outside of the workplace.

“With today’s TelePresence and mobility announcements, Cisco is continuing to make ‘any device to any device’ a reality, while helping customers collaborate on their own terms on a range of devices that provide a rich and consistent user experience,” he said.

Equally commenting, the acting General Manager for Cisco in Nigeria, Mr. Said Rechchad, said these new Cisco developments came at a time when people increasingly expect freedom of choice in how and where they work, and that includes having access to a variety of integrated collaboration solutions and interoperable endpoints–both hardware and software based.

He pointed out that in Africa, IT managers are looking to provide highly secure, enterprise-class options that enable employees to interact across a broad range of tools whether collaborating via Video, PCs, Macs, tablets, or smart phones – and any standards-based endpoint within and between organizations.”

The new Jabber and TelePresence offerings, he said, include a new immersive TelePresence system with optimized collaboration capabilities, are completely integrated, giving customers more mobility options while also extending the reach of their telepresence investments.

Remmy Nweke

ITREALMS Online ... delivering news for ICT4D