Dora Akunyili in Top 3 Nigerians most Googled in March

ITRealms:

The former Information Minister, Prof. Dora Akunyili is among top three Nigerians most seek for with Google search engine for the month of March 2014, reports ITRealms.

Investigations also revealed to ITRealms that two other Nigerians on the top three are Leon Balogun and Muna Obiekwe.

ITRealms gathered that following her sudden appearance after a long absence from the public view due to her sickness, Professor Dora Akunyili appeared at the ongoing National Conference in Abuja, where she made  constructive contributions.

This further led to her being ranked as one of the most searched and talked about Nigerian in the month of March on Google.

The transformation of the full-bodied woman to a leaner figure attracted a lot of Nigerians to several blog sites while she was attending the National Conference in Abuja. Curious Nigerians continue to search for the cause of her ailment, and the decision to attend a public event.

For Leon Balogun, a German-born Nigerian professional footballer who plays for Fortuna Düsseldorf Football Club also made it to the list. Balogun was called up by the Super Eagle’s coach, Stephen Keshi for the first time for a friendly match between Nigeria and Mexico.

Others on the list of top trending people include Oscar Pistorius who is still facing trial in South Africa for the murder of his girlfriend, the late Zara Gretti (real name- Margaret Mary-Joseph) who passed on at the age of 28 after suffering multiple Sclerosis and Nollywood actor Muna Obiekwe whose controversial picture with a fellow actress has kept the industry unsettled, among others.

Here’s a full look at all of our top 10 lists for Nigeria in March 2014.

Top trending people

1. Dora Akunyili

2. Leon Balogun

3. Oscar Pistorius

4. Zara Gretti

5. Muna Obiekwe

6. Akas Baba

7. Biola Ige

8. Fred Phelps

9. Olanike Olaiya

10.   Cardinal Rex Jim Lawson

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Photo: Prof. Akunyili at National Confab 2014

Breaking News: Nnenna Nwakanma to keynote @NetMundial 2014

ITRealms:

Nigerian-born Information and Communication Technology (ICT) advisor and Free and Open Source Software advocate, Ms Nnenna Nwakanma is to keynote at the forthcoming NetMundial being hosted by the government of Brazil, reports ITRealms.

Confirming this development, Nwakanma disclosed to ITRealms that she received an invitation from the chairman of the Global Multistakeholder Meeting on the Future of Internet Governance 2014, tagged ‘NetMundial,’ Professor Virgílio Fernandes Almeida to keynote on behalf of the Civil Societies.

Also, ITRealms gathered that Nnenna has been slated to speak at the opening ceremony where heads of government over 23 countries have confirmed attendance including a delegation from the Nigerian government led by the Federal Minister of Communication Technology, Mrs. Omobola Johnson.

Nnenna, known for her ‘Africaness,’ frankness and human rights activism is expected to address the gathering for some eight minutes.

“I have replied to say ‘I will be speaking from the civil society perspective, which is my stakeholder group,’" she affirmed to ITRealms.

She expressed optimism this will be pulled off well.

ITRealms also gathered that Prof. Almeida has invited some other distinguished names to co-chair and lead the Netmundial organisation in the spirit of multistakeholders.

They include Prof. Jeanette Hofmann from the Academic Community, Subi Chaturvedi – Civil Society, Mr. Fadi Chedadé of ICANN representing technical community and Andile Ngcaba from the private sector.

Also there are four committees working in the Netmundial, namely the High-Level Multistakeholder Committee, Executive Multistakeholder Committee, Logistics and Organizational Committee and Council of Government Advisors.

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Pix: Nnenna Nwakanma

Visafone mast collapses in Surulere

ITRealms:

A mast belonging to Visafone Communications on Sunday morning collapsed in a Lagos suburb of Surulere, reports ITRealms.

This, according to ITRealms investigations as affirmed by officials of the company was attributed to the heavy wind and downpour in Lagos over the night of Sunday.

ITRealms gathered that although no life was lost, there was absence of network and service in Surulere and environs on Visafone network until late afternoon, when the services were reportedly restored partially.

ITRealms recall that Visafone Communications Ltd emerged as a result of strategic acquisition of three (3) Code Division Multiple Access (CDMA) mobile network operators that had operations for up to 8 years with 30,000 subscribers and coverage in different parts of Nigeria, was incorporated on June 20, 2007 after its acquisition of Cellcom and received a Unified Access Service Licence as a telecom operator from the Nigerian Communications Commission (NCC) on August 1, 2007 positioned it to offer mobile, fixed and any other telecommunications service to its subscribers.

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ICANN seeks public comment on 5-yr strategic plan

ITRealms:

The Internet Corporation for Assigned Names and Numbers (ICANN) is seeking public comment on the Draft ICANN Five–Year Strategic Plan (FY16–FY20) reports ITRealms.

The comment period is  through May 2014 and hopes to built on community input received throughout an extensive, public strategy conversation.

The draft Strategic Plan, ITRealms proposes a new vision, reiterates ICANN's existing mission, and describes five focus areas with strategic objectives and goals.

According to ICANN, each goal includes proposed, strategic outcomes, risks, measures and phasing over five years. 

Thus, ICANN is seeking general feedback, as well as input on the proposed measurable outcomes for the Focus Area Goals.

“Your comments will help inform the final ICANN Five–Year Strategic Plan,” official said.

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Broadband: 40m subscribers mark achieved in 2013

ITRealms:

An estimated 40 million new broadband subscribers lashed on the rave of the moment technology, just as 14.1 per cent growth was made in Internet Protocol Television (IPTV) marking a year of steady growth, ITRealms.

According an official press statement made available to ITRealms, this figure was achieved in 2013, raking total broadband lines to 678.6 million world-wide.

ITRealms notes that the overall figures showed steady growth but slowing as older markets reach saturation, hence, Digital Subscriber Line (DSL) is still the predominant technology, but fiber continues to outpace all access types in new deployments.

The Internet Protocol Television (IPTV) is nearing the 100 million subscriber threshold with 21 per cent growth in 2013 and 17 million new subscribers taking the total to 96 million at year end 2013.

As affirmed by Broadband Forum in its latest newsletter, the update shows a slowing but steady growth in broadband subscribers with some significant trends in technology and regional growth in new markets.

The figures, prepared by Point Topic as sighted by ITRealms, highlighted the addition of over 40 million new users world-wide, an annual increase of 6.15 per cent, bringing the global total up to 678,455,893m.

Speaking at the Fixed Access Networks Summit in Berlin, Germany, last week, the Broadband

Forum chief executive officer, Robin Mersh, said that these figures for 2013 paints an extremely interesting picture both regionally and in terms of the changes in technology choices as some markets reach saturation and others started their digital journey.

“They are a great illustration of the ‘second age of broadband access,’ with existing customers demanding more bandwidth and operators introducing new technologies,” he said.

In addition, he said, the figures show that copper-based technologies such as DSL, Asymmetric digital subscriber line (ADSL) and ADSL2plus continue to be dominant, although fiber-based technologies, which include Very-high-bit-rate digital subscriber line (VDSL) and VDSL2 are taking a firmer

grip and with growth rates of 17.6 per cent overall.

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