GSMA conveys Lifetime Achievement Award on Sunil Bharti Mittal for global telecom transformation - ITREALMS

ITREALMS ... making leadership SENSE with digital news!

The GSMA has conferred its rare Lifetime Achievement Award upon Sunil Bharti Mittal, Founder and Chairman of Bharti Enterprises, in recognition of his transformative impact on the global telecommunications sector, reports ITREALMS.

This honor, reserved for only a handful of industry leaders throughout the GSMA’s history, acknowledges a career defined by the expansion of connectivity across borders, bridging the gap between governments, businesses, and over half a billion consumers worldwide.

Innovation fund by GSMA closes application, Thursday 19 - ITREALMS

ITREALMS ... making leadership SENSE with digital news!

The Innovation Fund call for application by the Global System for Mobile Association (GSMA) is set to close by tomorrow, January 19, 2023, reports ITREALMS.

The fund which was opened on Thursday 24 November, 2022 was set up in anticipation to improve responses to humanitarian crises.

GSMA certifies Tanzania for mobile money

ITREALMS:

The Global System for Mobile Association (GSMA) has certified the Tanzanian-based Tigo for the mobile money, reports ITRealms. The GSMA, ITRealms gathered, defines and promotes excellence in the provision of mobile financial services to end users.

ITRealms also reports that Tigo Tanzania’s mobile financial services arm, Tigo Pesa, has received the GSMA Mobile Money Certification, recognizing Tigo’s ability to deliver safe, transparent, reliable and more resilient services that promote consumer rights and prevent malicious transactions. Tigo Pesa is amongst the first mobile financial services providers around the globe to be certified by the GSMA. Equally, ITRealms reports that the GSMA Mobile Money Certification is a global initiative to bring safer, more transparent, and more resilient financial services to millions of mobile money users around the world. The GSMA Mobile Money Certification represents a strong proactive move on behalf of the mobile money industry, demonstrating its commitment to Anti-Money Laundering and Countering Financing of Terrorism (AML/CFT), and to delivering quality, safe and fair services to customers and partners. With over 690 million registered accounts globally, the mobile industry is making the world a better place, and mobile money has given millions of previously unbanked people access to financial services. Speaking in Dar es Salaam, Tigo’s Chief Officer of Mobile Financial Services, Hussein Sayed said Tigo Pesa is proud of its contribution in driving the financial inclusion agenda in Tanzania by giving millions of previously unbanked people access to financial services. “This certification is evidence that we have taken a step further to ensure that customers’ funds are in safe hands, and that their rights are being observed through our business practices and that a high level of customer service can be expected,” he said. In order to achieve the certification, each mobile financial services provider is measured against global industry best practice, and a pass mark of 100% is required. Certified providers are those that have proven that their business practices are amongst the best in the industry and that they are trustworthy and responsible financial institutions at par with the rest of the financial ecosystem. “Tigo Pesa is proud to meet the requisite criteria to receive the GSMA Mobile Money Certification. This not only demonstrates the quality and reliability of our services but ascertains that we are at the cusp of the digital financial revolution that is sweeping the globe,” Hussein added. In addition to Tigo’s utmost commitment to ensuring that we provide world-class services to our customers, our Tigo Pesa business is delivering the most innovative mobile financial services to our customers. We have always been at the forefront in introducing relevant innovations to the market including: the first operator to create the world’s first interoperable mobile money market, the first East African cross-border mobile money transfer with currency conversion and the first telecoms company worldwide to share profit generated from our Mobile Money Trust Accounts in the form of a quarterly distribution to our customers. “Certification is a sign that our business practices are among the best in the industry, that we are a trustworthy and responsible mobile financial service institution, and therefore an attractive candidate for collaboration with potential business partners including but not limited to banks,” Tigo’s Chief Officer of Mobile Financial Services submitted. Chuks Egbune/ED, Ops

ITREALMS ... everything news digitally!

GSMA, ICANN sign MoU on Internet Governance

ITREALMS:

The Global System forMobile Association (GSMA) and the Internet Corporation for Assigned Names andNumbers (ICANN) signed a Memorandum of Understanding (MoU) at the Mobile World Congress in Barcelona, reports ITRealms.

The MoU, ITRealms gathered is aimed at enhancing collaboration and raising awareness about Internet governance issues that are of common interest to both organizations and their communities.

The agreement was signed by GSMA Director General Mats Granryd and ICANN President and CEO Göran Marby.

Over the years, mobile networks have evolved to become a critical infrastructure for Internet services, especially in developing countries.

The goal of the MoU is to advance the organizations’ shared objective of fostering the continuous expansion of interoperable networks and the deployment of information and communication technology.

The document highlights cooperation on capacity building and policy exchanges. Joint activities include workshops, regional events, and ad hoc interactions on technical subject matter areas that will further intersect the GSMA and ICANN’s respective missions.

Chuks Egbune/GEE

ITREALMS ... everything news digitally!

Breaking News: GSMA, ALTON, ATCON, NATCOMS reject plan to tax e-Services in Nigeria

Breaking News@ITRealms:

The Global System for Mobile Association (GSMA) has led a joint petition with the Association of Licensed Telecom Operators of Nigeria (ALTON), the Association of Telecoms Companies of Nigeria (ATCON) and National Association of Telecoms Subscribers (NATCOMS) against the proposed 9 per cent Communication Services Tax to be levied on charges payable by end-users of an electronic communication services in Nigeria, reports ITRealms.

Whereas GSMA is the industry association for mobile operators worldwide; ALTON, is for mobile operators of Nigeria; ATCON is for other associated telecom companies, and NATCOMS represents telecom consumers; jointly expressed dismay regarding the proposal, under consideration by the National Assembly, to establish a 9 per cent Communication Service Tax to be levied on charges payable by a user of an electronic communication service, for instance on Short Messaging Service (SMS), voice calls, MMS, data usage among others supplied by service providers.

In a strongly worded petition entitled ‘Objection to the Proposed Bill for the Establishment of a Tax on Electronic Communication Services in Nigeria’ addressed to the duo of Nigerian Finance Minister, Mrs Kemi Adeosun and her counterpart in Communications, Barr. Adebayo Shittu, the four telecommunications interest groups jointly rejected the proposed plan by the government to tax electronic communication services in the country.

A copy of the petition obtained by ITRealms, revealed that Mortimer Hope, Director Africa of GSMA, Engr. Gbenga Adebayo, chairman of ALTON, Engr. Lanre Ajayi, President of ATCON and Chief Adeolu Ogunbanjo, the national president of NATCOMS signed for their respective organisations.

ITRealms also reported that the petition which was copied to the Executive Vice Chairman, Nigerian Communications Commission (NCC), Prof. Umar Garba Danbatta, Senate President, Dr. Olubukola Saraki and the Speaker, House of Representatives, Hon. Dogara Yakubu among others, insisted that if this tax proposal is accomplished, it will not only increase prices for consumers, but stifles further investment in a market already battling multiple taxation.

“If introduced, such tax will result in an increase in prices for consumers, have adverse impacts on the adoption of mobile services and industry investment, and be counter-productive to the longer term national digital strategy objectives set by the Government of Nigeria,” the groups said.

According them, the bill tends to increase affordability barriers to the uptake of mobile services in the country.

They quoted a recent World Bank report which showed that a 10 per cent increase in mobile broadband penetration in low to middle income countries leads to a 1.38 per cent increase in Gross Domestic Product (GDP) growth.

They also pointed out that as at March 30, 2016, Nigeria has 83 million people with access to mobile services, lamenting that over half of the population are still without a mobile connection, while affordability remains a key challenge to connect the unconnected, who are typically lower income population groups.

“Further taxation on electronic communication services will hit lower income consumers the most, who are already struggling due to the adverse economic situation and increased price pressure and for whom affordable access to information and communication technology is critical to their social and economic inclusion," the petitioners lamented, stressing that this will result in a double taxation for consumers who already pay Value Added Taxes (VAT) on telecommunications services.

The quadruple interest group argued that the proposal would also further increase the administrative cost burden on service providers to comply with numerous and complex tax regulations, already high compared to other countries of the world.

They, therefore, requested of both Ministers to urgently intervene to prevent the adoption of a new tax on electronic communications services to ensure that digital economy delivers its full potential in Nigeria and for Nigerians.

+Remmy Nweke +ITRealms DSA +GSMArena Official Google+

ITREALMS ... everything news digitally!

G&D demonstrates Next Generation Subscription Management @ Dubia 360 Series

 ITRealms:

Giesecke & Devrient (G&D) has demonstrated a market leading subscription management solution that supports the Global System for Mobile Association (GSMA) ‘Embedded SIM’ Specification at the GSMA Mobile 360 Series Event in Dubai reports ITRealms.

This “next generation” G&D solution, ITRealms gathered offers more flexibility through the use of a full SIM profile download, and supports more customer use cases for remote subscription management, cost-effectively enabling even more connected devices in an increasingly connected world.

ITRealms recalls that this demonstration was building on the successful first commercial deployments of G&D subscription management with pioneering mobile operators, G&D says a SmartTrust AirOn V2 solution leverages the real world experience from years of commercial deployments and trials.

AirOn V2, ITRealms also gathered not only supports the GSMA specification but includes features such as an “Easy to Use” API already integrated to multiple control platforms, advanced retry methods to maximize the successful switching of subscriptions in a variety of devices, and support for the use of a second source eUICC vendor.

ITREALMS ... delivering news for ICT4D