Africa eyes standards alignment as ETSI opens registration for AI & Data conference 2026 - ITREALMS

ITREALMS ... making leadership SENSE with digital news!

Registration has opened for the ETSI AI and Data Conference 2026, set for 09–11 February 2026 in Sophia Antipolis, France, in what analysts now describe as a significant moment for global standardisation around artificial intelligence and data governance, areas increasingly critical for African markets positioning themselves inside emerging technology value chains, reports ITREALMS.

The event, which is free but requires mandatory registration due to limited seats, will gather industry leaders and standards bodies shaping how AI systems are built, governed and deployed. ETSI will spotlight areas ranging from semantic data models to agentic AI architectures, reflecting both regulatory urgency and commercial interest as adoption accelerates.

ETSI Director to spotlight 6G standardization roadmap @RCR Wireless News’ 6G Forum

ITREALMS ... making leadership SENSE with digital news!

The global conversation on the future of mobile networks is set to intensify as the Director of Mobile Competence Centre, at European Telecommunications Standards Institute (ETSI), Mirko Cano Soveri, prepares to deliver a keynote on the evolving standardization roadmap for 6G at the RCR Wireless News 6G Forum, scheduled for October 7, 2025, reports ITREALMS.

The virtual forum, supported by the European Telecommunications Standards Institute (ETSI), will gather global experts to discuss how 6G will move from vision to deployment, focusing on areas such as sensing capabilities, infrastructure cost modelling, policy frameworks, streamlined standards, and rollout timelines.

Nigeria Prize for Science 2025: No winner, but standards and hope endure by Remmy Nweke

Features@ITREALMS ... making leadership SENSE with digital news!

The 2025 edition of the Nigeria Prize for Science closed without a winner, as the Advisory Board and judges concluded that none of the 112 entries submitted met the rigorous benchmarks of excellence demanded by Africa’s most prestigious scientific award.

At a press conference in Lagos, Professor Barth Nnaji, Chairman of the Advisory Board, said the decision was not taken lightly but was necessary to protect the credibility of the Prize, which is sponsored by Nigeria LNG Limited (NLNG).

Advisory board upholds standards, declares ‘No winner’ for 2025 Nigeria Prize for Science - ITREALMS

ITREALMS ... making leadership SENSE with digital news!

... Judges cite poor quality of entries; 2025 theme on ICT and Artificial Intelligence to be repeated in 2026

The Advisory Board of The Nigeria Prize for Science has declared that no winner will emerge in the 2025 edition, following the judges’ verdict that none of the 112 entries submitted met the rigorous standards required for the prestigious award, reports ITREALMS.

Chairman of the Advisory Board, Professor Barth Nnaji, disclosed this at a press briefing in Lagos Continental Hotel, Victoria Island. 

Natasha and Akpabio @odds: Social media role in search of standards, integrity, accountability - ITREALMS

TelecomsClinic@ITREALMS ... making leadership SENSE with digital news!

REMMY NWEKE in this episode of Telecoms Clinic examined the central role of social media in escalation of the feud between Senator Natasha Akpoti-Uduaghan and Senate President Godswill Akpabio as the National Assembly searches for standards, integrity, accountability and mutual respect.

Preamble:
Recently, Senator Natasha Akpoti-Uduaghan and Senate President Godswill Akpabio have been at odds. The tension between them escalated when Akpabio ordered Senator Natasha's removal from the Senate chamber due to her refusal to move to a new seat as part of a revised seating arrangement.

Alleged N7.7bn: NCDMB upholds highest standards in due process, debunks Sahara Reporter claims - ITREALMS

ITREALMS ... making leadership SENSE with digital news!

The Nigerian Content Development and Monitoring Board (NCDMB) has debunk allegation of using some N7 billion on consultancy, insisting that it follows due process in all dealings, and upholds highest standards, reports ITREALMS.

In a rebuttal available to ITREALMS, the board, maintained firmly and unequivocally that its false, malicious, and misleading the publication by Sahara Reporters on February 12, 2025, entitled - EXCLUSIVE: NIGERIAN CONTENT BOARD NCDMB BOSS OGBE SPENDS N7 BILLION ON CONSULTANCY, OVER 580 MILLION ON 5-DAY LONDON TRAINING, LOGISTICS, ALLOWANCES.

Oil tankers: Urgent need for improved safety standards by Elvis Eromosele - ITREALMS

Commentary@ITREALMS ... making leadership SENSE with digital news!

In Nigeria, tankers carrying petroleum products are a common sight on the nation’s highways. These massive vehicles, often loaded with flammable and hazardous liquids, are an integral part of the country’s transportation system, facilitating the movement of crucial fuel supplies across the nation. However, the increasing number of tanker accidents, many resulting in devastating fires and environmental disasters, has raised serious concerns about road safety.

One of the primary factors contributing to the frequency of tanker accidents in Nigeria is the state of the country’s roads. While urban areas like Lagos and Abuja have relatively better road networks, the majority of Nigeria’s highways, especially those in rural and semi-urban areas, are poorly maintained. Potholes, lack of proper drainage, and uneven surfaces create hazardous conditions for all vehicles on the road, but for tankers carrying volatile materials, the risk is exponentially higher.

ETSI partners FutureNet 2023

ITREALMS ... making leadership SENSE with digital news!

The European Telecommunications Standards Institute (ETSI) is partnering with FutureNet Asia for the 2023 edition, reports ITREALMS.

ETSI disclosed its excited to be supporting FutureNet Asia 2023, taking place on 18 & 19 October, Marina Bay Sands, Singapore.

Loading … New standards for non-geostationary satellites - ITREALMS

ITREALMS: 

Deployment of Non-Geostationary Satellite Orbit (NGSO) in specific bands and services received boost at the 38th ITU World Radiocommunication Conference (WRC-19) with its adoption based on regulatory approach, reports ITREALMS.

The agreement reached at WRC-19 establishes regulatory procedures for the deployment of non-geostationary satellites, including mega-constellations in low-Earth orbit (LEO). The milestone-based approach will provide a regulatory mechanism to help ensure that ITU’s Master International Frequency Register reasonably reflects the actual deployment of such NGSO satellite systems in certain frequency bands and services. In defining more flexible timelines and objective criteria, this approach also seeks to strike a balance between the prevention of spectrum warehousing, the proper functioning of coordination mechanisms, and the operational requirements related to the deployment of NGSO systems.



While satellites in geostationary orbit are aligned with the earth’s rotation at an elevation of 36,000 km, NGSO satellites move across the sky during their orbit around the earth, in medium Earth-orbit 8,000 – 20,000 km above the earth and in low-Earth orbit at elevations between 400 and 2000 km.

With the availability of launch vehicles capable of supporting multiple satellite launches, mega-constellations consisting of hundreds or thousands of spacecraft are becoming a popular solution for global telecommunications, including to remote rural areas and isolated communities, providing low-latency broadband coverage (owing to their proximity to the earth’s surface), remote sensing, space and upper atmosphere research, meteorology, astronomy, technology demonstration and education.

Chuks Egbuna/DoP

*JOIN our alert's group | Share stories with us | Advert placement: WhatsApp | SMS: +2348033592762 *Twitter: @ITREALMS *Email: itrealms.dsa@gmail.com*

ITU reckons with 70 years of television standards - ITREALMS

ITREALMS: 

The United Nations specialized agency for information and communication technologies, the International Telecommunication Union (ITU) has reckoned with 70 years of television standards, as the world marks World Television Day (WTD) reports ITREALMS.

World Television Day is marked globally on 21 November, recognizes the medium as a major source of news, information, education and entertainment. As television broadcasting increases its footprint globally, streaming onto multiple portable devices, TV has become an integral part of life, accounting for 80 per cent of all consumer Internet traffic.

ITU, since it first released technical standards for television 70 years ago in 1949, has developed the globally harmonized standards that have progressively enhanced television viewing experience in terms of both visual and audio quality. From early standards for colour TV to developing parameters for 4:3 and widescreen 16:9 aspect ratio television, ITU has championed the switch to digital TV broadcasting and High Definition Television (HDTV), enabling more services, better picture quality and improved coverage owing to an increase in transmitted bandwidth capacity. Building further on the superior colour fidelity of ITU's Ultra-High Definition Television (UHDTV), ITU introduced High Dynamic Range Television (HDR-TV) bringing increased realism to images.

As 5G services complying with ITU’s IMT-2020 spectrum allocations and standards (currently being addressed by the ITU World Radiocommunication Conference in Sharm El-Sheikh, Egypt) are progressively rolled out over the coming years, the convergence of traditional broadcasting and Internet services could lead to the further merging of media content, data, and applications using broadband networks delivered over a combination of terrestrial, satellite and Internet platforms.

ITU further said that these “Global Platforms” may one day facilitate delivery of content to end-users on a wide range of devices and receiving platforms, using both broadcasting and non-broadcasting technologies.

Nenye Dom/Editor

*JOIN our alert's group | Share stories with us | Advert placement: WhatsApp | SMS: +2348033592762 *Twitter: @ITREALMS *Email: itrealms.dsa@gmail.com*

Effective Communications: PODE developing standards for MDAs – Ogunlesi

ITREALMS:

The Federal Government (FG) has advanced plans in the development of standards on Digital Engagement Policy to boost effective communications for the Ministries, Departments and Agencies (MDAs), reports ITRealms.

Head, Presidency Office for Digital Engagement (PODE), Mr. Tolu Ogunlesi disclosed this weekend in Lagos, at a stakeholder roundtable on digital rights and engagements put together by PODE, Facebook and ParadigmInitiative.

According to him, his office was working hard on creating digital engagement standards that would guide all government offices in their use of digital tools to ensure effective communication with the public.

"There is currently no social media policy for the Federal Government. This is understandable as social media use is relatively new in government circle. But this situation has led to inconsistency in the way government offices use digital media. We are currently working on creating a digital engagement policy for the federal government,” he said.

In addition, Ogunlesi disclosed this will provide guidelines on platforms to use, accounts administration, logo and naming standard, editorial policies, archival system, content process and management, among other things.

The Executive Director, Paradigm Initiative, ‘Gbenga Sesan, emphasised at the roundtable on the need for continuous conversation between stakeholders in the private sector, civil society and the government on digital rights issues in Nigeria.

"Digital right issues are far too important to our democracy and it is crucial that we engage in conversation with security agencies and public servants on how we can ensure freedom of people online while keeping the nation and citizens safe," he said.

In her remarks, the Facebook Public Policy Manager for Africa, Akua Gyeke said, "Facebook is an important platform for political conversation in Nigeria, and we are happy to be a part of this.

Facebook, she said, is dedicated to keeping people safe online, foster civility and responsible behaviour and promoting free expression and sharing.

Chuks Egbune/GEE

ITREALMS ... everything news digitally!

Pix: Tolu Ogunlesi (PODE), Akua Gyeke (Facebook) and 'Gbenga Sesan (Paradigm Initiative)

For standards sake, Uber introduces driver deactivation policy in Africa

ITRealms:

In effort to keep high standards, Uber has introduced driver deactivation policy across the continent of Africa, reports ITRealms.

Uber Communications officer for Africa, Samantha Allenberg, confirmed this to ITRealms noted that the  higher the quality of the service, the more riders want to take trips, which in turn means more opportunities for drivers to earn money.

The goal of Uber, Allenberg said, is to provide reliable, affordable and safe transportation, which could only happen if there is trust on all sides; where riders feel safe with their driver and where drivers feel safe transporting their passengers.

Pointing out that it was easy to work with the first handful of drivers when Uber first launched in South Africa in 2013, but as we have launched more cities and grown in popularity across Africa, hence it is important that every driver using Uber app understands the processes and communicates in a consistent and transparent manner.

ITRealms gathered that sometimes Uber has to restrict a driver’s access to the app, but when that happens, even for a short period of time, it affects their earnings, therefore the company finds it extreme important to make its policy clearer.

Further ITRealms  reports that the Driver Deactivation Policy was designed with the best interests of drivers and riders in mind. According to Allenberg, it covers, among other items, issues that relate to quality, fraud, safety and discrimination.

On quality, Uber explained that the higher the quality of the service, the more riders want to take trips, which in turn means more opportunities for drivers to earn money. After every trip, riders and drivers rate each other with a star rating out of five - if that score is consistently low there is a problem. We also consider how regularly drivers cancel trips after accepting a booking as this leads to a poor experience for riders.

Uber decried fraud, describing it as bad for any business, so to keep riders coming back and to keep drivers driving, it’s important that services are fair and honest. That includes drivers understanding it is unacceptable to intentionally increase the time or distance of a trip.

Safety, Uber reiterated on both riders and drivers, includes respecting each other's privacy - so not contacting each other except through the Uber app - and obeying the laws of the road.

Uber also warned it will not tolerate discrimination of any sort, against riders or drivers, including on race, religion, nationality, disability, sexual orientation, sex, marital status, gender identity or age.

The transport app company pointed out that on the side of the driver, this also includes respecting the transportation of people with disabilities, including service animals.

“By maintaining high standards, riders will return time after time and drivers will keep as busy as they want. The Driver Deactivation Policy helps to ensure the best possible experience for everyone,” Uber declared in a press statement made available to ITRealms.

Chuks Egbune/GEE

ITREALMS ... everything news digitally!