Spam on agenda @ Telecom World-06

In order to get rid of spam in today’s Information and Communication Technology (ICT) experts took time to deliberate on the way forward at the on-going International Telecommunication Union (ITU)-organised Telecom World 2006, holding in Hong Kong.

"Spam" as related to electronic mails (e-mail) means Unsolicited Bulk Email (UBE) and a message is Spam only if simply sent in bulk to unsolicited Internet users, most of the time, for commercial purposes.

The one-day session “Towards a Spam-Free Digital Society” ITU said would hold Friday, December 8, on the theme, "Countering Spam Cooperation Agenda."

ITU also said that some key international and regional organizations as well as experts involved in the fight against spam have been summoned in Hong Kong to discuss greater collaborative efforts to battle spam and related threats.

A number of organizations worldwide are actively engaged in the fight against spam, but a solution cannot be found unless these organizations share knowledge of the work they have undertaken to date, pinpoint potential overlaps and cooperate to address the gaps. Unsolicited commercial communications by e-mail represent a major plague threatening the Digital World.

This workshop will consider specific practical next steps that can be taken to work toward a common countering spam cooperation agenda.

The first symptoms of spam were mild irritation to users. Now the disease has progressed to the point where spammers are sending billions of messages per day, choking off the legitimate email correspondence that needs to flow freely within and between organizations and all inhabitants of the Digital World.

Today, spam represents around 90 per cent of all electronic mail (email) messages.

Deputy Head, ITU Strategy and Policy Unit, Mr. Robert Shaw, said "Monty Python's new musical Spamalot might be hot fare in the comedy fan's world, but for the Digital World spam is no laughing matter. Not only is it a nuisance, it is now the primary mechanism to deliver viruses used to hijack millions of home computers which are then used without their owner's know to relay on even more spam.”

In what he also described as "zombie armies" are used to send out "phishing" attacks intended to dupe unwary users to give up personal financial details which are nowadays used to siphon money out of their back accounts.

"Spam has got to be canned. People are losing their life savings and suffering credit problems, and businesses losing vital sales and customer trust because of downtime. Above all, it has seriously undermined user confidence in online activities, hampering the development of the digital economy. The organizations represented in this event have got a message to the world's top spammers: no matter where you are in the world, we are going to work closely together to track you down and put you out of business," he assured.

The event would be an assemble of top experts in the field who would share information on the very latest trends in scams, malware and fraud, just as the meeting would opened by ITU Deputy Secretary-General Roberto Blois, who will emphasize that it represents a reinforcement of ITU's growing focus on cyber security issues.

The event will be chaired by Constance Bommelaer, Manager of Public Policy for the Internet Society (ISOC) and encompasses a series of sessions.

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More students own cars in Glo promo

More students have continued to own cars in the Globacom’s 180 cars in 180 days promo.

The latest were the three students, namely, Demehin Monday Festus of the University of Ado Ekiti in Ekiti State, Modupe Olasumbo Ogunlolu of The Federal Polytechnic, Ilaro and Oduwole Adejumoke Adepeju of the Olabisi Onabanjo University, Ago Iwoye, Ogun State.

Also, Abdullah Segun, a student of the Babcock University, Ilishan Remo won a 5KVA generator while 19 others from various institutions across the western part of the country emerging with cash prizes of N25,000 each.

Speaking at the presentation at University of Ado Ekiti, the telco received kudos from the Vice Chancellor, Professor Olatunji Orubuloye.

Prof. Orubuloye, who was the special guest of honour commended Globacom for living up to its promise to its subscribers.

He expressed optimism that the draws were in no way stage-managed, he congratulated the company, noting that it had won Nigerians’ confidence with its products and services, which are among the best in the telecommunications industry in Nigeria.

“The fact that you brought per second billing system when others insisted that it was impossible warmed you into the hearts of Nigerians,” he declared.

Prof Orubuloye pointed out that Globacom, within its few years of existence had identified more with Nigerians than all others in the telecommunications market, urging the telco to remain dedicated to the people while appealing to others in the sector to take a cue from the second national operator.

Jumoke Oduwole, one of the winners said she was impressed with the fact that Globacom has in the last three years made its subscribers to be proud of what the company meant to telecommunications in the country.

“Globacom brought several innovations to bear on the industry and has set a trend which others are struggling to meet”, she said.

Modupe Ogunlolu who said she found it hard to believe that she was a car owner, showered encomiums on Globacom for being the vehicle to what she termed her “end of the year gift from God.”

Regional Manager, at Globacom for Ibadan region one, Mr. Lorenzo Gomez, restated the telco’s resolve to compensation as many Nigerians as possible with the promo as well as empower most of them with its products and services.

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ICT Empowerment Network makes a debut

Intercontinental collaboration of partners to support empowerment through Information and Communication Technology (ICT) and micro-credit financing for the poor, has made a debut.

The framework to be known as ICT Empowerment Network is a partnership between Grameen Bank, International Telecommunication Union (ITU), Cisco Systems, Qualcomm and latest consortium, Enclusion.

The network is part of the partners support to the Connect the World Initiative of ITU.

Managing Director of Grameen Bank and Nobel Prize laureate, Prof. Muhammad Yunus, disclosed this at a session at the on-going ITU-organised Telecom World 2006 in Hong Kong.
Prof. Yunus noted that there is need to urge the international community into action, hence the network and expressed gratitude to ITU for facilitating the dream.

"This is just the beginning of an exciting, new, open collaboration and I encourage others to join us in this global effort," he said.

He explained that the network represents the first concrete area of collaboration flowing from a broader agreement signed by Professor Yunus and out-going ITU Secretary-General, Yoshio Utsumi, earlier on Monday this week.

He stressed that this agreement opens the door to broader cooperation between the two organizations, with the aim of combining Grameen's micro-credit expertise with ITU's experience in implementing ICT development programmes and partnerships.

Emphasising that ICT Empowerment Network seeks to implement the vision outlined by Prof. Yunus when he received the ITU World Information Society Award on 17 May 2006.

During his acceptance speech, Prof. Yunus invited global ICT companies to take part in a worldwide effort in combining their strengths to support ICTs with micro-credit financing to assist the poor in earning sustainable incomes.

He pointed out that in order to ensure the success of the initiative, Grameen would reach out to more than 3,000 micro-finance organizations and 100 million borrowers globally, while ITU will use the support and participation of its 191 member states and some 650 private sector members from around the world.

"This is a truly powerful partnership that will yield benefits for years to come," ITU Secretary-General, Yoshio Utsumi noted following the signing of the agreement.

"From the moment we heard him speak last May, the entire ITU team was motivated to work with Grameen to help make Professor Yunus' vision of empowering the underprivileged with ICTs and micro-credit a reality," he added.

ITU further said that the network would consist of numerous independent, self-financed groups of partners that collaborate either in physical centres or virtually.

Each group will focus on at least one of three work streams, namely, ICT solutions, sustainable business models, and capacity building.

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UNESCO conducts survey on IFAP

The United Nations Educational, Scientific and Cultural Organisation (UNESCO) has commenced a survey on its inter-agency entity, the Information For All Programme (IFAP).

The survey UNESCO said would enable it to review IFAP activities and acceptance to the Information and Communication Technology (ICT) community globally.

According to the Project Leader at the Information Society Institute (TISI) of Cape Peninsula University of Technology, Cape Town in South Africa, Dr. Michael Gurstein, the project is being supervised by TISI.

He also informed that the survey could be located at
http://www.surveymonkey.com/s.asp?A=163227117E81962 would to give the organisers some information concerning stakeholders’ perspective on IFAP and other related activities.

Dr. Gurstein also said that the questionnaire should not take more than 15 minutes and should be seen as help to UNESCO in determining how best to position IFAP for future development toward an Information Society for All.

He also revealed that the survey would end Friday, December 8, this year.

It would be recalled that IFAP prides itself as the only intergovernmental programme within UNESCO, that is, exclusively dedicated to promoting universal access to information and knowledge for development, even as they sees its implementation process as a key in building knowledge societies.

The uniqueness of this mandate and its intergovernmental nature invest the Intergovernmental Council for the Information for All Programme with the authority to speak on strategic priorities and to lobby and create awareness about issues pertaining to the use of information and ICT for development at the international level.

IFAP is currently led by award winning chairman, Laurence Zwimpfer.

Historically, various activities led to what is today known as IFAP, beginning with the UNESCO discovery of the need to define its place in the information society, precisely within the framework of the former General Information Programme (PGI) and the Intergovernmental Informatics Programme (IIP).

Hitherto, experts said that information revolution resulted in an overlap of the two programmes, which have been increasingly concentrating their activities in two main areas; first, on content for the information society, and second on actions necessary to build "infostructure" for this evolving society through training, the establishment of information policies and the promotion of networking.

And as at January 1, 2001, when IFAP replaced the PGI and IIP based on the resolution passed at Decision 3.6.1 and taken at the 160th session of UNESCO's executive board.

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ATMC targets 1,000 ATMs in 3 years

Pioneer off-site independent Automated Teller Machines (ATM) deployer in the country, ATM Consortium (ATMC) Limited, has concluded plans to live up to its goal of deploying estimated 1,000 ATMs, within three years of its operations.

Managing Director of ATMC, Mr. Noble Ekajeh, who disclosed this to our correspondent, said that his firm has ordered for 200 ATMs to boost the number of its systems on the ground from its current 146 to 346 before the end of April next year.

This, he said, was facilitated by the Export-Import Bank of America (EX-IM Bank), $5 million advance, basically for its deployment of QuickCash brands of ATMs in the country.

Mr. Ekajeh also said that ATMC, which is in its one and half years of operation has installed QuickCash ATMs in seven cities nationwide, including Abuja, Benin, Enugu, Ibadan, Kaduna, Lagos and Port-Harcourt.

He equally said disclosing that one key challenge facing the emerging electronic payment solution is lack of logistics, infrastructure and capital.

According to him, ATM business is a capital-intensive investment, noting that lack of core human resources for the industry is another obstacle for the growth of the industry.

He further said that ATMC plan is that average Nigeria coming home at this seasons, should be able to use their electronic payment cards locally in the country.Additionally to operate and manage a network of ATMs under the trademark QuickCash, ATMC provides operations and management services for third-party machines.

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NITTA presents prizes to media awardees

PRESENTATION: NITTA-06 and Sony Ericsson recently presented prizes to winners and finalists at this year's event for media practitioners. L-r National Sales Account Manager, Sony Ericsson Nigeria, Mr. Emeka Nkpa congratulating Mr. Remmy Nweke the first runner up in the print category as the chief executive, Novelpotta Y & R, Mr. Celey Okogun presents the prize. With them (extreme right) is the Editor-in-chief of IT & Telecom Digest, organisers of NITTA, Mr. Mkpe Abang at the occasion.
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Five media practitioners that excelled themselves at the Nigerian Information Technology (IT) and Telecommunications Awards 2006 (NITTA-06) were Friday, presented their prizes in Lagos.

Also consolation prizes were presented to the entrants of this year’s edition.

The five practitioners include Messrs Elvis Eromosele of the Financial Standard and Don Pedro Aganbi of ICT Africa on NTA, who emerged the Best ICT Reporters for print and electronics respectively with a prize of Sony Ericsson P990i each.

Equally Messrs Remmy Nweke of Daily Champion and Chris Njoku of BroadStreet Journal, named the first and second runners up for the print category as well as Mr. Tayo Adewusi of ICT Watch on Minaj Broadcasting International (MBI) who was the first runner up for electronic category received each a Sony Ericsson k750i among the consolation prizes for entrants.

Speaking at the presentation, Editor-in-chief of IT & Telecom Digest, organisers of the event, Mr. Mkpe Abang lauded the entire entrants for taking the step and also encouraged others still lagging to brace the exercise as it would help in lifting up the quality and credibility of Nigerian journalism and particularly the reporting of Information and Communication Technology (ICT) industry in the country.

National Sales Manager for Sony Ericsson Nigeria, Mr. Emeka Nkpa, said that one key reason his firm decided to partner with NITTA was based on the credibility it has attained for itself over the past five years it has existed in the country and specifically for the ICT industry.

He also enjoined members of the media to feel free to approach his office for any information and co-operation they may need in the terms of accelerating their work by ensuring that adequate and correct information is passed on to the public.

Mr. Nkpa further said that one thing that has stand the nation’s ICT environment out is the unique challenges and congratulated the media for upholding the credibility that NITTA envisioned.

Equally at the occasion, the Managing Director, Novelpotta Y & R, Mr. Celey Okogun, advised media practitioners to always improve on their work so as to sustain the tempo of media participation at this 21st century evolutions, moreso in the country.

This, he said, could be achieved by taking the counsels of the panel of judges with the spirit of sportsmanship and sticking to correct the outlines as listed by the judges of this year’s event, which would assist them in getting international recognitions.

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ITU releases report on Digital Life

International Telecommunication Union (ITU), has finalised plans to release its latest report on the effects of ‘Digital Life’ at the agency’s organised Telecom World holding in Hong Kong.

Head, ITU's Strategy and Policy Unit, Mr. Tim Kelly made this disclosure, saying that the 200-page ITU

The themes, Mr. Kelly pointed out form the centrepiece of a new 200 page ITU report, to be released at ITU Telecom World, entitled "Digital.Life" even as 11 themes of discussion has been mapped out for the session.

Also, Chairman and founder of One Laptop Per Child (OLPC), Prof. Nicholas Negroponte, has been listed among keynote speakers at ‘Digital Lifestyles’ along with eight others.

The speakers drawn from leading Information and Communications Technology (ICT) firms, government and academic, also include

Chairman, Fujitsu, Naoyuki Akikusa; chief executive, Research in Motion/Blackberry, Jim Balsillie; President and Director, Hitachi, Kazuo Furukawa, Chief executive, Hewlett Packard (HP) Mr. Mark Hurd, Senior Vice President, Microsoft, Mr Pieter Knook; Executive Vice President, Intel, Sean Maloney; President and Chairman, KDDI, Tadashi Onodera; Chairman, Artificial Life, Eberhard Schoneberg, and the chief executive of China Netcom, Xunsheng Zuo, as well as Minister for Community Development, Youth and Sports, and Second Minister for Information, Communication and the Arts, Singapore, Dr Vivian Balakrishnan.

ITU informed through its Chief, Media Relations and Public Information, ITU, Mr. Sanjay Acharya, that the assembly on Digital Life session would examine how 'digital' the world has become and explore what types of technologies that could expect to shape lives in the future.

“Digital Lifestyles is one of three of the ITU Telecom Forum domains, each designed to enable a closer look at a different aspect of our Digital World,” Mr. Acharya said in a press statement made available to our correspondent.

ITU, he also said the choice of this session, is an attempt to keep pace with the rapid advances in Digital Lifestyle technologies, which he noted is not an easy task, but with increasing demand for new converged services and ever-more sophisticated applications, staying ahead is essential.

He further said that deliberations has been structured to focus on 11 themes central to Digital Lifestyles, by raising a number of key questions that the ICT industry is searching for answers to.

He equally quoted the Head, ITU's Strategy and Policy Unit, Mr. Tim Kelly, as saying that the themes have been chosen to illustrate market trends that are of critical importance to consumers and businesses, as well as to raise some of the challenges that living in a digital world present.

The 11 themes for the session comprise ‘Anywhere, anytime, by anyone and anything: the "4A Vision" of a ubiquitous network society’; ‘Multiple Play: Are today's technologies flexible enough to supply what customers really want? And how should these services be marketed and priced?’ ‘The Digital Generation: are today's service providers really in-tune with the needs of the digital generation?’ ‘Managing our Changing Digital Lifestyles: how can interfaces to the digital world be simplified to make access available to all?’ and ‘Broadband for All: What are the consequences of possible exclusion from broadband internet access for rural and remote communities?’ ‘The Digital Home: Are wireless networks the best solution for linking together the different members of the household, and the different rooms?’ ‘Digital Lifestyles @ Work: As our personal and professional lives are merging, and boundaries blurring, what type of tools will be available to help us to manage our lifestyles and work teams?’ and ‘Digital Lifestyles @ Play: how will ubiquitous networks change the way we access the internet, create and record ideas, read books, watch movies or even participate in sporting events over Internet Protocol (IP)-based networks?

Others are ‘My Mobile Phone for My Lifestyle: the mobile phone of today is a highly sophisticated device, completely unrecognizable from that of a few years ago. How will it continue to evolve?’ ‘The Connected Workforce: what is the impact of a distributed workforce on workers, management and firms?’ ‘IPTV: Can broadband networks really become the platform for the delivery of voice, video and internet access into the home?’ ‘Contributing an additional perspective to the debate will be panellists from a range of companies and organizations including Alcatel, BT Group, Cisco, IBM, Herbert Smith, Lucent, SMART technologies, Symantec and Star TV.’

ITU also emphasised that a range of experts have been selected to moderate each of the eleven sessions, based on their extensive experience within the field of ICT, plus their ability to bring a unique perspective to the discussion.

They include Charles Henshaw, Director and CEO, China Mobile People's Telephone Company, Dr Norman Lewis, Director of Technology research, Orange Home UK, Professor Eli Noam, Professor, Finance & Economics and Director, Columbia Institute for Tele-Information, Columbia University; Leslie Arathoon, Director of research, Pyramid Research; Thomas J Ramsey, Partner, Squire, Sanders and Dempsey.

Along with the world's top ICT companies, a number of industry bodies and non-commercial organizations will be represented among panellists and speakers. These include the Open Mobile Alliance and the UMTS Forum.

Expert views from the world of academia and research will also be delivered from Hong Kong Applied Science and Technology Research Institute Company Limited, Mehran University of Engineering & Technology, Pakistan, and the University of Fribourg.

While leading industry analysts Camille Mendler of Yankee Group and Chris Lewis of Ovum will also give their perspective to discussions.

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There’s no bullet-proof network system – Nwabueze

Executive chairman of United States-based Sage Metrics Corporation and a member of US Presidential Council of Advisors on Science and Technology (PCAST), Mr. Ken Emeka Nwabueze, has said that there is nothing like a bullet-proof network system.

Speaking as a special guest in his keynote address to the just concluded “Law Enforcement and National Security in the Digital Economy” organised by the Nigerian Cybercrime Working Group (NCWG) in the nation’s capital, Abuja, he noted that providing a secured cyberspace is a complex and evolving challenge.

“Hence, there is no such thing as bullet proof network system,” he asserted.

Nigerian-born Advisor to the United States President, also buttressed his point with the January 2003 ‘slammer worm ‘ which was reported to had infected 90 per cent of vulnerable computers globally within 10 minutes of its release on the Internet.

This, he said, severely degraded Bank of America’s Automated Teller Machines (ATM) network causing billions of dollar damages.

Equally, he said, that in the US, a hacker released intentionally hundreds of thousands of gallons of putrid sludge from the wastewater system and 17 per cent of the `100 companies surveyed reported being the target of some form of cyber extortion.

He pointed out that in February 2005, PCAST committee on “Cybersecurity: A crisis of Prioritisations” noted that Information Technology “infrastructure of the United States is highly vulnerable to terrorist and criminal attacks.”

Mr. Nwabueze went on to say that cybercrime are issues of national security, which is beyond mere electronic commerce, web browsing, and other basic online activities.

Lack of adequate national cyber security policy and systems, he said, would impact negatively on the economy and at large the society.

Therefore, it requires close collaboration with key sectors of the economy that relies on cyberspace such as governments at all levels, colleges and universities, banks and corporation as well as law enforcement organisations.
He further warned that a nation like Nigeria among other developing countries of the world continue to migrate major businesses and government infrastructure to Internet Protocol (IP) and other network-based systems, “so will the growing risks of a potential melt down of the economy and disintegration of the country’s core infrastructure.”

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Celtel completes Abuja, PH mobile switch centres

Global System for Mobile Communications (GSM) Celtel Nigeria, has completed the installation of its Mobile Switching Centres (MSC) in the Federal Capital Territory (FCT) Abuja and oil-rich city of Port Harcourt (PH).

The telco said the completion brings to light one of its expansion strategies to offer Nigerians a better service on the network.

MSC is the engine room that carries traffic within a network and to other networks.
Also the network said that with the completion of the Abuja and Port Harcourt centres, Celtel Nigeria, is set to accommodate up to 10,000,000 additional subscribers by December 2006 providing robust and efficient services to its numerous customers by eradicating cases of drop calls.

This is in fulfilment of the promise recently made by Norman Moyo, the Marketing Director of Celtel, when speaking with newsmen recently.

Among guests at the occasion were top management staff of the three organizations and their business associates.

He reassured that Celtel is set to expand its coverage in Nigeria by ensuring its services are available in all the nooks and crannies of the country.

As said by to Mr. Moyo, with the completion of these switching centres, Celtel is set to penetrate all the remote parts of Nigeria with the mindset of reaching the rural populace.

“Our belief in Celtel is that the greater number of Nigerians live in the rural areas and our commitment is to take our services to these areas,” he said.

The completion represents a significant development in the promise made by the chief executive, Celtel International, Mr. Martens Pieters that over $700 million will be invested in the network to upgrade facilities and expand coverage.

Equipment for the switching centres were supplied by Ericsson while Impasse Technologies, an indigenous engineering firm supplied the porta kabin enclosures housing the switches and the solar energy panels, using hundred per cent local content.

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Study highlights role of ICT on gender education

A study has highlighted some insight roles of Information and Communication Technologies (ICT) in elevating gender education on the continent with particular reference to South Africa.

Announcing the completion of the study, the Project Leader at ICTeum Consulting, Ms Tina James and Ronel Smith of Meraka Institute, both of South Africa, said in a press statement that the exercise is a comprehensive outline on the status of women in high-level ICTs in South Africa.

According to them, the study which is comes in three parts, noted that a separate manual of possible interventions, has been produced alongside the status report.

This, they also said, involves the mapping out of six possible programmes with a breakdown of activities and possible role players should take to ensure that these actions forward and beyond the paper works.

The third report equally shares international experiences, with specific emphasis on Finland.
“This has provided useful insights for consideration in addressing South Africa ’s needs,” they added, stressing that the three documents could be accessed at: http://women-in-ict.meraka.csir.co.za.

In addition, the project pointed out that the report looks at how girls and women are progressing or otherwise, in the education system and the workplace.

“It presents gender-disaggregated data on the current situation and reflects on the perceptions of women in ICTs, including those in leadership positions,” our correspondent was informed.

Emphasising that there has been some improvement in the participation of women in the sector, but the numbers are still low and increasing the levels of participation requires urgent attention.
Various support mechanisms, the study said, are in place to help women in the ICT sector but they are fragmented and uncoordinated.

“Recommendations for addressing these needs have been expanded in the manual of interventions,” they said.

The study funded by the Embassy of Finland, South Africa was the result of a South African-Finnish partnership between the Meraka Institute (CSIR), icteum consulting and the University of Oulu, Finland (Kajaani Consortium).Other collaborators in the project, consists of Human Sciences Research Council, WomensNet and the Tshwane University of Technology.

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