Afenifere wants FG to stop war against Globacom, Adenuga

Pan Yoruba socio-political group, Afenifere has once again called on the federal government (FG) and its agencies to let Globacom be by stopping the war against the emerging telecommunications giant and its chairman, Dr. Mike Adenuga Jnr.

Afenifere in a press statement made available to Daily Champion and signed by its National Publicity Secretary, ‘Yinka Odumakin, said the call has become vital so as not to strangle the only Nigerian company that is obviously doing well.

He recalled that for the second time in one and half years, Afenifere is constrained to call on the Federal Government to stop the war against Globacom and its Chairman Otunba Mike Adenuga, noting that during the peak of former President Obasanjo’s obsession with tenure elongation, the Economic and Financial Crime Commission (EFCC) violently stormed the house of Otunba Adenuga in a mafia-like operation and eventually forced him to go on exile.

According to the group, a massive investigation was thereafter launched into the business activities of the organization and till date all the public knows is that the Senate Investigation Committee exonerated Adenuga from any wrong doing while it was proved that the Petroleum Technologyt Development Fund (PTDF) funds in ETB had been repaid with interest.

Afenifere also noted that the Attorney General of the Federation, Mr.

Michael Andooaka, had few days came out to tell the nation that he was considering a request from the British Home Office to interrogate Adenuga for irregular documentation over importation of telecoms equipment.

“We ordinarily would have no problem if it were the Nigerian Customs that raised question over importation of this equipment. As at the last time the President spoke about inviting the British Police to come and train the Nigerian Police, he did not tell the nation that the Nigerian Customs has been concessioned to the British Home Office,” the group said.

Afenifere therefore declared its rejected over the attempt to compromise the sovereignty of the country in the effort to make a businessman uncomfortable.

“We reject this attempt to compromise the sovereignty of Nigeria in the attempt to make a businessman uncomfortable,” Afenifere warned, stressing that the office of the Attorney General could be playing into the hands of international community simply because there is an inherited war being waged against Globacom.

Afenifere further said that the Yoruba nation is worried and the entire country should be that Globacom, which is a leading player in the telecoms sector is being constantly put under siege.

Here is a company that has over 40,000 direct employees and is giving indirect employment to millions of Nigerians. If the entrepreneur cannot be encouraged, the least the Government could do is to stave off any action that makes its operations unconducive.

The group maintained that Afenifere will never support any wrong doing or breach of the law, and in the case of Globacom, “no agency of law enforcement in Nigeria has accused it of any wrong doing.”

Afenifere, thus called on President Umaru Yar’Adua to call those responsible for creating this hostile environment for business to order immediately as bad signals are being sent to potential investors.

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Siemens top officials in marathon meeting

High-level management meeting, on Thursday at the Siemens Nigeria headquarters in Lagos, went into a marathon session over its being blacklisted by the Federal Executive Council (FEC), penultimate Wednesday, on the 10m Euro scam.

Source close to the company informed that top management team have been meeting over the blacklisting by the government, which is of grave concern to them.

HANA recalls that FG after its weekly session in Abuja descended heavily on the multinational telecommunications equipment provider, blacklisting Siemens from all its official transactions.

In addition, Siemens was involved in over 12 million euro bribery scam allegedly in Nigeria and Russia, while estimated 10 million euro was expended on Nigerian government officials; mostly Ministers of Communications in the last eight years.

Confirming the marathon session by Siemens Nigeria top management team, the Head Corporate Communications at the telco, Mr. Olusegun Akinlabi, said although he could not comment on the official reaction of the company for now, but noted that meeting have been going on since morning till late afternoon.

“Actually, I don’t know what the management reactions would be, but meetings are going on right now,” he declared.

On when he thinks the official reaction would be made, Mr. Akinlabi said he did not know, but reassured that Siemens management in Nigeria “would react at the appropriate time.”

Siemens first made its imports in 1950s and established the first project for hydro power station, Kainji in 1964 and two years later, it established Siemens Resident Engineers Office in Lagos, even as Siemens Nigeria Limited was incorporated in 1970, while it was renamed Siemens Limited Nigeria in 1997 with stake of Siemens AG going up to 68 per cent as at year 2000.

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Globacom dangles 500 cars in Win & Rule

The Second National Operator (SNO), Globacom Limited, Thursday, commenced a five-month promo, “Win and Rule,” dangling 500 cars for its subscribers, just as the Mike Adenuga Towers (MAT), was yesterday, reopened for business after a 48-hour seal up by the Lagos State Board of Internal Revenue over alleged tax default.

This is coming in spite of the ban on promotions on telcos over the recent increase in poor quality of service (Qos) by the regulatory body, the Nigerian Communications Commission (NCC) since June this year.

Announcing the latest promo estimated to worth N2 billion, Executive Director, Legal Services at Globacom, Mrs. Gladys Talabi, said the telco regards the promo as the biggest consumer reward package ever in Africa, with 500 exotic cars to be won by subscribers, even as Globacom was singly unbanned by NCC as far as promotions are concerned.

According to her, the promo, which began Thursday, December 6, 2007 would last till May 6, 2008 and is offering subscribers on the network 200 Kia Rio cars, 150 Nissan Sunny, 100 Peugeot 307, 38 BMW 3 Series and 12 Mercedes Benz S350 Class.

Explaining how the promo would be handled, Head, Marketing at Globacom, Mr. Chris Ihemien said the promotion is open to both old and new subscribers on the prepaid and postpaid platforms.

And to qualify for the draws to be held every two weeks, he said that existing subscribers are required to recharge from N500 to N10,000 and above within the next two weeks.

Those who recharge with N500 to N1,000 within two weeks, he added, would qualify to win any of the 200 Kia Rio cars.

Recharge surpassing N1,001 to N3,000, he said, qualifies the subscriber for the Nissan Sunny draw, while N3,001 and N5,000 qualifies the customer for the Peugeot 307 draw.

He added that a subscriber who recharges up to N5,001and N10,000 within two weeks will qualify for the BMW car draw, even as recharges of N1,001 and above will qualify the subscriber for the Mercedes Benz draw.

He stressed that subscribers could accumulate recharges to arrive at defined bands and for new subscribers, all they are required to do is to buy a Glo SIM card, activate and recharge to a certain amount of airtime in the defined band in order to qualify for the fortnightly draw.

“For us, it is yet another opportunity for saying ‘thank you’ to our esteemed subscribers for their patronage and loyalty. We’re celebrating them in this unprecedented manner for being on the fastest growing network in Africa and the Middle East region.

“At Globacom, the customer is, indeed, king and will continue to be. We’re a truly Nigerian company. That is why we are ploughing back our proceeds into building a first class network in Nigeria as well as investing heavily in our valued customers,” he submitted.

Reacting to inquiries, the Head, Public Affairs at NCC, Mr. Dave Imoko, said that the ban on promotions is yet to be lifted and declined any other comment.

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‘InterSwitch security uncompromised ‘

Cover of the week:

Management of the premier electronic payment switching solutions provider, InterSwitch Limited, has denied allegations making a round that its Automated Teller Machines (ATMs) switches have been compromised.

Champion Infotel recalls that over the weekend, a Short Messaging Service (SMS) and electronic mails (emails) were being speculated that InterSwitch network server hosting some of the 23 banks on the network, namely First Bank Nigeria Plc, UBA Plc, Intercontinental Bank Plc, GTB Plc, ECOBank Plc were infected with a purported Mpack Multi-Pertitie Malware, a computer virus used by cyber-criminals to access and steal information from a database.

Reacting to the reports, Managing Director, InterSwitch Nigeria Limited, Mr. Mitchel Elegbe, dismissed the allegations, saying that uptil date, there has not been any proof of compromising InterSwitch enabled-cards in the country, which has grown to over 7 million in the last five years of its debut.

As matter of fact, he said that the purported Mpack Multi-Pertitie Malware virus does not in the first place exist.

He also said that for any body to fraudulently tamper with any of InterSwitch cards, there must be access to the Personal Identification Numbers (PINs) either knowingly or ignorant of the cardholders.

He cautioned Nigerian Debit Card (NDC) holders to never disclose their cards’ PINs to anyone under any guise, reaffirming that the recent campaign orchestrated by one fake website, www.interswitchnig.com, has also been put to a stop.

Mr. Elegbe equally denied the allegation that approximated 1,500,000 (One million, Five hundred thousand) ATM Card numbers; PIN numbers and other ATM Card data have been allegedly stolen.

According to him, a key reason for cardholders to ignore such messages either via SMS or email is that it was not emanating from InterSwitch and its member banks.

In reality, he told Champion Infotel that stakeholders must note that these messages are fraudulent.

“There is no known computer virus called Mpack and the various messages were gimmicks designed to get a cardholder’s card number and PINs,” he warned.

InterSwitch, he said, is consistent with its offering based on international best practices, even as the firm do not have servers that store cardholders’ PINs either at InterSwitch or at member banks.

“PINs in transmission are encrypted using the most advanced algorithms as defined by relevant standard-setting entities and are unlikely to be compromised in transit,” he explained, stressing that devices use for de-encryption are tamper proof and self-destruct in the event of deliberate or accidental tamper.

He maintained that as long as the cardholder keeps his or her PIN secret, “your transactions remain safe,” adding that InterSwitch and its member banks do not have reason to ask customers to register their card details on any website.

“In the unlikely event that your card is compromised, you’re expected to hotlist, also known as blocking it and to re-register,” Mr. Elegbe pointed out.

He emphasised that by hotlisting of any ATM debit card could only be done based on the reports of customers to their banks, reassuring that any card with InterSwitch logo remains valid on all the channels including ATMs, Point of Sale (POS), mobile and Internet.

Disclosing that InterSwitch is collaborating with the nation’s Cybercrimes Directorate, Mr. Elegbe noted that it was the need to continuously educate stakeholders hence the emergence of fraudwatch@interswitchng.com and encouraged stakeholders to send any information regarding fraudsters’ activities to the above email.

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What you should know about VSAT (1)

Market Intelligence:

VSAT stands for Very Small Aperture Terminal - its a catchy acronym and as such has been adopted by all and sundry for every type of satellite product from small components of a system to complete systems. Also, because the term really hinges around the small size of the antenna, it has been used to describe both one-way and interactive systems.

Specifically, some experts in the industry, isolate television broadcast receivers because counting these as well would simply distort the numbers in the marketplace, but data, audio and, to some extent, voice systems are included.

Generally, these systems operate in the Ku-band and C-band frequencies. As a rule of thumb C-band (which suffers less from rain attenuation, but requires larger antennas) is used in Asia, Africa and Latin America whilst Ku-band (which could use smaller antennas, but suffers from rain fade in a monsoon-like downpour) is used in Europe and North America.

Typically, interactive Ku-band antenna sizes range from 75 centimetres to 1.8 metres and C-band from 1.8 metres to 2.4 metres. One way systems could use antennas as small as 45 centimetres.

One-way or broadcast systems rely on a transmitting station, which transmits one or more carriers to the satellite, which re-broadcasts the signal over its coverage area.

All receive-only VSATs under the satellite footprint could then receive the signal or the user/operator is able to define groups of VSATs from one to all on the network. Broadcast systems are used for data and audio.

The most popular application for data is the transmission of financial feeds - Reuters, Telerate and KnightRidder are good examples of companies with large data broadcasting networks - however, there are many other uses, such as software downloads, file transfers, transmission of press agency news items (with pictures) and the broadcast of paging messages for terrestrial transmission to the pagers themselves.

Interactive VSAT systems come in two main network topologies - star and mesh. The former tends to be based either on a shared access scheme like Time Division Multiple Access (TDM/TDMA), which is designed to support transactional processing applications, or on a dedicated link (the satellite equivalent to a leased line). The latter usually uses links, which are set-up and torn-down on request to establish a direct link between two sites on a demand assigned basis.

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Symbols is best software @ NITTA-07

Investment management software, Symbols from the stable of Progenics Corp Limited, was once again been pronounced the ‘Best Software’ at the Nigeria Information Technology (IT) and Telecom Awards (NITTA-07) held recently in Lagos.

Champion Infotel recalls that Symbols is a product of a leading Nigerian enterprise software and systems integrators, Progenics Corp Limited, and was winner in the same category of the award last year.

Executive Director of Symbols, Mr. Femi Akintoye, who disclosed this, said that the honour was bestowed on the software firm, due to its strong leaning towards the financial sector.

According to the organisers at the well attended ceremony held at the Musical Society of Nigeria (MUSON) Centre Lagos, Symbols is “the most widely used stock and investment management application software in Nigeria this year.”

Akintoye equally said that this description obviously confirms the faith that majority of the players in the capital market have in the application solution, as the solution currently controls a sizeable portion of the industry currently.

He also revealed that the strength of Symbols rests on the technical competence of the people at Progenics.

He stressed that Symbols is currently making waves in some other African countries like Ghana, adding that recently many companies involved in the capital market have signed on to Symbols including Afrinvest West Africa, UBA Stockbrokers, Intercontinental Capital Market and Diamond Bank securities. Others are Gold Cost (Ghana), WSTC Ltd, Premium Securities, SA Money Ltd, Prime wealth capital, Marina securities, Crownwealth Asset, Kofana Securities, Maclaize Trust securities, Cradle Trust Finance and Compass investment Ltd.

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NITDA steps up ICT4D plans

The National Information Technology Development Agency (NITDA) has advanced steps to conclude the Nigerian Information and Communication Technology for Development (ICT4D) action plans.

This, the agency said would facilitate the achievement of the nation’s Millennium Development Goals (MDGs), the Plan on the Action of the World Summit of Information Society (WSIS) and Africa regional development initiatives as mapped out by the New Partnership for African Development (NEPAD).

Coordinator of the ICT4D Committee, Dr. Moses Ubaru, informed at the end of their meeting at the weekend, that work on the action plan is nearing completion.

He also said that the committee has commenced appraisal of the final draft submitted to it by the consultant, Prof. Clement Dzidonu, who had earlier handled that of Rwanda and Swaziland.

According to him, the ICT4D action plans outline the roadmap for the nation in the effort to integrate IT into all sectors of the economy.

The ICT4D, thus, is the blue print for the deployment of Information Technology in all the sectors of the economy. It is being anchored by NITDA, the government organ charged with nurturing the nation’s IT future.

Equally the ICT4D action plan is expected to enhance the achievement of the MDGs, WSIS and NEPAD, even as it would centre on achieving the 7-point agenda of the President, Alhaji Umaru Musa Yar’Adua, who recently invited more proactive approach at furthering Nigeria’s development goals in order to adequately take her place among the 20 leading economies by year 2020.

Commenting earlier, Director General, NITDA Prof. Cleopas Angaye, said that the national ICT strategic plan of actions and programmes will cover various sectors and identify particular programmes for short, medium and long term implementation by identified stakeholders.

“The idea is to set out a time-sensitive action plan with realistic targets and benchmarks for sectoral applications of ICT for national development,” he said, assuring that the meetings outcome would be forwarded to the Minister of Science and Technology for onward presentation to the Federal Executive Council (FEC) and Economic Commission of Africa (ECA) in February 2008.

Champion Infotel recalled that the nation’s ICT4D committee is a broad-based one inaugurated by the former Minister of Science and Technology, Prof. Turner Isoun, in September 2003 and charged with the responsibility of producing a blueprint on strategic actionable programme for the implementation of the Nigeria IT Policy (NITP).

Experts were recruited by NITDA from various sectors of the economy in collaboration with the United Nations Economic Commission for Africa (UNECA) to facilitate the development of the sectoral plans.

In addition, sub-groups such as Health, Infrastructure, ICT Popularisation and Deployment among others were created to reflect the various sectors of the economy.

Each subgroup has a subgroup head while the overall chairman of the Strategic Action Committee is Dr Armstrong Takang, chief executive of Alteq Consulting, a private sector ICT player, while the ICT4D coordinator, Dr. Ubaru also serves as the vice chairman, even as the proposed action plan is sponsored by UNECA as well as funding expert input by Prof. Dzidonu.

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Omatek offers Plasma TV, home theatre for Xmas

Proudly African technology firm, Omatek Computers Limited, is offering customers some of its best designs and hi-tech brands for the Christmas season.

Managing Director, Omatek, Mrs. Florence Seriki, disclosed this in Lagos and said that the product on offer encompasses Omatek Home theatre 42”, 3-in-1 Plasma monitor television presentation screen which also functions as TV, computer monitor and presentation screen with high quality colour resolution and 99 programme memory which also has news, standard, music, movies, panorama picture control and user sound control.

According to her, the offer is in fulfilment of her companies promise to create entertainment ambience in most homes during the Yuletide through its range of home entertainment products.

“The period of felicitation is a good time to relax and see the world clearly from the comfort of your home with your family. It’s a lifestyle,” she said.

Mrs. Seriki also said that the Omatek home entertainment 5.1 and 2.1home speaker systems are available to make the season a memorable one for its teeming Nigerian customers.

“In a class of its own, the home speaker systems with its sleek design and performance driven engineering contribute to the ability to deliver a stunning home entertainment experience,” she said.

Equally, she said that Omatek speaker system sets are entirely new standards for clarity, dynamics, imaging and realism with their breathtaking ability to let music be heard the way it should and that the speakers are capable of bringing alive the most challenging motion picture sound.

“Not only are these home entertainment speakers elegantly designed to complement any décor, with a range of colour and finishes that will suit any environment, the digital speakers allow interconnection with thin, easily installed cabling for the ultimate in discreet, high-quality audio,” she said, adding that from living room to a complete home digital theatre, the Omatek range of home entertainment speakers provide a level of sound quality that users are not likely to find elsewhere.

As said by her, if music, for you is more than background noise, if superb audio reproduction is something that you must have at the most competitive pricing; then the Omatek range of home entertainment speakers is for such people.

Further, she reaffirmed the capabilities of Omatek brand of speakers in redefining home entertainment experience.

“At Omatek we believe your home system should not be compromised. Ambient sounds and effects from the surround speakers are equally important and the superior components and highly functional enclosures contribute to outstanding performance to prevent interference and allow for mounting near plasma and Liquid Crystal Display (LCD) TVs,” she said.

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HP software boosts biz automation

Hewlett Packard (HP) has introduced a new software and services to help businesses transform Information Technology (IT) operations and automate the full lifecycle of managing business services.

The new offer called HP Automated Operations 1.0, is an integrated set of products that automates IT operations across all technology and organizational domains.

Senior vice president, Software, HP, Mr. Tom Hogan, explained that this eliminates labour-intensive, ad hoc and error-prone manual processes and, in turn, helps IT organizations dramatically to lower the day-to-day cost of operations.

He also said that the cost savings from streamlining IT operations allows businesses to shift resources to more strategic IT initiatives that could help fuel business innovation and growth.

The HP Automated Operations 1.0 software suite, according to him, is composed of IT service management, business service management and business service automation solutions.

“This suite is one of the key pillars of HP software’s business technology optimization portfolio, which integrates assets from HP OpenView, Peregrine, Mercury and Opsware,” he said.

The company, Mr. Hogan further said, launched its HP business service automation software solution, a single platform to automate all IT processes and drive change across applications, servers, networks, storage and clients.

The solution also provides a central configuration management database (CMDB) for reporting, which reduces the cost and risk of change while providing comprehensive audit and compliance capabilities.

As said by him, HP also enhanced its IT service management (ITSM) software and added related services that offer best practices through blueprints, training and assessments, noting that ITSM helps companies define, deliver and manage business services from inception to retirement.

“We have been aggressively expanding our software portfolio in the last two years to broaden and deepen our capabilities to help customers improve their top and bottom lines,” he said, stressing that this relentless focus on customers has been paying off and more customers are now choosing HP software to achieve their business goals.

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Galaxy offers triple play to MDAs

Galaxy Backbone Plc (GBB) has reiterated its resolve to offer a triple play services to all the Ministries, Departments and Agencies (MDAs) as part of its deployment for the national Information and Communication Technology (ICT) infrastructure backbone.

This, the firm said, would include telephony, video conferencing and Internet connectivity.

Giving this indication recently was the chief business operations, Mr. Yusuf Kazaure at the GVF 3rd West Africa Satellite Communications summit, which held in Lagos.

Mr. Kazaure who was represented at the occasion by the business operations manager at Galaxy, Mr. Ayo Adegboye, said that the proposed offering is in line with the objectives of the federal government company in ensuring that emerging Information Technology (IT) has its root in the government circle.

“Galaxy is poised to provide connectivity nationwide to support triple play solutions in the areas of rural telephony, video conferencing and Internet connectivity,” he said in a press statement made available to Champion Infotel and endorsed by Mr. Franklyn Ginger Eke of the marketing and corporate communications at GBB.

Speaking as a panellist at the session on, “Hybrid Satellite and Pure Play: The Convergence Factor Goes Mobile,” Kazaure pointed out that the satellite technology solutions earlier pioneered by the likes of Thuraya phones has witnessed new innovations that have resulted in the convergence of voice, data and video on the mobile technology platform.

Galaxy Backbone triple play solutions, he said, would generate Added Value Services (VAS) in the areas such as telemedicine, online learning, research, virtual hospital and telecentres to name a few.

He further said that GBB will in the long term support emerging IT trends for vertical markets in the financial, telco and oil as well as gas sector, even as the firm has positioned itself to deliver to the underserved areas by deploying Wireless Interoperability for Microwave Access (WiMAX) solution to proxy the connectivity with a wide range of presence.

In addition, Kazaure noted that the setting up of Galaxy Backbone Plc as a Federal Government initiative is an intervention that is expected to go a long way in complementing other such backbone initiatives by the public and private sectors respectively.

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