Liberalizing ICT, the Nigeria example

Features of the week:

REMMY NWEKE reports that the role of Nigeria’s government in facilitating growth in the Information and Communications Technologies (ICT) sector through liberalization is worthy of emulation by other countries in the sub-region and continent wide.


AT the turn of the 21st century, one thing that seems to be going on well for African countries, has been the liberalization of the Information and Communications Technologies (ICT), especially for Nigeria.

Emerging from what experts described as coming through the backwaters to a regional hub, Nigeria was recently commended by the Secretary General of the global telecom regulatory and United Nations (UN), International Telecommunication Union (ITU), Dr. Hamadoun Toure, when he visited Nigeria at the first quarter of 2008, saying that he was proud of progress that Nigeria has made since liberalizing its telecommunications sector at the return of democracy in 1999.

An aspect of the liberalization that drives this evolution has been the positive regulatory frame work. And tracing the role of the regulator in Nigeria’s telecom revolution recently in Lagos at the Ninth Distinguished Electrical and Electronics Engineers Annual Lecture (DEEEAL 2008), the Executive Vice Chairman (EVC) of the nation’s regulatory agency, the Nigerian Communications Commission (NCC), Dr. Ernest Ndukwe, noted that no modern economy could be sustained today without an integral telecommunications infrastructure.

Robust telecom begets economic growth:
Robust telecommunications network, he said, is important for the economic growth of nations and constitutes a base infrastructure that supports the world economy.

Describing communication as a vital aspect of human existence and effective telecommunications services, which enhances living standards and improve productivity as well as efficiency in other sectors.

“Thus communications and the technologies that support it, occupy a strategic position now more than ever in every aspect of human existence; and nations and businesses would become less competitive and lag behind others if they fail to avail themselves of this vital infrastructure of the Information age,” he said.

For Nigeria, ICT penetration in 1999 when the transition to democratic rule occurred was very low and less than 1 per cent of the population of the country, that had access to a telephone.

Comprehensive legislation:
Ndukwe pointed out that the new government led then by Olusegun Obasanjo, identified that this was a major hindrance to development of the nation and decided that there was an urgent need for transformation in the ICT sector so as to stimulate the economy and open up new possibilities across her business, political, social and economic spheres.

By year 2000, he said, Nigeria had only 400,000 connected telephone lines and 25,000 analogue mobile lines, while the total teledensity stood at a paltry 0.4 lines per 100 inhabitants.

“Connection costs were prohibitively high, and waiting time for fixed lines ran into years. Today, thanks to several factors which include government sector reform policy, an enabling investment climate, the worldwide trend of rapid development in ICT, and the huge potential of the Nigerian market, the story is very different,” he said.

This, he also said, was followed by comprehensive new sector legislation, the Nigerian Communication Act (NCA) which was enacted in 2003, repealing the 1992 NCC Act. The new Act was to further the full liberalization of the sector and provided the ground rules for the orderly development and governance of the telecommunications sector.

In the past eight years from 2000, NCC, he said, licensed several Digital Mobile Operators, otherwise known as the Global System for Mobile communications (GSM), Fixed Wireless Access Operators, Long Distance Operators, Internet Service Providers, a Second National Carrier and recently, Unified Access operators.

“All these have had the collective effect of ensuring full competition in all segments of the telecommunications market. They have also had the effect of promoting rapid deployment of telecom services, resulting in exponential growth in the number of telephone lines in Nigeria,” he said.

The chief regulator said, that between Nigeria’s independence in 1960 and the end of year 2000, the number of connected lines grew at an average of 10,000 lines per annum, stressing that since 2001 the telecommunications industry has witnessed an average growth rate of about 8 million lines per annum.

Strong regulator, strong growth:
As said by him, as at the end of October 2008, Nigeria had attained about 59 million lines, with 57.6 million strictly digital mobile lines, even as the teledensity figures soared from the 0.4 lines per 100 inhabitants recorded in 1999, to 42 lines per 100 inhabitants by the end of October 2008.

Ndukwe informed that the progress recorded in the industry was brought about by government liberalization of the sector and opening up of the market to private investment. Thus, the market reform has helped to accelerate investment flow into the sector, resulting in the rapid roll out of multifarious communications services.


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NiRA adopts brand protection strategies for .ng

Based on the avalanche of travails being meted out to Internet users by the ‘internet terrorist’ exploits, the Nigeria Internet Registration Association (NiRA) has adopted strategies to protect brand names on the country code Top Level Domain (TLD), dot ng.

This was the position of NiRA through its president, Mr. Ndukwe Kalu, following a successful resolution of domain name controversy concerning telecommunications giant, MTN Nigeria Communications Limited and a purported staff of GS Telecoms.

It would be recalled that Mtn.com.ng was first registered in 2004 under GS Telecoms by a staff of the company then.

According to MTN, large sums had always been demanded for the return of the domain to telco, which it had resisted steadfastly. Thus, he said, the outcome was that for Nigerian MTN it is known with mtnonline.com, whereas a trip then to mtn.com.ng
showcases an expired parked page.

Consequently, Kalu noted that when the matter was reported to NIRA, proper documentation of the request was made and it took about 72 hours to get the domain redelegated back to MTN Nigeria, after giving the then contacts 48 hours to respond to the request and allegation made by MTN Nigeria.

“Today, Nigerians can be proud to visit MTN Nigeria on mtn.com.ng,” he declared.
Also, he pointed out that there have been similar cases of even domains held at ransom by web host entities for state governments especially when there is a change of government.

“We saw that in Imo state and some other states. Most recent is that of Edo State, but consistently, NIRA’s position is that domains cannot be held for any dispute resolution,” he said.

NiRA president explained that since domains are a matter of rights, only those who have rights to such domains could hold on to same.

“Any service provider who feels aggrieved as to non-settlement of commercial obligation can seek legal redress,” he advised.

This, of course, he said, is different from a formal legal transfer of these rights in a sale or other transactions.

He cautioned domaineers, that the only space available to play in is the generic word market place with no infringement on Internet Protocol (IP) or brand rights.
Nigeria, he predicted, is truly on the path to a safe and happy Internet with these policies.

Kalu, also said that his group has established name server component that is of global standard by deploying Anycast.

In computing, a name server also called ‘nameserver’ is made up of a programme or computer server that implements a name-service protocol, which usually connects a human-recognisable identifier of a host, for example, the domain name ‘nira.org’ to its computer-recognisable identifier such as the Internet Protocol (IP) address (145.97.39.155).

“For the name server component, NIRA has put in place a global network of Anycast Name servers working with partners who have also served countries like the United Kingdom (UK), Germany and Canada to name a few,” he said.

He noted that one of the partners in the deployment of Anycast already works with domain managers with over 30 million domains.

“So, our Anycast servers would provide local Domain Name Servers (DNS) response in over 25 locations, 15 countries and five continents,” he said.

He explained that what this meant to an ordinary citizen is that anyone in London sending a query to the .ng ccTLD would be replied by an Anycast server in London and other cities mentioned, citing an instance, that in Nigeria, this would be first available in Lagos and subsequently in some other cities.

“This Anycast system and the associated diversity of the name server deployment far exceeds best practice and guarantees 100 per cent availability of the Nigerian Name Service,” he said.

Kalu also highlighted that the registry system component is based on COCCA, a system that has been tested to handle over 10 million records, and is currently in use for over 4 million records.

“It has been deployed with multiple redundancies to ensure that registration and zone update does not go offline. Our registry system is hosted locally in Nigeria with redundancy both in and outside Nigeria and supports real-time registrations.

This would make the .ng domain one of the few registries in the world supporting real-time registrations,” he said.

As said by him, the full local test has been on since October 1, 2008, with registrars joining in the test, with the system ready to go live.

Stressing that while the technical infrastructure was being put in place, registrars were being accredited to offer first class service to registrants.

“In all four Platinum, one Gold, seven Silver and 17 standard registrars were accredited to bring the number of pioneer accredited registrars to 29. Of these accredited registrars three have locations outside Nigeria, specifically in the United States (US), UK and Senegal with one being an the Internet Corporation for Assigned Names and Numbers (ICANN) accredited registrar,” he said.


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Optimising your Google mail account (3)

label
At this point, you can click Archive; the message will disappear from your Inbox, but will remain listed when you click the ‘Mom’ label, or All Mail. You can also still search for your archived messages. All you’re doing when you archive a message is helping to keep the Inbox clutter down.
Read more about labels back to top.

Filters
If you don’t want to mark all your messages from Mom one-by-one, you can set up a filter. The filter will detect when your mom emails you, and automatically applies the ‘Mom’ label (and if you’d like, you can send the message straight to the Mom section and skip the Inbox). To do so, just follow these steps:
1. Open a message from your mom.
2. From the More Actions drop-down menu, select Filter messages like these.
3. In the ‘From:’ field, enter your mom’s email address.
4. Click Next Step >.
5. Check the Apply the label: box and select Mom from your Choose label ... drop-down menu (you might also want to apply some of the other options, like Skip the Inbox, which will send her messages straight to the Mom section and keep your Inbox clean).
6. If you’d like to add the label to existing messages as well as future ones, select the Also apply filter to x conversations below checkbox.
7. Click Create Filter.

Filters
You don’t have to limit your use of filters or labels to any single person or email address, though; that’s just the beginning. You can create filters to detect messages with certain words in the subject line, the body of the email, or messages sent to a specific person, and automatically perform any of the actions shown in the image above.


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UBA explains choice of Actimize

THE United Bank for Africa (UBA) Plc has adduced some reasons why it choose Actimize, an anti-fraud banking solution, saying it avails preventive mechanism against any manner of electronic fraud.

Group Head, Information Technology (IT) Risk Management, UBA Plc, Mr. Sam Okenye, made this disclosure in Lagos, at a one-day seminar organized by the Computer Warehouse Group (CWG), with the theme: Fighting Fraud with Technology, solutions for Nigerian banks.

He said that Actimize affords banks to have less personal contact with customers, yet executing its banking operations in line with global best practices.

“Banks should be able to monitor transactions,” he said, stressing that Actimize offers the ability to effectively screen all transactions, flowing from the various channels real time.

Also, he said, that Actimize affords the ability to prevent fraud on real-time and log suspicious transactions for investigations in addition to having the timely detect account manipulation by insider real time.

“It offers the ability to detect skimmed cards and subsequently stop fraudulent transactions real time as well as the ability to detect identity theft and prevent web-based transactions from scaling through real-time,” he said.

According to Okenye, Actimize offers his bank the opportunity to detect suspicious transaction and even capture this for further investigations.

By empowering investigations to focus on dealing with key exceptional issues, he said, was an encouragement for the bank.

He further revealed that UBA evaluated five software vendors before settling down for Actimize.

“Our search for the right solution led us to evaluate five vendors,” he declared.

Welcoming guest earlier, the Group Managing Director, CWG, Mr. Austin Okere, said the seminar was crucial because Nigerian banking institutions needed the right solution to battle fraud associated with real time banking services.

He explained that without the right technology solutions, Nigerian banks may end up going astray in effort at fighting fraud within the system, even to the extent of declining customers.

As said by him, the one-day seminar was organised in conjunction with world leaders Actimize, ISEC and RVR.

He noted that I-SEC Technologies, formally ICTS Technologies B.V, is a fully owned subsidiary of ICTS International N.V.; a world leader in aviation security for over two decades, which has pioneered the development of innovative security concepts and systems.

Also, he said, I-SEC Technologies, specializes in the development and implementation of unique, state-of-the-art technological solutions for the homeland security market, designed to meet financial market needs as well.


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24 subscribers win laptops in Multi-Links promo

CODE Division Multiple Access (CDMA) operator, Multi-links Telkom, last Friday in Lagos, delivered on its promise to customers by giving out another set of 24 laptops to subscribers who emerged successful in the company’s Lucky Draw Promo, just as the telco plans to launch the Evolution Data Only in Lagos, Abuja, Warri, Kano and Benin.

ITRealms Online recalls that the winners emerged from the draws organized to mark the semi final of the promo that kicked off in October; an initiative meant to reward loyal customers of the company.

At the last draw, weekend, 12 persons each emerged successful from different categories of the winners declared in October and November, 2008, totaling 24 subscribers.

The six different categories are N10,000, N5,000, N2000, N1000, N500 and N200, from where two winners emerged for each of the months till date.

Speaking at the event, Executive, Marketing, Mr. Ian McGregor, noted that Multi-Links appreciates the continued patronage of its customers in different parts of the country; pointing out that without them the company is nothing.

He also said Multi-Links always had the interest of its teeming customers at heart and promised that the management would not break a promise on this in its efforts towards expanding to the nooks and crannies of the country.

McGregor equally said that the company has resolved to offer top of the range, comprehensive telecommunications services to its customers notwithstanding their locations nationwide.

This, he explained, is why the company has embarked upon massive expansion drives to various parts of the country, noting that part of the new services would afford subscribers to benefit from Multi-Links Evolution Data Only (EVDO), which would soon be launched in Lagos and some other cities.

In his comment, the Executive, Corporate Affairs, Multi-Links, Mr. Tayo Ekundayo, said the firm believes strongly in letting what it does speak for itself.

“We pioneered CDMA network in this country in 1997 with the starting point in Lagos. We have leveraged on that and rolled out in other parts of the country. Most people never thought it was possible to have free calls; but we have been able to do this successfully.”

Ekundayo stressed that the company has an enviable record of an achiever and pace setter.

“We broke the record to be the first private telecoms company in this country in 1997. We started with TDMA, which later dovetailed to CODE Division Multiple Access (CDMA),” he declared.

Multi-Links is also the first telecommunications operator in Nigeria to introduce CDMA technology, a digital technology that enables the provision of more efficient and cost-effective wireless solutions. The company concentrated in Lagos until 2005 when it got Unified License that empowered it to spread to other parts of the country.

Barely two years ago, Telkom SA acquired 75 per cent of Multi-Links Telecommunications Limited. Telkom operates in 14 countries and it is the biggest first line operator in Africa.


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Innovation, key to positive economic growth – Progenics boss

MANAGING Director of one of the nation’s leading software house, Progenics Corp Limited, Dr. Tony Udoh has asserted that technological innovation has helped to change the face of the Nigerian business economy, especially in this century.

Udoh made this declaration in a speech at the just concluded second Lagos Enterprise Awards (LEAD), said that the essence of innovation is to positively affect the economy stressing that the context of Nigeria’s economy today is quite different from how it was some years ago.

He also said that most businesses have adopted a different way of thinking and working, one that combines analytical and creative thinking and focuses as much on implementation as it does on idea creation.

He equally pointed out that traditional budgeting, forecasting and reporting techniques are not only obsolete but also dangerous, cautioning that they are too slow, too detailed and too disconnected from this information age.

“Today’s managers should turn to innovative technologies in this volatile business environment. And those organization that remain wedded to a traditional and historically focused way of working will be left behind by forward looking organizations that have more skilled and more technology enabled organizations,” he said.
Some innovative technological advancement, Dr. Udoh noted have been made, facilitating lots of attention to now being paid to software usage.

“Though software industry is currently regarded as the least profitable among all the innovative technology initiatives in the country today, the software industry in Nigeria is presently making its weight in all the sectors of the economy,” he said.

Underscoring the impact of innovative technology in sectors of the economy, especially in the Capital Market, the Progenics boss, said, that the move of the Nigerian Stock Exchange (NSE) from an archaic manual call-over system to a fully automated system is a good example.

He further said that NSE’s decision to choose an indigenous company in the mould of Progenics Corp Limited is a reference point in the abilities of the indigenous software industry in the country today.

Therefore, he urged other business sectors in the country to shun the retrogressive practice of seeking foreign expertise, noting that it will not promote developmental technology in the country.


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DBI targets training of 1000 pros annually

EXECUTIVE Vice Chairman (EVC) of the Nigerian Communications Commission (NCC), Dr. Ernest Ndukwe has said that the Digital Bridge Institute (DBI) will be churning out over 1000 students annually from 2009 to meet the ever growing demand of the telecommunications industry in the country.

According to him, DBI will carry out training in other specialized areas such as economic analysis, financial planning, law, arbitration, mediation, interconnection, e-commerce, business management, human resource management and consultancy services.

He pointed out that a milestone was achieved on May 20, 2004 when the president, commissioned the ultra modern DBI building in Utako district of Abuja, established by the NCC, as an international centre for advanced communications studies.

“Its primary aim is to ensure that some of the technical manpower requirements for the Information and Communication Technology (ICT) sector are met with adequately trained and skilled personnel that can be recruited into the fast growing ICT market in Nigeria,” he said.

The NCC boss also revealed that the government Telecommunications Training Schools in Kano and Oshodi-Lagos, have been transferred to the commission by the federal government and they are currently being resuscitated to become campuses of the DBI.

“It is planned that from next year, the expanded DBI will be providing various training programmes for hundreds of graduates annually, to service both local and international ICT market,” he said.

The EVC who was speaking recently at the 9th Distinguished Electrical and Electronics Engineers Annual Lecture (DEEEAL 2008) series in Lagos, also said that the NCC started the Digital Awareness Programme (DAP) as its contribution to the development of ICT knowledge amongst young Nigerians.

He said DAP is aimed at encouraging the appreciation and use of ICT in primary, secondary and tertiary institutions all over the country.

“A total of 119 education institutions have so far been provided with computers and internet facilities at all the locations, the rooms housing the computer labs are refurbished and stand-by power supply provided.

“Furthermore, in collaboration with the DBI, the commission has provided ICT training for the several hundreds of student from the schools that benefited from the DAP,” he said.

Ndukwe also revealed, noting that Advanced Digital Appreciation (ADAPT) introduced by NCC is aimed at bridging the identified ICT skills gap among lecturers in Nigerian universities and equipping them to be able to use ICTs for their work and for embracing web-based teaching and learning.


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‘Open Source to save mankind by 2020’

THE 2008 Open World Forum conference in Paris ended at the weekend with experts projecting a brighter future that Open Source software will save mankind by 2020, financially.

According to the authors of the report, “2020 FLOSS Roadmap,” made a number of predictions about the role of Free, Libre and Open Source Software (FLOSS) in the next 12 years with an estimated 80 per cent recommendations for the industry.

IDG News Service reports that the use of the French word “libre” as in free is in ‘unfettered’ terms to clears up the ambiguity in the English word “free,” which could also mean without cost.

The report also stated the optimism that by 2020 FLOSS will have entered the mainstream of the software industry and contributed to reducing the digital divide between rich and poor.

“Social networks will rely on ubiquitous, open cloud-computing services and will allow people to interact not just with friends, but also with governments and businesses,” the authors said.

Stressing that vendor lock-in worry will facilitate the use and acceptance of FLOSS, and such software will be at the heart of green data centres and other business models with low ecological impacts.

Investors, legislators, educators, electors and even consumers, the report projected will also have a role to play.

“Governments must favour open standards and open services,” they said, so as to make this prediction a reality.

Thus is not just a matter of ideology, but also of necessity if data is to be exchanged between different services and systems.

This, they further said, requires a stable and neutral legal context in which a clear definition of open standards and services could be made and imposed.

“Clear legal frameworks could also help avoid the proliferation of software licenses,” the report said.

Investors, whether state or private, should fund research leading to the development of strategic FLOSS technologies, and governments and businesses should set up academic and professional training programs to educate a new generation of software developers about FLOSS.

There are some risks ahead, said the authors, including experts from Belgium, Brazil, Canada, Germany, India, Spain and the US, although the majority of them are French.

Among those risks, is the use of cloud-computing capacity on the scale required by some government systems which will result in an over-reliance on a small group of powerful suppliers.

This, they warned, could signal a return to the era of monopolies in some markets, with the risk that entire countries could be held ransom by their service providers.
In addition, organisations unable to pay the price for these elite services could be left running on unreliable or unsecure, second-class systems.



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Anabel Mobile unwraps PS products

Anabel Mobile has unwrapped its Professional Series (PS) products in the market, just as it plans to set up a manufacturing plant in the country in the coming months.
This is coming as advances have been made for the commercial launch of the Anabel PS products on Friday, this week.

Speaking at the media launch, last weekend, chief executive officer, Anabel Mobile, Mr. Nicholas Okoye, said the firm is coming into the market with its proudly Nigerian PS products, namely the Anabel Professional Series (PS)100 and PS 200, which offer users the ability to synchronize with any brand of Smart phones.

According to him, Anabel Mobile PS products are of equal ranking with the likes of Blackberry and Apple iPhone devices among other smart phones in the market globally, noting that Anabel comes with a touch of African design.

“It’s stylish, user friendly and runs on Microsoft Windows Mobile 6.0 and 6.1 version applications, thus enabling it to be compatible with any Personal Computer (PC) globally,” he said.

Okoye also noted that Anabel PS products come with value added services (VAS) and functionalities including push and pull email, which has been the hallmark of the high-end mobile devices and promises to give Nigerians the respect and focus that many international brands are short of.

Anabel Mobile devices, Okoye emphasized were designed to meet the desires of high profile people and business class precisely, who are engaged on advanced programmes and need forward-looking mobile devices for data analysis, communication and reporting, as well as for sharing large files whether data, voice, music or video.

He affirmed that Anabel was dully licensed by the industry regulator, the Nigerian Communications Commission (NCC), saying that the firm is the first Nigerian company owned by Nigerians to provide customized smart phones that are truly Nigerian and built to international standards.

Promising to revolutionize the way Nigerians use telecommunications products and services, Anabel Mobile, he said, comes as telecommunications products that are multifunctional devices for enhancing business and lifestyle.

Current market trends, Okoye said, revealed that increasing number of Nigerians are changing their media and communications habits.

“More than ever, Nigerians are turning to multifunctional communication devices to do their business and enhance their lifestyle,” he said.

Pointing out that Anabel Mobile, an Information and Communications Technology (ICT) company was set up with the goal of ensuring that Nigerians are provided with products and services that will keep them at par with the rapidly changing global technology environment.

“The market potentials for our products and services in Nigeria are awesome. Anabel Mobile is positioned and equipped to provide Nigerians with the devices to be bona-fide members of the global Information Technology world,” Okoye said.

At Anabel, they would ensure that the consumers actually experience these offerings by the telecommunications companies.

“What we provide are devices and services which are multi-functional, an all-in-one system that enables the consumer make convenient choices as per the particular services he desires to use with ease and conveniently,” he enlightened.


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MTN launches Bizlift scheme for retailers

CONSISTENTLY seeking new ways of maintaining its top notch position in the telecommunication market, MTN Nigeria, over the weekend launched a new scheme, Bizlift, with the aim of engaging, empowering and expanding its retailers, reports CHARLES OKOH.

Speaking at the Bizlift launch in Lagos, Sales and Distribution Executive, MTN, Mr. Mike Ikpoki said, the key objective of the scheme is to lift the business of the retailers as a way of rewarding them for their loyalty and establishing better business relationship between the MTN and the retailers all over the nation.

“MTN is driven by the desire to know and understand our retailers and creating enabling human interface so that there can be understanding between us and our retailers who are the vital link,” he said.

He also said the scheme is the outcome of a study that revealed the need to support the retailers through training on their activities.

As said by him, “This is our effort to make the businesses of our partners more profitable, broaden their market space by providing regional exclusivity; enable business portfolio expansion by offering more products and services and more importantly support their quest for growth through infrastructural support.”

Ikpoki said Bizlift is the telco’s show of commitment to the retailers, because they create the market for their limited trade partners, and run the last lap in its success story by getting its products to the end-users.

“They go where others stop and they stand for us in the rain and in the sun,” he said.

Ikpoki further said that MTN has devised a model by which they intend to achieve this.

“This we call the 3E’s of transformation, which is engagement, empowerment and expansion and we intend to engage retailers by involving them in training programmes, micro-enterprise building and business development schemes.”

In addition, he said that the empowerment initiative would involve providing access to funds, structured channel relationships, reward system and dedicated call centre, adding that expansion vision is designed to make their business more profitable, increase street visibility and provide efficient account management tools.


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