MTS wins M2 award, launches Hot profit for CTO

Remmy Nweke

Pioneer wireless operator, MTSFirst, has emerged winner for excellent contribution to Marketing and Management for the year 2006.

This is coming as MTS has concluded plans to introduce a package for business centre operators, known as hot profit.

The organizers said MTS award was as a result of the telecom company’s marketing and branding innovativeness, which has enhanced the visibility of the MTS brand in the market place.

Put together by the management of M2, a weekly newspaper conferred the award on MTSFirst at a ceremony held at Ikeja-Lagos.

Receiving the award on behalf of the company, Head, Brand & Marketing Communications, Mr. Tope Ayedun, expressed gratitude to the organizers for the recognition accorded MTS.

Mr. Ayedun also dedicated the award to MTS subscribers nationwide.

He promised that entire members of staff of the telco would continue to work hard regularly project the company performance to a higher level.

Mr. Ayedun equally assured potential and existing subscribers of the network’s commitment to continue providing dependable and affordable telecommunications services even as the plans to reach 15 more cities before the end of the year remains on course.

Meanwhile, MTSFirst is set to launch its business centre package today in Lagos.

According to the Chief Marketing Officer, Ms Uche Ofodile, said the new package tagged “Hot Profit” is for business centre operators and comes with attractive tariffs which allow operators to generate significant revenue from their businesses and ultimately change their fortunes.

“Good times are here again, as MTS keeps reaching out to the people,” she said.

She explained that to enjoy this package, business centre operators are required to complete a registration form and purchase an MTS telephone line at any of the MTS shops or dealer outlets in Lagos, Abeokuta, Ibadan, Port Harcourt and Abuja.

This, she said, enables commercial telephone operators to make GSM calls for as low as N15.75 per minute while international calls still remain very affordable.

The package would be officially launched today in Lagos while other cities like Ibadan, Abuja, Port Harcourt and Abeokuta, would soon follow.

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UNESCO laments lack of broadcast, audio-visual policies

Remmy Nweke

LACK of adequate policies for broadcasting and audio-visual industry has been identified as a major obstacle facing policy and decision makers in developing countries, a study has revealed.

The study published recently by the United Nations Education, Scientific and Cultural Organisation (UNESCO), titled “Harnessing Information and Communication Technologies (ICTs) for the audio-Visual industry and public service,” said, it was conducted across Africa, Asia and Latin America.

According to the Assistant Director-General for Communication and Information at UNESCO, Dr. Abdul Waheed Khan, said developing countries are facing crucial decisions that affect the broadcasting and audio-visual industry.

He said that nowadays, as pillar for information and cultural exchanges, policy makers in these countries sometimes lack the necessary tools to adequately be informed on their choices and strategies.

Dr. Khan expressed optimism that the research would assist UNESCO member states in analyzing and understanding the impact of multilateral, regional and bilateral trade policies on future audio-visual landscapes of these countries.

Additionally, the UNESCO chief said it would stimulate reflection on potential implications, positive or negative, for the expression of local culture.

He emphasized that the research studies on current audiovisual trends is a joint venture of UNESCO’s Communication and Information Sector and its Culture.

This have facilitated them to go beyond the areas and themes traditionally covered by each sector such as media development, cultural industries and enterprises, and introduced a new, inter-sectoral dimension into the programme: the impact of international trade on the audiovisual industry and its effects on local cultural expression.

The research conducted under this project and presented in the book, provides an overview of the main trends in the broadcasting and audiovisual industry worldwide, with a focus on regional patterns of production, consumption and trade in Africa, Asia and Latin America.

The sample of countries, he said, were selected so as to represent contrasted audiovisual landscapes, some of the studied countries boasting tremendous audio-visual trade volumes while others have very limited production capacities.

Parallel to the publication of the research result now available in English and French, UNESCO organized a series of regional workshops in Bogotá, Singapore and Dakar, where the findings were shared and discussed with key groups in the three regions, and where a dialogue was encouraged among stakeholders.

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webgallery nigeria.com makes a debut

Remmy Nweke

IN effort to take its presence and activities beyond the Nigeria shores, a corporate media and marketing organization based in Lagos, Webgallery Nigeria Limited, has launched its website, www.webgallerynigeria.com.

Disclosing this was the chief executive, Webgallery Nigeria Limited, Mr. Akin Akinola, who said the platform would also offer other entities, especially the firm’s clients the opportunities of showcasing their products and services.

The website, he said, was built with the firm’s clients in minds, even as it has a one million pixels partitioned into 10,000, that is, 10 x 10 pixels and squares. A pixel is a single dot or unit in any graphic image.

A combination of squares, Mr. Akinola said, will conveniently house an image, which when clicked automatically redirect users to the client’s website.

The chief executive said that by subscribing to the online service of www.webgallerynigeria.com, “organizations would position themselves to get noticed by millions of potential clients, customers surfing the world wide web, on a daily basis.”

Mr. Akinola further said it would also offer direct access to companies’ website, from a click of the mouse and guarantee users’ presence on the homepage for a 24-month period.

He advised interested prospective subscribers to select their preferred positions and number of boxes required on the grid and pay through Interswitch, bank credit or draft.

He emphasized that the management team of webgallery consist of top-level professionals drawn from various aspects of Information and Communication Technology (ICT) industry with the operational team well groomed.

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Back to classroom with HumanManager

Remmy Nweke

Senior managers and executive management employees of selected high-profile companies would tomorrow, Thursday, June 15, return to the classroom for a course on HumanManager.

HumanManager is a leading software solution for human resources and management developed by SystemSpecs Limited, Lagos.

According to the senior marketing manager at SystemSpecs, Mr. Moses Briamah, the course tagged “HumanManager Executive Overview,” has been designed to equip senior managers and executive management staff with basic rudiments.

He also said the course would expose lucky participants to the basic concept of HumanManager and its operations.

HumanManager Operations, Mr.Briamah noted, relates to organizational human

resource and compensation policies. Emphasizing that the course would focus

on the impact of strategic decisions on organisation’s human resource budgeting.

He said that, those to attend would include director generals, managing directors, corporate services executive, human resource managers and general managers.

Also expected in the calibre of attendance are those in decision making portifolio.

“Who are saddled with the responsibility of optimizing their human capital policies through an effective human resources and compensation management system,” he said.

The one-day course, Mr. Briamah said, would touch on the overview of organisation’s corporate profile, HumanManager set-up and transaction modules.

He further said that course content would equally examine critically the issues of budgeting, control and security in HumanManager as well as reporting in HumanManager via standard and user defined reporting respectively.

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JuniSat unleashes bandwidth management

Remmy Nweke

JuniSat, satellite solution provider subsidiary of Juniper Solutions Limited, has announced plans to introduce a Bandwidth Management Solutions (BMS) on the continent.

BMS when becomes available is anticipated to reduce the cost of bandwidth currently by 70 per cent, thus enabling customers to experience a tremendous improvement in Internet velocity in browsing, uploading and downloading.

Chief executive, Juniper Solutions Limited, Mr. Gboyega Ojuri, disclosed this and said that it would enhance the kind of offering by his firm as well as boosting the Bandwidth on Demand Frequency Hopping (BoD FH) of individual customers.

“During this period, what customers will get is unprecedented stability and performance,” he declared.

Mr. Ojuri also said that it will assist greatly the effective traffic management on the return link for all users on the same bandwidth and same platform.

He noted that JuniSat provides different bandwidth for its users on W3A platform, which is one of Eutelsat’s most sophisticated satellites, combining Ku and Ka bands respectively.

This, Mr. Ojuri said, will accelerate users’ links to perform at optimal level without witnessing drag on their network even when their links is under heavy traffic.

BoD FH, he explained, is a new feature on JuniSat that balances load or traffic on bandwidth all by itself. Stressing that this comes to play whenever users are making use of more than the threshold of their bandwidth, usually set at 70 per cent by default.

As said by him, the solution will make their modem to ‘hop’ on to another carrier on the same bandwidth that has less traffic.

He said this is achieved by shifting heavily loaded links to other links where the traffic is less, based on the bandwidth at a given time.

Equally, Mr. Ojuri informed, that BoD FH full utility would be a clear departure from what is currently obtained in the industry.

JuniSat, he further said, is offering these services through its network of partners that are connected to every Eutelsat satellite across the world, which enables the firm to cover 75 per cent of world population and land mass.

“The only place we don’t have coverage now is in China,” he said, pointing out that the company had invested in several cutting edge solutions for the sole aim of making the management of bandwidth easy and transparent for all clients.

He noted that this was the reason why JuniSat had implemented Net Enforcer, a tool for monitoring sites across the network and bandwidth bank, a regulatory solution that monitors the usage of bandwidth on the network.

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Courier Regulator seals two illegal operators

Remmy Nweke

Courier Regulatory Department (CRD) of the Nigerian Postal Service (NIPOST) has sealed two unregistered courier companies in Lagos, Thursday.

Senior Assistant Post Master General (SAPMG), Dr. Simon Emeje disclosed this to ITREALMS Online in his office, saying that at least two persons each were arrested from the two companies.

He gave the names of the illegal operators as Daudeen Freight and Forwarding Company and Maltom Nigeria Limited, both located at the Oshodi-axis of Lagos State.

This brings to over 50 the number of companies sealed by CRD, although some of these companies have since completed their registration with the regulatory department.

Dr. Emeje said that some evidence of transactions was recovered from the aforementioned illegal courier operators, including collection manifest, receipts and Prove of Delivery (PoD) as evidences.

“They were sealed and if they want to continue in courier business, they must fulfill the rules of the game by going through the process of registration,” he said.

According to him, the latest closure brings the number of such companies sealed since the inception of CRD to over 50, stressing that they are not stopping until full sanity is achieved in the courier industry in the country.

Outcome of the several sanitization exercise embarked by his office, Dr. Emeje noted, has made the environment better as more investors are coming in while high level of sanity now exist in the industry. Last raid by

CRD, which took place last year and precisely in Ilorin in the South Western Nigeria, he said was a success.

He stressed that CRD would continue to hunt illegal courier operators in the country until they comply with the standards stipulated in regulation of courier in the country. “We would continue to them until they comply and for their own interest they should comply,” he asserted.

Dr. Emeje also warned that his word for this crop of operators is “simply to comply”.

CRD is a specialized arm of the Nigerian Postal Service tasked with the responsibility of ensuring a sustainable development of the courier industry, with core areas of activities including registration and licensing of courier operators.

As well CRD is expected to set standards and regulations for the practice of courier business in Nigeria. CRD was set up in 2003. NIPOST is a core department of the Federal Ministry of Communications.

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Celtel swallows Vmobile

Features of the week:

Vmobile, one of the nation’s leading Global System for Mobile communications (GSM) operator, has evolved yet into Celtel Nigeria, another form that would entail total rebranding and reintegration, reports REMMY NWEKE.

Change they say is constant, and for those who desire it, challenges are likely to come on their way.

For Vee Network Limited, trading under the name Vmobile, another change was announced last week by the officials of the GSM company, owing to the latest completion of transactions between Vmobile and Celtel, a subsidiary of MTC conglomerate of Kuwait.

Vmobile journey so far

Since its incorporation in 2000 and subsequent roll out in 2001, as Econet Wireless Nigeria, the telco has undergone what some industry watchers described as ‘transfiguration’.

The first was its entrance as Econet Nigeria, which lasted for about three years. Then came the South African mobile operator, Vodacom and in less than two months after, it metamorphosed into Vmobile, courtesy Econet Wireless International (EWI) subsequent court action.

EWI, which has gained reputation for court injunctions on the continent with its partners, was reportedly undeterred as it returned to a Lagos Court penultimate Tuesday, for an injunction over Vmobile/Celtel deal, of which the 30 days set aside for conclusion of the deal expired the same day.

Now is another transfiguration with the coming of Celtel (Nigeria).

Watchful Nigerians

In the watchful eyes of Nigerians, Vmobile is not far from the biblical transfiguration as its marriages turned out to be an expose for its desire to be counted among leading continental and global GSM networks.

As elucidated by one of its directors, Chief Henry Imasekha, if Vmobile has the best of plans for its customers without adequate funding to execute same it would become meaningless. This, he said, is why Celtel acquisition is most welcome.

However, Vmobile on August 5, 2001 began commercial operation which it claimed was the first by any of the GSM licensees in the country. Currently savouring its over 5.3 million active subscribers with coverage in over 600 towns and 8000 communities across the six geopolitical zones, Vmobile is pursuing hitherto promise of aggressive network roll out as well as quality and service upgrades in order to provide what the Public Relations Manager, Mr. Emeka Oparah, would call “world-class customer services that would make telecommunications an enjoyable experience for all Nigerians.”

Celtel abandons NITEL

The take over of the 65 per cent stake in Vmobile by Celtel, has forced the telco to discontinue its prior intention to buy over the national operator, the Nigerian Telecommunications Limited (NITEL).

ITRealms Online recalls that mid-April Celtel International, entered into a ‘Conditional Acquisition’ with Vmobile for a total consideration of US$1.005 billion.

Also, Celtel was listed among five telcos scheduled to bid for NITEL this year, but has now dropped the idea. Noteworthy is that last year, Celtel on learning that the Mobile Telecommunications Limited (MTel), the GSM arm of NITEL was excised from the original NITEL offer withdrew its bid.

The Chief Strategy and Development Officer at Celtel, Ms Tsega Gebreyes, confirmed that the telco would forgo the NITEL dream. “We would not pursue NITEL anymore given that we have completed acquisition today,” she affirmed.

Expressing delight on the completion of the Vmobile deal, she said, that negotiations with Nigerian shareholders have resulted in the much needed investment in the company.

“Celtel looks forward to a strong partnership with Vmobile shareholders to build an even stronger business,” Ms Gebreyes said.

How it was sealed

Announcing the formal completion, a director in Vmobile and Senior Advocate of Nigeria (SAN), Mr. Paul Usoro, said Celtel acquired 65 per cent of Vmobile after a successful transaction. According to him, this follows the expiration of the mandatory 30-day period to enable EWI exercise the right of ‘first refusal’ or buy over the shares on offer.

As said by him, at the end of the board meeting penultimate Friday, the remaining 65 per cent of Vmobile’s shares were transferred to Celtel International.

“We are delighted to have found a partner that shares both our vision and our passion for developing the mobile telephony market in Nigeria,” he declared.

Mr. Usoro stressed that the transaction would assist Vmobile to continue its expansion plans to ensure that the company offers Nigerians the highest quality infrastructure and world class service that they deserve.

Mr. Usoro also informed that the initial $1.005 billion has been structured as the purchase of existing shares and equity injection which will immediately boost Vmobile’s financial ability to continue and accelerate its aggressive roll out.

Fate of 2000 staff

Leading the Celtel team at the transaction, the chief executive, Celtel International, Mr. Marten Pieters, assured that of the over 2000 employees of Vmobile, the intelligent ones would be retained, just as he noted that there is no vacancy for the chief executive for now as Mr. Willem Swart would continue in that instance.

He also said that out of the 12 directors in the new Celtel Nigeria, five would be Nigerians, another five Africans and the remaining two non-Africans.

“I am very proud to say that all we have achieved was part of team work,” he said, even as he expects their Nigerian colleagues in erstwhile Vmobile to integrate into Celtel soonest.

Before now, Celtel has presence in Burkina Faso, Chad, Congo Democratic Republic, Congo, Gabon, Kenya, Madagascar, Malawi, Niger, Sierra Leone, Sudan, Tanzania, Uganda, and Zambia, with over 10 million subscribers, which has now grown to 15.3 million in 15 African nations.

Expectations

One remarkable thing imminent is the change of the brand to what Mr. Pieters said is Celtel model of brand which has kept the company competitive over the years.

On May 2005, a similar transaction was sealed between Celtel and MTC Group following the acquisition of 85 per cent shares of the telco by MTC.

According to the telco, its brand is actually a critical factor differentiator from competitors. And a key in the line-up of things to expect from Celtel Nigeria, eventually, including rebranding of Vmobile and relevant integration.

This would see Nigerians enjoying the likes of prepaid roaming services without topping up the domestic account, virtual airtime, Me2U which enables sharing or transferring of airtime among subscribers.

Whilst waiting for completion of the rebranding and reintegration of the Vmobile into the full Celtel Group, one message is clear, that is, the coast of competition is getting keener and those who want to play in this market must wake up especially now that we have unified licensing waiting for grabs.

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NITEL Strike: ATCON wants speedy action, PTOs seek alternative route

Remmy Nweke

The Association of Telecommunications Companies of Nigeria (ATCON), has called on the federal government to expedient actions to resolve the on-going strike by workers of the first national carrier, the Nigerian Telecommunications Limited (NITEL).

ATCON also said that the economic impact of the strike is enormous and therefore ‘unquantifiable’.

This came as most Private Telecommunications Operators (PTOs) in the country, who route their calls through NITEL have commenced search for an alternate route in-house, even as PTO room at NITEL exchange Lagos is enmeshed in darkness.

ATCON President, Dr. Emmanuel Ekuwem, made this call at the conclusion of his one-day facility visit to some of the PTOs and NITEL exchange, located at Saka Tinubu Street, Victoria Island, Lagos.

He said the economic impact of the strike is enormous and cannot be simply quantified.

According to him, members of the umbrella body of telecom firms in the country who are PTOs, are now seeking alternative routes to their stalled interconnection hitherto via NITEL.

He also lamented the darkness which befall the Lagos exchange, pointing out that in the last six years one area that this administration has received encouraging number of Foreign Direct Investment (FDI), is the telecom sector.

Dr. Ekuwem equally said that the effect of the strike is immense as the operators especially those using NITEL exchange have began to loose revenue.

Additionally, he said, it does not augur well for the proposed plan to privatize NITEL.

As said by him, the exercise of searching for an alternative to NITEL by PTOs, would further devalue NITEL, stressing that it is not good for the company and the nation as well.

“Seeking alternative to NITEL at this time means NITEL value will continue to diminish and it is unfortunate” he declared.

Telecom in Nigeria, he said, has been a success story noting that it is a competitive product that transcends a lot of services globally.

He called on the federal government to speedy actions on nipping the
strike in the bud, just as he recognized the efforts made so far by setting up two committees headed by the secretary to the federal government, Chief Ufot Ekatte and Finance Minister, Dr. Mrs. Ngozi Okonji-Iwala.

Dr. Ekuwem also noted that the reason for speedy action brings to mind that NITEL staffs are being owed five months and all of us go to the same market, send children to the same school, hence they need their salaries for sustenance.

He was accompanied at the visit by the Executive Secretary, ATCON, Mr. Godwin Morgan, while one of the PTOs visited was CelCom Limited.

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Automated GSM recharge commences

•As Interswitch connects CTL

Remmy Nweke

REAL-TIME payment solution provider, Interswitch Nigeria Limited, has interconnected with the Card Technology Limited (CTL) switches in the country, just as it unveiled Recharge Nigeria, a new way of recharging Global System for Mobile communications (GSM) phones through Automated Teller Machines (ATMs).

Chief executive, CTL, Master card franchise in the country, Mr. Ayo Arise, disclosed the seamless connection between the two electronic payment companies at the launch of the Recharge Nigeria in Lagos.

He said the imperative of interoperability of operators would engender growth in the industry and more access to Nigerians using smart card solutions for transactions.

The connection enables Master card users in the country to transact seamlessly within Interswitch deployed ATMs switches and vice versa. Even as both firms have taken their offers together to the Ghanaian market.

On Recharge Nigeria, would be available on 24 hours a day and is already accessible in over 800 ATMs deployed nationwide among its partnering banks.

Managing Director, Interswitch Limited, Mr. Mitchell Elegbe, said at the launch which coincided with the sent forth ceremony for its immediate past chairman, Dr. Evans Woherem, that Recharge Nigeria is a partnership struck between his firm and all the GSM operators in the country.

He noted that customers of these networks could top-up their credits as long as they have debit cards issued by over 23 out of the 25 banks in the country that scaled through the recapitalisation exercise of the Central Bank of Nigeria, last December.

According to him, there are now over 2 million Nigerian debit card holders, even as this was introduced to continuously encourage card users to gain more access to regular products such as airtime recharge.

“All the 800 ATMs currently deployed on the Interswitch network now offer the service, with more expected in the next few months,” he asserted.

He stressed that the Recharge Nigeria, is a value added and an indication of commitment of his firm to the Nigerian society via provision of technology innovation.

Marketing and Corporate Communications officer at Interswitch, Ms Taiwo Seriki, informed that Recharge Nigeria enables ATM users in the country to do more than withdrawing money, checking of bank account balances, view the last five transactions and even transfer funds.

One main merit of Recharge Nigeria, she said, is that users would not be afraid of scratching off the Personal Identification Numbers (PIN) as have been the case recently.

The event was attended by the newly appointed chairman of Interswitch, Mr. Adedotun Sulaiman among other dignitaries from Information and Communication Technology (ICT) and banking sectors.

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Nigeria Info Summit due in Sept

Remmy Nweke

Hugtech Information Links (HiL) in partnership with some stakeholders in the Information and Communication Technology (ICT) sector, is planning to a Nigerian Information Society Summit (NISS-06) expected to take place in September.

President, HiL, Mr. Uche Ugochukwu gave this indication in an address to mark this year’s World Information Society Day (WISD) at the University of Nigeria Nsukka (UNN) in Enugu State.

According to him, NISS has been scheduled to hold in the last quarter of this year, which begins in September, to further hammer home the values and benefits of information in this era with the nation’s perspective in mind.

He emphasised that the need arises given the challenges facing developing nations like Nigeria in bridging the digital divide.

In the address titled “Dream unfolding with Academia: How to build the Nigeria Information Society,” he also solicited for collaboration among stakeholders to ensure that the proposed summit becomes a success.

The summit, he said, would boost the nation’s effort to be counted among the Information Society main stream.

The programme, which has ‘Building the Nigerian Information Society: The Responsibilities of students and teachers in higher institutions,” as its theme, witnessed the newly elected President of the National Association of Computer Science Students (NACOSS), Mr. Martins Madueke, presenting a speech.

Mr. Madueke traced the history of telecommunications as well as the two-phased World Summit on the Information Society (WSIS), which came to a final phase last November in Tunis, Tunisia.

He recalled that NACOSS in line with the objectives of the federal government’s National Economic Empowerment Development and Strategies (NEEDS), launched ICT4NEED as a prerequisite for involving the Nigerian youths in the NEEDS project.

He also urged Nigerian students to be decisive in making decisions for their future and above all, be involved in ICT so as not to be left behind against all odds.

Technology, he noted has become the driving force behind modern society, even in the smallest form.

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