NiRA explains free domain names

The Nigeria Internet Registration Association (NiRA) has explained the essence of its offer of two free domain names to any willing Nigerians.

Giving this explanation, President, NiRA, Mr. Ndukwe Kalu, said that its to boost the nation’s country code Top Level Domain name, .ng in every facet of the socio-economic life of the citizens.

According to him, any Nigerian planning to register a domain name at this time would benefit from the offer of two domain names per individual registrant, adding that the N5000 is for membership registration only.

A domain name is the text name corresponding to the numeric Internet Protocol (IP) address of a computer on the Internet. Thus, a domain name must be unique and affords Internet users access to their website using domain names.

Mr. Kalu, also said that in view of the on-going drive to encourage Nigerians to hook onto the .ng domain name, NiRA board has approved this decision.

“The board would also want to inform Nigerians that for the transition period the subsisting policy of free domain registration would continue, but with a modification to allow for two domain per individual,” he said.

Mr. Kalu who doubles as the chief executive, Amsco Telecom Limited, added that the final policies on this would be made known in a latter date.

He therefore urged Nigerians to take advantage of this two-for-one domain registration and fly the nation’s flag on the Internet.

“We therefore call on Nigerians to take advantage of this and be truly Nigerian with .ng,” he said, stressing that the current membership price of N5,000 is subsisting.

Hitherto, he said, the domain registration services, were being handled by a tripartite arrangement between Mr. Randy Bush, the National Information Technology Agency (NITDA) and Skannet Nigeria Limited led by Sunday Folayan.

“First we would want to thank all those who have made personal and other sacrifices to sustain this process,” he declared, without forgetting the laudable roles of the late director general of NITDA, Prof. Gabriel Olaleye Ajayi, just as he did not left out Aminu Ibrahim of the National Universities Commission (NUC), Demola Amao of Simbanet to name a few.

He pointed out that with the birth of NiRA early in the year, following the successful general election of its first executive board, the association has stepped into a new era.

“While this is so we realize certain realities and the fact that it would take NIRA sometime to fully get into the state of meeting the enormous expectations on it,” he said.

This is coming as NIRA has gotten an office to meet administrative and technical demands, which he said, is located at 14 Ahmed Onibudu Street, Victoria Island, Lagos, which is being manned by a full time Administrative Secretary.

“This office would act as physical point of contact for general correspondence, domain registration services and membership services,” he said.

According to him, the office would shortly publish all contact details including phone numbers, electronic mail (email) address among others, even as he advised the public to channel all enquiries to the temporary office.

“We are working to ensure very prompt and courteous response at all times,” he assured.

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Cyberschuul, Cathybrite partner on empowerment

Information and Communication Technology (ICT) institute in the country, The Executive Cyberschuul is partnering with Cathybrite Associates to empower the nation’s youths and job seekers, especially using online methodologies at a two-day workshop in Lagos.

Disclosing this, chairman of Cyberschuul, Mr. Titi Omo-Ettu, said the workshop has been scheduled to hold at the University of Lagos (UNILAG) on 24 and 25 August, 2007.

The partnership, he said, was spurred by some irrelevances discovered in applications submitted by most Nigerian job seekers recently.

He cited an instance that in 2005, a foreign consultancy firm, which wanted to recruit for a Nigerian firm advertised job vacancy and within two days it has received over 180 applications forcing the recruiting firm to stop.

“Because within those two days, the firm had received 180 applications with most of them standing irrelevant to the stated specifications and almost 99 per cent of the applications looking very similar to each other,” he decried.

According to him, the annoying similarities of the applications, and irrelevance to the stated specifications, “they stopped accepting applications emanating from Nigeria.”

Mr. Omo-Ettu also lamented the situation whereby Nigerians are blacklisted from something beneficial to the enhancement of their skill sets and individual managerial endowments on account of a problem of this nature.

Hence, The Executive Cyberschuul resolved to confront the problem head on, stressing that Nigeria and telecommunications industry precisely would be over-run by expatriate workers and schools continue to produce “unemployable graduates.”

He said that the planned workshop has been structured to create the needed awareness in an attempt to correct the common errors while moulding job seekers, and presenting them for employment.

Mr. Omo-Ettu further disclosed that Cathybrite would soon open a Nigerian office to ensure its services closer to the candidates and Cyberschuul would be involved in the reconstruction of their skills.

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‘Alvarion BreezeMax is complete IP solution’

Major distributors of Alvarion products in Nigeria and Anglophone West Africa, Teledom Group, has said that Alvarion has an all-encompassing Internet Protocol (IP) in its BreezeMax.

The company also said BreezeMax is an open standard of the Worldwide Interoperability for Microwave Access (WIMAX), which is a telecommunications technology aimed at providing wireless data over.

A press statement made available to Champion Infotel, quoted the executive vice chairman, Teledom Group, Dr. Emmanuel Ekuwem as saying that apart from its open standard in WIMAX avails increased broadband capacity.

Champion Infotel recalls that recently the United States-based AT & T Alascom, announced the adoption of Alvarion’s BreezeMax equipment as part of its deployment of WIMAX broadband in Alaska based on its flexible and improved efficacy.

Dr. Ekuwem explained that the BreezeMax Radio Access Network (RAN) combines a complete all-IP, an ecosystem capable of offering nationwide network coverage while increasing capacity at affordable rates.

According to him, Alvarion’s products are being deployed in a massive WIMAX rollout due to the fact that it has been extensively tested to support fourth order diversity for delivering flexible and improved coverage even in difficult terrain.

He also informed that BreezeMax is highly suitable for the mountainous and wooded areas.

He equally cited an instance with the recent decision of Japanese HiTachi Communications Technologies Limited to develop broadband mobile wireless access system using Alvarion equipment because of what the company described as its ability to transmit broadband data stably and seamless handover between base stations.

Alvarion BreezeMax and BreezeAccess, Dr. Ekuwem noted was deployed in Vietnam and Cambodia respectively with the aim of reducing the digital divide and promoting advanced services including Internet access, e-learning, e-government and e-commerce.

He further said that in Africa, Alvarion’s award-winning BreezeMax has been chosen by the leading telecommunications operator on the continent, MTN in its Uganda operations, for the enhanced Third Generation (3.5 Gega Hertz) frequency.

This, Ekuwem pointed out was deployed as part of a nationwide solution to extend data services to corporate, business and residential users.

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Transcorp to relaunch MTel, restores 10 cities

Owners of the Mobile Telecommunications Limited (MTel) and a subsidiary of the Nigerian Telecommunications Limited (NITEL), the Transnational Corporation (TRANSCORP) Plc, has advanced plans to relaunch its Global System for Mobile communication (GSM) operations in the country with better service offerings.

This indication emerged at a media parley with the management team of Transcorp led by its new Group Managing Director (GMD), Mr. Tom Iseghohi, who informed that they have restored about 70 per cent of NITEL fibre optic infrastructure.

He also said that the relaunching plan for MTel would be guided by three outlines, to become the best in clarity, quality of services and access respectively.

He also said that MTel has been revived, hence up and is being test-run in the past five weeks in over 10 cities nationwide.

“We intend to have high quality of service with the new team focusing on the future,” he declared, stressing that there is no need for the new team to concentrate on the past.

Transcorp, he pointed out, would leverage on what it has currently, precisely inherited from the purchase of NITEL, especially in moving MTel, its mobile subsidiary forward and competitive in the GSM market place in the country.

“In the last four weeks, I have been using my MTel but it would not be relaunched anywhere in the country without making sure that the guidelines are followed, that is to offer the best in clarity, quality and access,” he said.

He reassured that the only cities to be relaunched in the coming weeks, would be those that have been confirmed working.

According to him, NITEL has over 400,000 fixed lines and Transcorp tends to leverage on this and open up the telco’s Internet Protocol (IP) infrastructure.

He disclosed that the restoration of NITEL’s fibre optic infrastructure was through a partnership deal with a United States-based company to be revealed in the near future.

The new team, he said, would ensure the fixing of the fibre optic, and fixing the landline with eye on expansion while leveraging on the telco’s Code Division Multiple Access (CDMA) infrastructure for data related services.

In addition, Mr. Iseghohi said that the new team is excited they are already doing something to improve services and access to the network, just as they plan to build over 200 IP Television (IPTV).

Also speaking, the chief executive, MTEL, Mr. Ladi Williams corroborated the GMD on the restoration of the mobile network, noting that the major hiccups of the mobile arm in the past, had been transmission and power, which are being addressed at the top management level.

He said that these are being addressing urgently as the telco plans to relaunch the network in every city where restoration has taken place every two weeks.

Mtel, he said, is targeting 10 million subscribers by 2010, even as its Global Packet Radio Service (GPRS) is undergoing test-run at the Federal Capital Territory (FCT) Abuja.

“And we’re testing our GPRS in Abuja and would soon roll-out,” he affirmed.

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All is set for energy summit - ATCON

ALL is now set for the first-ever energy and power summit being organised by the Association of Telecommunications Companies of Nigeria (ATCON) in the nation’s commercial centre, Lagos, this Friday, August 24.

ATCON President, Dr. Emmanuel Ekuwem, who affirmed this, said that the event slated to hold at the Golden Gate, Ikoyi would attract Nigerian professionals across all sectors of the economy.

He also said that the focus would be on proffering solution rather than apportioning blames on why there have been poor management of energy and power in the country.

On why focus on these areas, Dr. Ekuwem said that ATCON as a patriotic organisation knew like most Nigerians that once the energy crisis is fixed, the nation’s economy would change for the better and would be on the way to greatness.

He equally said that there would be some mini-exhibitions by some interested Nigerian experts including those from bio fuel, solar energy to name a few.

“Energy is to Information and Communication Technology (ICT) what blood is to human person,” he asserted.

Dr. Ekuwem who was flanked by the Executive Secretary and coordinator, for Manufacturers subgroup both of ATCON, Messrs Godwin Morgan and David Roberts, emphasised that the day electricity, for instance, is regularly made available to the industries, more employment would be created for the populace.

He further said that responses so far received by ATCON on the summit have been overwhelmingly encouraging and “all is now set for the summit.”

He reaffirmed that the focus would be on the way forward through bio fuels, hydro electricity plan among others rather than lamentations.

As said by him, the solution to be proclaimed must have Proof of Concept (PoC).

In addition, Dr. Ekuwem said that the event to be presided over by the Minister of State for Energy (Power), Mrs. Fatima Balarabe Ibrahim, would be graced by the Minister of Science & Technology, Mrs. Grace Ekpiwhre and Minister of State for Energy (Petroleum), Mr. Henry O. Ajumogobia, both would be attending as special guests and are expected to deliver goodwill messages to the participants, while Minister, Information and Communication, Mr. John Odey would gave a keynote address at the occasion.

He added that a good number of key players in the energy and power sector as well as operators in the telecommunications sector and other stakeholders in the nation’s economy are being expected.

Other dignitaries billed to make special presentations, he said, include the Executive Vice Chairman, Nigerian Communications Commission (NCC), Dr. Ernest Ndukwe, Chief Executive, Nigerian Electricity Regulatory Commission (NERC), Dr. Ransome Owan and Chief Executive, MTN Nigeria, Mr. Ahmad Farroukh.

Just as special presenters include the Managing Director, L M Ericsson Nigeria, Mr. Lief Edwall, Mr. Maduabuchi Uche of NetTel@Africa Nigeria Group and Managing Director, Orun Energy Limited, Mr. Kwabena R. Smith.

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Ndukwe to preside over AIM session in Geneva

Chief executive, the Nigerian Communications Commission (NCC) Dr. Ernest C. Ndukwe has been named the presiding officer at the forthcoming African Information Meeting (AIM) organised by the International Telecommunication Union (ITU) as part of its 2007 World Radio Congress (WRC-07) holding in Geneva at last quarter of this year.

Head, Public Affairs at NCC, Mr. Dave Imoko who disclosed this, noted that the World Radio Congress is the global meeting of experts that discuss and agree on proposals for various new applications, even as the 2007 edition would hold between October 22 and November 16.

He pointed out that the role of the Radiocommunication Sector (ITU-R) is to ensure the rational, equitable, efficient and economical use of the radio-frequency spectrum by all radiocommunication services, including those using the geostationary-satellite orbit, and to carry out studies on all frequency ranges without limitation on the basis of which recommendations are adopted.

Mr. Imoko also explained that AIM is a special forum organized by the ITU to enable African countries discuss and present the position of the continent on specific agenda issues, in order to finalise the African common proposal towards WRC-07.

He added that the AIM session is coming at the heels of the recent African preparatory meeting for WRC-07, hosted by Nigeria in Abuja and facilitated by the NCC.

The invitation to Dr. Ndukwe to chair the information meeting, he said, is not only an honour to him as a person but recognition of the role of Nigeria as an active member of the ITU.

Dr. Ndukwe has been a regular resource person at ITU organised events and has chaired a number of global meetings and committees of the ITU.

He is currently the Vice Chairman, the Telecom Development Advisory Group (TDAG) in the Development Bureau of the ITU and recently presided over the credential committee at the 2006 ITU Plenipotentiary conference in Antalia, Turkey.

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MTS donates to Police

MTSFirst Wireless Limited, has donated a set of three special emergency telephone lines to the Nigeria Police at Ikoyi-Lagos, to boost the communications network of the law enforcement agency in its overall operations to stem the tides of rising wave of crime in the state.

The hot-lines made available include two handheld lines with numbers: 01-7268024, 01-7268025 and a table-top phone with number: 01-7268020.

Making the donation to the Divisional Police Officer, Superintendent, Victor Okon-Otoyo, at his Ikoyi office by a team of MTS officials led by Mr. Obi Almona, Head of Logistics, MTS, said that the gesture is in line with the company’s corporate social responsibility.

“It is also an expression of care and concern for residents of Ikoyi as MTS marks its third commercial launch anniversary,” Mr. Almona said.

Speaking after receiving the phones on behalf of his division, Mr. Okon-Otoyo said the support shown by the telecommunications provider, would go a long way toward meeting the communication needs of modern crime fighting.

He also promised that the phones would be adequately utilized for public service.

“Fighting crime without communications is mundane, and MTS has with this gesture helped to ease existing communications gap within his division,” he said.

A press statement from MTS informed that in celebration of its anniversary, the telco recently launched a week long promotion, which saw MTS rewarding subscribers, including Business Centre Operators (BCOs) with 10 per cent bonus airtime on every recharge card loaded.

Also, MTS said the promo has afford prospective customers a chance to experience its unique quality and flexibility in an unbeatable phone price slash even as the company continues to excite its subscribers with free, unlimited on-net calls at off-peak period from Monday to Friday and a marathon free on-net delight at weekend.

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Economist ranks Nigeria 62nd in e-Readiness-07

Nigeria has been ranked 62nd in an electronic readiness (e-Readiness) survey conducted in 69 countries by the Economist Intelligence Unit (EIU).

A white paper released by the EIU and made available to Business Champion at the just concluded eNNOVATE 2007 in Lagos, was conducted in collaboration with the International Business Machines (IBM).

The survey topped by Denmark, saw the United States and Sweden following a tie, whereas Hong Kong came third, and Switzerland took the fourth position.

In addition, the survey indicated that Nigeria performed poorly in the overall policy and vision category, but was commended in its digital development strategies.

EIU also said that the survey was based on the state of adaptation of Information and Communication Technology (ICT) by the 69 countries under review and drawn from various continents of the world.

“And the ability of its consumers, businesses and governments to use ICT to their benefit,” EIU declared.

Since 2000, EIU has been publishing its annual e-readiness ranking for the world’s largest economies.

The ranking model evaluates the technological, economic, political and social assets of 69 countries, including the newest addition, Malta and their cumulative impact on their respective information economies.

E-readiness is the “state of play” of a country’s information and communications technology (ICT) infrastructure and the ability of its consumers, businesses and governments to use ICT to their benefit.

EIU pointed out that when a nation does more online or, as is increasingly the case, wirelessly, the premise is that its economy could become more transparent and efficient.

“Our ranking allows governments to gauge the success of their technology initiatives against those of other countries. It also provides companies that wish to invest in online operations with an overview of the world’s most promising investment locations,” EIU stated in part of the white paper.

The e-readiness rankings, EIU pointed out are weighed collection of nearly 100 quantitative and qualitative criteria, organised into six distinct categories measuring the various components of a country’s social, political, economic and of course technological development.

The underlying principle behind the rankings, the survey said, is that digital business is at its heart business, and that for digital transactions to be widely adopted and efficient they have to thrive in a holistically supportive environment.

“E-readiness derives from more than just the number of computers, broadband connections and mobile phones in the country; also critical are citizens’ ability to utilise technology skilfully, the transparency of the business and legal systems, and the extent to which governments encourage the use of digital technologies,” the white paper read.

Global Leader, IBM Institute for Business Value, Mr. George Pohle, noted that in this and previous e-readiness rankings, the EIU has worked in cooperation with the IBM, which through its extensive business research provides strategic insights and recommendations used by senior executives around the world.

The EIU, however, is entirely responsible for the rankings and for the content of this white paper.

“To keep their countries on a competitive track, governments are clearly committing to ICT infrastructure initiatives,” he said, stressing that in order to truly succeed in the global economy, the evidence showed that focus on public-private sector partnerships could be used to ignite economic growth.

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Christon, SUBEB team up on computer education

A Lagos-based business solutions expert, Christon Nigeria Limited, is teaming up with the Lagos State Universal Basic Educational Board (SUBEB) and Fidelity Bank Plc to host a seminar on Computer Education for Beginners in the country.

Chief executive, Christon, Mr. Chrysantus Okon, informed that workshop which is based on the principle of Public Private Partnership (PPP) initiative of the federal government, is to fill in the gap for beginners into the Nursery/Primary Schools on computer education.

The seminar, scheduled to hold on Monday, August 27 at Golden Gate Ikoyi, he also said, has been organised in such a way that it would be where the nurturing of knowledge would take its formal step.

Additionally, he said, that one of the nation’s leading Original Equipment Manufacturer (OEM), Omatek Computers Limited is supporting the seminar alongside Teledom Group, Open Learning Associates Ltd, SimbaNet Limited, Electronic Learning Systems, LG Electronics West Africa and Samsung Digital Convergence.

Mr. Okon further said that the event would equally play host to a one-day exhibition on computer education.

According to him, the seminar incorporates all the nursery and primary schools in Lagos State.

“Each of the schools has been given 5 slots at the seminar, made up of 3 officials on a fee of N2,500.00 each and 2 pupils free,” he said.

While Fidelity Bank, would be handy to provide credit facilities to stakeholders with which they can finance the acquisition of Information Technology (IT)-multimedia and computers in order to adequately equip their schools.

“So as to expand the frontiers of knowledge in computer education,” he said.

Equally, he said, the event has received separate endorsement each from the Association of Telecommunications Companies of Nigeria (ATCON) and from Nigeria Internet Group (NIG) the two IT-flag touch bearers, for having content to bridge the yawning divide in computer literacy in the country.

“Stakeholders in education will benefit from the seminar and exhibition, which promises to be a learn-right teach-right opportunity,” Mr. Okon submitted.

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Microsoft commends Nigerian students on software dev.

The global leader in software development, Microsoft, has commended Nigerian students for having the same enthusiasm on software evolution like their counterparts in other parts of the world.

Manager, Developer and Platform at Microsoft for West East Central Africa and Indian Ocean Islands, Attilla Szenvedi gave this commendation at the final session of the maiden Imagine Cup competition being organised by the company in Lagos.

The event held at the University of Lagos (UNILAG) Information and Communication Technology (ICT) Centre, Akoka-Lagos, he said, has shown that Nigerians students are as intelligent and creative like their counterpart elsewhere in the world.

“I am in awe of all of you participants here today. From what I have seen here today, Nigerian students have the same level of enthusiasm, intelligence and creativity as students anywhere else in the world. You have exhibited great potential and all the applications you developed are of world-class standard,” he said.

Business Champion recalls that Imagine Cup was designed by Microsoft to encourage students to apply their imagination, passion, and creativity to develop technology innovations that can make a difference in the world.

The five year-old global contest has more than 100,000 students from 100 countries competing at the global level, which is on-going in Soul, Korea, just as it had nine categories set up under three main groups, Technology Solutions, Skills Challenge and Digital Arts.

In Nigeria, the Imagine Cup Nigeria had students competing in three categories, cutting across Software Design, Embedded Development and Web Development.

Five teams have been selected to compete in the finals from entries sent by students in universities across the country, which include EasyLaw Academy, Remote Lecturing System (RLS), Smart Allocator, IntelligiAC and ThinkGP.

While EasyLaw Academy presented a web based e-learning application for law students, Smart Allocator developed a solution to simplify bed allocation in hostels, IntelligiAC created an artificial intelligence system to help student affairs departments in universities calculate student ‘Grade Point Aggregates’ more efficiently.

The winning entry was a remote lecturing system, which will enable lecturers to broadcast their lectures from any location developed by Team RLS. The software will enable students to participate in the lectures by logging on to a wireless LAN. The second prize went to IntelligiAC while ThinkGP won the prize for most innovative entry.

Whereas the panel of Judges has been drawn from Microsoft, Intel, HP and the Computer Professionals of Nigeria.

Also speaking at the event, Education Manager, Intel Corporation Nigeria, Olubunmi Ekundare congratulated the students, noting that they invested their own resources to develop the software, which have presented.

“In other countries, the competitors get a lot of support for projects like these. I am doubly proud of all of you, and am delighted to be a part of this initiative,” he said.

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