ATCON rebrands NICOMM to ComBIT Expo

Umbrella body of telecommunications companies in the country, the Association of Telecommunications Companies of Nigeria (ATCON), has finally rebranded its annual Nigeria International Communication (NICOMM) exhibition and conference to Communications, Business and Information Technology (ComBIT) Expo.

This is coming as ATCON plans its Annual General Meeting (AGM) in the month of April, this year.

National President, ATCON, Dr. Emmanuel Ekuwem who disclosed this to newsmen in Lagos, said the 13-year old event would henceforth be known as ComBIT beginning with this year’s edition.

This, he said, has become necessary as part of the repositioning of the organisation and its related activities which began since the commencement of his leadership over two years ago.

He also said that the annual international exhibition would equally have its own web portal to be launched soon.

He stressed that the rebranding would bring about change in the brand, refocus and develop a new product that would attract the right calibre of national, regional and international participants, adding that the transformation going on in ATCON was not only in the name.

“But more so in the style, planning, organization, management and execution of the event,” he said.

While decrying the absence of Information and Communication Technology (ICT) in the country, Dr. Ekuwem promised that ComBIT has been structured to have international appeal.

According to him, ComBIT would become an event that the whole world looks forward to every year in Nigeria, affirming that ATCON has been propelled by the need to stage a pan-industry event that would bring the global ICT market to the country annually.

The way forward, he said, is the bold step of building a new brand ComBIT Expo, which will be more attractive and rewarding to participants.

As said by him, ComBIT, came about after intensive and extensive consultations with players and other stakeholders in the Nigerian ICT sector.

ATCON’s desire, he said, has been to ensure it comes out with an all-inclusive global appeal.

“It took us some time, but we are happy that the efforts have actually paid off,” Dr. Ekuwem, asserted, adding that his so-called globetrotting last year was a strategy to reposition the nation’s expo for greater international participation.

“ATCON has therefore, taken into serious consideration all the observations and comments made by would-be participants from across the world and will endeavour to reflect on them in the planning, management and execution of the event,” he said.

ATCON’s planning committee for ComBIT 2008 has been drawn with members’ cutting-across the ICT sector in the country, emphasising that ComBIT is not just an ATCON affair.

“It is an event for the entire Nigerian ICT sector and so the planning committee has to be inclusive of all service sub-sectors that make up our ICT industry,” Dr. Ekuwem said.

In addition, he said, ComBIT 2008 will have local as well as international organizing cum marketing agencies to add professionalism in the handling of the event.

Equally speaking, the Executive Secretary, ATCON, Mr. Godwin Morgan, informed that the association’s AGM has been scheduled to hold in April 2008.

Peak on the agenda for the AGM, he said, are presentation of the annual reports and 2007 audited accounts as well as election of new officers into the National Executive Council (NEC).

Champion Infotel recalls that the two-year tenure of the present NEC would terminate in April, shortly before the election of new NEC at the approaching AGM.

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Starcomms unveils dual SIM phone

Major player in the nation’s Third Generation (3G) Code Division Multiple Access (CDMA) in the country, Starcomms Limited, has unveiled into the telecom market, its dual SIM phones.

Chief executive, Starcomms, Mr. Maher Qubain, said the dual SIM phones are aimed at converging users of multiple networks to one single phone.

He said the new phones on offer by the telco is customized for Starcomms subscribers and still avails them the chance of simultaneously using both CDMA and GSM SIM cards on the phone.

This, he noted, affords subscribers to enjoy benefits of cheaper outgoing calls by using, Starcomms network while they could still continue to use their existing GSM network SIM card in the same phone.

Mr. Qubain said, the phone is available in all Starcomms coverage cities across the country and goes for N30,500 with a N3,000 airtime in addition to a one year warranty.

Produced as a fully customized product for Starcomms by one of the leading CDMA phone manufacturers, HiSense D 806 is a compact, multifunction, large screen, colour, data enabled CDMA as well as GPRS multimedia phone equipped with a 1.3 mega pixel camera, Multimedia player and a T- Flash slot for extra memory to load songs, pictures and favourite videos.

The phone package includes a hands free kit, two batteries, 1 charger, extra battery charger cradle, USB cable and CD and 128 MBSD card free.

In addition to D 806 model, Starcomms is also planning to launch more handsets under the World Phone series to provide customers with multiple options that will appeal to various segments of users.

The launch of this series comes as a special package to celebrate the 1 million subscriber base mark of Starcomms and is available on the 07028 series.

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Our CSR is robust , says Oyagbola

Executive Director, MTN Foundation, Mrs Amina Oyagbola, has declared that the telco’s Corporate Social Responsibility (CSR) programme is robust.

Speaking at the CSR roundtable with the theme: The Vital Nexus Between CSR and Return on Investment (ROI) held in Lagos and organised by M2, acclaimed premium Marketing and Management entity, Mrs. Oyagbola said that there exist a thin line between CSR and ROI, stating that historically, there is a correlation between business ethics, socio-economic contributions and the long term sustainability of companies.

In line with MTN corporate reputation built through ethical business practices, and alignment with the needs and aspirations of the communities in which it operates, she said noting that the telco’s model of CSR hinges on understanding of the value of investing in the environment in where it operates.

This, she pointed out is in order to meet its present and future business objectives, stressing that that was why the company adopted a robust three-pronged strategy based on “Corporate Governance, Adding Value to Society and Corporate Social Investment.”

This approach, as said by her made it certain for institutionalised ethical behaviour, and contributing to national economic growth by their presence, products and services.

She also said that through the MTN Foundation, the company has consistently given back to the society, by way of contributing to the socio-economic development and creating a viable market in the long run.

Mrs. Oyagbola disclosed that 49 schools across 12 states of the federation including the Federal Capital Territory have so far benefited from MTN model focusing on education, health and economic empowerment under the MTN Foundation.

The benefits, she said, included equipping of these schools with Information and Communication Technology (ICT) facilities, while under its Universities Connect, University of Lagos and Ahmadu Bello University, Zaria, have also top the list of beneficiaries.

Earlier in his remarks, Prof. Oyebode noted that though capitalism has given rise to several discussions, the players in the economy must add value to the lives of Nigerians.

“We should no longer accept the ugly face of capitalism, capitalism must now present a human face to the world,” he asserted.

Prof. Oyebode also charged corporate players to buy into the nation’s Millennium Development Goals so as to make the Vision 2020 a reality.

Equally commenting, chief executive of M2, Mr Akin Adeoya, while appreciating participants said that the Brandwagon, which is second in the series, has provided a veritable platform for professionals and stakeholders in the marketing communication to discuss burning issues in the economy, and proffers solutions to them through cross fertilisation of ideas.

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Ericsson toasts mobile operators with RBS 6000

TELECOMMUNICATIONS equipment manufacturer, LM Ericsson, at the just concluded World Mobile Congress (WMC) in Barcelona, Spain, was a toast of mobile operators with the launch of its new generation Radio Base Station (RBS) 6000 series.

Speaking at the world media session, Ericsson´s President and chief executive, Mr. Carl Henric Svanberg, said his company has greater percentage of the world´s 174 networks globally that have deployed or eager at enthroning HSPA across 86 countries, including Nigeria with 180 million subscriptions.

According to him, HSPA is the technology extension of the existing Wideband Code Division Multiple Access (WCDMA) cum Global System for Mobile communication (GSM) networks, which is about 85 per cent of the global existing wireless networks.

Thus, it has the potential to be readily available to a large number of wireless users through mass market for mobile broadband.

In the next two years, 2010, he projected that 71 per cent of the mobile broadband connections will be on HSPA based networks.

Unveiling the new radio base stations (RBS) 6000, Vice President, Product and Portfolio Management, Business Unit Networks at Ericsson, Mr. Mikael Back, said that the telco has remained a leader in the development of global mass market broadband both in the fixed and mobile broadband.

According to him, this latest radio base station is compatible with most of its existing radio base stations in the market and was introduced to further spur the market for telecommunications operators.

He added that RBS 6000 is the smallest energy-efficient site solution on the market and supports GSM/ Enhanced Data rate for GSM Evolution (EDGE), WCDMA/HSPA and Long Term Evolution (LTE) in a single package.

Equally speaking on the RBS 6000, Vice President and Head of Product Area Radio at Ericsson, Mr. Ulf Ewaldsson, pointed out that its customers (operators) face increasingly complex challenges in terms of operational costs, multiple radio technologies and sustainability concerns.

He explained that the RBS 6000 series is a truly multi-standard system that gives operators what they need for the smooth evolution of their radio access.

“This means we take the risk out of the investment. Customers know that when they choose Ericsson we deliver technology for tomorrow, today,” he said.

Mr. Ewaldsson added that RBS 6000 series products are available in indoor, outdoor and main-remote packages, stressing that the compact design requires only 25 per cent of the space used by previous generations while at the same time doubling capacity.

“The RBS 6000 series reduces power consumption by 20 to 65 per cent, compared with existing Ericsson radio base stations, and offers a simple, energy-efficient site solution that helps operators reduce costs across all areas of ownership,” he said.

Just as he informed that commercial launch has been set for any time from now, emphasizing that bringing base station, site and transmission functionality together, Ericsson has created a solution that suits all profiles and caters to immediate and long-term needs.

“The one-cabinet, temperature-controlled solution requires less maintenance and training, and is easier to transport, install and run, thus significantly reducing operating costs,” he said,

Mr. Ewaldsson further said that RBS 6000 series facilitate low-cost migration, since it re-uses equipment already deployed and could be installed on existing sites, which makes it compact in size also easy to deploy in new sites.

Ericsson prides itself as a world-leading provider of telecommunications equipment and related services to mobile and fixed network operators globally as well as one of the few companies worldwide that could offer end-to-end solutions for all major mobile communication standards.

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Globacom goes to Kaduna fair

SECOND National Operator, Globacom, has concluded arrangements to play a major role at the 2008 Kaduna International Trade Fair, which begins this week Friday, at the Permanent Trade Fair ground along Zaria Road , Kaduna .

Zonal Manager at Globacom, Mr. Femi Ogunlusi, said that the telco’s full participation in the Fair is to make available to the people of Kaduna and its environs the array of products and services in its basket.

Ogunlusi also noted that the Fair, being organized by the Kaduna Chamber of Commerce, Industries, Mines and Agriculture (KADCCIMA) is another connect opportunity for Globacom and its teeming subscribers and new customers not only within Kaduna State but also around the neighbouring states.

“Kaduna holds a very strategic position in the business equation of Globacom, and we are going to the Fair in Kaduna to replicate the magic that has made us the network of choice across the length and breadth of this country,” he said.

He disclosed the preparedness of the network to play a major role in ensuring that its customers and visitors at the Fair have access to the best of telecommunications products and value adding services.

He reaffirmed Globacom’s commitment to making seamless and affordable communication available to all at all times.

Globacom in the past four years, he said, had demonstrated its firm belief in empowering the people and had confirmed this commitment through poverty alleviation schemes, which provide business opportunities for young school leavers and unemployed youths to own commercial telephone services nationwide.

Recently, Globacom launched the 3G Plus services which is to be available to subscribers in Lagos , Abuja and Port Harcourt in the first instance and subsequently in other key cities across the country.

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MEF gets new board for EMEA

THE Mobile Entertainment Forum (MEF) at the weekend elected new board members for its Europe, Middle East and Africa (EMEA), at a meeting held as part of the just concluded 2008 World Mobile Congress (WMC) in Barcelona, Spain.

At a general meeting on Monday, February in Barcelona, members of MEF elected a six-man board of trustees to manage its affairs.

They include Messrs Alberto Ciarniello of Telecom Italia Mobile, Thomas Current of Publicis, Ian Henderson of SonyBMG, Emma Kaye of Gate 7, Berna Samiloglu Acar of Turkcell and Raghu Venkataraman of du.

The expanded geographical coverage of the board reflected the chapter’s extended remit, which now includes the Middle East and Africa for the first time.

While Mr. Gerard Grech of Orange and Gerrit-Jan Konijnenberg of Comsys were both re-elected as Chairman and Vice-Chairman of the board some new members came on board.

MEF took the opportunity at the meeting to acknowledge that, while the industry is poised for further growth, there is room for improvement in the areas of user experience, consumer trust and metrics. These three themes were highlighted at the EMEA general meeting.

A press statement made available to Champion Infotel informed that MEF’s regulatory work has been focusing on the consumer: the publication of the first industry-wide frameworks on participation TV, agreed in both the United Kingdom (UK) and the United States, represents a milestone in industry collaboration to retain consumer trust and safeguard the future of interactive TV.

Among other policy and regulatory activities, MEF has responded to several European consultations on the issue of protecting minors from inappropriate content.

According to the MEF’s 2007 survey only one in every four users in the US and UK were satisfied with their mobile content services and warned that revenues were at risk from a substandard experience.

The group said that the next step for MEF’s initiative on quality of experience is to identify areas of improvement and establish industry-wide key performance indicators (KPIs).

Content Sales Reporting, according to the group is a newly launched initiative aimed at improving the quality of reporting in the mobile entertainment industry, they said, is critical to cut down the estimated 10 per cent revenue leakage and to help foster new business models such as Ad-Funded Mobile Entertainment (AFME), where the advertising industry is calling for improved metrics.

A new MEF report on AFME, which was previewed at the meeting, contains statistics on the UK mobile entertainment market and revenue forecasts up to 2012.

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Seven bags GSMA award

THE 2008 Mobile World Congress ended recently in Barcelona, Spain with Seven, a push email alternative, bagging the Global System for Mobile Association (GSMA) award as the Best Mobile Messaging Service platform, especially on its System Seven 7.0.

SEVEN 7.0 is a suite of products that are united by SEVEN’s simple, easy interface and signature push email technology that include Consumer Edition, Enterprise Edition, Workgroup Edition, and Out of Office.

System SEVEN 7.0 is the culmination of years of experience and research to make carrier grade mobile email accessible to everyone.

SEVEN 7.0 is the most flexible mobile email solution on the market today, available on more than 115 carriers worldwide and 240 mobile phones globally.

Commenting on the award, the managing director of Race Telecom, SEVEN representative in the country, Mr. Raph Manafa, noted that the platform supports all major device platforms including: J2ME, BREW, Symbian, Palm and Microsoft Windows Mobile devices, and provides instant push email from work and consumer accounts including Lotus Domino, Microsoft Exchange, AOL, Google, Hotmail, Windows Live and Yahoo! to name a few.

He added that SEVEN’s simplicity comes with widespread compatibility and reliability that have made it a favourite among users.

However, in a press statement made available to Champion Infotel, the telco quoted the judges as saying, “If you want e-mail on your phone and you want to keep the phone of your choice, System Seven 7 is what you’ve been waiting for.”

Equally speaking, President and chief executive, Seven, Mr. Ross Bott, said they are excited with this honour by GSMA.

“We are very excited to receive this high honour from the GSM Association,” he said adding that System SEVEN 7.0 was made with the end-user in mind.

“Our customers realize the need to deliver a world-class solution to their subscribers. SEVEN’s dedication to providing the highest-level quality of service has been unmatched. This honour underscores our commitment to the industry and we thank the GSMA for its recognition,” he said.

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MultiChoice crashes Pay-Tv price with EasyView

THE leading pay-Television (TV) operator in the country, MultiChoice Nigeria, has launched a mass-market bouquet code named the DSTv EasyView.

Managing Director, MultiChoice Nigeria, Mr. Collins Khumalo said that this significant contribution to the country’s digital future is embodied in DStv EasyView.

He described the DStv EasyView bouquet as coming into the market at a rock-bottom subscription cost of N 3,600 per year, thus making it the cheapest bouquet offering ever in the history of pay-TV business in Nigeria.

He pointed out that the company, which has established a world-class reputation for innovative offerings and pioneering technology, has now launched its record-breaking new product DStv EasyView into the market to encourage more Nigerians to enjoy the digital TV series in the bouquet.

With a super-affordable annual subscription fee of N 3,600 per year, he said, DStv EasyView will be available to interested members of the public across all the geographical divides of the country, adding that the DStv EasyView is destined to positively transform the landscape of the pay-TV in the country, affording a wide pool of citizens the much-desired opportunity to join the DStv family.

The offer which would be available from next month, March, he said, will effectively make pay-TV accessible to millions of viewers in the country, allowing them to share in a world of news, music, movies, sport and more.

Mr. Khumalo also said that the latest product launch is a result of the company’s ongoing aim to deliver relevant product options that meet the viewing and budget needs of a wide range of consumers:

“We’re incredibly proud that MultiChoice is the first to offer this service. DStv EasyView is a product designed specifically to offer the benefits of digital information, education and entertainment to a wide new community of subscribers. Further, we’ve always believed that the country’s success is our success. Therefore it’s of great importance to us that we play a significant role in assisting Nigeria to bridge the digital divide while also growing our business,” he said.

This launch, he pointed out, has afforded DSTv the chance of increasingly becoming a household name in the country.

“DStv EasyView will now complement the existing Premium, DStv compact, DStv Family bouquets bringing to four, the total number of bouquets available to DStv subscribers in Nigeria,” he said.

The new package will contain channels such as the headline-driven Al Jazeera, the all-action SuperSport Update, the educational Mindset Learn and the M-Net packaged MagicWorld channel among others.

He explained that DStv EasyView combines high value, affordable pricing and great programming.

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NCC withholds 440 Glo cars

Cover of the week:

Subsequent upon the last weekend blanket ban on any kind of promo whether existing and upcoming due to declining quality of service by the telecommunications regulatory in the country, the Nigerian Communications Commission (NCC), thereby putting on hold 440 cars remaining in the Globacom’s 500 cars Win and Rule promo, which began last December.

This came as the 60th cars were drawn last Tuesday in Lagos, with 50 emerging new winners while presentation commenced for eight of the 10 winners in the initial draw that took place on Thursday, January 10, at the Mike Adenuga Towers (MAT) Victoria Island, Lagos.

These cars include BMW, Mercedes Benz, Peugeot and Kia.

Announcing the ban, NCC hinged its position on poor Quality of Service (QoS) across the Global System for Mobile communications (GSM) operators.

Reacting to our inquiries on what would become of the remaining 440 cars in the Glo Win and Rule promo, sources close to NCC unequivocal said that it does not matter which of the promos now, but the most important thing is that every promo stand banned until further notice, probably when the quality of service improves considerably to an acceptable level and obviously in line with the Key Performance Indicators (KPI).

Officials of Globacom were mute on the ban and it effects on the Win and Rule promo, as efforts to get responses from them were not successful.

Champion Infotel recalls that for the second time in less than eight months, NCC had banned telecom operators from promos over the failing QoS, even as on July 6, 2007, the commission issued a directive to operators, with this one dated Thursday, February 7, specifically on GSM operators.

Our investigations revealed that out of the three GSM operators, only Glo is the one running a promo otherwise described as ‘grandfather of all promotions’ worth N2 billion.

Industry analysts said that the ban was reclaiming of its position as a transparent regulator by NCC and was not meant to witch-hunt any body or an operator but to salvage the consumers.

They added that its ‘criminal’ to embark on any kind of promo when the quality of service is nothing to write home about by the GSM operators, even as they strongly opined that NCC was not being biased in its judgment especially with the latest QoS equipment on ground to prove the state of KPI.

Industry observers further urged NCC to ensure publication of the result of the QoS to exonerate itself from any form of attack from any quarters.

According to NCC its position was further strengthened by the results generated by the latest tests with the newly acquired GSM QoS testing equipment, the Commission found it very crucial to slam another ban on operators due to ‘unsatisfactory’ results available to the agency, which it described as ‘unacceptable.’

Confirming the most recent ban, Head, Public Affairs at NCC, Mr. Dave Imoko said the commission had issued a fresh directive to GSM operators, stopping them from embarking on promotions of any kind and any form until further notice.

“NCC, hereby issues fresh directives stopping the GSM operators from embarking on promotions of any kind,” he declared in a press statement made available to Champion Infotel.

This directive, he said, affected on-going promotions or any new one yet to be embarked upon by any of the operators as the results of the tests carried out in some parts of the country has been very ‘unsatisfactory.’

“The Commission wishes to state that the level of performance of the GSM networks in some parts of the country where tests have been already completed were poor and unacceptable,” he asserted.

With the directive, he said, all the major GSM operators were grossly in default on several key performance indicators (KPI) for ascertaining quality of service.

“The key parameters on which the GSM networks were being tested include traffic channel congestion, call completion rates, call set-up success rates, call drop rates, percentage of failed calls, call set up time, speech quality index, and handover success rates,” he explained.

GSM operators, he said, were expected to attain or exceed threshold performance levels for these key indicators with respect to what NCC had benchmarked for each parameter previously.

Equally he explained that the Commission’s technical team had recently carried out QoS tests in Kano, Bauchi and Kaduna States which result were not upto the minimum standards, adding that in Bauchi State, for instance, some members of the Senate Committee on Communications witnessed the test being carried out by a technical team of the NCC.

And in accordance with NCC 2008 strategy, Mr. Imoko said the newly obtained GSM QoS test equipment has been fully deployed to regularly monitor the performance of operators in all states of the federation.

In a related development, Globacom last Tuesday fulfilled its promise by presenting some of the winners in the first draw with their cars and consequently held another batch of draw which brought the number of winners in the Win and Rule promo to 60.

Globacom maintained that the special promo was put together in the true spirit of empowering Nigerians and in accordance with its tradition of expressing gratitude to esteemed subscribers.

“Its also our unique way of thanking Nigerians for their loyalty and patronage, and for believing in us,” Executive Director, Human Resources at Globacom, Mr. Adewale Sangowawa said at the last draw.

Insisting that for Globacom, the customer is indeed the king and as a truly Nigerian company, is ploughing back its proceeds into building a first class network in the country and investing heavily in valued customers.

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A note on privacy

Market intelligence:

Using a packet sniffer could capture all of the traffic passing by your computer including all of the communications, and potentially communications of other users on the same network; if your computer is connected to a wireless network, for example, the packet sniffer may record everything you do and everything everyone else on the wireless network does on-line.

Please do not record other people’s communications without their consent. Doing so is impolite and, under some circumstances, may be prohibited by law. One way to avoid recording third parties’ communications is to avoid using promiscuous mode for your packet capture, unless you specifically need it.

If you produce a capture file (packet trace) with evidence of the results of your experiment, please be aware that the capture file will reveal your IP address, the IP address of the other person involved, and a complete record of everything you did on-line during the course of the experiment.

For example, if you downloaded a file, the packet trace will typically reveal which file (and even include the full contents of that file).

If you browsed the web or checked your e-mail while the packet sniffer was running, the identities and contents of web pages you visited and e-mail messages you downloaded may appear in the packet trace.

In addition, any HTTP cookies sent by your browser, which might include your username and password for web sites you visited, would be included in the trace. You should exercise caution when publishing or sharing a packet capture file to ensure that you don’t reveal more information than you intended.

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