Consumer protection roundtable gets new date

This year’s stakeholders forum tagged ‘Protecting the Consumer’ slated to hold in Lagos, yesterday has gotten a new date of April 30, 2009.

Managers of the forum, IT & Telecom Digest confirmed this development to ITRealms Online, they attributed it to the Senate Communications committee forum which coincided with the initial date. The forum, initiated by IT & Telecom Digest magazine in 2006 in close collaboration with Nigerian Communications Commission (NCC), is a roundtable for stakeholders in affirmation of the regulator’s disposition to protecting telecommunications consumer.

While apologizing for the inconveniences the change in the date may have caused for stakeholders, the organizers promised that event would bring together under one roof, operators, equipment manufacturers, government officials, consumers and other interested parties, essentially to find ways to better protect the consumer in the emerging convergence in the industry.

The fourth in the series, the organizers also said that Stakeholders’ Forum, is now scheduled to take place on April 30, at the Golden Gate Restaurant in Ikoyi, Lagos, with theme: “Protecting the Consumer in an era of ICT Convergence.”

“It is expected to attract the key industry players, companies and individuals in the support industry like power, software, equipment suppliers, as well as the academia and consumer advocacy groups, among others,” Mr. Mkpe Abang who endorsed a press statement to that effect.Abang, who is the editor of IT & Telecom Digest magazine, noted that the forum is coming at a time when the industry is under pressure from the global economic meltdown, as this year edition is to proffer solutions to problems in the ICT sector.

“The outcome will be used keenly by the Consumer Affairs Bureau (CAB) of the NCC as a medium of reaching out to operators and the various businesses that have developed around the increasingly successful ICT industry in Nigeria,” he said.

Stressing that with a view to getting them all serve the consumers best in an atmosphere free of rancour in the emerging global village being further brought about by convergence in the ICT industry.

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Jatori, Coral Telecom partner on PABX, wireless solutions

INFORMATION and Communication Technologies (ICT) service provider, Jatori Nigeria Limited, is partnering Coral Telecom of India on provision of outstanding Private Automatic Branch Exchange (PABX/PBX) switching equipment and wireless broadband into the nation’s market.

Chairman and chief executive officer, Jatori Nigeria Limited, Mr. Abdul-Lateef Mac-Isuman, who made this revelation in Lagos, said that his firm was encouraged to venture into this based on the love Nigerians have for quality and dynamic products.
According to him, these products range are sine qua non, stressing that this is more needful now that demands that business be conducted at the speed of thought makes it very apt.

“Telecom acts as the backbone for companies wanting a foothold in every corner of the globe,” he said, noting that by providing the right combination of products and services as well as deploying them with professional expertise has become imperative to understanding the way technology is constantly evolving.

“At Jatori and just like our partnering company, we’re passionately driven by this singular belief. We identify requirements of organizations small and large, and constantly develop new products, and deploy services to serve communication needs ranging from voice and switching products to setting up next generation multiservice access gateways on the communication backbone of our clients,” Mac-Isuman said.

He pointed out that his firm has the in-house expertise to deliver on the products on offer.

This, he said, would ensure that convergence is at the core of all product offerings, be it meeting requirements of small and medium sized companies or applications widely used by enterprise, last mile service providers and large government bodies such as defense, oil & gas sector, and railways to name a few.

Mac-Isuman recalled that in the past, Jatori had partnered with two United Kingdom-based companies, namely ENTEL UK to bring quality submersible two-way radio transceivers (Walkie-Talkies) and XVission Group UK in the area of close circuit security cameras (CCTV) of world class quality.

“At Jatori, we believe in good quality products and not just anything to make money,” he asserted.

While calling on telecom operators, especially the Code Division Multiple Access (CDMA) companies as well as, banks, hotels, corporate bodies, government parastatals to watch out for this ‘Big Bang’ that will hit the market very soon.

“Private home owners who believe in quality are not excluded as we have something for them too,” he said.

The first three set of products to be expected in the market soon, according to him, include the PABX/PBX series also known as Coral SBDX Integrated Services Digital Network (ISDN) designed for applications of small offices and residential customers.

“A portable business genius designed specifically to serve you better in this era of fast changing technologies. A compact and smart business ‘switch’, equipped with a bouquet of digital features you usually associate with large switches. It can handle various telecom connections, but yet retains the user-friendly commands for system configuration and use,” he said.

On the Coral DX 2000 series, Jatori boss, said digital communication switching system is available in a variety of configurations.

“The system is based on Time Division Multiplexing (TDM), Pulse Code Modulation (PCM) switching technology,” he said, explained that an advanced Complementary metal–oxide–semiconductor (CMOS) chips are used to ensure optimum processor speed and minimum power utilization.

Each card in the system, he said, is provided with a Switched-Mode Power Supply (SMPS) to convert 28-volt dc to its own operating and logic voltages. The system has a combination of active and passive bus to ensure reliable communication between the cards. All the cards are plug in type to ensure ease of maintenance.

Equally speaking on the Coral Integrated Voice and Data Exchange (IRIS - IVDX), he said, this could handle data as freely as it would handle voice traffic. It can be extended from 128 ports to 8,000 ports. It meets last mile switching requirements for provisions of voice, data and video in large enterprises, campuses and even small townships.

Emphasizing that the wireless access point ‘Bubble Gini’ which has the reputation of being the smallest access point in the market is part of the first range of products to hit the market.

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Akunyili speaks @ CTO e-Gov forum

MINISTER for Information and Communications, Prof. (Mrs) Dora Nkem Akunyili, has been slated to be among lead speakers at the annual African e-Governance conference schedule to take off tomorrow in Kigali, Rwandan capital.

The third in the series, e-Governance Forum 2009 is organised by the Commonwealth Telecommunications Organisation (CTO), and hosted by the Rwandan Ministry in charge of Science and Technology at the Office of the President. It is billed to take place at the Kigali Serena Hotel, between March, Tuesday 24 and Thursday 26 this year.

Manager, International Events & Corporate Communications
Commonwealth Telecommunications Organisation, organisers of the event, Mr. Samuel Fletcher, informed in a press statement made available to ITRealms Online that African ICT Ministers, regulators and operating company executives are expected to use ICTs to fight the global recession and to renew their commitments to more effective governance through better and faster deployment of Information and Communication Technologies (ICTs) in their respective countries when they meet in Kigali, Rwanda.

Among the ministers attending the event include the host minister Hon Prof Romain Murenzi, Minister of Science and Technology, Rwanda: Hon Samuel Pogishio, Minister of Information and Communications, Kenya: Hon Maj Gen Gier Chuang Aluong, Minister of Telecommunications and Postal Services, Government of Southern Sudan: Hon Aggrey Awori, Minister of ICT, Uganda: Hon Patricia Kaliati, Minister of Information and Civic Education, Malawi: Hon Prof Dora Nkem Akunyili, Minister for Information and Communications, Nigeria: Hon Alhaji Ben Kargbo, Minister of Information and Communications, Sierra Leone: and Hon Pelonomi Venson-Moitoi, Minister of Communications, Science and Technology, Botswana.

According to Fletcher, participants would be joined by a number of executives from ICT manufacturing companies, infrastructure and technology providers, as well as from international donor agencies, academics, consultants, non-governmental organisations and other key stakeholders to discuss e-governance best practices.

The event, he said, would be officially opened by President Paul Kagame, tends to address policy, regulatory, legislative, legal, operational, technological, commercial, financial and implementation issues with respect to the use of ICTs to improve the access of businesses and citizens to government information and services.

Discussions will also include how e-governance could transform Africa through the applications in the related fields of e-health or telemedicine, e-commerce, e-agriculture, e-education and distance or e-learning.

Speaking on the forum, chief executive, CTO, Dr Ekwow Spio-Garbrah, noted that in recent years, emerging economies and emerging democracies have come to appreciate how ICTs could help promote economic growth as well as good governance.

“In Africa, in particular, the rapid access to mobile phones, the Internet and continued popularity of radio and TV has made it possible to empower the citizenry and to make some recent elections, such as those held in Ghana in December 2008 and January 2009, to be recognised globally as generally free and fair. By enabling businesses and citizens to gain access to a growing list of public services through the Internet and mobile phones, and by making it possible for entrepreneurs and citizens to communicate their concerns to public institutions through these devices, the ICT community is helping Africa to bridge the digital divide. But there are many lessons to be learnt, best practices to be replicated, and more to be done. This conference will help to advance this important cause,” he said.

Although he said that about 6.5 billion people in the world, about one half are estimated to have mobile phones and almost a quarter have Internet access, the figures for sub-Saharan Africa is still pale in comparison, at less than 20 per cent average mobile penetration and less than 5 per cent Internet access.

Pointing out that a number of presentations and interactive sessions would take place at the conference with attention given to measures to reverse this situation.
A member of the Rwandan legislature, Senator Gasamagera Wellars, for example, will deliver the first keynote address focusing on “The Role of African Parliaments in the Development of an Equitable Information Society.”

A second keynote presentation touching on the need for African governments to embrace ICTs for effective, inclusive and transparent governance will be given by Hon Dr Ham-Mukasa Mulira, Senior Presidential Advisor on ICT, and former ICT Minister of Uganda.

A strategic partner for the high-level conference is the West Indian Ocean Cable Company, the facilitator of the EASSy cable project covering the East African Region.
Investing in additional fibre cable capacity and increased broadband access in Africa are generally agreed to be amongst the major actions that governments and business are expected to take if ICTs are to play an even greater role in fostering democracy and good governance in Africa and spurring economic growth even at a time of a global recession.

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Vatican launches Chinese website

AS Pope Benedict XVI concludes his first papal visit to Africa, increased efforts have been put in place to unite the church in Asia and around the world, with the Vatican dedicating a Chinese section of its website on the Solemnity of St. Joseph, patron of the Universal Church, reports Catholic News Agency (CAN).

According to a press statement from the Press office at the Holy See, the Chinese “will be the eighth language to be represented on www.vatican.va, which also includes Italian, English, French, Spanish, German, Portuguese and Latin.”

Also, the new service will expand the reach of Pope Benedict’s speeches and documents to the Chinese-speaking world. The texts will be available in both traditional and simplified Chinese characters, the press office said.

Meanwhile, while in Cameroon, the Pope met with President Paul Biya, though no details of the meeting was made available to the media as at press time. Mr. Biya has been in power since 1982, and is one of Africa’s sit-tight presidents.

Amnesty International, the human rights watchdog group, recently accused Biya of seeking to crush political enemies.

The Pope also met with Cameroon’s 31 bishops, urging them to promote the sanctity of marriage given that secular forces threatened the traditional African family.

He also warned them that while the Catholic Church in Africa is the fastest growing in the world, it faces competition from increasingly popular evangelical movements and “the growing influence of superstitious forms of religion.”

The Pope said it is the duty of all Christians, but particularly those with political and economic responsibilities, to spare the poor from the impact of globalization by building a “more just world where everyone can live with dignity.”
The Pope later visited Angola.

In a related development, Pope recently at the town of Oies, the birthplace of a canonized Italian missionary, Pope Benedict XVI said China is growing in international importance but must also “open up” to Christ.

“We know that China is becoming increasingly more important politically and economically, and also in the life of ideas,” the Pope said at a church in the small town, reports ANSA. ‘’It’s important that this great continent opens up to the Gospel of Christ.”

He said St. Joseph Freinademetz—an Italian missionary to China whose grave he was visiting--showed that “faith does not alienate any culture or people, because all cultures are waiting for Christ and will not be destroyed. In the Lord, they reach their maturity.”

The saint lived and died as a Chinese man, but in heaven too he remains Chinese, the Pope declared, saying the missionary “identified with these people and with the certainty that they will open up to the faith of Christ.”

St. Joseph Freinademetz was ordained a priest for Bressanone at the age of 22 but decided to become a missionary, arriving in Hong Kong in 1879. Despite the threat of persecution, he remained in China until his death from typhus in 1908.

On Sunday after reciting the Angelus in Bressanone, Pope Benedict sent his best wishes to China as it prepares to open the 2008 Olympic Games in Beijing.

Pope Benedict XVI has been attempting to open greater dialogue with China.

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Economic meltdown: Govt must focus on technology devt - APBN

Umbrella body of chartered professional organizations in the country, the Association of Professional Bodies of Nigeria (APBN), has said that with the current economic meltdown ravaging the globe, Nigeria should focus on technology acquisition with the right educational framework.

APBN President, Mr. Mohammed Jimmoh Faworaja, gave this advice, last weekend, at the end of the first board meeting for the year hosted by the Nigeria Computer Society (NCS) at its secretariat, Alausa-Ikeja, Lagos.

Faworaja, who was accompanied by board members including Publicity Secretary, APBN and Managing Director, International Control Systems Limited, Mr. Allwell Achumba, and Executive Secretary, APBN, Mr. Adebayo Babatunde, among others, were welcomed on arrival by the Executive Secretary, NCS, Mr. Ejide Oladunmoye and the Vice President of the society, Dr. David Adewumi.

APBN boss also said that although the nation’s economy was already down before the current financial crisis, the meltdown offers Nigeria an opportunity to look inwards by focusing on how to evolve its Information and Communications Technologies (ICT) to serve as a mitigation system, so that the impact would not be felt so much by Nigerians, especially the common man.

This, he said, could be achieved by way of structuring the nation’s economy via technology acquisition that must have its roots in the right educational system.

Faworaja noted that the nation’s foreign earnings come from crude oil and America records the highest patronage year in year out, stressing that due to economic meltdown among other strategic reasons, America is now paying more attention to biofuel.

He pointed out that this is enough reason for Nigeria to rethink and in doing this, focus should be on technology acquisition, which must be deeply rooted in the right kind of education and encourage mechanised farming and even continue to supply the likes of America with biofeeds for biofuel generation.

“Definitely, we need to acquire technology like the Indians, but we must get the educational system right,” he declared.

India, he said, spent so much fund on education to be where they are today, especially in software development and physics, stressing that the board is seriously concerned and it is high time the nation realizes that the tide has changed in terms of economic growth by giving 80 per cent attention to the development of ICT and 20 per cent to oil.

He bemoaned that Nigeria which requires over 6000 megawatts of electricity can only boost of about 2000 and now the federal government has announced removal of subsidy, assuring that APBN would study the white paper before responding appropriately.

APBN further noted that in all the 36 states of the federation including the Federal Capital Territory (FCT) there is one mineral endowment or another, advising that states should look inwards by exploring these minerals so as to increase their
Internally Generated Revenue (IGR).

“There is no state in this country without one mineral deposit or another. So, we’re well endowed,” he said, suggesting that exploration of these minerals should form major part of the budget on annual basis instead of waiting for the federal allocation as the case is presently.

APBN presently has 24-member professional chartered bodies, while we have about four undergoing processes of joining the body, while NCS become a member three years ago.

In his welcome address, NCS President, Prof. Charles Uwadia represented by the vice president, Dr. David Adewumi, said the society evolved in response to the pervasiveness of computing and other information technologies in the lives of the 21st century Nigerians.

Noting that the goals from inception of NCS as enshrined in its constitution remained the advancement of Computer Science, Information Technology & Systems and their applications/deployments to professional practice in education, government, the military and industry.

“It shall seek to confer valuable professional responsibilities, on its members and encourage them to support work. This is important to the general community and the professional at large,” he said.

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We’ve spent $300m in rolling out telecom towers - Fazal Hussain

Chief executive officer, Helios Towers, Mr. Fazal Hussain, spoke to newsmen on the activities of his company, during which he revealed that his firm has the capacity to accommodate new telecommunications entrants into the Nigerian market. Senior Reporter, REMMY NWEKE was there.
Excerpts.

What infrastructure do you provide for telecom operators? 
In essence we provide two services at the moment. We build sites for co-location, meaning sites that allows at least four different operators whether GSM, CDMA, WIMAX to co-exist within one base station. Secondly, we manage sites on behalf of the operators.
We guarantee 99.9 per cent uptime and so far we have more than 1000 sites nationwide
 
What is your assessment of the telecom industry in Nigeria?
The telecom industry in Nigeria is still growing. First, it was the voice, 2G  the GSM and the CDMA obviously, that has been growing  after the deregulation  and probably  at the end there will be about 80 to 100 million subscribers because Nigeria is a large country.
The second wave of technology which is to provide value added services on top of the voice and the third which is data base services of broadband internet based on 3G and Wimax. I believe as far as telecom sector is concerned the consumers will benefit because it is a competitive market and it is very positive as far as I am concerned.
  .
What are the environmental challenges you have seen so far?
This is one of the challenges that we are facing in the industry. What we try to do on our part is to work with the community .We go further by engaging the services of the people by employing them to render services in these communities. So, generally speaking, we have been having a good relationship with the host communities.
 
Do you operate in other countries apart from Nigeria?
Not at the moment, we still have a lot of work to do in Nigeria, but very soon we will be expanding to other African countries.
 
How about the legal battle between Lagos state Government and some service provide and operators?
First of all, it is legal issue between the government and telecom operators. We are a service provider to operators and we actually provide services that are environmentally friendly, which is one of the biggest concerns of government entities. The concern of the government is that building sites everywhere is not good and that the environment will be degraded if not checked.
So, what we do is to build sites so that four to five operators can make use of that site and the concern of government is taken care of. It is very cost effective for the service providers and in turn they can provide cheaper services to consumers.
 
Does co-location affect the quality of service in any form?
Absolutely. Let me explain, first of all, we build the sites and we build it to the highest specification and it is designed for multiple tenants. We provide everything power, security, and if any operator wants to launch, all they have to do is to bring their electronics so as to provide service much more efficiently for their consumers and on top of that we guarantee a 99.9 per cent uptime. The market average is 70 per cent and it’s even lower sometimes. There is 24/7 power supply and security. As you know in Nigeria you get public power supply for about six (6) hours in a day, so, 18 hours in a day you don’t have power. So, what we do is to provide battery backup then we have a generator and then backup generator. Also we have personnel on that site with a mobile generator for quick response if there is a problem with the battery and the two generators. This is to ensure that the site does not go down at all.
Today, quality service is relatively poor but in two years time and with the emergence of new operators, Quality of Service (QoS) will be taken seriously as consumer will not tolerate any operator that provides poor quality of service.
What of the capacity to cover the requirements of operators?
We’re very relevant to speedy roll out of telecom and related services in Nigeria. As a matter of fact, we’re the heart of wireless operators.
We do have the capacity and even with the coming of new entrants into the market. We are rolling out as fast as we can.  First of all we are rolling out in the major cities and the smaller cities and then the villages. So far, we have spent over $300 million in rolling out so as to meet the demand of the operators. Finance is not a problem to us as we are well funded to provide efficient services to the operators.
 
Tell us about the corporate social responsibility of your firm?
We create job opportunities for the communities we are operating from by engaging the services of the people in host communities and in all, we have created close to 3000 jobs and apart from that we participate in school projects and other community-related activities.
 
Congestion of the landscape by the erection of towers and masts?
We are a very responsible corporate citizen and therefore obtain approvals from the appropriate authorities. We have a high specification of our sites and our towers does not fail, they are designed for 25 years .They are not local standard but international standard, so we ensure that we get the approval of the government entities concerned before we build our sites
 
What is the relationship like with the regulator? 
We have a very good relationship with the regulator, the Nigerian Communications Commission (NCC) and they have been supportive to us . We are the pioneers and as a matter of fact, we started the collocation so the relationship has been very good.
   
What other challenges are faced by your company in Nigeria?
Financially, we have not really faced challenges in the sense that we have been able to raise money internationally. We are actually a company registered in Nigeria but investment comes from abroad.  The biggest challenge that we are facing is finding a good quality sites. If, for example, you are given the license to operate telecommunication services in Nigeria, and you want to roll out nationwide, you will spend a lot of money in getting a good quality site and besides it will take you years but we have the money, you don’t have to spend your money, it is a wonderful value proposition .It even allows small Nigeria companies to compete with the big players out there.
 
How affordable are your charges?

Our charges are very affordable. It depends on the space that you want to hang your equipment, if you are a GSM or CDMA operator, you will probably take more space but the cyber café or Wimax operator, radio station, television station to name a few; you will take small space and you will pay less than the former.
So, our charges depend on the space and specifications of your equipment.
 
What should we expect from Helios Towers in the next few years?
We hope to see Helios Towers in other African countries. Right now, we are still serving Nigeria because Nigeria is a big market but very soon we are looking forward to exporting our skills to other Africa countries apart from Nigeria.

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Omatek beefs up distribution channels

Nigeria’s leading computer manufacturer, Omatek Ventures Plc, has beefed up its distribution channels through the creation of series of showrooms, reseller outlets and franchises to boost service delivery nationwide.

Disclosing this in Lagos recently at the commissioning of the Omatek Resource Centre and E-Learning Laboratory at the Lagos State Polytechnic (LASPOTECH), Ikorodu, Lagos, the Group Managing Director (GMD), Omatek Ventures Plc, Mrs. Florence Seriki (MFR), said the decision to enhance the distribution channel was borne out of the need to empower Nigerians.

“With financial, greater brand visibility as well as bringing its services closer to the customers,” she said.

Mrs. Seriki also said that the growing demand for Omatek brand of products such as the 8” and 10” Smartbooks, Desktop Computers, Plasma Liquid Crystal Display (LCD) TV, Home Entertainment Products, Uninterruptible Power Supply (UPS) cum inverters and other products have made it crucial to consider expanding channel marketing.

She noted that her firm was conceived to empower the mass of Nigerian students and their instructors who lack access to practical knowledge in computer education.

Omatek computers, she said, would continue to champion the dissemination of information and Communication Technologies (ICT) knowledge in the country through the provision of standard industrial attachment centres, human capacity development through internship programme, student exchange programmes among others.

Apart from providing hands-on experience to student, she noted that the Resource Centre would serve as a service centre to offer after sales service to customers with Omatek products within the vicinity.

On his part, the Rector, LASPOTECH, Mr. Ayodeji Babatunde Iginla, said the Omatek Resource Centre and E-lab marked a turning point in the way ICT-based courses would be taught in the institution.

“Omatek has once again demonstrated it leadership ability and foresight in the area of promoting the awareness on the use of computers and other applications. Your support in this area would further boost learning in this institution,” he said.

While enjoining students of LASPOTECH to avail themselves of the opportunities inherent in the E-Xpress scheme, being an easy and convenient computer acquisition initiative, he stressed that the aim is to improve the standard of ICT-based education module in the country.

Present at the event were members of the LASPOTECH governing council among whom was its Chairman, Prof. Ajose and prominent members like the chairman, Guinness Nigeria Plc, Chief Ralph Alabi, to name a few.

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Supercard introduces GoCard

Reputed information technology (IT) company with specialty on electronic card technology, the Supercard Limited, has introduced Go Card into the nation’s electronic-based (e-based) service market, even as the Standards Organisation of Nigeria (SON) presented the company with International Standards Orgnisation (NIS ISO-9001-2000) certificate.

Supercard, a subsidiary of Chams Nigeria Plc is famous for its avalanche of cards solutions currently in the Nigeria’s market.

Speaking at the occasion, Director-General, SON, Dr. John Ndanusa Akanya, who was represented at the occasion, commended Supercard for achieving the feat of certification for ISO 9000-2000 and urged the company to continue to strive for better services for its customers.

In his introduction of the Supercards latest in shelf, Go Card, the Assistant General Manager, Mr. Michael Folarin said that GoCard is the first of its kind in the country, mostly because it comes with contactless electronic payment (e-payment) solution for the transport industry.

According to him, with Go Card, Nigerians no longer need to carry cash when entering any form of transport, though they are starting from the sea and land.

He explained that the power of GoCard is embedded in an electronic ticketing (e-ticket) formula that could be used in any Nigerian cities, especially on public transport services.

GoCard, he also said, could serve as a credit card because it comes with storable value which could be loaded into the card due to its contactless feature, through designated agents who are authorized by Supercard or affiliate transport companies.

As matter of fact, he said that potential Nigerian passenger who uses GoCard need not to pay cash when entering transport, saying that it could be flashed through on the turnstile gate on entry and could be perfectly read by a device, which will authenticate the card and make the relevant deductions for a given fare.

“You can also flash your card on balance display to check your balance,” he declared.
Listing the benefits of GoCard, the AGM said it is convenience, accurate secured transaction and his company has deployed balance display at every terminus, be it a station, jetty or even airport.

“It is easy, fast and no loss of cash or change,” he said, stressing that it has its own peculiar merits for transport companies, including improved cash management, security, service level agreement, increased revenue margin, service delivery and better branding, because it could be customized to meet the taste of individual companies.

“Transaction reports can be requested on the web as online reports,” he said.
Enlightening further, he said that the GoCard offer equally comes in various components, encompassing passengers’ card, staff card, agent service card, terminals, turnstiles and server.

“Passengers card comes in card type category, for example, adult, student cards respectively with values of Naira can be loaded on it immediately after purchase,” he said, pointing out that the staff card enables the card to be used for starting off a given system where he or she is in-charge, whereas the agent service card allows an accredited agent to store more value and its value could be transferred into passenger’s cards for retailing.

On the turnstiles, he said, it’s an automated barriers that debits the toll fare from a passenger’s card, thus allowing such a holder passage when the transaction is successful, while the server is the back-end that facilitates report module for online generation.

The special guest at the occasion, Transport Secretary at the Federal Capital Territory (FCT), Mr. Segun Awolowo, who was represented at the occasion, applauded Supercard for this initiative while pledging the support of FCT administration in this effort at improving the transport sector, especially making it electronic, saying that its less stressful.

He enjoined Nigerians to support the initiative by accepting the evolution, noting that since the world has become a global village, Nigeria cannot afford to remain in dark while the world goes on development electronically.

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Gartner excites CWG on Actimize

The recent pronouncement of Actimize, a leading provider of transactional risk management software for the financial services industry from NICE Systems company, by Gartner Inc. in its leaders quadrant in Gartner’s first Magic Quadrant for Web Fraud Detection report, is creating some excitement at the ExpertEdge Software & Systems, a subsidiary of Computer Warehouse Group (CWG).

ExpertEdge Software has partnership with Actimize Ltd to bring into the Nigerian financial market a suite of solutions that offer banks, government agencies and other financial institutions with advanced techniques of fraud detection, prevention and compliance with regulations.

This comes in the heels of CBN’s reports of increasing wave of fraud in banks, just as Actimize has implemented its Fraud and Anti-Money Laundering Solutions across the 700 United Bank for Africa (UBA) Retail Distribution Centers in Nigeria.

Sharing this excitement, the corporate marketing manager at CWG, Ms Morenike Popoola, said that they are well pleased to note the development, when Actimize has been deployed by the West Africa’s largest bank, UBA, which further indicates that the solution is international proven transactional risk management software to help protect its global operations.

She quoted Avivah Litan, an analyst at Gartner as saying that driven by regulations and increased cyber attacks, the Web fraud detection market has undergone rapid growth and consolidation during the past three years.

“Innovation is critical in this market to keep pace with difficult-to-predict cyber attacks that increasingly navigate across multiple customer service channels and the Web,” Litan said.

Gartner officials also noted that the criteria for the consideration when evaluating fraud detection solutions, included cross-channel and cross-account fraud detection, real-time fraud detection and transaction-blocking, built in templates and libraries for detecting various fraud types and a policy editor, or an easy way to add rules to the fraud detection operation.

For the chief executive officer, Actimize, Mr. David Sosna, his company was thrilled over the Gartner evaluation of Actimize in its recent Magic Quadrant, which validates the overall market position of the company and the value it delivers to customers on a daily basis.

“Actimize will continue to be at the forefront of innovation by developing and delivering the most robust technology platform and solutions to help combat financial crime.  Our commitment to these core goals is the reason that so many of the world’s largest financial services firms select the Actimize solutions,” Sosna promised.

The Magic Quadrant is conducted by Gartner Incorporated with the latest released last month, February 2009 and serves as a graphic representation of a marketplace at and for a specific time period, showing how certain vendors measure against criteria for that precise marketplace, as defined by Gartner.

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Multimesh drags Copyright Commission to Reps

Multimesh Communication Limited, has dragged the Nigerian Copy Rights Commission (NCC) to the House of Representatives Committee on Justice, over what the company termed as illegal closure of its broadcast stations, vandalization of transmission facilities and falsely accusing it of indulging in piracy.

ITRealms Online recalls that this was as a result of a dispute between Multimesh and HiTV, last year over some contractual agreement that went sour, in which HiTV reported Multimesh to the NCC, alleging it was pirating its programmes.

On the other hand, NCC said, it raided Multimesh station in Calabar, not knowing that it’s broadcast of HiTV programmes were based on a contractual agreement between the two companies, but refused to apologise.

Group Managing Director (GMD), Multimesh, Sir Godfrey Ohuabunwa in his submission to the Committee said that on January 8, 2009, operatives and agents of the NCC “vandalised, harassed and carted away transmitters and other equipments consequently shutting down the station on allegations by HiTV that they were pirating their programmes.

“In the course of this, we had to shut down transmission for three weeks. We lost about N36 million worth of equipments and about N30 million loss in revenue as we were unable to broadcast for about three weeks within the period,” he said.

Sir Godfrey also said his company suffered a lot of credibility problem by the mere fact that the NCC has branded Multimesh as pirates, insisting that his firm has a contractual agreement with HiTV to broadcast their signals in the South-South political zone with no restriction to channel.

“We cannot understand why this action was taken by the NCC, because we have already informed them by writing about the contractual agreement we have entered with HiTV before they raided us. We have tried to settle the matter between us, the NCC and HiTV after the intervention of the Nigerian Broadcasting Commission (NBC),” he said.

According to Sir Godfrey, his firm is not asking for damages, but wanted NCC to apologise over their actions.

“So that we can restore our good name,” he declared.

The Legal Adviser to NCC at the session, Mr. Jacob Fagbemi told the committee it had no prior knowledge that the two parties had a contractual agreement before the incident.

“We are surprised to find out that the two companies had a contract. “We acted based on the petition that HiTV sent to us that Multimesh was pirating its programmes from its station in Calabar. After we have made our surveillance we confirmed that Multimesh was actually broadcasting HiTV programmes. So, we clamped down on the station. We did not do it to please HiTV, but to enforce the law”, he said.

Responding to a question by the Chairman, House Committee on Justice, Hon. Henry Dickson (PDP/ Bayelsa) on if NCC would have raided the station if it knew of the agreement, Fagbemi said they would have acted differently, pointing out that it was not part of the Commission’s procedure to reach out to suspects before the raid.

Dickson also expressed worry over the development, saying it would look as if the Copyright agency was going out of its mandate to enforce contractual agreement that favours one side, instead of dealing with piracy or even bringing the two warring party to a roundtable.

Most of the members of the Committee equally expressed shock at the hard stand of NCC against Multimesh, more so that the company simply demanded an apology, not compensation, but promised to have a verdict that would be favourable to all parties in the case.

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