In progression of the recent deal sealed between the Nigeria’s leading telecommunications operator, MTN, with Central Bank of Nigeria (CBN) and First City Monument Bank plc (FCMB) for the provision of Wide Area Network (WAN) solutions, thereby linking eight branches of the apex bank and 18 branches of FCMB.
Confirming this, the Chief Enterprise Solutions Officer, MTN Nigeria, Derek Appiah, said, this marks the successful completion of the first phase of the project, which was accomplished within schedule.
The WAN solutions, Appiah said, would improve the quality and speed of the data network within CBN and FCMB branches, thus enhancing their service delivery to customers across the country.
“Banks in Nigeria today yearn for reliable and dependable services from their technology partners in order to deliver basic services to their customers. Our goal is to be that one-stop technology partner that our customers can rely on,” the officer said.
In addition, Appiah said, MTN aims for partnerships that go beyond just providing solutions that work today, but also consider the impact of future expansion, costs and convergence.
For the Chief Information Officer, FCMB Plc, Mr. Olayinka Oni, though the solution is in its early days, the experience of the first few weeks on the new platform has been remarkable. “We have experienced increased reliability and quality of service at the pilot locations; indeed it has started to improve the work-life balance of our colleagues at those locations as they are able to achieve tremendously quick turn-around time for all transaction processing which we expect has also started to impact on customer experience and satisfaction at those locations,” he said.
Projecting into the future, Oni said that with this platform, they hope to achieve better and enriched convergence of data and voice for capabilities like video conferencing, voice conferencing, virtual meeting, and unified messaging.MTN Nigeria prides itself as the largest telecommunications company in the country with coverage in over 250 towns, and more than 10,000 villages and communities across the 36 states of the federation.MTN equally claimed to have built in excess of 5,000 base stations nationwide, and its over 5,000 kilometer fibre optics backbone is the largest private infrastructure of its kind in Africa.
In a related development, MTN Nigeria said, all is set for the launching of its latest Mobile Lite, in the six geo-political zones of the country.Mobile Lite is a mobile assistance centres, launched in what the operator said is to take customer care to another level.
Customer Relations Executive, MTN Nigeria, Mr Akin Braithwaite, revealed this recently at the Federal Capital Territory (FCT) Abuja, during a customer forum recently in the city.
He said that Mobile Lite will be rolled out in the next couple of weeks in all six geo-political zones of the country.
As said by him, the mobile centres are the first of its kind in Nigeria, and are intended to assist subscribers with service-related challenges and are part of an ongoing strategy to improve the customer experience on the network.He explained that Mobile Lite, which is essentially a state-of-the-art van equipped with broadband internet access and other essential facilities available in a traditional walk-in centre, will move around communities to assist MTN subscribers.
“It will bring succour to subscribers who, because of distance or their daily schedules, are not able to seek help for their service-related challenges at a traditional Customer Assistance Centre,” he said. Since 2008, Braithwaite noted that MTN has invested millions of Naira into improving its customer care processes and infrastructure, comprising acquiring of the cutting-edge technology that now enables the company to treat its teeming customers as individuals with distinct tastes and preferences,” he said.
“Today, if any customer calls our customer assistance centre he is able to elect to converse in any of Nigeria’s major languages. Subsequently, when the same customer calls again, our intelligent system automatically recognises him and routes his call according to his language preference. This is just one of the many changes we have made in the way we relate with our customers,” he said.
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Monday, April 20, 2009
Registration opens for GSMA Money summit-09
Registration is now open for the Global System for Mobile Association (GSMA)-organized Mobile Money Summit, scheduled to hold in Barcelona, Spain between June 22 and 25, 2009.
Director, GSMA Mobile Money Initiative, Mr. Gavin Krugel, said that the summit will serve as a platform to attend, network, and meet other senior executives from financial services, mobile network operators, development organisations, regulatory policy makers, and solutions vendors and help shape the future of the mobile money industry.
He noted that there was about 90 per cent networking opportunities of attendees at last year’s event connected with more than four business contacts, and 66 per cent as well as had, at least, four new business meetings.
As said by him, the summit offers an in depth agenda topics including “Financially connecting the unbanked world; the next steps for go-to-market and the development of the mobile money ecosystem; The path to the next 100 million customers and
Exploring the Revenue potential of the mobile money business.
He, therefore, invited stakeholders to join his team at the next road to global financial mobility.
Emphasizing that the theme of this year, ‘Financially Connecting the World Through Mobile’ serves to remind us that around the globe, mobile banking could bring low-cost financial services to millions of people, especially in developing countries where banking services are not readily available.
“It also has enormous potential to open new markets and business opportunities for organizations that can facilitate and advance it,” he said.
It is in this bid that GSMA Mobile Money Summit 2009 hopes to provide the insights, solutions and connections to make the most of this global phenomenon.
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Director, GSMA Mobile Money Initiative, Mr. Gavin Krugel, said that the summit will serve as a platform to attend, network, and meet other senior executives from financial services, mobile network operators, development organisations, regulatory policy makers, and solutions vendors and help shape the future of the mobile money industry.
He noted that there was about 90 per cent networking opportunities of attendees at last year’s event connected with more than four business contacts, and 66 per cent as well as had, at least, four new business meetings.
As said by him, the summit offers an in depth agenda topics including “Financially connecting the unbanked world; the next steps for go-to-market and the development of the mobile money ecosystem; The path to the next 100 million customers and
Exploring the Revenue potential of the mobile money business.
He, therefore, invited stakeholders to join his team at the next road to global financial mobility.
Emphasizing that the theme of this year, ‘Financially Connecting the World Through Mobile’ serves to remind us that around the globe, mobile banking could bring low-cost financial services to millions of people, especially in developing countries where banking services are not readily available.
“It also has enormous potential to open new markets and business opportunities for organizations that can facilitate and advance it,” he said.
It is in this bid that GSMA Mobile Money Summit 2009 hopes to provide the insights, solutions and connections to make the most of this global phenomenon.
ITREALMS Online ... delivering news for ICT4D
Wednesday, April 15, 2009
2011: Nigeria needs ICT savvy leaders – Omo-Ettu
Ahead of the 2011 general elections, telecommunications expert and chief executive, The Executive Schuul (TEC), Mr. Titi Omo-Ettu, has advocated that Nigerians should look out for Information and Communications Technology (ICT) savvy politicians as a way toward transforming the nation into an ICT- driven society.
Speaking at the annual lecture of the Titans of Tech, on the theme, “Realizing the potentials of a converged economy” held at the Musical Society of Nigeria (MUSON) Centre, Onikan-Lagos, last weekend, Mr. Omo-Ettu said that for the nation to sustain the tempo of its ICT development, there is need to forecast into the future.
The gains of ICT, he said, have increasingly become obvious to the common man and rural dwellers in the country, thus making it imperative that the populace would channel their choice of candidature for political positions with caveat emptor - a condition.
This entails that Nigerians should look carefully and individually consider the ICT inclination of the candidates before casting of their votes.
“And we consider that 2011 should be a turning point when we should subtly canvass that those who will rule us must be ICT savvy,” he said.
Stressing that the only available tool towards achieving this ‘mission’ is to amplify the progress so far recorded in the industry.
He also invited industry players to unite in making this mission a reality, basically because a lot of emerging technologies are being turned out almost on daily basis.
Dwelling on “Setting the stage for the Converged Economy” Omo-Ettu said that the onus is on Nigerians to hold the leaders, especially the political class accountable.
“All of us need to make our rulers truly accountable by making the use of ICT in governance as a campaign issue in 2011,” he maintained.
He cautioned however, that though most Nigerians may not know those who will rule over them, “but we must know those who must not rule over us.”
Omo-Ettu advised NCC to conduct a high level study into what extent investment into broadband technologies has reached in the country, stressing that there is need to continue on the existing initiatives and attitude on Broadband provisions.
The government, he said, should restructure the ICT industry by recognizing that convergence and its match into the current system is unstoppable
Equally, he called for a review of the education curriculum in a manner that a school leaver must be immediately relevant to the industry when he or she comes into it.
He further said that there is need to say who does what and encourage same based on best practices, describing Nigeria version of convergence based on telecommunications, as “bundling of services by telecoms players, both in terms of the product portfolio they offer and of the channels through which their products are sold and serviced.”
He likened converged economy to a period when a man may decide to buy a motor car and does so without much ado.
Underlining the fact that in a typical scenario of a converged economy and the motor car; the man finds inside “a TV screen, an electronic keyboard with commissioned access to broadband internet complete with an appointed service provider and an airtime that lasts 12 months.”
He emphasized that what is required to do all these is Broadband Internet Access, advising that courting and embracing emerging as well as major convergent technologies, will pave the way to achieving this goal, especially through the deployment of Internet Protocol (IP), Internet Protocol Television (IPTV), Session Initiation Protocol (SIP), Voice over Internet Protocol (VoIP), Digital Video Broadcasting (DVB), Wireless Fidelity (Wi-Fi), Worldwide Inter-operability for Microwave Access (WiMAX) and Long Term Evolution (LTE) technologies to name a few.
Omo-Ettu proffered solutions on how to make this dream realizable, which comprised the restructuring of the current markets until an ICT industry emerges, recognize that convergence is certain and that its advantages are for those who recognize its worth.
Just as he called for more support for the broadband investment and important move of the emerging industry from the growth objective to the developmental aspect, while reviewing the human capacity development processes of the country with the view to restructure the industry, by way of managing the industry based on distinctive structures.
“There is need to manage the industry based on technology development, and technology application,” he asserted, in addition to recognizing the fact that convergence is real and is capable of helping services of telecommunications, broadcasting, media and entertainment to certainly converge, even as it could be bundled as a service.
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Know your Skype end user licence (3)
1. Definitions
The following terms and expressions shall have the following meanings:
Additional Terms: the terms and conditions and policies applicable to your use of the Skype Software and the Skype Services, in addition to this Agreement.
Affiliate: any corporation, company or other entity that directly or indirectly controls, is controlled by, or is under common control with, Skype. For the purpose of this definition, the word “control” shall mean the direct or indirect ownership of more than fifty percent (50%) of the outstanding voting stock of the corporation, company, or other entity.
Agreement: this End User License Agreement, as may be renewed and/or amended from time to time.
Documentation: any online or otherwise enclosed documentation provided by Skype.
Effective Date: the date on which this Agreement is entered into by clicking on the ACCEPT button as stated above or upon installation or use of the Skype Software by You, whichever occurs earlier.
Emergency Service(s): means services that connect a user to emergency services personnel or public safety answering points pursuant to applicable local and or national regulatory requirements.
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The following terms and expressions shall have the following meanings:
Additional Terms: the terms and conditions and policies applicable to your use of the Skype Software and the Skype Services, in addition to this Agreement.
Affiliate: any corporation, company or other entity that directly or indirectly controls, is controlled by, or is under common control with, Skype. For the purpose of this definition, the word “control” shall mean the direct or indirect ownership of more than fifty percent (50%) of the outstanding voting stock of the corporation, company, or other entity.
Agreement: this End User License Agreement, as may be renewed and/or amended from time to time.
Documentation: any online or otherwise enclosed documentation provided by Skype.
Effective Date: the date on which this Agreement is entered into by clicking on the ACCEPT button as stated above or upon installation or use of the Skype Software by You, whichever occurs earlier.
Emergency Service(s): means services that connect a user to emergency services personnel or public safety answering points pursuant to applicable local and or national regulatory requirements.
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Who is afraid of electronic voting?
Recently, Nigeria Computer Society and Independent National Electoral Commission jointly held a brainstorming session on how to best enthrone electronic voting (e-voting) in the country. CHARLES OKOH asks in this report, who is afraid of this e-innovation?
It is difficult to attempt to think of any singular thing or event that touches the life of any nation than elections and electioneering. Indeed, democracy, remain the only most acceptable way of determining the future of any nation. Election remains the most acceptable means of determining collectively, the destiny of any given nation.
Therefore, if it is accepted that election shapes the destiny of nations then it goes without saying that it is a process that should not be toyed with.
In our over 50 years of existence as a nation, it is interesting to note that Nigeria has not, until now, enjoyed 10 years of uninterrupted democracy.
It therefore, goes without saying that the nation’s fledgling democracy is not yet matured enough to receive the type of knocks on it from the political class. At the end of each election, the attitude has always been that of “if-I-cannot-have-it-nobody-else-should.”
There have always been controversies and condemnation of all the elections in the country and most of the elections were indeed settled by the tribunals and courts.
In 1979, there were controversies over what constituted two-third of the then 19 states of the federation.
In 1983, it was crisis again as the so-called landslide victory by the Alhaji Shehu Shagari-led National Party of Nigeria (NPN), which culminated into military intervention. The 1999 and 2003 elections were no exceptions thus, necessitating the call for electoral reforms.
Attempt by the Independent National Electoral Commission (INEC) led by its current chairman, Prof Maurice Iwu, to introduce an element of automation of this process to minimize the tendency to cheat at elections have been difficult. While this was partially accepted, for some obvious reasons, the political class refused to embrace e-voting, citing illiteracy of the greater population, manipulation and other reasons.
Worried by the constant disputes that trail the outcome of elections and the need to evolve new ways of addressing these problems, the Nigeria Computer Society (NCS) and INEC, recently held a retreat in Asaba, to brainstorm on maximizing the use of Information and Communications Technology (ICT) in future elections.
The retreat which was also attended by representatives of the office of the Secretary to the Government of the Federation, the National Identity Management Commission (NIMC) representatives, Director General, National Information Technology Development Agency (NITDA), identified mass thumb printing of ballot papers, ballot stuffing, snatching of ballot boxes impersonation of voters, errors due to manual collation of results and multiple registration as some challenges that can be surmounted with the adoption of e-voting.
Also, they noted among others that INEC has an existing communication backbone based on satellite communication; that it has existing system to capture, transmit, collate, review and approve results at the INEC state offices and the national headquarters result management centre.
It also observed that machine failures, vote flipping, possibility of inaccurate transmission of election results as well as usability problems were some of challenges associated with electronic voting system. Expressing optimism that these challenges were surmountable with contemporary technologies and that, e-voting system offers the best available option to prevent election manipulation and to assure the integrity and sanctity of each vote that is cast. Hence, they recommended a system based on consensus protocol which will allow for three confirmatory evidences/witnesses/channels for each vote cast.
The retreat recognizes the need for integrity of the transmitted data and therefore recommends the adoption of distributed encryption technique for purposes of secured data transmission. The distributed encryption technique entails that the encrypted keys are held by more than one person.
It also re-emphasizes the importance of a comprehensive and accurate registered voters’ data base recommending that this critical national asset must be well secured to provide the necessary platform for a reliable electoral system.
The retreat identified the need for INEC to partner with the National Identity Management Commission (NIMC), Federal Road Safety Commission, Immigration Services, pension fund administrators and other relevant government agencies to develop a comprehensive and harmonized national database. This will allow any authorized stakeholders to have an access to information relevant to its needs and operations, from a single point of entry.
It recognized the need for INEC to consciously and strategically embark on programmes aimed at ensuring that the electorate and the generality of the public believe in INEC’s systems, process and procedures. It recommends that information to stakeholders on issues and processes relating to election procedures on regular basis and consultation with relevant professional bodies and agencies before, during and after electoral processes and activities.
It also identified the fundamental challenge facing any electoral process as that of assuring that the votes are recorded as cast and tabulated accurately as expected. Based on this, it recommends that any e-voting machine that INEC might consider for deployment for electoral process in Nigeria must have the following features: ability to capture at least three-forms of confirmatory evidence for each vote cast, interface for real-time/wireless transmission of data, facility for accurate authentication of voter’s information, must be fool-proof tamper-proof and weather-proof under any condition, provision for verifiable audit trail as well as provision that allows voters to confirm that their votes have been recorded as cast.
Others are voice prompt that could be customized in any Nigerian dialect, provision for automatic and periodic uploading of election results while voting is in progress, that the data encryption algorithm must be based on distributed encryption method, facility which allows the blind and visually impaired to be able to cast votes unassisted and that the equipment battery life must last for a minimum of ten hours.
It also observed that INEC is yet to put in place a well structured voter’s identification coding system. Therefore, it recommends that unique voters’ identification number be adopted to reflect voters’ state, local government area, ward, polling units, and voters’ serial number.
Having recognized that the electoral voting provides the best available option, the retreat recommended the promotion of electronic voting through consensus building by involving all stakeholders such as the NCS, the Nigeria Bar Association (NBA), political parties, the electorate, the National Assembly, security agencies, the media, civil societies, IT solution providers, auditors, electoral reform committee among others in sensitizing the Nigerian public on the need for the adoption of electronic voting system in future election.
Addressing a joint press briefing on the communiqué of the retreat, the President, NCS, Prof Charles Uwadia, said the essence of every election is for good governance and that the heart of democracy is election.
Prof. Uwadia said the NCS is collaborating with INEC to ease some of the challenges that faces the commission, just as he called on all Nigerians at home and the diaspora to impress upon the National Assembly on the need to deploy full use of ICT in the entire gamut of electioneering.
He said the NCS will avail INEC the best available to assist it in future elections, promising that if implemented it will step up electoral processes in the country.
Equally, speaking the chairman of INEC, Prof Maurice Iwu, who was represented by the Director, Information and Communications Technologies (ICT) at INEC, Mr. Emmanuel Akeem said the partnership with NCS was geared towards harnessing the ideas in ICT to be able to apply them to electoral processes in such a manner that election outcome in the future will be more accepted by all.
Promising that the partnership would be sustained in the future until such a time that election result will be more accepted by all in the nation, he said, “Right now we have done a lot, in the deployment of ICT, but we are still going for the ultimate aspect which is electronic voting and these are the substantial areas we are embracing the NCS to make input into what we are doing.
Therefore, at this stage of democracy in the country, it is time to embrace e-voting. Although, it may come with some hiccups but, it is expected because ultimately it remains a better option, since the nation did not have to wait until every citizen become educated to use the telephone, where is the fear coming from?
Also noteworthy is that the federal government should ensure that the processes leading to subsequent elections should be started early enough to allow for proper planning, funding and adequate distribution of equipment and other logistics. So, if India with her population can do it, why not Nigeria?
And today, the nation ranks among the 10 fastest growing ICT market in the world, how will it be when it is observed that it still practices democracy in such primitive fashion? Is it not better to try and improve while learning in the process and then perfect it ultimately than to remain in the stone-age? Who is afraid of e-voting?
ITREALMS Online ... delivering news for ICT4D
It is difficult to attempt to think of any singular thing or event that touches the life of any nation than elections and electioneering. Indeed, democracy, remain the only most acceptable way of determining the future of any nation. Election remains the most acceptable means of determining collectively, the destiny of any given nation.
Therefore, if it is accepted that election shapes the destiny of nations then it goes without saying that it is a process that should not be toyed with.
In our over 50 years of existence as a nation, it is interesting to note that Nigeria has not, until now, enjoyed 10 years of uninterrupted democracy.
It therefore, goes without saying that the nation’s fledgling democracy is not yet matured enough to receive the type of knocks on it from the political class. At the end of each election, the attitude has always been that of “if-I-cannot-have-it-nobody-else-should.”
There have always been controversies and condemnation of all the elections in the country and most of the elections were indeed settled by the tribunals and courts.
In 1979, there were controversies over what constituted two-third of the then 19 states of the federation.
In 1983, it was crisis again as the so-called landslide victory by the Alhaji Shehu Shagari-led National Party of Nigeria (NPN), which culminated into military intervention. The 1999 and 2003 elections were no exceptions thus, necessitating the call for electoral reforms.
Attempt by the Independent National Electoral Commission (INEC) led by its current chairman, Prof Maurice Iwu, to introduce an element of automation of this process to minimize the tendency to cheat at elections have been difficult. While this was partially accepted, for some obvious reasons, the political class refused to embrace e-voting, citing illiteracy of the greater population, manipulation and other reasons.
Worried by the constant disputes that trail the outcome of elections and the need to evolve new ways of addressing these problems, the Nigeria Computer Society (NCS) and INEC, recently held a retreat in Asaba, to brainstorm on maximizing the use of Information and Communications Technology (ICT) in future elections.
The retreat which was also attended by representatives of the office of the Secretary to the Government of the Federation, the National Identity Management Commission (NIMC) representatives, Director General, National Information Technology Development Agency (NITDA), identified mass thumb printing of ballot papers, ballot stuffing, snatching of ballot boxes impersonation of voters, errors due to manual collation of results and multiple registration as some challenges that can be surmounted with the adoption of e-voting.
Also, they noted among others that INEC has an existing communication backbone based on satellite communication; that it has existing system to capture, transmit, collate, review and approve results at the INEC state offices and the national headquarters result management centre.
It also observed that machine failures, vote flipping, possibility of inaccurate transmission of election results as well as usability problems were some of challenges associated with electronic voting system. Expressing optimism that these challenges were surmountable with contemporary technologies and that, e-voting system offers the best available option to prevent election manipulation and to assure the integrity and sanctity of each vote that is cast. Hence, they recommended a system based on consensus protocol which will allow for three confirmatory evidences/witnesses/channels for each vote cast.
The retreat recognizes the need for integrity of the transmitted data and therefore recommends the adoption of distributed encryption technique for purposes of secured data transmission. The distributed encryption technique entails that the encrypted keys are held by more than one person.
It also re-emphasizes the importance of a comprehensive and accurate registered voters’ data base recommending that this critical national asset must be well secured to provide the necessary platform for a reliable electoral system.
The retreat identified the need for INEC to partner with the National Identity Management Commission (NIMC), Federal Road Safety Commission, Immigration Services, pension fund administrators and other relevant government agencies to develop a comprehensive and harmonized national database. This will allow any authorized stakeholders to have an access to information relevant to its needs and operations, from a single point of entry.
It recognized the need for INEC to consciously and strategically embark on programmes aimed at ensuring that the electorate and the generality of the public believe in INEC’s systems, process and procedures. It recommends that information to stakeholders on issues and processes relating to election procedures on regular basis and consultation with relevant professional bodies and agencies before, during and after electoral processes and activities.
It also identified the fundamental challenge facing any electoral process as that of assuring that the votes are recorded as cast and tabulated accurately as expected. Based on this, it recommends that any e-voting machine that INEC might consider for deployment for electoral process in Nigeria must have the following features: ability to capture at least three-forms of confirmatory evidence for each vote cast, interface for real-time/wireless transmission of data, facility for accurate authentication of voter’s information, must be fool-proof tamper-proof and weather-proof under any condition, provision for verifiable audit trail as well as provision that allows voters to confirm that their votes have been recorded as cast.
Others are voice prompt that could be customized in any Nigerian dialect, provision for automatic and periodic uploading of election results while voting is in progress, that the data encryption algorithm must be based on distributed encryption method, facility which allows the blind and visually impaired to be able to cast votes unassisted and that the equipment battery life must last for a minimum of ten hours.
It also observed that INEC is yet to put in place a well structured voter’s identification coding system. Therefore, it recommends that unique voters’ identification number be adopted to reflect voters’ state, local government area, ward, polling units, and voters’ serial number.
Having recognized that the electoral voting provides the best available option, the retreat recommended the promotion of electronic voting through consensus building by involving all stakeholders such as the NCS, the Nigeria Bar Association (NBA), political parties, the electorate, the National Assembly, security agencies, the media, civil societies, IT solution providers, auditors, electoral reform committee among others in sensitizing the Nigerian public on the need for the adoption of electronic voting system in future election.
Addressing a joint press briefing on the communiqué of the retreat, the President, NCS, Prof Charles Uwadia, said the essence of every election is for good governance and that the heart of democracy is election.
Prof. Uwadia said the NCS is collaborating with INEC to ease some of the challenges that faces the commission, just as he called on all Nigerians at home and the diaspora to impress upon the National Assembly on the need to deploy full use of ICT in the entire gamut of electioneering.
He said the NCS will avail INEC the best available to assist it in future elections, promising that if implemented it will step up electoral processes in the country.
Equally, speaking the chairman of INEC, Prof Maurice Iwu, who was represented by the Director, Information and Communications Technologies (ICT) at INEC, Mr. Emmanuel Akeem said the partnership with NCS was geared towards harnessing the ideas in ICT to be able to apply them to electoral processes in such a manner that election outcome in the future will be more accepted by all.
Promising that the partnership would be sustained in the future until such a time that election result will be more accepted by all in the nation, he said, “Right now we have done a lot, in the deployment of ICT, but we are still going for the ultimate aspect which is electronic voting and these are the substantial areas we are embracing the NCS to make input into what we are doing.
Therefore, at this stage of democracy in the country, it is time to embrace e-voting. Although, it may come with some hiccups but, it is expected because ultimately it remains a better option, since the nation did not have to wait until every citizen become educated to use the telephone, where is the fear coming from?
Also noteworthy is that the federal government should ensure that the processes leading to subsequent elections should be started early enough to allow for proper planning, funding and adequate distribution of equipment and other logistics. So, if India with her population can do it, why not Nigeria?
And today, the nation ranks among the 10 fastest growing ICT market in the world, how will it be when it is observed that it still practices democracy in such primitive fashion? Is it not better to try and improve while learning in the process and then perfect it ultimately than to remain in the stone-age? Who is afraid of e-voting?
ITREALMS Online ... delivering news for ICT4D
Why we don’t have dual SIM phone yet – Nokia
Nokia Nigeria, has warned of fake products, especially mobile phones in the Nigerian market, saying it does not yet produce dual Subscriber Identification Module (SIM) handsets globally.
Currently, there are series of alleged Chinese brand of phones with Nokia logo being circulated in the Nigerian market tagged ‘Nokia 6300’ with feature to accommodate dual SIM cards.
However, Nokia Nigeria has disowned the dual SIM mobile phone, saying it is yet to manufacture any dual SIM phone.
The Nokia 6300 is a mobile telephone handset produced by Nokia. The device is designed for typical use in Europe but for optimum use in North America.
Speaking to newsmen at a media lunch in Lagos, the Communications Manager for Nokia West Africa, with office in Nigeria, Mrs. Ngozi Ife Anene, insisted that there is no dual SIM mobile phone from their stable.
She agreed that though the company senior officials had in the recent past promised to look into such a demand, due to pressure from markets like Nigeria, there is no official step taken to that effect.
Therefore, any dual SIM phone in the market is not from Nokia, she said, explaining that there are ways of identifying genuine Nokia products, which come with Nokia stickers of 12 months warranty for the Nigerian market.
She warned Nigerians to shun any product without Nokia warranty sticker, because it may not have come from Nokia.
She equally advised Nigerians to ensure they buy their mobile phones and accessories from accredited Nokia dealers which now exist nationwide.
“We have product that cut across people based on their choice and all depends on the purchasing power of the customer,” she said.
According to her, Nokia has entry phones for those who may not want too sophisticated handsets, but warned that Nokia is yet to introduce any dual SIM phone.
“We don’t have any model in the market with dual SIM,” she declared.
She emphasized that Nokia does not enter into any investment without proper research and development.
However, the rave of the moment dual SIM purportedly branded Nokia was a replica of its Nokia 6300 which was first assembled in Cluj Plant, Romania, since third quarter of 2008.
The phone supports MicroSD cards up to 2 Giga Byte (GB) (4 GB with the 6300i variant), meaning that the phone can be used practically as a Media Player version 3 (MP3) player.
Using the supplied and freely available Nokia PC Suite, one can convert all the MP3 files in a music library to e-AAC in order to fit more on the card. However, the 2.5 mm headphone jack means that few commercial headsets will fit the phone but an optional headset, Nokia Stereo Headset model HS-81, made By Sennheiser exclusively for Nokia, does offer as a better alternate replacement for the supplied standard headset due to its better bass sound reproduction quality.
ITREALMS Online ... delivering news for ICT4D
Currently, there are series of alleged Chinese brand of phones with Nokia logo being circulated in the Nigerian market tagged ‘Nokia 6300’ with feature to accommodate dual SIM cards.
However, Nokia Nigeria has disowned the dual SIM mobile phone, saying it is yet to manufacture any dual SIM phone.
The Nokia 6300 is a mobile telephone handset produced by Nokia. The device is designed for typical use in Europe but for optimum use in North America.
Speaking to newsmen at a media lunch in Lagos, the Communications Manager for Nokia West Africa, with office in Nigeria, Mrs. Ngozi Ife Anene, insisted that there is no dual SIM mobile phone from their stable.
She agreed that though the company senior officials had in the recent past promised to look into such a demand, due to pressure from markets like Nigeria, there is no official step taken to that effect.
Therefore, any dual SIM phone in the market is not from Nokia, she said, explaining that there are ways of identifying genuine Nokia products, which come with Nokia stickers of 12 months warranty for the Nigerian market.
She warned Nigerians to shun any product without Nokia warranty sticker, because it may not have come from Nokia.
She equally advised Nigerians to ensure they buy their mobile phones and accessories from accredited Nokia dealers which now exist nationwide.
“We have product that cut across people based on their choice and all depends on the purchasing power of the customer,” she said.
According to her, Nokia has entry phones for those who may not want too sophisticated handsets, but warned that Nokia is yet to introduce any dual SIM phone.
“We don’t have any model in the market with dual SIM,” she declared.
She emphasized that Nokia does not enter into any investment without proper research and development.
However, the rave of the moment dual SIM purportedly branded Nokia was a replica of its Nokia 6300 which was first assembled in Cluj Plant, Romania, since third quarter of 2008.
The phone supports MicroSD cards up to 2 Giga Byte (GB) (4 GB with the 6300i variant), meaning that the phone can be used practically as a Media Player version 3 (MP3) player.
Using the supplied and freely available Nokia PC Suite, one can convert all the MP3 files in a music library to e-AAC in order to fit more on the card. However, the 2.5 mm headphone jack means that few commercial headsets will fit the phone but an optional headset, Nokia Stereo Headset model HS-81, made By Sennheiser exclusively for Nokia, does offer as a better alternate replacement for the supplied standard headset due to its better bass sound reproduction quality.
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Omatek unveils 8”, 10” smartbooks
Omatek Ventures Plc has reluanched its e-Xpress initiative in the ancient city of Oyo State, with the unveiling of the Omatek 8” and 10” smart notebooks.
The relaunch and unveiling performed by the Governor Adebayo Alao–Akala in Ibadan, recently, was seen as a demonstration of commitment by the state government towards the promotion of Information and Communication Technologies (ICT).
In his speech at the occasion, Governor Akala commended the high quality products supplied by Omatek, noting that there has been drastic improvement in the service delivery by civil servants in the state since the introduction of the easy computer acquisition scheme in 2008.
“… As public officers now more than ever before are efficient and effective at work, owing to the improved knowledge proficiency in the use and application of ICT tools,” he was quoted as saying in a press statement from Omatek Plc.
He urged public servants to take advantage of the internet facilities within the state secretariat to enhance effective communication link among governmental and non-governmental agencies as well as keep all workers abreast of modern management techniques.
He also tasked civil servants in the state to reciprocate government gestures by offering value-added service through improved performance and renewed commitment to duties.
The Group Managing Director (GMD), Omatek Ventures Plc, Mrs. Florence Seriki, pledged her company’s support to sustaining the tempo of promoting e-government culture in the state.
She attributed the consistency in standards of the quality of Omatek brands to a deliberate attempt aimed at producing a truly Nigerian computer, with world class standards.
Mrs. Seriki further said Omatek remains the only company in East, West and Central Africa that produces computers and casings from Completely Knocked Down (CKD) components sourced from the highest grades of manufacturers, thus making all Omatek computers of world-class standards comparable to any other foreign brand.
Present at the event were top government functionaries in Oyo State including the Oyo State Deputy Governor, Alhaji Taofeek Arapaja, the Head of Service, Dr. Ebenezer Okebukola, the Commissioner for Education, Prof. Taoheed Adedoja, the Commissioner for Science and Technology, Permanent Secretaries as well as Trade and Labour Union leaders in the State.
Omatek Ventures Plc was ably represented at the occasion by the Group Chairman, Dr. Tim Farinre and an Omatek Director, Chief John Akinleye among others.
ITREALMS Online ... delivering news for ICT4D
The relaunch and unveiling performed by the Governor Adebayo Alao–Akala in Ibadan, recently, was seen as a demonstration of commitment by the state government towards the promotion of Information and Communication Technologies (ICT).
In his speech at the occasion, Governor Akala commended the high quality products supplied by Omatek, noting that there has been drastic improvement in the service delivery by civil servants in the state since the introduction of the easy computer acquisition scheme in 2008.
“… As public officers now more than ever before are efficient and effective at work, owing to the improved knowledge proficiency in the use and application of ICT tools,” he was quoted as saying in a press statement from Omatek Plc.
He urged public servants to take advantage of the internet facilities within the state secretariat to enhance effective communication link among governmental and non-governmental agencies as well as keep all workers abreast of modern management techniques.
He also tasked civil servants in the state to reciprocate government gestures by offering value-added service through improved performance and renewed commitment to duties.
The Group Managing Director (GMD), Omatek Ventures Plc, Mrs. Florence Seriki, pledged her company’s support to sustaining the tempo of promoting e-government culture in the state.
She attributed the consistency in standards of the quality of Omatek brands to a deliberate attempt aimed at producing a truly Nigerian computer, with world class standards.
Mrs. Seriki further said Omatek remains the only company in East, West and Central Africa that produces computers and casings from Completely Knocked Down (CKD) components sourced from the highest grades of manufacturers, thus making all Omatek computers of world-class standards comparable to any other foreign brand.
Present at the event were top government functionaries in Oyo State including the Oyo State Deputy Governor, Alhaji Taofeek Arapaja, the Head of Service, Dr. Ebenezer Okebukola, the Commissioner for Education, Prof. Taoheed Adedoja, the Commissioner for Science and Technology, Permanent Secretaries as well as Trade and Labour Union leaders in the State.
Omatek Ventures Plc was ably represented at the occasion by the Group Chairman, Dr. Tim Farinre and an Omatek Director, Chief John Akinleye among others.
ITREALMS Online ... delivering news for ICT4D
Recession: Online scam targets jobless people
In the face of increasing bite of the economic recession, online fraudsters are now targeting the jobless with the hope they would assist them to get a job.
SkyNews reports that scams have seen organised criminals preying on people trying to find jobs and properties online.
The fraudsters target web users who respond to posts on widely-used classified advertising sites offering well-paid jobs or attractive rented accommodation.
When the user responds to a property ad, they are told the property in question is about to go to someone else, and asked to handover a cash advance, often the size of a month’s rent or more, to secure it - only to discover later that it belongs to someone else entirely.
Fake jobs are advertised by fraudsters who then send pay cheques in advance, sometimes for up to several thousand worth of Naira, purportedly by error.
The report also said that victims are usually asked to keep their wage and wire the rest back - only for the cheques to bounce days later.
However, experts said, the scams are effective because people are often desperate for work amid rising redundancies or keen to secure good quality accommodation as quickly as possible when they are new in town.
Richard Webb, lead officer for e-commerce at a United Kingdom-based Trading Standards Institute, said property con-artists often target several people at a time, netting up to N7,000 in a single spate of swindles.
The perpetrators are practically impossible to trace as the adverts can be placed anywhere in the world and victims are asked to wire the money through international credit transfer agencies.
He, therefore, suspects such scammers are members of organised criminal.
“These are individuals who are sophisticated and intelligent in the way they operate,” he told Sky News Online.
ITREALMS Online ... delivering news for ICT4D
SkyNews reports that scams have seen organised criminals preying on people trying to find jobs and properties online.
The fraudsters target web users who respond to posts on widely-used classified advertising sites offering well-paid jobs or attractive rented accommodation.
When the user responds to a property ad, they are told the property in question is about to go to someone else, and asked to handover a cash advance, often the size of a month’s rent or more, to secure it - only to discover later that it belongs to someone else entirely.
Fake jobs are advertised by fraudsters who then send pay cheques in advance, sometimes for up to several thousand worth of Naira, purportedly by error.
The report also said that victims are usually asked to keep their wage and wire the rest back - only for the cheques to bounce days later.
However, experts said, the scams are effective because people are often desperate for work amid rising redundancies or keen to secure good quality accommodation as quickly as possible when they are new in town.
Richard Webb, lead officer for e-commerce at a United Kingdom-based Trading Standards Institute, said property con-artists often target several people at a time, netting up to N7,000 in a single spate of swindles.
The perpetrators are practically impossible to trace as the adverts can be placed anywhere in the world and victims are asked to wire the money through international credit transfer agencies.
He, therefore, suspects such scammers are members of organised criminal.
“These are individuals who are sophisticated and intelligent in the way they operate,” he told Sky News Online.
ITREALMS Online ... delivering news for ICT4D
German’s 2nd IPv6 summit ends
The second edition of the German Internet Protocol version 6 (IPv6) summit, would today, come to a close with the first day focused on IPv6 strategy and deployment status worldwide.
The two-day international summit hosted by the Hasso-Plattner-Institute at the University of Potsdam, saw the gathering of Internet experts to address IPv6 technology at work.
Information made available by the chairman, German IPv6 Council, Prof. Christoph Meinel, said that apart from dwelling on the strategy and deployment status worldwide, the forum also focused on IPV6 application in United States (US), Europe, Asian and Germany .
He further said that a VIP-keynote is expected from the Federal Chancellor Dr. Angela Merkel and internet inventor Dr. Robert Kahn, who has been invited to grace the occasion.
Equally, he said yesterday evening, the winners of the International IPv6 Application Contest 2009 carted home awards in connection with a gala dinner at the Museum of Communications in Berlin.
Today, which is the last day of the summit, he said, complements the programme by addressing IPv6 deployment from the perspective of operators and Internet Service Providers (ISPs) as well as deployment in the public sector, including the presentation of new and innovative IPv6 applications.
The 2nd German IPv6 Summit is organized by the Hasso-Plattner-Institute at the University of Potsdam in close collaboration with the German IPv6 Council, the national chapter of the International IPv6 Forum.
The German IPv6 Council has been established to group all the different persons in industry, research, politics and administration in the IPv6 field in Germany with the clear mission to advocate IPv6 by improving technology, market, and deployment user and industry awareness of IPv6 that creates a quality and secure new generation Internet.
In addition to the conference programme, a half-day IPv6 Tutorial on holds today and presented in German language only.
IPv6 is known as the next generation IP protocol, which campaign begun in 1991, while the specification was completed in 1997 by the Internet Engineering Task Force (IETF). IPv6 is backward compatible and is designed to fix the shortcomings of IPv4, such as data security and maximum number of user addresses.
ITREALMS Online ... delivering news for ICT4D
The two-day international summit hosted by the Hasso-Plattner-Institute at the University of Potsdam, saw the gathering of Internet experts to address IPv6 technology at work.
Information made available by the chairman, German IPv6 Council, Prof. Christoph Meinel, said that apart from dwelling on the strategy and deployment status worldwide, the forum also focused on IPV6 application in United States (US), Europe, Asian and Germany .
He further said that a VIP-keynote is expected from the Federal Chancellor Dr. Angela Merkel and internet inventor Dr. Robert Kahn, who has been invited to grace the occasion.
Equally, he said yesterday evening, the winners of the International IPv6 Application Contest 2009 carted home awards in connection with a gala dinner at the Museum of Communications in Berlin.
Today, which is the last day of the summit, he said, complements the programme by addressing IPv6 deployment from the perspective of operators and Internet Service Providers (ISPs) as well as deployment in the public sector, including the presentation of new and innovative IPv6 applications.
The 2nd German IPv6 Summit is organized by the Hasso-Plattner-Institute at the University of Potsdam in close collaboration with the German IPv6 Council, the national chapter of the International IPv6 Forum.
The German IPv6 Council has been established to group all the different persons in industry, research, politics and administration in the IPv6 field in Germany with the clear mission to advocate IPv6 by improving technology, market, and deployment user and industry awareness of IPv6 that creates a quality and secure new generation Internet.
In addition to the conference programme, a half-day IPv6 Tutorial on holds today and presented in German language only.
IPv6 is known as the next generation IP protocol, which campaign begun in 1991, while the specification was completed in 1997 by the Internet Engineering Task Force (IETF). IPv6 is backward compatible and is designed to fix the shortcomings of IPv4, such as data security and maximum number of user addresses.
ITREALMS Online ... delivering news for ICT4D
Co-location reduces COPEX – Hussain
Chief executive officer, Helios Towers Nigeria Limited, Mr. Fazal Hussain, has said that co-location reduces the Cost of Operational Expenditures (COPEX) for the telecommunications operators.
Speaking at this year’s Titans of Tech lecture held in Lagos, Mr. Hussain, said that co-location enables operating companies to have better focus of their businesses.
According to him, building individual base stations, for instance, does not make economic sense of business.
Stressing that co-location helps in growing the Average Revenue Per User (ARPU) of a given network as well as Value Added Service (VAS), because the operator would have enough chance to focus on improving its market share with quality services.
He described infrastructure as the main engine of telecommunications and sharing it becomes imperative because the operator has to optimize the capacity, coverage, uptime and transmission which is now available.
Hussain noted also that the high cost of bandwidth is still a drain in the pipe for companies like Helios Towers who provide base stations for sharing among operators.
He outlined market challenges to include lack of wireline, high cost of interconnection, and no carrier carrier, to name a few.
And to mitigate some of these challenges, he said, his firm has to lay fibre optic cable, almost at every base stations to allow improved coverage and services.
This, he noted, has been the key success factor of his firm and efficient management of sites for operators, which eventually reduce the cost of backhaul fibre to the towers, reduction in bandwidth costs, just as power generation takes up to 50 per cent of the running cost.
As said by him, the seeds are there for a converged economy in Nigeria, although roll-out is still costly and amounts to about 80 per cent of Capital Expenditure (CAPEX).
“Sharing of infrastructure give operators chance to invest in modern technologies,” he declared, asserting that it should be encouraged by all and sundry.
Pointing out that sharing infrastructure enables operators to focus on customer needs, maintaining that co-location is the way to go.
Titans of Tech lecture was organized by Technology Africa.
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Speaking at this year’s Titans of Tech lecture held in Lagos, Mr. Hussain, said that co-location enables operating companies to have better focus of their businesses.
According to him, building individual base stations, for instance, does not make economic sense of business.
Stressing that co-location helps in growing the Average Revenue Per User (ARPU) of a given network as well as Value Added Service (VAS), because the operator would have enough chance to focus on improving its market share with quality services.
He described infrastructure as the main engine of telecommunications and sharing it becomes imperative because the operator has to optimize the capacity, coverage, uptime and transmission which is now available.
Hussain noted also that the high cost of bandwidth is still a drain in the pipe for companies like Helios Towers who provide base stations for sharing among operators.
He outlined market challenges to include lack of wireline, high cost of interconnection, and no carrier carrier, to name a few.
And to mitigate some of these challenges, he said, his firm has to lay fibre optic cable, almost at every base stations to allow improved coverage and services.
This, he noted, has been the key success factor of his firm and efficient management of sites for operators, which eventually reduce the cost of backhaul fibre to the towers, reduction in bandwidth costs, just as power generation takes up to 50 per cent of the running cost.
As said by him, the seeds are there for a converged economy in Nigeria, although roll-out is still costly and amounts to about 80 per cent of Capital Expenditure (CAPEX).
“Sharing of infrastructure give operators chance to invest in modern technologies,” he declared, asserting that it should be encouraged by all and sundry.
Pointing out that sharing infrastructure enables operators to focus on customer needs, maintaining that co-location is the way to go.
Titans of Tech lecture was organized by Technology Africa.
ITREALMS Online ... delivering news for ICT4D
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