MTN wraps up FIFA Naira splash promo

MTN Nigeria has concluded its FIFA Naira Splash promo with the emergence of a 57 years old Anambra State-born Deacon Okeke Simeon Chukwuka, as the star prize winner worth N20 million, reports GERALDINE OKOLIE.

The promo which started about three months ago ended on July 13 has made many millionaires from its subscribers since its premiere.

While receiving his cheque, Deacon Okeke, a teacher of 34 years, allayed the fears that MTN promos are fraudulent, asserting that the promo is real.

“Sometimes, I use to see some people on television where they will be displaying bold cheques and I used to say to myself, this could be a planned thing, but now, my eyes has opened, the Y’ello network is committed and genuine,” he declared.

Equally, Prince Adebayo Sosanya, Oladele Saheed, Pastor Ekwealor, Vincent Owolabi, Sunday Abidoye to name a few emerged winners of N2m each, just as over five persons went home with N20,000 prizes each.

In his remarks, the General Manager, Consumer Marketing, MTN Nigeria, Mr. Koya Oyeyemi, said that God has used the management of MTN to change the lives of many families in the country, both young and old; turning them from nothing to something better.

Oyeyemi also said that MTN is committed to better the lives of its subscribers, even as they have done a lot in the telephony services.

“We had N20,000 winners every hour and that’s 24 winners over 90 days, and then we had 20 million naira winners every month, then at the back of that we had about 90 winners who went to South Africa before the end of World Cup. So it’s a huge number of winners that we have had,” he said.

Further, he said that the management’s intention is to enrich the lives of its customers and give them a life time experience for the world cup.

“… Now, this is another part of it to say every other person who could not go for the world cup gets to win different sums of money, but here we are saying when you come across a customer, whose life has been touched with N20m, then you should know that such life is a transformed forever,” he asserted.

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Interswitch unveils Quickteller services on ATMs, mobiles

Premier electronic payment processing company, Interswitch has unveiled Quickteller services on its payment channels across the country.

Introducing the new product, the chief executive officer, Interswitch, Mr. Mitchell Elegbe, who was represented by Group, Chief Marketing Officer, Mrs. Tito Aderoju, noted that currently, there are over 30 million cardholders, majority of who mainly carry out cash withdrawal at the Automated Teller Machines (ATMs).

He noted that the introduction of Quickteller service platform avails airtime recharge and utility bill payment across all the channels including ATMs, web portal, mobile, Point of Sale (POS) to name a few.

This, he also said, were introduced in order to allow cardholders and partnering entities to deliver better value out of their existing investment.


Describing Interswitch as a dynamic organisation, Elegbe said his firm is evolved in an array of innovative services across all channels on the network, stressing that more services would be unveiled soon.

“Our main objective is to make the Quickteller platform robust enough to warehouse every vital service available,” he declared.

Some of the benefits of Quickteller, according to the Director, Payment Solutions & Business Expansion, Mr. Charles Ifedi, comprised of 24 hours by seven days, accessibility and payment convenience.

He cited the payment of DSTv bills for instance, saying that now cardholders could pay for their subscription on the ATM, web or a POS terminal and receive instant reconnection irrespective of whether they have been disconnected previously or not.

Ifedi also explained that cardholders could pay bills such as Zain pre and post-paid bills, HiTV, MTN, IPNX to name a few.

Equally, he said, donations for the Interswitch corporate social responsibility campaign ‘Switch a Future’ could be made to Freedom Foundation using the Quickteller service platform.

“Quickteller platform also enables direct top-ups or recharge of mobile phones for subscribers on MTN, Zain, Glo, Etisalat, Starcomms and Visafone networks.

As said by him, the introduction of the Quickteller value added service platform, corporate organization could now provide 24/7 payment access to their customers across all channels and still get consolidated reports, detailing information on all payments made irrespective of bank branch or the payment channel used.

“Thus increasing revenue and reducing operating costs for the corporate,” he said, emphasizing that money transfer services such as bank-to-bank, bank-to-ATM, mobile-to-ATM and internet bank transfers would soon be activated on the Quickteller platform.

Further, he said, Quickteller services are presently available on all Interswitch enabled channels and mostly via ATMs and banks as nine out of the 15 healthy banks in the country have since commenced the offering of Quickteller services.

He listed some of these banks to include GTB, Skye, FBN, Intercontinental Bank, AfriBank, StanbicIBTC, FCMB, Wema, Oceanic, Union Bank, Fidelity and FinBank.

Other top management staff of InterSwitch at the launch includes Director, Payment Infrastructure & Processing, Mr. Akeem Lawal, chief financial officer, Mr. Dapo Omoni among others.


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MTN offers new value options, weekend calls

MTN Nigeria, last weekend, unveiled new value options for its customers in the country, garnishing it with free weekend calls.

The new proposition comes in form of Smartlink for accomplished individuals; Prolink for up and coming professionals; Funlink for the young and trendy; Bizlink for active entrepreneurs and the Happilink for the families and the working class.

Chief Marketing Officer, MTN Nigeria, Mr. Bola Akingbade, said at the launch that the new value added offers would ensure that its customers enjoy more call time at highly discounted rate across various platforms.

He also said that one of the highlights of the new packages is free weekend calls, stressing that the Funlink segment, affords customers to make free calls all through the weekend to a registered “best friend”.

Both registered ‘best friends’ he said, would be charged only N100 each for this novel service which runs from 12:01am on Saturday to 11:59pm on Sunday, noting that the other market segments offer discounts of up to 80 per cent on calls and services.

Mr. Akingbade, who was accompanied at the unveiling by the General Manager, Corporate Communications, Mrs. Funmi Omogbenigun and General Manager, Consumer Marketing, Mr. Kola Oyeyemi, said that the new market segments include Smartlink for accomplished individuals, Prolink for up and coming professionals, Funlink for the young and trendy, Bizlink for active entrepreneurs and the Happilink for the families and the working class.

“The ongoing customer reward components differ by segment. They all carry a common message for all MTN customers – that you get more for less; that you can go on to express yourself without the worry of creating holes in your pocket,” he declared.

General Manager, Consumer Marketing, Mr. Kola Oyeyemi said, that the unique values that comes with the various packages for various market segments.

Customers on MTN Smartlink, he said, would enjoy retrogressive tariff plan, which allows the customers to pay less for more time spent calling. As an illustration, voice calls price could fall to as low as 25 kobo/second from a peak 50 kobo, a whopping reduction of 50 per cent.

“Those on this package will also be able to buy subsidized 30-day bundle offering that will provide 600 national call minutes, 200 on-net Short Messaging Service (SMS), 100 international call minutes, one month Blackberry subscription and free MTN Back-up, “ he said.

Oyeyemi pointed out that the component of this bundle could be shared among three MTN lines for convenience.

On the Prolink, he said, customer would be able to enjoy retrogressive tariff plan, as well as subsidized 30-day bundle offering that provides 30 community minutes to communicate with subscribers on the Prolink plan, 200 on-net-minutes, 100 on-net SMS, 500 Mega bytes (MB) weekend data and free MTN back up.

Equally on Funlink plan, he said, it provides a platform for ‘my best friend’ and ‘happy hour’ free mid night calls between 12:30am and 4:30 am.

“It has subsidized 30-day bundle offering that provides 50 on-net minutes, 200 on-net SMS and 60MB data volume,” he said.

And for Bizlink segment, he said, customers would enjoy retrogressive tariff plan, with 30-day subsidized bundle, that gives 350 national call minutes, 100 on-net SMS, 150 international call minutes and free MTN back up.

As well, Oyeyemi said that the MTN Happilink has a plan that guarantees bonus on incoming calls.

“There is also the call sponsor that allows any subscriber on the other product plans to bear the cost of a registered caller on Happilink. It has a subsidized bundle offering that provides 22 on-net minutes and 30 on-net SMS,” he said.

Further, Oyeyemi said MTN is the network of choice and would always remain committed to enriching the lives of its customers in different ways.

“With the new value offerings, MTN is consolidating on its leadership in the industry by giving customers services that will guarantee them greater value for money,” he said, emphasizing that MTN is committed to the core passion of its customers.

“And we have taken time out to study the market and based on this provide tailor-made offerings that meet the various market needs,” he asserted.

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Juwah confirmed by Senate, as NCC gets new chairman, 2 commissioners

Nigerian Senate, Thursday in Abuja, confirmed Dr. Eugene Ikemefuna Juwah as the new Executive Vice Chairman (EVC) and Chief Executive Officer (CEO) of the Nigerian Communications Commission (NCC).

This is coming as the Senate Committee on Communications, where at the same session disbanded for purported irregulaties and poor screening of the latest list of candidates sent by the presidency for the post of EVC, some commissioners and chairman of the commission.

Juwah’s confirmation brings to an end the four–month search for replacement of Dr. Ernest Ndukwe, the erstwhile chief executive of the Commission whose two-term tenure ended in March, 2010.

ITRealms Online gathered that Juwah was confirmed alongside other nominees for the vacant positions of two commissioners at the telecom regulatory agency board including Mr. Peter Egbe Igho, a retired Permanent Secretary from Benue State who replaces Alhaji Ahmed Joda as Chairman, Dr. Okechukwu Itanyi, former Deputy Governor of Enugu State, who replaces Engr. Stephen Bello as Executive Commissioner, and Alhaji Mohammed Bintube from North East who replaces Engr. Patrick Kentebe as Commissioner.

Meanwhile, the Senate Committee on Communications, chaired by Senator Sylvester Anyanwu, was disbanded on Thursday by Senate President, Senator David Mark. He then ordered that the nominees be screened by the Senate during the plenary, and were subsequently confirmed.

Since the names of the nominees were read on the floor of the Senate last week, with telecom industry stakeholders applauding the appointment of Dr. Juwah, a strange delay was set in by the Committee in screening the nominees, which generated a palpable fear that the Committee leadership may have been working on a script to delay the nominees until October when the Senate resumes.

Dr. Juwah, with about 30 years hands-on experience as a telecoms engineer is seen by the Presidency as having the necessary credential to manage Nigeria’s telecom regulatory agency to maintain its international reputation.

The Delta State born telecom expert with a doctorate degree in Systems Engineering from the University Of Manchester, England, served as a Member, Subcommittee for Telecommunication Sector Liberalization and Restructuring in Nigeria in 2002, the committee that laid the solid foundation for the liberalization of the industry and enactment of the Nigerian Communications Act, 2003.

With his 30 years telecom experience in Nigeria spanning from the early 1990s when he managed the network operations of MTS Firsts wireless’ ETACS mobile telephony to the late 1990s when he superintended over the deployment of CIL, up until the early 2000 when he managed the deployment of CDMA network which saw MTS back into the fold, Dr. Juwah is seen to have traversed the entire Nigeria’s telecom industry.

He is said to be knowledgeable in digital exchanges, base station, data communication and subscriber access networks construction and operations having played coordinating roles in the set up of an ETACS, GSM and CDMA Mobile Networks in Nigeria at various times in Nigeria. Engr. Juwah’s forte is said to be his profound practical knowledge of pricing, billing, interconnection, licensing and regulatory affairs and network fraud control within the Nigerian environment.


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ICANN 2013: Nigeria seeks hosting right

Indications have emerged that Nigeria may have shown interest in hosting the 2013 edition of the Internet Corporation for Assigned Names and Numbers (ICANN’s) international public meeting by 2013.

This disclosure came as ICANN has opened request for location recommendation for 2011.

Sources close to the Nigeria Internet Registration Association (NIRA) informed ITRealms Online that Nigeria plans to host the global internet community during one of its public meetings by 2013, noting that though the nation failed in the 2010 bid, stressing that the gap before reapply is t enable adequate preparation to be made.

Confirming this to ITRealms Online, the acting president, NIRA, Mrs. Mary Uduma, said that Nigeria is targeting to host the meeting in 2013.

However, following the announcement, last weekend by ICANN that it’s now accepting location recommendations for the meeting on the continent of Africa, it is now clear that Nigeria may not be attempting.

With the deadline for submission of application for the 2011 ‘Location Recommendations’ remaining just 36 days, ICANN said that the modified selection process for its meeting locations would be for the hosting of the 42nd international public session to be held between October 23 through 28, 2011 in Africa.

ITRealms Online recalls that last year, Nigeria through NIRA-led then by the late Ndukwe Kalu in collaboration with the Nigerian Communications Commission (NCC) applied for the 2010 hosting right for Africa, which eventually went to Kenya.

A press statement endorsed by the Director, Global Media Affairs at ICANN, Mr. Brad White, informed that those in the Africa geographic region are invited to submit recommendations for specific locations to hold the event.

He said, these recommended venues, along with others in the region that meet the selection criteria, will be considered, while the final location for the ICANN meeting would then be selected through the evaluation of both community-recommended and ICANN-identified locations.

Interested parties, he said, are encouraged to review the meeting selection criteria, which will be used to guide the evaluation of both community-recommended and ICANN-identified meeting locations.

“Elements such as cost of the meeting for ICANN and the community, convenience to international airports, availability of sufficient hotel guest rooms in or near the venue, meeting facilities, network infrastructure, personal safety of meeting participants, and total level of financial support will be considered by ICANN in making its final selection of a meeting site,” he said.

ICANN further said that those interested to host the meeting or a proposal for host-level financial support in Africa, are encouraged to submit the online meeting location recommendation, with the deadline fixed for August 30, this year.

ITRealms Online investigations showed that sponsorship and recommendations on a suitable host city for its meeting could be submitted online via a template at ICANN website.

Noteworthy is that each year, ICANN holds three international public meetings in different regions around the world, even as currently, ICANN’s bylaws defined the five geographic regions as Africa; Asia/Australia/Pacific; Europe; Latin America/Caribbean; and North America.

Usually, ICANN sets the dates and regions in which it will hold its meetings, indicating that proposals include at a minimum, funding and coordination for a gala event for all attendees, necessary external Internet bandwidth, provision and coordination for required Internet Protocol (IP) address space.

Equally, the meeting selection criteria outlined that the evaluation of both community-recommended and ICANN-identified meeting locations would be based on its guidelines, which must include elements such as cost of the meeting for ICANN and the community, convenience to international airports, availability of sufficient hotel guest rooms in or near the venue, meeting facilities, network infrastructure, personal safety of meeting participants, and total level of financial support will be considered by ICANN in making its final selection of a meeting site.

As well, one key factor in determining the location of the ICANN meeting will be the cost to ICANN, and to community members, though in cases where funding is being offered, it will be considered as part of the overall economic evaluation of recommended locations.

In addition, the accessibility to international airports, and convenience and cost of travel to and from the recommended city, would be considered by ICANN when selecting a location for the meeting, as well as examination of visa restrictions for individuals traveling from specific countries.

Local transportation, is another factor in the meeting venue, which should be a reasonable distance from the airport, with access to convenient and affordable public transportation, including but not limited to trains, buses, shuttles, taxis or subways will be measured. Even as the hotel accommodations located close to the meeting venue must be available for up to 1000 participants.

This, ICANN said, is because it will contract guest rooms for approximately 250 board, staff, and supported community members, more so interested in negotiating special rates for all attendees, and have the hotel guarantee the lowest possible price.

Maintaining that primary hotel accommodation costs should be reasonable, while supporting hotels should provide accommodations at varying price points.

On the meeting facilities, ICANN pointed out that it should provide excellent space for required meetings, conveniently located in a metropolitan area close to other hotels, restaurants, banks, public transportation, and shopping areas, and should provide a social environment conducive to networking among community members.

Also, ICANN emphasized that all meeting space must be available for use 24 hours per day from the start date through Friday, 28 October 2011.

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Internet access as fundamental right

A call for Internet access to be seen as fundamental right of every Nigerian topped discussion at the recently held Nigeria Digital Sense Africa forum’10 in Lagos, as part of the internet community-based sensitization for the global Internet Governance Forum (IGF) coming up in September, writes REMMY NWEKE.

The annual public sensitization programme of Digital Sense Africa (DSA) for the nation’s Internet community to engage on the proposed 2010 Internet Governance Forum (IGF), recently ended in Lagos with discussion centred on the fact that Internet access should form part of the fundamental rights of citizenry.

Welcoming participants to the forum, the second in the series to be hosted by DSA, the Executive Director, Mrs. Nkemdilim Nweke, noted that the forum has become an annual rallying point for the Internet stakeholders in the country in raising and addressing salient issues concerning the Information and Communication Technology (ICT) sector, with particular reference to the Internet Governance-related issues and development in Nigeria.

She noted that in effort at achieving the aforementioned goals, DSA strives to offer stakeholders the relevant platform to articulate a stand on Internet Governance and effectively align Nigeria’s position into the global Internet Governance Forum (IGF), slated for Vilnius, Lithuania, between September 14 and 17, 2010.

With this year’s theme on the ‘Five Years of IGF: The Way forward for Nigeria’ she said that DSA in collaboration with the Internet Exchange Point of Nigeria (IXPN) and IceCool Contracts came up with a collaborative site; www.igf.org.ng/ to enable stakeholders in the country to share information on IGF locally for the benefit of all Nigerians. Just as experts were selected to dwell on managing internet crucial resources, reflective of security, openness, privacy and access for a developing nation like Nigeria.

Also, she said, other experts were chosen to present motivational talks on the use of Internet for worthy livelihood and viable businesses in the country, with particular objective of guarding the youths aright and reducing the vexed cases of cyber crime.

Mrs. Nweke used the opportunity to applaud the judiciary in the country for the recent court ruling on the sale of 2.3GHz spectrum, describing it as a welcome development, “A victory for democracy and a way forward for the growth of the telecom sector particularly and generally, as the future of lies on the internet.

In his remarks, the chairman of the occasion and president, Internet Service Providers Association of Nigeria (ISPAN), Chief Samuel Adeleke, tasked youths in the country on use of internet; saying that youths should take the bull by the horn and explore the internet positively. He recalled that hitherto in Nigeria some creative individuals came up with the concept of filling bread nylon, tagged ‘ice water’, which was being sold at traffic jams due to the tropical weather of the country and people were patronizing it.

“Those of you who remember the initial pure water that is, a polythene or nylon bag used for bread, filled with water and wrapped on top,” he noted, stressing that it was then called ‘ice water.

As said by him, the person that has the best of innovative ideas would carry the day, just as pointing out that the idea came because it was usually sold on the road at traffic jams and along the line, some individuals decided to package it into pure water, which is today being sealed by machines for mass production and in fact being produced at almost every cranny of the country.

Adeleke, therefore charged Nigerian youths to be an idea creator as far as the internet is concerned, because by the time others would realise it, he or she must have made sufficient money.

Also speaking, the president, Nigeria Internet Group (NIG), Mr. Lanre Ajay, said that in discussing Internet Governance, there are key issues that come to the fore, namely security, openness and privacy as well as access, diversity and critical Internet resources. He did not see the reason why some computers could not be made to use local languages to enable locals to read their own information on the internet in their own languages or local dialect. Asserting, “This means, we must have computers that could be used in those local languages that have key board that support local languages.”

Stressing that the likes of Google and Yahoo are companies that are solely based on the Internet and they are making more money than the oil companies in Nigeria and there are some other smaller Internet based entrepreneurs doing great.

In a goodwill message, presented by the former Communications Minister and Commissioner at NCC, Chief Olawale Ige, on behalf of the acting Executive Vice Chairman of the Commission, Mr. Stephen Bello, commended DSA and other partners for the forum and promised that NCC would continue to support the forum to get more Nigerians acquainted with the values embedded on the Internet, urging that the communiqué is expected to represent the feelings of Internet community in moving the nation forward as Internet evolves.

For the Permanent Secretary, Ecological Fund office at the presidency, Mrs. Ibukun Odusote, who until recently was the chairperson, the Presidential Inter-Ministerial Working Committee on the World Summit on the Information Society (WSIS), Digital Sense Africa deserves commendation for this initiative in sustaining the programme as a prelude to the global Internet Governance Forum (IGF).

Noting that DSA as a private initiative has succeeded where government agencies failed, as far as this forum is concerned and asked the organizers not to relent, because Nigerians and internet community need such forum to remain on top of ideas for their various contributions, both locally and internationally.

Mrs. Odusote, also advocated that access to internet should be declared the right of every Nigerian, saying, “The nation needs a forum like this to enable her articulate her position at the global IGF. With attendance as this it shows the power the private sector has over the public sector in using the internet to network.”

The former .ng point of contact for Nigeria, also said though several attempts in the past to hold similar function were not successful, but that the private sector is beginning to wake up the spirit once again, just as she called for massive enlightenment on the potentials of the internet.

Dwelling precisely on “Nigeria in WSIS; Five years of IGF,” said that for the nation to benefit optimally from the current internet access, the service has to improve.
Odusote traced the history of IGF to the conclusion of the two-phased WSIS, which Nigeria as a leading light desirous of development actively participated. She outlined the efforts of the federal government since then in a booklet from her committee’s report to the organizers, which were promptly distributed to participants.

Chief host, the Lagos State governor, Mr. Babatunde Fashola, who was represented by the State Commissioner for Science and Technology, Dr. Kadiri Obafemi Hamzat, said that the Statewide Information Technology programme, known as the Global Computerization Project (GCP) was initiated to benefit the workforce.

Dr. Hamzat, represented by the Director, Computer Services in the Lagos State Ministry of Science and Technology, Mr. Jide Adenuga, in a keynote stated that at inception of the last administration of Lagos State, it was confronted with enormous challenges of effectively managing the business of government particularly in the area of operational activities, revenue generation and electronic information dissemination between offices in its domains.

Consequently, Dr. Hamzat said, the present administration led by Gov. Fashola on assumption of office fashioned out a policy thrust aimed at implementing a Statewide Information Technology programme for the transformation of the business of government in Lagos State from manual to electronic-based government.

According to him, this introduction under the Global Computerization Project and envisaged to bring enormous benefits to government was people of Lagos State in areas of governance, management of natural, financial and material resources and the State workforce. Declaring, “On our part as a government we devised a means of maintaining closer contact with the people, by launching a state of the art website, which serves as the e-government portal at www.lagosstate.gov.ng.”

He elucidated the fact that the website features include dynamic web pages with enormous bandwidth spread Statewide, which covers the whole gamut of government information online and provides opportunity to receive direct feedback from the citizens, stressing that the website also creates room for interaction and transaction online.

The over-riding objective of creating the website, he told participants, was to provide greater access to government information and promote civic engagement; hence service oriented and provides information about government activities in addition to links to some government agencies such as tax information and payment.

“In line with the expanding nature of the socio-economic activities of the State, we are determined to continuously add value and expand the contents of the website in order to compare with the best around the world,” he said.

One key thing arising from the forum was the call made by the Managing Director, IXPN Limited, Mr. Muhammed Rudman, for the establishment of a National Internet Registry (NIR) to oversee the management of Internet Protocol (IP) addresses in the country.

Internet Protocol address is a numerical label assigned to devices participating in a computer network that use the Internet to communicate with each other. Also referred to as ‘IP number’ or just ‘IP,’ this code usually consists of numbers separated by three dots that identifies a particular computer on the Internet. IP started with IP version 4 (IPv4) with 32 bit address worth 4.3 billion hosts and now there is version 6, (IPv6).

Speaking on ‘IPv6 and Challenges in Nigeria’ he said that the registry when established should be tasked first and foremost to develop a National IPv6 Roadmap to strategize the IPv6 transition, nationwide, arguing that there is need to set up an IPv6 awareness and capacity building through seminars and trainings and incorporate IPv6 into the university curriculum.

The Federal Government through the regulator, NCC, he said, should as matter of urgency provide some incentives to Internet industry to encourage them to adopt IPv6-based Infrastructure. “These incentives can include reduction in regulatory fee and tax rebates,” noting that currently, Nigeria has about 300 lnternet Service Providers (ISPs), but only an estimated 20 per cent, which is 60 of the licensees are operational.

Declaring that there are only two ISPs in the country with IPv6, namely, 2001:4270:: 32 allocated to Netcom Africa on June 15, 2006 and 2001:43b0: 32 allocated to Cyberspace on March 10, 2009.

He also advised that upstream Internet connectivity providers should be asked to enable IPv6 readiness in their networks, Rudman said that the world cannot wait for Nigeria to migrate, therefore the nation needs every step forward to ensure any leap makes a milestone. Decrying that when the internet began it was in a university and they have no problems giving out IP addresses and over time, the initial IP addresses available were the IPv4 with about 4bn, which is now depleted.

Globally, he said, IPv4 remains 10 per cent, hence the introduction of version 6 became crucial, noting though that in Africa her quota is still remaining about 60 per cent at the African Network Information Center (AfriNIC) based in Kenya and 40 per cent has been distributed, while Tunisia has 2 per cent, Morocco 4 per cent, Algeria 5 per cent, Egypt 16 per cent, South Africa 59 per cent with others including Nigeria having 14 per cent.

“Most of the Internet security we have been talking about has to do with IP addresses. And because of billions of new users in China and India have new devices like mobile phones, Personal Data Assistant (PDA), cars, with IP addresses so that you can browse, IPv6 was introduced,” he said, citing an instance within an Indian refinery that runs on IP addresses using 51,000 devices and each one must have an IP addresses.

On the IPv6 challenges in Nigeria, Rudman said ISPs need business cases, but presently lack technical knowhow, core equipment compatibility issues, maintaining that lack of IPv6 upstream service providers and non request of IPv6 from end users have contributed to slow in adaptation of IPv6 in the country.

“All new IT equipment supplied to government should be IPv6 compliant and government to set target date for Ministries, Departments and Agencies (MDAs) to have IPv6 compliant networks.

The Paradigm Initiative Nigeria (PIN) also used the platform to showcase its achievement with the ajegunle.org, according to the programme officer, Mr. Ugochukwu Nwosu, they have made extreme progress and increasingly training youths on better adaptation and application of ICT to better their lives.

Addressing the youths at the afternoon section, the duo of Macaulay Fagbayi and Loy Okezie from New Horizons and Startups respectively; gave some insights on “Making sense out of the Internet” and “Viable Online Startups.”

The forum rounded up with a goodwill message from the Regional Manager for Africa at the Internet Corporation for Assigned Names and Numbers (ICANN), Ms Anne Rachel Inne, who urged the Internet community to actively involve on Internet development as ICANN encourages down-up dialogue and pledged to continue to support DSA in its desire to educate Nigerians on Internet evolution and precisely on IGF.


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Ekeh warns ECOWAS on digital colonisation

GROUP chief executive officer, Zinox Group, Dr. Leo-Stan Ekeh, has cautioned members of the Economic Community of West African States (ECOWAS) on the imperatives to ensure that the sub-region is not digitally colonized at this 21st century.

Speaking recently in Lagos, Dr. Ekeh who was represented at the West Africa Information and Communication Technology (ICT) Congress (WAFICT) by the Managing Director, Zinox Technologies, Mr. Mukoro Emomine, said that Information Technology (IT) education and access must be enshrined as a fundamental human rights in the Constitutions of all nations in the sub-region.

According to him, all profitable sectors of the economy should be included as significant contributors to the National IT Development Fund (NITDEF), advocating that special and legalized preference for local IT professionals, locally assembled hardware and software applications should be upheld.

ECOWAS member countries, he said, should make certain that anti-trust Act is embedded as a significant part of the local content laws, while West African IT professionals in the Diaspora should be encouraged to become significant part of the outsourcing services commissioned by governments and corporate persons.

Government, he said, should invest heavily in ICT penetration following the Nigerian Communications Commission (NCC) and Universal Service Provision Fund (USPF) model in the country.

Ekeh noted that in West Africa, regional unity is seen as a possible solution to the continent’s deep and prolonged economic and social crisis.

“The ICT revolution should gather momentum from the private energies that are being released as a result of the strengthening of civil society and privatization of national economies,” he said.

Decrying increased state-imposed barriers to inter country flows, he said, this has undermined regional trade and cooperation.

He cited an instance that a hardware manufacturing plant in Nigeria should ideally service Ghana, Liberia, Gambia and Sierra Leone.

“It would not make economic sense to set up plants in each of these countries,” he declared, stressing that the principles of economic integration require that resources are conserved for the common good, that facilities are replicated only when it is absolutely necessary.

He pointed out that there exist an ultra nationalist tendency that finds expression in the setting up of huge import tariffs for finished goods within the ECOWAS region, astronomical business registration fees and multiple taxation, labour requirements that are often more stringent than those laid out for Africans in Europe.

Ekeh said, other unhealthy conditions for doing business help to inhibit economic integration in the sub-region, maintaining that governments must be less paranoid and in doing so, they tutor their people that there are indeed larger benefits to grain from cooperation and integration if we must build the technology base to confront global competition.

“The Council of Heads of West African States must immediately investigate the reasons that led to recent media report on Wednesday, May 26, 2010, which suggests that there are tough policies driving businesses back to their home countries,” he said.

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NCC chief executive: ATDI applauds Juwah’s nomination

AS stakeholders in the Information and Communications Technologies (ICT) await the confirmation of the only nominee for the post of the Executive Vice Chairman and chief executive officer, Nigerian Communications Commission (NCC), Dr. Eugene Ikemefuna Juwah, a non-governmental organisation, African Telecommunication Development Initiative (ATDI) has applauded the nomination.

Reacting to the nomination, the Executive Secretary, ATDI, Mr. Ken Ugbechie, said it makes up for the drag that presaged the arrival of a substantive EVC for the commission after the expiration of the tenure of the former EVC, Dr Ernest Ndukwe.

ITRealms Online recalls that Ndukwe handed over to M. Stephen Bello who functioned in acting capacity till June 21, when he was directed to commence terminal leave and handover to Dr. Bashir Gwandu another executive commissioner.

Juwah’s nomination was read alongside the nomination for Mr. Peter Egbe Igho as chairman, Okey Itanyi and Mohammed Bintube as Commissioners of NCC respectively.

ATDI in a press statement in Lagos, weekend, said the nomination of a substantive EVC is what the Commission needs at this time to enable it deal with emergent challenges including SIM card registration, quality of service and the deployment of broadband resources to better service provision in the sector.

Ugbechie, also expressed thank to President, Dr. Goodluck Jonathan for resisting the pressure to appoint a politician to fill the vacuum left behind by Ndukwe.

Equally, he applauded Gwandu for the dynamism he exhibited within the brief period he acted, and expressed optimism that Juwah has both the expertise and experience to steer the ship of the nation’s telecom industry to a more glorious height.

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Alvarion unveils plan to expand 4G offering

ALVARION has unveiled plans to offer a unified high-performance 4Motion solution by migrating it to support future evolutions of Worldwide Interoperability for Microwave Access (WiMAX) and Time Division- Long Term Evolution (TD-LTE).

WiMAX is a telecommunications technology that provides wireless transmission of data using a variety of transmission modes, from point-to-multipoint links to portable and fully mobile internet access. While the Time Division Duplex (TDD) version of LTE also known as TD-LTE, is the project name of a new high performance air interface for cellular mobile communication systems.

Outlining this strategy to provide the most open and flexible platform for 4G networks that use TDD spectrum, president of Alvarion, Mr. Eran Gorev, said that by supporting the upcoming TD-LTE standard, his firm is incorporating its industry leading 4Motion solution.

Alvarion, he also said would continue to actively drive the WiMAX standardization activities, ecosystem development and state-of-the-art products that incorporate the latest features to meet global operators demand.

In addition, Alvarion, he said, would enable customers to take advantage of an expanding device ecosystem based on the LTE standard in relevant frequencies as it develops.

“Alvarion expects to engage in TD-LTE field trials in the first quarter of 2011,” the president said, stressing that insatiable demand for capabilities required broadband connectivity everywhere, thus it would continue to be addressed by a host of technologies.

“The trend in wireless spectrum availability around the globe supports the fact that unpaired TDD spectrum will have an even greater role to play for broadband wireless deployments in the future,” he said.

TDD spectrum, Alvarion boss said, uses unpaired channels that combine the uplink and downlink, and split resources on the basis of real-time demand.

“TDD spectrum is relatively plentiful, cost effective and creates attractive opportunities for broadband applications over this spectrum,” he said.

Pointing out that Alvarion has been instrumental in developing and commercializing broadband wireless solutions for various market segments for over 15 years, even as the company has played a key role in creating the WiMAX standard based on an open, flexible architecture model and commercializing and optimizing solutions over the last decade.

Particularly, he said, Alvarion was the first to offer a 4G platform using TDD spectrum in early 2006, and its 4Motion solution was designed to optimize networks using this spectrum.

“Our primary aim is to offer tailored broadband wireless solutions which can also evolve along with customers’ needs. Our development effort over the past two years has been designed to accommodate the support for TD-LTE as a natural extension of our existing solution,” Gorev said, stressing that Alvarion is moving full speed ahead both with its ongoing WiMAX development to bring the latest 802.16e enhancements, as well as incorporating TD-LTE into the platform.

“This approach allows our customers to offer the latest 4G features currently available and will also enable them to leverage the LTE device ecosystem as it evolves,” he said.

Alvarion’s ‘open network’ approach, he said, began a revolution in the wireless equipment market by creating an open all-Internet Protocol (IP) flat architecture that introduced significant innovation in the industry.

Further, he said, this network strategy lowers the cost of building the networks and allows high flexibility for service providers to build customized networks that fit their specific needs. Alvarion will bring a similar approach to its TD-LTE end-to-end solution.


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ALTON sets agenda for new NCC boss

The Association of Licensed Telecommunications Operators of Nigeria (ALTON) has tasked the Federal Government nominee and incoming Executive Vice Chairman, Nigerian Communications Commission (NCC), Dr. Eugene Ikemefuna Juwah, to surpass the bar raised by his predecessor, Dr. Ernest Ndukwe.

Speaking through its chairman, Mr. Gbenga Adebayo, ALTON noted that the industry expects a lot from Dr. Juwah, and urged him to surpass the height raised by Ndukwe in the past 10 years.

“Engr. Ernest Ndukwe raised the bar high and he must surpass the achievements of his predecessor,” Adebayo declared.

ALTON also noted that the industry and its regulator is faced with a number of policy interference issues, hence the group expects this to be ironed out.

“Our chief regulator must play the balance and safe the industry from elements and factors that currently threaten the growth and stability of the telecom sector,” he said.

Lamenting the imposition of what he classified as non-statutory levies by some state and local governments, which has caused the sealing of some cell sites, he urged him to ensure a stop to this once on assumption of office.

“Currently, critical sites of some of our members are under seal at the instance of the government of one of the South East states due to alleged non-payment of certain non-statutory fees,” he bemoaned.

While wishing Juwah success in his latest appointment, ALTON further charged him to ensure such things does not happen under his leadership.

ALTON, an incorporated trustees was formed in year 2000, as an industry body for all telecommunications companies and those providing subsidiary services to telecommunications service providers in Nigeria, with the objective of promoting growth in the telecommunications sector and ultimately, efficient telecommunications services delivery to the Nigerian public.

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