SIM Card: Register on proxy, take responsibility – Itanyi

The Executive Commissioner, Stakeholder Management at the Nigerian Communications Commission (NCC) Mr. Okechukwu Itanyi has said that those registering for minors and senior citizens on proxy must take responsibility of such registration.

Speaking at the just concluded monthly telecom consumer parliament held at the capital of Rivers State, Port Harcourt, Mr. Itanyi who represented the Executive Vice Chairman, NCC, Dr. Eugene Juwah, at the event, said in a situation where minors or senior citizens who have phones are not able to go and register, proxy registration will be allowed and such proxies must be the type who will take full responsibility for such registration.

“A dependable relation can register on behalf of a subscriber which means that the photograph and biometrics of such relation would be taken in place of the phone owner’s, which means that persons registering on behalf of any minor or elderly must vouch for them since one of the reasons for SIM registration is to curb crimes perpetrated through use of mobile phones,” he said.

Mr. Itanyi also assured subscribers nationwide that the information given out by subscribers during the registration will be treated with confidence as the facilities being deployed will ensure that such information are safe, secured and kept with utmost confidentiality.

He urged the subscribers to ensure that they are all registered within the period given by the Commission so as to avoid disconnection, stressing that the Commission’s efforts to improve Quality of Service and foster competition and the plans to introduce number portability, that a credible central data base of all SIM Cards in the country is important for the take off.

NCC SIM card registration is expected to end on September 28, 2011.

Remmy Nweke
ITREALMS Online ... delivering news for ICT4D

Swaroop wants govt to declare telecom equipment, national infrastructure

Chief executive officer and Managing Director, Airtel Nigeria, Mr. Rajan Swaroop has asked the federal government to classify telecom equipment as national infrastructure.

Speaking at an interactive session during a dinner with senior media executives to mark one year of Airtel operations in Nigeria in Abuja, Swaroop urged the government to make effort at nationally securing telecommunications infrastructure for the benefit of all stakeholders.

According to him, this call has become important following persistent damage to telecom fibres along the expressways and roads in the country as well as the rising spate of vandalizing telecoms equipment.

“Various parties including those working on roads do extensive damage to telecom infrastructure daily. These fibre cuts affect the network and it takes a while to discover where the damage happened,” he said.

Nigeria as a country, he said, needs to take a stand on protecting this infrastructure as a national priority.

He solicited media support in this regard so as to draw public attention to this untoward development which has the potential of sabotaging the effort of government and operator towards attaining global standards in quality of service (QoS).

Swaroop reiterated the commitment of Airtel Nigeria to providing first class telecommunications experiences to Nigerians.

“Airtel has launched several innovative products in the last one year in pursuit of the objective of telecommunications freedom for Nigerian subscribers,” he said.

As said by him, Airtel Nigeria has launched some ground-breaking services and products, which are now redefining the Nigerian telecommunications market.

“I believe some of you are already enjoying our 2Good, 2Good Extra, Easy Recharge, Big Family and the latest, MAMO (My Airtel; My Offer). We have not only provided our customers with a wider choice of value-adding products and services, we have also deepened the competition in the market place, and the customers are definitely the better for it,” he said.

He assured that on data infrastructure and service, Airtel would excite the market again with its offerings, affirmed that while the four submarine cable systems entering Nigeria have the capacity to meet the needs of Nigerians, “watch out for the next 12 months and you will see some exciting stuff coming out of Airtel.

ITRealms Online recalls that Bharti Airtel Limited is a leading global telecommunications company with operations in 19 countries across Asia and Africa.

The company offers mobile voice and data services, fixed line, high speed broadband, Internet Protocol TV (IPTV), Direct to Home (DTH), turnkey telecom solutions for enterprises and national as well as international long distance services to carriers.

Remmy Nweke
ITREALMS Online ... delivering news for ICT4D

Samsung rewards winners in Galaxy Easter promo

The Mobile Division of Samsung Electronics West Africa (SEWA), a subsidiary of the consumer electronics giant, Samsung Electronics Co, last week rewarded four lucky winners in the raffle draw to wrap up the three month-long sales activation tagged; Samsung Mobile Easter Galaxy Giveaway Promo,” reports Charles Okoh.

At the draw which held in Lagos, the winners; James Joshua, Ige Olusegun, Oluwatoyin Fakoya and Alabi Iyabo were rewarded with one 2011 Harley Davidson Motorcycle each for purchasing either a Galaxy Ace, Galaxy Pro, Galaxy Gio and Galaxy Mini mobile phones.

Speaking on the wisdom behind the promo, the Regional Director, Mobile Division, Samsung Electronics West Africa Fady Khatib, said Samsung is always seeking unique ways of rewarding its customers.

According to him Samsung Galaxy mobile phone ranges are among the fastest selling Smartphones in the world, adding that any of the Galaxy Smartphone range is a smart buy any day with its rich features and over 2000 applications to choose from.

“Galaxy Smartphone is a lifestyle enhancer for tech savvy consumers. That is why we marry the brand with Harvey Davidson Motorcycles to reward our consumers for their patronage and we are very thrilled that we have reached out with this promo. It is our tradition at Samsung Mobile to reward our consumers with lasting mementoes”, he said.

The four lucky winners, , smiled home with one 2011 Harley Davidson Motorcycle each in the electronic raffle draw took place at SEWA corporate office in Lagos on Wednesday July 6, 2011.

The raffle draw was adjudged to be transparent by the observers.

While congratulating the winners, Fady Khatib, Regional Director, Mobile Division, Samsung Electronics West Africa, said it is always a privilege to reward loyal customers. He said that consumers’ response from all parts of the country to the “Samsung Mobile Easter Giveaway Promo” was overwhelming by all standards. He observed that the response was a demonstration of Galaxy Mobile brand due to its stylish design, functionality, reliability and rich applications.

“Samsung Mobile Easter Giveaway Promo” was opened to consumers who purchased any of Samsung Galaxy Ace, Galaxy Pro, Galaxy Gio and Galaxy Mini range of mobile phones during the promo period that ran from April 1 to June 30, 2011.

Samsung Electronics West Africa upholds Samsung’s mission to provide consumers with innovative digital convergence products that possess exceptional technology, quality features, performance and value. Samsung Mobile Division offers Smartphones, messaging and Duos phones to the Nigerian, Ghanaian and Cameroonian markets.

Remmy Nweke
ITREALMS Online ... delivering news for ICT4D

ISOC says successful World IPV6 Day shows global readiness

The Internet Society (ISOC) has described the 2011 commemoration of the World Internet Protocol Version Six (IPV6) Day as a success and an indication of global readiness.

ITRealms Online recalls that the Nigerian Internet community commemorated World IPV6 on Thursday, June 2, this year at the Nigerian IPV6 Roundtable organised by DigitalSENSE Africa and collaboration with Nigerian Communications Commission (NCC) and National Information Technology Development Agency (NITDA).

The event presided over by former Communications Minister, Chief Olawale Ige was well attended and pronouncements made on the need to create Nigerian IPV6 Task Force by the Federal Government.

However, ISOC position follows the fact that top websites served billions of users by demonstrating progress towards largest transition in Internet’s history.

Some of the top websites and Internet service providers around the world, included Facebook, Google, Yahoo, Akamai, and Limelight Networks, joined with more than 1000 other participating websites in World IPv6 Day for a successful global-scale trial of the new Internet Protocol, IPv6.

According to ISOC newsletter, by providing a coordinated 24-hour “test flight”, the event helped demonstrate that major websites around the world are well-positioned for the move to a global IPv6-enabled Internet, facilitating its continued exponential growth.

During World IPv6 Day organized by the Internet Society, nearly 400 participating organizations enabled IPv6 on their main services for 24 hours on 8 June.

With IPv4 addresses running out this year ISOC noted that the industry must act quickly to accelerate full IPv6 adoption or risk increased costs and limited functionality online for Internet users everywhere.

World IPv6 Day participants, ISOC said, came together to help motivate organizations across the industry; Internet service providers, hardware manufacturers, operating system vendors and other web companies to prepare their services for the transition.

A key goal of World IPv6 Day was to expose potential issues with real-world IPv6 use under controlled conditions. Given the diversity of technology that powers the Internet, the global nature of the trial was crucial to identify unforeseen problems.

The vast majority of users were able to access services as usual, but in rare cases, users experienced impaired access to participating websites during the trial.

Meanwhile, the Nigerian IPV6 Roundtable was endorsed by the Nigeria Internet Registration Association (NIRA), Nigeria Computer Society (NCS), Association of Telecommunications Companies of Nigeria (ATCON) and Association of Licensed Telecom Operators of Nigeria (ALTON) to name a few.

Remmy Nweke
ITREALMS Online ... delivering news for ICT4D

Group launches electricity view & track website

A civil society group, ‘Project Light up Nigeria’ is set to launch its view and track electricity power website.

Disclosing this in Lagos, National co-ordinator, Project Light Up Nigeria, Mr. Frank West Aja-Ukpabi said they are committed to actualizing the dreams of Nigerians and providing them with high quality and durable lighting materials.

“We are set to officially unveil our website www.projectlightupnigeria.com, which is aimed at projecting the tenure-based power plans of the 36 state governors, the FCT minister and the federal government of Nigeria,” he said.

The website, he noted has actually gone live, would be providing Nigerians at home, in diaspora and the international community an opportunity of viewing the tenure-based power plans of the 36 state governors, the Federal Capital Territory and the Federal Government and also keep track of the implementations of such power plans online real time on the website.

“This will be the first time in the history of this country that such a unique platform will be available and it is in contribution to the smart governance initiatives of President Goodluck Jonathan,” he said.

Aja-Ukpabi also noted that the days of people travelling to their various states before they could feel what their governors intend to do and what they are doing in terms of electricity power is over with this new website.

“... As Nigerians, no matter where they are in the world can visit this site once they have internet access and view the power plans of their state governors as well as track their implementations and make comments where necessary” he assured.

He explained that Project light up Nigeria, has sent out requests to the 36 state governors, the FCT minister and the President to submit copies of their power plans to be uploaded on the website and once those are received as some are already responding.

“They will all be unveiled in a luncheon which will also be attended by some high profile foreign guests including a one-time United States president and a renowned African-American TV personality,” he said.

Remmy Nweke
ITREALMS Online ... delivering news for ICT4D