Interswitch lifts GTBank with cardless ATM deposit option

Leading electronic payment transaction and switching firm on the continent, Interswitch, has powered the Cardless ATM cash deposit solution for GTBank.

Director for Payment Processing and Infrastructure, Interswitch, Mr. Akeem Lawal, described it as a landmark project and first of its kind in Nigeria.

He said, the option avails Nigerians to use this cardless ATM cash deposit would enable cash deposits through GTBank ATMs without inserting or using a debit card.

He explained that the Cardless ATM cash deposit solution could be accessed on certain GTBank Cardless ATMs by clicking the enter button on the machine, which prompts the customer to key in the account details of the beneficiary to be credited.

Lawal also said that the ATM then requests for a confirmation of the account number and account name of the beneficiary.

“Once confirmed, the customer keys-in the amount to be deposited, the ATM counts the cash and credits the beneficiary’s account immediately,” he said.

Lawal further said that the cardless ATM cash deposit solution allows GTBank customers to deposit a bundle of different Naira denominations and the ATM will sort through the different denominations.

“Once sorted, the ATM displays the amount according to the different denominations and also the total amount deposited,” he said.

According to Lawal, the cardless ATM cash deposit solution has the ability to validate the account of the beneficiary, allowing the depositor to confirm or correct any error, even as the deposited amount reflects in the beneficiary account real-time, and could be withdrawn immediately.

“With the Cardless ATM solution, GTBank customers who wish to make cash deposits no longer need to visit the banking hall. They can simply deposit their cash via the ATM into a beneficiary’s accounts at any time of the day, including weekends,” he said, stressing that this option provides customers with the flexibility of depositing cash anytime; hence, they do not need to worry about carrying huge sums of money home.

The GTBank Cardless ATM cash deposit solution, he pointed out, represents a big step towards full branch automation where entire banking operations are automated and customers are guaranteed an improved and consistent standard of service delivery at all automated bank branches.

Banks, he said, could leverage the use of ATMs to provide improved consumer banking experience by taking self service to a whole new level.

“Cardless ATM cash deposit solution has reduced the number of customers who visit the GTBank branches where the ATM solution for cash deposit transactions was first deployed,” he said.

Reacting, General Manager, Communication and External Affairs at GTBank, Mrs. Lola Odedina explained that the solution from Interswitch is bound to improve the Nigerian banking sector by providing a ‘’secure, quicker and more effective channel’’ for making deposits without visiting a banking hall’ or using an ATM card.

She said that the solution had undergone a successful and extensive test-run at certain GTBank branches and the bank was set to roll out the service to more branches within Nigeria.

Remmy Nweke
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IGF: ‘Take advantage of multi-stakeholder approach’

The global internet community has been tasked to take advantage of multi-stakeholder approach to drive home the import of free internet access.

Making this charge recently at the United States’ Internet Governance Forum (IGF-USA), the Assistant Secretary of Commerce for Communications and Information at the National Telecommunications and Information Administration (NTIA), Mr. Lawrence E. Strickling, said that now the challenge facing global internet community is to convince the rest of the world on the advantages of the multistakeholder approach.

He said that the United States is ready to take its case to the forthcoming World Conference on International Telecommunications (WCIT) organised by the International Telecommunication Union (ITU) in November this year.

This treaty negotiation, he said, would conduct a review of the International Telecommunication Regulations (ITRs), the general principles which relate to the provision and operation of international telecommunication services.

“We can expect that some states will attempt to rewrite the ITRs in a manner that would establish heavy-handed governmental control of the Internet and cybersecurity,” he noted, adding that these are the countries that stakeholders must identify and promote the multistakeholder model, which must begin right away.

As said by him, the forthcoming IGF in Nairobi this September would provide stakeholders with an excellent opportunity to get started on this important task.

“I will use speaking opportunities at the IGF and the Government of Kenya’s Ministerial meeting to explain why we feel multistakeholder Internet governance is so valuable to preserving and enhancing a dynamic Internet and how it can be most useful in countries with little tradition of employing it,” he said.

His team at NTIA, Mr. Strickling said, would also work extensively at the bilateral level over the next year to spread the message.

“We ultimately hope to attain a global consensus on Internet governance that will preserve an open, interoperable, secure, and continually innovating Internet. But we need your help,” he said, reminding participants at the forum that on Friday, July 29 is the deadline for responses to NTIA’s ‘Further Notice of Inquiry on the Internet Assigned Numbers Authority (IANA) functions contract.

This process, he explained, is the first comprehensive review of the IANA functions contract since the award of the initial contract in 2000.

“We have been conducting what I hope the community agrees is an open and transparent process on the contract. Based on comments received to our original notice, we have gone back to the global community to confirm that we interpreted correctly what was said in the comments. We set forth our tentative conclusions in response to the comments and then provided a draft Statement of Work for public comment,” he elucidated.

For Mr. Strickling, this is the first time NTIA has sought public input on the draft Statement of Work, stressing that in keeping with its commitment to the multistakeholder model; NTIA is actively seeking the input of global stakeholders.

“I encourage you to all carefully read the Further Notice and submit comments by the deadline,” he said, reassuring that the United States government is committed to the multistakeholder model of Internet policymaking,” he said, stressing that US is encouraged by the fact that support for the model has continued to gain momentum across the global internet community.

Remmy Nweke
ITREALMS Online ... delivering news for ICT4D

Juwah gives keynote @ broadband summit’11

The Executive Vice Chairman, Nigerian Communications Commission (NCC), Dr. Eugene Juwah and the chief executive officer, MainOne Cable, Ms Funke Opeke, gave keynote speeches at the two-day Broadband Summit which commenced in Lagos, yesterday.

Coordinator of the Summit, Mr. Titi Omo-Ettu, confirmed this at the weekend, saying that the stage is set for the summit, stressing that there would be six other commercial presentations and two Plenary Syndicate Sessions.

Additionally, he said, these commercial presentations would pave the way for breakout discussions into issues of Infrastructure, Content, rural and access, and financing.

He noted that investment expert and former Managing Director of Guaranty Trust bank Mr. Fola Adeola led discussion at the Broadband Investment Summit which kicked off yesterday, Tuesday July 26 and billed to end on Wednesday July 27, 2011.

Mr. Adeola, he said, would do ‘A forecast into Nigeria’s investment climate in the next decade’.

Equally, Mr. Omo-Ettu said that the United-Kingdom based Chief Executive, Balancing Act, Mr. Russell Southwood.

According to him, Balancing Act is a UK-based consultancy and research company specialising in telecoms, Internet and broadcast in Africa.

Omo-Ettu said, Mr. Southwood would make presentation on ‘ICT Investment opportunities in infrastructure, rural access to telephony and content in Nigeria.’

ITRealms Online recalls that Mr. Omo-Ettu preempted Adeola’s paper which focuses on a forecast into Nigeria’s investment climate in the next decade during which 50 million telecommunications users are expected to be connected on broadband internet access.

Also, he noted that the emphasis hitherto placed on ‘number of connected lines in Nigeria will be shifted to emphasis to ‘number of users’ of telecommunications services to reflect the true development requirement of empowering Nigerians with telecommunications.

Omo-Ettu argued that emphasis on number of lines is misleading as many telephones are serving one Nigerian contrary to the universal believe that every person is served by one mobile line.

Omo-Ettu who also is the president, Association of Telecommunication Companies of Nigeria (ATCON) said that the Summit is a high level discussion event whose objective is to identify opportunities and challenges for universal access to broadband internet in Nigeria.

Remmy Nweke
ITREALMS Online ... delivering news for ICT4D

Twitter secures N13.6bn investment

Twitter, the microblogging internet company, is set to secure an extra $90m, about N13,7 billion investments from T Rowe Price.

The American mutual fund manager reportedly values the microblogging internet company at $8bn, N1.2 trillion, according to UK Telegraph.

The money from the American investor, the report stated which already owned a small stake in Twitter, is expected to form part of an $800m investment round being conducted by Twitter, according to Sky News.

The lion’s share of the new money is expected to come from Digital Sky Technologies (DST). The firm, founded by the legendary dotcom investor Yuri Milner, is thought to be investing around $400m.

JP Morgan’s Digital Growth Fund is also thought to be considering an investment. Other key new investors are expected to be Russian investing heavyweight DST Global, which has invested in Facebook, Zynga and Groupon.

If the figures are achieved, the fund-raising will imply that the company’s value has more than doubled since last December.

Twitter marked its fifth birthday earlier this month and has become one of the world’s most prominent dotcom businesses, with more than 200m users.

Twitter’s revenue growth has not grown at the same rate: the company is expected to generate just $150m in advertising revenue this year.

Twitter is currently working to build revenue, primarily through advertising. Investors are enticed by the popularity of its service, which sees more than 200 million messages sent a day.

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SOW on gTLDs inconsistent with application guidebook – ICANN

The Statement of Work (SOW) on the generic Top Level Domains (gTLDs) is inconsistent with the recently approved Internet community Applicant Guidebook (AGB).

President and chief executive officer, ICANN, Mr. Rod Beckstrom made this distinction in a submission to the Associate Administrator, Office of International Affairs, National Telecommunications and Information Administration, United States’ Department of Commerce on the on-going ‘Further Notice of Inquiry on the Internet Assigned Numbers Authority Functions.’

He said that documentation requirements for new gTLDs include in paragraph C.2.2.1.3.2 of the draft statement of work (SOW) stated thus; “For delegation requests for new generic TLDs (gTLDs) the contractor shall include documentation to demonstrate how the proposed string has received consensus support from relevant stakeholders and is supported by the global public interest.”

This proposal, he noted, is inconsistent with the community-approved process for the introduction of new gTLDs as embodied in the Applicant Guidebook (AGB).

The AGB, he said, was approved in Singapore after intensive multi-stakeholder deliberation that included substantial contributions from virtually all stakeholders, including governments through the Government Advisory Committee (GAC).

He pointed out that the process for the introduction of new gTLDs is based on a comprehensive set of procedures to address any potential objections from relevant stakeholders.

The proposed SOW text, he said, seems to replace the process laid out in the AGB with new requirements to demonstrate that each string has explicit consensus support and is consistent with the global public interest.

He cited an instance with the Internet Assigned Numbers Authority (IANA) function’s contract, saying that it should not be used to rewrite the policy and implementation process adopted through the bottom-up decision-making process.

“Not only would this undermine the very principle of the multi-stakeholder model, it would be inconsistent with the objective of more clearly distinguishing policy development from operational implementation by the IANA functions operator,” he said.

He stressed that instead, the requirement for the IANA functions operator should be limited to forwarding documentation published by the ICANN board regarding the approval of each new gTLD delegation request.

On the ‘Term of Contract’ from the eight-page document, ICANN president said that the Further Notice of Inquiry (FNOI) states that in the context of procurement contracts, the current framework is a long-term contract.

“While that may be true when compared to other procurement contracts, the one-year terms have a destabilizing effect on the Domain Name System (DNS) and are not helpful in building global explicit support or documented non-objection which is require only in certain limited circumstances such as applications for certain geographical names or community-based strings confidence.

“A one-year contract with options to renew exercisable at the sole discretion of the United States Government creates a persistent threat that the operator and operations of the IANA functions could be changed at any time,’ he said, underscoring the fact that by contrast, a term of at least five years would instill global confidence that the IANA functions would be carried out in a manner that ensures the security and stability of the DNS and other Internet resources.

According to him, if the current framework must continue, the addition of a presumptive renewal clause would enhance global confidence in the stability of the performance of the IANA functions.

Such a modification, ICANN president said, would also be consistent with NTIA’s past practice of routinely exercising the one-year option.

Remmy Nweke
ITREALMS Online ... delivering news for ICT4D