FDI, lubricant for sustainable growth in mobile telephony

*Ms Funke Opeke, CEO, MainOne Cable

Chief executive officer of MainOne Cable Company Nigeria Limited, Ms Funke Opeke, has described Foreign Direct Investment (FDI) as financial lubricant for sustainable growth in mobile telephony in Nigeria.

Opeke who was forecasting into the five-year Strategic Management Plan (SMP) of the Nigerian telecommunications sector, while dwelling on ‘Broadband Nigeria – The Next Frontier’ noted that resultant increase in investor confidence leads to an abundant inflow of foreign direct investment.

This, she said, provides the financial lubricant required to sustain growth in mobile telephony infrastructure and services deployment in Nigeria based on independent regulation of the industry.

She noted that such evolving regulatory trend supported series of financial incentives, economic regulations and determinations seeking to promote further competition, particularly in the voice telephony market, namely mobile, and to a lesser extent fixed, evident in improved availability, affordability and quality of services to the Nigerian consumers.

The former Chief Technology Officer of MTN Nigeria, also said that this growth so far witnessed in the Information and Communications Technology (ICT) sector has, to a large extent, been restricted to the voice telephony segment of the sector.

“... And has so far failed to extend to broadband and data segments,” she asserted.

Opeke further said that the huge dichotomy between the voice telephony and data segments is evident when statistics are presented.

Pointing out that with tele-density in the country growing from below 2 per cent in 2001 to about 65 per cent within 10 years, the broadband segment is still yet to catch-up.

She said, recent statistics have shown that there are over 45 million internet users in Nigeria, which on the surface appears to be a large.

“This figure represents only 29 per cent of the population,” she said.

With the advent of the Main One and Glo-1 submarine fiber optic cable systems as well as the expected WASC and ACE cables, she observed that Nigeria has sufficient bandwidth capacity to drive the growth of data and broadband penetration.

These cable systems, he said, brought in the potential of delivering fast and affordable international connectivity at speeds far in excess of what was previously available on the NITEL SAT-3 submarine cable system.

To seriously assess the development of broadband in the country, she suggested the scope must extend beyond examining the supply of international bandwidth to the country and move to an examination of the actual penetration in the market, in terms of end user access and penetration.

Remmy Nweke
ITREALMS Online ... delivering news for ICT4D

Influx of electronic products force NIPOST to diversify

The explosive growth of the communications market has forced many postal administrations to move beyond the core, physical mail business says the Post Master General of the Federation, Mallam Ibrahim Mori Baba.

Speaking at the 5^th ITEdge West Africa Convergence forum in Lagos, last weekend, while dwelling on ‘The Impact of ICT on Postal Operations and the Future of the Postal Sector’ he said that postal administrations globally have realized they have to fight for the postal business.

“… Not only with competitors for physical mail, but also, with the providers of new electronic communications products that have no national borders,” he declared.

He pointed out that they are now diversifying in order to broaden the range of services offered to customers.

“Today, we have a number of hybrid postal products which combine electronics with hard copy delivery,” he said, noting that for the Postal sector in a number of countries, technology has been used as a generator of growth for physical mail.

Adapting technology to postal operations, he said, has made it easy for them to provide e-based services as well as track and trace for parcels and registered mail items.

Mori Baba further said that they have used transportation technology to deliver mail faster to customers, adding that they have used technology for improvements of their infrastructure, from postal counters to automation of the postal processing chains.

To this extent, he said that the future of the postal sector remains bright despite the fact that many people are still wondering what the future holds for the Postal sector given the intense competition in the market.

“I dare say that the future is very bright,” he asserted.

He emphasised that the digital era no doubt presents enormous challenges and opportunities for the postal sector and the good thing is that the postal sector in many countries are partnering with the private sector, governments and corporate bodies to move the sector to the next level.

He said that radically changing customer behaviour driven by digital solutions and the ever spiraling use of the internet are revolutionizing the way in which businesses, governments and citizens interact.

“The implications of these changes are several, and include, for example, an imperative for Postal sector not only to secure the traditional mail business but also to quickly master the digital world (of 1.75billion internet users and the 1 billion mobile broadband users) and seize the emerging opportunities,” he observed.

The signs, he said, are positive as wave of innovative products and practices are emerging; many examples of diversification away from dependence on the mail already exist.

He said that as broadband penetration increases and the efficiency of electronic formats is recognized by both the Postal sector and customers, the time has come for Postal operators to use their initiative to create products that will bridge the divide between digital and physical.

According to him, the Post office is present almost everywhere-even in the remotest corners of many countries and serves as a key point of access to the outside world, especially for billions of people who are yet to have access to the Internet.

Its doors are open to all, without discrimination, making it a fundamental phenomenon, a force for integration.  Today, the Post office is so much more than the place you go to send or receive a letter or parcel; it is also a hub for electronic and financial services.

“Access to new information and communication technologies also means the ability to send a confidential electronic message securely and provides a means of receiving parcels containing goods ordered over the Internet,” he submitted.

Remmy Nweke
ITREALMS Online ... delivering news for ICT4D

ATCON spoils for war with FG over lack of improved power supply

*Members spend N2.82bn monthly to generate power

*Omo-Ettu, president ATCON

Concerned by the lack of improved quality of electricity power supply in the country, the Association of Telecommunications Companies of Nigeria (ATCON) is spoiling for war with the Federal Government and even ready to drag government to court.

This follows the unprecedented amount of money and diesel being currently expended by its members to the tune of N3.82 billion monthly and N45.9bn by December this year.

President of ATCON, Mr. Titi Omo-Ettu gave this warning at the weekend during a one-day national stakeholders’ consultative forum on five years Strategic Management Plan by the Nigerian Communications Commission (NCC).

He also said that telephone operators use a total of 25 million litres of diesel monthly to fuel 20,000 generators located at over 15,000 cell sites in the country.

According to him, at the current pump price of N153 per litre of diesel, operators will spend N3.82bn to fuel their generators monthly and N45.9bn in 2012.

450 other telecom players, he said, will make even more expenditure on alternative power, which could sway towards tariff increase and lowering of Quality of Service (QoS).

“We shall go to Court to press for damages if by 2013 December power supply does not improve,” he said.

ATCON, therefore suggested that it has no view operators, advising them to tell the consumers why and how the services are poor across board, stressing that services are poor across board.

A play out of summation of grade of services, Omo-Ettu submitted, may be an albatross, stressing that tariff could hardly be firm and fair in the face of poor service.

He, therefore, called for a study to examine most of these issues, which he described as critical questions.

Omo-Ettu wondered that if taken separately, what quality does each network operator offers?

ATCON expressed displeasure on why should consumers not expect penalty for poor service to compensate consumer and not payment of fine to Government.

“Can’t Individual Consumer press for damages? If not, Why not? If Yes, Who bells the Cat?” he asked.

As Nigeria migrates into Broadband and IP Applications, ATCON expected that on-going draft ICT Policy will make better prescriptions.

“Provide affordable minimum 2Mbps on demand by year 2015, 50 million Broadband users by 2020, and 450m by 2040 (about 452,311,182),” he said.

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ITREALMS Online ... delivering news for ICT4D

MTN, Stanbic IBTC explain partnership on mobile money

L-R: Dev: eBusiness Manager, Stanbic IBTC Bank, Mr. Francis Nwoboshi;

 CEO, Stanbic IBTC Bank, Mrs. Sola David   -Borha; Chief Executive Officer, 

MTN Nigeria, Mr. Brett Goschen; and General Manager, Mobile Money 

Marketing and Strategy, MTN Nigeria, Mr. Usoro Anthony Usoro

 at the signing ceremony.

Dominant operator in the Nigeria’s telecommunications market, MTN Nigeria and Stanbic IBTC Bank are partnering to push the case of cash-lite further with signing of recent Memorandum of Understanding.

The event which held in Lagos, saw the Chief Executive Officers of the two organisations reiterating their commitments to repositioning of electronic payment (e-payment) in the economy.

They described the partnership as representing a major step in Nigeria’s e-payment segment and will assist in the provision of secure, convenient and user-friendly mobile money services to millions of people across the country.

Chief Executive Officer, MTN Nigeria, Mr. Brett Goschen, was quoted as saying in a press statement made available to ITRealms Online, that MTN’s partnership with Stanbic IBTC Bank is in accordance with the telecommunications company’s promise to empower its customers by providing them with improved services and more innovative applications.

“Deployment of the mobile money service in Nigeria is gradually changing the process of managing financial transactions in the country. We are proud to partner with Stanbic IBTC Bank on facilitating this positive change,” he said.

Also, Goschen said that mobile money, while bringing banking services to the previously unbanked, equally opens up a wide range of benefits and value added services to the banked sector, including corporate, small and medium sized enterprises (SMEs) and individual customers.

Commenting, the CEO of Stanbic IBTC, Mrs. Sola David-Borha, said the partnership would avail the bank of MTN’s nationwide platform to provide mobile payment services and in the process break down the traditional barriers hindering financial inclusion of millions of Nigerians.

She stressed that this would bring about low cost, secure and convenient financial services to urban, semi-urban and rural areas across the country, opening a new channel of financial services delivery and complementing the Central Bank of Nigeria’s quest to usher in a cashless economy in the country. 

Mrs. David-Borha said her bank was very pleased to partner with MTN on this strategic initiative.

“Our goal is to increase access to mobile money service through this platform by providing an entry point for people that would not ordinarily come into banking halls. The partnership will also provide the banked with an alternative to handling physical cash by getting them to do basic transactions using the mobile banking network,” she said.

Additionally, she noted that they are leveraging on banking expertise, the large subscriber base of the MTN network and the knowledge users have of the mobile phone to deliver non-traditional, low cost financial services to all Nigerians, unbanked artisans, traders, market women and farmers among others, as well as under-banked individuals,” she stated.

ITRealms Online recalls that the mobile money initiative, an integral part of the broad objectives of the FSS 20:2020 was conceived by the Central Bank of Nigeria as a result of its critical nature to achieving a cashless society which, according to the apex bank, is fundamental to the nation’s goal of becoming one of the top 20 largest economies in the world by the year 2020.

MTN Nigeria Communications Limited is the acclaimed largest mobile operator in Nigeria and West 

Africa.

It is also the largest subsidiary in the MTN Group; a multi-national telecommunications company which offers voice and data communications products and services to individuals and businesses in 21 countries across Africa and the Middle East.

MTN’s vision is to be the leading provider of Information and Communication Technology (ICT) services and alter the way Nigerians live, work and play while its mission is to provide first class network quality, customer service and value to all of its subscribers across Nigeria.

Remmy Nweke

ITREALMS Online ... delivering news for ICT4D

Multiple taxation, a global issue – Juwah

L-r: Dr. Juwah, Hon Oyetunde Ojo, Itanyi@stakeholder consultative forum March 2012

The issue of multiple taxation has assumed a global dimension, according to the Executive Vice Chairman, Nigerian Communications Commission (NCC), Dr. Eugene Juwah.

He said, the telecommunications industry, especially in the last 10 years, which are capable of reducing the Nigeria’s chances of harnessing communications technology so as to improve upon national development, demand for critical stakeholders’ attention.

One of the major challenges, he said, is the subject of multiple taxation, multiple regulation, deteriorating power supply, extraneous regulatory issues by other agencies of government to name a few.

Juwah who made this known at a one-day national stakeholders’ consultative forum in Lagos on “Harnessing Communications Technology as a Catalyst for National Development,” in address made available to ITRealms Online, also declared that multiple taxation, has taken a new dimension across the Information and Communications Technologies (ICT) sector globally.

He noted that just recently ended Mobile World Congress in Spain saw that happening with the Secretary-General of the International Telecommunications Union (ITU), Dr. Hamadoun Toure calling on governments not to kill the telecommunications industry with taxes.

He pointed out that some of them are peculiar to stakeholders, precisely in Nigeria, which needed to be tackled very urgently for quick resolution.

“This informed my policy direction when I took over the leadership of the NCC,” he asserted.

He maintained that NCC as the apex regulator of telecommunications in the sector is resolved to keep to the vision of his administration on assumption of office over a year ago.

He reiterated focus on six key areas intended to bring about more fulfilling benefits to telecom users in Nigeria.

He listed some of these key areas to include consolidation of mobile services; fixed lines and broadband deployment; enhanced competitive market and choices for consumers; vigorous compliance monitoring and enforcement and national connectivity for accelerated growth as well as enhancing international relations.

Juwah emphasized that some of the aforementioned agenda of his administration have began to manifest with some steps taken recently and targeted at achieving some of the above initiatives.

He cited the instance with SIM Card registration which began on March 28, 2011 and resulted in the capturing of some 110,433,976 SIM cards.

 
“The data is going through processing and cleaning at the NCC,” he said, stressing that the Commission would shortly commerce verification and ensure that multiple registrations are eliminated in order to create a database integrity and credibility.

Remmy Nweke
ITREALMS Online ... delivering news for ICT4D