ITREALMS

Wednesday, June 20, 2007

Zenith boss advances plan to buy Nigeria’s Cellcom

Renowned banker and chief executive of Zenith International Bank Plc, Mr. Jim Ovia, may have advanced plans to buy over Cellcom Limited, one of the Nigeria’s licensed private telecommunications operators.

Company sources informed ITRealms Online that Mr. Ovia, might have concluded plan for the 100 per cent acquisition of the telco.

Also, Mr. Ovia was said to have acquired the telco for the sum N3 billion with some conditions to cushion some indebtedness in excess of N1 billion.

Our sources added that the acquisition was through one of Mr. Ovia’s entities and an Internet Service Provider (ISP), the Cyberspace Nigeria Limited.

Explaining further, our sources said that the amount N4 billion includes N3 billion slated for the main purchase of the telco, while over N1 has been voted for the payment of debts owed by CellCom as at the time of acquisition.

Additionally, the takeover was said to have began since June 1, 2007.

Speaking on the acquisition, the promoter and chairman of Cellcom Limited, Chief Chidolue said that though he would not like to engage on the matter, but they are still in talks, hence he could not confirm completion of the deal.

Even when contact, a manager in the Corporate Affairs of Zenith, Mr. Victor Adoji, said he could not confirm the story as at the time of filling the report Wednesday, and asked for time.

Further, company sources told HANA that the new owners have moved in since June 1, and had even began negotiations with Huawei Technologies, an equipment supplier so as to revitalize the Cellcom, which currently have estimated 30,000 subscribers since its commercial roll out in 2001, with major presence in Lagos and at the Federal Capital Territory (FCT) Abuja.

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Internet Governance: Stakeholders divided over financing method

The global Internet community is facing a hard time deciding the modalities of funding the Internet Governance Forum (IGF) and the entire United Nations activities.

Stakeholders under the aegis of the Civil Society Internet Governance Caucus were at the weekend undecided over how the proposed multi-stakeholders could be financed to avoid undue influence on the forum and the entire UN processes at large.

While some lauded the idea of ‘multi-stakeholder financing for multi-stakeholder forum’ it was received with mixed feelings.

According to some members of the caucus, the inability to have a good structure for the proposed multi-stakeholders forum as encouraged by the outcome of the second phase of the World Summit on the Information Society (WSIS) and the first session of IGF meeting in Athens last year.

Those who classified themselves as moral advocates among the caucus informed that the absence of this structure means simply that those who fund IGF will push their agenda because they have the wherewithal, “so that others who want their agenda pushed should step up their contributions.”

Those opposing this idea had argued that it would lead the Civil Society groups and the generality of the public to no where, because its not based on public interest.

One of the key contributors on the issue, Mr. Bertrand de La Chapelle opined that the viability of this initiative could only succeed if implemented with appropriate rules of transparency.

Some of the key questions raised at the online session, as gathered by Champion Infotel include “What is the appropriate financing structure for the IGF in order to guarantee regularity of resources and independence from lobbies and pressure groups?

For another veritable voice in the caucus, Parminder Jeet Singh of IT for Change, Bangalore, the mere thinking of multi-stakeholder financing is a very bad idea, “And, an even worse principle.”

He expressed fear that most stakeholders lack the knowledge of what multi-stakeholders is all about, especially pertaining to the Internet Governance Forum, stressing that it is a principle that will take the Internet community to no where and without any good outcome.

He elaborated by saying that for most stakeholders and civil society activists, who usually lack the funding, cannot go to their government, because the government does not share in their agenda.

“For me and many in public interest advocacy it is an important principle, and I can’t let such formulations pass by,” he said, adding that it could be fine for the private sectors to finance public functions and bodies where there is a plurality, like a foundation funding a university programme or non-governmental organisation (NGO).

“It is also fine to extend part financing, under certain conditions, to core public bodies which are monopolistic such as states, UN bodies to name a few, in their constituency and mandate, but then the proportion of private funding needs to be adequately low for any one interest group as well as in total proportion to public funds.

This, he pointed out, should be governed with strict rules of propriety, saying that many in the civil society (CS) and outside the typical Internet Governance cum Information Society (IG/IS) groups who are sometimes suspicious of the term multi-stakeholder feel so because they know such bodies can easily show tendencies to move towards ‘privatised governance’.

Yet for others, they are not under the illusion that the answers to these questions are easy to come by or determine, but expressed optimism these are crucial to determine “if we’re to build a just society.”

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Celtel subscribers scramble for Sunday Unlimited

Last weekend introduction of Sunday free calls on one of the leading Global System for Mobile communications (GSM), Celtel Nigeria, is generating lots of hit as subscribers scrambled for access on the network.

The beginning of the week was a beehive of activities for those subscribers who struggle to take advantage of the promo tagged ‘Sunday Unlimited’ by some subscribers.

Champion Infotel recalls that mid-last week, Celtel announced that it’s offering a promotion that gives unlimited free call services to some of its subscribers.

According to Head, Public Relations, Events and Sponsorship at Celtel Nigeria, Mr. Emeka Oparah, the new offer gives the company’s loyal pre-paid customers the opportunity to make free on-net calls on Sundays only.

As said by him, the latest offer avails subscribers who recharge their phones with a minimum of N500 within the week, that is, between Monday and Saturday, to get 60 free minutes to make on-net calls on the Sunday of that particular week, while those who recharged N1000 within the same period will attract 120 free minutes.

Mr. Oparah also said that the offer, which commences immediately, is open to existing and new pre-paid customers, just as cumulative recharges will also qualify for the free minutes.

Champion Infotel investigations revealed that the network was simply ‘jammed’ as many subscribers who did not engage the network early enough were unable to join their folks in making free calls.

It was also revealed that most subscribers used the opportunity to call their relatives, especially in the South-Eastern part of the country.

One of the subscribers, informed that she was able to make several calls to her loved family members, whom she saw last December and who are on Celtel network.

“In fact, I did not even remember it until a friend reminded me about it,” she said.

Another subscriber, told our correspondent that he it took him time to get on the network, as he continued tried to engage his friends since Sunday morning all to no avail, but was lucky as at 2pm.

For Mr. Oparah, the promo is another innovative way of delighting Celtel subscribers in the country, saying the “new offer is a perfect, innovative complement to our existing offers including the trail-blazing Unity Tariff and the 10 million free minutes currently on offer.”