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Four new subscribers have emerged winners of new Honda Accord I-vtec cars in the South South zone in the Globacom N750 seasons recharge promotion. Globacom said the winners were determined in an electronic draw held for its subscribers in the Port Harcourt region, comprising Rivers, Bayelsa and Imo states, who recharged their phones with the special N750 recharge card denomination within the commencement of the promotion on December 1 last year and the draw date. At the end of the draws held at the Bouganvillea Hotel in Port Harcourt, the four became winners of Honda Accord cars. The four cars were part of the 40 which Globacom is offering to prepaid subscribers in the promotion. The Port Harcourt Regional Manager, Globacom, Sam Edoho, said the promotion underscored Globacom’s commitment to continue to improve the quality of lives of its subscribers. "The N750 Recharge promo is meant to thank our subscribers for their patronage. We acknowledge the goodwill and tremendous support w

The Chairman of Celtel International, Dr. Mo Ibrahim, has been honoured in Barcelona, Spain , by the GSM Association with the its highest award, the GSMA Chairman’s Award 2007. The founder of Celtel International, a pan-African mobile operator, was presented with the award in recognition of his outstanding achievement in supporting the growth and vitality of the global mobile telephony community. The award, which is sponsored by Fortune magazine, was the highlight of the Global Mobile Awards. The group eulogized Ibrahim for giving Africans a voice describing him as a visionary and the founding father of the African mobile industry. In the words of GSMA Chairman, Craig Ehrlich, who presented the award. "This is a man, who is in many ways, the founding father of African mobile communications, a visionary wireless technician and mobile businessman, whose commitment to both the industry and the continent has helped the world to hear Africa’s voice."

Progenics Corp Limited, a Nigerian software and systems integrator in the financial services sector, has witnessed an increase in the number of firms signed up to its capital market application solution, Symbols. Symbols, a comprehensive and integrated investment management and stock broking application solution, was designed using advanced computer aided software-engineering techniques which has helped address the need of many local stockbrokery firms. In details made available to our correspondent on Friday, the Head of Business Development, Progenics, Mr. Tunde Yemi-Daniel, said that the companies that had signed up for Symbols included UBA Asset Management Limited, Cross World securities, Diamond Bank Securities limited and Express Discount Portfolio Management limited among others. According to him, Progenics had recently enhanced its features by adding another module, the Asset Management. The module, he said, would take care of fund management, mutual fund/unit trust requirement

Jonah Iboma Increased access and usage of mobile communications provide a powerful economic growth engine, which governments can fuel by lowering taxes on mobile services and handsets, according to a new study undertaken by Deloitte for the GSM Association. The GSMA is the global trade association representing 700 GSM mobile phone operators in 217 countries of the world. In addition, more than 180 manufacturers and suppliers support the association’s initiatives as key partners. The report issued by the association last week, found that in a developing country, an increase of 10 percentage points in mobile penetration would lift that country’s annual economic growth rate by 1.2 per centage points. GSMA stated that this situation represented a major uplift - if the proportion of people with a mobile phone in an economy, growing at four per cent a year, rose from 10 per cent to 20 per cent, that would boost the economic growth rate to 5.2 per cent a year. According to the study, despite

Jonah Iboma Quickplus Commu-nications Limited, an indigenous software company, and Busy Infotech Limited, developer of Busy brand of software solutions, plan to build a software academy where Nigerian information technology professionals will be certified. The academy, according to both firms, will represent an expansion of the current partnership between them. When established, the academy will train software professionals in the area of accounting, taxation and auditing using the latest trends in information technology. The graduates of the academy will be given international certification in Busy software solutions. Busy is one of the fastest growing accounting packages in the world. The product, which entered the Nigerian market last year, is already being used by over 30 companies, including accounting firms and Capital Airlines. It has over 100 clients in India and is widely used in Pakistan. The Managing Director, Quickplus Communications Company Limited, Mr. David Ayomidotun, r

Jonah Iboma Ghana’s Minister of Presidential Affairs, Mr Kwawo Mpiani, has proclaimed Globacom Limited, as a credible and good corporate citizen that should be invited to invest in Ghana. He also commended the company for donating one billion cedis to Ghana’s 50th Independence Anniversary. At a presentation ceremony held at the Presidential Castle, Accra on Thursday, Mr Mpiani who doubles as the Chief of Staff at the Presidency, thanked Globacom for its generous donation even though the firm, it has not started operating in Ghana. Mpiani said he was particularly impressed with Globacom’s operational achievements within just three-and-a-half years in operation. "We have investigated you and confirmed that you are a credible organisation. I am happy to note the rapid progress made by your company within such a short time. This is a rare achievement and yours is the kind of corporate citizens that should be invited to invest in Ghana", he said. He pledged the support of the peop

Jonah Iboma Six universities and poly-technics have installed eTranzact payment system, including the three campuses of the Nigeria Law School. eTranzact, a multichannel payment solutions provider, has linked these schools to its payment channel, which enables students to pay their tuition and other school related charges online. In addition, the schools will be able to monitor payments as they are made, thereby reducing to the barest minimum the amount of time it takes to confirm payments. The payment system, initiated by eTranzact in conjunction with Socketworks and some banks in Nigeria, has been installed at the University of Ilorin; University of Jos; University of Ibadan; Ambrose Alli University; Covenant University; and the Yaba College of Technology. Some others have commissioned the payment system. Before long, all tertiary institutions in Nigeria would be linked to the online payment system, says Mr. Valentine Obi, Chief Executive Officer of eTranzact. The cards allow the stu

Jonah Iboma Microsoft will on Thursday, inaugurate the Windows Vista™ operating system and Microsoft® Office 2007. The company said, “With the product available in over 39,000 retail stores worldwide including our local PC Outlet Store at the Palms Shopping Mall, Lagos, you can of course, buy a copy from retail outlets right away. In fact, one very lucky Nigerian shopper will get an invitation to the February 22 launch event in Lagos and a copy of Windows Vista signed by Microsoft Chairman, BillGates.” The Marketing Manager of Microsoft Nigeria, Mr. Victor Okigbo said that Microsoft Nigeria was collaborating closely with business partners and distributors notably HP, Zinox, Intel, Coscharis Technologies, Technology Distributors, Computer Warehouse and Bi- Traxaxxent as part of the product launch process. The events in both Abuja and Lagos will include high-impact product demonstrations, and top level interactions. “The way that Nigerians work, play and communicate will be profoundly af

Jonah Iboma Symbology, a bar code invented by Intermec Technologies Corporation of United States of America, is now available in Nigeria following the firm’s commencement of operations in Nigeria. A barcode is a machine-readable representation of information in a visual format on a surface. They are present on the surfaces of the packages of most products especially manufactured by well-established firms. Though originally barcodes stored data in the widths and spacings of printed parallel lines, they also come in patterns of dots, concentric circles, and hidden within images. Speaking at the launch in Lagos on Wednesday, Chief Executive Officer, Mr Ayo Eso of 3Consulting, the sole partner of Intermec in the country, said the Solutions provide supply chain information products, services and systems to companies in hundreds of industries around the world. He explained that supply chain information systems allow companies to compile previously unheard of amounts of information from one e

Jonah Iboma About 10,000 point of sales terminals are to be deployed immediately into the Nigerian market by a Nigerian firm, J.D. Kutons Nigeria Limited to promote electronic vending services. The firm said in press conference in Lagos on Wednesday that it will be working with major telecommunications firms in the country for the deployment of the PoS terminals which would vend airtime wirelessly all across the country at the first stage.. According to the Chairman of the firm, Mr. Ajibade Oke, the electronic vending service called Everlasting is designed to make it easy for electronic transactions to take place in the country and as a result the system would work with General Packet Radio Service available on the networks of mobile phone operators. He added that besides vending of airtime, Everlasting would add other services including money transfer in the course of the development of solutions for the public GPRS is a mobile data service available on GSM networks allowing for vario

Celtel Nigeria Limited has signed a bi-directional interconnection agreement with Interconnect Clearinghouse Nigeria Limited, Nigeria’s first transit exchange. In details made available to our correspondent on Friday, Chief Business Development Officer of ICN, Mr. Michael Tosin-Oni, said the agreement would allow for the flow of telecommunications traffic to and from both parties in the standard operational procedure of bi-directional traffic interconnection.’Legal / Regulatory Manager of ICN, Mr. Damian Udeh, added that ICN and Celtel were currently putting finishing touches to the technical aspect of the arrangement.ICN said, when fully implemented, the agreement would allow Celtel to enjoy the advantages of employing the services of a technically-sound and time-tested clearinghouse with its cost effectiveness and attendant ease of debt reconciliation and collection. “This will enable Celtel focus on its primary task of network and subscriber base expansion to be able to continue to

Jonah Iboma Multi-Links Limited has inaugurated a service that allows its subscribers to use their mobile phones anywhere it has network coverage.Our correspondent gathered in Lagos on Saturday that the service, which comes with a new numbering plan, is part of the fallout of the firm’s acquisition of a Unified Access Licence. The Executive Director, Multi-Links, Chief Ezekiel Fatoye, explained that the numbering plan, which has a prefix, 07027, would consist of 11 digits similar to what mobile firms currently used.Fatoye said this would give its customers freedom to use their phones in all parts of the country where Multi-Links has established presence. “In other words, mobile customers of our network are now free to use our services in several places where we have signals,” he saidMulti-Links is thus the first to consolidate the unified licence, which it won along with three others in 2006 – Intecellular, Starcomms and, Prestel.The firm added that the new regime would allow present c

Jonah Iboma Software testing, an emerging segment of the Nigeria’s information technology sector, has been rated to be worth over N130bn annually. The Principal Consultant of TC-QA Associates, Mr. Akinwale Akingbade, who revealed this, noted that globally, the practice was a big business, adding that in the United States, the market was worth about $60bn. Akingbade, who recently led the delegation that recently secured the Nigeria’s admission into the International Software Quality Board, noted that the value of the sector was because of the growing awareness by firms in the country of the need to ensure quality of software systems used in their organisations. According to him, the software testing market in Nigeria was still evolving and was worth around $1bn. According to him, the rising interest in software testing is based to a great extent on the growing realisation that poor software quality and poor software development processes, are a major drain on business profitability. He

Jonah Iboma Efforts at bridging the Digital Divide seem to be yielding very little fruit in Africa. Jonah Iboma examines the problems. Internet connection and use remain low in Africa in general, even though some progress had been made in terms of connections recorded. However, put against the rest of the world, it appears that Africa is lagging further behind. According to latest reports, while the continent has witnessed some growth, governments’ failure to open markets and subsequently, drive down costs have made it difficult for the market to grow fast. According to a recent report by South African research group, BMI-TechKnowledge, though Broadband Internet connections in Africa are expected to more than double by 2011, this is still not significant enough compared to other places. The report added that High-speed Internet connections in Africa — including Digital Subscriber Link, WiMax and wireless technologies such as 3G – are likely to rise to seven million by 2011 from three m

Jonah Iboma Covenant University has entered into a fresh pact with New Horizons for the training of the students of the higher institution in various areas of information technology.Under the partnership, details of which were made available to our correspondent on Monday, each student of Covenant University would undergo selected certification courses, obtain international certification and graduate with additional IT skills.The Managing Director of New Horizons, Mr. Tim Akano, said the arrangement was designed to ensure that when students graduated, they would already be ready for paid employment. At a signing ceremony held recently, the Vice-Chancellor of the university, Prof Aize Obayan, said that the university’s vision on academic excellence was premised on producing graduates who were both academically and professionally relevant by ensuring that the students are given the opportunity to acquire latest certification training in ICT while still pursing their normal academic

Jonah Iboma The deployment of electronic governance solutions in Nigeria may not yield desired results if the schemes are devoid of an audit component, a technology expert has warned. The Consulting Manager, EDP Audit and Security Associates, Mr. Christian Ekeigwe, believes that except government agencies deploying electronic solutions for the delivery of government activities understand the full implications of such solutions, they stand the risk of deploying the wrong solutions.He said, “The auditability of e-government seems to have been escaping our attention. With various bold initiatives of the government in e-governance at various levels of government, it is important for us to start sensitizing government officials and agencies on the risks of technology and the need for robust technology audit capability in the sector.”The call is timely given that electronic governance, which involves deploying IT-enabled means to deliver government services, has increasingly been growing in

Jonah Iboma T-Mobile Netherlands has selected Nokia to provide managed services for its WCDMA 3G and GSM networks. With Nokia managed services, T-Mobile can reduce its operating expenditure and further improve network quality while freeing resources to its core business and customers. Under its first managed services deal with T-Mobile International, Nokia is providing T-Mobile Netherlands with field operations and spare part management. Field operations include preventive maintenance and incident management, while the spare parts management is an essential part of maintaining high-quality network operations. “Staying in control of our network is crucial to us, but we also needed more time and resources to concentrate on our core business. Nokia’s field operations and spare part management allow us to do exactly that. Our cooperation so far with Nokia has built our trust in their ability to provide managed services in addition to network equipment,” says Bruno Jacobfeuerborn, Technolog

Jonah Iboma Teletext, a technology which allows for the display of a large number of pages containing information on current events, weather, stock market and other areas of social and economic life on television screens has finally made its debut in Nigeria, 30 years after becoming operational. According to the Chief Executive Officer of the firm pioneering the service in Nigeria, Tee Global Media Limited, Mr. Daniel Dawodu, teletext, is now on Silverbird Television, the first television station to do so in sub-Sahara Africa. According to him, the reason for the introduction of teletext into the local market at this time is because a lot of Nigerians are now more conversant with the use of technology. “The coming of the GSM has made many people to be more comfortable with text technology. Nigerians are now familiar with using keypad to get information. Hence, we felt that this is the ideal time to introduce it”, Dawodu explained. The Tee Global Media boss said that people do not nee

Jonah Iboma The next few weeks are expected to witness the addition of new licences to those held by some Nigerian mobile operators following plans by the Nigerian Communications Commission to auction licences for third generation mobile services. The industry regulatory body had last Friday issued a public notice stating an indicative timetable for the licensing of Spectrum in the 2 GHz and also 450 MHz bands. While the 2 GHz band is referred to as the 3G band, the 450Mhz, will be for Fixed Wireless Access. The services associated with 3G include the ability to transfer simultaneously both voice and video communications and downloading information, exchanging email, and instant messaging. In marketing 3G services, video telephony has often been used as the killer application for 3G.“This public notice is issued to inform and update interested parties on the bands in which spectrum is to be made available,” the industry regulatory body said in a statement signed by its Head of Public A

Jonah Iboma The Chief Executive Officer of Celtel Nigeria Limited, Mr. Bayo Ligali has said that a well-developed telecommunications infrastructure is an important element in the process of job creation, business improvement and social interactions. Speaking at the second Annual West African Forum in Abuja, Ligali, represented by the Head of Department, Commercial, North Central Region, Celtel Nigeria, Mr. Ken Ogujifor, noted that telecommunications was already playing an important role in the economic and socials lives of people even at the grassroots. “The development of full bodied telecommunications infrastructure and access, creates job opportunities, advancement in the mode of banking operations, increases speed of broadband services, improves productivity in terms of speed of decision making, improves family and social relationship and enhances security and policing,” he said. The Celtel Chief executive further buttressed the effectiveness of telecommunications in the grass root

The Vice Chancellor of the University of Calabar, Prof. Bassey Asuquo, has praised National Telecoms Operator, Globacom, for being people-oriented. Asuquo who was special guest at the Sports Arena of the University of Calabar, at the presentation of prizes to more winners of the Students' Edition of Globacom’s Jumbo promo, said that the network has brought succour to the poor. The Vice Chancellor, reminded the large audience of students and family of winners that Globacom was responsible for the crashing of the cost of the SIM card and call tariffs. “Globacom has made the cost of telephony affordable to the common man” he said. At the occasion, Globacom presented brand new Kia Picanto cars to two students; Mrs. Nwachi Uzoamaka of the National Teachers Institute, Abakaliki and Miss Patience Peters of the Marketing Department of the University of Calabar. Seventeen others received cash prizes. The registrar of the University, Lady (Barrister) Margaret Uya and Prof. Nosa Omokharo who

Teletext, a technology which allows for the display a large number of pages containing information on current events, weather, stock market and other areas of social and economic life on their television screens has finally made its debut in Nigeria, 30 years after becoming operational. According to the Chief Executive Officer of firm pioneering the service Nigeria, Tee Global Media Limited, Mr. Daniel Dawodu, Teletext, which is now on Silverbird television, the first television station to do so in sub-Sahara Africa. According to him, the reason for the introduction of Teletext into the local market at this time was because a lot of Nigerians were now more conversant with the use of technology today. "The coming of the GSM has made many people to be more comfortable with text technology. Nigerians are now familiar with using keypad to get information. Hence, we felt that this is the ideal time to introduce it", Dawodu explained. The Tee Global Media boss said that people do n

Jonah Iboma Nigeria’ s information technology firm, Signal Alliance, says that it has been certified as a Gold Partner by Microsoft Corporation, the highest level of partnership available worldwide for partners of the world’s leading software provider. Microsoft Gold Partnership Program is a rigorous program available to Microsoft partners worldwide who have attained certifications and specialization in critical areas that qualify them for the delivery of solutions on the Microsoft solutions platform. Signal Alliance became a Gold Certified Partner by specializing in threes core areas: Advanced infrastructure, Networking infrastructure and licensing solutions According to the Company’s Chief Executive Officer, Mrs. Adanma Onuegbu, “Partners with the Advanced infrastructure competency work with large businesses in designing and implementing innovative yet cost-effective integrated and connected infrastructure solutions that support their objectives. On the other hand, Partners enrolled

Jonah Iboma Nigeria is among eight emerging countries that have been predicted to lead to an increase in the number of handsets predicted to be sold globally in 2007. According to Financial advisory firm, Merrill Lynch, higher mobile subscriber penetration in the group of eight emerging countries (E-8) that include India, China, Pakistan, Bangladesh, Indonesia, Vietnam, Nigeria, and Egypt is the principal driver behind the higher handset shipment numbers. Merrill Lynch had raised its forecast for 2007 global handset unit growth forecast from 10 per cent to 13 per cent with units up from 1.067bn to 1.106 bn. Our correspondent gathered that looking further ahead, the firm predicted that 2008 unit growth would be up from 4 per cent to 8 per cent with units up to 1.196 bn. The firm is are also increasing unit estimates by 39 million in 2007, 86 million in 2008 and 111 million in 2009. Merrill Lynch expects that net additions in the E-8 will peak in 2007 at 241 million subscribers and the E

Jonah Iboma A new application software designed to help schools improve the management of their routine activities has been introduced into the Nigerian educational sector by Evans Brothers Nigeria Publishers Limited. Called Integrated School Manager, the product, among other things is designed to help schools have a more reliable accounting, asset management and students grading system. The publishing firm said it developed the application with the assistance of a former World Bank consultant and administrator, Mr. Jean-Cleron Paul and that the product contains a lot of features that make it to offer solutions to most of the problems that confront schools management. Project manager for the software, Bola Oyefeso, said the product was built on the Microsoft Excel and Microsoft Access platforms, and that this made it easy to use. “We have taken great care to hide the complexity of the package behind a robust, easy-to-use and attractive interface so that, even with no prior computer kno

Jonah Iboma A new application software designed to help schools improve the management of their routine activities has been introduced into the Nigerian educational sector by Evans Brothers Nigeria Publishers Limited. Called Integrated School Manager, the product, among other things is designed to help schools have a more reliable accounting, asset management and students grading system. The publishing firm said it developed the application with the assistance of a former World Bank consultant and administrator, Mr. Jean-Cleron Paul and that the product contains a lot of features that make it to offer solutions to most of the problems that confront schools management. Project manager for the software, Bola Oyefeso, said the product was built on the Microsoft Excel and Microsoft Access platforms, and that this made it easy to use. “We have taken great care to hide the complexity of the package behind a robust, easy-to-use and attractive interface so that, even with no prior computer kno

Jonah Iboma Second National Operator, Globacom, has signed a deal worth $600m with telecommunications solution firm, Alcatel-Lucent for the expansion of its network. Disclosing this on Wednesday in Lagos, Managing Director of Globacom, Mr. Mohammed Jameel, said the agreement would result in the expansion of the current capacity of the firm’s network to 30million from its current 13million. Mohammed, who spoke during a visit of the Minister of Information and communications, Mr. Frank Nweke Jr. to the firm, said Globacom was also embarking on the rapid expansion to meet its target of increasing its subscriber base to 18milion by the end of the 2007 from the current 11million. He said the investment was in line with firm’s decision to be the leading telecommunications firm in Nigeria adding that this informed the earlier investment of 285m on submarine optic fibre link between Nigeria and the United Kingdom. Nweke, who had embarked on the current visit following the merger of the former

Jonah Iboma Entertainment Highway Limited, a pay television service with a focus to offer the public access to the best of television programming has began operations in Lagos. The firm said it was entering into pay television service to develop the local entertainment industry and address the huge gap present in today’s market as a result of the high pricing. Some of the key offerings of the service include major news channels such as CNN, the English Premiership Football League, the Spanish La Liga and Dovevision, a Christian content channel. Managing Director of the firm, Mr. Toyin Subair, said the firm was determined to change the face of television entertainment in Nigeria by ensuring that it made access to quality programming affordable and also made sure that Nigerians benefited from their industry locally. According to Subair, HiTv would not just bring foreign content but would develop local channels and also offer very high quality broadcast comparable to what is existent anyw

Jonah Iboma examines the possible impact of new investments in Nigeria’s telecoms sector The last two months have seen some developments in Nigeria’s telecommunications sector. In December 2006, the Nigerian Communications Commission announced the award of the Unified Access Licence, including a fifth Digital Mobile Licence, to Mubadala Development Company of the United Arab Emirates, in a deal worth $400m. And in what demonstrated its readiness to become a major player in the attractive Nigerian telecoms sector, the Middle Eastern firm subsequently paid the full sum for the licence within four weeks. But as Nigerians were still digesting the news of the entry of yet another player with financial clout into the local telecoms sector, Kuwaiti’s mobile operator and owners of Celtel Nigeria Limited, MTC, also announced that it would invest heavily in Nigeria. MTC said it was investing N182bn in its Nigerian operations as part of its plans for global conquest. With these developments, t

Ericsson has announced plans to revamp its organisational structure, and employ an additional 500 engineers. The new organisation will affect the current business units and the Stockholm headquarters. Under the new arrangement the Swedish company will now have three business units: Networks, Global Services and Multimedia. The firm said in a release on it website on Monday that its move is due to its desire to take advantage of opportunities to further strengthen its market and technology leadership. It noted that the development in mobile and fixed broadband capabilities and move toward next generation networks open up for richer multimedia services and accelerates opportunities for growth. “Ericsson is therefore implementing a more customer-oriented organization with three business units, each optimized for its specific market segment,” the statement explained. Ericsson’s President and CEO, Carl-Henric Svanberg, said: “We are stronger than ever and the time is right to accelerate the

Ericsson has announced plans to revamp its organisational structure, and employ an additional 500 engineers. The new organisation will affect the current business units and the Stockholm headquarters. Under the new arrangement the Swedish company will now have three business units: Networks, Global Services and Multimedia. The firm said in a release on it website on Monday that its move is due to its desire to take advantage of opportunities to further strengthen its market and technology leadership. It noted that the development in mobile and fixed broadband capabilities and move toward next generation networks open up for richer multimedia services and accelerates opportunities for growth. “Ericsson is therefore implementing a more customer-oriented organization with three business units, each optimized for its specific market segment,” the statement explained. Ericsson’s President and CEO, Carl-Henric Svanberg, said: “We are stronger than ever and the time is right to accelerate the

Ericsson has announced plans to revamp its organisational structure, and employ an additional 500 engineers. The new organisation will affect the current business units and the Stockholm headquarters. Under the new arrangement the Swedish company will now have three business units: Networks, Global Services and Multimedia. The firm said in a release on it website on Monday that its move is due to its desire to take advantage of opportunities to further strengthen its market and technology leadership. It noted that the development in mobile and fixed broadband capabilities and move toward next generation networks open up for richer multimedia services and accelerates opportunities for growth. “Ericsson is therefore implementing a more customer-oriented organization with three business units, each optimized for its specific market segment,” the statement explained. Ericsson’s President and CEO, Carl-Henric Svanberg, said: “We are stronger than ever and the time is right to accelerate the

Jonah Iboma The Minister of Communications, Dr. Obafemi Anibaba, on Saturday expressed dissatisfaction over the absence of the Nigeria Postal Service at the nation’s seaports in Lagos. Speaking during a tour of the facilities in Lagos, Anibaba directed that steps should immediately be taken by the organisation to redress the situation. NIPOST, which once, had offices at the Apapa port, sold the facility in the course of the implementation of government’s port concessioning scheme. The organisation had been asked to come up with N140m but when it could not meet this condition, the place was sold. Anibaba stated that despite the development, this should not make NIPOST absent from the ports and directed that both his ministry and that of transport be informed to resolve the matter. He, therefore, directed the management of NIPOST to forward a letter seeking to buy back the place to his office and that of the Minister of Transport, saying the N140m demanded for its sale should not have be

Jonah Iboma Electronic banking is set to continue its upward swing in Nigeria, as ATM Africa, the continent’s leading supplier of automatic teller machines, is to drive its West Africa business from Nigeria. To this end, the firm has therefore set up a regional office in Nigeria and also appointed two Nigerian firms: Channel IT and CFAO Technologies its distribution and technical partners respectively for the whole of the West African region. The Chief Executive Officer of ATM Africa, Mr. Douglas Gillan, said in an interview with our correspondent on Monday, that his firm, the sole distributor of GRG banking products in Africa chose Nigeria due to the steady growth of card payment systems in the country and the potential available locally. According to him, the future of e-banking in Nigeria is very bright and requires good focus. “I think that the Nigerian market presents a wonderful opportunity for the growth of ATMs. In my opinion, Nigeria will take the lion’s share in the nu

Jonah Iboma The Nigerian Television Authority is to commence experimental digital broadcasting this year in a number of major cities in the country as a prelude towards its full introduction in all its stations nationwide. The move is part of steps to meet the global target for the shift of broadcasting from analogue to digital technology as set by the International Telecommunications Union, the global body in charge of broadcasting and communications. The Director of Engineering, NTA, Dr. Edwards Amana, told our correspondent in Kaduna in an interview on Friday, that the new broadcast format had been planned for the third quarter of 2007. He said the current non-digital storage formats such as VHS for the station’s films, would also be changed to digital model. Amana said the adoption of digital broadcasting would, among other things, offer the national television network more channels for broadcasting in the country. He said though digital broadcast would eventually lead to a phase-o

Analysis The Nigerian telecommunications sector has been one of the bright spots in the country’s economic development in the past seven years. The growth of the sector, especially the mobile arm, has had a direct impact on other aspects of the Nigerian economy. Today, as result of the improvements in the telecoms sector, business activities have been greatly enhanced, and the lifestyle of many people have also improved. While the sector has been directly responsible for the creation of a substantial quality of jobs, it has also produced jobs indirectly other sectors. For instance, outsourcing services are making an inroad into the country simply due to the fact that the telecoms sector has taken root. The impressive performance of the mobile operators has opened the eyes of many investors who had in the past been unwilling to come to Nigeria and they are now seeking ways to come into this economy. The IT sector (software and hardware) as well as the printing and publishing sectors, ha

Advancements in technology are changing global business and social interactions. JONAH IBOMA examines recent steps taken by Nigeria to meet these global trends. In 2003 and 2005, the United Nations, realising the increasing role that Information and Communications Technology played globally, organised the World Summit of Information Society in Switzerland and Tunisia. The summit, held under the auspices the International Telecommunications Union, sought to establish the position of various countries in the world in the adoption of digital tools in their economic and social endeavours and also prescribed solutions to bridging the digital divide between them. A number of initiatives were started to increase teledensity, Internet access and the ability of nations to deliver reliable ICT services. The Digital Solidarity Fund, a scheme created to help countries with very little access to ICTs, was created at the end of the summit. Also, the global trade body of firms dealing in GSM technolo