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Showing posts from August, 2007

‘e-magazine conceived to guide telecoms investors’

The former Vice- President, Nigerian Society of Engineers, and a consultant to the Nigerian Communications Commission, Mr. Titi Omo-Ettu, highlights the motives behind the establishment of a free e-magazine, in this interview with Jonah Iboma Cyberschuul news has become an industry reference as an electronic news bulletin for the Nigerian telecoms and IT industry. How did it begin? The conception of CyberschuulNews dates back to the deregulation of the telecoms industry in Nigeria. It was an activist's response to support and promote deregulation and to assist investors from the perspective of private sector initiative and innovation outside the domain of government. You will agree with me that one of the key objectives of telecoms deregulation is to attract investments to the sector. The critical need of every investor is information. CyberschuulNews was conceived to publish industry information in a manner that would service investors. Useful information is indispensable

Glo Blackberry users toast service

Jonah Iboma Subscribers have applauded the Blackberry services being offered by Globacom.According to a statement released by the firm on Thursday, users who spoke on the impact the product on their personal and business activities, noted that the device had become a very important part of their lives. The Head of Legal, BGL Limited, Mr. Billy Odum, said the Blackberry from Glo had helped to transform him. He disclosed that he once ran into the Pulitzer Prize winner, the Nigerian-born Dele Olojede at the airport and that even though the name rang a bell, he did not have details about the personality he was meeting. His Blackberry from Glo became a handy tool to search for details about the journalist. That, he said, helped him to maintain a robust conversation with Olojede. Odum confessed that unlike other executives who carried several phones around, he depends only on his Blackberry for his voice and data communication and had found it very reliable. He said he had been spreading th

Samsung becomes the world’s second largest mobile phone vendor

Jonah Iboma Samsung has overtaken Motorola for the first time to become the world’s second largest handset vendor, according to a research from Strategy Analytics.The technology research firm said global mobile phone shipments grew by 11 percent year-over-year, to reach 258 million units in the second quarter of 2007. The report noted that in the period under review, Samsung shipped 37.4 m mobile phones while Motorola shipped 35.5, a decrease of about 10m phones when compared with shipments done in first quarter of the year.Nokia, however continues to maintain a leadership in the market with shipment of over 100million mobile phones in the second quarter. This helped the firm increase its market share from 36.9 to 39.1per cent.With the 35million phones shipped in the second quarter, Samsung now has a 14.5 per cent market as against 14.1 per cent. Motorola, which had a 184 per cent share in the first quarter dropped about five points to end the period with a 13.8 per cent share of the g

'Computer errors cost banks'

Jonah Iboma Chris Ekeigwe,Managing consultant, EDP Audit and Security Associates, has revealed that computer errors can cost banks billions of naira annually principally because they are largely undetected. Speaking to newsmen on the scheduled training on Bank Revenue Assurance with Digital Data Analytics for August 24-27. 2007, at EDP Tecknowledge Education Center, in Lagos, he stated that, “no amount of testing will guarantee that computer programs will work perfectly as specified. There is always some residual risk. The solution lies in continuous post implementation testing and assurance”. Stop-go control measures are not suitable for Nigeria’s high technology banking environment;, he added. He lamented that most top managers, unfortunately simply think that once the user acceptance testing (UAT) is done and signed-off the computer will work as proven, as desired. Ekeigwe revealed that the Nigerian banking industry loses billions of naira every year due to unaccountable comput