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By Jonah Iboma The Nigerian Communications Commission has cautioned GSM operators in the country to improve on quality of services offered to subscribers before the end of September or be ready to refund airtime to subscribers. In separate letters dated September 19, 2007 and published on its website with the title Notice of Intention to Issue Direction, NCC said it intended to act in accordance to its powers as provided in section 53 of the Nigerian Communications Act, 2003. According to the telecoms industry regulator, the move becomes necessary due to continued complaints by subscribers on the poor quality of services being offered by these networks and losses resulting from it. The NCC said if the poor services continued, it would enforce the sanction on the operators as from October 1, 2007. The letters read in part, “The commission is still being inundated with complaints from subscribers on the issue of poor and unacceptable level of quality of service on the networks of mobile

Nigeria‘s Telecommunications industry may be heading for another controversy following moves by the Lagos State Government to withhold approvals to operators who wish to build new base stations. Announcing the decision, the General Manager of the Lagos State Infrastructure Management and Regulatory Agency, Mr. Joe Igbokwe, said it was based on the need to protect people‘s lives and the environment. He said that the 2,000 odd base stations already existed in the state were enough, bearing in mind that issues had been raised concerning the possible negative impact of mobile telecommunications infrastructure and terminals on people‘s health. Subscribers may be the ones to suffer the impact of this move as already exemplified in Abuja, where attempts by the Federal Capital Territory Administration to force operators to install their infrastructure based on its own terms backfired. This led to the suspension of expansion work on telecommunication infrastructure in the city for close to two

The Chairman of Zinox Technologies Limited, Chief Leo Stan Ekeh, has said that Z-scop, the firm’s new initiative, is designed to prepare students educated in Nigeria to compete with their counterparts elsewhere in the world. Speaking in an interview with our correspondent in Lagos, Ekeh said the lack of computer skills was the main reason for the complaints that Nigerian students were not well educated. He said this led Zinox to design the scheme to enable students own computers and also to have some additional applications to aid learning. He said Z-scop would make both laptops and desktops available to students using the latest technology, including bluetooth, which allows for mobile Internet connection, The Z-scop computer acquisition scheme allows students to acquire computers under concessionary payment terms. A student who purchases one and makes full payment gets a 10 per cent discount. However, the scheme allows for payment to spread over six and 12 months. Zinox said it planne

Nigeria’s Second National Operator, Globacom, has pledged to continue to focus its resources towards providing better services to its rapidly expanding subscriber base. This pledge was given on Thursday by the Managing Director of Gloworld, Mrs. Shade Boyede, at the opening of the 37th Globacom retail shop, Gloworld in Ketu, Lagos. She said that the shop was opened to give the people of the area the opportunity to access Glo services at a convenient location near them. The opening of the shop, she added, was in line with Globacom’s vision of making each outlet a one-stop shop for the subscribers communication needs. She said that Gloworld had also generated employment for over 200 Nigerians, who manned shops spread all over the country. The personnel in these shops, Boeyede explained, were trained to handle the sales of Glo products, sim cards replacements, retrieval of wrongly-scratched recharge cards, phone and laptop configurations. The Onikosi of Ikosi, Oba Alamu Oloyede Kehinde, w

Nigeria’s Second National Operator, Globacom, has pledged to continue to focus its resources towards providing better services to its rapidly expanding subscriber base. This pledge was given on Thursday by the Managing Director of Gloworld, Mrs. Shade Boyede, at the opening of the 37th Globacom retail shop, Gloworld in Ketu, Lagos. She said that the shop was opened to give the people of the area the opportunity to access Glo services at a convenient location near them. The opening of the shop, she added, was in line with Globacom’s vision of making each outlet a one-stop shop for the subscribers communication needs. She said that Gloworld had also generated employment for over 200 Nigerians, who manned shops spread all over the country. The personnel in these shops, Boeyede explained, were trained to handle the sales of Glo products, sim cards replacements, retrieval of wrongly-scratched recharge cards, phone and laptop configurations. The Onikosi of Ikosi, Oba Alamu Oloyede Kehinde, w

Local information technology firms may continue to play second fiddle to foreign ones except they come together to tackle their challenges, stakeholders have said. They spoke at one-day IT Chief Executives summit organised by the Information Technology (Industry) Association of Nigeria in Lagos on Friday. According to the forum, some areas where industry stakeholders need greater collaboration, is in the production and branding of locally-made computers and software. According to the Managing Director, Connect Technologies, Mr. Chris Uwaje, local computer makers need to reduce the number of activities that make up their production processes and outsource others. He said, “Nigerian Original Equipment Manufacturers are doing several jobs together. This includes design, analysis, coding, testing, documentation and marketing. This should not be so.” He said this situation called for them to specialize and farm out responsibilities to others so that they could become better in such areas. T

Investment in undersea telecommunications transmission cables is expected to hit over $1.4bn with the emergence on Monday that a Nigerian firm, Mainstreet Technologies is to build its own undersea cable at a cost of $300m. The project, which is conceived to rival SAT-3, a transatlantic transmission system sponsored mainly telecom incumbents in 36 member investment groups led by Telkom of South Africa in one of the new cable projects that have come on board since 2001. The project called MaIN OnE, is coming on the heels of four others namely Glo-1, which is costing $150m, the East African Submarine System, which is costing $200m and - The East African Marine System, which is also costing $150m. The $600m investment in SAT3 fibre, (whose full acronym is SAT3/WASC/SAFE) and goes from Portugal to South Africa, and moves out across the Indian Ocean to Asia is still the biggest. The cable system is divided into two sub-systems, SAT3/WASC in the Atlantic Ocean with landing points in several W

Zinox Technologies Limited has announced a new scheme that would make 100,000 computers available for purchase by students in Nigerian schools at concessionary prices. Chairman of Zinox Technologies, Chief Leo Stan Ekeh, said the scheme known as Z-scop, would put laptops and desktop computers with the latest technologies for acquisition by students from primarily schools to university level. Speaking at a press conference in Lagos on Tuesday, Ekeh said the scheme had become necessary in view of the fact that many Nigerian students were still lacking access to computers despite the fact that this was basic in today's business and education lives. He said the project was possible due to special agreement with Intel and Microsoft for the processors and operating systems that drive the computers. He said Z-scop was exclusive to Zinox and laptops to be sold would be introduced slightly below N100,000 per unit. He explained that Z-scop would particularly benefit the country's educati

That Nigeria has continued to pay lip service to information technology education and development is no news to anyone familiar with the sector in the country. This is exemplified by the fact that the government failed to provide the needed legal recognition to the agency it set up to develop the sector, despite an avowed claim that it wants to use technology to grow the economy. The situation is even more laughable when one considers that Nigeria also said it wanted to rival the likes of India and China and become a leading economy in the next twenty years. Let it be stated that this desire cannot be accomplished if current level of neglect of information technology continues. But Nigeria’s desire to become a leading global economy is not the main issue for discussion today. The main issue is on bringing computers and computer education to schools. The need to discuss this subject had become necessary after a recent announcement by Tunisia that it would give broadband internet connect

Just barely a week after it emerged that an American firm, Herakles, is to build another East African communication cable, South African Communications Minister, Ivy Matsepe-Casaburri, has caused the project to be stopped. This follows announcement that no undersea cable will be allowed to land in the country and provide cheaper broadband unless local or African investors have majority shareholding. The unexpected development has prompted Herakles to pull out of building its proposed East African cable. Analysts are looking at the development as another missed opportunity for Africa to have access to cheap internet bandwidth and a reliable transmission system. The South African move is designed to get EASSy (East African Submarine System) to fall into line with the NEPAD Protocol, of which the South African Government has been the strongest supporter. However, the move is being seen by many as an attempt by a few firms and countries to foist their desires on other in the continent. Bef

A Nigerian firm, Mainstreet Technologies, plans to build an undersea optic fibre cable to compete with SAT-3. SAT-3 is a transatlantic transmission system sponsored by telecoms incumbents, led by Telkom of South Africa. Our correspondent gathered on Monday that the project would cost $300m. The firm plans to complete it ahead of others currently under construction. This will make it the first alternative source of underwater transmission to SAT-3. Mainstreet has Ms. Funke Opeke as its Chief Executive Officer. She was until recently the Chief Operating Officer of the Nigerian Telecommunications Limited. Known as MaIN OnE, the cable seeks to connect 12 countries, including Morocco, Mauritania, Senegal, Guinea, Cote d’Ivoire, Ghana, Nigeria (Lagos and Port Harcourt), Gabon, the DRC and Angola. The firm said there was an option to extend the cable to South Africa if there was a change of attitude to external operators by the government of the country. “We’ve been a little disappointed with

Globacom, Nigeria ’s second National GSM Operator, has won the 2007 Fortune and Class Enterprise Awards. The company which recently celebrated its fourth anniversary, was named winner in the award category of Employer of Choice Award at a ceremony held at Eko Hotel and Suites last Sunday. The award ceremony was organised by Fortune and Class, a business focus monthly magazine. In a letter to Globacom, the coordinator of the Awards Committee, Niyi Akinsiju, disclosed that the award “measured learning/personal improvement opportunities, compensation (fringe benefits/perks), employee pride, competition/non-employee envy and aspiration.” Other criteria include management sensitivity, welfare, health and safety, remarkable corporate image and long-term goals. Akinsiju said that winners emerged from a poll of readers of the magazine conducted in August. The 2007 edition is the second of the annual awards initiated last year to promote excellence in corporate organizations. The Employer of Ch

Hewlett Packard has introduced new media relationships and products that feature elegant designs for everyone from consumers to IT professionals. The firm said in statement on Friday that its new business product line-up featured various designs and sheer performance across business desktops, notebooks, workstations and displays. The products comprise new business computers which have eye-catching design and with optimal performance in virtually any business environment — across business desktops, notebooks, workstations and displays. The firm said a formal inauguration took place at an evening gala on the eve of New York ‘s illustrious Fashion Week, where the company hosted an audience of nearly 1,000 industry influencers, partners, customers and other notable personalities.

Nigeria has recorded consistent growth in Internet penetration in the last six years with the number of users in the country reaching over five million in 2006 compared to a mere 200,000 in year 2000. The development, which represents over 2,400 per cent growth in users, makes Nigeria the fastest growing in Africa as against a continental average of 640 per cent The Chief Executive Officer of Setlin.com, Mr. Eric Amagada, who stated in Lagos on Friday, said that the development confirmed the prevalent role of the Internet in modern life and its impact on channelling consumers’ preferences for the future. Amagada, who spoke at a retreat organised by the Association of Corporate Affairs Managers of Banks, said that the Internet had become a central communication medium today as organisations seek to impact on their future markets, retain and grow successive generations of loyal customers Delivering a lecture titled, Internet Publicity and Branding Strategy for Banks he said, “The Interne

Various corporate organisations in Nigeria have rated New Horizons’ Information Technology Infrastructure Library training high. New Horizons has trained the staff of many organisations in Nigeria, including UAC, Nigeria Bottling Company, Tractor & Equipment, Diamond Bank, FCMB, First Inland Bank, UBA, Schlumberger and CELTEL. Participants commended New Horizons on the quality of content used, the conducive learning environment, and the high quality of instructors who facilitated the training. They also attributed their excellent results at the ITIL exams on the training they received from New Horizons. ITIL is a globally accepted best practice in service management, with large and small users in both public and private sectors. It gives a detailed description of a number of important IT practices, with comprehensive checklists, tasks, procedures and responsibilities which can be tailored to any IT organisation.

Digitplus Limited has signed a new pact with Taiwanese firm, Twinmos Technology for the unloading of different suites of hardware solutions. Twinmos is a sole Nigerian partner is to meet the need of corporate players in West Africa’s biggest technology market. With offices in Abuja and Lagos, Digitplus has in the last seven years, been a major provider of computer solutions to government institutions, embassies, private sector companies including banks and educational institutions. The firm said a number of bundled partnerships with other major players in Asia and the Middle East such as Golden Systems of Iran and Dubai based Hadian General Trading had helped it to expand the market for Gigabyte and Axper motherboards particularly in Abuja and other northern cities. “Our new partnership will help us to consolidate on our presence in the market where we have maintained a large list of satisfied customers in the last seven years,” said the CEO of Digitplus Mr. Oladapo Esomojumi. “We have

Jonah Iboma In Grahamstown , South Africa Herakles Telecom, a United States of America -based Telecommunications Company is to build an East African Submarine cable, an official of the Africa Progressive Communications has said. Coura Fall, Information Communication Technology Policy Advocacy Officer, APC, said the cable to be known as SEACOM will operate a 13,000 submarine fibre optic cable along the east coast of Africa and through the Red Sea. He said “Herakles Telecom is to build the SEACOM marine cable along the East Coast of Africa whose work is to be completed by the year 2009 at a cost of $300m.” At a presentation at the ongoing Highway Africa Conference on South Africa, Herakles said, the cable, would compete with two other cables currently under construction- the Kenyan government-sponsored The East Africa Marine System (TEAMS) and the East African Submarine System (EASSy). When completed, it will connect major urban centres of Kenya, Madagascar, Mozambique, Tanzania and Sout

There were indications on Monday that Vodafone's bid to gain control of Vodacom of South Africa has been hit by local political opposition and wrangling over the sale price. Telkom, which jointly owns Vodacom with Vodafone confirmed last week that it was holding talks with Vodafone about a possible sale of its stake in Vodacom, for a price reported to be worth £5 bn. However, Times Online suggested in a report that the deal may not see the light of the day due to the huge political ramifications it would have. First problem that the deal could run into is that the proposal by Telkom to sell off its fixed-line assets to the MTN Group. Analysts believe that the move to sell its fixed-line as well as its mobile assets would reshape South Africa's telecoms industry and even the continent as it would spell the end of Telkom and create a new national and possibly a continent champion in the form of the enlarged mobile/fixed-line giant MTN. The planned deal is expected to trigger stro

Who is a journalist? What is journalism? Is every one involved in journalism qualified to be called a journalist? Does online information dissemination qualify a person to be called a journalist? These were some of the burning questions that lifted up the opening session of the Highway Africa 2007 conference on Monday. At the Eden Grove Red Lecture Theatre, discussants drawn from across the continent were very vocal in pursuing their positions on who should be called a journalist and what journalism was about. Asked to define what journalism is, Robert Kabushenga of the Uganda's New Vision newspaper said it involved the delivery of stories to the public in a professional way. According to him, journalism is a profession requiring specific skills to be used to achieve this professional delivery of information to the reading public. Commenting, Thabo Leshilo of the Sowetan, South Africa, countered this position, saying that rather than an exclusive profession like that of the Medical

The Association of Licensed Telecommunications Operators of Nigeria is to petition the Attorney General of the Federation, the Inspector General of Police and some other government agencies over plans by the Lagos state Government to stop the erection of new telecoms base stations by telecoms operators. Chairman of telecoms group, Mr. Gbenga Adebayo, said in a media briefing that the move by the state government to sanction operators amounted to regulating the telecoms sector, an action he noted, was beyond the state responsibilities. He also said the move was in contravention of earlier ruling of the Federal High Court which had stopped attempts by any state government from embarking on such an exercise. The ALTON statement was a reaction to an address by the Lagos State Infrastructure Management and Regulatory Agency, on Wednesday in which it said that about 2,000 base stations already existing in the state were enough. The General Manager, LASIMRA, Mr. Joe Igbokwe, said the state w

Jonah Iboma, Lagos The Lagos State Government has imposed a ban on the erection of more telecom base stations in any part of the Lagos metropolis. The Lagos State Infrastructure Management and Regulatory Agency, which issued the directive on Wednesday, said that about 2,000 base stations already existing in the state were enough, bearing in mind the safety of the people and the need for the preservation of the environment. The General Manager of LASIMRA Mr. Joe Igbokwe, who announced this in a media conference in Lagos, said that even if there would be need for erection of base stations in the developing areas of the state, telecom operators wishing to do so, must obtain necessary approval. He added that given the situation in Lagos, the time had come for operators to take the issue of collocation and infrastructure sharing seriously so that both their services and the subscribers could have the best in terms of telecommunications services. He said, " I want to charge our mega tel

Jonah Iboma The International Data Corporation has raised its forecast of the number of mobile phones to be sold in Nigeria in 2007, predicting that users will buy a total of 14.5 million phones this year. IDC had said it expected the market in 2007 for mobile phones to reach 12.3 million. In the report it said it expected over 10.5million new GSM phones to be sold, while imported refurbished phones and CDMA phones would add another 1.7 million for a total market of 12.3 million. This figure, IDC said in its Nigeria Quarterly Mobile Phone Tracker, Q4 2006, “will make the Nigerian market the largest in Africa, exceeding that in South Africa for the first time.” However following recent developments, IDC said the market had witnessed unexpected boom of mobile phone sales in the second quarter of 2007 and as such would result in the increase in sales figures for the year. The global business intelligence research firm, according to data made available to our correspondent, said it expecte