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Meganet Nigeria Limited, a telecommunication value added services firm, has unveiled a platform for recharging mobile phones from the Internet. The Chief Executive Officer, Meganet, Mr. Oso Abiodun, while unveiling the platform, explained that it was designed to enable mobile phone users recharge their phones from the comfort of their homes, offices or wherever, provided they had access to the Internet. He explained that the service would ride on the Interswitch payment platform, thereby ensuring reliable security for users and also enabling a user to recharge his phone, using a debit card without visiting an automatic teller machine. He added that the firm designed the product to make the lives of Nigerians more comfortable. Abiodun said, “We are an information technology company with core interest in web development, software solution development wireless and enterprise solutions. “Since our mission is to develop products and resources that will offer convenience to people in the tec

PNN Limited, a telecom turnkey and infrastructure firm with operations in several Africa countries, has announced an agreement with Independent Towers Limited to deploy and operate 750 base stations sites. The project, according to the firms, is expected to cover six African countries and will be implemented between now and June 2010. ITL is a firm with specialisation in building telecom towers and base stations. Our correspondent gathered in Lagos on Monday that in the first phase of the project worth N7bn, 200 co-location sites would be built in Nigeria, Ghana and Uganda while the rest would follow suit immediately. The Managing Director of PNN, Alhaji AbdulRahman Abiola-Odunowo, said that the firm intended to deploy the sites innovatively to help reduce the capital and operational expenditure for these sites. He stated, “To achieve a reduction in the operational expenses of our client, ITL has approved that all the sites would be deployed utilising alternative power solutions. We ar

Leading Information Technology Professional training institutions firm, New Horizons, is to organise job fair and IT seminar, which will focus on tapping contemporary job opportunities for people in Africa The event will feature the major technology firms including Microsoft, Oracle, Cisco, Sun Microsystems, EC-Council and New Horizons coming together to discuss the latest trends in IT and how it affects Africans as a whole, but more importantly, how individuals can benefit optimally from the numerous IT opportunities. The epoch making event will take place at three locations across the country: namely Lagos, Ogun and The firm said the event which will take place on the 18th of October 2008 would teach participants about actionable steps to take towards improving their professional skills thereby making it easier to get the jobs of their dreams. It added that as a result of this, top recruitment companies such as People Prime, IRIS Consulting, Michael Stevens, and Clement Ashley Cons

MTN Nigeria Communications Limited, has signed a five year deal for the provision of a Wide Area Network solution to support 89 up-country branches of First City Monument Bank The wide area network solution provided by MTN will assist FCMB to enhance its customer experience, product and human capital development. In a statement on Friday, Head of Information Technology, FCMB, Mr. Olayinka Oni, said the Wide Area Network solution would improve the quality of services rendered by the bank through the prompt provision of banking services and, reduction on the time customers spend in the banking halls. “The solution which is the first of its kind to be adopted by any bank in Nigeria will reduce turn around time, improve transaction speed, and enhance customer satisfaction. It will also impact on long term increase in customer base and long term profit,” Oni stated. He said further, “This is an exciting development, and we look forward to leveraging on the cutting edge ICT facilities provid

Tavia Technologies Limited, a leading Applications Solutions Provider has been honoured with three awards at the Microsoft Nigeria's Partner Award ceremony. The awards are in recognition of Tavia’s efforts in delivering and enhancing value to the numerous members of Microsoft’s clientele across the three main areas of its operations; Web, Wireless & Applications and Business Intelligence. Tavia, formed in 1999, won Rookie of the year award, Customer Experience Award and the Country Managers Award which are the results of the company's strong focus to consistently provide first class services to its clients. The firm, which has over the years carved a niche for itself in the industry took a strategic decision to further deepen and leverage its relationship with Microsoft through skills acquisition partnerships which have enhanced its service delivery to its clients. The Chief Executive Officer, Tavia Technologies, Mr. Ayo Olasoju, said the company had invested in human cap

Jonah Iboma IN its quest to take Internet and video conferencing facilities to the grassroots, Emperion West Africa has completed a one-day seminar on its franchise programme in Lagos. The franchise programme is a nationwide scheme designed at providing ordinary folks affordable Internet, which allows individual, small and medium businesses the opportunity to offer services through the franchise programme. The scheme is also designed to provide also a national stock and service support to achieve the objectives. According to the firm the seminar, gave officials of Emperion the opportunity to explain the franchise programme to its existing and potential dealers. The Managing Director, Mr. Sandeep Jayaswal, who led the Emperion team, said the scheme was designed to transform internet access in the country “Services will be standardised,” Jayaswal told his audience that came from far and near. “The programme will revive cyber café businesses, use of online payment, offer financial help a

Etisalat has today announced the introduction of Homezone, yet another dimension of choice in the suite of choices it is offering potential subscribers to the Etisalat network in its ongoing 0809uchoose campaign. Homezone is an innovative feature from Etisalat that will empower customers with the power to choose and register any area of their choice nationwide in the launch cities, and in other cities subsequently, as their Homezone. On this highly unique plan, calls within the registered Homezone attract discounted costs compared to calls made in other areas. This means that customers can register any area they spend most of their time as their Homezone and thus enjoy discounted call rates every time they make calls from this zone. Speaking about the new initiative, Etisalat Nigeria’s Vice President Marketing, Wael Ammar, stated that with Homezone, Etisalat is further demonstrating to Nigerians that it is entering the Nigerian market with the sole intention of ensuring that Nigerian

Jonah Iboma Grahamstown, South Africa Leading African mobile telecommunications operators have signed a $400m pact to build an undersea fibre optic cable infrastructure that would complement the current but insufficient SAT3 in operation. The new cable will run from the West Africa coast through the rest of Africa.Leading operators in the pact which include Vodacom, Telkom, MTN, Broadband Infraco and Neotel said on Sunday that they signed a deal worth more than $400 million (about R3.12 billion) to build a 5.1Tb cable to land in as many African countries on the West Coast as possible. The new venture is expected to increase the already emerging competition in the undersea cable business. Due to dissatisfaction with SAT-3, the only undersea cable serving most of the countries in West coast of Africa, a number of new ventures had started to provide alternative services. Among these ventures are Infinity Cable promoted by Infinity Worldwide Group based in Granada; MainOne Cable promoted b

Jonah Iboma The fastest growing telecommunications company in the world, Etisalat, has today 08.09, announced that it has entered the final leg of its journey towards the commencement of commercial operations in Nigeria. Etisalat, Nigeria's fifth GSM operator had paid 400 million USD to obtain the Unified Access Service License.Etisalat had made the first official call on its network on 13 March 2008 and progressively set in motion the process of rolling out a robust and stable network that will traverse Nigeria, starting with several cities. Making the announcement today in Lagos, the Chairman of Etisalat Nigeria, Mr. Hakeem Bello-Osagie said 'Today, 08.09, I am happy to announce that Etisalat Nigeria is indeed on track in its quest to build and deliver a truly robust and stable network, one in keeping with Etisalat's reputation as a world class telecommunications service provider.' Mr. Bello-Osagie further stated that 'it has been crucial for Etisalat Nigeria to

Jonah Iboma In the light of the current epileptic services and high price regime by Telecom Operators in the country, experts have advocated the use of internet telephony as the only succour available for now. One of their strong points is that Internet telephony forms more than 75 per cent of calls in developed countries while Nigerians still depend largely on GSM and landlines for both local and international calls. A Nigerian communication expert based in the United States of America, Dom Francis, lamented the cost and quality of services Nigerians are made to endure in the name of telephone services. He noted that the unfortunate thing was that the cost of calls was not commensurate with the services received by subscribers. He advised Nigerians to wake up to the realities of evolving technology stressing that Nigerians seem to have been left far too behind. "Out there internet calls is the main thing and it doesn't cost more than N5 per minute whether local or internati

Jonah Iboma Grahamstown, South Africa MTN Group on Sunday admitted quality challenges in a number of countries where it operates stating however that it was set to address the problems.Already in a number of countries the telecoms firm has spent huge sums of money on quality improvement.The Executive Director, Corporate Affairs, MTN Group, Ms. Nozipho January-Bardill Who disclosed this at the ongoing 12th Highway Africa conference at Rhodes University, Grahamstown, South Africa, stated that strong growth was expected across the regions and that additional investments infrastructure would be required to meet demand and improve network quality.She said this decision reflected the determination of the Group to be the leading provider of telecommunications services across the globe and especially in emerging markets.Speaking further, she said the group has always been a leader in the provision of quality telecom services to its subscribers and therefore would not relent in this direction.

Jonah Iboma There were indications on Friday that Globacom is in talks about forming a partnership with South African mobile phone operator, Vodacom. According to reports by Reuters, an unnamed spokesman for Globacom said both Telkom South Africa, which owns 50 per cent of Vodacom, and the Nigerian company were partnership talks. The spokesman said, “There is a discussion going on between Vodacom and Globacom ... The discussion is about building a business partnership between the two organisations.” It added that a spokeswoman for Vodacom, however, said that she was unaware of any such talks. A South African newspaper had earlier reported that the Chairman of Globacom, Dr. Mike Adenuga, had proposed merging Telkom’s 50 percent stake in Vodacom with Globacom to create a pan-African telecom firm “Vodaglo” worth $18 billion Vodacom provides GSM service to more than 23 million customers in South Africa, Tanzania, the Democratic Republic of Congo, Lesotho and Mozambique. Industry experts in

As NCC plans price cap Mobile phone operators on Tuesday agreed to commence steps to reduce the price short message service across their networks considering the potential of increased SMS use to reduce network congestion and in line with practice elsewhere. Operators expressed this position at a consultative forum held on Tuesday in Lagos by the Nigerian Communications Commission on reduction of SMS tariffs. The NCC had argued that current SMS tariff in Nigeria was too high against the backdrop of the fact that SMS utilises an almost insignificant network resource. According to the Executive Vice-Chairman, NCC, Mr. Ernest Ndukwe, operators were not doing their networks good by keeping prices of SMS high as increased use of SMS could help reduce the congestion on networks and improve services generally. He added that complaints about current tariff were increasing. He said, “As you well know, SMS serves as alternative platform of communications to voice to the teeming consumers in Nige

Nigeria’s locally owned pay television platform, Hi-TV, has recorded over 100,000 subscriber base, the company said in a statement on Monday. The station, owned by Entertainment Highway Limited, commenced operations on February 1, 2007 with a pledge to provide qualitative, informative and entertaining content to Nigerians at affordable rates. with a further promise to give customers value for money through compelling content and technical quality The Chief Operating Officer of HiTV, Mr. Olumide Amore, was quoted as saying that an unprecedented patronage has propelled the subscriber base from 25,000 in August last year to 47,000 in December, over 70,000 in February 2008 and 122,000 at the end of July 2008. Amore said having overcome initial start-up challenges as freezing of satellite signals and late kick off of live matches, the platform was poised to offer subscribers quality services having invested heavily in equipment and infrastructure, as well as the recruitment of tested hands.

By Jonah Iboma Mobile phone operators on Tuesday agreed to commence steps to reduce the price of short message service across their networks. This is considering the potential of increased use of SMS in reducing network congestion in line with the practice elsewhere. The operators came up with this position at a consultative forum held on Tuesday in Lagos, by the Nigerian Communications Commission on reduction of SMS tariffs. The NCC had argued that the current SMS tariff in Nigeria was too high against the backdrop of the fact that SMS utilises an almost insignificant network resource. According to the Executive Vice-Chairman, NCC, Mr. Ernest Ndukwe, the operators are not doing their networks any good by keeping prices of SMS high as increased use of SMS could help reduce the congestion on the networks and improve services generally. He added that complaints about current tariff were increasing. He said, “As you well know, SMS serves as alternative platform of communications to voice

Seek biometric authentication for e-commerce Jonah Iboma The Nigerian Computer Society has asked the Federal Government to license more telecommunication operators to offer third generation mobile services in the country. According to the body, issuing more licences was important as 3G services offered the country a window for increased job creation. The President of NCS, Prof. Charles Uwadia, who stated this on Wednesday during a media conference on its recently-concluded national convention, noted that 3G technology offered a very quick means of fast-tracking internet access and improving businesses in Nigeria. He said, “3G mobile communications services provide a window of opportunities for job creation in Nigeria. The Federal Government is thus urged through the Nigerian Communications Commission to grant additional licenses to increase the diffusion and deployment of GSM and Internet access in Nigeria.” Currently Nigeria has issued four 3G licences to namely; Glo Mobile, MTN Niger

New Horizons, the world’s leading information technology training institution, has highlighted the need for youths to have information technology skills to better their lives. The company stated this in a statement made available on Monday, after a special information and entertainment programme for youths in Lagos. The Managing Director, New Horizons, Mr. Tim Akano, told participants that the present century belonged to Nigerian youths, and urged them to strive hard to take their rightful place in the scheme of things in the world, thereby leading Nigeria gallantly into the future. He noted that IT was central among skills that they should possess to become competitive in the present age. He added that it was the duty of the youths to develop Nigeria and that foreigners could not do a better job than the citizens. He identified the IT skills that participants should acquire in order to improve their chances of professional success to include Oracle and Microsoft certifications, E-Busi

Kuwait-listed Zain Group, owners of Celtel Nigeria, has reported a significant growth in revenues with customer numbers exceeding 50 million. For the first half of 2008, Zain Group recorded consolidated revenues of $3.49bn, an increase of 26 per cent compared to the first half of 2007. The company’s consolidated earnings before interest, tax, depreciation and amortisation increased by 20 per cent for the same period to $1.305bn. Zain’s consolidated net profits reached $551.5m, an increase of seven per cent on the first half of 2007 profits. Year-on-year customer growth across the two continents where Zain operates was 58 per cent with the group serving 50.74 million active customers as at 30 June, 2008. Commenting on the company’s first half of 2008 financial results, Zain’s Chief Executive Officer, Dr. Saad Al-Barrak said, “On the back of splendid results for 2007 and the first quarter of 2008, despite fierce competition in many markets, we are elated that Zain continues its excellent

Jonah Iboma The Computer Professionals Registration Council of Nigeria is to introduce a professional examination programme similar to what is being offered by other professional bodies in the country.The programme, called, "Computer Professional Examination," is to be offered in various stages to individuals depending on their skills and academic qualifications with highest level being equivalent to a university degree. According to the Registrar of CPN, Mr. Sikiru Shehu, every stage of the examination has a corresponding recognition in the country's educational system as approved by the Federal Ministry of Education. He added that the introduction of the programme had become necessary in view of the fact that computer education had become compulsory like mathematics and English language. He said a professional programme of the nature had to be introduced in order to offer students, who were unable to immediately meet standards for university education, a window to acqui

Recent developments have showed that Nigeria needs to quickly implement a harmonised emergency numbering system. JONAH IBOMA captures experts’ views on the matter. Today, Nigeria remains one of the countries in the world where a uniform number code that can be reached in times of emergencies does not exist. This is despite the rising incidences requiring the use of such numbers in the country. Instead of simple three digit numbers, there exists various numbers used by the Nigeria Police, Federal and state fire services and even traffic management agencies for emergencies. The situation means that in case of emergencies, people often struggle to remember the numbers to contact. The situation is made worse by the fact that the numbers are not easy to remember as many of them are regular mobile lines with 11 digits. Globally, this is not the situation as various countries have numbers for emergencies. Recently, the International Telecommunications Union introduced a new emergency numberin

Jonah Iboma Coscharis Group on Tuesday unveiled its brand of locally made computers called Cosmos. The Chairman of Coscharis Group of companies, Mr. Cosmos Maduka, said the entry into local assembly would not be a fluke as the firm was poised to redefine the market with highly reliable services and product offerings. He said though Coscharis may appear to be late in making an entry into the local PC manufacture arena, the company is was well-positioned to make its mark in the industry by offering competitive products. Cosmos Computers, he added, would be of very high standards and would address both individual and corporate market segments. He said the firm was not unaware that some others were already involved in local assembly ahead of Cosmos, but added that the firm was ready to compete for its place in the large local market. He explained that the dream to establish a local assembly plant had been on for quite sometime but noted that Coscharis finally decided to make entry into the

Globacom Limited and Kanu Heart Foundation (KHF) have kicked off a partnership on the generation of funds for treatment of people suffering from heart diseases through the deployment of SMS on the platform of Nigerians’ preferred network. The two organizations said at a press conference that the partnership hopes to raise funds for heart surgeries. In raising the funds, the telecoms firm has developed a special coded number “33640” for SMS by those who wish to support the effort. Any Glomobile subscriber can send SMS (save, any character even a blank message) to 33640 and an immediate response from Glo follows. A sum of N50 will be deducted instantly from the subscriber’s air-time. In his remarks at the heart-touching ceremony, the Chief Operating Officer (COO) of Globacom, Mr. Mohammed Jameel, said the second national carrier was a compassionate and truly Nigerian corporate citizen, stressing that this was responsible for the company’s collaboration with the Foundation in addressing h

Jonah Iboma All heads of ministries, departments and agencies of the Federal Government have been urged to ensure full compliance with the circular issued by the Office of the Secretary to the Government of the Federation to patronise Galaxy Backbone Plc on telecommunication and information technology infrastructure matters. Galaxy Backbone is a public firm set up by government to provide infrastructure for use by its agencies in order to reduce public sector expenditure on ICT. According to a statement released on Monday by the firm, SGF, Ambassador Baba Gana Kingibe, gave the directive last week during a two-day interactive session between the firm and various government establishments and referred to a circular issued in 2007. The circular had as reference number; SGF. OP/1/S.3/V11/870 dated June 18, 2007 titled “Guidelines for the procurement and implementation of bandwidth, network connectivity and other ICT infrastructure by Federal Government Ministries, Departments and Agencies

YS Technologies, a new entrant into the information technology sector, has unveiled its range of computers and plasma television to the public. The products consist of 15, 17 and 19-inch, panel personal computers and 50 and 63-inch high definition plasma TVs. According to the Chief Executive Officer, YS Technologies, Mr. Oluyomi Soyinka, in a statement on Tuesday, the 15 and 17-inch computers called Elegant and Classic series, respectively, are designed to be foldable, easy to carry and allow users to save space on their desk. He said the computers also offer all-in-one solution as both the central processing unit, motherboard and associated devices like the disc drive were all built into the liquid crystal display screen. He said, “The products are well designed such that owners could easily carry them about whenever they wanted.” The 19-inch executive series, he explained, was a combination of the functions of a PC and TV, allowing a user to make maximum use of space and technology.

Jonah Iboma Three members of a four-man NITEL cable vandalism gang were arrested by avigilante team in Lagos Island in the early hours of today, Thursday, June 19,2008. According to a statement signed by the Public Relations Manager,Lagos Zone, Mr. Ig Nwangwu, those arrested, all men – Onyebuchi Anazodo, 21, Steven Aleke, 18, and Monday Ebube, 27 – cut the high-capacity, optic fibre cable linking Lagos to the rest of the country. He said so far, this was the fourth occasion the same cable would be cut by cable thieves since this year. On each of those occasions, NITEL sustained losses running into millions of naira in inconvenience to its customers given the loss of traffic as a result of the disruption of their service and then the cost of repair or replacement of the affected cable. While expressing regret the inconvenience would have caused its customers, he said the firm was hopeful to restore service on the cable very soon. The external line plant network of NITEL in Lagos Zone h

Jonah Iboma , Chams Nigeria PLC will soon deploy about 2,500 access service terminal in all the 774 local governments in the Nigeria, with a focus on states capitals. The firm explained that this was in order to ensure that Information Communication and Technology services were readily available to many Nigerians, especially, people living in the rural areas, front liner in card based transaction business This product, which is first of its kind if successfully deployed would allow people across the nation no matter where you are located to have access to telephone, internet access, multimedia e-mail, recharge card vending, e-Visa, e-premium, information portal, fees/bill payment, airline ticketing and reservation, advertisement, online booking and many more. The hardware which is a perfect balance processes communication and technology, according to Demola Aladekomo, Managing Director, Chams Nigeria PLC during the unveiling of the new product in the just concluded card expo h

The Lagos State Governor Mr. Babatunde Fashola (SAN) on has appealed to the Nigerian Communication Commission not to shut down the 767 Emergency number frequency. The telecommunications regulatory body had threatened to shutdown the emergency number saying that it was not inline with its plans to have a single national emergency number. Fashola who spoke at an interactive session with members of the Organized Private Sector to mark his first 400 days in office at the Adeyemi Bero Auditorium, Alausa pleaded that the NCC should have a rethink of its plans to first shut down the operation of the frequency before listening to complaints about a previous commitment on the frequency. In a statement signed by the Senior Special assistant to the governor on media, Mr. Hakeem Bello, the Governor said he discussed the issue with Vice President Jonathan Goodluck on Tuesday in Abuja. He said the availability of the Emergency Response number had helped in rebuilding the confidence of residents of L

As part of preparations for commercial service rollout, Etisalat has held an interactive engagement with its Distribution Partners where both sides restated unwavering commitment to make Etisalat products and services available and affordable to Nigerians. Etisalat said it was keen on providing a platform for sustainable and viable partnership with its strategic partners in every aspect of business, stressing that the driving goal was to satisfy the customers at all times. The meeting which held in Lagos, was the first public engagement with the distribution partners, and it provided them immense opportunity to know more about the Etisalat brand. Specifically, the interactive session exposed the distributors to the company’s pedigree of innovative technology, successful roll out in tough conditions, as well as the values of simplicity, optimism and care as its driving forces. In his presentation, Vice President (Marketing) Etisalat Nigeria, Mr. Wael Ammar, said the engagement with the

By Everest Amaefule and Jonah Iboma One of the current challenges in the use of information technology in government in Nigeria today is the fact that various institutions in the three tiers often embark on projects independently. The development has created a situation where projects are often duplicated and resources wasted. It was once reported that a particular government secretariat had over 15 VSAT installations serving separate ministries. Often, these infrastructure are under-utilised and public funds are wasted in maintenance and support. But this situation is soon to be a thing of the past, as the Federal Government through the Galaxy Backbone Plc is set to roll out a network that would cater for the information technology and communication needs of government institutions including ministries, departments and agencies The Chief Executive Officer of Galaxy Backbone Plc, Mr. Gerald Ilukwe, announced this in Abuja during the two-day “Public Sector ICT Infrastructure Forum” orga

National telecom operator, Globacom, has said that it will on Tuesday connect the Eket-Port Harcourt axis to its high capacity optic fibre telecommunication transmission backbone. The Eket-Port Harcourt line is the first on the Glo optic fibre network in the South-South part of the country. The operator had recently commissioned the Abuja-Minna, Onitsha-Awka, Owerri-Onitsha and Enugu-Awka legs of the project. Globacom’s optic fibre cable is an advanced and reliable transmission network that offers a much faster transmission of data, voice and broadband Internet and multimedia services than copper. It is expected that the inauguration planned for Eket would lead to a major improvement in the quality of telecom services in Akwa Ibom and Rivers states and adjoining communities. The Eket section of the optic fibre backbone is expected to connect residents of the oil rich Akwa Ibom and Rivers states to world class telecommunication services and bigger business opportunities. The fibre cable

The 2008 version of AfriGrowth Youth Mentoring Programme ended in Lagos on Wednesday with participants receiving certificates from the event organisers, AfriGrowth Foundation, at a one-day workshop organised in Lagos. The 2008 event brought together 24 young people (mentees) who participated in a one month long mentoring programme in Abuja and Lagos. It was designed to formally give participants knowledge about the lives of successful Nigerians in the corporate world and thereby empower them to succeed in life. Speaking at the workshop, President, AfriGrowth Foundation, Mrs. Dayo Keshi, noted that the mentoring programme started in 2005 with a pilot and that it had made its impact as many young people who participated in it had successfully taken their first steps in life by learning that honesty, handwork and dedication to good causes was rewarding “We have continued to receive fantastic reports from our mentees on their progress and we are happy with the success and progress that are

Starcomms Limited, Nigeria’s foutrh largest telecommunications operator has extended its network coverage to Shagamu and Ijebu Ode in Ogun State. The roll out, the company said in a statement on Thursday, was coming on the heels of the networks earlier promise of ensuring that subscribers on its network have increased network coverage to use their lines. Since it started its mass rollout of service following the acquisition of unified access licence in 2006, Starcomms, has taken its service from Lagos, Kano, Port Harcourt and Maiduguri to some key cities including Ibadan, Rano, Aba, Onitsha. The firm recently added Asaba, Benin, Kaduna, Zaria and Abeokuta to its network. With the rollout in these cities, Starcomms now covers the 15 key cities of Nigeria. It also said plans were at an advanced stage to link other cities and towns this year. Starcomms said that the drive towards the South West market was to enable more Nigerians enjoy the company’s array of innovative products and value

Jonah Iboma Acer, the world’s third largest Persona Computer vendor, and the region’s leading notebook provider, has said that it regards Nigeria as a central market or its growth in the African continent. The form explained in a statement on Monday that it would therefore focus on the country as part of its ongoing commitment towards strengthening its unique channel business model across the African continent. The statement said that senior Acer executives during a special visit to Lagos highlighted the crucial role its channel partner’s play in making Acer’s empowering technology and products available to valued customers across the country. The Deputy Managing Director Acer Middle East and Africa, Krishna Murthy, said, “Nigeria’s IT sector is growing steadily and with the help of its strong channel partners, Acer intends to tap into this dynamic market. Facilitating their growth is instrumental for our continued success.” Murthy added that Acer’s business model encouraged partners

Jonah Iboma iPartners Limited, a Nigerian technology solutions provider, has said that it would deepen technology solutions provision the Nigerian market. According to the Managing Partner, iPartners Limited, Mr. Damola Olutiola, the firm now has competences that cut across several areas of technology needs such as networking, security of networks, unified communications and managed services. In an interview with our correspondent Olutiola said the firm also had the best team of local expertise of in Cisco certification with four of the company's main workforce already attaining Cisco Certified Internetwork Expertise. Internetwork certification is the highest professional certification offered by Cisco. According to him, this level of expertise is second to none in Nigeria and thus positions iPartners as a market leader in several ways, especially when in network architecture and security. Olutiola added that as a result of the expertise of the firm, iPartners was now silver partne

Jonah Iboma 2008Nigeria’s Minister of Information and Communications, Mr. John Odey, has emerged the chairperson of the Bureau of African Ministers of Communications and Information Technologies under the auspices of the African Union Commission. Skip to next paragraph FileMinister of Communications, John Odey The election of Odey took place at the conference of African Ministers of ICT, which took place during the International Telecommunications Union’s Telecom Africa 2008 conference that ended on Thursday in Cairo, Egypt. The election is viewed by many as recognition of Nigeria’s influence and current standing in ICT performance in the sub-region. Odey expressed gratitude to his counterparts across Africa for the confidence reposed in Nigeria to occupy such a position. He spoke through the Executive Vice Chairman, Nigerian Communications Commission, Mr. Ernest Ndukwe, who represented him at a world press conference at the ITU Africa 2008 event. Odey, who arrived the event venue la

Jonah Iboma Following the successful commissioning of a pioneer centre in Abuja about a fortnight ago, the Nigerian Police Force is to get information technology resource centres in all states of the federation. According to details released on Monday by thye firm in charge of the Project, Jefe Resources Limited, the Inspector General of Police, Mr. Mike Okiro, has given a directive that such IT centres should be established in states. Jefe Resources, the firm that built the Abuja centre is to handle the project via a public private partnership. According to the Director, Jefe Resources, Mr. Edwin Unuajefe, each location would have a 50-seater resource centre in all state police commands. He said that the IG had also authorised the firm to conduct computer and Internet training for all officers and men of the Nigerian Police nationwide The need to give officers and men of the Nigeria Police proper IT training had been a major issue that had drawn comments from various circles for some