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Experts in the marketing research profession have stated the need for Nigeria to pay greater attention to the practice in order to facilitate greater national development. The Nigerian Marketing Research Association (NiMRA) noted that market research plays a central role in product development, adding both the public and private sectors should embrace it more to reap its benefits. President of NiMRA, Mr. Lanre Fasakin, stated that marketing research today has become very central to development as it helps in bringing ideas from conceptualization to eventual implementation. He said: “Once ideas have been generated, marketing research principle/methods are employed to help in ideas screening; test concepts during which modifications needed are discovered; developing concepts into acceptable/marketable products; conduct test marketing/market stimulation of the prepared product sometimes deploying other elements of the mix such as advertising and effective distribution.” Fasak...

In its effort to serve its growing customers better in a revolutionary way, Etisalat Nigeria, has emerged with ‘The Geek Force’, a solution service, which debuted recently in the garden city of Port Harcourt. Speaking at the event, The Regional Head South South and South East, Etisalat Nigeria,  Mr Enekwacha Ajah said, the service is open to all Etisalat customers and it is rendered free to all customers provided the product is still within the warranty period and if necessary, the Geeks can assist in replacing the product.  “As an innovative telecommunications company, we want to extend our customer support beyond simply providing network services and support but we also want to go the extra mile to give our customers support with their hardware challenges when it comes to their mobile devices.” According to Ajah,  Etisalat is partnering with Original Electronics Manufacturers (OEM) to train their technical staff intensively on how to solve problems related to t...

Etisalat, Nigeria’s fastest growing Telecommunications Company, has announced reaching a subscriber base of 10million in three years of its service in Nigeria.  This announcement comes on the heels of the rollout of the 3.75G HSPA+ network and the third anniversary celebration. Chief Executive Officer, Etisalat Nigeria, Steven Evans, said at special event to mark the milestone that the firm had been able to reach the subscriber base due to a robust network rollout and provision of high-quality service wherever it was present.  “We realized early that network coverage and quality of service go hand and hand, and that coverage is a major consideration for subscribers who wish to join our network, so we embarked on an aggressive roll-out campaign to cover 9ja with our quality network. This strategy paid off and has made it possible for us to effectively compete with the older players in this market”. He further explained that from the initial seven launch cities, E...

As part of its commitment to connect the next billion to the internet using mobile technology, Nokia, World’s leading manufacturer of mobile phones has developed a browser that speeds up connection to the internet via the mobile phone. Built with the proxy server technology, access to the internet is at least 90 times faster than the regular browsers that mobile phone users have been accustomed to. Nokia Services Manager for West Africa Mr. Olumide Balogun made this known during an interactive session with journalists in Lagos. He disclosed that the new Nokia browser, which will be preloaded on most Nokia devices, is designed to save consumers money and fit web pages to design screens. Proxy servers take care of the compression before delivering compressed payload to the consumer. According to Mr. Balogun, Nokia Browser compresses and optimizes web content so that consumers can browse the web more quickly and save on data costs. He said the Nokia browser has 3 viewing modes i.e...

Nokia has stated it has a broad portfolio of mobile devices specifically targeted at the African market for its African market. Blanca Juti Nokia’s Vice President Product Marketing Mobile Phones made this known during the just concluded Nokia World conference held in London. According to her, Nokia acknowledges that even though most people in the continent have the aspiration and the need to communicate, not everyone can afford a supper high phone that is why the company has designed a broad range to phone types to meet the needs of these people.   “We obviously as a company have a broad portfolio which goes from the lowest to the highest           range, and since Africa is an emerging market in terms of Smartphone users, the company’s focus is to design various phones to meet their consumers aspirations,” Blanca Juti said. Nokia is a global leader in mobile communications whose products have become an integral part of the lives of people aro...

Nigeria’s fastest growing telecommunication company, Etisalat Nigeria, has announced the kick-off of its Blackberry week as a demonstration of its commitment to thrill current and prospective customers on the Blackberry service. Starting 1st of November 2011, Blackberry week is designed to reward customers with exciting prizes as they make Blackberry related purchases from any of the experience centres in Lagos. Chief Commercial Officer, Etisalat Nigeria, Wael Ammar, said the Blackberry week is to encourage customers to visit the Etisalat experience centres for their genuine devices and other Blackberry related purchases at a reward. According to Ammar, “this exercise is an opportunity to reward our customers with exciting gifts and prizes as soon as they make a purchase. The gifts on offers are in different categories depending on the items bought. The Blackberry week will among other things provide subscribers with the opportunity of getting genuine devices and other pro...

The worldwide mobile phone market grew 12.8 per cent year over year in the third quarter of 2011 according to the International Data Corporation (IDC) Worldwide Mobile Phone Tracker. The report also said smartphone growth declined in key mature markets as vendors shipped 393.7 million units in the third quarter of 2011, compared to 348.9 million units in the same quarter previous year, the tracker said. The IDC report also showed that the 12.8% growth was higher than its forecast of 9.3% for the quarter and stronger than the 9.8% growth in 2Q11, a reflection of delayed smartphone purchases and conservative consumer spending last quarter. The shipment volume declined on a year-over-year basis in economically mature regions, such as the US and Western Europe, which were hardest hit. IDC's Worldwide Mobile Phone Tracker senior research analyst Kevin Restivo said the combination of economic uncertainty and anticipation over fourth quarter or late third quarter product...

Transnational Corporation of Nigeria Plc (Transcorp) announced today that it has made changes in the leadership of the company. Transcorp’s Board of Directors appointed Obinna Ufudo as President and CEO effective immediately. Chibundu Edozie was also named to Transcorp’s Board of Directors. Until his new appointment, Mr. Ufudo was the Chief Operating Officer at Heirs Holdings Group where he focused on establishing and running operations across the Group including HH Capital and Tenoil Petroleum & Energy Services. His professional experience in the treasury management, business strategy and investment banking industries spans over 16 years. In addition to his new position, Mr. Edozie is the Group Deputy Managing Director of BGL Plc. He oversees the strategic business platform for the company’s asset management, private equity, securities and investment banking divisions. A geologist by training, he has over 18 years’ experience in the capital markets and investment bankin...

Mikano limited has donated 10KVA generator in support of Airtel Adopt-A-School programme to Oremeji Primary School 2 in Ajegunle, Lagos state. The primary school is a major beneficiary of Airtel’s Adopt-A-School Programme; the company’s Corporate Social Responsibility (CSR) initiative aimed at uplifting primary education across Nigeria. The donation is in fulfillment of Airtel’s commitment to continue to play an integral role in the development of the school, which it adopted in February this year Making the presentation on behalf of the company, the Director, Corporate Communications & CSR, Mr Emeka Oparah said the Airtel will continue to provide the school with the necessary infrastructure to create a conducive environment for teaching and learning, as it presents the pupils the best opportunity to realise their dreams of becoming leaders of tomorrow. Oparah, who was represented by the Manager, CSR, Chinda Manjor, explained that “as a responsible corporate citize...

The Chief Executive Officer of Etisalat Nigeria, Mr. Steven Evans, has said that the success achieved by the company in the last three years has been driven by the development of a clear strategy which is based around putting customers at the centre of their operations. At a media chat held recently in Lagos to convey Etisalat’s appreciation to every stakeholder group for its role in the brand’s success, the telecommunications chief said that the company has made its mark in delivering customers with innovative products and services on the back of a high quality reliable network. Said Evans, “As a company with different innovative products and services, Etisalat has remained the ultimate picture of success in just three years of operation in Nigeria, growing its appeal to people across the geographical locations of the country, cultural, ideological or class divides at a speed that rarely any telecommunications company has been able to replicate. We want to ensure that we operat...

Visafone Communications Limited, leading Code Division and Multiple Access (CDMA) network in the country has emerged as the Insider Magazine’s Best CDMA network nationwide. The award ceremony which coincided with the Insider Magazine’s 10 year anniversary yesterday in Abuja, also witnessed the conferment of other awards to Governors Babatunde Fashola of Lagos; Ibrahim Idris of Kogi and Delta State’s Emmanuel Uduaghan and Business mogul, Alhaji Aliko Dangote. While conferring the award on Visafone, Senator Ben Obi said “the Insider Weekly Magazine Merit Award presented to Visafone is in recognition of your outstanding services and contributions to the society.” Speaking to newsmen after the award, the Chief Operating Officer (COO) Srinivasa K.V said the awards the network has been receiving this year are a strong statement buttressing the leadership role the company is taking in providing voice clarity and data. According to him, “we are in the forefront of providing qu...

Nigeria’s fastest growing Telecommunications company, Etisalat, has announced today that it will compensate its BlackBerry customers on both pre-paid and post paid accounts following a widespread outage reported by BlackBerry’s manufacturer Research-in-Motion (RIM).   Prepaid customers will receive the equivalent of three days free usage, while monthly bills of post paid subscribers will be adjusted to reflect the additional three days. Chief Commercial Officer, Etisalat Nigeria, Wael Ammar said, “Keeping our customers satisfied is a priority for us and given the exceptional and extraordinary circumstances, we are compensating our BlackBerry users to demonstrate our care for their loyalty to our company. A massive 3 days outage of BlackBerry data services occurred in Europe, the Middle East and Africa between Monday, 10 th to Wednesday 12 th of October 2011. The Blackberry Internet Service (BIS) — comprising Blackberry Messenger (BBM), email and web services — was af...

The Chief Executive Officer and Managing Director of Airtel Nigeria, Rajan Swaroop has called on the Federal Government to issue a National Policy on Communications (NPC) that incorporates government’s commitment and resolve towards the development of broadband in the country. Speaking at the ongoing 3 rd  West African Information & Communications Technology Congress (WAFICT 2011) held at the Eko Hotel & Suites in Lagos, yesterday, Swaroop said the present  National Policy on Telecommunication (NPT) issued in 2000, a pre-Broadband era, does not effectively capture the required framework that will boost broadband uptake and development in the country, and therefore, recommended a review of existing guidelines. He explained that countries that have recorded monumental success in the area of broadband development and penetration started by initiating favourable policies accompanied by smart regulations. Mr. Swaroop cited examples from countries such as Finl...

The Internet Corporation for Assigned Names and Numbers (ICANN) today took over operation of an Internet Time Zone Database that is used by a number of major computer systems. ICANN agreed to manage the database after receiving a request from the Internet Engineering Task Force (IETF). The database contains time zone code and data that computer programs and operating systems such as Unix, Linux, Java, and Oracle rely on to determine the correct time for a given location.   Modifications to the database occur frequently throughout the year. "The time zone database is used by a large number of commercial operating systems and the software applications,” said Russ Housely, chairman of the IETF. “Incorrect time zone information will impact many everyday activities, including meeting and conference call coordination, airplane and train schedules, physical package delivery notices, and astronomical observatories." For nearly three decades, the TZ Database had b...

The wife of Bayelsa State Governor, Mrs Alanyingi Sylva, in partnership with Zinox computers, recently, donated Zinox Whizkid laptops to secondary school students, teachers and principals in the state. Zinox Whizkid is a high-tech computer loaded with about 2,000,000 e-books, 23,000 audio books in MP3 format covering all subjects, and also over 100,000 past simulation questions from JAMB, NECO, WAEC, and POST-UME. The Managing Director of Zinox Computers, Mr. Emomine Mukoro commended the First Lady for acting decisively by joining other national efforts to halt the recurring poor performance in JAMB, WAEC, NECO, and Post UME examinations. Mr. Mukoro praised her Excellency for the passion to revive the dwindling reading culture in Nigeria. In her response, Mrs Sylva emphasized her belief in the power of knowledge, called on the students to leverage on the opportunity presented to them. She called on other organizations, corporate bodies, and multi-nationals to support t...

Airtel announced today that it will offer its BlackBerry customers a service waiver following last week’s global outage attributed to the service provider, Research in Motion (RIM). Research in Motion has now fully restored data services to its BlackBerry devices. The BlackBerry outage was caused by a hardware error which halted messaging and Web browsing across many parts of the world, disrupting services for 3 days. The disruptions began in Europe, the Middle East, Africa and India early in the week and later spread to North America. Mr. Rajan Swaroop, the Chief Executive Officer and Managing Director of Airtel Nigeria stated: “We remain concerned about the inconvenience this has caused to all our BlackBerry users earlier this week and we would like to compensate both our pre-paid and post-paid customers for the inconvenience as best we can. “For our pre-paid customers, we will extend the subscription of the services for the month of October by three days. We are communicati...

by Abdullahi Isma’il After holding preliminary ICT competitions in Jigawa and Bauchi states, the Centre for Information Technology and Development (CITAD), Kano conducted Kano 9 th Annual ICT Quiz as part of the preliminary series to select three secondary schools that will represent the state at the National ICT Quiz. The occasion which took place at the Multi Purpose Hall, Digital Bridge Institute, Kano Campus witnessed the presence several dignitaries including Hajiya Ladidi Sani Fagge who represented the Director General, Kano State Senior Secondary School Management Board (KSSSSMB), Alhaji Ibrahim Muhammad Ibrahim who represented Alhaji Sagir Muhammad, the Managing Director of Intersystem, Malam Sadiq Imam Abdullahi of Ministry of Science and Technology, Kano, Malam Mahadi Garba Doka who represented the Provost of Federal College of Education (Technical) Bichi, Alhaji Adamu Aliyu Wari and Malam Usman A. Usman   representative of Engineer Femi Afolabi, the Chief...

Etisalat Nigeria has secured the exclusive rights to the new entry level, 3G range of U8180 Gaga Smartphone running on android 2.2 manufactured by Huawei Technologies.   This is introduced alongside the recent national launch of 3G network as a package bundled with Etisalat services.   The unique package; being an affordable 3G Smartphone with access to thousands of free online applications requires an affordable high-end device to perform pocket digital assistance functions for downloads of applications, e-mails-at-a-go, bigger memory size for storage, document viewing and editing-at-a-go etc via the android market.     Speaking on the new device, Wael Ammar, Etisalat Chief Commercial Officer, said this unique Smartphone is fully customized to Etisalat Nigeria’s network in terms of hardware branding and software configuration.   “There is currently no operator in the country that is embarking on pushing 3G smartphone the way we are planning on th...

(L-R): Acting Vice-Chancellor, Lagos State University, Prof. (Mrs.) Yemi Olatunji-Bello; Special Adviser to the Executive Governor of Lagos State, Otunba Fatai Olukoga; Chief ExecutIve Officer, Etisalat Nigeria, Mr. Steve Evans;    and Director, Brands and Communications, Etisalat Nigeria, Mr. Enitan Denloye at the Etisalat Merit Awards held at Oceanview, Lagos on Wednesday, October 12 As part of its corporate social corporate responsibility of giving back to society, leading telecommunications provider, Etisalat Nigeria has in less than three years given out over 450 scholarship grants to deserving students from universities across the country. The grants were given under its Merit Awards Scheme, a programme built on its core CSR platform of empowering Nigerian youths to obtain qualitative education.   About 80 of these university students on Thursday September 15 received their grants of N.1 million at the Etisalat Merit Awards regional presentation ceremon...

       The newly introduced high speed data package which was recently launched by leading telecommunications provider, Etisalat Nigeria has continued to receive rave reviews from Nigerians from all works of life. Widely described as the ultimate in broadband internet service, with a speed of about 42 mbps, the product appears to be a hit with subscribers, with customer satisfaction scores at the highest they have ever been for any data-based product. According to one them, Mr. Olawola Ajibola, a regular internet service user, ‘’the Easyblaze is a winning proposition from Etisalat. “I'll be more than happy to pay for this product as it is markedly better than what obtains in the market at the moment, and can be an ideal tool for business as a result of its speed,” he said. Ajibola who was speaking during an exhibition of the new product at the Silverbird Galleria in Victoria Island commended Etisalat for bringing into the Nigerian market the fastes...