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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 affect

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 Finland, Mala

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 the n

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 Exe

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 the Gaga Smartphone. Other

(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 ceremony held at the

       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 fastest 3G modem that

Etisalat Nigeria has introduced its high speed Broadband internet service, called Easyblaze to its customers in Lagos, Abuja, Port Harcourt, Ibadan, Kano, Kaduna, Zaria, Warri, Enugu, Aba, Awka, Nnewi, Onitsha and Benin. The rollout of the High Speed Packet Access (HSPA+) 3.75G technology offering speeds up to 42Mbps allows etisalat subscribers achieve high speed internet access, faster file downloads, video calling and streaming and other related activities. The new easyblaze broadband internet service is sold with a wide range of data plans designed for all segments of the market. These plans can be used on a wide range of mobile devices from smartphones, tablets, routers and USB modems, from the Etisalat portfolio. As an introductory offer, etisalat is offering free data bundles with the purchase of any of these devices from any etisalat experience centre with up to 6GB free data bundle available. Speaking on the deployment of the new technology, Etisalat Chief Executiv

Galaxy Tab Apple has won an injunction to block the sale of Samsung’s Galaxy Tab 10.1 Android tablet in Australia. The device was already temporarily banned pending the court ruling, and the ban has now been upheld until a full patent trial is held next year. Samsung had initially offered to modify the software on the device to counteract the injunction, but Apple’s argument stated that the device also copies the design of its iPad and iPhone products. “It’s no coincidence that Samsung’s latest products look a lot like the iPhone and iPad, from the shape of the hardware to the user interface and even the packaging,” the company said. “This kind of blatant copying is wrong, and we need to protect Apple’s intellectual property when companies steal our ideas.” Samsung had tried to appeal the decision to get its device in stores during the lucrative Christmas period, but Apple said it was concerned that if consumers bought the Galaxy Tab might, they may never choose to bu

In line with its corporate vision of creating innovative, exciting, relevant and affordable telecommunications solutions, leading Mobile Operator, Airtel has introduced a special package for Nigerian youth. The new package, Airtel Club 10, will enable Nigerian youth as well as the young-at-heart to create their own clubs of 10 members and communicate freely through voice, SMSs and data at very affordable rates. Airtel Club 10 will enable youngsters and the young-at-heart to connect to nine people which may be close friends, school mates and family members at an attractive rate of 10kobo per second; send SMS at N1 per SMS and benefit from a posy of exciting complimentary offerings including free music download, data bundle, caller ring back tone (CRBT) and games. Speaking on the new offer, the Chief Operating Officer and Executive Director of Airtel Nigeria, Deepak Srivastava said Airtel Club 10 is a very distinctive different and germane offering that will further revolutionize

New International Data Corporation ( IDC ) research profiling vendors in the mobility testing services market shows that as service providers move forward they will need to address a blended set of enterprise testing requirements including application testing (e.g. function and usability testing), performance testing (e.g. device / network), security testing, and complex validation of mobile integration to back-end systems. For OEMs and MNOs, opportunities exist among third parties to accelerate the automation of test scripts, establish consistency in benchmarking devices against each other, and improve test requirement change control and overall test coverage. In this research, profiles of seventeen mobile testing service vendors are presented along with aggregate summary findings. Vendors profiled include Accenture, AppLabs, AT&T, Cognizant, CSC, CSS Corp., Endeavour Software Technologies, HCL Technologies, HP Enterprise Services, IBM, iGATE Patni, Mahindra IT and Business S

COMARCH, a global provider of IT solutions for major economic sectors, announced today that it has become an Associate member of GENIVI Alliance, an automotive and consumer electronics industry association devoted to the development and support of the In-Vehicle Infotainment (IVI) reference platform. Comarch has been implementing components for modern mobile operating systems, including those based on Linux kernel, for the past 11 years. Over 200 specialized engineers, working in the Comarch Mobile Solutions & Services Business Unit, have participated in numerous mobile projects. This way Comarch has acquired unique competences crucial from the viewpoint of the automotive industry. The urge to use these competences in a new field was the main driver to join the Alliance. As we have observed, there is a clear trend for consumer electronics and mobile software entering the automotive industry, we want to use our competences and   help car manufacturers and their Tier-I supplie

A few hours after Research In Motion restored BlackBerry services, users of the mobile phone company services experienced network failure once again on Tuesday. Earlier this week, the service suffered an outage, which lasted almost a full day, from 11am BST on Monday until around 9.30am BST on Tuesday, with claims that the failure was caused by a crashed server. The reasons for the outage were not explained by BlackBerry. Millions of customers in Europe, the Middle East and Africa were left without access to the internet or its BBM instant messaging tool, and according to reports and commentary on Twitter, the same has happened again today. “Some users in Europe, the Middle East and Africa, India, Brazil, Chile, and Argentina are experiencing messaging and browsing delays,” RIM confirmed in a statement. ”We are working to restore normal service as quickly as possible.   We apologise for any inconvenience this has caused.” The company’s Twitter account is again being in