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By Jonah Iboma Before the end of 2008, Microsoft Corporation will include Nigeria‘s dominant languages -Yoruba, Hausa and Igbo in the Microsoft Office application suite. MS Office is a group of applications consisting of Word, a word processing application; Powerpoint, used for presentations; Excel, a spreadsheet application, and Access, an application used for databases. By the inclusion, of the indigenous languages, users of the applications will be able to see them displayed in their preferred languages and commands can be given and receive received in any of the local languages. Citizenship Manager, Microsoft Nigeria, Mrs. Jummai Ajijola, told our correspondent in an interview in Lagos that work had reached advanced stages on the project, which she said was designed to bring technology closer to people on the Africa continent. She added that the project was part of a bigger scheme by Microsoft to include African languages in its applications so that more people could use technology...

By Jonah Iboma Irked by the low level of local content in Nigeria’s booming information and communications technology industry, the Association of Telecommunication Companies of Nigeria has said that it will take steps to redress the situation. The trade body of telecom companies in Nigeria said that as a first step towards solving the problem, it would convey a national summit that would examine the issue and set a path on local content development. The Executive Secretary ATCON, Mr. Godwin Morgan, noted that it was regrettable that despite the high number of ICT professionals in the country, adequate attention had not been paid to the issue of developing and building local content. He said that though attempts were being made by a few concerned professionals in the area of developing local content in both the hardware and software aspect of ICT, much still needed to be done to achieve the desired progress and position the country for global competitiveness. He said, ”ATCON strongly b...

By Jonah Iboma Makau Polaris, an information technology training institution, has opened its doors to students and other professionals in Lagos. Designed to be the first of its kind in Nigeria, the institute, with fully installed array of state-of-the-art IT equipment, admits both first level students and highly skilled professionals for its wide range of courses. The school, which has over 150 training slots, according to the design, is the first of such to offer a truly e-learning facility in Nigeria. Its first office was opened to customers at Isolo, Lagos, recently. ”The good thing with Makau Polaris is that the individual has the opportunity to learn at his own pace. He is not being measured with the same yardstick as the next person who probably came in at the same time,” the Managing Director of the company, Mr. Olaminiyi Ayodele said. He added that the pace of completing a chosen course would depend largely on how much time an individual chose to put into studies, adding that t...

By Jonah Iboma Thuraya Satellite Telecommunications says it is ready to offer more services in Nigeria, especially in the light of government‘s desire to increase access to more users in the country. The Chairman of Danisat Nigeria Limited, Mr. Peder Seldelman, whose firm is Thuraya‘s Nigerian sole representatives, the firm has solutions today that can effectively address Nigeria‘s rural telephony and tracking challenges. According to him, Thuraya‘s satellite covers all of Nigeria effectively and this made the firm to have the resources to offer a range of services. He added that the firm had also introduced more customer friendly tariff that made the service more affordable for local use in the country. Seldelman added that Thuraya provided a good back up service especially in the light of challenges that often keep services of mobile operators at less-than optimal requirement. This, he noted, would greatly benefit firms operating in the deep oceans and people in rural areas where mo...

Jonah Iboma Omatek Computers Limited, a subsidiary of the Omatek Group has announced its exit from the small and medium enterprises synergy that it entered into with Zenith and GT Banks. The Managing Director, Omatek Group, Mrs. Florence Seriki, informed our correspondent on Wednesday that the company entered into the SME venture with the two banks with a proviso for exit within a period of two to five years. She said, “We are pleased to announce to the general public our exit from the SMEIS programme after a very successful collaboration with two of Nigeria’s big banks, Zenith Bank and GT Bank, which partnered with the company in achieving the remarkable feat of being Africa’s first completely knocked down factory.” Seriki noted that the leadership of both banks had been very supportive over the years and promised to continue to collaborate with them in the nearest future. She added that with the help of the banks Omatek had graduated from being small assembly firm ...

the second time in as many weeks, Celtel Nigeria has demonstrated its commitment to the improvement of Quality of its Service, as it commissioned another new switch in Kaduna . The company had, last week, commissioned a switch in the Federal Capital Territory , Abuja , with a promise to bring the total number of switches to 17 nationwide, giving the mobile operator a switching capacity of 20 million subscribers. Chief Executive Officer of Celtel Nigeria , Bayo Ligali said at the Commissioning ceremony in Kaduna that the addition of the switch “clearly represents a timely response to the yearnings of telecommunications consumers for concrete action towards a resolution of the Quality of Service (QoS) challenges in the industry”. Ligali also announced a plan to commit $1 billion to significantly expand coverage, enhance capacity and improve Quality of Service in 2008. Projects designed to achieve these include a 4000 kilometres fibre optic transmission backbone; additional 2000km microw...

Jonah Iboma Bodland Systems Nigeria Limited, a newly established firm that provides has established a contact centre solutions has commenced business with an investment of about N120m. The Managing Director, Bodland Systems Limited, Mr. Mbuela Luwawu, said in an interview with our correspondent that the firm was established to help address the huge gap that currently existed between service delivery and customer satisfaction in the country. Luwawu said service delivery was generally poor in the country due to the absence of proper contact centre that allows service providers to interact with customers proper and address their needs. He said, "The level of service I am talking about cuts across public and private sectors. I won't say the private sector is doing well though they are better organised. But the service they render is still poor compared to the level of business they are delivering to the customers. So I would say both public as well as private sectors need to impro...

Cisco, world leader in networking technology and Signal Alliance, a leading Nigerian solutions integrator have announced a successful upgrade of the information technology ( infrastructure of the International Energy Insurance Plc. According to a publication by Cisco on the success story, the deployment of Cisco technology to a leading Insurance company like International Energy is a testament to its commitment to the use of technology to improve the business process of leading companies in all sectors of the Nigerian economy. The solution which comprises Cisco local area network switching and routers will also help IEI in faster delivery of services to its customers. The technologies are used for real time collaboration application such as voice over internet protocol IP, with LAN switch network to provide reliable, intelligent, high speed connectivity among users, applications and communication systems. These with Cisco local area network switching and routers have been running sinc...

Jonah Iboma MTN Nigeria has recorded the recovery of $60m from revenue leakage, using ACL audit software. According to a report published by ACL, the world’s leading provider of revenue assurance systems and solutions, the recovery was made within one year of the deployment of the software.According to the document, a copy of which was made valuable to our correspondent on Monday, MTN Nigeria used ACL in its revenue assurance, audit, reconciliation and investigation activities.Revenue leakage is a problem prevalent in various industries especially where automated systems are used. Revenue leakage has blighted the telecommunications industry worldwide, stumbling some into collapse or suboptimal performance. Experts have reported that every telecommunications operators loses an average of 15 per cent of its annual revenue to various forms of revenue leakages. Examples include wrongly setting up a prepaid subscriber as post paid and billing system malfunction that sometimes give subscrib...

By Jonah Iboma MTN Nigeria and Globacom have announced the availability of commercial Third Generation mobile telephony services to subscribers. MTN said in a statement on Sunday that it would offer subscribers 3.5G services while Globacom announced in a statement on Monday that it would offer what it called 3G plus services. The Chief Executive Officer of MTN, Mr. Ahmad Farroukh, said the company’s 3G telephony would run on a High Speed Packet Access platform. Speaking at a media conference on Monday, Farroukh said HSPA was technically a mid-way between third-generation and fourth-generation mobile telephony. He said it was referred to technically as 3.5G and represented an advanced form of third-generation mobile telephony. Among the services that the technology will make available are video calling, television and video streaming, downloads on the go, and very high-speed Internet. He said that 3.5G services are much faster than ordinary 3G services as they offer download speeds of u...

Nigeria's leading Telecommunications company, MTN Nigeria has been declared the Best Federal Tax Responsible Corporate Citizen in Lagos State" by the Chartered Institute of Taxation of Nigeria, CITN, in recognition of its exemplary compliance with federal tax laws. The award was presented to MTN by the Institute recently. Commenting on the award, Mrs. Amina Oyagbola, MTN's Corporate Services Executive stated that "the award once again demonstrates MTN'S commitment to discharging its responsibilities to government and adding value to society. As leaders in the telecommunications industry, we are determined to remain a benchmark of excellence not only in the provision of telecommunications services, but in the discharge of our social obligations" It will be recalled that only last June, the telecom operator was lauded for its stellar corporate citizenship when the Federal Inland Revenue Service (FIRS) presented MTN with the coveted award of "Best Corporat...

Swift Networks Nigeria says that the lack of adequate knowledge on the benefits broadband Internet access is a major limitation on the uptake of the service in Nigeria. The firm said based on this, it would commence a series of events to promote the technology. According to the Managing Director of Swift Networks, Mr. Charles Anudu, the firm will kick-start these events with a roadshow. Anudu said the reason for the roadshow was to enable subscribers have better understanding of how broadband could enable them work smarter, communicate better, learn faster and entertain better. He explained that broadband was often called high-speed Internet, because it usually had a higher rate of data transmission. He said, “In general, any connection to the customer of 256 Kilobits per second or more is considered broadband Internet”.

A wireless Internet network based on the WiMAX technology, has been installed in Damaturu, the capital of Yobe State. WiMAX, the Worldwide Interoperability for Microwave Access, is a telecommunications technology that provides wireless data over long distances. The Yobe network, said to be the first in Africa, has a 30-kilometre radius wireless Internet that covers the whole of Damaturu. The entire project cost N831m. A statement on Monday on the project, stated that the Minister of State for Information and Communication, Alhaji Ibrahim Dasuki Nakande, inaugurated the project on Friday alongside a comprehensive ICT Resource Centre and computer ownership scheme for all civil servants in the state According to the state government, homes, offices and educational institutions in Damaturu can now connect to the Internet without any need for wires once they have the right computers The cost of connection would be less than 70 per cent of the cost of connecting to the Internet in other stat...

A wireless Internet network based on the WiMAX technology, has been installed in Damaturu, the capital of Yobe State. Skip to next paragraph Photo fileInternet site WiMAX, the Worldwide Interoperability for Microwave Access, is a telecommunications technology that provides wireless data over long distances. The Yobe network, said to be the first in Africa, has a 30-kilometre radius wireless Internet that covers the whole of Damaturu. The entire project cost N831m. A statement on Monday on the project, stated that the Minister of State for Information and Communication, Alhaji Ibrahim Dasuki Nakande, inaugurated the project on Friday alongside a comprehensive ICT Resource Centre and computer ownership scheme for all civil servants in the state According to the state government, homes, offices and educational institutions in Damaturu can now connect to the Internet without any need for wires once they have the right computers The cost of connection would be less than 70 per cent of the ...

Nigeria’s leading telecommunications company, MTN, has received a new loan facility of US$2 billion from a consortium of 21 foreign and Nigerian banks and financial institutions. At a formal signing ceremony held in Lagos yesterday, Mr. Ahmad Farroukh, MTN’s Chief Executive Officer, reiterated MTN’s determination to continue to play a significant role in fostering Nigeria’s economic growth and development by providing excellent telecommunications and allied services across the country. According to Farroukh, “the loan represents a strong vote of confidence in our operation and our organisation. We see this as a demonstration of the confidence that particularly the Nigerian financial sub-sector has placed in MTN to deliver value to both our customers and the Nigerian economy with 80% of the facility being Naira denominated. We are also thankful to the millions of MTN customers across Nigeria whose loyal patronage has helped to make this possible. “ The $2 billion facility, said to ...

Celtel introduces new numbering plan Jonah Iboma Celtel Nigeria on Thursday announced the introduction of a new Mobile Access Code 0708. The introduction of the new code, which will enable the network to connect and cater for another 10 million customers, adds to the company’s existing number access codes (0802 & 0808) Celtel said the development was an indication of strong subscriber preference for its brand and services. New access codes are allocated to operators by the telecommunications regulatory authority when they are on the verge of exhausting their current numbering plan or when they foresee large demand for their services in the future. Mobile phone numbering codes with a seven digit suffix (0708xxxxxxx) offer 10 million lines to operators and these could be used for pre-paid and post-paid customer lines, special codes and emergency numbers. Celtel said in a statement that the codes have been approved by NCC. IT said, “This addition to our numbering plan has been approve...

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...