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By Jonah Iboma National telecom operator, Globacom, has intensified its SIM registration exercise. The new campaign is aimed at encouraging Glo subscribers to register their old and new SIM cards before the 28 September deadline given by the industry regulator, the Nigerian Communications Commission (NCC), while earning fantastic rewards. Speaking about the new initiative in Lagos , Globacom’s Group COO, Mohamed Jameel said the new campaign was aimed at expediting the pace of the ongoing Glo SIM registration exercise which the company started last year, through special incentives which will encourage all existing and new subscribers to register their SIMs. He stated that those customers who comply and immediately register their SIMs will be rewarded with fantastic prizes during the 3-month duration of the campaign. In the first instance, all subscribers who register their SIMs get a guaranteed 30 minutes of free airtime during the 3 months of the promotion. 10 minutes of free airt...

Multi-Links Telkom has recently achieved another laudable milestone enabling network availability and enhancing superior customer experience with the completion of the Dense Wavelength Division Multiplexing (DWDM) project which is designed to make the fibre optic network of Multi-Links Telkom more robust as it will provide greater redundancies and a buffer to network down time resulting from fibre cuts (the completion allows us to offer industry leading SLA’s with guaranteed uptime of 3 times reliability/redundancy). With the completion of the DWDM project and the cut over of SDH sites, customers now enjoy protection from prolonged downtime on account of fibre damage, Olurotimi Aborisade, Manager, Transmission Planning, Multi-Links Telkom said that the impact of fibre cuts are less noticeable and that DWDM project will significantly improve the quality of service delivery and will enable Multi-Links Telkom customers to enjoy high level of service availability with seamless switchover ...

With the spate of kidnapping assuming a worrisome dimension in the country, the Acting Executive Vice Chairman/CEO of the Nigerian Communications Commission (NCC), Dr Bashir Gwandu, yesterday in Abuja unveiled some plans to newsmen on how to reduce the menace of kidnapping in the country using telecommunications devices. Kidnapping has become a serious menace in Nigeria over the last one year most especially in the South-East and South-South Geopolitical Zones of the country. Drawing from one of his short, medium and long term plans to move the telecom industry forward, which he presented at a meeting with chief executives of telecom operators in Lagos recently, Gwandu who spoke to newsmen, said that one of such plans could significantly curtail or even eliminate the menace of kidnapping in the country. He said while SIM Card registration offers significant solution to the issue of kidnapping, another project that could complement Sim-card registration is a plan to issue subsidy t...

Excitement is in the air again as Visafone unveils another programme tagged Scratch and Smile to bring smiles to its esteemed customers. With this initiative, subscribers on the network stand the chance to win exciting prizes like Car Refrigerators, MP3 radio sets and over 2 billion naira worth of free airtime upon recharge of N500, N1000 and N2000 denominations. The Head Marketing of Visafone, Mr. Clifford Onyeike said upon recharge of these denominations, lucky winners would receive SMS confirmation of their prizes and thereafter redeem them at any of the Visafone shops nationwide. Onyeike said this is another demonstration of Visafone’s drive to renew the joy of communication of its customers, adding, “Visafone just concluded the 10 cars in 10 weeks initiative which saw 10 lucky winners and several others smiling home with brand new cars and other fantastic prizes weekly.” The initiative which will run till September 30, 2010, is a further demonstration of Visafone’s drive to co...

Nigeria’s leading CDMA operator, Visafone, recently launched its Multi Language Interactive Voice Recorder (IVR) Customer Care Service, in what it said was a move a move to further enhance the customer care and give more subscribers the opportunity to communicate effectively in their languages, The IVR service is available to callers via 333 and is expected to boost the customer experience and effectively communicate products and services information in a manner that is easily understood. In addition to English, the Languages are Hausa, Yoruba, Igbo and pidgin English. Mrs. Lynda Amechi, Visafone’s Head of Customer Care, said that to enjoy this service the subscriber would dial 333, after which they will be welcomed in English and then instructed by the IVR to press the appropriate key for any of the language options presented. Mrs. Amechi further said these instructions will be made in the five Language options available, “for example, press 1 for English, press 2 for Yoruba (in Yo...

The country’s leading business-to-consumer (B2C) and business-to-business (B2B) strategic publicity and events management firm, Private Media Mart Limited has announced the repackaging of its annual Cyber Café Expo as the annual Internet Business Showcase. The event, which will be coming up on the 11th of May 2010 in Lagos, was originally conceptualized as the antidote to the seeming short-life span of majority of cyber businesses in the country and had been held annually for three (3) years in Lagos before now. With its new identity as the Internet Business Showcase, the organizers of the event represented by the Managing Partner of Private Media Mart Limited Mr. Ejiofor Agada stated that the idea behind the change was to reflect the reality of the internet environment. According to him, “this event is meant to serve as the needed boost for the nascent Internet Business environment and sundry solutions in Nigeria today”. He explained further that the Internet Business Showcase is Ni...

Jonah Iboma The Nigerian Communications Commission has warned journalists about making untrue reports concerning moves to appoint a new chief executive for the organisation. In a statement signed by the Head, Media  and Public Relations, on Tuesday, NCC, Mr. Reuben Muoka, the commission dissociated itself from what it called " damaging speculations" warning that many of the  reports had become baseless speculations. The statement read, "The attention of the Nigerian Communications Commission has been drawn to numerous media reports speculating about the appointment of the new Executive Vice Chairman/ Chief Executive Officer for the Commission. "The Commission is also concerned about the unusual attention directed on this issue in the media, and the level of propaganda, sentiments and insinuations attending these reports, some of which have no basis or reference to the position of the law guiding the appointment of the chief executive of the Commission." ...

The Managing Director and Vice-Chairman of Zain, Mr. Saad Al Barrak, has resigned, according to a statement by the firm. The statement said that the company's chairman would convene a board meeting to discuss next steps. Zain, one of the leading Middle East and African regional operator, has had its strategy scrutinised in recent times, especially with the recent global economic meltdown. According to telecoms.com, Al Barrak has helped build Zain into a firm with sizeable regional footprint as part of an oft-stated plan to become a top-tier international player in the telecommuncations industry. Al Barrak took over the leadership of the firm in 2002 with just about 600,000 subscribers on its domestic network in Kuwait. Today, the firm has operations in 22 markets across Africa and the Middle East, counted 52.8million subscribers at the end of the third quarter of 2009, according to information from Informa and Telecoms Media's World Cellular Investors Service

The Board of the Nigerian Communications Commission, NCC, chaired by Alhaji Ahmed Joda, met Thursday, August 20, 2009 in Abuja, to review the issues concerning the recent 2.3GHz frequency spectrum licensing process and the issues arising there from. The Commission notes the published directive to the Commission, by Mr. President, Alhaji Umaru Musa Yar’ Adua, to conduct a fresh bidding round for the licenses on this frequency band. Flowing from above, the programme for the fresh bidding round for licences in the 2.3GHz Band, and other frequency bands, has been initiated by the board of the Commission, and full details will be announced in due course. All stakeholders are advised to look out for public announcements in this regard. We plead with all interested parties, to forget the events of the past months and join the Commission in fostering a nation where telecom services are accessible and affordable to all. The Commission pledges its absolute commitment to due process, respect for ...

In line with the recent newspaper advertorial by the Central Bank of Nigeria, we will like to state that we (Omatek) DID NOT take any loan to the tune of N1,649,380,634.77 with Afribank or have facilities that are NON PERFORMING as stated in the said publication. OMATEK IS A 22 - YEAR OLD Venture that had worked hard to build its credibility over the Years. We have facilities with the Bank on Import Finance /Restocking basis. We Opened Form M’s, Bills for collection etc with the Bank to import raw materials. However, we have more than enough stock to match our exposure. These facilities were extended to the factory – Omatek Computers Limited (OCL), the production arm of the group. The OCL Products are being distributed to resellers and end-users by Omatek Ventures Distribution Limited (OVDL) On the other hand, Omatek had done a considerable amount of Consumer business with Afribank through the financing of our OMATEK e-Xpress factory initiative that had been launched in over EIGHT STA...

Jonah Iboma The Federal Government has realized a total of N56.78bn from spectrum sales made by the Nigerian Communications Commission between 2007 and May 2009. According to a document released by the office of the Accountant-General of the Federation, a copy of which was made available to our correspondent on Tuesday, a breakdown shows that the commission paid N51,102,583,704.68 in 2007 into the Consolidated Revenue Fund ,while the sums of N2,375,138,083.00 and N3,279,350,270.78, were paid in 2008 and 2009 respectively. The document with reference number D(R&F)584/Vol.1/99 dated 22 June, 2009 and which was released by the AGF’s office following the contentious auction of 2.3GHz spectrum by the NCC in May 2009, was signed by the A.R. Ogah, the Director, Revenue and Investment at the AGF’s office. The document had been released by the AGF to the Economic and Financial Crimes Commission following claims by the Ministry of Communications that it received petitions protesting the proc...

In what has been described as a clear statement on the overall value of the fledging Nigerian market for the information communication technology (ICT) sector, the top management hierarchy of the leading global wireless communication solution providers Harris Stratex Networks were on hand penultimate Monday the 1st of June to officially open the company’s first Technical Service Support and Test center in Lagos. The centre, which is the first of its kind in the sub – region, is meant to cater for a part of the existing customer base of Harris Stratex in Nigeria. Making this confirmation during the official opening ceremony of the Centre in Lagos , the President and CEO of Harris Stratex, Mr. Harald Braun explained that apart from the fact that the company presently operates in eleven African countries including Nigeria, his company is the only one with up to 30% of its profitable business coming out of Africa. Describing Africa in general and Nigeria in particular as the only place in ...

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...