|
TAA's
Job-Find notices
Announcement of Result for Interview held in Kaduna on
June 23, 24, 2009
Report of scores earned by candidates who attended the
recruitment interview held in Kaduna June 23, 24, 25, 2009 are
hereby published for general information. All candidates have
already received individual notices.
Those who scored 60% and above in the interview are
advised to expect invitation for a negotiation session in due
course.
|
Exam No
|
Position Recommended
|
Exam Score
|
Interview Score
|
Interview Location
|
|
461
|
Network Mtce Engineer
|
60
|
73
|
Kaduna
|
|
463
|
Product
Marketer
|
62
|
53
|
Kaduna
|
|
464
|
Customer
Care
|
60
|
48
|
Kaduna
|
|
474
|
Customer
Care
|
67
|
66
|
Kaduna
|
|
476
|
Network Mtce Engineer
|
67
|
72
|
Kaduna
|
|
477
|
Customer
Care
|
66
|
55
|
Kaduna
|
|
483
|
Customer
Care
|
60
|
50
|
Kaduna
|
|
485
|
Customer
Care
|
60
|
56
|
Kaduna
|
|
503
|
Product
Marketer
|
60
|
61
|
Kaduna
|
|
508
|
Product
Marketer
|
61
|
54
|
Kaduna
|
|
510
|
Network Mtce Engineer
|
69
|
71
|
Kaduna
|
|
524
|
Network Mtce Engineer
|
62
|
68
|
Kaduna
|
|
525
|
Network Mtce Engineer
|
84
|
58
|
Kaduna
|
|
526
|
Customer
Care
|
68
|
45
|
Kaduna
|
|
531
|
Customer
Care
|
60
|
69
|
Kaduna
|
|
534
|
Customer
Care
|
65
|
55
|
Kaduna
|
|
537
|
analyst/
administrator
|
71
|
47
|
Kaduna
|
|
585
|
Network Mtce Engineer
|
72
|
66
|
Kaduna
|
|
594
|
Customer
Care
|
60
|
Absent
|
Kaduna
|
|
616
|
Customer
Care
|
63
|
56
|
Kaduna
|
|
631
|
Customer
Care
|
71
|
71
|
Kaduna
|
|
633
|
analyst/
administrator
|
71
|
51
|
Kaduna
|
|
645
|
Network Mtce Engineer
|
76
|
61
|
Kaduna
|
|
653
|
Product
Marketer
|
60
|
53
|
Kaduna
|
|
658
|
Customer
Care
|
68
|
61
|
Kaduna
|
|
671
|
Product
Marketer
|
60
|
63
|
Kaduna
|
|
673
|
Product
Marketer
|
69
|
30
|
Kaduna
|
|
674
|
analyst/
administrator
|
63
|
64
|
Kaduna
|
|
676
|
Customer
Care
|
62
|
61
|
Kaduna
|
|
678
|
Product
Marketer
|
62
|
78
|
Kaduna
|
|
680
|
Customer
Care
|
64
|
Absent
|
Kaduna
|
|
703
|
Customer
Care
|
62
|
67
|
Kaduna
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
Please send all enquires to titi@cyberschuulnews.com
Invitation to interview
for successful candidates at May 2, 2009 Pre-recruitment
Examination
Information is brought to the attention of candidates
who scored 60% and above in the May 2 pre-recruitment examination
held in Lagos on May 2, 2009 that interview with Globaltouch WA Ltd will hold on
July 14, 15, 16, and 17, 2009.
Candidates who qualify for the interview have already
been advised individually and they are expected to attend according
the following schedule.
Venue: University of Lagos Guest Houses Conference
Centre Committee Room A
|
Date
|
Scheduled
Candidates
|
|
Tuesday, July 14, 2009
|
Customer Care candidates whose surnames start
with alphabets A - M
|
|
Wednesday, July 15, 2009
|
Customer Care candidates whose surnames start
with alphabets N - Z
|
|
Thursday, July 16, 2009
|
Candidates for Engineering and Technical
positions whose surnames start with alphabets A – M
|
|
Friday, July 17, 2009
|
Candidates for Engineering and Technical
positions whose surnames start with alphabets N – Z
|
Interview will hold form 9.00am
till 4.00pm daily and candidates will be attended to according to
their arrival at the venue.
Registration Desk will open at 8.00am daily
Candidates are advised to bring along their credentials,
three copies of their Curriculum Vitae prepared in accordance with
the advice contained in 300 slides and to forward a copy of the CV
ahead of the interview to titi@cyberschuulnews.com
Enquires should be taken up in the usual manner by
email to titi@cyberschuulnews.com
Overseas candidates are not yet involved in the
interview excercises.
What the law says about NCC's
2.3MHz frequency spectrum licensing
by
Paul Usoro
Background facts
SO much brouhaha has been created by the recent 2.3MHz frequency
spectrum licensing round by the Nigerian Communications Commission
("NCC" or "the Commission").
In capsule, NCC had advertised its planned
2.3MHz-licensing programme on April 30th,
2009 and had invited interested persons to indicate their interest.
The process continued to near completion on May 8th, 2009, with the
naming of successful bidders.
Thereafter, it was alleged that the Honourable
Minister for Communications ("the Minister"), Prof. Dora Akunyili, demanded the annulment of the process
and the commencement of a fresh process consequent upon complaints
that she received from interested stakeholders in regard to the
licensing process. As at date, the NCC is yet to annul the process
and the minister is yet to rescind her instructions. It would be
fruitful in the present circumstance to examine what the law
provides.
Licensing and procedures
The Nigerian Communications Act Cap N97 Laws of the Federation of
Nigeria, 2004 ("NCA" or "the Act") is the Bible
for the industry and should guide the minister and the NCC in this
matter. Section 4(1)(e) of the Act vests NCC with sole
responsibility for "granting and renewing communications licences . . . in accordance with the
provisions of this Act and monitoring and enforcing compliance with
licence terms and conditions by
licensees."
In Section 32(1) of the Act, the NCC's
responsibility therefore is amplified further and made unequivocal
with the stipulation that "the Commission shall issue
communications licences for the operation
and provision of communications services or facilities by way of
class or individual licences on such
terms and conditions as the Commission may from time to time
determine taking into consideration the objectives of this Act and
the provisions of section 33(3) of this Act."
Now, the present imbroglio, as PUC Journal understands it, is not
about the licensing powers of the NCC per se, but more about the
licensing procedures. Who is responsible, under the Act, for
establishing the licensing procedures? Again, it is the NCC that
has sole responsibility therefor. Section
33(2) of the Act leaves no one in any doubt on this issue when it
stipulates "subject to subsection (3) of this section, the
Commission shall from time to time determine and publish its
licensing procedures which may include but shall not be limited to
auction, selection processes, public tender invitation or
competitive bidding processes."
In drawing up the licensing procedures; however, the NCC must be
guided by the objectives of the Act and in particular, the
principles that are outlined in Section 33(3) of the Act which are
transparency, fairness and non-discrimination,
efficient use and management of radio frequencies,
available numbers under the national numbering plan,
the need to promote fair competition and investment in the
communications industry,
the need to provide modern, qualitative, affordable and readily
available communications services in all parts of Nigeria, and
such other principles and considerations as the Commission may from
time to time consider necessary and in the national interest.
In the event that the NCC deviates from these
guiding principles, the Act provides remedies for aggrieved persons.
However, just before addressing the remedies of and for such
aggrieved persons, we need to examine the place of the minister
generally under the Communications Act.
As a set out, it needs to be stated that the NCA established and
envisaged NCC as a regulatory and licensing agency that is
independent of the minister. This independence is captured in
Chapter III Part 1 of the NCA, which provides for the functions of
the minister. Section 23 of the Act gives the minister the
following responsibilities and functions:
the formulation, determination and monitoring, of the general
policy for the communications sector in Nigeria with a view to
ensuring, amongst others, the utilisation
of the sector as a platform for the economic and social development
of Nigeria,
the negotiation and execution of international communications
treaties and agreements, on behalf of Nigeria, between sovereign
countries and international organisations
and bodies, and
the representation of Nigeria, in conjunction with the Commission,
at proceedings of international organisations
and fora on matters relating to
communications.
To reinforce the independence of the Commission and erase any
doubts whatsoever in that regard, Section 25(2) of the Act
stipulates, "in the execution of his functions and
relationship with the Commission, the Minister shall at all times
ensure that the independence of the Commission, in regard to the
discharge of its functions and operations under this Act, is
protected and not compromised in any manner whatsoever." In
effect, the NCC, pursuant to the NCA, has complete control over its
regulatory and licensing responsibilities and functions.
But of course, those regulatory and licensing functions must be
exercised in the context and within the framework of the
"general policy for the communications sector in
Nigeria," the "formulation, determination and
monitoring" of which are within the purview of the minister's
statutory responsibility.
Now, we return to the remedies under the NCA for a person that is
aggrieved by NCC's decisions under the
Act. Section 86(1) of the Act anticipated that not everyone would
be satisfied with NCC's decisions under
the Act and therefore provides, "a person who is aggrieved or
whose interest is adversely affected by any decision of the
Commission made pursuant to the exercise of the powers and
functions under this Act or its subsidiary legislation ('aggrieved
person') may request in writing to the Commission for a statement
of the reasons for the decision.
It is important to note that the scope of such complaints is very
wide and covers "any decision of the Commission made pursuant
to the exercise of the powers and functions under this Act or its
subsidiary legislation." That includes any NCC decision in
regard to any licensing procedures e.g. the 2.3MHz licensing
procedure. Upon receipt of "such written request by an
aggrieved person", the Commission is mandatorily required
under Section 86(2) of the Act to "provide a copy of a
statement of reasons for the decision and any relevant information
taken into account in making the decision."
The Act again envisaged that the aggrieved person may not be
satisfied with the NCC statement of reasons and therefore
stipulates in Section 87(1) of the Act, "an aggrieved person
may at any time within but not later than 30 days after the date of
receipt of the Commission's statement of reasons . . . request the
Commission in writing for a review of the Commission's decision and
specify therein the reasons and basis for his request."
Upon receipt of such request, the NCC is mandatorily required
pursuant to Section 87(2) of the Act "to review its decision
taking into consideration the submissions of the aggrieved
person."
As a follow-up, Section 87(4) of the Act provides, "the
Commission shall not later than 60 days from the date of receipt of
the aggrieved person's written submissions, conclude its review of
the decision and inform the aggrieved person in writing of its
final decision thereon and the reasons therefor."
It is still possible that the aggrieved person will be unsatisfied
with the NCC's final decision on the
matter. In that event, Section 88(1) of the Act stipulates that
such "an aggrieved person may appeal to the Court for a
judicial review of the Commission's decision or other action"
provided that, as further stipulated in Section 88(3) thereof,
"a person shall not apply to the Court for a judicial review
unless that person has first exhausted all other remedies provided
under this Act."
Now, the review process as outlined above makes no room for
complaints to be lodged by aggrieved persons with the minister or
for the giving of ministerial directives to the NCC. The Act
stipulates a direct complaint channel between the aggrieved person
and the NCC and in the event that the NCC does not satisfactorily
resolve the complaint, recourse may be had by the aggrieved person
to the judicial process.
It merely remains to address some poorly defined complaints about NCC's competence to allocate spectrum
frequencies independent of National Frequency Management Council
("NFMC") and/or Nigerian Broadcasting Commission
("NBC"). The Communications Act makes the NCC solely
responsible for the management of the communications spectrum.
Section 4(1)(j) of the Act is explicit in this regard by stipulating
that the Commission shall have responsibility for the
"management and administration of frequency spectrum for the
communications sector and assisting the National Frequency
Management . . . Council in developing a national frequency plan.
The NCA indeed acknowledges that the NCC is but one of the
statutory bodies with responsibility for allocating frequency
spectrum to end-users - NBC, for example, is another - and
therefore established the NFMC as a central clearing house. NFMC is
therefore required by Section 28 of the Act to, inter alia,
"carry out bulk trans-sectoral
allocation of spectrum to statutory bodies that are authorised by enabling laws to allocate
spectrum to end-users, and . . . receive and collate returns and
statistics on spectrum allocation to end-users from the statutory
bodies specified in paragraph (e) of this section and co-ordinate
their respective activities."
If the NFMC had, prior to the controversial licensing exercise,
released the 2.3MHz frequency spectrum band to the NCC for onward
allocation to end-users, pursuant to Section 28(e) of the NCA, then
that is the entirety of the NFMC's
function and responsibility under the Act. Thereafter, the NCC has
sole responsibility for the allocation of the spectrum slots to
end-users pursuant to Section 4(1)(j) of
the Act.
We must not be taken to suggest that the minister cannot proffer
suggestions or pass on complaints from aggrieved persons to the
NCC. But of course the minister can and should make requisite
suggestions and contributions to the NCC on how best to improve
communications services. However, such suggestions and
contributions must not encroach upon the independence of the NCC,
which is statutorily provided for in Section 25(2) of the NCA.
Where aggrieved persons complain to the minister, it would, in our
view, be in order for the minister to pass on such complaints to
the NCC for due consideration. However, simultaneous with the
onward transmission of such complaints to the NCC, such aggrieved
persons must always be advised and directed to follow the statutory
provisions in the NCA for grievance redress. Only then will we have
a regulatory and licensing framework that is governed by laws and
is predictable and attractive for continued investments.
This essay
published by Guardian newspaper is taken from http://www.ngrguardiannews.com/
Paul
Usoro, Telecom Lawyer, is a Senior
Advocate of Nigeria
Engineering Assembly to focus on Education
Assembly holds August 11 - 12, 2009
Council for the Regulation of Engineering in Nigeria, COREN, rose
at its recent meeting to announce that plans have reached final
stages to host the annual meeting of all practicing engineering
personnel in the country on August 11 – 12, 2009. Venue is
the Conference Centre Abuja and the Theme of the conference is “Quality
of Engineering Education and Training – Key to
Infrastructural Development”.
The assembly will be addressed by seven speakers each taking on
different issues relating to engineering education. The speakers
include Engr. Barnabas Gemade, Mr. Chris Uwaje, Engr. Ette Etteh, Prof. Barth Nnaji,
Prof. V.O.S. Olunloyo, Dr. G. C. Udezue and Dr. Sara Rajala.
The engineering Assembly is a COREN initiative which puts all
members of the engineering family, Engineers, Technologists,
Technicians and craftsmen together for two days for brainstorm
session on common issues. The Act which sets up the council
encourages all employers of engineering personnel to support their
workers to participate in the assembly.
APOLLO: New devise to detect Mobile Phone theft
A device that will help identify those in possession of stolen
mobile phones has been gaining application in several parts of
Europe.
Named the ‘Apollo’ the handheld device, provided by
Radio Tactics Limited, scans IMEI numbers or barcodes found inside
every mobile phone and instantly provides information including the
phone’s registered owner, whether it has been reported as
stolen or if it has ever been blocked by the network provider.
The technology was introduced around early 2008 and police forces
across the UK are reported to be using it in a bid to identify and
deter criminals and communicate vital crime prevention advice
around registering and securing mobile phones. The device is also able
to identify stolen iPods and MP3 players that have been correctly
registered by their owners.
Not many countries in developing economies have laws compelling
registration of phone users thus making the device inapplicable is
such places.
Phone Regulators in Nigeria, NCC, recently announced plans to
register phone users citing several reasons including protection of
user investment and hoping that the initiative would eventually be
backed by an act of parliament.
‘War over nothing’
by
titi omo-ettu
Two things inspired this essay and analysis. The
first is something that does not relate to telecommunications while
the other is a comment from a telecom enthusiast who proved to me
that I have been lying, all along, that what is going on in the
industry does not bother me.
The unrelated story is a report by Dr. Yombo Awojobi, a
distinguished rural surgeon who lives and practices in Ibarapa area, Oyo State. He circulated his
report of a recent conference on rural health held in Greece and
the following portion of the report pricked me:
Quote
I
arrived at the conference centre of Creta
Maris hotel on Heraklion Crete on Friday
12th June 2009 after 17 hours of air travel with stopovers in
Accra, Rome and Athens. During the conference, I found out only four
other Nigerians were present: Dr N Udonwa,
Miss K Odunayo, Miss I O Osewa and Miss O Oyekunle.
Dr
Udonwa is Senior Lecturer and Chief
Consultant Family Physician at the University of Calabar, Cross River State, Nigeria. He was a
key figure in the hosting of the WONCA conference in 2008. Several
complimentary remarks were made about him at the Crete conference.
Some leaders of WONCA were made local chiefs in Calabar
(Appendix 2)
The
young ladies are final year medical students of the University of Lagos,
Lagos, Nigeria. During a discussion with them, two expressed the
desire to become family physicians after graduation and the third
hoped to obtain a master’s degree in public health.
To my utter surprise, the four Nigerians came to
the conference on their own steam! The students were sponsored by
their parents. When it was realised
that air fare from Nigeria to Crete was €1 000.00,
registration for the conference was €490 for Dr Udonwa, €365 each for the students, hotel
accommodation was €200 per night, bed and breakfast, for
three days, Dr Udonwa would have spent
about €2 090.00 (N501 600.00 in local currency) and each
student €1 965.00 (N471 600.00) for this conference. I
expressed my admiration and appreciation to them for their great
sacrifices, more so to Dr Udonwa who
could now report on the opinion of WONCA about the Calabar conference and the reactions of
delegates to my keynote address.
Unquote
The emphasis in the quote above is mine.
I have always imagined that the current government
pays no attention to telecommunications because its key officials
see the industry as one area where we have had some accomplishment
and therefore it can run on its own, even on autopilot. Now I begin
to see that even in such areas where we have performed very poorly,
as in health services, the situation is not any better.
We have the responsibility to let government know
that we are watching and that we are concerned.
The other guy who proved that I have been lying is
probably a journalist since my response to his question, indicating
that I have no interest in the altercations that are entertaining
everybody at this time, is what motivated him to rightly fire at
me. Yes, I actually admit that government’s direct
performance in telecommunications in the recent times has been on
the decline but it does not bother me because it was not government
that brought the industry to its present level in the first place.
What we could arrogate to government was that it was not
obstructive to growth in the industry. But the story has changed in
recent times.
My consulting apparatus had recently professed
that we would, in the remaining lap to 2011, engage the industry in
mounting awareness activities that could sustain the industry
because failure to do that might allow things to degenerate such
that we may not have anywhere to start from in 2011 – when
hopefully a new government shall be in place.
What I consider necessary and constructive at this
time is the need to restructure and harmonize the emerging ICT
industry and I have used a few opportunities of my public
dissertations to stress the point.
Regrettably, not only does the present arrangement
of government remain unfocused, it is also a fact that current
actions of its principal officials may put the little achievement
of growth (not yet development, by the way) in jeopardy.
The aspect that does not bother me is the ‘two
fighting’ scenario which has provided some entertainment for
Nigerians in recent time. Two people fighting cannot bring stress
to the telecom industry the way the ‘do-nothing’
posture of government can. And to that extent, we can ignore the
fight and move on. I am not saying that ‘two fighting’
is good but that we can ignore it.
Incidentally the two fellows who are fighting are
good matches for themselves. They are both achievers in public
service; one in transparency and professionalism, and the other in
raw courage and commitment to a cause. Building on their personal
accomplishments, they have also been made by the media and both
seem aiming at making the media to unmake them. They both share
praises in this instant and they also both share blames. One is
attempting to prove to the other that the sanctity of our laws
should be supreme and that is good. And the other is proving that
if anyone is doing wrong he or she must be brought to book no
matter what his or her past records are. Which is
also good.
The differences are that one has read the National
Communications Act very well while the other might not have read it
at all.
Above all, one is equating the other to being the
same as the Commission that we call the NCC. If the Commission
takes a decision and you are taking it on one person who
incidentally is not even the Chairman, you are getting it wrong.
A few days ago, a newspaper speculated that the
Hon. Minister of Information and Communications has argued that
NITDA should migrate to her Ministry. This is one but only an
aspect of the restructuring which, if it is what the minister is
implementing, is good for the industry. But if that is the only
issue that the Minister is seeing, she will be well advised to dust
up and read the report which the Committee commissioned by the last
government on the subject of restructuring of the industry and see
that her desire is but just a part of a begging restructuring of
the industry which we can call ICT.
Evidences abound to show that the Hon. Minister
has not found time to read the National Communications Act 2003.
Those who show to have read it are her advisers who, by merely
doing their work, help her to overplay her oversight functions and
underplay her constitutional functions.
But that is not the issue here now.
The issue is that a restructuring of the industry
is desirable, failure to do which Nigerians will be paying more for
telecommunications while the world is paying less – and at a
time when management, and not government fiat, is what the world is
now using to tame tariff in telecommunications, and also to make
good quality service a right and not a privilege of the people.
titi omo-ettu is a Lagos based telecommunications
consultant
CyberschuulNews
342
For sale, NOT for
sale
Disposal of NITEL sets officials confused.
Newspaper accounts of what may be going
on in the mind of officials in Nigeria regarding the disposal of
NITEL paint a picture of confusion and helplessness. Although NITEL
has moved from its height of dominant operator to the low end of an
insignificant player, any wrong move at this moment may permanently
take its name off the industry database.
Government early in June, citing several
justifiable but belated reasons for the action, recovered the
ailing company from Transcorp which
bought 51% of it in 2005 . And BPE which
was the undertaker that took the company from good health to
distress all in eight years of unfaithful privatization process is
up again asking for buyers.
Some account says the BPE may be
considering stripping the company and its subsidiary down to
several units for unbundled disposal while some say the two
companies of NITEL and Mtel would be sold
as the only two separate units on offer.
Analysts foresee a certain extinction of
the company known as NITEL/Mtel if any of
the two steps is taken. One Lagos based analyst has since opined that
what has remained intact in the NITEL saga is the value of its FNO
(First National Operator) License which, in his opinion, remains a
good resource that should be withdrawn and resold to worthy buyers
at a good fee.
Nigeria advances
on registration of phone users.
The Nigerian Communications Commission,
NCC has expressed desire to partner with private sector solution
providers to develop a widely accepted and continuous SIM Card
Registration System.
A notice at the Commission’s
website states that it invites proposals from eligible and
experienced firms with proven track record of successful
performance in similar capacity to provide the technical services
for the conceptualization, design, development, and delivery of a
SIM Card Registration Solution that will cover all Mobile phone
Operators in Nigeria (including CDMA and fixed lines) and will
provide, as a result, detailed subscriber profiles and data in a
manner that will facilitate seamless integration into the existing
National Identity Database and serve as the primary source of
identity verification of all SIM Card subscribers.
According to the information document,
the selected firm would be required to:
·
Assess
the current process for the issuance and activation of SIM Cards nationwide
across all mobile and other networks;
·
Define
a conceptual framework for SIM Card Registration for new and
existing subscribers especially with the use of National Identity
Cards issued by NIMC;
·
Define
a conceptual framework for continued/future registration across all
networks;
·
Define
and develop SIM Card Database structure which will be verified and
integrated into the National Identity Database.
·
Develop
key business processes to guide registration;
·
Develop
and provide detailed specification for infrastructures including
hardware and software, communications links, database and
integrated middleware required to implement and automate key
aspects of the registration exercise;
·
Develop
the implementation plan that will include deliverables and
timelines to ensure that registrations of new and existing
subscribers are carried out concurrently;
·
Propose
necessary amendments to current SIM Card activation process to
enable registration before activation; and
·
Provide
and build all identified equipment/software requirements and
provide professional expertise to deploy all required
infrastructures and systems to integrate key stakeholders in the
registration process;
All registration of existing subscribers
should start within six (6) months of notification/acceptance of
award; the winning bidder is also expected to establish a mechanism
for registration of new subscribers on a continuous basis within
the same period.
Microsoft, Google
in software row
Software giant, Microsoft has claimed
that a new Google application disables a key function in Outlook
e-mail program.
The world's largest software company has
long desired to play a major role in the lucrative Web search market
after watching upstart Google take a stranglehold just as Google is
similarly looking to take advantage of its popularity to launch
software that competes with Microsoft's, thereby creating a new
source of tension between the two companies.
LCU/THE CYBERSCHUUL SYNERGISE
TO IMPROVE TRAINING IN TELECOMMUNICATIONS
LEAD CITY University, Ibadan and THE
CYBERSCHUUL, Lagos, are currently implementing a synergy deal to
upgrade graduating students of computer and electronics with
additional training in Telecommunications business.
The pilot scheme will soon be completed
as 21 out of the 30 hours training has been satisfactorily
completed.
TELECOM ANSWERS ASSOCIATES, founders of
the CYBERSCHUUL, had a few years back contested the argument by
some extremist employers who made claims that Nigerian graduates
are unemployable while TELECOM ANSWERS ASSOCIATES position had been
that content of training in universities were excellent but have
merely not responded fast enough to making present graduates immediately
relevant to the needs of rapidly evolving telecommunications
industry. This lapse in TELECOM ANSWERS ASSOCIATES’ view
could be corrected by a slight modification in the content and
style of training to include materials in telecommunications business.
Lead City University mid-2008 approached
TELECOM ANSWERS ASSOCIATES on the matter and the resources of THE
CYBERSCHUUL were put into supplying the missing stuff to graduating
students of computer and electronics at the University.
35 graduating students are benefiting
form the pilot training program which exposed the trainees to stuff
on traditional telecommunication subjects such as wired and
wireless systems, mobile
communication standards and emerging technologies such as Wi-Fi Wimax and internet applications. They were also
introduced to industry management tools such as number portability,
co-location and sharing of telecommunications infrastructure as
well as convergence issues.
The program does not include a
Train-the-Trainers component as the concept is to use current
industry practitioners to deliver the stuff to the students on a
continuous basis.
CyberschuulNews
340
Lagos-Accra-Seixal Marine fibre
to be available Mid-2010
Africa’s increasing fleet of submarine
fibre will get another boost when
mid-2010 the MainOne Cable Company in
Nigeria commissions an international voice and internet capacity
which its owners said will offer higher speed and much lower cost
to consumers.
Landing rights are already secured in Nigeria,
Ghana, and also in Portugal where the cable takes off from. Ms Funke Opeke, CEO of
the company was quoted in a THISDAY
interview midweek to have said ‘we are bringing an
alternative and it is private sector owned. It has the latest
technology and is efficient. It has a lot more speed and much low
cost to deliver that kind of connectivity’.
According to the CEO, the worst hurdles of the
plan have been crossed and there is no going back. $250m is the
ultimate investment and $66m of this was recently provided by the
Africa Development Bank according to another report.
The MainOne cable system
will have a design capacity of 1.28 Tbps.
NEWS ANALYSIS
Transcorp’s
51% stake in NITEL now cancelled
TRANSCORP and NITEL which President Obasanjo put together in 2006 have now been put
asunder by President Yar’ Adua.
Nigeria’s federal government during the past
week eventually found words to weave around its final cancellation
of the sale of 51% shares in NITEL to Transnational Corporation
(a.k.a. Transcorp). That came after 30
months of a rudderless sail of NITEL in the hands of a stillborn ‘conglomerate’,
called Transcorp which Mr. Obasanjo, Immediate Past President of Nigeria,
established in 2005.
Mr. Christopher Anyanwu,
the new boss of Bureau of Public Enterprises, BPE, made the
announcement in a public statement stating the sins of Transcorp to include the exit of BT as the technical
operator for the company and Transcorp's
failure to inject $129 million into NITEL within 100 days of its
takeover to address the immediate liquidity problem facing the
company. He also mentioned huge interconnect debt and inability of NITEL’s managers to pay staff salaries
for close to 11 months. At the time of the announcement, top
executives of the ‘conglomerate’ were in detention
answering charges which border on fraud.
Those
who have interest in Transcorp have
called the action blue murder and they are likely to mention going
to court to seek redress if anyone cares to ask them.
Although
NITEL's story may not have come to a
final end, it has gone full circle all the same in so far as the transcorp chapter of it is concerned. The end
is still to come as government said it is still in search of a
buyer for the First National Operator.
It
is not clear what is being put on sale. NITEL’s
name, its assets (and liabilities in tow) or its FNO license. Just
another journey, come to think of it.
...TRANSCORP REACTS
Few
minutes after Mr Chistopher
Anyanwu, Director–General of BPE
announced the cancellation of the sale of NITEL’s
51% shares to Transcorp, Transcorp’s Mr Ezedi Udom signing
as Head,
Corporate Relations Department issued
a Press statement thus:
PRESS STATEMENT
Transcorp faults BPE’s
purported revocation of NITEL sale
Transnational Corporation of Nigeria (Transcorp) plc has received with shock a letter
from the Bureau of Public Enterprises (BPE), purportedly revoking
the sale of NITEL to Transnational Corporation of Nigeria (Transcorp) plc.
Transcorp regards the
action as unnecessary and at variance with the position of all the
stakeholders of NITEL, who had jointly agreed that Transcorp should give its power of attorney to
BPE to facilitate the sale of NITEL/Mtel
to a new core investor, an action which Transcorp
promptly carried out last week.
Transcorp fears that
the purported revocation of the sale of NITEL may prompt a chain of
events that could ultimately jeopardise
the sale of NITEL to a new core investor. It will be recalled that
the first purported reversal was generally agreed to be
counterproductive as it caused a huge setback to efforts aimed at
transforming NITEL.
This latest revocation is coming on the heels of
recent successes recorded in the turnaround efforts of NITEL which
resulted in the coming alive of the network in some parts of the
country recently.
Transcorp hereby calls
on the BPE to rescind on its decision in the interest of justice
and for the quick realization of the sale of NITEL/Mtel.
...ends
Ezedi Udom
Head, Corporate Relations Department, TRANSCORP
Tuesday, June 02, 2009
taken from http://www.transcorpnigeria.com
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