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Editions 276 - 280
CyberschuulNews 280
Quality of Service Forum holds in Abuja.
The 2nd Public Forum on quality of service in the Nigerian telecommunications industry will hold on April 1, 2008, at the Sheraton Hotels, Abuja.
Host Agency NCC plans to appraise the current status of the quality of service in the network and the impact made by several measures so far taken to address the issue; identify specific challenges and advance solutions.
The Quality of Service Working Group, a group of experts drawn from different sections of the telecoms industry, including the regulator, the operators and representatives of consumers, will present its report at the forum.
CEO’s of the GSM operators; the Nigerian police, industry associations, and consumer rights groups will also make presentations while the new industry key performance indicators will be unveiled by the NCC.
Globacom continues Fibre-ringing of Nigeria
Recent reports indicate that the Owerri-Onitsha and Onitsha-Awka fibre transmission spurs have been completed by Globacom, Nigeria’s Second National Operator. They extend the major backbone which the operator has been constructing in the past few years across the country. Those announced to have been completed earlier include Lagos-Abeokuta-Ibadan, Lagos-Ijebuode-Ore-Benin-Sapele-Warri-Kaima-Port-Harcourt, Port-Harcourt-Aba-Owerri-Enugu, Abuja-Kaduna-Zaria-Kano and Abuja-Minna routes.
The information is short on capacities of the routes.
Globscom’s fibre is one the several projects which are potential broadband backbone infrastructure for the pan-African communication network. A similar project which NITEL, Nigeria’s First National Operator, installed in the nineties are known to have suffered several tragedies occasioned by privatization induced setbacks and inability of the rapidly changing management of the company to optimize such infrastructural assets. Regrettably successive administrations virtually moved the infrastructure from stress to distress.
Motorola to split into two companies
For dwindling fortunes of its handsets wing and to contend with shareholders complaints, Chicago based Motorola, has announced intention to split into two firms to give its mobile phone handsets sector a chance to grow under another management.
This is coming few weeks after there was
speculation that Motorola might be going into joint
venture with Nortel Networks on their wireless
infrastructure units to forge better business maneuvers.
Motorola
used to place second, closely behind Nokia of Finland,
in cell phone sales but in recent time, Samsung
took the second position and the margin i said to be
widening.
The
company and its shareholders hold the view that the
creation of the two independent publicly traded
companies will provide improved management focus and a
capital structure that is more focused to the individual
business needs of handsets business and home and
networks business.
If
the plan goes through, the two companies would have
effectively emerged by 2009.
The sun
shines from Abuja Hallowed Chambers
Senator Sylvester Anyanwu, Chairman, Senate
Committee on Communications opened up in a
recent interview he granted ICTtoday, a
technology magazine, and the working process
of his mind gives cause for cheers. Among
his responses is the position that the
Nigeria Communications Act 2003 will be
amended to close some gaps just as the
privatization process may be fine-tuned in
the way its affects communications. With
those revelations, it is clear that the
Senator and his colleagues will require
further public sittings only for emphasis
and for details as they have already hit on
the right chords.
No Act of parliament is ever perfect and
people matter in making laws work. The
environment in which an Act works determines
the timeliness of a desire to amend it and
it is clear that, having tested the existing
clauses in relation to the culture of front
line operators in the Nigerian market, it
requires slight but urgent review and
amendment. The attitude of those we choose
to call major players in the Nigerian market
has been a consistent attempt to intimidate
other players, consumers and even the
regulator. We have only been lucky to have a
regulator that has followed the due process
of law to the letter while not lacking in
applying professional details to its
processes. Professionalism itself is about
due process and due process is about toeing
the lines of the law. So where the law is
slack, those who obey it become the
underdogs.
In Senator Anyanwu’s exact words, ' in
case you have to sanction them [i.e. the
operators] you have to serve notice which
will take about three months before the
implementation of the notice, and within the
three months, these operators will take the
regulator to court and they would have to
wait until the court determines the case
before they implement. These are some of the
flaws that we found in the act which we have
to change.'
With such reassuring assembly of words it is
clear that the Senate is focused on that
subject.
In another answer he said: 'The truth of
the matter is if we are saying that we are
going on with the privatization policy, we
should be able to continue with it. What we
may do in the long run is to form a
different company that is not NigcomSat
which will sell these services to the
providers. We wouldn’t do anything that will
discourage investment in the telecom
industry, that I can assure you.'
Fine and good talk. We can only expect that
government will not be the party to form the
company.
The Senator’s position is poles away from
what comes out of the House of
Representatives whenever they talk, and that
brings up the worry that we express here. It
could be argued that the House of Reps
Sub-Committee which was to review Quality of
Service and ended up publishing a drab
report in November 2007 is actually not
exactly the same as the House Committee on
Communications. But every move made so far
keeps suggesting that the two chambers may
need a lot of harmonization to do for the
desired amendment to the Nigerian
Communications Act 2003 to make positive
impact to the industry regardless of the sun
which shines from the Senate.
In South
Africa, Telkom looses its monopoly of SAT-3
With the recent announcement that Neotel,
South Africa’s second National Operator has
now obtained access to the SAT3 landing
station in Melkbosstrand, the march towards
a completely deregulated management of SAT3
may have gone a notch higher.
South African bandwidth users have been
promised better tariff by Neotel which can
now carry traffic from Johannesburg to
London entirely on its own network, end to
end.
A recent news item also confirms
authoritatively that Neotel obtains
international capacity on SAT-3 for
routes to the West, and SAFE for routes to
the East, at competitive rates, and is able
to pass the cost benefits on to customers of
services that depend on these routes.
It is not yet clear what the Independent
Communications Authority of South Africa (ICASA)
is emphasising in its regulatory overview of
the development but it is asking for input
from stakeholders into a draft document on
the subject.
Motion
moved for a shift of ICT implementation
strategy as a youth organisation mounts a
summit for ICT in local government
administration
A group of young Nigerians who have
identified wastefulness in the ‘top-bottom’
approach of government in spreading ICT
resources may have begun a campaign for
modification. The top-bottom approach is
where government at the federal level
conceives a global concept of planting very
expensive projects meant for grassroots
application but which after consuming very
heavy budgets, take a very long time to
implement and end up being irrelevant to
those it was meant to serve.
They are now championing a ‘bottom-top’
model which recognizes the local government
as the truly nearest government to the
people. As a take off, they have planned an
E-Strategies Summit on ICT in Local
Government administration for June 2008.
Modality for empowering local government
administrations across Nigeria to maximize
the use of available e-resources forms the
core issues which the forum scheduled for
June 9th - 11th is set to address.
Mr. Olawale Toriola-Ajani who made the
announcement on behalf of Intelisense
Solutions, an organization which has
received the patronage of the Association of
Local Governments of Nigeria (ALGON) says
his team has already got collaboration of
Commonwealth Local Government Forum, UK and
the United Cities & Local Government of
Africa, South Africa to host the Summit in
Abuja.
The Summit is designed to bring together
policymakers and practitioners involved in
local government: Local Government Chairmen,
Council Managers, Council Treasurers, Head
of Personnel Management, Secretaries to
Local Governments, Commissioners for Local
Government, Permanent Secretaries, House
Committees on Local Government, Information
Officers, Councilors, House
Leaders/Legislators, Senior Officials and
other stakeholders, including research
organizations, IT Industries,
non-governmental organizations who work with
Local Government and development agencies.
UN names young leaders to Global
Coalition for digital technologies and
Development
The
United Nations appointed today ten young
peoples from around the world to a Committee
of eLeaders for ICT and Youth to help
support its efforts in promoting the use of
information and communication technologies (ICT)
to eradicate poverty and advance
development.
The Committee of e-Leaders for ICT and Youth
is composed of one regional youth
representative from each region and other
selected successful youth leaders from
various fields. It will work under the
United Nations Global Alliance for
Information Technologies and Development, of
the Department of Economic and Social
Affairs (UNDESA-GAID), and will report to
the Strategy Council and Steering Committee
of GAID.
'The eLeaders for ICT and Youth are
dedicated young professionals who have made
a real impact in the ICT-for-development
field in their countries and region' said,
Sarbuland Khan, the Executive Coordinator of
UNDESA-GAID. “We look forward to working
with them on exciting initiatives and
programmes, particularly for youth, in
support of the United Nations on harnessing
information and communication technologies
for the achievement of the Millennium
Development Goals”.
The eLeaders for ICT and Youth will oversee
and coordinate the work of the Global Youth
Coalition/Network for ICT. The Coalition
provides a venue for young peoples to share
knowledge and experiences on ICT-for-development
and youth issues.
The eLeaders will help in bringing
multi-stakeholders such as governments, the
private sector, the media and civil society
together. They will help create youth
networks in the regions; develop and
implement regional work programmes of the
Global Youth Coalition on ICT for
development in education, health, governance
and entrepreneurship. They will also promote
awareness and advocacy campaigns, through
multimedia, on regional ICT-for-development
initiatives, and the objectives of GAID
through outreach with young people,
governments, business leaders, civil
society, academic institutions and
technology communities.
The Coalition will support the agenda of the
United Nations on harnessing information and
communication technologies (ICT) for the
achievement of the Millennium Development
Goals (MDGs).
They newly appointed eLeaders for ICT are:
Manar Al-Hashash, Founder and General
Manager of Dot Design; Hugo Berkeley,
Director NormalLife Pictures; Jennifer
Corriero, Executive Director of
TakingITGlobal; Patrick Cosgrave, Founder &
CEO Rock the Vote Ireland & My Candidate;
Natasha Ghent- Rodriguez, UN Foundation;
Armen Orujyan, President and Chairman of the
Board of ATHGO; Rajiv Ramakrishan, Brandeis
University; Ran Ren, ITU Fellow; Gbenga
Sesan, ITU Fellow; Johan Khairuddin, Head of
Youth Dynamics, ASTRO plc.
A representative from La Francophonie
remained to be appointed.
Taken
from http://www.un-gaid.org/en/node/2353
|
Nigeria: March of Consolidation in the telecom industry
| Deal Partner A |
|
Deal Partner Z |
|
Service Type |
|
%Share Deal of Partner A |
|
Deal Value |
|
Approximate Deal Date |
| MTN |
|
VGCCL |
|
Fixed Telephony |
|
100 |
|
|
|
Dec 2006 |
| Telkom SA |
|
Multilinks |
|
Wireless Telephony |
|
75 |
|
|
|
March 2007 |
| Linkserve |
|
Infoweb |
|
Internet |
|
100 |
|
|
|
2006 |
| Celtel |
|
V-Mobile |
|
GSM Mobile |
|
65 |
|
|
|
2006 |
| Gateway |
|
GS Telecom |
|
Broadband Internet |
|
100 |
|
|
|
|
| |
|
Prest Telecom |
|
Wireless Telephony |
|
|
|
|
|
|
| Transcorp |
|
NITEL/MTEL |
|
First National Operator |
|
51 |
|
|
|
Sept 2006 |
| Sudatel |
|
Intercellular |
|
Wireless Telephony |
|
70 |
|
|
|
Dec 2007 |
| MTN |
|
XS Broadband [Formerly UBA Capital & Trust] |
|
Broadband Internet |
|
100 |
|
|
|
Aug. 2007 |
| Dimension Data |
|
Accelon |
|
Broadband Internet |
|
100 |
|
|
|
Sep. 2007 |
| Visafone |
|
Cellcom
ITN
Bourdex Ltd |
|
Fixed Wireless
Fixed wireless
Fixed Wireless |
|
100
100
100 |
|
|
|
June. 2007
Jan 2008
Jan 2008 |
|
This data is from private source. Not government authorised. Informed comments will be appreciated. Source :TAA
Contact titi@cyberschuulnews.com for more information. |
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
Nigeria:
March of Consolidation in the telecom
industry
|
Deal Partner A |
|
Deal Partner Z |
|
Service Type |
|
%Share Deal of
Partner A |
|
Deal
Value |
|
Approximate Deal Date |
|
MTN |
|
VGCCL |
|
Fixed Telephony |
|
100 |
|
|
|
Dec 2006 |
|
Telkom SA |
|
Multilinks |
|
Wireless Telephony |
|
75 |
|
|
|
March 2007 |
|
Linkserve |
|
Infoweb |
|
Internet |
|
100 |
|
|
|
2006 |
|
Celtel |
|
V-Mobile |
|
GSM Mobile |
|
65 |
|
|
|
2006 |
|
Gateway |
|
GS Telecom |
|
Broadband Internet |
|
100 |
|
|
|
|
| |
|
Prest
Telecom |
|
Wireless Telephony |
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
Transcorp |
|
NITEL/MTEL |
|
First National
Operator |
|
51 |
|
|
|
Sept 2006 |
|
Sudatel |
|
Intercellular |
|
Wireless Telephony |
|
70 |
|
|
|
Dec 2007 |
|
MTN |
|
XS Broadband
[Formerly UBA Capital & Trust] |
|
Broadband Internet |
|
100 |
|
|
|
Aug. 2007 |
|
Dimension Data
|
|
Accelon |
|
Broadband Internet |
|
100 |
|
|
|
Sep. 2007 |
|
Visafone |
|
Cellcom
ITN
Bourdex Ltd |
|
Fixed Wireless
Fixed wireless
Fixed Wireless |
|
100
100
100 |
|
|
|
June. 2007
Jan 2008
Jan 2008 |
|
This
data is from private source. Not government authorised.
Informed comments will be appreciated. Source :TAA
See
www.cyberschuulnews.com for
more information. |
Federal
Ministry of ICT emerges soon
There
are indications that work has been completed
on the study document which dots the i’s and
crosses the t’s on Nigerian government’s
plan to consolidate the information and
communications technology industry into a
Ministry of Information and Communications
Technology. The 26-man study group which
government appointed in 2006 to study the
benefits and implications of such industry
merger is reported to have completed its
work and submitted a report.
Minister of State for Information and
Communications Alhaji Ibrahim Dasuki Nakande
confirmed this at the recent Forum on Local
Content Development held in Lagos under the
auspices of the Association of
Telecommunications Companies of Nigeria,
ATCON.
Although the merger of the Ministries of
Communications and Information had since
been announced, it was a directive of the
Federal Executive Council ahead of the
formal integration of the decision into the
proper working framework of government. It
was not clear what exigencies made
government go ahead with the announcement at
the time it did late 2006. Analysts believe
that by the time it is over, a few
parastatals, agencies and commissions may
have to relocate to different Ministries for
supervisory control to make the
consolidation meaningful.
Cell
Phones now allowed on Airplanes in Europe
But on conditions
The
European Union has opened the way for air
travelers to use mobile phones to talk, text
or send e-mails on planes throughout
Europe's airspace. This will however be
limited to when the aircraft is at cruising
level or at least not below 10,000ft above
ground. It will also not be allowed when
taking off or during landing.
With
this, airlines may make additional income
from onboard mobile services and it may even
become an issue for measuring competitive
edge in air services. How do you get used to
being banned from working once you are on a
long distance flight. In-flight mobile phone
services can be a very interesting new
service especially for those business
travelers who need to be ready to
communicate wherever they are.
The EU
is naturally worried about exploitative
pricing and it is expected to issue
directives on rates for services so as to
make them reasonable if things don’t just
sort themselves out.
Several
airlines are known to have commenced trial
of in-flight mobile phone services in the
last few days after the EU announcement.
Boon to Starcomms ONE subscribers
Starcomms subscribers can now experience
true convenience with starcomms hourly
internet subscription renewal packages
available to existing subscribers. Under
the scheme, 100 hours can be spread over 30
days at N6,500 or 250 hours over 90 days
forN15,000 with the starcomms broadband
internet renewal packages. The way to do it
is to approach any starcomms shop in the
vicinity.
ITU speaks on
Nigeria and NCC
The real
secret behind how Nigerian Communications
Commission, NCC has recorded its
international recognition for credible
regulation was somehow revealed by the
visiting Secretary General of the
International Telecommunications Union, ITU,
over the weekend. Dr Hamadoun Toure, told the
audience at a book launch in Lagos that it
was usual for NCC to seek support of ITU
in several of its affairs. ‘My friend Mr.
Ernest Ndukwe, has usually called us to send
in expertise to observe and support the
processes through which the Commission takes
its decisions. A guy who does that is not
likely to get it wrong’.
Dr.
Toure an African of Malian extraction and
the first African to be Secretary General of
the ITU said he feels proud to be reminded
that Nigeria being the largest
telecommunications market in Africa and
representing the highest concentration of
black people in the world has made a name
for itself in telecommunication regulation.
The
'Ndukwe Phenomenon' Unveiled
A book
which captures the professional life of Engr.
Ernest Ndukwe, Vice Chairman and Chief
Executive of the Nigerian Communications
Commission has been written. Titled
‘Ndukwe &Telecom Regulation: A Walk In
Tandem’
the book is a portrait which unveils the
Ndukwe phenomenon in the sense that it
demonstrates that Ndukwe was not a mere
happenstance in the Nigerian
telecommunications environment but a man who
was destined to lead a revolutionary
transformation and uplifting of the
industry.
The Author, Mr. Aaron Ukodie, himself an
authoritative writer of the
telecommunications industry uses several
facts to demonstrate various positions he
takes in capturing the remarkable work and
achievements of his subject in over 25 years
of Ernest Ndukwe’s professional journey.
The author claims that there are a few who
are in the mode of Ndukwe in a country which
is in short supply of noble models in every
area of her national life. He insists,
however, that "even the few individuals in
this category are most of the time unsung
and the virtues which they represent not put
up in the public domain for the young ones
to emulate and also serve to challenge even
their contemporaries who walk in ignoble
paths,"
The book will be launched on Saturday April
12, 2008 at the Nigerian Institute of
International Affairs, Kofo Abayomi Street,
Victoria Island, Lagos by the
Secretary-General of the International
Telecommunications Union (ITU), Dr Hammadoun
Toure.
NCC releases Reports of public enquiry
In deference to requirement of the Nigerian Communications Act 2003, the Nigerian Communications Commission, NCC, has published, for public information, the reports of enquires into four aspects of industry regulations under which the law requires it to hold a public enquiry before issuing guidelines.
The reports deal on:
Draft Guidelines for Consultations with the stakeholders and members of the public
Draft Guidelines for the Provision of Internet Service (ISP).
Draft Numbering Regulations
Draft Type Approval Regulations and Type Approval Guidelines
The draft guidelines were published on the Commission’s website for comments from operators, stakeholders and members of the general public in December 2007.
The notice of the public inquiry was advertised in National Dailies for interested stakeholders and members of the public to submit comments and observations on the draft Guidelines to the Commission.
An Inquiry took place on the 29th of January 2008 at the Conference Hall, Nigerian Communications Commission, Abuja. It is on the Inquiry that the Commission has now published the reports.
To read the full reports please click on them as follows
Report of the Public Inquiry on Consultation Guidelines
Report of the Public Inquiry on the Guidelines for the Provision of Internet Service (ISP)
Report of the Public Inquiry on Numbering Regulations
Report of the Public Inquiry on Type Approval Regulations and Type Approval Guidelines
CyberschuulNews 280
Quality of Service Forum holds in Abuja.
The 2nd Public Forum on quality of service in the Nigerian telecommunications industry will hold on April 1, 2008, at the Sheraton Hotels, Abuja.
Host Agency NCC plans to appraise the current status of the quality of service in the network and the impact made by several measures so far taken to address the issue; identify specific challenges and advance solutions.
The Quality of Service Working Group, a group of experts drawn from different sections of the telecoms industry, including the regulator, the operators and representatives of consumers, will present its report at the forum.
CEO’s of the GSM operators; the Nigerian police, industry associations, and consumer rights groups will also make presentations while the new industry key performance indicators will be unveiled by the NCC.
Globacom continues Fibre-ringing of Nigeria
Recent reports indicate that the Owerri-Onitsha and Onitsha-Awka fibre transmission spurs have been completed by Globacom, Nigeria’s Second National Operator. They extend the major backbone which the operator has been constructing in the past few years across the country. Those announced to have been completed earlier include Lagos-Abeokuta-Ibadan, Lagos-Ijebuode-Ore-Benin-Sapele-Warri-Kaima-Port-Harcourt, Port-Harcourt-Aba-Owerri-Enugu, Abuja-Kaduna-Zaria-Kano and Abuja-Minna routes.
The information is short on capacities of the routes.
Globscom’s fibre is one the several projects which are potential broadband backbone infrastructure for the pan-African communication network. A similar project which NITEL, Nigeria’s First National Operator, installed in the nineties are known to have suffered several tragedies occasioned by privatization induced setbacks and inability of the rapidly changing management of the company to optimize such infrastructural assets. Regrettably successive administrations virtually moved the infrastructure from stress to distress.
Motorola to split into two companies
For dwindling fortunes of its handsets wing and to contend with shareholders complaints, Chicago based Motorola, has announced intention to split into two firms to give its mobile phone handsets sector a chance to grow under another management. This is coming few weeks after there was speculation that Motorola might be going into joint venture with Nortel Networks on their wireless infrastructure units to forge better business maneuvers.
Motorola used to place second, closely behind Nokia of Finland, in cell phone sales but in recent time, Samsung took the second position and the margin i said to be widening.
The company and its shareholders hold the view that the creation of the two independent publicly traded companies will provide improved management focus and a capital structure that is more focused to the individual business needs of handsets business and home and networks business.
If the plan goes through, the two companies would have effectively emerged by 2009.
|
|
The
business there is to do! |
|
Nigeria Telecom/ICT
Industry Data - December 2007 |
|
Politics/Demography |
|
Investment |
|
Telephone Services |
|
Internet Services |
|
Government |
Democracy |
|
Population |
140,003,542 |
|
Land Space |
923,768sq.km |
|
No of Sates |
36 |
|
Capital |
Abuja |
|
Comm Cptal |
Lagos |
|
|
|
Frm Direct
Inv |
$12.5b |
|
From Prvt Inv |
$10.3b |
|
From Licensing |
$2.2b |
|
Maj Lcl ICT Cos |
36 |
|
Conc. of ICT Inv. |
Lagos |
|
|
|
Telephone Lines Fixed |
1.5m |
|
Telephone Lines Mobile
|
40m |
|
No of Tel Operators 2007 |
18 |
|
No of Tel Operators 2005 |
25 |
|
No of Tel Operators 2002 |
8 |
|
Ops deploying GSM Std |
4 |
|
Ops deploying CDMA Std |
10 |
|
Ops deploying other std |
4 |
|
Tel ops that have wound up
|
4 |
|
Tel ops that have been bought
into |
1 |
|
Tel ops that bought into others |
1 |
|
Tel ops that have been bought
100% |
1 |
|
Tel ops that have Unified
Licenses |
13 |
|
U/Licensees yet to operate |
4 |
|
National Operators |
2 |
|
|
|
Int Users Estim. |
8.5m |
|
Africa Estimate |
44.3m |
|
Africa Highest 3 |
20.6m |
|
No of ISPs |
120 |
|
Major conc. of ISPs |
|
Lagos |
70 |
|
Abuja |
12 |
|
Ibadan |
5 |
|
States with ISPs |
19 |
|
States with No ISPs |
17 |
|
|
This
data is from private source. Not government authorised.
Informed comments will be appreciated. Source :TAA
See
www.cyberschuulnews.com for
more information. |
|
| |
| |
CyberschuulNews
279
|
NATCOMS
queries NCC on exclusion of GLO from
sanction
The
Executive Council of National Association of
Telecommunications Subscribers, NATCOMS,
rose from a meeting on March 25, 2008 with
questions directed at the Nigerian
Communications Commission why it did not
include Globacom in its direction that two
mobile operators compensate their
subscribers.
In a
communiqué issued at the end of the meeting,
the Association commends Nigerian judiciary
for bringing ‘hope to the Nigerian consumer
and succor to the helpless who has been
paying for poor quality service’ and calls
on the NCC to ensure that the Quality of
Service Group which the Commission
established in 2007 should conclude its
assignment before the end of April, 2008.
It
praises Visafone, Starcomms, Reltel,
Mulitilinks and Celtel for lowering the cost
of acquiring new mobile phones to as cheap
as N2,000, N3,000 and N4,000 and MTN for
being the only Network in Nigeria that gives
subscribers on their network free night
calls every night since last year.
BPE
starts re-sale ritual, and
There
goes another round of a scramble for NITEL
Newspapers reported lavishly early in the
week that the National Privatisation Council
has given assent to Bureau for Public
Enterprises, BPE, to commence a new process
for re-sale of NITEL. To put it more
blankly, BPE is to search for a core
investor which really is what has always
happened in the privatisation
process of NITEL. This will be the fourth
re-start of such a process since the
privatisation of NITEL started in 2000.
By
earlier pronouncements, government has said
it would find a core investor with requisite
focus, technical expertise, managerial
experience and financial capacity to take
controlling shares in NITEL/M-tel.
With
this, a new race has started and we can
forecast what may eventually happen. One
politician, one civil servant, and one other
lesser Nigerian will soon take a trip
overseas, spend Nigeria’s money in the
process, source for two or three hungry
white guys who will pull along another one
or two. They will eventually put out a name
which will sound better than
p-e-n-t-a-s-c-o-p-e and before we know it, a
‘core investor’ will emerge and the game
goes round and round. By the time we return
to this same stage, it will be 2011.
Point
relay is, no investor with the credentials
stated above will come to take a 51% [or
65%] of a government owned company except
one that is looking for a way to commit
economic suicide. It is good theory to
write all those fine prescriptions for class
work but the reality is that a player that
is focused, competent, technically and
financially does not need government as
accomplice to play in this type of
industry.
The idea
of privatising NITEL was first mooted in
1987 when at a conference at Durbar Hotel
Lagos, 21 of the 24 papers presented
canvassed for liberalisation of the telecom
industry and privatisation of the then
two-year-old NITEL. It was eventually agreed
that liberalisation should precede
privatisation of NITEL and after a long
boring wait, the industry was liberalised in
1993. The privatisation of NITEL which never
seized to be on the front burner was
eventually made an objective of government
in 1999.
But a
snag set in.
Observers had thought the privatisation
agency was dumb and inefficient until when
under-current information revealed that in
actual fact the guy at the top of government
had his eyes on cornering NITEL for himself.
All the processes that happened since then
till today had wobbled in the face of the
scheme to make NITEL go his way.
First,
it was observed that there was a scheme to
devalue NITEL. The boss of privatisation
used his mouth as a major tool to do this
and he eventually superintended an
incompetent process which made the sale go a
pre-determined course. From IILL through
Pentascope to Transcorp, all were but
schemes which baffled Nigerians but which,
really, were pre-planned for an unchanging
purpose.
One of
the things that worry some people now is
about the current value of NITEL. They say
it has been so devalued that it is worth
almost nothing today. Many do
not know that in this business what
constitutes the value of such key
commonwealth is not directly related to an
aggregate of its assets and liabilities.
What counts is the value of the license the
company is wielding. And believe it, NITEL as
at today is worth $2 billion while its
right-of-way value may well be put at
another $0.5billion. At $2.5billion NITEL
will be a good buy for an appropriate
investor. This was true in 1999 and it is
still true today. They key word here is
'appropriate'.
NITEL is
Nigeria's First National Operator and that tells
the entire story. The worth of that license
is not estimated on the strength of its
physical infrastructure, technical
equipment, estate properties, staff or
whatever. It is what the license is capable
of delivering, long term, that counts.
Whoever
wants to buy NITEL may not need its
equipment, which is outdated, nor its
physical properties which are not strategic,
nor its staff which will cost more to
retrain and refocus than to hire new hands
nor any of those things which our friends at
BPE put value on to come to a figure. Their
figure in 2001 tallied almost with ours and
we had thought we should allow them to play
on and see how it would play out. But you
don’t buy a license [which is what NITEL
means in technical terms] and then go for
99%. It has to be 100% to make sense. And
that is the crux of the matter.
That we
always hang on to this core investor
syndrome is to say we like to eat our
cake and still have it. It is not done
because telecommunications investment is not about patriotism.
It is about making money. Using money to
make money! The idea of a government owned NITEL is antiquated and the earlier it is
let gone the better.
Prof A.
U Odinma, the Consultant who wrote the
report of House of Rep's Investigation into
circumstances surrounding the appointment of Pentascope as Management Consultants and
other related matters in 2005, in
frustration, wrote on page 35 of the Report
that ''...I
must say that if I knew prior to now what I
have gathered during the course of this
enquiry, I would have discouraged the core
investor’s approach long before now..'
By the
way, who does not know that government has
35% of every business in the land even when
such businesses are owned 100% by their
private investors? Or how do you explain the
position of somebody who takes 35% of your
pre-profit as Tax? What happens when such
body now holds even 1% of the investment?
You have had it if the government is the
type we have been recycling in Nigeria.
A
government that sends EFCC after you if you
don’t play its ball is not one you co-share
a strategic company with except where the
investment resource in the first place was a stolen
one.
The
search for a core investor is a wild goose
chase which will end us nowhere. What is
different today is that Ali-baba is
off-the-field but his forty thieves are still on
the prowl.
see
www.cyberschuulnews.com for more
Proposed
Changes to Canadian Immigration Laws:
Implications for Applicants
On March
14, 2008 Canada's Conservative government
tabled a bill that proposed amendments to
the Immigration and Refugee Protection Act (IRPA).
Under the current law, Citizenship and
Immigration Canada (CIC) is required to
assess every Permanent Resident application
received at a visa office, in a particular
immigration category, on a "first come,
first served" basis. The proposed
legislative change provides the Immigration
Minister with the authority to regulate the
backlog of applicants. It allows CIC to
select among the new applications received
and choose those that it determines are best
suited for Canada's labour market needs.
If the bill passes, the Immigration Minister
would have to authority to set annual limits
on the number of applicants under certain
categories of Canadian immigration. New
Canadian immigration applications would be
handled at the discretion of the Immigration
Minister; some will be processed quickly,
others will be held at the visa office for
processing at a later date, and others will
be returned to the applicant along with
government processing fees.
The purpose of this amendment to the IRPA is
to remedy the growing backlog of Canadian
immigration applications that has forced
processing times to rise by 20 per cent
since 2004. Should the bill pass, it would
be good news to applicants who are currently
in the queue waiting for their visas to be
processed. Budget 2008's $22 million over
the next two years to implement this
modernization of the immigration system, is
aimed at reducing wait times and improving
service. By reducing the backlog, Canada is
working towards the goal of a "just-in-time"
immigration system to expedite skilled
immigrant applications and transition
newcomers to the Canadian workforce quickly.
Nevertheless, a limit on the number of new
immigration applications is cause for
concern given Canada's declining birthrate,
aging population, and labour shortages.
Canada's other political parties in the
House of Commons are critical of the
proposal. The Conservative party heads a
minority government and will need the
support of one of Canada's other political
parties to pass this bill and put the
amendments to the IRPA into force. The
Conservatives have included the bill in the
2008 federal budget, making it a confidence
matter. If the House of Commons votes
against it, the current government would
fall, triggering an election.
The Immigration Minister would not say
whether she intends to use the new power to
limit new immigration applications, stating
that the budget bill will have to pass
before any announcements will be made. At
present, Canadian Immigration Visa Offices
around the world continue to accept new
immigration applications in all categories.
CIC reiterates that Canada remains open to
immigration and that the proposed amendments
should not deter good candidates from
applying at this time. The current passmark
of 67 points, under the Federal Skilled
Worker category, would not be affected by
the proposed amendments.
The proposed legislation, if passed in its
present form, will apply to all applications
received at a visa office on or after
February 27, 2008.
This
text is taken from
http://www.canadavisa.com
|
CyberschuulNews
278
IP widen
opportunities
for
Nigerians
to
invest
in ICT
32
companies
owned
and
managed
by
Nigerians
have
been
listed
to have
shown
commendable
strength
in
various
aspects
of ICT
business
in
Nigeria
and the
indications
are that
the next
few
years
will see
giant
strides
in the
industry.
They
include
4
telephone
operating
companies,
9 in
computer
hardware,
2 in
banking
applications
designers,
4 in
computer
assembly,
4 in
integrated
solutions,
4 in
internet
and
broadband,
and 4 in
e-payment
platforms.
These
were
some of
the data
which
Mr. Titi
Omo-Ettu
a Lagos
based
telecommunications
consultant
used in
inviting
Nigerian
students
in the
UK to
complete
their
training
and
return
home to
participate
in
nation
building.
Mr.
Omo-Ettu
was
speaking
at the
2008
edition
of
International
Conference
of
Nigerian
Students
in the
Diaspora
hosted
by the
University
of Hull,
UK,
earlier
in the
week.
He
diagnosed
the
issues
of each
sector
of the
industry
and gave
thumbs
down for
Internet
access
in
particular
and up
for
doggedness
which
the
Nigerian
is known
for.
Using
the
report
of a
recent
industry
study,
Mr.
Omo-Ettu
said
access
to
internet
has been
poor but
the
situation
is about
to
change
with
foreseeable
opening
up of IP
infrastructure and
‘There
is a
huge gap
between
demand
and
supply
of
bandwidth.
The gap
is
brought
about by
consumers’
inability
to buy
bandwidth
and this
inability
is
accentuated
by an
indescribable
and
worsening
access
to basic
public
electricity
supply
across
the
entire
country'
Mr.
Omo-Ettu
listed
public
power
supply,
low
technical
skills
and a
prevalent
cynicism
for
made-in-Nigeria
products
as major
challenges
which
those
who
aspire
to play
in the
industry
may
expect
to
confront.
According
to him,
when
President
Umar Yar
‘Adua,
on
assumption
of
office
in May
2007,
said he
would
declare
a state
of
emergency
in the
energy
sector,
we had
thought
he was
going to
do
something
as
radical
as to
stop the
old
method
of
throwing
money at
the
problem.
He has
not
thrown
money at
it but
has not
done
anything
either.
If he
sincerely
liberalises
the
sector,
we may
see
positive
changes.
The key
word is
SINCERELY’.
‘Nigerians
call
these
problems,
I call
them
challenges,
you call
them
opportunities
and we
all
should
see them
as
business
that is
available
for us
to do’,
he said.
|
|
|
|
Court Compels MTN, Celtel to pay compensation
to Nigerian Phone users
Attempts by two GSM operators,
MTN and Celtel to evade the payment of
compensation to subscribers over poor quality of
service, imposed on them by the Nigerian
Communications Commission, NCC, failed Thursday as a Federal High Court in Lagos, struck out the
case for lack of merit and insufficient grounds.
The two GSM operators had
approached the court, requesting for an
interlocutory injunction to restrain the
Commission from implementing its earlier
direction, upon which it recently directed the
two operators to pay N175 per subscriber for the
month
ended January 2008, for not meeting key
performance indicators on quality of service as
set by the regulator.
The court held that the
Plaintiffs/Applicants had not shown special
circumstances to grant the relief being sought
from the court, and therefore, dismissed the
motion.
The NCC had on January 9, 2008,
won the case earlier instituted against it by
the two operators who protested against the
notices on payment of compensation to
subscribers issued to them on 19th and 20th
September, 2007. Following the ruling of the
court in favour of the NCC the 9th of January
2008, the Commission on February 28, 2008,
finally issued a direction to both operators to
pay compensation of N175.00 per subscriber for
the month ended January 31, 2008.
The Commission said the two
operators failed to meet the requirement to
achieve Traffic Channel Congestion, TCH, below
10% levels for the month of January 2008, in
line with the Key Performance Indicators
published by it, and issued to the operators
late last year.
It further
directed the operators to pay all its active
subscribers for the effective month by way of
airtime credit and that no time limitation shall
be placed by the operator on the utilization of
the airtime credit. All the active subscribers
are to be credited between March 1, 2008 and
April 15, 2008.
MTN Group throws up
money in South Africa
In
South Africa, the MTN Group made it known to
public on Wednesday that it has approved a
budget of R30.6 billion for capital expenditure
in the 2008 financial year. MTN president and
group CEO, Phuthuma Nhleko explained that this
capital expenditure was critical for the
business to move on in all its markets.
Nigeria, South Africa and Iran will together
receive R22 billion of the planned
infrastructure budget just as Nigeria, SA and
Ghana were highlighted as regions that were
urgently in need of improve infrastructure.
In Nigeria where it maintains a clear lead over
other operators in subscriber base terms, MTN’
performance has consistently come under heavy
criticism for its poor delivery and an
intolerable bombardment of airways with media
advertisement and promotions.
Although its infrastructure may not be utmost,
analysts believe that MTN needs a change of
attitude in its commercial posturing more than
anything else.
University of Hull
hosts Xn Foundation and ICONS2008
Nigerian students
from several Universities in
United Kingdom gathered at the University of
Hull last weekend to discuss the platforms under
which their contribution to the development of
Nigeria would be realised. Several
delegates who are currently pursuing
undergraduate, and post-graduate programs
held a team of personalities who were
invited to the conference as facilitators and
mentors to discussion covering issues of
student visa through job-find and competences
development both in UK and in Nigeria including various
opportunities which are available especially in the
Nigerian economy.
Delegates
also discussed the Nigerian International
Student Agenda which is an initiative of the Xn
Foundation aimed at projecting the ambitions of
Nigerian students worldwide and representing
their interests.
The Ag.
Nigerian High Commissioner to the UK, Ambassador
Dozie Nwanna who was present at the Conference
pledged to take ICONS 2008 decisions to the
Nigerian Government.
International Conference of Nigerian
Students, ICONS, is an annual event which
hosting rotates among top Universities in United
kingdom.
|
INTERNET
USAGE STATISTICS FOR AFRICA
(leading countries)
|
| Country |
Population
( 2007 Est.)
|
Internet
Users,
Latest Data
|
|
Algeria |
33,333,216
|
2,460,000
|
|
Egypt |
80,335,036
|
6,000,000
|
| Kenya |
36,913,721
|
2,770,300
|
|
Morocco |
33,757,175
|
6,100,000
|
|
Nigeria |
135,031,164
|
8,000,000
|
| South
Africa |
43,997,828
|
5,100,000
|
| Sudan |
39,379,358
|
3,500,000
|
|
Tunisia |
10,276,158
|
1,618,440
|
|
Zimbabwe |
12,311,143
|
1,220,000
|
| TOTAL AFRICA |
941,249,130
|
44,361,940
|
|
Source: internetworldstats.com
|
|
|
|
UNIFIED ACCESS SERVICE LICENSEES
|
|
Operator
|
Service
|
|
|
Celtel
|
Nationwide
GSM
|
Wide
coverage
|
|
Danjay
Telecomms
|
-
|
Yet
to operate
|
|
EMTS
|
-
|
Yet
to operate
|
|
Gamjitel
|
-
|
Yet
to operate
|
|
Gicell
Wireless
|
-
|
Yet
to operate
|
|
Intercellular
|
Lagos,
Abuja, Port Harcourt, Kano Fixed Wireless. Limited Mobile, Internet
|
|
|
MTN
|
Nationwide GSM,
VGC by acquisition
|
Wide
coverage
|
|
Multi–Links
|
Abeokuta, Abuja, Akure, Ibadan, Ile-Ife, Ilorin,
I-Ode, Lagos, Osogbo, Sagamu, Fixed/Mobile Wireless Voice,
Internet
|
Widening
into S/West
|
|
Prest
|
Benin,
Wireless Voice, Internet
|
|
|
Reltel
|
Lagos,
Ibadan, Abuja Fixed/Mobile Wireless Voice, Internet
|
|
|
Siotel
|
-
|
Yet
to operate
|
|
Starcomms
|
Aba,
Abuja, Asaba, Ibadan, Kano, Lagos,
Maiduguri, Onitsha, PHC, Fixed Wireless
Voice, Internet,
|
Widening
coverage
|
|
Visafone
|
Bourdex
by acquisition, Cellcom by acquisition, ITN by acquisition
|
Widening
coverage
|
|
This
data is from private source. Not government authorised.
Informed comments will be appreciated. Source : NCC/TAA
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
Celtel upgrades
infrastructure to improve service
Mobile Telephone
Service Provider, Celtel has increased capacity of its
network by building a new switch cente in Kaduna,
northern Nigeria, one week after it did one in Abuja.
With this, it estimates that its switching capacity will
upgrade to the need of up to 20 million subscribers.
Earlier efforts announced by the company to address the
poor quality service problem includes the construction
of 4000 kilometres of fibre optic and 2000 km off
additional microwave transmission backbone. It is also
increasing its network of base stations and dualisation
of generators nationwide.
Only two weeks ago, industry regulator, NCC, slammed a
penalty fine of N175 per subscriber on Celtel and MTN as
redress sanction for poor quality service.
Starcomms crosses 1Million subscriber line
Nigeria’s leading
deployer of CDMA standard of mobile technology,
Starcomms, recently announced that it has connected one
million subscribers and marching on.
 |
|
Vision
An
information rich environment comparable globally in quality telecom
services provision, regulated by a responsive, world class organization.
|
|
The Mission
Statement
|
|
CyberschuulNews 276
ESSAY
Dreams of our time:
Our NigComSat should be leveling with NASA, not
with PTO’s
by
titi omo-ettu
A speaker at forum, Mr. Chima Onyekwere, while
appraising the National IT policy recently said
‘...Similarly, Nigcomsat and Galaxy Backbone are
testimony of government initiative towards
bridging the digital divide and making
telecom/internet services affordable in line
with the IT Policy. They will no doubt provide
opportunities for increased indigenous ICT
participation in the country as a matter of
deliberate policy, of governed by minimum
standards..'
To the extent that the NigComSat dream is still
floating going by the above statement, it
becomes imperative to repeat, perhaps for the
final time, the position that the dream is
wrongly directed.
Some guys are known to be telling the world that
they would use the company called NigComSat to
provide telephone service that would cost its
consumers only N10 per minute, or even less. One
would have thought that no person would take
such dreamers’ view seriously until we noticed
that it was even engaging attention and igniting
serious discussions in our hallowed chambers.
It is a dream, somebody!! And a bad one for that
matter.
In the first place, there are several studies
and reports littering our libraries in Nigeria
to show that no company run by agents of
government, no matter under what pretensions
they are presented, can do viable
telecommunications business. Cost per unit of
service in telecom business is a painstaking
quantity which only very careful and equally
painstaking Business Plan determines.
Governments and their agents, in most parts of
the world, hardly skill themselves in such
Business Plans. They needn’t because they are
not and need not be in business. They do
Expenditure Plans at best. When put in business,
civil servants have a way of getting themselves
at rest with the thinking that once a tariff
level is not viable for them, they would prevail
on government to change the figure using fiat.
That may be the delusion going on at NIGCOMSAT.
We are not saying it is impossible to manage the
market in a way that will ultimately bring down
the tariff to under N10.00 per minute level. But
it is not a government-owned company that will
be our joker to achieve it because there are
market variables that determine such quantities.
It does not come by wishful thinking but by
serious industry management.
The other reason is that as things stand in the
industry today, the interconnect rate is
N11.50K. That is to say, if you hand over a call
to another operator to terminate, you will pay
the terminating operator an amount of N11.50.
Straightaway, a guy who is dreaming of providing
the call at N10.00 is only saying that he will
subsidize the call or he will not abide by the
operating interconnect fee. Of course that is
perfect thinking for civil servants since we
[because I was one] always think government can
just announce whatever it wants done. One was in
the business for 16 years, four of which we
spent participating in dreaming up such fiat.
Once, it dawned on us in NITEL that the
Accounting rate with which international calls
were appropriated was reviewed in the global
market. For over two
months after the announcement was made, we (in NITEL) didn’t think it fit to discuss let alone
analyze how it affected our business [sorry, our
‘service’, we did no ‘business’ in the real sense of
the word]. All of a sudden, we noticed that our
foreign account was fast dwindling. The big guys
in the Ministry were told and a meeting was
eventually held. The reality was ominous and
something had to be done. Rising from the
meeting, the Minister, a soldier, moved to Necom
House where operators were connecting calls and
he told them: ‘From this moment, start charging
those who are making international calls at N190
per minute. A second ago it was N26. Now it is
N190. Did that help? How could it have? That’s
how governments operate their ‘businesses’.
The fellow who wants to do the magic in
Nigcomsat has already asked that $150 million be
given to him to take off with. Government did
not have to give such to MTN or Econet Wireless
in 2001 but instead collected $285million from
them. It didn’t give it to Glo in 2003 but
rather collected $200 million from it. Now our
friend dreams of collecting $150 million from
our commonwealth. This should make this
'third-term-dream' really disturbing to normal
thinking!
Fellow
Nigerians! What really is going on around here
if I may ask? That we are all morons again and
again?
Quite honestly, what we do not know is whether
those folks at Nigcomsat are genuinely naïve or
they are mischievously pretending to be. That is
why it becomes necessary to put this thought in
the public domain so that our grandchildren will
not ask questions from government of their times
on why at our own times when this third dream
was just a dream their own future was mortgaged.
If these Nigcomsat things still go ahead in
spite of its blatant indices of monumental waste
it promises our commonwealth, we will have
explanations to make to future generations.
How come we
are just being saved the ordeal that NITEL made
us go through and that which NITEL itself went
through in the hands of its looters only to
start assembling another NITEL with a longer
name.
Our Nigcomsat should be competing with NASA, not
with Visafone. This third dream needs to die,
and die it must!
(NASA, National
Aeronautics and Space Administration,
is an agency of the United States government,
responsible for the nation's public space
program)
(NigComSat Ltd. is a company established by
government of Nigeria
to manage and operate Nigeria's geostationary
communication satellite)
Mr. Titi Omo-Ettu is a Lagos
based telecommunications consultant.
|
 |
|
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|
CyberschuulNews 275
A
call for SCIENCE AND TECHNOLOGY FUND
In
the past the strength of a nation depended on the number of its natural
resources and the strength of its military force. Today this has
changed. Now the strength of a nation lies in the human resources of
its people. This tells us why European nations, Japan and America with
no or little resources have done far better in every aspect of economic
indicators than that of African nations with all the legions of
resource, yet we are still poor. What is missing from our dinner table
as Africans is science and technology. Without this we would be sitting
on gold but always be begging for silver. We can be endowed with all
the oil deposits in the world but without putting the revenue into the
right equation we will never get solution to our problems.
I
want to propose that 20 percent of the oil revenue be used as SCIENCE
AND TECHNOLOGY ENDOWMENT FUND. Funds accumulated by this account would
be given to universities, research institutions to do research.
Everything that we are enjoying now has come out through the
painstaking research done by someone. In this world you cannot be great
if you are seen as end users of every product.
Through
science and technology we can make use of the by-products of the crude
oil and turn everything to productive use. Take for instant our cocoa,
there are more than thousand and one uses of cocoa by-product. However,
due to our inability to carry research into them we through the cocoa
everything away.
This
text is excerpted from an essay on
Ghana: Managing Oil Revenue for Brighter Tomorrow
written by Appiah Kusi Adomako in Ghanaian Chronicle.
(www.allafrica.com/stories/200803060921.html)
NCC orders MTN and
Celtel to pay compensation to subscribers
The
Nigerian Communications Commission has directed MTN Communications
Nigeria Ltd, and Celtel Nigeria Ltd, to pay compensation to all
subscribers who were active in their networks as at January 31, 2008,
as penalty for poor quality of service.
Each of the operators will pay compensation of N175.00 per subscriber
for the month ended January 31, 2008 for failing to achieve Traffic
Channel Congestion, TCH, below 10% levels in line with the Key
Performance Indicators published by the Commission and issued to the
operators on November 20, 2007.
The Commission directs further that:
- The above compensation shall be paid to active subscribers
by way of airtime credit and no time limitation shall be placed by the
operator on the utilization of the airtime credit.
- The airtime credit of N175.00 should be paid to all active
subscribers on the respective networks as at January 31, 2008, and
should be credited to them between March 1, 2008 and April 15, 2008.
- The payments are to be made by the respective operator in
three batches. The first batch representing 40% of the total active
subscriber base of the respective network should be credited between
March 1, 2008 and March 15, 2008. The second batch representing 30% of
the total subscriber base of the respective network will be paid
between March 16, 2008 and March 30, 2008, while the third batch
representing 30% of the subscriber base of each of the networks should
be paid between April 1, 2008 and April 15, 2008.
- In the event that any of the operators refuses or neglects
to pay compensation to all active subscribers in their network in
accordance with this directive, the Commission shall in accordance with
the provisions of the Nigerian Communications Regulations 205, impose
further fines in the sum of N5,000,000 (Five Million Naira), and a
further sum of N500,000 (Five Hundred Thousand Naira) per day that such
penalty remains unpaid and for as long as the contravention persists.
- The Commission hopes that the two operators will take
immediate steps to improve the quality of service in their networks in
the over all interest of its subscribers and the Nigerian
telecommunications industry.
- The Commission will continue to monitor the congestion
levels in the networks for the next three months and will measure the
TCH levels again during the month of May, 2008, and will impose similar
sanctions if the TCH levels continue to be above the published Key
Performance Indicator levels.
Gold Medal for Henry Akahara, Distinguished Nigerian Student
Henry Akahara, 17, student of Government Secondary School, Suru-Lere
Lagos, came first among 200 students from 60 countries who participated
in the Dreams and Teams project, a world class youth debate hosted by
the British Council in the British House of Commons.
Governor of Lagos State Mr. Babatunde Fashola, presented a laptop and a
full scholarship award for Henry’s future education as token
of honour for the Gold Medalist.
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-Standard telecom training
-Purpose-built telecom training
-On line telecom training
-Professional development |
NDUSTRYWATCH
NiRA, Visafone,
potential vistas for growth in awareness, access and business
Africa has not had the best of numbers to show when it comes to
Internet usage, but that picture is changing. Internet usage is on the
rise. Even with the poor state of internet access on the continent,
usage, in absolute numbers, has been highest in Nigeria.
Internetworldstats.com which rates internet usage world wide published
that 8 million Nigerians were using the internet as at December 2007.
Telecom Answers Associates which conducted an industry audit for
Nigeria in 2006 reports that the figure for Nigeria was slightly above
7.7 million mid 2006.
In the Telecom Answers Associates report, awareness had been rated as
very high in Nigeria. It was also reported that 115 Internet Service
Providers, ISP’s, in Nigeria (representing only 20% of the
total number of licenses issued for internet service provision) were
operating and that significant access was derived from servers based
outside Nigeria. 65 ISP’s had opened and closed shops within
the four-year period between 2002 and 2006. The reports says
‘There is a huge gap between demand and supply of bandwidth.
The gap is brought about by consumers’ inability to buy
bandwidth and this inability is accentuated by an indescribable and
worsening access to basic public electricity supply across the entire
country...’
With these findings, what remains important, however, is the fact that
while access has been low, more than 8 million users have been recorded
in Nigeria and there is high potential for the figure to grow rapidly
in the foreseeable future.
The reasons for this positive outlook include two industry events :
revival of the Nigerian Internet Registration Association, NiRA, and a
2007 promising upstart, Visafone. NiRA, which was raised after a long
wait, has now published a compass for its performance and it has
mounted invitation for registration of registrars and partners. Hence,
awareness which has been a high point for Nigeria may be on the rise
again. In addition to this, Visafone is deploying a
low-investment-high-yield technology option, and may sprout in 36
states with wireless access to voice and internet the way no one ever
did. If Visafone, few years down the road, is then taken to the capital
market (a very high probability considering the business temperament of
its promoter), it may just be open sesame for Nigeria.
What do all these point to?
That there is business to do and there is potential for growth. Push
that into the continent and consider the more than half a dozen private
sector initiative projects which are broadband focused.
These come with potential challenges including the need to liberalize
the energy sector. If government does not sincerely liberalize the
energy industry but continues to throw money into the problem, poor
public power supply may still taunt the economy and slow down the
unstoppable march. What is more, if government does not truly divest
itself from involvement in telecommunications business, wastes and
market summersaults may continue. A clear example is NigComSat which
presents a fine concept except that NigComSat should rightfully be
competing with NASA, and not with PTO’s.
See accompanying data below.
Above text is excerpted from
two recent presentations:
one to graduating students of electrical/ electronic engineering,
Unilag,
and the other to Board of Directors of a telecom firm at Nicon
Transcorp Hotel, Abuja.
The presentation were by Mr. Titi Omo-Ettu, a Lagos based
telecommunications Consultant.
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-e-govt
Infrastructure/Software
-Security Solutions: CCTV, Access Control,
Biometrics, Access Control and Hotel Automation
-ICT Consultancy |
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-Networking Solutions and Integration Services (Voice, Data
and Video)
-Broadband Wireless Access Solutions
-e-learning/Distance Learning
-PABX Installation (Digital and VoIP (IPT)) |
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