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CyberschuulNews 340
Co-location forum also serves to arrest drift
Mr. Aaron Ukodie, Deputy Editor in charge of IT
at Daily Independent Newspapers did an interview
with Mr. Titi Omo-Ettu, telecommunications
consultant and planner of the recent Co-location
forum in Lagos. The interview was published in
Daily Independent and a version of it is
published hereunder. In it, the consultant says
distress may set in the telecom industry if a
foreseeable drift is not arrested.
Q. Why co-location forum?
A. Advancements in technology has closed
distances, reduced costs and provided for better
efficiency in service delivery. Our
telecommunications industry has developed and we
should now be poking our nose into areas of
using management techniques to address
improvement in quality of service and reduction
in cost. Co-location is one timely tool we
should play up to do this. There are other tools
but we are taking them one by one.
Q. By any standard we know the forum was well
attended. What were the objectives and how much
of it was achieved?
A. We set out to serve as agent of collating the
views of senior industry players, regulator,
operators and service providers so that we can
publish an industry Plan of Action will be
useful to those in authority, the operators, the
service providers and also the consumers. To a
very reasonable extent we have already got raw
materials to do this arising from the forum.
Q. Why at this particular moment?
A. If you are reading the industry very well you
would have noticed that the telecommunication
sector and the yet to emerge ICT industry may be
heading for nowhere in the immediate future
because in recent time, government shows not to
have a direction and if we are not careful, the
career of some of us may be in jeopardy because
of the ‘directionlesslness’ which is setting in.
Don’t forget that it was not government that
truly brought the industry to where it rose to
but the effort of the private sector since
liberalization in 1993. And fortunately we have
had a very sound regulatory agency. But the
difference is that while government before now
has been supportive, the emerging one is working
negatively, misplacing attention and working
unacceptably too slowly. If we do not confront
the issues, we may be allowing them to waste our
future on chasing shadows and leaving the
substance.
Q. How?
A. The industry as at now is yearning for a
restructuring which the past government
commenced but which the emerging one is either
not buying into or working to stall. We are not
likely to sit by and watch things go back to the
former status of the military days. Our response
will be to mobilize the industry in such a
manner that if the system is being brought down
and some of us are pulling it up at least it
will stay at equilibrium up till 2011 when
hopefully there will be a another dawn if we
work towards it.
Q. In what manner will this mobilization be done
and how does industry restructuring help the
consumer?
A. We shall soon be publishing data which all
those concerned can use to take decisions if
they care to. Everybody, government, regulator,
operators, service providers and consumers.
Restructuring means management by using
resources to get the optimum. That is to say,
everybody being mobilized to do minimum work and
get optimum result. If we do not, we shall see
ourselves paying more for poor services when we
should have been paying less for good services.
Why for example do we make international calls
for N12 per minute and we make local GSM calls
for N35 per minute. It is because our system has
not been structured enough to take advantage of
emerging technologies. If we restructure, we
shall pay less than N12 to make both local and
international calls. But when you have a
government that is not doing that, it will begin
to legislate tariff and it will not succeed.
Then it starts chasing shadows. Who surfers? You
and I of course!!
Q. Just as you went into the Forum session,
topmost executives were at war so to say. What
do you say to that?
A. Let us reduce it to a case of two persons
quarrelling with themselves. One is asserting
the independence of his institution as put in
the law while the other is asserting her
authority as the No 1 person in the industry.
That should not cause stress in the industry as
the industry was not a making of persons.
Moreover the issues here are not fundamental but
ego-ist. So we can sleep with it and keep
moving.
NITEL’s woes go worse as Transcorp crisis
deepens
Transnational Corporation, a.k.a Transcorp, the
dummy which a Past President sold to Nigerians
as a trade ‘conglomerate’ has admitted it is now
in deep crisis. The company took quarter-page
spaces in newspapers during the week to admit
that its top brass executives including the
Group’s Managing Director has been with anti
graft agencies for several days. Hitherto the
company had in typical Nigerian fashion denied
that there was any problem with it shifting
blames from one issue to another especially each
time it was reminded that it lacked capacity and
focus to take NITEL out of the woods.
Transcorp was the latest vehicle which finally
brought government-owned First National
Operator, Nigerian Telecommunications Ltd, NITEL
from buoyancy to complete ruin all within ten
years. It (NITEL) went through a dizzying
privatization process and finally collapsed into
waste. It is a long story of a short journey.
Infrastructure sharing becomes a reality as
ipNX, Helios and NCC sign deals
Nigerian WiMax operator ipNX has signed two
deals: one with NCC to bring cheap broadband
internet access to Nigerians and the other with
Helios Towers Nigeria Ltd to co-locate network
infrastructure and managed services.
The arrangement with NCC is under the
Commission’s States Accelerated Broadband
Initiative, SABI, which has been in the plans
for about two years and it will kick off in Kano,
a strategic commercial centre in the North West,
at a commissioning ceremony next Thursday. At
take-off, 50 subscribers of broadband internet
access via wimax will enjoy free service while
low rate charges will commence when NCC is
satisfied that the service provided meets its
standard. NCC has such agreement with other two
providers: Nija Wi-fi, a coalition of Internet
Service Providers and MTN, Nigeria’s largest
mobile services operator.
Under the ipNX-Helios agreement, Helios will
provide end-to-end co-location services,
including maintenance, backhaul and managed
services, and will allow ipNX to lease over 300
of its 1,000 tower sites to increase network
capacity. ipNX currently provides a range of
telecoms and IT services to corporate
organisations over its IP-based network, using
both radio and satellite technologies.
With these, Internet access at costs which are
expected to be more widespread and at broadband
levels is making an inroad to Nigerians.
Opeke canvases for co-location and assets
sharing
Female techie and Founder of mainONE Cable, Mrs.
Funke Opeke, has advocated for an expanded
regime of co-location to extend to asset
sharing.
She was a main speaker at a one-day co-location
Forum hosted by Telecom Answers Associates in
collaboration of NCC and attended by over 200
top business executives 38 of them CEO’s of
telecommunication and finance companies from
Nigeria and overseas.
In Opeke’s view ‘There is the need for operators
to go beyond co-location and physical sharing of
space into sharing of network assets e.g.
capacity on fiber optic backbone networks. In
advanced markets, regulation forced incumbent
operators to unbundle their infrastructure
assets in order to stimulate competition. In our
environment where there is still a lack of
infrastructure, sharing capacity on networks
will lower costs for all operators and provide
better value to the consumers’.
In a welcome address at the forum, telecom
consultant and planner of the forum, Mr. Titi
Omo-Ettu, told delegates that Network
development is a major aspect of
telecommunication investment, and this
investment being fixed, sunk, and generally
irreversible; infrastructure sharing can,
amongst other things, reduce this cost by
spreading it. He said the purpose of the forum
was to prepare the Nigerian market for an
improved future and for delegates to learn about
the different models of infrastructure sharing
and its impact on competition in the
telecommunication industry, which should be of
obvious interest to the authorities.
The Forum discussed issues relating to
Infrastructure Sharing and Co-location, such as
the key trends in telecoms infrastructure
sharing, the key market drivers and how the
market will develop; the experiences with
independent infrastructure ownership and how
infrastructure sharing would impact universal
service targets.
Business forum on co-location holds in Lagos
A select gathering of top telecom industry
players, technocrats, operators, infrastructure
builders and the media will soon engage the
subject of co-location and infrastructure
sharing in telecommunications at a forum to be
held in Lagos.
An announcement from Telecom Answers Associates,
a telecom consultancy which is coordinating the
forum in collaboration with the Nigerian
Communications Commission, says its intension is
to coordinate an industry Plan of Action for the
realisation of the benefits of co-location in
Nigeria by pushing the major issues which arise
from discussion at the Forum. It says the format
of the Forum is the business-type and not the
usual conference-type.
NCC rolls out new rules to protect phone users
New Guidelines which Nigerian telephone
authorities say are designed to set minimum
requirements and standards for advertisements
and promotions in order to guarantee maintenance
of minimum quality of service by licensed
telecommunications operators in Nigeria have
been announced. The Nigerian Communications
Commission, NCC, says on its website that
Licensees offering internet connections should
henceforth state the Internet Connection speed
available to end-users as well as specific
upload and download speed. If the connection
speed quoted is only obtainable under special
circumstances, then these circumstances should
be clearly stated.
On pricing, the Commission insists that the
licensee must communicate all prices and
financial implications clearly and have no
hidden or disguised price adjustments,
discounts, unrealistic price comparisons or
exaggerated claims as to worth or value.
Advertising with complicated price structures
and information shall not only appear in
transient types of media such as radio and
television but must be accompanied with detailed
print media explanations, and on the licensee’s
website. The transient media must specifically
instruct consumers to see the print mediums for
details.
The Commission reserves the right to itself to
withdraw any approvals for promotions from the
licensee for reasons not limited to network
congestion, poor performance in licensees
services, consumer complaints, misrepresentation
of offer by the licensee, contravention of
specific approval, and variation from submitted
application content and /or context.
Buildup to enhanced backbone is Target of SABI
says Ndukwe
The States Accelerated Broadband Initiative,
SABI, is an implementation strategy which
encourages Nigerian operators to build the
national highway themselves. This was the
highlight of a keynote speech given by the
Executive Vice-Chairman of the Nigerian
Communications Commission, NCC Engr. Ernest
Ndukwe at the Education Summit which was hosted
by the Association of Telecommunications
Companies of Nigeria, ATCON in Lagos during the
week.
Fall out of poor quality of service
Phone users badmouth mobile operators in SA
Telephone users in South Africa have risen in
unison to complain about terrible degeneration
in quality of service symthomised by dropped
calls and irritating phone charges. Many say
what is annoying is that the mobile operators
don’t appear to be owning up to their errors.
Some say that ICASA, Independent Communications
Authority of South Africa, is not helping matter
by not giving the right explanations.
Poor quality of service has for some time been
taunting various multi-network markets in
emerging economies and it is usual for phone
users to condemn mobile operators who by their
own admission smile to the banks in the midst of
high pay for poor service. Each mass protest is
met by intervention of the authorities and
mobile operators would real out huge figures on
fund injection into network upgrade and life
goes on until the next round of consumer anger.
Do you know?
The President is not done yet?
Several May 1, 2009 postings on President Obama
of USA have continued to demonstrate that his
usage of the web as a weapon of governance is
not abating. Apart from the fact that the
President has been opening a couple of websites
for specific purposes, he has also been talking
about his advancing the cause of the internet as
a tool for him to reach out and govern better.
Besides revamping WhiteHouse.gov , the
administration has created several other
websites including recovery.gov to track the
economic stimulus bill and transparency.gov to
monitor spending. In a recent public statement,
the President said he has to keep the
administration on its toes internet wise because
‘we recognize that we cannot meet the challenges
of today with old habits and stale thinking."
Cyberschuulnews 334
Internet's web to get wider and wider
While the internet has dramatically changed
lives around the world, its full impact will
only be realised when far more people and
information go online, its founders said on
Wednesday.
"The web as I envisaged it, we have not seen it
yet. The future is still so much bigger than the
past," said Tim Berners-Lee, one of the
inventors of the World Wide Web, at a seminar on
its future. Just 23 per cent of the globe's
population currently uses the internet,
according to the United Nation's International
Telecommunications Union, with use much higher
in developed nations. By contrast, just five per
cent of Africans surf the web, it said in a
report issued in March.
But that level is expected to rise, especially
in developing nations, as mobile internet access
takes off, making it no longer necessary to use
a computer to surf the web, said internet
co-founder Vinton Cerf. "We will have more
internet, larger numbers of users, more mobile
access, more speed, more things online and more
appliances we can control over the internet,"
the Google vice-president and chief internet
evangelist said.
Robert Cailliau, who designed the web with
Berners-Lee in 1989, said having more data on
the internet, and more people with the ability
to access it, will spur the development of new
technology and solutions to global problems.
"When we have all data online it will be great
for humanity. It is a prerequisite to solving
many problems that humankind faces," the Belgian
software scientist said.
The internet has already led to the development
of businesses that could not have existed
without it, boosted literacy and learning and
brought people closer together through cheaper
modes of communication, the internet pioneers
said. "We never, ever in the history of mankind
have had access to so much information so
quickly and so easily," said Cerf. With the help
of other scientists at the European Organisation
for Nuclear Research (CERN), Berners-Lee and
Cailliau set up the web in 1989 to allow
thousands of scientists around the world to
share information and data.
The http://WWW technology - which simplifies the
process of searching for information on the
internet - was first made more widely available
from 1991. The number of websites has since
ballooned from just 500 as recently as 1994 to
over 80 million currently, with growing numbers
of sites consisting of user-generated content
like blogs. Even its founders are surprised by
its popularity.
"What we did not imagine was a web of people,
but a web of documents," said Dale Dougherty,
the founder of GNN, the Global Network
Navigator, the first web portal and the first
site on the internet to be supported by
advertising. For his part, Cailliau said he was
impressed that search engines can still sort
through the myriad of material that is now
online.
"To me the biggest surprise is that Google still
functions despite the explosion in the number of
sites," said Cailliau.
Above passage by AFP is taken from
http://www.smh.com.au/news/technology/web/2009/04/23/1240079767277.html
Call for broadband internet access dominates
Abuja talks
Techies, one after the other, who made
presentations at the just concluded ITAN-WITSA
Global Workshop, ADIPENG, in Abuja, canvassed
for significant attention to the provision of
Broadband internet access for Nigeria. President
of the Nigeria Internet Group, NIG, Mr. Lanre
Ajayi argues that Nigeria’s e-government plans
would mean little in the absence of good
broadband penetration in Nigeria. Prof Manny
Aniebonam, President of Nigerian IT professional
in the Americas warns of the danger of Nigerian
continued living in the 19th century if any
other priority is made superior to the provision
of broadband internet access arguing that the
best Agenda for Nigeria is the Cyber e-Agenda
more so as 97% of Internet traffic is by VSAT,
not fiber-optic.
Prof. Aniebonam specifically suggests that
Nigeria must accelerate the process of
connecting the last miles to the SAT-3
infrastructure, or giving concession to private
sector service providers to accelerate
deployment.
Mr. Titi Omo-Ettu, a consultant engineer, draws
attention to the fact that emerging technologies
which are mostly wireless appear to be
addressing the last mile and bringing access to
the last man fast and cheap. He cautions
however, that network planners should not be
carried away with the wireless systems of the
last mile without considering that traffic
generated at the last mile and by the last man
will ultimately require very robust wired system
at the backbone. He emphasizes that broadband
access even at the last mile is today a
requirement how much more the requirement for
pipes of transmission at the backbone.
Teledensity:
Density of what: Phones or SIM Cards or of
People?
A suggestion was made during the week that users
of teledensity as a measure of telephone access
have to exercise restraint lest its significance
in planning emerging economies might just be
lost. A professor of telecommunications,
Augustine Odinma, told the ADIPENG 2009
delegates in Abuja that teledensity, a measure
of ‘Number of telephone lines per 100
inhabitants’ should not be mistaken as a measure
of telephone lines in its absolute terms since
the index relates to ‘inhabitants’. He argues
that if Nigeria’s 64million phones are in the
hands of not more than half that number of
Nigerians then teledensity would not be what
many people take it to be. This according to him
is particularly important as planners who do not
live in the country may end up doing wrong plans
on behalf of Nigeria in the comity of nations.
Teledensity, an ITU’s initiative, is an index
which was originally meant for fixed lines only.
It has since the emergence of mobile system
acquired new definition in terms of prefixing it
with ‘effective’ so that its import is not lost
to planners. In reality according tom him,
Effective Teledensity uses either only Fixed or
Mobile subscriber figures for calculations.
Cyberschuulnews 333
Multimedia enablement sprouts in Nigeria as
Zain migrates to an All-IP Network
Zain Group said during the week that its
Nigerian subsidiary will soon migrate to an
all-IP multimedia subsystem (IMS) network. The
solution provider for Zain, Tekelec, is offering
the EAGLE5 platform which supports SIGTRAN (SS7
signaling over IP), a stepping stone for
cost-effectively migrating to an all-IP network.
Zain says it hopes to migrate into a seamless
integration of its existing core technology and
anticipates substantial improvement in network
signaling performance.
Zain in Nigeria deploys the GSM standard and has
28% market share of the mobile services. It is
one of the most frequently transformed providers
in history having changed its name four times in
7 years, namely: Econet-wireless to Vodacom to
V-mobile to Celtel to Zain.
FG Goes ‘e’ on payments
Nigeria’s Federal Government has, since January
2009, launched a semi-e-payment platform by
which is meant that Federal Ministries and
Agencies would make payment only though the
banks. Although it is being popularly described
as ‘e-payment’, it is ‘e’ only to the extent
that cheques do not go to payees of government
but to their banks. It runs only marginally on
e-systems and has less than 25% of e-content.
A nice, modest, and appropriate start and
progressive match towards an eventual migration
to e-systems, the method is believed to be good
for government’s transactions as it will
smoothen several low sides of the past just as
it will raise a few challenges which the
operators must be ready to confront and resolve
before it does havoc. It is expected to raise
initial challenges to both the payers and the
payees but all these will eventually be resolved
by continuous education and the will to make a
progress in the polity.
Newspapers have reported several investigations
into how it is running and featured more on its
challenges rather than the strengths and what it
portends for government operations. Most
accounts refer to it, falsely though, as
e-payment.
Government cannot afford to reverse itself on
this path as it is the first ladder to climb in
going truly ‘e’ especially if the right
investments are made with genuine intension to
make things better.
COREN set to launch new methods of Engineering
Training
A complete overhaul of how engineering should be
taught in schools, colleges, polytechnics, and
Universities is almost a forgone conclusion
going by the inroad which the Council for the
Regulation of Engineering in Nigeria, COREN, has
been making in preparing training institutions
for the change.
The COREN Council has also made the theme of its
2009 ENGINEERING ASSEMBLY “Quality of
Engineering Education and Training: Key to
infrastructural development” to reflect the mood
and aspirations of its commitment to the
subject. The Annual Engineering Assembly is a
gathering of all Nigerian practitioners of
engineering at all levels to map a common front
to distilling problems confronting the
profession and engineering service delivery in
the country. It will hold on August 11 - 12,
2009 in Abuja.
A few weeks ago, COREN’s President Engr. Habu
Gumel, told an audience of Deans, Professors and
lecturers who teach engineering in Universities
that his Council is committed to reordering the
process of engineering training in order to make
their products modern and relevant to the
industry. Two weeks ago he was again in Abuja
hosting senior engineers who manage government
projects on preparing them for the foreseeable
future and the changes that will take place in
how engineering will henceforth be taught. At
each of the sessions, world class consultants
and professors of engineering from all corners
of the world were on hand to discuss new
strategies for improved delivery in engineering
projects and in building human capacity in
engineering.
Registrar of the Council, Engr. Felix Atume,
expressed worries that those who teach
engineering in Polytechnics have not shown the
kind of enthusiasm which others are showing in
the migration efforts. He however saw a change
of attitude in the horizon as COREN was set to
reach out to them through other methods.
Dead end!!
Epitaph for NITEL
The
long tortuous journey which the dream of workers
who remained in NITEL has gone through may have
now reached a dead end. The workers are asking
just about anybody to listen to their story that
government has a responsibility to them and they
want the responsibility discharged. By their
account, the company does not make enough money
to pay them salaries. Meaning that the hope of
getting their arrears, now six months and still
counting, might just be fading off. The banks,
their former friends, have now turned their back
180 degrees and whenever they made attempt to
see the Minister in charge of their company’s
affairs, she was always busy, ‘re-branding’!.
A natural fall out of such struggles: the
leadership of the struggle’s emblem, the workers
union, became divided and their Managing
Director, Kevin Caruso, brand-new last August,
is now throwing up his arms in helplessness.
Surprisingly, the workers believed Caruso when
last August he told them that all problems would
be fixed by November. Or so it seemed since they
did not call off his bluff at the time.
Now they are talking to a government that is
tired of everything including listening.
Sounds like CyberschuulNewsJoke but it is a very
serious matter.
Cyberschuulnews 332
DAAR raises the bar in digital broadcasting
Nigeria’s DAAR Communications Plc, operators of
DAARSat and AIT Television has turned on the
switch of access to world class digital
broadcasting with a further acquisition of a
number of high-resolution based outside
broadcast facilities which it received into its
stock during the week. Mr. Ladi Lawal, the
Group’s Managing Director told television
viewers that there can be no better way to
celebrate the 50th anniversary of television
broadcasting in Nigeria than to acquire
technology, training, and TV programming that
will put Nigeria in the bracket of the best TV
broadcasters in the world.
Television broadcasting debuted in Africa when
the government of Western Region in Nigeria
switched on the transmitters of Western Nigeria
Broadcasting Service, WNBS, in 1959 in Ibadan.
Reps, NCC, Operators, synch on co-location
There was expressed agreement by all industry
players on the need for co-location and
strategic sharing of telecommunications
infrastructure when the Dave Salako led
Committee on Communications of the House of
Representatives met with a select group of
industry players last Tuesday in Abuja. The
House of Representatives is currently discussing
a draft Bill promoted by its members and players
in the industry were invited to speak to the
draft. Discussion showed that while the draft
bill and the invitation for the meeting were
late in reaching the operators, they had no
problem in agreeing with its intension. But they
believed the draft was not a smart job as it
lacked the necessary focus which such a document
should normally have for the industry to get the
benefit.
NCC’s presentation team lead by the Commission’s
Executive Commissioner in charge of Licensing,
Steve Bello, with whom was the Director of Legal
Services, Steve Adzinge, bore holes in the draft
bill which was apparently a notch behind where
the industry had reached on the subject.
Operators, one after the other, agreed with the
Commission’s position to arouse the bile in one
or two honourable members whose body talk
suggested they expected their guests to contest
the intension of the bill.
The issue of co-location of infrastructure has
been a topic of popular discussion and it may
take a while for all to agree on its management
which is certainly tricky and potentially
complex. If only the law makers will sort out
removing their prejudices for persons as a
necessary ingredient of good law making, they
may, after all, put a law in place before their
tenure runs out. For now, the train is far from
the station.
Campaign for broadband for ALL begins
The metaphor of a CAR which is standard
‘convergence-automobile’ with TV screen,
electronic keyboard and access to broadband
Internet complete with 12months airtime was used
to describe the converged economy in Lagos last
week. Mr. Titi Omo-Ettu, delivering the annual
TITANS of TECH lecture on ‘Setting the Stage for
a Converged Economy’ said it was time work began
to target the provision of broadband access to
Nigerians no matter where they may live so that
its citizen’s would count as belonging to the
converged economy and therefore to the global
village. He proffers that the various markets of
telecommunications, broadcasting, media, and
entertainment must be continuously reformed and
restructured until a true ICT industry emerges.
Mr. Omo-Ettu admonishes Nigerians of the ICT
sector to begin a campaign that will disallow
those who are not ICT compliant to rule us come
2011. He argues that although we may not know
those who will rule us, we should know those who
must not rule us. And concludes that those who
are not ICT savvy have no business asking to be
in front, lest all of us continue to stay
behind. He ended the lecture by saying that the
notion of the world being a global village may
be a ruse after all if anyone is allowed to be
outside of that so-called village. He posed the
question ‘Is the world a global village?’ and
answered it himself saying ‘Yes, to the extent
that a society which invests in Internet and IP
supported services will conquer distance, close
the gap between the rich and the poor and
ultimately conquer poverty, and No, to the
extent that a society that finds itself unable
or unwilling to make these necessary investments
will remain outside that village and the world
will never be one global village in that
circumstance’
Talking to CyberschuulNews after the lecture,
Mr. Omo-Ettu said the gap between the USA and
Nigeria will be dangerously widened if anyone
who takes over from the present President in
Nigeria does not take ICT the way Senator (now
President) Barrack Obama took it when he was on
his way to the White house in 2008.
He called on NCC to commence a study into how
much of investment the nation should be ready to
invest into broadband internet access just as
ICT should now be a political campaign issue in
the country.
OBITUARY
South Africa mourns as
Madam Ivy Matsepe-Casaburri dies after illness
Perhaps the longest serving minister of
Communications in Africa, Mrs. Ivy
Matsepe-Casaburri died last week at 71. She will
be missed in the telecommunications industries
across Africa where she was a popular
contributor to developments. Here was a minister
known to rate highest among the few who stayed
behind to attend technical sessions of
Telecommunications conferences during her
tenure- a clear departure from the norm as other
ministers attend only opening ceremonies of such
talk shops.
Mr. Shola Taylor, a UK based Nigerian who
operates as international telecommunications
consultant and who was consultant to Mrs. Ivy
Matseppe-Casaburri responded to CyberschuulNews
interview on the demise of the madam:
‘Yes, this was a sad story. She was the longest
serving African Minister of Communications. She
was in her 10th year as Minister when she died.
She will be buried Monday 13 April and I plan to
attend. "I have had the privilege of interacting
with several African Ministers of
Communications, and there is no doubt in my mind
that Dr Mrs. Ivy Matseppe-Casaburri stands out
as one of the most outstanding Ministers of
Communications Africa has ever produced"
"For those of us who interacted with her, she
submitted herself to provide excellent service
to her country and Africa, with ability to
listen to arguments on issues relating to ICT in
Africa. She was very passionate about those ICT
issues that affect the ordinary African"
The following report on her demise is taken from
www.itweb.co.za, written by Paul Vecchiatto ,
ITWEB Correspondent
“Deputy communications minister Roy Padayachie
says: “This has come as a terrible shock to us
all. Her cheerfulness will be missed and we
regret that she didn't get the rest she
deserved. She dedicated her life to public
service.”
Matsepe-Casaburri was admitted to hospital
several weeks ago and Manto Tshabala-Msimang,
minister of the presidency, was appointed to act
in her place. Government protocol is that
another full Cabinet minister is appointed to
act on behalf of another who may be ill.
Ivy Matsepe-Casaburri
Matsepe-Casaburri was appointed as
communications minister after the 1999 general
elections. Before that, she made history as the
first female premier of a province when she was
appointed to head the Free State provincial
government from 1996 to 1999. In 1993, she was
appointed the first female chairperson of the
South African Broadcasting Corporation board and
led the organisation through its initial
transformation.
On a number of occasions, Matsepe-Casaburri
filled in for former president Thabo Mbeki as
acting president. She was part of a group of
Cabinet ministers selected to do so when he and
his deputy were either out of the country, or
indisposed at the same time. She acted as
president when Mbeki resigned and before the
inauguration of president Kgalema Motlanthe, in
September last year.
Born in Kroonstad, in the Free State, on 17
September 1937, Matsepe-Casaburri was a
long-serving member of the African National
Congress and went into exile after working as a
teacher in KwaZulu-Natal. She had obtained a
Bachelor of Arts degree from the University of
Fort Hare and later a doctorate in sociology
from Rutgers University in the US.
She served as a senior lecturer at the United
Nations Institute on Namibia, in Zambia, and
returned to the country in 1990.
Matsepe-Casaburri is the second minister to die
while in office. The first was Stella Sigcau,
who was serving as minister of public works when
she died due to heart failure on 7 May 2006.”
Cyberschuulnews 331
TITANS OF TECH Takes off Wednesday
Titans of Tech 2009 lecture and exhibition,
described as the most impressive gathering of
information communications technology
professionals and platform for unveiling new
products, is set to open this Wednesday, April
8, at the Muson Centre in Lagos.
Don Pedro Aganbi, Managing Consultant,
Technology Africa organisers of the high-octane
two days event, said that the theme of the
popular annual event, now in its fourth edition
is ‘Realising the Potentials of a Converged
Economy’.
He revealed that Engr Titi Omo-Ettu, leading
telecommunications Engineer and Consultant, as
Guest Speaker would address the distinguished
audience at the opening ceremony on the topic
“Setting the stage for the converged economy”.
Other speakers include, Wahab Aminu-Sarumi,
Managing director, Wadof Software Consulting who
would speak on the topic “Software Nigeria:
Taking the Lead”; Dr. Emmanuel Ekuwem, Managing
Director, Teledom Group, “The Global Economic
Meltdown and the Nigerian ICT industry: Issues
and Perspectives”; Chinenye Mba Uzoukwu, Grand
Central Africa, “Multi-media and the Career
Opportunities in the Emerging Economy”. This is
in addition to representations from the public
sector, regulatory bodies, industry associations
and advocacy groups.
Day two of the conference is the women in ICT
forum with Mrs. Adedoyin Odunfa as keynote
speaker. she will be speaking on the topic:
"Gender and ICT; Opportunities for Nigerian
Women" the event will be rounded up with the
Titans of Tech youth renderzous.
Aganbi said that Alhaji A.B Zaku the Minister of
State for Science and Technology is expected to
Chair the opening session, while Minister of
State Information and Communications, Alhaji
Ikra Bilbis is the Chief Host.
Titans of Tech 2009 would provide a platform for
key industry stakeholders to consider how to
promote growth and innovation in this converged
world and ensure universal access to high
quality content”.
More Governments are getting troubled by the
internet
A US-based group which claims to have reviewed
internet penetration in 15 countries around the
world reports that the possibility of
governments wanting to control and monitor the
internet is on the increase. According to the
report, more governments are getting worried
about the uncontrollable spread of information
by the internet and they are therefore finding
ways to impose restrictions. Some have arrested
bloggers while some have jailed others outright.
Some are amending their laws to allow for an
easy catch of offending blog writers and a few
have broken existing laws to show their teeth.
One way as listed in the case of three countries
has been to centralize the backbone of the
internet.
Majority of the countries listed as notorious
for attempting to muzzle internet information
are those who do not control technology and
whose systems have not contributed much to its
development.
Even in countries where freedom seems reasonably
high, a few overbearing officials have made
attempts to persecute bloggers. In Nigeria,
known for a vibrant legacy press, a US based
Nigerian citizen who runs an internet
publication was rough-handled for several days
the moment he stepped into the country until he
got freedom after a heavy recourse to the law by
his solicitors. It is a clear indication that
government there is feeling uneasy about its
activities and how it is being reported.
Another Nigerian techie who also publishes a
professional bulletin on the net confirms that
he has been approached by government officials
on how he can assist government to muzzled
websites which are considered offensive.
Caution!!! Dangerous Chinese handsets may be out
there
Authorities in Bangalore say they have
discovered China-made mobile handsets that bear
less than the normal 16-digit International
Mobile Equipment Identity, IMEI, numbers and
they have vowed to wipe them off the market
within two weeks.
The issue is that these handsets show up as
having an endless list of digits as their IMEI
numbers and the implication is that these
handsets cannot be traced. What is more, it has
been found that usually over 1,000 of these
handsets share a single IMEI number and this has
posed a big problem for the police who must
trace them when they are used to infringe the
law.
In-flight Phone service may increase
Airlines which ban the use of cellphones and
other mobile devices while airborne may soon
change their mind as the practice of
pay-for-service is reported to be enjoying more
acceptance on EU routes. EU officials said last
week that the number of aircraft equipped with
services which allow passengers to use the
devices in the skies above Europe will double
next year.
Safety rules normally frown at the use of mobile
devises for reason of interference with
navigation gadgets.
THE CYBERSCHUUL announces 2nd Quarter Training
programs
Telecom training institute THE CYBERSCHUUL has
posted new timetable for its programs which
shall run in June/July editions of its standard
courses. It recently concluded the first edition
of Crossover Telecommunications Training at the
end of which the ten participants gave an
overall rating of above 90% satisfaction at the
content aand format of delivery. It expresses
regret that it could not accommodate private
candidates for its First Quarter sessions of
Basic and Advanced Telecommunications Training
programs as the two slots were block-booked by
client firms for purpose-built training of their
staff.
Highlight of the recurring content of all the
programs is the recent addition of materials on
emerging technologies such as WiMax and LTE's
and a focus on industry management issues of
co-location, number portability and convergence.
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