Time to Listen!
(A review of Ernest Ndukwe’s recent lecture series)

One of the drawbacks of the public sector is a lack of continuity as there is never a succession plan. In our circumstance, sitting officials who planned successors for themselves are known to have done so even for selfish, sometime very callous, reasons. This lack of continuity and consequently inability to plan for the future is sometimes put forward as an argument for the ‘limited’ state – one which has no role in business. Take the example of NITEL that we know a little about and complete the story. We have successfully used NITEL’s trajectory as a good case that government has no business running a business. 

Ernest Ndukwe, the telecommunications engineer and manager who had in the last ten years sat atop the operations of Nigeria’s Regulator of telecommunications appears to have now joined the public lecture circuit discussing what he thinks the future should be for Nigeria beyond 2010. He can talk about a future, because he has done something worth talking about. It was by no means plain sailing as he has been battered and bruised along the way and he probably will also use his lecture to fight back now that the exit time is here. The scars on his back tell us he has earned his stripes to surely have some say in what (not necessarily who) succeeds his tenure in office… and he is worth listening to.   

Some few weeks ago, he listed about ten important issues which taken together, may translate to having advised the market on the unfinished business as he leaves office. Last week was the third and latest time he discussed those things that contributed to unprecedented success in Nigeria’s telecommunications and how they can be sustained.  

His speeches have taken a wholistic approach to the requirements of the future addressing the kind of attributes that whoever government eventually appoints into the Commission should possess; what the focus of attention should be; as well as the role of all stakeholders – government, the regulator, operators, and consumers in taking the industry to the next level. 

The one issue on which Ernest Ndukwe has been relentless and discussed more than any other public official throughout his tenure is the central and critical role public electricity supply had been to the telecommunications industry. His unyielding stance on this thorny issue may be taken to mean that he has suggested an alternative procedure for government to look at the issue of power sector reform in the country.  

Although there has also been a professed reform or even declaration of liberalization industry in the energy sector, the regime of implementation has been at best insincere. Some guys started by mushrooming ‘private companies’ out of the government octopus called NEPA and they went about telling us that is what liberalization is all about. 

It was the same in the telecommunication industry when in 1994, just one year into liberalization, General Sani Abacha disbanded the Nigerian Communications Commission and also went ahead to put ‘a liberalisation unbeliever’ in charge of NITEL. By so doing, he stalled liberalization and there existed an NCC without a Commission. We ran such an industry till 1999 when the emerging regime changed the gear to front drive. 

Perhaps what Ernest Ndukwe had been saying is that the liberalization process in the energy sector needs a rethink and it has something to learn in the telecommunications sector reform process. 

Ernest also said that an efficient Frequency Spectrum Management and allocation is desirable. By that he has already advised on the quality of who should be entrusted with the responsibility of day to day operation of the Commission. No doubt he must have based this view point of his personal experiences. and the limitation of the Commission as it is today. 

Other issues he has described in various words include:

Maintaining stability in the policy and regulatory space; Maintaining the operational and financial independence of the regulatory Agency; Invigorating an operating environment that is conducive to attracting investment; Emphasis on growing broadband infrastructure and catalyzing adoption and usage of broadband services by the citizens; Expansion of fibre optic cable transmission infrastructure nationally and internationally and striving for improved corporate Governance in the industry. 

If there was anytime for us to listen. Now is the time.

NCC extends SIM card registration deadline to May 1 2010

The Nigerian Communications Commission has extended the deadline for the commencement of registration of all new SIM Card users in Nigeria to May 1, 2010. The Commission explained via a press release that the deferment became necessary following the discovery that large amount of SIM Cards with instant activation features, which were already distributed by the service providers before the earlier announcement, would not have been cleared out before March 1, 2010.

Regarding procedure, the announcement said in the case of existing SIM Card holders, necessary processes and procedures were currently being worked out to guarantee a smooth registration exercise and that consumers would be notified in due course about the timing and how to proceed.

More phones for Maiduguri

 Triple play operator, Visafone Nigeria, recently announced that it has rolled out telephone service in Maiduguri, north east Nigeria. A late entrant into the market, Visafone deploys CDMA standard and has widespread coverage in the country.

Federal Environment Agency gets Nigerian Telcos cracking

Telecoms Operators in Nigeria have been given three months to conduct and submit environmental compliance assessments on the location of all telecommunications masts in Nigeria. The Director General and CEO of the National Environmental Standards and Regulations Enforcement Agency (NESRA), Dr Ngeri Benebo announced at a meeting with representatives of the operators in Abuja that the measure was in response to rising public concern with the indiscriminate erection of communication masts.

All masts in every state of the federation are to be catalogued, and multiple hard and soft copies of the reports be returned for the review of the NESREA. The DG suggested that consultants accredited with the Agency be engaged by the communications companies, and proposed that this new measure will allay the fears of the public on the dangers posed by telecoms masts erected near public dwellings. The NESREA is a Ministry of Environment body responsible for environmental protection and development.

Virgin Media promises100Mbps Broadband

In a clear indication that competition in the UK broadband market is really heating up, Virgin Media has announced that it will release a 100Mbps package by the end of the year.

Virgin Media – pioneers of fibre optic internet in the UK – is undertaking this action to put clear blue water between itself and the rest of the competition in the broadband field to maintain its continued success.

The company is building on the success of the launch of its ultra high broadband speed last year as more than 41,000 subscribers joined its 50Mbps, capturing nearly two thirds of the new broadband subscribers but more importantly it has seen an increase of 81 percent in the last quarter of 2009 over the previous quarter.

This development means that Virgin will control the top end of the market i.e. subscribers with a high level of disposable income who are more and likely to stick with Virgin Media because of the internet rather than the television or phone services.

Google bosses convicted in Italy

We all have a deep personal and professional interest in the Internet, but very few of us think of the legal/ethical framework within which some argue the internet must exist. For those who question such a supposition, an Italian court has convicted three Google executives in a trial over a video showing an autistic teenager being bullied.

In a ruling that clearly demonstrates that the freedoms conferred by the global nature of the internet will be trumped by domestic laws laid down by national governments and parliament, Google employees were accused of breaking Italian law with prosecutors arguing that Google broke Italian privacy law by not seeking the consent of all the parties involved before allowing it to go online.

It is also a clear indication that the arguments about responsibility over internet content simply will not go away. In his verdict, Judge Oscar Magi absolved the three Google employees, Peter Fleischer, David Drummond and George De Los Reyes, of defamation but convicted them of privacy violations giving them suspended six-month sentence. A fourth defendant, product manager Arvind Desikan, was acquitted.

Google unsurprisingly rejected this ruling with David Drummond, Chief Legal Officer at Google and one of those convicted saying he was "outraged" by the decision. "I intend to vigorously appeal this dangerous ruling. It sets a chilling precedent," he said.

"If individuals like myself and my Google colleagues who had nothing to do with the harassing incident, its filming or its uploading onto Google Video can be held criminally liable solely by virtue of our position at Google, every employee of any internet hosting service faces similar liability," he added.

Peter Fleischer, privacy counsel at Google, questioned the prospects of survival of many internet platforms if the decision is upheld. ‘I realise I am just a pawn in a large battle of forces, but I remain confident that today's ruling will be over-turned on appeal,’ he said.

Richard Thomas, the UK's former information commissioner and consultant to privacy law firm Hunton & Williams denigrated the ruling saying the case was ‘ridiculous.’  He told BBC News, that ‘It is like prosecuting the post office for hate mail that is sent in the post.’

The industry awaits the full ramifications of this verdict for content providers around the globe.

Foreign IT firms ‘feel the heat’ in China

Having been lured by the promise of a slice of the huge Chinese market, businesses are finding that an evolving regulatory regime targeting information technology-related products is making the realization of earlier promise a tad more difficult than anticipated.

John Neuffer, Vice-President for global policy at the Information Technology Industry Council - a lobby group - said technology companies are ‘feeling less welcome and finding it increasingly difficult to do business in China.’

This is not a new phenomenon. The decree that all providers of encryption-related software would be required to disclose their source code in 1999 – (which was later “clarified”); the shoe-horning of companies into only buying information security products with domestic certification – something near impossible for foreign companies in 2006; making domestic certification compulsory for certain product categories, including smart cards, firewalls and secure routers in 2007; were all indicators of what was to come. Individually and collectively, they present a stern test for foreign companies that have their core business in software, PC and telecommunications manufacture.

 Industry experts say that full implementation of all rules would either exclude foreign players from a large part of the Chinese market or force them to develop separate products for use there.

The regional head of a foreign semiconductor company was a bit more apoplectic when he said saying, ‘Once every bit of the organisational infrastructure falls into place and every rule is implemented, there will not be much of a China market left for us.’

The Chinese have always been reticent about an unfettered opening of their market but foreign companies are used to getting their own way while steamrolling domestic markets in developing economies. They do not like this one bit but the Chinese government, it seems, do not care.

The threat of ‘botnet’ exposed

Security experts from San Francisco have reported to have found a network of 74,000 virus-infected computers that stole information from inside corporations and government agencies serving as a reminder of the dangers of having computers with sensitive data connected to the open Internet where sensitive information can fall into the wrong hands even when cyber criminals are not necessarily seeking them..

More than 2,400 organizations, including financial institutions and energy companies and federal agencies, were infiltrated by the ‘botnet’ - networks of poisoned PCs remotely controlled by hackers - according to the NetWitness Corp the security firm which led the discovery.

The companies or agencies affected were not mentioned by NetWitness but The Wall Street Journal said the list included big names like Merck & Co., Cardinal Health Inc., Paramount Pictures and Juniper Networks and others which have neither denied nor confirmed they had been affected.

Amit Yoran, CEO of NetWitness and former cybersecurity chief at the U.S. Department of Homeland Security said, ‘This kind of stuff is out there and it's pervasive.  There are dozens of these types of operations ongoing every day that just aren't named,’ indicating that parts of ‘botnet’ discovered by his firm likely are still active. He said the attackers were targeting specific information rather than specific organizations from outside the US but uncertain about their specific location.

The main feature of concern is the ability it gives affords the hacker to conduct financial transactions directly from a compromised computer. Some banks have put up extra security measures of detection and elimination.

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Unilag host Google's 'Out of Africa' conference

Google Inc. concluded a three day conference themed 'Out of Africa, always something new' this weekend. The conference which held in the University of Lagos from February 18th to 20th had very strong Nigerian content display. About four Nigerians on Google's payroll including Oduntan Odubanjo, ex-Google intern, Google Zurich were on ground to enlighten, educate and guide delegates on:
- business opportunity for entrepreneurs,
- career path for students and
- application tool kits for developers.

Google reinstated that their goal was to improve Nigerian Local content, provide education on how to use the net, provide location based services that are geographically relevant, reduce latency by bringing content closer, and reduce internet cost.

Google achieved the last point by inviting Layer3, a Nigerian ISP to provide free wireless internet service to delegates.


Our fore-cast on this conference is that more Nigerian web developers would design optimized websites which makes these websites more discoverable
on the internet via on-line search. This would generate some revenue for Google but it would certainly give exposure to Nigerian sites in the short run.

Industry Review (Nigeria)

An economy in crisis,, imminent registration of mobile users by the industry regulator, and revised interconnect rates all happening in tandem may have had Nigerian telephone operators devising ‘more for less’ strategies to retain customers in their network. That they are not is perhaps an indication that the days of hyped radio-TV ads may well be coming to an end.

Industry watchers have reported that mobile operators are more likely to tailor their services to meet the demands of their premium customers who, in return remain loyal on account of such service. At the lower end, customers are rather more slapdash in changing network providers. The issue with those with a triple (fixed/mobile/internet) package is yet to be resolved but a solution is within sight if the observed research orientation of their effort is anything to go by.

Chances are the prevailing wind blowing in the industry may end up operators closing shop at least for a while as the impact of country’s rudderless governance takes its toll.
 

Google lurches from dire into another disaster

Perhaps it is not all-conquering after all. Google, after scrambling to alter certain features and add new settings to Buzz following its launch last week, has engaged in a humiliating climb down admitting that it had rushed the service out the door sparking numerous complaints about a number of flaws in the service.

A lack of robust testing meant that fundamental errors were made. For example within hours of the launch, it was revealed that users’  Gmail and GTalk contacts were released into the public domain for everyone to see, and that the setting for making that public or private was enabled by default and/or difficult to find. Users also complained that blocking followers was more difficult than it should have been and they are forced to follow someone if they did not have a Google profile, thus making unclear who would be shown in their list of followers.

Customarily Google’s new products and services first undergo testing with what the company calls its Trusted Testers program, who get privileged and early access to the service and provide feedback before it’s rolled out in open beta.

It is believed the company has set up a “war room” to responding as quickly as possible to the enveloping crisis. Buzz product manager Todd Jackson admitted that many users of Buzz were “rightfully upset” and said Google was “very, very sorry.” He added that: “We know we need to improve things.”

Not everyone is placated by this contrition, it with privacy advocates, who have vehemently opposed Google’s approach smelling blood. The LA Times has reported that   the Electronic Privacy Information Centre is planning to file with the Federal Trade Commission over Buzz. The Centre’s Director Marc Rotenberg said, “Google pushes the envelope, people scream and they dial back the service until the screaming subsides.”  He went on to say, ‘The bottom line is that self-regulation is not working,”

NITEL takes first step into
New Generation Telecom hands amidst denial of Unicom' involvements

A group called New Generation Telecom Ltd and described as a Consortium of China Unicom (Hong Kong) Ltd, Minerva Group, and GiCell Wireless Ltd, may have valued NITEL for $3.4 billion as it offered to pay $2.5b for 75% shares. It outbid a $956 million offer from Omen International Ltd. to get BPE’s hammer of approval. 

That was the outcome of a financial bidding which took place under BPE’s watch last Tuesday in Abuja. 

It is understood that shortly after the exercise, the successful bidder said that funding may not be its problem, a comment which ananlysts take to mean the Minerva group is the moneybag of the team. The rule allows that it pays 30% of its offer within 10 days and the balance 70% in less than another 60 days.

A news items posted by Reuters and Bloomberg later midweek said China Unicom has denied participation in the bidding for NITEL. Local newshounds who followed the story reported that a representative of New Generation insisted that the ability to pay the offered price remains notwithstanding. It did not explain the issue of Unicom’s denial of being part of the deal or not.

Those who believe that Minerva is the funding partner while Unicom is the technical partner remain satisfied that the boat may not rock since the technical partner can be replaced easier than it is to replace a financing backer. It is not clear yet who exactly are the actual investors behind New generation Telecom, a matter which may show the direction thinks are very likely to go in the days ahead.

Fujitsu wins major UK contract

Competition for the UK’s Department of Works and Pension (DWP) Desktop Services reached its final stage on 15 February, with Fujitsu being awarded the contract.

The new six-year contract which starts on 1 September 2010 following a phased transition is expected to give the Department savings of around 20 per cent and enable the IT transformation of its Desktop estate.

Desktop Services was the first element of the department’s IT arrangements open to market competition as part of the ‘Future Contracting Strategy’ – which will see all the Department’s major IT contracts between now and 2015 follow suit in a bid to achieve the best possible value for money and business flexibility.

Fujitsu takes over from Hewlett Packard Enterprise Services - the current provider Desktop Services, which will continue to deliver under the terms of the existing contract.

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Microsoft launches Windows 7 mobile

Microsoft and Google are really locked into a zero-sum game. Word is that if Google continues growing its online search business at its current pace, it could surpass Microsoft’s Windows in size. To demonstrate its intent to fightback, at the Mobile World Congress in Barcelona, Microsoft launched the latest iteration of its mobile phone operating system, called Windows phone 7 series whose software has been redesigned to bring together related content from the web, applications and Microsoft services such as Xbox LIVE games and the Zune music service into a single view.

The operating system is built around a series of so-called 'live tiles', which pull in real time content from users’ web sites and social networks.

Microsoft’s Joe Belfiore said at the launch, "We wanted the software experience to fundamentally focus on what is most important to each individual user."

With this launch, MS is laying the foundations for the first phones using the new operating system which will be available later this year from manufacturers including Samsung, LG, HTC and Sony Ericsson.

Microsoft will not only provide the software for the phones such as multi-touch facilities, in addition it will specify certain hardware requirements to handsets manufacturers for example, there will be a dedicated hardware button for Microsoft's search engine - Bing.

That the gains of Nigeria's Telecom sector may be sustained

Engr. Ernest Ndukwe, Executive Vice-Chairman of Nigerian Communications Commission, NCC has identified the prerequisites for sustaining what has been achieved in the telecommunications sector of the Nigerian economy. These include:

1. Improved power supply
2. A regulatory regime that is independent, transparent, and predictable;
3. An updated Telecommunications Policy,
4. Review of the National Communications Act 2003
5. An efficient Frequency Spectrum Management and allocation;
6. Expansion of the Broadband Infrastructure,
7. Capacity building of indigenous manpower, 
8. Stable financial  stability for the regulator,
9. A conducive operational environment; and
10. Stability in the policy and regulatory environment

Engr Ndukwe mentioned these at a recent lecture he delivered at the Pan Africa University, Lagos.

China shuts down hackers’ ‘haven’

It appears to the outside world that the Chinese government is impervious to most thins – particularly criticism from foreign governments. However the recent spat between China and the US government which saw Secretary of State Clinton deprecate the Chinese authorities over their censorship war with Google, seem to be bearing fruit.

In response to her call to clamp down on those who terrorize on the web, the authorities have closed down what is believed to be the country's biggest training website for hackers, state media has reported. It was unclear when the shutdown had taken place but the Black Hawk Safety Net site was unavailable last week.

The site, Black Hawk Safety Net - a ‘haven’ of  hackers – was reported to have openly recruited thousands of members online and provided them with cyber attack lessons and malicious Trojan software which can allow outside access to a computer when implanted, to illegally control computers.

The China Daily and the Wuhan Evening News reported Black Hawk Safety Net recruited more than 12,000 paying subscribers and collected more than seven million yuan ($1m: £650,000) in membership fees, while another 170,000 people had signed up for free membership.

China, with some 350 million internet users providing a lucrative search-engine market worth an estimated $1bn last year, is a magnet for hackers in search of rich pickings.

 Government officials have defended China's online censorship claiming that the country is the biggest victim of web attacks and hope that shutting down Black Hawk Safety Net will demonstrate that it is taking the ‘fight’ to hackers.

FG advised to support Local investors in telecommunications

Another call went out to Nigeria’s Federal Government during the week to solicit her support to Nigerian investors who have taken the challenge of building multinational companies.

Mrs. Funke Opeke, CEO of MainOne Cable Ltd made the call at the Broadband Forum hosted by ebusineslife in Lagos. MainOne’s submarine Cable is expected to commence service midyear and reduce cost of broadband access by between 10% and 50% of present charges. Apart from the landing points which are located on the main cable, Mrs. Opeke said there was a high chance of serving additional countries in Africa such as Ivory Coast, Senegal, Morocco, Canary Islands on the cable whose primary destination is Nigeria.

 Internet recommended for the Nobel Peace Prize

The internet was nominated and approved for 2010 Nobel Awards for Peace last Tuesday.  It was the first time that an in-animate object has been nominated for the prestigious awards whose illustrious list include Nelson Mandela, Jimmy Carter, Yasser Arafat, Gorbachev, and Barack Obama. It is also the second controversial in series.

Unsurprisingly, the nomination has been met with derision and generated rift amongst stakeholders who complained that the internet cannot be awarded a Nobel Prize. The nominees cited “dialogue, debate and consensus through communication.” as good basis for the award.

Who receives the award on behalf of the Internet?

Google edges its way into the new social network realm

California February 9, 2010 - Google’s headquarters in Mountain View California has been a hive of activity in 2010 as the internet search giant steps up its aspiration of total domination by unveiling its latest social network known as Buzz.

The service - integrated directly with its e-mail service Gmail - allows users to post status updates, share content and read and comment on friends’ posts. By this launch it clearly is signalling its intent to ‘muscle in’ on Facebook’s turf.

BBC News technology correspondent Rory Cellan-Jones said that the launch appeared to be a "major land grab by Google for the social networking space. He further said, ‘They've launched Buzz with plenty of interesting new features, particularly for mobile users, but the real question is whether there's enough to entice social networkers away from sites like Facebook and Twitter"

Although Facebook’s domination of the social network market with nearly 400 million users remains, it will surely take heed of the threat posed by Buzz which will try to capitalise on the potential of its 170 million regular Gmail users and the new features built directly into Google's free e-mail service Gmail where users can post private or public status updates - known as a buzz - and share content from other sites such as Twitter, YouTube, Flickr and Picassa

With its integrated mapping service and mobile platforms and the launch of a mobile application for phones running its operating system Android, Google’s Buzz product manager Todd Jackson, at a press event described it as "an entirely new world in Gmail".

Facebook however is not resting on its laurels as currently the most popular social network worldwide. Last week it rolled out a new site layout and design for parts of the service to make it easier to search messages and chat.

    ...........experiments on 100X faster internet connection

It is now confirmed that Google has started to design and develop experimental broadband internet networks with target download speeds of up to 1 Gigabit per second. The trial networks at this stage are being designed to service between 50,000 to 500,000 subscribers in unspecified test locations in the US, where users will be provided with a wide choice of service providers servicing the network, and at highly affordable and competitive rates.

In an official blog post, Google said its goal is to experiment with new ways to help make Internet access better and faster for everyone… and that the purpose of the project is to experiment and learn. Network providers are making real progress to expand and improve high-speed Internet access, but there's still more to be done.

Google promises to manage its test network in an undiscriminatory and open manner, and share lessons learned in this experiment with the rest of the world.
 

Short Code Messaging:
Operators and Value Added Service providers fine-tune process

Nigerian Communications Commission, NCC, early in the week hosted operators and content aggregators to a consultative public inquiry in Abuja to firm up work on providing a framework for operation of common short codes, licensing of content aggregators and protection against abuse and misuse.

The Commission says it is optimistic that the propagation of the guidelines would lead to a well-developed, and organized short and premium code market in Nigeria that will ensure an appropriate legal framework that meets international best practices.

Major issues that featured in the one day summit included revenue sharing, limited capacity in operators infrastructure to accommodate all willing aggregators, and control of content

The proposed contentious requirement that text messages sent and received by consumers must be stored by a service provider for six (6) months or any period determined to be reasonable by the service provider appeared unanimously considered to be reviewed for a sorter period of storage.
 

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Zain to boost rural communications under deal with Motorola

 Zain in Nigeria announced during the week that it has gone into a network expansion contract with Motorola Inc of USA to expand the coverage, capacity and service quality of its existing GSM network. The company holds 25% share of the mobile market.

A million download Nokia’s navigation software

It would appear that the premonition that in 2010 mobile operators will make small steps towards a de facto functional separation in order to position themselves to address the demand for third party connected devices and applications is running true to form. Operators understand that unless they give full autonomy to wholesale units, they will be too slow to fully address the undeniable and sizeable opportunities that exist in the market.
 

Just over a fortnight ago, Nokia launched its free global walk and drive satellite navigation for Nokia smartphones - Ovi maps - which includes voice-guided turn-by-turn navigation and a bunch of other smart sat-nav talents, initially covering 74 countries in 46 languages.
 

 No sooner had Nokia pulled the dust sheet off development, it reported that an astonishing 1.4m people have downloaded Ovi Maps since the application became available on January 21 2010 and has been most popular in China, Italy, the UK, Germany and Spain.
 

‘We're averaging a download a second, 24 hours a day,’ said Anssi Vanjoki, Nokia's executive vice president. He said that the demand for location-based software was growing more quickly than the company had anticipated with research analysts suggesting that Nokia has 39% of the global smartphone market.

Nokia has also announced it was making free sat-nav immediately available to heaps of existing devices and a staple ingredient in all top-end Nokia handsets from here on in.

It is not all good as this development from both Nokia and Google offering free-to-download navigation services, is putting pressure on the sat-nav industry.
 

Dutch satellite company Nav4All announced that it is shutting down after its contract with Nokia subsidiary Navteq, a digital mapping company, was not renewed.

GOOGLE forges alliance with NSA on cyber-security

On the heels of Google’s announcement in January that its systems had been hacked, the Company is reported to be negotiating an agreement with America’s National Security Agency, admitted by observers to be the body with the most competent experts and resources on information security, to investigate the recent attacks on it originating from China, and help design better security for its network. Sources say the deal intends to fashion out a way to obtain the best security for its network without compromising its users’ privacy agreements. The NSA is America’s primary communications surveillance, intelligence and spy agency.

Predictably the NSA is said to be keeping mum on the negotiations, only reiterating its broader role in protecting both public and commercial ICT infrastructure in the US via its “Information Assurance” mandate.

Calls have of recent gone out on the need to protect critical and commercial infrastructure from increasing hacker threats. The Google-NSA deal will raise concern among privacy groups, but most analysts believe Google is not likely to permit state security snoopers to get more access to its servers than they need to secure them.

NAFDAC exploits ICT to check fake drugs

National Agency for Food and Drug Administration and Control (NAFDAC) is taking advantage of mobile text-messaging technology in the fight against fake drugs, and has introduced a drug verification system, that allows users to text product codes to an SMS short code, and receive instant verification of the products authenticity, or an alert if it is fake.

Branded the Mobile Anti-Counterfeit System (MAS), the system permits users to enquire right from the point of sale, by texting a product-specific twelve-digit code which will soon be included in the packaging of pharmaceuticals sold in Nigeria, to “38353”, via their mobile phones. They would immediately receive a confirmatory response from the System. The service is presently available on the MTN, Glo and Zain networks.

Campaign for the unsung heroes of ‘The Computer’

The names Bill Gates or Steve Jobs have become synonymous with IT and huge success. The names Larry Page and Sergey may not register with most but the name Google certainly does. The name ‘Sir Tim Berners-Lee’ may even mean less even though he invented the World Wide Web.

The works of these men was pre-dated by two equally colossal names Bill Tutte and Tommy Flowers, who for reasons of  Official secrecy, had been denied  due recognition as pioneers of the modern computer according to Captain f Jerry Roberts, the last surviving member of the Testery, part of Station X, Bletchley Park's code-breaking operation of the Second World War.

Bletchley Park is internationally renowned for the work done on cracking the German codes and helping to bring World War II to an end sooner than it might otherwise have. Most of this work was attributable to the ‘Colossus’ the machine that arguably had the greatest influence in those early days of computing.

The Colossus was made by Tommy Flowers – a Post Office engineer and he could not have built his machine without the astonishing work of Cambridge mathematician Bill Tutte.

Roberts, now in his 90^th year, has embarked on a publicity campaign in anticipation that the two men are given their rightful place not just in the history of computers but in history full stop. 

‘Bill Tutte was a most astonishingly brilliant man,’ says Roberts. ‘He was a 24-year-old mathematician, and by sheer iron logic he worked out how the [German high command's Lorenz cipher] system worked.’

On their both men’s contribution, he said, ‘When you consider there were three levels of encryption, it was an extraordinary performance. It has even been called the outstanding mental feat of the last century.’

On both men’s place in history – specifically computer history, Roberts said, ‘If there had not been Bill Tutte, there would not have been any need for Tommy Flowers. The computer would have happened later. Much later.’

Perish the thought.

Windows 7 delivers for Microsoft

After much scepticism and with rumours aplenty about its demise, Windows7 seems to have restored the fortunes and reputation of Microsft who announced a 60% increase in profits in its second financial quarter as a result of strong consumer demand.  

The news comes on the back of a torrid 2009 for Microsoft who had spent a considerable amount of time fighting one legal battle or another and a far cry from complaints and comments on internet forums about the "black screen of death" as well as an acknowledgement downloading problems associated with Windows7 at its inception.

In its latest financial quarter Microsoft Corp. made a $6.6bn profit with a 14% rise in revenues, which reached $19bn compared with 11% shrink in profits and a redundancy programme – it’s first ever - the same quarter last year.

Regardless of the encouraging figures, Microsoft announced that businesses are still holding back investment perhaps reflecting the fragility of the global economic recovery.

Microsoft’s CFO Peter Klein said ‘These results were driven in large part by strong consumer demand for Windows 7 in PCs.’ He went on to say ‘While consumer demand remains healthy, we have not seen a return to enterprise spending growth.’

Are telephone operators heading for the courts?

 By the account of a section of the media, mobile telephone operators who deploy GSM standard may head for the courts, if they have not done so already, to prevent the Nigerian Communications Commission, NCC from implementing recent directive on SIM Card registration. It is also reported that the NCC has remained resolute on implementing the directive as earlier given. 


It is not clear how a process that manifestly went through a wide consultation process ended up in such a near show down. 

Though not entirely unexpected, telephone operators would normally rise against any intervention that is capable of reducing their margin or market claim.  And this particular intervention is capable of doing just that especially to those whose service quality has been unimpressive but who relied on hype to sustain their status within the market. Their resort to court will not be a new matter either since they have always risen against almost all interventions but have also serially lost such cases in court. 

There is truly an indication of insufficient public information (public, not operator) on the process of this particular intervention of SIM card registration and a few of the implementation modalities may deserve either a review or an explanation from the regulator how the process, as designed, would produce the best results. 

Operators argue that the time allocated to completion of the SIM card registration is inadequate just as they do not feel comfortable with the third party arrangement by which the regulatory authorities desire to document subscribers’ information. Even the registration requirement on the intending registrant is asking for a leg and an arm. 

It will be expected that NCC may have to either explain things better or review some of the announced processes for successful implementation of this otherwise desirable intervention if its objectives are to be quickly realized.  Failure to do that may encourage both the operators and the consumers to cooperate and that will not help implementation. 

The recourse to court of course does not promise a good end for the operators since as history would show, they are still dealing with a regulator that is strong on adhering to the law and against whom court cases will not be any meaningful threat. 

It is also understood that the operators are on their way to the Presidency to file a protest.

That may help them since they will be dealing with folks that are low on keeping to the law. They may get a waver of the directive but will meet their waterloo after they would have poisoned the water in which they are fishing. A government that has no head is the one they will be dealing with at this moment. 
 

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Is Microsoft taking the smartphone challenge?

The rumours are building that Microsoft is set to launch a smart phone at next month’s Mobile World Congress in San Francisco. Katherine Egbert, a financial analyst at Jefferies had earlier predicted the possibility mid-January, and now a technology analyst has revealed that he found set-up and driver files within his newly updated Zune MP3 software, that indicated possible phone call capabilities. Zune is Microsoft’s answer to the iPod. Microsoft has kept mum on the speculation.

Egbert had predicted a high definition screen and built-in camera for the device, which most certainly will retain MP3 and mobile app capabilities. Microsoft is soon to launch Windows Mobile 7, with better touch screen interface, to reverse its downward falling share of the smartphone OS market (7.9%, 3^rd Qrt, 2009, 20%  down from Qrt 1 figure). A Zune phone should give it a platform to demonstrate the new systems capabilities, as well as a foothold in the growing smartphone market, of which Google has been the latest high profile entrant, with the Nexus One.

Apple unveil its tablet, calls it iPad 

Apple has unveiled the iPad – its new 9.7inch multi touch display device that allows users to type, manipulate pictures and control the action in games with their fingers. 

At the launch event in San Francisco, Apple CEO Steve Jobs described the iPad which looks like a large iphone as a ‘third category’ device – a cross between smartphones and laptops. The device which according to Jobs is extraordinary and allows you to ‘hold the web in your hands’ is available in 16-gigabyte, 32-gigabyte and 64-gigabyte versions costing 499, 599 and 699 respectively in the US. 

The iPad represents the second coming of the tablet computer. Microsoft introduced it unsuccessfully back in 2001 but analysts say with advancement in touch screen and wireless technologies, Apple has produced a ‘winning’ product which could potentially reverse the fortunes of the tablet PC industry.  

Apple has already done a deal with the top publishing houses to allow e-books to be directly downloaded to the device. 

However some industry analysts have given the iPad a cautious welcome questioning the need for another category of device and how it fits into a saturated and cut-throat competitive market of laptops, smartphones and notebooks.

In the Philippines,
Broadband may go 10 times faster in five years

Internet service providers in the Philippines have said that the demand for high speed broadband by Philipinos has been so encouraging that they expect to record speed in excess of ten times current speed in the next five years.

The growth pattern of broadband internet access is comparable to what has been happening to telephone growth of the late 90’s and early 2000. One service provider is reported to have emphatically said he ‘wouldn’t be surprised if, in five to ten years from now, broadband connection speeds would be at 5- to 10 megabytes per second (mbps) for every user.” 

All these are happening at a time when several emerging economies are yet to define the lower threshold of broadband internet speed let alone their governments making investment that can bring high sped internet to all citizens.

ITAN appoints Oluwole Owolabi as COO 

ITAN, the Information Technology Association of Nigeria announced recently the appointment of  Mr. Oluwole Owolabi as its Chief Operating Officer and Head of World Information Technology Service Alliance’s Africa Regional Secretariat. 

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Ericsson ‘smarting’ from the effect of Smartphones

Amidst various reports of success in the launch of touch-screen smartphones , it is easy to overlook the casualties of this development.. One such giant feeling the pinch is Ericsson who will sack 600 workers at its chip-making unit in addition to 2,500 cuts to its mobile phone division following combined losses of almost €1.4bn for 2009.

Sales by the beleaguered company - Sony Ericsson, the 50:50 mobile phone joint venture, collapsed 40% precipitated by faster-than-expected  sales of smartphones according to the firm's president, Bert Nordberg. It posted a loss of €837m compared to a loss of €73m in 2008. He forecast tough times ahead saying "2010 will still be challenging as the full benefit of cost improvements will not impact results until the second half of the year. However, we are confident that our business is on the right track,"

In another joint venture with STMicroelectronics - ST-Ericsson - Ericsson, lost €539m for the year despite becoming the market leader by selling more than 6.5 million chip sets to China. In recognition of the changing landscape in the realm of handset manufacturing, ST-Ericsson president and CEO Gilles Delfassy said ‘The mobile platform has now become the convergence point for most consumer electronics, changing consumers' lives and opening up new opportunities even outside the traditional handset market,’

While Sony Ericsson hopes to return to profitability by establishing an entertainment brand based on a portfolio of mid- and high-end products, such as the recently announced Android-based phone, the Xperia X10, ST-Ericsson hopes to deploy its expertise in modems and multimedia processing to achieve the same objective.

Clinton Fires at China on web censorship 

Mrs. Hilary Clinton derided Chinese authorities last Friday when she told the officials there who have been at censorship war with Google that those who terrorize on the web must be made to face the music. 

Chinese officials responded saying what they demanded from web users is respect for their own tradition and culture and it is not America’s business to constitute itself into the world’s teachers of its own genre of development.

Microsoft makes amends on Explorer

 Having reported last week that the German government had issued a warning against Microsoft’s Internet Explorer (IE), and with reports that France has echoed calls for web users to find an alternative to protect security, Microsoft has released a fix for a hole in Internet Explorer that was the weak link in a "sophisticated and targeted" cyber attack on Google.  

Certa, a French government agency that oversees cyber threats, following the German’s Federal Office for Information Security’s announcement also warned against using all versions of the web browser.  

Microsoft recommended the patch - MS10-002 – which was released worldwide at 1000 PST (1800 GMT) saying that once installed, will protect customers against the widely publicised attacks. Microsoft normally issues patches monthly but the high-profile nature of the attacks has led to a prompt response.

The action curiously comes on the back of Microsoft’s protestation that calls to change browsers were "not very helpful" and  its defence offered by its head of security and privacy Cliff Evans told BBC News that the risk is that sparked this warning was minimal asserting IE8 was the "most secure browser on the market".

Who has copied who?
Kodak goes for serial litigation

Buoyed by its victory over Samsung, camera maker Kodak has now filed a complaint with the International Trade Commission (ITC) alleging that Apple and Research in Motion (RIM) makers of the i-phone and blackberry infringed on its patented technologies for previewing pictures on their handsets.
By taking action, Kodak hopes the ITC will rule that Apple and RIM desist from shipping the phones and pay them royalties for the use of the technology.

Laura G. Quatela, Chief Intellectual Property Officer, and Vice President, Eastman Kodak Company. said "In the case of Apple and RIM, we've had discussions for years with both companies in an attempt to resolve this issue amicably, and we have not been able to reach a satisfactory agreement. In light of that, we are taking this action to ensure that we protect the interests of our shareholders and the existing licensees of our technology",

The ball is now in the ITC’s court to decide who has copied who.
 

MTN Hails SIM Card Registration

The Chief Executive Officer of MTN, Mr. Ahmad Farroukh, is quoted by newspapers to have hailed the planned SIM card registration which NCC directed to take effect from March 2010. 

According to a report in Daily Independent newspaper,  Farrouk said “With SIM registration, operators will be able to know their customers better. We will know with more exactitude the demographic distribution of our customers. That will help us to plan better and serve them better; it will aid the implementation of the much expected mobile money, for instance”.

That is also amidst fears of MTN officials that few other details about the new directive need a rework. A short implementation time, involvement of a third party in the registration process, inadequate public education and review of subscriber identification requirements are some issues that spokesmen for operators and consumer advocates have brought to the public domain.

Apple is out with new SLATE computer

Apple Inc., the Cupertino, California company has created a new touch screen SLATE computer and invited the world to its launch on January 27, 2010 at San Francisco.

NCC revokes two licenses

 For failing to commence operations in contravention of the provision of the conditions attached to their licenses, the Nigerian Communications Commission has revoked the Interconnect Exchange Licenses awarded to two licensees with effect from January 7, 2010. They are: 

• Integrated Wireless Technologies Nigeria Limited
• Telexchange Services Limited

Germany warns against Internet Explorer


A few weeks into the new year, Microsoft’s problems have already begun. In an unprecedented move that will undoubtedly rile those wary of government intervention in business, the German government has warned web users to find an alternative browser to Internet Explorer to protect security.
Following a somewhat astonishing admission from Microsoft that the weakness of Internet Explorer might have been a contributing factor to spate of recent attacks on Google’s systems, the Federal Office for Information Security decided to go public and issue the warning.

Unsurprisingly Microsoft plays down the threat. In its rejection of the warning, Thomas Baumgaertner, a spokesman for Microsoft in Germany said that while they acknowledged it, they did not agree with it. He said that the attacks were not against general users or consumers on Google and were by ‘highly motivated people with a very specific agenda’. He added that the risk to users was low and that the browsers' increased security setting would prevent any serious risk as the security hole can be shut by setting the browser's security zone to "high", although this limits functionality and blocks many websites.

Some disagree. Graham Cluley of anti-virus firm Sophos, told BBC News that not only did the warning apply to 6, 7 and 8 of the browser, but the instructions on how to exploit the flaw had been posted on the internet.

"This is a vulnerability that was announced in the last couple of days. Microsoft have no patch yet and the implication is that this is the same one that exploited on the attacks on Google earlier this week," he said.

Microsoft customarily releases a security update once a month - the next scheduled patch is the 9th of February. However, a spokesman for Microsoft told BBC News that developers for the firm were trying to fix the problem.

We all await the outcome. Firefox and Chrome perhaps more so than the rest of us.

Technology tools lend a helping hand in Haiti

Following the catastrophic Tuesday’s earthquake in Haiti which precipitated the collapse of traditional channels of communication, technology tools are playing a significant role in helping the people in the worst-affected areas of Haiti desperate for information about their loved ones with some familiar tools at their disposal.

The very first images of the scale and devastating effect of the earthquake came from citizens who captured them with mobile phones. Though traditional relief agencies media outlets are compiling missing persons databases, Facebook, via the group "Earthquake Haiti", has been a very effective mode of gathering and disseminating information with more than 160,000 members.

Twitter, via group tagged "#relativesinhaiti", is reported has been flooded with traffic from relatives trying to find out about their loved ones from abroad, while "#rescumehaiti" is being used to direct rescue efforts where trapped survivors have been located.

Contrary to criticisms of its transient nature and the threat it poses to established journalism, new social media is proving its worth in Haiti exemplified by the role of Pierre Cote, a journalist based in Haiti, who has been contacted by a number of news organisations in the wake of the disaster, and who is broadcasting from a studio over the web.

Speaking about his role in communicating the disaster he said, "If I'm not doing it, no one will do it - the traditional media won't do it," he said. "The community need it so for me it's a service to the community to bring it all together."

Satellite networks are diverting resources to provide communications to aid agencies and the military with Inmarsat, a UK-based firm that operates a network of satellites has begun re-allocating satellite time to the region.

Another web-based tool deployed is Ushahidi which provides an open-source, free service which can overlay maps of affected regions with data gathered from a multitude of sources. Such maps are useful in, for instance, where assistance is required or where infrastructure has been destroyed and in particular instance, where there is a high probability of an occurrence of aftershocks.