SMS transaction alerts generates N5 billion annually for banks
Ben Uzor Jr
Undeniably, Nigerian banks have found in Short Message Service (SMS) transactions alerts an innovative revenue stream which provides considerable efficiencies in customer service delivery as they generate N5 billion annually from alert charges accrued to bank customers, a Business Day has learnt.
This service is an automatic notification service through SMS that keeps customers informed and updated on activities related to their accounts. Business Day gathered that these 24 banks operating in Nigeria makes a substantial N14 million from SMS on transaction alerts sent to their customers on a daily basis.
Furthermore, each of these banks handles at least some two million transactions daily and for every transaction performed, an SMS is sent to the accountholder’s phone. This however is if the account holder subscribed to the service. Business Day checks reveal that banks procure the service at N3 and vend it to prospective customer at N10 per SMS irrespective of the telecommunications service provider, thereby generating N7 profit on each SMS sent. For that N7, alerts are sent to customer on transactions ranging from withdrawal, deposit, charges on COT, interest rates and other transactions, Business Day has learnt. Industry watchers say that given the reach and immediacy of SMS in establishing and growing customer interaction and commerce, banks are deploying the service to facilitate customer acquisition and retention, as well as increasing market share. They further expound that with the mobile messaging market revenue worldwide exceeding $224 billion by 2013, financial institutions are strategically positioning this service as a viable revenue generator in the long term.
From a technological perspective, Business Day learnt that the service is delivered through Value Added Service (VAS) providers who normally connect to the operator using protocols like Short Message Peer-to-Peer Protocol (SMPP), connecting either directly to the Short Message Service Centre (SMSC), otherwise known as ‘short code’ or increasingly, to a messaging gateway that allows the operators to control and charge for the service. Many banks have expressed their concerns about SMS transaction alerts as it relates to security and operational controls. However, SMS enthusiast claim that whilst SMS banking is not as secure as other conventional banking channels, like the Automated Teller Machine (ATM) and internet banking, the SMS banking channel is not intended to be used for very high-risk transactions. Emmanuel Okogwale, a Lagos based technology expert who spoke to Business Day noted that the lack of encryption on SMS messages is an area of great concern. This he explained sometimes arises within the group of bank’s technology personnel, due their familiarity and past experience with encryption on the ATM and other payment channels. He said: “The lack of encryption is inherent to the SMS banking channel and several banks that use it have overcome their fears by introducing compensating controls and limiting the scope of the SMS banking application to where it offers an advantage over other channels.” However, the convenience of executing simple transactions and sending out information or alerting customers on their mobile phone is often the overriding factor that dominates over the skeptics who tend to be exceedingly bitten by security concerns. Business Day gathered that before a customer can use the SMS alert, he/she would need to register his mobile phone number with his/ her bank. Bolaji Olaniyi, a bank customer said: “SMS alerts are a good initiative but I think banks need to do more with that technological channel. It can act as the bank’s means of alerting it customers, especially in an emergency situation. For example, banks can push mass alert though not subscribed by all customers or automatically alert on an individual basis when an abnormal transaction happens on a customer’s account using ATMs or credit cards. This capability mitigates the risk of fraud going unnoticed for a long time and increases customer confidence in the bank’s information systems.” As a personalised end-user communication instrument, today mobile phones are perhaps the easiest channel on which customers can be reached on the spot, as they carry the mobile phone all the time no matter where they are. Besides, the operation of SMS banking functionality over phone key instructions makes its use very simple. This is quite different from internet banking which can offer broader functionality, but has the limitation of use only when the customer has access to a computer and the Internet. Also, urgent warning messages, such as SMS alerts, are received by the customer instantaneously; unlike other channels such as the post, email, Internet, telephone banking, etc. on which a bank's notifications to the customer involves the risk of delayed delivery and response.
Thursday, October 15, 2009
SMS transaction alerts generates N5 billion annually for banks
Ben Uzor Jr
Undeniably, Nigerian banks have found in Short Message Service (SMS) transactions alerts an innovative revenue stream which provides considerable efficiencies in customer service delivery as they generate N5 billion annually from alert charges accrued to bank customers, a Business Day has learnt.
This service is an automatic notification service through SMS that keeps customers informed and updated on activities related to their accounts. Business Day gathered that these 24 banks operating in Nigeria makes a substantial N14 million from SMS on transaction alerts sent to their customers on a daily basis.
Furthermore, each of these banks handles at least some two million transactions daily and for every transaction performed, an SMS is sent to the accountholder’s phone. This however is if the account holder subscribed to the service. Business Day checks reveal that banks procure the service at N3 and vend it to prospective customer at N10 per SMS irrespective of the telecommunications service provider, thereby generating N7 profit on each SMS sent. For that N7, alerts are sent to customer on transactions ranging from withdrawal, deposit, charges on COT, interest rates and other transactions, Business Day has learnt. Industry watchers say that given the reach and immediacy of SMS in establishing and growing customer interaction and commerce, banks are deploying the service to facilitate customer acquisition and retention, as well as increasing market share. They further expound that with the mobile messaging market revenue worldwide exceeding $224 billion by 2013, financial institutions are strategically positioning this service as a viable revenue generator in the long term.
From a technological perspective, Business Day learnt that the service is delivered through Value Added Service (VAS) providers who normally connect to the operator using protocols like Short Message Peer-to-Peer Protocol (SMPP), connecting either directly to the Short Message Service Centre (SMSC), otherwise known as ‘short code’ or increasingly, to a messaging gateway that allows the operators to control and charge for the service. Many banks have expressed their concerns about SMS transaction alerts as it relates to security and operational controls. However, SMS enthusiast claim that whilst SMS banking is not as secure as other conventional banking channels, like the Automated Teller Machine (ATM) and internet banking, the SMS banking channel is not intended to be used for very high-risk transactions. Emmanuel Okogwale, a Lagos based technology expert who spoke to Business Day noted that the lack of encryption on SMS messages is an area of great concern. This he explained sometimes arises within the group of bank’s technology personnel, due their familiarity and past experience with encryption on the ATM and other payment channels. He said: “The lack of encryption is inherent to the SMS banking channel and several banks that use it have overcome their fears by introducing compensating controls and limiting the scope of the SMS banking application to where it offers an advantage over other channels.” However, the convenience of executing simple transactions and sending out information or alerting customers on their mobile phone is often the overriding factor that dominates over the skeptics who tend to be exceedingly bitten by security concerns. Business Day gathered that before a customer can use the SMS alert, he/she would need to register his mobile phone number with his/ her bank. Bolaji Olaniyi, a bank customer said: “SMS alerts are a good initiative but I think banks need to do more with that technological channel. It can act as the bank’s means of alerting it customers, especially in an emergency situation. For example, banks can push mass alert though not subscribed by all customers or automatically alert on an individual basis when an abnormal transaction happens on a customer’s account using ATMs or credit cards. This capability mitigates the risk of fraud going unnoticed for a long time and increases customer confidence in the bank’s information systems.” As a personalised end-user communication instrument, today mobile phones are perhaps the easiest channel on which customers can be reached on the spot, as they carry the mobile phone all the time no matter where they are. Besides, the operation of SMS banking functionality over phone key instructions makes its use very simple. This is quite different from internet banking which can offer broader functionality, but has the limitation of use only when the customer has access to a computer and the Internet. Also, urgent warning messages, such as SMS alerts, are received by the customer instantaneously; unlike other channels such as the post, email, Internet, telephone banking, etc. on which a bank's notifications to the customer involves the risk of delayed delivery and response.
Ben Uzor Jr
Undeniably, Nigerian banks have found in Short Message Service (SMS) transactions alerts an innovative revenue stream which provides considerable efficiencies in customer service delivery as they generate N5 billion annually from alert charges accrued to bank customers, a Business Day has learnt.
This service is an automatic notification service through SMS that keeps customers informed and updated on activities related to their accounts. Business Day gathered that these 24 banks operating in Nigeria makes a substantial N14 million from SMS on transaction alerts sent to their customers on a daily basis.
Furthermore, each of these banks handles at least some two million transactions daily and for every transaction performed, an SMS is sent to the accountholder’s phone. This however is if the account holder subscribed to the service. Business Day checks reveal that banks procure the service at N3 and vend it to prospective customer at N10 per SMS irrespective of the telecommunications service provider, thereby generating N7 profit on each SMS sent. For that N7, alerts are sent to customer on transactions ranging from withdrawal, deposit, charges on COT, interest rates and other transactions, Business Day has learnt. Industry watchers say that given the reach and immediacy of SMS in establishing and growing customer interaction and commerce, banks are deploying the service to facilitate customer acquisition and retention, as well as increasing market share. They further expound that with the mobile messaging market revenue worldwide exceeding $224 billion by 2013, financial institutions are strategically positioning this service as a viable revenue generator in the long term.
From a technological perspective, Business Day learnt that the service is delivered through Value Added Service (VAS) providers who normally connect to the operator using protocols like Short Message Peer-to-Peer Protocol (SMPP), connecting either directly to the Short Message Service Centre (SMSC), otherwise known as ‘short code’ or increasingly, to a messaging gateway that allows the operators to control and charge for the service. Many banks have expressed their concerns about SMS transaction alerts as it relates to security and operational controls. However, SMS enthusiast claim that whilst SMS banking is not as secure as other conventional banking channels, like the Automated Teller Machine (ATM) and internet banking, the SMS banking channel is not intended to be used for very high-risk transactions. Emmanuel Okogwale, a Lagos based technology expert who spoke to Business Day noted that the lack of encryption on SMS messages is an area of great concern. This he explained sometimes arises within the group of bank’s technology personnel, due their familiarity and past experience with encryption on the ATM and other payment channels. He said: “The lack of encryption is inherent to the SMS banking channel and several banks that use it have overcome their fears by introducing compensating controls and limiting the scope of the SMS banking application to where it offers an advantage over other channels.” However, the convenience of executing simple transactions and sending out information or alerting customers on their mobile phone is often the overriding factor that dominates over the skeptics who tend to be exceedingly bitten by security concerns. Business Day gathered that before a customer can use the SMS alert, he/she would need to register his mobile phone number with his/ her bank. Bolaji Olaniyi, a bank customer said: “SMS alerts are a good initiative but I think banks need to do more with that technological channel. It can act as the bank’s means of alerting it customers, especially in an emergency situation. For example, banks can push mass alert though not subscribed by all customers or automatically alert on an individual basis when an abnormal transaction happens on a customer’s account using ATMs or credit cards. This capability mitigates the risk of fraud going unnoticed for a long time and increases customer confidence in the bank’s information systems.” As a personalised end-user communication instrument, today mobile phones are perhaps the easiest channel on which customers can be reached on the spot, as they carry the mobile phone all the time no matter where they are. Besides, the operation of SMS banking functionality over phone key instructions makes its use very simple. This is quite different from internet banking which can offer broader functionality, but has the limitation of use only when the customer has access to a computer and the Internet. Also, urgent warning messages, such as SMS alerts, are received by the customer instantaneously; unlike other channels such as the post, email, Internet, telephone banking, etc. on which a bank's notifications to the customer involves the risk of delayed delivery and response.
Monday, October 12, 2009
Two firms jostle to acquire struggling ATMC
Two firms jostle to acquire struggling ATMC
Ben Uzor Jr
Seeking to reposition the struggling Automated Teller Machine Consortium (ATMC), the country’s premier Independent ATM Deployer (IAD), two indigenous companies have expressed keen commercial interest with a view to acquiring it, Business Day can now reveal. The decision of the two companies, Computer Warehouse Group (CWG) and XL Cash Management Service Limited (XLCMS) to acquire ATMC may be connected with the recent Central Bank of Nigeria’s (CBN) directive that banks should remove all their off-banking locations ATMs. It was further gathered that XLCMS decision was formed against the backdrop of its aspirations to enter the electronic payment (e-payment) touch-points end-to-end business. XLCMS is a professional Cash-In-Transit (CIT) management company established to offer integrated cash management services, covering cash processing and cash in transit services to Nigerian financial services industry. Meanwhile CWG, who already the largest ATM vendor in the West African sub-region, is strategically positioned through its subsidiary’s appointment as a Wincor partner in 2007. Business Day also learnt that the company intends to focus not only on sales but to use its wealth of experience garnered in the market to bring to bear on better after sales service to the customer. Furthermore, CWG’s sister company, Expert Edge Software also brings more value to Wincor customers by customising the Wincor software for better customer experience on their ATMs. In addition, the CBN directive to insist that ATMC was the body mandated solely to deploy the electronic payment system in public places, while the banks will continue to concentrate on installing same only within their premises. The mission of ATMC was to deploy and manage 1,200 offsite Automated Teller Machines (ATMs) under the trademark QuickCash. After initial breakthrough with over 100 ATM installations across the country, QuickCash has been struggling as its member banks compete with it for the off-banking locations ATM deployment. The Consortium members are the leading banks in Nigeria that collectively control over 60 percent of the Nigerian banking market in terms of capitalisation, asset and deposit base. These banks include: Afribank, Diamond Bank, Fidelity bank, First Bank, GTBank, Oceanic Bank, Union Bank, UBA, Wema Bank and Zenith Bank.
Ben Uzor Jr
Seeking to reposition the struggling Automated Teller Machine Consortium (ATMC), the country’s premier Independent ATM Deployer (IAD), two indigenous companies have expressed keen commercial interest with a view to acquiring it, Business Day can now reveal. The decision of the two companies, Computer Warehouse Group (CWG) and XL Cash Management Service Limited (XLCMS) to acquire ATMC may be connected with the recent Central Bank of Nigeria’s (CBN) directive that banks should remove all their off-banking locations ATMs. It was further gathered that XLCMS decision was formed against the backdrop of its aspirations to enter the electronic payment (e-payment) touch-points end-to-end business. XLCMS is a professional Cash-In-Transit (CIT) management company established to offer integrated cash management services, covering cash processing and cash in transit services to Nigerian financial services industry. Meanwhile CWG, who already the largest ATM vendor in the West African sub-region, is strategically positioned through its subsidiary’s appointment as a Wincor partner in 2007. Business Day also learnt that the company intends to focus not only on sales but to use its wealth of experience garnered in the market to bring to bear on better after sales service to the customer. Furthermore, CWG’s sister company, Expert Edge Software also brings more value to Wincor customers by customising the Wincor software for better customer experience on their ATMs. In addition, the CBN directive to insist that ATMC was the body mandated solely to deploy the electronic payment system in public places, while the banks will continue to concentrate on installing same only within their premises. The mission of ATMC was to deploy and manage 1,200 offsite Automated Teller Machines (ATMs) under the trademark QuickCash. After initial breakthrough with over 100 ATM installations across the country, QuickCash has been struggling as its member banks compete with it for the off-banking locations ATM deployment. The Consortium members are the leading banks in Nigeria that collectively control over 60 percent of the Nigerian banking market in terms of capitalisation, asset and deposit base. These banks include: Afribank, Diamond Bank, Fidelity bank, First Bank, GTBank, Oceanic Bank, Union Bank, UBA, Wema Bank and Zenith Bank.
CBC, Sun backs virtualisation for improved enterprise productivity
CBC, Sun backs virtualisation for improved enterprise productivity
Ben Uzor Jr
Prevailing global economic conditions has continued to poses a significant challenge for businesses in Nigeria. However, Information Technology (IT) departments must keep service levels high while reducing costs; get more out of the same or fewer resources as well as take on environmental issues. Virtualisation, one of those technologies coming at the appropriate time could be applied to servers, storage and desktops. It can release assets, saving in capital, operational expenditure as well as reduce the number of software licences that need to be deployed. Rheinhardt Esau, volume product specialist, SSA, Sun Microsystems Incorporated made these remarks at the seminar with specific focus on Virtualisation organised by the CBC Group in Lagos recently. He stated: “By abstracting the software away from the underlying hardware, a world of new usage models opens up that reduce costs, increase administration efficiency, strengthen security, while making your computing infrastructure more resilient in the event of a disaster.”
Esau pointed out that datacentre efficiency and enterprise agility are more important now than ever even with the present economic climate and virtualisation has become essential to meeting these needs. “You will find the most complete set of virtualisation offerings available at Sun. Our open, standards-based and third-party partner-friendly virtualisation solutions can deliver vast improvements and deep savings throughout the enterprise.”
He added: “Sun has designed a virtual desktop infrastructure in which IT organisations can choose to mix/match vendor offerings to meet the unique needs of a wide range of IT organisations. This openness makes Sun's architecture particularly compelling for those organisations that want to be able to choose best-of-breed providers, diversify the risk associated with vendor lock-in, or leverage existing legacy non-Sun equipment.”
Esau further explained that Sun plays actively in the desktop virtualisation space.
“Desktop virtualisation is revolutionizing interactive environments by moving processing off individual physical desktop systems and onto centralized datacenter servers. Users access desktop applications through a range of clients. By locating the applications and even the operating environment itself on a single server within the datacenter, IT staff can streamline system administration, secure and back up valuable corporate data, and provide the workforce with mobile commuting options”, he noted. In the same vein, Olufemi Babajide, market development manager, Intel Nigeria who spoke at the seminar observed that the organic growth of organisation means that their datacenter would become unyielding. “They would need to watch power, space which would become a huge challenge. The first thing is to increase your utilisation and because your business is growing you need more up-time to improve on service delivery.”
He further added: “At Intel, we focus on performance per core. With consolidation and virtualisation you can make a lot of cost savings for your company. The important thing about infrastructure is primarily about the Total Cost of Ownership (TCO).”
Babajide explained that to increase manageability, security and flexibility in IT environments, virtualisation can provide maximum system utilisation by consolidating multiple environment into a single server or Personal Computer (PC). “Intel believes that whatever you do with your technology the processor is key. For Intel Xeon 5500 series processor, it has the Intel turbo boost technology which increases performance and ensures maximum utilisation by increasing the processors frequency.”
Ben Uzor Jr
Prevailing global economic conditions has continued to poses a significant challenge for businesses in Nigeria. However, Information Technology (IT) departments must keep service levels high while reducing costs; get more out of the same or fewer resources as well as take on environmental issues. Virtualisation, one of those technologies coming at the appropriate time could be applied to servers, storage and desktops. It can release assets, saving in capital, operational expenditure as well as reduce the number of software licences that need to be deployed. Rheinhardt Esau, volume product specialist, SSA, Sun Microsystems Incorporated made these remarks at the seminar with specific focus on Virtualisation organised by the CBC Group in Lagos recently. He stated: “By abstracting the software away from the underlying hardware, a world of new usage models opens up that reduce costs, increase administration efficiency, strengthen security, while making your computing infrastructure more resilient in the event of a disaster.”
Esau pointed out that datacentre efficiency and enterprise agility are more important now than ever even with the present economic climate and virtualisation has become essential to meeting these needs. “You will find the most complete set of virtualisation offerings available at Sun. Our open, standards-based and third-party partner-friendly virtualisation solutions can deliver vast improvements and deep savings throughout the enterprise.”
He added: “Sun has designed a virtual desktop infrastructure in which IT organisations can choose to mix/match vendor offerings to meet the unique needs of a wide range of IT organisations. This openness makes Sun's architecture particularly compelling for those organisations that want to be able to choose best-of-breed providers, diversify the risk associated with vendor lock-in, or leverage existing legacy non-Sun equipment.”
Esau further explained that Sun plays actively in the desktop virtualisation space.
“Desktop virtualisation is revolutionizing interactive environments by moving processing off individual physical desktop systems and onto centralized datacenter servers. Users access desktop applications through a range of clients. By locating the applications and even the operating environment itself on a single server within the datacenter, IT staff can streamline system administration, secure and back up valuable corporate data, and provide the workforce with mobile commuting options”, he noted. In the same vein, Olufemi Babajide, market development manager, Intel Nigeria who spoke at the seminar observed that the organic growth of organisation means that their datacenter would become unyielding. “They would need to watch power, space which would become a huge challenge. The first thing is to increase your utilisation and because your business is growing you need more up-time to improve on service delivery.”
He further added: “At Intel, we focus on performance per core. With consolidation and virtualisation you can make a lot of cost savings for your company. The important thing about infrastructure is primarily about the Total Cost of Ownership (TCO).”
Babajide explained that to increase manageability, security and flexibility in IT environments, virtualisation can provide maximum system utilisation by consolidating multiple environment into a single server or Personal Computer (PC). “Intel believes that whatever you do with your technology the processor is key. For Intel Xeon 5500 series processor, it has the Intel turbo boost technology which increases performance and ensures maximum utilisation by increasing the processors frequency.”
CellTrust says SMS system meets CBN security requirement
CellTrust says SMS system meets CBN security requirements
Ben Uzor Jr
CellTrust Corporation, the world's largest provider of SecureSMS for mobile phones, has announced that its SecureSMS platform meets the new and stringent SecureSMS security requirements of the Central Bank of Nigeria (CBN). With approximately 53 percent of the adult population in Nigeria financially excluded, the CBN has been working feverishly to spur innovation within the financial services sector. As the government of Nigeria launched its FSS 2020 strategy back in 2007 to catapult the country into the ranks of the top 20 global financial systems by 2020, it went about promoting microfinance and more recently secure mobile banking in effort to extend financial products and services to those previously excluded. Since the launch of the FSS 2020, microfinance and SMS banking landscape has witnessed significant growth and adoption throughout Nigeria. In June of this year, the Central Bank of Nigeria released new and significantly more rigorous security and compliance regulations compelling financial service providers and their partners to utilise Secure SMS when transmitting remittance information via SMS. Furthermore, they require a complete audit trail for all levels of the financial transaction including SMS remittance information to be maintained for a minimum of five years.
Sean Moshir, chief executive officer of CellTrust said: “We are pleased to announce that we meet the rigorous mobile security and compliance requirements of the Central Bank of Nigeria. CellTrust SecureSMS helps reduce fraud, lower call center costs, and increase revenue potential while dramatically reaching out to the approximately 60 million un-banked citizens across Nigeria.” He added: “CellTrust of Africa has already begun discussions with municipalities in the region, as well as with enterprises in the healthcare services/banking, education and governmental sector. Prospective SecureSMS user will now be able to optimise the ubiquitous nature of SMS in a secure, reliable and highly confidential environment.” The new CellTrust franchise will operate from its headquarters in Abuja, Nigeria championed by Samuel Ucheaga, managing director; founder of Mavis Computel, a leading provider of wireless network solutions with a well established sales and distribution network in the region. According to Ucheaga, the market for secure mobile applications in Africa is multi-faceted and very promising. “Key industries include mobile healthcare, mobile government and mobile financial services with a special emphasis on mobile money transfer, and mobile micro-credit applications, which are already evoking tremendous change across the continent.”
The company’s customer base will benefit from its award winning SecureSMS Gateway, enabling businesses to exchange critical information with customers using mobile devices in a trusted and secured environment. SecureSMS provides end-to-end privacy on the mobile device via a highly encrypted, tamper-proof process. A remote wipe functionality that ensures users can wipe the handsets if it is lost or stolen adds another critical layer of security. Additional features that will soon be available on CellTrust SecureSMS include a dynamic menu system for mobile banking and mobile payment.
Ben Uzor Jr
CellTrust Corporation, the world's largest provider of SecureSMS for mobile phones, has announced that its SecureSMS platform meets the new and stringent SecureSMS security requirements of the Central Bank of Nigeria (CBN). With approximately 53 percent of the adult population in Nigeria financially excluded, the CBN has been working feverishly to spur innovation within the financial services sector. As the government of Nigeria launched its FSS 2020 strategy back in 2007 to catapult the country into the ranks of the top 20 global financial systems by 2020, it went about promoting microfinance and more recently secure mobile banking in effort to extend financial products and services to those previously excluded. Since the launch of the FSS 2020, microfinance and SMS banking landscape has witnessed significant growth and adoption throughout Nigeria. In June of this year, the Central Bank of Nigeria released new and significantly more rigorous security and compliance regulations compelling financial service providers and their partners to utilise Secure SMS when transmitting remittance information via SMS. Furthermore, they require a complete audit trail for all levels of the financial transaction including SMS remittance information to be maintained for a minimum of five years.
Sean Moshir, chief executive officer of CellTrust said: “We are pleased to announce that we meet the rigorous mobile security and compliance requirements of the Central Bank of Nigeria. CellTrust SecureSMS helps reduce fraud, lower call center costs, and increase revenue potential while dramatically reaching out to the approximately 60 million un-banked citizens across Nigeria.” He added: “CellTrust of Africa has already begun discussions with municipalities in the region, as well as with enterprises in the healthcare services/banking, education and governmental sector. Prospective SecureSMS user will now be able to optimise the ubiquitous nature of SMS in a secure, reliable and highly confidential environment.” The new CellTrust franchise will operate from its headquarters in Abuja, Nigeria championed by Samuel Ucheaga, managing director; founder of Mavis Computel, a leading provider of wireless network solutions with a well established sales and distribution network in the region. According to Ucheaga, the market for secure mobile applications in Africa is multi-faceted and very promising. “Key industries include mobile healthcare, mobile government and mobile financial services with a special emphasis on mobile money transfer, and mobile micro-credit applications, which are already evoking tremendous change across the continent.”
The company’s customer base will benefit from its award winning SecureSMS Gateway, enabling businesses to exchange critical information with customers using mobile devices in a trusted and secured environment. SecureSMS provides end-to-end privacy on the mobile device via a highly encrypted, tamper-proof process. A remote wipe functionality that ensures users can wipe the handsets if it is lost or stolen adds another critical layer of security. Additional features that will soon be available on CellTrust SecureSMS include a dynamic menu system for mobile banking and mobile payment.
Nigeria to get safety requirement standard for mobile phone
Nigeria to get safety requirement standard for mobile phones
Ben Uzor Jr
Nigeria’s mobile phone market is on the verge of transformation as stakeholders in the country have decided to join forces to initiate a minimum safety requirement program aimed at tackling the influx of substandard mobile phones into the country, Business Day can now reveal. The minimum safety standard, an international benchmark is expected to be in place by the end of the year and would address the menace of sub-standard GSM handsets flooding the Nigerian market by the day. It was further gathered that the plan with sturdy backing from the Nigerian Communications Commission (NCC), Standards Organisation of Nigeria (SON), phone manufacturers and the National Environmental Standards and Regulation Enforcement Agency (NESREA) would ensure that safety specifications by different manufacturers of mobile handsets are strictly adhered to. BusinessDay also learnt that although there are a number of type-approved handsets by the regulatory agency, the entry of refurbished and substandard handsets into the country has remained high. Richard Adewunmi, head of Electrical Engineering department of Lagos office who confirmed this while speaking to Business Day in a telephone conversation yesterday stated that the industry wide initiative would address the menace. He said: “We are trying to tackle the possible health problems associated with exposure to Electro-Magnetic Radiation (EMR) from sub-standard mobile phones.
All stakeholders in the industry would all be part of the technical committee that would come up with the standard.” According to Adewunmi, there is already an international standard for the manufacture of mobile phones and that is what his agency and others are hoping to nationalise in the country. Business Day also gathered that in 1998, the International Commission on Non-Ionizing Radiation Protection (ICNIRP), an independent body recognised for its expertise by the World Health Organisation (WHO), issued guidelines for radio signal exposure that are applicable to mobile phones, base stations and other wireless devices which have become de-facto world standard.
With an active subscriber base of about 67.8 million, Nigeria is yet to enforce through appropriate legislation the ICNIRP guideline as in most other countries.
In addition, the absence of this has made the country a dumping ground for all kinds of handsets which could be detrimental to human health. Inferior handsets have health implications because of radiation, which is harmful to human beings. However, the target markets for the inferior handsets are the third world countries, including Nigeria where demand for such product is so high because of the low purchasing power of the citizenry.
Ben Uzor Jr
Nigeria’s mobile phone market is on the verge of transformation as stakeholders in the country have decided to join forces to initiate a minimum safety requirement program aimed at tackling the influx of substandard mobile phones into the country, Business Day can now reveal. The minimum safety standard, an international benchmark is expected to be in place by the end of the year and would address the menace of sub-standard GSM handsets flooding the Nigerian market by the day. It was further gathered that the plan with sturdy backing from the Nigerian Communications Commission (NCC), Standards Organisation of Nigeria (SON), phone manufacturers and the National Environmental Standards and Regulation Enforcement Agency (NESREA) would ensure that safety specifications by different manufacturers of mobile handsets are strictly adhered to. BusinessDay also learnt that although there are a number of type-approved handsets by the regulatory agency, the entry of refurbished and substandard handsets into the country has remained high. Richard Adewunmi, head of Electrical Engineering department of Lagos office who confirmed this while speaking to Business Day in a telephone conversation yesterday stated that the industry wide initiative would address the menace. He said: “We are trying to tackle the possible health problems associated with exposure to Electro-Magnetic Radiation (EMR) from sub-standard mobile phones.
All stakeholders in the industry would all be part of the technical committee that would come up with the standard.” According to Adewunmi, there is already an international standard for the manufacture of mobile phones and that is what his agency and others are hoping to nationalise in the country. Business Day also gathered that in 1998, the International Commission on Non-Ionizing Radiation Protection (ICNIRP), an independent body recognised for its expertise by the World Health Organisation (WHO), issued guidelines for radio signal exposure that are applicable to mobile phones, base stations and other wireless devices which have become de-facto world standard.
With an active subscriber base of about 67.8 million, Nigeria is yet to enforce through appropriate legislation the ICNIRP guideline as in most other countries.
In addition, the absence of this has made the country a dumping ground for all kinds of handsets which could be detrimental to human health. Inferior handsets have health implications because of radiation, which is harmful to human beings. However, the target markets for the inferior handsets are the third world countries, including Nigeria where demand for such product is so high because of the low purchasing power of the citizenry.
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