Cost forces telecom firms to embrace equipment sharing

•To trim network operating expenditure
Ben Uzor Jr

Determined to step up their game in the new business year, telecommunications companies (Telcos) have placed infrastructure sharing as top priority for 2011. Sources close to some of the networks told BusinessDay that most operators have finally found a better way of reducing the prevailing cost of doing business in Nigeria. According to the sources, the telcos intend to trim network operating expenditure, which is taking a huge toll on their profit margins, a move said to be headed in the right direction.

Analysts, who spoke with BusinessDay, affirmed that the telcos are determined to go down this path because infrastructure sharing (Collocation) allows for greater flexibility in terms of administration and implementation of services. They argued that with falling average revenue per user (ARPUs) due to heightened competition in Nigeria’s telecoms industry, operating companies are seeking to derive significant savings on capital expenditure (CAPEX) and OPEX required for site build.

This, the analysts maintained, would allow for more efficient utilisation of CAPEX to expand coverage and capacity. More importantly, scarce capital and management attention can now be diverted to key value-creating activities such as the opening up of Nigeria’s data market, which over the years, has remained untapped, the analysts noted. According to a notable industry watcher, the massive capital requirement involved in infrastructure roll out has made it quite difficult for telcos to operate profitably.
As a result, expansion plans geared towards meeting growing subscriber demands are very difficult to execute. Available statistics from the Nigerian Communications Commission (NCC) reveal that Nigeria has 84 million mobile subscriptions. Telcos have also complained at various fora about operational constraints with regard to getting approvals from local and state government authorities in the laying of transmission links such as cables, fibre and building communications towers.

Initially, telecom firms, particularly GSM operators had resisted plans by the Federal Government to make them embrace co-location to protect the environment and aesthetics of major cities in Nigeria. Former Federal Capital Territory (FCT) minister, Nasir El-Rufai had a long drawn battle with the operators in Abuja where he forced them to co-locate their equipment. However, huge operational cost has now forced them to seek for equipment use and co-location.

Undoubtedly, infrastructure sharing has become a global practice within the telecoms landscape and CDMA (Code Division Multiple Access) operator, Starcomms Plc is showing considerable leadership in this regard. Understandably, these are not the best of times for CDMAs, as a significant number of them are finding it extremely difficult to survive the stiff competition in the nation’s telecommunications industry. CDMAs have insisted that their poor performances were primarily due to the high operating cost.

Starcomms Plc recently announced that it had successfully concluded a sale and leaseback agreement with Swap Telecomms and Technologies relating to 407 of its 557 Base Station for a consideration of N12.2 billion ($81.4 million) in cash. Maher Qubain, chief executive officer, Starcomms Plc, strongly believes that leasing, rather than owning these passive infrastructure network facilities can free up capital to fund additional growth, reduce debts and operational costs in the company.

Alluding to the need for telecoms companies to adopt cutting-edge co-location models that would assist management of telecom firms focus on their core business of providing best-in-class telecoms services, Qubain revealed that $67 million of the proceeds realised from the sale will be channelled towards repayment of a sizeable portion of the company’s bank debts.

He further explained that this would significantly strengthen the balance sheet of the company and also reduce interest charges. Presently, most operators are faced with challenges that include - theft and vandalisation of equipment as well as pressure from authorities to reduce the number of towers scattered all over the country. In the estimation of analysts, sharing of such infrastructure would greatly reduce cost of operations, duplication of equipment and waste of scarce resources.

“It is incredibly important that rather than duplicate sites across the nation, it will be much more sensible if all parties were able to co-locate so that we don’t have to duplicate infrastructure. “We can also save money and reduce our costs and the cost of other operators. This will also translate to reduced costs to customers”, Steve Evans, chief executive officer, Etisalat Nigeria, maintained.

Evans, however, expressed optimism that his firm will be a leader in the area of infrastructure sharing by the end of 2011, further suggesting that all telecoms companies operating in Nigeria should aggressively implement infrastructure sharing in line with global best practices. Other telecoms companies were however rather vague on what they intend to do in the new business year with regard to infrastructure sharing. A senior executive at Helios Towers told Business Day that two GSM firms were already in talks with his organization, especially on how to initiate a sale and lease back agreement.

“I can confirm to you that we are in talks with two GSM firms on a sale and lease back deal but due to the nature of the deal, I can’t give you their names. But I assure you, telcos will embrace co-location in 2011. “Telcos will have no option but to embrace infrastructure sharing. Running of base stations constitutes a big challenge for telcos in the country. A GSM operator for instance spends an average of $5, 000 monthly to run a base station.

This expenditure include - servicing of generators, fuelling, and security among others”, a senior executive at IHS telecoms told BusinessDay. The huge financial commitment, he said, was a limitation to most providers - big or small, adding that the return on investment (ROI) is slow after huge amounts of money would have been spent on this infrastructure. He disclosed that like Swap, IHS was also working on a sale and lease deal with two telcos whose identities he declined to reveal.

It was learnt that IHS Plc and Helios Towers, two licensed infrastructure building companies together own more than 2,500 co-located sites. BusinessDay checks reveal that pioneer infrastructure building company, IHS has 1, 500 co-located sites occupied by operators whilst Helios Towers has over 1,000 of its sites already occupied.

For more interesting articles, check out my blog, www.benedictspace.blogspot.com

Nokia N8 - All hail the king of camera phones!

These days, mobile phones are very personal and people use it to do lots of things other than the original purpose it was designed for, making calls. If a device can give you a higher sense of personalization, would you go for it? Well, smart phone faithful’s itching for a high-end smartphone from the stable of the world mobility leader, Nokia, need not wait any longer. The highly anticipated Nokia N8 has finally hit the Nigerian market. Besides, the N8 can be compared to the second coming of Christ, not because it’s necessarily deliverance in a phone, but because it’s taken a long time to get here.

Nokia's reputation as a leader in the smartphone market has come under increasing pressure in recent years, as a string of 'high end' handsets have failed to capture the minds and wallets of the phone-buying public. To address this challenge, Nokia went back to the drawing board and came up with the N8, featuring a new OS (Operating System) and a huge amount of high end tech packed under the hood. It is expected that the device will restore Nokia’s standing as a serious player in the smartphone market.

With the N8, and the new Symbian software, Nokia is bringing a familiar, faster and more intuitive user experience to the world’s most popular smartphone platform. Moreover, the Nokia N8 has received the highest amount of consumer pre-orders in Nokia history and Nokia says it is thrilled that the wide acceptance the device is getting globally. The first of a series of smartphone based on the new Symbian, the N8 is fast and easy to use and supports true multitasking, allowing users to run multiple apps simultaneously and switch between them easily.

Dubbed the world’s best camera phone, the Nokia N8 lets you take the highest quality photos and shoot HD (High Definition) -quality videos in supreme clarity with the 12-megapixel camera with Carl Zeiss optics. You can edit photos and videos on-screen and choose from multiple ways to share them; transfer large files to an external hard drive with USB-on-the-go, or upload photos to social networks like Facebook, Twitter straight from the homescreen. All this is delivered in a robust aluminum body in a range of vibrant colours with a real-glass 3.5” AMOLED display. The Nokia N8 has a black belt in entertainment. Its Web Television (TV) apps from channels like E! Entertainment, National Geographic and CNN and the intuitive music player inject an element of fun into idle moments.

Plug the device to the home entertainment centre to watch HD-quality videos from the big screen with full Dolby Digital Plus Surround Sound. The latest version of Ovi Store, available first on the Nokia N8, gives easy access to more apps – from social networking services like Foursquare to games like Need for Speed Shift or productivity apps like Tesco in the United Kingdom (UK). Like other Nokia smartphone, the Nokia N8 comes with free Ovi Maps walk & drive navigation in more than 70 countries worldwide, with no hidden costs. The latest beta release of Ovi Maps is also available for transport in 85 cities around the world, as well as real-time traffic, safety and speed limit warnings.

Here’s what I think about this very amazing device. N8 feels lightweight, yet sturdy in hands. N8 gives superb and attractive looks to its users. The hardware button lets you switch between the home screen and menu screen and when held down, shows you all of your open applications. If you want to purchase a new mobile phone, then N8 is the best deal for you. I am impressed with its slick hardware and superb multimedia features. That’s not to say I am Nokia sales person, peeps, I am just in love with the N8.

Design
If there is one thing different about Nokia N8, it's certainly the way it looks. The smartphone is quite a sight for sore eyes. Nokia used an anodized aluminum alloy that gives the phone a solid look. To make it feel even better, the phone doesn't have a battery cover. That means that you will never be able to pull out the battery unless you shred it to pieces, literally. The generous 3.5-inch touchscreen display takes hold of the entire front part of the device.

Just above the screen there's a secondary video-call camera and an ambient light sensor, while at the bottom there's a small mic. All three standard Symbian keys have been replaced by a single button, which was placed a little to the left. That makes it a little bit awkward to reach when you keep the phone with your right hand, but it's perfectly usable for a left handed person. The top side of the phone features a 3.5mm audio jack port, a HDMI port, as well as the usual power off button. The charging port has been placed on the bottom side of the phone.

Display
Nokia N8 comes with an AMOLED 3.5-inch capacitive touchscreen that supports 16 Million colors and 360 x 640-pixels resolution. This is the second Nokia phone to include a capacitive touchscreen, after Nokia X6, which was released on the market at the end of 2009. Even though it's a capacitive display it cannot be compared with Samsung's Super AMOLED displays. The image shows high quality, but I had some troubles when I tried to use it outdoors in sunlight.

The screen is covered by scratch resistant Gorilla glass, which makes it almost unbreakable. Oh, well, not quite, but at least it won't scratch when kept in your pocket with other metallic items. The phone also features built-in accelerometer for display auto-rotation, multi-touch input method, as well as proximity sensor for auto turn-off.

Camera
The 12-megapixel camera of N8 features autofocus, mechanical shutter, Xenon flash, geo-tagging and a pretty standard interface. Nokia has partnered with Carl Zeiss for this one, so you will get Carl Zeiss optics. Other notable features include: 1/1.83-inch sensor size, ND filter, and face detection feature. The camera UI is its only downside, as it seems old and obsolete, but you will be getting the usual settings: White balance, ISO, Colors, Contrast, Sharpness and Scene modes.

One of the main reasons that make Nokia N8 the best camera phone is the embedded 1/1.83-inch sensor, which is bigger than Samsung Pixon's 1/2.5" sensor, previously known as the best camera-phone on the market. Furthermore, another interesting thing is the processing software of the camera, which barely interferes with the pictures. Even though this should be translated in more noisy picture, unresolved detail and/or color degradation.

Communication
Nokia N8 is a quad-band GSM (850 / 900 / 1800 / 1900) handset, HSDPA 850 / 900 / 1700 / 1900 / 2100 (10.2 Mbps) compatible, which features GPRS class 33, EDGE class 33. The smartphone is a real “swiss knife” when it comes to connectivity. It has all the possible tools that one would need on the go. Wi-Fi 802.11 b/g/n, UPnP technology, Bluetooth 3.0 with A2DP, microUSB v2.0, USB On-the-go support, HSDPA, 10.2 Mbps, HSUPA 2.0 Mbps offer users enough connectivity options for any budget.

The USB On-the-go feature is extremely useful, especially if you're an active person who likes to travel a lot. Basically, you will be able to attach an USB stick to the phone, or even connect another compatible smartphone directly to the N8 through an USB cable. There's no list of the compatible phones, but most Nokia phone will work, while others like Motorola Milestone won't. I was surprised to be able to connect a Samsung Galaxy S device to the Nokia N8 through the micro USB cable.

The integrated browser is the same that you can get in the older N97, but got small improvements and bug fixes. It has now full Flash Lite 4.0 support, kinetic scrolling and pinch to zoom. Other features included in the browser: auto fill-in, RSS reader, download manager, password manager, pop-up blocker. The device features a GPS receiver, which works in conjunction with Ovi Maps 3.0 Touch.

Processor and Memory
Nokia N8 is powered by and ARM11 family processor running at speeds of up to 680 MHz, and also includes a 3D Graphics HW accelerator. The device works pretty smooth, without having the usual hiccups and lags when the web browser was running in the background. The smartphone also features 16GB internal memory, as well as 256 MB RAM and 512 MB ROM. The memory can be expanded up to 32GB, thanks to the hot-swappable card slot.

Multimedia
The smartphone features a newly designed good looking music player, which is now including a Cover-flow album art feature. The rest of the settings are also there, such as: pre-installed equalizer modes (Bass booster, Classical, Jazz, Pop and Rock), Balance, Loudness and Stereo widening. Sound quality is simply exceptional, so N8 can be used as a music phone with no problems at all.

The device features Radio FM with RDS function, as well as a FM transmitter. Reception is very good, and sound is above average. The Bluetooth 3.0 with A2DP support enables you to listen to music wirelessly. The included video player comes with DivX and XviD codecs, but it won't display subtitles.

This is one of the new things that you get with the device. Add to that the HDMI port and you get yourself a real portable multimedia studio. I only got one “System error” message after running about 5-6 short trailer movie, but I would put it on the fact that my unit was a test sample. All in all, Nokia N8 includes stellar multimedia features, so customers have one more reason to try it out besides the excellent camera.

Menu and Software
The N8 is the first Nokia smartphone released that runs Symbian ^3 operating system. If you're expecting innovations or amazing new things, then you will be very disappointed. Lack of time or ideas made Nokia engineers continue the Symbian project, which turned in the end in Symbian ^3, which is still far from its main competitors, Android and iOS.

At first glance, one can notice the main homescreen, which is now stretched on three panes. Users will now be able to use any of the three homescreens to add widgets, shortcuts, contacts, or favorite websites. The interface is now a little bit faster during browsing and more responsive. The latter is due to the removal of the “touch-to-select-touch-again-to-open” approach, that was specific to all Nokia touchscreen phones. Unfortunately, there are a lot of things that are not user-friendly or intuitive, but I should probably overlook it as this is Nokia's first try on Symbian ^3.

The same block-like layout for the homescreen had been implemented, so if you want to add contacts, widgets and other stuff, you can only do it in the form of block. You can change between them or remove them with ease, by tapping and holding on any of them. Kinetic scrolling is also present, so you'll be able to scroll much faster. Clicking near the battery icon, on the upper right corner of the homescreen will give you quick access to the clock, alarms, while by clicking on the connection icon you'll be able to get to connectivity settings.

Battery

The 1,200 mAh Li-Ion (BL-4D) battery has an officially stated life expectancy of 390 hours in standby (400 for 3G) and of about 12 hours and 30 minutes in talk time mode (5 hours and 30 minutes for 3G).The manufacturer also states that the smartphone's battery should last about 50 hours of continuous music playback. Unfortunately, I noticed big gaps between the real numbers and the official ones.

The phone's battery is draining fast when the phone is used mildly, and I had to charge it 3-4 times per week. I hope this will be corrected in a future update, because the device is suffering from the same low-battery life issue like Nokia N97. Add to that the fact that the smartphone includes a non-replaceable battery, which means there's no way you can buy another one.

Hardware
The Nokia N8 feels great in your hand. It’s mostly made from anodized aluminum which comes in vibrant colors. The chrome accents around the camera lens, camera button, and volume controls get the thumbs up too. There are no wiggly parts and the buttons all feel solid. As expected, the hardware design is top-notch. The build quality is excellent, too. The screen is made of gorilla glass which is damage and scratch resistant. I tried scratching the display with my keys using a lot of force and did not notice any effect. The Nokia N8 isn’t the thinnest phone in the world, but it sits comfortably in the pocket. It measures 113.5 x 59 x 12.9 mm and weighs 135g.

Internals
Inside the Nokia N8 is an ARM 11 microprocessor clocked at 680 MHz with 256MB RAM. All the latest Symbian^3 devices such as the C7, E7, and C6-01 have the same CPU and RAM. This is an increase from previous Nokia devices, but not as high as the numbers featured in the latest devices from other manufacturers such as HTC, Samsung, or Motorola. Some would argue that Symbian has better memory and CPU management compared to other smartphone OS out there and I have to agree. I haven’t seen any memory full messages, but I wouldn’t exactly say the Nokia N8 as a speedy device. It zips through menus, photos, and apps, but the app that’s not very fast is an important one: the web browser.

The Camera
The Nokia N8 is a photographer’s dream phone. The images it produces are awesome and it’s really quick to share what you capture. The cameras on Nokia Nseries devices have always been ahead of the competition, but the Nokia N8 really shines. Nokia combined the largest sensor ever put into a mobile for incredible detail with Carl Zeiss optics and a hands-off attitude with imaging software to produce really natural photos.

Speakers
Call quality is loud and clear on all the calls I’ve placed and received. Listening to music, the speakers are reasonably loud and have nothing to complain about. The location of the loudspeaker is at the back of the phone. That seems to be the favorite spot for new devices even from other manufacturers.

For more interesting articles, check out my blog, www.benedictspace.blogspot.com

Cyber criminals invade West African countries, says EFCC

. . . Region plans to harmonise cybercrime legislation by 2011
Ben Uzor Jr

Nigerian cyber criminals, fleeing from the heightened surveillance and crackdown from the anti-graft agency - the Economic and Financial Crimes Commission (EFCC), have moved en mass to other West African countries. This mass exodus of the cyber criminals to neighbouring countries was confirmed to BusinessDay by Farida Waziri, chairman of the EFCC, in an exclusive interview in Abuja.

Waziri told BusinessDay the development was disturbing and that Nigeria would not allow a few misguided individuals running from the law to cause undue hardship to its neighbours. Total loss from all referred cases globally was $559.7 million in 2009. This is up from the $264.6million in total reported losses in 2008, according to the 2009 Internet Crime Report.

To help the agency and its counterparts in West Africa win the war against the criminals, Waziri said governments in the sub-region must, as a matter of expediency, begin to adopt common measures for combating cyber crime. The measures, the anti-graft czar noted, should include the establishment and harmonisation of legislation on cyber crime and electronic evidence throughout the region.

Sources close to the secretariat of the Economic Community of West African States (ECOWAS) informed Business Day that plans in this direction were already underway and by June 2011, legislation on cyber crime will be approved by all presidents in the sub-region.“We have noticed a movement of cyber criminals from Nigeria to neighbouring West African states, and it is important that political leadership all through West Africa adopt common measures and strategies for combating cyber crime.

“We must continue to collaborate to evolve common strategies that are beneficial to the sub-region. Today, Nigeria and Ghana are within the top 10 global cyber crime index. Our goal is to ensure that West African countries drop out of the top 10,” Waziri told BusinessDay. She argued that while the growing number of underwater cable systems on the West African coast will spring up new business opportunities, as well as improve the region’s digital index, “it could also expose the sub-region to increased cyber crimes as new sophisticated computer fraud schemes will emerge rapidly,” Waziri declared.

Cyber crime is acknowledged to be on the increase globally, and the Internet Crime Complaint Centre has recorded a 22 percent increase in criminal activities between 2008 and 2009. This, it is believed, could be because more people have access to the internet. “What should be frightening for us is that only about 20 percent of the West African population has access to internet connectivity and it may well mean that if we have the level of connectivity of Europe and North America, we will perpetually remain in the top 10. The challenge for West Africa is how to put in place remedial measures that will ensure that with higher connectivity, crime does not necessarily follow suit,” she said.

Commenting on some of the critical milestones the Commission has achieved with regard to addressing the menace of cyber crime, the EFCC boss stressed, at the first West African Cyber crime Conference held in Abuja, that since the inception of the Commission, the EFCC had secured over 300 convictions in cyber crime while there are over 500 cases pending before various courts across the country. “We have recently set up the Transaction Clearance Platform and within a year, it has stopped over 3, 000 cyber crimes and advised over 400, 000 potential victims,” she explained.

For more interesting articles, check out my blog, www.benedictspace.blogspot.com

Airtel fires fresh shot as price war heats up

…Crashes network calls to N9 per minute
Ben Uzor Jr

In the coming weeks, Nigeria’s highly competitive telecommunications market will witness sweeping squeeze in call-rate prices following Airtel Nigeria’s move to crash prices of mobile phone talk-time to as low as N9 per minute from the current industry rate averaging N35 to N42 per minute across networks.

This move comes barely two weeks after new owners, Bharti, acquired a substantial percentage of Celtel’s shares and re-branded in line with its mother company. Rival firms were non-committal about what kind of response would be forthcoming but analysts say they see a huge specter of price war looming with Airtel’s unexpected move. Analysts view Airtel’s move as strategic for market share as it intends to invite new subscribers on to its network and wrestle existing ones from competing networks.

This, of course, will boost revenue in the long run as Airtel will enjoy better economies of scale through reduced cost per unit of delivering services as volume increases. “This move is in line with Bharti Airtel’s promise to Nigerians to give them affordable telecommunications services. We are indeed fulfilling that promise and we expect more Nigerians to come aboard Airtel”, a senior Airtel executive told Business Day in an interview yesterday.

Bharti Airtel, who took over mobile operations in 15 African countries in a deal that makes it the world’s fifth-biggest mobile company with 180 million customers in 18 countries, is known for its low-cost strategy which has made it India’s market leader. In India, the company’s call rate charges are as low as 1US cents as against the 20US cents charged in Nigeria currently.

The new owners, analysts say, are aiming basically to squeeze the current leadership of the market and this could force a new price war that has the potential of revolutionising GSM usage in the country.
In the past four months, innovative promotional schemes from telecom companies (telcos) have reduced prices of voice calls and internet download access by 50 percent.

The internet download price slash has forced prices down to as low as N3, 000 from N10, 000 in less than three months with MTN leading the slash race. Industry experts believe the price will in no time drop to levels comparable to UK charges which is currently about N1, 250 or 5 UK pounds sterling. Industry analysts thus strongly believe that the move by Bharti will force other operators to further review their present voice call rate in order to stay competitive.

Some analysts are however skeptical about the Airtel’s price strategy. “In my opinion, I don’t think N9 per minute will be profitable for them considering the current interconnect rate. As you know, the difference between the price of voice call and the interconnect rate is what makes them profitable. So, for instance, if the current interconnect rate is N10.12 and they intend to offer N9, then it makes no sense business wise. I believe this price reduction will be for on-net calls and not for off-net call”, one analyst who pleaded anonymity told BusinessDay.

Recently, Ernest Ndukwe, past executive vice chairman, Nigerian Communications Commission (NCC), told a gathering of Information Communication Technology (ICT) stakeholders that the Commission had laid the foundation for tariff reduction with the issuance of a new interconnect regime in December 2009. Interconnection rate represents the rate which a telecommunications operator who originates a call pays to another operator on whose network a call is terminated.

“I have continued to see tariff drop since the last exercise with respect to interconnect rates. Going forward, prices will continue to fall because we have always insisted that more competition will affect tariffs in a positive way”. It would be recalled that in August, MTN Nigeria floated a new set of value added propositions which featured product offerings that allow customers enjoy more call time at a highly reduced cost across its market segments, causing increased competition among telecom players.

For instance, customers on MTN Smartlink will enjoy retrogressive tariff plan which allows the customer to pay less for more time spent calling; voice call price could then fall to as low as 25 kobo/second from a peak 50 kobo, a whopping reduction of 50 percent.

In a swift reaction to the earlier strategic move by MTN which enticed teeming subscribers to its network with its new tariff plan (MTN Funlink, Smartlink, Prolink, Bizlink and Happilink), the fifth licensed GSM operator, Etisalat Nigeria, introduced a new tariff plan that allows subscribers enjoy lower rates of 25 kobo per second for voice calls from a peak of 50 kobo per second.

The unique selling point of the value proposition is that subscribers could make calls to anyone regardless of time, network or even location. National operator, Globacom, launched a package in Port Harcourt that enables telecoms subscribers pay 25 kobo per second for all calls to any network in the country without any rental or access fee. In addition, the package, ‘Glo Infinito’ offers free midnight calls from 12 midnight to 5a.m as well as a bonus of between 10 percent and 20 percent for every recharge with N500 and higher.

For more interesting articles, check out my blog, www.benedictspace.blogspot.com

Nigeria will make or mar Bharti Airtel in Africa, says Mittal

. . . Zain finally dissolves into Airtel
Ben Uzor Jr

Going by Nigeria’s position as the largest telecommunications market in Africa boasting of over 80 million mobile subscriptions, Sunil Bharti Mittal, chairman and group chief executive officer, Bharti Enterprises has stated that the success of his firm in the continent was dependent on Nigeria. Mittal who disclosed this on Friday in Lagos at the unveiling of the firm’s new identity across 16 countries in Africa, promised to deliver high quality customer benefits through the power of the global Airtel brand.

With the unveiling of the new brand identity Airtel becomes the master brand for all the group’s 19 operations in Asia and Africa covering over 200 million customers. In Africa, Airtel replaces the Zain brand and comes with the promise of delivering high quality customer benefits through the power of global Airtel brand. Earlier this year, Bharti Airtel, fifth largest telecoms company in the world acquired Zain assets across Africa earlier this year for $10 billion.

Going forward, all future new products and services will follow the Airtel brand structure. The ZAP mobile money service will be re-branded Airtel Money with immediate effect. “Nigeria is our second largest market after India. Nigeria will make or break Airtel in Africa. This is because Nigeria is the critical key for our success here. I will like to make one commitment and one request. Let me talk about the commitment first, we will make a big difference to the way this country communicates.”

“Our passion to win in the market place has not dimmed on bit. Infact, we are fired up when we see competitors who are already dominant, who are very big, it spurs us to do something special. I and the entire management of Airtel and our worthy partners, watch us and see what we will do. My request is that you embrace us, you adopt us, and this is a good brand. One thing I want to be remembered for is that this company was good for Nigeria, it was good for Africa and it was good for the human race”.

The new Airtel brand was also unveiled in Abuja at the weekend, in the presence of Nigeria’s President Goodluck Jonathan and Mittal. At the event in Abuja, Mittal, said that the company began its African journey by promising to deliver world-class and affordable mobile services to customers and delighting them with innovative products. “I believe we are taking a major step towards delivering on this by introducing the heart of our business - the Airtel brand - across our operations in Africa. “Our African customers will now be able to enjoy the same best-in-class brand experience as our customers across India, Sri Lanka and Bangladesh. “We remain committed to taking our network deeper into Africa, ensuring our services touch the common man and bridge the digital divide in the continent.

“I am confident that over the coming years Airtel will win the hearts of customers across Africa and emerge as one of most admired brands of the continent”, he explained. According to the company, the “new Airtel brand comes with a promise to meet the emerging needs of customers with innovative, affordable and relevant solutions to empower consumers, giving them the freedom to do what they choose and provide them with the tools to meet life’s daily challenges.

As part of the celebration of unveiling the new brand, Airtel also announced the launch of a new ultra low cost handset package which effectively provides a mobile phone free of charge to all new subscribers. The package, launched in conjunction with Nokia, will be priced at approx N 3,500 (USD $23) and includes a brand new Nokia 1280 mobile phone, a free SIM card and the equivalent value in free Airtel talk time and SMS text messages.

In addition, Airtel promises to launch a number of leading product innovations which focus on delivering relevant information for customers to enhance their quality of life and provide tools that will help them overcome their daily challenges. In the past four months, Airtel has already made tariff interventions in 11 of its 16 markets in Africa for the benefit of its customers. The firm has also signed agreements to extend its networks to the most remote areas which are still not connected with the outside world.

For more interesting articles, check out my blog, www.benedictspace.blogspot.com

Competition forces telcos to reduce tariff on data services

•Internet users in for good times
Ben Uzor Jr

Going by the increasing number of undersea cables coming into Nigeria, both finance and market watchers say the nation’s highly competitive telecommunications market appears poised for a tariff war. Speaking on the development, which they already estimate will spur exciting times for internet users in the country; they told BusinessDay that most operators are spurred by the prospect of boosting revenue from internet services as voice tariffs continue to fall.

To this effect, data services has now emerged as the new ‘competition war front’ for telecoms firms. Since the liberalisation of the telecoms sector in 2001, internet access market has remained untapped while voice services thrived. For years, and until the last few weeks, the only cable system serving Nigeria’s internet needs was the South Atlantic 3/West Africa Submarine Cable - a submarine communications cable linking Portugal and Spain to South Africa, with connections to several West African countries along the route.

MainOne cable and Glo-1 have already commenced commercial services. Equally, the West African Cable System (WACS) - an initiative of nine countries (including Nigeria’s MTN Group), which comes with a high capacity submarine cable system linking Europe, West Africa and South Africa is, at the moment, under construction. Analysts who spoke with BusinessDay confirmed that some telcos are already taking advantage of the enormous bandwidth on offer from these new cable systems to lower internet tariffs, strengthen existing services and produce new solutions that promise to transform the economy.

Leading the pack in the area of pricing, meanwhile, is MTN Nigeria which has reduced its monthly Blackberry Internet Service (BIS) tariffs from N5, 000 to N3, 000. This thus rates it as the cheapest in Nigeria currently. According to Kenneth Omeruo, an internet analyst, for other telcos to stay competitive, they will have to lower their respective BIS tariffs.

This, he noted, will translate into more Nigerians getting connected to the internet at international broadband speeds and at more affordable prices. However, in a swift response, second national operator, Globacom, which has its own self-feeding submarine cable - ‘the Glo-1’, has also reduced the price of its 3G internet service by 25 percent. Now, Globacom’s internet subscribers can enjoy data limits of 6GB on its ‘Always Max Package’ for only N7, 500 from the previous price of N10, 000. Moreover, insider sources disclose that Zain is also making plans to introduce a new promotional package that would see BIS tariffs fall to as low as N1, 500 monthly.

Some GSM operators have also introduced new bundled product offering, with the pay- off being free internet service. Only recently, Etisalat and Samsung launched the Samsung Galaxy Tab, a new smart device that allows users to enjoy PC (Personal Computer) like web browsing, e-mail-on-the-go with an optimised user interface. The Tab comes with an Etisalat SIM card which offers 25 minutes of free voice calls, 25 free SMS and more importantly, 250 MB of free internet access every month for one year.

Similarly, Globacom and leading technology solutions provider, Hewlett-Packard (HP), have introduced an innovative offering that enables Nigerians to own top-end internet-equipped netbooks. Under the special bundling offer, customers can get Glo 3G powered HP netbook for N34, 000. Without doubt, data services have become the next frontier in Nigeria’s telecoms industry even as the voice segment reaches saturation point, analysts have submitted. They added that telcos would however have to pay keen attention to data services as a new revenue generating stream.

The analysts believe that even as telcos focus more on internet services due to the proliferation of submarine cables, the cost of internet access will continue to drop significantly as more bandwidth capacity becomes readily available to the market. Lanre Ajayi, president, Nigerian Internet Group (NIG), who spoke with BusinessDay at the weekend, said: “Telecoms operators are increasingly paying attention to the internet. The reason for this is that voice services is reaching saturation point. They are looking at data as a new revenue generating stream. This is also why they have rolled out their 3G and GPRS services to their customers.

What we are seeing today is not surprising to me. We are witnessing the effect of having more than one submarine cable in the country. With three cables fully active in the country, there is an abundance of bandwidth capacity available to telecoms operators. They have no options but to offer innovative data services to their subscribers at lower costs. The trend will continue and we hope when other cables berth on the country’s shores, the cost of internet access will become even more affordable and improve Nigeria’s digital index and internet penetration rate,” the NIG boss noted further.

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Mobitel re-enters telecoms market with 4G wireless broadband service

•Promises better services, to invest $350m in two years
Ben Uzor Jr

Nigeria’s data market, characterised by slow and exasperating access to the cyberspace, will soon experience a shift for good in the area of service delivery as Mobitel Nigeria Limited, Tuesday, re-entered the nation’s telecommunications industry with a promise to further deepen Nigeria’s digital index through the provision of its latest fourth generation (4G)/WiMAX wireless broadband services.

4G refers to the fourth generation of cellular wireless standards and is a successor to 3G and 2G families of standards. With this wireless broadband service that boasts of speed 10 times faster than available 3G services, Mobitel has guaranteed to provide the nation’s telecoms consumers with widespread all-IP (Internet Protocol) based services such as high quality multimedia streaming, enhanced gaming services, super fast broadband internet access, IP telephony, among other services.

Though 4G wireless technology is not yet established to have an agreed set of standards, as it is still undergoing trials and testing globally, industry analysts say the launch of the 4G/WiMAX wireless services by Mobitel could assist the industry to potentially get ahead of many markets, thus putting Nigeria on the fore rather than playing catch-up. According to some industry experts, it could also help the company gain significant market share as competition thickens in the country’s telecoms landscape.

As at today, Nigeria’s digital index stands at about 4 percent, hence, industry stakeholders who attended the launch in Lagos all agreed that the introduction of this service would radically improve quality of service as it relates to internet service delivery. In March 2010, Mobitel acquired a 2.3GHz licence from the Nigerian Communications Commission (NCC), and with this launch, becomes one of the first providers of ‘real broadband’ in Nigeria.

Johnson Salako, chief executive officer, Mobitel, who spoke to newsmen at the unveiling event, disclosed that by investing over $70 million in the roll-out of the new service, the company was ready to deliver on its value proposition of providing ‘real broadband’ to Nigerians. Salako further revealed that the company would invest $350 million in the next two years on its national roll-out plan.

“Our mission is to deliver the best customer experience in all aspects of telecommunication service delivery as Africa’s most successful 4G network,” Salako told industry stakeholders who included Ernest Ndukwe, past executive vice chairman, NCC, Ibrahim Nakande, former minister of state for communications, Dave Salako, chairman, house committee on communications, Okechukwu Itanyi, executive commissioner, NCC, Funke Opeke, chief executive officer, MainOne Cable, among others.

Giving insight into the company’s national roll-out plans, Tomi Davis, chief operating officer, Mobitel, said: “We have already started with coverage in Lagos which we expect to be fully 4G before year-end, and the rest of Nigeria can expect to see Mobitel 4G Access delivered to them next year. By the middle of 2011, 11 more cities will get 4G coverage and by 2012, full national coverage will be achieved,” noting that the firm would focus on rural telephony.

In the same vein, Michele Scanlon, chief commercial officer, Mobitel, indicated that Mobitel will be launching cutting edge devices and service packages that push the boundary, in performance terms, to deliver an enhanced experience to customers. With speeds of up to 2,048 kbps available to customers on its network, Mobitel’s 4G Access gives customers the capability to transfer large amounts of data in seconds, listen to music and watch video from internet websites comfortably.

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GSM operators shy away from CDMA acquisitions

•Prefer internal organic growth to M&A
Ben Uzor Jr

Indications are that the much anticipated consolidation in Nigeria’s telecommunications industry will not take place anytime soon as major GSM operators are increasingly shying away from mergers and acquisitions (M&A), and paying more attention to improving internal organic growth, analysts said. Most GSM operators, according to analysts, note that growth generated internally frequently result in better returns on investment (ROI) and lowers employee turnover as opposed to acquisition.

Industry analysts had earlier disclosed that a spate of hushed mergers and acquisitions moves was going on in Nigeria’s telecoms space, as the small operators struggle to acquire the critical mass necessary for survival, and bigger ones strive to acquire the small and move to positions of greater strength. Industry analysts who spoke to BusinessDay at the weekend strongly believe that by consolidating the CDMA landscape, GSM operators would be better positioned to offer more efficient data services whilst their core network would be used solely for the delivery voice services.

“GSM and CDMA are going to end up on a new technology called Long Term Evolution (LTE). In a couple of years, we would see a full scale commercial implementation of LTE. So, if you are going to have a convergence, we are gradually moving to technology neutrality or, if you like, interoperability of devices, networks, and so on. This is the time for a major GSM operator to begin to look at consolidating the CDMA sphere because it just adds value. Now, CDMA is the best technology for data service. GSM, as a basic technology, is very good for voice. GSM has to be upgraded to GPRS, EDGE to begin to do data.

CDMA in its basic form, CDMA 20001X, already does internet very well. Invariably, if you take the entire spectrum that we have on the CDMA area in Nigeria and dedicate it to data, then leave your GSM spectrum to voice only, I think you will see a lot of efficiency in that”, Aigbinode told BusinessDay in an interview. A senior executive of a GSM firm told BusinessDay at the weekend that CDMAs offer very little value to a GSM company. “For us, it is better to spend the money for acquisitions on improving internal organic growth. It is better to invest that money on rural network expansion and roll out new products and services because we can get better returns on our investment”, he added.

But another analyst argued that with the enormous bandwidth capacity coming from the Glo-1 and MainOne submarine cables, GSM operators may have no need for CDMAs to offer better data services. They further expound that the poor financial results of most CDMA operators have made CDMAs unattractive and reduced the prospects of M&A in the telecoms industry.

According to the analysts, the poor performances were a vivid manifestation of the protracted growth crisis in the CDMA market. In spite of the fact that CDMA operators pioneered the telecom revolution after the telecom sector was liberalised and deregulated in 2001, CDMA operators have failed to dominate the market. Over the years, their anecdote has been that of poor performances, low capital and weak competitiveness in the country’s GSM dominated telecoms landscape.

Starcomms, Multilinks-Telkom, Visafone and ZOOMmobile are the CDMA firms operating in Nigeria’s telecoms industry. Between January and July, CDMA operators in Nigeria lost about 1.08 million active subscribers. Subscriber information made available by the Nigerian Communications Commission (NCC) covering December 2009 to July 2010 shows that active mobile CDMA lines, which stood at 7.7 million in January 2010 dropped to a dismal 6.6 million lines by July.

Under the Ernest Ndukwe administration, the Nigerian Communications Commission (NCC) had admitted that some telecoms companies had begun to show disturbing signs of distress. The NCC disclosed that issues revolving around poor corporate governance, wrong business decisions, and the management style employed by these telcos in the economic crisis were some of the major factors responsible for the poor performances recorded by some of them.

Giving more insight into some of the reasons why CDMA networks have continued to perform poorly, Oladipupo Alabi, treasurer, Association of Licensed Telecommunications Operators of Nigeria (ALTON), a telecoms engineer, noted that the greatest problem facing the CDMA networks was funding. Alabi said: “The greatest problem confronting the CDMA companies in Nigeria is funding. The CDMAs are not as highly capitalised as the GSM operators. So, they do not have the same level of coverage or reach.

Also, the ease to change from one network to the other gives GSM operators an edge, whereas, the CDMAs have to buy handsets and subsidise them. This adds to their costs of operation. If a handset is faulty, GSM subscribers can easily buy another handset and swap their SIMs, but for CDMA subscribers, it is not like that. Most times, subscribers have to buy new handsets and re-programme their old numbers. That is one of the reasons why CDMA is not really growing”.

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Telcos move to provide affordable telecoms services in rural communities

Ben Uzor Jr

More rural communities in the country will have access to reasonably priced telecommunications services by 2012, as operators are making significant investment in rural network expansion, and taking advantage of submarine cable infrastructure to ensure that remote areas benefit from the GSM (Global System for Mobile Communications) revolution, analysts told BusinessDay.

Available statistics show that about 40 million Nigerians living in the rural areas do not have access to basic telecoms services. Industry analysts told BusinessDay that Nigeria’s digital divide is still wide even with the country’s 80 million active mobile subscribers. According to the analysts, rural dwellers desire to be connected to the rest of the world but have no telecoms facilities to do so.

Telecoms service providers do not consider such areas as economically viable and therefore give them no attention. To this effect, a significant proportion of the country’s rural populace have, before now, been ignored in the telecoms revolution which had operators focused on cities for quick returns on their investment, analysts argue. This trend is changing with the commercial launch of Glo-1 and MainOne submarine cables, according to analysts who also said this development will usher in a new era of telephone and internet access in the rural areas.

Lanre Ajayi, president, Nigerian Internet Group (NIG) told BusinessDay: “Telecoms companies are looking at rural areas because the urban areas are more or less saturated. The phase of expansion will be the unserved and underserved areas. It has not come as a surprise to me because if they have succeeded in covering the urban areas and cities, the next logical step will be to address the rural areas”.

Globacom, owners of Glo-1, disclosed plans to leverage its massive 10, 000 kilometre national optic fibre backbone to push available bandwidth capacity to the hinterlands at more affordable rates. Besides, the country’s bandwidth market is expected to witness explosive price wars as a result of heightened competition in the submarine cable market. It is further expected that the price of bandwidth will fall from $2, 400 to $10 per megabyte as the number of submarine cables increases.

Currently, MainOne cable is already bringing down existing pricing model through the reduction of communications cost by 50 percent. Prior to MainOne’s commencement of commercial service in July 2010, BusinessDay gathered that the cost of bandwidth was between $1, 200 and $1, 700 per megabyte, but it has drastically reduced to the range of $500 to $700 at the moment.

Similarly, the West African Cable System (WACS) - an initiative operated by nine countries (including Nigeria’s MTN Group), intends to adopt an aggressive entry strategy that would see prices of bandwidth fall as low as $10 per megabyte in Nigeria, informed sources told BusinessDay. Mike Adenuga Jr, chairman, Globacom, at the launch of Glo-1 submarine cable in Lagos, said: “Today, I really feel excited because we are looking at a major step change in Nigeria.

“I promise you, things are never going to be the same again because now, the Glo-1 submarine cable has arrived and we can now connect it to our 10, 000km in-land fibre optic network. This is the time we can now provide our country and its rural populace with clearer lines as well as high quality internet services to any international destination at really affordable prices”. In the same way, MTN Nigeria and Huawei Technologies have signed a $40 million (N6 billion) deal to provide rural telephony in about 850 villages across the country.

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Nigeria’s internet market expands as Glo-1 goes commercial

Ben Uzor Jr

The commercial launch of Glo-1 Cable at the weekend has ushered in a new era of prosperity in Nigeria’s internet market, with promises of providing high speed broadband access to the doorstep of Nigeria’s rural population by leveraging on the company’s massive 10, 000km in-land metro fibre network. By delivering 2.5 terabits of bandwidth capacity, Glo-1 cable will address Nigeria’s bandwidth requirement for the next 20 years, the Second National Operators (SNO) has revealed.

In addition, Globacom disclosed that it had customised services to address the requirements of a wide segment of clients - including telecoms operators, oil and gas companies, manufacturers, education and medical institutions. Analysts say that the country’s bandwidth market is expected to witness explosive price wars occasioned by heightened competition in the submarine cable market. It is expected that the price of bandwidth will fall from $2, 400 to $10 per megabyte as the number of cables increase.

“Today, I really feel excited because we are looking at a major step change in Nigeria. I promise you, things are never going to be the same again because now our cable has arrived and we can now connect it to our 10, 000km in-land fibre optic network. “This is the time we can now provide our country and its rural populace with clearer lines as well as high quality internet services to any international destination at really affordable prices”, says Mike Adenuga Jr, chairman, Globacom, said.

As stakeholders gathered at the launch, Mohammed Jameel, group chief operating officer, Globacom noted that ‘Nigeria is a bandwidth hungry country’, further adding that by providing 2.5 terabits per second of bandwidth, the underwater cable will cater for the country’s bandwidth need for the next 20 years. The commercial launch of the cable was imperative step towards lowering cost of international communications and improving internet speeds, Jameel told the audience, which included the Senate President, David Mark, Lagos state governor, Babatunde Fashola, Edo state, Adams Oshiomole, Ogun State governor, Gbenga Daniels and the deputy governor of Osun State.

“Today is a very important day in the development of telecommunications in the country of Nigeria. Nigeria has always been a bandwidth hungry country and so is the case with many countries in Africa. Today, with the arrival of Glo-1, the people of Nigerian and corporate bodies can now enjoy efficient internet services. Nigeria is today looking for connectivity to the rest of the world. The Nigerian economy is dependent on effective communication to the rest of the world. Today is the day of teleconferencing, telemedicine, e-learning and all these initiatives cannot be achieved if the country does not have excellent bandwidth available”, the GCOO noted.

Industry stakeholders declared that the emergence of the cable will have a multiplier effect on the Nigerian economy as it would boost the adoption of new and emerging technologies such as IPTV ( Internet Protocol Television), LTE (Long Term Evolution), VoIP (Voice over Internet Protocol), among others. According to them, the commencement of commercial services would go a long way in ushering in the much anticipated broadband boom Nigerians have been yearning for.

Senate President, David Mark, also assured that the federal governments would work assiduously to provide the right environment for companies like Globacom to thrive in Nigeria. “If we provide the right opportunities and the right environments for Nigerians who would have found ourselves on the moon ever since. If a young Nigerian like Mike Adenuga has been able to achieve this amid Nigeria’s tough business environment, then you imagine what many young Nigerian can do if the environment was conducive enough. Government needs to encourage Nigerians to join the rest of the world in business, industry, education, research and development”, Mark added.

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Telecom investments threatened by poor spectrum management

•Hinders telcos from expanding mobile broadband services
Ben Uzor Jr

Nigeria’s telecommunications industry risks losing huge foreign direct investment as a result of poor management of the national frequency spectrum resources, analysts warned at the weekend. The nation’s telecommunications industry ranks among the top 10 in attracting FDI in sub-Saharan Africa and analysts told Business Day that the sector could miss its slot as investors are already taking a second look at the industry.

National frequency spectrum refers to the entire range of electromagnetic communication frequencies available to a particular country, including those used for radio, radar and television. According to the analysts, one of the key drivers for the success recorded in Nigeria’s telecoms landscape was the country’s impressive rating as one of the top ten receivers of FDI in Africa, based on the investment made in the telecoms industry.

Investment in telecommunications sector since 2001 has exceeded $18 billion, out of which about $12 billion is from FDI while the balance is from local investors. Ernest Ndukwe, immediate past executive vice chairman (EVC), Nigerian Communications Commission (NCC) had earlier warned that for Nigeria to attract more foreign investment into the telecoms sector, there was an urgent need to efficiently manage the country’s frequency spectrum resources.

This, he further explained, would include the timely sale of available spectrum bands to support the rollout of new technologies and services. Meanwhile, telecoms operators (telcos) have complained that spectrum unavailability is hindering them from expanding mobile broadband services in Nigeria.

This is even as growth in voice service revenue is expected to stagnate, industry analysts say, thereby putting pressure on operating companies to key into data (internet) offering as a valuable new revenue stream. Wale Goodluck, corporate services executive, MTN Nigeria, who spoke to BusinessDay in a telephone interview at the weekend believes that optimal management of frequency resources will not only boost rollout of new technologies but also improve the quality of broadband services delivered by operators in the country.

“We must look at diverse alternatives to drive broadband capacity. There is a fundamental need to implement a clear spectrum policy that will lead to ubiquitous mobile broadband services. The ‘digital dividend’ must be allowed to bear fruits in Nigeria. Government must speed up the allocation of digital dividend spectrum to mobile services. They must ensure that spectrum is resold thus freeing up a lot of frequency not in use but held by people and institutions without the requisite capacity to deploy services. We must also look critically at spectrum sharing”, he noted.

The digital dividend spectrum located between 200 MHz and 1 GHz offers an excellent balance between transmission capacity and distance coverage, thus enabling efficient network deployment. Due to its good signal propagation characteristics, fewer infrastructures are required to provide wider mobile coverage, allowing communications services to be provided in rural areas at lower costs.

Lanre Ajayi, president, Nigerian Internet Group (NIG) has also emphasised the need for proper management of national frequency resources so as to sustain the remarkable growth recorded in the telecoms sphere. “Yes, I have always talked about this issue; the Federal Government has not managed our national frequency resources properly. In the early stages of Ndukwe’s tenure, management of spectrum was nicely done and it was applauded around the world. This is however not the case today.

There are three spectrums adopted globally for WiMAX deployment and they are the 2.3 GHz, 2.5 GHz and 3.5 GHz spectrum. In Nigeria, all of them are having issues. For instance, the 2.5 GHz spectrum remains ideal for WiMAX and LTE deployments but is still managed by the National Broadcast Corporation (NBC). In the case of the 3.5 GHz spectrum, NIGCOMSAT is holding strongly on to it.

I will not be surprised if investors shy away from investing in the country’s telecoms sector. Naturally, they will want to invest in other countries in Africa where they can get the needed spectrum to roll out the new services”, Ajayi told BusinessDay at the weekend.

Besides, Nigeria faces another dilemma with much of its available 2.3 GHz spectrum lying dormant at the hands of existing WiMAX operators with no imminent plans for deployment of services. Analysts say part of the responsibility of the regulator would be to guarantee that these frequencies are allocated to operators that would use them.

This, they said, was because the allotment of such frequencies to the mobile industry would assist the sector to potentially get ahead of many markets, thus putting Nigeria on the front foot rather than playing catch-up. But more importantly, it could dramatically speed up the rollout of broadband communications and increase coverage.

In 2009, the late Umaru Musa Yar’Adua’s administration cancelled the licensing of the 2.3 GHz spectrum band conducted by the NCC on the grounds that “the letters and spirit of the stipulated rules and guidelines were not adequately complied with.”

The late President thereafter directed the NCC to initiate a fresh process for the award of the 2.3 GHz spectrum band license. Consequently, the telecom regulator disclosed recently that it was urgently looking at feasible ways to provide new licenses for spectrum dependent services on 2.3 GHz, 2.5 GHz, 3.5 GHz and 5.4 GHz spectrum bands.

Cheap Internet coming, as undersea cable glut sparks price war

•Bandwidth may fall from $2,400 to $10 per MG
• Nigeria records 5,400% increase in Internet use
Ben Uzor Jr

More Nigerian homes will have access to cheaper internet services by 2012 as the country’s bandwidth market is expected to witness explosive price wars occasioned by heightened competition in the submarine cable market, analysts have predicted. It is expected that the price of bandwidth will fall from $ 2, 400 to $10 per megabyte as the number of submarine cables increase.

This is coming after a decade of slow, expensive and exasperating access to the information superhighway owing to the dearth of broadband infrastructure. According to them, Nigeria recorded a 5,400 percent increase in internet users from 2000 to 2009, indicating triple digit annual growth rates. Furthermore, it is indicative of the enormous potential in the growth of the internet market representing huge business prospects waiting to be harnessed, if only the necessary regulatory push and implementation of internet-based initiatives are made.

Besides, Nigeria will have five undersea cable systems connecting her to Europe and America in 2012 and they would boost data capacity to over 12 terabits per second. For years, and until the last few weeks, the only cable system serving Nigeria’s internet and data needs was the SAT-3/WASC or South Atlantic 3/West Africa Submarine Cable, which is a communication cable linking Portugal and Spain to South Africa, with connections to several West African countries along the route.

In the last few weeks, the Main One Cable System has launched, promising an astounding 4.92 terabits per second of bandwidth after upgrade. More recently, the Glo-One cable has also gone. Equally, the West African Cable System (WACS) - an initiative operated by nine countries (including Nigeria’s MTN Group), which comes with a high capacity submarine cable system linking Europe, West Africa and South Africa, will provide over 3.8 terabits per second of bandwidth.

Informed sources told BusinessDay that the WACS intends to adopt an aggressive entry strategy that would see prices of bandwidth fall as low as $10 per megabyte in Nigeria. According to the source, the reason why WACS would be able to sell at this ground-breaking rate is because the initiative is not for profit making, as most of the capacity is for members of the consortium.

Although WACS’ proposition has not yet come to fruition, Main One and Glo-One are already bringing down existing pricing model by reducing communications cost by 50 percent. Before Main One Cable commenced commercial operations, telecoms operators and Internet Service Providers (ISPs) bought 1 megabyte of bandwidth capacity for as much as $2,400, according to BusinessDay investigations. In the United States, the same megabyte per second costs $3.33 and in Japan $0.27 while in Kenya it is $600.

Moreover, Main One Cable seems not to be perturbed by growing competition in the undersea cable market. Funke Opeke , chief executive officer, Main One Cable Company had told BusinessDay recently that its open access strategy which dictates that the cable will not be in direct competition with telecommunications operators but rather provide high value wholesale bandwidth at affordable costs would definitely be the distinguishing factor as competition thickens in the cable sub-sector.

“We are open access which makes a lot of our operators’ customers feel comfortable. We provide services to all operators; we are not a retail operator, we only do business on a wholesale basis. So, we are not competing with them, its shared infrastructure. Our objective is to deliver superior value to them at a reduced cost in an open pricing scheme. You get a higher discount if you buy more volume or if you subscribe for a longer period. So, no operator is treated unfairly.”

Some industry analysts share Opeke’s opinion, arguing that WACS and ACE cables are consortium cables designed primarily to serve their members whilst Glo One cable is self-feeding for Globacom. In both cases, their idea of pricing will be very different from Main One as an independent cable. Globacom’s group chief operating officer (GCOO), Mohammed Jameel, thinks that the telecoms company’s regional reach and unique pricing model will also be a huge advantage for Glo-One cable amid competition.

“With telecoms licences in Nigeria, Ghana, Benin Republic, Cote d’Ivoire and Gambia, we are able to give circuits to customer locations and offer seamless services in several countries without engaging third parties”, Jameel explained. The GCOO further added that even where Globacom did not have operating licence, the company would be able to reach any global destination because of its strategic partnership with all major carriers.

Jameel disclosed that the primary beneficiaries of the Glo-One facility would be telecom carriers, GSM and Code Division Multiple Access (CDMA) operators and Internet Service Providers (ISPs) who will extend the benefits to remote enterprises, retailers and individuals.

Also, there are other underwater initiatives in the offering. The ACE submarine cable system covering Nigeria and other countries will stretch 17,000 kilometres (10,500 miles) from Penmarch, France, to Cape Town, South Africa, connecting 23 countries. The network will have built-in 40 gigabit per second capability and it is slated to be operational in the first-half of 2012.

Only a few days ago, BusinessDay learnt that Alcatel-Lucent was selected by eFive Telecoms, a South African telecoms firm, to build a new submarine cable network linking the west coast of Africa to South America. The system, according to sources, will be composed of two trunks - the first one connecting South Africa to Angola and Nigeria and the second trunk linking Angola to Brazil.

Meanwhile, growth in the telecommunications sector has remained on the upswing as latest statistics from the Nigerian Communications Commission (NCC) reveal that active connections peaked at over 80.6 million lines as at July this year with the GSM mobile sector accounting for the traditional market dominance with over 72.7 million lines. Furthermore, the mobile CDMA segment dropped 7.7 million lines whilst the fixed wired/wireless segment accounted for 1.1 million lines within the period.

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NCC boss assures telecom subscribers of quality service

•To meet with telcos on Friday
Ben Uzor Jr

Eugene Juwah, executive vice chairman, Nigerian Communications Commission (NCC), has pledged to intensify efforts to improve the quality of service by ensuring that telecommunications operators are more responsive to the need of the consumers. Speaking at the Institute of Directors’ (IoD) members evening held at the weekend in Lagos, Juwah disclosed that the commission would meet with telecom operators on Friday, to draw up a feasible roadmap to improving service quality.

He stated that the commission had set up a taskforce to address the issues of quality of service in the telecoms sector, adding that the commission will work assiduously with operators to achieve network optimisation and speed up the rate of deployment of new base stations, switches and transmission infrastructure. “This is an important area I am particularly concerned about. I will meet with telecom operators on Friday and the issues of poor quality of service will form an integral part of my discussions with them”, the NCC boss revealed.

Giving an insight into some of the factors responsible for poor quality of service from a technological perspective, Juwah pointed out that most telecom operators may have failed to design some of their coverage areas properly, resulting in ‘blackpools’. Blackpools refers to grey areas in between base stations. This is even as they jostle to expand their network quickly in the country. “There may also be a lack of capacity in that the base stations that actually connect your calls are not properly sized and in many cases they get easily overloaded”, he added.

Since the inception of the mobile telephony in 2001, telecommunication subscribers have persistently complained about the quality of service rendered by telecom operators, which always results in billing issues, drop calls, and difficulty in recharging account, among others. But most of the frustrations, according to the telecoms operators, are as a result of cable and infrastructure cuts, particularly in Lagos and most other urban towns where road construction and maintenance are being carried out.

Alluding to the size of the population as one of the major challenges to building a quality network, Juwah pointed out that some of the actions of local and state governments and other regulatory agencies like the National Environmental Standards Regulatory Agency (NESREA) contribute significantly to poor quality of service. “If the NESREA actually locks up a base station because they feel people are complaining about radiation, then there will be poor quality of service there. One of the biggest problems we have with internet in Nigeria is that of infrastructure in terms of fibre penetration in our cities and residences. This problem normally arises in difficulty in gaining right-of-way because you cannot come and lay fibre on the road, you must have permission from the state or local government.

“NCC is planning to go into discussion over partnership with local governments, state governments, vendors, and operators in order to solve the right-of-way problem where it will be a win-win situation for everybody. Our plans will shortly be unfolded and I hope that in the near future we will start seeing the impact of this programme”, he explained.

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Consumers set to gain from telcos’ tariff war

. . . Cost of voice calls drops by 50 percent
Ben Uzor Jr

Telecommunications consumers in the country are in for a good time as tariff wars amongst operators in Nigeria’s highly competitive market continue to favour them. In the past three months, innovative promotional schemes from telecoms companies (telcos) have reduced prices of mobile phone talk-time by 50 percent, as telcos attempt to woo new subscribers onto their networks.

In August, MTN Nigeria floated a new set of value added proposition which featured product offerings that allow customers enjoy more call times at highly reduced cost across its market segments, causing an increased competition among telecom players. For instance, customers on MTN Smartlink will enjoy retrogressive tariff plan, which allows the customers to pay less for more time spent calling. Voice calls price can fall to as low as 25 kobo/second from a peak 50 kobo, a whopping reduction of 50 percent.

In swift reaction to the earlier strategic move by MTN, which enticed teeming subscribers to its network with its new tariff plan (MTN Funlink, Smartlink, Prolink, Bizlink and Happilink), fifth licensed GSM operator, Etisalat Nigeria introduced a new tariff plan that allows subscribers enjoy lower rates of 25 kobo per second for voice calls from a peak of 50 kobo per second. The unique selling point of the value proposition is that subscribers could make calls to anyone regardless of time, network or even location.

Similarly, Zain Nigeria had introduced a new plan in July that offers telecoms users in Nigeria more value while empowering them to communicate at affordable rates. The prepaid tariff proposition offers Nigerian customers the opportunity to make Zain to Zain calls at a reduced rate of 45 kobo per second, plus 20 free SMS every month, 50 per cent discount on calls to 10 family and friends’ numbers and over five hours of free Zain to Zain calls as a three months’ promotional offer.

Besides, the Code Division Multiple Access (CDMA) operators are not left out of the on-going tariff war as Starcomms Plc also slashed its international call rate in July. The new call rate, according to the company, is as low as N12 per minute and applicable to calls to the United States of America, Canada, United Kingdom, China and India. It further revealed that the countries covered by the new rate top international business and leisure destinations, as a result, the new comparatively low rate will enable Starcomms customers to be in touch with their business partners and loved ones in those countries.

At the weekend, national operator, Globacom launched a new package in Port Harcourt that enables telecoms subscribers pay 25 kobo per second for all calls to any network in the country without any rental or access fee. In addition, the package, ‘Glo Infinito’ offers free midnight calls from 12 midnight to 5a.m as well as a bonus of between 10 percent and 20 percent for every recharge with N500 and above.

Industry watchers say that telcos will continue to engage in tariff war to enable them invite new subscribers and wrestling existing ones from competing networks. According to them, tariff wars will enable telcos garner more market share, enjoy better economies of scale through reduced cost per unit of delivering services as volume increases. “This is the first time this is been done in Nigeria. This half-call rate tariff package offers subscribers the benefits of doubling their call time whenever they load credit on their phone”, Steve Evans, chief executive officer, Etisalat Nigeria told newsmen at the weekend.

“It is in line with our commitment at inception to get Nigerians talking because we know that everything in life, business or social, political or religious, requires communication. We know that when people talk, understanding increases, friendship develops, ideas are generated, dreams are born and life advances.”
Yemi Adepetun, an Etisalat user who spoke to Business Day yesterday, said: “When I heard about the promotion I immediately subscribed to it and it has helped me reduce my call cost by half. Well, Etisalat is known globally for their innovation and creativity; I do not expect anything less. ”

Moreover, Ernest Ndukwe, past, executive vice chairman, Nigerian Communications Commission (NCC) told a gathering of Information Communication Technology (ICT) stakeholders that the commission had laid the foundation for tariff reduction with the issuance of a new interconnect regime in December 2009. Interconnection rate represents the rate which a telecommunications operator who originates a call pays to another operator on whose network a call is terminated.

“I have continued to see tariffs continue to drop since the last exercise with the respect to interconnect rates. Going forward, prices will continue to fall because we have always insisted that more competition will affect tariffs in a positive way. I heard that Etisalat Nigeria now offers 25 kobo per second for voice calls to any network. I know the NCC will work tirelessly to ensure that tariffs continue to drop in the country”, Ndukwe posited.

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Ndukwe tasks Jonathan on sustained NCC autonomy

Ben Uzor Jr

If Nigeria intends to sustain the impressive growth recorded in the telecommunications industry beyond 2010, the Goodluck Jonathan administration must protect the independence of the Nigerian Communications Commission (NCC), Ernest Ndukwe, past, executive vice chairman, NCC has revealed. This warning is coming in the wake of alleged political interference in the agency’s affairs.

He further observed that the huge telecom growth did not come because the country suddenly became the preferred investment haven or on account of its huge population, but mainly due to stable regulatory and policy environment that existed in the last 10 years. Ndukwe spoke on Friday at an event to honour him for his meritorious service to the country as Nigeria’s telecom regulatory chief, which ended in April organised by the Association of Telecommunications Companies of Nigeria (ATCON).

Under the Olusegun Obasanjo administration, Ndukwe was hired in 2000 to head the NCC and was provided the needed independence to stir the affairs of the commission, he said. Whilst paying kudos to the former president for granting autonomy to NCC, he underscored that the nation’s highest political leadership is always crucial to the success of the telecoms regulator to effectively perform its roles.

“Quite honestly, I say it in international forums where I go to deliver speeches on regulatory issues that without the support of government at the highest level, it is always difficult for a regulatory to perform well. During the tenure of president Obasanjo, he gave us free-hand to operate. That sowed the seed for the subsequent regimes that followed. Even the first minister of communication, Mohammed Arzika was trying to get involved in the telecom regulatory issues. The president called him and told him to leave the NCC alone. That is very critical for the development of the industry”, he explained.

To sustain this growth, he urged the current administration to ensure the operational and financial autonomy of the telecoms regulator to ensure that the dividends are sustained by the new leadership of the NCC. Moreover, the ceremony also had in attendance the new executive vice chairman, NCC, Eugene Juwah, industry associations, operators and major players in the Nigerian ICT ecosystem.

Stressing the significance of guaranteeing a conducive operating environment for telecoms companies, the former NCC boss pointed advised Juwah to avoid actions that might constitute disincentive to investment or even challenge the sustainability of return on investment capital.

In the same vein, Gbenga Adebayo, chairman, Association of Licensed Telecommunications Companies of Nigeria (ALTON) condemned the increasing interference in the affairs of NCC, further asserting that it could undermine development of the sector. Adebayo also expressed concern over multiple regulations of telecoms in Nigeria, a development he charged the new leadership of NCC to urgently address.

According to him, the telecoms industry has come under attacks from some agencies of government over the issue while bringing the attention of NCC to the issue that, “more of enemies within than without.“EVC, you must exert your authority as industry regulator from interlopers” to continue to see growth and development in the telecoms market in Nigeria.

On his part, as part of his recipe for fuelling telecoms growth in Nigeria, Ndukwe urged policy makers refocus the growth of telecoms into rural and underserved parts of the country to grow the teledensity from approximately 50 per cent today to 100 per cent. Furthermore, efforts should be channeled towards efficient management of national frequency resources, adding that they should also be made available in a timely manner as “spectrum is the oxygen that supports the wireless ecosystem.”

He further added that there should be continuous investment in the deployment of broadband infrastructure to improve internet penetration in the country. Paying kudos to his successor, Ndukwe describes the new EVC as a “consummate industry person”, who will leverage his wealth of experience in bringing the desired leadership to the nation’s telecoms regulatory agency.

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Etisalat Nigeria surpasses 5 million subscription mark

• pumps $2b into network expansion
• introduces new tariff proposition
Ben Uzor Jr

Steve Evans, chief executive officer, Etisalat Nigeria has disclosed recently that the mobile phone company had crossed the five million line subscription mark within 22 months of entry into Nigeria’s highly competitive telecommunications market. According to him, the company intends to invest $2 billion in network expansion in order to address the issue of network congestion.

Furthermore, Etisalat Nigeria has introduced a new tariff proposition that allows that allows subscribers enjoy lower rates of 25 kobo per second for voice calls from a peak of 50 kobo per second. The new plan called ‘easylife’ is designed to provide Nigerians with more opportunities to talk to friends and family, acquaintances and associates, business partners and colleagues, across the nation.

“Etisalat is proud to contribute its part to ensuring that the voice of the Nigerian spirit is heard loud and clear in all corners of the world in this season of Nigerians’ Golden Jubilee.” He said that the network now has over 1500 cell site nationwide and is building 100 cell sites monthly to increase its capacity.

Evans stated: “we make sure that we would not have congestions like other networks. So, we keep making efforts to build capacity. We have set aside $2billion dollars for this. We are reasonably sure we would be able to handle it.” The CEO said the Etisalat Easylife package, provides various incentives to its customers is the telecoms market’s first adding that, “this is the first time this is being done in Nigeria.

It is in line with our commitment at inception to get 9ja talking because we know that everything in life, business or social, political or religious, requires communication. And we know that when people talk, understanding increases, friendships develop, ideas are generated, dreams are born and life advances.”

As Nigeria celebrates her Golden Jubilee, Evans said that Etisalat is celebrating its second year of operations within an impressive 5 million customers on its network while “every single one of our pan-Nigeria cell sites are data-enabled.” Etisalat network is offering its customers the chance to enjoy a service called “EasyLife” designed to make life easy for all its subscribers on both Easy Starter and Easy Cliq packages, under its Nigeria @ 50 Anniversary promotions.

The Etisalat CEO added that customers can now make calls to any network, anytime and anywhere in the country for as low as 25k per seconds (N15 per minutes) while allowing existing and new subscribers to stay connected to their loved ones, family, business associates during the Jubilee and beyond. Moving forward, Evans said that customer priorities are considered highly by the mobile phone company, a move that initiated the drive for value-added services to empower its customers by introducing a cost-cutting intervention to the market.

Evans promised that Etisalat “will continue to bring up innovative ideas to satisfy our customers.”
Giving details of the tariff offer, Wael Ammar, chief commercial officer, Etisalat Nigeria pointed out subscribers, whether new or existing, need to dial *220*1# to migrate to Easylife while adding that a token of N20 daily access charge is automatically renewed at midnight everyday. This charge he said is to show a level of commitment from subscribers as they have observed that customers sign-up for it and make calls and then go out of it by doing this they can strike a balance.

He noted that subscribers would receive a confirmatory message conveying the success of their subscription and can dial *220# to confirm whether they are on the plan or not while dialing *220# to deactivate. Ammar said that where a subscriber is on more than one tariff plan, the cheaper of both is applied to call cost while adding that calls made at midnight which currently cost 10k per second on Easy Starter and free on Easy Cliq would remain as they are provided when standard conditions are met.

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Rising levies threaten prospect for affordable telecom services

•Operators pay $60 per metre for right-of-way
Ben Uzor Jr

In spite of the growing number of underwater fibre-optic cable systems berthing on the country’s coastline, Nigeria’s prospects of enjoying reasonably priced telecommunications services could be derailed by the indiscriminate and sometimes absurd levies charged by various agencies and state governments on right-of-way approvals for the deployment of in-country fibre transmission links.

Investigations reveal that across the country, telecoms operators (telcos) pay anything between $50 (N7, 464.5) and $60 (N8, 957.4) per metre for right-of-way. Lagos State charge is about the highest in the country at $60. Wale Goodluck, corporate services executive, MTN Nigeria, told BusinessDay in a phone interview that MTN pay more than $60 per metre for right-of-way approvals in Lagos.

“Look, $60 per metre for right-of-way is an understatement. We actually pay more for right-of-way approval. Moreover, the biggest problem, apart from the prohibitive cost charged by government, is that we have to pay two or three times to local, state and federal governments. The proper thing is for government to continue to create the enabling environment for operators to thrive.

They should encourage telecoms companies by eliminating multiple taxes so that they can easily take fibre to homes, colleges, polytechnics and universities. This will invariably drive the adoption of Information Communications Technologies (ICTs) in the country as well as improve Nigeria’s broadband penetration,” Goodluck further explained. Rights-of-way are the land rights acquired by an operator to allow the construction and operation of fibre optic transmission or distribution facilities.

Traditionally, wires, whether fibre optics, coaxial cables or otherwise, lay in the public right-of-way along with the facilities of public service providers. Industry watchers are worried by the charges since more fibre optic cables are expected to be laid as the information super highway is further developed. To this effect, they have called on the Federal Government to intervene to rein in what they describe as very unusual charges and the consequent cost impact on right-of-way approvals.

They believe reasonable charges will enable operators deploy fibre cables quicker, and subdue the cost of the services they carry to the doorstep of Nigeria’s internet users. The Nigerian Communications Commission (NCC) had earlier appealed to state governments to reduce right-of-way charges for telcos in order to maximise their efficiency and service offering. According to the regulatory body, lesser taxes should be collected from telcos because increased expenditure will ultimately be transferred to subscribers in the form of higher tariffs.

Over the past eight years, telcos have continued to grapple with Nigeria’s unfavourable business environment in their quest to provide good quality service to their teeming subscribers. Despite these challenges, growth in the number of telecoms subscribers has remained on the upswing. Latest data from the NCC reveal that active connections peaked at over 78.9 million lines as at April this year with GSM mobile sector accounting for the traditional market dominance with over 69.6 million lines.

Earlier, Bashir Gwandu, executive commissioner, technical services, NCC, had appealed to state governors at a technology forum held in Lagos recently to reduce rights-of-way charges for telecom companies in order to maximise their efficiency and service offering.

“We have bottle necks around the country for fibre. One of the bottle necks we have today is the international links. But we have transmission links coming into the country, say, from Lagos to Abuja or Abuja to Maidugari. We need right-of-way. Telecoms companies are crying out for right-of-way.

We are appealing to you to make right-of-way as easy as possible because the benefits to Nigerians are enormous. Eventually, even if you cost right-of-way higher, it is consumers that would pay for it. In Lagos, I have operators crying that they are paying $60 pay metre on right-of-way. That is not going to be sustainable for this investment; it is not going to be helpful for Nigerian consumers”, he explained.

In the same vein, Gbenga Adebayo, chairman, Association of Licensed Telecommunications Operators of Nigeria (ALTON), advised government not to consider right-of-way approval as a way of generating revenue, but “they should see the end result as the overall interest of the nation’s information communication technology (ICT) development and limit its role to standard compliance and control.

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Business stakeholders rise for Glo 1

… As forum moves to PH, Abuja

The business community in Lagos on Tuesday had a feel of the magical possibilities of the Glo 1 international submarine cable as Globacom hosted them to a forum as part of pre-launch activities for the facility. The company said the forum which took place at Eko Hotel & Suits, Victoria Island was organised to present to business stakeholders the unique offers available on the Glo 1 facility as well as the limitless opportunities and huge benefits the facility offers for businesses, governments, institutions and individuals.

A statement from the Marketing Communications Department of Globacom indicated that similar forums will be held in Port Harcourt on September 2 and Abuja on September 9. Speaking at the Lagos event, Group Chief Operating Officer of the company, Mohamed Jameel, said, Glo 1 which will commence commercial services shortly will avail customers an excellent communication network and a cost-effective voice, data, video and e-commerce services across Africa, Europe and the rest of the world.

He explained that the facility will boost business activities from information technology to banking, oil and gas, manufacturing and commerce by offering world-class long distance voice, video and data communication services.

Captains of industries, diplomats, ICT experts, banking and media executives were among those who attended the forum. They included Director, Trade and Investment, British Deputy High Commission, Peter Stephenson; Managing Director Equitorial Trust Bank, Gbolahan Folayan; Group Managing Director of Telnet, Gbenga Odujinrin; Managing Director of CFAO Technologies, Mamadou Bal, and Chief Finance Officer, Dangote Cement, Wole Adeleke. Chief commercial officer, Visafone, Uche Ojo; Group Executive Vice President and CTO, Netcom, Yen Choi, Chief Finance Officer, ABBNG Limited, Adedayo Olowoniyi; Chief Finance Officer, Mobitel, Amaebi Fiderikumo; VP, Sales, Gilat Satcom Jide Ogunbanjo; Gobal Supply Chain Manager, Ranbaxy Nigeria Limited, Kailash Kumar Gaggar; Managing Director, Direct on PC, Anurag Garg; CMO, Cyberspace Network, Sabat Anant, and Executive CTO, Multilinks, Emmanuel Kehinde, also attended the event.

Others are Head, IT Shared Services, Access Bank, Nelson Madu; Head, Netwroks & Telecoms, Spring Bank, Akinlo Jeremy, Divisional Head, Corporate Banking, Afribank, Ndubuisi Osakwe; Head, CIB IT, Stanbic IBTC Bank, Akeem Adesina; Divisional Head, IT, FinBank, Gabriel Obaji; Group Head, IT Operations, Diamond Bank, Steve Obiago; Head, IT Strategy, Stanbic IBTC Bank, Bashir Gidado, and Head, Treasury Division, Fidelity, Chineze Osakwe.

Also in attendance were Network Administrator, MRS Group, Azubuike Teddy Obiora; Head, Database Administration, SPDC, Ola Owolabi; Country Manager, Oil, Gas and Petrochemicals, Mott Macdonald, Stephen Sams; Infrastructure Manager, Oando, Segun Oladele; Senior General Program Manager, Alcatel-Lucent, Peter Schubert, and Seni Williams of Tara Systems. From the media were MD/EIC, Financial Standard, Bola Onanuga, ED, Operations, Champion, Samuel Ibemere, MD, Sun Newspapers, Tony Onyima, GM/COO, Inspiration FM, Wale Ewedemi, GM, Galaxy TV, Kolawole Akintoba and publisher of Technology Times, Sina Badaru.

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Boost in internet bandwidth opens fresh opportunities for businesses

. . . Private sector urged to leverage infrastructure
Ben Uzor Jr

Exciting times are in the making for telecommunications consumers, as some firms are beginning to take advantage of the enormous bandwidth capacity on offer from new fibre-optic cable systems which are rolling out in the country to strengthen existing services and produce new, innovative solutions which promise to transform the Nigerian economy.

Fibre-optic cable systems typically carry telecommunications; internet and other data traffic and offer much higher bandwidth (speeds) than microwave and other radio solutions. For years and until the last few weeks, the only cable system serving Nigeria’s Internet and data needs, was the SAT-3/WASC or South Atlantic 3/West Africa Submarine Cable is a submarine communications cable linking Portugal and Spain to South Africa, with connections to several West African countries along the route.

In the last few weeks, the ‘Main One Cable System’ has launched, more recently, the ‘Glo-One’ cable has reportedly, similarly gone live. Both cable systems are Nigerian owned. Main One belongs to the Main Street Technologies company while Glo-One belongs to Nigeria’s second national operator – Globacom. A few other such initiatives are in the making.

Experts say that the proliferation of submarine cable systems has opened up the Information and Communication Technology (ICT) sector to further foreign direct investment. In addition, they have advised players in the ICT industry to take up the challenge of developing and implementing practical investment plans in the area of broadband infrastructure deployment and content creation so as to spread the benefits of these cables to the Nigerian populace.

Similarly, the Association of Telecommunications Companies of Nigeria (ATCON) in a recent memo to its members announced plans to spearhead a three phase implementation agenda in this direction. This, it was learnt, would include: building infrastructure across the country, managing data services in a new way and embarking on stimulant funding campaign of local entrepreneurs. Besides, all three mobile phone operators (MTN Nigeria, Etisalat Nigeria, and Starcomms Plc) who bought capacity from Main One cable agree that the connection would open a new window of opportunity for them to introduce enhanced mobile and data services that will add value to the life of the Nigerian phone user.

For Starcomms Plc, the connection to Main One cable would enable the firm effectively offer its Inter-Standard Roaming (ISR) Solution, Business Day has gathered. This solution enables a Starcomms CDMA phone user to make pre-paid roaming calls to an international GSM network. Now, customers of Starcomms can enjoy more efficient and quality voice and data services on their phones.

Analysts say that the company has taken the first step towards opening up a vast untapped market for mobile operators. Steven Evans, chief executive officer (CEO), Etisalat Nigeria assured industry stakeholders recently that, “with the latest technology, customers on the Etisalat network will have the benefit of increased broadband and enhanced data services.”

A reliable source at Etisalat Nigeria told Business Day that the company was fully aware of falling revenue from voice services and was indeed positioning itself to becoming a dominant player in the internet space through the expansion of its mobile data services strategically tailored towards enhancing connectivity and boosting efficiency. In addition, the company is examining new pricing models that better reflect actual network usage and guard profitability, the source further explained.

More importantly, Main One’s entry into the Nigerian ICT market will further strengthen new services that will help make vital services like healthcare and education more accessible to those who need them most. “Main One and Cisco Nigeria are collaborating to ensure we deliver content to the people because these cables will only bring value once they can impact lives. With our TelePresence (Advanced video conferencing) solution riding on MainOne’s cable infrastructure, healthcare professionals in Nigeria, for example, will soon be able to collaborate more easily, regardless of location, thereby improving both the timeliness and the quality of care delivered.

Patients will be able to access specialists and physicians from remote locations”, Richard Edet, managing director, Cisco Nigeria told Business Day in an interview. Also, Phillips Consulting, an indigenous company offering management consulting and training services to corporate organisations sees incredible prospects for the cable with regards to bringing education to remote locations and connecting with institutions and tutors across the globe.

Paul Ayim, managing consultant, Phillips Consulting Limited Nigeria who spoke to Business Day on telephone said: “As the capacity of MainOne becomes readily available, firms like ours can now decide to host a server here and individuals who are interested in acquiring knowledge can take advantage of our e-learning solution. We can help transform the learning environment by bringing training and education to remote locations and connecting with institutions and tutors abroad.

“On the side of our clients, it will be less of a problem for them because their IT departments can now support our e-learning solution because issues revolving around bandwidth availability and cost have been removed”.

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