. . . NCC, NESREA on collision course.
Ben Uzor Jr
From all indication, the Nigerian Communications Commission (NCC) and the National Environmental Standards and Regulations Enforcement Agency (NESREA) are on a collision course as the environmental agency has given all telecommunications operators in the country up till August 23 to comply with the relevant environmental regulations requiring them to carry out a site specific environmental impact assessment on the location of their base stations.
Ngeri Benebo, director-general of NESREA who made this known while addressing representatives of telecoms companies during a review of draft regulations at the agency’s office in Abuja at the weekend, observed that government had extended the deadline from January to August in order to give sufficient room to telecoms operators so that they could put plans in motion to ensure the safety and health of the environment and members of the public.
Moreover, the Nigerian Communications Commission (NCC) and NESREA traded words over the issue last week as the telecom regulator came to the defense of telcos, claiming that operating companies have not breached any environmental standards. Bashir Gwandu, acting, executive vice chairman, NCC further explained: “We cannot have telecom in the country without having telecom masts around us because we do not have infrastructure in place like other countries that have fibre.
“Without masts and towers , there will not be good quality of service and if we do not allow masst and towers in these places, we will continue to have drop call in the country.” We must leave out regulation that are specifically for telecom to telecoms regulators, those that are for environment should be enforced to all on board and across board and not singling out telecommunications.
“Where it is only environment issues that affects the ecosystem I have no problem there, but when you see a regulation setting out specification for masts that is where I have a concern because we already have a specification in place that should be enforced. NESREAs’ action will be seen as targeting the investment world and that will send a wrong signal to those that may want to invest in this country.
“Let us not send that message, let us send message that we would welcome investors to come and invest in this country, we would keep rules on environment only environment specific not telecom specific” Gwandu warned. The NESREA boss dismissed the argument put forward by the NCC on the possible effect the regulatory enforcement may have on the investment in the telecoms sector, stating that no amount of investment could replace the health of the people.
“You have been given another deadline of August 23 rd and we will not go back on that. If it means sealing off as many of the companies masts as possible we will do that. You are aware that wells are been polluted, masts are falling and you say you are sorry about that. If by the time the mast falls and it kills some one, will one billion naira be able to bring that person back to life?”, she enquired.
Sunday, July 18, 2010
Affordable internet pricing elusive as telcos, ISPs shun N35m IXPN
Ben Uzor Jr
Nigeria’s prospects of reasonably priced internet services, increased broadband penetration and the possibility of developing local content on the cyberspace may be unattainable due to the refusal of some Internet Service Providers (ISPs) and telecommunications companies (telcos) to connect their internet traffic to the Internet Exchange Point of Nigeria (IXPN), BusinessDay can now reveal.
This is inspite of the coming in of Main One and Glo-1 cable which are expected to crash the cost of internet access and bring about the desired digital revolution that Nigeria has been craving for. An IXP is a physical infrastructure through which ISPs and telcos exchange domestic internet traffic locally without having to send information across multiple international hoops to reach their destination.
Lamentably, three years after the Obasanjo administration established the N35 million exchange; a sizeable number of ISPs and telcos are yet to interconnect their internet point to the infrastructure designed to facilitate the keeping of local traffic within the country’s telecom network as well as foster digital inclusion. Muhammed Rudman, managing director of the IXPN had earlier told Business Day that the exchange could reduce capital flight in the economy as transit charges paid to upstream (foreign) ISPs could be redirected towards provision of better local infrastructure and services to customers.
“If more operators connect their traffic to the IXPN, internet users will pay less for access and this will enable more individuals sign up. The internet infrastructure will also enhance local connectivity and improve the internet experience of end users. Also, businesses will use the internet to offer more services to their customers”, he explained. However, investigations have revealed that internet exchanges can lower the operating cost of telecoms operators by ensuring that domestic traffic uses only relatively cheap local connections rather than expensive international links.
Besides, some telcos have blamed the delay on security issues on the part of the exchange which if not addressed before connecting could lead to compromise of subscriber information and revenue loss. A senior executive of one of the telecoms companies who spoke to Business Day on the basis of anonymity said: “I think the reason for the delay in connecting our internet traffic to the exchange point is that there are house keeping issues with the IXPN. Most importantly, there are security issues as well. Telcos spend lots of money on anti-spam software and believe me they are expensive to acquire.
“If we connect to the IXPN and these security issues are not addressed then the big international carriers would stop accepting e-mail traffic from us and that would ultimately mean that we would lose millions of naira in revenue. I strongly believe that connecting to the exchange is something that would come on stream in no distant time. This is because there is a strong cost advantage with keeping local internet traffic within the country”, he posited. It was further learnt that Global Systems for Mobile Communication (GSM) operator, MTN Nigeria has connected its internet traffic to the IXPN.
Some ISPs who have expressed willingness to connect have disclosed that they are constrained by the enormous cost required. Currently, about 30 percent of the over 70 functional ISPs in Nigeria are connected to the exchange. Also, there are over 300 licensed ISPs and 12 voice telecoms operators.
Moreover, Lanre Ajayi, president, Nigerian Internet Group (NIG) does not think that security issues and financial limitations are some of the problems hindering operators from connecting their traffic to the IXPN. Ajayi who spoke to Business Day, revealed: “I think the biggest challenge ISPs and telcos face with respect to connecting to the IXPN is the way internet service delivery emerged in the country. We started with VSAT (satellite) services and majority of the internet hubs are located outside the country.
“They are located in places like the United States (US), Israel and parts of Europe. These hubs are not connected to the IXP in anyway. This means internet traffic goes directly to these hubs abroad. Until we move all our traffic from satellite to terrestrial, it would be difficult to aggregate all the traffic to the IXPN. With Main One, Glo-1, WACS and ACE cables coming into the country and the existing national optic fibre backbone, I hope we would be able to achieve this in no distant time”, he explained.
Industry watchers have also warned that there was serious security implications involved in allowing the exchange points remain outside the country’s shore. This, they explained was because information travelling through multiple international points could be intercepted by cybercriminals or unfriendly nations. But more importantly, connection to the IXPN was expected to improve the security profile of Nigerian internet traffic by ensuring that only international traffic leaves the country.
In the preceding year, the Nigerian Communications Commission (NCC) had directed all ISPs and telcos to connect to the exchange before July 31, 2009 or face stiff sanctions. More than 10 months after the expiration of the directive, they are yet to route their traffic through the IXPN. BusinessDay learnt that the monthly cost of hosting a gateway or interconnect point is about $5, 000 depending on the country and each content sent out to the interconnect point is paid for.
On the other hand, the initial cost of connecting to the IXPN stands at about N500, 000, it was gathered. Analysts say that an IXP could amount to 20 percent or more since local traffic often constitutes significant portion of operator’s overall traffic. According to them, connecting to the exchange could result in an immediate drop in latency from 900 milliseconds to 60 milliseconds for local content.
Nigeria’s prospects of reasonably priced internet services, increased broadband penetration and the possibility of developing local content on the cyberspace may be unattainable due to the refusal of some Internet Service Providers (ISPs) and telecommunications companies (telcos) to connect their internet traffic to the Internet Exchange Point of Nigeria (IXPN), BusinessDay can now reveal.
This is inspite of the coming in of Main One and Glo-1 cable which are expected to crash the cost of internet access and bring about the desired digital revolution that Nigeria has been craving for. An IXP is a physical infrastructure through which ISPs and telcos exchange domestic internet traffic locally without having to send information across multiple international hoops to reach their destination.
Lamentably, three years after the Obasanjo administration established the N35 million exchange; a sizeable number of ISPs and telcos are yet to interconnect their internet point to the infrastructure designed to facilitate the keeping of local traffic within the country’s telecom network as well as foster digital inclusion. Muhammed Rudman, managing director of the IXPN had earlier told Business Day that the exchange could reduce capital flight in the economy as transit charges paid to upstream (foreign) ISPs could be redirected towards provision of better local infrastructure and services to customers.
“If more operators connect their traffic to the IXPN, internet users will pay less for access and this will enable more individuals sign up. The internet infrastructure will also enhance local connectivity and improve the internet experience of end users. Also, businesses will use the internet to offer more services to their customers”, he explained. However, investigations have revealed that internet exchanges can lower the operating cost of telecoms operators by ensuring that domestic traffic uses only relatively cheap local connections rather than expensive international links.
Besides, some telcos have blamed the delay on security issues on the part of the exchange which if not addressed before connecting could lead to compromise of subscriber information and revenue loss. A senior executive of one of the telecoms companies who spoke to Business Day on the basis of anonymity said: “I think the reason for the delay in connecting our internet traffic to the exchange point is that there are house keeping issues with the IXPN. Most importantly, there are security issues as well. Telcos spend lots of money on anti-spam software and believe me they are expensive to acquire.
“If we connect to the IXPN and these security issues are not addressed then the big international carriers would stop accepting e-mail traffic from us and that would ultimately mean that we would lose millions of naira in revenue. I strongly believe that connecting to the exchange is something that would come on stream in no distant time. This is because there is a strong cost advantage with keeping local internet traffic within the country”, he posited. It was further learnt that Global Systems for Mobile Communication (GSM) operator, MTN Nigeria has connected its internet traffic to the IXPN.
Some ISPs who have expressed willingness to connect have disclosed that they are constrained by the enormous cost required. Currently, about 30 percent of the over 70 functional ISPs in Nigeria are connected to the exchange. Also, there are over 300 licensed ISPs and 12 voice telecoms operators.
Moreover, Lanre Ajayi, president, Nigerian Internet Group (NIG) does not think that security issues and financial limitations are some of the problems hindering operators from connecting their traffic to the IXPN. Ajayi who spoke to Business Day, revealed: “I think the biggest challenge ISPs and telcos face with respect to connecting to the IXPN is the way internet service delivery emerged in the country. We started with VSAT (satellite) services and majority of the internet hubs are located outside the country.
“They are located in places like the United States (US), Israel and parts of Europe. These hubs are not connected to the IXP in anyway. This means internet traffic goes directly to these hubs abroad. Until we move all our traffic from satellite to terrestrial, it would be difficult to aggregate all the traffic to the IXPN. With Main One, Glo-1, WACS and ACE cables coming into the country and the existing national optic fibre backbone, I hope we would be able to achieve this in no distant time”, he explained.
Industry watchers have also warned that there was serious security implications involved in allowing the exchange points remain outside the country’s shore. This, they explained was because information travelling through multiple international points could be intercepted by cybercriminals or unfriendly nations. But more importantly, connection to the IXPN was expected to improve the security profile of Nigerian internet traffic by ensuring that only international traffic leaves the country.
In the preceding year, the Nigerian Communications Commission (NCC) had directed all ISPs and telcos to connect to the exchange before July 31, 2009 or face stiff sanctions. More than 10 months after the expiration of the directive, they are yet to route their traffic through the IXPN. BusinessDay learnt that the monthly cost of hosting a gateway or interconnect point is about $5, 000 depending on the country and each content sent out to the interconnect point is paid for.
On the other hand, the initial cost of connecting to the IXPN stands at about N500, 000, it was gathered. Analysts say that an IXP could amount to 20 percent or more since local traffic often constitutes significant portion of operator’s overall traffic. According to them, connecting to the exchange could result in an immediate drop in latency from 900 milliseconds to 60 milliseconds for local content.
Friday, July 16, 2010
LCC adopts electronic payment technology for tolling
Ben Uzor Jr
As the Lekki Concession Company (LCC) prepares to commence tolling on the rehabilitated 49.4 kilometre Lekki-Epe express way, the company has disclosed that it would adopt electronic payment systems as a method of toll payment to provide the much needed convenience to road users. Moreover, manual payment which involves the use of cash would also be accepted at the toll plaza.
The company also revealed that the roads would eventually have three toll plaza which would include the ‘Admiralty Circle Plaza’ (Km 3; in the vicinity of the Palms Shopping Mall), ‘Conservation Plaza’ (Km 13; in the vicinity of Chevron Nigeria Limited) and ‘Campus Plaza’ (Km 23; in the vicinity of the Pan African University). The toll plazas have been installed with advanced tolling technology for users ease.
Opuiyo Oforiokuma, chief executive officer, LCC who made these observations at a media parley in Lagos recently further pointed out by the beginning of August the firm would begin tolling of the roads. He observed that the company’s primary focus was to guarantee that users of the new Lekki-Epe Expressway enjoy first-class experience each time they choose to use the road.
He stated that advanced technology was deployed at each plaza to ensure tolling efficiency through automatic vehicle classification and electronic toll collection. But more importantly, these Toll plazas were designed to accommodate three methods of toll payment; namely: eTag electronic payment device, the SwiftPass electronic contactless card, and cash.
eTag is an electronic device that is capable of receiving signals from electronic sensors installed at the Toll Plazas. Vehicles on the eTag account receive the highest price incentives. It also provides the fastest and most convenient access through the Toll Plazas as you do not have to stop as you drive through.
On other hand, SwiftPass is a contactless card that enables electronic payment at the Toll Plazas. It is a more convenient and cheaper option of payment than cash, the company explained. “We now about to enter into the next major phase of this project which is the revenue collection stage and importantly for that, you can see that it’s not just about us standing at plaza and collecting money.
“There is a lot science, there is a lot of planning and methodology behind this for us to now be offering electronic payment platforms with critical feature like the eTag, SwitchPass. These are all things we have spoken to you about in the past. At least, you now begin to get a visual of what your experience would be like. We have always emphasised three key platforms that are important to LCC which is about improving the road users convenience, their journey times and their safety”, Oforiokuma added.
He went on, “The SwiftPass and eTag are pre-loaded with funds. After every successful passage through one of the toll plazas, the balance of funds credited to the particular device used is debited with the corresponding toll charged at the time of passage. It is therefore important to ensure that your electronic toll payment device is loaded with sufficient funds for the passage you wish to make otherwise you will not be able to use the device at the time, and may instead have to pay with cash.
“Where customers register for an LCC Customer Account, thereby subscribing for an enhanced level of service, LCC will notify account holders via SMS or e-mail when the balance on their account is low, to enable them top-up their accounts with funds in good time before their next trip”, the CEO concluded.
The Lekki Toll Road Concession was designed to deliver essential road infrastructure and services along the Lekki-Epe Peninsular of Lagos.
It is Nigeria’s first ever Toll Road Public Private Partnership (PPP) scheme. In addition to visible features such as new electronic toll collection technology at the Toll Plazas, the high quality road pavement, new drainage system, pedestrian overhead walkway bridges and traffic and street lights, the Lekki Toll Road incorporates other features that are not visible to the eye, the company observed.
As the Lekki Concession Company (LCC) prepares to commence tolling on the rehabilitated 49.4 kilometre Lekki-Epe express way, the company has disclosed that it would adopt electronic payment systems as a method of toll payment to provide the much needed convenience to road users. Moreover, manual payment which involves the use of cash would also be accepted at the toll plaza.
The company also revealed that the roads would eventually have three toll plaza which would include the ‘Admiralty Circle Plaza’ (Km 3; in the vicinity of the Palms Shopping Mall), ‘Conservation Plaza’ (Km 13; in the vicinity of Chevron Nigeria Limited) and ‘Campus Plaza’ (Km 23; in the vicinity of the Pan African University). The toll plazas have been installed with advanced tolling technology for users ease.
Opuiyo Oforiokuma, chief executive officer, LCC who made these observations at a media parley in Lagos recently further pointed out by the beginning of August the firm would begin tolling of the roads. He observed that the company’s primary focus was to guarantee that users of the new Lekki-Epe Expressway enjoy first-class experience each time they choose to use the road.
He stated that advanced technology was deployed at each plaza to ensure tolling efficiency through automatic vehicle classification and electronic toll collection. But more importantly, these Toll plazas were designed to accommodate three methods of toll payment; namely: eTag electronic payment device, the SwiftPass electronic contactless card, and cash.
eTag is an electronic device that is capable of receiving signals from electronic sensors installed at the Toll Plazas. Vehicles on the eTag account receive the highest price incentives. It also provides the fastest and most convenient access through the Toll Plazas as you do not have to stop as you drive through.
On other hand, SwiftPass is a contactless card that enables electronic payment at the Toll Plazas. It is a more convenient and cheaper option of payment than cash, the company explained. “We now about to enter into the next major phase of this project which is the revenue collection stage and importantly for that, you can see that it’s not just about us standing at plaza and collecting money.
“There is a lot science, there is a lot of planning and methodology behind this for us to now be offering electronic payment platforms with critical feature like the eTag, SwitchPass. These are all things we have spoken to you about in the past. At least, you now begin to get a visual of what your experience would be like. We have always emphasised three key platforms that are important to LCC which is about improving the road users convenience, their journey times and their safety”, Oforiokuma added.
He went on, “The SwiftPass and eTag are pre-loaded with funds. After every successful passage through one of the toll plazas, the balance of funds credited to the particular device used is debited with the corresponding toll charged at the time of passage. It is therefore important to ensure that your electronic toll payment device is loaded with sufficient funds for the passage you wish to make otherwise you will not be able to use the device at the time, and may instead have to pay with cash.
“Where customers register for an LCC Customer Account, thereby subscribing for an enhanced level of service, LCC will notify account holders via SMS or e-mail when the balance on their account is low, to enable them top-up their accounts with funds in good time before their next trip”, the CEO concluded.
The Lekki Toll Road Concession was designed to deliver essential road infrastructure and services along the Lekki-Epe Peninsular of Lagos.
It is Nigeria’s first ever Toll Road Public Private Partnership (PPP) scheme. In addition to visible features such as new electronic toll collection technology at the Toll Plazas, the high quality road pavement, new drainage system, pedestrian overhead walkway bridges and traffic and street lights, the Lekki Toll Road incorporates other features that are not visible to the eye, the company observed.
Thursday, July 15, 2010
Glo introduces BlackBerry U
Second National Carrier (SNC) Globacom has introduced a special BlackBerry U package, which offers the lowest uniform tariff structure for Prepaid BlackBerry users on any network in the country. With the BlackBerry U, all existing and new Glo prepaid Blackberry subscribers can now enjoy a call rate of N25 per minute or 42 kobo per second for all calls including Glo-to-Glo and Glo to other networks as against the present N42 per minute or 70 kobo per second.
Samson Isa, head of value added services (VAS) Globacom disclosed that the new Blackberry U tariff was targeted at all prepaid Blackberry users as it gives them considerable savings. All an existing prepaid Blackberry subscriber needs to do is text ‘U’ to the short code 7070 and start to enjoy the lowest rate. New subscribers however need to first activate prepaid Blackberry before texting U to 7070 to enjoy the service.
To choose any of the available packages for prepaid BlackBerry from Glo such as the daily, weekly or monthly plan, a Glo subscriber with a BlackBerry device or any other BlackBerry-enabled device only needs to send an SMS with the appropriate keyword to 777. For the daily plan, which costs N400, the keyword is “bisday”, for the weekly plan, which goes for N1,500, the keyword is “bisweek” while the keyword for the monthly plan, which costs N4,800, is “bismonth”.
Apart from BlackBerry devices, BlackBerry Connect software on which BlackBerry U runs can also work with devices from manufacturers such as HTC (Only factory pre-installed models of HTC TyTN II, Touch Diamond, Touch Pro and HD), Nokia (E90, E61,E61i, E70, E51, E65) and Sony Ericsson (P1i, W950, Xperia X1). These devices can also be configured to access niche packages which BlackBerry devices provide. These include connection to push email and access to social sites like Facebook and Twitter.
Globacom has urged prepaid Blackberry users who would like to see their names in the Glo Blackberry U list to text their names to the short code, 2020, e.g. text ‘Jimmy’ to 2020. The names will be printed in the newspapers, twice a month. The names will take on the shape of U as depicted in the advert.
“With the best and widest GPRS coverage in Nigeria, subscribers using BlackBerry from Glo can therefore be guaranteed the most reliable services in more locations across the country at the lowest rate. This is the incredible value that comes with being on the Glo network”, Isa said.
Samson Isa, head of value added services (VAS) Globacom disclosed that the new Blackberry U tariff was targeted at all prepaid Blackberry users as it gives them considerable savings. All an existing prepaid Blackberry subscriber needs to do is text ‘U’ to the short code 7070 and start to enjoy the lowest rate. New subscribers however need to first activate prepaid Blackberry before texting U to 7070 to enjoy the service.
To choose any of the available packages for prepaid BlackBerry from Glo such as the daily, weekly or monthly plan, a Glo subscriber with a BlackBerry device or any other BlackBerry-enabled device only needs to send an SMS with the appropriate keyword to 777. For the daily plan, which costs N400, the keyword is “bisday”, for the weekly plan, which goes for N1,500, the keyword is “bisweek” while the keyword for the monthly plan, which costs N4,800, is “bismonth”.
Apart from BlackBerry devices, BlackBerry Connect software on which BlackBerry U runs can also work with devices from manufacturers such as HTC (Only factory pre-installed models of HTC TyTN II, Touch Diamond, Touch Pro and HD), Nokia (E90, E61,E61i, E70, E51, E65) and Sony Ericsson (P1i, W950, Xperia X1). These devices can also be configured to access niche packages which BlackBerry devices provide. These include connection to push email and access to social sites like Facebook and Twitter.
Globacom has urged prepaid Blackberry users who would like to see their names in the Glo Blackberry U list to text their names to the short code, 2020, e.g. text ‘Jimmy’ to 2020. The names will be printed in the newspapers, twice a month. The names will take on the shape of U as depicted in the advert.
“With the best and widest GPRS coverage in Nigeria, subscribers using BlackBerry from Glo can therefore be guaranteed the most reliable services in more locations across the country at the lowest rate. This is the incredible value that comes with being on the Glo network”, Isa said.
Monday, July 12, 2010
Main One cable surpasses SAT-3, satellite operators’ capacity
Ben Uzor Jr
The slow and exasperating access to the information superhighway as a result of bandwidth constraints and poor quality of service would soon become a thing of the past as Main One cable, which went live on July 1 delivers more than 10 times of broadband capacity of Nigerian Telecommunications Limited’s (NITEL), Nigeria’s only submarine cable, and 20 times the entire satellite capacity of sub-Saharan Africa.
Funke Opeke, chief executive officer, Main One Cable who made this known during a facility tour of the company’s Cable Landing Station (CLS) in Lagos, stated: “For a simple cable, we are extremely competitive, we have the latest technology. It would provide on day one 1.92 terabits per second, it has the capacity to do that. And, we believe that we will be able to install 40 gigabit wave length system which is the next upgrade on this same cable system and get significant improvement beyond the 1.92 terabit through the life cycle of the cable. It is state of the art; it’s what you will find in other markets.”
Commenting on how much capacity has been sold so far, the Main One Cable CEO revealed that the firm has sold a small percentage of the capacity. “We are lighting up 30 Gigabits between Lagos-Portugal, and then another 30 Gigabit between Lagos-Ghana and 30 gigabits between Ghana and Portugal. We have the capacity to light up the rest easily if the traffic grows and there is need to give out more capacity. So, we have a lot of work to do in bringing more customers unto the system.”
Opeke further pointed out that the project would invariably lower the cost of international connectivity, boosting bandwidth availability, which would allow faster download speed. “Well, we clearly see the cost of international communications coming down, the cost of internet access coming down. We just talked about getting information to your trading partners for example. So, now, the cost for you to do that should come down, the speed and reliability at which you should do that is much improved. If you take that into consideration, the cost of doing business in Nigeria should come down”, she posited.
She observed that the project would put Nigeria and the region on the information map in terms of access to global information. “For industries looking for technology, looking for partners, looking to source offshore, they have the ability to access any global market off the internet and source for the most competitive source. It really opens up tremendous opportunities for the economy”, she posited.
During the facility tour, Robin Sanders, United States, ambassador to Nigeria, commended the company for its vision. “I just wanted to say that this is a wonderful facility and a tremendous investment on behalf of the five institutional investors and really the vision for Main One. I am really proud that the US firm was very involved in the $250 million submarine cable project that landed here in Nigeria. Overall, what Main One brings not only to the IT community in Nigeria but certainly regionally is the ability to have broadband, the ability to do mobile banking, the ability for student and institution to have reliable IT service at tremendous speeds that they don’t have now. I think it is an impressive facility.”
In the same vein, Richard Edet, general manager, Cisco Nigeria, who was also present at the facility tour, said: “I think it is a grand initiative. We have been waiting for the broadband explosion and revolution in Nigeria. This is one major initiative that would ensure that we bridge that gap. Cisco and Main one are is a strategic partnership to ensure we deliver content to the people because it brings value once it can impact life. Once you bridge that broadband divide, economic growth follows in its way. Wherever there is a 10 percent growth in broadband, it translates to 2 percent growth in GDP for the country.”
The slow and exasperating access to the information superhighway as a result of bandwidth constraints and poor quality of service would soon become a thing of the past as Main One cable, which went live on July 1 delivers more than 10 times of broadband capacity of Nigerian Telecommunications Limited’s (NITEL), Nigeria’s only submarine cable, and 20 times the entire satellite capacity of sub-Saharan Africa.
Funke Opeke, chief executive officer, Main One Cable who made this known during a facility tour of the company’s Cable Landing Station (CLS) in Lagos, stated: “For a simple cable, we are extremely competitive, we have the latest technology. It would provide on day one 1.92 terabits per second, it has the capacity to do that. And, we believe that we will be able to install 40 gigabit wave length system which is the next upgrade on this same cable system and get significant improvement beyond the 1.92 terabit through the life cycle of the cable. It is state of the art; it’s what you will find in other markets.”
Commenting on how much capacity has been sold so far, the Main One Cable CEO revealed that the firm has sold a small percentage of the capacity. “We are lighting up 30 Gigabits between Lagos-Portugal, and then another 30 Gigabit between Lagos-Ghana and 30 gigabits between Ghana and Portugal. We have the capacity to light up the rest easily if the traffic grows and there is need to give out more capacity. So, we have a lot of work to do in bringing more customers unto the system.”
Opeke further pointed out that the project would invariably lower the cost of international connectivity, boosting bandwidth availability, which would allow faster download speed. “Well, we clearly see the cost of international communications coming down, the cost of internet access coming down. We just talked about getting information to your trading partners for example. So, now, the cost for you to do that should come down, the speed and reliability at which you should do that is much improved. If you take that into consideration, the cost of doing business in Nigeria should come down”, she posited.
She observed that the project would put Nigeria and the region on the information map in terms of access to global information. “For industries looking for technology, looking for partners, looking to source offshore, they have the ability to access any global market off the internet and source for the most competitive source. It really opens up tremendous opportunities for the economy”, she posited.
During the facility tour, Robin Sanders, United States, ambassador to Nigeria, commended the company for its vision. “I just wanted to say that this is a wonderful facility and a tremendous investment on behalf of the five institutional investors and really the vision for Main One. I am really proud that the US firm was very involved in the $250 million submarine cable project that landed here in Nigeria. Overall, what Main One brings not only to the IT community in Nigeria but certainly regionally is the ability to have broadband, the ability to do mobile banking, the ability for student and institution to have reliable IT service at tremendous speeds that they don’t have now. I think it is an impressive facility.”
In the same vein, Richard Edet, general manager, Cisco Nigeria, who was also present at the facility tour, said: “I think it is a grand initiative. We have been waiting for the broadband explosion and revolution in Nigeria. This is one major initiative that would ensure that we bridge that gap. Cisco and Main one are is a strategic partnership to ensure we deliver content to the people because it brings value once it can impact life. Once you bridge that broadband divide, economic growth follows in its way. Wherever there is a 10 percent growth in broadband, it translates to 2 percent growth in GDP for the country.”
Tuesday, July 6, 2010
Bharti promises $600 million investment in Nigeria’s telecom industry
Bharti Airtel will invest $600 million in Nigeria's mobile phone market, hoping to expand coverage across the rural pasturelands of Africa's most populous nation, the Indian company's international CEO said Tuesday. Manoj Kohil told journalists that the world's fifth largest telecommunications company hoped an aggressive expansion in Nigeria would raise its profile as an emerging market powerhouse.
Bharti recently closed a $10.7 billion deal with Kuwait-based Zain to take over its holdings in Nigeria and 14 other African nations. “If a company hopes to grow, they have to be in Africa,” Kohil told journalists at a news conference in Lagos. "The jewel of Africa is Nigeria.”
However, Bharti will face a fight in its hopes to expand in Nigeria, a country of 150 million people. South Africa-based MTN already holds a 50 percent market share in the country. Kohil also acknowledged Zain customers in Nigeria on average use only 50 minutes of airtime a month -- compared to 450 minutes in its home base of India, where it has 125 million customers.
Nigeria, long troubled by pothole-littered roads and little electricity, has few fixed land lines as the national telephone company remains mired in corruption and a bureaucratic malaise. Normal Nigerians and even private companies rely on mobile phones to communicate, though many carry two or more phones with different carriers to ensure they can make calls.
To draw customers, Kohil said Bharti will build cell towers into rural Nigeria to improve signals. However, each tower must have its own generators and make tempting targets for thieves in a country where most people earn less than $1 a day. Kohil said Bharti faced similar challenges when it expanded into 450,000 villages across rural India. “We have full faith that the villagers themselves will take care of the sites that keeps them globally connected,” he said.
Another boost for Bharti may come from the Nigerian government. Kohil said he held talks with Nigerian officials about mobile phone number portability -- allowing customers to keep the same number when they change carriers. The CEO said he believed Nigeria's government would allow that soon, but said officials gave him no timeline on when they planned to implement it.
Bharti's new Africa holdings also include Burkina Faso, Chad, the Republic of Congo, Congo, Gabon, Ghana, Kenya, Malawi, Madagascar, Niger, Sierra Leone, Tanzania, Uganda and Zambia.
Bharti recently closed a $10.7 billion deal with Kuwait-based Zain to take over its holdings in Nigeria and 14 other African nations. “If a company hopes to grow, they have to be in Africa,” Kohil told journalists at a news conference in Lagos. "The jewel of Africa is Nigeria.”
However, Bharti will face a fight in its hopes to expand in Nigeria, a country of 150 million people. South Africa-based MTN already holds a 50 percent market share in the country. Kohil also acknowledged Zain customers in Nigeria on average use only 50 minutes of airtime a month -- compared to 450 minutes in its home base of India, where it has 125 million customers.
Nigeria, long troubled by pothole-littered roads and little electricity, has few fixed land lines as the national telephone company remains mired in corruption and a bureaucratic malaise. Normal Nigerians and even private companies rely on mobile phones to communicate, though many carry two or more phones with different carriers to ensure they can make calls.
To draw customers, Kohil said Bharti will build cell towers into rural Nigeria to improve signals. However, each tower must have its own generators and make tempting targets for thieves in a country where most people earn less than $1 a day. Kohil said Bharti faced similar challenges when it expanded into 450,000 villages across rural India. “We have full faith that the villagers themselves will take care of the sites that keeps them globally connected,” he said.
Another boost for Bharti may come from the Nigerian government. Kohil said he held talks with Nigerian officials about mobile phone number portability -- allowing customers to keep the same number when they change carriers. The CEO said he believed Nigeria's government would allow that soon, but said officials gave him no timeline on when they planned to implement it.
Bharti's new Africa holdings also include Burkina Faso, Chad, the Republic of Congo, Congo, Gabon, Ghana, Kenya, Malawi, Madagascar, Niger, Sierra Leone, Tanzania, Uganda and Zambia.
Monday, July 5, 2010
Jonathan’s Facebook account reaches capacity threshold
Ben Uzor Jr
Nigerians intending to hook up with Goodluck Jonathan, President of the federal republic of Nigeria via Facebook may be stunned to know that the number of individuals directly connected to the president has exceeded the requisite capacity as specified by the social networking site, Business Day can now reveal. This in effect means that people who desire to add Jonathan ‘as a friend’ on Facebook cannot carry out that simple task because according to the system, ‘. . . this user already has too many friends’.
Business Day gathered that Nigerians could still interact with the President through his fan page. Within four days of establishing the page, Jonathan has registered 50,000 fans, more than any Nigerian politician on the network. Equally, Jonathan had set up a Facebook account strategically to create an interface for luminous contribution from all Nigerians. It was also created as an avenue to express his commitment towards ushering in an epoch of electoral uprightness.
A recent post on his fan page reads: “If we want a better Nigeria we will have to create it. It will not just happen. I am not asking you to believe in me. I'm requesting you to believe in yourself. Today I swore in the new Chairman of INEC and I pledge to all Nigerians to give them a free hand. Every support needed will be mobilised to make them achieve the objective for a greater Nigeria…GEJ”. This post was however followed by over 1, 500 comments from Nigerians as at press time. Well meaning Nigerians made positive suggestions on how Nigeria’s electoral process could be further strengthened.
“Mr. President Sir, My humble suggestion is to get an organisation such as the Justice Development and Peace Commission (JDPC) to monitor the activities of INEC and ensure transparency in her activities. Elonna Aguh, a Facebook user responded to Mr. President’s post. Moreover, the social media platform’s rising popularity amongst Nigerians as a strong meeting point for social protest may be responsible for the growing number of citizens trying to get connected to the President, it was further learnt.
Industry experts say that Jonathan could effectively use the media platform and the feedback received to make better decision and consequently position the nation to achieve its vision 20:20 target. In his reaction, Oronto Douglas, special assistant to the President on Strategy pointed out that the President was delighted with the new avenue of interaction with Nigerians, especially the youths.
“I must say that Mr. President is pleasantly surprised at the response from the people of Nigeria to his page particularly as he manages and monitors it personally. The feedback we glean from the almost 2,000 comments posted on the page by Nigerians daily has started helping and will continue helping Mr. President feels the pulse of the public as he takes decisions that affect Nigerians everyday.”
Besides, youths, civil and human rights groups are already engaging Facebook for constructive social criticism. But more basically, the social networking site offers a great medium to reach million of Nigerians with amazing targeting possibilities including age, gender, interest and behavioral markings, experts say. With the population of Nigerians on Facebook surpassing the 1.14 million mark as at March 2010, it was learnt that the platform was amongst the top three most visited websites by Nigerians.
On the international scene, Barack Obama, president of the United States of America (USA) has already garnered 9.41 million followers on Facebook. It would be recalled that the social networking platform was instrumental to the victory of Obama at the polls as great support was mobilised using the medium during his campaign. Kingsley Bankole Ugah, a Facebook user told Business Day yesterday that Facebook has indeed created an avenue for Nigerians to interact with their President.
“It is really a good thing that our president is on Facebook. It really shows that he understands the power of Facebook not just as a tool for social change but also as platform for getting feedback. The average Nigerian can now participate in governance by making suggestions and telling the president about some of the socio-economic challenges the masses face. It is unfortunate that more people can no longer add him ‘as a friends’ on Facebook. I hope something can be done about it”, he added.
Kenneth Omeruo, founder of TechTrends Nigeria, a leading ICT empowerment blog who spoke to Business Day in a telephone chat said: “It is not really unusual because Nigerians have been unable to add other prominent Nigerians like Pat Utomi, Fani Kayode, Nasir El-Rufia because of the same issue. For a president, he would likely need a page. And, I think the president already has a fan page. It is much more interactive and can allow more people join and use it as a medium of communicating with him on a personal level. With this, he can hear the truth from the streets and make better decisions.”
Nigerians intending to hook up with Goodluck Jonathan, President of the federal republic of Nigeria via Facebook may be stunned to know that the number of individuals directly connected to the president has exceeded the requisite capacity as specified by the social networking site, Business Day can now reveal. This in effect means that people who desire to add Jonathan ‘as a friend’ on Facebook cannot carry out that simple task because according to the system, ‘. . . this user already has too many friends’.
Business Day gathered that Nigerians could still interact with the President through his fan page. Within four days of establishing the page, Jonathan has registered 50,000 fans, more than any Nigerian politician on the network. Equally, Jonathan had set up a Facebook account strategically to create an interface for luminous contribution from all Nigerians. It was also created as an avenue to express his commitment towards ushering in an epoch of electoral uprightness.
A recent post on his fan page reads: “If we want a better Nigeria we will have to create it. It will not just happen. I am not asking you to believe in me. I'm requesting you to believe in yourself. Today I swore in the new Chairman of INEC and I pledge to all Nigerians to give them a free hand. Every support needed will be mobilised to make them achieve the objective for a greater Nigeria…GEJ”. This post was however followed by over 1, 500 comments from Nigerians as at press time. Well meaning Nigerians made positive suggestions on how Nigeria’s electoral process could be further strengthened.
“Mr. President Sir, My humble suggestion is to get an organisation such as the Justice Development and Peace Commission (JDPC) to monitor the activities of INEC and ensure transparency in her activities. Elonna Aguh, a Facebook user responded to Mr. President’s post. Moreover, the social media platform’s rising popularity amongst Nigerians as a strong meeting point for social protest may be responsible for the growing number of citizens trying to get connected to the President, it was further learnt.
Industry experts say that Jonathan could effectively use the media platform and the feedback received to make better decision and consequently position the nation to achieve its vision 20:20 target. In his reaction, Oronto Douglas, special assistant to the President on Strategy pointed out that the President was delighted with the new avenue of interaction with Nigerians, especially the youths.
“I must say that Mr. President is pleasantly surprised at the response from the people of Nigeria to his page particularly as he manages and monitors it personally. The feedback we glean from the almost 2,000 comments posted on the page by Nigerians daily has started helping and will continue helping Mr. President feels the pulse of the public as he takes decisions that affect Nigerians everyday.”
Besides, youths, civil and human rights groups are already engaging Facebook for constructive social criticism. But more basically, the social networking site offers a great medium to reach million of Nigerians with amazing targeting possibilities including age, gender, interest and behavioral markings, experts say. With the population of Nigerians on Facebook surpassing the 1.14 million mark as at March 2010, it was learnt that the platform was amongst the top three most visited websites by Nigerians.
On the international scene, Barack Obama, president of the United States of America (USA) has already garnered 9.41 million followers on Facebook. It would be recalled that the social networking platform was instrumental to the victory of Obama at the polls as great support was mobilised using the medium during his campaign. Kingsley Bankole Ugah, a Facebook user told Business Day yesterday that Facebook has indeed created an avenue for Nigerians to interact with their President.
“It is really a good thing that our president is on Facebook. It really shows that he understands the power of Facebook not just as a tool for social change but also as platform for getting feedback. The average Nigerian can now participate in governance by making suggestions and telling the president about some of the socio-economic challenges the masses face. It is unfortunate that more people can no longer add him ‘as a friends’ on Facebook. I hope something can be done about it”, he added.
Kenneth Omeruo, founder of TechTrends Nigeria, a leading ICT empowerment blog who spoke to Business Day in a telephone chat said: “It is not really unusual because Nigerians have been unable to add other prominent Nigerians like Pat Utomi, Fani Kayode, Nasir El-Rufia because of the same issue. For a president, he would likely need a page. And, I think the president already has a fan page. It is much more interactive and can allow more people join and use it as a medium of communicating with him on a personal level. With this, he can hear the truth from the streets and make better decisions.”
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