The Nation Newspaper

Category: e-Business

  • Broadbased Communications wins wholesale company award

    Broadbased Communications Ltd, at the weekend, in Lagos, won the Telecom Wholesale Company of the year 2018 award organised by Association of Telecom Companies of Nigeria (ATCON)

    The firm operates a non- compete, non-discriminatory, open access metropolitan fiber optic network covering all the major business districts in Lagos.

    It provides fiber optic network connectivity for Mobile Network Operators (MNOs), 4G network operators, all the submarine cable landing stations, all major internet service providers, all data centers, Nigeria Internet Exchange Point, major global telecom operators, all the banks, the Nigerian Stock Exchange (NSE), all electronic payment switching and processing companies, oil firms, major corporate orgainsations and residential estates in partnership with other MNOs in each estate.

    Receiving the award, the MD/C.E.O, Prince Henry Iseghohi, said the award is a testament to the company’s dedication to the open access, non-compete model, the goodwill of the customers, the hard work and dedication of the workers of the firm.

    Its Group Executive Director, Mr. Chris Erewele Snr, also said the award will spur the firm’s team to remain committed to the provision of quality services to the customers. He appealed to various stakeholders in the industry to work together to address the issues facing the industry including indiscriminate destruction of cables by road construction companies in Lagos.

    Its Executive Director, Business Development, Mr Chidi Ibisi said to address the needs of the customers, cables with a fleet of 11 horizontal drilling equipment with redundant cable routes to over 20 Points of Presence (POPs) in Lagos with Packet Transport Network nodes in each PoP to automatically reroute the traffic in case of a Cable cut.

  • Dearth of skilled cybersecurity personnel hitsNigeria, others

    Nigeria and other countries are facing shortage of skilled cyber security personnel, a development that could lead to financial losses of $6trillion by 2021, a cybersecurity expert has warned.

    Speaking in Lagos at a forum jointly organised by the Internet Centre for Leadership Development and the United States Consulate General, Lagos, to mark this year’s National Cybersecurity Awareness month, President, Information Security Society of Africa (ISSA)-Nigeria, Dr David Isiavwe, lamented that the urge to get financial reward stood out as the major motivating factor for cybercrooks.

    Isiavwe, who is also the General Manager of Union Bank, said cybercrooks have upped their game and proved that there is no aspect of human endeavours they cannot infiltrate. He cited the Japan digital currency breach, to which $60million was lost, adding that the development had pulverised the belief that the cryptocurrency space was the safest and not vulnerable to cyber-attacks.

    He said the fraudsters keep extorting the victims through social engineering, making phone calls that appeared to have originated from their banks and urging them to switch off their phones, requesting for their Card Verification Value (CVV Number) which is a three-digit number on credit or debit card. When the unsuspecting victim discloses this information, they will now ask him or her to switch off phone for another two hours to enable the bank rectify the problem on the account. He said by the time the victim switches on the phone, all cash inside would have been withdrawn.

    He lamented that there are too few professionals in the cybersecurity space, adding that no fewer than six billion people would be attacked by 2021. According to the expert, cybersecurity spend is also expected to exceed $1trillion by 2021 while the cost of damages as a result of ransomware will reach $11.6billion by next year because victims pay for their freedom with cryptocurrency.

    Isiavwe said the solution to this data back up and not payment of ransom, advising against disclosing personal identification number (PIN) with anybody. “Do not click on email attachment which you do not know the source; organisations must do patching and provide access only on need basis.

  • ‘Blockchain technology an export product’

    VaultBridge Global Limited, a software security company with focus on cyber security, FinTech and blockchain technology, has said the country could leverage blockchain to export technology to other countries.

    Its Executive Director, Mr. Harrison Ozinegbe, who spoke to reporters ahead of its maiden training forum scheduled for November 10 at the Nigerian Institute of International Affairs (NIIA), Victoria Island, Lagos, said bloakchain remained a veritable platform for the country to export technology.

    The training was in collaboration the firm’s foreign partners- KIPYA Connect and Bit2Big

    He said: “No one could have imagined the exponential growth of the internet at such a short span of its introduction on commerce, industry and government and even the ordinary citizen in a remote village.

    “Applications we never thought possible are daily added and uploaded on the internet, easing and facilitating the way we live and do business.  Yet at the advent of internet in the 90s in Nigeria, we were all very cautious, even up to the year 2000 with the acronym of Y2K when we heard of millennium bug supposedly to crash computer and every associated data.

    “We are yet again at the emergence of another great technology- blockchain, that has come to disrupt and further revolutionise commerce, industry, government and even our everyday life.”

    He said the firm is out to help sensitise, educate and train members of the general public by way of seminars, workshops, conferences and exhibitions to further galvanise people into exploring and exploiting the inherent benefits of this new technology.

  • $8.1bn transfer: Industry watchers want MTN, CBN to resolve amicably

    It is two days to the October 30, date for court to hear the case between Telecommunication giant, MTN and the Central Bank of Nigeria (CBN) in a dispute over the alleged transfer of $8.1bn of funds by the telecom firm.

    And the position of industry watchers has remained that amicable resolution should be reached in the bid to salvage the industry which has been described as the cash cow to the nation’s emerging economy and the key sector in Government Economic Recovery Plan (GERP).

    Recall that, Minister of Finance, Zainab Ahmed, has admitted in an interview that the series of sanctions leveled against ICT company, is maligning the country’s reputation in the international community stating that an holistic view critical to sustain the nation’s nursing economy rather than a damping position should be embraced by stakeholders.

    “The MTN incident was a very damaging one for us, that was one of the reasons why we have been out trying to engage investors”, she said at the 24th Nigerian Economic Summit Abuja on Tuesday, 23rd October 2018.

    The telecom company and four banks (Standard Chartered Bank, Citi Bank, Stanbic IBTC Bank and Diamond Bank) have been embroiled in a protracted back and forth, with the Central Bank of Nigeria and the office of the Attorney-General demanding over $10billion for alleged illegal repatriation of dividends as well as tax defaults.

    The minister gave reasons for the sanctions, explaining that “there is a tendency for big business to take regulations and governments for granted.” She continued further in her explanation stating that “After that incident happened, all the information the CBN has been trying to get in two months actually came. Now, they have almost solved the problem.”

    “We are trying to make sure this doesn’t happen again, we are continuously discussing with monetary authorities. There will be no company next after MTN, nobody is next because we can’t afford for this kind of incidence to keep happening,” she added.

    “Nigeria is considered a high-risk country especially after the MTN debacle, investors are not very keen on exposing their investments to state volatility”, @FakhuusHashim, an influential social media user who shared his view on the public matter stated while urging that the pro and cons of the matter be considered thoroughly.

    MTN Nigeria’s Public Relations Manager, Funso Aina, in a statement issued in August confirmed the company’s position, clearly stated that MTN has been cooperating with the government and all necessary information required had been provided by the telecommunications company and these have been exhaustively reviewed and cleared in 2016/2017.

    In a following statement issued by the company in September, the company further stressed these points and its historic engagements with the Nigerian authorities.

    “It is both regrettable and disconcerting that despite the historic engagements with the Nigerian authorities by MTN Nigeria, the Senate investigation into the CCI matter, and the multiple tax assessments done by the Nigerian tax authorities over many years that were satisfactorily concluded, that these matters are being reopened.”

    During a 2016 Senate investigation into alleged violations of the Foreign Exchange (Monitoring and Miscellaneous) Act by MTN, the bank regulator, had said that the company was not in breach of any provision of the law with respect to the Certificates of Capital Importation, in effect, concurring with the company.

    But two years after CBN said MTN contributed to depleting the country’s reserves through the purchase of dollars via unapproved certificates. MTN has denied any wrongdoing.

    Nigeria faced a severe shortage of dollars in 2016 caused by low oil prices, leading to a sharp devaluation of the naira. The currency crisis triggered a recession, which the country emerged from last year.

    MTN said it paid the naira equivalent to purchase a total of $8.1bn from the central bank in several tranches over a nine-year period and that it did not negatively impair the reserves.

    The pending civil cases will be heard on the 30th of October and 8th of November.

  • Ericsson, Qualcomm demo 5G data call over 39GHz spectrum band

    Ericsson and Qualcomm Technologies have further demonstrated that 5G technology is ready by conducting over-the-air non-standalone (NSA) 5G NR lab data call with a mobile form factor device on 39 GHz mmWave band.

    The landmark downlink data call was completed at the Ericsson Lab in Kista, Sweden, on September 6, and adds a new millimeter wave (mmWave) band to those ready for commercial deployment.

    This multivendor Interoperability Development Testing (IoDT) represents an important milestone for first-mover operators looking to offer 5G services to consumers. Access to new high-frequency bands is one of the key 5G components in providing very high data rates and ultra-low latency.

    The demo was a 5G NR call on a smartphone mobile form factor mobile test device and is compliant with the 3GPP Rel-15 specifications. The over-the-air (OTA) call was performed using mmWave on 39GHz band on NSA mode.

    The lab demonstration used Ericsson’s commercially available 5G hardware – including its 5G NR radio AIR5331 and baseband products – together with a mobile test device integrated with the Qualcomm Snapdragon X50 5G modem and an RF subsystem.

    Fredrik Jejdling, Executive Vice President and Head of Business Area Networks, Ericsson, says: “Today’s data call milestone with Qualcomm Technologies shows the importance of building the 5G ecosystem. We’re also making headway on commercial 5G by performing interoperability tests on new mmWave bands, giving our customers wider deployment options and the consumers, faster speeds.”

    Cristiano Amon, President, Qualcomm Incorporated, says: “Mobilizing mmWave for the smartphone has been seen by many as an impossible challenge, but this demonstration validates that we are on track to bring groundbreaking 5G mmWave experiences to consumers. Hype for 5G has never been more prevalent, but this demonstration validates that groundbreaking 5G is real, and that it is just around the corner. This successful lab call is a testament to our continued innovation and collaboration with Ericsson, and we look forward to further industry-leading milestones with them as we progress to 5G commercialization of networks and mobile devices in early 2019.”

    The lab data call is a continuation of the IODT announced in December 2017 when Ericsson and Qualcomm, along with several operators, demonstrated a multi-vendor interoperability connection compliant with the NSA 5G NR global 3GPP standard. The live demo showcased both sub-6 GHz and mmWave end-to-end 5G NR systems.

    The 3GPP approved the completion of the standalone (SA) 5G NR standard in June while the non-standalone (NSA) 5G NR standard was approved in December 2017.

  • MDXI attains Microsoft Gold Data Centre competency, SAP recertification

    West Africa’s largest full-scale data centre provider MDXI has attained the Gold Data Centre certification from Microsoft, thus strengthening its position as one of the leading Cloud Services providers in Africa demonstrating “best-in-class” capability to meet Microsoft’s customers’ needs. The Gold Data Centre is the highest partnership level with Microsoft in Data Centre Competencies and is the pinnacle for Cloud Productivity in Microsoft’s Partner Network program.

    Attaining Gold Partner status is an important step for MDXI in its drive towards supporting local companies face issues on digital transformation, particularly in relation to their data centre and computing platform strategies. To obtain the certification, MDXI has demonstrated the highest commitment to the integration of the latest Microsoft products, with proven expertise to help costumers drive innovative solutions on the latest Microsoft platforms.

    “The Gold Competency provides MDXI with a competitive advantage that helps us offer our customers the most relevant Microsoft solutions in the market. With this competency, MDXI is accredited as a partner to transform data centres into more flexible, scalable, and cost effective solutions using Microsoft Azure Cloud and hybrid solutions. This will enable us deliver greater value to our customers with best-in-class staff that have been subject to rigorous exams, proven implementation and satisfaction references auditable,” says Gbenga Adegbiji, General Manager, MDXI.

  • Technology’ll restore trust in accounting profession’

    Technology can be a vital tool to help rebuild trust in the accounting profession, the Institute of Chartered Accountants in England and Wales (ICAEW) has said.

    Its Regional Director in the Middle East, Africa and South Asia,  Michael Armstrong, who spoke at the  48th Annual  Accountants’ Conference in Abuja,  said the role of technology in assuring transparency cannot be ignored.

    Armstrong, who made a presentation at one of the workshops titled: “Accounting Firms of the Future: Challenges and Opportunities”, stated that the accounting profession was set to witness exciting times ahead.

    He said:  “Our profession is currently under a great deal of scrutiny with the media reporting corporate failures, criticism of accountants and auditors, and sanctions being imposed on what can sometimes feel like a daily basis. All chartered accountants are under scrutiny. As defined by our Royal Charter, the fundamental function of bodies like ICAEW and ICAN  are the protection of public interest. Due to the loss of public confidence, the key challenge facing the profession and our most immediate concern is the need to rebuild trust.”

    Following a series of high-profile scandals across the world, many accountants and accounting firms have come under scrutiny by regulating bodies. In this regard, one issue that should be of concern to practitioners is the need to regain public trust and this is achievable with the help of technology.

    Armstrong noted that the accountancy profession needed to recover its original purpose of assuring investors and the public of the truth, rebuilding trust and ensuring the sustainability of the profession.

    He called on accounting professionals to act immediately.  “In fact, our (ICAEW) CEO, Michael Izza, describes this as a “watershed moment” – a wake-up call for business leaders, regulators and auditors. As a profession, we have to be prepared to think and act differently in the future. If we don’t address this now, one wonders if we will still have a profession in 20 years’ time”, he said.

    For Armstrong, who was also a partner at KPMG, one way to improve the credibility of financial reporting is to boost audit quality. He noted that changes, driven by a range of factors, but most significantly technology, will transform all aspects of business and society in the coming years, and reshape the accountancy profession across Africa, Europe, the Middle East and the rest of the world.

  • OAU, Academy seek policy for digital economy

    ONE of the foremost citadel of excellence, Obafemi Awolowo University (OAU), Ife and Academy Halogen  School of Security Management and Technology, have stressed the need to create a clear policy direction for Nigeria’s digital economy to facilitate effective cyber security practice.

    This is because in today’s digitised world, cyber security has become a vital component of enterprise risks solution, helping organisations to deliver their bottom-line.

    Academy Halogen, Chief Operating Officer, Dr. Wale Adeagbo stressed the importance of a strong cyber security policy direction at the opening of a policy development session hosted at the Ikeja GRA, Lagos campus of the institution.

    Tagged: “Digitising Nigeria: A meeting of Town and Gown”, the cyber security policy confab was a joint initiative of Academy Halogen and the ICT-Driven Knowledge Park, OAU.

    The Academy Halogen chief described the cyber security knowledge sharing session between industry experts and thought leaders from the academic community as a gathering meant to “trigger vital public discussion on how best to digitise Nigeria for the benefit of commerce and knowledge management”.

    The Vice-Chancellor, OAU, Prof Eyitope Ogunbodede, while delivering his keynote address, expressed happiness on the collaboration between OAU and Academy Halogen on cyber security knowledge development on one hand and plans to work with Troyka Group on other levels.

    He said OAU has a sustainable policy of engaging with the community and organisations within the industry towards producing graduates, who are both academically sound and industry savvy.

    Prof Ogunbodede further said the cyber security learning session is a product of thoughtfulness between OAU and Academy Halogen for the good of Nigeria. “This is an initiative we are driving together for the benefit of the entire country. The purpose is not about making money, the purpose is to contribute effectively towards digitising Nigeria in the area of cyber security,” the VC said.

    Speaking earlier, Co-Centre Leader, OAU ICT Driven Knowledge Park, Prof Ganiyu Aderounmu,  said the institution was already bridging knowledge gap between the academic and the industry through collaboration with many corporate big players in the ICT and allied sectors for industrial knowledge transfer to graduates.

    “At OAU, the ICT-Driven Knowledge Centre is already blocking the leakage of students lacking practical and industry experience. We have a lot of partners. We are partnering Academy Halogen to further enhance our growing collaboration in the area of cyber security. We are committed to stimulating creativity and excellence in research and innovation in ICT,” Prof Aderounmu said.

    In his presentation on competencies and requirements in addressing cyber security, Prof Ndubuisi Ekekwe, a Micro Electronics and Medical Robotic Engineering expert, added his scholarly perspective to the cyber security discussion and the need for a robust digital policy direction.

    “The world is made up of numbers. Everything we do as humans is about numbers. We can reduce frictions in business by deploying right technology. Companies are moving from the physical to the digital realm. Digitising Nigeria will bring about a new nexus of opportunities. Our nation will only be bounded by the limitation of the mind,” Ekekwe said.

    Vice-Chairman Troyka Group, Mr. Jimi Awosika in a presentation tagged: “Business and the need for safety in an open world’ observed that we now live in an open world full of risks, which requires security and intelligence to survive.

    “On the part of business and society is the requirement for appreciation of the present danger of the open world and the need to invest not only in these services, but more so in the propagation of the knowledge that the open world presents for as they say, the panacea for the spread of any communicable disease conditions is knowledge,” he said.

  • Quickteller unveils global mall to ease trade

    Quickteller, an e-commerce platform of Pan-African integrated digital payments and commerce company, Interswitch Group, has announced the launch of the Quickteller Global Mall.  The new service has been developed in furtherance of the company’s commitment toward enhancing easy and better service delivery.  Customers can now shop directly from over 100 international stores, including: Amazon, Zara, eBay and Macy’s, and pay in Naira.

    This service is created to offer the enduring guarantee for businesses to reliably cater to their esteemed customers’ needs while providing solutions that make daily life transactions easier and more convenient. The Quickteller Global Mall affords international business people the opportunity of having their goods shipped, cleared and safely delivered; all through one platform.

    Group Head, Digital Payments, Products & Marketing Management at Interswitch, Adetayo Teluwo,  explained that the product was borne out of a need to cater to the needs of their teeming customers, and has also been tested and proven to be reliable. He said: “This product was borne out of a rigorous series of surveys, user interviews and user testing which we have piloted with a couple of Quickteller’s most loyal users, and they share our excitement at this innovation.”

    The e-commerce platform allows users to purchase a wide variety of goods and services including household items, electronic devices, furniture, mobile devices, laptops, books, cars and so on, from the United Kingdom (UK) and the United States (US) within a period of 10 to 15 days, thus reducing delivery cost and time in business transactions. The service also includes custom clearance and doorstep item delivery.

    “The beauty about the service is that the customer does not need to bother about changing currencies or looking for forex.  All payments are done in Naira.  How convenient is this? I will say, very, meaning this is something every business person should take advantage of,” Teluwo added.

  • Simba: power critical to tech sector

    Power backup firm, Simba Industries, has identified constant power supply as critical element in boosting the economy through technology.

    It therefore reiterated its commitment to assisting organisations to meet their power needs.

    Speaking in Lagos during the unveiling of its UPS, its representative, Mr. Prasanna Sridhar, said the development of the tech sector cannot be realised without power.

    He said KStar is the sixth largest manufacturer of UPS in the world, offering high quality products and full service support to more than 90 countries.

    Mr. Sridhar said the various range of KStar UPS can cater to every power demand and needs across sectors, including manufacturing, oil and gas, medical establishments, businesses and other key industries.

    “Hundreds of thousands of businesses around the world depend on reliable power back-up solutions for their critical systems.

    “Downtime is simply not an option for them, as it results in potentially millions of dollars of losses per second. The KStar UPS draws on the latest research and development to offer unparalleled power backup solutions for a diverse range of industries,” he said.

    Also speaking, Head of Simba Service, Mr Surest Kumar, added that KStar UPS is supported by Simba Service in Nigeria, which provides power audit consultation, installation, 24-hour customer support, and annual maintenance contracts.

    He said: “At Simba, we believe that total customer satisfaction is only achieved when a good quality product is supported by attentive and responsive customer care and after service.

    “Simba Service is at the heart of our vaue proposition to customers.”

    KStar offers an extensive range of UPS solutions, including Online Transformer/transformer-less UPS, Line Interactive UPS and Modular UPS all of which are aimed at delivering optimized energy sourcing, cost saving as well as minimizing downtime- thereby meeting the critical needs of its customers in various sectors of the Nigerian economy.

    The company expressed its commitment as it introduced KStar UPS (Uninterruptible Power Supply) systems to the market.

    KStar is recognised for its specialised power backup solutions, capable of handling mission-critical electrical equipment including hospital diagnostic and surgical apparatus, data centers and bank automated teller machines (ATMs).

    Unlike traditional Online UPS systems, KStar products can handle a wide range of applications which have peculiar power needs, such as factory machinery, where power requirements at startup are huge, and where power failure can often lead to significant cost escalation, as machines need to cool down and be restored.