The Nation Newspaper

Category: e-Business

  • Regulatory pangs stifle $251b 5G market

    Uncertain regulatory environment is stifling the growth of 5G networks in Middle East and Africa (MEA).

    The Global 5G Market Report by market intelligence firm Netscribes states that the global 5G market will grow at an overall compound annual growth rate of 97 per cent and will be worth $251 billion by 2025.

    However, Netscribes says the MEA telecommunication industry faces numerous challenges in terms of uncertain regulatory environment, low coverage of 2G, 3G and 4G technologies, and lack of spectrum.

    Reuters reports that 5G networks, now in the final testing stage, will rely on denser arrays of small antennas and the cloud to offer data speeds up to 50 or 100 times faster than current 4G networks and serve as critical infrastructure for a range of industries.

    It adds that deals to start building mass-market 5G networks are still largely a year away, but by 2025, 1.2 billion people are set to have access to 5G networks – a third of them in China, according to the global wireless trade group Global System for Mobile Communication Association (GSMA).

    Meanwhile, Netscout believes a clean and regulatory business environment, along with well-defined 5G standards, is essential to make the most of 5G services.

    Many countries in MEA, including Nigeria, have still not completed the digital switchover (DSO) process, and are therefore yet to allocate spectrum in the digital dividend band (700MHz) for mobile services, it adds.

    According to Netscribes, this band is key in bringing affordable 4G mobile broadband services. It points out that many countries are now at a disadvantage when it comes to supporting swiftly growing cellular broadband uptake and usage as well as advanced 4G, and in the future 5G services, it notes.

    It explains that some of the key challenges facing developing nations on the road to 5G adoption include inadequate spectrum, stiff competition and lack of infrastructure.

    In South Africa as well as Nigeria, the low-band, around 700MHz, is currently occupied by analogue television stations without a clear timeline for digital migration. This band is critical for rural area deployment as it can cover large areas.

    The mid-bands around 3.3MHz to 3.8MHz are partially allocated to other operators and used for radar services and satellite.

    In Nigeria, the National Broadcasting Commission (NBC) is driving the DSO while it is expected to work with the Nigerian Communications Commission (NCC) to provide a migration plan for this spectrum to ensure optimal allocation for 5G networks.

    Looking ahead, Netscibes says some markets in the MEA will be among the first countries to launch global 5G networks, with commercial deployments planned in the UAE in 2019 and Qatar in 2020.

    It points out that in regards to smartphone adoption, Sub-Saharan Africa is still growing faster than any other region and will record a CAGR of 6.2 per cent over the next five years till 2020, compared to a global average of 4.2 per cent for the same period. By 2020, the penetration rate will rise to 50 per cent.

    Total mobile revenues in Sub-Saharan Africa reached $40 billion in 2016, an increase of 3.9% from the previous year, says Netscribes.

    It says one of the key contributors to the rise has been the adoption of mobile money led by Safaricom, MTN and Econet, among others. As an instance, in 2015-2016, approximately 99 per cent of school fees in Ivory Coast were paid via mobile money transfer.

    However, the firm says the connected ecosystem revenue has witnessed a downward shift from the beginning of this decade, in value-added terms. It is expected to generate $142 billion by 2020 (8.6 per cent of GDP).

    In sub-Saharan Africa, it adds, while digital convergence is helping consumers, it is also creating regulatory challenges. Rapid innovation, regarding technology and business models, collectively with the growing significance of economies of scale and scope, is dimming the boundaries connecting once-distinct markets and regulatory regimes.

    The net result can be a complicated and dynamic digital ecosystem in which both consumers and businesses may face regulatory uncertainty.

    Subscriber growth will be majorly witnessed from Asia, accounting for more than half of new subscribers globally, it notes, adding that margins in developing countries will remain under pressure, reflecting growth and competitive challenges coupled with increased regulatory action and ongoing network investments to roll out 4G.

  • Play Tv eyes 90% local channels

    Direct to Home (DTH) broadcasting system that offers services to its subscribers through highly entertaining and informative channels, PLAY TV, has said its focus is to make 90 per cent of its channels totally indigenous to support the creative sector of the economy.

    The Executive Chairman, Digital Play Nigeria Limited, Toyin Subair, who spoke in an interview with The Nation, said Play is a brand that has been developed, conceptualised and is being rolled out for different sectors in television, video-on-demand, cinemas and in production.

    “Play Television is coming up in a lot of channels and we will create more local channels. The ideal situation for us is getting 90 per cent of our channels to be local channels. We are not just doing that, what we are doing is that we are creating a partnership with different people who have good ideas about monitoring the channels; we have the infrastructure, the facility to use to partner with them to make it easier for them. They don’t need to go and re-invent the wheel again. You know everybody has become so used to becoming our own utility centres where you are the one doing everything yourself. This infrastructure now becomes a hub. You don’t need to start putting structure in place. You just come here and everything is ready for you. That’s where we make good use of our resources because we don’t have it like many other people. It is not even cheap; so instead of people going to get that (loan at) 35 per cent (interest rate), it is available somewhere you can use the little money you have to  create what you have and let the expert put it together for you, transmit it for you,” Mr Subair said.

    He said the idea of PLAY Tv is a common world where people come together making it easy for them to monetise their creative talent.

    “The brand will evolve over the next few months, launching various products both for Nollywood, making Nollywood available to people in their homes even if they don’t have internet, that’s one of our products. Then you have the television and a whole multitude of channels for different people. We have very well-known creative people leading and spearheading the different channels of their own and a product line put on television. The future of television is mobile and people that are able to enjoy it and so that is what PLAY is about at the end of the day,” he added.

    Last week, award winning hip hop sensation and PLAY Brand Ambassador, Olamide aka Baddosneh launched his music and lifestyle channel, Voice of the Streets (VOTS) on PLAY TV.

    VOTS is expected to deliver the best in showbiz bringing in the best street music, lifestyle, reality shows and entertainment news across Nigeria. The channel will also offer rich contents on events, documentaries, red carpet events, features, interviews and many more.

    Speaking on the occasion, Olamide said “This is just the beginning of good things to come to Entertainment industry in Nigeria. In Play TV, we have a collaborator that enhances our offering of local contents to our fans. For me and my team, we have always aimed to launch a channel that will speak for the streets and so when the opportunity came up, the choice of Play TV and the launch of VOTS for us is significant as it will cement VOTS as the leading music and entertainment channel in Nigeria and beyond.”

    Formerly known as Continental Satellite Limited (CONSAT), PLAY TV has deployed advanced digital broadcasting system to broadcast world-class international channels, channels from Africa and Nigeria. With the target audience of age group 0-70,  it offers the best music hits  exclusive movies, entertainment, cartoon, comedy, lifestyle, fashion and an exclusive behind-the-scene access to top African celebrities: from the latest video clips/concerts of the major urban artists, behind the scenes to the most( intimate interviews with A-list champions.

    With over 40 channels, the platform is home to some of the world’s most popular brands, including Rishtey Asia, Aljazeera, HFATV, Colors International, Mount Zion Television and 1Music.

    In less than one year, PLAY has grown into a global urban entertainment brand that is the catalyst, the voice and the one stop destination for urban entertainment creators and fans. Each PLAY channel has a clear mission: ( to entertain, empower and engage with a passionate multicultural cross over audience).

     

  • Africa’s smartphone market dips

    Africa’s smartphone market experienced a quarter-on-quarter (QoQ) decline of 6.4 per cent during the fourth quarter 2017, according to the latest insights announced at the weekend by International Data Corporation (IDC). The global technology research and consulting firm’s Quarterly Mobile Phone Tracker shows smartphone shipments were down to 20.3 million units for the quarter. Year on year (YoY), this represents an 18.0 per cent decline, meaning the YoY improvement seen in the previous quarter did not extend to the year’s final – and traditionally strongest – quarter.

    According to iTWeb, in the feature phone space, shipments totaled 33.4 million units, up 3.1 per cent QoQ after decreasing in the previous quarter. Year on year, the feature phone market was up 9.9 per cent. Feature phones continue to account for a majority share (62.2 per cent) of the region’s overall mobile phone market as they adequately address the needs of consumers that have limited purchasing power and require a reliable long-lasting mode of communication, particularly in rural areas.

    Combining smartphones and feature phones together, the overall Africa mobile phone market saw shipments of 53.7 million units in Q4 2017, which represents downturns of 0.7 per cent QoQ and 2.6per cent YoY. The continent’s two biggest markets saw extremely strong growth, with shipments up 19.9 per cent QoQ in Nigeria and 27.0per cent QoQ in South Africa. North Africa also experienced a slight increase, although there were declines across most other markets, which explains the region’s overall decline.

    Research Manager at IDC, Ramazan Yavuz, said: “Major campaigns took place around Black Friday and during the lead up to Christmas, which positively impacted consumer spending in Nigeria and South Africa. While Nigeria continues to recover from recession and consumer spending is on the rise, there are also clear signs of improvement in South Africa. The end to the political crisis means that challenging economic conditions will be addressed as a priority by the new government, which will have a positive effect on consumer confidence and spending on mobile phones.”

    In terms of the vendor landscape, Transsion brands continued to lead the smartphone category in Q4 2017 with 30.4 per cent share, followed closely by Samsung on 27.0per cent.

    Senior Research Manager at IDC, Nabila Popal, said: “The Transsion Group maintains its top position by designing attractively priced devices that address the specific needs of each local market – a strategy the group proudly refers to as its ‘glocal’ approach. Despite the significant presence of Transsion brands in most African markets, it is important to note the increasing prevalence of local brands that are gaining considerable share in their home markets and slowly expanding to surrounding countries.”

    In the feature phone space, Tecno and itel – both of which are Transsion brands – continued to dominate in Q4 2017 with a combined share of 57.2 per cent.

    IDC’s research shows that 4G phones are growing in popularity, finally accounting for a majority share of the smartphone market at 56.8 per cent. Shipments of 4G devices were up 3.9per cent QoQ in Q4 2017, with a drop in prices for entry-level 4G phones and an increase in the number of 4G networks across the continent driving this growth.

     

  • Remita software deployed in Benue to tame payroll fraud

    Benue State Government has confirmed the deployment of a new payroll system into the state Civil service in the bid  to check fraudulence practices on its payroll.

    State Commissioner for Finance and Economic Planning, Mr David Olofu confirmed this, revealed that the state has engage SystemSpecs’ Remita in managing the state’s salary payment amd that this has really helped to get rid of fraud on the payroll.

    It was gathered that the sum of N3.5billion salary fraud has recently been uncovered on the Benue State Civil Service payroll following a verification exercise to ascertain the over bloated wage of the state.

    And since the deployment of the Remita software about 500 duplicate names and over 20 duplicate Bank Verification Numbers (BVN) were uncovered through Remita software.

    Olofu said, “It is painful to me as commissioner for Finance to start something that I think will bring relief to us as a state.

    “To me, it is important to look at what we have as against the solution we are presenting and to also look at the agreement and see if there is any shady deal. SystemSpecs did not come from heaven, they have been recommended,’’ he said.

    He said that the Federal Government was presently using its platform, Remita for the payment of its workers’ salaries.

    Olofu insisted that the payment of salaries needed a platform regardless of whether the payroll was prepared by civil servants or not.

    “We must always use a platform for the payment of workers’ salaries, before this time, we were using the U-pay platform.

    “When we came in, we discovered that salaries were paid through the platform but the system had many problems, which included duplication of names and we wanted to find out where the problems were coming from.

    “We agreed in the ministry to do a trial with Zenith Bank to see if the challenges were as a result of normal banking problems or were caused by civil servants, that trial exposed a lot of issues including duplication of names on the payroll.’

    The software has made enormous impact on the Nigerian economy in a relatively short time, and has attracted a global recognition for its role in engendering accountability and transparency in both private and public sectors.

    A total of six states including Kano, Zamfara, and Benue have adopted Remita in their payroll management strategy. At the federal level, the smooth running of the Treasury Singly Account (TSA) is also facilitated by the Remita platform.

    Remita is more than just a payment software, it also has HR and payroll functions which help businesses maintain a comprehensive, online employee personal and payroll data.

    Licenced by the Central Bank of Nigeria (CBN), Remita is developed 100% in Nigeria to the highest international standards, and it has significantly assisted to revolutionise the e-payment industry in Nigeria.

  • How to avoid business data breach

    Technology is taking the lead in every facet of life. To win in the marketplace, businesses must innovate or they die. To succeed, businesses must adopt new technologies, introduce new products and ferret out new partners to expand. All these increase security risks to the business and if these risks are not mitigated, security breaches caused by data loss and intellectual property theft can cause significant damage to a company’s brand and reputation, LUCAS AJANAKU writes on how to play safe.

    Globally, Information Technology (IT) trends are adopted by businesses to increase productivity, profits, and efficiency and lower operating costs.

    Therefore to be competitive and relevant in the marketplace, firms must not only innovate to survive and thrive, they must also be confident that their data, applications as well as customers, are secure. Security must be an integral part of any innovation programme. Without the security component of innovation programme, businesses run the risk of data breaches, customer dissatisfaction and damage to the brand.

    The cost to businesses with respect to data loss, revenue and disruption of operations has increased. According to Ponemon Institute’s 2016 Cost of Cyber Crime Study & the Risk of Business Innovation,  there is a rise in businesses’ revenue losses  yearly.

    Consequences

    The gamegroup.com says the average data security breach takes less time to pull off than it does to prepare a cup of coffee.

    In fact, 93 per cent of successful data breaches occur in less than one minute; yet, 80 per cent of businesses take weeks to realise a breach has occurred.

    There are many costly consequences of compromised data. This is why 86 per cent of business executives believe cyber security threats, such as weak data security, are increasing becoming a source of grave concern.

    Speaking during Micro Focus Secure the New Roadshow in Johannesburg, South Africa, Micro Focus SECURE Portfolio Sales Manager for sub-Saharan Africa, Marianne Van der Pluym, said: “The impact of cyber threats can be as devastating to businesses as natural disasters.”

    The world is feeling economic pressure as a result of cyber-attacks, with Norton describing cybercrime as “a silent global digital epidemic”.

    Van der Pluym said: “Last year, override malware took down Ukraine’s power grid, meaning that cyberattacks can affect critical infrastructure. Cybercrime can also affect major institutions, like the Bangladesh Bank who lost $81 million when its SWIFT software was hacked. In 2015, the European Aviation Safety Agency had to ground 10 planes as a result of a cybersecurity breach.”

    The impact of data breaches on business reputation can be as catastrophic as the financial loss, as evidenced by attacks on global companies such as Equifax, Yahoo, and Uber, which lost share value, and consumer and investor trust as a result.

    Revenue loss

    Significant revenue loss as a result of a security breach is common. Studies show that 29 per cent of businesses that face a data breach end up losing revenue.

    Of those that lost revenue, 38 per cent experienced a loss of 20 per cent or more.

    A non-functional website, for example, may cause potential customers to explore other options. But any IT system downtime can lead to work disruptions.

    Brand reputation damage

    A security breach can impact much more than just your short-term revenue. The long-term reputation of your brand is at stake as well.

    For one, you don’t necessarily want your emails leaked. In most cases, you need these emails to remain private.

    However, customers value their privacy, too – and breaches often involve customer payment information. Potential leads will be hesitant to trust a business with a history of shoddy data security.

    Intellectual property loss

    Loss of revenue and damaged reputation can be catastrophic. However, in some cases, hackers will also target designs, strategies, and blueprints.

    Businesses within the manufacturing and construction industries are more prone to this threat. Smaller businesses tend to believe they won’t get hit. But 60 per cent of hacks target small businesses. This is because they’re easier to attack.

    Losing intellectual property can impact the competitiveness of your business. Some rivals would not hesitate to take advantage of stolen information.

    Hidden costs

    Surface-level costs are just the beginning. There are many hidden costs related to breaches as well.

    For instance, legal fees may come into play. Also, you may need to spend more on PR and investigations, not to mention insurance premium hikes.

    Regulatory fines are another reality that many businesses overlook. In 2015, for example, the FCC slammed AT&T with a $25 million fine. This was a result of a breach that led to the disclosure of information related to thousands of accounts.

    Online vandalism

    Some hackers fancy themselves as pranksters. In these cases, a security breach might only lead to few word changes on your website.

    While this seems relatively harmless, it can actually cause a lot of damage. Subtle changes are harder to notice.

    For example, a hacker might change a few letters or numbers on your contact page. They may also add vulgar content to some of your webpages.

    Way forward

    Data breaches are more common today than ever before. In 2016, the number of global data breeches increased by 86 per cent compared to the previous year.

    Cyber-attacks are continuing to grow in both frequency and severity, and as businesses become increasingly digitised, security has become more important than ever.

    Two of the biggest global risks for the year, as identified by The World Economic Forum (WEF), are cybersecurity, and data theft and fraud – which topped the list alongside climate change and natural disasters.

    These high-profile data breaches have alerted organisations to the importance of safeguarding their data and networks, both now and for the future.

    “It isn’t that easy to protect your enterprise’s data anymore. Good IT security strategies can be very effective in protecting networks, but cybercrime has evolved to a new level of complexity, and we now need a universal approach,” said Van der Pluym.

    Micro Focus, in partnership with Mybroadband, offers steps to be taken for businesses looking to protect their data. These are:

    Govern, secure identities

    Use complex passwords and different passwords for different sites, don’t click on unknown links in emails, only visit secure sites, and be wary of public Wi-Fi.

    Understand, manage data

    Protect your data with encryption, monitor your network diligently, and back up regularly.

    Protect data while preserving its format.

    Format-Preserving Encryption (FPE) securely encrypts structured data while preserving the original formatting of the plaintext data.

    Secure, govern apps access

    Continuously monitor changes in application risk, perform deep security scans, and protect applications in real time.

    Use analytics-driven decision making to respond to threats

    Real-time information and analysis of security events as they occur allows for quicker threat identification and mitigation.

    To enable businesses to easily implement these steps, Micro Focus has developed an information risk platform – an open, intelligent, and comprehensive approach to “Secure the New”.

    “Our information risk platform offers a layered approach to ensure that enterprises have a deep, postured response to security. We can help you to conquer your digital transformation and deliver security intelligence and risk management at the core of everything you do,” Van der Pluym said.

    The solutions comprise a best-in-class, enterprise-grade security platform with built-in scalability and analytics to drive security. These innovations include native, real-time log parsing, security data enrichment and normalisation; built-in security analytics and enhanced dashboards; intelligent real-time event data from Azure Active Directory to SIEM solutions; data-centric security hosted by AWS; and secure app testing both in DevOps and in production.

  • ZTE: Airtel’s 4G will drive growth

    ZTE Corporation, a global telecoms equipment, networks and mobile devices company, has said the deployment of 4G by Airtel Nigeria will help stimulate economic growth across the country.

    Speaking during the roll-out  of 4G in partnership with Airtel Nigeria in Ibadan, the Chief Executive Officer,  ZTE Nigeria Limited, Danny Zhang, said ZTE has ensured the best in class deployment of 4G in Ibadan in line with its global best practices and assured that residents of Ibadan will enjoy a seamless mobile internet experience.

    He noted that Airtel’s 4G deployment in Ibadan would help drive economic growth in the Pacesetter State.

    The occasion was attended by the Deputy Governor of Oyo State, Chief Moses Adeyemo, and Board Chairman, Nigerian Communications Commission (NCC), Senator Olabiyi Durojaiye.

    Airtel Nigeria’s Chief Executive Officer and Managing Director, Segun Ogunsanya, said: “Airtel 4G will help drive growth, spread prosperity and empower the highly enterprising people of Ibadan to fulfill their potentials and realise their dreams.

    “Our commitment is to deliver 4G Service that works to Nigerians as we will dramatically improve mobile Internet experience for telecoms consumers across the country.”

  • NIWA ‘cuts’ MTN cable over right of way

    Officials of the National Inland Waterways (NIWA) have allegedly cut MTN Nigeria’s optic fibre cable in Cross River State over right of way (RoW).

    According to a source, who spoke   in confidence at the weekend in Lagos, the cable has been cut thrice in quick successions without the agency following due process.

    The source added that Kogi State has allegedly been pestering the telco over payment for RoW, which has already been paid to the Federal Government through the Federal Ministry of Works.

    “We have recorded three cuts on our cable in Cross River State in recent times by NIWA officials over payment of RoW,  which we have paid to the Federal Government through the Ministry of Works. In Kogi State too, we are having issues with NIWA over the same payment. We have been trying to get one of its officials identified simply as Suleiman to resolve the issue,” the official lamented.

    According to a document, officials of the Nigerian Communications Commission (NCC) had, in its regulatory intervention role, held  meetings with NIWA officials and Federal Ministry of Works on the RoW issues. Resolutions reached at those meetings urged parties to articulate position paper in which identifiable conflicting provisions would be highlighted for harmonisation; that during the pendency of the negotiation, NIWA shall continue to issue demand notices to operators without enforcement action until after six months starting from August 18, 2017.

    It said NIWA should not obstruct, stop or hinder the deployment/construction/installation of telecoms infrastructure during the pendency of the above period; that the Commission, as an arbiter, should persuade the Minister of Communication to use his good office to bring the two ministries (Transport, Works, Power and Housing) together to hasten negotiation on these resolutions. It added that the NCC should advise telecoms operators to always submit their infrastructure rolling plans to NIWA where it is within their RoW for costing to avoid breach.

     

  • ntel: Etisalat’s exit hampering FDI, local lending

    The Managing/Chief Executive Officer, ntel, Ernest Akinlola has lamented that the exit of Etisalat from the country has compounded funding in the telecoms sector as both foreign direct investment (FDI) and local lending  are stalled.

    Speaking as a guest at a forum organised by the Nigeria Information Telecommunication Reporters Association (NITRA) in Lagos at the ntel weekend, Akinola also said since launched operation, it has basically faced challenges such as the fact that 4G-long term evolution (LTE) was well ahead of its time while its launch by operators had not really improved LTE uptake or awareness across the country.

    ntel emerged from the privatisation of former state-run telco, NITEL and its mobile arm Mtel.

    He also said there was limited availability of 4G-LTE devices, especially VoLTE-capable devices, while most 4G-capable devices are built to work with 4G-LTE data and2G/3G voice. Added to these challenges were the general economic conditions of the country that saw the naira taking a monumental tumble against the US dollar, peaking at N510 in 2016. There was also the fall in the growth of gross domestic product (GDP) and purchasing-power-parity.

    He said these challenges notwithstanding, ntel is preparing to roll out national roaming services

    (2G and 3G) with two foremost operators, 9mobile Nigeria and MTN Nigeria, adding that service is expected to go live in the second quarter (Q2) of 2018.

    According to Akinola, the benefits of the national roaming service include immediate coverage parity, service backward-compatibility (4G to 3G/2G), handset compatibility and speed to scale.

    “We will be rolling out more of our 4G LTE services to the underserved and unserved areas leveraging a national roaming plan.

    “The Nigeria Communication Commission (NCC) has successfully carried out a field test on our roaming plan in conjunction with 9mobile and has approved that we are good to go; we actually met with all the Tier 1 operators on a round table before with 9mobile on this plan. What subscribers should know is that the ultimate goal is to improve service quality, customer satisfaction and a win-win for the collocation sharing operators.

    “So far, we have about 72 per cent data and voice coverage in Lagos, close to 100 per cent in the cities of Abuja and port Harcourt. These we plan to boost through this roaming plan and on a wider scale with new management team on board and more funding secured, we will embark on more subscribers-centred projects to serve the Nigerian populace better.

    “To also get in touch with cities and hinterland coverage, we will be adopting lower denominations of recharge card sales and open dealer outlets. We know that as we replicate our virtual operations to the contemporary system, more business would be opened for the value chains.”

    He said ntel is growing at more than twice its speed last year, arguing that the telco recorded 167 per cent compounded average growth in customer numbers between last October and last month.

    He said: “We have recorded 50 per cent overall growth between October 2017 and February 2018.”

    Speaking on  funding and investment for future expansion, Akinola explained that current funding and investment initiatives are through strong shareholder support to bridge immediate funding gaps.

    He added however that external party investment (debt/equity) would also be harnessed to boost ntel’s efforts to bring affordable and abundant broadband to all Nigerians.

  • We are calling for co-innovation, says Ibrahim Ericsson Chief

    President and Head of Market Area Middle East & Africa a member of Ericsson’s Executive Team, Rafiah Ibrahim gives a scorecard on Ericsson’s participation at the 2018 Mobile World Congress in this report.                                                                                                                              Excerpts

    In the view of the Ibrahim the 2018 Mobile World Congress was indeed a great platform and opportunity to interact and look at the evolution of tech industry together with customers, partners and meet with the media with the priority to enable countries capture the full value of connectivity.

    She explained that Ericcson’s portfolio across Networks, Digital Services, Managed Services and Emerging Business is geared to make customers more efficient, go digital, and find new revenue streams and this was buttress at the  annual forum.

    Ericsson’s investments in innovation have delivered the benefits of telephony and mobile broadband to billions of people around the world, she said.

    “This year, at MWC, we have showcased the powerful engagement, value and growth that comes with innovation in 5G, IoT and digital operations.  With our live technology demonstrations and customer collaborations, we have shown why emerging technologies are essential to maximize business potential.  We also highlighted our focus on innovation with cool and collaborative new technologies and business concepts,” she explained.

    Ibrahim described the Middle East Africa in the tech space as is a very dynamic market area and each country has its own technology agenda.  Some countries in the Middle East are at the forefront of a digital driven market with serious efforts focused on digitalization and globalization maintaining an ecosystem that is interconnected by digital platforms aided by seamless flow of information and ideas that have changed the way people live and do business.

    Africa remains the fastest growing mobile market.  At the end of 2017, there were 700 million mobile subscribers in Sub-Saharan Africa, equivalent to a penetration rate of 65%. The region continues to grow faster than any other region at a CAGR of 6% for the next 5 years reaching close to one billion mobile subscriptions by 2023, by which time more than 90% of the population in Africa will subscribe to a mobile service.

    Ericsson

    Operators are focusing more on network investments that will increase coverage and capacity, enable connectivity to more people.

    In this dynamic market area, we are engaging with our customers in many different areas:

    Build the foundation on today’s 4G to meet the needs of tomorrow   – The journey towards improved efficiency, new experiences, and new customer segments is more critical now as the demand for mobile services is greater than ever. Mobile data traffic grew exponentially and by 2023, the traffic generated by smartphones will increase by eight times. Mobile video traffic is forecast to grow by around 50 percent annually through 2023 to account for nearly 75% of all mobile data traffic.

    Operators must keep up with these ever-changing requirements on their services and networks.

    At the same time, operators are challenged in growing their revenues and profitability. As a consequence, they must seek new ways to increase efficiency, monetize their assets and expand into new business areas.   We support operators in evolving their networks in the most resource efficient and powerful way. We ensure a network evolution with focus on the future of networks with 5G and real business value.

    Create new business on the wave of industry digitalization – Today, many operators are challenged with a lack of revenue growth in their core business. In parallel, industries are going through changes as technological progress enables digitalization generating advantages in efficiency, service improvement, and business development.

    Digitalization provides a new wave of opportunities for value creation. Operators are transforming their businesses to capitalize on this. We help our customers to transform their infrastructure, operations and business models to meet this evolving demand.

    This year we are also inviting our customer to Engage Digitally – Only by becoming truly data driven you can make your customers’ life easier – creating digital engagements with the customer experience and level of automated operations that are on par with digital native companies is becoming a priority.

    And finally, we are calling for Co-Innovation – Shaping the future with technology and business innovations.  We are dedicated to innovation for the benefit of our customers and their clients, and for nurturing entire eco-systems.   Some of the essential technology components that are on display in this area in the hall are in the fields of hardware and artificial intelligence.

    And in the Middle East & Africa, we have announced today our plan to create innovation hubs serving Middle East and Africa following the same global concept of Ericsson Garage.  The Ericsson Garage is an open innovation platform, inspired by startup methodology where we will engage with our customers in a closed dialog on how new products and innovations can fulfill their needs .

    Ericsson Garage in Kista, Sweden is where it all started, however ground-breaking ideas need a space to flourish in every corner of the planet to benefit humanity.  That’s why Ericsson started opening several affiliates across the globe in different locations.

               Some of the Announcements Ericsson Made at the World Congress

    Ericsson and Saudi Telecom Company (STC) sign two MoUs

    Ericsson and Saudi Telecom Company (STC) sign two MoUs for strategic 5G collaboration and consumer & enterprise digital services

    As part of Ericsson’s longstanding partnership with Saudi Telecom Company (STC), both companies will work on creating a strategic roadmap for evolution of the network to the next-gen 5G technology. This was part of a Memorandum of Understanding (MoU) that was signed in Barcelona at the Mobile World Congress 2018. Ericsson has also signed a second MoU with STC in Barcelona. The MoU will focus on identifying key digital services use cases, targeting faster time-to-market for new service offerings, network monetization and building IT capabilities based on existing systems.

     Zain Group and Ericsson Create Roadmap To 5G

    Zain Group and Ericsson have announced they have signed a Memorandum of Understanding (MoU) to jointly develop and test selected 5G and Internet of Things (IoT) cases. The MoU, signed during Mobile World Congress 2018 in Barcelona, demonstrates the commitment of both companies to bringing next-generation connectivity and its accompanying benefits to the Middle East and Africa.

    Jazz selects Ericsson to optimize their complete Radio Network

    Ericsson has signed a contract with Pakistan Mobile Communications Ltd (Jazz) in Pakistan for the optimization and performance management of its complete Radio Network. Coupled with Ericsson’s innovative expertise in the area, this partnership will allow Jazz to enhance the overall cellular experience of its customers.

  • ‘Foreigners must not take digital switch over from Nigerians’

    ‘Foreigners must not take digital switch over from Nigerians’

    Mr. Toyin Subair floated the defunct HITV. Now Executive Chairman, Digital Play Nigeria Limited, a firm that is set to revolutionise television, Subair, in this interview with LUCAS AJANAKU, speaks on Play TV, saying that foreigners must not be allowed to hijack Digital Switch Over (DSO) and that DSO funding can be achieved through innovative solutions.

    What is your assessment of the television and broadcast environment?

    This time in Nigeria, television is critical. Nigeria has to take back the leadership role in television in Africa. Many years ago, we started the battle to ensure that those who wanted their  part of the world or Africa to become the hub of broadcasting for Nigeria; or  Africa will not succeed because they are only to become subservient when it comes to broadcasting.

    So, there will be continuous battle to recognise that, but you know at times people are just happy with what they have; they don’t think about tomorrow. They don’t think about our culture. People don’t fight for Nigeria. That is a big error and a problem in this system and when you have someone like me, how does it apply to our television?

    We started television first in Africa.What has happened since then?

    We have a situation where there are two pay TV companies in the country – one is Chinese, the other South African. The two DTT pay platforms in Nigeria one is Chinese, one is South Africa. No Nigeria DTT is anywhere. Look at production, we have the talents in Africa when it comes to film, music and in television, but then, what do you find? We are not able to monetise it because we have not put the infrastructure and the platforms in place for people to enjoy it, for talent and creativity to thrive and grow. So, the people who have infrastructure are coming to take over our creativity and our talent and to control it, so that they direct how it is done because infrastructure is key. The problem is that, we think creativity is everything; it is what the world wants. But it needs infrastructure to thrive; it needs a particular kind of environment to thrive. So, they know that we have a position. South Africa has infrastructure and, then, they come and took our creativity and they didn’t want to own it.They’ve tried to duplicate our creativity. They cannot find it. They don’t have it.

    Nollywood has thrived without doing anything, Afro Beat has thrived without doing anything. This is our blessing. Now, we need to fight the infrastructural battle. We need to own the platforms. We need to get the right kind of funding. We need to ensure that our stories are told the way we want them to be told and that they are not bastardised by the one controlling it. Somebody else is deciding what goes on and what doesn’t, when it should go and how it shouldn’t go out. You don’t want that, you don’t want people to take our creativity out of the country. In the world of content ownership, the infrastructure part of it provides so many jobs. It provides so much money. If you let the people put our infrastructure for everything, our creativity needs to be deployed outside Nigeria. The amount of jobs that we will lose, the foreign exchange and the power is much.

    We have the greatest tool of such power that the world has seen since either America or India and we are not able to influence people with it because we are letting other people dictate how it is seen, enjoyed, consumed, and what to act and what not to act, if they keep on controlling it. So, there’s a place where we need to take and the biggest opportunity for us to do that has been the Digital Switch Over (DSO) because in DSO, what that means is that everyone has to have an appliance, whether it’s smart TV or a decoder to consume television or any other value-added services. So, this is our infrastructure. This is Nigeria’s opportunity to take control.  We have 24 million plus TV households. If we own an infrastructure that is delivering television to 24 TV households and it belongs to us; we are using it to make sure that our own content is deployed. It is monetised, paid for appropri ately and  where I create any content, I will go there, sell it and present it to the people. This is what DSO is about. It is about every home consuming television and every creative person having access to every home.

    Thrice government has set time for DSO, but failed to meet the target. What are the issues?

    The first thing is that we need to own it. There is a battle for ownership. It can’t go to the foreigner again. From what I see, and that is what people will not say, the battle is about who should own DSO? Other people want to come and own it. When we were sitting down here just doing analogue, some people saw the opportunity that everybody has to own this chance too – let’s go and take that country. So, the real truth is that there is a battle that is going on behind and it is because some people want to take it over and own it and some local people are fighting back and saying, no we will own it. And then you have the people that the late Fela Anikulapo Kuti said: dem go find one man of low mentality, dem go give him small money, put him there and then use him to control his people. So, you people looking for some of these men of low mentality that they will use to control and own our television and 24 million TV households, the biggest in sub-Saharan Africa. So, this is the biggest issue, but it’s the one that you do not see. They dress it up in all kinds of things, but at the back, there is a huge monster trying to consume our eye balls and control our creativity. So, this is the real battle. We need to fund this because it’s not like other parts of the world, that you can get the money easily to do things. Money here is too expensive, especially for the creative industry. We have to look for how to do that and I can see this government doing so much work in trying to reduce the cost of financing for the creative sector. At least, I’ve seen a few steps taken by the Minister of Information, the CBN governor and the Minister of Finance. They have been doing a lot to try and get this into play, but then with regards to DSO itself, a lack of understanding of what DSO itself means technically is that at times people don’t see where the money is.

    So, they say there is no money, how can you say there is no money? The very essence of DSO is that you free up spectrum that people can use to go and sell data and make data cheaper via LT 4G 5G. So, 16 TV analogue channels find something that if they move to digital, they will only need a fraction of it and then you can take the rest and sell it. So,with regards to the funding of DSO, we are sitting on it ourselves with no transaction being done properly to free it. So, it’s like a chicken and egg situation. You are sitting on the money, but you need to monetise it; you just need a few smart people in one room, create a model where it is used as security to fund the rest of DSO and then once it is funded and you remove the people, you use the asset and you sell it off to monetise the investment. Now, what I just said looks simple; we make it difficult for ourselves.

    The frequency you talked about is what the International Telecommunications Union (ITU) calls digital dividend. Some broadcast stations are on those frequencies. They need to vacate the frequencies before they can be freed.

    What model do you recommend?

    There are many ways you can model it. Everywhere in the world, this is what has been done so, it’s either the telcos pay to move them out, and to move them out that means you deploy some measure of infrastructure both in terms of mast for DSO equipment or then receiving the equipment for those who can’t afford it because you cannot switch off and then put 60 per cent of the country in darkness when it comes to television. ITU doesn’t allow that. It requires that the same amount of people have access to it as you did before when you were in analog. You have to play this thing very well, but you just need intelligent financial application to put to it, which is simple. You have a house in a backyard, there’s a tenant inside it. If you sell the house, you’ll be able to pay for 10 houses somewhere else. You tell the tenant leave and the tenant is saying that I won’t vacate; okay tenant, let me do a deal with you. When you vacate, pay me for this thing. The 10 houses I’m going to build, I will give you one of them, let’s sign the contract because this people are ready to build, but you are the one disturbing them. The tenant says okay fine. I will vacate once you give me that asset; don’t worry about; it tells the people it is done. I will vacate on this day. They sign a document, the people then go and the tenant is as good as left.

    They go, build the infrastructure and when they’re finished, the tenant moves there and then they collect the property. This is not rocket science; Nigeria is not the first to do it. In some countries, they have the money outside the transaction, we don’t because Nigeria doesn’t have that $400million, $300million to deploy in this first and then you get the frequencies and start selling. No, it’s the same transaction, but it can be done,  but they need to understand that this is the way to fund the rest of it. Nigeria will benefit in many ways from DSO, because it allows every home to become internet ready, connected, to become a destination for information; that they’ve never heard before. To do, transactions you’ll  need the decoder, bring internet into the home, bring it to a digital age.  If I put it in a very blunt way, data is not an end, it is a means to an end. The telcos have looked at data as if data is everything and that’s why they are not making money from it. Without video at the end of data, you cannot make money from it. You’ll struggle, all the financial applications; those things that they do cannot consume between three and four per cent of the available space that they have, but when you start using video. Then you consume, you have  to price video, you have to make it available. You remember when we had the initial phone networks. They said it was Nigeria stock because you’ll just carry the phone call 090, you’ll just be talking. This is where you need to get them to, you need to get them to video on data. Once people are doing video on data, you make money.

    WhatsApp is making life impossible for the network because it is becoming more efficient every day. You need less data everyday when you are using WhatsApp because they want you to keep on using WhatsApp, so they come up with all kinds of compression technology, even Facebook is one of them.  So, the mobile phone companies are receiving their own and they don’t understand what they need to do and in a country that has Nollywood, that has Afro Beat, that has the kind of music videos that we have, that has comedy, jokes,  Fuji, content that will push data can never be a problem. Some things happen here that when you see, you wonder, ‘what is happening here? It’s like my people say somebody has a head, he has no arm. Somebody has heart, he has no head. It’s something that is signal there. The money to do it is within the system, it’s in people’s hand, it’s in corporation’s hand. The power is in the hands of government. We don’t even need non-Nigeria entity to be involved in this. There’s nothing they bring to us. We have everything; so it’s to deploy those resources and I think that we will get there. As time goes on, people will realise that there is no free lunch. When you look at the DSO, the way it’s been framed, we have two signal distributors, one of them is Pinnacle, a 100 per cent local company that has been equipping and broadcasting for over 30 years.

    So you’ve got Pinnacle signal distributor, they are well funded, they can do whatever they need to do and then you find that what has happened in Nigeria is that all the free to air channels are not going to need their transmitters anymore; they have to go to the signal distributor in order to benefit from DSO and so like what you said is happening in Kaduna, Abuja, Jos, Ilorin, Enugu so they are giving their channels to this people and this people will re-transmit for them so they don’t need all that work anymore, they pack the work with the signal distributor on behalf of Nigeria. The big problem is now that the foreign paid TV firms in Nigeria who are also on spectrum that is required and are also transmitting not only on satellite but using Nigeria’s spectrum, they want to stay separate and keep on doing what they are doing, you take transmission from the free to air company, you’ll have to take it from the pay TV company, you take if from the local Nigerian company, you have to take it from the foreign company.