The Nation Newspaper

Category: e-Business

  • Facebook claims its app drives SMEs’ revenue

    Digital platforms are increasingly becoming vital to the growth of Small and Medium Scale Enterprises (SMEs) in Nigeria.

    Facebook, in its recent Economic Impact Study, discovered that using its platform to trade has enhanced significant growth in the revenues of SMEs across the country.

    According to the study, 91 per cent of businesses surveyed outlined the increased demand for their company’s goods/services, not only in their home country, but further afield.

    The study, conducted in partnership with Morning Consult Brand Intelligence, sampled over 1,000 SMEs across some sectors, including technology, services, manufacturing, retail and healthcare. Highlighting how communities like SMEs in Nigeria use the platform, and the effectiveness of social media as a growth tool, the results provided some interesting insights into usage and potential opportunities for local businesses.

    Commenting on the research, SMB Sales Manager EMEA Abi Williams said: “With rising access to the internet across Nigeria and the low cost of smartphones, digital platforms such as Facebook’s family of apps have become incredible mechanisms to build communities and foster relationships. With more SMEs leveraging digital tools to communicate and engage with existing and potential customers, there has never been so many opportunities to maximise growth and connect with relevant customers locally and globally.”

    Meanwhile, Facebook has announced the launch of Facebook Community Leadership Programme, a global initiative that invests in people building communities. The platform will commit millions of dollars to the programme, including up to $10 million in grants that will go directly to people creating and leading communities.

    In addition, Facebook introduced new tools for group administration and the expansion of the company’s London-based engineering team, which builds technology to help keep people safe on Facebook.

    Head of Groups and Community, Jennifer Dulski and Vice President, Product Partnerships Facebook, Ime Archibong, made the announcement at a forum tagged: Facebook Communities Summit Europe in London.

    Community leaders often tell Facebook that with additional support they can have more impact. The Facebook community leadership programme is designed to empower leaders from around the world, who are building communities through the Facebook family of apps and services.

    It includes: Residency and Fellowship opportunities, training, support and funding for community leaders from around the world.

    Up to five leaders will be selected to be community leaders in residence and awarded up to $1,000,000 each to fund their proposals.

    Up to 100 leaders will be selected for Facebook’s fellowship programme and will receive up to $50,000 each to be used for a specific community initiative.

    Community leadership circles bring local community leaders together to  connect, learn and collaborate. Facebook piloted three circles in the United States in 2017 and will be expanding globally this year.

    Groups for Facebook Power Admins, which Facebook currently runs with more than 10,000 group admins in the US and the United Kingdom (UK), are expanding to more members to help them share advice with one another and connect with our team to test new features and share feedback.

  • NITRA hosts chiefs

    Chief Executive Officers of Nigeria’s leading data centre service providers- MainOne, Medallion Communications, and Rack Centre will be guests at the Nigeria Information Technology Reporters Association (NITRA)’s February 2018 edition of the monthly interactive session with ICT industry helmsmen tagged: ‘Breakfast Meeting With The CEO.’

    The CEOs, Ms Funke Opeke (MainOne), Mr. Ike Nnamani (Medallion) and Mr. Tunde Coker (Rack Centre) have all indicated interest to be present at the meeting, which will have over 50 journalists from various media organisations in attendance.

    As the world increasingly exploits information technology for innovative services and competitive advantage, the data centre is playing a rapidly expanding role in job creation and preservation as well as the overall economic recovery.

    Nigeria has witnessed significant investments in data centres being established in the country. And it has often been argued that the availability of world class data centres in Nigeria is critical infrastructure required for the implementation of the country’s broadband initiatives.

    Hence, the need for the industry journalist to convene players in this segment of the nation’s ICT sub sector of the economy on the theme: “Data Centre Operation In Nigeria: Impacts, Benefits And Challenges In a Knowledge Economy.”

    The event, slated for Friday, February 16, at the R-Café Hotel on Isaac John Street, Ikeja GRA, will feature MainOne, as a leading connectivity solutions company, operator of MDX-i Lekki Data Centre.

    MainOne apart from being the premier Tier III certified Data Centre in West Africa; it is the most connected Data Centre facility in the region, with access to fibre connectivity from all the major ISPs and telecommunications operators in the region.

    Also, Medallion Communications CEO  will be on the panel to share his experiences as a product of structured collaboration between technocrats with versatile exposures and competences in the telecommunications industry.

    NITRA will also host Rack Centre CEO as a major player in a state-of-the-art, Tier III Certified data centre carrier, offering neutral colocation services.

    The meeting offers the CEOs an   opportunity to showcase some of their company’s achievements, the impacts, benefits and challenges of such business in the country’s national economy before the largest gathering of ICT journalists.

  • Telcos plan to ride on digital advertising

    Mobile phone companies are expected to maintain their advertising budgets at between three and four per cent of revenue in the next fiscal year. despite margin pressure as the need to deliver product messaging has become critical amid brutal price competition, experts said. The focus will be more on digital, including social media and videos, to reach out to customers directly, they added.

    “Telcos are in the red but they need to keep communicating amid tariff wars. They have access to millions and with the increase in social media access, they can talk to their subscribers one on one,” said media consultant Harish Bijoor.

    Also, Marketing Advisory CEO  Paul Writer  said: “As mass products, they will continue to spend on mass media such as print, outdoor, Tv along with social media and digital.”

    The telecom industry has been roiled by tariff wars following the entry of Reliance Jio Infocomm, making advertising crucial for survival as companies look to attract new subscribers from those exiting or ring fence their own users from poaching. This costs money.

    “It is a myth that digital is cheap. It can be more targeted, hence, is more effective,” said a senior executive at Idea Cellular, India’s number three telco, which is merging its operations with Vodafone India. With the increase in data consumption, video advertising has become a key influencer,” he said.

  • MTN eyes Africa’s biggest bank

    Africa’s biggest mobile telecoms operator, MTN’s ambitious business strategy is to become Africa’s biggest bank, its CEO Rob Shuter, has said.

    The company is encouraged by the progress made by its Mobile Money offering in other areasthat it operates in. This is despite MTN Mobile Money failing to gain traction in the South African market, with the telco eventually killing it off in 2016 due to lack of commercial viability.

    MTN Mobile Money allows anyone with a mobile phone to send and receive money quickly, safely, affordably and conveniently.

    “The core digital service that we have decided to put our money on is Mobile Money. Mobile Money is really about leveraging the strength of the brand and leveraging the strength of the distribution because we have built a huge informal distribution network for prepaid airtime to bring customers into a transactional banking system,” Shuter was quoted to have said by ITWeb Africa at Deloitte Africa 2018 Outlook conference in Woodmead, South Africa.

    He pointed out that MTN has deployed Mobile Money in 14 markets and “if we look at our 30-day active users, which is the most important matric, we are growing by half a million customers a month. I think that’s pretty cool and today we are sitting at 21 million subscribers”.

    “We are a new age transactional banking provider and it’s a very big imperative for us, and the key thing we want to do is to scale it rapidly,”he said.

    According to Shuter, MTN wants to build Mobile Money into a 60 million customer business in the next three to four years.

    “We will be the largest bank in Africa, leveraging scale, network, brand, infrastructure and distribution,” he noted.

    Detailing the company’s other plans, Shuter said he is upbeat about the economies of Africa and the Middle East, where the telco has operations.

    “We are very optimistic about what we see. For us, we see more opportunities than challenges. We see the need to focus on our core geographies and this is partially because this is where we see the growth. We see Asia-Pacific as the fastest growing economy, but Middle East and Africa are also following suit. MTN looks at the market in terms of three core customer segments – consumer, enterprise and wholesale,” Shuter pointed out.

    He added:“If we look at consumer, what is quite inspiring for us, looking at our geographies, is that we have a population of about 650 million people across the 22 markets we operate in. In the next three to four years, that 650 million people is going to grow to 700 million people. An increase of 50 million people is the same as adding another South Africa to the portfolio.

    “So, that gives us a lot of opportunity, actually still in the traditional voice business – SIM penetration, voice, handsets, SMS, etc.”

    According to Shuter, the three biggest markets for MTN are South Africa, Nigeria and Iran. He added that the economic conditions are improving. “In Nigeria, oil prices are coming back and inflation is coming under control. South Africa is also witnessing winds of change politically, while Iran is a market that is opening up, particularly to Europe, despite the rhetoric that we hear from the US,”he said.

    The other aspect that defines the market, he said, is the low level of Internet and digital services. “When you look at the adoption of mobile Internet, we are talking 20per cent to 30per cent of these markets. These are markets with born-digital youthful populations – these are people who were introduced to the Internet on a mobile device.”

    He believed that there is also potential for the adoption of digital services, which include mobile money, media, entertainment and social media.

    “So there are a lot of positives in the consumer side of the business. If we are looking at the market size, we are looking at R500 billion to R600 billion in all the geographies that we operate in; that’s about two-thirds of the market. If you want to be successful for the long run in our industry, you have to be very well-positioned in the consumer market in terms of brand, products, network, technology, resources, etc,”he said.

    The enterprise market, according to Shuter, is valued at R210 billion and growing at eight per cent year-on-year. “For sure, we have to be successful in the consumer segment because that’s the biggest segment but for an operator like us, a push in the enterprise sector can make a very big difference. It’s a large market with decent growth,”he said.

  • Nigerians urged to express love with ‘EVO’ MiFi

    Nigerians urged to express love with ‘EVO’ MiFi

    Nigerians have been advised to leverage innovative internet offers to reach out to their loved ones seamlessly for Valentine’s Day – the annual season for love.

    The 4G WiFi is mobile portable device with innovative power technology.

    Spectranet, a 4GLTE broadband and internet services provider said it has introduced the EVO MiFi- to foster love and affection with the young-at-hearts at this Valentine season.

    According to Ajay Awasthi, Chief Executive Officer, the launch of EVO MiFi with this innovative offer, we would like to encourage Nigerians to express their love freely with affordable, high quality, high speed 4G data connectivity.

    “EVO MiFi comes bundled with two different data plans with 40GB Data and Unlimited Data respectively. We have also specifically designed and loaded the bundles with 50% data bonus for the next six renewals within 210 days of activation.”

    Awasthi who further described the EVO MiFi as a perfect gift for women and mark of tribute for female entrepreneurs in Nigerian hinted that plans have been concluded that to launch two “women only “stores in Lagos before Valentine’s day.

    “By extending the high speed broadband connectivity to the Nigerian women, EVO MiFi will help achieve the 30% National Broadband Plan of the Nigerian Communications Commission. In his submission the target can be attained when more people, especially women, are connected to broadband and internet services.”

    EVO MiFi is a portable device suitable for indoor and outdoor purposes.

    Recall that Spectranet Limited was the first Internet Service Provider (ISP) to launch 4G LTE internet service in Nigeria and known for providing an affordable, faster and more reliable internet broadband to Nigerian homes and offices.

    Its internet service is currently available across Lagos, Abuja, Ibadan and Port Harcourt. The state of the art network ensures high speed internet connectivity for the customers.

  • Facebook seeks safer internet for Africa

    Facebook seeks safer internet for Africa

    Facebook has announced a number of partnerships across Africa with over 20 non-governmental organisations and government agencies – with the aim of raising awareness of emerging online issues and helping to explore ways to make the internet safer for all.

    Launching a series of initiatives, including a specially created family-friendly animation which directs viewers to the Parent Portal in the Facebook Safety Centre, parents and caregivers can access a variety of information and tips on how to discuss issues of online safety with teens, developed in partnership with safety experts from around the world.

    Some of these resources include are the Facebook Safety Centre which is mobile friendly and available in over 50 languages, including step-by-step instructional videos – https://www.facebook.com/fbsafety/; the Parent Portal -https://www.facebook.com/safety/parents; local resources for parents, teachers and caregivers -https://www.facebook.com/safety/resources;  Bullying Prevention Hub with advice for teens, parents and educators looking for support and help for issues related to bullying –  https://www.facebook.com/safety/bullying;  practical advice in Online Wellbeing – https://www.facebook.com/safety/wellbeing;  and tools on how to control user experience – https://www.facebook.com/safety/tools.

    Commenting on Facebook’s work as part of Safer Internet Day, Public Policy Manager Facebook, Africa , Akua Gyekye, said: “Every day, millions of people across Africa come to Facebook to talk about their special moments and to stay connected with the people they care about. We recognize the important role we play in creating a better and safer online community for all, with this year’s growing partnerships across the continent further demonstrating our ongoing commitment to supporting organisations that raise awareness on these important issues.”

    This year in Africa, Facebook is working with partners such as  Rudi International, Internet Society – Uganda Chapter, Watoto Watch in Kenya, Malawi Internet Governance Forum,

     Women’s Technology Empowerment Centre in Nigeria, South Africa’s Film and Publication Board, JOXAfrica Association in Senegal, Tech Women Zimbabwe, as well as the J Initiative in Ghana to address the needs and ongoing education of various communities.       

    Also commenting on the initiative, Communications Officer at W.TEC, Adeyemi Odutola said: “We believe in the positive uses of technology and are happy to play a role in helping to create a better, safer and more productive online community. Safer Internet Day is a great way to create a global conversation about how we make the Internet work better for everyone, especially girls and women.”

  • NCC approves two new Infraco licences

    NCC approves two new Infraco licences

    The board of the Nigerian Communications Commission (NCC) has issued two additional Infrastructure Company (Infraco) licences pursuant to its drive to deepen broadband penetration in the country.

    The two new licencees are Zinox Technology Limited for Southeast and Brinks Integrated Solutions Limited for Northeast.

    With this approval, the number of Infracos licenced so far is now four.

    Over a year ago, MainOne Cable Company Limited had been licenced to provide services in Lagos while IHS got its licence to cover the Northcentral geopolitical zone including Abuja.

    The Infraco licences are based on the NCC’s Open Access Model (OAM) in line with the National Broadband Plan (NBP) of (2013 – 2018).

    By provisions of the NBP, Nigeria is expected to attain 30 percent broadband penetration by 2018.

    Director, Public Affairs, NCC, Tony Ojobo, said as part of the initiative to achieve this, NCC, as the driver of this process, has so far licenced a number of companies to stimulate broadband penetration.

    These include Bitflux Communications Limited (Bitflux) for 2.3 Ghz and MTN Nigeria for the 2.6 Ghz licences. Other licences are in the pipeline in this process. As at December, 2017, Nigeria had attained 22 per cent broadband penetration.

    With the licensing of four Infracos: MainOne Cable, IHS, Zinox Technology and Brinks Solutions, there are three more licencees waiting for approval to bring total number to seven. These are for South South, North West and South West.

  • OLX shuts Nigeria office

    OLX shuts Nigeria office

    Global online classified, OLX has shut down physical its operations in Nigeria. OLX is the world’s leading classifieds platform in growth markets and is available in more than 45 countries and over 50 languages. The platform connects local people to buy and sell used goods and services by making it fast and easy for anyone to post an ad through its mobile app.

    Every month, over 300 million people in local markets around the world use OLX’s online marketplace to find and sell a wide range of products, including vehicles, electronics, phones and much more.

    CEO of OLX in Asia, Middle East and Africa (AMEA), Sjoerd Nikkelen, said shutting down its business in the country was a difficult but important decision, stressing that it was for the firm to consolidate its operations globally.  No mention of Kenya or Ghana.

     “We made a difficult but important decision in Nigeria to consolidate our operations between some of our offices internationally.

    “Our marketplace will continue to operate here — uninterrupted — as it has since 2010, and we remain committed to the many people here who use our platform to buy and sell every month. We continue to be focused on constantly innovating to make sure that OLX remains the top classifieds platform in the country.

    “Of course, we are committed to helping our affected colleagues during this transition and have already offered them meaningful financial and other support. As we’ve expressed to them directly, we are extremely grateful for their many significant contributions to OLX’s success,” Nikkelen was quoted to have said in a statement yesterday.

    Public Relations and Communications Lead at OLX Nigeria, Uche Nwagboso, confirmed the development.

    Multinational media group and investor Naspers had also shut down all OLX offices in Africa except the one in its home country. Operations in Ghana, Nigeria and Kenya are going to be affected by this announcement, an unconfirmed report said.

    OLX is a global classifieds platform, with physical presence in nearly 40 countries.

    According to a report on Innovation Village, workers in these offices have been informed today and are expected to fully move out by the end of March 2018. The same report says OLX will still be present in these countries but will be run remotely and at press time, the Nigerian and Kenyan websites of OLX are still up and running.

    Naspers also has investment in MultiChoice — operators of the DStv and GOtv satellite televisions —and had with AB Kinnevik, acquired Konga which Zinox Technologies has also acquired.

     

  • Tecno Camon CM

    Tecno Camon CM

    The latest product from the stable of Tecno Mobile, the Camon CM is a high-end smartphone with outstanding camera and a chic to get heads turned. Not only is the device sleek, it also comes with the first of its kind design on a Tecno phone – a full screen display, which means consuming media, playing games and whatever that finds its way to the frameless screen is going to be exciting.

    Features:

    In with the dynamics in the telecoms sector, it is a fourth generation (4G) mobile device, specifically designed to cater to Nigeria’s multi-simming culture. It is a dual mini subscriber identity module (SIM) device.

    It has a 5.7 -inch HD IPS Touch Display, 720 x 1440 pixels (364 PPI) and 1.25GHz Cortex, MediaTek Chipset with 2GB RAM.

    With storage capacity of 16 GB with support for memory card up to 128 GB, Camon CM has 13 MP Rear Camera (LED flash) and 13  MP Front Camera with LED Flash with 3000 mAh removable battery that would last for so many hours.

    Sleek and great aesthetics, it is built with the corning gorilla glass for maximum screen protection, 18:9 full screen display, fingerprint scanner and excellent cameras – both front and rear.

    The Tecno Camon CM has a full body to ratio screen 18:9 which ensures users have media plastered all over the big screen – you’ll never have to miss the little details. Additionally, it comes with a large 5.7 inch screen.

    In terms of size, Tecno has trimmed the size to 7.75mm, this makes it easy on the hand and adds to the sleekness of the device.

    While the design appeared to have been inspired by Samsung S8, the sleekness of the phone can only be compared to Tecno devices such as the Tecno K7, Spark K9 plus and Cx.

    The 2.5 corning third glass stands up to impact in case of an unintended fall.

    The fingerprint scanner is located on the back on the phone. Also, the rear camera and Quad-LED flash are located at the top edge.

    Camera

    A full screen device, it has 13MP on both rear and the front. The back camera is equipped with 13MP with f/2.0 aperture and the Quad-LED flash allows for great pictures in poor lit environments. On the other hand, the front utilises a 13MP camera with f/2.0 aperture, LED flash and there’s a HDR portrait feature which allow for crisp and clear selfies. Back camera (primary):13MP, LED Flash, HD video with autofocus, smart gesture, geo-tagging, panorama while the front camera is the secondary.

    Software

    The heart of the phone is driven by the MediaTek MTK6737H Quad-core chipset clocked at 1.3GHz. Coupled with 2GB of RAM, the result is a fast smartphone that executes tasks without much time wasting.

    It features a 16GB of storage which can be expanded to 128GB with a MicroSD card while the interface is spiced up with the Android 7.0 (Nougat), while the HiOS brings a revamped feeling to users.

    Battery

    The Tecno Camon CM has a 3000 mAh battery which rather suits the screen resolution. There’s also significant battery conservation.

    Pricing,  availability

    The Camon CM comes in at the high-end ranging from N47,000 – N53,000. Its dollar equivalent is about $130.

    3C Hub has partnered Tecno for its sale and distribution.

    General specification

    It operates on Android 7.0 (Nougat) operating system with 1.25GHz Quad-core Processor (Mediatek Chipset) and in black colour.

    Supports

    It does not support 2G CDMA 1X, 3G CDMA EVDO, HSPA+, CDMA EVDO, NFC, Infrared Blaster, Iris scanner, document editor, not water resistant. It has no wireless charging, video editor, barometer and pedometer.

    Aside 4G LTE internet & connectivity,  it supports EDGE, GPRS, 3G, WLAN, Wi-Fi and hotspot, bluetooth, USB Port, micro USB 2.0, SMS/MMS, Push Emails, Instant Messaging, Entertainment, 5mm Jack, mp3, WAV, FLAC, eACC+, FM Radio, video player, MPEG4, H.263, H.264, XviD and many others.

  • NCC: 9mobile’s sale inconclusive

    NCC: 9mobile’s sale inconclusive

    THE Nigerian Communications Commission (NCC), has said the process of selling 9mobile has not been concluded.

    Its Executive Commissioner, Stakeholder Management, Mr Sunday Dare, told reporters on the sideline of a stakeholders forum in Lagos that the NCC had not been notified by the interim board of the fourth largest operator that a winner has emerged in the sale process being anchored by Barclays Africa, 9mobile’s transaction advisors. The forum was on cost based study for the determination of mobile voice termination rate

    According to him, it meant that the process has not been completed. “The interim board of 9mobile is yet to communicate to the NCC and that’s because the process is still ongoing.  There are two regulators involved in the issue, the financial and telecoms regulator.  Unless the final process is complete, the licensing process doesn’t really kick in. The CBN and NCC are working together to see that 9mobile is saved.  We have saved jobs and saved 9mobile from crashing and we kept up other creditors that have been working with them.

    “Capital Trustees and 9mobile interim board will guide this process to a logical conclusion.  Until then and until we have final evidence of the final report we will work together,”he said.

    Dare blamed speculative reportage of the 9mobile issues for the sudden decline in its fortunes, adding that there was need for caution in order not to hurt the telco further. “Because of all these unconfirmed reports, subscriber base of 9mobile dropped from 21 million to 17 million.  We just need to wait for another 30-40days to have a clarify on where to go to,” he urged.

    Last week, there were indications that the special purpose vehicle (SP) promoted by a former Chief Executive Officer of MTN Nigeria, Adrian Wood, Teleology Holdings has emerged as preferred bidder for 9mobile.

    The SPV is a private equity firm with an investment portfolio of $11billion. It offered more than $500 million to acquire the carrier while Smile offered about $300 million.

    Smile Telecoms Holdings, which  operates in Nigeria, Tanzania, Uganda, Congo DR and South Africa, is the reserve bidder.

    While over 10 bidders had indicated interest in acquiring the mobile network, only five were shortlisted before the number was further reduced to three.

    Globacom and Helios had failed to back their technical bids with financial bids, while Airtel pulled out of the process leaving Teleology and Smile Communications in the race.

    Airtel pulled out completely, complaining about “too many hidden things” in the health of the company.

    Had either Globacom or Airtel taken over the company formerly known as Etisalat, they would have overtaken MTN as the biggest operator in Nigeria by the number of subscribers.

    MTN has about 52 million active subscribers while Globacom and Airtel have 37 million and 36 million respective.

    9mobile, formerly known as Etisalat, has over 17 million subscribers, which if added to either Globacom’s or Airtel’s,  would have been higher than what MTN currently has.

    Wood, who was MTN Nigeria CEO, was credited with building a very good business model. The Australian has remained in the Nigerian business environment since November 2004 when he left MTN.

    In July 2017, 9mobile was on the verge of being taken over by a consortium of banks following a N541 billion debt overhang, but for the intervention of NCC and the CBN not intervened.

    Mubadala Group, the major investor from the United Arab Emirates, pulled out of Nigeria’s fourth largest mobile operator as a result of the debt owed to a consortium of 13 banks.

    The sale of 9mobile has continued despite a January 12, 2018, Lagos Court ruling expected to have put the ongoing sale process on hold.

    In the judgment, Justice Ibrahim Buba of Lagos Federal High Court  nullified the appointment of an interim board for Emerging Markets Telecommunications Service (EMTS), owners of 9mobile, the country’s fourth-largest telecommunications service operator in Nigeria.

    The judge gave the verdict in a ruling on an application by a firm, Spectrum Wireless Communication Ltd, which claimed it invested $35 million in EMTS/Etisalat in 2009.