Category: e-Business

Japanese household electronics giants, Sharp and Djacom Limited have sealed an agreement that will ultimately lead to the assembly of Sharp’s range of products in the country.

Speaking during the formal presentation of the agreement in Lagos, the firm said the strategic partnership also involved not only assemblage but distribution and retail of Sharp home appliances by Dajcom in the country.

According to the two firms, the partnership is a unique development that will add value to the economy of the country.

Director, Sharp Middle East and Africa Mr.TagamiYasuharu, said Nigeria’s market is an important market in the continent, adding that the strategic partnership will allow the firms products to flow into the country while consumers will tap into the two years warranty, genuine spare parts and widespread professional network of service centres, This extensive market coverage will be backed up by Dajcom’s first class after-sales services and distribution network.

He said: “For Sharp, Nigeria is an extremely important market and with Dajcom Ltd as our partner, we are committed towards enriching every Nigerian household with our one-of-a-kind technology and products.”

Speaking on the development, Managing Director, Dajcom Limited, Mr. David Safa, the partnership will benefit Nigerians as Sharp’s two-year global warranty will be available to Nigerians.

Safa said: “I am confident about the collaboration, and Sharp products would become popular among Nigerians in the near future.”

Sharp Middle East FZE is a wholly-owned subsidiary of Sharp Corporation, Japan.

Its company in Dubai, UAE is the regional hub for the Middle East, Africa and Caucuses (CIS) regions, covering over 80 countries with sales, marketing and customer service operation in its core business of audio-visual and communication equipment, health and environment equipment, information equipment, as well as crystalline and thin-film solar panels.

The three major networks, MTN, Airtel and Globacom were fined N647.5 million by the Nigerian Communications Commission (NCC) for allegedly not meeting the Key Performance Indicators (KPIs). The operators described the fine as “needless”, but their subscribers are asking for compensation from them for what they call poor services. LUCAS AJANAKU reports.

When she wanted to load her mobile phone to make an important call, Stella Erasua, 24, had problems. After trying for some time, the service provider said it was through.

Erasua tried several times to call her people in Edo State, but failed. After some time, she decided to use the short message service (SMS). While her service provider told her that her message had been delivered and money promptly deducted from her account, she waited endlessly for an acknowledgement. It never came. This prompted her to call because it was an important call.

“When the call eventually went through, I could not hear what my friend was saying. She too could not hear me either. It was noisy and my phone was humming. By the time I ended the call, I had spent three minutes for which money was deducted,” she lamented.

Like Stella, Mr Kunle Olarenwaju’s call to his wife who travelled to Komu in Itesiwaju Local Government Area of Oyo State, also failed. He had not heard from her since she dropped her at the Iyana Ipaja park in Lagos on the outskirts of the city in the morning. So, he was disturbed. He bought a recharge card, loaded it and attempted to call her.

After several futile attempts, the call went through only for a male voice to pick his call. He was livid, wondering what could have happened. “I was shocked. I thought she was involved in an accident and someone had picked the phone at the scene of the accident. The thought of infidelity never crossed my mind anyway because we have been together for so long. But quite honestly, I was emotionally disturbed.

“When I shared my experience with a friend, he explained to me that it could have been network problem. According to him, it could have been call diversion. So, if I were irrational, I would have, in a state of fury, started hurling insults on the woman and begin the groundwork for the destruction of my marriage,” he said.

These are but few of the cases that the over 120 million subscribers in Nigeria daily go through in their attempts to make calls. It is either the call could not be originated or it is originated and not completed or dropped.

The regulator of the telecoms sector, the Nigerian Communications Commission (NCC), in its pursuit of its mandate of protecting the subscribers took steps to right the wrongs by slamming fines on three of the operators.

Previous futile attempts

Attempts to enthrone quality service delivery in the past made NCC and operators to agree to abide by key performance indicators (KPIs). The KPIs are Call Set-up Success Rate (CSSR), Call Completion Rate (CCR), Stand-alone Dedicated Controlled Channel Congestion (SDCCC), Hand-over Success Rate (HSR) and Traffic Channel Congestion (TCC).

Breach of these KPIs has led to NCC imposing fines on the operators. Last year, the regulator imposed a fine of N360 million each on MTN and Etisalat on the one hand while. Airtel was required to pay N270 million and Globacom was fined N180 million on the other, all failing to meet the KPIs set by the regulatory agency. CSSR denotes the fraction of the attempts to make a call which result in a connection to the called number. For some reasons, call attempts do not always result in a connection. CSSR, therefore, measures the success rate against the attempts..

New sanctions

A total N647.50 million was imposed on MTN, Airtel and Globacom for failing to meet the KPIs for quality of service in January, this year.

The three firms were also barred from selling subscriber identity module (SIM) cards with effect from 1st till 31st of March 2014, and further barred from all promotions in their networks until they improve on the failed KPIs for which they were sanctioned.

The details of the sanction showed that Airtel and MTN are to pay a fine of N185 million each while Globacom is liable to pay N277,500. In addition, each of the operators must pay the sanction amount on or before tomorrow, failure upon which each will be liable to pay N2.5million per day as long as the contravention persists.

The sanctions, which were communicated to the three operators in a letter endorsed by the Executive Vice Chairman (EVC), NCC, Dr. Eugene Juwah, said the Commission will carry out an audit of the three companies on March 1, 2014 and also on March 31, this year, to ensure that no sale of new SIM cards takes place in any of the three networks within the period.

The letter made reference to an earlier directive of December 10, which warned the operators that “if the Quality of Service does not improve by December 31, 2013, the Commission will be compelled to direct operators to, among others, suspend the activation of new SIMs and subscribers until such an operator can prove that it has met the KPIs specified in the regulations”.

Juwah said: “The Commission after careful collation of statistics from the Network Operating Centres, NOC, of all major networks operators for the month of January, this year has concluded that the service provided by some of the operators during the period fell below the KPI published by the Commission in the Quality of Service Regulations, as amended.”

Details of the sanction also indicated that Airtel failed on Call Setup Success Rate, CSSR, and SDCONG, while MTN failed on Call Setup Success Rate , CSSR and Drop Call Rate, DCR. On its part, Globacom failed on Call Setup Success Rate, CSSR, Drop Call Rate, DCR, and SDCONG.

NATCOMS reacts

The National Association of Telecoms Subscribers (NATCOMS) said it has gone to court to stop the payment of the fines to the NCC.

Its President, Deolu Ogunbanjo said the group has taken the decision in view of a matter it has pending in court bothering on the same subject matter.

But the ordinary men on street said since they are the ones that are usually at the receiving end of the inadequacies of the operators, they should be compensated by way of air time, arguing that previous sanctions have failed to elicit the desired effect.

They argue that under the former EVC Ernest Ndukwe in 2007, they were compensated with airtime.

Juwah disagrees. He said: “Don’t think that they pay fines so easily. The last time we sanctioned them, they paid about N2.5 million each and they are forced to publish it in their annual reports. For some of them that are listed in stock exchanges like Johannesburg; it affects them more seriously than people think.”

Juwah said after the fine, operators had prevailed upon the regulator to lower the KPIs which it did, adding that while the operators have been passing the test conducted on the network, end-user experience has been nothing to write home about. He said the operators’ business model was not helping matters

He said: “Some of them may have decided that because of their own plan, they will continue to increase their subscriber base. By this they are ready to pay fine that they incur from quality of service infraction. They will also be making investment until the investment will catch up with the needed capacity.”

ALTON’s position

President, Association of Licensed Telecoms Operators of Nigeria (ALTON), Gbenga Adebayo said since the operators do not operate in a vacuum and since they do not operate in isolation, the fundamental environmental challenges affecting the country have to be addressed by the government. He said he had to stop and caution a contractor working who ignorantly vandalised OFC, adding that there must be synergy to stop such incidence in the future.

Such challenges are the bureaucracy around the grant of right of way (RoW), multiple taxation/regulation, premeditated vandalism of OFC and BTS, theft of fuel at BTS and crushing cost of running the networks on fuel. Others are resort to shutting down of BTS by officials of government ministries, department and agencies (MDAs) and lack of incentives to drive service penetration to the remote and rural areas.

ATCON’s position

President, Association of Telecoms Companies of Nigeria (ATCON), Lanre Ajayi said fines are not the answer. According to him, there should no money to be shared between the subscribers and the regulator because the factors that breed poor quality of services are still in the industry.

He said the money the operators are being asked to pay should have been directed to upgrading the network for improved service quality. “You want to eat your cake and have it by asking the operators to pay fine because such money should have been used to upgrade the network,” he said, adding sanction is not the answer.

While commending the government for taking steps to remove the obstacles along the way of roll out, he urged the relevant government agencies to do more, adding that the leadership position of Lagos State government should be emulated in this respect.

Japanese household electronics giants, Sharp and Djacom Limited have sealed a deal to assemble Sharp’s products in the country.

Speaking during the presentation of the agreement in Lagos, the firm said the partnership also involved not only assemblage, but distribution and retail of Sharp home appliances by Dajcom in the country.

According to the two firms, the deal is a unique development that will add value to the economy of the country.

Director, Sharp Middle East and Africa Mr.TagamiYasuharu, said Nigeria’s market is important in the continent, adding that the strategic partnership will allow the firms products to flow into the country while consumers will tap into the two years warranty, genuine spare parts and widespread professional network of service centres, This extensive market coverage will be backed up by Dajcom’s first class after-sales services and distribution network.

He said: “For Sharp, Nigeria is an extremely important market and with Dajcom Ltd as our partner, we are committed towards enriching every Nigerian household with our one-of-a-kind technology and products.”

Speaking on the development, Managing Director, Dajcom Limited, Mr. David Safa, the partnership will benefit Nigerians as Sharp’s two-year global warranty will be available to Nigerians.

Safa said: “I am confident about the collaboration, and Sharp products would become popular among Nigerians in the near future.”

Sharp Middle East FZE is a wholly-owned subsidiary of Sharp Corporation, Japan. Its company in Dubai, UAE is the regional hub for the Middle East, Africa and Caucuses (CIS) regions, covering over 80 countries with sales, marketing and customer service operation in its core business of audio-visual and communication equipment, health and environment equipment, information equipment, as well as crystalline and thin-film solar panels.

As the innovator of LCD technology, which is the basis of modern-day LCD and LED TVs, Sharp’s rich heritage of R&D has also provided the world with many other ‘firsts’ such as the world’s first-ever sharp mechanical pencil, back in 1915; commercial microwave oven in 1962, world’s First LCD calculator in 1973, and industry’s first camera-equipped mobile phone in 2000.

Etisalat Nigeria said it has outsourced some aspects of its information technology (IT) services to Chinese equipment vendor, Huawei.

Its Acting Chief Executive Officer, Mr. Matthew Willsher, said the decision to outsource aspects of the company’s IT function followed the adoption of a new business model which effectively aligns with the corporate vision of creating more value for customers by improving quality, reducing costs, embedding innovation, and increasing the speed of delivery.

The agreement reached by Huawei and Etisalat witnesses the first IT outsourcing programme that is going to be implemented in Africa region. Apart from this, the strategic agreement also leads to the transformation of the telecommunications industry in Africa.

Managing Director, Huawei Nigeria, Mr. Pang Jimin, said service is the future, and thus the IT outsourcing programme matches Huawei’s service strategy. Being the strategic partner with Etisalat, Huawei will contribute to Etisalat’s business success with professional service capabilities.

Under the arrangement, Huawei will be responsible for the operational management of Etisalat Nigeria’s IT services across technical infrastructure, application management and user support. However, the Business Planning, Architecture and Governance shall still be retained by Etisalat Nigeria.

Last year, Huawei established a regional network operation centre (RNOC) in Lagos with capability of maintaining all its networks in Africa continent.

The IT outsourcing programme is expected to improve the quality of service (QoS) in the country.

The telecoms world was shocked last week when a firm, Bitflux, beat the second national operator, Globacom, to clinch the 2.3gigahertz (GHz) spectrum licence. LUCAS AJANAKU writes on what lies ahead for the winner.

Nobody gave the firm a chance against Globacom, the second national carrier. So, a contest with it by Bitflux was considered a walkover. It did not turn out that way. It was at the auction of the 2.3 gigahertz (GHz) spectrum at the Transcorp Hilton Hotel, Abuja last week that Bitflux picked its licence at Globacom’s expense.

The ball was set rolling when the Chairman of Nigerian Communications Commission (NCC), Peter Igho, gave his opening remarks and the Chief Executive Officer of the NCC, Dr Eugene Juwah read his welcome address.

Just as the contest was about taking off, the Permanent Secretary, Ministry of Communications Technology, Dr Tunji Olaopa, representing Minister of Communications Technology, Mrs Omobola Johnson, walked into the filled hall. The national anthem followed while the minister’s goodwill message was read.

The bid began at 11 am with representatives of Globacom and Bitflux kept in separate rooms while their communication gadgets were taken from them to allow free, transparent, and fair contest.

The Glo team was led by its Group Operating Officer, Mohammed Jameel, and with support from its Divisional Director, Ibrahim Fadipe, Aremu Olajide of the Legal Department and Boniface Ogbonaya of Business Development. Biflux team consisted of four directors. They are Biodun Omoniyi, Tokunbo Talabi, Tunji Gafaar and Julius Olatise.

Auction technology

The auction was electronically-driven with software imported from the United Kingdom. Known as ‘ascending clock auction,’ Director, Spectrum Administration, NCC, Nwaulune Augustine said: “The software that was used to do the auction was got from a company called Policy Tracker in the United Kingdom (UK) but was run locally by NCC workers. So the entire process was run on a UK-based auction technology.”

Reserve price for the spectrum

The reserve price $23 million plus 15 per cent of the sum shot the figure up to $264.5million.

During the first round, none of the two bidders responded by way of going a little above the reserve price. Thus, the auction technology displayed tie breakers and moved automatically to the next stage,

Announcing the winner, Juwah said the process went through two rounds. While the first round which had set $23million in addition to another 15 per cent which made total to stand at $26.450million had produced no winner, the machine immediately switched to “tie breakers’ indicating that neither of the two bidders was ready to go above what was put on offer. The second round saw Bitflux offering $23,251,000 while Globacom offered $23, 50,001.

Bitflux reacts

When the Bitflux team rejoined the waiting audience after the contest and discovered they had won, with incredulity written boldly on their faces, they screamed, shaking hands and exchanging banters with members of the audience.

Yes, they have a reason to celebrate. They have just locked horns with ‘The Bull,’the nickname for Michael Adenugu, Chairman of Globacom, and came out with their heads unbruised.

Omoniyi captured this in his acceptance remarks. According to him, the big brother (a referance to Adenugu) has been magnanimous to let go. Omoniyi thanked the telco for the opportunity, adding that it would not have been possible if The Bull was not willing to let go.

In his response, Talabi expressed gratitude to the NCC for organisisng a “suspense filled and tension-soaked yet, transparent bid process”. He thanked everyone for the support and prayers, adding that the firm will not disappoint Nigerians

Analysts were also shocked by the outcome of the spectrum auction. “Initially, I saw Bitflux as a mismatch for Globacom, a telco that has virtually all the operating licences available on the stable of the NCC. Aside this fact, it is on record that since it started operation in the country, it has not gone cap in hand seeking for financial lifeline from any bank, both local and foreign yet it keeps awarding infrastructure upgrade contracts running into billions of dollars to ZTE and Huawei.

“So, quite honestly, I did not give Bitflux any fighting chance in the contest which result has proved to be the metaphoric battle between David and Goliath. Today, David has defeated Goliath,” an industry analyst said, on condition of anonymity.

Glocbacom

Jameel who had the microphone before Omoniyi said the national operator considered the spectrum price too high when compared with what was offered in the past, adding that it does not align with the telco’s business model.

He however, commended the regulator for doing a clean job, promising to participate in future spectrum auction.

Hurdles to cross

Bitflux has to pay $23,251 million (about N3.82 billion) in the next eight days (14 business days effective February 19 when it won the licence). The firm is also expected to pay another N155 million in 30 days for Unified Access Service Licence, which will allow it to operate as “wholesale wireless broadband services’ provider in the country.

If the firm fails to meet the two payments on schedule, it automatically loses the licence to Globacom, which analysts say is already waiting in the wings to pick the licence at the slightest prompting.

But Bitflux said it is prepared to meet the payment schedule. Asked if it was partnering with any lender, the firm was evasive in its response as it said the relationship it has with banks is a customer/bank relationship

Promises

Omoniyi said making broadband services ubiquitous in the country is part of the firm’s business plan. He said: “We intend to have national coverage and stay faithful to the condition of the spectrum and the NCC. The roll-out is going to be very aggressive and the whole essence of this is to make sure that broad band get very deep into the system and even to the lower people in the society. It is going to be available and the technology we are deploying is the latest technology, which we call long term evolution (LTE).”

He said the dearth of infrastructure will not deter the firm’s roll-out strategy, which has been carefully worked out. “There is a roll-out plan, which we are going to follow into detail. We are going to comply with the roll-out plan of the commission.

He said the spectrum licence will enable ordinary Nigerians to stay in their homes and get broadband services at affordable costs. “It simply means that you will get broadband in your houses faster than you expected, so I believe in the next one year broadband will just be as ubiquitous as we have voice calls.

Additional benefit that would come to the user is that the technology being deployed now is a lot faster than the old, obsolete one. Secondly, the fact that the traffic is high means that as a wholesaler the customer will get it at his or her door step bigger and faster. “So, you will notice that it is also on your phone when you move around, also on your PC. Then you do not have to wait for long before connecting to the Internet. Electronic payment is also going to be fast while other things will ride on it,” he said.

Johnson said the emergence of a wholesale wireless broadband service provider will accelerate broadband penetration in the country and spur economic growth, development and prosperity of the people of Nigeria.

She said since a 10 per cent increase in broadband translates to 1.3 per cent growth in the national gross domestic product (GDP), the impact of cheap and ubiquitous broadband on national development could only be imagined.

Mrs Johnson pledged to keep working hard to ensure that all the obstacles on the way of infrastructure roll-out in the country are removed, adding that the fact that the telecoms industry is growing at 30 per cent is an indication that the prospects for returns on investment are enormous.

President, Association of Telecoms Companies of Nigeria (ATCON), Lanre Ajayi, said the success of the auction bore eloquent testimony to the fact that the spectrum auction of 2001 was not a fluke that was driven by personality but by institutions. He commended the NCC for making the country proud by conducting its affairs in a most transparent manner, urging other agencies to borrow a leaf from the regulator and be a good ambassador of the country among the comity of nations.

Augustine said 28 firms expressed interest to participate in the auction while only two eventually made it to the final stage, adding that with the award of the licence, pervasive broadband deployment is expected in the country.

Bitflux Communications is a consortium of VDT, Bitcom and Superflux. The company is run by young indigenous professionals who have made a mark in the industry and represent the hope of the ICT industry and Nigeria when the prospects of a well-managed broadband landscape is considered.

Minister of Communications Technology, Mrs Omobola Johnson, has stressed the importance of broadband in fast-tracking the development of modern knowledge-driven economic development in the country.

The minister, who spoke at the kick-off of the Broadband Awareness Campaign (BAC) in Lagos with the slogan: ‘Connect Nigeria, connected Nigerian’, said in the economy of countries where broadband has been well developed, citizens have witnessed a corresponding growth in the standard of living.

According to her, broadband will increase business productivity, lead to the creation of new businesses and jobs, save lives, deliver the much needed skills in a developing nation, provide security, improve social engagement and enrich governance.

Mrs Johnson said the BAC is the brainchild of the Broadband Council, which was established by President Goodluck Jonathan to tackle the challenges of broadband internet access in the country.

The Broadband Council, which is chaired by the minister launched the campaign to communicate the transformational benefits of broadband to all Nigerians and to encourage its use and adoption.

Stakeholders say the introduction of BAC is timely against the backdrop of the punitive cost of internet access, stressing that with the presence of four global system for mobile (GSM) communication service providers as well as broadband service providers like MainOne, Glo 1, SAT3 and the West African Cable System (WACS), it will work with the relevant stakeholders to address the situation.