A leading brand in alternative power and consumer electronics products, Blue Gate, at the weekend showcased its Online UPS Series to dealers and stakeholders across the country.
Speaking on the occasion in Lagos, its Executive Director, Amauche Chidozie, said the company has paid a lot of attention to processes and quality control mechanisms and built a track record of excellence, durability, and reliability through its quality assurance procedures.
She said: “We are constantly pushing ourselves, engaging in robust research and re-engineering our processes to fully meet all the standards and trending power backup lifestyle needs of our customers.
We are passionate about what we do and love to be of service to our dear customers and business associates.
So, we are here as part of our service delivery to meet directly with our partners, show them more capacities of our Online UPS Series, and get their feedbacks on how we can serve them better.”
Its Product General Manager, Rolland Emuobor, also said Online UPS Series are of advanced power backup technology that supplies and maintains continuous electricity supply direct from batteries at zero transfer time to connected equipment, while allowing users ample time to switch to preferred power source.
Emuobor said: “Our Online UPS series are rightly pocket-friendly, easy to use, maintain and a necessity for mission-critical equipment used in our diagnostic centres and hospitals.
No one would want the equipment in a hospital theatre, for instance, to fail because of little time lag in power outages or changeovers during surgical operations.
The UPS ensures that there is no nano-second time lag when changing to any power source. The product further provides assured guards to other industries and sensitive appliances such as digital printers, automated teller machines (ATMs), servers, PCs, Air Traffic Control Rooms, elevators/lift/escalators, among others.’’
The products, he said, range from 3 KVA to 100 KVA with designs that caters to modern living, convenience, and durability.
Unlike other UPS products in the country that offer less in terms of customer after-sale services, Bluegate products are very friendly and offer customer-centric after-sales services with guarantees, he added.
Airtel has renewed its call for the classification of telecoms infarstructure as Critical National Infrastructure (CNI) by the Federal Government.
The telco lamented that it had suffered over 1000 fibre cuts in the last nine months.
Speaking during a media parley at its headquarters in Lagos at the weekend, its Vice President, Networks Operation, Dr Adeola Adedoyin, lamented that frequent fibre cuts and thefts were part of the reasons for dropped calls and other service quality issues.
He lamented that telecoms infrastructure were vandalised, stolen, bombed and destroyed with reckless abandon, creating problems for the network operators as well as the consumers.
“Telecoms operators are plagued with so many problems ranging from security issues to illegal signal boosters. While a network provider is working hard to restore a fibre cut due to vandalism or activities of road construction workers, it also has to deal with illegal signal boosters, which interfere with network quality and operated by unlicensed operators.
“Then, all operators would have to wait endlessly for right of way (RoW) approvals, EIA approvals and other approvals.
Also, telecoms installations are huge targets for thieves who cart away with inverter batteries, generators, diesels in addition to the other daily and long standing problems of multiple taxation, community issues and all,” he said.
Adeola also highlighted the efforts telcos were making to remedy the situation, despite the harsh operating climate, stating that steps are being taken to improve surveillance across telecoms fibre routes; proactively engage with construction companies and communities; and enlisting the support of security agencies to access sites/telecoms infrastructure in flash points or troubled areas, among others.
Also speaking, its Director of Corporate Communications & Corporate Social Responsibility (CSR), Mr. Emeka Oparah, said the declaration of telecoms infrastructure as CNI would improve the quality of services (QoS) by telecom operators.
Oparah said Airtel alone recorded about 1022 cases of fibre cuts in nine months, that is, between last July and February 11, this year.
He explained that 405 cases of the fibre cut were as a result of road rehabilitation activities by construction firms while 617 cases were due to vandalism.
Having achieved and even surpassed broadband target contained in the National Broadband Plan 2013-2018 driven largely by the Nigerian Communications Commission (NCC), LUCAS AJANAKU writes on fresh moves to push its frontiers.
Broadband remains the driving force for tramsforming modern economies.
Dambatta
This underscored the eighth-point agenda of the Executive Vice Chairman, Nigerian Communications Commission (NCC) Prof Umar Dmabatta.
He said: “Broadband still remains the next frontier in the information communications technology (ICT) industry which will help in the speedy transformation of the Nigerian economy. This formed the basis for our eighth-point agenda.”
Globally, broadband has become the major index of development in every ramifications of human endeavours.
The international Telecommunications Union (ITU)-United Nations Educational, Scientific and Cultural Organisation (UNESCO) Broadband Commission for Sustainable Development, considers broadband as the oxygen of modern day economic development.
It is against this background that the Federal Government first set a target of 30 per cent broadband penetration in the country.
Driven by the regulator under Prof Dambatta, the country attained 30.9 per cent broadband penetration in November 2018.
The implication of this is that a total of 58,965,478 were connected to the internet through 3G and 4G networks out of 108,457,051 internet subscribers on the telecom networks.
By December, the figure rose steeply to 60, 087,199, taking the penetration depth to 31.48 per cent.
Through diligent implementation of the Eighth-Point Agenda, the growth trajectory continued such that at the twilight of last year, broadband penetration had hit unprecedented 37.80 per cent.
The penetration figure was 8.5 per cent in 2015 before the appointment of Prof Garba Dambatta.
That the 2013-2018 target was surpassed by the NCC is indicative of the commitment of the leadership to deliver.
“From less than nine per cent broadband penetration when he came on board in 2015, the NCC has helped in pushing Broadband Penetration to 37.80 per cent as of December, 2019,” a sector analyst said.
From successful auction of six slots of 2x5MHz in the 2.6 GHz Band, to re-planning of the 800 MHz band for LTE, and to assigning of 2×10 MHz Spectrum to Glomobile for trial in the 700 MHz, the Commission continued.
It regularised the 2×10 MHz Spectrum in the 700 MHz band previously assigned to MTN by NBC for the purpose of providing LTE services, and opened up 70/80 GHz band for both last mile and backhaul services, among other numerous spectrum managements.
Expectedly, stakeholders in the industry have commended the regulator for the feat achieved so far.
The stakeholders, including the Assosciation of Telecoms Companies of Nigeria (ATCON), Association of Licensed Telecoms Operators of Nigeria (ALTON) and Communications and Digital Economy Minister, Dr Isa Pantami.
He commended the NCC for its excellent regulatory role at the recent ITU Study Group 3 on Standardisation Workshop hosted by the NCC, on behalf of the country, at the Transcorp Hilton Hotel, Abuja.
Expanding frontiers
In line with the desire to digitalise the economy, Dr Pantami inaugurated another National Broadband Policy Committee headed by the Chief Executive Officer, MainOne Company, Ms. Funke Opeke.
The Committee has since submitted its report to the minister ahead deadline given to it by the Federal Government.
The Committee’s work was to develop a new National Broadband Policy 2020-2025 for the nation to chart a digital future where the country would deploy necessary technologies that would bring government services closer to the citizens through superfast broadband internet services provided by the mobile network operators (MNOs).
Key success factors
For the NCC to have achieved the 30 per cent target and surpassed it, there is no doubt that given the necessary support by the Federal Government, the Commission could do more.
Initiatives such as Broadband Infrastructure Companies (InfraCos) licencing, use of Television White Space (TVWS) technology for affordable broadband services in rural, underserved and unserved areas of the country are some of the key winning streaks for the regulator.
It is the target of the NCC to narrow the gap of the number of people without access to telecom services from 45 million to 35 million.
This will be pushed through the services of the InfraCos across all the 774 Local Government Areas (LGAs) across the county as they are expected to build the metro fibre infrastructure that will help in taking the about 40 terabit of bandwidth capacity lying in the shores of Nigeria to the hinterlands across the country.
This will help to deepen intra and inter-city fibre connectivity that will help businesses, public institutions and individuals to have digital access to various services across industry verticals.
5G revolution
The push of the Commission to facilitate the deployment of 5G networks in the country is another commendable area.
Already, Proof of Concept (PoC) trial has been conducted by MTN through the platform created by the Commission to test its speed, latency and capacity, which 5G offers ahead of other generational technology platforms, such as 2G, 3G and nascent 4G.
Currently, the Commission is pushing for the approval from the Federal Government for counterparts funding to be disbursed to InfraCos upon each of the InfraCo’s achievements of key milestones in their deployment within their respective areas of operations.
Another impetus to drive the Commission is the National Digital Economy Policy and Strategy (NDEPS) launched by President Muhammadu Buhari in November, last year.
The NDEPS is a blueprint showing how the country plans to navigate through the digital space to acheive a digital and knowledge driven economy.
The outcome of the Funke Opeke-led National Broadband Plan Committee 2020-2024 will also set a new challenge for the regulator to drive.
Analysts say the regulator has very imporatnt roles to play in the realisation of the aspirations of the NDEPS while the Executive Order being proposed by Pantami to address issues on recognition of telecoms as critical national security infrastructure (CNI), if given the needed push, will also help to ensure resilience of existing infrastructure to be able to serve the generality of Nigerians in terms of telecoms services provisioning.
Constant engagement with the Nigerian Governors Forum will also need to be sustained by the Minister, in collaboration with the NCC, so that they would come to terms with the fact that cost of right of way (RoW) should be pegged at N145, as contained in the National Economic Council’s (NEC) resolutions, they add.
Despite its enormous contributions to the national economy, the telecoms sector still operates in less transparent manner resulting in losses to the regulator and the carriers, writes LUCAS AJANAKU.
Like a damned river suddenly losing its fetters, the liberalisation of the telecoms sector about two decades ago has unleashed development into the national economy. According to figures from the National Bureau of Statistics (NBS), the sector’s contribution to the nation’s gross domestic product (GDP) in fourth quarter (Q4) of last year rose to 13.8 per cent.
Similarly, the Executive Vice Chairman/CEO, Nigerian Communications Commission (NCC), Prof Garba Dambatta, last year said total investments into the sector reached over $70 billion.
He said a huge percentage of these investments came into the economy by way of Foreign Direct Investment (FDI).
He said: “Since the Digital Mobile Licences (DML) were issued 16 years ago, investment in the sector has hit about $70billion from a mere $50million in 2001. Most of these investments are FDIs.’’
According to him, Nigeria with a population of about 170 million is a preferred investment destination in Africa.
Dambatta said: “With over 150 million active subscribers, in the voice segment, over 102 per cent teledensity and a little over 92 million internet connections, Nigeria is indeed a place to invest.
“Although we have made very modest progress in the sector, we still need to deepen investments to make broadband pervasive in the country.”
In job creation, the President, Association of Telecoms Companies of Nigeria (ATCON), Olusola Teniola said several hundreds of direct and indirect jobs have been created by the sector. His counterpart, the chairman, Association of Licensed telecoms Companies of Nigeria (ALTON), Gbenga Adebayo agrees no less with him.
Adebayo said aside the jobs that have been created, the sector has become an enabler to other sectors of the economy.
The use of Unstructured Supplementary Data (USSD) for cash transfer in pursuit of the Central Bank of Nigeria (CBN) financial inclusion and powering the automated teller machines (ATMs) of the banks is one of the many areas where the telecoms revolution has had a defining impact.
TMForum report
But despite all these, a new report by TMForum has shown that the sector still operates less transparently, a development that has eroded the margin of the telcos and also that of the NCC by way of Annual Operating Levy (AOL) TMForum and Communications Fraud Control Association (CFCA), said based on various survey reports, they have computed the estimated revenue and fraud losses for the regulatory agency.
TMForum is the premier international association for fraud risk management, fraud prevention and profitability control through education, information sharing and collaboration involving domain experts and law enforcement entities.
The Forum provides an open, agile and collaborative environment that enables communications service providers and digital service providers to rapidly transform their business operations, IT systems and ecosystems to capitalise on the opportunities of our ever-evolving digital world.
“As a neutral, non-profit member organisation, we represent over 850 member companies generating $2 trillion in revenue and serving five billion customers across 180 countries,” the group said.
Telemanagement Forum (TM Forum) is the global industry association that drives collaboration and collective problem-solving to maximise the business success of communication and digital service providers and their ecosystem of suppliers.
According to the report, estimated revenue leakage for carriers on the continent at five per cent stands at $0.29billion while global fraud leakages at 1.27 per cent amounted to $0.074 billion.
It estimated that cash loss to government through Value Added Tax (VAT) at five per cent stood at $18.2 million while Income Tax Return (ITR) contribution at five cents per minute at 150 minutes per month translated to $75million, bringing total government losses to $93.2million.
On revenue side, it said overall revenue was $5.805billion while revenue leakage at five per cent amounted to $0.29billion while global fraud leakages as per CFCA at 1.27per cent is $0.074 billion.The report was however silent on the estimated under reporting by mobile network operators (MNOs) while overall revenue leakages amounted $363.97million.
AOL which is 2.5per cent of total revenue of telcos loss to NCC stood at $9.1million.
While the report had put MTN’s revenue at $2.886 billion in 2018, that of Airtel was $1.106billion. Globacom’s 2013 revenue was $1.178billion while that of 9mobile for 2016 was put $0.635billion making the total revenue to reach $5.805billion.
It would be recalled that anti-corruption group, Transparency International (TI), had published its report titled: Transparency in Corporate Reporting – Assessing the World’s Largest Telecommunications Companies 2015 Report which suggested that companies in the telecoms sector should be doing more to increase their levels of corporate disclosure and mitigate their anti-corruption risk.
TI identified the telecoms sector as particularly vulnerable to corruption risk given it is a regulated industry, which requires government licences/approvals and involves significant capital outlays. The risk is amplified given that many of the key players are looking to expand into high-risk jurisdictions with underdeveloped anti-corruption regimes.
It considers the key areas of risk for such companies to include: the licensing process; market regulation and price-setting; the supply chain; and third-party management and customer services.
But in a sector estimated to be worth around $2 trillion, some may consider the potential rewards outweigh the corruption risks.
TI said: “Organisational transparency is important for many reasons, not least because company structures can be made deliberately opaque for the purpose of hiding the proceeds of corruption.”
South Korea original equipment manufacturer (OEM), Samsung has said with the emergence of the new decade, the way people communicate and their world experience has evoloved.
The Chief Marketing Officer Samsung Central Africa, Dudu Mokholo, who spoke during the unveiling of Samsung Galaxy S20 in Lagos, said: “As we enter this new decade, how we communicate and how we experience the world around us has evolved. Samsung is, therefore, providing a next-generation device for transforming people’s lives. With an incredible AI powered camera, you can capture the moments as they happen and connect more seamlessly with the people you love.”
He said the Samsung Galaxy S20, a new series of flagship devices that fundamentally changes the way people capture and experience the world, adding that it introduces a brand-new camera architecture that combines artificial intelligence (AI) with Samsung’s largest image sensor yet for stunning image quality.
“Along with the camera, the Galaxy S20 makes the experience of everything we love to do with our phones, easier and better-enjoy personalised music for every moment of the day, watch videos the way they are meant to be seen and play console-style games on-the-go.
“Now, more than ever, we capture our lives and tell our stories through our smartphones-and that is why the camera is the single-most important feature for consumers purchasing a new smartphone. Designed for the way we live, the Galaxy S20 introduces an entirely new camera system-powered by AI and with our biggest image sensor yet-to bring out the best in every image and every moment,” Mokholo said.
The device camera offers super-high resolution (108MP for the Galaxy S20 Ultra; 64MP for the Galaxy S20 and S20+) to bring out the details with stunning clarity. The Galaxy S20 Ultra takes things a step further by combining nine pixels into one at the sensor level for higher quality images in low light, using cutting-edge binning technology.
The Federal Government has described as fake, the news suggesting that all devices are now connected to the Ministry of Communications and Digital Economy’s systems for the commencement of the recording of phone calls and monitoring of all social media platforms and fora.
The malicious message also further discourages citizens from sharing any messages or videos with political or religious content as it is now officially a crime and could even lead to arrest.
The Minister of Communications and Digital Economy, Dr Ali Pantami, in a statement, said his office initially ignored the message which has been in the public domain for sometime, so as not to give undue attention to the originators.
He said but the efforts of well meaning Nigerians to get clarity and the need to ensure that all Nigerians are properly informed, has necessitated this disclaimer/public awareness.
“We are at a point in our nation’s history where the focus is on digitalising the Nigerian Economy for the greater good of all, and divisive messages such as these are mere distractions,” the statement noted.
It added that when the minister was the Director-General, National Information Technology Development Agency (NITDA), he initiated and passed the Nigerian Data Protection Regulation (NDPR 2019), which exists to protect the privacy rights of every individual.
“The minister enjoins all Nigerians, to disregard the propaganda which is aimed at inciting fear, and creating public confusion. The Ministry is mandated to leverage technology for a digital economy, and will not engage in acts that would sabotage its mandate,’’ he said.
Mr. Imeh Ikon from Akwa Ibom State has emerged third winner in Konga Travel and Tours’ Rolls Royce promo
Ikon who is the Managing Director of Viva Finance Limited., a Central Bank of Nigeria (CBN)-licensed financial institution, emerged winner of the third digital raffle.
He will fly Virgin Atlantic to London.
Consequently, Ikon, a seasoned Virgin Atlantic flyer, will be picked up by a Rolls Royce from his residence at Ikota for the ride to the airport, with full complement of a VIP treatment throughout the journey and upon arrival at the airport where a red carpet reception awaits, among other special privileges.
Ikon said: ”I am so happy to have emerged winner of the Rolls Royce promo. To be honest, the experience with Konga Travel has been very, very impressive. I have been so satisfied. I mean, two years ago when I went to the US, I had issues changing my ticket. However, Konga Travel did it so effortlessly for me. As a result, I have had no regrets referring customers to Konga Travel.
”In fact, my in-law went to the US last year, someone else travelled last week, all of them through Konga Travel. I never fail to refer everyone around me to Konga Travel and that is basically because of the satisfaction I have derived from Konga Travel.
”I have never been messed up or disappointed since I started using Konga Travel. Never! So, keep it up,” he submitted.
The promo, which runs from February 10, until March 31 offers customers of Konga Travel a chance to travel in style with a chauffeur-driven ride to the airport in a Rolls Royce.
An Information Technology Systems Integrator specialised in the deployment of scalable information communications technology (ICT) infrastructure, Inlaks, has expanded its operations into East Africa. The new regional branch is based in Nairobi, Kenya.
Inlaks has since establishment, been a driver of technology advancement in several regions across Africa. Through profitable investments in growing technology trends like fintech, insurtech and agency banking, Inlaks has gained presence in Ghana, Kenya, Gambia, Guinea, Sierra Leone, Cameroun, Ethiopia and Nigeria its headquarters.
In response to increased demand for technology-enabled and self service financial operations in Africa, Inlaks has established a regional branch in East Africa to provide the additional capacity required for its anticipated business growth in that region.
MD/CEO, Inlaks Africa Operations, Femi Adeoti, said: “This is another call for Inlaks to add value to relevant sectors in East Africa. Apart from employment opportunities opened to skilled population in the region, we never retract our commitment to serve the African community to the best of our capacity.
Our vision remains to be the foremost ICT and infrastructure service provider in Sub-saharan Africa. We look forward to establishing more regional branches in other locations in Africa”.
Its Country General Manager, East Africa, Edna Kirmuwa, said: “With a well-established operation in Nairobi, it would be easier to extend our services to neighbouring countries.
As a major distributor of Hyosung ATM brands and Temenos banking software in Africa, our base in Kenya would definitely yield an exponential growth and a remarkable digital transformation for financial organisations we service.’’
”As of today, Inlaks has also sealed deals on data centre infrastructure management solutions with top organisations in Ethiopia and Kenya. Operations in Nairobi will uphold the brand’s reputation of providing services that satisfy clients’ demands.”
The President, Medallion Communications Limited Mr. Ikechukwu Nnamani, has commended the Minister of Communications and Digital Economy, Dr. Isa Pantami, the Nigerian Communications Commission (NCC) and the National Information Technology Development Agency (NITDA) for their efforts in building a digital economy .
Nnamani, who is also the First Vice President, Association of Telecoms Companies of Nigeria (ATCON), said the ministry and the telecoms regulator are on the path to driving economic growth through their initiatives aimed at digital transformation.
Specifically, he said Pantami’s commitment to the implementation of the government’s national digital economy strategy would help the country achieve growth and development.
According to him, with the support of NCC, NITDA and other government agencies in the implementation of the digital policy, the economy will in the next few years take a new shape.
Nnamani said ATCON has also keyed into the digital agenda, hence, its plan to deepen discussions on the matter through the forthcoming national dialogue on ICT.
The event scheduled to hold next months in Abuja, Nnamani said, is targeted at changing the narrative of the country’s development through the optimal utilisation of digital resources and to achieve this, state governors, ministries, agencies and sectors like agriculture, education, oil & gas, health, industry, trade and investment, security and defence have been invited along with telecom and ICT companies.
He added that the strategic dialogue plans to bring together the Presidency, National Assembly, relevant Federal Ministries, state governors, ICT state commissioners, telecom and ICT operating companies, World Bank and other international relevant agencies.
He said the strategic objectives of the proposed National Dialogue are to channel collaborative efforts toward Nigerian digital economy with the sole aim of accelerating our economy’s performance in relation to other leading African countries and to serve as a forum to discuss the recently launched documents on digital economy and take stakeholders input for implementation.
Western Digital Corp has stressed the need for a resilient storage platform to address the exponential growth of data associated with connected cars, mobile devices and artificial intelligence.
It said it has, therefore, developed its fifth-generation 3D NAND technology, BiCS5, continuing the company’s leadership in delivering the industry’s most advanced flash memory technologies.
BiCS5, built on triple-level-cell (TLC) and quad-level-cell (QLC) technologies, delivers exceptional capacity, performance and reliability at a compelling cost.
The firm said it has started initial production of BiCS5 TLC in a 512-gigabit (Gb) chip and is currently shipping consumer products built on the new technology.
Production of BiCS5 in meaningful commercial volumes is expected in the second half of calendar 2020. BiCS5 TLC and BiCS5 QLC will be available in a range of capacities, including 1.33 terabit (Tb).
Its Senior Vice President, Memory Technology and Manufacturing, Dr. Steve Paak, said: “As we move into the next decade, a new approach to 3D NAND scaling is critical to continuing to meet the demands of the rising volume and velocity of data.
Our successful production of BiCS5 is an illustration of Western Digital’s ongoing leadership in flash memory technology and strong execution to our roadmap.
By leveraging new advancements to our multi-tier memory hole technology to increase density laterally as well as adding more storage layers, we have significantly scaled the capacity and performance of our 3D NAND technology, while continuing to deliver the reliability and cost which our customers expect.”
Built using a wide range of new technology and manufacturing innovations, BiCS5 is Western Digital’s highest density and most advanced 3D NAND technology to date.
Second-generation multi-tier memory hole technology, improved engineering processes and other 3D NAND cell enhancements significantly increase cell array density horizontally across the wafer.
These “lateral scaling” advancements in combination with 112 layers of vertical memory capability enables BiCS5 to offer up to 40 percent more bits of storage capacity per wafer compared to Western Digital’s 96-layer BiCS4 technology, while optimizing cost. New design enhancements also accelerate performance, enabling BiCS5 to offer
