Category: e-Business

By Lucas AJANAKU

Students have won N500,000 and brand new itel S15 smartphones in the itel Mobile’s  dance tour of  universities.

At the finale that held at the Yaba College of Technology (Yabatech) Sports Centre, Aji Dancers from UNILAG emerged as group winner, while Okunuga Jamal, an undergraduate student of Yabatech emerged winner of the individual category.

The tour was to create awareness among students about its latest selfie-centric flagship devices- itel S15 and S15 Pro.

Tagged: I Got The Moves 2.0, it was sequel to last year’s I Got The Moves contest with a grand finale held at the Federal College of Education, Technical (FCE(T) in Akoka, Lagos.

The contest started in September with a visit to select Nigerian universities – Nnamdi Azikiwe University (Unizik), University of Port Harcourt (Uniport) and Adekunle Ajasin University (AAUA).

An online dance contest was also held on the Vskit mobile platform, which had dancers compete to win itel S15 smartphones and other amazing goodies from the brand.

Proudly supported by Airtel, Palmpay, Phoenix Browser, Scooper and refreshed by Malta Guinness, the final of IGTM 2.0 was held at the Yabatech Sports Centre.

Students from Yabatech, UNILAG, Lagos Polytechnic (LASPOTECH), Lagos State University (LASU) and Federal College of Education, Technical (FCE,T) Akoka were well represented as thousands turned out to have massive fun on a grand Friday evening.

itel Mobile’s Marketing Communications Manager, West Africa,  Oke Umurhohwo, said the contest was to promote the amazing dance culture that is inherent in Nigerians.

He said: “itel Mobile, over the years, has grown from just a feature phone brand to a smartphone brand that understands the needs of young Nigerians, and while we have continued to tailor our devices towards providing the best mobile experiences at affordable rates, our ultimate goal is to ensure there is a Smartphone for everyone. This dance competition is one of the many ways of showing that we care, and we celebrate creativity among our target audience.”

About two decades after the liberalisation of the telecoms sector and phenomenal boost in subscriber figures, its contribution to the nation’s gross domestic product (GDP) and concomittant rise in electronic-assisted crimes, the Nigerian Communications Commission (NCC) is exploring ways of tackling substandard, cloned, and stolen mobile phones across the country, reports LUCAS AJANAKU.

The atmosphere was serene and the audience were stakeholders in the Information Communication Technology (ICT) and telecoms sector.

For a yearly forum that puts the regulator on the hot seat, telcos and others look forawrd to it. Much was expected from the chief regulator, Prof Umar Garba Danmbatta, considering his academic background.

As principal keynote presenter at the Telecom Executives and Regulator Forum, after touching other aspects of the industry, he took up the vexed issue of: Eradication of the influx of cloned and fake phones and other telecoms devices in Nigeria.

He said: “Counterfeiting is a global challenge that has elicited a common disquiet among stakeholders worldwide, especially in respect of the continued influx of counterfeit and illegal ICT devices in both developed and developing countries.

“Nigeria is not in any way immuned to this problem. The challenges posed by this menace are quite devastating, hindering the progress made so far in ICT usage and processes in terms of its economic, social, environmental and security impacts on the country.

‘’The unchecked import and use of unregistered, cloned, substandard, counterfeit,stolen and or non-compliant devices pose a considerable threat to Quality of Service (QoS) and Experience (QoE), security, among others in Nigeria.”

According to Delloitte in its last year’s Nigeria Cybersecurity Outlook, cybercrime is estimated to cost the economy about $500million yearly

Dambatta said consistent with the Commission’s regulatory mandate, several consultative fora were organised to enlighten stakeholders on the growing menace posed by the influx of cloned and fake ICT devices into the country.

The stakeholders, according to him, included the Nigeria Customs Service (NCS), Mobile Network Operators (MNOs), Original Equipment Manufacturers (OEMs), security agencies, Standards Organisations of Nigeria (SON), and equipment and solution vendors

After due consideration of input from stakeholders, the resolution reached was to deploy an end-to-end technology based solution in combating the influx of cloned and fake ICT devices into the country.

Consequently, a Mobile Device Management System (MDMS) was conceived.

The proposed MDMS, he explained, would have the capacity to facilitate the mandatory registration of subscriber identity module (SIM)-based devices in Nigeria, block all stolen, counterfeit, illegal or otherwise substandard SIM-based devices from operators’ networks. It will also interface with the NCS, tax authority, security agencies, SON and other relevant agencies to ensure the full registration, payment of duties and taxes due on those devices and the protection of security and privacy of users in Nigeria

“Essentially, the NCC and other relevant government agencies in Nigeria are going tough on fake devices.

“Therefore, the panel is expected to proffer seamless solutions to assist in eradicating the influx of cloned and fake phones and other devices, and curtailing the menace of existing cloned and fake phones and other devices on Nigerian shores,” he said.

To give effect to his promise, the telecoms regulator said it would hire a consulting firm to act as transaction advisor in the deals that would deliver a centralised DMS.

NCC said it would deploy the DMS through public-private partnership (PPP) arrangement, whereby the procured private party is expected to provide end-to-end solution, with a cost recovery-based registration fee charged in naira per device, for a determined period by both parties.

The role of the transaction advisor to be appointed is to develop a bankable DMS PPP Project and successfully move the transaction to market and reach financial close.

According to a note on its website, the regulator explained that the advisor is to, among others, “provide full technical, managerial and financial advice to NCC on the proposed PPP project; assist in designing work-plans, timetables and technical support during the PPP procurement process; provide input in the conduct of the PPP procurement process for selection of the PPP Partner/Concessionaire for the DMS project; and provide market trends that will confirm decisions on scope, structuring, and timing of the transaction.”

The consultant is also expected to “provide duly required technical advice and any other assistance that will ensure a smooth conduct of negotiations with one or more parties that will lead to a quick actualisation of a robust PPP Agreement/network of relevant Agreements for the proposed PPP DMS project.”

How it‘ll work

The system would detect cloned or fake phones through the International Mobile Equipment Identity (IMEI) allocated by the global systme for mobile communication association (GSMA). The DMS would be connected to the GSMA database for easy detection of devices with fake IMEI once they are connected to any of the networks in the country

Noting that counterfeiting is a global problem, which Nigeria is not insulated from, the EVC said the challenges posed by the menace were quite devastating as it has been hindering the progress made so far in ICT usage and processes in terms of its economic, social, environmental and security impacts on the country.

Through the provisions of the Nigerian Communications Act 2003, NCC is mandated to establish and enforce standards for all telecommunications equipment in  the country to ensure that they operate seamlessly and safely within the telecoms environment.

Mobile manufacturers that want to sell in the country are expected to first apply with the regulator for the type-approval, which is granted after the device has been tested.

By Lucas AJANAKU

Samsung has unveiled new members of the Galaxy A Series smartphones – the Galaxy A10s, A20s and A30s. The new devices offer upgrades to essential features, made even more powerful with more value for the new smartphones generation.

The Managing Director, Samsung Electronics West Africa, David Suh, said: “As a global technology leader, we are committed to providing meaningful innovations to our consumers. Galaxy A10s, A20s and A30s have been developed for young Africans who are looking for a great display, superior camera, long-lasting battery and fingerprint scanner. It’s a complete package of great looks and top performance.” He said the Galaxy A10s – impressive device offers unprecedented value to customers

The new Galaxy A10s comes with a stunning 6.2-inch, HD+ Infinity-V Display. It provides an immersive visual experience to users binge-watching your favourite content. Additionally, addressing the need of today’s always-on generation, the Galaxy A10s is equipped with a powerful 4,000mAh battery that allows uninterrupted streaming, gaming and live broadcasting.

Galaxy A10s come with a dual rear camera setup to address the millennials’ need to capture moments on the go. The dual camera of the Galaxy A10s comprises a 13MP primary rear camera with F1.8 aperture and a 2MP depth camera. This allows users to capture beautiful shots where the focus is on the subject and noise from the background is blurred. Additionally, Galaxy A10s sports an 8MP front camera that consistently produces brighter and clearer selfies. The Galaxy A10s is also an excellent multitasker, thanks to the Octa-core processor under the hood. With enhanced security features such as fingerprint scanner and face unlock, the Galaxy A10s offers more peace of mind. The Galaxy A10s is available with 2GB of RAM and 32GB internal storage. There is also support for Micro SD cards up to 512GB.

Galaxy A20s – essential smartphone for the era of live

Galaxy A20s is packed with triple rear camera, 15W fast-charging capability and a striking design to elevate the smartphone experience of young millennials and Gen Z.

Fibre optic cables are vital to the information communications technology ecosystem. They are not only useful for internet service provision, computer networking, telephoning, cable television, military and space application, and mechanical inspection, they are also vital to the automotive industry the medical profession, especially surgery, dentistry. With the importance of this infrastructure, there is a push for long-term intervention fund to make it ubiquitous, reports LUCAS AJANAKU.

A firm that operates open access metropolitan fibre optic network covering the major business districts in Lagos, Broadbased Communications Limited, has appealed to the Federal Government to provide long term intervention fund to enable massive deployment of broadband networks across the country.

According to online platform, DesignSpark, fibre optic cables contain  thousands of optical fibres in a protective, insulated jacket.

They are very thin strands of pure glass, which transmit information in the form of light. Fibre optic cables have revolutionised the world of network communication ever since their inception nearly four decades ago.

Today, these cables have almost obliterated traditional methods of networking, which use metallic wires.

Executive Director, Business Development, at Broadbased Communications Limited, Mr Chidi Ibisi, said intervention fund will help transform the country into a digital economy, address the huge youth unemployment, generate much needed foreign exchange (forex) and reduce dependence on oil.

He spoke after the firm won the Wholesale Telecom Provider of the Year and the Metropolitan Fibre Infrastructure Company of the Year Awards at the Nigeria Tech Innovation and Telecom Awards organised by the Association of Telecom Companies of Nigeria (ATCON) in Lagos.

He said the demand for data traffic had fuelled the deployment of fibre optic cables to all wireless base sation sites, major corporate firms and residential estates in the country.

Also, the firm’s MD/CEO, Prince Henry Iseghohi, won an Award for Outstanding Contribution to the Telecom Industry.

The firm provides fibre optic network connectivity for mobile network operators, 4G network operators, all the submarine cable landing stations, all major internet service providers, all data centres, Nigeria Internet Exchange Point (IXPN), major global telecom operators, all the banks, the Nigerian Stock Exchange (NSE), all electronic payment switching and processing firms, oil firms, major corporate firms and residential estates in partnership with other telcos in each estate.

Fibre networks are the bedrock of every 3G, 4G or 5G wireless network which underpin all the sectors of the economy and are enablers of the attainment of 17 UN Sustainable Development Goals (SDGs).

The telecom sector contributed 11.39 per cent to Nigeria’s GDP in the second quarter of 2019. This the next major phase of the development of the telecom industry in Nigeria will require huge capital outlays.

Also speaking, Prince Iseghohi said the awards are testaments to the firm’s dedication to the open access model, goodwill of customers, hard work and dedication of the staff of the firm that have installed and maintained over 3,500km of fiber optic cable connected to 22 points of presence (PoP) in Lagos.

He appealed to various stakeholders in the industry to work together to address the varied issues facing the telecom sector in the country.

The Group Executive Director, Mr. Chris Erewele Snr, said the award would spur the team to remain committed to the provision of quality services to customers.

He said the firm has fibre networks in Kano and Akwa Ibom states with Points of Presence in Abuja, Port Harcourt and Enugu.

“To ensure we deliver quality services, we have designed our networks in ring architectures and we securely install our fiber optic cables underground with a fleet of 11 horizontal drilling (HDD) equipmentm,”the GED said.

He appealed to relevant government agencies to address indiscriminate destruction of cables by road construction companies across the country.

Some of the most popular uses of fibre optic cables, DesignSpark, are in internet services and many others.

Fibre optic cables transmit large amounts of data at very high speeds. This technology is therefore widely used in internet cables. As compared to traditional copper wires, fibre optic cables are less bulky, lighter, more flexible, and carry more data.

Also, networking between computers in a single building or across nearby structures is made easier and faster with the use of fibre optic cables. Users can see a marked decrease in the time it takes to transfer files and information across networks

Fibre optic cables are widely used in the fields of medicine and research. Optical communication is an important part of non-intrusive surgical methods, popularly known as endoscopy. In such applications, a minute, bright light is used to light up the surgery area within the body, making it possible to reduce the number and size of incisions made. Fibre optics are also used in microscopy and biomedical research.

In present day automotive industry, fibre optic cables play an important role in the lighting and safety features. They are widely used in lighting, both in the interior and exterior of vehicles. Because of its ability to conserve space and provide superior lighting, fibre optics are used in more vehicles every day. Also, fibre optic cables can transmit signals between different parts of the vehicle at lightning speed. This makes them invaluable in the use of safety applications such as traction control and airbags.

Making telephone calls within or outside the country has never been so easy. With the use of fibre optic communication, it is easy to connect faster and have clear conversations without any lag on either side.

In the area of decorative illumination, the use of fibre optics  has also grown over the years. Fibre optic cables provide an easy, economical and attractive solution to lighting projects. As a result, they are widely used in lighting decorations and illuminated Christmas trees.

Fibre optic cables are widely used in the inspection of hard-to-reach places. Some such applications are on-site inspections for engineers and also inspection of pipes for plumbers.

The use of fibre optic cables in the transmission of cable signals has grown explosively over the years. These cables are ideal for transmitting signals for high definition (HD) televisions because they have greater bandwidth and speed.

By Busola Aro

Softcom has unveiled its latest innovation, Eyowo, a bank it says will revolutionise how people send, spend, save, receive and borrow money.

Eyowo aims to provide simple, modern and reliable financial services to anyone with a phone number. This includes consumers, retailers, businesses, and developers.

Eyowo CEO Tomi Amao said the platform was created to solve the financial inclusion problem in Nigeria, adding it is a bank for all.

“Our target market is everyone who has a payment need and has a phone number. This includes people and businesses who want to make or receive payments for goods and services online and offline,” Amao said.

He said with Eyowo, people can send and receive money, buy airtime, pay bills, make cardless ATM withdrawals, request and accept payment from customers using only their phone numbers.

He said individuals can also save and earn interest, borrow money at zero interest and have access to dollar cards to carry out international transactions.

Its Product and Partnerships Lead, Ope Adeyemi, said the products  are truly accessible to everyone regardless of the social status they belong to. “Eyowo is available on Android, iOS, USSD, Voice, SMS and on the web,” Adeyemi said.

The  Eyowo Retail, a service which uses just one tool to manage orders, payments, inventory, customers, settlements and reports, thus helping retailers organise their business more efficiently for optimal growth was also explained. Businesses can also now accept more forms of payment – cash, card, bank transfers, and Eyowo.

“This will significantly expand the customer base and horizon for internet-enabled businesses who today can only receive payments from bank account holders,” Adeyemi said.

Eyowo has partnered with leading financial service institutions including Providus Bank, GTBank, Interswitch, NIBSS, Bank of Industry (BoI), Verve, among others. “We will continue to join forces with organisations whose ethos are aligned with our vision for financial services in Africa,” Amao said.

In addition to these, Eyowo has created a developer platform that enables developers to build payment products, tools, and experiences that people love by exploring Eyowo Developer API documentation, SDKs and other resources.

These API integrations will help platforms in receiving payments and making payments to anyone who has a phone number.

By Ernest Nwokolo

Airtel has reconnected rural communities in Ogun State to the global digital world with an ICT centre equipped with 12 kVA diesel generator, 25 desktop computers and 13 UPS.

The  facility, located Imodi in Ijebu area of the state would wake up the entrepreneurial and creative spirits of the youth,  make them more productive and redefine  ecosystem positively.

Its Managing Director,  Mr Segun Ogunsanya, who spoke during the inauguration of the Airtel ICT Centre, said over two million Nigerians had also benefited from the telco’s programme tagged, “Airtel touching lives.”

Represented by the Director of Corporate Communications, Emeka Oparah, the CEO added that the telco has empowered hundreds of Nigerians and over two million others.

He said there were plans to rehabilitate major dilapidated facilities across the country as part of the telecoms corporate social responsibility to the people.

Ogunsanya said the centre became necessary to refurbish the structure in Imodi and turn it into an ICT centre so that the community would not be cut off digitally.

By Busola Aro

Technology firms, such as IHS, Airtel, Glo, VDT, MTN, Galaxy Backbone and Broadbased Communications, have been scheduled to participate at the e-Government Conference in Lagos.

The forum will give them oportunity to showcase new technology  new technology solutions that will enhance government service delivery and reduce unemployment in the country.

Also, issues around increase its internally generated revenue (IGR) by states will be tackled.,

Scheduled for October 24 at the Lagos Sheraton Hotels and Towers, Ikeja, it is being organised by DigiServe Network Services Limited in partnership with the Federal Ministry of Communications, Federal Inland Revenue Service (FIRS) and Nigeria Communication Commission (NCC). Others are the National Information Technology Development Agency (NITDA), Association of Telecoms Companies of Nigeria (ATCON) and Nigeria Internet Registration Association (NIRA).

The Executive Chairman of DigiServe Network Services Limited, Mr. Lanre Ajayi, said: “We are assembling top notch experts and world-class ICT service providers to come and share their expertise on how to deepen ICT in governance. The resolutions at the conference will be printed in book format and delivered to relevant government agencies and other stakeholders, with a view to ensuring implementation of the resolutions.”

The conference seeks to discuss how technology adoption in government can boost government IGR, enhance government service delivery and reduce unemployment in the country. With eGovernment: Powering Governance with ICT as theme, the forum also provides an opportunity for stakeholders to discuss approved National eGovernment Plan and parley on how to remove the barriers militating against the growth of the telecoms and ICT sector.

MainOne,  Rack Center, ICSL,  Nigcomsat, Juniper, Medallion, eStream Networks, Anchor Telecoms, Pan African Tower, 21st Century Technologies, among others, have also shown interest.

By Lucas Ajanaku

Global smartphone brand OPPO, has won the recognition of Emerging Smartphone Brand of the Year.
The recognition was accorded the telco by the Association of Telecom Companies of Nigeria (ATCON) at the third Nigeria Tech Innovation & Telecom Awards (NTITA)  in Lagos.
The ceremony was put together by ATCON in collaboration with  Instinct Wave.
NTITA is one of the most celebrated industry awards, widely known as the Oscars of the Information Communication Technology (ICT) and telecoms industry attracting the top decision makers and companies in the ICT sector.
According to the Marketing Manager of OPPO Nigeria, Nengi Akinola, OPPO is in for the long haul and will remain committed to changing the narrative of the Nigerian Telecom and ICT Sector positively. “We are delighted to be recognized for our efforts in this market and we promise not to rest on our oars, until every Nigerian gets the quality smartphones and services they deserve”, she concluded.
OPPO officially launched the brand in Nigeria on the 26th of April, 2019 and ever since has enjoyed a meteoric rise to the top in the Nigerian smartphone industry. In just five months, the brand has been able to physically spread to 24 out of the 36 states in the country. It has also sealed a partnership with E-Commerce giants, Jumia to cater to the 36 states of Nigeria by proxy.
The differentiating factor between OPPO and other brands is that OPPO has been able to ensure that the same product and after-sales standards in Europe and Asia are provided to the Nigerian market, thus eliminating the common practice of “Nigerian Standard” products that are often substandard when compared to what you can find in other developed markets.
OPPO provides up to 48-hours flash repair services, phone swaps where necessary and a standard 2-year warranty on all OPPO smartphones, regardless of the price point.

With the deregulation of the telecoms sector about two decades ago came massive investment by telcos on infrastructure. But the rise of platforms that have neither erected a base station, paid taxes to government nor licensed by the government to provide services challenges the bottomline of telcos, writes LUCAS AJANAKU.

Gbenga Adebayo, an engineer, is passionate about driving his point home. Leading telecoms carriers in the country as Chairman, Association of Licensed Telecoms Companies of Nigeria (ALTON),  he never fails to push for the good health of the industry. Thus, when he spoke at the last Vanguard e-economy forum in Lagos, his position was on the dynamism of the industry and the need for the Nigerian Communications Commission (NCC) to sail with the wind and yet control it.

His focus was, among others, the need to regulate the activities of Over-The-Top (OTT) players.

ALTON members include MTN, Globacom, Airtel and 9mobile. Adebayo, in an interview with The Nation, had lamented the high mortality rate of telos. He said the number of operators had dipped by half over the past years because of issues that are not entirely their making.

What is OTT?

Online knowledge bank, Wikipedia, explains: “OTT is where a telecoms service provider delivers one or more services across an IP (internet protocol) network. The IP networks is predominantly the public internet, although sometimes telco-run cloud services delivered via a corporation’s existing IP-VPN (virtual private network) from another provider, as opposed to the carrier’s own access network. It embraces a variety of telco services including communications (e.g. voice and messaging), content (e.g. TV and music) and cloud-based (e.g. compute and storage) offerings.”

It said stimulated by the availability of high performance fixed and mobile broadband networks as well as the rapid adoption of smartphones and tablets, telco-OTT is viewed by a selection of industry analysts and media commentators as the mechanism that mobile network operators need to employ in order to compete with the vast and growing range of OTT services provided by non-telco companies.

Telco-OTT is a response to the fact that users will have multiple devices (smartphones, laptops or other connected devices such as TVs, games consoles) which almost inevitably will have various different access providers (especially with the growth of public-access Wi-Fi).

According to Wikipedia, to deliver consistent telco-branded services, at some points at least, they will need to be delivered over third-party access.

Telcos’ position

Adebayo said the time had come for the regulator to dump its technology neutral era of licensing, which meant it licences for services and not for technology.

He said the reality is that technology is driving the market. It is no longer services. There is a need for the regulator to begin to look at issue of regulating technology and not services, he sstressed.

For example, OTTs, such as YouTube, Facebook, and WhatsApp,  weren’t part of the core services for which telcos were licensed.

“Those kind of services have social implication, economic implication, security implication and if they are not licensed, that means they are not regulated and if they are not regulated, there is no limit or scope to what they can do.  And no control over ther services and content they can provide.

“We are, therefore, saying there is a need for the regulator to begin to look away from the neutrality of technology and technology certification and regulattion  than just licensing for service not only because of the social security implication but also because of the economic implication for the operators.

“Today, more people send WhatsApp messages, they send messages over the social media platforms than they do on the conventional SMS platform.

“Operators have been licensed to provide voice, SMS and data services for which they are licensed and being charged annual operating levy. OTT don’t have such and there is even loss of revenue to the regulator of the country too because they are not paying for rendering those services.

“That is why we are saying that our regulator must begin to look away from technology neutrality.”

Industry’s health

He said studies and report had shown that in a market as such Nigeria’s, bigger operators survive better than smaller opeartors.

“When I  took up this role as the Chairman of ALTON, there were 35 companies in our group. Today, we are 16, meaning that we have lost half of our members due to problems not of their own making,” he had lamented last year.

He said the reason for the dip in membership of the group might be forces of competition;  market forces; the challenges of investing; it might be access to fund; it might be anti-competitve prices on the part of some of the big players.

“We just think that studies such as the Study of the Level of Competiton in the Telecoms Industry in Nigeria organised by the NCC should dwell into those areas so that we begin to see the issues leading to the death of telecoms campanies.

“The challenge we have now with one of the big operator attests to the fact that the industry may not be as healthy as we are thinking and therefore studies such as this are very important first as health check, to see where we are and to see where and how we can further adjust and tune things for a more competitive industry and for a more robust market and for the greater interest of the consumers,” Adebayo said.

He said while base cost remains, some layers of services are offered to customers at no cost by platforms that do not pay annual operating licence (AOL) fees, have no subscriber data and not subject to lawful interception which telcos are liable to.

NCC reacts

Head, Technical Standards and Network Integrity, Bako Wakil, who represented the CEO of NCC, Prof Umar Dambatta, said the regulator is dynamic and had, through the enforcement of co-location, reduced capital expenditure (capex). He also said a framework for active infrastructure sharing was in the works while it is also working on local roaming.

Way forward

ALTON urged the NCC to reduce AOL for carriers to shore up revenue loss to OTT.

Adebayo pushed for cost-based end user call tariff in states across the country. According to him, it is more difficult to do business in some states than the other, stressing that those states with hrash operating environment should pay more.

He also urged the NCC to mandate the firms to come clean on full disclosure about what the make in the country in terms of revenue.