The Nation Newspaper

Category: e-Business

  • Nigerian carriers demand roadmap on 5G

    Telecoms operators in the country have advised the Nigeria Communications Commission (NCC) to unveil the roadmap on 5G, which  the latest technology developed countries are warming up to embrace.

    Acting under the aegis of the Association of Licensed Telecoms Companies of Nigeria (ALTON), the operators, said the inevitability of the technology making an inroad into the country has become obvious, underlining the need for the regulator to come out with a roadmap for its adoption.

    ALTON Chairman, Gbenga Adebayo, who spoke on the sideline of the official launch of a product by Smile Communications in Lagos, said the operating environment has remained hostile, a development that could be seen by the high mortality of members of the group.

    According to Adebayo, at inception, the group had about 40 member, which has now reduced to 16 because of the difficulty in the operating environment.

    He said: “There is need for the regulator, the NCC, to come out with a roadmap on 5G, on how to embrace it. This is important for the industry.”

    He urged the NCC to revisit the issue of data floor line in the industry because it is affecting smaller operators, asking it to release the result of the study conducted on data floor.

    He also urged the Federal Government to roll out incentives for players such as Smile Communications because all players, regardless of size, spend the same funds to run business in the country.

    Already, competition is fierce on the 5G global stage. International activity around the technology is growing at a fever pitch, as vendors and service providers in technology-focused countries work on early 5G network trials and test 5G with friendly users. The NCC said the technology has already been tested in some parts of Lagos.

    Four countries most likely to have the earliest and biggest 5G debut include China, South Korea, Japan and the United States (U.S.).

    Already, two service providers in South Korea are vying to be first to market with a 5G network. SK Telecom has acquired spectrum in the 3.5 GHz and 28 GHz frequencies in anticipation of deploying 5G. China is also expected to be a fast-mover in 5G. The Global System for Mobile Communication Association (GSMA) estimated that by 2025 China will represent 40 per cent of global 5G connections.

    According to a study from the China Academy of Information and Communications Technology, the research arm of the Ministry of Industry and Information Technology (MIIT), 5G could account for 3.2 percent of China’s entire GDP in 2025, generate eight million jobs, and add 2.9 trillion yuan in economic value by 2030. As hungry consumers demand more and more 5G services, the country expects a huge increase in the number of new companies, employment opportunities, and equipment sales.

    Japan is mobilising its communications industry in the hopes of being among the top 5G network players. According to Nikkei Asian Review, NTT DoCoMo and Sohgo Security Services demonstrated an advanced security service based on 5G network technology to determine the effectiveness of the service in handling security for the opening ceremonies of the 2020 Olympics. The trial involved the use of artificial intelligence (AI), a drone with an HD 4K camera, and smartphones.

    The U.S. has some advantages in the 5G network race. It already has a lead when it comes to existing 4G networks, thanks to spectrum holdings and the use of unlicensed spectrum. It also leads the way in spectrum efficiency, permitting the repurposing of broadcast spectrum for broadband. However, the U.S. also has disadvantages slowing it down in the 5G network race between countries. Local and municipal governments hold zoning authority over cell towers and base stations, which can slow down authorisation — a potentially bad sign for 5G, which will be characterised by a dense network of small cells.

    However, the FCC voted unanimously last year to open nearly 11 GHz of high-frequency spectrum for mobile, flexible, and fixed-use wireless broadband for the 5G future. Numerous vendors and providers are clamoring to make the most of this advantage by launching new trials in more markets with friendly users.

     

  • Osinbajo advises stakeholders on cyber security

    Vice President Yemi Osinbajo has advised all stakeholders in the nation’s cyber space, including the National Assembly, cyber security experts, security and other related agencies, as well as the private sector to collectively share cyber security best practices and ensure speedy implementation of requisite policies, to curtail the activities of cyber crooks.

    Osinbajo, who spoke in Abuja while declaring open Cyber Secure Nigeria 2019 conference with the theme:  Implementing Cyber Security and Data Privacy Practices in Nigeria, said no individual, organisation or entity is immune to cyber-crimes because of the sophistication and severity of cybercrimes, hence the need for all to jointly end the menace to ensure a secure Nigeria, otherwise every internet user would be a victim.

    According to him, cyber security has become essential as individuals and national development increasingly rely on Information Communication Technology (ICT) tools. This, he said, calls for stringent regulations to ensure that criminal elements do not succeed in taking advantage of hapless internet users.

    “The collection and processing of personal data raises significant privacy and data protection concerns for every citizen; the legal remedy to this problem is data protection to ensure privacy,” he said, adding that the conference was apt and a welcomed development in line with the key policy thrust of the government through the Ministry of Communications in view of the rampant activities of the cyber criminals and internet scammers, popularly known as yahoo yahoo.

    Prof Osinbajo urged the participants to come out with  ideas to combat cyber threat, curtail cyber-crime and ensure data privacy practices in Nigeria, as well as produce useful outcome for submission to the government.

    He promised that the government shall surely articulate various submissions emanating from the conference and put them to use.

    Earlier in his address, Cyber Security Experts Association of Nigeria President, Remi Afon called on the government to establish a national cyber security center that will be saddled with the responsibility of co-ordinating and implementing cyber regulations.

    He expressed worry that cyber security threats landscape has evolved rapidly and increased in number and sophistication, which needed to be quickly checked to attain a regime of secured cyber space in Nigeria through concerted efforts from all critical stakeholders.

  • Confronting dangers of pre-registered SIM cards

    To reduce and possibly eliminate the various security challenges associated with the use of fraudulently-activated Subscriber Identity Module (SIM) cards, efforts must be intensified to stop the practice. LUCAS AJANAKU reports on various regulatory interventions and the need to do more.

    To ensure security and protect consumers of telecoms services, the Nigerian Communications Commission (NCC) has continued to robustly engage various stakeholders towards curbing the dangers posed by  pre-registered and improperly-registered Subscriber Identity Module (SIM) cards being used to commit crimes.

    A pre-registered SIM card is a fraudulently-activated or improperly-registered SIM card, whose registration runs foul of the regulatory requirements as stipulated by the Commission. Users of such SIM cards do so either out of ignorance or  with deliberate intent to commit crimes.

    While the Commission has developed the Telephone Subscribers Registration Guidelines 2011 and stringent SIM replacement procedures to protect telecoms consumers, the sale, purchase and use of pre-registered SIM cards are still being witnessed in some corridors across the country.

    Therefore, the Commission’s move to curb the ugly trend, which constitutes grave dangers to individuals and potential threat to national security, has necessitated continuous stakeholders’ engagements in the industry and collaborations with other agencies of government.

    Partnership with agencies, stakeholders

    Apart from constant enforcement activities carried out by the Commission’s Compliance Monitoring and Enforcement (CME) team, which has resulted in securing convictions against more than 200 individuals arrested for indulging in sales of pre-registered SIM cards, the NCC has  partnered a number of government agencies/organisations with a view to ridding the economy of this scourge.

    Such government agencies include the Office of National Security Adviser (ONSA);  the Central Bank of Nigeria (CBN); the Nigeria Police Force; the Nigerian Security and Civil Defence Corps (NSCDC); the judiciary; Mobile Network Operators (MNOs) and telecom consumers, among others. This is in addition to ongoing consumer awareness programmes across the six geo-political zones of the country to sensitise the consumers on dangers of patronising pre-registered SIM cards.

    According to the Commission, due to fraudulently-activated SIM cards, many genuine subscribers have become victims of armed robbery, kidnappings and financial crimes or SIM swap fraud, requiring concerted efforts to address the menace.

    To date, the Commission has had several meetings and sensitisation workshops with various stakeholder groups across the industry at different points in time. Flowing from these consultations and the extensive activities of the NCC, the Commission has issued several directives to the MNOs and imposed various sanctions on them at different times.

    For instance, following several reports on the preponderance of pre-registered and improperly-registered SIM cards in the market and several challenges raised by the security agencies on the difficulties in tracking criminals using them, the Commission met with all relevant stakeholders in 2017 to set up an inter-agency Task Force to address the menace.

    In September 2018, the Commission co-ordinated a meeting to bring MNOs and the NSCDC together to help drive enforcement against agents involved in the release of fully-activated SIM cards from the MNOs side. This engagement and others have produced key resolutions aimed at sanitising the industry of pre-registered SIM cards.

    Tough SIM replacement procedures

    As a proactive measure, the Commission in 2017 came up with SIM replacement guideline, which makes the process of replacing lost, stolen or damaged SIM cards more stringent in order to protect telecoms consumers.

    Speaking on the reason for such stringent condition, the Commission’s Executive Vice Chairman/CEO, Prof. Umar Garba Danbatta, said before replacing a SIM card, consumers are required to identify themselves properly through court affidavit, national identification card (or other valid IDs) and SIM pack, among other requirements, saying this is to ensure that telecom subscribers are well protected from being victims of SIM swap fraud.

    According to him, at times, a subscriber might be having issues with his or her phone number, thinking that it is a network issue.

    He said: “Unfortunately, by the time the subscriber discovered what is happening, money would have been fraudulently taken out of his or her bank account. SIM swap or replacement has a lot of issues attached to it because, often times, a lot of people, who are not the owners of some numbers, do SIM swap at various customer centres of the service providers.”

    Danbatta said there have been cases of fraudulent activities done on people’s bank accounts as a result of SIM swap and the victims often complain to the Commission, expecting that NCC will compensate them.

    “To stop this SIM swap fraud, the Commission, in 2017, developed guidelines on SIM replacement, which set water-tight rules for telecoms consumers to replace their SIM card when there is a need for it,” Dambatta said.

    While noting that the regulatory body has observed that consumers often frown at being asked to bring court affidavit, national identification card (or other valid IDs), SIM pack, among other requirements, the CEO explained that the likelihood of subscribers thinking that network providers are putting them through stress to have their SIM replaced is possible.

    “But what telecoms consumers should know is that they must appreciate the fact that information being required from them is to establish that anybody coming for SIM swap proves that the number requested to be swapped belongs to him/her. In this case, we enjoin consumers to immediately report to their respective banks to block their accounts or place a notice ‘no withdrawal’ on such account linked to the stolen, damaged or lost SIM cards,” Danbatta advised.

    Meanwhile, industry observers agreed that issues concerning subscribers’ registration or re-registration are central to national security and thereby require severe regulatory framework to keep them under firm control as well as ensuring a high level of compliance, which is a routine exercise by the CME team of the Commission.

    Association of Telecoms Companies of Nigeria (ATCON) President,  Olusola Teniola,  said  the stringent measures adopted by the NCC should be appreciated by the consumers against the backdrop of the dangers posed by a loose or casual SIM card registration and re-registration process. This, he said, has raised all sorts of security concerns in the country.

    Tackling SIM swap fraud

    One of the fallouts of fraudulently-activated SIM cards is the SIM fraud. SIM fraud, which is also aided by the use of some software technology to commit crimes, have made many unsuspecting bank customers to lose their hard-earned money to crooks.

    SIM fraud is fueled by indulgence of criminally-minded individuals, who engage in illegal SIM swap. Today, the SIM Swap fraud trend has become more prevalent because their mobile numbers are directly linked to their bank accounts.

    One of the dividends of innovation is that today, through the SIM cards inserted into the mobile devices and even through online platforms, apps installed on the phones and the Unstructured Supplementary Service Data (USSD) code, consumers can carry out financial transitions without having to physically visit their bank branches.

    Determined to address the dangers this could bring, the Commission in January this year, held a stakeholders’ forum on financial fraud, using telecoms platforms in Abuja. The event, which featured participants from the CBN, the MNOs, the banks, law enforcement agencies and the consumer groups, aimed at furthering inclusive discourse on how to proffer solutions to the issue of pre-registered and improperly-registered SIM cards being used to defraud bank customers.

    Speaking at the financial fraud forum, Danbatta said despite advances in technology, human intervention is still required to prevent SIM swap fraud.

    According to him, controls and processes by network operators have, to a degree, failed and led to instances of human error in retail branches in distributing SIM cards, noting that banks were still trying to find effective ways of identifying when a customer’s mobile number has been fraudulently swapped and ported onto a new device.

    “With fraudsters continuing to exploit these weaknesses, putting better authentication processes in place is vital. Of course, consumers have a responsibility to be vigilant and take their own precautions as well,” he said.

    The financial fraud forum subsequently produced a 13-point communique, whose implementation by the Commission, MNOs, the banks, the consumers, law enforcement agents and other concerned stakeholders will help to encourage proper SIM cards registration, diligent adherence to SIM swap procedures by the MNOs and their agents, towards preventing further losses incurred by unsuspecting subscribers/bank customers through SIM swap fraud..

    Sensitisation programme

    Unrelenting in its quest to tackle the problem, the Commission, through its CME team, has commenced a nationwide sensitisation programme that will hold across the six geo-political zones in the country to educate stakeholders, especially telecoms consumers, on the dangers of pre-registered SIM cards.

    The sensitisation programme, which already held in Enugu for the Southeast and Nasarawa for the Northcentral will be hosted in Southwest, Northeast, Southsouth and Northwest geo-political zones in the coming weeks.

    Speaking during the Enugu edition of the programme, Executive Commissioner, Stakeholder Management, Mr. Sunday Dare, stressed the importance of educating all stakeholders on the dangers of pre-registered SIM cards.

    According to him, “the availability of improperly-registered SIM cards in any corner of Nigeria is a threat to the security of all of us. Such SIM cards make it possible to commit financial crimes whose victims are ordinary hardworking citizens like you and I.

    “Also, pre-registered and fraudulently- activated SIM cards, if left unchecked, make it difficult for our law enforcement agents to apprehend persons involved in major criminal activities and they can be used in the perpetration of horrible crimes such as terrorism, kidnapping and similar felonies, making suspect virtue untraceable.”

    Dare said the Commission is in the process of sponsoring legislation in the National Assembly to directly criminalise certain SIM registration infractions to deter persons wishing to commit such infractions.

    Collaboration

    While the efforts of the Commission, as exemplified in all the afore-mentioned regulatory interventions, have been commendable, stakeholders have called for effective collaboration of other government agencies and concerned stakeholders with the NCC in order to support the telecoms regulator’s drive at curbing and possibly eliminating the scourge of pre-registered and improperly-registered SIM cards in the country.

  • Smile, NUU Mobile sign data roaming deal

    Smile Communications Nigeria at the weekend, in Lagos, struck an international data roaming deal with NUU Mobile (HKG) Limited, a reputable Hong Kong and United-States based firm, to offer international data roaming services to customers.

    This partnership will ensure that Smile customers travelling to top destinations in over 85 countries, including US, UK, South Africa, Canada, Kenya and many more are empowered to automatically access data services to send and receive e-mails, download and send business documents and much more.

    Speaking on the occasion in Lagos, Smile’s Head of Brands and Communications Lotanna Anajemba said Smile is the first firm in Africa to partner NUU Mobile, adding that only NUU Mobile customers travelling into Nigeria would roam on Smile network. The service is also available for Smile customers travelling internationally with the Smile Konnect device. Through the partnership, Smile will empower its customers to conduct businesses internationally with ease and convenience.

    He said for anyone to enjoy the service, the person would have to purchase a special Smile 4GLTE mobile device that will be available at a competitive price across select Smile and partner outlets, stressing that the latest partnership syncs with Smile’s quest to offer unbeatable value to its customers.

    Anajemba said unlike other brands that sell at the entry level price range, NUU is a “Certified Google Partner,” meaning its phones run on Android software that has been officially tested at certified Google labs.

    He said some Chinese brands, such as Bluboo and Doogee, get their Android software from a third party source, arguing that NUU Mobile has market penetration in the Europe, Middle East and US, with phones available at budget carriers as well as big retailers such as Best Buys and Wal-Mart.

    The deal with NUU Mobile was also premised on attractive data price as customers with the virtual subscriber identity module (SIM) technology-driven devices can enjoy Smile data at affordable price. The partnership will also avail Smile customers the Konnect i4GLTE Mifi device as well as the virtual SIM technology cum embedded SIM. This innovation offers the best in class service delivery and will make Smile the first telecommunications company in Nigeria to launch a virtual SIM device.

  • ‘Low IT adoption rate by govt institutions alarming’

    The Director-General, National Information Technology Development Agency (NITDA), Dr Ibrahim Pantami, has decried the low adoption of Information Technology (IT) platforms by government institutions to deliver services to end users.

    According to Pantami, only 4.7 per cent of Federal Government institutions out of 106 ministries, departments and agencies (MDAs) adopt IT to deliver services despite that ICT contributes 13.63 per cent to the nation’s Gross Domestic Product (GDP).

    The NITDA chief spoke during the presentation of the draft Nigerian Government Enterprise Architecture (NGEA) to stakeholders in Abuja.

    Represented by Dr Vincent Olatunji, a Director in NITDA, Pantami said the NGEA is a framework for long-term IT strategy and plan as well as a roadmap for achieving Whole of Government and Government Digital Transformation for the development of the economy.

    “An enterprise architecture provides for an integrated and long-term view of the election strategic goals, structure, people, finance, data/information, business processes and services and their relationship with information technology and the external environment with the aim of deriving maximum benefits from the use and adoption of IT,” he said.

    Pantami said despite the low level adoption of IT by government institutions, the country has made significant progress in ICT adoption which are evident in the Treasury Single Account (TSA), Integrated Personal Payroll Information System (IPPIS), Government Information Financial Management Information System (GIFMIS), Bank Verification Number (BVN), e-Taxation, e-passport, e-Wallet for farmers, business registration, among others.

    He said it had, therefore, become necessary for public institutions to “form a big and critical enterprise that must be managed efficiently to ensure its resources, including IT are maximised to create value for stakeholders given the prevailing political, legal and managerial/administrative context.

    “This document provides a platform where government services can be accessed from one source that is to have one whole government where everything you need from government can be gotten from one source according to global standards.

  • Samsung unveils Galaxy A series

    Samsung has unveiled the new Galaxy A Series, designed with incredible improvements to the essential device features. These include immersive viewing experiences, longer lasting performance and ground-breaking cameras.

    Head of Information and Mobile Technology, Samsung Electronics West Africa, Adetunji Taiwo, said this is a series that has also embraced affordability in a big way and is set to capture the imagination of more people, in many more ways. Ultimately, the new Galaxy A Series is designed for the way that people are connecting today – sharing, capturing and consuming live content on-the-go. The new series offers diverse, powerful devices that can keep up with these spontaneous, collaborative interactions.

    Managing Director at Samsung Electronics West Africa, David Suh, said: “We are committed to providing meaningful innovation to everyone for a better mobile experience. That innovation starts with the all new Galaxy A Series. People are changing the way they connect, and their smartphones need to keep up. Our new Galaxy A Series offers improvements to the essential features that will support these live interactions, with diverse options to meet their ever-changing needs.”

    With the Galaxy A Series, consumers can also experience the Galaxy ecosystem using key services, such as Samsung Health, Samsung Members, and Bixby. The all-new Galaxy A Series is filled with enhanced features across the range.

  • Effective regulation key to convergence, say NCC, others

    The Nigerian Communications Commission (NCC) and other stakeholders in the Information Communication Technology (ICT) industry have stressed the importance of effective regulations to drive the inevitable convergence in the ecosystem.

    The NCC, Backbone Connectivity Network (BCN), Nigerian Communications Satellite Limited (NigComSat), Association of Telecoms Companies of Nigeria (ATCON), Rack Centre and others spoke at the 10th West African Convergence Conference organised by KNOWHOW Media & Market Intelligence Limited (KMI) at Lagos Sheraton Hotel and Towers, Ikeja.

    Speaking on: Regulations, Disruptions, employability, entrepreneurship and convergence, broadband plan, NCC Executive Vice Chairman, Prof Umar Danbatta, said convergence of IT telecom and media has become imperative in view of the new opportunities and threats that are being thrown up.

    Represented by NCC Head of Wireless Networks, Anthony Ikemefuna, the regulatory chief said industries were being disrupted, new industries were being created while new competencies and skill-sets were required.

    “The increasing convergence of the ICT and media industries is a trend that we’ll be watching as it has tremendous implications for the types of services that will be delivered, the ability to connect to new audiences, and even the types of networks built to power the new data-intensive customer demands,” he said.

    Dambatta said broadband connectivity and convergence would be difficult to achieve without effective regulation. “Regulations represent a powerful instrument to promote efficiency, but their impact depends on good implementation and effective compliance. NCC has over 12 enforceable regulations for the telecommunication industry and more are being developed to cater for emerging technologies in the sector,” he said.

    BCN CEO Ibrahim Dikko and Rack Centre Managing Director Tunde Coker said supporting local data ecosystem would depend on how much of broadband the environment can offer. Convergence of technologies and services is a function of the availability of broadband and right regulations to foster and not impede growth, they said.

    ATCON President, Olusola Teniola, stressed the need for collaboration between government and private sector players if the new timeline of 70 per cent broadband penetration by 2024 must be met. He agreed with Dikko and Coker that “broadband should be a privilege right’ since broadband is the key vehicle to drive all sorts of growth, including converged technologies and services in the 21st century.

    Head, Lagos Regional Business Office, NigComSat, Ibiye Ukoko, said with convergence, voice and data services are merging to belong to a single data stream, adding that a single device can handle calls, instant messages, stream television, photography email and many others.

    “Some services are becoming obsolete with convergence, however, a lot of other opportunities are open to those that can innovate in developing new applications,” she said.

    Ausso Leadership Academy (ALA ) founder, Mr Austin Okere, in his keynote presentation, said the future of work would be driven by technology. According to him, a lot of youths  prefer to be entrepreneurs because of the technology enablement.

    According to Okere, convergence will also change the face of the work place as many will work from home in silos as opposed to relating and meeting with their co-workers everyday.

    Qitech Technologies Chairman, Dr Sola Afolabi, said the education system and curricula must be tweaked to reflect the realities of convergence. According to him, while the role of the academia is to produce goods and services (workers and ideas), their products must meet the need of the industry which is now becoming converged.

    With special attention on broadband as the next frontier for Nigeria’s ICT development, participants said the government and stakeholders must see broadband as a right for all citizens and not just service.

    Dambatta said as at last February, broadband penetration hit 33.34 per cent, adding there is steady increase with the deployment of 4G networks.

     

  • Jumia offers 80% Easter discount

    Number one online shopping platform, Jumia, is offering up to 80per cent discount during its Easter sale campaign, which started yesterday and runs till April 21.

    The campaign will be predominantly hosted on the Jumia mobile App, and is expected to drive a sharp upturn in the shopping habits of Nigerians across the country, including those in the far-flung rural areas during the Easter season. There will also be flash sales at up to 50 per cent off on limited stocks daily between 10am and 3pm.

    Its Chief Marketing Officer, Salma Bencherif, said the campaign had been designed to give every Nigerian the opportunity to shop at incredibly low prices during the Easter season.

    “Starting with the treasure hunt at 99.9 per cent off, first, at 12.01am yesterday, for the kick off with Samsung S10 at a giveaway price. The treasure hunt became a tradition now at Jumia, giving the possibility to one winner every day to access top products at ridiculous prices. These treasure hunts will happen daily at 12pm till Easter day; in addition, there will be free shipping nationwide on a selection of items,” she added.

    Some of the product categories that will enjoy this massive discount during the two weeks campaign include: fashion, electronics, appliances, groceries, watches, kids and babies, phones, and computing.

    The firm’s Head of Partnerships, Stanislaus Martins, said: “The products selected for this campaign are in response to our customers’ demand for their favourite products. And we have our partners, such as HP, Samsung, Binatone, Xiaomi, and Mooka, to thank for working with us to give our customers the best prices, amazing deals and unbeatable product quality.”

  • 5G will spark wave of innovations in Africa, says Mikael Bäck

    Industry 4.0 has arrived, and it is going to spark an unprecedented wave of innovation in the Middle East and Africa (MEA), this is according to Mikael Bäck, Corporate Officer for Ericsson’s Group Function Technology Group.

    Back made this known in an opinion article shared with the media on Monday.

    According to back, Industry 4.0 merges operational, information and communication technologies with cyber-physical systems, enabled by advanced wireless communication and Industrial IoT services.

    This digital and wireless transformation, he said will be powered by 5G networks, which have the potential to drive economic growth in the region like no previous generation of mobile technology.

    “For example, the security, high speeds, low latency and massive number of connections in 5G networks will support smart city and agriculture transformation in many countries in the Middle East and Africa. This will enable new revenue streams from IoT and industrial applications and accelerate digitalisation.

    “Agriculture 4.0 will particularly transform both the demand side and the value chain/supply side of the food-scarcity equation, using technology to address the real needs of consumers.

    “The UAE already uses the SCADA system, which combines up-to-date, real-time data from weather stations with data from soil moisture and salinity sensors.  And IKEA, David Chang and the ruler of Dubai have invested USD 40 million in vertical farming. Other Arab countries are also shifting their focus to expand their agriculture vertically, and conducting trials with a number of new technologies.

    “The Middle East and Africa region is also the world’s largest center for mineral mining (diamond, phosphate, gold) and for oil and gas operations. The domain choice of IoT connectivity for these industries will be 5G.

    “An interesting case study in this area is the Boliden Aitik mine in Sweden. The application of 5G-enabled automation reduces costs by one percent, with communications being the key enabler. For the Aitik mine alone, carrying out drilling and blasting using automation shows an annual EUR 2.5 million net saving. This illustrates the potential for similar operations in MEA and other regions.” he said.

    Switching on 5G in the Middle East

    In 2019, we will start the commercial roll out of 5G with operators in advanced markets like the UAE, Saudi Arabia’s and Qatar, with significant traffic volumes in 2021.  We were recently selected by Batelco to commercially deploy 5G across Bahrain and announced 5G commercial launches with Etisalat, STC and Ooredoo at Mobile World Congress 2019. In fact, all major service providers in the region are moving aggressively to launch 5G commercially, according to Ericsson Mobility Report MEA.

    Moreover, we are working with partners in a multitude of industries, as well as academia partners within research and development projects.

    This has wide regional ramifications, as there are great economic benefits in taking advantage of a new wireless technology first, highlighted by the boom in the app economy in the region after its adoption of 4G.  Numerous regional start-ups like Fetchr!, Souq, Careem, and ReserveOut have been hugely successful, and many more have had a strong impact in the market.

    Key drivers for immediate 5G deployment include increased network capacity, lower cost per gigabyte and new use case requirements. The majority of the 5G subscriptions in the MEA are expected to come from advanced ICT markets like Saudi Arabia, UAE and Qatar while in Africa, considerable momentum is building in South Africa.

    The MEA region’s telecom market is characterized by increasing uptake of LTE. The region will lead the globe with a forecast for 9x mobile data traffic growth (1.8 to 17 EB/month from 2018 to 2024) and see a doubling of mobile broadband subscriptions (850 to 1,630 million from 2018 to 2024), according to Ericsson Mobility Report MEA.

    The exponential role of disruptive technology in climate action

    Beyond improving efficiency and reducing cost, digitalisation and IoT have wide human implications. From smart homes and power grids to connected transport systems, IoT is already making our personal lives safer, healthier and greener.

    ICT in combination with a well-integrated corporate sustainability strategy can help tackle a range of global challenges. While the digital sector is on track to reduce its own emissions, representing just 1.4% of the global total, it is also in a unique position to influence other sectors.

    Social and technological innovations are already scaling, for example, shared and “on-demand” fleets of more energy-efficient electric vehicles could reduce global energy demand for transport by more than 50 percent by 2050 while reducing the number of vehicles on the road.

    For example, the vision adopted by Dubai for 2030 is for 30 percent of public transport to be autonomous. Other GCC states have also revealed plans to cut emissions and improve climate mitigation.

    Adopting circular-economy approaches has the potential to reduce global emissions from industry by 45 percent by 2050. Globally, heavy industries such as steel, aluminum, cement and plastic production can reduce emissions by 50 percent using current technologies and efficiencies.

    5G is the backbone that can make it all work both in the Middle East and Africa as well as across the globe – driving economic value from enhanced mobile broadband to digital industry to combating climate change. That in turn will require an ecosystem of technology, regulatory, security and industry partners to deliver on the potential.

  • SIM boxing threatens telecoms industry

    An information communication technology (ICT) expert has warned about the dangers of subscriber identity module (SIM) boxing in the telecoms industry, saying a decisive action needed to be taken to halt its spread.

    An independent ICT consultant, Derrick Sebbaale, said in 2016, it was estimated that Uganda telcos lost about $60million due to illegal redirection of international calls traffic.

    The amount, in part, led to revenue from voice services remaining flat or growing sluggishly between 2015 and 2017, according to telecom revenue analysis in those three years. The illegal redirection is known technically as SIM boxing.

    But the Nigerian Communications Commission (NCC) said it was addressing the menace with the deployment of superior technology.

    According to Sebaale, SIM boxing is a practice in telecoms, whereby a person or group of people, set-up a device that can take up several SIM cards (a SIM box) and use it to complete international calls received from the internet as voice over IP (VoIP) and in turn serve them to the in-country mobile network subscribers as local traffic. The SIM boxer thus bypasses the international rates and often undercuts the prices charged by local mobile operators.

    Read also: NCC resumes Do Not Disturb directive

    Explaining how it works, he said, if a call is being made from the United Kingdom to Uganda, the subscriber will call via their operator (provider A – i.e. Vodafone) that has an International Gateway (e.g. BICS, TATA, etc.) and has termination agreements with operators in Uganda, including network X (could be MTN or Airtel). They send the call via their connections to Network X that looks for its subscriber and terminates the call.

    In this scenario, all operators – A, BICS, X and the government – receive their fees as per set agreements and taxation laws.

    This is the legal mode of operations and guarantees revenue for parties involved.  However, some unscrupulous elements have found a way around this. The issue, he said, became rampant when the One Area Network (OAN) was launched in 2015, and that it became the transit route for calls  from other countries.

    If someone made a call from the UK to Uganda on your phone, it would be displayed as a call from Kenya because it would have been diverted by some unscrupulous individuals.

    The SIM Box has several SIM cards of operators and could also take advantage of any on-net (same network) voice bundles and thus ends up paying very little or nothing for the termination of the said call disguised as a local call.

    In this scenario, the interconnect operator C undercuts the market interconnect rates and offers cheap rates by spoofing quality. The GSM operator in Uganda (Network X) is cheated of charging the call at premium international rates, but rather gets local rates or even earns nothing (if already purchased voice bundles are utilised). The government is also cheated of the $9 charged on international calls per minute. This route is also referred to as the “Gray Route”.

    So, the telecom firms witness increased calls due to bundled offers but then this doesn’t translate into increased revenue. That means, someone is rigging the system.

    As stated, the telecoms were estimated to be losing about $60million yearly as a result of the gray routing. A loss to the telecoms means that they will also be unable to remit the excise duty charge on calls to the government. With the excise duty charge at about 36 per cent, that means government revenue loss is about $21.5million yearly. These are amounts that can help the government continue to provide services for Ugandans.

    As the telecom operators and the government are counting their losses, the unscrupulous individuals that have only spent a meagre amount to acquire a SIM box machine are smiling to the bank.

    These SIM boxers can break even in less than one month and continue to rake in profits. There is no deliberate under-declaration of telecom revenue because of the investment made to be compliant with the tax authorities, the expert added.