The Nation Newspaper

Category: Infotech

  • Fed Govt opts for PPP to expand IT infrastructure

    The Federal Government has said it is opting for public private partnership (PPP) to bridge the huge information technology (IT) infrastructure gap needed by young techpreneurs to leapfrog the country.

    Communications Technology Minister Adebayo Shittu, who spoke at the weekend in Lagos,  at a youth empowerment-centric forum tagged Entrepreneurship Leverage (E-Leverage), said technology, particularly ICT, is the critical driver of the knowledge-based economy of post-modern world. He said emphasis and global relevance in today’s 21st Century world has shifted from nations with huge natural resources to nations with developed human resources that can technologically explore, exploit and manage natural  resources for the benefit of mankind.

    Represented by an official of the Ministry, Ms Ibiye Member, he said the government was working towards developing PPPs to expand ICT infrastructure, needed by young IT entrepreneurs to ride on.

    Shittu said the forum would bridge the gap between technology and business, create a platform to inspire, mentor, build leadership skills and develop a sense of collaboration as winning strategies among stakeholders in the technology world.

    The forum, organised by Simeon’s Pivot Resources, was attended by stakeholders across public and private sector  including software developers, technology consultants, hardware engineers, tech business analysts, enterprise architect and young IT entrepreneurs.

    With “Leverage Solutions for Information Technology Sector”, as its theme, speakers at the forum held at the Afe Babalola Auditorium, University of Lagos, explored what they considered ‘winning’ strategies for growing young IT businesses into becoming major players that will further contribute to the growth of the ICT industry.

    Managing Director, Precise Financial System, Mr. Yele Okeremi, who used his company as an anchor point to educate young entrepreneurs on how to grow their businesses, emphasised the importance of ‘leverage’ and ‘perception’  and collaborations as ways to accelerating business goals and dreams.

    He said: “The equation for success does not lie in hard work; it lies in leverage. The word ‘leverage’ has become very important to business. So, the solution for greatness in business will not come by following conventional methods, which give conventional results; but from new innovative thinking.”

    He urged young entrepreneurs to develop clarity of thoughts, passion and resilience in their business dream, stressing that the business owners must see positive perception towards their business as winning formula in business than their intelligence and technical skills.

    “So, businesses today need to act locally and think globally in the context of today’s rapidly changing technological advancement,” he said, noting however, that most rich individuals in Nigeria have not come to terms  with investing in information technology.

    Managing Director of Simeon’s Pivot Resources Mr. Enahoro Okhae said as the clarion call for entrepreneurship continues to spread and the opportunities in IT becomes more obvious, young Nigerians would continue to grow in creativity regarding Information Technology by coming up with different innovative products.

    “Unfortunately, there is more to running an IT business than coming up with an innovative IT products/services,” he said, stressing that “success apparatus needed by success-bound IT entrepreneurs should resolve around incorporation of mentoring, collaboration and succession plans and financial empowerment into the efforts being made by young entrepreneurs today.”

  • Anxiety over telecoms tax

    The Communication Service Tax (CST) Bill, which is before the National Assembly, has generated concern among communication consuming public and other stakeholders. LUCAS AJANAKU examines the implications of the proposed legislation on the industry and the end users of telecoms services.

    Opposition to the Communication Service Tax (CST) Bill sponsored by Senate Leader, Senator Ali Ndume, has continued to grow. The bill, which has passed the first reading in both chambers of the National Assembly, is viewed by interest groups protecting consumer rights globally as an additional yoke on end-users of communication services and a deadly blow on a plan to extend mobile services to the most vulnerable segment of the society.

    The bill proposes to impose nine per cent tax on services rendered by communication service providers to the subscriber. These services include Short Message Service (SMS), Multimedia Service (MMS), voice calls, data usage from telecommunication companies and internet service providers and pay per view TV. In a nutshell, the communication subscriber will have to pay more for services rendered by the operators.

    Of grave concern to industry operators is the devastating impact CST will have on the long term national digital strategy objectives set by the government. They pointed out that the new tax regime, as proposed, would result in an increase in prices for consumers, and therefore counter-productive to the Nigerian National Broadband Plan (NBP) to achieve 30 per cent broadband penetration by 2018, which is just two years away, given that increased cost will prevent people from subscribing to data services.

    In defence of consumer rights, the Global System for Mobile Communication Association (GSMA), which represents the interests of mobile operators globally, joined interest groups in Nigeria to file a complaint to the Minister of Finance, Mrs Kemi Adeosun, and her Communications Technology counterpart, Adebayo Shittu, as well as the leadership of the National Assembly. The stakeholder groups included the Association of Licensed Telecommunications Operators of Nigeria (ALTON), the Association of Telecommunications Companies of Nigeria (ATCON) and the National Association of Telecommunications Subscribers (NATCOMS).

    The letter, dated March 30, this year was jointly endorsed by GSMA’s Director Africa, Mortimer Hope; National President of NATCOMS, Adeolu Ogunbanjo; former President of ATCON, Lanre Ajayi; and, Chairman of ALTON, Gbenga Adebayo. They stressed that, with the coming of the CST, Nigeria would have mounted higher barriers to the drive towards increased affordability of communications service.

    Presently, about 83 million people in Nigeria have access to mobile communication service, given the high incidence of multi subscriber identity module (SIM) cards among the reported 149 million mobile lines. That represents only half of the population. In effect, a large segment of the population still do not use mobile services and this is primarily due to affordability as a result of the low purchasing power of a majority of the population. Increasing the cost of these services, which many already find unaffordable, will result in the exclusion of even more low income earners from the use of mobile telecommunication services which ideally should be a fundamental human right available to all – rich or poor. It therefore becomes imperative to frontally and decisively tackle the huge challenge of affordability that stands between half of the population that remains unconnected.

    The groups said: “Further taxation on electronic communication services will hit lower income consumers the most, who are already struggling due to the adverse economic situation and increased price pressure and for whom affordable access to information and communication technology is critical to their social and economic inclusion. Moreover, this will result in a double taxation for consumers who already pay value added tax (VAT) on telecommunications services.”

    The groups are concerned about how the charge would be applied or captured in the annual reports because the CST would clearly be applied to items already being taxed.

    ALTON chairman said: “When the government collects this tax on a monthly basis on the revenue generated, would it become tax deductible during the preparation and filing of annual returns?”

    The tax is expected to be paid by the consumer to the service provider along with service charge. The direct implication of this being that the service tariff of operators will have to be increased to include nine per cent of the charge for the service. This is definitely likely to cause general discontentment with the consumers in an environment where there is already consumer outcry on tariffs, they averred.

    A consumer rights campaigner, Jamiu Okonlawon, wondered how the proponents of the CST Bill would want the subscribers to feel having to pay much more to use data for browsing and related activities; to make phone calls, send SMS and MMS, or even to watch their favourite movies, live football matches and other shows on pay-tv channels. “These are some of the unpleasant experiences we will be confronted with should the CST Bill see the light of day,” he lamented.

     

    Affordability

     

    The socio-economic impact of mobile penetration is now widely recognised. According to research conducted by the World Bank, a 10 per cent increase in mobile broadband penetration in low to middle income countries leads to a 1.38 per cent increase in GDP growth

    Today, 83 million people in Nigeria have access to mobile services. With over half of the population without a mobile connection, affordability remains a key challenge to connect the unconnected, who are typically lower income population groups. Further taxation on electronic communication services will hit lower income consumers the most, who are already struggling due to the adverse economic situation and increased price pressure and for whom affordable access to information and communication technology is critical to their social and economic inclusion. Moreover, this will result in a double taxation for consumers who already pay VAT on telecommunications services.

     

    Digital economy push

    In 2014, the mobile ecosystem contributed $8.3 billion to the Nigerian economy. This is set to increase as penetration of voice and broadband services grows. The potential of mobile broadband is apparent from the rapid development of the digital economy in Nigeria and is supported by a diverse and growing local ecosystem. Usage of apps is growing by up to 30 per cent annually for example.

    The development of a competitive digital economy, boosted by mobile penetration and investment in networks will, over time, strengthen the economy as a whole leading to faster economic growth together with higher fiscal income for the government from a broader tax base.

     

    Mobile industry

    investment

     

    By impacting usage of communications services and in turn industry revenues, this proposed tax will have adverse effect on the industry investment needed to improve and expand mobile connectivity across the country.

    Mobile industry investment in Nigeria is already constrained by multiple level of taxes and fees set by local and regional authorities, in addition to fees to the national telecommunications regulator and high costs of right of ways. In a context of declining average revenue per user, this can make it more difficult for mobile operators to make a business case for investment.

    The proposal would also further increase the administrative cost burden on service providers to comply with numerous and complex tax regulations, already high compared to other countries.

    Industry  watchers are bothered that, in blind pursuit of income from taxes, which will take more than it gives, the government is about to mortgage all the gains of the liberalisation of the telecom sector. They say before the National Assembly goes on with its anti-people plan, it should realise that its action will have several dire consequences on the telecoms industry.

    If introduced, such tax will result in an increase in prices for consumers, have adverse impacts on the adoption of mobile services and industry investment, and be counter-productive to the longer term national digital strategy objectives set by the Federal Government.

  • Telcos to axe more jobs over forex, falling revenue

    More workers in the telecoms industry may soon be sacked if the issue of foreign exchange (forex) and other policy issues inhibiting growth and capacity expansion in the industry are not addressed, the Association of Telecoms Companies of Nigeria (ATCON) has warned. .

    Its President, Olusola Teniola, who gave the warning when he led members of the association’s Executive Council on a working visit to the General Manager, Lagos State Infrastructure Maintenance and Regulatory Authority (LASIMIRA), Babajide Odekunle, at the weekend in Lagos, lamented that revenues from voice calls have declined sharply while data that was supposed to have provided alternative revenue stream is being challenged by a myriad of factors including operating cost.

    He lamented that the free fall in the value of the naira against the dollar has ensured that roll-out of new base transmission station (BTS) and expansion of existing capacity remained impossible.

    He said: “We want to appreciate the professional way LASIMRA has been regulating the industry; we particularly thank the new management of LASIMRA for sustaining the tradition of excellence in the organisation. But in spite of these positive developments, our association has some concerns which include unstable forex rates. The free fall of the naira against the dollar has constituted a serious source of worry to our sector and as a matter of fact our member companies have tried to make sure that Lagosians and Nigerians as a whole have access to qualitative communications service but the continuous depreciation of the naira is not encouraging from a capital expenditure (capex) roll out perspective.”

    “Again, revenue derived from voice is seriously being challenged. To worsen the situation as an industry, the telecommu-nication companies are barely making any money from voice due to considerable drop rate in average revenue per user (ARPU). The direct implication of this is that the revenue that is generated from data is now being challenged by the cost of operating the business which is increasing on a daily basis and may lead to further laying-off of staff.”

    Speaking on the unified duct system proposal, he said the telcos were nervous about the implications of the introduction of this system in place of the right of way (RoW) in view of the work already achieved in setting a N500/ linear meter rate with Lagos State government.

    “Our members would like to be fully engaged in the process to avoid prohibitive charges creeping back in. Generally, our request is for a further slash in telecoms levies by over 60 per cent and charges on RoWs by 95 per cent. This would enable our members to build more base stations and accelerate the roll out of much needed fibre which is ICT passive infrastructure for the good of all Lagosians and by extension, Nigerians,” Teniola said.

    He expressed the delight of the telcos over the positive development in the industry which has been identified as the fastest growing sector of the Nigerian economy and which currently contributes more than eight per cent to the nation’s gross domestic product (GDP). “This success is not without the slash in telecoms levies by over 40 per cent and charges on RoWs by 90 per cent which LASIMRA supported and we are pleased to report some sort of relief to our members that are operating in Lagos State,” he said.

  • E-governance ‘ll fight graft, say Shittu, Oyedepo

    E-governance ‘ll fight graft, say Shittu, Oyedepo

    The Minister of Communications Technology, Adebayo Shittu and Chancellor, Covenant University, Dr. David Oyedepo, have urged Nigerians to embrace information communications technology (ICT) as a major tool to move the nation forward.

    They argued that the implementation of electronic or e-government policy will not only bring about transparency but assure good governance. They spoke during this year’s Covenant University Conference on e-Governance in Nigeria, in Otta, Ogun State.

    Shittu said the Federal Government believes in the implementation of e-government as a policy that would help improve efficiency in the public service, block financial leakages, improve transparency and reduce corruption to the barest minimum, while bringing government closer to the people.

    According to him, the adoption of e-government across all Federal Government Ministries, Departments and Agencies (MDAs) has improved. He added that there is still a lot more work to be done both at the federal and state level.

    “We have developed an e-Government Masterplan, which is a framework to guide the adoption and implementation of e-Government programs across government,” he said.

    Represented by a Director in the Ministry, Tope Fashedemi, the minister spoke on: Information and Communication Technologies for Governance in Nigeria: Achievements, Challenges and Opportunities.

    According to the Shittu, e-government is the use of Information Communication Technology (ICT) as a tool to facilitate improved service delivery between government and its customers which comprise its citizens, registered businesses, foreigners, government (MDAs), state government and local government, among others.

    He said; “Based on the importance of e-government for our administration, we are keen on delivering improved government services to the citizenry, while focusing on the need to improve the capacity of the public sector workforce to be properly skilled and equipped to deliver on the government mandate in this new dispensation.”

    He noted that there are several advantages to be derived from purposeful implementation of e-government, including cost savings which will result in effective service delivery, enhanced transparency and accountability, improved public administration and growth of the ICT sector which will lead to employment opportunities and improved economic development.

    He said ICT is a positive catalyst to development, adding that a holistic adoption and implementation of e-government will result in an increase in the sector’s contribution to the GDP.

     

  • Fixing Nigeria’s ailing economy with ICT

    Fixing Nigeria’s ailing economy with ICT

    Nigeria’s economy has almost slipped into recession, no thanks to falling oil prices and long years of pillaging and mindless looting of the treasury. The resurgence of attacks on oil facilities by rampaging militants in the Niger Delta has complicated the nation’s economic woes. Experts advise the Federal Government to make the ICT sector its economic diversification option, LUCAS AJANAKU reports.

    Experts have said the Nigerian telecommunications sector has the potential to take the country’s economy back to recovery and reverse the downturn. This assertion has been an “old song”.  But what has always constituted a clog in the wheel is  lack of political will and policies to drive this potential to fruition.

    Regarded as the fastest growing sector of the economy, the telecoms industry has recorded over $32 billion investment, over 152 million subscribers and close to 100 million internet subscriptions, according to statistics from industry regulator, the Nigerian Communications Commission (NCC).

    Results of the 2014 rebasing of the economy indicated that the telecoms industry was contributing 10 per cent to the nation’s Gross Domestic Product (GDP).

    The NCC is confident that the resultant broadband era will spur more than triple returns because broadband is a development enabler.

    Considering the present cash crunch faced by the President Muhammadu Buhari-led administration, analysts have identified the information communications technology (ICT) sector as the strategic alternative to oil.

    President, Association of Telecommunications Companies of Nigeria (ATCON), Olusola Teniola, said Buhari should include the ICT sector as part of his strategic economic diversification agenda because digital transformation is about technology and globalisation.

    Teniola, who is also the MD of Internet Solutions, said the Federal Government could seek assistance from global financial institutions such as the World Bank to develop the broadband infrastructure that will take the country to the next level of development. He stressed that if well supported and managed properly, the ICT sector could create additional jobs and other value addition to stimulate the growth of the GDP.

    After a careful period of diligent search, Buhari appointed Adebayo Shittu, a lawyer, as Communications Technology minister. His chief task is consolidating the gains already made in the industry. The initial doubt about his background has given way to great optimism in the industry as the minister has displayed enthusiasm to leave an indelible mark.

    Shittu has visited telecoms operators’ facilities to have proper understanding of the sector, rallied round the players to identify issues and challenges confronting the industry with a view to designing ways of addressing them.

    This led to the 2016 Communications Sector Retreat in Ibadan where stakeholders were able to list ways for accelerated growth of the industry.

    The minister also unveiled the Telecoms Sector Roadmap as guidelines on government plans for the industry, while the Nigerian Communications Commission (NCC) unveiled an Eight-point Agenda for Telecoms Industry for the period 2016 – 2020, all aimed at ensuring that the Federal Government’s objective of tapping into the opportunities in the sector are achieved.

    He also embarked on some foreign trips to familiarise himself with how countries around the world have used ICT to develop and find a way of domesticating some of the models. Shittu was in China and South Korea. The trip brought about certain commitments from South Korean government to partner on Smart Nigeria initiative/governance, training of Internally Displaced Persons (IDPs) as well as other schemes.

    Industry stakeholders have lauded the minister for his dynamic steps and approaches in ensuring the ICT sector becomes the cash cow of the economy.

    Some players are of the view that he is on course to help rebuild collaboration among stakeholders and that he started on a good note by convening the Ibadan Retreat that brought all ICT stakeholders to pursue a common goal.

     

    Challenges

     

    For the country to fully tap into the enormous potential of the ICT sector, there is need to resolve challenges facing the industry.

    Immediate past president of ATCON, Lanre Ajayi, during a special forum hosted by the association in honour of the minister, identified some of the challenges to include the National Broadband Plan; e-Government, National Critical Infrastructure; Frequency Management; Secondary  Spectrum Market; Free Spectrum; Infraco; Numbering Plan; MTN fine; and NCC independence .

    Other concerns raised were on facilitating low-cost financing for the development and production of local ICT products; leveraging Public-Private Partnership (PPP) to accelerate infrastructure development; and reclaiming and releasing of unused spectrum for trading or re-farming, passage into law the Critical National Infrastructure Bill; implementation of the National Economic Council’s Resolution on Multiple Taxation, Levies and Charges on ICT infrastructure; review and amendment of the Taxes and Levies (Approved List for Collection) Act (Amendment) Order, 2015; implementation of the ‘Smart State Initiative’ in all the states of the federation in order to create sanity and properly streamline fees and levies chargeable from states and need to further educate the general public of the legal implications of sites lockup as stated under the Criminal Justice Provision Act 2004.

    Also, former President of ATCON and member, Telecom Industry Advisory Council (TIAC), Mr. Titi Omo-Ettu during the inaugural meeting of the Council, called the industry stakeholders’ attention to certain policies and developments that required urgent intervention in order to consistently put the industry on the growth path.

    One of the documents, according to him, is the apparent wait-and-see attitude by industry players in the ICT industry while the second is about two documents, which are currently in public domain regarding the roadmap that the industry may travel under the current dispensation.

    The two documents are the communiqué of the 2016 Communications Sector Retreat in Ibadan and the EVC’s Eight-point Agenda for Telecommunication 2016 – 2020.

    The minister had on several occasions informed stakeholders of the Federal Government’s commitment to leverage ICT to achieve digital economy through creation of ICT University.

    “This government is committed to converting the Digital Bridge Institute in Lagos and other cities into a multi-campus ICT University, the first of its kind in Africa,” he said.

    He believes that if ICT is properly harnessed, it can create two million jobs in the next six months, adding that the time has come for Nigeria to shift its economic strength away from crude oil sale by diversifying its productive base.

    The slow growth of the ICT sector is a result of apathy towards indigenous products and services, the minister says, noting that this had undermined patronage of local players in the Nigerian ICT sector.

    The country is said to be losing about $2.8 billion yearly to the continued importation of ICT hardware and services as capital flights from the country.

    Addressing this challenge apparently necessitated a parastatal under the ministry, the National Information Technology Development Agency, (NITDA) to establish software testing laboratory as well as a scheme to train 1000 software testers across the country with plans to also come up with framework for local software standards.

    The industry under the present dispensation is striving to encourage international brands to establish factories in Nigeria or partner with local operators by buying components of their systems that are produced by local manufacturers as well as maintaining in-country research and development departments for the purpose of product conceptualisation, innovation, adaptation and design development.

    Shittu said this was to be part of measures to implement local content development policy to protect indigenous players in the industry, including the Small and Medium scale Enterprises (SMEs).

    On the Smart Cities initiatives of the ministry, the government he said, was working with telcos to remove all the bottlenecks militating against deficiency in broadband penetration in Nigeria.

    He said: “Some countries like Rwanda have already embraced the smart city initiatives and they are already reaping its benefits. I would want to enjoin the remaining states to also key into the initiatives that would ultimately make their states smart.”

     

    Unsolicited messages, cold calls

     

    For so long, subscribers have suffered in silence over the menace of unsolicited messages and cold calls. Shittu has warned telcos to address customers’ complaints ranging from poor quality of services (QoS), network congestion, spam messages, billing for services never rendered, under declaration of tax and under payment of tax by companies which had impacted negatively on consumers’ satisfaction.

    About six months ago, he invited telcos to Abuja to address these issues else sanctions would be applied to make them do the right things. In response Value Added Services Providers Association of Nigeria (VASPAN) has urged their members to show some level of restraints.

    The Executive Vice Chairman of NCC, Prof. Umar Danbatta, said while the growth in the telecoms industry has continued to drive further growth in the economy, especially in financial services and e-commerce, the commission has embarked on initiatives to further accelerate the growth into the future in addition to working with government at all levels to address the identified challenges facing the operators.

    He said the acknowledgement of the various challenges being faced by the industry has also informed the unveiling of a roadmap for the industry, adding that the industry would be regulated for the benefit of all the stakeholders.

  • Manpower development vital to telecoms sector, says Etisalat

    Etisalat has said continuous development of local skilled manpower is important for sustainable growth of the telecoms industry in Nigeria. It warned that the gains of the telecoms revolution could easily be eroded if the crop of young engineers that would keep the flag flying are not produced.

    Its Vice President, Regulatory and Corporate Affairs, Ibrahim Dikko, explained that it was this realisation that informed the Telecommunication Engineering Postgraduate Programme (ETEPP) internship programme which was initiated in 2013 as its flagship Corporate Social Responsibility (CSR), adding that it was designed for students to gain practical experience in the field of telecoms by undergoing a month-long work experience in various departments of the engineering section of Etisalat to support their course work in school.

    “The objective of this programme is to drive and improve the quality of local manpower in the telecoms industry by adding practical knowledge to the theory students have learnt in the school. Through this initiative, Etisalat is grooming local telecoms engineers that would take the industry to the next level between the next 10 and 15 years,” he said.

    He spoke during the roll out of another set of postgraduate students of the Ahmadu Bello University, Zaria of its 2015/16 ETEPP. The course intakes were unveiled during the closing of the 2016 edition of the internship in Abuja.

    Its Chief Technical Officer, Stephane Beuvelet, said the telco is proud to be involved in the industry skill development initiatives.

    He said: “ETEPP and this internship are very important initiatives, designed by Etisalat to ensure that these students become assets to Etisalat and the telecommunication industry in future. This internship is a major step towards the development of rounded engineers that would excel in both theoretical and field work.”

    He said the telco took the challenge of raising and improving local manpower in the industry after observing a gap in the universities offering courses in telecoms engineering in the country. “We are working in partnership with Plymouth University UK, the Etisalat Academy, UAE and the prestigious Ahmadu Bello University, Zaria.

    “In addition to the Students Masters’ programme, lecturers of the Ahmadu Bello University are also sponsored for their Ph.Ds in Plymouth University UK, while three best students of ETEPP will be at the Etisalat Academy in the UAE,” he said.

    Head, Department of Computer Engineering, ABU, Dr. Yusuf Jibril, said the initiative had impacted much on the department and the students in many ways. “Under this initiative, Etisalat and Huawei Technologies donated state of the art equipment to the department, exposed our students to the most recent practices in the telecommunications industry and also sponsored some of our lecturers for their Ph.D in Plymouth University UK. We really appreciate this good gesture and hope other telecommunication companies can emulate this,” he said.

    The internship is part of the ETEPP, a Master’s Degree course in Telecommunication Engineering at the Ahmadu Bello University, Zaria. It is a Corporate Social Responsibility initiative of Etisalat. The programme provides students with the opportunity to gain practical knowledge through a month-long internship stint with various departments of the technical division of Etisalat Nigeria.

    One of the interns of the ETEPP, Kelechi Okogwu, an M.Sc. student of Telecommunication Engineering expressed appreciation to Etisalat. According to him, the initiative presents a wonderful opportunity to anyone interested in developing a career in telecoms engineering, with the course content well thought-out between the faculty and Etisalat.

  • ‘Investment in ICT ‘ll create jobs’

    Information Communication Technology (ICT) tool is capable of driving economic development and creating jobs in the country, Founder/ Chief Executive Officer, Society of Computers Professionals (SCP) Africa, Oluyemi Odeyinka  has said. He said if investment is targeted at the sector, it would create jobs and ease the social impact of unemployment, which has become a major challenge in the country.

    Speaking in Lagos at the launch of SCP Africa, a non-profit organisation, Odeyinka said the aim of the launch is to fight poverty in Africa by creating and providing jobs.

    He said the organisation will encourage and empower African professionals dealing with information technology, software development, cloud computing, networking, database, security and related fields, adding that it would also benefit African students taking computer related degrees.

    According to him, SCP Africa champions the computing industry, the IT field and related areas on the African continent, through education, training and skills development.

    He said the organisation is open to both IT and non-information technology professionals, including students of computer to provide support for career advancement.

    “We will be offering our members IT training, webinars and other customised solutions. We are committed to help the youths reach the height of their computing and IT careers through various initiatives like scholarships, provision of world-class computer laboratories for hands on training, membership discounts, regional, national and international conferences, recognition awards, local and international investment opportunities and business to business partnership among others,” he said.

    He added that besides increasing the income of computing professionals and poverty eradication, SCP Africa is also focused on harnessing the power of computing, IT, communication and related fields towards driving a tangible change not just in the economic standing of the whole of Africa but also in the way the African people see themselves, especially the youths.

    The Chairman of the occasion, Ayangbure of Ikorodu, Oba Kabiru Adewale Shotobi, described the initiative as a paradigm shift for youth empowerment in technological skills as a path to create monumental employment opportunities and prosperity for the nation.

    He noted that Nigeria is not short of the human capacity to rise to the challenge of the digital revolution era, but rather the local enabling infrastructure should be developed to support and promote the skill acquisition practice and application.

    He said the most potent strategy to fight poverty is to encourage the establishment of Technology Incubation Center (TIC) in each of the 74 local government areas in the country to train and promote investors and technology entrepreneurs.

    “The centres could also provide a start-up facility for new entrepreneurs before they migrate to the business environment. The Federal Government can complement the technological drive of the country by facilitating the establishment of the replica of Silicon Valley in the US or Huawei Technologies in China,” the royal father said.

  • Ventures platform launches Nigeria’s full service tech innovation hub

    Ventures Platform has announced the commissioning of its Ventures Park Abuja Campus, the first full service tech innovation hub providing incubatory, residential, and co-working spaces for start-ups solving the most challenging problems on the African continent.

    Designed by renowned architect Wole Oyebanjo of the website, Ventures Park is aesthetically sound, a fusion of the finest elements of ancient Nigerian art, sustainable design and an enabling environment to stimulate creativity.  Ventures Park also features several art installations by internationally renowned visual artist Victor Ehikhamenor.

    Ehikhamenor, describing the installation process, said, “technology like art, is easy to implement, but conceptualizing sticky ideas is the tricky part.”

    The campus is carefully built to accommodate professionals, start-ups, techpreneurs, tech enthusiasts, freelancers, and small businesses who all share common goals. Fully serviced, Ventures Park features the latest technology and facilities including communal work spaces, private meeting rooms, a gym, and short-term residences for enterprises from out of town.

    Barr. Adebayo Shittu, the Honourable Minister of Communication and Technology, will officially commission Ventures Platform on the 3rd of June 2016 by 9am. The event will host stakeholders in e-Government, e-Health care, e-Agriculture, ICT and the creative industries.

    The entrepreneurial community stands to benefit from a strong mentors network, training, a robust curriculum and several opportunities to grow big ideas into successful businesses including the provision of seed funding.

    Ventures Platform is the latest addition to the Emerging Platforms Group consisting of Emerging Platforms Ltd and EDU Platforms Ltd, technology solution providers revolutionizing ICT, Education, and Health Care in Africa.

    CEO of the Emerging Platforms Group and Founder of Ventures Platform, Mr Kola Aina said of the launch, “we are excited to unveil Ventures Park, a community for nurturing disruptive and financially sustainable technology ventures that also make social impact. Everyone is invited.”

  • Local content: data centres boost capacity

    Local content: data centres boost capacity

    In response to the global surge in data, driven by the new era of Internet of Things (IoT), which experts say will lead to some 50 billion objects being interconnected by 2020, data centres are springing up across Nigeria. With this rise are the challenges of constant power supply, security and others. Lucas Ajanaku reports that data centre managers need to think out of the box to weather the storm.

    Digital traffic, according to experts, is expanding by 23 per cent yearly. Data centres need to evolve to manage the huge increase in data.

    In Nigeria, there are MainOne, managed by Ms Funke Opeke, Computer Warehouse Group, founded by Austin Okere and Ayotude Coker-led Rack Centre.

    Others are owned by MTN, Etisalat, Globacom and Airtel. Deposit money banks (DMBs) are not left out of the game.

    With these data centres, the government and private organisations still host their data offshore.

    The Communications Technology Minister, Adebayo Shittu, has assured that once data centres have enough capacity to handle data generated within the country, the Federal Government would  stop hosting its data overseas.

    Shittu, who spoke during a visit to Rack Centre,  was passionate about local data centre development, promising that “as soon as we have the capacity, “all our data will be hosted within.”He added: I just want to be sure we have the capacity.”

    Coker said the firm had doubled its capacity from 119 to 255 racks within seven months and was working towards meeting local demand.

    He said: “We intend to build that capacity, we have the blueprint and we have proven that it can be done by our doubling the capacity of the centre within just seven months ahead of time and within the budget, and that the capacity can be increased again to 600 racks within another seven months once it is identified that the market exists for the expansion.”

    Shittu said if local capacity could be met within a year, the government would compel Ministries, Departments and Agencies (MDAs) to host locally.

    Group Co-CEO, Jagal, Rack Centre’s parent company, Mr Maher Jarmakani, said the Group was committed to increasing the capacity of the data centre as it viewed data as strategic to the development of not only Nigeria, but the African continent.

    “We intend to expand the market initially to the West Africa region and then to the rest of the African continent,” he explained.

    Shittu said there would be no challenge in implementing the local content policy as it has already specified that for data centre facilities available in the country,  government agencies were duty bound to patronise them.

    “It is easy, we have a local content policy that  says for every data centre facility available in Nigeria, industries and government agencies must patronise them, and more especially, when we have a facility like Rack Centre that can compete with any other in any part of the world.

    “It is not logical for the Nigerian government or the private sector to keep patronising foreign facilities once we have the capacity, we will resort to buying outside the shores only if the capacity is not there.

    “As a government, we need to encourage all private initiatives, which are investing in the Nigerian economy in a bid to ensure that IT firms grow to a satisfactory levels and contribute its fair share to the Gross Domestic Product (GDP).”

    Transparency Market Research, in its new report, said global data centre equipment market would  expand at a 12.90 per cent aggregate growth rate (CAGR) between 2014 and 2020, worth $72.0 billion.

    It said the global data centre equipment market is driven by the rising virtualisation in network environments, adding that the elevated adoption of cloud services and big data will also fuel the global data center equipment market.

    On the other hand, the global data centre equipment market will be challenged by the high energy consumption and cooling issues of data centres. Furthermore, the lack of skilled workforce will also continue to hamper market in the coming few years, the report said.

    The global upsurge, Schneider Electric noted, is largely driven by the Internet of Things (IoT), and internet-connected items are expected to reach 50 billion by 2020.

    Online knowledge resource centre, Wikipedia defines IoT as: “the network of physical objects—devices, vehicles, buildings and other items—embedded with electronics, software, sensors, and network connectivity that enables these objects to collect and exchange data.

    “The IoT allows objects to be sensed and controlled remotely across existing network infrastructure, creating opportunities for more direct integration of the physical world into computer-based systems, and resulting in improved efficiency, accuracy and economic benefit. When IoT is augmented with sensors and actuators, the technology becomes an instance of the more general class of cyber-physical systems, which also encompasses technologies such as smart grids, smart homes, intelligent transportation and smart cities.

    “Each thing is uniquely identifiable through its embedded computing system, but is able to interoperate within the existing internet infrastructure.”

    The convergence of information technology (IT) and energy is opening up a frontier of new opportunities, and datacentres physical infrastructure play in the heart if IT transformation.

    According to the global specialist in energy management and automation, Schneider Electric, people are living in the smart world. Everything’s becoming more intelligent, including the information and telecommunications technology (ICT), the electric grid, homes and cities.

    It said these trends are driving massive growth of digital traffic while data generation is accelerating through the network, that is, IoT. Schneider Electric identified the trends below as shaping data centres:

     

    Edge computing

     

    Schneider Electric said as internet usage becomes more bandwidth intensive and more devices become connected, processing power and data storage are moving from central locations to the edge of the network to shorten transport times and boost efficiency.

    Previously, reliability was a top priority over speed of response, but this has changed as traffic accumulates on international networks in greater volume and from an increasing variety of sources.

    This is making response latency a more important issue, as the number of hops or transfers across switches that a stream of data can be made to negotiate can slow down data transmission.

    Edge computing moves key data and network services away from centralised hubs and closer both to the transmitters and consumers of data.

    Streamers of high-bandwidth content, for example, can make use of data centres at the edge of the network to duplicate their content on multiple servers, thereby allowing it to be cached closer to their users

     

    Green data centres

     

    Running at a very high efficiency or low power usage effectiveness (PUE) is generally the definition of what makes a data centre green.

    Energy and water consumption are global trends, and data centers are major energy and water consumers.

    The solution to this problem is a cleaner power generation, greater efficiency and a smarter grid, Schneider Electric said.

     

    Prefrab data centres

     

    There is also a drive towards simplification in the data centre to address the ongoing challenge of running out of space.

    New prefabricated data centre solutions address this challenge, such as Schneider Electric’s new SmartShelter Data Hall solution.

    This solution is suited for service providers, cloud operators, and large enterprises where scalability, efficiency, and capital preservation are the key business drivers.

    Utilising a standardised approach to design, operation and management, the SmartShelter Data Hall is a multi-module, prefabricated solution that enables customers to quickly add capacity in increments of 50 to 100+ racks.

    This dramatically simplifies the initial development and on-site installation, whilst providing a resilient data centre solution that is more predictable in cost and performance, when compared to a traditionally built facility.

    It has been factory assembled and tested with Schneider Electric’s data centre racks, power, precision cooling, and integrated with StruxureWare Data Centre Expert DCIM software, to ensure optimal monitoring and management for maximum energy efficiency.

     

    Key benefits

     

    Schneider Electric said the key benefits are simplified installation with minimised construction complexity; increased speed of deployment, allowing businesses to match capacity close to demand; maximise capital investment by removing the need to construct a new space or building, and decreased risk with a pre-engineered, fully managed system.

    In addition to the SmartShelter Data Hall, Schneider Electric said it has expanded its line of prefabricated Power Skids to provide customers with a quick deployment of low voltage switchboards, UPS, and batteries in one megawatts (Mw) increments, which enables customers to easily add capacity in large data centre applications.

  • IHS Towers invests $4b in telecoms sector

    The largest mobile telecoms infrastructure provider in Middle East, Africa (MEA), and Europe, IHS Towers, has invested $4billion in foreign direct investment (FDI) in the telecoms sector over the last decade of its operation. It has also spent over $5 million in upgrading its facilities in Nigeria in the last one yea, it has said.

    Its Executive Vice Chairman/Group CEO, Issam Darwish, who spoke in Lagos at the unveiling of a report titled: Power Up: Delivering renewable Energy in Africa, published by the Economist Intelligence Unit, sponsored by the firm, said IHS Towers would continue to invest in infrastructure upgrade and expansion to redefine end users’ experience on telephone network.

    He said one of the solutions to quality of service (QoS) problem in the country is outsourcing, which allowed telcos to focus on their core areas of competence, leaving the headaches of powering and maintaining base transmission stations (BTS) to another organisation that possesses the competence.

    Darwish said coverage and capacity are two major problems associated with QoS in the country. According to him, coverage has been a major challenge in the rural areas where returns on investment has made it unattractive for telcos to build infrastructure. He, however, added that the Nigerian Communications Commission (NCC), through the Universal Service Provision Fund (USPF) has intervened to solve the problem.

    He also said lack of equipment is also a factor as technology transits from 2G, 3G to 4G, adding that studies have shown that there is a deficit of some 20,000 BTS in the country. He added that investment is still needed to bridge existing infrastrusture gaps in the industry.

    Speaking on why the firm sponsored the study, he lamented that the power sector has continued to pull Africa back from attaining its full potential, accounting for between 15 and 20 per cent of operating cost of the manufacturing sector. He said for IHS Towers that has power at the centre of its operation, it was imperative to think about alternative source of green power.

    He said the key findings showed that renewables must play a greater role in Africa’s energy mix. The case for building renewable energy infrastructure in sub-Saharan Africa is stronger than ever and positive experiences in lead markets such as South Africa and Kenya highlight successful strategies and best practices. However, Africa requires up to $90 billion of investment annually to meet its current energy shortfall, it added.

    According to the report, the African renewables sector resembles the mobile phone sector of a decade ago. “It has the capacity to leapfrog heavy infrastructure with a larger-than-assumed market, the emergence of smart business models and improved technology. However, long-term renewable procurement programmes are needed to build the greenfield infrastructure necessary. There has been huge growth in technology sales and financing innovation.”