The Nation Newspaper

Category: Infotech

  • Sony tackles theft with new mobile phone

    Respite may have come the way of mobile phone users. This is because Sony MobileRCommunications has developed a mobile phone that will be unattractive to thieves and it could easily give them away to security agencies.

    This is coming after the failure of the anti-mobile theft (Anti-Mophti) initiative of the Nigerian Communications Commission (NCC). The Commission had registered Messrs NetVisa Nigeria Limited to disable stolen phones through the Central Equipment Identity Registry (CEIR) used in detecting the International Mobile Equipment Identity (IMEI)/Serial Number, by dialing the code *#06# on GSM Mobile Phones.” Like a pack of cards, the programme crashed because the country is haven to counterfeit mobile phones, the NCC said.

    Speaking with The Nation in Lagos, Izzat Kittaneh, the Director, Business Management and Pricing, Customer Unit, Middle East and Africa, Sony, said nearly a million mobile phones are sold in the country every month.

    He lamented that most of these mobile phones were either lost to thieves or damaged easily at the slightest contact with water.

    “Nigera is a huge market, a market that sells almost a half million mobile phones a month. With a population of about 170 million, economic development of Nigeria is a single point percentage, so this is why it is called an emerging market,” he said.

    According to Kittaneh, the software will allow the person that stole the phone to be detected and the phone, subsequently disabled.

    “It is third party software integrated into the phone to save people’s money. In case your phone gets stolen, you would have set up a software to send a predefined SMS to a predetermined number so, as soon as the SIM card removed and another inserted, because the person that stole the phone will have to use it at some point, as soon as he inserts the new SIM card, an automatic SMS will be sent without thief’s knowledge to that predefined number that you have set up.

    This number will let you know who is using the phone because the number will be there. It will also let you know if it is being used or you left it somewhere or not because sometimes, your phone could get stolen or you could misplace it somewhere. For us it is very important that we guide against that,” he said.

    He added that the mobile phone, Xperia TM Z could also stay at a certain depth of water for at least 30 minutes without compromising its functionalilties.

    The phone, according to him, boasts of a range of unparalleled features, including a 5″ full high definition (HD) 1080p reality display, Snapdragon S4 Pro quad-core processor, the mobile Bravia Engine 2 and a 13-megapixel fast-capture camera.

  • Power supply threatens e-transaction, says IBM

    Irregular power supply has been identified as the major threat to the success of Central Bank of Nigeria (CBN’s) efforts at encouraging the use of electronic platform as alternative way of paying for goods and services.

    Taiwo Otiti, General Manager, IBM West Africa, who spoke in Lagos, said if the Federal Government concentrates its efforts on fixing the nation’s power debacle, so many other things will fall in line.

    According to him, stability in the services offered by telecoms operators on whose network services like e-transaction, mobile money and other forms of electronic transaction would ride may not be guaranteed untill the power issue if fixed.

    He said the operators were running their cell cites on generators. He argued that there would always be glitches in services as the generators will need to be refuelled at some point in time, arguing that there will be huge economic transformation if the power sector is fixed.

    “I think the main issue in telecoms is not just stability, majority of the cell sites are running on generators. So if the Federal Government can fix the power (sector), you will see a big transformation because if a generator goes down, the cell site also goes down and therefore, the nearest cell site which might be congested at that particular moment, your PoS (Point of Sale) is diverted to that one. So there are many issues. The major issue around it is power. If you fix power (the success of the initiative would be assured). It (power) has a big role to play in ensuring the success of the initiative,” he said in an interview.

    Worried by the high cost of managing cash and determined to deepen financial inclusion in the country, the apex bank had introduced cashless project and also licensed some mobile money operators in the country assist in bringing the rural unbanked into the banking sector. But these initiatives have been fraught with myriad of challenges. While the uptake of mobile money services has been adjudged sluggsih, the cashless policy which pilot project was done in Lagos last year did not record impressive success rate.

  • Samsung showcases Galaxy Note 8.0, HomeSync

    Samsung Electronics has unveiled a new tablet designed to add value to its consumers whether at work or at play. The new tablet, Samsung Galaxy Note 8.0, is a compact device offering convenient, multi-tasking capabilities and sophisticated S Pen features for the busy, modern and creative person.

    Speaking at the media presentation of the device, Managing Director, Samsung Electronics West Africa (SEWA), Mr Brovo Kim, described the latest product as a slim and compact on-the-go work and play companion, which brings powerful performance and functionality support even to the most demanding of lifestyles. The firm also unveiled the HomeSync, a solution that is a shared storage fit for family entertainment experience on a big screen TV with high definition (HD) HDTV through smarter Android user experience.

    The HomeSync’s 1TB drive can synchronise multiple devices, support eight separate accounts to cover a whole family, allows each user to upload and download content from multiple devices and instantly share with other family members. Users can enjoy the full and familiar Android experience with HomeSync’s Jelly Bean media player and access to Play Store and all of their apps.

  • Mobile phone marks 40th anniversary

    Yesterday marked the 40th anniversary of the first mobile phone call. The first call was made 3 April 1973. That day, Martin Cooper, a senior engineer at Motorola, called a rival colleague at another telecoms company and announced he was speaking from “a ‘real’ cellular telephone.”

    Nigeria joined this super-highway in 2001 when operators were issued licences that ushered in the era of global system for mobile (GSM) communication. Currently, the nation has a subscriber base of 113 million, according to the Nigerian Communications Commission (NCC). In 2012, the International Telecommunications Union (ITU) did a report which showed that while global population stood at seven billion, there were six billion mobile phone subscriptions worldwide.

    Cooper, now aged 85, is renowned as the “father” of the mobile phone, said his vision for a mobile phone was first conceived in the late 1960s when the car telephone was invented by AT&T.

    He wanted to create “something that would represent an individual so you could assign a number not to a place, not to a desk, not to a home but to a person,” he said.

    “It pleases me no end to have had some small impact on people’s lives because these phones do make people’s lives better. We envision that some day, the phone would be so small that you could hang it on your ear or even have it embedded under your skin, ” Cooper was quoted as saying.

  • No going back on mobile number portability, says govt

    The Federal Government has said there is going back on the proposed mobile number portability (MNP). It said it would not stop the proposal despite the lingering poor telecoms services. Speaking in Lagos, the Minister of Communications Technology, Mrs Omobola Johnson, said the MNP would lead to efficiency in the sector, adding that it would foster competition.

    “We are going ahead with Mobile Number Portability, because it is going to give subscribers lots of choice and freedom. MNP will bring new dimension to the competition in the industry. All network operators will have to work harder to earn the trust of subscribers, because they will now have choices,” she said.

    Though she said the MNP would not stop the quality of service problem because it is a national issue, she said  the government was working to get some things in place to make the operating environment more business-friendly.

    “However, MNP does not stop the quality of service issues. This is because we have a nationwide issue around service improvement. What we are doing presently is working on so many things that will ensure that telecoms services improved tremendously. We are working to ensure that network operators are able to roll-out infrastructures without hitches including bottlenecks of multiple taxation and regulations; right of ways challenges; kicking against vandalism of ICT infrastructure among others,” she said.

    According to her, the ministry is working with other stakeholders to surmount the problems facing the sector. “We are working on this with the state authorities, agencies of government, the ministry, NCC and the telecoms operators to ensure that we have improved services in 2013.

    “MNP will definitely give consumer varieties of choice. However, it is the best of bad situation kind of thing, but the major issue is for us to improve on our infrastructure and improve services, so that we don’t have to be moving from network to network,” she said.

  • Waiting for a national database?

    Waiting for a national database?

    The  idea of  a  national data base was mooted about  35 years,But the Federal Government is yet to create it despite the hugeallocation for the project. LUCAS AJANAKU writes. 

    ABOUT 35 years after then military head of state Gen Olusegun Obasanjo first morted the idea of a national database, Nigeria is still searching for a reliable identity for its citizens.

    Although a national identity card was re-introduced after several years of trial by error, the project failed to deliver cards to millions of Nigerians, who did all they could to be registered.

    The first attempt at implementing the project landed some politicians in police net 23 years ago and in 2002, some other politicians were tried for alleged corrupt enrichment through the scheme.

    From the ashes of all these failed attempts emerged the National Identity Management Commission Act 2007, which was enacted towards the end of the Obasanjo administration in 2009. The Act provides for the establishment of the National Identity Management Commission (NIMC), National Identity Database, assignment and use of General Multipurpose Cards (GMC), the National Identity Number (NIN) and harmonisation and integration of existing identity database. It repealed the law that created the Department for National Civic Registration (DNCR), a conduit pipe through which government officials lined their pockets.

    The need for a national identity for Nigerians cannot be over-emphasised as most countries, including Pakistan have a computerised identity card system with bar coding to make details of the holder available to all the intelligence, police and civil departments. The residential details of the holder would easily be ascertained if these computerised cards are issued to the people.

    The absence of this compelled the Bankers’ Committee to take a decision last year to approach the Pensions’Board for its harmonised customer identification management. This is because the Pension Board’s biometric scheme is adjudged full-proof. The Independent National Election Commission (INEC) is also seeking to use information at its database to issue permanent voters card.

    INEC Chairman, Prof. Attahiru Jega, said the electoral umpire is embarking on the purchase of ‘card readers’ that will be placed at each polling unit to display each voter’s finger prints and photographs.  Therefore, with a legitimate card carrying voter, the issue of card buying and stealing will be eliminated at the 2015 general elections in the country.

    Similarly, the Nigerian Communications Commission (NCC) is also doing SIM registration, an exercise that got more than N6 billion budgetary approval from the Federal Government. The exercise has been described as a waste of resources as the biometric data collection by the adhoc staff employed by both the operators and the firms commissioned by the NCC to carry out the national assignment have messed it up.

    “For instance, your name is either misspelt, your head-to-shoulder facial photograph taken haphazardly with all manners of objects as background or you are even pre-registered. So, to me, ongoing SIM registration cannot handover a reliable database to Nigeria,” said a security expert spoke on condition of anonymity.

    Founder, Nigeria4BetterRule, Levine Arizona-Ogwu, said the last attempt at bequeathing a national identity card to the nation failed woefully. “The National ID card has little or no value. Those who conceptualised it did not have any serious good intention for it, nor had the creativity and imagination as to the myriad of uses a secure and fully electronic National ID card could be put to. A proper chip-based card would enable the card to carry lots of information such as tax payment records, basic medical information, biometric identification information, credit rating,” he said.

    But the Director-General/Chief Executive Officer, NIMC, Chris Onyemenam, said the agency is  prepared to hand over a dependable, fool-proof national database to the country. He said work on the NIMS started in the third quarter of 2009 after the commission had ascertained that it could not re-use most of the assets inherited from the defunct DNCR.

    Speaking after a facility tour of the NIMC facilities in Minna, Niger State and Abuja, the director-general said by the time NIMS becomes operational, it would provide a convenient and simplified process for enrolment into the National Identity Database for the issuance and use of the NIN and the National Identity (smart) Card and help protect the owner from identity theft and fraud by providing a simple, reliable, sustainable and universally acceptable means of confirming the owners identity.

    According to him, it will also make life easier by providing the owner with an easy and convenient means of providing identity in and outside the country. He added that it would also help reform the political process by facilitating the work of the managers of the electoral process.

    “It will make it harder for criminals to use false or multiple/duplicate/ghost identities. This will help the government, through he enhanced performance of the law enforcement agencies (LEAs) to protect us all from crimes, especially advance fee fraud and terrorism,” the diretor-general said, adding that it would also reassure all that civil/public servants are who they say they are and banish the phenomenon of ghost workers.

    He said it would help the nation to better manage its national currency, achieve the financial inclusion drive of the Central Bank of Nigeria (CBN) and deepen the Consumer Credit System, which would help to grow the economy, create employment opportunities and raise the standard of living of the citizens.

    For government agencies and private sector, he explained that it would help to harmonise and integrate identity database in the government agencies and optimise use of government resources: so that service delivery is enhanced across the country. According to him, it will also assist the government to generate revenue through taxation.

    Shedding more light on the NIN, the Assistant Director, Operations, NIMC, Mrs Uche Chigbo, said NIN is a non-intelligent set of numbers assigned to an individual on successful enrolment. According to her, enrolment consists of the recording of an individual’s demogarphic data and capture of the 10 finger prints, head-to-shouder facial picture and digital signature, which are used to cross-check data in the NID to confirm that there is no previous entry of the same data. Once this (duplication) process is completed, the data is then stored with a unique NIN that was assigned to it.

    “The NIN once issued to a person cannot be used again; that is, it cannot be issued to another person even if the previous person is dead. It is the NIN that helps to tie all the records about a person in the database and is used to check the identity verified,” she said.

    According to her, every citizen from the 16 years and above and a legal resident will be able to enrol for the NIN, adding that the process will be the same if one chooses self-service option (enrolment form will be filled online through NIMC website) or assisted service (which will require physical visit of the persons to registration centres where executive assistants or support officers will be on ground to carry out the registration).

    Unlike the previous failed exercise, she said staff of NIMC will be on ground permanently in their offices nationwide so that should there be need for update to data already captured, it will be done by the officers.

    The Director, IT/Identity Database, Aliyu Aziz, says the electronic ID card that will be issued is 100 per cent polycarbonate card with 18 different security features, arguing that the card will either check or outrightly eliminate the issuance of other cards in the country.

    But this programme is beset with an avalanche of challenges. Some of these challenges are connectvity, geographical reach, insecurity in the northern part of the country, capacity and funding.

    For the project to sail through, there must be a seamless inter-connectivity with the over 5,500 permanent enrolment centres nationwide and the data centres of the NIMC. With the power challenge bedeviling the nation, so much money will be required to purchase generators and fuel to provide power to enrolment centres across the country.

    With a population of 167 million having peculiar geographical challenges, such as those in the Niger Delta region, getting people to register is not easy. Experts said it would require huge funding too, but NIMC said it has plans to deploy mobile registration officers to complement the officers at the registration centres.

    The director-general, however, said it has made provision for mobile registration of people, adding that there was no need to fret over that.

    With a total of N30.066 billion budget approved so far for the back-end components of the project, analysts said Nigerians are expected results from the NIMC.

  • Stakeholders disagree on interconnection rate

    Stakeholders in the telecommunication industry have disagreed on the reduction of interconnection rate among operators by the Nigerian Communications Commission (NCC). The Association of Licensed Telecoms Companies of Nigeria (ALTON) decired NCC’s action while the National Association of Telecoms Subscribers (NATCOMS) and Association of Telecom Companies of Nigeria (ATCON) praised it.

    ALTON said said it was not clear why the regulator took the decision when the industry was experiencing a recession.

    Chairman of the group, Gbenga Adebayo, said the operators were losing revenue in some areas.

    “Well, the objective of the NCC in carrying out that review wasn’t particularly clear, but since it is within their legal responsibility to do so, one will not raise any objection to it. But the (secret) behind it appears to be that they are not in touch with the reality of the industry and the market as it is today. That is how it looks like and I don’t think that rate will allow for competition, which is not healthy for the industry now,” Adebayo said.

    “Considering that there are so many areas of losses for the operators, it will be very difficult for us to continue the way things are going. I cannot promise any review in end user tariff because tariff is purely a commercial issue all the time, it is better left to market forces, “ he added.

    President of NATCOMS, Deolu Ogunbanjo, praised the NCC for the review. According to him, the development will usher in an era of healthy competition in the industry.

    “The good thing about this new development (interconnection rate drop) is that the CDMA (Code Division Multiple Access) operators are N1.50 cheaper than the GSM (global system for mobile communication) operators. Don’t mind whatever they say. Do you know that a lot of them are coming to N3 on net SMS as against N4 off-net?

    “Initially, they were reluctant to do it but now, some of them are doing N3 on net SMS. Give them the next four weeks, by say April ending, competition will force them to drop call tariffs. For the first time in about six or seven years, you are now seeing a responsive NCC that has reduced the interconnection rate of CDMA and ultimately, CDMA will be the choice of the subscribers. It will be used in the place of landline.

    “The health of the CDMA notwithstanding, the other three that are merging will come on stream soon and you will see competition. With this interconnect rate, the stage is set for a robust competition in the industry and we thank the NCC for heeding our cry. We however, want the NCC to reduce the tariff price cap from N50 to N20,” he said.

    For ATCON, the development would give opportunity to operators to lower their tariff if they so desire to do so.

    Lanre Ajayi, president of the body, explained that lower interconnection rate actually translated to operators paying less but argued that it may not automatically translate to lower tariff because there are other cost elements embodied in arriving at tariff rates.

  • ‘Local content will aid telecoms growth’

    THE Federal Government will implement local content in the information communication telecommunication (ICT) sector to ensure development and drive the growth of indigenous original equipment manufacturers (OEMs).

    To achieve this, the government is working on a framework to push the policy.

    Director-General, National Information Technology Development Agency (NITDA), Prof Sergeant Cleopas-Angaye, who made this known to The Nation in Lagos, said when the government completes the framework, local content development will form a major part of the ICT sector.

    According to him, to come out with a good framework, there is need for research to explore how best to use what is available in the country for economic development, adding that it is only by so doing that the nation could move forward technologically.

    He said: “We have a whole research going on local content. Research on how we can use our facilities to actually improve our economy. If we continuue to import, we cannot achieve anything meaningful. We need to encourage our people to use the materials we have and use it maximally.”

    “We are committed (to promoting local content). We are coming out with a framework for local content. We are coming out with the framework so that whatever we do, we will actually include local content,” he said.

    According to him, since no nation is an island, the ICT firms that have been doing business in the country have also helped to grow the economy. This, he said, is reflected in outsourcing and cloud computing business that is fast gaining grounds in the country.

    “We are collaborating with other people. We have to share. We have to partner; we have to collaborate,” he added.

  • How caring are customer care centres?

    The essence of customer care centres is to attend to demands.  But many customers claim that this is not the case. LUCAS AJANAKU reports.

    He desperately wanted to call his son, who is a student at Adekunle Ajasin Univeristy, Akungba, Akoko, Ondo State. But could not make the call because he had no sufficient ‘credit’ on his mobile phone. He ordered for a recharge card and attempted to load. After several attempts, which proved futile, the recharge card vendor suggested that he called the customer care of his service provider. Benjamin Afeniforo heeded the vendor’s advice and dialled the three-digit number.

    “When I first dialled the number, I could’t get through at all. The boy urged me to keep trying and I continued. After a long trial, the call sailed through. I felt relieved when it went through. At least, I will be able to load the card after listening to the customer care agent,” he told himself.

    Afeniforo’s anguish was far from being over. For more than 30 minutes after the call sailed through, he was inundated with unwanted music and ads of the some of the products of his service provider. “I was so frustrated that I ended the call hoping that when I try again, it will be better. After another trial, I gave up but kept the details of the recharge card,” he said.

    For Afeniforo, who lives in Egbeda, a Lagos suburb, to get to the nearest customer care centre of his service provider to address his problem, he would have to drive to Ikeja and the urgency of his situation made that option not viable at all at that point. So, he resigned to fate.

    A woman, who simply identified herself as Esther, recalls her experience while trying to call the customer care line of her service provider. According to her, the problem she wanted customer care to attend to was persistent disappearance of network signal on the screen of her mobile phone.

    “I noticed that network signal was always appearing and disappearing on my phone. I thought the fault was from my mobile phone; so, I went to get a new one, but the problem persisted. So, I was advised to speak to my customer care attendant through the customer care line. I called and after being treated to unsolicited music, a machine answered me and urged me to hold on as all the customer care consultants were busy. After a long wait, the machine asked me to visit the firm’s website. I felt pissed off,” she said.

    Esther is fully foreboding of the crowd she will meet when she eventually visits a customer care centre. A resident of Ayetoro, a boundary town between Lagos and Ogun states, she says for her to get to the nearest customer care centre, she must travel to Lagos.

    The problem of subscribers getting quick response to fix the challenges they encounter did not start today. A subscriber, Ademola Okubule, who attended a forum organised by the National Association of Telcoms Subscribers (NATCOMS) in Lagos towards the end of last year complained that some of the customer care workers who pick calls are rude and temperamental. According to him, the calls are rarely picked and when they are, the responses are crude, regardless of the calibre of the person.

    General Manager, Regulatory Affairs, MTN Nigeria, Oyeronke Oyetunde, said contrary to the insinuation that the attendants were not trained, the telecoms firms invest in them.

    She accused some customers of making frivolous calls. According to her, some of them would call and say: “I just want to hear your voice.”

    The problem of inadequate customer care centres however, still remains.

    At the 48th edition of Telecoms Consumer Parliament in Lagos in 2008, it was a major issue that took the centre stage as subscribers took turns to recount their ordeal while trying to call customer care lines.

    Former executive vice-chairman of the Nigerian Communications Commission (NCC), Ernest Ndukwe, who moderated the session, which was attended by some operators was so annoyed that he warned the operators to take urgent steps to address the problem. “But we cannot continue like this. Something has to be done. I have made several appeals before now to the operators to expand their customer care centres to be able to carry more capacities. That should be taken seriously. We may have to find a way of dealing with any operator that fails to take the issue of customer care centre very serious. That is the truth of the matter. We cannot continue repeating this issue at every forum. Enough is enough,” Ndukwe said.

    With a population of 167 million and a subscriber base that stands at 113 million, the need to get customer care centres sited in proximity to the subscribers cannot be over-emphasised. This is because on a daily basis, subscribers will have one issue or the other that will require the attention of the service providers. But the situation is not so in Nigeria. As a matter of fact, for a community that is densely populated as Ayobo, a Lagos suburb, the nearest customer care centres are located in Egbeda, a place where a subscriber will require about N500 to visit. And when you brave the odds to get to some of them, you are assailed by a huge crowd of complainants.

    President, NATCOMS, Deolu Ogunbanjo, said the situation is worrisome and wants the operators to increase the number of care centres across the country so that succour can come the way of subscribers.

    “The ideal situation is that for every 100,000 subscribers, a customer care centre ought to be sited within the customer cluster. But since we are usually far from the ideal situation, let the operators allocate a customer care centre for between 200,000 and 500,000 subscribers. Lagos State where there are no fewer than 10 million subscribers should have a minimum of 10 customer care centres,” he said.

    According to him, though the operators are trying to reduce the pressure on the few available care centres by guiding subscribers through voice prompts to solve some of their challenges, it is not helping the situation.

    An analyst said some of the operators have employed agents to run their customer care centres, stressing that more still need to be opened.

  • Govt urged to tackle software piracy

    If the Federal Government fails to empower its agencies to tackle the rising software piracy, more than 60 per cent of personal computers (PCs) may be infected this year. Hackers will also continue to be a menace, the Country Manager, Microsoft Nigeria, Emmanuel Onyeje, has said, warning that hackers would not stop to patronise pirated software.

    Explaining how hackers operate, he said: “To hack a big organisation, which spends millions and millions of dollars to protect their system, they have very big computers to fortify their system and the only way you can beat their system is that you must have a big computing power behind you. But most individual hackers do not have access to the millions of dollars big organisations. So, what do they do? There are more than 1.2 billion PCs on the planet. What they do is find a way to get a section of that, t10,000, one million Pcs, take the PCs as a single unit to hack into an organisation,” he explained, adding that the hackers give the dangerous software free to unsuspecting users.

    “That is where piracy comes in. They are the one giving you the software free. They download it into your PC; they take over your PCs and use that PC to launch an attack on other people’s site,” he added, warning Nigerians to be wary of the sites they visit on the internet.

    “A lot of PCs are going to be infected. Why? People will download what should not be downloaded; they go to websites that they should not be going to install things on their PCs. What are we doing to prevent that? Use Internet Explorer to browse the web, it will tell you which site you are going to. It will tell you which dangerous site you are going; it will tell you that this site is full of malware and viruses. You should protect yourself. Buying pirated software makes your PCs to be susceptible to malware and viruses,” he warned.

    He said the International Data Corporation (IDC) has warned that