An official of the Lagos State Boxing Hall of Fame, Olufunke Sanni, presenting the Starcomms Overall Best Boxer prize to Saheed Gbolagade of M. Pioneer Boxing Club at the 14th monthly boxing competition organized by the Lagos State Boxing Hall of Fame in conjunction with the Lagos State Amateur Boxing Association and sponsored by Starcomms Plc. The event took place at the Mobolaji Johnson Sport Centre (Rowe Park), Yaba, Lagos.

L-R: Bose Adeleke and Happiness Amagwula representatives of Precious Pearl Orphanage, Lagos, one of the 50 beneficiary of Starcomms Good Causes receiving a dummy cheque from the Managing Director/Chief Executive Officer of Starcomms Plc, Maher Qubain at the corporate office at the weekend. Starcomms is giving out N50,000.00 to orphanages across the country to mark Nigeria @ 50 anniversary.

STARCOMMS SUPPORTS CARE-GIVING INSTITUTIONS IN 50-GOOD-CAUSES

In fulfillment of its promise, Starcomms Plc, has disbursed funds to the less privileged on the platform of its 50-Good-Causes initiative. This gesture, which benefited orphanages and other care giving institutions in the country, witnessed a general display of appreciation by the beneficiaries who poured encomium on the award winning telecommunications company. The Starcomms 50 Good Causes is a corporate social responsibility programme meant to mark Nigeria at 50 anniversary celebration. In the programme, N50, 000.00 (Fifty Thousand Naira) each. Little Saints Orphanage, Precious Pearls Orphanage, Citadel of Grace Mission, Chosen Child Orphanage, Children Living with Cancer Foundation, Heart of Gold Orphanage, Heritage House Orphanage and Pacelli School for Blind were among the first batch who collected their cheques recently. Receiving the cheque on behalf of Little Saints Orphanage, Manager, Funds/Accounts, Bola Olarenwaju described the Starcomms gesture as timely saying, “we are so happy about this gift. It came at the right time when the year is getting to an end and we need money to do a lot of things for the children. We are excited that such gift is coming from a corporate organization.” She said that it is the expectation of the home that such gesture from Starcomms becomes a regular occurrence noting that the management of the home depends on such donations from starcomms to care for the needs of the children. Akinola Kola from Heritage Homes expressed joy that Starcomms responded to the needs of so many homes at the same time without due consideration to the present economic crisis affecting many donor agencies in the world, particularly corporate bodies. “You see, it is a very noble thing for a company to say that they want to give so many homes financial assistance at the same time. And they actually kept their word by gathering us together and then presenting the cheque to us. We are happy about this act of kindness from Starcomms.” The representative of Precious Pearls Orphanage, Happiness Amagwula while appreciating Starcomms said that the money is a timely gift saying that the money will go a long way in putting smiles on the face of the children as the world celebrates during the yuletide. While pleading for more of such assistance from Starcomms, she said that the news of such donations is a thing of joy not only to the management of the home but the children who are direct beneficiaries of such gesture. Also Isibor Titilade, who picked up the cheque of Citadel Grace Mission, said that the children would be very happy to hear the news of the Starcomms donation praying that God continues to prosper Starcomms. Marketing Director, Richard Gill told the beneficiaries that although the donation was meant to mark the 50th independence anniversary of Nigeria, Starcomms would continue to give support to deserving cause like orphanages across the country adding that more beneficiaries are to receive their cheques in the weeks to come. According him, the donation is a demonstration of Starcomms love and commitment to the needs of the less privilege in the society stressing that Starcomms, beyond always look for ways to add value to the lives of its customers is also concern about the needs of other members of the society.

Boxer hero praise Starcomms commitment to boxing

A youthful budding boxer, Saheed Gbolagade who was adjudged the best overall boxer in the Lagos State Boxing Hall of Fame Boxing Competition for displaying unmatched skill in his fight has applauded Starcomms commitment to boxing development in the country.
The competition is organised monthly by the Lagos State Boxing Hall of Fame in conjunction with the Lagos State Amateur Boxing Association.
Speaking shortly after receiving the Starcomms Over All Best Boxer prize at the colourful event, which Starcomms has consistently sponsored over the years, energetic Gbolagade said he was excited to be the October winner of the competition.
While pouring encomium on Starcomms for its role in the development of boxing at the grassroots, he said that he was excited that Starcomms involvement in boxing sponsorship has helped to bring him into limelight noting that he is proud to be a winner that is associated with a winning brand.
Gbolagade from the M. Pioneer Boxing Club jumped in jubilation when his name was mentioned as the latest boxer to join the list of boxers that have been honoured by Starcomms for the display of outstanding boxing talent at the Starcomms monthly boxing competition.
The elated winner of the Starcomms prize said that he was happy that Starcomms has created an avenue where young boxing talents like him are being discovered in the boxing sport adding that the support of Starcomms for the boxing event should be commended and encouraged by government.
The competition recently had its first female winner of the Starcomms overall best boxer prize, kate Peters of Modupe Boxing Club at the August edition of the competition.
Starcomms has for some years sponsored the monthly Lagos State Boxing Hall of Fame Competition, which holds at the Mobolaji Johnson Hall Sports Complex, Rowe Park, Lagos. The event holds on the last Saturday of every month.

STARCOMMS HISENSE PRIZE EXCITES WINNERS

The last batch of winners in the just concluded Starcomms Hisense C1110 Chat phone promotion have expressed surprise at the fabulous reward they received from Starcomms for buying the Hisense phone. They wished that the promo had continued unending.
The two winners, a male and female were overwhelmed with excitement when they eventually discovered that the phone call made to them from Starcomms informing them about the prize that they have won was true.
Funmi Alabi, an undergraduate of Obafemi Awolowo University, Ile-Ife and Wale Odunsi, a staff of Mutual Assurance Plc., are now proud owners of a 42 inch and 32 inch Hisense LCD television respectively. The pledge, which was made by Starcomms when it introduced its Hisense C1110 chat phone into the market, was redeemed at the headquarters of Starcomms Plc on Victoria Island, Lagos.
Overwhelmed with joy at the commitment of Starcomms to the fulfillment of its pledge, Alabi declared, “I never believed that this could be true until I came to this place and I met the Starcomms staff who called me on phone to inform me that I have won a 42 inch Hisense LCD television.”
According to her,“ I am still in school and I live with my parents. Honestly, I don’t know what I will do with this big LCD television. It is still a surprise to me. I have received several text messages informing me of winning one prize or the other, this is the first one that has turned out to be true.”
Alabi disclosed that she has been using Starcomms phone for the past four year saying that the quality of service from Starcomms has made her to be loyal to the Starcomms brand.
For Odunsi who got the 32 inch Hisense LCD television, the news of the fabulous prize did not just came as a surprise to him, but also awakened in him the desire to continue, not only to patronize the Starcomms brand but to encourage others to do so.
According him, Starcomms is a respected brand in Mutual Assurance since most of the staff use starcomms mobile phone adding that the company uses Starcomms Virtue private Network (VPN). The VPN is a computer network that uses a public telecommunication infrastructure such as the Internet to provide remote offices or individual users with secure access to their organization's network.
“I have been using Starcomms phone since 2008 and the quality service that I have experienced using it over the years has made me to be loyal to the brand. That is even besides the fact that it is a brand valued by my company, since that is what we use for our VPN”, Odunsi said.
Describing the prize as a reward for his loyalty to the Starcomms brand he said that even after his first Starcomms phone was stolen, he still did not abandon the brand, thanking Starcomms for its persistent commitment to quality service delivery.
While expressing his appreciation to the winners for their patronage of the Starcomms brand, Tushar Maheshwari, the Chief Commercial Officer of Starcomms said that the company is committed towards looking for more ways to appreciate its customers and give back to the society.
He said that the Starcomms Hisense C1110 Chat phone is essential in this era of convergence saying that every customer of Starcomms needs a phone that is conveniently designed to suit his voice and data communications needs stressing that it is a device everyone will find attractive.

Glo Introduces Four New Unique Tariff Plans

Globacom has rolled out four new tariff packages aimed at optimizing call costs for its subscribers based on usage patterns discerned over time.
Called More Classic, More Prime, More Business and More Power, the unique packages give the subscriber unprecedented savings of between 10% and 60% on monthly spend depending on the chosen tariff package.
In addition to the huge savings on calls, the four packages also give subscribers 10% to 20% free Glo-Glo bonus talk time on every recharge of N500 and above, 20 free Glo-to-Glo SMS every month and 35 hours free Glo-to-Glo talk time per week from 12 midnight to 5 a.m.
Over and above this, the SMS rates have been brought down to N8 across all tariff packages and two of them entitle the user to call 5 Friends and Family members at just 25 kobo per second.
The reduced tariffs and the additional benefits make the packages the most attractive in the market and is yet another manifestation of Glo’s philosophy of offering its customers more for less in comparison to any other telecom operator in the country. And this philosophy is the underpinning of the new multimedia campaign unleashed nationwide by Glo, expressed in the byline Expect More.
Giving the breakdown of the offers yesterday at a press conference, Globacom’s General Manager, Prepaid Marketing, Ashutosh Tiwary, said that MORE CLASSIC was designed for those who make short and frequent calls. The product offers 49 kobo per second for calls to any network, thereby giving the user savings of between 10% and 20% on monthly spend. The subscriber is also entitled to call any 5 Glo Friends and family numbers at 25k per second.
For MORE PRIME, the subscriber is able to make 30% to 40% savings on monthly spend by calling any network at only N18 per minute. And what is more, he is also charged the same reduced rate of N18 per minute for international calls. Tiwary stated that, “More Prime is ideal for medium to long duration calls.”
The MORE BUSINESS package is the first of its kind in Nigeria. He explained that subscribers to the package get more when you pay per call. “It offers an unmatched 55% to 60% savings on monthly spend by charging just N40 per call every 3 minutes to all networks and for international calls as well. More Business is ideal for high duration calls or usage.
“No other product in the market has this fantastic offer of charging a flat rate of N40 per 3 minute call, even for international routes, which means that effective price per minute is N13.3”.
On the other hand, the fourth package, MORE POWER, gives the subscriber 20% to 25% savings on monthly spend and empowers him to pay less the more he talks. He pays 55 kobo a second for the first minute and 25 kobo per second from the second minute onward for calls to any network. “The subscriber is also entitled to call any 5 Glo Friends and family numbers at 25k per second,” Tiwary stated.
For any of the packages the subscriber chooses, he gets more value for money. The 10% to 60% reduction in call and SMS rates along with the 10% to 20% bonus talk time, free SMS, 35 hours free talk time and 5 Friends and Family call at just 25 kobo per second combine to make the Glo MORE offers the most attractive tariff package in the Nigerian market. Moreover, there are no hidden costs, rentals or complications. All the packages are easy and convenient to use, the Glo official stated.
To migrate to More Classic, the subscriber is required to send CLASSIC to ‘500’or dial *100*5*1#. To enjoy the benefits on More Prime, a subscriber is expected to send PRIME to ‘500’or dial *100*6*1# , while he is required to send BUSINESS to ‘500’ or dial *100*7*1# to subscribe to More Business. For More Power, he is to send POWER to ‘500’ or dial *100*8*1# to enjoy the offer.

Governments laud MTN Foundation disable persons project

MTN Foundation, the Corporate Social Investment vehicle of MTN Nigeria, has provided mobility aids and appliances for more than 1,000 people living with physical disabilities in Edo and Ogun States. The aids and appliances were distributed at two separate ceremonies in Benin and Abeokuta by the foundation as part of the second phase of its Disability Support Project (DSP).
At the Benin distribution ceremony, a total of 666 mobility aids and appliances consisting of 137 wheelchairs, 22 tricycles, 56 collapsible walking sticks, 73 guide canes that illuminate at night for the visually impaired, 12 Braille machines, 44 Braille wristwatches, 250 hearing aids and 72 crutches were handed out to beneficiaries. In Abeokuta, 450 aids and appliances were distributed to the physically challenged drawn from various parts of Ogun State.
The facilities, according to the MTN Foundation, are part of the total 5,000 mobility aids and appliances the Foundation plans to distribute to the physically challenged members of the society in the second phase of the project.
Executive Governor of Edo State, Comrade Adams Oshiomhole, represented by his Special Adviser on Commerce and Industry, Sir Osato Ize-Iyamu, who officially presented some of the facilities to beneficiaries in Benin, commended the MTN Foundation for taking up the challenge of improving the quality of life of the beneficiaries through provision of the appliances.
“The physically challenged are often easily overlooked in our society. It is worthy of commendation that a corporate body is not only thinking about how to make life better for this special category of our citizens, but is actually taking concrete steps to improve their quality of life,” said Sir Ize -Iyamu.
At the Abeokuta ceremony, the wife of the Executive Governor of Ogun State, Yeye Olufunke Daniel, represented by the Commissioner for Women Affairs and Social Welfare, Mrs. Tomi Soboyejo, said an unconfirmed statistics estimated that 25 million Nigerians and about 2.5 percent of Ogun population live with one form of disability or the other. She commended MTN for joining the state government in its efforts to make life better for the less privileged citizens of the state.
Mrs. Foluke Idowu, the Founder of Independent Living Programme for People with Disabilities (ILP) who herself is physically challenged, in her remarks at the two ceremonies, commended the MTN Foundation for partnering with ILP and funding the entire project, which according to her would promote beneficiaries from being dependent to becoming wealth creators. She urged people with disabilities not to succumb to the temptation to milk their situations negatively by begging for alms.
Dr. Wingle Essumai, Director of the MTN Foundation who was in Benin stated that the Foundation recognises how difficult life can be for people living with disabilities in a country like Nigeria. He said the Disability Support Project is aimed at ameliorating some of the difficulties confronting these special people in their daily activities.
“We will continue to seek more ways of positively impacting the lives of our people across the country,” he added.
The MTNF Disability Support Project, which is in its second phase, will empower 5,000 beneficiaries in 12 states with mobility aids and appliances. Phase One of the project benefited 5,000 people in 11 states including the Federal Capital Territory. More are expected to benefit from the project in its subsequent phases.

Social Responsibility is Procter & Gamble’s Business Goal – Kumar

The Managing Director of Procter & Gamble West Africa, Manoj Kumar has said that the multinational household products company has no other goal than improving lives wherever its products are being distributed. According to him, his company’s approach to corporate social responsibility is different from the way many other corporate organisations view it.
He said this while fielding questions from journalists at a media interactive session which held at Jade Gardens, last weekend, during which he unveiled the plan of the company to build a new manufacturing plant at Agbara to complement its factory in Ibadan.
According to him, in conceptualizing every product, P&G first of all determines the different ways in which the product can touch the lives of the target market population individually. It will then design a programme to ensure that lives and living are actually improved by the distribution of the product.
“What we believe is that our brands should have a purpose of improving lives. Take Pampers for instance. The brand purpose of Pampers is to improve the development of children. So we first define it like that. Then we begin to think of how we can improve the development of children through it. So we begin to talk to mothers, to nurses in the hospital and educate them on how the lives of the children can be improved. So our Pampers Baby Care Hospital Program and Mobile Clinics touch the lives of 1.5 million young Nigerian mothers and their babies annually.”
Kumar also said that the company partners with credible non-governmental organisations in the country to implement some of its CSR initiatives. According to him these NGOs use their own capacities to implement some of the programmes like “Building Futures”, which is an empowerment initiatives for orphanages in the country and the PUR School programme, an initiative that targets children with the provision of safe drinking water.
“In “Building Futures” we adopted orphanages in the country through which we reach about 2500 children. And we donate a year supply of our products and we also give them clothes. We improve their infrastructure by giving them computers and other resources that they need within the orphanages. We carry out this programme in partnership with another NGO – Sponsor-a-Child. We believe that orphanages are one area that has been neglected by the society. So we think we should do something from the corporate point of view. And again, all our brands come together to help and therefore we integrate all our corporate programmes for touching lives of all our consumers into brands programmes,” Kumar said.
Speaking about the proposed production lines at Agbara, Manoj Kumar said that the plant, which will employ over 600 people directly and over 1000 more indirectly at Agbara in Ogun State is part of the company’s resolve to invest 15 billion naira in Nigeria between now and 2015. According to him, the company will install state of the art machinery at Agbara
Mr. Kumar also revealed that P&G has provided jobs for about 1800 people in the country through its general office, factories, distribution channels, logistics and advertising. According to him 95% of all P&G's managers in Nigeria are highly talented Nigerian men and women.
“At P&G, we consider our people to be our biggest asset and in Nigeria we have grown to be leaders in technology transfer and capacity building. We are dedicated to local employee development with a budget of over $1million per year for local and international training and on-the-job coaching. We have created over 120 new successful entrepreneurs with sustained training and marketing support in rural and semi-urban areas over the past 5 years,” he said.

Starcomms Call-me-back to help Manage Airtime Budget

In its continuous quest to give customers value for their money, and offer them more opportunities to talk, even when they have exhausted their credits, Starcomms Plc has introduced a “call me back” service.
This service will enable Starcomms customers to send messages for a return call to their friends and loved ones in circumstances when they cannot call because of inadequate credit or when they call a number on any network and the person they want to reach is busy. Through other networks congestion To avail themselves this opportunity, Starcomms customers will need to send a “call me back” request to any phone number by dialing *393*phone number#. The receiver will get a message – “Hi, important please call me on 07028******” Back on the phone that initiated the message, an SMS will be received saying: “The operation was successful”
According to Richard Gill, Starcomms Marketing Director the “call me back” service is available to all prepaid customers of the company and it can be sent to phones on all networks to get the desired call-back result. He said the service is most useful when the company’s pre-paid subscribers have no or low credit balances to make a call and also in the cases when the number they are trying to reach is busy or on call waiting, thus saving them the hassle of trying to get through.
“Before we introduce any value-added service to our customers, we in Starcomms take into serious consideration the different scenarios that can occur in the process of telephone usage. We have envisaged a situation when people want to have a conversation but do not have available credit. So we introduced “call me back”. The service will be another salient feature in the already existing great value offers and customer friendly services we have for our customers. Offering them more value for their money, this service will help our budget-conscious subscribers to ask other mobile users to call them any time,” Gill said.
Meanwhile the company introduced the service with necessary control. Call-me-back is available to subscribers only 5 times a day both on-net and cross-net. Any subscriber who has used up their five opportunities in a day will get a message saying:”Sorry, the maximum using time is reached. You cannot use this function”
The service is available on all prepaid customers’ phones with no subscription required. All that is required to access the service is to dial from a Starcomms phone.

Managing Director, Procter & Gamble West Africa, Manoj Kumar (L) in a tête-à-tête with Head External Relations, Patricia Obozuwa at a media interactive session on the company’s new investment plan in Nigeria

STARCOMMS CALL-ME-BACK TO HELP MANAGE AIRTIME BUDGET

In its continuous quest to give customers value for their money, and offer them more opportunities to talk, even when they have exhausted their credits, Starcomms Plc has introduced a “call me back” service.
This service will enable Starcomms customers to send messages for a return call to their friends and loved ones in circumstances when they cannot call because of lack of credit or when they call a number on any network and the person they want to reach is busy.
Through other networks congestion To avail themselves this opportunity, Starcomms customers will need to send a“call me back” request to any phone number by dialing *393*phone number#. The receiver will get a message-“Hi, important please call me on 07028******” Back on the phone that initiated the message, an SMS will be received saying: “The operation was successful”
According to Richard Gill, Starcomms Marketing Director the “call me back” service is available to all prepaid customers of the company and it can be sent to phones on all networks to get the desired call-back result.
He said the service is most useful when the company’s pre-paid subscribers have no or low credit balances to make a call and also in the cases when the number they are trying to reach is busy or on call waiting, thus saving them the hassle of trying to get through.
“Before we introduce any value-added service to our customers, we in Starcomms take into serious consideration the different scenarios that can occur in the process of telephone usage. We have envisaged a situation when people want to have a conversation but do not have available credit.
So we introduced “call me back”. The service will be another salient feature in the already existing great value offers and customer friendly services we have for our customers. Offering them more value for their money, this service will help our budget-conscious subscribers to ask other mobile users to call them any time,” Gill said.
Meanwhile the company introduced the service with necessary control. Call-me-back is available to subscribers only 5 times a day both on-net and cross-net. Any subscriber who has used up their five opportunities in a day will get a message saying: “Sorry, the maximum using time is reached. You cannot use this function”
The service is available on all prepaid customers’ phones with

Expert Cautions Reps on SIM Card registration

A member of the Computer Registration Council of Nigeria, Dr. Idika Ocha, has in Abuja, advised members of the House of Representatives opposed to the proposed SIM Card registration to give consideration to the lives and safety of Nigerian citizens above whatever other consideration.
Some members of the House of Reps recently stood against the passage of the N6.1 billion SIM Card registration budget proposal of the NCC after the Senate had not only approved the budget, but has also approved the harmonization of the budget with the relevant committees of the both Houses of the National Assembly.
He reminded the lawmakers that that international terrorism, fraud, robbery and other crimes often involve extensive communications though text messages or voice calls.
“The Madrid bomb was detonated using a SIM card. Back home in Nigeria, we are also witnessing increasing incidents of threats and frauds launched daily on our citizens using mobile phone platforms. The remarkable upsurge in violent crimes in Nigeria like kidnapping – with criminals demanding ransom mainly through mobile telephone calls have contributed to the reason why the Federal Government added its voice in calling for the registration of SIM cards”, he noted.
Dr. Ocha who expressed surprise over the latest action of some members of the Lower House which stalled the much awaited commencement of the registration of over 79 Million existing SIM Cards in the network, and argued that security agencies, consumer advocacy groups, service providers and experts, agreed that the Commission is best placed to carry out the registration.
Perhaps less obvious, but equally important for the’ support for SIM card registration by industry stakeholder is the nagging question of just how many telephone subscribers Nigeria truly has. This question will be put to rest when the SIM card registration is concluded. According to NCC figures, at the last estimation in 2009, the country had slightly over 70 million subscribers. However, it is acknowledged that a percentage of these are made up of individuals who hold more than one SIM card, but the exact figure is unknown. Collaterally related to this, is the need for definitive determination of market dominance position of the operators in Nigeria’s telecoms marketplace. The market share statistics of different operators would guide the NCC when enacting directives for competition regulation.
“For variety of reasons – policy makers, law makers, regulators, operators, security agents, stakeholders in the industry and informed segment of the general public are unanimous in their support for SIM card registration in the country with NCC driving the process.
“Within the ambit of the rule-making process of the commission, several options for carrying out SIMs card registration were explored and the modalities of realizing them were considered by an Action Committee, comprised of NCC officials, GSM operators, security operatives, media and other relevant bodies presented a finalized report”, he said.
Dr. Ocha who is also a member of the Institute of Electrical and Electronics Engineering, IEEE, said calls by some of the members that the service providers be allowed to register SIM Card is the country is highly misplaced.
“Asking the GSM operators to carry out the registration exercise would amount to Nigerian government abdicating its vital institutional role of being the sole custodian of security sensitive database and managing citizen identity information.
“That will be a very humiliating and damaging turn of events for the country as anybody could be blackmailed by these multi-national telecom companies”, he said.
Dr. Ocha noted that during the House of Representative budget debate, “the house had treated dismissively an important disclosure by Mr. Dave Salako - the chairman of House Committee on Communications, who had informed the House that telecoms operators had expressed their inability to finance the SIM card registration exercise. As a result, a compromise position was worked out whereby the telecom operators agreed with NCC to register fresh subscribers while the commission would register old and existing subscribers.”
According to him, “even if the mobile phone operators are mandated to take on the entire burden of carrying out the SIM card registration exercise, they will ultimately pass on the cost to the subscribers in form high tariff and charges – granted there is no free launch any place in the real world”, he said.
Dr. Ocha said “the practical reason for desiring to create a database of SIM card subscribers is to provide a unified and seamless access of SIM data to such stakeholders as national security and law enforcement agencies - including the NPF, SSS, NSA, NIA, FRSC, NIS and NPS.
“If we allow each telecom operator to create a separate database for subscribers on its network, access to data by the security agencies will become impractical and far from seamless with separate database for MTN, Globacom, ZAIN, Etisalat, Visafone, Multilink, ZoomMobile and Intercellular subscribers, among others”, he said.
Dr. Ocha advised the Parliamentarians to see this effort to register SIM by the NCC as a patriotic move, and therefore must resist lobbyists on the issue.
“Should Nigerian parliamentarians take the bait thrown up by the lobbyists, the SIM card registration exercise may never see the light of day. I therefore urge the National Assembly to join hands with the NCC and put Nigeria above all other interests. Approving the 2010 budget of the NCC will set the stage for the commencement of the registration exercise”, he said.
Dr. Ocha noted that the SIM cards registration project may actually turn out to be the shortest linear path, as well as the most affordable approach to the creation of National Identity Database, especially with the level of involvement of National Identity Management Commission (NIMC) in structuring the currently debated SIM cards registration drive

NASME Lauds Zain’s Support for SMEs

Leading telecommunications services provider, Zain Nigeria has been commended for its leading role in providing specific telecoms packages and solutions for Small and Medium Enterprises (SMEs) in Nigeria.
Speaking at the launch of Zain Mybusiness, a new package that is specially designed to enhance the efficiency and productivity of SMEs across the country, the Vice President, Nigerian Association of Small and Medium Enterprises (NASME), Dr. (Mrs.) Lizzy Okereke commended Zain for designing an innovative product to address the needs of SMEs.
NASME is a Business Membership Organization (BMO), established to coordinate and foster the promotion of Micro, Small and Medium Enterprises (MSMEs) in Nigeria.
According to Okereke, Zain is the only network in the country that has consistently and deliberately paid attention to the telecommunications needs of both the informal and formal sectors in Nigeria, empowering entrepreneurs and business owners to attain their business objectives.
“I must commend Zain for its timely intervention through the launch of ‘Mybusiness’. Without a doubt, the product will add value to SMEs as it comes with a posy of value added offerings to boost business performance. This is definitely a step in the right direction and will go a long way to developing the SMEs in Nigeria,” she said.
The Zain Mybusiness package is offered to businesses identified as SMEs with staff strength of between 1-50 employees. The package is sold with two lines (master line and associate line) and pre-provisioned on the service class with enough credit included to cover the first month minimum commitment fee of all the lines.
To connect to the Mybusiness package, new users are required to buy a Zain My Business line which comes with two SIM packs: master line and associate while existing customers can migrate their existing lines by visiting a Zain shop nearest to their houses or business places.
Earlier at the event, the Chief Operating Officer of Zain Nigeria, Deepak Srivastava, explained that Mybusiness is a revolutionary package that is intended to positively impact and transform small and medium scale enterprises in the country, adding that that company has put in the hands of the owners of SMEs the tool to manage their communication cost, increase the volume of business transactions and meet the communication needs of their employees.
“Mybusiness is a clear demonstration of Zain’s commitment to enrich the lives of business owners and managers across the country as it comes with a Master line concept that empowers entrepreneurs to monitor and control communications cost in their businesses,” said Srivastava.
The event which held yesterday (Tuesday, 12/10/10) was attended by the Chief Marketing Officer of Zain Nigeria, George Andah; Head of Corporate Communications, Zain Nigeria, Emeka Oparah; Manager, Brands and Communications, Zain Nigeria, Nkiru Olumide-Ojo; Head of Segments, Segun Aderinokun; Manager, SMEs, Yemi Aseru and Public Relations Manager, Zain Nigeria, Emmanuel Otokhine; Eke U. Ubiji, Secretary-General, National Association of Small and Medium Enterprises (NASME); Mrs. Sholoye, Chief Executive Officer, Alpha International; Dr. Onasanya, State Project Coordinator, NASME and Anayo Agwu, Representative, American Chamber of Commerce, among others.
NASME was jointly conceived by promoters of SMEs in the private sector and agencies of the Federal Government of Nigeria, to serve as an apex organization that will coordinate MSME activities and also interact with local and foreign organizations whose services are vital to the development of MSMEs.
The Association provides a forum for interaction, and adoption of concerted approach to issues of strategic importance to the development of MSMEs.

MTN Extends Telecoms Services to Nigeria’s Rural Communities

Nigeria's leading telecommunications company - MTN, in living up to its brand promise of being everywhere you go, has signed a memorandum of understanding with Huawei Technologies to extend telecommunications access and services to rural communities across the country.
The landmark signing ceremony, which took place in Lagos recently sets in motion MTN’s rural telephony initiative which, according to the Chief Executive Officer of the company, Mr. Ahmad Farroukh, will take growth and development in the Nigerian telecommunications industry to its next phase. Speaking at the ceremony, Farroukh said that MTN carried out an extensive survey and due diligence of Nigeria’s rural settlements to identify specific locations where neither MTN nor any other operator had telecommunications services of any sort.
He said that the result of the survey, carried out by a combined team of MTN and Huawei staff primarily informed the selection of the 350 villages to be covered in the first phase of the project roll-out. More importantly, the research, he said, helped MTN and Huawei, its technical partners, to come up with the unique solution that will be deployed in this project.
The CEO said that as the industry market leader, MTN realised that there are about 35 – 40 million Nigerians today, most of whom reside in the rural areas, and have no access to telephony. This group, he said, are the target of this latest initiative.
“Our goal is to cover every village in Nigeria. The first phase will see 350 villages covered before the end of May 2011 via the support of our technical partners, Huawei Technologies, while 500 villages will be covered in the second phase by the end of December 2011”, said Farroukh.
The first phase of the roll out, according to Mr. Farroukh, will cost the operator about US$40 million. He, however, added that cost consideration was key in the design of the solution, stressing that unlike the regular base stations; the rural telephony installations will require little human management.
“A major challenge we will be confronted with on the project is the total absence of infrastructure and basic facilities like electricity, roads, in most of these villages that will be connected. We have designed solutions to some of these challenges. For instance hybrid and solar power will be adopted on the project”, Farroukh said.
Despite the enormous funding that the project will require, Farroukh said that MTN is determined to bring telephony access to the rural areas which will attract other beneficial services to rural dwellers and open up the rural economy,” he noted.
Engr. Olawale Ige, a Commissioner of the NCC, was present at the signing ceremony and congratulated MTN for rising to the challenge of rural telephony which he said has been a popular subject in Nigeria for many years, right from the days of the legacy operator.

From left: Former Ghanaian President, Mr. John Kuffour, Niger State Governor, D. Babangida Aliyu, Representative of ECOWAS, Mr. Olabiyi, and the Executive Vice Chairman of the NCC, Dr. Eugene Juwah, at the NEPAD-Africa Technology Summit.

Juwah Advocates Liberalized African Telecom Market

Executive Vice Chairman of the Nigerian Communications Commission, Dr. Eugene Juwah has called on the political leadership of all African countries to support a liberalized telecom market so that the continent will benefit from the various opportunities presented by the industry at the moment.
Dr. Juwah who presented the lead paper at the NEPAD-Africa Technology Segment which was presided over by the former Ghanaian President, Mr. John Kuffour, which ended at the Transcorp Hilton Abuja, said that Africa’s current low teleensity compared with other parts of the world presents a huge opportunity for attracting investment. Niger State Governor, Dr. Babangida Aliyu was one of the discussants at the session.
He said a lot of political will is needed from the leadership to liberalize the industry. He gave an example with Nigeria where the support of the leadership in telecom liberalization and deregulation has contributed to a total transformation of the sector in the last ten years, and invited the political leadership to take a cue from Nigeria.
According to him, Africa occupies a critical position in the world of telecommunications and ICT and with its population, it becomes the investment destination for global investors, vendors, equipment manufacturers and service providers.
“Africa is the only continent where teledensity average is not up 50 per cent yet. In most other continents, it is almost 100 per cent. This means that the demand for basic services in Africa for voice and data communication is still very huge.
“When investors come, they bring foreign direct investment, create employment opportunities, and stimulate the financial sector and other key sectors of the economy. So, it is evident that the need to ‘cover the uncovered’ in Africa presents a good opportunity for the transformation of the economy”, he said.
He attributed the recent increase in the number of investments in the undersea optics fibre infrastructure around the African continent to the opportunities that still about in Africa.
“Almost all the sea and ocean boundaries of Africa are now crisscrossed by one fibre optics cable project or another. These cables are meant to bring huge traffic into and out of Africa at greater speed and huge bandwidth. When Africa aggregates these deployments for exchange of traffic with other parts of the world, the stimulation and transformation of the way businesses are done in the continent, will equally change for good”, he said
According to him, the infrastructure now being deployed will bring about transformation in the economy as we are witnesses to how broadband deployments in other parts of the world are contributing to the transformation of their economy. “Broadband is an area in which even larger opportunities abound in Africa and cables will obviously fast tract broadband availability”, he said.
He also Africa’s political and economic integration would be more advanced with the availability of telecommunications and ICT infrastructure, hence the need for the political leadership go give more room for liberalization. He said experience has shown that different governments of African countries have different rules of engagements with investors in this field and this becomes an uphill task to move from one country to another with delays in the deployment of services and obtaining landing permits becoming intractable.

STARCOMMS CALL-ME-BACK TO HELP MANAGE AIRTIME BUDGET

In its continuous quest to give customers value for their money, and offer them more opportunities to talk, even when they have exhausted their credits, Starcomms Plc has introduced a “call me back” service.
This service will enable Starcomms customers to send messages for a return call to their friends and loved ones in circumstances when they cannot call because of lack of credit or when they call a number on any network and the person they want to reach is busy.
Through other networks congestion To avail themselves this opportunity, Starcomms customers will need to send a“call me back” request to any phone number by dialing *393*phone number#. The receiver will get a message-“Hi, important please call me on 07028******” Back on the phone that initiated the message, an SMS will be received saying: “The operation was successful”
According to Richard Gill, Starcomms Marketing Director the “call me back” service is available to all prepaid customers of the company and it can be sent to phones on all networks to get the desired call-back result.
He said the service is most useful when the company’s pre-paid subscribers have no or low credit balances to make a call and also in the cases when the number they are trying to reach is busy or on call waiting, thus saving them the hassle of trying to get through.
“Before we introduce any value-added service to our customers, we in Starcomms take into serious consideration the different scenarios that can occur in the process of telephone usage. We have envisaged a situation when people want to have a conversation but do not have available credit.
So we introduced “call me back”. The service will be another salient feature in the already existing great value offers and customer friendly services we have for our customers. Offering them more value for their money, this service will help our budget-conscious subscribers to ask other mobile users to call them any time,” Gill said.
Meanwhile the company introduced the service with necessary control. Call-me-back is available to subscribers only 5 times a day both on-net and cross-net. Any subscriber who has used up their five opportunities in a day will get a message saying: “Sorry, the maximum using time is reached. You cannot use this function”
The service is available on all prepaid customers’ phones with