Globacom N1m gift dazzles local horse ride

A local horse ride from Kebbi State, Mr. Bashiru Danzaki was dazed when he was given a cheque of N1million by Globacom for simply registering SIM card with the mobile operator.

Although he was initailty in doubt about the news but he was later convinced when a staff of Globacom in his state offered to give a gift of N10, 000.00 to enable him come to Lagos to receive his prize.

While pouring praise on the second national carrier in his native language, he said: “I am now short of words because I thought it was a fraud. In fact, I am so grateful to Glo and thankful to God for this great opportunity.

“Glo went as far as giving me money to travel to Lagos to collect this prize. I will use the money to buy a white horse for my sport, support my mother in her trading business and open a store to sell provisions and Glo recharge cards.”

Danzaki is one of the nine lucky Glo subscribers who recently emerged winners in the ongoing Glo N 1 Billion SIM registration promo. They got their cheque last week at Globacom’s corporate headquarters in Lagos .

It was indeed a time of celebration for the winners as they danced with joy while expressing their appreciation to Globacom for making them millionaires and changing their lives. Many of them found it difficult to believe that they could win N1 million by just registering their SIM cards.

For Moses Ogundana, a professional photographer based in Yagba, Kogi state, winning N1 million in the Glo SIM registration promo has put a stamp of certainty on the realization of his dream of acquiring the most sophisticated photography equipment for his studio.

“I was called more than 10 times but I refused to pick the calls until my friends encouraged me to go and make verifications at the Glo office in Ilorin. Thank you Glo for what you have done. I pray that your company will continue to grow in leaps and bounds. I will use the money to buy those sophisticated professional cameras I’ve been dreaming about and support my wife with funds to invest in her recharge card business”, he stated.

Speaking at the event, Mrs Funmilola Odufuwa, a nursing mother and staff of an insurance company in Ibadan, Oyo state said that though she found it difficult to believe initially that she could so easily win N 1million from Glo, her husband was even more sceptical.

“When my husband came back from work and I told him about the calls, he just told me to stop bothering him and find some food for him to eat after a long day at work. But now that I have the cheque, I want to thank Glo for making me a millionaire. I appreciate Glo so much because this money will make it possible for me to start a small business”, she said.

Globacom’s Director of Sales, Patrick Awotwi said that the “Glo N1 Billion SIM registration promo” was a special initiative intended to show appreciation to Glo subscribers who register their SIM cards and also thank them for remaining loyal to the Glo network over the years.

He urged existing and potential Glo subscribers to go ahead and quickly register their SIM cards as the promo would come to a conclusion by the end of March. The Glo N1 Billion SIM registration Blast rewards Glo subscribers across the country who register their SIM cards with prizes of N1 million for 10 subscribers daily and N500 worth of airtime/sms for 60,000 people daily.

FG tasks states on development via ICT

The minister of Communications Technology, Mrs. Omobolaji Johnson has said that states in the country could grow their economy faster, if they tap into the many possibilities that Information Communications Technology offer that youths in the country have imbibed already.

According to her, the massive investment that ICT has brought into the country as well as the landing of four submarine cables in Lagos by 2014 would increase the current level of broadband internet access.

The minister who dropped the hit at the Ogun State Business Forum in Abeokuta said that Nigeria has a tremendous advantage to grow its economy through ICT due to its large population made up mostly of young entrepreneurial people saying that it would be a terrifying if the states do not harness the great opportunity that the growing number of the young population offers the nation.

She said that the Federal Government has taken the lead in that direction by creating ICT incubation centres across the country, charging the states to take advantage of the innovative mind of the youths, their energy and capacity for learning to growing their economy through ICT

Johnson explained that in the United Nations entrepreneur competition that the President Goodluck Jonathan and Minister of Finance, Dr. Ngozi Okonji-Iweala are championing, the 1200 winners ICT based business are 11 per cent of them are in ICT, and second to agriculture.

That according to the minister is an indication that more young people are starting businesses in ICT saying that governments have great opportunity to create jobs in the ICT sectors for youths in the country.

She stressed that taking the software industry as an example, there are several ways that governments in the country could assist in job creation adding that states could also begin to export software skills of its young people.

She disclosed states in the country like Ogun have the capacity to develop a vibrant software industry due to the presence of high institutions of learning that can offer research opportunity.

She also said that the growing numbers of private university in the country with research capacity is an advantage for the states in the country to tap into ICT to grow their individual economies.

While noting the need of ICT as a tool of increasing development in the across the country, she said that the vast advantage that ICT has on health, education and agriculture development of the several states cannot be underestimated.

For instance she said that one of the easiest means of reaching the huge population the in the rural areas of the country with health services is through tele-medicine, which is driven via ICT infrastructure.

She further said that there is also a tremendous opportunity for social and educational development using ICT saying that for every 10 per cent increase in mobile penetration in a state, the GDP is increase by .08 per cent and for every 10 per cent broadband increase there is a 1.6 per cent GDP increase

Telecoms body commend Lagos State over disability law

The Association of Telecommunications Companies of Nigeria, (ATCON) has commended the Lagos State Government House of Assemble for enacting the Lagos State Special People’s Law 2011, which seeks to safeguard people living with disability from all forms of discrimination and equalise their opportunities in all aspects of living in the society.

The Law provides for protection of the interest of persons who live with disabilities and particularly addresses the issues of protection for them on matters of access, employment, privileges, and standard of living, among others.

President of the association, Engr Titi Omo-Ettu also commended the state over its plan establish the Office of Disability Affairs that the Law prescribes as the Implementation Agency.

According to Omo-Ettu, the legislation which is capable of lifting Nigeria out of a so-called third-world classification into one which truly counts among those that have climbed into true civilisation.

“We pledge to support the implementation of the Law in the hope that its operators implement with a human face and in the spirit and letter of its objects and prescriptions”, he said.

He disclosed that “the Law has a bearing to our industry in its prescription on access of persons who live with disabilities to telecommunications services which it specifically mentions and indeed access of such persons to all other services which it presents largely as implied”.

While inviting members of ATCON to take into cognisance the operation of the law in the state, he said other players in our industry, and indeed all employers of labour in the land should accord priority to people with disability.

He urged other State Governments and indeed the Federal Government to take a lesson from this law and do the needful to ensure its national embrace and progressive implementation.

According to him:“We certainly cannot continue to ignore the significant contribution which those, among us, who live with disabilities, are capable of bringing into productivity and national development”.

He also called on the soon to be established Office of Disability Affairs to do good and not turn out to be an exuberant organisation whose attention would only be to extort, abuse, or focus only on a particular industry or on a set of employers.

A winner in the Glo N1 Billion SIM registration promo, Louis Okoye Okwudili from Abia state receiving his cheque of N1 million from Glo ambassadors Desmond Elliot and Ali Nuhu at a presentation ceremony held recently in Abuja.

Main One Cable establishes Point of Presence in Lagos

Main one Cable Company has opened a Point-of-Presence in Ikeja, Lagos, providing broadband connectivity to businesses on the mainland axis of the state.
At the unveiling of the infrastructure in Lagos, the Chief Executive Officer of the company, Ms. Funke Opeke, said with the infrastructure, the company’s prospective clients in places such as Ojota, Opebi, Allen, Ikeja, Oregun, Maryland, Ikorodu Road and Ikeja Airport axes of the state could now benefit from cost effective and reliable Internet services.
Opeke said, “It is necessary, at this point, for excellent broadband Internet to be available to all enterprise concerns that require the capacity that Main One brings to Nigeria.
“This is the reason we have sought to distribute more of our capacity inland, especially across business areas in Lagos where demand for ubiquitous broadband is the driving force of successful businesses.”
According to the CEO, Internet Service Providers, manufacturing companies, hotels and other hospitality outfits, media and advertising concerns, FMCGs and other enterprises in the Ikeja area and its environs are the primary beneficiary of the extended infrastructure.
The company’s effort, she said, was in line with its commitment to assisting enterprises in their stride for growth, and expediting the speed of broadband penetration across Nigeria.
She said that the Main One Cable network has continued to innovate with its open access platform, offering wholesale broadband connectivity, Internet Protocol products and collocation services to service providers and enterprise customers.
Main One currently has a growing list of major customers in Nigeria including MTN, Etisalat, Starcomms, Swift Networks, Mobitel, Netcom, IPNX, Visafone, e-Tranzact, GT Bank, and ExxonMobil.

Phase3 builds Lagos-Northern Nigeria network

Northern Nigeria network backbone redundancy Nigeria's leading provider of carrier services, Phase3 Telecom, has made a significant improvement to its Lagos-Northern Nigeria network with the provision of backbone redundancy on the route.

The firm, West Africa's only electricity grid aerial optic fiber carrier said with the provision of the backbone redundancy, quality of service to its clients would now be significantly enhanced as an alternate route for all traffic on its network between Lagos and Abuja had been provisioned.

According to Chief Operating Officer, Phase3 Telecom, Mr. Olusola Teniola, the achievement of the backbone redundancy was the fulfilment of a vision of the firm to ensure that its network would always be available to users in the event of any eventuality.

"In line with our determination to continually improve our services to our customers (IP and Clear channel), this backbone redundancy, effectively provides our clients currently enjoying peering, transit and MPLS VPN solutions and services from Lagos, a more reliable solution for their traffic, " he said.

He added that the new system now has a provision in which load has been configured to equally balance at peak periods, thereby eliminating clogs, saturation and bottlenecks. In addition, he explained that the system allows traffic load to choose the least saturated path during off peak periods and failover entirely in the event of discontinuity on any of the two routes.

"With this new arrangement, essentially our uptime has been greatly increased and we will see a 99.999 per cent efficiency leap in service delivery for all our IP clients," Teniola added.

NCC, ATCON align on broadband expansion program

The Nigerian Communications Commission, NCC and the Association of Telecommunications Companies of Nigeria, ATCON, has aligned on agenda broadband expansion.
Speaking during a meet between the duo, Dr Eugene Juwah, Executive Vice-Chairman of NCC said: “the issue of broadband availability and penetration in Nigeria today is very dear to our hearts at the Commission, and you will recall that it is one of the key areas that we have indicated to occupy our focus in the next few years”.
He said that the Commission has developed a model based on ‘Open Access’ in which the role of the Network Operator is distinct from those of the Service Providers.
“In this arrangement”, according to him, “the network provider offers access to the service providers on a non-discriminatory basis in a competitively neutral environment. Service providers, or corporations, or institutions, or even the public are allowed to access services in line with their needs”.
“Underlining these models and strategies are issues of availability, affordability, stimulation of demands for services, attraction of investments, creation of more employment opportunities, penetration of services to the nooks and crannies of the country, improving governance and energizing the economy”.
President of ATCON, Mr Titi Omo-Ettu in response said that “our reason for initiating this meeting is to enable us compare notes with the Commission on its Broadband Expansion Vision, and harmonise our plans with the Commission’s.
“Also, we seek the Commission’s listening ears when we would have latched unto its programme and require its support and intervention at any bend as we start implementing our plans. He thanked the commission for always supporting the programs of the Association.
The meeting discussed the ways of using Broadband to motivate investments, generate employment, improve governance and create an environment for investments to prosper.
The two teams agreed on the need to protect small businesses and to help big ones expand their networks.

Don lauds Glo's support for academic community

The Vice Chancellor of the University of Nigeria Nsukka, Prof Bartho Okolo, has praised the efforts of Gloworld academic community across the country, thanking the company for opening new a Gloworld centre opposite the Institution at its main campus in Nsukka, Enugu.

Speaking through his Deputy Prof. Isaac Asuzu, the Vice Chancellor said that the one stop complex would meet critical needs of the University community and the rest of the town.

The don who commissioned the new Gloworld centre, stated that the facility was important because it would enhance both the social life and academic pursuits of the teachers and students as well as the conduct of business in the environment.

“This Gloworld is important for all of us, students, staff and the entire Nsukka Community as it has brought telecommunications closer to us” he said.

Glo opened her flagship outlet known as Gloworld in Nsukka to ensure adequate provision of products and world class service delivery to the good people of the city and the entire University Community.

Globacom’s Divisional Director, South East, Mr. Mike Ehumadu said it was the cordial relationship between the University and Globacom and by extension the entire Zone that culminated in the establishment of the outlet to serve the University and the good people of Nsukka.

“This is the first flagship outlet by any Telecommunications operator either in the Institution or the entire Nsukka Zone”, Ehumadu said.

In her remarks, the Head of Gloworld, Titi Ebinisi, said the Gloworld concept was aimed at efficient service delivery on a state-of-the-arts technology platform to subscribers by well-trained members of staff.

Other special guests at the occasion included the traditional ruler of Nkpunano Nsukka Community, HRH Igwe (Dr.) Patrick Okolo and the Deputy Chairman of Nsukka Local Government Area Hon. Cosmas Ukwueze.

We are in a hurry to develop ICT- Minister

In the next few months, Nigeria should have a new information and Communications Technology (ICT) policy. That was the assurance given by the Minister of Communications Technology, Mrs. Omobola Johnson at a public forum on the review of the draft ICT by stakeholders in the industry.

According her: ”We are a nation in a hurry. We are in a hurry to develop the ICT industry and make progress as a nation. We will not waste time developing this policy that will get us on the part of progress”.

She said that the ministry needs to move quickly and closed up everything concerning the draft policy so that it would be forwarded to cabinet for approval and for execution.

Those closing remarks by the minister at the end of the brain storming session with stakeholders over the weekend has put to rest the agitation in the mind of stakeholders over the fears that government bureaucracy would not keep the draft policy in the cooler indefinitely.

The event was organised by the new ministry to address grey areas in the draft policy, which was first made public in January by the ministry.

The policy document was the first major attempt to craft a policy for the industry since the revolution of the sector began 10 years ago, although each other the five agencies that are under the ministry had some policy that guild their operators.

While stating the determination of the ministry to get a response from the stakeholders that would ensure that the ministry produce an inclusive policy for the industry, Johnson said that the new policy would agree with the roadmap that was unveiled in September 2011.

She said that the high point of the forum was to gather additional information beside the one that was received online from stakeholders saying that efforts would be made to make the policy more robust.

According to the stakeholders who represented a cross section of the ICT industry, the decision of the minister to put the draft policy in public domain before taking it to the lawmakers was a laudable one.

The managing director of Omatek Computers, Mrs. Florence Serike, the only computer company managed by a woman in Africa, while making remark on the draft policy said that research and development is very important if the Nigerian must be economically empowered.

In her observation she made reference to how the ICT sector in China is run by the government in partnership with the private sector to empower the people saying that there are markets that focus on specific or specialist on parts of the computer.

According to her that was possible because the educational curriculum has taken care of that adding that funding should be made adequately to drive the ICT sector by the government.

She said that there must be a proactive steps towards directing and encouraging the industry to grow noting that there are no more computer companies in the country that are making hardware.

She also said that the youths are not learning what should make them creative in the ICT sector stressing that local content alone will not drive the industry.

According to her, foreign investment is needed to assist the local company to grow and create impact in the growth of the ICT industry stating that during the time of the President Olusegun Obasanjo administration, there were a lot of policy guidelines that have helped the industry.

The Omatek boss who called for the restoration of such policy said that the policy had helped a lot of the computer companies to survive.

President of the Computer Professionals of Nigeria, (CPN), Mr. Ibrahim Tizhe said that there was the need for proposed draft policy to be streamlined to be in line existing policies in the industry saying that like Kenyan we should make room for a policy review even after it becomes law.

As Niyi Yusuf ICT expert from Accenture, the new policy should make room for the disable saying that NIPOST office across the country do not have consideration for them.

He also requested that the kind of software coming from the country should according to the proposed policy be made to follow international standard.

The President of the National Association of Telecommunications Subscribers, (NATCOMS), Chief Deolu Ogunbanjo said that telecommunications companies have suffered a great deal from the government since exiting policies do not give protect to their infrastructure.

He said that while government policies give priority protection to PHCN infrastructure that of the telecoms operators are at the mercy of vandals and at all levels government as well as their agencies.

For instance he explained that multiply taxation and regulation as shutting down of base station and the lack of consumer protection still bedevilled the industry saying that there should be celebrate effort in the proposed policy that would address such issues.

The stakeholders also urged government to view ICT a human right issue while efforts should be made to create in the policy sections that would cater for the less privilege as well as the physically challenge per sons in the society.