UNION BANK pensioners endorse recapitalisation

Union Bank pensioners have unanimously endorsed and approved of the plans and strategies evolved by the management and Board of Union Bank of Nigeria Plc to recapitalise in line with the regulatory requirements.

This endorsement was adopted at an interactive forum with the bank`s management under the aegis of Union Bank Pensioners Association and Union Bank General Management Pensioners` Club led by Prince Justus Osokoya and Mr. Jerome Ezegbu held in Lagos.

After reviewing all the options available to the bank, the pensioners recognised that without the core investor as recommended by the board, union bank would loose its identify and make their investments and sacrifices as its workers over the years wasteful.

“We have reviewed and recognised that it is not in the best interest of the pensioners to nationaliseunion bank. Therefore, we resolved in our various consultative meetings to support every step taken by the management and board to recapitalise the bank" they said.

The pensioners advised the bank to ensure that the bank`s core values are retained and restored through the adoption of the best banking practices which was the hallmark of union bank in the past. They also appealed to the management to continue to take care of their welfare especially in the areas of medical, monthly pension, concessionary loans, etc.

While congratulating the management for taking a scrupulous look at the books of the bank in order to restore its accounting principles to the best standard of transparency and accountability, the retirees were saddened with the revelations that showed how the bank derailed in its operations and activities before the intervention of the Central Bank of Nigeria.

In her remarks, the Group managing Director/Chief Executive, Mrs. Funke Osibodu thanked the pensioners for turning out in large number to understand the recapitalisation issues and other matters that have been disturbing them over the years. She felt humbled by the turnout of the former members of general management especially executive directors who were fully involved in disseminating relevant information on the benefits of a core investor to members.

Mrs. Osibodu enjoined them to attend the Extra-Ordinary and General meetings at Abuja where the resolutions on recapitalisation would be tabled for approval; emphasising on the importance of submitting their signed proxy forms, if unable to attend.

Ebonyi Deputy Governor commissions Abakiliki Gloworld

Deputy Governor of Ebonyi State, Engineer Dave Umahi, last Thursday commissioned the latest Gloworld shop located in the state capital, Abakiliki. The shop is the first such outlet to be opened by any telecommunications company in the state.

Gloworld is Globacom’s one-stop sales and service outlet designed to give subscribers easy access to the company’s products and services. The new Gloworld is located at No 4 Ogoja Road, Abakiliki.

With the opening of the new Gloworld, residents of Abakiliki and neighbouring towns in Ebonyi State now have a convenient avenue for easy, unrestricted access to Globacom offerings in a world class environment, Engineer Umahi stated.

He thanked Globacom for extending telecommunication services to the state and creating employment for its indigenes and residents. He also commended the company for the giant steps taken to compete favourably with other multinational corporations in the sector. Engineer Umahi charged the company to assist the law enforcement agencies in combating crime by providing data and Value Added Services that will assist the Agencies in tracking down criminals.

The Deputy Governor, who represented Governor Elechi Amadi, also performed the first official transaction in the outlet by registering his Glo SIM as a subscriber. This was also undertaken by other special guests including the state Police Commissioner, Chairman Ebonyi State Traditional Rulers Council, HRH Eze Agom Eze, and the State Director of the National Youth Service Corps (NYSC), Mr. J.E. Otaru.

Head of Glo East 1 Territory, Dr Prince Dimkpa, in his speech restated Globacom’s commitment to offering innovative products and solutions and developing various channels for delivery of world class customer services to subscribers.

He noted that Gloworld outlets, located in strategic cities and towns across the country, are generally acknowledged as delivering world class telecommunications solutions. They are manned by well trained and motivated sales and customer care professionals.

Robbers steal MTN recharge cards in Aba

Leading telecommunications company in Nigeria, MTN has announced that a large quantity of its recharge cards have been stolen from the company’s premises in Aba, Abia State.

Mr. Goodluck said as a result of the incident, the company had immediately de-activated the affected recharge cards from the network in line with standard operating procedure. As a result of this, any of the stolen recharge cards will no longer be accepted by the network, he said.

“We wish to advise our numerous customers in Abia State and its environs to exercise caution when purchasing recharge cards. We urge our customers to seek out authorised MTN vendors so as to guide against picking up stolen and voided recharge cards,” he said. “Alternatively, our esteemed customers may consider recharging their phones through our Virtual Top-up (VTU) platform, which even provides customers with five percent discount for any amount of airtime purchased,” said Goodluck.

The Corporate Services Executive said all the company’s Trade Partners in Aba and its environs had been duly notified so that they would be prepared should anyone attempt to sell any of the voided recharge cards to them.

Mr. Goodluck said the incident had been reported to relevant security agencies and apologized to MTN customers for any inconveniences the development might cause them.

According to a statement issued by the Corporate Services Executive, MTN, Mr Akinwale Goodluck, armed robbers last week broke into the company’s premises in Aba, and made away with large quantity of recharge cards of various denominations.

"SIM Reg 'll enhance national security"

The Nigerian Communications Commission, NCC, has said the ongoing SIM card registration in the country will enhance national security and protect the telecom consumers across the country, hence the need for stakeholder support for its success.

The Commission which spoke about the benefits and challenges of the exercise at the 44^th Edition of its Consumer Outreach Programme in Yenagoa, Bayelsa State, at the weekend, said in spite of the challenges presented by this project, it has a wider benefit for the country and its citizens.

Director of Consumer Affairs of the Commission, Mrs Mary Uduma, who stood in for the Executive Vice Chairman of the Commission, Dr. Eugene Juwah, appealed to all stakeholders in the state to embrace the SIM Card registration exercise as the Commission is doing all in its powers to ensure that every person living in this Country is adequately protected.

“We have a mandate to ensure that all users of telephones in Nigeria are registered to ensure that there is an indentify behind every telephone that is in the Nigerian network and the Commission has done proper sensitization across the country to ensure that no subscriber will have any excuse not to register his or her SIM cards within the period announced by the Commission”, she said.

She said that the Commission is not unaware of the challenges being faced by the Service Providers as well as the Commission such as illegal charges for registration by unscrupulous and corrupt SIM registration agents, interruptible power supply for equipment, mis-recording or improper capturing of data as well as limited number of SIM registration centres but said subscribers had adequate opportunity to register their SIM cards over the period.
She listed some other benefits of the registration to include quick recovery of lost SIM cards and possibility of implementing Number Portability for the subscribers which will allow them to retain their choice numbers while migrating to another network that may offer them better quality at reduced tariffs.

L-R: Mr. Efosa Idehen, Heand Enforcement at NCC, engaging the officials of the company Mr. Jamil Chaptini, Operations Manager, Mr. Mr. Joe Minas, engineer, and Mr.Marcel Bajjani, Quality Control Manager, Cobranet, during the sealing of Cobranet premises in Lekki,Lagos.

NCC SHOTS DOWN ILLEGAL SPECTRUM OCCUPANT IN LAGOS, CONFISTICATES EQUIPMENT

The Nigerian Communications Commission, NCC, yesterday, sealed the offices of Cobranet, a telecom company based in Lekki, Lagos, for illegally occupying frequencies in some bands mapped out for broadband services in the country, and disrupting the services of other service providers.

However, the Commission after final warning on the issue in June, 2011, discovered that Cobranet, was transmitting signals on the affected frequencies, hence an enforcement action against the company, resulting its being shot down by the Commission, and its equipment disconnected and confiscated all its transmission equipment.

Head of Compliance Monitoring of the Commission, Mr. Efosa Idehen, who led the enforcement action, spoke to journalists at the company’s premises in Lagos, and said Cobranet will also pay some yet to be determined amount of money to be calculated by the frequency department of the Commission with reference to the space and time the company has illegally occupied the band.

He also said the action of the company is also detrimental to the service quality of other providers as illegal occupations of frequencies degrade the quality of service of the other operators who may be legally operating on such frequencies.

Head of Media and Public Relations of the NCC, Mr. Reuben Muoka, who addressed the press on the issue, said the clampdown on Cobranet is a signal to other operators who may be operating without proper authorization or without recourse to all the rules of the game in the telecommunications industry.

Mr. Muoka said the current leadership at the Commission is focused on compliance to the rules, hence the need for all operators to adhere to all the rules and conditions in service provisioning for the benefit of the subscribers and the nation. He said that the frequency spectrum is a finite resource whose use must be in accordance with the set guidelines and conditions.

The Commission has in 2009, developed guidelines for the deployment of frequency services on the 5.2 – 5.9GHz bands. In April 2011, the Commission declared the 5.470 – 5.725 portion of this spectrum as licensed, licensable and not license exempt in Nigeria. Consequently, it warned all companies without a license of the Commission to avoid transmitting signals, or using equipment on this frequency band.

NCC bars operators from texts on SIM Reg status

He advised the subscribers to ensure that the data being supplied at the registration centres are accurate by crosschecking with the registration officers at the point of the registration as those handling the registration have computer monitors where all subscribers can easily see the data supplied and approve.

Telecom regulatory body, Nigerian Communications Commission, has issued a directive to all telecom operators to refrain from sending alert messages to subscribers on account of the status of their SIM card registration.

Head, Media and Public Relations of the Commission, Mr. Reuben Muoka, said the directive became necessary as service providers are sending conflicting information to subscribers, thereby causing unnecessary anxiety among the Nigerian public.

He said that it was discovered that some operators are sending text messages to those who have already registered their SIM cards. Some operators are reported to have also issued a code to their subscribers to check the status of their registration, an action which he said is not necessary.

Mr. Muoka said this action is not tenable as sometimes, the operators issue such texts to those who have already registered with them. He said the action of the operators is worsened by the fact that the NCC appointed agents have no facility to also send such texts as they travel round, resulting in ugly situations where the operators send texts to those who are already correctly registered by the NCC appointed agents.

“The SIM registration data being gathered by the operators, and those of the NCC appointed agents, all belong to the NCC. It is only the NCC that will be in the position to tell any subscriber about the status of his or her registration, and that will only happen after the completion of the project”, he said.

The NCC spokesman also assured subscribers that no operator is permitted to disconnect any subscriber on account of SIM card registration until after the expiration of the exercise when the Commission will issue appropriate directives to the operators on the matter.

Bharti signs agreement with Huawei

Bharti Airtel, a leading global telecommunications company with operations in 19 countries across Asia and Africa, today announced an agreement with Huawei, a leader in next-generation telecommunications network solutions, to modernize and expand Airtel’s 2G & 3G network infrastructure in Africa.

As per the agreement, Huawei will be responsible for designing, planning, modernization and expansion of Bharti Airtel’s networks, as well as managing operations and maintenance. This innovative Managed Capacity Manager Service business model, pioneered by Airtel eight years ago in India, will enhance the customer experience through improved voice quality and extended coverage into under-penetrated areas.

The agreement will enable Airtel Africa to rapidly expand its mobile services and mobile broadband footprint in the region.

Announcing the agreement Mr. Manoj Kohli, CEO (International) and Joint Managing Director, Bharti Airtel, said “The partnership with Huawei takes us one step closer to realizing our vision of making affordable and world-class telecom services available to Africa. This partnership will allow us to focus on delivering better customer experience as we leverage the global network management expertise of Huawei. It also lays the foundation for the introduction of 3G HSPA wireless broadband services. We firmly believe that mobile broadband is a major catalyst for economic growth and development, and with this partnership we will be able to offer world-class and affordable voice & internet experience to our customers while contributing to the economic growth in Africa.”
The next-generation state-of-the-art network will deliver an extended range of services focused on user-centric broadband applications. In line with global trends, Africa is experiencing a surge in demand for access to mobile data applications. The modernization and optimization of networks will give Bharti Airtel an opportunity to lower its operating expenditure and roll-out innovative and exciting customer centric products & services at affordable prices.
Sun Yafang, Chairwoman of Huawei Board, said: “Bharti Airtel is a great operator with tremendous potential and high business value. We understand Airtel’s strategic requirements and will match their fast development to achieve a win-win business success between both parties. As a leading Telecom solutions vendor, Huawei has substantial experience over the years to provide state-of-the-art technologies and services to top operators in the world. We believe our innovative technologies as well as strong delivery capability will bring Bharti Airtel’s customers a better user experience and value proposition.”
The partnership with Huawei will enable Airtel Africa to channel its resources and expertise to its core areas of product innovation, value added services, marketing, branding and pricing, while simultaneously providing world class mobile services by leveraging Huawei’s world class expertise in network management. Under the terms of the agreement, Huawei will deploy its complete GSM and 3G product portfolio including BTS 3900 multi-standard radio base stations working with GSM and HSPA technologies, which will further be equipped and prepared for Long Term Evolution (LTE).

MTN surpasses 150 million mobile subscribers

The MTN Group has passed 150 million mobile subscribers, showing strong subscriber growth despite increased competition.
Speaking at the MTN Group Annual General Meeting (AGM) today, MTN Group President and CEO Sifiso Dabengwa announced that MTN increased its subscriber base by 7.4 million subscribers or 5% to 149 million customers for the four months to 30 April 2011, and has subsequently passed 150 million mobile subscribers across its 21 operations.
Margins in the majority of MTN’s key markets in Africa and the Middle East remained robust, although margin pressure in markets with high levels of price competition was experienced.
Robust margins were primarily due to the benefit of on-going cost control and efficiency initiatives, despite the negative impact of inflationary pressures and higher fuel costs.
“MTN believes its current initiatives place it in good stead to take advantage of value creating opportunities, while mitigating the various risks. MTN will continue to leverage its scale, operational capability and intellectual capacity in an industry which has become more competitive as it matures and evolves,” said Dabengwa.
The MTN Group Board has decided that the formation of a formalized subsidiary company board for the international operations will not be progressed at this point in time. This follows a review of the work completed by the sub-committee of the board appointed to investigate the matter.
The MTN Group wishes to share its 150 million mobile subscriber milestone with communities by linking it to a worthy social cause. Accordingly, MTN has pledged to plant 150 000 (one hundred and fifty thousand) trees across its markets during the next six months.
MTN is cognisant of the serious implications of climate change in its markets and the world, and is therefore making a contribution to preserve the environment by mobilising its staff of approximately 30 000 to plant trees in their communities.
“At MTN, employees regard themselves as an integral part of their communities. It is this sense of community that enables us as the Group to respond meaningfully to the needs of our customers beyond just providing them with telecommunication services,” said Dabengwa.
He explained that MTN operates in a business ecosystem in which triple bottom line (people, planet and profit) issues are increasingly becoming vital for future survival.
“Our customers are important to us, and so are we to them in terms of offering them services that improve their lifestyle. Unless we take good care of the surroundings in which people live and in which we as business operate, there will be no markets and growth prospects to talk of in future”.
“The idea of planting trees has the potential to trigger the kind of public consciousness that can turn each of the 150 million MTN subscribers into active agents for positive social change,” adds Dabengwa.
MTN’s 150 000 trees pledge builds on the commitment the Group made at the onset of the MTN 21 Days of Y’ello Care corporate social responsibility (CSR) annual initiative, which kicked off on 1 June 2011, to plant 21 000 trees across its markets.
The 21 Days Y’ello Care campaign ended on a high yesterday, with more than 50 000 trees planted by MTN staff across MTN’s global footprint in support of the UN’s declaration of 2011 as the International Year of Forests.

KENYAN FATUMA NOOR NAMED WINNER CNN JOURNALIST OF THE YEAR

Fatuma Noor from Kenya has been awarded the top prize at this year’s CNN MultiChoice African Journalist 2011 Awards Ceremony.
Fatuma Noor, who works for The Star Kenya, won for her investigative three-part series on the ‘Al-Shabaab’, which was chosen from among 1407 entries from 42 nations across the African continent.
The series tells the story of the young men who give up their freedom abroad to return and fight for the ‘Al-Shabaab’ in one of the world’s most dangerous places on earth – Somalia .
Fatuma Noor was one of the 27 finalists at the Awards ceremony on Saturday evening and was a winner in the category ‘General News Award (Print).’
The Awards, which rotate location each year in tribute to their pan-African credentials, were held at a Gala ceremony hosted by CNN and MultiChoice at The Sandton Sun Hotel, Johannesburg , South Africa yesterday evening, Saturday 25th June.
Nolo Letele, Executive Chairman MultiChoice South Africa and Parisa Khosravi, Senior Vice President of international newsgathering for CNN Worldwide presented Fatuma Noor with the Award.
Fatuma said: “I want to thank my mum and my boss Catherine, who believed in me when no one else did. There was a time in my life when I thought about giving up, but with this Award I'm not giving up any time soon”
Chair of the judging panel, journalist and media consultant Joel Kibazo said: “The judges were impressed with the high quality of entries to the competition this year, and this intrepid young journalist has shown great courage and determination in going the extra mile to tell this fascinating story. Fatuma Noor’s three-part series on the Al-Shabaab provides a detailed and personalised portrait of the young men who leave their comfortable western lives to join one of the world’s most ruthless militant groups in Somalia .”
Parisa Khosravi, Senior Vice President of International Newsgathering for CNN Worldwide, said: “Tonight’s journalists join an ever-growing community of excellence, each one representing the very best in African journalism. The collective talent celebrated here this evening is a sign of the increasingly assured voice in which Africa is telling its unique and myriad story. I congratulate them all."
Nolo Letele, Executive Chairman MultiChoice South Africa group said: “We are proud of our long-standing partnership with CNN for these awards. And we are even more proud to play a part in telling the stories of Africa . It is thanks to the excellence of these journalists that Africa has a voice on the international stage. Our warmest congratulations go out to the winners.”
Collins Khumalo, President MultiChoice Africa, said: “Congratulations to all the 2011 winners, we hope the acknowledgment you’ve received this year will inspire you to continue telling the African story to the world. Although there can only be one overall winner, we’d like to salute each and every journalist that entered. Without your hard work and support, the ongoing development of democracy and diversity of the media across the African continent would not be possible.”
The evening also recognised Mahamud Abdi Jama as this year’s recipient of the Free Press Africa Award, for his work in Somalia . His situation was noted by the Committee for the Protection of Journalists (CPJ) in New York . He wrote a critical article about the government there and was jailed for just over a month and released when pressure was put on the government of Somalia .
The CNN MultiChoice competition is now in its 16th year. The prestigious sponsors include: African Development Bank; Coca-Cola Africa; Ecobank, IPP Media, Tanzania; Ericsson; Merck Sharp & Dohme (MSD); Research In Motion (RIM), the company behind the BlackBerry® solution; South African Tourism and A24 Media. The Sandton Sun Hotel, Johannesburg is the delegate hotel for this year’s Awards.
The Awards’ 27 finalists from 13 countries enjoyed an all expenses paid five day programme of workshops, media forums, networking and had the opportunity to see some of the sights of Johannesburg prior to the Awards Ceremony.

GLO INTRODUCES NEW HIGH SPEED INTERNET PLANS FOR HANDSETS AND TABLETS

As part of continuous efforts to offer more value to subscribers on its network, national telecoms operator, Globacom, has launched new pocket-friendly high speed internet plans which are tailored to benefit the ever increasing numbers of users of handsets, smart phones and tablets across the country.
The new HSI plans, which offer lower rates and the most generous data volumes, will now make it possible for Glo subscribers to use their data enabled devices to browse the internet, stream audio and video clips, download apps and chat with their family and friends at even more affordable rates.
The newly introduced plans are Glo Instant Surf, One Week and Always Micro which are suitable for handsets and Always Macro which is suitable for both handsets and tablets. Glo Instant Surf, for instance, offers the subscriber a data usage of 10MB at for just N100 for a validity period of 24 hours, while the One Week plan will give the subscriber 50MB of data usage for a validity period of seven days at the cost of N400 only.
Always Micro, on the other hand, offers 200MB of data download which is valid for a period of one month (30 days) at the cost of N1,000 only, while Always Macro will give the subscriber 1GB of data for 30 days at the cost of N3,000 only. The Always Macro plan is available for users of handsets as well as smart phones and tablets such as the Samsung Galaxy Tab and the Apple I-pad.
Other existing plans have also been reviewed to give more value to subscribers. These include the Pay As You Use rate which has been reviewed down from 15 kobo per kilobyte to 5 kobo per kilobyte, Always Micro which offers a higher data download of 200MB at the cost of N1,000 per month and Always Min which now gives subscribers a massive 3GB of data downloads instead of the previous 1.5GB at the same cost of N5,000 per month.
The new affordable rates and bigger data downloads were made possible with the coming on stream of Glo1, Globacom’s high speed submarine cable which is changing the face of telecom in Nigeria and several other countries across the continent.
With a capacity of over 2.5 terabits, Glo 1 is already providing unprecedented high speed internet services to Nigerians and making telecom services much faster, more reliable and cheaper for consumers. With Globacom’s increasing coverage of the country with its High Speed Internet service and expansion of its access network capacity, even more benefits lie ahead for Glo subscribers.
To enjoy the great value offered by the new plans, subscribers only need to enter the USSD code *127*51# for Instant Surf, *127*52# for the One week plan, *127*53# for Always Micro, *127*54# for Always Macro or *127*2# for Always Min and they will immediately be subscribed to the plan of their choice.

'LAGOS WILL NOT CRIPPLE THE ECONOMY'

Lagos State Government is mindful of the state’s impact on the economy of Nigeria; hence it has no plans to cripple economic activities in the state and Nigeria in general.
State Commissioner for Physical Planning and Urban Development, TPl. Francisco Bolaji Abosede disclosed this during the Press Briefing while rendering account of stewardship of the ministry in the last four years under the administration of the Babatunde Raji Fashola leadership.
Abosede stated that it is general knowledge that most banking and financial institutions have their headquarters in Lagos which also translate to the establishment of enormous bank branches. He however bemoaned that some of the banks do not follow due process before such branches are opened, thereby contravening Physical Planning Law in Lagos State.
He noted that Lagos State is critical to the economy of Nigeria and has not clamped down on banks as it will greatly affect the economy. In order to tackle this abnormality, TPl Abosede said several periodic meetings are being held with the banks as regards branch establishment, coupled with the periodic inventory and assessment of certain urban based activities and their impact on immediate environment such as petrol filling stations, petrol tank farms, eateries, banks and places of worship.
The Commissioner revealed that with Lagos as a megacity, the State Government is planning for 40 million people with the provisions of adequate infrastructure, both social and physical, to accommodate the influx of people adding that calculations and necessary parameters have been considered and are being balanced. He remarked that the physical planning activities carried out by the State Government are not without the collaboration and inclusion of stakeholders.
He explained that the inclusive governance method of the State Government is to make people comply willfully by persuasive means instead of forceful compliance. While stating that there is no plan without the approval of the people, TPl Abosede added that the 2010 Physical Planning Law is operational as the ministry is gearing towards rescheduling of the public meeting to involve the Press, professional bodies, institutions such as insurance companies, etc, to fine-tune the modus operandi of the law, stressing that laws are meant to be debated and examined exhaustively to arrive at a beneficial conclusion for all.
In the area of Urban Development, Abosede noted that the State Government has reported phenomenal growth and progress with the Tejuosho Market redevelopment under the Public-Private-Participation scheme, informing that the project is in two phases. According to him, the phase 1 of the project is at 70% completion stage. He also stated that Freedom Park (old Broad Street prison) has been redeveloped into a tourist attraction facility to serve as recreation and improve environmental quality of the state.
The Commissioner further revealed that the ministry is involved in the development of various transportation routes and utility lines (viz roads, rail lines, PHCN lines, etc), while also determining, establishing and delivering Right of Way (ROW) to free encumbrances which involves survey and acquisition description, identification, enumeration and removal of such encumbrances on completion of acquisition before the compensation process.
In her Vote of Thanks, the Permanent Secretary, Ministry of Physical Planning and Urban Development, Arc. (Mrs.) Yetunde Oluwatoyin Ajayi, mni commended Governor Babatunde Raji Fashola (SAN) for his passion for physical planning issues in Lagos State which has put the state ahead of others. She noted the State Government has taken the trend of physical planning to greater heights by aligning herself with developed cities such as Dubai, Shanghai, Singapore, among others and this has also prompted the India Government her willingness to partner with the state on planning matters.
Arc. Ajayi noted that despite the challenges and peculiarities of Lagos State as the commercial nerve centre of sub-saharan Africa, the state is not deterred in making the environment sustainable, organized, liveable and business friendly.

Glo 1 signs on companies across industry segments

Glo 1 has signed on major international carriers and leading companies from across the industry verticals since the international submarine cable owned by national operator, Globacom, was launched last October. The companies include telecom operators, internet service providers (ISPs), Oil & Gas companies, Banks, manufacturing companies, IT & IT-enabled services companies, and leading media organizations.

A spokesman for the company disclosed this following the recent signing of an agreement between it and an oil giant. Some of the companies are PCCW, Airtel Ghana, Airtel Nigeria, C&W (Nigeria & Ghana Operations), IPNX, Swift Networks, Shell, TotalElf, Chevron, United Bank for Africa, Fin Bank, Nigerian Bottling Co. PLC, P&G and almost all the major media companies

Glo 1 is West Africa’s largest internet bandwidth provider. With its launch in Nigeria last year and in Ghana in April, the cable has ushered in a new era of prosperity for businesses in the African region. The facility, the first individually owned international submarine cable in Africa, has addressed the bandwidth capacity problem in the region and ushered in reliable telecommunications services.

“The high number of customers that have signed on to Glo 1 in just seven months of operation is a vote of confidence in the company. We are availing the customers an excellent communication network and a cost-effective voice, data, video and e-commerce services across Africa, Europe and the rest of the world," he stated.

He explained that the facility has the capacity to boost business activities from information technology to banking, oil and gas, manufacturing and commerce by offering world-class long distance voice, video and data communication services.

With a capacity of up to 2.5 terabits per second, as well as 99.9% up time reliability, customers are assured of much faster, more reliable and cheaper internet services. Glo 1 will offer attractive rates and long term partnerships resulting in enhanced profitability for the customer through flexible terms of contracts tailor-made for the customer type and need.

“A unique advantage we have is our extensive terrestrial network in West Africa through our operations in Nigeria, Ghana, Benin Republic, Cote d’Ivoire, Gambia and Senegal. This will enable Glo 1 to give end-to-end connectivity including last mile services, thus providing a one-stop-shop for customers’ requirements,” the company source stated.

Glo1 has connectivity with top international carriers which gives it a global reach and enables it to offer international standard Service Level Agreements, giving the customer guaranteed world-class services at highly affordable price.

NCC to intensify enlightenment on SIM Registration

The Nigerian Communications Commission, NCC, has said in Abuja that it will intensify the enlightenment campaign on the on-going, nationwide SIM registration exercise.

The general elections which ended last week, has given subscribers a relaxed atmosphere to enable them to register their SIM cards with NCC appointed registration vendors nationwide.

The Commission had on March 28, 2011, flagged off the six-month nationwide SIM registration exercise which will end on 28 September, 2011.

Head, Media and Public Relations of the Commission, Mr. Reuben Muoka, who during an interaction with ICT correspondents in Abuja, said the current campaign will include radio jingles in local languages giving subscribers the location of SIM Card registration centres in all the states of the federation as will be published in key national dailies and the Commission’s website.

He said SIM Card registration centres will continue to grow in various states of the federation and that some of the registration agents will move around with mobile units to cover areas that may not have fixed registration centres in any particular locations such as markets and other similar locations.

In the NCC SIM registration centres, subscribers are able to register all their SIM cars irrespective of any network, at the same spot. But the Commission said all those who have already registered with their telecom service providers need not come for the registration undertaken by the operators will be collated for the same purpose at the Central data base for all subscribers in the country.

ATCON endorses IPV6 Roundtable, harps on broadband roadmap

The Association of Telecommunication Companies of Nigeria (ALTON) has endorsed the Nigeria Internet Protocol Version Six (IPV6) Roundtable 2011.

ATCON is a professional, non-profit umbrella organisation of all telecommunication companies in Nigeria, which was founded since December 10, 1993, as a national trade organisation, with membership drawn from Nigerian and multi-national companies which provide telecommunications and information technology products and services in across the country.
Whereas the forthcoming Nigeria IPV6 Roundtable was initiated by the DigitalSENSE Africa as part of its Nigeria DigitalSENSE Forum series in commemoration the World IPV6 Day, which has been slated for Thursday, June 2, at the Planet One, Mary Land Lagos.
The global World IPV6 Day has been scheduled for Wednesday, June 8, this year by the Internet Society (ISOC), the organisational home for the groups responsible for Internet infrastructure standards, including the Internet Engineering Task Force (IETF) and the Internet Architecture Board (IAB).
The acting Executive Secretary, Mr. Ajibola Olude in a letter of endorsement addressed to the Executive Director, DigitalSENSE Africa Media, Mrs. Nkemdilim Nweke, acknowledged the support of ATCON.
“I am pleased to convey approval of the National Executive Council,” he declared. Some of the condiments, according to him, include the use of the fact that ATCON endorsed the event on all the conference materials.
While promising that ATCON would broadcast the event to all its members, the President of ATCON, Mr. Titi Omo-Ettu has planned to give a goodwill message to the occasion.“ATCON will support the event with some mementos,” he added.
Reacting, Mrs. Nweke commended ATCON leadership for its foresight in recognizing the importance of this latest migration and efforts of DigitalSENSE in stimulating awareness in the IPV6 aspect of the future internet.
Further, she revealed that ATCON president would be presenting a position paper of the group for the stakeholders as a means of internalizing the endorsement among its members.
Meanwhile in the preceding weeks, the duo of the Nigeria Internet Registration Association (NIRA) and Nigeria Internet Group (NIG) have thrown their respective support for the Nigeria IPV6 Roundtable, scheduled to hold at Planet One on June 2.
President of NIG, Engr. Adebayo Banjo said that his group is pleased to endorse the Nigeria IPV6 Roundtable in commemoration of the World IPV6 Day also known as ‘Test Flight Day’.
He also said the IPV6 Roundtable offer a first-class platform for networking to stimulate public awareness on the importance.
More interesting, he said, is the theme for the roundtable ‘IPV6-Join The Players’ scheduled to hold at the Planet One MaryLand, Lagos being organized by the DigitalSENSE Africa, stressing that Nigeria should join the IPV6 world and not wait to do leapfrogging.
NIG in a letter to DSA dated April 15, 2011, Banjo said, they foresee the roundtable as a platform for Nigerian Internet stakeholders in which issues concerning the Information and Communication Technology (ICT) sector issues are raised and addressed with particular reference to the Internet Protocol version 6.
He, therefore, solicits the support of all Internet stakeholders to take active participation at the roundtable.
Equally, NIRA, in its letter of endorsement signed by the Head, Corporate Services, Ms Ugo Akiri commended DigitalSENSE Africa for the foresightedness in enlightening Nigerians on Internet-related developments.
She noted that this is coming shortly after the Nigeria DigitalSENSE Forum on Internet Governance and Development (IGD).
NIRA, she also said, has every reason to back the Nigeria IPV6 Roundtable and enjoined members of the association to actively participate in the event scheduled for Thursday June 2, this year at Planet One under the chairmanship of the former Minister of Communications, Chief Olawale Ige, who doubles as the chairman, board of trustees, Nigeria Internet Group.
Reacting to these development, the Executive Director, Operations, DigitalSENSE Africa, Mrs. Nkemdilim Nweke, applauded both organisations for the endorsements.
She noted that following the recent allocation of the last batch of the Internet Protocol version 4 (IPv4) addresses by the Internet Assigned Numbers Authority (IANA) it has become imperative for the deployment of Internet Protocol version 6 (IPv6) and Nigeria cannot afford to be left out.
“The Internet is now the global communication network and to join this evolution, Nigerian stakeholders need to integrate IPv6 in all areas,” she said.
Mrs. Nweke pointed out that based on the abovementioned, the Internet Society (ISOC), the organisational home for the groups responsible for Internet infrastructure standards, including the Internet Engineering Task Force (IETF) and the Internet Architecture Board (IAB) came up with the World IPV6 Day, which this year would be commemorated on Wednesday, June 8, 2011.
She explained that why Nigeria IPV6 Roundtable is holding on Thursday, June 2 is to drum support for the global commemoration on June 8.“We needed to get this earlier so that our people would start in good time to prepare their minds for the test-flight day,” she declared.
The Roundtable, she said, would stimulate public awareness on the importance of the World IPV6 Day also known as ‘Test Flight Day’ in addition to providing networking opportunities.
On June 8, she noted that the World IPv6 Day is a strategy to encourage successful migration to IPv6 through participation of some key Internet Service Providers like Google, Facebook, Yahoo!, Akamai and Limelight networks to offer their contents over IPv6 only for a 24-hour period.
“The goal of the Test Flight Day is to motivate organizations across the industry – regulators, operators, Internet service providers, hardware makers, operating system vendors, content providers, manufacturers, web companies and key stakeholders; to ensure a successful transition as IPv4 addresses run out,” she said.
Further, she urged Nigerians, especially the industry players to maximize the opportunity to showcasing their plans for IPV6 migration in Nigeria.

As part of her mission as the Starcomms Plc., Brand Ambassador, multi award winning singer/song writer, Nneka visited the Starcomms Customer Care Centre on Bode Thomas Street Surulere, Lagos where customers in a lucky deep promo won several prize with her is one of the lucky winner, Antony Udoh, a businessman living in Ikoyi, Lagos, receiving his prize.

STARCOMMS CHAMPIONS NETWORK QUALITY CAMPAIGN

Aligning with current trends globally whereby mobile telephone users are more concerned about the quality of services rendered by mobile telephone companies, multiple awards winning Telecommunications Company, Starcomms Plc is saying that mobile phone users should insist on quality of service.
The reason is that over the years, the Starcomms network has been able to maintain a track record of quality network by ensuring that its customers are not in the league of mobile users who groan over the pains of network failure.
According to the chief operating officer of the company, Logan Pather, Starcomms has decided to lead the campaign for no drop calls, voice clarity, no network congestion and easy connection at one dial saying that mobile users should vote for a network that ensures that they enjoy and experience a no drop call regime when talking.”
Pather also said that mobile phone users should also insist on having a network that is devoid of congestion as well as one that offers easy connection at one dial saying that Starcomms is the network of quality services.
He disclosed that as a network that listens to its customers, Starcomms remained committed to the task of ensuring that its customer enjoys quality services on its network stressing that that commitment has earned it several awards over the years.
While explaining the rationale for the network quality campaign, he said that low tariffs are not the only thing that appeals to the customer.
While urging mobile phone users to continue to patronize the Starcomms network, Pather said that Starcomms Plc remains the only network that ensures that its customers are overwhelmed with all-round telecoms services that comes at an affordable tariff.
Pather, who disclosed that he is elated that more mobile phone users are migrating to the Starcomms network because of the quality of its services and product, said that is attested to by Best IT product award that the Starcomms MyPAD won at the recent Beacon of ICT award.
He also said that the Best CDMA award for 2010 that Starcomms won at the ceremony, is symbolic of its position as the provider of excellent value added services as well as quality services at an affordable cost.
While promising that Starcomms will ensure that its customers continue to enjoy the best quality services from its network, Pather said that Starcomms is mindful of the right of its customers; hence it is devoting its resources to the campaign for the rights of the customer to quality network from mobile telephone companies.

African Brand Leadership Awards recently conferred an award of Best Company in Corporate Social Responsibility on Procter and Gamble West Africa (P&G) in Lagos. Head, External Relations, P&G, Patricia Obozuwa (C) receives the award from Mr. Ademola Oredugba, Managing Director of Minnesota Nigeria Limited while Corporate Public Relations Manager of P&G, Olatomiwa Akande looks on.

MTN and GIZ sign development partnership to manage e-waste

Telecoms company MTN Group has signed a development
partnership with German-based public-benefit enterprise Deutsche
Gesellschaft fuer Internationale Zusammenarbeit (GIZ) GmbH to manage
the safe disposal of e-waste and foster enterprise development for
e-waste handlers.
GIZ signed the partnership with MTN on behalf of the German Federal
Ministry for Economic Cooperation and Development (BMZ).
The partnership seeks to raise awareness among the general public and
corporate businesses about the safe recycling, management and disposal
of e-waste, and provide support to fledgling small and medium-sized
companies.
Electronic waste or e-waste is any form of electrical or electronic
technology that is no longer required, ranging from domestic and
commercial ‘white goods’ such as fridges and air conditioners, to
computers, phones and other electrical and electronic devices. As
global consumption of electrical devices grow, and products become
obsolete, the challenge of how to responsibly dispose of e-waste is
growing alarmingly.
Global mismanagement of e-waste is resulting in large-scale dumping,
often in open landfills, predominantly in areas or countries with poor
levels of environmental governance or enforcement ability.
There is increasing concern at the growth of e-waste generated by
global consumers, and ultimately often dumped, especially in
developing countries in Africa and Asia. Valuable components are
salvaged from discarded e-waste, but at the cost of human and
environmental health, given some degree of toxicity of in all
electronic components.
The pilot project, to be first implemented in South Africa, will focus
on educating the public about what e-waste is, why it is a matter of
human health and environmental concern, and the value of recycling and
responsible disposal.
MTN South Africa will roll out e-waste collection points at key
publicly-accessible sites e.g. schools, shopping malls and possibly in
partnership with other corporate partners. These collection points
will collect cellular e-waste regardless of network operator or
handset manufacturer.
As part of this partnership GIZ will be undertaking a situational
analysis, develop standards and disposal protocols for the piloting
model and undertaking a multi-stakeholder engagement process. The
partnership will also support enterprise development and the “green
jobs” agenda by ensuring that selected small and medium sized e-waste
handlers and large recyclers receive a steady, consistent and sizeable
supply of e-waste. These recyclers will be monitored by MTN South
Africa to ensure that they abide by approved and acceptable e-waste
handling processes and protocols.
The partnership will initially be rolled out to two major cities in
South Africa. The implementation of the partnership will be rolled out
in a number of phases. Subject to a successful multi-year South
African pilot, it is hoped that results and lessons learnt will be
documented and replicated by MTN operations across the Group’s
footprint in Africa and the Middle East.
GIZ, which has previous experience with e-waste management through
partnerships in India and Morocco, will bring its experience,
knowledge base and technical support to this partnership. This
experience includes helping develop corporate standards for e-waste
management, and supporting engagement processes with other parties,
usually other companies and industry sectors which also generate
e-waste, and who may wish to support this initiative.
Says Mr Christian de Faria, MTN Group Senior Vice-President:
Commercial and Innovation: “We believe that this partnership will help
us to increase public awareness about the problem of e-waste and
provide assurance to MTN that e-waste is being handled appropriately
locally in line with acceptable standards.
“While we do not manufacture handsets, computers and other electronic
devices, within the context of network operators, e-waste is generated
through customer purchase and use of mobile technology, and through
the business' own technology operations. Addressing the e-waste
challenge remains one of MTN’s top three sustainability imperatives,
as required by and approved by MTN’s leadership.”
“Partnering with the private sector to address developmental issues
such as e-Waste is a crucial component of GIZ strategy for sustainable
development. This partnership represents an excellent example where
public and private sector bring together their relative strengths to
address a development issue and enable collective action. E-Waste is a
growing challenge in South Africa and Africa and if not jointly
addressed from both the public and private sectors will become an
overwhelming challenge,” says Ellen Kallinowsky Coordinator for GIZ
Centre for Cooperation with the Private Sector.

COACHES TASK STARCOMMS ON BOXING FACILITIES

Marveled by the consistent sponsorship of the Lagos State Boxing Hall of Fame monthly amateur boxing competition, boxing coaches in the state has task the sponsors of the event, Starcomms Plc for the provision of boxing facilities to enhance their career.
The coaches made the call at the March edition of the competition after the Starcomms Best Boxer Prize was presented to the winner, Sikiru Fatai of the Nigerian Police Boxing Club who fought in the 56 Kg category defeating Oliwo kazeem of Star Club to emerge the hero of the competition.
While congratulating the youngster for his victory in the competition, Victor Anyinka, a staff boxing coach in the Lagos State Sports Council said that it is high time that Starcomms consider doing something for coaches in the state.
According to him, Starcomms has demonstrated strong commitment to the development of the punching game in the state saying that a major thing that will make coaches in the state happy is the provision of boxing of facility.
For instance, Anyinka said that the state lacks boxing gymnasium for the training of boxers stressing that it will not be a bad idea if Starcomms provides one for the coaches.
He recalled that the Starcomms support of the monthly boxing event has brought out a lot of boxing talents in the likes of Taiwo Agbaje of Young Star Boxing Club, Modina Adeniyi of Champion Boxing Club and Taiwo Abiodun of No Shaking Boxing Club noting that neglecting the coaches will not do well for the sport.
While urging Starcomms to gracefully consider the request of the coaches, he that whatever Starcomms decides to do to assist coaches in the state will not be forgotten stating that boxing brought the first Olympic medal to the country, which still forms a reference point for the game.
Also, Wasiu Bisiriyu, an assistant boxing coach in the Lagos State Sports Council said that Starcomms efforts has salvaged a lot of youths in the state from criminal activities adding that coaches are happy that Starcomms has help to bring development to the sport.
According to him, before now all that the amateur boxers get at the end of the competition was a handshake noting that with the support of Starcomms they now go home with a lot of exciting gifts and prizes.
Bisiriyu who coaches Pioneer Boxing Club of Agege, however noted that attention is yet to be paid to the welfare of coaches in the state stressing that coaches also need some form of encouragement or support from Starcomms.
Similarly, Ibrahim Akinola, coach of the Ola-king Boxing Club said that Starcomms deserves recognition for their effort in boxing development adding that they too want to be given recognition for their coaching efforts.
Winner of the Starcomms best boxer prize said that he was grateful that Starcomms took interest in the boxing game noting that he attributes his success to their commitment to the sponsorship of the game.
The monthly boxing event, which is organized by the Lagos State Boxing Hall of Fame in conjunction with the Lagos Amateur Boxing Association and sponsored by Starcomms Plc takes place every last Saturday, at the Mobolaji Johnson Sports Centre, Rowe Park, Yaba, Lagos.

MIPAN PRESIDENT ADVOCATES PARADIGM SHIFT IN MEDIA INVESTMENTS

President of Media Independent Practitioners Association of Nigeria (MIPAN), Mr. Tolu Ogunkoya has advocated a paradigm shift in media investments in a bid for advertisers to maximize value in their media spend. Ogunkoya stated this recently in a paper entitled Modern Approach to Media Investments- a media specialist’s insight in Lagos .

He advocated that advertisers in the print media should buy impressions not insertions, for TV and radio gross rating points (GRPs) not just spots; for Outdoor of Home (OOH) unduplicated traffic not number of sites; for internet, impressions not days and for mobile, responses not database.

The MIPAN president said that media vehicle selection is the final step in the planning process and needed to be as objective and data led as possible because it is critical that the strategy considerations are carried forward to this stage.

Ogunkoya, who is also the managing director of MediaReach OMD, contended that pointers for media vehicle selection are AMPs, TV and radio diaries, internet and mobile traffic data and Out of Home (OOH) traffic estimates and foot fall information stores and malls.

He said key metrics that guide the media vehicle selection decision are in print, the reach of a publication in the target group; in television, reach of station, programme GRPs and time spent on programme; in radio, the reach of station, time band GRPs, radio jingle popularity and value ads among others.

The president stated that mobile applications were an emerging advertising opportunity and needed to be benchmarked using direct response return on investment metrics like per unit cost of customer acquisition and average return per user among others.

Also speaking at the seminar, Mr. Kevin Ejiofor, managing director of City 105.1FM Radio in his paper entitled Modern Approach to broadcast media selling: Lessons from research, said let research become an industry-wide responsibility as a matter of life and death.

He defined research as the search for knowledge, or any systematic investigation, with an open mind, to establish novel facts, usually a scientific method.

Ejiofor said some of the lessons that would be derived from research are openness, accountability through participation and principle of common interest.

He said democratization of research would sanitise the results of research, separate myths from facts, end disputations and the compilation of reliable statistics to aid effective planning.

He urged stakeholders to pay close attention to offering quantifiable value to the industry through democratization of research.

Speaking from the perspective of an advertiser, Mr. Kolawole Oyeyemi, a general manager with MTN said media platform that would be an advertiser’s must demonstrate excellent and measurable impact of the message on the desired target customer of the advertiser.

It should also present itself as a brand engagement platform and not as an impersonal static platform and should optimally deliver good returns on investment and not seen as cost centre to the business.

Google to invest $5 million in IT infrastructure in Africa

It swift response to the need improve information technoogy infrastructure in Africa, Google has pledged to help digitise archives of Nelson Mandela and Desmond Tutu and to facilitate Internet infrastructure in Nigeria tertiary institutions.
Google pledged a $1,25 million grant to the Nelson Mandela Centre of Memory, housed at the Nelson Mandela Foundation in Johannesburg, that will help to preserve and give unprecedented digital access to thousands of archival documents, photographs, and audio-visual materials about the life and times of Nelson Mandela.
Google’s grant will assist in expanding the online Mandela archive and make it available to the global audiences, scholars and researchers in the future.

In addition to significant audio-visual materials, the online multimedia archive will include Mr. Mandela’s letters and correspondence with family, comrades and friends; prison diaries; and notes he made

while leading the negotiations that led to the end of apartheid in South
Africa.
A grant of the same size has also been made to the Desmond Tutu Peace Centre in Cape Town, for the documentation and digitisation of Desmond Tutu’s archives, and an interactive digital learning centre.
Commenting on the initiative, Luke Mckend, Country Manager for Google South Africa said, “Google wants to help bring the world’s historical heritage online, and the Internet offers new ways to preserve and share this information. Our grants to the Nelson Mandela Centre and to the Desmond Tutu Peace Centre will facilitate new digital archives for South
Africa’s past, giving the global public an unprecedented opportunity to
engage with the history of some of the most extraordinary leaders of our time. We are also delighted to be announcing additional grants which will help many more people across South Africa and Africa access the Internet and benefit from access to information”.
Google today also announced three other grants also made through the Google Inc.Charitable Giving Fund of Tides Foundation. Amongst the grantees is the Nigeria ICT Forum . A $500,000 grant has been made to support efforts in improving access to Internet infrastructure in tertiary education institutions in Nigeria.
The Nigeria ICT Forum is an initiative of the Nigerian Caucus (a joint
meeting of the Vice-Chancellors and ICT Coordinators) of the six Partnership Nigerian Universities. Its mandate is to develop ICT-based
capacity for strengthening Research and Higher Education Institutions
(HEIs); Facilitate and nurture collaboration between HEIs to cultivate
a favourable policy environment; develop, utilise and sustain ICT networks, services and shared resources consistent with institutional roles as focus for development.
Commenting on the grant, the board secretary of the Nigeria ICT Forum, Mr. Nasir Bello stated: “We are delighted with the grant to Nigerian ICT Forum, which supports our goals to nurture the building of vibrant e-communities through training, innovation and partnerships.

It will support the efforts in developing the community around shared Internet infrastructure, greatly reducing cost and therefore barriers to

affordable connectivity in tertiary educational institutions in Nigeria”.