Airtel renews call for classification of telecom installations

l-r: Emeka Okpara, Director, Corporate Communications,
Osondu Nwokoro, Director, Regulatory Affairs and Special Projects and
Awadhesh Kalia, Chief Technical Officer, all of Airtel Nigeria

Telecommunications services provider, Airtel Nigeria has renewed calls for the classifications of telecom installations as a national infrastructure.

The telco said this has become alarming following more recent attacks on telecom facilities by terrorist group, Boko Haram and flood that ravaged the country in recent times.

Director, Regulatory Affairs and Special Projects at Airtel, Mr. Osondu Nwokoro in paper at a media parley in Lagos, Tuesday, entitled ‘Recent Developments Impacting Telecommunications Operations and Quality of Service in Nigeria,’ said that these twin challenges, have resulted unfortunately to loss of lives and property.

Also, he said these challenges have led to loss of telecommunications equipment and an attendant degeneration of quality of service.

Airtel has, therefore, restated its call on the Federal Government to declare Telecoms Equipment as Critical National Infrastructure, just as it appealed to the National Emergency Management Agency (NEMA) to make the restoration of telecoms facilities in flooded areas a priority focus of its restoration plans.

Nwokoro who decried the menace of terror attacks on 53 installations, which has disrupted operations in 193 sites across the Northern part of Nigeria, added that the devastating impact of the flooding in the Middle-Belt, South and Delta States, has equally affected 32 installations and impacted on the overall operations of 41 sites across the region.

According to him, due to armed insurgency in parts of the North, the company’s network restoration and roll out of operations as well as the routine preventive 24hours maintenance of telecoms facilities have been totally stalled in Adamawa, Gombe, Kano, Bauchi, Borno, Yobe and Kaduna States.

Similarly, he said, flooding in Lokoja, Asaba, Ugheli- Patani and Patani-Elele have adversely damaged telecoms installations and led to further loss of sites and fiber capacities.

Expectedly, these disasters have resulted in spiraling costs of maintenance in affected locations to thrice the normal rate, consequently leading to colossal financial losses and dipping revenues.

He explained that the impact of the disasters on telecoms operators is local, national and international in scope.

Nwokoro bemoaned the fact that the loss of capacity occasioned by these threats often affects quality of service delivery and customer experience leading to a drop in key performance indicators.

 Remmy Nweke

... Making SENSE of digital revolution!

Ericsson WebRTC mobile browser debuts

The experimental web-based Real Time Communication (RTC) mobile browser tagged ‘Bowser’ by Ericsson Research has made a debut.

A press statement made available by Omasan Ogisi, Communications Manager for Ericsson West Africa, quoted the Master Researcher at Ericsson Research, Kristofer Dovstam, as saying they believe WebRTC is a very important part of future communication solutions in the industry, and are excited to provide developers with the first version of the experimental browser.

Dovstam also said the  WebRTC enables real-time audio and video communication in web browsers, just as developers could start experimenting with mobile offerings, whereas it’s currently available as a free download for iPhone, iPad and Android devices.

Equally, Dovstam explained that WebRTC is based on the ongoing work within the World Wide Web Consortium (3WC) and the Internet Engineering Task Force (IETF) to develop a standard, interoperable approach to real-time communication (RTC) using audio and video in Web browsers without the need for any plug-ins.

“We believe WebRTC is a very important part of future communication solutions in our industry, and are excited to provide developers with the first version of our experimental WebRTC-enabled browser,” Dovstam said.

Ericsson Research, DigitalSENSE Business News notes, is heavily involved in the standardization of WebRTC, and has been developing prototype implementations of the evolving standard for over two years. Ericsson also has solutions to let WebRTC enabled browsers easily connect to Information Management System (IMS) based communication networks.

Remmy Nweke
 

... Making SENSE of digital revolution!

BlackBerry: Another first from Visafone across MEA

The largest Code Division Multiple Access (CDMA) mobile network in Nigeria, Visafone Communications, has again become the first CDMA network to offer BlackBerry smartphones in the whole of Middle East, Europe and Africa.

DigitalSENSE Business News recalls that Visafone Communications in partnership with Research In Motion (RIM) launched three brands of BlackBerry smartphones; Bold 9930, Curve 9310 and Curve 9370 respectively, which are to be made available from October 29th, 2012.

Speaking at the formal launch of the devices in Lagos, the Chief Executive Officer of Visafone Communications, Mr. Srinivasa said that the partnership with RIM brings the wide range of smartphones on demand by the Nigerian market, especially BlackBerry.

He also said the unique selling point of the company in terms of the BlackBerry devices and its after sales services is the company’s flagship shops which numbered up to 88 across the nation. And the rating of the company by the government’s regulatory agency, the Nigerian Communications Commission as the number one in terms of quality of service.

“The moment is here to ping on Visafone network,” he declared.

Also speaking, RIM Regional Director for East, Central and West Africa, Mr. Waldi Wepener revealed that RIM chose to add Visafone to its list of partners in the country as a result of Visafone’s good quality of service.

Wepener further disclosed that RIM presently has 5 partners in Nigeria including Visafone as the only CDMA network on the list. He expressed RIM’s pride in supporting Visafone with the launch of BlackBerry solutions to their existing and new customers across the nation.

“BlackBerry solution from Visafone offers customers a strong selection of smartphones and a wide range of services that connects them to people and information,” Wepener said.

According to Wepener, the BlackBerry Bold 9930 on Visafone has a high performance keyboard, a 5.0 megapixel camera with a responsive high-resolution touch screen and Wi-Fi as its special features while the Curve 9310, a 3.2megapixel with an inbuilt FM radio. The Curve 9370 has an optical trackpad for easy and one-hand navigation with inbuilt GPS and Wi-Fi support.

The three devices, like any other BlackBerry devices allow users to easily interact with their social network in real time. They can also support external storage memory expansion up to 32 GB.

The Chairman of Visafone, Mr. Jim Ovia in his address said the network has an amazing call rate alongside its supersonic data experience, and that users of Visafone BlackBerry can roam everywhere in the world which is going to give users an edge.

“This launch is a major boost to the NCC’s efforts to achieve growth of data usage and quality of services to Nigerian,” Ovia said, that the partnership denotes a big step forward in the continent’s mobile history.

Ovia equally said that Visafone has the right strategies in place that would enable to the company to operate in the future, urging the general public to support the merger of telecommunications companies.

According to him, merging of telecommunications companies does not imply that all is not well with either of the parties.

Visafone has some records to its name, from being the first network operator to have 1 million subscribers in 6 months on inception to also being the first to get 2 million subscribers in 9 months in the nation.

Visafone is also the first telecommunications company to be Open Market Handset (OMH) compliant and the first to offer prepaid and postpaid roaming opportunity across Africa.

Remmy Nweke & Yinka Awosanya

... Making SENSE of digital revolution!

FG targets 450MW of power from solar

The Federal Government of Nigeria has revealed that 450MW power would be generated from solar in a bid to boost the electricity supply in the nation.

The Vice President, Namadi Sambo made this known recently at lunch organised by the Nigerian communications commission on the ongoing International Telecommunication Union’s Telecoms World Forum 2012, which held in Dubai, United Arab Emirates.

According to him, the federal government had already signed an agreement with SIEMENS in executing the project.

For the fact that the Information Communications Technology industries cannot grow in an island, he said the federal government will not relent efforts towards providing adequate power supply through other means.

DigitalSENSE News learnt that other alternate sources of power listed by the vice president include hydro thermal, solar, wind, waste-to-power and garbage-to-energy.

He also affirmed that the present administration has improved power generation from about 2,000MW to about 4,300MW and that 10 new thermal power plants that would add another 5,000MW are at their advanced stage of completion.

All the projects, he said were designed to ensure stability of power supply in the nation.

... Making SENSE of digital revolution!

Show interest in what your wards do online -Women in tech

Women under the umbrella of Women in Technology in Nigeria (WITIN) have called on parents, guardians as well as teachers to be mindful of what their children and wards do on the internet.

WITIN made the call recently at a conference that children could be so engulfed with activities of the internet and be addicted to it if not controlled by parents and or guardians and teachers.

According to WITIN, there is need for online protection for children as a result of the negative impacts which the internet might have on children despite its huge advantages.

DigitalSENSE Business News learnt that stakeholders at the conference tagged, 'ICT and Child Development,’ were in tandem that most children had adopted mobile communication gadgets as part of their everyday life.

The Executive Vice-Chairman, Nigerian Communications Commission (NCC), Dr. Eugene Juwah, who was represented by a Director at the commission, Mr. Henry Ikemadu, affirmed that mobile communication gadgets have become part of the contemporary world and a major enabler in the growth process of humanity.

Also, President of Institute of Software Practitioners of Nigeria (ISPON), Mr. Chris Uwaje urged government to increase budgetary allocation for technology education in the country so as to develop knowledge bank, which according to him must start from children education through the provision of the needed technology tools.

The WITIN conference was organised with the aim of sensitising parents and other stakeholders on the impact of internet and mobile technologies on the children.

... Making SENSE of digital revolution!

ITU Telecom World’12 ends in Dubai with opportunities

The five-day high-level debates on the state of Information and Communication Technology (ICT) sector focused on various opportunities, capable of transforming the industry beyond every expectation.

DigitalSENSE Business News reports from the city of Dubai, that the International Telecommunication Union (ITU) Telecom World 2012, was assemblage of industry representatives and government leaders at the highest level who engaged in five days of critical dialogue on networking, knowledge-sharing and the challenges defining the information and communication technology (ICT) sector as well as the opportunities arising from it.

The event which held at the Dubai International Conference Centre between October 14 and 18, played host to Heads of State, government ministers, corporate chief executive officers (CEOs) from across the industry ecosystem, heads of international agencies, thought-leaders, consultants and academics.
It was also gathered that a dynamic agenda examined the impact of new market players and business models emerging across the ecosystem.
Equally, debates were focused on the roll out of broadband connectivity, the challenges of cyber-threats and the need to improve cyber-security as well as the vast opportunities unleashed by smart applications in such critical sectors as health, education, and government services and their role in achieving sustainable development.
 

... Making SENSE of digital revolution!

Broadband forum receives outstanding prize

A global non-profit industry organization focused on engineering smarter and faster broadband connections, the Broadband Forum, Wednesday in Amsterdam received the Informa’s Infovision Awards as the winner of its Outstanding Contribution to Broadband Success award.

DigitalSENSE Business News reports that the award, conferred Wednesday night in Amsterdam during the Broadband World Forum, was aimed at recognizing the contributions of an organization to the development of broadband.

“It is the Broadband Forum’s work on the TR-069 Customer Premise Equipment (CPE) based on the Wireless Area Network (CPE WAN) Management Protocol that has been recognized by the industry in particular. 

DigitalSENews Business News recalls that TR-069 CPE WAN Management Protocol was developed by the Broadband Forum to ensure service providers had the tools necessary to remotely provision and maintain all the online devices of their customer base. 

Using a TR-069 protocol-adherent Auto-configuration Server in the service provider’s network means they can automatically detect new devices coming online, remotely provision the device based on its data model, and maintain it throughout its lifecycle.  

To ensure that devices adhere to the TR-069 protocol, the Broadband Forum has just launched its BBF.069 CPE Certification Program to provide the industry with the way to verify market-ready TR-069 adherent devices.

Established in 1994, the Broadband Forum is well-known and referenced in the industry, developing the necessary tools to engineer smarter and faster broadband connections with its strong membership base of global service providers, equipment and chipset vendors, software vendors, government organizations and test houses. The award is also significant as it marks the first time a forum has been recognized by the industry in this way.

Kevin Foster, President of the Broadband Forum, said: “Robin and I are honored and humbled to receive the award on behalf of the Broadband Forum experts who have specified the protocol, the vendors who have implemented it, and the operators who use it to manage over 147 million devices.”

Robin Mersh, CEO of the Broadband Forum, said: “Members of the Broadband Forum work tirelessly behind the scenes to develop and implement the standards we all need to achieve better broadband. To have achieved this recognition for our work on TR-069 is especially pleasing as we announced the first ever TR-069 certified products earlier this week.”

Remmy Nweke 
... Making SENSE of digital revolution!

Etisalat supports MUSON Festival 2012

Etisalat Nigeria has pledge support to the Musical Society of Nigeria (MUSON) Festival 2012, to an annual event that covers a variety of artistic offerings such as classical music, Jazz, choral music, traditional and contemporary music as well as drama for a 10-day musical thrills.

Chief Commercial Officer, Etisalat Nigeria, Wael Ammar, explained that the company was proud to associate with the festival that has become a major calendar item which lovers of the arts look forward to each year.

“Music is a core sponsorship platform for Etisalat Nigeria and we will continue to seek ways of sharing the passions of our customers and supporting causes that make an impact in their lives. We are sponsoring the Classical Concert of the MUSON Festival taking place on Sunday 21st of October, 2012.

This concert will feature renowned MUSON Artistic Director, Thomas Kanitz, playing the cello, accompanied by the MUSON Resident Pianist and Acting Director of MUSON School of Music, Dr. Babatunde Sosan. The concert will also feature the MUSON Diploma School choir conducted by Emeka, Nwokedi as well as traditional African performances” stated

Chairman,  MUSON,  Bashorun J. K. Randle confirmed to DigitalSENSE Business News some of the core activities of the Musical Society of Nigeria to include training and inspiring professional musicians, organizing classical concerts and staging the annual MUSON Festival. “This festival has in the past featured performances by Grammy Award winning jazz artistes like Al Jarreau, Smooth Jazz exponent Earl Klugh, Jimmy Dludlu and Nigeria’s own Lagbaja to mention just a few.”

The MUSON Festival 2012 will feature 10 days of musical thrill and excitement starting with an opening event tagged My Kind of Music on the 18th of October, Jazz Fest on Saturday, October 20, the Youth Concert and solo competition for youths between the ages of 14 to 21 years, the MUSON day and anniversary of the founding of The Musical Society of Nigeria as well as drama and opera performances.

Remmy Nweke
... Making SENSE of digital revolution!