NCC plans N8b intervention fund for varsities, others

By Bankole Orimisan

. Empowers tertiary institutions via ADAPTI, DAP 

ABOUT N8 billion has been earmarked by the Nigerian Communications Commission (NCC), as part of intervention fund to empower no fewer than eight universities in the country.

The NCC, which set standards and rules for telecommunications regulation in the country, said its intervention in Nigerian schools is to help prepare the country for the digital economy being unleashed by a growing telecommunications ecosystem that will further be enriched by an unfolding broadband regime.  

According to the Executive Vice Chairman (EVC) of the Commission, Dr. Eugene Juwah, on Monday, in a document made available to journalists, the N8 billion intervention funds would provide a lift for four old generation and four new generation universities in the country.

Juwah explained that this is an improvement from last year when about N1 bilion was deployed for services in some higher institutions of learning.

The funds, he said will be deployed for e-learning centres in these universities to enable and facilitate learning online, real time whereby a single professor can teach several thousands of students without him seeing them.

“This is part of our mandate to intervene and deepen Information and Communications Technology (ICT) penetration in our universities and other tertiary institutions of learning”, said Juwah, who claimed that no agency of government has built and empowered schools through provision of ICTs more than the NCC.

“NCC promotes broadband penetration in these institutions as a major objective. So we want to transform the face of ICT in the country through our various interventions”, he stated.

Although this is not part of the NCC core mandate, but an intervention to cushion the lack of ICT or limited availability of it in the institutions. The policy is to capture areas of need since there is a growing awareness of ICT and some of the underserved communities are these universities and tertiary institutions of learning, Juwah explained.

Part of NCC interventions include: Advanced Digital Awareness Programme for Tertiary Institutions (ADAPTI).   ADAPTI is aimed at improving the resource persons engaged in the process of impacting knowledge.

This programme was introduced to bridge the digital divide existing in the academia with the provision of computers and other ICT facilities to equip the lecturers and other experts in order to improve their ICT skills and to enrich the students.

The commission provides computers and other ICT systems to the beneficiaries, including installation of state-of-the-art e-learning suites for the Academics in tertiary institutions across the country. More than 300 institutions of higher learning have benefitted from the programme since its introduction in 2008.

The ADAPTI Programme supports Tertiary Institutions with the Provisions of 110 laptops Computers with E-learning facilities.

The objective is specifically designed to provide tools that support flexibility and mobility in the use and application of ICT in teaching and research.

Wireless Cloud Project The Wireless Cloud Project provides a platform for supporting campus-wide wireless access to Internet service for teaching, learning, research and development. The Commission provides the infrastructure, 12 months bandwidth supply, and 12 months maintenance support.

The principal objective is to encourage the use of ICT in academic development and facilitate easier access to the vast intellectual resources available globally. Tertiary Institutions Knowledge Center (TIKC) Project The TIKC was formerly known as Tertiary Access Project (TiAP) and it is aimed at facilitating connectivity to broadband internet with speed of up to 1Mbps in selected tertiary institutions thus facilitating a digital lifestyle.

Each institution that has benefited from the project received a total of 100 computers, 100 sets of chairs and tables, two printers with network facilities and fire walls with broadband Internet connectivity.

A total of 204 tertiary institutions have benefitted from the TIKC and the implementation in geo political zones is as follows: North West Zone (38), North East Zone (35), North Central Zone (37), South West Zone (34), South East Zone (29), South South Zone (31) and FCT (13).

University Inter Campus Connectivity (UnICC) The University Inter Campus Connectivity (UnICC) initiative is a collaborative project between the Universal Service Provision Fund (USPF) and the National Universities Commission (NUC) to facilitate the provision of ICT infrastructure for the National Research and Education Network (NREN) by inter-connecting Teaching hospitals and Medical Colleges to their respective Federal Universities.

The project will, amongst other things, achieve a seamless connection between the Universities and their Medical Colleges and Teaching hospitals to facilitate bi-directional communication for the purpose of sharing resources such as bandwidth, content, etc.

In the second phase of the project, relevant electronic components will be deployed in each of the benefitting universities to enable voice, data, video, and other multimedia services such as tele-presence to be achieved both intra-university and inter-universities.

A total of 16 Universities are benefitting from the first phase of the project. The list of Universities and corresponding campuses benefitting from this project include: Obafemi Awolowo University, Ile-Ife; University of Lagos, Akoka, Lagos; University of Ibadan, Ibadan; University of Ilorin, Ilorin; Usman Danfodiyo University, Sokoto; University of Abuja, Abuja; University of Maiduguri, Maiduguri; University of Jos, Jos; Bayero University (New Site), Kano; Abubakar Tafawa Balewa University,  Bauchi. University of Port Harcourt, Choba, Port Harcourt.

Others are Nnamdi Azikiwe University, Akwa, Anambra; University of Benin, Benin City, Edo State University of Nigeria, Enugu; University of Calabar, Calabar; University of Uyo, Uyo.

In all, about 290km of Optic Fibre Cable (OFC) have been deployed to seamlessly link the 16 universities with their corresponding medical colleges and teaching hospitals. DAP – Digital Access Programme The NCC has also empowered several secondary schools across the 36 states and FCT with ICT tools via the Digital Awareness Programme (DAP). So far, no fewer than 262 secondary schools have benefitted from the programme.

The DAP project supports Secondary Schools with the provision of 21 Desktop Computers, Local Area Network, Printers, Scanners, VSAT Dish and one year Bandwidth Subscription for Internet Access after which the institution will be responsible for its renewal.

These facilities are complemented with standby generators and construction of computer laboratory. The objective of this programme is to facilitate ICT awareness, teaching and learning in schools.   So far, more than 262 schools have benefitted from the Digital Access Programme (DAP).

The key objective of these programmes are to prepare the nation for a digital tomorrow and equip the youth with necessary skills to tap into the potentials of the digital age.

Many of the secondary schools including those in remote villages have testified how this programme has facilitated their online examination activities such as subscription to JAMB, WAEC, NECO among other examinations.

The idea is to ensure that our future leaders are early adaptors to ICT, especially the internet which has limitless resources.

Firm tasks students on IT training Abroad

By Bankole Orimisan

In a quest to encourage Nigerian students to chose a career in Information Technology (IT) in the country, Aptech, has initiated a Programme called “Career Quest” in partnership with the Middlesex University, London to take Nigerians abroad for IT education.

According to the Vice President and Business-Development of the firm, said that this is to give students an opportunity to study abroad at a minimal cost by saving 2 years of their education at the university campus.

Any student taking up APTECH Certified Computer Professional (ACCP) program is eligible for a credit transfer facility wherein he/she gets a degree in B.Sc. (Hons) from MIDDLESEX UNIVERSITY, UK.

The association of APTECH with MIDDLESEX UNIVERSITY gives it an edge over the others. MIDDLESEX UNIVERSITY is among the top-notch universities in London with a student base of over 35,000 students and campuses in London, Mauritius, Dubai and Malta.

In addition to that, he students also get a chance to win scholarships worth 5 million Naira. This will encourage the students to sign up for a career in the booming I.T. industry.

Cyberoam boosts small, branch offices with new security solution

By Bankole Orimisan

Sonwane

LEADING global provider of network security appliances, Cyberoam, has launched CR10wiNG, affordable UTM appliance” with built-in Wi-Fi capabilities for the SOHO/ROBO markets.

The Senior Vice President- Technology and Product, Cyberoam, Abhilash Sonwane,said, CR10wiNG wireless appliance supports 802.11 n/b/g standards and up to eight virtual access points. It delivers UTM security features over WLAN to offer enterprise-level security and meet the requirement of mobility inthis segment.Cyberoam CR10wiNG offers high performance with firewall throughput of 400Mbps and UTM throughput of 60Mbps.

Sonwane, disclosed that wireless networks in organizations face huge risk of information theft due to their inability to trace users, especially guest users, within the network. Additionally, lack of IT security staff and budgetary constraints make it difficult for the SOHO/ROBO segment to find security solutions that are adequate, cost-effective and easy to manage.

Also, organizations with distributed networks, remote and branch offices, especially in sectors like retail stores, logistics and transportation, and Utility distribution centers,demand mobility within the network and need network security, secure remote access, a secure Wi-Fi for walk-in customers.

CR10wiNG, based onCyberoam’s patented Layer 8 technology, allows administrators to apply User identity-based security policies to gain visibility over user activity and also manage Guest Internet access in the network. CR10wiNG supports multiple virtual access points that create independent, segregated networks in the same physical area for separate teams like sales, marketing, guest users, and more.

He said, this offers secure authentication and prevents rogue clients from connecting to networks where they don’t belong.

“CR10wiNG is designed for small and branch offices to offersecureWi-Fiat par withwired security. It enables a leaner Wi-Fi security infrastructure to organizations by replacing both Wi-Fi router and firewall with a single appliance.

Marginalization of local OEMs, foreign vendor dominance take toll on ICT sector

By Bankole Orimisan

THE increasing apathy for locally made Information and Communications Technology (ICT) wares, including laptops, deskstop computers and software products seem to be bringing huge discomfort to indigenous equipment manufacturers in the country.

    This is coming on the heels of increasing drop in personal computer ownership across the globe.

   Besides, the proliferation and domination of foreign ICT vendors in the country has been described as a dangerous trend for the industry, which must be nipped in the bud.

   According to the Chairman, board of Nigeria Communications Satellite (NigComSat) Limited, Prof. Turner Isoun, the continued dominance of foreign vendors has capacity to undermine will

the war against security challenges.

   Isoun, after a board meeting last week, frowned at this ugly trend saying this proliferation of foreign ICT vendors proposing and supplying security solutions to Nigerian security, Para-military and critical infrastructure bodies portend serious threats.

   According to Isoun the danger is that the nation is exposed “to a myriad of potential security threats from otherwise restricted data being exposed to numerous vendors”.

   Isoun who is the longest serving Science and Technology Minister in Nigeria’s history explained that “this predicament is particularly worrisome not only because of the present state of national insecurity but also because NigComSat Limited is the only government agency mandated to act as a clearing house and solution provider for security related ICT solutions to Ministries Departments and Agencies (MDAs) and institutions”.

      Indeed, NigComSat Limited currently manages the National Public Safety Communications Systems (NPSCS), a national safety network. A network upgrade for the safety network is on, Isoun explained.

   This, the board Chairman said, is to protect the nation’s borders and other key infrastructure such as oil and gas pipelines.

    He therefore “cautions all government agencies to direct their ICT needs to NigComSat limited or through the Federal Ministry of Communications Technology within the next four weeks.

    Isoun also advised state governments “who are interested in providing security solutions for their respective states to liaise with NIGOCMSAT limited for effective planning and integration into the NPSCS”.

   In a related development, the Chairman, Zinox Group, Chief Leo-Stan Ekeh, in an interview with journalists at the weekend, said the Nigerian government need to do more to foster growth on indigenous equipment manufacturers in the country, stressing that local players are bleeding due to harsh business environment.

    Before now, the Managing Director of Omatek Ventures had lamented the influx of foreign OEMs dominance of the country’s PC sector and others, stressing that President Goodluck Jonathan must champion the buy made-in-Nigeria campaign.

    According to Ekeh, one area which can deliver patronage for local OEMs include the education sector, stressing that this sector had yet to be explored to create the required demand for PCs, as is the case for most markets in the world.

    He described the educational sector as the largest consumer of technological products, saying the Nigerian government had not done enough in that regard, owing to the degree of weakness and deficiency seen in the sector.

    Ekeh stressed that the 21st Century student started with technology and has passion for technology; hence, the need for encouragement so that the technological developments that could lead to wealth creation are fast-tracked like is the case with countries in Europe and America.

    He said Nigeria with its huge youth population is currently consuming less that 500,000 PCs yearly, while South Africa with a population three-times less than that of Nigeria, is doing over 1.2 million a year in terms of PC consumption.

    The Zinox boss stated, “Any average university that is 20 years old, will have at least 500,000 students. This alone is a big market for technological products. But our governments are ignorant of this.”

    He said a robust ICT market provided the right platform for creativity and innovation, which were better ways the country could build human capacities and drive revenue generation, adding that, “All the mega technological deals we read about everyday started like this. Some of these businesses, which were very small some few years ago, have turned out to be multi-billion dollar firms.

    “The kind of money that is generated when some of these companies are sold cannot be replicated in many other sectors of the economy. For me, the only way God can bless Nigeria now is through technology. I am not against agriculture or oil and gas. The agric and oil sectors are rather too cumbersome and nature-driven.

    “Nigeria’s foreign reserve today is less that $40 billion, which is a crisis because if major companies decide to buy foreign exchange at a time, we will have no money as a country. Today, if Nigeria can commit $1bn to technology with 10,000 Nigerians exposed to technology, in the next two to five years, this will amount to $250 billion. It is only technology that can do this.”

    At a function in Lagos, the President of the Institute of Software Practitioners of Nigeria (ISPON), Chris Uwaje, again reiterated the fact that foreign software still garnered more patronage than those made by Nigerians, this he described as a disincentive to ICT growth.

     Uwaje said that government must take up the challenge and fashion out ways to develop and encourage the abundance of talent Nigeria is blessed with.

Telecoms operators need $1.7tr investments to meet data demand

By Bankole Orimisan

BETWEEN $1.5 trillion-$1.7 trillion is the amount of capital the global telecoms industry needs to invest over the next five years in order to meet the demand for data.

  Those were the figures mooted by Etisalat Chief Executive Officer, Ahmad Abdulkarim Julfar and Telenor CEO and GSMA Chairman, Jon Fredrik Baksaas at the just concluded Mobile World Congress in Barcelona, Spain.

  “The network of 2020 will be all-IP, it will need to handle enormous volumes of data, and be safe and secure. To realise this there are huge investments that need to be done,” said Baksaas, adding, “the business models behind this investment need to be there.”

  Besides, Mckinsey, a global advisor and counselor to many of world’s most influential businesses and institutions also projected that extra $30 billion will need to be put into the global telecommunications sector by 2015 for expansion.

  Indeed, in Nigeria, the Chief Executive Officer, Brymedia Consortium and a former CEO of MTN Nigeria, Adrian Wood had in an interview with The Guardian stated that Nigeria would need another $20 billion investment to revolutionise the broadband regime and record much more success that the voice era. 

  According to him, for Nigeria to become highly competitive in technology development, the country needs adequate broadband penetration, saying that in order to attract investments from foreign companies and countries, the country needs fast broadband rollout, and that is what is driving technology trends in developed counties.

  “I think the voice segment has been able to attract appreciable level of investment, about $25 billion. The next broadband phase will require additional $20 billion investment for the needed impact,” Wood noted.

  Already, Nigeria’s investment in the last 12 years, which was focused mainly on the growth of voice services, is put at over $25 billion. President Goodluck Jonathan recently affirmed that the telecommunications sector grows 30 per cent year-on-year basis.

  The minister of Communications Technology, Mrs. Omobola Johnson had at a recent broadband forum in Lagos hinted that government shopped for new $25 billion investment in Nigeria’s ICT sector, which would be channelled strategically towards realising the five-fold target increase on broadband connectivity across the country.  

  Meanwhile, at MWC, Julfar said that investments couldn’t just be made by operators, hinting that over-the-top service providers and governments needed to contribute in some way.

  “All stakeholders need to work more closely together,” he said.

  U.A.E.-based Etisalat benefits from a government that has stated its ambition to be the world’s leading provider of e-government services.

  Julfar said that the government was aware of the “transformative effect” that mobile technology has on people’s lives.

  Among the many initiatives being driven there is a scheme that will see mobile phones used in place of national identity cards.

  “Other markets lack good, visionary governments,” he acknowledged.

  Meanwhile, during the same keynote, America Movil CEO Daniel Hajj hailed the progress of Latin America.

  “A few decades ago, few people would have predicted the economic development of Latin America,” he said, pointing to the financial crisis of the 1980s.

  “Now you could call it the LatAm moment, or even the LatAm decade,” he said.

  ICT is a “powerful engine for growth” in the region, he said, and this has helped America Movil grow into Latin America’s largest operator.

  12 years ago, the company generated 80 per cent of its revenue in its home market of Mexico; now that figure stands at 32 per cent. Similarly in 2002, voice accounted for 90 per cent of America Movil’s revenue, Hajj said. Now it accounts for just 39 per cent, with data and content services making up the lion’s share.

  “The road ahead is very promising, but we as an industry need more networks, better regulation and more viable ecosystems,” he said.

  Like his opposite numbers at Telenor and Etisalat, Hajj talked up the importance of making a return on investments.

  “America Movil is investing in infrastructure for fixed, mobile and TV services. We need to find sustainable [business] models,” he said.

SWIFT Networks unveils portable wireless hotspot modem • Promises better connectivity for consumers

By Bankole Orimisan

SWIFT Networks, Nigeria’s provider of high speed broadband Internet and data services to enterprise and consumer customers has launched its portable, nomadic and personal wireless hotspot modem tagged ‘The Nomad’ in continuance of its 4G LTE (Long Term Evolution) technology which has tripled its capacity and speed.

  According to the Chief Operating Officer (COO) SWIFT Networks Limited, Mr. Chuma Okoye, the new portable, nomadic and personal wireless hotspot modem is designed to offer existing and potential SWIFT 4G LTE customers the convenience to take their high speed SWIFT 4G LTE broadband connectivity on the go, as they move around the city because the Nomad fits perfectly in a pocket, briefcase, handbag or in the car.

  “We have introduced the SWIFT ‘Nomad’ to enable our teeming esteemed customers in Lagos, in the first instance, to continue access the fast and reliable SWIFT 4G LTE broadband service not only at home or in the office, but also on the go. ‘The Nomad’ will only be available through our 4G LTE network, being the fastest wireless broadband technology available today, to ensure that only the best broadband speed is provided to our discerning customers,” he said.

  Also speaking on the launch of the new modem, the Assistant General Manager, Consumer Sales and Marketing, SWIFT Networks Limited, Mr. Philip Sonibare declared that the new portable, nomadic and personal wireless hotspot modem would be available to both existing and prospective customers on the 4G LTE network. 

  “Our current customers can add it as one of the modems on their current SWIFT 4G LTE account, drawing from the same data allowance on the same bill. New customers will only need to set up a new account and can add it to other SWIFT 4G LTE modems they may have at home or the office on the same monthly data subscription and bill,” he declared.

  Emphasizing the key benefits of the new modem to customers, Sonibare stated that the ‘Nomad’ provided portable fast and reliable broadband speeds while also allowed for multiple users and multiple devices connectivity of up to 10 users or devices either on the go or different locations within SWIFT coverage area.

  He declared that the other benefits of the ‘Nomad’ includes the unique offering of connecting as one of the modems on a single SWIFT 4G LTE account as well as offering the competitive advantage of up to 10 hours of battery life.

  The ‘Nomad’ comes in two variants; one with up to six hours of battery life, while the other provides up to 10 hours battery life. As such, once fully charged, customers can continue to enjoy 4G LTE services from “The Nomad” for up to 10 hours without being tethered to mains power. Each of these variants is also rechargeable on the go, using the cigarette lighter plug adapter in a car.

Nation’s active phone lines hit 127m • Teledensity hits 91.2%, connected lines now 169m • 45,101 subscribers exchange operators through MNP in Q4

By Bankole Orimisan

FROM about 400,000 telephone lines provided by moribund Nigeria Telecommunications Limited (NITEL) in 2000, the country, as at the end of last year, now has 127 million active phone subscriptions. 

  Indeed, the latest subscriber statistics, the December edition, released yesterday, by the Nigerian Communications Commission (NCC), showed that the country connected 169 million telephone lines covering the GSM, Code Division Multiple Access (CDMA) operator and Fixed wired/wireless lines technologies, out of which 127 million were currently active by end of Decmber.

    Meanwhile, in the Mobile Number Porting scheme, launched on April 22, 2013 by NCC, about 45,101 subscribers exchanged mobile operators in quarter four of 2013.  

    Further breakdown of the statistics showed that the quartet of GSM operators including MTN, Globacom, Airtel and Etisalat connected 159 million lines with 124 million active. The CDMA, whose fortunes plummeted in the last five years, sustained a downward trend with a connection of 7.6 million lines, while only 2.4 million lines remained active. 

   The fixed wired/wireless operators connected 2.3 million lines with only 360,537 lines left active.

   Besides, Nigeria saw a growth in its teledensity, from 81.7 per cent in January 2013 to 91.1 per cent by the end of the year under review.

  Telephone density or teledensity is the number of telephone connections for every hundred individuals living within an area. It varies widely across the nations and also between urban and rural areas within a country. 

   Analysts said that telephone density has significant correlation with the per capita GDP of the area, adding that it is also used as an indicator of economic development of the country or specific region.

   Going further, the statistics showed that telecommunications operators’ total installed capacity, which was 226.6 million by January 2013 went up to about 248.4 million by the end of the year. 

   It could also be deduced from the statistics that MTN Nigeria, which recently reported revenues of N794 billion in 2013 and paid N1.23 trillion to government as taxes in the last 13 years, remained the largest mobile operator in the country, with over 56 million subscribers and 45 per cent market share.

   Globacom, owned by oil magnate, Otunba Mike Adenuga, followed with 21 per cent market share and over 25 million subscription; Airtel, with 24.8 million subscription controls 20 per cent of the market. Etisalat, after five years of operations in the country has about 18 million subscribers and 14 per cent market share. 

   The MNP statistics showed that in October, 8,105 subscribers ported out; 7,830 in November and 5,850 in December.

    In terms of porting in, 8, 112; 8, 242 and 6,962 subscribers ported into the networks in October, November and December respectively of the period under review. 

    The statistics further showed that within the period, Airtel, which gained 9,919 subscribers, lost 3,650 subscribers to other networks; Etisalat gained 8,373 and lost 2,756 subscriptions; Globacom, which lost 3,383, gained 2787 subscribers and MTN, with 11,996 subscription loss, gained 2,777 subscribers.

   The CDMA operators, including Visafone; Multilinks; Starcomms and Mtel, which started the year with about 14 million subscriptions lost about 6.35 million connected lines to end the year with 7.6 million.           

   Meanwhile, GSM operators started the year with 138 million connected lines and 111 million active users. 

   The statistics further showed that the GSM (mobile) technology takes 97.83 per cent of the market, while mobile (CDMA) controls 1.88 per cent and the Fixed (Wired/Wireless) has 0.29 per cent market acceptance.