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Nigeria ranks 112th in global information technology report

Nigeria has ranked 112th position out of 142 economies according to the 11th edition of the Global Information Technology Report (2012).

Nigerian Communications Commission (NCC) offices (image: file)

The report titled “Living in a Hyper-connected World” was launched on Wednesday by the World Economic Forum. It relies on the Networked Readiness Index (NRI) to assess 142 economies worldwide, accounting for over 98 per cent of world GDP.

Several governments have already adopted the Networked Readiness Index (NRI) as a valuable tool for analyzing technology for competitiveness and development.

This has made this report the most comprehensive and authoritative international assessment of the impact of ICT on competitiveness among nations.

Sweden occupies the top spot, with South Africa in the 71st position and Nigeria coming in at the 112th position. Nigeria is followed by other African countries like Rwanda (82nd), Botswana (89th), Kenya (93rd) and Senegal (100th).

According to the report, there is a low ICT readiness in sub-Saharan Africa, with most countries lagging behind in connectivity. This is due to the insufficient development of ICT infrastructure because of its high cost.

According to Karim Sabbagh, Senior Partner and Global Head of Communication, Media and Technology Practice at Booz & Company, “policy makers today face a different environment for information and communications technology (ICT) than the one for which they designed policies. They therefore need to be aware of growth opportunities, and how they can craft policies that promote digitization.

Segun Adekoye

April 6, 2012/by actualize

Safaricom to double broadband capacity

Kenya’s mobile service provider Safaricom will double its broadband capacity next week, opening a new battlefront in the data market just after Airtel rolled out its 3G network in February.

Safaricom CEO Bob Collymore (image: file)

“The network will run at 42 Mega bits per second (mbps) from the current 21mbs and it will be the fastest network in the whole of East and Central Africa,” Safaricom CEO Bob Collymore said.

“We are already receiving the modems to support the new network,” Collymore said. However, the rollout will begin from Nairobi and its environs before going national. Collymore was speaking at the connected Kenya Summit 2012 in Mombasa that began on Tuesday.

The summit is in its fourth year and is the brainchild of the Kenya ICT Board in collaboration with industry players and government.

The four day conference will see players discuss how to build the knowledge economy, how to take advantage of the open data, linking innovation and trade.

Players will also discuss how to involve citizens in the growth of the sector, and the opportunities in e-commerce and retail trade.
Information and communication permanent secretary Bitange Ndemo is expected to present the National ICT Masterplan 2017, which outlines the government’s blue print for ICT on Thursday.

April 4, 2012/by actualize

Connectivity, Originally posted on the GBI Portal

NigComSat targets 40% broadband access

The Nigerian Communications Satellite Limited has targeted 40 percent broadband penetration in the country by the year 2015.

The Nigerian Communications Satellite Limited has targeted 40 percent broadband penetration (image: Optus)

Timasaniyu Ahmed-Rufai, the Managing Director and Chief Executive, made this statement in a paper presentation at the Convergence forum in Lagos, on Friday.

He lamented the low percentage of broadband access in the country revealing that only 28 percent of the population was connected to the Internet.

Ahmed-Rufai recalled that the International Telecommunications Union had set a target of 50 billion broadband connections by 2020 while proposing that 40 percent of households should be connected to broadband globally by 2015.

NigComSat shared the vision and would be in the forefront of ensuring that Nigeria met the target. This company will have huge impacts on the country’s ICT sector in terms of cheaper Internet access as well as improved e-Commerce, telemedicine and e-Learning, he said.

Ahmed-Rufai added, “Our strategic plan is centered on using our assets, the staff, the satellite and complementary ground infrastructure as an extraordinary vehicle to drive the National ICT revolution in pursuit of self-reliance and required skills for engineering and technology domestication of secured satellite bandwidth and telecommunication services for defense, security outfits and other strategic telecommunications and broadcast needs of the nation.”

The NigComSat boss said the government-owned satellite communication provider had partnered with Main One Cable Company. This is line with their objective to expand the coverage of the Main One Internet Protocol services via satellite and to achieve their goal.

Joseph Mayton

April 3, 2012/by actualize

Connectivity, Originally posted on the GBI Portal

Gambian ISP selects American 4G solution

Gambian internet service provider Netpage has selected American communications technology provider Airspan Networks to rollout their 4G network in Gambia.

American communications technology provider Airspan. (image: bikyamasr.com)

The network will operate on the 2.3 GHz frequency band, leveraging Airspan’s Air4G flagship macro base station. Air4G allows Netpage to offer customers high-level connectivity, unique features like MIMO (multiple-input and multiple-output) and advanced antenna techniques. Expansion plans are already in place for nationwide coverage. Despite the competition, Netpage remains one of the top five ISPs in Gambia.

“Gambia has been very fortunate to avoid much of the economic turmoil experienced by the rest of the world, this stability has enabled us to leverage the economic situation and help deliver faster and more dependable internet connectivity to our country,” Netpage CEO Simon Abraham stated.

Netpage is providing customers with various devices like small indoor, desktop, self-install units, as well as outdoor units to maximise range.

Mohamed Abdel Salam

March 28, 2012/by actualize

Agriculture, Mobile, Mobile Money, Originally posted on the GBI Portal

Western Union and MTN sign mobile money partnership

Western Union and the MTN Group today announced the launch of a mobile money transfer service in Uganda enabling MTN customers to send and receive money via their mobile phones.

MTN and Western Union teaming to promote mobile money in Uganda. (image: file)

This service was announced at a press conference today in Kampala. The Western Union/MTN mobile money transfer service in Uganda will allow users cut down on visits to Western Union branches to pick up cash. Instead, they can “pull” transactions into their MTN Mobile Money accounts.

To access the service customers need an active MTN Mobile Money account.

“Our network of nearly half a million locations, our experience in moving money across borders, and our relationships with the world’s most successful mobile operators such as MTN, ideally position us to introduce many people to cross-border financial services,” Western Union President Diane Scott said.

“We currently have more than 2 million Mobile Money customers, and we continue to grow exponentially. By joining forces with Western Union, our customers can now receive funds directly in their MTN Mobile Money accounts quickly and easily,” MTN Group Chief Commercial Officer Christian de Faria said.

Staff writer

March 28, 2012/by actualize

Connectivity, Originally posted on the GBI Portal

Orange Kenya needs $120m bailout

Telecom operator Orange Kenya has asked the government for a KES 10 billion ($120 million) bailout, news reports revealed on Wednesday. The move comes as the company continues to incur massive debts following its 2007 buyout by France Telecom.

Orange Kenya CEO Mickael Ghossein. (image: file)

Orange made a record loss of KES 18.2 billion in 2011 and needs to raise KES 5.8 billion in order to repay bank loans by the end of the month.

According to documents published online, Orange Kenya’s management said it has hit a “brick wall”. They warn the Kenyan Treasury and France Telecom, that if the emergency cash injection failed to arrive, the operator would be unable to meet its immediate commitments (about KES 1.6 billion) to Standard Chartered Bank.

According to analysts this, “will trigger a chain reaction that could see bank loans worth KES 12.5 billion from Standard Chartered and KCB called in”.

The company added that they would only be able to cover basics like electricity, water, security and salaries.

Orange Kenya CEO Mickael Ghossein said in a statement yesterday, that the total amount of shareholder loans being requested “was still under discussion”.

Joseph Mayton

March 23, 2012/by actualize

Connectivity, Originally posted on the GBI Portal

Rwanda launches next stage of their ICT development plan

Rwanda on Tuesday said it had officially launched the third phase of their National Information and Communication Infrastructure Policy aimed at increasing the country’s IT infrastructure and offering new services to its citizens which were established during the first two phases.

Minister in the Presidency managing ICT Ignace Gatare. (image: biztechafrica.com)

The government’s 2000 national ICT plan was created using the four five-year cycle idea in order to gauge where the country was heading and what could be created and established. The first cycle, which ended in 2005, laid the groundwork for the last five years ICT initiatives to be established.

The government said that the second cycle, from 2006 to 2010, placed emphasis on the development of key ICT infrastructure such as fiber optic cable layout.

Speaking at a news conference on Monday evening, the Minister in the Presidency managing ICT Ignace Gatare said, the third phase has been “broadly divided into five areas, ICT skills development, private sector development, ICT for community development, e-Government and cyber security,” which the country hopes will propel the nation into the technological age to compete with other East African nations.

“Under this plan we are looking at improving formal and non-formal education. With the use of fiber optic cable, we want to ensure that there is much of open distance learning in the country,” said Gatare.

He said that the private sector will be instrumental in the third phase, and that government hopes to unveil an electronic payment system to improve mobile finance.

“We also want to take the ICT facilities down to the people by digitalizing all the government programs, increase the tele-centers in the country as well as use of tele-medicine,” Gatare added.

Joseph Mayton

March 21, 2012/by actualize

Agriculture, Mobile, Mobile Money, Originally posted on the GBI Portal

Kenya’s Safaricom upgrading mobile money service

Kenya’s leading telecom provider Safaricom announced on Tuesday that it was upgrading its mobile money platform M-PESA to a newer version, hoping to make doing financial transactions wirelessly a bit easier.

Safaricom set to upgrade their M-PESA platform. (image: biztechafrica.com)

According to the company, the new system “will enable users to make instant payments for corporate services such as insurance.

“The migration, to be done in the next few years, will enable M-Pesa users to instantly pay electricity bills,” the company said.

Other mobile service providers in the country have called on Safaricom to allow them access to the platform, and have repeatedly said they would be willing to pay royalties to the company. Safaricom has thus far refused.

“It will also save customers inconveniences such as disconnections that occur as the current platform reconciles the transactions,” the company continued, adding that the new service will reduce the time it takes to make payments on bills.

“It takes 48 hours for payments made to Kenya Power, for instance, to reflect on the electricity distributor’s systems, while those to the National Hospital Insurance Fund (NHIF) take 76 hours,” the company added.

The new service will also provide users the ability to use the mobile money platform to pay for items online instantly, with a balance being reduced with every purchase, instead of having to be forced to wait until payment clears.

Safaricom also added that in order to reduce costs, part of the M-Pesa servers in Germany will be relocated to Kenya in order to improve “the reliability of the mobile money platform and cut down on overheads”.

Joseph Mayton

March 21, 2012/by actualize

Connectivity, Originally posted on the GBI Portal

National ICT plan for Nigeria

Nigeria’s federal government has stated interest in developing a local national holistic ICT plan yesterday. The government promised that following the aggregation of comments and suggestions on the draft Information and Communication Technology policy have been discussed, they would embark on the process.

Omobola Johnson, Minister of Communication Technology, aiming for a March launch of the master ICT plan. (image: leadership.ng)

The master plan will include details on timelines, activities, hitches and funding requirements and the options available for ICT sector.

Arrangement has however been concluded by the Ministry of Communication Technology to hold a stakeholder’s forum on the country’s draft ICT policy in March in Lagos.

According to the ministry’s statement, since unveiling policy, it has received suggestions, comments and inputs from various industry groups, ICT companies and other ICT industry stakeholders home and abroad.

The collated comments and suggestions and the forum will be expected to provide a veritable platform for the ministry to engage stakeholders in robust discussions on the suggestions and comments received regarding the policy.

The ministry, ahead of the March stakeholder’s forum, met with industry associations a few weeks ago such as the Institute of Software Practitioners of Nigeria, Association of Telecoms Companies of Nigeria, Association of Licensed Telecom Operators of Nigeria, Nigerian Computer Society, Information Technology Association of Nigeria, Nigeria Internet Group, Computer Professionals Registration Council of Nigeria and the National Association Telecoms Subscribers.

The statement also revealed associations sent their inputs through on the draft ICT policy to discuss the comments and suggestions on the policy sent to the ministry by the associations.

Omobola Johnson, Minister of Communication Technology, recently said the ministry set up a committee to harmonise the existing policies, reflect new realities where necessary in order to provide a working document and a take off point that could elicit robust debate and discussion by stakeholders.

She further commented that the country had various policies covering the IT and the communications industry, adding that the alliance of technologies and the industry have impose on us the need for an integrated policy document.

Segun Adekoye

March 1, 2012/by actualize

Agriculture, Mobile, Mobile Money, Originally posted on the GBI Portal

Ericsson and MTN partnership boosts m-wallet

Ericsson, leading mobile phone company, and MTN, Africa’s largest telecom operator, announced a strategic new partnership to boost the m-wallet services in Africa and the Middle East.

Christian de Faria, MTN Group Chief Commercial Officer, delighted to partner with Ericsson on expanding m-wallet. (image: file)

Announced at the Mobile World Conference in Barcelona, Spain on Monday, MTN will become the first operator to officially deploy the Ericsson’s Converged Wallet platform. Both companies said the service is “a new complementary service to the integrated pre-paid charging system and mobile financial services solution for MTN consumers in those regions”.

The new m-wallet reportedly delivers a fast track route for MTN to introduce relevant, new and differentiated m-wallet market offerings to its Mobile Money customers.

As part of the co-operation, Ericsson said it would offer a prime integrator engagement model encompassing “software, systems integration and managed operation services”.

Christian de Faria, MTN Group Chief Commercial Officer, said, “Optimizing the Mobile Money consumer experience directly impacts consumer stickiness, and with Ericsson Converged Wallet we can now address our strategic priorities by enabling rapid response to our consumer’s preferences and expectations”.

MTN said it currently has more than 5 million mobile money subscribers in 12 African countries.

“2012 will be the year of partnerships across the emerging m-commerce eco-system. MTN has long been an early adopter in mobile money, and this new partnership builds on our ongoing relationship of collaboration,” said Hans Vestberg, Ericsson President and CEO.

“Driving accelerated time to market for operators and linking wallet accounts to purchases across multiple payment systems is a clear next step in next generation mobile financial services.”

Joseph Mayton

February 29, 2012/by actualize

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