Old NITEL phones resurrect in Germany with Retro telephone new arrivals

Are the old times back?

By Prince Osuagwu


Remember the early days in Nigeria, when communication through telephones would only end you up in the hands of NITEL, the nation's national telecommunications carrier? And, after a long queue, you also have to contend with a routine dialing which comes in form of winding the table phone with a round key pad housing the numbers? How time flies. Back in the 70s and 80s, this was the case but today technology has made everything easy. The key pads either on the mobile or table phones are simple and visible and allows for easy dialing.
But for complaints of poor quality of service among telecom operators in recent times, nobody spends ages waiting for dialing tones anymore. That is the beauty of development. But the dynamism of technological advancement can sometimes be crazy or at best a little funny. While research favours advancements it sometimes finds relevance in reverting to the old.
Perhaps, that is what happened when French company, Sagemcom harks back to an earlier age of domestic communications with the "Sixty" cordless phone.
With the Sixty, Sagemcom delivers a new twist on the 1960's Bakelite telephone by transforming the stocky rotary form into a folded, slimline design and adding a digital time fascia and capacitive touchscreen. The non-retro functionality includes hands-free calling, caller ID, 150 name and number phone book, phone conferencing, multiple languages, and an integrated digital answer machine.
The drilling bell tone of old, comes back in more modern polyphonic ringtones, even though there is still the original "ring ring" for those who want to retain some of the old-skool feel. There's also rotating lights and sound effects during dialing.
One 1960s element that doesn't make a comeback is the curly phone cord, instead there's a wireless handset with a 10 hour battery life. The Sagecom Sixty is estimated to cost about US$167.

How Teleprompter makes TV newscasters suddenly smarter

Teleprompter

A typical smart TV presenter

By Prince Osuagwu

In recent times, the TV presenter is smarter. He holds the viewer spell-bound with his antics of reading out news without looking down at the scripts. Meanwhile the impressions are that these professionals are either highly intelligent or outright super humans.
But we can reveal to you today, that the secret, is a technology called the teleprompter machine. This is a telescript devise used in the television news business that prompts the newsreader with an electronic visual text of the script.
The screen is in front of the presenter and usually below the lens of the camera. The words on the screen are reflected to a sheet of clear glass or specially prepared beam splitter. Light from the performer passes through the front side of the glass into the lens, while a shroud surrounding the lens and the back side of the glass prevents unwanted light from reflecting into the lens. The news reader on cue only needs to look in the direction of the camera lens and see words reflect on the clear glass and read them.
As the speaker does not need to look down to consult written notes, he or she appears to have memorized the speech or be speaking spontaneously. But all is the work of this piece of brilliant technology.
Genesis
The teleprompter technology is the brain child of the Teleprompter corporation founded in the 1950's by Fred Barton, Jr, Herbert Schlafly and Irving Berlin Kahn.
Barton was an actor who suggested the concept of the teleprompter as a means of assisting television performers who had to memorize large amounts of material in a short time.
Schlafly built the first teleprompter in 1950. It was simply a mechanical device, operated by a hidden technician, located near the camera.
The script was printed on a paper scroll, which was advanced as the performer read. In 1952, former US President, Herbert Hoover used a Schlafly-designed teleprompter to address the Republican National Convention in Chicago.
Modernisation:
Modern Teleprompters for news programmes consists of a personal computer, connected to video monitors on each camera. However, as spontaneous as this technology makes newscasters look, there has been countless series of embarrassing moments termed newsroom disasters where there have been a total collapse of the entire news bulletin from teleprompters when they suddenly fail and leave newsreaders in a blank.
However, news readers are trained to follow the prompter by flipping their scrip over at the end of every page. But sometimes, the deeply concentrating reader eventual gets carried away by the fluidity and spontaneity of the technology that they forget the words are not coming from their heads and that things could go wrong.
Incidentally, things, do very often, go wrong and the news reader is left at the mercy of split seconds precision to resume reading from the hard script before him or her. It is at this point, you know they aren’t super humans after all.

Comviva leads Mobile Money market with 92 recharge solutions deployment across growth markets

Mobile money solution

By Prince Osuagwu

With 92 deployments of recharge solutions globally, Comviva’s mobiquity platform seems to be taking the lead in mobile money delivery platforms across growth markets.
The company says it delivers mobile financial services to over 230 million mobile subscribers in more than 20 markets across Africa, Asia, Latin America and the Middle East even as its mobiquity is currently live in 38 service provider’s platforms globally.
Meanwhile, it has about 54 deployments of PreTUPS powers recharge for over 520 million mobile subscribers worldwide. PreTUPS handles 11 million transactions daily in a single operator deployment.
Showing off its prowess, Comviva said that one leading Asian operator that deployed its mobiquity platform, was performing over 410,000 utility bill payment transactions monthly on the platform even as another leading South Asian operator penetrated the huge low-income market segment by offering previously unavailable low denomination top-ups on deploying its PreTUPS electronic recharge solution.
Comviva said that the low denomination top-ups now constitute over 95% of all top-up sales in that market. Meanwhile, across Africa, PreTUPS enables affordable recharge for 100 million mobile subscribers in 19 markets.
Also in India, a major operator, with over 100 million subscribers, is said to be providing mobile payment and ticketing services using the mobiquity platform. In Bangladesh, a leading operator pioneered international remittance services between major migrant-worker markets using mobiquity. In Cambodia, a regional bank provides an end-to end suite of financial services, including salary payments, remittance services and bill payments.
Commenting on providing consumers with convenient and affordable access to financial services, Vice President, Mobile Financial Solutions, Comviva, Srinivas Nidugondi, said, “we have long recognized that a vast and untapped opportunity exists to provide people with easy access to formal financial services across emerging markets worldwide. Enabling payments and P2P transfers is a compelling proposition – especially in markets where financial networks are relatively weak. We are leading the market in working with service providers to meet this demand.”
Comviva’s mobiquity mobile financial services platform is an award-winning white-labeled solution that empowers operators and financial service providers to cater to the diverse financial needs of both banked and unbanked customers.
Comviva says that with mobiquity, banked customers have constant and convenient access to their complete financial services portfolio, as well as the ability to carry out everyday financial transactions. Comviva’s mobiquity platform can also be deployed to target banked customers, providing mobile access to people’s bank accounts and credit cards and enabling bill payments on the go.

South Africa loses C-band satellite in orbit

satellite in orbit

Satellite

By Prince Osuagwu

Satellite fleet operator Intelsat reported at the weekend that one of the two principal reflector antennas on its just-launched New Dawn telecommunications satellite for South Africa has failed to deploy in orbit and that release of the other antenna will await attempts to force the first one to spring loose.
The Intelsat New Dawn satellite was placed into geostationary transfer orbit April 22 by  European Ariane 5 ECA rocket. Since then, the satellite’s manufacturer, Orbital Sciences Corp. of Dulles, Va., has been overseeing the transfer of the satellite from the point where it was released by the rocket to its test location, at 23.1 degrees east longitude in geostationary orbit. The satellite’s final operating location is 32.8 degrees east, where it is scheduled to serve mainly an African audience.
Orbital has told Intelsat that the C-band reflector’s ejection-release mechanism has functioned, releasing a series of pins that hold the antenna close to the satellite’s body for launch, Intelsat said.
But other data, including temperature readings from the satellite, have confirmed that the reflector remains stuck in place.
This is South Africa’s first attempt to launch a satellite communications platform and its failure means that  the country must return to the drawing board if it must sustain its adventure in space.
It could be recalled that Nigeria also lost its Nigcomsat1, 18 months after launch and had to start the process of replacement which according to NigComSat, would be ready soon.
South Africa now may have to start anew because like Nigeria, South Africa has no back up satellite when the incident occured.
Perhaps this could be a possible reason why countries which desire to be in space especially which deploy communications satellite must as a rule have back up satellites to cushion the effect of possible failures.
The failure of the Intelsat built satellite removes the question of failure traceable to manufacturers and justifies the reality that satellites could fail irrespective of who manufactured them.
It is however gathered that Nigeria’s Nigcomsat 1R is due for launch in the last quarter of 2011.Talks on two back up satellites Nigcomsat 2 and 3 are also on- going and would be built a few months after the launch of Nigcomsat 1R.
Intelsat spokeswoman Dianne J. VanBeber said that the ground teams have begun a series of maneuvers to remedy the situation.
Intelsat said it would delay releasing the Ku-band reflector while the unblocking attempts on the C-band reflector are continued. The satellite has 28 C-band and 24 Ku-band transponders when measured in 36-megahertz equivalents. Aside from the blocked C-band reflector, the satellite is functioning normally, Intelsat said.
Intelsat New Dawn is owned by a joint venture of Luxembourg- and Washington-based Intelsat and Convergence Partners of South Africa. Valued at $250 million including construction, launch and insurance, Intelsat New Dawn is intended to replace Intelsat’s Galaxy 11 satellite at 32.8 degrees east. Intelsat estimates that Galaxy 11 will remain operational until April 2015.

Zinox pays N2.1 billion tax on DDC machines

Leo-Stan Ekeh

By Prince Osuagwu

Group Chairman, Zinox technologies, Mr Leo-Stan Ekeh last week, hinted that his company alone paid up to 2.1 billion in tax for the 60 percent contract share of the Direct Data Capturing DDC machines used in the registration process of the April general elections.
Ekeh was speaking in relation to what benefits the country could scoop, allowing indigenous companies to execute some of the government contracts. He encouraged corporate organisations in the country to also pay their taxes promptly to have a good ground to tackle government on local content policy when the issue arises.
For him, the e-registration process was a good start to having free, fair and credible elections in the country even as he maintained that the direct fall out of the e-registration exercise was a reduction in the number of litigations.
He scored the performance of INEC in the last election high noting that Nigeria could now be rated 75 percent from the original poor position of 30 percent in organising credible elections.
According to Ekeh, “the e-registration has reduced the number of litigations. It is a good start to a credible election. At least the country has risen now from about 30 percent to 75 percent and that is a good sign. What now remains is to put other infrastructure in place to ensure a proper e-voting in Nigeria”.
Ekeh also used the opportunity of the end of year and staff award event to redefine staff welfare by offering scholarships to the children of all staff who earn less than N1m as gross salary P/A under the Staff Children Scholarship Scheme.
Each staff in this category would have up to 3 children covered under this scheme through secondary school up to tertiary institution. One of these children would be trained in a private secondary school.
The highpoint of the Awards was the Staff of the Year Award won by Emmanuel Onuegbu, General Manager, Abuja/North for his outstanding performance in achieving revenue targets in the 2010/11 financial year. Mr. Onuegbu was also commended for his growing marketing versatility that has seen him interact seamlessly with all social segments in the IT market. The Staff of the Year Award would bring about an upward review of his fringe benefits. The Awardees home branch at Abuja would also enjoy some benefits as a means of encouraging team work.
Ekeh, however noted that the emphasis on education reinforces his belief that only quality education available to all would lead this nation to greatness. The Chairman revealed that the Zinox Group would increase its CSR in the educational sector through the provision of more digital centers and IT laboratories in tertiary institutions in the six geopolitical zones in the country.

Goodwell investment comes Paga way

Mobile money

By Prince Osuagwu

A pioneering mobile money service, Paga launched in Nigeria in February 2011, after receiving approval from the Central Bank, has received investment from Goodwell West Africa, a microfinance investment vehicle co-managed by investment manager Goodwell Investments and Alitheia Capital in Nigeria.
The partners said the investment was for mutual benefits, knowing that both companies have areas which can be strengthened by the other.
With Paga, any person with a mobile phone or access to the internet is able to send cash, purchase airtime credit, pay bills, pay retailers and perform a variety of other transactions. Paga operates via a nationwide network of dedicated agents, which include several hundred agents associated with DStv, the leading provider of multi-channel pay television in Africa, with whom Paga has an exclusive partnership.
Paga said it’s mission is to deliver innovative and universal access to financial services for those underserved or excluded, especially payments and savings via the mobile phone. Their approach to mobile payments is a multi-stakeholder one - Paga is available on all mobile networks and is delivered to customers in collaboration with strong local banks, retailers and various other private and public sector organisations.
Goodwell Investments is an innovative impact investment firm focused on access to finance and sustainable development. It invests in entrepreneurial microfinance organisations on a socially and commercially sustainable basis. Its microfinance investments are focussed on two regions: India and West Africa. In West Africa, Goodwell works in partnership with Alitheia Capital based out of Lagos.
Els Boerhof, Partner at Goodwell: “Our fund was founded on the principal belief that improving access to affordable financial services for people at the ‘Base of the Pyramid’ contributes to sustainable development.  This can best be achieved by developing and scaling up entrepreneurial institutions aimed at banking the unbanked. We believe that Paga will achieve a substantial social return as well as an attractive financial result. Providing the poor with savings and remittances via the mobile phone makes access to these financial services cheaper, as expensive bank branches are not needed and many people do have a mobile phone nowadays in Nigeria.”
CEO of Alitheia, Tokunboh Ishmael, said that “we seek investments that not only provide financial impact but also social impact. Paga provides this double impact through its innovative platform, which facilitates financial inclusion by taking relevant financial services to the doorsteps of millions of Nigerians. We are very confident in the Paga team, in its bold vision and look forward to working closely to achieve our mutual objectives.”
This is also as Tayo Oviosu, Founder and CEO of Paga, added that “Goodwell and Alitheia bring a great wealth of international and local experience which will further strengthen our ability to achieve our vision as a company. We are strongly committed to bringing quality financial services to all Nigerians and truly believe that Paga will change the life of the average person for the better.”

Smartphone market growth closes in on 80 % Year Over Year in Q1

SMARTPHONES......Have turned out to be the ideal solution

SMARTPHONES  ....... Gaining market shares through global adoption

By Prince Osuagwu

If the International Data Corporation, IDC, Worldwide Quarterly Mobile Phone Tracker, is anything to rely upon, the worldwide smartphone market, may have grown close to 80 percent year over year in the first quarter of 2011 .
The report said the sector closed on 79.7% at the end of first quarter of 2011, adding that the development was driven by a combination of vendors releasing highly anticipated models, widespread availability of older smartphones at lower prices, and sustained end-user demand.
According to the Tracker, smartphone vendors shipped a total of 99.6 million units in 1Q11, nearly double from the 55.4 million units in the first quarter of 2010.
Senior research analyst with the tracker, Ramon Llamas, said that conditions in the smartphone market were creating a perfect storm for sustained smartphone growth, adding that vendors were also increasingly emphasizing smartphones as the key to their own growth.
He also contended that selection has proliferated from mostly high-end devices to include more mid-range and entry-level offerings, even as pricing has become increasingly competitive, with even high-end devices available at low price points.
Another factor to the sudden growth, according to him, included the fact that users continued to seek greater utility from their mobile phone beyond voice, as smartphones have turned out to be the ideal solution.
The strong demand for smartphones also means the market will remain highly competitive and fragmented because Llamas said that “the rise of Android as a prominent mobile operating system has allowed several suppliers to gain share quickly.
The report predicted that the relatively nascent state of smartphone adoption globally means there is ample room for several suppliers to comfortably co-exist, at least for the short term.

Top five Vendors
The top five Smartphone Vendors as the report saw it, included:
Nokia; despite announcing its intentions to move from Symbian to Windows Phone as its primary smartphone operating system, maintained its leadership position in the smartphone market. Demand for Symbian-powered smartphones remained strong within its traditionally strongest markets of EMEA and Asia/Pacific, and the company continues to announce more devices running on Symbian, including the E6 and the X7. Still, as Nokia transitions from Symbian to Windows Phone, it may find itself in danger of ceding market share as the competition ramps up smartphone production.

Apple, reached a new record shipment volume in a single quarter, and inched closer to market leader Nokia with fewer than six million units separating the two companies. The company posted market-beating year-over-year growth and recorded triple-digit growth in two key markets: the United States, with the release of its CDMA-enabled iPhone, and Greater China. Additionally, the company enlisted South Korean Telecom and Saudi Telecom as carrier providers of the iPhone.

Research In Motion remained solidly in third place from the previous quarter, as the company grew its presence outside of its home territory of North America. RIM has launched several 3G devices to the market, and recently announced two new BlackBerry smartphones running on its new BlackBerry 7 OS. Still, the majority of RIM's shipment volumes have been comprised of older, lower-cost devices. The company expects this trend to continue into the following quarter.

Samsung posted the largest year-over-year gain of any other vendor on the list. With a multiple operating system strategy in place, Samsung has been able to grow its smartphone portfolio to meet the needs of a diverse market. Accounting for the majority of its smartphones and driving shipment volumes higher was the continued success of its Android-based smartphones, including the high-end Galaxy S devices and mass-market Galaxy Ace and Galaxy mini devices. Meanwhile, its bada-powered Wave devices and Windows Phone 7 devices continued to gain traction.

HTC posted yet another record shipment volume, nearly surpassing the ten million unit mark for the first time. Like other vendors, HTC announced multiple new devices, including the Facebook-optimized Salsa and ChaCha. In addition, the company launched several new devices, including its Inspire 4G, WiMAX-enabled EVO Shift 4G, and LTE-enabled Thunderbolt. These, along with its investment and developments on hardware, displays, and its HTC Sense layer have helped HTC differentiate itself further in an increasingly crowded market.