Learning Curve storms Nigeria with Digital Classroom

A Digital Classroom

By Prince Osuagwu

In what appears another endorsement of Nigeria as the West African hub for intellectual information and communication technology, Learning Curve, has introduced the celebrated and highly commended digital teaching aid, Door to the Digital classroom which has recorded tremendous success in countries like South Africa, Botswana, Senegal and Zambia, among other southern African countries.
The company, an Adobe Platinum Partner also established an office in Lagos to take care of the entire sub-region.
The innovative software designed for educational institutions is coming into the country after a long negotiated agreement with Adobe, which now allows it to present the very cost-effective new licensing programme into Nigeria and by extension to the rest of West Africa.
Managing Director of Learning Curve Mr. Tim Smith, who is also in Nigeria for a demonstration of the of the training product said that, “our high school programme called the Door to the Digital classroom is very extensive and works on the basis of a consolidated range of products from Adobe who have the vision of what can happen when you give children the opportunity to go wild and create.”
Tested and proven over the years, these applications according to Smith who is instrumental to the development of the concepts can be used in the industry to help teach vocational skills and are used extensively in art, design and IT web authoring.
Designed to run on either a mac or windows environments, the Adobe Learning Curve Kit contains among other things total training DVDs for all applications.
Considering the range of students which the product aims at training – late primary to secondary school, the Learning Curve package has in it the quite popular Academia Skills builder which is a range of flash games that help learning of subjects like Mathematics, English language and Geography.
There are also locally developed lesson plans for Photoshop, Dreamweaver and Acrobat with a promise of including the Illustrator to complete the quite didactic nature of the bundle.
And for parents who are desirous of bringing up their children to join the global league of highly competent ICT users, the product helps the schools become accredited testing centres for the Adobe Certified Associate examinations which will give the children an internationally accepted qualification of competence.
According to the company’s Country Director, Mr. Michael Oseji ,“it has become imperative that this country joins the rest of the world in adopting 21st Century skills in classroom learning, otherwise the world would leave us behind and we would be forced to catch up again,” Oseji said.

MTN denies fraud allegation against NITEL

By Prince Osuagwu

MTN Nigeria, yesterday, dismissed the allegation contained in the affidavit sworn by former NITEL General Manager, Mr Solomon Ogundele that it colluded with the Nigerian Communications Commission, NCC, to divert over N1 trillion belonging to NITEL by fraudulent means.
The company described the allegation as ‘patently untrue’
Reacting to the allegations, MTN’s Corporate Services Executive, Mr. Wale Goodluck, said that Ogundele’s accusations to MTN were odious and reprehensible.
“MTN Nigeria is not at liberty to comment on the details of the matter of PDP V MTN&NCC, as they are sub judice. However, we reject in no uncertain terms the allegations made by the plaintiffs in this case and their agents. Not only are they patently untrue, they have absolutely no bearing on the issues in this case. They are designed to distract and muddy the waters. MTN Nigeria will make a detailed response to these odious and reprehensible allegations through normal court processes,” he added.
Goodluck urged MTN’s customers and the general public to disregard the frivolous and mischievous allegations, stressing that the company remained committed to upholding the sanctity of the law of the land and would never infringe them under any circumstances.
Former General Manager in charge of Operations with the Nigerian Telecommunications Limited (NITEL), Engr Solomon Ogundele, had accused MTN Nigeria of colluding with the NCC to divert over N1 trillion belonging to NITEL by fraudulent means.
According to Ogundele, the NCC deliberately and in collusion with MTN and others, introduced a fraudulent interconnection agreement which allocated specific and excessive value to call termination as a tool for perpetrating massive fraud and money laundering.
His claim was contained in an affidavit in support of a suit brought on MTN and NCC by former Governor of Osun State, Prince Olagunsoye Oyinlola, and the Peoples’ Democratic Party (PDP), Osun and Ekiti State chapters for allegedly providing the National Judicial Council. NJC  probe panel with incomplete and inadequate call data records.
Oyinlola and the PDP filed a N150 billion suit on MTN for allegedly doctoring the call data records it provided to the probe panel. The suit also prayed that the court  revokes the operating licence of MTN Nigeria.
In a 62-paragraph affidavit deposed to by Ogundele and filed before the Federal High Court in Abuja on last Thursday, May 9, Ogundele alleged that there were very serious fraud contained in the interconnection agreement imposed on the telecommunications sector by NCC, in connivance with MTN.

QoS: Phase 3 roots for aerial fibre for telecom operators

Jegede

By Prince Osuagwu

Chief Executive of Phase3 Telecom, Mr Stanley Jegede, last week proffered his own solution to much talked about poor quality of service among telecom operators playing in the Nigerian market.

According to him, the hues and cries that are rife in the industry today over poor service provision among telecom operators would be a thing of the past if operators could just see the benefit in aerial optic fibre, particularly for their long distance communications.

For him, aerial fibre optic routes offer both cheaper and more reliable services than their terrestrial equivalent and in view of recent experiences facing operators, there is need for them to adopt this aerial services to keep their customers happy.

Jegede, who spoke in Abuja on Thursday stated that with the current challenges facing the deployment and use of underground optic fiber cables especially Right of Way issues, persistent vandalism and ecological problems, aerial optic fiber systems offer the needed and timely solution at this time in the country.

He said, "We are all aware about the problems of building and maintaining underground cables in Nigeria. It is one of the most difficult challenges that telecom firms face today in view of issues such as host community hostilities, persistent construction of roads and its attendant impact on underground cables. Besides, excessive and unlawful regulatory activities by various agencies of government at different levels and environmental and natural disasters such as erosion sometimes leaves underground cables exposed.

“We have also witnessed persistent vandalism and theft of underground cables all over the country all of which exacerbate the problem of poor quality of services as large numbers of subscribers are cut off when these problems occur. These problems also take a lot of time to identify and repair. However, the aforementioned issues and many more can easily be overcome by the use of aerial optic fibre system.”

Phase 3 Telecom according to him, currently runs West Africa’s only aerial optic fiber network with the focal point of operations in Nigeria. He added that in view of today’s reality in which the West Africa region including Nigeria is still a developing region, road construction and the building of other infrastructure would be very frequent, leading to underground cables often being cut. The situation, according to him, highlights the need for a backup network, adding that this is where the Phase3 aerial optic fiber network comes in especially as high-tension networks power often have dedicated routes by law.

He said, "In Nigeria today all the operators including those that have their own transmission networks have embraced Phase3's aerial optic services especially after they have seen the advantages that it offers them. We believe that even for those that may already have excess capacity, aerial optic fibre provides a very reliable backup and redundancy. Furthermore, he advised that all other mobile operators should stop building fiber network and collaborate with Phase3’s Open Access network to provide their immediate and future needs. This is also in addition to the fact that there are certain areas of coverage of the Phase3 aerial optic fibre system which other terrestrial network are not designed to reach currently due to the country’s road and highway network".

Besides, Jegede noted that most optic fiber cables follow the same predictable route, meaning that they are all likely to be affected at the same time in the event of anything catastrophic happening; such as fire, road construction and vandalism. This, he added, clearly defines an obvious need for a reliable alternative to the underground fiber that is used by operators.

He noted further that besides providing the best quality, aerial optic fiber provides many advantages over underground cables in the transmission business. Among them, he said, were the ease and speed of deployment, stating that aerial optic fiber is one backhaul means that can be quickly expanded to un-served and undeserved locations unlike underground optic fibre.

NCC spoils for war with NESREA over encroachment in telecom regulation

By Prince Osuagwu

NESRA should keep off now or.......Nwokonneya, Ojobo and Muoka

Nigeria Communications Commission (NCC), today in Abuja, moved in a RAMBO form, to tear away the seals which one of the government agencies, National Environmental Standards Regulations Enforcement Agency (NESREA), placed on one of the Abuja facilities of MTN Nigeria.
NCC also warned the Agency to keep of telecom regulatory activities reminding that there is only one telecom regulatory agency in Nigeria, which is the NCC itself.
The regulator made it open to NESREA that it has no regulatory power over telecom facilities.
NCC and NESREA has been in cold war over NESREA’s harassment of operators they alleged did not carry out proper environmental impact assessment before deploying mast and towers.
The agency, in the last one year, has at will, sealed off facilities of many operators, aggravating the ailing service quality the operators have.
However, NCC top officials have at different times engaged the top officials of NESREA on diplomatic discuss where after each visit, a likely resolution picture is often painted. However, the issue still remains a sore point in the operation set backs of the telecom operators plying their trade in Nigeria.
But until penultimate week when NESREA went to seal off the MTN facility located at the EFAB Estate Life Camp Abuja, the Commission has not thought it expedient to challenge NESREA.
Addressing newsmen after unsealing the MTN mast, Director Public Affairs of the NCC, Mr. Tony Ojobo, said the commission will henceforth frown at any government agency that interferes with the work of the commission.
He said the guidelines from the commission stated that a minimum of 5 meter distance is acceptable but NESREA Acts states ten meters.
According to him,  " NCC had to unseal the mast which was sealed  two weeks ago  by NESREA under the guise that the mast was less than 10 meters from buildings as stipulated in their guidelines.
"NCC is the regulator of the telecoms sector, our guidelines stated that it should be 5 meters setback but the MTN mast is 5.6 meters away from the surrounding structures, but without consulting us they sealed the bay station. NCC will not allow any contradicting regulator to close any base stations because the commission is working hard to see that the quality of services improve in the country”.
Ojobo added that "operators should be allowed to do their jobs, we don't have any issue against any secondary regulator but they should come to us first to see how we can ensure compliance. We must maintain our standards and ensure consistency and investors must be sure of the rules and abide by it. No other agency should interfere or challenge our guidelines," he said.

The truth must be told.....we are the only telecom regulator

Also, NCC’s Head of compliance and monitoring Mr. Ephriam Nwokenneya corroborated Ojobo, saying that Nesrea should focus more on environmental issues rather than making undue interference in the telecommunication sector.

Don't expect best quality if criminal damage on our infrastructure continues, MTN cries out

By Prince Osuagwu

Nigeria’s leading telecommunications operator, MTN Nigeria, has decried the rising incidence of damage to its fibre-optic network, warning of its long-term negative impact on quality of service and national security.
The company’s Corporate Services Executive, Mr. Wale Goodluck, in a statement in Lagos, said MTN on average suffers more than 70 fibre cuts in various locations across the country every month. Giving a breakdown, Goodluck said about 42 percent of the cuts are as a result of poor road construction practices, 25 percent are traceable to wilful damage perpetrated by criminal elements, while the remaining 33 percent are traceable to other causes, including sabotage.
“In the past, we have lost network availability in over 1000 base stations cumulatively across the network as a result of these cuts. This has affected services predominantly in the South East, particularly, Onitsha and Port Harcourt, and also other areas such as Kano, Abuja, Kaduna, and Ibadan, with customers experiencing complete loss of service in some of the locations, while others experienced severe difficulties in making and receiving calls in other locations,” said Goodluck.
According to Goodluck, relevant security agencies and the industry regulator, the Nigerian Communications Commission (NCC) are aware of the development and have been supportive of MTN as the company grapples with the challenge.
“We are now constrained to appeal to members of the public to further assist by reporting any suspicious activity around telecommunications installations, which are critical national infrastructure. By so doing, you will play your part in protecting your right to good services and the full benefits of the ICT revolution”, Goodluck said.
He reiterated that the company is committed to driving the socio-economic development of Nigeria through the provision of world standard telecommunications and ICT services.

Nokia Unveils Phone for 1st time Mobile Phone Users

By Prince Osuagwu

In line with its strategy of connecting the next billion, the world’s largest manufacturer of mobile phones has unveiled its most affordable mobile phone to date – the Nokia 103 in Nigeria. Nigeria is the first market to launch this phone, which is designed specifically for people buying their first phones.
The Vice President Nokia West Africa, Mr. James Rutherfoord, said the choice of Nigeria as the lead market for this device underscores the importance of the Nigerian market and the need to empower millions of Nigerians who are yet to acquire a mobile phone. He further explained that the Nokia 103 is for people looking for an affordable and practical phone that gives them the essential features needed to help them progress economically and socially without compromising on design and quality.
Apart from its fresh look and durable anti-scratch cover, the Nokia 103 is designed with long lasting battery life of up to 11 hours talk time and 27 days standby time. Other features include built-in flashlight, FM radio, speaking clock and MP3 grade ringtones.
Nokia is the only company providing mobile devices to people in virtually every market of the world, across economic segments.  Of the world’s 7 billion people, 3.2 billion don’t have a phone yet due largely to economic constraints. According to Mr. Rutherfoord, “Nokia has been progressively lowering the entry barrier to the market while continually increasing the capability of our devices and delivering phones with contemporary fresh designs”. Nokia is committed to helping to mobilize the next generation – the next billion and beyond – and ensure they have access to the advantages of mobile technology. With the Nokia 103, Nokia is making mobile connectivity a reality for lower-income consumers

ZTE Orbit joins Windows Phone smartphone innovations

The new ZTE Orbit Window smartphones

By Prince Osuagwu

Global providers of telecommunications equipment and network solutions, ZTE Corporation has expanded on its commitment to the Windows Phone platform and introduced the new ZTE Orbit smartphone.
The ZTE Orbit is based on the latest version of Windows Phone and comes with 4GB of memory, HD Voice, and a 5Mpx autofocus camera with LED flash.  ZTE said the Orbit will be available in the second quarter of this year.
The company also announced the MF668A data card which takes advantage of Microsoft’s mobile broadband class driver in Windows 8.  The new data card was demonstrated at Mobile World Congress for the first time. The data card, which supports RAW IP and high-speed transmission, is based on the new MBIM v1.0 specification, recently approved by the USB-IF, and natively supported in Windows 8 without additional software.
Reacting to the development, Senior Director of the OEM Division, Microsoft Mr Mark Linton, said that “Microsoft is excited to continue partnering with ZTE to bring new Windows Phones to market.  We look forward to the availability of ZTE Orbit in major markets around the world in the second quarter of 2012,”
Also the Executive Vice President and Head of the Terminal Division of ZTE Mr. He Shiyou, added that “the Windows Phone platform is as powerful as it is intuitive, enabling us to create and deliver exciting new devices that meet real consumer demand. Our partnership with Microsoft is a key component of our strategy to grow our share of the smartphone market. ZTE is proud to be at the forefront of device manufacturers who are using the Windows Phone platform.”
The ZTE Orbit joins the ZTE Tania smartphone in the company’s portfolio of Windows Phone-based devices. Launched on 18 January, the ZTE Tania is a chic Windows Phone device, with a chassis measuring just 10.7mm in depth, 4GB internal storage and a 4.3 inch touch screen. The 1GHz processor and ultra-sharp cinematic WVGA 800 x 480px screen make responding to emails, editing documents and browsing the internet fast and intuitive.