|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
Mobile
phone lines to hit 60 million in Nigeria by mid-2008
-IT & Telecom Digest Intelligence Report
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
3rd ICT Stakeholders Forum, holds May 19 as global giants,
operators affirm interest in Africa's largest and fastest
growing market.
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
| |
Energy
Crisis: Like South Africa, Like Nigeria?
Recently
in South Africa, the government of President Thabo Mbeki came under
severe criticism for what is perceived as a worsening energy situation
in that country. For a long time before now, South Africans have
not been so frustrated by incessant power shortage and they could
not conceal their anger as some citizens went to the extreme asking
for the resignation of the country’s President. This is in
spite of the government declaration of the crisis as a “national
emergency.”

|
|
|
| |
|
|
|
| NITEL:
Waiting to Die! |
Like
a beautiful girl that was once the talk of the town –
debonair, gregarious, enchanting and attractive – but,
who, through a frivolous and irresponsible lifestyle, has
lost all colour, losing one suitor after another, been in
and out of marriage several times, and finally losing all
colour that once made her the toast of all, the Nigerian Telecommunications
Limited, either by design or by a curious twist of fate, appears
doomed, and its case is not helped by its owners, who appear
to be helping it to die.
The
early part of the 1990s threw up some nouveau riche in Nigeria.
Young men and women who had arrived, so to speak, and were
desperately seeking some models in the form of articles of
ostentatious value, to express their supposed arrival, to
the public.
|
|
|
|
| |
|
Wilson's
Cafe |
|
|
|
|
| A
Question for 'our' billionaires |
| As
with all similar efforts in the past, this year’s attempt
by Forbes magazine |
|
to let us know the “who is who” on the pinnacle
of the world’s money pyramid will hardly bring any personal
joy to most people. Not only because few people will ever
find friends or relatives on a “rich list” such
as the world’s billionaires, but because although the
number of the world’s super-rich has finally crossed
the 1,000 mark, according to Forbes, this number is still
mathematically insignificant. The world’s population
has already hit six and a half billion, with more than half
of this number (or 3.9 billion people) surviving on less than
a two-dollar meat-pie a day.
There
is another category of people the UN Fund for Population Activities
(UNFPA) describes as “chronically or acutely malnourished.”
This cohort is made up of some 852 million people, with children
comprising about 300 million of the number. One should also
not forget that being the “killer disease” that
it is, malnutrition and the plagues that come in its train
claim nearly six million of the world’s children yearly
– according to UNFPA.
One
commentator has even pointed out that some of Nigeria’s
poorest citizens are actually in the socio-cultural neighbourhood
of Alhaji Aliko Dangote, one of those who made it into the
Forbes 2008 billionaires list. He occupies the 334th position
on the list. (South Africa’s Patrice Motsepe - the first
black South African to make the list - is at number 503).
Forbes
2008 list, like all previous ones, gives us a glimpse –
if any more was needed – of what is meant when it is
said that the world is nothing but a never-ending experience
of contrasts.
|
| |
|
|
|
|
|
| |
|
|
|
|
|
|
| |
An
Arabian Night in Lagos |
| |
Did
you hear the latest news?Certainly
it is not from you that I will hear it. You harbinger of bad
news.
|
 |
| |
Oh
no! Not this time; I never carry bad news, anyway. Just that
many of you always misunderstand my point of view. Well, you
are not among them, I mean those who traditionally misunderstand
me; that is why I have come to you. Do you remember what they
said a few years ago about the South Africans taking over
the Nigerian economy?
Well,
you know that is not true. I mean, companies are only doing
their best to invest here. Is that not all that there is to
it? Look, my friend, I need to relax; tomorrow I have a lot
to do. Are there no Nigerian companies in South Africa?
May
be there are; but they are not dominating any sector of the
South African economy. Look at MTN Nigeria; it has since overtaken
its parent company in South Africa in terms of revenue. Is
that

|
|
|
|
|
| |
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
| |
|
|
|
|
|
| |
|
| Operators
need to focus on deploying a common network |
| Can
you outline the extent of your managed services relationship
with Nokia Siemens Networks? |

Don
Price |
The background to this is that four years ago we were
in a situation where we were operating six licences
in the country, with the potential to go increase that
to 23. We were after a new supply model which was based
on consumption. I sell minutes, or erlangs, and I wanted
a supply model where that was what I bought - rather
than me buying the boxes and managing them. So we came
up with a 'pay as you grow' model for the supply side.
In this case, Nokia Siemens Networks, as well as our
other strategic partner in this area, felt happy to
discuss the managed capacity model, but only if they
were actually running the services.
What
was the thinking behind their standpoint?
If I'm running the company, and you're going to give
me supply as and when I require it, then you're only
going to get paid based on consumption. So there is
then a likelihood of me running it in an inefficient
manner, because I have no skin in the game and no exposure.
If NSN do the managed services side of it then they
can see to it that we deploy capital in the most effective
means possible and actually try and operate it at an
acceptable level of utilisation. Therefore, these two
elements were really clubbed together as a package which
was managed capacity plus managed services.
So
how do the two elements of the package break down in
terms of responsibilities?
|
|
|
|
|
|
| OUTSTANDING |
| The
world has become a global village and globalisation has made
it imperative that any operator in |

Bayo Ligali |
the
world economy must see the world as his/her playing field.
Ironically, only a few men and women have succeeded in making
the world their main forte; many others end up mere players
at the fringe of world stage.
In
Nigeria, since the liberalisation of the telecommunications
industry, the creative ingenuity of the citizens of the country
have been challenged more than ever before and subsequently,
many hidden talents have shone like stars in the horizon.
Yet, only a handful of the citizens of the country with the
requisite training in ICT and its strategic management have
risen to positions of management in these telecommunications
services companies.
Indeed,
occupying the topmost position in any of the three leading
GSM businesses were the exclusive preserve of foreigners.
After all, there is no Nigerian with international topflight
management experience in this or similar industry. Even for
a company as young as Econet Wireless when it commenced operation
in Nigeria, its owners were more comfortable to have 28-year-old
Zachary Wazara, a Zimbabwean than have a Nigerian call the
shots in that company.

|
|
|
| |
|
|
|
|
|
| |
|
|
|
|
|
|
Media
Partner to these leading events |
|
3rd
Stakeholders' Forum, Lagos, May 19, 2008; Golden Gate
Restaurant, Ikoyi, Lagos
W.Afri.Tel
2008
Lagos, June 3-5; Ocean View, Victoria Island, Lagos


|
|


NITTA 2007 Platinum Sponsor

Subscribe
Now
|
|
| |
|
Copyright©
2007, BELMANG LIMITED
CITY
OFFICE: 1, Joel Ogunaike Street, GRA,
Opposite Lagos Country Club,
Ikeja, Lagos, Nigeria.
TEl. +234 1-270 7720 , +234(0)802 3121375, +234(0) 803 318 0808
email: info@ittelecomdigest.com
REGIONAL
OFFICE, SOUTH:
85, Mayne Avenue, Calabar, Nigeria
Tel: +234 87 772 669
|