TheNewsGuru

Tag: NITEL

  • Glo, always a moment to shine with the stars – By Okoh Aihe

    Glo, always a moment to shine with the stars – By Okoh Aihe

    On Monday, which was a public holiday, I was determined to control the factors that affect my mood. Reason being that why watching the newspaper review on a.m television, one of the pictures that really grabbed my attention was that of Lokoja submerged in water, followed by a banner headline in Leadership newspaper, After Hell, It’s Lokoja! Many Houses nearly covered or some totally covered by water, a bridge nearly unnoticeable, and movement and transportation in horrific abeyance.

    Life is facing near annihilation in Lokoja, Kogi State. The state government has not declared a state of emergency, and the federal government has responded with equal insane ineptitude and a seeming disdain for the pain of others. People have lost their homes, that is, those who were lucky to escape; farms are washed away or totally overwhelmed by some kind of torrents of water comparable to Noah’s deluge.

    Enough to herald a bad day, but not for me today. I will choose my colours and images, they have to be bright ones. I went to a stack of newspapers and pulled out a copy of Thisday of October 3, 2022, which I particularly like. It has a photo cover, World Champion Unveiled as GLO Ambassador. It is Tobi Amusan (Oluwatobilola Ayomide “Tobi” Amusan) smiling at the world.The other day she cried while being crowned at Oregon in the United States, for conquering the world of athletics. But it is harvest time now and the world can enjoy her beautiful smile and give a little harvest back for her efforts. The smile brightens the day and brings distant sunshine into touchable bloom.

    At the 2008 Beijing Olympics when Usain Bolt set a new 100m record, the commentator asked, where were you when Usain Bolt ran this race? The answer for me has been a constant; I was in the Vanguard Newsroom. If you refresh the question and ask, where were you when Tobi Amusan shattered the world record in Women’s 100metres Hurdles? I was home trying to read a novel and I couldn’t even concentrate because I couldn’t bear to see her not win that race? That night she won, shed tears of joy and brought tears to so many faces, as President Muhammadu Buhari himself would confirm. The nation had been starved of so much good news and she brought a whiff of it to us all.

    GLO again! The organisation has an uncanny way of arranging ambassadorial coronation for entertainers – musicians, actors and actresses, comedians, writers, sports personalities and a host of others, distinguishing themselves in their various fields of endeavour. Tobi is only the latest addition in that venerated pedigree of recognition.

    While Tobi expressed joy to Globacom chairman, Dr Mike Adenuga, Jr. for the opportunity, promising to represent the company well while affecting the younger generation, Lagos Regional Manager of the telecoms service provider, Lawrence Odediran, credited the athlete as follows: “She is an embodiment of the Nigerian spirit of resilience, hardwork,and enterprise which enabled her to excel irrespective of the enormity of the challenges she encountered in her quest for success.”

    In speaking about Tobi, Odediran has unwittingly given a summary of the Globacom story. The Globacom Chairman does not wear the colour of failure or frustration. He is foresighted and enjoys obdurate perseverance in pursuing his dreams.

    His journey into telecoms began with Communications Investment Limited (CIL), one of the winners of the digital mobile licence, popularly referred to as GSM, in 2001, but got interred in a puff of controversy. He reincarnated in Globacom in 2003 and took off with the blast of the wind. He doesn’t plan small but executes very big, leaving giant and legendary steps in his tracks.

    Globacom came into the telecoms market at a time two other companies were already enjoying commodious positioning in meeting the spongy demands of a people that had been denied telecom services. Yet Adenuga kept pleading that he knew how to make the impossible look very simple with refined ease and create a shock wave in a market where the low hanging fruits were already gone. Others had dug in, so where would the magic wand come from?

    Far away in the background but with the distance exaggerating his ever looming persona, Adenuga took his management team and a team of journalists into France and Germany to meet with equipment vendors and manufacturers, to state his needs and be able to communicate his activities back home. A native was coming into the telecoms market and the difference in service offering, going forward, would be as distinct as the shade between cheap red wine and burgundy.

    Per second billing was born in Glo wearing the colour of the nation. This was a little flashy green circle with some seductive white imprints. Those who conceptualised the brand scored an “A.” It has been a dream ride for the organisation except for the market challenges which, in our nation, are rife, mostly fuelled by bad governance and an intolerable inability to read the signs of a changing world and its nuanced demands.

    Glo is a product of grit and determination and unrepentant self belief. Because building out a telecoms network is not really the same thing as picking up a beautiful piece of cake from Chocolate Royale, Adenuga had to prepare himself to play with the big boys in the continent’s telco ecosystem. And by himself, he introduced the fear factor by building an underwater fibre optics cable, Glo-1, from Europe to Africa with the cable landing in some countries before terminating in Lagos, Nigeria. Before this time, only NITEL represented Nigeria in SAT-3 which belonged to a consortium of 48 telecom operators across the globe. The Globacom brave heart shouldered that challenging responsibility with salutary effrontery and national pride.

    Being a businessman, Adenuga knew how to build from scratch upwards. This is why he may have dedicated his network to supporting and telling the story of ordinary guys, people from very inconsequential backgrounds who have become some kind of global rage. At other times it is to reinforce the narrative of a beautiful culture which Nigeria has contributed copiously to the world in a very distinguished way.

    From Music to Nollywood, and from Sports to Creative Writing and other endeavours, Glo covers them all with a most fascinating brand umbrella. At one point in 2015, Glo announced the signing on of 28 brand ambassadors drawn from various fields. Since then the collection has only grown richer. Whether it is the story of Odion Ighalo, the footballer, Anthony Joshua, the boxer,  Wizkid, the musician, our own RMD, the ageless, dimple-faced lady’s eye-popper of Nollywood,  and the very recent Tobi Amusan, there is always something positive, a story that elevates from the dust to stardom, a traction between the building of a brand and the promotion of culture through personal struggles and little victories that coalesce in moments of national glory and international recognition, Glo has yielded its platform and resources to nurturing an enchanting tradition that will shine gloriously into the future.

    One night in June 2008, Adenuga simply overwhelmed the little country of the Republic of Benin with one of Nigeria’s cultural exponents and export, and frontline Glo ambassador, Chief Sunny Ade, to announce the launch of Glo services in that nation. If Cotonou didn’t feel the impact of Adenuga and Sunny Ade that night, then truth is accidented in the world.

    There is always a shade of difference around Glo and that shade is expounded in national colours through our numerous stars and national heroes. Tobi is donning the Glo appurtenances now and many more will follow. In consideration of all this, Glo for me, remains a number one brand ambassador for the nation and should be allowed to enjoy some privileges, the sort enjoyed by such outfits in other parts of the world.

  • Atiku finds a place in telecoms history – By Okoh Aihe

    Atiku finds a place in telecoms history – By Okoh Aihe

    It was my friend’s day last week, July 7, 2022. Aaron Ukodie, Arumata, as l call him with fond love, excavated a piece of telecoms history and burnished it into the nation’s telecoms walk of fame, that will outlive all of us, even those who pray to live forever. 

    One of the very few pedantic guys in the journalism profession who is given to sustained scholarship, Ukodie released yet another book on the telecommunications industry, titled: Nigeria Drivers of Digital Prosperity. This is not a review of the book, which will come with time but I salute his tenacious spirit and such a selfless commitment to force a reading culture on a people that are mostly discomfited by unhealthy politics and epidemic misgovernance.

    The beauty of non-fictive work is its capacity to be contentious while equally yielding opportunities for verifications. The constellation of faces at the event is a validation that Ukodie has attributed honour to those deserving apart from a few faces that were obviously interlopers and of little consequence to the industry as far as history is concerned. 

    The story of telecoms growth in Nigeria which Ukodie will not let go, is an emotional one. Those born after 2001 and grew up to the fancy of mobile phones would not know that for years Nigeria’s telecoms industry was compared to the worst in the world; people who were not fortunate and rich enough to own a table phone (and there were less than 350, 000 for the nation’s huge population),  went to stay in NITEL offices across the nation to make or receive international calls. We lived with that situation and lived with so many governments who didn’t know what to do about the sector and truly held the people down to Stone Age practices. 

    One day the story changed. Events from 1999 preceded this. One of those on ground to unveil Ukodie’s book was Alhaji Atiku Abubakar, the presidential candidate of the People’s Democratic Party (PDP) who was hailed in the book for being a primary player in the events leading to an industry tipping point in 2001. 

    Speaking through Barrister Uyi Giwa-Osagie, Atiku who thanked Ukodie for giving him a place in the chronicles of the telecoms industry, recalled the times leading to a groundswell of growth in the industry, adding that it is possible now to take the industry to the next level of growth. As Vice President and head of the economic team which included some of the best brains Nigeria offers the world, Atiku witnessed first hand the fruits of modern telecommunications technology and its transformative capacity in the life of a nation. 

    In his words, “The evolution of the country’s ICT and telecoms industry, started with the GSM which was launched in August 2001 under our administration, and has since revolutionized the face of ICT in Nigeria. In February 2002, I inaugurated a 22-member Telecommunications Sector Reform Implementation Committee, aimed at increasing access to phone services for Nigerians, primarily through the GSM, and further facilitated all necessary licensing for GSM to come into effect in Nigeria. This is an achievement I am entirely proud of and further reinforces my credentials as a digitally inclined leader, aware of revolutions that need to take place for our country to move forward and reach her full potential.”

    He confessed that “as a leader, I have seen first hand the significant impact digital technology creates across the different sectors of our economy, and the endless opportunities that remain untapped.  On this continuous journey, I feel a responsibility to continue to support Nigeria and the young people of Nigeria, on its digitization agenda, and this forms a core part of my campaign promise and delivery to the Nation, in my current quest to be the next President of the Federal Republic of Nigeria, come May 29, 2023.”

    This was the peg line for most of the stories that were published from that event. It is my opinion that track records are important. They become more ennobling if the holder initiated a process which with more understanding, he further wants to consolidate. The problem with us is that quite a number of people canvassing for public office have little to point to apart from an entitlement mentality or just to fulfil an ambition that invalidates other people’s pride and claim to humanity.

    One other significant development for me was Atiku’s profuse acknowledgment of the contributions of other people who made up the team, unlike most other politicians who think every achievement is traced to their might and brilliance. He demonstrated that he is a team player with a knack to mobilise rich human resources to achieve results. He readily commended the role of the regulator, the Nigerian Communications Commission (NCC) and a number of the industry players who were in that hall.

    Engr Ernest Ndukwe was in the hall. The man who eventually earned the sobriquet, Mr GSM (by the way, GSM means global system for mobile communications), told a gathering at a programme in Abuja in October last year, that Atiku had a hand in his appointment as the Executive Vice Chairman (EVC) of the NCC and also created such a perfect working relationship for the Commission to flower into a growth that would attract the envy of the world. Atiku was at that event in Abuja as well and his repartee jolted memories of a period in history that landmark achievements could easily be pointed to. 

    Dr Emmanuel Ekuwem, Secretary to the Government of Akwa Ibom who was an industry player at the time also answered the call by Ukodie. Each time we needed to canvass deep knowledge of the industry, each time we needed somebody to bring simple understanding to tech lingos, Ekuwem was there as a ready resource personality. 

    So it is a little bit nauseating for me that so much  invectives flow in the social media and Atiku attracts quite a percentage, which is plainly ironic. Here you have a man who played a primary role in instigating a process that put mobile phones in the hands of his people becoming a victim of a system that would fail progressively, as governments come and go.

    I do not expect the younger generation to understand the emotions that swirl inside me. But I remain grateful to former President Olusegun Obasanjo and his vice, Alhaji Atiku Abubakar for their unselfishness in bringing life and growth to the telecommunications sector. It was shameful at the time, really embarrassing to travel to a remote part of the world and be unable to communicate with people at home. 

    It is not only personal communications that were enabled. Their effort provided an enabling superstructure to carry the rest of the industries, whether manufacturing, engineering, construction, banking, entertainment, hospitality business, ticketing for road, rail and air travels, social relationships and in fact in nearly every strand of life. Telecommunications affect them all. 

    We were never part of the global telecoms story except when consigned to failure. The lethargy and official myopia in high places now also enjoyed preponderance pre 1999 when the base for a change of story was gradually erected. My little appeal is that when you hold that little tool – mobile phone – in your hand and you plan to do evil with it, always be constrained by the fact that those who brought it to Nigeria meant well. 

  • Subsea cables as metaphor for a great future – By Okoh Aihe

    Subsea cables as metaphor for a great future – By Okoh Aihe

    There is a point at which a point of advantage becomes a curse especially if the possessor fails or refuses to mine it’s advantages with the hope and prayer that it will last forever. They fail to observe the speedy evolutionary process of the world, especially in the tech ecosystem, with the fervent prayer that what they hold will become a holy grail.

    My mind is on the SAT-3/WASC undersea cable for which NITEL was the subscriber on behalf of Nigeria. The cable connects Nigeria to some countries in Africa – South Africa and the west coast, and Europe. Nigeria’s subscription to the cable was domiciled in NITEL. At the time the cable was a goldmine and NITEL, occupying the position of industry peacock, enjoyed the advantage while it lasted. Thankfully, I am sincerely encouraged that the cable did not join the realm of the dodos but has remained functional and useful.

    Instead, what has happened is that the ecosystem is changing fast and the continent is simply enjoying some advantages of undersea cable bombardment, literally, being an emerging realm of humanity that holds significant economic promises which the rest of the world is scrambling to benefit from.

    The scramble began from our home front. Some smart investors had looked at the industry to get to the understanding that it could be likened to the big elephant which the beholder can define from different perspectives . The shape and size of the market was beyond what NITEL could handle and they decided to play an audacious role. Glo invested in Glo-1 submarine cable from Europe. It was the first time an individual in the person of Mike Adenuga would undertake such an economic daredevil adventure. Almost at the same time, MainOne, boldly and ingeniously marshalled by Judith Opeke, was weaving another magic loom to be the first woman ever in Nigeria to lead an enterprise to undertake such a risky but profitable venture. The MainOne high capacity cable was born. Just by way of explaining the importance and growing relevance of such enterprise, the business was sold to an American company, Equinix for $320m in 2021.

    There are other ones, translating into what one can describe as submarine cable boom for Africa, thus increasing capacity and data and internet capabilities. They include: SEAS, SEACOM, TEAMs, EASSy, LION, LION2, Africa-1, PEACE, METISS, DARE-1, METISS, ELLALINK and ACE, among others. The interesting story is that from a seeming disadvantaged position just about two decades ago, the continent is awash with cable penetration. The speed is measured in several terabits per second. There seems to be interest and excitement in the unfolding market and that interest is not waning at all.

    However, the conversation around cable penetration in Africa has only heightened with recent developments, exemplified in the landing of the Google cable in Lagos. Creatively named Equiano in order to enjoy some historical recall, the cable launch attracted lots of government and industry attention but equally brought renewed interest on the necessity and economic potential of such a project, and why Google would be the one to put funds into executing the project. The future Equiano holds for the country couldn’t be buried in the high level politics which tried to steal its importance. The lesson however being that a significant tech development has just taken place in the country, more so, when the funding was external at a time Nigeria is in perpetual low.

    In announcing the development, Google’s West Africa Director, Juliet Ehimuan-Chiazor, waxed lyrical in a note which was also laced with some analytics,

    “Nigeria is sub-Saharan Africa’s largest economy. Still, the share of people using the internet stood at approximately 35% as of 2020 – double what it was in 2012. Across much of the country, people lack affordable, reliable & quality access, which limits their ability to benefit from, and contribute to, the digital economy.”

    She acknowledged the digital transformation initiatives of the government since 2017,

    which have proven pivotal to the success of many industries in the country, especially the start-up space. In the last five years, start-ups in Nigeria have produced five unicorns (start-ups valued at over a billion dollars). Businesses are also benefiting significantly from the usage of internet platforms, with total e-commerce annual expenditure predicted to climb to $75 billion by 2025, up from its current projection of US $12 billion.

    Equiano, she informed, is expected to deliver up to 20 times more capacity than the region’s prior cables.

    “A recent economic impact assessment conducted by Africa Practice and Genesis Analytics states that Equiano’s arrival in Nigeria is expected to result in faster internet speeds and significantly improve people’s experiences while online. Internet speeds in Nigeria are expected to grow almost six fold by 2025, and retail internet prices are forecasted to decline by 21% over the same period. The same study found that by 2025, real GDP in Nigeria is forecast to be USD 10.1 billion higher than it otherwise would have been without Equiano and that the cable would indirectly generate roughly 1.6 million new jobs between 2022 and 2025,” she said.

    No politician sees a begging opportunity and leaves it unharvested. Pursuing a ready advantage, the Lagos State Governor, Mr Babajide Sanwo-Olu, soaked in the euphoria of an unfolding history.

    “There is much to be excited about, at a time like this in the unfolding history of Lagos State and of Nigeria. We are seeing an unprecedented inflow of investments into every part of Lagos, from local and foreign investors who understand the immense business and commercial potential that the State symbolizes. We say it often, that wherever Lagos goes, Nigeria and West Africa follow. With this in mind, as the government of Lagos State, we are more than ever determined to deliver on our promise to make and maintain Lagos as a safe, livable, innovative and prosperous megacity,” he enthused.

    If you were in the Governor’s shoes, you would say even more. Lagos is the commercial pride of the nation. Despite some clumsiness in handling some issues, it has endured the vicissitudes of a troubled nation. Lagos is the state playing host to all the cable dramas in the country. But interpreting what is happening there seems to give the indication that the world takes us too seriously as a nation. Here is a country that gives just 3,500 megawatts of electricity to its over 200m population while another country within Africa, just about five hours of flight time from Nigeria, gives about 60,000 megawatts to a population of 50m.

    The world takes us too seriously. But they are right because they see what our leaders don’t see. They look at the nation’s contribution to the global human capital index, they look at survival instincts of the tech companies that make up the tech ecosystem in Nigeria, and how well they are doing, they look are the floundering huge population immersed in harsh socio-political climate, which someday, will survive their various governments to pry open the appurtenances of the last big market in the world.

    The stats are too strong to fail. The collage of subsea cables in Lagos presents an instructive metaphor of a beautiful but promising future that the nation must approach with deliberate speed and caution. This future is too bright to be betrayed. A communications superstructure is being put in place at a huge cost to the investors. The responsibility of the government is to create the right channels and opportunities for the citizenry to take advantage of such efforts.

  • FG’s $400M Telecom Project: In Whose Interest?

    FG’s $400M Telecom Project: In Whose Interest?

    Bashir Aliyu

    In a nation where government’s missteps and anti people’s policies and measures appear to be the norm, the recent dust raised over the federal government’s decision to secure a $400 million loan for Information and Technology Backbone Infrastructure from the NEXIM Bank of China under some conditions with grave implications for the nation’s sovereignty needs to be properly dissected to appreciate why it is ill-suited for the nation at this point in time.

    Between 2015 and 2020, Nigeria’s external debt profile has risen from $9.7 billion to $27 billion. Last May, the government requested the National Assembly to approve addition N5.51 trillion external borrowing to fund its revised 2020 budget. That brings the country’s total external borrowing to about N41.6 trillion. There are fears that the country may be heading towards economic enslavement, particularly in the hands of China.

    Just recently, the House of Representatives Committee on Treaties, Protocols and Agreements, identified some clauses in one of such loans to be sourced from China- the $400 million loan for the National Information and Communications Technology Infrastructure Backbone (NICTIB) Phase II project. In identifying with public outcry, the lawmakers had pointed out that such terms and conditions are potential threats to the sovereignty of Nigeria.
    In 2018, Galaxy Backbone Limited, the agency through which the government is executing the project said it had completed the first phase of the project but industry stakeholders were not excited about the claim as the benefits of the projects are yet to be felt by the public.

    Beyond the potential threats to the nation’s sovereignty, there are question over why the government is taking loans to compete with investors in an industry that it has handed over to the private sector? Globally, governments have been identified as lacking in ability and capability to run businesses profitably like the private sector. At least that is the experience in this country.

    In the telecom sector where the government is making moves to establish its presence ones again through this questionable loan, the experience has not been a particularly rewarding one. The privatization of Nitel, the government’s former telecommunications monopoly, was a protracted one. The reason was because the enterprise was ran aground before government offered it for sale. When it eventually did, many investors were not keen about buying the enterprise. It was obvious that the government failed in managing the assets of the corporation profitably and to the benefits of Nigerians.
    It is noteworthy that, in order to expand their services and make millions of their subscribers have access to fast internet services, NATCOM, the successor company of Nitel, glo and other telecom operators have invested heavily and are currently developing telecoms infrastructure similar to the one the federal government is taking a $400 million loan. They are all doing this with admirable progress and success. Why then would the regulator suddenly become a competitor in a business where it ought to be overseeing the activities of players and providing the enabling climate for businesses to thrive? The government’s decision to raise this humongous loan, therefore, raises suspicion as to whether the country is not embarking on yet another ego trip; wherher some people in government are not just into this for self- aggrandismentand and ulterior motives.
    Why would the government go into a venture it has no competence to run? Given past experiences where government failed woefully to run businesses profitably, what is the rationale behind the new move to compete with the private sector investors? This move is, in all ramifications, suspect, if not dubious.

    More worrisome is the fact that the government is not plunging into this with resources that are available and handy, but through a contentious loan arrangement that has the potential of bringing much problems for the nation in future. This is an avoidable misadventure; one that the government can do without.
    Nitel is a classical example of how bad government is in managing business. Here was a public enterprise with vast assets across the country but the government allowed most of its structures and valuable assets to rot away. As at the time of its privatization, foreign investors viewed the entire enterprise as one huge junk. But NATCOM, a consortium led by local investors braved the odds and acquired the ailing enterprise at a cost no foreign invest would have attempted to long after several investors, foreign and local, had distanced themselves from the enterprise.
    For the massive investments they have made in the telecom sector, what local investors and indeed, stakeholders in the Nigerian economy expect from the government is to create the enabling environment for the investors to be able to access foreign capitals to execute their projects rather than competing with them in sourcing foreign loans which can only put the fragile economy under further considerable pressure.

    Only last May, the Paul Budde Communications’ focus report on Nigeria indicated that several microwave and fibre-based national backbone networks are being rolled out by various companies. As part of its efforts to boost telecommunication services in Nigeria and the rest of West Africa, Globacom, one of the major operators, in 2018, began the construction of its multi-billion naira optic fibre submarine cable named Glo 2, an ultra high speed facility. This telecom infrastructure, the first of its kind to land outside Lagos, was built from the existing Glo 1 landing station along the Alpha beach axis in Lagos.
    Similarly, in a more definitive move to offer the best of telecom services to its subscribers, Ntel has shown strong commitment to deliver cutting-edge broadband based solution that utilises the best technology – SAT 3, which is the first undersea-cable that connects West Africa to Europe, South Africa and Asia.

    It is disheartening that rather than building on the modest achievements the country has recorded in the privatisation of state owned enterprises under successive administrations, government officials appear to be taking the country many steps backward. They have failed to learn from the good examples of better economies.
    In the United Kingdom, for instance, privatization programme repositioned its economy and placed it on an upward paths since the 1980s and 90s when the state began to divest from public enterprises. According to Harvard Business review, by 1979, the borrowings and losses of state-owned industries were running at about three billion pounds a year. But from 1989 to 1990, companies privatised by the Thatcher government fattened the government purse by some two billion pounds. Economic experts say the success story of privatization under the Thatcher administration was due to political will and uprightness of the government at the time. That is a lesson for the Nigerian government.

    In South Africa, President Cyril Ramaphosa ran an electioneering campaign, promising privatization of state-owned enterprises. Although there were initial doubts and questions about its desirability, even those who were opposed to it later realized that Ramaphosa’s deep understanding of how businesses works around the world was not questionable. Privatisation of state owned businesses is now seeing as the elixir that can bring back that country’s economy back to sound health. In 1984, Japan liberalised its monopolies in the tobacco and salt industries. That was followed by the privatization of its telecommunications and railway services a few years after. Following the success story of the privatization of those enterprises, the state went ahead and privatised several infrastructural assets such as roads, bridges and buildings.

    In these countries and indeed, several other countries, government showed commitment to supporting the private sector. And there is no instance of turning back to become a competitor with private sector investors who had staked their monies to turn-around moribund enterprises.

    This is what the managers of the Nigeria economy must imbibe and adhere to at this point of our economic trajectory. The move to source $400 Million to build ICT backbone infrastructure by the federal government is certainly not in the interest of the nation and should be jettisoned forthwith.

    Aliyu, an IT Engineer, wrote in from Kano

  • UBA breaks silence on N41bn NITEL fraud allegations

    UBA breaks silence on N41bn NITEL fraud allegations

    The Management of United Bank for Africa (UBA) has described the alleged N41 billion fraud levied against some of the principal officers of the bank as untrue, misleading, malicious, and libelous, adding that it should be disregarded in its entirety.

    This was disclosed in a statement issued by the bank to the Nigerian Stock Exchange and signed by the company’s secretary, Bili Odum, on Friday.

    Media reports in some online blogs (not TheNewsGuru.com TNG) alleged that some top shots of the bank were “indicted” prompting the bank to issue a denial via a press release.

    In the Statement To The Nigerian Stock Exchange on False Reports in the Media, the bank stated that “it has set in motion all appropriate legal actions to ensure that the misleading reports are retracted and the perpetrators held accountable for their actions”.

    It also stated that it will “continue to conduct its business in line with global best corporate governance practices, extant laws, and regulations,” as it has done in over 70 years of operations.

    TheNewsGuru.com TNG reports that counsel to NITEL, J.U Ayofu recently petitioned the Senate Committee Chairman on Ethics, Privileges and Public Petitions about the alleged fraud. The committee chairman, Senator Ayo Akinyelure, claimed the ”the N41billion alleged fraud was committed against the defunct Telecommunications company and National Carrier, NITEL”

    They alleged the amount was withdrawn “systematically from NITEL for nine years” under the leadership of the bank.

    Senate Committee Chairman on Ethics, Privileges and Public Petitions, Mr. Ayo Akinyelure, reportedly said, “The N41 billion alleged fraud was committed against the defunct telecommunications company and national carrier, NITEL.

    According to the reports, in view of this, the senate committee has summoned the Group Managing Director/CEO of UBA, Mr. Kennedy Uzoka, to appear before it on Wednesday, August 5, 2020 to clear the lingering allegations against the bank’s principal officers.

  • Data new price floor regime saga not over yet, says NCC

    Data new price floor regime saga not over yet, says NCC

    The Nigerian Communications Commission (NCC) has said the battle over the new price floor regime for data is not won yet.

    Speaking at a Special Media Interaction event held at the Sheraton Hotel and Tower Ikeja, Lagos Nigeria, the NCC Director, Consumer Affairs Bureau, Alhaji Abdullahi Maikano said the new price floor regime for data is essentially to provide a level playing field for all operators in the telecoms space, and to encourage small operators and new entrants to acquire market share and operate profitably just so they do not face insolvency.

    TheNewsGuru reports the NCC announced the intention to establish the new price floor regime for data in November last year; but the intention was halted by the intervention of the Nigerian Senate.

    “Many believe that the Senate must have misread the lines when it asked the regulator to suspend the introduction of the price floor regime.

    “The Senate and the NCC are in the public interest. The only difference is that whereas the Senate acted for the immediate satisfaction of the telecoms consumer, the regulator from its commanding height as the driver of the industry acted for the good of the consumer in the long run.

    “Besides, the action of the regulators is not just in the interest of the telecoms consumer but also in the interest of the nation,” an article titled “2017: Year of the Telecom Consumer” in the publication of the NCC, The Communicator, read.

    The Executive Vice Chairman (EVC) of the NCC, Prof. Umar Garba Danbatta, had told the Senate Committee on Communication that the intervention of the regulatory agency was not designed to undermine the consumers, neither was it also intended to undermine the operators but to find a common ground whereby all stakeholders (operators and consumers) would enjoy the gains of participatory regulation which the regulator is noted for.

    “We wanted to protect the Nigerian consumer from unhealthy price war in what may lead to a monopoly that may lead us to the days of NITEL.

    “We did not increase any price but merely provided a regulatory standard to protect small operators,” the EVC of the NCC said.

    The NCC said, however, that small operators and new entrants are exempted from the new data price floor regime. The NCC defined small operators to mean any operator with less than 7.5 percent of the market share, and defined new entrants as any operator that has operated for less than three years in the Nigerian market.

    Meanwhile, telecoms services provider, Globacom Nigeria, has already re-capitalized its data prices. 12GIG that previously goes for N3,000.00 has been reduced to 6GIG for the same amount. All other of GLO data plans, both the 3G and 4G data plans were affected as well.

  • Data price hike: Senate meets NCC, Telcos

    Data price hike: Senate meets NCC, Telcos

    Following the Nigerian Communications Commission (NCC) u-turn on data tariff increase, the Nigerian Senate committee on communications on Tuesday met with the telecommunications regulatory body and major telecommunications company in Nigeria to determine the correct pricing for data.

    It could be recalled that telecom operators announced intention signalled by the NCC to increase data price effective December 1, which was halted by the Nigerian Senate with a mandate on the Senate committee on communications to investigate the proposed hike in data tariff.

    While the NCC had since made the u-turn without implementing the increase, and the Minister of Communications, Adebayo Shittu, has said the Federal Government (FG) of Nigeria never authorized NCC to hike data tariffs, indications from the investigative meeting held yesterday, both the NCC and the telecoms operators are bent-on on hiking data price.

    Speaking at the meeting, the Vice Chairman of the Committee, Senator Solomon Adeola, relayed the Senate’s concern over the proposed data price increase. Senator Adeola said that Nigerians were united in their opposition that the proposed increase in the price of data should be stopped. According to the senator, the hike in data price was ill-advised especially with the biting economic situation in the country.

    The Executive Vice Chairman of NCC, Mr Umar Danbatta, while addressing the committee, said that the intervention of the NCC was not designed to rip-off the consumers. Danbatta explained that if cheap prices were introduced, they may end up undermining the telecom service operators.

    According to Danbatta, the need to avert crisis in the telecom industry informed the introduction of the interim price floor for data services – ₦0.90k per megabyte.

    “We wanted to protect the Nigerian consumer from unhealthy price war in what may lead to a monopoly that may lead us to the days of NITEL,” Danbatta said.

    “We did not increase any price but merely provided a regulatory standard to protect small telecom operators,” he added.

    In the defence of the NCC, Danbatta said that there were some telecom operators that lacked the capacity to compete with the big operators in the field. Therefore, the ₦0.90k price floor for data was a benchmark below which no operator could sell.

    The Communications Minister at the meeting said that in reality the telecom service providers were operating under unfriendly business environment including lack of electricity and increasing security challenges.

    “This is one area that I believe that we all must face the reality. The government in its wisdom, and I am happy the National Assembly, promulgated the National Communications Act which required that there be established an NCC.

    “If you look at the NCC law, it is positioned to reflect experiences, expertise and all of that and I want to believe that there must not be too many interventions in the activities of the NCC,” Shittu said.

    Adebayo Shittu while reflecting on the data hike pointed out that the NCC was deficient at properly communicating the new price floor to the public. He, however, appealed to the Senate to assist in the area of holding the balance between the interest of the operators and the interest of the Nigerian masses.

    The Chief Executive Officer (CEO) of Etisalat, Matthew Willsher, while speaking to the Senate Committee said that the absence of a price floor is a major problem, adding that the absence of a data price floor led to the dramatic decline in data pricing.

    Ferdinand Moolman, CEO of MTN, who was also in attendance spoke about the impact of inflation on the sector. Mr Moolman asked that the NCC does a proper cost and price analysis which will factor in the current inflation in the country.

    Moolman said, “All of us aware that inflation is going up to 17 to 18 per cent, we have experienced price increase in all other sectors yet we have seen price drop in the telecoms sector in the last two or three years and you have heard this said by a number of speakers”.

    Addressing the committee’s concerns on the data price hike, Danbatta explained that the NCC does not set prices but provide regulatory safe guides.

    Danbatta made it clear to the Senate Committee that the NCC would conduct an extensive scientific research to determine the correct pricing for data that would be acceptable to Nigerians.