Cable operators accuse NCC of rip-off!

LOCAL investors have accused the Nigerian Communications Commission, NCC, of colluding with foreign broadcast outfits to rip-off the Nigerian economy by not providing a level playing ground between local and foreign competitors.

The local investors under the Association of Cable Operators of Nigeria, ACON, accused  NCC of  selective enforcement of its regulations in a manner favouring dominance of foreign programmes, encouraging loss of national income and eroding local culture and values.

ACON during a public outcry anchored by Kunle Osisanya-Afolabi and hosted by Chief Joe Unuame, Chairman of Warri based Worldlink Communications Limited, said  “It’s a surprise that the Nigerian airwaves has progressively surrendered to foreign control for commercial reasons without provision for sustainable growth of the local industry especially at the level of Terrestrial Pay TV.

“In the envisaged merger of Nigerian Broadcasting  Corporation, NBC and NCC, we urge the authorities to value broadcasting as a veritable tool for championing the sovereignty of our country and platform for promoting our cultures. Therefore,  be mindful of its sensitivities in considering its conditions of acquisition and operation.

“Cable operators are taken aback by DSTV/Multichoice’s roll out of cable service in their GOTV platform despite being licenced for mobile TV service. We wonder if separate laws or operating policies are made for certain operators while the local industry is stifled. We detest this unfair treatment and call on the authorities to immediately stop the GOTV service as it is being presently deployed and commissioned in Nigeria.”

ACON senses that foreign operators are being sponsored by their various home governments in post-colonial move to take over the economy with the regulators turning blind eye to these remote moves and is therefore, demanding a level playing ground from the regulators as a way of curbing the foreign dominance and loss of national income in order to encourage the growth of local industry.

IT departments wont exist in five years.Generation gap between new technologists and old is widening and will lead to a restructuring of the today's IT shop, say experts at CITE conference

Consumerization of IT and self-service trends will lead to a restructuring of the today's IT shop, leaving behind a hybrid model consisting of tech consultants and integrators. "The business itself will be the IT department. [Technologists] will simply be the enabler," said Brandon Porco, chief technologist & solutions architect at Northrop Grumman"Porco was part of a four-person panel of technologists who answered audience questions during a town hall-style meeting at the CITE Conference and Expo this week.  Among concerns raised is whether IT is losing control as consumer technology becomes part and parcel of everyone's work in the enterprise, and the data center is left behind.Others said they are not sure how to address a growing generation gap between young and veteran workers, each of whom are comfortable with different technologies. "Interns coming in for the summer are asked if they're familiar with Google Apps. They say, 'Of course we are,'" said Nathan McBride, vice president of IT & chief cloud architect at AMAG Pharmaceuticals. "Then we have other employees coming in who worked for other companies who say, 'I need Outlook.' We have to say we don't use that anymore."  McBride said 75 Fortune 100 companies now use Google Apps along with most Ivy League schools, meaning that the next generation of workers won't be users of Microsoft Exchange or Office.In five years, McBride said, companies will have to ensure they're matching their enabling technology to the demographic of that time. Kathleen Schaub, vice president of research firm IDC's CMO Advisory Practice, said many corporate IT organizations now report to the head of the business unit it's assigned to.  "The premise is that wherever IT sits in an organization will dictate what they care about," she said. "If they're in finance, they'll care about cost cutting. If they're in operations, they'll care about process management. If [the company] decides it wants to focus on the customer, they'll put it in marketing." While the CIO position will likely remain in an enterprise, his or her role will morph into a technology forecaster and strategist, rather than a technology implementer, according to Porco.

John Mancini, CEO of the Association for Information and Image Management (AIIM), agreed with Porco, saying that in the consumer technology era, it's the business side that has all the tools, so it will be able to trump IT's desire to control who uses what and how.  While the business can dictate the service or technology it wants, McBride said IT can still decide the flavor of technology.

For example, when AMAG business users asked for Microsoft's Visio tool set for diagraming and creating flow charts, McBride's team found a less expensive, Web-based tool, LucidChart. "That was only $15 a seat," he said, adding that users were just as happy. "We're not trying to be ahead of the technology curve and we don't' want to be behind, but we're trying to maintain pace in order to know what they're going to ask for next before they ask for it," McBride said.Porco said he takes advantage of university partnerships and take cues from entrepreneurial centers throughout the U.S. such as Seattle and Denver to keep his finger on the pulse of tech innovation.

How wearable tech will fuel the Internet of things Google Glasses, other wearable tech will yield wealth of valuable real-time data, but companies must protect users' privacy

Wearable technologies like Google Glasses, the Nike+ FuelBand, and Autographer are still in their infancy, but they've managed to pique the interest of organizations and users alike. A new study from Rackspace titled "The Human Cloud: Wearable Technology from Novelty to Productivity" reports that 18 percent of the population in the United States and United Kingdom are using wearable technology, and the majority of those users (82 percent of Americans and 71 percent of Brits) say these devices are making their lives better.  Beyond providing users with real-time data about their health or an augmented view of the world, wearable technologies will form an integral part of the "Internet of things," the logical evolution of the cloud and big data.  The idea is to enable sensor-equipped "things" to communicate with one another in meaningful, actionable ways.  For that to happen, though, companies need to take care not to scare off would-be users by failing to address their privacy concerns. "The rich data created by wearable tech will drive the rise of the 'human cloud' of personal data," said Chris Brauer, co‐director of CAST at Goldsmiths, University of London.  "With this comes countless opportunities to tap into this data; whether it's connecting with third parties to provide more tailored and personalized services or working closer with health care institutions to get a better understanding of their patients."Brauer predicted that the public sector will also embrace wearable technology to manage and oversee public health and smart city programs. Companies and government agencies are certainly interested in the potential of wearable technology and its impact on the Internet of things -- but users also realize those benefits, according to the report. The study found that 47 percent of wearable technology users felt more intelligent; 61 percent felt more informed; 37 percent said wearables helped their career advancement; and 61 percent claimed that their personal efficiency improved. One of the most significant barriers to broad adoption of wearable technology is privacy concerns.  According to Rackspace's report, 51 percent of Americans and Brits have those concerns. Almost two-thirds said that Google Glass and other wearable devices should be regulated in some form, and another 20 percent opined that such devices should be outright banned. "Wearable technologies face the same challenges as any other new product that represents a change in consumer activities, albeit that in the digital age the challenges can seem more daunting, said Jack Higgins, a digital media lawyer at Sheridans in London.  "On the one hand, some wearable technologies do not represent any privacy or any other rights issues as they interact solely with the user.  On the other hand, when wearable technologies interact with other people and the environment around the user, then potential privacy or copyright issues can arise, although it's important to remember that these issues already exist, but the new technology typically makes it easier to happen." What remains to be seen is, will how much responsibility will manufacturers take in educating users about the privacy risks associated with wearables, and how much the government will have to step in with regulations to curb the misuse of the technology. Interestingly, 19 percent of Brits and 22 percent of Americans surveyed said that they would be willing to use a wearable devices that monitors location for central government activity, and one in three respondents said they would be willing to use a wearable health and fitness monitor that shares personal data with the NHS or health care provider.

Competition is heating up in the Mobile Market

The use of smartphones have really come to stay and at the rate in which it is gaining publicity is not likely to stop. Here is a recent news on its growth percentage.,
Android and iOS, the number one and number two ranked smartphone respectively, operating systems worldwide, accounted for 92.3 per cent of all smartphone shipments during the first quarter of 2013 as Windows Phone crept past BlackBerry for third place.

According to the IDC Worldwide Quarterly Mobile Phone Tracker, Android smartphone vendors and Apple shipped a total of 199.5 million units worldwide during Q1 2013, up by 59.1 per cent from the 125.4 million units shipped during Q1 2012.

“Underpinning the worldwide smartphone market is the constantly shifting operating system landscape,” Research Manager with IDC’s Mobile Phone team, Mr. Ramon Llamas, said in a statement.

 “Android and iOS accounted for more than the lion’s share of smartphones in the first quarter, but a closer examination of the other platforms reveals turnaround and demand for alternatives. Windows Phone has benefited from Nokia’s participation, and BlackBerry’s new BB10 devices have already hit a million units shipped in its first quarter of availability,” he added.

The senior research analyst with IDC’s Worldwide Quarterly Mobile Phone Tracker,  Mr. Kevin Restivo, said, “Windows phone claiming the third spot is a first and helps validate the direction taken by Microsoft and key partner Nokia.

“Given the relatively low volume generated, the Windows phone camp will need to show further gains to solidify its status as an alternative to Android or iOS.”

Android remains the leader in the smartphone operating system market, increasing its market share despite the seasonality working against the entire smartphone market in the first quarter.

Samsung was once again the clear leader among all Android smartphone vendors, commanding 41.1 per cent market share, according to the report.

 Following Samsung was a long list of vendors with single-digit market share, and an even longer list of vendors with market share less than one per cent.

The intra-Android competition has not stifled companies from keeping Android as the cornerstone of their respective smartphone strategies, but has upped the ante to innovate proprietary experiences.

Apple iOS marked its largest ever first quarter volume on the strength of its iPhone shipment volumes, yet the operating system posted a year-over-year decline in market share and lower year-over-year shipment growth than the overall market.

Although demand remains strong worldwide, the iOS experience has remained largely the same since the first iPhone debuted in 2007. That appears ready to change as online rumors and speculation predict a massive overhaul of the user interface when iOS 7 debuts.

Windows Phone posted the largest year-over-year gain among the leading operating systems, more than doubling its size from a year ago.

Nokia was largely responsible for driving these volumes higher, accounting for 79 per cent of all Windows phone shipments during the quarter.

Since Nokia began shipping Windows phone devices, the company has shipped a total of 20.3 million units and grown the footprint worldwide to include address multiple market segments.

Meanwhile, other vendors continue to offer Windows phone devices, but mainly as an alternative to their signature Android devices. Still, the gains made by Windows Phone demonstrate both end-user demand and OEM support.

BlackBerry realised double-digit declines from a year ago, but this masks the progress that the company has made since then.

In its first quarter of availability, BlackBerry formally introduced and shipped more than a million units running on its new BB10 platform, a significant breakthrough for the company. At the same time, BlackBerry still relied on its BB7 smartphones for the majority of its shipment volume, which, due to their lower prices, were well received within key markets.

Now these is for the Blackberry users and also those that deal in foreign currency. Here is an application that helps in converting different currencies from all over the world.
Its the 

XE Currency App for BlackBerry......

For more information please visit this link http://www.xe.com/apps/blackberry/

HAVE YOU REGISTERED YOUR SIM

Please this is a reminder for those that have not registered there SIM cards to do so because NCC is taking this issue seriously and have ordered all the Network operators to block any line that is not registered before June 20th, 2013.

 All phone users yet to submit their biometric details under the registration exercise underway will have their lines cut off by June 30, this year, the telecoms regulator has said underscoring it will not change the final deadline. 

The Nigerian Communications Commission (NCC) says the for registration of all SIM cards across the country remains in force according to Eugene Juwah, Executive Vice Chairman of the telecoms regulator.

Juwah says that any number that is not registered by 30 June this year will be disconnected from the network of the respective service provider to the mobile phone user.

“We wish to mention this because of the importance we attach to this programme (SIM registration) and for media to realize the importance of sensitizing Nigerians of the essence of registration programme and the upcoming disconnection of all unregistered SIM in Nigeria by June 30, 2013″, Juwah says.

NCC started the SIM registration exercise in March 28, 2011 with plans to complete the exercise within months. When the deadline proved unrealistic, it was extended by the regulator to accommodate more registrations.

Next month is the final deadline of the exercise says NCC which also expressed optimism about Mobile Number Portability, the newly introduced scheme that allows phone users to change their service provider and still retain their unique phone number underscoring that it will improve quality of service and reduce tariffs.

According to Juwah, NCC is committed to ensuring that consumers get value for money. 

“Many people have asked whether people are porting or not. To us at the commission, that question is not critical as MNP is a choice being given to the consumers to seek alternative when they no longer happy with what they are getting from their operator”, he adds.

For Juwah, “the most important thing for the commission is that the operators are improving in all facets of their services as imposed by the competition engendered by MNP. If the idea of MNP results in the desired improvement on the quality of services being enjoyed by subscribers, then the Commission would have succeeded tremendously with the introduction of MNP.”

Shey u don port your number

Am sure most of us would have seen the "I DON PORT" advert done by the popular and hilarious "SAKA" for MTN. The facts is most people don't have an understanding of what that advert is all about.
Well what it does is it allows you to switch network while still retaining your old number,isn't that great people. Though all the GSM network has different codes you can use in switching, please check with your network provider on how you can do that if interested.
Thumps up for NCC and here is a view on what they had to say in a forum recently held in Lagos....

Despite the scepticism that greeted the recent launch of mobile number portability (MNP) in the country owing to the fact that Nigerians have become used to clutching more than one mobile phone with the country becoming the largest market for dual-SIM phones, the Nigerian Communications Commission (NCC) said the scheme has attracting the attention of the subscribers.

Speaking on the sidelines of the eWorld Forum in Lagos, NCC’s Director, Public Affairs, Tony Ojobo, said within the first 48 hours of the launch of MNP, more than 4,000 subscribers ported from one network to the other, assuring that the scheme has also deepened competition in the market.

He said this has made operators wake up to their responsibilities to provide good service quality and innovative product offerings to their subscribers. He added that it has also led to massive investment in network upgrade by the operators.

Ojobo restated the regulator’s commitment to ensuring that operators adhere to the key performance indicators (KPIs) they signed with the NCC.

Desirous of reducing the loss of lives associated with motor accidents, NCC said it had partnered with the Federal Road Safety Commission (FRSC) over the deployment of information communication technology (ICT) tools for road safety.

Ojobo who represented the Executive Vice Chairman/CEO of the NCC, Dr. Eugene Juwah, on the occasion, said to further improve road safety, the commission has deployed Emergency Communication Centres (ECC) in all the state capitals and Abuja. He said these call centres will receive emergency calls from a universal emergency code '112' for telephone users to call in case of emergency.