Author: ITPulse

By Kester Omu Africa’s richest man, Aliko Dangote is set to disburse small grants to one million Nigerian women with the aid of the mobile phone and his company’s initiative to use biometric data and mobile banking. The Nigerian industrialist disclosed on the sidelines of the United Nations General Assembly in New York, United States of America, where Michael Bloomberg inaugurated its first Global Business Forum with an astounding line up of global innovators. Dangote, who was earlier in a panel on ‘technology’s ability to disrupt poverty, with other innovators and world leaders, with David Rubenstein, CEO of the…

  By Martin Ekpeke Entertainment and media companies operating in Nigeria are expected to generate US$2.8 billion in revenue between 2016 and 2021, even as a 2017 PWC Outlook sees Nigeria as one of the fastest-growing countries in the E & M market in Africa. According to the Outlook, US$452 million of the figure will come from people being entertained using Internet access, specifically mobile Internet access, with the combined elements of TV and video adding nearly US$200 million in revenue growth by 2021. What this means is that, user experience will continue to take centre stage in the Africa’s…

The National Information Technology Development Agency (NITDA) will be focusing on mobilising global attention on the investment potential of Nigeria’s IT sector and promotion of local tech-entrepreneurs at this year’s Gitex 2017. This year’s Gulf Information Technology Exhibition (GITEX), the premier technology event in the Middle East, Asia and Africa is expected to host over 185, 000 visitors from more than 140 countries. This year’s GITEX, the 39th edition, holds October 8-12 at the Dubai World Trade Centre (DWTC). Nigeria’s participation at GITEX through the NITDA is fostered around three activities: The Nigerian Pavilion, the Startup Innovation Hub, and…

The Nigerian Communications Commission (NCC), yesterday disclosed it has remitted a whopping sum of N133, 426,062,786 to the consolidated revenue fund of the Federal Government. The telecoms regulatory body of the country, disclosed this in a statement signed Tony Ojobo, Director of Public Affairs, saying even though the NCC’s primary role is not to generate revenue for the government, figures obtained from the commission show impressive remittance of funds to the coffers of the consolidated revenue of the Federal Government, especially in the last two years. For instance, the Commission’s last remittance to the consolidated revenue fund, which was…

  ‘Call me a Woman’ is the title of an autobiographical work by Ellen Kuzwayo, one of the noblest of South African women who waged scientific war against Apartheid. The Foreword to that book came from Nadine Gordimer, South African writer and political activist who won the Nobel Prize in Literature in 1991. I do not intend to write about Kuzwayo. Neither do I plan to write about Gordimer. I recalled the  title of that book as I set to write about ANNE NNENNA NNAJI, my colleague with whom I shared same office space until September 9, 2017, when she…

  The GSMA has announced new developments in its Big Data for Social Good initiative, which was launched in February 2017 to leverage mobile operators’ big data capabilities in addressing epidemics and humanitarian crises. The announcement was made at the United Nations General Assembly Week, where Megafon, Safaricom and Telenet have signed on to the initiative, joining previously announced operators Bharti Airtel, Deutsche Telekom, Hutchison, KDDI, KT Corporation, Millicom, MTS, NTT DOCOMO, INC., Orange, SK Telecom, Telefónica, Telenor Group, Telia, Turkcell, Vodafone and Zain. The Big Data for Social Good initiative is now backed by 19 companies with a presence…

  As Apple gets ready to ship iPhone 8 and 8 Plus before it opens iPhone X for pre-orders, a top analyst with Taiwanese business group KGI Securities has warned that iPhone X will cannibalise iPhone 8 orders. According to Ming-Chi Kuo, the most famous analyst with KGI Securities when it comes to Apple, it is very likely that iPhone X demand will cannibalise iPhone 8 pre-orders. “While it takes three to six weeks or more to ship new iPhone models after they are available for preorder, they see the iPhone 8 taking less than one to two weeks. This…

  By kester Omu A combination of expensive connectivity and epileptic power supply have been identified as the major constraints hindering the successful uptake of data centre services and the participation of more operators on the African continent. This position was taken by experts at the just concluded Capacity Africa Conference, which held in Kampala, Uganda last week. For MainOne, owner of MDXi, acclaimed leading data centre provider in the West African, the Capacity Africa conference poses an opportunity for its platform to showcase to the community, its commitment to enabling a robust digital ecosystem with its investments across the…

  By Martin Ekpeke Nigerian Vice-President, Prof. Yemi Osinbajo will on Friday this week launch a contract disclosure portal in Abuja, the country’s Federal capital Territory. Osinbajo is also the Chairman of the National Council of Privatization for Nigeria. This was disclosed by Acting Director-General for the Infrastructure Concession Regulatory Commission Engr. Chidi K.C Izuwah  at the correspondents association of Nigeria annual conference in Lagos. Izuwah, who spoke on “Facilitating Infrastructure Financing in Nigeria” noted that the portal, when launched will ensure transparency in the public-private partnership model, with regards to deploying finance for critical infrastructure projects. “The launch of…

Though the Nigeria’s telecoms industry is, no doubt, confronted with infrastructure deficits as a result of medley of factors with negative impacts on the industry growth, analysts say leveraging the capacity of collocation companies such as Medallion Communications Limited could be the way out for players to reduce capital expenditure (CAPEX) and operational expenditure (OPEX). Martin Ekpeke reports Despite a record of over $68 billion local and foreign direct investments (FDIs) into the country’s telecoms sector, lack of a robust infrastructure remains one of the challenges that have bedeviled the Nigeria’s telecom ecosystem. In fact, the country continues…