FG cleared NCC to award Spectrum License Competent government sources have revealed that the Nigerian Communications Commission (NCC) did not unilaterally award the controversial 2.3GHz license. On the contrary it got approvals from the Federal Government Agency (the National Frequency Management Council (NFMC) which has statutory powers to manage and assign frequencies both to the NBC and NCC for licensing. The source also indicated that the Minister of Communications cannot unilaterally upturn the resolution of the NFMC regarding the award of the spectrum license. Infact the process to award the controversial 2.3 G   Read more...   Source: MobileWorld Print article Email a friend Post a comment View Comments Facebook begins testing virtual payments system Social networking site Facebook has begun testing its much-anticipated virtual currency payments system with third party application GroupCard. Users who want to buy a GroupCard e-card through the company\'s app are now offered the option of clicking on a \"Pay with Facebook\" button. They then pay with their credits, worth 10 cents each. The currency can be bought - with a credit card - from the Facebook gift shop. The testing comes after Facebook updated its payments terms and conditions on Wednesday to pave the way for the platform. Facebook will take a cut of every transa   Read more...   Source: MobileWorld Print article Email a friend Post a comment View Comments Safaricom extends M-PESA service to key micro-financier Customers of SMEP (Small and Micro Enterprise Programme ), a Kenyan micro-financier working with small businesses, can now make their monthly loan repayments and savings contributions through Safaricom’s popular M-PESA service. The service launched today aims at offering the organization’s over 51,000 customers a reliable and convenient means of payment.  It is also in keeping with the brand identity of M-PESA, an internationally acclaimed innovation by Safaricom and its partner Vodafone, which was founded on the need for money transfer services among the unbanked and smal   Read more...   Source: MobileWorld Print article Email a friend Post a comment View Comments MTN chooses Fundamo for the biggest global roll-out of mobile banking A deal worth 9.7m USD Will Bring Banking Facilities to 80 million mobile subscribers across 21 countries in Africa and Middle-East. Fundamo, the world’s largest specialist mobile financial services provider, today announced that leading African operator the MTN Group has chosen Fundamo’s Mobile Wallet solution to power its “MTN MobileMoney” service, which will be available to a subscriber base of over 80 million users across 21 countries in Africa. The deal, worth 9.7m USD, is the largest mobile banking software deal ever to have been announced, and will bring basic financial se   Read more...   Source: MobileWorld Print article Email a friend Post a comment View Comments 433 of 436 of 449 First | Prev | Next | Last |

Experts fight against monopoly of fiber optic Experts in the telecommunication industry in the West African Sub-region have called for policy implementation to regulate and also break the monopoly of cyber optic cables in the hands of few players, whiles intensifying the penetration of broadband access to the sub-region. This policy direction would be a bench mark policy to help West African country's to regulate the licensing of operators towards the growth of each country's Gross Domestic Product (GDP) growth. This was made known in a two day workshop, dubbed - “Fiber Optic Undersea (Submarine) cable”, in collaboration with West Africa Telecommunications Regulators Assembly (WATRA), the German Technical Group (GTZ) and also the National Communications Authority (NCA) at the La Palm Royal Hotel. The workshop would be offering WATRA members the guidance regarding the regulation of access to new undersea cables and also come up with adoptable guidelines for issuance of undersea cable licenses and landing rights agreement. This would ensure the transparency in deployment and pricing of undersea cables. A Member of the Board of Directors of NCA, Mr. Solomon Quandzie has observed that the availability of international bandwidth, coupled with NCA's plans for licensing additional terrestrial fiber optic cables systems, and also wireless broadband access (WIMAX) operators would finally set the deployment of broadband networks throughout the country and further lay the foundation for rapid economic growth in the ICT sector. He said, application of Business Process Outsourcing (BPOs) and Government's decentralization program would enhance various e-government packages which would increase the social-economic development of the citizenry in a manner never witnessed in this country over the past several years. Mr. Quandzie said that the NCA is committed to opening up the market base of the telecommunication industry by offering an additional fiber optic cable operator (WACS), which would add more capacity to the existing one, all within a 24 month period. According to him, the current SAT 3 cable systems provides an estimated three gigabytes capacity of international bandwidth to the country at approx systems to become operational, adding that “They will be adding respectively, for a total of 1,920 gigabytes or 640 fold increase to the current capacity of international bandwidth in the country”. Mr. Quandzie said that NCA expectation of a supply bandwidth a price goal of $ 500 per E1 should be possible within the very near future which would provide the necessary framework for the attainment of such an outcome. He concluded that with the right regulatory framework established, reliable and affordable broadband networks, coupled with low cost of available international bandwidth can be provided through undersea fiber optic cables. The Country Director of GTZ, Mr. Fred Brandl said good and quality telecommunication facility is very crucial to the development of an emerging market like Ghana. He further noted that internet access to rural areas is a massive boost and also a way of improving the Small Medium Enterprises (SMEs) in the country. Till this end, the current telephone access lines (mobile and fixed) in this country are approximately 14 million, representing some 60 per cent of access lines penetration. However, broadband internet penetration in this country is less than 2 per cent. A survey of 120 countries by UNDP that links a nation's GDP growth to increase in broadband penetration, for every 10 per cent increase in broadband penetration, an increase of 1.3 per cent of GDP growth is expected over the next few years could add some 6.5 per cent to the country's GDP growth.

Print article Email a friend Post a comment View Comments

Read more...   Source:

View All Comments....

Submit News

First Name:
Last Name:
Email:
Telephone:
Upload News :
Message:
Contact me via:	phone email
Please enter the number on the image :

Nokia retained world’s most sustainable technology company Vodafone sells China Mobile stake Governor Oni commends MTN Foundation for donating Haemodialysis Centre to UTH Vodafone Ghana leapfrogging Nation’s Internet into Top Gear Alcatel Lucent extends West Africa submarine cable system to the UK Show All

UK OFFICE	LAGOS OFFICE
140 Abbots Drive Stanford Le Hope Essex, SS17 7BP UNITED KINGDOM	14 Wright Street Adekunle Ebute Metta NIGERIA.
	M: +234-1-4334383 M: 070 2617 7586
GHANA OFFICE	KENYAN OFFICE
14 Kaale Street Dansoman Road Accra, GHANA	P. O. Box 28936 City Sqaure 00200 Nairobi, KENYA
M: +233 2449 37935	M: +254 723 437 489 T: +254 203 536 212