THE Minister of State for Information and Communications, Alhaji Ikra Aliyu Bilbis penultimate Thursday encouraged African countries to open up their Telecommunications market to local and international operators in order to build capacity and give more access to their people.

IN response to customers continued yearning for improved and quality products, world leading manufacturer of mobile phone, Nokia last week unveiled a mobile computer, Nokia N97 mini in Lagos.

IN line with its brand philosophy of putting smiles on the faces of Nigerian customers, Nigeria leading telecom operator, Zain Nigeria has introduced a reward scheme to reward its loyal customers.

Multi-Links Telkom has connected the Mountain of Fire and Miracles Ministries’ (MFM) Prayer City along Lagos – Ibadan Express Road to its telecommunication network and in the process ensuring that the sprawling city now enjoys an integrated telecommunications solution that covers voice, video and data.

GOVERNOR Sullivan Chime of Enugu State has described Globacom as a friendly network. The governor made the comment at the opening of the second Gloworld shop in Enugu, the state capital.

Few weeks after the modification of online visa appointment system, the Consulate-General of the Federal Republic of Germany has attributed disturbing interference by touts as a reason why the web based booking system provided by VFS Global Services Nigeria Ltd.had to be modified to allow Nigerians fair and transparent access to visa related appointments for interviews.

There appears to be new dawn in the Institute of Software Practitioners of Nigeria (ISPON), representing the interests of the National Software Engineering and Services Developers Community in Nigeria as new National Executive Council to run the affairs of the Organisation for the next two years has emerged with the Oracle of the Nigerian ICT industry elected as the President.

About 474 schools spread across the six geopolitical zones of the country, have so far benefitted from complete set of Internet tools and facilities provided by the Universal Service Provision Fund, USPF. USPF is a special fund set up by the Federal Government under the National Communications Act 2003, designed to provide telecommunications and ICT services to unserved, underserved and deprived groups and communities in the country.

How best to evolve policies and regulatory guidelines that will address the ICT concerns of the physically challenged and the elderly people in the society was the focus of a one -day national summit on “ICTs and Accessibility for Persons with Special Needs and the Elderly” organized by the telecom regulatory agency, the Nigerian Communications Commission, NCC .

APC by Schneider, a global leader in critical power and cooling services recently launched a field education programme even as it joined the Microsoft System Center Alliance to enhance and provide support for critical physical infrastructure monitoring and management through the integration of APC InfraStruXure Central with Microsoft System Center Operations Manager 2007.

For the Minister of Information and Communications, Prof Dora Akunyili, one of the major concerns of her ministry is to see that the quantum leap achieved in telecom development in the country is sustained and surpassed in the years to come.

FRONTLINE PayTV operators, MultiChoice, has formally launched DStv Access, a 27 world-class channels with a considerable subscription cost for middle and low class pay Tv subscribers. This is as the operator, has hinted on a possible slash of its decoder acquisition cost, soonest, to lower the entry barrier and inspire a lot more people to join the DStv platform.

Activities of Internet fraudsters seem to be giving Nigeria’s internet stakeholders some sleepless night.
However, in a move to curb the disturbing menace, Nigeria’s telecom regulatory agency, the Nigerian Communication Commission, NCC and another internet related company, Digital Sense Africa, last week organised a one day forum to assess the dept of damage the fraudsters have done to the collective good of Nigeria’s economy and perhaps, proffer solutions to curtail their advancements.

DETERMINED to improve its brand visibility and bring its products and services closer to the end users in remote and major urban centres, Omatek Ventures Plc, has launched its chains of franchisee retail outlets in the South West and South South Regions of the country.

WITH the number of physically challenged groups of persons constituting 25% of the total Nigerian populace, the Senate Committee Chairman on Communications, Senator Sylvester Anyanwu has said that the Senate and other arms of government would ensure that relevant policies and regulations are put in place to provide specially designed ICT needs of these groups.