Opera browser on smartphones

Opera’s State of the Mobile Web Report, published monthly, provides information on the top global trends affecting the mobile Web. The full report is available from http://www.opera.com/smw/ (English only). In addition to a full review of Opera Mini on the iPhone, the report highlights global statistics and reviews the mobile browsing trends in the Commonwealth of Independent States (CIS).

Global trends

• In April 2010, Opera Mini had more than 58.9 million users, a 6.6% increase from March 2010 and more than 152% compared to April 2009.
• Those 58.9 million people viewed more than 26.3 billion pages in April 2010. Since March, page views have gone up 1.6%. Since April 2009, page views have increased 203%.
• In April 2010, Opera Mini users generated over 398 million MB of data for operators worldwide. Since March, the data consumed went up by 0.6%. Data in Opera Mini is compressed by up to 90%. If this data were uncompressed, Opera Mini users would have viewed over 3.7 petabytes of data in April. Since April 2009, data traffic is up 164%.
• The top 10 countries for Opera Mini usage in April 2010 were: Russia, Indonesia, India, China, Ukraine, United States, South Africa, Nigeria, Vietnam and the United Kingdom. Due to Opera Mini on the iPhone launch, the United States leaped ahead of South Africa and Nigeria.

iPhone impact

• In Part 4 of this month’s report, we take a closer look at the impact of Opera Mini becoming available on the Apple iPhone.
• In April 2010, there were more than 2.6 million unique users of Opera Mini on the iPhone (from April 13-30).
• As predicted in last month’s report, the Apple iPhone is the #3 device used by Opera Mini users worldwide in the month of April 2010.
• Most likely due to the interest generated by Opera Mini’s new availability on the iPhone, the United States jumped from #8 to #6 in the top 10 countries list.
• The United States is ranked #1 in terms of Opera Mini users on the iPhone, and the iPhone is the #1 handset used by Opera Mini users in the United States, well ahead of BlackBerry (which previously occupied the top spot).
• The United Kingdom is ranked #4 in terms of Opera Mini users on the iPhone, and the iPhone is the 5th most popular handset used by Opera Mini users in the United Kingdom.
• Russia is ranked #7 in terms of Opera Mini users on the iPhone, but the iPhone is not one of the top 10 handsets in Russia according to Opera Mini usage.
• Countries outside of the top 10 where Opera Mini on the iPhone has become popular include: Japan, Germany, France, Canada, Netherlands, Italy and South Korea.

CIS trends

• In Part 3 of this month’s report we look at countries in the Commonwealth of Independent States (CIS). The top 11 countries using Opera Mini in that region are Russia, Ukraine, Belarus, Kazakhstan, Armenia, Uzbekistan, Kyrgyzstan, Moldova, Azerbaijan, Tajikistan and Turkmenistan.
• Some numbers: From April 2009 to April 2010, page views in the top 11 countries of the CIS increased by 84%, unique users increased by 63% and data transferred increased by 97%.
• Growth rates in the CIS: Turkmenistan and Kyrgyzstan lead the top 11 countries of the region in terms of page-view growth (508,484.1% and 663.9%, respectively). Turkmenistan and Kyrgyzstan also lead the top 11 countries of the region in growth of unique users (194,769.2% and 551.2%, respectively). Armenia leads the top 11 countries of the region in page views per user, with each user browsing 1085 pages on average each month.
• In the CIS, the big winners (as usual) are Vkontakte, Mail.Ru, odnoklassniki.ru, Yandex and Google.
• Opera Mini users in the CIS generally prefer Nokia handsets, followed by Sony Ericsson and Samsung.

What we say

“While many iconic smartphones are superb web-browsing tools, today it is possible to make nearly every phone capable of browsing the Web gracefully,” said Jon von Tetzchner, Co-founder, Opera Software. “Because the number of mobile-web users will eventually dwarf wireline users, making the Web works flawlessly only on a handful of mobile devices is to turn our collective backs on more than a billion new users. We believe access to the Web is a universal right, and as more companies embrace developing sites for the wide spectrum of mobile-web users, we will come closer to that goal than ever before.”

About Opera Software ASA

Opera Software ASA has redefined web browsing for PCs, mobile phones and other networked devices. Opera’s cross-platform web-browser technology is
renowned for its performance, standards compliance and small size, while giving users a faster, safer and more dynamic online experience. Opera Software is headquartered in Oslo, Norway, with offices around the world. The company is listed on the Oslo Stock Exchange under the ticker symbol OPERA. Learn more about Opera at http://www.opera.com/

The entire kit cost N18,650:

• HSDPA USB stick: N8,500
• MTN SIM: N150
• Airtime: N10,000 (24/7 monthly plan)

The MTN agent asked for an ID and passport photo. As I had no prior knowledge they would demand this, I was only fortunate that I always carried a driving licence and spare passport photos in my wallet everywhere I go, for times like this. Be informed. Also, I was made to sign a fine print containing their terms of service.

The device

MTN Nigeria 3G pack

Branded as MTN F@stlink E156G, the USB stick is essentially a Huawei E156G with the following specifications:

• HSDPA/UMTS 2100MHz – it can connect to just about any 3.5G cellular network in the world if it were unlocked.
• EDGE/GPRS/GSM 1900/1800/900/850 MHz – it can connect to just about any GSM cellular network in the world if it were unlocked.
• HSDPA service data rate up to 3.6Mbps – real life speeds would vary
• SMS service – users can send and receive text messages when using the bundled software
• Micro SD card slot – it can take a Micro SD of up to 4GB capacity and thus double as a USB drive
• Plug and play – there is no need to install software from a CD. The software bundled on the device would have to be installed though, for PCs and Macs.

Before you decide to buy, the device has the following system requirements:

• Windows 2000 SP4, Windows XP SP2, Windows Vista. I am safely assuming it would work well on Windows 7. Also, I got it to work on Ubuntu 9.10
• Mac OS X 10.4 and 10.5 with latest upgrades
• Hardware system should meet the recommended requirements for the installed OS version
• Display resolution: 800 x 600 and above
• Standard USB interface

The software
Branded MTN F@stlink, it offers 7 tabs, namely:

• Connection: this is where the user initiates a connection or disconnection to/from the MTN network
• Statistics: offers a detailed break-down of data usage and includes a graph
• Message: enables the user to send/receive text messages and manage existing messages
• Phonebook: an address book that saves contact details.. Record include Name, Mobile Number, Office Number, Home Number, Email address and Remarks.
• Airtime: enables the user to check and load airtime. It is divided into postpaid and prepaid, to cater for both market segments.
• Internet: a click on this loads the default web browser
• Bundle plan: enables the user to select which of the bundle plans to subscribe to, and check the status of an existing bundle. This service is for prepaid subscribers only. The confirmation is via a text message.

The bundles
MTN Nigeria offers 3 data bundles:

• 24/7 Monthly Plan: this is the ultimate plan from MTN and comes with a 3GB data cap but is available 24 hours every day within a 30 days period. It goes for N10,000 per month. This bundle is ideal for heavy users.
• Nite Plan: this is usable only from 10pm to 5am and also comes with a 3GB data limit but costs only N2,500 monthly. This bundle is ideal for surfers who have a day job and can afford to stay awake all night.
• 24 hours Daily: this is clearly targetted at the occasional web surfer and comes with a meagre 50MB data cap. It costs only N500.

The service
I subjected the mobile broadband service to a speed test at the time of writing using speedtest.net; the following screenshot shows the highest speed I got. Note that speedtest.com used Vodafone Ghana’s server for the test.

The results shown in the screenshot above just about represent an average of the several tests I carried out. It shows that MTN Nigeria offers a download speed of about 0.43 Mb/s and a miserable upload speed of 0.06Mb/s as well as a high latency of 366ms.

This means, upload heavy data using the mobile broadband service would be a slow experience and making phone/video calls via the Internet would be less than ideal due to the high latency as seen from the ping test.

The coverage
It is critical to confirm 3G coverage in your locality before opting for MTN’s mobile broadband service for therein lies the key to the advertised speeds. From the marketing flyer attached to the kit:

3G service is currently available in most part of Lagos, Abuja, Enugu, Port Harcourt, Kano, Benin, Ibadan, Kaduna, Onitsha, Aba, Asaba.

MTN also offers an extensive EDGE coverage that is even more nationwide. EDGE which offers a fairly fast connectivity is available where there is no 3G coverage.

The bad
The MTN mobile broadband service was not without hiccups, at the time of extensive use.

• Intermittent disconnections: The service simply went off occasionally and connection could be re-established by disconnecting and re-connecting from the network. At other times, the downtime lasted over an hour.
• SSL traffic: Occasionally, it was impossible to access secured websites. All access to URLs starting with https:// were in possible and thus secured chatting programs like Yahoo Messenger and Skype failed to connect too. This error typically occurred at mid-mornings.
• Not all websites were accessible: Even when the mobile broadband service was at its peak of performance, some websites were not accessible despite repeated attempts. The persistent error message was: “No suitable nodes are available to serve your request.” A work-around this was to use a proxy server.
• The offered data bundles are not very flexible as users’ choices are limited. Heavy users are forced to subscribed to the 24/7 monthly plan for N10,000 even if they would need less than 3GB monthly.
• It is difficult to know the status of usage after crossing the 1GB milestone. Checking your data usage via SMS thereafter does not offer an exact figure of used data but simply states that 2GB has been used. It is thus difficult for the user to know when usage is getting close to the 3GB limit.

The verdict
MTN Nigeria’s mobile broadband service offers high-speed internet connectivity much of the time and is worth buying where mobile connectivity is needed or fixed broadband options are not available provided the user can live with the few annoyances highlighted above.

Note: it is possible to enjoy the broadband service from MTN without buying their F@stlink modem. One could either browse on the (smart)phone itself or use it as a modem. When using the phone as a modem, the user would need the following:

• a 3.5G-capable mobile phone
• modem driver & dialling software: these are typically provided on a CD bundled with the phone, by the phone manufacturer, or can be downloaded via the Internet
• a means of connectivity the phone to a computer: whilst bluetooth is usable, USB is ideal. Infrared is archaic.
• an MTN data bundle subscription

Backstory*:

• I have used the MTN Mobile Broadband service extensively before buying their F@stlink modem, using Nokia smartphones as modem and have experienced the high speed in Lagos, Ibadan and Kaduna. EDGE worked in Zaria.
• MTN branded complimentary gift items accompanied the broadband kit: a pen and a writing pad.
• I did not have enough time to read the terms before signing and so not sure about what it contains.

*The info in the “backstory” section, are what I considered too trivial to add into the main body of the review but useful enough to share with you.

Did you find this review useful, feel free to share this blog with others. Do you have an additions or questions about this review, add these using the comments area.

Glo Mobile is set to launch in Ghana soon

Glo Mobile’s entry into Ghana comes at a time when Ghana’s mobile communications industry appears to be saturated already. For a population of about 22 million people, there are presently five active mobile telecommunications services viz: MTN, Tigo, Zain, Vodafone & Kasapa. Records obtained from the National Communications Authority (NCA) website indicate that the 5 cellular networks share some 14,242,476 subscribers amongst themselves in this order: MTN – 52%; Tigo – 23%; Vodafone – 14%; Zain – 9%; Kasapa – 2%. The existing mobile phone service providers already cover all the geographical locations that matter in Ghana with network coverage reaching virtually every human settlement that has a sizeable population or is of some economic importance.

Glo Mobile thus has a very tall order to make enough impact as to attract a sizeable market-share. Despite the obvious challenge, one is safe to assume that Glo Mobile has a strong strategy that would enable them penetrate the sophisticated and relatively matured market. It helps to add that Glo Mobile has the aim of becoming the largest telecommunications provider in Africa. According to media reports, Glo plans to capture 30% of the current 11 million subscriber market within 18 months of launch. My attempt is thus to forecast their entry strategy based on the mobile revolution Glo Mobile has caused in Nigeria, since 2003.

Branding

Glo Mobile has already made its presence felt in Ghana with several branding efforts since 2007 starting with its support of Ghana’s hosting of the 2008 African Cup of Nations.

A Glo-branded bus stop in Accra reading: 'imagine... a day when Ghana is all green'. Photo by Oluniyi David Ajao

In December 2008, Glo Mobile Ghana contracted a five-year sponsorship deal with Ghana’s Premier League until the end of the 2013/14 season. The league has since been known as Glo Premier League.

Glo is a sponsor of Ghana’s senior national football team- the Black Stars and also sponsors the CAF African Player of the Year Award.

Glo Mobile has some banners and billboards at the international airport, as well as other important parts of the capital city Accra.

Internet

The dynamics of mobile phone service has changed globally, over the past few years. Mobile phone networks have now evolved into full telecom service providers with services including telephony, entertainment and internet services. Internet services is where Glo Mobile has the strongest trump card in Ghana. It’s parent company – Globacom – has already launched it fibre optic connectivity’s (Glo-1) landing in Ghana. The cable is expected to carry huge internet bandwidth from Nigeria, through Ghana, to western Europe and vice versa. This automatically gives Glo Mobile Ghana access to unprecedented internet connectivity speeds. The existing fibre servicing Ghana called SAT3 is shared among most Internet Service Providers (ISPs) in Ghana yet Glo-1 (solely owned by Globacom Ltd) has more than 5 times more capacity than SAT3. I expect Glo Mobile Ghana to maximize the use of the Internet capacity by rolling out a 3.5G network at the very least, and offer juicy internet service bundles. All things being equal, the Internet connectivity speed would exceed the highest capacity of any other current service provider.

Voice

I expect Glo Mobile to offer very competitive voice tariff plans as well as all the value added services possible on a 3.5G network: video calling, voicemail, voice sms, call forwarding, call conference, call divert etc. Phone services offered at the right pricing would attract subscribers to Glo Mobile. One waits to see how Glo can beat Kasapa, in the tariff arena.

Coverage

Network coverage is one area Glo Mobile has reportedly resolved to take the lead in Ghana. Focusing on offering a very wide network coverage can put Glo in a good position to acheiving its ultimate aim. One expects that they would choose the initial towns they cover sensibly, considering that existing networks already cover much of Ghana.

Promotions

One area I expect Glo to explore is offering mouth-watering promotions in a bid to attract new subscribers. The market is already awash with promotions from existing networks offering: cars, houses, cash, mobile phones etc. I expect Glo Mobile to announce promotions that are bigger than existing ones. In this same area, I expect free night calls, free network text messages, and occasional heavy discounts on call tariffs.

Choose your number

Since Glo Mobile would be a new cellular network, one expects that they would auction memorable phone numbers, and allow new subscribers to choose their own phone numbers, based on availability. This also helps to endear those who want to jump ship from other cellular networks or just want an easy-to-remember phone number.

If I am allowed to be selfish, I would expect Glo Mobile to offer a 3.5G network in my residential area considering that none of the existing GSM networks does so.

In summary, I have very high expectations of Glo Mobile Ghana, going by the experience of their parent company in Nigeria and their aggressive drive to be the number player in Africa. Existing success makes their ultimate vision a realistic one.

Africa

In South Africa, Nokia Siemens Networks selected AIRCOM to provide 2G network optimisation consultation services. These services included both pre- and post-analysis drive testing, capacity planning, site verification and frequency planning. AIRCOM’s expertise was also used to assist in the planning of more than 4,500 cell sites across South Africa in a limited time duration, whilst maintaining the necessary quality levels.

Nokia Siemens Networks also turned to AIRCOM to assist in improving 2G mobile network quality in Nigeria. AIRCOM delivered a range of services to NSN, including drive testing consultancy and Line of Sight (LoS) transmission surveys to optimise network throughput and minimise dropped calls.

“There are now, on average, four mobile operators in each African country, so competition is fierce,” said Fahd Burki – Director EOT, Nokia Siemens Networks Nigeria. “African subscribers do not tolerate poor service quality. We therefore chose to work with AIRCOM to help drive network performance improvements and benefit from its vast knowledge of the African mobile market and competitive pricing tariffs.”

“Africa still has vast growth potential across its wireless communications market,” said Graham Kemp, Regional CEO, Africa, for AIRCOM. “African mobile operators are acutely aware of this and are focusing on driving the best possible service quality to their

customers. By optimising 2G voice and SMS delivery, African operators are laying the best possible foundations for future growth, minimising cost and reducing churn.”

About AIRCOM International

AIRCOM is an independent provider of network and data management tools and services. The company specialises in end-to-end network planning, sharing, outsourcing and OSS optimisation for IP and cellular networks.

Interactive Intelligence

Dave Paulding, Interactive Intelligence’s regional sales director for UK, Middle East and Africa says that connected consumers in Africa are driving the demand for call centres in the banking industry.

The banking sector in Africa, particularly in Nigeria and Kenya, are implementing call centres for the first time.  It is interesting to consider why they are doing this now, when banks in South Africa and other parts of the world embraced the call centre revolution 10-15 years ago.

Nigeria and Kenya’s growing economies and relative stability provide part of the picture, but another important factor is that African consumers are more connected.  They are looking for new ways to contact their banks, rather than by visiting a branch.

The explosion in cellphone adoption in Africa has seen a rapid increase in contact centres for network operators.  Because of this, consumers are accustomed to connecting with their cellular service provider over the phone, and are calling for the same level of sophistication from other services like banks.

Because this is new territory for African banks, the relationship between the call centre vendor and the bank is critical. There is no historical data to work from, and it is difficult to plan and predict requirements.  The banks, therefore, require advice and guidance with putting together their strategies and creating a solid foundation for improved customer service.  Generally there is a rapid expansion once the call centre is up and running, with more agent seats required to service the level of customer enquiries.

While Africa has lagged in the deployment of call centres, there have been benefits.  From a technical point of view, many call centres are built from the ground up with the latest, cutting-edge technology.  African banks and cellphone operators do not have to deal with many of the legacy issues that companies in other countries have to face.

In addition, recent technological developments mean that call centres have a smaller hardware footprint and fewer moving parts.  This is particularly beneficial for businesses based in Africa.  Because there are fewer flights in and out of Africa, getting spare parts for hardware maintenance is a challenge.  If a contact centre experiences a fault, African companies may have to wait days to get a spare part, impacting on customer service.

However, given that call centres are less hardware-based these days, this is less of an issue for African-based businesses.  This means an increase in uptime, lower upfront costs and lower maintenance fees.

From a vendor point of view, the potential in Africa is great.  In the rest of the world, there are very few greenfield opportunities for call centres.  There is the legacy replacement market, or the opportunity to plug a weak point, e.g. workforce management, in an existing contact centre.  In Africa, there is the potential to start from scratch and share knowledge on how to run an efficient call centre.

So while African companies may have lagged behind the rest of the world in uptake, they can benefit from the rest of the world’s years of experience and leapfrog many of the development stages that businesses in other countries went through.

While most call centres in Africa currently focus on voice, as consumers become more tech-savvy, there will be a move towards converting call centres into multimedia contact centres.  Given that most African businesses use the latest technology, the switch from a call centre to a contact centre will be fast, seamless and cost effective.  Africa wins again.

About Interactive Intelligence
Interactive Intelligence Inc. (Nasdaq: ININ) is a global provider of unified business communications solutions for contact centre automation, enterprise IP telephony, and enterprise messaging. The company was founded in 1994 and has more than 3,000 customers worldwide. Interactive Intelligence is among Software Magazine’s top 500 global software and services suppliers, is ranked among NetworkWorld’s top 200 North American networking vendors, is a BusinessWeek “hot growth 50” company, and is among FORTUNE Small Business magazine’s top 100 fastest growing companies. The company is also positioned in the leaders quadrant of the Gartner 2008 Contact Center Infrastructure, Worldwide Magic Quadrant report. Interactive Intelligence employs approximately 600 people and is headquartered in Indianapolis, Indiana. It has six global corporate offices with additional sales offices throughout North America, Europe, Middle East, Africa and Asia Pacific. Interactive Intelligence can be reached at +1 317.872.3000 or info@inin.com; on the Net: http://www.inin.com

Opera Mini

Opera Software ASA has again released its latest State of the Mobile Web report. The report provides information on the top global trends affecting the mobile Web. In addition to the top global trends and country snapshots, the report highlights trends in Africa and aggregate operator data for the top 10 countries.

On a global scale, Opera Mini usage in Nigeria continues to surge, pushing past Poland and taking the #9 spot.

The top 12 countries using Opera Mini in Africa are South Africa, Nigeria, Egypt, Kenya, Libya, Zambia, Tanzania, Cote d’Ivoire, Mozambique, Namibia, Ghana and Gabon.

From April 2008 to April 2009:

• Overall page-views in the top 12 countries listed increased 422%.
• Overall unique users in the top 12 countries listed increased 169%.
• Overall data transferred in the top 12 countries listed increased 348%.

Important milestones

• Since the last spotlight on Africa in September 2008, Nigeria jumped from #4 to #2 and Zambia jumped from #9 to #6. Mozambique, Namibia, Ghana and Gabon are new to the spotlight.
• Growth rates continue to soar in Africa–especially in Libya, with 4,155% user growth since April 2008, and in Nigeria, with 2,353% user growth since April 2008.
• Kenya leads the top 12 countries in page views, with each user browsing 372 pages on average each month.

Operator data trends

• Customers of U.S. operators view more data-intensive pages than subscribers in any other country. The average page viewed over U.S. operator networks is approximately 32 KB compressed or almost 320 KB uncompressed.
• Operators in the Ukraine were the big winners. Their customers view 582 pages per month, on average. Ukraine operators also sport the highest data transfer per user at more than 10 MB per month compressed. This is as much as 100 MB of mobile data per user uncompressed.

“Opera Mini has helped create and define the mobile Web experience for consumers around the world,” said Jon von Tetzchner, CEO, Opera. “Our relentless focus on delivering the best possible mobile Web experience helps drive adoption of mobile data plans. We believe that Opera Mini is the perfect win-win solution for both operators and consumers alike.”

About Opera Software ASA

Opera Software ASA has redefined Web browsing for PCs, mobile phones and other networked devices. Opera’s cross-platform Web browser technology is renowned for its performance, standards compliance and small size, while giving users a faster, safer and more dynamic online experience. Opera Software is headquartered in Oslo, Norway, with offices around the world. The company is listed on the Oslo Stock Exchange under the ticker symbol OPERA.

Making a phone call is something that many people take for granted. Yet millions in rural villages around the world simply do not have easy or affordable access to a telephone. The Village Phone concept was developed precisely to help extend access to telecommunications beyond the urban areas.

Started by GrameenPhone in Bangladesh — a client of IFC, IFC is now working with MTN (also an IFC client) and other partners to replicate the Village Phone concept in several African countries, starting with Nigeria.

IFC also collaborated with the Grameen Foundation and other partners to create a Village Phone Replication Manual — essentially a ‘how-to’ resource for setting up a Village Phone project.

Beyond providing much needed communication access, the Village Phone model goes a long way to empower the women operators, spur economic activities and promote entrepreneurialism.

Source: The World Bank

Advertfarm provides advertisers with permission-based targeted marketing.

Advertfarm, a mobile content network, has emerged today from private beta. This start-up is privately funded and based in Lagos, Nigeria. Advertfarm, as a stand-alone company, focuses on delivering mobile contents to users across Africa through Short Message Services (SMS). Our services include but not limited to SMS marketing, SMS Recruitment, Events Broadcasting, Sponsored Mobile Services and Mobile Alerts.

Advertfarm provides advertisers with permission-based targeted marketing. These advertisements are delivered to subscribers based on specific interests and demographics. Advertfarm only sends its network members localized subscribed mobile content that matches their interest, and gives them total control of when they want to receive it, and how frequently they want to receive it through settings available on the Advertfarm platform.

With over 200 million mobile subscribers in Africa, Advertfarm allows advertisers to target a specific base of consumers in a meaningful way while allowing them to see a much higher rate of return on their investment. The system is developed to fully ensure that advertisers do not waste money on a demographic target that is irrelevant to their goals.

The Advertfarm network has a strict privacy policy on all data collected from its members. The Advertfarm mobile content delivery solution is the first of its kind in Africa as they not only deliver permission-based content to their subscribers but also pay their subscribers for subscribing.

Meanwhile, Advertfarm rewards its subscribed members through a revenue sharing model. The income earned by members of the network is automatically sent to the ATM cards attached to their account.

Advertfarm is currently running its pilot mode only in Nigeria and will launch it 2-WAY SMS interactive system by July 2009. This system would include features such as “SMS Service Un-subscription” where subscribers to a particular service could un-subscribe for certain services without having to visit the web portal. We will be launching services in other African countries in the next quarter.

Many mobile phones attempt to do everything from simple texting, to GPS navigation but these phones are better at some things than the others thus the need to classify them. Before now, I had used an i-mate JAQ3 Windows 5 powered-smartphone for business, along with a Nokia 3250 XpressMusic for photography and personal entertainment whilst on the move. I have since upgraded to Nokia E71 smartphone along with a Nokia 5800 XpressMusic.

What makes the E71 tick?

Nokia E71

Many. The Nokia E71 is a serious business phone ground-up. It comes with a full QWERTY keyboard layout and is enclosed in a strong metallic case. My initial disappointment about the E71 not having a touch screen was quickly dwarfed by its intuitive cursor and comfortable keypad. I find the keypad so comfortable that I find myself sending text messages more often. Matter of fact, I typed the entire text for this article on the Nokia E71.

The smartphone comes with QuickOffice. This mobile version of Office suite software allows you to create or open Word documents, PowerPoint Presentations or Excel Worksheets.

It also comes with a built-in mobile email client and you can also opt for Nokia Email software (Blackberry-like) if the in-built email client does not meet all your email needs. You can send new messages via good-old SMS or MMS.

Being a 3.5G phone, you can access the Internet via 3.5G, 3G, EDGE, or GPRS – subject to network availability. You can also make/receive video calls where there is 3G coverage. The Nokia E71 is capable of handling encrypted G-standard wifi networks.

The call quality on this phone is good enough but my problem is that it fails to detect MTN Ghana’s 3.5G network where there is coverage but my Nokia 5800 detects the same network. The standard earpiece leaves much to be desired and I have since abandoned it. I was able to download and install an Internet radio application on the phone and I listen to Indian melodies by connecting to Indian Internet radio stations through wifi.

Nokia 5800 XpressMusic keeps you entertained

Nokia 5800 XpressMusic

The 5800 is one of the latest in the Nokia XpressMusic series of multimedia devices. XpressMusic is a brand name for series of Nokia phones that are specifically designed for music playback.

True to form, the Nokia 5800 handles music extremely well. It can play digital audio clips encoded in AAC, AU, M4A, MIDI Tones, MP3, MP4, RealAudio, WAV, and WMA among others. It has graphic equalizer, bass boster and stereo widening. It has in-built stereo speakers and a 3.5mm headphones connector. This enables you to connect any headphones of your choice. The default earpiece is abridged and this allows me to occasionally carry the phone in my breast pocket and have the pair of earpieces in my ear lopes without some long cable dangling around my neck. The cable can be extended. The extended version comes with a music controller for playing/pausing as well as forward/rewind buttons.

The wide screen of the phone is used judiciously as video playback is always horizontal. I can switch between wide-screen format and the original dimension of the video. The only drawback is that the in-built RealMedia player is unable to handle popular video formats like WMV, MOV and MPEG. It however plays mobile video formats like MP4 and 3GP. I reckon video format conversion is possible via the Nokia Ovi software but I am yet to try that out.

Equipped with Carl Zeiss lens, the 5800′s camera shines in the area of photography. With a 3.2 mega-pixels capability, I couldn’t ask for more from a mobile device. The photo and video quality are on the high side.

The phone’s massive 8GB Micro SD card (upgradeable to 16GB) gives lots of room for storing audio, video, photos, messages and other files. The phone can even be used as a mass storage device when connected to a computer.

Nokia has demonstrated times without number that it deserves the tag of being the market leader in the area of manufacturing mobile phones. The E71 and 5800 XpressMusic are further proof.

Zain Africa CEO Mr Chris Gabriel selling a sim card to a new Zain Ghana customer at the flagship store in Osu on Oxford Street in Accra on the day the 3.5G network was launched. Photo courtesy: Zain.com

I listened to Philip Sowah, the Country Manager of Zain Communications Ghana Limited, being interviewed on Joy FM‘s Super Morning show one morning in the last quarter of 2008. It was at the eve of Zain’s network launch in Ghana. One thing I remember clearly was him saying Zain Ghana has so much network capacity, they are scared in a positive way. I wondered to myself: “What is he talking about? Why this much confidence? Is this a marketing gimmick?“  Zain eventually launched and I bought a Zain SIM card, just to experience Ghana’s first 3.5G network not that I was ready to ditch my MTN that had served me quite well for more than 5 years.

I recently bought a Nokia 5800 XpressMusic – a 3.5G high-capacity multimedia device from Alireta Mobile – and decided to give my Zain SIM a spin with the mind that should it serve me better, it would replace my MTN eventually. I have been blown away in the past few days and thus I feel compelled to document the positive difference I have experienced.

For well over a decade, MTN (hitherto known as Spacefon, then Areeba) has been the market leader in Ghana in terms of running the most sophisticated cellular network, and offering more useful value added services than its competitors. Not anymore. For the first time, MTN has a tougher competitor to contend with.

3.5G network coverage
MTN Ghana scrambled to unleash their 3.5G network on the Ghanaian airwaves after Zain’s loud entry into the telecom market. Zain’s 3.5G network has a wider coverage than that of MTN, in Accra. I have tested the two from Tete Quarshie interchange to McCarthy hill. From McCarthy hill to Osu. Zain even went a step further to publish their 3.5G network coverage on their website and the publication reveals that 3.5G is available in much of Accra and parts of Kumasi (Ghana’s 2nd commercial hub). Whilst at work, I make sure my phone is permanently on 3G network mode so I can experience the superior call quality and make/receive video calls on Zain. Neither of them has a perfect 3.5G coverage but Zain is ahead, from my checks.

Mobile Internet ‘Activation Fee’
Unlike MTN, Zain does not ask for a 5 Ghana Cedi “activation fee” for internet connectivity to be enabled on one’s SIM. Slot your Zain SIM into a capable GPRS/EDGE/3G/3.5G phone and the settings come tumbling in within minutes. Zain even sends you an MMS welcoming you to “A Wonderful World”.

Call cost summary
I was pleasantly surprised to discover that I get the total cost of a call I make, after the call is over. A message displays on my phone informing me of the amount deducted from my account for that call and the account balance I have left. Now, that is transperancy at its best. There is nothing like that on MTN.

SMS
I can update my Twitter account via SMS using Zain. MTN could not deliver SMS to the UK mobile number used by Twitter.com
Zain delivered to the same number, in 2 seconds.

I do not have to retry sending SMS multiple times and pray it goes through each time, on Zain. On the other hand, the little tricks I used on MTN are even begining to fail as I have a hard time sending international SMS from MTN.

Still on SMS, Zain has a neat online service called Zain Web2SMS. I can compose and send SMS from Zain’s website with the added convenience of typing on a computer keyboard. It is faster and better for me. Zain bills my prepaid account for each SMS sent. What is more exciting? Zain offers 5 free Zain to Zain SMS daily. MTN hardly ever gives anything for free. Hardly.

MMS
Zain’s MMS really works. I can zap photos and audio to loved ones’ phones or email accounts. MTN’s MMS has been epileptic for months now.

Missed call notification
Whenever my phone is switched off or out of cellular coverage area, I receive SMS notification from Zain when my phone is back online, informing me of the missed calls. I know MTN has been offering the same service for several years but I could not access it because they restricted it to post-paid subscribers only. I had been attracted to MTN’s post-paid offering for so long but I stayed away because of the $1,500 security deposit they required for international roaming. I am fine with prepaid roaming – thank you very much. I would rather leave my money in a fixed deposit account than hand it to MTN if I have no use for it.

Roaming
Talking about roaming, MTN quickly launched their “Seamless Roaming” service some weeks before Zain launched in Ghana. MTN’s Seamless Roaming is a very similar concept to Zain’s One Network. They both allow local subscribers to access the network of other subsidiaries, outside the home network. Example: Zain subscribers in Kenya can roam into the Zain networks in Tanzania, Uganda, Sierra Leone, Nigeria, Niger without hassles. Traveling subscribers can receive calls/SMS for free, and make calls at the same rate subscribers on the host network pay. MTN’s Seamless Roaming currently works in Cameroon, Nigeria, Benin Republic and Ghana.

Call Divert
You have no idea how useful this service is to me. I can divert calls all my calls unconditionally, or if I am busy, or if I do not answer the calls within a stipulated number of seconds, or if I am out of network coverage area. These settings come with even the most basic GSM phone but MTN has restricted its prepaid subscribers to “Call divert – if out of reach” and even that can only be diverted to their default Voicemail number only. On Zain, there is no single restriction and so I can divert my calls as I deem fit!

Zain Phone number Pre-registration
I was able to search for and book a phone number of my choice, even before the commercial launch. MTN doesn’t offer that convenience.

Over all, I am enjoying the Zain experience so far. What about you? What has been your experience with Zain in Ghana? Share your thoughts by leaving your comments now.

MTN

The MTN Group has announced that the successful launch of Mobile Money Transfer (MMT) in Uganda marks the beginning of a series of planned launches across its operations in Africa and Middle-East.

The product, called MTN MobileMoney, is a convenient, secure and affordable way for MTN subscribers to send money, buy airtime and pay bills using the mobile phone. Whether users have an existing bank account or not, they can register for MTN MobileMoney as long as the sender is an MTN subscriber. Those who do not have MTN SIM cards or even a phone can still receive money from MTN MobileMoney users and send money through a network of agents in their country.

MTN has been piloting MMT services through MTN Uganda and at the Group’s West and Central Africa (WECA) region operations (Cameroon, Ghana, Cote d’Ivoire and Nigeria) since October 2008. Four additional pilots were recently launched in Benin, Guinea Bissau, Guinea Conakry and Liberia.

The pilots are aimed at waterproofing the systems and operational processes in preparation for the commercial launch. MTN’s WECA region vice-president, Mr Christian de Faria says the pilots are assisting with fine-tuning the processes and systems and have given MTN the first insights into subscriber demand. “Initial subscriber responses in the different countries have been encouraging and we are confident that the service could be introduced rapidly in our various markets.”

In each market, MTN has partnered with local banks to ensure that its MMT services are fully compliant with financial services regulations. Discussions are currently on-going with relevant authorities in various countries to ensure that all regulatory requirements are met.

Says MTN Group Executive, Corporate Affairs, Ms Nozipho January-Bardill: “The piloting of MTN’s MMT services reaffirms MTN’s leadership in telecommunications and the company’s commitment to providing products and services that meet customers’ needs and expectations. We believe our MMT offering will make money transfer and basic payments more convenient and more affordable to our subscribers. We acknowledge our partner banks and the banking regulators in our different markets for the enthusiasm and support they are giving us.”

ABOUT THE MTN GROUP
Launched in 1994, the MTN Group is a multinational telecommunications group, operating in 21 countries in Africa, Asia and the Middle East. The MTN Group is listed on the JSE Securities Exchange in South Africa under the share code: “MTN”. As at 30 September 2008, MTN recorded 80,7 million subscribers across its operations in Afghanistan, Benin, Botswana, Cameroon, Cote d’Ivoire, Cyprus, Ghana, Guinea Bissau, Guinea Republic, Iran, Liberia, Nigeria, Republic of Congo (Congo Brazzaville), Rwanda, South Africa, Sudan, Swaziland, Syria, Uganda, Yemen and Zambia. The MTN Group is a global sponsor of the 2010 FIFA World Cup South Africa™ and has exclusive mobile content rights for Africa and the Middle East.

Texting (sending/receiving SMS) has become mainstream in Nigeria.

In June 2005, Mobile Africa published an article in which Mr. Tayo Ajakaye raised issues (and some very valid ones too) about the quality of value added services being provided by GSM network operators (see: Value Added Services: Who Uses Them?

I followed that article with a rejoinder, RE: Value Added Services: Who Uses Them?, in which I faulted Mr. Ajakaiye’s argument, though I agreed with him that quality of service needed (and gasp – still needs) improvement.

Who uses value added services? Let’s look at two popular ones: Mobile Internet and SMS.

Mobile Internet
Let’s take WAP (mobile internet): Opera’s State of the Mobile Web report for 2008 says that Nigeria was the 2nd fastest growing mobile internet community in the period under review (with 1854% growth), and is currently globally number 12 on the mobile internet usage scale.

An incredibly large number of Nigerians must be using value added services. As far back as 2006, the BBC had reported that in July of that year, 61% of its international traffic from mobile devices (a whopping 13.2 million page views in one month alone) was from Nigeria.

SMS
Let’s not go there. The SMS market is so rich today that there’s no point flogging the statistics. TV reality shows run interactive SMS campaigns, businesses and non-profit organisations use SMS notifications to reach their target audiences, and there are already interactive SMS applications deployed for instance in banking, financial, and web hosting services.

An incredibly huge amount of Nigerians have been using value added services for years.

Are these services perfect yet? Dream on. It is a long road ahead, but warts and all, value added services by GSM (and CDMA) operators have made a huge difference in the Nigeria before GSM and Nigeria after GSM.

Mobile value added services are here to stay.

Zain

1 August 2008 – Nairobi, Kenya – Zain Group, the leading telecommunications mobile operator servicing over 50 million customers in 22 countries across the Middle East and Africa, today announced it has re-branded its entire African operations from Celtel to Zain (www.zain.com). The move coincides with the linking of the world’s first borderless mobile service ‘One Network’ across two continents.

14 country operations across Africa will immediately rebrand to Zain, namely: Burkina Faso, Chad, the Republic of Congo, the Democratic Republic of Congo, Gabon, Kenya, Madagascar, Malawi, Niger, Nigeria, Sierra Leone, Tanzania, Uganda and Zambia. Zain will launch its mobile operation in Ghana later in 2008.

At a press conference held in Nairobi, Dr. Saad Al Barrak, Zain Group’s Chief Executive Officer, noted:  “By rebranding to Zain, we are bringing together our African and Middle East operations under a single, strong and unique identity. We believe the Zain brand provides an optimal platform upon which we can build a top 100 global brand with the ultimate goal of better serving our customers. It builds upon the success of our African operations and will propel the Zain Group towards becoming one of the top ten global mobile telecommunications companies by 2011.”

To mark the launch of its new colourful identity across Africa, Zain also announced the creation of the world’s first cross-continental borderless network, extending and linking its ‘One Network’ service between Africa and the Middle East. The service will be available to 500 million people stretching from the west coast of Africa to the Middle East, covering an area larger than the United States of America. One Network allows Zain customers affordable cross-border communications, helping friends and families stay connected.

“This truly is a defining moment in the history of global telecommunications. The connecting of One Network across two continents demonstrates how under one brand, Zain is able to offer enhanced mobile telephony services. Going forward it will now be easier and more affordable for people to keep in touch and support cross-continent trade and enterprise. This is the essence of the Zain brand promise to create ‘A wonderful world’” commented Dr Al Barrak.

From today, all Zain customers (pre-paid and post-paid) in Africa and the Middle East using ‘One Network’ will enjoy the benefits of being treated as a ‘local’ customer wherever they are. Customers can make calls and send messages at local rates when communicating with a travelling Zain customer who will receive incoming calls free-of-charge and be able to make calls back home at local rates. Pre-paid customers can also top up their phones with recharge cards bought from either their home country or more than one million outlets available in one of the 15 One Network countries. The One Network service is automatically activated upon crossing the geographic border into one of the countries, with no prior registration required or sign-up fee.

Chris Gabriel, CEO Zain in Africa said “We are confident that our African customers will embrace the vibrant and colourful Zain identity. As one brand, we will be better positioned to offer customers more innovative products and services alongside the best network coverage on the continent.”

The rebranding of Celtel comes less than a year after the Zain brand became the Group’s master corporate brand that was successfully launched across its Middle Eastern markets.

Zain

Zain, the leading mobile telecommunication operator in the Middle East and Africa present in 22 countries, announces today its consolidated financial results for the first half of 2008. The results showed significant growth in revenues with customer numbers exceeding 50 million.

H1-2008 Key Performance Indicators

For the first half of 2008, Zain Group recorded consolidated revenues of US$ 3.488 billion, an increase of 26% compared to H1-2007. The company’s consolidated EBITDA increased by 20% for the same period to reach US$ 1.305 billion. Zain consolidated net profits reached US$ 551.5 million, an increase of 7% on H1-2007 profits.

Year on year customer growth across the two continents where Zain operates was 58% with the Zain Group serving 50.74 million managed active customers at 30 June, 2008.

Commenting on the company’s H1-2008 financial results, Zain CEO, Dr. Saad Al-Barrak said: “On the back of splendid results for 2007 and the first quarter of 2008, despite fierce competition in many markets we are elated that Zain continues its excellent performance in the first half of 2008. Highlighted by crossing the 50 million customer milestone, these impressive results reflect the exceptional operational efficiencies in a company that is investing heavily and rapidly expanding across two continents.”

Dr Al-Barrak added, “We have started to reap the rewards of our recent large investments particularly in Iraq, Nigeria and Sudan with these 3 countries now serving more than half of Zain’s 50 million customers, and we expect similar rewards when our operations in Saudi Arabia and Ghana commence commercial operations.”

Zain in Saudi Arabia
Further to Zain Saudi Arabia’s successful listing on the Saudi Stock Exchange and a share price currently trading at double its initial offering, Zain has committed capital investments to date in networks exceeding US$1.5 billion in the Kingdom of Saudi Arabia. Currently the operation is testing the network with thousands of friendly users and Zain confirms that it will commence commercial operations by the end of August 2008. “We look keenly forward to launching our modern network and commercial offerings in the Kingdom, promising to offer the Saudi community world class telecom services. We are confident that our investment in the Kingdom will reap rewards for all our stakeholders.” said Dr Al Barrak.

One Network in the Middle East
After its widely praised and successful launch in Africa offering customers favorable rates for cross-border communications, on April 14, 2008 Zain introduced the world’s first borderless ‘One Network’ mobile service to 14 million customers in four countries in the Middle East-Bahrain, Iraq, Jordan and Sudan. On this, Dr Al Barrak noted “One Network’s preferential offerings removing borders and high roaming charges have been warmly welcomed and we expect it will be the catalyst for further growth in customer acquisition as we soon plan to link the 2 continents.” Saudi Arabia and Ghana will join One Network on launch of commercial services. Zain plans to roll-out One Network in all its operations, subject to regulatory approvals.

Capital Increase to raise in excess of US$4 billion
Zain also announces that the capital increase subscription period (as approved at the Annual General Assembly meeting on March 2008) will take place between August 17, 2008 and September 18, 2008. This capital increase will raise approximately US$4.4 billion. “Zain aspires to be a top-ten global telecom company by 2011 and increasing the company’s capital will provide the company with the liquidity necessary to continue its ambitious expansion strategy, while reducing the borrowing costs of the company’s operations and increasing shareholder value in the long term” concluded Dr Al Barrak.

Zain brand and community support
On June 27, 2008 the Zain brand was revealed to 50,000 concert goers and a worldwide TV audience of one billion as Zain was the main sponsor of a vast outdoor concert held in Hyde Park, London, honoring the former President of South Africa and Nobel Prize Laureate, Mr. Nelson Mandela on the occasion of his 90th birthday. The event raised substantial funds for his charitable work, as well as increasing the profile of African artists who Zain sponsored to attend and perform at the concert. Zain gave people across Africa the chance to participate in the event by offering its mobile phone networks to well-wishers wanting to send text messages wishing Nelson Mandela a happy birthday. All the money raised from this was given to the 46664 foundation.

In May 2008, Zain announced that it is partnering with the Earth Institute and Ericsson in providing mobile telephony and internet connectivity to over 400,000 people in remote areas in 10 sub-Saharan African countries as part of the Millennium Villages projects. This builds on Zain and Ericsson’s previous collaboration when the companies joined forces and upgraded and expanded Celtel’s infrastructure by building an additional 21 radio sites to provide mobile coverage up to 20 kilometers into Lake Victoria. This will ensure mobile coverage to over 90 percent of the fishing zones, where up to 5,000 people have lost their lives each year from accidents and piracy.

About Zain
Zain is a leading emerging markets player in the field of telecommunications aiming to become one of the top ten mobile groups in the world by 2011. Zain was established in 1983 in Kuwait as the region’s first mobile operator. Since 2003, it has grown significantly becoming the 4th largest telecommunications company in the world in terms of geographic presence with a footprint in 22 countries spread across the Middle East and Africa providing mobile voice and data services to over 50.74 million active customers (as at 30 June 2008).

In the Middle East the company operates under the Zain brand name in Bahrain, Iraq, Jordan, Kuwait and Sudan. In Lebanon the company operates as mtc-touch. Zain plans to commence operations in the Kingdom of Saudi Arabia in August 2008.

In Africa, Zain operates under the Celtel brand (www.celtel.com) in 14 sub-Saharan African countries namely: Burkina Faso, Chad, Democratic Republic of the Congo, Republic of the Congo, Gabon, Kenya, Malawi, Madagascar, Niger, Nigeria, Sierra Leone, Tanzania, Uganda and Zambia. The company’s mobile telecommunications operations in Ghana will begin in Q4, 2008.

The Zain brand is wholly owned by Mobile Telecommunications Company KSC, which is listed on the Kuwait Stock Exchange (Stock ticker: ZAIN). The company had a market capitalization of over US$25.8 billion on 30 June 2008.

This prestigious event was attended by 500 government, business, and media leaders from across Africa, Europe, Asia and the USA. The evening represented an ideal and unique opportunity to give global visibility to world-class African brands.

Collecting the award for Zain, Tito Alai, Chief Commercial Officer for Zain Group commented “Zain places a huge emphasis on Africa in achieving its 2011 targets of being a top-ten global mobile operator with 110 million customers.”

Alai further added, “This award is an achievement that represents our belief in the African continent and the potential that exists. Together with our partners and customers we are committed to building the African economic dream and developing telecommunications across the continent as no other telecom company has been able to do.”

The awards were co-hosted by the Commonwealth Business Council (CBC) and African Business magazine. Notable VIPs such as Ephraim Inoni, Prime Minister of Cameroon; Bethuel Mosisili, Prime Minister of Lesotho; Senator Daggash, Nigeria’s Minister of National Planning; Neville Isdell, Chairman of Coca Cola; and other prominent diplomats and businessmen presented the Awards to the winners in a festive and memorable African night.

About Celtel & Zain
Zain is a leading emerging markets player in the field of telecommunications aiming to become one of the top ten mobile groups in the world by 2011. Zain was established in 1983 in Kuwait as the region’s first mobile operator. Since 2003, it has grown significantly becoming the 4th largest telecommunications company in the world in terms of geographic presence with a footprint in 22 countries spread across the Middle East and Africa providing mobile voice and data services to over 45.7 million active customers (as at 31 March 2008).

In the Middle East the company operates under the Zain brand name in Bahrain, Iraq, Jordan, Kuwait and Sudan. In Lebanon the company operates as mtc-touch. Zain plans to commence operations in the Kingdom of Saudi Arabia in 2008.

In Africa, Zain currently operates under the Celtel brand (www.celtel.com) in 14 sub-Saharan African countries namely: Burkina Faso, Chad, Democratic Republic of the Congo, the Republic of the Congo, Gabon, Kenya, Malawi, Madagascar, Niger, Nigeria, Sierra Leone, Tanzania, Uganda and Zambia. The company’s mobile telecommunications operations in Ghana will begin in late 2008.

The Zain brand is wholly owned by Mobile Telecommunications Company KSC, which is listed on the Kuwait Stock Exchange (Stock ticker: ZAIN). The company had a market capitalization of over US$ 27 billion on 30 June, 2008.

MTN Nigeria

Operator Name: MTN Nigeria Communications Limited

Network Name: MTN Nigeria

Technology: GSM 900/1800, GPRS, EDGE, 3G, 3.5G (HSDPA)

Network Status: Live August 2001

Subscribers: 23,077,000 (December 2008)

Ownership: MTN Group (82%), Nigerian investors (24%)

Corporate Headquarters: Golden Plaza Building, Awolowo Road, Falomo, Ikoyi, Lagos, Nigeria

Telephone: +234 803 902 0001

Email: customercare@mtnnigeria.net

Web Site: www.mtnonline.com

Two weeks ago, carrier Multi-Links Telecommunications flipped the switch on a new cell phone network in Lagos, Nigeria, that’s capable of handling hundreds of thousands of more calls at a time than existing cell networks and of downloading e-mails or Web pages at dial-up modem speeds.

And in about three months, Nigerian carrier Rel-Tel will introduce a similar next-generation cell phone service not just to Lagos, but to other parts of the country. Starcomms, another Nigerian carrier, plans to have a similar network in place by year’s end.

Network-equipment seller Nortel Networks, which is supplying Multi-Links with network gear, and Ericsson, which won the Rel-Tel contract, see huge potential in Africa. Less than 10 percent of the population of even the most technologically developed countries has telephone service of any kind. In Nigeria, the figure is less than half of 1 percent.

That translates into hundreds of millions of potential customers. And although trying to sell mobile phones to people who don’t even have old-fashioned landline models might seem like folly, business and infrastructure concerns may give cellular the edge.

Of the two kinds of telephones–traditional landline and cell phones–the wireless variety appears to be a bigger business in Africa, according to Ericsson spokesman Per Altan. The Swedish telephone equipment giant supplies network gear and cell phones to carriers in 30 African nations, and landline phone equipment to carriers in only 20 nations, he said.

The reasons are both economic and regulatory. It’s cheaper for a carrier to lay down a few miles of cable to a base station filled with cellular antennas than to string traditional phone lines to every house and business. Also, the landline phone business in Africa is a near monopoly, with each country having usually just one carrier. Although governments aren’t letting rival landline phone companies in to do business, they are giving licenses to cell phone providers, said Stephan Beckert, research director for market analysis firm TeleGeography.

That means cell phones may indeed win out in the long run. In Morocco, for example, there are already 4.8 million cell phone users among a population of 29 million–four times the number of fixed-line phone users, according to statistics provided by TeleGeography.

But just as in China, a huge untapped population doesn’t necessarily mean instant jackpot-size revenue for phone sellers, Beckert said. Poverty is certainly one of the biggest obstacles keeping phones out of Africa’s hands.

“Look at how many (customers) are in China, then look at the average income,” Beckert said. “You’re seeing factory workers making 60 cents per day. They aren’t going to buy cell phones anytime soon.”

By Ben Charny; Staff Writer, CNET News.com

Lagos Island, Nigeria

I had to visit home again after a long time away, in October 2004. I had nothing to worry about. It would be like I was still in my country of residence. Armed with my notebook computer, a VISA debit card, few personal effects, and of course, my good old Nokia 7250i, I set off for Ibadan (south west Nigeria), my beloved home town.

Ghana’s Spacefon Areeba announced on November 15th 2003, west Africa’s first prepaid roaming service. I knew I would use the service sooner than later. I went to thier office at Osu to activate this. Setup was easy. In all, I paid the equivalent of $70. About an hour later, I got a text message: “Dear Subscriber, Your account has been activated. To check the balance of your account PLS dial the balance enquiry number”. I got another message: “Your new balance is 40.00 USD. It is valid until 07-Oct-2005.

I decided to travel to Nigeria by road, to experience how the service would be, crossing from Ghana – Togo – Benin Republic – Nigeria. I travelled by ABC Transport, an executive bus service across west Africa. Whilst in Lome (capital of Togo), my phone was still displaying SPACEFON. This is obviously because Aflao, the border town was just a stone throw away, and Spacefon Areeba has its base stations there. I quickly searched for the available networks. Ghana: GH ONETOUCH, GH SPACE, GH MOBITEL and Togo: Togocell, and one other network. I can’t recollect its name.

We proceeded with the journey. As soon as we moved further from Ghana, my phone soon was displaying Togocell. I smiled. Receiving calls was effortless. The other folks in the bus were surprised that in the middle of nowhere, I could still use my mobile phone. In Benin republic, my phone displayed: BeninCell. I had set my phone on “Automatic network selection”. Consequently, the phone searched for the strongest available network. Since much of the pan-African highway was covered by GSM cellular service, I was in touch, most of the way.

In Benin republic, I decided to call my folks in Nigeria that I was on my way. We soon arrived at the Benin-Nigeria border post. We waited in the bus whilst the bus guide went to process our immigration documents. Soon, I received a text message: ” Y’ello and welcome to Nigeria. For more information on Nigeria, please call 15900 for Directory Services. Do enjoy your stay”. Guess who the sender was? MTN NIGERIA. I chuckled. Needless to say that I selected MTN throughout my short stay in Nigeria. The text message I received was enough reason for me.

We soon drove into Badagry, and towards Lagos mainland. All along the highway, my phone was displaying the names of the base stations as we went by. Names like: Okokomaiko, Badagry-3, readily comes to mind. Well, I’m in Lagos and had to quickly head off for Ibadan, since it was getting late. In Ibadan, same experience. Seamless connectivity.

One great edge I had was, Spacefon Areeba had interconnectivity agreements with three out of the four mobile networks in Nigeria. In a nutshell, I could select VMobile, MTN Nigeria or Glo mobile. Meaning, in places where one network was unavailable, I could easily switch to another network. People on Nigerian networks can’t do this. If you are a VMobile subscriber for example, and you are in a place not covered by VMobile, you were out of touch!

At a glance
I could use any of the three networks: VMobile, Glo mobile, MTN Nigeria.
I could receive text messages sent to my phone number in Ghana.
I could forward all my calls to any phone number in the world. I later bought a Glo mobile prepaid “classic pack” for only N1 and forwarded my calls to the glo line. People in Nigeria could reach me by dialling 0805 224 **** whilst people in Ghana could reach me by simply dialling 024 493 ****. Nothing could be easier.

Downsides
I could not send text messages. I solved this by acqiuring a local mobile line (glo) and forwarded my calls and text messages to it.
Any one trying to reach me within Nigeria would still have to make an International call my dialling my line in Ghana, though I was physically in Nigeria! This is not cost-effective. Same solution. I got a glo mobile line.
I had to pay $2 each time I forwarded my calls to any phone line. I had to do this just once though.

Cost:
Registration: $30
Units: $40
Making calls: $0.50 per 30 seconds
Receiving calls: $0.25 per 30 seconds

In a nutshell, Spacefon Areeba’s HOP service is good if you would be leaving Ghana for a short while. You are only in touch during the life cycle of your credit on SNAP. You are disconnected as soon as your prepaid credit on SNAP expires. On the postpaid package however, you are connected as long as your $1500 deposit as carry you.

I enjoyed the rest of my stay in Nigeria. It was virtually like I never left Ghana, as I was constantly in touch, making and receiving calls as usual.

Glo mobile

Glo Mobile, the GSM subsidiary of Globacom Nigeria Limited has been a great player in the telecom industry since it was launched in 2003.

First came the rather aggressive adverts on all the available media in the country: TV, Radio, Newspapers, Magazine and even the Internet. Nigerians were left to wonder what this new entrant could offer. Glo Mobile made promises, to be Nigeria’s best mobile phone operator, to break the hitherto existing duopoly of VMobile Nigeria (then known as Econet Wireless Nigeria) and MTN Nigeria. The promises looked good. One thing was certain, Glo had the financial stamina to ‘walk the talk’.

Nearly two years later, Glo Mobile has completely change the scenerio of the GSM telecom sub-sector in Nigeria, and the story has never been the same again.

First came the adverts that were all rather indigenous. Glo mobile made use of local Nigerian musicians to drive home the point. Notable amongst the musicians were King Sunny Ade and Daddy Showkey. Moreover, Glo’s flagship colour is limish green; this Nigerians could identify with, since the colour of the country’s flag was Green – White – Green. Moreover, Glo made very colourful posters and bill boards with the inscriptions, “Glo with Pride”, “Lets glo with you” etc.

As events unfolded, it became crystal clear to everyone that Glo mobile was in, for real business. Glo launched Nigeria’s most advanced cellular network, a 2.5G (advanced form of 2nd generation phone network that enables a cellular network to offer GPRS and MMS). GPRS was free for Glo’s subscribers for over a month.

No other cellular network has been able to match the wide variety of Value Added Services offered by Glo. None. Their wide variety of value-added-services include: MultiMedia Messaging Service (Glo MMS), Mobile Internet (via GPRS), Magic Plus (an SMS-based service that gives subscribers access to a host of information, commerce and entertainment content), Ringtones & logos, Txt2Email, Email2Txt, Text Messaging, Personalized Voicemail service, Roaming (for both prepaid & postpaid subscribers).

Other services on the glo mobile network include: Calling Line Identification Presentation (CLIP), Call Waiting and Call Hold, Call Forwarding, Call Barring, International Roaming and Conference Call.

Glo Mobile’s main objective appears to be “Building the biggest and best network in Africa”. This is on their website. Little wonder. They have since demonstrated this. As at time of writing, Glo mobile’s network has 3.3 million subscribers, and has coverage in 31 states (out of 36) of the Federal Republic of Nigeria, making it the only network in Nigeria to have almost covered the entire country in less than two years. The rapid spread has been adjudged as one of the fastest in Africa.

Glo mobile is currently running a promotion which it tagged “Everyone Is an Instant Winner”. In the current promo, Glo Mobile is giving 15% instant bonus credit for every recharge. Based on its monthly recharge volume, the payout on this promo for Glo may be in the region of N500 million monthly.

The present Glo Mobile offering therefore appears to over-shadow that of any other promotion in the country, particularly in the telecommunication industry.

The Instant winner promo also differs from other promotions because every Glo subscriber is a winner.

Glo Mobile emerged with a strong vision to make a difference in the Nigerian mobile sub-telecom sector. They are doing just that. They have changed the industry for the better. The subscribers now have cause to smile.

However, that article gives the impression that the right thing for those operators to do is to ignore value-added services altogether until they are in a better position to make them work right. I may be wrong on that impression, and stand to be corrected, but I am of the opinion that there is a better approach. Permit me to comment on a few things touched in that article, as someone who has used a number of those services regularly for years.

Mr Ajakaye says, During the early stages of its operation in Nigeria, MTN in collaboration with a IT solution provider launched the Wireless Application Protocol (WAP). The service did not really fly. Not many people could perform the smallest task online, like checking e-mail, through the system. The fault might not be that of the telecom operator.

It just is not true that not many people could use MTN’s WAP and CSD platform. It was (and still is) rather a case of many people not being able to afford to use it. The tariff was (and still is) madness, in my opinion. However, I used it consistently, browsing WAP and managing my office mails at home and on the move. As a matter of fact, MTN’s CSD service is one value-added service that was (and still is) more reliable than the core services of many ISPs in Nigeria that I know of.

Mr Ajakaye further says, What Okoruwa did not include is that the problem might be with the inefficent way these VAS are offered in Nigeria. And after trying one out with money gone and no results found, Nigerian subscribers are learning to restrict themselves to just the basic use of the phone as much as they could.

Inefficient service delivery is not news to Nigerians, and so Value-added services should not be singled out when this is concerned. Many institutions and sectors are inefficient in the delivery of both their core areas of competence and value-added services: banks, insurance companies, ISPs, press and media organisations, religious organisations. It has been a general problem our society needs to address.

For example, when VSAT and other internet access technologies were first introduced to Nigeria, those of us who are in the know can attest to the fact that internet access inefficiently delivered to end-users. Terribly long downtimes were (and in a number of cases, still are) the order of the day. Internet access is not a value-added service for ISPs, who were licensed for that purpose, yet they delivered poorly. We did not condemn internet access in Nigeria to the graveyard because of those experiences. Today, things are slightly better. I submit that service delivery of value-added services will get better with time, with experience, and as competition grows.

Like I mentioned earlier, I have tasted of the bitterness of disappointment from some of these operators, but I must admit that my life and work has had real value added to them because those services exist at all. That’s why I say, Let the show go on.

I liken this issue of value-added services (and all modern services in general) to the relationship called marriage. In the early years, those involved may have to do a lot of shaving off the rough edges of each other, and with some tolerance, balanced confrontation and determination to make things work, the relationship not only lasts but gets better… and better… and better.

Mr Ajakaye wrote, A telecom consultant who spoke with THISDAY on phone Tuesday night said “I cannot immediately think of one that has added value to what service.”

If THISDAY had spoken with me, they would have had a different answer. I have a fast-growing list of a number of people who are able to work better, more efficiently and more conveniently as a result of the value-added services on both GSM and CDMA networks in Nigeria. These crop of people see an opportunity and are taking advantage of it daily. And that, I believe, answers the all-important question that Mr Ajakaye asked, “Who uses them?”

In this saddening in this light to observe that a significant number of GSM operators in Nigeria only pay lip service to customer support. This is more of a problem as we see a shift from plain voice to mobile data. I’ll shed more light on how I arrived at this conclusion.

Scene 1: Kingsley purchases a GPRS-smartphone for use on the GloMobile network. He subscribes for full internet service so he can browse the Web and access emails on his smartphone. But he is told by Customer Care that the only way he can browse the Web is to use his phone as a modem with a laptop! Amused, Kingsley takes his laptop to them as requested, and they were not able to configure it and get it to work with their GPRS service.

Scene 2: Yomi has signed up for full internet access via GPRS on the same network. He has put in all settings, yet the service does not work. From the error message his Sony Ericsson P800 is giving (Service not activated), it is clear that GloMobile is yet to do something at their end. After weeks of calling customer care, he is finally asked to come over to their office half-way across the city of Lagos from his location.

Insisting that the trip was not necessary to resolve the issue, he is told that was the only thing to do. Yomi drives down, and after customer care has taken a look at the settings on his phone, they comment that everything was in order and then take a look at their systems. They discover that they had not activated the poor fellow’s line on the “switch”. Another unnecessary and wasteful trip.

Yomi soon upgrades his handset to the Nokia 9500, which is in effect a laptop that fits into your palm. Speaking with Customer care once, he is asked what laptop he uses. He replies that he just uses his Communicator to browse, manage email, and run Instant messaging, and is shocked when the representative on the line responds in amazement how that was possible.

Scene 3: A young lady takes a handset to the nearest MTN Friendship Centre to have it configured for WAP. She is told that the server was down and so the handset could not be configured. In less than an hour she narrates the story to a friend, who promptly takes the handset, inputs the settings and starts browsing with it. Whether or not the server was actually down had nothing to do with configuring WAP on a phone, and Custmer Care did not know that.

Scene 4: Wale calls Customer Care on Vmobile to enquire whether it was true that the network now had a GPRS service. The representative replies in the affirmative and proceeds to tell Wale to send a specified text to a dedicated number to receive the service configuration OTA (Over-the-air). Wale sends the text and is surprised to discover that the settings sent to him are for plain old Circuit-switched data, a slow dial-up protocol. Till the time of writing this article, Vmobile is yet to launch GPRS on its network.

Scene 5: DK purchases one of the newer Sendo phones for use on GloMobile. Customer Care informs him that the handset cannot work on its network (we have been wondering why, since it was not locked to another network and was both WAP and GPRS-enabled). DK visits http://www.gosmartmobile.com where he finds WAP settings for his network. He puts in the settings, makes some adjustments on my recommendation – and months after he is still browsing.

Okay. Enough examples. All scenarios above are real events. I made none up. Of course, there are more, but what’s the use going on and on?

The question on my mind is, How much training do Customer Care representatives get? Did these guys apply for those jobs just to put some money in their pockets every month or do they really have an interest in what they do?

I may not have the answers straight up, but I do know that what we observe in subscribers’ interaction with Customer Care officers on our networks leaves much to be desired. These operators should stop caring about us in word alone. They may need to cut down on those ad budgets and put more funds in ensuring that the customer gets the kind of support he deserves.

Value-added services are those service outside the core services provided by service providers. Just as the name implies, a value-added service is supposed to add value to the subscribers’ use of an operator’s network. These services have unique characteristics and they relate to other services in a completely different way. They also provide benefits that core services can not.

But accordidng to Mr. Calixthus Okoruwa, the CEO XLR8, who organised a VAS expo, e-NNOVATE early this year, value added services are now generically defined to refer to all other uses to which technological gadgets can be put, outside of the use for which they were primarily designed. He said the mobile phone is the prime example here as it was primarily designed for voice communication. If it now enables a user to link up with his e-mail or enables him to conduct banking transactions even while on the move, then of course these are certainly value added services.

Value-added services continue to be developed by the day. The more popular ones include call holding, call waiting, call barring, call divert, voice mail, SMS, fax messaging, Calling Line Identification, call conferencing, cell information, and all those services involved in mobile VAS. These include non-voice advanced messaging services such as SMS, MMS, Mobile Instant Messaging, and Unified Messaging. There are also wireless data such as GPRS, WAP, mobile gaming and Push To Talk.

Some characteristics of a VAS which experts have mentioned include that it is not a form of basic service but rather adds value total service offering. It could stand alone in terms of profitability and where properly offered, it could stimulates incremental demand for core service. A value-added service could stand alone operationally. It does not cannibalize basic service unless clearly favourable. It can be an add-on to basic service, and as such, may be sold at a premium price, and it may provide operational and/or administrative synergy between or among other services.

Basically, experts point to two types of VAS. The first service type are those value-added services that stand alone from the core service of the operator. These are often provided as an optional service along with voice services, although they could be offered and used by themselves without the voice service. A good exapmle of this is the SMS.

The licencing authority in many cases licence the operator to provide the basic voice services. The operator adds such other services that may attract subscribers to his network.

During the early stages of its operation in Nigeria, MTN in collaboration with a IT solution provider launched the Wireless Application Protocol (WAP). The service did not really fly. Not many people could perform the smallest task online, like checking e-mail, through the system. The fault might not be that of the telecom operator.

In recent times, virtually all the operators in the Nigerian telecom industry has come to town with one value-added service or the other. The GSM operators had been introducing one value-added service after the other. The competition, observers have noted, is in the launching the services, not in effectiveness. For example, one of the operators who offer GPRS could keep a subscriber waiting for more than 30 days before he is connected. After the acknowledgment by the network that your request had been received and was been processed, the operator goes to sleep till the following month. Yet before you could finish pronoucing GPRS, the same operator could come out launching another value-added service.

The PTOs are not left behind in this craze to launch value-added service. Many PTOs have launched Internet service, but subscribers cannot point to more than two that are working well. How many of those are working well? Some of them promised SMS, but they could only send that within their individual networks.

Although there was the culture of promise without delivery by operators, Okoruwa believes that “this area is a potentially exciting aspect of the technology industry – not just telecoms, but the entire technology industry – which operators are currently only just scratching. I say it promises to be very exciting because of its immense potential to add real value to the lives of consumers and in so doing, in helping to create new revenue streams for technology players – telecom companies, but also content providers, web developers, banks and financial institutions, sundry retailers and service companies and entrepreneurs of different hues.”

What’s more Okoruwa says, is that that for a country like Nigeria, an additional benefit would be that value added services in a very subtle yet potent manner, encourage Nigerians to embrace technology in their every day lives. Children who have had to enroll for WAEC or JAMB online or check their results in the same manner, come back home to regal their parents and older ones of tales of the new fangled technology.

Admitting that Nigerians might not be utilising these services to the utmost as yet, Okoruwa says the reason is that voice telephony is the primary driver telecommunications and after a prolonged scarcity of basic telephone amenities with attendant huge unmet need for telecoms, telecom companies have understandably and to resounded commercial success, focused attention on voice.Also, voice has also been the predominant concern of the consumers.

What Okoruwa did not include is that the problem might be with the inefficent way these VAS are offered in Nigeria. And after trying one out with money gone and no results found, Nigerian subscribers are learning to restrict themselves to just the basic use of the phone as much as they could. Many subscribers have had their money deducted for SMS that was not delivered. If this could happen to simple SMS, they wonder what would happen to GPRS and other high-sounding service.

It would seem the NCC has no standard on the quality of these value-added services. The regulator did not licence them to offer anything than basic voice telephony. So, it would be difficult to start grading them for a service your licence did not require them to provide. At the last published report on network quality in Nigeria, NCC concentrated just on the voice aspect. Which is just as well, analysts argue, because for an operator finding it difficult to provide quality voice service, adding several value-added services is an unnecssary distraction.

A telecom consultant who spoke with THISDAY on phone Tuesday night said “I cannot immediately think of one that has added value to what service.” It is a view shared by most subscribers, all the noise aside.

I will not be comparing WAP services here, as they are pretty limited in use to the business person, but full data services giving you access to the Web, email and FTP etc.

Getting Started
On MTN, you only need pay a one-time fee of N1,500 to be signed up for Enhanced Data and Fax. This is whether you are on prepay or a contract. It makes no difference.

With Glo, you have to be a contract user to get access to full internet access. Minimum initial expenditure: N9,750, plus all the hassles of a contract.

Tariffs
Glo GPRS is charged by the byte (20kobo to 35 kobo per kilobyte) rather than per time, making it generally more cost-effective than MTN’s per second or per minute browsing charges (same as regular call rates). But again on MTN, there are at least 3 BoosterCard options available to help you lower your browsing costs.

Speed Issues
MTN runs a CSD platform with speeds limited to 9.6kbps. In practice it works well for retrieving and sending mails and viewing low-bandwidth sites.

Glo touts its GPRS speed at 40kbps. In reality it is much slower – barely faster than a normal CSD connection, and many times just totally unuseable.

Service Availability and Quality
From the experience I have had on both platforms, MTN Enhanced Data/Fax is available everywhere I have been. It does not matter where I am in Lagos, I am able to browse. Last year, I took a trip to and from Warri and it worked flawlessly all through – on the road and at my destination.

The same cannot be said for Glo GPRS however. Even within Lagos, there are very few locations GPRS works. For example, a drive between Ojodu and Surulere is a shocking revelation. The GPRS signal is there, but more often than not it does not work. I won’t even think of attempting a trip to Warri.

Extras
Glo GPRS allows you to send and receive Multi-media messages – a souped-up version of SMS that includes audio, video, and animations. On the other hand, MTN Data/Fax gives you fax and data access. You get 2 extra numbers – one for fax and the other for data. Hence, if you use a Communicator like I do, you do not need a fax machine, as the communicator series have it built-in.

Conclusion
Let’s face it, besides the more convenient tariffs on Glo GPRS when and where it works, there is very little difference in what you get from the two networks. In addition, MTN gives you fax alongside Web and email access.

But if my life were to depend on it, I’d choose MTN’s Enhanced Data/Fax. A little more expensive, but it wins by a clear margin when it comes to reliability and availability.

Elegantly dressed and looking responsible, a lady in his late thirties came out of a shop in Ikeja recently with a baby on a cot.

She put the baby in her brand new Volkswagen Bora car seat, and drove off, all while chattering inanely on her mobile phone.

Wonder why she could not have finished the conversation before driving off, especially with a baby in the car?

What if just 100 metres away, a mini passenger bus popularly known as Danfo traveling at a higher speed had came face to face with her car?

Well, this ludicrous kind of selfish stupidity can only happen in Nigeria where it seems some people have axes to grind against every law.

Driving in Nigeria, has since ceased to be an exercise of skill and responsibility and instead the car has become an extension of the daily lives of Nigerians who consider it their given right to resist any attempt to legislate against the citizens’ domain on four wheels.

Today in major cities it is a familiar sight of people driving while holding and talking on their mobile phones.

Using a hand held mobile phone and driving is illegal in many countries including Nigeria but few are usually prosecuted in the country for dangerous or careless driving.

There are a lot of accidents with fatal injuries and death caused by using mobile phones while driving have occurred but there are no official record linking these accidents to talking while driving.

Driving a car while talking on mobile phones is just crazy, it is the easiest way to put the driver and other people in danger.

Cell phones no doubt have become increasingly popular over the last few years. In fact, it is amazing to find out that as many people as possible in the cities have cell phones.

Cell phones are, also lifesavers to have in case of emergencies but the unpalatable features especially the wrong uses are as disturbing.

Federal Road Safety Commission (FRSC), the agency in charge of road safety in the country had in its determination to curb the rate of road accidents in the country, released books and audio tapes aimed at instilling proper road culture in children, young adults and motorists.

Corps Marshal, Major General Haladu Hannaniya (rtd), said the book entitled “Road Safety Tips for Children and Young Adults” was designed to inculcate sound road culture in the minds of the youth.

“The drivers and exposed road users would learn defensive driving techniques and tips on safe driving while children and youths would imbibe sound road culture early enough,” he said

The agency has also reported that many drivers now recognize that cell phones are the biggest distraction while driving – more than time pressures, eating, drinking, using the radio or changing music.

Even the most careful of drivers will be distracted by a phone call or text message – it affects concentration and anticipation.

Talking on a mobile phone while driving however, compromises the safety of everybody

Proprietor of Dan Driving School, Lagos Mr. Dan Ebi said that talking while driving affects the ability of the driver to concentrate and anticipate the road ahead, thereby putting the driver and other road users at risk.

Some argue that talking on a phone is worse than driving drunk and have called for stiffer penalties for offenders.

Others however say that the claim that it is more dangerous than drunk-driving is wrong and will not help to educate motorists about the dangers of inattentive driving.

Mr. Ebi insists that using a mobile phone impairs driving adding that any driver will be distracted by a phone call or text message.

Medical Director of Care well Clinic, Egbe, Dr. Toyin Odediran, agreed and said that phone conversations have been shown to cause a cognitive disruption in drivers.

According to him, the driver’s brain is engaged with the conversation, even when he pretends to be paying attention to the road

A mobile subscriber and concerned Nigerian, Mr. Jude Kpoi Uzozie said that he is looking for a day when the use of mobile phones when driving, both hands held and hands-free, become as socially unacceptable as drunk driving.

He said that it requires discipline on the part of the users and sense of responsibility by the government to ensure enforcement and sanctions.

The use of the so-called hands free has also been called to question especially after a study by University of Rhode Island.

The study though very controversial, looked at the eye-movements of drivers and found them to have a reduced field of view, or tunnel vision.

Using a head-mounted eye-tracking device, the researchers concluded that tunnel vision caused by mobile phone use continues well after the conversation ends, perhaps because drivers are still thinking about the conversation.

Hands-free phones have been available since the mid-1990s. Most of these devices are connected by a wire to a regular cell phone, but a few wireless models use short-wave radio technology to exchange signals with the host phone.

There are however, people who argue that the ability of someone to deal with a distraction varies from individual to individual and from circumstance to circumstance.

The FRSC said that the safest approach on wheels is to switch off the phone.

“This is, by far, the safest approach. Use your voicemail or message service to access missed calls when you are able to stop or at the end of your journey” the FRSC said

According to the agency, “If you must use your phone while travelling, always stop in a safe place, or equip your vehicle with a ‘hands-free’ system. Be aware that even when you use a ‘hands-free’ system, your mind will not be fully on driving but on the conversation, so keep calls as short as possible.”

Also remember to inform the caller that you are driving and that you wish to keep the conversation short and simple.

We must however need to be careful not to lose the proved safety benefits of mobile phones when attempting to avoid what is just one of the many everyday distractions faced by motorists.

by Ken Nwogbo from Lagos.

Mobile Mania
Mobile telephony is now firmly entrenched as the predominant mode of telephony in almost every African nation. By 2001 mobile subscriber numbers had increased at such a rate that they had overtaken those of fixed lines, making Africa the first region of the world to achieve this. By the end of 2003, mobile users are estimated to have reached 51 millions, according to ITU, and are forecast to grow to 67 millions by the end of 2005. In just the first few years of the new millennium, Africa has added more telecommunication users than in the whole of the previous century. Africa is currently the world region with the highest level of mobile communications growth. The vast majority of mobile users use GSM technologies.

Evolving A Uniquely African Approach
The business and operating climate in the African telecommunication sector has radically shifted. Firstly, market liberalization has helped shape an environment which fosters competition. Regulatory bodies are being established, to oversee the introduction of services, resolve disputes, and support competition. A glance across Africa’s mobile landscape illustrates the benefits of competition. The only countries with less mobile than fixed telephone subscribers in Sub-Saharan Africa at the end of 2003 were either those without mobile networks or without mobile competition. Mobile competition has benefited even the poorest countries. The Democratic Republic of Congo and Ethiopia both have per capita incomes of around US$100, yet the Democratic Republic of Congo has a mobile penetration of around 2% – some 15 times greater than Ethiopia’s, which stood at 0.13% at the end of 2003.The difference? Whilst Ethiopia has only 1 GSM operator, the Democratic Republic of Congo has 3 GSM networks, in addition to non GSM cellular networks.

Pan Regional Giants
Competition alone is not the key. The emergence over the last 3-4 years of African based, pan-regional mobile operators, is another significant reason behind mobile’s growth. The spheres of mobile influence of these strategic investors now reach across the continent. It is these operators, such as Vodacom, Orascom Telecom and MTN who have been able to apply uniquely African approaches onto the markets on which they operate. They also provide competition – not just any competition, but their presence ensures that competition is of a suitable quality to help stimulate market growth. “Operators such as MTN or Vodacom have the knowledge of operating in different African markets which they can then duplicate onto other markets in the region,” explains Michael Minges, Head of ITU’s Market, Economics and Finance Unit and lead author of the 2004 African Telecommunications Indicators report. “But crucially they also possess a vital zeal to spread the benefits of mobile communications across the region, and with this enthusiasm they have helped created a mobile revolution in Africa.”

As Africa’s telecoms investment climate has shifted, in turn, potential investors in the region are becoming more willing to make concessions which they would not have done 10 years ago. Vendors, looking to grow in new markets as they face saturation elsewhere, are increasingly tailoring their approach to the region, developing special lower-cost solutions to suit the needs of the region.

Harnessing Approaches that Work
Mobile operators in Africa have been quick to see the benefits of prepaid services. In a region where per-capita incomes are low, and payment upfront in cash is generally the preferred means of payment, prepaid services are ideally suited. They reduce the risk of bad credit to operators while exposing a whole new consumer group to telecommunications services; those who would not normally have qualified for postpaid mobile services or fixed lines. A growing number of African networks operate only as prepaid, and four out of every five African subscribers – almost twice the global average – use prepaid services. Prepaid services have been further adapted to offer mobile ‘payphone’ services. It is tapping into these regional specific approaches, and accessing new sectors of the population who have not previously been exposed to telecommunications, which have helped to drive up mobile usage in recent years, and will continue to do so.

How Far do Mobile’s Benefits Really Extend?
Despite its suitability for the African market, how far has mobile really gone in terms of extending the benefits of telecommunications? Levels of mobile penetration vary considerably across the region, ranging from under 1% in Ethiopia to 74.7% in Réunion at the end of 2003, indicating that, for much of the region there is still huge scope for growth. Mobile technology has, however, gone further than any other communications technology in Africa in terms of bridging the digital divide. Mobile’s ease of payment means that services extend to segments of urban and rural populations who previously would not have been able to afford them, and where demand is high. Mobile infrastructure also extends way beyond that of fixed-line, into rural and ‘universal access’ markets, something to which wireless technology is innately more suited than the traditional fixed-line. Nevertheless, network coverage remains low with only an estimated 50% of Sub-Saharan Africa covered by a mobile signal, indicating that there is still a large untapped market, provided operators can be encouraged to extend network coverage.

Boosting Local Jobs
Mobile technology has also spawned a number of new employment possibilities. Prepaid card sellers or mobile resellers, such as Nigeria’s ‘umbrella people’ so called as they use umbrellas to provide shade whilst plying their wares – are now commonplace. Mobile reselling is a boom business – umbrella people, for example, have reportedly been able to exhaust 2-3 MTN prepaid cards, each valued at roughly USD11.60, per day.

Affordability of service is still a key issue – if services are unaffordable for potential new users, then this sector of the market cannot offer prospects for expansion. After a period of rapid mobile uptake, the mobile growth curve is set to continue. ITU forecasts mobile subscriber growth of 17% during 2004. To maintain the momentum of growth however, operators – as elsewhere in the world – will need to look to new areas of growth to attract new users.

Tapping into New Growth Streams Data
Applications such as WAP are beginning to surface. One of the most publicized examples is of Senegal’s Manoni, which launched a service to enable farmers to query databases on pricing information, utilizing WAP. The service is used by over 1 000 users.

Meanwhile, SMS (short message service) usage is showing signs of a fast uptake in Africa. While the majority of SMS traffic tends to be for mundane communications, SMS has also been harnessed for a number of innovative, region-specific applications. In Zambia, mobile operator Celtel has launched a mobile payment system whereby users can make payments using SMS, with a code identifying the payee.

Applications such as mobile banking have the potential to make a major impact in Africa, a region where cash payments are preferred and where people do not generally carry credit cards.

Migration to 3G?
A lack of fixed-line infrastructure as well as low PC penetration means that the potential for mobile Internet is considerable. Indeed 3G services have already been launched in a number of African countries, including Angola. Although there are no 3G networks in operation on the continent, network upgrades have enabled service launches. Recently Ericsson was awarded Africa’s first EDGE (Enhanced Data Rate for Global Evolution) contract, to provide the technology to Ghana’s Scancom. Deploying EDGE will provide a migration path toward 3G, and enable Scancom to assess demand for enhanced data services. High speed or not, mobiles can still allow users to access the Internet “We are seeing users using regular GSM networks to gain access to the Internet, ” says Minges “It is certainly slow, but in areas where no alternative exists it is the only way to gain Internet access.” Given this, a logical technology to deploy would be GPRS (General Packet Radio Services), which could provide a higher speed access solution. Yet operators have still to embark on a large-scale rollout of the technology – by the end of 2003 GPRS had only been launched in three African markets. “Operators should be exploiting the potential of GPRS ” explains Minges “Given the obvious thirst for Internet access, GPRS could provide users with Internet access at speeds equivalent to dial up access as well as new revenue streams for operators.”

Universal Service Market
The Universal service market offers some surprisingly vibrant growth opportunities. Cautious of extending the reach of mobile services into rural areas, where service uptake may not be as rapid as in urban areas, operators have been slow in seizing the prospects these markets offer. “Operators should see these markets as a growth opportunity” says Minges. “Providing a service such as a community payphone can generate over 3 times the monthly revenue of a conventional user.” While services such as community payphones clearly do not provide a boost for handset sales, they do mean that levels of mobile traffic are kept high. Mobile initiatives in the universal services area include the Grameen Phone initiative. This initiative replicates the Grameen Telecom’s village phone programme running in Bangladesh, which currently has over 40 000 village phone operators. The Grameen initiative in Uganda operates in partnership with MTN Uganda and provides low cost mobile services into poor rural areas.

The Death of the Fixed-line?
Providing that operators maintain a focus on service affordability, as well as looking to new growth areas, the future for mobile looks very positive. But what of fixed-line growth, which has been almost static beside the burgeoning mobile market? Total numbers of fixed lines are forecast to reach 30 millions by the end of 2005, according to ITU. Although by this point the number of fixed lines will be dwarfed by mobile, fixed-line growth will nevertheless have been steady, increasing by around 6-10% each year. The key to fixed-line’s growth lies with wireless technologies, and it is only through these technologies that fixed-line can ‘fight back’. Offering fixed-line services over fixed wireless access (FWA) networks offers all the advantages of mobile – they are cheaper to install than conventional copper wire networks – but are also attractive in their ability to provide high data speeds. It is this ability to provide broadband which needs to be exploited, to leverage the one advantage fixed-line services has over mobile.

Fitting the Market’s Needs
Fixed-line services will also need to be adapted to meet the needs of the market, paying attention to areas which have helped mobile grow – in particular the ability to prepay for calls. The suitability of FWA networks means that they are already being deployed in certain countries in Africa. In Nigeria, for example, by mid 2003, new fixed wireless networks accounted for some 30% of all fixed lines. If the Nigerian experience can be duplicated across other countries, and fixed wireless technologies can be harnessed to revamp traditional fixed-line services, then there may still be hope for Africa’s fixed-line market.

Wireless Way Forward …
Fixed, Mobile or Internet, Africa’s ICT future is definitely a wireless one. In the absence of fixed-line networks, in addition to a lack of PCs, Mobile phones are likely to becoming increasingly used as means to access the internet, and in the immediate future it is mobile technologies such as GPRS combined with wireless technologies such as WiFi, which are likely to drive the mobile Internet market. With a number of the region’s mobile networks ready for GPRS, it is only a matter of time until operators keen to address stagnant levels of ARPU (Average Revenue per User) – begin to push GPRS as a means of accessing the Internet.

Fixed-line operators must also look to wireless options to diversify and extend their service range. As well as voice services, fixed wireless technology will also allow operators to offer highspeed broadband Internet access, and this could well prove to be the one antidote to declining fixed revenues.

Vested Interests in Africa’s Mobile Future
The stakeholders in Africa’s mobile industry will each have their own roles to play in shaping the future mobile market. Regulators and policy makers can act decisively to ensure that competition friendly policies are encouraged, such as keeping license fees to a minimum, and that any lack of transparencies in the business climate are addressed. Regulators should step in to make the prospect of rural expansion a more attractive one to operators, such as by including – and enforcing – higher rollout obligations for new market entrants, or by providing incentives such as lowering of asymmetric interconnect rates to entice existing players further into areas which previously had no network coverage. Operators themselves should be encouraged to share infrastructure where possible to keep their costs down and encourage competition.

Manufacturers must continue finding methods to keep infrastructure costs as low as possible, as well as tailoring their approach to address the needs of the region – such as looking at tailoring solutions to low ARPU users. Vendor financing agreements, with the backing of governments and investment bodies will also encourage manufacturers to provide network enhancement and expansion.

With around 51m mobile subscribers in a market of 800m, Africa offers tremendous growth potential, and by continuing to deploy and adapt an approach which fits the needs of the market, then the mobile growth curve looks set to continue.

by ITU Africa

My opinion is that the coming of GSM mobile technology to our shores about 3 years ago opened up a new vista that can help bridge that chasm significantly and speedily.

The American Model
Mobile data is not a big hit in the US because most business premises and homes are already wired or connected wirelessly.

The Japanese Model
The Japanese model is definitely something we can learn a few lessons from. The Japanese – adults or kids – are probably the most connected set of people on this planet. And this is because of data via mobile phones. As a matter of fact, the Japanese mobile industry is driven not so much by voice traffic as by data on CDMA, i-Mode and 3G platforms especially. People access their mails, make online payments and access a wide range of information via mobile phone data services.

Which Way Nigeria?
Here in Nigeria, our environment and present circumstances are just right for mobile data to be a big hit. Very few homes around the country have any form of Internet access. Even scarier is the fact that most business offices have no form of internet access as well.

The cost of acquiring a PC and subscribing for internet access alone is so unthinkable for the vast majority of people and businesses that it is clear that is not the way to go if we are serious about catching up with the rest of the world in cyberspace. Add to that the pathetic fact that one would also need to purchase and maintain a power generating set to be able to put one’s PC and internet connection to any productive use, and that case is lost.

Enter GSM Data
The average mobile phone on the market is either CSD-enabled or GPRS-enabled or both. Every network on ground in the country provides at least WAP access, and in other cases full internet access. In my opinion, most people with a mobile phone are walking around with the world in their pockets. All they need do is harness the potentials of their devices and network services.

Networks & Pricing
It is clear that the mobile networks need to work out subsidized tariffs for data calls (in the case of CSD) and connections (for GPRS). This will encourage the average Joe to put those data facilities to regular use.

Current trends show that at least 2 networks in Nigeria are driving GPRS-based data to be taken up my a huge chunk of their subscribers. A 3rd network appears to intend to limit GPRS services to “premium” customers, an action that will be tantamount to shooting themselves in the foot, if I may say so.

Possiblities
It is amazing what information is available on such a simple basic platform as WAP. Subscribers can do Google and Yahoo! searches, access and respond to mails, check currency exchange rates, stocks quotes, update themselves on news from around the world, and join worldwide discussion forums. In particular, these forums are veritable learning centres where we can tap into free and useful information that drive today’s world. As a network administrator, I even found a WAP site from which I could ping my clients’ hosting accounts to ensure they are running fine, and a couple of others from which I can run domain name searches! Even WAP is no longer as basic as it used to be.

With the advent of full websites that can now be accessed via WAP, the limits on WAP are fast fading (visit www.mobilitynigeria.com on your WAP 2.0/XHTML mobile phone to comprehend this). Of course, there are more and more phones being released with full Web browsers, further expanding the horizons of mobile data.

Conclusion
It is my submission that our country needs to take a serious look at how we can harness the power of mobile data in moving forward. In particular there is an urgent need for mass enlightenment of our population in this matter. Maybe, just maybe then we will truly be using what we have to get what we want.

MTN Nigeria

MTN Nigeria subscribers are now able to call and be called on their MTN phones even when they travel to any of the 65 countries spread across all the continents. Known as “International Roaming” in GSM parlance, this MTN service, according to Afam Edozie, the company’s Chief Marketing and Strategy Officer, translates to enhanced value and convenience for the growing number of MTN subscribers.

“The MTN subscriber has an option to remain reachable on his MTN phone even when he travels to countries as diverse as Germany, Holland, India, Singapore, UK, USA, Canada and many more. Calls to the customers’ normal MTN numbers are automatically routed abroad.”

The growing list of international networks with which MTN has roaming agreements, now numbers 116, said Edozie. In addition, MTN has an international roaming partnership with Thuraya satellite systems, a dual phone network with GSM and satellite options respectively. Roaming on the Thuraya network, made possible by inserting an MTN SIM in a Thuraya handset, enables MTN subscribers access to services in over 90 countries, including those without GSM coverage.

Whatever calls are made by MTN subscribers while roaming abroad are paid for in Naira.

International Roaming, said Edozie, is currently available to subscribers on the post-paid package, MTN BusinessTimeTM, only. Subscribers on MTN Pay As You Go, the pre-paid package who wish to switch over to MTN BusinessTimeTM, may do so easily within 24 hours of completing the necessary documentation in an MTN Friendship Centre. The continuing quest to enhance the international roaming possibilities for MTN subscribers, Edozie added, “is part of a bigger strategy to ensure that MTN subscribers are afforded the best possible coverage of Nigeria, West Africa and the world at large”.

Spanning 64 cities and well over 2000 communities across Nigeria, MTN’s coverage of Nigeria is unparalleled in the industry. “Just as it is possible for our subscribers to be reached in each of the over 2,000 communities in which we provide service, so is it possible for them to be reached when they travel to any of the 59 countries. Our coverage both nationally and internationally remains Simply Unbeatable”.

Ghana Telecom

LIKE Nigeria, interconnection problem is a source of worry for telecommunications operators and subscribers in Ghana. The country has about five operators with one of them offering both GSM and fixed line services. They are Ghana Telecom, the state operator which offers both GSM and fixed services; Scancom, the leading GSM operator with its Spacefon brand; Kasapa with its Kasapa brand and Milicom which has the Buzz GSM phone brand. Untill recently, the brand was known as Mobitel.

However, unlike Nigeria where interconnect appears to be a web of confusion, Ghana’s interconnect problem is between the National Telephone company and the GSM operators. While connection amongst the GSM operators is good, the same cannot be said of calls between the GSM networks and the Ghana Telecom network. Most of the subscribers on Ghana Telecom network find it difficult calling GSM subscribers.

But the most difficult currently is for calls between the Ghana Telecom network and Spacefon. Spacefon is the dorminant GSM network in Ghana with over 120,000 lines. It is owned principally by some Lebanese businessmen who floated Scancom in 1996 to offer analogue Mobile services. It was later upgraded to GSM around 1999 to take advantage of the Ghanaian government”s desire to bring telecommunication to its people.

Spacefon has over the months been engaged in a war of words with the Ghana Telecom over the lack of interconnect between their networks. Spacefon thinks that Ghana Telecom wants to sabotage it by refusing to open its network to it. For Ghana Telecom however, the problem is lack of interconnect pipes to accommodate the traffic from Spacefon which is the leading GSM operator in the country.

It denies any attempt at blocking traffic from Spacephone. In the face of the arguments between Ghana Telecom and Spacefon, the National Communications Authority NCA, which regulates telecommunications services in Ghana remains adamant. On several occasions, it has invited both operators to a round table but has not been able to resolve the problem. Observers say it may have decided to keep a blind eye on the problems after it has failed to resolve it. Ghana Telecom”s GSM, One Touch, is however the first choice of Ghanaian subscribers.

One Touch has perfect interconnect with the Ghana Telecom Fixed lines which are widespread all through the country. Its interconnect with other GSM operators has also improved in recent months. But like NITEL, since Ghana Telecom launched its service some three years ago, it has starved Ghanaian subscribers of its SIM cards. It launched with an 80,000 capacity network which has not been enlarged ever since.

The result is that while subscribers crave for One Touch lines, the company do not have any to sell. Today, while Spacefon sells its SIMs for about 170,000 cedis(about N3400) One Touch sells its SIMs for about 750,000 cedis (about N15,000). The third GSM operator, Bass also easily connects to other networks including Ghana Telecom. Bass has limited coverage. Its licence provides that it covers Takoradi, Cape Coast Accra and Kumasi.

It has a little over 60,000 subscribers. The fourth operator Kasapa, also has limited coverage as provided for by its licence. Its interconnect with the other operators is also good.

Kasapa is owned 80 per cent by Hutchson, an American company based in Hungary. The fixed line terrain in the Ghanaian telecom market is no doubt dominate by Ghana Telecom. But a private operator, Westel has brought some competition into this segment of the market. Westel is however hampered by its problems with the telecom regulatory authority, the NCA.

These problems are rooted in the company”s history.S Westel is an offshoot of the communications department of Ghana National Petroleum Corporation, GNPC. When Ghana”s telecommunications sector was deregulated, it dawned on the management of the GNPC that the company had a strong enough structure to run telecommunications services independent of the GNPC.

Thus, Mr Tsatsu Tsikata, who was then Chief Executive of GNPC floated Westel with a lot of American interest. But the company was not to meet the licence conditions set for it by the NCA. Part of the conditions gave it targets for subscriber volumes within the first year of its operations. Unfortunately, Westel could not meet these targets. And in accordance with the rules of the NCA, it had to pay a penalty of about $25 million.

In the past years, Westel has not been able to pay this fine which has accumulated to more than $35 million. In December last year, Westel had to negotiate the debt with the NCA and seek some waivers. The NCA granted the request and reduced the debt to $25 million. Westel paid part of this and has been unable to pay the balance in the new year.

This problem has virtually removed Westel from the competition in the fixed line market in Ghana. It as had to contend with its few subscribers to survive. But most Ghanaian subscribers say that Westel”s services are excellent. The company has good interconnectivity with all the mobile operators and even with its rival Ghana Telecom. No doubt the Ghanaian telecommunications terrain is as volatile as Nigeria’s.

Glo mobile

Subscribers to the second national operator, Globacom can now send and receive messages from and to any electronic mail address on their mobile phones.

This will ensure that Glo mobile subscribers can send messages across the world into e-mail boxes from their phones or from any e-mail box to their phones. A message from the company instructed subscribers who are interested in this service to text “help” to 3333. Subscribers are afterwards provided with details of how to hook up to the service.

When using the facility to send a message, a subscriber is required to go to the “write message” option on his phone and input the email address he wishes to send the message to. He then leaves a space and enters the message after which he sends to 3333.

The % sign is used in place of an underscore where required. A subscriber’s email address is written as 234805xxxxxxx@sms.gloworld.com; where the multiple x sign stands for the subscriber’s mobile number.

“You receive an alert when there is a new email. To read, text RM, leave a space, enter mail number’ the message from Glomobile reads. “To check mail, text CM to 3333. Mail automatically deletes 48 hours after receipts.

It would be recalled that as the only GPRS network in Nigeria, the Globacom network is supported by 2.5G technology, and because of its superiority to the 2G technology being used by other operators, Globalcom’s network also supports multimedia messaging service with colour pictures and sound.

Business development manager at Glomobile, Ibukun Oyelohunnu, said with the picture messaging service, subscribers can attach pictures and sounds to text messages. You can send audio clips or your voice along with pictures to another phone, and this facility is currently running free in Lagos and Abuja,” he said.

Since its commercial launch in August last year, Glomobile has sought to introduce several value added services and sales promotions to make up for its present interconnectivity state with other operators.

The company has also resorted to expanding its network while it works things out with the giant operators. It has since contracted Siemens and Alcatel, world-renowned equipment vendors to commence work on its network, especially its fixed wireless.