Telecommunication Technology: Issues and Trends In West Africa

Why am I so optimistic about the prospects of a wireless Internet boom in Nigeria? In my last post, I have already talked about the Nigerian spirit, his doggedness, his aptitude and hard work and his zeal to bootstrap himself out of poverty. This is a major driving force. Needless to say that the internet boom itself translate to a lot of wealth creation and poverty reduction. Once we have a low total cost of ownership for both the terminal devices and a broadband internet connection, the Nigerian market will experience a boom. In addition to this I am looking at some policy frameworks that are ongoing; the e-payment system by the government and the e-solutions the banks and other financial institutions are introducing. The NCC has also put together a robust regulatory framework to this regard and is pushing for an internet for all schemes. What remains now is to accelerate this processes in addition to a strong legal framework so that if you 419 me through the e-system I can sue your ...

In pursuit of my argument last week in favor of new investment in Value Addition in the West African Telecoms market with emphasis on Nigeria, it is my goal today to look at the uniqueness of the Nigerian Market itself. Nigerian itself is a unique Country. By virtue of all that has happened and is still happening, we should have been a banana republic by now, but it hasn’t happened and that in itself is a marvel. How come a nation of over 140 Million people without power supply without effective government, without health facilities, roads , discernable transport system, failed education system etc…. and the list goes on, including endemic corruption; still exist as an somewhat organized society with effective economic activities and commerce? I don’t pretend to have answers to these questions. But from hindsight, I intend to provide what I know, with the hope that the reader may understand why this state still crawls on. Now, the average Nigerian is a resilient personality, hardworkin...

Hello Again! Last time I was looking at where the market will be going in the Nigerian telecoms market and I predicted that the next gold mine will be Value addition with special emphases on Data services. Today I intend to explore this a bit in detail, taking a global look on the market situation in the western sub- region of Africa. Well with little hindsight, I can tell you that the WA is ripe for wireless Data explosion right now and may be the only solution for operators to solve the ever declining ARPU on voice networks. It may sound far fetched giving the poverty situation within the sub region but statistics on ground supports my views here. The sub region is beset with a lot of decayed infrastructure, from poor road networks to poor power supply, but it has shown resilience in supporting the wireless market as current experience has shown. The next push therefore is to bring internet to the doorstep of every home in Nigeria as the clear leader and the entire sub region. NCC is...

Market Trends in Nigerian’s Telecoms Industry Today Nigerian Population Growth Rate estimate is 3.2% Year Population 2003 127777452 2004 131729332 2005 135803435 2006 140003542 2007 149107131 2008 144483655 2009 153878559 2010 158494915 Woo! That sounds like a whooping 158 M subscribers will become mobile users by the year 2010 in Nigeria Hey! wait a minute and take a critical look at the analysis provided by these guys Ok. : http://www.businessmonitor.com/ Don’t forget this had facts The income distribution in Nigeria is uneven; with over 70% under national poverty line, 70% of unemployment and a national GNI per capital of $930, realizing such subscriber number will be a tall dream. So where will the next money spinning stuff come from? Big question ! and I think I do have an idea. The Nigeria Telecommunications Report Business Monitor International's Nigeria Telecommunications Report provides industry professionals and researchers, operators, equipment su...

Problems associated with a Multi-vendor Environment and How to deal with it in a Cellular Network. In today’s networks, whether GSM, WCDMA and CDMA whether it is 3G or 2G, there are a number of challenges arising when a particular operator chooses multiple vendors to supply its telecoms equipment. Ideally, there should be a smooth and seamless interconnection amongst the vendors going by the standardization of almost all the interfaces. In practice, this seamless interconnection faces a number of challenges which I intend to discuss here. I will like to categorize these problems as arising from 1. A interface problems 2. MSC-MSC connection problems 3. IN problems 4. HLR issues A- Interface Problems When vendor A’s MSC connects to Vendor B’s BSC a number of issues arise from this connection. Ordinarily, the A interface is a standard interface and this should not pose a problem at all. But there exist some. Below is a typical GSM network and I will use this for this discussion. A typical...