Mrs. Osinbajo appreciates Airtel for supporting less privileged

The wife of the Vice President, Mrs. Dolapo Osinbajo, has commended Airtel Nigeria for supporting the less privileged in Nigeria through the Airtel Touching Lives platform.

Mrs Osinbajo, who was the Special Guest of honour at the Premiere of Season 2 of Airtel Touching Lives, noted that Airtel Touching Lives programme has positively touched the lives of many Nigerians.

Twitter Network down for many users after technical fault

Some mobile users are also unable to read or post tweets to the network, which has over 300 million active members.

 

Twitter chose to communicate the problem via a tweet, in which the firm said it was aware of the problem.

SABC doors reopen for Motsoeneng

SABC employee Hlaudi Motsoeneng might soon be back at work after his disciplinary hearing was halted abruptly on Thursday.
 
Advocate William Mokhari terminated the proceedings, saying the judgment in the High Court in Cape Town delivered by Judge Dennis Davis last week superceded the hearing.
Judge Davis set aside Mr Motsoeneng’s permanent appointment as chief operating officer by the board last year, saying that the SABC’s recommendation to appoint Mr Motsoeneng was "irrational". Communications Minister Faith Muthambi has indicated she will appeal against the ruling.

MTN has already paid millions in Nigerian fines, with more expected

APART from facing a $5.2bn fine in Nigeria, mobile network MTN has this year already paid millions of rand in other penalties, according to regulators.

 

MTN announced in October that it has been fined $5.2bn by the Nigerian Communications Commission for failing to disconnect up to 5-million unregistered SIM cards in that country.
The mobile network is in talks with the regulator about the mega fine, which has been described as the world’s largest by Denmark-based Strand Consult. MTN is Nigeria's biggest mobile network with more than 60-million subscribers.

VODACOM changes tack on Neotel tie-up

South Africa -  After more than two years of pursuing fixed-line phone provider Neotel, Vodacom has asked for more time to restructure the R7bn deal.

The parties now have two weeks to agree on a new structure before presenting it to the Competition Tribunal on December 7. This will be followed by a closed pre-hearing three days later.

StarTimes sues government over unlawful termination of contract

The Chinese company, which earlier won the contract to supply and install a reliable energy-efficient and cost-effective Digital Terrestrial Television (DTT) network solution in April 2012, has already filed a law suit against government to institute arbitral proceedings at the International Commercial Court, London, over the issue — expecting to claim about US$200million for breach of contract.

Dr Edward Omane Boamah

A Vice President of StarTimes Group, interacting with 13 senior journalists from Ghana and Nigeria on a two-week media visit to China, explained that the development is not a happy story for international business transactions that involve the two countries.

“This is not a good way between Ghana government and StarTimes Group, as this is part

NCC Slammed N1.4trn, fine too heavy to bear – MTN

Three days after Nigerian Communications Commission, NCC slammed a N1.4 trillion penalty on MTN Nigeria for failure to disconnect customers with unregistered SIM cards, Parent company MTN group has cried out that the fine was too extreme, even as it continues to engage the regulator on how to resolve the issue.

MTN Group noted with dismay that Nigerian Communications Commission refused to listen to its plea to reconsider its stand on the penalty slammed on its Nigerian arm last week.

According to a report, MTN Nigeria spokeswoman, Chineze Gbenga-Oluwatoye, had said in an e-mailed response, that “recommendations were put forward with respect to the non-commensurable nature of the fine but the Nigerian Communications Commission did not accept recommendations that the fine of 200,000 Naira ($1,005) per SIM was too heavy.”

Slow down of African Mobile Phone users in 2015-2020- Study

A study/research has showed on Thursday, heralding an end to the boom in an industry that has spurred the continent's growth.

 

A report by global industry body GSMA expects subscriber growth to slow to 6 percent between 2015-2020 compared with 13 percent growth in the first half of the decade, citing lack of commercial logic in setting up network coverage in some rural areas, where more than half of the population lives.

NERC, meeting Senate over Fixed Charges Soon, says Amadi

The Nigerian Electricity Regulatory Commission (NERC) says it will meet the Senate soon to inform it why fixed charges cannot be abolished now.

 

 

Dr Sam Amadi, Chairman, NERC made the disclosure to the News Agency of Nigeria (NAN) on Thursday in Lagos.

Etisalat Group Q1 2015 revenue surges 30% on strong Nigerian growth

Etisalat Group’s consolidated revenue for first quarter (Q1) 2015 ended March 31, surged by 30 percent year-on-year (y/y) to N698.9 billion (AED12.9bn) on strong growth in the Nigerian market, among others.

MTN buys controlling stake in Afrihost

South Africa’s MTN has acquired a controlling 50 per cent plus one share stake in internet service provider (ISP) Afrihost, subject to the fulfilment of certain conditions.

MTN said the deal – which is for an undisclosed amount and subject to regulatory approvals – would “add scale” to its existing online ICT services offering, which is focused on the consumer and SME market.

“MTN South Africa expects to leverage off Afrihost’s strong customer service, value proposition and agility, thereby boosting MTN South Africa’s presence in the SME, Corporate/Consumer and Connected Home segments. MTN South Africa will in addition be able to supply Afrihost with products for its existing customer base and vice versa,” MTN said.

Afrihost confirmed the deal in an email to customers today, though it said the deal would not change the way it operated and in fact allow it to innovate more.

“We have all agreed that we’ll keep running Afrihost exactly as we have been,” chief executive officer (CEO) Gian Visser said in the email.

“The way you deal with us stays the same. Our management team stays the same. The entire Afrihost team stays the same. Our passionate focus on service stays the same. Our brand stays the same. We keep working out of our own premises.”

According to Visser, the only change is that Afrihost now has “a big brother” standing by its side and supporting its vision.

“I sincerely believe that joining MTN is the best thing we can do for you, our clients and our team. We’re going to do amazing things,” he said.