Nigeria Mobile News
News about Telecoms development in Nigeria
Monday 5 May 2008, 5:04 PM
NCC Vs NBC in the emerging convergence Regulation in Nigeria
With the Federal Government of Nigeria’s consideration of merging the National Broadcasting commission and the National Communications commission, the Nigeria landscape is getting ready for convergence regulation that reflects the reality of 21st century. With the launch last week of Mobile Tv by MTN and DSTV, It is goodbye to the old order. Without the merging of these two key regulators, their functions will be over lapping. The old order of regulation does not accommodate the new realities of convergence where Telecommunications, Information technology and media are now moving into new frontiers in technology, content and media.
The concept of “convergence” is frequently used to describe the development of global information society. The process of convergence starts when previously separate technologies coming closer together as a direct consequence of the advances made in ICT. The most profound changes will probably take place as a result of the process of technological convergence of the previously separate telecommunications, cable, information, publishing and mass media industries. These industrial sectors are often referred to as ‘converging industries’. Borders that once separate them are now increasingly being blurred. Presently, we have different types of networks for telephony, broadcasting ,radio and television and they are regulated differently and usually by separate authorities. National Broadcasting commission regulates, Radio and television while National communications commission regulates telecommunications.
Convergence regulation, encompassing telecom, IT and broadcasting while Multi-sector regulation, where telecom is joined together with other infrastructural
Utilities such as electricity, gas and railroads. While Competition regulation is a broad range of different industries, where telecom is only a tiny fraction.
In my own opinion, I believe strongly that Government is trying to achieve convergence regulation though they did not clearly state it because government business always has political undertone at the detriment of excellence.
Convergence of technology is breaking new content aggregation, delivery and consumption of communication services. The major technological changes that have facilitated the convergence processes are digitalisation and computerization.
Digitalisation enables new possibilities for development and creation of services within and beyond the framework of traditional communication sectors. It is, for example, likely that services that go beyond the traditional broadcasting services, like Internet services, Mobile Tv, Triple play services will have a certain weight on the broadcasting market in the future, as demand for these services is increasing with the penetration of the ICT. When transmission capacity for end-user sites reaches that needed for transmission of video services, the Internet can be one of the platforms for interactive TV services.
Emerging new infrastructures with more capacity, developments in the traditional networks
enabling them to offer more capacity to end users, and developments in compression and
coding technologies resulting in less bandwidth requirements for audio and video services all
have diminished the technically based limitations for different networks to provide an increasing variety of different types of services. But there is still a long way to go before network capacity constraints are substantially eliminated.
Emerging new infrastructures with more capacity that can provide these new innovative services are Strong compelling reasons why the NBC and NCC Merger should be consummated soon so that they can offer regulatory policing because of the new changes in content that were formerly dedicated for specific industries can now be conveyed on a single or similar infrastructures because of the common digital form. This presents new possibilities for end users and new market potentials for producers, but it also presents
regulatory problems that have to be solved.
Some countries like Indian had been able to foresee the future possibilities and hence they have planned ahead.
They merged infrastructure regulation and content regulation. The new Communications Commission of India (CCI),is a regulatory framework that
facilitates the efficient utilization of available resources in different networks. The Indian communications regulator, integrates infrastructure and content regulation in one institution.
The UK is another example, in which the government united five existing regulatory bodies dealing with communications into one regulator, OFCOM, with authority in both infrastructural and content questions.
The challenges of such merger in Nigeria will be availability of highly skilled and knowledgeable helmsman to pilot the affairs of this new regulatory commission. There will be new challenges in a new way entirely because of the blurred border line between Telecommunications and Broadcasting. While the National communications was able to become the toast of the nation and a role model for regulators all over the continent was because the focused and purposeful leadership under Engr Ndukwe and his team mates.
The question is that with the Nigerian way of doing things, will they allow excellence and right judgment to reach a decision in choosing a new regulator or they will merge them with NCC still in control?
Since the movement of the convergence seems and is from telecommunications sectors,it will be more productive and more visionary to allow the telecommunications regulator to midwife the emerging convergence regulator.
Nigeria as a nation should invest more in ICT regulation training and studies to be able to consolidate its ICT successes in recent years. Convergence is shaping the present and future development of the ICT and media industries in ways
that challenge the existing institutional set-up.
Emmanuel Okoegwale
Emmanuel@mobilemarketingafrica.com
Wednesday 2 April 2008, 2:57 PM
Mobile marketing Innovations will drive Etisalat Nigeria
Farmed out License Holder, Etisalat Nigeria sure understand how to engage the subscribers in the 3G Era. During the launch of the Network last week in Lagos, the company spokesperson mentioned something significant. He Etisalat will deploy innovative Mobile Services like the mobile cam.Mobile cam allows 3G subscribers to dial into a gadget at home or office and be able to take a quick look around the location and even record voices.
The significance of this is that while other operators in Nigeria are trying to sell 3G Services based on Television services, the late entrant is looking at it from a strong compelling side, security. I am quite disappointed that the operators do not clearly understand what the technology can do. They keep stressing on TV while not offering a strong reason why subscribers will want to switch from their non paying terrestrial tv or satellite pay Tv to yet another Mobile pay Tv. Mobile operators are not even making a pretence about building contents around the ever popular and money spinning Nollywood. Two to five minutes mobisodes of Nigeria Drama, musicals and comedy will be a huge hit in the 140 million fun loving Nigerian market but the operators are rather focused on full length sports and news channles.This does not come cheap for an average Nigeria whose ARPU is hovering around 10 dollars.
Without a perfect understanding of the 3G Marketing, the Nigerian 3G Project might be heading for doom.
The advantages of 3G is that it has a higher bit rate and operators can therefore deploy more data intensive applications. It allows for increased call volumes and support multimedia data applications, such as video and photography.
The operators need to start thinking along the three spheres of 3G applications.
First is the Business Sphere which allows for Mobile videophone, video conferencing, database management and informational services.
Second area is the private sphere which allows karaoke on demand, music on demand, portable Television, interactive games and video on demand while third area is Business sphere. This allows traffic informational service, personal security, remote monitoring systems, Electronic newspapers, Home schooling systems and remote monitoring systems.
Etisalat’s understanding of 3G marketing gives some hope and something to look forward to. At least in the Nigerian telecommunications market, there is clear differentiator. All the operators need to do is to see an operator launch a service and all others will follow suit.
Emmanuel Okoegwale
emmanuel@gomobileng.com
Wednesday 2 April 2008, 2:55 PM
Challenges of Nigeria Mobile Banking .
Mobile Banking refers to provision of banking and financial services with the help of mobile telecommunication devices. The scope of offered services may include facilities to conduct bank and stock market transactions, to administer accounts and to access customized information. Also known as M-Banking in Nigeria or in some instances SMS Banking etc. It is a term used for performing balance checks, account transactions, payments and others transaction services via a mobile devices. Some mobile Banking applications in Nigeria use pre programmed configurations settings.
Mobile Banking in Nigeria started from the transaction based activities whereby Bank customers are Notified via sms when transactions are conducted on their account or via Atm. This is a one way event and only for informational purposes only. GT Bank was on of the earliest Banks to provision this service to customers.
That was the early days on Mobile Banking in Nigeria. Nigerian Banks are now deploying full fledge banking via the Mobile Phones with array of services which were only possible in the Banking Halls before. Zenith Bank, UBA , GTBank, Diamond and Intercontinental Banks are the fore runners of this innovation.
Despite the watch and see attitude that some very leading Banks are taking about Mobile Banking in Nigeria, The mobile remains the Only and most available feasible means to provide mass market alternative to Branch Banking in Nigeria. The internet has only a penetration rate of 6 percent in a population of 140 million but mobile technology is close to 50 percent penetration with prospects for growth.
Mobile devices are the most promising way to reach the masses and to create a tie-in among current customers, due to their ability to provide services anytime, anywhere, high rate of penetration and potential to grow. Deployment of 3G in coming months will also enable Banks to offer more robust Mobile Banking technologies.
Key challenges in developing a sophisticated mobile banking application are Interoperability. The single reason for is the manner in which mobile phone applications evolved over time, device manufacturers focused on particular standard and and this led to a proliferation of applications .The Financial Regulator CBN should look in this issue at this early stage so that Mobile Banking ecosystem can be robust with National standard that cuts across all Banks. Bank specific Mobile Banking platforms is akin to having each bank deploying its own ATM Technology which other bank customers cannot access.
Interoperability can also help to evolve a standard that will enable low end phones which are currently excluded, to do Mobile Banking. Some countries like India and South Africa are already using some standards like R-World and USSD.
Application distribution for Mobile Banking is another area where some Banks are facing Challenges. While some forward looking Banks are overhauling their gateways and reducing their reliance on Mobile Operators settings to enable customer’s phones, Some Banks are actually asking that Customers come with regular Operator settings which in many instances might not be correct configurations settings..
Operator settings are not really meant for critical operations since most of the settings are used for entertainment based activities. Nigerian Banks that are looking at competing at this sector must look beyond operators settings which might not be correct, delayed in arrival,may not come at all and not regularly updated. Some Mobile operators do update like every three months while some do not at all. For wap and Gprs based Mobile Banking applications, mobile network coverage will also be an issue.
As part of their marketing strategies, I will expect that by now, customers do not need to visit local Branches to download Banking applications. Over-the-Air (OTA) Settings should be readily available online and some innovations can even come to play by Banks deploying Bluetooth application machines in Shopping malls and some strategic places where customers can visit and download Mobile Banking applications for free or for a fee..This will increase the addressable market of the Banks offering Mobile Banking exponentially in Nigeria.
Emmanuel Okoegwale
emmanuel@gomobileng.com
Wednesday 2 April 2008, 2:51 PM
Nigeria Mobile marketing : The uncharted waters
Mobile marketing is used to describe marketing via the mobile devices and phones.In Nigeria, traditional methods of marketing is still the way to go because it has been tested and trusted over the years even with its declining Return on investment.Nigeria media marketing is worth over 4 Billion Dollars according to the Nigerian Marketing Association, Apcon.
Television, outdoor media and Radio accounts for the bulk of media channels in nigeria while internet is less than 0.05( There are only 6 internet connections per 1000) and mobile is just evolving.The focus is on the traditional media but the future and the reality is pointing towards Mobile.
There are 23 million Televisons sets in Nigeria, 7 Million Radio sets, one fully national Television station,60 regional and semi regional Tevevision stations, one national radio station but 42 million mobile users in a population of 140 million.Figures dont lie.
While Traditional media is largely untargetted, Mobile marketing can be tailored to targetted audiences,measure and track result,reduce cost and capitalize on emerging technologies.
The percularities of the Nigerian lanscape should have long prompted Brand managers to start asking their agencies questions about Mobile marketing, in face of the gradual decline in all other media channels.Television viewship is declining at a fast rate for the following reasons,influx of cheap Chinese pirated movies,electricity failures,absence of prime time Tv shows and absence of national Television stations.Radio has its own challenges too and outdoor is location specific.Mobile is the only meduim with anywhere and anytime advantage with possiblities to accomodate all array of features like video,mms, pictures, sms, internet and others.Mobile is more powerful personal meduim than any other.And it is time, that Nigerian Brands exploit the oppourtunity.
While Nigerian Brands want to be seen in the leagues of world class Brands but they should also understand that No world class brand evolved through a single advertising media but rather through a range or media.Survey of world class leading brands found that best performers were those that integrated their marketing across range of media and often blurring the lines between advertisement and entertainment,which consumers tend to enjoy.
The challenge of Mobile marketing buying process is still unclear in Nigeria.Brand owners who desire to infuse mobile marketing into their marketing mix do not clearly understand how to go about it.Do they approach the mobile network operators,value added service provider or a marketing agency? Few mobile marketing mobile marketing campaigns that had been deployed in Nigeria are mainly by the value added services providers which lacks the touch of Brand managers because they dont have brand managers in house.Nigerian Marketing agencies do not have mobile agency departments or even desk.
Mobile marketing should not be limited to the normal text-to-win promotions in Nigeria.It is a two way communicator which will bring the much needed interactivity because consumers want to have closer relationships with fewer brands. And the mobile provides such channel.
Emmanuel@gomobileng.com
Thursday 13 March 2008, 6:54 PM
Nigeria Telecoms Triple play blues.
In the past few years, “triple play” has probably been the biggest buzz word in telecommunications worldwide,promising as it does to boost revenues and reduce churn by offering an array of voice, video and data services. Today, integrated triple-play delivery is energizing the telecom and mass-media markets in Europe and America.
Triple play ambitions of Some telecommunications companies in Nigeria will change the landscape of communications for ever when implemented. Globacom and MTN with its acquired fixed wireline company,VGC communications Ltd, have made their intentions known about this innovative service and they sure have plans in place for it. Commoditization of Mobile telephony has led to a decline in spending of subscribers, forcing telcos to look beyond traditional services for future growth. In the belief that bundling of services in the convergence era will increase the attractiveness of service packages and improves customer retention, operators are staking their future on multi-play, viewing it as a means of achieving growth and differentiation. In essence they need the services to make subscribers spend more.
In telecommunications, the Triple Play service is a marketing term for the provisioning of the three services: high-speed Internet, television (Video on Demand or regular broadcasts) and telephone service over a single broadband connection. Triple Play focuses on a combined business model rather than on solving technical issues or a common standard. Unlike many other Services which operators classified as value added services, Triple play is far more than this. The challenge is to deliver voice, video and data services to Subscribers, over a single access point. Therefore telecommunications companies will be adding IPTV to their portfolios and to handle the complexity of the infrastructures they need to deliver the digital world their customers demand. The challenge lies in managing these conflicting demands reliably and efficiently, at acceptable cost, while providing the consumer with the quality of experience he has come to expect.
In maturing triple play markets like United states of America, where the service has been around for awhile, telecommunications firms are battling with cable operators for triple play market share. The cable companies offer a significant installed base of pay television subscribers and fast data rates using their cable-modem technology as they expand their services into data and voice communications. For their part, the telecommunications providers view the cable companies' incursion into the voice realm as an act of war. The telcos have little choice but to respond. So, Verizon and AT&T are rolling out IPTV services using advanced broadband networks that feature higher data transfer rates. However, the cable companies are firing back by offering their triple-play solutions in order to retain their current subscribers and to attract voice and broadband subscribers away from the telcos.
In the past, television was only distributed via cable, satellite, or terrestrial systems. Internet TV is basically defined as the ability to view video streams over the Internet. The primary models for Internet television are streaming Internet TV or selectable video on an Internet location, typically a website. Today - with the increase in Internet connection speeds, advances in technology, the increase of total number of people online, and the decrease in connection costs - it has become increasingly common to find traditional television content accessible freely and legally over the Internet. Internet television utilizes the connections of the Internet to deliver video from a source to a target device. Some of the ways in which Internet delivered television is used include,watching on a regular TV via a direct connection from a computer or a Set-top box, or on a computer, or on a portable device such as a mobile phone ,show a channel 'live' like regular TV, or allow the viewer to select a show to watch on demand,"Video-on-Demand" or VOD ,allows low budget, home camcorder productions to expensive professional productions to be viewed .Niklas Zennstrom and Janus Friis, both former skype owners launched joost,an iptv which promises to give cable operators a run for their money.
Telcos must remain vigilant because the challenges are not insignificant. Those challenges run the full spectrum of technical, regulatory and competitive and must embrace the technical challenge of delivering high-definition TV and other bandwidth-intensive applications.Also must weather the regulatory storms surrounding broadband, universal service and access to compelling content. Must meet and surpass the competitive challenge offered by other sectors, most notably satellite television service providers like the dominant player,South African Multi-choice DSTV and other upcoming providers like Hitv, Fstv,MyTvAfrica and host of others. Not also forgetting the ever innovating local stations like Silverbirds(Available on Jump TV) TV, AIT,Channels and many others. Already some are already offering specialized content like DBN which is a sport only TV channel.
Triple play, Unlike DSL, which has been aimed at heavy Internet users,is envisioned as the Plain old telephone systems of the 21st century: universal and priced affordable. Cost to consumers must be pretty much in line with what they pay today for Plain old telephone systems and cable TV. A premium triple play package which combines basic, several premium video channels, advanced video features, telephone service, and broadband is offered presently at around $100 in America. Pricing will determine widespread acceptance.
Similarly, if customers perceive video services to be less reliable than present Digital satellite TV and renting DVDs, they will not switch to triple play. And unlike telephone service and the Internet, television is viewed by more than half of the population for more than two hours per day. Outages will be duly noted.
The reliability challenge is more than just perceptual. Legacy services really are highly reliable. Fixed wireline telephony and cable TV are designed to deliver high-availability services. The design standard for telephone circuit switches is two hours downtime every 40 years, and analysis of cable TV designs shows 41 minutes downtime per year for the hybrid fiber-coax plant. Service availability is very important here since a subscriber will expect Television to work when switching it on for news or any other programme, likewise the internet and the voice.For this service to make the required impart, it has to be “always on” service.
Ease of use and reliability are critical considerations in any consumer product. The next generation technology must be easy to set up and configure and its operation must be relatively transparent to subscribers.
Customer service support in a single play world, like voice or video or data is challenging in the best of circumstances. Service providers need to attract new subscribers and quickly recoup the expense of acquiring them, while solving subscriber technical problems and answering their questions in a way that maintains high levels of satisfaction in order to reduce churn. No small feat. Support in a “triple play” world is an order of magnitude more difficult. It’s not simply three different areas in which to keep customers happy and keeping costs down. Customers expect to receive the same level of support across all services offered , seamlessly and consistently in real-time. They want one bill and one person to call if they have a problem. Without this seamless integration of service and support, they might as well buy each of their services from the lowest cost provider.
For telcos, the "triple play" represents the ultimate way to increase profits and customer loyalty at the same time. While this sounds like a piece of cake, not everyone is excited about its prospects because of the harrowing experiences of mobile subscribers presently. Customers Service levels must be consistent and superior for all three parts of the triple play in order to keep from churning subscribers.
The triple-play future is indeed bright, and we have reason to be excited. But let's not forget that there is still work to be done .
Emmanuel Okoegwale
emmanuel@gomobileng.com
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