Nokia Lumia 1020 Pre-order Promotion Announced

L-R: Chris Brown; Kelechi Amadi-Obi; Timi Dakolo; Fola Akinboro; Deborah Shepard & Layi Onafowokan at the event....

Global phone manufacturer, Nokia in partnership with Etisalat Nigeria and Etihad Airways, has announced a pre-order promo for its latest Windows smartphone, the Nokia Lumia 1020 which will be available in Nigeria as from October 2013.

A statement by the device manufacturing firm stated that the pre-order promotion announced at the TEDxLagos conference will take place from 10:20am of the 1^st of October 2013 to the 15^th of October 2013.

Nokia West Africa, General Manager, Chris Brown said the pre-order promo will give customers the opportunity to purchase the device online before it finally arrives in Nigeria in October.

Brown added that all customers who pre-order and pay for the device from Etisalat's website will be entitled to special discounts on airfares to several destinations on Etihad Airways.

According to Brown, “The Lumia 1020 is an improved version of the Nokia 808 smartphone launched in 2012. The Nokia Lumia 1020, running on Windows 8 operating system is the ultimate camera phone. It boasts a whopping 41-megapixel camera sensor combined with a Xenon flash, focus

Nokia Announced as Platinum Sponsor of DEMO Africa

Nokia has confirmed its participation and support once again as the platinum sponsor for this year’s DEMO Africa to be hosted in Nairobi in October, according to a release by the device manufacturers.

The newest addition to DEMO's Global Launch Program, DEMO Africa in its second year will provide the most innovative new and established companies from across Africa the opportunity to launch their products on stage at this high profile event.

“Nokia has a long and rich history on the African continent,” says Nick Imudia, managing director for Nokia West Africa. “Our core strength comes from our local presence, deep consumer understanding and the ability to ignite and enable the local innovation ecosystem. DEMO Africa is the perfect showcase for this innovation, and we are extremely proud of our association with this flagship event and with our ongoing support for local developers”.

Forty of Africa’s most innovative technology products will be launched at Demo Africa, including six from West Africa. Nigeria boasts four finalists: ChopUP from Bayo Puddicombe is a social platform that connects mobile device gamers across Africa and allows them to interact based on in-game achievements

SIM Box Fraud: Glo Ghana Given Ultimatum

*Dr. Mike Adenuga, Globacom chairman

Glo Ghana has been given a two-week ultimatum by the National Communications Authority to address or bring to book the perpetrators of its international SIM box fraud, according to latest reports by Biztechafrica.

Biztechafrica is reporting from Accra that the NCA warned that it would be forced to identify all these fraudsters and block all the numbers should Glo fail to comply with its directive.

It could be recalled that on the 23 of September this year, the National Communications Authority (NCA) said Glo Mobile Network was increasingly being used for international SIM box fraud in Ghana. Statistics from the NCA indicate that there has been a dramatic increase in fraudulent SIMs, from around 2,500 in January, 2013, to nearly 30,000 in August, 2013.

This has put Glo in the lead with the highest number of fraudulent bypass activities, terminating international call traffic on other mobile operators’ platforms, thereby causing huge financial

Ailing Blackberry Agrees to go Private in a $4.7B Deal

Smartphone maker BlackBerry has agreed to go private in a $4.7 billion deal led by its biggest shareholder, allowing the on-the-go email pioneer to regroup away from public scrutiny after years of falling fortunes and slumping market share, according to reports by Reuters.

The $9 a share tentative offer, from a consortium led by property and casualty insurer Fairfax Financial Holdings Ltd, will set a floor for any counteroffers that might emerge for Blackberry, which has been on the block since August.

As an investor, Fairfax Chief Executive Prem Watsa is often described as the Canadian Warren Buffett because he also takes the long view.

Blackberry shares peaked above $148 in June 2008 when the company's devices were still the top choice for bankers, politicians and lawyers.

The stock, halted pending the announcement on Monday, closed below the offer price

Ekeh, Zinox Boss Calls For Another Look At Nigeria’s National Education Policy

L-R: Adesuwa Igho Orere, ED, Task Systems, Emomine Mukoro, 

MD-Buyright Africa Dotcom, Prof. David Adewunmi, President NCS, 

Leo Stan Ekeh, Chairman Zinox Group, Stanley Okpaleke, MD,Task Systems, 

Emmanuel Onyeje, COO,  Zinox Group, & Funke Oduntan, ED, Task Systems 

Chairman of Zinox Group, Dr. Leo Stan Ekeh has warned that unless the Nigerian nation makes critical decisions that will bring about a break from the analogue past where all photography were still and in black and white, it may not be able to explore the opportunities offered by the digital era to excel as a nation.

According to Ekeh, “Nigeria today finds herself in times that are as difficult as 1969, the peak of the civil war, when nationalists and stakeholders in education came together in a bid to salvage the ship of state from the vicious grip of ethnicity, religious bigotry and corruption.

“The situation has been compounded by kidnapping, terrorism, our inability to fund education, and the inability of Nigerian graduates to fit into existing vacancies in the industry. There is a need for another look at the national policy on education by people compliant with 21st Century technology.”

Ekeh who was speaking during a courtesy visit by the new executive of the Nigeria Computer Society, NCS, led by Prof. David Adewunmi, noted that the new NCS President was assuming office at the right time, and urged him to focus on restructuring the country’s education sector, using the tools of information technology.

The Zinox boss further explained that with technology, the objectives of teaching and learning can be achieved at a lower cost with more competitive outcome, adding that electronic

MTN Hits 10,000 Base Station Milestone

*Mike Ikpoki, MTN Nigeria CEO

MTN Nigeria has rolled out a record 10,000 base stations across the country, reinforcing its position as the largest telecom network in Africa.

The additional base stations are expected to contribute to significant improvements to quality of service. They are a major component of the company’s infrastructure and they have direct impact on network capacity and the experience of customers.

MTN Nigeria Chief Executive Officer, Michael Ikpoki, said the company is focused on three major areas, one of them being significant improvement of customer experience. He said that MTN would be building on a track record of aggressive investment in the network to ramp up capacity and ultimately improve service quality.

Ikpoki said MTN has led the industry in terms of rapid network rollout, adding that the company’s aggressive drive to significantly improve customer experience on the network in the last few months has led to record deployment of base stations across the country.

“In the last few months, we have ramped up our rollout. Last month we had a record rollout figure and we are currently rolling out up to 300 sites a month to make sure that we have enough capacity. We are getting more head-room, more dormant capacity in the network. That way, we can carry more traffic and give our customers a decent quality of service on a consistent basis. Indeed, there has been noticeable improvement and this will continue,” Ikpoki said.

The first indigenous CEO of MTN Nigeria noted that apart from crossing the 10,000 base station deployment mark, the company has also installed additional switching centres,

Report: Africa Enterprise Hardware Market Declines

The Middle East and Africa (MEA) enterprise hardware market, comprising servers and external storage, continues to stagnate, with year-on-year growth of just 2.8% recorded for Q2 2013, according to the latest insights from International Data Corporation (IDC).

Referencing its 'EMEA Quarterly Server and Disk Storage Systems Tracker', the research firm today announced that enterprise revenue in MEA totalled $663.4 million for the quarter, with infrastructure deals in the oil and gas, telecommunications, and banking, financial services, and insurance (BFSI) verticals accounting for much of that figure.

Continuing social and political unrest across much of the region acted as a severe inhibitor to enterprise investment, according to Zeeshan Gaya, research manager for systems and infrastructure solutions at IDC Middle East, Africa, and Turkey: "Ongoing instability in several parts of the Middle East and Africa region caused enterprise spending to slow down, while large projects within the government sector, traditionally one of the major investors in servers and storage, were put on hold."

The MEA region’s x86 server market witnessed a 5.2% year-on-year increase in