9mobile in partnership with Ignitia, weather forecasting portal, have launched a weather forecast service that enables farmers to predict weather accurately before and during the planting season.

This is in furtherance of its commitment to leveraging technology in creating innovative solutions for its customers by the award-winning telecommunications company.

With Iska Weather Service, farmers in Nigeria can now predict the weather with over 80% forecast accuracy, thereby empowering them to prepare against adverse weather conditions that can impact negatively on their crops.

In addition, event planners, traders, and other people whose means of livelihood or activities can be adversely impacted by poor weather, can also benefit from Iska Weather Service in planning their events or activities so they can operate optimally, unhindered by weather conditions.

Speaking about this newest innovative service, Bolanle Afuye, head Digital Media, 9mobile said Iska Weather Service will provide 9mobile consumers with localised weather forecasts via SMS and USSD, with 84% forecast accuracy.

In addition, she said the service offers subscribers access to Ignitia’s daily 2-day weather forecast service on rainfall risk, timing and intensity, along with the monthly and seasonal outlooks once per month.

In furtherance of its commitment to leveraging technology in creating innovative solutions for its customers, award-winning telecommunications company, 9mobile in partnership with weather forecasting portal, Ignitia, have launched a weather forecast service that enables farmers to predict weather accurately before and during the planting season.

With Iska Weather Service, farmers in Nigeria can now predict the weather with over 80% forecast accuracy, thereby empowering them to prepare against adverse weather conditions that can impact negatively on their crops.

In addition, event planners, traders, and other people whose means of livelihood or activities can be adversely impacted by poor weather, can also benefit from Iska Weather Service in planning their events or activities so they can operate optimally, unhindered by weather conditions.

Speaking about this newest innovative service, Head Digital Media, 9mobile, Bolanle Afuye, said Iska Weather Service will provide 9mobile consumers with localised weather forecasts via SMS and USSD, with 84% forecast accuracy.

In addition, she said the service offers subscribers access to Ignitia’s daily 2-day weather forecast service on rainfall risk, timing and intensity, along with the monthly and seasonal outlooks once per month.

Afuye stated: “The weather is a potentially major factor that impacts on farming and food security, amongst other issues. Thus, farmers are particularly concerned about the weather, especially considering that too much rain can wipe out whole plantations and erode their income levels.

“They are also concerned that if plants get too much sunlight they can be destroyed by too much heat; hence the need for accurate weather forecast to help our farmers plan better. The innovative Iska Weather Service therefore, is a timely and much-needed solution that underscores 9mobile’s passion for solving societal problems in our nation.”

Speaking further, Afuye said Iska Weather Service is affordable and flexible, with customers having the option to choose their preferred subscription package ranging from N10 per day, N35 per week or N100 per month.

Iska Weather Service is a simple, easy-to-use platform, and it comes in handy for 9mobile subscribers that live in rural and urban areas, including retailers between ages 25 – 45 years as well as young and middle-aged individuals and those who use technology in their businesses.

Simba Industries, one of the leading companies in the power backup industry in Nigeria, has introduced KStar UPS (Uninterruptible Power Supply) systems to the market. KStar is recognized for its specialized power backup solutions, capable of handling mission-critical electrical equipment including hospital diagnostic and surgical apparatus, data centers and Bank ATMs.

Unlike traditional Online UPS systems, KStar products can handle a wide range of applications which have peculiar power needs, such as factory machinery, where power requirements at startup are huge, and where power failure can often lead to significant cost escalation, as machines need to cool down and be restarted.

Speaking at the unveiling event held in Lagos, the representative of Simba Industries, Mr Prasanna Sridhar, explained that KStar is the sixth largest manufacturer of UPS in the world, offering high quality products and full service support to more than 90 countries.

MR Sridhar noted that the different ranges of KStar UPS can cater to every power demand and needs across different sectors, including manufacturing, oil and gas, medical establishments, businesses and other key industries.

“Hundreds of thousands of businesses around the world depends on reliable power back-up solutions for their critical systems. Downtime is simply not an option for them, as it results in potentially millions of dollars of losses per second.

“The KStar UPS draws on the latest research and development to offer unparalleled power backup solutions for a diverse range of industries” he said.

Mr Suresh Kumar, Head of Simba Service, the group’s awarding winning Service division, further added that KStar UPS is supported by Simba Service in Nigeria, which provides power audit consultation, installation, 24 hour customer support, and Annual Maintenance Contracts.

He noted, “At Simba, we believe that total customer satisfaction is only achieved, when a good quality product is supported by attentive and responsive customer care and after sales service. Simba Service is at the heart of our value proposition to customers.”

KStar offers an extensive range of UPS solutions, including Online Transformer/ Transformer-less UPS, Line Interactive UPS and Modular UPS all of which are aimed at delivering optimized energy sourcing, cost savings as well as minimizing downtime – thereby meeting the critical needs of its customers in various sectors of the Nigerian economy.