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Nature, Govt Can Force Collocation- Ayonote

Published

15 years ago

December 22, 2008

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Bruce Ayonote is group chief executive/co- founder, Suburban Telecm, an integrated telecommunications service provider based in Nigeria with operations in Europe and the USA.
His experience spans beyond communications and high technology (C & HT) to corporate finance and business development.
Ayonote has deep expertise and working knowledge with the public sector. He spoke with hilary okeke.

Suburban’s solutions to System Breakdown
Our customers are segmented. If you look at the enterprise segment, you would find that it is a more complex one to deal with. For the telco segment, their requirements are very straightforward – they require basic services which they also understand very well and are regulated by ITU, and have clear standards. But on the enterprise side, we have true ICT – a mix of information technology and communications; and there is a lot of subjectivity because you have to look at the business solution – what the person’s business is, how to help him achieve his business objectives – and a lot of businesses are modeled differently. So, there is a bit of that humanistic side that needs to be appreciated. In terms of solutions to provide to them, the solutions or the concerns we have there would be first, scoping and giving a customer a solution to his unique requirements. So, a business solution – the ability to understand what it means to the business and incorporate and merge them together is a very important value proposition to an enterprise. Secondly, like in the case of financial services, we need a lot of security. Cisco® has some very strong products around anti-virus in partnership with other OEMs and software providers. They have advanced security solutions for enterprises. Basically, providing security solution is either in partnership with some of the software providers and some of the OEMs. Also, providing hardware and middle ware in models that are beneficial to the enterprises. Sometimes you can provide managed services in such a way that a lot of capital expenditure is not burnt by the enterprise on those services; and then also flexibility and robustness of the product – giving them options like in the case of upgrade, data connectivity requirement and in the case of open source, flexible and non-proprietary solutions which would enable interoperatibility with other solutions. Basically, understanding what customers want and trying to give them that, regardless of the challenges has been our standard.

Alternatives to Sat-3
In terms of international fibre connectivity, we have built inland fibre cables across borders into multiple West African countries that have access to international fibre cables. We have been given licence by the NCC to build international infrastructure; we see the need for diversity. Basically what you find around our environment is “a fixed pie mentality” – people still see things from a fixed perspective and are not willing to alter or positively change the scenario. Everyone prefers to leave things as they are. In technology, that is not ideal. Things are continuously changing and are rapidly dynamic; and within the confines of the law, we want to be innovative with our solutions. As a solutions provider, one needs to look at how he can augment the existing status-quo and improve it towards a more quality solution. So for us, we have seen very credible alternatives to supporting the existing burden put on top of the existing infrastructure and creating diversity so that there is more resilience on our networks and services. We have built cables into neighbouring countries; we are building cables from more West African countries connecting additional West African countries. To be specific – cables have been built from Ghana into Lome, Nigeria into Benin and Ghana into Ivory Coast. We believe that we are able to also supply landlocked countries like Mali, Burkinafaso, some parts of Nigeria, Niger; and create multiple exits for even providing redundancy on existing infrastructure like Sat-3 and new infrastructure like Main One or even Glo – cables that would come into the country. For satellite, between 2002 and 2007 we did a lot of satellite transmission but the capacity that the market needs is more sustainable on a fibre infrastructure; the kinds of applications also are more sustainable on a fibre infrastructure. To be honest with you, fibre would be the number one preferred technology and satellite will play a very strategic role. But our focus right now is more on the preferred technology. Like I said, diversity is the key. You know, networks are vulnerable to general activities in the environment and sometimes they suffer intentional and unintentional damage, and the integrity of the network is compromised. So, the solution around that is diversity and not a fixed pie. If you have a fixed pie, when there is a problem, you have no alternative to fall back on. What happened to Sat-3 was quite unfortunate but it happens to networks. On the semantics side, we say it is quite a lot of unexplainable scenarios which have buttressed the need for physical redundancy. The solution now is no more how much you can build on your own. It is no longer about how much money or how much infrastructure you have; it is about how well you have partnered to solve your problems. Collaboration is very important in this aspect.

Sharing Cable Infrastructure and Associated Problems
Yes, there are problems and they are created more by people. At the end of the day, it is people who build and operate networks. So, when someone says he does not want to share infrastructure, there is nothing you can do to make him change his mind. Ultimately, collocation and infrastructure sharing are functions of the desires and intentions of the individuals that run the businesses, and when it is in their strategic interest to share, they tend to share and when it is not, they do not. Everyone has his reasons for doing whatever he does. For collocation to materialize in this environment, there are two ways. One is that it would take a natural course. In a free market economy, they say the functions of demand and supply determine the market. Now, when it becomes more expensive for you to keep on building infrastructure, you would now appreciate the need to share. When it becomes unattractive to keep on building and when people do not see any benefit from it, then they will share. The second way is when government exercises its power to enforce the law. Already, the law says you should share infrastructure wherever there is infrastructure to be shared according to the licences the NCC has given to telecommunication providers in Nigeria. But obviously, the regulator can only act on information or specific reports they get from the operators. I personally have gone to some operators and pitched the idea to share infrastructure in win-win situations, which I thought were very credible but they did not see the light of day. Well, I only hope it appeals to the owners of those infrastructures to share them.

Extent of Internet Penetration and Need for Improvement
The aggregate amount of the Internet in Nigeria today is around 2GB. Within West Africa, we see a total usage of about 600MB, and we still think that the penetration is very low. We think that in the next 2-3 years, we should be looking at 20-25GB of internet connection and penetration. We expect to see a huge growth in Internet penetration by 2009 and 2010. The major factors were availability of international bandwidth over fibre. Obviously, there is a difference when you use the Internet over fibre and when you use it over other technologies because of feed. When you do not get the kind of feed you want, some applications are not that effective and that then makes the users not interested. Cost is another consideration. By providing fibre bandwidth, we have noticed an increase in penetration. Before our intervention into the market, the total bandwidth in the country was below 900MB. Since we came, we have brought about 1.2GB into the market, which has also increased Internet penetration. The more bandwidth becomes available, the more penetration into the society. In terms of cost, we have also done a great job in reducing the cost of the Internet and this in turn, has been beneficial to the end-users – better quality and better cost; and our interest is to increase the capacity and reduce cost over time. So, there is more adoption of the Internet within the country and we believe that when there is more adoption, the business model can change; more value-added services being supplied, and then the basic requirement of having Internet access would be achieved. There is a significant social angle in achieving our objectives.

Challenges of Operating in Nigerian Environment
One of these challenges is high level of corruption in our environment and it manifests in various ways, and that is very contrary to my belief. That is one challenge I face a lot, which that has made me lose a lot of opportunities. Sometimes, I might have to just walk away or lose the interest I have in a prospect. The other one is the capital requirement of running an infrastructure-based business like this. Even though you can get that money from people or from banks – people in terms of high net-worth investors – a lot of people do not have that kind of capacity that we are talking about and the banks also do not understand the business; they are very short term in nature. It might be the nature of their terms with the depositors who bank with them on short term basis and that translates back to their lending style. So, we are not able to get long term financing at reasonable interest rates. The distraction in raising financing is overwhelming, it divorces you from your core responsibility of sales and developing your business and that is a major struggle. Be that as it may, we have been very lucky. Customers are another challenge; sometimes they do not like to pay for services rendered and that is a humbling experience. See, people problem is not a joke.

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Remedial Health Unveils New App with Digital POS to power operations for Africa’s Neighbourhood Pharmacies

Published

1 week ago

April 9, 2024

Chike Onwuegbuchi

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Remedial Health, a health tech startup that develops solutions to make Africas pharmaceutical value chain more efficient has unveiled an updated version of its customer-facing app, designed to function as an operating system for neighbourhood pharmacies and Proprietary Patent Medicine Vendors (PPMVs) across the continent.

The new app comes with a digital POS terminal to support payment collection, virtual business accounts to receive payments, an in-built barcode scanner feature for recording product sales and store-switch functionality to enable the seamless management of multiple stores, as well as inventory management solutions for restocking and easily identifying short-dated products.

The app also offers comprehensive financial reporting to manage profit and loss, and data analytics to inform decision making.

Despite accounting for 85 per cent of retail medicines sold in Africa’s pharmaceutical industry (projected to reach $70 billion market size by 2030), the absence of bespoke digital tools to manage their unique sales and inventory management needs means neighbourhood pharmacies and Proprietary patent Medicine Vendors (PPMVs) are unable to run their operations as effectively and profitably as possible.

At the same time, the reliance on paper-based inventory and sales management processes means manufacturers have limited empirical insights into customer behaviour to inform their decisions on production and distribution.

The new Remedial Health app has been designed specifically for healthcare businesses in Africa, with tailored features that have been designed to support effective decision making to drive business growth and profitability.

Starting in Nigeria, healthcare businesses can access vetted medicines, and manage their sales and inventory on one easy-to-use platform, freeing up time and capacity to effectively serve their customers and communities.

The app also enables Remedial Health to provide consolidated, real-time data on market behaviour to manufacturers for increased profitability and better decision-making across the value chain.

According to Samuel Okwuada, CEO, and co-founder of Remedial Health, “Neighbourhood pharmacies and PPMVs represent the frontline of healthcare delivery in Africa but they have historically been left to their own devices to figure out how to be efficient and profitable.

“Our mission is to empower these essential service providers with the tools they need to manage day-to-day operations and seamlessly run their practices effectively. We spent a lot of time interacting with our customers in the process of delivering this product and the feedback has been great.

“We are excited by the opportunity to get the app into the hands of pharmacies and PPMVs across the country to support their ongoing success, as well as the health and wellbeing of the nation”.

In 2023, Remedial Health sold more than 300 million individual packs of medicines to 7,500 hospitals, neighbourhood pharmacies and PPMVs across all 36 states of Nigeria.

Its customers also improved their profits by 30 per cent on average, with access to more than 8,000 vetted products at the same, or better than, open-air medicine market prices.

They can also access same-day delivery and leverage inventory financing to minimise cash-flow friction for routine orders and maximise sales opportunities.

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EnterpriseNGR Expands Financial Centres to Three African Countries

Published

2 weeks ago

April 6, 2024

Chike Onwuegbuchi

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EnterpriseNGR has signed a Memorandum of Understanding to set up the Africa Roundtable of Financial Centres – a chapter of the World Alliance of International Financial Centres, in Mauritius, Morocco and Rwanda.

The MoU, signed recently in Mauritius, brought together EnterpriseNGR, the Economic Development Board of Mauritius, Casablanca Finance City Authority, and Rwanda Finance Limited to foster collaboration, promote investment opportunities, and drive sustainable development within the financial centres of its member countries and Africa at large.ort the exchange of best practices between members, enhance visibility regionally

A statement from EnterpriseNGR said that it was joining forces with the three countries to specifically pursue five key objectives.

These objectives include “Jointly strengthen the competitiveness of financial centres in Africa. Collaborate through projects, research papers, communiques, and events to position the African Continent, demonstrate the myriad of investment opportunities, and showcase the role that financial centres play within the African Continent.

“Conduct joint initiatives to supp and internationally, and provide African financial centres with a unified voice regionally and internationally.

“Facilitate the development of dialogue with major financial centres outside the African Continent and build communication channels with African institutions, including regulators and policymakers, as well as African financial services industry associations, and advocate for regulatory coordination amongst members of the Africa Roundtable to promote cross-border investments and financial services.”

Commenting on this collaboration, the Chairperson of the Africa Roundtable, Mr Ken Poonoosamy, said, “The signing of the Memorandum of Understanding for the Africa Roundtable of the WAIFC represents a pivotal stride in fostering synergy among financial hubs within the African sphere, with the shared objective of catalysing economic advancement across the continent.”

Ms Obi Ibekwe, the Chief Executive Officer of EnterpriseNGR, represented by the Director of Policy & Public Affairs, Mr Lami Adekola, expressed her excitement over the development.

She said, “It is a historic achievement, and EnterpriseNGR fully endorses the Africa Roundtable of the WAIFC and is excited for the immense opportunities it represents for Nigeria and the African continent. Our collaboration with the four African countries promises to bolster financial competitiveness on the Continent and amplify Africa’s global presence.

We will leverage this Roundtable to unlock the full potential of African financial centres to drive prosperity and development for our nations and beyond.”

EnterpriseNGR became a member of WAIFC in 2023 during the WAIFC board meeting hosted by TheCityUK in London.

The MoU, which was signed recently in Mauritius, brought together EnterpriseNGR, the Economic Development Board of Mauritius, Casablanca Finance City Authority, and Rwanda Finance Limited, to foster collaboration, promote investment opportunities, and drive sustainable development within the financial centres of its member countries.

A statement from EnterpriseNGR said that it was joining forces with the three countries to pursue five key objectives.

According to the group, these objectives include “jointly strengthen the competitiveness of financial centres in Africa. Collaborate through projects, research papers, communiques, and events to position the African continent, demonstrate the myriad of investment opportunities, and showcase the role that financial centres play within the African continent”.

It added that it would enable it to “Conduct joint initiatives to support the exchange of best practices between members, enhance visibility regionally and internationally, and to provide African financial centres with a unified voice regionally and internationally.

Facilitate the development of dialogue with major financial centres outside the African Continent and build communication channels with African institutions, including regulators and policymakers, as well as African financial services industry associations, and advocate for regulatory coordination amongst members of the Africa Roundtable to promote cross-border investments and financial services”.

Commenting on the collaboration, the Chairperson of the Africa Roundtable, Mr Ken Poonoosamy, asserted, “The signing of the Memorandum of Understanding for the Africa Roundtable of the WAIFC represents a pivotal stride in fostering synergy among financial hubs within the African sphere, with the shared objective of catalysing economic advancement across the continent.”

Ms Obi Ibekwe, the Chief Executive Officer of EnterpriseNGR, represented by the Director of Policy & Public Affairs, Mr Lami Adekola, expressed her excitement over the development.

She stated, “It is a historic achievement, and EnterpriseNGR fully endorses the Africa Roundtable of the WAIFC and is excited for the immense opportunities it represents for Nigeria and the African continent.

“Our collaboration with the four African countries promises to bolster financial competitiveness on the Continent and amplify Africa’s global presence. We will leverage this Roundtable to unlock the full potential of African financial centres to drive prosperity and development for our nations and beyond.”

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5 Emails You Should Delete Instantly

Published

2 weeks ago

April 5, 2024

Ugo Onwuaso

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Amidst the daily influx of emails flooding into your inbox, it’s crucial to remain vigilant for signs of potential cyber threats. Keep a lookout for these seemingly innocent phrases that could spell trouble for your cybersecurity.

Trevor Cooke, the online privacy expert at EarthWeb, identifies five phrases you can search for in your inbox to weed out dangerous messages.

1. “Urgent Action Required”

Trevor advises, ‘This phrase often indicates an attempt to create a sense of urgency and pressure the recipient into taking immediate action without thoroughly considering the consequences.’ Cybercriminals may use this tactic to trick individuals into clicking malicious links or downloading harmful attachments.

Example: “Your account has been compromised. Urgent action required to secure your account. Click here to verify your login credentials.”

2. “Account Suspension”

Emails claiming that your account will be suspended unless immediate action is taken should raise suspicion. Cybercriminals often employ this tactic to coerce recipients into providing sensitive information or credentials under the guise of resolving a purported issue.

Example: “Your account will be suspended within 24 hours due to suspicious activity. To avoid account suspension, please confirm your account details by replying to this email.”

3. “Congratulations! You’ve Won”

Beware of emails proclaiming unexpected winnings or prizes, especially if you haven’t participated in any contests or lotteries. Trevor says, ‘Such emails often serve as bait to lure recipients into divulging personal information or clicking on malicious links.’

Example: “Congratulations! You’ve won a luxury vacation package. Click here to claim your prize by providing your personal details.”

4. “Click Here For A Special Offer”

Phrases enticing recipients to click on links for exclusive deals or offers should be approached with caution. Cybercriminals frequently use this tactic to redirect users to phishing websites designed to steal login credentials or install malware on their devices.

Example: “Don’t miss out on our limited-time offer! Click here to claim your 50% discount on all purchases.”

5. “Unusual Login Activity Detected”

‘Emails alleging suspicious or unauthorized access to your accounts aim to incite panic and prompt immediate action,’ notes Trevor. However, legitimate service providers typically communicate such notifications through their official platforms rather than through email.

Example: “We detected unusual login activity on your account. Click here to verify your identity and secure your account.”

How To Respond

Trevor recommends, ‘Upon encountering emails containing red flag phrases indicative of potential threats, the best course of action is to delete the email immediately and block the sender. Refrain from clicking on any links or downloading attachments to safeguard your personal information and maintain tight cybersecurity.’

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