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The Need for Operators to Tap into Expanding Mobile Advertising Segment

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Outside providing subscribers access to internet as well as rolling out enterprise solutions for corporate customers, mobile network operators are also provided with the opportunity of maximizing the use of their technology through mobile advertisement.

Mobile network operators in Nigeria today have the required technology to deliver short message service, video and picture messages.

One then wonders why they are not exploring mobile advertising option to enhance their revenue base which invariable could help in driving down voice call tariff.

Mobile Marketing refer to one of the two categories of marketing refer to one of marketing, first and relatively new, it meant to describe marketing on or with a mobile device, such as a mobile phone.

According to a new research report from the analyst firm Berg Insight, the total value of the global real-time mobile location-based advertising and marketing (LBA) market will grow from EUR 192 million in 2011 at a compound annual growth rate (CAGR) of 91 percent to EUR 4.9 billion in 2016.

This will then correspond to 28.3 percent of all mobile advertising and marketing.

This means that location-based advertising and marketing will represent more than 4 percent of digital advertising, or 1 percent of the total global ad spend for all media.
The report predicts a rapid uptake of location-targeting among mobile advertisers after having remained on an experimental stage for several years.

“The growing attach rates of location technologies in handsets and the increasing consumer acceptance of location-based services in general are the main game changers”, said Rickard Andersson, Telecom Analyst, Berg Insight.

Targeting by location in combination with other contextual and behavioural segmentation greatly enhances the relevance of mobile advertising.

“Major brands are progressively embracing location-based advertising across the range of mobile formats, and LBA also opens up the mobile channel for new advertisers such as local merchants”, said Mr. Andersson.

He added that SMS, mobile search and coupons have emerged as important high-volume LBA formats.

The LBA value chain is still forming and there are a large number of players involved in the ecosystem.

Since the value chain is fragmented and the industry has not yet reached maturity, many different roles are involved.

 Major digital and telecom players such as Google, Apple and Nokia are competing to gain market shares in the space alongside mobile operators, LBS players, location-aware apps and media, mobile coupon providers, mobile search companies and proximity marketing providers.

There is further a range of specialised LBA actors, including Placecast, xAd and Xtify. The traditional mobile advertising providers have also intensified their focus on location targeting, in some cases even through acquisitions.

Further consolidation is expected as small players with innovative advertising solutions are absorbed by larger players in the industry.

Location-based services (LBS) are offered by some cell phone networks as a way to send custom advertising and other information to cell-phone subscribers based on their current location.

 The cell-phone service provider gets the location from a GPS chip built into the phone or using radiolocation and trilateration based on the signal-strength of the closest cell-phone towers (for phones without GPS features).

Ugo Okoye, managing director of Iconcepts Limited, said that introduction of proximity marketing into the mobile marketing industry will no doubt make a big difference in the way brands reach their consumers with tailor-made messages that suit their purpose.

According to Okoye, ‘for the first time, brands using proximity marketing technology can ensure that they reach their target audience at a time and place that put their messages in a direct and relevant context to the consumer’s current activity.

“The ability to communicate with consumers bases on their presence in a fixed time and place is one of the great features of proximity advertising technique as it makes it possible to access people at various points with tailor-made offers precisely to suit them,” he said.

 Advertisement through mobile phones offers operators another avenue of revenue source to complement that of voice and data service. In this time of drop in revenue from voice service as a result of harsh economic condition, operators need to create awareness on the use to be able to maximize the benefit.

Nigeria CommunicationsWeek gathering that Nigeria marketing communications is worth over $4 billion. Nigeria Marketing Association, Apcon said that the sector became vibrant with the liberalization of the telecommunications sector which witnessed a boost as a result of operators’ use of the medium to reach their subscribers in one promotion or the other.   

The association which is presently using television viewer ship mostly in their advertising campaigns is considering mobile marketing because television viewer ship is declining at a fast rate for some reasons, such as influx of cheap Chinese pirated movies, electricity failures, absence of prime time TV shows and absence of national Television stations.

Radio, the association said, has its own challenges too and outdoor is location specific.
According to a report by Apcon, mobile is the only medium with anywhere and anytime advantage with possibilities to accommodate all array of features like video, Multimedia Messaging Service, pictures, Short Message Service, internet and among others.

Mobile is a more powerful personal medium than any other, and it is time that Nigeria Brands exploited the opportunity.

Possible Channels
Marketing on a mobile phone has become increasingly popular ever since the rise of SMS (Short Message Service) in the early 2000s in Europe and some parts of Asia, when businesses started to collect mobile phone numbers and send off wanted or unwanted content.

Marketing communications companies in Nigeria lately are using SMS to send advertising content to mobile subscribers.

It has become a common experience for one to receive SMS from companies on the prices of their product.

One key criterion for provisioning is that the consumer opts in to the service.

The mobile operators demand a double opt in from and the ability for the consumer opt out of the service at any time by sending the word STOP via SMS.

These guidelines are established in the MMA Consumer Best Practices Guidelines which are followed by all mobile marketers in the United States. This has not started working in the country.


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Appeal Court Nullifies Registration of ‘KPMG Professional Services’

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The court of appeal in Lagos has asked the Corporate Affairs Commission (CAC) to revoke the certificate of registration of “KPMG Professional Services”.

Appeal Court Nullifies Registration of ‘KPMG Professional Services'

In a unanimous decision delivered on Thursday, the appellant court granted the reliefs sought by KPMG Nigeria against CAC and KPMG Professional Services.

The judgment was read by Abdullahi Mahmud Bayero, the judge.

The two other judges are Abimbola Obaseki-Adejumo and A.M. Talba.

In 2002, KPMG Professional Services was registered as a company with CAC despite the existence of KPMG Nigeria, comprising its audit, tax, and consulting arms.

The KPMG Nigeria has long been registered in Nigeria before 2002.

KPMG Audit was registered in 1969, KPMG Tax Consultants in 1990, and KPMG Consulting in 1969.

Displeased with the registration of KPMG Professional Services, KPMG Nigeria approached the federal high court.

The consulting firm had argued that the name “KPMG Professional Services” was deceptively similar to its long-established identity.

In 2005, the lower court dismissed KPMG Nigeria’s case, citing an alleged merger between KPMG Nigeria and Akintola Williams Deloitte as reason the company could no longer assert rights to the name.

The lower upheld the second respondent’s (KPMG Professional Services) counterclaim and ordered that KPMG Nigeria’s name be struck off the CAC register.

The lower court had premised its decision on newspaper articles stating that KPMG Nigeria reportedly merged with Akintola Williams Deloitte.

Delivering the judgment, Bayero ruled that the lower court erred by relying on newspaper articles to ascertain that KPMG Nigeria allegedly merged with another company.

The judge said the documents showing the alleged merger were not presented before the lower court, and the form of the alleged merger could not have been known.

“In any event, the only branch of KPMG, if any, that entered into a merger with Akintola Williams as stated in the newspaper articles 18, is KPMG Audit,” the judge ruled.

“The other spheres were totally unaffected. It would therefore be wrong to state that the merger (which has not been shown to this Court) of KPMG Audit with Akintola Williams means all the other areas of business, including KPMG Consulting and KPMG Tax Consultants, also ceased to exist.

“Even if the Appellants (KPMG Nigeria) had ceased to do business as the Court seemed to have held, the 2nd Respondents (KPMG Professional Services) should not have been carrying on business until the Appellant’s certificate of registration is withdrawn or set aside.

“They cannot use the name until the Appellant’s certification of registration is withdrawn or set aside. They cannot use the name until the name is removed from the 1st Respondent’s (CAC) Register of Names.

“The 1st Respondents can only assign the name to the 2nd Respondents after first taking it away from the Appellants.”

The court ruled that CAC erred by registering KPMG Professional Services despite the existence of a business name, which is already registered.

The judge reversed the earlier ruling of the lower court and reaffirmed the primacy of statutory protection for existing business names under Nigerian corporate law.

 

 

 


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Air Peace Launches Abuja–London Heathrow, Gatwick flights October 26

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Air Peace has announced the launch of direct flights from Abuja to London Heathrow and Gatwick airports, with operations scheduled to begin on October 26, 2025.

The airline said in a statement on Sunday that round-trip fares for the Abuja–London service will start from N1m, making it the first Nigerian carrier to offer direct connections from the capital to both of London’s major international airports. This was contained in a press release issued on Sunday by the airline’s spokesperson, Efe Osifo-Whiskey.

“Direct international flight services from Abuja to both London Heathrow and London Gatwick Airports, effective October 26, 2025.

“Air Peace becomes the first Nigerian carrier to offer direct services from Abuja to both of London’s major international airports, further solidifying its role as a leader in regional and intercontinental aviation.

“Travellers originating from any of Air Peace’s domestic destinations across Nigeria can now book through fares via Abuja to either Heathrow or Gatwick using a single ticket, eliminating the need for multiple bookings or baggage re-checks,” the statement read.

Similarly, the new route opens convenient access for inbound passengers from the UK to cities across Nigeria.

“Travellers from London can access multiple destinations across Nigeria using a single Air Peace ticket through Abuja every morning. These destinations are Lagos, Port Harcourt, Enugu, Benin, Warri, Owerri, Kano, Yola, Gombe and Asaba, for now. Other destinations will be added later,” Osifo-Whiskey stated.

Air Peace is also offering what it describes as unprecedented value in pricing and service.

Osifo-Whiskey said, “It provides a distinct competitive advantage, enabling passengers to travel between Nigeria and the United Kingdom with greater ease, efficiency, and value, due to the possibility of choosing multiple cities entry and exit points.

“Has the cheapest fares ever, starting from only 1 Million Naira round trip. Huge baggage allowance.”

The Abuja–London launch comes months after the airline began Lagos–London Heathrow flights, which started earlier in 2024.


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Prateek Suri CEO Maser Meets Zambia’s Education Minister to Propel Student Housing and Education Projects

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Prateek Suri, CEO of MASER and recognized as the richest Indian entrepreneur in Africa, was welcomed this week by Zambia’s Education Minister, Hon. Douglas Munsaka Syakalima, for a high-level meeting in Lusaka that focused on student housing and broader education infrastructure initiatives.

The meeting, held at the Ministry of Education’s offices, opened with warm greetings and a presentation by Mr Suri detailing Maser’s plans to support Zambia’s rapidly scaling education sector. Suri, who led Maser to become Africa’s seventh unicorn, emphasized the company’s commitment to infrastructure that benefits students, educators, and communities across the continent.

Minister Syakalima underscored the urgency of addressing Zambia’s student accommodation gap, citing the country’s expanding net enrollment and the need for safe, affordable housing for tertiary students. Under his leadership, the Government has embarked on a bold infrastructure agenda: over 82 secondary schools already completed, 46 set to be finished in 2025, and 120 new institutions under construction, alongside 169 ECE hubs and 145 satellite centers to reach underserved areas.

During the meeting, Suri shared Maser’s vision for modern student housing built through public–private partnership models. He outlined a multi‑phase plan utilizing sustainable building design, digital infrastructure, and vocational training facilities integrated into these campuses. “Zambia’s youth deserve world-class learning environments,” Suri remarked. “Maser is prepared to leverage its experience to co-create impactful educational infrastructure.”

Minister Syakalima responded positively, stating, “We welcome the opportunity to collaborate with Maser. The CEO’s entrepreneurial success and the company’s commitment to Africa’s education development are exactly the kind of partnership we need to scale our infrastructure goals.”

Beyond housing, the dialogue extended to opportunities in blended learning, vocational skills, rural outreach, and digital inclusion. With Zambia implementing its forward‑looking 2023 Education Curriculum this year—including early childhood, primary, and Form 1 levels—the minister highlighted the need for supporting infrastructure at all levels to enable effective rollout.

Under Minister Syakalima’s tenure, the education sector has seen notable progress: 4,200 new teachers hired recently, bringing the total teacher workforce to over 40,000 in three years; strengthened focus on foundational learning via teacher training programmes like the “Catch Up Programme”; and ambitious expansion of school infrastructure across Zambia’s provinces.

Maser, co‑founded by Prateek Suri, transformed from an African startup in consumer electeonics and large infrastructure projects into a multi‑sector unicorn operating in real estate, renewable energy, mining and education technology. Its rapid rise and African focus have made Suri a leading figure in bolstering India–Africa economic relations.

As the richest Indian in Africa, Prateek Suri’s influence spans beyond business success—it represents growing bilateral investment aimed at credible, sustainable societal impact. His partnership with Zambia’s Ministry of Education signals a new era of cross-border collaboration in education infrastructure.

With both parties committing to inclusive planning and scalable implementation, the Maser‑Zambia dialogue could mark the beginning of transformative initiatives: from affordable student housing to cutting‑edge learning facilities, vocational training hubs, and digital classrooms.

In closing remarks on the significance of this dialogue, Suri stated, “Education infrastructure is the foundation for future growth. Our partnership with Minister Syakalima and the Government of Zambia is a testament to collective investment in youth, equity, and sustainable development.” Minister Syakalima echoed this optimism, saying that with strategic public–private investment, Zambia’s education sector is poised for a significant elevation.

This meeting lays the groundwork for collaboration that bridges government strategy and corporate innovation—ultimately aiming to empower Zambia’s students and accelerate national development.


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