Hi,
Thanks for your comments.Sometimes,I do send to them and they actually think am too critical of them.
Mobile marketing is suffering in Nigeria because most of the people at the helms of affairs are not core mobile marketing people.
They are either too techy or from from the banking sector where 1 plus 1 is always equal to 2.

These are interesting times in the Nigeria Mobile Market turf. Glo and Mtn are enagaging themselves to establish dominance with product and commercial launch of 3G.At any oppouurtunity,both network providers are quick to market 3G with promises of what it can do.

Looking from what obtains presently with Wap, gprs and other multimedia services usage level presently in Nigeria, it will not be out of place to show concern about how operators intend to develop and drive usage of 3g which is highly content driven.Though some of the contents might run too on present networks but are best experienced on a 3G because it offers more for media bandwidth intensive contents.

Countries that made headway in 3G presents a very good example of what we should be emulating. Taiwan is an example of 3G success. Taiwan with Nokia’s help, set up its first mobile services development centre with focus on developing 3G mobile contents and services. Now, 3G is already well established with opportunity to experiment with rich diversified services offered by the technologies.

Revenues from 3g services come from two sources, the traffic generated by content and charges for content itself. According to UMTS forum, by year 2010, total operator-retained revenue will be over 300 billion dollars for generated 3G services. Nigeria 3G market should be well aligned and positioned to benefit too.

The Nigerian regulator, NCC, should bring together industry players to pursue strategic content initiatives and bring to market, innovative 3g content and services. The NCC should aim to bring operators together and chart a way forward thereby accelerating the adoption of the technology. The target audience should be mobile operators, application developers, content providers, content aggregators, systems integrators and equipment vendors. The national regulator will play a vital role in content development by working closely with privately owned IT and telecoms training institutes, research and development centers, to develop curriculum that will address the upcoming opportunities and thereby reducing capital flight through content that are offshore developed or foreign owned.

The objective is that since downloading or streaming of video content is the main driver of 3G usage and to attract subscribers and enterprises to use this technology, the NCC should put incentives in place for the development and launch of new 3g content and services that fully exploit the capabilities of the 3g platform.

The success of the 3g will increase the demand for mobile data services and thus leading to higher 3G usage which leads to higher ARPU’s for the mobile operators. NCC need to start sensitizing content providers on the following services that can be money spinner for 3g,namely, online multimedia, gaming, multimedia messaging, video chat, mobile matchmaking, multimedia content delivery, surveillance, remote monitoring, mobile marketing and location specific information delivery services.

For the mobile operators, in the real business sense, 3g is important but nonetheless secondary. Voice remains the cash cow and killer application on the networks presently. They will need to develop an investment program whereby it will develop strategic investment opportunities with content aggregators and providers. They should invest in and partner with innovative content providers to develop innovative content distribution channels, mobile communities and other rich content that was not previously possible in a 2g world. Operators need to target all market segments, though some may not generate revenue as much as expected but what is important is to create an entire environment where mobile phone is used for a variety of purposes.

The choices open to operators is to either develop in-house content, therefore becoming providers of bundled lifestyle content with the advantage of big brand tie –ins. Second alternative is to work with independent content aggregators but without the advantage of brand tie-ins because most content developers tend to reach out to more than one operator for same content. The reason is not far fetched, present revenue share propositions will definitely be a disadvantage in the highly content driven 3g market.

A transition to 3g service will mean that phones have ceased being mere communications devices and will have taken on many of the characteristics of the rich content technologies like cable and internet. While government supports the development of innovative new communications services which provide access to the internet, mobile TV and Video clips, and the content services may also potentially carry offensive or harmful content and there will be need to ensure appropriate safeguards are in place to protect under age persons from exposure to such harmful contents. Safeguards might just be similar to those in place for traditional media.

Finally without operators investing in the appropriate infrastructures and taking a more holistic view of the content marketing function, the content on offer will unlikely engage subscribers and build the desired levels of demand. The whole world is watching if Nigerians will take advantage of the multi billion Naira Nollywood industry to develop Nigerian centric content for the Mobile phone market.

emmanuel@gomobileng.com
www.nigeriamobilemarketing..com

GSMA is the global trade association representing more than 690 GSM mobile phone operators across 214 territories and countries of the world. This year’s event comes up February in Barcelona,Spain.
The primary goals of the GSMA are to ensure mobile phones and wireless services work globally and are easily accessible, enhancing their value to individual customers and national economies, while creating new business opportunities for operators.
GSMA's work is focused on two areas,Emerging services and emerging markets. The GSMA helps its members develop and launch new services, ranging from mobile instant messaging to video sharing to mobile Internet access, which will work across networks and across national boundaries. At the same time, the GSMA is heavily engaged in the industry's push to extend basic voice and text services to more people in emerging markets.
Nigeria had always had a good representation during this fiesta. All operators and National regulator are always well represented in all the editions .At the award last year, MTN Communications Nigeria, won the community service initiative through its Rural Telephony project.
I have strong doubt if Nigeria’s representatives to these yearly event are really taking part or following the trend of attendance and innovation, given the successes that mobile marketing has achieved all over the world. Media organizations are the major innovations champions at the events.
Cnbc, Time and CNN are very visible partners because they had seen the future and they know it is mobile. For most media outfits in Europe and America, mobile is now a significant channel of reaching the masses with most of them offering mobile version of all conventional offerings. Nigerians happen to be the major consumer of those mobile offerings. British Broadcasting corporation reported that Nigerians constitute the highest numbers of wap users accessing its wap platform, worldwide. This is a example of a strong compelling content.
Despite the pressing need and readiness of Nigerians to consume these innovative services, the mobile operators even with 3G cannot see the opportunities in developing the ecosystem with content owners and the media. The annual Mass exodus to GSMA conferences in Barcelona,Spain will serve no purpose if Network operators cannot initiate their own local gatherings here in Nigeria, to develop a sustainable Mobile Value added service ecosystem in Nigeria.

Emmanuel Okoegwale
emmanuel@gomobileng.com

Can Number portability drive Etisalat Nigeria Market Share?

Farmed-out license holder,Etisalat Nigeria will utilize the Mudabala License in the very competitive and fast growing Nigeria market.Mtn the clear market leader with over 15 million subscribers with Glo and Celtel coming a close second and third with very impressive figures, the market is hotly contested for and operators will go to any length to acquire more subscribers even in the face of declining quality of service and poor mobile value added services.

Etisalat job placements in the newspapers signals the readiness to commence pre-roll out operations which is been speculated for the first quarter of 2008.The big question is,how will Etisalat pursue and join a race of six years with very formidable operators?

Nigeria’s third operator,Glo which came in later after the two dominant operators,MTN and Econet (Celtel),adopted the per second billing which provided the needed
Leverage to quickly establish in the competitive Nigeria Market.In the absence of killer mobile value added services that can clearly differentiate the new operator,Etisalat,Number portability will offer the best and sure way to acquire
Significant subscription level within a short time.

The Nigerian Communication Commission recently approved the use of number portability for the telecoms operators in Nigeria and the commission is making efforts to educate operators on the advantages of number portability. Number portability is a key aspect of deregulation in telecommunications. To ensure that there is competition in the marketplace for telecommunications services. Mobile Number Portability is the ability of a mobile subscriber to retain his/her subscriber number when changing network operators within a country.

Number Portability is not to be regarded as a subscriber service, which a subscriber can subscribe to. It is a network feature that allows the subscriber to keep a unique mobile phone number but must be agreed to among different mobile operators within the defined national or regional boundaries.
Number portability though a recent phenomenon has recorded significant successes in Asia markets which is very similar to the Nigerian scenario. Singapore was the first to implement in 1997 and Hong Kong in 1999,Taiwan recently implemented in 2005. These markets had already achieved the 50 percent mobile penetration rate during that period compared to Nigeria’s penetration rate of 25 percent which still offers a huge underserved market with a population under licensed territory of 140 million people and mobile phone subscription of over 40 million.

Number portability can be locality based which enables a mobile subscriber to move from one location to another without changing mobile number. This will significantly reduce capex cost and reduce roll out time in different regions in the vast Nigerian land mass for a new operator like Etisalat.
Second type of Number portability is Service Portability that enables a mobile subscriber to keep same number when changing different telecoms services and this is commonly used for mobile value added service. If a subscriber on a donor network wants to access a particular service on a receiving network, there will be no need to change number for the duration.Lastly,the Operator Portability that enables a subscriber to switch mobile operator without changing the mobile phone number,is essential for fair competition among mobile operators and to help new entrants gain market share.

In a market with poor quality of service where mobile operators are still chasing to sign on new subscribers rather than maintain existing ones and increasing the average revenue per user through innovative mobile value added services, number portability will be an advantage to Etisalat if the network offers better quality of service and superior customer service which is lacking with some mobile operators.

There are advantages for implementing Number portability and like wise challenges.
New operators can quickly acquire subscribers though not necessary at lower cost because there are cost elements to number portability. Service providers will often want to charge an administrative fee and recurring monthly fees for number porting services. These fees could discourage some potential porters, as they do not see the justification for such service charges. There is also a waiting period for subscribers to enable the ported number from the donor network to the receiving network and if the waiting period is not reasonable short, subscribers might get wary of the signing up for the service.

Finally,the dominant operators which will provide the bulk of subscribers wanting to move away to new operators like Etisalat,should not see the entrance as a threat but a health competition which will improve the over all satisfaction of the subscribers whom they called Kings.

Emmanuel Okoegwale
emmanuel@gomobileng.com
08030818868

3G and Nigeria Brands
Mobile Marketing is used to describe marketing on or with a mobile device, such as a mobile Phone. Mobile allows brands that have relied on traditional channels to create a more direct, sustained relationship with consumers. Mobile Marketing is yet to gain its foothold in Nigeria but with the upcoming 3G networks, this will allow data intensive applications,Brand and advert agencies will quickly see the opportunities in engaging the Mobile subscribers because of its uniqueness and interactivity.

South Korea is a classic example where Mobile marketing is striving. The largest network operator, SK Telecom, has some 500 clients and controls 80% of the country's mobile advertising market. AirCross pushes multimedia ads to about one million users who have opted in, lured by reductions in their phone bills. It also has a database of four million SMS opt-ins, though multimedia is growing at a faster rate, having pulled in big advertisers such as Coca-Cola, Mercedes and BMW since its launch last year.

The 3G Marketing is the next big thing in mobile services but how prepared are the Network operators, Brand owners and Brand marketers to move away from the traditional media to mobile?

3G Marketing has the capacity to reach mobile users in style and with rich contents for mobile subscribers. Content in many formats like video, sms, mms and audio and can now target the mobile users. It will put the creativity of Brand manager to task. Present Mobile marketing ecosystem in Nigeria is not buoyant with innovative services because the focus of Mobile operators still tends towards Voice where 95 percent of the accrued revenue comes from. Mobile Marketing is still in its infancy as Brand marketers are not even experimenting with what is available presently. Caller Ring Back and Bluetooth marketing do not require very complex technology but yet am yet to see one single deployment in the whole Nigeria.

The opportunities are immense and rewarding .More than 89 percent of Fortune 500 companies are dedicating more than 10 percent of their marketing Budget to mobile marketing in year,2008! The challenges for mobile marketing in Nigeria is tasking because Most Brand managers do not even understand the workings of the technology. Influx of low end phones will also inhibit the growth and spread of 3G Marketing and will be the immediate obstacle to mass-market 3G marketing because the user base is not sophisticated enough. Availability of 3G network in major cities will be a decisive factor if it will become a marketing medium of choice. Network operators are still battling with capacity issues and 3G might not be a front burner issues in low Average Revenue per user (ARPU) catchments areas and by implication brand owners may never be able to deploy a national mobile marketing campaign. They will have to manage with Regional.

The road ahead for 3G marketing is tough since Bandwidth issues will crop up intermittently. A key attribute of 3G is its ability to deliver high-quality MMS content, including streamed video with 3G subscribers able to tune into paid-for content from the likes of cinema owners like Numetro and silverbirds, showing cinema clips. Mobile Adverts can be streamed alongside a Tv programme and even Mobile users can be directed to a web site or WAP site that is dedicated to that ad.

Network operators should also allow media agencies to access their database so that campaigns can be more targeted based on the segmentation of subscribers but where they cannot allow that, then they can as well have an in-house agency because without a segmented database, there would be indiscriminate messaging to a mobile advertiser's user base or publisher base and this could seriously damage the development of this potentially lucrative advertising market. The mobile should not go the way of the internet in terms of spam. The time to put the structure in place is now.
Emmanuel Okoegwale
emmanuel@gomobileng.com

Hi Nonso,

Good to know that Glo is trying out a webshere marketing on Nairaland.Impressive.
But I must let you know that Glo and like all others Mobile Operators seems not to understand the value of Mobile Value added services.

The service is so relegated in Nigeria and they do not offer any real life benefits.
There are sure and workable ways in which Glo can innovate its Value added services and the turn around will be significant,even for the Blackberry phones.

You have not even touched the unique selling point for Blackberry Phones as an operator.
I really do wish that things will change maybe with more competition coming.
I wish you the best and will like to talk more on areas of improvement.

A TV chip is a game piece that you provide with the purchase of your product. The TV Chips have a transparent window with an encrypted message in it. Only when this transparent window is put in front of a specific color, that is broadcasted during your television commercial or on your website, can you see if the game piece is a winner.
This means that your customers have to watch your television advert or your Television activities.
Organizations are getting more involved in non direct commercial TV activities like skye's Bank's celebrity takes two, MTN Who wants to be a millionaire.They can as well boost sales of their services via their Televison activities through Tv Chips.World leading brands Wal mart,Ford motors,P&G are deploying it in other continents.
To know more and for free demo,
email:emmanuel@gomobileng.com
08030818868

Hi Oldie,
Thanks for your observation.
In Telecoms academics and Globally that is the situation but locally here in Nigeria,Coverage is used to judge Qos.That is why telcos always sacrifice QOs for coverage.I work on the field in Nigeria.They do this always.
Thank you once again for your observation.
Regards,
EO

As the newly licensed cdma and Gsm operators starts breaking ground for roll out plans, indications are very strong that their might be some displacement in the Nigerian Telecoms Race. Clear favorites and pioneers like Mtn, Celtel and Glo are poised to face stiff competition from late entrants, Etisalat, Alheri and Visafone.

Ordinarily, Visafone should not be classified as a major threat since they will operate in the CDMA range but the class of additional license(800Mhz spectrum) that was bought after taking over cellcom, places the company in good position to provide some unique services and Coupled with the speedy roll out plans and the pedigree of the chief promoter, Mr Jim Ovia.
Etisalat is a clear leader with innovative products with foot prints in the Middle East market and many years of Experience and good financial position. They are a formidable organization.
Little known Alheri is backed by Nigeria’s leading Business magnate,Alhaji Aliko Dangote. This will be his first known foray into the rewarding Nigeria Telecoms market. Despite the seemingly little dog status in the telecoms market, they possibly have what it takes to challenge the dominance of the big operators. Alheri, holds a 3G license which enables an operator to engage in more data intensive applications and the backers also have deep pockets.

Early and dominant operators provides a significant and sustained market-share advantage over later entrants. Still, later entrants can succeed by adopting distinctive positioning and marketing strategies. Experience has shown that in the Nigerian Telecoms market, innovations and financial muscles is a major factor for acquiring subscribers. Late entrant Globalcom is an example of such innovative spirits. Pioneers in most industries, once they have reached the status of incumbent, are powerful. Sometimes, however, they get complacent or are not in a position to cater to the growing or shifting demands of the marketplace. New entrants can take advantage of gaps in the offerings of these aging pioneers, or find innovative ways to market their product or service. Globalcom was able to break into the Nigeria Telecoms market easier because other operators did not implement per second billing which should have slowed Globalcom’s race if already in place as at that time.

While it is fine to be a dominate player in a Telecommunications starved economy like Nigeria but it comes with a price of higher entry cost and product research. Late entrants do not need to go all the way anymore. It cost less to imitate a product than start from the scratch and with a penetration that is still less than 40 percent of the license under territory of 140 million people, there are still opportunities for deeper market share.

For the late entrants to quickly find their voices in the competitive Nigeria Telecoms market, they need to study the Mobile Value added services product portfolio offerings of the existing market leaders, Market environment and positioning. Some Basic strategic planning for service offering and Product portfolio is for late entrants to look for new geographic (where possible) and segments for their products. Presently, most Mobile value added service offerings of Dominant operators are focused on mass and youth segment market and the chief products are entertainment based which do not offer any real life benefits in any manner.

Strategic market entry plans for Telecoms late entrants include price reduction in an existing market. By introducing a product at a lower price than Dominate Operators, a late entrant can attract new subscribers who would not have otherwise signed for the service and in effect such a product ¬¬will lead to an expansion in the total market. An operator can also subsidize low end phones to reduce entry cost for people that ordinarily that might not be able to pay a lump sum for handset or even acquire one.

Product and service innovation with focus on a niche market, can help to establish late entrants as dominant players. Companies can compete by being innovative in the marketplace. The innovation may be radical or incremental. One example of incremental innovation is an enhanced version of an existing product. The enhanced product can compete directly with existing products, or it can be positioned to attract a smaller segment of the existing market. In addition, the improved product or service can sometimes attract new subscribers that are not the current target for the existing product or service. For example, Blackberry phones are currently without international language translations for emails and Sms. All the unique selling points for Nigeria Mobile operators for BlackBerry phones is the email service while neglecting the value added on for Blackberry, that has potentials to earn data revenue, change the face of e-commerce interactions in Nigeria and also further differentiate the operators offerings of Blackberry.

Late entrants can adopt the above to make in roads into the Nigeria Market but they should also be mindful of the barrier set up of the dominant players with substantial research and development investments, being early in the market are well positioned to stifle the growth of the new entrants.
Dominant operators like the MTN,Glo and Celtel in the GSM market and starcoms, Telkom-Muiltilinks in the CDMA market had established a presence in the market place, build brand equity and created an excellent distribution network. Also, a peculiarity of telecoms industry is that the quality of service is primarily determined by coverage. Having evolved over time, the first entrant's(MTN) network usually has much better coverage. The customers become used to enhanced coverage over time. So new entrants have to invest significantly to achieve this same coverage, an effort that is capital intensive and time consuming. All new networks have initial bugs that take time to fix. Subscribers are just not willing to go through another learning curve, when there is already a robust supplier of service. Another frequent constraint is access to property to build the towers, since the first entrants have already seized the ideal sites for coverage but Visafone will be leveraging on the extensive branch infrastructure of Zenith Bank to roll out while Alheri and Etisalat can opt for Co-location services of Helios Towers. But in the absence of these bail outs, the late entrants may require to invest larger amounts in network infrastructure to gain similar coverage. Given these hurdles, it can take two to three years before a challenger achieves coverage competitive with the incumbent's.

In addition to coverage and related quality of service, another huge barrier to entry for new entrants is the issue of number portability. The NCC has been making efforts and educating the dominate operators on number portability since they will most likely serve as the donor network while the late entrant will most likely be the recipient network. The success of number portability depends on the ability of the donor network to perfect the processing of the subscriber in a turn around time or hence the subscriber becomes frustrated while attempting to join another network while keeping his number.

The inherent advantages to being first in the Nigerian telecoms market are control of ideal sites; freedom to evolve and fine-tune network coverage; building of brand loyalty by offering superior customer service; locking in customers by subsidizing equipment for an extended period under fixed-service contracts, and gaining control of key channels of distribution.
Late entrants do also have its own advantages if they are able to learn from the pit falls of the dominate operators in offering a superior level of customer service, deploying new technology, so that a new entrant can offer similar or better service at a lower cost, the new entrant may also develop a new way to access the market, with an innovative distribution strategy and may simply be pricing aggressively, targeting selected segments by taking advantage of the incumbent's tendency to average pricing across all segments.
While the dominant operators do have their own advantages, so do the late entrants. They are coming with latest technology and more knowledgeable about the end-user experiences of that particular market. Examples abound of Telecoms operators that moved from late entrant position to dominant players by getting it right. Orange, successfully established its self as a dominant player from a late entrant in the British Market and Globalcom, did same too in the Nigerian Market.
I wish Visafone,Alheri,Etisalat and Nigomsat (If eventually awarded a license) an interesting journey into the fastest growing telecoms market in Africa!

Emmanuel Okoegwale
Mobile Content Broker
emmanuel@gomobileng.com

nGOmobile initiative highlights the benefits of mobile technology in the
developing world.Mobile technology organisation kiwanja.net has launched its latest non-profit mobile initiative;nGOmobile, a competition to help grassroots NGOs take advantage of text messaging.
kiwanja.net sets up competition to offer prizes and SMS for NGOs worldwide.kiwanja.net believes that all non-profits, whatever their size and wherever they operate, should be given the opportunity to implement the latest mobile technologies in their work, and actively seeks to provide the tools to enable them to do so.
The explosive entry of mobile technology into the developing world has opened up a raft of opportunities for the non-profit sector.Text messaging has proved itself to be remarkably versatile, helping remind patients to take their medicine, providing market prices to farmers and fishermen, distributing health information, allowing the reporting of human rights abuses and promoting increased citizen participation in government.
While the list may be long, not everyone has been able to reap the benefits.
nGOmobile is a competition aimed exclusively at grassroots non-profit Non
Governmental Organizations (NGOs) working for positive social and
environmental change throughout the developing world. "Behind the scenes,the often unsung heroes of the NGO community battle against the daily realities of life in developing countries, where it can take all day to fulfil the simplest task"according to the founder,Mr Banks.
Grassroots NGOs around the world are invited to submit short project ideas explaining how greater access to mobile technology and SMS text
messaging in particular would benefit them and their work.
The competition is open and will run until 14th December 2007 with the winners
announced in January 2008.The top four entries, chosen by a distinguished panel of judges, will each win a brand new Hewlett Packard laptop computer, two Nokia mobile phones, a GSM modem, kiwanja.net's own entry-level text messaging platform FrontlineSMS and to top it all, a cash prize of US$1,000.
Sponsors of the competition include Hewlett Packard, Nokia, ActiveXperts,160 Characters, Wieden+Kennedy, mBlox and Perkins Coie. Panel of Judges are Ken Banks, Founder, kiwanja.net,Neerja Raman, From Good to Gold,Mike Grenville,Editor, 160 Characters Micheline Ntiru, Nokia's Head of Corporate Social Investment for the Middle East and Africa,Bill Thompson, Journalist/commentator
Renny Gleeson, Global Director of Digital Strategies at Wieden+Kennedy
The competition website can found at www.ngomobile.org"">[NORML]www.ngomobile.org[/NORML]"][NORML]www.ngomobile.org[/NORML][/URL]
Emmanuel Okoegwale
emmanuel@gomobileng.com

Oneworld Uk in collaboration with Education as a Vaccine against AIDS (EVA),Mtn foundation and national agency for AIDS control (Naca) are the promoters of this unique and innovative information services that will help young people in Nigeria access vital health information via the mobile phone.

The services is segmented into two distinct services,MyQeustion and MyAnswer.
MyQuestion will enable young people to ask questions through text messages, online or using a telephone hotline. By offering three free mediums to get in touch, there will be options for most young people according to their situation and choice. Even the shyest teenager will feel comfortable posing their questions about sexual health as they do not even have to say the question out loud.

MyQuestion services which is a competition, will be answered by trained counselors based in EVA’s Abuja office. Young people have the opportunity of winning prizes by answering a monthly question. This month’s question is “What is the difference between HIV and AIDS” and young people can enter the competitions by texting their answer to a short code number. MyAnswer aims to engage and motivate young people to learn from and reflect on various issues. Each month ten winners will be picked from the qualified entries and win airtime sponsored by MTN and NACA.

MyQuestion and MyAnswer are part of the larger Learning about Living programme that includes the development and implementation of an e-learning tool based on the Nigerian Family Life and HIV/AIDS Education (FLHE) school curriculum.

Learning about Living has three goals. Firstly, it aims to use ICT to educate young people on issues around adolescent reproductive health so that they can make informed decisions about their sexual health and prevent HIV/AIDS and gender-based violence. Secondly, the project aims to improve the information available on sex education and encourage people to be more open about these issues.Thirdly, Learning about Living aims to increase and improve gender equality by offering positive alternatives to existing beliefs that assume male superiority and contribute to an acceptance of violence against women in Nigerian society. Learn more about learning about living at http://www.learningaboutliving.com/.

The project is being piloted in three locations: Lagos, Cross Rivers State and the Federal Capital Territory Abuja, and in each of these regions an NGO will serve as the implementing partner alongside various state government organisations.

The MyQuestion press launch will be held at the Chelsea Hotel, Plot 389, Cadastral Zone AO, Central Area, Abuja on November 20th 2007, 10-12am.For further information and interview,please contact The Project Manager,Uju Ofomata, on +234 0803 300 7404 or at uju.ofomata@oneworld.net.


Emmanuel Okoegwale
emmanuel@gomobileng.com

Since the emergence of the mobile telephony in the year 2001,combined subscription has inched close to the 30 million mark,even as more subscribers are warming up to sign up.The potential is still enormous,given the fact that total population under the licensed territory (Nigeria) is about 140 million people.

We can now connect to the world without the endless waiting and shoddy services that characterized the pre -Gsm era,when Nitel's monopoly held sway.Despite all the rapid expansion and coverage in most cities nationwide,however,the issue of quality of service seems to be the albatross of the mobile phone operators.

The quality of mobile phone services is one of the most discussed topics outside politics and energy.Even the newly inaugurated senate had already held a debate on it.While the national regulator,the National Communications Commission has reinforced the importance of providing high quality services to subscribers,the situation seems to be getting worse by the day.

NCC also initiated the consumer outreach and consumer parliament to resolve subscribers frustrations,with subscribers forming associations and even going further to advocate service boycotts in protest against poor service delivery and in some extreme cases,initiating court cases against mobile operators.In the midst of the allegations,accusations and claims by operators and subscribers alike,what the entire population failed to look at are some genuine complaints of Telecoms operators.

Sometime ago, MTN (a leading operator in Nigeria)alerted the public to the malicious damage being done to its facilities.Important components of mobile telephony technology are the radio equipment,which are mounted on towers and masts all over the towns and cities.Also,fiber optics cables carry traffic crisscrossing the national boundaries,while some of the longest cables in Africa are located here in Nigeria.

Recently,subscribers experienced massive degradation of services across all the networks and despite all efforts,the problem appeared to be beyond the engineers.Most service disruption are directly linked to vandals and community agitators.In many instances,workers and subcontractors are denied access to the base stations sites to service power generators and other equipments.In some extreme cases,fiber optics are unearthhened and severed,while diesel theft and generator vandalism are commonplace.The irony is that it was the communities that have now turned vandals that once clamoured for the base stations to be sited in their areas in the first place.

Most of the demands of the communities are not unrealistic,however,they ask for multiple payments for properties already acquired,road construction,powering of host communities and even scholarships for their children.These are not the duties of companies that pay all forms of taxes to governments at all levels.Though some of the activities of the telecoms operators do affect the environment negatively,care should be taken to ensure strict compliance with environmental regulations,curb noise from generators and should also prevent diesel spillage and used engine oil from polluting their host communities water source.

community empowerment programmes can be implemented by engaging locals as site security,civil repair works and immediate remedial repairs whenever their activities impact on the communities negatively.Mobile operators should also leverage on sites where some basic infrastructure that can support their services exist.They can leverage on the branch network of banks and as they roll out new branches by making provisions for tower erections on the property on a rental basis.Newly licensed Visafone and cellcom with close ownership with one of the leading Banks in Nigeria,Zenith can test this model for its roll out plans.This offers faster roll out and reduces cost significantly.

Implementation of integrated maintenance of cell sites will also reduce the frequency of site visits for maintenance purposes.Increasing the storage tanks for diesel will greatly help in reducing frequent top-up visits,which seems to be a lucrative target for community extortion.

With communities and vandals taking their toll on the operations of the mobile operators and the high cost of subscriber acquisition in the face of keen competition,it is only natural that subscribers will be at the receiving end through poor services and high tariffs.

Just like crude oil production where you need a maze of pipelines to deliver contents,likewise the telecommunications services too.The base stations might look like a stand-alone installation but operationally they are inter-connected and linked with many others elsewhere and when one goes down,it might lead to disruption of services or near collapse in a locality. So,when next you try to make that important call and it does not connect,it does not mean that MTN,CELTEL,GLO,Muilt-links Telkom and Starcoms are not alive to their responsibilities,it may mean that vandals had just done their worst with the installations.
Emmanuel Okoegwale
okoegwale_igho@yahoo.com

The granting of the 3g license to four companies without auction finally settles the hotly debated issue of 3g licensing. Apart from Alheri Engineering, other winners of the license are already operating GSM Networks in the last few years and the acquisition of the license will help to consolidate their positions and with the last Gsm Licence Holder, Mudabala finally settling for Etisalat as partner in the Nigerian deal,the stage is now set for keen competition.

Over the last few years, voice has always been the major revenue base for National Mobile Operators In Nigeria. However, with the rapid development of mobile communication and the licensing of 3g Spectrum, this will greatly increase ability to perform lots of other services that will drastically change the business pattern of the telecom industry and bringing a set of new challenges.

Mobile value added services are those services that are not part of the basic voice offer and are availed off separately by the end user. They are used as a tool for differentiations and allow the mobile operators to develop another stream of revenue. As time goes on, a value added service may become commoditized. Nigerian VAS market is grouped along the following categories informational, entertainment and Mobile commerce.

For the Nigeria Vas Market to grow rapidly to meet expected demands of the 3G technology, all stakeholders will have to work together to create a self sustaining ecosystems for this growth to sustain. It would take the joint efforts of the all concerned to address significant roadblocks and thus unlock the true potential of mobile VAS in Nigeria. Unfavorable Revenue sharing model between operators and value added service providers and the focus mainly on entertainment based services which appeal only to a segment rather than utility and enterprise based services seems to be a leading cause of slow growth in this sector.

To maximize the advantage that 3g technology presents, Operators will have to develop and deploy innovative services that will appeal to subscribers. Mobile phone has gone beyond their fundamental role of communications and have graduated to become the extension of the personality of the subscribers. Phones are no longer only to get in touch but to express themselves, their attitudes, feelings and interest and for these reason, subscribers always want more from their phones. Perception of a good Network is not only from the voice angle but from benefits and value added services they provide. Voice has simply become commoditized and it is no longer basis for differentiations in the mobile Sector.

Operators need to focus on Value added services to survive the cut throat competition they are experiencing right now, reduction in voice revenues and to achieve growth forecast. Though presently there are quite a handful of innovative Value added services like the Remote mobile phone book back up, Savemycontacts, Vehicle tracking systems, ring tone downloads and the highly successful caller Tunes. Caller Tunes has demonstrated that subscribers are ready to adopt a service that offers them an option of personalization. Mobile users always want to carry forward their individuality to their mobile phones.

While the informational and Mobile Commerce are really struggling in the mobile VAS market in Nigeria, Entertainment Value added services seems to be more popular because they are designed for mass appeal and leisure time usage while Mobile commerce is popular in Banking industry but with few users. Simple reason is that subscribers have not just seen or perceived a compelling reason to engage the Mcommerce and others. British Broadcasting Corporation reported that Nigerians are leading visitors to its site worldwide with 61% and distantly followed by South Africa at 19%.This is a classic example of usage due to compelling reason.

In other parts of the world, sport and Adult contents (where allowed) are the chief revenue earners in the mobile value added service industry. Entertainment VAS seems to be the leading service that is driving the VAS market in Nigeria, this is because entertainment based VAS drive the market both value and volume terms. It will make whole lot of economic sense to build Entertainment content drive around the local Nigeria Music and Nollywood which is reputed to have generated N522 Billion Naira. The Nigerian Film industry has grown rapidly to become the third largest film producing industry in the world after Hollywood in the US and Bollywood in India. With the production of over 500 movie titles per year, Nollywood, as the Nigerian film industry has come to be known, is beginning to attract the attention of global cinema and it is increasingly seen as one of Nigeria 's positive cultural contributions to the international community. The Indian Bollywood has just completed the testing of short Bollywood Movies on Mobile phones at the 3gsm conference at Barcelona, Spain and by implication Indian is set for the second invasion and colonization of local movie industries worldwide but this time via the mobile phones.

The main players in the Mobile value added service chain in Nigeria apart from the National mobile operators are the content aggregators. They provide content to mobile operators, perform in-house content development and aggregating contents from other small players. They own the short codes and they have a tie up with multiple operators to ensure subscribers of all operators can access same short codes. Revenue sharing chain percentages will either encourage more independent developers or discourage them from rolling out innovative services that will promote the 3G. As it stands right now, if the operators do not radically change the present revenue sharing structures which allows them to retain chunk of the value added services revenue, development efforts might not be encouraging after all.

Growth is stifled in the Vas market in Nigeria because National mobile operators are playing safe and concentrating only on mass services for which content is readily available and chances of failure less. Entertainment value added service despite the fact that its practical value is minimal, is popular because of is mass appeal especially to youth segment and it is promoted over Mobile commerce and infotainment which has the capacity to create real value for subscribers. Mere deployment of the 3G Networks will not automatically incite Content aggregators to start developing contents. Additional investments in supporting infrastructure like in areas of Digital map for those going into location based VAS which promises to be one of the leading services in Enterprise solution VAS in Nigeria.


Prevalence of low end Mobile Handsets is a major factor in the uptake and penetration of advance mobile technologies. Many services are not performing to their potentials despite their usefulness and many others which cannot be introduced. As the mobile markets grows, most new entrants are the low ARPU end users as most big spenders had already been taken up and hence most mobile handset coming on board might not have the features that support advance technologies. Operators worldwide are taking initiatives to collaborate with Mobile phone makers to make 3G services available to more people with less entry cost through handset development, logistics and marketing initiatives. Notable among such collaborations is the 3G for All campaign spearheaded by the Gsm Association that will reduce 30% off from the LG phone that has been chosen. The 3G for All campaign is the second programme designed by the GSMA to create economies of scale for handset makers and their component suppliers. The GSMA's Emerging Market Handset programme stimulated the development of a range of ultra-low cost mobile phones aimed at first-time buyers in developing countries.
Absence of utility services, with high practical value but for lack of publicity and marketing from the developers or Value added service provider side is resulting in unpopularity of such services. National mobile operators will have to review their policy on third party services marketing. While there are no uniform policy regarding third party services marketing across the industry but most operators do not promote third party service no matter how viable such services are. Mobile commerce and infotainment services should be promoted by operators as this will assure subscribers on its workability and dependability rather through rather unknown third party value added service providers.

Lastly pricing will play a significant role on the success of Mobile VAS. Presently entertainment VAS has the best pricing because of its perceived value and operators tend at most times to use that as a benchmark for other Mobile VAS like infotainment and mcommerce which are still struggling to gain foothold. While some operators are making Gprs service available to all segments of subscribers, some are actually attempting to make it available to only post paid subscribers. Since Gprs is the chief 3g driver, its fee strategy is an important element in service development. Though monthly rent systems is the most popular method of using the internet worldwide but it might not be suitable for the Nigerian subscribers because they are still unsure of their Gprs usage. Subscribers will seldom buy unlimited use time for a service they are yet to trust and accept. Subscribers are not willing to accept a reduced suite of services in the context of acquiring a degree of cost control which is normally associated with pre-paid accounts while postpaid users have realized that they need better and more timely information to manage their spending on new services. As new 3G services start coming board and homegrown content becomes the norm, users want to have control and visibility over spend limits and service packages and will want to explore other billing options including hybrid prepaid/postpaid accounts and pay per use options. With this method subscribers can quickly sign off any service which they do not find useful.
For Mobile Value added services to deliver expected benefits in Nigeria, National mobile operators and 3g license holders must pay attention to overall service development ,value chain reforming and commercial mode creation. There is also need to gather the power of the industry chain, balance the roles in the chain ,cooperate with each other and thus build up the competitive advantage in the development of Nigerian 3G mobile value added service industry.


Okoegwale Emmanuel
okoegwale_igho@yahoo.com

Farmed-out license holder,Etisalat Nigeria will utilize the Mudabala License in the very competitive and fast growing Nigeria market.Mtn the clear market leader with over 15 million subscribers with Glo and Celtel coming a close second and third with very impressive figures, the market is hotly contested for and operators will go to any length to acquire more subscribers even in the face of declining quality of service and poor mobile value added services.

Etisalat job placements in the newspapers signals the readiness to commence pre-roll out operations which is been speculated for the first quarter of 2008.The big question is,how will Etisalat pursue and join a race of six years with very formidable operators?

Nigeria’s third operator,Glo which came in later after the two dominant operators,MTN and Econet (Celtel),adopted the per second billing which provided the needed
Leverage to quickly establish in the competitive Nigeria Market.In the absence of killer mobile value added services that can clearly differentiate the new operator,Etisalat,Number portability will offer the best and sure way to acquire
Significant subscription level within a short time.

The Nigerian Communication Commission recently approved the use of number portability for the telecoms operators in Nigeria and the commission is making efforts to educate operators on the advantages of number portability. Number portability is a key aspect of deregulation in telecommunications. To ensure that there is competition in the marketplace for telecommunications services. Mobile Number Portability is the ability of a mobile subscriber to retain his/her subscriber number when changing network operators within a country.

Number Portability is not to be regarded as a subscriber service, which a subscriber can subscribe to. It is a network feature that allows the subscriber to keep a unique mobile phone number but must be agreed to among different mobile operators within the defined national or regional boundaries.
Number portability though a recent phenomenon has recorded significant successes in Asia markets which is very similar to the Nigerian scenario. Singapore was the first to implement in 1997 and Hong Kong in 1999,Taiwan recently implemented in 2005. These markets had already achieved the 50 percent mobile penetration rate during that period compared to Nigeria’s penetration rate of 25 percent which still offers a huge underserved market with a population under licensed territory of 140 million people and mobile phone subscription of over 40 million.

Number portability can be locality based which enables a mobile subscriber to move from one location to another without changing mobile number. This will significantly reduce capex cost and reduce roll out time in different regions in the vast Nigerian land mass for a new operator like Etisalat.
Second type of Number portability is Service Portability that enables a mobile subscriber to keep same number when changing different telecoms services and this is commonly used for mobile value added service. If a subscriber on a donor network wants to access a particular service on a receiving network, there will be no need to change number for the duration.Lastly,the Operator Portability that enables a subscriber to switch mobile operator without changing the mobile phone number,is essential for fair competition among mobile operators and to help new entrants gain market share.

In a market with poor quality of service where mobile operators are still chasing to sign on new subscribers rather than maintain existing ones and increasing the average revenue per user through innovative mobile value added services, number portability will be an advantage to Etisalat if the network offers better quality of service and superior customer service which is lacking with some mobile operators.

There are advantages for implementing Number portability and like wise challenges.
New operators can quickly acquire subscribers though not necessary at lower cost because there are cost elements to number portability. Service providers will often want to charge an administrative fee and recurring monthly fees for number porting services. These fees could discourage some potential porters, as they do not see the justification for such service charges. There is also a waiting period for subscribers to enable the ported number from the donor network to the receiving network and if the waiting period is not reasonable short, subscribers might get wary of the signing up for the service.

Finally,the dominant operators which will provide the bulk of subscribers wanting to move away to new operators like Etisalat,should not see the entrance as a threat but a health competition which will improve the over all satisfaction of the subscribers whom they called Kings.

Emmanuel Okoegwale
Okoegwale_igho@yahoo.com
08030818868

Farmed-out license holder,Etisalat Nigeria will utilize the Mudabala License in the very competitive and fast growing Nigeria market.Mtn the clear market leader with over 15 million subscribers with Glo and Celtel coming a close second and third with very impressive figures, the market is hotly contested for and operators will go to any length to acquire more subscribers even in the face of declining quality of service and poor mobile value added services.

Etisalat job placements in the newspapers signals the readiness to commence pre-roll out operations which is been speculated for the first quarter of 2008.The big question is,how will Etisalat pursue and join a race of six years with very formidable operators?

Nigeria’s third operator,Glo which came in later after the two dominant operators,MTN and Econet (Celtel),adopted the per second billing which provided the needed
Leverage to quickly establish in the competitive Nigeria Market.In the absence of killer mobile value added services that can clearly differentiate the new operator,Etisalat,Number portability will offer the best and sure way to acquire
Significant subscription level within a short time.

The Nigerian Communication Commission recently approved the use of number portability for the telecoms operators in Nigeria and the commission is making efforts to educate operators on the advantages of number portability. Number portability is a key aspect of deregulation in telecommunications. To ensure that there is competition in the marketplace for telecommunications services. Mobile Number Portability is the ability of a mobile subscriber to retain his/her subscriber number when changing network operators within a country.

Number Portability is not to be regarded as a subscriber service, which a subscriber can subscribe to. It is a network feature that allows the subscriber to keep a unique mobile phone number but must be agreed to among different mobile operators within the defined national or regional boundaries.
Number portability though a recent phenomenon has recorded significant successes in Asia markets which is very similar to the Nigerian scenario. Singapore was the first to implement in 1997 and Hong Kong in 1999,Taiwan recently implemented in 2005. These markets had already achieved the 50 percent mobile penetration rate during that period compared to Nigeria’s penetration rate of 25 percent which still offers a huge underserved market with a population under licensed territory of 140 million people and mobile phone subscription of over 40 million.

Number portability can be locality based which enables a mobile subscriber to move from one location to another without changing mobile number. This will significantly reduce capex cost and reduce roll out time in different regions in the vast Nigerian land mass for a new operator like Etisalat.
Second type of Number portability is Service Portability that enables a mobile subscriber to keep same number when changing different telecoms services and this is commonly used for mobile value added service. If a subscriber on a donor network wants to access a particular service on a receiving network, there will be no need to change number for the duration.Lastly,the Operator Portability that enables a subscriber to switch mobile operator without changing the mobile phone number,is essential for fair competition among mobile operators and to help new entrants gain market share.

In a market with poor quality of service where mobile operators are still chasing to sign on new subscribers rather than maintain existing ones and increasing the average revenue per user through innovative mobile value added services, number portability will be an advantage to Etisalat if the network offers better quality of service and superior customer service which is lacking with some mobile operators.

There are advantages for implementing Number portability and like wise challenges.
New operators can quickly acquire subscribers though not necessary at lower cost because there are cost elements to number portability. Service providers will often want to charge an administrative fee and recurring monthly fees for number porting services. These fees could discourage some potential porters, as they do not see the justification for such service charges. There is also a waiting period for subscribers to enable the ported number from the donor network to the receiving network and if the waiting period is not reasonable short, subscribers might get wary of the signing up for the service.

Finally,the dominant operators which will provide the bulk of subscribers wanting to move away to new operators like Etisalat,should not see the entrance as a threat but a health competition which will improve the over all satisfaction of the subscribers whom they called Kings.

Emmanuel Okoegwale
Okoegwale_igho@yahoo.com
08030818868

Read my articles about how 3G failed to impart positively in Europe due to the high cost of licence.http://www.businessdayonline.com/?c=51&a=11545

i read something about a book for Ican written by one Oye.If it is Akinsulire Oye of Safe Ican,Surulere, dont go to him alone if you are a lady.He raped my best friend.
ok,,,,,,ladies dont go to him alone.He is a female molester!!!!!!!
Emmanuel

pls i need a gmail account.emmanuel

i got some pratice cd and thats all am using to prepare for the exams too.we can share some knowledge if you want.emmanuel

can anybody help me on where and how i can get some charlie chaplin classic comedy here in nigeria.please leave amazon out of the search of course they have but i don't have a credit card to pay.can i source some of his CD or dvd locally?
i will appreciate any help.
thanks

SaveMyContacts Wants Commissioned Salespeople

This is an opportunity to sell a service used for backing up MTN and Vmobile GSM subscribers. In case of loss or damage to handset, numbers can be recovered 24/7, anytime and anywhere. It save 3000 numbers and 100 text messages.

Commissioned sales person may sell for a robust commission fee in addition to having their own paid jobs. You may just decide to sell within your community, school, work place, and family members!

Please send your CV and letters of interest to: em@savemycontacts.com

For more information about the service, please visit www.savemycontacts.com

its clear that fibre optics delievery modes might be a factor in its availability but its advantages out weights any negativity anyone can put forward.Broadband's non availability is actually not making certain sectors grow in nigeria despite the fact that we have what it takes to excel in such areas as call centre outsourcing and many others high tech areas bringing in billions of dollars for economies like india,Philippines,south africa and new entrant Ghana.Vsat versus Broadband should not be an issue at all.We need to look beyond that and look at opportunities that exist in this technologies.

anybody with useful information on CISA reading materials?
emmanuel

If you have to choose one, which one will you pick for the day?

Emmanuel

In some months' time, the first national carrier will be up for sale to the highest bidder.

What do you think is the worth of the network not forgeting to include its landlines and other facilities!

Will it advisable to let MTN buy it over and add it to its network?

Okoegwale

Which phones are most the commonly used phones in Nigeria?

Just want to sample opinion of members to know which phones are mostly used in Nigeria and why?

I use Nokia myself because of ease of use and it does better than other phones when sending data.

What about you? (ed: what phone model do you use?) And [I]why[/I] did you choose that phone?

Emmanuel

I will not know why MTN will want to migrate to 0806 prefix. MTN is yet to reach a 10 million subscribers but sure they might have their own numbering plans. They are keeping it close to their chest.

Did you guys witness the protest at NTA, Victoria Island yesterday against MTN? (ed: discuss here)

Emmanuel.o

It's good that we have that satellite. I actually watched that live on TV on the day of launch, one cold winter night.

The issue is this: are Nigerian companies taking advantage of this facility? Are they not still taking jobs that should go to those people to other countries?

Emmanuel

It's a welcome development when Nigerians take advantage of what GSM and technology now offers but care should be taken when event relating to such are been promoted.

The last Technocom Expo at Sheraton last week had notable speakers like Chris Uwaje and Emmanuel Ekuwem, but that is all that was good about it. Low turn out due to poor publicity, clash of event venue with a company having AGM! [I]editor: Annual General Meeting[/I]

The organisers themselves were so bored to death that they did not even show up till 3pm on the second day of event even when event is runing for three days.

My company made the mistake of signing them up and it was quite a shame. Even e-NNOVATE was better when compared to this village square gathering at Sheraton.

Guys, you can do better! Opportunities exist in this area for people that can package such events better. It need not be in Sheraton; it might as well be an open field but pass the message across in a way and manner to justify the cost!

Its a challenge to everybody!

Emmanuel