MTN Must Respect Laws Of Host Countries - South Africa Deputy President

South Africa’s Deputy President Cyril Ramaphosa has urged Africa’s biggest mobile-phone company, the MTN Group Ltd., to follow the rules in countries where it is operating.

This followed a fine of $5.2 billion imposed on MTN by telecoms industry regulator, the Nigerian Communications Commission (NCC), for failing to disconnect customers with unregistered phone cards.

NCC gave MTN until November 16 to pay the fine, which relates to the timing of the disconnection of 5.1 million subscribers and is based on a charge of N200,000 ($1,005) for each unregistered customer.

Nigeria is the Johannesburg-based MTN’s biggest market with 62 million clients as of September.

The company’s shares have slumped 14 per cent since October 26, when the fine was imposed.
Ramaphosa, in an address to lawmakers in Cape Town yesterday, said the government would be taking note of what “is happening with a view of seeing how the company involved responds and reacts” to its challenges.

“We would like our companies to comply with the laws and regulations of countries where they operate, without violating them.

“It does seem like in the case of Nigeria, there were issues, and those issues need to be addressed.

“If this fine is indeed imposed as it is, it is going to impact on South Africa as well, as our revenue fortunes from a taxation point of view are going to be lower,” he said.

Agency reports indicated that comments by Ramaphosa, a former chairman of MTN, suggested that South African authorities might leave MTN to face its problem as it seeks to have the penalty reduced.

South African authorities might also be reluctant to confront their Nigerian counterparts following a series of diplomatic spats that have soured relations between the Africa’s two biggest economies.

The most recent occurred in April, when Nigeria’s government allegedly ordered its two most senior diplomats in South Africa to return home for consultations following a wave of attacks against immigrants, including Nigerians, in Johannesburg and Durban.

“South Africa does not have a track record of defending its national company champions internationally,” Nic Borain, a political analyst, who advises BNP Paribas Cadiz Securities, said by phone.

“On the face of it, this fine seems seriously over the top. Ramaphosa’s words about the issue seem weak as they veer too much on the side of caution,” he added.

South Africa’s telecommunication and finance ministries didn’t respond to agency’s calls and e-mails seeking comment.

Lawmakers plan to summon MTN officials to explain why the company was fined, Nkhensani Kubayi, chairwoman of Parliament’s telecommunications committee, said by phone from Cape Town.

The panel will also ask the South African industry regulator to determine whether MTN is compliant with local rules, with hearings likely to take place next year, she said.

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N1.4trn Penalty Too Heavy To Bear – MTN

N1.4trn penalty too heavy to bear – MTN

Three days after Nigerian Communications Commission, NCC slammed a N1.4 trillion penalty on MTN Nigeria for failure to disconnect customers with unregistered SIM cards, Parent company MTN group has cried out that the fine was too extreme, even as it continues to engage the regulator on how to resolve the issue.

MTN Group noted with dismay that Nigerian Communications Commission refused to listen to its plea to reconsider its stand on the penalty slammed on its Nigerian arm last week.

According to a report, MTN Nigeria spokeswoman, Chineze Gbenga-Oluwatoye, had said in an e-mailed response, that “recommendations were put forward with respect to the non-commensurable nature of the fine but the Nigerian Communications Commission did not accept recommendations that the fine of 200,000 Naira ($1,005) per SIM was too heavy.”

‘‘MTN Nigeria contacted the regulator with concerns that a demand to disconnect SIM cards by a certain deadline would cause “severe disruption” for customers and recommended a staggered process to limit the possible impact,’’ said Oluwatoye.

As a result of the fine, MTN shares plummeted about 20 percent this week in Johannesburg. The biggest four-day drop since 2008, valuing the company at about 284 billion rand ($21 billion).

A MTN service provider tries to register a client's SIM card in Lagos, on October 27, 2015. Nigeria's telecommunications regulator has fined South African mobile giant MTN $5.2 billion for missing a deadline to disconnect unregistered SIM cards, the company announced on Monday. The penalty saw shares in Africa's largest telecommunications company crash more than 12 percent to 167 rand on the Johannesburg Stock Exchange, the biggest fall the firm has suffered in a day since November 1998.

Nigeria’s telecommunications regulator has fined South African mobile giant MTN $5.2 billion for missing a deadline to disconnect unregistered SIM cards, the company announced on Monday. The penalty saw shares in Africa’s largest telecommunications company crash more than 12 percent to 167 rand on the Johannesburg Stock Exchange, the biggest fall the firm has suffered in a day since November 1998.

The phone operator had said on Monday that the Nigerian Communications Commission is seeking the penalties because it missed a deadline to disconnect 5.1 million subscribers and is reviewing its management in the country.

Moody’s Investors Service had on Thursday lowered it’s rating for MTN to negative from stable following the fine.

“Key concerns raised to the NCC highlighted the difficulty of carefully reviewing the data on 18.6 million records within the one week deadline to ensure identification and disconnection of only affected subscribers,” Oluwatoye added.

Meanwhile, Financial analysts have pointedly said that Nigeria government is at risk of scaring off investors it can’t afford to lose if the N1.4 trillion fine slammed on MTN holds through.

With an economy struggling to cope with sliding oil prices, the experts said currency restrictions and no finance minister, authorities are doing themselves no favors by penalizing one of their biggest foreign investors.

According to fund managers including David McIlroy of Alquity Investment Management Limited, the fine equates to more than 20 percent of Johannesburg-based MTN’s market value.

“It’s the last thing Nigeria needs, given the economic and political struggles it’s contending with at the moment,” McIlroy, chief investment officer at Alquity, which oversees $100 million of frontier market stocks, including MTN shares, said by phone from London.

link vanguardng

Ntel Set To Rollout 0804 Sim's To Welcom 4G LTE This Month

This is what I call serious business, I now see reasons why NCC lambasted MTN Nigeria with that killer huge 1.4trillion amount of money. You see, Ntel is coming with full force and they are bench on launching 4GLTE service which means if your device is not 4G Supported, all what this post is saying will just be like parable to you.

Ntel will be deploying the old 0804 lines that Mtel once used to Nigerians, meaning you’ll now be considering getting 0804 lines this month. Remember it will first of all be launch in Port-Harcourt, Abuja and Lagos before it gets to other states.

Hmm… *take a deep sigh* and I thought, Hope their data plans will be cheap at least with a N1,000 I should be able to get handful of Gigs without thinking twice.

Hope their network this time around will be stronger than the existing network?

… NatCom last week, announced to Nigerians, its readiness to roll out its telecoms services under the new name, NTEL, with lots of promises to move Nigerian subscribers from the era of poor service quality to the era of uninterrupted telecoms services on its 4G network, riding on the resuscitated NITEL's SAT-3 undersea broadband cable. Now that NTEL is set for service rollout, Nigerians are optimistic that the company will make the difference.

The question is, will you as a heavy data user, or internet surfer or business tycoon who make use of the internet 24/7 go back to your 0804 lines?

War In Telecom Industry As NITEL Return With 4g LTE cheap data services

War In Telecom Industry As NITEL Return With 4G Cheaper Data Services

That awesome moment when you think Nitel is dead and gun for life, and you just woke up one morning seeing NITEL Advert again. The good news is Nitel is coming back with full force to take over the telecom industry. Not NITEL again but Nigerian Telecommunication (NTEL).

This time around, NTEL will focus on Data services at the onset; maybe the've noticed people consumed data much than they make calls.
However, NATCOM Consortium, the winner of the bid for the moribund Nigerian Telecommunications Limited, is planning to roll out services next month.

The consortium will launch 4G Long Term Evolution Technology (LTE) services suggesting that the revamped NITEL may focus on data services from the outset. Come next month been November, 4G data services will be launch in Lagos, Abuja and Port-Harcourt before it will finally roll out to other states.
I guess the return of NITEL will even make data more cheaper and other Telecom industry seat up. If you don't know, NITEL had broadband facilities that traversed the entire country and that once revived, it would boost transmission of broadband capacities from the shores of Nigeria to places in the hinterlands, where the demand is high.
If your device is not 4G supported, then it's time to port with ease.

Android OS journey till date

Android's releases are named after sweets or dessert items (except for the first and second releases):

Have you ever noticed the names are going down alphabetically. A.B.C.D.E.F.G.H M.I.J.K.M.
One can easily predict the next name for version 7,my guess the next one would be nugget, nutterbutter or Nectarine.

1.1 - Alpha

1.2 - Beta

1.5 - Cupcake

1.6 - Donut

2.0.x & 2.1 - Eclair

2.2.x - Frozen Yogurt (Froyo)

2.3.x - Ginger Bread (Minor UI Tweak)

3.x.x - Honeycomb (Major UI revamp)

4.0.x - Ice Cream Sandwich (Minor UI Tweak)

4.1.x, 4.2.x & 4.3.x - Jelly Bean

4.4.4 - KitKat

5.0.1 & 5.1.1 - Lollipop (Major UI revamp)

6.0 - Marshmallow

Just a little more than a year ago, in May 2012, Android’s [NASDAQ:GOOG] market share surpassed that of Apple iOs [NASDAQ:AAPL] for the first time. Back then, Apple's share of the world market was 22.95 percent, and Android’s 23.81 percent -- a difference of less than 1 percent, according to data tracked by
StatCounter.
Today, Android runs on 43 percent of all the world’s smartphones while Apple iOS still runs on one in five smartphones.
Of the 227 countries for which data is tracked by StatCounter, Android was the market leader in 135 countries, whereas Apple was the market leader in only 38 countries, including the U.S.

Android’s biggest advantage is that it isn’t tied to a single device manufacturer or relatively limited price point, which is why the Google-owned OS is very popular in countries with low per-capita income. Android isn’t losing any non-price-sensitive consumers either, because companies like Samsung and HTC produce high-end Android-powered phones featuring the newest technology.

The iOS, which runs only on Apple devices, is not only tied to a device but a relatively high price range. Most of the 38 countries in which iOS is popular are developed countries with a large number of consumers with high disposable incomes.

All new Blackberry priv features that will make android users fall in love

BlackBerry’s First Real Android phone was launched recently and it seems to be a game changer for Blackberry.

The company successfully combined the best features of BlackBerry with the best of Android and best flagship-spec which includes a full QWERTY keyboard, as well as a range of clever additions.

That is awesome.

Android phones have so many interesting features that ensures you don’t get bored while using them but there are some super-cool exceptional things you will definitely love about the new BlackBerry Priv.

It’s close to stock Android: Unlike other manufacturers like HTC, Huawei, LG, Samsung, Sony xiaomi, Meizu etc – BlackBerry didn’t want to change the look and feel of Android too much. It’s a familiar place, looking and behaving like Android, even though there are a range of extras that have been sensitively added in.

Just like Motorola, the company only changed what needs to be changed and sticking to the bits of Android that already work perfectly well.

Pop-up widgets: This is a feature that no one has thought of including before. Instead of dropping widgets onto your home screens, you can have them pop-up from a shortcut icon. Just enable the feature and then a swipe down on the icon will pop the widget up. It keeps things clean and simple on your home screen, and it’s a great addition to Android.

The most interesting part is that it doesn’t need any special widgets – it just uses those that already exist when you install an app. It’s so simple, it’s brilliant – and the idea will probably be stolen before you can say Android 7.0 Nougat.

Keyboard shortcuts: If you’re keen on keeping your home screen clean, you can programme each of the physical keyboard keys to be a shortcut. You simply slide open your handset, long press the key and you’ll be able to assign it to an app. That’s a whole world of shortcuts!

A for Amazon, B for BBC iPlayer, C for Citymapper, D for Docs, E for Expedia, F for Facebook, G for Groupon, H for Hailo, I for Instagram, J for Just Eat, K for Kindle, L for Layout, M for Maps, etc

Battery charging: We’ve all seen the tiny flash icon that appears in the battery when you’re connected to the charger. Or maybe you’ve seen the bubbling battery as it fills with charge. Well Priv uses the edge of it’s curved display to give you charge status at a glance.

When you connect the charger, the draws out around the edge of the display so you can instantly see how charged it is. It changes from red to yellow to green as it goes. It looks really slick. Good job BlackBerry.

BlackBerry Hub: BlackBerry Hub is something that you will easily get addicted to once you start using it. The Hub pulls your Gmail, Calendars, Twitter mentions, your messages together in one place. You can swipe down to peek into your calender for example.

It’s a productive place and BB has stuck to material design, so it fits with the rest of the Android apps you love. Once signed in, you can turn off syncing on your Google accounts for calendar and Gmail, because Hub will do it for you instead.