Tag Archives: Nigeria
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Most of Siemens bribes were for telecom
Of the 4,283 bribery payments documented by the investigators, 2,505 (more than half) were made in relation to telecom contracts. Of the total of USD 1,400.7 million disbursed, USD 813.9 million (more than half) were for telecom. However, the complaint documents only three specific cases of large bribes paid in Vietnam, Bangladesh and Nigeria, all to government officials or politicians (including functionaries in government owned telecos). These three instances account for only slightly over USD 18 million, less than 3% of the total spent on telecom. This suggests rich pickings await the investigator who starts work on the court documents.
In 2002, Siemens COM paid approximately $140,000 in bribes in connection with a tender worth approximately $35 million for the supply of equipment and services related to a Global Systems mobile network for Vietel, a government owned telecommunications provider founded by the Vietnamese Ministry of Defense. P. 27
Between 2004 and 2006, Siemens COM paid approximately $5.3 million in bribes to government officials in Bangladesh in connection with a contract with the Bangladesh Telegraph & Telephone Board (“BT’TB) to install mobile telephone services. The. total value of the contract was approximately $40.9 million. The payments ‘were made to three business consultants pursuant ..read more
Telecom corruption: Every country should check Siemens court papers
There are still some who talk about the value of government ownership of telecom operators. In their talk of national interest and local control, rarely is mentioned the word corruption.
The recent case in which Siemens pleaded guilty to massive “accounting violations” and paid large fines should be of interest to all who care about transparency. More than the fines, the court record is of great significance. Investigators and the law firm for Siemens amassed massive amounts of data, starting from the five terabytes of information seized from Siemens offices at the start. They have 100 million documents from 1700 interviews conducted in 34 countries. The lawyers and forensic auditors had more than 1.5 million billable hours. This is the treasure trove that corruption hunters from individual countries should go after. Some indicators of what can be found are in an NYT article, from which excerpts are given below. The countries that pulled in most of the bribes by amount are listed in a separate graphic. Even if your country is not in this list, it does not mean it is clean. ..read more
Developing world not sure $ 100 (er…$ 176) laptop is what they need
In an interview with the BBC, Nigeria’s education minister questioned the need for laptops in poorly equipped schools.
Dr Igwe Aja-Nwachuku said: “What is the sense of introducing One Laptop per Child when they don’t have seats to sit down and learn; when they don’t have uniforms to go to school in, where they don’t have facilities?”
“We are more interested in laying a very solid foundation for quality education which will be efficient, effective, accessible and affordable.”
Nigeria to introduce mobile number portability to remedy quality of service problems
In the South Asian region, Pakistan has taken the lead in introducing mobile number portability. Who will be second? As the story below states, this takes some time and planning. LIRNEasia will shortly post a report on the MNP workshop conducted in Islamabad by the PTA last week.
:: bdnews24.com :: The Nigerian telecoms regulator is working on plans to allow mobile phone subscribers to keep the same number when they change networks in a bid to force providers to improve services, its top executive said Monday.
As things stand, Nigerians have to give up their numbers if they want to move to a new network, which discourages many subscribers from trying a different provider even when they face constant problems making or receiving calls.
“We are planning for the future to allow number portability. The aims are to improve quality and competition,” Ernest Ndukwe, executive vice-chairman of the Nigerian Communications Commission, told Reuters by telephone.
“It is still some months away. We are going to conduct consultations with the industry and announce a starting date in the near future,” he said.
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South Asia slipping in e-readiness? Pakistan as the exception
The e-readiness rankings are relatively well regarded and do not contain absurdities such as Zimbabwe being ahead of India. The latest rankings are out and show India and the Philippines tied for 54th place (a one-place drop for India); Sri Lanka at 61 (dropping two places); and Pakistan at 63 (up four places and likely to catch up with Sri Lanka soon). Indonesia, another country of focus for LIRNEasia, has slipped 5 places to 67.
Zimbabwe, the country that leads all of South Asia according to the ITU, is not in the top- 70 that is provided. Nigeria, on the other hand, is just behind Sri Lanka, at 62. Unless some action is taken, next year, both Nigeria and Pakistan will be ahead of Sri Lanka.
E-readiness continues to improve around the world in 2007, but achieving it is becoming more complex. To reflect this, the Economist Intelligence Unit has “raised the bar” of e-readiness by modifying its ranking methodology. This change in methodology, along with underlying improvements in individual countries, has led to changes in ..read more
Bangladesh the ‘Golden Boy’ of South Asia: Global UNDP Report
Dhaka, Nov 9 (www.bdnews24.com) – The United Nations Development Programme (UNDP) Human Development Report for 2006, launched globally Thursday, revealed that Bangladesh had shown impressive gains in water and sanitation sector although Asia’s emerging giants were lagging.
“Income matters, but public policy shapes the conversion of income into human development,” said the report, entitled “Beyond Scarcity: Power, Poverty and the Global Water Crisis.”
“India may outperform Bangladesh as a high growth globalisation success story, but the tables are turned when the benchmark for success shifts to sanitation: despite an average income some 60% higher, India has a lower rate of sanitation coverage. Similar gaps between wealth and coverage are observed for water,” the report revealed.
Since 1975, Bangladesh has steadily improved life expectancy, education, and the standard of living. The nation moved into the medium developed countries’ category in the Human Development Index from 2003, which ranks 177 countries according to achievements.
In 2006, Bangladesh again ranked among the world’s medium developed countries at 137, which is two steps up than last year’s. Ten years ago, Bangladesh was at the lowest level in the world so far as access to proper sanitation in its rural areas was concerned.
Despite being one of the world’s ..read more
Mobile networks to be powered by Bio-fuels
The GSM Association (GSMA) has announced on Wednesday that it has teamed up with Ericsson and telecoms group MTN to establish bio-fuels as an alternative source of power for wireless networks in the developing world.
Ecology and economy is equally critical for mobile phone coverage in the less lucrative emerging markets. Diesel generators energise the base stations at remote locations. Supplying fuel across the unfriendly terrain is also a logistical nightmare. Such expensive exercise, however, inhibits the operators to invest in the low-yield regions.
These grueling problems have prompted the three organisations to set up a first of its kind pilot project in the world. They hope that bio-fuels may replace diesel as a source of power for mobile base stations located beyond the reach of the electricity grid.
Nigerian License Unification
Licensing Framework for Unified Access Service in Nigeria In February 2005, the Commission issued a notice on the introduction of a unified licensing regime in Nigeria. It stated that:
The market shall be opened up by adopting a unified licensing regime which shall allow existing fixed wireless and mobile licensees to provide both services subject to geographical/regional limitations contained in their licence
For the post exclusivity period all wireless licences shall not be segmented in terms of mobile and fixed service categories. Once a spectrum is allocated, licensees shall be free to offer voice, data or multimedia services as they deem fit.
All active wireless licences issued prior to the expiration of the exclusivity period shall be amended accordingly.
Nigerian Communications Commission – REGULATORY FRAMEWORK Home Page
Indian policy since 2003 aims ..read more
Bangladesh Illegal VoIP operators make fortune as govt stalls licensing
Bangladesh Illegal VoIP operators make fortune as govt stalls licensing Sharier Khan While powerful illegal internet telephony operators keep on draining out hundreds of crores taka each year, the government is delaying the process of awarding licence for VoIP operation on various pretexts ignoring a fresh recommendation of Bangladesh Telecom Regulatory Authority (BTRC). The government now says the licence for Voice over Internet Protocol (VoIP) will be given after setting up a common platform in four areas of the country under Bangladesh Telegraph and Telephone Board (BTTB) through which Internet phone calls will be channelised. The four areas are Dhaka, Chittagong, Sylhet and Bogra. Such a common platform, to be connected to the submarine cable, will not start operation before June next, even if the authorities try their best. The submarine cable project is yet to be completed. A seven-member BTRC committee a couple of weeks ago recommended that VoIP licence may be given to applicants, under certain terms and conditions as an interim measure, before this common platform comes into operation. The BTRC believes it will be at least a year before this platform is ready. The BTRC suggested that interested applicants will be provided with a particular set of information about the permanent arrangement ..read more
LIRNEasia training course: Catalyzing change: Strategies to achieve connectivity and convergence
LIRNEasia’s maiden telecom reform course was successfully completed by 36 participants from 18 countries. The 10th telecom reform course was co-organised with LIRNE.NET, in association with the School of Communication and Information of Nanyang Technological University, and the Infocomm Development Authority (IDA) of Singapore. Themed ‘Catalyzing change: Strategies to achieve connectivity and convergence,’ the course took place at the Elizabeth Hotel in Singapore on the 24th-30th September 2005. see pics The course aimed to prepare regulators to face the challenges that lie ahead to achieve connectivity and convergence. One of the key issues that much of the discussion focussed on was VOIP or voice over internet protocol, an application that is revolutionizing the voice market, bringing down costs significantly; this will have an enormous bearing on universal access, given the ‘right’ regulation. In fact, IP networks are becoming the universal means of transporting any type of communication service; as Bill Melody put it, soon we will be talking of ‘EOIP,’ or everything over IP. A tour of the Infocomm Development Authority (IDA) Proof of Concept Lab, facilitated by Andrew Haire, Assistant Director General (Telecom), where a brief presentation of the technical aspects of VOIP complemented the course content. Participants were welcomed ..read more
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