t 's easy to remember one username and password. Keeping five or 10 straight is much harder. I

Password overload has long afflicted techies, but as we all spend more time doing everything from shopping to banking to playing games on the Web, it becomes a more widespread problem.

A number of companies are trying to combat the problem. Approaches ranging from password managers that secure your login details with one master password to methods that eliminate the need for multiple passwords in the first place.

A 2007 study by Microsoft Research explored the strength, frequency, and usage of passwords belonging to 500,000 computer users.

The study found that each person had an average of 6.5 passwords that they used for 25 different online accounts meaning each password was being recycled about four times.

Five years later, most of us have many more accounts that we access across desktop computers, smartphones, and tablet computers. But we're probably no better at coming up with secure passwords ones that can't be easily guessed or cracked using a computer and, as high-profile security breaches at websites like LinkedIn, yahoo and eHarmony show, weak passwords put our online identities at risk.

Regardless of how many password you have, the major priority is to secure your private data.

TN Nigeria has said that it would invest $1.3 billion in infrastructure upgrade and expansion in 2013. M

DailyTrust Reported

The Chief Executive Officer of MTN Nigeria, Mr. Brett Goschen, while speaking at the commissioning of MTN Y'ello City held at Victoria Island Lagos recently, said that the firm is making this additional investment so as to increase capacity on its network.

According to him, the Yellodrome is a structure that epitomises the MTN Y'ello City, put in place to re-affirm its commitment in giving customers ready access to a wide selection of MTN products and data/ICT services in a conducive environment.

Goschen said aside the enormous investment that MTN was making with the roll out of several Yello City outlets, the company remained committed to improving its end-to-end customer experience "from the way we communicate our products, to the actual customer experience in any of our 16 service centres and 102 connect stores nationwide, to our network quality.”

hree University of Lagos (UNILAG) students, have won the Google Apps Developer Chal lenge for the T

Enterprise/Small Business Solutions category in sub-Saharan Africa.

The students: Bolutife Ogunsola, Michael Adeyeri and Willie Aniebiet, created the Form+ application software; an interface that creates application forms by just dragging and dropping components.

The user can create forms - such as curriculum vitae (CV) or résumé submission

forms for businesses and coursework submission page for lecturers.

Emeka Afigbo, Program Manager, Google, stated: "Our expectation is that this m o t iva t e s m o re yo u n g N i g e r i a n developers to develop apps that change the way we live in Nigeria and Africa at large."

The winners were rewarded with Chromebooks and $20,000.

They also won a grant worth $18,000 for their school's department.

igeria's mobile operators may face additional fines for failing to meet Nminimum service standards. In May

2012, the major operators were fined a total NGN 1.7 billion for poor service quality, and the regulator recently implemented a fresh ban on promotions due to network congestion.

ICT Minister Omobola Johnson told Bloomberg that the operators face

Additional fines if service improvements are not met. However, Johnson said the government was working closely with the operators to avoid further fines in the future. While the companies need to increase their spending on infrastructure, the ministry is trying to "remove a lot of delays and bureaucratic bottlenecks that are in their way," Johnson said.

tisalat Nigeria is seeking an exemption from the Nigerian Communications Commission's E

(NCC's) ban on promotions and lotteries run by mobile operators, on the grounds that its network has no capacity problems, Biztech reported.

CEO Steve Evans said unlike others operators; it does not run schemes offering things like five times the call minutes that have to be used by midnight that day. He said Etisalat is in talks with the NCC, because it considers it fundamentally unfair for Etisalat to be included in that ban.

inister of Communication Technology,

Omobola Johnson, has disclosed that the MFederal Government would soon launch an

ICT Innovation Fund that would raise about $20

million for ICT entrepreneurs, to boost growth in the

increasingly relevant sector. BusinessDay Reported

According to BusinessDay, she made the disclosure at

the 18th Nigeria Economic Summit which held in

Abuja, Nigeria's capital, adding that the fund would be

launched in early 2013.

The minister also said that ICT which is the fourth

largest contributor to Nigeria's GDP, contributed

about 5.7 percent to the country's Gross Domestic

Product (GDP) in the third quarter of the year.

Nigeria's information and computer technology sector

is growing at about 29 percent, on the back of creative

businesses and innovation by young Nigerian talents,

faster than any other sector of the economy.

Johnson said the sector presents the best

opportunities for financial empowerment to many

young Nigerians who have realised its potentials.

“Skills are much easier to acquire by young people and

it does not require huge capital, compared with other

businesses,” Johnson said, in relation to the attraction

to information and computer technology in the

country.

“India is an example where ICT employs 2.5 million professionals and contributes 6.4 per of GDP, which is about 100 billion dollars for India'', she furthered.

According to Johnson, India which shares several key similarities with Nigeria in terms of demography, GDP per capita, human development index and poverty rate has been able to develop a very strong global world class ICT sector, despite various negative economic indices.

The minister stated: “We can also do this in Nigeria despite all the challenges we have.”

According to BusinessDay, the country's ministry of communication is also collaborating with the banking and oil and gas industries to launch its software development initiative, Techlaunch Pad.

Johnson said that the initiative, which would be launch soon, and would present software developers opportunities in more established businesses and industries.

The ban came in after the NCC said that it

had received several complaints from

consumers and industry stakeholders

against the telecoms promotions offered

by the telecommunications operators.

A statement by Tony Ojobo, NCC's public

affairs director, said that the ban would

remain in force until the commission

deemed fit. The affected telecoms

operators include Globacom, MTN

Nigeria, Intercellular Limited, Visafone,

Etisalat, Airtel and Multi-Links Telecoms.

The Bureau for Public Enterprises (BPE) has approved the

payment of six months out of the 11 months salary arrears owed

workers of the Nigerian Telecommunication Limited (NITEL).

Leadership Reported

The acting Director-General of the bureau, Mr Benjamin Diki,

announced this in Abuja recently , when he received a delegation of

the Senior Staff Association of Communication, Transport and

Corporation (SSACTAC).

The delegation was led by President of the association Mr Elias

Kazzah. Diki also told them that approval had been secured for the

payment of five months out of the 12 months arrears being owed

workers of M-TEL, the mobile arm of NITEL.

He said that security men attached to NITEL property across the

country would be paid three months out of 12 months arrears owed

them.

The director-general said that a provision for N1.9 billion had been made in the 2013 budget for outstanding arrears and salaries, pending the conclusion of the privatisation process of NITEL.

Diki said he was working closely with the Minister of Labour and Productivity to effect the payment of arrears to casual workers in the telecommunication outfit.

He assured the workers of commitment to their welfare, as well as the conclusion of the privatisation process.

Earlier, the association's president had itemised some critical issues affecting the workers and urged the acting director-general to take steps to address them.

Source: leadership

he Nigerian Communications Commission (NCC) said it will begin tests of mobile number portability and full Timplementation in the first quarter of 2013. Guardian

Reported

The commission had earlier fixed June, 2012 for MNP implementation, but shifted the date to September 2012, on the grounds that it needed time to conclude the harmonisation of subscriber data collected during the SIM card registration exercise and appoint a MNP operator, NCC's Director for Public Affairs, Tony Ojobo, said everything required for the test run of MNP was ready and the test will begin soon.

Ojobo added that the test run will give the consultants the opportunity to address any hitches that may arise in the process, for a full launch in the first quarter next year. NCC had earlier licensed three service providers to implement number portability in the country. They are Interconnect Clearing house, Saab Grintek and Telcordia. These firms will be responsible for the set up and implementation of the Number Portability Clearing House in Nigeria.

he Federal Government is set to unveil the Nigerian Employees Digital Welfare scheme (NEDWS) powered Tby Buyright Africa, a digital lifestyle company that offers

a convenient payment scheme on ICT equipment, home appliances and other lifestyle products to civil servants.

Minister of Labour and Productivity, Chief Chukwuemeka Wogu; Minister of Communications Technology, Mrs. Omobola Johnson and the President of the Nigeria Labour Congress, Mr. Ibrahim Omar will launch the scheme for government workers who will be empowered with ICT equipment like computers, smartphones, printers, scanners, projectors, UPS and home appliances like television sets, refrigerators, deep freezers, microwave and electricity generating sets of any brand of their choice.

The ICT solutions will be sourced from Buyright Africa with the convenience of paying over a period of six months at zero interest rate. NEDWS is meant to empower employed citizens to extend quality living to their households.

This is the trend in the civilized world but here companies and individuals are afraid to extend credit facilities to employees without asking for an arm and a leg including the burden of completing complicated forms.

Managing Director of Buyright Africa, Mr. Mukoro Emomine, said "we have been test running this credit scheme for over 7 months and have over 7,500 certified employees who have benefitted from it." He said the intention of NEDWS and its partners is to build financial and moral integrity in the Nigerian employee of the 21st century towards the development of a viable credit based society.

He said the focus is to encourage employees to enjoy a minimum standard of living while working hard to improve productivity and reduce fraud at their work places. Buyright Africa has instituted a process that has certified as at the end of October 2012 over 19 companies in the private sector, nine federal ministries and MDGs, two state governments, six tertiary institutions, two churches and five co-operatives societies.

Source: leadership.ng

he President, Nigeria Internet Registration Association (NIRA), Mrs Mary Uduma, called for the registration of 100,000 domain names before June, T

2013.

Uduma made the call at the NIRA Registrars' Forum in Lagos.

She said that though there were over 26,000 domain names registered in the ".ng" domain, the registrars should work toward registration of 100,000 before June, 2013.

The News Agency of Nigeria (NAN) reports that domain name is a unique address that could be used on the Internet.

It is what one sees in the address bar after the "www." in web browser.

She said that it was imperative for the registrars to start promoting the unique identity of Nigeria on the Internet with the .ng domain.

“The .ng aims to improve the visibility of Nigeria on the Internet by creating local content with ensured content security," the NIRA president said.

She said that NIRA would open up the second level domain to ensure that the registrars attain the registration of 100,000 domain names.

According to her, the second level domain will come up with creative names, which will ensure that Nigerians indigenous names come up under the .ng.

Mr Biyi Oladipo, a member of the Executive Board of NIRA, stressed the need for the registrars to develop local contents on the Internet.

"People will not use your domain unless you have contents they want. We should look at what the world need, then develop our own local contents to promote the .ng domain and grow our economy," Oladipo said.

i r t e l N i g e r i a , a l e a d i n g Telecommunications Services Provider, has taken a giant stride in its quest to A

pioneer innovation and lead a new phase of telecoms revolution in the country as it announces the successful completion of the Long Term Evolution (LTE) trial in Lagos, the commercial nerve centre of Nigeria.

LTE, widely accepted as the true 4G, is a standard for wireless communication of high-speed data for mobile phones and data terminals. It is based on advanced network technologies with a central focus of increasing the capacity and speed using a different radio interface together with enhanced core network.

With the successful completion of the first 4G LTE trial in Lagos, Airtel says it is ready for test in the other major cities across the country including Abuja and Port Harcourt The company added that the Lagos trial threw up exciting results as data users could open up simultaneous HD

buffering. Download speed, under ideal conditions was 37 Megabits per Second (Mbps), while under non ideal conditions, was 32 Mbps; Upload speed was - 10.6 Mbps. Measurement under non ideal condition was done using www.Speedtest.net.

Speaking on the success of the trial, the Chief Executive Officer and Managing Director of Airtel Nigeria, Rajan Swaroop said Airtel is committed to strengthening its position as a true pioneer of innovation in the Nigerian telecommunications domain, saying this is in line with its overall corporate vision of becoming the most loved brand in the daily lives of Nigerians. “At Airtel, we pride ourselves as leaders and we are passionate about continuously creating the next innovation to empower telecoms consumers and enrich the lives of our customers across the country. In the coming weeks,

We shall take this success story to other parts of the country so that Nigerians will benefit from this innovation when finally unveiled,” said Swaroop.

LTE is a truly global mobile phone standard for advanced mobile broadband. There is use of different frequency bands in different countries, which will mean that only multi-band phones will be able to use LTE in all countries where it is supported.

In February 2012, Airtel Nigeria took a significant step to deepen its network capacity and quality when it announced the roll-out of widest 3.75G services across the 36 States in Nigeria and the Federal Capital Territory, Abuja. With the pan-Nigeria launch of 3.75G services, the widest and largest in the country, the company has improved customers' experience with high speed mobile broadband and internet access, empowering telecoms consumers to watch live TV, download music, make video calls as well as send and receive emails using enabled devices.

TN Business has launched a pilot project for its Cloud bouquet of services, thereby adopting the Cloud Service Brokerage model in Africa. M

The Cloud Service Brokerage model centralises access to services, where a third party, in this case MTN, acts as the single point of contact for customers. The pilot project will be carried out in six of MTN's markets in Africa which are Cameroon, Cote d'Ivoire, Ghana, Nigeria, Uganda and South Africa.

MTN Business has identified several SMEs in these markets to trial its cloud services and product. Participating companies will automatically gain access to a variety of MTN Cloud services. These include Office Desktop, an e-mail and collaborative software, Mozypro, a back-up service for the effective management of files and servers, and Dialcom, an on-demand video conferencing offering.

Also on the catalogue is McAfee and Averiware catering for companies' HR, accounting, finance and sales force automation needs, and Microsoft SharePoint, a staff and cross functional collaborative tool. Also available will be Microsoft Dynamics CRM, a customer relations management tool.

Users will be able to pay for MTN's cloud offering using their airtime or MTN Mobile Money. Payment for the services will be in the local currency of the different markets. The trial period with selected customers will run until the end of January 2013.

EVENT TITLE: MobileMoney Expo VENUE: Lagos Orientals Hotel, Nigeria

th thDATE: 6 - 7 February 2013WEBSITE: www.mobilemoneyexpo.com-------------------------------------------------------------------------------------EVENT TITLE: Mobile WorldCONGRESS VENUE: Barcelona, Spain

th thDATE: 25 - 28 February 2013WEBSITE: www.mobileworldcongress.com-------------------------------------------------------------------------------------EVENT TITLE: SharePoint Technology ConferenceVENUE: San Francisco, United State

rd thDATE: 3 - 6 March 2013WEBSITE: www. sptechcon.com-------------------------------------------------------------------------------------EVENT TITLE: AITEC Banking & Mobile Money West Africa Lagos VENUE: Eko Hotel Lagos, Nigeria

th thDATE: 13 - 14 March 2013WEBSITE: www.aitecafrica.com

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n a bid to take banking services closer to existing and potential customers, Diamond Bank Plc has introduced the mobile banking truck. The bank described the platform as "a moving I

branch fortified with the latest technology." ThisDAY Reported

The new service tagged 'Diamond-in-Motion', according to a statement, was launched by the Group Managing Director/Chief Executive Officer, Diamond Bank, Dr. Alex Otti, at the bank's head office in Lagos.

Under the service, customers can open new accounts, pay bills, save money, use ATM as well as make cash/cheque deposits and withdrawals. Otti described the mobile truck as "a full-fledged bank in motion."

Head Proposition and Liabilities, Diamond Bank, Mr. Olumide Akindele, described the new banking platform as part of the bank's strategy to take banking to the customers, adding that it would afford also them the convenience and opportunity to do transactions with ease.

He said the bank planned to acquire about 250 additional units of the mobile banking trucks for nation-wide rollout as part of the strategy to serve the unbanked population

Also speaking, Head Information Technology Operations, Diamond Bank, Mr. Steve Obiago, who said the initiative was part of the bank's strategy to drive the Central Bank of Nigeria's (CBN) cashless policy, added that it could be moved anywhere and customers would be able to utilise it in any location.

He said the service was done in collaboration with service providers and it could be moved to streets, remote villages and it is fully secured for both those working in it as well as the money in transit.

Source: thisdaylive.com

lcatel-Lucent and Main One Cable Company have extended their marine maintenance contract for Main AOne's submarine cable system connecting Portugal to

Nigeria over 7,000 km.

Delivering high-speed bandwidth of 1.92 Tbps, the Main One cable enables access to global information, data and markets in Western Africa. As a member of the Atlantic Private Maintenance Agreement (APMA), Main One will continue to manage and maintain its network at the highest level of performance.

Under the service level agreement, Alcatel-Lucent will make available its maintenance vessels, as well as certified specialist personnel for cable repairs.

G Electronics announced on December 3 that it has released an 84-type Ultra HD TV in Nigeria, targeting affluent consumers in Africa.Given that there are many high-income families in oil-L

rich countries in Sub-Saharan Africa, LG Electronics selected Nigeria as its base to gain a larger share in the African premium TV market.

According to a consulting firm Bain & Company, the number of African millionaires is estimated at 120,000, higher than those of Russia which is estimated at around 95,000. The number of “HNWI,” people with more than USD1 million net assets, grew by 4 percent last y e a r, d w a r f i n g A s i a - P a c i f i c r e g i o n ' s 1 . 6 p e r c e n t .

LG Electronics' 84-type Ultra HD TV features an Ultra HD (3840x2160) definition, four times clearer than those of full HD (1920×1080). The 84-type Ultra HD TV is also equipped with LG's unique Cinema 3D technology.

he bid to get a new investor for Starcomms Plc now lie in the hands of its shareholders as the company announced that it Thas posted to shareholders documentation relating to

Capcom Limited's proposed investment in the telecoms company. ThisDay Reported

The company said in a statement that the transaction would be effected through a scheme of arrangement and a private placement, both of which had been approved by the board of directors of Starcomms.

Starcomms said the scheme had also been filed with and obtained the necessary sanction of the Federal High Court and both are now subject to approval by Starcomms' shareholders.

THISDAY findings revealed that the transaction will be effected through a scheme of arrangement to be followed by a private placement and a rights issue. Further checks showed that the scheme will involve the cancellation of N3,448,646,872 in the

company's share capital, comprising 6,897,293,744 ordinary shares of 50 kobo each, and the subsequent issuing of 662,550,000 new and fully paid up ordinary shares to Capcom, constituting 90.5 per cent of the post scheme-reorganised, issued share capital.

As part of the transaction, Capcom will inject a combination of assets and cash into Starcomms worth $210 million.

Speaking about the transaction, Interim CEO of Starcomms Plc, Olusola Oladokun, said: "Starcomms has experienced significant challenges over the past two years, at the heart of which have been the changing competitive and operational dynamics of the Nigerian telecommunications industry, especially in the voice business.

"As a result, the board of directors has been considering a number of options to reposition the company for growth. After a careful consideration, we believe that the investment by Capcom, which will provide the capital required for continued operations as well as enabling investment in new technology, combined with the injection of new spectrum and the CDMA assets of Multi-links, creates the best possible platform for Starcomm's future. We strongly recommend - and look forward to - the transaction being approved by our Shareholders."

Source: Thisdaylive.com

The Federal Government, has approved N6.4 billion for the

importation of 13 million smart cards for registration of Nigerians

under the new identity management system.

It also approved N4.34 billion for the purchase of two sets of modern

five-Car Diesel Multiple Units (DMUs) each with the capacity of

540 passengers and an additional six 60-seater air-conditioned

passenger coaches for intra-city rail mass transit services.

This was disclosed at the weekly Federal Executive Council (FEC)

briefing recently by Special Adviser to the President on Media and

Publicity, Dr. Reuben Abati.

At the briefing with him were Ministers of FCT, Health, Transport, Communications Technology and Ministers of State for Power, Works and Foreign Affairs.

N13 billion has also been approved by President Jonathan to clear debts owed some of Nigeria's foreign missions, according to Minister of State for Foreign Affairs, Mrs Viola Onwuliri.

Onwuliri said she briefed FEC of a landmark diplomatic agreement between Venezuela and Nigeria to allow transit and 90-day stay for holders of official and diplomatic passports of both countries.

Source: leadership.ng