Oluniyi D. Ajao

Airtel Ghana upgrades network for faster broadband

Oluniyi D. Ajao — Fri, 20 Jan 2012 21:36:17 +0000

Airtel, Ghana’s second national operator announced an upgrade of its cellular network to a newer/faster mobile broadband technology called 3.75G earlier this week. 3.75G, otherwise known as HSPA+, is the latest iteration of the 3G mobile broadband technology.

The launch makes Airtel the pioneer of 3.75G in Ghana, and the fastest mobile broadband service in Ghana presently. Airtel is promising a maximum theoretical download speed of 21Mbps. Its other (GSM) competitors MTN, Tigo and Vodafone currently run HSDPA cellular networks offering download speeds ranging between 7.2Mbps and 14.4Mbps.

I am yet to experience Airtel’s 21Mbps promise. A screenshot of my best speed test result using a Samsung Galaxy S II smartphone is below:

Airtel Ghana speedtest

It is possible that many of their cell sites are not upgraded to 3.75G yet.

It is noteworthy that Airtel launched a 3.5G network from their début. Their arch-rival MTN upgraded to 3.5G soon after and an aggressive broadband competition soon followed. Also, I am inclined to believe the timing of Airtel’s 3.75G launch is to preëmpt Glo Mobile’s launch. Glo Mobile launches in less than a month from now and one would expect Glo to launch with the very latest mobile broadband technology follow their many promises to offer a world-class network from day 1.

Glo Mobile soft launches in Ghana

Oluniyi D. Ajao — Thu, 19 Jan 2012 20:02:45 +0000

After several false starts, Glo Mobile Ghana appears to have taken its most remarkable step yet, towards a commercial launch. The cellular network obtained its operating licence since 2008 but had failed to launch its service to the public, citing logistical difficulties. Its last false start was 17th November 2011. A much-publicized commercial launch slated for that date was postponed at the last minute.

glo

Today 19th January 2012 was another publicized date but again, Glo Mobile did not fail to disappoint. Instead of launching its network and opening for business, Glo Mobile only opened-up its number reservation system to the public promising to launch “between 2 and 4 weeks“.

Mr George Andah, Chief Operation Officer of Glo Mobile Ghana told Ghana News Agency:

“Glo Ghana had deployed the state-of-the-art infrastructure to give premium service, including the latest broadband technology, Next Generation Networks, over 1,600 Base Transceiver Stations, four ultra modern switches with capacity for up to 10 million lines with congestions free service.

This, he said, would be complemented by Glo-1, the high capacity state-of-the-art submarine cable connecting West Africa to Europe and a dedicated extension to the United States.”

How to reserve your number on Glo Mobile

The network code for the new cellular network is 023. Glo Mobile is making about 1 million telephone numbers in the series 023-3xx-xxxx available for reservation at this time. Some 4,000 numbers in this series are excluded from the regular reservation. The 4,000 vanity numbers would be available at a premium price of 100 or 200 Ghana cedis.

To reserve your Glo Mobile number, simply text the number you want reserved to 023 001 0100. Example: if you want to reserve 023-333-9999, text 0233339999 to 0230010100 from your current phone. The reservation system would respond within minutes with the results. Where the reservation was successful, a reference code would be included in the confirmation text message. You would need this reference code to claim your Glo Mobile number when the network goes commercial. Each person is limited to a maximum of 5 reservations.

I was able to reserve a phone number by sending the text message from an MTN number. My attempt using Airtel failed as the SMS was not delivered.

In the meantime, enjoy this Glo Mobile video ad:

GOtv Africa. A new digital pay TV service.

Oluniyi D. Ajao — Mon, 16 Jan 2012 06:56:14 +0000

I noticed multitudes of GOtv Africa banners and balloons in the ancient city of Ibadan Nigeria in the last quarter of 2011. The similarity with the name/logo of DStv was clear. Promotional drives were ongoing at different vantage points in Ibadan.

GOtv is a new digital terrestrial TV (DTT) service by Multichoice Africa, operators of DStv. Instead of broadcasting via satellite, GOtv broadcasts from TV masts, sending encrypted digital signals to proprietary GOtv decoders. The signal is then decoded and sent to the television set.

From their sales website:

GOtv, Nigeria’s newest pay TV service was launched in Ibadan on 15 October 2011. Using the latest DVB-T2 technology, this brand new digital service is dedicated to offering television lovers affordable family entertainment. Featuring 2 great bouquets, consisting of 29 and 25 channels respectively, GOtv is an exciting service delivering great television at a price everyone can afford.

GOtv Africa is promising to offer:

Excellent picture quality
Sharper sound
Electronic Programme Guide (EPG) that displays what’s on TV at the touch of a button

The above features are all started with DTT technology. The wide variety of channels offered are all extracted from their DStv service. None of the channels are exclusive to GOtv.

In Nigeria the monthly subscriptions for GOtv is 1,000 Naira and for GOtv Plus is 1,800 Naira. Launch price for GOtv (including decoder and 3 months GOtv subscription) is N9,000 and for GOtv Plus is N12,000.

A screenshot of GOtv Africa

Digitization of terrestrial television broadcasts is on-going in many countries globally at this time. Whilst DTT frees-up valuable frequencies for other uses like wireless broadband connectivity, it offers better picture and sound quality even with a minimal signal strength. The Nigerian broadcast industry regulator is the National Broadcasting Commission (NBC). NBC’s website reveals that the government of Nigeria started the digitization process in December 2007 with a target date of 17th June 2012. Aside satellite and cable (MMDS), most TV broadcast in Nigeria today is still analogue. Before now, Startimes TV had been the only widely available DTT service.

The GOtv pay service is already available in 3 other African countries: Kenya, Uganda and Zambia.

App spotlight: DStv Guide for Android

Oluniyi D. Ajao — Sat, 14 Jan 2012 18:46:53 +0000

DStv Guide is an Android app by Multichoice Africa (PTY) Ltd, operators of Africa’s leading direct-to-home digital satellite platform, DStv. The app offers the program guide of some of the television channels on DStv.

Its features include:

7 day schedule information
Extended programme information
Localized information for all countries where DStv is available
Set reminders for any movie, show or sporting event

The nifty app is only 575KB and is free-of-charge. It offers programming guide for 66 channels (in Ghana). The number and order of the listed channels is fully customizable. DStv Guide for Android is available in the Android Marketplace.

Toshiba shines with world’s thinnest tablet at CES 2012

Oluniyi D. Ajao — Fri, 13 Jan 2012 07:41:49 +0000

The 2012 edition of Consumer Electronics Show in Las Vegas USA did not disappoint. Being the biggest platform for tech companies to show-off their latest innovations, a lot of new tablets (mostly running the Android OS) were among the announced.

I have followed the news reports and one tablet that stood-out of the crowd was Toshiba’s Excite x10. It is exciting.

From PC World:

This 10.1-inch tablet distinguishes itself as the only model that can be called both the thinnest and lightest: It measures just 0.3-inches thick and weighs 1.18 pounds. It has a Texas Instruments 1.2-GHz OMAP 4430 multicore processor, 1GB of memory, and a 1280-by-800 resolution IPS display. The display looked good, with a minimal air-gap and a wide viewing angle; but text and graphics weren’t as sharp as on the higher-resolution displays. Toshiba hopes to be able to ship the tablet in the middle of the first quarter with Android 4.0 Ice Cream Sandwich. Toshiba says it will cost $530 for the 16GB model and $600 for the 32GB version.

Toshiba Excite™ X10 Tablet

Other features include:

0.3″ thin
1.2lbs
10.1” AutoBrite™ Multi-touch Display
Scratch-resistant Corning® Gorilla® Glass
Powered by Android™
Dual-core processor
Micro HDMI® port
Micro USB port
Micro SD Card Slot
Stereo Speakers
Two HD Cameras

Be aware that the device does not support 3G nor any cellular connectivity. Instead, connectivity is via wifi only.

TEDxDzorwulu to be held in Accra, Ghana

Oluniyi D. Ajao — Thu, 08 Dec 2011 01:42:53 +0000

TEDxDzorwulu comes-up in Accra Ghana this Saturday 10th December 2011. Find the full press release from the organizers, below:

On Saturday, December 10, 2010, from 8:00AM – 5PM GMT, the inaugural TEDxDzorwulu conference will be held at the African Regent Hotel in Accra Ghana on the theme: Think, Create and Innovate.

TEDxDzorwulu will focus on innovation that has taken us beyond traditional thinking and is producing budding Entrepreneurs from across Ghana whose inventions and ideas are becoming income generating ventures and also providing solutions for today’s modern societal problems.

TEDxDzorwulu 2011

TEDxDzorwulu speaker line up will feature five forward thinking Ghanaians from different disciplines. Wanlov the Kubolor, Fred Deegbe, Sheila Bartels-Sam, Kinna Likimani and a surprise speaker, who will be announced on the day.

The event hopes to bring together innovators, explorers, bloggers, technologists, academics and entrepreneurs who embraces and encourages collaboration, conversation and interaction. Our aim is also to create a network of doers & achievers who are ready to break through their own borders that have limited them from been able to Think, Create and Innovate.

TEDxDzorwulu will be a carefully curated event of a 100 of your smartest and most curious young innovators/entrepreneurs, CEO’s, Managers and Idealist. This is an opportunity to explore new ideas, get inspired by visionary thinkers, and gain exposure to new concepts, an afternoon of intellectual adventure.

ABOUT TEDx

In the spirit of “ideas worth spreading,” TED has created TEDx. TEDx is a program of local, self-organized events that bring people together to share a TED-like experience. Our event is called TEDxDzorwulu where x = independently organized TED event. At TEDxDzorwulu, TEDTalks video and live speakers will combine to spark deep discussion and connection in a small group. The TED Conference provides general guidance for the TEDx program, but individual TEDx events, including ours, are self-organized.

Fly540: the budget airline for African destinations?

Oluniyi D. Ajao — Wed, 23 Nov 2011 05:25:40 +0000

Too many people in Africa happen to fall within the low-income bracket. Thus, one would expect budget airlines to be commonplace on this continent, catering for the masses. This is not so. Budget airlines are rather common in high-income countries of Western Europe, North America, India and many Asian countries.

The relatively few airlines that ply major African cities do so at rather exorbitant fares. As of 21 Nov 2011 7:30am GMT:

a return flight (19 to 26 Dec 2011) from Accra (Ghana) to Abidjan (Cote d’Ivoire) costs $538 on Emirates or $567 on ASky Airline (an Ethiopian Airline subsidiary). The distance is only 259 miles and the flight duration only 1 hour.

Compare this to a return flight on the same dates from London Stansted Airport (UK) to Dublin (Ireland) for a fare of only $78 on Ryanair (a budget airline) or $173 on Aer Lingus. The duration of this flight is 1hr 10 mins.

The very low fare offered by the Irish budget airline, RyanAir, demonstrates how low air fare can go when the market conditions are right.

A low-cost carrier or low-cost airline (also known as a no-frills, discount or budget carrier or airline) is an airline that offers generally low fares in exchange for eliminating many traditional passenger services. (Wikipedia). There are very few of them in Africa with most catering for domestic destinations within their respective national boundaries only. They are:

Egypt: Air Arabia Egypt
Kenya: Fly540
Nigeria: Aero Contractors
Morocco: Jet4You, Air Arabia Maroc
South Africa: Kulula, 1Time, Mango, Velvet Sky
Tunisia: Karthago Airlines

A change in the status quo?
Fly540 seems ready to position itself as a pan-African budget airline. As of now, Fly540 already flies to about 20 destinations in these East African countries: Burundi, Kenya, South Sudan, Tanzania and Uganda.

In 2008, the airline opened-up its pan-African ambitions in a report by Ugandan newspaper, The Monitor:

“…we will open up Kigali and then head to West Africa. Ghana will be the hub for West African region. In Southern Africa, we shall use Angola as our hub, so it will become a pan African low cost airline”.

I didn’t give much weight to their lofty dream until I saw a Fly540-branded jet take-off on the runway of Kotoka International Airport in Accra Ghana on 18th November 2011. While Fly540 Ghana has not commenced revenue flights as of now, they plan to do so by the end of 2011 and have already taken delivery of aircraft, recruited staff and obtained the necessary licences.

Senegal and Equatorial Guinea are among the first destinationsto be serviced by Fly540 Ghana.

Fly540

Harnessing the full power of WordPress for multimedia publishing – WordCamp CT 2011

Oluniyi D. Ajao — Sun, 09 Oct 2011 18:54:37 +0000

WordCamp Cape Town 2011 was informative and exciting. I had the opportunity to attend a blog camp that was focused exclusively on WordPress. WordPress is the software that powers this blog, as well as millions of other websites around the world.

Wordcamp Cape Town 2011

WordCamp Cape Town was split into two tracks: publisher and technical. I was privileged to speak at the publisher track though I spent most of the day at the developer track.
The galaxy of speakers were definitely experienced in their respective areas of specialization and so one was able to learn from other bloggers’ experiences. Never mind that it wasn’t as interactive as I expected a barcamp to be, but it was fulfilling all the same.

Find a video of my presentation titled “Harnessing the full power of WordPress for multimedia publishing”, below:

You may find other WordCamp CT 2011 videos here. WordCamp CT 2011 was organized by Ashley Shaw and his team at LightSpeed.

Have smartphones become indispensable business tools?

Oluniyi D. Ajao — Sat, 17 Sep 2011 06:21:31 +0000

I have used smartphones (mostly Nokia) for a few years now but started using BlackBerry since July 2010 and have never been a day without a BlackBerry ever since – until now. The BlackBerry device became the central point of my daily communication routine. I could read, forward, reply personal and business emails quickly. I could follow the conversation streams on Facebook and Twitter apps when I was idle. I could take photos at events and post same to Twitpic without waiting till I got to my laptop. I could chat with friends far and near via BlackBerry Messenger or some of the other chat apps installed on the device. I used phone calls and SMS only where extremely necessary, thus saving costs. I could manage my blogs from the device: moderate comments, publish new blog posts, view traffic stats etc. I could grab trophies from FourSquare as I explore new places. I could find my way around using Google Maps. I even completed hotel bookings on the device, using BlackBerry Travel app. Granted, the BlackBerry smartphone could never replace the full experience of a laptop for me, but it made me much more efficient as I had a lesser workload to tackle when I sat behind my laptop.

A BlackBerry Curve 8900

You can thus understand how frustrating it has been in the past 10 days that I have been without the full benefits of my BlackBerry smartphone. Most personal emails remain unread, I’m struggling with a piling workload, over 150 comments are pending moderation on my personal blog alone, I’m out of touch with friends I normally chat with regularly. I’m unable to share the fun of: Cape Town, WordCamp, how I celebrated my birthday, and other escapades in South Africa. In a nutshell, life has not been so frustrating in recent days.

Yes. I have tried very hard to fix this problem. I’ve subscribed to BlackBerry Internet Service from two cellular operators: Vodacom SA and MTN SA. I’ve contacted MTN Nigeria where I last used the device successfully and they confirmed my device is not tied to their network, I’ve called MTN and Vodacom customer service over 16 times, I’ve visited MTN offices in Cape Town and Jo’burg 3 times, I’ve wiped the device and re-installed the operating system in case any of the installed apps is causing the problem. MTN is suggesting the device is the problem, I’ve entered the settings they gave me and diligently followed all their suggestions. All to no avail. Now I am in touch with RIM, manufacturers of BlackBerry smartphones.

This little experience I am still going through has emphasized how much many of us have come to rely on smartphones, for running our personal and business lives. It is quite normal fiddle with the smartphone before falling asleep and it is the first thing we grab before brushing our teeth in the morning or saying those morning prayers. Ah, I use the Bible app on my smartphone more than my bulky physical Bible.

Business life is much easier with a BlackBerry but when things go wrong, life can be hectic. Very hectic.

Have you been separated from the joy of using your smartphone for a long period? Share the experience in the comment area.

Petition: Cybercrime Legislation for Nigeria

Oluniyi D. Ajao — Thu, 25 Aug 2011 16:15:18 +0000

I wanted to draw your attention to this important petition that I recently signed: “Cybercrime Legislation for Nigeria” http://www.ipetitions.com/petition/cln/

I really think this is an important cause, and I’d like to encourage you to add your signature, too. It’s free and takes just a few seconds of your time.