The recent announcement declaring the Nigeria communication satellite (NigComSat-1) as 'missing' or 'parked' in the orbit is mind boggling. It has renewed the question on the technological know-how and administrative competence of the Nigerian government.
At the wake of the NigComSat project there was a heated controversy, dividing stakeholders into two halves.

While a faction believed that the huge investment in the project was a colossal waste, which cannot be sustained by the government, others were of the view that the launch of the communication satellite will revolutionize communication landscape in Nigeria and beyond. Now that the chicken has come home to roast, which of the two divides is vindicated?

A casual watcher will certainly be swept off his feet after listening to the lecture delivered by the managing director of NigComSat, Ahmed Rufai shortly after the launch. He summed up the vision of NigComSat as “Africa rooted, globally positioned to be the leading satellite operator and service provider in Africa; the first pan African communication satellite”

Rufai hinted that the satellite which is a hybrid built with radiation hardened technology, highly reliable, on-board software, reprogrammable ability, highly powered amplifiers with high efficiency has come to stay. Among the superlative description is that it possesses a strong footprint and centre, which beams over African continent and was believed to entrench the dominance of Nigerian satellite services over other satellite providers. This satellite so described collapsed barely nine months after it was shot into the orbit.

The failure of the communication satellite became more exasperating at the face of huge economic recession rocking the world with a gradual but surreptitious effect in the Nigerian state. Experts who understand the internal workings of the Nigerian government and its inability to make progressive business plans raised eyebrows when in December 15, 2004, the contract for the NigComSat project was signed between China Great Wall Industry Corporation and National Space Research Development Agency in Abuja.

The satellite which was to have a life span of 15 years gulped well over N40billion which included insurance cost, value added tax, a ground station in Abuja and a back-up station in Kashi, China.

Though many experts took the success of the project with a pinch of salt, most Nigerians who obviously sought for affordable massive rural telephony quickly aligned themselves with the theory of the fluke superlative gains accruable to the nation as enumerated by the drivers of the project. The belief was that NigComSat has the magic wand to turn the country's communication around even if it meant cushioning the effect of high cost and epileptic telephony services that is presently experienced in Nigeria.

will earn about N126billion yearly from the project. The earnings were expected to come from sales and lease of transponders which are 40 in all. With all these calculations, permutations and theatrics, Nigerians had started counting in days to see the nation's economic fortune skyrocket. Expectations were high; hopes were raised, anxiety continued to mount.

As days culminated into weeks and weeks into months, the cost of telecom, data, video and audio continued to soar rather than plummet, the very area that NigComSat promised to address. People began to ask questions. This magazine received several text massages and emails from its numerous readers asking: “Could you tell us what is wrong with NigComSat?”

It became apparent that the much acclaimed gains of NigComSat were gradually eluding the tax payers with whose money the project was executed. Instead, the people were caught in a mesh arising from whether NCC should give NigComSat operational license to provide telephony services or not. This battle of wit resulting from lack of clear operational laws on the part of government definitely had its toll on the people.

While NigComSat insisted on getting the license to provide affordable telephony and even reduce tariff charge to N10, Telecom Operators maintained that the operational license which NigComSat requested was a breach of the vision that set up the firm.

As the battle raged, Chairman of the Senate Committee on Communications, Sylvester Anyanwu reliably informed this Magazine that protest letters and petitions against the grant of operational license to NigComSat by various stakeholders littered his table but, promised that the Senate would not do anything that will discourage investment.

Hardly had this been resolved than everything suddenly came crumbling. The satellite is “missing” from the orbit. No, it is “parked” in the space, the government said. The word “missing” is gradually redefining itself and taking a proper position in Nigerian lexicon.
Whether it is coming from the government angle or from the media, its meaning is synonymous- the missing object is either made unavailable by known persons that are beyond punishment or the object has become untraceable.

The word made strong meaning during the reign of the great Wordsmith, Chuba Okadigbo as Senate President, when the mace, the legislative house symbol of authority was declared “missing”; or most recently, when the architectural design of the second Niger Bridge was said to be “missing” from the government archives. Or better still, the usual billions of naira that consistently get 'missing' from the national coffers. Whether the satellite is “missing” or “parked”, the point is, there is a shift in position.

As soon as the media announced that NigComSat was missing from the space, the government through the minister of state for science and technology, Dr. Alhassan Zaku quickly announced that NigComSat was not lost in space but was only suffering a flat battery.

Explaining that since it was not recharging, the best thing to do was to park it in space as a car is parked. Voice of America reported that the satellite was on a loose travel back to earth, a situation which portends danger. We wish it were not so.

But why should a government fail to carry out a comprehensive, historical and competence assessment of the Chinese company that was billed to embark on this colossal and sensitive venture as manufacturing a satellite for a country? Your guess is as good as mine. A check has shown that China's first DFH-4 satellite failed in orbit in 2006. Incidentally, the technical fault that collapsed DFH-4 was the same that 'parked' or caused NigComSat to be 'missing'.

The Nigerian Communications Commission (NCC) has accredited and approved the first customized Smart phones designed and manufactured for Africa.
The Professional Series, which come in ranges from PS 100s up to PS 200s, is being manufactured and distributed by the latest entry into the telecommunications industry, Anabel Mobile.

“Anabel Mobile is a global brand created by Nigerians and which has chosen first to start with Nigeria, giving Nigerians the respect and focus that many international brands have failed to do,” the company said in a statement.

The company added that the Smart Phones are extremely stylish and very user friendly and the most exciting thing is that it runs on Microsoft's Windows Mobile 6.0 and 6.1.

“This makes it compatible with any Personal Computer anywhere in the world. The Anabel Professional Series allows you to synchronize your Anabel Smart Phone with your PC, all your data, emails, presentations etc and since it is running on Windows, you can also prepare your power-point, excel or word presentations while on the move in your car in traffic or waiting for a flight at the airport,” the statement said.

NCC has also granted Anabel Mobile a license to operate within the Nigerian territory for sales of its full range of products.

Anabel is expected to provide the users of its smart phones such value added services as push and pull email which has been the hallmark of the Blackberry device in Nigeria.
The company said: “Nigerians who attended the last NCC telecom parliament in Abuja said they were excited that finally a brand that is focused on Africa is coming and is starting with Nigeria. They commended the NCC for encouraging the entrepreneurship that gave rise to Anabel.”

NCC is said to be excited that Anabel devices will be the first hand-held devices or phones to carry the NCC accreditation and approval stamped on its devices, “demonstrating that Nigeria is indeed now part of the global community”.

Anabel is an integrated mobile device and telecoms content company with a primary focus on serving the professional and SME markets by providing them with the mobile tools to get their work done on the move wherever they may be.

Anabel Mobile devices are equally designed to meet the needs of high end students who are running sophisticated graduate or senior programmes and need advanced mobile devices for data analysis, communicating and reporting, and for sharing large files be they data, voice, music or video.

The Canadian Radio-television and Telecommunications Commission (CRTC) has denied the Canadian Association of Internet Providers' (CAIP) request that Bell Canada cease the Internet traffic-shaping practices (a.k.a. bandwidth throttling) it has adopted for its wholesale Gateway Access Service.

However, in the future, Bell Canada will be required to notify its wholesale customers at least 30 days in advance of making changes that impact on the performance of its Gateway Access Service.

The CRTC has launched a proceeding to examine the current and possible future traffic management practices of Canadian ISPs, which will include a public hearing commencing on 6 July 2009. The Commission also plans to hold a public online consultation to discuss the issues related to internet traffic shaping.