It is a young week. I want you to reassess where you are competing within the market. Are you at the edges or center? In this age of unbounded and unconstrained internet-driven redesign in Nigeria, where you focus affects your profitability and value creation. In this video which applies for fintech, banking, news-media and even shoe makers in Aba, I provide insights.
Painful! The best of his generation on innovation in the telco world is gone. The grandmaster and custodian of MPESA which unbounded many from financial poverty in East Africa, and gave the world a new basis on what a mobile phone can do! Yes, Kenya’s Safaricom CEO Bob Collymore has died. He died of cancer.
In a statement issued this morning, Nicholas Nganga, Chairman of Safaricom PLC, said:
“It is with deep sorrow that we announce the passing away of Robert (Bob) William Collymore, CEO of Safaricom PLC, which occurred at his home on the morning of 1 July 2019.
In October 2017, Bob proceeded to the UK to receive treatment for Acute Myeloid Leukemia (AML) and returned in July 2018 to resume duties. He had been undergoing treatment for this condition since then in different hospitals and most recently at Aga Khan University Hospital in Nairobi. In recent weeks, his condition worsened and he succumbed to the cancer at his home in the early hours of Monday 1st July 2019.
On behalf of the Board of Safaricom PLC, we extend our deepest condolences to his family, staff of Safaricom PLC, partners and the nation at large, who he served selflessly and with joy.”
By Sani Nahuche
5G is by and large understood as the fifth-age cell innovation that will unleash game-changing broadband access. The business affiliation 3GPP characterizes any framework utilizing “5G NR” (5G New Radio) programming as “5G”, a definition that came into general use by late 2018. Others may hold the term for frameworks that meet the necessities of the ITU IMT-2020. 3GPP will present their 5G NR to the ITU; it pursues 2G, 3G and 4G and their individual related advances (for example, GSM, UMTS, LTE, LTE Advanced Pro, and so on).
5G systems are computerized cell systems, in which the administration region secured by suppliers is isolated into a mosaic of little land territories called cells. Analog signals representing sounds and images are digitized in the phone, converted by an analogy to digital converter and transmitted as a stream of bits. All the 5G remote gadgets in a phone convey by radio waves with a nearby receiving wire exhibit and low power computerized handset (transmitter and beneficiary) in the phone, over recurrence channels doled out by the handset from a typical pool of frequencies, which are reused in topographically isolated cells.
There are plans to use millimetre waves for 5G. Millimetre waves have shorter range than microwaves, along these lines the cells are restricted to littler size; The waves likewise have trouble going through structure dividers. Millimetre wave antennas are smaller than the large antennas used in previous cellular networks. They are only a few inches (several centimetres) long.
Another procedure utilized for expanding the information rate is gigantic MIMO (multiple input multiple output). 5G NR speed in sub-6 GHz groups can be somewhat higher than the 4G with a comparable measure of range and radio wires, however some 3GPP 5G systems will be slower than some progressed 4G systems, for example, T-Mobile’s LTE/LAA organize, which accomplishes 500+ Mbit/s in Manhattan.
The 5G specification allows LAA (License Assisted Access) as well but LAA in 5G has not yet been demonstrated. Adding LAA to an existing 4G configuration can add hundreds of megabits per second to the speed, but this is an extension of 4G, not a new part of the 5G standard. Speeds in the less common millimetre wave spectrum can be substantially higher.
5G wireless technology will have three major applications. First, 5G will be used for truly mobile connectivity, mainly by devices such as smartphones. Second, 5G will be used to connect “less mobile” devices, mainly 5G modems or hotspots: dedicated wireless access devices, small enough to be mobile, that will connect to the 5G network and then connect to other devices over Wi-Fi technology. Finally, there will be 5G fixed-wireless access (FWA) devices, with antennas permanently mounted on buildings or in windows, to start with, 5G will be utilized for genuinely portable network, for the most part by gadgets, for example, cell phones.
While, 5G will be utilized to interface “less portable” gadgets, mostly 5G modems or hotspots: committed remote access gadgets, little enough to be versatile, that will associate with the 5G system and afterward associate with different gadgets over Wi-Fi innovation home or business with broadband in place of a wired connection.
AT&T will start selling a 15-gigabyte 5G data plan for $70 per month with the hotspot carriers have vowed to kick off or expand their respective 5G networks in the price at $499. The company has made deals to release one Samsung 5G phone in the first half of the year and another in the second half. Additionally, the carrier will expand the coverage area to seven more cities sometime in the first half of 2019.
AT&T is also working to rebrand what is technically its “4G LTE-A” service (LTE stands for long-term evolution and A stands for advanced) as “5G-E” (E for evolution) in close to 400 markets around the United States. That generally implies that AT&T supporters with the most recent Android gadgets will see another 5G pointer in the upper corner of their screens, yet execution won’t exactly coordinate the measures vital for 5G.
Verizon presented the nation’s first business 5G administration in October with its private bundle that is offered in four U.S. urban areas. Unlike AT&T’s mobile offering, the service is designed to beam into subscriber homes in place of a terrestrial internet connection, though it’s currently operating on a separate standard from the industry consensus for fixed 5G. Verizon’s Home service costs $70 per month or $50 per month for customers who also have mobile packages. Meanwhile, the nation’s biggest carrier is busily readying its mobile network for an early 2019 debut with its own hotspot device from ins ego and a deal with Samsung to offer a 5G phone sometime in the first half of the year.
Sprint is aiming for an initial rollout of its 5G network in seven cities in early 2019, with more markets to be added throughout the year. Like T-Mobile, the company is not primarily focused on millimetre waves, and its first offerings will instead operate on mid-band spectrum. The carrier is also planning to unveil its own HTC-branded hotspot at the beginning of 2019, an LG 5G smartphone in the first half of the year and a Samsung phone at some point throughout the year.
Any of these plans could change, however, depending on the outcome of the company’s merger bid. With an across the nation 5G rollout objective before the finish of 2019, T-Mobile isn’t searching for a no holds barred race with either contender. While AT&T and Verizon are building their 5G networks on so-called “millimetre waves”—high frequencies that carry more data but travel shorter distances and require many more antennas—T-Mobile is attempting to do so initially on more traditional low-band spectrum. The company passed a major hurdle toward this goal in November when it claimed to have broadcast the first-ever 5G signal on these lower frequency waves.
Legere has touted this roadmap as a more broadly accessible path to 5G, since waves of lower frequencies tend to work better outside of dense, urban areas. “The different folks centre around 5G for the few, contacting only a couple of individuals in little regions of a bunch of urban areas,” Legere bragged in an ongoing explanation. Yet while each carrier is taking a different approach to the first leg of the 5G race, all four carriers have said that their fully completed networks should be able to broadcast across a range of spectrum bands.
The United States and China are hustling to work out fast 5G systems, and President Donald Trump doesn’t want America to come in second place. Last week, Trump acquainted activities with accelerate the rollout of new wireless systems over the U.S., saying “the race to 5G is a race America must win”. But experts say the U.S. still lacks a clear 5G strategy that goes beyond attacking Huawei, a Chinese tech giant and the world’s biggest supplier of telecommunications equipment. U.S. policymakers keep wringing their hands over a competition with China to build the world’s first mass-market 5G wireless network.
By 2022, fifth-generation cellular networks will power as much as 9% of mobile data connections across North America, compared with 4% in Asia. The generous work nations like China face as they race Western countries to construct the system. And they reflect early U.S. policies that put it in a strong position to lead, which makes networking technology.
Although the Asia-Pacific region will be home to more than twice the number of 5G devices in North America by 2022, it will account for a tiny share of the 422 million devices on 5G worldwide. North America will represent the biggest cut; the vast majority of the rest, about 6.5%, will originate from Western Europe. A head begin in 5G entrance could be basic for figuring out which nations get the opportunity to shape — and advantage from — advancements in applications, administrations and other monetary products of the innovation, as per arrangement investigators.
At the point when the United States led the pack on 4G portable innovation, it offered ascend to the application economy, which stays overwhelmed by U.S.- based firms today. The FCC, has proposed limiting federal funding to U.S. telecom companies that use Huawei’s hardware.
Policymakers worry that foreign manufacturers could secretly install spyware in their products that could allow other governments to eavesdrop on sensitive U.S. communications. Huawei’s founder on Tuesday rejected those claims as speculation in an interview with CBS. U.S. authorities state Chinese organizations like Huawei ought not to be permitted to work out the basic framework, for example, radio systems administration gear and programming, that will empower 5G.
They caution that Huawei gear could make an indirect access for the Chinese government to keep an eye on American systems. China sees 5G as its first opportunity to lead remote innovation advancement on a worldwide scale. European nations received 2G before different locales, during the 1990s; Japan spearheaded 3G in the mid-2000s; and the US ruled the dispatch of 4G, in 2011. Yet, this time China is driving in media communications instead of playing get up to speed.
The Chinese government sees 5G as urgent to the nation’s tech part and economy. Following quite a while of making copycat items, Chinese tech organizations need to turn into the following Apple or Microsoft—creative worldwide mammoths worth almost a trillion dollars. The China Academy of Information and Communications Technology, an administration run research organization, evaluates that 5G will make in excess of 8 million occupations locally by 2030.
The organization thinks significant enterprises, including vitality and social insurance, will burn through billions of dollars all things considered on 5G gear and remote administration during that period. The report reverberated a released National Security Council archive that proposed the US government think about structure a 5G arrange. In the event that China overwhelms the broadcast communications organize industry, the archive stated, it “will win politically, monetarily, and militarily and the US economy will endure.
5G is set to have a profound effect on countries’ economic performance and GDP. In 2016, mobile technologies and services generated 4.4 percent of GDP globally, equating to about $3.3 trillion in economic value. This has been estimated to grow to over $4.2 trillion by 2020, or 4.9 percent of global GDP, as faster mobile connectivity continues to drive gains in productivity and efficiency.
Similarly, the GSMA found that mobile technologies and services generated 3.3 percent of GDP in Europe in 2017, with the continent’s mobile ecosystem responsible for 2.5 million jobs, too. Europe is the world’s most very entered provincial versatile market, with 465 million special portable supporters before the finish of 2017, around 85 percent of the populace. That GDP commitment is estimated to ascend to 4.1 percent by 2022, and with the first 5G dispatches expected in Europe by 2020, nations will look for influence the new versatile system to their general advantage.
The importance of the potential economic impact of 5G really shouldn’t be underestimated: the U.S. endeavoured to build up its place as a 4G pioneer, with the presentation of 4G versatile broadband adding $100 billion to the country’s GDP. The GSMA has forecast that 4G connections will comprise four out of five mobile connections in North America by 2020, higher than any other global region. But should the U.S. lose its situation as a world chief in remote, it will probably feel the impact as far as occupation misfortunes and innovation development being traded abroad. The economic benefits the U.S. enjoyed with its leadership in 4G would be gone.
Baltimore is still spending money on the hacking mess which paralyzed some of the city’s operations: $10 million now approved to spend on the recovery. This is one benefit Nigerian governments (local, state and federal) enjoy: most of our computers are neither networked not fully Internet hooked. And even when linked to the web, they are slow for hackers to execute any action before the network times out!
Baltimore City officials approved using $10 million in excess revenue to cover the ongoing cost of the cyber attacks that immobilized some of the city’s systems almost two months ago.
WBAL reports the city’s estimates board approved the emergency funds Wednesday to help the hack recovery process, which is moving into its eighth week.
This month, a Baltimore technology official said the city had initially resisted help from the state after the attack.
You may not have noticed: as our networks get faster in Nigeria, loss to cyber crime increases! I have no data to back that up. But in Moscow few years ago, Russian “fortune finders” gathered around me in Moscow where the Mayor of Moscow and a minister had invited me to give a speech, asking me why Nigerian banks’ networks were always timing out. Upon return, I joked to a bank CEO: your best cyber strategy is slow network. Of course, banks are not listening as they have been making the networks faster. Lol. We know the outcome. Hahaha.
Back to the Baltimore case: why do American cities pay ransomware payments to hackers instead of using their FBI or DHS (Department of Homeland Security) to burst the attacks. Ransomware is a type of attack where hackers remotely take over your computers and will only release so after you have made a payment.
Simply, why do governments pay when the powers of the states are behind them? I understand using the state may take time. But this is happening so often and yet a small city will prefer to spend $millions instead of giving agents say two days to do some works. The money sent to hackers end up somewhere which means they can be tracked! It seems confusing because it is expectedly different when a private company is attacked. But for a government, I had expected support from the best in the trade.
By Olowu Modebola Anne
We all agree that human-beings are the greatest asset of any organization, because no matter the age of automation, even as an AI enthusiast there is still a need for people. So, it will be safe to say that no organisation can function without its people.
Although, traditionally, business continuity focuses a lot on technology and premises, the people-centric approach to business continuity is a wave of power to ensure people stay as relevant as the need for technology to make life easier and for their work to be seamless. This ensures the safety of technology, premises and equipment in case of fire, vandalism, theft, etc. The outcome is an exhaustive measure to ensure the people aspect of business continuity is not left out, especially the aspect of having humans remain sound minded and primarily endowed to function as healthy living beings.
As such, we always drive this home during our awareness sessions for employees to embed the business continuity culture into their lifestyles and homes. Just before I start any session, below are my usual ice breakers and I would advise you answer them sincerely within yourself.
Murphy’s Law states that “whatever can go wrong, will go wrong”: so the possibility of something going wrong means it can happen! Simply, I really don’t need to bring in to this article examples of incidents that pick on the questions above, the events that have occurred over the years and the causalities or losses involved.
So, should you have fully functional fire extinguishers at your comfort? Yes, please you should. During my sessions, I have heard a lot of positive testimonials on how having one had saved families from fire disasters arising from their cars, kitchens, the generators or any of our day to day appliances. In fact, of particular accolades were the ones from men that had to quickly run to their vehicles to get FEs to put off uprising fire from their homes.
It is also very crucial to have more than one exit in your house, a minimum of two is always advised, for your own safety, having another exit has saved a lot of people from armed robbery, fire and all sorts of emergencies.
The third question is a fun fare for me when I ask, as many always get carried away with work, and totally forget about the exits available to them at their primary work stations. Ask your fire wardens and never miss out on your fire drills.
The ‘will’ or testament thing also causes commotion and all sorts of responses that make me smile all the time. As a continuity specialist, I thoroughly advise you to have one, if you truly care about anything, or anyone.
Yes, the travel plan is also a bit dicey as many Nigerians practice this without knowing they have activated a business continuity plan for themselves and their families a long time ago. I know of a family of six (6) that never travel together; so while the mum travels with the boys in a separate vehicle, the father travels with the girls in another one. I also know of a family of four (4) who do this by air all the time. One of my uncle’s predominantly never allows all his kids travel via the same route. So, a lot of families have different styles and travel plans to ensure the continuity of their heritages.
The 6th question is largely subjective, while some men will say their wives or sons and women vice versa, certificates, HD TV’s etc. for items to be retrieved, it is purely based on your own preference, and there is no perfect answer. The objective of the question is to mentally prepare you and have you picture yourself in that scenario.
As cliché as this may sound, there’s nothing wrong with ever having a plan B. It is even in fact totally wrong not to have one, no matter the situation; having another option is a very proactive gesture, of course, except in the case of your marital spouse.
There’s a funny adage that looks into how a chicken acts when it’s introduced to another environment. It quickly drops only one of its legs on the ground and when it’s convinced it’s safe, it comfortably drops the other one. The lesson is to observe and not be too comfortable all the time; watch your surroundings, soak them in, if possible ask questions, and always remember your safety comes first in any situation.
Finance and the importance of saving have been here before the age of banks. I remember reading ‘Alawiye’ with stories of farmers and hunters digging holes in the ground to save their cowries and coins. So, even in modern times that things have changed, the importance of saving for the rainy day and in this case emergencies as I will put it, is very essential. You never know what the funds will help you to save or protect, as a risk management professional. I would say, it’s really just advisable to always save, even though you may not know what you might be saving for, just yet.
I remember vividly well, how my dad used to gather us round whenever we were together to remind us of our fall back plans as a family: who we should and can meet for help during incidents, how to get to another country if Nigeria were to be on fire, how to defend ourselves and how we were to take responsibilities for each other. Our fall back plan was also always tested: I remember during the January 2012 Occupy Nigeria / Subsidy crisis, how he was quick to get us to our country home to avoid he major crisis and hullabaloo in the city, especially in two separate vehicles, even though my dad never knew he had invoked our family’s BCP as at then. So, it’s quite practical and useful.
Monitor the changes around you, in your homes, your work places and even in your health, pay attention to your body and mind. Yes, ensure you are sound mentally, physically, emotionally, spiritually, psychologically, etc. Alan walker’s ‘On my way’ has a verse I love so much, which goes, ‘Nobody, but me can keep me safe and I’m on my way’. So, either it’s your job or your family or you staying alive and relevant as an entity, it’s of paramount care that you stay mentally alert.
I remember entering a beautiful family restaurant with my friend one evening and he had to call my attention back to our conversation, asking why my eyes were wandering round the corners. I apologized, telling him I was watching out for all the possible exits in the 4.5 star restaurants; he was stunned. He shockingly told me it never even occurred to him to observe his environment, let alone the exits. It was a live restaurant, which made it even more porous to fire, so there was no way in hell that I wouldn’t put my operational risk skills to action.
When one encounters any problem in life, the first thing that comes to mind is how to get out of it: Exit! Exit! Exit! Just to continue to live on, you know the popular lines, Live to die another day! Eventually incidents, mishaps, emergencies and crisis do happen, especially when we all least expect, even though individuals in my fields forecast it and prepare for it, we really can’t accurately tell the time it will occur. We all just know when it happens we are prepared to handle it. So, here’s a live one for us all to imbibe: it’s an organization we all work for, wither owned by us and or someone else or the government, but in all we are only truly accountable to ourselves and those that love us.
Our organizations need us to stay alive to function at par and so do our loved ones, let’s all have the resilience culture.