I am truly saddened that in 2019 that Nigeria is still in the business of suspending TV and radio licenses. I do not watch AIT or listen to Ray Power to know what they broadcast therein. Personally, it is always painful whenever I read of suspension of transmission. As an undergraduate student in Federal University of Technology Owerri (FUTO), I was Director of Research when we built a campus radio station which transmitted and served only the university community.

An opposition presidential candidate, Atiku Abubakar, Thursday condemned the closure of AIT and Ray Power FM, two of the country’s largest private broadcasters.

The National Broadcasting Commission (NBC) suspended the broadcast licences for both AIT and Ray Power FM on Thursday afternoon, citing a frequent breach of the broadcasting code.

The NBC, which regulates radio and television stations, said the AIT’s conduct had become “a bad example of how a professional broadcast outfit should not be run.”

The agency’s head, Modibbo Kawu, said AIT had been warned several times about breaches of broadcasting regulations but did not flinch.

The AIT and Ray Power FM, both owned by Raymond Dokpesi’s Daar Communications, strongly denied all allegations of wrongdoing, saying the Buhari administration was out to victimise them over of their perceived allegiance to the opposition.

Our Director of Social engineered a wonderful program schedule that even the Vice Chancellor liked to tune it. I recalled my Head of Department negotiating how we could host him live. Then, one afternoon, the VC said that dictator Sani Abacha had sent signals that we must be off-air. Yes, we could use the harmless radio station to take over Nigeria. Just like that – everything folded!

Government, if you have problem with AIT and Ray Power, find better ways than this draconian suspension. It is very offensive to imagine that in our democracy that we are still at that level.

Sure – this does not mean that people should be broadcasting harmful content.

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Our primitive and crude mentality have gone on full display once again, strange land run by funny creatures.

Just go through the reasons cited by NBC for the ridiculous suspension, they are as laughable as they come. You now begin to wonder if Nigeria has become another North Korea, where virtually every news that gets to the public is only what the government wants to hear. Everyday our supposed educated class keep giving us more reasons to question the institutions that certified them fit for purpose, to even give them paper certificates. At least they managed to include non payment of license fee as one of the reasons…

At our stage of development, we do not really need angry or mean men near power, because we still lack the strong institutions that could keep them in check. If you criticise a president here it’s because you are either corrupt or unpatriotic, I do not see how any country can rise above sea level with such crude mentality.

I understand that our headmasters who shout about democracy have no clue on what it entails, so they are always trigger-happy, hypersensitive or hyperactive. So much to do in our educational sector.

Maybe WashPost, MSNBC and CNN should be shutdown, because they are ‘nasty’ to Trump!

China’s Boomplay is the largest music streaming brand in Africa today. It is succeeding where iROKING (iROKOtv music streaming unit) and Spinlet struggled. This company is indirectly controlled by Transsion holdings, the markers of Tecno and Infinix mobile device brands. By bundling Boomplay in their devices, the brand gets straight to the end-users. It is doing very well; Apple and Spotify are not close. Today, across the continent, Boomplay commands about 46 million users and 5 million contents in its catalog.

When Chinese music streaming company Transsnet wanted to break into the lucrative African market, they partnered with parent company, Transsion holdings, the makers of popular phone brands such as Infinix and TECNO to pre-install their Boomplay app on their handsets.

By leveraging the popularity of these phones among African users, the company was able to market Boomplay directly to the consumer.

The app was officially released with the launch of TECNO’s first music phone Boom J7 in 2015.

[…]

Boomplay is forging ahead with its plans to dominate the music streaming business in Africa, after it raised $20 million in funding in April.

In Nigeria, specifically, as of May last year, here are the leading music streaming companies.

Boomplay (Android – 5 Million+ Installs)*

MTN Music+ (Android – 100,000+ Installs)

Spinlet (Android – 100,000 Installs)

iROKING (Android – 50,000+ Installs)

MyMusic.Com.NG ( Android – 50,000+ Installs)

LasGidi Tunes ( Android – 5,000+ Installs)

The Boomplay Strategy

Transsion Holdings is running a double play strategy here: it is selling us mobile devices and by the side it is building a great new business – entertainment startup. Provided more people continue to use its devices, it could simply emerge as the undisputed leader in African music streaming sector. With this model, Spotify has no chance and Apple with its fashionista pricing of its devices will not match the makers of Tecno.

I explained in the duality element that digital products which thrive are typically both products and platforms. It would be hopeless to build modern digital products without having a moat through platforms. Interestingly, the greatest digital ICT utilities have double plays in their business models: if Amazon decimates many brick-and-mortar stores, it would welcome many online to sell them cloud services. Alibaba welcomes you to its marketplace platforms, and you certainly have signed up for its (partly affiliated) payment processing solutions (Alipay) which command commissions.

This double play is going to offer asymmetric advantages to owners of hardware platforms. It was based on it that I proposed for iROKOtv to sell to Transsion Holdings (makers of Tecno phones) in 2017. In that piece, I should have been more specific to note that iROKING should be the entity that should be unbundled and sold. iROKING had since folded as a company. Music wins on hardware – and the very reason I believe that over time Apple will decimate Spotify if and only if Apple hardware products become largely more affordable. The maker of Tecno has full control in Africa not just in music but other areas where mobile devices are the core entry points to the ecosystems.

We propose for Tecno to buy iROKOtv and use the product to deepen its capabilities in Africa and beyond. Our core idea is that Tecno needs to open a unit to be dubbed Tecno TV. It will be one place for anyone in Africa to access television, delivering unified TV experience. This ecosystem will meet the needs for TV shows, movies and broadcasting contents, across the continent. It will be TV and movie content-ready. Through the iROKOtv brand, it will close partnerships with leading local content providers.

Tecno Mobile Should Buy iROKOtv

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Comment #1

China’s boomplay owners have clearly shown us the importance of foresight- preinstalling it app on Transsion holding product.

The company clearly understand that majority of the mobile phone users want a close-range Premium product ( $92- $151) and with 47.47 percent android device usage in Africa compared to apple 6.17percent usage of Apple music the company have an upper hand in market dominance.

There is a lot to learn from this first you need large maker dominance to strive-being a category king..

Second when you dominate the market space ensure that the market revolve around you.
Know what double strategy you need so just like boomplay & Transsion you would be on win win, Market preference regardless.

We hope irokoTv team are reading so they can make there product pre-installed just as boom play.

Comment #2

Well, our market here is far from maturity, and we do not seem to have certain laws in place yet.

If we allow hardware manufacturers to bundle their own app, giving them an unfair advantage from the beginning; we need to equally ensure that other players who rely on their hardware are not distorted unfairly.

Everything boils down to quality and experience on offer, Microsoft bundled Windows with IE, but you rarely see Windows users accessing the web via IE.

When our market matures, we should be able to draw a line between what comes with what and where true customer experience lies. For now, most people’s bank accounts thwart their ability to make informed choices.

Leading mobile payments company WorldRemit has entered into a definitive agreement to raise $175 million in a Series D funding round led by returning investors, TCV, Accel and Leapfrog Investments. Founded in 2010, WorldRemit is a global leader in smartphone and online payments – providing a convenient, low-cost alternative to expensive brick-and-mortar agents.

WorldRemit has disrupted an industry previously dominated by offline legacy players by taking international money transfers online – making them safer, faster and lower-cost. We currently send from 50 to 150 countries and operate in 6,500 money transfer corridors worldwide.

On the sending side WorldRemit is 100% digital (cashless), increasing convenience and enhancing security. For those receiving money, the company offers a wide range of options including bank deposit, cash collection, mobile airtime top-up and mobile money.

WorldRemit handles a growing share of the $700 billion remittances sent each year by expatriates and migrant workers to their home countries. Today, the company serves almost 4 million customers transferring money from 50 “send” countries to 150 “receive” countries.

The Series D funding round comes at a pivotal stage in the company’s growth. In 2018, the USA became WorldRemit’s largest send market, following the company becoming one of the first UK financial service firms to secure licenses in all 50 states.

WorldRemit will use this new investment to further drive global growth and diversify the company’s product offering for both money transfer senders and recipients. The company is also set to launch a new money transfer solution targeting small and medium-sized business owners who trade internationally, especially in emerging markets. The transaction is subject to customary closing conditions, including FCA approval.

Source: Company press release

President Trump read a prayer delivered by President Franklin D. Roosevelt as he joined world leaders in marking the 75th anniversary of D-Day – a pivotal moment in the Second World War. On June 6, 1944, Roosevelt went on national radio to address America for the first time about the Normandy invasion. The words:

“Almighty God: Our sons, pride of our nation, this day have set upon a mighty endeavor, a struggle to preserve our Republic, our religion, and our civilization, and to set free a suffering humanity … they will need Thy blessings.

“Their road will be long and hard. For the enemy is strong. He may hurl back our forces. Success may not come with rushing speed, but we shall return again and again; and we know that by Thy grace, and by the righteousness of our cause, our sons will triumph …

“Some will never return. Embrace these, Father, and receive them, Thy heroic servants, into Thy kingdom.”

This is how Francis Oguaju summarized this: “You see the kind of spirit people had, just for others and generations after them to live a better life”. Simply, an unbounded service to a nation! Nigeria needs that spirit and the mindset shift for the generations unborn.