03072019 - Buhari's Ruga policy, an explosive issue — SOYINKA
Vanguard Newspaper 03072019
Vanguard Newspaper 03072019
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V<strong>an</strong>guard, Wednesday, JULY 3, 2019 <strong>—</strong> 25<br />
Surviving in Nigeri<strong>an</strong> business<br />
environment requires strong<br />
business focus<br />
<strong>—</strong> Biodun Omoniyi VDC, CEO<br />
M<strong>an</strong>aging Director of VDT limited, Mr Biodun Omoniyi, is a restless m<strong>an</strong>. As a fresh<br />
Engineering graduate in 1989, Omoniyi knew he was not cut out to carry files looking for<br />
paid employment. His restless nature had sent signals to his membr<strong>an</strong>e that the <strong>an</strong>swer<br />
rested in establishing his own comp<strong>an</strong>y <strong>an</strong>d become employer of labour. His first instinct<br />
was to delve into the Information <strong>an</strong>d Communications, ICT space. the desire gave birth to<br />
Bitcom Systems Limited,a System integration comp<strong>an</strong>y.<br />
Typical of a restless mind, twelve years after, Omoniyi was also to establish VDT Communications<br />
Limited in 2001. VDT focuses mainly on providing Broadb<strong>an</strong>d Communications<br />
Service to the growing data-centric fin<strong>an</strong>cial sector of the Nigeri<strong>an</strong> economy.<br />
He has since lead the growth of VDT through his dynamic m<strong>an</strong>agement style from the then<br />
one br<strong>an</strong>ch office to the multi-br<strong>an</strong>ch entity it is today. In 2014, Omoniyi led a consortium of<br />
three comp<strong>an</strong>ies including his VDT <strong>an</strong>d Bitcom to bid for <strong>an</strong>d won the coveted 2.3 GHz<br />
spectrum auctioned by the Nigeri<strong>an</strong> Communications Commission, NCC.<br />
Today, the spectrum has helped Omoniyi’s VDT to launch <strong>an</strong> adv<strong>an</strong>ced 4G LTE broadb<strong>an</strong>d<br />
service said to be close to a 5G service platform<br />
He told Hi-Tech how the journey of his venture into into the ICT space has been since after<br />
school <strong>an</strong>d what businesses must do to survive in Nigeri<strong>an</strong> business environment.<br />
Excerpts;<br />
By Prince Osuagwu<br />
ou made headlines in 2014<br />
Ywhen BitFlux group you are<br />
part of grabbed the 2.3 GHz<br />
spectrum auction by the Nigeri<strong>an</strong><br />
Communications Commission,<br />
against well-known telecom<br />
gi<strong>an</strong>ts in Nigeria. What has that<br />
spectrum helped you achieve?<br />
Bitcom group was a special<br />
purpose vehicle to acquire that<br />
spectrum. We knew that the<br />
spectrum would be <strong>an</strong> import<strong>an</strong>t<br />
factor in our strategy to<br />
institutionalise a strong network<br />
in the broadb<strong>an</strong>d market. Today,<br />
the result is tremendous growth in<br />
a market m<strong>an</strong>y operators are<br />
closing shops daily.<br />
The spectrum is responsible for<br />
our reputation in the enterprise<br />
market <strong>an</strong>d our confidence in<br />
venturing into the retail side of the<br />
market, now<br />
Now, you are looking at<br />
exp<strong>an</strong>ding your services to retail<br />
broadb<strong>an</strong>d services, how better<br />
do you think you have covered the<br />
enterprise segment?<br />
In the enterprise broadb<strong>an</strong>d<br />
market, I will say we are a gi<strong>an</strong>t.<br />
We have made much progress in<br />
the enterprise market to the extent<br />
that we now have about 33 offices<br />
nationwide from just three when<br />
we started in 2001. We c<strong>an</strong> dedicate<br />
this to our loyal customers who<br />
have also confessed to have<br />
enjoyed excellent services from us,<br />
all these years.<br />
We believe we c<strong>an</strong> take that<br />
same success into the retail<br />
broadb<strong>an</strong>d market to show the<br />
general populace what quality<br />
broadb<strong>an</strong>d service should look<br />
like.<br />
We w<strong>an</strong>t to show the world that<br />
what it does not take only low<br />
prices to compete in a market like<br />
ours, but more of excellent quality.<br />
I believe Nigeri<strong>an</strong>s are actually<br />
ready to pay for proven quality<br />
services when they see one. So, I<br />
will not say we are coming to<br />
compete for only low prices but<br />
with added value, in terms of good<br />
service<br />
You have just introduced what<br />
you called Adv<strong>an</strong>ced 4G LTE<br />
service package. What makes it<br />
adv<strong>an</strong>ced, <strong>an</strong>d, how is it different<br />
from the conventional 4G LTE<br />
packages we know?<br />
What makes it adv<strong>an</strong>ced is our<br />
infrastructure. The infrastructure<br />
we are using to offer this service is<br />
a br<strong>an</strong>d new infrastructure that<br />
was built from the ground up, to<br />
be able to offer LTE services. You<br />
probably would have been hearing<br />
about 5G services, with Adv<strong>an</strong>ced<br />
4G LTE we are taking you there.<br />
With it, we are more like, practicing<br />
the future, now. We know that<br />
m<strong>an</strong>y other people providing these<br />
services do so with legacy systems;<br />
some of them probably did not<br />
even start from 4GLTE. So having<br />
<strong>an</strong> LTE platform, ab initio,<br />
actually differentiates our services.<br />
This equipment will eventually<br />
tr<strong>an</strong>slate into quality services the<br />
customers would now experience<br />
on our platform.<br />
5G is the catchphrase now, <strong>an</strong>d<br />
from what you are saying it<br />
appears you’re building<br />
momentum towards 5G?<br />
Like I said 5G is actually the<br />
immediate future, it is not here yet,<br />
but it is almost here. What I c<strong>an</strong><br />
confirm now is that we have the<br />
specifications, but in terms of the<br />
actual product, it is not really in<br />
the market, <strong>an</strong>ywhere.<br />
What we are saying is that with<br />
the applications we’ve built today<br />
which we are hoping 5G will<br />
actually enh<strong>an</strong>ce, definitely, when<br />
it berths, maybe in <strong>an</strong>other year,<br />
two or three, we will be one of the<br />
first comp<strong>an</strong>ies in Nigeria to offer<br />
services on it. Our infrastructure is<br />
primed for that already.<br />
Every broadb<strong>an</strong>d innovation<br />
is launched in Lagos, when<br />
Nigeria is in need of broadb<strong>an</strong>d<br />
services in rural areas. Does it<br />
me<strong>an</strong> that all services must be<br />
commercially driven?<br />
First, I will not blame<br />
businesses concentrating on<br />
servicing the Lagos market alone.<br />
We all know that Lagos is the<br />
economic hub <strong>an</strong>d heart of<br />
Nigeria <strong>an</strong>d most of these<br />
businesses providing services here<br />
are using private capital, which<br />
respects only return on investment.<br />
So, the first instinct for <strong>an</strong>y<br />
businessm<strong>an</strong> is to first, provide<br />
services where he c<strong>an</strong> get good<br />
returns, <strong>an</strong>d, Lagos actually offers<br />
that.<br />
However, Lagos does not make<br />
the whole of Nigeria. For us, we<br />
have <strong>an</strong> exp<strong>an</strong>sionary mind.<br />
Immediately after the launch in<br />
Lagos, we will move on to five<br />
other commercial cities in<br />
Nigeria, including Abuja, Port<br />
Harcourt, Ibad<strong>an</strong>, K<strong>an</strong>o, <strong>an</strong>d<br />
Onitsha. Thereafter, we c<strong>an</strong> take<br />
the next step. This is the general<br />
evolution of how our services are<br />
being introduced in Nigeria.<br />
Everybody I know that offers<br />
broadb<strong>an</strong>d services in Nigeria,<br />
has a bitter Right of Way story to<br />
tell, are you <strong>an</strong> exception?<br />
No, I am not. As a player in this<br />
market, I definitely have stories to<br />
share. However, I just w<strong>an</strong>t to be<br />
able to throw more lights on<br />
wireless technology in relation to<br />
the fibre links that are actually<br />
required in this right of way. As<br />
good as everybody says fibre<br />
technology would give better<br />
broadb<strong>an</strong>d experience, the truth is<br />
that when you are looking at the<br />
retail market, the quickest way to<br />
reach the masses is the wireless<br />
technology. But of course, these<br />
wireless technologies need a kind<br />
of broadness that the fibre links<br />
provide. The two actually work<br />
h<strong>an</strong>d in h<strong>an</strong>d. Whatever affects the<br />
fibre links affects the wireless<br />
providers.<br />
For us, we also have some fibre<br />
cables used in linking our base<br />
stations; <strong>an</strong>d it’s been quite<br />
difficult to make those available<br />
even within Lagos itself for<br />
sometimes now because Lagos<br />
state government has not gr<strong>an</strong>ted<br />
a license to <strong>an</strong>ybody to be able to<br />
Like I said 5G is<br />
actually the<br />
immediate future, it<br />
is not here yet, but<br />
it is almost here;<br />
what I c<strong>an</strong> confirm<br />
now is that we have<br />
the specifications,<br />
but in terms of the<br />
actual product, it is<br />
not really in the<br />
market, <strong>an</strong>ywhere<br />
do interlinking.<br />
Although, there’s also<br />
adv<strong>an</strong>cement in radio technology<br />
that c<strong>an</strong> enable use of this<br />
spectrum to do inter-base station<br />
links, of course, it’s a lot cheaper<br />
once that right of way has been<br />
gr<strong>an</strong>ted <strong>an</strong>d the fibre is laid.<br />
So I am appealing to the<br />
authorities to open up the market<br />
so that we c<strong>an</strong> further deepen the<br />
broadb<strong>an</strong>d penetration in Nigeria<br />
By Juliet Umeh<br />
Ptelecommunications <strong>an</strong>-Afric<strong>an</strong> 4GLTE<br />
group,<br />
Smile Telecoms, has formally<br />
entered into a partnership with<br />
Skyroam Simo, one of the world’s<br />
leading mobile Platform as a<br />
Service comp<strong>an</strong>y providing global<br />
data access services, to enable<br />
more Africa mobile users to<br />
seamlessly connect to its services.<br />
Explaining what informed the<br />
partnership, Smile’s Group CEO,<br />
Ahmad Farroukh, stated that<br />
“Smile is a leading 4GLTE carrier<br />
in Africa <strong>an</strong>d we are always open<br />
to new <strong>an</strong>d innovative technologies<br />
to bring continued value add <strong>an</strong>d<br />
benefits to our users. Our<br />
partnership with Skyroam SIMO<br />
will leverage its leading position<br />
in global virtual SIM platform <strong>an</strong>d<br />
together bring the best service <strong>an</strong>d<br />
value to our p<strong>an</strong>-Afric<strong>an</strong> users.”<br />
He said SIMO App emerges at<br />
•Omoniyi<br />
Telecom industry is highly<br />
volatile <strong>an</strong>d a lot of operators in<br />
your genre of telecom business<br />
have closed down. What’s your<br />
survival strategy?<br />
There is no gainsaying we really<br />
operate in a very difficult<br />
environment in Nigeria. To run a<br />
successful business in Nigeria<br />
takes the grace of God. It’s not by<br />
<strong>an</strong>yone’s doing. However, there are<br />
also other basic tenets that I will<br />
say have kept us going overtime.<br />
One is maintaining a singular<br />
focus on where we are going.<br />
Another is that we have been<br />
blessed with good team members,<br />
highly committed, dedicated<br />
members of staff <strong>an</strong>d m<strong>an</strong>agement<br />
<strong>an</strong>d also board.<br />
The things we set out to do are<br />
not too m<strong>an</strong>y. We just simply stay<br />
focused. When we started 18 years<br />
ago, my aim was to make sure that<br />
every corporation, especially<br />
b<strong>an</strong>ks actually get a test of our<br />
services. We just concentrated on<br />
doing that despite getting offers<br />
from different corporations to do<br />
other things different from our<br />
core competences. I rejected all the<br />
offers despite the huge profit I<br />
could make because I preferred to<br />
be professional.<br />
Is ch<strong>an</strong>ge in business focus why<br />
the number of ISPs is drastically<br />
w<strong>an</strong>ing?<br />
In some cases, market forces<br />
actually forced some of the ISPs<br />
to ch<strong>an</strong>ge business focus. But what<br />
actually forced them out of<br />
business was not being able to get<br />
the required capital base <strong>an</strong>d<br />
reserve needed when you make<br />
such ch<strong>an</strong>ges<br />
However, I started by saying we<br />
the right time to bring access <strong>an</strong>d<br />
affordability to mobile data for<br />
millions of Afric<strong>an</strong>s struggling<br />
with expensive Internet prices that<br />
keep them out of the market<br />
entirely.<br />
Skyroam SIMO <strong>an</strong>d its VirtualeSIM<br />
technology are said to have<br />
the capability of delivering<br />
seamless 4G data connection to<br />
<strong>an</strong>y user by automatically<br />
switching to the best 4G network<br />
nearby, ensuring the best reliability<br />
<strong>an</strong>d speed.<br />
In addition to creating a new<br />
way to access data for consumers,<br />
Skyroam SIMO helps carriers to<br />
develop their market at nearly zero<br />
cost by improving the efficiency of<br />
acquiring new customers, to ease<br />
the hassle of traditional sales<br />
ch<strong>an</strong>nels, <strong>an</strong>d to drive more value<br />
by improving the relationship with<br />
their customers. This partnership<br />
between Smile <strong>an</strong>d SIMO will<br />
enable more Smile users to<br />
are actually operating in a very<br />
difficult terrain where multiple<br />
taxations, arbitrary right of way<br />
levies <strong>an</strong>d so m<strong>an</strong>y forces abound.<br />
I keep on saying that the<br />
regulators are not supporting<br />
indigenous business. Of course, we<br />
like it when it is a foreign capital<br />
that comes in, so whereas we need<br />
to pay more attention to<br />
supporting <strong>an</strong>d promoting our<br />
own, but the only thing I c<strong>an</strong> say, it<br />
will only be by the grace of God<br />
that directed us to move to the<br />
opposite direction when every<br />
other person was moving in a<br />
particular direction because we<br />
knew that five 10 years, down the<br />
line, everybody will move back, so<br />
we are building our expertise in<br />
that particular direction.<br />
What’s your view on the<br />
regulation of the Nigeri<strong>an</strong> ICT<br />
space?<br />
If I have to look at it over a longer<br />
term because I have been here for<br />
a while, I will say there has been a<br />
lot of somersaulting, you move<br />
forward <strong>an</strong>d backward which is<br />
what the general economy looks<br />
like as well. Adek<strong>an</strong>mbi<br />
But, by <strong>an</strong>d large, I must give<br />
kudos to telecoms regulators<br />
overtime, maybe because of the<br />
foundation laid when the GSM<br />
comp<strong>an</strong>ies were coming in; they<br />
have been highly strengthened<br />
with a lot of knowledgeable people.<br />
However, one would have<br />
expected that they do more<br />
especially to indigenous<br />
comp<strong>an</strong>ies, promote our own,<br />
everybody does it. At the end of the<br />
day we’re here <strong>an</strong>d the only place<br />
we operate is here; the people we’ve<br />
been employing are our<br />
indigenous people. We even go<br />
about developing the youths <strong>an</strong>d<br />
making sure they’re properly<br />
equipped with the right skills to<br />
face the future. It’s only the<br />
indigenous operators that c<strong>an</strong> do<br />
these, <strong>an</strong>d that’s why I said the<br />
regulators needed to actually<br />
encourage <strong>an</strong>d support us.<br />
Advise government on how to<br />
raise the economy with ICT<br />
We c<strong>an</strong>’t overemphasise that we<br />
have missed our ch<strong>an</strong>ces. When I<br />
was a young graduate, my vision<br />
was to m<strong>an</strong>ufacture some of those<br />
things that we are consuming. In<br />
those days, as young engineers, we<br />
dreamt of making tr<strong>an</strong>sistors, but<br />
now nobody thinks about that.<br />
That dream did not crystallise<br />
because of the development<br />
ch<strong>an</strong>ces that we have squ<strong>an</strong>dered.<br />
Today, if I have <strong>an</strong> opportunity to<br />
influence government <strong>policy</strong>, it<br />
will be on education. The<br />
government needs to focus on<br />
promoting indigenous businesses<br />
to be able to take on certain roles.<br />
It was a delight when <strong>an</strong><br />
indigenous comp<strong>an</strong>y was given the<br />
opportunity to run the TSA. We<br />
need more of such opportunities.<br />
We also need the government to<br />
embrace technology to drive<br />
govern<strong>an</strong>ce.<br />
Smile sees value in Skyroam Simo partnership to<br />
improve mobile data services<br />
leverage Skyroam’s platform of<br />
over 135 countries <strong>an</strong>d 200 mobile<br />
networks with best coverage <strong>an</strong>d<br />
speed, is a big leap forward<br />
amongst Africa operators.<br />
Founder <strong>an</strong>d CEO of Skyroam,<br />
Jing Liu, said that “Skyroam Simo<br />
will work with Smile Telecom, a<br />
great partner who continues to<br />
bring value to its users as a long<br />
term strategy, together we will<br />
meet the needs of more people in<br />
Africa <strong>an</strong>d bring <strong>explosive</strong> growth<br />
in mobile data usage. We will<br />
continue to innovate together with<br />
leading partners around the world<br />
to meet the dem<strong>an</strong>ds of users where<br />
mobile data is becoming a musthave<br />
that impact our daily lives.”<br />
The partnership also gives<br />
International customers from<br />
various countries in the world who<br />
use Skyroam devices the<br />
opportunity to roam on Smile<br />
4GLTE network in all countries of<br />
Smile presence.