Nollywood movie lovers all over the world will soon have a new destination for watching movies as IROKOtv launches on December 1, 2011.

Iroko Partners, the company that acquired the exclusive rights to distribute all of Nollywood movies online, currently has the largest collection of movies available anywhere, organized in one place.

Although IROKOtv will allow you to watch all of these movies for free, it may eventually charge users a subscription fee after June 2012, thus adopting the Netflix business model. [More on this below]

Netflix, founded in 1997, is the world’s leading internet subscription service that revolutionised the watching of movies and TV shows online. With about 25 million members as at June 2011, the service lets you watch as many movies as you want for a monthly subscription fee of $7.99.

Netflix recorded $822 million in revenues for Q3 2011 and forecasted earnings of $841 million to $875 million for the fourth quarter although the service lost more than 800,000 U.S subscribers in third quarter.

IROKOtv could just become Africa’s own Netflix providing unlimited access to African movies and TV shows to the world, growing its membership base and generating huge revenues in a few years.

Currently, the NollywoodLove channel on Youtube sees over 1.2 million viewers monthly and has generated about $1 million in revenues mainly from adverts on the movies.

But, Iroko Partners have realised that putting Nollowood movies only on Youtube could be restrictive and limited as it doesn’t allow them to build a membership base and explore other revenue streams such as the subscription model available on Netflix.

With the subscription model, IROKOtv would be able to charge its members a small fee for watching movies (without ads)  and for free (with ads) on its own platform.

The platform could also bring full length episodes of your favourite and popular TV shows such as Naija Sings, Big Brother Africa, etc as well as TV soap operas to its platform for members to have access to online.

Besides, internet-connected devices such as the Xbox 360, Wii and PS3 consoles as well as the Apple TV or Encipher TV could easily be connected to your TV or HDTV for streaming instantly from IROKOtv.

Of course, an IROKOtv application can also enable you to watch all of these video content on your iPad, iPhone, Galaxy Tab and other Android-powered devices.

However, for IROKOtv to really become the ‘Netflix of Africa’, broadband connection speed will have to be optimal, as no ISP or Telco currently offers ‘real’ broadband in Nigeria, due to the lack of a national fibre backbone infrastructure.

Although watching video content instantly may work with different levels of broadband, a minimum speed of 500kbps (0.5MB) is highly recommended.

At the moment, NollywoodLove sees more than 90% of site traffic coming from regions like the EU, North America, the Caribbean and the Middle East, where broadband services are more readily available and where there’s a huge number of Diasporan Nigerians.

Hopefully, when broadband becomes readily available and easily accessible in Africa, more and more Africa-based viewers will begin to form IROKOtv’s primary audience.

I think that if IROKOtv could attract a critical mass Africa-based audience as well as a huge global audience; expand their video content offering to include African movies and TV shows and episodes; and generate revenues in the excess of $1 billion annually, it could really become the ‘Netflix of Africa’!

My post and tweets got the attention of Mobitel Nigeria, one of the ISPs that may be experiencing issues with their service in recent times. In a direct message sent to me a few hours ago via Twitter, the @MobitelNigeria representative apologised for the challenges I’ve experienced with their network.

He further said that Mobitel doesn’t believe that these challenges have been there since I acquired their device and that my experience is not the true nature of their network and does not reflect the quality they have worked to build or wish to deliver.

No doubt, Mobitel 4G is a great network. I used the service at a friend’s place when they launched sometime in December last year. But, it is possible that the quality of service has decreased due to more and more people joining their network.

And that’s not just peculiar to Mobitel. It happens to almost every new Internet service out there.

However, it could also be that Mobitel’s coverage area is not as strong as required where I reside in Ajah in the Lekki Penninsula. The Mobitel rep acknowledges that if in the course of a diagnosis they find that my current location of use is not well covered, they will advise and as appropriate.

But a quick look at Mobitel’s Coverage map found here, shows that Ajah seems well covered with infrastructures in Victoria Garden City (VGC), Thomas Estate/Abraham Adesanya Estate and Modupe Young Street, off the Ajah-Badore Road, which is pretty closest to where I reside.

Perhaps these infrastructures are not robust enough or are simply inadequate to cater to the community. Again, I’m not sure if Mobitel has a base station around the Lekki axis, of which if present could boost Internet speed within the area.

But whatever the case, I’d like to believe that Mobitel is not any of such ISPs that advertise what they can’t offer. But with its touted 2.3 GHz frequency, we shouldn’t even bother making complaints or twiplaints, as the case may be.

If you’re easily wowed by advertising on billboard or television that depicts a man blown away by the speed of his Internet connection, just wait until you test the service.

For so long, brands have joined forces with advertising agencies to create a good product/service out of a lousy one at the very expense of consumers who hardly complain nor rely on the grossly inefficient Consumer Protection Council of Nigeria.

In Kenya, consumers have had to create their own consumer protection council as in sites such as Gotissuez. In Nigeria, we mostly rant about failed services on Twitter or Facebook and hardly get the attention of brands.

For Internet-related services, operators have used all methods to lure consumers, spending millions, if not billions in advertising instead of on improving their service delivery. For instance, most new generation ISPs and so-called broadband providers such as ipNx, Swift Networks and Mobitel advertise speeds from 1MBps to 4MBps, but deliver less than that.

Here’s a screenshot of Swift Network’s and Mobitel’s actual speeds for an advertised speed of up to 4MBps:

From the speed test screenshots above, you’d notice that download and upload speeds are very poor and the connection grade of the above ISPs are D+ and D respectively (that is between 20% – 39%) showing that 63% and 73% of connections in Nigeria are faster than these ISPs.

Granted, these ISPs operate in difficult conditions with challenges such as power and infrastructure to contend with. Again, the issue is not peculiar to Nigeria alone. In the UK, the average advertised speed in May 2011 was 15Mbit/s, which was 8.2Mbit/s higher than average actual speeds of 6.8Mbit/s, according to Ofcom.

Yet, that’s not an excuse to mislead consumers into thinking that their Internet services are faster than a space shuttle.

Note to ISPs: Why not spend millions improving on your service delivery and retaining loyal consumers, instead of advertising a lousy Internet service?

Note to Users: Why not test an Internet speed of an ISP before deciding to purchase their Internet service, instead of being blown away by a commercial advert?

Note to Self: Why not publicly diss ISPs that suck on a regular basis, instead of being diplomatic

Thanks to @amorebise for the Swift Networks speed test screenshot

In a 2010 report about Nigeria, The Oxford Business Group asked the top executives of the four biggest GSM operators in Nigeria if they see Code Division Multiple Access (CDMA) operators in Nigeria as competition for GSM operators.

Here were their responses:

Mohammed Jameel, Group COO of Globacom believes that “any operator will be competition, whether it is CDMA or GSM”, although Nigeria is predominantly a GSM market. He further said that in the bigger markets such as India, people are increasingly switching from CDMA to GSM, citing the example of the two big operators there, Reliance and Tata. For him, he doesn’t “feel that there could be any technical advantage of CDMA operators to fight with GSM operators”, although the least they could do is take some of the market share.

For Ahmad Farroukh, CEO, MTN Nigeria, he believes that both technologies have their own advantages and disadvantages, but “GSM has a definite advantage in terms of market reach”. He further said that although some people think that CDMA has an advantage in data services, he personally has not seen any evidence in other markets such as India and North America where major CDMA operators are switching to GSM technology.

Pointing to the poor 2009 results for CDMA operators, he thinks that “there may be something wrong with the business model being followed by some CDMA operators”. According to him, “it appears that the significant pricing competition between CDMA operators is not sustainable over the medium term”.

[Review the State of Nigeria’s Mobile Telecoms Market (Q4 2010)]

Etisalat Nigeria’s CEO, Stephen E. Evans brought an entirely different perspective to this topic. He feels that CDMA operators are ripe for consolidation, though this has to be based on some synergies between those operators. He further points to the fact that since most of the large CDMA operators have built their infrastructure in the same place, it therefore becomes a challenge for them to achieve synergies from a network perspective.

On the issue of competition, he didn’t mince words when he said: “We do see them as competition, because some of the CDMA operators have a large customer base of 1 million – 2 million subscribers and have a strong position in the data card area.” But, he didn’t also fail to stress that CDMA operators have perhaps “struggled to some extent in the area of voice customers, because the limited footprint of their coverage puts them at a slight disadvantage”.

By and large, he feels that the CDMA technology needs to evolve dramatically in the near future in order to remain competitive.

In Khaled Khorshid’s (ex-COO, Zain Nigeria – now Airtel Nigeria) opinion, CDMA is a technology that is definitely working and many of their (Airtel’s) customers have CDMA as a second line. However, he believes that the technology behind CDMA is no match to the GSM; as the former, by default, is degraded in quality as greater numbers of customers join the network.

According to Khorshid, “I am yet to be convinced that our CDMA competition will be able to sustain and grow their market share”. He noted that we will see consolidation between providers as one measure of survival.

[Review the State of Nigeria’s Mobile Telecoms Market (Q4 2010)]

My Thoughts

I really don’t see any competition from the CDMA operators. Never mind the seemingly aggressive campaigns, lower call rates being offered and (oh yeah) the recent acquisition of Multi-links Telkom’s CDMA business by Visafone.

Most importantly, numbers don’t lie.

In the April 2011 subscriber data released by the Nigerian Communications Commission, the total CDMA active lines stood at 5.9 million compared to GSM’s active lines of 83.6 million. As a matter of fact, the data shows a decrease of 1.7 million CDMA subscribers since April 2010, while GSM active lines have increased by 14 million since April 2010.

As the GSM industry marks its 10th anniversary of commercial rollout in August 2011, operators are neck deep into the price war for lower voice call rates as well as new and cheaper data plans.

Will GSM operators nail the coffin for CDMA operators in 2011? 2012? 2013? Or would data be CDMA operators last breath?

What are your thoughts?

Today, MTN Blackberry subscribers all of Nigeria could not access the Blackberry Internet Service (BIS) for a minimum of 12 hours. What that meant was that subscribers could not receive emails, send emails, use the BB chat and perform any other Internet-related activity.

Although the signal service (strength) was displaying ‘EDGE’ which ordinarily would allow you to use the BIS, yet subscribers could neither access the Internet nor read or send emails.

I noticed this trend when I woke up this morning expecting to hear alert tones of emails or BB chat messages to be viewed. Usually, my Blackberry automatically sleeps at 11.55pm and wakes up at 4.55am. It got me wondering when I didn’t get any alerts, so I assumed it was a temporary network problem.

But when this persisted until about 7am when I arrived the office, I knew it was more than a temporary problem. As soon as my phone automatically detected wireless network (WIFI) at the office, tons of emails and BB chat messages started coming in.

When my colleagues came in, I was relieved to know it wasn’t just me and my Blackberry. They too were experiencing the same problem. In fact, one of them said he woke up at about 4am to read some news and respond to some important emails, but couldn’t get access.

MTN’s Message

At 11.25am, I got an SMS from MTN Nigeria which read:

Dear Customer, MTN Blackberry services are currently unavailable. Work ongoing for speedy resolution. We apologize for inconveniences caused.

Later at 1:20pm, another SMS came and said:

Dear Customer, MTN Blackberry services have been restored. Thank you for choosing MTN.

Was MTN Nigeria trying to say that for the last 12 hours or so, work was “ongoing for speedy resolution”?

When I put a call through to Customer Care (it took about 10 minutes to get through to a customer representative), I was told that they are aware of the BIS outage and can confirm that it’s now back up. I asked what was the problem with the outage and what compensation is there for MTN subscribers affected.

The MTN customer care representative named Chika said they were sorry for the inconvenience and that I can direct my questions on the reasons for the BIS outage to their Network Support Group. [I've contacted them and still awaiting their response.] She even thanked me for choosing MTN. Well Chika, thanks, but I might be leaving MTN.

In case you don’t know, MTN Blackberry service in Nigeria cost N5,000 per month to subscribe, so I thought if half a day’s access to the service has been denied, how do I and others affected get compensated?

What do you think of the MTN Blackberry service outage? Are other Blackberry Internet Services from the other operators any better?

Since I moved back to Nigeria last year after living in Europe for about 3 years, I’ve been wondering when I’ll be able to enjoy the fastest internet connection.

So when Globacom announced last November that they would be launching an undersea submarine cable by March 2009, I was hoping it won’t be one of those projects that will be abandoned or take longer than expected.

Because of my quest for broadband, I wrote about a few ‘broadband-related’ internet connections such as Swift Hotspot, Starcomms iZap and MTN F@stlink with Swift Hotspot claiming to be the fastest broadband service available in Nigeria with downloads of a 200MB file in 2 minutes.

Although, I’ve used all of these wireless internet connections, none of them seems to be compared to what I’ve been used to in Europe. (At a time, I used Freebox)

Interestingly, Globacom has announced their broadband service with the launch of Glo Broad Access (not 3G plus) which offers convergent Phone and Broadband ADSL internet services, allowing customers to unleash the full power and capabilities of Globacom’s Optical Fibre Network directly into their homes and offices.

The new service will have significant impact on the way we work, conduct business, pursue education, obtain information and get entertained in Nigeria. It will allow subscribers to use the same dedicated Glo fixed line in their homes and offices for voice call, internet connection, video conferencing and cable television.

Powered by the superior and globally preferred ADSL technology (riding on the backbone of Globacoms’ highly redundant, ring protected MPLS fibre network and using the very latest DWDM technology) users of the Broad Access ‘Phone and Broadband internet services’ will enjoy crystal clear voice clarity and instant 24/7 unlimited access to the Internet at speed of thought.

According to Globacom’s Group Chief Operating Officer, Mr. Mohamed Jameel, the service offerings from Glo Broad Access includes landline telephony on IP/MPLS-enabled optic fibre for distortion-free clarity, 24/7 connectivity and stability of connection at a reasonable cost.

Jameel stated that other packages included in the service are video conferencing, which would help to reduce travel and thus enhance enterprise productivity, fast broadband internet which allows for interactive gaming, video streaming, high speed downloads and simultaneous “Talk & Surf” on the connection.

“Glo Broad Access will also offer consumers their favourite local and foreign cable TV channels subject to agreement with broadcast right owners, using thesame magical digital wire or dedicated Glo fixed line,” Jameel said.

What will Glo BroadAccess Cost?

Glo’s Broadband package will be available for home and very small offices, SMSs and corporates, and large enterprises and the cost will vary depending on the package.

See a detailed information about Glo’s Broadband tariffs, which I find relatively affordable for a service which offers the convergence of advanced voice, advanced data and advanced video on one single wired line.

Before now, the cost of broadband access in Nigeria has been described as one of the highest in the world, according to Mavis Ampah, a World Bank representative. She said broadband connectivity in the Nigeria is very low at 0.01 when compared to countries such as India and Tanzania, the latter with about 13 % broadband connectivity.

Now that will change soon.

Globacom’s Bid to Buy NITEL

Globacom’s bid to buy pioneer national operator, Nigerian Telecommunications Limited (NITEL) in the privatisation process under way by the Bureau of Public Enterprises (BPE) received a major boost last week as Federal lawmakers said that they will back the bid of the second national operator (SNO).

If Globacom’s bid goes through, the telecoms giant will acquire at least a 75 per cent stake in the entire NITEL conglomerate or at least a 75 per cent stake in one or several of its components, namely: SAT-3; Domestic Fixed Line Telephony; National Fibre-Optic Transmission Backbone; CDMA networks, MTEL (GSM), and Analog System (TACS).

What that means is that, Globacom will be able to leverage on the backbone of NITEL’s infrastructure together with Globacom’s state-of-the-art optical fibre cable (OFC) that connects over 40 cities in Nigeria which will enable fixed land lines in homes and offices all over Nigeria as well as the financial benefits that comes with such a huge acquisition.

While I can’t wait to use Glo’s BroadAccess, my hope is that Globacom will provide broadband Internet security measures to protect users from cyber-attacks and other related cases. Perhaps, a real-time Internet surveillance mechanism will help ensure safe internet access via this new broadband service.

For now, we can only imagine what such cyber-related crimes can do.