I wasn’t at the premier of Anabel Mobile’s Windows Mobile powered smartphones held Sunday, February 1st at PC Outlet, The Palms, Victoria Island, even though I recieved an SMS invitation to attend the event, but the MobilityNigeria crew were there.

Anabel Mobile marketed their PS100 desribed as a “media and entertainment device”, and the PS185Y as a “mobile internet device”. (The PS200 QWERTY device is yet to be released)

Oluyomi wrote a very nice review of both phones and compared the PS185Y with his Windows mobile Samsung i900 “Omnia”, which looks longer and wider but thinner, though, the PS185Y felt good in his hand.

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Today, I’m asking this question after reviewing the recently released Connectivity Scorecard 2009 commissioned by Nokia Siemens Networks, which shows that Nigeria has the lowest ICT penetration, usage, potential and accessiblity out of 50 countries of the world.

The Connectivity Scorecard measures the availability of Information and Communications Technologies (ICTs), and the extent to which people, governments and enterprises put these technologies to economically productive use. The updated and expanded second version of the global ICT index is now available, which analyzes the impact of ICT investments on 50 countries from all parts of the world.

From the table below, you’ll see that Nigeria has the lowest connectivity score (1.30), and falls under the category of efficiency and resource-driven economies. Also, it’s clear that not a single African country falls under the category of innovation-driven economies, while . Does that mean that Africa has not been able to use ICTs for innovative purposes?

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The U.S. Mission to Nigeria has launched a secure online appointment booking system as part of plans to improve the processing of non-immigrant visa applications for Nigerians.

The U.S. government announced since October last year that the system will go live to offer service in the U.S. Embassy in Abuja and the U.S. Consulate General in Lagos. What this means is that, former procedures to make appointments and pick up passports are no longer operational.

Borne out of a partnership with VFS Global, the new system features a user-friendly and secure on-line way to make visa appointments; a call center to answer applicants’ questions about booking appointments and the visa application process. It also includes a downtown location and expanded hours in both cities for visa pick-up.

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Here’s an interesting development initiative from Ericsson that would boost ICT in Nigeria. ITNewsAfrica reports that:

International telecoms giant Ericsson has entered into a joint venture with 21st Century Technologies to install a Gigabit-capable Passive Optical Network (GPON) in Nigeria this month, a development that is set to benefit over 10 000 families.

Apart from bringing the much needed Information and Communication Technology (ICT) to the West African nation, the Ericsson-21st Century Technologies partnership will also see Fibre-to-the-Home (FTTH) networks being put in place.

FTTH connectivity is aimed at providing clear internet access, voice-over-IP as well as quality broadband services to the pilot project, which is likely to prove a success to Africa’s most populous nation.

Ericsson, which is also a renowned international company in terms of bringing up both 2G and 3G mobile technologies, will ensure that the use of fibre optic is expanded to the countryside.

Efforts by CAJ News to get comment from the Ericsson official in charge of West African region, Jan Embro, were unsuccessful. However, work on the ground is at an advanced staged.

My Opinion

It would be interesting to see how this development turns out, since Internet penetration in Nigeria is quite sluggish. Most of the internet access has been through VSAT, until recently where WiMax, WiFi internet access is gradually becoming popular.

The question is: Would this not be a drop in an ocean?

Nigeria has a lot of potentials if only there is high-speed broadband access. Until this is possible, lack of internet connectivity would still hamper the growth of web-centric business start-ups.

I’ve reviewed a few sites that offer SMS services, but perhaps, none of them offer over 50 free SMSes when you sign up. Yeah, that’s what you get when you sign up with textit.

With textit, you can recieve free SMS

1. when you sign up
2. when you refer friends
3. when you complete an online
4. when you post in the forum

You can also send personalized sms with your own ID - as numbers of plain text as “sender”. Here’s how it works: In the sender area you may enter anything you wish, like numbers or characters. If you enter your number as sender, replies go directly to your mobile phone.

Textit also allows you to browse through forums and interact with other users in a social networking environment, thus share ideas and discussing anything from mobile technology to online dating. You can also contribute to the forum with new tricks on mobile tech/apps, and post it in the forum so everyone can benefit as well as uploads and downloads.

The SMS service works with most of the worldwide mobile operators such as MTN, Celtel, Vodafone, Orange, amongst others, and all of this you get for free. Textit has a user friendly interface, so you don’t have to be an experienced user to use the services.