Convergence
The lines get
thinner (1)
By SEGUN ORUAME.
Techno-optimists dreamt of technology convergence in the early 90s
when digitalization would erase the lines between traditional mode
of communication to bring all content whether audio, video or text
storable in the same format and delivered through a wide variety of
technologies including computers, mobile phones, televisions and
other devices. That dream is now a solid reality in the 20s. Welcome
to the age of convergence where you make flight booking via your
mobile phones and pay for the same service via an SMS or Internet
window that connects to your bank account.
The distinct walls of IT, telecoms, media and consumer electronics
industries have collapsed to create one large 'converged' industry
as technology analyst Kate Wild has put it far back in 2006 when
convergence was beginning to gather momentum across countries. Now
in Nigeria’s mobile phone market of over 90 million subscribers,
digital satellite pay TV company, MultiChoice DSTV is offering
digital television broadcast on mobile devices including iPod Touch,
the iPhone, iPad, notebooks and other smartphones via its DSTV
Mobile network coverage in several cities such as Lagos, Abuja,
Ibadan, Port Harcourt, Onitsha, Asaba, Benin City, Kaduna and Enugu.
The launch of the mobile television services early this year by
MultiChoice DSTV using the Digital Video Broadcast – Handheld (“DVB-H”)
technology standard thickens the argument for regulatory convergence
in respect of the National Broadcasting Commission (NBC), the
regulatory authority for the broadcast industry and the Nigerian
Communications Commission (NCC), the telecom regulator. This much is
stressed by the Director General of the NBC, Engr Yomi Bolarinwa:
“Convergence is here and we cannot run away from it, much more so
that technology that has converged keep on growing in leaps and
bound, technology in communication today keeps on looking out for
the best and the technology is based on digitalization and
digitalization is based on conversion,”
Even then, as Nigeria begins to explore the market for mobile money
following the licensing of several mobile money operators by the
Central Bank of Nigeria (CBN), the country’s regulatory authority,
convergence is helping to reshape the relationship of the CBN and
NCC in a market valued at over $2 billion (about N300 billion) that
is bound to change service delivery in the financial market. Mobile
payment or m-payment is a point-of-sale payment made from or via a
mobile device; m-payment allows individuals and corporate bodies to
pay for goods and services and even effect transfer of monetary
instruments without physical interaction.
Much of corporate Nigeria has followed the convergence trail to
deliver services to customers that have web or mobile access.
Virtually all banks offer online or SMS-based banking services. In
the top league are First Bank Plc, GTBank, UBA Plc and Fidelity
Bank. Customers need not go to bank to confirm cheque payments to
third parties. They only need a mouse click to make transfer from
their account to another account even if the account is domiciled in
another bank. In the aviation, the big industry players particularly
Aero Contractors and Dana Airlines lead in online and SMS-driven
flights booking and payments. Notably, Aero Contractors has helped
to redefine customers’ behavior using mobile SMS and web tools to
pep up patronage and bring ease of interaction between a service
provider and its potential customer. A new generation of Nigerians
would never know what flight booking was before the advent of
convergence.
Across West Africa, convergence is gathering steam helped by the
connivance of increased bandwidth courtesy of the entry of several
undersea cables and the growing number of smart mobile devices
delivered by foreign and local hardware supplies such as rlg
Communications in Ghana, Zinox and Omatek Computers in Nigeria. With
the steady shift from narrow band to broadband, West Africa is
poised to experience more trends in convergence even as the market
gets more sophisticated across all sectors from health, education
and the media among others.
