“We Built The Industry Today” – D’banj’s Birthday Message To Don Jazzy

Mavin boss, Don Jazzy clocked 31 yesterday and he got thousands of good will messages from fans, friends, family and well wishers.

His one time label partner and friend, D’banj also sent him a beautiful message via twittter.
D’banj tweeted “Always a good feeling hanging out with my brother from another mother. He made me remember what we built, the industry today, happy birthday brother”

BBM On Iphones Threatens Telcos N9.75bn SMS Revenue

The availability of BlackBerry Messenger – the iconic mobile social network previously exclusive to BlackBerry smartphones – on iPhones and Android, is currently posing a huge threat to the short messaging services revenue of telecoms companies in Nigeria.

Most Nigerians, who hitherto used their iPhones and Android devices to send text messages, are now savouring the BBM service on their phones to achieve the same goal free of charge.

BlackBerry had last month finalised the rollout of the BBM on iPhone and Android devices and made it available as a free download in Google Play and the App StoreSM.

A report by the global consulting firm, Price WaterHouse Cooper, had put the total SMS volume for 2012 at 1.8 billion (on-net and off-net).

According to the firm, the figure is expected to grow by 35.4 per cent in 2013.

This, therefore, puts the expected SMS volume for 2013 at 2.44 billion. Multiplied by N4 charge per SMS, the industry is estimated to generate about N9.75bn as SMS revenue.

Earlier this year, over N7.07bn was estimated to be lost by telecommunications operators in 2013 following the directive by the Nigerian Communications Commission to all operators to reduce the cost of off-net Short Message Services to N4.

The NCC had, in January, issued a directive to the telecoms operators that off-net SMS tariff should be slashed to N4 from N10.

The BBM to iPhone and Android is expected to increase this woe, as patronage for the SMS package is expected to further nose-dive.

Outgoing on-net SMS, according to the Price WaterHouse Cooper report, increased from 911 million in 2011 to 958 million in 2012; outgoing SMS to other mobile operators moved from 316 million to 449 million, while SMS from other mobile operators also increased from 327 million to 421 million during the same period.

An off-net SMS is a text message sent from one network to another such as from MTN to Airtel or Glo to Etisalat. And within a network, it is referred to as on-net SMS.

Commenting on the development, the President, National Association of Telecoms Subscribers, Chief Deolu Ogunbanjo, in a telephone interview with our correspondent on Wednesday, said the introduction of BBM on iPhone and Android would seriously slash the SMS revenue expectations of telcos subsequently.

Culled from PUNCH

9ice Warns Notjustok And Bloggers To Stop Uploading His Songs On Their Websites

Singer 9ice has warned blogs and music websites from uploading his songs.

He says his permission must be sought before his songs can be uploaded.

See his tweets below:

BREAKING NEWS: Nigerian Government Gives ASUU One Week Ultimatum To Call Off Strike

BREAKING NEWS: Nigerian Government Gives ASUU One Week Ultimatum To Call Off Strike

The Federal Government on Thursday gave the Academic Staff Union of Universities, ASUU, one week ultimatum to call off the ongoing strike

The acting Minister of Education, Nyesom Wike, stated this while briefing journalists in Abuja.
ASUU has been on a nationwide strike since July 1, demanding the government implements a 2009 agreement it had with the union.

The lecturers had last week, at the end of the ASUU NEC meeting, resolved to take a definite position on the government’s offer and the strike after meeting President Goodluck Jonathan this week.
The meeting is yet to hold.

Age-Defying Giggs Still Going Strong At 40

London (AFP) - With a vintage cameo at Cardiff City last weekend, Ryan Giggs demonstrated that he remains an integral player for Manchester United despite the arrival on Friday of his 40th birthday.

Playing in the city of his birth, the Welshman rose from the bench in the 73rd minute and immediately caught the eye with a first-time through ball for Danny Welbeck, who shot over. It was Giggs also who led United's vain charge for a winning goal after Cardiff's Kim Bo-kyung had made it 2-2 in stoppage time, lofting a delicately weighted 50-yard pass into the path of Wayne Rooney, only for the United striker to botch the opportunity by electing to pass.

 Alex Ferguson may have stepped down as manager after 26-and-a-half long, glorious years and United may have fallen off the pace under his successor David Moyes, but the ageless Giggs bounds on regardless.
"The best thing is to say he doesn't play like he's 40 and he doesn't look like he's 40," Moyes said recently.

"He's an outstanding player and it's a privilege to be working with him on my staff, but also to have him as a player. I've seen something different since I've come here –- just how good he is, close up –- and it's incredible."

Giggs is starting to cast an eye towards the future, having been enrolled on United's coaching staff following Moyes's arrival from Everton, while he recently opened a London restaurant with former teammate Gary Neville.

However, although his current United contract is due to expire in June, he says he has had no thoughts about turning the page on his playing career.
Asked by Neville during a recent television interview whether the approach of his fifth decade had brought retirement into sharper focus, he said: "I've never been guided really by the age.

"It's just about how I felt, if I'm contributing, if I'm still getting picked, still enjoying it. That's the sort of markers that I look for and all those things I feel like I'm doing.
"I could probably contribute a little bit more, but hopefully that will come as the season goes on. But no, just because I've turned 40 doesn't mean that's it.

"If I felt like that, then I might as well just pack it in now, but I still feel good and I'm still enjoying it."

Giggs is used sparingly these days and has played in only five of United's 12 league games to date this season, but he is already certain to leave a historic legacy.
He is United's record appearance-maker with 953 games and counting, and with 13 league titles, two Champions League trophies, four FA Cups and three League Cups to his name -- as well as a clutch of other prizes -- he is the most decorated footballer in the history of the English game.

A devilish tormentor of opposition right-backs when he blazed onto the scene as a jet-heeled winger in the early-1990s, Giggs has refined his game in recent years and now operates more often than not as an elegant midfield playmaker.
As a youngster, he was dogged by hamstring injuries, but he attributes his longevity to the discovery of yoga techniques that have helped him steer clear of the treatment tables in his latter years.

"The yoga has definitely helped me," he told La Gazetta dello Sport last year. "It helps me train every day because it gives me the flexibility and the strength not only to play the game, but to train as well."

Giggs' famed hunger for success is unlikely to diminish in the months ahead, particularly with United currently seven points behind leaders Arsenal in the Premier League.
He will also be eager to maintain a run of scoring in consecutive league seasons that extends all the way back to 1991 -- before some of his current team-mates were even born.

Yahoomail