Direct On PC Wins Three ISP Awards
By Okechukwu Kanu
Leading Internet Service Provider (ISP), Direct on PC has won three of the 10 awards up for grabs at the just concluded Nigeria Internet Service Providers Awards (NISPA 2004), which held in Lagos.
Direct on PC won the awards in the: Best National Coverage ISP 2003, best Consumer Broadband ISP 2003 and Best Rural Centric ISP 2003 categories.
Other winners were Pinet as Best Small Business ISP, 21st Century Technologies as Best Business Broadband ISP, Cyberspace as best dial-up ISP, Tara Systems as best value ISP, Rainbownet as Most Customer Centric ISP, Multilinks as best new Private Telecom Operator (PTO-ISP) and Simbanet as Most innovative ISP for 2003. There were also awards for two leaders in the industry. The immediate past president, Nigeria Internet Group (NIG), and chief executive of Zenith International Bank, Mr. Jim Ovia was given the Internet Colossus 2003 award, while chief executive Linkserve Limited, Mr. Chima Onyekwere won the Internet Pathfinder award.
In a speech on the behalf of the Minister of Science and Technology, Prof. Turner Isoun, his special assistant asked ISPs to come together as a team and make presentation to government on some of the issues that are being overlooked.
"If ISPs are gathered they are in a position to dialogue among themselves and realise that they have a role they must play for government. It may not reflect too well in their pocket but they must think about it," he said.
He said Nigeria had come to the point when they should be able to make distinction between Internet access and the functions and capacity to use those functions.
Computers in the ministries and those ministries that were networked should actually be put to use are they are meant to, he said.
According to Isoun the private sector must begin to realise that it has some degree of responsibility to take the government forward in this area, he said.
" A lot of investment is going into the infrastructure for IT efficiency but the personnel are not matching that level," he said.
Isoun said the ministry's information centres all over the country had to function like arteries bringing feedback to the centre. The only way this can make the ministry effective and efficient, he said, was for there to be online communication. Information should be made part of the overall social process, he said.
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