ATCON, AITEC partner on ComBIT-09

The Association of Telecommunication Companies of Nigeria (ATCON) and continental event managers, AITEC, are partnering in the organization of ComBIT 2009, which holds at the Lagoon Restaurant, Victoria Island, Lagos in November.

Disclosing this at a press meeting in Lagos, the National President of ATCON, Dr. Emmanuel Ekuwem, said that his group and AITEC are determined to develop the event into the region’s top showcase for the computing and telecommunications industries.

“AITEC was the natural choice as our partner in this endeavour as they have a solid track record of organising highly successful Information and Communication Technology (ICT) events across Africa since 1990,” he said.

Ekuwem also said that working with AITEC at the three-day event with the theme “ICT for Development” comprised of a half day conference and three-day exhibition.

He emphasized that the partnership has afford the collaboration to develop a world-class industry event that would do justice to Nigeria’s leadership role in the region’s rapidly developing ICT market.

“AITEC is delighted and proud to be working with ATCON to create an industry event that will have a major positive impact on the development of the market in Nigeria and throughout the region. In these times of financial cut-backs it’s vital for all private sector and government organisations make the right purchasing decisions,” he said.

As said by him, the mission of the partnership is to create a highly competitive market place through the expo with leading local and international suppliers represented.

“We will empower the region’s ICT professionals to make those effective decisions.

In addition, the show will save them the expense of travelling to international trade shows to keep abreast of latest developments in IT and telecoms technology by bringing a wide range of international suppliers to Lagos, so they can meet them on their doorstep,” he explained.

ATCON, he said, is delighted with the support received so far from the founder and chairman of AITEC, Mr. Sean Moroney, for his deep personal interest and contributions to the partnership.

In addition, he revealed that ComBIT-09 would be playing host to Deutsche Messe, organizers of CEBIT shows in Hannover, Germany as observers.

Equally, ATCON insisted that the consumer SIM card registration should be voluntary and not mandatory, noting that the proposed monthly subscription by those who are registered for the service must be treated as an insurance or savings.

“In other words, should a subscriber phone not be stolen during the period of registration for the service, the consumer is entitled to some financial benefits at the end of the registered period,” he said, stressing that the SIM pack should be seen as a value-added service given by the operator.

“There is no need for an interface company to be inserted between the operators and the consumers,” he said.

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