16 NEWS/BUSINESS
Wednesday, December 31, 2014
Etisalat Offers Subscribers Unlimited Internet Data BY Chima Akwaja, Lagos
Etisalat Nigeria has introduced an unlimited internet data offering called Etisalat SmartPak designed to provide subscribers with data for their preferred consumption platforms. The packages are positioned to give subscribers unlimited access
to the content they use most. The chief executive officer, Etisalat Nigeria, Matthew Willsher, speaking on the new product said the Etisalat SmartPak is different from the all-purpose Easyblaze bundles which charge customers for the size of data they want; rather each pack provides unlimited access to
specific services. “The Etisalat SmartPak fits each consumer’s internet needs by offering internet services in terms of their desired content –be it social or business content. For example, a customer who prefers, and does more, chatting can subscribe to the ChatPak for access to chat apps such as WhatsApp,
Facebook Messenger, WeChat and 2Go, rather than subscribing to data access in megabytes and gigabytes,” Willsher said. The Etisalat SmartPak consists of the Social Me Pak, ChatPak, and Video Pak. The ChatPak offers access to all chat applications like WhatsApp and BBM while the Social Me Pak gives subscribers
access to social media platforms such as Facebook, Twitter, Instagram, in addition to the chat apps available on ChatPak. The Video Pak offers a 2-hour access to stream for only N400. With this, subscribers can watch their favourite football match or makeup video without thinking of the costs.
Ecobank Hands over N74m Hostel to DELSU BY Bukola Idowu, Lagos
L-R: Olympic Milk brand ambassador, Peter Okoye (P-Square); one of the winners of the Blue Santa Selfie Challenge, Joy Orji and manager, Category Marketing, Standard Milk, Nutricima Limited, Mr Raphael Agbaje during the presention gifts to winners of the Blue Santa Selfie Challenge in Lagos. PHOTO BY GBENGA OLAJOBI
SEC Extends Deadline For New Capital Base By OLUSHOLA BELLO, Lagos
Relief has come the way of the stockbroking community as the apex regulatory body for the capital market, the Securities and Exchange Commission (SEC), has extended the deadline of the new minimum capital requirement to September 2015. According to the SEC, the board took cognizance of the effect of the global economic situation and approved an extension of the deadline for compliance by nine months – from December 31, 2014, September 30, 2015. According to a stockbroker, who spoke under anonymity, “The stock market decline has affected the value of stockbrokers’ worth in the market as the fall in share prices has reduced significantly.” He said that with the extension
and recovery of the capital market in 2015, the stockbroking community will be able to meet the new deadline. Speaking on the issue, a stockbroker with Calyx Securities Limited, Mr Tunde Oyediran, said, “This singular action of postponing the recapitalisation exercise of operators shows that the SEC is sensitive to the plight of operators and, of course, the market. “We really commend this laudable action. The nine months grace period is enough for any serious-minded firm which wants to remain in business to recapitalise.” The managing director of Highcap Securities Limited, Mr David Adonri, said that the development is a sign of relief to all the stockbroking community. He pointed out that the stock broking houses have suffered huge decline in the equity market,
saying that “what they have actually accumulated to serve as the basis of meeting the capital base has declined due to the downtrend in the stock market.” He explained that it is not capital base that is used by the SEC in trying to mitigate the risks in the capital market but the fidelity guarantee insurance. “The capital base thing should be cancelled; it does not add anything significant to stockbroking business and does not mitigate any risk in the market,” Adonri said. The SEC had announced major increases in minimum capital requirements for capital market functions under a new minimum capital structure, raising minimum capital base for broker/dealer from the existing N70 million to N300 million.
As part of its corporate social responsibility (CSR), Ecobank Nigeria has handed over a multi-million naira hostel complex to the Delta State University (DELSU), Abraka, Delta State. Speaking at the event, the executive director, South South and South East, Ecobank Nigeria, Mr Kingsley Umadia, said the project was in line with the bank’s CSR policy to give back to the communities where it operates. He explained that the abandoned 166room 4-wing female hostel was completed and made habitable by the bank with the sum of N118 million under a build, operate and transfer (BOT) agreement entered into by both institutions in 2007. He said that “the university recently approached the bank to take over the management of the hostel and pay the outstanding balance of N64.36 million which the bank was yet to collect. But the bank, in a CSR initiative, graciously forfeited the outstanding balance and injected an additional N10 million to renovate the hostel before today’s handover to the school.” Umadia reiterated that the bank has been involved in various intervention measures in education and other sectors of the economy. In his speech, the out-going vice chancellor of the niversity, Prof Eric Arubayi, commended Ecobank for handing over the hostel to the school despite the fact that it was yet to collect half of the funds it spent to complete the abandoned hostel complex under the BOT agreement, assuring that it will be put to good use. “This handover is a great honour to me as this is my last day in office. We are greatly touched by this massive CSR project from Ecobank. The decision of the bank to forfeit about N65 million and further inject N10 million to renovate the hostel before the handover is highly commendable,” Arubayi said. He lauded Ecobank’s professional way of doing business and excellent service delivery, assuring that the university will continue to do business with the bank. The president, Student Union, DELSU, Comrade Obaro Ohwojero, and a cross session of female students at the event were full of commendation for the bank and urged other corporate organisations to emulate it.