With the availability of an official Opera Mini version with multiple tabs, I am having further comments disabled for this topic.

Thanks all for the discussions.

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Hi, kindly send the settings for operamini,am using mtn & zain on 3110c.tanks a lot.

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David Ella,

Yes; I did. You are correct. I reported Nigeria’s mobile internet statistics growth as a fact based on Opera’s State of the Mobile Web reports. Here are the links to the various news reports about Nigeria’s mobile internet usage via Opera Mini:

May 28th, 2009: Nigeria now Number 9 on Opera Mini Global Chart
April 27th, 2009: Nigeria Displaces Germany on Opera Mini Top 10 Chart
February 25th, 2009: Armenia, Nigeria led Mobile Web Growth in 2008

Now, it is just sad that this huge growth in mobile internet usage has translated into very little increase in income for the mobile networks who provide that service. It is sad. It is wrong. Right now, it is largely a parasitic relationship, instead of a mutually beneficial one.

Now, here are also some of my feature articles on the subject of illegal free browsing hacks:
March 17th, 2009: This Free Browsing Thing
November 4th, 2008: The Free Browsing Tricks on Mobile Networks

My position has been clear all along. I simply refused to mix up official news reports and statistics with my personal convictions on how those statistics came to be. But my position has been clearly stated publicly and privately.

Yes; indeed, once again Nigeria is losing out on this front, as we are on many others. And it is not because of MTN, Zain, Etisalat or Glo. It is because of us. We are simply generally corrupt. This is why we must change. So far, we have proven that we do not need any enemies; for sadly, we are more than able to keep ourselves from progressing forever.

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Tsk,tsk.The irony of it all Yomi,you once posted that operamini users in Nigeria displaced Germany in operamini usage!Now thats going to change.On the opera blog,several Nigerians sent posts alerted opera on this situation but the administrator said there was little they could do about the block.He also stated the traffic from Nigeria had significantly gone down.Here we are Nigeria, again we’ve lost out on the simplest things in life!*sigh*

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Gabriel,

Your argument is baseless on all fronts.

One, no-one here has said that MTN is virtous and blameless (or otherwise).

Two, I am well aware of tariffs across different countries, and I can assure you that in some of those countries, the tariffs are actually higher.

Three, while you and I may disagree with what a network charges for its services, every business is free to set its tariffs. MTN’s tariffs are legal. Free network hacks are illegal.

Four, even if people feel that certain tariffs are exploitative (while not illegal), perpetuating an illegality against service providers is not only wrong but illegal.

Five, the mass adoption of commercial services that should drive lower prices does not exist here, because the people who should drive lower tariffs are too busy exploiting the networks. It is a case of shooting oneself in the foot.

Six, those foreign networks that you so love generally have the same time-limited bundles that you are complaining about here. You obviously know little or nothing about what you are so vehement about.

You claim that these networks are not innovative. That is untrue, but for the purposes of this discussion, I shall agree with you. Can I ask how many innovative things you have put up in providing any needed services to people? Can I also ask that you state one mobile network in any other country whose mobile internet service you consider innovative – and state what this wonderful innovation is so we may draw a critical comparison with what obtains here?

**If you are going to respond to this comment of mine, be sure to provide concrete answers to the above questions.

Lastly, while you may not use illegal free hacks, by arguing in its favour, you make yourself an accomplice and just as guilty as the actual users.
It is odd that you claim that Nigerians know when things are corrupt, yet the majority are corrupt. The truth is that you and the numerous others who use these silly excuses as submitted above to perpetuate illegal acts are corrupt and do not know it. Or perhaps you all do know that what you are doing is wrong and are just being bare-faced hypocrites?

You are as corrupt as the advanced fee fraudsters, for your actions are based on the same principle.

Thanks for posting.

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for those saying that mtn is virtous and blameless, i want to challenge them to go and compare the tariff 4 packet data in other countries like south africa where mtn operates with what is obtained in nigeria and you’ll can conveniently answer the question of who is exploited and who is not.

mtn uses the excuse of instability in power supply to exploit nigerians so if nigerians use the excuse of almost unaffordable tariff rate to exploit them, it evens them out, so for all those calling nigerians corrupt, i suggest they think twice, let them be rational and dont be brain washed.

nigerians know when things are corrupt, if mtn will begin selling of affordable packet data without any time limit unlike what they are doing in their gprs data bundles and also provide some free hours of browsing like what they did in free night calls, i tell you that a greater percentage of nigerians me included will have nothing to do with illegal browsing.

let them be innovative and the loyalty, trust and patronage from their subscribers will follow.

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Tumininu,

I have just re-downloaded the Opera Mini file from the link above, and it is indeed a JAR file that shows up on my PC as a Nokia Application Installer file.

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Chukwudi,

Let legitimate subscribers use the built-in browsers on their phones – and bear the brunt of the extra costs.

Do we ever wonder how much damage is done to these networks being exploited by greedy, hypocritical Nigerians who work out, promote and encourage these illegal hacks?

If I found out that people were exploiting a commercial service provided by my business, I would plug it too. This is the same thing Western service providers like PayPal do. They plug a hole and shut everybody else out – and I do not blame them.

We must learn responsibility and integrity. When the generality of Nigerians stop being corrupt – exploiting everything possible to the detriment of others – we can begin to take service providers to task about their actions.

For now, all those claiming that the network operators are ripping Nigerians off and using that as an excuse to carry out illegalities against them are crooks themselves – and certainly hypocrites. It is the same excuse 419 practitioners – and indeed all crooks – use.

When the majority shun illegality and all forms of corruption, things will get better for legitimate users.

I know from experience that my position on this subject is not popular, but it is a position I will continue to stand for.

Cheers.

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plz i dont understand the opera 3.10 on the posted link. its not a nokia application file but a rar file which after unrar have lots of files in it but no jar or jad file to instal on my phone. Plz help.

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@Yomi: I guess the networks finally got wiser but then what happens to legitimate internet browsers?
I tire oh!

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