Here at the Mobility blog, we have been conducting a national survey of mobile subscribers for some months now. We had covered some cities in the West of Nigeria. We also had Abuja covered.

We recently made a contact in Zaria, and then decided to get there to set things in motion. Being the adventurous person that I am, I thought it would be fun to drive all the way with Dayo. We would go via Abuja. I had been to Abuja twice before this time, once by coach, and the other by air.

My wife gasped, choked and spluttered at the news of the road trip. My staff protested. I persisted.

Gadgets
First up, and probably most important gadget for a road trip is – wrong – a car. Yep; its mobile; isn’t it? My vehicle is a 1.4 cc engine Hyundai Accent 2008 model with a mileage of just 35,000 kilometres on it since its purchase 3 years ago.

Next was my Nokia N8 which served as a mobile phone and exclusive camera all through the trip. With the N8 around, there was simply no point attempting to take pictures with any other device. It also served as a backup web browser at various times.

I had a backup device, the E7. Its primary duty was to serve as a mobile PC to get our work done on the move.

I also had a portable loudspeaker for enjoying great quality music in our hotel rooms.

Those were the gadgets that I packed along, though Dayo had his own small list.

In the following parts of this series, I will share with you how Nokia Maps helped (or hindered) us in navigating hundreds of kilometres across Nigeria. I will also share our experiences with the various mobile networks, as well as pictures we took here and there.

Have you taken a cross-country trip of this sort before? What were your experiences with mobile networks like? What gagdets did you put to use and how did you use them?

234Next has reported that the Nigerian Communications Commission (NCC) has announced that it now has the capacity to render stolen phones useless on Nigerian mobile networks.

From the news report on 234Next’s website:

A statement from NCC on Sunday in Abuja said this was sequel to the launch of the national anti-mobile phone theft initiative by the commission in partnership with a private firm.

However, to benefit from the service, subscribers must first register their phones with their service providers and keep a record of their International Mobile Equipment
Identity (IMEI).

The Information and Communications Minister Dora Akunyili had at a recent public forum declared that about 2 million phones were reported stolen in the country daily.

“With the commencement of this initiative, any reported stolen phone would be barred from any of the mobile networks in the country, thereby making that handset useless within Nigeria.

“The GSM and Code Division Multiple Access (CDMA) mobile operators have already signed to move their subscribers into the system with Zain Mobile already connected to the Netvisa (the private firm) anti-phone theft system,” the statement said.

“The menace of mobile phone theft has become a serious problem in the country and has not only inconvenienced many people but also endangered lives and businesses,” it added.

Full news item: NCC says it has technology to block stolen phones

I have been working behind the scenes on a concise guide to mobile internet in Nigeria. Nigeria is one of the fastest growing mobile voice and internet countries in the world. This free ebook provides concise but useful information about the available GSM-based mobile internet services in the country.

• 2nd Revision: Mar. 2010
• 1st Revision: Feb. 2010

A revised version is now available for download