In 2004, 4.1 percent of Sri Lankan households had computers. As the data comes in from our six-country study, we will post the numbers for those countries as well.
Looks like this will change the nature of the debate. The report states that Intel and Microsoft are not happy with Negoponte’s baby.
For $150, Third-World Laptop Stirs a Big Debate - New York Times
Mary Lou Jepsen, the chief technologist for the project, likes to refer to the insight that transformed the machine from utopian dream to working prototype as “a really wacky idea.”
Ms. Jepsen, a former Intel chip designer, found a way to modify conventional laptop displays, cutting the screen’s manufacturing cost to $40 while reducing its power consumption by more than 80 percent. As…
Tags: Argentina, Brazil, Debate - New York Times, Intel, Libya, Mary Lou Jepsen, Microsoft, Nigeria, operating system, Taiwan, Thailand, USD.
As part of the Six Country Indicators Project, Deunden presented the interim findings from the Thailand country study (over Skype). The study assesses Thailand’s telecom sector and regulatory performance. It employs the common methodology and list of indicators adopted for the Six Country study.
Very good.
Now will the Indian government walk the walk?
Will the other countries take the lead?
Govt. committed to develop a robust disaster management system: PM
Addressing the First India Disaster Management Congress here, Dr. Singh called for a paradigm shift in disaster management from a “relief-centric” and “post-event” response.
Pointing to the draft National Policy on Disaster Management, he said that it placed greater emphasis on efficient management of disasters, rather than focusing only on immediate response to disasters.
“Such an approach should place emphasis on improving early warning systems, ensuring the reach and efficacy of dissemination, creating awareness and building capacities at all levels of public administration,” he said.
The battle for mobile customers in Latin America is hotting up as 319 million Latin Americans or 56% of the population already own a mobile phone. Telefonica of Spain and America Movil controlled by Mexican businessman Carlos Slim are going head-to-head to expand their market-share in South America and are increasingly targeting the “bottom of the pyramid.”
The Race for Numero Uno in Latin Wireless (Businessweek November 27, 2006):
More than 80% of Brazil’s mobile-telephone customers use prepaid service—buying cards to recharge their phones—rather than signing monthly contracts. América Móvil’s average client uses just 71 minutes of airtime each month, spending around $12.50. Although such revenue can add up, signing up all those customers has an impact on profits as well. “The two big operators have had to…
Tags: America Movil, Brazil, Carlos Slim, cellular telephone, fixed-wireless phones, Latin America, Latin Wireless, mobile-telephone customers, South America, Spain, Telefonica, USD, wireless technology.
LIRNEasia, Sarvodaya and the partners of the HazInfo project have been saying this and more importantly implementing this.
Hope the message will be heard.
Reuters AlertNet - News - Prevention spending must be doubled
Governments, aid agencies and humanitarian actors must spend twice as much on disaster preparedness activities that could save millions of lives, the British Red Cross has urged.Almost two years on from the devastating Indian Ocean tsunami, risk reduction remains low on the international agenda despite encouraging progress in tsunami-affected regions themselves.
“The tsunami highlights the importance of proactively preparing for disasters and this lesson must be learnt and risk reduction must become a high priority in all disaster-prone areas,” said David Peppiatt, British Red Cross head of policy.According to the International Federation of Red Cross…
As part of the Six Country Indicators Project, Malathy presented the interim findings from the Sri Lankan country study (over Skype). The study assesses Sri Lanka’s telecom sector and regulatory performance. It employs the common methodology and list of indicators adopted for the Six Country study.
The Study of India’s Universal Service Instruments by LIRNEasia researchers Payal Malik & Harsha De Silva, critiqued the Indian government’s policy that made only fixed line operators eligible for USO funds:
As of today, the government is giving USO fund support to only the fixed line operators offering services in the rural areas. The over defining terms in the law is a bad idea in a rapidly evolving technology environment, though this correction has been suggested it is quite possible that the previous auctions have left huge amounts of rents that have been appropriated by the incumbent. In an industry that manifests the potential for rapid technological change and innovation, such as telecom, an economic analysis of a problem should not focus too narrowly or exclusively on the…
Tags: Arunachal Pradesh, Bihar, cellular telephone, Chingraliang, Department of Telecom, Harsha de Silva, Henry Island, India, Indian government, Indian USO Fund, Madhya Pradesh, Maharashtra, mobile services, New Delhi, Orissa, passive infrastructure, phone services, technology environment, Thomas K Thomas, Universal Services Obligation fund, Uttar Pradesh.
A story worth checking out.
Have the Bangladesh mobile operators solved the problems of providing reliable and cost-effective Internet connections over GSM networks?
Internet Extends Reach Of Bangladeshi Villagers - washingtonpost.com
Villages in one of the world’s poorest countries, long isolated by distance and deprivation, are getting their first Internet access, all connected over cellphones. And in the process, millions of people who have no land-line telephones, and often lack electricity and running water, in recent months have gained access to services considered basic in richer countries: weather reports, e-mail, even a doctor’s second opinion.Cellphones have become a new bridge across the digital divide between the world’s rich and poor, as innovators use the explosive growth of cellphone networks to connect people to the Internet.
Bangladesh now has about…
Tags: Bangladesh, cellphone networks, download job applications, electricity, GSM, Internet access, Internet centers, Internet connections, Internet Extends Reach Of, Internet phone calls, online dictionaries, Web cameras.
Here is an issue that will feature large in India and even Bhutan, but not Sri Lanka. The reason is that the former countries have a sizable number of cable connections, which will in the future be used to provide broadband access in competition to phone companies.
Because of the profligacy of frequency-based broadcast licensing in Sri Lanka, there is no cable industry to speak of. What there is uses frequencies. That means it cannot easily be turned into a conduit for broadband.
Phone vs. Cable: Turf Wars Escalate - New York Times
What is different now is that the contest is a two-way slugfest between powerful and sophisticated companies with deep pockets and a lot more to lose. The start-ups that were…
Tags: AT&T, Bhutan, Broadband, broadband access, Comcast, Craig Moffett, India, MCI, Sanford Bernstein, Sri Lanka, Time Warner Cable, Turf Wars Escalate - New York Times.
18 November, 2006
In an auction, which lasted four hours with the bid climbing 168 times, the Tashi Group clinched the deal to operate the first private mobile service in the country with a Nu. 777 million (USD 17.32 million) offer.
The Tashi Group outbid three other joint venture companies in the auction that was held in Thimphu on October 16 to operate the license for a period of 15 years.
The three other local companies vying for the license were the Singye Group, which had tied up with Reliance mobile in India, Druktel Private Limited, a consortium of Bhutanese companies, which had joined Airtel also in India and Bhutan Steel, which had tied up Thai company, Shin Satellite Public Corporation Limited.
The bidding began at Nu. 198 million…
Tags: Bhutan, Bhutan InfoComm and Media Authority, Bhutan Steel, Druktel Private Limited, India, Shin Satellite Public Corporation Limited, Singye Group, Tashi Group, Thimphu, Ugen Wangchuk, USD.
[Tsunami Warning - IOC] WCATWC Message
PRELIMINARY EARTHQUAKE PARAMETERS
MAGNITUDE - 7.7
TIME - 0214 AKST NOV 15 2006
0314 PST NOV 15 2006
1114 UTC NOV 15 2006
LOCATION - 46.7 NORTH 153.5 EAST
- KURIL ISLANDS
DEPTH - 21 MILES
THE PACIFIC TSUNAMI WARNING CENTER IN EWA BEACH HAWAII HAS
ISSUED A TSUNAMI WARNING FOR AREAS OF THE PACIFIC OUTSIDE OF
CALIFORNIA/ OREGON/ WASHINGTON/ BRITISH COLUMBIA AND ALASKA.
As Japan braces: Tech-related tsunami resources
By Paul McNamara on Wed, 11/15/2006 - 8:52am
TRAI has asked to amend the current international long distance guidelines to discourage restrictive and monopolistic practices of the incumbents and provide a level playing field to new entrants. Currently, six international cables, owned by BSNL, VSNL, Reliance, and Bharti carry international voice and data to India. They allegedly charge 40% to 60% more than international rates. Full report: http://www.telecomasia.net/article.php?type=article&id_article=2741
Selection of candidates to present papers and participate as Young Scholars at the inaugural CPRsouth conference in Manila is now complete and successful participants have been informed.
The updated CPRsouth1 agenda can be downloaded HERE. Logistical information will be posted as it becomes available.
To those applicants who will not be able to make it to the conference, we hope you continue to participate through the CPRsouth website (www.cprsouth.org) which should be ready in a few weeks. We expect to have a regularly updated site giving the latest news and events of interest to the CPRsouth community and a searchable depository for scholarly works from the community.
What I predicted would happen in 2005, has happened. Pakistan is now ahead of all South Asian countries in basic telecom access other than Maldives.
LANKA BUSINESS ONLINE - LBO
Beyond the horizon, but worth keeping en eye on . . .
BBC NEWS | Technology | Physics promises wireless power
US researchers have outlined a relatively simple system that could deliver power to devices such as laptop computers or MP3 players wirelessly.
The concept exploits century-old physics and could work over distances of many metres, the researchers said.
Although the team had not built and tested a system, computer models and mathematics suggest it would work.
“There are so many autonomous devices such as cell phones and laptops that have emerged in the last few years,” said Assistant Professor Marin Soljacic from the Massachusetts Institute of Technology and one of the researchers behind the work.
“We started thinking, ‘it would be really convenient if you didn’t have to recharge…
Tags: autonomous devices, BBC, cell phones, energy, Marin Soljacic, Massachusetts, Massachusetts Institute of Technology, MP3, power to devices, United States, wireless energy transfer, wireless power.
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