Monthly Archives: June, 2007
CPRafrica 2012/CPRsouth7: call for abstracts and young scholar applications. Click here for details.
New studies question benefits of USF subsidies to wireless carriers
Two new studies call into question whether the USA’s universal service subsidies received by cell phone companies generate benefits for consumers. Specifically, the studies show that subsidized cell phone companies actually provide less coverage than unsubsidized companies serving the same areas, and that there is no basis for wireless carriers’ claims that they use the [...]
South Africa’s intrusive new mobile legislation
Tourists, businessmen and other travellers that might want to use their GSM handsets to roam around South Africa will henceforth face some intrusive bureaucracy before they can call home to enthuse about the delights of Cape Town or send pictures of the elephants and lions they see on safari. A new piece of legislation, the [...]
LIRNEasia presents its research in Pakistan
14 June 2007) Rohan Samarajiva, Joseph Wilson, Harsha de Silva and Tahani Iqbal presented recent research conducted by LIRNEasia at a media and stakeholder event organized by the Pakistan Telecom Authority in Islamabad today. Following opening remarks by Chairman of PTA, Major General (R) Shahzada Alam Malik, Samarajiva and Wilson presented the new improved version [...]
Sri Lanka to make mobile numbers portable across operators
Sri Lanka would soon be making mobile telephone numbers portable, telecom minister Rauf Hakeem said addressing the Sri Lanka Economic Summit 2007. Financial Times – Daily Mirror – 09-June-2007 The telecom industry will be ensured with a mobile number portability that is expected to result in more growth, Posts and Telecommunications Minister Rauff Hakeem said [...]
Dialog unveils network expansion plans
Sri Lanka’s Dialog Telekom has signed an investment agreement with the Board of Investment of Sri Lanka (BoI) to invest a further US$300 million in the country’s Telecoms and Media sectors within the next 2 years. A substantial portion of the total investment will be in fixed line Telephony and Broadband services via Dialog Broadband Networks [...]
Unorthodox ways of ‘losing’ mobile phones
To lose your mobile phone is unfortunate but to flush it down the toilet is especially careless, although common, if new figures are to be believed. Research suggests that 885,000 (drunk and sober) subjects of Queen Elizabeth helplessly watch their handsets disappearing into the ‘black hole’ every year. That’s roughly £342 million flushing (not contributing) [...]
Vietnamese telco opens US office
How times change. The Vietnamese national telecoms operator VNPT has opened an office in the US, partly with the aim of tapping into the two million and more Vietnamese now resident in the country and who make 400 million minutes of calls to their ancestral homeland each year. Read more.
Where have all the WiFi`s gone?
Initial enthusiasm for WiFi waned when cities that initially wanted to deploy free wireless networks realised the task requires experienced industry partners with a different view of the business model. Cities also discovered they had a political fight on their hands with carriers, other special interest groups and political parties arguing that government has no [...]
Patents holding back progress in the ICT sector
We have generally tried to focus on the fundamental issues of access to ICT infrastructure, and not the esoteric issues of Internet governance. However, after two and half years, we are beginning to think of broadening the scope a little. The anti-competitive uses of intellectual property have so far been discussed on this blog only [...]
Sri Lanka villages can be evacuated in 2 minutes
European Parliament – News – Headlines – Article – Post Tsunami reconstruction – triumph or tragedy? Mr Jayantha Samarasinghe of the Sri Lanka reconstruction agency told MEPs of how reconstruction efforts were proceeding. Among the figures he cited were that 134 of the 183 damaged schools were back in action, 80 railway bridges had been [...]
Colloquium on Research and Policy Processess
Rohan Samarajiva and Helani Galpaya discuss how research can influence the policy process. We are an evidence-based policy organization. We work around: Inputs (money, people, etc etc) Outputs (reports, training courses, etc) Outcomes (positive changes in the policy process) IDRC: Putting money into research organizations which produce knowledge produces development. Not just putting money into [...]
Privacy on the agenda of Indian telecom sector
For those who believed that privacy issues will take a long time come up in South Asia . . . The relevant definition is “the ability to control the boundary conditions of social interactions.” BBC NEWS | South Asia | India cell phone curbs welcomed Indian cellular phone companies and phone users have welcomed a [...]
Global Platform for Disaster Risk Reduction
Readers of this website will know that from 2005 we have been pushing hard for action to reduce the risks of disasters and to better prepare people to save their lives. Starting from an effort to get government to create a national early warning system, we shifted to community-based disaster preparedness work at the last [...]
‘Imperialists’ and ‘Guerillas’ slugging out broadband war
The broadband battle is being fought between “imperialist” telcos and “guerilla” Internet firms, a Yankee Group analyst told Tuesday. The established telcos focused on ARPUs and the idea of guiding consumers to a choice of apps on the network. “They are pretty much trying to think about voice, content and access as palette from which consumers [...]
Bright prospects for WiMax in Asia and rural Australia: Lehman Brothers
In one of the most detailed analyses of WiMax issued for Asia to date, the influential investment house says that it is “particularly optimistic about the prospects for fixed WiMax in developing markets in Asia, where the copper infrastructure is too weak or limited to provide broadband services using DSL.” It adds, “We believe that [...]
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