Monthly Archives: October, 2007
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International telecoms licensing in Bangladesh
Bangladesh Telecommunication Regulatory Commission (BTRC) will auction licenses to operate two interconnection exchanges (ICX) and three International Gateway (IGW) facilities on November 22.
Outbound PSTN and mobile calls will first terminate in the ICX. Then the calls will be processed in the IGW followed by getting routed to overseas via BTTB’s submarine cable station. Similar path [...]
White space in the future of wireless broadband
It is high time that Asian spectrum managers started thinking about more efficient use this valuable resource.
In Search of Wireless Wiggle Room – New York Times
Having missed the opportunity to include these provisions in the coming auction, the F.C.C. will have another chance this year to create cheaper wireless broadband services. Google and [...]
Disaster Risk Reduction Imperative in School Curricula
Preparing for the Worst | Bangkok Post
Saddam Hossain grew up in Bangladesh listening to stories about storms and cyclones. In school, he learned from textbooks about how to stay safe when a natural disaster strikes. “When there is a warning about a cyclone, we take shelter immediately with our family,” said the 14-year-old student.
In disaster-prone [...]
ITU approves WiMax
U.N. Agency Gives Boost to WiMax – New York Times
The United Nations telecommunications agency in Geneva gave the upstart technology called WiMax a vote of approval, providing a sizable victory for Intel and something of a defeat for competing technologies from Qualcomm and Ericsson.
The International Telecommunication Union’s radio assembly agreed late Thursday to [...]
‘Getting a Dial Tone: Telecommunications Liberalisation in Malaysia and the Philippines’ by Lorraine Carlos Salazar
‘Getting a Dial Tone: Telecommunications Liberalisation in Malaysia and the Philippines’ by Lorraine Carlos Salazar, Senior Researcher at LIRNEasia and Visiting Research Fellow at the Institute of Southeast Asian Studies (ISEAS), was published by ISEAS this week.The book analyses the telecommunications reform process in Malaysia and the Philippines where far-reaching reforms have taken place.By looking [...]
Western Union to transfer money to ‘mobile wallets’
Mobile phones are about to become the simplest and quickest way to transfer money across borders, under a deal announced yesterday by Western Union and GSM Association, the main mobile phone operators’ body.
The agreement could have a big impact on global cross-border remittances, worth an estimated $500bn a year, and provide a springboard for mobile [...]
Interesting development in the EU
BBC News | Mobile phone use backed on planes
Passengers could soon be using their mobile phones on planes flying through European airspace.
Plans have been developed across EU countries to introduce technology which permits mobile calls without risk of interference with aircraft systems.
Regulators around Europe are calling for consultation on the potential introduction of the technology.
If [...]
LIRNEasia’s policy influence on mobile tax issue in Sri Lanka
Sri Lankan government withdrew proposed regressive tax of LKR 50 per month of its new tax proposals on mobile subscribers.
LIRNEasia’s research evidence from the T@BOP study played an important role in pointing out the likely adverse effect of the proposed regressive tax on the mobile users at the “Bottom of the Pyramid”.
The following are the [...]
TRAI issues rules for cheaper bandwidth
Telecom Regulatory Authority of India (Trai) has issued regulation on domestic leased circuits in a bid to provide cheaper bandwidth to IT companies, BPOs and ISPs. The regulation imposes obligation on all service providers who have the capacity of copper, fibre or wireless, and who have been allowed under the licence to provide leased [...]
What is Mechanism Design? – Explaining the research that won the 2007 Nobel Prize in Economics
The 2007 Nobel Prize in Economics was awarded to Leonid Hurwicz, Eric Maskin, and Roger Myerson “for having laid the foundations of mechanism design theory”. But what on earth is “mechanism design theory”?
Adam Smith’s classical metaphor of the invisible hand refers to how the market, under ideal conditions, ensures an efficient allocation of scarce resources. [...]
Insurance as a solution to disaster risk reduction
Based on Shiller’s writings on the use of insurance as a device to reduce losses from tsunami type events, LIRNEasia has been looking at insurance as a part of the solution. However, the story below suggests that insurance is on the retreat in Shiller’s backyard, in the face of predictions of more violent storms.
In [...]
Nobel in economics to scholars who developed tools to address questions of institutional design
Much of LIRNEasia’s work is focused on design of institutions. While we have been drawing on Shiller (not an awardee this time) we will be looking at the work of Hurwicz, Maskin and Myerson in more detail as we move into our third cycle of research.
3 Americans Win Nobel in Economics – New York Times [...]
India Inaugurates Tsunami Warning System
Six water pressure sensors placed on the seabed in the southern Bay of Bengal and northern Arabian Sea will act as sentinels in India’s tsunami early warning system, which was formally inaugurated today.
The sensors — four in the Bay and two in the Arabian Sea — will look for changes in ocean water level and [...]
Nordic countries, Germany, Netherland top in IT skills in Europe
THE distribution of computing skills across Europe shows a clear pattern according to a recent report from the European Union. The inhabitants of southern and eastern Europe are the least adept at using computers and the internet. Computer whizzes are more likely to be found in a wedge running from Germany up to the Nordic [...]
Driving Productivity at the Bottom of the Pyramid: How ICT can help
The Daily Mirror, a leading English daily in Sri Lanka, recently featured an article on Information and Communication Technology (ICT) and its potential to drive productivity at the Bottom of the Pyramid (BOP). The article cited research conducted by LIRNEasia on telecom users at the BOP and the pioneering Grameen microfinance approach to extending telecom [...]
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