Monthly Archives: January, 2008
Applications now open for LIRNEasia Young Scholar Tutorials, hosted by NUS, Singapore. Click here for info on how to apply.
Need for redundancy highlighted again
Indian outsourcing sector hit by Internet disruption – LANKA BUSINESS ONLINE
India’s vital outsourcing industry, which relies heavily on the Internet, was grappling with a major communications disruption Thursday after damage to undersea cables thousands of kilometres away in the Mediterranean.
Internet connections may take up to 15 days to return to normal, businesses said, [...]
Orascom wins a 3G license in North Korea
In what can only be described as a surprise announcement, Egypt’s Orascom Telecom Holding (OTH) says that it has been granted a 3G phone license in North Korea.
Orascom says that it intends to invest up to US$400 million in network infrastructure and license fee over the first three years. OTH intends to cover Pyongyang and [...]
Social entrepreneurship, the aftertaste of village phones and Yunus’ plans for the future
The Grameen village phone ladies are slowly going out of business but Davos discussion still refers on the same model.
Many Are Already at Work on Fulfilling Gatess Vision – Bits – Technology – New York Times Blog
Last week Mr. Gates called on the executives of the largest corporations to add social entrepreneurship to [...]
LIRNEasia on opening plenary of Euro CPR
Monday 31 March
09:00 – 11:00
Opening session – Information society policies
Information society policies have been on the policy agenda in all countries and regions of the world since the beginning of the 1990s. The opening session of EuroCPR 2008 will explore important outcomes of policy initiatives and the similarities and differences between different regions [...]
Mobile internet to grow in South Africa
Frost & Sullivan finds Africa’s demand for mobile internet access is growing quickly, with operators anticipating growth of between 40 per cent and 50 per cent between 2006 and 2009.
“The poor state of fixed line infrastructure is creating the potential for the African mobile internet market to boom,” states Frost & Sullivan Research Analyst Spiwe Chireka. [...]
LIRNEasia research cited in online column
Agriculture or services for Sri Lanka’s future? – LANKA BUSINESS ONLINE
The aspirations of young people constitute good evidence of cultural attachment. A recent study done by Chanuka Wattegama and Nandasiri Wanninayake in Mahavilachchiya, a village on the borders of Wilpattu, 40 km west of Anuradhapura, provides evidence. (Link to document)
Fifty four per cent [...]
Don’t charge more for calls to fixed lines, India mobile operators told
The Telecom Regulatory Authority of India has said that mobile operators may be pushing consumers to give up fixed line telephone by charging a higher tariff for cell-to-fixed line calls. The regulator has asked the operators to stop the differential tariff as it was not justified.
“The differential and higher charges levied by cellular service providers [...]
We know who you are, we know where you are, we know what you buy, we know who you talk to
This past Saturday at a conference organized by the Sri Lanka Institute of Marketing Harsha de Silva chaired a session with Hans Wijayasuriya of Dialog Telekom, Rohan Samarajiva of LIRNEasia and Keith Modder of Virtusa that addressed issues such as this. One point that ran through the discussion was the need for companies to develop [...]
A key element of Mobile 2.0 is shaping up
The Coming Wave of Gadgets That Listen and Obey – New York Times
Vlingo’s service lets people talk naturally, rather than making them use a limited number of set phrases. Dave Grannan, the company’s chief executive, demonstrated the Vlingo Find application by asking his phone for a song by Mississippi John Hurt (try typing [...]
T@BOP research featured in telecenter sustainability discussions
Sustainability First: Tapping the Bottom of the Pyramid
According to Lirneasia research, 41% of the BoP in Sri Lanka, owns their own phones and 21% of them are mobile phones. Another 31% is planning to buy a phone. But 28% is not planning to buy, mostly because they cannot afford to buy. This can [...]
India Telecom regulator issues guidelines for mobile TV
The Telecom Regulatory Authority of India (TRAI) on Wednesday (Jan 23) recommended guidelines for rolling out mobile television services to the Information and Broadcasting Ministry on various issues related to licensing and technology.
TRAI has suggested that the choice of broadcasting technology should be left to the service providers but should be recognised by an authorised [...]
Competitors slam SingTel
Competitors to SingTel in its domestic market have sharply criticised attempts by the carrier to gain regulatory relief in business, government and some wholesale markets.
The IDA solicited industry feedback on the attempt by SingTel to shed various competition, wholesale supply and published tariff obligations on a range of business, data and wholesale products as well [...]
Taxation and the minimum cost of ownership
Sri Lanka celco urges regulations to lower cost s – LANKA BUSINESS ONLINE
“End-user taxation is very important in our market segment because it has been assessed that a one percent change in taxation generates up to 2-5 percent growth in usage and revenue,” Wijayasuriya said.
“So we must bring down the minimum cost of [...]
UK homes to get super-fast fibre via the sewers
The UK’s first “fibre town” could go online in the autumn, delivering speeds of about 100Mbps (megabits per second) to consumers’ homes.
Fibre firm H2O provides super-fast broadband via the sewers and either Bournemouth, Northampton or Dundee will be offered the service first.
For consumers, super-fast net connections could create a range of new applications including on-demand [...]
Where fine arts meet science…
LIRNEasia recently unveiled a painting by S. H. Sarath, the renowned Sri Lankan artist at its premises. It is untitled leaving ample room for one’s imagination. Photo shows LIRNEasia guest speaker of the day Robin Mansell and Executive Director Rohan Samarajiva doing the honours.
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