Monthly Archives: April, 2008
Applications now open for LIRNEasia Young Scholar Tutorials, hosted by NUS, Singapore. Click here for info on how to apply.
UK mobile broadband speed averages 1.46Mbps, but ads claim more
Sounding rather like the saga surrounding home broadband speeds, a recent survey suggests that mobile broadband users aren’t always getting the maximum speeds advertised.
Broadband Expert’s research, based on testing around 1,200 connections, found the average speed of UK mobile broadband is 1.46Mbps. This is around half the speed of the average home broadband speed of [...]
TeleCON’2008 commences in Karachi
Pakistan’s first global telecommunication congress, TeleCON’2008, opened in Karachi on Tuesday with full-fledged participation from a large number of telecom companies from Pakistan.
It was presided by Dr Muhammad Yaseen, member technical, Pakistan Telecom Authority (PTA) while former founder member PTA, Mian Mohammad Jawed gave keynote address.
He appreciated the initiative of the organisers and remarked that [...]
Expert Forum on ICT Sector Indicators and Benchmark Regulation for SAARC Regulatory Authorities
An Expert Forum on ICT Sector Indicators and Benchmark Regulation for SAARC Regulatory Authorities will be held in Changi Village Hotel, Singapore on 14 – 15 June 2008 following the 12th LIRNE.net course on Telecom Reform.
The Forum will focus on using specific indicators to benchmark performance of the sector as well as the regulatory [...]
Younger people get into mobile banking
Most Americans are still hesitant about banking with their cellphones and PDAs, but young people are increasingly accepting mobile banking, according to a survey.
Serving the needs of tech-savvy customers will be crucial for banks to stay competitive as the collective income of baby boomers’ children is expected to surge over the next 10 years and [...]
LIRNEasia researchers present at International Workshop on ICTs and Development in Asia
Rohan Samarajiva and Tahani Iqbal will participate at an International Workshop on ICTs and Development: Experiences in Asia, held at the Faculy of Arts and Sciences (Communications & New Media Programme Science, Technology and Society (STS) Cluster), National University of Singapore from 24th – 25th April 2008.
Samarajiva will chair a session, where papers will be presented on the [...]
Broadband providers ordered to come clean in ads
Some regular readers of LIRNEasia blog would just love this news.
Internet service providers (ISPs) in UK have just a few weeks to sign up to a voluntary code on the promotion of broadband speeds or the industry will face mandatory regulation, the communications watchdog has warned.
Attempts to set up a voluntary system providing consumers with [...]
Ultra-fast broadband plan ‘waste of money’ – New Zealand govt.
While Telecommunications Regulatory Commission of Sri Lanka awaits public comments on its ‘National Backbone Network’ proposed to be installed mostly as a fully government owned infrastructure to provide islandwide broadband links, New Zealand Government says it would be a huge waste of taxpayer money to put $1.5 billion into ultra-fast broadband access.
New Zealand’s National Party [...]
The rise and rise of mobile data usage
After two decades of mobile voice services through mobile phones, and nearly a decade of mobile data usage through SMS services, mobile data services (MDS) of a more traditional Internet style is finally on the up in a big way.
The m.Net and University of Adelaide study notes that: “It has taken a while, but mobile [...]
Mobile market will decline, says Nokia
The world’s largest mobile phone company makes roughly two out of every five mobiles sold globally. It said it expected the number of phones sold to increase by 10%, from the 1.14bn phones sold last year. But the Finnish group explained that the overall value of the market would be lower than in 2007 thanks [...]
Broadband in UK: speeds ‘less than half those advertised’
Broadband customers are still experiencing connection speeds less than half those advertised, with the worst offenders being ‘high speed’ products, a study suggests.
On average, broadband speeds were just 48 per cent of those advertised, with the figure falling to as low as 26 per cent for high speed packages offering connections of 8Mb/s or more, [...]
Nokia’s new 3G Handset 6212 optimized for Mobile Payments
Nokia is positioning its new 6212 handset as a mobile payment device, with users storing credit card information on the device and accessing accounts online directly from the handset. The phone can be set to allow payment only after the user enters a secondary passcode to authorize it. Such e-payment options may require a service [...]
Monopoly: The good the bad and the not-so-ugly
The colloquium notes
Lara Alawattegama (LA): Monopoly means ‘a market with a single supplier’
Why a monopoly happens:
1. No close substitutes
2. Legal barriers to entry
3. Resource barriers
4. Unfair competition -predatory pricing
Rohan Samarajiva (RS) : Lack of competition leads to monopolies. Microsoft Windows is an example where none of the above characteristics applied
Chanuka Wattegam (CW): Is LIRNEasia a [...]
Lara Talks on ‘Monopoly’
Who else would be more qualified to define ‘monopoly’ [mə nóppəlee]than Microsoft? According to MS Encarta, ‘monopoly’ is a situation in which one company controls an industry or is the only provider of a product or service.
We believe Lara would enlighten us more when she does the second of the young researcher lecture series scheduled [...]
FCC to consider use of mobile cell broadcast for emergencies
CellCast Technologies urges the Federal Communications Commission (FCC) tomorrow to fully consider a proven technology, cell broadcast, in the nationwide emergency alert system for cell phones. On Thursday, the FCC is slated to vote on a committee report that did not specify cell broadcast technology.
“In the best interest of the general public, the FCC [...]
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