August 2008 — Page 3 of 5 — LIRNEasia


Strange will be the telecom world in emerging markets. Free incoming calls are the norm in many counties. Ever thought it can get even better? Operator paying the mobile users for incoming? Where on earth such crazy things happen?
We welcome the USD 71 million project to improve dam safety in Sri Lanka. LIRNEasia , together with several partners including the Sri Lanka Committee on Large Dams, Vanguard Management and Sarvodaya, did a lot of work on raising awareness of the impending dangers posed by ill-maintained dams, going as far as saying that a catastrophic dam failure in this reservoir-dotted country was not a question of if, but when. The repairs will, we understand, address the most serious risks raised by the LIRNEasia participatory research. However, due to ill-informed protests of the opponents of water-use reforms and the weak-kneed response of the government agencies and the World Bank, the component that would have addressed the sustainability issues was stripped out after one exchange. So we have postponed the day of reckoning, but not created a long-term sustainable system for safe water use.
We all missed the obvious flaw, but not Malinda. The full credit for detecting that you are taxed differently for the same service should go to the eighteen year old from Kurunegala – the ever vigilant consumer. He pointed out in the latest post in his local language blog for a 512/128 kpbs Wi-Max connection you may have to pay about Rs. 675 as tax (30%) but for a 512/128 kpbs ADSL connection you pay only Rs. 337.

Nigeria smiles with telecoms growth

Posted on August 15, 2008  /  1 Comments

The Nigerian telecoms sector, one of the greatest success stories not just in Africa but also the whole of the rest of the world, just keeps on going from strength-to-strength. New figures just released by the Nigerian regulator show that, since May of this year, Nigeria’s telephony subscriber base has expanded by a further 3.7 million and now stands at 53.33 million. Teledensity is also improving, standing now at 38.
It’s been a long and glorious history. The German company Siemens was one of the very first companies ever to lay telephone cables and make telephony switches, but today it is exiting the industry after more than a century and a half. The company was founded by Werner von Siemens on October 1, 1847, (the year that Sam Colt sold an early version of his epoch-making revolver to the US government, Denmark began its first railway service and Alexander Graham Bell was born) and the infant company’s first product was a form of telegraph needle that, when activated, pointed out a sequence of letters transmitted from elsewhere. Martyn Warwick passionately writes.
Grameenphone has agreed to pay an administrative fine of BDT 2500 million (US$37.3 million) to the telecoms regulator, the BTRC, for providing E1 connectivity to third parties, enabling the use of Voice Over Internet Protocol (VOIP) technology which is unlawful and illegal. “We deeply regret that such unlawful practices were carried out and not disclosed earlier by Grameenphone,” said the company’s CEO in a statement. “We have cooperated with BTRC in the investigations and the Grameenphone Board also mandated an investigation by an external auditor to look into all aspects of our operations to ensure that we fully comply with all laws and regulations.” Read more.
TRAI’s recent letter to DoT, highlighting shortcomings in the government 3G policy, has kicked up differences between the telecom regulator and DoT. TRAI, in its letter, has highlighted six shortcomings in the 3G auction guidelines that were announced recently. The most significant one that can impact exchequer revenue relates to the need for an “amended’ ’ unified access service licence (UASL), which needs to be acquired by every successful new entrant in the 3G space. TRAI, in its letter to DoT, concludes that a reading of the 3G guidelines “implies that in case a non-licencee becomes successful bidder, he will be given a new (modified) UASL without the provision of 2G spectrum (spectrum in the 800, 900 & 1800mhz) at an entry fee equal to the entry fee of UAS licence’’ .  Read more.
Want to buy a SIM while travelling to India? Passport and other identification papers may not be good enough. You will need two guarantors to get a new mobile connection, said The Economic Times.
Central Environmental Authority Chairman Udaya Gammanpila calls the new ‘Environmental tax’ essential, pro-poor and progressive. Releasing used mobile phones and CFL bulbs to environment is dangerous, he warns, with a long list of hazardous chemicals that would perhaps put a chemistry professor to shame. He wants to collect them for recycling.  The tax money will be used to build recycling plants. Not everybody agrees.
Upon being awarded a full scholarship, LIRNEasia researcher Tahani Iqbal has moved to Singapore to commence her graduate studies in public policy at the LKY School at the National University of Singapore.  She joins Senior Researcher Sriganesh Lokanathan who is in his second year at the Lee Kuan Yew School.   He was also awarded a full scholarship. Sending our researchers to high-quality graduate programs is one way in which we operationalize our commitment to being a learning organization.
Indonesia is emerging as a hot broadband market, mainly as a result of the increasing availability of high-speed 3G and HSDPA mobile services. According to Arjun Trivedi, the head of business in Indonesia for Nokia Siemens Networks, high speed mobile services are now the dominant form of broadband access in the country. He says, “In Indonesia today, there are slightly more than a million broadband users. Quite a substantial number of these – we estimate some 60 per cent – are wireless broadband users, principally using HSDPA. We also estimate that there are about 400,000 fixed broadband users and a little over 600,000 mobile broadband users.
The Colloquium hopes to assess how the project can be sustained within the Sarvodaya arena. Chaminda Rajakaruna opened the presentation with a brief introduction to Sarvodaya. Sarvodaya is a widely expanded grassroots levels organisation. He went on to present the vision of the Deshodaya as well. Purpose of the intervention was to take the mssge behind Sarvodaya and Deshodaya to the media through text, video and audio.
Lakbima News, 10 August 2008: An article published in the Lakbima News documents an interview held with Prof. Rohan Samarajiva on the proposed mobile phone taxes in Sri Lanka: “Economic incentives are used to help the environment. The objective of such measures is not to make money – the sole objective should be to prevent people from doing things harmful to the environment. But if we take the two per cent envy levy on mobiles – for this to qualify as an incentive, it should modify certain behaviour…the behaviour that is modified is the use of mobile phones.”
Nicholas Negroponte said, in the context of the United States, that all that was carried on wireguides would shift to wireless (e.g., telephony) and all that was carried by wireless (e.g., television) would shift to wireguides.
When he built Parakrama Samudraya a millennium ago, King Parakramabahu the great did not have to depend on the Internet. How lucky! Had it been so, he would have achieved few great feats. The pitiable Broadband services at Polonnaruva looked as if we have not made any advances since the days of the Great King. Both SLT and Dialog boast about their island wide networks.
The Telecoms Regulatory Authority of India (TRAI) has recommended that the country’s Department of Telecommunications allow MVNOs to operate in the sub-continent under a new licensing scheme. In a major new policy document, the TRAI lays out a plan to permit interested companies to establish MVNOs, negotiate network leasing agreements with existing mobile network operators and to select from three different available service models. The MVNO licenses will be issued under conditions very similar to those currently applicable to existing MNOs and with similar eligibility terms including FDI caps and limits on service areas.  This means MVNO licenses will effectively be tied to the operating licence of their MNO partners with the main difference of approach being in the entry fees payable by MVNOs compared to existing MNOs. Read more.