Monthly Archives: August, 2009
CPRafrica 2012/CPRsouth7: call for abstracts and young scholar applications. Click here for details.
PCs not the best vehicles for providing IT-delivered services to rural areas
The sixth edition of the “Telecenter Debates” published by Telecenter Magazine presents a debate on whether or not the PC is the best vehical for providing IT-related services to rural areas. Rohan Samarajiva presents an article against this assertion, using evidence from the Teleuse@BOP3 study, to state that “mobiles, not PCs, have the potential to be [...]
Teleuse@BOP profile: Sayar Singh
Continuing our series of T@BOP3 user videos, below is a video interview with Sayar Singh in Rajastan, India: Business and social life have definately improved for Sayar Singh since he bought his mobile phone in mid-2008. Earlier, he was frustrated with a fixed phone that didn’t work half the time. This wheat and flower farmer in [...]
Colloquium: Identifying conditions for the delivery of m-government services to the BOP: India
The presentation was made by Prof. Subhash Bhatnagar. The presentation began by Prof. Bhatnagar explaining the research objectives; extention of e-governmaent to mobile platforms as well as the strategic use of government services and applications which are only possible using cellular/mobile telephones, laptop computers, personal digital assistants (PDAs) and wireless internet infrastructure. Why are we [...]
Philippines’ watchdog shows its teeth
With 73.5% SIM card penetration in a market of 90 million people, The Philippines has been pioneering innovations and surprising the world. It was among the first countries to publicize SMS remittance and SMS credit transfer services. The Filipinos send 1.39 billion SMS everyday. No wonder the text messaging revenues remain at par with voice [...]
What Women Want (at the BOP)
Voice and Data carries a detailed article on LIRNEasia’s teleuse research findings, including the use of telephony and remittance patterns among migrants in the study. The article highlight the gender difference in telecom ownership and use that still exists among the South Asian countries studied. The article goes on to argue that while “entertainment has [...]
Iraq is the Arab world’s most competitive mobile market
Iraq has replaced Jordan as the Arab World’s most competitive cellular market, according to a new study. The Arab Advisors Group devised its Cellular Competition Intensity Index in order to rate and properly assess the intensity level of competition in the Arab World’s cellular markets. The Index revealed that Iraq tops the score -as the [...]
Ideas: Manga for mobiles
There was a time when the bans were on graphic novels in schools. The Sri Lankan version of Manga was chitra kata. We read them, despite the prohibitions, and lived to tell the tale. Why don’t the telcos put chitra kata or Manga on mobiles and give the prohibitionists another reason to ban? Currently the [...]
Teleuse@BOP profile: Chamara Pahalawattage
TVEAP (on behalf of LIRNEasia) videoed a series of interviews with teleusers to explore their usage patterns at the BOP. Below is an interview with eighteen-year-old Chamara Pahalawattage, a Sri Lankan school leaver, who does not have a steady job but that hasn’t dampened his enthusiasm for mobile phones he now uses his sixth phone in [...]
“Info lady” starts where the “Phone lady” stopped
The eroding viability of Village Phone in Bangladesh was reported two years back. Grameen Telecom of Muhammad Yunus never looked beyond voice. And the micro-credit scheme using mobile phone succumbed to financial injuries from the wildfire of competition. Thanks to the exploding growth and coverage of mobile without regulatory intervention or USF injection in Bangladesh. [...]
Migrant results from teleuse@BOP3 carried in Sri Lanka media
The Sunday Times (English) and Ravaya (Sinhala) carried the results of the migrant component of the teleuse research, making direct reference to the need to set the rules in place, a topic that was addressed in a previous issue of the Times by M. Aslam Hayat. “The challenge for mobile operators is to make a [...]
Collateral cyber damage: The future of war
There is little doubt that future wars will include cyber theaters. The NYT story describes cyber attacks and the dangers of collateral damage. Although the digital attack on Iraq’s financial system was not carried out, the American military and its partners in the intelligence agencies did receive approval to cripple Iraq’s military and government communications [...]
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