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Asia is sweating to remain connected
Carriers are to cross the Pacific to connect Asia with the USA. They also have to cross the Suez Canal to link the continent with Europe. The Pacific, being the home of volcanoes and earthquakes, is a natural minefield for the submarine cables. The Egyptian government’s draconian rules throw the submarine cable projects in the [...]
Sharing phones, towers and 3G spectrum in India
Consumers at bottom of the economic pyramid have been fueling the growth of mobile across Asia and elsewhere. Sharing mobile phones have been business as usual at this segment. Profitably serving the low-ARPU yet vastly expandable clientele became a challenge for the mobile industry of India. Operators became innovative and “constraint optimization” became central to [...]
US government arming the ‘Digital Guerrillas’
The US State Department is developing an application called “Panic Button” for the anti-government activists. A demonstrator will hit this button and the address book, call records and other information of mobile phone will be deleted when the device is confiscated. Subsequently the device will emit an “Alert Message” to inform the comrades about looming [...]
Telecoms casualties of Japan earthquake
Japan’s Internal Affairs and Communications Ministry said that 11,400 mobile base stations and 880,000 fixed lines went out of service in the northern region. Progress in restoring mobile communications has been faster than fixed communications. It is presumed to be due to the operators’ prioritization. Because the fixed lines have been vulnerable to frequent power [...]
M&A looms as US telcos strive for spectrum
The US wireless industry is at the cross-road. Spectrum is becoming dearer as the smart devices are flooding the market. It’s multiplying the consumers voracious appetite for bandwidth by manifolds. This phenomenon is pushing the small and medium telcos to acquire more airwaves. But there is none left. Living together (strategic partnership) or getting married [...]
Mobile broadband: Racehorse or Workhorse?
Ovum said that broadband access is now as important as other essential utilities such as gas, water, and electricity. In developed countries, fixed broadband is available in the majority of homes and penetration is above 60% of households in many markets. However, mobile broadband usage is growing rapidly in both developed and emerging markets. Will [...]
Europe repeats mistakes with spectrum
Europe’s model of auctioning spectrum has failed to generate competition. It helps big players to become bigger and marginalizes the small ones simultaneously. The market also remains out of bound for the new entrants. As a result the Consumers appear to be in danger of losing out because the largest operators are using their superior [...]
UAE government offers social media to citizens
Authorities across the Arab world are getting allergic to Internet and social media. Government of the United Arab Emirates is, however, reversely comfortable. With almost half of its population owning Facebook accounts, the UAE government has released a set of policy guidelines for social media usage by its government departments. The introduction to the document [...]
Cables are under fire in the “Ring of Fire”
Japan is the transit of most of the transpacific cables connecting Asia with the USA. The earthquake of 3/11 has ruptured numerous undersea cables in the Pacific ocean. It has impacted the internet traffic. Optical Fiber is made of silica, the primary raw material of glass. The quake has again demonstrated the fragility of undersea [...]
Singapore disciplines data roaming and broadband
Operators in Singapore will have to allow customers to cap data roaming charges at S$100 (US$78.90) under new consumer protection regulations proposed by IDA. The operators will have to introduce the ability to automatically switch-off roaming once this cap is reached by the first quarter of 2012. It is likely to hit the local operators’ [...]
Public phones salvaging Japan
Japan is shattered by the catastrophic earthquake in every respect and communication has become critical thereafter. Mobile phone is one among the first victims at infrastructure front. The rescuers have immediately switched on two-way radio and possibly satellite communication gears. But the citizens’ mobile phones are predictably sunk into silence. And the emergency hot-lines were [...]
MNP backfires in India
Regulator proposes and market disposes. MNP has backfired in India since its introduction three months back. Hindustan Times said, Reliance and BSNL lose. Vodafone, Idea and Airtel win. CDMA is out, GSM is in. That’s the verdict on mobile number portability (MNP), which came into force nationwide on January 20. It is a trend that [...]
People’s power, powered by technology
The people of Philippines stunned the world when they mobilized demonstration through text messaging and toppled the government in 2001. Communication technology got embedded among the protesters worldwide thereafter. Rohan’s recent visit in Iran has evidently prompted him to revisit the increasingly inseparable bond between technology and freedom movements. Demonstrators throw stones, possibly, because the [...]
Ofcom slams fraudband (for fixed ISPs only)
Ofcom has warned that the UK’s landline ISPs are still delivering less than half of the peak-download speeds they advertise. The regulator’s research shows that the average broadband speed increased from 5.2 Mbps (May 2010) to 6.2 Mbps (November/December 2010) but was less than half (45 per cent) of the average advertised broadband speed of [...]
The Colonel chokes satellite phone
The Colonel and his “LSE-educated” son have gone beyond any proportion long ago. Shooting and bombing the citizens of Libya (by the mercenaries) have not been working. Now the father and son are getting mad as their days are getting numbered. Following the footsteps of deposed Egyptian neighbor, the Colonel first snapped his country’s Internet. [...]
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