LIRNEasia might not be as high tech as some of the big IT players but in our own way we have made a successful effort to make ourselves a virtual team. Not a choice – that was the only way we could operate in multiple countries (For example, in this cycle, TRE surveys will be in nine countries - Afghanistan, Bangladesh, India, Indonesia, Maldives, Pakistan, Philippines, Sri Lanka and Thailand; not to mention CPRSouth 3 in Beijing)without budgets comparable to what INGOs use to run regional networks.
We also thought our own experiences will be useful for others. Hence the Virtual Organisation (VO) project. It had two aspects; developing the VO and using it to conduct LIRNEasia’s other research projects.
The case study is now out. It describes our efforts,…
Tags: Afghanistan, Bangladesh, India, Indonesia, Maldives, Pakistan, Philippines, Sri Lanka, Thailand, Virtual Office, Virtual Organisation, Virtual Team.
Mobile Benchmark Studies in South Asia and Latin America | L I R N E . N E T
DIRSI’s study on mobile price and affordability also adapts the OECD price baskets to compare the monthly costs of using mobiles in six Latin American countries. The Latin American baskets take into consideration call and SMS volumes and usage data as specified in the OECD methodology,[5] but excludes initial connection charges. The DIRSI study also does not report data on postpaid or indicate whether different MoUs have been applied to prepaid and postpaid.
Despite differences in methodology, it is interesting to note the rather large differences in the monthly costs between users in South Asia and Latin America; even though the former takes into account a broader set…
According to LIRNEasia’s latest comparative study of price and affordability indicators in eight South Asian countries, Bangladesh emerges as having the lowest average monthly cost of using a mobile at all levels of use (low, medium and high) for different tariff plans (prepaid and postpaid). Pakistan, India and Sri Lanka follow closely, while Bhutan, Maldives and Afghanistan are seen to have significantly higher average monthly mobile costs.
The study compares mobile tariffs in South Asia using price baskets, derived from those used by the Organization for Economic Co-operation and Development (OECD). The baskets are calculated for low, medium and high users for pre- as well as postpaid tariff plans, factoring in usage charges (voice and SMS), line rental, connection charges (depreciated over a three year period), and…
Vodafone to launch mobile phone money transfer service in Afghanistan - Yahoo! News
“This is really the early days, but when you see the low banking penetration in emerging markets, compared to rapidly growing mobile penetration, the potential is very big,” said James Moberly, senior manager for payment solutions at Vodafone on the sidelines of the Mobile World Congress here.
The GSM Association, the global mobile phone industry body, estimates that about a dozen such schemes involving money transfer services are in operation throughout the world, with 10 million users.
Vodafone plans to launch cash transfer services soon in India and other African countries.
“You can send money, withdraw cash, pay your bills or your loan, and all this is within seconds,” said Aleeda Fazal, head of product development…
Tags: Afghanistan, Aleeda Fazal, cash transfer services, cellular telephone, dozen such schemes involving money transfer services, GSM, GSM Association, India, James Moberly, low banking penetration, payment solutions, Roshan, Vodafone, World Congress, Yahoo!.
Afghan Wireless Communication Company (AWCC) has launched per-second billing on its GSM network.
In a press briefing at its Kabul headquarters, AWCC Managing Director, Amin Ramin said: ” We have ensured Microwave connectivity, widest coverage in the country, simple call rates, amazing call quality, superb connectivity even on highways, and today we are announcing the Per Second Billing PLUS for the entire Afghan Wireless family.”
Afghan Wireless is the largest private investor in Afghanistan. It is also the country’s largest employer, having nearly 3,000 people directly in the payroll and another 30,000 indirectly.
United Arab Emirates company Etisalat began operating in
Afghanistan on Wednesday becoming the fifth mobile phone service provider and one of the biggest foreign investors.
With an investment of $300 million, Etisalat’s mobile phone network will initially cover Afghanistan’s main cities. Etisalat, the third-largest Arab telecom firm by market value, joins four other telecommunication companies operating in the country.
These companies have invested some $800 million in the Afghan telecoms sector and the government has earned $100 million from them in the past year in tax and from issuing licences. Read more.
About 150,000 people subscribe to cell phone service each month in Afghanistan and there’s “no end in sight” to the growth, the country’s communications minister said Tuesday.
Afghan economy is predominantly rural, and trade and industry are badly hampered by crumbling roads and chronic electricity shortages. Not including the illicit trade in opium, the nation’s few exports include dried fruit and carpets.
But like in other developing nations, cell phone service providers have been doing brisk business, bringing communication to poor villagers who until four years rarely, if ever, used a telephone.
“In Afghanistan, the majority of our people will be connected through mobile phones,” Sangin told The Associated Press. “… We have gone straight into the age of personal communication.”
Calling rates are currently about 10 cents a…
The Aga Khan Foundation is the owner of Afghanistan’s first mobile operator, Roshan. It is surprising that this social investment has not received a quarter of the publicity received by Grameen Phone in Bangladesh.
Do Business and Islam Mix? Ask Him - New York Times
Roshan has 1.3 million subscribers and is adding 60,000 a month. The Afghan government gets 6 percent of its tax revenue from the company, Ms. Abdulla says. Roshan says it employs 900 people, about 180 of whom are women.
“In Afghanistan, the Aga Khan is creating an enabling environment for business,” says Mr. Patel at the World Bank. “While producing results, these are early days. It’s too soon to see a payoff from his investments.”
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Dhaka, Nov 13 (bdnews24.com) — Telecom Development Company Afghanistan reached the mark of one million mobile subscribers on October 30.
With the brand name “Roshan” or light, the second mobile operator rolled out services in June 2003.
“We are very excited and proud of reaching the million subscribers milestone,” said Karim Khoja, chief executive of Roshan.
In more than three years, Roshan reached the mark, beating first mobile company in Afghanistan, the Afghan Wireless Communication Company (AWCC)— 20 percent owned by the government.
The million customers milestone comes at a time when Roshan has enjoyed the best three months of its operations in spite of increased competition.
“Roshan’s story is similar to the Afghan people’s own story; a story of faith, courage and determination to succeed against all odds,” said…
Tags: AFA, Afghan government, Afghan Wireless Communication Company, Afghanistan, Aga Khan Fund for Economic Development, Altaf Ladak, Areeba, countrywide network, DHAKA, Karim Khoja, MCT Corp, mobile operator, Monaco Telecom International, optic fiber network, Roshan, Taliban, Telecom Development Company, United Arab Emirates, United States, USD, Wireless Communication, Xinhua.
Developing countries have tended to focus on disaster relief and rehabilitation at the expense of strategies to prevent or mitigate effects of disasters in the first place. To a politician, the political payout from handing out relief materials to the disaster affected appears greater than investing in a national early warning system that may not yield any political reward during his/her tenure. Political expediency coupled with a mix of fatalism, laziness to undertake the hardwork required to implement mitigation/prevention strategies, low valued assigned to human life in developing countries have all contributed to the callous acceptance of natural disasters as a “fact of life.” Hence, the allusion to a “paradigm shift” referred to by the Indian minister, hopefully marks a policy shift rather than just…
Tags: Afghanistan, Bangladesh, Bhutan, earthquake, India, Indonesia, Kashmir, Maldives, National Institute of Disaster Management, Nepal, New Delhi, Pakistan, Shivraj Patil, Sri Lanka, Thailand, tsunami, UNDP.
Bridging the digital divide is important. It may not be as important as ensuring safe water for all, or adequate healthcare, in terms of meriting investment of scarce public resources, but it is definitely important enough to merit concerted action to remove the artificial barriers to private supply. One of the best ways this can be done is by improving the knowledge that is brought to bear on the process.
The optimal way to achieve this is to create an environment within which international best practices are adapted to local circumstances by in-situ policy intellectuals. Some of these local experts could be in regulatory agencies and in government; but the optimal results will be achieved through participatory processes where all stakeholders, including the consumers are represented…
Tags: adequate healthcare, Afghanistan, Asia, Australia, Bahrain, Bhutan, cellular telephone, China, Digital Opportunity Forum, Federal Communications Commission, Google, Internet profiles, Korea, large telephone densities, Myanmar, Nepal, Norther, open-source software premise, Papua New Guinea, Rohan Samarajiva, Singapore Australia, South Korea, Sri Lanka, Taiwan, United Kingdom, United States.
A report on the Indicators Workshop held in New Delhi by LIRNEasia in collaboration with the Telecom Regulatory Authority of India (TRAI) is available here [PDF]. The report provides a review of international initiatives and best practices, examines some of the difficulties regarding standardising indicators across the region, the challenges of measurement and collection of indicator data and the process of developing an indicators manual for the South Asian region.
Tags: Afghanistan, Bangladesh, Bhutan, India, Indonesia, International Telecommunication Union, Maldives, National Regulatory Research Institute, Nepal, New Delhi, online database, Organization for Economic Cooperation and Development, Pakistan, Philippines, Sri Lanka, Telecom Regulatory Authority of India, Thailand, United States.
LIRNEasia and the Telecom Regulatory Authority of India (TRAI), with the assitance of the International Development Research Centre (IDRC) of Canada, co-sponsored the “Workshop on ICT Indicators for Benchmarking Performance in Network and Services Development” in New Delhi from 1-3 March 2006. The workshop highlighted the need for accurate, standardized and comparable indicators for the region and was intended to initate action to develop such indicators.
The workshop brought together representatives of National Regulatory Authorities (NRAs), National Statistical Organizations (NSOs) and operators from Afghanistan, Bangaldesh, Bhutan, India, Maldives, Nepal, Pakistan and Sri Lanka along with the foremost authorities on the subject from the ITU, OECD, and the US National Regulatory Research Institute (NRRI). With nearly 60 participants from 16 countries, the Workshop was also attended by telecom researchers…
Tags: Afghanistan, Asia, Ayesha Zainudeen, Bhutan, Canada, e-indicators, Gaurav Singh, India, International Development Research Centre, ITU, Lilia Perez-Chavolla, Maldives, Nepal, New Delhi, OECD, Pakistan, Pradip Baijal, Rajendra Singh, Rohan Samarajiva, Sam Paltridge, Sri Lanka, Telecom Regulatory Authority of India, Tim Kelly, US National Regulatory Research Institute.
a speech by Executive Director Rohan Samarajiva
In one of my intemperate moments I’ve said that Asia is a category that is of use only to international bureaucrats. There is little that the entire region holds in common. This is the area that has the largest concentration of poor people in the world.
Asia is seen, however, as driving the world economy. The Asian Tigers, and the Juggernauts of China and India. If you look at the ICT issues, you get into this orgy of self-congratulation, but if you really look at the number - developing Asia is a straggler. And what about people? This LIRNEasia organization is about people. We have people, the only problem is that our people flourish in Australia, in Canada. When we…
Tags: Afghanistan, Asia, Australia, Bangladesh, Bhutan, Broadband, Canada, China, India, Korea, LIRNEasia, Nepal, Rohan Samarajiva, Sri Lanka, Taiwan.
Provisional Mission Statement: Improving the lives the people of Asia - by making it easier to use the information and communication technologies they need; by changing the laws, policies and regulations to enable those uses; by building Asia-based human capacity through research, training, consulting and advocacy.
Why LIRNEasia?
Enormous amounts of money are invested annually in ICTs. The potential of information and communication technologies, or ICTs for economic and social progress is substantial. ICTs aren’t necessarily the answer to higher incomes and development in itself; but together with other factors, they provide a means to improve people’s capabilities and knowledge so that they may better their lives. ‘Asia’ is the collective name for the countries roughly encircled by Russia, Turkey, Egypt and the Indian and Pacific Oceans.…
Tags: Afghanistan, Asia, Bangladesh, Bay of Bengal, Bhutan, Broadband, Business Center for Internet, Cambodia, Canada, China, Colombo, communication technologies, Denmark, DHAKA, Distance Learning Center Limited, Egypt, Hong Kong, Indian oceans, infoDev, International Bank for Reconstruction and Development, International Development Research Center, Internet users, ISP, IT-based teaching facility, Korea, LIRNE.NET, LIRNEasia, LIRNEasia\'s mission, mobile phones, Mount Lavinia Hotel, Myanmar, Pacific oceans, Russia, South Africa, Sri Lanka, Taiwan, The Netherlands, Turkey, United Kingdom, United States, United States government, video conferencing, virtual organization, Wi-Fi.
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