Tag Archives: Asia
Applications now open for LIRNEasia Young Scholar Tutorials, hosted by NUS, Singapore. Click here for info on how to apply.
More i-phones slower networks; why Asian regulators need to prioritize spectrum refarming
The applications are developed, the hardware is ready. Who is not ready are the spectrum managers/regulators of Asia, who have barely started on refarming. Already some of Sri Lanka’s mobile data users are complaining that they cannot connect. The operators need to pay attention and so do spectrum managers.
America’s advanced cellphone network [...]
Explaining mobile behavior: Latitude, culture, economics?
One expects the Economist to give weight to economic explanations. But not in fluff pieces written over the holiday break. According to the Economist, heavy mobile use is explained by latitude, not the ultra-low prices that are the result of the Budget Telecom Network Model.
Yet these global trends hide starkly different [...]
Disaster Risk Reduction: Is Europe different?
Brussels, Nov 25-26 – Third Civil Protection Forum organized by the European Commission. It rains heavily, but fortunately no floods as in Ireland. Ideal environment to discuss disaster risks. I speak at Seminar F titled ‘Innovative Technology for Disaster Management’. I am one of the two speakers from Asia in the entire conference; the other [...]
Verizon gives up on voice over copper
India’s MTNL and BSNL have been losing fixed subscriptions for years; Sri Lanka joined the club recently. Now we see the heirs to AT&T throwing in the towel. I guess it was like this when the railways replaced the canals. How long will it take for policy makers in emerging Asia to [...]
LIRNEasia’s COO presents at ITS Africa-Asia-Australasia Regional conference
Helani Galpaya represented LIRNEasia at the 4th International Telecommunications Society (ITS) Africa-Asia-Australasia Regional conference, held on 16 – 18 August, 2009, in Perth, Australia. The theme of the conference was on”Mobile Technology and Broadband Application Developments – The Search for Corporate Value Chains.” More information on the conference is available here.
Measuring the Effectiveness of
the Telecom Regulatory and
Policy Environment:
Methodology and [...]
Recession in North, but emerging Asia is expanding – The Economist

Anybody could have guessed this. It is unimaginable that entire world will go through a recession simultaneously. Not everyone can be losers for too long. There should be winners somewhere. For example, what would the US firms that find their human resources costs, logically do? They outsource to Bangalore. So the BPO industry in India [...]
Nokia sales drop, but not too much in Asia
Nokia, the leading mobile handset maker, is experiencing the effects of the global economic crisis. But Asia is showing the lowest declines.
In the three months through March, the company said its profit declined to 122 million euros ($162.3 million) from 1.2 billion euros a year earlier. Sales fell 27 percent, to 9.3 billion euros [...]
Ideas from Africa for South Asia
Ideas picked up at Euro CPR from our African colleagues, coming out in multiple fora/countries/forms.
Without direct government action, other than enabling policies such as the abolition of international gateway monopolies, and the kind of fuss that has accompanied the regulation of roaming charges within Europe, roaming has been abolished in East Africa.
Why not in South [...]
31 percent of Internet use in the US occurs in front of a TV
The story is based on US data, but it is still grist for the mill as we think about how the mobile and Internet will change the mediasphere in emerging Asia.
We are so smitten with screens that we often can’t bear to choose one over another: 31 percent of Internet use occurs while we’re in [...]
Market Prices on the Small Screen: Transforming Farmers’ Markets in Sri Lanka

At Sri Lanka’s largest agricultural market a large projection screen overlooks 12 acres of stalls brimming with produce.
Traders at the Dambulla market consult the screen to receive up-to-the-minute pricing information on produce being sold in the market.
This information helps them negotiate fair prices at any of the market’s 144 booths, says Harsha de Silva, head [...]
Americans debate collusion in SMS pricing
Unlike in Asia, the price of an individual SMS has increased by 100% to USD 0.20 in the US. This has happened at the same time as the mobile market consolidated from six suppliers to four. Naturally, there has been public-policy concern. In defense of the telecos, it must be noted that most people in [...]
Lalith Weeratunga elected to Chair, ICT Committee, UN-ESCAP

Lalith Weeratunga, Secretary to the President of Sri Lanka, was recently elected to the chair of the Information and Communication Technology (ICT) Committee of ESCAP – the Economic & Social Commission for Asia and the Pacific
Speaking to Sandeshaya Weeratunga said that “during the past three years computer literacy in the country has increased from 5 per [...]
Know your broadband – LIRNEasia/Sarvodaya workshop (For bloggers and telecenter operators), Nov 25, 2008
Your operator promises you x Mbps. Are you sure he keeps promise? If not, what you miss?
LIRNEasia, has been researching on Broadband performance quality issues in Asia. One objective of our work is to create ‘EMPOWERED USERS’ armed with broadband performance information.
Our first milestone was to develop ‘Ashoka-Tissa’ methodology of Broadband testing. This was released [...]




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