The 2008 Global Information Technology Report prepared for the World Economic Forum shows the five big countries of the SAARC backsliding in the rankings with small exceptions in the case of Sri Lanka and Bangladesh, which advanced from 86th place to 76th (using only 2006 countries; otherwise to 79th place) and from 118th place to 116th (again using only 2006 countries; if not, it would be in 124th place), respective.ly.
India went from 44th place to 48th (2006 countries only; if not 50th). Pakistan from 84 to 85 (actual rank 89) and Nepal from 108th place to 111th (actual rank 119).
The full report is here
23/03/08: Mobile phone service costs in Sri Lanka are cheap, even for the poor (Sinhala), Ravaya, Sri Lanka
25/03/08: Mobile is cheaper in Sri Lanka, even for the poor, The Daily News, Sri Lanka
Two recent studies have found that Sri Lanka is among four countries that offer the most affordable mobile services to the poor in emerging Asia and the world.
The first study conducted the LIRNEasia, a regional policy and regulation think tank, has found that the costs of using mobile telecom services are among the lowest in South Asia for all types of users. For the low user, essentially the poorer user, the average monthly cost of using a mobile in Sri Lanka is as low as US$ 3.83 per month if using prepaid. Sri Lanka…
Tags: Asia, Bangladesh, cellular telephone, India, mobile services, mobile telecom services, Pakistan, Ravaya, Sri Lanka, The Daily News, USD.
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…
Indian outsourcing sector hit by Internet disruption - LANKA BUSINESS ONLINE
India’s vital outsourcing industry, which relies heavily on the Internet, was grappling with a major communications disruption Thursday after damage to undersea cables thousands of kilometres away in the Mediterranean.
Internet connections may take up to 15 days to return to normal, businesses said, adding that telecommunications in neighbouring Bangladesh and Sri Lanka were also affected.
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The Grameen village phone ladies are slowly going out of business but Davos discussion still refers on the same model.
Many Are Already at Work on Fulfilling Gatess Vision - Bits - Technology - New York Times Blog
Last week Mr. Gates called on the executives of the largest corporations to add social entrepreneurship to their agenda, a leopard-spot-altering exercise at best. However, in challenging his compatriots, one of the experiments he overlooked was Mr. Yunus’s stunning success at Grameen Phone in Bangladesh, an effort he has pioneered during the past decade in partnership with Telenor, a Norwegian wireless carrier.
Intended as an experiment to extend wireless communications networks to the world’s poorest people, the program has become a remarkable success on multiple levels. Not only did it…
Click on the links to see the full articles covering LIRNEasia’s book, ICT Infrastructure in Emerging Asia: Policy and Regulatory Roadblocks.
‘BSNL’s monopoly over infrastructure a hindrance to growth’ - Financial Express (India)
Rural connectivity is now the focus of every telecommunication player in the country. Almost all stakeholders, from handset manufacturers to service providers, believe that the next wave of growth is in the rural areas.”However, India’s roll out (of telecom services) in rural areas has been slow. BSNL has the backbone infrastructure but is not yet ready to share it with private players,” he added.
Tags: access networks, Ashok Jhujhunwala, Asia, ATM, Ayesha Zainudeen, backbone infrastructure, Bangladesh, cellular telephone, Chennai, Department of Telecommunications, Financial Express, GSM, Harsha de Silva, IDRC, India, Jhunjhunwala, LIRNE asia, Madras, mobile phones, Pakistan, Rohan Samarajiva, rural telephony, Social Science Research Council, Sri Lanka, Telecom Regulatory Authority of India, telecom services, telephony, Yahoo Tech Group.
The Malaysian government will withdraw some WiMAX licenses “as the market is too crowded.” Earlier this year, the government gave licenses to four companies to operate WiMAX. But they have failed to perform, the country’s concerned minister has alleged. And that’s why the Malaysian government has now decided to revoke the licenses. Read more.
The Malaysian mobile phone providers were denied WiMAX licenses in the first place. The regulator in Bangladesh is also considering to follow the Malaysian footprint.
Are the ISPs (or small and medium enterprises) capable enough to successfully proliferate affordable Internet using broadband wireless in the emerging economies?
CAPEX and OPEX to run voice networks are fast decreasing, thanks to the evolutionery solutions. But the investment is “huge” for a green field data provider in a developing or underdeveloped economy. How realistic it is to forbid WiMAX for…
Governments need to pay more attention to the costs of false warnings. It’s not that this has not been said before. But now we have real evidence from the region.
Gulfnews: Cyclone victims ignored repeated warnings
A false tsunami alert two months ago led thousands of Bangladeshis to ignore warnings as Cyclone Sidr approached, costing many lives, villagers and officials said on Tuesday.
“This time we did not take the number 10 danger signal seriously because the government has been issuing these warnings quite often. We have rushed to cyclone centres in the past and then headed straight back,” said Abed Master, a teacher in Golshakhali, one of the worst-hit villages in southern Bangladesh.
Officials said they had struggled in vain to persuade villagers - used to the Bay…
10000 is too many. But it does look like lots of lives were saved by the early warning system that is one of the major achievements of Bangladesh. Yes, if it worked better, fewer people would have died. But which other country which is in the path of cyclones like Sidr has cyclone shelters for 1.5 million people? Which other has a working warning system with trained personnel at the village level?
Bangladesh’s cyclone | The cruel sea | Economist.com
It could have been worse. A robust cyclone-warning system saved thousands of lives. Some 1.5m people had taken refuge in cyclone shelters when winds of 250km per hour (155mph) and a 5-metre (16-foot) tidal surge hit the coastline after nightfall on November 15th. The economic fallout…
The victims of cyclone in Bangladesh are poorest among the poor. Their views about effective warning system “lacks credibility” to the concerned bodies.But it is a real bad news when the merchant mariners have slammed Bangladesh Meteorological Department (BMD) for suddenly raising the cyclone’s severity within an hour. It clearly demonstrates the BMD’s professional incompetence. Reuters provides the chilling details.
I was in Macau attending Mobile Asia 2007 when cyclone SIDR was brewing in the Bay of Bengal. BBC and CNN were updating its movement since November 12. To put a perspective to it, their weather commentators said SIDR’s intensity was similar to Katrina.
Both the international TV channels consistently mentioned Bangladesh being the very possible victim. Unlike in New Orleans, the international TV news crew did…
It appears that early warning and evacuation were effective in coastal Bangladesh. With so much attention focused on tsunamis, it is important not to neglect this very real hazard.
PS: Now with reports coming in that deaths will exceed 1000, judgment on the efficacy of warning and evacuation will have to be reserved. While one death is one too many, we must remember that 300000-500000 died in the 1970 Bhola cyclone which hit, the coast on November 12th. The fact that casualties will be be counted in the 1000s and not 100,000s is progress. More needs to be done, underlining the importance of the continuing work to improve early warning and preparedness.
Powerful Cyclone Kills 242 in Bangladesh - New York Times
A cyclone that…
What is with Bangladesh? Haven’t they heard of rings, which is the normal configuration of fiber?
LANKA BUSINESS ONLINE - LBO
Bangladesh on Tuesday launched an investigation after the country’s Internet link was sabotaged, disrupting communications nationwide for most of the day.
Officials said cables were also severed twice last week causing massive disruption to businesses in the impoverished country.
“We are investigating the cable cutting incident which took place today (Tuesday) with high priority,” said Ziaur Rashid Sofder, general manager of security at the Bangladesh Telephone and Telegraph Board.
“We are taking it very seriously because it was a really big sabotage,” he said, adding that three people were arrested last October following a similar attack.
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The “Evaluating Last-Mile Hazard Information Dissemination” (HazInfo) project full-length video documentary, “The Long Last Mile”, is now available on YouTube. TVE Asia Pacific, a HazInfo partner, has also published an article on the premiere of the video in Dhaka, Bangladesh.
More coverage of the Dhaka HazInfo Dissemination Workshop event on 25 October can be found at the Bangladesh Network Office for Urban Safety of BUET.
A new report from Portico Research reveals that over half of the population of the entire world will have a mobile phone by 2008. The study predicts that the global mobile penetration rate will pass the 50 per cent mark next year, with a further 1.5 billion new mobile phone subscribers expected to join their ranks over the next four years.
Portico Research says global mobile penetration rate will be at 75 per cent by 2011.
It is now believed that some 65 per cent of these “new-to-the-world” users will come from the Asia Pacific region, rather than from Africa as has previously been though most likely, with the majority being from rural regions in countries such as India and Pakistan.
Portico also says that although sector…
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