Tag Archive for ‘Bottom Of The Pyramid’ at LIRNEasia

Tag Archive for 'Bottom Of The Pyramid'

Call for Papers: Infrastructure Regulation: What works, Why, and How do we know?
Deadline: 05 December 2008.

Sri Lanka: No UPAHARA for farmers, fishermen, street vendors and tea pluckers

on November 7, 2008

One seemingly less important budget proposal made yesterday by President Mahinda Rajapakse – many might have missed it – is the eligibility extension of the popular ‘low cost’ UPAHARA package by Mobitel to clergy and employees of co-op societies. Only public sector employees plus retirees had the privilege before.

No doubt, a private company, even a one with govt hand in it, can offer special rates for a niche market, which it finds lucrative. However, when that is recognized more as govt policy, and spelled in a budget speech, inevitably eyebrows go up and questions arise.

The most deserving beneficiaries of low cost teleuse are the poor – or the so called ‘Bottom of the Pyramid’ (BoP). That we all agree.

As LIRNEasia found from its previous Teleuse…

17 Comments
Tags: Bottom Of The Pyramid, Budget 2008, Budget speech, Mahinda Rajapakse, Ministry of Finance, mobile phones, Mobitel, Sri Lanka, telecommunication, UPAHARA.

The Interview with Rohan Samarajiva

Ayesha Zainudeen

on November 4, 2008

This episode of The Interview features an interview with Executive Director, Rohan Samarajiva on telecom regulations, disaster mitigation, preparedness and early warning, mobile phone usage at the BOP and a number of other technology related issues.

The Interview - Rohan Samarajiva from CPA on Vimeo.

Comment
Tags: Asia, BOP, Bottom Of The Pyramid, cellular telephone, CPA, Disaster, disaster mitigation, Early Warning, egovernment, hazard warning, HazInfo, mobile phone, Rohan Samarajiva, Sanjana Hattotuwa, Sri Lanka, Teleuse@BOP, The Interview.

Microsoft tries to understand BOP teleuse

Rohan Samarajiva

on October 28, 2008

In the end, Microsoft’s best intentions may not satisfy what locals want. The company surveyed 8,000 people in emerging markets and found their most pressing needs for technology often revolved around entertainment and surfing the Internet.

“It reinforced for us that the emerging middle classes are sort of like the middle classes here except they don’t have as much money,” Mr. Toyama said. “It’s sometimes easy for us to get caught up in things and forget we are serving the needs of real people.”

The above comes from a story on Microsoft’s social research unit in Bangalore, an organization LIRNEasia has had many interactions with, and hopes to work with in the future as well.

We were under the impression that they did mostly qualitative research, and that…

Comment
Tags: BANGALORE, Bottom Of The Pyramid, emerging markets, LIRNEasia, Microsoft, quantitative research, teleuse, Toyama.

LIRNEasia research published in Telektronikk

Nirmali Sivapragasam

on October 7, 2008

An article entitled, ‘Teleuse at the Bottom of the Pyramid: Beyond Universal Access’, co-authored by Harsha de Silva and Ayesha Zainudeen, has been published in Telektronikk, a leading telecommunications journal, published by Telenor, Norway.

Appearing in the journal’s second issue for 2008, aptly titled, ‘Emerging Markets in Telecommunications’, the article explores the extent to which “universal access” to telecommunications has been achieved in Asia, based on findings from LIRNEasia’s five-country study of the use of telecommunication services at the ‘Bottom of the Pyramid’, namely in India, Pakistan, Philippines, Sri Lanka and Thailand.

Very high levels of access, but low levels of ownership are found. The paper then looks at the potential benefits that these non-owner users are missing out on, and then goes on to look at the key barriers to ownership…

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Tags: Ayesha Zainudeen, BOP, Bottom Of The Pyramid, Harsha de Silva, India, Norway, Pakistan, Philippines, Sri Lanka, Telektronikk, Thailand, universal access.

Mobile2.0: Beyond voice? Call for papers

Ayesha Zainudeen

on September 29, 2008

Preconference workshop at the 2009 conference of the International Communication Association (ICA) | 20-21 May 2009, Chicago, Illinois, USA | Download Call for Papers (pdf)

Mobile phones are becoming increasingly important in bringing people into the Information Society. It is widely accepted that the inhabitants of the future household will carry mobile devices that will be capable of voice and data communication, information retrieval and forms of entertainment consumption. Mobiles are now (and will increasingly become) payment devices that can also send, process and receive voice, text as well as images; in the next few years they will also be capable of information-retrieval and publishing functions normally associated with the Internet. Through such services and applications, industry experts predict that many in emerging markets will experience the…

Comment
Tags: BOP, Bottom Of The Pyramid, cellular telephone, conference, emerging markets, ICA, Illinois, international communicaiton association, International Communication Association, mobile applications, mobile communications, Mobile2.0, payment devices, United States.

Download caps in the US

Rohan Samarajiva

on August 31, 2008

One of the key debates on broadband is between those who believe in “all you can eat” service packages and pricing and those who do not. Our research so far indicates that broadband can only be provided to the Bottom of the Pyramid using the same kind of business plans that were effective in providing mobile service to the BOP, that is, not all-you-can eat.

Comcast, a leading US ISP, has just announced caps on downloads. If this is the future for rich country users, can there be any doubt about what the future for BOP users in poor countries?

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Tags: Bottom Of The Pyramid, Broadband, Comcast, ISP, pricing, Quality of Service, quality of service experience.

Don’t share your mobiles! BIG BROTHER IS WATCHING YOU!

Chanuka Wattegama

on July 14, 2008

The motto of any typical bureaucrat is “First my convenience!”. How can one expect Sri Lankan types to be different?

In late 1980s, when motor cyclists were found responsible for few key assassinations, the Police reacted first by banning helmets (before that it was compulsory) and then by prohibiting pillion riders. Why this nuisance? National Security! The risk and the inconveniences faced by public were no concern of the authorities.

Telecommunications Regulatory Commission of Sri Lanka (TRCSL) has done it again. According to the advertisements published in national weekend newspapers and elaborated in a Sunday Times news story, there are many things now the mobile operators, resellers, repairmen and users cannot do. For example, any mobile user in future has to carry a certificate from the operator that…

31 Comments
Tags: Bottom Of The Pyramid, Telecommunications Regulatory Commission of Sri Lanka, Teleuse@BOP, TRCSL.

Benefits of telecom at the BOP?

Ayesha Zainudeen

on May 26, 2008

LIRNEasia’s Lead Economist presented the findings on the percieved benefits of telecom access at the bottom of the pyramid at ‘The Global and Globalizing Dimensions of Mobile Communication: Developing or Developed‘ a pre-conference program at the ICA 2008 conference in Montreal on 20-21 May 2008.

The paper presented, ‘Perceived economic benefits of telecom access at the Bottom of the Pyramid in emerging Asia‘ takes a look at what BOP phone owners gain from telecom access from their own perspective. One of the most interesting findings here, is that although they see efficiency gains stemming from phone access/use, they don’t relate these to economic gains. This is puzzling, because we know from macro-level studies that a positive relationship exists between phone penetration and national income; additionally, theory suggests…

1 Comment
Tags: Asia, Bottom Of The Pyramid, India, Johnathan Donner, Montreal, SMS.

Asia at the leading edge of communication and new media developments?

Ayesha Zainudeen

on May 15, 2008

LIRNEasia’s Executive Director will speak at the International Conference on Information, Communication and New Media & the First Annual Convention of the Information and Communication Association of Taiwan, being held in Taipei on 17 May 2008. His presentaiton, Asia at the leading edge of communication and new media developments? can be downloaded by clicking on the link.

5 Comments
Tags: Asia, Bottom Of The Pyramid, Information Society, Samarajiva, Taiwan, Teleuse@BOP.

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