Tag Archive for ‘cell phones’ at LIRNEasia

Tag Archive for 'cell phones'

Call for papers: Mobile2.0: Beyond voice
Deadline: 31 October 2008.

Coming to a mobile near you soon: Facebook, Hi5 and Orkut (Now showing mygamma.com)

on September 12, 2008

Mobile social networking is still a small part of the way people use their cell phones, but industry officials expect that use will grow, and not just for teenagers who want to text their friends or send short video clips.

Analysts and network providers said that workers will adopt mobile social networking, following the way social network sites, such as Facebook, have begun to grow within workgroups that rely on desktop computers. These experts also expect that there will be affinity groups, such as doctors, engineers, lawyers or even baseball fans, who are linked with wireless devices.

Mobile social networking makes sense because mobile devices are personal and they are taken everywhere, offering the potential for transmission of quick ideas or images. Mobile social networks will (and…

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Tags: cell phones, Facebook, GPS, hi5, location technologies, Mobile social networking, Mobile social networks, mygamma.com, orkut, social networking makes, wireless devices.

Sri Lanka not to allow mobile phones as gifts

Chanuka Wattegama

on May 28, 2008

Worried over the growing grey market for mobile phones due to illegal imports from countries like China and India, Sri Lankan Customs has decided to confiscate such cell phones being brought in as accompanied or unaccompanied baggage or as gift.

The Sri Lanka Customs has announced that all goods for commercial purposes/commercial quantities have to be imported in accordance with the provision of the Import Control Act and regulations framed there under.

It is estimated that over 20,000 mobile phones are entering the country through illegal channels every month.

“We are optimistic that this initiative will help in combating the grey market in Sri Lanka with strong implementation Directo/ Chief Executive Officer of Softlogic Communications Samantha Rajapaksa told the “Daily News”.

Softlogic an authorised dealer for Nokia phones in…

8 Comments
Tags: cell phones, China, Daily News, India, mobile phones, Softlogic Communications Samantha Rajapaksa, Sri Lanka.

FCC to consider use of mobile cell broadcast for emergencies

Natasha Udu-Gama

on April 10, 2008

CellCast Technologies urges the Federal Communications Commission (FCC) tomorrow to fully consider a proven technology, cell broadcast, in the nationwide emergency alert system for cell phones. On Thursday, the FCC is slated to vote on a committee report that did not specify cell broadcast technology.

“In the best interest of the general public, the FCC must focus on serving the public safety with a proven technology that can be implemented nationwide immediately,” said CellCast Chief Operating Officer Paul Klein. “We should not wait until 2010 when more lives could be lost to hurricanes, tornados and other disasters or crises.”

CellCast Urges FCC to Include Proven Cell Broadcast Technology in National Emergency Alert System for Cell Phones

Comment
Tags: cell phones, CellCast Technologies, Federal Communications Commission, Paul Klein.

India’s Mobile Phone Market Fastest Growing in World?

Chanuka Wattegama

on October 29, 2007

India’s mobile phone market has become the fastest growing in the world, with Indians adding nearly six million new connections every month. As Anjana Pasricha of VoA reports from New Delhi, much of the growth is among low-income consumers.

Telecom companies are going all out to woo such customers, offering them deals that make cell phones affordable for even those who earn as little as $125 a month.

Handsets are available for $45. Users can buy new pre-paid phone cards for less than 50 cents. Companies offer consumers the option of paying one lifetime fee of about $25, and never having to pay for incoming calls again.

As a result, low-income, self-employed people like maids, cooks, taxi drivers, plumbers, and construction workers are snapping up mobiles at a…

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Tags: cell phones, cellular telephone, cents, India, mobile phones, New Delhi, Telecom Regulatory Authority of India, USD.

Cell Phones Double as e-wallets in RP

Lorraine Salazar

on October 4, 2007

Cell phones double as electronic wallets in RP
By Oliver Teves
Associated Press
Last updated 10:42am (Mla time) 09/30/2007
Philippine Daily Inquirer

SAN MIGUEL, Philippines–It’s Thursday, so 18-year-old Dennis Tiangco is off to a bank to collect his weekly allowance, zapped by his mother–who’s working in Hong Kong–to his electronic wallet: his cell phone.

Sauntering into a branch of GM Bank in the town of San Miguel, Dennis fills out a form, sends a text message via his phone to a bank line dedicated to the service.

In a matter of seconds, the transaction is approved and the teller gives him P2,500 (US$54), minus a 1-percent fee. He doesn’t need a bank account to retrieve the money.

More than 5.5 million Filipinos now use their cell phones as virtual wallets, making the Philippines…

1 Comment
Tags: Ahli United Bank, Anna Tiangco, Associated Press, ATM, Bahrain, bank, bank account, bank accounts, bank line, bank products, bank wire transfer, cell phones, cellular telephone, computer chip, Dennis Tiangco, e - commerce, e-wallets, Etisalat, EUR, financial transactions over mobile networks, G-Xchange, Globe Telecom, GM Bank, HKD, Hong Kong, Hong Kong CSL Ltd., Joseph Estrada, Kenya, Middle East, Mobile banking, Mobile banking services, mobile phones, money transfer service, MTC, Peso, Philippines, Ramon Isberto, Rizza Maniego Eala, SAN, San Miguel, Smart, Smart Communications, South Africa, telecommunications operator, the Philippines, UAE, United States, USD, Vodafone.

Mobile money in the Philippines

Rohan Samarajiva

on October 2, 2007

Cell phones double as electronic wallets - Yahoo! News

Mobile banking services, which are also catching on in Kenya and South Africa, enable people who don’t have bank accounts to transfer money easily, quickly and safely. It’s spreading in the developing world because mobile phones are much more common than bank accounts.

The system is particularly useful for the 8 million Filipinos — 10 percent of the country’s citizens — who work overseas and send money home, like Dennis’ mother, Anna Tiangco. Previously, she sent money via a bank wire transfer, which costs $2.50 and takes two days to clear. The cell phone method costs only 13 cents and is nearly instantaneous.

2 Comments
Tags: Anna Tiangco, bank, bank accounts, bank wire transfer, cell phones, cellular telephone, cents, Dennis, Kenya, Mobile banking, Mobile banking services, mobile phones, South Africa, the Philippines, USD, Yahoo!.

Village Phone facing obsolence in Bangladesh

Abu Saeed Khan

on August 18, 2007

Grameen’s famous Village Phone Program lifted thousands out of poverty– and helped Muhammad Yunus win the Nobel Peace Prize. The problem: It’s not working anymore.

According to Grameen Telecom, the GrameenPhone affiliate that manages the program, profits per operator have been declining for years and in 2006 averaged less than $70. “The program is not dead,” says its manager, Mazharul Hannan, chief of technical services at Grameen Telecom, “but it is no longer a way out of poverty.”

The reason is simple: Technology and GrameenPhone itself have made the village phone obsolete. Access to cell phones has expanded rapidly across Bangladesh, as in other developing nations. GrameenPhone, largest of the nation’s six cellular providers, has more than 13 million subscribers, with yearly revenues of nearly $700 million.…

3 Comments
Tags: Bangladesh, cell phones, Grameen Bank, Grameen Telecom, Mazharul Hannan, Muhammad Yunus, Salim Khan, USD.

Quite a contrast with LIRNEasia’s research on women’s use of mobiles!

Rohan Samarajiva

on July 4, 2007

The survey below, commissioned by Samsung in the US, contrasts with LIRNEasia’s research on teleuse by women at the Bottom of the Pyramid, still in the process of being written up. Our Pakistan findings, being discussed on a PK focused blog, provide the starkest contrast.

Survey Reveals Important Role Mobile Phones Play in Women’s Lives

“A cell phone does much more than make calls for the Single Mobile Female,” said Randy Smith, vice president of channel marketing for Samsung. “The cell phone is an integral part of the SMF’s life, serving as a pocket-size detective, matchmaker, wing-woman and beyond. It is now officially a girl’s best friend.”

Cellular Singles

* Saved by the bell. More than one out of three SMFs have had a friend call them to interrupt…

5 Comments
Tags: cell phones, cellular telephone, mobile phones, Pakistan, Randy Smith, Samsung, United States.

Dial for freedom with Amnesty Wireless

Abu Saeed Khan

on March 24, 2007

Dhaka, March 23 (bdnews24.com) — Grameen Bank’s Muhammad Yunus stunned the world by unveiling a poverty alleviation initiative using mobile phone on March 26, 1997.

He buys bulk minutes from Grameenphone’s GSM mobile network and resells among the microcredit borrowers in Bangladesh.

The industry now recognises such business model as Mobile Virtual Network Operator or MVNO. Yunus and Grameen shared the Nobel Peace Price in 2006.

Ten years later on March 21, 2007, another Nobel Peace laureate, the Amnesty International’s USA chapter, unveiled similar high-tech philanthropic initiative called “Amnesty Wireless”.

This MVNO is a joint venture between Amnesty International and Working Asset. It buys bulk airtime from the Sprint CDMA network and resells mobile phone services among Amnesty Wireless customers at competitive rates.

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Tags: Amnesty, Amnesty International, Amnesty Wireless, Bangladesh, car charger, CDMA, cell phones, cellular telephone, Grameen Bank, GSM, Larry Cox, Laura Scher, mobile phone services, Muhammad Yunus, MVNO, similar high-tech philanthropic initiative, United States, USD.

Power without wire

Rohan Samarajiva

on November 15, 2006

Beyond the horizon, but worth keeping en eye on . . .

BBC NEWS | Technology | Physics promises wireless power

US researchers have outlined a relatively simple system that could deliver power to devices such as laptop computers or MP3 players wirelessly.

The concept exploits century-old physics and could work over distances of many metres, the researchers said.

Although the team had not built and tested a system, computer models and mathematics suggest it would work.

“There are so many autonomous devices such as cell phones and laptops that have emerged in the last few years,” said Assistant Professor Marin Soljacic from the Massachusetts Institute of Technology and one of the researchers behind the work.

“We started thinking, ‘it would be really convenient if you didn’t have to recharge…

3 Comments
Tags: autonomous devices, BBC, cell phones, energy, Marin Soljacic, Massachusetts, Massachusetts Institute of Technology, MP3, power to devices, United States, wireless energy transfer, wireless power.

Banning Cellphones in Conflict Zones Counterproductive

Divakar Goswami

on May 22, 2006

This article shows that government’s instinct to ban cellphones from conflict zones because of the belief that it will be used by militants/terrorists to further their cause, actually neutralizes one of the security agencies most potent weapons to track subversives. I doubt that the Sri Lankan government will allow cellular service to be available any time soon in the North. But at least it gives the security agencies some food for thought. The Indian government was similarly reluctant to have cellular service in Kashmir, but the Indian security agencies are their biggest proponents now.
————

Troops in Kashmir master new weapon: cell phones
Reuters
By Sheikh MushtaqSun May 21, 1:53 AM ET

Minutes after a bomb exploded recently in Kashmir and wounded Indian soldiers, a senior member of an Islamist…

3 Comments
Tags: cell phone services, cell phones, cellular services, cellular telephone, Colombo, Daya Master, federal government, food, Gyanendra, India, Indian government, Indian intelligence, Islamist, K. Rajindra Kumar, Kashmir, mobile phone services, mobile phones, Nepal, New Delhi, Pakistan, Reuters, satellite phones, Simon Gardner, Sri Lanka, Sri Lankan government, V.K. Batra.

SMS as part of Early Warning System

Divakar Goswami

on January 12, 2005

SMS enlisted for Tsunami warning system?

By Ben Charny, CNET News.com
Monday, January 10 2005 11:55 AM

At least five countries have begun developing an alert system using cell phone text messages, a response to the catastrophic Asian tsunami that exposed flaws in present-day early warning schemes.

Discussions among officials in India, Indonesia, Sri Lanka and Thailand, which were hard hit by the killer tsunami, along with France, have begun in just the last few days, according to a source familiar with the plans.

The goal is to supplement older systems that proved little help for nations in the path of the immense waves in late December that have so far killed more than 140,000 people in 11 countries. Already emerging from the wreckage are tales of emergency workers and…

93 Comments
Tags: AC, Ben Charny, carrier connections, cell phones, cellular telephone, early warning systems, France, Greg Wilfahrt, India, Indonesia, John Jackson, SMS, Sri Lanka, Thailand, wireless e-mail, Yankee Group.

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