LIRNEasia’s Mobile Benchmarks (South Asia and Southeast Asia) and Broadband Benchmarks Report for October 2008 has been released. Click HERE for more information.
In what can only be described as a surprise announcement, Egypt’s Orascom Telecom Holding (OTH) says that it has been granted a 3G phone license in North Korea.
Orascom says that it intends to invest up to US$400 million in network infrastructure and license fee over the first three years. OTH intends to cover Pyongyang and most of the major cities during the first 12 months of operations. Read more.
Iraq has sold three mobile phone licences for $3.75 billion to Kuwait’s Mobile Telecommunications Co (MTC), AsiaCell and Iraq’s Korek Telecom. The three firms, which already run networks in the war-torn country, made the highest bids in an auction in the Jordanian capital that began on Thursday.
TurkCell and Egypt’s Orascom had also bid for licences but dropped out of the race for one of the few sectors to thrive amid Iraq’s instability and crumbling infrastructure. The fixed-line network was hit by sanctions after Iraq’s invasion of Kuwait in 1990 and by bombing during the U.S.-led invasion in 2003. Less than 4 percent of Iraqis have landlines.
Read more.
Dhaka, Nov 9 (www.bdnews24.com) - The United Nations Development Programme (UNDP) Human Development Report for 2006, launched globally Thursday, revealed that Bangladesh had shown impressive gains in water and sanitation sector although Asia’s emerging giants were lagging.
“Income matters, but public policy shapes the conversion of income into human development,” said the report, entitled “Beyond Scarcity: Power, Poverty and the Global Water Crisis.”
“India may outperform Bangladesh as a high growth globalisation success story, but the tables are turned when the benchmark for success shifts to sanitation: despite an average income some 60% higher, India has a lower rate of sanitation coverage. Similar gaps between wealth and coverage are observed for water,” the report revealed.
Since 1975, Bangladesh has steadily improved life expectancy, education, and the standard of…
Arab Mobile Phone Subscriptions Jump 70% in 2005
Source: www.cellular-news.com/story/18589.php
The number of mobile phone subscriptions in the Arab world has grown by a whopping 70 percent in 2005, underlining a strong consumer demand coupled by increased liberalization and competition in Arab telecom markets, according to a recently published Madar Research study. The study also reveals that Bahrain and the United Arab Emirates have achieved mobile phone penetration levels among their population that are comparable with those prevalent in Europe and Pacific Rim countries.
Mobile subscription in the Arab world - total of 18 countries covered by Madar Research excluding Somalia, Mauritania, Djibouti and Comoros - grew from 51.19 million by end 2004 to 87.06 million by end 2005, exceeding all expectation and forecasts.
This resulted in an average…
Nov 17, 2005, infoDev session, organized in partnership with IDRC
A panel of distinguished experts responded to this broad question dealing with what role policymakers and regulators can play in balancing the public interest and fostering a flexible environment for ICT innovations. Rohan Samarajiva’s response is available as a video. [please allow file to load completely before playing]
Moderator: William Melody, LIRNE.NET, Center for ICT, Technical University of Denmark
Panelists:
1. Muna Nijem, Chair, Telecommunications Regulatory Commission, Jordan
2. Eng. Alaa Fahmy, Executive President, National Telecom Regulatory Authority, Egypt
3. Jean-Michel Hubert, French Ambassador to WSIS
4. Ronaldo Balsinde, European Telecom Practice Leader, McKinsey & Co.
5. Rohan Samarajiva, Executive Director, LIRNEasia VIDEO [6 minutes]
6. Donald Abelson, Director, International Department, Federal Communications Commisison, USA
…
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.…
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