Tag Archive for ‘France’ at LIRNEasia

Tag Archive for 'France'

LIRNEasia’s Mobile Benchmarks (South Asia and Southeast Asia) and Broadband Benchmarks Report for October 2008 has been released. Click HERE for more information.

Dialog prompts for mobile re-registration: A solution?…may be, may not be.

Chanuka Wattegama

on July 22, 2008

It is literally a child’s play getting a false UK passport, Frederick Forsyth said in 1972. In his bestselling thriller, The Day of the Jackal the protagonist used the birth certificate of a dead child to obtain a fake passport. Thirty two years later, BBC was not sure the loophole was plugged or not. Not sure how many mercenaries still benefit.

The UK passport cannot be the only document an interested party can manipulate. This issue is particularly interesting to Sri Lankan mobile owners, as the regulator now wants users to prove mobile ownership at omnipresent checkpoints to ensure ‘National Security’

While Tigo will be issuing a loyalty card bundled with an ownership certificate, Dialog GSM today announced a more tech-savvy approach. As claimed by a full…

6 Comments
Tags: BBC, France, Frederick Forsyth, mobile ban, Telecommunication Regulatory Commission of Sri Lanka, The Day of the Jackal, Use technology.

The coming issue is broadband

Rohan Samarajiva

on January 18, 2008

Broadband | Open up those highways | Economist.com

As Taylor Reynolds, an OECD analyst, puts it, innovation usually comes in steps: newcomers first rent space on an existing network, to build up customers and income. Then they create new and better infrastructure, as and when they need it.

In France, for example, the regulator forced France Télécom to rent out its lines. One small start-up firm benefited from this opportunity and then installed technology that was much faster than any of its rivals’. It won so many customers that other operators had to follow suit. In Canada, too, the regulator mandated line-sharing, and provinces subsidised trunk lines from which smaller operators could lease capacity to provide service.

In South Korea, where half the population lives in flats, each…

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Tags: Broadband, Canada, communications ministry, France, installed technology, Japan, NTT, OECD, South Korea, Taylor Reynolds, then installed technology.

India takes a tough call on broadband; why not others?

Chanuka Wattegama

on January 2, 2008

Responding to complaints from harassed consumers who are offered “broadband” at speeds much slower than those stipulated by the government, the Telecom Regulatory Authority of India (Trai) has taken a tough call.

It has written to operators saying they can no longer advertise broadband services that say they offer “up to” 256 kbps speeds, thereby circumventing the rules by offering services at far lower speeds

Instead, Trai has directed all operators to clearly mention the minimum guaranteed download speeds in various packages. The regulator said operators have promised to abide by the new direction.

Meanwhile, the regulator has also mooted a discussion paper, which was released today, on whether the present level of 256 kbps defined as the minimum speed for a broadband connection should be raised to…

10 Comments
Tags: Broadband, broadband services, Business Standard, France, India, Singapore, Telecom Regulatory Authority of India.

Seacom laying Africa undersea cable

Abu Saeed Khan

on November 22, 2007

Mauritius-based private equity venture Seacom has started the construction of a fibre optic cable that will link southern and east Africa with India and Europe.

The $650 million project covers more than 15,000 kilometres to link South Africa to India and France through Mozambique, Madagascar, Kenya and Tanzania. It is expected to provide first broadband access to countries in East Africa, which are currently using satellite connections.

In a similar project, NEPAD e-Africa Commission signed a deal with an American firm 5-P Holdings in November 2007 for the construction of an undersea submarine cable to link every country in Africa with the outside world.

This is a joint project between African investors and US telecommunications development company Herakles Telecom. The cable will be ready to…

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Tags: Africa, Alcatel-Lucent, broadband access, East Africa, Europe, fibre optic, France, Herakles Telecom, India, Kenya, Madagascar, Mauritius, Mozambique, satellite connections, South Africa, Tanzania, telecommunications development, United States, USD.

French put va va voom into broadband

Tahani Iqbal

on August 9, 2007

Fibre-to-the-home that will provide broadband speeds of up to 100Mbps made possible in France.

Read full story

What has sparked investment in broadband is France is the low take-up of digital television, which makes it more attractive to offer TV over the internet.

Many broadband providers now throw in a set-top box with a package which gives customers television, telephone and internet down a fast broadband line for around 30 Euros (about £20) a month.

But something even faster is on its way. Beneath the streets of Paris two companies, France Telecom’s Orange and Free, are laying down fibre-optic cables to bring speeds of up to 100Mbps to homes in parts of the city.

…

So far just two thousand people have signed up to the fibre service, which costs 45…

1 Comment
Tags: Broadband, Digital TV, EUR, France, France Telecom, Free, GBP, internet connection, Paris.

VoIP is a four-letter word in USA

Abu Saeed Khan

on July 10, 2007

A new report from the North American research house, Instat, reveals that the US is way behind its European cousins in consumer Voice over IP (VoIP) adoption – and this despite the fact that 2006 was a particularly good year for the technology globally with the wordwide total of VoIP subscribers increasing by 34 million.

The leading European VoIP adopters over the course of 2006 were France, Germany, and the
Netherlands. According to Instat analyst, Keith Nissen, “The EU market increased by over 14 million subscribers last year largely due to local loop unbundling, the introduction of cable telephony and triple-play service bundles as well as operator consolidation.”

By contrast the US added a mere four million new VoIP subscribers over the same period. Keith Nissen says US…

2 Comments
Tags: cable telephony, European Union, France, Germany, Instat, Keith Nissen, The Netherlands, United States, voice-over-IP, VOIP.

UMTS in 900 MHz band? Vive la France!

Abu Saeed Khan

on July 9, 2007

Deploying W-CDMA 850 to cannibalise the CDMA mobile as well as to launch 3G without having the so called “3G license” is on the move. Telstra (Australia) and Vivo (Brazil) have done it quite well.

Now the French telecoms regulator has approved plans to allow the incumbent GSM network operators to reuse their 900Mhz bands for 3G services.

ART has also announced that any 3G new entrant authorised following the application procedure for the fourth UMTS licence would also have access to the 900 MHz spectrum once it has been returned by the existing 2G operators. Read more.

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Tags: 3G, 3G services, Australia, Brazil, CDMA, France, GSM, Telstra.

When in debt, sell your telecoms assets: Sarkozy

Abu Saeed Khan

on June 28, 2007

In an effort to reduce the nation’s public debt, France’s Finance Ministry has just sold a five per cent stake in France Telecom for €2.65 billion.

Rumours are circulating that the new administration under President Nicolas Sarkozy will sell more holdings in other state-controlled companies, such as the gas and electric utilities and aerospace industry, in an effort to cut taxes by €11 billion and encourage further economic development in
France. Read more.

Comment
Tags: aerospace industry, electric utilities, EUR, France, France Telecom, France\'s Finance Ministry.

Do Policy & Regulation Matter?

Divakar Goswami

on December 13, 2005

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

…

Comment
Tags: Commisison, Donald Abelson, Egypt, France, IDRC, International Department, Jean-Michel Hubert, Jordan, LIRNE.NET, McKinsey & Co, Muna Nijem, National Telecom Regulatory Authority, Rohan Samarajiva, Ronaldo Balsinde, Technical University of Denmark, Telecommunications Regulatory Commission, United States, William Melody.

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.

Telecom sans Frontiers

Rohan Samarajiva

on January 6, 2005

From www.timesonline.com

Telecom charity forges links for tsunami victims
by Elizabeth Judge

Vodafone and its industry peers are backing a new kind of aid for
striken areas

AS EARLY images of the Asian tsunami disaster were flashed around
the world, an aircraft loaded with equipment touched down in Sri Lanka
at Colombo international airport.

Within minutes, technicians had set up an emergency
telecommunications centre with satellite phone lines and high-speed
internet connections. Relief organisations were quick to avail
themselves of the service. Satellite lines were made available to
hospitals and to link survivors with the outside world.

The initiative was the work of Télécoms sans Frontières (TSF), a new
charity backed by companies including Vodafone, Cable & Wireless
and Inmarsat. With fixed-line and mobile networks down, the victims in
many of the tsunami-struck regions - as in other disaster zones -…

2 Comments
Tags: Baghdad, Bangkok, Cable & Wireless, Colombo, Colombo international airport, communication networks, electronic equipment, Elizabeth Judge, emergency telecommunications, food, France, Grenada, Hambontota, high-speed internet, high-speed internet connections, high-speed internet connections, high-speed Internet, Inmarsat, Jean-Franois Cazenove, Kosovo, normal phone networks, Oisin Walton, Pau, Satellite lines, satellite phone, satellite phone lines, satellite phones, Sri Lanka, telecommunications, the Philippines, TSF, Vodafone, www.timesonline.com.

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