M. Somasekhar’s piece on Hindu Business Line on mobile payments says:

Experts from Sri Lanka, Pakistan, Kenya, Thailand, the Philippines, Bhutan and Bangladesh among other nations met in Islamabad recently to discuss their experiences in providing mobile phone services for the BoP segment in their respective countries. They agreed that a beginning has been made and the road ahead appeared daunting, but technological progress promised quick results.

Don Sambandaraksa’s  piece “Mobile phones offer hope to ‘bottom of the pyramid” to Bangkok Post focuses on mobile use in farming, transport and banking. Says he:

“ICTs cannot solve all problems, chief of which is land reform, but when it comes to making decisions, lowering transaction costs and going to market and selling, information can make a big difference.

The researched categorised the decision-making process and information value in each from decisions to seed, planting, growing to harvesting and selling.

Information search costs are highest at the beginning of the cycle. Information on deciding what to grow are three times all other costs, and this is where ICTs have a potential role to play.

Sriganesh Lokanathan said that ideally he wanted to change the decision-making chain into a cycle where the decision on what the farmer wants to grow is based on the price when he expects to harvest. For this to happen, prices and supply and demand needed to be predicted and farmers need to get into forward sales contracts which does not often happen in this part of the world.”

Meanwhile we see Pakistan Telecom Authority, the co-organiser takes the message forward. ‘PTA Focuses on Value-Added Services Including E-Commerce, E-Agriculture & E-Education’ was the title of a report from Pakistan Telecom News Bulletin. It says:

Chairman, Pakistan Telecommunication Authority (PTA) Dr. Mohammed Yaseen has said that PTA’s focus is on value added services and with a high penetration level of mobile and low penetration of internet we have to explore the available possibilities which could be gained via mobile 2.0 theories. I very much foresee the further development of presently available technologies and those coming ahead through value added services and content. He was addressing to Connect 2010 ICT Forum – Telecom Session at Expo Centre Karachi and talking to media men on the occasion. He said that our emphasis is on e-commerce, e-agriculture and e-education, it is the time to open doors of opportunities to our young innovative minds and to bridge the unseen gaps between all potentials players of ICT proliferation.

For the full media coverage and presentations,  please see here.

Analysts and industry players, however, expect the process not just to be further delayed, but also to attract fewer participants for the bidding process.

Their apprehension follows recent media reports, citing government documents, that the finance ministry has sought to double the auction price for pan-India 3G radio bandwidth, or spectrum, to INR40.40 billion.

“There is no (further) delay. The auction is on schedule,” said Akshay Rout, a spokesman for India’s ministry of communication, told Dow Jones Newswires.

The Indian government had already delayed the auction to Jan. 30 from Jan. 16.

Read the full story in CNNMoney here.

He also said that the government was preparing to stage a massive vote rigging on election day and the move seems to prevent the outside world from getting information on those violations in the East.

As a former Minister of Posts and Telecommunications, Mr. Hakeem said the Defence Ministry could give such orders only on matters pertaining to national security.
 
The chief ministerial candidate added that he would initiate legal action against any service provider and other responsible officials if such undue interruptions are effected tomorrow.

http://www.lankadissent.com/allnews/2008_05_09_12_news.htm

About 6.6 million people signed up for China Mobile’s services last month, compared with its previous high of 6.1 million in September, the Beijing-based company said. China Telecom’s total phone subscribers fell by 880,000, it said in a statement today.

China will accelerate the process of granting licenses for providing third-generation mobile-phone services to fixed-line operators to help them compete in the nation’s telecommunications market, the official Xinhua News Agency reported Nov. 19, citing Xi Guohua, a vice minister at the Beijing-based Ministry of Information Industry.

Read the full story in ‘Bloomberg’

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.

Ten percent of revenues from every call go to Amnesty’s human rights fund without charging extra to the consumers. That means whenever Amnesty Wireless customers dial, they help free prisoners of conscience, end capital punishment and support rights for women around the world.

“Cell phones have made the world more mobile. Now there’s a cell phone that makes the world more free,” said Working Assets CEO Laura Scher.

“Both our organisations believe that universal recognition of universal human rights is an attainable goal. And with an effective, convenient service like Amnesty Wireless, it’s now more attainable than ever.”

“Our members want to do all they can to support human rights,” said Larry Cox, executive director of Amnesty International USA. “But they’re also busy people. Amnesty Wireless makes it easier for them to make a difference every day.”

Amnesty Wireless members who want to do even more can find in each month’s bill the Citizen Action alerts containing urgent human-rights issues that need their support.

They can choose to send a well-argued letter to a targeted decision-maker. Or make a call from their cell phone and speak out for their beliefs.

Members can make up to 30 minutes of such calls each month — absolutely free. The Amnesty Wireless customers also pay nothing while calling within the network.

New customers monthly pay $29.99 and gets an LG225 camera phone, 200 minutes of free talk time, unlimited nights and weekends, voicemail, an earpiece, a car charger and free home delivery without activation fees.

Amnesty Wireless will even buy out subscribers’ current cell-phone subscriptions with up to a $175 credit.

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 rebel group called local newspaper offices to claim responsibility for the blast.

A few hours later, troops smashed the door of his hideout and arrested the militant “commander” after a brief gun battle.

Indian intelligence officers credited the bust in south Kashmir to the tracking of his mobile phone.

Until a few years ago, intelligence officials resisted attempts by the federal government to lift a ban on cell phone services in the region, fearing mobile phones would aid militants in planning attacks.

Now they know better and security officials say troops have eliminated many militants by tracking their mobile phones and tapping conservations, citing the example in south Kashmir.

“Such a quick strike operation was just impossible three years ago,” a senior intelligence official told Reuters.

“We tracked the calls made from his mobile to local newspapers which led to his arrest and that of some other suspects.”

India has been battling a 16-year Muslim separatist revolt in its part of Kashmir. Tens of thousands of people have died in shootings, bombings and other violence.

In 2003, New Delhi allowed mobile services, eight years after the rest of India, now the world’s fastest-growing market for cellular services.

At that time, India said it was a move to win the hearts and minds of Kashmiris, weary and alienated after years of conflict in India’s only Muslim-majority state which is also claimed by neighbor Pakistan.

After three years, there are now more than 850,000 mobile phone users in a state of 10 million people. And the spin-off for anti-insurgency operations has enthused security officials.

“So far, we have arrested or eliminated dozens of them (militants) including many senior commanders through mobile-tracking,” the intelligence officer said.

“It is easier to track them if they use mobile phones.”

BOON OR BANE?

Elsewhere across some trouble spots around South Asia, mobile phone services are still seen as a bane.

In Sri Lanka, which is teetering on the brink of a return to civil war, Tamil Tiger rebels do not allow mobile phone services in areas held by them.

“We do not allow mobile telephones because of security concerns,” said rebel media coordinator Daya Master. The Tigers fear they could be tracked and targeted through mobile signals. So they use satellite phones instead.

In Nepal, the ousted royalist government of King Gyanendra resorted to shutting down mobile services when the monarch’s opponents planned big rallies against his rule to foil the protests.

Indian security officials admit their initial resistance to mobile phones in Kashmir was misplaced.

“Earlier, we thought it would help terrorists in their communications and help their subversive activities,” army spokesman Lieutenant-Colonel V.K. Batra said.

“But it is proving counterproductive to them.”

Militants also use satellite phones from their forest hideouts. But security forces say they are able to intercept or jam such communication.

Police in Kashmir say mobile phones have also saved the lives of hundreds of people trapped in buildings stormed by suicide attackers.

Hostages have often communicated with the police through mobiles and managed to guide security forces to rescue them amid gunfire, said K. Rajindra Kumar, a top police officer.

“This is the success story of mobile phones in anti-militancy operations,” Kumar told Reuters.

(Additional reporting by Simon Gardner in COLOMBO)