LIRNEasia » mobile phones

Etisalat signals entry into m-payments space

Rohan Samarajiva — Fri, 05 Mar 2010 11:11:14 +0000

Makes eminent sense for a telco operating in the Gulf and in Sri Lanka to offer mpayment services. Also makes eminent sense to abolish excessive roaming charges within countries they operate in, like Zain (in the process of becoming part of Bharti). And even selling Etisalat SIMs to our workers before they go to Dubai.

Etisalat’s new Sri Lankan mobile subsidiary is in talks with banks to offer financial services on mobile phones, such as money transfers for migrant workers in the Middle East, a senior company official said.

Riyaaz Rasheed deputy chief executive of Etisalat Lanka said the mobile operator is seeking to tie-up with banks to offer the financial services. “We’re already talking to two of the biggest banks in Sri Lanka,” he told LBO. Rasheed declined to identify the banks, citing non-disclosure agreements signed with them.

Etisalat, the United Arab Emirates-based telecom firm, acquired 100 percent of the Sri Lanka operation called Tigo from Millicom International in October 2009 and has renamed it Etisalat Lanka.

Full story.

Internet beats newspapers for news in US

Rohan Samarajiva — Mon, 01 Mar 2010 06:50:59 +0000

I guess that means newspapers in hardcopy. Because many who read the news on the web, actually read news that originates in documents prepared by journalists, like the one below. But still, this is a significant shift. With more people at the bottom of the pyramid in Pakistan, India and Bangladesh owning mobile phones than radios, one wonders who the Internet will beat in our part of of the world: just newspapers or newspapers and radio?

The Internet has become the third most popular news platform for American adults, trailing only local and national television stations, according to a survey released on Monday.

Seventy-eight percent of the 2,259 adults surveyed for the Pew Research Center’s Internet & American Life Project and the Project for Excellence in Journalism said that on a typical day they get news from a local TV station.

Seventy-three percent said they get news from a national TV network such as CBS or a cable TV news station such as CNN or Fox.

Sixty-one percent said that on a typical day they get news online while 54 percent said they listen to a radio news program at home or in the car.

Fifty percent said they read news in a local newspaper and 17 percent said they read news in a national newspaper such as The New York Times or USA Today.

SMS alerts for tsunamis, the Australian experience

Rohan Samarajiva — Mon, 01 Mar 2010 06:38:40 +0000

Early warning does not happen every day. So when hazards occur, it is important that the experience is analyzed so that future responses can be enhanced. Here is a report on how warnings worked (or did not) on the Pacific Coast of Australia in relation to the tsunami generated by the Chilean earthquake of Saturday. It is a pity that the potential of cell broadcasting that can be targeted to low-lying areas that are in danger, without knowing any of the numbers of the mobile phones belonging to the people physically present and without congestion.

The Gold Coast authorities used SMS for 10,000 people. How did they know these were the phones belonging to the people in the high-risk areas? Is it not common that people who are found on beaches, do not necessarily live nearby? So how did they pick the 10000 numbers? And how come they missed the head of the local disaster management group?

“Not everyone keeps their radio on.

“We need a system to make sure the low ground gets priority warning.”

Dr Wilson said a siren system, doorknocking and use of modern media such as Facebook were needed.

Emergency Management Queensland regional director Eddie Bennet said 10,000 text messages were sent to residents in seven suburbs identified as at greatest risk of flooding.

He said a blanket text message to the whole Gold Coast was not deemed as necessary.

The message that was sent directed Lakeview, Boykambil, Woongoolba, Currumbin, Cabbage Tree, Budds Beach and Paradise Point residents to seek further advice.

Mr Bennet said he believed the state’s first formal emergency alert had been successful.

“There was absolutely no confusion. There was a sound reason for this and valid purpose for sending them out.”

Local Disaster Management Group deputy chairman Councillor Ted Shepherd was not aware the texts had been sent and said he believed the level of threat did not warrant the service.

“It attracts too many spectators,” he said.

Adding mobile to the retail experience

Rohan Samarajiva — Sat, 27 Feb 2010 08:42:43 +0000

Now with smartphones ascendant in the developed market economies, retailers are beginning to think about how use the multiple capabilities of the handsets to enhance the shopping experience.

The main way they plan to do it is by turning people’s mobile phones into information displays and ordering devices. Can’t find the flour at the grocery store? Grocers will offer phone applications that tell shoppers exactly where to go. Is the department store out of size 8 jeans? Retailers want to make it simple to punch a couple of buttons and have the desired size shipped home.

Some supermarkets intend to offer real-time coupons while people shop. For example, a promotion for milk may be sent to a shopper’s mobile phone the moment her cart rolls into the dairy aisle. Drugstores will offer loyalty programs on cellphones, not on plastic cards. And specialty chains will allow shoppers to breeze through the aisles compiling a wedding registry, just by pointing at merchandise.

Of course, this stuff makes even more sense in the developing world, where there are phones aplenty (even if not all smartphones) and shortcoming in the alternative mechanisms for making shopping more efficient.

Not my wish list, but as good a starting point as any in thinking about the next handsets

Rohan Samarajiva — Fri, 19 Feb 2010 12:15:53 +0000

This is definitely not the appropriate set of new features that we need at the Bottom of the Pyramid in emerging Asia and elsewhere. Voice commands, greater convenience in reading/viewing, more location-sensitivity, etc. would be among mine. Of course we could also consider what the surveys say about flashlights and radios. But the most important thing is the discussion. And that can start with this list put up by the New York Times’ lead blogger on tech stuff. Comment on their website and paste to ours.

Mobile Video Conferencing
I’m still waiting for a little camera to appear on the front of my mobile phone so I can video chat while I’m on the go. Some mobile phone companies, specifically Nokia, have tried this in the past. However, it worked on a very small scale and only allowed Nokia-specific phone chats. For this to work correctly, mobile handset makers will need to allow video chats with computer users and across mobile handsets.

Biometric Sensors
Some of the current biometric sensors used by high-level security companies could easily fit into your mobile phone and add a needed level of security. Adding iris scanning biometrics, for example, could enable higher protection when making purchases on mobile phones and would eliminate the need for current password authentication. It would also deter theft of mobile devices.

Common Awareness Between Devices
Why can’t my phone talk to my computer and share information, including documents I’m reading? Why can’t I start watching a baseball game on my television and then finish it on my phone while I sit on the subway? Some of these features are available with a U.S.B. cable and a lot of dragging, dropping and waiting, but so far, devices can’t talk to one another and seamlessly share content.

Green Battery Power
We’ve come a long way from cellphone battery packs that were as large and heavy as a phone book, but why not add some green to the current batteries? Apple filed a patent two years ago for technology that would integrate a solar cell into the iPhone’s LCD display, allowing the phone to charge when sitting in direct light. This feature would be environmentally friendly, and could avoid cumbersome plugs and a constant need to recharge. (In his article, Mr. Vance noted that NTT DoCoMo showed off a solar-panel phone at the Mobile World Congress.)

The End of Wires
Speaking of self-charging devices, as many of us spend most of our online time in the cloud, why do we still need U.S.B. cables and headphone jacks? I wish that mobile phones could simple share all of our information, including videos, music and documents, wirelessly over Wi-Fi or 3G.

Mobile Projectors
Over the last couple of years, a few phones have entered the marketplace, specifically in China, that include a pico projector. The technology is still in an early stage, but these projectors are extremely small and enable projection of movies, photos and presentations directly from a mobile phone.

Txting champions: Where are the Filipinos?

Rohan Samarajiva — Thu, 28 Jan 2010 09:16:58 +0000

The world’s fastest txters are South Koreans, followed by US and Argentina. What does this mean for the Philippines status as SMS Capital of the World?

The inaugural Mobile World Cup, hosted by the South Korean cellphone maker LG Electronics, brought together two-person teams from 13 countries who had clinched their national titles by beating a total of six million contestants. Marching behind their national flags, they gathered in New York on Jan. 14 for what was billed as an international clash of dexterous digits.

To ensure a level playing field, LG handed out identical mobile phones — one with a numeric keypad and the other with a keyboardlike QWERTY pad — weeks in advance for practice. The basic rule of the competition: copy phrases streaming across a monitor correctly, with the required capitalization and punctuation, as quickly as possible. Whichever language players chose, words were selected so that each would type the same number of characters.

A change in the Internet world, driven by mobile?

Rohan Samarajiva — Tue, 05 Jan 2010 09:33:05 +0000

Will the shift to mobile as the primary interface to the Internet, dethrone search engines such as Google, that generate their revenues from advertising? An interesting discussion in NYT.

As people increasingly rely on powerful mobile phones instead of PCs to access the Web, their surfing habits are bound to change. What’s more, online advertising could lose its role as the Web’s primary economic engine, putting Google’s leadership role into question.

“The new paradigm is mobile computing and mobility,” said David B. Yoffie, a professor at the Harvard Business School. “That has the potential to change the economics of the Internet business and to redistribute profits yet again.”

In recent decades, the power of industry giants like I.B.M. and Microsoft, which once seemed unassailable, waned as computing shifted from big mainframes to PCs, and from PCs to the Internet. Many analysts say it is now Google that is faced with a less certain future in the face of another shift.

How to get South Asian women mobile access, and how not

Rohan Samarajiva — Sat, 05 Dec 2009 09:28:37 +0000

We are always happy when people use our research. Happier when we are mentioned as the source too. We thank the writer and/or the source for attributing the results to us.

While there is no separate data on the number of female subscribers in the country, according to a recent Lirneasia Teleuse Survey (a regional ICT policy and regulation think tank), mobile phone ownership is far lower among females than males in South Asia.

Statistical analysis shows that gender has a significant impact on mobile phone adoption at the bottom of the pyramid in Bangladesh, Pakistan and India. Consequently, in this segment, 12 males have access to mobile phones in comparison to five females.

Since the ownership of mobile phones is lower among females than males, women are less likely to have access to the phones unless the government intervenes through policies such as subsidies or free-phone programmes.

What puzzles us is the policy recommendation that handsets be subsidized or given free.

If anyone looks at our research they will find that the male-female gap has been closed in the Philippines, Thailand and Sri Lanka, and that the gap has narrowed in the countries referred to. Does this not suggest that time will close the gap?

Why jump to the conclusion that subsidies are required? The normal lifetime of a mobile is 3 years. Even if mobiles were given free, will the government continue to provide free phones when the old ones die? Will the women sell the phones? And, most importantly, where will the money for subsidy come from? General taxation? Mobile levies?

Teleuse@BOP findings used in discussion of Digital Bangladesh

Rohan Samarajiva — Thu, 26 Nov 2009 16:08:34 +0000

Dream of digital Bangladesh quotes us extensively.

Poor people in Bangladesh are more likely to own mobile phones and televisions than the same group in India, but the availability of computers in poor Bangladeshi households is almost zero, according to a recent study.

The survey by LIRNEasia – a Sri Lanka-based information and communication technology (ICT) policy and regulation think tank dealing with the Asia-Pacific – also revealed a comparative reluctance among poor Bangladeshis to buy radios.

Productivity driving growth in China and Asia

Rohan Samarajiva — Fri, 13 Nov 2009 15:32:16 +0000

LIRNEasia’s future work will focus on knowledge-based economies, which makes us very interested in stories like this, which place innovation at the center.

China’s productivity has been lifted by a massive expansion of private enterprise, and a shift of labour out of agricultural work and into more productive jobs in industry. China’s average return on physical capital is now well above the global average, according to Goldman Sachs. A decade ago it was less than half the world average.

Why have the Asian economies led the pack? The most important determinants of longer-term productivity growth are the rate of adoption of existing and new technologies, the pace of domestic scientific innovation and changes in the organisation of production. These, in turn, depend on factors such as the openness of an economy to foreign direct investment and trade, education and the flexibility of labour markets.

Using a composite index of technology penetration and innovation (including, for instance, computers and mobile phones per head), Mr Cates finds a strong link between the rate of increase in an economy’s technological progress and its productivity growth. China’s level of technology is still well behind that in America, but it has seen by far the fastest rate of improvement over the past decade. This is not just because China started from such a low base but also because it is more open to foreign investment than many other emerging economies, including Japan and South Korea when they were at similar stages of development. China’s TFP growth is almost twice as fast as that of Japan and South Korea during their periods of peak economic growth.

Young Health Workers more likely to adopt the m-HealthSurvey

Nuwan Waidyanatha — Sun, 18 Oct 2009 07:19:04 +0000

A m-HealthSurvey Certification Exercise was carried out as part of the m-Health Real-Time Biosurveillance Program (RTBP) to measure the usability and adoptability of the m-HealthSurvey mobile application. The exercise was conducted with health workers in Sivagangai District, Tamil Nadu, India and in Kurunegala District, Sri Lanka. The final results of the exercise will be published in the near future.

m-HealthSurvey is a mobile application developed by indian Institute of technology Madras’s Rural Technology and Business Incubator (RTBI) for collecting near real-time patient disease, syndrome, and demographic data for rapid detection of disease outbreaks. It is a J2ME midlet that allows users to select categorical data as well as type information to generate patient clinical records to be submitted via GPRS to a central database. The pilot is going on in India and Sri Lanka now.

Observations from the exercise revealed a disparity in the usage and adoption between the age groups of the health workers using the m-HealthSurvey for RTBP data submission – younger Sarvodaya Suwadana Center health workers, between the age of 18 – 35 in Sri Lanka, were able to complete the exercise easily in the allotted time by themselves without any help. While the older Tamil Nadu Health Department Village Health Nurses, between the age of 30 – 50, but with 10 – 20 years field experience, were unable to complete the exercise in time and, except for one or two of them, all others required guidance and assistance. This, adoption and usability, disparity of mobile phone applications between older and younger generations is also evident from LIRNEasia’s BOP findings; where “youngsters are more likely than older to adopt mobile phones beyond voice” (De Silva et al, 2009).

The health workers in Sivagangai and Kurunegala began using the m-HealthSurvey mobile application immediately after the training in June 2009; see blogs - Village Health Nurse training and Suwadana Center Health Worker training.

View link for field report -

Sivagangai District Field report by Dr. Ganesan Muthaiya (India)

Kurunegala District Field report by Ms. Pubuduni Weerakoon (Sri Lanka)

Mobile phone key pad inefficient for high volume health data entry

Nuwan Waidyanatha — Sat, 17 Oct 2009 05:34:22 +0000

m-Health Real-Time Biosurveillance Program (RTBP) interviewed Medical Officers in Kurunegal District in Sri Lanka and Sivagangai District in Tamil Nadu, India, during the months of September and October, 2009. These interactions revealed that outpatient health record entry in real-time by Medical Officers, using the mobile phone key pad is inefficient and the idea was rejected by them. The aim of the RTBP is to collect digitized patient disease, syndrome, and demographic information from the point of care to rapidly detect disease outbreaks.

Village Health Nurses in Tamil Nadu examine at most 70 patients a week. Ninety percent of the Village Health Nurses opt to jot down the records on paper and later enter them leisurely after the day’s work is complete. Therefore, they can easily use a mobile phone for data entry. However, the same solution cannot be applied to Primary Health Centers (Clinics) or Hospitals because they cater to as much as 200 patients a day within a span of 5 hours (8am – 1pm), giving the Medical Officers just about 90 seconds to examine each patient. Although the m-HealthSurvey mobile application offers the users to mostly select data opposed to typing, some editing of symptoms and signs are required. Hence, it is near impossible to request that the Medical Officers enter each patient record in real-time while they are overwhelmed with caring of patients.

Medical Officers are still required to pencil the patient’s health ID, age, gender, and diagnosis in the OPD registry. The present day protocols require that the Hospital and Clinic staff extract the OPD data for weekly reports that are propagated up through the District to State/Province and finally to the National level. The extra steps of aggregating and consolidating records manually at each level can be eliminated and delays that are as long as 30 days can be minimized to real-time, if the health records are digitized at the point of care.

At present the RTBP has recruited staff to digitize that data using the m-HealthSurvey for the purpose of the pilot. The RTBP research has realized two options for digitizing health records at the point of care: 1) recruit additional staff to enter health records (similar to what is being done now in the pilot) or 2) develop a mobile handheld device with touch screen and handwritting recogniztion for Medical Officers. Option 1) is costly since it involves additional human resources. Option 2) is ideal, if a handheld devices, similar to the mobile wireless medical tablet, can be developed for aound US$100, the same price as the mobile phones used in the RTBP field work at present.

Mobile Phones and Sharing Economies for sustaining last-mile early warning systems presented at Rutgers University

Nuwan Waidyanatha — Fri, 16 Oct 2009 01:28:39 +0000

In developing countries such as Sri Lanka, when government has no resources to deliver the essential public good of early warnings, alternate methods must be advocated – that was the idea of the HazInfo research project, where civil society in villages were given training to respond appropriately to alerts received from the Hazard Information Hub located at the Sarvodaya Head Office in Moratuwa, Sri Lanka.

The technology and organizational structure of the HazInfo last-mile hazard warning system proved to work as designed and drew valuable lessons for a full scale implementation. However, the major dilemma was in finding resources to sustain the system. The Hoteliers’ Association of Sri Lanka agreed to obtain services from Sarvodaya for a fee to train and certify the hotel staff in disaster response. This fee would go towards the OPEX of the HazInfo emergency response planning component and operationalize a 24/7/365 Hazard Information Hub for issuing alerts; but to kick start the endeavor a nominal CAPEX is required.

The paper titled – Mobile Phones and the challenges of sustainable early warning systems: reflection on Hazinfo Sri Lanka and opportunities for future research coauthored by Gordon Gow (University of Alberta) and myself (Nuwan Waidyanatha) addressing the correlation between investment and preparedness in relation to the HazInfo as well as the possibility of leveraging mobile telephony for building socially sustainable and community driven last mile warning systems was presented at the Mobile Communication and Social Policy Conference hosted by the Rutgers University School of Communication and Information. Event took place in New Brunswick, USA 9 – 11 October 2009.

IDRC features LIRNEasia Lead Economist in its annual report

Ayesha Zainudeen — Tue, 15 Sep 2009 05:01:49 +0000

Lead Economist, Harsha de Silva and the AgInfo work that he has been leading at LIRNEasia has been featured in the International Development Research Centre’s (IDRC) 2008-2009 Annual Report. Read the full feature here (page 16)

Sri Lanka: Fixed-mobile substitution drives down prices

Rohan Samarajiva — Mon, 07 Sep 2009 10:59:33 +0000

We wrote a few weeks back that fixed-mobile substitution that was decreasing fixed subscriptions in India and Pakistan had arrived in Sri Lanka. Instead of waiting for more fixed phones to be disconnected, Sri Lanka Telecom is taking proactive steps to keep its customers. Shows that competition delivers what court cases and regulation cannot.

Sri Lanka Telecom, the island’s dominant fixed line operator, said it was offering lower rates and discounts in new subscriber packages amid intensifying competition among phone companies.
In its new post-paid tariff plans called ‘V talk’, call rates to fixed and mobile phones have been reduced up to 35 percent and monthly rental reduced up to 48 percent, the company said in a statement.

“The new packages offer per second billing, low call charges, low rentals, flat rates, low calling rates for mobiles, and are also able to meet special requirements like fixed rate per call or fixed rate per minute options.”

In one of the packages, subscribers can call any network, fixed and mobile, at just one cent per second, excluding government taxes, during the discount time band everyday between 9.00 pm to 5.00 am.