Tag Archive for ‘phone services’ at LIRNEasia

Tag Archive for 'phone services'

Call for Papers: Infrastructure Regulation: What works, Why, and How do we know?
Deadline: 05 December 2008.

Net Neutrality debate: No free lunches, so why ‘FREE BROADBAND’?

on September 7, 2008

We pay for other utilities (electricity, water, phone services) by the amount utilised, but usually a flat rate for broadband depending upon the bandwidth. I have earlier compared this to paying for water based on the diameter of the pipe, instead of liters consumed.

The following letter by a reader to USA Today highlights similar concerns - may be in another context.

WHY SHOULD BROADBAND BE FREE?

James Lakely - Chicago

Federal Communications Commission Chairman Kevin Martin’s reference to the phone industry exposes the weakness of his argument to provide free broadband access in the USA.

Yes, copper phone lines were, for decades, “the main means of communication for millions of Americans.” But the government didn’t invent that technology, nor give it away for free. The market provided, and…

12 Comments
Tags: Broadband, broadband access, Chicago, electricity, Federal Communications Commission, James Lakely, Kevin Martin, net neutrality, phone services, United States, USA Today.

Sri Lanka’s telecom sector soars on mobile growth

Abu Saeed Khan

on February 21, 2007

Sri Lanka’s telecom sector soared in 2006 to 7.3 million users, led by a 59% jump in new mobile phone connections on competition and falling call rates, an AFP report said.

Quoting the industry watchdog Sri Lanka Telecommunications Regulatory Commission, the AFP report said despite a waiting list of around 366,000 for fixed-line phone services, mobile phones, including GSM and CDMA systems, had allowed rural residents to get phone services immediately.

The AFP report further said fixed-line subscribers rose to 1.9 million in 2006 from 1.2 million a year ago after the commission gave CDMA licenses allowing three firms to use the cheaper technology and expand in rural areas.

The number of cellular phone users grew to 5.4 million in 2006 from 3.4 million a year earlier, as…

5 Comments
Tags: Bharti Airtel, CDMA, CDMA systems, cellular telephone, cheaper technology, fixed-line phone services, GSM, India, mobile phones, phone services, Sri Lanka, Sri Lanka Telecommunications Regulatory Commission, USD.

Mobile operators eligible for Indian USO Fund

Divakar Goswami

on November 25, 2006

The Study of India’s Universal Service Instruments by LIRNEasia researchers Payal Malik & Harsha De Silva, critiqued the Indian government’s policy that made only fixed line operators eligible for USO funds:
As of today, the government is giving USO fund support to only the fixed line operators offering services in the rural areas. The over defining terms in the law is a bad idea in a rapidly evolving technology environment, though this correction has been suggested it is quite possible that the previous auctions have left huge amounts of rents that have been appropriated by the incumbent. In an industry that manifests the potential for rapid technological change and innovation, such as telecom, an economic analysis of a problem should not focus too narrowly or exclusively on the…

Comment
Tags: Arunachal Pradesh, Bihar, cellular telephone, Chingraliang, Department of Telecom, Harsha de Silva, Henry Island, India, Indian government, Indian USO Fund, Madhya Pradesh, Maharashtra, mobile services, New Delhi, Orissa, passive infrastructure, phone services, technology environment, Thomas K Thomas, Universal Services Obligation fund, Uttar Pradesh.

Fiber to the home, thanks to competition

Rohan Samarajiva

on August 14, 2006

In the 1990s, I was involved in intense debates in the US about how to incentivize telcos to bring fiber closer to the home. It’s finally happening, and guess what is driving it? Competition.

“Verizon will spend about $20 billion by the end of the decade to reach 16 million homes from Florida to California. But it is in New York City where Verizon has the most at stake, because New Yorkers are some of the nation’s biggest buyers of video, Internet and phone services. The company plans to spend about $3 billion to reach the city’s 3.1 million homes and apartments.

With such a high concentration of potential customers, competition is fierce — and Verizon has been losing ground. Time Warner Cable, Cablevision and others are…

1 Comment
Tags: Cablevision, California, fiber network, Florida, New York City, phone services, Time Warner, United States, USD, Verizon.

Britain’s digital divide remains unbridged: Ofcom Report

saeed

on May 2, 2006

by Martyn Warwick - 28/4/2006 11:57:47

http://www.telecomtv.com/news.asp?cd_id=6652&url=news.asp?cd_id=6652

Ofcom, the UK’s uber-regulator of telecoms and the media has just published its Communications Market Report for the Nations and Regions of the UK. It analyses the availability, take-up and usage of telecoms, Internet and broadcasting services and applications across the whole of the British Isles. The watchdog will use the comprehensive new report as the empirical basis for much of its ongoing and future regulation

Ofcom conducted the research late last year, and, although things have moved on a bit since, the new report provides the most up-to-date snapshot of the British telecoms, web and broadcasting landscape that we have, and it shows not only that the UK has a marked digital divide but also that it is proving difficult…

2 Comments
Tags: ABC, bandwidth services, Blair administration, Britain, British Isles, Broadband, broadband access, broadband infrastructure, broadband Internet access, cellular telephone, Digital TV, Ed Richards, GBP, Internet access, London, Martyn Warwick, mobile and fixed telecoms services, Northern Ireland, Ofcom, phone services, satellite TV, SMS, socio-economic group, United Kingdom, Wales.

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