Tag Archive for 'PSTN'


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




International telecoms licensing in Bangladesh

Bangladesh Telecommunication Regulatory Commission (BTRC) will auction licenses to operate two interconnection exchanges (ICX) and three International Gateway (IGW) facilities on November 22.

Outbound PSTN and mobile calls will first terminate in the ICX. Then the calls will be processed in the IGW followed by getting routed to overseas via BTTB’s submarine cable station. Similar path will be followed for the inbound overseas calls.

Foreign investments and joint ventures are strictly prohibited. Even the non-resident Bangladeshis are not eligible to invest.

Incumbent private operators (PSTN, mobile and ISP) are not allowed to apply for the IGW and ICX licenses. But the state-owned BTTB gets both the licenses. The newly enacted international lonng distance telecoms policy mandates these conditions.

Prof. William Melody, Arno Wirzenius and Anatul Fateh have detected numerous inconsistencies in this initiative.…

More mobile-only American homes than fixed-only homes

The growing importance of mobiles is illustrated by the fact that 14% of American households do not have fixed phones; while only 12.3% have no mobiles.    This trend which started in Finland has now spread to the bastion of the PSTN where for decades local calls from the fixed phone were free (both incoming and outgoing) compared with having to pay for both on mobile.   Competition and bundles of “free” minutes seems to have done the trick.

Cellphone-Only Homes Hit a Milestone - New York Times

From September 2006 to April 2007, the percentage of Americans in cellphone-only households for the first time overtook the percentage in landline-only households, according to Mediamark Research, a firm that has been tracking such data since the mid-1980s. The milestone is…

IDA for new interconnect, numbering arrangements for wireless broadband voice


Singapore’s Infocomm Development Authority (IDA) has opened consultations on a proposed interconnect and numbering regime for voice services provided over the city-state’s wireless broadband networks.
 

Three operators—Singtel, iCell and Qalanet—offer wireless services in the 2.5GHz band as part of Singapore’s Wireless@SG initiative and the IDA says it is now time to formalise an industry regime to support voice services carried over those networks. 

The IDA adds that the move is needed as part of the global shift from discrete PSTN and wireless networks to a converged next generation network. However, the Agency stops short of harmonising the standard numbering range with IP addresses. Read more.

A different model for supplying payphone services; let’s hope it will work

The title of the article “Sri Lanka to de-regulate payphone business,” is a little deceptive, but then that is probably not the fault of the Director General, but of the editor of LBO.
LANKA BUSINESS ONLINE - LBO

Sri Lanka plans to allow third parties to operate payphone booths in an attempt to popularise them in far flung areas outside the city of Colombo, a top official said.The island’s eight public switched telephone network (PSTN) operators will now be allowed to appoint a third party to operate and maintain a public phone booth on a revenue sharing model.

“Its a scheme similar to selling lottery tickets, where the lottery operator does not undertake the burden of running, maintaining and collecting the money,” the head of Sri Lanka’s telecom…

Colloquium on Sri Lanka’s Telecommunications Sector: A Tale of Missed Opportunities?

As part of the Six Country Indicators Project, Malathy presented the interim findings from the Sri Lankan country study (over Skype). The study assesses Sri Lanka’s telecom sector and regulatory performance. It employs the common methodology and list of indicators adopted for the Six Country study.