Tag Archive for 'Rohan Samarajiva'Page 2 of 9


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




Monopoly: The good the bad and the not-so-ugly

by
kapugama
on April 15, 2008
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The colloquium notes

Lara Alawattegama (LA): Monopoly means ‘a market with a single supplier’

Why a monopoly happens:
1. No close substitutes
2. Legal barriers to entry
3. Resource barriers
4. Unfair competition -predatory pricing

Rohan Samarajiva (RS) : Lack of competition leads to monopolies. Microsoft Windows is an example where none of the above characteristics applied

Chanuka Wattegam (CW): Is LIRNEasia a monopoly?

RS: What is LIRNEasia’s market?

No technical barriers for anyone to entry to the LIRNEasia market. So the answer is no.

LA: Natural Monopoly is what you get when the market is too small for a competitor to offer a lower priced product. (dis-economies of scale ) So a new firm may have to sell at a higher cost and will not be successful unless that adds value (i.e. improved technology).…

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Is mobile phone a polluter?

by
Chanuka Wattegama
on April 10, 2008
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Do mobile phones pollute the environment? Sri Lanka’s Environment Minister Champika Ranawaka thinks so. That was why he wants to impose a so called ‘environment tax’ on mobiles, (in fact all phones, but the above newspaper article focuses on mobiles) at two points, when you purchase it and use it. This is on top of the rest of the tax components the mobile users already have to pay.

No information to that mobile usage is a serious threat to Sri Lanka’s environment. Whatever the little information we possess suggest the opposite. E-waste recycling companies claim the number of mobile phones added to e-waste is negligible. When Dialog Telekom initiated a well publicised effort to collect used mobile phones, they could collect not even 100 – much less…

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LIRNEasia practice on research –> policy: For discussion

by
Nirmali Sivapragasam
on March 25, 2008
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LIRNEasia’s practice on research –> policy
Rohan Samarajiva

The research that LIRNEasia does will never get a Nobel Prize.  We work on applied research topics that are theoretically informed, but involve for the most part close engagement with what is actually happening on the ground in some country, preferably one that is in Emerging Asia.  This allows not only a focus on policy and regulation as actually practised (a signature of our work), but also more effective communication to policy-makers using analogies.

However, this does not mean that we do not generate new knowledge.  Aggressive interrogation of applied research allows us to abstract certain concepts and methods that are of general applicability.  Examples are the Telecom Regulatory Environment (TRE) assessment instrument extracted from the work on regulation and investment…

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Beyond Tunis: Changing Policy

by
Nirmali Sivapragasam
on March 25, 2008
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Beyond Tunis: Changing Policy

Rohan Samarajiva

Government is about the sustenance of hope. Yet in too many places, government is about killing hope: “you can’t make it because you’re poor/ your ethnicity is wrong / you aren’t from the right school.” When hope is dead, when the pie looks like it’s not expanding, and the game is zero-sum, the path that remains is hatred.

Information and communication technologies (ICTs) shake things up. Not necessarily for the better; but with prodding of the right kind and possibly some luck and happenstance, the equilibrium can be broken in a positive way. So, I work with ICTs, not as ends but as means. Opportunity anywhere rests on connectivity: the ability to obtain credit/capital/knowledge/a job; and so on. Those who already have…

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Censorship of LIRNEasia book gets media coverage

by
Rohan Samarajiva
on March 23, 2008
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Sri Lanka using customs authorities to censor academics: report - LANKA BUSINESS ONLINE

Another book by Rohan Samarajiva, from LirneAsia, a Colombo-based regional policy think tank, had been detained by customs from December.

Samarajiva’s book, “ICT infrastructure in emerging Asia, Policy and Regulatory roadblocks” released by the Indian unit of academic publishing house, Sage, was launched in India in December.

Sri Lanka;s customs chief Sarath Jayathilake was quoted in the report as saying that the detention was not brought to his attention and he was not aware why the books were seized.

“We usually detain these books if it’s a matter of security and we refer them to Defence (Ministry) or the Government Information Department,” Jayathilake was quoted as saying.

The LirneAsia publication had a chapter on telecommunications usage in…

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“Building Sri Lanka’s Knowledge Economy”

by
Chanuka Wattegama
on March 21, 2008
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Starting a business in Sri Lanka is not the easiest task in the world but how far that impedes Sri Lanka’s entry to global knowledge economy? This is one of the key questions posed by the World Bank publication
The report identifies the business environment; information infrastructure; an innovation system; and human resources as four pillars of the knowledge economy. Challenges faced by Sri Lanka in becoming a knowledge economy are examined and the report proposes possible ways that Sri Lanka could move forward to build its knowledge economy under the country’s development strategy as outlined in the Mahinda Chinthana.

‘Building Sri Lanka’s Knowledge Economy’ to be launched Tuesday March 25, 2008 at 4th Floor, DFCC Bank Auditorium 73/5, Galle Road Colombo 3. LIRNEasia is happy…

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LIRNEasia releases ‘AshokaTissa’ methodology and preliminary results of broadband QoSE testing

by
Chanuka Wattegama
on March 19, 2008
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At a well attended public seminar yesterday (March 18) at Institution of Engineers (Sri Lanka), LIRNEasia released its Broadband QoSE testing methodology (named ‘AshokaTissa’, after the greatest collaboration between India and Sri Lanka, the movement of Buddhism across the Palk Strait) and the preliminary test results of three of the most widely used broadband packages in Sri Lanka, SLT Office (2 Mbps / 512 kbps), SLT Home (512 kbps / 128 kbps) and Dialog (2 Mbps / 512 kbps) This was followed by the responses from SLT and Dialog Broadband. The event was jointly organised by LIRNEasia and Institution of Engineers. (Sri Lanka)

Speeches/Presentations available for downloading:

Comments from the Chair – Rohan Samarajiva

Introduction to broadband and Test Methodology – Timothy Gonsalves

Preliminary QoSE test results – Chanuka…

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LIRNEasia at ITS

by
Nirmali Sivapragasam
on March 12, 2008
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LIRNEasia researchers will participate at International Telecommunications Society 17th Biennial Conference in Montreal, Canada, June 24-27, 2008.

Rohan Samarajiva, Helani Galpaya and Payal Malik will be among panellists at a double session  on ‘New regulatory approaches in the face of rapidly changing demand’. This session showcases key findings from recent LIRNE.NET research in four different continents.

In a separate session, LIRNEasia researchers will present a paper entitled, ‘Re-examining Universal Service Policies in Telecommunications: Lessons from three South Asian countries’, co-authored by Malik and Samarajiva.

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LIRNEasia at International Communication Association Conference

by
Nirmali Sivapragasam
on March 11, 2008
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LIRNEasia researchers will participate at the International Communication Association conference in Montreal, Canada, May 21-26, 2008.

Rohan Samarajiva will present a paper based on LIRNEasia’s study on the gendered aspects of telecommunications use in emerging Asia, entitled, ‘Who’s Got the Phone? The Gendered Use of Telephones at the Bottom of the Pyramid‘.

Abstract: ‘Much has been said about women’s access to and use of the telephone. Many studies conclude that a significant gender divide in access exists particularly in developing countries. Women are also said to use telephones in a different manner from men –making and receiving more calls, spending more time on calls, and using telephones primarily for ‘relationship maintenance’ purposes, while men make fewer calls, shorter calls and use telephones primarily for instrumental purposes. However, much…

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LIRNEasia holds final HazInfo Workshop in Jakarta

by
Natasha Udu-Gama
on March 6, 2008
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Yesterday, 5 March 2008, LIRNEasia, with its Indonesian partner, the Indonesian Institute for Disaster Preparedness (IIDP), held the final HazInfo workshop at the Hotel Borobudur in Jakarta, Indonesia. The “Sharing Knowledge on Disaster Warning: Community-based Last-Mile Warning Systems” workshop included several highlights such as a testimonial from an Aceh survivor of the 2004 Indian Ocean Tsunami; informative presentations from the Indonesian Institute of Science (LIPI), KOGAMI Padang, GTZ-GITEWS, Bureau of Meteorology and Geophysics (BMG) and the University of Syiah Kuala, Aceh. The workshop encouraged animated discussion on the importance of community-based early warning systems, training, and the necessity for information to follow warning.

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LIRNEasia at the ICT&S Center, University of Salzburg

by
Nirmali Sivapragasam
on March 6, 2008
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Rohan Samarajiva will make a presentation on the topic “More than voice at the bottom of the pyramid: Telecommunication for development in Asia” at the ICT&S Center, University of Salzburg on the 3rd of April, 2008.

The presentation will examine the potential for the take-up of “more-than-voice” applications among the fast growing user populations in the lower socio-economic strata, or the bottom of the pyramid (BOP) in emerging Asia. It will demonstrate the extensive use of telephones (mobile, fixed and public) by the BOP. It will look at usage by current owners as well as non-owners, and more the growth trends and projections for applications other than voice. Texting, payments, and voting are among some of these “more-than-voice” applications that will be looked at. Some of the policy…

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HazInfo Dissemination Workshops wrap up in Jakarta

by
Natasha Udu-Gama
on February 26, 2008
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On 5 March 2008, LIRNEasia in partnership with the Indonesian Institute for Disaster Preparedness (IIDP) will hold the third and final “Sharing Knowledge on Disaster Warning: Community-based Last-Mile Warning Systems” workshop at the Hotel Borobodur in Jakarta, Indonesia. Rohan Samarajiva, Natasha Udu-gama and Nuwan Waidyanatha will participate and speak at the event alongside several Indonesian speakers from various governmental, community-based and international NGOs such as BAKORNAS PB, Indonesian Institute of Sciences (LIPI), KOGAMI Padang and GTZ GITEWS. As in past HazInfo workshops in India and Bangladesh, the Indonesia workshop will not only discuss findings from the “Evaluating Last Mile Hazard Information” pilot project, but also exchange lessons learned from Indonesian counterparts.

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Executive Director chairs session at Ministerial program at 2008 Mobile World Congress

by
Ayesha Zainudeen
on February 13, 2008
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Rohan Samarajiva chaired the panel discussion on ‘Convergence in Regulation - Designing Regulation for Convergence’ at the GSMA Third Annual Government Mobile Forum on 12 February 2008. The Forum was a part of the 2008 Mobile World Congress, taking place from 11-14 February 2008 in Barcelona 2008.

The panellists included:
Maria Del Rosario Guerra, Minister for Communications, Colombia
Binali Yildirim, Minister of Transport and Communications, Turkey
Daniel Pataki, Chairman European Regulators Group (ERG)
Mickael Gosshein, CEO Orange Jordan
Sol Trujillo, CEO Telstra

The Government Mobile Forum is a unique platform where ministers, regulators and industry leaders come together, face to face, to discuss the opportunities that the mobile industry offers for economic growth and social development and the barriers it faces in meeting this challenge.

…

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LIRNEasia on opening plenary of Euro CPR

by
Rohan Samarajiva
on January 29, 2008
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Monday 31 March

09:00 – 11:00

Opening session – Information society policies

Information society policies have been on the policy agenda in all countries and regions of the world since the beginning of the 1990s. The opening session of EuroCPR 2008 will explore important outcomes of policy initiatives and the similarities and differences between different regions of the world. For this purpose, speakers from Europe, Asia and the US have been invited to give their critical assessment of policy aims and results.

Speakers:

• Eli Noam, CITI, Columbia University

• Andrea Renda, CEPS

• Rohan Samarajiva, LIRNEasia

Discussant:
• Frans De Bruïne, ISC, formerly INFSO EC

Powered by ScribeFire.

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We know who you are, we know where you are, we know what you buy, we know who you talk to

by
Rohan Samarajiva
on January 28, 2008
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This past Saturday at a conference organized by the Sri Lanka Institute of Marketing Harsha de Silva chaired a session with Hans Wijayasuriya of Dialog Telekom, Rohan Samarajiva of LIRNEasia and Keith Modder of Virtusa that addressed issues such as this.   One point that ran through the discussion was the need for companies to develop self-regulation to safeguard the trust of their customers.  

China’s mobile network: a big brother surveillance tool? - LANKA BUSINESS ONLINE

“We know who you are, but also where you are,” said the CEO of China Mobile Communications Corporation, Wang Jianzhou, whose company adds six million new customers to its network each month and is already the biggest mobile group in the world by users.

He was explaining how the company could use the…

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