Last year as many as 190m migrant workers sent cash home, according to the World Bank. These remittances amounted to US$337 billion, of which US$251 billion went to developing countries. But the cost of sending hard-earned cash depends on both the source and destination. On average, sending US$500 from Spain to Brazil will incur a modest charge of US$7.68, or a 1.5% fee. Sending the same sum from the Netherlands to Indonesia costs a whopping US$86.41, a 17.3% charge. The Netherlands, Germany and Japan tend to be the priciest places to send money from. Costs are generally lowest in Russia, Saudi Arabia, Spain, Singapore, America and Britain. (economist.com)
With hard times at our doorsteps, all we can say is a remittance mechanism that employs mobile communications…
Tags: America, Brazil, Britain, Germany, Indonesia, International Bank for Reconstruction and Development, Japan, mobile communications, remittance mechanism, remittances, Russia, Saudi Arabia, Singapore, Spain, The Netherlands, USD.
The Economist is not correct saying ‘No Evidence’ of Internet blocking in Sri Lanka, and in Laos and Cambodia the Internet usage is low so blocking does not make any difference.
As shown, even in Asia the attitude of officialdom varies when it comes to filtering content of a social nature. In many places agreements are set with service providers to block nasty stuff such as child pornography. In a few countries intervention is stronger, up to the level of pervasive censorship. This week Pakistan’s block on YouTube accidentally caused an international outage for that website. Iran and Saudi Arabia have also prevented their citizens from accessing the video-sharing site.
Source: The Economist, Chart Gallery
Tags: Asia, Cambodia, Chart Gallery, Internet blocking, Internet usage, Islamic Republic of Iran, Laos, Pakistan, Saudi Arabia, Sri Lanka, video-sharing site, YouTube.
LIRNEasia’s maiden telecom reform course was successfully completed by 36 participants from 18 countries. The 10th telecom reform course was co-organised with LIRNE.NET, in association with the School of Communication and Information of Nanyang Technological University, and the Infocomm Development Authority (IDA) of Singapore. Themed ‘Catalyzing change: Strategies to achieve connectivity and convergence,’ the course took place at the Elizabeth Hotel in Singapore on the 24th-30th September 2005.
see pics
The course aimed to prepare regulators to face the challenges that lie ahead to achieve connectivity and convergence. One of the key issues that much of the discussion focussed on was VOIP or voice over internet protocol, an application that is revolutionizing the voice market, bringing down costs significantly; this will have an enormous bearing on universal access, given the…
Tags: Africa, Andrew Haire, Asia, Bangladesh, Bhutan, Bill Melody, Cambodia, Canada, Concept Lab, Denmark, diverse group, Elizabeth Hotel, Europe, Ewan Sutherland, India, Indonesia, InfoComm Development Authority, Internet Research Centre, Jens Arnbak, LIRNE.NET, Malaysia, Milagros Rivera Sanchez, Mongolia, Nanyang Technological University, National University of Singapore, Netherlands Regulatory Authority, Nigeria, North America, OP TA, Pakistan, Philippines, Professors William Melody, Rajendra Singh, Randolph Kluver, Rohan Samarajiva, Satish Ranade, Saudi Arabia, School of Communication and Information, Singapore, South Africa, Sri Lanka, Tajikistan, Tan Geok Leng, Telecom Regulatory Authority of India, telecommunications user studies, Teleglobe, Thailand, Tyco Global Network (TGN), Videsh Sanchar Nigam Limited, voice over internet protocol, VOIP.
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