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.
Canada is woefully positioned for future internet usage and the quality of current broadband networks is barely enough to cope with current traffic because of a lack of investment by providers, according to a new study.
The survey, conducted by the Oxford Said Business School in London and the Universidad de Oviedo in Spain and released Friday, found that Canada is below the global broadband quality threshold, which measures the proliferation of high-speed internet in a country, as well as the speeds available and the reliability of connections.
While Japan was the only country to meet the study’s standards for future readiness, broadband networks in countries such as Latvia, Romania and Bulgaria scored better than Canada, which ranked 27th out of the 42 nations covered. The United…
Tags: Broadband, broadband network, broadband networks, Bulgaria, Canada, high-speed Internet, Internet traffic, Internet usage, Japan, Latvia, London, Oxford Said Business School, Romania, Spain, United States, Universidad de Oviedo in Spain.
A single European Union-wide telecoms market could be in place from 2010 after the European Commission set out plans to increase competition. Under the new plans, a regional watchdog would be created and former monopolies could be forced to split up their network and services operations.
The planned changes are designed to offer consumers cheaper broadband services and phone calls from fixed line and mobile handsets, the Commission also argues. It claims that consumers are currently losing out because in many member countries, including Poland, Italy and Germany, the former state telecoms monopolies still dominate, particularly in the broadband market.
The proposals will now be debated in the European Parliament.
However, analysts said there is likely to be opposition to the changes with Germany and Spain seen as…
A version of the increasingly popular Linux operating system Ubuntu will be developed for use on net-enabled phones and devices.
The Ubuntu Mobile and Embedded project aims to create the open source platform for initial release in October 2007. The operating system will be developed by members of the Ubuntu community, along with staff from chip giant Intel. Its development was prompted by the growth of power hungry portable devices that place new demands on software.
“It is clear that new types of device - small, handheld, graphical tablets which are Internet-enabled - are going to change the way we communicate and collaborate,” said Ubuntu CTO Matt Zimmerman.
“These devices place new demands on open-source software and require innovative graphical interfaces, improved power management and better responsiveness.”
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Tags: Canonical, cellular telephone, conventional processors, Dell, energy efficiency, hungry portable devices, Intel, Linux, Mark Shuttleworth, Matt Zimmerman, Microsoft, open source software projects, open source technologies, open-source software, operating system, operating systems, Paul Otellini, portable devices, power-hungry applications, prototype device, Seville, South Africa, Spain, technology world, tiny low-energy chip, Ubuntu.
The battle for mobile customers in Latin America is hotting up as 319 million Latin Americans or 56% of the population already own a mobile phone. Telefonica of Spain and America Movil controlled by Mexican businessman Carlos Slim are going head-to-head to expand their market-share in South America and are increasingly targeting the “bottom of the pyramid.”
The Race for Numero Uno in Latin Wireless (Businessweek November 27, 2006):
More than 80% of Brazil’s mobile-telephone customers use prepaid service—buying cards to recharge their phones—rather than signing monthly contracts. América Móvil’s average client uses just 71 minutes of airtime each month, spending around $12.50. Although such revenue can add up, signing up all those customers has an impact on profits as well. “The two big operators have had to…
Tags: America Movil, Brazil, Carlos Slim, cellular telephone, fixed-wireless phones, Latin America, Latin Wireless, mobile-telephone customers, South America, Spain, Telefonica, USD, wireless technology.
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