Tag Archives: United Kingdom
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Disaster Risk Reduction: Is Europe different?
Brussels, Nov 25-26 – Third Civil Protection Forum organized by the European Commission. It rains heavily, but fortunately no floods as in Ireland. Ideal environment to discuss disaster risks. I speak at Seminar F titled ‘Innovative Technology for Disaster Management’. I am one of the two speakers from Asia in the entire conference; the other is from Japan.
I am skeptic how they would take my presentation – all Asian experiences to an almost hundred percent European audience except for two gentlemen from Botswana. Developed vs. Developing world. Connected vs. Unconnected. Are the issues similar? Or is it a different scenario?
I am glad we find some common ground. Bridging last mile isn’t an issue as serious as in Asia, but ‘Cell Broadcasting’ generates an interest. A DRR professional from audience talks about their efforts to introduce the same in France, with some success. One gentleman from Botswana asks why not in Africa. He is also interested in SMS based solutions. I introduce the Sahana SMS module to him.
Other than that, the discussion focuses more on the issues technology creates, rather than ones it solves. They talk about ‘over dependence’ on technology and the problems old find using ..read more
Britain to tax fixed lines 6 pounds a year for broadband: expect more mobile-only households
To many people’s surprise, the UK has decided to tax every fixed line 6 pounds a year to build “next generation broadband” throughout the country.
But Virgin’s network is limited and fibre-optic cables are expensive. The two firms can profitably reach only around two-thirds of the population, reckons Matt Yardley of Analysys Mason, a consultancy that helped to prepare the report. Connecting the rest at high speed will cost around £3 billion. So Lord Carter surprised the broadband industry by proposing a £6 annual tax on telephone lines, raising around £150m. That will be used to bring “next generation broadband” (a term left undefined, but probably an expansion of the BT scheme) by 2017 to the third of the country the private sector will struggle to reach.
We sincerely hope this money will be spent as soon as its collected and will not add to the billions of universal service funds rotting in government accounts the world over. We also predict that there will be more mobile-only households as a result. Trust the British to go against the current. Everyone else beats up on mobile and shields fixed; they do the opposite.
OECD broadband used by one-fifth of the population
The OECD countries are racing toward a broadband solution based fixed access, ADSL, Cable or FTTH.
THE number of people subscribing to broadband in OECD countries increased by 13% last year to 267m. More than a fifth of the combined population of the 30 mostly rich nations in the OECD now have high-speed access to the internet. The broadband penetration rate is above a third in Denmark, the Netherlands, Norway and Switzerland. Adoption is lowest in poorer countries such as Mexico, where just over 7% are broadband subscribers. Slovakia enjoyed the fastest growth in broadband subscriptions per person. Those subscribers, however, paid most for their connection, once exchange rates were adjusted for local spending power. On that basis, Slovaks shelled out over twice as much for speedy internet access as broadband users in Britain or Japan.
India has most competitive mobile market in the world
In the course of her research on India’s telecom policy and regulatory environment, LIRNEasia Senior Research Fellow Payal Malik calculated the HHIs for different circles in India and found them to be very low. Drawing on other TRE research and the literature, she has made a comparative assessment of the level of competition in India and a prognostication on the direction of mobile tariffs in an interview with the Economic Times.
Lirneasia’s senior research fellow Payal Malik had published the Herfindahl-Hirschman Index (HHI) – the index for market concentration – in the telecom markets of South Asian countries, last year. Lower the HHI, higher the competitiveness in a market.
India’s turned out to be the lowest at 2000, as compared to Indonesia’s 3400 and Thailand’s 3900. Among the western markets, USA’s stood at 2529 and UK’s at 2309. In fact, India’s competitiveness is close to the US anti-trust guidelines’ threshold for market trustworthiness – a HHI between 1000 and 1800.
“With that level of competition, the assumption that price cut by one telco will be followed suit by all its counterparts in the market is valid,” Ms.Malik said. “So, it can be expected that RComm’s move will mark yet another nosedive ..read more
UK: Broadband in every home by 2012 ?
All UK homes should have access to broadband and faster download speeds by 2012, the government has said.
An interim report on the UK’s digital future also looked at plans for public service broadcasting.
Prime Minister Gordon Brown said digital technology was as important today as “roads, bridges and trains were in the 20th Century”.
But the Conservatives said the report promised “no new action”. The Lib Dems said it was a “complete damp squib”.
Culture Secretary Andy Burnham told MPs it would help Britain secure a competitive low carbon economy in the next five to 10 years, adding the country “led the world in content creation”.
The report called for everyone in the UK to have access to a broadband speed of up to two megabits per second (Mbps).
Read the full story in BBC here.
Maldives: Dhiraagu license renewed, but no more exclusivities
Dhiraagu, the incumbent telecom operator of the Maldives had its license renewed for a term of 15 years. Since its establishment in 1988, Dhiraagu enjoyed an exclusivity on the provision of fixed line services. It was also the only company allowed to carry international traffic into the island nation and terminate on any network. We are happy to note that the Telecom Authority of Maldives (TAM) has not extended these exclusivities in the new license that will be effective from January 2009. The move should, at a minimum, have an impact on international incoming call prices to the Maldives, since Dhiraagu’s competitor Wataniya will now be able to carry inward bound traffic and terminate on any network.
Dhiraagu is owned by the Government of Maldives (GoM) and Cable & Wireless of the UK and has been a an important revenue generator for the Government of Maldives. According to LIRNEasia’ Telecom Regulatory Environment survey research, over 9% of GoM’s non-tax revenues came from Dhiraagu.
According to Miadhu News and Dhiraagu’s own press release (), the official ceremony was held on the 25th of December 2008 at TAM.
A draft report of findings from the Maldives ..read more
UK: Broadbad speed rules come into force tomorrow
The Ofcom-backed code of practice has won pledges from net firms to give more information about line speeds.
Net firms covering 95% of the UK’s broadband users have signed up to the voluntary scheme which comes into force on 5 December.
Over the next six months Ofcom will monitor net firms to ensure they live up to their promises.
The code of conduct was drawn up in response to research that suggested consumers were confused by adverts that promised broadband speeds that few consumers could achieve.
Almost a quarter of people do not get the speed they expect, according to early results from Ofcom research, which is due to be published in full in 2009.
The code requires net firms to:
Give new customers an accurate estimate of the maximum speed their line can support. Explain how technical issues could slow speeds and give advice about how to combat these problems. Downgrade a customers deal, at no penalty, if line speeds are a lot lower than the original estimate.Read the full story in BBC here.
UK Broadband customers overpay by 70% – Survey
It is the same story everywhere. Broadband prices are falling, so the early adopters pay more than newbies – unless they switch fast. To make the matters worse, operators have started selling the same packages with new prices – in the same manner an Airline bringing ticket prices down at the eleventh hour to fill the seats.
This is the tirade of one user.
UK customers are paying 70% more than they need to for their broadband connections despite the credit crunch. Masses of broadband customers (70,000 in fact) on 8Mbps broadband packages have been surveyed by Broadband Expert to find out how much they pay for their connections. Compared to the deals currently available on the market, it’s no surprise that there’s a huge disparity between the two figures – much like the energy market!
On average UK broadband customers pay £16.98 per month for an 8Mbps broadband package, despite some providers offering a similar package for under £10 a month. BT and Demon customers lose out most, while Sky and O2 customers are quids in.
You may not be aware that broadband prices have dropped dramatically in the last few years. A customer who signed up for a broadband package 2 years ago could ..read more
Broadband providers ordered to come clean in ads
Some regular readers of LIRNEasia blog would just love this news.
Internet service providers (ISPs) in UK have just a few weeks to sign up to a voluntary code on the promotion of broadband speeds or the industry will face mandatory regulation, the communications watchdog has warned.
Attempts to set up a voluntary system providing consumers with accurate information were failing, Ofcom’s chief executive Ed Richards told a parliamentary select committee. “This is a near-term issue that needs to be dealt with now and we would like to be able to get the industry to sign up within the next few weeks,” he said.
BT, the UK’s largest broadband provider, said it backed the plan. “We believe the most important thing is transparency when a customer orders a broadband service,” said a spokesman. “BT Retail always tells the customer what speed of service they will receive before they place the order and we believe that other companies should do the same.”
Read the full story in ‘The Independent’ here.
Broadband in UK: speeds ‘less than half those advertised’
Broadband customers are still experiencing connection speeds less than half those advertised, with the worst offenders being ‘high speed’ products, a study suggests.
On average, broadband speeds were just 48 per cent of those advertised, with the figure falling to as low as 26 per cent for high speed packages offering connections of 8Mb/s or more, according to the study.
By contrast, customers on 2Mb/s packages experienced average speeds of 1.8Mb – or 88 per cent of the advertised amount, according to broadband-expert.co.uk, a price comparison website.
The study of 41,000 UK broadband connections found that on average, 8Mb/s packages delivered speeds of 3.4Mb/s – or 43 per cent of the advertised amount, with the worst offenders being Toucan and Virgin Media – whose customers experienced speeds 26 per cent and 29 per cent of those advertised respectively.
Read the full story in ‘TIMESONLINE’ here.
Sir Arthur C. Clarke: Imagination par excellence
Sir Arthur C. Clarke, resident of Sri Lanka, citizen of the United Kingdom, and man of the universe, passed away on the morning of the 19th of March. His was a life well lived. He will be remembered.
Sir Arthur imagined what the world could be. In some cases, such as the geostationary orbit that was named after him, he even did the mathematics to substantiate his imagination. But the mathematics was not the true achievement: it was that he imagined this wondrous idea of a specific orbit where satellites would be stationary in relation to the earth and could therefore serve as very tall towers for wireless transmissions with line of sight covering one third of the surface of the globe; it was that he imagined it a decade before anything had been sent that far into space and before the rockets with power had been designed.
His was a creative mind until the end. I recall him saying that we should consider a single time zone for the world at a video conference that we participated in back in 1998. I ..read more
Broadband quality in UK: Glass half full or half empty?
Half of the UK’s broadband users are unhappy with the service from their internet providers even though high-speed connections are at their cheapest and fastest, according to a survey by price comparison service uSwitch.
With 15 million customers – half the country – spending £3bn on broadband every year, the gap is widening between the companies perceived as best and worst providers, according to uSwitch, which makes money by encouraging consumers to hunt out new deals.
Its survey of nearly 11,000 broadband customers suggests four million customers are not satisified with their provider and four out of nine companies have less satisfied customers this year than last.
Read the full story in ‘The Guardian’ here.
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