Findings from two surveys The Centre for Poverty Analysis (CEPA) held its twenty-seventh Open Forum, to discuss “Living Conditions of the North and the East” of Sri Lanka in relation to the rest of the country from the findings of the Consumer Finances and Socio Economic (CFS) survey 2003/2004 conducted by the Central Bank. This is the eighth of a series of CFS surveys conducted by the central bank that dates back to 1953. The survey yielded the first set of household data on the North and the East since 1983. The CFS survey was conducted immediately after the cease fire spanning over 2003/2004. “Living Conditions of the North and the East” was presented by Dr.
Living the Information Society: The Impact of Information and Communication Technologies on People, Work and Communities in Asia Renaissance Hotel, Makati City, Philippines April 23-24, 2007 Download Call for Papers The Philippine ICT Researchers Network through the National College of Public Administration and Governance of the University of the Philippines is hosting an international conference on “Living the Information Society: The Impact of Information and Communication Technologies on People, Work and Communities in Asia.” This conference will be held at the Renaissance Hotel, Makati City on April 23-24, 2007. The event is also co-sponsored by the International Development Research Centre (IDRC).
Several of the partners in the HazInfo project (Dialog, U of Moratuwa and MicroImage) have been shortlisted for an innovation award for the GSM based alerting device that is being used in the HazInfo project by the GSM Association. Final selection will be done on October 16th. GSM Association Press Release 2006 – GSMA announces shortlist for the first Asia Mobile Innovation Awards
Internet Providers Criticize Leased Line Tariffs Bisnis Indonesia, Sept. 26, 2006, T2 JAKARTA: The Association of Indonesian Internet Service Providers urge network operators to lower leased line tariffs to allow a healthy competition in providing Internet services for retail customers. Chairman of the Association Sylvia W. Sumarlin said that network operators, which also provide direct internet services to customers, have disturbed ISP businesses. “Every day, a lot of ISP customers switch to network operators because they provide cheaper tariffs to access Internet,” she said to Bisnis yesterday.
From Lanka Business Online Streaming Fast 28 September 2006 19:00:19 Sri Lanka Telecom links up with India’s BSNL to offer wider choice September 28 2006 (LBO) – India’s Bharat Sanchar Nigam Limited Thursday officially kicked off a 1.8 billion rupee undersea cable unit with Sri Lanka Telecom, which will bring down call rates between South Asian countries. The optical fibre cable, which run between Mt Lavinia (Sri Lanka) and Tuticorin in India, will enable SLT customers to enjoy high speed broadband services such as audio and video streaming. Read full article on LBO
The final report of the study that was conducted on Sri Lanka’s BPO sector is available for download below as a PDF file (931kb) A Baseline Sector Analysis of the Business Process Outsourcing Industry of Sri Lanka
Finally domain names ending in .mobi can now be registered by the general public. Will this increase mobile content (i.e. content that can be viewed on your mobile phone)?
The Hindu Businessline, Thomas K Thomas, New Delhi , July 13Increasing usage of broadband and Internet-based services has prompted Indian international bandwidth providers to raise their capacity by 95 per cent over a one-year period. According to the Telecom Regulatory Authority of India, bandwidth owned by various gateway service providers such as VSNL, Reliance Communication and Bharti has gone up to 12.7 Giga bytes in March 2006 compared to 6.5 Giga bytes at the end of the previous financial year. Explaining the growth, Mr Kiran Karnik, President, Nasscom, said: “Bandwidth requirement is largely being driven by the IT industry, particularly the BPO sector, and also rapid Internet adoption at homes.
Joji Thomas of the Hindu Buisness Line reported this on August 21, 2006. LIRNEasia research by Payal Malik had recommended USO funds should be technology neutral as well as fund infrastructure creation, but the funds from the USF are not being released as mentioned in this report. Read on… JOJI THOMAS PHILIP NEW DELHI [ MONDAY, AUGUST 21, 2006 10:27:47 AM] DEPARTMENT of telecom has demanded that the finance ministry allocate an additional Rs 2,000 crore towards the Universal Service Obligation Fund (USOF), over and above the Rs 1,500 crore that has been allocated in the Union Budget. It has also said that all telecom companies should pay 5% of their adjusted gross revenue towards the USOF, which is used for building and supporting telecom infrastructure in rural India. DoT move is likely to cause a showdown with the finance ministry .
Finally, a major company has shifted its call center out of Colombo. When will the government call center follow? Telecommunications allows for distance to be overcome. Taking back office operations to Rajagiriya is not enough; there should be call centers in Hambantota and Trincomalee. Now that the SLTL fiber is on its way to Hambantota, the former may yet happen.
Hindu Business Line New Delhi , Sept. 21 The Government is planning a major digital expansion by setting up one lakh rural Common Service Centres (CSCs), which will basically be computer kiosks, at a total cost of Rs 5,742 crore [USD$1.2 billion] , through a public-private partnership (PPP) mechanism. These centres are expected to bridge the digital divide existing today between the urban and rural areas. According to a Government spokesperson, a proposal for setting up CSCs was approved by the Union Cabinet on Thursday.
BBC Story: http://news.bbc.co.uk/2/hi/business/5344654.stm Does anyone here suffer from Nebrols (Network Broken Limbs Syndrome) :-)
According to this article that appeared today in India’s Business Standard, TRAI seems to be considering using a base price + beauty pagent mechanism to award 5 licenses (of 5MHz each) for companies to introduce 3G services. The prduence of using beauty pagents needs to be questioned. The failures of 3G auctions in Europe in 2000 has been mentioned as one of the reasons for opting for a beauty pagent. However the failures of those auctions stemmed from operators’ over-estimating the potential of a new and untested service. It is unlikely that operators would make the same mistake again – my argument being once-bitten, twice shy.
(unofficial translation) Insignia of Nepal Government Nepal Gazette Published by Nepal Government Part 56) Kathmandu, Bhadra 26 2063 (Number 20 Part 3 Nepal Government Notice of Ministry of Information and Communication This notice has been published to notify that the Nepal Government using the authority given by Radio Communication (license) regulation, 2049, part 18 sub-part (c) has declared that use and storage of radio equipment in the ISM Band of 2.4 GHz and 5.8 GHz with the Maximum Effective Isotropic Radiated Power of 4 Watts will not require any license. As Directed, Shankar Prasad Koirala Acting Chief Secretary of Nepal Government Previous discussion on this issue available here.
Ambar Singh Roy, The Hindu Business Line Habarana (Sri Lanka) , Sept 17 It would be imperative for India to replicate the urban competitive model in its mobile telephony segment in the rural areas with a view to improving the country’s ranking in the global digital opportunity index (DOI), according to LIRNEasia, a regional information and communication technology policy and regulation research and capacity-building organisation. Read full story at The Hindu Business Line online.
Sept 12: Pradip Baijal, the former chairman of the TRAI, puts forth his comments on TRAI’s experiences with competition regulation in this article on Rediff. Read the entire article HERE