Asia may boast of being the largest landmass on earth. But it behaves like archipelago in terms of telecoms. Intra-Asian connectivity has been fully depended on submarine cable although the countries share common border. As a result the 60% population of the world has been punished with more than 300% internet bandwidth prices than their European counterparts. Political taboo and over-mystified national security issues have been keeping the Asian countries in isolation.
Findings from LIRNEasia‘s m-health pilot research on the use of mobiles for detection and dissemination of disease outbreaks, led by Mr. Nuwan Waidyanatha, was presented to key stakeholders at a workshop on 29 – 30 September 2010 in Islamabad, Pakistan. Participants consisted of key officials of the ministries of health and IT, public and private healthcare institutions, NGOs and academic institutions. The conference was co-funded by eHealth Association of Pakistan and International Development Research Centre, Canada. Findings have also made to the Pakistani media.
Pakistan has crossed the landmark point of 100 million mobile subscription, according to Pakistan Telecommunication Authority. The Chairman of PTA, Dr. Mohammed Yaseen, presented the SIMs of each five operators to Prime Minister Syed Yusuf Raza Gilani on September 30, 2010 and commemorated the historical activation of 100 millionth mobile subscription. It is the other profile of Pakistan the world is hardly aware of. PTA has been the symbol of regulatory excellence in many respect.
We expressed skepticism when the Labor Party first announced it. We are pleased it is being cancelled. The previous Labour government hummed and hawed about this rural-urban “digital divide”. Eventually, in 2009, it proposed levying a 50p tax on every fixed telephone line in the country: the proceeds were to be given to BT to allow it to connect even the remotest hamlets by 2012. The new coalition administration abandoned that plan, ditching the tax and pushing the target date back to 2015.
Telephone ownership and use As latest ITU data reveals, active mobile subscriptions continues to increase the world over. Just under two years ago, mobile subscriptions were reaching the six-billion mark. 2009 data from the ITU suggests we are well on our way to reaching seven billion connections. Developing countries, in particular, experienced a 19 percent increase in mobile subscriptions per 100 inhabitants between 2008 and 2009, compared with a modest 5 percent growth in developed countries according to the ITU. Mobile subscriptions in the Asia-Pacific alone have now passed the two-billion mark; according to the ITU, mobile subscriptions per 100 rose by 22 percent from 46 in 2008 in 56 in 2009.
I was invited by the Federation of Chambers of Commerce and Industry Sri Lanka to make a presentation at a SCCI meeting assessing progress on the resolutions at the 16th Summit in Bhutan. I presented data on the progress (or lack thereof) on intra-SAARC calling charges and suggested that SCCI do the same on matters they considered important. The slideset is here: Slideset