Based on LIRNEasia’s broadband QoSE research findings, we ran an advertisement in the Daily Mirror (Sri Lanka’s leading English daily) on 24 November 2009. The advertisement focused on four facts. The first three were on value for money, advertised download speed as opposed to actual download speed and bandwidth bottlenecks. The lack of regulation on contention ratios (how many users per “channel”) was highlighted as the fourth fact We pointed out that LIRNEasia’s recommendation about imposing contention ratios of 1:20 (Business) and 1:50 (Residential) had been adopted by the Telecommunication Regulatory Authority of India (TRAI), with minor changes. TRAI mandates contention ratios of 1:30 for Business and 1:50 for Residential.
This is no news, but we now have evidence. Overall, North American broadband users are certainly luckier than their South Asia counterparts. (Please note exceptions!) All four North American broadband packages tested for the Oct 2009 release performed better than any of the nine South Asian ones for value for money in accessing an international server. In other words, the USA and Canadian users pay less for the same amount of bandwidth even ignoring PPP.
A report on Benchmarking National Telecom Regulatory Authority websites, edited by the late Amy Mahan, former Senior Researcher and coordinator of LIRNE.net, is available for download here. The report takes a detailed look at the state of regulatory authority websites in Africa, Asia, the Caribbean, Latin America and North America and identifies benchmarking indicators for evaluating them. Among its co-authors are LIRNEasia’s Senior Research Manager, Chanuka Wattegama, and former researcher, Lara Alawattegama. As a founding member of LIRNE, Mahan worked to ensure dissemination of the network’s research and coordinated research practices across its partner networks.
LIRNEasia and the International Telecommunications Union are organizing a 5 day training course on “Measuring ICT Access and Use by Households and Individuals” in Bangkok, Thailand from 19 – 23 October 2009. The local host of the meeting is the Ministry of Information Ministry of Information and Communication Technology (MICT), Thailand. The training targets staff of National Statistical Organizations (NSO)s. Interested NSOs can find more information on the ITU website or here. Through support from IDRC (Canada) and DFID (UK), LIRNEasia is able to provide funding for NSOs from SAAR and ASEAN countries who qualify to attend.
In April 2009, we reported that even though leased line prices in Bangladesh had declined by 74% in 6 months, the retail price paid by consumers had not changed. This was based on the broadband benchmarking data LIRNEasia publishes every 6 months. We are thankful that the Bangladesh regulator (BTRC) has taken note of our post and the complaints of many broadband consumers in Bangladesh. A recent article in the Daily Star reports that the BTRC has decided to check if the retail prices are dropping in line with whole-sale (leased line) costs. But what about broadband quality?
Today, Rohan Samarajiva delivered a speech at TEDx Colombo held at the Punchi Theater, entitled “Government services: Anytime, anywhere, any official language, now.” Much emphasis was laid on the usage of ICT in order to help trilingual government service delivery. Using the T@BOP data he illustrated the popularity of mobiles among the Sri Lankan BOP, and therefore their suitability as a medium for accessing government services, to answer queries or assist in contacting other government offices. This kind of help line service cannot be provided by private organizations; government has to be involved, in order to provide credibility. Ultimately, any citizen should be able to get things done, without hesitation, promptly, no matter what language they speak.
LIRNEasia’s most recent colloquium, Mobile 2.0: m-money for the unbanked was held via Skype. Erwin Alampay (PhD) , LIRNEasia research fellow, presented his working paper mobile 2.0 on m-money, from Manila, Philippines, via Skype to participants in three separate locations: Colombo, Sri Lanka (at LIRNEasia’s office), Yunnan, China and Bangkok, Thailand. Unlike previous virtual colloquia, where presenters (as well as participants) were abroad, this time, we were able to rely 100% on the Skype conference call.
The Pakistan Telecom Authority in their December 2008 quarterly review gives the reasoning behind the government’s decision to impose high taxes on mobile phone use. To reduce the high fiscal deficits, the government had increased taxes. The increase for the telecom sector was over 40 percent; for other sectors it was only seven percent. However, the end result was unexpected, though it could have been predicted from economic theory. In the two quarters after the tax increase, the tax revenue from mobile declined.
A public seminar will be held at the Institute of Engineers, Sri Lanka auditorium on the 29th April 2009 from 5.30 to 8.00 PM. The seminar will be conducted by Prof. Timothy Gonsalves and R.
Prof. Rohan Samarajiva discuss about Reducing roaming rates in South Asian regional in his article Regional Roaming for the Choices column in Lanka Business Online. In 2006, Zain Africa took a step that led to the abolition of roaming charges and made a significant contribution to economic integration of the East African region. They did more for making the East African Community real than several meetings of government leaders and officials combined The Article can be found here
Bangladesh leased line prices have dropped 74%, according to LIRNEasia’s February 2009 benchmarking study. But this reduction has not been passed onto consumers, who are still paying roughly the same price as they did in October 2008. The consumer also receiving less for what he’s paying – our February 2009 broadband quality of service tests showed that speeds experienced by consumers were even worse than 6 months ago. One can only hope that the lowered wholesale prices are passed down to consumers soon. If this doesn’t happen, that at least operators buy enough bandwidth so that speeds experienced by consumers increase.
Findings from LIRNEasia’s bi-annual price benchmarks study for February 2009 (a part of LIRNEasia’s continuing program on Indicators for 2008-10 ) is available for download below: Mobile Price Benchmarks: South Asia Mobile Price Benchmarks: Southeast Asia Broadband Price Benchmarks: South and Southeast Asia International Voice Benchmarks The findings are from the month of February. The next publication will be in September. Previous publications are available at http://lirneasia.net/projects/2008-2010/indicators-continued/benchmarks/