The very first airing of LIRNEasia‘s current research on customer relationship management in electricity and telecom sectors was in July 2013 at an event organized by Informa. But that was a partial presentation, since the design team had not finished their work by then. The first full airing was therefore in Windhoek, Namibia, a rather unusual location, but we were invited; we offered to discuss our current research; they said yes. We emphasized the telecom angle since that was year-end event organized by the Namibia regulator to announce its workplan and consult stakeholders. Later this month, we will be making a similar presentation, but this time highlighting the electricity side, to S Asian regulators meeting in Colombo.
Over the past two years LIRNEasia has contributed to the collection, calculation and analysis of the International Telecommunication Union’s (ITU) database on voice and data affordability, i.e. sub-basket calculations for fixed broadband, mobile broadband and mobile cellular services, in Asia, CIS and the pacific (approx 60 countries). The type of data provided by operators differs within and across countries; however, the sub-basket methodology allows for some comparison. The world development indicators (WDI) report uses some of these indicators along with others in attempt to measure the information society.
Since 2010, we at LIRNEasia have been engaged with problems of international backhaul. Renesys, an authoritative voice in this space, has a nice summary of developments in 2013. Here is their conclusion, influenced no doubt by the incredible damage done to US players in this space by the indiscriminate snooping of NSA. Increasingly, simply having inexpensive connectivity in our interconnected world is not enough. As enterprises become more sophisticated consumers of Internet transit, they seek connectivity alternatives that will keep their own customers happy.
I once invited Bruce Schnier to speak on cryptography at a Ohio State U conference. He came and gave a good talk. But he’s now a star. He exposed the NSA inserting back doors into national cryptography standards. Here is his big picture analysis: Not only is ubiquitous surveillance ineffective, it is extraordinarily costly.
We think about transaction-generated data (TGD) a lot. The essence is that data generated as a by-product of some activity (and which is therefore highly accurate) can tell us more about behavior (even future behavior) than all the questionnaires in the world. Behavior associated with music, closely tied to emotion,seems like an even better candidate than reading. During the next federal election cycle, for instance, Pandora users tuning into country music acts, stand-up comedians or Christian bands might hear or see ads for Republican candidates for Congress. Others listening to hip-hop tunes, or to classical acts like the Berlin Philharmonic, might hear ads for Democrats.
A few weeks back, we wrote about how late the NOFN train was running. It appears the USOF has accepted the reality that it cannot accelerate from 60 to 25,000 in 12 months and is asking for a two-year delay. We all know why government programs have tight deadlines. It has to do with the electoral cycle. What Nilekani achieved, Pitroda could not.
Faculty at the Department of Sinhala and Mass Communication at the University of Sri Jayewardenepura, just outside Colombo, had obtained some additional resources for a two-day workshop to introduce their students to new media and cyber culture. Nalaka Gunawardene, who works closely with LIRNEasia on many issues, was also an invited speaker. It was, obviously, a new subject to the students, but as Nalaka observed in a tweet, they are not emotionally attached to the old media they spend their regular lives studying. My presentation
Babus in public offices sit by the pile of files catching dust. Because, the Babus are busy with drinking tea, chewing beetle-leaf, reading newspapers and gossiping with colleagues. This is the general profile of public offices in South Asia. Public offices are neither zoo nor theme park. Yet a notice hangs at the Babu’s door saying, “Visitors are not allowed.
Developed world’s bastions of consumer electronics have fallen like house of cards. Thanks to the proliferation of cheaper components. Off-shoring of manufacturing to developing world has also built its capacity to produce cheaper devices and even counterfeit. Control of mobile terminals is now at terminal stage. The market has been fast migrating to the world of solution and applications.
The past decade has seen unprecedented, rapid growth in electronic connectivity in the form of voice in the developing world. Access to the Internet and to more-than-voice services is quite uneven with those at the BOP being excluded from the benefits of the rich potential of applications and services associated with the Internet. The report is a part of LIRNEasia’s research into the exploration of how to bring about an increase the inclusivity of the currently marginalized BOP by providing more useful services and applications on mobile platforms. In terms of providing useful services, the research will focus on three sectors; telecom, electricity and government services. How can these services be more useful to particularly to the micro-entrepreneurs at the Bottom of the Pyramid?
In November 2013, the Myanmar Ministry of Communication and Information Technology called for comments on a set of draft rules that would govern the liberalized telecom sector. LIRNEasia submitted Comments on Draft Rules Dec 2013_1 covering all but one of the topics.
Contrary to the news report that I based my earlier post on, the Internet use data comes from a preliminary report of the 2011-12 Census. It is based on five percent of the responses from each district. Unfortunately, the data are presented in a somewhat confused way. The first column is simple enough: ability to access Internet from the house. The second column is the problem.
There was a time when voice telephony was seen as a public utility, requiring government involvement in supply. In most parts of the world, the end result was waiting lists and poor service. Now the same refrain is being sung re broadband. Why not take a look at Hong Kong? Here is where to start.
The full report of the 2012-13 Household Income and Expenditure Survey is not yet public, but LBO had got hold of the Internet data: About 11.4 percent of households in Sri Lanka have internet access at home, with 9.2 percent accessing through other means with communications centres were playing a key role, official data shows. The highest internet access was in the Colombo district at 26.9 percent of households with 15.
Silently crawling seawater soon turned in to a tide of mass destruction. Nearly quarter of a million loved ones were perished across the costs of Indian Ocean on December 26, 2004. The world was stunned by such an unprecedented scale of catastrophe. The rescuers’ power of love overpowered the devastation of tsunami. Hands of prayers are still being raised with tearful eyes and the hearts full of grief.