There has been a continuing discussion on this website about “free” WiFi. We were of the opinion that sustainability depended on some kind of payment, directly or as part of a bundle of services. The lights are going out on the metropolitan WiFi networks in the cities that did not address this issue. The linked article, which refers primarily to use of WiFi by travellers, shows that the solutions are beginning to settle in a sustainable range. The battle between free and paid wireless Internet access is starting to look like a draw.
It would be the biggest thing to pass between India and South Africa since Mahatma Gandhi moved from one country to the other. This week it emerged that Bharti Airtel, the largest mobile-phone operator in India, is holding “exploratory” talks to buy South Africa’s MTN, the biggest operator in Africa. According to the Financial Times, Bharti has indicated it would be willing to pay about $19 billion for 51% of the company. That would make it the heftiest overseas acquisition ever made by an Indian firm, more than Tata Steel paid for Corus, a British steelmaker, and seven times the amount India invested in the whole of Africa over the ten years to 2004. The deal would unite the leading companies in the world’s two most promising mobile markets.
“Mom, where are you calling from? Your voice is trembling, are you sure everything is alright?” These were the first words Carmen Hernandez heard after getting through to her son on the phone following the massive earthquake that struck Peru in August 2007. Mrs Hernandez lived in Pisco, where the quake hit hardest. “Please keep talking, it’s so good to hear your voice,” she replied.
What these kinds of failures of warning (and of relief and response) do is destroy the legitimacy of the government. US First Lady Bush should know: her husband’s downward slide in popularity had much to do with fiasco of the Katrina response. Myanmar’s military rulers were under fire Tuesday after revealing more than 10,000 people died in the cyclone that battered the secretive and impoverished nation, with thousands more missing. As relief agencies scrambled to get food, clean water and supplies into a country that normally scorns foreign aid, US First Lady Laura Bush accused the regime of not doing enough to warn its people about the storm. The criticism from Bush, one of the most prominent critics of Myanmar, came after the junta acknowledged the death toll was far higher than first announced — and made a rare appeal for help from abroad.
NEARLY a third of Hong Kong’s households watch television via the internet, according to a new report from Telecommunications Management group, a consultancy. Because internet protocol television (IPTV) uses the same technology as that which links computer networks, smaller countries with high broadband penetration tend to have more subscribers. As well as plain old programmes, viewers can also enjoy other services such as on-demand video. So far, Europe accounts for over half of the world’s subscribers. http://www.
Those who are old enough might remember the days where you lived in a house that had no telephone. When you want to take a call you went to post office or a public place where telephone facilities are available. In India, Sam Pitroda’s name went into history for the ubiquitous, yellow-signed Public Call Offices (PCO) that enabled cheap and easy domestic and international public telephones all over the country in 1980s. Nearly two decades later the rapid expansion of mobile phones has finally brought that era to an end. Not surprisingly, public pay phones are rarely used these days.
LIRNEasia’s sister organization in Africa is meeting May 6-11 in Cairo to plan its future research activities and disseminate finding from the research already done. LIRNEasia’s Executive Director will participate, presenting on governance, interconnection and banded forbearance and also sharing experiences on conducting studies on teleuse at the BOP and on telecom regulatory environment. Workshop Agenda
Contrary to jingoistic claims that foreign owned telcos draining out local resources, the telecom sector continues to bring in new investment from outside. In Pakistan, at one point, 50% of the FDI was telecom. If the breakdown is provided, it may well be that the telecom sector accounts for 50% of FDI in Sri Lanka too. “The BoI recognized Dialog Telekom as the company with the highest level of realized investment in 2007 totalling 328 million dollars in 2007.” Dialog Telekom, which has over four million subscribers, secured the top slot in investment rankings for the third year in succession having being recognized as Sri Lanka’s largest investor in 2005 and 2006 with investments of 90 million dollars and 150 million dollars.
The globalization paradigm leads people to see economic development as a form of foreign policy, as a grand competition between nations and civilizations. These abstractions, called “the Chinese” or “the Indians,” are doing this or that. But the cognitive age paradigm emphasizes psychology, culture and pedagogy — the specific processes that foster learning. It emphasizes that different societies are being stressed in similar ways by increased demands on human capital. If you understand that you are living at the beginning of a cognitive age, you’re focusing on the real source of prosperity and understand that your anxiety is not being caused by a foreigner.
LIRNEasia International Advisory Board member and regular faculty at LIRNE.NET courses, Dr Tim Kelly, will be joining infoDev as a Senior Policy and Regulation Specialist, effective July 2008. He will guide infoDev’s analytical agenda on encouraging access to ICTs and the mainstreaming of ICTs into key sectors, such as education and health. Tim made significant contributions to the field during the time he headed the Strategic Planning Unit of the International Telecommunication Union (ITU) by pushing for the exploration of cutting-edge policy and regulatory issues. For example, I had the pleasure of working with him on an expert workshop on fixed-mobile termination in 2000, an effort that led to good results worldwide.
Sounding rather like the saga surrounding home broadband speeds, a recent survey suggests that mobile broadband users aren’t always getting the maximum speeds advertised. Broadband Expert’s research, based on testing around 1,200 connections, found the average speed of UK mobile broadband is 1.46Mbps. This is around half the speed of the average home broadband speed of 2.95Mbps.
Pakistan’s first global telecommunication congress, TeleCON’2008, opened in Karachi on Tuesday with full-fledged participation from a large number of telecom companies from Pakistan. It was presided by Dr Muhammad Yaseen, member technical, Pakistan Telecom Authority (PTA) while former founder member PTA, Mian Mohammad Jawed gave keynote address. He appreciated the initiative of the organisers and remarked that there was a need for similar forum to discuss the challenges that lay ahead for the telecommunication sector in Pakistan. Dr Yaseen said the telecom industry in Pakistan had grown tremendously due to the prudent and justifiable policies of the PTA. He said PTA has provided a level-playing field for all players in the sector and due to a robust policy framework, the industry was moving rapidly in the right direction.
An Expert Forum on ICT Sector Indicators and Benchmark Regulation for SAARC Regulatory Authorities will be held in Changi Village Hotel, Singapore on 14 – 15 June 2008 following the 12th LIRNE.net course on Telecom Reform. The Forum will focus on using specific indicators to benchmark performance of the sector as well as the regulatory authority, and using indicator data to improve the performance of both. The latest results from LIRNEasia’s Asian Regulatory Web-site Survey, the Mobile and Broadband Price Benchmarks research and the Broadband Quality of Service Measurement research will be presented at the forum, and will set the background for broader discussion on benchmark regulation. The LIRNEasia developed and IDRC-funded Asian ICT Indicators Database will be introduced and hands-on training on using the database will be provided.
Most Americans are still hesitant about banking with their cellphones and PDAs, but young people are increasingly accepting mobile banking, according to a survey. Serving the needs of tech-savvy customers will be crucial for banks to stay competitive as the collective income of baby boomers’ children is expected to surge over the next 10 years and exceed that of their parents. So far, though most major banks offer mobile banking, 89% of consumers don’t use their cellphones to conduct banking transactions, according to the study by IBM’s retail banking consulting practice. The study found that 21% of consumers ages 18-34 use their cellphones for banking transactions, compared with about 10% of the general population. These numbers, particularly for younger consumers, are expected to grow significantly.
Rohan Samarajiva and Tahani Iqbal will participate at an International Workshop on ICTs and Development: Experiences in Asia, held at the Faculy of Arts and Sciences (Communications & New Media Programme Science, Technology and Society (STS) Cluster), National University of Singapore from 24th – 25th April 2008. Samarajiva will chair a session, where papers will be presented on the Development of Web 2.0 and Social Networking Websites in Thailand, Internet Adoption and Usage among Farmers in China and the Use of ICTs in Rural India. Iqbal will present a paper entitled, “Gender Inequalities in Access and Use of Telecom at the Bottom of the Pyramid?: Findings from a Five Country Study”, based on research findings from the Teleuse@BOP2 study.
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.