In 2008, I was presenting the results of Teleuse@BOP2 at the University of Salzburg, when a member of the audience wanted my response to his assertion that the Sri Lanka’s telecom reforms had contributed to rising income inequality. I said I did not see a relation, but he went on to publish a paper on the topic. Internally, we had a few conversations about responding to this piece, but competing demands on our time put that task on the backburner and finally took it off the agenda. Income inequality is a serious problem, no doubt. Many people have studied this problem, looking at education levels, welfare polices and so on as possible explanations but without reaching a conclusive finding.
Botswana is a landlocked country. It invested in the West Africa Cable System (WACS) which it connected to through Namibia. It is now reaping the benefits. Internet prices are expected to go down as the Botswana Telecommunications Corporations (BTC) Group has slashed its wholesale internet bandwidth prices by 59 percent due to the commissioning of the West Africa Cable System (WACS) undersea cable. There is a lesson here for other landlocked countries.
ITU has joined more than 70 sources of Public Data to give away its treasure trove of statistics through the Google Public Data Explorer (PDE). ITU said, “With Google PDE users can now explore and visualize ITU’s key ICT statistical indicators from 1960 to 2011 (where data exists) for about 200 economies worldwide. Key indicators include fixed telephone, mobile cellular, fixed (wired) Internet, fixed (wired) broadband subscriptions and penetration, as well as the percentage of individuals using the Internet.” The database can be accessed from here.
“Economic Strategies for Sri Lanka”, a book written in Sinhala, co-authored by LIRNEasia Chair and CEO, Rohan Samarajiva and C.J. Amaratunga was launched at BCIS, Colombo on the 6th of September 2012. The keynote was delivered by former Deputy Governor of the Central Bank of Sri Lanka, W.A.
If other countries have announced plans, please tell us. By region we mean South Asia, but even SE is fine. Of course, there’s the gap between cup and lip. Announcing is one thing. Actually getting the job done is another.
RESEARCH ASSISTANT VACANCY: We are currently looking to fill the role of a Research Assistant. The candidate must already be enrolled or choose to enroll in a Doctor of Philosophy (PhD) or Master of Philosophy (MPhil) program in Agriculture or related program with an emphasis in ICT, at a Sri Lankan Institute. WHAT WE OFFER: In addition to a competitive, output‐dependent remuneration package, the position will enable a motivated researcher who takes advantage of the learning ‐conducive work environment and networking opportunities to build a rewarding career as an international knowledge professional. HOW TO APPLY: Please submit a detailed CV (no more than four pages), phone/email contacts of two non-related references who can speak to relevant experience/abilities, as well as a recent writing sample of not more than 10 pages to hr@lirneasia.net by 15 Aug 2012 or earlier.
Prof. Rohan Samarajiva was recently interviewed by LMD. In his view, an industry such as telecommunications should grow in two ways. Firstly, through structured reforms, which entail privatising state-held telecom companies and breaking international monopolistic control. Secondly, the industry should expand further through day-to-day policy implementation and regulation, both of which need transparency.
The first Annual General Meeting of the Pacific ICT Regulatory Resource Centre (PiRRC) was held in July 2012 in Suva Fiji. Click here for the news coverage and interview with the PiRRC Director Mr. Aslam Hayat. Chair and CEO of LIRNEasia and Regulatory and Policy Expert to PiRRC, Prof. Rohan Samarajiva made a presentation on the state of broadband in the Pacific Islands with suggestions on how bottlenecks can be identified.
Universal acclaim rarely comes to a theorist who tries to implement his ideas. As administrator of the White House Office of Information and Regulatory Affairs, he reviewed the rules implementing President Obama’s health care act and the Dodd-Frank financial regulatory reform law. He backed major environmental initiatives, including higher fuel efficiency standards for cars and trucks and new toxic emissions rules for power plants. He approved the revamping of the decades-old food pyramid (it is now a “plate”), the tightening of salmonella rules for eggs and a crackdown on prison rape. He midwifed a deal between appliance manufacturers and the Department of Energy to make refrigerators more energy efficient.
Increasingly, there is talk that permitting Huawei to bid on telecom network contracts makes a country vulnerable to espionage and worse. The Economist has a well argued ripost. Well worth a read. The other reason for not banning Huawei is the dirty little secret that its foreign rivals strangely neglect to mention: just about everybody makes telecoms equipment in China these days. Chinese manufacturers and designers have become an integral part of the global telecoms supply chain.
Bangladesh’s largest company was operating without a license from last November. Looks like that is about to end. The question that remains is what are these conditions? On Sept 11 last year, the watchdog published final guidelines on renewing the licences, two months before 2G licences of the four operators expired. BTRC was supposed to renew the licences by Nov 10, but it did not and the operators took the issue to the High Court which is yet to give its ruling.
Our argument has been that the principal cause is the lack of terrestrial cables. While prices have declined globally, significant geographic disparities persist. For example, despite falling 22% compounded annually between Q2 2007 and Q2 2012, the median price of a GigE port in Hong Kong has remained 2.7 to 5.1 times the price of a GigE port in London over the past five years.
The Internet of Things, it appears, is not sci fi. It’s here and now, according to the New York Times. And getting bigger all the time. Berg Insight, a research firm in Goteborg, Sweden, says the number of machine-to-machine devices using the world’s wireless networks reached 108 million in 2011 and will at least triple that by 2017. Ericsson, the leading maker of wireless network equipment, sees as many as 50 billion machines connected by 2020.
Among the PiRRC contributions to the Pacific Broadband Forum just concluded in Nadi, Fiji, was a panel discussion on regulatory independence. In addition to the practicing regulators of Papua New Guinea, Samoa and Vanuatu, they invited some observers to participate. Preparing for the panel, I looked through some old slidesets and came up with this structure. Did not use the slidesets, but the structure was useful. What surprised me was how easily I switched from the role of disinterested scholar to former regulator.
We are currently looking to fill the role of Junior Researcher with one or more self‐motivated, quality‐conscious individuals with strong analytical skills. Send in your application on or before 30 September DESCRIPTION OF DUTIES: As a Junior Researcher at LIRNEasia you will be expected to make significant contributions to projects from a rapidly expanding research and capacity‐building portfolio. You will be expected to: conduct independent policy‐relevant research, subject to deadlines and peer review summarize and logically present findings of your work so that team members can rapidly digest results communicate research findings in written, graphical and oral presentations to multiple external audiences take primary responsibility for coordinating research and capacity building related events including international meetings, training programs prioritize workload with little guidance and deliver on deadline take responsibility for quality of your work demonstrate self-confidence and initiative in work you undertake develop strong, personal relationships with other LIRNEasia team members in Sri Lanka and other countries with whom you have regular contact use statistics and econometric concepts with a high level of competency undertake significant local research-related travel within Sri Lanka and overseas ESSENTIAL QUALIFICATIONS: Essential criteria for the suitable candidate include: A Bachelor’s level qualifications in economics, law, […]
The Telecom Regulatory Authority of India (TRAI) recently released draft regulations on “Standards of Quality of Service for Mobile Data Services Regulations, 2012” (press release). LIRNEasia‘s response included recommendations on; (a) Advertising realistic speeds as opposed to the theoretical maximum (b) Carrying out tests at multiple times of the day, on multiple days of the week at least once in six months at different domain levels (e.g. within the ISP network, International – a server located beyond the first U.S.