Archive for the 'General' Category

Sri Lanka to regulate m payments?

by
Rohan Samarajiva
on January 4, 2009
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One hopes of course that this will not detract from the Central Bank’s work on bringing inflation down to single digits and rebuilding trust in the banking system.

Sri Lanka will issue new rules covering financial transactions through mobile phones, Central Bank Governor Nivard Cabraal said, as the island’s fast growing celcos join banks to offer new payment methods.

“Given the increased usage of mobile phones for financial transactions, the Central Bank intends to issue new operating guidelines for mobile payments during 2009,” Cabraal said in an annual policy speech Friday.

He said the move was part of an overall effort to improve the confidence in electronic payments, which would also cover payment cards.

Full report.

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India: 3G Auction on Jan 30

by
Chanuka Wattegama
on January 3, 2009
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India’s Department of Telecommunications, or DoT, Friday said the auction of radio bandwidth for third generation, or 3G, mobile phone services will take place as per schedule on Jan. 30 and that there will be no further delay.

Analysts and industry players, however, expect the process not just to be further delayed, but also to attract fewer participants for the bidding process.

Their apprehension follows recent media reports, citing government documents, that the finance ministry has sought to double the auction price for pan-India 3G radio bandwidth, or spectrum, to INR40.40 billion.

“There is no (further) delay. The auction is on schedule,” said Akshay Rout, a spokesman for India’s ministry of communication, told Dow Jones Newswires.

The Indian government had already delayed the auction to Jan. 30 from Jan.…

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India: Telecom sector to create 150,000 jobs in 2009

by
Chanuka Wattegama
on January 2, 2009
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While others worry about the looming recession and job losses, the country’s telecom companies beg to differ. The sector will need up to 1,50,000 additional hands in 2009, according to the hiring consultants.

While new players are launching operations, existing ones are beginning to scale up. Now that the government has issued 120 new licences, telecom industry officials fear a talent crunch that could push salaries in core operations by up to 30% in the next few quarters.

“Conservative estimates put the demand from new players at one lakh people in the first phase. With rolling out of 3G and Wimax, existing players will need another 50,000 people,” said Kris Lakshmikanth, CEO of Bangalore-based Headhunters India.

Read the full stiry in The Economic Times here.

…

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India: Interconnection charges to change after 2002-3?

by
Chanuka Wattegama
on January 2, 2009
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The Telecom Regulatory Authority of India (TRAI) is set to review interconnect usage charges (IUC) after they were fixed back in 2002-03 and not revised since then.

TRAI has set the ball rolling to revise IUC, particularly termination charge from Rs0.3/minute to Rs0.1/minute and carriage charge from Rs0.65/minute to as low as Rs0.16/minute.

IUC is payable by one telecom operator to others for use of their networks either for origination, termination or carriage of a call. Inter-operator calls constitute a major part of the total calls handled by the telecom network. These charges are important as they can transfer network costs between operators.

Although reduction in these charges would lead to a lower tariff for customers, as benefits would be passed on due to intense competition, it would…

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Sri Lanka: Sixth GSM operator licensed?

by
Rohan Samarajiva
on December 30, 2008
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Board of Investment has granted approval to a sixth mobile/ 5th fixed operator.

The Board of Investment of Sri Lanka granted investment approval to a new mobile (GSM) and fixed (SCDMA) telecommunications network provider. Mr. Dhammika Perera, Chairman / Director General signed the agreement on behalf of the BOI and formally presented the BOI Certificate of Registration to Mr. B.A.C. Abeywardena, Director of RTEC Mobile Lanka.

FDI, which has been successfully attracted by the BOI has played a major role in the development and modernization of Sri Lanka’s telecommunication.
RTEC Mobile Lanka (Private) Limited signed the agreement to set up and operate a mobile and fixed telecommunications network. The venture is an investment of US $ 100 million sponsored by Global Electroteks Limited, UK. The project will create 320…

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What should we fear, the exaflood or the data drought?

by
Rohan Samarajiva
on December 30, 2008
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In all networks, there is a perpetual debate about the growth of whatever flows across it (data, voice telephony, traffic. electricity) and what levels of investment are most appropriate for carrying the future load without deterioration of quality.  This debate is going on now, about the Internet and the load likely to be placed on it by proliferating video, the so called exaflood.  But then, profits are essential for investment.   The quote below is about a data drought that could drive down profits and cause all kinds of bad things to happen.

Panic over, then? Not quite. Perversely, the real threat may come from a reduction in internet-traffic growth, says Dr Odlyzko. Too little internet traffic, he contends, could prove to be more dangerous to…

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Talking on the phone while driving, hands-free or not, said to be dangerous

by
Rohan Samarajiva
on December 30, 2008
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Well, the research is coming in on the use of mobiles while driving and it ain’t looking good.   Hands-free does not make a difference it seems, it’s the seriousness of the conversation.

But does chatting to passengers have the same detrimental effect on driving? An earlier study found that it does not. That research, led by Frank Drews of the University of Utah, analysed the performance of young drivers using a vehicle simulator. Dr Drews found that when using a hands-free phone, a volunteer “drove” significantly worse than he did when just talking to someone playing the role of a passenger. Passengers, the researchers believed, might even help road safety by commenting on surrounding traffic.

The reported does not seem to have distinguished between idle chatter with people…

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Maldives: Dhiraagu license renewed, but no more exclusivities

by
Chanuka Wattegama
on December 29, 2008
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Dhiraagu, the incumbent telecom operator of the Maldives had its license renewed for a term of 15 years. Since its establishment in 1988, Dhiraagu enjoyed an exclusivity on the provision of fixed line services. It was also the only company allowed to carry international traffic into the island nation and terminate on any network. We are happy to note that the Telecom Authority of Maldives (TAM) has not extended these exclusivities in the new license that will be effective from January 2009. The move should, at a minimum, have an impact on international incoming call prices to the Maldives, since Dhiraagu’s competitor Wataniya will now be able to carry inward bound traffic and terminate on any network.

Dhiraagu is owned by the Government of Maldives (GoM) and Cable &…

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Americans debate collusion in SMS pricing

by
Rohan Samarajiva
on December 29, 2008
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Unlike in Asia, the price of an individual SMS has increased by 100% to USD 0.20 in the US.  This has happened at the same time as the mobile market consolidated from six suppliers to four.  Naturally, there has been public-policy concern.  In defense of the telecos, it must be noted that most people in the US do not pay on a per-message basis, but get a “bucket” of services including a large number of SMS for a fixed price, so the per-message price is really not relevant to most people.

A text message initially travels wirelessly from a handset to the closest base-station tower and is then transferred through wired links to the digital pipes of the telephone network, and then, near its destination, converted…

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Indonesia to implement Wimax broadband in 2009

by
Chanuka Wattegama
on December 29, 2008
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Indonesia will implement Wimax (Worldwide Interoperability for Microwave Access) broadband technology next year to improve access to the Internet across the country, an official said Sunday.

Engkos Koswara, an expert adviser to the state minister for research and technology, told Antara news agency the government was still testing the 2.3 GHz frequency for the Wimax technology.

“We hope that by next year, Wimax technology will be implemented,” he said in Medan, North Sumatra, adding the government would encourage the use of domestic products to support the technology.

Indonesia ranks very low in the region in the use of broadband for Internet access.

Read the full story in Jakarta Post here.

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Sri Lanka: Whither onshore BPOs @BOP?

by
Chanuka Wattegama
on December 29, 2008
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Recessions are not bad for everybody. Proverbial silver line in the cloud, they bring hope to some. Success of the India BPO industry can partially be attributed to the post 9/11 recession. Tighter the economy, cheaper the solutions business looks for.

How far onshore rural BPOs cater to the needs of their clients? It might not exactly be toy manufacturing outsourced to rural China, but close. The connectivity issues still exist, and capacity building too remains a challenge. The good news is in spite of all that things do happen.

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Isura Seneviratne, 22, runs OnTime Technologies at Mahavilachchiya – the first rural BPO in Sri Lanka, born as a joint effort of Horizon Lanka Academy and FARO (Foundation for Advancing Rural Opportunities). Isuru and its first manager…

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Mobile Content Developer: An Unusually High-Paying Job – Yahoo

by
Chanuka Wattegama
on December 29, 2008
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As our world rapidly evolves, it’s no surprise that the work landscape is evolving as well. You can prepare for and keep up with the changes by updating your training and credentials.

One of the six high-flying jobs Yahoo! Hotjobs featured in its latest article is about designing content for mobile platform. Here is the full description. (with an eulogized version of the job title) In US it guarantees a six figure salary, apparently. Cannot be as high as that in the developing world, but something worth keeping an eye on.

Mobile Experience Architect

The cool streaming videos and eye-popping CD covers that get delivered to the screens of millions of cell phones and PDAs each hour are designed to make you spend money. Information architects create the…

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Broadband Internet helps rural community

by
Chanuka Wattegama
on December 28, 2008
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There was a time when Mira Lira wasn’t able to run her online business effectively out of this former mining town 60 miles east of Phoenix. Not on a dial-up connection.

“I use the Internet daily for e-mail and marketing,” Lira said.

But today Lira is enjoying broadband Internet access as she provides virtual administrative help for offices around the country through Miracle Executive Services.

The relief came in the form of small white boxes with tiny antennas atop homes, the school, even a light pole at the baseball field. Lira happily shows these to a visitor to illustrate what a wireless Internet network means to this community.

“Having high-speed in rural communities is like having a sewer system; it’s needed for a healthy community,” Lira said. Since 2007,…

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India Telecom: The ringtone is loud and clear

by
Chanuka Wattegama
on December 28, 2008
.

Everyone is betting big on the telecom growth story as it is steadily gaining traction amidst the global financial turmoil. This sector has emerged as a big contributor to the GDP and has recorded a 42.2% growth in the quarter ended Sep ‘08.

Telecom is being seen as a significant contributor to the country’s foreign direct investment (FDI). The launch of 3G will give a big boost to services. The ministry has allowed foreign players to bid for 3G licences, that will in turn ensure increased attention from foreign investors. The industry attracted about $2bn as FDI during April to September this year, which is a significant jump from $1.2bn during the last calendar year.

India currently has a subscriber base of 373 million. The figures are…

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