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AFGHANISTAN: State Television to Air
Programs in Minority Languages
State-run Afghanistan Television plans to
broadcast programs in several of Afghanistan's minority languages, Pajhwak
Afghan News reported on 11 January. The television station currently only
broadcasts programs in Dari and Pashto, the official state languages. Under
the new plan, which has been approved by President Hamid Karzai, Afghanistan
Television would allocate 20 percent of its total airtime to other languages
recognized by the Afghan Constitution, while dividing the remaining 80
percent of the airtime equally between Dari and Pashto. In addition to the
two official languages, the constitution recognizes Uzbek, Turkmen, Baluchi,
Pashai, Nuristani, and Pamiri as official third languages of the country in
areas where the majority of the people speak those languages. It is unclear
which of these languages would be used in Afghanistan Television broadcasts.
AT
From http://www.rferl.org/ 01/12/2005
TOP↑
Women's Radio Station Inaugurated in
Northern Afghanistan
Afghan Deputy Information and Culture
Minister Sayyed Hosyan Fazel Sangcharaki on 31 January inaugurated the first
independent women's radio station in Maymana, the capital of Faryab Province,
Radio Afghanistan reported. The FM radio station, called Qoyash (the Sun in
Uzbek), is funded by the Canadian government and has a broadcast radius of 25
kilometers. Station director Rana Sherzai said it will broadcast programs
that reflect the social realities of women in the area. AT
From http://www.rferl.org/ 02/03/2005
TOP↑
AZERBAIJAN: Public Television to Be
Set up Under State Channel
According to the decree on applying the law
“On public television and radio broadcasting” signed by President Ilham
Aliyev on Monday, public TV will be established in Azerbaijan under the state
AzTV-2 and 1st state radio channels. According to the decree, these channels,
together with all of their property and equipment will be delivered to the
Public TV and Radio Broadcasting Council. Head of the working group on the
public television law Rizvan Jabiyev says that a relevant commission has been
set up and all technical problems will be resolved shortly. The commission is
expected to forward proposals to the Cabinet of Ministers after working out
all the issues with relevant government bodies related to allocation of
equipment by AzTV-2, employment of the state TV personnel, the condition of
the designated building, and the possibility of building additional studios
there. $5 billion manats have been allotted to finance public television.
From http://www.bakutoday.net/ 11/10/2004
TOP↑
Jewish Community of Azerbaijan
Launches Website
The Jewish community of Azerbaijan now has
its own website, which will assist them in becoming more closely connected to
and integrated with the world with respect to Jewish education. The new
website, created at the initiative of Rabbi Meir Bruk, the Chief Rabbi of
Azerbaijan and Head of the Ohr Avner Chabad Day School in Baku, is seen to be
one more way for local Jews to learn using modern technologies and teaching
methods while, at the same time, assisting the Jewish society to reach out to
Jews everywhere. The website, part of which is still under construction, aims
to present readers with information about the Jewish community, such as the
Ohr Avner Chabad Educational Complex, important meetings, community events
and the history of the local Jewish community. It also covers aspects of
larger society in Azerbaijan such as politics and economy. The parts of the
site dedicated to Jewish education, traditions and culture are to be updated
on a regular basis. The site is currently available in Russian, and will also
soon be available in English, Hebrew and Azeri languages. Leaders and members
of the Jewish community in Azerbaijan are hopeful that a multi-lingual
approach will allow significantly more people to learn about the development
of Jewish life in this part of Central Asia. For the launch of the website
this week, the organizers have posted a broad overview on the life of the
Lubavitcher Rebbe, which was published in "Passage", the leading
magazine in the Azerbaijan capital. For more information on this site, please
visit www.jewish.az.
From http://www.bakutoday.net/ 11/16/2004
TOP↑
Azercell Subscribers to Enjoy
InternetCELL Service
Postpaid and prepaid subscribers of Azercell
Telecom JV will be able to enjoy a new service, InternetCELL, introduced by
Azercell, in association with Azeronline Internet service provider. Azercell
subscribers will have a one-hour access to the Internet by sending an SMS
message to 9070. Connection to the InternetCELL service for postpaid
subscribers costs 2500 manat (VAT-free) and 125 talk units for prepaid
subscribers.
From http://www.bakutoday.net/ 01/14/2005
TOP↑
New Television Established
A new television and radio broadcasting
organization, Yeni TV ve Radio Yayimi, has been founded in Azerbaijan. The
founders of the channel are the head of a department at the Institute for the
History of the Azerbaijani Academy of Sciences, Irada Bagirova, the chairman
of the Yeni Nasil Union of Journalists, Arif Aliyev, the director of Turan
news agency, Mehman Aliyev, the director of the Institute for Media Rights,
Rasid Hacili, the president of the public forum for Azerbaijan, Eldar
Namazov, and the editor-in-chief of Zerkalo newspaper, Elcin Sixli. According
to its by-laws, Yeni TV ve Radio Yayimi will be governed by the principles of
public broadcasting and will disseminate objective, balanced and impartial
information. The television and radio channel's activity will be funded on a
voluntary basis - from donations and grants and, once it starts operating,
from its own revenues.
From http://www.bakutoday.net/ 01/17/2005
TOP↑
CHINA: 1st Mini-satellite
Developed
The mini-satellite Innovation 1, also known
as Chuang Xin 1 has been working in space for nearly 13 months since it was
launched into orbit last October, China Radio International quoted People's
Daily as saying Thursday. Chief scientist of the project, vice president of
the Chinese Academy of Sciences, Dr. Jiang Jinheng says the satellite is
stable and functioning well. The successful launching of the 100-kilogram
Chuang Xin 1 has put China's pursuit for low orbit telecommunications forward,
and aided the development and application of mini satellite technology.
From CRI 11/11/2004
TOP↑
Zhongsou Online to Launch IPO in One
Year
Beijing Zhongsou Online Software Limited
(China Search), a leading Chinese Internet search engine developer and
provider, plans to launch its IPO on NASDAQ in one year , said Chen Pei,
president of Zhongsou Online, at the Forum on Internet Media of China 2004
recently held in Nanchang, east China’s Jiangxi Province. "The IPO should
be carried out mainly depending on our turnover and marketing from our search
software this year," Chen said. "But it has been put in our
timetable and the deadline has been set for one year already." “Zhongsou
Online used to be part of Hong Kong listed HC International, Inc. The
separation from HC360 is an initial strategy for our IPO on NASDAQ,"
Chen explained. Zhongsou Online initiated to form China's first and largest
alliance based on search engine application with more than 1,000 member
websites including Sina, Sohu, and Tom Online. The world's leading search
engine provider Google.com is said to launch its own Internet browser.
"We did most of our services earlier than Google," said Chen.
"What our goal is not China's leading Baidu.com or even Google, Zhongsou
Online has set Microsoft as our goal. That's why we developed our own browser
instead of using IE any longer." In addition, Chen reiterated that it
should be Zhongsou not Sohu's Sogou or Google, Baidu who launched the third
generation smart Chinese search engine and desktop search technology.
From China.org.cn 11/18/2004
TOP↑
China Internet Gaming 2004 Concluded
in Beijing
Master-hands at internet gaming from across
China gathered in Beijing last weekend to attend the China Internet Gaming
2004 (CIG 2004) event - the biggest of its its kind in the country. The
competition delivers a message that internet games are not only the
recreation choice of many youngsters but can also be a highly competitive and
healthy sport. Our reporter Zheng Chenguang was at the award ceremony and
filed this report. The final competition of China Internet Gaming 2004 took
place in Beijing last weekend. The gaming event is a combination of
recreational activity and sports, digital software and marketing with
electronic competition. 300 players who were selected from the preliminary
contests held in 32 competition regions during the past 6 months participated
in this year's event. The gaming provides competitions in 8 online games,
including the popular "Counter Strike" and "FIFA
Football" and entertaining games like "Chinese Chess" and
"Online Snooker". The participants are, in the main, young people
between 15 and 33 years old as the games require high concentration and quick
reactions. Yang Shu-Chao, the representative from Guangdong Province says he
enjoys playing the games very much. He was the winner of the Golden Finger
FIFA game. "I'm quite fascinated by the competitiveness and team spirits
in the games. It has everything that a sport has. Now I'm still a student.
But I hope to be a professional player after graduation. With more getting
interested in the internet games, it will be quite promising." And it
seems that the games are not the exclusive preserve of boys, as more and more
girls are trying their hands at online gaming. Cici from Beijing is one of
the active participants. "Today I come here with my partners for an
exhibition game not for competition. I started playing Counter Strike 9
months ago. At first I played it just to kill time but then I began to like
it as I experienced joys and sorrows when playing the games and I got to know
a lot of new friends." Internet gaming has been popular in east Asian
countries like Japan and Korea for quite a long time. Now it's becoming quite
atrend in China. China Internet Gaming, which started in 2002, is in its
third year and is more sensational than time round ever. Themed as the
"green games" and "healthy games" this year, the gaming
is also seen as one of the measures the central government has taken to lead
internet gaming in a healthy direction. The government has expressed its
determination to crack down on internet pornography and phone sex activity.
But instead of simply blocking internet activities, it's probably more
effective to give guidance to young people how to surf the internet safely
and play online games. Internet gaming is also said to be a good way to
stimulate young people and children's interest in online activivties ,
develop their intelligence, and encourage them to grasp modern technology.
From CRI 12/21/2004
TOP↑
Mobile Phone SMS Popular in Offices
Mobile phone text messages have become a new
and popular way for communication in the workplace among the Chinese. The
country had 329 million cell phone subscribers as of the end of November this
year, a survey says. Thirty percent of the respondents to a survey conducted
nationwide by Tegic Communications, a wholly owned subsidiary of America
Online, Inc., said they often arrange meetings by sending text messages. One
in four people said they got instant replies on job-related questions via
short messages, and 22 percent sent their bosses messages to ask for sick
leave. One in 10 people has once discussed or applied for a new job via SMS.
Chinese mobile phone users now turn to short messages for communication in
the offices because more than 70 percent of them think it is convenient and
cheap. Nearly 40 percent believe it may reduce barriers in communication,
while 22 percent regard sending short messages as a fad. China's mobile phone
users are expected to send 220 billion short messages in 2004, according to
the Ministry of Information Industry.
From Xinhua News Agency 12/27/2004
TOP↑
eBay Eyes Huge Mainland Potential
US e-commerce giant eBay will focus on
developing a customer base in China, rather than expecting to reap a profit
from its operations in the nation in the near future. "China is such a
huge market, so we should spare no efforts to cultivate the market, rather
than only pursuing profits," said James Zheng, chief operating officer
of eBay Eachnet, the Chinese arm of the giant US firm. Speaking in Beijing at
the weekend, Zheng said the number of eBay Eachnet's registered users will
reach 10 million "sometime" this week. Shanghai-based eBay Eachnet,
which was acquired by eBay in 2003, had 4.3 million users by the end of 2003
and 8.6 million by September 30 last year. The growth of eBay Eachnet has
made the business one of eBay's fastest growing markets. But Zheng is far
from satisfied with this, as it pales in comparison with the estimated 103
million netizens in China, according to market research firm Analysys. The
world's biggest online auctioneer will continue to invest aggressively in the
Chinese market, with the biggest amount of cash going towards advertising.
eBay Eachnet is reported to have signed an advertising contract worth 50
million yuan (US$6 million) with a major Chinese Internet portal. EBay, which
only advertises via the Web in the United States, has adopted a different
approach in China, planning to use TV to get its message across. Compared
with the 103 million Internet users, there are more than 1 billion TV viewers
in China, so TV advertising has a more powerful impact. Another focus will be
on the improvement of customer services, with the firm more than doubling the
workforce in its call center from 70 in 2003 to 150 last year and this year,
and it will further increase this figure in 2005. The improvement of eBay
Eachnet's trading platform is another area requiring major investment. In
September, eBay Eachnet unified its trading platform with its parent company.
But eBay Eachnet still requires to do some development to meet the demands of
local customers. The company also needs more investments to build a trusted
online trading environment. Zheng said his business had set up a fund, which
gives buyers as much as 1,000 yuan (US$120) compensation and 3,000 yuan
(US$360) to sellers, if they are cheated in transactions. With the expansion,
Zheng suggested the company might double the number of its employees this
year. "The number of our registered users grew by 1.5 times in the past
year and I think the number of our employees will grow at a corresponding
speed," he said. The US giant currently has about 400 employees in
China. Zheng said eBay's experience in other countries may provide an important
reference for eBay Eachnet in drafting a plan to achieve profitability.
eBay's operations in countries like Germany has started to become profitable,
when the number of their registered users reaching about one-third of the
total number of netizens.
From China Daily 01/13/2005
TOP↑
Nation's Net Surfers Reach 94 Million
Some 94 million Chinese on the mainland
became Internet users by the end of last year, a new survey shows. The number
represents a year-on-year growth of 18.2 percent, director of China Internet
Network Information Centre (CNNIC) Wang Enhai said yesterday in Beijing.
"We have been in the fast lane in terms of number of Netizens and the
rapid momentum will continue subsequent years," said Wang, when
unveiling a report on the survey. But other surveys have found the number of
Internet users in Hong Kong and Macao have not changed dramatically in the
past five years with 51 percent and 46 percent of local residents already
online in the two special administrative regions at the end of last year.
Jonathan Zhu, a researcher with Hong Kong University, said the number of
Internet users in Hong Kong "will not achieve a breakthrough in the near
future" because the rate is already the second highest in the
Asia-Pacific region. The highest rate is in South Korea. He also said Hong
Kong residents have been allowed increasingly easy access to the Internet
since 2001. Since then, Hong Kong and Macao have joined the biannual survey,
which the mainland started in 1997. On the mainland, females represent 39.4
percent of netizens, while males are at 60.6 percent of the total. In Hong
Kong and Macao, the totals are split in half. More than half of Internet
users are below age 25 on the mainland, while the rate of users below 25 in
Hong Kong is 39 percent and 51 percent in Macao. Among users in the mainland,
32 percent are students, 12 percent are professionals and 9 percent are from
the business and service sectors. Nearly 67.9 percent of netizens say they
visit the web mainly at home. About 40 percent surf in offices, Internet bars
and schools. E-mail services, reading news and searching for information are
top objectives of Internet users. Nearly nine out of 10 users said e-mail
service is the most important function of the Internet. About 65 percent of
them believed that obtaining news is the second most important convenience
offered. The survey also found that more and more users rely on web to gain
knowledge. About 6.3 percent of those surveyed responded that they use the
Internet as an education tool. The survey conducted by CNNIC last July found
that only 5.8 percent of them have received education on online uses.
However, the number of users using cyberbank services did not rise much
because of security concerns in cyberspace. Only 5 percent of respondents
said they use cyberbank services in their daily lives. But Cyberbank Section
Manager Wang Gang of the Industrial and Commercial Bank of China believes the
coming 10 years will become a "golden period" of cyberbank
development in the mainland, with e-commerce increasingly becoming thriving.
From China Daily 01/20/2005
TOP↑
China Mobile Reports Massive Figures
China’s wireless front-runner China Mobile
(Hong Kong) said it signed up 3.31 million GSM subscribers in December 2004,
following its haul of 3.27 million new customers in November. The company’s
end of year subscriber numbers reached 204.29 million, with a net addition of
9.91 million in the fourth quarter alone.
From http://www.telegeography.com/ 01/21/2005
TOP↑
‘Fingerprint’
Mobiles to Be Launched in China
Chinese mobile phone manufacturer Bird is
set to launch a new breed of mobile phone with an integrated fingerprint
verification system, following the introduction of the new technology at the
Chinese Academy of Sciences Institute of Automation in 2004. The new service
will enable users to activate the menus on their mobile phones with a soft
thumb touch, helping to prevent fraud. Bird said it will begin equipping most
of its high-end products with the technology later this year.
From http://www.telegeography.com/ 01/31/2005
TOP↑
100 Mln More Phone Users Expected This
Year
The number of phone users in China is
expected to increase by a staggering 100 million in the year 2005, bringing
total numbers in the country to 750 million. The Ministry of Information
Industry says China's telecommunication business would be worth more than one
trillion yuan this year, up 28 percent on last year's figures. China's phone
use has been steadily increasing in recent years. For the last four
consecutive years, annual numbers of new users have consistently stayed
around the 90 million mark.
From CRI 02/16/2005
TOP↑
Online Games Sales Soar in
Internet-Mad China
China, home to the world's second largest
number of Internet users, saw sales of online games in 2004 soar 47.9 percent
to 2.47 billion yuan (298.44 million dollars), state media reported. A man
stands besides advertisement posters at a video game fair in Shanghai. Among
China's 94 million Internet users, 20.25 million were online games
enthusiasts, Xinhua news agency reported, citing the Press and Publication
Administration. In 2003 China had only 13.8 million online games players,
with sales of related products and services amounting to 1.3 billion yuan.
The online games market has the potential to boom with expected revenues of
9.3 billion yuan by 2006, but could then level off in 2009 on forecast sales
of 10.96 billion yuan, according to Xinhua. While many games played in China
are from overseas, authorities want to boost sales of the more than 300
homemade online games over the next five years. Beijing launched a nationwide
crackdown on online computer games last year, banning foreign games with
sensitive political content as part of attempts to shield the country's young
from harmful influences. In one case a Swedish-made game was accused of
distorting history and damaging China's sovereignty, by showing Manchuria,
Tibet and Xinjiang as independent nations. Officials have repeatedly said
they intend to promote healthy online computer games for young people, who
currently make up around 20 percent of China's online population.
From http://www.chinadaily.com.cn/ 02/16/2005
TOP↑
TV Mobile Phones Facing Barriers in
China
BEIJING (Xinhuanet) -- TV mobile phones,
dubbed as the "Fifth Media," have not yet seen an opportunity for
its rapid growth in China. Experts say it will take some time for TV mobile
phones to enter the people's lives in the country. A report released by IMS
Research says that by 2010 there will be 120 million subscribers viewing TV
programs on mobile phones and TV mobile phones would become the "Fifth
Media", besides newspaper, radio, television, and computer network (or
web). Analysts say Asian subscribers more readily accept new mobile phones
than other users. In face of the lucrative market, Chinese companies have
arousedto start this business. Before the May Day holiday in 2004, China
Unicom launched a service to provide TV programs for mobile phone
subscribers. Not long after that, China Mobile started a TV mobilephone
service through GPRS network. Despite a promising future, TV mobile phones
are still at its early stage of development in China due to limited broadband
capacity, limited choice of handsets, much higher price and lack of standards
and policies. China's TV programs are currently transmitted to mobile phones
through 2.5 or 2.75 generation networks, which are not sophisticated enough
to convey high-quality TV signals. The download speed of GPRS is only 25 kbps
and that of China Unicom's CDMA1X is 60-70 kbps, which is far from the 128
kbps as required for high-quality TV program broadcast. High price has also
bottlenecked China's TV mobile phones. China Unicom subscribers have to pay
at least 200 yuan (24 US dollars) for one hour's TV program on mobile phones.
Reports say some operators are in negotiation with China Mobileon providing
TV service for mobile phone subscribers with a fixed monthly fee of around
100 yuan (12 US dollars), aiming to cut the price of watching TV on mobile
phones. At present, handsets that can receive TV signals sell at
approximately 5,000 yuan (some 600 US dollars). This makes them unpopular
when most other handsets cost 1,000-2,000 yuan (120-240 US dollars). The
short lifespan of their batteries also limits the use of TV mobile phones.
Handset batteries can last three days to a week forgeneral use, but just one
hour for watching TV. ndustry insiders worry that subscribers may not accept
the newfunction and service easily. Just like visual telephones, Europe and
Asia have offered this service, but few people use it, said ananalyst with
Gartner. China has not worked out unified, concerned policies and the
operation of TV mobile phone service is proceeding under various standards.
Experts hold that companies rushed into this immature sphere partially for
the third generation mobile technology (3G). Mobile phone TV broadcast has
been deemed pivot product of 3G and China Mobile and China Unicom launched
the service to be early players in the market. As voice business is getting
increasingly competitive, visual service could bring new profits for telecom
operators.
From http://news.xinhuanet.com/ 02/18/2005
TOP↑
Beijing Ranks First in Overall
Competitive Strength in China
Beijing ranks first in overall competitive
strength in China for 16 years in the past two decades, says a report
published in Beijing Friday. The Report on Regional Competitive Strength Development
in China says Beijing has been first in overall competitive strength each
year from 1985 to 2004 among the country's 31 provinces, municipalities and
autonomous regions. The appraisal is based on a system developed by a
research team led by Xiao Hongye, a professor at Tianjin Finance and Economic
University. It takes into account nine major factors including overall
economic strength, governance, infrastructure, environment and human
resources. According to the report, Shanghai, the top commercial center in
China, ranked first in four years in the past two decades and has been second
for 16 years, while south China's Guangdong Province ranked third for 20
consecutive years. Shanghai ranks first, however, in the overall economic
strength followed by Guangdong and Jiangsu provinces. The overall economic
strength include added value, investment, end consumption and market scale,
said the report.
From Xinhua News Agency 01/22/2005
TOP↑
Forbidden City Welcomes Votes for a
New Logo
China's biggest museum is accepting online
votes to help choose its new logo. The Palace Museum, also known as the
Forbidden City, began its search for a new design last June, and 2,788
submissions were received from around the world by the closing date of
September 30. Six, short listed by designers, specialists and architects in
an appraisal meeting on January 19, were published on the museum's website,
www.dpm.org.cn, on January 25 and visitors can vote for their favorite until
February 15. "It's important to have a logo to celebrate the museum's
80th birthday, as it is one of the greatest ancient imperial palaces in the
world," said Feng Nai'en, from the museum's administration. Prize money
worth 80,000 yuan (US$9,760) is being offered by the organizing committee.
"The active feedback from home and abroad has been beyond all
expectation," said Feng. The majority of ideas have come from
professional and amateur designers living on the Chinese mainland, said Feng.
"A clear focus and impressive presentation with a good historical sense
were required." The final result is expected to be revealed in March or
April. The winning design will be used in celebrations for the museum's 80th
anniversary on October 10. The Palace Museum was built in the Ming Dynasty
(1368-1644) between 1406 and 1420. Covering an area of 720,000 square meters,
it accommodated two dozen or so emperors until 1924, when the deposed Qing
(1644-1911) Emperor Pu Yi was expelled from it.
From China Daily 02/04/2005
TOP↑
Software Engineers, Auto Technicians
Badly Needed in Beijing
Seven trades in Beijing including
manufacture, transportation, warehousing, post and communication, real
estate, construction, and financial insurance, would see a surging amount of
job vacancies, according to an estimation based on a survey of Beijing's
labor force market. The seven sectors are expected to employ 80 percent of
all the labor forces Beijing would require this year, said sources from the
Beijing Municipal Bureau of Labor and Social Security Friday. For instance,
the hi-tech companies in Beijing need some 70,000to 90,000 employees this
year. Modern manufacturing industry wantsprofessionals majored in vehicle and
tractor manufacture, auto technology, marketing, computer software, pharmacy,
computer science and application. The post and communication industry is in
bad need of e-business and computer game software developers. Beijing is also
thirsty for architectural professionals, such as experienced project managers
and budget workers. According to the bureau's estimation, whole sale and
retail, catering industries would also have an increasing need for employees
in 2005. The fast-growing service sector would have to face a continued
shortage of labor force supply.
From http://www.ebeijing.gov.cn/ 02/16/2005
TOP↑
Chengdu: Local Purchase Website Opens
The first purchase portal website of the
province, shop.tfol.com, opened on Tuesday, providing locals with home
purchase via the Internet. The shopping website as the first nationwide
designs shopping map presents city business districts in front of online
shoppers. By entering into key words locals can get access to the name,
products and profile of companies they are looking for.
From http://www.chengdu.gov.cn/ 11/27/2004
TOP↑
Chengdu: Online Service for Farmers
Developed by the Chengdu public information
network and the Chengdu rural economy information center, a website
http//www.cdagro.chengdu.gov.cn has been made accessible on Thursday to
locals. This agricultural website gives priority to facilitate the process of
urbanization under the topics of urbanization updates, farm produce prices,
agricultural events, rural relaxation, pollution-free planting and
agricultural industry analysis.
From http://www.chengdu.gov.cn/ 11/27/2004
TOP↑
Hangzhou Ranked the First One in the
Ten Harmonize Developing Cities
The reporter learned from the relevant
departments that, Hangzhou ranked the first one in the ten harmonize
developing cities appraised at the end of 2004 by the China Economy Weekly
that held by the People's Daily office. The other cities that ranked the
second to ninth of the ten harmonize developing cities of China in 2004 as
following: Chengdu, Shanghai, Chongqing, Suzhou, Guangzhou, Xiamen, Ningbo,
Dalian and Dongguang. The appraising activity voting by the net citizens
through the website, the appraised by the relevant experts, finally assessed
the ten harmonize developing cities by the journal office. The appraising
gist based on the scientific developing opinion, scaled from the harmonize
developing of all aspects as vigor of the city, environment of carving out,
zoology environment protection, traffic, employing rate, the cognition and
appraisement of the tourists to the cities. The China Economy Weekly
appraised Hangzhou as: In 2004, the harmonize developing of Hangzhou economy
was not allowed to ignore, in the aspects as labor force diathesis, faring
cost, market scale, market potential and faring vigor etc, Hangzhou all
showed its fascination in the aspect of attract the private capital; in the
projects that Hangzhou constituted for itself, there're not municipal
rebuilding project, railway traffic project, but also had the projects as
construct the Hangzhou sect of the canal into zoology river and sight river,
and the Liangzhu site precinct project as protection first and environment
precedent, the harmonize develop target appear vividly on the paper of
Hangzhou that transact the economy and environment; a new show of the change
and grow up of a new business city in staging…. The China Economy Weekly
thought that, in China, the competition among the cities had started long
before, came into the new century, the competition ascended to wrestle of the
society economy harmonize developing on the base of harmonious environment.
From http://english.hangzhou.gov.cn/ 01/10/2005
TOP↑
Hangzhou Gateway Website Direct
Seeding the Aviso Circumstance of the National Economy
This afternoon, the economy operating
circumstance news aviso meeting in 2004 was direct seeding at the China
Hangzhou government website. In last year, there’re distinct effects of the
macroeconomic control of our city, the colligated strength ascended a step,
the foodstuff production and industry gross all gained nice development, and
there’re distinct effects of the industry booming the city. Primarily audited
and calculated by the city statistic bureau, in year 2004 the whole city
realized production gross breached two hundred and fifty thousand million
Yuan, amounted to two hundred, fifty-one thousand and five hundred million,
increased 15% than last year. The first industry realized increasing value
thirteen thousand nine hundred and ten million Yuan, increased 5.1% than last
year, the second industry realized increasing value one hundred and
thirty-three thousand and two hundred ninety million Yuan, increased 16.7%
than last year, the third industry realized increasing value one hundred and
four thousand and three hundred million Yuan, increased 14.3% than last year.
The proportion of the three industries are 5.5：53.0：41.5. Per person GDP is thirty-five
thousand, one hundred and thirteen calculated by the permanent population, it
is thirty-eight thousand, eight hundred and fifty-eight Yuan calculated by
the domicile population, increased 13.7% than last year; separately is four
thousand two hundred and forty-two USD and four thousand six hundred and
ninety-five USD calculated by the current exchange rate. The national economy
colligated strengthen was further strengthened. The general statistician Du
guo zhong of the city statistic bureau of the city introduced the economy
operating circumstance of our city from nine aspects. As known, in 2004, the
whole city realized agriculture, forestry, stock raising and fishery total
production value twenty thousand nine hundred and twenty-seven million Yuan,
increased 10.2%, the production of foodstuff increased production and effect,
and the beneficial agriculture developed very well; the industry of the whole
city conquered the basic conditions as short of power supply and prices
rising of the raw material, deeply push forward the strategy as the industry
booming the city, and the industry economy of the whole city continually keep
the rapid increasing and good developing tendency; the national economy of
our city developed rapidly, demos’earnings level continually increased, the
successful conduction of the touring and trading expo, seventh art festival,
the West Lake Expo and the increasing of the tourists provided continual
drive for the rapid developing of the consuming commodities markets of the
villages and towns of our city, and the consume demand rapidly increased; the
capital asserts investing sum of the whole society realized twelve thousand
five hundred and eighteen million Yuan, increased 19.7%, and the amplitude descended
11.1% according on an annual basis, the limitation investment realized eleven
hundred thousand and ninety-five million, increased 23%, the amplitude
dropped 8.7% according to year 2003, the investing environment was
continually consummated; the quickened resuscitation of the world economy
provided fine international environment of the developing for the opening
economy of our city, the adjustment of the export drawback policies, the
export of our city climbed to another height at the base of high radix of
last year. At the same time, the further consummation of the investing
environment created conditions for attracting the foreign capital; the
finance income and expenses stably increased, and the finance operating
circumstance is good; the earnings increasing speed of the villages and towns
exceeded 10% in pairs, and the lives gained continual consummation. The
electric power in 2004 of our city is in short supply, but the industry sell
still keep the high increase speed, mainly because we’ve done well the work
in four aspects: One is the municipal party committee abide the guideline and
policy as the industry booming the city, strengthened the reasonable dispatch
of the power supply, mostly do well the work as reasonably use the
electricity under the principle as insure give away the electricity of the
crowds; Two is encourage the enterprises provide electricity generator for
themselves, came on a series of policies and measures that encourage the
enterprises provide electricity generator for themselves, relieved the
intensity of the power supply; Three is the adjustment of the industry
construct, on the policy of using the electricity, firstly encourage the high
and new technology industries, foreign businessmen and Hong Kong, Macao,
Taiwan invested enterprises. In 2004, among the industries that have big
scale, the high and new technology industries that had low energy consuming
and high output realized industry sell production value and total production
value separately amount to sixty-seven thousand three hundred and fifty-two
million Yuan and sixty-five thousand and seventeen million Yuan, separately
increased 41.7% and 32.1% than last year, the proportion among the large
scale industries separately reached 16.5 % and 15.7 %, separately increased 2.1%
and 1% then that of 2003. Four is the macroeconomic environment direct to
fine, consume, invest and export all keep the rapid increasing speed, and
offered market for the industry products selling. In 2004, the social
consumable retail total amount increased 15.2%, invest increased 19.7%, and
the foreign trade exporting increased 38.6%. Five is the investing
environment of Hangzhou continually optimized since these years, and
investment of the Hong Kong, Macao, Taiwan and foreign businessmen that came
to Hangzhou had increased, and the develop speed quickened. In 2004, the
foreign businessmen and Hong Kong, Macao, Taiwan investing enterprises
increased fastest, the industry total production value and sell production
value separately increased 36.4% and 41.3 %, 6.5% and 10.6% higher than the
average of the whole city.
From http://english.hangzhou.gov.cn/ 01/19/2005
TOP↑
Post Office in Shanghai Despairs over
E-Mail
Local postal officials are encouraging
residents to send more private letters and cards to keep the traditional form
of communication alive. According to the Shanghai Post Bureau, locals
received 60 letters each on average this year. But among those letters, less
than 10 percent were private letters and about 17 percent were postcards, the
bureau revealed. "The number lags far behind the 35 private letters an
American receives on average each year," said Hu Shiyun, the spokesman
for the bureau. He said writing letters or sending cards to your friends and
relatives is a way to let them know you care about them. "The feeling of
receiving such letters can not be substituted by e-mails or cell phone short
messages," said Hu. Nowadays, more and more people like to send their
greeting by e-mail or SMS, thinking they are quicker and more convenient.
People are also encouraged to send less cards to save trees. It is said every
100,000 cards will kill 30 trees at age of 10. But Hu said the cards the post
offices offer are all environmentally friendly. Pu Junrong, 25, an office worker
said she still likes to send cards on festivals or when travelling.
"Cards convey my emotion and greeting to the receivers," said Pu.
"While other forms can't do so, I think." She sent cards to her
parents, boyfriend and good friends this year. Huang Yi, who works for an
advertising company, said she has given up the habit of sending cards or
writing letters years ago. "I will surely feel warm if I receive a
written letter from my friend," Huang said. But she added most of her
friends contact her through telephone or online chatting tools. The bureau
has handled 800 million letters so far this year.
From Shanghai Daily News 12/29/2004
TOP↑
CHINA: Shanghai Is the First New Top-Level Node for China's Internet Domain Name
System
The Ministry of Information Industry and the
China Internet Network Information Centre (CNNIC) held the "Shanghai
node of country code top-level domains (ccTLDs) signing ceremony" in the
city on 21 December 2004 launching it as the first top-level node in the
country. "It's just a beginning," said Mao Wei, director of CNNIC.
"We are going to identify other cities in the different regions of the
country to join us next year, so as to build the top-level nodes of China's
domain names system. In the near future, we will be setting up a complete,
rationally distributed China Internet domain name service. It will strongly
guarantee people's daily life, work and entertainment, and will make Internet
access easier and faster." China's Internet domain name system has
expanded quickly with the rapid development of the Internet in the country.
CNNIC, the administrator of system, evaluated the four old top-level nodes of
ccTLDs in 2004. Shanghai was selected as the first node in the revamped
system. The location of the new node in Shanghai will bring faster and more
stable Internet access to the south-eastern parts of China. (by Huixin Ke)
From http://www.digital-review.org 12/30/2004
TOP↑
Hot Line Heats Up in Shanghai
The city's 12315 hot line has heard 282
complaints during the New Year's holiday, an increase of 4.8 percent from the
same period last year, the Shanghai Industrial and Commercial Administrative
Bureau announced yesterday. The top three targets of complaints are about
quality and aftersale service of air conditioners (17.3 percent), Internet
access service (7.3 percent) and communication devices (6.9 percent).
From Shanghai Daily news 01/05/2005
TOP↑
IRAQ: Mobile Phone Company's
Operations Suspended
The Telecommunications Ministry has
reportedly suspended the activities of the Orascom mobile telephone company
in Iraq, which operates under the name Iraqna, due to mismanagement and poor
performance, a Denmark-based website reported on 7 December
(http://www.iraq4allnews.dk). The website reports numerous complaints
regarding the service and Iraqi newspapers have widely reported similar
complaints. Subscribers had reportedly complained that the company sold more
phone lines than it could accommodate, which overburdened the system.
"Al-Ufuq" reported on 30 November that the ministry had fined
Orascom due to poor service. KR
From http://www.rferl.org/ 12/08/2004
TOP↑
IRAN: Software Industry in Crisis
Domestic software industry is undergoing a
tough period as a result of poor information technology management, observed
an IT expert here on Friday. Mehdi Lotfi pointed out that the country is
currently using just five percent of its potentials and attributed the weak
management to lack of development in IT technology. He said that the sector's
underdevelopment can only be put right through efficient supervision, ILNA
reported. He observed that the crisis facing the sector is the outcome of
weak IT management, lack of well-organized controls on software companies,
legal barriers in the way of using electronic money and credit cards. Lotfi
regretted that lack of copyright law to ensure software maker's rights have
created an insecure job environment for them. Financial and administrative
corruptions have also deeply affected domestic software industry, he noted.
Seeking huge profits through illegal channels, Lotfi stressed, some computer
companies channeled their capitals into importing hardware devices and put
software production at the next priority. As a result the industry is
suffering from chronic backwardness. He also blamed the government for
failing to support domestic IT experts. "This failure has forced experts
to migrate to other countries." The industry needs a strong association
to supervise computer-related activities in the country, he concluded.
From http://www.iran-daily.com/ 12/11/2004
TOP↑
JAPAN: IT Economic Cycle Peaked in November 2000 - Government Report
(Kyodo) - Japan's information technology-led economic cycle
began in February 1999, peaked in November 2000 and hit bottom in January
2002, the Cabinet Office said Friday. The expansionary phase of the 13th
postwar economic cycle lasted just 22 months, the shortest since the end of
World War II, the Cabinet Office said after Cabinet office officials met with
a study group assigned by the government to research economic-related
indexes. The 13th cycle entered a slowdown when the IT-driven economic bubble
collapsed in the United States, the office said. The Cabinet Office also
determined that the current economic cycle began in February 2002. The
expansionary phase of the current cycle is believed to have lasted for 32
months so far, it said. The coincident index, a key gauge of the economy,
sank below the boom-or-bust line of 50 percent in August and September. If
the key gauge stays below the line in October for the third straight month,
the economic cycle might have entered a contraction phase.
From http://asia.news.yahoo.com/ 11/12/2004
TOP↑
Japan Telecom Succeeds with Broadband
Test on Train
TOKYO - Japan Telecom Co said it has
succeeded in an experiment for broadband communications on a train traveling
at high speed. The technology enables connection to the Internet while
consumers are using fast-moving public transport, the telecom carrier said. A
wireless local area network used in the experiment, conducted on a
10-kilometer track of a JR line in Hokkaido, can transmit data at a speed of
up to 15 megabits, which is comparable to the capacity of asymmetric digital
subscriber line services, Japan Telecom said.
From Kyodo News 11/17/2004
TOP↑
Study Finds Digital Divide Between
Urban, Rural Areas
High-speed Internet services are not
available to residents in 11.5 percent of 3,123 municipalities across Japan,
mostly on remote islands and mountainous areas, according to the government.
A study by the Internal Affairs and Communications Ministry on the percentage
of municipalities where broadband services are available in each of the 47
prefectures as of the end of October reveals a digital divide between urban
and rural areas. Broadband services include connections via ADSL and fiber
optics. There were an estimated 16.59 million people using broadband services
as of June 30, the ministry said. Every municipality in seven prefectures --
Osaka, Kanagawa, Hyogo, Tochigi, Chiba, Mie and Akita -- had access to
broadband services, according to the study. In Osaka, where there is heavy
competition among a throng of providers, fiber-optic services were available
in all of its municipalities. Aomori Prefecture had the least coverage of
broadband services at 64.2 percent. The percentage for Hiroshima and
Kagoshima prefectures was also low at 69.2 percent and 69.8 percent. Tokyo,
with its administrative control over many remote islands, ranked 22nd among
the 47 prefectures, with broadband coverage at 93.5 percent. It is the first
government study showing broadband service coverage by prefecture. The study
is based on the number of municipalities as of April 1 and does not reflect
mergers among municipalities in the meantime.
From The Japan Times 12/27/2004
TOP↑
Tokyo Rated Most Vulnerable City in
World to Disasters, Attacks
BERLIN - Tokyo, San Francisco, Los Angeles
and Miami lead a world list of urban areas that could suffer catastrophic
losses in lives and property from earthquakes, flooding, tsunamis or terrorism,
the world's largest reinsurance company said in a report Tuesday. Megacities,
with 10 million or more inhabitants, "are exposed to all the classic
risks, but their exposure and vulnerability are disproportionate,"
Munich Re wrote in a special study published Tuesday. "They create risks
of new dimensions - megarisks. Conurbations in coastal areas could be
threatened by tsunamis, for example. Tokyo and Miami are instances of
megacities in areas with major earthquake and hurricane exposures respectively,"
said board member Stefan Heyd. Munich Re urged governments and urban planners
to take disaster risks more fully into account when approving sites for
development, and to take more preventive measures. Munich Re gave Tokyo the
top rating on its list of vulnerable megacities, saying it combined huge
population with vulnerability to volcanic eruption, earthquakes, tropical
storms, tsunamis and flooding. With a risk index of 710, the greater Tokyo
area and its 35 million inhabitants were far ahead of No. 2, the San
Francisco Bay area, which rated 167, mainly due to Tokyo's high risk of
multiple disasters, its huge population and roughly 40% share of the
country's economy. Los Angeles rated 100. The U.S. cities were rated riskier
than more heavily populated areas such as Mexico City - also at high risk of
earthquakes - because the amount of economic loss was judged to be
potentially greater. The study was prepared for a U.N. conference on disaster
reduction Jan 18-22 in Kobe - which suffered what the report said was the
most expensive natural disaster ever, a 1995 earthquake that took 6,000 lives
and caused some $100 billion in damage. Munich Re has been documenting and
analysing natural disasters for the past 30 years and publishes an
authoritative annual "natural catastrophe" report at the end of
each year. (Wire reports)
From http://www.japantoday.com/ 01/12/2005
TOP↑
Toshiba Cell Phone Software Offers
Remote Access to PCs
Toshiba Corp. has developed mobile phone
software that allows people to access their personal computers remotely to
perform virtually any task, from rebooting and editing to sending e-mail. The
electronics maker said Tuesday that its Brew software and data compression
technology can turn mobile phones into handy devices for accessing computer
files and doing office work wherever the user is -- including on a train.
Toshiba plans to offer the service, designed for Windows-based operating
systems, by the end of March, through downloads or preinstalled in KDDI
Corp.'s CDMA1X mobile phones. Similar services for other carriers, including
foreign ones, are in the works, Toshiba officials told reporters at their
Tokyo headquarters. But making a cell phone work like a keyboard and mouse --
and scrutinizing images meant for monitor screens on their tiny displays --
can be quite a challenge. A lot of button-punching and scrolling is involved.
The idea of accessing personal computers through mobile phones isn't new, and
such software already exists. But previous versions have been limited.
Toshiba's Ubiquitous Viewer is unique in that it handles virtually all
Windows PC functions. Mitsunobu Aoyama, a Toshiba official in charge of
developing Ubiquitous Viewer, said clearer mobile phone displays and the
proliferation of third-generation mobile services in Japan are helping make
the software a smart option. Third-generation phones can zap information at
much faster speeds than phones more commonly used elsewhere in the world.
"We feel such applications are key to realizing a ubiquitous network
society," Aoyama said. Imagine having your office PC up and running and
your e-mail all read and answered, way before you arrive for work, Toshiba
officials posed. But in a demonstration for the press, the mobile connection
failed twice before a document could be copied and pasted as an e-mail
attachment. Toshiba is initially targeting corporate clients for Ubiquitous
Viewer, but also hopes to win over everyday users who want to access home
servers to record TV shows, operate security cameras and control air
conditioners. The price of the service hasn't been decided yet, but Toshiba
officials said they would make it affordable. One catch is that the carrier
must offer a flat-rate data transmission fee as KDDI does to prevent
unreasonably high phone bills.
From The Japan Times 01/19/2005
TOP↑
Wireline Operations Hurt Softbank
The Japanese ISP Softbank has seen a rise in
sales but has also increased net losses as it pushes into the fixed line
telephony market. The firm reported a net loss of JPY26.5 billion (USD251
million) for its third quarter ended 31 December, up from a loss of JPY16.4
billion twelve months earlier. Sales rose 89% to JPY258.1 billion. Softbank
acquired its fixed line unit Japan Telecom for JPY143.3 billion in July last
year but is facing increasing competition as the dominant operators NTT and
KDDI introduce cheaper rates and discount packages. Japan Telecom currently
has 860,000 wireline customers, while its main broadband internet business
now has 4.71 million subscribers. Softbank is hoping to transform itself into
a full service provider by acquiring a 3G mobile concession.
From http://www.telegeography.com/ 02/09/2005
TOP↑
eAccess Begins High Speed Multimedia
W-CDMA Trials
Japanese ADSL service provider eAccess is
collaborating with US-based technology vendor Lucent to build a W-CDMA trial
network to enable the development of high speed mobile data, voice and
multimedia services. The planned trial will incorporate Lucent’s IP
multimedia subsystem (IMS) and high speed downlink packet access (HSDPA)
solutions. Following news of forthcoming deregulation in the Japanese market
eAccess recently established a mobile subsidiary, called eMobile, in
anticipation of new mobile licences being made available.
From http://www.telegeography.com/ 02/11/2005
TOP↑
BOJ's English Web Site Popular
Demand for English-language information
about the Bank of Japan has grown in recent years. The BOJ said that it
recorded 450,000 hits on its English Web site in January, up 40 percent from
a year earlier. Overseas analysts apparently watch every effort made by the
BOJ to lift the nation out of its prolonged period of deflation. The site
includes the bank's monthly economic views, statistics and the minutes of
Policy Board meetings. The number of visitors to the site started to rise in
the first half of 2003, when it saw an average of 290,000 hits each month, up
26.3 percent from a year earlier. Toshihiko Fukui became BOJ governor in
March that year, prompting hopes he would do better than his predecessor,
Masaru Hayami. "The need for the BOJ to release information in English
is getting very strong," said Hiroyuki Oie, head of global information
services at BOJ. The BOJ seeks more translators so it can expand and speed up
the translation of documents into English.
From The Japan Times 02/15/2005
TOP↑
Docomo Admits to Data Leak
Japanese cellco NTT DoCoMo has admitted that
personal information on around 25,000 subscribers has been leaked to an
outsider, claiming that somebody within the company was to blame. The cellco
is currently undertaking in-house investigations.
From http://www.telegeography.com/ 02/15/2005
TOP↑
KYRGZSTAN: Kyrgyz Opposition Opens
Website
The People's Movement of Kyrgyzstan has
opened a new website (http://www.unitedcoalition.org), RFE/RL's Kyrgyz Service
reported on 10 February. The website is intended to provide Kyrgyz voters
with as much information as possible in the run-up to the 27 February
parliamentary elections, with a focus on updates about alleged violations of
election law and official responses to them. DK
From http://www.rferl.org/ 02/11/2005
TOP↑
Korea Takes First Place Again for
Internet Access
Korea was ranked first in the list of OECD
members for broadband access rate again for the fourth consecutive year, the
Ministry of Commerce, Industry and Energy said on Wednesday. Citing the IT
Outlook 2004 compiled by the OECD's Committee for Information, Computer and
Communications Policy, the ministry said that at the end of 2003, Korea's
broadband access was recorded at 24.08 per 100 persons. Korea was followed by
Canada at 15. Not only did Korea maintain the top position since 2000 but the
contribution that the IT sector had on the Korean economy proved to be the
highest among the members of the economic body. According to the same data,
the ministry said the Korea also took first place in the n the ratio the IT
manufacturing industry takes in the trade balance, that is the ratio of IT
shipments in the country's total exports and in the level of IT manufacturing
industry's contribution to total labor productivity.
From http://www.koreaherald.co.kr/ 12/17/2004
TOP↑
IT Production to Reach W500 Tril. in
2008
IT 839 Strategy, a large-scale development
scheme drawn up by the Ministry of Information and Communication (MIC), is
expected to trigger IT production worth 498 trillion won in 2008. The
state-funded Electronics and Telecommunications Research Institute (ETRI) on
Friday made the rosy prediction for IT839, which was laid out last year.
IT839 is the plan of the MIC designed to find the nation’s new growth engines
in newly emerging areas such as digital TVs, radio tags and sophisticated
robots. The three digits in the name represents eight services, three
infrastructures and nine equipment fields with high upside potential. The
ETRI projected that high-tech output would reach 289 trillion won in 2005 and
341 trillion won in 2006. The institute also added that the figure is likely
to further balloon to 419 trillion win in 2007, 572 trillion won in 2009 and
642 trillion won in 2010. In line with such explosive growth rates, the IT
field is projected to account for 13.3 percent of gross domestic product
(GDP) this year, 17.2 percent in 2007 and 21.8 percent in 2010. ``IT will
explain around half of this year’s GDP growth. Considering its exponential
ripple effects across the industries, the actual effects will be even greater,’’
an ETRI official said. (by Kim Tae-gyu)
From The Korea Times 01/14/2005
TOP↑
Regulator Fines LG Over Handset
Subsidies
The Korean Communications Commission has
fined mobile phone operator LG Telecom KRW4 billion (USD3.85 million) for
providing illegal handset subsidies to new subscribers between 8 January and
20 January. The regulator said that the offering of such subsidies hinders
market competition.
From http://www.telegeography.com/ 01/25/2005
TOP↑
Korea's Internet Usage Rate Tops 70%
Up to seven out of 10 South Koreans go
online periodically, reaffirming the nation's staunch status as an Internet
powerhouse, according to a government survey. The Ministry of Information and
Communication (MIC) said on Monday (Jan. 31) that Korea had 31.6 million
Internet users at the end of 2004, up 2.4 million from a year earlier.
Internet users, which officials define as those who access the Web for one
hour or more a month, made up 70.2 percent of the nation’s 4.5 million people
aged six or above. The results of the nationwide study, which was conducted
last December on 17,535 people aged six or above in 7,042 households, have a
margin of sampling error of plus or minus 0.67 percentage point. "The 70
percent-plus Internet usage rate puts Korea in the higher echelon of the
world ranking. Perhaps only Iceland has a higher rate than Korea," MIC
official Paek ki-hun said. Iceland boasted a 67.5-percent rate as of the end
of 2003, the most recent year for which data was available, according to the
International Telecommunication Union (ITU). Paek explained that because the
ITU rate is a comparison of Internet users from the overall population
without any age limitation, Iceland actually has a leg up over Korea. "When
translated to the standard of the ITU, Korea’s Internet usage rate would
amount to 65.2 percent," Paek said. Unlike the past, when youngsters led
the Internet fever, people in their 40s and 50s spearheaded the year-on-year
hike last year. The former saw their rate surge to 62.5 percent from 51.6
percent and the latter also witnessed an 8.3-percentage point rise to 31.1
percent. In comparison, the rate for those aged between six and 29 inched up
a paltry 1.1 percentage point to 95.8 percent. Despite the substantial
progress of middle-aged users, the survey revealed that a digital divide is
still a grim reality in sex, age and region. Among them, the age demographic
is most serious as the gap in usage rate between teenagers and 50-somethings
amounts to 65.2 percentage points. Around 17.06 million men (75.9 percent)
accessed the Internet regularly last year compared to 14.52 million women
(64.6 percent), for an 11.3 percentage point difference. Those polled said
that they connected to the Internet at an average of 11.7 hours a week last
year, down 0.8 hours from 2003.
From http://www.korea.net/ 02/02/2005
TOP↑
Online Database Service Market Enjoys
Fast Growth
Online database service market is growing by
leaps and bounds, driven especially by fast expansion of mobile database
service. According to a survey report released by the Korea Database
Promotion Center on Thursday, domestic database service market reached 709.1
billion won (approximately 688.4 million dollars) last year, a rise of 52%
over the previous year. Of the total figure, sales in online database service
segment posted 338.4 billion won last year, an increase of as much as 113%
from a year ago. The center analyzes that the fast growth in the online
database service market is indebted to change in attitude of consumers toward
fee-charging information, spread of diversified payment systems and an
increase in fee-charging database services. Based on business survey index
(BSI) and consumer sentiment index (CSI), the center predicts that the online
database service market will continue growing this year. The BSI in this
market in the first quarter of this year shows a rise of 12 points compared
to that in the fourth quarter of last year. The CSI toward payment of service
fees rose from 61 in 2003 to 100 in 2004. Propelled by an increase of
wireless communication population to 36 million and wide spread of high
performance mobile handsets, sales in mobile database service hit 335.3
billion won last year, emerging as a new revenue source. Sales in online
database service in business segment comprising information on economic
statistics, biddings, and patents increased by 3 times over the previous year
while sales in culture and entertainment segment, including movies, comics
and fortune telling grew by 2.7 times. While the proportion of
consumption-oriented database services such as games and shopping declined
from 36.4% in 2003 to 29.1% last year, ratio of knowledge-searching database
services in business and science areas rose from 25% to 33% in the same
period. The percentage of free online database service dropped from 44% in
2003 to 30% last year. Specialists forecast that the rising tide in online
database market will continue through 2009 with average annual growth rate of
22.8%, reaching 900 billion won. They foresee that the number of database
producers will increase to more than 2,300. "Online database service is
now established as a high value-added information service. It will drive the
development of knowledge-based economy while serving as a growth engine for
IT service market," said Lee Jae-jin, research team manager at the
center. (by Yun Dae-won)
From http://english.etnews.co.kr/ 02/18/2005
TOP↑
WCDMA Services to Start in 24 Cities
This Year
Local mobile-phone carriers plan to expand
their WCDMA third-generation mobile telephony services to 24 cities by the
end of the year, despite the slower-than-expected rollout during the
soft-launching period. According to industry sources, SK Telecom Co., the
largest mobile-phone operator, will expand its WCDMA network to cover 23
cities this year, including the major areas of Seoul, Busan, Daegu, Incheon
and Gwangju. The company plans to complete equipment purchases by the second
quarter and build a nationwide network by the end of the year. SK Telecom
said last month it would invest 600 billion won ($584 million) to develop and
market WCDMA services in 2005. KT Freetel Co., the runner-up mobile carrier, will
commercially launch WCDMA services in 17 cities this year, according to a
draft plan submitted to the Ministry of Information and Communication. The
company will compete with SK Telecom in 16 cities, including Seoul and the
Gyeonggi Province cities of Incheon, Seongnam, Anyang and Gwacheon. KTF is
also considering expanding its WCDMA services to Jeju Island, hoping to
generate revenue from inbound roaming services at the country's largest
tourist destination. KTF plans to spend 300 billion won in developing its
WCDMA services this year. "The government allowed SK Telecom and KTF to
change their initial plans for WCDMA from what they submitted during the
license bidding process, considering the change in market situation from
2003," said Kim Dong-soo, director-general of the Communication
Ministry's information and communication promotion bureau. "By giving
the mobile carriers more flexibility in selecting service areas and allowing
them to share their network infrastructure instead of mandating independent
networks, we were able to lower the risks in investment and give the
companies a better chance to put WCDMA on the fast track." WCDMA is a
third-generation mobile telephony standard based on the second-generation
global systems for mobile communications (GSM) platform that is used in more
than 70 percent of the world's mobile markets today. Third-generation
infrastructure allow a higher data-transmission capability than earlier
networks such as second-generation or 2.5 generation mobile telephony, enabling
advanced features such as wireless Internet, video streaming and data-casting
atop of voice communication. Since the government granted SK Telecom and KTF
licenses in 2003, WCDMA got off two a slow start in Korea, with the companies
gathering just 2,500 customers. The mobile carriers were reluctant to invest
heavily in an unproven system when they already combined to gather more than
32 million subscribers for the 2.5-generation cdma2000 1x and
third-generation cdma2000 1x EV-DO services. There were also worries that
emerging portable Internet technologies, including the IEEE 802.16
standard-based WiBro, will eventually make WCDMA irreverent. To ease the
burden on investment, the government allowed the mobile-phone carriers
flexibility from the business plans they submitted in 2003 during the
licensing process. Under the new agreement, KTF will be required to build
WCDMA networks in only 45 cities and borrow SK Telecom's network to deliver
the services in other areas, as opposed from being mandated to build an
independent nationwide network. SK Telecom is targeting 200,000 WCDMA
customers this year and 1 million customers by 2007. KTF is targeting 133,000
WCDMA customers this year and also targets 1 million customers by 2007. (by
Kim Tong-hyung)
From http://www.koreaherald.co.kr/ 02/18/2005
TOP↑
MONGOLIA: Universities to Be Connected
to Internet
"Possibility and Significance of
Connecting Universities to Internet " will launch a discussion at the
Orkhon University. The Mobinet Internet Provider of the Mobicom Corporation
in cooperation with the Orkhon University and DH Technology Company will
launch a discussion on the theme of "Possibility and Significance of
Connecting Universities to Internet at the Orkhon University on November 15.
There, the Mobinet will introduce new possibilities of connecting by lower
prices all Mongolian universities to high speed Internet.
From Zuunii medee 11/15/2004
TOP↑
The First e-Shop Opened in Mongolia
The first ever Internet shop has been opened
in order to establish a new environment and market of trade and services in
Mongolia. A team of the "olloo.mn" site or info-technology
"Peksel" Company initiated the online shop. In connection with it,
the team in association with the Mongolian Information, Communications and
Technology Agency organized a seminar Environment of Online Trade in Mongolia
in Ikh Tenger Complex. The aim was to reveal possible problems of online shop
development and to solve them.
From MONTSAME 11/19/2004
TOP↑
108 Volumes of Mongolian Literature to
Be Placed in Internet
108 volumes of Mongolian literature
masterpieces will be placed in the Internet with the intention to give an
opportunity of becoming acquainted with nomadic cultural heritage. During his
attendance of a ceremony to receive these 108 volumes, held last Thursday,
the Prime Minister of Mongolia Ts.Elbegdorj entrusted to place the volumes at
the Internet to the Minister of Education, Culture and Science P.Tsagaan. The
Premier noted that a great culture of the Mongolian nation which highly
respects books is a special contribution, being made by the Mongolian people
to the era of globalization.
From Udriin sonin 01/28/2005
TOP↑
700 Km Long Optical Cable Network Laid
Four years ago, the Parliament approved a
concept to develop information and communications technology until 2010. A
strategy has been underway to develop information and communications
technology. As a result of the strategy, communications technology in aimags
and cities has been completely transferred to digital system. A 700 km long
optical cable network linked Khentii, Dornod and Sukhbaatar aimags, Visat
system connected five soums and 10 aimags and 1.450 km long Railcom optical
cable linking Russia, Mongolia and China were laid.
From MONTSAME 02/15/2005
TOP↑
TURKEY: Turkcell Sees Risks in GSM
License
Mobile phone service provider Turkcell said
on Monday a law reducing the foreign share in an Iranian GSM network had
increased the risks in a deal that promised to be Iran's largest foreign
investment in decades, Turkish Daily News said. Lawmakers passed legislation
on Sunday lowering to 49 percent the nearly 70 percent stake a Turkcell-led
consortium had won in last year's tender. Conservative MPs sought to increase
Iran's stake to 51 percent from 30 percent, accusing Turkcell of links to
arch foe Israel. Turkcell said in a statement to the Istanbul and New York
stock exchanges it would await a final decision on Irancell. The Guardian
Council must still rule on whether the law conforms to Iran's Constitution. "Although
the approval process in the Iranian parliament is still continuing, the
suggested developments increase the risks associated with the reliability of
the Irancell license agreement process," Turkcell said. The deal had
initially been seen worth $3 billion. Turkcell had already warned in January
that any move to lower its stake could endanger the deal. The vote means
South African's MTN, the runner-up to Turkcell in the original tender, could
replace it as foreign partner in the venture. MTN said on Sunday it was ready
to take the 49 percent if Turkcell bows out. Turkcell shares were up 0.55
percent at 9.15 new lira after the statement. The legislation on Irancell is
the second blow to a Turkish investment deal. The TAV consortium poured $15
million in to Tehran's new airport on a goodwill basis last year but was
thrown out before flights began.
From http://www.iran-daily.com/ 02/17/2005
TOP↑
UZBEKISTAN: Online
Uzbek-English-Russian Economic Dictionary Launched
First Internet-based version of the
Uzbek-English-Russian economic dictionary was launched on the Uzbekistan
Development Gateway (http://www.darvoza.uz) portal. The e-version was developed
on the basis of printed edition of the dictionary, elaborated and published
within the framework of economic education and development project by the
Centre for Economic Research in 2003. The version contains about 5,000 Uzbek,
English and Russian entries. The dictionary is intended for students of
economic educational institutions, teachers, scientists, businessmen and
persons involved in foreign trade and policy.
From http://www.uza.uz/ 11/04/2004
TOP↑
Women’S IT Learning Centre Opens in
Tashkent
Women’s Telecommunications and Information Technologies
Learning Centre opened on 12 November at the Tashkent University of
Information Technologies (TUIT). The centre was set up by the US
Telecom/Telematique company on the USAID grant issued to Uzbek Agency for
Communication and Informalisation, and aims to increase qualification of
women working in the IT sector. Sun Microsystems provided equipment, study
aids and technical assistance as well as network system integrator CA CHS to
the centre, while UNESCAP issued a grant for additional equipment. The centre
is also open for TUIT female students, which will create additional
opportunities for them while getting employed, TUIT rector Sadyq Qasymov
said. Besides, students from other universities will be able to pursue the
course of the centre through its distant learning programme, he said.
From http://www.uzreport.com/ 11/12/2004
TOP↑
Single Election Commission Network
Created in Uzbekistan
Uzbek Agency for Communication and
Informatization and the Central Bank created a single computer network for
the Central Election Commission. The system will allow the commission to
ensure constant communication with all district election commissions in the
country on the day of the parliamentary elections (26 December).
From http://www.uza.uz/ 12/22/2004
TOP↑
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INDONESIA: BMG Installs Digital
Seismograph
The Meteorology and Geophysics Agency (BMG)
is installing a digital seismograph in Gamping subdistrict, Sleman regency,
Yogyakarta, to widen the agency's earthquake monitoring coverage. "The
equipment will be ready for operation in a week's time," said
Masturyono, the BMG's head of instrumentation and calibration, here on Sunday.
The device, in addition to a conventional one installed in the city, is
expected to be capable of detecting earthquakes between 300 kilometers and
400 kilometers from the station. The digital device is being installed in
Yogyakarta because the province is prone to earthquakes.
From http://www.thejakartapost.com 02/01/2005
TOP↑
Bank Information Technology Touted
In today's digital information era, banks
will have difficulties handling their customers transactions using old-fashioned
calculators, ledger books and pencils. The bookkeeping requirements for their
ever-growing number of customers, needs an immense computational power, while
the customers' demand for more convenient services -- like interbank
transfers, credit cards and electronic banking -- highlights the need for the
implementation of a solid information technology (IT) solution. For that,
Hewlett Packard (HP) Indonesia, in cooperation with the Bandung Institute of
Technology Alumni Association (IA-ITB), software giant Microsoft Indonesia
and chipmaker Intel Indonesia, began a two-day seminar on Wednesday. They
introduced several IT solutions for financial service firms in the country.
"Banks in Indonesia are facing various changes in their
operations," HP Indonesia president Elisa Lumbantoruan said during a
press conference. "One of those changes is the central bank's recent
requirement for local banks to consolidate so they can comply with
international standards." He explained that such consolidation, meaning
possible bank mergers or acquisitions, would prompt a challenge in how the
banks ensure an interoperability within their IT platforms. Other challenges
for the banks, he pointed out, was to provide services with a personal touch
for customers to keep the banks competitive. To date, Lumbantoruan said, HP
Indonesia had provided IT solutions for several banks and financial service
firms, including Bank Mandiri, Bank NISP and insurance firm Asuransi Astra
Buana. Microsoft Indonesia enterprise director Irwan Tirtariyadi explained
that his company could help the banking industry as well, by providing the
more user-friendly software for their daily activities that they need.
Meanwhile, Intel Indonesia country manager Budi Wahyu Jati said his company's
products were capable of processing the millions of transactions per day that
the banks need.
From http://www.thejakartapost.com/ 02/17/2005
TOP↑
IP Opens E-Procurement
PT Indonesia Power, an affiliate of
state-owned electricity company PT Perusahaan Listrik Negara (PLN), will
begin an online procurement system in May in a bid to ensure
transparency.During the launching of the online system on Tuesday, PT
Indonesia Power President Director Abimanyu Suroso said that almost 80
percent of the company's expenses would be for procurement and by increasing
transparency the company expected to boost its public image. "We are
expecting to increase public trust by introducing the system when we offer
our shares in the Initial Public Offering (IPO)," Abimanyu said, adding
that the details of the IPO would be released after the issuance of its
financial report for last year's second semester.
From http://www.thejakartapost.com 02/17/2005
TOP↑
A Concept Store for ... Networking
Security
In response to rising demand for networking
and security surveillance products and solutions, Allied Telesyn and IP
Surveillance Sdn Bhd have set up a "networking and security surveillance
concept store" in Kuala Lumpur. Allied Telesyn provides IP-based
(Internet Protocol) networking solutions, while IP Surveillance provides
security surveillance solutions. The store, the first of its kind in Malaysia,
will provide personalised service and hands-on demonstrations of both
companies' networking solutions and security surveillance devices, Allied
Telesyn said in a statement. The store is part of the company's ongoing
strategy to enhance its brand in the Malaysian market, particularly with the
small and enterprise (SME) and Small Office, Home Office (SOHO) markets, said
Yoshihiro Nagasaka, country manager Malaysia, Allied Telesyn. "The SME
sector in Malaysia is still in its infancy when it comes to the adoption of
ICT in their business processes. They can actually leapfrog to the latest
technologies, including wireless technology, 100Base-T Ethernet, Gigabit
Ethernet or even IPv6 (Internet Protocol version 6)," he said.
"These technologies can help them to be more mobile, have easy access to
global data and information, speed up business processes and most
importantly, gain a lasting competitive edge," he added. With the
networking concept store, endusers can "test drive" the company's
products and solutions. Located in the heart of the Golden Triangle IT Centre
on the third floor of Plaza Low Yat, the store has a floor area of 400 sq ft.
Allied Telesyn is optimistic and hopes to rake in over RM1.8mil annually
through sales generated from the store. "People generally want to see
and feel a product before committing their dollars to it," said
Nagasaka. "The fact that it is a one-of-a-kind store in Malaysia gives
us an edge in marketing our products and solutions. In addition, the huge
market potential for ICT adoption in the SME market will contribute greatly
to our prospects," he added. Nagasaka said the concept store was in line
with the company's efforts to capture 10% of the networking market share in
Malaysia within the next three years. The company also targets to be one of
the top three networking vendors in Malaysia in the same time frame. The
highlight of the store is its live demo stations, which showcase IP-based
applications, said Allied Telesyn. It can show, for example, how the tight
integration of an IP-based network infrastructure using Allied Telesyn's
wireless solutions and managed switches and IP Surveillance's security
surveillance devices can provide better transfer of captured images, security
monitoring, analysis and dissemination of information to any computer or
wireless device. "Such a demonstration is the best method to provide
endusers with a better feel of how video, voice and data can be combined in
an affordable and highly reliable IP-based networking environment to improve their
business processes, be it in the enterprise sector or small and medium
business segments," Nagasaka said. The store also features a range of
networking products, solutions and devices including the SOHO/ SME wireless
products, unmanaged Gigabit and Fast Ethernet switches, Layer 2 managed
switches, media converters and client adaptors.
From http://star-techcentral.com/ 11/08/2004
TOP↑
MALAYSIA: ICT Plays Important Role in
Getting Aid to Tsunami Victims
Modern communications networks are being
used extensively to help victims of the earthquake-generated tsunami that hit
the coasts of several countries in the Indian Ocean region, causing more than
150,000 deaths and untold destruction. Both cellular technology and the
Internet have become important platforms for humanitarian organisations and
groups seeking assistance in cash and in kind, and for those offering it.
Donation drives via SMS (short message service) that have been initiated in
Malaysia have seen hundreds of thousands of ringgit pour in from local
cellphone users. A campaign by Airtime Management and Programming Sdn Bhd, a
wholly-owned subsidiary of Astro All Asia Networks Plc, brought in more than
RM500,000 in the 24 hours that it ran on Dec 31 last year. SMS donation drives
conducted by Maxis Communications, DiGi Telecommunications and Celcom
Malaysia are still running. The cellular services providers have seen SMS
donations coming in at “a phenomenal rate,” according to one official. “We
know that Malaysians are generous, but this has been something else,” the
official added. With over 12 million cellphone users in the country, the
total amount of SMS donations could have little trouble breaching the
million-ringgit mark. Industry observers said that technology such as cellular
communications were ideal tools for initiatives that required mass
participation. “It’s like a representative of a relief agency coming
personally to collect your donation,” said Peter Chew, an analyst with local
consultant firm ConsulTech (M) Sdn Bhd. The “representatives” are also
knocking on virtual doors. The Internet is being used extensively to provide
an alternative channel for public donations. From concerned individuals who
have started donation drives to those facilitated by online giants like eBay
and Amazon.com, the World Wide Web has become a staging area for a wide
variety of aid appeals. eBay Malaysia has set up a dedicated Tsunami Disaster
Relief page on its website that provides links to the websites of several
humanitarian organisations that are conducting relief efforts. “We are
encouraging people who come to the site to donate directly to these
organisations,” an eBay Malaysia official said. The online auction house's
main website also has a similar page, but with more extensive links and
options, including donating online via credit card to the humanitarian
organisation of surfers' choice. The company, via its eBay Giving Works
charity listings programme, has also tied up with Missionfish.org to allow
users to donate by trading online. Missionfish, a nonprofit service set up in
2000, provides an online auction feature that turns “in-kind” donations into
cash. Donors can buy and sell items, with the proceeds from the transactions
going to the organisations they choose. The list of organisations include
Action Against Hunger, International Medical Corp, and World Relief. Local
auction site Lelong.com.my has followed suit, with a Tsunami Charity Auctions
page that lets Internet users auction off items and donate the proceeds to
The Star/ Maybank Relief Fund. Interbase Resources Sdn Bhd, which operates
the Lelong.com.my site, set up the site on Jan 3. The charity auction will
run until Jan 18, said Interbase managing director Richard Tan. “We wanted to
let our members contribute to the relief efforts, and so far, we think there
has been a good level of activity on the page,” he said, without giving
figures. The charity auctions on eBay and Lelong.com.my also provide a unique
outlet for people who want to contribute more cash than they can afford, by
allowing them to sell off items and donate the proceedings. “It encourages
and lets people give more,” said Tan. Another benefit is that humanitarian
organisations do not have to waste time and effort in having to sort out
between contributions in-kind that were immediately useful from those that
are of no use to the survivors of the disaster at all, he added. Some
organisations have reported that a few donors have taken the opportunity to
clear out unwanted items such as souvenir plaques and old undergarments from
their households by “donating” them (see The Star, Jan 6). Other online
services providers have also chipped in. PayPal, the online payment service
that eBay users would be familiar with, has put up a dedicated webpage
(http://donations.paypal.com) that allows PayPal users to donate money to the
United Nations Children’s Fund (Unicef). The company is waiving all
transaction fees for donations made through the site. As of Jan 6, PayPal
users have contributed nearly US$625,000 (RM2.38mil). Internet users have
been as generous at Amazon.com's special page. More than 180,000 donations
have been made via the website, with the collection totalling nearly
US$14.8mil (RM56.24mil) as at Jan 7. The proceeds are being channelled to the
American Red Cross using the Amazon Honour System, which lets online
businesses and non-profit organisations collect small payments without having
to install costly computer systems to do so. Internet users can also donate
directly via credit card at the websites of many humanitarian organisations
like Unicef, which has a Support Unicef page specifically for donations
towards helping the hundreds of thousands of children who have been affected
by the tsunami. Closer to home, online banking users can donate money to The Star/
Maybank Tsunami Relief Fund and Tabung Kemanusiaan Aceh Utusan-Maybank by
transferring funds to dedicated accounts that have been set up for the
purpose by Maybank. Internet users can also donate online via credit card to
Malaysian Red Crescent Society, Mercy Malaysia and National Disaster Relief
Fund at The Star Online's Earthquake/ Tsunami Relief Fund page
(https://ads.thestar.com.my/donation). Besides being used to reach out to
donors, the Internet is also being used to seek volunteers for relief efforts,
and by individuals and groups offering help and assistance. Over the past
week, local and foreign blogs have been in the spotlight for providing some
of the earliest accounts in the immediate aftermath of the tsunami disaster.
Some blogs have been set up specifically to provide information on the
multitude of relief efforts going on in the region. The Southeast Asia
Earthquake and Tsunami (http://tsunamihelp.blogspot.com/blog) blog has
quickly become one of the most comprehensive sources of such information. The
blog also contains a Help Needed section, through which contributors have
posted appeals from some humanitarian organisations looking for volunteers.
There is also a Help Offered section, in which people from all over have
posted offers of assistance.
From http://star-techcentral.com/ 01/10/2005
TOP↑
PGMA Promotes SMEs and ICTs in the
Provinces
President Gloria Macapagal-Arroyo has been
promoting Small and Medium Enterprises (SMEs) and Information and
Communications Technology (ICTs) in the provinces in a move to give
opportunities for livelihood and generate more jobs, which is part of her
10-point pro-poor agenda. Press Secretary Ignacio Bunye, in a radio interview
this morning, said SMEs and ICTs are considered the growth industries that
could spur development and economic growth in the countryside. "The
government is offering SMEs all possible assistance it could extend because
of the possible jobs these could generate, " the Secretary, who is also
Presidential Spokesman, said. He said that with 800,000 registered SMEs in
the country, and each could at least provide one job, then that would mean
800,000 jobs. In the same breath, the government is bent on developing the
country’s ICT industry into a billion -dollar global industry, so it could be
at par with other nations. The Press Secretary cited the high demand for
telemarketers by call centers that have set up offices in major cities in the
country, like Baguio, Davao and Cebu, and these all redound to more jobs and
investments pouring into the country. This week, the President went to the
provinces of Cebu, Bohol and Pangasinan to extend assistance to these two
growing industries.
From http://www.gov.ph/ 02/19/2005
TOP↑
Starhub Banking on
Content in Its 3G Service
StarHub is banking on content to
differentiate its 3G services from those of its rivals SingTel and MobileOne.
StarHub plans to leverage on its Cable TV's extensive content and
partnerships. And that means pumping mass-appeal sports like football, as
well as music and infotainment services into its 3G network. StarHub
kick-started its 3G customer trials last Friday and is set to roll out
commercial services by the first half of 2005. It expects 3G services to
contribute to its bottomline a year or two after that. Exciting, near-live
sports action right in the palm of your hands, that's what StarHub promises
for its 3G services. StarHub wants customers to enjoy the rich sounds and
vivid video that only 3G can deliver through mobile phones. For a start, its
200 3G trial users will get music, news, information, entertainment, and lots
of sports, especially English Premier League (EPL) football. "In the 3G
trial, we focus on content. We believe content is one of the key drivers of 3G
services something that people are passionate about, has excitement. EPL is
one of the most popular sports in Singapore, a lot of people watch EPL so EPL
football is one of the major contents," said Chan Kin Hung, head of
StarHub's mobile services. In addition, trial users can get to enjoy trailers
of Cable TV programmes, and live streaming of news, music videos and animated
video clips on their 3G handsets. For business users, StarHub will leverage
on its Blackberry platform to deliver financial services and information. So
far, the telco has invested S$70m in its 3G network. But recouping those
investments will take time. "We think that in terms of an impact on the
bottomline, we probably will not see that happen until 2006. We really do
believe it will take a while for the 3G handsets to be available in
sufficient quantities and at the right price points, and to get a diffusion
of those handsets in our customer base such that we begin to see demand pick
up for 3G services. We will see a lot of that beginning next year, and begin
to see some substantial critical mass buildup in 2006, 2007," said
StarHub president and CEO Terry Clontz. StarHub says it has yet to decide
whether to charge users by event or amount of data traffic usage. The trial
will help StarHub better understand what users want and how much they are
prepared to pay for 3G services.
From http://www.channelnewsasia.com 12/06/2004
TOP↑
Local ISPs Compete for Bigger Slice of
Online Gaming Market
Wednesday was the last day of Games Xtreme
League, a two-day competition for PC games. It is a lead-up to the World
Games finals which will be held next year. But it wasn't just the gamers who
were hoping to outplay their rival contestants at Funan IT Mall. Gaming is
becoming a big industry and the local Internet service providers are trying
to outdo each other to get a bigger share of the market. Games like Warcraft
and Counterstrike are popular games among PC gamers between the ages of 13
and 28. And the Internet service providers want to make sure that when gamers
go online, their gaming experience is nothing short of the best. So SingTel
has invested S$500,000 just to improve its ADSL broadband service. Philip Wu
Chong Guan, Director, SingTel, said: "I think they want to see broadband
beyond email and surfing. They want a sense of community, a sense of
competition." And SingTel hopes to gain market share by offering new
subscribers a mini iPod, or games software and an ADSL modem. Not to be
outdone, StarHub Maxonline is trying to lure customers with offers of a free
Compaq PC Presario. And it appears to be a tough fight. "SingNet's ADSL
dedicated line allows me to have better latency online, better playing. So it
gives me an advantage," said one gamer. "I like StarHub's speed and
the dedicated service I get. And also the downloads and the stuff they give
us are quite interesting," said another. Some market watchers said since
rival StarHub is luring gamers with their association with XBox Live, which
is quickly gaining in popularity among gamers, SingNet needs to create an
association as a gaming brand since the games business is one of the fastest
growing industries both locally and globally. In 2005, StarHub will announce
a couple of promotional bundles along with XBox Live to help boost its
subscriber numbers. As of September this year, StarHub has 199,000 home user
cable subscribers while SingTel has 276,000 ADSL users.
From http://www.channelnewsasia.com 12/15/2004
TOP↑
3G Services Open Up New Arena for
Competition in Telecoms Industry
There's been intense competition in the
telecoms industry this year. SingTel and M1 upped the ante by introducing
price plans with free-incoming calls - sparking a new round of price war. But
the battle is soon shifting to a new area as the three telcos get ready to
roll out their 3G services. And SingTel has fired the first salvo by being
the first to sell 3G phones. Competition has been heating up in the telecoms
sector as the three mobile operators fight tooth and nail for market share.
And expectations are it will only get more intense with the 3G rollout next
year. Some analysts say it is going to be a long, hard-fought battle. Manish
Srivastava, Assistant Director, Regional Telecoms (Research), ABN Amro Asia
Securities, said: "It's a much more longer term thing. This point of
time it's completely incremental and I think the operators themselves are
looking at it as an incremental service and they are not going to invest too much
really in terms of marketing the services beyond what they normally do. And
any big numbers on this will only come 2 to 3 years down the line not this
short term." Industry watchers believe that because of the high start-up
costs - the 3G rollout will have negative impact on earnings. Brenda Lee,
Senior Investment Analyst, Telecom and IT, Daiwa Institute of Research, said:
"The negative impact is actually on the near-term profitability level of
the operators because they have to put in the money first. But they may not
be able the see the rewards until 2 to 3 years later." Clearly the
telcos themselves also realise they are in for the long haul. Terry Clontz,
President and CEO, StarHub, said: "We think that in terms of an impact
on the bottomline we probably will not see that happen until about 2006.
Because we do really believe that it will take a while for the handsets, 3G
handsets, to be available in sufficient quantities and the right price
points. And to get a diffusion of those handsets into our customer based such
that will begin the demand pickup for 3G services so I think we will see a
lot of that begin next 2005 and begin to see some substantial critical mass
build in 2006/2007." For now the three telcos are still working out a
strategy for 3G growth and putting together their 3G pricing plans. And their
first challenge would be to get customers excited about what 3G has to offer.
From http://www.channelnewsasia.com 12/21/2004
TOP↑
SINGAPORE: Singapore Doctors Launch
World's First Interactive Skincare Website
The world's first interactive skincare and aesthetic website, iSkin.tv, was
launched to bring beauty tips closer to consumers. The next time you have a
skin break-out, or are down with some obscene rash, just snap a picture and
send it via MMS to the industry experts. Renowned plastic surgeon Dr Woffles
Wu and President of the Singapore Dermatological Society, Dr Cheong Wai
Kwong, have offered to give tips on-demand to consumers. "This means, if
you have a problematic skin or even have some queries on skincare, instead of
buying a product that you're unsure of its effectiveness, you can first
consult the panel of doctors on how best to tackle your problem," said
Dr Wu. For a monthly subscription fee of up to $5, consumers can get skincare
tips in the form of text, pictures and video via their mobile phones.
Messages can also be posted online. The iSkin website will leverage on the
SMS and MMS technology and, soon, the 3G network. "There's a lot of
information out there in cyberspace but how do you get the information that
you want. You need a little bit of consultation, you need somebody to guide
you. So that's what we're doing with skin care and rejuvenation. We're the
guide," said Dr Wu. Consumers can also better understand the
effectiveness of cosmetic procedures compared with do-it-yourself kits.
"We are moving into a phase of not just paternalistic health education
where doctors tell you what to do and you follow. We're creating an
interactive model. We can customise it to your skin type, your age, your
hormonal cycle," said Dr Wei Siang Yu, the founder of ISkin. Some 8 more
industry players are expected to join in the project with increase in demand.
From http://www.channelnewsasia.com 02/02/2005
TOP↑
NLB Launches Online Repository of
Local Artistic Works
The National Library Board launched
Singapore's only online repository of artistic works. Called NORA, which
stands for NLB Online Repository of Artistic Works, it is a collection of
works by local contributors. A treasure trove of history, NORA serves as a
source of reference for those interested in Singapore literature and the
arts. It is the first time a comprehensive collection of unpublished, and
out-of-print artistic and literary works is made available to the public
online. These include Ovidia Yu, the late Kuo Pao Kun, Lee Tzu Pheng, Stella
Kon, Desmond Sim, Suresh Sharma and Felix Cheong. The National Library Board
hopes the database would help preserve the literary heritage of Singapore, and
through the records of Singaporeans' experiences, provide a link to the past.
Other genres of local artictic works such as music and multimedia, as well as
works in Chinese, Malay and Tamil will be added to the collection.
From http://sg.news.yahoo.com 02/21/2005
TOP↑
Chip-Maker Eyes E-Govt Projects
Infineon Technologies of Germany, the
world's fifth largest semiconductor company, will step up its activities in
Thailand after seeing potential to provide security solutions for mobile
phones, identification cards and banks.Infineon vice president for marketing
in Asia Pacific, Markus Mosen, said despite its low profile in Thailand, the
company has a 90% market share for pre-paid phonecards and 30% market share
for GSM SIM cards. Infineon markets its chips through Achieva, its sole
distributor in Thailand.The growing number of mobile phone users, new
chip-based Europay-MasterCard-Visa (EMV) cards and government projects
including the second phase of smart ID cards and e-passport project will
drive the market, Mosen said.For the mobile market, security will be a key
market driver because mobile phones will be used not only for communications
but also to pay for goods.It will become a form of e-wallet, as well as an
identity card, secure ID token or physical key.He cited Finland as an example
where a SIM card doubles as an ID card.In the financial arena, chip card
security will expand the value chain for banks. ATM and credit cards are
vulnerable to fraud but new EMV chip cards, which are expected to replace
existing magstrip cards, offer more security and functionality, including
debit and credit functions combined with modules for the purchase of bus and
train tickets, loyalty programmes, an e-purse, health services, e-commerce
and mobile services.Taiwan is one of the early adopters of the new cards, he
said, adding that Malaysia, Japan, Korea and Australia are also following
suit.According to Visa, the migration from magnetic strips to the new
chip-based EMV cards was expected to be completed by 2008 in Thailand.Another
potential market is identification, such as health insurance cards, national
ID cards and e-passports with secure contactless controllers.Infineon plans
to work with its local partners to bid for the government's e-passport
project."We will offer a solution for the e-passport once the
specifications are out," Mosen said, adding that some 25 companies had
already purchased the bidding papers.A small contactless chip will contain
biometric information of the passport holder and placed in the passport. In
the future, visas and boarding passes can be integrated into the chips, said
Mr Mosen.For the Thai ID card project, Infineon plans to join the second
phase of bidding after losing out for the first 12 million cards. However, he
cautioned that the 74 baht per card for the first phase may not be
sustainable."The price was very low and if the government still insists
on the same price as a standard for the next bidding, it will affect the
whole industry," he said.
From http://www.bangkokpost.com/ 11/10/2004
TOP↑
Broadband Is Driving New Media Models
While the number of broadband Internet
subscribers is dramatically increasing _ rising from some 12,000 users last
year to an estimated 250,000 by the end of this year _ the question arises as
to what content and services these users can access over their high-speed
connections. The answer lies in interactive and on-demand services that
content providers and telecom operators are introducing in the belief that
entertainment is the killer application to drive growth in the broadband
market. "As a provider of multimedia and broadband content for four
years, we realise that there are no unique services designed for broadband,
just online games and file downloading," said Shin Broadband Internet (Thailand)'s
manager of IPTV channel department Suchitr Sorojsrisom.Shin, a stakeholder in
CS Loxinfo and iPSTAR satellite services delivering high-speed Internet
connections, recently introduced interactive TV via its IPTV Channel at
http://www.ip-tv.tv."We combined the interactive features of Internet
with the broadcast function of television with our IPTV Channel," he
said, adding that Internet broadcasting would open up an opportunity for
anyone to host their own TV show, either from home or from our studio, he
said. In addition, shows are available 24 hours a day where they can be
downloaded from an archive and viewed at their convenience. This is an
on-demand model that differs from other on-demand entertainment programmes in
terms of functions offered. "Our IPTV features also allow you to
interact with programme hosts by chatting, picture file sharing or even
real-time communications using web cameras," he said. This would change
the model of current TV broadcasting, he said, noting that the Internet also
allowed unlimited numbers of TV channels. Dr Avudh Ploysongsang, vice
president of Shin Satellite, the owner of iPSTAR and the parent company of
Shin Broadband, said that interactive TV service allowed anyone with good
content to be a broadcaster. "Being based on Internet technology means
there is no need for TV stations to ask for a licence, unlike traditional TV
and radio media which have limited frequency resources that need a regulator
to manage," he said. "Because we believe that the Internet is a tool
to drive a knowledge-based society we have invested in the technology and
bring affordable services to anyone who takes advantage of it," he said.
For managing the content, he said the audience should decide if a show should
continue or not. "People will not want to watch bad content. If it is
inappropriate content, the law can be applied to send the show host to jail.
But if you have good ideas and the expertise to host a programme, why
shouldn't you get support?" The technology lets individuals have equal
rights as mass media providers and therefore they will compete on an equal
basis with each other by offering practical content, he said. The mass media,
on the other hand, can apply interactive television to advance their
programmes, such as keeping their shows in a web site archive. The company
has set up a web site at http://www.IPTVSmart.com which lets dial-up
subscribers watch the broadcast television programmes of channels 5, 9,11,
iTV and iPTV at their convenience. "The service records every programme
of each channel, even advertisements. The good thing for interactive TV is
that you can fast-forward through unwanted parts," he said. KGI
Securities (Thailand) is one of the early participants in the IPTV service.
Pichai Lertsupongkij, a director of its research strategy division, said that
interactive TV programmes could ease his work because he did not have to
repeat the same investment analysis information every time when asked by
customers. "We keep our customers updated about the stock investment by
analysing developments before and after the market opens through our radio
and TV programmes as well as at our 17 branches," he said, adding that
the Internet TV would offer programmes already broadcast by traditional media
from IPTV's web sites. KGI Securities could also add extra content which it
could not provide on radio and television due to time limitations at the
site, he said. Web sites are also eyeing interactive TV to advance their
service and to bring uniqueness to web content. Uamulet.com is one example.
This is a Buddha image amulet community that is in the top 200 hit list for
Thailand and conducts trades valued at 15 million baht each month. Web site
owner Veerachart Charassirikulchai said it had 10,000 pieces of amulets for
trading after operating for two years and that it needed to improve the
service to be interactive with the community. "My new interactive
programme with IPTV will enable members to communicate with me in real time.
They can ask questions or post a photo of amulets while I am hosting my show
at the site," he said. He expected to get more members from broadband
subscribers. Market research company IDC predicts that migration from dial-up
to ADSL or other broadband services will increase steadily, said Neeranuch
Kanokvilairat, IDC telecommunications analyst. In 2009, IDC predicts that
ADSL subscribers here will reach 2.7 million, with a compound annual growth
rate of 73%."We will see more broadband content next year," said RS
Promotion deputy managing director Yanyong Akrajindanon. RS Promotion plans
to introduce music videos for downloading and movies on-demand to serve this
new market. He said the plan would be the next step after the company joined
hands with True and TT&T to introduce on-demand entertainment services at
Entertain.tv and TTTOnline.net respectively. These sites provide music video
streaming, mobile trailers, karaoke and music. Bovi, a pop singer with RS
Promotion, said the service would provide easier access for his fans,
regardless of their location. At present, RS provides free licences for any
web site to broadcast its songs and music videos. The Thai Webmaster
Association found that there were more than 100 web sites offering music
streaming that people could only listen to by being connected, while several
provided music for downloading. "We want to make things right for
them," said Vorapoj Nimvijit, new media director of RS Promotion.
"We regard web sites as another medium to promote our songs and movies,
so why don't we work together so that they can get complete information and
content from us," he said, noting that RS Promotion would not charge
them for this. Web sites would just need to register with the association and
follow its procedures. "We will keep those web sites up to date and send
them new releases, information or posters. We want to turn a grey zone into a
white one," he said. The Internet could provide music on demand, he
said, adding that instead of waiting for our favourite songs on the radio, we
could just click to listen at sites such as the popular Kapook.com. Although
the quality of music was not high fidelity, it was all right for listening
to, he said. "By the end of this year, we plan to sell our songs online,
priced at 15 baht each," Vorapoj added. RS Promotion will invest at least
20 million baht to implement a music archive server and perform digital
rights management to protect its intellectual property.It plans to offer
8,000 songs of its own and from partners in the MP3 format. "After
listening to our music at a web site, some might want to buy our songs so we
will let them download the music they like. This is a new lifestyle for the
young generation, with MP3 players being a common music jukebox for
them," he noted. According to telecom operators such as TT&T, they
will have to invest more to expand their ADSL infrastructure. TT&T plans
to increase its service coverage from 30,000 ADSL ports in Chiang Mai, Khon
Kaen, Phuket, Pattaya and Nakhon Ratchasima. It already has a total of around
10,000 subscribers and plans for 100,000 ports next year and expects to gain
some 50,000 users, said TT&T senior vice president Suroj Lamsam. True, on
the other hand, aims to double its broadband subscribers in 2005 to 200,000.
It also foresees a new opportunity to introduce storage services, said
Natawut Amornvivat, assistant director and head of broadband and Internet.
The service would be needed to store files or pictures. True recently
launched UBCi at http://www.hispeedworld.com, allowing broadband users to
view three channels of UBCi including news, sports and Academy Fantasia,
listen to some radio channels and to watch Thai music videos. Although
on-demand and interactive TV might be the next wave, he said it would not be
an overnight hit. "Interactive TV needs a set-top-box to allow TV to
have more functions," he said. RS Promotion deputy managing director
Yanyong agreed that the technology needed a face-lift before it would be
widely used. "A set-top-box and a new easy-to-use interface must be
developed," he noted. Dr Avudh of Shin Satellite also agreed that those
who wanted to participate in interactive television still needed to have
Internet access and a computer. "TV will never be replaced by the new
media because all that is needed is a remote control to operate it," he
said, adding that interactive television will be an alternative media.
From http://www.bangkokpost.com/ 11/17/2004
TOP↑
Inet Diversifies, Focusses on Enabling
Business Solutions
Internet Thailand (Inet) is leveraging its
expertise and infrastructure resources by diversifying into the business
solution area to capture a portion of this high-growth sector. Inet president
and CEO Trin Tantsetthi said that Inet had not only looked at its internal
performance, but was now also focussed on external growth by expanding its
resources, working with partners who were focussed on four business sectors _
banking and financial solutions, e-business and media services, professional
services and business integration. The company has implemented an EDC network
offering electronic money transfers with an EDC pool enabling payments via
credit card. Now the project will expand to a second phase which will cover
payments by debit, ATM and smart cards. Inet is the only ISP making a profit
and last year its total revenue was around 674 million baht, with 94.52
million of this being net profit. Trin said that Inet's return on fixed
assets last year was 104%, which was the lowest rate since it was founded.
"We face no financial problems, so we could eye external growth and just
make investments in the areas that we are strong," he said. The National
Telecommunications Commission (NTC) would stimulate the entrance of new ICT
investors, and fair competition would lead to better services and a lower
cost of ICT for consumers, he said. Relying on the access business alone was
risky, Trin added, noting that Inet had expanded its existing resources and technology
to focus on other business areas that were low risk and high growth,
especially business solutions. Inet would do nothing concerning venture
capital or financial sources, but would focus on solutions for business that
could work together through partnerships or joint ventures. Recently, the
company announced a joint venture with Software Link, setting up NetBay,
providing e-logistics related solutions. Currently, the ratio of access
business to business solutions for Inet was 85% to 15% and the company
planned to put more focus on business solutions so that over next three years
the ratio would become 55% to 45%, he said. It is forecast that the number of
Internet users would grow by 25% next year. Trin noted that a significant
driver would be the Government Financial Management Information System
(GFMIS) which would begin full operations next year. He said that the
broadband Internet boom would be not be as easy as had been anticipated
because the unit cost was still too high. "While the technology has
developed very rapidly, the broadband that has been available here is now an
old version compared with that found in countries like Korea. While the cost
of production is similar, the quality is 50 times lower," he said,
adding that consequently Inet had not invested in a broadband network here
since the business conditions had not been favourable yet. Trin noted that
50% of Thailand's GDP came from provincial areas, so any company that could
serve businesses there would have more opportunities to grow. Inet has
provided a MetroLAN, an ultra-high speed Internet connection in office
buildings at LAN speeds, an ICT infrastructure covering 1.3 million square
metres and reaching more than 1,200 companies and it was now talking to
provincial areas about offering them access to this service.
From http://www.bangkokpost.com 12/15/2004
TOP↑
THAILAND: City to Open 'Smart' Car
Parks
Bangkok's notorious traffic problems could
be in for some much needed help, with the Bangkok Metropolitan Administration
(BMA) planning to introduce a number of projects as part of an intelligent
traffic system. While mass transportation systems such as the BTS and MRT
have already made the daily commute easier for some, poor parking facilities
are another source of hold-ups and traffic snarls, particularly in areas that
were not designed for cars. As a result, the BMA will introduce two so-called
intelligent parking buildings, one in Ratchathewi and the other in the Phra
Khanong area near the On Nut BTS station. Each parking building will
accommodate around 100 cars, according to BMA deputy governor Dr Samart
Ratchapolsitte, who said these would be open to the public in October this
year. The parking lots will have a computer control system that works in conjunction
with smart card technology _ it does not require the use of security guards
acting as parking attendants. "Once a driver enters the ground floor of
the building with their smart card and gets out of the car, the parking
system will lift the car automatically and locate an empty parking
space," Dr Samart explained. "When the car owner wants to retrieve
the car, they use the smart card again and the car will be brought down by an
electro-hydraulic lift system," he added. The public parking lots are
the first two locations the BMA has chosen to try out new concepts to make
things easy for commuters. The 200-million baht project will be financed and
operated by the BMA. The deputy governor noted that the parking project is
one of four projects that are included in the BMA's intelligent traffic
system for this year. Three other projects are intelligent bus signs,
intelligent taxi stands and intelligent traffic signs, which will be
implemented with investments from the private sector. With intelligent bus
signs, passengers will be able to know how long it will take for the bus they
are waiting to arrive at the stop. The first 200 bus stops will be operating
by July this year. "Such information can help relieve flaring tempers,
as people can be sure how long they need to wait for the coming bus," he
said. The intelligent taxi stand will assist passengers who need a taxi. Once
they press the button on the stand, a signal will be sent to the taxi centre
and the nearest cab will be assigned. Meanwhile, the intelligent traffic
signs will help drivers to know the traffic conditions of the route that they
are planning to take, such as an expressway or major intersection. While the
concept of the BMA's intelligent parking building sounds promising, some have
questioned whether an electro-hydraulic lift system is feasible because the
machines are expensive and the BMA would have to pass on the cost to drivers
in the form of higher parking fees. Chaiwat Jirapak, who regularly takes the
BTS at On Nut station to go to his office on Silom Road, said that he used to
park the car at Tesco Lotus as it was free of charge. However, when the store
changed its parking fee to 50 baht an hour for cars exceeding three hours,
park-and-ride commuters faced a problem. Chaiwat said he then turned to a
private parking lot nearby, where he pays just 55 baht per day. "Around
50 or 55 baht a day is fine for me. If the BMA builds another parking
building, it will help a lot, but the service charge should be reasonable.
"Intelligent technology or smart cards are not a big deal for me, as
long as the parking is convenient and the price is reasonable," Chaiwat
said. When Anuchit Vejpitak goes to his office at Klongtoey by taking the MRT
from Ladprao station to Queen Sirikit National Convention Centre station, he
prefers parking at the MRT's Ladprao parking station. "Parking here is
the safest because there are security guards for a whole day and my car is
out of the burning sun and rain," he said, pointing out that he was
willing to pay for parking according to the length of time. He can also get a
discount price by swiping the parking smart card at the terminal station.
Piya Chindapradist, CEO of Smart Traffic, a system integrator of toll
collection systems, said that technology for parking systems had two major
functions: revenue collection and for safety and traffic management. At
typical parking lots, drivers take around 10 seconds to pay the fee and
longer for parking. It takes longer to get out than to get in, but coupons
and pre-paid cards could reduce the wait. Mr Piya noted that expressway
tollgates with manual attendants usually processed around 400-450 cars per
hour, but this increased to 650-700 cars per hour when a contactless prepaid
card was used, and up to 1200 cars per hour with a free flow tracking sensor
system. The gains could be seen in parking lots too, while technology could
also help prevent fraud associated with coupons. Another major area where
technology can play a role is with parking control management, or so-called
smart park systems. The computer control system can accurately store data
such as the number of vehicles in and out the car park and parking fees
collected. The system also supports other systems that can be added, such as
automatic ticket issuing machines and contactless smart cards. Once a car
arrives at a parking lot with smart parking, a parking guidance system will
display the lots available. A driver will then immediately know how many lots
are available and which direction they should go for parking. "With this
system, the traffic flow will be improved and on-street traffic jams will be
alleviated," the CEO said. Currently, contactless smart cards have been
used in many parking buildings, such as the Department of Highways, Tesco
Lotus, Assumption University, Central World Plaza and Shinawatra Tower III.
The smart card used for those car parks make use of RFID tags (radio
frequency identification), a tiny microchip that stores data that can be
relayed via an RFID reader. Meanwhile, the government and BMA plan to have a
common smart card for all mass transportation systems, according to the BMA
deputy governor. This could be used for expressways, public transport or
parking buildings. There are also plans to use sensor technology on
expressways so that cars don't have to stop at the tollgates. Traffic-related
problems cannot be tackled by a single initiative, so the BMA's intelligent
traffic system will not just manage the traffic flow, but encourage drivers
to use alternative means of transport and enable people to find the services
and information they need.
From http://www.bangkokpost.com/ 02/16/2005
TOP↑
NGOs, Private Sector Link Up in
Cyberspace
An initiative to bring together the public
and private sectors to promote biodiversity, conservation and economic
development was kicked off yesterday as the world's first network of
cooperation was inaugurated. “Perhaps we can speak of two sides of a coin, or
two parts of a duet. What is key is that the two parts, namely non-government
organisations (NGOs) on one side and the private sector on the other, must be
considered together,'' said Paul Wedel, executive director of the Kenan
Institute Asia (KIAsia), a Thai-US non-profit development organisation
headquartered in Bangkok that is spearheading the move. The NGO and Private
Sector Cooperation for Sustainable Development Network will provide
``virtual'' common ground for corporate and NGO groups from Asia and the
Pacific to meet and share information online and explore internet
communications through web conferencing and website partnerships. NGOs, Mr
Wedel said, can learn to better understand corporate intentions and identify
areas of common interest. They are able to explore partnerships with the
private sector to strengthen their own management skills, secure volunteers
to carry out projects, cultivate funding sources, and strengthen advocacy
efforts. Businesses, on the other hand, will gain knowledge and networks to
fully implement strategies that incorporate social responsibility. Alliances
with NGOs, especially those engaged in service delivery and other operational
work, provide years of hands-on experience at the grassroots level, he said.
``Some NGOs perhaps have a mind set about companies that is negative. Some
company managers have a mind set about NGOs that they just create problems
and solve nothing,'' said Mr Wedel. ``In part, this because they have a
relationship only when there is a problem. We want to get communication that
is more regular, that is not tied to a conflict, so when there is a conflict
they have a basis of trust. ''After online contact has been firmly
established, he said, the network will encourage workshops on NGO and
private-sector cooperation. ``Multinational companies have been working on
upholding social issues for a long time, but Asian companies are still
lagging behind, and for the project to work it must have the cooperation of
local companies that are doing the polluting and destroying,'' Mr Wedel said.
Paiboon Wattanasiritham, former chairman of the Community Organisations
Development Institute (Thailand), and a member of Thailand's National
Economic and Social Advisory Council, said only a few local business
enterprises have signed up to join the network. Mr Paiboon said the
government did not trust NGOs and their international donations, therefore
forging a partnership with local companies would be key to providing ongoing
funding while foreign firms could offer assistance in other forms such as
sharing case studies.
From http://www.bangkokpost.com/ 02/17/2005
TOP↑
Technology Key in Disaster Alert
Numerous information and communication
technologies are now available to develop the best and most effective
warning, and search and rescue systems, to cope with various disasters in
Thailand and to coordinate assistance with the global community. Over 900
information and communication authorities from 16 nations delivered the
assurance at the 1st Phuket International ICT conference called ''ICT
Solutions for Disaster Recovery Management and Global Warning: Learning from
the Tsunami'' at a resort hotel on the tourist island yesterday. Information
and Communications Technology Minister Surapong Suebwonglee said at the event
that in terms of information presented at the conference, he was confident
Thailand could work out an effective master plan to handle disasters in three
months and an effective warning and relief systems would be up and running in
less than two years. He said the conference emphasised the need for
communication operators to join forces to develop a back-up network where
they could share information in times of disaster. There was also a need for
a dedicated back-up communication network to facilitate the commands of
national administrators, he said. Such communication systems will be able to
cope not only with tsunamis but also other kinds of disasters.' 'What all
speakers emphasise is the systems must be standardised enough to connect with
global systems. We must not establish our own systems that cannot be linked
with others. This is to allow foreign helpers to better help us and vice
versa during times of disaster,'' Dr Surapong said. Wai-Hong Sam, general
manager of HP Asia Pacific & Japan, told the conference his company had
the kinds of technology that could raise the alarm about both natural- and
human-related disasters such as tropical storms, floods, earthquakes, El
Nino, La Nina, tsunamis, epidemics and radioactive leakages. Microsoft chief
technology officer Craig Mundie presented facial recognition software which
could help identify individuals and thus be applied to assist in the swift
identification of disaster victims. He also said mobile phones could be
developed and used to facilitate swift disaster warnings among the public. In
a specially recorded video message, Microsoft chairman and founder Bill Gates
thanked the Thai public for the warm hospitality and co-operation given to
Microsoft staff during the tsunami and noted the importance of information
technology in dealing with natural disasters both in terms of prevention and
recovery. Irwin Jacobs, chairman and chief executive officer of Qualcomm Co,
said mobile phone chip technologies could be applied to help locate disaster
victims during search and rescue missions.
From http://www.bangkokpost.com/ 02/19/2005
TOP↑
VASC Provide Trade Promotion News Via
SMS
Import-export companies now can easily seek
trade opportunities, market information and more through a new add on offered
on the VASC Software and Media Company’s Eximpro (http://www.exim-pro.com)
called SMS Eximpro. As of March 1, 2004, Eximpro will provide businesses with
daily trade promotion bulletins via SMS, except on weekends. To register for
the service, enterprises can visit http://www.exim-pro.com/sms_reg_form.asp
or directly register through the following phone number: 84-4-7722729 (ext.
305). After registration, clients will receive one bulletin for each category
they have signed for through the 997 system at 20.30. Each bulletin contains
480 characters, is separated into three messages: goods price, import-export
partner information, and exchange rates for leading hard currencies. The
service fee is VND44,000/bulletin month. Eximpro offers 11 kinds of bulletins
on rice, maize, soybean, cotton, coffee, sugar, rubber, crude oil, gas,
oil-included products, metal, and information about importers’ demand. This
service, a new form of trade (Mil-commerce) has been available in developed
countries and now appears in Vietnam for the first time. Through this new
service, VASC hopes that enterprises will quickly gasp trade promotion news
without the hindrance of space or distance. The service is now in Vietnamese
language only but it will be expanded to English in the future.
From http://vietnamgateway.org/ 11/03/2004
TOP↑
Hi-Tek Helps Promote VN Tourism Online
The website, http://www.hotels.com.vn
contains an online directory of tourism related services, such as hotels and
resorts, restaurants, and entertainment services, as well as points of
interest. The website is planned to promote travel in Vietnam to people
around the world. It also offers visitors the option to search for and make
online reservations at their favourite hotels and resorts, thereby saving
time and money. Moreover, the website will help raise hotel and resort trade
in foreign currency through online booking and payment services. Within the
bounds of the cooperation agreement, Hi-Tek will also launch a special
assistance programme to help the first 100 participating hotels create their
own websites. When the website is functional, tourism officials expect to see
another 3 million foreign visitors per year, more than initially projected.
Hi-Tek, founded in San Diego, specialises in Internet services and
communication solutions.
From http://vietnamgateway.org 11/08/2004
TOP↑
Biggest Cell Phone Provider to Upgrade
Network
The Vietnam Telecom Services Company (GPC) -
the biggest mobile phone service provider (Vinaphone) - said it will invest
US$100 million in upgrading its network this year. The investment will be
used to install two additional mobile phone switchboards in Hanoi, one in Ho
Chi Minh City and another in northern Hai Duong province to resolve the
problem of frequently jamming. The GPC plans to upgrade and install about
1,000 transmission stations across the country with the aim of providing
Vinaphone services to all districts by the end of this year. Once the upgrade
is completed, the network will be capable of providing services to 5.4
million cell subscribers, up 1.6 million compared to the present figure. Vinaphone
now has 2.8 million subscribers and is expected to raise the figure to 4.1
million by the end of this year.
From http://www.vov.org.vn/ 02/20/2005
TOP↑
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BHUTAN: Telecom Project to Provide
2,544 Rural Lines
The rural telecom project that would provide
about 2,544 rural lines was signed between Bhutan Telecom and Alcatel of
Denmark yesterday in Thimphu. By the end of a two-year period, the Nu. 950
million (Euro 16.061 million) project would cover 88 geogs providing voice
telephony service and internet facilities. The project is funded by DANIDA
with 50 percent repayable in bi-annual instalment by Bhutan Telecom over a
period of 10 years. Bhutan Telecom will start the repayment after two years
of the completion of the project. The project will also enhance and upgrade
the existing transmission facility of the East-West microwave backbone for additional
capacity and upgrade the exchange capacity requirements by installing three
new modern switching systems in Kanglung, Damphu and Wangduephodrang.
From http://www.kuenselonline.com/ 12/02/2004
TOP↑
ICT for Rural Bhutan
Two geogs in Trashiyangtse, Ramjar and
Khamdang, have been supplied with computers and other equipment and the gups’
clerks completed an eight-day crash course on basic computer operations and
maintenance yesterday. Ramjar and Khamdang are the first geogs in the country
to use computers under a UNDP funded pilot project which aims to provide
“public access to information and services” to the rural communities. The
computers will be installed in the gup’s office for use by the gup and the
community. Computers will also be installed in Trashiyangtse school, to be
shared with the local community. The gups of Ramjar and Khamdang themselves
did not attend the basic computer training course because they believed that,
with limited knowledge in English and Dzongkha, they would not learn much.
But they told Kuensel that they would learn from the clerks. They said they
were optimistic that computers, which they had seen and heard about, will
make a major difference to their work. “Official letters which had to be typed
or hand-written several times can be now done at once and several copies
printed at a time,” said Ramjar gup, Tshoki Dorji. “And we can even keep our
work on the computer.” The Khamdang gup, Nado, said that it would be easier
for them to use the computers with the new Dzongkha software being installed
in the computers. “We only write in Dzongkha,” he said. “I will not have to
waste so much paper since I can correct my mistakes on the computer.” A team
from the Department of Information Technology (DIT) is currently in
Trashiyangtse to set up the computer facilities in Ramjar and Khamdang geogs
and Trashiyangtse dzongkhag. According to the department, the three places in
Trashiyangtse were selected through a survey last September to bring “maximum
benefit to the two geogs, the school, and the community”. “Moreover people in
these places showed interest in having the facilities,” said the project
manager, Karma Wangdi. The department will observe the project for about
three years to see if these places can be converted into multipurpose
community tele-centres (MCT), which will have computer services, Internet,
printing, photocopying and telephones. “If this project takes off it will be
replicated in the other geogs,” said one official. Ramjar geog will be given
a computer, a printer, and a fax machine. Khamdang geog will be given two
computers, a printer, a fax machine, a photocopy machine, and a
telephone-billing machine. The facilities will be set up in the gup’s offices
along with furniture. The Trashiyangtse Junior High School will also be given
three computers, with printers, a fax machine and a photocopy machine, which
will be used by the school and the Trashiyangtse community. “The computers we
are providing are not meant just for the gups,” said Hemlal Subedi of DOIT.
“The village communities can use the services for a nominal fee.” For
example, villagers wanting to procure timber can go to the gup’s office and
send application letters by fax or e-mail to forest officials. They need not
go to the dzongkhags and wait for weeks to get approvals.By Samten Wangchuk
From http://www.kuenselonline.com/ 12/04/2004
TOP↑
Telecom Infrastructure for 2544
Subscribers in 88 More Geogs
A total of 88 geogs in Bhutan will receive
telephone and internet connections through a rural telecom project that is
scheduled to be completed by the end of the year 2006. The project agreement
was signed on December 1 in Thimphu between Bhutan Telecom and the telecom
equipment manufacturer and service provider, Alcatel Denmark. Funded by
DANIDA under a soft loan channel called the mixed credit scheme, the turn-key
project will cost 16.061 million Euros (approximately Nu. 950 million) of
which fifty percent will be a grant and fifty percent will be a loan. Bhutan
Telecom would be required to repay 13.008 million Euros, after interest, to
DANIDA over a period of 10 years in bi-annual installments after the
completion of the project. The managing director of Bhutan Telecom, Sangey
Tenzing, said that the project was a revolution in terms of education and
communication for the rural people. “As one of the Ninth Plan goals even the
most remote geogs will enjoy the same facilities with this new technology,”
he said. A total of 2,544 rural lines will be provided with a minimum of 10
lines in each geog. Telecom officials explain that the wireless transmission
system was chosen over cables because of the difficult terrain and scattered
settlement. “Landline or cable telephones are near impossible to install so
the wireless technology is the only technology that is feasible in the rural
areas,” said one official. The new system, designed to provide a network
solution of voice and internet in the rural areas, will use wireless access
technology called Wireless Local Loop (WLL). Each subscriber will be given an
ordinary telephone set and a small switch box attached with an antenna to
receive signals from a central radio base station in the geog. Solar energy
will be set up in places where commercial power supply is not available.
Although the cost of the service is almost three times higher Telecom
officials say the tariff would be the same. The project will also replace the
existing east-west transmission backbone of 34 megabits PDH microwave system
with a new system with additional capacity. It will upgrade the exchange
capacity requirements by installing three new modern switching systems in
Kanglung, Trashigang, Wangdue-phodrang, and Damphu, Tsirang. Out of the 88,
four remote geogs in Dagana dzongkhag will be connected through the fixed
wireless broadband access solution with Voice Over Internet Protocol (VOIP).
However, Telecom officials say that there would be some pocket areas where
the transmission would not reach because of the difficult terrain. So far 79
geogs are connected with telecom facilities. Of the 34 remaining, six would
be covered by another project called the GOI VSAT e-Post project and the rest
by Bhutan Telecom through internal resources by 2007, according to telecom
officials. The president of Alcatel for Europe, Africa, the Middle East and
South Asia, Mr. Olivier Picard, said that the challenge was to provide
telecommunication network to villages which were far and difficult to reach.
“As this is our first experience in Bhutan the project is very important for
our company,” he said. A full-fledged service department from Alcatel’s
branch office in New Delhi will train the technical personnel in Bhutan
Telecom to maintain the project.
From http://www.kuenselonline.com/ 12/04/2004
TOP↑
Indian University
to Implement Smart Card Solution
Jawaharlal Nehru University intends to issue all students with
smart cards. Students at the Jawaharlal Nehru University (JNU) will soon be
issued with smart cards carrying personal ID, as part of JNU's moves to
streamline its administration using technology. "Sky is the limit as far
as the possibilities of using smart cards are concerned," said Rajiv
Saxena, Rector of JNU. The chip-based student identification system will be
the most visible element of a process of computerisation that will aim to
streamline information management at the institution. The faculties, library
and residential hostels will be linked by a single university-wide network,
allowing students to trace their records and make payments online.
From http://www.pstm.net/ 11/08/2004
TOP↑
INDIA: Nokia to Make Mobile Phones in
India
NEW DELHI -- Nokia, the world's top mobile phone maker, said
on Wednesday it plans to invest in a new handset plant in India to meet
booming demand in the world's fastest-growing major wireless market. The
Finnish firm said it and its key suppliers would invest between $100 and $150
million over four years in India. "The factory would be an integral part
of our global manufacturing network and help fulfil growing demand as mobile
communications become increasingly affordable," Nokia President Pekka
Ala-Pietila said in a statement. India is home to more than 45 million mobile
users, a number widely expected to double next year as some of the world's
lowest call rates, at less than two U.S. cents a minute, lure millions of new
users each month. India has become attractive for global handset and telecoms
equipment makers as phone ownership rates are abysmally low by western
standards. Only four in 100 Indians own a mobile phone. More than 37 million
handsets are likely to be sold in India in 2005, with the annual number
rising to 50 million by 2008. Mobile phones are no longer considered a luxury
in India as decreasing costs of handsets and services boost ownership, even
among the low earners who are driving much of the growth. Nokia's Indian
plant is a further step to keep its costs in check as it seeks to regain lost
market share from rivals like Samsung Electronics Co. Ltd.. Industry sources,
quoting research firm Gartner, said Nokia's global market share fell to 30.9
percent in the third quarter from 34 percent a year ago, though its share
rose by more than a percentage point versus the second quarter thanks in part
to cost cuts on selected phone models. Ala-Pietila told reporters he expected
manufacturing in India to "start towards the end of 2005 or early
2006."
From http://edition.cnn.com/ 12/01/2004
TOP↑
India to Remain Highest Growth Mkt for
Telecom
MUMBAI: in Asia-pacific: Driven mainly by
mobile phone technology, India will remain the highest growth market for
telecommunication in Asia pacific region with around 35 million new
subscribers in 2005 marking an 18 per cent increase from 2004. Global IT
research and analysis firm Gartner Inc on Tuesday predicted that Indian
enterprises were likely to spend us dollar 16.7 billion on telecom in 2005.
"Consumer segment is rapidly gaining importance, driven by adoption of
mobile services. This is reflected in their increased contribution towards
spending for telecom services, from 35 per cent in 2002 to 43 per cent in
2005. By 2008, the consumer segment will account for 52 per cent in telecom
spending," Gartner India principal analyst Kobita Desai told reporters
in Mumbai on Tuesday. Gartner's prediction include that mobile penetration in
India would reach 8.2 per cent in 2005 and 14.5 in 2008 while combined (fixed
and mobile) penetration would grow from 12.4 per cent in 2005 to 19.1 per
cent in 2008. Gartner also estimated that the broadband market would double
in size to cross one million subscribers and the telecom companies will enter
into the video market. "International bandwidth prices in India will
drop by 30-40 per cent in 2005. The telecom market will remain crowded with
five key players jostling for market share in cellular space", Gartner
said. Desai said mobile companies must change the focus to consumer segment
from corporate market. Though the margin is more with corporate clients, the
actual revenue would come from consumer segment in coming years. The
acquisition and retention cost would be low with the consumer segment. With
the international handset manufacturers setting up their base in India, the
cost of these should also go down, she said. Interestingly, the enterprise
spending on information communications and technology (ICT) in India is
expected to grow at 16.6 per cent to $22.88 billion as compared to Asia
pacific growth at 7.6 per cent in 2005," Gartner India vice president
& research director Sujay Chohan said. In India, of the $22.88 billion
spend in 2005 on enterprise ICT, $3.3 billion is the projected spend on
hardware, an increase of 21.1 per cent over 2004; $0.52 billion (16.4 per
cent increase) on software; $16.7 billion (15.5 per cent increase) on telecom
and $2.32 billion (18.3 per cent increase) on IT services.
From http://financialexpress.com/ 12/07/2004
TOP↑
Mumbai, Bangalore Losing IT Sheen
CHENNAI: Hyderabad and Chennai will replace
Bangalore and Mumbai as favoured Indian destinations for IT outsourcing by
2010, driven by improving infrastructure, overall skills availability, good
quality educational institutions and active political support, according to
Gartner. At present, Bangalore, Mumbai and New Delhi occupy the top slot
(Tier 1) while Chennai, Hyderabad, Pune, Noida, Gurgaon and Navi Mumbai
occupy the second (Tier 1-1) slot, according to the research firm. In its
report titled ‘IT Outsourcing to India - Analysis of Cities, Gartner said the
Tier 1-1 cities like Hyderabad, Chennai and Pune are at a vantage point.
These cities have most, if not all, of the capabilities of the Tier 1s, but,
for various reasons, have not achieved the same level of mind-share and
visibility. These cities are the most likely to take on the mantle of Tier 1
in the near future, either in addition to or replacement of the current Tier
1s, it said. Mr Partha Iyengar, vice president, Gartner said, “Bangalore and
Mumbai will soon cease to be the default centers for offshoring. Ready
availability of skilled labor force with lower attrition rates in cities like
Chennai, Hyderabad and Pune will lead to companies setting up centers there
instead. In the long run, other factors including Global footprint of service
provider, service line capabilities and expatriate index will also play a
greater role for global MNCs or IT service providers setting up or expanding
in these cities”.
From http://economictimes.indiatimes.com/ 12/14/2004
TOP↑
IT Gives India Biggest Image Makeover
Forget all the time-worn images of snake
charmers. Today, the most striking symbols are all hi-tech. From software to
call centres and wifi hubs, that’s Indianness for you. The transformation was
obviously brought about by the geeks and overnight India came to be
associated with intellectual capital, quality of service and talent. “Not so
long ago India was looked upon only for its diverse culture and rich
heritage. Today India is considered to be a leading IT superpower and Indians
are highly regarded for their intellectual ability. ‘Made in India’ is no
longer considered to be ‘cheap’ - it’s ‘best price/performance’,” says Javed
Tapia, director, Red Hat India. As an insider in the sector that transformed
India’s image, for Tapia Indianness means “our ability to dream and realise
those dreams against all odds”. He points out that there are examples in
every walk of life - among our business leaders and even the Indian youth.
Morale in the sector is at an all-time high and with it there’s also an
increased sense of self-worth. Now Indians are no longer just a breed of
low-paid, hard-working professionals, but a cadre of global managers and
entrepreneurs. “From being known as traders and aid-seekers, from a nation going
nowhere, today we are acknowledged, respected - and even feared - for our
intellect, acumen and GDP growth. Today, it is not just IT and ITES, but a
host of other sectors such as auto-ancillaries and pharmaceuticals,” says
Ranjit Narasimhan, COO, HCL BPO. It’s not just the resident Indian who takes
pride in his Indianness. As a global Indian, Shantanu Narayen, the newly
appointed COO of Adobe, who lives in Silicon Valley, can see how perceptions
are changing abroad too: “Across the board, Indians from the US in top IT
jobs are choosing to relocate to India. That, perhaps represents a coming of
age of India as a power to reckon with in software. At Adobe, for instance,
we’ve seen a considerable number of people, at different levels of the
organisation, choosing to relocate in the last quarter alone.” And even as
insiders go ga-ga, outsiders too seek out Indianness in the IT industry. Says
Sriram Srinivasan, MD, Indus League: “Indianness is a combination of what the
IT revolution has done. ‘Banglored’ is today is no longer a noun it’s a verb.
The profile of the Indian worker is one of a professional, and no longer a
low-end coolie.” And back to relocating, it’s not just Indians. Says John
Winchester, who joined Impetus Technologies in Indore as its vice president,
engineering and technology: “For me Indianness is about a strong social
fabric where personal relationships and loyalties are held very highly.” This
attitude spills over to the professional sphere too and that suits Winchester
fine. “I’m personally motivated by loyalties and personal relationships,” he
admits. And he can’t help but remark at the “fabulous level of talent and
competence” that he’s working with. Surely, Indianness is getting the biggest
image makeover in a long time.
From http://economictimes.indiatimes.com/ 01/23/2005
TOP↑
SRI LANKA: Computers Used for
Sasanarakshaka Balamandala
All Buddhist organizations known as
'Sasanarakshaka Balamandala' formed at the district level are to donate a
personal computer system each by the Ministry of Buddahasana. The Ministry
has taken this initiative in an effort to assist these 'Balamandalas' to ease
routine office work of them. Later, the Ministry will expand this process up
to the Divisional Secretariat level Balamandalas. Minister Ratnasiri
Wickrmanayake has proposed this initiative, it is further reported.
From http://www.dailynews.lk/ 01/24/2005
TOP↑
MALDIVES: Dhiraagu Extends Mobile
Phone Off-peak Hours
MALE -- Dhiraagu has announced the
introduction of off-peak hours for pre-paid customers from 2300 hrs to 0759
hrs Saturdays to Thursdays effective from Monday. Over the last year,
Dhiraagu had reduced pre-paid call charges twice, up to 29 percent in October
2003 and again by up to 33 percent in July 2004. Since January this year,
pre-paid customers have been able to receive incoming calls when their
account balance in zero. The extension of the off-peak hours to the weekdays
in addition to existing Fridays will offer additional convenience and savings
to pre-paid customers, Dhiraagu said in a press release on Sunday. The
off-peak start time for post-paid basic service will be also be moved forward
to 2300 hrs effective from Monday, the telecoms company said.
From http://www.haveeru.com.mv/ 11/01/2004
TOP↑
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AUSTRALIA: Centrelink Issues $200m IT
Services Tender
Australia's largest government service
agency Centrelink will appoint an integrated services panel (ISP) to oversee
one of the largest IT integration projects in the country from mid-2005.
Tenders will be called in December for the provision of a tranche of IT and
communications services. Headed by Centrelink's business transformation
group, the panel will cover almost all of Centrelink's future IT and
communications requirements, covering mainframe services, mid-range services,
desktop services, network and communications services, and security services.
Sources familiar with the tender, which falls within Centrelink's Refresh
Program, estimated the value of consulting services will be between $120
million and $200 million over the duration of the contract. According to
Centrelink documents obtained by Computerworld, the agency anticipates
appointing between three to five IT services contractors to the new panel to
help design the information framework of the department's IT future
requirements and will also advise on the integration of current systems. A
spokesman for Centrelink would not comment on the request for tender, saying
that there was strict policy of silence in place while any tenders were being
sought. Centrelink's Refresh Program started on July 1 2003 and the agency
describes it as a "corporate business transformation program" which
is scheduled to run for five years. The program aims to use available
technologies including Internet, interactive voice response, virtual private
networks and mobile computing to "enhance, extend and transform"
Centrelink's business processes. According to Centrelink, "The initial
stages of the Refresh projects will deliver key infrastructure components and
focus on the resolution of outstanding problems in critical business
infrastructure." The announcement of the services panel tender is the
first for the agency since the federal election, and it is anticipated that a
$140 million telecommunications and network backbone tender - which was put
on ice during caretaker government mode - will follow.
From http://www.computerworld.com.au/ 11/03/2004
TOP↑
Staff Yearn for Pre-tech Times
A survey of 1000 Australian office workers
found staff yearn for the days before mobile phones, e-mail and text
messaging. More than 54 percent of respondents said their working day has
become longer as a result of technology. Undertaken by recruitment agency
Talent2, respondents said technology has made them more accessible to bosses
with 21 percent claiming supervisors text, e-mail or phone them out of office
hours to discuss business. But 76 percent said they did not consider those
out-of-hours calls, texts or e-mails from the boss as out of order; rather a
normal part of working life. Only 8 percent said they resented the intrusion.
However, the overwhelming belief is that technology has increased stress with
nearly 40 percent admitting technological advancement had detracted from
their personal lives. Respondents said they would rather go back to a
slower-paced time where workers could not be contacted after hours.
Australians have developed a 24-hour-a-day, seven-day-a-week mentality,
Talent2's Jonathon Morse said. "As a result they are putting in 40 to 50
hours a week, surrendering their leisure time, because of technology such as
the mobile phone and e-mail," he said. This is particularly true for
those that work in the IT sector, where there is a high rate of workplace
burn-out. "There is a tangible downside to overwork from on-the-job
injuries to sickies, to demotivation and mental health problems," he
said.
From http://www.computerworld.com.au/ 11/23/2004
TOP↑
Verisign Sets Up Australian Security
Centre
E-commerce security vendor, VeriSign, has
opened its first Asia-Pacific-based Security Operations Centre (SOC) in
Melbourne. The facility, to be operated by seven newly recruited IT security
specialists, will provide back-end security monitoring and analyst services
to its Australian customer base. VeriSign executive manager for Asia-Pacific,
Brian Gardner, said the new centre was part of the vendor's plans to provide
a suite of managed security services (MSS). "The issue for us was that
Australian companies like to have services provided in Australia," he
said. "They like local support and local people monitoring their
security." Gardner said VeriSign had already invested more than $600,000
into both the technology and associated running costs of the centre,
including staff and training. It will be linked to the vendor's four other
SOCs globally. "We're not going to be aggressive in terms of revenue
yet: within a year to 18 months however, we are looking to break even [on our
investment]," he said. "Hopefully it will ramp up - it is very much
a scalable business." Gardner said VeriSign already had a number of
clients teed up to utilise the SOC. Typical customers included banks and
government agencies, as well as mid to large enterprises. Although VeriSign
deals directly with the majority of its customers, Gardner said it was also keen
to build up its reseller base to on-sell the services provided by the new
SOC. Currently, telcos and ISPs, including local partner Optus, represent the
bulk of its reseller channel globally. However, the company was keen to hear
from integrators also looking to expand their offerings to customers, he
said. Gardner said the vendor was in discussions with several of its global
reseller partners to extend their relationships into the local market. All
VeriSign partners would earn a margin on services they sell through to
clients, and would own the client from the front end. The MSS is sold on an
annuity model, with charges dependant on the number of devices being used
within a customer's organisation. "For integrators, it is important that
they can offer a full range of services without having to make the
investments themselves," he said. The SOC was also vendor agnostic,
Gardner said, and allowed resellers to bundle the MSS with a variety of
security solutions. "The benefit to resellers is that they don't need to
source security staff or build up their infrastructure," he said.
"We have five SOCs globally - they would be signing up to our back-end
knowledge."
From http://www.computerworld.com.au/ 12/10/2004
TOP↑
Mapinfo Wins NSW Ambulance Chase
A spot of Ambulance chasing has paid off
well for geospatial intelligence, data and services vendor MapInfo, with the
firm inking a three year deal with the NSW Ambulance Service for an as yet
undisclosed sum. The contract covers both data and software licensing.
According to the NSW Ambulance Service the deal aims to extract savings,
bolster decision-making support, and provide demographic trend modeling for
future locations of Ambulance bases. The system will also be used to plan and
model emergency transport routes in conjunction with traffic management
changes - such as the positioning of traffic lights, traffic loads and
so-called traffic-calming devices, better known as speed humps. According to
MapInfo, the solution will also consolidate a range of currently siloed
databases and applications to provide a singular shared service across the
ambulance service's
From http://www.computerworld.com.au/ 12/15/2004
TOP↑
Offshoring Can be Good
for Local ICT Job Market
While the offshore outsourcing model is a
threat to some Australian jobs, it also has opportunities, provided the ICT
industry positions itself appropriately. This is one of the key findings from
a report released last week by the Australian Information Industry
Association (AIIA). The report canvassed opinions of senior executives,
software and application developers and key ICT policy influencers with the
aim of producing material that will help local companies and multinationals
understand and take advantage of the global sourcing phenomenon. Executive
director of RSP Group, Gary Hinksman, endorses the findings from the report.
"The negative implications of offshore outsourcing are often highly
exaggerated," he said. "I believe unemployment figures remain under
five per cent, and prospects remain buoyant for the technology sectors next
year. Those working within the technical industry should see a five to 10
percent pay rise next year and contractor rates are set to rise 15 to 20
percent," he said. Hinksman agrees with the findings of the AIIA report
that while some local jobs will be lost to offshoring, others will be
created. The work that is being outsouced is the lower end repetitive and
transactional work such as telesales, entry level customer service and help
desk roles, according to Hinksman. RSP CEO Matt Lodge said in a media
statement that these types of jobs were vulnerable anyway due to advances in
speech recognition and automated hosting services. Both Lodge and Hinksman
are optimistic about Australia's ability to attract jobs through the global
market by offering higher value services at a still competitive price.
"With sound infrastructure, a highly educated workforce, and competitive
labour costs, Australia will continue to be an attractive place to do
business," Lodge said. The AIIA report found that it is at least 25
percent cheaper to run a commercial undertaking in Australia than in the
United States or Western Europe. Respondents to the report believed the
domestic industry boasted world-class skills and experience to be able to
provide a higher level of consultancy than the process-oriented programming
that has become the specialty of India, Malaysia and a number of other
countries in Central and South America, South-East Asia and Eastern Europe.
"The ability of software developers to solve problems, design and
implement complex systems should attract business from North America and
Western Europe. Vertical industry or domain expertise in areas such as
financial services, government and health are strong suits for the local
software services industry," stated the report. Whether or not Australia
will be able to respond to the challenge of creating local employment
opportunities through offshoring is still a hotly debated topic. Some respondents
felt that the industry lacked sufficient scale and others criticised the
government and its policy towards the ICT sector. Many were particularly
critical of the public sector's propensity to buy overseas goods and
services. The report makes several recommendations as to how the Australian
ICT industry needs to position itself to benefit from offshoring. These
include the need to undertake an effective marketing campaign to promote the
strengths and skills of Australia's software development sector and promote
Australia as a sophisticated offshore destination for North American and
Eastern European organisations. The report stresses that it is essential for
the industry and government to work together on such marketing campaigns and
also to assist professionals who have been displaced and wish to re-enter the
workplace with updated and relevant technology skills. (by Dahna McConnachie)
From http://www.computerworld.com.au/ 12/16/2004
TOP↑
Optus to Launch 3G
in Canberra
Optus Mobile has announced that it will roll
out its 3G services in Canberra in April this year, making it the first
operator to offer UMTS services there. Optus has been working together with
rival operator Vodafone to build a 3G network.
From http://www.telegeography.com 02/18/2005
TOP↑
NEW ZEALAND: Using ICT in Early
Childhood Education
A literature review on the use of
information and communication technologies (ICT) in early childhood education
has found it can enhance and transform young children's learning and
development, Education Minister Trevor Mallard said today. The literature
review, out today, has shown that if ICT is used effectively and
appropriately, then it can encourage purposeful and exploratory play, collaboration,
cooperation, discussion, creativity, problem solving, risk taking and
flexible thinking. It can also assist with the development of early literacy
and mathematics. "This review shows that ICT has tremendous potential as
another tool for improving teaching and learning in early childhood
education, and we need to ensure that our early childhood educators are
confident in utilising this tool effectively. "Our government is
investing heavily in developing high quality, accessible and affordable early
childhood education. That's because quality early childhood education makes a
key difference to how students do educationally later on," Trevor
Mallard said. The need for early childhood education centres to be aware of
health and safety issues around children's use of ICT and addressing these
issues in policies and practices is also discussed in the review. The
Ministry of Education commissioned the New Zealand Council for Educational
Research to undertake the literature review on the role and potential of ICT
in early childhood education settings both within New Zealand and worldwide.
The review is part of the development of an ICT strategy for early childhood
education. The strategy is being developed in consultation with the early
childhood education sector, and will provide a framework to support sector
developments in ICT. "The consultation discussions together with the
literature review will provide important information for developing this ICT
strategy for early childhood education," Trevor Mallard said. The
literature review report is available at www.minedu.govt.nz or from the
Ministry of Education. Copies can also be obtained by phoning 0800 428 323.
From http://www.scoop.co.nz 11/08/2004
TOP↑
Cheaper Fibre Key to Delivering
Broadband Access to the Masses
Unbundling or forcing a telco to offer a
wholesale regime won't help deliver the Government's digital strategy as
quickly as we would like, according to Canadian expert Bill St Arnaud.
Instead, he says, governments should look to forcing a structural separation
of networks, a model he says is working extremely well in Canada and parts of
Australia. St Arnaud, in New Zealand for the Telecommunications Users
Association's Broadband Reloaded conference in Napier, said New Zealand had
slipped down the rankings of countries with broadband services, while Canada
was in the top three. He put that down to leadership. "The Canadian
Government actively protected the fledgling cable industry in the 1970s and
1980s to the point where it no longer needed protection to compete with the
telecommunications network operators," said St Arnaud. While the New
Zealand Government had spent tens of millions of dollars on Project Probe, St
Arnaud said the Canadian Government had taken a slightly different approach.
"The real driver is price. Once it's low enough people will buy it. Just
look at the PC industry." The PC business delivered great applications
that lots of people wanted, but it was only when prices dropped far enough
that every home in the OECD ended up with a PC. The Canadian Government
wanted to encourage network companies to deliver broadband to the masses, so
it introduced what St Arnaud called "condominium fibre".
"Basically these condo fibre companies approach a school or a university
or a government department and agree to put in fibre to connect sites. The
schools get a strand of fibre within the bundle which gives them unlimited
bandwidth to connect with universities or other schools." The condo
fibre companies will give away fibre strands in this manner, perhaps up to
300 per bundle, but install far more strands, up to 1000 in a fibre the width
of a human thumb, which they on-sell to businesses, internet service
providers or whoever wants to buy them. St Arnaud said the Australian
Government in Canberra had also introduced a similar plan with dramatic
results. "The government departments are all linked together by their
own fibre strands at a cost of $1000 per strand. That's a one-off cost. They
pay $15,000 a year between them all for maintenance. You couldn't buy that
service for $1000 a month from a telco." St Arnaud said once users were
freed from the concept of paying dollars for megabytes, the really
interesting developments took off. The companies that install the fibre are
typically water or sewerage companies that know how to dig trenches. The
telcos themselves are able to buy service from these companies but aren't
allowed to compete directly, to protect the nascent industry. The condo fibre
companies don't compete with the telcos directly - they simply offer the
fibre in an unlit state.
From http://www.nzherald.co.nz/ 11/09/2004
TOP↑
New Zealand Library Rolls-out RFID
Radio Frequency Identification (RFID)
technology is being deployed at a library in New Zealand to streamline the
management and loan of books. Manukau City Council's new US$2.27 million
flagship library opened last month, and is the first public library in the
country to use a RFID system. The RFID deployment enables librarians to use
an RFID antenna to scan shelves for books that are missing or in the wrong
place. The library has also adopted a self-issue system, which allows users
to scan their library card and the books they require, and follow a series of
simple prompts on a computer screen. While the library provides all the
services traditionally expected from a library, it leverages technology to
operate on the principles of retail design and customer service - 'to provide
a unique lifestyle experience for users'.
From http://www.pstm.net/11/22/2004
TOP↑
IBM Extends New Zealand Field Service
Nationwide
IBM has extended its on-site warranty
service cover program to cover all of New Zealand. The move comes after
reseller feedback identified the company's geographic service coverage as a
concern. Gary Elmes, business development manager for IBM Global Services,
says, "Our resellers told us that providing on-site cover in the regions
would be a big step up for them. They say this is exactly what their
customers want and need." He says the new coverage will apply to
commercial desktop PCs and the company's X series servers. The change will
have no impact on pricing. Previously, IBM's on-site coverage was limited to
places within 50km of Auckland, Hamilton, Palmerston North, Wellington and
Christchurch. "We looked at the numbers, at the profiles of the machines
spread around New Zealand and determined where and how often faults arise.
The machines are certainly reliable and they have all kinds of resiliency
factors built in," Elmes says. IBM will mainly use its own in-house
field service engineers near the main centers and agents in the regions to
handle physical servicing. However, Elmes says that a lot of the company's support
process relies on remote diagnostics before an engineer gets anywhere near
the site. "Our e-service agent allows online reporting and fault
prediction. "To the best of my knowledge all other vendors have some
geographic limitations. Our coverage now reaches everywhere; we could service
somebody on Stewart Island." However, he adds, "If a site is too
many days walk into the bush, we might have to sit down and have a chat with
the customer about it first."
From http://www.computerworld.com.au/ 12/03/2004
TOP↑
Maori Stereotypes 'Reflected' by
Internet Use
Myths about Maori being music lovers and
players of games are being bolstered by research showing many visit
entertainment-based websites. Sites offering rock music, youth information
and game downloads were top of the net hit parade for Maori, according to
research measured by Nielsen/NetRatings in October. While race, gender and
physical appearance are meant to vanish in the web's democracy, it seems that
ethnic stereotyping may be supported by these figures. Other figures issued
by Nielsen/NetRatings indicate that men tend to look at car, sport and
technology sites while women visit pages dealing with the arts, gardening and
fashion. Mark Ottaway, Nielsen/NetRatings New Zealand managing director, said
6.24 per cent of October's New Zealand internet users were Maori, or
identified as such when measured by his company's market intelligence survey.
The survey sampled 270,000 people visiting about 200 sites. Music information
site NoiZyland's proportion of Maori visitors was 18.3 per cent, almost three
times the average for that month of other groups, he said. Nielsen surveys
about 200 major sites in New Zealand and the figures for this survey were
generated by random pop-up question boxes. Ottaway said that by placing a
cookie on the browser of the visitor's personal computer, visits to other
sites could also be tracked. He said the figures released applied only to
October, they were pretty accurate as the survey has been running for almost
18 months. The results were anonymous, he said. Work was being done to hone
the survey so that geographic access and other information such as income and
age, were being researched. Alan Te Moranga Litchfield, lecturer in
information systems at Auckland University of Technology and a member of
Ngati Whatua, said the figures posed more questions than answers. He has been
developing computer-based modelling systems for tribal genealogy in IT
systems. Litchfield said he could not dispute the figures but the accuracy of
the view they presented of Maori internet use was likely to be flawed because
the service did not track sites that were outside the mainstream. There were
obviously other sites Maori were going to, and the system did not say how
many people opted out of the pop-up questions. There was also no information
about age, he said, and if the survey was capturing young people it might be
that they were looking at youth-oriented activities. He said figures on
downloading games may indicate that Maori were using the internet to consume
rather than find information. That kind of browsing was not about taking
advantage of the technology for anything other than to consume, he said.
Maori were falling behind in this area and it belied the fact that
historically they were quick on the uptake of technology, said Litchfield.
This was illustrated by agriculture and trade between missionary Samuel
Marsden and Nga Puhi between 1815 and 1830. During that time Marsden depended
on Maori for food crops, but that sense of enterprise and uptake was now
lost. He said one reason for the skew of figures might be the barriers Maori
faced when it came to IT, because some of the largest populations of Maori
were in areas with scant broadband access. The figures also did not measure
things such as iwi-specific sites. Several Maori groups, such as Te Rarawa,
Nga Puhi and Ngai Tahu, were developing communication channels with their
members. They had systems under which geographically dispersed whanau or
family could register with their iwi and maintain link, he said. Litchfield
said the Government had recognised that barriers existed for Maori on the
net. But policies still did not provide sufficient pathways even for them to
gain entry to supporting roles in IT. "The ICT strategy outlined by the
Government is focused on creating large multinational companies, but does
little to support grass roots developments, which is where many hapu are
centred." "The result of this is that those initiatives get little
or no support from government agencies and corporate entities, which can be
seen in the small numbers of new university entrants of Maori into IT and
computer science in general." Te Puni Kokiri - the Ministry of Maori
Development - has commissioned a report from Nielsen/NetRatings on Maori
internet use, but its findings are still to be revealed. Te Takaka Keegan,
computer science lecturer at the University of Waikato, said the figures
showed some insight into Maori browsing but missed out on non-commercial
sites. Theoretically, Maori internet use should be higher because they make
up 20 per cent of the New Zealand population. Maori are also high users of
other chip-based devices such as cellphones, Xbox and PlayStation. He said it
was unlikely that Nielsen would survey bilingual sites in Maori and English.
"On those sites, people will work with the default language, and often
if it is set to Maori when it has been in English before people do not change
back." He had done no statistical research on the type of sites Maori go
to, but anecdotal evidence suggested they were using the internet for
research rather than entertainment. It was becoming critical that more Maori
create specific content for their people. Hit parade * According to the
Nielsen/NetRatings survey, 6.24 per cent of October's internet users were
Maori. * Music information site NoiZyland's proportion of Maori visitors was
18.3 per cent, almost three times the average of other groups. (by Richard
Pamatatau)
From http://www.nzherald.co.nz 12/03/2004
TOP↑
Net Safety Software
Wins Esphion $500,000 Deal
Auckland security system maker Esphion has
landed a $500,000 deal with Hong Kong's PCCW, one of Asia's largest
telecommunications companies, to provide software to protect it from internet
attacks. Allen Wong, PCCW director of product development and management,
said his company had introduced Esphion's NetX neural intelligence system.
"At PCCW we have worked very hard to find a proactive, real-time security
solution that we can deploy widely in our fast growing IP networks,"
said Wong. A critical factor for PCCW was ensuring network security for its
500,000 broadband customers, said Wong, as many businesses depended on the
carrier. Speaking to the Business Herald from Hong Kong, Wong said the
Esphion system was world class and beat all contenders for the business. PCCW
has 12,000 staff and is a major player in Asian telecommunications,
especially in China. Esphion's chief executive Greg Cross said the deal came
just as the company had completed a $4 million round of venture capital
funding. It was proof that innovative small New Zealand companies had
products that could foot it on the international stage. He said the company's
development and use of industry leading neural network analysis engines meant
its customers had a real-time layer of security which was uniquely tuned to
the IP traffic on its network at any time. Cross said Esphion put a system
into PCCW and showed the extent of the attacks on its system. "Esphion's
NetX neural intelligence technology provides real-time analysis of IP
packets, identifying internet attacks and traffic anomalies - producing
precise signatures of events that may be quickly applied to network and
security elements," said Cross. He said PCCW was surprised at the degree
of attempted intrusion, which was something telcos and other organisations
all over the world had to watch. Cross said Esphion was also targeting
Government and financial organisations in Asia.
From http://www.nzherald.co.nz/ 12/07/2004
TOP↑
Net Team Taps into Expat Brains
An online network set up to link information technology experts around the
world has scored its first big success, allowing a widely scattered team to
develop a million-dollar software project. Based at Auckland University, the
Innovators Online Network (ION) is tapping into a network of expatriate New
Zealanders to team local IT brains with global expertise. In its early stages
of development, ION found kiwi Graham Elliott, who works in the United States
but was able to work with a local team on a system aimed at making flying
safer. With international civil aviation rules requiring commercial pilots
and air traffic controllers involved in operations worldwide to pass an
English language test by 2008, the software works to eliminate language
confusion as a cause of accidents. ION project manager Paul Spence says the
forum helped to assemble a team to develop new language-testing technology.
With at least 300,000 pilots and traffic controllers worldwide, he says, the
scale of testing makes traditional exams impractical. "[Elliott] said:
'I've got this great idea but I'm out of the country and I'd like to see a
New Zealand company have a crack at it'," said Spence. Speech technology
company Speechlab, training provider Airways International and testing agency
Aviation Services (ASL) are collaborating on the system. "The end
product is hoped to be a voice-recognition technology which can provide a
quick and simple means of testing competency." Aviation workers could
sit exams in large numbers using computers anywhere in the world with results
calculated on centralised servers in New Zealand. The project group received
a $5000 grant from TechNZ to perform an initial investigation and has now
entered early development stages. ASL Group chief executive and team leader
for the project, Mike Lynskey, says they aim to have a finished product ready
within two years. The team will initially focus on the Asian market. He says
ION is an important "think tank" for developing ideas. "You
get organisations working in quite diverse fields trying to pull together
something which may be quite unique on an international basis," says
Lynskey. "New Zealand really needs that type of innovation because we
still in a lot of areas rely on niche markets." Spence says ION, born
two years ago out of a study into business virtual networking, initially met
resistance. But perseverance brought recognition and a $12,000 Trade and
Enterprise grant. Spence says the recognition was more valuable than the
money. "The first year was frustrating because I knew I had a brilliant
idea on my hands and I was going around knocking on doors of Government
departments ... I think people just didn't really grasp what we were trying
to achieve." The not-for-profit forum has almost 600 registered users.
Previous success stories include e-learning software developed by a
Christchurch woman who teamed up with a management consultant with links to
the health sector. The result was a new tool for mental health service
providers. "Anything we can do to help get these people together and
bounce ideas around is all success as far as I'm concerned," said
Spence.
From http://www.nzherald.co.nz/ 01/16/2005
TOP↑
World Wide Learning
The vision of a virtual learning world for
tertiary students is gradually becoming a reality. Several institutions offer
study options that make use of the internet to varying extents and the
Government is pouring millions of dollars into e-learning development
projects. But Dr Bill Anderson, an e-learning specialist at the New Zealand
institution with the longest history of distance learning, Massey University,
doesn’t foresee a learning landscape dominated by the internet. The idea that
one particular medium is the way to go in education is absolutely incorrect,
says Anderson, who is based in Palmerston North. What we need to be
recognising is that various technologies offer us various ways of creating
learning material and engaging with our students. Increasing numbers of
students want to engage from their own home in their own time. For
Auckland-based Helen Miller, extramural study fits in with raising a child
and part-time work. The purpose of enrolling extramurally is to avoid
attendance because of other commitments, she says. Miller, who is studying
after a 27-year break, is doing a post-graduate diploma in applied journalism
and communications, taught at Massey’s Wellington Business School, but
delivered by the internet. She is completely at home using a computer and
modem to connect to WebCT, Massey’s learning management system, from where
she accesses her course. The material covered is presented as separate
lectures from the professor, Miller says. Her habit is to print course
material, preferring to read it on paper than on-screen. The system also
connects students to one another and the lecturer. Within WebCT there’s a
discussion forum and for any issue that arises, students can post questions
or answers that they come across. That co-operative problem-solving helps the
learning process because it proves to oneself that the material is
understood. The ultimate test is being able to communicate it to someone
else,?she says. According to Anderson, a senior lecturer in Massey’s College
of Education, the best learning results are achieved by choosing the
appropriate technology for the educational goal. Considerable effort is going
into working out how technology can be applied to getting the desired
educational results. The advisory group found plenty of tertiary e-learning
activity within the country. Hundreds of courses with an internet component
are available from institutions including Massey, the Open Polytechnic,
Waikato Institute of Technology, Waikato University, Universal College of
Learning, Whitireia Polytechnic, Christchurch Polytechnic Institute of
Technology (CPIT) and Auckland University of Technology. No one is saying
internet-delivered courses will empty university campuses but there’s general
acknowledgment of growing demand for learning at a distance. We no longer
have the job for 40 years that you go into and you get trained and you move
up. We now have people changing careers many times in their life. Barker says
that means retraining. However many people aren’t in a position to leave
their work to attend a university. The distance mode of learning is very
attractive to those people and many of our students would be doing that kind
of thing. They either be upgrading their qualifications to move on to a more
senior position in whatever job they抮e in or they would be changing career
entirely. Catering for such people is helping drive Christchurch Polytechnic
courses online. Other influences on the changing nature of study, the
polytech says, are the financial pressure students are under from loans. That
can mean having to work part-time to pay for their study. But there is also
an expectation, as a generation for whom internet use is second-nature enter
tertiary study, that institutions will increasingly use technology to make
remote learning possible. The danger there, Barker says, is that those
without access to computers and the internet the less well-off ?could be shut
out.
From http://www.nzherald.co.nz/ 01/18/2005
TOP↑
Co-op Uses Internet to Tap into
Farmers' Ideas
Livestock Improvement has plans to tap into
farmers' knowledge and gather product ideas using the internet. Ideas to
Implementation (i2i) brings new sophistication to a communication process
which has taken place since the early 1900s, says Janneke van Wagtendonk,
Livestock Improvement innovation group general manager. "We've always
had close links with our farmer customers, but the internet provides a tool
they can use from home when it suits them." Wagtendonk said the new
system developed a process of idea-sharing which had been focused on staff
and farmer representatives. "Farmers now have a direct line to us which
enables them to talk about what they'd like to see in our product and service
range." The co-operative's operations include herd testing, artificial
breeding, consultancy, biotechnology and maintenance of one of the world's
largest bovine databases, with more than 16 million records. The possibility
of tapping into the 12,500-strong farmer ownership to find new ideas was
echoed by communication manager Clare Bayly. "There's nothing like
actually doing the job on a daily basis to know what you need in terms of
products and services." Livestock Improvement typically reinvests a
quarter of its turnover. Revenue last year was $102 million. Farmers who come
up with winning ideas can expect some financial reward but it won't be enough
to make them rich. At least not directly. Said Bayly: "It is a farmer
co-operative, it belongs to all the farmers. If [the idea] became a
commercial success they're going to enjoy it in the value of their investment
shares and the value of their co-operative."
From http://www.nzherald.co.nz/ 01/24/2005
TOP↑
Off-Line, You Can Bank on the Delays
Five years ago the Consumers' Institute
complained that the long time it took to clear a cheque belonged to the era
of stagecoach deliveries. Today, as electronic banking becomes even more
sophisticated, little has changed. The institute's latest survey of banks has
again raised an age-old grizzle from customers. They cannot understand why it
takes four to five working days, and sometimes seven or more, to clear a
cheque, even a cash cheque. In Canada, cheques can be cleared overnight.
Here, a cheque generally still has to be physically seen and honoured - in
part, because not all New Zealand banks have moved to image scanning cheques
which, customers were told, would reduce delays. Consumers' Institute chief
executive David Russell said yesterday: "I just can't see why they don't
get their act together." He said that in many other areas the banks had
co-operated to ensure swift service. He wondered whether the declining use of
cheques was reducing the incentive for the banks to provide a better service.
"If they hang on for long enough, it's going to go away." He said
for a small businessman, operating on tight margins, the quick clearance of a
cheque could be incredibly valuable. Banking Ombudsman Liz Brown said her
office continued to receive customer complaints about cheque clearance times.
And she said customers could get in trouble if they did not realise the
length of the delay and other payments were dishonoured. Banks contacted
yesterday offered little hop for a swift change to their systems. Apparently
one bank has yet to move to the computerised scanning of cheques - which the
Government legalised several years ago in an effort to speed up clearance
times. And until it does, the other banks are unwilling to take on the risk
of guaranteeing to honour all its cheques. The Bankers' Association said
customers could ask banks for a special service to clear a cheque quickly.
The Consumers' Institute said that service usually came at a price - a fee of
up to $25. (by Helen Tunnah)
From http://www.nzherald.co.nz/ 02/12/2005
TOP↑
Preschool Webcam a Drawcard for
Parents
A Bay of Plenty kindergarten has installed a
webcam broadcasting pictures so parents can see how their children behave. In
what appears to be a first for a New Zealand daycare, Giggles Educare is
broadcasting the pictures to a secure website so parents can see what their
children are up to at any time of day. Working mother Shona Ua-Marsh wanted
to be "a fly on the wall" to ensure her daughter was safe and happy
at daycare. In the end the marketing and media manager, who travelled a lot,
put her mind completely at rest by establishing her own preschool centre -
complete with the webcam. It has proved a drawcard for enrolments and
attracted a lot of interest in Te Puke, where her Giggles Educare opened a
few weeks ago, but also in surrounding areas including Tauranga and Rotorua.
Two cameras are mounted indoors and two outside to cover the play areas of
the bright, funky centre. Parents have passwords to access the secure website
so they can log on to see what their children are up to at any time of the
day. Mrs Ua-Marsh has control of the webcam and records who has logged in,
for how long, and which of the cameras have been used. Parents have access
only when their offspring are in attendance and usually spend five to 10
minutes viewing at a time. "Not even the best hackers in the world can
get into this," she said. "You have to get the program from me to
download onto your computer for access." And then there are half a dozen
passwords for added security. The mother of three - two teenagers and a
4-year-old - hit on the idea after struggling to find a daycare facility that
suited her needs. She had moved to the Bay of Plenty from Nelson after
marrying a Pukehina man and gave up her job to care for youngest child
Chantelle after an unhappy experience with a preschool. Contact with other
mothers who also elected to stay home because of concerns about their
preschoolers' well-being prompted Mrs Ua-Marsh to research setting up a
webcam-monitored centre. "It was a lot of hard work and red tape."
Dealing with Government agencies confirmed she was the first to employ the
technology for a daycare centre. It has been used in Britain to oversee
nannies, and hidden cameras have been installed to check on childminders in
the United States. "It is very expensive but worth it for the sense of
security it brings," Mrs Ua-Marsh said. Parents and staff were
enthusiastic about the webcam, which was a "bit of a novelty" for
the children for a few days, "then it just becomes a background
thing". The interactive aspect was popular with mothers and fathers, who
could then talk to their youngsters at home about what they had seen on the
internet, she said. When one child had a farewell party because the family
were moving, and the mother couldn't attend, she was delighted to be able to
log in and watch what was going on. Said qualified daycare worker Cindy
Wright: "At first I thought this might be a bit weird, but it's no
different from parents actually being in the centre seeing what goes
on." (by Rosaleen Macbrayne)
From http://www.nzherald.co.nz/ 02/19/2005
TOP↑
|
|
|
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BANGLADESH: Bangladeshi Officials Lack
IT Knowledge
Most government officials in Bangladesh are still unfamiliar
with IT-based governance two years after the launch of the country's e-government
programme. According to a recent study presented at a meeting of the
executive committee of National Taskforce on Information and Communication
Technologies (NTICT), only 28 per cent of government administrators can
operate a computer, despite US$13.6 million spent to date on the national
e-government project since 2002. The Bangladesh E-Government Project was
approved by the National Economic Council to improve the efficiency,
effectiveness, transparency and accountability of the government. At the
first stage, facilities including email, file tracking, document sharing were
introduced in seven chosen ministries - health, home affairs, land,
information, labour and manpower, foreign affairs and planning ministries.
Intranets, paperless document management, decision support tools and video
conferencing were also introduced into these ministries. A full-fledged
training programme was integrated into the e-government roll-out, but has so
far failed to raise e-literacy sufficiently within the seven ministries.
According to the NTICT, incentives need to be used to motivate staff to use
the new solutions. One suggestion is the use of flexible loans with low
interest rates to encourage civil servants to buy computers for their own
personal use. Similar schemes have been introduced in Bahrain.
From http://www.pstm.net/ 11/16/2004
TOP↑
UGC Stresses Use of ICT in Higher
Education
The University Grants Commission put forth a
six-point recommendation seeking use of information and communications
technology to improve higher education standards. The commission, in charge
of monitoring, evaluating and regulating public and private universities, in
its latest annual report stressed immediate implementation of the
recommendation. The report suggested that the commission activities should
not only be confined to grant affairs. It should also work for the
development of the ICT curriculum of 73 public and private universities. A
common library is required for all the universities in this regard, the
recommendation said. Communication among organisations should be through
information and communications technology. Ideas should be shared between
academia and industry, it recommends. ‘There should be no compromise on the
quality of ICT education.’ A high speed broadband connection should be
installed between the universities and the network should later be expanded
to cover colleges and other institutions, the recommendation said. The report
said information and communications technology will open up new avenues in
higher education. ‘Full-time presence on the information superhighway is
needed for universities and higher education,’ the report said. ‘The annual
report for 2003 was scheduled to be published by March 2004, but it was
published late because of non-compliance in providing information and
statistics by the universities,” the commission chairman, M Asaduzaman, told
New Age.
From http://bangladesh-web.com/ 02/05/2005
TOP↑
BHUTAN: Bhutan Telecom to Host SANOG
in July
Bhutan Telecom will host for the first time
the Sixth South Asian Network Operators Group (SANOG) conference in July this
year in Thimphu. This grouping of non-commercial people networking follows
established practices of network operator groups like NANOG in North America,
RIPE Meetings in Europe and APRICOT in Asia. Formed in 2003 with its
headquarters in Kathmandu, Nepal, SANOG meets twice a year and brings
together internet service providers from the SAARC countries, IT resource
persons and other participants from the internet community from around the
globe. “It is an educational platform for sharing experiences and knowledge
and in building mutual relationships among the ISPs in the region,” said
Jichen Thinley of Druknet. “It also provides a regional forum to discuss
operational issues and technologies of interest to data operators in the
South Asian region.” Last week, 30 network administrators, mostly Thimphu
lease-line consumers of Druknet attended a six-day workshop in preparation
for the July SANOG conference. During the workshop, the participants did
hands-on training on IP services, specific routing and security, and on
available free and commercial software. The participants also learnt about
the FreeBSD an open source operating system that Druknet, the country
internet service providers intends to migrate to in time. This is because the
Linux Red Hat server application which Druknet was using has gone commercial
and is no more a free open source system. Jichen Thinley of Druknet said in
the long-run, system administrators will have to migrate to the FreeBSD,
called the backbone server software, as it would immensely save costs for
organisations. The FreeBSD, an advanced operating system derived from BSD, the
version of UNIX? developed at the University of California, Berkeley, was
developed and maintained by the free internet community, according to an
online journal. FreeBSD offers advanced networking, performance, security and
compatibility features which were still missing in other operating systems,
including the best commercial ones. FreeBSD made an ideal internet or
intranet server providing robust network services under the heaviest loads
and used memory efficiently. It was well suited for a great number of both
desktop and server applications. Most users in Bhutan use Microsoft as a
server application software which is very vulnerable to breakdowns, viruses
and security.
From http://www.kuenselonline.com/ 01/18/2005
TOP↑
INDIA: India Taps China's Tech Talent
BANGALORE: When Infosys Technologies began
scouting for an alternative to India as a source of unlimited and low-cost
human resources, the fast-growing company came up with one answer: China.
Now, a year after Infosys Technologies (Shanghai) Company was set up, the
venture centre has 200 employees and four multinational customers. Infosys
and other top Indian outsourcing rivals, including Tata Consultancy Services
and Wipro Technologies, are doing application development and maintenance
work in China as they grow rapidly to keep up with booming demand from the
West for their services. And they are quickly concluding that only China has
a worker base equal to India’s in terms of cost, quality and scale. Expansion
there also offers the ability to cater to - and possibly garner more of the
local and regional markets, including Japan. Vigorous global demand revenue
from India’s information technology exports was $12.5 billion in the year
ended in March, up 30 per cent from the previous year - has resulted in a 10
per cent to 15 per cent annual rise in wages in India’s software and
back-office services industry. According to Nasscom, India will face a
shortage of technical employees by 2009, falling short by about 250,000 workers.
"We need a deep reservoir of talent as well as an alternative low-cost
centre like India as we continue to grow," said Nandan Nilekani, CEO of
Infosys, who has talked of his company’s scaling up to become the Wal-Mart of
outsourcing. "And only China can match up." In the quarter ended
September, Infosys alone added over 5,000 employees, for a total of nearly
33,000. And Wipro added 5,500 employees, reaching more than 36,000. As Indian
companies have looked for skilled workers outside the country for software
development and customer support centres, some have ventured into Mexico and
Eastern Europe. But many say China holds most promise, in part because of its
potential as a rival. Though its software export revenues were just $700
million in 2003, "China will soon be competing with India as an
outsourcing destination," said Singapore-based Girija Pande, director
for Asia-Pacific of Tata Consultancy, India’s top software services exporter.
It set up operations in China in 2002. And a presence now, these companies
say, positions them to grab such future business. Entry into the country is
made easier by the ability to piggyback onto the existing base of customers
with interests in China. "With China’s economy swelling so quickly,
multinationals are looking for global software firms who already understand
their standards and systems," Pande said. Tata Consultancy, for
instance, is working in China with its longtime customer, General Electric.
China has some 200,000 IT workers compared with India’s 850,000 in 6,000
local firms, according to some estimates. More than 50,000 Chinese software
programmers are being added to this pool annually. Some important ingredients
that made India formidable in global software services export are in place in
China as well, like the high value put on education and a focus on
engineering in higher education. The Chinese government is sweetening the
deal for Indian concerns, as well as for global competitors like Accenture
and IBM Global Services, by offering high-quality infrastructure at low costs
and alliances with local universities to recruit Chinese talent. China offers
Indian outsourcing concerns a low employee turnover rate. Tata Consultancy’s
staff turnover in China is less than 6 per cent a year, compared with 15 per
cent in its Indian operations. For now, even with wages rising in India,
China’s IT workers are more expensive "because a combination of
English-language and technical skills is at a premium," says Nilekani.
Pande says the wage differential is about 12-15 per cent.
From http://timesofindia.indiatimes.com/ 11/02/2004
TOP↑
Kerala Launches Mobile Computer Lab
AS part of its IT@School project, the State
Government has introduced a mobile computer laboratory to provide support to
schools that do not have full-fledged computer laboratories of their own.
This facility is expected to be especially useful to such schools during the
conduct of the annual IT practical examination for students studying in class
ten, said an official associated with the project. Built on a bus provided by
the Kerala State Road Transport Corporation, the air-conditioned laboratory
has 10 computers and a generator. Besides regular software programmes used
for the conduct of IT practical examinations, the computers in the mobile
laboratory also include a special software programme that will help blind
students do the practical examination. The Education Department plans to have
10 such labs stationed across Kerala.
From http://www.thehindubusinessline.com/ 01/09/2005
TOP↑
Business Friendly Application Gets
Indian Greenlight
India's Cabinet Committee on Economic Affairs has approved a
US$78 million project to enable online filing and registration for
businesses. The Ministry of Company Affairs (MCA) is to adopt a
'Build-Operate-Transfer' approach to the project, which aims to deliver all
business services online once the project is finisged According to an MCA
spokesman, "the e-governance programme will also provide enhanced accessibility
to company data to the public/financial institutions and all other
stakeholders and transformed the Ministry into a modern, dynamic and
customer-centric organization." The initial operator will be responsible
for design and implementation, and then operate and maintain the system for a
period of six years after successful roll-out. The project will provide easy
e-filing system for business and industry, saving time and costs of
compliance under the Companies Act.
From http://www.pstm.net/ 02/01/2005
TOP↑
SRI LANKA: Sri Lankan CMCs Become
Information Lifelines in Tsunami Aftermath
The Matara Community Multimedia Centre, in
the heart of Sri Lanka’s disaster zone, is broadcasting over 250 missing
persons messages a day on its station, the Southern Regional Station of the
Sri Lanka Broadcasting Corporation, while its telecentre has been mobilised
by those handling the crisis. “The students who normally use the computers
were all affected by the tsunami, none have been back, but last week
Information Ministry staff made use of the CMC’s six computers as local
government office equipment had been destroyed”, explained editor Neil
Weeratunga. “We do not yet have our planned Internet connection at the CMC;
if we did, we could do so much more”, he continued. But the local radio is
already doing a lot - acting as a vital channel for information on disaster
aid for the tens of thousands left without water, electricity, telephones,
food or shelter and giving out information on missing persons, which is then
collated by university researchers. UNESCO is currently supporting the
development of six CMCs in Sri Lanka. The centres combine local radio and
public telecentre facilities offering computer training, email and Internet
access. Radio’s outreach is particularly important in crisis situations, but
Internet also offers a vital channel for contact and information. During
Mozambique’s floods in 2000, the UNESCO-supported telecentres played a key
role, allowing people separated or cut off by the huge floods to send and
access information. The scale of the tsunami disaster means that local radio
stations have become an information lifeline for survivors. A second CMC in
Bandarawella is also fully mobilised. Its radio station, Uva Community Radio,
reaches communities along the affected Eastern coast. The radios’ reporters
attend daily progress meetings and broadcast vital information from
government officials and NGOs. They also relay information back to those
managing the crisis from members of the community on their problems and
needs. “Last night a father came to the station; he wanted to go on air to
thank us for reuniting him with his son. Every day, many people phone or come
here to seek help with a range of problems. The station is a trusted and
familiar institution that people turn to”, noted Mr Weeratunga at the Matara
CMC. Just minutes before the waves struck Matara, near Galle, there were no
signs of the impending disaster and people were preparing for a ceremony at
the Buddhist temple out in the bay, which was due to be attended that evening
by the Prime Minister. Now, people are trying to pick up the pieces of
shattered lives and next Monday, the Matara CMC club will reopen its doors,
while the radio continues its task of contributing to the disaster response.
From http://portal.unesco.org/ 01/06/2005
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MALDIVES: Dhiraagu Admits Problems with Mobile Phone Communications
MALE -- Dhiraagu, Maldives’ only telecoms
company, on Saturday admitted that there was a problem with mobile phone
communications. Some customers claim difficulty in getting connection,
difficulties in getting reception, and receiving wrong messages from the
network in recent days. For instance, some customers receive messages that a
phone is turned off even though the target phone is turned on. Customers also
claim not to receive the numbers from missed calls while SMS messages also
take a long time to receive. Dhiraagu said that they were receiving some
complaints from customers and that these problems may be due to a lot of
customers using mobile phones simultaneously. “Some people use phones to call
up quiz shows. Other than these times, no problems with communications are
encountered,” marketing manager Ahmed Shafiu said. Dhiraagu said that while
communications are disrupted during a few times when many people use phones
simultaneously, it was not viable to incur a great expenditure on fixing such
a trivial problem. Shafiu said that due to the Ramadan promotions Dhiraagu
offered, customers are using phones more. He said that due to the 50 percent
reduction in the pre-paid kits offered by Dhiraagu as a Ramadan promotion,
the number of people buying the pre-paid kits had also increased. “Earlier we
sold a daily average of 100 pre-paid kits. But after the 50 percent
reduction, we sold 5,400 pre-paid kits over a six-day period,” Shafiu said. A
pre-paid kit contains a Motorola mobile phone, sim card and a Rf100 pre-paid
voucher. Shafiu said that Dhiraagu is presently carrying out a project to
solve problems relating to mobile phone communications. This includes the
expansion of the exchange to accommodate 120,000 customers. The project is
expected to be completed by the end of the year.
From http://www.haveeru.com.mv/ 11/07/2004
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