Information Policy

$7B Target for India's 3G Auctions

The Indian government has budgeted for the impending 3G auctions to deliver revenues of 350 billion Indian Rupees (US$7.26 billion) during the 2009-2010 financial year, reinforcing the now widely held belief that the reserve price for the auction will be raised.

Indeed, it would suggest that the finance ministry has got its way and the reserve price for each spectrum block will be doubled to INR40.4 billion ($838 million).

In the 2008-9 budget, into which the 3G auctions had originally been scheduled to fall, the government had valued the 3G licenses at INR200 billion ($4.13 billion). The 43 percent price hike is due to the finance ministry's belief that the spectrum is worth more, and thanks to more blocks being available after spectrum was released by the defense services.

https://communicationsdirectnews.com/do.php/140/36177?7649

North Korean 3G network hits 19,000 subscribers

North Korea's first and only public cellular telephone network attracted 19,200 subscribers after just over three months in business.

http://www.networkworld.com/news/2009/062909-north-korean-3g-network-hits.html

Nigeria: Etisalat to invest USD2 billion in infrastructure

Nigerian mobile operator Etisalat Nigeria will invest USD2 billion over the next three years in the deployment of network infrastructure, writes local newspaper This Day, citing the cellco’s CEO Steven Evans. Despite the economic downturn, Etisalat says it intends to galvanise competition and refresh the market by aggressively rolling out its products in all regions of the country. It hopes to achieve 45% population coverage by the end of this year and 80% coverage by the end of 2010. At present, the cellco has the capacity to accommodate four million wireless subscribers, but from September this year will be able to accommodate twelve million customers. According to TeleGeography’s GlobalComms database, Etisalat Nigeria is the latest entrant in the Nigerian mobile market, having launched commercial GSM services in seven cities in November 2008. In the last week, the cellco reached the milestone of one million mobile subscribers, around seven months after launching operations.

http://www.telegeography.com/cu/article.php?article_id=29107

3G or 4G? Parsing the Economics of Mobile Broadband

GSMA technology director Dan Warren explains why some operators are running head-first toward LTE while others are holding back

Verizon Wireless is jumping into long-term evolution (LTE), launching its first networks this year, while AT&T is taking a little more time, planning its rollout in 2011 and upgrading its 3G network in the interim. In Japan, there’s a similar story. NTT DoCoMo is as gung ho over LTE as its Verizon, but Softbank Mobile appears to be in no hurry.

Why are some operators rushing forward with LTE while others are content to wait? One simple explanation is the distinction between CDMA and UMTS service providers: CDMA operators, with no migration path remaining on their 3G networks, are proceeding immediately to 4G, while UMTS providers, with plenty of upgrades left for their high-speed packet access (HSPA) networks. That’s only a partial explanation, though. It’s true many CDMA providers—Verizon, Sprint, KDDI, MetroPCS—have been quick to adopt LTE, but in Canada Telus and Bell Mobility have opted to deploy HSPA networks to compliment their CDMA networks. Meanwhile, HSPA operator DoCoMo will have one of the first LTE launches in the world, followed by Nordic operators TeliaSonera, Tele2 and Telenor.

https://communicationsdirectnews.com/do.php/110/36104?7649

Vietnam to Allow Mobile Users to Hold Maximum of Three SIMs

The Ministry of Information and Communications has issued a decree requiring that an individual can only register up to three pre-paid mobile phone SIM cards beginning 10 August 2009, Vietnam News Brief Service reports. Beginning in 2010, under a regulation by the ministry, mobile-phone services for pre-paid subscribers will be cut if they do not provide personal information or if they supply false data to providers to obtain more phone numbers.

There is currently to maximum limit on the number of SIM cards a mobile user can hold. With six telecoms service providers already operating in the country, and Gtel Mobile to start services in July, some users hold more than one SIM card with different operators. The ministry’s new decree is a move to manage unregistered pre-paid mobile subscribers, preventing mobile-phone harassment and spam messages.

https://communicationsdirectnews.com/do.php/130/36094?7649

Mobile phone banking for Somalia

A new system of making payments by mobile phones has been launched in the northern Somali region of Somaliland.

Telesom's Zad service means that people can send money to friends and relatives or pay bills just using their phones.

The self-declared republic of Somaliland is much more peaceful than the rest of Somalia.

But the telecommunications and money transfer sectors have thrived across the country, despite the conflict which has raged for the past 18 years.

Telesom deputy director Mohamud Aden Ahmed-Hadeed told BBC Somali that the service would improve the lives of people and help develop the country.

"They can have access to their accounts with a Pin number and they can send money to anywhere, anytime. People can pay their bills or buy things from shops," he said.

A similar system was launched in neighbouring Kenya in 2007, with a network of more than 7,000 agents - mostly shopkeepers.

Somalia's conflict has forced hundreds of thousands of people to flee the country.

They use an informal, trust-based money transfer system known as "hawala" to send money back home.

And the lack of a government since 1991 has not prevented several mobile phone companies from setting up their businesses.

Aid agencies estimate that some four million people - a third of the population - need food aid.

http://news.bbc.co.uk/2/hi/africa/8101067.stm

Mobile internet users top 600k in May

The total number of people signed up for mobile internet services with one of Hungary’s three mobile operators T-Mobile, Pannon and Vodafone – reached 607,479 at the end of May 2009, up from 565,510 the previous month. According to national regulator the NHH, Hungarian mobile users sent a total of 763,178GB of data last month, compared with 743,254GB in April, while average traffic per subscriber was 1.52GB down from 1.56GB in the previous month. T-Mobile's share of mobile data subscribers was 48.51% at the end of the month, while Pannon and Vodafone recorded market shares of 23.27% and 28.22%, respectively.

http://www.telegeography.com/cu/article.php?article_id=28993

The mobile web is growing in Africa

by Steve Vosloo

In its State of the Mobile Web, April 2009 report, Opera Software, makers of the mobile web browser Opera Mini have some interesting things to say about the mobile web in Africa.

* The top 12 countries using Opera Mini in Africa are South Africa, Nigeria, Egypt, Kenya, Libya, Zambia, Tanzania, Cote d’Ivoire, Mozambique, Namibia, Ghana and Gabon.

* Some numbers regarding Africa from April 2008 to April 2009:

o overall page views in the top 12 countries listed increased 422%;

o overall unique users in the top 12 countries listed increased 169%;

o overall data transferred in the top 12 countries listed increased 348%.

* Kenya leads the top 12 countries in page views, with each user browsing 372 pages on average each month.

* Nokia and Sony Ericsson handsets are dominant in Africa, but Samsung is a significant exception, boasting the most popular phone used by Opera Mini users in South Africa, as well as Zambia, Namibia and Gabon.

When using Opera Mini data is compressed to just a fraction of its true size, so the mobile Web experience is fast and responsive for consumers, while reducing strain on operator networks. This is clearly the reason that it is such a popular mobile web browser in Africa.

http://mlearningafrica.net/2009/06/01/the-mobile-web-is-growing-in-africa/

Free Tool for Gov't Agencies to Communicate Public Safety Alerts Online or Via SMS

by Jolie O'Dell

A new SMS and email notification service is helping local government agencies reach citizens when and where it will do the most good: As soon as possible, and wherever that citizen happens to be.

Depending on whether agencies in a selected location are participating (currently, nearly 1,000 agencies have signed on since the company's launch in March), users can sign up at the Nixle website to subscribe to emails, web alerts, and text messages about community issues from tornado watches and traffic accidents to local robberies and fugitives on the loose. Nixle moreover provides a painless way for local agencies to transition into modern times and notify community members of critical details in ways that will have an immediate impact.

"Any tool that helps us improve public safety is worth using," Oklahoma County Sheriff John Whetsel is quoted as saying in a Nixle press release. "People rarely go anywhere these days without access to a cell phone or the Internet. With Nixle, we're always able to relay important information, thereby improving the community's quality of life."

Users can add as many locations as they like to receive alerts for different areas; for example, I know of several female relatives who would be more than happy to know of police alerts in the various towns I travel to and worry/overreact accordingly.

http://www.readwriteweb.com/archives/nixle.php

Mobiles for Development

This report gives an insight into the role of mobile technology as the basis for a communications revolution in Africa. In Africa, the cell-phone is usually the first telecoms connection people have ever had access to, opening up new opportunities. The report also guides on how mobile technology can enhance Plan and partners' work in Africa.

http://www.plan.fi/toiminnot/english/publications/julkaisut-single-view/article/mobiles-for-development/?tx_ttnews[backPid]=1521&cHash=d398d27796