Motorola WiMAX solution deployed in Pakistan. Just nine months after it received a contract to build a €œworld-class communications network€ in Pakistan, Wateen Telecom has deployed Motorola€™s WiMAX infrastructure in 17 major cities and is conducting end-to-end voice and data communications. []
2:22:01 PM    

Nothing truly ground-breaking in this article on muni-voip, but I could not help but notice that "Kenya and Macedonia are currently operating multi-city or national wireless mesh broadband networks". I hope the San Francisco board of supervisors can soon travel to Macedonia for a crash course on how to get things done.

Also interesting: "Municipal networks are running in cities as diverse as Cittagong, Bangladesh; Moscow, Russia; and Taipei, Taiwan. The Beijing public security bureau is deploying a network in preparation for the 2008 Olympics, with an emphasis on video surveillance. U.S. cities where the technology is in use include Anaheim, Mountain View, and Pasadena, Calif.; Chandler, Gilbert, and Tempe, Ariz.; Philadelphia, Pa.; and Corpus Christi, Texas.". 

4:43:59 PM    

Malaysia to issue WiMAX licenses next year (AFP).

AFP - Malaysia will issue two licenses to telecommunication operators next year to provide fourth generation wireless high speed Internet services, a senior minister has told AFP.

[Yahoo! News: Wireless and Mobile Technology]
10:10:21 AM    

Deutsche Telekom pulls out of race for German Wimax licences (AFP).

AFP - German telecommunications giant Deutsche Telekom has said it would not participate in the bidding for German high-speed Internet Wimax licences.

[Yahoo! News: Internet News]
9:43:40 AM    

Europe Jumps On Wi-Fi Bandwagon. WiFi is experiencing rising popularity in Europe as demonstrated by the considerable increase in the deployment of wireless hotspots in the continent. According to a new study by BroadGroup Tariff Services, the number of hotspots in the region grew by 28 percent from May 2005 to September 2006. Majority of these devices are found in the U.K., Germany and France. The report also noted that two-thirds of all hotspots in Europe are managed by telcos and mobile operators.
[NetStumbler.com]
10:14:31 AM    

Mobile Technology Key To Stopping U.S. Slide From Tech Preeminence, Intel Chief Says.

Another Intel executive playing Cassandra with the future of US technology supremacy.  Very good analysis indeed.

"Otellini pointed to the World Economic Forum's Global Information Technology Report 2004-05, which ranks the United States as fifth in terms of "networked readiness," a measurement of the policy, institutional, and structural obstacles that prevent countries from fully benefiting from information and communication technologies. Otellini noted that the United States held the report's top spot the previous year. It now ranks below Singapore, Iceland, Finland, and Denmark. It's not that the U.S. has slowed down, but rather that the rest of the world has accelerated their efforts, Otellini added.

Intel has for years pushed for the adoption of wireless broadband technology as a way for businesses to improve productivity and cut networking costs. Much of this can be achieved through the development of WiMax, a long-distance wireless networking technology designed to replace DSL and cable Internet access. WiMax performs up to six times faster than DSL, Otellini said.

[NetStumbler.com]

11:12:47 AM    

Russia looks to make IT its 'next natural resource'. LONDON -- In an effort to jump-start its economy and diminish its dependence on natural resources like oil, Russia has made local IT development one of its top priorities, with plans for infrastructure growth, regional "technoparks," and industry-friendly legislation.

"telecom is the country's fastest growing sector, and by the end of this month the government expects 100 percent of the Russian Federation to be covered by a GSM (Global System for Mobile Communications) network. However, there are still 46,000 communities that lack a single fixed line. "We need to address this unbalance," Reiman said. "

[InfoWorld: Top News]

10:33:41 AM    

French may have to buy compulsory biometric ID cards. PARIS -- French citizens will have to pay for new identity cards that hold their biometric information in electronic format -- and carrying the cards will become compulsory, if the minister of the interior gets his way. [InfoWorld: Top News]
10:15:37 AM    

Chinese leader predicts 'Asian century' for IT

"On Monday, Wen says the two countries must make use of their complementary IT skills--China's hardware expertise and India's in software--to make the 21st century the "Asian century of the IT industry." "

9:57:37 AM    

The number of hotspots in India is expected to grow tenfold with 3,000 active by December: for a country with many times the U.S. and with a vast technically trained population--and extremes of poverty as well--hotspot growth is a given. The government only recently legalized the use of 2.4 GHz and 5.1 GHz devices for this purpose.

Dishnet announced a 6,000-hot spot network this week with 2,000 planned to be active by December; Microsense has 200 now with 1,000 expected by December; other networks have hundreds of locations targeted, too. Prices have plummeted as growth has expanded--but probably not fallen "100 percent" as the article indicates.

[Wi-Fi Networking News]
9:40:12 AM    

Fraud prevention takes a different approach overseas, experts say

More on the subject on international online fraud.

"Address verification procedures common in the U.S., for instance, are not always as effective in other countries, says Ashwini Narayanan, director of product management for CyberSource Corp., a provider of payment processing and fraud prevent services. In the UK, she notes, the password-based Verified by Visa and MasterCard SecureCode systems for entering credit card information are more effective than address verification, because the postal system grants individual residents the flexibility to change their address numbers. "

7:01:42 PM    

Fear of fraud is keeping e-retailers out of global sales

Interestng results of a survey among US e-tailers. Fraud ranks number 1 in factors keeping retailers from selling overseas. "The survey further reports that the No. 1 fear is not unfounded: Fraud rates on overseas orders are four times the level of North American orders. "

6:54:36 PM    

Cell Phone Makers Hope To Connect In Poor Nations (Investor's Business Daily). Investor's Business Daily - Cell phones with cameras and Internet access are nice, but they're out of reach if you live on $2 a day or less.

"An estimated 3 billion people live within cell coverage areas but have no phone or phone service. A phone that costs $30 or less could mean an additional 700 million customers, says the GSM Association trade group. The cheapest prices today are $60. "

700 million customers! That's enough to warrant the attention of all the big players. An the battle is on between GSM and CDMA (again).

 

5:41:00 PM    

Sequans: Breaking Into WiMax. French WiMax startup Sequans Communications is casting itself as David against an industry full of Goliathsand the tiny company has a strong chance in this new and unpredictable market.

"The Koreans' aggressive development of WiBro technology, Aboussouan says, will serve as a test for the rest of the world. "If Korea is a success, then there's a good chance that the rest of the world is going to be a success," he says. "If Korea is a failure, then I don't think we'll be talking about WiMax five years from now." "

 [NetStumbler.com]

8:47:05 PM    

ICANN approves .eu Net domain. After months of negotiations, Net domain overseer agrees to create European top-level domain. [CNET News.com]
8:38:39 PM    

Web Usage Growth Flatlines in U.S., Other Mature Markets

More on the Nielsen/Netratings report on changes in average time spent online at home. The classification of Brazil as a "mature" market and Australia as "emerging", considering that Internet household penetration in Australia is far greater than in Brazil, is somewhat questionable. Nevertheless the trend of flattening growth in more developed markets is evident.

9:56:02 PM    

By the end of 2005, over 1,000,000,000 people will have access to the Internet around the globe. 150 million, or 15%, of them will be connecting regularly at high speed. At that point, US broadband users will account for approximately 25% of the global broadband population, with countries like South Korea having already reached almost an 80% penetration of broadband into the home.

Total % DSL Subscribers by Region
Region	Q3 04 Total	% of Total DSL Subscribers by Region
Asia Pacific	24,062,660	28.22
European Union	26,518,252	31.10
Latin America	2,864,775	3.36
Middle East & Africa	858,500	1.01
North America	15,162,697	17.78
Other Europe	1,199,000	1.41
South & SE Asia	14,601,500	17.12
Totals	85,267,384	100.00
Source: DSL Forum and Point Topic

Given that over 70% of the potential market for Internet services is outside the US, it is surprising to see how many IT companies are still approaching globalization as an after-thought. Part of the problem is a management culture that is still mired in the old paradigm of getting it right in the US first before going overseas, while evidence abounds that, by the time the company is ready to go international, it is often too late. In today's world, a successful business model becomes replicated faster than the blink on an eye.

Putting off international expansion is a strategic mistake that has cost companies such as eBay and AOL the market leader's position in countries as vital as Japan (where eBay had to concede defeat to nimbler, more aggressive Yahoo!), or Europe (where AOL has never been able to be in the top 3 positions in any of the major markets). (In both cases, the key mistake, by the companies' own admission, was having waited too long). At the same time, companies like Skype have used the limited size of their home market (Luxembourg) to their own advantage, launching services that were global from the get-go and quickly acquiring more users than more established - albeit more US-centered - VoIP companies. Google, a company that had chosen a very aggressive international roll-out early on, had more than 50 localized versions of its site by late 2002!

Designing and launching products for global release is a challenging endeavor: legal, cultural, technical, financial and management issues can make the process daunting. To compound the problem, the US market has developed a number of peculiarities that can make a US-oriented business model inapplicable to the rest of the world. For instance, a very developed coax cable network in this country has attracted a multitude of entrepreneurs targeting cable companies as their customers, only to find their prospects for growth severely hampered by the almost complete lack of cable operators overseas. Conversely, a much more developed cellular network in Europe and Asia has allowed foreign operators to gain economies of scale and expertise that has virtually shut out US companies from many markets.

The Internet has made early-stage global planning a necessity. Fortunately the Internet itself - as well as the lessons learned by the more successful international marketers - is giving us the opportunity to create global companies without the huge investments, risks and management distraction traditionally associated with international expansion.

8:54:29 PM    

Net tightens gray-market retail vise (or how multinationals are scrambling to justify international pricing differentials )

Another example of how the Internet is affecting global trade. Companies used to be able to exploit inefficiencies in the international distribution system by adapting local prices to local market conditions, such as supply-demand, presence of local competitors etc. No more. Thanks to search engines and comparative shopping, consumers in price-premium countries will often bypass local distributors in favor of lower prices. This has multinationals scrambling:

"The Internet is where the gray-market problem really exploded," said Marla Briscoe, a member of HP's brand protection team and vice president of AGMA. "With the Internet, we virtually created a borderless distribution system that makes it a lot easier for unauthorized dealers to advertise products, to buy and resell, and makes it more difficult for manufacturers to track down who exactly is selling these products. This is a worldwide issue."

A "borderless distribution system": that's precisely what the Internet is about.  Granted, gray market can indeed be a serious threat to brands and consumers alike, as many unscrupulous exporters or importers can profit at the expenses of unaware consumers by shipping products with no warranty, no local support, or even no compliance to local standards. However, the trend toward price equality is definitely a positive one for consumers around the globe, and a great opportunity for companies able to deal with the new rules of the market. Eventually, price differentials across countries should only reflect the different costs of supplying and supporting products in that country.

6:52:47 PM    

The World According to eBay
(subscription to Business 2.0 required)

Really interesting article from the January issue of Business 2.0. Several valuable lessons on international expansion for US Internet companies, including the following one:

"And eBay doesn't always triumph. In Japan, eBay was aced out by a joint venture between Yahoo and Softbank. Yahoo had only a five-month head start, but it took control of the field and never let go. Yahoo now sees more than $5 billion in transactions a year in Japan. eBay gave up on the country entirely in 2002. Whitman says the main lesson from that experience was to "go early and go fast." ".

Another interesting tidbit: "As it happens, only 12 percent of eBay's total gross merchandise sales are cross-border transactions. Each country is a self-contained battlefield that must be won by slugging it out with rivals. ". This seemingly minor detail can mean that the company has barely scratched the surface on their biggest opportunity yet: facilitating international trading for small/medium enterprises around the globe.

 

5:14:53 PM    

British Telecom: Who needs HDTV?

I have othen wondered what all the fuzz on HDTV is about: with DSL2 scheduled to bring tens of Mbits/sec to the home, HDTV can be accomplished with a regular media player and content encoded for high definition. My take is that DSL2 will be common long before all the goverments, industry players etc. have fianlly agreed on HDTV standards.

"It also sees delivering TV over broadband as a way of getting high-definition (HD) content to people sooner than they will be able to get it through conventional, regular broadcasts."

6:44:29 PM    

Intel, T-Online, push digital home in Europe

T-Online seems to embrace the IPTV philosophy. The only concern is how to protect content providers' digital rights while allowing consumers the flexibility to share content within the household. Hence the partnership with Intel in Europe.

"However, much work still remains to be done to assure movie studios and music companies that their content will be protected while also encouraging consumers with the knowledge that they will still have the ability to use their content on a wide variety of devices in their homes. To that end, Intel is working with a number of industry partners in the Digital Living Network Alliance to make its DTCP/IP (Digital Transmission Control Protocol/Internet Protocol) technology an industry standard around the world, Chandrasekher said. "

5:59:56 PM    

The future is South Korea - Tech firms try out latest in world's most wired society

Another wake-up call on how other countries are getting ahead of the US in terms of broadband penetration and usage (wired and wireless), South Korea being the most shining example. It seems to me the US  is mired in the ideological conviction that government should have limited or no role in creating the infrastructure, and let free markets take care of it. Other countries, SK being one of them, are showing that a combination of competition and state investments can make for a very powerful mix:

"The South Korean government ensured competition by ending state-owned Korea Telecom's monopoly. The government spent billions of dollars building a fiber grid, reaching schools and government buildings, and offered another billion in financial incentives to phone companies that strung broadband links to homes. Tough competition drove prices down, demand surged and the country was on a roll. "

"President Bush has said all Americans should have access to broadband by 2007. To reach that goal, he has promised to remove bureaucratic obstacles. But, unlike the Korean government, his administration is not pumping money into the market."

"The South Korean government ensured competition by ending state-owned Korea Telecom's monopoly. The government spent billions of dollars building a fiber grid, reaching schools and government buildings, and offered another billion in financial incentives to phone companies that strung broadband links to homes. Tough competition drove prices down, demand surged and the country was on a roll. "

"In Korea, competition has been a driving force. In the U.S., you often only have one cable company, and the company is not forced to upgrade its speed," he said. "I have had DSL for three years and I have never been approached about an upgrade. In Korea, you can even watch television on DSL. "

 

5:30:46 PM    

Study: Internet use in U.S. homes dips

US tech marketers, heed the signs of an important shift in priorities: "Americans are spending slightly less time online that they did a year ago, while some of their counterparts in Asia and Europe are logging longer hours on the Net. "

"Acquiring users in markets that are currently in their growth stages will lead to a loyal user base that will pay dividends for Internet companies in the future,"

No consumer-oriented business plan can afford  to ignore key international markets from the get-go.  The old conventional wisdom of "we'll get it right in the US first and move overseas afterwards" dangerously ignores the unique branding opportunity offered by high-growth markets and provides local competitors with the opportunity to establish themselves. By the time you will be ready to attack their domestic turf, it will be too late or too expensive for you to dislodge them.

8:29:49 AM    

Latin American Mobile Operators Are Enjoying Regional Rebound (Investor's Business Daily). Investor's Business Daily - An improving Latin American economy is putting wireless phones within reach of more consumers. That's boosting the stocks of wireless firms that operate in the region. [Yahoo! News: Wireless and Mobile Technology]
11:33:38 AM    

Self-install WiMax kit comes to Tokyo

Rather bold experimentation with Wi-Max in a broadband-saturated, large urban area. If successful, this may show that Wi-Max is more than just a solution for areas not served by fixed broadband. 

"Despite the ready availability of broadband in Tokyo, Yozan will sell the service as a cheap alternative for mobile people who do not want to be tied to a contract for a fixed line. "It will be pitched much cheaper than DSL or fiber, for users who don't have a phone at home," said Paul Senior, vice president of marketing at Airspan. "This is a whole new market for wireless broadband."

5:34:46 PM    

Satellite Takes Broadband to New Heights (NewsFactor).

"Satellite communications provider Inmarsat is delivering on the promise to provide high-speed Internet access to the far reaches of the globe with the launch of its latest spacecraft. "

The event is significant, as it brings two-way, 1/2 Mbits/sec IP connectivity virtually ANYWHERE in the globe. I have personally used the device in BGAN's current incarnation in Europe (RBGAN, 144 kbits/sec) and it delivers what it promises. Latency is obviously an issue, given that the satellites are geo-stationary, but unless you are playing XBox live, the user experience is acceptable where 3G, DSL or cable are not an option. The device is the size of a laptop computer, can be installed by untrained personnel and connects to a PC via a USB cable.

"The two I-4 satellites will then cover 85 percent of the world's land mass, enabling Inmarsat officially to deliver the company's Broadband Global Area Network (BGAN).

BGAN is an IP and circuit-switched service providing connections at speeds of up to 432 Kbps, according to Warehand."

 

5:13:43 PM    

Intel CEO Blasts U.S. R&D Policy

Another barb thrown at the US Broadband "policy", vis a vis that of other countries, and the potential long-term damage to our education system and our economy. This time it's from from Craig Barrett

With Verizon buying MCI and SBC buying ATT, don't expect an increase in bitrate anytime soon (but get ready for a sticker-shock when you get your next broadband bill)

[Wi-Fi Planet Wireless News]

3:25:15 PM    

In Brief: China tightens surveillance of Internet forums (InfoWorld). InfoWorld - The Chinese government has tightened surveillance of Internet chat rooms and discussion forums ahead of the annual National People's Congress (NPC) meeting, which begins March 5 in Beijing, according to the official Xinhua News Agency. The NPC is China's highest legislative body. A major focus of this year's meeting is consideration of a draft antisecession law aimed at curbing Taiwanese moves toward formal independence. Chat rooms and discussion boards on popular Web sites have been assigned security guards responsible for monitoring the content of messages and postings during the NPC session, Xinhua said. Messages submitted by users will be filtered and censored before appearing online. In an effort to boost control over the Internet during the NPC meeting, officials from China's Ministry of Public Security met with executives from local Internet service providers, major Web sites, and Internet cafe chains, Xinhua reported. The report did not specify how long these added Internet control measures will remain in place. [Yahoo! News: Technology - Internet]
3:10:00 PM    

EU Questions Apple's Pricing of iTunes in Britain (Reuters). Reuters - Apple Computer Inc. is under investigation by the European Commission for charging more in Britain for iTunes than it does in France or Germany, a spokesman for the EU executive said Thursday. [Yahoo! News: Technology - Internet]
8:34:56 AM    

Europe Leads the U.S. (Again), This Time in Muni Wi-Fi (Ziff Davis).

This matches my experience in recent trips to the old continent (France and Italy), where I found that  3-4 Mbits/sec at less than $50 / month is becoming common:

"I am in the U.S. quite often (I have dual citizenship and the only reason I live in Amsterdam is that my husband is Dutch) and am shocked to see how slow and expensive broadband is. "

I still remember when the 700 kbits/sec I still get from SBC in the Bay Area felt like cutting edge!

10:25:26 PM    

U.S. tech leadership to go way of 2004 Dream Team?

Rather alarming report from the AEA. Main reason for the potential loss of technological leadership ? "U.S. federal funding of research and development (R&D) has declined over the past two decades, the report states: "It peaked in 1987 at $75 billion and still was below this peak by 2002 at $71 billion"

Not a positive trend: while venture capital and private R&D investments contribute greatly to creating and maintaining our cherished national techno-leadership, government initiatives (e.g. defense programs, space program etc.) have been the main catalysts for the major technology quantum leaps of the last 60 years.

 

7:59:42 AM    

Mauritius Island To Go Wireless (TechWeb). TechWeb - A 100-square-mile broadband wireless network from Navini Networks will serve some 1.2 million potential users on the island.

"They will be superbly positioned to take advantage of next-generation mobile broadband wireless access, 802.16e-based WiMAX." "

11:30:57 AM    

Ericsson Chief Sees Accelerating Shift to Latest Cellphones. The chief executive of Ericsson said that seven million cellphone users in Europe and Japan switched to high-speed third-generation mobile networks in the last quarter of 2004. By By KEVIN J. O'BRIEN. [NYT > Technology]
9:31:11 AM    

Satellite Radio Edges Forward in Europe

Doubts persists about the viability of the XM or Sirius Sat Radio business models when applied to the European marketplace. However, the success of Satellite Radio in the US is keeping many in Europe watching. "French broadcast company TDF confirmed at an industry conference here that talks had begun between Alcatel and SES Global over a possible joint venture. "

The issue does not seem to faze WorldSpace, which has been positioning itself as a pan-European SR  for sometime (actually, with the planned addition of Latin America, it will have almost global coverage). It operates in the Ku-Band, and receivers are now in the $100-$200.

 

8:03:25 AM    

MaxMind - GeoIP Free Country: "GeoIP Free Country is a free version of our MaxMind GeoIP Country database. GeoIP Free Country enables you to test out our products, and the MaxMind GeoIP Country database is a [paid] drop-in replacement for GeoIP Free Country, should you require greater accuracy." [Ken Novak's Weblog]
6:31:59 PM    

The hundred-buck PC:   

"The founder and chairman of the MIT Media Lab wants to create a $100 portable computer for the developing world. Nicholas Negroponte, author of Being Digital and the Wiesner Professor of Media Technology at MIT, says he has obtained promises of support from a number of major companies, including Advanced Micro Devices, Google, Motorola, Samsung, and News Corp. The low-cost computer will have a 14-inch color screen, AMD chips, and will run Linux software ..

An engineering prototype is nearly ready, with alpha units expected by year’s end and real production around 18 months from now, he said. The portable PCs will be shipped directly to education ministries, with China first on the list. Only orders of 1 million or more units will be accepted.

Mr. Negroponte’s idea is to develop educational software and have the portable personal computer replace textbooks in schools in much the same way that France’s Minitel videotext terminal, which was developed by France Telecom in the 1980s, became a substitute for phone books."

(Ken Novak's WebLog)

5:46:55 PM    

ComTechReview: Winter 2004-2005.  Interesting journal of digital divide articles, with recent addition of an international section.  This edition includes a profile of the Owerri Digital Village, a project of a recent Reuters Digital Vision Fellow.  (The fellowship is accepting applications this year until March 15, 2005)..  10:11:43 AM    

(Ken Novak's WebLog)

5:45:27 PM    

Broadband penetration to reach 15% worldwide by end of 2005

With 150M users, 15% of Internet users worldwide will be connecting at high speed by the end of 2005. DSL continues dominate the broadband market by a ratio of about 2 to 1. "That disparity is based on the relative ease of converting existing telephone networks into digital subscriber lines in countries that, unlike the U.S., do not have sophisticated cable networks in place."

4:43:46 PM    

Gobal Internet Population to pass the 1B threshold in 2005

This means that about 14 out of every 100 persons use the Internet in the world by the end of the year.

Asia continues to lead in the number of surfers with  32% of the world total. Europe comes next with 28% of the total. Northern America is third with  27% of the total.

Internet growth to date since the year 2000 has been 125.2%, or about 25% per year.

4:33:28 PM    

Free Wi-Fi at Starbucks in Malaysia

It sounds like Starbucks plans to keep hotspots free in Malaysia. "The company encourages IT companies to use Starbucks coffee shops to hold product launches. A new notebook and Microsoft Office solutions are examples of products that have been launched locally there.  It'll be interesting to see how different models for the Wi-Fi business shake out in different markets."

 

8:31:04 PM    

8:11:28 AM    

U.S. Tech Firms Protest China Actions on Wi-Fi

"The rules . . . require that wireless networking gear sold in China incorporate a locally developed encryption scheme to which only 11 Chinese companies have access, .."

". . suppliers of Wi-Fi products have expressed confusion about the rules and concern about the impact they might have on developing products, which would need to accommodate the Chinese encryption technology, called WAPI. "

No wonder people are confused: the rules do not even specify the policies with regards to foreigners traveling to China: would we all be required to add WAPI support to our wireless cards before going to China?

It seems like another attempt at controlling what cannot be controlled. Nevertheless, let the government have its way...if WEP is any indication, most APs in China will end up having WAPI turned off as well: this should address the "national security needs"

10:51:54 AM    

Hot spots on the rise in Asia-Pacific

"The average revenue per user (ARPU) for public WLAN access and the overall revenue the business generates for telecom companies will be tiny compared with Internet access revenue and will continue to remain so until 2008, IDC said. "

This seems like a disingenuous way to look at the problem: rather than comparing hotspot subs to internet subs (of course we are talking a few orders in magnitude difference!), one should compare the # of hotspot users (or even wi-fi users) to the number of wireless internet users" in the region. That should help local business planners and authorities decide between pushing massive 3G rollouts or  supporting a home-grown hotspot phenomenon.

Other interesting data:

"But the country that generates the highest average income from each hot spot is India, as many of its access points are located in business hotels rather than in cafes and restaurants, the report said. "

10:40:35 AM    


10:26:52 AM    

World Summit on the Information Society: The digital divide begins here.

"African countries support the creation of a special "digital solidarity fund" to pay for extending the Internet into remote villages, but European nations, the United States and Japan have been wary, saying existing development aid money could be used instead and that creating a new fund would lead to bureaucracy, which would hamper its effectiveness."

Anyone who knows how little current development money is going to ITC infrastructure in Africa finds the letter statement very hard to believe. 

A better take on the Summit comes from Wired Magazine:

"Toothless Rhetoric . More than 170 countries have approved an ambitious call to extend the Internet and the benefits of information technology to the poorest corners of the world, but dodged some of the difficulties of doing so. In particular, the World Summit on the Information Society put off a decision on whether to set up a special fund to finance the necessary infrastructure, for which African countries have lobbied hard. Instead, the conference wound up three days of lofty speech-making by endorsing a declaration of principles and a 29-point action plan. "

10:21:55 AM    

Broadband (almost) to rural areas. No strings attached.

Inmarsat has recently rolled out RBGAN, a 144 Kbits / sec two-way satellite IP service covering Europe, North Africa, the Middle East and part of South Asia. Global availability is scheduled for 2005. The always-on, pay-as-you-go, easy installation aspects are bound to make it a de-facto standard for connectivity in rural areas, where VSAT is too expensive, and landlines are nowhere on the horizon for the next few years.

5:06:31 PM    

China's Grip on Info Loosening

"I won't say China is democratic, but you no longer can control information," says Guo Liang, deputy director of the Research Center for Social Development at the Chinese Academy of Social Sciences, a government-supported think tank in Beijing

Although relatively few Chinese have Net access, government filters aren't very effective and word travels fast. And you can blame the Internet, says one expert.

4:52:31 PM    


4:42:32 PM    

Internet Demographics site

3:56:13 PM    

Russia Leads Mobile Subs for Region

Russia alone accounts for over 32 million subscribers, overtaking Poland as the largest market in Central and Eastern Europe by 14 million subscribers. Mobile phone provider Nokia forecasts Russian mobile users to exceed 60 million by 2008, and The Yankee Group found that more Russians purchased mobile phones in 2002 than the previous eight years combined, with Moscow leading the way.

3:54:40 PM    

Nordic Nations Lead Digital Technology Access

The studies, covering 178 economies, showed that many once poorer states have in recent years invested heavily in digital information and communication technology as a driver for development and established a relatively high rate of access.

3:50:35 PM    

International WLAN spectrum allocations

Remember the concern over foreign countries attempting to block the spread of unlicensed WLANs? Well, the recent ITU conference has dispelled this fear once and for all:

"The international agreement at the WRC effectively opens at least 19 non-interfering 5GHz channels for global WLAN use. "

10:54:55 AM    

Marketing to the Poor

While businesses struggle with sluggish demand and fierce competition in the developed world, there appear to be opportunities aplenty in nascent markets, at least for those who have mastered the art of selling to the "bottom of the pyramid". Great paper!

10:40:39 PM    

How Wireless LAN technology is bringing the Internet to the poor

The typical rural village set-up comprises a satellite station providing a connection to the Internet backbone. The connection is shared among the community through a local wireless network connecting a number of buildings. The set-up requires an initial investment not greater than $20,000 for the satellite base station equipment, plus a few hundred dollars for each wireless station (typically the school, a government office, electric and water utilities and businesses). The lease of the international satellite channel represents in most cases the largest financial commitment for the community, ranging anywhere from $500 to $2000 a month for a channel serving tens of simultaneous users.

Full article

9:51:09 PM    

Net Users in Western Europe Seen Jumping

"The biggest growth markets will be in France, Spain, and Italy, growing at 90 percent, 88 percent and 55 percent, respectively, Jupiter said. "

 

9:39:54 PM    

Distribution of IT Skills around the World

Since most entry strategies rely on targeting the early adopters in a new market, the following report provides valuable insigtht on where the IT brain-power is:

"The Brainbench report also examined the distribution of IT skills around the world. Not surprisingly, it found strong technology skills base in India, and that Brazil, Australia, Romania, Israel and South Africa have become regional leaders.

India is the clear leader in South Asia and is second in the world with more than 145,000 IT certifications awarded. Pakistan is a distant second in the region, with just over 8,000 certifications earned, followed by Bangladesh and Afghanistan.

Israel leads the Middle East, but the United Arab Emirates ranks second with almost 1,500 certified professionals. Yemen ranks dead last in the region for 2001, while Iran has more than 500 certifications in the same period, placing it No. 6 in the region. "

 

9:37:50 PM