From owner-s-asia-it@lists.apnic.net Wed Mar 1 00:08:52 2000 Received: (from majordom@localhost) by whois.apnic.net (8.9.3/8.9.3) id AAA71040; Wed, 1 Mar 2000 00:08:52 +1000 (EST) Received: from mx.super.net.pk (smtp-khi1.super.net.pk [203.130.2.10]) by whois.apnic.net (8.9.3/8.9.3) with ESMTP id AAA71022 for ; Wed, 1 Mar 2000 00:08:43 +1000 (EST) Received: from excel586 (khi-line-136.super.net.pk [203.130.5.71]) by mx.super.net.pk (8.9.3/8.9.3) with ESMTP id KAA24501 for ; Fri, 25 Feb 2000 10:44:05 +0500 (GMT+0500) Message-Id: <200002250544.KAA24501@mx.super.net.pk> From: "Irfan Khan" To: s-asia-it@apnic.net Date: Fri, 25 Feb 2000 10:25:21 +0500 MIME-Version: 1.0 Content-type: text/plain; charset=US-ASCII Content-transfer-encoding: 7BIT Subject: Community Radio and the Internet in South Asia (fwd) X-mailer: Pegasus Mail for Win32 (v3.12b) Sender: owner-s-asia-it@lists.apnic.net Precedence: bulk [from the GKD mailing list] ------- Forwarded message follows ------- From: Frederick Noronha Date sent: Tue, 22 Feb 2000 10:24:18 +0530 The issue of television has been raised on this forum. In much of South Asia, even radio has not been allowed to grow as it should have. Below is an interesting article. May one add though that Dr Mehta's views have since moved forward on this front, and he is working on more advanced versions of the ideas below. Recently, a meeting was held in Mumbai (Bombay) to study the feasibility of a 'community radio station' run through cable satellite networks within existing laws. A copy of this debate is available at http://www.egroups.com/docvault/netradio/26thJanNotes.doc There has also been discussion on the cable-based radio station at http://www.cerfnet.com/~amehta/radiocracy.htm Dr Mehta is expected to take part in the Commsphere meeting in Chennai (Madras) in India at this month end. -Frederick. RADIO MARRIES THE INTERNET, TO MOTHER THE POOR IN SOUTH ASIA By Frederick Noronha BOMBAY (India): Heads we win, tails you lose. Campaigners trying to give a voice to the common Indian on the airwaves are taking no chances. If the Indian government still continues to dither on opening up the airwaves to the commonman, there are other options being eagerly tried out. For long, radio has remained a government monopoly in this country. Now, the sector is being opened out to commercial firms, strictly with an emphasis on entertainment. Community radio -- which could have immense potential in this diverse country where education is a crying need -- has so far consistently been sidelined. This has been the case in much of the rest of South Asia too. Now, some interesting initiatives are underway. Dr Arun Mehta, a Delhi-based communication engineer and activist, has some interesting ideas that offer both a technical and a legal solution. His plans include an experiment that will spread community radio using a mix of traditional radio and the Internet, thus bypassing government laws that till date prohibit direct broadcast by citizens through community radio stations. As Dr Mehta puts it: "The Indian government has been almost paranoid in its control over the electronic media. While TV has enjoyed a modicum of private enterprise via satellite broadcasting, radio has almost totally remained in government hands." Recently, the Government offered some loosening of its hold over radio. "(But as expected there have been) stringent regulations relating to ownership and content. (Non-governmental or non- profit organisations) will hardly be able to afford to set up radio stations with substantial reach," he adds. In this context, his proposal seems ideal: delivering community radio to millions via the Internet. Its advantages are global reach, low costs for the broadcaster, and freedom from government regulation. Its major disadvantage is that the listener needs access to a computer connected to the Internet. While the new Internet policy in India is expected to trigger massive private sector investment in the Internet, little of that money will flow towards rural areas in the normal course, where purchasing power is low and most are non-English speakers. "Audio applications such as Internet radio and telephony have the potential to change that, as they do not require the ability to write, and are equally accessible to people speaking any language," argues Mehta. But, for them to take off, they must be able to reach the masses, which cannot happen as long as each listener is expected to have a PC and a telephone. He suggests to use the Internet-for-radio in a manner that makes such broadcasts available to the poor. How? By using technologies already put out globally by companies such as Real Networks (www.real.com) which have developed software that allows radio broadcasting via the Internet. Unlike the "elitist" Internet, large numbers of poor could be reached out through such a proposal, as Mehta explains. In this scheme, each village would contain a community information center, containing a mutimedia PC connected to the Internet. This, of course, could be used for many different purposes. On this community PC, a Real Audio or equivalent server could be installed, which in effect would convert this PC into a radio station, which people could use to tape and disseminate audio content. There are at least two ways to provide low-cost access to Internet radio broadcasts. In the "dumb" approach, the output of the sound card on the computer can be fed to an amplifier, and distributed over ordinary copper wire to surrounding houses, each of which only needs a loudspeaker. In the "smart" model, audio signals could be distributed from the community PC using either twisted-pair telephone wires, or the coaxial cable used by Cable TV operators. So what? Since there will be no 'broadcasting', such community radio stations could simply bypass current restrictive laws. Installed in each house in the village that wished to receive radio broadcasts, would be a small Internet radio, consisting of a simple embedded microcomputer, a loudspeaker, a microphone and a couple of buttons for channel selection. While the dumb radio would only allow the listener to listen to a single broadcast set at the community center, the smart radio would allow choice, as well as the ability to interact. "Such a smart device does not yet exist. But the technology that it would be based on is well-known," says Dr Mehta, underlining the ingenuinity some Indians have shown in propping up untypical solutions to long-term problems. Basically it would need a stripped down computer, containing no keyboard, storage devices or monitor. It should be possible to design such a device such that in large quantities it can be made for $30 or possibly even much less. In a few years, it should be possible to make similar wireless radios at affordable prices too. This radio, of course, would not just be able to receive audio content produced at the local community center -- via the Internet, it could receive broadcasts from all over the world. Thus, each community would be able to set up its own radio station with multiple channels, that people could receive worldwide. So the microphone in the smart Internet radio could allow people to participate in talk shows and in audio conferences, as well as reap the benefits of Internet telephony. This would help people who migrated out of India to stay in touch with their families. This model is similar to that of Cable TV -- only much, much cheaper -- and could well be called Cable Radio. In this manner, existing governmental laws would not be violated, and hundreds of millions could be reached out to via an affordable technology. Says Mehta: "We want to do is to showcase appropriate technologies for the environment -- the things people are not doing but should be doing. For example, the dissemination of information from the Internet over the radio. Radio is the only thing the poor can afford. Nothing else is that cheap." Radio is something where poor people can access the software. "If it were a local radio station producing their own content, then that is tremendously empowering," he points out. There is no restriction on receiving Internet content, whether through the phone line or through satellite. Interestingly, short range broadcast within the village through cables strong across the village, which can cover a range of 30 metres or more from the cable. "We are going to make it happen. It is not that difficult. Plus there are a lot of initiatives in the country to take bandwidth to remote parts of the country, at least upto the district level," says he confidently. Meanwhile, some interesting reports are coming in from the island-nation of Sri Lanka too, south of India. At Kothmale, in the central part of Sri Lanka and three hours by bus from the capital city Colombo, a community radio serves a target area of 20km radius, which includes a number of rural towns such as Gampola, Nawalapitiya and Thispane. It is being implemented by UNESCO in collaboration with the Ministry of Posts, Telecommunications and the Media, Sri Lanka Broadcasting Corporation, Sri Lanka Telecommunication Regulatory Commission and the University of Colombo. The project uses community radio as an interface between the Internet and rural communities. Inaugurated on April 30, the official opening took place after three months of trial period during which a WEB site database http://www.kirana.lk was developed and community volunteers were trained to handle various elements of the project. There are three basic features in this project, which combine new information technologies with conventional radio medium. * Radio programme to "Radio Browse" the Internet (information interpreted in local language). Here, the community radio broadcasts a daily two hour radio programme, interpreting in the local language information from selective Internet sites. Listeners can direct queries to the radio station to find specific information from the Internet. * Community radio functions as a mini Internet Service Provider to the community with free Internet access. Besides its own "Internet Cafi" the community radio has provided two free Internet access points at Gampola and Nawalapitiya community libraries. This makes the Internet accessible in rural areas too. * Community database development: The community radio also develops its own computer database (http://www.kirana.lk ), deriving information, which are often requested by community members, from the Internet. This database attempt to solve the problem of non-availability of packaged information in the Internet suitable to rural needs. The project intends to address a number of challenges faced in introducing the benefits of communication technologies to rural areas which are common to many developing countries. Radio is therefore playing a role in tackling the lack of access to computers and the Internet in rural areas! NOTE: Dr Arun Mehta can be contacted at B-69, Lajpat Nagar-I, New Delhi-110024. Phone (+91) 11 6841172 or 6849103. His web-site is http://www.cerfnet.com/~amehta (Third World Network Features) ------- End of forwarded message ------- From owner-s-asia-it@lists.apnic.net Wed Mar 1 00:47:23 2000 Received: (from majordom@localhost) by whois.apnic.net (8.9.3/8.9.3) id AAA74324; Wed, 1 Mar 2000 00:47:22 +1000 (EST) Received: from mx.super.net.pk (smtp-khi1.super.net.pk [203.130.2.10]) by whois.apnic.net (8.9.3/8.9.3) with ESMTP id AAA74307 for ; Wed, 1 Mar 2000 00:47:14 +1000 (EST) Received: from excel586 (khi-line-031.super.net.pk [203.130.5.170]) by mx.super.net.pk (8.9.3/8.9.3) with ESMTP id TAA00738 for ; Tue, 29 Feb 2000 19:47:25 +0500 (GMT+0500) Message-Id: <200002291447.TAA00738@mx.super.net.pk> From: "Irfan Khan" To: s-asia-it@apnic.net Date: Tue, 29 Feb 2000 19:48:33 +0500 MIME-Version: 1.0 Content-type: text/plain; charset=ISO-8859-1 Subject: [India] IT grew despite us, so be it for others X-mailer: Pegasus Mail for Win32 (v3.12b) Content-Transfer-Encoding: 8bit X-MIME-Autoconverted: from Quoted-printable to 8bit by whois.apnic.net id AAA74319 Sender: owner-s-asia-it@lists.apnic.net Precedence: bulk IT grew despite us, so be it for others Team ET 28 FEBRUARY THE government has been honest it has admitted the boom in the infotech sector has been because it has kept its hands off it. In the Economic Survey, it said: "The early success of our IT industry owes a great deal to the relative absence of government controls." Now, this is helluva admission for the government to make. What's more, the Survey has said that if the success in the IT sector is to be extended to other knowledge-based industries, like pharma and biotech, then the government "must work to remove pricing, financial and administrative controls and bottlenecks in these sectors". This means, the misgivings about the new IT ministry notwithstanding, the government will maintain its hands-off policy towards the new economy. All that it should do, says the Survey, is to act as a facilitator by creating the necessary infrastructural support for the growth of knowledge-based industries. The Survey has also emphasised the need for encouraging venture capital finance and adopting a liberal approach to laws and regulations for electronic commerce, as a precursor to IT growth. You may, therefore, expect some sops for venture funds in the budget. A further fillip to the IT sector would require a kick-start to telecom infrastructure, says the Survey. This would require high- speed links and higher bandwidth to push software exports to $50bn by '08. While the DoT has made a small beginning by laying a two-gigabit line, the requirement for meeting the ambitious software export target is pegged at 40 gigabit by '08. This would require a higher bandwidth capacity by allowing high speed international links through optic fibre network. Sustaining the comparative advantage of the IT boom would also require educated manpower, says the Survey. This would require private entry into higher education to ensure that supply of IT professionals keeps pace with demand. It has also chalked out grand plans for an "internet revolution", through creation of contents in Indian languages and internet-based enterprises. A boost to e-commerce would require passage in the IT bill providing legal framework for facilitating e-commerce, recognition of electronic contracts and prevention of computer crimes, says the Survey. The Department of Electronics has initiated measures for developing technology for issue of digital signature certificate, procedure for certification authorities and developing image water marking technology for electronic copyright system, it says. http://www.economictimes.com/today/29tech01.htm From owner-s-asia-it@lists.apnic.net Fri Mar 3 05:58:26 2000 Received: (from majordom@localhost) by whois.apnic.net (8.9.3/8.9.3) id FAA88423; Fri, 3 Mar 2000 05:58:26 +1000 (EST) Received: from mx.super.net.pk (smtp-khi1.super.net.pk [203.130.2.10]) by whois.apnic.net (8.9.3/8.9.3) with ESMTP id FAA88385 for ; Fri, 3 Mar 2000 05:58:03 +1000 (EST) Received: from excel586 (khi-line-099.super.net.pk [203.130.5.238]) by mx.super.net.pk (8.9.3/8.9.3) with ESMTP id AAA28066 for ; Fri, 3 Mar 2000 00:57:42 +0500 (GMT+0500) Message-Id: <200003021957.AAA28066@mx.super.net.pk> From: "Irfan Khan" To: s-asia-it@apnic.net Date: Fri, 3 Mar 2000 00:58:54 +0500 MIME-Version: 1.0 Content-type: text/plain; charset=US-ASCII Content-transfer-encoding: 7BIT Subject: [Article] Double-edged IT X-mailer: Pegasus Mail for Win32 (v3.12b) Sender: owner-s-asia-it@lists.apnic.net Precedence: bulk [the following article appeared in the Himal magazine's Feb 2000 issue.] Double-edged IT by Zubair Faisal Abbasi The "knowledge-byte" that forms the structure of digitised knowledge jostling through computer networks, may be discriminatingly seen as empowering, dis-empowering or useless (see Himal November 1999). The power of the Internet, with its immense potential to remodel institutional structures and, possibly, the whole social fabric, has given a new shape and dimension to the politics of knowledge. But the relevance of these knowledge bytes to the development agendas of developing countries needs serious intellectual discourse. To render ICTs (Information and Communication Technologies) and content "relevant to communities" necessitates scrutiny and strategising of the meta-politics of knowledge in cyberspace by communities and development initiatives. The key point, as futuristic writer Alvin Toffler puts it, is that "the knowledge of knowledge gives power". In this endeavour, besides traditional computer literacy, software development and its standardisation arguments, one needs to go further into the structured realities of the digital divide between the information haves and want-to-haves. Owing to increased and accelerated digitisation of knowledge and information at the global level, it becomes all the more important for communities to collect, compile and, while digitising their traditional knowledge, make it accessible to and shared with the rest of the world. That valuable cache of traditional knowledge, which used to be handed from one generation to another through oral communication, and, if written, circulated only amongst a very small section of people, must be made accessible by the optimal use of ICTs. By "optimal use" I mean that the Internetworking technologies provide, in a limited sense, an interface of television, VCR, radio, etc. This aspect of cyberspace where one is not exclusively dependent upon textual transmission of message and can potentially preserve and send verbal "knowledge bytes" in at much cheaper rates than conventional telecommunication technologies can, seems to be adding a very important dimension. Perhaps means future learning options in virtual societies will have to include the "knowledge bytes" of the socalled unknowledgeable and ignorant. The validity of Internetworking technologies as part of strategy and medium in the politics of knowledge lies in its being one way by which the internal logic of development of any culture can be better communicated and practically applied to launch sustainable and equitable development initiatives. By availing of the democratic potential of creative anarchy available in cyberspace, hitherto dis empowered communities can create a better "strategic niche" for their own knowledge and information systems. The potential of development cooperation and alternative development paradigms is also fundamentally enhanced by the cyberspace created by ICTs. This is a scenario in which the role of civil society becomes crucial. Writing recently on the WTO agenda and the Seattle episode, director of the New Delhi-based Centre for Science and Environment, Anil Agarwal, says, the new century "is going to be a century of the Internet and global dialogue," where "the civil society will become more and more important. In fact, the Internet played a key role in the mobilisation of activists against the Seattle meet." This awesome potential of ICTs should not, however, blur our vision for social development. There are certain caveats and limitations to ICTs. It can cut both ways-alleviate as well as facilitate social disruptions. The expansion of ICTs is in itself taken as a manifestation of development but recent research has shown that it is more an indicator of the development of the tertiary section of the national economy, i.e., the expansion of the services sector through the creation of computer-related hi tech jobs. At the same time, the diffusion and spread of ICTs in society and professional institutions is perceived as leading to efficiency, reliability and good working conditions, whereby ICTs become the "permissive factor" enabling the environment for development. This is a contestable argument. The notion of "permissive factor" for institutional change must be qualified with the fact that unless there is collateral change in socio economic conditions, the ICTs and the cyberspace created by them tend to lose the vitality to provide a platform for generating peace, pluralistic accommodation and conflict management. In fact, the same ICTs may instead facilitate social disruptions and lay the ground for a much stronger and unprecedented destruction of local and global peace. From owner-s-asia-it@lists.apnic.net Sat Mar 4 07:18:10 2000 Received: (from majordom@localhost) by whois.apnic.net (8.9.3/8.9.3) id HAA89512; Sat, 4 Mar 2000 07:18:09 +1000 (EST) Received: from goa1.dot.net.in (goa1.dot.net.in [202.54.17.30]) by whois.apnic.net (8.9.3/8.9.3) with ESMTP id HAA89500 for ; Sat, 4 Mar 2000 07:18:04 +1000 (EST) Received: from goanews ([202.54.17.111]) by goa1.dot.net.in (8.9.2/8.9.2) with SMTP id CAA21428 for ; Sat, 4 Mar 2000 02:47:31 +0530 (GMT) Message-Id: <3.0.6.32.20000304023355.007b38a0@202.54.17.30> X-Sender: fred@202.54.17.30 X-Mailer: QUALCOMM Windows Eudora Light Version 3.0.6 (32) Date: Sat, 04 Mar 2000 02:33:55 +0500 To: s-asia-it@whois.apnic.net From: Frederick Noronha Subject: NEWS-FEATURE: Ideas aplenty on how software can help the millions Mime-Version: 1.0 Content-Type: text/plain; charset="us-ascii" Sender: owner-s-asia-it@lists.apnic.net Precedence: bulk IDEAS APLENTY ON HOW SOFTWARE CAN HELP THE MILLIONS by Frederick Noronha CHENNAI (South India): Ramesh is a daredevil rickshaw in this bustling South Indian city, but the computer boom that India is going ga-ga about means nothing to him. Bangalore may well be India's Silicon Valley, yet booming software stocks and the millionaries that it has created leave dwellers in slushy city slums cold. Taking this worrying trend into account, researchers from across India and elsewhere are trying to change the situation and "touch the lives of millions", by making crucial telecom and Internet technologies affordable to larger numbers in the developing world. "Otherwise, we will end up having just 2-3% of our people with access to these technologies," warns Prof Ashok Jhunjhunwala of the Indian Institute of Technology (Madras), which has just hosted a global meet on providing affordable telecome and IT solutions for developing countries. Access to telecom networks and the Internet is fast becoming a major factor determining the competitiveness of an individual, group or society, researchers point out. To translate this into something meaningful in the commonman's life, technologists and academists have brought in amazing stories of how modern technologies can, and are, changing lives. Called Commsphere 2000, this meet brought in reports of how Delhi slum-children were acquiring basic computing skills without any instructions or knowing any English; and how remote villages in Bangladesh are to get phone links without even being connected by copper wire. Engineers in Chennai's IIT have designed phone networks that slash the costs of installing phones to less than half of the US$1000 (one thousand US dollars) in infrastructure it normally costs, by resorting to 'wireless in local loop' (WILL) technologies. A South Asian initiative, run by volunteers from India and Bangladesh, is called bytesforall.org and looks at experiments being conducted across SAARC to making computing and the Internet "relevant to the needs of the millions". "It is now possible to give 4.5 billion people the ability to leapfrog onto the Web, whereever there is electricity supply, even without a traditional phone line connection and without a personal computer," says Univeristy of Bradford media communications doctoral candidate Peter D. O'Neill. His proposal is to deliver multimedia services via powerline communications (powercoms) along the electricity line to the "most humble dwelling", even if it has a just a single light bulb dangling from the ceiling. Authorities in Bangladesh are toying with similar plans. "There is a case for seriously examining this technology for local loop aplications in countries like India, where over 70% of households have power line connections already. Even a fraction of this conductor-capacity made usable for additional communication purposes would (make a huge difference)," agreed electronics professors C.N.Krishnan and P.V.Ramakrishna of the Anna University's MIT in Chennai. >From Hyderabad, the Indian Institute of Information Technology (IIIT) stresses the "absolutely basic" need for computing to be done in Indian language scripts. "Alpha-versions of machine-translation from one Indian language to another already exists in five Indian-language pairs," reported Vineet Chaitanya and Rajeev Sangal of the IIIT-Hyderabad's Language Technology Research Centre. Work is going on in Hyderabad on a large-scale system and, if successful, will allow e-texts including web-pages to be accessed by Hindi readers on demand. New Delhi-based Shyam Telecom Limited is using IIT-Madras technology for corDECT (rpt corDECT) phones -- that connect telephones to the exchange wireless, thus reducing costs -- and which have found export markets in rural Madagascar, remote Fiji, hilly Yemen and suburban Kenya. Encouraging results are already being reported. Such technology is also beying deployed in Bhopal and New Delhi. corDECT was developed by IIT-Madras, M/s Midas Technologies and got support from even the Analogue Devices of the US. Engineers from the IIT-Bombay are meanwhile planning a communication system for health care neds which "will be very relevant to India". Bangalore-based Indian Institute of Science (IISc) Professor Kumar N Sivaraman has, on the other hand, developed, an Instruction-On-Demand (IOD) software tool, which simulates on a user's PC screen a typical seminar environment where a speaker lectures using overhead transparencies to students across distant, remote locations. Railway engineers from India's South-Central Railway, headquartered in Secunderabad, say that by using the copper and optical fibre of the Indian Railway network, Internet and telecom services can be provided to about 4000 towns and 100,000 Internet connections in about two years, at barely Rs 15,000 (US$350) per connection. India has a teledensity (phones per hundred) of barely two, as against 50 in the Western world. This strongly affects the competitiveness of society. But the major problem is that current costs of around US$1000 (rpt US$1000) to build infrastructure for a single line is simply too unaffordable here. Once finance costs, operations, maintaenance and obsolence is taken into account, revenue of US$300 per year is required from each phoneline simply to break even. This is a price most in India cannot afford. "In most developing countries, US$300 per year for a telephone is accessible to less than five per cent of the population. How then can one hope for the development of telecom infrastructure and look for even some semblance of universal Internet access?" asks Dr Jhunjhunwala, whose pioneering role in making telecom low-cost is widely recognised here. Samudra Haque, a Minnesota-trained computer scientist who runs an ISP (internet service provider) in Bangladesh, has one unique solution for which he has just had a patent claim registered in Dhaka. "We're combining the best elements of radio engineering, telecommunications and computer science to offer a high-speed communication network in remote rural villages (in Bangladesh) spead over large areas. And we are doing this will relatively small budgets too," Haque told this correspondent. Using this method, 3 MBPS high-speed links are possible to villages, using wireless routers. He said 20-30 telephone channels and 20 video phone sets could be offered for a capital cost of US$150,000 to villages which otherwise had no hope of being connected. "We aim to provide mega-bits, not just kilo-bits," said Haque, who says he was Bangladesh's first computer scientist in the 'nineties. Said Prof. MGK Menon, India's former minister of state for Science and Technology: "Software share prices are zooming. This sector has the highest market capitalisation, and has created millionaires. But the country's policy makers can't be misled by that. Software and telecom must represent and improvement in the life of the people of the country. We can't be misled by the glitter we see in newspaper headlines." (ENDS) CONTACTS TO ABOVE QUOTED SOURCES: Prof A Jhunjhunwala ashok@tenet.res.in Commsphere 2000 commsphere@tenet.res.in Slum-children project Sugatam@niit.com BytesForAll http://www.bytesforall.org Peter D. O'Neill tweecsisbyt@gn.apc.org C.N.Krishnan cnkrish@vsnl.com Rajeev Sangal, IIIT sangal@iiit.net Shyam Telecom shyamtelecom@vsnl.com corDECT dj@tenet.res.in Kumar Sivaraman, IISc kumar@ece.iisc.ernet.in Samudra Haque haque@pradeshta.net WEBSITE: http://www.tenet.res.in/commsphere/commsphere.html From owner-s-asia-it@lists.apnic.net Sat Mar 4 15:25:57 2000 Received: (from majordom@localhost) by whois.apnic.net (8.9.3/8.9.3) id PAA124193; Sat, 4 Mar 2000 15:25:57 +1000 (EST) Received: from post.super.net.pk ([203.130.2.9]) by whois.apnic.net (8.9.3/8.9.3) with ESMTP id PAA124186 for ; Sat, 4 Mar 2000 15:25:50 +1000 (EST) Received: from excel586 (khi-line-009.super.net.pk [203.130.5.148]) by post.super.net.pk (8.9.1/8.9.3) with ESMTP id KAA27933 for ; Sat, 4 Mar 2000 10:32:05 -0500 Message-Id: <200003041532.KAA27933@post.super.net.pk> From: "Irfan Khan" To: s-asia-it@apnic.net Date: Sat, 4 Mar 2000 10:24:34 +0500 MIME-Version: 1.0 Content-type: text/plain; charset=US-ASCII Content-transfer-encoding: 7BIT Subject: [India] Budget Offers Sops to IT Industry X-mailer: Pegasus Mail for Win32 (v3.12b) Sender: owner-s-asia-it@lists.apnic.net Precedence: bulk Budget Offers Sops to IT Industry By Uday Lal Pai India Correspondent, asia.internet.com [March 2, 2000--MUMBAI] Finance Minister Yashwant Sinha's Budget -- presented in the Indian Parliament on February 29 -- is an acknowledgement of the fact that the Internet and convergence are the driving forces of the new Indian economy. The multiple sops offered to the telecom and IT sector in the Budget are expected to lead to a boom in Internet penetration in the country. One of the highlights of the Budget is the acknowledgment of ISPs as infrastructure -- a proposal that allows the import of certain equipment by ISPs at a lower basic customs duty of 5 percent and thereby reduce network installation costs. "The liberalization in venture capital finance, both in structure- and tax-related issues, has given ISPs a major fillip," said Sunil Mittal, chairman and group managing director of Bharti Enterprises. "ISPs like us can now set up large-scale Internet services at affordable rates for consumers," he claimed. The finance minister has reduced duties on cellular handsets and optical fiber cables in addition to computer and ISP equipment, which means that telecom and Internet industries can now look forward to a significant acceleration of teledensity and Internet penetration. The venture capital (VC) taxation benefit will boost VC funding in India, which will lead to a significant increase in 'dotcom' activity in the country, say analysts. "Any incentive provided to ISPs is the single most important point for a dotcom company like ours," said V.S. Sudhakar, managing director of Fabmart. "This is because the ISPs can help reach out to new consumers and help improve solutions," he said. On the flip side of the Budget, while the concessional duty of 5 percent has been retained, duties on certain specified equipment for ISPs will increase owing to the so-called special additional tax (SAD). Sadly, this will increase the cost of putting up infrastructure, even as the IT-friendly budget promotes increased rollout of networks for telecom services and transmission backbones for ISPs. http://asia.internet.com/2000/3/0206-uday.html From owner-s-asia-it@lists.apnic.net Sun Mar 5 18:58:23 2000 Received: (from majordom@localhost) by whois.apnic.net (8.9.3/8.9.3) id SAA87683; Sun, 5 Mar 2000 18:58:22 +1000 (EST) Received: from mx.super.net.pk (smtp-khi1.super.net.pk [203.130.2.10]) by whois.apnic.net (8.9.3/8.9.3) with ESMTP id SAA151886 for ; Sun, 5 Mar 2000 18:58:14 +1000 (EST) Received: from excel586 (khi-line-077.super.net.pk [203.130.5.216]) by mx.super.net.pk (8.9.3/8.9.3) with ESMTP id NAA08509 for ; Sun, 5 Mar 2000 13:58:21 +0500 (GMT+0500) Message-Id: <200003050858.NAA08509@mx.super.net.pk> From: "Irfan Khan" To: s-asia-it@apnic.net Date: Sun, 5 Mar 2000 13:59:38 +0500 MIME-Version: 1.0 Content-type: text/plain; charset=ISO-8859-1 Subject: [Research Study] The Impact of IT in Indian Enterprises X-mailer: Pegasus Mail for Win32 (v3.12b) Content-Transfer-Encoding: 8bit X-MIME-Autoconverted: from Quoted-printable to 8bit by whois.apnic.net id SAA151887 Sender: owner-s-asia-it@lists.apnic.net Precedence: bulk [from ZEFnews No. 3 (January 2000); http://www.zef.de] The Impact of Information Technologies in Indian Enterprises Dietrich Mller-Falcke The importance of modern information technologies (IT) for enterprises in developing countries is rising. This is shown by a study conducted by ZEF on the use of telecommunication and IT in small Indian enterprises. A total of 295 enterprises, mainly belonging to the metal processing and engi- neering industry, were interviewed in an industrial estate near Madras. With an av erage of 28 employees and 10.8 million Rupees turnover (about US-$ 250,000), the enterprises belong to the upper range of the Indian small-scale industry sector. They also have good access to the information infrastructure due to their location. Nevertheless, the extent of IT use was surprising. Sixty-five percent of the interviewed enterprises were using computers. Basic applications are above all word processing, book keeping and cost accounting. How- ever, one third use the computer also for design purposes. Thirty-four percent of the interviewed enterprises have access to e- mail. Considering that e-mail has only been available in India since 1995, this indicates a high speed of diffusion within the small enterprise sector. The intensity of e-mail use is, however, still low. A large majority of enterprises does not send more than two business mails per week. Only slightly more than half of all e-mail users also use the World Wide Web (WWW). The main reason is the poor condition of the telephone network. Easy access to information on new technical developments is considered by entrepreneurs the main benefit of the WWW. Few other positive examples of WWW use were given. In one case, the WWW helped to find a producer of an urgently required spare part; in another, it helped buying a used machine. The impact of IT on Indian enterprises has been also analyzed in a new publication at ZEF. Kaushalesh Lal from the Institute for Economic Growth in Delhi examines the factors determining the export performance of Indian garment manufacturers. Seventy-four medium- sized enterprises near Delhi from the highly segmented garment sector were investigated. With a few exceptions the enterprises produce either completely for export or for the domestic market. IT is mainly used at the pre-production stages, like in the design, or at the management level. Like in Madras, IT penetration in Delhi was very high. Only very few enterprises use IT neither in management nor in production. The majority uses IT as a management tool, about 20 percent use IT additionally in the production area. Besides, the quality of used materials, the flexibility of design and the wage rate, the use of IT turns out to be a highly significant distinguishing factor between exporting and non-exporting enterprises. This indicates that all over the world, the increasing use of information technologies is necessary to maintain international competitiveness. Dietrich Mller-Falcke is scientist at ZEF and conducted the IT study in Madras. From owner-s-asia-it@lists.apnic.net Mon Mar 6 05:25:50 2000 Received: (from majordom@localhost) by whois.apnic.net (8.9.3/8.9.3) id FAA152771; Mon, 6 Mar 2000 05:25:50 +1000 (EST) Received: from mx.super.net.pk (smtp-khi1.super.net.pk [203.130.2.10]) by whois.apnic.net (8.9.3/8.9.3) with ESMTP id FAA152766 for ; Mon, 6 Mar 2000 05:25:35 +1000 (EST) Received: from excel586 (khi-line-082.super.net.pk [203.130.5.221]) by mx.super.net.pk (8.9.3/8.9.3) with ESMTP id AAA13142 for ; Mon, 6 Mar 2000 00:25:33 +0500 (GMT+0500) Message-Id: <200003051925.AAA13142@mx.super.net.pk> From: "Irfan Khan" To: s-asia-it@apnic.net Date: Mon, 6 Mar 2000 00:26:31 +0500 MIME-Version: 1.0 Content-type: text/plain; charset=ISO-8859-1 Subject: [India] Satellite mail -- the latest in messaging X-mailer: Pegasus Mail for Win32 (v3.12b) Content-Transfer-Encoding: 8bit X-MIME-Autoconverted: from Quoted-printable to 8bit by whois.apnic.net id FAA152769 Sender: owner-s-asia-it@lists.apnic.net Precedence: bulk Satellite mail -- the latest in messaging Anand Adhikari (Mumbai, February 24) IF YOU thought Internet mail is the only instant 'messaging system' in the country today, then you are mistaken. Satellite mail the first of its kind in India is fast making inroads into the major metros and cities. More than 200 towns are already connected through as many as 35 earth stations providing satellite mail facility by which, anyone can send messages (telephonic, fax, pager etc) to anywhere in India at just Rs 10-15 per message (consisting up to 60 words per message). The pioneering messaging endeavour is the effort of the Madras based Dela Innovative Enterprises Ltd. The company has a license from the department of telecommunications (DoT) to set up earth stations to facilitate instant messaging through satellite. The facility is fast catching up with the corporate sector and the institutions. LIC Housing, ANZ Grindlays Bank, Citibank, RPG Group, NIIT, Aptech, Ashok Leyland, ORG-Marg, etc, are already using this facility to send messages across the country. "We have more than 200 corporates on the roll. The concept is new.it needs aggressive marketing," said K. Adhivarahan, senior general manager of Deltagram. Satellite messaging constitutes over 75 per cent of communication internationally, while in India according to estimates, it is only 20 per cent now. Deltagram proposes to connect nearly 3,000 towns and 40,000 villages over the next three years. In order to enable easier access to its services, Deltagram is also creating 100,000 message collection centers in every street all over the country. The entire infrastructure creation will involve a capital outlay of Rs 150 crore. "We have a loan of Rs 5.7 crore from the IDBI. The paidup capital of the company is Rs 9.2 crore with Rs 4.4 crore being contributed by foreign institutional investors and Rs 4.8 crore by the core promoters," Adhivarahan said. The company's software is capable of handling 26 languages but currently the service is being offered only in English. The company is also planning to connect the United States and Britain whereby even international messages (telephonic, pager, fax, etc) can be sent at Rs 15-20 per message. http://www.hindustantimes.com/nonfram/250200/detECO03.htm From owner-s-asia-it@lists.apnic.net Mon Mar 6 05:26:16 2000 Received: (from majordom@localhost) by whois.apnic.net (8.9.3/8.9.3) id FAA152775; Mon, 6 Mar 2000 05:26:15 +1000 (EST) Received: from mx.super.net.pk (smtp-khi1.super.net.pk [203.130.2.10]) by whois.apnic.net (8.9.3/8.9.3) with ESMTP id FAA152768 for ; Mon, 6 Mar 2000 05:25:45 +1000 (EST) Received: from excel586 (khi-line-082.super.net.pk [203.130.5.221]) by mx.super.net.pk (8.9.3/8.9.3) with ESMTP id AAA05767 for ; Mon, 6 Mar 2000 00:25:47 +0500 (GMT+0500) Message-Id: <200003051925.AAA05767@mx.super.net.pk> From: "Irfan Khan" To: s-asia-it@apnic.net Date: Mon, 6 Mar 2000 00:26:32 +0500 MIME-Version: 1.0 Content-type: text/plain; charset=US-ASCII Content-transfer-encoding: 7BIT Subject: [india] Newspaper article: Project Mass.com X-mailer: Pegasus Mail for Win32 (v3.12b) Sender: owner-s-asia-it@lists.apnic.net Precedence: bulk Project Mass.com Even as the country looks forward to the riches promised by the infotech age, there are others who warn against the fallouts of a "digital divide". "We might talk greatly about our software exports, but have we invested enough in deploying information technology (IT) to cater to people on the wrong side of the digital divide?" asked Prof. P. Narasimhan, of the Computer Society of India at the CSI-'99 conference. There are fears of a possible divide between digital haves and have-nots in future society. Innovations in IT are possible only through large-scale computer utilisation, said F.C. Kohli, who was till recently head of Tata Infotech Ltd. The speakers at CSI-'99 agreed that in a country with 60 per cent literacy and a mere two million Internet users in a population of nearly one billion, the benefits of the IT industry could be realised only if the technology reaches the masses. It would require a lot of persuasion to convince the masses that far from snatching opportunities, computers would actually benefit them, says Dewang Mehta, President of the National Association of Software Services Companies (Nasscom). He cites the example of a rural embroideress, Maniben, in Kutch (Gujarat). A non-profit organisation, with help from the National Institute of Fashion Technology, had featured her mirror-work embroidered tie on their Web site -- peoplelink.org. "Today, Maniben has orders from the UK to make 'Millennium' ties. Imagine, this lady, sitting in a remote village in Kutch, gets an international order... no middlemen, no marketing expense." Another experiment by Nasscom was the video on e-mail, which connected immigrant taxi drivers in Mumbai with their families in Uttar Pradesh. "Most of the taxi drivers -- around 60,000 of them -- are illiterate. We got them to come to this booth, from where they could actually see their relatives at the other end, in Jaunpur, and speak with them. It was a tremendous experience for them. No letter- writing required and this would work out cheaper than a telephone call." The programme will eventually be made operational, says Mehta. Computers, even outdated ones, are being put to simple but effective use by the National Dairy Development Board (NDDB). "We are helping cooperative unions across the country to set up computer systems, connecting the villagers who sell the milk to the union office and the union office itself to NDDB," said A. Anand, senior executive at NDDB. NDDB is going to 1,000 villages, he said. Most importantly, the middleman has been effectively sidelined with the help of the computer. At the milk production centre in Anand, Gujarat, women take the milk to a weigh-bridge where it is weighed, the fat quantity assessed and the payment immediately calculated by the computer. "Middlemen cannot cheat them saying the fat content is lower than it actually is," says Anand. Records, right from quantities sold to payrolls, are automatically maintained and are tamper-proof compared to the time- consuming ledger work in the past. In Guntur, Andhra Pradesh (AP), the CSI has a membership of 18,000 computer users ranging from students to chief technology or information officers of large corporates. Even policemen are being trained in the use of computers, says R. Srinivasan, president of CSI. "We also have a veterinary doctor in Tiruchi in Tamil Nadu who is computerising all details of animal and poultry diseases. This will be available in booths across the villages in the area, so that people know exactly what should be done for prevention and cure." In Pune, the CSI has started training municipal schools in the use of computers. In AP, CSI member P. Thirumurthy, also professor at Nagarjuna University, is working on the prototype of a software on animal health care; this chiefly dispels misinformation and provides villagers with information on animal diseases. Information dissemination would become simple and speedy, what with every village in AP expected to have an Internet booth soon. "I am working with NABARD (National Bank for Agriculture and Rural Development), which funds livestock," says Thirumurthy. He had earlier worked in Gujarat to help develop a software for adult literacy. The letters of the alphabet are formed very slowly on the computer screen and can be repeated endlessly until the learner gets the hang of it. "Imagine a real-life teacher doing it so many times on the blackboard." This experiment is being repeated in Telugu in Vijayawada. Anand Mahindra of Mahindra & Mahindra had said at the CSI conference that the benefits of IT should not be confined to "limited business commerce". He cited the examples of poor countries such as the Ivory Coast where farmers pool in the money to buy a cell-phone and check up on London prices, and thereby avoid middlemen. Govts log on Communications Minister Ram Vilas Pawan has said that he would give priority to the task of taking Internet to rural areas and small towns. He spoke of Internet 'dhabas' in rural areas and a phone in every village by 2002. The Government machinery is one of the means by which IT can be taken to the masses. In AP, for instance, land records have been totally computerised and every district and village is expected to be networked in the future. A video-conference network connects the Chief Minister with 25 key locations in the State. Other States are following quick on the heels of AP. Recently, the Gujarat Government announced an ambitious plan for governance through connectivity and will soon allocate Rs. 200 crores for an IT network. Three multinational companies -- Microsoft, Oracle and Sun Microsystems -- have agreed to establish an IT network in the State. By March-end, Gujarat plans to provide optical fibre connectivity to nearly 70 per cent of its villages; all Government departments have been instructed to create Web sites providing information on action plans, standing orders and application forms. Non-government organisations (NGOs) are doing their bit too. In Los Angeles, non-resident Indians (NRIs) have reportedly pledged $100,000 towards the Indian Council for Advancement and Support of Education. Under its 'Computers for Schools' programme, the Council has asked NRIs to fund the schools of their choice back in India, preferably the village schools they had studied in. GoaNet, a mailing network of expatriate Goans and their Net-connected folk back home, plans to bring computers to 400 schools in Goa, simply by shipping older generation computers from the US. The Government's decision to allow duty-free import of second-hand computers, donated by patrons to Government-run schools, has given a boost to similar programmes. However, the mountains of paperwork prove daunting to many a good samaritan. Although GoaNet claims that many companies in the US are willing to donate used personal computers, the graphic interfaces required for school education call for more advanced versions. But it is significant that a beginning has been made. Internet access in every district is also part of the Madhya Pradesh Government's agenda. Sam Pitroda, now chairman of WorldTel, an organisation dedicated to narrowing the telecom gap through commercial ventures in developing countries, has signed a high- profile agreement with the Tamil Nadu Government to set up 1,000 Internet community centres with nearly 20 terminals each. Apart from providing widespread Internet access, the project will also generate 50,000 jobs. WorldTel has apparently experimented with similar concepts in Latin America, in countries such as Peru and Mexico. The group has also entered into a Rs. 400-crore joint venture with the Gujarat Government to set up a comprehensive information communication network in the State. WorldTel has arrangements with the Maharashtra Government as well. The Maharashtra Government has, in addition, arranged subsidised computer training for its staff at administrative headquarters and networked several villages in the Warananagar district through V-SAT. The Information Kerala Mission, part of the Kerala Government's IT policy, is a gigantic project aimed at computerising over 1,200 local self-governments, including gram panchayats, and linking them to the district as well as State headquarters. The Government also intends to make all its MLAs (Members of the Legislative Assembly) computer- literate. 'Bhasha' has the byte Software in the vernacular languages would be a major draw for the masses. The work on multilingual software is proceeding apace. A Pune- based company, Datapro, recently launched a multilingual software called 'sub.ki.bhasha' which enables users to work on various operating systems in the local language of their choice. The software has several applications such as bilingual correspondence, documentation, data processing, graph making, table preparations and the like. The Centre for Development of Advanced Computing (C-DAC) has developed 'iLEAP-ISP', which is a multilingual, Windows-based word processor that can send e-mail and develop Web pages in 13 Indian languages. Localisation is a must, says Bhavin Kadakia of CSI. Computers do not understand Indian languages and 95 per cent of the Indian population does not know English. Kadakia belongs to an NGO called Bharat Bhasha whose member Harsh Kumar, an engineer with Indian Railways, has developed a font library of his own which can be used on an English keyboard. Called 'Shusha', it is offered free over the Web. Harsh Kumar says that a software developer can use this to create multilingual user interfaces and dramatically increase market reach. Private Indian companies as well as international companies are doing everything they can to expand the IT user-base in the country, ultimately furthering their own markets. Chip maker Intel has made two inititatives under its Project Vidya. One, with the Department of Education under the Ministry of Human Resources Development, is to determine the effective means of establishing computer-aided learning curriculum and its benefits. Three schools have been identified for the programme -- one in Delhi, the other in Indore and the third in Rangareddy in Andhra Pradesh. Intel will also train the teachers in the selected schools. The second initiative by Intel, in association with the Department of Education, is to set up an Educational Multimedia Centre at the National Council of Educational Research and Training (NCERT), to catalyse IT usage across all segments of schools. Of Net profits If not altruism, sheer market potential is prompting many private companies to take IT to the masses. "It is important to grab the future market. People are thinking far ahead," says one computer professional. Cellular operator Escotel recently launched what it calls a special project to bring modern telecommunication equipment to about 2,000 villages in western Uttar Pradesh and Haryana. Each village will be provided with one cell-phone package that would be subsidised by almost 50 per cent. Calling it the Grameen Phone, Escotel says the person operating it would charge a service fee to cover his costs and earn a livelihood, thus generating self- employment as well. Escotel claims that while other operators had launched schemes for public call offices, it was the first to offer such a large subsidy with a social objective. Under the new telecom policy, the Government has promised one telephone for every village, but the cell-phone had brought connectivity to these villages much faster, Escotel claims. Nokia, too, has introduced a cell-phone that features Hindi as one of the language options for the user interface. According to the IT industry, the demand often comes from the rural areas themselves. Ganesh Natarajan, CEO of Aptech Ltd., says the company's programme Vidya, which aims at providing computer literacy through training in basic computer skills, is successful even in the most remote among the company's 1,000 centres. "We have instances of housewives aged"ver 60 who just want to come and familiarise themselves with computers." Dishnet, an Internet service provider, reaches small places such as Baramati, Mettupalayam, Akola etc. The demand is amazing, says S. Ravindran, Vice-President of the company. When asked what the biggest challenge for his employees was, N.R. Narayana Murthy, Chairman of Infosys, said: "The biggest problem is that my employees have to leave the safe embryo of their home, look at the tremendous apathy and poverty and lack of services on their way to office, and at office, they are immediately expected to satisfy the customers of the first world." Source: The Business Line . January 24, 2000 http://sdnp.delhi.nic.in/resources/internetinfo/news/bl-24-1-00- divide.html From owner-s-asia-it@lists.apnic.net Mon Mar 6 17:44:42 2000 Received: (from majordom@localhost) by whois.apnic.net (8.9.3/8.9.3) id RAA155300; Mon, 6 Mar 2000 17:44:41 +1000 (EST) Received: from post.super.net.pk (smtp-khi1.super.net.pk [203.130.2.9]) by whois.apnic.net (8.9.3/8.9.3) with ESMTP id RAA155297 for ; Mon, 6 Mar 2000 17:44:30 +1000 (EST) Received: from excel586 (khi-line-134.super.net.pk [203.130.5.69]) by post.super.net.pk (8.9.1/8.9.3) with ESMTP id MAA09026 for ; Mon, 6 Mar 2000 12:53:01 -0500 Message-Id: <200003061753.MAA09026@post.super.net.pk> From: "Irfan Khan" To: s-asia-it@apnic.net Date: Mon, 6 Mar 2000 12:42:48 +0500 MIME-Version: 1.0 Content-type: text/plain; charset=US-ASCII Content-transfer-encoding: 7BIT Subject: [India] report from Commsphere 2000 X-mailer: Pegasus Mail for Win32 (v3.12b) Sender: owner-s-asia-it@lists.apnic.net Precedence: bulk [from the india-gii mailing list] ------- Forwarded message follows ------- From: "Arun Mehta" Date sent: Mon, 6 Mar 2000 11:38:35 +0530 This recently concluded conference at IIT Madras on affordable telecom solutions for developing countries was organised by the team around Professor Ashok Jhunjhunwala, who is himself a pioneer in the area -- his wireless in the local loop is an exciting, low-cost solution for voice and Net connectivity. Other impressions from the conference: 1.. Wireless, including broadband, is making rapid strides. Samudra Haque haque@pradeshta.net talked about a very exciting, patent pending, low-cost solution in which he modifies an off-the-shelf wireless LAN, and feeds its limited power to an efficient antenna via a low-loss cable -- and is able to cover impressive distances in the km range! 2.. ISDN is dead -- in the session I chaired on low-cost access technologies, ISDN wasn't even mentioned once (except in my concluding remarks to the effect). ADSL is arriving, and should have already, but for some starting hiccups. 3.. Cable modems show little sign of becoming cheaper. I wonder why something not much more sophisticated than an Ethernet LAN card should cost so much more? India has vast coverage via cable TV networks, and is potentially a huge market for cable modems -- but not at current prices. 4.. There was talk of Net delivery via the electricity mains: I can understand this network being used for things like reading the meters, but I am sceptical about the delivery of high bandwidth via unshielded wires: in my view, there will be too much power leakage, therefore very high ambient noise, etc. Peter O'Neill and I disagreed strongly on this, and I would be interested in hearing if the technology works: are thousands of people anywhere connecting reliably to the Net via the electricity network? 5.. Bluetooth is the next big thing in telecom -- I think that a combination of the Net via optic fiber combined with Bluetooth two- way radio for the "last mile" has the potential to seriously dent the profits of the big telcos in voice. 6.. A large number of people -- maybe half of India -- will not be able to afford any of the above. All they can afford by way of a telecommunications device is the simple radio. Rather than simply inventing technologies and then looking for a market, perhaps we also need to go the other way: look to see what the people can afford, and see what can be delivered using those means. This was my contribution to the conference, along the lines of http://www.cerfnet.com/~amehta/radiocracy.htm -- I also spoke of the need for technologists to take greater interest in policy-making in the area, and to engage in what I call technological activism -- making things happen in support of poor people getting access. Arun Mehta, B-69, Lajpat Nagar-I, New Delhi-110024. Phone 6841172, 6849103 http://www.cerfnet.com/~amehta ------- End of forwarded message ------- From owner-s-asia-it@lists.apnic.net Tue Mar 7 05:32:15 2000 Received: (from majordom@localhost) by whois.apnic.net (8.9.3/8.9.3) id FAA72154; Tue, 7 Mar 2000 05:32:14 +1000 (EST) Received: from post.super.net.pk (smtp-khi1.super.net.pk [203.130.2.9] (may be forged)) by whois.apnic.net (8.9.3/8.9.3) with ESMTP id FAA156957 for ; Tue, 7 Mar 2000 05:32:07 +1000 (EST) Received: from excel586 ([203.130.7.169]) by post.super.net.pk (8.9.1/8.9.3) with ESMTP id AAA27662; Tue, 7 Mar 2000 00:39:12 -0500 Message-Id: <200003070539.AAA27662@post.super.net.pk> From: "Irfan Khan" To: s-asia-it@apnic.net Date: Tue, 7 Mar 2000 00:31:25 +0500 MIME-Version: 1.0 Content-type: text/plain; charset=US-ASCII Content-transfer-encoding: 7BIT Subject: Satellite technology CC: "Frederick Noronha" , "Arun Mehta" X-mailer: Pegasus Mail for Win32 (v3.12b) Sender: owner-s-asia-it@lists.apnic.net Precedence: bulk ------- Forwarded message follows ------- Date: Mon, 06 Mar 2000 10:32:41 +0300 From: "Al Mansouryah, Head Office" To: s-asia-it@apnic.net Subject: Satellite technology Dear Sir, I like to know the latest news about digital satellites and satellite telephone technologies' in India. Could you please send some of the same to me. I will be very much happy if you can give some of the web site address regarding the above technical subjects. My email address is CKovoor@yahoo.com Awaiting your kind consideration. Cheriyan Kovoor An Indian IT professional working in Saudi Arabia ------- End of forwarded message ------- From owner-s-asia-it@lists.apnic.net Tue Mar 7 07:32:32 2000 Received: (from majordom@localhost) by whois.apnic.net (8.9.3/8.9.3) id HAA157162; Tue, 7 Mar 2000 07:32:31 +1000 (EST) Received: from mx.super.net.pk (smtp-khi1.super.net.pk [203.130.2.10]) by whois.apnic.net (8.9.3/8.9.3) with ESMTP id HAA157158 for ; Tue, 7 Mar 2000 07:32:22 +1000 (EST) Received: from excel586 (khi-line-009.super.net.pk [203.130.5.148]) by mx.super.net.pk (8.9.3/8.9.3) with ESMTP id CAA14790 for ; Tue, 7 Mar 2000 02:32:14 +0500 (GMT+0500) Message-Id: <200003062132.CAA14790@mx.super.net.pk> From: "Irfan Khan" To: s-asia-it@apnic.net Date: Tue, 7 Mar 2000 02:33:07 +0500 MIME-Version: 1.0 Content-type: text/plain; charset=ISO-8859-1 Subject: TechKnowLogia: March/April 2000 (ACCESS TO INFORMATION AND KNOWLEDGE) X-mailer: Pegasus Mail for Win32 (v3.12b) Content-Transfer-Encoding: 8bit X-MIME-Autoconverted: from Quoted-printable to 8bit by whois.apnic.net id HAA157159 Sender: owner-s-asia-it@lists.apnic.net Precedence: bulk The thematic focus of the March/April issue of TechKnowLogia [http://www.techKnowLogia.org] is access to information and knowledge. ------- Forwarded message follows ------- <...> ====================================================================== ANNOTATED TABLE OF CONTENTS- TechKnowLogia VOL. 2, ISSUE 2, March/April 2000 ====================================================================== EDITORIAL --------- 1. Is the Divide Digital Wadi D. Haddad, Editor There is now a genuine concern about the "digital divide." But narrowing the divide - publishing a newspaper in every village, placing a radio and TV in every household, putting a computer in every classroom, and wiring every building to the Internet - does not automatically solve the problem. The most serious divide is in the extent and quality of human knowledge and learning. 2. Email to the Editor Read what your colleagues have offered as feedback on the last three issues of TechKnowLogia. FRONTLINE --------- 3. Why be Wired? The Importance of Access to Information and Communication Technologies Kerry Stephen McNamara, Senior Knowledge Management Officer, World Bank Institute Access to information and communication technologies and the ability to adapt those technologies to local needs is no longer a luxury; it is a necessity. This article outlines the scope of the problem, how to tackle it, how to ensure improvements in the lives of the poor and what the international community can do. 4. Measuring up Access Prepared by Lesley Anne Simmons, Communications Officer, Global Knowledge Partnership Secretariat, World Bank Institute This article presents data on the degree to which the people of most countries of the world have access to the tools and skills of the information age. 5. Rural Access: How Can Connectivity Contribute to Social and Agricultural Development? Don Richardson, Ph.D.,TeleCommons Development Group Telecommunication services are important "lubricants" for rural and agricultural development, and while they are not a development panacea, their contribution can be significant where they are available. 6. TechKnowNews Tony Blair Focuses on Learning as Key to Digital Economy Asia's IT Revolution Exposes Serious Skills Shortage Multipurpose Community Telecenter in Africa Need Fuels Continued Growth of Corporate Universities Internet Use in Asia to Explode by 2005 New Internet Training Materials Available from ITrain On-Line Debate on Global Poverty, Social Exclusion, Inequality World Bank Group and SoftBank to Invest in Internet Enterprises for The Developing World TECHNOLOGIES AT WORK -------------------- 7. FM Radio Stations: Broadcasting with the Sun David Walker, Educational Specialist, The Commonwealth of Learning This article describes community-based low powered FM radio stations, some powered by solar energy, and how they can be used successfully. 8. Information Technology for the Masses: Can It Be TV? Claudio de Moura Castro, Chief Education Adviser, Inter-American Development Bank Technology follows the tracks of wealth. Television may be an exception. This article focuses on two cases from Brazil: Globo Rural and Pequenas Empresas e Grandes Negcios (Small Enterprises and Great Deals). 9. School Connectivity: Wishful Thinking or Wise Action? Sam Carlson, Robert Hawkins, World Links for Development Program This article describes a pilot project in Uganda which links via the Internet secondary-level students and teachers around the world, in order to improve educational opportunities, develop youth employment skills for the 21st Century, and build global awareness and understanding. 10. A High-Tech Twist: ICT Access and the Gender Divide Mary Fontaine, The LearnLink Project, Academy for Educational Development (AED) This article discusses a subset of the digital divide - a snapshot of a phenomenon that is emerging as an issue of substance in its own right: the gender divide. 11. Grassroots Libraries: A Base for Lifelong Learning Aya Aoki, Adult Outreach Education Thematic Group, The World Bank Grassroots public library systems can serve as a powerful mean to promote literacy and a lifelong learning environment for both children and adults. Examples are provided. 12. The Full Story: Full-Text Publications on the Web Gregg B. Jackson, Ph.D., Associate Professor and Coordinator, George Washington University The Internet is now the largest library in the history of the world. This article steers you to Internet sources that provide the full text of books, reports, journals, and newsletters. UNDER OBSERVATION ----------------- 13. The Information Revolution and the Digital Divide: A Review of Literature Sonia Jurich The author reviews the literature in search of answers to the questions: Who benefits from the ICT revolution? Why is it so important to embrace the digital revolution? Is there no hope for those on the other side of the divide? 14. e-Lectronic Access to Information: A Research Review Sonia Jurich Four summaries of research on the use of electronic documents for information seeking and retrieval. PLANNING FOR TECHNOLOGIES ------------------------- 15. Korea: Can Edutopia Become a Reality? Insung Jung, Ph.D., Korea National Open University The author describes a national strategy of easy access to education by anyone at any time and place, and how Korea National Open University is implementing it. 16. Open-Source Software: Untapped Opportunities? Rafael Chargel Open-source is the term used for designated software that is publicly available in source code form, rather than as final product. This article presents best known examples and outlines rationale, limitations and potential for developing countries. 17. On the Move Upcoming Events: Conference, Seminars, Exhibits, Training Courses, etc. TECHNOLOGIES TODAY ------------------ 18. A Phone is a Phone is a Phone? Well, Not Really! Sandra Semaan What are the types of wireless technologies and what can mobile phones do? 19. WorthWhileWebs This article offers a selection of websites that make access to information and knowledge easy. TECHNOLOGIES TOMORROW --------------------- 20. High Speed Internet Access: The Future for the World and the Implications for Developing Countries Lawrence Wolff, Inter-American Development Bank The author summarizes the five options for Internet access, their costs and notes what appears to be most feasible for developing countries. 21. Wake Up and Smell the Coffee....Remotely? The Internet Home Sandra Semaan A fully Internet enabled home: controlled via the Internet and accessible from anywhere. 22. UNLP: Universal Networking Language Programme Sandra Semaan The article describes an electronic language for the Internet, which is being developed with the goal of enabling people from around the world to communicate in their native languages. PROFILES IN DEVELOPMENT ----------------------- 23. The Global Knowledge Partnership Lesley Anne Simmons, Communications Officer, Global Knowledge Partnership Secretariat, World Bank Institute GKP is an informal partnership committed to sharing information, experiences and resources, and to promoting broad access to, and effective use of, knowledge and information. 24. InfoChange Jody Olsen, InfoChange Foundation InfoChange is a non-profit organization that helps move forward the goal that everyone should have access to information through technology, and that, without this access, basic education will remain limited. ------- End of forwarded message ------- From owner-s-asia-it@lists.apnic.net Wed Mar 8 03:20:41 2000 Received: (from majordom@localhost) by whois.apnic.net (8.9.3/8.9.3) id DAA88314; Wed, 8 Mar 2000 03:20:41 +1000 (EST) Received: from post.super.net.pk (smtp-khi1.super.net.pk [203.130.2.9]) by whois.apnic.net (8.9.3/8.9.3) with ESMTP id DAA88299 for ; Wed, 8 Mar 2000 03:20:34 +1000 (EST) Received: from excel586 (khi-line-107.super.net.pk [203.130.5.246]) by post.super.net.pk (8.9.1/8.9.3) with ESMTP id WAA20362 for ; Tue, 7 Mar 2000 22:29:07 -0500 Message-Id: <200003080329.WAA20362@post.super.net.pk> From: "Irfan Khan" To: s-asia-it@apnic.net Date: Tue, 7 Mar 2000 22:21:47 +0500 MIME-Version: 1.0 Content-type: text/plain; charset=US-ASCII Content-transfer-encoding: 7BIT Subject: [Pakistan] Discussion on 'Women on the web' on March 8 X-mailer: Pegasus Mail for Win32 (v3.12b) Sender: owner-s-asia-it@lists.apnic.net Precedence: bulk Discussion on 'Women on the web' on March 8 KARACHI (March 5) : The British Council, Karachi, plans to organise a panel discussion, 'Women on the Web', at its premises here on eve of the International Women's Day on March 8. A British Council announcement said on Saturday that the speakers will focus on how the global knowledge revolution will allow leapfrogging to take place and how the internet can be used to empower women. Jahan Ara, Anila Weldon and Rabia Garib will be the speakers on the occasion.--APP http://www.brecorder.com/story/S0010/S1002/S1002102.htm From owner-s-asia-it@lists.apnic.net Wed Mar 8 03:20:45 2000 Received: (from majordom@localhost) by whois.apnic.net (8.9.3/8.9.3) id DAA88333; Wed, 8 Mar 2000 03:20:44 +1000 (EST) Received: from post.super.net.pk (smtp-khi1.super.net.pk [203.130.2.9]) by whois.apnic.net (8.9.3/8.9.3) with ESMTP id DAA88308 for ; Wed, 8 Mar 2000 03:20:38 +1000 (EST) Received: from excel586 (khi-line-107.super.net.pk [203.130.5.246]) by post.super.net.pk (8.9.1/8.9.3) with ESMTP id WAA20365 for ; Tue, 7 Mar 2000 22:29:19 -0500 Message-Id: <200003080329.WAA20365@post.super.net.pk> From: "Irfan Khan" To: s-asia-it@apnic.net Date: Tue, 7 Mar 2000 22:21:47 +0500 MIME-Version: 1.0 Content-type: text/plain; charset=ISO-8859-1 Subject: [India] Slum kids break language barriers, get web-savvy X-mailer: Pegasus Mail for Win32 (v3.12b) Content-Transfer-Encoding: 8bit X-MIME-Autoconverted: from Quoted-printable to 8bit by whois.apnic.net id DAA88329 Sender: owner-s-asia-it@lists.apnic.net Precedence: bulk Slum kids break language barriers, get web-savvy Chennai 6 MARCH THEY can barely manage a few words of English. In fact, many have never even been to school but mention the words computer and cyberspace and some Indian slum children are completely at home. This is thanks to a unique experiment in computer literacy for slum children in northern India, initiated by Sugatha Mitra, senior vice president of the prominent up-market computer education institute, NIIT . Mr Mitra has won international recognition for his experiments in getting slum children, hooked to computers and the internet, using 'minimally invasive' techniques. "If we presume that basic computer literacy is a desirable thing, then it requires a lotless money to implement than what we earlier thought. But it also needs a totally different approach," said Mr Mitra. In fact, he himself had not bargained for the tremendous success that his programme achieved in northern India, including Delhi. "After three months of using computers, the slum children (many of whom don't attend school and have hardly any knowledge of English) were downloading MPEG3 files to play songs from the internet," he reported. Mitra said a free-to-access computer had helped slum kids find their own way around cyberspace, despite seemingly unsuremountable odds like illiteracy and language handicaps. A computer was kept in a neighbourhood near a slum and children were allowed to access it through a touchpad. Interestingly, they were not given any instructions and had to find their own way around. A video camera was fitted nearby, so that the moves of children could be monitored without their knowing it. Within minutes, the children were seen as discovering the relationship between the mouse and the screen, and moments later, they were found to be familiarising themselves with the internet. Showing immense ingenuity, the youths began to learn operationslike clicking the mouse, cutting-and-pasting, viewing picture files and even surfing the and downloading music files within a few months. "Students reached the same level of competence they would have by spending two hours a day at a top-end computer training institute, paying a fee of Rs 4,000-5,000," he said. Mr Mitra said that there was a 'special relationship' between a computer and a child, which adults didn't seem to understand. Often enough, the children helped out their parents with the aid of the Net, with fathers asking children to download horoscopes from Hindi newspaper web sites and mothers asking for 'bhajan' downloads, he said. The slum children also got the additional benefit of improving their English vocabulary and their creative skills increased a lot, particularly in the field of music and art, Mr Mitra said. "Instead of getting terrified by what the internet can do to us as a society, we need to look at what we Indians can do to the Internet and how we can change it." He argued and pointed to the experiment of satellite TV channels which changed over to Hindi once they immersed themselves in India. "We at NIIT feel happy with 250,000 students and say we're the largest computer education outlet in the world. But we should be talking about teaching 300 million students if we are to really make a dent," he argued. His ongoing experiments, he said, had shown that youngsters could easily pick up basic computer literacy and internet familiarity, even with zero training from adults. "Teachers are only required to give a nudge once in a while to students," he said. The kind of all-weather computer 'kiosks' used in his experiment could be replicated to build 100,000 similar units across the country at a cost of $1bn. This, he said, could create 20m literates in a year, bringing in an estimated educational value of $2bn in all.IANS http://www.economictimes.com/today/07tech01.htm From owner-s-asia-it@lists.apnic.net Wed Mar 8 05:34:47 2000 Received: (from majordom@localhost) by whois.apnic.net (8.9.3/8.9.3) id FAA97665; Wed, 8 Mar 2000 05:34:47 +1000 (EST) Received: from goa1.dot.net.in (goa1.dot.net.in [202.54.17.30]) by whois.apnic.net (8.9.3/8.9.3) with ESMTP id FAA97657 for ; Wed, 8 Mar 2000 05:34:41 +1000 (EST) Received: from goanews ([202.54.17.106]) by goa1.dot.net.in (8.9.2/8.9.2) with SMTP id BAA03581; Wed, 8 Mar 2000 01:05:42 +0530 (GMT) Message-Id: <3.0.6.32.20000307232851.007cd230@202.54.17.30> X-Sender: fred@202.54.17.30 (Unverified) X-Mailer: QUALCOMM Windows Eudora Light Version 3.0.6 (32) Date: Tue, 07 Mar 2000 23:28:51 +0500 To: s-asia-it@apnic.net From: Frederick Noronha Subject: BytesForAll MARCH2K Issue#7 In-Reply-To: <200003070539.AAA27662@post.super.net.pk> Mime-Version: 1.0 Content-Type: text/plain; charset="us-ascii" Sender: owner-s-asia-it@lists.apnic.net Precedence: bulk 10101010101010101010101010101010101010101010101010101010101010101 01010101 bYtES For aLL * bYtES For aLL * bYtES For aLL 10101010 10101010101010101010101010101010101010101010101010101010101010101 n.e.w.t.e.c.h.n.o.l.o.g.i.e.s.w.i.l.l.m.e.a.n.h.a.v.i.n.g.m.o.r.e i.n.t.h.e.h.a.v.e.n.o.t.c.a.m.p.i.f.w.e.a.r.e.n.o.t.c.a.r.e.f.u.l 10101010101010101010101010101010101010101010101010101010101010101 1010101010.....AN OCCASIONAL NEWSLETTER TO MAKE........0101010101 0101010101..........COMPUTING AND TECHNOLOGY...........1010101010 1010101010....FRIENDLY TO NEEDS OF THE MILLIONS........0101010101 1010101010..Compiler: Frederick Noronha fred@vsnl.com..0101010101 01010101010101010101010101010101010101010101010101010101010101010 COMMSPHERE SPECIAL ISSUE * RELEASED IN MARCH 2000. CHENNAI, INDIA Commsphere2000 was held in South India with the theme 'Affordable Telecom and IT Solutions for Developing Countries'. More details from web-site http://www.tenet.res.in/commsphere/commsphere.html 01010101010101010101010101010101010101010101010101010101010101010 ++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++ SAMUDRA HAQUE OF BANGLADESH HAS A UNIQUE SOLUTION for connecting distant rural villages, which he has just had a patent claim registered in Dhaka. "We're combining the best elements of radio engineering, telecommunications and computer science to offer a high-speed communication network in remote rural villages spread over large areas. And we are doing this will relatively small budgets too," says Haque. Using this method, 3 MBPS or more high-speed links are expected to villages, using wireless routers. He said 20-30 telephone channels and video phone sets could be offered for a capital cost of US$150,000 to villages which otherwise had no hope of being connected. "We aim to provide mega-bits, not just kilo-bits," said Haque. Haque says that in Bangladesh, by 2002, there will be 129 million people who will NOT have access to telephone services, "a staggering error in judgement when compared to the lucky one million people who will have the privilege of calling someone using their own telephone". He called his paper a "partial report" of work in the continuing design, fabrication and deployment of a Broadband Wireless IP Router working in the S-band using Spread Spectrum in order to develop a flexible, portable data communications network operating at between 2 MBPS and 5.5 MBPS over 16-30 km or more." Email contact: haque@pradeshta.net ++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++ INDIA HAS LESS THAN 25 million telephones and one million Internet connections for its 1000 million people. Making telecom and Internet available to (at least) 150 to 200 million people in India is a must if it is to avoid a sharp divide within society and build an ability to stand up to the world, says Professor Ashok Jhunjhunwala (of the Indian Institute of Technology in Chennai). But there are serious bottnecks to achieving this goal. Economics is foremost. Today's largely Western developed technologies offer cost-effective services in the West. A cost of $30 per month as service charges for each connection is not considered too high and is probably affordable to over 90% of the people in the West. This technology, catering to a $30 per month subscriber, could easily cost around $1000 per connection (assuming that a 35% return on investment covers the cost of investment and operation). But at $40 per month, telecom and Internet services are affordable to less than 1.5% households in India. The service charges need to be reduced to $15 per month to make it affordable to the next five per cent of households and to less than $6 per month so as to cater to another 25% of households. "Development of such low-cost technology is naturally not a priority task for corporates in the West. It has to become however the focus for the R&D community and companies in the developing world," argues Prof Jhunjhunwala. Email: ashok@tenet.res.in ++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++ ANALOGUE DEVICES INC. (US) CHAIRMAN RAY STATA warns that "Left to chance, the Internet revolution could broaden the already large gap between the economies of developed and developing nations." He notes that in India, the experiences of organisations like CDOT (the Centre for the Development of Telematics) in designing telephone switching equipment proved that engineering talent is available and there is a need to develop more affordable communication equipment, which is also more compatible with the governments' need to balance trade. "Analog Devices' experience in working with IIT-Madras and Midas, a start-up company assembled from IIT-Madras alumni, to develop a wireless local loop system [more on this below-ed.] indicates that indigenous Indian companies are fully capable of designing world-class equipment that is significantly lower in cost than equivalent imported equipment," Stata added. ++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++ COPPER AND OPTICAL FIBRE of the Indian Railway network, besides wireless access, could provide Internet and telecom services in small towns and rural areas say railway engineers and engineering experts. Despite India having a number of Internet Service Providers, their efforts are largely limited to the major cities -- seldom reaching 100 cities in this vast country. Much more needs to be done. The Indian Railways has a network spanning every corner of India, and around 8,000 stations at an average distance of about seven kilometres. There is special quad copper cable laid between the stations. Normally used for voice telephony, there is one spare unloaded cable which was put in for train control purposes, but never used. Optical fibre is also available along several major routes. This paper introduces a special DSL on copper system, designed at the Indian Institute of Technology-Madras, which could be used to provide a high bit-rate date link between stations. These links can be connected to form a Railway Internet backbone network. The network could be connected to the Internet at major stations, either directly or using the fibre backbone of the Railways, wherever available. This network can be used to provide an Internet kiosk at every station. Further corDECT wireless in local loop technologies (also Indian) could be used to provide 30-200 Internet connections in the vicinity of 10 kms of the station. The most interesting aspect of this is that one can cover about 4000 towns and probably provide 100,000 Internet connections all over the small towns and rural areas of India in less than two years. Costs are small: probably around Rs 15,000 (US$350) per connection. The gains can be immense. Contact P R Goundan, Chief S&T Engineer (Projects), South Central Railway, Secunderabad- India or Prof Ashok Jhunjhunwala of IIT Madras ashok@tenet.res.in ++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++ 'POWERCOMS' CAN TAKE EVERY JHUGGI on the Web, says Peter D O'Neill. It is now possible to give 4.5 billion people the ability to leapfrog onto the Web, wherever there is electricity supply, without a traditional phoneline connection and without a PC. It's practicable to deliver multimedia services via powerline communications (powercoms) along the electricity line (not fibre optic) to the most humble dwelling, even if they only have an electric (legal or illegal) light bulb dangling from the ceiling. Email: tweecisbyt@gn.apc.org http://www.jhuggi.com ++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++ RESEARCHERS FROM SOUTH INDIA have made a case for a "serious examination" of the powerline as an access medium. This technology could be used for local loop applications in countries like India, where over 70% of households have power line connections already in place. "Even a fraction of this conductor- capacity made usable for additional communication purposes would represent a significant enhancement in the availability of access medium," says C N Krishnan, P V Ramakrishna, T V Prasad and S Karthikeyan. Email cnkrish@vsnl.com ++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++ FOR BANGLADESH, networking telecommunication infrastructure -- specially in the rural areas where 80% of its people live -- is not normally affordable. The strategy needs increased productivity of existing resources, lowering the cost of infrastructure, diversification of services and concentration only on core competencies. Sharing existing infrastructure, like the use of railway fibre optic network, use of power pylons for overlaying optical fibre cable networks and sharing the capacity by all operators are reducing the investment cost. Combined efforts by the government, non-government groups, financial institutions and local people are required for the networking revolution, says South Asia Multimedia chairman Fazlur Rahman of Bangladesh Email frahman@bd.drik.net ++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++ ENGINEERS FROM CHENNAI (South India) are working on plans to develop an access product to the Internet that does not require to obtain a phenomenally-costly leased line from a Telecom provider to get a permanent connection to the Internet. They note that of late the Internet has become "one of the most important means of acquiring information, carrying out commerce and conducting many kinds of educational and promotional activities". An access network solution called 'Direct Internet Access System' (DIAS) achieves the goals of permanent Internet access and telephone service with a single line to the subscriber, which reduces the congestion on PSTN networks. The DIAS allows telecom operators to provide high bit-rate packet-switched Internet access to residential and corporate subscribers *simultaneously* in addition to voice services, on existing telephone cables. In addition to the existing infrastructure, DIAS separates the data traffic and sends directly to the Internet. So exchanges can be left untouched; no need to update the exchanges for increase in traffic due to dial- up data access. In contrast to the current residential PSTN and ISDN dial-up access, DIAS provides an Internet access that is permanently available at the customer's premises at a very affordable cost. Contacts: Banyan Networks Pvt Ltd, Chennai, India K. Anjaneya Sharma sharma@banyanNetworks.com A.G. Suresh Babu suresh@banyanNetworks.com R.Thirumurthy rtm@banyanNetworks.com C.Sanjay sanjay@banyanNetworks.com ++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++ corDECT SYSTEM IS A DECT-based wireless local loop system developed in India. Its features include that the subscriber-unit establishes and maintains a lot bit-rate (8 kbps) DECT half-slot contention-free, circuit-switched and connection to the Internet and on the down-link the base-station broadcasts packets at high -rate (324 kbps) using multiple double slots. The broadcast channel is shared among all active data users in a cell. This is done differently from earlier attempts to transmit data on wireless local-loop systems, which mainly employed voice-band modems on circuit-switched channels. Devendra Jalihal dj@tenet.res.in K. Giridhar giri@tenet.res.in Bhaskar Ramamurthi bhaskar@tenet.res.in Dept of Electrical Engineering, Indian Institute of Tech, Madras. ++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++ corDECT WILL-BASED TELEPHONES, based on technology from the IIT- Madras and developed by Indian firm Shyam Telecom of New Delhi is bringing in encouraging reports from the dense coastal forest region of Sambava in Madagascar, rural towns in Fiji, the highly hilly terrain of Yemen, suburban Kisumu in Kenya, and dense urban settlements of Bhopal and New Delhi, says N. K.Mahapatra of Shyam Telecom Limited from New Delhi. corDECT WILL was developed by IIT-Madras and M/S Midas Technologies Limited, with active support from M/S Analog Devices of the US. ++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++ corDECT is a telecom product designed with affordability of the commonman in the Third World in mind. Yet it provides all the services expected from a state-of-the-art telecom network. It is based on ETSI's DECT air interface standard and supports toll quality voice, voice-band fax/data, and above all, a facility to provide 35/70 KBPS of Internet connectivity. corDECT's subscriber terminal has two interfaces, one for the standard two-wire analog interface, so that a subscriber can connect any standard terminal such as a telephone instrument, fax/modem, payphone and the other one a RS232C Internet port, for connecting to a corresponding computer port. This provides a subscriber with two virtual lines, one dedicated for the Internet and the other for voice, fax, payphone or data. These ports can be used simultaneously. It has an all-features switch, which can be expanded in 1000 line units, and can be connected to the PSTN either on V5.2 or on R2MF and also on an analog subscriber interface. corDECT's air interface supports 10 kms line-of-sight links, and has a provision to extend this range to upto 35 kms, with the help of a relay-base station. Base stations can be connected to the corDECT radio switch with the help of either twisted copper cables (upto 5 kms) or standard G.703 interface on any standard medium like fibre or microwave. Contact Shrish B Purohit, Director, Midas Communications, Chennai Email midascom@md2.vsnl.net.in ++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++ PROF U.B. DESAI OF IIT-Bombay is studying a communication system for health care that "we believe will be very relevant to India". He argues that early diagnosis can prevent many casualties. With some minor modification, the same system can be exploited for distance education. Email: ubdesai@ee.iitb.ernet.in ++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++ TUNISIAN RESEARCHERS HAVE developed an interactive virtual environment for web-based teaching and learning. This low-cost platform was developed in collaboration with INRS Telecommunications of Quebec. Using hypertext links, the environment offers a rapid and easy access to related documents and sites. Course documents contain text, graphics, animations, audio and video clips. This platform also integrates some communication facilities (chat, e-mail, conferences) to encourage interaction between students and teacher. The platform is currently under evaluation. One of the first course developed is about electromagnetic compatibility (EMC) and its applications in telecommunications. Contacts: R. Abdelhak, Ecole Superieure des Communications de Tunis adel.ghazel@supcom.rnu.tn A. Ghazel, Pepiniere des Projets des Communications de Tunis med-ramzi.abdelhak@supcom.rnu.tn K. Bouleiman, Institut Superieur des Etudes Technologiques en Communications (ISET'COM) K.bouleimen@student.ulg.ac.be ++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++ MULTILINGUAL SYSTEMS, that's what was the subject of an experimental project of IIT Madras. It aimed at developing a system to meet the IT requirements of a country based on user interfaces that support interaction with computers in one's own mother tongue. The Multilingual System allows new applications to be handled with considerable ease due to the software tools made available as part of the system. The software permits applications to work transparently across all Indian languages and thus meets the important requirement of a single solution for all the many languages of India. Specific applications to cater to the needs of the underpriviledged as well as visually-handicapped persons have already been developed and made available to a number of institutions. Details are available of the system, and also a discussion on the technical issues in computing with Indian languages. Contacts: Prof Kalyana Krishnan rkk@shiva.iitm.ernet.in http://sdlcfsn.cs.iitm.ernet.in/ ++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++ LECTURING OVER THE INTERNET is made possible by a a new tool, code-named Instruction On Demand (IOD). It was developed over the last three years, and is in its development phase. IOD stimulates, on the user's PC screens, a typical seminar environment where a speaker lectures using overhead transparencies. The speaker's slides are available locally with all the participants, and can be downloaded-prior to the lectures. The flipping of the slides, at appropriate instants, on all the users' screens, is remotely controlled by the speaker. IOD users IP multicast to deliver audio and the users' annotations on the slides, in a synchronised fashion, to all the participants. IOD has been tested over the last 18 months, and even a full semester course on the campus has been conducted using the tool. Contacts: Prof Kumar N Sivarajan, Indian Institute of Science in Bangalore Email kumar@ece.iisc.ernet.in ++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++ INTERNET ACCESS IN INDIA today is a definitely expensive proposition. In the US, Internet access costs $19.95 per month for unlimited access. Since local calls are free in the US, the cost of accessing the net is typically zero. Assuming that an average user spends an hour on the net every day, the average consumer pays about 66 cents or Rs 28 per hour in the US. On the other hand, in India, access costs along work out to about Rs 25 per hour. Additionally, ISPs typically charge somewhere between Rs 25 and 30 per hour of access. Thus the total cost of access works to a little more than Rs 50 per hour. Dr Milind Gandhe and G. Murlikrishnan discuss a technology called General Packet Radio Service (GPRS) that will allow the existing GSM wireless infrastructure to be used for wireless Internet access. GPRS can be implemented as a software-only upgrade on the existing GSM network. Email contacts: msg@sasi.com ++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++ INDIA HAS SEEN A MUSHROOMING in its number of colleges -- particularly in the professional disciplines of engineering and medical. But most of them are not able to attract and retain quality teachers, or provide the educational ambience needed to impart quality instruction. The Internet could help, by offering affordable quality networking to improve higher education. Educational Technologies Service Providers (ETSP) can provide the logistics, content dissemination and management support through a network of educational servers for facilitating interactive Internet/Web facilitated serious academic programmes, suggests Prof K R Srivathsan of IIT Kanpur. Since it is difficult to get or retain the kind of manpower needed, the proposed ETSP could hire them and share them across several colleges in a given locale. He suggests using Hybrid Network architectures to overcome traffic bottlenecks. Since leased lines are expensive for colleges, Srivathsan suggests alternatives like (i) wireless in local loops or WILL (ii) Digital Internet Access Service that converts existing telephone copper write to DSL that splits telephony paths and 24 hour data circuits to the local exchange and the ISP respectively (iii) Different multiple access wireless access networks and (iv) Use of satellite-based digital broadcasting with interactive low speed terrestrial Internet access schemes to amplify throughput and improve QoS (quality of service). Contacts K R Srivathsan krsr@iitk.ernet.in ++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++ SLUM-CHILDREN AND NON-ENGLISH SPEAKING KIDS are taking to computers in a jiffy. So reports Dr Sugata Mitra of the NIIT's Centre for Research in Cognitive Systems. Mitra is with the National Institute for Information Technology (NIIT), a prestigious up-market computer education network training a quarter-million affluent Indian youngsters. But what has drawn him nationwide attention is his experiments in unravelling how speedily slum-children and the poor from non-English backgrounds can intuitively pick up computer concepts. In two experiments conducted in India, PCs connected to the Internet were provided on the roadside and turned on without any instructions or announcement. In both instances it was seen that the acquisition of basic computing skills by groups of children was achieved through incidental learning and some minimal (human) guidance. He reported the observations, and compared the two experiments, besides suggesting steps to further the experiment and discuss the new pedagogy. Mitra also suggested a methodology for replicating the experiment for millions India-wide. Contact: Dr Sugata Mitra sugatam@niit.com ++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++ INDIAN LANGUAGE COMPUTING is a vital input if information and communication technologies are to reach the masses. Computing has to become low cost and must be accessible to the people in their language, says Prof Rajeev Sangal of the Indian Institute of Information Technology-Hyderabad's Language Technologies Research Centre. Support for keyboarding and display of Indian language scripts is absolutely basic. While flexibility may be left regarding keyboarding, the issue of the coding scheme to be followed is crucial. Because the coding standards are not being followed, the scene is chaotic. There are a large number of fonts, each following a different coding scheme. This renders them unreadable unless you are on a specific platform and download the font first. Even then the texts cannot be searched, or machine- translated. In other words, there is no substitute for following coding standards. One recent answer is to use plug-ins so that texts at the server-end are stored in the ISCII standard (Indian Standard Character Interface), but are available to users at the client- end in their own fonts and coding schemes. Fully-automatic, general purpose, high-quality machine translation (FGH-MT) technology is beyond the present state of the art. But language access systems have been shown to be feasible from one Indian language to another, called the *anusaaraka* systems. Besides technology, says Prof Sangal, digital content tailored to our environment and Indian needs has to be also available in the many national languages. Presently, a very small amount of educational and informational material in Indian languages is available on the Internet. Compact disks (CDs) with Indian language content are few, and expensively priced. In fact, CDs can be used to distribute the content cheaply. Networks can provide communication between people, and updates to content already distributed on CDs. Special attention should be pid to the generation of educational material. Otherwise, this medium will not play much of a role in education, just as happened in the case of TV. Contact Prof Rajeev Sangal sangal@iiit.net ++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++ LOW COST INTERACTIVE CABLE TV SET-TOP-BOXES hold much potential for India, a country which has just 400,000 Internet subscribers but 20 million households linked to cable TV, say engineers of Himachal Futuristic. Contact prem_jain@hotmail.com P.C.Jain ++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++ THE OVERWHELMING MAJORITY of Africans have yet to get access to basic communication services. Though there is a growing understanding of the need for universal access, lack of clear direction, inadequate resources and limited political readiness have continued to widen the gap between policy objectives and actions and between expectations and realization, says Lishan Adam. Adam is Regional Adviser on Connectivity of the Development Information Services Division in Ethiopia. Email lishan@hotmail.com ++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++ BYTES FOR ALL is simply an experiment to circulate news of IT solutions and Internet options that are relevant to the majority of South Asians. It's only modest role is to showcase, share and spotlight on such relevant initiatives being undertaken by others from the region... and beyond. Contacts Frederick Noronha (Goa- India) fred@bytesforall.org, fred@vsnl.com or Partha Sarker (Dhaka-Bangladesh) partha@bytesforall.org ++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++ INFORMATION TECHNOLOGY can play a vital role in the development process of Nepal (i) by enhancing economic development opportunities through software production and e-commerce (ii) by accelerating social development efforts through access to health and education-related information and (iii) by providing government services with transparency, accountability and good governance, says Ramesh Vaidhya of the Nepal National Planning Commission. Email: ramesh@vaidhya.wlink.com.np ++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++ CONSUMER ELECTRONICS HAS A GROWING market in India and today B&W TV receivers have become affordable even in rural areas. For instance, the price of a 14-inch B&W TV receiver, which used to be Rs 2500 (US$58) in the early nineties, is now as low as Rs 1100 (US$26) to Rs 1300 (US$30), says Y. Gopala Rao, the executive director of the Bharat Electronics Limited of Bangalore. ++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++ UNIVERSITY OF ILLINOIS, CHICAGO's Osei K Darkwa looks at the need and use of multipurpose community telecentres (MCTs) in Africa. These centres have the ability to provide access to information and communication to predominantly under-served rural populations. His research looks at the need of MCTs to confront rural Africa's problems, the increasing applications of MCTs and MCT technologies in enhancing options for education, health, and socioeconomic development in rural Africa. Contact darkwa@uic.edu ++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++ WHAT IS THE ROLE for broadcasting in the Third World in the new millennium? "Emerging new digital technologies need not be acquired in haste by the developing countries, and Plain Old Radio (POR) may be good enough for 20 more years. The policy and regulation issues need to be addressed immediately to harness the potential of broadcasting in the new millennium for poverty alleviation and sustained development," says Dr Hari Om Srivastava, Director of All India Radio, New Delhi Email: hostrivastava@air.org.in ++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++ BRAZIL IS 'WORKING HARD' to accelerate the IT process, focusing on how to shorten the social gap, says Vanda Scartezini, the National Secretary for Information Technology Policy, of the Brazilian Federal Government's ministry of science and technology. Email vanda@mct.gov.br http://www.mct.gov.br/sepin ++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++ ECONOMICS OF LINUX was a subject handled by associate editor Prakash Advani at Commsphere2000. Computerization, he argued, is no more considered a luxury of a priviledged few. It has become a necessity to every organisation. Each one, specially non-profits, must necessarily make the most out of their IT budget. Linux is one technology that helps reduce costs and thereby reduce the Total Cost of Ownership -- a significant issue in a resource-poor country like India. Savings also come in the form of optimum use of hardware. Linux runs faster than other operating systems, thereby delivering more performance on the same hardware. ++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++ FROM A COMMENT ON THE INDIA-GII mailing list by Dr Arun Mehta This recently concluded conference at IIT Madras on affordable telecom solutions for developing countries was organised by the team around Professor Ashok Jhunjhunwala, who is himself a pioneer in the area -- his wireless in the local loop is an exciting, low-cost solution for voice and Net connectivity. Other impressions from the conference: (1) Wireless, including broadband, is making rapid strides. Samudra Haque talked about a very exciting, patent pending, low-cost solution in which he modifies an off- the-shelf wireless LAN, and feeds its limited power to an efficient antenna via a low-loss cable -- and is able to cover impressive distances in the km range! (2) ISDN is dead -- in the session I chaired on low-cost access technologies, ISDN wasn't even mentioned once (except in my concluding remarks to the effect). ADSL is arriving, and should have already, but for some starting hiccups. (3) Cable modems show little sign of becoming cheaper. I wonder why something not much more sophisticated than an Ethernet LAN card should cost so much more? India has vast coverage via cable TV networks, and is potentially a huge market for cable modems -- but not at current prices. (4) There was talk of Net delivery via the electricity mains: I can understand this network being used for things like reading the meters, but I am sceptical about the delivery of high bandwidth via unshielded wires: in my view, there will be too much power leakage, therefore very high ambient noise, etc. Peter O'Neill and I disagreed strongly on this, and I would be interested in hearing if the technology works: are thousands of people anywhere connecting reliably to the Net via the electricity network? (5) Bluetooth is the next big thing in telecom -- I think that a combination of the Net via optic fiber combined with Bluetooth two-way radio for the "last mile" has the potential to seriously dent the profits of the big telcos in voice. (6) A large number of people -- maybe half of India -- will not be able to afford any of the above. All they can afford by way of a telecommunications device is the simple radio. Rather than simply inventing technologies and then looking for a market, perhaps we also need to go the other way: look to see what the people can afford, and see what can be delivered using those means. This was my contribution to the conference, along the lines of http://www.cerfnet.com/~amehta/radiocracy.htm -- I also spoke of the need for technologists to take greater interest in policy-making in the area, and to engage in what I call technological activism -- making things happen in support of poor people getting access. Arun Mehta, B-69, Lajpat Nagar-I, New Delhi-110024. Phone 6841172, 6849103 http://www.cerfnet.com/~amehta ++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++ FROM NEW DELHI IN INDIA, ONCE AGAIN ARUN MEHTA writes: I have good news for this list. On the 26th of January, appropriately the 50th anniversary of the Indian republic, we had a meeting of NGOs in Mumbai (Bombay). These groups are now seriously planning to start a station on the cable networks, and are examining the feasibility. There's a note on the feasibility of such a radio station. Please visit http://www.egroups.com/docvault/netradio/26thJanNotes.doc The rationale of a cable-based radio station is discussed at http://www.cerfnet.com/~amehta/radiocracy.htm Further details Arun Mehta, B-69, Lajpat Nagar-I, New Delhi-110024. Phone 6841172, 6849103 http://www.cerfnet.com/~amehta ---------------------------------------------------------------- BYTESFORALL MAILING-LIST AND WEBSITE http://www.bytesforall.org ARE JOINTLY EDITED BY FREDERICK NORONHA fred@bytesforall.org AND PARTHA SARKAR partha@bytesforall.org COPYLEFT may be freely reproduced, provided full message is kept intact, and all sources acknowledged. Please share copies those whom you think might be interested... To get this newsletter regularly, write to fred@vsnl.com and in the subject say SUBSCRIBE B4A, giving a brief self-introduction. We love to know who our readers are! ---------------------------------------------------------------- From owner-s-asia-it@lists.apnic.net Fri Mar 10 13:05:23 2000 Received: (from majordom@localhost) by whois.apnic.net (8.9.3/8.9.3) id NAA89140; Fri, 10 Mar 2000 13:05:21 +1000 (EST) Received: from post.super.net.pk (smtp-khi1.super.net.pk [203.130.2.9]) by whois.apnic.net (8.9.3/8.9.3) with ESMTP id NAA89128 for ; Fri, 10 Mar 2000 13:05:14 +1000 (EST) Received: from excel586 (khi-line-025.super.net.pk [203.130.5.164]) by post.super.net.pk (8.9.1/8.9.3) with ESMTP id IAA18907 for ; Fri, 10 Mar 2000 08:13:46 -0500 Message-Id: <200003101313.IAA18907@post.super.net.pk> From: "Irfan Khan" To: s-asia-it@apnic.net Date: Fri, 10 Mar 2000 08:06:04 +0500 MIME-Version: 1.0 Content-type: text/plain; charset=US-ASCII Content-transfer-encoding: 7BIT Subject: New IDML Web site (fwd) X-mailer: Pegasus Mail for Win32 (v3.12b) Sender: owner-s-asia-it@lists.apnic.net Precedence: bulk ------- Forwarded message follows ------- From: "Katherine Morrow" To: "Bellanet Information Dissemination List" Date sent: Wed, 8 Mar 2000 15:15:06 -0500 New IDML Web site launched today, March 8, 2000. http://www.idmlinitiative.org The IDML Initiative is a multi-agency effort to create an XML-based* standard for the markup and exchange of international development information. Bellanet has been involved in IDML since the beginning, and we designed the IDML web site to meet the needs of partners in the Initiative. The new IDML web site is designed to be a participatory workspace for anyone who wishes to share or exchange content related to using XML for development information. Content can added to the following sections of the web site: NEWS - post an event, announcement etc. LINKS - share links that may be of interest to people working with XML in the international development sphere. DOCUMENTS - Upload an article from your computer, or you point to a document residing on another web site. DTDs - IDML and other relevant DTDs. CONTACTS - We encourage users of the site to share their contact information. PILOT PROJECTS - An area for sharing information about pilot projects. MEETINGS - This section is for meetings related to XML in the international development context. Documentation from previous IDML meetings has been posted here. To add content to one of the above sections of the site click on one of the section titles from the side bar menu. Within each section you will see a link which allows you to add content to this site. Once the content has been added to the site, it will be queued for posting by an administrator. The purpose of the administrative queue is strictly to filter out advertising, general spam etc. Please send us your feedback about the site to: info@idmlinitiative.org * XML, the Extensible Markup Language, is a set of rules used for computer processing of electronic documents containing structured information. It is an open standard adopted by the W3C, the governing body of the World Wide Web. Implementation of XML promises to improve the management and exchange of online information. ------- End of forwarded message ------- From owner-s-asia-it@lists.apnic.net Fri Mar 10 14:11:28 2000 Received: (from majordom@localhost) by whois.apnic.net (8.9.3/8.9.3) id OAA139825; Fri, 10 Mar 2000 14:11:27 +1000 (EST) Received: from post.super.net.pk (smtp-khi1.super.net.pk [203.130.2.9]) by whois.apnic.net (8.9.3/8.9.3) with ESMTP id OAA94341 for ; Fri, 10 Mar 2000 14:11:20 +1000 (EST) Received: from excel586 (khi-line-025.super.net.pk [203.130.5.164]) by post.super.net.pk (8.9.1/8.9.3) with ESMTP id JAA19895 for ; Fri, 10 Mar 2000 09:19:56 -0500 Message-Id: <200003101419.JAA19895@post.super.net.pk> From: "Irfan Khan" To: s-asia-it@apnic.net Date: Fri, 10 Mar 2000 09:12:41 +0500 MIME-Version: 1.0 Content-type: text/plain; charset=US-ASCII Content-transfer-encoding: 7BIT Subject: [Pakistan] Internet can help women achieve their rights X-mailer: Pegasus Mail for Win32 (v3.12b) Sender: owner-s-asia-it@lists.apnic.net Precedence: bulk Internet can help women achieve their rights By Our Staff Reporter KARACHI, March 8: Various speakers highlighting the role of the Internet at a panel discussion on "Women on the Web" said that the Internet can effectively be used to empower women in every field. The discussion was organised by the British Council in connection with the International Women's Day that was celebrated in the city, as elsewhere around the world, on Wednesday. Terming the Internet as a democratic medium they said that it could be used for promoting ideas, publishing, communicating support groups and e-commerce start ups. They said that the most amazing thing about the power of the web was the fact that all contributors were equal no matter where in the world they lived and whatever their age, religion or race. They said that majority of the new Internet accounts in Asia were of women. They said that in a conservative society like Pakistan where sometimes movement of women is controlled by the social or cultural restrictions or due to other factors they could remain in touch with the world through the Internet. They said it was the most inexpensive and effective way to communicate nationally as well as internationally and said there were numerous sites which catered to the information needs of women. They said that with the Internet the women can schedule their domestic and professional work -24 hours a day and seven days a week- conveniently without compromising on either of the two. Responding to a question, they said the Internet facility was available to a few urban centres in the country and a vast majority of women living in rural areas were still deprived of this facility. But then, the rural women's priority was to get clean water, electricity and other basic civic amenities. The Internet would follow in due course of time, they added. To another question, that said like all other media, the Internet was also being exploited and misused by 'sick' people and a number of sites also had pornographic content but there is a way to block such sites so that children cannot access them. Sindh Education Minister Anita Ghulam Ali, Jehan Ara, Anila Weldon, Rabia Garib, Samina Khan, director of the British Council Richard Hardwick and others also spoke on the occasion. A large number of teenagers -mostly students- actively participated in the question answer session. APP adds: Jehan Ara, director of Enabling Technologies, in her remarks said the potential of the Internet was not being fully exploited by the people in our country. Sindh Minister for Education, Prof Anita Ghulam Ali, remarked that women had greater ability to communicate compared to men. She said many women were now using the web and new terms were being developed each day, citing an example she said previously there were bookworms, now there are 'webworms.' She said it was unfortunate that a lot of people could not afford computers. Earlier, in his welcome address, the director of the British Council said "Women on the Web" is intended to provide an upbeat view of the opportunities the Internet could provide to the country, particularly women. He said the global knowledge revolution will allow leap- frogging to take place. We have already seen this happen in the developing world, and mobile telephony was one example of it. This would equally be true in the case of the Internet. <...> http://www.dawn.com/2000/03/09/nat3.htm From owner-s-asia-it@lists.apnic.net Fri Mar 10 16:07:18 2000 Received: (from majordom@localhost) by whois.apnic.net (8.9.3/8.9.3) id QAA140240; Fri, 10 Mar 2000 16:07:17 +1000 (EST) Received: from fh105.infi.net (fh105.infi.net [209.97.16.35]) by whois.apnic.net (8.9.3/8.9.3) with ESMTP id QAA104119 for ; Fri, 10 Mar 2000 16:07:13 +1000 (EST) Received: from akron.infi.net (AKRNB103-06.splitrock.net [209.156.82.52]) by fh105.infi.net (8.8.8/8.8.8) with ESMTP id BAA04355; Fri, 10 Mar 2000 01:07:07 -0500 (EST) Message-ID: <38C890F0.9DF50793@akron.infi.net> Date: Fri, 10 Mar 2000 01:06:40 -0500 From: Bob Pyke Jr Reply-To: repyke@akron.infi.net X-Mailer: Mozilla 4.04 [en] (Win95; U) MIME-Version: 1.0 To: IT Nepal CC: "adhikar@uakron.edu" , South Asia List Subject: [Fwd: HELLO: Do you know anybody in Nepal, who can be helpful to this guy?Thanks. --Arun] Content-Type: multipart/mixed; boundary="------------08AF67F7D8BC2014069AA8E6" Sender: owner-s-asia-it@lists.apnic.net Precedence: bulk This is a multi-part message in MIME format. --------------08AF67F7D8BC2014069AA8E6 Content-Type: text/plain; charset=us-ascii Content-Transfer-Encoding: 7bit FYI, Bob Pyke Jr --------------08AF67F7D8BC2014069AA8E6 Content-Type: message/rfc822 Content-Transfer-Encoding: 7bit Content-Disposition: inline Return-Path: Received: from nx5.HRZ.Uni-Dortmund.DE (nx5.HRZ.Uni-Dortmund.DE [129.217.131.21]) by fh105.infi.net (8.8.8/8.8.8) with ESMTP id TAA16140 for ; Thu, 9 Mar 2000 19:22:47 -0500 (EST) Received: from amadeus.statistik.uni-dortmund.de by nx5.HRZ.Uni-Dortmund.DE via smtp-local with ESMTP; Fri, 10 Mar 2000 01:22:38 +0100 Received: from localhost (tripathi@localhost) by amadeus.statistik.uni-dortmund.de (8.9.3+Sun/8.9.3) with ESMTP id BAA11683 for ; Fri, 10 Mar 2000 01:24:32 +0100 (MET) Date: Fri, 10 Mar 2000 01:24:32 +0100 (MET) From: Arun-Kumar Tripathi To: Bob Pyke Jr Subject: HELLO: Do you know anybody in Nepal, who can be helpful to this guy? Thanks. --Arun Message-ID: MIME-Version: 1.0 Content-Type: TEXT/PLAIN; charset=US-ASCII Date: Thu, 27 Jan 2000 14:52:39 -0500 From: mano@chesterfield.k12.va.us To: tripathi@amadeus.statistik.uni-dortmund.de Subject: Nepal YOu may have seen my message on EDTECH listserv. Do you have any contact in Nepal who will help us out with a compressed video conferencing or other video conferencing from Nepal? mano talaiver --------------08AF67F7D8BC2014069AA8E6-- From owner-s-asia-it@lists.apnic.net Sat Mar 11 08:57:22 2000 Received: (from majordom@localhost) by whois.apnic.net (8.9.3/8.9.3) id IAA109585; Sat, 11 Mar 2000 08:57:21 +1000 (EST) Received: from qasid.akunet.org (qasid.akunet.org [208.244.71.2]) by whois.apnic.net (8.9.3/8.9.3) with ESMTP id IAA109580 for ; Sat, 11 Mar 2000 08:57:14 +1000 (EST) Received: from akunet.org ([206.82.139.140]) by qasid.akunet.org (8.9.3+Sun/8.9.3) with ESMTP id DAA28980 for ; Sat, 11 Mar 2000 03:55:40 -0500 (GMT) Message-ID: <38C97D84.C4E32FC5@akunet.org> Date: Sat, 11 Mar 2000 03:56:04 +0500 From: Ahmed Omair X-Mailer: Mozilla 4.72 [en] (Win95; U) X-Accept-Language: en MIME-Version: 1.0 To: S-Asia-IT Subject: [URL: The Long Boom of the New Economy] Content-Type: text/plain; charset=us-ascii Content-Transfer-Encoding: 7bit Sender: owner-s-asia-it@lists.apnic.net Precedence: bulk The Long Boom of the New Economy Kevin Kelly, Editor-at-Large, Wired magazine Asia Society Hong Kong Center 14 February 2000 Read the whole speech text at: http://www.asiasociety.org/speeches/kelly.html Question: You talk about this ultra-prosperity, 20 years of ultra prosperity. I'm kind of curious though in terms of what your feeling is about the haves and the have-nots. I mean, in the Valley we've got these young entrepreneurs, $1 million, you know, it's middle class but then there's these people that are not in the industry that have nothing to do with this. We also have the developing countries in the world that are not wired and, you know, what's going to happen to these people and what's your feeling on that? Kevin Kelly: I guess my short answer is that this can change very fast, and it has changed very fast in the past. We sometimes forget the amount of change that can happen. As I mentioned before I was first in Hong Kong in 1972. I was first in Taiwan in 1972 and Taiwan then compared to the Taiwan now is almost unrecognizable, basically in one generation. The country went from a third-world country to one of the richest countries in the world within one generation. I think we can see - we can see the changes we want to see within a couple of generations. That's thinkable. The second thing to say is that I suspect that this will come faster than we think in some areas. There will still be some areas that won't get this. But I don't think in some cases that the solution to this is technological. I think this is often political. Amartya Sen, who won the Nobel Prize in economics last year, won it for his work on famines and what he established was that there was no famine in recorded history that occurred in a country where there was freedom of speech and freedom of information flow. Basically, famine was famine. Real famine, starvation, was an information disease. He won a Nobel economics prize for that work. So I think that what I'm suggesting is that there are the haves and the have-laters. And what we want to do is we want to speed that up as much as possible of course so that the have-laters are not so have-late. But there is so much economic value to making this happen. Do you know in the US right now, we have cable TV penetration very high, TV penetration of 99 per cent. The cost of buying Internet and a computer is just about the cost of getting a TV and cable per month. So the reason why people don't have in the US, for instance, why we don't have 99 per cent Internet penetration is not cost. It's culture. People don't find it valuable. It's not worth their money. It's not because they don't have those dollars. That's the US. That's not the rest of the world. The rest of the world, what we know from many workers is that the most important thing that you can do to get economic development in a country is not electrification, it's not building roads, it's putting in telephones. And we see that by the work of people trying to put cell phones in villages. What happens when you have one cell phone in a village everybody can use, is it liberates economic development like crazy. So it's communications. I really believe that communications is probably the most powerful way to do it and what these governments should do is de-regulate and de-monopolize communications as fast as possible. From owner-s-asia-it@lists.apnic.net Sat Mar 11 11:11:07 2000 Received: (from majordom@localhost) by whois.apnic.net (8.9.3/8.9.3) id LAA116536; Sat, 11 Mar 2000 11:11:05 +1000 (EST) Received: from mx.super.net.pk (smtp-khi1.super.net.pk [203.130.2.10]) by whois.apnic.net (8.9.3/8.9.3) with ESMTP id LAA116522 for ; Sat, 11 Mar 2000 11:10:59 +1000 (EST) Received: from excel586 (khi-line-003.super.net.pk [203.130.5.142]) by mx.super.net.pk (8.9.3/8.9.3) with ESMTP id GAA29038 for ; Sat, 11 Mar 2000 06:11:07 +0500 (GMT+0500) Message-Id: <200003110111.GAA29038@mx.super.net.pk> From: "Irfan Khan" To: s-asia-it@apnic.net Date: Sat, 11 Mar 2000 06:12:11 +0500 MIME-Version: 1.0 Content-type: text/plain; charset=US-ASCII Content-transfer-encoding: 7BIT Subject: [GKII] Wolfensohn's speech X-mailer: Pegasus Mail for Win32 (v3.12b) Sender: owner-s-asia-it@lists.apnic.net Precedence: bulk [from the World Bank Development News (9 March 2000)] World Bank President James Wolfensohn said this week that pouring more money into developing countries is not the answer towards re- establishing social equilibrium among the world's citizens, the Malaysian news agency Bernama reports. "The answer is not just another series of projects, a bit more money to send from developed countries to developing countries...the answer clearly is knowledge, partnership and opportunity brought about by this new (knowledge and digital) revolution," he told the Second Global Knowledge Conference (GKII) in Kuala Lumpur via video-conference from Washington. Wolfensohn said a recent World Bank study entitled "Voices of the Poor", involving 60,000 people in 60 countries, showed that people living in poverty were not looking for charity or financial handouts. "What they want is opportunity, knowledge, the chance for themselves, for their children, for women in the family. And they want to ensure that they have self-respect and opportunity to grow and move forward," he said. The GKII, with about 1,200 participants from all over the world in attendance, is this week discussing efforts to address the widening gap between the information "haves" and "have nots" stemming from the global knowledge and digital revolution, the story says. The revolution in those fields, said Wolfensohn, was part of the globalization process and should be seen as an opportunity for everyone. Inter Press Service and the Star (Malaysia) also report on Wolfensohn's speech, saying he warned that countries that do not embrace information technology and its attendant challenges will fall back in their development programs. AFX reports on Malaysian Prime Minister Mahathir's remarks to the GKII. Mahathir told GKII attendees that it will take "a miracle" to prevent a massive widening of the knowledge and economic gap between the rich and the poor in the years ahead. Mahathir said the information age holds out the promise "of a new world of shared prosperity, of global renaissance. " At the same time it also holds out the danger of economic exploitation, societal devastation and a new era of imperialism and colonialism. "I pray that we truly can bridge the economic and development gap, the information and knowledge gap," he said. From owner-s-asia-it@lists.apnic.net Sat Mar 11 11:11:08 2000 Received: (from majordom@localhost) by whois.apnic.net (8.9.3/8.9.3) id LAA144362; Sat, 11 Mar 2000 11:11:07 +1000 (EST) Received: from mx.super.net.pk (smtp-khi1.super.net.pk [203.130.2.10]) by whois.apnic.net (8.9.3/8.9.3) with ESMTP id LAA116525 for ; Sat, 11 Mar 2000 11:11:00 +1000 (EST) Received: from excel586 (khi-line-003.super.net.pk [203.130.5.142]) by mx.super.net.pk (8.9.3/8.9.3) with ESMTP id GAA23962 for ; Sat, 11 Mar 2000 06:11:09 +0500 (GMT+0500) Message-Id: <200003110111.GAA23962@mx.super.net.pk> From: "Irfan Khan" To: s-asia-it@apnic.net Date: Sat, 11 Mar 2000 06:12:11 +0500 MIME-Version: 1.0 Content-type: text/plain; charset=US-ASCII Content-transfer-encoding: 7BIT Subject: [GKII] Can Global Knowledge bring rural poor into X-mailer: Pegasus Mail for Win32 (v3.12b) Sender: owner-s-asia-it@lists.apnic.net Precedence: bulk [from the huridocs-tech mailing list] ------- Forwarded message follows ------- From: Debra Guzman Date sent: Thu, 08 Mar 2000 20:25:00 +0100 To: huridocs-tech@hrea.org Title: DEVELOPMENT: Can Global Knowledge bring rural poor into the information loop? By Gumisai Mutume Mexico City, (IPS World Desk, Mar 01) - For the majority of women in the rural district of Madhya Pradesh in India, the forthcoming Global Knowledge Conference to be held in Kuala Lumpur, Malaysia appears divorced from their lives. The four-day Global Knowledge II Conference (GK II) kicks off in the Malaysian capital March 7, drawing more than 1,000 public and private sector representatives, non-governmental organisations and international agencies. It aims to work out strategies to put the tools of the information age in the hands of developing countries and the world's poor. "Directly, such conferences seem as if they do not mean anything, but in that process there are always some genuine and dedicated persons who work for dissemination of information to such peoples," says Janak Palta McGilligan of the Baha'i Vocational Institute for Rural Women in Central India providing among others, Hindi literacy classes to the women of Madhya Pradesh. "It is through such committed persons that links are established. We have already established a monthly newsletter to disseminate such information and also through which the women's views are expressed." The majority of the women in the district have never seen a telephone or television, literacy rates range between eight and 10 percent and the Internet revolution is still yet to touch their daily lives. "This conference should bring in these marginalised groups into this loop and it should be encouraged," says McGilligan. "I expect the conference to come out with realistic goals and commitments, followed by an action plan for implementing the major discussions agreed upon." The challenges facing the second Global Knowledge conference is how to include groups like the women of Madhya Pradesh among the 275 million who, according to Nua Internet Surveys, currently have access to the Internet world-wide. It is widely acknowledged that information communication technologies (ICTs) - televisions, telephones, computers, fax machines, radios and the Internet -- hold the promise of local and global information- sharing needed for sustainable development and wealth creation. Just as labour and land were replaced some 200 years ago by capital and energy as the two factors of production in industrial society, these are now being replaced by technology and knowledge as the primary assets of wealth creation. However GK II is being held at a time when there is broad concern that gaps in access to these tools and resources are increasing, and that the information revolution could paradoxically become a cause of even greater inequality and worsening poverty. The conference is being convened under the broad themes of access, governance and empowerment. "Universal access should mean access by all to all the worlds diverse riches of knowledge and information, including the knowledge of poor and traditional communities, not just the universal spread of the 'content' of those countries at the forefront of the information revolution," notes a conference discussion paper. "In the next 2-3 years, the best contribution the Global Knowledge Partnership can make to increasing access for rural and disadvantaged communities is by focusing intensely on fostering positive policy and regulatory environments for innovation and private investment." "Subsidies and other non-market interventions should be used whenever it is clear that the private sector is unable to adequately provide the access required," notes the GK II discussion paper. The Global Knowledge Partnership is a grouping of public, private and not-for-profit organisations committed to sharing information and resources to promote access to and effective use of knowledge and information for sustainable development. It emerged from the co- operation of several dozen organisations that sponsored the first Global Knowledge conference in Toronto, Canada in 1997. Among the issues on the table at GK II are: -- how to target groups of particular concern such as women, youth, indigenous and local populations, the disabled and rural communities. -- how to provide physical access for the under-serviced and unconnected segments and groups of society to digital information, data, knowledge, best practices and networking facilities, in particular through multimedia community access centres -- how civil society organisations can use ICTs to identify needs, utilise local languages, enhance social inclusion, foster solidarity through networking and other new forms of social communication and interaction. But missing from the discourse of providing access to rural areas and empowering communities are ideas on how to bring cheap energy sources to them. "As the price of computer and Internet technology declines, the price of energy increases and will likely be unaffordable for many of the poor even if they were given a generator or connected to a power line," notes Donald Zhang Osborn consultant in rural development in Mali. How will the world provide electricity for rural access to ICTs over vast areas of poor countries far from electric grids? Should they provide small gas or diesel generators, batteries, solar cells or pedal-powered generators? "Can the ICT revolution really reach the majority of the world's population without a similar revolution in technologies for decentralised energy production?" says Osborn. And while the problems of connecting large continents may seem insurmountable, island states say they feel left out of the global picture. "As part of the global forum such as the Global Knowledge II Conference, having our voices heard means having to get behind the flag of the Asia Pacific Region, whose problems far outweigh that of small Pacific island nations like Fiji," says Katalaini Duaibe communications officer for the Fiji Womens Rights Movement. (ENDS/IPS/DV/gm/da/00) ------- End of forwarded message ------- From owner-s-asia-it@lists.apnic.net Sun Mar 12 15:35:27 2000 Received: (from majordom@localhost) by whois.apnic.net (8.9.3/8.9.3) id PAA103011; Sun, 12 Mar 2000 15:35:26 +1000 (EST) Received: from mx.super.net.pk ([203.130.2.10]) by whois.apnic.net (8.9.3/8.9.3) with ESMTP id PAA102989 for ; Sun, 12 Mar 2000 15:35:15 +1000 (EST) Received: from excel586 (khi-line-044.super.net.pk [203.130.5.183]) by mx.super.net.pk (8.9.3/8.9.3) with ESMTP id KAA13227 for ; Sun, 12 Mar 2000 10:35:12 +0500 (GMT+0500) Message-Id: <200003120535.KAA13227@mx.super.net.pk> From: "Irfan Khan" To: s-asia-it@apnic.net Date: Sun, 12 Mar 2000 10:36:33 +0500 MIME-Version: 1.0 Content-type: text/plain; charset=US-ASCII Content-transfer-encoding: 7BIT Subject: Linux Without Borders X-mailer: Pegasus Mail for Win32 (v3.12b) Sender: owner-s-asia-it@lists.apnic.net Precedence: bulk Dear Colleague, You are receiving this letter either because you are interested in developing computer communications infrastructure throughout the world or because you are an enthusiast for Linux; perhaps you are both. I would like you to subscribe to an E-mail list that I am hosting on a Linux site near Washington, D.C. The list is dedicated to discussion and implementation of the vision that in countries whose citizens are not yet rich enough to own Personal Computers(PCs), computers must be *shared*; and that the way to enable sharing while preserving individual privacy is to install Linux, a multi-user, multi-tasking operating system, on PCs owned cooperatively, or by businesses. This will enable citizens to establish their own accounts on a commonly owned, or rented, computer, where they can do all the things that citizens of wealthier countries can do: write, do accounts, and -- perhaps most important -- use "their" computer to communicate with other people, in their own country and throughout the world. If you are an information systems professional in a developing country, or have interests in such a country, we urge you to join the list in order to further acquaint yourself with the possibilities that Linux has to offer. If you are a Linux enthusiast, and would like to see your favorite operating system spread more widely, we urge you to join the list in order to help citizens of other lands benefit from Linux in a direct way. To subscribe, simply send E-mail to: Majordomo@tux.org, with the following line in the body of the message subscribe linux-without-borders You will very soon receive an acknowledgement, with an authorization/verification message, and after submitting a reply, you will have joined the E-list and you will thereafter receive all messages sent to the E-list. Of course you too will be able to post your questions, comments, and suggestions to the E-list. Many thanks for your consideration! Alan McConnell (alan@tux.org) (Acknowledgement: The name "Linux Without Borders" was suggested by Eric S. Raymond) --------------------------------------------------------(finish) From owner-s-asia-it@lists.apnic.net Tue Mar 14 11:05:41 2000 Received: (from majordom@localhost) by whois.apnic.net (8.9.3/8.9.3) id LAA132992; Tue, 14 Mar 2000 11:05:40 +1000 (EST) Received: from post.super.net.pk (smtp-khi1.super.net.pk [203.130.2.9]) by whois.apnic.net (8.9.3/8.9.3) with ESMTP id LAA79714 for ; Tue, 14 Mar 2000 11:05:30 +1000 (EST) Received: from excel586 (khi-line-062.super.net.pk [203.130.5.201]) by post.super.net.pk (8.9.1/8.9.3) with ESMTP id GAA20100 for ; Tue, 14 Mar 2000 06:14:01 -0500 Message-Id: <200003141114.GAA20100@post.super.net.pk> From: "Irfan Khan" To: s-asia-it@apnic.net Date: Tue, 14 Mar 2000 06:06:48 +0500 MIME-Version: 1.0 Content-type: text/plain; charset=US-ASCII Content-transfer-encoding: 7BIT Subject: UNESCO, UNITAR publish CD-ROM on Internet use in developing countries X-mailer: Pegasus Mail for Win32 (v3.12b) Sender: owner-s-asia-it@lists.apnic.net Precedence: bulk UNESCO, UNITAR publish CD-ROM on Internet use in developing countries February 23, 2000 - The Internet can become one of the principal vectors of culture and education in developing countries if its diversity of content is assured and if capacities and know-how are equitably shared in the world. The CD-ROM entitled "Internet au Sud" ("Internet in the South") published by UNESCO and the United Nations Institute for Training and Research (UNITAR) at the end of 1999 and distributed free of charge by these organisations, is a reference library on the exploitation of the Internet in developing countries. This CD-ROM, which is presently available in French, aims at technologists, users and decision-makers. It contains a compendium of information including free software, learning aids, and articles and essays on challenges and strategies concerning the Internet and questions of its management and organisation. The CD-ROM includes the following chapters: Initiation and utilisation Infrastructures Regulations and democracy Free software Challenges for the South Software library Useful contacts A new and improved version in English and French will be produced during the year 2000. These electronic publications are part of UNESCO PUBLIC@ series which aims to promote the dissemination of all useful information for the sectors of public concern and the idea of a world public domain of information seen as a global common good. Contact: John Rose , UNESCO, Information and Informatics Division http://www.unesco.org/webworld/news/000223_ausud.shtml From owner-s-asia-it@lists.apnic.net Tue Mar 14 12:11:11 2000 Received: (from majordom@localhost) by whois.apnic.net (8.9.3/8.9.3) id MAA85134; Tue, 14 Mar 2000 12:11:09 +1000 (EST) Received: from post.super.net.pk (smtp-khi1.super.net.pk [203.130.2.9]) by whois.apnic.net (8.9.3/8.9.3) with ESMTP id MAA85127 for ; Tue, 14 Mar 2000 12:11:03 +1000 (EST) Received: from excel586 (khi-line-116.super.net.pk [203.130.5.116]) by post.super.net.pk (8.9.1/8.9.3) with ESMTP id HAA20705 for ; Tue, 14 Mar 2000 07:19:38 -0500 Message-Id: <200003141219.HAA20705@post.super.net.pk> From: "Irfan Khan" To: s-asia-it@apnic.net Date: Tue, 14 Mar 2000 07:12:26 +0500 MIME-Version: 1.0 Content-type: text/plain; charset=ISO-8859-1 Subject: Oracle India announces local language database X-mailer: Pegasus Mail for Win32 (v3.12b) Content-Transfer-Encoding: 8bit X-MIME-Autoconverted: from Quoted-printable to 8bit by whois.apnic.net id MAA85132 Sender: owner-s-asia-it@lists.apnic.net Precedence: bulk Oracle India announces local language database Our New Delhi Bureau 13 MARCH ORACLE India on Monday announced its first local language database for the Indian market that would be initially available in Hindi and Tamil. The company plans to expand the scope of this database and include more languages for addressing different segments of the Indian market. Oracle India is also setting up a software facility in Bangalore for its global requirements. This would be Oracles third software facility in the country with one each already in Bangalore and Hyderabad. <...> http://www.economictimes.com/today/14tech02.htm From owner-s-asia-it@lists.apnic.net Tue Mar 14 12:11:13 2000 Received: (from majordom@localhost) by whois.apnic.net (8.9.3/8.9.3) id MAA85140; Tue, 14 Mar 2000 12:11:12 +1000 (EST) Received: from post.super.net.pk (smtp-khi1.super.net.pk [203.130.2.9]) by whois.apnic.net (8.9.3/8.9.3) with ESMTP id MAA85129 for ; Tue, 14 Mar 2000 12:11:05 +1000 (EST) Received: from excel586 (khi-line-116.super.net.pk [203.130.5.116]) by post.super.net.pk (8.9.1/8.9.3) with ESMTP id HAA20711 for ; Tue, 14 Mar 2000 07:19:52 -0500 Message-Id: <200003141219.HAA20711@post.super.net.pk> From: "Irfan Khan" To: s-asia-it@apnic.net Date: Tue, 14 Mar 2000 07:12:27 +0500 MIME-Version: 1.0 Content-type: text/plain; charset=US-ASCII Content-transfer-encoding: 7BIT Subject: Pakistan Telecom devising new policies to promote IT industry X-mailer: Pegasus Mail for Win32 (v3.12b) Sender: owner-s-asia-it@lists.apnic.net Precedence: bulk [the following is aparently based on some sort of press release issued by the pak telecom. the claim of lower rates among the countries in region has always been contested by the local ISPs. irfan] Pakistan Telecommunication Company devising new policies to promote information technology industry ISLAMABAD (March 13) : Pakistan telecommunication Company Limited (Pakistan Telecommunication Company) is focusing its efforts to build fast basic infrastructure for development of Internet and information technology in the country, it was learnt here on Sunday. The company already having good infrastructure and providing facility of Internet and e-mail services to 120,000 users, has the capacity to take load of about 200,000 users on the existing networks. Many new projects are also in the pipeline to provide IT and Internet service for up to 800,000 customers by end of 2003. Keeping in view the exclusivity in provision of international connectivity up to year 2002, Pakistan Telecommunication Company is taking steps to meet the challenges of deregulation. The company is continuously reviewing the cost of international connectivity and has reduced the cost of this service four times in the last two years. Pakistan Telecommunication Company, in the next two weeks, will also announce its policy and rates for a symmetric-bandwidth. The company is fully committed to support IT industry and help the country have a strong information technology base. Tariffs for IPL (half circuit) have been reduced by about 20 percent with effect from January 1, 2000. Similarly, rates for shared bandwidth have also been reduced by about 70 percent from 1-1-2000. Now the Pakistan Telecommunication Company rates for both the bandwidths are at least 10 percent lower as compared to similar regional countries. Moreover, the company will even add more Bandwidth and procure additional frame relay cards for availability and effective management of shared bandwidth. The government has also set up an inter-ministerial committee as well, in which representatives of the government, Pakistan Telecommunication Company and ISPAK will meet to review the bandwidth rates. A meeting recently held had reached an understanding on the costs of shared bandwidth. As the Pakistan Telecommunication Company charges for clear bandwidth are more than 10 percent lower than the charge of the similar type of bandwidth in neighbouring and regional countries, the review of its charges will be a continuous process and Pakistan Telecommunication Company is fully committed to keep its prices competitive.--APP http://www.brecorder.com/story/S0010/S1002/S1002110.htm From owner-s-asia-it@lists.apnic.net Tue Mar 14 12:11:25 2000 Received: (from majordom@localhost) by whois.apnic.net (8.9.3/8.9.3) id MAA85168; Tue, 14 Mar 2000 12:11:24 +1000 (EST) Received: from post.super.net.pk (smtp-khi1.super.net.pk [203.130.2.9]) by whois.apnic.net (8.9.3/8.9.3) with ESMTP id MAA85158 for ; Tue, 14 Mar 2000 12:11:18 +1000 (EST) Received: from excel586 (khi-line-116.super.net.pk [203.130.5.116]) by post.super.net.pk (8.9.1/8.9.3) with ESMTP id HAA20729 for ; Tue, 14 Mar 2000 07:20:04 -0500 Message-Id: <200003141220.HAA20729@post.super.net.pk> From: "Irfan Khan" To: s-asia-it@apnic.net Date: Tue, 14 Mar 2000 07:12:26 +0500 MIME-Version: 1.0 Content-type: text/plain; charset=US-ASCII Content-transfer-encoding: 7BIT Subject: Online Bangla Book Resource X-mailer: Pegasus Mail for Win32 (v3.12b) Sender: owner-s-asia-it@lists.apnic.net Precedence: bulk ------- Forwarded message follows ------- Date sent: Tue, 14 Mar 2000 11:56:10 +1100 To: asia-www-monitor@coombs.anu.edu.au From: "T.Matthew Ciolek" The Asian Studies WWW Monitor: early Mar 2000, Vol. 7, No. 107 ----------------------------------------------- 07 Mar 2000 Online Bangla Book Resource Angelnet Technology, Inc., USA Supplied note: "This web site is the most comprehensive online information source on bangla books." [A glacially slow system - ed.] URL http://www.banglabooks.com Link suggested by: Nisar Ahmed (nahmed@angelnettech.com) * Resource type [news - documents - study - corporate info. - online guide]: Corporate Info. * Scholarly usefulness [essential - v.useful - useful - interesting - marginal]: Useful ----------------------------------------------- Src: The Asian Studies WWW Monitor ISSN 1329-9778 URL http://coombs.anu.edu.au/asia-www-monitor.html Announce your new/improved Asian Studies' Web sites via http://coombs.anu.edu.au/regasia.html - regards - - Dr T. Matthew CIOLEK tmciolek@coombs.anu.edu.au Head, Internet Publications Bureau, RSPAS, The Australian National University, Canberra ph +61 (02) 6249 0110 fax: +61 (02) 6257 1893 http://www.ciolek.com/PEOPLE/ciolek-tm.html ============================================= ------- End of forwarded message ------- From owner-s-asia-it@lists.apnic.net Tue Mar 14 20:45:19 2000 Received: (from majordom@localhost) by whois.apnic.net (8.9.3/8.9.3) id UAA144735; Tue, 14 Mar 2000 20:45:18 +1000 (EST) Received: from post.super.net.pk (smtp-khi1.super.net.pk [203.130.2.9]) by whois.apnic.net (8.9.3/8.9.3) with ESMTP id UAA144727 for ; Tue, 14 Mar 2000 20:45:12 +1000 (EST) Received: from excel586 (khi-line-096.super.net.pk [203.130.5.235]) by post.super.net.pk (8.9.1/8.9.3) with ESMTP id PAA01088; Tue, 14 Mar 2000 15:53:47 -0500 Message-Id: <200003142053.PAA01088@post.super.net.pk> From: "Irfan Khan" To: s-asia-it@apnic.net Date: Tue, 14 Mar 2000 15:46:36 +0500 MIME-Version: 1.0 Content-type: text/plain; charset=US-ASCII Content-transfer-encoding: 7BIT Subject: STPI CC: "Pradeep Pinto" X-mailer: Pegasus Mail for Win32 (v3.12b) Sender: owner-s-asia-it@lists.apnic.net Precedence: bulk [following posting was not accepted by the majordomo as it was from a non-member. STPI (Software Technology Parks of India)'s website has details of STPI's ISP Services at /ispstpi/ . ik] ------- Forwarded message follows ------- From: "Pradeep Pinto" To: Subject: STPI Date: Tue, 14 Mar 2000 13:43:48 +0530 Hello, We want to know if STPI now authorised to give bandwidth to private ISP's , please let me know the details thanks Pradeep ------- End of forwarded message ------- From owner-s-asia-it@lists.apnic.net Thu Mar 16 13:51:26 2000 Received: (from majordom@localhost) by whois.apnic.net (8.9.3/8.9.3) id NAA122515; Thu, 16 Mar 2000 13:51:25 +1000 (EST) Received: from mx.super.net.pk (smtp-khi1.super.net.pk [203.130.2.10]) by whois.apnic.net (8.9.3/8.9.3) with ESMTP id NAA122507 for ; Thu, 16 Mar 2000 13:51:18 +1000 (EST) Received: from excel586 (khi-line-128.super.net.pk [203.130.5.128]) by mx.super.net.pk (8.9.3/8.9.3) with ESMTP id IAA26519 for ; Thu, 16 Mar 2000 08:28:52 +0500 (GMT+0500) Message-Id: <200003160328.IAA26519@mx.super.net.pk> From: "Irfan Khan" To: s-asia-it@apnic.net Date: Thu, 16 Mar 2000 08:30:11 +0500 MIME-Version: 1.0 Content-type: text/plain; charset=US-ASCII Content-transfer-encoding: 7BIT Subject: Greenstar World Development Library X-mailer: Pegasus Mail for Win32 (v3.12b) Sender: owner-s-asia-it@lists.apnic.net Precedence: bulk ------- Forwarded message follows ------- Date sent: Tue, 14 Mar 2000 12:50:21 -0500 From: Paul Swider To: gkd@phoenix.edc.org Feel free to forward this to other individuals and lists. Greenstar World Development Library Greenstar is developing a core library of software reference and instruction programs for use in education programs in rural communities worldwide. First, we will develop a base of standard materials in English, which can be used to cover basic education subjects in English. For each individual site, we will add language- and culture-specific material. Greenstar will fund a qualified individual or group, with qualifications in international education, to identify existing educational tools which exist as tutorials, interactive lessons, game-based learning, graphics, databases and Website extracts of articles and manuals. All materials must be in digital form, or convertible to digital form, and easily usable with standard tools on a Windows 95 computer system. Audiocassettes and videocassettes will also be accepted into the Library. The core subjects are basic and intermediate mathematics, world geography, world history, basic computer literacy, community health, family and personal preventive health, the environment and renewable energy. Users of the Library will include all members of the community, including children, teachers, paramedics, adults, women, knowledge workers and seniors. A complete list, keyword index of all major materials, with a short abstract describing each resource, will be required. The assignment will be supervised by Greenstar managers over email through the Web, and a complete set of online references and expert contacts will be provided to begin the process. The worker or workers on this project will be expected to work on their own, using their own computer equipment, Internet ISP and email address, employing the Internet as the primary research tool. A budget for phone and fax will be provided; it is not anticipated that travel will be required. By way of background: Greenstar is placing self-contained, solar-powered community centers in remote locations around the world. Each center has health facilities, including telemedicine, a classroom complete with distance learning equipment, and a business center, through which we will operate ecommerce in native cultural products. The solar array powers the unit and also purifies water for up to 2,200 people. E-commerce is the revenue stream that pays for the facilities and brings wealth into the community. One of the main lines of product will be "digital culture" products, such as music and art, that can be duplicated and transported effortlessly, making the transaction highly efficient. The community will eventually own all these social services and a revenue stream that preserves culture by giving it market value. You may also reference the following: http://www.greenstar.org/introduction.htm http://www.e-greenstar.com/faq.htm http://www.greenstar.org/digital-culture/ http://www.greenstar.org/e-philanthropy/index.htm Thank you, Paul Swider Greenstar pswider@greenstar.org 703-924-6429 ------- End of forwarded message ------- From owner-s-asia-it@lists.apnic.net Fri Mar 17 23:26:58 2000 Received: (from majordom@localhost) by whois.apnic.net (8.9.3/8.9.3) id XAA116886; Fri, 17 Mar 2000 23:26:57 +1000 (EST) Received: from mx.super.net.pk ([203.130.2.10]) by whois.apnic.net (8.9.3/8.9.3) with ESMTP id XAA116878 for ; Fri, 17 Mar 2000 23:26:51 +1000 (EST) Received: from excel586 (khi-line-052.super.net.pk [203.130.5.191]) by mx.super.net.pk (8.9.3/8.9.3) with ESMTP id SAA26776 for ; Fri, 17 Mar 2000 18:26:47 +0500 (GMT+0500) Message-Id: <200003171326.SAA26776@mx.super.net.pk> From: "Irfan Khan" To: s-asia-it@apnic.net Date: Fri, 17 Mar 2000 18:27:56 +0500 MIME-Version: 1.0 Content-type: text/plain; charset=US-ASCII Content-transfer-encoding: 7BIT Subject: [India] Deltagram to Set Up 100 Earth Stations X-mailer: Pegasus Mail for Win32 (v3.12b) Sender: owner-s-asia-it@lists.apnic.net Precedence: bulk Deltagram to Set Up 100 Earth Stations By Uday Lal Pai India Correspondent, asia.internet.com [March 16, 2000--MUMBAI] Deltagram [http://www.deltagram.com/] Satellite Mail is investing U$42 million to facilitate the setting up of 100 earth stations across India to offer satellite mail and Internet access services. Deltagram, the satellite mail facility of the Chennai-based Delta Innovative Enterprises Ltd, uses satellite connectivity to transmit messages, and claims to be the first company of its kind in India to create a network of earth stations connected via satellite. "We are planning to have about 100,000 message collection centers in every street all over the country," said R. Kothandaraman, managing director of Deltagram. "We've received all clearances and approvals from the Department of Telecommunications (DoT). The earth stations will be equipped with the latest communication equipment, computer and proprietary software," Kothandaraman added. About 3,000 towns and 40,000 villages in India would be connected over a three-year period. Regarding the financing pattern, Kothandaraman said the proposed investment would be raised through private placement of equity, borrowings and fee from franchisees. About US$4.6 million will go towards the planned Internet services -- the company intends to become a Category A (national) ISP shortly -- and US$23.2 million would be invested in creating the necessary infrastructure as collection centers for Deltagram. The rest of the planned investment will go towards setting up 65 earth stations in major towns and establishing a development center. The company already has 35 earth stations connecting 200 towns. Deltagram's offers a pair of messaging services: 'E-Flash' delivers messages to the recipient over telephone, fax or pager within 30 minutes, and 'E- Letter' uses Deltagram's courier network to hand-deliver your messages within 12-48 hours. With either service, a confirmatory e- mail is posted to a user's Deltagram account. http://asia.internet.com/2000/3/1606-deltagram.html From owner-s-asia-it@lists.apnic.net Fri Mar 17 23:27:12 2000 Received: (from majordom@localhost) by whois.apnic.net (8.9.3/8.9.3) id XAA116910; Fri, 17 Mar 2000 23:27:11 +1000 (EST) Received: from mx.super.net.pk (smtp-khi1.super.net.pk [203.130.2.10]) by whois.apnic.net (8.9.3/8.9.3) with ESMTP id XAA116903 for ; Fri, 17 Mar 2000 23:27:04 +1000 (EST) Received: from excel586 (khi-line-052.super.net.pk [203.130.5.191]) by mx.super.net.pk (8.9.3/8.9.3) with ESMTP id SAA11678 for ; Fri, 17 Mar 2000 18:26:59 +0500 (GMT+0500) Message-Id: <200003171326.SAA11678@mx.super.net.pk> From: "Irfan Khan" To: s-asia-it@apnic.net Date: Fri, 17 Mar 2000 18:27:55 +0500 MIME-Version: 1.0 Content-type: text/plain; charset=US-ASCII Content-transfer-encoding: 7BIT Subject: [Pakistan] Govt invites comments on draft IT policy X-mailer: Pegasus Mail for Win32 (v3.12b) Sender: owner-s-asia-it@lists.apnic.net Precedence: bulk Government invites comments on draft information technology policy RECORDER REPORT KARACHI (March 15) : Pakistan Computer Bureau (Cabinet Division) has invited comments and suggestions from trade bodies on the draft National Information Technology Policy (NITP) by March 27, 2000, to catch up with the information technology (IT) revolution which is already reshaping the economy and affecting the life and work of almost every individual the world over. The working group on IT has prepared the draft in consultation with various government and private sector organisations concerned with IT and computers. The Computer Society of Pakistan also provided input to the working group which has been incorporated in the draft policy document. IT has already become the single largest sector of economic activity world- wide. The total turnover of the software industry alone is expected to exceed US $ one trillion this year. Microsoft, a leading software company, became the most valuable company in history with market capitalisation of US $ 413 billion in January 1999. Current environment together with the vision and strategy devised, forms the basis of general policy objective. It champion a general direction that information and technologies should be used to help achieve our vision of a future Pakistan. The goals include: creation of service delivery to public through IT, alignment of IT goals, establishing an information resources infrastructure, standards, and improving information accessibility and usability. The NITP is driven by the knowledge that IT presents an unparalleled opportunity to propel Pakistan to a level of development which dramatically improves the quality of life of all citizens. This vision foresees a fairer, more open, confident and vibrant Pakistan, being at par with the rest in the world. We in Pakistan lag behind in information technology compared with our neighbours and other developing countries in the world. The lack of patronage, cohesion and focus in information and implementation of IT policies has accentuated our plight in this vital field. With this realisation today, it has become imperative for us to adopt a future approach to ensure that we meet the challenges of next millennium. The draft concludes with the assurance that the Government of Pakistan commit through this policy to promote Information Technology and work with total dedication and spirit to achieve goals and objectives laid down by year 2010 with a view to transform ourselves into a modern, futuristic and developed country. Copyright 2000 Business Recorder (www.brecorder.com) http://www.brecorder.com/story/S0011/S1103/S1103106.htm From owner-s-asia-it@lists.apnic.net Tue Mar 21 17:04:11 2000 Received: (from majordom@localhost) by whois.apnic.net (8.9.3/8.9.3) id RAA75385; Tue, 21 Mar 2000 17:04:10 +1000 (EST) Received: from post.super.net.pk ([203.130.2.9]) by whois.apnic.net (8.9.3/8.9.3) with ESMTP id RAA75374 for ; Tue, 21 Mar 2000 17:04:04 +1000 (EST) Received: from excel586 (khi-line-104.super.net.pk [203.130.5.243]) by post.super.net.pk (8.9.1/8.9.3) with ESMTP id MAA29416 for ; Tue, 21 Mar 2000 12:11:44 -0500 Message-Id: <200003211711.MAA29416@post.super.net.pk> From: "Irfan Khan" To: s-asia-it@apnic.net Date: Tue, 21 Mar 2000 12:04:23 +0500 MIME-Version: 1.0 Content-type: text/plain; charset=US-ASCII Content-transfer-encoding: 7BIT Subject: GDN survey of policy institutes in developing countries X-mailer: Pegasus Mail for Win32 (v3.12b) Sender: owner-s-asia-it@lists.apnic.net Precedence: bulk ------- Forwarded message follows ------- From: "Katherine Morrow" To: "Bellanet Information Dissemination List" Date sent: Mon, 20 Mar 2000 13:31:37 -0500 "The GDN survey was the largest and most comprehensive survey ever of the needs and interests of policy research organizations in developing countries." The Survey asked respondents from 212 institutes for their views about a wide range of potential GDN activities and services. It covered both traditional network activities (for example, meetings, fellowships, training) and electronic/web-enabled tools and services (for example, on-line directories, e-mail newsletters, on-line discussions, research and data archives, and CD-ROMs). The Global Development Network (GDN) was founded in Bonn in December 1999. It aims to enhance the quality and availability of policy-oriented research and strengthen the institutions which undertake this work. Findings and implications for the GDN are available on the GDN web site. Details of the survey results are available in PDF format. Visit: http://www.gdnet.org/ An online discussion of the GDN's web strategy is currently taking place as a World Bank Development Forum. For information visit: http://www.worldbank.org/devforum/forum_gdnwebstrat.html ------- End of forwarded message ------- From owner-s-asia-it@lists.apnic.net Tue Mar 21 19:27:27 2000 Received: (from majordom@localhost) by whois.apnic.net (8.9.3/8.9.3) id TAA87869; Tue, 21 Mar 2000 19:27:27 +1000 (EST) Received: from mx.super.net.pk (smtp-khi1.super.net.pk [203.130.2.10]) by whois.apnic.net (8.9.3/8.9.3) with ESMTP id TAA87851 for ; Tue, 21 Mar 2000 19:27:17 +1000 (EST) Received: from excel586 (khi-line-068.super.net.pk [203.130.5.207]) by mx.super.net.pk (8.9.3/8.9.3) with ESMTP id OAA11068 for ; Tue, 21 Mar 2000 14:27:12 +0500 (GMT+0500) Message-Id: <200003210927.OAA11068@mx.super.net.pk> From: "Irfan Khan" To: s-asia-it@apnic.net Date: Tue, 21 Mar 2000 12:04:23 +0500 MIME-Version: 1.0 Content-type: text/plain; charset=US-ASCII Content-transfer-encoding: 7BIT Subject: GDN survey of policy institutes in developing countries X-mailer: Pegasus Mail for Win32 (v3.12b) Sender: owner-s-asia-it@lists.apnic.net Precedence: bulk ------- Forwarded message follows ------- From: "Katherine Morrow" To: "Bellanet Information Dissemination List" Date sent: Mon, 20 Mar 2000 13:31:37 -0500 "The GDN survey was the largest and most comprehensive survey ever of the needs and interests of policy research organizations in developing countries." The Survey asked respondents from 212 institutes for their views about a wide range of potential GDN activities and services. It covered both traditional network activities (for example, meetings, fellowships, training) and electronic/web-enabled tools and services (for example, on-line directories, e-mail newsletters, on-line discussions, research and data archives, and CD-ROMs). The Global Development Network (GDN) was founded in Bonn in December 1999. It aims to enhance the quality and availability of policy-oriented research and strengthen the institutions which undertake this work. Findings and implications for the GDN are available on the GDN web site. Details of the survey results are available in PDF format. Visit: http://www.gdnet.org/ An online discussion of the GDN's web strategy is currently taking place as a World Bank Development Forum. For information visit: http://www.worldbank.org/devforum/forum_gdnwebstrat.html ------- End of forwarded message ------- From owner-s-asia-it@lists.apnic.net Wed Mar 22 03:45:00 2000 Received: (from majordom@localhost) by whois.apnic.net (8.9.3/8.9.3) id DAA124477; Wed, 22 Mar 2000 03:44:59 +1000 (EST) Received: from mx.super.net.pk (smtp-khi1.super.net.pk [203.130.2.10]) by whois.apnic.net (8.9.3/8.9.3) with ESMTP id DAA124458 for ; Wed, 22 Mar 2000 03:44:50 +1000 (EST) Received: from excel586 (khi-line-123.super.net.pk [203.130.5.123]) by mx.super.net.pk (8.9.3/8.9.3) with ESMTP id WAA02867 for ; Tue, 21 Mar 2000 22:44:36 +0500 (GMT+0500) Message-Id: <200003211744.WAA02867@mx.super.net.pk> From: "Irfan Khan" To: s-asia-it@apnic.net Date: Tue, 21 Mar 2000 22:46:07 +0500 MIME-Version: 1.0 Content-type: text/plain; charset=US-ASCII Content-transfer-encoding: 7BIT Subject: [Pakistan] National information technology survey under way X-mailer: Pegasus Mail for Win32 (v3.12b) Sender: owner-s-asia-it@lists.apnic.net Precedence: bulk National information technology survey under way By Nizamuddin Siddiqui KARACHI, March 20: A survey has been launched in the country to determine the skills and manpower availability and issues concerning the information technology sector. The initiative, which falls under an international project, is the first of its kind and will make available facts and figures without the help of which effective policies cannot be made. The survey, which involves 400 organizations and 4,000 professionals of Pakistan, has been launched by the Computer Society of Pakistan (CSP) and will enable the country to gauge how its information technology sector compares with those of the other countries of the region, because many of them have simultaneously undertaken similar initiatives. (Under the region-wide project, the participating countries would be able to exchange and compare national data.) The countries taking part in the project are Australia, Hong Kong, India, Indonesia, Malaysia, Nepal, New Zealand, Philippines, Singapore, South Korea, Sri Lanka, Taiwan and Thailand. The project is being managed by the South East Asia Regional Computer Confederation (SEARCC). Each of the member countries were supposed to conduct the survey, which was kicked off in Singapore in September, according to the guidelines provided by SEARCC and National Computer Board, Singapore. The physical phase of collecting data ended on Jan 31. The country reports are expected to be completed by May. The regional country comparisons will be prepared jointly by Japan and Singapore and are likely to be ready in the third quarter of this year. The participating countries were responsible for encoding the survey data onto the magnetic media in a pre-defined format for further processing. The countries were, however, permitted to add questions to all the forms to maximize the usefulness of the survey. The CSP did add questions to all the prescribed forms for extracting useful information for its own use and for the use of the country's planners. The questionnaire concerning the IT organizations contained queries about: - developing, distribution, implementation, support and operation of telecommunication computer hardware/software and multimedia contents; - the provision of information services to the end-user; - the dissemination of IT knowledge and skills, and; - the management of the above process. The CSP employed students and temporary staff for the survey work and professional data entry operators for the encoding work. According to a CSP report, this method is probably the only workable way to get surveys done in Pakistan. According to this report, the CSP sent questionnaires to 25 large, 13 medium and 12 small public-sector organizations in the IT sector. Similarly, questionnaires were sent to 45 large, 95 medium and 60 small user organizations. Questionnaires were also sent to 100 vendors and 50 educational institutions of various sizes. In all 100 large, 178 medium and 122 small IT organizations were involved in the survey. Two hundred of the organizations belonged to Karachi, 101 to Lahore and Faisalabad, 80 to Peshawar and Islamabad, and 19 to Quetta. About 4,000 IT professionals were also contacted. More than 80 per cent of the IT organizations and 64 per cent of the professionals responded positively to the CSP's call and have submitted the filled-out questionnaires. The chief coordinator of the SEARCC survey project is Iqbal Abdulla. http://www.dawn.com/2000/03/21/nat11.htm From owner-s-asia-it@lists.apnic.net Wed Mar 22 03:45:22 2000 Received: (from majordom@localhost) by whois.apnic.net (8.9.3/8.9.3) id DAA124564; Wed, 22 Mar 2000 03:45:22 +1000 (EST) Received: from mx.super.net.pk (smtp-khi1.super.net.pk [203.130.2.10]) by whois.apnic.net (8.9.3/8.9.3) with ESMTP id DAA124539 for ; Wed, 22 Mar 2000 03:45:15 +1000 (EST) Received: from excel586 (khi-line-123.super.net.pk [203.130.5.123]) by mx.super.net.pk (8.9.3/8.9.3) with ESMTP id WAA21424 for ; Tue, 21 Mar 2000 22:45:23 +0500 (GMT+0500) Message-Id: <200003211745.WAA21424@mx.super.net.pk> From: "Irfan Khan" To: s-asia-it@apnic.net Date: Tue, 21 Mar 2000 22:46:07 +0500 MIME-Version: 1.0 Content-type: text/plain; charset=ISO-8859-1 Subject: [India] Net can take education places X-mailer: Pegasus Mail for Win32 (v3.12b) Content-Transfer-Encoding: 8bit X-MIME-Autoconverted: from Quoted-printable to 8bit by whois.apnic.net id DAA124560 Sender: owner-s-asia-it@lists.apnic.net Precedence: bulk Net can take education places Frederick Noronha CHENNAI 20 MARCH THE internet can act as the magic wand in spreading education in the country, as many in India are beginning to discover. An internet site Egurucool.com offers competition training, coursework help, career and per-sonal counselling, and the like. "This month we've already got more than two million hits," Egurucool's Vinod Agarwal said. Indian Institute of Science (IISc), Bangalore has developed Instruction on Demand (IOD). With the help of the IOD, a teacher can lecture, show slides and answer queries from students all over the world. Slides can be downloaded by students via the internet prior to the lecture, and a teacher can flip them around on the computer screen with a remote-control. Students can ask questions and interact with the teacher just like in an average classroom. This tool has been successfully tried out at IISc and Goa University. "We need a paradigm shift that allows for need-based education for all, any time, anywhere. This can come from the suitable integration and appropriate selection of available technologies," said K Subramanian, deputy director general of National Informatics Centre. IANS http://www.economictimes.com/today/21tech02.htm From owner-s-asia-it@lists.apnic.net Wed Mar 22 03:49:05 2000 Received: (from majordom@localhost) by whois.apnic.net (8.9.3/8.9.3) id DAA124959; Wed, 22 Mar 2000 03:49:04 +1000 (EST) Received: from taki.tdg.ca ([207.236.236.2]) by whois.apnic.net (8.9.3/8.9.3) with ESMTP id DAA124951 for ; Wed, 22 Mar 2000 03:49:01 +1000 (EST) Received: from RICHARDSON ([207.236.236.98]) by taki.tdg.ca with SMTP (Microsoft Exchange Internet Mail Service Version 5.5.2650.21) id G7KFK0Q8; Tue, 21 Mar 2000 12:50:19 -0500 Message-ID: <02f701bf935e$2d14a5c0$62ececcf@richardson> From: "Don Richardson" To: "s-asia-it" Subject: Grameen Telecom - Village Phone case study on-line Date: Tue, 21 Mar 2000 12:52:08 -0500 MIME-Version: 1.0 Content-Type: multipart/alternative; boundary="----=_NextPart_000_02F4_01BF9334.441D0C00" X-Priority: 3 X-MSMail-Priority: Normal X-Mailer: Microsoft Outlook Express 5.00.2314.1300 X-MimeOLE: Produced By Microsoft MimeOLE V5.00.2314.1300 Sender: owner-s-asia-it@lists.apnic.net Precedence: bulk This is a multi-part message in MIME format. ------=_NextPart_000_02F4_01BF9334.441D0C00 Content-Type: text/plain; charset="iso-8859-1" Content-Transfer-Encoding: quoted-printable Grameen Telecom's Village Phone - Case Study: = www.telecommons.com/villagephone =20 Greetings, We have just released our case study of Grameen Telecom's Village Phone = initiative in Bangladesh: www.telecommons.com/villagephone. The case = study contains in-depth analysis of the operation of the Village Phone = initiative, its impact on poverty reduction, the business case for rural = telecommunications in Bangladesh, and analysis of gender contexts and = phone use. The report also contains an extensive bibliography with = hyper-text links to key documents and reports, including an earlier = research report on the Village Phone initiative by Prof. Abdul Bayes. = The report is accompanied by on-line video including an interview with = Muhammad Yunus, Managing Director of the Grameen Bank. This study was commissioned by the Strategic Planning & Policy Division = of the Asia Branch Poverty Reduction Project, Canadian International = Development Agency, as a case study amongst many undertaken as part of = the Asia Branch Poverty Reduction Project, to investigate the impact of = the GrameenPhone and Grameen Telecom provision of micro-credit cellular = phone service on poverty reduction and the socio-economic situation of = women Village Phone operators and users at large. Grameen Telecom's Village Phone pilot project currently involves 950 = Village Phones providing telephone access to more than 65,000 people. = Village women access micro-credit to acquire digital GSM cellular phones = and subsequently re-sell phone calls and phone services within their = villages. Grameen Telecom staff have announced that when its programme = is complete, 40,000 Village Phone operators will be employed for a = combined net income of $24 million USD per annum. Key findings: 1) The Village Phone programme appears to be the best available = technical solution for rural universal access under current regulatory = and commercial circumstances. The Village Phone programme is a technical = and organizational solution to rural telecommunication access partly = necessitated by a regulatory environment that is not conducive to = advancing rural telecommunication infrastructure. 2) The concept of "universal access" is not gender neutral. In the case = of Bangladesh, the gender of the Village Phone operator and the physical = placement of the phone within a gendered village context can either = inhibit or improve women's access to phones. A woman's home provides a = space that is acceptable for other village women to access. From the = standpoint of revenue generation and profitability, it is important to = ensure that the Village Phone is fully accessible to the entire village = population: if 50% of the user base faces obstacles to phone use, then a = significant revenue stream is lost. 3) The Village Phone acts as a powerful instrument to reduce the risk = involved in remittance transfers from overseas workers and family = members working in Dhaka City, and to assist villagers in obtaining = accurate information about foreign currency exchange rates. Transferring = cash from a Gulf State to a rural village in Bangladesh is fraught with = risks; remittances are thus a key factor in demand for telephone use. = Reducing the risk of remittance transfers from overseas workers has = important micro-implications for rural households and villages. At the = micro level, remittances tend to be used for daily household expenses = such as food, clothing and health care. Remittances are thus an = important factor in meeting household subsistence needs, and can make up = a significant portion of household income. Once subsistence needs are = met, remittances tend to be used for "productive investments," or for = savings. 4) Social calls to family and friends frequently involve transfer of = information about market prices, market trends and currency exchange = rates, making the Village Phone an important tool for enabling household = enterprises to take advantage of market information to increase profits = and reduce productive expenses. 5) Rural telephone service in Bangladesh is very profitable and, due to = the existing regulatory environment (lack of interconnection being the = biggest barrier), telecom operators are unable to meet the demand for = services. Telephones in the Grameen Telecom Village Phone programme = bring in 3 times as much revenue as urban cellular phones (an average of = $100/month versus $30/month). One competing telecom operator reports = having revenue from 12,000 urban cellular lines equal its revenue from = 1,500 rural PCO lines. 6) GSM cell phone technology is a high-cost solution for universal = access in rural areas. Limited cellular coverage of rural areas may only = be viable under the current set of cumbersome regulatory practices - = once the regulatory environment improves, cellular phone technology may = not be the most viable and efficient means of providing universal = service. GSM cell phone technology also places much higher tariffs on = rural phone users than would be the case for wireless local loop (WLL) = technologies. Without regulatory improvements, cellular technology is a = practical solution. As well, cellular phone technology is currently not = a viable option for inexpensive email/Internet/data connectivity. WLL = and other options can provide much better bandwidth and cost of service. Key replicable elements: 1) The Grameen Telecom experience in business planning leads us to = suggest one potential solution for attracting telecom operators to serve = rural areas: target un-served and under-served regions and provide = support for acquisition of quality market appraisal knowledge and market = data through market research in the field. Market research will help to = prove the business case, attract investment capital, and reduce the = effort required by investors and operators.=20 2) The Grameen Telecom experience points to a potential solution for = telecom operators facing the significant challenge of managing the last = mile of rural telecom operations: link existing and successful = micro-credit organizations with telecom operators (fixed line and/or = wireless) to expand public call office (PCO) coverage in rural areas. = Small loans to rural entrepreneurs (perhaps targeted to women and youth) = can enable entrepreneurs to establish PCOs and provide a range of = services including telephone, fax, email and even web, photocopying and = computer word-processing services. A franchise programme of this sort = would also establish consistency of service across a region that would, = in turn, support local social and economic development. Don Richardson TeleCommons Development Group 512 Woolwich St., Suite 200 Guelph, Ontario, Canada N1H 3X7 Web: http://www.telecommons.com Email: don@tdg.ca Tel: 519-821-5787 x 241 Fax: 519-821-4868 =20 ------=_NextPart_000_02F4_01BF9334.441D0C00 Content-Type: text/html; charset="iso-8859-1" Content-Transfer-Encoding: quoted-printable
Grameen Telecom's Village Phone - Case = Study: www.telecommons.com/vill= agephone
 
Greetings,
 
We have just released our case study of = Grameen=20 Telecom's Village Phone initiative in Bangladesh: www.telecommons.com/vill= agephone.  The case study contains in-depth analysis = of the=20 operation of the Village Phone initiative, its impact on poverty = reduction, the=20 business case for rural telecommunications in Bangladesh, and analysis = of gender=20 contexts and phone use.  The report also contains an extensive = bibliography=20 with hyper-text links to key documents and reports, including an earlier = research report on the Village Phone initiative by Prof. Abdul = Bayes.  The=20 report is accompanied by on-line video including an interview with = Muhammad=20 Yunus, Managing Director of the Grameen Bank.

This study was commissioned by the Strategic Planning & Policy = Division=20 of the Asia Branch = Poverty=20 Reduction Project, Canadian International Development Agency, as a = case=20 study amongst many undertaken as part of the Asia Branch Poverty = Reduction=20 Project, to investigate the impact of the GrameenPhone and Grameen = Telecom=20 provision of micro-credit cellular phone service on poverty reduction = and the=20 socio-economic situation of women Village Phone operators and users at=20 large.

Grameen Telecom's Village Phone pilot project currently involves 950 = Village=20 Phones providing telephone access to more than 65,000 people. Village = women=20 access micro-credit to acquire digital GSM cellular phones and = subsequently=20 re-sell phone calls and phone services within their villages. Grameen = Telecom=20 staff have announced that when its programme is complete, 40,000 Village = Phone=20 operators will be employed for a combined net income of $24 million USD = per=20 annum.

Key findings:

1) The Village Phone programme appears to be the best = available=20 technical solution for rural universal access under current = regulatory and=20 commercial circumstances. The Village Phone programme is a technical = and=20 organizational solution to rural telecommunication access partly = necessitated by=20 a regulatory environment that is not conducive to advancing rural=20 telecommunication infrastructure.

2) The concept of "universal access" is not gender neutral. In the = case of=20 Bangladesh, the gender of the Village Phone operator and the physical = placement=20 of the phone within a gendered village context can either inhibit or = improve=20 women's access to phones. A woman's home provides a space that is = acceptable=20 for other village women to access. From the standpoint of revenue = generation=20 and profitability, it is important to ensure that the Village Phone is = fully=20 accessible to the entire village population: if 50% of the user base = faces=20 obstacles to phone use, then a significant revenue stream is lost.

3) The Village Phone acts as a powerful instrument to reduce the risk = involved in remittance transfers from overseas workers and family = members=20 working in Dhaka City, and to assist villagers in obtaining accurate = information=20 about foreign currency exchange rates. Transferring cash from a Gulf = State to a=20 rural village in Bangladesh is fraught with risks; remittances are thus = a key=20 factor in demand for telephone use.  Reducing the risk of = remittance=20 transfers from overseas workers has important micro-implications for = rural=20 households and villages. At the micro level, remittances tend to be used = for=20 daily household expenses such as food, clothing and health care. = Remittances are=20 thus an important factor in meeting household subsistence needs, and can = make up=20 a significant portion of household income.  Once subsistence needs = are met,=20 remittances tend to be used for "productive investments," or for = savings.

4) Social calls to family and friends frequently involve transfer of=20 information about market prices, market trends and currency exchange = rates,=20 making the Village Phone an important tool for enabling household = enterprises to=20 take advantage of market information to increase profits and reduce = productive=20 expenses.

5) Rural telephone service in Bangladesh is very profitable and, due = to the=20 existing regulatory environment (lack of interconnection being the = biggest=20 barrier), telecom operators are unable to meet the demand for services.=20 Telephones in the Grameen Telecom Village Phone programme bring in 3 = times as=20 much revenue as urban cellular phones (an average of $100/month = versus=20 $30/month). One competing telecom operator reports having revenue = from 12,000=20 urban cellular lines equal its revenue from 1,500 rural PCO = lines.

6) GSM cell phone technology is a high-cost solution for = universal=20 access in rural areas. Limited cellular coverage of rural areas may = only be=20 viable under the current set of cumbersome regulatory practices - = once the=20 regulatory environment improves, cellular phone technology may not be = the most=20 viable and efficient means of providing universal service. GSM cell = phone=20 technology also places much higher tariffs on rural phone users than = would be=20 the case for wireless local loop (WLL) technologies. Without regulatory=20 improvements, cellular technology is a practical solution. As well, = cellular=20 phone technology is currently not a viable option for inexpensive=20 email/Internet/data connectivity. WLL and other options can provide = much=20 better bandwidth and cost of service.

Key replicable elements:

1) The Grameen Telecom experience in business planning leads us to = suggest=20 one potential solution for attracting telecom operators to serve rural = areas:=20 target un-served and under-served regions and provide support for = acquisition=20 of quality market appraisal knowledge and market data through market = research in the field. Market research will help to prove the business = case,=20 attract investment capital, and reduce the effort required by investors = and=20 operators.

2) The Grameen Telecom experience points to a potential solution for = telecom=20 operators facing the significant challenge of managing the last mile of = rural=20 telecom operations: link existing and successful micro-credit = organizations=20 with telecom operators (fixed line and/or wireless) to expand public = call office=20 (PCO) coverage in rural areas. Small loans to rural entrepreneurs = (perhaps=20 targeted to women and youth) can enable entrepreneurs to establish PCOs = and=20 provide a range of services including telephone, fax, email and even = web,=20 photocopying and computer word-processing services. A franchise = programme of=20 this sort would also establish consistency of service across a region = that=20 would, in turn, support local social and economic development.

Don Richardson
TeleCommons Development Group
512 Woolwich St., = Suite=20 200
Guelph, Ontario, Canada   N1H 3X7
Web: http://www.telecommons.com
Ema= il: don@tdg.ca
Tel: 519-821-5787 x=20 241    Fax: 519-821-4868

 
------=_NextPart_000_02F4_01BF9334.441D0C00-- From owner-s-asia-it@lists.apnic.net Thu Mar 23 10:06:42 2000 Received: (from majordom@localhost) by whois.apnic.net (8.9.3/8.9.3) id KAA65864; Thu, 23 Mar 2000 10:06:41 +1000 (EST) Received: from mx.super.net.pk (smtp-khi1.super.net.pk [203.130.2.10]) by whois.apnic.net (8.9.3/8.9.3) with ESMTP id KAA65853 for ; Thu, 23 Mar 2000 10:06:35 +1000 (EST) Received: from excel586 (khi-line-089.super.net.pk [203.130.5.228]) by mx.super.net.pk (8.9.3/8.9.3) with ESMTP id FAA30007 for ; Thu, 23 Mar 2000 05:06:15 +0500 (GMT+0500) Message-Id: <200003230006.FAA30007@mx.super.net.pk> From: "Irfan Khan" To: s-asia-it@apnic.net Date: Thu, 23 Mar 2000 05:07:45 +0500 MIME-Version: 1.0 Content-type: text/plain; charset=US-ASCII Content-transfer-encoding: 7BIT Subject: GKII Conference Proceedings Available Online X-mailer: Pegasus Mail for Win32 (v3.12b) Sender: owner-s-asia-it@lists.apnic.net Precedence: bulk [edited version of a posting from the GKD mailing list] GKII proceedings (including plenary session presentations, GKII Forum Report) can be found on the GKII Conference website at www.globalknowledge.org.my . The preliminary draft of the GKP's Action Summit is available on the Partnership's website at www.globalknowledge.org . ------- -------------- -------------- ------- From owner-s-asia-it@lists.apnic.net Fri Mar 24 07:27:15 2000 Received: (from majordom@localhost) by whois.apnic.net (8.9.3/8.9.3) id HAA132247; Fri, 24 Mar 2000 07:27:14 +1000 (EST) Received: from goa1.dot.net.in (goa1.dot.net.in [202.54.17.30]) by whois.apnic.net (8.9.3/8.9.3) with ESMTP id HAA83959 for ; Fri, 24 Mar 2000 07:27:10 +1000 (EST) Received: from goanews ([202.54.17.66]) by goa1.dot.net.in (8.9.2/8.9.2) with SMTP id CAA04093 for ; Fri, 24 Mar 2000 02:58:16 +0530 (GMT) Message-Id: <3.0.6.32.20000324025029.008a2d00@202.54.17.30> X-Sender: fred@202.54.17.30 X-Mailer: QUALCOMM Windows Eudora Light Version 3.0.6 (32) Date: Fri, 24 Mar 2000 02:50:29 +0500 To: s-asia-it@apnic.net From: Frederick Noronha Subject: IT & the Law Mime-Version: 1.0 Content-Type: text/plain; charset="us-ascii" Sender: owner-s-asia-it@lists.apnic.net Precedence: bulk >We welcome your involvement in Consilience 2000. It is >essentially an event that seeks to provide momentum to >collaborative efforts in the arena of professional >services (in the context of the emerging knowledge >economy). We feel that Law as a conceptual framework >can be an excellent base for interaction among varied >professions and interests. > >The agenda for Consilience 2000 can broadly be divided >into : >Telecom and Convergence >We have chosen this area as the theme for the >Consilience 2000 and the area of interest for the year >2000-2001. It is a fast exploding industry that is >dependent on the an encouraging and predictable >regulatory or legal framework. The draft convergence >bill and the TRAI amendment will be discussed along >with a panel discussion on the legal and >interpretative issues. We are also looking at trying >to achieve some sort of strategic coherence as far as >the industry is concerned, vis-a-vis DOT, VSNL, MTNL, >etc. > >Dotcommerce law >The explosion of dotcoms and foreign investment into >india in the last few months require a deeper look >into the services provided in this industry as well as >a long-term perspective on the fast-changing economy. >The conference seeks to target the entire range of >services offered to dotcoms from start to maturity and >beyond. These include intellectual property servicing, >venture capital financing, euro-issues,employee stock >options as well current issues such as online trading >in securities and financial services over the online >medium. > >Law Practice and the knowledge revolution >We seek to study two issues in this area: >1. Law Practice in the context of changing industry >requirements. >2. Law Practice and technology use. > >The Computer & Law Society (CLS-NLS)is a constituent >of the Student Representative Council (SRC) >established in accordance with the constitution of the >Student Bar Association, National Law School of India >University and seeks to provide students with greater >exposure to the fast-changing requirements of the new >millenium economy. We welcome as broad a coverage of >the event as possible since we're putting a lot of >effort to ensure its utility to industry. > >We will be posting all details on our website in a few >days from now: >http://www.nls.ac.in/consilience > >If you require further clarifications or more details, >feel free to mail me at this address. > >Regards, > >Vivek Durai, >Convenor, >CLS-NLS From owner-s-asia-it@lists.apnic.net Fri Mar 24 07:27:17 2000 Received: (from majordom@localhost) by whois.apnic.net (8.9.3/8.9.3) id HAA132248; Fri, 24 Mar 2000 07:27:16 +1000 (EST) Received: from goa1.dot.net.in (goa1.dot.net.in [202.54.17.30]) by whois.apnic.net (8.9.3/8.9.3) with ESMTP id HAA83960 for ; Fri, 24 Mar 2000 07:27:11 +1000 (EST) Received: from goanews ([202.54.17.66]) by goa1.dot.net.in (8.9.2/8.9.2) with SMTP id CAA04100 for ; Fri, 24 Mar 2000 02:58:21 +0530 (GMT) Message-Id: <3.0.6.32.20000324025155.008a3570@202.54.17.30> X-Sender: fred@202.54.17.30 X-Mailer: QUALCOMM Windows Eudora Light Version 3.0.6 (32) Date: Fri, 24 Mar 2000 02:51:55 +0500 To: s-asia-it@apnic.net From: Frederick Noronha Subject: MICON 2000 Nat Conf Med Mime-Version: 1.0 Content-Type: text/plain; charset="us-ascii" Sender: owner-s-asia-it@lists.apnic.net Precedence: bulk >From: Dr.Mohan.Bansal@pcbbs.net (Dr Mohan Bansal) > >Dear Sir, > >We are happy to extend cordial invitation to you for the MICON 2000 >National Conference on Medical Informatics (Computers in Medical and >Health Care) at Anand on 22-23 April 2000. > >MICON 2000 is hosted by the National Institute of Medical Informatics >(NIMI) in association with Anand Consultant Doctors' Association. >NIMI is a nonprofit organization (registered under the Society Act 1950 >of Mumbai) dedicated to the research, education, and the dissemination >of information on medical informatics. > >The theme of the congress is "Emerging Role of Information Technology in >Medical and Health Care." The registration fee is Rs. 900/- (For >Students Rs.650/-) before 31st March. So Kindly send the DD >of Rs.900/- in favour of MICON 2000 payable at Anand. > >The Tariff of approximately 8ft*10ft Exhibition stall for two days >is Rs.15000/- which include 2 chairs, 1 table, 1 table cloth, and >two free delegate coupons. IT stalls will get some time during the one >session of the conference to demonstrate and tell about their IT >services to the delegates. > >You may attach the extended abstract of the paper along with your >personal details and DD. Your early registration will enable us to make >adequate arrangements to make this conference a grand success. > >The nearest airport is at Baroda (40 Km). Anand is well connected by >rail and road. Trains to Baroda, Anand and Ahmedabad are in plenty. >Ahmedabad is about 75 Km from Anand. > >I am taking the liberty of attaching one doc file of MICON 2000 for your >ready reference. I request you to send this file to all the doctors on >your site. > >Can I have your postal address so that I can send the brochure of >MICON 2000? > >Please feel free to contact any time for any needful. Wishing you very >Happy, Prosperous, and Blissful New Millennium, > >With Thanks and Regards > >Yours sincerely, > > >Dr. Mohan Bansal >*Organizing Secretary, MICON 2000 >***President, Anand Consultant Doctors Association >****President, Indian Medical Association, Anand Branch >****Empanelled Distinguished Guest Speaker on Medical Informatics by >Computer Society of India > > >Address for correspondence: > >Dr. Mohan Bansal, M.S. >E.N.T. Hospital >HPO Road, ST Stand, Anand, Gujarat, 388 001, INDIA >Tel:+91 (2692) 42461, Fax:+91 (2692) 41597 / 47676 >Email: bansal@pcbbs.net >-- >Fidonet: Dr Mohan Bansal 6:606/42 >Internet: Dr.Mohan.Bansal@pcbbs.net From owner-s-asia-it@lists.apnic.net Fri Mar 24 15:17:54 2000 Received: (from majordom@localhost) by whois.apnic.net (8.9.3/8.9.3) id PAA115859; Fri, 24 Mar 2000 15:17:53 +1000 (EST) Received: from post.super.net.pk (smtp-khi1.super.net.pk [203.130.2.9]) by whois.apnic.net (8.9.3/8.9.3) with ESMTP id PAA115855 for ; Fri, 24 Mar 2000 15:17:47 +1000 (EST) Received: from excel586 (khi-line-127.super.net.pk [203.130.5.127]) by post.super.net.pk (8.9.1/8.9.3) with ESMTP id KAA08716 for ; Fri, 24 Mar 2000 10:26:15 -0500 Message-Id: <200003241526.KAA08716@post.super.net.pk> From: "Irfan Khan" To: s-asia-it@apnic.net Date: Fri, 24 Mar 2000 10:19:12 +0500 MIME-Version: 1.0 Content-type: text/plain; charset=US-ASCII Content-transfer-encoding: 7BIT Subject: [India] Rajasthani women's milk coop uses smart cards X-mailer: Pegasus Mail for Win32 (v3.12b) Sender: owner-s-asia-it@lists.apnic.net Precedence: bulk ------- Forwarded message follows ------- From: "Arun Mehta" To: "india-gii" Date sent: Thu, 23 Mar 2000 12:52:27 +0530 A March 23, 2000 story in the Times of India entitled "Smart cards click milk business" describes how the all women Dholabai Milk Cooperative Society of Naila village, about 22 km from Jaipur, uses smart cards for its members to help maintain authentic and accurate milk supply and secure payment. Apparently, Clinton will be shown this today. I find stories like this very heartening -- who says IT is only for the rich? Arun Mehta, B-69, Lajpat Nagar-I, New Delhi-110024. Phone 6841172, 6849103 http://www.cerfnet.com/~amehta ------- End of forwarded message ------- From owner-s-asia-it@lists.apnic.net Sat Mar 25 04:42:50 2000 Received: (from majordom@localhost) by whois.apnic.net (8.9.3/8.9.3) id EAA112336; Sat, 25 Mar 2000 04:42:50 +1000 (EST) Received: from post.super.net.pk (smtp-khi1.super.net.pk [203.130.2.9]) by whois.apnic.net (8.9.3/8.9.3) with ESMTP id EAA112324 for ; Sat, 25 Mar 2000 04:42:39 +1000 (EST) Received: from excel586 (khi-line-071.super.net.pk [203.130.5.210]) by post.super.net.pk (8.9.1/8.9.3) with ESMTP id XAA26876 for ; Fri, 24 Mar 2000 23:50:59 -0500 Message-Id: <200003250450.XAA26876@post.super.net.pk> From: "Irfan Khan" To: s-asia-it@apnic.net Date: Fri, 24 Mar 2000 23:44:01 +0500 MIME-Version: 1.0 Content-type: text/plain; charset=US-ASCII Content-transfer-encoding: 7BIT Subject: India's high-tech hopes X-mailer: Pegasus Mail for Win32 (v3.12b) Sender: owner-s-asia-it@lists.apnic.net Precedence: bulk 17 March, 2000 India's high-tech hopes By Sanjeev Srivastava in Bombay The software business is the one sector of the Indian economy which has thrived the most in recent years. Not even the most die-hard sceptic would disagree that a major factor behind the success of the industry has been its close contact with the US. The US computer industry is served by an extensive pool of skilled Indian professionals and India's IT sector growth has been largely driven by the availability of US technology first and then by huge orders from US firms which decided to outsource their service work to Indian companies. Indo-US software trade stands at $5bn currently and is projected to grow at an annual rate of about 60 % in the next decade. Opportunity Debang Mehta, president of the national association of software and services companies (Nasscom), told BBC News Online that President Bill Clinton had gone on record saying that one reason for his Indian visit is to take a first-hand view of the IT industry here "We are not letting this opportunity slip by. The Nasscom is doing a presentation on the Indian IT scene for the US president in Delhi next Wednesday which should give an extra push to the Indo-US software trade," says Mehta. Mr Clinton wil be going to India's newest cyber-city, Hyderabad in the state of Andhra Pradesh. According to Narayan Murthy, the chairman of software giant Infosys, the forthcoming visit is perhaps the first time when Indo-US relations are being put on a trade platform rather than a political platform. "The fact that he is visiting a state (Andhra Pradesh) where the chief minister (Chandrababu Naidu) symbolises a modern mindset proves it," Murthy told the Indian Express in an interview. Visas The Indian software industry is also keen to use the Clinton visit to secure some concessions and get certain restrictions lifted. According to the Nasscom chief, Deband Mehta, the industry wants a "totality agreement" between the US and India which would save Indian professionals in the US from paying double taxation for social security. The industry also wants that the number of H1-B visas granted to Indian professionals to be nearly doubled from the existing 100,000 per annum (of which 90% are issued to IT professionals only) and the introduction of trade treaty visas or "even visas" for software professionals which would give a further fillip to Indo-US trade in the IT sector. Industry experts believe that the Indian IT sector - given sweeping concessions by the government in last month's budget - could well witness another boom in the wake of the exposure it gets because of the Clinton visit. http://news.bbc.co.uk/hi/english/world/south_asia/newsid_681000/681433 .stm From owner-s-asia-it@lists.apnic.net Sat Mar 25 09:45:46 2000 Received: (from majordom@localhost) by whois.apnic.net (8.9.3/8.9.3) id JAA133354; Sat, 25 Mar 2000 09:45:44 +1000 (EST) Received: from post.super.net.pk (smtp-khi1.super.net.pk [203.130.2.9]) by whois.apnic.net (8.9.3/8.9.3) with ESMTP id JAA74586 for ; Sat, 25 Mar 2000 09:45:39 +1000 (EST) Received: from excel586 (khi-line-060.super.net.pk [203.130.5.199]) by post.super.net.pk (8.9.1/8.9.3) with ESMTP id EAA31946 for ; Sat, 25 Mar 2000 04:54:16 -0500 Message-Id: <200003250954.EAA31946@post.super.net.pk> From: "Irfan Khan" To: s-asia-it@apnic.net Date: Sat, 25 Mar 2000 04:47:21 +0500 MIME-Version: 1.0 Content-type: text/plain; charset=US-ASCII Content-transfer-encoding: 7BIT Subject: Re: [India] Rajasthani women's milk coop uses smart cards In-reply-to: <200003241526.KAA08716@post.super.net.pk> X-mailer: Pegasus Mail for Win32 (v3.12b) Sender: owner-s-asia-it@lists.apnic.net Precedence: bulk Smart cards click milk business The Times of India News Service JAIPUR: Smart cards is helping women empowerment in Rajasthan. The all women Dhoblai Milk Cooperative Society of Naila village, about 22 km from here, has pioneered a system, using smart card for members. It helps maintain authentic and accurate milk supply records as well as secures payment transactions. The card has replaced the existing error-prone, paper- based record which is open to misappropriation. Smart Chip Ltd has developed this concept for the milk collection centre and has implemented it through the state owned Rajasthan Electronics and Instrumentation Ltd. Santosh Sharma secretary of the cooperative, will explain it to US President Bill Clinton on Thursday how IT is helping the villagers in the milk collection job. "This system has improved our lives, as well as our earnings. The smart card has made it very easy for us to identify members and keep their records in order," explained Sharma. The society collects on an average 750 litres per day. President of the cooperative Chanhdrakanta Goswamy and Sharma agree that after the installation of this facility, all transactions have become easy and only the genuine person is able to withdraw the payments. Smart Chip Ltd MD explained, "There were times when their spouses or other male relatives would collect dues on their behalf, leaving them with little or nothing at all. But after the smart card revolution, this has changed. The cash can only be given to a smart card holder. It also serves as an identity card as the photograph of the woman is printed on it," he said. http://www.timesofindia.com/230300/23busi9.htm From owner-s-asia-it@lists.apnic.net Sat Mar 25 09:45:49 2000 Received: (from majordom@localhost) by whois.apnic.net (8.9.3/8.9.3) id JAA74607; Sat, 25 Mar 2000 09:45:46 +1000 (EST) Received: from post.super.net.pk (smtp-khi1.super.net.pk [203.130.2.9]) by whois.apnic.net (8.9.3/8.9.3) with ESMTP id JAA74588 for ; Sat, 25 Mar 2000 09:45:39 +1000 (EST) Received: from excel586 (khi-line-060.super.net.pk [203.130.5.199]) by post.super.net.pk (8.9.1/8.9.3) with ESMTP id EAA31949 for ; Sat, 25 Mar 2000 04:54:21 -0500 Message-Id: <200003250954.EAA31949@post.super.net.pk> From: "Irfan Khan" To: s-asia-it@apnic.net Date: Sat, 25 Mar 2000 04:47:21 +0500 MIME-Version: 1.0 Content-type: text/plain; charset=US-ASCII Content-transfer-encoding: 7BIT Subject: [India] Clinton warns of cyber divide X-mailer: Pegasus Mail for Win32 (v3.12b) Sender: owner-s-asia-it@lists.apnic.net Precedence: bulk Friday, 24 March, 2000, 12:26 GMT Clinton warns of cyber divide US President Bill Clinton has warned of a potential "digital divide" in India between its software millionaires and its poverty-stricken millions. Visiting Hyderabad, one of India's hi-tech centres of software development, he urged entrepreneurs to use their technology for a "higher purpose". "Millions of Indians are connected to the internet, but millions more aren't connected to fresh water," the president said. "India accounts for 30% of the world's software engineers, but 25% of the world's malnourished," he added. He said the US would launch a five-year $5m initiative to help bring internet access into schools and businesses in rural areas, promoting e-commerce, as well as on-line education and health resources. <...> Cybercity The capital of the state of Andhra Pradesh, Hyderabad boasts offices of Microsoft, Oracle, GE Capital and other American firms. India is rapidly becoming a world leader in this area with computer software exports second only to those from the United States. <...> http://news.bbc.co.uk/hi/english/world/south_asia/newsid_688000/688810 .stm From owner-s-asia-it@lists.apnic.net Sat Mar 25 09:45:49 2000 Received: (from majordom@localhost) by whois.apnic.net (8.9.3/8.9.3) id JAA133362; Sat, 25 Mar 2000 09:45:48 +1000 (EST) Received: from post.super.net.pk (smtp-khi1.super.net.pk [203.130.2.9]) by whois.apnic.net (8.9.3/8.9.3) with ESMTP id JAA74591 for ; Sat, 25 Mar 2000 09:45:41 +1000 (EST) Received: from excel586 (khi-line-060.super.net.pk [203.130.5.199]) by post.super.net.pk (8.9.1/8.9.3) with ESMTP id EAA31952 for ; Sat, 25 Mar 2000 04:54:23 -0500 Message-Id: <200003250954.EAA31952@post.super.net.pk> From: "Irfan Khan" To: s-asia-it@apnic.net Date: Sat, 25 Mar 2000 04:47:21 +0500 MIME-Version: 1.0 Content-type: text/plain; charset=ISO-8859-1 Subject: [India] Clinton launches information kiosk in Rajasthan X-mailer: Pegasus Mail for Win32 (v3.12b) Content-Transfer-Encoding: 8bit X-MIME-Autoconverted: from Quoted-printable to 8bit by whois.apnic.net id JAA74608 Sender: owner-s-asia-it@lists.apnic.net Precedence: bulk Big Bill gets Naila online, launches kiosk Nayala 23 MARCH THIS obscure hamlet near the pink city of Jaipur today became the first village in Rajasthan to launch a high-tech "information kiosk", with a plan to connect all panchayats in the state through internet. Visiting US President Bill Clinton dedicated the Rajnidhi Information Kiosk to the state at an impressive function at the panchayat office at the village, about 20 km from Jaipur. "The project is part of the state government's vision of e-governance using information technology to provide a transparent and more responsive service delivery system," said state Panchayati Raj minister CP Joshi. The kiosks will provide villagers access to and give information on various trials and tribulations of pastoral life, from children education to employment, he said. Dedicating the facility, the us president expressed the hope that india would overcome most of its problems with the spread of information technology and computers in villages. Agencies http://www.economictimes.com/today/25tech11.htm From owner-s-asia-it@lists.apnic.net Sat Mar 25 16:04:55 2000 Received: (from majordom@localhost) by whois.apnic.net (8.9.3/8.9.3) id QAA113045; Sat, 25 Mar 2000 16:04:54 +1000 (EST) Received: from fh105.infi.net (fh105.infi.net [209.97.16.35]) by whois.apnic.net (8.9.3/8.9.3) with ESMTP id QAA113037 for ; Sat, 25 Mar 2000 16:04:50 +1000 (EST) Received: from akron.infi.net (AKRNB102-43.splitrock.net [209.156.82.43]) by fh105.infi.net (8.8.8/8.8.8) with ESMTP id BAA23789; Sat, 25 Mar 2000 01:04:44 -0500 (EST) Message-ID: <38DC5711.33D8213D@akron.infi.net> Date: Sat, 25 Mar 2000 01:05:05 -0500 From: Bob Pyke Jr Reply-To: repyke@akron.infi.net X-Mailer: Mozilla 4.5 [en] (Win98; I) X-Accept-Language: en MIME-Version: 1.0 To: IT Nepal CC: South Asia List Subject: [Fwd: Digital Divide's New Frontier] Content-Type: multipart/mixed; boundary="------------C2840437DB729E30E85C3654" Sender: owner-s-asia-it@lists.apnic.net Precedence: bulk This is a multi-part message in MIME format. --------------C2840437DB729E30E85C3654 Content-Type: text/plain; charset=us-ascii Content-Transfer-Encoding: 7bit --------------C2840437DB729E30E85C3654 Content-Type: message/rfc822 Content-Transfer-Encoding: 7bit Content-Disposition: inline X-Mozilla-Status2: 00000000 Message-ID: <38DC56B2.3D4A66D4@akron.infi.net> Date: Sat, 25 Mar 2000 01:03:30 -0500 From: Bob Pyke Jr Reply-To: repyke@akron.infi.net X-Mailer: Mozilla 4.5 [en] (Win98; I) X-Accept-Language: en MIME-Version: 1.0 To: bytesforall@onelist.com CC: Arun , Danny , Frederick , Hamish , Frontdoor , Ramesh , Sugata , Tireless Tripathi , Wadi Subject: Digital Divide's New Frontier Content-Type: multipart/mixed; boundary="------------4B21AD261EA40C20CD54A6A2" This is a multi-part message in MIME format. --------------4B21AD261EA40C20CD54A6A2 Content-Type: text/plain; charset=us-ascii Content-Transfer-Encoding: 7bit Namaste from the States, it was interesting reading. however, we have a digital divide here too.. And before Mr. Clinton can make pronouncements about India, he needs to look in his own back yard??? See the article below http://www.childrenspartnership.org/pub/low_income/index.html Thanks, Bob Pyke Jr. --------------4B21AD261EA40C20CD54A6A2 Content-Type: text/html; charset=us-ascii; name="index.html" Content-Transfer-Encoding: 7bit Content-Disposition: inline; filename="index.html" Content-Base: "http://www.childrenspartnership.org/pu b/low_income/index.html" Content-Location: "http://www.childrenspartnership.org/pu b/low_income/index.html" Digital Divide's New Frontier

 

 

Why We Conducted This Analysis

Purposes of This Audit

About The Children's Partnership

Frequently Asked Questions (FAQs)

Scope of This Audit

Research Methods

A Final Research Note

 

The Starting Point: Computer Ownership and Internet Access Today

Current Uses of the Internet: Paths to Self-Improvement for Underserved Americans

Content Barriers Related to the Internet

Who Is Affected?

The Potential Use Rate Among the Underserved

A Ready Delivery System

 

Content and Tools Adults Want

Content and Tools Children and Youth Want

Differences between Adults and Young Users

What Adult and Youth Both Want: Easier Searching, Coaching, and Involvement

 

Findings about Online Content

Local Community Information

Content for Limited-Literacy Readers

Multilingual Content

Cultural Content

Navigating the Internet Easily

 

Relevant Web Content

Overcoming Literacy, Language, and Cultural Barriers

Coaching, Mentoring, and Involving Underserved Communities

Organizing Good Content and Making It Easy to Uset

Using Technology Tools to Better Reach the Underserved

Forging Public/Private Partnerships to Get the Job Done

 

A Positive Information Society

Two Prerequisites

Recommendations

Getting Started Today

Carrying Out a National Strategy To Address the Underserved

Needed Research and Development (R&D)

 


A. People Interviewed for This Audit

B. Content Categories Used

C. Online Networks/Portals Analyzed in This Study

D. Content Criteria Used

E. Online Content for Underserved Americans: A Showcase

F. Information Resources Used


--------------4B21AD261EA40C20CD54A6A2-- --------------C2840437DB729E30E85C3654-- From owner-s-asia-it@lists.apnic.net Mon Mar 27 01:52:05 2000 Received: (from majordom@localhost) by whois.apnic.net (8.9.3/8.9.3) id BAA139712; Mon, 27 Mar 2000 01:52:04 +1000 (EST) Received: from mx.super.net.pk ([203.130.2.10]) by whois.apnic.net (8.9.3/8.9.3) with ESMTP id BAA139709 for ; Mon, 27 Mar 2000 01:51:58 +1000 (EST) Received: from excel586 (khi-line-117.super.net.pk [203.130.5.117]) by mx.super.net.pk (8.9.3/8.9.3) with ESMTP id UAA03121 for ; Sun, 26 Mar 2000 20:51:40 +0500 (GMT+0500) Message-Id: <200003261551.UAA03121@mx.super.net.pk> From: "Irfan Khan" To: s-asia-it@apnic.net Date: Sun, 26 Mar 2000 20:50:34 +0500 MIME-Version: 1.0 Content-type: text/plain; charset=US-ASCII Content-transfer-encoding: 7BIT Subject: [Bhutan] some URLs X-mailer: Pegasus Mail for Win32 (v3.12b) Sender: owner-s-asia-it@lists.apnic.net Precedence: bulk [Bhutan is one of the least "connected" South Asian countries. here are some URLs from a BBC news story. irfan] Bhutan home page http://www.bhutan-info.org/index.htm Kuensel newspaper web site http://www.kuensel.com.bt/ Bhutan tourist information http://www.kingdomofbhutan.com/kingdom.html From owner-s-asia-it@lists.apnic.net Mon Mar 27 01:54:42 2000 Received: (from majordom@localhost) by whois.apnic.net (8.9.3/8.9.3) id BAA139729; Mon, 27 Mar 2000 01:54:42 +1000 (EST) Received: from mx.super.net.pk (smtp-khi1.super.net.pk [203.130.2.10]) by whois.apnic.net (8.9.3/8.9.3) with ESMTP id BAA139725 for ; Mon, 27 Mar 2000 01:54:35 +1000 (EST) Received: from excel586 (khi-line-117.super.net.pk [203.130.5.117]) by mx.super.net.pk (8.9.3/8.9.3) with ESMTP id UAA19887 for ; Sun, 26 Mar 2000 20:52:25 +0500 (GMT+0500) Message-Id: <200003261552.UAA19887@mx.super.net.pk> From: "Irfan Khan" To: s-asia-it@apnic.net Date: Sun, 26 Mar 2000 20:50:33 +0500 MIME-Version: 1.0 Content-type: text/plain; charset=US-ASCII Content-transfer-encoding: 7BIT Subject: Bhutan gets its first internet cafe X-mailer: Pegasus Mail for Win32 (v3.12b) Sender: owner-s-asia-it@lists.apnic.net Precedence: bulk 25 March 2000 Bhutan gets its first internet cafe The first internet cafe has opened in Thimphu, the capital of the remote Himalayan kingdom of Bhutan. Umesh Pradhan, the proprietor of the Internet Cafe, said that while the cafe had internet access, e-mail, printing and scanning facilities, its main purpose was to address IT problems in Bhutan and create a place for informal learning. Its focus was tapping the potential of Bhutanese youth, he said in remarks quoted by the website of the Bhutanese official newspaper Kuensel. "The cafe is a place where students can bring their own software and either entertain themselves or learn something," he said. An IT enthusiast at the cafe was quoted as saying that while other countries were already adapting to the new technology, Bhutan was only just beginning to obtain it. High costs An internet cafe was a good way to get the general public interested in such things, he added. The cafe was not viable as a business venture because costs were high and local people unable to afford its rates for internet access, Mr Pradhan said. "It is expensive for us also because at the moment there is not a lot of business and most people just use the internet for a few minutes to send e-mail," he said. In a separate report, the website said that cable television was "a booming business around the country" - less than a year after television was allowed in the kingdom. Major towns had two operators each and installation and rental charges were falling. The advent of cable was responsible for displacing satellite TV, with the number of "ugly" dish receivers in Thimphu falling to 250 from 800 last year, the web site reported. First TV and internet services The first-ever internet service was inaugurated in the remote Buddhist country only in June last year. The launch of the internet and the first TV station was part of celebrations marking the silver jubilee of King Jigme Singye Wangchuk. For years, Bhutan had a deliberate policy of isolation, fearing outside influences would undermine its absolute monarchy, freedom and culture. Three similar Buddhist kingdoms - Tibet, Sikkim and Ladakh - have disappeared as independent states. Bhutan, squeezed between India and China, has just 600,000 people, most of them subsistence farmers. http://news.bbc.co.uk/hi/english/world/south_asia/newsid_690000/690789 .stm From owner-s-asia-it@lists.apnic.net Mon Mar 27 09:32:34 2000 Received: (from majordom@localhost) by whois.apnic.net (8.9.3/8.9.3) id JAA141948; Mon, 27 Mar 2000 09:32:33 +1000 (EST) Received: from post.super.net.pk (smtp-khi1.super.net.pk [203.130.2.9]) by whois.apnic.net (8.9.3/8.9.3) with ESMTP id JAA141945 for ; Mon, 27 Mar 2000 09:32:27 +1000 (EST) Received: from excel586 (khi-line-094.super.net.pk [203.130.5.233]) by post.super.net.pk (8.9.1/8.9.3) with ESMTP id EAA09324 for ; Mon, 27 Mar 2000 04:40:51 -0500 Message-Id: <200003270940.EAA09324@post.super.net.pk> From: "Irfan Khan" To: s-asia-it@apnic.net Date: Mon, 27 Mar 2000 04:33:21 +0500 MIME-Version: 1.0 Content-type: text/plain; charset=US-ASCII Content-transfer-encoding: 7BIT Subject: UN programme on IT kicks off with "knowledge management" panel X-mailer: Pegasus Mail for Win32 (v3.12b) Sender: owner-s-asia-it@lists.apnic.net Precedence: bulk [from the UNESCO WebWorld News Digest - No 76 - March 24, 2000] UN programme on IT kicks off with "knowledge management" panel March 24, 2000 - In preparation for its focus on information technology at a high-level meeting in July, the United Nations Economic and Social Council (ECOSOC) yesterday initiated a sweeping appraisal of the impact of the Internet on economic and social development. In an initial phase of the review, an experts gathered yesterday in New York to discuss "knowledge management," a methodology increasingly being applied to global development, aided by the coming technologies of the 21st century. In preparation of the July meeting, UNESCO organizes in May in New York a panel on "Universal Access to Information and Informatics for Human Development". http://www.unesco.org/webworld/news/000324_un.shtml From owner-s-asia-it@lists.apnic.net Tue Mar 28 12:26:29 2000 Received: (from majordom@localhost) by whois.apnic.net (8.9.3/8.9.3) id MAA151786; Tue, 28 Mar 2000 12:26:27 +1000 (EST) Received: from post.super.net.pk (smtp-khi1.super.net.pk [203.130.2.9]) by whois.apnic.net (8.9.3/8.9.3) with ESMTP id MAA151781 for ; Tue, 28 Mar 2000 12:26:21 +1000 (EST) Received: from excel586 (khi-line-095.super.net.pk [203.130.5.234]) by post.super.net.pk (8.9.1/8.9.3) with ESMTP id HAA09334 for ; Tue, 28 Mar 2000 07:34:37 -0500 Message-Id: <200003281234.HAA09334@post.super.net.pk> From: "Irfan Khan" To: s-asia-it@apnic.net Date: Tue, 28 Mar 2000 07:27:40 +0500 MIME-Version: 1.0 Content-type: text/plain; charset=US-ASCII Content-transfer-encoding: 7BIT Subject: The State of the Net in Bhutan (25-Feb-2000) X-mailer: Pegasus Mail for Win32 (v3.12b) Sender: owner-s-asia-it@lists.apnic.net Precedence: bulk Thanks to Steve Huter for pointing to an update on the state of the internet in Bhutan (dated 25 Feb 2000). The URL is: http://www.nsrc.org/db/lookup/operation=lookup- report/ID=951505793683:489028315/fromPage=BT Alternatively, the main page for Bhutan on the Network Startup Resource Center (NSRC)'s website is at: http://www.nsrc.org/db/lookup/ISO=BT irfan From owner-s-asia-it@lists.apnic.net Tue Mar 28 12:26:30 2000 Received: (from majordom@localhost) by whois.apnic.net (8.9.3/8.9.3) id MAA84950; Tue, 28 Mar 2000 12:26:29 +1000 (EST) Received: from post.super.net.pk (smtp-khi1.super.net.pk [203.130.2.9]) by whois.apnic.net (8.9.3/8.9.3) with ESMTP id MAA151782 for ; Tue, 28 Mar 2000 12:26:21 +1000 (EST) Received: from excel586 (khi-line-095.super.net.pk [203.130.5.234]) by post.super.net.pk (8.9.1/8.9.3) with ESMTP id HAA09337 for ; Tue, 28 Mar 2000 07:34:50 -0500 Message-Id: <200003281234.HAA09337@post.super.net.pk> From: "Irfan Khan" To: s-asia-it@apnic.net Date: Tue, 28 Mar 2000 07:27:40 +0500 MIME-Version: 1.0 Content-type: text/plain; charset=US-ASCII Content-transfer-encoding: 7BIT Subject: Hughes to provide satellite-Internet service to India X-mailer: Pegasus Mail for Win32 (v3.12b) Sender: owner-s-asia-it@lists.apnic.net Precedence: bulk [from NewsScan Daily, 24 March 2000] HUGHES TO PROVIDE SATELLITE-INTERNET SERVICE TO INDIA Hughes Electronics plans to provide satellite-based Internet service to nearly 1,100 cities in India. The contract calls for what Hughes officials describe as the largest single broadband network. Hughes will use a combination of VSAT (very small aperture terminal) technology and some 50,000 community-access kiosks located in coffee houses, restaurants and other gathering places. Users will pay a per- use fee, much like a pay phone. "We see this as a model for offering these types of services" in other parts of the world that lack extensive ground-based transmission facilities, such as telephone or cable lines, says Hughes Network Systems chairman Pradman Kaul. As many as 25 million potential subscribers will have access to the new system. (Wall Street Journal 24 Mar 2000) http://interactive.wsj.com/articles/SB95385768601419608.htm From owner-s-asia-it@lists.apnic.net Wed Mar 29 04:29:19 2000 Received: (from majordom@localhost) by whois.apnic.net (8.9.3/8.9.3) id EAA157831; Wed, 29 Mar 2000 04:29:18 +1000 (EST) Received: from post.super.net.pk (smtp-khi1.super.net.pk [203.130.2.9]) by whois.apnic.net (8.9.3/8.9.3) with ESMTP id EAA157827 for ; Wed, 29 Mar 2000 04:29:04 +1000 (EST) Received: from excel586 (khi-line-061.super.net.pk [203.130.5.200]) by post.super.net.pk (8.9.1/8.9.3) with ESMTP id XAA32254 for ; Tue, 28 Mar 2000 23:37:29 -0500 Message-Id: <200003290437.XAA32254@post.super.net.pk> From: "Irfan Khan" To: s-asia-it@apnic.net Date: Tue, 28 Mar 2000 23:30:28 +0500 MIME-Version: 1.0 Content-type: text/plain; charset=US-ASCII Content-transfer-encoding: 7BIT Subject: [Pakistan] SDNP to host free webpages for NGOs, development X-mailer: Pegasus Mail for Win32 (v3.12b) Sender: owner-s-asia-it@lists.apnic.net Precedence: bulk ISLAMABAD (March 28) : There are over two billion web pages on Internet and daily more than 200,000 pages are being added to this global network of computers. Web-page is the most important tool in the information technology as it serves as an all time business place for all kind of organisations and enterprises as well as educational institutions to exchange goods and knowledge at an unprecedented speed and that too at a very low cost. In this connection the Sustainable Development Networking Pakistan (SDNP) and United Nations Development Programme (UNDP) have jointly organised a two-day workshop at Bahria Institute of Management and Computer Sciences here on Monday. On the first day, the participants were briefed on the growth of e- commerce over Internet and the presenters informed that in Europe alone the volume of trade over Internet will be more than US $ 30 billion as projected for 2001. On global scale transactions of over $ 7.5 billion are taking place currently and by the year 2001 the e- commerce will grow more than $200 billion in volume. The participants drawn from different NGOs, research institutions and government departments are being given training to enable them to prepare web pages. The SDNP has offered to host the web pages of NGOs and social development organisation free of cost, while the other companies would charge from Rs 2000 onwards for hosting a small website.--APP http://www.brecorder.com/story/S0010/S1002/S1002109.htm From owner-s-asia-it@lists.apnic.net Thu Mar 30 16:44:07 2000 Received: (from majordom@localhost) by whois.apnic.net (8.9.3/8.9.3) id QAA132012; Thu, 30 Mar 2000 16:44:07 +1000 (EST) Received: from mx.super.net.pk (smtp-khi1.super.net.pk [203.130.2.10]) by whois.apnic.net (8.9.3/8.9.3) with ESMTP id QAA67769 for ; Thu, 30 Mar 2000 16:44:00 +1000 (EST) Received: from excel586 (khi-line-092.super.net.pk [203.130.5.231]) by mx.super.net.pk (8.9.3/8.9.3) with ESMTP id LAA26718 for ; Thu, 30 Mar 2000 11:43:58 +0500 (GMT+0500) Message-Id: <200003300643.LAA26718@mx.super.net.pk> From: "Irfan Khan" To: s-asia-it@apnic.net Date: Thu, 30 Mar 2000 11:44:56 +0500 MIME-Version: 1.0 Content-type: text/plain; charset=US-ASCII Content-transfer-encoding: 7BIT Subject: E-Commerce to help developing states: UNCTAD report X-mailer: Pegasus Mail for Win32 (v3.12b) Sender: owner-s-asia-it@lists.apnic.net Precedence: bulk E-Commerce to help developing states: report ISLAMABAD, March 27: Developing countries should not be left out of the paradigm of the new economy which is commonly known as e-commerce economy, says a United Nations Conference on Trade and Development (UNCTAD) report. The report, titled "Building Confidence", focuses on the political, analytical and practical challenges faced by the developing countries in the context of rapid globalization of electronic commerce. The UNCTAD was one of the first international organizations to identify the potential of the electronic commerce for developing countries in particular and of trade in general, said the organization's secretary general, Rubens Ricupero. "Electronic commerce is fast emerging as a particularly visible and spectacular incarnation of globalization," he said. "At this stage, it is still too early to say whether it will narrow down or broaden the gap between the rich and the poor. However, it is safe to say that the rapid expansion of electronic transactions constitutes a major opportunity for trade and development; it can be a source of a significant number of success stories by which developing countries and their enterprises can reach new levels of international competitiveness and participate more actively in the emerging global information economy", he observed. The report relies heavily on the conclusions that emerged from a number of meetings and workshops held in Europe and throughout the developing world over the past two years, in which more than 2,000 experts, scholars, practitioners and decision- makers participated. The head of the UNCTAD's electronic commerce section, Bruno Lanvin, said, "This is the first time that such a vast and diversified body of experts has been called on to contribute to such an endeavour." One of the working hypotheses of report is that e-commerce is less about technology and more about strategy, imagination and political will. It gives many examples of successful e-commerce endeavours in remote areas of the developing world.-APP http://www.dawn.com/2000/03/28/top15.htm From owner-s-asia-it@lists.apnic.net Thu Mar 30 16:44:10 2000 Received: (from majordom@localhost) by whois.apnic.net (8.9.3/8.9.3) id QAA67799; Thu, 30 Mar 2000 16:44:10 +1000 (EST) Received: from mx.super.net.pk (smtp-khi1.super.net.pk [203.130.2.10]) by whois.apnic.net (8.9.3/8.9.3) with ESMTP id QAA67771 for ; Thu, 30 Mar 2000 16:44:02 +1000 (EST) Received: from excel586 (khi-line-092.super.net.pk [203.130.5.231]) by mx.super.net.pk (8.9.3/8.9.3) with ESMTP id LAA08372 for ; Thu, 30 Mar 2000 11:44:03 +0500 (GMT+0500) Message-Id: <200003300644.LAA08372@mx.super.net.pk> From: "Irfan Khan" To: s-asia-it@apnic.net Date: Thu, 30 Mar 2000 11:44:57 +0500 MIME-Version: 1.0 Content-type: text/plain; charset=US-ASCII Content-transfer-encoding: 7BIT Subject: Pakistan Telecom losing $2.8 million yearly due to VoIP X-mailer: Pegasus Mail for Win32 (v3.12b) Sender: owner-s-asia-it@lists.apnic.net Precedence: bulk [and the debate continues....] Pakistan Telecommunication Company losing $2.8 million yearly due to foreign calls over Internet ISLAMABAD (March 29) : Pakistan Telecommunication Company Limited (PTCL) is losing about $2.8 million dollars annually on account of international calls made via Internet. "IT (information technology) does hurt our revenues," said Nooruddin Baqai, Director General, PTCL refuting the claims by ISPs (Internet Service Providers) that PTCL gains from international calls made through Internet. He said, it is wrong to say that PTCL would suffer no loss due to a free call made to USA by a customer who would otherwise pay to PTCL at the rate of $1.2 per minute for such a call. The contention of ISPs that there is no loss to PTCL revenues as a result of calls not passed through its normal routes is not correct as PTCL earns equivalent of $1.2 per minute against payment of $0.51 to the international carriers. Baqai said that direct loss to PTCL would be $0.71 per minute, the estimated impact being US$ 2.8 million per annum. The other loss to PTCL is the undue holding of PTCL's local circuits for duration from 30 minutes to 2 hours (at local call rates) at a time by the Internet users which otherwise would be billed at Rs 12 to Rs 50 per minute (loss on this account to PTCL is estimated at Rs 350 million per annum). The director general further said, there is also an indirect loss of incoming international traffic as more and more telephone calls are now made through use of Dialpad and Media Ring software. He said that the impact of this indirect loss of incoming minutes is estimated to be 14 million minutes i.e. US$ 7 million per annum. He said, the offer of free calls over Internet is also a part of a foreign plan to deprive PTCL of its established customer revenue base. The intention, he said, is to capture a huge clientele to which it cannot only offer telecom services but also e-commerce and other multimedia services and then gradually start charging for such cheap calls. Baqai said that as far the legality of the Internet for voice communication is concerned, the laws of Pakistan have to be followed not the American laws. In Pakistan such types of practices are banned and can only be passed through PTCL network. Moreover, he said that the normal telephone speech, quality and connectivity is much better as compared to calls made via Internet. He said, PTCL as part of its corporate policies is all for promotion of Internet and IT but it cannot compromise on such illegal activities, which impinge on its rights or affect foreign exchange earnings for the country. He advised the ISPs to work hand-in-hand with PTCL to promote information technology and Internet to help the country in earning more foreign exchange to boost it overall economy. Baqai said that PTCL would continue to fight to bring down its international call rates and also rates of its bandwidth depending upon the volume.--APP http://www.brecorder.com/story/S0010/S1002/S1002103.htm From owner-s-asia-it@lists.apnic.net Thu Mar 30 21:23:30 2000 Received: (from majordom@localhost) by whois.apnic.net (8.9.3/8.9.3) id VAA132204; Thu, 30 Mar 2000 21:23:29 +1000 (EST) Received: from post.super.net.pk (smtp-khi1.super.net.pk [203.130.2.9]) by whois.apnic.net (8.9.3/8.9.3) with ESMTP id VAA91903 for ; Thu, 30 Mar 2000 21:23:21 +1000 (EST) Received: from excel586 (khi-line-023.super.net.pk [203.130.5.162]) by post.super.net.pk (8.9.1/8.9.3) with ESMTP id QAA17994 for ; Thu, 30 Mar 2000 16:31:44 -0500 Message-Id: <200003302131.QAA17994@post.super.net.pk> From: "Irfan Khan" To: s-asia-it@apnic.net Date: Thu, 30 Mar 2000 16:24:50 +0500 MIME-Version: 1.0 Content-type: text/plain; charset=ISO-8859-1 Subject: Scripting software for our mother tongues X-mailer: Pegasus Mail for Win32 (v3.12b) Content-Transfer-Encoding: 8bit X-MIME-Autoconverted: from Quoted-printable to 8bit by whois.apnic.net id VAA91911 Sender: owner-s-asia-it@lists.apnic.net Precedence: bulk Scripting software for our mother tongues S Sadagopan In the recent MAIT conference in February 2000 held at Delhi, there was an interesting session devoted to Indian language computing. The backdrop to the conference was a study just concluded on the market potential of Indian language software undertaken jointly by the Manufacturers Association of Information Technology (MAIT) and the Indian Institute of Information Technology (IIIT) at Bangalore. The results of the study were striking and to some extent even shocking. In spite of so many pronouncements and claims by the government, the market is very under-developed, extremely small and unlikely to grow to any significant size. More precisely, the current market for Indian language software (Hindi and Tamil) is a mere Rs 50 million and likely to grow to just about Rs 110 million by year 2004. To provide perspective to the size of the market, Indian ERP market last year was a cool Rs 2 billion. Full details will be found in the report that can be obtained from MAIT or IIIT, Bangalore. The results are based on extensive personal interviews with more than 1,000 key individuals across the country representing government, judiciary, academia, industry (publishing, print media, electronic media, education), ISPs and IT vendors (both hardware and software). The results are unlikely to be very accurate; yet they are unlikely to have orders of magnitude errors either. Why is the market potential so low? There are many reasons for such a low market potential. * First and foremost, is the complexity of Indian scripts and the need for the right technology to handle this complexity. Indian scripts have complex compound characters that change shape - by merging, overlapping and superimposition of the individual characters. There are precise rules for forming compound characters. There are multiple representations for some characters. Even words get combined using fairly complex rules derived from grammar. The words are written down individually or in conjunction depending on the context. The base symbols themselves are much larger in number compared to the 26 characters of English language. To represent all the combination characters one would need a much larger set (running into hundreds). With ASCII coding becoming the base line of computing across all platforms over the past five decades, one has to face the constraint of using a maximum 128 characters. Since 1984, when Generalised Indian Script Terminal (GIST) and Indian Script Code for Information Interchange (ISCII) work started at IIT, Kanpur and C-DAC, considerable number of "workaround" solutions have been found using "glyphs" a way to compose compound characters using "add-ons" to the base character. With the falling cost of memory and storage and the availability of high- performance processors at throwaway costs, the entire computing industry is slowly, but steadily shifting to multi-byte characters scheme and a near-universally accepted coding scheme called Unicode. Unicode uses two bytes to represent every character and naturally can handle 64K individual characters to represent the scripts of all the world languages (including Indian scripts). Unicode already forms the basis of Windows 2000 operating system; Oracle has started re-writing their DBMS to represent Unicode characters at the base storage level. Others including IBM, Sun and SAP will start supporting Unicode. Application software like ERP will soon take advantage of the base support from operating system & DBMS. All these point to better technology support for Indian languages. Office 2000 South Asian Edition that was released last week enables one to use Tamil and Devanagari scripts in MS Word, Excel & PowerPoint. * The second reason for the low market potential is the nature of IT industry, which is primarily export-driven. In fact, the industry focus is dominantly to English-speaking markets. Naturally there is hardly any need for the use of Indian language capability for supporting services in this market. Only recently Indian IT industry is looking at the Indian market thanks to accounting packages like Tally, Ex and FACT. With the National IT Task Force recommending extensive use of IT in Governments, there is likely to be a spurt in the market for Indian language software. * The third reason is broadly socio-economic. With the buying power of Indian Rupee at such low value in the International market Indian software engineers (and their parents who supported their education) rush to the Dollar option for jobs. Naturally every Indian software engineer looks at the "overseas posting" option as his / her first priority. In this scenario, Indian language computing takes a back seat with hardly any developments taking place. Thanks to the widespread use of internet browsing and e- mail, there is a growing demand for Indian language support. Even Indian software engineers abroad need Indian script support to e- mail. A number of experiments like ITRANS, WebDuniya etc show encouraging signs. * Last, but not the least, the government takes a "regulatory" rather than an "enabling" role. While the government insists on IITs submitting their annual reports in English and Hindi, it takes hardly any efforts to get collected works of Mahatma Gandhi made available in all the Indian languages! There is a phenomenal amount of high-value Indian content writings, speeches, photographs, audio, music, video and documentaries that has true market. Obviously the government has no machinery to get it to the market in all Indian languages - but using NGOs, government can enable content. That would push Indian language computing to much higher level. The "enabling" role played by Private ISP Policy of November 1998 is an indication that the government is slowly getting its act together. What can be done? The next question of course is the action plan to grow the market. While the content revolution pioneered by ISPs like Satyam and dot com companies like Rediff and India world, the growing demand for Indian script e-mail and word-processing and the technology support for Indian scripts through Unicode would grow the market and prove the estimates wrong, much more has to be done to take the Indian language market to its true potential. * Provide tools free: We need to distinguish between Indian language software market and Indian language content market. While we see a great potential for Indian language content market we do not see a great market for Indian language software market. In fact the "market unfriendly" strategies of great companies like C- DAC, has stunted the growth of Indian language computing market. Telephone companies (including cell phone companies) did not make much money by selling instruments, but made tons of money by enabling people to talk for hours. By giving away the software (which would be mostly tools like word- processing, spell-checkers, grammar checkers, formatters, character animators, fonts, font generators, HTML editor enhancements etc) millions of Indians would start generating very large content in the Indian languages. The spurt in the market for content would pay for the tools; in turn the content developers would need high performance tools for which market would evolve. Right now the various low-end word-processors, DTP software and formatters are vainly attempting to create a market; this model is inherently unsustainable. The content creation in Indian languages is not taking off at all. Once enough tools are freely available and the content business is big, tools market would mature. * The government should play an "enabling" role in content creation. Though it cannot create content at costs affordable by markets, the government has control over a very large amount of content. By teaming up with the private sector and NGOs, the rich content with the government can be brought to the market. The recent successful launch of the Gandhiji CD with the entire collected works in English is a case in point. There is a need for creating a number of databases in Indian languages - even the list of all villages and even towns in India are not available today freely in all Indian languages. The governments own publications like India -XXXX is not available in all Indian languages. With millions of computer literate Indians, internet connection crossing one million and PC sales in 1999 crossing one million we are at the threshold for content creation in Indian languages. There could be a simple mechanism whereby NGOs are encouraged to create content; the government can reimburse the development costs once the content developers agree to share the content in Indian languages over public domain. NIC and MIT (formerly DoE) can play the role of coordinating this effort. The author is director of IIIT-B, Bangalore. He can be reached at ss@iiitb.ac.in http://www.economictimes.com/today/30netw01.htm