L I R N E . N E T

[27 March 2008] DIRSI researcher, Judith Mariscal, will present “Oportunidades Móviles: pobreza y acceso telefónico” at the Centro de Investigación y Docencia Económicas (CIDE) - where she is also Director of the Programa de Investigación en Telecomunicaciones y Tecnologías. The presentation will take place at 11am in the Sala de Seminarios, in the Santa Fe building.

To confirm participation, please contact: Regina de Angoitia:
email: regina.angoitia [at] cide.edu
telephone: 5727-9800 x 2330

In this post, Tahani Iqbal and Nirmali Sivapragasam of LIRNEasia compare recent mobile benchmark studies undertaken in Asia and Latin American and the Caribbean.

The findings from LIRNEasia’s recent comparative study of price and affordability in eight South Asian countries - Mobile Benchmarks South Asia, March 2008 - indicate that Bangladesh has the lowest average monthly cost for using mobile telephony at all levels of use (low, medium and high) for prepaid and postpaid tariff plans, followed closely by Pakistan, India and Sri Lanka. Bhutan, Maldives and Afghanistan have considerably higher average monthly mobile costs among the South Asian countries considered.

The study, which is based on an adaptation of the basket methodology used by the Organization for Economic Co-operation and Development (for February 2006), applies usage charges (for voice and SMS), line rental, connection charges (depreciated over a three year period), and applicable taxes for the different use levels.

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[13-14 March] Bruce Girard, Director of Comunica will present a paper on “Broadcasting Policy Exchange: A platform for knowledge sharing, networking and mutual advice on good practice in broadcasting policy, law and regulation” at the Foro Regional para el Desarrollo de Medios, Capítulo Latinoamérica (Global Forum for Media Development, Latin American Chapter). The event will take place at the Hotel Almirante Estelar, Cartagena de Indias, Colombia.

Go to the website for la Fundación para un Nuevo Periodismo Iberoamericano (FNPI).
Go to the website for the Global Forum for Media Development (GFMD).

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[4 March 2008] Kim Mallieu of the Regional Dialogue on the Information Society (DIRSI) will facilitate a DIRSI Stakeholder Meeting in Trinidad and Tobago, and will present and lead discussion on “DIRSI: Regional Telecommunications Policy and Regulatory Research Collaborative.” The main objectives of this meeting are:

• Information dissemination on regional research relating to telecommunications policy and regulation
• Identification of needs and gaps in telecommunications policy and regulatory research
• Identification of research priorities
• Recommendations on strategies to meet priority research needs.

Click here for more information from the DIRSI website
or send an email to < info at dirsi dot net >. (more…)

[4-5 February 2008] The Regional Dialogue on the Information Society for Latin America and the Caribbean (DIRSI) is organising a session entitled “Regional Issues relating to National ICT Policies and Strategies for Achieving the MDGs” for the Launch Seminar of the Latin America and Caribbean Regional Network of the Global Alliance for ICT and Development (GAID).

The seminar will take place on 4-5 February 2008 at the Radisson Hotel in San Salvador, El Salvador, in the two days preceeding the II Ministerial Conference on the Information Society eLAC2007 in San Salvador.

Click here to go to the GAID seminar website.

Click here to see DIRSi participation in II Ministerial Conference on the Information Society eLAC2007.

Click here to go to the DIRSI website.
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