| Frederick Noronha on Tue, 7 Mar 2000 22:54:38 +0100 (CET) |
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| <nettime> BytesForAll MARCH2K Issue#7 |
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 <prakash@freeos.com> 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 <amehta@giasdl01.vsnl.net.in> 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 ++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++ FROM NEW DELHI IN INDIA, ONCE AGAIN ARUN MEHTA <amehta@cerfnet.com> 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... 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