Broadband penetration in India hits 11 mln in 2010 - study

With overall 2010 broadband penetration at 11 million subscribers who are mostly using DSL, there is a growth opportunity for the broadband wireless sector in India, according to a study by Maravedis. The 3G subscriber base in India will reach 41 million by the end of this year. Bharti Airtel is expected to lead the market in terms of the number of 3G subscribers. 3G players have moved ahead with their rollouts while BWA licence holders are lagging behind evaluating various technologies such as Wimax and TD-LTE. India represents a USD 4 billion capex opportunity for TD-LTE by 2016. The TD-LTE subscriber base in India will reach 2.25 million by the end of 2012, and by 21 million by the end of 2016. By the end of this year, 3G-enabled handsets will dominate the device category with an 80 percent market share.

Source: www.telecompaper.com

Price War is Bad for Broadband Internet Companies – Qubee Chief

We have seen call rates decrease with extensive price wars in Pakistan’s cellular mobile domain, resulting in low ARPUs for the industry. Recently a price war has also begun among Broadband Internet companies. In an interview with The Express Tribune, Mubashir Naqvi, Chief Executive Qubee Pakistan expressed that Broadband companies cannot afford price wars as they may affect the quality of service. Below is the excerpt of the interview.

While commenting on the growth of broadband internet market he says that a phenomenal growth has been seen and is still underway. “I do not think there is any saturation in the market. Companies that improve their services, technology and products will succeed,” he asserted. “Owing to the demanding nature of business, we call it 3D business which is different, difficult and dynamic.”

Speaking about possible mergers and acquisitions, Naqvi said he expected mergers and acquisitions in the local broadband market. “Technology kills technology, companies do not kill companies,” he said. At present, there are four broadband internet service providers in Pakistan.

With almost a 52 percent market share, DSL internet is still the most popular in the local internet market. However, broadband internet users have grown continuously over the last three years and companies have acquired a 28 per cent market share. The remaining market share is divided between EvDo (15 per cent) and HFC (4 per cent), according to Pakistan Telecommunication Authority (PTA) data.

Modified From: www.telecompk.net

Comparing Apple Ipads

About a year ago Apple launched iPad, it changed the dynamics of tablets market ousting every available option. It was a real step in the future, amazing the ordinary, fascinating the geeks and pleasing the critics. The 9.7 inches capacitive touch screen added a new dimension to tablets as Apple grabbed lion’s share in the market.

Now a year has passed, standards and expectations are higher as the Apple iPad 2 has just hit the stores and is available for pre-order, many people (including me) were doubting the potential of Apple to come with something exciting enough to stir the interest as it gathered in case of iPad keeping in view the fact that charismatic Steve Jobs is out of the picture for the time being.

The release of next generation iPad 2 has been marked by long queues of fans waiting to get their hands on the device as soon as it’s released & stock being finished in warehouses and shops. The first day sales of iPad 2 are estimated to be between 400,000 to 500,000 devices which is a massive boost for Apple as around 200,000 devices iPads were sold on the first launch.

The iPad2 is priced similarly to the original iPad with better specifications, lesser weight and a thinner device with improved aesthetics. It’s smaller than the previous version and is lighter than iPhone 4. It is 241mm tall, 186mm wide and 8.6mm thick & is pretty easy to grasp due to curved edges. The new iPad has the same resolution as the previous one hence no improvement can be seen in viewing high definition pictures.

Weighing 680 grams, the iPad 2 is 80 grams lighter than its predecessor hence making it easier to carry along. When in hand, its weight seems surprisingly lesser and the silver metal at the back appears to be made of plastic. The original device seemed like a paper-weight due to its design, but this one is designed beautifully, you will appreciate the design more if you have used tablets of different brands.

Apple claims iPad 2 to be twice as fast as the previous version because its powered by dual core 1GHz A5 CPU built by ARM, space available for apps has also been doubled from 256 MB to 512 MB. As a result of the hardware upgrades, movies run visibly smoother in iPad2 but there is no clear difference in many apps like browser. A front camera is another addition which sets the new version apart fro the previous one, but the meager VGA resolution is not reasonable.

Some issues (light leak, yellowing) are being reported but the real worth of Apple iPad 2 will be known as time passes by and different classes of users put the device to different uses.

Here is a little comparison:

Apple iPad 1st generation & the Apple ipad 2 both have not been officially launched in Pakistan, but I hope Apple recognizes the potential market in Pakistan and launches the iPad 2 soon with full after sales support.

Source: www.telecompk.net

Why the Japan Earthquake Didn't Cripple the Country's Internet

The news from Japan is still pretty grim. Four days after a 9.0-magnitude earthquake shook the country, engineers are trying to prevent further explosions at a damaged nuclear power plant, and Japan’s largest electric utility has introduced rolling blackouts. But here's a piece of good news for one of the most wired societies on the planet: For the most part, the Internet is working.

The fiber optic network of undersea cables that connect Japan to the rest of the world was damaged when the earthquake struck beneath the Pacific seafloor, about 200 kilometers from Japan's northeast coast. The Wall Street Journal reports that many telecom operators have battled service disruptions, and anecdotal reports from Japan residents (including IEEE Spectrum commenters) suggest that some people have experienced slow Internet speeds, especially when accessing international sites.

But the situation could have been far worse. TeleGeography, a company that keeps tabs on Internet traffic around the world, told IEEE Spectrum that the undersea cable network experienced "limited" damage due to the earthquake. While more than a dozen undersea cable networks land in Japan, most of the landing stations are in areas that weren't too damaged by the quake. Companies whose cables were impacted have mostly been able to reroute traffic through intact cable lines to avoid major service problems.

From TeleGeography:

Most of Japan's cable landing stations are well to the South of Tokyo, or on the other side of the sheltered inlet that becomes Tokyo Bay. We're not aware of disruptions to any of the many cables that land here. All of the cable systems that have reported outages also operate cables that land to the South of Tokyo, so no system appears to have suffered a complete outage....

All of the outages appear to be on cable segments that land in the Ajigaura or Kitaibaraki landing stations, approximately halfway between Tokyo and Sendai.
Some of the damage reports are already in. According to TeleGeography:

* The Hong Kong-based cable-network operator PacNet has reported damage to two segments of its East Asia Crossing undersea cable, which connects Japan to other parts of Asia.

* Japan's NTT Communications Corporation has reported damage to some segments of its PC-1 submarine cable system, which connects Japan and the United States.

* Korea Telecom has also reported that a segment of the Japan-US Cable Network is damaged.

* Chunghwa of Taiwan has reported damage to segments of the Asia Pacific Cable Network 2.

UPDATE: The monitoring company Keynote Systems has more info on how telecoms have coped with the cable problems. Over the weekend, Keynote told us that they'd detected few large-scale problems with internet service. Now the company has provided more details of the types of glitches that have occurred since the earthquake, and the steps telecoms have taken to deal with them. From a Keynote statement:

We captured some peering issues (delays for traffic transiting from one major carrier to another) on Saturday night, 9 pm Pacific. In the graphic below we can see that traffic from Sprint to NTT had 50% packet loss and latency of almost half a second:


The bottom chart shows a 4-hour span today. The lack of troublesome red numbers suggests that telecoms have found short-term fixes to their problems.

Keynote also passed along messages from Japan's NTT Communications Corporation, the country's primary Internet backbone provider. NTT announced today that it will send out submarine cable repair ships within the next 24 to 48 hours to work on busted cables just offshore from the landing station. NTT also warned of the potential for more problems:

It is possible that we may experience an increase in latency and packet loss during periods of peak utilization, specifically 12:00 to 15:00 UTC. Our engineers and operations staff continue to work towards restoring additional capacity on our cable systems and return them to full functionality.

By: Eliza Strickland
Source: http://spectrum.ieee.org/tech-talk/telecom/internet/why-the-japan-earthquake-didnt-cripple-the-countrys-internet

IPV4 & IPV6: A SHORT GUIDE

The Internet has run out of Internet addresses… sort of. Perhaps you’ve heard the news: the last blocks of IPv4 Internet addresses have been allocated. The fundamental underlying technology that has powered Internet Protocol addresses (ever seen a number like 99.48.227.227 on the web? That’s an IP address) since the Internet’s inception will soon be exhausted.

A new technology will take its place, though. IPv4′s successor is IPv6, a system that will not only offer far more numerical addresses, but will simplify address assignments and additional network security features.

The transition from IPv4 to IPv6 is likely to be rough, though. Most people are unfamiliar with IPv4 and IPv6, much less the potential impact the switch to IPv6 may have on their lives.

That’s why we’ve compiled this short guide to IPv4 and the eventual transition to IPv6. We explain the two versions of IP and why they matter. We also go into detail on what you can expect in the next few years as billions of websites, businesses and individuals make the switch to the new era of the Internet.

IPv4 & IPv6 Q&A

Q: What is IPv4?
A: IPv4 stands for Internet Protocol version 4. It is the underlying technology that makes it possible for us to connect our devices to the web. Whenever a device access the Internet (whether it’s a PC, Mac, smartphone or other device), it is assigned a unique, numerical IP address such as 99.48.227.227. To send data from one computer to another through the web, a data packet must be transferred across the network containing the IP addresses of both devices.

Without IP addresses, computers would not be able to communicate and send data to each other. It’s essential to the infrastructure of the web.

Q: What is IPv6?

A: IPv6 is the sixth revision to the Internet Protocol and the successor to IPv4. It functions similarly to IPv4 in that it provides the unique, numerical IP addresses necessary for Internet-enabled devices to communicate. However, it does sport one major difference: it utilizes 128-bit addresses. I’ll explain why this is important in a moment.

Q: Why are we running out of IPv4 addresses?

A: IPv4 uses 32 bits for its Internet addresses. That means it can support 2^32 IP addresses in total — around 4.29 billion. That may seem like a lot, but all 4.29 billion IP addresses have now been assigned to various institutions, leading to the crisis we face today.

Let’s be clear, though: we haven’t run out of addresses quite yet. Many of them are unused and in the hands of institutions like MIT and companies like Ford and IBM. More IPv4 addresses are available to be assigned and more will be traded or sold (since IPv4 addresses are now a scarce resource), but they will become a scarcer commodity over the next two years until it creates problem for the web.

Q: How does IPv6 solve this problem?

A: As previously stated, IPv6 utilizes 128-bit Internet addresses. Therefore, it can support 2^128 Internet addresses — 340,282,366,920,938,000,000,000,000,000,000,000,000 of them to be exact. That’s a lot of addresses, so many that it requires a hexadecimal system to display the addresses. In other words, there are more than enough IPv6 addresses to keep the Internet operational for a very, very long time.

Q: So why don’t we just switch?

A: The depletion of IPv4 addresses was predicted years ago, so the switch has been in progress for the last decade. However, progress has been slow — only a small fraction of the web has switched over to the new protocol. In addition, IPv4 and IPv6 essentially run as parallel networks — exchanging data between these protocols requires special gateways.

To make the switch, software and routers will have to be changed to support the more advanced network. This will take time and money. The first real test of the IPv6 network will come on June 8, 2011, World IPv6 Day. Google, Facebook and other prominent web companies will test drive the IPv6 network to see what it can handle and what still needs to be done to get the world switched over to the new network.

Q: How will this affect me?

A: Initially, it won’t have a major impact on your life. Most operating systems actually support IPv6, including Mac OS X 10.2 and Windows XP SP 1. However, many routers and servers don’t support it, making a connection between a device with an IPv6 address to a router or server that only supports IPv4 impossible. IPv6 is also still in its infancy; it has a lot of bugs and security issues that still need to be fixed, which could result in one giant mess.

Source: www.mashable.com

IP ADDRESSES ARE RUNNING OUT: WHAT YOU NEED TO KNOW

Yes, our worldwide system of networks that comprise what we call the Internet is running out of IP addresses. Experts and pundits are predicting exactly when this will happen, and sensationalist news headlines are popping up all over the place, inflating the IP-address exhaustion issue into apocalyptic proportions—an "IPocalypse", if you will.

But don't head for the bomb shelters just yet. Let's take a look at what's going on, what's being done about it, and most important: How this affects you.

Brief Background

IP addressing is a protocol that's gone through several revisions (just like wireless networking standards). Currently, IP version 4, noted as IPv4, is the most widely deployed standard. IPv4 has been in use since the early '80s. The problem is there is a finite amount of IP addresses that can be distributed. Without delving too deeply into the math, that number equals 3,706,650,000 usable addresses. From that pool, the number of IP addresses that can be used are further broken down by what's available in individual countries. So, most countries have significantly less than that amount available for their networks. IP address spaces are managed by an organization known as ICANN.

The explosive rate of people all over the world connecting to the Internet and the astounding number of new devices that are getting connected every day have led us to a threshold: IPv4 addresses are running out. However, this has been known for quite some time. In fact, NAT (Network Address Translating), the technology that allows an ISP to deliver a single public IP address to a private home network (while providing Internet connectivity for all hosts on that network) was devised to combat the IPv4 exhaustion issue (or at least stave off the issue for a while). Now that the end is near for IPv4, you can be sure that the major ISPs (Internet Service Providers) and organizations that provide IP addresses for us are not resting on their laurels about the situation.

What's Being Done?

IP addressing has been available in a newer version, known as IPv6. IPv6 provides a wider pool of IP addresses, a number that has been cited is 340 trillion, trillion, trillion addresses—enough to last us well into the future. There are also other benefits to IPv6, more efficient network management, better security and better interoperability for mobile networks.

Although IPv6 has been available since the '90s, not many companies, ISPs, or other organizations have implemented it. Most are still on IPv4. That is changing, though, as governments, corporations, ISP, and MSOs (Multiple System Operators) map out their plans to transition. Of course, the likely scenario is that many networks will run both IPv4 and IPv6 in tandem for a while until IPv6 becomes the standard.

The potential problem is with vendors—they need to ensure that new networking devices can use IPv6. Hopefully, vendors will get on board and start shipping devices that are IPv6 compatible. Again, major vendors have money to lose if they are lax on this issue, so most likely they will be ahead of the game here. Many routers and devices as well as OSes like Windows 7 have had support for IPv6 for quite some time.

"What Does This Mean for Me or My Business?"

So when the last available IPv4 address has been doled out, does that mean your router, iPad , laptop or other devices won't be able to connect to the Internet? No. Devices you currently use at home already have an associated IP address and won't be affected.

Those who host their own websites, have a registered domain or are responsible for a business network should be more vigilant. There's a great post on the steps those users should take in order to ensure IPv6 readiness from Cisco.

Google has been a leader in the push for IPv6. Google Apps users and those with Google Apps domain are all set for IPv6. In fact, Google is taking part in World IPv6 Day and is active in ensuring IPv6 is a forefront technology issue.

Additionally, major DNS server offerings such as Microsoft DNS server, ISC BIND, Cisco Network Registrar have supported IPv6 for years.

Sure, there may be some bumps in the road as the world moves to IPv6. Smaller ISPs may slip through the cracks and not make the transition completely or in a timely manner. There's bound to be newer devices that come to market that may not work at first with IPv6. Some websites may experience DNS hiccups as DNS records are added and edited to support IPv6. But IP address exhaustion has been known about for years, and those making up the backbone of the Internet have provisions in place. For most of us using our many devices and technology toys at home, the last IPv4 address will get allocated without any notice.

At Transworld, our network is IPv6-ready. We have our own IPv6 network block allocated to us by APNIC and the prefix is also visible on internet. All of our IP equipment on the core as well as on the edge also support IPv6. We are on the continuous go with recent developments on IPv6 and our core IP team is continuously gaining expertise on this new technology.

Modified From: www.pcmag.com

Award Winning PTCL EVO is Rated Poor by 58% Customers: Poll

PTCL’s EVO service, which has recently won ‘Best Consumer Choice Award’ is rated poor by 58 percent respondents (who are supposedly EVO customers as well) in a poll conducted by PTCL itself.


In a poll, available on PTCL’s website, a total of 1768 EVO customers have voted so far, out of which 58 percent think that EVO service is poor. Another 22 percent believe that the service is good while only 7 percent rated EVO service as Excellent.

12 percent respondents opted not to rate the service.

EVO is a wireless broadband service from PTCL, which promises the mobility at 3.1 Mbps internet in over 100 cities. Consumers are generally not satisfied with the EVO’s signals in various part of major cities, resulting disconnections or low than advertised speed.

Source: www.propakistani.pk

GLOBAL TABLET SHIPMENTS TO HIT 58 MLN IN 2014 – STUDY

Consumer awareness of tablet computers is at an all time high due to the Apple iPad launch, according to a study by In-Stat. After close to a decade of negligible demand, the tablet market is finally gaining mass market appeal. Worldwide tablet shipments are expected to reach over 58 million units in 2014. Nearly 55 percent of survey respondents that own tablets spend 9 hours or more using their tablet each week. Over 40 percent of future tablet purchasers plan to buy an Apple iPad. The strongest shipment growth begins in the latter portion of the forecast period.

Source: www.telecompaper.com

A COUNTRY WITHOUT CYBER LAWS: PAKISTAN

Online activities are as vulnerable to crime as real life situations are. Law makers, law enforcers and individuals need to know how to protect themselves.

The following are some examples of cyber crimes:

1. Assault by Threat: Threatening a person with fear for their lives or the lives of their families through Internet e.g. Email, videos or other networks like Mobile Phones etc.

2. Cyber theft: Using a computer to steal. This includes activities related to DNS cache poisoning, identity theft, fraud, embezzlement and unlawful appropriation, espionage etc.

3. Cyber terrorism: Premeditated, usually politically-motivated violence committed against civilians through the use of, or with the help of, computer technology.

4. Cyber laundering: Electronic transfer of illegally-obtained money with the goal of hiding its source and possibly its destination.

Though Pakistan is a comparatively new member of the cyber world (i.e. mobile networks and broadband connections) and cyber crime isn’t as widespread a phenomenon as in some other parts of the world, but in Pakistan currently there exist no laws to prevent cyber crime.

One law, called Cyber Crime prevention bill, was passed by Pakistan Federal Cabinet on Jan 17, 2007. The proposed law titled “Prevention of electronic crimes bill” offered penalties ranging from six month of imprisonment to capital punishment for 17 types of cyber crimes including cyber terrorism, hacking of websites and criminal access to secure data. However, this proposed law was not passed in the Parliament and was implemented as an ordinance by former President Musharraf on Jan, 07, 2008.

According to this Ordinance, the accused could be fined one lack to five lack Rupees or three to ten years imprisonment or both.

The Ordinance was later endorsed twice by the PPP government for renewal, until it lapsed in November 2009 and was not reinstated hence. As the age of any Presidential ordinance is only six weeks from the date of its promulgation in Pakistan, there is no law at this particular time against cyber crimes in Pakistan.

By: Yaseen Chaudhary
Modified From: www.propakistani.pk

ISPAK Alleges PTCL of Illegally Using Extra Frequency

Internet Service Providers Association of Pakistan has raised its concern over illegal use of frequency by PTCL. In a letter written to the Frequency Allocation Board, ISPAK has said that PTCL is illegally using extra frequency for its 9.3 Mbps wireless internet service called Nitro.

ISPAK noted that PTCL was allocated frequency band of 1975-1980 MHz and 1895-1900 MHz for use of its CDMA/WLL services. However, the company is now using 1975-1981.875 and 1895-1901.875 MHz thus occupying extra 3.75 MHz of band not originally allocated to them.

ISPAK has urged FAB to charge PTCL pro-rated charges for this extra usage and serious action for the violation. It merits mentioning here that frequency of 3.75 MHz for major cities of Pakistan is worth millions of dollars, meaning that PTCL is possibly causing millions of loss to PTA, FAB and the government if company is proven guilty. A query sent to PTCL for their viewpoint on this is still awaiting response.

Following is the copy of ISPAK’s said letter:

Internet Service Providers Association of Pakistan(ISPAK)
No. 3(5)/2010
10 December 2010
Executive Director
Frequency Allocation Board
Government of Pakistan
Islamabad

Subject: Illegal use of frequency by PTCL

Dear Sir,

PTCL was allocated frequency band of 1975-1980 MHz and 1895-1900 MHz for use of its CDMA/WLL services. Currently PTCL is using this frequency for its broadband services advertised as EVO Nitro. But in reality, PTCL is using 1975-1981.875 and 1895-1901.875 MHz thus occupying extra 3.75 MHz of band not originally allocated to them. PTCL is using this extra band in major cities of the country including Islamabad/Rawalpindi, Lahore and Karachi, as verified by us through field monitoring.

2. Extra use of wireless spectrum is not only illegal but also deprives Government from millions of dollars revenue earned on auction of wireless spectrum to telecom operators.

3. We therefore request that punitive action be kindly undertaken against PTCL for illegal use of wireless spectrum under relevant clauses of Pakistan Telecommunication (Re-organisation) Act, 1996 and PTCL should be billed for the spectrum charges based on the pro-rata charges of spectrum fee at previous auctioned prices for each telecom region.

With kind regards.

Yours truly,
Wahaj us Siraj
Convener
c.c.Chairman PTA, Islamabad
Member Telecom, Ministry of IT, Islamabad

Source: www.propakistani.pk