Number of cellphone subscribers crosses 18m

November 15, 2005 by Daily Times  

KARACHI: The number of cellphone subscribers crossed 18 million mark last month leaving behind the authorities’ forecast, which predicted 16 million mobile phone users by December 2005.

The figures compiled by the Pakistan Telecommunication Authority suggest that by October 2005 cellular density in the country stood at 11.95 compared with 10.98 registered in September 2005.

“The figures show that the country had some 18.4 million cellular subscribers by October 2005,” said a PTA official. “In absolute terms, the figures are 18,400,233 with a growth rate of 18.5 percent compared with September 2005.”

The Best Decisions are clustered

The decision making process is a most critical part any organization. The more time taking it take the more chances of losing opportunities may occur. According to the article in the strategy-business Most of the organizations are unnecessarily burdened by widespread breakdowns in the decision-making process which efficiency and narrow down opportunities.

Senior executives are often burdened by loads of emails waiting to be decided and executed. It wastes time, energies and resources of a company. They may get together on several corporate lunches just to decide upon a raw material provider.

The reason could be an unclear decision making rights or a poorly defined responsibilities. People normally don’t know about their limits of decision taking rights.

A “decision inventory” is normally used to simplify such situations. Every one has a well defined authority smoothly run organizational operations. But the decision inventory also has a limitation of being static in a dynamic environment. Every decision could not be categorized. A sudden addition in the product line or a natural disaster could put you in a difficult situation.

The method of making clusters for decisions is resulting in a favorable output. While running a decision inventory, some clusters should also be made to cover unforeseen situations. For example: If a decision about moving a local office does not require involvement of the corporate/headquarter. The decision should be taken with in a regional authority and be executed without involving the head office. Same is the case with the head office. A merger or an international partnership should not involve the regional or local offices.

Dividing decisions in a broader perspective can help smoother operational flow of any organization.

T-Mobile’s 20Mbps 3G service aims to destroy landline phones

The UK’s home broadband market is being shaken up at the moment, with Carphone Warehouse (our leading mobile phone retailer) offering free broadband bundled with its TalkTalk landline phone service. Now, T-Mobile has waded in by threatening to replace the landline altogether – both for voice calls and broadband data services.

T-Mobile’s plans involve using HSDPA to ramp up the data transfer rates of its 3G service from the current 384kbps to 1.8Mbps in 2006, and then onto 20Mbps by 2010. Better still, the service is completely open, and is offered at a flat rate of just £8.50 ($15) per month for unlimited use.

Invisible barcode sends info to mobile phones

Fujitsu have announced a completely new barcode that’s invisible to the naked eye, but which can be read by mobile phones. The new barcode can encode info such as a URL, which can be decoded by the mobile phone, enabling web-based content to be downloaded onto the phone. As the picture shows, the idea is to get more information about a product simply by waving a mobile phone over it, or over related publicity material.

via: Mobilementlism

Indonesia’s XL launches commercial 3G

Indonesia’s third-largest GSM operator and a subsidiary of Telekom Malaysia, PT Excelcomindo Pratama Tbk (XL), today launched a 3G-based service, XL3G, in Jakarta.

This makes Indonesia the third Southeast Asian nation, after Singapore and Malaysia, to launch 3G services commercially.

XL is the country’s second 3G operator after PT Telkomsel, the biggest GSM operator, which launched a similar service last month. PT Indosa

IMS/IPTV Are the Future for Service Providers

What originally started as a framework for just wireless networking has rapidly expanded to the wireline world to represent the future for service providers and the rest of the telecommunications ecosystem, as illustrated by the buzz coming from the Supercomm show in Chicago.

But while service providers race to accelerate the deployment of IP Multimedia Subsystems (IMS) solutions in turn to offer not just VoIP but more importantly video services (IPTV), incumbent operators (which have led the so-called “Triple Play” charge) have stepped up the pressure to remove regulatory hurdles – a point that didn’t escape Verizon’s Ivan Seidenberg who used his opening keynote as an opportunity to advance the cause.

“We need to update the telecom laws for the 21st century, particularly those related to broadband services. And we need to simplify and reform the franchising process that is acting as a barrier to video competition,” Seidenberg said.

Nokia Launches Podcast Application; discovery, OTA downloads and sharing all supported

Nokia continues to step up the company’s efforts to integrate more and more Web2.0 application functionality into their phones and to more tightly integrate the mobile experience with Web2.0. Today they’ve announced a brand new podcasting application for their S60 3rd edition devices, but particularly the N91 (which was recently profiled here).In paging through the 13 page PDF that constitues a very well down instructional manual it looks as though this is not a half baked product, but a very complete, well thought out and well executed tool that (at least for me) will dramatically augment the functionality of my N91.

Mobile CAPEX: Leap of Faith Business Strategy

Recent reports of the lower than expected uptake of mobile phone related value-added services apparently won’t discourage service providers from investing in additional broadband infrastructure. New research has uncovered incremental capital expenditure (CAPEX) by the major mobile operators, along with their strategies for the future.

In 2006, GSM is the dominant cellular technology, but by 2012, WCDMA will receive the highest CAPEX investment by mobile operators, according to a study from ABI Research. By 2012, worldwide mobile CAPEX will exceed $150 billion.

“Mobile operators’ attitudes towards CAPEX have changed over the past two or three years,” says mobile wireless research analyst Shailendra Pandey. “They are clearly becoming more focused on an early return on their investments.”

The 12 Function of GPS

Most people have heard the term of GPS but not many people know how to use it, when to use it. Oke let me explain it and hopefully it will added your knowledge in case you have to use it in certain condition. GPS or Global Positioning Systems is a term that most commonly conjures up images of vehicle navigation systems, space-age satellite technology, and interactive maps for outdoors-types and sportsmen. But the reality is that there are far more applications of Global Positioning Systems beyond GPS vehicle tracking or map navigation that everyday people like us can benefit from. All it takes is a bit of creativity, and some trial and error. There are currently many possibilities that can benefit for you in your busy day or in hectic life.

T-Mobile Secretly Testing T-Mobile-At-Home

It looks like T-Mobile is getting their product testing company Centercode ready to start tests on their upcoming T-Mobile-At-Home (TAH) service. From what we hear, TAH is a wireless router-type device that broadcasts GSM and does VoIP through your broadband connection. 

What this means exactly, we’re not sure. But the GSM broadcasting could mean you’re getting a stronger signal at home—like from a GSM repeater—and the VoIP is VoIP through the T-Mobile system. Most likely a flat rate for $X a month, or using up your minutes. All conjecture at this point until we receive more details after they roll out the test on August 11th.

They’re only signing up customers over email and having them reply via email. People who call up customer service or go to T-Mobile stores cannot sign up. Read the PDF for more details. – Jason Chen

source: Gizmodo

Nokia takes out honors for most stolen phone brand

According to a recent study, of the 112,093 mobile phone thefts report in London last year, nearly 50% of all handsets stolen were manufactured by Nokia.

The Samsung D500 featured second and the Motorola RAZR took out the bronze. 7 of the top 10 were Nokia handsets.
Most stolen makes:

1. Nokia, 55,783 (49%)
2. Samsung, 15,524 (13.6%)
3. Sony Ericsson, 15,090 (13.3%)
4. Motorola, 12,947 (11.4%)
5. Others, 14,451 (12.7%

source

Google’s growing list of domains

Have you ever wondered how many domain names Google owns? Currently Google owns 520 domain names. Their domain collection has been growing over the last couple years because of all of the companies they started and have bought. Some of these domain names are not in Google’s name, but in the company’s name that they purchased.

 More information

Microsoft warns of PowerPoint virus

SEATTLE, Washington (Reuters) — Microsoft Corp. warned about a new computer virus that exploits a vulnerability in its PowerPoint presentation software to allow hackers to infiltrate computer systems. 

Microsoft issued an advisory on the company’s security Web log on July 17 about the virus, which is carried out when a user launches a PowerPoint attachment to an e-mail or opens a file provided to them by the attacker.

Hackers could also lure users to a Web page that offers content or advertisements containing a file that exploits the PowerPoint software, Microsoft said. The vulnerability applies to PowerPoint 2000, 2002 and 2003.

Once the user triggers the corrupt PowerPoint file, the virus installs a keystroke logging system to capture everything typed on the machine. It also leaves the machine open to having a hacker install other malicious programs.

“It installs a backdoor and allows for all types of software to be downloaded on the computer and the computer can be remotely controlled,” said Alfred Huger, a security expert at Symantec Corp.

Microsoft said it was completing development of a security update to fix the vulnerability and was on schedule to release the patch on August 8, or sooner, as part of a monthly security update. The company reported a “limited” number of attacks.

source: CNN

Car Restoration: Do Your Homework

When admirers ask who restored your classic auto, imagine answering, “I did it myself.” Here’s what to consider before taking the plunge

There’s no doubt that owning and driving a beautifully-restored classic car is a very pleasant thing to do. Everyone notices you go by and whenever your “treasure” is parked it becomes the object of endless conversation.

While ownership of a classic car is nice enough, if you were the one who performed the car restoration the sense of personal achievement and satisfaction is downright intoxicating. The hundreds of hours of meticulous cleaning, rebuilding, painting and installation pay for themselves when the car comes to life and transports its owner to a parade, show or a pleasant drive.

The purpose of this article is to familiarize you with some of the important considerations that must be addressed in order for such a car restoration project to come out successfully. Many would-be car restorers have become disillusioned by the heavy costs in time, space, equipment and money. This is almost always due to improper research and planning (or none at all) up front, so here are some basic guidelines to consider before starting your car restoration project:

Google offers live traffic maps for mobiles — a killer app?

Google Inc said on Tuesday that the company has begun offering mobile phone users in more than 30 major US cities the capacity to view highway maps with ‘live’ traffic data,” reports Reuters.”Highway traffic information is sent to the phone, with road conditions highlighted in three colors: — red for congested, yellow or orange for slowdowns, and green for smooth sailing.”

As the story notes: “Rival Yahoo Inc offers live traffic conditions on its computer-based map service, but it does not yet provide a mobile phone version for Yahoo maps.”

source: http://blogs.guardian.co.uk/technology/

O2 launches Windows Live Mail

O2 says it’s the first UK operator to launch Windows Live Mail. From O2’s press release:

Keith Dewar, Head of Products at O2: “Consumers’ appetite for communication via mobile email has been steadily growing and so we are very pleased to be the first operator to bring Windows Live Mail to our customers. Indeed, our own i-mail service, which is available on i-mode, has clearly shown that if it is as easy to use as text, consumers will embrace mobile to internet communications and vice versa. This is the first of a range of mobile email services we are planning to offer, which will give consumers access to their existing email “

Courtesy: http://blogs.guardian.co.uk/technology/archives/mobile_phones/