Vision - March 2009 - (Page 8) going global By 2010 Chile will have the highest wireless penetration in Latin America; so predicts a 2008 report by IE Market Research. It estimates that Chile will boast 18.3 million mobile subscribers within the next two years. Mobile e-mail and synchronization company, the aptly named Synchronica, has secured a contract through re-seller Brightstar, with an unidentified, but reportedly one of Chile’s largest, mobile phone operators. The unknown “operator” has more than five million subscribers and purchased 50,000 user licenses from Synchronica Mobile Gateway. The gateway will bring mobile e-mail and synchronization to existing mass market devices, not just smartphones, and will connect to a user’s e-mail server through a secure connec- news around the world ] • [ by carolyn slater Virgin Presents Faster Broadband Service in the UK Virgin Media is offering its customers in Britain a super fast broadband service that reportedly will reach speeds of 50 megabits in some parts of the country. The current average broadband service in Britain is 4 to 5 MB. The increased speeds will allow users to engage in interactive gaming and download online video content, even HDTV, in multiple rooms simultaneously. The Virgin cable network is available in about half of the country, and the new service is expected to reach the entire network, potentially 12.6 million homes, by summer of 2009. Virgin Media’s rival BT (British Telecom) is carrying out trials to begin offering 24 MB service to some parts of the country. Chile Leads Latin America in Mobile Users tion. It combines SyncML (OMA DS) for synchronization of calendar and contacts with Push IMAP (LEMONADE) for mobile e-mail supporting OMA EMN and e-mailto-SMS functionality. Estonia Leading the World with Mobile Voting In their country’s next Parliamentary election in 2011, Estonians will have the option of voting via their mobile phones. In 2005 Estonia became the first country to offer online voting in a national election. To take advantage of the phone vote opportunity, Estonians will need a special chip from the SK Certification Center, which administers and issues the mobile payment and ticketing system for the country’s public transportation system. The chip, which verifies the voter’s identity and authorizes them to vote, is inserted into the individual’s mobile phone. North Korea’s 3G Network Egyptian company Orascom Telecom has received a 25-year license to launch a 3G mobile phone network in North Korea, but it’s not clear how many of the country’s 22 million citizens will have access to it. Initially the network will serve the capital city of Pyongyang, which also is the country’s largest city with a population of about two million. Some are predicting that this $400 million deal is a sign that North Korea’s leader Kim Jong Il is opening up North Korea to the outside world and allowing more freedoms for its people, but experts warn this might be reading too much in to the situation. Orascom believes they will extend the service beyond Pyongyang to cover the entire country within a year but have not released subscriber fees Carolyn Slater yet. Currently many North Koreans make illicit mobile calls by using networks in neighboring China. Tetra Images/Photolibrary African Inventor Kamkwamba Inspires at CES At the Technology and Emerging Countries (TEC) program at the 2009 International CES, Intel Chairman Craig Barrett and Cisco Systems CEO John Chambers lead the discussion on initiatives to advance economic development in developing countries through technology. Among the panelists was William Kamkwamba, a young inventor and entrepreneur from Malawi. His story is extraordinary. He had to drop out of school at age 14 because his parents could not afford the fees but continued to study by borrowing books from his school library. He read about how windmills could be used to generate electricity and was inspired to design and build a windmill from discarded wood, plastic pipe and bicycle parts. Though fairly primitive in its materials, the windmill powered four light bulbs and two radios in his home. When word got out about his windmill, Kamkwamba was invited to speak at the TED (Technology, Entertainment, Design) Global Conference and from there discovered computers and the Internet. Now at 19, he is studying to become an electrical engineer and working on a design for a windmill to power a water pump to irrigate his family’s fields. • 8 March/april 2009 www.ce.org http://www.ce.org
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