TRAI directs telcos to not reduce broadband speed below 256Kbps (post FUP), Bring more transparency

Want to use a broadband plan but worried about hidden costs and false data speed claims? Well, not any more, hopefully. As per directives issued by the Telecom Regulatory Authority of India (TRAI) it will now be pertinent for service providers to provide information to the broadband consumers about various plans and Fair Usage Policy (FUP) on their website and also in all advertisements published through any media. This includes data usage limit with higher speed; speed of connection up to data usage limit; and speed of connection beyond data usage limit.

Operators will also need to provide information in printed form to the new subscribers on their enrolment and to existing subscribers through registered email and SMS on their mobile numbers registered with the service providers.

This directive will also take care of the issues faced when consumers replenish their download/plan limits and broadband speeds drastically slow down and in some cases it fall below 256 kbps. As per the directive, service providers will now need to ensure that the speed of broadband connection is not reduced below the minimum specified limit and to provide alert to consumers, via SMS as well as email, when their data usage reaches 80 per cent and 100 per cent of the data usage limit bundled with the plan. This alert needs to be provided at the time of each login too!

Going below permissible limits is illicit and goes against the Quality of Service of Broadband Service Regulations, 2006 (11 of 2006) in which Broadband is defined as “an always-on data connection that is able to support interactive services including Internet access and has the capability of the minimum download speed of 256 kilo bits per second (kbps) to an individual subscriber from the Point of Presence (POP) of the service provider intending to provide Broadband service where multiple such individual Broadband connections are aggregated and the subscriber is able to access these interactive services including the Internet through this PoP.” This was further moved up to 512kbps in Jan 2011. TRAI expects the minimum broadband speed to be upgraded to 2 Mbps by January 2015.

The directive has been issued courtesy repetitive complaints from consumers and corporates stating that service providers are not delivering broadband services in a transparent manner. Also this decision will help consumers make informed decisions when they are looking to opt for broadband plans.

The first step to transparency was brought earlier this year, in March, wherein TRAI issued a directive asking telecom service providers to refrain from publishing misleading tariff advertisements so as to protect the interests of the consumers. According to the directive while disseminating tariff related information service providers need to ensure that every advertisement published by it is transparent, non-misleading, legible, audible and unambiguous; It should disclose all material information which is likely to influence the decision of a subscriber in an unambiguous manner; and should contain the website address and customer care number of the telecom access service provider to enable the customer to obtain any information pertaining to the tariff plan.

A few days back TRAI had issued guidelines on minimum quality benchmark for mobile internet services too, which among other things has made it mandatory for operators to activate such services within three hours of receiving the request from a customer. It will monitor quality of mobile internet service on nine parameters, including minimum download speed, successful data transmission download and upload attempts and latency among others.

Recommended Read: Government Approves VoIP Services In India [National Telecom Policy 2012] | NTP 2012 Approved: Minimum Broadband Speed To Be 2 Mbps, Roaming Charges Cancelled

Link to full article

Read More

Tech in Asia: Our Picks for News of the Week [July 28, 2012]

Amidst the week’s controversies and new developments, there were some stories which stood out as significant – ones that will reverberate for some time to come. Here are our blogger’s picks for the more momentous news items of the week.

Charlie’s picks:

Beijing says SMS weather warnings impossible; but then Guangdong sends 30 million weather warning texts before storm

Though the sales revenue stats from phone-maker Xiaomi are impressive, I have experienced Beijing’s rainpocalypse myself, so I’ve got to go with this story about how Beijing’s government might have prevented some of the deaths (the death toll has now been officially raised to 77) by sending warning text messages to the city’s mobile users. But authorities didn’t. The meteorological bureau claimed that was technologically impossible. But just a few days later, the Guangdong provincial government sent out 30 million warning texts about a dangerous storm. China’s three major telcos have all also denied that there would be any technological issues with sending warning texts.

---

Beijing floods last weekend. City residents got no emergency warnings. (Image from Agence France-Presse)

Rick’s pick:

Beijing says SMS weather warnings impossible

I agree with Charlie on this one. Living in Japan, I see the advantages and potential of communication technologies in responding to serious disasters. And if China cannot make the most of communication technologies in the same way that other countries do, then it’s at a serious disadvantage. This text message failure is one example, but I can’t help but think that the restrictions that the government puts on social/self-publishing services like Google’s, as I’ve said before, are a serious handicap when it deals with disasters and needs to communicate quickly.

---

Willis’ pick:

An act of class by Yahoo Indonesia

There are some quite big news stories across Asia this week. Tough choice, seriously. But my pick would be Yahoo Indonesia giving back all Koprol intellectual property and assets to the founding team. That comes after Yahoo said it would shutter the startup that it bought a few years back. That’s seriously classy, giving back to the entrepreneurs like that, and will certainly stay in my mind for a long time. Two other bits of news which very much interest me are Xiaomi’s monstrous $1 billion in sales revenue; and also Chope, a Singapore-based startup, which has served one million diners and also expanded to Hong Kong. Lots of big numbers!

---

Steven’s pick:

Baidu opens lab in Singapore to research Thai, Vietnamese search know-how

If you want to expand your business to a new country, you need to know the territory – and speak the language. And that’s perhaps the true motivation behind the new research lab in Singapore that was this week launched by Baidu, China’s leading search engine. It will be a base for investigating natural language processing – something that’s key to good semantic search. We already know that Baidu is moving into Vietnam, so this lab signals wider interest in other Southeast Asian markets too – and that’s the biggest challenge that anyone in the world is making to Google’s dominance.

Thanks for dropping by again this week, folks! For other ways of reading us, perhaps try our tailored RSS feeds, or find us within the Flipboard or Google Currents apps.

The post Tech in Asia: Our Picks for News of the Week [July 28, 2012] appeared first on Tech in Asia.

Link to full article

Read More

The 3 people you need in your entrepreneurial support system

(Credit: Stormz)

When you feel stuck, overwhelmed, or unmotivated, it’s easy to isolate yourself, especially if you have introverted tendencies or work alone. You think: I just need to focus more, work harder, and avoid all distractions until I get this done.

Yet often, the best way to make it through a difficult time in your business is to reach out to others. But what if you don’t have a support network in place?

When you’re already overwhelmed, it can seem intimidating to even begin to think about building one. To provide some extra support for you, I’ve created a guide to assist you in the process. Start with one or two of the following new people, and then gradually integrate more supporters into your life as needed:

1. Assistants

Why to have them: Assistants act as stabilizers and release valves by helping you keep life in order when you find yourself in a major time crunch. Also, they can increase your overall quality of life when they take care of items you find stressful or frustrating or simply don’t enjoy, including shipping packages, following up on invoices, picking up supplies, taking measurements of spaces, writing notes during meetings, or making travel arrangements.

Where to find them: Get a referral, search online channels like oDesk, Elance or Craigslist, or simply look around you for people who have time, good work ethic, and the ability to do what you need done. As long as you have clear expectations in place, friends, neighbors, and even family members can provide a great source of support.

How to build the relationships: Define exactly what you want done, decide on the frequency that the tasks need completion, and structure the working arrangement accordingly. For instance, you may hire someone by the hour on an as-needed basis, or you could pay them a weekly or monthly fee for keeping up on certain routine activities.

2. Peers

Why to have them: These individuals act as traveling companions on your entrepreneurial journey. You just “get” one another and can exchange empathy, feedback, ideas, connections and accountability to keep at projects even when they seem tough.

Where to find them: Start by contacting people who have expressed some mutual interest in a professional relationship, but who you have lost touch with. Then look for people at places where you work, where you shop for supplies, or where your “type of people” tend to congregate, such as industry networking events. You can also search for individuals and groups through sites like Twitter or Meetup.com.

How to build the relationship: Find a group that meets on a regular basis and make it a priority to show up. Or set up a one-on-one appointment with a peer, either as a recurring event or with the understanding that you will set up your next time together at the end of each meeting.

3. Teachers

Why to have them: People such as trainers, mentors, advisers, coaches, and teachers help you take your life to the next level. You may reach out to these experts for support in your core business endeavors or they may help you stretch in a related area, such as sales training or time management. Typically, these time-bound relationships inspire you to complete a specific project, make it through a transition or master a certain skill.

Where to find them: You want to find a teacher with the knowledge you seek and with a style that resonates with you. To discover who is the right fit, look at blog posts, listen to webinars, attend lunch ‘n’ learns, pay attention to who advances in your company, and think about the people you most respect in your field.

How to build the relationship: In some instances, you will have the ability to enroll in a formal program that will help define and move forward the relationship. But with informal teachers, you’ll need to be more strategic. Try to arrange an initial meeting. If they agree to meet and the conversation goes well, ask if you can keep in touch. Set your next meeting at a mutually agreeable time or make a note in your calendar to follow up on a specific day. Define the goal of your conversations so everyone has the same expectations, and decide on a time when you will reevaluate whether to continue meeting.

As the African proverb goes: “If you want to go fast, go alone. If you want to go far, go together.” The proper support at all levels is an essential component of unleashing your creative genius.

Do you have a strong support network? If so, how have you built and maintained it?

This post was originally published on YEC.

About Elizabeth Grace Saunders

Elizabeth Grace Saunders is the founder & CEO of Real Life E Time Coaching & Training. Her company empowers clients around the world to go from feeling frustrated, overwhelmed and guilty to feeling peaceful, confident and accomplished with how they invest their time.

The Young Entrepreneur Council (YEC) is an invite-only nonprofit organization comprised of the world’s most promising young entrepreneurs. The YEC recently published #FixYoungAmerica: How to Rebuild Our Economy and Put Young Americans Back to Work (for Good), a book of 30+ proven solutions to help end youth unemployment.

Link to full article

Read More

Blizzard Unveils Starcraft 2 Sequel Logo at ChinaJoy

Blizzard games are pretty big in China, and it’s hard to get bigger than Starcraft, the massively popular real-time-strategy game. The second game in the Starcraft II trilogy, Heart of the Swarm, is coming, and at China’s ChinaJoy games conference, Blizzard unveiled the game’s official Chinese logo. Behold!

Now before you zerg rush to the store to buy your copy (see what I did there?) it’s only fair to warn you that you might be waiting there for quite a while, as the game still doesn’t have an official China release date. In fact, the game doesn’t have a release date anywhere yet, though it is nearly finished and expected to release in the West sometime before the end of this year. Traditionally, Blizzard games end up being released in China significantly later than they are in the West thanks to the inspection and censorship process, so it’s unlikely that Heart of the Swarm will be wriggling its way into Chinese player’s bases before 2013. In fact, it could come even later than that — Blizzard still hasn’t announced a China release date for Diablo 3, which has been out elsewhere for months, and the company has ignored our questions about when the game will ultimately be released here.

On the other hand, the zerg are famous for showing up en masse before you’re ready for them. Could Heart of the Swarm‘s release be imminent? Is Blizzard going to use the zerg rush as its strategy for its zerg-focused expansion’s release? Probably not. But that would be awesome. In the meantime, we’ll just have to satisfy ourselves with that shiny new logo.

(Incidentally, if you don’t know what “zerg rush” means, you can type it into Google and get a pretty decent illustration).

[Tencent Games]

The post Blizzard Unveils Starcraft 2 Sequel Logo at ChinaJoy appeared first on Tech in Asia.

Link to full article

Read More

Shanda Games Will Set Up Base in Europe

Shanda Games will set up an operating base in Europe following an agreement between one of its subsidiaries and Germany-based eFusion.

The post Shanda Games Will Set Up Base in Europe appeared first on Tech in Asia.

Link to full article

Read More

Insync now provides an easy way to back up your email attachments to Google Drive

You might remember Insync, a web service that lets you sync your Google Docs files on your computer. While Google Drive’s launch has threatened to make Insync redundant, the startup still remains the choice for power users due to its larger feature set.

Now, it has added an interesting feature that makes it easy for Gmail users to backup their email attachments to Google Drive and, soon, Dropbox. Setting up is easy: A few clicks is all it takes, provided you’re already logged on to Gmail. 

To back up an attachment within the webmail service, simply add a preset label (the default is @Drive) to the email containing the file, and the syncing will happen automatically.

This feature is potentially useful because it dramatically shortens the process of backing up an email attachment to the cloud and making it accessible on your hard disk. Previously, completing all these actions would take far more steps, and far more time.

Insync, a startup based in the Philippines and Singapore, has shown determination by making constant improvements to stay ahead of the curve. Meanwhile, Google Drive doesn’t seem to be adding very much since its much-heralded debut.

Link to full article

Read More

Photo Sharing App Dabkick Launches With Minority Investment From GREE

Here’s a fun application that we got wind of on this Friday evening. Dabkick is a photo sharing app which doesn’t let you share to everyone, but rather just to a single friend. Once you pick some photos to share, you can then choose a friend to initiate a photo session with.

Once the session starts you simply flip through your photo collection on your iPhone and your friend will see this slideshow on their phone in real time. There is a little bit of lag, I found, but the features here are pretty cool. You can chat in-app, or you can press some buttons to send messages like winks or laughs. There’s even a ‘dude’ button which I really enjoyed [1].

What’s interesting here is that the photo session takes place in the web browser on the receiving end. Your friend receives a URL where they can view that photo slideshow. After the session ends the photo slideshow is gone. So your friend doesn’t download the photos, they just get to see them for a short time. This function could actually come in handy for pro photographers who want to show their work to clients.

The app has just launched, and is supported with minority investment from Japanese social gaming giant GREE (TYO:3632). The founder and CEO of Dabkick, Balaji Krishnan, noted in the announcement:

Simple things like showing photos instantly to my non-tech-savvy parents or allowing my wife to show me a photo of something when she is out shopping becomes much easier when you can link up and experience those moments together. Our goal is to bring people closer by creating an experience that we would normally get only from in-person interactions.

If you’d like to give Dabkick a try, you can download it from the app store. Currently it’s only available for the iPhone. Check out their demo video below.

---

1. It just tied the app together.  ↩

The post Photo Sharing App Dabkick Launches With Minority Investment From GREE appeared first on Tech in Asia.

Link to full article

Read More

China’s Tech Giants Make More Money Overseas Than At Home

Despite the size of China’s domestic market for tech services and gadgets, Bloomberg Businessweek has done some digging and found that tech giants such as ZTE and Haier make more money overseas than at home.

Other Chinese tech giants that do the same include Huawei, Lenovo, and auto-maker BYD. The image on the right shows the contrasts in home/overseas revenue for three local tech firms, with sportswear maker Peak thrown in as a curveball.

Lenovo is no surprise, being the world’s second-largest PC maker which will soon surpass HP to be numero uno, but the revenue spilt of the others is quite eye-opening. See the full analysis over on the Bloomberg link.

The post China’s Tech Giants Make More Money Overseas Than At Home appeared first on Tech in Asia.

Link to full article

Read More