Switching Channels

January 19, 2007 (LBO) – Sri Lanka plans to abort contracts of greenfield radio station operators and instead offer them to new investors, in a crowded market that currently has around 30 channels, the Secretary to the Media Ministry said. “Around five to six investors have got the license, some have secured the frequencies but […]

Off Air

Jan 18, 2007 (AFP) – Sri Lanka stopped mobile phone services for nearly half a million users in the island’s embattled east as government troops were locked in combat with Tiger rebels, an official said Thursday.More than 60,000 people have died during the 35-year ethnic conflict as minority Tamils fight for an independent homeland. Despite […]

Indian Visitor

January 18, 2007 (LBO) – India’s Bharti Airtel Ltd has been tentatively picked to take up a slot as Sri Lanka’s fifth mobile phone operator, the island’s telecom watchdog said Thursday. “We have issued an offer letter to Bharti, who have a month to make a 4 milllion dollar payment to collect the license,” Telecommunications […]

Old Hands

SINGAPORE, Jan 12, 2007 (AFP) – Workers are relying on 19th century technology to fix a very 21st century problem — disruption of the Internet traffic that tech-savvy Asia relies on. Crewmen on boats south of Taiwan are dragging the seabed with grappling hooks at the end of long ropes to recover fibre optic cables […]

Brainstorming

LAS VEGAS, Nevada, Jan 10, 2007 (AFP) – Porn makers at the world’s largest sex trade show in Las Vegas on Wednesday were taking a page from Internet superstars such as YouTube by tapping into the power of social networking. Fresh young start-ups at the AVN Adult Entertainment Expo weren’t just saucy women in scanty […]

Better Experience

LAS VEGAS, Nevada, Jan 8, 2007 (AFP) – Skype unveiled on Monday its own models of desktop telephones that can make free Internet calls using the firm’s pioneering online service.The pricing for calls will be the same on the new Skype telephones, Lagier said. The IPEVO Solo One and the TOPCOM Webt@lker 5000 were among […]

Virtual Fantasy

LAS VEGAS, Nevada, Jan 9, 2007 (AFP) – Family entertainment conglomerate Walt Disney Corporation introduced a revamped website which they say is a one-stop portal to online games, information on films and Disney characters, and product sales.“Our villain is going to try to wipe out our pirates,” Bruckheimer said, referring to his film-in-progress.“Hopefully, you will […]

Across Borders

Jan 09, 2007 (LBO) – Nigeria’s EcoBank has adopted a software product developed by Sri Lanka’s Interblocks Ltd to issue credit cards, officials said Tuesday. Interblocks ‘iCard system’ a multi card issuing and acquiring management and processing solution is now being used to issue local MasterCards in local ‘Naira’ currency. “EcoBank is one of the […]

White Lies

NETANYA, Israel, Jan 8, 2007 (AFP) – Have you ever wondered if someone you are chatting to is telling the truth?New lie detector software from high-tech powerhouse Israel says it can show you — across the Internet. “We tested it with the (former US president Bill) Clinton speech about his relationship with his intern Monica […]

United Action

Jan 08, 2007 (LBO) – Sri Lanka Telecom trade unions including non executive technical staff are threatening to go on strike next week, if the telecom giant fails to sort out salary anomalies, promotions and restrict short-term contracts. The union official says the company had not yet granted 17.5 percent, 20.0 percent or 25.0 percent […]

Automated Shares

Jan 04, 2007 (LBO) – Sri Lanka’s Millennium Information Technologies says they have designed an implemented an automatic stock trading system for the Tanzanian Stock Exchange within a record two months. The new Automated Trading System and the Central Depository System (CDS) moved the Dar es Salaam Stock Exchange’s (DSEs) trading from an open outcry […]

Fragile Links

SINGAPORE, Dec 28, 2006 (AFP) – The chaos in Asia’s Internet service sparked by an undersea earthquake shows the region’s cable network is too fragile and overly reliant on connections to the United States, industry observers said Thursday. Millions of people across Asia were enduring a second day without full Internet services after a 7.1-magnitude […]

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