January 2003

DITIAL DIVIDE
Wireless in Kenya Takes a Village
Online in Ecuador? It's Taking Awhile

CABLE
FCC Releases Report On Competition In Video Markets

EDTECH
Professors Vie With Web for Class's Attention

DITIAL DIVIDE

ONLINE IN ECUADOR? IT'S TAKING AWHILE
Like many developing countries, Ecuador faces a significant digital divide -
only 2.7 percent of the population has ever been online and few rural
communities even have telephone service. Politics and geography are the two
most significant barriers to bridging the technology gap. Claims of
corruption in the regulatory mechanism that governs entry in to the access
point market are widespread, as exorbitant and seemingly unjustified fees
stand in the way of new entrants. Beyond the potential government
malfeasance, the cost of universal deployment is more than prohibitive. An
executive with Conatel, the government-owned communications company,
estimates that building infrastructure on a national scale, including
connecting wire through the Amazon jungle, would require expenditures
totaling more than a third of the country's budget.
[SOURCE: The New York Times, AUTHOR: Rachel Konrad]
(http://www.nytimes.com/2003/01/02/technology/circuits/02ecua.html)

WIRELESS IN KENYA TAKES A VILLAGE
Cell-phone operators drastically underestimated demand for cell phones in
Kenya when they bid for GSM licenses there in 2002. When Vodafone UK sent
Michael Joseph to Kenya in July 2000 to set up Safaricom, a cell-phone
service operator jointly owned by Telkom Kenya, he did not expect the
subscriber base to grow beyond 50,000 connections. Today, both Safaricom and
rival KenCell Communications (partly owned by Vivendi) have nearly 1.3
million cell-phone subscribers. While most people here cannot afford a cell
phone, this has not prevented thousands of poor villagers from transforming
their friends and families into walking communications nodes. This setup is
deeply rooted in the traditional African communal mode of living, which many
urban dwellers haven't abandoned.
[SOURCE: Wired, AUTHOR: Nick Wachira]
(http://www.wired.com/news/wireless/0,1382,57010,00.html)

CABLE

FCC RELEASES REPORT ON COMPETITION IN VIDEO MARKETS
The Federal Communications Commission (FCC) released its ninth annual report
on competition in the market for the delivery of video programming. The
report explores the status of competition in the market for the delivery of
video programming. While findings indicate that competitive alternatives are
continually developing, cable television still is the dominant technology
for the delivery of video programming to consumers. The FCC also found that
cable rates continued to rise during the period under review. According to
the Bureau of Labor Statistics, between June 2001 and June 2002, cable
prices rose 6.3 percent compared to a 1.1 percent increase in the Consumer
Price Index (CPI).
[SOURCE: Federal Communications Commission]
(http://hraunfoss.fcc.gov/edocs_public/attachmatch/DOC-229984A1.doc)

EDTECH

PROFESSORS VIE WITH WEB FOR CLASS'S ATTENTION
The advent of wireless college networks has raised concerns about laptop use
in university classrooms, as students can effortlessly flip from note taking
to Web surfing. Professors must now choose whether to embrace the use of the
Internet in their classrooms as a challenge to their ability to hold
students' attention or attempt to ban it altogether. Several schools have
invested in campus-wide wireless networks, but the benefits of access in the
college classroom are mixed in with drawbacks. Matthew Pittinsky of
Blackboard Inc., a company that allows professors to make course materials
available online, notes that while wireless access has created more
opportunities for true collaborative learning on campus, "[t]here's less of
an obvious use for wiring the classroom" than in the libraries, dormitories
and other common areas.
[SOURCE: The New York Times, AUTHOR: John Schwartz]
(http://www.nytimes.com/2003/01/02/technology/02WIRE.html)

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