Monday, February 21, 2005
Dubai eGovernment gears to deliver messages on mobile devices via dedicated portal
Dubai eGovernment is set to offer yet another channel of customer interaction with the launch of m-Dubai, a brand-new project aimed at delivering messages to citizens through mobile phones, PDAs (personal digital assistants) or the Web.
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Wednesday, February 16, 2005
JEDDAH, 16 February 2006 — Individuals and companies in Saudi Arabia are about to witness a new phase in information capacity expansion and data transmission after the announcement yesterday of three Saudi telecom companies that they were marshaling their technical expertise in order to build, deploy and operate the Kingdom's largest fiber optic network with a total value of SR1 billion ($266 million).
Etihad Etisalat, "Mobily," Integrated Telecom Company and Bayanat Al-Oula for Network Services are laying the infrastructure for a fiber optic network that will cover 12,000 km of highways as well as cities Kingdom-wide. The network will be constructed and deployed in several phases within the next two years. A major international specialized company has been selected and will sign the contract for the implementation of the project within the next few weeks. The new network will be capable of transmitting data and phone services for both landline and mobiles at a very high speed. Mobily expects the new network to support and complement its existing mobile network services by enabling it to provide other services with highly sophisticated technologies. Bayanat Al-Oula for network services and the Integrated Telecom Co. aim to provide high speed and cost effective data services through the network to all sectors in the Kingdom.
Within less than a year from launch in late 2004, Mobily services covered all cities in the Kingdom, and gained two and half million subscribers while offering highly competitive services. This week, Mobily showcased its 3G and 3.5G technologies at the Saudi Communication Exhibition in which it participated for the very first time.
Moreover, Mobily showcased its unique technology of GPRS EDGE, which connects subscribers to the Internet at speeds in excess of 200 kbps. This service, which is considered the most recent development in telecom technology, is available to all Mobily postpaid subscribers with the added value of international roaming. There are only eight mobile operators who offer this high technology in the Middle East, according to the GSM Association, and Mobily is the only Saudi mobile operator to do so.
Etihad Etisalat, "Mobily," Integrated Telecom Company and Bayanat Al-Oula for Network Services are laying the infrastructure for a fiber optic network that will cover 12,000 km of highways as well as cities Kingdom-wide. The network will be constructed and deployed in several phases within the next two years. A major international specialized company has been selected and will sign the contract for the implementation of the project within the next few weeks. The new network will be capable of transmitting data and phone services for both landline and mobiles at a very high speed. Mobily expects the new network to support and complement its existing mobile network services by enabling it to provide other services with highly sophisticated technologies. Bayanat Al-Oula for network services and the Integrated Telecom Co. aim to provide high speed and cost effective data services through the network to all sectors in the Kingdom.
Within less than a year from launch in late 2004, Mobily services covered all cities in the Kingdom, and gained two and half million subscribers while offering highly competitive services. This week, Mobily showcased its 3G and 3.5G technologies at the Saudi Communication Exhibition in which it participated for the very first time.
Moreover, Mobily showcased its unique technology of GPRS EDGE, which connects subscribers to the Internet at speeds in excess of 200 kbps. This service, which is considered the most recent development in telecom technology, is available to all Mobily postpaid subscribers with the added value of international roaming. There are only eight mobile operators who offer this high technology in the Middle East, according to the GSM Association, and Mobily is the only Saudi mobile operator to do so.
# posted by Unknown : Wednesday, February 16, 2005
Saudi crackdown on camera phones
Saudi police have begun confiscating mobile phones with cameras if their owners use them in public, amid scandal about a phone clip of an alleged rape.
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Monday, February 14, 2005
Rape scandal rocks Saudi Arabia 2 men from prominent family arrested for sex assault
Posted: July 14, 2004
10:26 a.m. Eastern
© 2004 WorldNetDaily.com
Two young men from prominent Saudi families have been arrested, along with their Nigerian driver, for allegedly filming a sexual assault on a Saudi teenage girl.
The rape scandal broke after the men reportedly circulated footage of the assault through mobile phones equipped with cameras.
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Camera phones are widely used in Saudi Arabia despite an official ban.
Saudi Arabia, which applies a strict form of sharia, or Islamic law, imposes the death penalty for rape.
The phone clip shows the secondary-school girl, aged 17, pleading as she is assaulted by the driver, while one of the two men, apparently her former boyfriend, hurls insults at her.
Sources close to the investigation said a 19-year-old, who had a falling out with the girl, was urged to exact revenge by the second Saudi accused, a 23-year-old, after she spurned advances by the older of the pair. The Nigerian accused of raping the girl worked as a driver for the family of the former boyfriend.
A Riyadh police source said that policemen have been deployed outside the houses of the men's families for fear they will be attacked by members of the girl's family seeking revenge, according to Albawaba.
10:26 a.m. Eastern
© 2004 WorldNetDaily.com
Two young men from prominent Saudi families have been arrested, along with their Nigerian driver, for allegedly filming a sexual assault on a Saudi teenage girl.
The rape scandal broke after the men reportedly circulated footage of the assault through mobile phones equipped with cameras.
SPONSORED LINKS
Citi Dividend Card
0% APR on balance transfers for 12 months plus cash back. Apply online.
www.citibank.com
Camera phones are widely used in Saudi Arabia despite an official ban.
Saudi Arabia, which applies a strict form of sharia, or Islamic law, imposes the death penalty for rape.
The phone clip shows the secondary-school girl, aged 17, pleading as she is assaulted by the driver, while one of the two men, apparently her former boyfriend, hurls insults at her.
Sources close to the investigation said a 19-year-old, who had a falling out with the girl, was urged to exact revenge by the second Saudi accused, a 23-year-old, after she spurned advances by the older of the pair. The Nigerian accused of raping the girl worked as a driver for the family of the former boyfriend.
A Riyadh police source said that policemen have been deployed outside the houses of the men's families for fear they will be attacked by members of the girl's family seeking revenge, according to Albawaba.
Saturday, February 12, 2005
Kuwait: Three years jail proposed for misuse of Bluetooth
Kuwait Times via Blueserker reports that a senior member of parliament has proposed a draft law stipulating a jail term of between six months and three years for the misuse of the Bluetooth technology, especially in mobile phones, in invading personal privacy.
MP Mohammad Al-Khalifa suggested to add a new article to a 1976 law that governs the misuse of telephones to tease and abuse people.
He said certain people have been using the new technology to send audio-video recordings of "unwanted positions" of other people, especially women, which constitutes an invasion on personal privacy.
He said that the ease with which the Bluetooth technology is used has enabled persons with bad intentions to commit serious defamation crimes against innocent families and to spread "vice and immoral practices in the society".
Khalifa is a tribal MP from Jahra constituency where men and women are not allowed to mix at wedding parties and other social events."
[Via tEXTUALLY.org]
MP Mohammad Al-Khalifa suggested to add a new article to a 1976 law that governs the misuse of telephones to tease and abuse people.
He said certain people have been using the new technology to send audio-video recordings of "unwanted positions" of other people, especially women, which constitutes an invasion on personal privacy.
He said that the ease with which the Bluetooth technology is used has enabled persons with bad intentions to commit serious defamation crimes against innocent families and to spread "vice and immoral practices in the society".
Khalifa is a tribal MP from Jahra constituency where men and women are not allowed to mix at wedding parties and other social events."
[Via tEXTUALLY.org]
Tuesday, February 08, 2005
Mobile Revolution in the Arab World
[via: http://www.roshan.af/news/arabtelecom.pdf]
Mobile phones take region by storm Visit people in the Middle East, and it is a near certainty that even those with relatively modest earnings will have a mobile phone — and that it will be the most expensive model they can afford. In many parts of the
Gulf, they will have more than one phone — some senior executives will have up to four — and they will be in almost constant use.
The use of mobile phones is most widespread in the Gulf states — in Saudi Arabia alone, the market is increasing by 200,000 a month — but the numbers are growing rapidly in every part of the region, from Palestine to Afghanistan.
By the end of the year, there are expected to be 52 million subscribers across the Middle East and Africa, with the United Arab Emirates and Kuwait having the highest penetration of about 80 percent.
The key to this rapid growth has been the transformation of the telecommunications market by the introduction of competition into markets that were in the past controlled by state-owned monoliths, whose service was poor and costs were high by international standards.
These nationalized companies still own the land lines and, in many countries, were responsible for the introduction of the first mobile markets. But in the past couple of years, governments have begun to introduce competition into the mobile sector, with the result that prices have fallen steeply and the range of services increased, which in turn stimulates demand.
‘‘The largest companies in the region are now offering world-class services,’’ says Karim Khoja, chief executive of Roshan, one of the two mobilephone operators in Afghanistan. ‘‘As liberalization and thus more competition take place, the result willbe even better services and lower prices.’’ Greater competition There is no doubt that competition is getting more intense. According to the consulting company the Arab Advisors Group, the toughest market is in Palestine, where the market is also covered by four Israeli operators, followed by Jordan and Morocco,
while the least competitive country is the UAE.
The company concluded that competition was most intense in those states where there were a number of participants, followed by those with duopolies and finally those with monopolies. ‘‘There is a clear indication that competition, or the threat of it,
has a major effect on the availability of packages that cater to different customer segments,’’ says the Arab Advisors Group.
However, the consulting group also notes that ownership was a less critical factor than the number of participants in the market. ‘‘There is no solid correlation between the level of privatization and the intensity of competition,’’ says the company’s recent report, ‘‘Competition Levels in Arab Cellular Markets
and Privatization Levels in Arab Cellular and Fixed Markets.’’
The key test now will be the extent to which the competition in the Gulf — which is about to be introduced in a number of countries, including Bahrain, Saudi Arabia and the UAE — has an impact on the quality of service. In many cases, new entrants have a particular
advantage because of the resentment, justified or
not, felt about the companies that had previously
held monopolies. New players are also helped by the
regulators. Gabriel Chahine, a principal at the consulting
company Booz, Allen, Hamilton, says:
‘‘What we are observing in recent Middle East liberalization
initiatives are attempts by the regulators
to facilitate the entry of alternative mobile-service
providers.’’
However, in Riyadh, Khaled Al Molhem—president
of Saudi Telecommunications (STC), which
has until now had a monopoly on both land and
mobile lines — says that he relishes that challenge of
competition from a consortium headed by the UAE
company, Etisalat. In addition, there is no doubt that
the speed at which the market is growing means
there will be plenty of scope for more than one
operator.
Giant steps in Bahrain
Bahrain has also taken giant steps toward liberalizing
its market, and the intensity of the competition
was demonstrated by MTC-Vodafone, which
is the challenger to the former monopoly, Batelco.
MTC-Vodafone launched its service at the end of
last year; it declared that it intended to leverage its
technological edge, offering new products for
Bahrain, including high-quality voice transmission
and high-speed data transfer.
Customers can now have a much wider choice of
packages, both prepaid and postpaid, and there is the
start of a trend to bill in 12-second rather than oneminute
segments. But it will be some time before the
price of handsets falls.
While in the West, handsets are virtually given
away, there is a very different culture in the Middle
East, where customers are prepared to pay for the
most sophisticated mobile phone they can afford
because it is seen as a status symbol.
According to Hakam Kanafani, chief executive of
Jawwal, the Palestinian cell-phone provider: ‘‘The
concept of giving telephones to customers in the
Middle East does not exist because no matter how
low your income is, the local purchasers believe that,
if they pay enough, their status will improve. Customers
are prepared to pay to have what they think is
the best technology they can afford.’’
NIGEL DU
Mobile phones take region by storm Visit people in the Middle East, and it is a near certainty that even those with relatively modest earnings will have a mobile phone — and that it will be the most expensive model they can afford. In many parts of the
Gulf, they will have more than one phone — some senior executives will have up to four — and they will be in almost constant use.
The use of mobile phones is most widespread in the Gulf states — in Saudi Arabia alone, the market is increasing by 200,000 a month — but the numbers are growing rapidly in every part of the region, from Palestine to Afghanistan.
By the end of the year, there are expected to be 52 million subscribers across the Middle East and Africa, with the United Arab Emirates and Kuwait having the highest penetration of about 80 percent.
The key to this rapid growth has been the transformation of the telecommunications market by the introduction of competition into markets that were in the past controlled by state-owned monoliths, whose service was poor and costs were high by international standards.
These nationalized companies still own the land lines and, in many countries, were responsible for the introduction of the first mobile markets. But in the past couple of years, governments have begun to introduce competition into the mobile sector, with the result that prices have fallen steeply and the range of services increased, which in turn stimulates demand.
‘‘The largest companies in the region are now offering world-class services,’’ says Karim Khoja, chief executive of Roshan, one of the two mobilephone operators in Afghanistan. ‘‘As liberalization and thus more competition take place, the result willbe even better services and lower prices.’’ Greater competition There is no doubt that competition is getting more intense. According to the consulting company the Arab Advisors Group, the toughest market is in Palestine, where the market is also covered by four Israeli operators, followed by Jordan and Morocco,
while the least competitive country is the UAE.
The company concluded that competition was most intense in those states where there were a number of participants, followed by those with duopolies and finally those with monopolies. ‘‘There is a clear indication that competition, or the threat of it,
has a major effect on the availability of packages that cater to different customer segments,’’ says the Arab Advisors Group.
However, the consulting group also notes that ownership was a less critical factor than the number of participants in the market. ‘‘There is no solid correlation between the level of privatization and the intensity of competition,’’ says the company’s recent report, ‘‘Competition Levels in Arab Cellular Markets
and Privatization Levels in Arab Cellular and Fixed Markets.’’
The key test now will be the extent to which the competition in the Gulf — which is about to be introduced in a number of countries, including Bahrain, Saudi Arabia and the UAE — has an impact on the quality of service. In many cases, new entrants have a particular
advantage because of the resentment, justified or
not, felt about the companies that had previously
held monopolies. New players are also helped by the
regulators. Gabriel Chahine, a principal at the consulting
company Booz, Allen, Hamilton, says:
‘‘What we are observing in recent Middle East liberalization
initiatives are attempts by the regulators
to facilitate the entry of alternative mobile-service
providers.’’
However, in Riyadh, Khaled Al Molhem—president
of Saudi Telecommunications (STC), which
has until now had a monopoly on both land and
mobile lines — says that he relishes that challenge of
competition from a consortium headed by the UAE
company, Etisalat. In addition, there is no doubt that
the speed at which the market is growing means
there will be plenty of scope for more than one
operator.
Giant steps in Bahrain
Bahrain has also taken giant steps toward liberalizing
its market, and the intensity of the competition
was demonstrated by MTC-Vodafone, which
is the challenger to the former monopoly, Batelco.
MTC-Vodafone launched its service at the end of
last year; it declared that it intended to leverage its
technological edge, offering new products for
Bahrain, including high-quality voice transmission
and high-speed data transfer.
Customers can now have a much wider choice of
packages, both prepaid and postpaid, and there is the
start of a trend to bill in 12-second rather than oneminute
segments. But it will be some time before the
price of handsets falls.
While in the West, handsets are virtually given
away, there is a very different culture in the Middle
East, where customers are prepared to pay for the
most sophisticated mobile phone they can afford
because it is seen as a status symbol.
According to Hakam Kanafani, chief executive of
Jawwal, the Palestinian cell-phone provider: ‘‘The
concept of giving telephones to customers in the
Middle East does not exist because no matter how
low your income is, the local purchasers believe that,
if they pay enough, their status will improve. Customers
are prepared to pay to have what they think is
the best technology they can afford.’’
NIGEL DU
Thursday, February 03, 2005
Camera Phones Freely Available Despite Ban
Roger Harrison, Arab News
Telephone call or sneak photograph? Many are uneasy at the invasion of privacy camera phones represent. Banned in the Kingdom, they are still easily obtainable on the “gray market.” (AN photo by Roger Harrison)
JEDDAH, 4 April 2004 — Legal or not, mobile phones with cameras are alive and well in the Kingdom. They are openly on sale in phone souks and freely available over the counter in branded stores. To add to the confusion, the technically illegal Samsung E 700 is even advertised on a main thoroughfare in Jeddah
[Via Arab News]
Telephone call or sneak photograph? Many are uneasy at the invasion of privacy camera phones represent. Banned in the Kingdom, they are still easily obtainable on the “gray market.” (AN photo by Roger Harrison)
JEDDAH, 4 April 2004 — Legal or not, mobile phones with cameras are alive and well in the Kingdom. They are openly on sale in phone souks and freely available over the counter in branded stores. To add to the confusion, the technically illegal Samsung E 700 is even advertised on a main thoroughfare in Jeddah
[Via Arab News]
Wednesday, February 02, 2005
A New Set of Social Rules for a Newly Wireless Society
Mobile media are bringing sweeping changes to how we coordinate, communicate, and share information..
Read more:
http://www.ojr.org/japan/wireless/1043770650.php
Read more:
http://www.ojr.org/japan/wireless/1043770650.php
