Cell Towers Banned from Karachi
There has been a serious shortage of idiotic behaviour from official circles recently. Dr.Sagheer Ahmed bravely steps up to supply a tankful of idiocy and end this shortage.

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Companies stand defiant against Sindh govt



Cellular service providers say it is impossible to move towers outside the city; Sindh govt gives companies 30 days to comply.

By Imran Ayub

Karachi

Cellular companies have decided not to pay heed to the Sindh government’s directive to move their towers from residential areas, on the grounds that they are obligated to follow the policy designed by the telecom watchdog and are not accountable to provincial authorities.

Senior officials of all six cellular companies pleaded ignorance about the provincial government’s campaign, saying that they always move on the directives of the Pakistan Telecommunication Authority (PTA), which has not approached any one of them yet.

“We have 317 towers within Karachi, which are likely to increase to 400 by June,” said an official at one of the companies. “We are not going to stop as there is no such directive from the PTA and we are not responsible to act on the campaign of any other organisation or authority.”

An official of another company said the PTA was the only organisation that could issue directives to the cellular companies, and, therefore, the Sindh government should approach the regional office of the authority to make its campaign effective.

“Even if the PTA agrees with the Sindh government, the shifting of cellular base station antennas (towers) outside the city is next to impossible,” he added.

The environment and alternative energy ministry of Sindh earlier this month asked the cellular companies to shift their base station antennas or mobile phone towers outside the residential areas. This call was made showing concern over radiation-related hazards associated with the cellular infrastructure, which are harmful for human life and health.

However, after more than a week has transpired since the call, there had been no such move from a single cellular company, which, it seems, is not taking the Sindh government’s concern seriously. On the other hand, the telecom watchdog is also not aware of the provincial orders.

“Normally, we are approached on any complaint against any telecom company,” said spokesman for the PTA when contacted in Islamabad. “But the Sindh government has not yet lodged a complaint or sought any cooperation from us.”

He said the PTA had received policy guidelines to check mobile tower hazards in the urban residential areas, which were being studied thoroughly before proper implementation.

“The PTA only implements the policy ñ its design and framing is done by the federal ministry,” he added. “We are bound to follow the policy guidelines issued by the federal ministry of IT and telecom, but are not aware of any role of the Sindh government on the subject.”

The city houses more than more than 1,700 cellular base station antennas mainly in the residential areas installed by all six cellular companies, which the Sindh government believes poses a serious threat to public health.

The number of mobile phone users crossed the 50 million mark in February 2007, with Karachi accounting for more than 50 per cent of the total cellular subscriber base across the country.

Four out of six cellular companies ñ Mobilink, Ufone, Al Warid and Telenor (listed in descending order of user base size) ñ operate a majority of their cellular base station antennas in Karachi, which is where a majority of their customers are.

However, all six companies seem to be standing in defiance of the provincial government, which usually waits for a month before taking any action.

“We have decided to wait for the next 30 days,” said Dr Sagheer Ahmed, Sindh Environment and Alternative Energy Minister. “We have approached the cellular companies directly to fix the issue but if they fail to do so, we would definitely take legal action.”

“It is mandatory to shift these towers, which are harmful for human life and health, from thickly populated areas.”

He said the government was more concerned about public health and safety but, at the same time, it offered all due support to business organisations. The cellular companies, the minister said, should realise the intention and spirit of the government as the radiation from cellular base station antennas was hazardous for human health.

“We only want protection measures from the cellular companies while installing such stations,” said Dr Ahmed. “Recognised research institutes, world wide, have established that the presence of such stations in residential areas is harmful for human health and no one can deny such fact.”

Labels: gorement, GSM, idiots, Wireless

- posted @ Saturday, April 14, 2007

 
OLPC comes up with stable Linux build
The One Laptop Per Child program reported today that after 303 builds, it finally has a satisfactory version of its Red Hat Linux-based Sugar operating system that is considered stable, according to OLPC president for software and content Walter Bender.

"After a final few bugs that had hidden in corners were driven into the light, we issued Stable Build 303 along with Q2B76 firmware this week," Bender said in his weekly email report.

Highlights of this stable build, according to Bender, include:
A working mesh network
An updated Web browser that scales on the high-resolution screen, making for an improved web experience
Gnash, the FOSS Flash player (still somewhat unstable), is pre-installed; Adobe's Flash 9 is also known to work but is not packaged or installed as part of the build
A touch-pad driver fix for jumping cursor: The touch pad should be more usable, and the tablet is enabled on B2 systems
Boot time has improved due to a scheduler fix
The Cambridge, Mass.-based project says it shipped about 2,500 test laptops to eight nations last month. Earlier this month, OLPC shipped 100 machines to children in a Nigerian test school, Bender said.

The experiment was a prelude to mass production of the kid-friendly, lime-green and white laptops scheduled to begin in July, when 5 million are scheduled to be built, according to Taiwanese laptop maker Quanta.

State educators in Brazil, Uruguay, Libya, Rwanda, Pakistan, Thailand, and possibly Ethiopia and the West Bank received the first of the machines in February's pilot prior to a wider rollout to Indonesia and a handful of other countries, according to the project.

Background on the project

OLPC aims to distribute -- free of charge -- millions of low-cost, self-powered, low-cost Linux laptops to needy children around the world, with governments making the purchases. The original cost target for the OLPC laptops was $100, but that number has drifted upward slightly, over the past year or so, to about $150.

The idea behind the OLPC laptop is to provide children with the opportunity to learn about learning itself -- to explore, experiment and express themselves, an OLPC spokesperson said. The laptops will be distributed in schools.

Key features of the OLPC laptop include a 7.5-inch 1200 x%

Labels: OPLC, Pakistan, Wireless

- posted @ Thursday, March 22, 2007

 
PAKISTAN’S FIRST WiMAX NETWORK DEPLOYED BY DANCOM
Press Release:
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Dancom would like to take this opportunity to proudly announce the first commercially available WiMAX based services in Pakistan, the WiMAX based broadband network is planned to be deployed nationwide. In our first phase we are making the product commercially available in Karachi, Lahore, Islamabad, Multan and Faisalabad. In phase 2 Quetta, Peshawar, Gujranwala, Sialkot and remaining cities will also have the service availability. This will be a huge milestone in Dancom History whose playing key role in implementing state of the art technology in Pakistan and bringing the Pakistani market and users closer to the world’s leading technology.

Dancom, a major telecom company in Pakistan with its reach in over 150 cities, 74 offices nationwide and more than 5,000 employees is a subsidiary of DANCOM MALAYSIA with its Head office in Kuala Lampur Malaysia. After the launch of LL and LDI services, DANCOM WiMAX network would be the next step towards the development of the most technologically advanced nationwide scalable access network which will be complemented with Dancom’s Largest DSL deployment in the country. Dancom has built a strong reputation for carrier grade, mission critical networks to serve the public sector. DANCOM has selected REDMAX products, which incorporates the Intel® PRO/Wireless 5116 WiMAX Modem Silicon, is the worlds first WiMAX products chosen for large scale telecommunications networks. Redline’s REDMAX system is also the world’s first WiMAX forum certified TM solution to deliver the mission critical elements operators need to enable the profitable delivery of revenue generating fixed and nomadic wireless broadband services. The REDMAX product line is currently the most widely commercially deployed WiMAX certified line in the world.

Delivering on the promise of WiMAX today we as DANCOM have completed the first phase of its introduction of RedMAX AN100U base station and Outdoor Subscriber Unit (SU-O). Together, these first RedMAX products form the world’s first WiMAX Forum Certified network. Our first phase is now enabling to deliver on the promise of WiMAX today, to quickly deliver services to enterprise, SOHO and residential users, and realize a rapid return on their investment. By choosing WiMAX products today, operators have a first-to-market advantage, with the ability to quickly establish a customer base and gain significant market share.

The complete system is based on time division duplexing, or TDD, which offers better spectral efficiency and IP traffic management then FDD (frequency division duplexing). The first phase of deployment includes the introduction of the Management Suite which delivers an open architecture for third party integration and management, and seamless incorporation with operators’ existing OSS for true carrier-class networks.

2nd PHASE: Personal Broadband Everywhere we are now also planning to execute phase 2, delivering the features and components for WiMAX networks that will enhance fixed services, enable portable applications and support an open architecture. The plug-and-play Indoor Subscriber Unit (SU-I) will accelerate network and revenue growth, and will be compatible with emerging 802.16-2005 networks via a software upgrade. Next, Redline will introduce its Distributed Antenna Systems, which offer a cost-effective solution that extends service coverage to reach more customers, enabling operators to leverage their initial investment.

The need for ubiquitous coverage in mobile environments will enforce the requirement for tight frequency reuse, which is necessary to provide large capacity. Phase 3 will see the introduction of advanced physical layer technologies, including multiple input-multiple output (MIMO) and AAS (Advanced Antenna System), which implement spatial-division-multiplexing (SDMA) for capacity-limited environments, and MIMO/AAS-based link budget enhancements for situations in which coverage is the chief constraint.

DANCOM delivers a clear value proposition for Corporate Users. This is a clearly articulated roadmap which will guide organizations through the expected WiMAX market evolution, from stationary broadband services to fully mobile service offerings

Labels: Infrastructure, Wireless

- posted @ Monday, February 26, 2007

 
Diallog
Diallog, a CDMA based WLL service, is here. Seems to have started in Islamabad first. It is unclear where else they have coverage or even planned coverage.

The company is Great Bear International Pvt Ltd.

Pricing is a very expensive Rs6 or Rs7 per MB for internet access. This is not a mobile phone, so why is the internet access so expensive?
There are several packages proposed, but no pricing on the web site.

Interesting point: the CEO and GM Marketing are both from Belarus. They used to work for BelCel and the Diallog website, logo etc are copies of that company. See http://www.belcel.by/en/

Belarus has only 2 operators. One GSM (Velcom, with really bad coverage) one CDMA (our very own BelCel). There are villages in Pakistan with more than that. Should be interesting to see how these people do.

Labels: Infrastructure, Wireless

- posted @ Thursday, January 05, 2006