Internet access rates may go down in Bangladesh second time this year

By raheem

BTTB – Bangladesh’s national internet service provider is considering lowering internet access rates a second time this year, reports the Daily Star New today. The rates were reduced once already this year and this second reduction is an attempt to make prices comparable to Indian rates. This will be a great boon to Bangladeshi IT entrepreneurs as high internet access rates is one of the major barriers to entering the software services industry. The chart below provides more info about the proposed rate reductions. The Finance ministry is currently reviewing the rate reduction and will likely approve these changes.

A boost to IT sector in Bangladesh

By raheem

It is a hopeful sign to read the following story in the New Age that the finance ministry has approved BTRC’s (Bangladesh Telecom Regulatory Commission) request to cut internet access rates by 20%. Although the new rates are significantly higher than in India or Pakistan, this signal’s the government’s interest in breathing energy into our IT sector. The full story is at the following link: http://www.newagebd.com/2008/jan/22/nat.html#1

I have also been reading in other publications, BTRC’s progressive steps towards legalizing VOIP in a way that provides consumers the best benefits of this technology without the government losing crores in revenue. Another interesting development is that India’s IT costs have risen several folds in the last few years. This makes Bangladesh more competitive and attractive.

The next development to watch out for is the auctioning of international gateway licenses by the BTRC in February. If the government continues to make the right moves in the IT sector, it is quite likely that our IT industry could grow by several folds in the next 3-5 years. Based on recent developments, we can be hopeful.

An Honest Politician

By raheem

While cruising through Youtube’s top rated videos I noticed several of the top ten videos featured presidential candidate Congressman Ron Paul. Getting curious I checked them out and read more about him at wikipedia and am quite impressed. Check out the following snippets:

Paul spends extra time in the district addressing constituents’ concerns, to compensate for “violat[ing] almost every rule of political survival you can think of,”^[34] sometimes three to four days a week, often accompanied by grandchildren. He attends graduations, civic ceremonies, and Boy Scouts of America honor ceremonies. In an expansive district, he often logs over 300 miles (500 kilometers) daily, visiting constituents or handling their concerns. He reaches out to 14th district voters on veterans’ issues, such as procuring medals for war veterans who lost or never received their medals, and holding medal ceremonies for those whose medals are being presented. His staff has helped senior citizens of the district get free or low-cost prescription drugs through a little-known drug company program; is known for its effectiveness in tracking down Social Security checks; and sends out birthday cards to constituents, as well as condolence cards on the deaths of family members.

2008 campaign chair Kent Snyder first worked for Paul on the 1988 campaign—when U.S. Senator John McCain told him, “You’re working for the most honest man in Congress.”

I find Ron Paul’s story refreshing and inspiring. There are a lot of good people out there in government. But power is such an intoxicating influence that it changes most people. So in that sense, it is amazing to see someone as devoted to his constituents as Ron Paul. I wish we could have candidates like him in Bangladesh as well. Ron Paul is also testament that the internet is helping the enduring American experiment.

Blogs vs. Newspapers

By raheem

I believe the blogs of today are becoming the newspapers of tomorrow. As a news addict I visit major news sites like nytimes.com and washingtonpost.com on a daily basis, atleast 5 times a day. I also read blogs and visit the blogs a few more times than newspapers each day.

Each time I visit one of the major blogs like techcrunch.com and gigaom.com, for the most part I get treated to new content. I dont have to waste time searching for the latest item, since its right there on top. But when I go to nytimes.com, the headline and image stays the same for most of the day. Unless I am searching for something specific or dig 2-3 links deeper I might not find anything of interest. I end up spending more time at a blog than a newspaper sites. So the blogs are winning as far as pulling in visitors and keeping them longer.

Now let’s take the cost factor. Some of the successful blogs post about 20 articles a day using a max of 10 writers. The average newspaper site publishes almost 100s of articles each day using 100s of writers. So from a cost perspective, the blogs are winning too. Add to this blogs dont have the publishing costs of a paper edition.

From the perspective of consumer trends, if you do a little analysis, its easy to see that attention spans are shorter, people are more busy, people like to do fun little things in short bursts of downtime (riding the train, drinking coffee in the morning, eating lunch at the desk, etc). Blogs fit in nicely with these lifestyle trends. Blog posts are usually short, which makes it easy to consume them. Since they put their latest posts on the top, you can easily read the latest items. From a life style and trends perspective, the blogs are winning as well.

The only area blogs are not winning is in the in-depth feature reporting arena. Newspapers and magazines still produce the great in-depth articles that win pulitzer prices and are often deeply satisfying reading materials.

But here is the thing – setting up a blog is quite easy – so its easy to fathom that current newspapers should easily be able to morph into blog. If not, they could easily end up buying the major blog sites of today.

PS. Dave Winer is helping nytimes.com become more like blogs by getting them to start using a blog like structure. Check out what he has done so far.

PPS. Dave Winer – the father of blogging does not have links to individual posts. I guess just because you are the father of something, does not mean you will always make the right decision

Microsoft on-demand movement too slow

By pandu

There have been multiple press releases from Microsoft in recent weeks touting their ondemand releases. Today’s New York Times has a report about Microsoft’s plans to offer a web storage service that will enable users to upload and store up to 1000 documents. However, you can only edit those documents if you already own an offline version of Word or Excel. They are obviously taking such steps to ensure the survival of their Office cash cow.

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