Regulator to issue rules on new telco technology

THE National Telecommunications Commission (NTC) may issue new rules on next generation network (NGN) interconnection among telecom companies, an official of the regulatory agency said.

“There is a need to create guidelines because of the interconnection issues that may arise [in the future],” Edgardo V. Cabarios, NTC common carrier and authorization department director, said.

NGN is the latest technology for voice and multimedia communications based on open architecture design made possible through Internet protocol (IP) technology.

Telcos like Philippine Long Distance Telephone Co. (PLDT), Globe Telecom Inc. and Digital Telecommunications Philippines Inc. are aggressively rolling out NGN technology to improve their services.

Cabarrios said the migration from traditional communication networks to NGN can enhance telcos’ voice and data services as well as allow them to expand their value added service offerings like broadband and Internet protocol television (IPTV).

“One network can provide more services,” he said.

PLDT had announced that it will spend about P7.7 billion to finance its NGN and broadband expansion.

For this year, the country’s largest telco will install 600,000 to 700,000 NGN lines nationwide from an initial rollout of 150,000 in 2005. “Our ability to stay ahead in the broadband revolution is particularly important for the fixed line business as it enables us to manage the transition from traditional voice services to other revenue streams that can deliver growth for the future,” Napoleon Nazareno, PLDT president, had said.

“We expect NGN to have stronger contributions in 2007 and the coming years,” he added.

Gerardo C. Ablaza Jr., Globe president and chief executive had said the bulk of the company’s capital expenditure amounting to $350 to $400 million will fund future growth areas such as broadband and wireless business.

“Capex for 2007 will grow relatively [from] 2006 as we invest in broadband for future growth,” he added.
--Darwin G. Amojelar - manila times

Anti Piracy

P7M worth of computers with pirated software seized

http://www.papt.org.ph/news.aspx?id=2

Digital technology is reinventing journalism

CYBER DISPATCH

By Ike Suarez - Manila Times

As the world monitors events in Burma, yet another significant development is taking place there with regard to news and information gathering as well as its distribution.

Military repression in that country has forced the rest of the world to rely mainly on a militia of citizen journalists for breaking news on the massive protests against the junta that has oppressed the Burmese people since 1988.

The global media—whose elite and regular forces in television, radio and print normally cover such events worldwide almost as a matter of routine—has been sidelined from most of the coverage there. Its role today has mostly been that of support for the guerrilla communicators by way of aggregating and editing their contents.

Making this possible is an array of digital-enabled and interactive media many professional journalists in the Philippines still dismiss as mere toys for today’s teenagers and post-adolescents.

Chief among these are blogs. Also included in this array are online photo sharing files such as Flick’r, cellular phones with cameras, digital video cameras and online video sharing portals such as YouTube.

Playing a role here likewise are websites and news groups. They are now potent weapons in the Burmese people’s struggle for liberty.

Undergirding all these is the Internet.

Clearly, the valor of the Burmese people has captured the world’s imagination. Clearly also, a sea change in global media has taken place.

The Burmese people have shown that citizen journalists can rise to the occasion when needed. They therefore deserve respect from professional journalists.

The emergence of citizen journalists as legitimate purveyors of news and information also means journalists in print and broadcast must now rethink their roles and reinvent their profession.

Therein lies the rub.

The roadmap for reinvention and re–examination has still to be laid out. Indeed, the final destination of this journey has still to be defined.

One can merely examine clues for now and mull over possibilities. At least a generation is needed for journalists to reinvent their profession.

Some indicators from the Burmese people’s heroic struggle are the following:

1) Digital-enabled and interactive media may be demassified; but when the circumstances are there, they possess a massiveness of reach traditional print and broadcast can never equal;

2) Anyone with an Internet-enabled device is both a recipient and disseminator of news and information;

3) Traditional and Internet-enabled media are never mutually exclusive, but are instead, mutually supporting;

4) Methods tyrants traditionally employ to suppress news and information are no longer potent;

5) Professional journalists still have a value proposition in this new media environment, at least for now.

The value proposition lies in professional journalists integrating into their work and aggregating the content produced by citizen journalists.

It also calls for professionals in the newsrooms of newspapers, magazines, radio and television to embrace citizen journalists as truly their brethren. Not doing so would be an act of psychological denial.

No matter the massacres and mass arrests, the handwriting is now on the wall for Burma’s military junta. So, it is also for practitioners of the craft of journalism, whose profession evolved with the historical development of the Industrial Age.

Print and broadcast journalists must therefore start reinventing themselves now. If not, they will end up where the tyrants in Burma’s military junta are destined to find themselves—history’s dustbin

Anti-fraud paper technology developed

By Erwin Oliva - INQUIRER.net

Forging documents remains a problem in societies where paper remains prevalent, especially in the Asia Pacific region.

Software engineers at HP Labs in Bangalore India, however, have created a way to embed data on any paper using a two-dimensional barcode.

The two-dimensional bar code developed by HP Labs India engineers can be printed on any paper and be read by any regular scanner connected to a PC that runs special software, engineers said.

With a proof-of-concept ready, HP Lab India engineers said a commercial product will be available soon.

A demonstration showed a regular paper document from a Bangalore-based educational institution that comes with a 2D barcode. Scanning the 2D barcode triggers the opening of a browser and the website of the school. The website indicates that the document is an authentic copy of grades given by the school.

Among the applications of the 2D barcode, listed in an HP white paper, are government documents and certificates issued to citizens.

"For instance, the legal possession of agricultural land or urban property is ensured by registering their acquisition at a government office and obtaining registration documents. Such documents need to be preserved and validated as they are valuable to the recipient, for purposes such as raising loans from banks. By authenticating these documents with digital signatures, we can ensure that they can be printed remotely and issued," the HP white paper explained.

The 2D barcode contains more information than the regular bar code, engineers said. HP India is planning to implement the 2D bar code technology for internal use of its employees.

"If every paper document is printed with a 2D barcode, then the potential cost savings are substantial. The necessity for retyping the document is eliminated. In addition, the turnaround time for the paper documents will also be reduced," HP said.

Education via radio launched

By: Jeffrey C. Tiangco - People's Journal

THE Department of Education yesterday announced the launching of “Education for All Through Radio,” a program which seeks to build a network of institutions that will harness radio as an alternative means of education.

Education Secretary Jesli Lapus said EFAR will benefit a huge number of
out-of-school youth. He is optimistic the program will provide wider access to basic education.

According to the program’s proponent, the Foundation Information Technology Education and Development, EFAR will tap content providers, broadcasters, teaching institutions, technology providers, and development organizations in delivering education services to those who have special needs and with little or no access through the traditional system.

“The EFAR provides opportunities for out-of-school children and youth to gain basic education through radio-based instructions,” Lapus said.

Funded by the Coca-Cola Company, EFAR aims to develop curriculum-relevant radio content and enhance existing ones in the areas of Science, Mathematics, English as a second language, health and environment, among others.