English for Technical Communication

The word communication has its roots in the Latin word

'communicane', meaning 'to impart'. English being a universal language,
communicating fluently in English has become essential for everyone
who wishes to communicate well in the academic and professional
spheres. Even though the majority of tasks performed by an engineer or
scientist are of technical nature, their success depends on the
effectiveness with which they assimilate or disseminate technical or
formal information. So, it is important for students of science and
technology to master English for their Technical communication.

Communication is important in all the walks of life. Communication

is an integral part of daily activity. It starts from the morning alarm clock
making sound and urging us to get out of bed. It continues till we enter
the world of dream in our sleep. Messages that are non-technical or
informal in nature are categorized as general purpose communication,
whereas messages pertaining to technical, industrial or business matters
belong to the category of technical or business communication.

Technical communication is a central factor in the emerging

knowledge society, where technocrats and professionals in different
areas face new communication challenges. Daniel G. Rioden quoted the
definition of Technical Communication of Killingsworth and Gilbertson
in this book on Technical Communication as follows:

Technical communication is Writing that aims to get work done, to

change people by changing the way they do things (T.C.16). The
definition for Technical Communication stated by Ashraf Rizvi in his
book on Effective Technical communication as transmission of
scientific and technical information from one individual or group to
another (10). He also mentioned the three important requirements of
effective technical communication which are:

A) Subject Competence

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 B) Linguistic Competence

C) Organizational competence

Subject Competence:

Subject Competence is the first requirement of technical

communication. It is the possession of appropriate knowledge of a
particular technical subject matter as well as the possession of highly
sophisticated technical or professional skills.

Linguistic Competence:

Linguistic Competence, on the other hand, is the possession of

appropriate language skills and the ability to present scientific facts or
information clearly and objectively.

Organizational competence:

Organizational competence is the ability to organize technical

information in a logical and structured way. It includes several skills
such as the ability to sequence thoughts in a sentence, organize a
paragraph according to the needs of the reader and the topic. It is
important to use appropriate logical ordering and provide thematic
coherence to expression.

Difference between general communication and technical

communication:

General communication contains a general message whereas

technical communication contains a technical message. General
communication needs general vocabulary whereas technical
communication needs specialized vocabulary. There is no formal
element for technical communication. It has formal elements like letters,
memos, reports etc. General communication uses both objective and
subjective patterns but for technical communication there is no place for
subjectivity. General communication is not always for a specific
audience but technical communication is always for a specific audience
who has got technical knowledge.
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 According to killingsworth and Gilbertson, it is helpful to view
technical writing as writing that authors use to empower readers by
preparing them for and moving them toward effective action (T.C 19).
In order to make technical writing a tool to move readers towards
effective action, one has to follow Accuracy, Brevity and Clarity

Accuracy

The first characteristic feature of technical communication is

accuracy, which includes accuracy of information as well as accuracy of
expression. Accuracy of expression refers to no errors of grammar,
spelling, punctuation, or usage. It all demands precision in the use of
words, phrases, sentences and paragraphs. For example instead of using
difficult words like emanate, dissent, commute one use simple
words like originate, disagree, travel.

Brevity

Brevity is the quality of being brief but comprehensive in

expression. One can achieve brevity by avoiding wordiness and
repetition. Some examples of wordiness one needs to avoid in ones
writing are the following:

- Instead of using the phrase at low ebb, one may use 'exhausted';

- Instead of using 'bad blood', one may use 'enmity';

- Instead of using all in all, one may use 'everything'.

Clarity

Clarity in communication is the quality of being unambiguous

and easily understood. In technical communication, clarity contributes to
communicative effectiveness. Clarity can be achieved by using direct
language, specific and concrete words, and clear expression. Since
technical communication is more concerned with what was done, what
happened or what was looked in. So, one should use impersonal

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language. The use of impersonal language involves the use of impersonal
passive and the exclusion of personal elements and personal pronouns.

The use of technology has shrunk the world into a global village.
In this global village, anyone can master English bur they need some
special qualities like vocabulary, brevity, clarity, accuracy to master
technical communication. If they have got this they will listen, speak and
write well.

4
 Introduction to Deregulation

The period since the early 1980s has been the most momentous in the history of
telecommunications. A series of major technological advances such as optical
fibres, Integrated Services Digital Network, (ISDN), Asynchronous Transfer
Mode, (ATM), and Asymmetrical Digital Subscriber Loop, (ADSL) has led to
spectacular achievements in products and services. In addition, legislation has
helped to create an environment of liberalisation which is shaping the markets of
the future. In some respects, regulatory issues have assumed more importance
than the purely technological questions in telecommunications. As a senior
manager from PTT-Nederland admits:

When I came here, people were convinced that we sold technology, but to me,
thats just nonsense. No-one is interested in opening up a telephone set to look at
the circuit boards and admire their quality. What people want is reliable, quick
and imaginative service. At the end of the day, its just like McDonalds. They
dont just sell hamburgers, they sell services as well.

1984 was a pivotal year for world communications. In the USA, AT&Ts
monopoly was broken up with the creation of the seven Regional Bell Operating
Companies (RBCs), while the same year saw the privatisation of British
Telecom in the UK. Most of Europes state telecommunications companies are
likely to be privatised before long. This pressure to privatise stems from the fact
that many state telecommunication networks are currently under-sourced, that
many state budgets are overburdened, and that national and international
telecommunications markets are being liberalised, thus undermining the position
of state monopoly Public Telephone operators (PTOs).

The balance of pressure varies between countries but no country is immune, and
with the European Union (EU) and developing economies now resolved to
liberalise national markets for voice telecommunications, the pressure can only
increase. Competition is imminent in every European country, but the regulatory
structure in each nation will influence the speed with which it advances and the
strength of rival operators.

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Liberalisation is shaking up the way that operators conduct their business and is
bringing about a culture within companies. The philosophy of being a civil
servant and having a job for life is rapidly disappearing. Personal performance-
related criteria and individualised objectives are influencing the lives of
executives and employees of previously state-dominated PTTs, where results
often counted for very little.

Down-sizing", right-sizing, Rationalisation and outsourcing have

become the buzz-words associated with liberalisation and competition, and in
many countries Trade unions interpret these expressions as the desire of the
bosses to get rid of as many employees as possible in the quest to make their
business more profitable, possibly at the risk of creating the haves and the
have-nots.

Comprehension

1. What is the text all about?

2. What are the main ideas of the text?
3. What is the meaning of the underlined words and phrases?
4. Is deregulation an appropriate measure to liberalise
telecommunications? How?
5. Compare and contrast the development of the telecommunications
industry in Morocco and other emerging economies?

6
 Emerging Technology is not the Answer to the World's Social and
Economic Problems

by Mike Adams

I've been reading news reports about how technology is advancing so rapidly
that by the year 2050, we're supposed to be able to download our entire
consciousness into our laptop computers. Thats right, just plug in your brain,
and apparently you can download your memories and all the data in your head.

Now, what's wrong with this? First of all, the brain does not store information in
bits and bytes. The brain is not a digital storage system. The brain, and more
importantly, the mind, is holographic in the way that it stores and retrieves
information. And, by the way, the information that the brain stores is not even
really stored with perfect accuracy anyway.

Peoples' perceptions are distorted; peoples' memories are distorted. They're

fuzzy. They waver in and out. They can be created on the fly, so it's not like you
have a databank in your head that's just sitting there waiting to be downloaded.
All the memories and perceptions in your head are shifting around all the time.
What you think you remember today may not have happened that way at all. In
fact, very little of what you remember actually happened that way.

In other words, we don't see reality. We experience a very tiny interpretation of

the world around us. The universe out there, and what's encoded in our head, is
really just an experience; a holographic representation of various sensory inputs,
emotions and experiences at that time. This is not just some data, and this is not
like a zip file. You can't just download it into a computer or slap it onto a flash
drive.

Human intelligence can only be emulated by technology

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So, I don't care how advanced computing technology gets, you're never going to
be able to just download your memory like a giant storage file, because it's not
stored that way. Your brain is not a giant flash chip.

Now, what's really important about this, and what's worth discussing about this
news, is that there continues to be this great tendency by scientists, especially
those in the fields of artificial intelligence and computer science, to think of the
human brain as being just some really advanced computer. They think that if
computers keep getting more and more advanced, at the pace that it's going
today, if Moore's law holds up, and they can keep cramming more transistors
onto computer chips at ever increasing rates -- they figure sooner or later, these
computers will achieve consciousness.

I completely disagree. I think that computers could someday be able to emulate

intelligence. There is no question in my mind that there will be artificial
intelligence. But consciousness! That's another matter completely. We don't
even really know what the nature of consciousness is. We don't really even
know ourselves yet. Even our best scientists really have no clue how
consciousness comes into being. How many people sit down and truly explore
the meaning of self? How many people even know themselves? How many
people understand consciousness even at a basic level? Very few, I think. The
people who do are not scientists, by the way. They tend to be spiritual people
who meditate, and are in touch with themselves and the universe, and who do
not have any technical training in the sciences.

But technicians out there love to look at the human body and the human mind as
nothing but a collection of parts. This is not only true in the fields of intelligence
and AI; it's also true, of course, in medicine. Doctors and surgeons, especially,
tend to look at the human body as a collection of parts; they think that if we just
understand all the parts, then we'll understand the organism. They think if you
can x-ray and image and categorize and name all the individual components of
the human body, then you understand all the biochemistry that's taking place.
And then you understand the person. I completely disagree with that.

You can get lost by looking at the little components, all these little parts. You
can only understand a person by taking a step back and looking at the whole
person with a holistic view of health and consciousness. So, what does all this
have to do with downloading your brain into a computer? We have to look at the

8
holistic or holographic view of what human consciousness is, and even just what
a basic human memory is.

"Reality" defined

In fact, if you get down to it, what is the nature of our reality, and how is it that
we perceive this reality when much of it, frankly, isn't even there? Think about
it. If you know anything about physics, especially quantum physics, you know
that all of this so-called stuff that we think is around us is almost entirely not
there from a technical point of view.

For example, consider a wall. A wall is made of certain elements made up of

atoms. If you look inside those atoms, you can potentially name electrons,
neutrons and protons. If you look in those, you find out it's nothing but
vibrations. It's just probability waves that appear as reality, that appear to be
substance, but is really not there at all. It's almost all empty space. The closer
you look at it, the more it disappears, so even the stuff we think is real isn't real.

Even our memories aren't real; our memories are just holographic interpretations
of our experience of this so-called real world, which isn't real anyway. Our
memoirs are based only on those things that we can perceive. And our
perception is very, very limited. If you look at the entire electromagnetic
spectrum, and then you take a look at the tiny sliver of that spectrum that's
visible light, that is what we see. What we see is just a small fraction of what is
available in the electromagnetic spectrum. Even honeybees see more than we
do. Other animals hear at much higher frequencies than we do. What we feel,
touch and taste are basically just very crude representations of what's going on
around us. It's all interpreted in our heads through a system of filters, beliefs and
distortions, and then it becomes a memory. So, memory is not at all a
representation of what's going on in the world.

Artificial Intelligence is about to take a quantum leap forward

Now, I don't discount the idea that computing power is going to take a quantum
leap forward, and I use "quantum" deliberately in this case. If we have quantum
computers and they become practical, then watch out, because there are going to
be some real questions about what is reality at that point. Because if a computer
can effectively solve problems by sending little cubits into other dimensions and

9
calculate problems in an infinite number of dimensions and bring the solutions
back in this world and hand it over to us, that's mind blowing.

Yet that's happening right now at the National Institute of Standards and
Technology, in Boulder, Colorado. They're doing this stuff; they have
computers that reach into other dimensions and bring solutions back into this
dimension. They're doing this today. If they can make this practical and increase
the number of bits, this thing will really, again, cause us to question the whole
nature of reality.

So I don't discount the fact there is really some amazing technology out there,
and that artificial intelligence will certainly become a very important factor in
the ongoing march of technology and how it affects society. What I'm
questioning is that we'll be able to interface this digital world of computers with
the world of the human mind and consciousness. I don't think these connect very
well. It's not like we have a VGA connection in the back of our heads, and if we
plug it into our computer monitor while we're sleeping, we could view our
dreams. It would be cool, but it's not going to work that way; it's going to take a
lot more than just raw computer power to even come close to figuring out how
to interface with our minds.

I am very interested in the impact of emerging technology on our civilization,

especially those that can enhance the quality of life on this planet -- so, even
though I'm a futurist, I'm also very skeptical of other futurists. All too often
when people talk about these emerging technologies, it's just a lot of hyping,
someone trying to get a lot of grant money, or somebody just trying to attract
some attention talking about something that really isn't practical.

You see this with nanotechnology all the time. "Nanotech, nanotech." It's
nanotech all the time. Why? Because that's what gets you grant money in the
scientific community these days. If you look at the statistics today, and you
think about how many researchers and scientists are working on
"nanotechnology," you think, "this field is exploding!" It's not true. It's just that
everybody who used to work on less glamorous projects just renamed all their
stuff to be nanotechnology. So, now they call it nanotech, and they're getting
grant money, and the statistics show that there's all this nanotech research going
on. It's the same research; it's just been renamed.

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Now, there is some new nanotech research going on, but I'm skeptical about this,
as well. They say they'll be able to build an army of nanotechnology robots, little
molecular-scaled robots that will run around your body and cure cancer. That's
right, these little robots are going to snip away at cancer tumors, and I've said
this before, but we already have such a system. It's in our bodies right now. It's
called the immune system, and it's the most advanced nanotechnology in the
world. This stuff is amazing. It cures cancer every single day in every single
human being who's alive right now. It takes care of the job for us. We don't need
microscopic robots to take care of it, we just need to take care of the immune
system we have right now.

Social and Political Implications of Emerging Technology

So getting back to the original item here, what if we were able to download our
brains into computers? It sounds great in terms of technology, but what about
the social and political implications of this? What would it mean? Would it
mean that if you were suspected of committing a crime, the courts would force a
download of your brain? Would it mean that your memories and thoughts were
no longer your own?

If it did mean that, then, of course, we'd have an era of thought crimes -- an era
where it could be criminal to think the wrong thoughts or have the wrong
memories, or just to have the wrong imagination. If you happen to have the
wrong images pop up into your head, and it gets downloaded onto the computer,
all of a sudden, you're a criminal. You're an enemy of the state. Why? Because
you don't fit the norm. Because you have ideas that they consider to be a threat
to their stranglehold on power. You've got to think about these things.
Technologies can be promising, but they can also be very threatening, not only
to our sense of who we are, but also to our security and privacy as individuals
and our very freedoms.

Today in the United States, we have a federal government that is spying on

millions of U.S. citizens. Our Dept. of Homeland Security is reading your
international mail, digitally filtering all your international phone calls for
audible keywords, scanning virtually all internet traffic, and even tracking
citizens by their cell phone transponders. All of this is blatantly illegal, by the
way. Do you have any doubt that this police state government would hesitate to
download and scan your memories and thoughts if the technology were

11
available? All this stuff was considered science fiction by most Americans until
recently, when the mainstream press finally woke up to the realities of the NSA
spying on American citizens.

Ultimately, what I'm trying to say is that technology is not the solution to
uplifting our civilization. It is not the answer to the problems in our world. They
say we have hunger and starvation in Africa. We have the technology to grow
all the food we need. We have an abundance of food right here in the United
States which is somehow not getting to the mouths of the people over there who
need it. We're paying farmers to not grow crops, so how can there be a food
shortage? It's not a food problem. It's not a farming technology problem. It's a
political problem. It's an issue of control. Who's controlling those people? Who
benefits from scarcity? Who benefits from having a population that's always at
war?

More technology is not the answer. It sounds cool, and all those new electronic
gadgets look cool. But technology is not the answer to solving the problems of
our civilization. So what is the answer, you might ask? Well, look; I'm no master
of this. I'm still a student of all of it. But I've got some ideas that the answers are
in the world of consciousness, spirituality, ethics and empathy. I think the
answers are in things like being able to actually care about fellow human beings
and act on that care, and making efforts to end the suffering in the world, rather
than trying to maintain control over people all the time. The answers are found
through spiritualism, meditation and self-introspection. The answers are
essentially found by looking inward, not by examining the physical stuff of
the world around us and coming up with more and more clever ways to alter it
or control it.

We have to look inward, and stop thinking that the answers can be found in
technology, chemistry, gene therapy and medical science. These are not the
answers; these are just distractions from the real answers. You can have the best
technology in the world, but you will still not solve the problems of this planet
unless you can act with integrity, ethics, honesty, empathy, humility and
compassion. These are the issues that really matter.

Frankly, if we mastered those as a world, we wouldn't need much technology.

We really wouldn't. We have plenty of technology today to take care of all the
basic needs of everyone; enough to put a home over people's heads, to feed the

12
population and to cover basic health. What we're lacking is that sense of
awareness, ethics, spirituality and a higher level of operation and thinking, or
rather, experiencing a higher level of being. Ultimately, I don't want a world
where a bunch of computers are looking into our heads. I hope to see a world
where individuals examine their own minds. That, to me, would be the most
amazing breakthrough of all.

13
 Hotels Seek an Edge in Offering the Right Digital Perks

By HARRIET EDLESON

One hotel has a customized application that allows guests to request an early
check-in, or order valet service. Another is offering exercise videos with virtual
instructors in its fitness room.

Hotels may have come late to technology, but recently they have been jumping
in as travelers, especially those on business trips, demand to be constantly
connected and expect hotels to make that possible. Hotels now see technology as
a way to stand out in the crowd of brands.

The hotels are looking at a total strategy, said Lorraine Sileo, vice president of
research for the travel market research firm PhoCusWright. Its all about
interacting with the customer at the right time, at the right place.

As their homes have become more technologically advanced, travelers want at

least as much on the road, if not more. And different age groups and types of
travelers expect different types of service from hotels.

Were in a period of transition, said Bjorn Hanson, Divisional Dean of the

Tisch Center for Hospitality, Tourism and Sports Management at New York
University. Hotels are discovering not only how to be different; hotels are
trying to figure out what people really want. They seem to want productivity
and the wow factor. They ask themselves, Is what I get at the hotel at least as
good as what I have at home?

Business travelers vary. The younger traveler wants to know why they need to
plug in, Mr. Hanson said. Why not have Wi-Fi everywhere? Their
expectations are higher. Their work is affected more when current technology is
not available. They want technology wherever they are, whenever they need it.
For baby boomers, he added, a hotel can be a place to try technology that they
have not yet purchased.

14
David Stahl, president of CrowdMagnet, a specialty marketing company based
in Minneapolis, said he traveled 140 to 160 days on average a year. Like many
frequent travelers, he carries a smartphone and a laptop, his two portals to the
world. He relies on various apps, including FlightAware and SeatGuru. Though
he said he was not a tech-driven guy, he ended up making a dinner reservation
via an iPad he found in his room at the Plaza Hotel in New York recently.

My first thought was somebody forgot it, Mr. Stahl said. But a staff member
told him it was for concierge service. It was pretty neat, Mr. Stahl said.

Almost two years ago, the Chancellor Hotel on Union Square in San Francisco
collaborated with Amaratech, a Bay Area hotel technology company, to create
its own app that guests can use before and during their stay to request an early
check-in, a late checkout, search for a nearby restaurant or order valet service.
With technology, guests are doing everything by themselves, said Nathaniel
Ramos, the hotels Director of Sales and Marketing.

At the Ocean House in Watch Hill, guests can use free iPads as well a virtual
fitness machine in the Spa center. On a touch-screen machine the size of a
banks A.T.M., they can select fitness classes like spinning and Zumba at any
hour of the day. Once they have made their choice, a large screen descends from
the ceiling, and a virtual instructor appears.

Guests do not see technology as just one thing. It is a combination of services

and gadgets. Theyre used to being connected and linked in wherever they are,
said Lindsey Ueberroth, president of the Preferred Hotel Group, a collection of
more than 650 independent luxury hotels.

The No. 1 thing travelers want, she said, is high-speed Internet access and
enough bandwidth to download videos, social media and music. According to a
2011 Concur/Global Business Travel Association study, 91 percent of business
travelers use a laptop computer, 81 percent use wireless broadband, 73 percent a
personal smartphone and 67 percent use mobile travel apps on their phone.

For hotels, one of the largest investments can be adequate bandwidth. Its the
idea of having services at your fingertips, literally, said Phil Schwartz, Chief
Marketing Officer of the Intelity Corporation, a software company in Orlando,
that focuses on the hospitality industry. Intelity employs software called ICE
(Interactive Customer Experience) that is customized for hotel apps. It has
reached almost 500 hotels internationally, he said.
15
The software allows hotel guests to interact digitally with the hotel through their
phone, tablet or laptop on 35 different services, ranging from setting the time for
a wake-up call to requesting a toothbrush from housekeeping.

To obtain adequate bandwidth, hotels have sometimes had to invest in rewiring.

The cost per room can range from $250 to $900, depending on the hotel, said
Craig Ziegler, the President and co-founder of SuiteLinq, a hotel technology
company. If a hotel is new, the wiring can be part of initial construction. Some
hotels charge as much as $10 a day for high-speed wireless Internet access and
streaming, but include standard Internet access in the room rate.

Some hotels have phased in technology. We installed high-speed Internet first,

then Wi-Fi, and extended bandwidth more than a year ago, said Pierre-Louis
Renou, General Manager of the Sofitel Washington DC Lafayette Square and a
member of the Sofitel technology committee. Sofitel manages 120 hotels
globally. The Sofitel So Bangkok, which opened in mid-March, goes further
with iPads in all suites and common areas and Mac minis in every room.

John R. Hach, senior vice president for global product management at

TravelClick, a hotel service provider in New York, said that hotels with
optimized Web sites were capturing 10 percent or more of their reservations
from mobile devices.

Or, as Mr. Ramos of Chancellor Hotel put it, You dont want to be left behind.

16
 From London, a Lesson in the Benefits of Free Wi-Fi

By KEVIN J. OBRIEN

The summer Olympics gave Britain not only a psychological lift, but a spate of
free, public Wi-Fi networks as well. In preparations for the Games, the operators
O2 U.K., Virgin Mobile, BT and The Cloud carved up public venues across the
British capital, broadcasting open Wi-Fi networks in major public squares,
airports and subways and on train platforms.

Free Wi-Fi service is becoming an important tool for operators in maintaining

quality mobile service during a time of skyrocketing data traffic, congested
mobile networks and, for travelers, costly roaming charges.

Public Wi-Fi networks have sprung up in many big cities. According to

INFORMA, a research firm, the number of Wi-Fi hot spots worldwide will
reach 5.8 million by the end of 2015, up from 800,000 in 2010. Eight of the
worlds 10 biggest mobile operators are using Wi-Fi to offload their cellular data
traffic.

In New York City, free public Wi-Fi is available in 20 parks from AT&T.
Google and Boingo, a maker of Wi-Fi equipment, sponsor free Wi-Fi at five
New York subway stations. The city of New York is broadcasting free Wi-Fi
from 20 pay phones.

In Paris, free Wi-Fi is available at some Metro stations, train stations and bus
stops from a company called Gowex. In Hong Kong, the mobile operator PCCW
runs 10,000 Wi-Fi access points, some free. In Tokyo, KDDI, another operator,
has 120,000 hot spots.

In London, the rush to blanket public Britain with Wi-Fi attracted not only
mobile operators like O2, owned by Telefnica of Spain, but the landline
operator, BT, a virtual mobile operator, Virgin, and the satellite TV broadcaster
BSkyB.

17
Virgin established Wi-Fi hot spots on 72 London Underground platforms during
the Olympics and plans to cover 120 platforms, almost one in two stations, by
the end of the year.

The service, which was used by a half million people during the Olympics, was
initially free to all consumers. Starting this month, it has been available for a fee
to other mobile users.

Virgin plans to lease its Wi-Fi underground network to competitors. Discussions

with rivals are already under way, said Emma Hutchinson, a spokeswoman for
Virgin Media in London.

The Cloud, a company that operates 11,000 public hot spots in Britain, most of
them for free, offered free Wi-Fi on trains and in parts of greater London during
the Games. Vince Russell, the Managing Director of The Cloud, which is owned
by BskyB, the British satellite broadcaster, said next-generation cell networks
cannot keep pace with rising mobile data traffic. What you are seeing is a
growth in hybrid networks, where you have cellular combined with Wi-Fi, Mr.
Russell said.

O2 set up Wi-Fi networks in public squares across Westminster, Chelsea and

Kensington, the most densely populated parts of central London. Consumers
used networks at major crossroads like Trafalgar Square, Parliament Square,
Leicester Square, Regent Street and Oxford Street. The networks were built by
Ruckus Wireless, an equipment maker in Sunnyvale, California, that also
supplied equipment to KDDI and PCCW in Asia.

O2 has leased the rights to operate its central London Wi-Fi networks for seven
years, with the option to extend the lease for another three years.

Steven Glapa, the Ruckus Wireless Director of Field Marketing, said operators
were using Wi-Fi as another way to distinguish themselves from each other.
Competing for superior subscriber experience with Wi-Fi is a competitive
advantage, Mr. Glapa said.

O2 said data traffic had risen threefold with its London Wi-Fi networks, which it
is maintaining free to all consumers. Gavin Franks, the Managing Director of
Wi-Fi for Telefnica U.K., said land-based Wi-Fi Internet access was integral to
the industrys future. This wasnt a gimmick for the Olympics, Mr. Franks
said. This is about how we see the long-term evolution of our network.

18
Philip Kendall, an analyst at Strategy Analytics in London, expects Wi-Fi
rollouts to accelerate as operators compete for new turf and customers.

They are a good part of the overall jigsaw puzzle of customer acquisition and
retention, Mr. Kendall said. This is a good cost-effective way of expanding
the options and capacity for mobile data services.

19
International IPX revenue to grow by 55.6% over the next 4 years

By Isabelle Paradis

As a result of the exponential growth of mobile data services anticipated over

the next 5 years, a majority of the IPX revenue increase is expected to come
from IPX data services.

IPX is increasingly popular with Wholesale operators as it opens up

opportunities for voice carriers to move away from the minutes-based model and
towards alternative methods of charging. Carriers with IPX hubs will have the
opportunity to provide and charge for services such as routing transparency, low
latency and number portability, or roll this into a subscription fee for using its
IPX platform. At this point in time however, no single player is able to provide
complete global IPX coverage using its own network. Even the largest IPX
players such as TATA, BICS, BT, iBasis/KPN and DT ICSS must interconnect
with others.

It is likely that in the medium term, most IPX providers will ultimately deliver
IPX platforms that are interconnected. However, this will take considerable time
and in the interim, there will be more bilateral couplings such as the TI
Sparkle/iBasis relationship.

On the whole, players in the IPX arena are currently in the market entry stage
and in the process of launching services. Most have entered the market by
providing VoIP over their IPX networks; nevertheless, some are already
migrating data services onto their IPX networks too.

As a general rule, carriers are approaching IPX from different directions, with
the majority addressing first and foremost voice interconnection, whilst others
such as DT ICSS seem more focused on data to enable new and innovative
services. The second direction we are witnessing includes service providers such
as iBasis/TI Sparkle and BT Wholesale who are positioning themselves to help
mobile operators reduce their reliance on TDM and migrate to all-IP.

20
The next steps for differentiating in the market will be based on the ability to
innovate on traditional network strengths such as reach and performance, and
then other sales and support factors. White-label IPX services are further out on
the horizon and IPX hubs managed by third-party arbitrators are also a potential
business model.

The IPX market is populated by an increasing number of players, with the key
players in the IPX market outlined below:

Aicent Sybase
BICS Syniverse
BT Tata Communications
Citic Telecom Telecom Italia Sparkle
DT ICS TNZI
iBasis (KPN) Telefonica Wholesale
Orange Wholesale Services Telekom Austria
Reach (Telstra) Telenor
TeliaSonera

IPX data services are expected to have generated 39.2% of the total
International IPX revenue in 2011 with the remaining 60.8% coming from IPX
voice services HOT TELECOM President Isabelle Paradis said. As a result of
the exponential growth of mobile data services anticipated over the next 5 years,
a majority of the IPX revenue increase is expected to come from IPX data
services. Over the next 4 years, total International IPX revenue is forecasted to
grow by a CAGR of 55.6% and by the end of 2015, International IPX data
service should account for 72.3% of the total revenue, with voice expected to
account for 27.7% of the total. (It is important to keep in mind that in our
evaluation of the IPX market, IPX voice revenue is net of termination rates,
while IPX data revenue includes interconnection payments to be transferred to
the end carrier).

When analyzing the total International IPX revenue on a regional basis, HOT
TELECOM concluded that Asia-Pacific is the largest region, and should remain

21
so over the forecasted period. Asia-Pacific should have generated 46.2% of the
total International IPX revenue in 2011 and the region is expected to benefit
from total International IPX revenue CAGR of 53.8% over the forecasted
period. Europe is the second largest IPX region in terms of revenue with 23.5%
of the total in 2011, and by the end of the forecasted period, the regions total
International IPX revenue should have increased by a CAGR of 53.9%.

IPX Voice revenue is forecasted to grow by a CAGR of 27.7% over the next 4
years. Europe is and should continue to be the largest market for IPX voice
services (based on location of traffic origination) over the next 4 years as the
region is forecasted to account for 41.5% of all IPX Voice traffic origination
revenue, and this ratio is expected to have decreased marginally to 39.7% by the
end of the forecasted period.

Asia-Pacific follows with 35.3% of the world IPX Voice revenue in 2011 and
should have grown to 36.9% in 2015, mostly as a consequence of the sheer
enormity of the population, and rapid take-up of IP services. North America is
the third largest market, with 18.8% of the IPX Voice revenue in 2011.

Latin America and MENA, although by far the smallest markets currently in
terms of percentage growth, are expected to be the fastest growing over the next
5 years. IPX Voice CAGRs are expected to have reached 75.4% and 59.5% for

22
Latin America and MENA respectively, growing their share spend from 1.9%
and 2.3% respectively in 2011 to 3.4% and 4.2% in 2015.

In addition to revenues derived from the provision of voice services, there is also
a market opportunity to provide data services over IPX networks. These data
services will come in four main guises:

LTE data roaming

Migration of GRX traffic to IPX networks
Migration of some mobile data currently transported over the Internet
onto IPX networks
Migration of some fixed Internet traffic onto IPX networks.

The migration of GRX traffic onto IPX networks will generate the fastest
growth; although in many cases this will simply be a migration of convenience
or for marketing. In other words, the GRX traffic will be treated no differently
than it is now, and will be charged on the same basis. It will likely even be
travelling over the same physical network nevertheless, because the network
will have been upgraded from a GRX network to an IPX network, the traffic and
revenue will be reclassified. Subsequently this is not really new revenue for
wholesale operators.

The real growth in wholesale opportunity comes from traffic migrating from
GRX networks which is treated differently given the quality of service
guarantees and additional charges; and from the migration of mobile Internet
services to IPX on the same basis (for instance to deliver an improved customer
experience). In some cases, the extra fees for delivering these mobile Internet
services will be borne by the content providers themselves and IPX providers
are working hard to encourage content and application providers, such as
BlackBerry for example, into the IPX ecosystem.

IPX data revenue is therefore expected to grow by a CAGR of 83.3% over the
next 5 years. Asia-Pacific is by far the largest region in terms of International
IPX data revenues with 46.2% of the total. Europe follows as the second largest
market with 23.5% of the total revenues and this ratio is expected to have
increased to 30.2% in 2015. North America is estimated to account for 16.5% of
the total IPX data revenue in 2011.

23
The International IPX data market is and will continue to be dominated by the
migration of GRX traffic (primarily GPRS and 3G roaming) onto IPX networks,
as well as the emergence of LTE data roaming later in the forecast period.

In 2011, roamed mobile IPX data was by far the largest service, generating
58.8% of the total IPX data revenue and by the end of the forecasted period,
roamed mobile IPX data should generate 61.6% of the total International IPX
data revenue representing a 4-year CAGR of 85.4%.

Based on HOT TELECOMs estimates, the next largest category of revenue

comes from the migration of fixed network traffic onto IPX networks. In fact,
we have assumed very small percentages of global fixed data traffic will move
onto IPX networks in the forecast period but as the market is so significant this
still equates to an important portion of revenue. Fixed IPX data is expected to
have generated 20.6% of the total International IPX data revenue in 2011, and
this ratio should have increased to 21.2% by the end of 2015.

Close behind is non-roamed IPX data essentially the migration of mobile

Internet traffic (such as Blackberry traffic) onto IPX networks. Non-roamed
mobile IPX data is expected to have grown by a CAGR of 73.4% over the next 4
years, generating 17.2% of the total.

Carriers should evaluate their strategies for TDM-to-IP voice migration to

decide what role they want to play in the next-generation voice market. LTE will
change the rules of business models for voice interconnection and carriers must
decide whether to:

Own an IPX hub and be a dominant player in high quality VoIP

interconnection;
Strategically partner with one or more IPX hub owners;
Remain the circuit-switched voice carrier of choice, serving the legacy
voice market;
Position themselves as a low cost provider of VoIP transit services and
avoid the IPX market altogether.

Carriers with IPX hubs need to follow Voice over LTE developments closely
and should start implementing support for Voice over LTE interconnection and
roaming, such as support for HD codecs and signaling, as well as establishing
innovative and enticing pricing models. Carriers taking a leading role in that

24
segment are likely to sign up the early Voice over LTE adopters, which are
some of the worlds largest mobile operators, and by the same way secure a
significant portion of their wholesale revenue.

Glossary

Short for Internetwork Packet Exchange, a networking protocol used by the

Novell NetWare operating systems. Like UDP/IP, IPX is a datagram protocol
used for connectionless communications. Higher-level protocols, such as SPX
and NCP, are used for additional error recovery services.

25
 Verizon Backing off Plans for Wireless Home Phones
By PATRICK McGEEHAN

After facing numerous complaints from residents of Fire Island, Verizon has
backed away from its plan to use a wireless device to replace traditional phone
service in areas where it would rather not repair its old copper wires.

After Hurricane Sandy, Verizon asked state regulators in New York for
permission to substitute Voice Link, a home phone service that carries calls on a
cellular network, for what it refers to as plain old telephone service. The first
place in the state it tried broad use of Voice Link was on the west end of Fire
Island, a resort community on the Atlantic Ocean that incurred heavy damage in
the late October storm.

Verizon had hoped to use Fire Island as an example of how Voice Link could be
installed in other areas of the state where its network of copper wires was
damaged by storms or deemed too costly to repair or maintain. The regulators
said they would monitor the results and decide later this year.

But Verizon did not wait for the final results. It conceded defeat this week and
said it would start laying fiber-optic cable that would restore home phone
service and Internet access.

Edward P. Romaine, the supervisor of the town of Brookhaven, said he was

delighted that Verizon had been forced into offering an alternative to Voice
Link. I dare say there are very few residents of Fire Island that would prefer
Voice Link, he said.

The company also withdrew its request to the state Public Service Commission
for permission to use Voice Link as a permanent substitute for traditional home
phone service elsewhere in the state.

What were basically telling the commission is were not going to pursue the
stuff that we were pursuing, said Tom Maguire, Verizons senior vice president
for national operations support. Were going to go back to the day before
Sandy.

The Voice Link experiment was watched closely by consumer advocates

because it was seen as a test of the obligations that traditional phone-service

26
providers have to their customers. The advocates fear that acceptance of Voice
Link will give Verizon an incentive to neglect its copper lines, which are
expensive to maintain.

Verizon and AT&T have told federal and state regulators that the demise of
plain old phone service is inevitable, as more Americans rely on cell phones
and demand faster Internet connections than copper wires can provide.

Indeed, Verizon is not abandoning Voice Link. The company intends to

continue offering it as a substitute for traditional service in Mantoloking, N.J.,
and other communities that have been hit hard by storms.

Some Mantoloking residents have complained about Verizons decision not to

restore their old phone lines after Hurricane Sandy wreaked havoc there. But the
company said that people in Mantoloking, unlike the residents of Fire Island,
have an alternative: they can get phone service and Internet access from
Comcast, the local cable provider.

That answer did not satisfy Stefanie A. Brand, the director for the Division of
Rate Counsel in New Jersey. A representative of utility consumers, Ms. Brand
said Mantoloking residents should not have to buy a bundled service from the
cable company to get home phone service that is not wireless.

Verizon is the provider of last resort in New Jersey, Ms. Brand said, so they
have to offer customers a basic telephone service option, and there is no
telephone service option available to the customers in Mantoloking.

AARP has called on the Federal Communications Commission and New

Jerseys Board of Public Utilities to investigate Verizons use of Voice Link in
Mantoloking. The organization argued that dependable, regulated phone service
is a lifeline for residents, especially older ones, when a storm like Hurricane
Sandy hits.

Jim Dieterle, the state director for AARP in New Jersey, called Voice Link a
third-rate alternative. He said state officials should not accept less than what
Verizon is doing on Fire Island. Why would they do one thing in New York
and then not in New Jersey? Were not second-class citizens, he said. I dont
think our governor would appreciate being treated in a less admirable way.

27
 European Chief Backs Plan to End Roaming Fees
By JAMES KANTER

Jos Manuel Barroso, the president of the European Commission, called on

Wednesday for an end to the high fees charged for making mobile phone calls
across national borders, seizing on one of the few truly popular European
initiatives at a time of rising skepticism about the European Union.

In his State of the Union address before the European Parliament in Strasbourg,
Mr. Barroso threw his support behind a plan that would phase out roaming fees
starting in 2014 as part of a wider overhaul of the telecommunications industry.

European authorities have already dramatically brought down roaming costs,

he said, and the latest proposal would go further to lower prices for consumers
and present new opportunities for companies.

The European Union already caps roaming fees, and Neelie Kroes, the unions
commissioner responsible for telecommunications, suggested in May that the
fees be ended. Mr. Barrosos support for breaking down barriers between
telecommunications markets should give the initiative added momentum, but it
comes as France, Germany and Britain have grown wary of giving Mr. Barroso
and the commission more powers.

In his speech, Mr. Barroso also cited the advances being made by the economy,
saying that recovery is within sight.

But on a day when the French government said it would miss its deficit target
this year and Portugal called for an easier deficit goal in 2014, Mr. Barroso
noted that even one fine quarter doesnt mean we are out of the economic
heavy weather. Many Europeans, including the 26 million who are
unemployed, still face hardship, he said.

Against a backdrop of such thorny issues, the question of mobile roaming

charges was a relatively easy and straightforward one for Mr. Barroso to
highlight. When Europeans cross borders, the fees they pay for mobile calls or
Internet access increase sharply. That, in turn, has caused travelers in Europe to
switch off or limit their phone use a situation that the industry says is slowing
the development of some services.

28
Yet many companies have already objected to the initiative. Roaming charges
have been subject to a variety of caps since 2007. Ms. Kroess proposal must be
approved by the European Parliament and by European governments before it
could become law, and it is likely to face ferocious lobbying because roaming
charges make up a big chunk of telecommunications operators profits.

In a sign of the battle to come, Anne Bouverot, the director general of

the GSMA, a telecommunications industry group, said Wednesday in a
statement that the focus of an overhaul should be increased investment in
Europes telecoms infrastructure as part of a more thorough and
comprehensive approach.

Also on Wednesday, Ms. Kroes called for people to be allowed to switch

operators when abroad as a way of putting pressure on the industry to offer
better deals. She also called for providers to be allowed to forge alliances to
offer cheaper calls and Internet services across the European Union.

The industry still operates largely on the basis of 28 national markets and
there is still no telecoms company that operates across the whole union, she
said in a statement.

Ms. Kroes stopped short of proposing legislation that would force an operator to
offer the same broadband speed to all of its subscribers. She said that some
companies and service providers in sectors like videoconferencing and medical
imaging needed more bandwidth to ensure quality.

All networks and technologies are different, Ms. Kroes said. So are consumer
needs; therefore subscriptions with different Internet speeds or data volumes
remain possible.

But she said that consumers should have the right to walk away from their
telephone and Internet contracts if an operator fails to provide them with the
speeds that they had paid for.

29
 The Mobile Professional

By Kenneth Beare

While many professionals are still getting used to recent changes brought
about by gains in information technology, the next wave of change is at the
door. This next revolution will banish the idea that a worker needs to be on site
in order to participate in company meetings. In the past, when company officials
needed to gather, they would all arrange to be at a certain place at a certain time.

The heads of the various departments used to have their secretaries' call
around to schedule important meetings. Now, with the increasing use of video-
conferencing and third and even fourth generation wireless devices, physical
presence is not an essential element to getting people to come together. No
longer will important meetings be delayed because of a lack of attendees.
Participants, who were used to dealing with their partners in person, will
increasingly become accustomed to conducting their business affairs over long
distances. This development is already making companies quicken corporate
pace in an ever-increasing battle to gather market share by taking advantage of
the latest technologies. Clients, who in the past would patiently await the arrival
of a company representative, will have their business partners responding to
their every demand. This, in part, will be made possible by the accessibility that
all this connectivity has brought about.

Road warriors are consummate travellers. Not only are they able to handle
their daily workload from anywhere they may find themselves, but they are also
constantly available because of all their handy communication devices. Of
course, this connectivity does not appeal to everyone. In fact, many of these
high-profile, high-flyers are also becoming tired of being available for what
seems to be 24/7/365. What used to be considered downtime, flight time, time
spent on the train going from meeting to meeting, is no longer an excuse for not
working. Smart phones, increasingly smaller laptops and tablets such as the iPad
with Internet capabilities, and any number of other gadgets make it impossible
for these executives to go 'offline'. In any case, if you have many road warrior
friends, you might consider tracking them with an app as they dash about the
globe.

30
Keywords / New Vocabulary

Next wave = newest products and technologies to be at the door = to have

arrived
Wireless devices = gadgets that use WiFi, Bluetooth and other technologies to
access data

Market share = part of the market that a company controls

connectivity = quality of being able to connect to the internet
road warriors = business people who travel on a regular basis

Downtime = time to relax

To dash = to move quickly

To track someone = to follow someone's location

True or False?

Many professionals are still becoming used to gains in information

technology.
Travel time is equal to downtime.
Workers used to have to be physically present to participate in meetings.
Road warriors are not getting tired of being 'always-on'.
A lack of attendees will continue to cause meetings to be delayed.
People will never get used to conducting their business affairs long distance.
Clients will have the ability to make their business partners more responsive
to their desires.
Road warriors manage to take care of their daily workload.
It's difficult for executives to go offline.
A GPS might help you track down a road warrior friend.

31
 Privacy concerns in Kenya as users turn to M-Pesa to catch
cheating partners

Despite being praised for bringing banking to the poor, Kenya's mobile phone-
based money transfer system, M-Pesa, can be used to identify undiscerning
users, Nairobi-based ICT expert Grace Githaiga tells DW.

One of the privacy issues arising out of M-Pesa in Kenya is the whole
question of protection of data. For you to be able to withdraw or use the M-Pesa
platform, you must register your details so they want your identity card number,
they want your address, sometimes even physical address, so when you transact,
whichever transaction you undertake whether it's withdrawal or depositing of
money [...] those details are left with the M-Pesa agent and usually the details
are recorded in an open book.

Where is this information stored? Is it stored electronically or on paper?

When you transact with an M-Pesa agent, the information is stored so it's a hard
copy. But what is not clear is whether the data is returned to the service
provider. It is not clear what that data is used for. But the second issue of
privacy that has arisen out of the use of M-Pesa is, for example, when spouses
are cheating on one another.

How does it work if someone is cheating or there's some sort of weird

communication between two people?

What people are doing is that when they are cheating on their spouses, they store
the number of their lovers with the name unknown or they give the name of their
lovers as a private number. And so spouses, when they start suspecting each
other and they see that there's this private number that keeps calling or is being
called, what they will do is just send the minimum M-Pesa amount. Say 50
shillings, less than a dollar, they will send to that number. And once you send

32
that money into that account, then it sends you back a report to tell you that
money has been sent to so and so, this is their number, and how much money
you have sent and what is your balance right now after sending, and so that's
how you know, you get to know who this person really is.
Listen to the interview with Grace
So basically M-Pesa is a way of identifying someone?

Precisely. Now, the person who receives the money, their privacy is intruded
upon because they have no right to reject this money and now their details have
been revealed to a party [with whom] they are not concerned.

And what are some of the solutions that M-Pesa is trying to come up with to
combat some of the issues surrounding privacy?

It's really not clear but we know that [...] this is being debated. But so far,
nothing has changed, so that still remains.

What about Kenyans, what are they doing? How should they use M-Pesa in a
way that doesn't infringe on their privacy?

Unfortunately, that is the situation now, so all that Kenyans can do is complain.
However, we actually have a data protection bill [...] It hasn't become law yet,
but that tells you that there's debate around data protection, and some of these
things are going to be raised in that bill.

Grace Githaiga is an associate at the Kenya ICT Action Network (KICTANet), a

platform for people and institutions interested and involved in ICT policy and
regulation.

33
 IT revolutionizes Africa's business sector

Day laborers in many African countries can hardly find a job without having

a cell phone. This is one of the topics discussed at "Africa Business Week"

held in Frankfurt (22 - 26 April).

Felchesmi Mramba, the manager of the Tanzanian electricity provider

TANESCO, believes that mobile technology has revolutionized the business
world.

Speaking to DW, he enthusiastically explained how the technological

development has simplified his work. From reading the electricity meter to
payment processes everything is handled via mobile phone and Internet.
"Even now as I am here in Germany, I can purchase electricity for my home.
This is a real revolution on the technological side," he said.

ICT sector is growing strongly

Experts and visitors to "Africa Business Week" agree that information and
communication technology, in short ICT, is bringing development in all sectors,
be it the energy sector, healthcare or education. It is also boosting the economy
in Africa.

According to the United Nations Conference on Trade and Development

(UNCTAD), ICT in Kenya accounts for almost a quarter of economic growth
since the year 2000. In Cameroon, 15 percent of the economy in the period
2000-2008 came from the ICT sector.

But these numbers can be deceptive, because they don't apply to the whole
continent. Malawi, for example, is far behind trailblazers such as Kenya, as the
Malawian Information Minister Moses Kunkuyu points out.

34
"The biggest challenge is to reach out to the rural people, who are actually the
food basket for the country," Kunkuyu told DW. He says he wants to take ICTs
to them, in order to increase the farmers' earnings.

No cell phone, no job

Researchers like Jasper Grosskurth from the Kenyan research institute Research
Solutions Africa point out that in countries with very high rates of mobile
phones and Internet users, there is a so called digital divide.

"There is a group of people who are under enormous pressure to invest more
into phones and phone credits, because otherwise they cannot even get a job as a
day laborer."

That is the dilemma faced by people who cannot swim with the technology
wave. "They have to make an investment, which is more than their daily pay,
just to hang in there."

But also for the people who make excessively use of the Internet, especially with
their mobile phones, the IT revolution harbors risks, Grosskurth said. When
using Facebook, he noted, data are systematically collected and could be used to
harm the users.

Innovation offensive

The IT section needs to be developed in several ways, said UNCTAD's head of

ICT analysis, Torbjrn Fredriksson. "The focus should not only be on the
infrastructure, but building up the skills to make use of ICTs."

Fredricksson says that donor communities should support innovation and

entrepreneurship locally so that African countries and African businesses
become better equipped to both adapt and develop new technologies in relevant
areas.
Fredriksson points out that already in some African countries there is a new
market for developers of smart phone applications. Some of them such as
mobile money transfer, developed in Kenya, has already been recognized

35
worldwide. But there is no law that regulates the money transfer business. Policy
markers now have to work on that.

36
 How Will the Current Economic/Political Turmoil Impact
Telecom Consulting?

By Isabelle Paradis

According to the information released by HOT TELECOM

(www.hottelecom.com) in the 6th edition of its Global Telecom Consulting
Market report 2011, the economic downturn caught up with the industry in
2009 when the sectors revenue decreased by as much as 9.1%. Nevertheless,
the recovery started to be felt in most regions in the second half of 2010, with
emerging markets in Latin America, Asia and MENA returning to growth.

We expect telecom consulting revenue to have increased by 3.2% in 2011 and

the return to 2008 pre-recession levels in terms of revenue is not expected before
2013, when the worlds telecom consulting revenue is forecasted to grow by
5.4%. Even so, at that time, Western Europe will still lag behind and will not
have recuperated its recession loss, with telecom consulting revenue still below
2008 levels.

With many global telecom operators still suffering from slowing revenue
growth and with saturation increasing in most countries and segments, we are
not anticipating for global telecom consulting revenue spend to return to double-
digit levels for the foreseeable future HOT TELECOMs President said.
Telecom consulting revenue is therefore forecasted to grow by 5.7% over the
next 5 years.

On a regional basis, most regions have been impacted by the economic crisis;
however, some have recovered faster than others. Latin America, MENA and
Asia are and will continue to be the fastest growing regions in terms of telecom
consulting over the next 5 years, while regions such as North America and
Western Europe have yet to return to pre-recession levels.

North America continues to be the largest telecom consulting revenue region, on

the other hand, Western Europe has lost its place to Asia as the worlds second
largest telecom consulting market in 2010 and this trend is accelerating. In terms
of growth, Latin America and MENA have performed better than more
developed regions during the recession. With the exception of the growth blip
37
caused by political instability in the MENA region, we anticipate that this region
will continue to be the fastest growing over the next 5 years. We expect the
current Eurozone crisis to have a significant impact on Western Europe into
2013, which could diminish telecom consulting revenue growth in that year.

Global Telecom Revenue Expected to Reach US $1.2 Trillion by 2017

According to the information released by HOT TELECOM

(www.hottelecom.com) in its latest report Global Telecom Market Status and
Forecast, the global telecom services revenue reached US$1.9 trillion in 2011,
representing a 4.5% increase, an improvement compared with 2010, when
revenue growth had declined to 3.8%.

Growth is expected to decline again starting in 2012 up to 2017 and telecom

service revenue growth is therefore projected to slow to a five-year compound
annual growth rate (CAGR) of 2.5% and revenue is expected to reach US$2.1
trillion in 2016, having surpassed the US $2.0 trillion mark in 2013.

Trends impacting the current market evolution include mobile growth reaching
maturity in most markets, fixed line decline accelerating and spreading to a
growing number of countries and Internet and broadband growth slowing in
many regions. Continued pressure on price, stagnation in the fixed or mobile
segments, the decline of mobile termination rates and roaming rates and the
increased presence of Over-The-Top (OTT) players in the voice market will also
contribute to the slowing of telecom service revenue growth over the next 5
years.

By year-end 2011, the global aggregate number of fixed, mobile and Internet
subscribers grew by 10.8% to over 7.2 billion. Nevertheless, for the first time in
2012, the growth in total telecom subscribers should drop into the single digits
to 7.7%. This is mainly due to the fact that many regions are nearing saturation
in each of these sectors. The growth in the number of total telecom subscribers
should continue to slow over the forecasted period with a forecasted CAGR of
5.1% over the next 5 years to nearly 9.2 billion at the end of 2016. The growth
in number of subscribers will continue to mainly be driven by new broadband
and mobile connections.

38
This 83-page report, which includes 48 detailed exhibits on the global market,
confirms fixed broadband will continue to be the fastest growing telecom sector,
after mobile broadband, with a forecasted global CAGR of 6.7% over the next 5
years. The bulk of the broadband percentage growth will continue to come from
low broadband penetration regions such as MENA, Latin America, Asia and
Eastern Europe. With the proliferation of 3G phones, WiMax and LTE in the
coming years, broadband mobile is expected to be the fastest growing segment
over the next 5 years.

When analyzing the global telecom market on a regional basis, Asia is the
largest region by far and now represents 47.4%, 49.0%, 37.3% and 37.5% of the
worlds fixed, mobile, Internet and broadband subscribers respectively. MENA
will continue to suffer from the lowest penetration rate in all segments, with
penetration rates as low as 7.5%, 61.5%, 3.3% and 1.4% in the fixed, mobile,
Internet and broadband sectors respectively in 2011.

39
 Fighting in the Fifth Dimension

Innovations in technology are changing the tactics of modern-day conflict,

turning the cyberworld into a new frontline.

It has been called the 'fifth dimension of warfare'. Along with land, sea, air and
space - the cyberworld is increasingly becoming a new frontline.

Innovations in technology are changing the tactics of modern-day conflict.

There are new tools in today's arsenal of weapons. Helped by advances in
electro-magnetics and modern information and communications technology, a
new form of electronic warfare has been created. It is called cyberwar and is
increasingly recognized by governments and the military as posing a potentially
grave threat.

"If you have a few smart people and a good computer, then you can do a lot.
You don't need an aircraft; you don't need tanks; you don't need an army. You
can penetrate another country and create huge damage without even leaving
your armchair."

Alon Ben David, military analyst for Israel's Channel 10

And it is not just cyberwar that is a growing phenomenon. The internet has
empowered cyberactivism, allowing people to share information and mobilize
support to take direct action - both online and on the streets.

Social networking sites such as Facebook, Twitter and YouTube have been at
the forefront of this new wave of cyberactivism, helping to galvanize the
protests that have recently spread across the Arab world.

The so-called Arab Spring has been described as an electronic revolution.

Protesters were turned into citizen journalists - taking frontline images on their
mobile phones and uploading them via their computers for the world to see. The
regimes may have jammed the signals of satellite news channels and banned
international reporters from entering their country, but they were unable to
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prevent citizens from becoming reporters in their own right.

From cyberactivism to cyberwar

Using the internet as a platform for political action is one thing. But infiltrating
and disrupting computer networks and databases takes cyberwar to another
level. American security experts have warned that a cyber-attack could cripple
key governmental and financial systems and it is a threat the US is taking
seriously.

"Cyberspace is real. And so are the risks that come with it. From now on, our
digital infrastructure, the networks and computers we depend on every day,
will be treated as they should be, as a strategic national asset."

Barack Obama, Former US president

In recent years a cyberwar has been brewing between China and the US, with
both countries accusing each other of running an 'army of hackers'.

A key battlefield in this war has been the case of Google.

The US internet company partially withdrew from China in 2010 after a tussle
with the government over censorship and government-backed hacking.

China accuses the US of using Google to spy on the country, while Google
accuses China of hacking into the email accounts of some of its members.

"We must differentiate between independent hackers and those of the state. We
must understand that in some countries the authorities hire hackers with
excellent technical knowledge to serve their interests. Everything is possible
and States shouldn't accuse each other since all options are open in this war."

Han, a Chinese internet hacker

The US also appears to be engaged in a cyberwar with another erstwhile enemy:

Iran.

It appeared to begin in 2009 following Iranian anti-government protests -

sparked by the disputed presidential elections which saw Mahmoud

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Ahmadinejad win another term in office.

Seeking to deprive the opposition of its main means of mobilizing the masses,
the Iranian authorities sought to choke off internet access.

But the protestors continued to use sites such as YouTube and Twitter, and when
Twitter planned some routine maintenance that would have taken it offline for a
few hours, Hillary Clinton, the US secretary of state, asked the site to stay up
and running while the protests continued.

Electronic eyes and ears

In the Middle East, Israel has set up a cyber command to secure the country
against hacking attacks on its key networks.

Israel's immediate neighborhood is the place where it puts into use much of its
technical know-how. Along its northern border with Lebanon, Israel deploys a
large network of electronic eyes and ears.

And in the ongoing intelligence war between Israel and Lebanon's Hezbollah,
increasingly sophisticated electronic equipment is being used.

In February 2010, Lebanon arrested a man who reportedly confessed to being a

Mossad agent. It was claimed that he had used sophisticated surveillance
equipment that sent signals to his Israeli handlers via a mobile phone and
computer located in a hidden compartment inside his car.

It may all sound like science fiction, but a global spying network does exist that
can eavesdrop on every single phone call and email on the planet.

Eavesdropping on phone calls and text messages has become increasingly easy
for those with the right equipment, especially with the development of GSM
networks - the technology used on the vast majority of mobile phone networks
around the world.

"Give me your mobile phone for 30 seconds, give me 30 seconds alone with
your mobile phone and I can install software that would make your mobile
phone a travelling microphone. From that moment on, even if it is shut down,
your mobile phone will broadcast everything that goes on around you, through

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a number that I determine."

Alon Ben David, military analyst for Israel's Channel 10

A brave new world?

Many analysts are amazed at how internet users voluntarily hand over vast
amounts of personal data to social media sites. And planting software into a
person's phone or computer to steal data has become a new tactic of warfare in
the fifth dimension.

"Our entire life is now on the internet: personal information, emails, credit
cards. We give all this information on the internet to sites like Facebook,
Google and Amazon. Governments impose pressure on these sites as they
know how much information they have. These governments have asked for
personal information from these sites, and they gave them what they needed."

Marwan Taher, IT specialist

We live in a brave new world of information and communications technology.

The possibilities seem infinite, endless ... and uncertain.

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 Telecoms Ready Fight Against Net Neutrality

Challenge could start by focusing on how much notice industry

got

By Ryan Knutson and Thomas Gryta

April 2, 2015 7:23 p.m. ET

The telecommunications industry has myriad objections to the governments

new net-neutrality rules, but its legal challenge could start with a procedural
point: whether the Federal Communications Commission provided adequate
notice.

Groups representing wireless carriers, cable firms and Internet providers are
expected to file lawsuits seeking to overturn the new rules as soon as they land
in the official record of government actions, which is imminent. On Wednesday,
the FCC sent the net-neutrality rules, which it passed in February, to the Federal
Register for publication.

The industry groupsCTIA, the National Cable & Telecommunications

Association and the United States Telecom Associationare likely to file
lawsuits against the rules and plan to attack on three fronts, people familiar with
the plans said.

First, the groups are expected to take issue on the procedural ground that the
FCC didnt provide proper notice to the industry for various parts of the new
rules. Second, they will argue the agency doesnt have the authority to reclassify
broadband services for regulation under the same utility-like rules used on the
phone network. Lastly, the trade groups may take aim at specific provisions such
as the ban on paid prioritization.

WSJ.D

WSJ.D is the Journals home for tech news, analysis and product reviews.

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 Sling TV Apologies for Streaming Errors During NCAA Final Four Games
EU Considers Major Investigation Into Role of Internet Platforms

The procedural argument stems from abrupt changes to the rules after President
Barack Obamas November proclamation that he wanted tougher rules to protect
an open Internet and, specifically, that he wanted the Internet reclassified as a
Title II Telecommunications Service.

The FCC followed typical procedure by issuing a Notice of Proposed

Rulemaking last May outlining the rules. But after it changed its proposed rules,
it didnt issue a new notice despite what the industry argues were meaningful
changes, such as altering the definition of what constitutes commercial mobile
service and expanding the rules to cover interconnection agreements. Federal
laws require adequate notice.

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A senior FCC official said the original proposal in May provided more than
ample notice that the agency was considering reclassification of broadband
service as a Title II Telecommunications Service because it laid out detailed
questions about such a route. The public comment and other commissioners
statements also gave notice to the public that the FCC was considering using
Title II, the official said.

In a speech at Ohio State University last Friday, FCC Chairman Tom Wheeler
said the new rules would withstand a court challenge. When the court tossed out
the majority of the rules in early 2014, it did so because they treated Internet
providers as common carriers even though the FCC hadnt formally classified
them as such.

We have addressed that issue, which is the underlying issue in all of the
debates weve had so far, he said. in prepared remarks. That gives me great
confidence going forward that we will prevail.

In the past, opponents of FCC rules have pursued legal challenges over failures
to follow procedure with some success. In 2011, an FCC media ownership rule
was tossed out by the Third Circuit Court of Appeals because of procedural
missteps. In 2010, the agency lost a court challenge because it failed to provide
adequate notice.

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This is a very common argument, said Donald Evans, a telecom attorney at
Fletcher, Heald & Hildreth who has made the argument himself in past cases
against the FCC. The opposition will have to show that a reasonable person
wouldnt have known that the agencys ultimate decision was under
consideration. But the argument often doesnt work, he said.

If the procedural grounds fail, the meat of the challengers case will hang on
whether the FCC has the authority to reclassify the Internet as a Title II
Telecommunications Service. In the late 1990s, the FCC classified DSL Internet
sent over phone lines as a Telecommunication Service, but in 2002, it classified
high-speed Internet provided by cable companies as an Information Service. A
legal challenge to that decision went all the way to the U.S. Supreme Court,
which ruled that the decision was up to the FCCs discretion.

Since then, wireless and cable companies have spent billions of dollars investing
in broadband networks, and they claim that a policy reversal will damage
planned businesses that rely on the existing rules.

If a court found violations in procedure, the rules would be sent back to the
FCC, which could then go through the proper process and pass them again. But
a delay could buy the industry time in the hope of changes to the FCC if a
different party got control of the White House.

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