Singapore based SingTel Group has reported that its total mobile customer base grew 13 percent or 50.7 million from a year ago to reach 434 million as at 31 December 2011.
Subsidiaries
Indonesia's Telkomsel's mobile customer base increased 14 percent or 13 million from a year ago to 107 million. Telkomsel continued to enhance its network, deploying around 1,600 base stations in the quarter.
Source: By Ian Mansfield on 11th February 2012.
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Wednesday, 15 February 2012
South Africa - Savvy SA schools SMS
SMS has been widely used in school to make sure parents are alerted of what is happening on their children.
A Cape Town mom is more than a little displeased with her children's primary school. During the recent heat wave in the Western Cape, the school cancelled athletics practice due to the extreme temperatures. The teachers went home and children, under the age of 13, had to wait alone outside the school in the heat until their parents picked them up at the time the sports practice was meant to end. The school had no way to alert the parents of the change of plans when they decided to cancel athletics at the last minute.
This unsafe situation for the children could easily have been avoided had the school implemented an SMS notification system, says Pieter Streicher, BulkSMS.com managing director. This is an excellent example of where SMS comes to the fore: it allows the sender to quickly reach a large number of people wherever they are, quickly and cost-effectively.
In addition, SMSes are typically read as soon as they are received, ensuring the message gets across timeously. Around the world, schools regularly use SMS to alert parents about snow days, preventing them from taking dangerous journeys to drop their children off at school, only to find it is closed. Closer to home, the devastating floods South Africa experiences creates a similar scenario: parents and children can be saved from a potentially dangerous trip past high waters and on flood-damaged roads.
It's not only bulk communications where SMS is useful for schools. Teachers can alert parents very quickly if their child hasn't arrived at school, either because they are absent, or because they have had an accident, fallen ill, or any number of other things that may have happened to them on their way to school.
Another way schools are using SMS is to ensure important messages, such as meeting notifications or concerns over their child's behaviour, are sent directly to the parent and don't risk being intercepted or lost by the child.
Schools are given the ability to send SMSes to a group of people at once via a bulk SMS provider. This makes sending SMSes as easy as sending e-mails – using a computer, non-technical admin staff or teachers can access address books, set up lists to target specific parents, and send either a single SMS to one parent or a group SMS to the entire school community.
Before choosing a bulk SMS provider, schools should estimate the number of SMSes they will send in the year, based on the number of children at the school, activities planned, how they expect to use SMS and also factor in unforeseen events, such as the Cape heat wave. They should look at which current communications can be replaced by SMS, and which can be supported by it: for instance, the school might e-mail out a calendar of events for the term in advance, but any changes to this can be SMSed at the last minute.
Planned correctly, SMS communications will also save schools on printing, copying and telephone costs, as well as the human costs related to contacting parents in such a labour-intensive way.
Of the several hundred schools using BulkSMS.com to send their messages, only a handful of schools spend more than R6 000 per year on sending messages. Schools should bear this in mind as a benchmark when deciding between pay-as-you-go service providers versus paying a fixed cost for an unlimited number of SMSes – which often ends up being up to four times more expensive.
Finally, schools have a duty to teach their learners more than just what is between the pages of text books, and with technology such a pervasive part of our lives, this is an excellent demonstration of efficient and cost-effective communications, using the right tools for the message. In our Cape Town mom's case, this would have meant her primary school children were picked up safely from school at the right time, rather than left to their own devices in the blazing heat.
Source: By itweb on 7th February 2012
A Cape Town mom is more than a little displeased with her children's primary school. During the recent heat wave in the Western Cape, the school cancelled athletics practice due to the extreme temperatures. The teachers went home and children, under the age of 13, had to wait alone outside the school in the heat until their parents picked them up at the time the sports practice was meant to end. The school had no way to alert the parents of the change of plans when they decided to cancel athletics at the last minute.
This unsafe situation for the children could easily have been avoided had the school implemented an SMS notification system, says Pieter Streicher, BulkSMS.com managing director. This is an excellent example of where SMS comes to the fore: it allows the sender to quickly reach a large number of people wherever they are, quickly and cost-effectively.
In addition, SMSes are typically read as soon as they are received, ensuring the message gets across timeously. Around the world, schools regularly use SMS to alert parents about snow days, preventing them from taking dangerous journeys to drop their children off at school, only to find it is closed. Closer to home, the devastating floods South Africa experiences creates a similar scenario: parents and children can be saved from a potentially dangerous trip past high waters and on flood-damaged roads.
It's not only bulk communications where SMS is useful for schools. Teachers can alert parents very quickly if their child hasn't arrived at school, either because they are absent, or because they have had an accident, fallen ill, or any number of other things that may have happened to them on their way to school.
Another way schools are using SMS is to ensure important messages, such as meeting notifications or concerns over their child's behaviour, are sent directly to the parent and don't risk being intercepted or lost by the child.
Schools are given the ability to send SMSes to a group of people at once via a bulk SMS provider. This makes sending SMSes as easy as sending e-mails – using a computer, non-technical admin staff or teachers can access address books, set up lists to target specific parents, and send either a single SMS to one parent or a group SMS to the entire school community.
Before choosing a bulk SMS provider, schools should estimate the number of SMSes they will send in the year, based on the number of children at the school, activities planned, how they expect to use SMS and also factor in unforeseen events, such as the Cape heat wave. They should look at which current communications can be replaced by SMS, and which can be supported by it: for instance, the school might e-mail out a calendar of events for the term in advance, but any changes to this can be SMSed at the last minute.
Planned correctly, SMS communications will also save schools on printing, copying and telephone costs, as well as the human costs related to contacting parents in such a labour-intensive way.
Of the several hundred schools using BulkSMS.com to send their messages, only a handful of schools spend more than R6 000 per year on sending messages. Schools should bear this in mind as a benchmark when deciding between pay-as-you-go service providers versus paying a fixed cost for an unlimited number of SMSes – which often ends up being up to four times more expensive.
Finally, schools have a duty to teach their learners more than just what is between the pages of text books, and with technology such a pervasive part of our lives, this is an excellent demonstration of efficient and cost-effective communications, using the right tools for the message. In our Cape Town mom's case, this would have meant her primary school children were picked up safely from school at the right time, rather than left to their own devices in the blazing heat.
Source: By itweb on 7th February 2012
Pakistan - PTA needs to Stop SMS Spamming
Daily, many mobile phone users in Pakistan receive promotional messages from different sources. Their inbox is constantly flooded with such messages and they don’t have an option to stop receiving these messages. These promotional messages are an addition to the fraudulent text messages and calls the users receive. The telecom sector is one of the most profitable sectors in Pakistan. Despite this, cellular companies and Pakistan Telecommunication Authority (PTA) has not done anything substantial to solve this problem.
The first cellular company in Pakistan was launched in 1995. The real boom in the cellular sector came in 2004-05 when the trend of owning a mobile phone became a must for every citizen. Availability of low cost mobiles and service provider SIM’s made it possible for every section of the society to own a mobile phone. Since then there has been a steady growth in the number of cell phone users. Today according to PTA statistics over 62 percent of Pakistani citizens use cell phones as it is a cheap and convenient way of communication, specially the short messaging service (SMS). All these benefits although, have brought in some demerits as well which still haunt cell phone users. Criminals have begun to deceive people by the use of fake calls and SMS. Many simple persons have fallen victim to their evil traps and have suffered monetary losses. PTA and network providers have only delivered public service messages and not carry out any practical steps to stop and apprehend such criminals.
Today there is an increase in marketing through the short messaging service (SMS). People are often sent messages which they don’t want to receive. This is known as Spam. Since everyone has a cell phone, SMS marketing has become a very cheap and effective method of marketing for many businesses. Software’s are available in the market which can be used to send thousands of text messages for a few hundred rupees in a couple of seconds. This sort of marketing is much cheaper than placing ads in newspapers or TV channels. Receivers of such messages don’t have a choice of not receiving such messages and this has become a very serious problem. Similarly phone calls are made at random to promote a particular product.
Many private educational institutes in Lahore use SMS spamming to promote the release of their new batches. They send the messages to all the numbers they are able to retrieve from different databases. Quite often users give their cell numbers to websites and at education expos and other programs. Somehow these lists containing thousands of cell phone numbers of potential customers reach the hands of spammers. PTA started a service through which users can report SMS spamming by sending a SMS at 9000 with certain details. This service doesn’t seem to work and is quite complicated. You can keep trying but are to end up with an error message each time.
PTA needs to stop SMS spamming. They need to develop a mechanism through which users can easily report and prompt action can be taken immediately. Now PTA has started allotting names instead of numbers through which SMS are sent. Mostly these names are used for spamming and thus PTA should ensure that these are not used for spamming before allotting a name to someone. Cellular companies should also develop their systems to detect the spammers and block their connections. Similarly governments should ensure the privacy of the users so that the spammers don’t get bulk of numbers to whom they can send their promotional messages.
Annually PTA and cellular companies earn millions of dollars from cell phone users in Pakistan. They ought to take care of their users and should not leave them at the mercy of spammers who don’t have any morality to stop doing so themselves. Cell phone users especially the youth need to be vocal about this issue and should raise their voices about this on the social media forum. In Pakistan the government will only take action when citizens build up pressure against it. Media should also take notice of the issue and urge the PTA to stop SMS spamming.
Source: By blogs.thenews on 7th February 2012
The first cellular company in Pakistan was launched in 1995. The real boom in the cellular sector came in 2004-05 when the trend of owning a mobile phone became a must for every citizen. Availability of low cost mobiles and service provider SIM’s made it possible for every section of the society to own a mobile phone. Since then there has been a steady growth in the number of cell phone users. Today according to PTA statistics over 62 percent of Pakistani citizens use cell phones as it is a cheap and convenient way of communication, specially the short messaging service (SMS). All these benefits although, have brought in some demerits as well which still haunt cell phone users. Criminals have begun to deceive people by the use of fake calls and SMS. Many simple persons have fallen victim to their evil traps and have suffered monetary losses. PTA and network providers have only delivered public service messages and not carry out any practical steps to stop and apprehend such criminals.
Today there is an increase in marketing through the short messaging service (SMS). People are often sent messages which they don’t want to receive. This is known as Spam. Since everyone has a cell phone, SMS marketing has become a very cheap and effective method of marketing for many businesses. Software’s are available in the market which can be used to send thousands of text messages for a few hundred rupees in a couple of seconds. This sort of marketing is much cheaper than placing ads in newspapers or TV channels. Receivers of such messages don’t have a choice of not receiving such messages and this has become a very serious problem. Similarly phone calls are made at random to promote a particular product.
Many private educational institutes in Lahore use SMS spamming to promote the release of their new batches. They send the messages to all the numbers they are able to retrieve from different databases. Quite often users give their cell numbers to websites and at education expos and other programs. Somehow these lists containing thousands of cell phone numbers of potential customers reach the hands of spammers. PTA started a service through which users can report SMS spamming by sending a SMS at 9000 with certain details. This service doesn’t seem to work and is quite complicated. You can keep trying but are to end up with an error message each time.
PTA needs to stop SMS spamming. They need to develop a mechanism through which users can easily report and prompt action can be taken immediately. Now PTA has started allotting names instead of numbers through which SMS are sent. Mostly these names are used for spamming and thus PTA should ensure that these are not used for spamming before allotting a name to someone. Cellular companies should also develop their systems to detect the spammers and block their connections. Similarly governments should ensure the privacy of the users so that the spammers don’t get bulk of numbers to whom they can send their promotional messages.
Annually PTA and cellular companies earn millions of dollars from cell phone users in Pakistan. They ought to take care of their users and should not leave them at the mercy of spammers who don’t have any morality to stop doing so themselves. Cell phone users especially the youth need to be vocal about this issue and should raise their voices about this on the social media forum. In Pakistan the government will only take action when citizens build up pressure against it. Media should also take notice of the issue and urge the PTA to stop SMS spamming.
Source: By blogs.thenews on 7th February 2012
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