New global cell phone standard introduced
By Moses John,
Dar es Salaam
INTERNATIONAL Telecommunication Union’s new standard has been approved that will ensure worldwide compatibility, international roaming and access to high-speed data services, for third-generation IMT-2000 mobile phone systems.
Recommendation ITU-R M.1850 identifies satellite radio interface specifications for IMT-2000 systems, which, by means of one or more radio links, provide access to a wide range of telecommunication services.
ITU Secretary-General Hamadoun Touré praised the timely endeavour of the ITU membership, as well as government and industrial experts, in developing these new standards.
He noted that these advances will facilitate ITU’s concerted effort to promote broadband access for rural and remote areas around the world.
Updates and enhancements to the satellite radio interfaces incorporated in the M.1850 Recommendation are compatible with the original goals and objectives of IMT-2000, while acknowledging the changing requirements of the global marketplace.
Even as the satellite component of IMT-2000 continues to evolve independently, work is already in progress to develop the satellite radio interfaces for IMT-Advanced.
IMT-Advanced provides a global platform on which to build the next-generations of interactive mobile services that will provide faster data access, unified messaging and broadband multimedia.
The satellite component of IMT-Advanced will be designed to cope with increasing demands from the rising number of users, in terms of peak bit rate and aggregate throughput, and will have greater flexibility to simultaneously support many different types of services.
ITU Secretary-General Touré in a speech last week in Bangladesh said that with over 50 million mobile cellular subscriptions the country is clearly one of the world’s major mobile markets. And there is still tremendous potential for growth, with mobile cellular penetration of around 30 percent countrywide at the end of 2009, compared to an average of over 50 percent in developing countries as a whole.
He said Bangladesh also has a long way to go in getting its people online, with one of the lowest internet penetration rates in the world. Broadband access is unaffordable to the majority of the population, and as a result broadband is virtually non-existent in Bangladesh today.
“I am an optimist, as many of you know, and so I see this not as a problem but as one of the most extraordinary opportunities Bangladesh has ever had, the opportunity to leap forward and embrace the internet age, and to become a fully-fledged member of the knowledge society. I am confident that this will be a most remarkable decade for ICTs in Bangladesh”.
“Because Bangladesh’s telecoms regulator, BTRC here with us today, just announced in January that guidelines for 3G licensing will be complete by June, ahead of an open auction for at least four UMTS network operating concessions by the end of the year”, he said.
According to Touré, there is huge market potential in Bangladesh, and some of the world’s biggest mobile operators have already expressed a serious interest in the UMTS licences being auctioned.
He said this is hardly surprising. “I was in Barcelona just a couple of weeks ago for the Mobile World Congress, and it was abundantly clear there that mobile broadband is the future” he added.
A country like Bangladesh, with limited fixed-line infrastructure, stands to reap the real benefits of the mobile broadband revolution. He said he is optimistic that this will happen, and that the government and the agencies relevant to ICT there will do everything in their power to meet the commitments to creating ‘Digital Bangladesh’ by 2021, which will mark the 50th anniversary of Bangladesh’s independence.
ADB primed to issue green bond
By Damas Makangale
Dar es Salaam
AS the economic growth in African is expected to grow to 6.5 percent next year, as the global financial crisis abates and demand for commodities grows, the African Development Bank (ADB) launched its inaugural clean energy bond this week.
A press statement issued recently by ADB said that the bond, denominated in New Zealand dollars, will be offered to Japanese retail investors during the months of March.
The statement added that the issuance is arranged by Mizuho International plc and will be distributed by Mizuho Securities Company Ltd.
It further noted in Africa, access to energy is critical for reducing poverty, and making the continent more competitive.
In addition, climate change and energy security are major concerns at the ADB and as a result, the bank has established a clean energy for development investment framework.
The framework underscores its increased support towards clean energy projects, and is a first step in addressing the need for greater energy access while considering the opportunities of shifting energy investments to favor low-carbon development paths.
The African Development Bank supports its African member countries efforts towards clean energy in three specific ways.
It encourages countries to mainstream clean energy options into national development plans and energy planning.
In addition, the bank promotes investment in clean energy, including wind-power, hydropower and thermal power, smoke-free stoves, low-light technologies, and extending, improving and subsidizing and connecting national power grids.
On top of that, the bank is working to boost energy access in Africa by using the huge energy potential of the continent and by addressing the need for a low-carbon economy.
This maiden AfDB clean energy bond will offer investors the opportunity to participate in clean energy solutions through a highly rated institution. The net proceeds of the issue will, on a best efforts basis, be used to finance a portfolio of clean energy projects. The African Development Bank is a multilateral development Bank established to help reduce poverty, improve living conditions for Africans and mobilizes resources for the continent’s economic and social development.
The bank is owned by all the 53 countries of Africa and 24 countries across Europe, North and South America, the Middle East and Asia (including Japan).
Global crisis no excuse for MKUKUTA’s impotence
By Damas Makangale ,
Dar es Salaam
TANZANIA anti-poverty economic vehicle MKUKUTA has not being affected at all by the global financial crisis and that should not amount to a pretext for its poor delivery, it has been revealed.
The clarification came from an economist following the recent statement by the International Monetary Fund director general, Dominique Strauss-Kahn, that most African countries should restructure their development policy programmes to cope with recession.
Kahn, who was in his second leg visit in Nairobi, said development policies in most African countries were hit by the global financial crisis, and there was need to rebuild the shaken economic foundations.
He said that the aim of development policy is to alleviate poverty and promote economic growth.
He further said most of African countries depends on donors contributions for their development plans.
Kahn noted that most developed countries were affected by the recession, thus leading to their reducing or cut off their contributions.
But on Tuesday, Dr Oswald Mashindano, an economist at the University of Dar es Salaam, told The Express Tanzania has not being affected by recession because its financial format is not directly connected to the world financial system.
Speaking in a telephone interview, the senior research fellow at The Hill said recession had not hit the anti-poverty development programme Mkukuta , because by its nature the economic vehicle depends much on domestic resources.
Dr Mashindano said Tanzania should strive to increase her economic growth rate in order to make significant impact in the general welfare of the people.
He said the current average rate of economic growth was enough to make substantial impact to the country’s economic progress
Dr Mashindano pointed out that in reality, MKUKUTA has been much affected by embezzlement of public funds through scandalous schemes like the Richmond saga that cost taxpayers billions of money.
He said for Tanzania to achieve her Millennium Development Goals will largely depend on how the country institutes and adheres to strict fiscal discipline.
School children receive a Leg-up from NBC
By Moses John ,
Dar es Salaam
THE National Bank of Commerce‘s Tegeta branch has donated school materials valued at TZS 2.500,000 to Ununio primary school, under the NBC Colleagues Initiative, which is the bank’s ongoing CSR programme. Speaking during the handover ceremony, NBC Tegeta Branch Manager Jasson Shumbusho said it is important that students be provided with the adequate resources for learning.
“It is a key point that students are provided with proper resources for their education. We are all aware that there are severe shortages of materials in our schools which often results in our children performing below standard, now it is time that we work together as parents, teachers and neighbors to make an effort to provide some of these necessary resources so that our children can learn under better conditions.”
“We cannot solve all the problems but if we make a joint effort, we can make a significant impact for the better. We at NBC have opened the doors, and it is our sincere hope that others will follow our lead and contribute towards bettering education in our country,” said Shumbusho.
Speaking on behalf of the school, Ununio’s head teacher, Maziku, thanked NBC for the donation, for he said this gift will help the students to pursue education adequately with the materials being present.
“I thank NBC for taking note of our plight and coming to assist us. We are grateful for these desks which will ensure that our students can study with a bit more comfort, without having to scramble to get a good seat in the class or sit on the floor. It is our hope that others have seen your gesture and are also seeking ways to help us and other schools, in one way or another,” said Maziku.
Under the NBC Colleagues Initiative each bank branch and directorate is allocated the amount of 2.5 million shillings to donate to any educational project that impacts the lives of many.
This corporate social responsibility program aims at improving the quality of education in schools countrywide. NBC has spent over 220 million shillings towards education initiatives to help schools in the communities that the bank serves.
NBC has 56 branches and three business centre, 173 Visa enabled ATMs, and 393 Points of Sales strategically located throughout the country. NBC employs over 1400 staff.
Producing degradable plastic only disposal solution
By Moses John ,
Dar es Salaam
WHILE dilly-dallies on implementing the use of decomposed plastics, a new reports reveals that normal plastics including plastic bags, cigarette butts and discarded fishing gear are doing great harm to oceans and beaches of the world.
The report, released by United Nation Environment Programme (UNEP), said the first-ever attempt to take stock of the marine litter situation in the 12 major regional seas around the world, was launched on World Oceans Day by, the UNEP and Ocean Conservancy.
Achim Steiner, UN Under-Secretary-General and UNEP Executive Director, said "Marine litter is symptomatic of a wider malaise: namely the wasteful use and persistent poor management of natural resources. The plastic bags, bottles and other debris piling up in the oceans and seas could be dramatically reduced by improved waste reduction, waste management and recycling initiatives".
"Some of the litter, like thin film single use plastic bags which choke marine life, should be banned or phased-out rapidly everywhere-there is simply zero justification for manufacturing them anymore, anywhere. Other waste can be cut by boosting public awareness, and proposing an array of economic incentives and smart market mechanisms that tip the balance in favor of recycling, reducing or re-use rather than dumping into the sea," he said.
The report's findings indicated that despite several international, regional and national efforts to reverse marine pollution, alarming quantities of rubbish thrown out to sea continue to endanger people's safety and health, entrap wildlife, damage nautical equipment and deface coastal areas around the world.
Solid waste in Tanzania, particularly plastics that cannot decompose, has recently come to the spotlight as an environmental hazard with no solution for its disposal. At various times, suggestions have been made for Tanzania to produce degradable plastic materials.
However, the few private companies that ventured into producing degradable plastics, like Bin Fijja Company ltd in Dar es Salaam , say there were still facing obstacles from government institutions authorized to release the licenses.
Due to the growing need for packaging, plastic packaging cannot be avoided, with most products packed in plastic bags and containers, leading to the big question of how to dispose of the resulting millions of cubic metres of plastic waste litred across the country.
Burning them would cause pollution, burying them would have even more serious consequences of blocking water from the ground: hence the only possible solution is to collect the used plastic containers and bags and recycle them.
This process is beneficial in many ways: it creates employment, eliminates pollution and allows the plastic wastes to be converted into other products different from the original products, but still others are at the every corner.
From the UNEP report Philippe Cousteau, CEO of Earth Echo International and Ocean Conservancy board member says: "This report is a reminder that carelessness and indifference is proving deadly for our oceans and its inhabitants. Offered here are more than mere facts and figures.
The time for action is now, and true change will require taking a bold and courageous stand. There are solutions that everyone, everywhere in the world, can adopt to make a positive difference for our water planet."
Plastics especially plastic bags and bottles are the most pervasive type of marine litter around the world, accounting for over 80 percent of all rubbish collected in several of the regional seas assessed.
Plastic debris is accumulating in terrestrial and marine environments worldwide, slowly breaking down into tinier and tinier pieces that can be consumed by the smallest marine life at the base of the food web. Plastics collect toxic compounds that they can get into the bodies of organisms that eat the plastic. Global plastic production is now estimated at 225 million tons per year.
Plastics can be mistaken as food by numerous animals, including marine mammals, birds, fish and turtles. Sea turtles in particular may confuse floating plastic bags with jellyfish, one of their favorite treats.
A five-year survey of fulmars found in the North Sea region found that 95 percent of these seabirds contained plastic in their stomachs. Studies of the Northeast Atlantic plankton have found plastic in samples dating back to the 1960s, with a significant increase in abundance in time.
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