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EDITORS

Rohan Samarajiva, Ph.D. is Executive Director of LIRNEasia. His hands-on experience in telecom regulation and reform included a stint as Team Leader at the Ministry for Economic Reform, Science and Technology (2002–2004), responsible for infrastructure reforms and as Director General of Telecommunications in Sri Lanka (1998–1999). He participated in the design of the e Sri Lanka Initiative and was a founder director of the ICT Agency of Sri Lanka (2003–2005). He currently serves as Senior Advisor to the Networking Grassroot Movement of Sarvodaya (Sri Lanka's leading community based organization) and on the ICT Subcommittee of the Ceylon Chamber of Commerce and has previously served as Chair of the Lanka Software Foundation. He is also Policy Advisor to the Ministry of Posts and Telecom, Bangladesh. He serves as a visiting faculty member at the TERI University in New Delhi and on the editorial boards of seven academic journals and he also writes an online business column. He is a founder director of Communication Policy Research south (CPRsouth). He was an Associate Professor of Communication and Public Policy at the Ohio State University in 1987–2000 and Visiting Professor of Economics of Infrastructures at the Delft University of Technology in 2000–2003.

Ayesha Zainudeen is a senior researcher at LIRNEasia. Her research focus is on understanding ICT needs of as well as improving ICT access for the marginal user. Since 2005 she has managed the Teleuse at the Bottom of the Pyramid (Teleuse@BOP) studies, playing a critical role in all aspects, from study design to analysis and dissemination of results. She was also involved in research into the replicability of Grameenphone's micro-finance approach to extending rural connectivity in Bangladesh, as well as the development of a concept paper which set out the institutional requirements for an effective disaster warning system for Sri Lanka, in the aftermath of the Indian Ocean Tsunami of 2004. Previously, Ayesha engaged in research assistance on infrastructural reform projects at the Ministry for Economic Reform, Science and Technology of Sri Lanka, as well as social research at the A.C.S. Hameed Peace Foundation. She holds a Bachelors degree in Economics from the London School of Economics.

CONTRIBUTORS

Harsha de Silva is a development economist focusing on infrastructure policy, particularly ICT policy in the emerging Asia-Pacific. Besides policy, Harsha has been involved in designing and developing some of Sri Lanka's unique ICT for development projects in the recent past. He co-founded and built what is today Sri Lanka's largest market and media research agency, AC Nielsen Lanka, and also has served at a senior management position at DFCC Bank. As LIRNEasia's Lead Economist, he is involved in measuring ICT sector and regulatory performance as well as a study of telecom use at the 'bottom of the pyramid' in emerging Asia. He has previously taught economics of infrastructure at the University of Moratuwa, Sri Lanka and consults with the ADB and USAID on economics of rural infrastructure. Harsha hosts a popular weekly television show on economics and business in Sri Lanka. Harsha holds a Ph.D. in Economics from the University of Missouri, Columbia.

Divakar Goswami, formerly Director of Organizational Development and Projects at LIRNEasia, is an expert on telecom regulatory reforms in Indonesia. While at LIRNEasia, he was a strong advocate for more far-reaching reforms of the Indonesian telecom sector, and led two research studies on the country. His research interests focus on access regimes for telecom infrastructure bottlenecks like international gateways and backbones. Between 2004 and 2007, he managed ICT research projects and conducted other ICT policy-relevant research for the Asia-Pacific region, including a study to assess capacity for ICT policy and regulation in the Pacific Island countries. A native of Pondicherry (India), Divakar has studied, worked and lived in the United States, the Netherlands, and Sri Lanka. He is an avid photographer, traveler, and diver. Divakar recently moved back to India to take up a position in an international consulting firm.

Mariam Hameed is a freelance writer. She was involved in a study of telecom use at the 'bottom of the pyramid' in 2005 in the post-conflict Jaffna district of Sri Lanka. She previously worked on the Distance Education for Public Servants (DEPS) project in Sri Lanka, as a researcher and assistant editor. The project was financed by NORAD under an agreement with the Government of Sri Lanka, and catered to the training requirements of over 4,000 Executive Grade Officers of the Sri Lanka Public Service, located in various parts of the country. She has also lectured in Contract Law at the South Asia College for Higher Education (SACHE), Sri Lanka, on the University of London External LLB program. She has also taught English Language and Literature at the Colombo International School in Sri Lanka. She holds an LLB (Hons.) and LLM, specializing in International Business Law from the School of Oriental and African Studies, University of London.

Mahinda B. Herath is the General Manager of Regulatory Affairs at Sri Lanka Telecom. Previously, he served as General Manager of International Business. He is a telecommunications specialist, well experienced in technical, managerial, and business development activities and also an accomplished regulatory professional. He has also been involved in the activities of ITU study groups and the Sri Lanka Association for the Advancement of Science, with several research and study papers to his credit. Mahinda is a Chartered Engineer and holds a degree in Engineering from the University of Moratuwa, Sri Lanka and a Masters in Industrial Mathematics from the University of Sri Jayawardenepura, Sri Lanka.

Tahani Iqbal began her work at LIRNEasia as a researcher on a study of telecom use at the 'bottom of the pyramid' in 2005, focusing on gender patterns. She currently manages CPRsouth, LIRNEasia's capacity and field-building program to develop an Asia-Pacific knowledge network on ICT policy regulation, and is also involved in developing price and affordability indicators for the ICT sector. Tahani holds a Bachelors degree in Economics and Management from the London School of Economics (External).

Malathy Knight-John is a Research Fellow and Head of Industry, Public Enterprise Reform and Regulatory Policy research at the Institute of Policy Studies (Colombo). She has written extensively in these areas both locally and internationally and has also contributed directly to national economic policy by producing policy briefs and serving on various committees appointed by the government. She has been involved in several research projects at LIRNEasia, including the Sri Lanka country study in a six-country study which attempts to measure ICT sector and regulatory performance in emerging Asia. She also co-authored a concept paper which set out the institutional requirements for an effective disaster warning system for Sri Lanka, in the aftermath of the Indian Ocean Tsunami of 2004. She is currently reading for a Ph.D. at the Institute of Development Policy and Management (IDPM), University of Manchester, focusing on the political economy of telecommunications reform and regulation in Sri Lanka.

Payal Malik is a Reader in Economics at Delhi University. She received her M.Phil., and MA in Economics from the Delhi School of Economics, University of Delhi. She also has an MBA from the University of Cincinnati, Ohio. Her research and consulting interests have focused on the infrastructure sector, where she has undertaken extensive policy based research on the issues of market structure and regulatory design for sectors like power, telecommunication, and water. She has been a consultant at the National Council of Applied Economic Research (NCAER), New Delhi since 1997. Payal has also been a Senior Fellow at LIRNEasia since 2004. She has written extensively on the economic problems of network industries both in popular press and professional journals. She has presented her research on ICT and Infrastructure regulation and policy at various domestic and international forums

Visoot Phongsathorn is the Deputy Director of the Thai-German Programme for Enterprise Competitiveness's Business and Financial Services Component. The Programme is a technical cooperation between the Royal Thai Government and the government of the Federal Republic of Germany. The Programme is implemented by GTZ and a number of Thai partners, both in the public and the private sectors. The Programme's aim is to improve the competitiveness and eco-efficiency of selected supply chains with within the Thai agro-industry by focusing on improving service markets and framework conditions serving the supply chains. Visoot joined GTZ in 2002 on a public utilities reform project after having spent two years as an independent consultant for the Thai Ministry of Finance. Prior to that, he had 16 years experience in the private sector. Visoot holds an MBA and a Bachelor degree in Engineering.

Onno W. Purbo, Ph.D. is a 'self-confessed tech rebel.' A maverick, driven by a plain and simple vision of an Indonesian knowledge-based society, he has established and led a technology movement through which several innovative, alternative low-cost Internet technologies have been introduced and adopted by Indonesian ICT communities, such as Wi-Fi-based Internet Infrastructure and VoIP MaverickNet. Onno has committed much of his time to educating Indonesians on ICTs. He has written thousands of articles, papers, and more than 40 books on Internet technology, mostly in Indonesian language. Onno was awarded a one-year sabbatical by the IDRC of Canada in 2003, during which he was able to widely disseminate his knowledge and hands-on experience on low-cost community infrastructure solutions, as well as provide training across the globe. Onno is former civil servant and retired lecturer, and he was educated in Canada.

Siddhartha Raja is currently a Ph.D. candidate in speech communication at the University of Illinois in Urbana-Champaign. Since 2003, he has been a research assistant at the Public Policy for Advanced Communication Technologies Lab (PACTLab) at Illinois. He has served as a consultant at the Mobile Network division at TRAI and the Secretariat. He has also served as consultant to the Global Information and Communication Technologies department of the World Bank. While he is most interested in understanding the politics of development, specific research interests include infrastructure development, telecommunications policy and regulation, legal anthropology, and the social study of technology. He is a member of the International Communications Association (ICA) and the Union for Democratic Communications (UDC), and the Institute of Electrical and Electronics Engineers (IEEE). He obtained his Bachelor of Engineering degree in electronics and telecommunications engineering at the University of Bombay and his Master of Science degree in management science and engineering from Stanford University, California.

Harsha Vardhana Singh is Deputy Director-General of the World Trade Organization (WTO). Previously he served as Secretary cum Principal Advisor (2001–2005) and Economic Advisor (1997–2001) of the Telecom Regulatory Authority of India (TRAI). During this period, he served as Chair of several WTO dispute settlement panels of the WTO and on various trade advisory committees of the Indian government. He served at the GATT Secretariat in 1989–1997. He is Honorary Professor at the Indian Council for Research on International Economic Relations (ICRIER) and visiting faculty at the TERI University, New Delhi. He has an MA in Economics (Delhi) and an M.Phil. and Ph.D. in Economics (Oxon.).

Rajendra Singh is currently Senior Regulatory Specialist with World Bank's Global Information and Communication Technologies department. Prior to this, he served as Secretary, Advisor (Mobile Network), and head of the Engineering and Administration divisions in TRAI. During his seven years at TRAI, he handled various regulatory issues including rural telecoms development, universal service obligations, spectrum management, unified licensing, interconnection, and quality of service. He has served as a consultant with the ITU and the World Bank, and has been a lecturer or speaker at Columbia University, Tsinghua University, and the Indian Institute of Technology, Delhi. Before joining TRAI in 1999, he worked in the telecom department of the Indian Railway Service for 17 years. He is senior member IEEE, Fellow IET, and Fellow IETE. Rajendra holds an MBA from the University of Delhi, and an M.Tech. and B.Tech. in Electronics and Communication Engineering from IIT Roorkee and IIT Delhi respectively.

Document(s) 20 of 21