Narmadi.com

Gallagher says by refusing to pay the money for decent wages and conditions Telecom is draining the country of people needed to keep telecommunication running. Meanwhile, Telecom should know where it stands on its operational separation by the end of the month.

Late last month, Communications Minister David Cunliffe rejected an amended plan from the company. He wanted guarantees the wholesale business unit wouldn’t favour the split retail unit over other customers.

Cunliffe has now received a revised separation plan from Telecom which he is reviewing. He says he will announce a decision next Monday. Info : tvnz.co.nz

Nuh explained three methods to close negative-content sites. First, dissemination to the public and also giving away software to block the sites. Second, block the network with direct international connection through special software. The network will only be connected to a network inside the country. “If it does not work, there will be a third method, which is blocking directly from central sites that we consider unsecured.”

According to the Director of Software and Information Systems, Loly Amalia, the guideline to block sexual and violence sites plans to be finished in April – May. This guideline will be established as a ministerial regulation.

The main consideration for this policy is the possibility of a bad influence on children. “Children now are the main target of pedophilia through the internet,” she said to Tempo yesterday. Another kind of site that will be blocked is a violence site. For example a site that teaches how to make a bomb. “Cruel and violent sites, especially those that have a potential to harm the nation, must be watched.”

In the beginning, the internet content was only limited by ethics. Now the government makes a firm move. Loly said the mechanism of this limitation will be executed through the observation phase where there will be a verification for violation, warning, and blocking. Special teams will be established to watch and follow up complaints from the community.

“(The) amendment is most unfair to the industry and we are all greatly discouraged and concerned that the authority is seeking to impose penalties on service providers for the unsolicited commercial calls made by telemarketing agencies over whom the service providers have little or no control,” the operators said in a letter to TRAI chairman Nripendra Misra.

The letter has been written by leading cellular bodies – Cellular Operators Association of India (COAI) and Association of Unified Telecom Service Providers of India – representing mobile operators offering services under both GSM and CDMA technologies.

“It is this poor compliance by the telemarketers and their concerned institutions that needs to be urgently addressed to protect the consumers not demotivate the service providers through penalties for actions for which they are not responsible,” the operators complained.

The COAI and AUSPI said the service providers have no method to verify whether a particular telemarketer has checked the numbers in the registry before making such calls or SMS.

“The entire industry is completely discouraged by this regulation since we have all been going out of our way and making all possible efforts to put in systems so as to enable the authority’s UCC regulation to be effective.

“We also respectfully urge that suitably powerful actions be directed by the authority at the real sources of the problem, i.e. the errant telemarketers and their customer-institutions, so as to effectively protect our customers and end-users,” it said.

According to the proposed new rules, an operator will be charged Rs.5,000 for the first unwarranted telemarketing call or SMS made to a subscriber, who is registered with the National Do Not Call (NDNC) Registry.

The operator would be charged Rs.20,000 for every subsequent call.

In October last year, TRAI had set up the NDNC Registry where subscribers who do not wish to be called could log in their numbers for the telemarketers to see and not call them.

Till date, about 13,600 telemarketers have got themselves registered with the Department of Telecommunication against an estimated 75,000, the letter noted.

However, while an amicable solution to the problem seems unlikely in the coming months, it is once again the consumers who stand to lose. Info:www.thaindian.com

TRAI has amended the Telecom Unsolicited Commercial Communications (UCC) (Amendment) Regulations, 2008, under which if any telecom service provider does not comply with provisions of the Regulations he would be fined up to Rs 5,000 for the first instance and not more than Rs 20,000 for every subsequent instance, TRAI said in a statement.

It will also levi a tariff of Rs 500 on the registered telemarketer for the first unsolicited call and Rs 1,000 for the second or any subsequent unsolicited call.

To discourage the registered telemarketers from sending Unsolicited Commercial Communications, the Telecommunication Tariff Order, 1999 is also being amended simultaneously by the TTO (Forty- seventh Amendment). So that Rs 500 would be payable as tariff for every first unsolicited commercial communication and Rs 1000 for every subsequent unsolicited commercial communication, it said.

The objective is to increase the effectiveness of compliance of these regulations by providing financial disincentive to non-compliant Telecom Service Providers and thereby reducing the nuisance and inconvenience to the subscribers from the unsolicited tele-marketing calls/ messages,” it added.

This regulation would come into force from the date of its publication in the gazette notification, TRAI said.

Speeds from 50 miles per hour down to 35 m.p.h. will be in effect as soon as the ordinance is published and signs are posted. Council member Neil Rud said, “this is a good first step but not the last step” toward a safer highway. During a public hearing, city engineer Dan Boggs discussed the process for digging two new wells, numbers nine and 10, in Elliott Athletic Complex on the city’s north side. Boggs said the wells would most likely be dug one at a time, and will be 350 feet deep or more, hopefully with a 300-gallon per minute capacity.

The city will not drill a test well, Boggs said, because generally, “you drill a hole in the ground, you hit water in this area.”

City administrator Mike Beimer added that the last time the city dug a test well, in Prairie Park in 1991, the water was very good, but the real well dug subsequently had contaminants including sand. The council approved the plans, specifications and form of contract requested by Boggs. Bids for the project, estimated by Boggs at about $310,750, must be turned in by March 28; The council will consider awarding a bid April 7 at their regular meeting, and work should be completed, Boggs said, by July 25.

In a related matter, the council held a second public hearing and subsequent first reading of an ordinance pertaining to wellhead protection. An ordinance is already in place; however, new language will bring it into compliance with state code, Beimer said.

The purpose of wellhead protection ordinances is to keep the city’s water supply safe by requiring a certain distance between the wellhead and surrounding land uses that might have harmful consequences. New language proposed by city attorney Bob Hatala and approved by the council also clarifies that the city’s designated wellhead protection officer is the water superintendent. City employee Galen Mehmen will fill that role.

Two new appointments and the appointment process itself were discussed Monday. Residents Kirk Baruth and Paul Robinson were appointed to the Mount Vernon Historic Preservation Commission, which now has no vacancies. The city’s parks and rec board has one.

A divided council did an about face regarding appointments to the board of adjustment. During a recent meeting, the council passed the first reading of an ordinance that eliminated the mayor’s power to make appointments to the board, granting it to the council.

Council member Scott Peterson argued in opposition, and asked the city attorney to draft an alternate ordinance, which Hatala said Monday he had done. Peterson said the process for appointments would be more rapid using this method, allowing the council to focus on bigger issues.

On Monday, the council reversed its earlier decision, voting 4 to 1, with Diane Hoffmann dissenting, to give the power of appointment to the mayor, subject to council approval. She said that with the mayor’s appointment power, “an agenda can be pursued.”

Two more readings are required by law for the ordinance to take effect.

In other business Monday, the council:

• Heard from representatives from U.S. Cellular who spoke Monday, asking the council to approve the go ahead for negotiations for a lease to place three directional antennae on the city’s water tower. They would be located under the bowl, as there are already several antennae atop the tower, and, though there is space, company representative Tim Lynch said engineering aspects regarding placing antennae too close to each other are at issue. The council agreed to have city representatives Beimer, Boggs and Hatala negotiate with the telecommunications company.
• Heard from city administrator Beimer that the next two to three months is a good time to sell revenue bonds, as interest rates drop. The bonds would be for upcoming sewer and water projects, and repayment is based on the city’s revenues in the sewer and water utilities. Beimer added the council will need to consider raising sewer and water rates, whether or not bonds are sold.