#Indonesia - Govt seeks to create ‘travel bubbles’ to help tourism recover

The government is seeking to create “travel bubbles” with China, South Korea, Japan and Australia, which are known for their achievements in handling the COVID-19 outbreak, as the nation enters its so-called new normal period.

The term “travel bubble”, or “travel corridor”, refers to an agreement in which countries succeeding in containing the outbreak open their borders to each other to allow free movement within the bubble.

The Office of the Coordinating Maritime Affairs and Investment Minister’s undersecretary for tourism and the creative economy, Oto Manuhutu, said his office was discussing the matter with the Foreign Ministry as well as the Tourism and Creative Economy Ministry.

“The four countries were chosen because many tourists and foreign investors in Indonesia come from those countries,” Oto said on Friday, as quoted by Antara.

Despite the plan, he added that business-people would probably be the first and only ones to travel to and from those countries in the near future. “Hopefully, tourists will gradually follow to visit [Indonesia] after the investors.”

Oto went on to say that the Foreign Ministry was discussing the requirements for travel bubbles before signing agreements with the four countries.

“The travel bubbles would open two to four weeks after the agreements are signed while taking into consideration health, security and technical aspects,” said Oto.

Experts have said that the government’s move to ease COVID-19 restrictions might worsen conditions, as the country has yet to reach its peak in the epidemiological curve.

Source - TheJakartaPost

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#Singapore has the world's fastest 4G Network

Singapore has the fastest 4G network followed by South Korea and Australia in the Asia-pacific.

Singapore is also the fastest 4G country in the world, according to a report by Open Signal, a UK-based wireless technology company. The report compares 4G performance across 88 countries worldwide.

South Korea is the second fastest network in Asia followed by Australia and New Zealand. In Australia, Vodafone has jumped ahead of Telstra in the 4G speed metric, averaging LTE downloads of 40 Mbps.

Taiwan's operators are quickly joining the global elite in 4G availability and it is the fifth fastest network speed in Asia.  

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 It is followed by Japan and Vietnam at 25.39 and 21.49 mbps respectively.  As per the report Japan 4G network speed is by no means slow, but it is still well away from matching the LTE speeds of the elite countries.

Brunei Darussalam has eighth fastest network in Asia with 17.48 mbps speed. It is followed by Myanmar and Malaysia. Other countries below 15mbps are Sri Lanka, Cambodia and Pakistan. Thailand ranked on the 9th place.

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India fares poorly in the report. Its operators are still focused on growing LTE's reach rather than injecting more speed into their 4G services, according to the report.

According to the report through improved smartphone technology and new spectrum, mobile operators have elevated average 4G speeds first beyond 20 Mbps, then beyond 30 Mbps, and in the last two years, beyond 40 Mbps.

However now the industry seems to have reached a limit to what current technology, spectral bandwidth and mobile economics can support on a nationwide level.

The fastest countries average LTE download speeds have stalled at just over 45 Mbps, as per the report.  Speeds, however, remained stagnant, but that could soon change as the wave of consolidation clears the way for new high-capacity networks".

Source - TheNation 

 

#Laos May Get Free Public WiFi System

Business Korea Magazine reported that the South Korean Ministry of Science and ICT has announced on the 6th of February that the latter’s information and communications technology (ICT) including free public WiFi system construction constitutes this year’s special contribution project of the Asia-Pacific Telecommunity (APT) and collaboration projects will be launched with Laos, Vietnam and Nepal in that framework.

The ministry plans to launch a free public WiFi system construction project in Laos, an augmented reality (AR) tourism content development project in Vietnam, and a digital disaster communication system construction project in Nepal.

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The duration of the special contribution project is from March this year to February or August 2019. The budgets required for the subprojects range from US$30,000 to US$55,000.

Established in 1979, the APT is an international council for telecommunications development in the Asia-Pacific region. The purposes, among others, of the special project include technology transfer to APT member countries and the overseas expansion of South Korean business interests. The project will be based on the ministry’s fund specially allocated for the APT.

Source - Laotian Times

South Korea in run-up to welcome Winter Olympics

As the Pyeongchang 2018 Winter Olympic Games have just one week to go before the opening ceremony, athletes, volunteers and the whole of South Korea are in full swing to welcome the Games. Let's look at some of the preparations for the upcoming Winter Games.

 The Olympic flame is tested in its cauldron during a rehearsal for the upcoming 2018 Pyeongchang Winter Olympic Games in Pyeongchang, South Korea.

 The Olympic Plaza in Pyeongchang, where the opening and closing ceremonies of the Pyeongchang Winter Olympics will be held. 

 The 2018 Pyeongchang Winter Olympics mascot Soohorang, right, and Paralympics mascot Bandabi are pictured in Pyeongchang, South Korea