Weekly news from 18th october

Submitted By: Karan Kapoor

Vodafone to spend $500 m on 3G equipmentVodafone Essar will spend $400 million to $500 million on its

third-generation services electronic equipment before they are launched in the first quarter of 2011,.

The company will fund it through bank loans and by issuing

some new shares to its existing shareholders,

In a highly-competitive Indian telecom market, 3G services are being considered the next revenue generator after regular value- added services. Consumers may take time to adopt data services that would be priced much higher than existing voice tariffs, which have recently seen radical reduction.

Vodafone is likely to be one of the later private players to launch these services. Tata DoCoMo is expected to announce that it will begin offering its high-speed services from the first week of November. State-run telecoms are already providing 3G services in select circles.

Vodafone expects 10% of 2G network users in India to switch or upgrade to 3G in a year, depending on the proliferation of 3G enabled handsets,

IMF reform to start in 2013: Pranab MukherjeeInternational Monetary Fund reform that will see

emerging markets given increased voting rights and board seats will be start in 2013

India would become the IMF's eighth largest member and its share of voting rights would rise to 2.75 per cent.

Europe will give up two of the eight or nine seats it controls at any given time on the IMF's Executive Board, which will continue to have 24 members. 

India may beat China next year: World BankChina’s economy expanded 9.6% in the three months to September, its

slowest pace in 12 months, a day after the World Bank tipped India to outpace the world’s second-largest economy in 2011.

The multilateral lender had pared China’s growth forecast for 2011 to 8.5%, just a shade below its projection of 8.6% for India, catapulting the latter to the top of the growth chart

China’s industrial production also fell from the previous quarter to 13.3%, a report of the National Bureau of Statistics said. However, industrial production rose 16.3% in the nine months to September.

Others also expect India to start growing faster than China, but not so soon. A research report by Morgan Stanley had said India could overtake China’s growth rate by 2013 and expected it to be notably ahead from 2015 onwards.

But China’s main challenge going forward would be to change the structure of the economy, from a export driven to consumption driven economy, wherein it becomes less prone to external shocks in demand

Microsoft launches 'cloud' version of OfficeMicrosoft Corp launched a fully online version of its popular

Office suite of applications on Tuesday as it looks to extend its customer base and beat back rival Google Inc .

The new service, called Office 365, is available as a test from Tuesday in 13 countries, and will be on sale on a subscription basis

Combining some of Microsoft's existing cloud-based services, it will be available through most browsers, including Mozilla's Firefox, Apple's Inc's Safari and Google's Chrome, and can be used on mobile devices

Customers get access to more features when the software is also installed. The move strikes a blow against rival Google, which has had some success with its Google Apps service, which provides a low-cost, Web-based alternative to Microsoft's traditional Office software for $50 per user per year

A fuller "professional" version will cost up to $27 per user per month. Office is one of Microsoft's biggest money-earners, alongside its Windows operating system.

E-voting Indian researcher wins pioneer award in USSan Francisco-based Electronic Frontier

Foundation, a leading civil liberties group, has chosen to confer the 2010 Pioneer Award on Hari Prasad, who was recently released on bail after being jailed for his security work on Electronic Voting Machines.

About Hari ParsadHari Krishna Prasad Vemuru is a security researcher in India who

recently revealed security flaws in India's paperless electronic voting machines.

He has endured jail time, repeated interrogations, and ongoing political harassment to conduct the first independent security review of India's electronic voting system," the Electronic Frontier Foundation (EFF) said in a statement.

EFF's Pioneer Awards recognize leaders who are extending freedom and innovation on the electronic frontier

Three other awardees for the Pioneer award in 2010 are Transparency Activist, Stephen Aftergood, public domain scholar James Boyle; and legal blogger Pamela Jones and the website Groklaw.

"These winners have all worked tirelessly to give critical insight and context to the tough questions that arise in our evolving digital world," said EFF executive director Shari Steele

The award ceremony is scheduled for November 8 in San Francisco. Pioneer Award candidates are nominated by the public and the winners of 2010 were chosen by a panel of eminent judges.

Geithner demands emerging nations strengthen currenciesUS Treasury Secretary Timothy Geithner on Saturday pressed

emerging economies to allow their currencies to appreciate and raise domestic demand to help rebalance distorted global growth.

At a news conference after G20 talks in South Korea, Geithner said a "gradual appreciation" in the currencies of major trade-surplus nations was required.

Without naming China, he said such countries should move away from export dependence and towards stronger domestic demand