Nepal is a landlocked country located in South Asia, between China and India.

Nepal is a landlocked country located in South Asia, between China and India. It is known for its beautiful mountains, including the world's highest peak, Mount Everest. The country has a rich culture and history, with Hinduism and Buddhism being the dominant religions. The official language of Nepal is Nepali, but many other languages are also spoken there. The capital and largest city of Nepal is Kathmandu.

How much internet comes to Nepal from China?

5.155 Gbps bandwidth is entering Nepal from China. According to the Telecommunication Authority of Nepal, Nepal Telecom is the regulatory body of the telecommunications sector, with Mercantile Communications, the largest provider of five Gbps and network and internet service provider, introducing 155 Mbps bandwidth.

The rest of the total 550 Gbps international internet bandwidth being consumed in Nepal is coming from India. Thus, the bandwidth coming from China is less than one percent.

Samit Jan Thing, Board of Directors of Nepal Internet Exchange (NPIX), informed that WorldLink is currently conducting tests to import bandwidth from Rasuwagadhi port in China. There are two checkpoints in the north for international bandwidth entry into Nepal from China.

Out of which, network infrastructures are under construction at Tatopani Naka and limited amount of bandwidth has been imported from Tatopani Naka for some years now.

According to Thing, who is also the chief technical officer of WorldLink, the main reason for the low bandwidth coming from China is that it is expensive to bring bandwidth through the mountainous terrain and difficult geography. He said service providers were not interested in importing more bandwidth from China because of the risk of avalanches and the fact that repairs would take longer if the fiber was cut.

However, he estimated that the bandwidth imported from China could increase in the future as one of the checkpoints could be used as the other checkpoints are under construction as the Tatopani checkpoint is also under construction.

Total bandwidth of 500 Gbps bandwidth was entering Nepal from both China and India. But with the increase in internet consumption due to logging, bandwidth imports have reached 550 Gbps. Thus, the import of bandwidth has increased by 10 percent due to lockdown.

In Kenya, Google is providing the Internet from a balloon

Agency. Google's subsidiary Loon has officially launched its commercial internet service in the Kenyan mountains. Loon has started to provide internet service in a separate style by flying balloons in the sky.

These balloons fly in the air above the earth's surface and act as cell service towers. This is the first time that Loon has been able to offer such a large amount of service using such isolated technology. Loon has launched the service in partnership with Kenya's local telecom service provider, Telecom Kenya.

The company is providing cellular services from its network in an area of ​​five thousand square kilometers. As the area is located in a mountainous area, the service providers were having difficulty in preparing the underground infrastructure.

Loon signed an agreement in 2019 to provide its first commercial service in Kenya. With the epidemic of Covid 19 spreading, the company's justification for this kind of effort has become even stronger.

Under this different technology of loon, 35 balloons will be flying in the target coverage area. The average internet speed available is up to 18.9 Mbps and the download speed is above 4.47 Mbps. It has a latency of 19 milliseconds. According to Loon, it can easily use voice calls, video calls, YouTube video streaming, WhatsApp.

Loon has been testing his services in Kenya since last year. The company was providing services to 35,000 customers during the trial period.

Before the recent commercial service began in 2017, Lun used its balloon technology as an emergency service in Puerto Rico after Hurricane Maria.

At present, Loon is providing its services in collaboration with commercial telecom companies in many remote areas of the world. Loon Alphabet is a subsidiary of Google.

China is thus becoming a world superpower of technology

China is thus becoming a world superpower of technology

What would it be like to add points to your account when you do good deeds and decrease points when you do bad deeds? Points are added when paying your taxes and arrears on time and the practice of decreasing points when entering a restricted area or crossing a lane on the road is being practiced in our neighboring country China.

This is called the social score there. In China, it is managed by machines. These machines are an interesting and controversial example of artificial intelligence.

In China, the machine is rating people's behavior. If the temperament is good, the government will provide facilities and if it is bad, it will punish. Looking at this practice of China, it is certain that China will soon become a superpower of artificial intelligence in the coming days.

However, the competition between the United States and China to become a superpower is an ongoing issue. But the main path taken by China in its journey to become a superpower is technology. For this, not only in the field of artificial intelligence, but also in the field of voice recognition, facial recognition, big data and robotics, China is at the forefront in the world.

For example, China has built its own indigenous aircraft. He has also built a bullet train running at a speed of 400 kilometers per hour. The model of which has already been prepared for export.

Companies like Apple, General Motors (GM), Toyota, Volkswagen are opening their industries in China. They are also operating a research center.

In China, all this is happening under Made in China 2025. In 2015, the Chinese government set a 10-year target. The aim is to make China a superpower in industry and technology within ten years.

China has made it clear that it wants to change its image by exporting cheap clothes, shoes and toys. For this, China is investing heavily and putting pressure on foreign companies to transfer technology directly or indirectly.

How is this possible? In fact, there is a binding rule that any foreign company entering into the Chinese market must form an alliance with a local company. In addition, China buys ownership of foreign companies as part of its strategy.

For example, you may have heard of the Mercedes Benz. The Chinese company Gili is the largest shareholder of the German car maker Dambler. In addition, there are many legal entities in China that force foreign technology companies to stay permanently in China.

For example, Apple is preparing to open the first data storage center in China in collaboration with a local company. For which he has to follow all the rules of the Chinese government. From this all the information of the company is obtained by the Chinese government.

China is placing special emphasis on artificial intelligence. He is also increasing his artificial intelligence in the army. Wars and weapons can be controlled from a distance with the help of artificial intelligence. China is also developing AI-based missiles. Which can automatically detect the target and work on its own without human assistance.

There are many such companies working in AI in Shenzhen, China. Some of them are also working to make the health sector more modern. According to the Chinese media Xinhua, China has been developing software based on the central algorithm since 2007, which will be able to make decisions with great speed and accuracy during wartime.

Look at the drone technician. The United States has refused to give its drone technology to any country. But China has announced the exact opposite, rushing to export its drone technology to other countries. China plans to supply military technology to countries not close to the United States.

China is now the world's largest drone exporter. According to the International Institute for Strategic Studies, China has sold its drones to Egypt, Pakistan, Nigeria, Saudi Arabia and Burma.

After all, how is all this possible for China? The answer is simple. Chinese startups get tax breaks, government contracts and office space. The Chinese government is working with big companies. Like Baidu, Alibaba, Tencent.

Similarly, China has become the largest market for artificial intelligence startups. China also has the advantage of data and cheaper labor.

Another thing is that China is an important supply chain in the world. All materials are made in Shenzhen and Guangzhou. The chip inside the mobile you have in your hand is made in China. Here the materials are assembled. China has access to technology around the world.

China does not consider exploration important to gain technological power. He focuses on the use and accessibility of technology wherever it may be. Recently, the Indian government banned 59 Chinese apps for data security reasons.

China has come a long way in the cyber challenge game. Even countries like the United States have accused China of plagiarism and taken action against such companies.

Huawei has risen to number two in the smartwatch market, overtaking Samsung

Chinese technology company Huawei is second only to Samsung in the global smartphone market. But in the smartwatch market, Huawei has managed to overtake Samsung.

Huawei's wearable market share has been growing rapidly since the beginning of 2020. According to a recent Wearable Device Tracker report released by the International Data Corporation, Huawei has overtaken Samsung in the market for wearables, including smartwatches and wireless earphones.

Apple remains at the top of the wearables market. Samsung has dropped to third place with Huawei rising to second place.

According to the IDC report, 72.6 million wearable devices were sold in the first quarter of 2020. This is 29.7 percent more than the same period last year. Huawei sold 62.20 percent more wearables in the first quarter of this year than in the same period last year.

In the first three months of 2020 alone, 16.9 million smartwatches were sold worldwide. However, this number is 7.1 percent lower than last year. During this period, Huawei has sold 2.6 million smartwatches.

Huawei sold 118.5 percent more smartwatches in the same quarter last year. At the same time, Huawei has become the only company to sell 100 percent more smartwatches in the first quarter of 2020 than last year. Agency

Facebook bans advertising in Chinese and Russian media

The social networking site Facebook has banned Chinese and Russian state-run media outlets from targeting US users.

Russia and China, along with other government-controlled media outlets, have announced that they will begin "naming government" on Facebook platforms and will ban US-targeted advertising on such media outlets from next summer.

Facebook's official media outlets include Russia's Sputnik, Iran's Press TV and China's Xinhua. Two hundred other similar government media websites will be labeled as government.

However, Facebook will not immediately "label" any US news organization. Facebook claims that even the media run by the US government has editorial freedom.

In the 2016 US presidential election, Facebook was criticized by Russians for abusing Facebook and influencing the election results. Facebook has already admitted its weakness in the incident. Learning from the same incident, Facebook is taking strong steps to prevent the misuse of Facebook by countries including China and the United States to influence the upcoming US presidential election. Facebook has adopted a policy of strict transparency in pages and advertisements for publishing advertisements on its platform.

Remember that the US presidential election is taking place next November.

The listing of state-controlled media, including China and Russia, does not include media run by any leader or political party.

China, meanwhile, has criticized Facebook's move. A Chinese Foreign Ministry spokesman told a news conference on Friday that social media companies should not create certain media barriers.

Russian media outlet Sputnik has issued a statement calling on governments around the world to take control of Facebook, a US-led operation to curb freedom of speech.

However, Facebook is not alone in treating state-controlled media differently. In 2018, YouTube began identifying government-invested YouTube channels. However, critics say YouTube has failed to identify some government-controlled YouTube channels that contain false propaganda news and information videos.

With Facebook's decision to label government-controlled media, there will now be signs of government control on the pages and news feed posts of such media that appear on Facebook.

Having an online meeting? Voice call or other charges!

Due to the global impact of coronavirus disease (Covid-19), the practice of people doing many things online through the internet has increased. One of them is online meeting and conferencing through various apps.

Nowadays, the use of online classes, online meetings and video conferencing for school and campus students has increased widely, whether it is online meetings, video calls in groups with relatives, family members, relatives at home or abroad.

There are many apps and platforms available on the Internet for online meetings. Meetings or conferences can be held from most of the platforms using the internet without any charge other than the internet. However, online meetings from some premium apps or software may incur additional charges.

Before using the online conferencing platform for your meetings or conversations, you need to look closely at the terms of the respective apps or platforms. Dialing international numbers for meetings or dialing international numbers from the respective service provider's customer service center may incur voice call charges or other charges.

Recently, the Telecom Regulatory Authority of India (TRAI), India's telecom regulator, said caution should be exercised when using online meeting platforms, saying customers' voice service bills could rise unexpectedly. According to him, on such platforms, customers have been complaining about the charges for voice calls when they unknowingly call international numbers.

In Nepal too, the use of such online meeting platforms for various purposes is on the rise. In the current situation, mobile customers and users need to understand the charges related to the numbers and helplines associated with such platforms. Otherwise, there is a risk that in the case of prepaid customers, the balance from mobile may decrease and in case of postpaid, more bills may come.

Telecom company Ncell has also asked its customers to be vigilant during the increasing trend of online meetings. The company has advised its customers to be aware of this from their Facebook page and to check the terms and conditions while using such platforms.

Since such online meeting platforms and service providers' respective workplaces and customer service centers are located abroad, their numbers are premium or international. Of course, calling such numbers for information, knowingly or unknowingly, may incur higher charges for calling a premium number or international calls.

China is bringing digital currency, alarm bells for the US dollar

China wants to introduce a digital yuan called e-RMB in 2022. People moving to China in 2022 may have to shop or transact in the new digital currency here.

It will be a currency that cannot be seen, nor will it be held in the hand like other notes. This is not a fantasy. At a time when all countries of the world were struggling with the corona virus infection, China was embarking on a pilot project on the digital yuan currency. Last month, China's central bank, the People's Bank of China, launched work on the project in four major cities: Shenzhen, Chengdu, Sunzhou and Jiangxi.

A portion of the government employees' salaries in the project will be paid in digital yuan.

Twenty different private businesses such as McDonald's and Starbucks have also participated in the project. If successful, the Chinese government will be able to issue the digital currency nationwide by the time of the 2022 Winter Olympics.

However, this will be done in a phased manner and may take a few years. In fact, work on the project began in 2014. China is working very hard to implement it. There are three main reasons for this: the growing trade war with the United States, repeated allegations by the United States and the West about the corona virus, and Facebook's plans to launch a digital currency called Libra this year.

Radical change

The advent of the digital yuan is seen as an event that could change the world's current balance. It is part of China's ambitious project to end US influence and emerge as a powerful country in the 21st century. According to experts, its successful use could lead to the emergence of a new political and economic system in 10-15 years.

Dr. Faisal Ahmed, a China expert at the Fer School of Management in New Delhi, India, says, ‘India and the United States are also developing their own digital currencies, Lakshmi and Digital Dollars, respectively. But so far this is far from the reality. '

US dollar versus digital currency

Now the Chinese 'Dragon' has overtaken the Indian 'Lakshmi'. But experts say it also threatens the dollar, the world's biggest money maker. According to experts, the US Federal Reserve's multi-billion dollar debt is overvalued. A new currency is definitely welcome. But its global acceptance will take a long time.

The digital yuan is a big step towards bridging the gap with the US dollar. The US dollar is currently the world's most widely circulated currency, beginning in the early 1970's with the end of the gold standard. According to experts, the growing anti-globalization environment is becoming a threat to the dollar due to the trade war between the US and China and the Corona epidemic. However, this change will take time as there is no immediate alternative.

The current value of the US dollar can also be gauged from the fact that in 2019, the US dollar accounted for about 90 percent of international monetary transactions. By comparison, the Chinese yuan accounts for only 2 percent of global payments and reserves.

On the other hand, the US dollar accounts for 60 percent of the world's foreign exchange reserves. Interestingly, there are even three trillion dollars in US currency in China's coffers. China can use it in various ways, from which it will grow. According to experts, China could also use the currency to provide incentives to other countries for geopolitical benefits and to invest in countries involved in the Belt and Road project from Central Asia to the Arctic.

Due to the influence of the US dollar and its importance, the United States has been able to maintain its dominance in world political and economic affairs. Its sanctions against Iran, Russia, North Korea and some other countries, for example, have been made possible by international trade and banks' reliance on the US dollar.

The German bank released a report in January stating that the Chinese digital currency could upset the world's balance of power.

The report said, ‘China is working on a digital currency with the help of its central bank, which it can use as a soft or hard power tool. If companies doing business in China are forced to use the digital yuan, it could certainly destroy the dollar's dominance in global financial markets. ' Of course, the digital yuan and similar digital currencies cannot completely eliminate notes. But it can also lead to the end of third parties, such as credit cards.

Facebook's Libra Versus China's Digital Yuan

The mainstream digital currencies now include Facebook's Libra and the Chinese government's digital currency, according to a report by the German national bank Deutsche Bank. Facebook has nearly 2.5 billion users, a third of the world's population. Similarly, China has a population of 1.4 billion. So both Facebook and China have the potential to push digital currency into the mainstream.

But the important difference between other digital currencies and the digital yuan is this

The digital yuan will be issued by the Central Bank of China. Due to which it will be accepted and trust will increase.

However, all other digital currencies are decentralized and do not fall under the purview of any regulatory authority.

According to Noah Hariri, a young Israeli historian and thinker, money is a myth that has significance around the world. Anyone who trusts the dollar and values ​​it. But as America's power in the world dwindles, another power will take its place. Now China is far ahead in that race.

BBC