News Broadcasting
GSM Association announces shortlist for first Asia Mobile Innovation Awards
MUMBAI: The GSM Association (GSMA) has announced the six finalists for the first Asia Mobile Innovation Awards, a competition for young, small and start up companies across Asia that are developing technologies, applications and compelling content for the fast moving mobile space.
The six short-listed companies have been selected from more than 70 entries by a panel of judges comprising innovation leaders from mobile operators, vendors and venture capital firms.
The competition will culminate at the 3GSM World Congress Asia in Singapore on 16 October 2006, when a representative from each of the companies nominated will present an ‘elevator pitch’ style presentation to the judging panel for final selection of the winners. There are two Awards categories – Most Innovative Mobile Application or Content; and Most Innovative Technology Development.
The Innovation forum session will also include presentations and panel discussions on the mobile innovation theme by Smart Communications, Bharti, Ericsson and SpinVox – this year’s winner of the GSMA’s global innovation award.
Each category has three nominations:
Category 1 – Innovative Mobile Application or Content
· GSTL (India) for Geneva NDIS
Geneva NDIS is a disaster information dissemination system that rapidly processes data from emergency information sources and sends it to mobile users as a text message alert or a voice call.
· N2N Consulting for M-Bit Network
M-Bit Network services supports mobile media applications such as mobile music and video, and TV tie-in competitions, making billing easier for operators and enabling end-users to share files, uncover additional content, or create their own for sharing with others.
· Microimage Ltd for localised messaging and content browsing
Microimage claims to have developed the world’s first patented local language messaging and content application, to provide customised local language support for entry-level mobile devices in emerging markets.
Category 2 – Innovative Technology Development
· Open-Plug for ELIPS
Open-Plug for ELIPS claims to be the first open software framework designed for mobile phones, which enables ELIPS-based handsets to be tailored and configured far more quickly according to the requirements of operators.
· Radius ED for Global 1 Number
The Global 1 Number (G1) solution is a simple universal short code that lets mobile users access information from anywhere in the world, via a single secure hub that also handles call-routing, billing and data rights management.
· Dialog-UOM Lab & Microimage for Disaster Early Warning Network (DEWN)
DEWN uses a centralised mobile messaging platform and also device-based technology to disseminate early-warning emergency messages, audio and visual alarms, to warn communities of impending disasters.
The six finalists will also be exhibiting at the 3GSM World Congress Asia, as part of a special feature ‘Innovation Zone’. The two winners will receive an automatic place on the shortlist for the innovation category of the GSMA’s Global Mobile Awards at the 3GSM World Congress in Barcelona next February.
News Broadcasting
Rajesh Sundaram joins NDTV Profit as senior editor, assignment
The 32-year newsroom veteran has launched channels on three continents and covered everything from 9/11 to South African television
MUMBAI: NDTV Profit has bolstered its newsroom with a hire who has done rather more than most. Rajesh Sundaram, a journalist with over three decades of editorial, managerial and consultative experience across India and international markets, joins as senior editor, assignment, tasked with sharpening the network’s newsgathering and real-time response.
Sundaram’s career reads like a tour of Indian media’s most formative moments. He began at Businessworld in 1994, moved to Zee News as bureau chief across Mumbai and Chennai, then joined NDTV in 2002 as part of its political bureau during a particularly febrile period in Indian politics. A stint as India correspondent for Al Jazeera International followed, where he covered key geopolitical developments and got his first serious taste of the global newsroom.
What sets Sundaram apart, however, is his serial channel-launching habit. At NewsX, he helped get the operation off the ground. At Headlines Today, part of the India Today Group, he served as editor. At News Nation, he helped launch the Hindi news channel and its digital ecosystem. He then crossed continents to lead the launch of ANN7 in South Africa as editor-in-chief, overseeing both television and digital. Back in India, he launched Tamil news channels News7 Tamil and Cauvery News, and later served as principal consultant for the launch of Marathi channel Lokshahi. Most recently, he helped build and lead the Press Trust of India’s video service and content studio, before stints consulting for Business Today and The Himalayan Times.
Rahul Kanwal, chief executive and editor-in-chief of NDTV, left little doubt about what Sundaram is expected to deliver. “The assignment desk is where a newsroom’s intent becomes action,” he said. “Rajesh brings a rare combination of field experience and leadership in building news operations at scale.”
Sundaram has reported from across India and the world, covering elections, civil conflicts, the aftermath of the 9/11 attacks and the 2008 US presidential election.
At NDTV Profit, he will lead the assignment desk, driving editorial coordination and real-time response across markets and breaking developments. For a business news network sharpening its focus on speed and multi-platform delivery, it has hired a man who has built newsrooms from scratch on three continents. The assignment desk is in good hands.
