Page 9 - Eurogiro News May2011_web version

Eurogiro News 9

Albanian public gets free internet access in post offces

Posta Shqiptare is instrumental in boosting internet access; 300 rural post offces in Albania are now connected to satellite broadband Internet

“Each post office will have a public corner where it will provide two computers for the public’s use”, and a wireless router is also available and can be accessed by anyone that has a computer. This service is free of charge for anyone who can go to the post of-fice. On the back office side, each post office has 1 or 2 computers for postmen that will use the corporate network with VPN (intranet) over Internet for all Posta Shqiptare services”. The project, completed in January 2011, has been made possible by SES ASTRA, the European satellite Internet provider (also op-

erating in the Middle East and Africa), and its local distribution partner, Starsat International. The package offered to post offices is 4 mbps download and 512 kbps upload, by means of ASTRA2Connect technology, embedded in the Sat3Play satellite terminal. Today, Internet penetration in Albania is around 30%, with connectivity mostly available in rural areas where ADSL is present. Rural areas can connect through wireless technologies and satellite, with 3G coming soon. Posta Shqip-tare has about 525 offices and postal agents, of which urban offices are connected through

ADSL by the incumbent telecom operator of Albania, Albtelecom.

This project, initiated by the manager of Albanian Post, Arquile Gorea, is part of the digitalization of Albanian society, championed by the Prime Minister of the country, Sali Berisha. 3

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World Bank conference examines how Financial Infrastructures met pressure test of crisis

Eurogiro were among the 300+ participants that attended the World Bank – IFC Financial Infra-structure Week 2011 conference in Rio de Janeiro, Brazil in March 2011. The conference provided refection on how well the global fnancial infrastructure met the pressure-test of the global fnancial crisis, and discussions on how to best move forward to ensure a strong fnancial infrastructure that extends to reach the next billion people

With participants and speakers from public-sector agencies, private-sector firms, nonprofit groups, donor agencies, and multilateral institutions in attendance, the conference focused on three major pillars of the global financial infrastructure – Payment Systems, Credit Reporting, and Secured Transactions.

Information on the conference and all pre-sentations from the Financial Infrastructure Week 2011 conference can be found on the World Bank website at www.worldbank.org/ paymentsystems/rio and ftp://ftp.worldbank. org/pub/FIWEEK2011.

In the opening speech at the conference, Janamitra Devan, Vice President and Head of Network for Financial and Private Sector Development at the World Bank and Interna-tional Finance Corporation (IFC), emphasized the critical role that public-sector authorities – along with private-sector entities – play in

the development of a market infrastructure that promotes financial stability. Together they serve a crucial role in creating fair, competi-tive market conditions – and also in creating a collaborative ecosystem that allows for growth, while simultaneously promoting security and stability.

Juanita Woodward, Eurogiro Director, Cu-stomer Relations Asia Pacific attended the conference and found the synergy of topics on payment systems, credit reporting and se-cured transactions to be a powerful approach to holistically create an impact for financial inclusion. The role that postal organisa-tions can play to reach the unbanked and underserved, especially in non-city areas, with financial services including remittance services, was raised several times at the conference. The consideration of new pay-ment channels such as mobile and cards continues to gain more attention and trac-tion, especially given the increasing data

that more people have mobile phones than bank accounts.

At the May Eurogiro Community meeting, a panel discussion on Financial Inclusion included a World Bank representative. The World Bank is an important source for global migration and remittance data including comparative remittance pricing through its website. The 2010 Global Pay-ment Systems Survey representing data from 132 central banks and 139 countries will soon be available at www.worldbank. org/paymentsystems. This survey will include more information on new products and innovations for retail payments and expanded information on international remittances. 3

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