Found two interesting posts about how Twitter becomes a real-time news media and how it contributes to spread news all over the World despite telecommunication networks breakdown and/or government censorship.

Smart Mobs author Mark A.M Kramer asks if Information and Communication Technologies (ICT) could make humanity morally accountable ? Today, even with a very limited presence of the International community (politics, journalists as well as Aid workers) we continue to receive near real-time information from Myanmar through various multi-plateforms communication media such Twitter, SMS, RSS etc.

Ten days later, in China, an powerful earthquake shook the Sichuan province, information that Technology blogger Robert Scoble claimed that Twitter had the breaking news even before the United States Geological Survey, which provides early warnings of seismic events.

Is Twitter's slogan "What are you doing" should be now replaced by "What's going on" ?

Sources: SmartMobs, BBC

National Bureau of Statistics of China, has release some figures about telephone usage in China. Figures are self explanatory and may give some Vertigo to European operators.

In end of March 2008 they were 574 millions cellphone users in China (+94 mio in 2007), a 20% increase compared to last year. It also mean that 40% of the Chinese population own a cellphone.

The NBS reveals that in March 08, 58 billions SMS were sent (nearly 700 billions/year !)

28% of Chinese population (361 millions) uses a fixed telephone, but landline operators are losing customers (minus 4 millions for the 1sr quarter 08) as calls from mobile phones are cheaper than through landlines.

China Mobile, the first Chinese mobile phone operator has 377 millions customers at end of January (+22.6%) while Unicom China only has 181 millions customers.