Christoph Stork of Research ICT Africa won the best paper competiton while Nirmali Sivapragasam of LIRNEasia was placed runner up at the CPRsouth4 conference held in Negombo, Sri Lanka.

Christoph's paper reviews the latest developments and trends for interconnection rates and shows how interconnection benchmarking can be used to set termination rates using the case of Namibia.

The 2009 ITU Cybersecurity and ICT Applications Essay Competition is open to current students and recent graduates in economics, political science, law, literature, telecommunications, computer science, information systems and related fields between the ages of 20 and 30 years old.

The winners of the 2009 Essay Competition will be offered the opportunity of a short-term research contract and internship within the ITU Development Sector's ICT Applications and Cybersecurity Division for three months.

The winners will also be given a contribution towards the cost of an economy class flight from their place of residence. In addition, they will be paid the sum of CHF 6000 towards living expenses for the duration of the internship.