Bhutan's Broadband Network

RaiTel which is a telecom company parented to the Indian railways is to set up Bhutan's Broadband Network. This network will connect all government institutes,  universities and other important institutes.  An agreement has been signed io this effect with the Ministry of Information and Communications of Bhurtan. The project is to be completed within six to eight months. Railtel is also involved in USOF projects including OFC for N.E states and NOFN.

The Mighty Mobile

In continuation of my last post on The Era of Mobile Internet, I would like to share with readers another unique initiative to provide free access to Wikipedia on Mobile Phones including zero.wikipedia.org, which is a text-only version of Wikipedia's mobile site, optimized for slower connections.. This will benefit about 60 million Indian subscribers and content will be available in English, Hindi and 18 other Indian languages. 

It is reported that this is a 3 year partnership and that "Wikipedia Zero was first rolled out in Uganda in April 2012 with mobile operator, Orange."

I think this demonstrates one of the possibilities of mobiles as a means of Universalizing the benefits of ICT enabled services. 

The Era of Mobile Internet

I have been writing about the benefits of mobile value added services. 

For a developing country where personal computer penetration is very low and power is an issue, mobiles/smart phones are the key to penetration of ICT enabled knowledge and services. India has a host of m-government initiatives to its credit including the Universal Service funded Sanchar Shakti for rural women. The mobile can also be usefully tapped in a  commercially viable manner to provide market access and educational, financial  and a host of other services especially to rural populations who are otherwise cut off from such services.

 It has been reported by Steven Musil, that  according to a year-end Internet Trends Report ,

 "13 percent of all Internet traffic is now executed from a mobile device, up from 4 percent just two years ago. In tech-savvy India, mobile Internet traffic has reached 60 percent, surpassing desktop Internet traffic, which has declined to 40 percent." (For more information please see  http://www.kpcb.com/insights/2013-internet-trends)

As mentioned in my earlier posts, given India's young population, mobile VAS is here to stay and represents an opportunity to  bridge the digital divide relatively easily. However with only 6% subscribers using smartphones and a less than 20% internet penetration we have a long way to go.

The Potential Blessings of High Capacity Broadband

An article on Australia's NBN denial of preferential access to any agency highlights how useful a high capacity FTTH connection can be for especially vulnerable segments of the population like ill, disabled or elderly people living alone. Health care providers could use such connectivity to deliver services and monitor their health and well being. The application service provider could either approach NBN directly for connectivity for this purpose or through one of its client access service providers. The end customers would only be dealing with the application (health) service providers.

The article highlights that NBN shall not give any preferential treatment "to government agencies or health organisations wanting to use the national broadband network to provide services directly to Australian citizens."

India's National Optic Fibre Network which is to connect 250000 village panchayats and is being implemented by an SPV named BBNL has announced that it will  offer free bandwidth free  to the Telecom Service Providers  from Block headquarter to Gram Panchayat  for connecting one BTS for two months from June 2013. This may be to encourage rural penetration and wean TSPs off microwave based back haul which is quite prevalent in the absence of fibre back haul.

All Women BPOs in Conservative Indian States-ICTs for Women

The potential of ICTs to empower women inspired us in USOF to implement the highly successful Sanchar Shakti intiative. Sanchar Shakti  improves the target beneficiaries' confidence levels and financial independence by helping them with knowledge and market inputs related to their on going entrepreneurial activities. 

Rural Business Process Outsourcing (BPOs) is another example of the successful use of ICTs to empower rural women. While rural and semi urban BPOs in the Southern states of India do employ women, the engagement of women in ultra conservative Northern states like Haryana (HarVa) and Rajasthan (SFC)  is remarkable and demonstrates the power of ICTs to transform lives and societies. In both cases it was tough to get the women who had never even seen computers and whose activities outside their homes are strictly monitored by their men folk to even try out the initial training. However, the improvement in a family's financial  status while the women are still close to home, can be a powerful motive to allow the women to experience the empowering impact of working outside the home. ICTs can make this possible.

Stories in this regard can be seen at 

http://www.rediff.com/getahead/slide-show/slide-show-1-achievers-the-inspiring-story-of-a-bpo-in-rajasthan/20130718.htm#4

and 

http://articles.economictimes.indiatimes.com/2010-11-10/news/27587068_1_women-in-rural-areas-business-process-outsourcing-suman-devi

This makes a strong argument for an all out effort to promote universal access to broadband focusing especially on mainstreaming digitally excluded segments like women and the disabled.

How Markets Address Access Gaps

A news item titled "Vodafone to educate students on benefits of mobile internet" shows us how markets can effectively close access gaps. 

Vodafone India  has launched a programme called ‘Gammat Jammat’,  aimed at educating rural school children in the state of Maharashtra  about the  the benefits of mobile internet. To this end they will train over 300 school children and award them certificates of course completion. Simultaneously they will conduct a campaign to create awareness among adults covering 118 villages. Further, they have launched an entry level tariff plan with the same name, which gives concessional  internet access and 'a free 30 page booklet containing basic information on some key internet applications and websites that are relevant to rural customers. It has separate sections and applications catering to the requirements of Youth, Farmers, Job seekers, Housewives and Businessmen.'

It is stated that,

"Vodafone says it sees immense growth potential in mobile internet and are exploring options to further accelerate mobile data adoption through penetration, consumption and value addition. Various industry studies indicate a spiralling growth in sales of smartphones, particularly in locations beyond the metros. However, this community is still largely unaware on how they can get the best out of their data enabled handsets, through mobile internet"

Very recently I had written about "M Education and the Demographic Dividend" wherein I had discussed the potential of mobile screens to impart education in developing countries. India is a young country with 54% of the population being under 25.  In fact India is often cited as an example of the demographic dividend whereby the larger relative share of working age population has the potential to progress the economy to higher rates of growth. However it has been reported that only 12% of the 38 million internet users in India can access internet on their mobiles. The use of internet/broadband in rural areas can effectively compensate for the lack of various essential services and facilities and affordable smart phones and tariff plans and content in local languages can unlock this potential.

This   initiative by a service provider underlines the importance of markets and the need to address the Market Efficiency Gap which in turn leads to a conducive environment for operators to function and serve customers. Once servicing under served segments is seen as an opportunity rather than an obligation the government would need to concentrate only on the actual access gap.

The Future of Australia's NBN: Technology Choices and More

I have written earlier about the technology debate centered around Australia's NBN i.e. Fibre to the Node versus Fibre to the Home.

Another news item from the Chicago Tribune on this issue titled "Australia election threatens shape of $34 billion broadband plan" would make it appear  that the views are polarized across political parties and vendor interests appear to play a role. Needless to say this is a bit surprising. One would hope that the telecoms and competition regulators' oversight would ensure adequate distance from such considerations. A revision in plans should normally be requited to be justified  on socio-economic grounds including consumer interests. Of course cost is a consideration in the above mentioned technology choice.

National Broadband Plans-Technology Choices

National Broadband Plans always involve technology choices. The fibre vs wireless debate is in my opinion rather unnecessary until the state decides to fund one and not the other. In India, the regulator came out in strong criticism of a USOF Wireless Broadband Scheme as it appeared to see this programme as a competitor to the National Optic Fibre Network. Though USOF tried its best to plead that the two were complementary and not mutually exclusive, the former has not seen the light of the day while the latter is being rolled out as BBNL. The result is that rural areas continue to have negligible broadband penetration and will have to wait patiently till fibre is laid up to the village panchayat and then (hopefully) access providers use this connectivity to bring them high speed broadband on wireless. It is a moot point why both could not have been achieved simultaneously. Please see my previous posts on this topic at

http://ictsforall.blogspot.in/search/label/National%20Broadband%20Plans and http://ictsforall.blogspot.in/search/label/Broadband%20networks

It is also interesting to read about the technology debate (fibre to the node plus wireless vs. fibre to the home) in the context of Australia's NBN. While, cost, bandwidth and speed do play an important role in how one perceives the relative benefits, I would also be concerned about platform and service competition. Please see "Lets not go back to the dark ages on technology" which argues for FTTH and "Future of broadband going down to the wire" that argues against it.

Mobile VAS as a means of Mpowerment

I have already written about Indian USOF’s Sanchar Shakti programme. This programme has been instrumental in bringing highly customized  knowledge inputs to rural women’s Self Help Groups through mobile VAS helping them improve their livelihoods, self confidence and social standing. The uniqueness of this programme lies in its ability to reach out to these women in situ i.e. in their villages and homes and in that the content being delivered to them is gender sensitive and in the local language. Sanchar Shakti includes many woman farmers in its purview. Its gender specificity makes it a very unique programme in a country which still does not give enough importance to  the fact that many small holdings are farmed by women, while the men folk seek jobs on construction sites/urban areas.

Other  recent  initiatives include the soon to be launched Kisan portal for framers in India wherein 'SMS advisories and alerts will enable farmers to take informed decisions relating to different aspects of farming including crop production and marketing, animal husbandry, dairying and fisheries.' It has also been stated that, 'Officers of various departments, experts and scientists in research institution and in the field will use this portal for disseminating information, giving topical and seasonal advisories to farmers in their local languages.'

A simple form of communication like mobile SMS can be a powerful tool for empowerment of two way communication between the government and  target beneficiaries in a country where mobile penetration is strong while fixed line and broadband penetration is abysmal especially in rural areas. mVAS can provide knowledge and market information in situations where access to both is difficult on account of poor infrastructure and facilities.

A  news item titled Mobile Phone-Medically Yours describes the innovative use of mobile phones by the Government to reduce maternal and infant mortality by training health workers and providing tools for data collection and knowledge dissemination. Like Sanchar Shakti, here too the content is in the local language. What is particularly noteworthy in the case of the mobile Kunji  programme described in this article is revenue sharing between the NGOs, Government and service providers demonstrating  the commercial viability of such beneficial applications. This is also one of the aims of the Sanchar Shakti programme

The Market Efficiency Gap

As I have mentioned earlier in my post at http://ictsforall.blogspot.in/search/label/Universal%20Service, Universal Access (UA)/ Universal Service (US) as obligations or policy instruments should ideally come into play when  in spite of effective regulation, liberalization and competition being in place,  the still market fails to serve certain areas or sections of population. The latter is known as the  Actual Access Gap and may arise on account of geographical or socio-economic reasons etc. The former are instruments to close what is known as the Market Efficiency Gap.

Source: WDRP 432(2002) as modified by Archana.G.Gulati 

Some developed and many developing countries may however find themselves in a less than ideal situation where USFs are funding more than the actual access gap on account of failure to  achieve market efficiency.  

An important aspect of effective regulation in today's world is spectrum management. OFCOM's liberalization of spectrum policy in consumer interest a reported at http://www.mobileworldlive.com/uk-regulator-gives-green-light-for-4g-in-2g3g-spectrum is an example of such effective regulation. An article titled "Key to robust telecom policy: Place markets above command and control" that appeared in the Economic Times on July, 8 2013 may also be of interest to readers. It highlights  inter alia the requirement of effective spectrum management in India including flexibility of its usage across technologies.

Innovation is the key to Universal Service-Use of Low Power Base Stations in Africa

One of the biggest bottlenecks to provision of mobile services in rural areas in developing countries is the non availability of power. In India diesel generators are used in rural areas. This  implies  interruption in service in case of disruption in diesel supply-a common problem in remote areas and environmental pollution. While renewable energy solutions like solar panels are being deployed, these are costly especially when serving conventional mobile towers and base stations.

The deployment of low power base stations  is a good solution in such cases. One such device is being used in Zambia as reported by David Talbot of Communications News at

http://www.technologyreview.com/news/515346/a-tiny-cell-phone-transmitter-takes-root-in-rural-africa/#comments

A related article on Ushahidi, a device for crisis communications may also be of interest particularly from an Emergency Communications view point.

Communications Imperatives in Disaster Situations

It is heartening to note that Indian Telecommunications Companies are coming forward to assist in post disaster communications in the flood ravaged state of Uttarakhand. Today's Economic Times carries an article titled Telcos help track last call records of victims which explains how major service providers are setting up free help lines for tracking last calls made by victims and free public calling offices (PCOs), topping up prepaid balances for free and setting up portable base stations etc. 

While these efforts are laudable there is a pressing need to have a standard operating procedure for such situations so that many of these measures kick-in automatically. Telecommunications are the life line of relief and rescue work. The Department of Telecommunications (DoT) needs to enforce the license provisions relating to location based services. This would appear to be a precondition for the effectiveness of emergency number services in dealing with disaster/emergency related calls as envisaged in TRAI's consultation paper on Emergency Communications and Response Systems.

There are other related issues such as the DoT having a Disaster Management Plan as required under the Disater Management Act, 2005. This would include resilience and redundancy of communications especially in vulnerable areas, SOPs entailing setting up ad hoc networks and mandatory  time bound restoration of communications post disaster etc. It would also entail laying down the protocol and methodology for coordination between service providers and local authorities and list obligations on both their parts. An article BSNL's attempts to restore infrastructure points to the need for such planning and coordination. Such a plan would also lead to corresponding regulations and  amendments to licenses. There would be financial implications which would need to be taken care of. There are also underlying issues regarding Universal Service Obligations which normally  include free access to emergency services. Please see my previous blog titled Universal Access to Emergency Services

The states and districts also need to have well equipped and functional State and District level Emergency Operations Centres (SEOCs and DEOCs) with robust communications networks that can handle the sudden surge in traffic as demanded by disaster/emergency situations. This is mandatory under the DM Act.

There are innovative solutions that can be permanently made part of emergency communications services. See for example Google Person Finder's services for this disaster.

Mobile communications are also important for timely dissemination of emergency alerts and SMS broadcast of location specific disaster prevention/mitigation or relief related information.

Eventually the issue of long term restoration of communications infrastructure arises. In this case suggestions have been to consider mandating insurance towards reconstruction for critical infrastructure like telecommunications.  

Universal Access/Service for the Disabled

While ICTs can act as a powerful tool for empowerment of the disabled, lack of accessibility to standard means of communications can keep ICTs beyond the reach of persons with disabilities (PwDs). Most nations of the world include accessibility of at least public pay phones, if not individual connections, within the definition of Universal Access/Services. Many provide relay services for hearing and speech impaired persons.

In India Universal Service Obligation  is defined as the obligation to provide access to telecommunications services to people in rural and remote areas at reasonable and affordable prices. Needless to say,  this implies that all categories of rural population should be able to benefit from ICTs regardless of their physical/social/educational or economic status. 

India is also signatory to the United Nations Convention on Rights of Persons with Disabilities and a member of the International Telecommunications Union (ITU). The latter  is committed to implementation  of the Convention.This was reaffirmed through approval of Resolution 70 at the WTSA-12 in Dubai last year. ITU's efforts in this regard are documented at http://itu4u.wordpress.com/2012/12/03/itu-celebrates-the-international-day-of-persons-with-disabilities/

The Indian Universal Service Obligation Fund  had initiated a pilot project scheme for access to ICTs by the disabled in 2012 through a formal Expression of Interest, after due consultation with stakeholders. The scheme details are available at the link below. http://www.usof.gov.in/usof-cms/disabled.htm

Unfortunately, the response to the scheme was not very good. This is partly because USOF can fund only telecom service providers, who in turn were not eager to be the  project lead in such an effort. A more flexible approach allowing NGOs or disabled persons organisation (DPOs) to take the lead with active participation by USOF Administration to facilitate project formulation through collaboration with other stakeholders may have worked better.  An analysis of approach followed by USOF in this case, alternative approaches and advantages and pitfalls thereof can be seen at http://www.itu.int/ITU-D/asp/CMS/Events/2012/Nepal-PwDs/Presentation_GULATI.pdf

 It is hoped that Indian USOF will continue to prioritize access for the disabled. 

Universal Access to Emergency Services

A very important aspect of Universal Service is accessibility of services to persons with disabilities (PwDs), the aged and the illiterate. This is essential not only for day to day communications which can help in mainstreaming and empowering people with special needs but also for emergency communications. The majority of  countries include free access to emergency at least vis-a-vis payphones in their UA/US related regulations.
However, while ensuring access to  emergency numbers is critical the reverse communication by way of accessible emergency alerts can also help save many lives in disaster situations. Needless to say these sections of the population are extremely vulnerable during disasters. In this regard it is interesting to read a FEMA report on  Alerting the Whole Community: Removing Barriers to  Alerting Accessibility at http://www.fema.gov/library/viewRecord.do?id=7599. This report also has an interesting observation to the effect that in the U.S text messaging is second the most preferred means of receiving emergency alerts for PwDs. Given the huge contrast between mobile and land line teledensities in India  this trend is a thought provoking one for policy makers and regulators in the area of disaster management and telecommunications.

Also of interest may be the recent Telecom Regulatory Authority of India consultation paper on Universal Single Number Based Integrated Emergency Communication and Response System which asks stakeholders whether SMS may be used for emergency access. The vast majority of stakeholders have agreed that this is important for the disabled.