The Centre for Internet and Society
http://editors.cis-india.org
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After the Lockdown
http://editors.cis-india.org/internet-governance/blog/after-the-lockdown
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<p>This post was first published in the <a class="external-link" href="https://www.business-standard.com/article/opinion/after-the-lockdown-120040200010_1.html">Business Standard</a>, on April 2, 2020.</p>
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This is a time when, as
the authorities deal with a lockdown, there needs to be an equal
emphasis on providing for large numbers of people without the money for
food and necessities, while the rest of us wait it out. Hard as it is,
an MIT scholar writes that after the Spanish flu in 1918, cities that
restricted public gatherings sooner and longer had fewer fatalities, and
emerged with stronger economic growth.<a href="https://www.reuters.com/article/us-health-coronavirus-usa-reopen-analysi/the-u-s-weighs-the-grim-math-of-death-vs-the-economy-idUSKBN21H1B4" target="_blank"><strong>1</strong></a> It
is likely that costs and benefits vary with economic and social
capacity, and we may have a harder time with it here. Going forward,
government action to help provide relief, rehabilitate people and deal
with loss needs to be well planned, including targeting aid to the urban
and displaced poor.<strong><a href="https://www.financialexpress.com/opinion/the-coronavirus-lockdown-and-indias-urban-vulnerables/1915316/" target="_blank">2</a></strong></div>
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As important now as to
ensure the lockdown continues is to plan on how to revive productive
activity and the economy, and restore public confidence. A systematic
approach will likely yield better results.</div>
<div>
A major element of the
recovery plan is steps such as liberal credit and amortisation terms,
perhaps much more than the three-month extension the Reserve Bank of
India (RBI) has announced. A primary purpose is the re-initiation of
large-scale activities such as construction, of which there are
reportedly about 200,000 large projects around the country. These have
to be nursed back to being going concerns. The RBI may need to consider
doing more, including lowering rates.</div>
<div>
An ominous development
that has grown as the economy slowed is financial stress that could
swell non-performing assets (NPAs). At the half-year ending September
2019, about half of non-financial large corporations in India, excluding
telecom, showed financial stress (<em>see table</em>).</div>
<div> </div>
<a style="text-align: center;" href="https://1.bp.blogspot.com/-LUGInMPm0qA/XoX9HV4-HBI/AAAAAAAAHio/bpAUXcOxJ2AZ3mHTisIdMGLnbon7r5YpQCLcBGAsYHQ/s1600/Indebted%2BFirms-Likely%2BFinancial%2BHeadwinds-Krishna%2BKant-BS.jpg"><img src="https://1.bp.blogspot.com/-LUGInMPm0qA/XoX9HV4-HBI/AAAAAAAAHio/bpAUXcOxJ2AZ3mHTisIdMGLnbon7r5YpQCLcBGAsYHQ/s320/Indebted%2BFirms-Likely%2BFinancial%2BHeadwinds-Krishna%2BKant-BS.jpg" alt="null" height="320" width="205" /></a>
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<p>Source: Krishna Kant: "Coronavirus shutdown puts Rs 15-trillion debt at risk, to impact finances", BS, March 30, 2020:</p>
<div><a href="https://www.business-standard.com/article/markets/coronavirus-shutdown-puts-rs-15-trillion-debt-at-risk-to-impact-finances-120032901036_1.html">https://www.business-standard.com/article/markets/coronavirus-shutdown-puts-rs-15-trillion-debt-at-risk-to-impact-finances-120032901036_1.html</a></div>
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These include some of
India’s largest companies, producing power, steel, and chemicals. The
201 companies have total debt of nearly Rs 15 trillion, more than half
of all borrowings. There is also the debt overhang of the National
Highways Authority of India, and of the telecom companies. Ironically,
the telecom companies are our lifeline now, despite having nearly
collapsed under debt because of ill-advised policies in the past, which
have still not changed. Perhaps our obvious dependence telecom services
now will spark well conceived, convergent policies for this sector, so that we can function effectively. </div>
<div>
A start with immediate
changes in administrative rules for 60GHz, 70-80GHz, and 500-700MHz
wireless use, modelled on the US FCC regulations as was done for the
5GHz Wi-Fi in October 2018, could change the game. It will provide the
opportunity in India for the innovation of devices, their production,
and use, possibly unleashing this sector. This can help offset our
reliance on imported technology and equipment. However, such changes in
policies and purchasing support have eluded us thus far. Now, the only
way our high-technology manufacturers can thrive is to succeed
internationally, in order to be able to sell to the domestic market.
Imagine how hard that might be, and you begin to get an inkling of why
we have few domestic product champions, struggling against odds in areas
such as optical switches, networking equipment, and wireless devices.
For order-of-magnitude change, however, structural changes need to be
worked out in consultation with operators in the organisation of
services through shared infrastructure.</div>
<div> </div>
<p>For the longer term, a fundamental
reconsideration for allocating resources is needed through coherent,
orchestrated policy planning and support. What the government can do as a
primary responsibility, besides ensuring law and order and security, is
to develop our inadequate and unreliable infrastructure, including
facilities and services that enable efficient production clusters, their
integrated functioning, and skilling. For instance, Apple’s recent
decision against moving iPhone production
from China to India was reportedly because similar large facilities
(factories of 250,000) are not feasible here, and second, our logistics
are inadequate. Such considerations should be factored into our
planning, although Apple may well have to revisit the very
sustainability of the concept of outsize facilities that require the
sort of repressive conditions prevailing in China. However, we need not
aim for building unsustainable mega-factories. Instead, a more practical
approach may be to plan for building agglomerations of smaller,
sustainable units, that can aggregate their activity and output
effectively and efficiently. Such developments could form the basis of
numerous viable clusters, and where possible, capitalise on existing
incipient clusters of activities. Such infrastructure needs to be
extended to the countryside for agriculture and allied activities as
well, so that productivity increases with a change from rain-fed,
extensive cultivation to intensive practices, with more controlled
conditions.</p>
<p>The automotive industry,
the largest employer in manufacturing, provides an example for other
sectors. It was a success story like telecom until recently, but is now
floundering, partly because of inappropriate policies, despite its
systematic efforts at incorporating collaborative planning and working
with the government. It has achieved the remarkable transformation of
moving from BS-IV to BS-VI emission regulations in just three years,
upgrading by two levels with an investment of Rs 70,000 crore, whereas
European companies have taken five to six years to upgrade by one level.
This has meant that there was no time for local sourcing, and therefore
heavy reliance on global suppliers, including China. While the
collaborative planning model adopted by the industry provides a model
for other sectors, the question here is, what now. In a sense, it was
not just the radical change in market demand with the advent of
ridesharing and e-vehicles, but also the government’s approach to
policies and taxation that aggravated its difficulties.</p>
<div>
Going forward, policies
that are more congruent in terms of societal goals, including employment
that support the development of large manufacturing opportunities, need
to be thought through from a perspective of aligning and integrating
objectives (in this case, transportation). Areas such as automotive and
other industries for the manufacture of road and rail transport vehicles
need to be considered from the perspective of reconfiguring the
purpose, flow, and value-added, to achieve both low-cost, accessible
mass transport, and vehicles for private use that complement
transportation objectives as also employment and welfare.</div>
<div>
Systematic and convergent planning and implementation across sectors could help achieve a better revival.</div>
<div> </div>
<div>
Shyam (no space) Ponappa at gmail dot com</div>
<div>
<em>1: <a href="https://www.reuters.com/article/us-health-coronavirus-usa-reopen-analysi/the-u-s-weighs-the-grim-math-of-death-vs-the-economy-idUSKBN21H1B4">https://www.reuters.com/article/us-health-coronavirus-usa-reopen-analysi/the-u-s-weighs-the-grim-math-of-death-vs-the-economy-idUSKBN21H1B4</a></em></div>
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<em>2: <a href="https://www.financialexpress.com/opinion/the-coronavirus-lockdown-and-indias-urban-vulnerables/1915316/">https://www.financialexpress.com/opinion/the-coronavirus-lockdown-and-indias-urban-vulnerables/1915316/</a></em></div>
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<p>
For more details visit <a href='http://editors.cis-india.org/internet-governance/blog/after-the-lockdown'>http://editors.cis-india.org/internet-governance/blog/after-the-lockdown</a>
</p>
No publisherShyam PonappaTelecominternet governanceInternet Governance2020-04-09T10:05:49ZBlog EntryAfter Securing Net Neutrality In India, TRAI Goes To Bat For Data Privacy
http://editors.cis-india.org/internet-governance/news/huffington-post-gopal-sathe-july-16-2018-after-securing-net-neutrality-in-india-trai-goes-to-bat-for-data-privacy
<b>This will be a stop-gap measure before the creation of a privacy bill.</b>
<p style="text-align: justify; ">The article by Gopal Sathe was published in <a class="external-link" href="https://www.huffingtonpost.in/2018/07/16/after-securing-net-neutrality-in-india-trai-goes-to-bat-for-data-privacy_a_23483166/">Huffington Post</a> on July 16, 2018. Pranesh Prakash was quoted.</p>
<hr />
<p style="text-align: justify; ">Last week, the Department of Telecom gave the nod to net neutrality regulations, ensuring that there would be no discrimination of data at a time when the US is moving in the <a href="https://www.theverge.com/2018/6/11/17439456/net-neutrality-dead-ajit-pai-fcc-internet" target="_blank">opposite direction</a>. The net neutrality norms were based on the recommendations from the Telecom Regulatory Authority of India (TRAI) - which the BBC in November described as <a href="https://www.bbc.com/news/world-asia-india-42162979" target="_blank">the world's strongest</a> - but the regulator isn't celebrating right now - it's moved on to another equally important topic - privacy and data protection.</p>
<p style="text-align: justify; ">On Monday, TRAI announced its <a href="https://trai.gov.in/sites/default/files/RecommendationDataPrivacy16072018_0.pdf" target="_blank">recommendations</a> on privacy, security, and ownership of data in the telecom sector, and the 77 page document serves as the first major public guidelines on privacy and data protection in India.</p>
<p style="text-align: justify; ">TRAI has outlined a consent based framework, where users have to clearly choose what data is being used, which bears some similarities to Europes GDPR. TRAI noted that while the right to privacy should not be treated solely as a property right, it must be noted that the controllers of personal data are mere custodians without any primary right over the same. In other words, your data should belong to you, and not to Google, or Facebook, or any other company which holds your data.</p>
<p style="text-align: justify; ">"The Right to Choice, Notice, Consent, Data Portability, and Right to be Forgotten should be conferred upon the telecommunication consumers," TRAI recommended</p>
<p style="text-align: justify; ">In section 2.3, it also notes that meta-data is personal information and as such should be given the same protections. This is an important point given that even metadata can be used to track and identify people accurately. It also noted that there needs to be a right to be forgotten, and once you stop using a service it should not store your data beyond what's mandated by the law, according to section 2.46. Section 2.49 also allows users the right to withdraw consent, which means that even if people have given consent to gathering your data, users will be able to stop tracking on demand.</p>
<p style="text-align: justify; ">At the same time, TRAI also noted the stop-gap nature of its recommendations, and said, "till such time a general data protection law is notified by the government, the existing Rules/ License conditions applicable to the Telecom Service Providers for protection of users should be made applicable to all the entities in the digital eco-system."</p>
<h3 style="text-align: justify; ">Good, with some caveats</h3>
<p style="text-align: justify; ">Early reactions to the recommendations are largely positive. On Twitter, lawyer Apar Gupta, who is one of the founding members of the Internet Freedom Foundation shared some <a href="https://twitter.com/apargupta84/status/1018856500775841793" target="_blank">quick thoughts</a> about the recommendations. Describing this as a substantive document he called it "partly positive since it calls for interim safeguards", but added that the "form of some seems problematic."</p>
<p style="text-align: justify; ">On the plus side, he noted that many of the protections in the recommendations "focus on a user rights model, which includes notice, choice, consent, portability, deletion and erasure." He also praised the recommendations for not taking a view on data localisation, and that the protections need to apply to private as well as state entities.</p>
<p style="text-align: justify; ">However, he criticized the fact that TRAI is planning to impose license conditions on all OTT providers - that is to say, all third party services. He also noted that the recommendations did not directly address state surveillance. He also pointed out that an Electronic Consent Framework as described in the recommendations may "centralise consent requests thereby may end up generating more personal data and unifying them into a single portal managed by the govt/regulators."</p>
<p style="text-align: justify; ">"We are happy with the TRAI's recommendations on Privacy, Security and Ownership of Data as the regulator is calling for all digital entities to be brought under data protection framework. This would include all devices, operating systems, browsers, and applications and would be welcome stop-gap measure till rules and regulations of the telecom services providers are applicable to them," said Rajan Matthews, DG Cellular Operators Association of India.</p>
<p style="text-align: justify; ">"This will ensure, in prevailing circumstances, that the privacy of users is protected and maintained. National security and privacy issues are of paramount importance. Accordingly, the regulator by making this recommendation, is ensuring that no exception is made for any service provider, while subjecting them to the rules to meet the national security and privacy norms. However, this is our preliminary view and we will need to review the other recommendations to determine their implications."</p>
<p style="text-align: justify; ">Speaking in a <a href="https://twitter.com/ETNOWlive/status/1018849319300972544" target="_blank">television interview</a>, Pranesh Prakash, Policy Director at the Centre for Internet and Society, said he's still processing the document, but "on the face of it it seems good."</p>
<p style="text-align: justify; ">"There are still certain concerns I have which haven't been addressed. The telecom licenses themselves, which are issued by the Government of India, require a whole lot of data to be collected, metadata to be collected, by telecom companies. So I'm not sure how that requirement by the Government of India squares off with what is now being recommended by TRAI."</p>
<p style="text-align: justify; ">"Let me also point out that one of the things that TRAI says, and it might be exceeding its brief a little bit, is that it says this should not only cover telecom operators, but also device manufacturers, operating systems, application creators, and other kinds of software. What TRAI seems to want to do is actually quite a bit more than what I think the DoT has, or really ought to be doing. I really don't understand whether this will find any favour in the interim before the government decides to take up the Justice Srikrishna Committee report."</p>
<h3 style="text-align: justify; ">Justice Srikrishna committee report still due</h3>
<p style="text-align: justify; ">Although TRAI's recommendations are an important document, and will serve as stopgap privacy rules, India is also on the verge of a data protection and privacy bill, which will be based on the recommendations of the Justice BN Srikrishna committee on the subject. The committee was formed in August and was expected to deliver its report in June, but sources say that disagreements over the Aadhaar have caused some delays.</p>
<p style="text-align: justify; ">The committee is expected to send its recommendations to the government soon, at which point things could change, but for now, TRAI's recommendations are an important development as India moves to secure the privacy of its people.</p>
<p style="text-align: justify; ">Ahead of that though, you can read the full TRAI recommendations <a href="https://trai.gov.in/sites/default/files/RecommendationDataPrivacy16072018_0.pdf" target="_blank">here</a>.</p>
<p>
For more details visit <a href='http://editors.cis-india.org/internet-governance/news/huffington-post-gopal-sathe-july-16-2018-after-securing-net-neutrality-in-india-trai-goes-to-bat-for-data-privacy'>http://editors.cis-india.org/internet-governance/news/huffington-post-gopal-sathe-july-16-2018-after-securing-net-neutrality-in-india-trai-goes-to-bat-for-data-privacy</a>
</p>
No publisherAdminTelecomInternet Governance2018-07-29T05:28:20ZNews ItemAccessibility in the New Telecom Policy 2011
http://editors.cis-india.org/accessibility/accessibility-new-telecom-policy-2011
<b>Responding to the call for comments on NTP 2011, 27 organisations sent a joint letter requesting that accessibility for persons with disabilities be included specifically within the goals and objectives of the policy. The submission is available here. It deals exclusively with the issue of accessibility in telecommunications for persons with disabilities, which has been left out of NTP 2011. We outline below in some detail the rationale for including accessibility in the NTP.</b>
<h3>Demographic case</h3>
<p>The ‘World Report on Disability’, issued in June 2011 by the World
Health Organization in cooperation with the World Bank, estimates that
over a billion of the world’s population lives with some form of
disability.<a href="http://editors.cis-india.org/accessibility-in-new-telecom-policy#fn1" name="fr1">[1]</a></p>
<p>
According to World Bank estimates, 20 per cent of the world's poorest
people are disabled and are understood to be the most disadvantaged
sections of society.<a href="http://editors.cis-india.org/accessibility-in-new-telecom-policy#fn2" name="fr2">[2]</a> The global literacy rate for persons with disabilities was reported at approximately three per cent in 1998 by UNDP.<a href="http://editors.cis-india.org/accessibility-in-new-telecom-policy#fn3" name="fr3">[3]</a></p>
<p>Whether due to discrimination or an inability to work, the
unemployment rate amongst the disabled is very high, almost 80 per cent
in some countries. In India, while there are no accurate statistics on
the number of disabled or their access to ICT, education and employment,
it is commonly believed that the number of persons with disabilities
can be safely estimated to be above 70 million. Added to this is a vast
population of elderly and illiterate persons who are unable to access
mainstream telecommunications services as are available today.</p>
<h3>Legal case</h3>
<p>India has signed and ratified the United Nations Convention on the
Rights of Persons with Disabilities (UNCRPD) and is therefore obliged to
ensure the human rights under the UNCRPD, including those of education,
employment, to life and access to information and communication
technologies and to treat persons with disabilities on an equal basis as
others. Even under domestic law, our constitution recognises equality
and non discrimination as important guiding principles and under the
prevailing as well as new draft disability laws. We are committed to
ensuring access to information, ICTs and all other aspects of social
life which are essential to enjoy the right to life.</p>
<h3>Global best practices:</h3>
<p>Countries around the world, both developed as well as developing have
recognised the important role that ICTs play in connecting the
disabled, and also that special efforts and measures need to be taken to
promote accessibility of and access to telecommunications facilities
and services for persons with disabilities. For instance, Australia,
Argentina, Brazil, Canada, Chile, France, Japan, Malaysia, South Africa,
Sri Lanka, Sweden, USA, UK and many other countries in the European
Union have at least one if not multiple policies and legislations to
promote accessible telecommunications and these include both provisions
in mainstream as well as exclusive policies. Similarly at least 17
countries around the world have specific provisions for connecting the
disabled and providing services through their universal service funds.
Many of these countries have included the aim of connecting the disabled
as a goal in their national policies and then gone on to achieve this
through specific policy initiatives. It is important to identify this as
a national commitment within the policy to ensure adequate follow up.</p>
<h3>Challenges to disability access to telecommunications in India:</h3>
<p>Given below are a few key challenges impeding disability access to telecommunication and ICT services in India today:</p>
<ul><li>Unaffordability of telecommunications products and services for
persons with disabilities living below the poverty line and in rural
areas.</li></ul>
<ul><li>Unavailability of compatible assistive technologies in local languages and at affordable rates.</li></ul>
<ul><li>Absence of special enabling measures such as provision of
hearing aid compatible phones, priority assistance in repairs, low
tariff on basic telephony services, accessible services and customer
care,<br /></li></ul>
<ul><li>Absence of a national relay service and emergency service system.</li></ul>
<ul><li>Unavailability of low cost handsets in the market which are compatible with assistive technology.</li></ul>
<ul><li>Failure of mainstream programmes and initiatives to reach out to
persons with disabilities, for instance the Common Service Centres need
to be made accessible to all.</li></ul>
<ul><li>Inaccessibility of broadcast services: includes inaccessibility
of hardware like set top boxes which can at present not be navigated by
blind persons, as well as inaccessibility of TV programmes because of
lack of captioning and descriptions.</li></ul>
<h3>Recommendation</h3>
<p>Given that there is a lot which needs to be done to connect persons
with disabilities to the information society, we strongly urge the DoT
to clearly identify this as a national goal under the policy. Without
this, it will be difficult to ensure that adequate programmes and
policies are created to make telecommunications accessible and
universally available and persons with disabilities will be unable to
enjoy even the basic rights of life such as the right to health care, to
information, education, employment, recreation and many more. Finally
we would also like to stress that mention of accessibility in NPIT and
other policies alone will not suffice to ensure accessibility of telecom
services. While those do govern accessibility of web sites, standards
and content, the NTP will take care of accessibility of telecom services
like broadband and fixed and mobile telephony, as well as of products.
Given that today a large and ever increasing number of persons are
relying solely on mobile phones to communicate and transact, creating an
accessible<br />telecommunications environment becomes an inevitable priority goal.</p>
<h2>Annexure – List of Signatories</h2>
<ol><li>Accessability (Delhi)</li><li>Alternative Law Forum (Bangalore)</li><li>Andhjan Kalyan Trust (Gujrat)</li><li>Arushi (Bhopal)</li><li>Blind Persons’ Association(Ahmedabad)</li><li>Blind Relief Association (Delhi)</li><li>Centre for Internet and Society(Bangalore)</li><li>Daisy Forum of India(Delhi)</li><li>Deafway(Delhi)</li><li>Deaf Mutes Society (Ahmedabad)</li><li>Dr. Amrik Singh Cheema Foundation Trusts(Chandigarh)</li><li>Fourthway Foundation (Bangalore)</li><li>Indian Association for the Blind(Madurai)</li><li>Indian Institute for Assistive Technology(Mumbai)</li><li>Maraa (Bangalore)</li><li>Mitra Jyothi (Bangalore)</li><li>National Association for the Blind(Mumbai)</li><li>National Association for the Deaf(Delhi)</li><li>Saksham(Delhi)</li><li>Samrita Trust(Secundrabad)</li><li>Score Foundation (Delhi)</li><li>Sightsavers International (Mumbai office)</li><li>Society for Visually Handicapped (West Bengal)</li><li>Sruti Disability Rights Centre (Kolkata)</li><li>Technical Training Institute(Pune)</li><li>Third Eye Charitable Trust(Chennai and Kolkata)</li><li>Xavier’s Resource Centre for the Visually Challenged (Mumbai)<br /></li></ol>
<hr />
<p>[<a href="http://editors.cis-india.org/accessibility-in-new-telecom-policy#fr1" name="fn1">1</a>]http://www.who.int/disabilities/world_report/2011/en/index.html<br />[<a href="http://editors.cis-india.org/accessibility-in-new-telecom-policy#fr2" name="fn2">2</a>]http://www.un.org/disabilities/default.asp?id=18<br />[<a href="http://editors.cis-india.org/accessibility-in-new-telecom-policy#fr3" name="fn3">3</a>]Ibid.</p>
<p><img alt="" /> <a href="http://editors.cis-india.org/accessibility/accessibility-in-new-telecom.pdf" class="internal-link" title="NTP 2011">Click to download the file</a> [PDF, 182 kb]</p>
<p><em>The submission was made to the Department of Telecommunications,
Ministry of Communications & Information Technology, Government of
India on 9 December 2011.</em></p>
<p>
For more details visit <a href='http://editors.cis-india.org/accessibility/accessibility-new-telecom-policy-2011'>http://editors.cis-india.org/accessibility/accessibility-new-telecom-policy-2011</a>
</p>
No publisherpraskrishnaTelecomAccessibility2012-01-02T05:12:12ZBlog EntryA Road Map for Digital India
http://editors.cis-india.org/telecom/blog/organizing-india-blogspot-shyam-ponappa-december-4-2014-a-roadmap-for-digital-india
<b>India's current policies for telecommunications don't serve our interests. Here's what must change.</b>
<p style="text-align: justify; ">The article by Shyam Ponappa was initially published in the <a class="external-link" href="http://www.business-standard.com/article/opinion/shyam-ponappa-a-road-map-for-digital-india-114120301186_1.html">Business Standard</a> on December 3, 2014 and mirrored in <a class="external-link" href="http://organizing-india.blogspot.in/">Organizing India Blogspot</a> on December 4, 2014.</p>
<hr />
<h3 style="text-align: justify; ">Comprehensive, Integrated Strategy & Execution<i> </i></h3>
<p style="text-align: justify; ">India has been coasting along on a post-feudal-colonial mélange of currents and tides, with the brigandage of opportunistic politics fed by our (the voters’) greed for short-term benefits. The result is grotesque populism and corruption in lieu of the deferred gratification of pleasing cities and countryside with the appurtenances of proper governance: sidewalks and drains, toilets, transport, administration and order, hospitals and schools.<br class="Apple-interchange-newline" /><br /> We have to organize and manage ourselves, “engineer” our way ahead, taking active steps to build and develop our solutions, building systems and processes, and not just wait for things to happen. We need a comprehensive and integrated, systemic, silo-busting, problem-solving approach.<br /><br />This applies across the board in the broadest “spatial planning” sense that integrates housing and land use at all levels with commercial, industrial, cultural, scientific and educational activity, transportation, and all governance and infrastructure: water, sewerage, energy, communications, basic health and education. Infrastructure being the first level of enablement is the <span>essential starting point</span>.</p>
<h3 style="text-align: justify; ">The 2014 Election - National Democratic Alliance II (NDA II)</h3>
<p style="text-align: justify; ">Until the sweeping change resulting from the general election in 2014. The Modi-led BJP-dominated NDA government swept away the previous Congress government decisively, and seems set on making development the centrepiece of this stint in governing India.<br /><br />Previously, India’s leaders acknowledged repeatedly that infrastructure is India’s great need. Yet, they took no steps [Addendum: see below for the exception: NTP-2011 in October, 2011] to marshal forces to draw up a credible strategy and execution plan. This is what needed doing. Only good intentions and/or money won’t do, because delivery systems and processes have to be developed, i.e., planned, then built from scratch.</p>
<p style="text-align: justify; ">It looks like the NDA II will seriously address the development of enabling infrastructure. A beginning on a long way ahead.</p>
<p>
For more details visit <a href='http://editors.cis-india.org/telecom/blog/organizing-india-blogspot-shyam-ponappa-december-4-2014-a-roadmap-for-digital-india'>http://editors.cis-india.org/telecom/blog/organizing-india-blogspot-shyam-ponappa-december-4-2014-a-roadmap-for-digital-india</a>
</p>
No publisherShyam PonappaTelecom2014-12-28T01:25:32ZBlog EntryA Pathfinding Approach for Digital India
http://editors.cis-india.org/telecom/blog/business-standard-january-31-2017-and-organizing-india-blogspot-february-1-2017-shyam-ponappa-a-pathfinding-approach-for-digital-india
<b>It's not only the installation of the OFC, but of ensuring quality and reliability.</b>
<p>The article was published in the <a class="external-link" href="http://www.business-standard.com/article/opinion/shyam-ponappa-pathfinding-approach-for-digital-india-117013101475_1.html">Business Standard</a> on January 31, 2017 and reproduced on <a class="external-link" href="http://organizing-india.blogspot.in/2017/02/a-pathfinding-approach-for-digital-india.html">Organizing India Blogspot</a> on February 1, 2017.</p>
<hr />
<p style="text-align: justify; ">Most people believe an optical fibre cable (OFC) connection is necessary for broadband. While largely true, this is often financially viable only in urban agglomerations. What is less known is that trading companies use wireless links between New York and Chicago for high-speed electronic trades.<a href="#fn1" name="fr1">[1] </a>For people outside urban clusters, wireless is a less expensive alternative to fibre. They get only a few megabits per second, but realistically, ubiquitous broadband at 2 Mbps would be great.</p>
<p style="text-align: justify; "><span>Three factors are driving internet access and usage in India. An overriding factor is the growth of wireless devices and traffic as a global phenomenon. Cisco estimated in June 2016 that in 2015, wired access comprised 52 per cent of IP traffic, but would reduce to one-third by 2020, while wireless access would increase to two-thirds. This trend is reinforced by another factor: Innovation that lowers costs and improves performance in mobile wireless <i>(Chart 1)</i>.</span></p>
<p style="text-align: justify; "><span><b><span>Chart 1: Mobile Innovation Lowers Costs and Improves Performance</span></b></span></p>
<p style="text-align: justify; "><span><b><span><img height="208" src="https://3.bp.blogspot.com/-kklWnr7DWH4/WJIQfL4K8xI/AAAAAAAACrM/FWLSDxCA5aIvrxxlt7AQNRS66ob1WP8HQCLcB/s320/Mobile%2BInnovation%2BLowers%2BCosts%2B%2526%2BImproves%2BPerformance-Brookings.png" width="320" /></span></b></span></p>
<p style="text-align: justify; "><i><span><span>Sources: Cisco Visual Networking Index; International Telecommunication Union; IE Market Research; Motorola, Deutsche Bank; Qualcomm<br />Note: Data speed indicated the maximum downlink speed, not average observed speeds. The average observed speeds depend on many factors, including infra, subscriber density and device harware and software</span></span></i></p>
<p style="text-align: justify; "><span><span>The third factor is the combination of the geographic spread of our population, the concentration of broadband penetration (Chart 2), and the limited coverage of OFC networks. While major cities and their connecting links are covered by OFC, less populated and less commercially attractive areas between them are not. In hilly terrain, there is considerable difficulty in laying OFC, which extends far beyond cost. In urban areas, cost can be a deterrent because we lack reasonable, uniform charges for rights-of-way. Such procedures and practices are difficult to institute and enforce, but are essential for robust, viable OFC networks.</span></span></p>
<p style="text-align: justify; "><span><span><b><span>Chart 2: Broadband Penetration</span></b></span></span></p>
<p style="text-align: justify; "><span><span><b><span><img height="272" src="https://1.bp.blogspot.com/-dlwUGRQtTAo/WJIMAFROeHI/AAAAAAAACrA/L5okGjdonCcqmKpJEbmX0-wNZG0hg-IYwCLcB/s320/Broadband%2BPenetration-The%2BHindu-2016-08-25.png" width="320" /></span></b></span></span></p>
<p style="text-align: justify; "><span><span><span>Source: http://www.thehindu.com/sci-tech/technology/internet/The-India-wide-web/article14588938.ece</span></span></span></p>
<p style="text-align: justify; "><span><span><span>It's not only the installation of the OFC, but of ensuring quality and reliability. OFC networks in India apparently suffer from 12 to 14 cuts per km per month, whereas the international benchmark is 0.7 cuts per km km per month. Apart from more frequent repairs, the capital expenditure in India is nearly three times as high as in Australia or the US.<a href="#fn2" name="fr2">[2]</a></span></span></span></p>
<p style="text-align: justify; "><span><span><span>Estimates for installing OFC using standard procedures vary from about Rs 1 lakh to Rs 4 lakh per km. However, there have been attempts at getting costs down by radical changes in approach. For example, Andhra Pradesh considered an OFC installation of 22,500 km estimated Rs 4,700 crore. By stringing fibre overhead along electric cables, however, the estimate was cut to Rs 333 crore, reducing costs from Rs 21 lakh to under Rs 1.5 lakh per km. It remains to be seen how this network will perform in terms of quality and reliability. Also, wireless technology is needed to extend connectivity from the fibre to villages, and cellular network costs rise with less bandwidth. For instance, one estimate is that excluding spectrum costs, a network using 5 MHz costs nearly 70 percent more than using 20 MHz.</span></span></span></p>
<p style="text-align: justify; "><span><span><span>For all these reasons, we need concerted action to redesign our approach to broadband, covering the fundamentals of infrastructure, spectrum and market design. The exponential growth in mobile services has reached a plateau, and is complicated by the taint of the 2G spectrum scams. This has resulted in a mindset combining witch-hunting and paranoia in the press, the public, government departments, and the judiciary. This is not conducive for the coordinated, collective strategy and action that is required to extricate ourselves. Several proven wireless technologies are not permitted in India, although the Telecom Regulatory Authority of India has recommended their use. Methods to increase connectivity like those listed below are urgently needed, with requisite environmental safeguards such as the use of renewable energy.</span></span></span></p>
<ul>
<li><span><span><span>60 GHz (V band) wireless gigabit for short-haul; <br /></span></span></span></li>
<li><span><span><span>70 and 80 GHz (E band) for multi-gigabit backhaul up to 5 km;</span></span></span></li>
<li><span><span><span>TV White Space for the middle mile from the fibre to users in villages up to 8-10 km away in a single hop;</span></span></span></li>
</ul>
<p style="text-align: justify; "><span><span><span>Additional steps, e.g.:</span></span></span></p>
<ul>
<li>Increasing unlicensed spectrum in the 5.8 GHz band from 50 MHz to 80 MHz to enable 866 Mbps per channel, or more for gigabit capacity;</li>
</ul>
<ul>
<li style="text-align: justify; ">Enabling secondary sharing of spectrum bands such as TV White Space, which has the possibility of existing Indian IPR establishing domestic manufacturing and dominating this niche;</li>
</ul>
<p style="text-align: justify; ">It is evident that despite intense efforts by the people involved, our existing approach is simply not getting us to where we need to be. This has been repeated by government and private sector representatives many times. There’s no substitute for developing a sound approach, collectively and participatively, with professional facilitation, cutting across government, industry (operators and equipment providers), users, and the judiciary, to devise whatever solutions will deliver better results. We have to move away from adversarial deadlock.</p>
<p style="text-align: justify; "><span>A good way to begin is by accepting facts, and considering the evidence before dismissing points of view. For licensing, we know that government collections from revenue sharing far exceed the auction fees foregone (“<a href="http://organizing-india.blogspot.com/2016/04/breakthroughs-needed-for-digital-india.html" target="_blank">Breakthroughs Needed for Digital India</a>”). We have the experience of building other infrastructure such as roads and airports on revenue-sharing principles. We have to take a similar systematic, phased approach to designing and implementing broadband networks. Policies on infrastructure resource use including spectrum need to be rationalised, and the sector organised through participative path-finding and problem solving. We have to build national champions in manufacturing to keep costs affordable, for instance, using TV White Space. India could set the standard with its IPR and products where OFC is infeasible or unviable for connectivity to villages and rural clusters. Both the administrative and political leadership need to do this, working with all stakeholders, and not treating any of them as adversaries, or cronies.</span></p>
<div style="text-align: justify; ">
<div style="float: left; ">
<div style="float: left; "></div>
</div>
</div>
<p style="text-align: justify; "><span><b><span> </span></b></span></p>
<hr />
<p>[<a href="#fr1" name="fn1">1</a>]. ‘Information Transmission between Financial Markets in Chicago and New York’, Gregory Laughlin, Anthony Aguirre, and Joseph Grundfest, Cornell University Library, arXiv.org</p>
<p style="text-align: justify; ">[<a href="#fr2" name="fn2">2</a>]. Conference presentation, Sterlite, <a href="http://www.trai.gov.in/sites/default/files/Sterlite-Badri.pdf">http://www.trai.gov.in/sites/default/files/Sterlite-Badri.pdf</a></p>
<p>
For more details visit <a href='http://editors.cis-india.org/telecom/blog/business-standard-january-31-2017-and-organizing-india-blogspot-february-1-2017-shyam-ponappa-a-pathfinding-approach-for-digital-india'>http://editors.cis-india.org/telecom/blog/business-standard-january-31-2017-and-organizing-india-blogspot-february-1-2017-shyam-ponappa-a-pathfinding-approach-for-digital-india</a>
</p>
No publisherShyam PonappaTelecomDigital India2017-03-03T16:39:37ZBlog EntryA New Telecom Policy That Works
http://editors.cis-india.org/telecom/blog/business-standard-shyam-ponappa-august-2-2017-a-new-telecom-policy-that-works
<b>A sound NTP-2018 requires sustainable, integrated policies that address our realities. </b>
<p style="text-align: justify; ">First published in the <a class="external-link" href="http://www.business-standard.com/article/opinion/a-new-telecom-policy-that-works-117080201897_1.html">Business Standard</a> on August 2 and mirrored on <a class="external-link" href="http://organizing-india.blogspot.in/2017/08/a-new-telecom-policy-that-works.html">Organizing India Blogspot</a> on August 3, 2017.</p>
<hr />
<p style="text-align: justify; ">The government finally announced in July that a new telecom policy (NTP-2018) in consultation with stakeholders would be in place by March 2018. There’s been some jockeying for one-up statements thereafter, suggesting the risk of being sidetracked. The need for competent, supportive policies in the public interest must be focussed and driven, and not be allowed to fall prey to being hijacked by bluster, nor be diverted towards maximising government revenues, crony interests, or electioneering tub-thumping. <br /> <br /> A quick review of the sector and potential demand indicates what’s needed to fulfil our requirements. Telecom operators are saddled with Rs 4.6 lakh crore of high-interest debt. This has resulted from aggressive bids spurred on by spectrum auctions, aggravated by shrinking revenues and price wars. Meanwhile, urgent concurrent needs for network investment for greater reach and delivery, and for realising more of the potential for extensive and intensive usage, languish — for want of capital, enabling policies, and orderly markets. This has resulted in a crisis in what could have become the most successful communications market in the world. Instead, India’s communications sector is partly on the brink of collapse because of retrogressive policies and practices, unsustainable financial models, the fallout of scandal, and disruptive competition. <br /> <br /> The best way forward is for all government agencies, not just the Department of Telecommunications, to define objectives jointly, and devise policies through consultations to enable an effective and robust sector. Here are suggestions for what to aim for and what to avoid in developing NTP-2018. <br /> <br /> <b>Objectives for NTP-2018</b> <br /> <br /> <b>1. Networks: maximise capacity utilisation/throughput</b> <br /> <br /> Maximise the utilisation of networks by increasing throughput. This requires exploring alternative forms of organisation and management to exploit invested capital for public interest objectives, e.g., through consortiums, perhaps with government participation to ensure national security and the common good. Orderly markets are essential in communications (as in all infrastructure), and competition, while essential, is not constructive beyond a point, unlike in fast-moving consumer goods or non-capital intensive sectors. <br /> <br /> <b>2. Spectrum allocation and management: Maximise throughput</b> <br /> <br /> Maximise wireless throughput to facilitate connectivity, by: a) Making more spectrum available, (b) In large, contiguous bands, (c) At less cost. Explore pooled usage and secondary sharing of spectrum by operators/consortiums as appropriate (consult with operators and experts). <br /> <br /> <b>3. Financial approach: Use revenue sharing</b> <br /> <br /> Use revenue sharing to compensate for spectrum and network rights, usage, and all government charges, as was done with licence fees in NTP-99. <br /> <br /> <b>Pitfalls to avoid</b> <br /> <br /> <b>1. Palliative “default solutions”</b> <br /> <br /> It is easier to tinker with policies as they are than to undertake major systemic change. An easy way out would be to fall back on the received wisdom of competition and free markets, hoping to muddle through. For instance, the government set up an inter-ministerial group (IMG) to reduce financial stress in telecom. This group has apparently recommended extending payment schedules from 10 to 16 years, and cutting interest rates from 12 to 8 per cent.1 These sops could become the basis of NTP-2018, leaving the market to shake out, hoping consolidation will remedy inadequate coverage and delivery.2 This will merely reschedule operators’ payments over a longer period. The structural problems will remain, with insufficient network coverage, barriers to technology, less likely benefits from innovation such as “wireless fibre” and small cells with lower radiation, with hyper-competitiveness still a drag. <br /> <br /> <b>2. Rely on consultations and avoid preconceived ideas</b> <br /> <br /> Statements such as that NTP-2018<a class="storyTags" href="http://www.business-standard.com/search?type=news&q=ntp+2018" target="_blank"> </a>will be app-directed and not connectivity-directed appear inappropriate or misinformed. This is because connectivity remains our most critical need for more effective delivery of services. Connectivity is deficient not only in rural and semi-urban areas, but even in dense urban areas. In fact, ignoring connectivity is typical of India’s approach to and failure in building networks and infrastructure (incomplete systems because of gaps, or with stranded assets, or that fail in end-to-end delivery). Simply put, our requirement is for more user-access and backhaul/networks to enable higher, more widely available access and throughput. This is India’s communications infrastructure need, whether it is broadband or Narrow Band Internet of Things (NB-IoT). Everything else follows. Otherwise, it’s like trying to deliver more water without a network of pipelines, or more electricity without adequate distribution networks. <br /> <br /> <b>3. Anti-competitive disruption</b> <br /> <br /> While disruption is a reality in our communications sector, its jurisdiction has become contentious between the Competition Commission of India<a class="storyTags" href="http://www.business-standard.com/search?type=news&q=competition+commission+of+india" target="_blank"> </a>(CCI) and the Telecom Regulatory Authority of India<a class="storyTags" href="http://www.business-standard.com/search?type=news&q=telecom+regulatory+authority+of+india" target="_blank"> </a>(TRAI). The CCI reportedly asserted that the Competition Act<a class="storyTags" href="http://www.business-standard.com/search?type=news&q=competition+act" target="_blank"> </a>of 2002 defines “predatory price”, “dominant position”, and “relevant markets”, which fall in its domain, and that it has applied this framework over the last eight years across sectors including telecom.3 <br /> <br /> Turf issues are not unique to India, and have been resolved in many countries. Secretary General Pradeep Mehta of Consumer Unity & Trust Society (CUTS) points out that in 2011, a committee recommended amending the Competition Act to include mandatory consultation between the CCI<a class="storyTags" href="http://www.business-standard.com/search?type=news&q=cci" target="_blank"> </a>and sector regulators where necessary. <br /> <br /> A puzzling question if the telecom sector was in fact being monitored: Why was such disruption permitted? From press reports, it’s unclear whether there are no appropriate regulations, or whether the CCI’s and/or TRAI’s assessments of dominance and predatory pricing rely on precedents from developed economies without appropriate changes for our circumstances. To illustrate, consider the notion that market share is a key criterion for dominance, or Significant Market Power (European Commission). However, in a developing economy, a large conglomerate investing in a new sector could have SMP even with zero market share, simply because of its size and resources, and economic power (attributes in Section 19(4) of The Competition Act). The European Commission also mentions privileged access to financial resources, economies of scale and scope, and barriers to entry. <br /> <br /> A sound NTP-2018 requires sustainable and integrated end-to-end policies for our realities, not academic or silo-based orthodoxies. <br /> <br /></p>
<hr style="text-align: justify; " />
<p style="text-align: justify; ">Shyam (no space) Ponappa at gmail dot com <br /> 1: “Govt panel for sops to ease financial stress in telecom sector”, <i>BS</i>, July 25, 2017: <a href="http://www.business-standard.com/article/economy-policy/img-readies-sops-to-ease-telecom-stress-117072401632_1.html">http://www.business-standard.com/article/economy-policy/img-readies-sops-to-ease-telecom-stress-117072401632_1.html</a> <br /> 2: “Short-term turbulence”, <i>BS</i>, July 29, 2017: <a href="http://www.business-standard.com/article/economy-policy/short-term-turbulence-in-telecom-sector-117072900022_1.html">http://www.business-standard.com/article/economy-policy/short-term-turbulence-in-telecom-sector-117072900022_1.html</a> <br /> 3. "CCI tells Trai to consult it on predatory pricing, market dominance issues", BS, July 28, 2017: <a href="http://www.business-standard.com/article/companies/pricing-market-dominance-its-remit-cci-tells-trai-117072800069_1.html">http://www.business-standard.com/article/companies/pricing-market-dominance-its-remit-cci-tells-trai-117072800069_1.html</a></p>
<p>
For more details visit <a href='http://editors.cis-india.org/telecom/blog/business-standard-shyam-ponappa-august-2-2017-a-new-telecom-policy-that-works'>http://editors.cis-india.org/telecom/blog/business-standard-shyam-ponappa-august-2-2017-a-new-telecom-policy-that-works</a>
</p>
No publisherShyam PonappaTelecom2017-09-12T13:54:47ZBlog EntryA Megacorp’s Basic Instinct
http://editors.cis-india.org/internet-governance/news/outlook-february-8-2016-arindam-mukherjee-a-megacorps-basic-instinct
<b>Bolstered by academia and civil society, TRAI stands its ground against FB’s Free Basics publicity blitz.</b>
<p style="text-align: justify; ">The article by Arindam Mukherjee was <a class="external-link" href="http://www.outlookindia.com/article/a-megacorps-basic-instinct/296510">published in Outlook</a> on February 8, 2016. Sunil Abraham was quoted.</p>
<hr />
<p style="text-align: justify; ">Hours before the January 31 deadline for telecom regulator TRAI to give its opinion on Facebook’s controversial and expensive Free Basics pitch—which seeks to give India’s poor “free” access to certain partner websites—the consensus seems to be building up against the social media giant. “If there is cannibalising of the internet through services like Free Basics, the internet will be split; it will parcel out and slice the internet. Its future is at stake,” says a senior government official on condition of anonymity.<br /><br />In a climate where the tech-savvy Modi government is seen to be close to the online trinity of Facebook, Google and Twitter, TRAI’s defiant stance in favour of net neutrality stands out. There’s a lot at stake. India’s position becomes crucial as few countries in the world have clearly defined laws on net neutrality or have taken a stand on it. For Facebook, there’s a lot more at stake. India is its second-largest user base after the US (it is banned in China), so it is leaving no stone unturned. The massive Rs 300-crore electronic and print media campaign is an indication of that.<br /><br />TRAI sources say they are ready for any adverse onslaught and they are under no pressure from the PMO. The view gaining ground in government is that FB is trying to create a walled garden where it controls what people see and surf and what they can access online. While this will be offered to consumers for free—the technical term is differential pricing—the websites part of Free Basics will have to pay for being on the platform. Outlook’s queries to FB remained unanswered at the time of going to press.</p>
<p style="text-align: justify; ">At an ‘open house’ meeting to discuss TRAI’s consultation paper on differential pricing last week, regulator Ram Sevak Sharma stood firm against the barrage of pro-Free Basics opinions that flowed from FB, telecom operators and some members of the public. TRAI’s message was clear: FB’s tactics of moulding public opinion by stealth will not be acceptable in India. In the past few weeks, there have been bitter exchanges between TRAI and FB over the latter’s responses to a consultation paper on differential pricing.</p>
<p style="text-align: justify; ">TRAI’s defiant stand draws from an unprecedented show of strength by civil society against Free Basics and FB’s intentions. Says former Aadhar man Nandan Nilekani, “Free Basics is certainly against net neutrality. How can a solution be neutral, if it disproportionately benefits a particular website or business on the internet? Today, 400 million Indians are online. They came online because of the inherent value the internet offers. How can a walled garden of 100-odd websites provide the same value?”</p>
<p style="text-align: justify; ">What does Free Basics mean for PM Modi’s Digital India campaign? Being a walled garden, thousands of start-ups without adequate budgets to pay for such dedicated service will be forced to stay out of it. Similar questions are being raised about government services that are increasingly coming online. The concern is that all government traffic will have to pass through FB servers. The senior government official quoted above agrees, “In such a scenario, the government will have to approach FB to make its websites accessible on the free service which is neither desirable nor safe.”</p>
<p style="text-align: justify; ">The other fear is what happens to public data if it goes through a service like Free Basics. There is fear that a lot of government and public data will be put through Free Basics once government services start coming online. If Free Basics is for the poor who are also beneficiaries of government services, FB too can access this data. Says Prabir Purkayastha, chairman, Knowledge Commons, “FB says public service will be available through Free Basics but can public service be given through a private initiative? Public data is valuable and can’t be handed over to a private company.”</p>
<p style="text-align: justify; ">Few again are convinced by FB’s claim that Free Basics aims to make the internet accessible to the poor, with the many services offered through it. “The claim that the poor will get access to the internet is false,” warns Sunil Abraham, executive director, Centre for Internet and Society, Bangalore. “Free Basics gives access to less than 100 of the one billion plus websites on the world wide web. Those in the walled garden will be treated quite differently.”</p>
<p style="text-align: justify; ">What gives TRAI a shot in the arm is that, for the first time, academia has put its weight behind Free Basics opponents. In a signed statement, several IIT and IISc Bangalore professors have said that Free Basics won’t serve the purpose FB is proposing and is not good for the country. “The problem is the internet being provided (via Free Basics) is a shrunken and sanitised version of the real thing. Free Basics is not a good proposal for the long-term development of a healthy and democratic internet setup in India,” says Amitabha Bagchi, IIT Delhi professor and one of the signatories to the memo.</p>
<p style="text-align: justify; ">Of course, many of the experts <i>Outlook</i> spoke to say that the government, and not FB, should be responsible for providing free internet to the people. Says Parminder Jeet Singh, executive director, IT for Change, “The government is sitting on Rs 40,000 crore of USO funds. It can surely utilise that to provide a free basic data package to people in India. Basic government services and emergency services should essentially be free.” Nilekani is also in favour of the government providing free internet to people. “The internet is a powerful poverty alleviation tool.... Government can do a direct benefit transfer for data, a more market-neutral way of achieving the goal of getting everyone on the internet,” he told <i>Outlook</i>.</p>
<p style="text-align: justify; ">Legally, though, there may be issues in stopping FB from introducing its Free Basics platform in India. Says Singh, “Technically, the Indian government may not be able to stop FB from introducing Free Basics in India as it is just a platform. What the government has to do is to stop telcos from collaborating with it for free internet because Indian telcos, not FB, mediate access to the internet.”</p>
<p style="text-align: justify; ">The demand for the government and TRAI to come clean on net neutrality has reached fever pitch. Experts like Nilekani feel that net neutrality, which does not allow zero rating and differential pricing based on telcos looking at the contents of the subscriber’s data packets, should be enshrined in law through an act of Parliament, the way countries like the US have done. TRAI has also proposed two models where the internet is provided free initially and charged at a later stage and another where content providers and websites reimburse the cost of browsing directly to consumers. Both these proposals have not found favour with experts who say that these are unworkable and only the government should disburse free internet.</p>
<p style="text-align: justify; ">In any case, all this is a matter of detail—important, no doubt. The key question is, what happens to Free Basics if TRAI rules in favour of net neutrality and goes against FB? “This is going to be a long-drawn-out battle as FB will certainly challenge this in court,” says the government official. After spending Rs 300 crore on publicity, there is no way it will roll over and die.</p>
<p>
For more details visit <a href='http://editors.cis-india.org/internet-governance/news/outlook-february-8-2016-arindam-mukherjee-a-megacorps-basic-instinct'>http://editors.cis-india.org/internet-governance/news/outlook-february-8-2016-arindam-mukherjee-a-megacorps-basic-instinct</a>
</p>
No publisherpraskrishnaSocial MediaTelecomFree BasicsTRAINet NeutralityFreedom of Speech and ExpressionInternet Governance2016-02-04T13:53:05ZNews ItemA Market Structure for Digital India
http://editors.cis-india.org/telecom/blog/business-standard-october-5-2016-shyam-ponappa-a-market-structure-for-digital-india
<b> If delivery is priced below cost, communications services will be unsustainable and ineffective. The stress in the telecom sector is evident from the data. The market capitalisation of listed telecom operators has been stagnant since the 3G auction in 2010, while the government collected Rs 2.83 lakh crore of non-tax charges from them.</b>
<p style="text-align: justify; ">The article originally published in the <a class="external-link" href="http://www.business-standard.com/article/opinion/shyam-ponappa-a-market-structure-for-digital-india-116100501200_1.html">Business Standard</a> on October 5, 2016 was mirrored in <a class="external-link" href="http://organizing-india.blogspot.in/2016/10/a-market-structure-for-digital-india.html">Organizing India Blogspot</a> on October 9, 2016.</p>
<hr />
<p style="text-align: justify; ">In March 2010 before the auction, the capitalisation was Rs 1.84 lakh crore; in March 2016, it was Rs 1.71 lakh crore, with the BSE Sensex up nearly 60 per cent. A larger share of earnings has gone to government rather than shareholders, and also to banks as interest (Rs 2.08 lakh crore). The irony is that no operator has bid so far for the most useful spectrum bands on auction, 700 and 900 MHz. Uncertainties abound, and there are several questions.</p>
<p style="text-align: justify; ">Reliance Jio's entry, although expected, is a jolt. Will voice calls priced below mandatory interconnect charges be treated as being predatory or anticompetitive? The technicality is that Jio doesn't have high market share, apparently a criterion under competition law. Will this hold, given that Jio's entry has reduced total market capitalisation? Will delivery capability in terms of network size and/or market power from associated businesses be relevant criteria for dominance? What happens when Jio does have sizeable market share?</p>
<ul>
<li style="text-align: justify; ">On the face of it, lower prices seem better for users. Look more closely and it's not so simple, especially when you consider other services in India offered for free or at highly subsidised rates. One issue is the structure of a market that supports delivery below cost, and its quality of services/products. Another is the criterion that maximises social welfare that should drive government's policies. Is consumer surplus in the short term a reasonable criterion? As it happens, we have experienced markets with constrained consumer surplus for years. For example, in the category of infrastructure and essential inputs/utilities, we've had this approach towards fertilisers, electricity, petroleum products like kerosene, cooking gas and diesel until recently, water, and sewerage. We've also experienced this in our entire range of manufactured products earlier, when we had exorbitant import barriers. These experiences have been less than sanguine. The misuse of kerosene and gas, and the effects of diesel subsidies are prominent examples. The distortions that have set in, such as overuse of ground water and fertilisers, and the vicious circle with electricity and diesel generators, will be difficult to correct.</li>
</ul>
<p style="text-align: justify; "> </p>
<ul>
<li style="text-align: justify; ">Aren't there similar deleterious effects in communications from spectrum auctions and government charges that inflate input costs, and price wars that degrade investment capacity for network extension and delivery? As it is, the quality of services for voice and data is very poor. An essential resource for better connectivity is spectrum, yet government's approach to its management has been and remains inimical to its stated objective of achieving ubiquitous access of good quality. Governments make it difficult for operators to extend networks simply by not setting the right administrative policies. To quote Google Vice-President Caesar Sengupta: India is "a very large country with very little spectrum". It does not seem clear to our governments that broadband access through fixed lines for everyone is infeasible in the foreseeable future. Also, that unless radical changes are made, it is inconceivable that broadband servcies can be made available at prices and quality comparable to TV.</li>
</ul>
<h3 style="text-align: justify; ">The Triad of Interests</h3>
<p style="text-align: justify; ">Even if the criterion for public welfare is user benefits/consumer surplus, judging by price alone is simplistic, because it misses other aspects of service delivery that contribute to the cost-benefit package. One essential aspect is ubiquitous access. Another is effective, consistent service delivery, which requires quality, and stability. A third is the period or life cycle. It doesn't help if you have an inexpensive product or service today, and nothing tomorrow. The definition of long term also varies, depending on one's perception of the life-cycle cost of the product/service. For a user, it may be several years, or his/her life cycle. For a society, it may mean generations.</p>
<p style="text-align: justify; ">In addition to consumer benefits, other factors need to be considered from the perspectives of pragmatism and realpolitik. Realistically, a triad of stakeholder interests has to be balanced for a sustainable beneficial outcome. These are: consumer and producer surplus, and what might be termed "government interests" in the broadest sense defined below. The latter has been manifest in many global spectrum auctions, and although detrimental to the sector, is an aspect of reality that cannot be wished away. For example, our governments preferred rationing and auctions to more constructive approaches such as sharing infrastructure, and when the Supreme Court ruled that resources need not be auctioned, spectrum was excluded, which seems logically indefensible. For sustainable, consistent services, champions of all three criteria must partner to adopt mutually acceptable solutions.</p>
<h3 style="text-align: justify; ">Assumptions about Enabling Policies</h3>
<p style="text-align: justify; ">Certain basic amenities comprise the essential infrastructure that everyone needs to be productive and have reasonable well-being. To some extent, this is linked to reasonably high per capita income. Without it, broad access to good infrastructure is infeasible. It takes that level of organisation, institutions and investment, including its implications for developing and organising human capital, to build such capabilities, as in Organisation for Economic Cooperation and Development (OECD) countries. Emerging economies have to manage with lower order platforms, or a subset of higher order services combined with others of lower order. Prioritisation then becomes the key, and areas of emphasis have to be chosen. This is where the priority accorded to Digital India comes in. If digital systems are crucial facilitators for development and productivity, they need to be accorded that level of importance and effort, with substantive changes to policies.</p>
<p style="text-align: justify; ">The government sets the policies and incentives. Government here means not just the central government and the states' executives, but the gamut of regulatory and government agencies: the legislature, the regulators, and the judiciary. These agencies must converge and persuade public opinion to support action in the public interest. Ultimately, society has to pay. If delivery is priced below cost in communications, the services will be as unsustainable and ineffective as in other distorted sectors with freebies.</p>
<hr />
<p style="text-align: justify; ">Reference: <i> Krishna Kant: <a href="http://www.business-standard.com/article/economy-policy/spectrum-fees-leave-no-money-in-shareholders-pockets-116092701398_1.html" target="_blank">http://www.business-standard.com/article/economy-policy/spectrum-fees-leave-no-money-in-shareholders-pockets-116092701398_1.html</a>, Business Standard, September 28, 2016</i>. The author can be contacted at shyamponappa@gmail.com</p>
<p>
For more details visit <a href='http://editors.cis-india.org/telecom/blog/business-standard-october-5-2016-shyam-ponappa-a-market-structure-for-digital-india'>http://editors.cis-india.org/telecom/blog/business-standard-october-5-2016-shyam-ponappa-a-market-structure-for-digital-india</a>
</p>
No publisherShyam PonappaTelecomDigital India2016-10-10T02:09:06ZBlog EntryA lifetime of five years on the internet
http://editors.cis-india.org/news/dna-india-may-19-2013-subir-ghosh-a-lifetime-of-five-years-on-the-internet
<b>Centre for Internet and Society observes its fifth anniversary on Sunday.</b>
<hr />
<p style="text-align: justify; ">The article by Subir Ghosh was <a class="external-link" href="http://www.dnaindia.com/bangalore/1836745/report-a-lifetime-of-five-years-on-the-internet">published in DNA on May 19, 2013</a>. Sunil Abraham is quoted in this.</p>
<hr />
<p style="text-align: justify; ">Five years is a long time in the internet space. The past five years, certainly, has been. And so has it been for the Centre for Internet and Society that completes five years here.<br /><br />When a group of citizens got together to come under a platform called CIS five years ago, they had wanted to work on policy issues about the internet that had a bearing on society. They, in fact, still do; except that the new media space itself has undergone a metamorphosis. Five years ago social media was just starting off, few people had smart phones, and online speech was not a burning issue.<br /><br />Sunil Abraham, executive director of city-based CIS, affirms this, and goes on to assert: “Five years ago, privacy was not a mainstream concern. Today, many different actors and stakeholders are interested in the configuration of the draft Privacy Bill. We first warned the public about the draconian measures in the IT Act during the 2008 amendment. Four years later, many more people are familiar with problematic sections and are adopting various strategies to amend the Act and it’s associated rules.”<br /><br />Likewise, five years ago, people dismissed “shared spectrum” as a pipe dream; today “shared spectrum” is mentioned in the National Telecom Policy. CIS usually thinks ahead, and works on a range of issues.<br /><br />“For internet adoption in India to grow dramatically from the dismal statistics today, we need to ensure continued access to cheap devices and affordable and ubiquitous broadband,” says Abraham.<br /><br />“With Ericsson suing Micromax for Rs100 crore, the mobile wars have come to India. If we have to protect innovation in sub-100 dollar devices, we need to configure our patent and copyright policy carefully.”<br /><br />But since CIS works primarily on policy issues, shouldn’t it have been based in Delhi rather than in Bangalore? “We do have a small office in Delhi. But we are headquartered in Bangalore because we need to keep learning from technologists and the technical community,” explains Abraham.<br /><br />When an organisation calling itself the Centre for Internet and Society (www.cis-india.org) observes its fifth anniversary, it shouldn’t surprise anyone that many of the activities related to the anniversary celebrations (May 20-23) have precious little to do with the internet, and is more about society itself. And yes, an entire evening is devoted to Kannada. There’s a talk by Chandrashekhara Kambara on ‘Kannada in the modern era,’ and another by UB Pavanaja titled ‘From Palm Leaf to Tablet – Journey of Kannada’.<br /><br />“We are looking at the complete eco-system. For instance, during the digitalisation of TV in India, what will happen to the internet? Do TV promoting policies undermine the growth of broadband? On the second day we look at the connection between another older technology - cinema and the Internet.”</p>
<p>
For more details visit <a href='http://editors.cis-india.org/news/dna-india-may-19-2013-subir-ghosh-a-lifetime-of-five-years-on-the-internet'>http://editors.cis-india.org/news/dna-india-may-19-2013-subir-ghosh-a-lifetime-of-five-years-on-the-internet</a>
</p>
No publisherpraskrishnaAccess to KnowledgeDigital NativesTelecomAccessibilityInternet GovernanceOpennessResearchers at Work2013-05-20T09:04:28ZNews ItemA great start on Wi-Fi reforms
http://editors.cis-india.org/telecom/blog/business-standard-november-1-2018-shyam-ponappa-a-great-start-on-wifi-reforms
<b>The 5 GHz regulations are exactly what we needed for a start. But we need a lot more, and not only from the DoT.</b>
<p>The article was published in the <a class="external-link" href="https://www.business-standard.com/article/opinion/a-great-start-on-wi-fi-reforms-118103101734_1.html">Business Standard</a> on November 1, 2018 and mirrored in <a class="external-link" href="https://organizing-india.blogspot.com/2018/11/a-great-start-on-wi-fi-reforms.html">Organizing India Blogspot</a> on the same day.</p>
<hr />
<p style="text-align: justify; ">This item of detail is almost like magic. The MoC has done something splendid regarding Wi-Fi. Its 5 GHz spectrum regulations have everything we could wish for. But it’s a first step — only the first. Much more is needed to reap the benefits.</p>
<p style="text-align: justify; ">To put it in context, we now have a policy that enables effective broadband Wi-Fi hotspots, and profound changes in connectivity are feasible for the last mile in India, as in other countries. A high proportion of smartphone traffic abroad is over Wi-Fi. In the recent past, in the US it was around 70-75 per cent, while Japan was around 83 per cent, and Germany about 87 per cent.<a href="#fn1" name="fr1">[1] </a></p>
<p style="text-align: justify; ">Traffic is offloaded from licensed spectrum, freeing it up for re-use. We have 605 MHz added in the 5 GHz band to the existing 380 MHz for Wi-Fi, and a removal of restrictions on external usage as in the US, so Wi-Fi will have much greater capacity.</p>
<p style="text-align: justify; ">The ramifications, however, are ironic. These regulations could lead to a surge in economic activity, and consequent benefits from connectivity. But this will increase imports, which are already overboard on account of oil prices and technology imports, an aspect discussed later in this article.</p>
<p style="text-align: justify; ">The increased activities in network installation and ensuing benefits will vary depending on supporting ecosystems of policies and practices. This applies within the communications sector as also at points of interface with other sectors, such as electricity and finance. To illustrate, in communications, consider an unlicensed band in most markets including the US, the UK, and Europe, namely the 60 GHz V-band. Whereas the Federal Communications Commission (FCC) in the US delicensed 14 GHz in this band for “wireless fibre” called WiGig, India hasn’t done so. Instead, another WPC<a href="#fn2" name="fr2">[2]</a> notification in October delicensed only 500 MHz (61-61.5 GHz) at very low power. Devices abroad that use this band for 400-metre and 700-metre connections have channels of 2,000-2,500 MHz acting as wireless fibre links over short distances. These can’t be used here. Short-distance connections to Wi-Fi and wired networks in offices and residential, commercial and industrial complexes will need fibre or cable.</p>
<p style="text-align: justify; ">This policy link is missing, perhaps because operators oppose it. The user network traffic bypasses operators to the extent that Wireless Internet Service Providers (ISPs) and other entrepreneurs set them up and collect charges, whereas operators have paid huge premiums for the spectrum required earlier. A solution that enables commercial deployment by licensed operators would solve this problem, although ISPs would have to go through operators as before. Another alternative could be to have unlicensed access to public wireless networks owned and operated by BSNL/BharatNet/CSC, or by operator consortiums, on payment of service charges by operators and users.</p>
<p style="text-align: justify; ">Equally essential are aspects of ecosystems that are adjuncts from sectors such as power supplies, finances, and local manufacturing, for substantial and stable growth. So for convergence resulting in significant benefits, these are the kinds of problems that will have to be resolved:</p>
<ul>
<li style="text-align: justify; ">The power situation, with a conscious shift towards more distributed, renewable (solar and, in some areas, wind) energy, with changes comparable to Wi-Fi/5 GHz in policies and practices. </li>
</ul>
<ul>
<li style="text-align: justify; ">The financial system and non-performing assets (NPAs), including the steady revival of infrastructure projects. While dealing resolutely with malfeasance and fraud, nursing and reviving good infrastructure underlying the NPAs is crucial. A sorry plight, but if revivable infrastructure projects are allowed to fail, they end up as unproductive, wasted assets (a repeat of Dabhol), with negative multiplier effects. </li>
</ul>
<ul>
<li style="text-align: justify; ">The imperative for the domestic manufacture of equipment to reduce imports. This is going to be an escalating compulsion because of our market size, unless we develop solutions that help balance imports, such as a compelling tourism strategy (but just think of the complexity of the ecosystem elements that need improvement) or communications equipment exports (equally complex).</li>
</ul>
<p style="text-align: justify; ">Meanwhile, we are on a path committed to curbing demand to contain the deficit: Battening the hatches, tightening belts, and waiting for oil prices to fall /exports to rise, keeping a wary eye on the current account deficit (CAD) because of imports, and inflation. This pressure may persist for months, possibly even years, restricting growth. Aren’t there feasible, growth-oriented initiatives, tempered by not exceeding reasonable bounds, including the CAD?</p>
<p style="text-align: justify; ">The data on the CAD, capital formation, FPI inflows, and FDI are in the chart below.</p>
<p style="text-align: justify; "><img src="http://editors.cis-india.org/home-images/copy_of_Data1.png" alt="Data 1" class="image-inline" title="Data 1" /></p>
<p style="text-align: justify; ">CA: <a href="https://rbi.org.in/scripts/PublicationsView.aspx?id=18603">https://rbi.org.in/scripts/PublicationsView.aspx?id=18603</a> GFCF: <a href="https://view.officeapps.live.com/op/view.aspx?src=https://data.gov.in/sites/default/files/datafile/Table3.10.xls">https://data.gov.in/sites/default/files/datafile/Table3.10.xls</a><br />FPI Inflows: <a href="https://rbi.org.in/scripts/PublicationsView.aspx?id=13729">https://rbi.org.in/scripts/PublicationsView.aspx?id=13729</a> <a href="https://rbi.org.in/scripts/PublicationsView.aspx?id=18599">https://rbi.org.in/scripts/PublicationsView.aspx?id=18599</a> <br /> FDI Equity Inflows: <a href="http://dipp.nic.in/sites/default/files/FDI_FactSheet_29June2018.pdf">http://dipp.nic.in/sites/default/files/FDI_FactSheet_29June2018.pdf</a></p>
<p style="text-align: justify; ">A study of data from 2001 to 2016 of how the capital account and its components, the current account, and gross fixed capital formation affect each other concluded that sustained capital formation requires more foreign direct investment (FDI) relative to other flows.<a href="#fn3" name="fr3">[3]</a> FDI was found to have an indirect effect on capital formation, which was found to affect the current account. Debt portfolio flows and nonresident deposits financed the current account, but did not contribute directly to capital formation.</p>
<p style="text-align: justify; ">In Indonesia, a study of how the CAD affects exchange rates found that when it exceeds about 2 per cent of the GDP, the exchange rate depreciates over 12 per cent after a four-month lag.<a href="#fn4" name="fr4">[4] </a>Tracking such relationships in India would be useful for policy making.</p>
<p style="text-align: justify; ">Meanwhile, India’s large growth sectors are plagued by unsustainable economics. For sustained growth, they have to be organised more rationally, to generate profits for productive enterprises. Promising domestic sectors include electricity, communications, and aviation. Bypass strategies as in software and IT-enabled services won’t work, because these services are for domestic markets. They must generate profits without labour arbitrage, while balancing imports and exports, unless growth continues to attract foreign capital. Genuine reform as for Wi-Fi and 5 GHz spectrum with collaboration involving the private sector and governments modelled on the automotive sector are a possible way forward.</p>
<hr />
<p>[<a href="#fr1" name="fn1">1</a>]. Claus Hetting, October 2018: https://wifinowevents.com/news-and-blog/japan-83-of-smartphone-traffic-runs-on-wi-fi/; https://wifinowevents.com/news-and-blog/germany-wi-fi-carries-87-of-smartphone-traffic/</p>
<p>[<a href="#fr2" name="fn2">2</a>]. WPC: Wireless Planning and Coordination Wing, Department of Telecommunications</p>
<p>[<a href="#fr3" name="fn3">3</a>]. Ashima Goyal & Vaishnavi Sharma, September 2017: http://www.igidr.ac.in/pdf/publication/WP-2017-016.pdf</p>
<p>[<a href="#fr4" name="fn4">4</a>]. Nugroho et al, January 2014: http://bmeb-bi.org/index.php/BEMP/article/download/445/420/</p>
<p>
For more details visit <a href='http://editors.cis-india.org/telecom/blog/business-standard-november-1-2018-shyam-ponappa-a-great-start-on-wifi-reforms'>http://editors.cis-india.org/telecom/blog/business-standard-november-1-2018-shyam-ponappa-a-great-start-on-wifi-reforms</a>
</p>
No publisherShyam PonappaTelecom2018-11-30T16:43:14ZBlog EntryA Great Start (for the Modi government)
http://editors.cis-india.org/telecom/blog/organizing-india-blogspot-shyam-ponappa-june-5-2014-a-great-start-for-modi-government
<b>The National Democratic Alliance government has made a terrific start. Time will tell how this plays out, but it has begun decisively and set a sure tone.</b>
<p>The article by Shyam Ponappa was published in the <a class="external-link" href="http://www.business-standard.com/article/opinion/shyam-ponappa-a-great-start-114060401642_1.html">Business Standard</a> on June 5, 2014 and mirrored in <a class="external-link" href="http://organizing-india.blogspot.in/2014/06/a-great-start-for-modi-government.html">Organizing India Blogspot</a>.</p>
<hr />
<p style="text-align: justify; "><span>With such an unequivocal mandate, it would have helped to avoid jarring notes like the appointment of the principal secretary to the prime minister through an ordinance. Besides, the government has already shown wisdom in its actions in not rolling back the previous government's good schemes and in extending senior administrators' incumbencies.</span></p>
<p style="text-align: justify; "><span><span>If this wise approach continues to show in their thinking and action, greater support is likely from civil servants, citizens, and perhaps even opposition politicians, resulting in better outcomes. It's a question of pulling together towards common goals, or pulling in different directions. Think of the indecisive second term of the United Progressive Alliance (UPA), and recall that it was the Bharatiya Janata Party that stalled the functioning of Parliament on many occasions, including measures such as the induction of the Goods and Services Tax (GST). The general perception, however, was of a dithering UPA unable to coordinate and achieve results. In other words, impressions are more important than the reality of untidy facts.</span></span></p>
<p style="text-align: justify; "><span><span><span>This is why it's important that the PM and his team consciously create a good impression and carry people along. If they can do that, they are likely to achieve a great deal for us all. Instead, if they are perceived as heavy-handed, roughshod, and not going through due process, the salutary effects of exemplary leadership and governance are likely to be lost. The two-thirds who voted for others recently might well begin to converge, so that an opposition that is currently non-existent because it is dispersed, begins to coalesce. This could obstruct a high-handed government, or even try to pull it down. The result, as before, is likely to be irresponsible shouting matches and disruptive behaviour in Parliament that have stymied efforts to improve our lot.</span></span></span></p>
<h3 style="text-align: justify; "><span><span><span>The Tasks Ahead</span></span></span></h3>
<div style="text-align: justify; "><span>There's so much that needs to be done in so many areas to recover our growth prospects and potential that it is truly daunting. For instance, consider <a class="storyTags" href="http://www.business-standard.com/search?type=news&q=Infrastructure" target="_blank">i</a>nfrastructure, and take just one aspect of it: energy and power supply. This covers many things:</span></div>
<ul style="text-align: justify; ">
<li style="list-style-type: disc; "><span>The need to build electricity generation from all sources;</span></li>
<li style="list-style-type: disc; "><span>The supply of fuels, including the mining, transportation and pricing of coal, the development and pricing of hydrocarbons, hydroelectricity, nuclear fuel, and alternative energy sources;</span></li>
<li style="list-style-type: disc; "><span>The requisite transmission and distribution systems, and their finances; and</span></li>
<li style="list-style-type: disc; "><span>Issues related to retail pricing and collection in the context of our difficult legacy of unsustainable giveaways.</span></li>
</ul>
<p style="text-align: justify; "><span><br /><span>In addressing these, there are a couple </span></span><span>of priorities suggested for the </span><span>new government</span><span>:</span></p>
<p style="text-align: justify; "><span><span><b><span>1. Infrastructure & Digital Access</span></b></span><br /> <span><span>The government seems serious about infrastructure. The PM's 10-point guidelines to his ministers begin with infrastructure reforms, mentioning health, water, education, roads, and energy as priority areas, with a separate mention of e-auctions for transparency.</span></span></span><a href="#fn1" name="fr1">[1]</a> <span>Given this, one would expect that digital networks are an integral aspect of desirable infrastructure that provide people access to e-governance services. However, if digital networks are not mentioned specifically among the government’s priorities, their importance is likely to be lost in the ensuing activities. Meanwhile, the situation in the sector is complex and confusing, with conflicting demands from private sector contenders, state-owned operators MTNL and BSNL, I&B, and the Finance Ministry’s need for short-term revenues. This is why issues relating to communications infrastructure deserve to be addressed and resolved with high priority, and the government needs to explicitly recognise this.</span></p>
<p style="text-align: justify; "><span><b>2. Solar Power: Incentives & Promotion</b></span><span> <b><br /></b>A baffling aspect of our energy policies is why solar power has not become a centrepiece of our daily energy use. Much of the country gets so much solar radiation for most of the year that it should be an obvious focus for an energy-hungry developing economy. It should be possible, one would think (without knowing how simple or complex it would be to engineer the solutions), to use solar power when it is available, and grid power when it is not. The ministry of new and renewable energy had a scheme for partial capital reimbursement and soft loans for individuals and groups until the end of March 2014.<a href="#fn2" name="fr2">[2] </a>It doesn't appear to have been particularly successful.</span></p>
<p style="text-align: justify; "><span><span><span>Surely our priority should be to devise and implement schemes that actively encourage individuals and groups to invest in distributed solar generation for themselves? A long-term approach may require feed-in tariffs and grid modifications, as well as changes in administrative policies including taxes, to ensure (a) a significant increase in solar power (b) with more locally manufactured equipment. In the short term, an appreciable increase can result from enabling changes in rules and procedures, and the reimbursement of some capital costs combined with reduced excise and taxes.</span><br /><br /><span>The scope at the macro and micro levels is immense, encompassing multiple ministries that add up to a vast tangle, like an immense Gordian Knot. Add the other aspects of infrastructure, and the list seems endless: networks that are essential to enable e-governance and productivity through communications, transportation - e.g., rejuvenating the railways, disentangling the stalled process of building highways and roads, air and water transport, water supply and sewerage, and so on. All these have to be addressed within the constraints of the fiscal situation, inflation, restrained economic momentum, employment generation, budgetary limitations, and the reconfiguration of asset pricing to make financial returns attractive relative to property and gold without disrupting property values and the banking system. It will certainly help if our energies converge on the tasks focussed on realising the requisite goals, instead of being frittered away on disunity and fratricidal skirmishing.</span></span></span></p>
<p style="text-align: justify; "><span><span><span><span><span>Despite the daunting tasks ahead the prospects are solidly encouraging, because of a clearly mandated government. Another positive factor is the swing in votes favouring development over regressive caste and religious affiliations or hand-outs. This happened abruptly, without warning. If such tremendous change is possible so quickly, imagine what good leadership and honest governance could pull off with an inspired and supportive citizenry.</span></span></span></span></span></p>
<p>
For more details visit <a href='http://editors.cis-india.org/telecom/blog/organizing-india-blogspot-shyam-ponappa-june-5-2014-a-great-start-for-modi-government'>http://editors.cis-india.org/telecom/blog/organizing-india-blogspot-shyam-ponappa-june-5-2014-a-great-start-for-modi-government</a>
</p>
No publisherShyam PonappaTelecom2014-07-04T07:32:01ZBlog EntryA billion mobile users: new startup profiles and innovation insights from Mobile India 2016
http://editors.cis-india.org/telecom/news/yourstory-sneha-maselkar-and-madanmohan-rao-january-14-2016-a-billion-mobile-users
<b>The annual Mobile India conference, for which YourStory was the media partner, wrapped up recently in Bengaluru with a startup showcase and a wide range of insights on mobile innovation in India.</b>
<p>The blog post by Sneha Maselkar and Madanmohan Rao was first published in <a class="external-link" href="http://yourstory.com/2016/01/billion-mobile-users-startup-profiles-innovation-insights-mobile-india-2016/">Your Story</a> on January 14, 2016. Sunil Abraham was quoted.</p>
<hr />
<p style="text-align: justify; ">Chaired by professors V. Sridhar of IIIT Bangalore and D. Manjunath of IIT Bombay, the event’s theme was ‘The App Economy.’ (See <i>YourStory</i> coverage of the earlier editions of this conference: <a href="http://yourstory.com/2015/01/mobile-india-2015-10-tips/" target="_blank">2015,</a> <a href="http://yourstory.com/2014/01/tips-mobile-startups/" target="_blank">2014</a> and <a href="http://yourstory.com/2013/01/mobile-india-2013-conference-highlights-a-world-of-opportunities-for-startups-and-challenges/" target="_blank">2013</a>).</p>
<p style="text-align: justify; "><b>Mobile innovators</b></p>
<p style="text-align: justify; ">New products were presented by innovators like Pravin Bhagwat, Founder and Chief Technology Officer, <b>AirTight Networks.</b> The company is creating an app store based on ‘social WiFi,’ riding on Google+ and Facebook. A number of interesting startups like <b>IoTM2MSolutions</b> were also at the event<b>. </b>Founded by Ismail Zabihullahh in 2009, the 15-member team has a range of offerings in home automation, RFID biometrics, street lighting and smart parking solutions.</p>
<p style="text-align: justify; "><b><a href="http://yourstory.com/2015/11/innaccel/" target="_blank">Inaccel</a> </b>is a med-tech accelerator founded in 2014 by Siraj Dhanani, Vijayarajan and Dr. Jagish Chaturvedi. It address the needs, resource and skill gaps, and price-sensitivity of clinical markets, and helps startups conceptualise, design, engineer, and achieve regulatory certification. Its portfolio picks companies with a five-year horizon, in exchange for equity stakes.</p>
<p style="text-align: justify; "><b>Dataglen </b>was formed in 2014 by Deva P. Seetharam, Tanuja Ganu, Sunil Ghai and Rajesh Kunnath. It provides Internet of Things (IoT) data collection and management services, and provides an API for users to develop applications on a variety of computing platforms. The startup charges for data management services based on the volume of transactions and for any required customisation services.</p>
<p style="text-align: justify; "><b><a href="http://yourstory.com/2014/08/czar-securities/" target="_blank">Czar Securities</a> </b>was founded in August 2013 by Shikhil Sharma and Ananda Krishna. Two employees Deepankar Tyagi and Nakul Gulati joined in quick succession. The cyber security solutions company secures corporate IT infrastructure from cyber attacks. Offerings include ASTRA, an intrusion prevention system, as well as penetration testing and security audit services.</p>
<p style="text-align: justify; "><b>Infilect </b>was founded in April 2015 by Vijay Gabale and Anand Prabhu Subramanian. They are building an AI-enabled personalised fashion shopping assistant. The product, Photolect, helps in discovery, search and personalisation for online shoppers by parsing of photos. The product is in beta-test mode with several fashion experts evaluating its features.</p>
<p style="text-align: justify; "><b><a href="http://yourstory.com/2015/08/sattva-medtech/" target="_blank">Sattva Medtech</a> </b>was founded in 2014 by Vibhav Joshi and Sumedh Kaulgud. They are developing a next-generation fetal health monitoring device which leverages advanced sensors and algorithms. This device, called the Sattva Fetal Lite, has been designed and engineered for use in India and other low-and-mid-income countries; the team has raised an undisclosed amount in seed funding from InnAccel.</p>
<p style="text-align: justify; "><b>Coeo Labs </b>was founded in October 2014 by Nitesh Kumar Jangir and Nachiket Deval. It is a medical device company, developing products in the field of emergency and critical care. Offerings include a device to reduce chances of acquiring ventilator-associated pneumonia (VAP), and a mechanical CPAP machine (mCPAP) for transport of neonates with troubled breathing, from a resource-constrained setting to a neonatal ICU.</p>
<p style="text-align: justify; "><img src="http://editors.cis-india.org/home-images/Comsnets.png" alt="Comsnets" class="image-inline" title="Comsnets" /></p>
<p style="text-align: justify; "><b>IoT scenarios</b></p>
<p style="text-align: justify; ">Over a dozen experts from India and the US discussed the latest mobile trends in a day of packed panel sessions and keynotes. Interface design, usable security and systems integration are key success factors for IoT, according to Henning Schulzrinne, Professor at Columbia University, and CTO, United States Federal Communications Commission. Consumer and industrial IoT scenarios differ with respect to predictability, redundancy, energy consumption and interoperability.</p>
<p style="text-align: justify; ">He pointed out categories and uses cases of high IoT impacts: automation of manual data extraction (metering), remote maintenance (vending machines), extraction of additional information (thermostats) and software-defined mechanics (locks, switches).</p>
<p style="text-align: justify; ">“IoT networks won’t operate just on mobile carriers, but also on other networks such as Zigbee and Bluetooth,” Henning explained. The Internet itself will be transformed by IoT. “Protocols matter, programmability matters more,” he added. The Internet is becoming more than the Internet protocol; plug-and-play is becoming augmented by plug-and-programme in the IoT world.</p>
<p style="text-align: justify; "><b>The ‘DNA’ of apps</b></p>
<p style="text-align: justify; ">The proliferation of apps can lead to the rise of localised app stores in local languages, said Chinnu Senthilkumar, CTO, Exfinity Ventures, pointing to Korea as an example in this regard. “Many apps are local. How well do you know the digital literacy of your neighbourhood users,” he asked.</p>
<p style="text-align: justify; ">Most apps in India are of the ‘me-too’ type; developers need to incorporate better user experience (UX) and bring in more cross-disciplinary experience (see earlier insights from the <a href="http://yourstory.com/2015/10/magical-times-design-entrepreneur-10-tips-ux-india-2015/" target="_blank">UX India 2015 conference</a> and <a href="http://yourstory.com/2015/10/design-startups-national-product-conclave/" target="_blank">NASSCOM NPC 2015</a>). “Security is still an afterthought in app development,” cautioned Chinnu.</p>
<p style="text-align: justify; ">“You need to figure out the DNA of the mobile experience: Device, Network, App,” explained Amar Nagaram, Director, Mobile Engineering, Flipkart. The e-commerce giant classifies devices into four broad categories, and its app design factors in the app size, data stored on the device, and computational power of the device.</p>
<p style="text-align: justify; ">Battery requirements of the device and packet drop rates on mobile networks are major constraints on app performance in India. Online shopping lets users interact with catalogues as well as product experts.</p>
<p style="text-align: justify; ">“I had to unlearn a lot of things from the Internet world which may not apply in a similar manner to the app world. For example, not all older versions of apps need to be supported,” explained Amar.</p>
<p style="text-align: justify; ">“Ask yourself, what does your app do for consumers?” advised Pradeep Nair, Co-Founder and CEO, Confianzys. Developers should be looking not at product-market fit, but market-product fit. “Industries die because of their myopia; they focus on past products and not future consumer needs,” he said, urging developers to track-long term megatrends as well.</p>
<p style="text-align: justify; "><b>Telcos’ role in the App Economy</b></p>
<p style="text-align: justify; ">The telecommunications world is changing rapidly due to trends like IoT, new breeds of apps, video boom and Big Data, observed Ishwardutt Parulkar, Cisco Distinguished Engineer. Telcos are struggling to get new drivers for existing services, new revenue sources, and new sources of consumer loyalty.</p>
<p style="text-align: justify; ">“Telcos need to provide APIs to developers for embedding telco services and network analytics data. Telcos can also play a bigger role in mobile advertising, for example network-wide ad blocking, as in the case of Jamaica,” advised Ishwardutt. Telcos can exploit synergy with cloud services, and resell SaaS products bundled with telco products.</p>
<p style="text-align: justify; ">“We are witnessing major waves of disruptive innovation today: the rise from oblivion to the top is rapid – and so is the fall from the top,” said SR Raja, Associate Vice President, Persistent Systems. Many incumbents tend to suffer from ignorance, inertia, and the inability to do little more than tweak or tinker with existing offerings.</p>
<p style="text-align: justify; ">There is a Moore’s Law variant for all architecture components, including programming languages. Hence, telcos need to master new business models blending product and service, advised Raja. “Even regulated industries can be disrupted from outside – look at Uber and Tesla. Will telcos experiment with surge pricing like Uber, or become IoT solutions systems integrators,” he asked. For example, operator O2 has used mobile identity to launch its own messaging OTT app, and Vodafone is getting into IoT services.</p>
<p style="text-align: justify; "><b>Operators and Net Neutrality</b></p>
<p style="text-align: justify; ">The Mobile India conference took place with the backdrop of a heated battle over Net Neutrality between Facebook’s Free Basics and Internet activists from India, which has received a lot of <a href="http://yourstory.com/2015/12/2015-roundup-international-media-india-startups/" target="_blank">media coverage</a> in India and overseas.</p>
<p style="text-align: justify; ">This calls for the digital media community and entrepreneur ecosystem to pay attention to complex but important issues such as Internet governance. “The next billion users in India may be very different from the current billion, in terms of geography, language and access device,” observed Samiran Gupta, Head-India, Internet Corporation for Assigned Names and Numbers (ICANN).</p>
<p style="text-align: justify; ">ICANN’s objective is to maintain inter-operability of the Internet, and there is a unique opportunity for emerging economies to play a stronger role in Internet governance, in issues such as local languages and scripts.</p>
<p style="text-align: justify; "><b>Regulation and digital innovation</b></p>
<p style="text-align: justify; ">Regulators have major challenges ahead in juggling the needs of multiple stakeholders and demands for different slices of spectrum. “There are 43 different kinds of radio-communication services competing for spectrum,” said Pavan Garg, Former Wireless Adviser, GoI, and former Member, Radio Regulations Board, ITU, Geneva.</p>
<p style="text-align: justify; ">Regulators need to become much more savvy on the kind of collusions possible between industry heavyweights, according to Sunil Abraham, Executive Director, Centre for Internet and Society.</p>
<p style="text-align: justify; ">If India gets its IP regime correct, the local language content economy can be boosted, in addition to other civic benefits. For example, giving anonymised data access to independent researchers has helped LIRNEasia come up with better transportation design in Sri Lanka.</p>
<p style="text-align: justify; ">The discussion covered a wide range of interesting possibilities. In the EU, it is mandated that all mobile phones be able to display all European languages. Can India do the same for local languages? Will regulation promote support for Indic language technology on mobiles, or should this be left purely to the market? Organisations such as the Telecommunications Standards Development Society, India (<a href="http://www.tsdsi.org" target="_blank">TSDSI</a>) is working on Indian language standards in ICTs.</p>
<p style="text-align: justify; ">The app economy can indeed be accelerated with proactive government intervention, said Parnil Urdhwareshe, Research Assistant at ICRIER and co-author of a report on ‘Impact of India’s App Economy.’ India’s app ecosystem could be worth Rs 2,000 crore in 2016; it created about 75,000 direct jobs in 2015, according to the report.</p>
<p style="text-align: justify; ">The government can pass regulations on apps covering privacy, Net Neutrality and safety, eg. SoS buttons, medical apps. The <a href="https://ico.org.uk" target="_blank">UK government</a> has drawn up a range of app guidelines covering issues such as in-app purchases.</p>
<p style="text-align: justify; ">“Design in India is more important than Make In India,” said Vipin Tyagi, Executive Director, C-DOT, drawing attention to issues of participatory design and citizen-centric services rather than only one-way top-down initiatives from government and large industry players.</p>
<p style="text-align: justify; "><img src="http://editors.cis-india.org/home-images/MobileIndia.png" alt="Mobile India" class="image-inline" title="Mobile India" /></p>
<p style="text-align: justify; "><b>The road ahead</b></p>
<p style="text-align: justify; ">Broadband penetration in India is only 10 per cent. By 2018, video will be 62 per cent of India’s mobile data traffic, and there will be 526 million Internet users, according to Anil Kaushal, Member, Telecom Regulatory Authority of India (TRAI).</p>
<p style="text-align: justify; ">The government’s BharatNet initiative aims to connect 2,50,000 Gram Panchayats across the country. TRAI has given recommendations for Virtual Network Operators, wherein niche players can offer Smart City services.</p>
<p style="text-align: justify; ">In addition to regulators, operators and developers, success of the app economy also rests on responsible user behaviour, said Deepak Maheshwari, Head-Government Affairs, Symantec. “Be more active with respect to data encryption on your device. Use multi-factor authentication,” he advised.</p>
<p style="text-align: justify; ">Seventy per cent of India’s population lives in villages; digital innovation will help bring education and healthcare to them, said Vimal Wakhlu, Chairman & Managing Director, TCIL. There are also global extensions and markets for Indian innovations, such as the Pan-African E-Network targeted at 53 countries. There are major uses of ICTs across India, such as monitoring the cleaning of the Ganges as well as water gate management in Gujarat, Vimal added.</p>
<p style="text-align: justify; ">“India needs to mandate telecom infrastructure in real estate development and town planning. Digital media will change the way we learn and earn,” said T.R. Dua, Director General, Tower and Infrastructure Providers Association (TAIPA) India, and Co-Chair ITU APT Foundation of India.</p>
<p>
For more details visit <a href='http://editors.cis-india.org/telecom/news/yourstory-sneha-maselkar-and-madanmohan-rao-january-14-2016-a-billion-mobile-users'>http://editors.cis-india.org/telecom/news/yourstory-sneha-maselkar-and-madanmohan-rao-january-14-2016-a-billion-mobile-users</a>
</p>
No publisherpraskrishnaTelecomInternet Governance2016-01-17T15:13:42ZNews Item“OTTs Eating Into Our Revenue”: Telcos in India
http://editors.cis-india.org/telecom/blog/otts-eating-into-our-revenue-telcos-in-india
<b>On August 5, 2014, the Telecom Regulatory Authority of India organised a seminar on a regulatory framework for Over-The-Top services. This is a lay discussion of the Seminar and its focus on matters crucial to telecom, the Internet and the existing regulatory framework.</b>
<p style="text-align: justify; ">On Tuesday, the Telecom Regulatory Authority of India (TRAI) held a seminar to initiate discussion on potential regulation of “over the top” services (OTTs) in India. TRAI organized the seminar to “understand perspectives of all stakeholders involved”, following grievances of telcos that OTTs are eating into their revenues and free-riding on their networks. In fact, a letter from the Cellular Operators Association of India (COAI) to TRAI outlines these concerns excellently. The letter, which I had the opportunity to see in print, objects that telcos take the trouble of laying and maintaining networks, while rapidly mushrooming OTTs eat into their revenue. Whatsapp, Skype and alternatives to paid text-and-call find particular mention in the COAI’s letter, and the COAI President Vikram Tiwathia was vociferous in his iteration of operators’ concerns. With VOIP and other OTTs replacing telco services, telcos are rapidly losing large parts of their revenue, he said.</p>
<p style="text-align: justify; ">I don’t mean to brush their concerns aside, of course. However, there is a need to consider in depth certain questions with statistical, regulatory and principled exploration. As Dr. Rajat Kathuria of <a href="http://www.icrier.org/">ICRIER</a> said at the Seminar’s first session, we need to evaluate whether there’s a need for regulation in the first place. This includes exploring whether the answer lies in <i>deregulation</i>, as Suhaan Mukerji of <a href="https://www.linkedin.com/company/plr-chambers">PLR Chambers</a> and Subho Ray of <a href="http://www.iamai.in/">IAMAI</a> emphasized separately. Our solution, as Mr. Ray said, should not be to chain the free OTTs just because we are in chains ourselves. Unchaining telcos from their stringent licensing and other regulations may be more appropriate.</p>
<p style="text-align: justify; ">The Seminar was attended by telcos, OTTs, civil society and other stakeholders, and the frank exchange of views at the PHD Chamber of Commerce was heartening. While telcos in the room were broadly open to OTT innovation upon their networks (Mr. T.V. Ramachandran of <i>Vodafone</i> was particularly vocal on this), there exists a broadly reactionary loss-of-footing and apprehension over their current and projected revenue loss. Mr. C.S. Rao of <i>Reliance</i> was spot on when he said that telcos are afraid that what’s worked for them so far may not work in the future.</p>
<p style="text-align: justify; ">We’ve seen examples of such fear of incumbent operators before. In the early 1990s, the invention and spread of the Internet displaced appliancized, bundled models of telco services, and telcos were similarly unwelcoming. Indeed, AT&T went to court to fight the introduction of the Carterfone. In India, the falling demand for VAS today, and OTT-response to consumer demand, fosters such fear.</p>
<p style="text-align: justify; ">But accounting for OTTs’ lack of consumer servicing or responsibility for monetization models, what was of chief concern at the TRAI Seminar was the predominant focus on revenue. Telco profitability and their incentives for investment <i>are</i> important. Increasing supply side costs, with the government seeking to maximize revenue from spectrum allocation and demands of lower consumer prices, <i>might</i> be throttling current telco business models. We’d need to analyse data usage charges and projected mobile broadband penetration, in comparison with voice penetration, to be clear about the extent of such strangulation. But if the answer to failing telco business lies in further regulation and potential strangling of innovation, that’s a concern.</p>
<p style="text-align: justify; ">That’s in two ways. <i>First</i>, it isn’t merely the NetFlix or Google or Apple that populate the app economy. Raman Chima (ironically of Google) offered the example of Slideshare in Okhla, Delhi as one of the many successful Indian micro-multinationals. There are many others across India. <i>Second</i>, India’s current telecom regulatory model is unfit for a data/Internet content model. There’s a need, Suhaan Mukerji and Mahesh Uppal of <a href="http://in.linkedin.com/pub/com-first-india-pvt-ltd/76/268/186">ComFirst</a> pointed out, to rethink our strict telecom licensing regime. We should begin to think, at least, of a vertically integrated <i>layered</i> model of telecom regulation that regulates on the basis of <i>function</i>.</p>
<p style="text-align: justify; ">These layers are integral to Internet architecture: network, transport, application. OTTs lie at the application layer, while telcos operate at the network and transport layers. It may be inefficient to utilize failures at one layer to regulate or share revenue of companies at other layers – that would stunt competition and innovation. A reconfigured licensing regime, permitting telcos to innovate more (someone at the Seminar said security clearances take years, while OTTs need no such clearance) might be more efficient and beneficial for all stakeholders involved – not least the disempowered individual consumers.</p>
<p style="text-align: justify; ">That’s my sense of the Seminar. Profitability and incentives are crucial. But they are crucial <i>insofar</i> as they benefit consumers – with access, choice, freedom of speech, security and privacy. Revenue sharing or partnership models, which were mentioned far too many times by multiple speakers without <i>sufficient</i> justification or elaboration, may not be ideal for any of us in the long term. But these are issues we – and TRAI – should consider while debating a regulatory framework.</p>
<p style="text-align: justify; ">Underlying infrastructure has an impact on our fundamental freedoms such as speech – the Supreme Court’s decisions in <i>Sakal Papers </i>and <i>Express Newspapers</i> makes that clear. Fast-paced innovation and the boundary-less benefits of a single, interoperable Internet have pushed us to favour security against freedoms. But every model we consider today – ad-based monetization, big data analytics – have implications that the NSA’s mass, cross-border surveillance has highlighted. Since TRAI is rethinking our regulatory framework for telecom and the Internet – and I envisage this going into a constructive consultation in the near future – these issues must inform its analysis and conclusions.</p>
<p style="text-align: justify; ">For more, read <a href="http://www.medianama.com/2014/08/223-siddhartha-roy-hungama-net-neutrality-ott-telecom/">Nikhil Pahwa’s report</a> over at MediaNama.</p>
<p>
For more details visit <a href='http://editors.cis-india.org/telecom/blog/otts-eating-into-our-revenue-telcos-in-india'>http://editors.cis-india.org/telecom/blog/otts-eating-into-our-revenue-telcos-in-india</a>
</p>
No publishergeethaTelecomTRAI, OTT2014-09-10T05:36:37ZBlog Entry22 nieuwe leden voor Partnership on AI
http://editors.cis-india.org/internet-governance/news/telecom-paper-may-17-2017-22-nieuwe-leden-voor-partnership-on-ai
<b>Partnership on AI, een non-profit organisatie ter bevordering van het algemeen begrip van kunstmatige intelligentie en de ontwikkeling van best practices, heeft 22 nieuwe leden aangekondigd.</b>
<p style="text-align: justify; ">The news was <a class="external-link" href="https://www.telecompaper.com/nieuws/22-nieuwe-leden-voor-partnership-on-ai--1196287">published by Telecom Paper</a> on May 17, 2017.</p>
<hr style="text-align: justify; " />
<p style="text-align: justify; ">Tot de nieuwe leden behoren eBay, Intel, McKinsey & Company, Salesforce, SAP, Sony, Zalando, Cogitai, Allen Institute for Artificial Intelligence, AI Forum of New Zealand, Center for Democracy & Technology, Centre for Internet and Society – India, Data & Society Research Institute, Digital Asia Hub, Electronic Frontier Foundation, Future of Humanity Institute, Future of Privacy Forum, Human Rights Watch, Leverhulme Centre for the Future of Intelligence, UNICEF, Upturn, en de XPRIZE Foundation. Partnership on AI werd vorig jaar september opgericht. Tot de oprichters behoren onder meer Amazon, Facebook, IBM, Microsoft, Google DeepMind en Apple.</p>
<p>
For more details visit <a href='http://editors.cis-india.org/internet-governance/news/telecom-paper-may-17-2017-22-nieuwe-leden-voor-partnership-on-ai'>http://editors.cis-india.org/internet-governance/news/telecom-paper-may-17-2017-22-nieuwe-leden-voor-partnership-on-ai</a>
</p>
No publisherpraskrishnaTelecomInternet Governance2017-05-19T06:54:20ZNews Item5G Technologies Workshop by IEEE
http://editors.cis-india.org/telecom/news/5-g-technologies-workshop
<b>The workshop was organized by IEEE Communications Society, Bangalore Chapter, at Bangalore on May 22 and 23, 2015. Rohini Lakshané attended the workshop.</b>
<p><a class="external-link" href="http://cis-india.org/telecom/news/5-g-workshop-schedule.pdf"><strong>Download the programme schedule</strong></a></p>
<p>
For more details visit <a href='http://editors.cis-india.org/telecom/news/5-g-technologies-workshop'>http://editors.cis-india.org/telecom/news/5-g-technologies-workshop</a>
</p>
No publisherrohiniTelecom2015-08-29T14:10:03ZNews Item