The Centre for Internet and Society
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These are the search results for the query, showing results 291 to 305.
Understanding Spectrum
http://editors.cis-india.org/telecom/blog/understanding-spectrum
<b>What is spectrum and how do government and commercial decisions on this scientific phenomenon affect public facilities and costs? Shyam Ponappa examines this in his latest blog published in the Business Standard on March 4, 2010.</b>
<p>Twenty years ago, “spectrum” implied the colours of the rainbow. Now, we understand that spectrum also relates to mobile phones. We encounter spectrum daily, in TV remote controls, microwave ovens, even sunlight. So, what exactly is spectrum, and how do government and commercial decisions on this scientific phenomenon affect public facilities and costs?</p>
<p>“Spectrum” is short for “electromagnetic spectrum”, the range of radiated energies that envelop the Earth. This electromagnetic radiation (EMR) is primarily from the sun, and secondarily from the stars/cosmos, radioactive elements in soil, rock and gases... .</p>
<p>One section of EMR is visible light; another is radio frequency (RF) spectrum. There are many other “wavelengths” in EMR with different characteristics and effects, such as infrared and ultraviolet rays. All countries have the same RF spectrum in equivalent areas.</p>
<h3>How is spectrum used?</h3>
<p>The length of a wave, its associated frequency (“wavelengths” or “cycles” per second) and energy determine its usage (see <a href="http://editors.cis-india.org/advocacy/telecom/understanding" class="internal-link" title="Spectrum">Figure 1</a>).</p>
<ol><li>Radio waves are relatively long, with wavelengths from 1,000 metres (1 km) to 10 cms, and frequencies from 3 kilohertz (3,000 cycles per second) to 3 gigahertz (GHz) or 3 billion cycles per second for the shortest, sometimes also called microwaves. (There are longer waves, e.g., electric power, of several km.)</li><li>Microwaves in the centimetre and millimetre range can have frequencies up to 300 GHz. There is an overlap in terminology depending on use; microwaves for cooking use several hundred watts of electricity at RF wavelengths of about 32 cms (915 MHz) and 12 cms (2.45 GHz). Microwaves from low-powered devices of a few watts at these frequencies are used for communications, and emit insignificant heat.</li><li>Infrared waves are smaller, and are felt as heat, e.g., from lamps and infrared grills used for cooking. Higher infrared bands used for communications in remote control devices and for imaging/night vision have no heating effect.</li><li>Wavelengths between 700 and 400 nanometres (about 430 to 750 terahertz or THz) form the visible spectrum from red to violet, combining to form white light. For example, we perceive wavelengths of about 635-700 nm (430-480 THz) as the colour red.</li><li>Shorter wavelengths form ultraviolet rays, of which those around 380-280 nm cause sunburn. Sunlight at sea level comprises about 53 per cent infrared, 44 per cent visible light, and 3 per cent ultraviolet rays.</li><li>Yet smaller waves are classified as X-rays, and the smallest as gamma rays, both used in medical and industrial imaging.<br /></li></ol>
<h3>The sweet spot in the RF spectrum for telephony and the Internet</h3>
<p>For telephony and broadband, lower frequencies (700-900 MHz) are most cost-effective, as they traverse long distances without attenuation, penetrating walls and foliage. Radio waves in the atmosphere are affected by water vapour and ionisation, as well as events such as solar flares with bursts of X-rays. Depending on temperature, moisture, etc., radio waves may be absorbed, refracted, or reflected in the atmosphere, and by hills or other obstacles. Low frequency waves penetrate buildings and trees, and curve over slopes. Higher frequencies are more absorbed or reflected by the atmosphere; they are also more attenuated by distance and rain. Networks at lower frequencies require fewer towers than at higher frequencies.</p>
<h3>What are 2G and 3G?</h3>
<p>These signify different stages of technological development, starting with 1st Generation (1G) analog wireless in the 1980s, e.g., in car phones. 2G (2nd Generation) began in the 1990s with the digital wireless GSM standard for mobiles, extending to other standards, e.g., CDMA. 3G (3rd Generation) has faster data speed and greater network capacity.</p>
<h3>What is 2G/3G spectrum?</h3>
<p>There is no difference in the spectrum; only the convention of government regulations and harmonisation between countries by the International Telecommunications Union (ITU) earmark wavelengths for different applications. Both 2G and 3G can and do work at 800-900 and 1800-1900 MHz.</p>
<p>Combined with the advantages of prices dropping as volumes rise, one estimate puts 3G coverage with 900 MHz at 50-70 per cent lower cost than at the designated 2.1 GHz. 3G networks using 900 MHz (“2G spectrum”) exist in Finland, Iceland, Australia, New Zealand, Thailand, Venezuela, Denmark and Sweden, and countries like France encourage 2G networks to upgrade to 3G services.</p>
<p>Spectrum allocated for 2G and 3G by various countries is at <a href="http://editors.cis-india.org/advocacy/telecom/spectrum" class="internal-link" title="Understanding Spectrum Figure 2">Figure 2</a>; the current and proposed allocation in India is shown below.</p>
<p>This shows India’s dearth of spectrum for public use because of government and defence allocations. We need innovative methods to maximise capacity given our needs, limited landline networks, and the relative costs. (For details on the chart, please see <a class="external-link" href="http://www.umtsworld.com/technology/frequencies.htm">umtsworld.com</a>.</p>
<p>For example, China has allocated 250 MHz in the 800/1800 MHz bands. By not charging auction fees and spectrum charges, ubiquitous networks were built at lower cost with high capacity. These result in lower costs for users and higher productivity. With its focused approach, China also developed its own standard (TD-SCDMA).</p>
<p>India’s spectrum allocation is burdened with short-term revenue collection for the government, and a shortage mentality. There is apparently insufficient clarity on spectrum usage for ubiquitous broadband/telephony as in other countries, let alone more ambitious targets, such as developing an Indian standard.</p>
<p>Our policies could address the requirement for enhanced coverage/capacity at low cost to make services available everywhere at reasonable prices. Innovative approaches to spectrum management could help get these, through:</p>
<ol><li>Technology-neutrality: the UK and Norway have not restricted the use of recently auctioned spectrum to any technology.</li><li>A focused strategy for service delivery at low cost, as in China.<br /></li></ol>
<p>This needs a combination of methods, e.g., along with technology-neutrality, (a) data-base driven, shared spectrum usage, under trial in the US, (b) “Cognitive Radio”, whereby smart devices sense available channels for dynamic, non-conflicting use in unlicensed spectrum bands, (c) incentives for rural broadband delivery, e.g., by subvention of fees and government charges, with (d) subsidies.</p>
<p>Follow the original article on <a class="external-link" href="http://www.business-standard.com/india/news/shyam-ponappa-understanding-spectrum/387446/">Business Standard</a></p>
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For more details visit <a href='http://editors.cis-india.org/telecom/blog/understanding-spectrum'>http://editors.cis-india.org/telecom/blog/understanding-spectrum</a>
</p>
No publisherShyam PonappaTelecom2012-05-10T10:48:19ZBlog EntryAlternative Scenarios
http://editors.cis-india.org/telecom/blog/alternative-scenarios
<b>Only about 48 per cent of India is covered by the telecom network with only 20 per cent rural coverage, says Shyam Ponappa. In his article published in the Business Standard on 4 February, 2010, he points out how alternative approaches may enhance extensive coverage.</b>
<p>Like the industrial revolution, India missed the infrastructure systems building stage. As a consequence, even in 2001, the telecom network covered a mere 4 per cent of our population. Now, it covers about 48 per cent, but with only 20 per cent rural coverage. Our need being extensive coverage, the following what-if scenarios explore how alternative approaches might pan out.</p>
<h3>The market-driven scenario</h3>
<p>One approach is that all that’s required for an effective communications infrastructure is to go ahead with the spectrum auctions — that long-delayed, but always expected “3G” auction, to begin with. Imagine that it happens. What then?</p>
<p>Current policies will result in three winners of 10 MHz each. If they are from among present operators, they could be any three of Airtel, Vodafone, Reliance, Idea, Tata… or one or more new players: Google, Intel… until one of these wins the fourth “3G” slot when that band is made available, and so on. These operators will probably roll out networks and services where heavy traffic is expected, as with 2G so far: more extensively in urban areas. Provided other policies evolve rationally, e.g., that acquisitions are allowed and spectrum holdings can be consolidated, in the long run India may have around five or six large countrywide operators. There may be regional/segment operators with lesser franchises, or addressing specific segments. Each company will incur capital costs for spectrum and network investment, which then must be recovered from users. Network growth is likely to be on similar lines as before.</p>
<p>Take the evolution of India’s telecommunications policies in the 90s, and the desultory state of the sector until the reforms of the National Telecom Policy ’99 (NTP ’99), followed by reductions in revenue share to more reasonable levels in 2002. Even so, the facts show that:</p>
<ul><li>network growth is skewed heavily towards urban users; and,</li><li>broadband coverage is abysmal.</li></ul>
<p>Urban bias in network growth<br />By November 2009, urban coverage was at 107 per cent of the population, while rural coverage was at 20 per cent. In addition, rural wireless lines grew to 91 per cent, while the wire-line share dropped to 9 per cent; hence the increased importance of spectrum. Networks need more rural reach.</p>
<h3>Low broadband coverage</h3>
<p>Broadband subscriptions in August 2009 were at just seven million, two million short of the estimate for 2007. According to Comscore, at the end of September 2009, India had under 36 million Internet “unique visitors” (excluding access from Internet cafes, mobile phones and PDAs). This is roughly equivalent to the installed base of PCs, compared with about 560 million phone lines, of which under 40 million are wire-line. Something must be done to increase broadband coverage at lower prices.</p>
<h3>The shared-network scenario</h3>
<p>Now, imagine what shared-network facilities could do to lower costs, with no duplication of capital investment. Consider the added benefits of shared spectrum as part of this shared network — which, given the fragmented, inefficient present allocation, is the primary need for effective last-mile coverage. Then, add the benefits of substituting revenue sharing for up-front spectrum auction payments. With incentives for performance, the savings in time and money in network build-up and throughput will be immense, while the green footprint from less network hardware will be a double bonus. Government revenues will be far in excess of the foregone auction bids, together with more tax from higher profits, provided the revenue-share percentage is reasonable, as witnessed after NTP ’99 plus reduced revenue-share.</p>
<h3>Need for reforms: Networks, spectrum and broadband</h3>
<p>Significantly, much of the wire-line rural network is reportedly unsuitable for broadband, because of the length of “last-mile” connections, their quality and the <a class="external-link" href="http://www.in.kpmg.com/TL_Files/Pictures/Telecom2009.pdf">problems of maintenance in difficult terrain</a>. Besides, the cost — more than five times wireless, according to one operators’ association — and difficulty of laying cables in rural terrain, compounded by the impediments of clearances from multiple local authorities, render this impractical. The need is for more coverage with the same investment, even if it is private sector investment.<br />Therefore, network-building with spectrum reform and broadband need more supportive policies. In particular, incentives and disincentives/penalties are needed for intensive rural coverage as well.</p>
<p>Imagine the IT companies capturing the Y2K opportunity and outsourcing without special communications facilities and tax breaks. Those regulatory measures enabled the development of an essentially outward-oriented IT services sector. Likewise, NTP ’99 with lower revenue-share has led to high growth in telecommunications. This appears to be the best way to establish broadband as an essential infrastructure, especially in rural and semi-urban areas.</p>
<h3>Required measures</h3>
<p>The initiatives required cover three areas:</p>
<ul><li>Policies that make it profitable to build networks and provide broadband services all across the country, not just in heavily-trafficked areas. This will enable communications access to all, providing a platform for service delivery for government and the private sector with tremendous user benefits. These services could encompass education, health and sanitation, extension services related to economic activities, including logistics, telecommuting, entertainment and information.</li><li>Formulating incentives and implementing them so that the primary objectives are achieved. The public-interest broadband objectives are likely to be on the lines of access anywhere — realistically, in most populated places — at reasonable prices. Key results have to be defined and tracked to ensure achievement. There’s a mountain of work in defining reasonable cost so that many more people can access broadband, while the business is commercially attractive. However, that is a separate issue. It needs to result in a large number having subsidised access, just as they must have access to food, education, and other necessities.</li><li>Equally important, formulating disincentives that are then applied impartially, so that transgressions that detract from the objectives are penalised.</li></ul>
<p>These issues must be addressed simultaneously from the perspectives of technology, economics, defence and security, and commercial interests, including existing operators’ legacy interests. For this, the government has to work with all stakeholders and specialists to develop solutions with experienced, objective facilitation. Business, government, and consumers can benefit.<br /><br />The article appeared in <a class="external-link" href="http://www.business-standard.com/india/news/shyam-ponappa-alternative-scenarios/384554/">Business Standard</a>.<br /><br /></p>
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For more details visit <a href='http://editors.cis-india.org/telecom/blog/alternative-scenarios'>http://editors.cis-india.org/telecom/blog/alternative-scenarios</a>
</p>
No publisherShyam PonappaTelecom2012-05-10T10:49:46ZBlog Entry Plan and Execute for Results
http://editors.cis-india.org/telecom/blog/plan-execute-results
<b>Good SOPs are a starting point, but there's more under the surface that will affect results.</b>
<p>What is a good way to plan and build enduring systems, e.g., for sanitation and water in our cities and countryside, roads (rail/waterways/air for logistics), or a broadband network for communications? Some thoughts on Standard Operating Procedures (SOPs) — beginnings, processes and ends — and on some “invisible” aspects that facilitate good outcomes.</p>
<h3>The Big Picture</h3>
<p>Start with the big picture: the engineering background of China’s leaders has no doubt contributed to their conceptualisation and achievement so far. President Hu Jintao and Premier Wen Jiabao were engineers, as were former President Ziang Zemin, and Premiers Zhu Rongji and Li Peng. While pondering if that’s what it will take to improve India’s record on conceptualisation and execution, we find that former President Deng Xiaoping, who got China going on its current track, didn’t have it. No engineering degree, although he went to France when he was 16 for a work-study programme. Despite a difficult experience with entry level jobs in shoe manufacturing, metals, automobiles, and restaurants, he was very effective in applying himself to building China. So, there’s hope if our leaders apply themselves to long-term solutions, rather than to self-aggrandisement. This might be of their own volition, or because the public and/or circumstances force them to do so. For instance, if RTI activists concentrate on one major objective at a time, while paying attention to facts, thinking, talking and acting logically in close cooperation and coordination, i.e., with sound direction, we might get results.</p>
<h3>Fundamental SOPs</h3>
<p>Some fundamentals are clear enough, although we rarely seem to follow them, like an integrated systems perspective with disciplined project management (listed below). There are, however, many assumptions and enveloping circumstances that affect the drivers directly, as well as their boundary conditions and interactions. These can be easily lost sight of in pursuing a line of thought or action, or even particular disciplines. This is valid for all issues, for instance, increasing the hit rate for road projects put to bid by the National Highways Authority of India (NHAI), or the successful completion of power projects, or efforts to structure and manage spectrum for broadband. Therefore, for user-centric area planning/spatial planning, the overriding emphasis is necessarily on an interdisciplinary (i.e., multidisciplinary) approach. This is because societies and their needs are multi-dimensional, and solutions must work in a complex set of circumstances. Silo thinking and action won’t work.</p>
<p>This is true whether for neighbourhoods or for country-wide networks such as road systems, railways, or broadband. It is also true for the content, i.e., for broad areas like education from kindergarten to postgraduate levels including vocational training and Continuing-Education for all people, or for a single vertical space, such as health care or hospitality.</p>
<p>The fundamental elements (SOPs) include:</p>
<ul><li>End-to-end systems, i.e., comprehensive, integrated pieces that fit.</li><li>Convergent objectives.</li><li>Systematic, disciplined project management, starting with the desired end results, and a backward induction for intermediate goals at each step with the required resources and time, all the way back to the start.</li><li>An interdisciplinary/multidisciplinary approach, because sound inputs are required from multiple perspectives, such as overall strategy, structure, systems, technology, human resources, finance, and markets, tailored to our culture and practices, even as we improve them.</li><li>Coordination & Direction: above all, there needs to be convergence of efforts to achieve a desired goal or direction. Without coordination and direction, efforts are unlikely to converge, and therefore unlikely to achieve desired outcomes.</li></ul>
<h3>Other Essential Aspects</h3>
<ol><li>Self-Governing Systems vs Government Intervention<br />Much has been made recently of Prof Elinor Ostrom’s ideas on polycentric governance and self-regulation. However, there is insufficient appreciation of and attention to her stress on (a) trust as the most critical attribute, and (b) checks and balances (incentives/penalties) that are “accepted”, as she understates it. Cooperative action is certainly a winner, provided there is an effort by players to build trust, and sound rules are devised and applied impartially. Can you imagine a country-wide highway system or broadband network in the public interest, designed and developed by independent commercial interests? Possible, but unlikely. That’s why governments need to act in the public interest.</li><li>Allowing for the Non-Rational & Emotional<br />Years ago, Carl Sagan popularised the ideas of Paul MacLean, who headed the Laboratory of Brain Evolution and Behavior in America’s National Institute of Mental Health. The concept was of a three-part structure of the brain: the deep down R-complex (for reptilian-complex) where aggression resides, the limbic system which is the seat of <a class="external-link" href="http://www.mrc-cbu.cam.ac.uk/research/emotion/cemhp/documents/dalgleish_emotional_brain.pdf">emotions</a>, and the neocortex, which is rational and cognitive. While neurology has moved on in the details, e.g., the hippocampus is now apparently thought to be less important in emotions than in MacLean’s view, and the brain may be less simply compartmentalised, the idea of rational man is no longer assumed as a truism.<span class="Apple-style-span"><span class="Apple-style-span"></span></span></li><li>The Normal Curve & Dysfunctional Elements<br />For those not familiar with statistics, there is a universal phenomenon of distribution along the “normal” curve: any group of objects (or people) measured for any attribute — height, weight, goodness — is likely to be distributed along a probability curve, as in the graph above, with some outliers spread over the lower and higher ends or “tails”, and the rest bunched around the <a class="external-link" href="http://www.business-standard.com/general/pdf/010710_01.pdf">middle/mean/average</a>. <br /></li></ol>
<p>The takeaway: plan for the dysfunctional elements in the left tail, and build protection mechanisms in systems. Consideration with item 2 above indicates the kind of protection robust systems might need.</p>
<p>Good SOPs are a starting point, but there’s more under the surface that will affect results, regardless of external factors.</p>
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<a class="external-link" href="http://www.business-standard.com/india/news/shyam-ponappa-planexecute-for-results/381910/">Link to the original article on Business Standard</a>
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For more details visit <a href='http://editors.cis-india.org/telecom/blog/plan-execute-results'>http://editors.cis-india.org/telecom/blog/plan-execute-results</a>
</p>
No publisherShyam PonappaTelecom2012-05-10T10:51:12ZBlog EntryOpening India's Spectrum
http://editors.cis-india.org/events/opening-spectrum
<b>India's Government monopolised the radio spectrum until the mid-1990s and even now, non-governmental use of wireless is more limited than in other democracies. Restrictive policies constrain the growth of mobile telephony, broadcasting, wireless broadband and many other services important to India's social and economic development. Can anything be done to change this? Robert Horvitz, director of Open Spectrum Foundation suggests changes.</b>
<div align="center"><img src="http://editors.cis-india.org/home-images/RH.jpg/image_thumb" alt="Robert Horowitz" class="image-inline" title="Robert Horowitz" /></div>
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Robert Horvitz, director of the Open Spectrum Foundation (<a href="http://www.openspectrum.info/">http://www.openspectrum.info</a>
<p>), and author of the Local Radio Handbook, is visiting India to study this question and suggest strategies for citizen action to reform radio regulation. On Thursday, 14 January, at 18:00 he will discuss some of his preliminary findings at the Centre for Internet and Society.</p>
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For more details visit <a href='http://editors.cis-india.org/events/opening-spectrum'>http://editors.cis-india.org/events/opening-spectrum</a>
</p>
No publisherpraneshTelecom2012-01-19T11:07:40ZEventPushing Buttons
http://editors.cis-india.org/news/pushing-buttons
<b>The coolest device of the decade – From brick-sized to size zero, the cell phone changed our lives forever – an article by Deepa Kurup, The Hindu, 1st Jan, 2010.</b>
<p>Bangalore: Today, it no longer makes news to see your neighbourhood vegetable vendor taking orders on his mobile phone, or for that matter a mason at work as he chatters away on his cellphone.</p>
<p>A decade ago this was unthinkable.</p>
<p>The 10 years which have gone by have found a great leveller in technology, the cell phone being the most ubiquitous of them all. Cellphones crossed over from overpriced, shoebox-sized, upper-class accessory to an affordable easy-to-use gadget for staying connected, getting entertained and, for many, even a way of life. The long queues outside the PCO booth and scrambling for those elusive one-rupee coins is now history. The cellphone is literally in every hand. As of November 2009, India, with the world’s second largest population, registered 506.4 million cellphone connections, (543 million, including landlines), second only to China. Which means half our population has the device.</p>
<h3>Tharoor’s take</h3>
<p>Twitter-politician Shashi Tharoor regaled the audience at a recent conference, TED India, about this story of a coconut vendor in his home state of Kerala. He wanted a tender coconut and called a vendor he knew, only to discover the man was high up on a coconut palm, still connected to his cellphone!</p>
<p>Old timers still talk about the miles of red tape and the years it took to get a basic landline connection.</p>
<p>So while globally the noughties were about crowdsourcing, micro and macro blogging, e-books, file sharing or the “cloud”, in India, even the internet is only barely there. With a staggeringly low penetration, pegged at around seven to eight percent (over 80 million), the web is not a patch on the omnipresent cellphone.</p>
<h3>The next decade</h3>
<p>Sunil Abraham, Director of Bangalore-based Centre for Internet and Society, insists that the cellphone will also define the decade that begins today. And like that clever advertisement, text-to-voice and voice recognition can and will be big in providing access to the unlettered, disabled and forgotten sections, he explains.</p>
<p>“Data services and geographic positioning services (GPS) show great promise in connecting the poor to the state and the market,” he said.</p>
<p>On a more futuristic, and indulgent note, Mr. Abraham says micro-projection systems that will work on walls and mobiles will forefront projects in those rural areas with limited or no electricity. This may be the only way to reach the unbanked with mainstream or community currencies, he adds.</p>
<p><a class="external-link" href="http://www.hindu.com/2010/01/01/stories/2010010156490100.htm">Link to the original article</a><br /><br /></p>
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For more details visit <a href='http://editors.cis-india.org/news/pushing-buttons'>http://editors.cis-india.org/news/pushing-buttons</a>
</p>
No publisherradhaTelecom2011-04-02T13:56:28ZNews ItemDevelopments in spectrum sharing
http://editors.cis-india.org/telecom/blog/developments-in-spectrum-sharing
<b>New ways to share spectrum can revolutionise broadband in India - An article in the Business Standard by Shyam Ponappa / New Delhi December 3, 2009, 1:35 IST</b>
<p>As the Telecom Regulatory Authority of India (Trai) deliberates on spectrum and licensing after the hearings ending December 2, some important points are worth highlighting. Spectrum is public property and, therefore, need not add a layer of cost (through auctions and such other artifices), provided it is available to network builders, and these networks are available to operators for their customers on payment. The question is whether the government should give spectrum <br />free, or for an up-front price, i.e., a hefty spectrum fee, or through a progressive revenue-sharing arrangement as for telecommunications. This can be to network builders for their use, or to operators, to pool through either their own arrangements or through network builders-cum-operators.</p>
<p>One way to think about communications networks is to consider an analogy with road networks. The road network is accessed by paying road taxes and special tolls as required, e.g., when using a toll bridge or highway. The rest of the time, once a transport operator pays road taxes, the fleet’s vehicles have access to the entire public road network.</p>
<p>In the same way, it should be feasible for operators to access communications networks. These networks may be the operator’s own, or the public network, i.e., the Public Switched Telephone Network, paying as they go. In other words, whether operators use their own or others’ networks should be immaterial as long as they pay the tariffs, which result from a mesh of interconnection agreements. In this manner, network builders/service providers can use the spectrum as part of their “plant” for wireless transmission, just as they use optical fibre and copper wire for wire-line transmission.</p>
<p>Networks are already being built and operated by network builders-cum-operators. According to The Economist on developments in network operations, initially in New Zealand and then extended on a much larger and broader scale in India, “The vendors... gain economies of scale because they build, run and support networks for several Indian operators. Ericsson’s Mr Svanberg says his firm can run a network with 25% fewer staff than an operator would need. Bharti’s operating expenses are around 15% lower than they would be if it were to build and run its network itself, and its IT costs are around 30% lower, according to Capgemini.”*</p>
<p>Meanwhile, a momentous experiment in spectrum sharing is taking place in America. A company called Spectrum Bridge has developed a database-driven model for dynamic spectrum allocation in unused spectrum bands, the “white space” in the TV bands. This is in the 200 to 600 MHz band, with considerable advantages in propagation over distances, through foliage and walls, without attenuation as experienced at higher frequencies.</p>
<p>This system is being tried in Claudville, a rural community on the border of Virginia and North Carolina. As is likely to be true in rural India, using open spectrum that is unlicensed is impractical because of the distances, terrain and foliage. Fibre and copper lines are not only impractical, but also prohibitively expensive, a fact that people who suggest the use of existing wiring for broadband don’t seem to realise.</p>
<p>In this context, given the discussions on the possibility of spectrum trading as a solution going forward in the Trai hearings, it is instructive to note that despite the US Federal Communication Commission’s secondary market initiatives taken in 2003, not much spectrum trading had actually taken place until Spectrum Bridge’s introduction of their tracking and trading model, SpecEx (see www.specex.com). Subscribers view available spectrum at a chosen location and frequency band with pricing details when they want to buy, or list available spectrum to sell by location and frequency band. Therefore, any recommendations by Trai or decisions by the Empowered Group of Ministers (EGoM) or the government should take this into account in considering the path of market traded spectrum based on exclusively assigned bands. It would be unrealistic to expect such trading to take place simply because it is allowed, without other <br />facilitating developments as have been achieved by Spectrum Bridge in America.</p>
<p>A second problem is that trading in spectrum can result in effects equivalent to land-grabbing in real estate. This serves less for effective communications than as an asset play for profit.</p>
<p>Like SpecEx for priced spectrum, www.ShowMyWhiteSpace.com is a free website that the company supports to show free TV white space (the “digital dividend” that is talked about) that can be used on the basis of open access to unlicensed or open spectrum.</p>
<p>In the trial at Claudville, Spectrum Bridge deployed the network with Dell and Microsoft contributing computer equipment and software to the local school. Teachers can now incorporate distance learning resources into the school’s curriculum.</p>
<p>Our policy-makers need to move beyond debates over slicing and dicing the spectrum to determine the smallest efficient band — 2.5 MHz for CDMA and 4.4 for GSM? Is 6.2 MHz all that any operator needs?... and so on. A direct solution is to not assign spectrum for exclusive use, and instead enable its use as a common resource that must be accessed by everyone <br />who needs to communicate on the network, exactly as public roads are accessed by paying road taxes and tolls. If spectrum must be assigned nominally to operators for administrative reasons, they should be obligated to pool this spectrum for common access.</p>
<p>Once we are able to aggregate spectrum in the frequency range which allows propagation over distances and through natural and man-made obstacles — buildings, foliage, etc. — we will have the open “highways” for broadband for its widespread usage across the country. This can only be achieved at relatively low cost through a progressive revenue-sharing arrangement, which is what happened eventually for voice communications with the National Telecom Policy 1999.</p>
<p>These are complex technical and commercial issues, and require the concerted effort of stakeholders and experts to devise the most effective solution in the public interest. The Trai hearings are the first step in this process.</p>
<p>shyamponappa@gmail.com <mailto:shyamponappa@gmail.com><br /> <br />* ‘The mother of invention’, The Economist, September 24, 2009</p>
<p><a class="external-link" href="http://www.business-standard.com/india/news/shyam-ponappa-developments-in-spectrum-sharing/378457/&com=y">Link to the original article</a></p>
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For more details visit <a href='http://editors.cis-india.org/telecom/blog/developments-in-spectrum-sharing'>http://editors.cis-india.org/telecom/blog/developments-in-spectrum-sharing</a>
</p>
No publisherradhaTelecom2011-08-18T04:54:47ZBlog EntryIndia Study Tour - Report: The South African Telecommunications Sector: Poised for Change
http://editors.cis-india.org/telecom/blog/india-study-tour-report-by-sagie-chetty
<b>CIS in collaboration with the LINK Centre, Graduate School of Public and Development Management, University of the Witwatersrand, South Africa and in association with different institutions across India organized a Lecture Tour by Sagie Chetty from 19th Oct to 30th Oct. A report on this study tour is given by Sagie Chetty.</b>
<h3 align="left">India Study Tour Report</h3>
<p>
2009-10-17 to 2009-11-01<br />Sagie Chetty, Masters of Management ICT Policy & Regulation<br />Student Number 0617514V<br />Supervision: LINK Centre<br />Graduate School of Public and Development Management<br />University of the Witwatersrand</p>
<div align="left"><br />Sagie Chetty is a Senior Manager at Eskom, South Africa’s largest Electricity Utility and a Masters of Management student in the field of ICT Policy and Regulation at Wits University. My research dissertation is entitled “Analysing processes for regulating interconnection in India and South Africa.” Wits LINK Centre and the Centre for Internet and Society (CIS) in Bangalore arranged for a study/lecture tour to India for the period from 17th October 2009 to 1st November 2009. As part of the tour, I presented a number of talks to students and faculty members at various universities and institutions around the country, on the subject of the Telecommunications Landscape in South Africa. I used the opportunity to inform students on the development of the telecommunications sector in South Africa; to build relationships between the LINK centre and the institutions I visited; and, most importantly, to conduct interviews with academia, economists and regulatory authorities in India to gather essential material for my research paper.</div>
<p>Presentations were held at a number of universities, namely the Indian Institute of Technology (IIT), Chennai and IIT, Mumbai; the International Institute of Information Technology (IIIT), Bangalore; and the Indira Gandhi National Open University (IGNOU), the National Institute of Science, Technology and Development Studies (NISTADS) and the Jamia Millia Islamia University – all based in Delhi. The visit concluded with meetings with officials from the Telecoms Regulatory Authority of India (TRAI).</p>
<p>The presentations were well attended and discussions were robust and thought provoking. The South African telecommunications sector was seen as being non-competitive with unnecessarily high ownership by government in the telecommunications sector. From the information provided, students concluded that the SA telecommunications regulator was weak and lacking in the commensurate skills to manage this highly technical sector.</p>
<p>On the other hand, students gravitated between having admiration for India’s own telecommunications regulator, TRAI and criticism of TRAI’s inability to improve broadband take-up in India. Students commended TRAI’s technical skills, independence and its courage in standing up to powerful mobile companies and incumbent telecommunications companies. However, lack of policy direction with regard to broadband rollout is seen as a major failure. Comments regarding this failure are attributed to TRAI’s driving down of telecommunications prices to levels that do not allow for infrastructure investment. </p>
<p>The future for broadband in India lies in mobile technology and some predict that fixed line will be defunct by 2025. Some academics also believe that there are too many players in the telecommunications sector in India making spectrum allocation highly competitive and therefore, very expensive. These costs will have to be recovered and the end users will pay dearly for this. Therefore, the model that the Department of Telecommunications (DOT) is using for spectrum auctions is being questioned by students and academics.</p>
<p>The innovation that I observed in India relates to CIS’s early work in projects assisting the visually impaired to read; the writing of 4G standards at the IITs and the innovation with regard to interconnection usage charges (IUC) at TRAI. These are some of the lessons that I have taken back to South Africa.</p>
<p>My observation of students in India is that they are highly motivated and eager to learn. Entrance to the universities is highly sought after and universities have high standards and are generally difficult to get into. The IITs certainly are increasing the requirements for students to get into them. The institutions are vibrant and are fertile grounds for thought leadership and innovation. India is producing a veritable number of PhDs and institutions seem to offer funding for capable students. South Africa needs to re-examine the funding model for students here. My impression is that students in South Africa do not have similar support as their counterparts in India.</p>
<p>The talks generally concluded with a re-affirmation of the strong historical and cultural links between South Africa and India. Mahatma Gandhi’s time spent in South Africa developing his notion of non-violent protest is well known in India and will always bind our countries together.</p>
<p>India is a vibrant country with an economic engine that is gathering revolutions. Its future is bright and its institutions are producing bright young minds to take their place in this awakening economic giant. South Africans can do well in learning from this super power in the making.</p>
<p><a href="http://editors.cis-india.org/telecom/SC%20Study%20Tour%20Report%202009-11-08%20_2_.pdf" class="internal-link" title="Sagie Chetty- Report">Report</a></p>
<h3>Videos</h3>
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For more details visit <a href='http://editors.cis-india.org/telecom/blog/india-study-tour-report-by-sagie-chetty'>http://editors.cis-india.org/telecom/blog/india-study-tour-report-by-sagie-chetty</a>
</p>
No publisherradhaTelecomPublications2011-08-24T08:02:09ZBlog EntryResponse to TRAI Consultation paper No. 6/2009
http://editors.cis-india.org/telecom/blog/response-to-trai-consultation-paper
<b>CIS Distinguished Fellow, Shyam Ponappa, provides a detailed response to the Telecom Regulatory Authority of India's Consultation paper No. 6/2009 "Overall Spectrum Management and review of license terms and conditions". Shyam Ponappa is suggesting that, the TRAI approach the telecom policy in a manner which will facilitate greater user access and, more generally, be designed to serve the public interest in the long-term. </b>
<p>Shyam Ponappa November 12, 2009<br />Distinguished Fellow<br />Centre for Internet & Society<br />Bangalore/New Delhi<br />cis-india.org</p>
<p><a href="mailto:shyamponappa@gmail.com">shyamponappa@gmail.com</a></p>
<p>Telecom Regulatory Authority of India<br />Attn: Sh. Sudhir Gupta, Advisor (MN)<br />Mahanagar Doorsanchar Bhawan<br />Jawahar Lal Nehru Marg, New Delhi-110 002<br />Tel. No.011-23220018 , Fax No.011-23212014</p>
<p>E-mail : <a href="mailto:advmn@trai.gov.in">advmn@trai.gov.in</a> </p>
<h2 style="text-align: center;"><u><a href="http://editors.cis-india.org/telecom/TRAI%20CP%20Response-Nov%2012%202009.pdf" class="internal-link" title="TRAI response">TRAI Consultation paper No. 6/2009- October 16, 2009</a></u></h2>
<h2 style="text-align: center;"><u>"Overall Spectrum Management and review of license terms and conditions"</u></h2>
<p><br />Sir,</p>
<p>It would help to have a logical framework that defines overall objectives, prioritizes issues, and structures and organizes issues and questions. This would facilitate analysis and response, as we have attempted below.</p>
<p>We begin by responding to Question 57 as a preamble to all the questions:</p>
<p>57. What in your opinion is the desired structure for efficient management of spectrum?<br />[This question addresses only one of two essential criteria, efficiency. The other criterion is effectiveness; both need equal emphasis.]</p>
<p>Please see separate attachment for answers to Questions 1-56.</p>
<h3>Status</h3>
<p>Currently, communications services in India comprising Internet, voice and SMS have the following attributes:</p>
<ol start="1"><li>Low broadband usage, with relatively high prices: eg, direct satellite TV subscriptions at Rs. 200/month, compared with 512 kbps Internet at Rs. 1,000/month.</li><li>Fragmented spectrum allocation for exclusive use by each operator in a service area.</li><li>Very high intensity of spectrum use by operators compared with international norms because of constrained availability.</li><li>Too many operators per service area (11-14 or more [15-16 with all potential operators with GSM and CDMA counted separately], versus the global average of 4-5).</li></ol>
<p>[For details on (2), (3) and (4), please see: 'An assessment of spectrum management policy in India', David Lewin, Val Jervis, Chris Davis, Ken Pearson, Plum Consulting, December 2008<br /><a href="http://www.plumconsulting.co.uk/pdfs/GSMA%20spectrum%20management%20policy%20in%20India.pdf"><u>http://www.plumconsulting.co.uk/pdfs/GSMA%20spectrum%20management%20policy%20in%20India.pdf</u></a>]</p>
<h3>Needs</h3>
<p> Our needs are:</p>
<ul><li>good services for Internet, voice and SMS,</li><li>at reasonable prices, eg, comparable pricing for TV and broadband,</li><li>accessible from/to most households across the country.</li></ul>
<p>The need is especially great in rural areas, as broadband can be the medium for delivery of essential services like education (from basic to advanced to vocational training and Continuing Education at all levels, including high-level professional CE), health (again, from basic diagnostics and monitoring at home, to advanced care at adequately equipped centres), and security and law-and-order services at significantly higher levels than is possible without excellent communications infrastructure.</p>
<p>In view of the above, we suggest that the Government of India consider adopting the following policy goals in the public interest ( and therefore, that where appropriate, the TRAI set these objectives/make appropriate recommendations to the GOI).</p>
<h3>Suggested Policy Goals/Objectives [based on needs]</h3>
<ol start="1"><li>Adopt the criteria of long-term net benefits in the public interest for decisions, eschewing short-term cash collections from auctions and fees.</li><li>An approach to policies for telecommunications services (not for broadcasting) that limits the number of operators per service area in line with international experience, because of the economics of networks.<br />[This implies an explicit reversal of prior policies to maximize competition, and requires allowing for consolidation through mergers and acquisitions.]</li><li>Access to broadband (to be defined as at least 512 kbps in keeping with international norms) at all feasible locations in the country for all users.</li><li>Develop incentives and penalties favouring good rural service provision, with the emphasis on broadband: an Administered Incentive Pricing mechanism.</li><li>Explore ways to structure policies to reduce costs/maximize utility through facilities and resource sharing, so that prices can be reduced while maintaining good scope for investment from growth and profits.<br /><br />This implies two areas of exploration:<br />a) Shared use of facilities and equipment/networks;<br />b) Shared use of spectrum.<br /><br />(i) This is best done by collaborative consultations between experts (from the GOI, private sector and academia), operators, equipment providers, and government. Without the requisite interdisciplinary skills combined with operating expertise and investment capability, the effort is too complex for an iterative, serial consultation process.<br />(ii) Even within the GOI, this requires interdisciplinary and cross-jurisdictional convergence, both to develop solutions as well as to implement them.<br />(iii) This also needs GOI initiatives to invite companies like Ericsson, Nokia, Motorola and Qualcomm as well as Google and Intel, possibly cable companies like Liberty Global, and electricity companies that deliver Internet through their networks.<br />(iv) The GOI also needs to depute experienced representatives from various ministries and departments including the WPC, the Defence Services, and specialist agencies such as the DRDO/NTRO.<br />[Please see ‘Managing Spectrum’ in the <em>Business Standard</em> November 5, 2009, and related references: <a href="http://organizing-india.blogspot.com/2009/11/managing-spectrum.html"><u>http://organizing-india.blogspot.com/2009/11/managing-spectrum.html</u></a>]</li><li>Monitor operations online and intervene actively where revenues (the totality of rates/tariffs) are far above total costs, i.e., profits are unreasonable. This is a necessary adjunct to accepting a monopolistic/oligopolistic market structures.</li></ol>
<h3>Suggested Approach</h3>
<p>The use of a decision tree as in the ‘Issue Map for Spectrum & Broadband’ below (please see Exhibit) facilitates a logical sequence and prioritization in exploring alternatives. (Please note that this is for broadband, voice and SMS, and not for broadcasting.) A similar exploration process for networks and facilities (sharing versus exclusive use for delivery) could follow. However, stakeholders should be free to use any analytical process to improve on this in the common interest.</p>
<p>Once decisions are taken on these two issues (spectrum and network/ facilities sharing), other issues like pricing and consolidation can be logically addressed based on these decisions, probably within the scope of existing laws and regulations.</p>
<p>New regulations or laws should be considered only after comprehensive analysis on the lines of Project LARGE (Legal Adjustments and Reforms for Globalising the Economy by Sh. Bibek Debroy).</p>
<p align="center"> <a href="http://editors.cis-india.org/telecom/TRAI%20consultation.jpg" class="internal-link" title="TRAI">Exhibit: Issue Map on Spectrum & Broadband </a></p>
<p align="center"><img class="image-inline image-inline" src="../../igov/others/uploads/copy_of_shayamzoom.jpg/image_preview" alt="Issue Map on Spectrum & Broadband" height="251" width="400" /></p>
<p> </p>
<p>Shyam Ponappa<br />Centre for Internet & Society<br />cis-india.org</p>
<p><a href="http://editors.cis-india.org/telecom/TRAI%20CP-Q%201-57-Nov%2012%202009.pdf" class="internal-link" title="TRAI - consultation Q 1- 57">Attachment – Question 1-57</a></p>
<p><a href="http://editors.cis-india.org/telecom/TRAI%20CP%20Response-Nov%2012%202009.pdf" class="internal-link" title="TRAI response">TRAI Consultation paper</a> No. 6/2009 – October 16, 2009</p>
<p>Overall Spectrum Management and review of license terms and conditions</p>
<p align="left"><strong>Chapter 1<br /></strong><strong>Spectrum requirement and availability</strong></p>
<ol type="1" start="1"><li>Do you agree with the subscriber base projections? If not, please provide the reasons for disagreement and your projection estimates along with their basis?<br /><strong>Do not disagree.</strong></li><li>Do you agree with the spectrum requirement projected in ¶ 1.7 to ¶1.12? Please give your assessment (service-area wise).<br /><strong>Agree if exclusive bands of spectrum are used by different operators, and the spectrum requirement is linked to subscribers. Disagree if common use of spectrum is adopted. Please see preamble (reply to Question 57) for details of shared/pooled spectrum approach.</strong></li><li>How can the spectrum required for Telecommunication purposes and currently available with the Government agencies be re-farmed?<br /><strong>(a) By rationalizing usage, as advocated in the preamble for commercial operators, by pooling spectrum for common use where possible.<br />(b) By inducting equipment that allows more efficient usage and usage of other bands.</strong></li><li>In view of the policy of technology and service neutrality licences, should any restriction be placed on these bands (800,900 and 1800 MHz) for providing a specific service and secondly, after the expiry of present licences, how will the spectrum in the 800/900 MHz band be assigned to the operators?<br /><strong>(a) Please see suggestions on shared/pooled spectrum as above.<br />(b) In the event that common use of spectrum is infeasible/not accepted by the Government of India, and exclusive bands of spectrum are assigned to operators as is the practice now, work out ways to consolidate fragmented bands (other than through M&A) for operators, to enable operators to hold contiguous bands for greater efficiency, and explore shared use of pooled spectrum.</strong></li><li>How and when should spectrum in 700 MHz band be allocated between competitive services?<br /><strong>Preferred method: for common use (can be pooled or shared even if assigned for exclusive use, immediately).</strong></li><li>
<p align="left">What is the impact of digital dividend on 3G and BWA?<br /><strong>Should extend its reach and access because of lower costs.<br /></strong><br /><strong>Chapter 2<br />Licensing Issues</strong></p>
</li><li>Should the spectrum be delinked from the UAS Licence? Please provide the reasons for your response.<br /><strong>If spectrum is treated as a common resource, the logical requirement is for a linkage that is not dependent on ownership, but to access for service delivery, i.e., common access.</strong></li><li>In case it is decided not to delink spectrum from UAS license, then should there be a limit on minimum and maximum number of access service providers in a service area? If yes, what should be the number of operators?<br /><strong>Follow global practice: do not exceed five operators in any service area unless there are compelling reasons to do so.</strong></li><li>What should be the considerations to determine maximum spectrum per entity?<br /><strong>Minimum contiguous band for effective rollout and efficient delivery, i.e., inexpensive capital outlay for equipment and towers/network while maintaining Quality of Service.</strong></li><li>Is there a need to put a limit on the maximum spectrum one licensee can hold? If yes, then what should be the limit? Should operators having more than the maximum limit, if determined, be assigned any more spectrum?<br /><strong>This depends on the overall approach to spectrum management, i.e., common use, or exclusive use. The logic for a limit is effective delivery capability at ‘normal’ cost. There is no logic for assigning more than this. However, if spectrum is for common/shared use, the only criterion is throughput/capacity.</strong></li><li>If an existing licensee has more spectrum than the specified limit, then how should this spectrum be treated? Should such spectrum be taken back or should it be subjected to higher charging regime?<br /><strong>As in No. 10. If common/shared spectrum use is adopted, there needs to be a transition worked out, as in the transition to revenue sharing.</strong></li><li>In the event fresh licences are to be granted, what should be the Entry fee for the license?<br /><strong>The principles followed should be:<br />(a) Low license fees to minimize access costs.<br />(b) Provided licenses are delinked from spectrum and few in number, there need to be strict rollout requirements.<br />(c) Incentives for broadband and rural coverage in the form of a structured Administrative Incentive Pricing mechanism.<br />(d) Penalties for failure.</strong></li><li>In case it is decided that the spectrum is to be delinked from the license then what should be the entry fee for such a Licence and should there be any roll out condition?<br /><strong>As in No. 12.</strong></li><li>Is there a need to do spectrum audit? If it is found in the audit that an operator is not using the spectrum efficiently what is the suggested course of action? Can penalties be imposed?<br /><strong>(a) Operating attributes should be monitored online on a continuous basis.<br />(b) Spectrum use probably needs to be monitored as an operating attribute.<br />(c) Penalties and incentives are needed, including forfeiture for continued transgression.</strong></li><li>Can spectrum be assigned based on metro, urban and rural areas separately? If yes, what issues do you foresee in this method?<br /><strong>This needs to be considered only if common/pooled usage is decided against. With common use or sufficiently large blocks/bands of spectrum, no problems are likely to arise.</strong></li><li>Since the amount of spectrum and the investment required for its utilisation in metro and large cities is higher than in rural areas, can asymmetric pricing of telecom services be a feasible proposition?<br /><strong>Yes. <br /><br />M&A issues</strong><br /><strong>If the common/shared use approach is adopted, M&A can be under existing laws and regulations.</strong></li><li>Whether the existing licence conditions and guidelines related to M&A restrict consolidation in the telecom sector? If yes, what should be the alternative framework for M&A in the telecom sector?</li><li>Whether lock-in clause in UASL agreement is a barrier to consolidation in telecom sector? If yes, what modifications may be considered in the clause to facilitate consolidation?</li><li>Whether market share in terms of subscriber base/AGR should continue to regulate M&A activity in addition to the restriction on spectrum holding?</li><li>Whether there should be a transfer charge on spectrum upon merger and acquisition? If yes, whether such charges should be same in case of M&A/transfer/sharing of spectrum?</li><li>Whether the transfer charges should be one-time only for first such M&A or should they be levied each time an M&A takes place?</li><li>Whether transfer charges should be levied on the lesser or higher of the 2G spectrum holdings of the merging entities?</li><li>Whether the spectrum held consequent upon M&A be subjected to a maximum limit?<br /><br /><strong>Spectrum Trading</strong></li><li>Is spectrum trading required to encourage spectrum consolidation and improve spectrum utilization efficiency?<br /><br /><strong>At present, trading is required to allow consolidation. However, if a comprehensive approach is taken to spectrum use, and especially if common use through common access is established, this set of problems will no longer exist after a transition period. Nor will there be any shortage of spectrum.</strong></li><li>Who all should be permitted to trade the spectrum ?<br /><strong>As in No. 24.</strong></li><li>Should the original allottee who has failed to fulfill “Roll out obligations” be allowed to do spectrum trading?<br /><strong>There should be penalties and forfeiture for failure to meet rollout obligations, and clawbacks as an interim measure during the transition.</strong></li><li>Should transfer charges be levied in case of spectrum trading?</li><li>What should be the parameters and methodology to determine first time spectrum transfer charges payable to Government for trading of the spectrum? How should these charges be determined year after year?</li><li>Should such capping be limited to 2G spectrum only or consider other bands of spectrum also? Give your suggestions with justification.<br /><br /><strong>This question assumes there is a difference in “2G spectrum” and other spectrum, which is incorrect. The difference is in equipment that has evolved in different phases along different bands. Spectrum should be treated as technology-neutral for the purposes of service delivery. Any service should be deliverable on any band, subject to interference limitations.</strong></li><li>Should size of minimum tradable block of spectrum be defined or left to the market forces?</li><li>Should the cost of spectrum trading be more than the spectrum assignment cost?<br /><br /><strong>Spectrum sharing<br /><br />These questions are addressed in the preamble in the cover note.</strong></li><li>Should Spectrum sharing be allowed? If yes, what should be the regulatory framework for allowing spectrum sharing among the service providers?</li><li>What should be criteria to permit spectrum sharing?</li><li>Should spectrum sharing charges be regulated? If yes then what parameters should be considered to derive spectrum sharing charges? Should such charges be prescribed per MHz or for total allocated spectrum to the entity in LSA?</li><li>Should there be any preconditions that rollout obligation be fulfilled by one or both service provider before allowing the sharing of spectrum?</li><li>In case of spectrum sharing, who will have the rollout obligations? Giver or receiver?<br /><br /><strong>Perpetuity of licences</strong></li><li>Should there be a time limit on licence or should it be perpetual?</li><li>What should be the validity period of assigned spectrum in case it is delinked from the licence? 20 years, as it exists, or any other period</li><li>What should be the validity period of spectrum if spectrum is allocated for a different technology under the same license midway during the life of the license?</li><li>If the spectrum assignment is for a defined period, then for what period and at what price should the extension of assigned spectrum be done?</li><li>If the spectrum assignment is for a defined period, then after the expiry of the period should the same holder/licensee be given the first priority?<br /><br /><strong>Uniform License Fee</strong></li><li>What are the advantages and disadvantages of a uniform license fee?</li><li>Whether there should be a uniform License Fee across all telecom licenses and service areas including services covered under registrations?</li><li>If introduced, what should be the rate of uniform License Fee?<br /><br /><strong>License fees should be treated as part of the overall scheme of Administered Incentive Pricing.<br /><br />Chapter 3<br />Spectrum assignment</strong></li><li>If the initial spectrum is de-linked from the licence, then what should be the method for subsequent assignment?<br /><strong>Please see comments on common/shared use in the preamble in the cover note.</strong></li><li>If the initial spectrum continues to be linked with licence then is there any need to change from SLC based assignment?<br /><strong>The SLC basis for spectrum assignment gives rise to many distortions and is not in line with international practices.</strong></li><li>In case a two-tier mechanism is adopted, then what should be the alternate method and the threshold beyond which it will be implemented?</li><li>Should the spectrum be assigned in tranches of 1 MHz for GSM technology? What is the optimum tranche for assignment?</li><li>In case a market based mechanism (i.e. auction) is decided to be adopted, would there be the issue of level playing field amongst licensees who have different amount of spectrum holding? How should this be addressed?</li><li>In case continuation of SLC criteria is considered appropriate then, what should be the subscriber numbers for assignment of additional spectrum?</li><li>In your opinion, what should be the method of assigning spectrum in bands other than 800, 900 and 1800 MHz for use other than commercial?<br /><br /><strong>Spectrum pricing</strong></li><li>Should the service providers having spectrum above the committed threshold be charged a one time charge for the additional spectrum?</li><li>In case it is decided to levy one time charge beyond a certain amount then what in your opinion should be the date from which the charge should be calculated and why?</li><li>On what basis, this upfront charge be decided? Should it be benchmarked to the auction price of 3G spectrum or some other benchmark?</li><li>Should the annual spectrum charges be uniform irrespective of quantum of spectrum and technology?</li><li>Should there be regular review of spectrum charges? If so, at what interval and what should be the methodology?<br /><br /><strong>Structure for spectrum management</strong></li><li>What in your opinion is the desired structure for efficient management of spectrum?<br /><br /><strong>Please see the preamble in the cover note.</strong></li></ol>
<p> </p>
<p>Shyam Ponappa<br />Centre for Internet & Society<br />cis-india.org</p>
<p>November 12, 2009</p>
<p> </p>
<p> </p>
<p>
For more details visit <a href='http://editors.cis-india.org/telecom/blog/response-to-trai-consultation-paper'>http://editors.cis-india.org/telecom/blog/response-to-trai-consultation-paper</a>
</p>
No publisherradhaTelecomSubmissions2011-08-24T08:06:46ZBlog EntryIPv6: The promises and challenges
http://editors.cis-india.org/news/ipv6-the-promises-and-challenges
<b>An article by Pranesh Prakash, Programme Manager at the Centre for Internet and Society, in the DNA Mumbai edition (4th Nov '09)</b>
<h2>What is IPv6?</h2>
<p>Internet Protocol version 4 (IPv4) is a standard defined in 1981, which is central to the Internet, allowing vastly different computers on vastly different kinds of networks to communicate with each other. (Think of how diplomatic protocols enables diplomats from vastly different cultures to communicate effectively by agreement on certain common minimums (such as a handshake, etc.).) IPv4 was defined when there were relatively few computers, and even fewer connected to networks. Many things have changed since then, with one of the most important change being the burgeoning of the Internet and the World Wide Web. Each computer on the Internet has something known as an IP address. Each 'packet' of data transmitted over the Internet must have associated from and to IP addresses (which can sometimes be ranges of addresses). IPv4 can accommodate 4,294,967,296 (2^32) unique IP addresses, whereas IPv6 can handle 340 undecillion (2^128) unique addresses. When you consider that every device with Internet connectivity has an IP address (from laptops to Blackberries to even alarm clocks), a lot of IP addresses are required. Since the early 1990s, people have been talking about some of the limitations of IPv4, the primary one being the lack of expandability of IPv4.</p>
<h3>Benefits of IPv6</h3>
<ol><li>Greater number of computers on the Internet, as it uses more</li><li>Better reliability and security, as IPSec, a protocol for authenticating and securing all IP data, is built into IPv6 as a default.</li><li>More efficient and thus faster than IPv4. Despite carrying much more data, IPv6 packets are simpler to route (just as addresses with pincodes are easier for post offices to handle).</li><li>More features can be added more easily. If at a later point of time more features are required, those can be added without a whole new protocol being designed.<br /></li></ol>
<h3>What all does the shift to IPv6 require?</h3>
<ol><li>IPv6-capable Internet Service Providers providing consumers IPv6 addresses</li><li>IPv6-capable networking hardware (modems, routers)</li><li>IPv6-capable operating systems on consumer devices (smartphones, computers, etc.)</li><li>IPv6-capable websites, which depends on (1)<br /></li></ol>
<p>Apart from IPv6 capability, at some point the shift to IPv6 must happen, since IPv4 and IPv6 are not compatible. Translators, which allow an IPv6 address to be understood by a computer using IPv4, do exist, but they are quite expensive to deploy. Currently, it is estimated that around 1% of the world's Internet traffic is conducted using IPv6. The most successful example of IPv6 being used on a large scale was the 2008 Olympics where all network operations (from security camera transmissions to a special IPv6 website). So why haven't more ISPs shifted to IPv6? Because of network externalities. While telephones make sense, being the only person in the world with a telephone doesn't. Similarly, while IPv6 is the way for the future, it only makes economic sense for ISPs to shift (or even prepare for the shift, by using translators) when there are plenty of others using IPv6. While some ISPs (like Sify) are already prepared for the shift, others need to gear up. Importantly, the government step in to encourage (and, perhaps, at some point, mandate) this transition. Following the governments of the US, EU, and China, the Indian government too sees the immensity of this shift, and has tasked the Telecommunication Engineering Centre (TEC) of the Department of Telecommunications to take the lead in this. The TEC has convened meetings with experts, and thus India seems to be on the right track.</p>
<h3>What does all this mean for you?</h3>
<p>Perhaps a lot or not very much, depending on how you look at things. Most modern modems and routers (which are usually provided by your ISP) support IPv6, but are, by default, configured for IPv4. Many smartphones don't work on IPv6, but generally phones have a shorter shelf life and chances are that market forces will goad manufacturers to support IPv6 by the time the IPv6 Internet becomes more popular. Thus, while IPv4 addresses might be find themselves near the end of their natural life within one to three years, they will live on thanks to various mechanisms that translate IPv4 to IPv6 (which won't work well with certain applications such as peer-to-peer file-sharing). Eventually, even those translators will have to be abandoned if we are to embrace a brave new Internet.</p>
<p><a class="external-link" href="http://epaper.dnaindia.com/EpaperImages%5C04112009%5Cwhwhwwhwh-large.jpg">Link to the original article</a></p>
<p>
For more details visit <a href='http://editors.cis-india.org/news/ipv6-the-promises-and-challenges'>http://editors.cis-india.org/news/ipv6-the-promises-and-challenges</a>
</p>
No publisherradhaTelecom2011-04-02T14:45:40ZNews ItemThe South African Telecommunications Sector: Poised for Change
http://editors.cis-india.org/events/lecture-tour-by-sagie-chetty
<b>CIS in collaboration with the LINK Centre, Graduate School of Public and Development Management,
University of the Witwatersrand, South Africa and in association with different institutions across India is organizing a Lecture Tour by Sagie Chetty from 19th Oct to 30th Oct.</b>
<p>CIS in collaboration with the LINK Centre, Graduate School of Public and Development Management, University of the Witwatersrand, South Africa and in association with different institutions across India is organizing a Lecture Tour on: <br />“The South African Telecommunications Sector: Poised for Change” By Sagie Chetty, Senior Manager, Eskom, South Africa. <br />It will be our pleasure to have you join us for the talks.</p>
<p>The Co-hosts, Dates and the Venues for the Talk are given below –</p>
<ul><li>Co-Host: Indian Institute of Technology, Madras<br />Date: 19th October, 2009 at 3.30pm<br />Venue – IIT-M, Chennai</li></ul>
<ul><li>Co-Host: Indian Institute of Technology, Bombay<br />Date: 20th October, 2009 at 4.00pm<br />Venue – IIT-B, Mumbai<br /></li></ul>
<ul><li>Co-Host: International Institute of Information Technology, Bangalore<br />Date: 23rd October, 2009 at 4.00pm<br />Venue – IIIT-B, Bangalore<br /></li></ul>
<ul><li>Co-Host: Indira Gandhi National Open University, Delhi<br />Date: 26th October, 2009 at 3.00pm<br />Venue – IGNOU, Delhi<br /></li></ul>
<ul><li>Co-Host: National Institute of Science Technology and Development Studies, Delhi<br />Date: 27th October, 2009 at 3.00pm<br />Venue – NISTADS, Delhi<br /></li></ul>
<ul><li>Co-Host: CCMG - Jamia Millia Islamia, New Delhi<br />Date: 29th October, 2009 at 2.00pm<br />Venue – CCMG - Jamia Millia Islamia, New Delhi</li></ul>
<h3>About the Speaker:</h3>
<p>Sagie Chetty is a Senior Manager in Eskom, South Africa’s largest electricity utility. Sagie spent the first part of his career at Eskom as Information Manager in the Generation Division. In that time he was responsible for information systems strategy development and implementation. Some of the key projects he has been involved in are the implementation of SAP Plant Maintenance, Business Intelligence systems and other bespoke Information Systems for Generation Power Stations.</p>
<p><img src="http://editors.cis-india.org/home-images/Sagie%20Chetty..jpg/image_preview" alt="Sagie Chetty" class="image-inline" title="Sagie Chetty" /></p>
<h3>Abstract of the Lecture: The South African Telecommunications Sector: Poised for Change</h3>
<p>With a gross domestic product of over $506 billion (PPP, 2008) South Africa is one of the leading economies on the African continent. Only Nigeria with a GDP of $328 billion and Egypt with a GDP of $453 billion currently rival the South African economy. The economy is strong in manufacturing and agriculture, but is still based significantly on mining of gold, diamonds, platinum, coal and iron ore. Its main trading partner is the European Union. Bilateral trade with India amounts to $6, 2 billion (2008) with the balance of trade in South Africa’s favour to the value of about $1 billion.<br />Although one of the leading economies in Africa, South Africa’s Information and Communications (ICT) sector has not shown the concomitant level of development that reflects its economic position in Africa. ICT usage – telephony and Internet – has historically been low, and electronic transactions are utilised largely by business. There are a number of reasons for this; however the high cost of telecommunications is certainly a contributing factor. The high cost is attributed largely to policy and regulatory failure in the telecommunications sector. The sector is characterized by powerful incumbent telecoms operators that thwart competition and further entrench their dominant market positions. The consequence is that the high telecommunications costs impact access, affordability and the cost of doing business for the region.<br />Recent developments in the telecommunications sector, however could spell the end to high costs if policy and regulatory actions do not hinder competition. South African consumers can in the very near future look forward to lower telecommunications prices with the laying of new undersea cables, a new national backbone to compete with the existing one, new satellite ventures to provide the backhaul between cellular and broadband towers, a landmark court decision allowing value added network service providers (VANS) to build their own networks and the imminent entry of the incumbent telecommunications fixed line operator into the mobile arena. It is an opportune time for policy makers and regulators to take bold steps to free up the sector and open it up for true competition.<br />Lines that historically demarcated fixed, mobile, voice, data are blurring, causing shifts in market structures. However, currently the market is structured around the incumbent Telkom for fixed lines services and Vodacom and MTN for mobile services. A second PSTN, Neotel has been licensed but is only offering limited services. A third mobile operator, Cell C is operating but has yet to gain any significant market share. <br /><br />The talk is open to all and there are no registration or entry fees. <br />Please let us know if you require any further details.<br /><br /></p>
VIDEOS
<iframe src="http://blip.tv/play/AYLRmR8A.html" frameborder="0" height="250" width="250"></iframe><embed type="application/x-shockwave-flash" src="http://a.blip.tv/api.swf#AYLRmR8A" style="display:none"></embed>
<p>
For more details visit <a href='http://editors.cis-india.org/events/lecture-tour-by-sagie-chetty'>http://editors.cis-india.org/events/lecture-tour-by-sagie-chetty</a>
</p>
No publisherradhaTelecom2011-10-21T09:59:51ZEventHandy Origins of the winds of change
http://editors.cis-india.org/news/handy-origins-of-the-winds-of-change
<b>A seminar in Bangalore revealed how mobile technology is being harnessed across India to bring about development and social change, reports Shrabonti Bagchi
- DNA (6th Sept, 2009)
</b>
<p>The Internet, for all the celebrated changes it has made in our lives, still had limited penetration in our country with about 80 million, largely urban and prosperous users. This severely limits its viability as a vehicle of development and social change. The mobile phone, on the other hand, has 400 million users in the country, and has undoubtedly become the first mode of communication in India to gain almost universal reach, cutting across barriers of location, region, community and social classes. <br />“The mobile phone has unprecedented penetration into classes of society that were largely unconnected with the outside world till now,” said Sunil Abraham, executive director of the Centre for Internet and Society, which along with Mobile Monday Bangalore, the Bangalore chapter of a global community of wireless industry professionals, organised a seminar, “Mobile Technology 4 Social Change”, in the city recently.<br />The idea for the event came from one of the co-organizers, Mobileactive.org, which is a network of NGOs interested in taking advantage of the mobile telephony revolution to bring about changes, informed Abraham.<br />Attended by NGOs, non-profit organisations, researchers, donors, and of course, mobile application developers, the seminar intended to throw open doors of communication between these varied groups of people.<br />Take the case of IFFCO Kisan Sanchar Limited (IKSL), for instance. This farmers’ co-operative formed under the aegis of fertiliser manufacturer IFFCO has tied up with cellular service provider Airtel to develop a special SIM card which enables users to receive voice and text messages everyday containing nuggets of information about various farming practices. It has around 2,75,000 subscribers in Karnataka alone, informs IKSL state manager G Raghunatha, and has made a huge difference to the lives of farmers.<br />A similar case is related by Subbaih Arunachalam who is involved with the MS Swaminathan Research Foundation, which has tied up with Tata Tele-services and Qualcomm and telecom developer Astute to create special GPS-enabled mobile phones (costing less than Rs.3, 000) that helps fishermen track weather reports, send out emergency messages in case they are lost at sea, etc., and also engage in price-point discussions with local wholesalers.<br />Several NGOs have also been quick to utilise the advantage of the versatility and ease-of-use of the mobile phone to disseminate vital information. Sreekanth Rameshaiah, director of Bangalore-based NGO Mahiti, spoke of an endeavour started by his group in Calcutta called My SME News which targets small and micro enterprises, sending out customised information for 11 micro-industries through text messages in the local language. They also plan to launch a voice platform soon.<br />Mobile payments brand mChek started an initiative on similar lines in Bangalore. The company uses its SMS-based mobile payment technology, which is embedded on all new Airtel and Docomo SIM cards, to enable slum dwellers to access banking and explore micro-finance options through micro-finance institution Grameen Koota.<br />Valerie Rozycki, head of strategic initiatives at mChek, said, “Access to low-cost banking over the mobile and being enabled with safe ways to save and convenient ways to make payments is life-changing for these customers. This is a sustainable business model to serve the un-banked and under-banked. So, these services will continue to thrive."</p>
<p>Let’s raise our mobile phones to that.</p>
<p> </p>
<p>
For more details visit <a href='http://editors.cis-india.org/news/handy-origins-of-the-winds-of-change'>http://editors.cis-india.org/news/handy-origins-of-the-winds-of-change</a>
</p>
No publisherradhaTelecom2011-04-02T14:59:01ZNews ItemPushing the buttons for social change
http://editors.cis-india.org/news/pushing-the-buttons-for-social-change
<b>IMMENSE POTENTIAL: With its myriad applications, a mobile phone can be used as an instrument of social change. Meet on how mobile technology can be a power tool to this end - An article in The Hindu on 01st September 2009</b>
<p>BANGALORE: We have all seen the popular television advertisement that claims that mobile phone technology can be much more than a communication device and be used as a powerful tool for social change.</p>
<p>Here is a platform that brings together technology enthusiasts and non-governmental organisations, working in various social sectors, to drive this change.</p>
<p>The one-day camp, Mobile Tech 4 Social Change, to be held on September 4, aims at exploring the power of mobile technology to advance social change goals.</p>
<p>Organised by the Centre for Internet and Studies, in collaboration with Women’s Learning Partnership, Mobile Monday and Mobile Active, it will include informative and interactive sessions on the subject.</p>
<p>It will be held from 9 a.m. to 7 p.m. at the Mother Tekla Auditorium on Brunton Road.</p>
<p>Participating NGOs will discuss problems and different ways to use, deploy, develop and promote mobile technology in health, advocacy, economic development, environment, human rights, and citizen media to name a few areas.</p>
<p>According to the Cellular Operators’ Association of India, there has been a growth in the number of subscribers by 1.86 per cent in July 2009 in the metros alone.</p>
<p>“A report on the impact of mobile phones in India reveals that Indian States with high mobile penetration can be expected to grow faster than those with lower mobile penetration rates, namely, 1.2 percentage points for every 10 per cent increase in the penetration rate.</p>
<p>This conference is a step in understanding how this can be taken forward,” says Sunil Abraham of the Centre for Internet and Studies. Participants for Mobile Tech 4 Social Change bar camps will include nonprofits, mobile applications developers, researchers, donors, intermediary organisations, and mobile operators.</p>
<p>While NGOs can gain information on various mobile applications and collaborate with those working in the core field of mobile technologies, enterprises can align their social responsibilities and use this potentially powerful medium.</p>
<p>
For more details visit <a href='http://editors.cis-india.org/news/pushing-the-buttons-for-social-change'>http://editors.cis-india.org/news/pushing-the-buttons-for-social-change</a>
</p>
No publisherradhaTelecom2011-04-02T15:09:10ZNews ItemChange is coming, thanks to the mobile
http://editors.cis-india.org/news/change-is-coming-thanks-to-the-mobile
<b>An article by NT Balanarayan in the DNA on August 27th,'09</b>
<p>Bangalore: A simple mobile can do much more than all your friends or send you cricket alerts, this is not me saying it, this is what a bunch of mobile enthusiasts organised under the banner of different societies are trying to say with the upcoming unconference Mobile tech for Social Change.</p>
<p>The event which will be held in unconference style - read: casual atmosphere - will try to focus on mobile technology and applications which can help not just connect human beings, but also improve their lives. The event is being organised by Centre for Internet Society (CIS) in collaboration with Women's Learning Partnership, Mobile Monday Bangalore and MobileActive.org and will be held on September 1.</p>
<p>Sunil Abraham, executive director of CIS says that the event will bring together two groups of people and provide them a platform to interact and work on ideas.</p>
<p>"On one side, there are the NGOs and social entrepreneurs and on the other side there are the people who develop technology for mobile phones, the geeks and the hackers etc. So if this event works out like expected, there may be a mailing list in the future so that these people can keep in touch and help develop mobile technology that will help uplift the lives of people," he says.</p>
<p>So how important are mobile phones as a technology? According to Abraham, it might be the easiest way for an Indian to access the internet. "There are around 400 million mobile users in India against 80 million people who have occasional access to the internet. The mobile users end up using internet technology a lot in India through GRPS, EDGE and at times indirectly through SMS gateway. This platform however, needs more work so that much more can be provided to mobile users," he says.</p>
<p>The Mobile Monday initiative headed by Kesav Reddy, will be helping CIS to organise the event. "We are expecting not just NGOs and developers, but also, researchers, donors, intermediary organisations and mobile operators; all in all we are expecting 100-200 participants," he says.</p>
<p>
For more details visit <a href='http://editors.cis-india.org/news/change-is-coming-thanks-to-the-mobile'>http://editors.cis-india.org/news/change-is-coming-thanks-to-the-mobile</a>
</p>
No publisherradhaTelecom2011-04-02T15:09:50ZNews ItemPayal Malik
http://editors.cis-india.org/telecom/knowledge-repository-on-internet-access/payal-malik
<b></b>
<p style="text-align: justify; ">Payal Malik is currently, Advisor to the Competition Commission of India. She has years of research experience in issues of competition and regulation in network industries like power, telecommunication and water. Her research collaborations have involved TRAI, Competition Commission of India, OECD, World Bank, and many others.</p>
<p>
For more details visit <a href='http://editors.cis-india.org/telecom/knowledge-repository-on-internet-access/payal-malik'>http://editors.cis-india.org/telecom/knowledge-repository-on-internet-access/payal-malik</a>
</p>
No publisherpraskrishnaTelecom2012-10-12T05:50:30ZPageSagie Chetty- Report
http://editors.cis-india.org/telecom/publications/SC%20Study%20Tour%20Report%202009-11-08%20_2_.pdf
<b></b>
<p>
For more details visit <a href='http://editors.cis-india.org/telecom/publications/SC%20Study%20Tour%20Report%202009-11-08%20_2_.pdf'>http://editors.cis-india.org/telecom/publications/SC%20Study%20Tour%20Report%202009-11-08%20_2_.pdf</a>
</p>
No publisherradhaTelecomPublications2011-08-23T03:30:41ZFile