Centre for Internet and Society

BSNL RTI

praskrishna — 2013-01-30T05:30:23Z

Reply to RTI application filed on September 10, 2012.

For more details visit http://editors.cis-india.org/internet-governance/blog/bsnl-rti

Brochure - Sensitization Seminar

praskrishna — 2016-05-01T16:01:43Z

For more details visit http://editors.cis-india.org/a2k/blogs/brochure-sensitization-seminar

Broadcast Treaty

praskrishna — 2013-09-23T09:25:58Z

For more details visit http://editors.cis-india.org/a2k/blogs/broadcast-treaty.pdf

Broadcast Treaty

praskrishna — 2013-06-03T06:36:24Z

For more details visit http://editors.cis-india.org/a2k/blogs/broadcast-treaty

Broadband user base still has a long way to go

praskrishna — 2011-11-16T02:59:38Z

Internet users in India have crossed the 100-million mark, still distant from China’s nearly 500 million and the 250 million or so in the US, but experts are buoyant about prospects in cyberspace even as low broadband penetration and poor online payment and distribution channels persist as hurdles.

Abhishek Goenka, partner, BMR Advisors, who leads the firm’s real estate and information technology practice, agreed.
"While the over 100 million users comprise less than 10% of India’s population, it is 20-30% of the urban population, which is an exciting enough number," he said.

India and China are strengthening their position in the global Internet ecosystem rapidly, a May 2011 McKinsey report had noted.

"Both countries show growth rates of over 20%," said the report, even as it pegged the total (estimated) worldwide contribution of the Internet at $1.67 trillion (2.9% of total gross domestic product).

It added that public expenditure on the Internet—including spending for consumption and investment by the government on software, hardware, services and telecoms—ranged widely from 5% of the total GDP contribution in India to more than 20% in the UK, the US, Brazil and Russia.

Despite the optimism in the industry, there is a consensus that unless broadband numbers and speeds increase, meaningful commerce on the Internet will not happen in India.

Broadband subscriber figures stood at a mere 12.69 million in August, according to the Telecom Regulatory Authority of India (Trai). In contrast, China had around 364 million broadband users (98.1% penetration) in 2010, according to InternetWorldStats.

This has a bearing on growth—a 2009 World Bank report suggested that GDP expansion in developing countries gets a boost of 1.38 percentage points for every 10 percentage point increase in broadband penetration.

An October 2011 report by Ericsson, Arthur D Little and Chalmers University of Technology in 33 Organisation of Economic Cooperation and Development (OECD) countries, confirmed that doubling the broadband speed increases GDP by 0.3% which, in the OECD region, is equivalent to $126 billion. The study also revealed that further doubling speed can yield growth in excess of 0.3%.

Kartik Hosanagar, an associate professor at Wharton School of the University of Pennsylvania, and co-founder of Yodle Inc., agreed that the definition of broadband in India (256 kbps and above) should be upgraded to international standards (1 Mbps and above) while adding that the 100 million mark "is a very important number, since it provides a big enough market for large firms wanting to play in it".

Sunil Abraham, executive director at the Centre For Internet and Society said the broadband volume was small and that India was not a big market like China.

He rued that the government had not done enough to facilitate broadband adoption, the way it did for mobile phones. There were around 866 million wireless connections till this August and 70% of them were active, according to Trai.

Shree Parthasarathy, senior director, Enterprise Risk Services, Deloitte India, listed weaknesses in the 100 million-plus Internet user base, with most people still using it to check email and social sites.

In the 30 urban cities where the survey was conducted, 89% use it to access email, 71% for social networking, 64% to search education-related content, 55% for chat and 49% to access video, music and images, according to the latest IAMAI report.

Online transactions are not a significant part of this as yet. "It will increase in years to come, particularly when people begin to see more value in e-stores than brick and mortar stores," Parthasarathy said.

Murthy of Pinstorm offered a different perspective—the reach of the Internet now rivals television, he said. "To reach an upscale audience in India, the Internet is now the only mass medium—TV is a niche medium here. This is a reversal of traditional roles."

Goenka of BMR Advisors, however, said the comparison of Internet penetration with the reach of TV sets was unfair and that the two markets were very different. "TV units are also found in semi-urban and rural areas, whereas the 100 million Internet (users) are indicative of the spending powers of these users. It is a good indication for e-commerce companies."

Analysts like Goenka of BMR Advisors and Raghav Anand, associate director, Ernst and Young India, contended that smartphones and 3G networks would accelerate the growth of the user base.

“The 120 million Internet user base indicates that the run rate is good, and it could be 200 to 250 million in two to three years,” Anand said. “The numbers are significant and anyone looking at investing or scaling up should do it now. The growth rates are making Internet play very interesting.”

Since 75% of the users are young, adult males, “it is a very attractive segment for advertisers also”, he said. Of the 250 million Internet users in three years that he predicts, “120-130 million would be through phones.

This article by Leslie D’Monte & Deepti Chaudhary was originally published in Livemint on 15 November 2011. It can be read here

For more details visit http://editors.cis-india.org/news/broadband-long-way-to-go

Broadband Market Structure

praskrishna — 2013-05-06T08:49:53Z

Broadband Market Structure

For more details visit http://editors.cis-india.org/home-images/BroadbandMarketStructure.png

Broadband Internet needs attention: Sunil Abraham

praskrishna — 2014-02-17T08:59:24Z

Telecom regulation is mostly a success, but wired and wireless broadband needs attention, says Centre for Internet and Society executive director.

The article by Sidin Vadukut was published in Livemint on February 3, 2014. Sunil Abraham was interviewed.

First of all from a policy perspective, how have priorities changed when it comes to technology in India from 2007 to now? Has it moved on from an issue of the infrastructure itself, to how this pipeline is used and managed?

Yes and no. Regarding carriage, telecom regulation has been mostly a success in terms of penetration and affordability, but wired and wireless broadband regulation still needs urgent attention for shared back haul, shared spectrum, unlicensed spectrum, quality of service, etc. We are making slow progress on privacy, security and cross-jurisdictional issues.

In 2014, what do you think are the key public policy issues facing technology in India? What forces do you see colliding with each other?

Privacy and data protection: Here there is conflict with transparency and innovation. Also we have to optimize privacy with security. Free speech: here traditional norms collide with potential of new technologies and energy of digital natives. Intellectual property: here the challenge is how to spread dissatisfaction equally between innovators, entrepreneurs, consumers, state and the public.

The Internet in India, and the many apps that ride on it, is pointed out as a disruptor on many accounts. From politics to social welfare to news and media. Is it too soon to see how Internet has changed Indian society? Or are we beginning to get a sense of this?

I would channel Evgeny Morozov here: there is no such thing as the Internet. Especially in India, many of the so-called data users on mobile phones are trapped within walled gardens created by Google, Facebook and Twitter. In short, specific technologies have social consequences within specific sites. We have anecdotal evidence that the availability of OERs (open educational resources), MOOCs (massive open online courses) and shadow libraries have transformed Indian classrooms in the cities. But there are very few empirical studies establishing causation between the Internet and Indian social phenomena.

When we say Internet in India, we really mean English language Internet in India. How substantial are the efforts to make the web more accessible to non-English speakers? What is holding this back?

The situation is absolutely depressing. For most languages there is a lot of work that remains to be done when it comes to input methods, fonts, rendering technology, spelling and grammar assistance, thesaurus, optical character recognition, text-to-voice, voice-to-text, machine translation, etc. We need large-scale government funding to create market incentives so that the Indian technology gap is bridged using open standards and technologies. We need government mandates to ensure that manufacturers produce some models of their products that comply with these standards.

What two-three policy changes can truly make technology an agent of social change in India?

Device level patent pool and compulsory licence for mobile devices to ensure proliferation of devices at the both ends of the pyramid. We need to move from community radio (FM only) policy to a technology neutral (terrestrial TV, Wi-Fi, mobile technologies, ADSL, fibre, etc) community media policy.

For more details visit http://editors.cis-india.org/news/livemint-february-3-2014-sidin-vadukut-broadband-internet-needs-attention

Broadband India Forum: OTTs & TSPs Need to Work Together to Advance Digital India Goals

praskrishna — 2019-04-12T01:16:25Z

Urgent need to further enhance the symbiotic relationship between OTTs & TSPs. TSPs need to be provided regulatory relief so that they operate in a win-win ecosystem. Licensing OTTs is not an option. Global investments by OTTs growing – was US$ 300 Billion between 2014-2017.

The blog post was published in News Patrolling on April 6, 2019.

New Delhi, Friday, 5 April 2019: Broadband India Forum (BIF), an independent policy forum and think-tank, today held an event on the ‘Regulation and Substitutability of OTT Services with Telecom Services’. The event was presided over by the Chief Guest, Mr. Yaduvendra Mathur, Special Secretary, NITI Aayog and other industry luminaries including Mr. Rajat Kathuria, Director and Chief Executive, ICRIER and Mr. Ashwinder Sethi, Principal, Analysis Mason.

The event also included a lively panel discussion that was moderated by Dr. Mahesh Uppal, Principal Adviser, BIF. The panel represented multiple stakeholders from the industry including the Government, consumer group, OTT service providers and operators. Panelists included Mr. Sushil Kumar, DDG (IOT) TEC, Department of Telecommunications; Mr. Rajan S Mathews, Director General, COAI; Ms. Anubha Sinha, Senior Programme Manager, Centre for Internet and Society; Ms. Amrita Choudhury, Director CCAOI; Mr. Nikhil Pahwa, Founder and Editor, MediaNama and Mr. Abhishek Malhotra, Managing Partner, TMT Law Practice.

Themed OTT: A Win-Win for all, the event was crucial in determining the development of synergies between TSP networks and OTT players. OTT and Telecom Service Providers (TSP) provide different services and experience different sets of challenges. Thus, arises the need to further enhance collaboration between TSPs and OTT players, which was the key discussion theme today.

Mr. Yaduvendra Mathur, Special Secretary, NITI Aayog said, “We believe that there is much that both OTTs and TSPs have to gain from each other. There is a strong case for an even stronger relationship between them to emerge given the continued and exponential consumption of data in India at the lowest rates globally. In the short term there will be some pain for the TSPs and there needs to be a mechanism to address this. One of the other issues that needs to be addressed is the democratization of hotspots across the country. We need to provide our rural population an even greater immersive experience via their smartphones – across not just entertainment but also health, education and a range of other services.”

Mr. Rajat Kathuria Director and Chief Executive, ICRIER in his address said, “We believe that the TSPs have a legitimate concern with regards to their financial health. But that is with regards to reducing their financial burden and not with regards to license OTTs. We need to address the financial health of the sector to address the issue.”

Mr. TV Ramachandran, President, Broadband India Forum said, “Just as mobile transformed India, OTT is the next dimension of change. OTT services have added to the GDP of the country as well as to the productivity of people. This is in addition to the other benefits that they deliver to the TSPs at a time when their revenue from voice is zero. OTT is a very powerful and necessary lever for TSPs and ISPs as revenue generators. TSPs must be provided relief from excessive levies and taxes to ensure that they’re healthy. TSPs create a value for whole of economy and hence their financial health is important for the whole of Indian economy to grow and prosper. Thus, there is a need to create an ecosystem that is a win-win for them and all other stakeholders in their ecosystem. Also, OTTs do not fall under the Telegraph Act. In conclusion, I would say that both need to work together to advance Digital India’s goals.”

Mr. Ashvinder Sethi, Principal, Analysis Masonhighlighted the global investments that have been made by OTTs. From 2014-17, OTTs have invested over US$ 300 billion in hosting, transport and delivery infrastructure. Their average annual investments have more than doubled since 2011-13 – growing from US$ 29.6 Billion to US$ 69.7 Billion in 2014-17. While North America accounted for the largest regional share of OTT investments from 2017-17 followed by Asia-Pac and Europe. Asia pacific with close to 3X growth is driving higher demand and higher investments as compared to Europe, LatAm & the MEA.

The attendees shared a strong perspective that the root cause of the issue between OTTs and TSPs was not related to competition but due to legacy issues being faced by the telecom sector that were hampering investments in the sector. These issues relate to high levies and duties, onerous licensing conditions and spectrum pricing. The Indian Telegraph Act does not apply to OTTs – central to the Telegraph Act is the concept of owning, establishing, operating maintaining a telegraph which, as defined in the Telegraph Act, is what attracts licensing. OTT’s do not own, establish, operate or maintain a telegraph – so the question of attracting licensing does not arise.

The discourse on policies towards OTTs and TSPs is far from settled. However, it may be considered that in the case of new generation internet-based services that have significant socio-economic impact, – it would be premature to pass hard rules. Careful and planned approaches to soft law can be attempted and later developed into more firm rules as the sector matures.

For more details visit http://editors.cis-india.org/telecom/news/newspatrolling-april-6-2019-broadband-india-forum-otts-tsps-need-to-work-together-to-advance-digital-india-goals

Broadband 2

praskrishna — 2015-09-04T14:51:01Z

Broadband 2

For more details visit http://editors.cis-india.org/home-images/copy_of_Broadband1.png

Broadband 1

praskrishna — 2015-09-04T14:49:02Z

Broadband 1

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Bright lights, geek city

praskrishna — 2011-05-01T02:41:34Z

Bangalore serves as my anchor because this is where the geek is, says Nishant Shah. The news was published in the Hindu on April 28, 2011.

I have spent the last couple of years on the fly, measuring life in cups of coffee consumed in transit at airports, working largely with young people in the Global South about their use of digital technologies for social change and political transformation.

It was interesting to live in non-localised time zones and out of suitcases, treating Bangalore as some sort of a laundermat where I largely came to get fresh clothes. But, in this year, as I spend more time in the city, I have started rediscovering the reason why I came to Bangalore eight years ago and decided to call it home.

I realise now, that despite my geographically distributed lifestyle, Bangalore serves as my anchor because this is where the Geek is! And I use the word ‘geek' not only to refer to the (largely male) technology population of the city, but to the people who, in their own quest for knowledge, have made a supportive, symbiotic and inclusive ecosystem of interventions, interests and interactions.

Over the years, many small and big spaces and organisations, collectives and meet-ups have made the city into a mashup that willingly or unwittingly, is a consequence of the digital technologies which are often held responsible for the ‘ruin and decline' of ‘good old Bangalore'.

Here are my three favourite such spaces: one, the experimental make-shift curatorial space Jagaa that ‘makes things happen' in the crowded topography of Shanthinagar. Over time, I have been a part of a bar-camp on digital archiving, audience to an electronic music remix concert, and learned about Dutch Colonial history at Jagaa, making it the official Geek Centre for those who want to be a part of things as they happen.

Two, the Blank Noise Project (BNP) that has now made substantial interventions in discourse on safety on our streets and gender. Using digital technologies and capital, BNP constantly involves young people in and outside the city to reclaim the public spaces through performances and writing.

Three, Kiran ‘Jace' Jonallagadda, who should be in a travel book for Geeks. Jace started the first bar-camps in Bangalore so that geeks of a feather could flock together. His technology-based, community-based venture called HasGeek is all set to become the only way of capturing the burgeoning tech interest and talent in the city.

I realise, as I write this, that this list of ‘Geeks' Up!' in Bangalore is almost exhaustive. I run through the fun, the excitement and the energy that digital and internet technologies have brought the city and I feel recharged. And I am glad that the Centre for Internet and Society, which I co-founded and work with, is in this city, with all these exciting people, just a click or a corner away.

Read the original news published in the Hindu here

For more details visit http://editors.cis-india.org/news/geek-city

Bridging the gap: Tech giants bring the internet to women in rural India

praskrishna — 2016-10-30T07:23:05Z

This Diwali is going to be a cracker of a festival for Nisha Chanderwal, a second year BA student.

The article by KumKum Dasgupta was published in the Hindustan Times on October 28, 2016. Pranesh Prakash and Rohini Lakshané were quoted.

“I bought a bright red kurta with gold-colour zari dupatta from Snapdeal, my first online purchase,” the 19-year-old resident of Alwar’s Umren village told HT recently.

“No courier service reaches my village. So I gave my aunt’s home address in Alwar. They paid in cash…I paid her when I picked up the parcel,” she added, explaining the circuitous delivery and payment process that is common in rural India.

Nisha is elated for one more reason: She has finally got even with her 20-year-old brother, Ashok. “He has a smartphone, but doesn’t even let me touch it, saying girls should not use the Internet. But now thanks to Google’s Internet Saathi Programme (ISP), I don’t need his phone or his help,” said an elated Nisha.

In July 2015, technology giant Google launched ISP in partnership with Tata Trusts, one of the country’s oldest philanthropic organisations, to bring rural women online in India. Today, the initiative is live in 25,000 villages across 10 states with 1,900 saathis. The final mission is to reach 300,000 villages. Google is adding up to 500 additional ‘saathis’ per week. More than 100,000 women have been trained so far.

Google started this programme because Internet usage by women in rural areas is low.

“Only one in 10 Internet users in rural India is a woman,” Sapna Chadha, marketing head, Google India, told HT. “With ISP, we are creating an enabling environment that empowers them while also bridging the technology gender divide. We believe that easy access to information can transform lives. Our mission is to organise the world’s information and make it universally accessible”.

Along with access to information, getting more and more women online has other benefits: “If women are a minority online, they become vulnerable to harassment and violence. Women can’t only be consumers of the Internet but must contribute their views, and make the space equitable,” said Rohini Lakshané of the Bangalore-based The Centre for Internet and Society (CIS), which is funded by the Kusuma Trust.

Google and Tata Trusts are leveraging their core strengths for ISP. While Google provides the hardware (phones and tablets), training and Internet connectivity. Tata Trusts does the identification of saathis and the monitoring.

“We tie up with government departments to roll out the project. For example, in Rajasthan and Andhra Pradesh, we are working with the rural livelihood mission. The government helps us to identify villages, set selection criteria and logistics such as venues,” explained Prabhat Pani, project director, Tata Trusts.

The programme first chooses a few women and trains them on how to use a mobile phone, shoot photos and videos and the basics of Internet. Then the women are sent out on bicycles with a smartphone and a tablet to teach others in their villages.

The programme has opened a new world for many. “Google is like a book. You can get whatever information you need. I am illiterate but I use voice search for information,” said Phoolwati, a 45-year-old resident of Nangli Jamawat, Umren.

Her friend Manju is now the village’s undisputed ‘selfie queen’. “I love taking videos and photos,” she said, adding that she also searches for information on MGNREGA or education loans for her children.

According to Google, the new online entrants are searching for news, recipes, designs for clothes, images and information on pilgrimages, farming and cattle-related information and government schemes.

For Google, it makes immense sense to get more people online. “The company is targeting huge and untapped demographics who are entry-level users. Going forward, they will have a huge first-mover advantage if there is scope to monetise Google’s services,” explained Lakshané.

By 2020, about 315 million rural Indians will be connected to the Internet, compared to around 120 million now. That’s about 36% of the country’s online population. By 2020, this share of rural India will jump to 48%, creating a huge opportunity for brands and marketers in places where establishing stores is a challenge,” says a study by the Boston Consulting Group, The Rising Connected Consumer in Rural India.

The first signs of this market potential were evident during the pre-Diwali online festival season sale. E-tailers posted growth in sales compared to last year thanks to growing smartphone penetration in small towns and villages, cheaper data tariffs and free hotspots. While Google did not divulge the exact revenues that it is spending on ISP, Chadha said it has helped the company to understand the needs of users in rural areas and what role the Internet can play.

Along with ISP, Google is also working with the Indian government on two projects that aims to give more people access to the Internet.

First, the Project Loon, which uses high-altitude balloons to create an aerial wireless network with up to 4G speeds for providing Internet access to rural and remote areas.

Second, the company is partnering with RailTel to provide free wi-fi access in stations.

“The ISP has no immediate profits for Google. The average revenue Indian per user is less than say a user in US. But getting more people online helps Google because its search engine is most used,” Pranesh Prakash, policy director, CIS, told HT. “In the long run, the company will earn when people access its services and also from advertising revenue.”

Nevertheless, the ISP is addressing a major problem. “Many are afraid to go online because they don’t know how they can benefit. While the Saathi programme is not a philanthropic effort, it’s good that Google is addressing this issue through its training programmes,” Prakash said.

For more details visit http://editors.cis-india.org/internet-governance/news/hindustan-times-october-28-2016-kumkum-dasgupta-bridging-the-gap

Bridging the Digital Divide

praskrishna — 2016-08-24T16:50:41Z

Nirmita Narasimhan will be a panelist at an annual event called "All Hands Meet" organized by Wipro on August 25, 2016 in Bangalore.

Nirmita Narasimhan will be speaking on digital accessibility. The session will be moderated by Rama Chari, Director DEOC. For more info contact sucheta.narang@wipro.com

For more details visit http://editors.cis-india.org/accessibility/news/bridging-the-digital-divide

Bridging Gender Gap

praskrishna — 2013-09-23T07:16:05Z

For more details visit http://editors.cis-india.org/openness/blog-old/bridging-gender-gap.pdf

Braitenberg Cybernetic Vehicles: Workshop, Film Screening & Discussion

praskrishna — 2012-07-30T13:13:31Z

The Metaculture Media Lab at the Centre for Internet & Society, Bangalore is organizing a fun event, next Saturday, April 14, 2012. The event will begin at 2.30 p.m. and will end at 6.00 p.m.

A tentative schedule of the event in three parts:

A short presentation about Braitenberg Vehicles :
It is based on a thought experiment by Italian cyberneticist, in his book : ''Vehicles: Experiments in Synthetic Psychology'' where 'vehicles' with simple sensorimotor capabilites display interesting life-like behaviour WITHOUT the need for internal memory, representation of the environment, or inference. (Basically none of the task based hyper robotic coding/processing) Read more about it here on the wiki page : http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Braitenberg_vehicle
This will be followed by a quick Hands-on-proactive-workshop, where we will build some simple Braitenberg Vehicles, using common motors, wheels, and light sensors, and watch them interact and play with each other.
- The Technically inclined might ( Well If you don't know electronics, the block digram will be self explanatory anyway) have fun teaching eachother how to couple motors with light sensors. Designers can also contribute to the interaction paradigm/visuals. While others may chill in the shady part of the lawn with juice, until the vehicle action starts)
Finally, a film screening followed by a short discussion about it , revisiting our ideas about robots, autonomous vehicles, transport, society and policy, possibly moderated by volunteers/students/citizen researchers in this field, in a dialogue with the rest of the audience.

Additionally , if anyone want to build their own vehicles to take home, please email yelena@cis-india.org (by April 10) for instructions on what to pick up from SP Road.

For more details visit http://editors.cis-india.org/internet-governance/cybernetic-vehicles