Consumer, business and social telecom in India - Connect-World

10 Years of Insight and ExcellenceConsumer,businessand socialtelecomin IndiaAuthors include: Pradip Baijal, Chairman, Telecom Regulatory Authority of India (TRAI) Michiel Verhoeven, General Manager, Microsoft Communications Sector, Asia Pacific and Japan Rangu Salgame, President, Cisco Systems, India Amit Sharma, Vice President, South and South-East Asia, Motorola

“MY TV.MY PROGRAMS.MY SCHEDULE.“IPTVToday’s consumers expect to get the programs they want, when they want. IPTV builds onAlcatel’s worldwide leadership in broadband technology, IP networking and new multimediaand video applications to give consumers greater interactivity than ever before. End-users willenjoy unique, exciting and personalized services including video on demand, interactive TV,video communication, online gaming and sharing of music, photos and home videos — alldelivered simply and seamlessly via a range of devices and networks. Welcome to a broader life.www.alcatel.com/tripleplayBROADEN YOUR LIFE19594

Contents1-Contents2-Connections48-SubscriptionNationaldevelopment–regulatoryaffairs4Regulating India’s Information Societyby Pradip Baijal, Chairman, Telecom Regulatory Authority ofIndia (TRAI)Industrialdevelopment10VoIP13The IT imperative for Indian companiesby Rangu Salgame, President, India & SAARC and ManagingDirector of South Asia, Cisco SystemsVoice over IP – the true value of IPby C S Rao, President & Chief Executive Officer, LucentTechnologies Hindustan Pvt LtdDigitalbroadcasting15The DAB family – international andversatile digital broadcasting standardsby Quentin Howard, President, WorldDAB, and ChiefExecutive, Digital One, UKTelecommunicationservices17ICT – realising India’s full potentialby Michiel Verhoeven, General Manager, MicrosoftCommunications Sector, Asia Pacific and Japan, MicrosoftNationaldevelopment20Changing India – using the Telecom edgeby Amit Sharma, Vice President, South and South-East Asia,MotorolaSystemdevelopment23Service oriented architectures and webservices: opportunities for service providersby Shanker Annaswamy, Managing Director, IBM, IndiaInfrastructuredevelopment26IP-based solutions and India’s evolutionby Vijay Yadav, Managing Director, UTStarcom, South AsiaOutsourcing31Next generation outsourcingby Simarprit Singh, Founder and CEO, Compare Infobase PvtLtdTelecomdevelopment34Building India’s new ICT environmentby Manoj Tirodkar, Founder, Chairman and managing director,GTL LtdWireless38WiMAX: a key in India’s futureby Sunil Kumar, Liaison to WIMAX & Director of Asia Pacific,Beceem CommunicationsMobiletelephony43The mobile phone as an agent of change inIndiaby TV Ramachandran, Director General, COAIInformationaccess46Simplified ICT access for India’s rural usersby Ravi Baid, Founder and President, Alliance InfoTechAdvertisementsAlcatelBartronics India LtdIECGlobalcomm 2006CommunicAsia 2006ITU Telecom WorldWiMAX World EuropeTelecomm IndiaIQPC GmbHISCe MediaEpsilon EventsJunction GroupVietnam TelecompCaspian TelecomConnect-WorldEricssonPromotionalFeaturesCBOSSIFC56912192229303536414245IBCOBC3All articles are available online at: www.connect-world.com1

India is at the start of a process that will, intime, bring the digitalisation of entertainmentand the introduction of advanced ICT technologyinto the home. IPTV, convergent mobility, distancelearning, on-line shopping, and manyother new services – the list is long – will transformlives and leisure-time activities in India.Just as information and communication technologyhas already begun to revolutionise business,and India’s economy as a whole, it will soon startto monopolise the lives of many families as muchas TV once did, not just at home, but on themove.At work, larger businesses throughout the worldhave long used computers for basic needs – forspreadsheets, correspondence, presentationsand a host of specific applications. Today,though, ICT not only lets one bring a laptophome or on trips, but can keep one connected tocolleagues and to office systems under almostany circumstance in any place. Today, as thoseinvolved with BPO can tell you, many businessapplications do not just use communications;they do not exist without the communications,and the marketplace, provided by the Internet.In India ICT is also facilitating the delivery ofsocial services – of education, health servicesand government services – and proving to be anunexpectedly efficient vehicle for economic andsocial betterment.This issue of Connect-World India explores howinformation and communications technology is –even at this early stage – starting to transformthe lives of Indians from all walks of life. Thetheme for this issue of Connect-World India isConsumer, Business and Social Telecom in India.Connect-World India sponsors a number ofevents in India and the Asia Pacific regions.Copies of this issue, in addition to our normaldistribution, will be available atConvergence India; Telecom India;Carriers World Hong Kong; theBroadband World Forum Asia, HongKong; Caspian Telecoms, Turkey.In Connect-World’s Africa and theMiddle East, Europe, India, Latin America, NorthAmerica and EMEA issues, each region’s leaderslook at the issues that drive the development oftheir home regions or countries. Current discussionscentre upon the changes wrought in industryand society by the latest generation of informationand communications technology, especiallyInternet protocol digital communications,broadband and personalised services – and howboth business and society are changing, need tochange, as a result.Connect-World North America will be dedicatedto what the dramatic, ongoing, shifts in networktechnology and usage will mean to us all.Telephony will never be the same; neither willour societies or our lives. Network shifts –telephony will never be the same, is the themeof our North American issue.Connect-World will, as usual, be at a number ofmajor industry events in the coming months. InMarch, we will be present at the Carriers WorldAsia-Pacific event in Hong Kong, at CeBIT inHanover, Germany and at Convergence India inNew Delhi. If you will be attending any of theseshows, send us a note. It would be a pleasure tomeet you.Fredric J. Morris,Editor-in-ChiefConnect-WorldConnectionsEditor-in-Chief:Fredric J. Morrisfredric.morris@connect-world.com;Publisher:David Nunesdavid.nunes@connect-world.com;Managing Director:Valetta Brownvaletta.brown@connect-world.comPrinters: Print House of IndiaAll rights reserved. No part of this publication may be reproduced, stored in a retrievalsystem or transmitted in any form or by any means electronic, mechanical, photocopying,recording or otherwise, without prior permission from the publishers. The contentof this Publication is based on best knowledge and information available at the time ofpublication. No responsibility for any injury, death, loss, damage or delay, howevercaused, resulting from the use of the material can be accepted by the publishers or othersassociated with its preparation. The publishers neither accept responsibility for, nornecessarily agree with, the views expressed by contributors.Connect-World India Issue 2006 is published under Licence by WORLD INFOCOMMS LTDExecutive Office: Global House 12 Albert Road London E16 2DW United KingdomTel.: +44 20 7540 0876 Fax: +44 20 7474 0090email: info@connect-world.com URL: www.connect-world.comISSN 1369-894X2

J. Trevor AndersonSenior Vice President, Bell CanadaMatt BrossGroup Chief Technology Officer, BTMassimo CoronaroTechnology Officer, Telecom ItaliaTadanobu OkadaExecutive Director, InformationSharing Laboratory Group, NTTBerit SvendsenExecutive Vice President andChief Technology Officer, Telecom ItaliaGlobal Innovation:BUILDING YOUR ICT FUTURELondon, England 27–30 March 2006 CONFERENCE28–29 March 2006 EXHIBITIONTHE 21 ST CENTURY COMMUNICATIONS WORLD FORUM 2006 connects theright buyers and sellers with the right technologies and information at thisinternational influential ICT event. We’ll provide the industry’s top names andthe ideal audience to help you grow your business. Build your ICT future byparticipating in the 2006 21 ST Century Communications World Forum.For more information or to register, go to www.iec.org.Please reference VIP Code 6300 when registering.OFFICIAL SPONSORInternational EngineeringConsortiumwww.iec.orgCORPORATE SPONSORSCORPORATE DELEGATE SPONSOR

National development – regulatory affairsSeveralregulatoryinitiativesledtotheexplosivegrowthofvoicetelephonyinurbanareas:–UnifiedAccess(technology-neutralaccess) – enabling co-existence ofGSM/CDMAnetworksandtruetechnologyagnosticcompetitionbetweenall service providers, fixed andmobile.–CPP(onlycallingpartypays)–leadingto reduction in tariffs and a consumer-friendlypaymentregime.– Tariff forbearance (market driven)severecompetitionhasledtoafallinmobile tariffs to fixed-line levels.Lower tariffs put mobiles within thereachoftheworkingclassandledtoahugegrowthinsubscribers.Asaresultof the increased volumes, the networksremained viable despite thesteepfallinaveragerevenueperuserorARPU.– Cost-based Interconnection UsageCharge (IUC) – based upon a ‘workdone’ principle, encouraged competitionfromotherareasofthenetwork.–Fixingofterminationchargesbasedupon very strict cost analysis led toverylowratesandencouragedseverecompetition in call origination, leadingtoverylowtariffs.–Repeatedreductionsinlicensefeesfor infrastructure providers –Category-IIandalltelecomoperators,including long distance operators, bythegovernment.– Fixing of ceiling tariffs forInternational and Domestic LeasedCircuits based on cost – resulting inthe drastic reduction in broadbandtariffs.–Recommendationsforopeningupofequal access to Submarine CableLanding Stations, introduction ofRuralServiceProviders(nicheoperators),resale in International PrivateLeased Circuits (IPLC) ‘ClassLicense’/‘Authorization’ based UnifiedLicensing, Spectrum Allocation andPricing, Rural Penetration throughInfrastructureSharing,UnbundlingofLocalLoopbyTRAIandpartacceptanceof some of these recommendationsbythegovernment.The regulatory actions taken in thepast have led to the following salientfeaturesoftheIndianICTlandscape:– Mobile tariffs (US $0.025 perminute)andARPUs(US$8/month)arethelowestintheworld.Figure 1: The idea that telecommunications also includes Internet/Broadband/Data(Information) has gradually gained acceptance.– Telephony growth of more than 5million/month (mobile 4.8 million/month),thehighestintheworldtoday.– Rural teledensity is still below 2%,since USO (Universal ServiceObligation)fundusageisonlypermittedforveryexpensivefixedlinesandnottheexpansionofmobilenetworks.Without competition, then, ruraltelephony is still being driven by thegovernment/publicsector.–Mobilenetworkscoveronly35%ofthecountry’spopulationsincemobileplayers are reluctant to expand intotheremainingregionsduetothehigherrisk/lower profit business case forsuchareas.–Reductioninbroadbandtarifffrom$15/month for 100 KBPS to$2/month–aninitiativebythepublicsector incumbent operating companyresultingfromtheregulator’ssubstantialloweringofthetariffceiling.– Residential broadband penetrationis still below 0.1%; there is highdemand but the incumbent operatorhas been unable to meet it. Theincumbenthasalsoresistedeffortstounbundle the local loop thereby hinderingtheabilityofotheroperatorstosetupsuchnetworksquickly.–Over-capacityofinternationalbandwidthanddomesticbandwidth–bothmostly unutilized – indicates atremendous potential for growth oftrafficonexistingnetworksifcompetitionin services could be initiatedusingthesenetworks.–Light-handedregulationandlicensingfor the Internet, broadband andcable TV, enables existing telecomoperatorstoconverttheirnetworkstoconvergednetworksevenwithoutthepromulgationofaconvergencelaw.–Technologyneutralityforallservices– Wireless Local Loop/mobile/fixed –7

WHAT’S THE DIFFERENCE BETWEENSUPER &GLOBAL?SUPERCOMM ®June 2005 in ChicagoTriple PlayIMS: Myth or Reality?Went out with a bangFormer event for the industryEveryone was thereGLOBALCOMM June 2006 in ChicagoQuad PlayIMS: Legit Architecture450+ exhibitors & 20,000 attendeesAll new event for the industryEveryone will be thereChange is the only constant. So say good-bye to SUPERCOMM ® and hello toGLOBALCOMM 2006. For TIA, GLOBALCOMM replaces SUPERCOMM ® as TIA’s annual event forthe industry. So what’s the difference? Decide for yourself and make the connection atwww.globalcomm2006.com.JUNE 4 – 8, 2006 | MC CORMICK PLACE | CHICAGO USASUPERCOMM is a registered trademark of TIA and USTA. GLOBALCOMM is a trademark of TIA.The last SUPERCOMM took place June 2005.

Industrial developmentThe IT imperative for Indian companiesby Rangu Salgame, President, India & SAARC and Managing Director of South Asia, Cisco SystemsIndia’s economy, its GDP, is growing rapidly. The increases in productivity and theincreasedbusinessconfidencearedueingoodparttothegrowinguseofinformationandcommunicationstechnology.India’sthrivingbusinessprocessoutsourcingindustry,forexample,setsapaceforallofIndiatofollow.Unfortunately,Indiainvestslessthan1percentofrevenues,comparedtoanaverage8percentforitspeersandcompetitors,inIT.Thisraisesseriousquestionsregardingthelong-termsustainabilityofIndia’sgrowth.RanguSalgameisthePresidentofCiscoSystems,India&SAARCandtheManagingDirectorofSouthAsia,encompassingSingapore,Indonesia,MalaysiaandtheIndiaregion.PriortojoiningCisco,Ranguspentfouryearsadvisingandmanagingventurecapitalbackedcompanies.HewasthePresident&CEOof Edgix, a content delivery network (CDN) infrastructure company, with operations across NorthAmerica, Latin America and Europe. Prior to Edgix, he was the founder and President of VerizonCommunications’datasolutionssubsidiary,aswellasVicePresidentofEnterpriseMarketingforthecompany.BeforejoiningVerizon,RanguwasaManagementConsultantatCoopers&Lybrand,nowPWC/IBM.RanguholdsanMBAfromTheWhartonSchool,UniversityofPennsylvania,anMSinengineeringfromVirginiaTechandaBEfromMSUniversityofBaroda,India.Indiaisonthecuspofwhatmanypredictto be a decade of growth. ForIndia, 2005 was the year when thepromiseofabettertomorrowbegantoberealised.BusinessconfidencelevelsrosetoanalltimehighasdidtheSEN-SEX capital market index, and theattitudetowardsthefuturewashighlypositive.India, today, is exhibiting a sense ofself-confidence not seen before. It isone of the fastest growing economiesin the world and the growth is sustainedandbroadbasedacrossarangeof sectors. The economic outlook isbuoyantandbusinessesarelookingtothefuturewithoptimism.Thelastfewyearsshowedsignsofthebuilding momentum. Factors such asWTO (World Trade Organisation)membershipcancreatenewopportunitiesandopentheIndianplayerstoglobalcompetition.Therobustgrowthof8.1percentingrossdomesticproduct(GDP)inthefirsthalfoffiscalyear2005/06showedthis,andthesecondhalfof2006isexpectedtosustainthesamegrowthrates.Itis,therefore,nosurprise that India was the cynosureof global attention at the WorldEconomic Forum held at Davos,SwitzerlandinJanuary2006.How can Indian companies sustaintheir momentum long enough forIndiatorealizeitsglobalpromise?A recent McKinsey research reportshowed a direct correlation betweenGDPpercapitaandlabourproductivity.India’s current GDP of $440 percapita ranks it among the poorernations.AseriesofNetImpactstudiesconfirmthedirectcorrelationbetweenproductivitygainsandtheuseoftechnology-drivenbusinesssolutions.The first Net Impact Study in 2002showed that, through the use ofInternetbusinesssolutions,organizationsacrosstheUnitedStates,UnitedKingdom, France and Germany realizeda cumulative cost savings ofUS$163.5billion,mostlysince1998.In the USA alone, the adoption ofInternet business solutions hasalreadyyieldedacurrent,cumulative,cost saving of US$155.2 billion. Theadoption of Internet business solutionsintheUnitedKingdom,France,and Germany resulted in a current,cumulative, cost savings of US$8.3billionattheorganizationsdeployingthem. We believe that the rate ofgrowthofthesesavingshascontinuedunabatedinthethreeyearssincethisresearch, further reinforcing thestrategic importance of IT investmentsto accelerate productivity andquality.Unfortunately, Indian companies onthewholeinvestlessinITthantheirglobal counterparts. Indian companiesspendlessthan1percentoftheirrevenue on IT, compared to peers inthedevelopedworld,wheretheaveragespending on IT averages aroundeightpercentofrevenues.According to a study conducted byNasscom last year, the country's ITspending is the lowest, in relativeterms,amongthe30countriesonitslist.Morerevealingisthefactthatinterms of domestic IT investment,Indiarankslowerthancountriessuch10

Industrial developmentas Colombia, Chile and Turkey –countriesthatareclearlynotasvisibleasIndiaintheglobalITspace.While the low spending on IT in thepast was not of serious concern, itsconsequence in the present competitivescenariocanbedisastrous.Threesectors of the Indian economy wherenear-termITinvestmentsarelikelytobeverycriticalforsustainingthecurrentGDPgrowthmomentumare:1.Theexport-orientedservicessectorthat remains the main engine ofIndia’sGDPgrowth;2. The traditional industries that arenow looking to unlock their hiddenvalueandbecomesignificantcontributorstotheIndianeconomy;3. The infrastructure and otherdomestic services sectors needed tosupportanyGDPexpansion.In keeping with the upbeat Indianeconomy, and largely responsible forits growth, is the export driven softwareservicessector.WithaforecastofUS$23.4billioninrevenuesfromtheexportofsoftwareandservicesduringfiscal ’05-’06, the information technology(IT) sector is now one of thebiggestexportearnersforthecountry.In fact, the 2005 Nasscom-McKinseyreportpostulatesthattheoffshoreITand BPO (business process outsourcing)industries have the potential tocontribute US$120-150 billion toIndia’s GDP by 2015, or 12 to15 percent of India’s GDP. At these growthlevels,thesoftwareservicesindustriescouldgeneratedirectemploymentforover 4 million individuals and anadditional12-15millionnewjobswillbeneeded,indirectly,tooffersupportcapabilities.To achieve these lofty goals, India’sCEOswillneedtotakeahardlookattheir IT vision and significantlyexpandtheirITspendingiftheywishtoderivetheproductivityreturnsandadded value needed to sustain theirbusinesscompetitiveness.DomesticrivalsIndianindustryhastolookbeyondthedomestic rivals, as competition nowcomes from the best-in-class globalcompanies. With the governmentopeningsectorstoforeigndirectinvestment(FDI),thebestglobalbrandsareexcited about the potential of theIndianmarketandareintentonestablishingtheirpresenceinthecountry.Success in business today requires aglobalstrategyandIndiancompaniesareinfactlookingbeyondthedomesticmarkettomakeamarkintheglobalmarketplace.Tosucceed,however,they need to, among other things,bringtheirsystemsandITinfrastructureonparwiththeirglobalcounterparts.In the post-WTO world, the markethas suddenly expanded for Indianfirms. Nevertheless, to succeed, eachcompany will have to compete in allspheres including technology. Forinstance,themuchtalkedabouttextileopportunitywillonlycomealiveifourplayers can provide world qualitymaterialand,atthesametime,beabletomatchcompetitorsinITinfrastructure.A small-scale textile manufacturer inCoimbatore and an automobile componentmakerinPunecannowaimtobe global suppliers to Wal-Mart andmajor automobile manufacturersinDetroit. However, when Wal-MartrecentlyreachedouttoIndiatoselectpotential suppliers, only those whowereelectronicallyreadywereallowedtoparticipateinthepreliminaryroundof discussion; the mandate to be ITenabledisclear.Indian companies across myriadindustry verticals such as retail,biotechnology,pharmaceuticals,manufacturing,transportation, FMCG,energy and utilities, among others,stand to benefit significantly byinvestinginstrongITsystems.How?Investment in building a strong andagile IT infrastructure translates intoefficient business processes; the supplychain,distribution,salesandsupport,customer contact, and time-tomarketare just a few areas that canexploitITtoincreaseefficiencylevels.The good news is that some of theleadingindustriesarestartingtoheedthisnewITimperative.Selectbankingand manufacturing leaders havelearnedtheneedtoinvestinITearlyenoughandareamongthelargestandmostprolificusersofinformationsystemsinIndia.TheStateBankofIndiaand Mahindra & Mahindra are aptexamplesofhowITinvestmentshavehelped make Indian companies globallycompetitive.Automationinthebankingsector,forexample, has come a long way in thelast two decades. Today, the corebanking capabilities of many of theIndian banks are on par with theirinternational counterparts. By connectingbranches across the country,these banks have ensured that theircustomerscanenjoytheconveniencesof"anytime,anywhere"banking.InvestinginastrongITinfrastructureshould therefore be a top priority forevery CXO. Companies with efficientIT systems in place are now able toreact quickly to changes in the businessenvironment and can thus competeeffectively.With ‘Brand India’ growing in popularity,theWal-Martkindofopportunityis just the beginning of whatpromisestobeadelugeofglobalbusinessorders.ThebestwaytocapitalizeonitistomakeaplannedinvestmentinIT.Indianenterprisesneedtostrategicallybuild their IT infrastructure toenableastrongsupplychain,distributionand customer support network.Aneffectivesupplychain,forexample,brings innumerable benefits such asimproved delivery, reduced cycletimes, cost controls, and improvedproduct quality. Today, IT readinesstranslatesintobusinessreadinessandthiswillincreasinglybethecaseinthefuture.Inclosing,webelievethatanagileITinfrastructureisaprerequisitetosuccess,not only because the businessdemands it, but also because companiesnow have to deal with a rapidlychanging market scenario. While aclutch of Indian corporations haveembraced IT, the vast majority continuetobelaggards,mostlyinvestinginITinreactiontocompetition.UnderstandingtheimportanceofhavingawelldefinedITvision,willhelpIndian companies who want toachieve global success be nimbleenough to match or even better theircompetitorsacrosstheworld.We propose a proactive approachbasedupontheunderstandingthatITdoes matter, especially when focusedby measurable productivity goals,coordinatedwithbusinessprocessreengineeringand supported by formalperformancemeasurementprograms.Withinjustonecriticalbusinessfunction,customer service and support,organizations that leveraged IT totransform business processes sawsome impressive results against theircompetitors.11

VoIPVoice over IP – the true value of IPby C S Rao, President & Chief Executive Officer, Lucent Technologies Hindustan Pvt LtdVoIPhasservedcarriernetworksasameansoftransportforyears.Today,operators,carriers,cablecompaniesandindependentserviceprovidersareallsupplyingtheircustomerswithVoIPsolutions.TheissueisnotwhatIPnetworkscando,but,rather,howtodeliverconvergedvoice,videoanddataservicesinaseamless,convergedandeffortlesslyblendedmannerthatengagesandexcitesthesenses.IPMultimediaSubsystem(IMS)bringsaseamless‘lifestyle’communicationsexperience,usingthefullcapabilitiesofthenetwork,directlytosubscribers.The new IMS-based systems enableservice providers to create the seamlesslifestyle communications experiencethatbringsthefullcapabilitiesofthenetworkdirectlytosubscribers.Atrue IMS-enabled portfolio of nextgenerationinfrastructure solutionssupports complete convergence ofnetworksandservicesandhelpsserviceproviders attract and retain highvaluecustomers. In this way, serviceproviderscandeploynewlifestyleservicescontinuously,quicklyandeasily.CSRaoisthePresident&ChiefExecutiveOfficerofLucentTechnologiesHindustanPvt.Ltd.HespearheadsLucent’scompletebusinessactivitiescoveringsales,marketinganddeploymentofthewirelineandwirelesstelecommunicationsnetworkprojectswithinIndia.Mr.Raohas24-yearsofinternationalexperienceinthefield,havingworkedacrossNorthAmerica,EuropeandtheAsiaPacificregions.PriortojoiningLucent,Mr.RaowastheRegionalDirector,SAARCatTellabswherehesetuptheirmarketingandsalessupportandtheirsoftwaredevelopmentcentreforIndia.PriortoTellabs,MrRaowasassociated with Center for Development of Telematics (CDOT) Telecom Research, where he held theprestigiouspositionofadvisortothePrimeMinisterofIndia.Mr.RaostartedhisprofessionalcareerwithECILIndia.Mr. Rao holds a Bachelor’s degree in Technology from Jawaharlal Nehru Technological University(JNTU)andaMaster’sdegreeinElectricalEngineeringfromIndianInstituteofTechnology,Chennai.ThevalueoftheInternetProtocol(IP)has become immediately apparent tothe retail end-user in the last fewyears.IP has shifted from being anarcane transport medium forresearchersandtheliketobeingsynonymouswith ubiquitous access toInternet services. More recently, ithasgainedfameforthedramaticloweringofthecostofvoicecommunicationsthrough VoIP. The traditionalversionofVoIP,orVoiceoverInternetProtocol, provided no more than thetransmissionofvoiceoveranIPnetwork.However,theemergenceoftheIPMultimediaSubsystemarchitecturehas had a defining effect on the conceptof VoIP. Properly implementedIMS is a "game changer" that willunlock new opportunities across networklayers and services. With theemergence of IMS, VoIP has come,today, to symbolize the value that IPbringstothecommonuser.The new applications enabled by IPbasedcommunications enhance theways in which people can communicate.Newmultimediaservicestalkedabout, and in some cases delivered,todaytypicallyinclude: Voice services (DID, Caller ID, CallWaiting); Findme/followme; Onenumber; Clicktocall; Workanywhere; Secureinstantmessaging; Businesscontinuity; Presenceservices; Oneunifiedmailbox; Onlinedirectories; Personalcallmanagement.Voice services delivered by VoIP areneverthelesstheheadlinenewsatthemoment. A recent survey fromDeloitte&ToucheindicatedthatmorethantwothirdsofGlobal2000companieswould deploy VoIP by 2006.The delivery of VoIP equipment willsurpass that of TDM (time divisionmultiplexing) in 2006. The TIA’sTechtrendspredictsthattherewillbemore than 19 million VoIP linesinstalledbytheendof2007.VoIPhasbeenanintegralpartofcarriernetworks for several years now,serving as a means of transport.Carriers, cable companies and independentservice providers are alldeploying VoIP solutions to the marketplacesuccessfully. These IP networksare capable of delivering convergedvoice,videoanddataservices.Theissueisnotsomuchwhattheycando, but how to make it happen in aseamless, converged and effortlesslyblended manner that engages andexcitesthesenses,enhancingthecommunicationsexperience.13

VoIPWith all-IP IMS based architecture,the real convergence occurs at thecore,thusthedevicebecomes“TripleA” or Any/All Available. By contrast,convergence that takes place in thedevice alone – via the latest voice/data/musicintegratedhandsetorPDAcan be illusory – creates a specific,specializedbutsoon-obsolescentplatformfordeliveryofservices.Asdevicepreferences change, device-specificconvergencecanresultinchurn–customerturnover–awayfromthenetwork,somethingthatisquitecontrarytotheoperator’sbestinterests.IMS,theIPMultimediaSubsystem,isthe biggest engine of convergencegoing–anditdoesprettymuchwhatyou would expect. It provides an IPbasedsystemthatcanmoveanycontentbetweenanyterminalsconnectedtothenetwork;thetrickistomakeallofthemobileandfixedsystemspartofthat network. This, normally, cannotoccur in a service-by-service,“stovepipe”,manner.Instead,theflexibilitytoconvergenotonlyatthenetworklevel,butattheapplicationsanddevice levels as well, needs to beincorporated into the network fromthestart.ThatiswhatIMSdelivers.Major cell phone makers unveiledphones at the 3GSM World CongressinBarcelonathisFebruarythatswitchbetween cellular coverage outdoorsand cheap wireless Internet callinginside,allonasinglephonenumber.These new handsets can connect tothe Internet via WiFi, rather thanBluetooth, to make cut-price callsfrom the home, office or publichotspot. Smaller manufacturers haverecentlyannouncedahandfulofsimilarphones. The underlying transportmediuminallthesecasesisIP.As the next step in this evolution,high-powerednetworksarebecomingmuch smarter.Through the convergenceofservicesandthedeploymentof IP Multimedia Subsystem, networkssoon will be able to recognizeyou,rememberyourpreferences,anddeliver to you any of the voice, videoor data services you have subscribedto – regardless of where you are orwhatdeviceyouareusing.Provided that standards such as IMSare upheld and that the industryavoids artificial barriers such as proprietarytwistsontheprotocols,excessiveDRM(digitalrightsmanagement)squabbling and other attempts at a"walledgarden",theservices’richnesscan actually increase the telecom"shareofwallet"forthefirsttimeinalongwhile.Recentend-userprimaryFromatechnicalstandpoint,thebenefitsoftheIMSarchitecturearefairlyobvious.TheIMSarchitectureenablesthedeliveryofwhatweliketocallBlendedLifestyle services.Morespecifically,theIMSarchitecturemakesitpossibletocreateservicesthatblendvoice,data,videoandothermultimediacontent–deliveredtosubscribersanytime,anywhere–inwaysthatenhancetheirlifestyles.Primarymarketresearchindicatesthatthereissignificantdemandforthesekindsofservices.Whatisablendedlifestyleservice,really?Tostartwith,itisimportanttopointoutthatblendingisdifferentfrombundling.Blendingcomesaboutbyenablingtraditionallyindependentservicestointeractwithoneanother,typicallybysharinginformationsuchasbuddylists,locationdata,presenceinformationandsubscriberpreferencesandprofiles.Becausetheyarebasedonasingledeliveryplatform,servicessuchasinstantmessagingcanbecombinedwithIP voiceandvideocapabilitiestocreatesuchnewofferingsasmultipartyvideoconferencing.IMSmakesitpossibleforenterprisesofallshapesandsizestotakeadvantageofbusinessproductivityservicesthattraditionalnetworkarchitecturessimplycannotsupport.Whenyouthinkaboutit,thepossiblecombinationsareendless,andthisisoneofthekeyvaluepropositionsofIMS.IMSmakesitpossibleforoperatorstocreateahugevarietyofapplications,customizedtotheneedsofparticularcustomersegments.IMSalsomakesitpossibletobringtheseapplications–alleasilymodifiabletoaddresschangingmarketdemands–tomarketmorequicklyandatlowercostthaniscurrentlypossible.Naturally,therearechallengestomakingIMSservicesareality.IMSsystemsarecomplex.Assuringthatthesystemsdeployedinserviceprovidernetworksarecompatibleandcansupportservicesandsubscribersfromotheroperators’networksisnosmalltask.Fortunately,thestandardsbodiesthataredrivingtheestablishmentoftheIMSstandard–the3rdGenerationPartnershipProject(3GPP)and3GPP2–haveagreatdealofexperiencemanagingthedevelopmentofcomplextechnologystandardsthatrequiretheintegrationofavarietyofdiverseelements.ProgressontheIMSstandardisbenefitingfromthatexperienceandmovingforwardatarapidpace.Similarly,vendorsandoperatorsarealsoleveragingtheirwealthofexperienceanddepthofknowledgeindeploymentandmanagementoflarge,sophisticatednetworksandapplyingittothedevelopmentofIMSsystemsandserviceofferings.researchhasidentifiedcustomersegmentsandservicesblendsthatrepresentaveryhighincreaseinvaluedueto the use of IP in the only way thatultimately matters – customers’ willingnesstospend.Itistheabilityofthenetworktoadaptto individual customer’s preferences,profiles, context (e.g. work or play)and proximity to friends, colleaguesand desired suppliers via “presence”-based intelligence, that enables theattractive and valuable new services,blended any way you want, just likethe coffee at your premium-pricedcorner coffee shop. Customers willstartchoosingprovidersbasedonhowwelltheirnetworksprovidethesepersonalized,adaptiveservices.IP Communications is no longer thediscussion of the future – it is heretodayandreadytodefinethewaywecommunicate.Thevaluedeliveredbytheseapplicationstoday,aswellastheability to build applications aroundvoice services, will bring tremendousvaluetoorganizations.Thedeliveryofthese services is secure and the toolsavailable today can further enhancethem.Still, we need to take IMS from anincremental enabling technology to atransformational technology byenhancing the core IMS networkarchitecture with tools that delivertrue“personalization”.Weareattheedge of that real transformation – atransformation in how people areentertained, share information andcommunicate, connecting everyoneeverywhere to virtually everything –seamlessly,simply,andsecurely.Thistransformation will unlock the truepotentialofVoIPcommunications.Operators looking to introduce compellingnewservices,generaterevenuequickly, seize and maintain futuremarketshare,tosecurenewrevenues,andsimultaneouslyenhancetheuser’sexperienceandchoicewouldtypicallybenefitfromchoosingasolutionbasedonamarket-readyIMSarchitecture.Asthebattlefortheconsumerintensifies,carriers are viewing seamlessvoice convergence as the first step inimproving customer loyalty and revenues.CarrierscanalsouseIMSeffectivelytoexpandtheirdualmodeservicesmarkettotheenterprisesegmentand, as well, offer both the businessandconsumersegmentsarevolutionaryset of flexible and personalizedcommunications services. By transformingtheuserexperience,IMSwillhelp drive take-up of enhanced dataservices,reducechurnandunlockthetruerevenuepotentialofnext-generationnetworks.14

Digital broadcastingThe DAB family –international and versatile digital broadcasting standardsby Quentin Howard, President, World DAB and Chief Executive, Digital One, UKTraditionalanalogueradiobroadcastissubjecttointerferencefromothersignals,theweather,buildingsandnaturalobstacles.Digitaltechnology,suchasDAB,DigitalAudioBroadcasting,optimisesthereceiversensitivityandpermitsinterferencefree,high-qualityreception.ThemultimediaversionofDAB,DMB,permitstext,dataandvideotransmissionaswell.DABtrialsarenowunderwayinNewDelhi,sobytheendof2006IndiamightbeabletojointhegrowinglistofcountriesthroughouttheworldofferingDABservice.QuentinHowardisthePresidentofWorldDABandtheChiefExecutiveofDigitalOneintheUK.Howardfounded Digital One, which was awarded the sole UK National Multiplex licence for Digital Radio.DigitalOnenowoperatesthelargestdigitalradionetworkintheworld.Previously,QuentinHowardwaschiefengineeratanumberofradiostationsbeforejoiningGWRGroup,wherehecreatedGWR'sDigitalBroadcastingDivision.HehasalsobeenaProgrammeDirectorandisaradiopresenterwithseveralSonyRadioAwardstohiscredit.WhilstpresentingTheClassicQuizforClassicFM,Howarddeveloped a system of using ISDN to broadcast from home. Howard has served as a member of theWorldDAB Steering Board. WorldDAB is the international promotional and lobbying body for DAB(digitalaudiobroadcasting).HeisalsoontheBoardoftheUK’sDigitalRadioDevelopmentBureau(DRDB)andtheBoardofFrontierSilicon.QuentinHowardisanelectricalandelectronicsgraduate.The WorldDAB Forum is an international,non-governmental organisationwhose role is to promote globalawareness,adoptionandimplementationof the DAB family of standards.Itsmembersincludepublicandcommercialbroadcasters, receiver manufacturers,network operators andothercompaniesandbodiescommittedto converting the technologybehind DAB into a commercial marketingsuccess for radio, mobile TVandmultimediadatabroadcasting.WorldDAB was in India in February,demonstrating the latest DAB andmultimedia technology to broadcasters,network providers and manufacturers.Itisthefirsttimetheinternationalpromotional and lobbyingbodyforDABhadhostedaneventinIndia.DABaudiotrialsarealreadyunderwayin New Delhi from All India Radio(AIR).AfurtherrolloutofDABservicesis expected once the government,possiblybytheendof2006,hasdeterminedspectrumallocation.DAB has become an internationallyadopted standard heard in nearly 40countries on all five continents. It isavailablecommerciallyacrossEuropeandtheFarEast.Morethan500millionpeople worldwide are withinrangeofDABtransmissions.Mature receiver development is inplacewithanextensiverangeofmassproduction receiver devices on themarket, from as low as US$50. Theycover all formats from hi-fi units tohandheld devices and even mobilephones.DAB is a robust, reliable and flexibletechnology, created specifically toenable high-quality mobile andportable reception with audio, videoanddatacapabilitiesaspartofitscoreinfrastructure.It involves two broadtypesofservice:– DAB as Digital Radio: audio anddataservicestoreplacecurrentFMorAM analogue offerings, allowing theradio industry to access the digitalworldtogetherwithalltheadvantagesand opportunities of digitisation, todeliver enriched radio content to listenersandconsumers.– DMB (Digital MultimediaBroadcasting) and DAB IP: compatibleDAB-basedapplicationsdevelopedtoenablethetransferofvideo,audioand other multimedia content ontomobile and portable devices withscreens, such as mobile phones,PDA’s,PMP’s,digitalcameras,etc.DMB is a method of delivering videocontent. The technology, originallydeveloped in conjunction with Koreaandtheirmobilephoneindustries,hasbecome a global standard (ETSI).DMBusestheMPEG4codingsystemto stream the content over DAB. TheotherwaytodelivervideooverDABisvia an IP application in conjunctionwith DAB’s Enhanced Packet Modestandard;theBTMovioprojectintheUKcurrentlyusesthistechnology.Both DMB and DAB are part of thesamesystemandassuchintrinsicallycomplementary: DMB runs on the15

Digital broadcastingsamenetworkasDAB;DMBreceiversarealsoDABreceivers.Whencomparedwithotherbroadcastingtechnologies for the mobile environment,DAB’s capabilities to transmitvideo and multimedia present anumber of clear advantages. Perhapsmost important of these is that thetechnology is fully proven; networksand spectrum are available in manycountriesanddevicesarenowinmassproduction. DMB and DAB IP allowimmediate access to the world ofmediaandtechnologyconvergence.Bytheendof2005,anestimatedfourmillionpeoplearoundtheworldwerelisteningtouniquenewradioservicesindigitalqualitysoundthroughaDABdigital radio. With mobile televisionand multimedia delivered via DMB,thisnumberissettoescalaterapidly.Leading the charge are the UK,Germany,Norway,Denmark,Holland,Switzerland, Korea and China, withothercountriesclosebehind.MatureaudienceTheUKhasthemostmatureDABlisteningaudience with sales of over483,500 in the 2005 Christmas period,contributingtoacumulativetotalof 2.716 million sets in homes. In2005,1.449millionDABdevicesweresoldintheUK,accordingtoGfK.Anestimated5.4millionpeoplelistentodigitalradioonaDABsetand11.1percent of the population live in a DABhousehold(RajarQ4,05),upfrom5.3percentinDecember2004.TheDABmarket was worth £135 million in2005, up from £86 million in 2004(Gfk).Denmark has recorded cumulativesalesof143,000DABreceiversuptothe end of November 2005, whichdoesnotincludesalesduringthebusyChristmas period. However, this representsan increase of 100,000 overthesameperiodin2004.Officialsalesfigures for the month of December2005 are expected to be released byTSN Gallup at the beginning of April2006.Denmark’s public broadcaster, DR(Danish Broadcasting Corporation)plans to add another 20 transmittersto the DAB network in 2006/07,bringingcoverageupfrom70percentto90percentofthepopulation.ThecommercialsectorhasrecentlyjoinedDRandbetweenthemtheybroadcast17 DAB services, many of which areunique stations not available on analogue.Denmarkenjoysstronggovernmentsupport,commitmentfrombothpublic and commercial broadcastersandavigorouspromotionalcampaignfromanewlyformedDABmarketingbureau.In Norway, where coverage is set toincrease to 80 per cent, and publicbroadcasterNRKhassetananalogueswitch-offtargetof2014,salesofDABdigital radios also increased significantly.Sales of 51,000 units in 2005easilybeattheindustryforecastofjust15,000.Koreaisthefirstcountrytogobeyondtrials and commercially launch DMBservices,withamixtureoftelevision,dataandradioservices.AwiderangeDMB receivers from LG, Samsung,Perstelandotherswereonthemarketin time for the service launch inDecember.InjustoveramonthsincetheofficialDMBlaunchinDecember2005,salesofDMBenabledreceiversexceeded 110,000 and sales shouldtoptwomillionbytheendof2006.There are positive signals comingfrom other countries where DAB hasonly recently launched competitively.DABsalesarealsogrowinginBelgiumwithmanymoreDABproductsenteringthemarketandthemajorretailersandthemajorityofindependentssellingreceivers.IntheNetherlands,aDMBtrialistobe extended and one of the majorimporters for DAB radios, MusicMatters,issettingupaDABmarketingbureau.CoverageIn Switzerland, DAB receivers onlyarrivedinshopsin2005,sothereareno sales figures currently available.Coverageissettoriseto73percentofthe population by early Spring 2006,andto90percentoftheGermanandItalianspeakingpopulationbytheendoftheyear.Therearealreadyatotalof30FrenchandGermanspeakingDABchannelsbroadcasting.SRG,theSwissBroadcastingCorporation,hassaiditwill not invest in expanding the FMnetwork but will focus on growingDAB coverage instead. A new DABmarketing bureau will launch in theSpring 2006 with major marketingcampaigns promoting products andservicestoconsumersplannedfortheAutumn.Weexpectthemarkettotakeoffthisyear.In China, where the majority of DABdevicesaremade,themarketisgrowingrapidly. Eighty million people inGuangdongProvincecanreceiveDMBtrialservices;TrialsbeganinBeijing,in2005,broadcastingtwoDABradioservicesto12millionpeople.Sixmoreservices are planned; and video andmultimedia trials using DAB’s IPapplicationarebroadcastingto16millionpotential listeners in Shanghai.The plans call for six video and 12audioservices.Manufacturer Samsung Electronicshas agreed to supply 500,000 DMBphones to two major Chinese mobileTVoperators.Bothcompaniesplantobegin commercial DMB broadcastingin Spring 2006. DAB digital radioservices are part of the package thatcomeswithDMBbroadcasting.SportsThisisabigyearforsports.The2006WinterOlympics,theWorldCupandthe Ryder Cup, among other events,willallhelpswelloverallradiolistening,andDABwilltakeitsshareofthismarket.GermanywillleadtwomajorDMB trials in 2006 focused on theWorld Cup with radio and televisionservices.One,calledMiFriends,isanofficialEuropeanprojectwithabudgetofaround18millioneurosoverthenext two years.Meanwhile, servicesbroadcasting on DAB radio inGermany continue to grow with atleast 10 new stations launching in2005, bringing the total on-air toaround90andindoorreceptionissetto improve exponentially throughout2006.These examples of internationalgrowthandcommitmenttoDABanditsfamilyofstandardsarejustthetipof the iceberg. DAB services recentlylaunched in the Dublin area of Eire.SloveniawilllaunchaDABserviceinthe Ljubljana area and the MalteseCommunications Authority hasreceived requests, exceeding the supply,for four terrestrial DAB frequencies.Taiwan has awarded DABlicences and services should begin in2006.ItalyissuednewregulationsforDABin2005;itwillawardlicensesin2006. A legal framework for digitalradioisnowinplaceinAustralia,andin Singapore, a country of approximatelyone million households, 1 percent of households now have a DABdigitalradio.Withnewtechnology,therearealwaysisolated hiccups. Stations come andgo,governmentsbacktrackonlegislationandbroadcastersfeartoembracenew technology. Ultimately, if themedium is appealing and deliversadded-value, consumers will driveinnovation.DAB radio and mobile TV standardsare proving themselves in nearly 40countriesaroundtheworld.Themarketisgrowinganditshowslittlesignofslowingdown.16

Telecommunication servicesICT – realising India’s full potentialby Michiel Verhoeven, General Manager, Microsoft Communications Sector, Asia Pacific and JapanMost networks in the future will use Internet protocol (IP) technology. Voice over IP(VoIP)isnowamainstreamserviceandacatalystforgrowthandcompetitioninIndia’stelecommunicationsindustry.Despiteofferinganever-wideningrangeofadvancedservices,serviceprovidersinIndiaarefacingadeclineinrevenuesfromtraditionalvoiceanddataservicesduetoincreasedcompetition.ApplicationsresidentonIPTelephonyplatformspromiseavastimprovementinthecommunicationsefficiencyofIndianenterprisesandserviceproviders.Michiel Verhoeven is the General Manager, Asia Pacific and Japan of Microsoft’s CommunicationsSector. Verhoeven brings more than 20 years of industry experience to Microsoft. Before joiningMicrosoft,VerhoevenheldseveralexecutivepositionsatwebMethods,abusinessintegrationsoftwarecompany,mostrecentlyservingasvicepresidentforAsia.PriortowebMethods,VerhoevenwasChiefOperatingOfficerwithAsiaNetMedia,andheldconsultingpositionsatbothBoozAllen&HamiltonandKPMGConsulting.HealsoservedinabusinessmanagementcapacityatPapeteriesdeClairefontaine.HereceivedanMBAfromtheWhartonSchool,UniversityofPennsylvaniaandabachelor'sdegreeinAccountancyfromtheHaagseHogeschoolintheNetherlands.It is widely accepted that today’s networks,andindeedfuturenetworks,willbe built using Internet protocol (IP)technology. Over the past few years,voiceoverIP(VoIP)hasmadethetransitionintomainstreamdeploymentandthis has become a catalyst for growthandcompetitioninthetelecommunicationsindustry.India–ahotbedofopportunitiesThesizeoftheIPtelephonymarketinIndia in 2005 reached US$54 million.Within the market for enterprise IPT(IP telephony) applications alone,which accounted for US$2 million in2004,areexpectedtogrowstronglyataCAGR(compoundannualgrowthrate)of 52.3 per cent between 2004 and2011,toreachUS$38.8millionby2011(source: Frost & Sullivan). There arealreadystrongsignsthatthemulti-billiondollar Indian telecom market ispoisedtoexpandatanexponentialrate.Several leading global telecommunicationsplayers are partnering to gainentryintothelucrativeIndiantelecommarket. Following the Indian government’sdecision in November 2005 tosimplify and streamline the licencestructure, new services will now bemore affordable and this will driveIndia’scompetitivenessasadestinationfor Information Technology (IT) andBusinessProcessOutsourcing(BPO).Coupled with the relaxation in foreigndirectinvestmentlimits(FDI)to74percent,theseinitiativeswillenableglobaloperators to expand their investmentssignificantlyintheIndiantelecomsandIT market. The likely result will begreater competition, and the marketwill see the introduction and implementationof the latest technology ascompetitiongrows.TheneedforinnovationAt the same time, service providers inIndia are facing a decline in revenuesfromtraditionalvoiceanddataservicesdue to increased competition, despiteofferingadiversesetofservicessuchasfixed-line, IP and wireless telephony,high-speed wired and wireless InternetservicesandWebstorage.Applications resident on the IPT platformpromise a vast improvement inthe communications efficiency ofIndian enterprises. The adoption ofsuchapplicationswillopennewercommunicationchannelsforoneofthemostpopulatednationsintheworld.Service providers in India are alreadytappingintofreshwaystotakeadvantageof these new opportunities. Manyhavealreadyembarkedontheroadbybuilding next-generation networks(NGNs). The NGNs will allow serviceproviderstoquicklycreatenewservicesor roll out new service bundles toenhancethesubscriber’sexperience.Inaddition,serviceproviderstodayarebeing more creative and ingenuousabout micro marketing these services.Subscriber decisions about serviceofferingsmayhaveasmuchtodowiththe packaging and marketing as theywillwithactualservicesoffered.Based on my discussions with manyseniorexecutivesofserviceprovidersinAsia Pacific, it is clear that theseproviders must create and leverageopportunitiestoincreasecustomerloy-17

Telecommunication servicesmake a VoIP call, play agame over an IP connectionandwatchIPTV.Pastgames statistics can alsobemadeavailabletocompletethe viewing experience;alty and grow revenue streams. Withtheadventoftripleplaytechnologythatdrives voice, video and data convergence,service providers can takeadvantageoftheircorecompetenciestofind innovative ways to retain and/orattract subscribers. Most, if not all, ofthe service providers I have met arestriving to differentiate themselveswithin this converging landscape bybranding and bundling new services,achieveoperationalcostreductionandstrategically position themselves inrelationtotheircompetitors.Deliveringvalue-addedservicescost-effectivelyFigure 1: The primary goal is to enable users to get the information they want.Frommyexperience,itisservicesoverIPor,morespecifically,theaggregationof services over IP, which will giveprovidersanedgetodifferentiatethemselves.To gain a market advantage, serviceproviders need to create and packageinnovativeservicesfordeliverytospecifictargetaudiences.Theprimarygoalistoenableuserstogettheinformationtheywant,inanymediaorformat,overanyfacility,anytimeandanywhere.Theservicenetworklayeristheframeworkfor building and managing servicesusingaservice-orientedarchitecture(SOA) and web service interfaces.Not only will such a framework allowproviderstobringtogetherthirdpartyapplicationsrapidlyandwithease,butit will also facilitate the creation ofoperator-developed services and contentthat target specific customer segments.For example, this is where triple playservicescanbeintegratedwithpowerfulweb services such as Amazon,PayPalandEbay.Theamalgamationofthese web services with traditionaltelecommunicationsofferingswillreallyredefinehowserviceproviderscompeteinthismarketandpresentcarrierswith significant opportunities to drivenewrevenuestreams.Thesearebutsomeoftheservicesthatresideontheservicelayer:Multimediaservices;Unifiedmessaging;Informationbrokering;E-commerce;Callcentreservices;Interactivegaming.Tofullyappreciatethemyriadpossibilitiesfor aggregated services and valuein the new software-powered servicenetwork, picture the following scenarios:– While you are watching a cricketmatch on your IPTV, you noticed viayourmessengerclientthatyourfriendhasturnedonhisIPTVservicesandisalso watching the same cricket match.You decide to discuss the match withyourfriend,andlaunchavoiceoverIP(VoIP)calltoyourfriendfromtheonscreenTV menu. As you discuss theperformanceofyourteam,thereisalullperiodinthematch,andyoudecidetolaunch your favourite online videogame. All this while, you continue tokeeptabsonthematchinasmallpicture-in-picture(PIP) in the corner ofthescreen.Allittakesareafewclicksto–Anotherconsumermaydecide to catch the latestBollywood movie. Sheuseshermobilephonetocallamovieticketservice,andfindstheclosestcinemabasedonthelocationinformation provided byhermobilephone.Shecanthen quickly completesthetransaction,buyaticket,and go to the movielater on in the evening.During the movie, shereceivesanSMSmessagethatgiveshertheoptiontobuy the ring tone of themovie soundtrack themeor download the entiresoundtrack to her PC orportabledevice;–AnofficeworkerinMumbaineedstodiscussapresentationwithacolleaguein Chennai. Using Outlook, he checksforher‘presence’informationtoseeifsheisonline.Uponverifyingthatsheis,heemailsalinktohersoshecanjoina‘live meeting’ session. He clicks hercontactinformationtoestablishaVoIPcallandbothofthemusethewebconferencefunction to collaborate on thepresentation. During the session, hereceives an email that some relevantinformation will be featured on a TVnews programme starting in five minutes.TheybothlaunchanIPTVsessionon their desktops and watch the newsreporttogether.Usingtheinformationgainedfromthenewssession,theycollaboratetocompletethepresentation.Realpotential,todayThese may seem like next-generationservices,butthetechnologyisready–itis available today. By leveraging newand innovative platforms, serviceproviderscancreateandcombineprofitableservices offerings, expand theirsubscriber base, and gain a criticaltime-to-marketadvantage.I am encouraged by the positivechanges I have seen in the Indiantelecommunications space and believethattheindustrywillcontinuetoinnovateandachieveitsfullpotentialinthecomingyears.18

MAKE THE RIGHT CONNECTIONSITU TELECOM WORLD 2006 provides a unique global ICT networking platformwhere great minds, companies and new technologies connect. Join theleaders of business, government, regulators, innovators and visionaries toexplore, negotiate and decide the future of the ICT industry. Organized by theInternational Telecommunication Union (ITU). Visit www.itu.int/world2006

National developmentChanging India – using the telecom edgeby Amit Sharma, Vice President, South and South-East Asia, MotorolaTelecommunicationsholdsthekeytoIndia’seconomicemergence.Contrastsintelecomusage,though,aregreat.Indiaistheworld’sfastestgrowingtelecommarket,buttwothirdsofitspopulationhasnocoverageandbroadbandusageisnegligible.Nevertheless,countlessurbanandruralworkersusemobilestodobusinessandthousandsofpeopleman the call centres, the hubs of the Business Process Outsourcing (BPO) industry,whichhasplayedsuchakeyroleinmakingIndiatheworld’sback-office.AmitSharmaistheVicePresidentforSouth&SouthEast-AsiaatMotorolaInc.MrSharmahasbeenamemberofMotorola’sAsia-PacificManagementBoardsince1997.PriortoMotorola,heservedasVicePresident–StrategicPlanning&BusinessDevelopmentatGECapitalandatMcKinsey&Companyasa core team member of the firm's Electronics and Marketing Practices. Mr Amit Sharma is the Co-ChairmanoftheTelecomCommitteeoftheFederationoftheIndianChambersofCommerce&Industry(FICCI); he serves on the AmCham Board of Governors and is the Chairman of the its TelecomCommittee;heisalsoamemberoftheCII–ConfederationofIndianIndustry’sTelecomCommittee.MrSharmastudiedattheIndianInstituteofTechnology(IIT),Kharagpur;hehasanMSEinComputerandInformationSciencesfromtheMooreSchool,UniversityofPennsylvania.HealsoholdsanMBAinInternationalBusinessfromWhartonSchoolofBusiness,wherehewasontheDean’sandtheDirector’sHonoursLists.To understand how much the explosivegrowth in telecommunicationshas altered the lives of ordinaryIndians, all you need to do is lookaroundcitiesandthevillagesthatlieclosetothem.InagrowingnumberofIndia’scities,particularlythemetros,tradesmen and shopkeepers transactbusiness over the phone, usually amobiledevice.Itisnotunusualtoseeplumbers,carpenters,electriciansandthe like, handing out business cardswith mobile numbers. Until a fewyears ago, this was unthinkable. Hopacross to urban and semi-urban villages,andthepictureisnotverydifferent;down in the muddy bazaars,vegetable and milk vendors inmakeshiftkiosksusemobilephonestotake home delivery orders. Farmersuse them to share news, check cropprices, learn about new agriculturalprogrammes and talk to relatives incities. This single device, a potentsymbolofprogressivede-regulationinIndia’s telecom industry from theearlynineties,hasexpandedincomesofscoresofpeopleacrossthecountry,made lives easier and more convenient,andgenerallygiventheeconomyapushnorthwards.Wellpastmidnight,highupinglitteringglass and concrete buildings thatdotBangalore,Gurgaon(aDelhisuburb)or Hyderabad, thousands ofyoungpeoplechatteronphones,providingsolutions to customers in distantUSandEurope,ina24x7businessthat spans the IT and telecomconvergencespace.Thesearethehubsof the Business Process Outsourcing(BPO) industry, which has playedsuch a key role in making India theworld’s back-office. When travellinganywhereinthisvastcountryyouarelikely to see people glued to mobilehandsets. From mass-market or second-handphones to the latest indesign and applications, mobilephoneshavebecomeubiquitous.ThetelecommunicationsindustryhasbeenashowpieceofIndia’seconomicreformprocess,demonstratinghowavirtuousconvergenceofde-regulation,foreign investment and competitioncan transform an economy andempower people. With subscribernumbersgrowingat5millionamonthfrom less than 2 million just 10months ago, the telecom industryremains one of the country’s fastestgrowingsectors. According to theTelecomRegulatoryAuthorityofIndia(TRAI),Indiacurrentlyhasmorethan48millionfixed-lineusersand71millioncellular phone users. Tele-density,or the number of phones per 100people,hasincreasedfromlessthan1percentin1991tonearly12percenttoday.Giventhedramaticimpactofearlyliberalizationinthesector,itwouldbenoexaggerationtosaythattelecommunicationsholdsthekeytoIndia’semergenceas a leading global economy.Statistics cannot comprehensivelycapturethevisiblemultipliereffectoftelecomgrowthontheIndianeconomy,but they do show the expandedincomes, growing employment and aconsumption boom that is poweringIndiato8percentGDPgrowth.TelecommunicationsgrowthGlobally,thelinkbetweentelecommunicationsgrowth and development isnowwellestablished.Ingeneral,studieshave shown that a 2 per centincreaseintele-densitycanleadtoa320

National developmentper cent improvement in economicdevelopment. This linkage points tothe direction India’s telecom policyshould take. There is an urgent needtoincreaseboththewidthanddepthof the telecom revolution throughoutall of India’s socio-economic strataandinruralIndia.Despite the rapid growth, India hasmanymilestogobeforeitcantakeitsplace among the telecom-empowerednations. For one, tele-density mayhave risen 12-fold over the past 15years, but it lags significantly behindChina (51 per cent), not to speak ofdevelopedmarketsliketheUS(117percent). For another, the growth of theindustryhasbeenuneven;ruraldensityisapaltry2percent,instarkcontrastto the urban tele-density of 31percent.Thekeyliesinmass-marketandruralconnectivity.Itisessential,for several reasons, to address thissegment comprehensively. Our penetrationmay be increasing, India maybetheworld’sfastestgrowingtelecommarket, policies may be conducive,but the fact of the matter is that asmuch as two-thirds of the country’spopulationhasnocoverage–wirelessorwireline!Thetelecomrevolutionisyet to happen for the majority ofIndians.Mobiledevices,though,holdthepromise.Government policy has addressedsome of these concerns. The government,for instance, raised limits onforeigninvestmentintelecomserviceslast year, paving the way for greaterinvestment inflows in the sector.Heightened competition has alreadybenefited the consumer significantly.India now enjoys tariffs that areamongthelowestintheworld–justadecade ago, they figured among thehighest. The state-owned serviceproviders’ recent move to cut alldomestic long-distance calls to Re 1per minute (roughly 2.2 cents) fromMarchthisyearisexpectedtorevolutionizethe telecom market even further.This apart, the zero-duty regime hasallowedtelecomequipmentmanufacturersto provide handsets at evercheaperprices, providing a hugeimpetusforthelow-endmassmarketthatisboundtostokegrowth.Today,mobile handsets are available for aslittle as Rs 1200 (or US$ 27), and athriving second-hand market formobile handsets is accelerating thevelocityofgrowth.These trends are likely to influenceurban India where connectivity isgrowing exponentially. To truly reapthe gains of the telecom revolution,public policy and private initiativeneeds to be focused on leveragingtechnology to fulfil fundamentaldevelopment needs in rural areaswhere 70 per cent of the populationlives.In a country like India, communityaccess to information and communicationtechnology is an extremelyeffective way to facilitate universalaccess to education, healthcare andagricultural productivity. In thisrespect, there is huge potential toleveragebroadband,bothwirelessandwireline, to play a key role in bootstrappingthousandsofIndiansoutofpoverty and illiteracy. Broadbandservices (in terms of mass usage) arevirtually non-existent. Computers inruralareas,orasamassphenomenon,are yet to appear. It is broadband,especially wireless broadband, whichholdsthekeytoconnectingIndiainaverysignificantway.Itleapsoverthephysical infrastructural hurdles toprovide seamless access to informationand knowledge, converging telecomand information technology toconsign geographical constraints tohistory.DistancelearningTodayitiseasytoenvisage,forexample,children in India’s remotest villageslearning to read and writethrough access to creative distancelearning solutions. Distance learningcan overcome the twin problems ofdistance and chronic teacher absenteeismthat afflict India’s schoolingsystem.Alwayson,high-speed,broadbandsolutionsthatprovidecost-effectiveconnectivityarebeingdeployedinbothpre-designatednodalandrecipientschools.Formoststudents,thisisthefirstrealeducationalopportunity.The initiative bridges the gap in primaryand secondary education standardsbetween schools in rural andurbanareas.Thistiesindirectlywiththe Government’s accent on e-education,to address a major need of thecountry.Wireless broadband technology connectsteachersandstudentsbyprovidingreal-timevideoandaudiofeedstoa cluster of recipient schools from aclassroom in a nodal school. Thebroadbandwirelesslinkandthecomputers/softwareconnect the nodaland recipient schools. The nodalschoolprovidesthecurriculaandcontent;a NGO partner produces it inInternetcompatibleformat.Asimilarproject, in partnership with the stategovernment of Rajasthan, focusesupon panchayati raj or village selfgovernance.Being cost effective and scalable,broadband,especiallywirelessbroadband,can be creatively leveraged toimprovethequalityofgovernanceandthe provision of public service. Forinstance,thePresidentofIndiaAPJAbdulKalamhasenvisionedaprojectcalled PURA, an acronym forProviding Urban Amenities in RuralAreas.Broadbandwouldmakeitpossibleto establish community centresin each one of India’s 600-odd districtswithPCkioskstoprovidecombinedopportunitiesfore-welfareande-commerce.InsomepartsofruralIndia,farmersarealreadyharvestingthebenefitsofinformation and communicationstechnologiesintheformofane-marketplacecallede-choupalputinplaceby a major tobacco company, ITCLimited. By providing farmers withreal-time information on commodityprices,weatherreportsandsoon,ITChas helped farmers slash transactioncostsbyeliminatingexploitativemiddlemenandenhancedfarmproductivity.Telecomtechnologycanalsoassistinhealthcare delivery in unprecedentedways. India’s public healthcare deliverysystem,establishedinthe1950s,isno longer equipped to address eventhe primary healthcare needs of thecountry’s 1.1 billion citizens.HIV/AIDS, tuberculosis, malaria andother communicable diseases continuetoafflictthepopulation.Tele-medicine,in which doctors can sharepatient information, provide education,guidanceandtraining,couldplaya key role in relieving the burden ofunder-fundedhealthcentres.Weneedafuturewherehand-heldPDAs–bothcellular and WIFI – dominate ruralIndia. These will enable voice, data,one-way video and related applications,connect India’s billions, anddrivethecountryintotheageofconnectivityandconvergence.Leveraging telecom can help Indialeapfrog over several stages of development,rightintotheglobalinformationage. Access to informationenablespeopletomakechoices,anecessarypre-condition for the healthyfunctioningofademocracy.Usingthetelecomedgetoimprovethequalityoflife of all its citizens will help Indiastride into the league of developedcountries.Thetelecomedgeis,clearly,a catalyst of socio-economic change.21

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System developmentService oriented architectures and web services:opportunities for service providersby Shanker Annaswamy, Managing Director, IBM IndiaThe age of homegrown, telecommunications applications is passing. Powerful ServiceOrientedArchitectures(SOAs)andwebservices–openstandardbasedwebapplicationsthatexchangedataandinteractwithotherwebapplications–arereplacingmanymadeto-measureapplications. These new applications let enterprises create and connectapplicationswithfarlessdevelopmenttime,expenseandexpertisethaneverbefore.Dueto the open standards, all SOAs are interoperable with each other, they eliminate therisksinherentinbettingonanygivenlegacy-styleplatform.ShankerAnnaswamyistheManagingDirectorofIBMIndia.HeisresponsibleforallIBM’ssalesandmarketing,servicesandGlobalDeliveryoperationsinIndia.HepreviouslyservedasthePresidentandChiefExecutiveOfficerforGEMedicalSystems,SouthAsiaandManagingDirector,Wipro-GEMedicalSystems.ShankerbeganhiscareerwithPhilipsMedicalSystems.Inhis25yearsofexperience,hehasworked in project management, sales, marketing and quality and as an Advisor to the Ministry ofHealthinOman.Anaccomplishedspeaker,Shankerhasdeliveredkeynoteaddressesatmanyseminarsandconferences.ShankerhasaBachelorofEngineering(BE)inElectronicsandcommunicationfromMadrasUniversityandaDiplomainBusinessManagementEducationfromtheAllIndiaManagementAssociation,NewDelhi.Formostofthelastcentury,advancesin telecommunications technologywere generally homegrown. With thedebut of intelligent networks (INs),serviceprovidersandspecializedISVs(independent software vendors)gainedahandindevelopingnewservicesaswell,althoughtheyoftentookalongtimetodelivertoendcustomers.Now, the telecommunications industryinIndia,asintherestoftheworld,is entering a new era of opportunity,driven by advances outside its ownrealm.One of the most significant advancesis the general adoption of standards,suchasServiceOrientedArchitectures(SOAs) and the web services thatenable them. Web services are openstandard(XML,SOAP–simpleobjectaccessprotocol,etc.)basedwebapplications.Theyexchangedataandinteractwithotherwebapplications.Theiruse is expanding to include, amongothers,theprocessingoftransactionson the Internet. The power of theseadvancesliesinthefactthattheyarenot rooted in legacy telecommunicationstechnology;ratherhavetheabilityto exploit far more generalizedinformationtechnologies.SOAs and web services enable enterprisesto create and connect applicationswith far less development time,expense and expertise than everbefore possible. This not only fuelsmore robust internal developmentefforts,italsoopensupnewsourcesofideasandopportunitiesfordevelopersto craft innovative, easily deployedapplicationsfrompreviouslydeployedwebservices.Using an SOA approach, enterprisescanmoreeasilymanagethecomplexityof multi-department systems andfacilitateinteractionsamongmultiplecompanies(partnersandcustomers).For service providers, SOAs and webserviceshavethepowertoopenlucrativenew markets and generate substantialnew revenues by facilitatingcommunication and interactionbetween the internal and externalapplicationsoftheircustomers.SOAs and web services can also giveservice providers access to hiddenvalue within many of their networkassets.Astheybreakdownbarriersupand down the value chain, SOAs andweb services can profoundly increasethe revenue-generation and marketexpansionopportunities offered bynext-generation network environments.AhistoricalperspectiveThegoalofmakingplatforms,systemsand software more interoperable is23

System developmenthardly new. What now putsthat goal within reach ofmany enterprises are breakthroughsin open standardsand the subsequent adventofSOA-enablingwebservices.commoninterfaces.Bysimplifyingdevelopment,acceleratingdeployment cyclesand reducing maintenancecosts,SOAsandwebservicescanbringaboutdramaticbusinessbreakthroughs:Today, enterprises andorganizationsofalltypesaresteeping themselves in SOAand web services. A Googlesearchproduceshundredsofthousandsofhitsfor“serviceorientedarchitecture”–andmillions for “web services”and the standards, such asSOAP, that support it. Infact, Gartner states that theworldwide market opportunityforSOA,includingsoftwareand services, will continuetogrowthrough2008,when it’s expected to reachUS$143billion.MajorvendorshaveincorporatedSOAand web services principles withintheir integration framework, theirdelivery environment for serviceproviders, since the framework’sinception.SpecialopportunitiesforserviceprovidersSOAs can insulate enterprises of alltypesfromthechallengesanddisruptionsthat ongoing change andincreasing operational sophisticationwouldotherwiseplaceonthem.Because of standardization amongtheir underlying web services, SOAsenablediverseapplicationstobecombinedand recombined, used andreused–onthefly–without“ripandreplace”andwithoutnewcoding.Webservices offer enterprises unprecedentedflexibility to pick and chooseamong seemingly disparate functionsandquicklyassemblethemintoinnovativenewcapabilities–fasterandata lower cost than what was possiblepreviously.IfaserviceproviderusedSOAtodonomorethanhelpmanagethecomplexityof its own IT infrastructure, theresulting flexibility, responsiveness“Today, enterprises andorganizations of alltypes are steepingthemselves in SOA andweb services.”Figure 1: Web services allow even the most disparate IT assets to berecombined and reused.andresiliencewouldeasilyjustifytheinvestment.Service providers also enjoy theuniqueadvantageofbeingabletouseSOAs to facilitate better integratedserviceswithpartnersandcustomers.Forexample,locationinformationcaneasily be combined with call control,and then with a business applicationsuchasworkforcemanagement.A service provider could then enablecommercialcustomerstoautomaticallytrackanddirectthedeploymentofindividual field service techniciansthrough their cell phones, no matterwhich workforce management solutiona customer might be using.Because common standards are usedat the web services layer, serviceproviders can easily meld functionssuchascallcontrolandlocationwithapplications from partner enterprises– generating new revenues and relationshipsintheprocess.Enablinginter-enterprisecommunicationWeb services can transform the wayeventhemosthardenedITandorganizationalsilos communicate andinteract.Theycanalsochangethewaycompaniesinteractwithothercompanies,altering the "value equation"among partners, and introducingresponsiveness and flexibility wherelittlecouldexistbefore.The open standards to which webservices are built enable pre-built,reusablewebservicecomponentsand– Processes built from discretebut interconnectedservices can become farmore granular than everbefore, and thus far moreflexible...andmarketable;– New processes and compositeapplications can bebuiltmuchmorequicklyinresponse to fast-breakingchangesinthemarketplace;– Simplification of theinteraction between theservice provider and thirdpartycontentprovidersandaggregators. Web servicesenableondemandbusiness;– As responsiveness improves, customerservice can follow suit, nolonger restricted by issues related totheunderlyingITinfrastructure;– New operational efficiencies willalso result, helping companies keepcosts in check as their capabilitiesexpandexponentially.Primarily through the standards theyimpose,webservicesenablecapabilitiesthat in turn spawn new businessvalue, and provide a direct path tobecoming more flexible, responsive,resilientandcost-efficient–thehallmarksofanondemandenterprise.WebservicesalloweventhemostdisparateITassetstoberecombinedandreused. Flexibility is inherent to SOAand Web services, enabling enterprise-widecosts to go down whileimproving their capability to rapidlyaddressnewbusinesschallenges.With web services, new levels ofautomationcanbeachieved–increasingresponsiveness without incurringthe costs and complexities of newdevelopment efforts. The burdens ofverifying,translatingandinterpreting“Web services cantransform the way eventhe most hardened ITand organizational siloscommunicate andinteract.”24

System developmentdatacanshift–freeingpeopletofocuson strategy, analysis, guidance andassessments.Because of common interfaces andprecise controls, core network capabilitiescan be safely exposed to customersandpartnersviawebservices.Forexample,aserviceprovider’sabilitytopinpointawirelesscustomeratanygivenmomentbecomesmorethanan enabling factor in a wireless network;ittransformsintoanassetthatcan be made available beyond theservice provider’s enterprise toenhancecustomerservice,speedinnovation,expand revenue opportunitiesandincreasecustomerloyalty.ConsolidatingdisparateITinfrastructuresand far-flung, resource-hungrycomponentsbecomeseasierandmostcost-effective.The savings join with those fromautomating processes and reusingcode and they can save enterprisesenormousamountsoftimeandmoneythatcanbedirectedatmorestrategicpursuits.Asnotedearlier,serviceproviderscangainaparticularadvantagefromwebservicestakingholdbeyondtheirownenterprises, due to the role serviceprovider networks can play withinmulti-enterprisewebservicesdeployments.Plus, service providers haveunique sets of assets to expose andexploit, such as location, presence,identity management and messageservices (SMS/MMS). These assetscangivethemadistinctiveseatatthetableofinterconnectedenterprises.Through SOAs and with their newportfolios of SOA-enabled assets,serviceproviderscanbecomeintegralparts of the value chains now beingestablished among other SOA-savvyenterprises – opening up potentiallyoutstandingnewrevenuesources.Thebeneficiaries can include the serviceprovider’scustomers,itspartnersanditsbottomline.TheessentialsofanSOAForinnovationtoflourishandforSOAsto reach their potential, web servicesrequire a critical mass of applicationprogram interfaces (APIs). They mustalsofitwithinascaleable,reliableframework–onethatissecure,measurable,policy-aware, and equipped to managedisparate traffic flows. The architecturemust also support standardizedcommunication among the manydiverseelementswithinthenetwork.To foster service development, thetoolingenvironmentmustbefamiliarto developers and users. Eclipse, anopen standard familiar to thousandsofapplicationdevelopers,canprovidesuch a rich service-creation environmentforJavawebdevelopment.Whenthewebservicesdevelopedaredeployed to a standard Web applicationservertheenduserdoesnotneedtoinstallanycustomerpremiseequipment.Thewebservicesmessagesarerouted to the telecom serviceprovider’s network through a secureconnection–andcantakeadvantageof a broad range of network servicescapabilitiesincluding:–Groupmanagement–creatingnetwork-managedgroups and targetingthemforexecutedservices;–Presencemanagement–trackingifandwhencustomersareavailable,onthephone,busy,etc.;– Location – knowing where customersare;–Callcontrol–creatingacallfromanapplication(click-to-call),ornotifyinganapplicationofacall,suchasthoseusedin“followme”services;– Account management – accountservicesforindividualcustomers;– Payments – managing the flow ofmoney from customers to suppliersandpartners;–Textandmultimediamessaging.Bharti Televentures provides a greatexampleoftheapplicabilityofSOAtocontemporaryprojects.TheirintegrationandconsolidationofrequestsviaWeb, Short Message Service orInteractive Voice Response for customerself-service is the first-everimplementation of service-orientedArchitecture (SOA) and web servicesbyaTelcoinIndia.GettingstartedThebroadandrapidlygrowinginterestinSOAsandthewebservicessupportingthemisjustifiedbythemanytechnical and business benefits theycan bring to adopting enterprises:lower costs, faster implementations,support for new business models,major supply chain transformationsandbeyond.BecauseSOAsare,bydefinition,interoperable with any otherSOAbymeansofopenstandards,theyeliminatetherisksinherentinbettingon one legacy-style platform overanother.Service providers are uniquely positionedtoleverageSOAsandwebservicesbecauseofthekeyroletheyplayin inter-enterprise networking andcommunications. The good news isthattheinitialinvestmentrequiredtostartusingSOAsandWebservicesislowbecauseofthewideavailabilityoftoolsandplatforms.An insight intothe future!You are a decisionmaker;You understand yourbusiness;Do you understandhow ICT affects themarkets, the countriesand the people youserve?Gain insight into howICT leaders see thefuture.Connect-World,The Decision Makers’Forum for ICT DrivenDevelopment,brings you the thoughtsand opinions ofleaders fromaround the globe, theirpersonal assessment ofthe issues that drivethe ICT revolution andchange the livesof us all.25

Infrastructure developmentIP-based solutions and India’s evolutionby Vijay Yadav, Managing Director, UTStarcom, South AsiaInformationandcommunicationtechnologiesareplayingacriticalroleinIndia’seconomicdevelopmentimprovingproductivity,reducingcosts,improvingdeliverysystemsandspurringgrowthinsectorsfromeducationtoagriculture.TheInternetisnowanintegralpartofdailylifeofanever-increasingsegmentofIndia’spopulation.IP-basedcommunicationsolutionshaveservedasacatalystforthegrowthofmanyofIndia’sinefficient,inadequate,infrastructuresectors–beitinthepowerandenergysector,transportorcommunications,healthoreducation.Vijay Yadav is UTStarcom’s Managing Director for South Asia responsible for overall direction andmanagementoftheSouthAsiaoperations.PriortojoiningUTStarcom,Vijayworkedwith3COMasCountryManagerforIndia&SAARC,wherehewasresponsibleforbuildingtheCommWorksBusinessinIndia.MrVijayYadavhas17yearsofexperienceintheITandtelecommunicationssectorsandoftenspeakspubliclyabouttheinfluencetheseissuesuponIndia.VijayYadavearnedadegreeinengineeringandaMaster’sdegreeinChemistry.India’seconomyhashadthepotentialtogrowat8percentormoreperyearsince it undertook economic andstructuralreformsintheearly1990s.Liberalization and increased integrationwith the global economy havepresented India both with enormouschallenges and opportunities. Thegood news is that India reached themilestone,an8.1percentgrowth-rateis forecast by official agencies for2005–2006. This would be the thirdyear in the row India clocks growthgreater than 7.5 per cent. If thisgrowthrateissustainedinthecomingyears,Indiawilleasilyachieve‘developednation’statusby2020.FuellingthisgrowthmomentumoverlastfewyearshasbeenwhatIcallthe"Finger Tip Revolution" in informationand communication technology(ICT). Both IT and Telecom havechanged India from a slow-movinggianttoacountrybuzzingwithenormouseconomic activity. This is theresultofthetechnologicalamalgamation–withthehelpofIP-basedcommunicationssolutions–oftheITandcommunicationssectors.Thenew,allencompassing,technologyisnotonlyimpacting businesses, but also suchsectors as education, health, waterandsanitation,agricultureandpublicgovernance; it has ‘built pace in theeconomicrace’.Theconversionoftelecommunicationnetworkscontenttodigitalstandardshas created an electronic networkinfrastructurethatfacilitatestheconvergenceofformerlydiscretetelecomservicesonasingletelecomnetwork.More recently, Internet Protocol, IPbasedcommunications have permittedtheconvergenceofdata,pictures,music, video, and voice communicationservicesthroughtheInternet.Voice over IP (VoIP) is the latestmajor step in a convergence processthat has been underway for threedecades.Now,alltypesofservicescanbe provided in an integrated mannerovertheInternetusingIP.Fromalayman’sperspective it means that thistechnology provides unified communicationwithoutboundaries.TheInternetProtocol(IP)isbecomingtheuniversalcarrierforallcommunicationtrafficthroughouttheworld.IPnetworksaregrowingrapidlyindevelopingcountries like India that needcost effective systems, better trafficcontrolandqualityofservice.CompaniesusingIP-basedcommunicationsolutions have reported costsavings of up to 30 per cent. Moreimportantly, the ease of adding new,standardized,featuresthroughoutthenetworkenabledIP-basedsolutionstogradually replace traditional networkarchitectures. This path-breakingtechnology provides clear, speedy,voiceanddatatransmissionoveranydistance using a single unified networkin place of separate voice anddatanetworks.Due to its cost efficiencies, speedycommunication, access to new markets,fasterproductioncycles,inventorymanagement and demand-supplymanagement, IP-based technologicalsolutions have emerged as a catalystforrapidbusinessgrowthandexpan-26

Infrastructure developmentsion. The pervasiveness of IPand the evolution of theInternet have enabled telecomcompanies worldwide to capitalizeon new market opportunities,generate new services,and develop a broader customerbase.Proliferation of Internet andIP-based communication technologyhas dynamicallychanged both the types andqualityofcommunicationservices.WiththesteadilygrowingnumbersofIP-enableddevices,the use of IP has becomeincreasingly pervasive.CountrieslikeIndiaareamongits greatest beneficiaries, sinceIT and the communicationinfrastructureisplayingacriticalroleintheiroveralleconomicdevelopment.IP has improved productivity,reduced costs, improved deliverysystemsandresultedinbettertargeting of beneficiaries.TheInternetisseentodayasanintegralpartofdailylifebyanever increasing segment ofIndia’spopulation.India’s economic march tohigher and sustained developmenthas long been hamperedby lack of adequate infrastructure,beitinpowerandenergysector,transport or communication. Thedevelopment of any infrastructureservice depends, critically, upon theavailabilityofothers.TheITandcommunicationsector, for example, cannotgrowwithoutadequatepowersupply.Thelastfewyearshaveseensomeimprovement on this front. Coupledwith the progressive and conducivepolicychanges,boththeITandcommunicationsectorshavemarchedoverotherinfrastructuresectors.Inaway,IP-based communication solutionshavebecomethecatalystforgrowthinmanyothereconomicsectors.It is important to understandthatIP-basedsolutionsarenotstatic bits of technology. Theyaredynamicinnovationswhichare continuously developedandadaptedtoyieldevermoreadvancedIP-enabledservices.Voice over Internet Protocol(VoIP)madeglobalheadlinein2004. Since then, more andmore companies worldwidehaveoptedtousethistechnology.India is becoming a verybig market for VoIP. In fact,Figure 1: Improved communication technology has even helpedagricultural development.experts predict that India will showthefastestadoptionofIPapplicationsduringthecomingdecade.Thereasonis not difficult to understand. AfterChina, India is the world’s biggestmarket. India’s low penetration ofcomputers and basic and mobiletelephony compared to China andother developing countries, are ameasure of the tremendous potentialofthemarket.In today’s information empoweredworld, with knowledge industriessteeringeconomicdevelopment,communicationshave emerged as a coreFigure 2: India is on the threshold of a higher growth trajectory.business function. The effectivenessof a company’s communicationsystemcangreatlyimpact its bottom line. A welldeveloped communicationinfrastructure is an essentialingredientforeconomicdevelopmentofacountry.Indiahasalreadymadesubstantialgainsand today boasts the World’slargesttelecomnetworkaswellasthelargesttelecomcompanyin BSNL. India’s telecom sectoris presently growing atabout70percentperannum.The correlation between ITand Telecom sector developmentand the development ofother economic activities isbecomingclearereachday.IPbasedsolutions includingVoIP, have stimulated growthnotonlyintelecomandrelatedsectors,butalsoinsectorssuchas education, social development,healthandpublicgovernance;the impact of thesetechnologies is felt in theremotestofregions.Improved communicationtechnology, for example, hasevenhelpedagriculturaldevelopment.‘e-Chaupals’ – electronicversionsofthetraditionalvillage meeting place wherepeople gather to exchangeinformation – in Andhra Pradeshhave helped farmers better understand,among other things, demandsupplysynergies. The ‘e-Chaupals’have also promoted interactionbetweenfarmersandscientiststopromotebettercropmanagement,theuseof fertilizers and pesticides and theuseofhigh-yieldingseedsandthelike,and have increased incomes fromfarming.This experiment is likely to be duplicatedin other states and applied todevelopingfoodprocessingindustries,bringing still greater value toIndianagriculture.Thisislikelyto initiate an agriculturalrevolution, different than thegreenrevolutionoflate1970s,but somewhat similar in outcome.ICT can help improveagriculture production, reduceuncertainties in the field, andhelp the two-thirds of India’spopulation which dependsupon agriculture for its livelihood.IP-basedsystemsarealsomakinga substantial impact uponthe retail trade in agricultural27

Infrastructure developmentFigure 1: India is becoming a very big market for VoIP.and other commodities by unifyingthe markets throughout the countryand facilitating the effective managementof supply and demand andinventories.Education, especially higher studies,hasbeenanothermajorbeneficiaryofIP-based communication systems.Distancelearninghasmadeitpossibleto acquire knowledge without beingphysically in a classroom. Besidesincreasing the number of educatedpeople in the country, it has alsoimprovedtheknowledgebaseofsociety.The increasing integration, the networking,of domestic and foreigninstitutes, universities, and researchorganisationshashelpedtomaximizestrengths and leverage the use ofresourcesfromaroundtheworld.In India, especially in rural regionswhereschooldropoutratesarehigh,ICT and IP-based technology hasenticed many of the younger generationto seek and explore knowledgeand,thus,hasmadeavaluablecontributiontoIndia’sgrowth.IP-basedsolutions,VoIPinparticular,arebringingtheworldcloserbyhelpingcountriesmakemoreeffectiveuseof their skills and resources. Anincreasing number of American andSouth-East Asian companies, forexample, are seeking the services ofIndia’s skilled pool of English languagespeakers.Using video-conferencing and othercommunication channels, an EnglishteacherinIndiacanteachstudentsinany other part of the world withouttravelling from home. The world, itseems,isfinallybecomingatrueglobalvillage;itsdistancesaredwindling.ThehealthcaresectorhasmaderapidstrideswiththehelpofIP-basedcommunicationtechnology.IT and communicationtechnologyhasmadeitpossible to networkresources and knowledgeof hospitals anddoctorsthroughouttheworld.ThankstotheIP-basedsolutions,specialistsinone country havealreadyguidedteamsofsurgeons operating inanother countrythrough video-conferencing.There are anumberofhealthfacilitiesandservicesspawnedbytheconvergenceof voice and data networks.Today, heart ailments are routinelymonitored at a distance; not so longago,thiscouldhavebeendoneonlyinahospital.A marriage of IT, BT (biotechnology)and communication technology hashelpedhumangenomeresearchprojectsandhelpedresearchintocloning.Withoutgettingintotheethicalquestions,itisfairtosaythatICTis,inasense,helping‘manplaygodtoanewgenerationofmankind’.Thetargetingofbeneficiariesofpublicservices such as the PublicDistribution System (PDS) for food,disastermanagementandpublicpolicyintervention in remote areas hasbeenmademoreeffective,andmonitoringmade less cumbersome, withthehelpofICTservices.AlargepartofruralIndia,though,stillneedsbetterconnectivity.India’steledensity,ataround10,comparespoorlywith the world average of over 40and China’s over 42. Computer andInternet penetration and use sufferfromasimilarlackofpenetration.Thegreateruseofthegovernment’spowerto stimulate the growth of India’s ITandcommunicationsectorneedstobeencouraged.The government’s progressive policyapproach to its well-defined, proactive,regulatoryframeworkhasfacilitatedlarge-scale private investment,substantialFDIandtechnologicaltieups;it has made telecom the fastestgrowing sector in the country. Thefutureappearsbright;IndiaisonthethresholdofahighergrowthtrajectoryridingonICTandIP-basedapplications.Connect-World iscelebrating its10 th anniversaryThrough the years,Connect-World’sauthors told of the riseof mobile, of fibre, ofwireless and ofbroadband; they toldof the dot.commeltdown, of digitalinclusion andconvergence, ofstandards andbreakthroughs, therise of IP and the fallof switching and of theregulatory turnaround.In every issue ofConnect-World heads ofstate, ministers andregulators, heads ofinternationalinstitutions andleaders of industryspeak of whatthe ICT revolution,as it happens,means to the people intheir regions of theworld.www.connect-world.com28

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OutsourcingNext-generation outsourcingby Simarprit Singh, Founder and CEO, Compare Infobase Pvt LtdTheoutsourcingofservicesandbusinessprocesseshasbecomeincreasinglyimportanttobusinessesindevelopedcountries;itallowsthemtodevotetheirtimeandresourcestoothermoreproductiveends.OutsourcingisalsodrivinganeconomicandsocialrevolutionincountriessuchasIndiawithalargepoolofhighlytalented,educatedworkers.IfIndia’soutsourcingsegmentistocontinuetogrowtocompetesuccessfully,thecountrywillneedtoinvestheavilyininfrastructureandineducationforitsyouth.SimarpritSinghisthefounderandCEOofCompareInfobasePvtLtd.SimarpritSinghbeganhiscareeras a Research Associate at NIIT.He left to become an entrepreneur and set up DISC (InformationTechnology) Pvt Ltd.While at DISC, he made a presentation to the United Nations on InformationTechnologiesandDevelopingCountries.HelaterservedastheVPofBusinessDevelopmentatNucleusSoftware,priortohisreturntoentrepreneurshipatCompareInfobase.Simarprit Singh has a BCom degree in Statistics and a Post-graduate diploma in ComputerApplications.Introduction“The best companies outsource towin,nottoshrink.Theyoutsourcetoinnovate faster.” When Thomas L.FriedmanquotedthisinhisbestsellerTheworldisflat,hesimplyemphasizedthe role that outsourcing is setto play as a key protagonist in theglobalization drama. Argumentsagainst outsourcing that look to theflipsideofthecoinabound;nevertheless,theoutsourcingsectorispreparingitselffortheexpandedroleitwillsoonplayintheworld’seconomy.ThefutureThe trend that began in the 1980s,when manufacturing units procuredmaterials from low-cost countries,spreadtotheITsectorinthe1990s,asitsearchedforalow-costpoolofhightalentworkerstoservicetheneedsofdeveloped countries, especially theUnited States. Today, as Customer-Relation Management, CRM, or forthatmatterIntelligenceOutsourcing,rulestheday,itistimetoshiftfocustotheotherbenefitsthatoutsourcingcanbring.A recent study by internationalresearch firm, Evaluserve, and theNationalAssociationofSoftwareandService Companies (NASSCOMIndia) creates a compelling case foroutsourcing and shows why the concepthasbecomesoimportanttobusinessesintheUS.ThestudyestablishesdecisivelytheUSneedtooffshoreinordertogrowitseconomy.Outsourcing benefits, such as costsavings and increased flexibility, areexpected to make the US companiesmorecompetitiveglobally.Technologyisfastbecominganintegralpartofeachofourlives,andoutsourcing,which began by offering aProvider to Business to Consumerservice, is rapidly evolving into aProvider to Consumer service. Untilrecently,outsourcingreachedindividualsindirectly,butnowitisprovidingdirect communication between theproviders and the end-users. This isresultinginawider,deeperreachintothe consumer segment and generatinggreateroutsourcingrevenues.Outsourcingisbeginningtoevolve,atleast in part, to reach the consumerdirectly at a one-on-one level. Thisshiftinfocuscanleadanyindustrytoconsider outsourcing. For instance,architectural firms stand to gainmuchfromthisnewlineofthought.Through outsourcing of architecturaldesign, an individual can contact anarchitectdirectlyand,afterspecifyinghis needs, acquire a customizeddesign.Inthesameway,apparelandfashiondesignerswillbeabletooutsourcedesignjobsandmediaorevenlegalfirmswillbeabletooutsourceanincreasing portion of the tasks thatarepartoftheirdailyroutine.Meanwhile, when the focus shiftsfrom business to day-to-day chores,the survey once again predicts greatbenefits from outsourcing. By performingsuchsimpletasksaslocating31

Outsourcingapublisherforabuddingwriteroragoodschoolforaharriedparent,outsourcinghasthepotentialtosimplifylife in many ways. This, in turn, willprovide the outsourcing sector withhuge,unimaginable,opportunities.ImpactonIndiaManylookuponIndiaasanationthathasbeeninexistencesinceAdamandEve, but has not been able to reinventitself over the years. Today,India has a fitting reply; the ragingsuccessofitsInformationTechnologystrategieshasnotonlyrevolutionisedIndia, but promises a future whereIndiawillrevolutionisetheworld.Nowthatoutsourcingisheretostay,India definitely stands in a highlyfavourable position.India’s greatestadvantage is her huge population.This population, encouraged by thegovernment, by industry and thedesireforabetterfuture,ispreparingitselftofacethechallengesofitsrapidlygrowingeconomy.This multi-talented population isplaying a key role in sculpting thefutureofIndia.So,itcomesasnosurprise,that following its success withIT,Indiaisbeginningtoarrangeoutsourcingdeals in the legal and aviationsectorandispoisedtotakeon,aswell,arangeofotherventures.Today,whenwespeakofone-on-oneoutsourcing, India, equipped with ahuge reservoir of reliable, cost-efficient,knowledgeable English-speakingworkersandstate-of-the-art-technologies,emerges as the global outsourcinghub.India’speoplehavetheability to reach out globally to eachindividual and address their needs.Indiapromisestobethemajorsupplierof the world’s knowledge workersintheyearstocome.MrXintheUSwillspeaktoMsYinIndiatofindhimselfagood,reasonablypriced, physician from somewhereacrosstheglobeandapainterR, in India, will directly sell his picturesto B, who is looking for goodpiecestoadornherhouse.Thepossibilitiesare immense. Once the conceptandthepracticearerefinedandperfected, one-on-one outsourcingwillbecomeabasicoptionforawiderange of functions in most businesssectors.Thumbsdown–outsourcingchallengesThistypeofoutsourcing,though,canalsoleadtoutterchaossincethereisno way to stop any individual fromstartinganoutsourcingfirmcateringto individuals in other countries.Insuchasituation,abusesaremorelikelyto occur and quality and performanceguarantees become more difficultto control. There will be a greatneedforstrictrulesandregulationstoprotectagainstthelikelihoodofabuseand guarantee the quality of service.India still lacks the legal structuresandperspectivesneededtoeffectivelyregulatetheoutsourcingsector.Despite India’s large pool of talent,there is concern about the futureregardingcertaincriticaltalentshortages.Research by the McKinseyGlobal Institute shows that in termsof suitability for employment bymulti-nationals,India'svastsupplyofgraduates is smaller than it seems.Moreover, wages for India's offshorebusiness employees have alreadyrisensteeplyinthemostpopularoffshoringdestinations, such asBangaloreandMumbai.If,ononehand,largepopulationisanadvantage, on the other hand thegreatnumberofilliteratesinthepopulationis India’s biggest disadvantage.Since the majority of the country’s300 million unemployed youthare from a low/middle class back-Thumbsup–outsourcingopportunitiesThevolumeandscopeofone-on-oneoutsourcingbusinessisexpectedtobehigh.Thiswillcreateawin-winsituation–bothforthecountrythatchoosestooutsourceandforthecountrytowhichthejobsareoutsourced.Giventhis sort of outsourcing, individualsthroughout the world will soon beaddressingoffshorequeriesdirectly.Figure 1: Technology is fast becoming an integral part of each of our lives.32

Outsourcing“Many look upon Indiaas a nation that hasbeen in existence sinceAdam and Eve, but hasnot been able tore-invent itself overthe years. Today, Indiahas a fitting reply; theraging success of itsInformation Technologystrategies has not onlyrevolutionised India,but promises a futurewhere India willrevolutionise theworld.”ground with access only to inferioreducational institutions, they are forthemostpartillpreparedtoassumearoleintheemerginghigh-technologydriveneconomicboom.India is poised to grow, but, withproblemslikethesetocontendwith,itwillhavetostruggletomeetthecompetitionfrom the other low-wagecountries, such as China, Hungary,and the Philippines, that are gearinguptochallengeIndia'slead.Itsinadequateinfrastructure,poorroads,horribletraffic management, patheticairport facilities… all add to India’soffshoringwoes.AddressingconcernsThebottomlineisthatIndiahasalotto offer. The overriding need of themoment is to generate quality manpower.Thecountryneedstoproducemore research scholars. India needsto give birth to more Aryabhattas –thegreatastronomerandmathematicianofIndia’sclassicalagethoughttohave first conceived the heliocentricsolarsystemandinventedthe‘zero’–so that more breakthrough conceptscanbeinvented.WhatbetterwaytoachievethisthantoutilizethegainsoftheITrevolutiontobuildbricksandmortarschoolstobringhigh-qualityeducationtoIndia’syouthandpreparethemtocompeteintoday’sglobalinformationsociety.India’sleadersneedtoseriouslyponderplans to inject IT into everyIndian’sveinsandpumpthemfullofthe spirit the soon-to-be-developedIndiawillneed.Two decades of the IT revolutionshouldbesufficienttimetoequipthevillages,wherethemajorityofIndia’speople still reside, with enough highqualitytechnical–know-howsothatevenafarmerwillbeabletoactivelyparticipate in the new avatar – thenew manifestation or model – thatoutsourcingwillbringtothecountry.In addition, India’s already literateyouth should be encouraged to continuetheirstudies–moveontohigherstudyassignmentsineverypossiblefield – to create a quality-richresearch pool. This will help ourcountry keep her head above waterand not drown in the high seas ofglobalcompetition.Still, high-quality talent can only begeneratedwhenacademicstakekeeninterestinproducingit.Today,thisisdifficult given the huge disparitybetween academics and students; aprofessor in a prestigious businessinstitute often earns a negligiblesalarycomparedtowhathisstudentswillearninthefuture.The need for plans to improve thecrumbling – weak infrastructure,whichmaygivewayundertheweightoftheboomingeconomyatanytime,iscritical.Oncepoliciesanddecisionsare taken to address this and otherprimaryconcerns,Indiawillbeeasilyable to claim leadership of the nextgeneration of one-on-one outsourcing.ESHQLookatanyoneinIndiaandyouwillsee the future of the outsourcingindustry,buthowcanwepreparethisperson for the responsibility? Well,IndiahasalwaysbeentheepitomeofESHQ – Love, in Hindi.ESHQ alsodefines the competitive differentialandanaltogethernewinterpretationofsuccess.ESHQ represents Entrepreneurship,Speed, Horizon and Quality, and thecombination of these four qualitieswill bring success to the outsourcingindustry.Thereisanoverridingneedto let ESHQ flow freely through ourworkers’ veins, so that quality of livingisenrichedandtheworldbecomesabetterplacetolivein.Connect-World iscelebrating its10 th anniversaryThrough the years,Connect-World’sauthors told of the riseof mobile, of fibre, ofwireless and ofbroadband; they toldof the dot.commeltdown, of digitalinclusion andconvergence, ofstandards andbreakthroughs, therise of IP and the fallof switching and of theregulatory turnaround.In every issue ofConnect-World heads ofstate, ministers andregulators, heads ofinternationalinstitutions andleaders of industryspeak of whatthe ICT revolution,as it happens,means to the people intheir regions of theworld.www.connect-world.com33

Telecom developmentBuilding India’s new ICT environmentby Manoj Tirodkar, Founder, Chairman and managing director, GTL LtdIndiahasavisionofbecomingadevelopedcountryby2020.Sincetheliberalisationofitstelecommunicationssector,Indiahascomealongway.IndiahasbenefitedfromsustainedGDP growth of greater than 6%, the longest running bull market in its stockexchangehistory,steadyagriculturalandindustrialgrowthandaboomingtechnologysector.Still,torealiseitsvision,Indiamustfocusingitsresourcesuponbuildingthenecessarybasic infrastructure, especially its telecommunications system upon which somuchdepends.ManojTirodkarisFounder,ChairmanandManagingDirectorofGTLLimited,aPublicLimitedListedCompanybasedinMumbai,India.MrTirodkarwonCIIYoungEntrepreneurTrophyfor2001andwasthefirstIndiantowintheWorldComGroup’sWorldYoungBusinessAchieverAward2000(WYBA).MrTirodkarwasalsoafinalistforthe2ndErnst&YoungEntrepreneuroftheYearAward2000.BusinessBarons-TaylorNelsonSofresModeOpinionrankedMrTirodkarasthe13thand12thBESTCEOfortheyears2000&2001respectively.MrTirodkarisalsoarecipientofthe1996TelecomManoftheYearAwardandthe'NationalLevelEntrepreneurshipAwardintheITSector2004’fromtheJagatikMarathiChamberofCommerce&Industries.Sincethefirststirrings,thefirstawakenings,in1991oftheliberalizationeraIndiaanditsinformationandcommunicationtechnology(ICT)sectorshavecome a long way. Today India iscounted among the fastest growingeconomies of the world with a sustainedGDPgrowthofover6%.India’sstockexchangesarefacingasustainedbullrun,thelongestandlargestinthehistoryofthecountry’sfinancialmarkets.Steady agricultural and industrialgrowthandaboomingtechnologysectorhave seen the transformation ofIndia;itseconomyisgrowinginleapsand bounds. India is poised at thecrestofamassivegrowthcurvewhichwilltransformitintoaglobaltechnologyandservicesleader.India, although it faces strong challenges,will nevertheless find greatopportunities,asitworkstorealiseitsvisionofbecomingadevelopednationby 2020. Infrastructure challenges inthe power sector, pitiable roads,crowdedairportsandtheeverincreasingneedtoprovideemploymenttoitsburgeoning population are some ofthe challenges that India faces.Focusingitsresourcesonareaswheredevelopment is required is, arguably,theprimaryconcernthatIndiafaces.Today, telecommunication is one ofthe vital links in the chain to India’sdevelopment.Thecountry’stechnology-drivenglobal service industrieshave an ever increasing appetite fortelecommunications systems andservicestodeliveritsservicesglobally.Therapidadoptionoftelecomservicesand the growth in India’s teledensityalso points to the ever increasingappetite for telecom services. Simplyput,Indianeedstobeinterconnected,bothwithinandglobally,toachieveitsdevelopmentgoals.It is important to observe that theneed to push growth through furtherreforms has been appreciated at thehighest levels of government andderegulation in the industry is a stepin the right direction. The revisedNational Telecom Policy has openedthe roads for greater competition inthis vital sector, has brought aboutgreater clarity regarding the government’sroleandhasstimulatedgreaterinvestmentinthesector.Strongcompetitionhasbroughtdowntariffs,hassimplifiedthepolicyenvironmentand has promoted healthycompetition among various players.Liberalized, increased, FDI (foreigndirect investment) limits make thissector an attractive option for theplayersintheglobalmarket.Thenewlimitsarebringinginthecapitalrequired to help the telecom sector’scompaniestoexpandtheiroperationsand make investments toimprovetheirtechnology.Asaresultof the reforms, there has been anexplosioninthegrowthofteledensityin India, which today stands at 12%,representing130millionsubscribers.The wireless sector has been adding2.5millionsubscriberspermonthandit is highly probable that the totalnumber of wireless subscribers willexceed 250 million subscribers by2008. It seems certain that the34

Telecom developmenttremendousgrowthweareseeingisonlythetipoftheiceberg.However, the country’shigh taxation continues tobeadragonthegrowthofthe sector and a rationalizationis required on thisfront. The resolution ofissues such as spectrumallocation, technology,telecom equipment manufacturing,research anddevelopment, value addedserviceandqualityofserviceshould be given highpriority.Thereallocationofthe2.4GHzrangeforwirelessnetworkingis a step in theright direction; it showsthat the government hasresolved to make thechanges needed to sustaingrowth. Rural connectivityand increasing the ruralteledensityfromitscurrent4%areamongthegreatestneeds of a country likeIndia where 70% of thepopulationisrural.Recentpolicychanges,suchasallowingshared infrastructure in the ruralareas,areastepintherightdirection.Thisinfrastructurewillbeprovidedbyprivatecompaniestoserviceprovidersbaseduponasharedservicesmodel.Shared infrastructure, and the sourcingof products and services from anintegratedplayer,shouldsignificantlyreduce the capital expenditure of theservice providers and result in lowertariffs. This will, in addition, contributeto increasing the penetrationoftelecommunicationsinruralareas.The rollout of 3rd generation mobileservices and convergence augur wellfor the sector. Exciting times areahead as telecom service providers,cable-based entertainment serviceproviders and others vie to providefully converged solutions such asIPTV,streamingradio,Internet,cableTVandtelephonyservices.Broadbandcablealreadyreachesmillionsof homes and offices acrossIndia.Emergingwirelesstechnologiessuch as WiFi and WiMax will createcitywide hotspots for seamless connectiontotheInternet.ThesetrendsintechnologywillhelpinfurtherspreadingICTbasedservicesandwillboostthecountry’sdevelopment.Figure 1: Lowering of ADC.Private companies were early playersenabling India’s telecommunicationgrowth and have been operating onthewirelesstechnologyservicesfront.Theyhavesetupgateways,VSATnetworks,corporateandmultimedianetworksandwereamongthefirsttolayfibre-opticcablesinthecountry.They have been participating in thetelecommunication growth in thecountry by designing, building andmanaging the telecom infrastructureoftheserviceproviders.They have been partnering with theOEMs to provide the best-of-breedtechnologies and world-class projectmanagement standards to build thenetworks. Over the period they havebuilt many thousands of cell sitesacrossIndiasupportingmanymillionsofthecountry’ssubscribers.Worldwide, the telecommunicationindustryisundergoingafundamentalshiftastelcosarefacedwithincreasedpressure to control their capital andoperational expenses (capex andopex) while managing the growth innetwork complexity, rapid technologychangeandnewserviceintroductions.Managed Network Services are fastbecomingtheonlyviablewayforserviceproviderstodramaticallycutcostsand increase efficiency within theiroperations.It is a great challenge to telecomequipmentmanufacturersandserviceorganizationstocontinuouslyexploreradicalwaysandmeansofprovidingavalue proposition to their customers,while directly addressing their capexandopexneeds.Increasingly, OEMs and their associatedservice organizations are resortingto off-shoring as a means of outsourcingas the only viable and costeffectivealternative.There is also a need to spread informationandcommunicationtechnologyknowledgetoruralIndiatobridgethe digital divide. Through variousprojects undertaken the GTLFoundation aims to help reduce thisgap. One such project is "ProjectKNOW"toimparttrainingtostudentsinruralareas.LaunchedinMay2004,asaworkablesolution to spread computer educationin rural areas, a modern fullyequipped and networked mobile labmakes regular visits to primary andsecondaryschoolsandjuniorcollegessituatedinremoteareas.Sofar,morethan 15,000 students have been providedwithbasiccomputingskills.37

WirelessWiMAX: a key in India’s futureSunil Kumar, Liaison to the WIMAX Forum, India, and Director of Asia Pacific,Beceem CommunicationsMuchofIndia’scurrenteconomicboomistheresultofIndia’sinformationandcommunicationstechnology(ICT)revolution.ICThashelpedIndiabecomeaBPO–businessprocessoutsourcing–worldleaderandfuelledtheexplosivegrowthofIndia’seconomy.ICTsarethecatalyst,pushingthegrowthofIndia’sinfrastructure.Tocompletetherevolution,ICTsandtheInternethavetoreachIndia’sruralpopulation.Giventhelackofcopper infrastructure, it will be wireless broadband that brings the Internet to ruralareas.SunilKumaristheDirectorofAPACforBeceem.Previously,KumarworkedatCoSystemsTechnologiesintheUSandwithseveralleadingGSMandCDMAcarriersduringtheformativeyearsofthewirelesstechnologyboominIndia.Hecontributedinproductmanagement,infrastructurevendorrelationshipandtechnologyplanningatAirTelandTataIndicom.KumarwaspartoftheteamwhichstartedIS-95/CDMAbasedfixedwirelesstelephonyinIndiaandledtheteamwhichintroducedsmartcard-basedpublictelephonysysteminthecountry.KumarhasearnedaBachelorofTechnologyinMechanicalEngineeringfromtheIITMadrasandaMasterofTechnologyinIndustrialManagementfromtheIndianInstituteofManagement,Bangalore.Thereis,currently,asignificantpushto develop appropriate wireless technologiesin India. These includeBroadband CorDECT, an advancedwireless access system designed withtheeconomicrealitiesofacountrylikeIndiainmind.MidasCommunicationTechnologies and IIT, Madras, havedeveloped it, in association withAnalogDevices,USA,CDMAdataandothers. Both the government and thecarriers have encouraged the growthofbroadband,andtheneedforscalableand reliable technology hasincreased.TheDepartmentofTelecommunications(DoT)hasclearlystateditsobjectivesforbroadbandavailability in the country.TherecentformationoftheCentreofExcellence in Wireless Technology(CEWIT) has made it clear that theproliferation of technology and wirelesssolutions beyond handsets isbecoming a reality for portable andfixed indoor/outdoor applications indevelopingnations.Many years ago, access to seas andports influenced the growth ofeconomies.Duringthepast100years,the growth catalysts for economiesevolvedfromrailwayaccess,toroadsandthenairtravel.Inthedigitalage,itisclearthateconomiesneedbroadbandaccesstosustaingrowth.Today,broadband access is a catalyst forbusinessesgrowthandsurvival.India’s growing economy offers atremendous opportunity not only forhousing, roads and power infrastructurevendors,butalsoforthesuppliersoftelecommunicationsinfrastructure.IndiahasseensignificantgrowthinIT– information technology. Financialservices and the auto sector haveexceededexpectations,buttheirpaceofgrowthhasnotbeeninproportiontothedevelopmentofitscommunicationsinfrastructure.Copperpairpenetrationfor broadband access is justoverfourpercentofthetotalpopulation.There are less than a millionbroadband lines in India. Copperbasedbroadband access has notgrown to meet the aggressive targetssetbytheDoT.In2004,Indiadefinedoneofthefirstbroadbandpoliciesofitskind,acompletenational mandate for a broad-bandinfrastructure.Thepolicytarget-edthreemillionbroadband(256Kbpsor more) Internet connections in thecountry by the end of 2005, but byDecember2005,therewereonlyadisappointing835,000 broadband connections.In contrast, India has more than 10millionhouseholdswithPCsandmorethan six million Internet subscribers.The alarming lack of availability ishampering the growth and proliferationofbroadbandinIndia.Thelackof appropriate content and applications,especially in rural and semiurbanareas, has limited the demandforPCsand,consequentlythegrowthinbroadbanddemand.Given the lack of copper wiring, theonly viable option for residentialbroadbandisascalablewirelesstechnology.Over the years, carriers havetried a variety of wireless options forbroadband Internet connectivity.Several Internet service providers(ISPs)useproprietarysolutionsfromvarious vendors; but this does notfavour mass deployment. Incumbentlocal exchange carriers (ILECs) have38

Wirelesstried to provide access via cablemodems, satellite dishes and DSL;however, there are inherent issuesregardingcustomeracquisition.TraditionalwirelesssolutionsAttemptsbyGSMserviceproviderstouse GPRS – General Packet RadioService–baseddataservicesfortheirmobile subscribers have had limitedsuccess, given the lack of compellingreasonstojustifythecostoftheservice.The current equipment offerings(Blackberry, Nokia PDAs, etc.) areprohibitively costly at an average US$500, and there too few applicationsinwideusetodriveconsumerinterest.The subscription rates for the PCM-CIAcardsofferedbytheCDMAoperatorsforbroadbandarealsostillmuchtoohighfortheaverageuser.India has tremendous potential forbroadband service growth.Given itsmix of features and performance,WiMAXseemstobethebestcurrentoption for a developing nation likeIndia. In India an operator is facedwith high subscriber density (over1000 households per line/km), fixeddeployment, low CPE (customerpremises equipment) cost (under$100), low average revenue per user(ARPU) at $6–8 per month, andbandwidthof256to512kbps.WiMAX deployments in urban orruralIndiawillneedtouseMIMOandbeam forming (technologies thatenhance signal reception) and offeradvanced QoS (quality of service).Availabilityofthesefeatureswillhelpoptimisetheuseofexistinginfrastructureandlowerdeploymentcosts.Cellsitesandantennatowers,forexample,couldbeusedasWiMAXbasestationswithoutlossofcoverageordensity.BroadbandwirelessaccessinIndiaischaracterisedby:– The lack of copper infrastructure:sincemostofthecopperaccessiscontrolledbytheincumbentgovernmentcarriers,thereisnotenoughavailablefor DSL broadband access. It costssome US$150 to US$200 per subscriberto lay copper access.Consequently, operators must relyupon non-copper technologies to becost-effective.–Thelackofaccessiblemobilebroadbanddatatechnology:existingmobileoperators–GSM,TDMandCDMA–have faced many years delay in theavailability of high-capacity, scalable,Figure 1: It costs some US$150 to US$200 per subscriber to lay copper access.cost-effective high-speed data technology.Allaretraditionallyvoicenetworkswith an IP (Internet Protocol)overlayforlimiteddataaccess.– Increasing PC penetration:ResidentialPCpenetrationhasgrownover40%inthelasttwoyears.Thereareanestimated10millionhouseholdPCs in India and over six millionInternetusers,butlessthan900,000withbroadbandaccess.– Applications drive broadband:Thereisenoughcontentforthebroadbandaccess customer to utilize thepipe. The incremental profit fromaccess comes from bundling applicationsthat run over a broadband network.Currently, these applicationsarenotpartofthebusinessparadigmbecauseofnarrowInternetaccess.–RuralorSemi-urbanDemand:Indiaisstillanagrarianeconomy,buttherehas been huge growth in the marketfor consumer goods, durables, autosand more significantly telephony.Wirelesswillbethedominantdeliverymode for broadband services just aswireless now dominates voice services.Thanks to its true broadbandperformance, early availability andcostadvantages,WiMAXisbest-positionedtoservethishugeIndianmarket.– Several Indian service providershave already acquired suitable spectrumlicenses to deploy wirelessbroadband services and are planningearlyrolloutsin2006.– The revised targets for broadbandpenetration in India are aggressive:ninemillionsubscribersbytheendof2007 – 8.65 million subscribers and340,000subscribers/montharetobeadded during the next 24 months.FTTH (fibre to the home) or coppercannotmeetthisgoal.–Thefibre‘lastmile’inIndiaextendsabout15kilometresawayfromafibre39

Wirelessterminationpoint.Wirelesscanbridgethisgapmorequickly.–Thisrapidexpansionofthemarketrequires tapping the vast rural connectivitymarket.Ascanbeseenfrommobile voice subscription growth, amajorityofsubscribergrowthiscomingfromtier2andtier3towns.Thisisapositiveindicatorfordataservicesintheseunderservedmarkets.CompanieslikeITChavebeenpursuingthe e-Choupal initiative for sometime.Thedayisnotfaroffwhereeachofthe600,000villagesinthiscountrywillhavebroadbandconnection.Thisgrowth cannot come from fixed lineaccess.In2005,operatorsaddedonly4.06 million lines while 4.46 millionmobile connections were added inDecember2005alone.Broadbandwirelessaccessmarketopportunity–WiMAXIndiaistheonlycountrywhere256+kbpsbroadbandaccesscostslessthana

2nd annual eventwww.iptv-asia.netiptvworldforumasiadelivering live and on-demand content over broadband27-29 September 2006Shanghai International Convention Centre, ChinaOriential Riverside Hotelearly booking31st Augustover 20 operators iptvdeployment in Asianetworking area with over60 companies exhibitingshowcase area coveringover 15 Asian & Europeanoperators giving servicedemonstrationsgold sponsorsmedia supportersipTVnewsnew videoB U S I N E S S

Mobile telephonyThe mobile phone as an agent of change in Indiaby TV Ramachandran, Director General, COAIIndia’smobileserviceshavemovedquicklyfromaclassservicetoamassservice.Thecontinuously falling tariffs, increased coverage and customized services have mademobilesaffordableandindispensabletothecommonman.Cellularisalsothefastest,mostcost-effective,waytoconnectruralIndia.3Gmobilewillenhancecoverageoflowcostvoicetelephonyinruralandremoteareas.Itwillalsobeavaluabletoolforundertakingkeysocialinitiativessuchase-educationandtele-medicine.TVRamachandran,theDirectorGeneraloftheCellularOperator’sAssociationofIndia,hasbeentheExecutiveHeadofthisbodysinceSeptember1997.Priortothis,hehadbeenthefirstCEOofEssarCellphone(nowknownasHutchisonEssar),Delhiandledtheestablishmentandcommerciallaunchofthecountry’sfirst100,000capacitycellularnetwork.Hewasalsothefounder-ChairmanoftheIndianchapter of the world-wide GSM MoU Association, as the GSM Association was called then. TVRamachandran is the current Chairman of the ITU’s Regional Working Group dealing with PrivateSectorIssues(WGPS)fortheAsia-PacificRegionandalsotheChairmanoftheITU’sProgramGrouponInfrastructureandNetworkDevelopmentunderWGPS.TVRamachandranholdsanMScinPhysics,withspecializationinWireless&ElectronicsandisalsoaFellowofTheInstitutionofElectronicsandTelecommunicationEngineers(IETE).Indiahasemergedasoneofthefastestgrowingmobilemarketsoftheworld.Withintenyearsoftheintroductionofmobile services in the country, thetotal mobile subscriber base crossed80 million in January 2006. WhenGSMmobileserviceswerefirstintroducedin1995thetotaltele-densityofthecountrywas0.8perhundredpersons,and all were mandated fixedlines, there were no mobiles. In tenyears since then, tele-density hasgrown exponentially to nearly 12 perhundredpersons.Thecontributionofmobile, especially GSM, to this performancehasbeensignificant.The Mobile-Fixed crossover wasachieved in October 2004, when thenumber of mobiles exceeded that offixedphones,demonstratingthepowerfulrolebeingplayedbythecellularindustry in powering telecom growthin the country. The terrific growth ofGSM led to another milestone, theGSM/FixedCrossoverinApril2005.India is now among the nationsadding 4-5 million subscribers amonthandover80percentofallnewsubscribers continue to choose GSMmonthaftermonth.Looking at the performance of theIndian cellular industry over the lasttenyears,ithasbecomeclearthatthekey success factor in driving mobilegrowth and tele-density has been theincreasing affordability of mobileservices. A series of initiatives takenby the Government have completelytransformed the mobile landscape.TheintroductionoftheNewTelecomPolicy-99, the migration of existingoperators to the new revenue shareregime, the introduction of increasedcompetition into mobile services andmostimportantlytheintroductionofaCallingPartyPays(CPP)regimehaveall contributed to improved affordability,increased consumer choiceand hence the overall growth of theindustry.Eachoftheabovepolicyandregulatory measures has served as apoint of inflexion, giving a boost tosubscribergrowth.TheIndianmobileindustryisamajorcontributortothesocialandeconomicgrowthofthecountry.Accordingtoastudyconductedbythewellknowninternational agency Ovum on “TheeconomicbenefitsofmobileservicesinIndia”,themobileindustrycontributessignificantlytoitssocialandeconomicgrowth in terms of employmentgeneration, government revenues,GDPgrowth,ruraldevelopment,etc.AsnotedbyOvum,themobileindustryhas generated 3.6 million jobsdirectly and indirectly, revenues ofUS$3.3billionperannumforthegovernmentthrough license fees, spectrumfees and other taxes and leviesandanannualGDPofUS$7.1billion.These benefits were estimated whenthe subscriber base was around 48millionmobilesubscribersandmobilecoveragewasavailabletoonly30percent of the population. With mobileservices growing at a blistering pace,thebenefitswillcontinuetogrowexponentially.InIndia,eachserviceareaisservedby6–8mobileoperatorsascomparedtotheinternationalnormof3–4opera-43

Mobile telephonytors,leadingtointensecompetitioninthesector.Thishasyieldedall-roundbenefitstoconsumers,whohaveseenmobiletariffsdropbyover90percentinthelast10years.Atpresent,mobiletariffs in India are the lowest in theworld.Foravarietyofreasons,frompersonalto business, Indians cutting acrossage,professionandstatusareincreasinglygoing in for the mobile phonewithazealthatheraldstheonsetofacommunication revolution in thecountry.Mobileserviceshavebecomethe key plank for infrastructure andeconomicdevelopment.Therealrevolutionhascomeforlowincomegroupmarketsandsmallbusinesses,as for them the mobile hasbecome a powerful tool of trade.Plumbers, electricians, and vegetablevendors,allhaveseenasteadyriseintheir business after they have madeuseofmobilephonestoreachandbereached by their clients. It helps thesmall traders to keep in touch withtheir business and clients even whentheyareoutonashorttriporabusinessdeal. A mobile benefits fishermen,enabling them to auction theircatch while still at sea, and farmers,whocantrackpricesoftheirproduce.Cellphoneshavefacilitatedimprovedincomes and opportunities for smallbusinessesallacrossthecountry.Newandinnovativemeasuresbycellularoperators have made mobileservices even more affordable for themasses.Theintroductionofultra-lowcosthandsetsintherangeofsubUS$30, micro prepaid cards available intherangeofRs10toRs200andthelifetime validity schemes have allFigure 1: TRAI Study paper No 2/2005.proved extremely beneficial for thelow-end users. These offers providethemanytime,anywhereconnectivityat affordable prices. Such innovativemeasuresbyoperatorshavehelpedintransformingtheuseofmobilesfroman elitist product to a service for themasses and the common man. Thechangeisthereforalltosee.Nowpeoplecan be seen talking on mobilephoneswhilewalkingdownthestreet,or on subways, on trains, in offices,buses, in marketplaces and even inschoolsandcolleges.Theclusterofservicesinthecountryisalsogrowingenormously;fromvanillavoice,consumersareincreasinglyoptingfor a wide range of VAS (valueadded services). Revenues in the VASsegmentaregrowingat30–40percentannually.VASisincreasinglyagrowtharea,whichhelpstheoperatorstomaximiserevenue and help to potentiallyoffsettheeffectofdecliningtariffsonARPU(averagerevenueperuser).Propelledbytheneedtobringinservicedifferentiation, operators areintroducingnewvalueaddedservicesinordertosatisfythegrowingdemandofIndianconsumers.TheSMSgrowthhas been phenomenal, in line withglobal trends and other VAS such asring tones, gaming, MMS, etc., arealso immensely popular amongstIndian consumers. A wide range ofuseful services like news updates,stock information, railway ticket status,etc.havealsofoundasignificantplaceinthetelecompie.The mobile has proved to be a boonfor the burgeoning young populationofIndia(60percentofpopulationisbelow 30 years); it has become theirconstant companion.SMS has become thelingo of the youth inIndiaasithasbecomethe easiest and themost economical wayto communicate. Forthemthereisnomissinganyonenow;everybodyfor them is justan SMS away. Valueadded services, likemulti-player interactiveonline gaming,musicdownloads,animatedscreen savers,etc., are very popularamong this segmentand the exchange ofthiscontentisveryfrequent.For the youngpopulation of India,themobileisnolongera luxury but a basicnecessity.Cellular services in the country havemovedquicklyfromaclassservicetoamass service for the common man –fuelledbycontinuouslyfallingtariffs,increased coverage and customizedservice offerings. Going forward,mobilewillalsobethefastestandthemosteffectivewayofconnectingruralIndia where wireline services do nothavethereach.The introduction of 3G will alsoenhance rural coverage and serve asan ideal platform to deliver low-costvoicetelephonytoconsumersinruralandremoteareas.Itwillalsoprovetobeavaluabletoolforundertakingkeysocialinitiativessuchasdeliveringeeducation,tele-medicine,etc.Inthepastdecade,themobileindustryhas played a pivotal role in theexpansion of the telecom network inIndia and it can be expected to beequallyexplosiveinthecomingyears.Goingforward,thefuturelooksbrightfor India, as there are a number ofdemographicandsocio-economicfactorsinIndia’sfavourthatwillcontinuetofueltheaggressivegrowthrateofthe cellular mobile industry. Theseinclude factors such as rising incomelevels,aboomingknowledgesector,aburgeoningmiddleclassandgrowingurbanization of population. All thiswillalsohelpinachievingthetargetof200millionmobilephonesby2007assetbytheGovernmentofIndia.44

Information accessSimplified ICT access for India’s rural usersby Ravi Baid, Founder and President, Alliance InfotechManyIndiangovernmentandprivateprojectshaveusedinformationandcommunicationtechnology to bring information and services to computer and telephone users.News reports adapted to each locality and automated systems that provide railwayinformationareavailablebytelephone24x7;theyeachreceive15to20thousandcallsperday.Agovernmentsystemthatletscitizenstrackandfollow-upcomplaintsbytelephoneorcomputerhasincreasedefficiency,improvedserviceandreducedcostsforbothcitizenandgovernmentalike.RaviBaidistheFounderandPresidentofAllianceInfotech,providerofunifiedcommunicationsandmobilebusinesssolutions.RavihasbeenguidingthestrategicevolutionofAlliancerightsinceitsinception.Hehassevenyearsofbusinessexperienceinrelatedfields,andisadualdegreeholderinChemistryandComputersfromtheBirlaInstituteofTechnologyandSciences,Pilani.HealsohasearnedaMastersdegreeinBusinessManagementfromtheUniversityofArizona,US.Employinginformationtechnologytohelp rural users access informationhasalwaysbeenachallenge.Thewillingnessofkeyinformationholderstoshareitandcreatesystemstouseit–notnecessarilythetechnologyitself–hasbeenthemajorchallenge.Oneofthebiggestchallengesingoverningacountry as large as India has beenbringingtransparencyandaccountabilitytopublicdealings.Inrecentyears,though,agreatnumberof e-governance initiatives havefocused primarily upon addressingtheseissues.Indiahasseenagreatmanygovernmentand private projects that haveappliedtechnologytobringinformationornewservicestocomputerandtelephoneusers.Some of these services have beenhighly successful.For instance, thetelephone-based news service thatPrasarBhartiruns,that15thousandcallers use each day to get currentunbiasednewsovertheirphones,willsoon be available throughout India.Theserviceprovidesspecificcontentfor each locality and is available inHindi and English. The IndianRailways runs a telephone-basedautomaticinformationservicethatisavailable all over the country.Recently launched as a value addedservice, the information line nowreceives more than 20,000 phonecallseachday.However,ofalltheapplicationstried,the initiative below has been one ofthemostempowering.Itistooearlyto say whether this service will survivethetestoftimeorlosefocusanddie out, but, given the early results,itschanceforsuccessisquitestrong.LokVani,orthevoiceofthepeople,isa unique public/private partnershipprogram established through thecombined efforts of the DistrictAdministration and NationalInformatics Centre in Sitapur (UP,India). The LokVani initiative givescitizensofSitapuranopportunitytointeract with the government usingthe Internet or, more recently, viatelephone; that eliminates the needfor them to travel to a governmentoffice.LokVanioffersseveraldifferentkindsof services to local citizens such asland record research and emission,armslicenceapplicationstatus,GPF(GeneralProvidentFund)forcivilservants–theaccountsofbasiceducationforteachers,etc.Themostpopularservice to date amongst all theservices offered has been the OnlinePublicGrievanceRedressalservice.Through this service, any citizen ofSitapur can visit any one of severalauthorised kiosks set up by theGovernmentinpartnershipwithlocalcyber-cafés and computer traininginstitutesandforasmallfeeregisteracomplaintonthesystem.These complaints are logged into acentral database and through effectivemonitoringbytheofficialsofthedistrict, are resolved/responded toappropriately.46

Information accessCitizensareabletocheckonthestatusoftheircomplaintsbyreferringtoa unique 5-digit reference numberissued to them automatically at thetimeoffilingthecomplaint.Initially,theLokVaniapplicationwascompletely Web-based, and citizenshad to visit the local informationkiosks and pay usage charges to getinformationtheyneeded,ortocheckthestatusoftheirrequests.This,ofcourse,involvedunnecessarytravelandexpensefortheusers;thecitizen was never sure that a replyhadbeenposted,orevenifthereplywasadequate,withoutcheckingpersonallyonthesite.Becauseofthisproblem,theDistrictAdministration of Sitapur and theLokVani Society engaged a privatesectorsuppliertobuildatelephonybasedversion of the LokVaniComplaints Status InformationSystem(LCSIS).LokVaniComplaintStatusInformationSystemThe LCSIS lets citizens track theircomplaints through the telephoneand hear the responses, if any, thattheconcernedofficershavefiled.Theservice is available on 24x7 basis sothatanyonewhowantstoaccessthestatus of his complaint can dial intotheLokVaniserverandcheckthestatusonline.All the data – the complaints, complaintnumbers, status information,responses, and the like – are storedcentrally in the NIC, the NationalInformatics Centre, central databaseinDelhi.When a citizen calls into the LCSISsystem using its publicly availabletelephone number, an IVR (interactivevoice response) applicationgreetsthecallerandaskstheinquirertopunchhis5-digitcomplainttrackingnumberintothetelephonehandset.This tracking number is used toquerythecentraldatabase,fromwhichthe information, stored in Hindi, isretrieved. Figure 1 shows a pictorialrepresentationofthewholesystem.UsingaHindiTexttoSpeechEngine,the complaint, complaint status,name of officer to whom the complaintwasreferredandtheresponse,if any, are then automatically convertedinto clear, Hindi speech andplayedouttothecaller.AserviceusingSMSisutilizedtoletgovernment officers retrieve complaintsrelevanttotheirpositionandofficial responsibilities. Accordingly,officers send SMS messages to theLCSIStoobtainavarietyofinformationaboutitemssuchasthenumberofcomplaintsawaitingresponseandthosethathavelapsed,amongothers.This greatly helps in expediting andorganisingtheofficer’sactionplan.Callersareabletohearthestatusoftheircomplaintsandtheactiontakenby the local administration, withoutactually needing to visit aGovernmentofficeoraninformationkiosk. This results in much greaterconvenience and greatly reducedcosts for the citizen, since making aphonecallisfarcheaperthanvisitingacyberkiosk.Onthegovernment’sside,theadministrationcanprovidethecitizenwitha response whenever he or sherequests it, 24 hours per day 7 daysper week, over both the telephoneand the Web. The success of theLokVani initiative in Sitapur can begauged from the fact that todayLokVanireceivesanaverageofmorethan 10,000 complaints per month.“Given the number ofcompanies in Indiaspecialising in computertelephony, projects suchas LokVani can be easilyand economicallyimplemented.”Figure 1: LCSIS Architecture.The complaints are then speedilyacteduponbythesectorsconcernedofthelocaladministration.Impressed with this innovation, theGovernment of Uttar Pradesh hasrecently directed all district headquartersto implement the LokVanisystem within their respective districts.The above example highlights howinformation and communicationtechnology, primarily computertelephony and voice processing,allowsruralvillagerstoaccessinformationusing nothing more complicatedthan the ever-present telephone.Given the number of companies inIndia specialising in computertelephony, projects such as LokVanicanbeeasilyandeconomicallyimplemented.Thechallenge,ofcourse,istheinterestandwillingnessoftheadministrationtotaketheinitiative.PackagessuchasLokVaniworkverywell in India; they provide greatadvantages to the users – on bothsides.Businessmodelssuchas"public/privatepartnerships"facilitatethefinancingofsuchprojectsandreducethe pressures upon the government,and upon its limited resources, tomeettheneedsofitscitizens. 47

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