India has more mobiles than bicycles

-WD Team

Wireless Communication in Today’s Age was the theme for the annual 2008 telecommunication convergence conference organized by the Indian Merchants’ Chamber (IMC) in Mumbai.

IMC had its first conference in 2002 and is the only chamber in India to deal with this subject. “We have been acting as a pressure group since many decades. The convergence is to bring the latest technology to the fore and hence we have become a trendsetter,” spoke Mr. Nanik Rupani, Chairman, electronics and telecommunication committee, IMC. “The reason for the theme ‘wireless’ is because it is the best form to reach the rural India. In other countries mobile phones have largely replaced computers and we have yet to cover the interiors of India,” pointed Mr. Vijay Mukhi, man behind the cyber crime education in India. The tele-density in urban India is 57%, whereas the rural it is only 7%. The rural masses find the cost of the mobile instrument as a major deterrent.

Mr. Niraj Bajaj, President, IMC welcomed all and gave the floor to other guests present in the conference. Mr. Jayantrao Patil, state minister for finance and planning was the Chief Guest. He is also one of the few ministers in Maharashtra, who strongly believes and performs to make sure Maharashtra State does not lag behind when it comes to using technology, especially in the corridors of the government and governance. He wishes to entrust most of the daily work through computerization. Whether it is billing, payment, pensions, monitoring expenditure and revenues, whatever the need be, technology should play an important role. He also has a scheme up his sleeve that has not been implemented by a government house before. Tracking of files, application forms, etc in real time. On the similar model followed by the courier and logistics companies the world over. Any person anywhere will be able to monitor their entire process from submission to the final approved product online. The minister promises this would be happening by next year.

Dr. Vijay Bhatkar, father of India’s first super computer and Chairman of ETH research Lab, is one enthusiast scientist who would like to see telecom and broadcast as the biggest contributor to the Indian economy, which is currently being held by IT industry. He claims that by year 2010 this sector will contribute as much as 10% to the GDP and by 2047, 50% of India’s economy will come from the technology sector only. “People wanted anything, anytime, anywhere earlier, but it is now past. Today the new generation wants everything, all the time, at all places and at no cost. People want technology that is efficient and that which keeps offering new technology and services.

Discussing about a new technology, few of the experts were of opinion that WiMAX has a great opportunity that could replace fiber optics. However, the present scenario of fiber optics still ruling the roost was none other than Mr. Deepak Chhabria, MD of Finolex cables Ltd. Mr. Chhabria, showed through a presentation not only the various kinds of cables and fiber optics but also gave a slew of statistics. He proposes that by next year there will be about 10 million km of fiber optics laid in India and that most applications shall run through fiber optics if not wireless. The average speed of an optic is 64kpbs, whereas, the speed through wireless is an average of 13.5kpbs.

Talks of mobile TV, blue-tooth, intelligent homes and advance mobile technologies were discussed in the two day conference. The most ardent fan of the wireless technology has been Mr. Mukhi. “Why does everything have to have a wire? Why can’t we have technology intelligent enough to understand each other? The new mobile and wireless technology has made a secretary a redundant. I am my own secretary because wireless has empowered me to. I am the one who answers calls on my mobile, since everyone these days, prefer calling on mobiles than land phones. Since I take the call, it’s obvious I issue the appointments, etc., then who needs a secretary?” questioned Mr. Mukhi. He has been advocating keeping a very able and strict security in place. Mr. Mukhi pointed out that since the IT ACT 2000, not even two people have been convicted under this act since it was implemented in 2000. “Even the police do not take cyber theft seriously. If data is stolen electronically, they won’t bother but if a document goes missing the thief is arrested. Today just give me your SIM card and in 12 minutes I shall be able to clone it. Once cloned, the cloner can do whatever one wants to do, imagine!” revealed Mr. Mukhi.

Dr. Ashwani Kumar, Union minister for Industry, India, was the Chief Guest of the second day conference. He talked about how the government enabled the telecom revolution in India. He talked about the various government initiatives in private to the press. He spoke about encouraging skill based manufacturing and promoting the industry as a whole. They have decided to give industries, such as, textiles, leather, food processing, etc a fillip to nurture their growth once again. “India has also initiated a national food programme, whereby the government shall encourage more growth and production of wheat, pulses, cereals, etc to counter the world-wide shortage.

Other numerable speakers, who spoke about varied expertise, experiences, costing, new technology, its problems, the plus points, the spread and awareness, mobile TV, payments, digital entertainment, etc. Few of the 32 speakers were: Mr. Sumit Chowdhury, CIO, Reliance Communications Ltd; Mr. Anjan Choudhury, CTO, BSE; Mr. Wagner, VP, Polycom Asia Pacific Ltd; Mr. Sharat Chandra, President & COO, GTL International Ltd; Mr. Shashank More, Ericsson India Pvt Ltd; Mr. Ajay Madan, CEO, Essar Telecom Infrastructure Ltd; Mr. Chirag Unadkat, Chairperson DAML, NMIMS University.

Some facts and statistics

Bicycles sold in the range of 12-15 million a year. Mobile subscribers are over 80 million a year. Rural areas are fast replacing mobiles with bicycles as a better need to gather information.

Telecom ranks 3rd in the world markets and the revenue are pegged at $22 billion.

Average annual subscriber growth- 45%

Average annual revenue growth- 25%

Telecom subscribers in India- end of 2007- 273 million. Wireless subscribers- 234 million.

Target for 2010: 500 million subscribers.

Overall tele-density- 23%

Monthly addition to mobile subscribers- 8 million.

India has one billion plus market.