RURAL TELECOM (INDIA) - mHEALTH AND mEDUCATION

Out of the eight Millennium Development Goals, adopted by 189 nations, four are focused towards Health and Education. This reinforces the fact that health and education are the driving force in development of any nation and if issues in these areas are not addressed, they become hindrance in the economic development. India can be broadly divided into two segments, developing and underdeveloped. As per the census of 2011, 72.2 percent of Indian population resides in rural areas forming a large chunk of underdeveloped India. For transforming the rural India, technology needs to be in the driver seat. Telecom helps to reach in every corner of a nation and goes hand in hand with technology. Telecom’s answer to the burning issues of health and education is mHealth and mEducation respectively.

MHealth is the application of emerging mobile communications and network technologies for health care system. It involves the use of mobile computing, medical sensors and communication technologies for health care. A large segment of the patient population can be treated in their homes and communities, with access to expert care, through mobile technology. As patients consume more resources when they are in hospitals, this will have a significant impact on health economics. In India 33 percent of people living in villages have mobile phones. Hence this becomes a highly untapped segment for the Indian telcos.

Airtel has recently released its mHealth services, which is a SMS based health alert. These alerts are provided by mDhil Health Info Services Pvt Ltd, a Bangalore based start-up that provides healthcare information to the general Indian public mainly through text messaging, but increasingly through mobile web and digital content. Airtel offers 14 different SMS health packs such as Women’s health, Men’s health, Cardiac care, Diabetes etc. Irony is that mEntertainment and mFinance create stand alone products supported by lots of advertising dollars whereas mHealth remains more of a value added service.

Vodafone along with UN Foundation, the Rockefeller Foundation, cofounded mHealth alliance in 2009 to harness the power of wireless technologies to improve health outcomes in low and middle income countries. Soon after its launch, the mHealth Alliance welcomed GSMA and the U.S. Presidents Emergency Plan for AIDS Relief (PEPFAR) as Founding Partners. In 2009 Vodafone created the Vodafone Health Solutions business unit, which is located within its Global Enterprise division. The unit is tasked with developing a global portfolio of health-related services. So it was not a surprise for many when Vodafone sold its 5.5% of Indian operation to Indian medical services provider Piramal Healthcare in August 2011. Telecom operator Aircel has tied up with the Apollo Hospital Group to launch a medical consultation on the mobile. The service is called Aircel Apollo Mobile HealthCare. A tie-up between the two companies is not surprising, particularly since the Reddy family of the Apollo Hospitals group owns around 26% stake in the telecom operator.

On the similar lines, Tata Docomo launched Sparsh – a value added service on sexual & reproductive health related issues for its GSM Mobile service subscribers in India. The content of the service is extensively accurate and certified by FPAI (Family Planning Association of India), one of India’s largest sexual and reproductive Health NGO. Tata Indicom  launched “Doctor on Call” service in partnership with Healthcare Magic, an Accel Partners funded Tata Indicom, to offer consultation services for Acute and chronic emergency situations. HealthcareMagic connects medical professionals with those seeking consultation: callers are offered consultation with doctors via phone, and the Internet. On the phone, a doctor registers the personal data and medical history of the subscriber, diagnoses the cases, based on whether the issue is acute, chronic and emergency

For the Education sector, mobile connectivity provides an opportunity to offer new ways of teaching and learning that ultimately will improve performance and results whilst at the same time open up new markets for mobile operators across the world. Mobile will increase access to up-to-date materials, will enable collaboration and strengthen learner engagement. All these objectives can be achieved via mEducation. Tata Indicom in 2008 partnered with SNDT Women’s University, Atom Tech (Any Transaction on Mobile), Mumbai, & Indian PCO Teleservices Ltd to develop and disseminate mobile education, an additional vehicle in distance learning, to reach the masses for remote teaching and learning in rural communities and physically challenged. Under this model, the mobile phone undergoes a metamorphosis—from a device that allows you access to voice and text messaging, it transforms into one that helps you access accredited educational content, take mock tests on the move, regardless of geographies or physical constraints.

A new VAS called ‘Tutor On Mobile’ (TOM) was launched by VOICETAP and Tata DOCOMO in July 2011. This VAS was designed to help students to access education information when they are on move. ‘Tutoron Mobile’ (TOM) is loaded with premium educational content and easy learning mechanism. With the help of Knowledge conference call and monetizing their expertise’s experts can provide answers worldwide. The content provided by ‘Tutor on Mobile’ (TOM) are in the form of video, text, images, live interaction, podcast etc.

Nokia and Bharti Airtel joined hands to launch Ovi Life Tools service targeted at providing Airtel's mobile customers with access to relevant content on education. This partnership between India’s largest maker of mobile devices and largest telecom operator represents a wide scale distribution model that will empower Indian masses with improved access to information available in a simple icon based, graphically rich user interface. This initiative includes focused offerings on Learn English, General Knowledge & Exam preparation modules covering State and Central Boards.

As developing nations recognize the potential impact mHealth and mEducation can have on its country’s health care and education system, we will witness a surge in the mHealth and mEducation movement as governments invest significant resources to build and to expand offerings for its citizens. Developing nations don’t have the infrastructure for standard telecommunications, but mobile communication is readily available. Hence, it naturally makes sense to leverage wireless networks to deliver health care in these rural areas. A number of organizations are looking at ways to expand their mHealth offerings in places like India, Africa, and China. In particular, we’re seeing modified versions of telemedicine emerging as cost-effective alternatives to direct patient interaction. Also, with the increasing penetration of smartphones it is believed that the growth of mHealth and mEducation will gain momentum.

Written by : Rahul Singh

                  MBA TM ( I )

                      SITM

DRAFT NATIONAL TELECOM POLICY – 2011

Draft aims to achieve 175/600 million broadband subscribers by 2017/2020

The draft National Telecom Policy announced is a ten year roadmap. The government intends to make this policy effective from December 2011.

CONSUMERS

      

   Ø  Broadband speeds of at least 512Kbps and 2Mbps by 2015. 256 Kbps will be  
        history.

   Ø  MNP now in inter circles.

·         For example a user currently in Airtel’s Delhi circle can shift to Mumbai’s Vodafone circle and retain the original number.

   Ø  No roaming charges. So free incoming even while roaming.

·         Operators may look to change this as around 10% of revenues are earned through roaming charges.

·         May increase the local charges.

·         The operators can also gain now through increased usage.

   Ø  Net Telephony to be opened up à cheaper calls over internet.

    

     OPERATORS

     

          Ø  Infrastructure status to Telecom.

·         Tax benefits

    Ø  Taxes and levies to be streamlined.

·         Aid in network expansion à improved connectivity affordable telecom services

    Ø  Exit policy for those who want to surrender licence.

    Ø  Spectrum pooling, trading and sharing to be allowed.

·         Revenue options

·         Increased spectrum utilization

    Ø  Telecom Finance corporation to mobilize funding.

     

     SPECTRUM

    Ø  Additional 300 MHz spectrum by 2017 and 200 MHz by 2020.

·         Greater supply of spectrum à rational/reduced spectrum prices due to demand-supply forces.

       ØFuture allocations based on market-linked pricing.

     MANUFACTURES

    Ø  Promotion of indigenous R&D, IPR creation.

    Ø  80% of procurement by telecom companies by domestic manufactures by 2020.

       Ø Small chunks of spectrum for locally developed technology.

LICENCING & REGULATORY

    Ø  Single unified licence across services and service areas.

    Ø  Separate licences for services and network infrastructure.

    Ø  Spectrum to be delinked from licence.

    Ø  More powers to TRAI and WPC.

    Ø  Convergence bill to be revived in a new format.

·         Optimize transmission of services to consumers irrespective of their devices or locations by Fixed-Mobile Convergence thus making available valuable spectrum for other wireless services.

·         Convergence of services will cover voice, data, video, Internet, VAS

    Ø  Spectrum regulation act.

    Ø  The technology neutral Unified Licenses are envisaged to be in two separate        
           categories.

·         Network Service Operator (NSO)/ Communication Network Service Operator (CNSO)

              ·    Service Delivery Operator (SDO)/ Communication Service Delivery Operator (CSDO)

BROADBAND POLICY

    Ø  “Broadband on Demand” by 2015.

    Ø  175 million broadband connections by 2017 and 600 million by 2020.

    Ø  Connect all villages by optical fibre cable by 2014.

·         Telecom Commission has already earmarked Rs 20,000 Crores for this proposal à National Fibre Optical Network (NFON)

       

Ø

 Increase rural tele density from 35 to 60 by 2017 & 100 by 2020.

àNo details on when and how the proposals will be implemented.

CHRONOLOGY OF TELECOM POLICY MAKING
NTP 1994	OBJECTIVE: Aimed at opening up telecom services segment for private players. Tele-Density was just 0.8% and hence it sought to provide telephone on demand by 1997.	RESULTS: Faulty bidding processes for licences strangled progress. Target of covering all villages by 1997 is still unmet.
NTP 1999	OBJECTIVE: Aimed at making telecom sector more investment friendly. Offered a migration path to operators from fixed licence fee to revenue share	RESULTS: Huge success as it laid down the foundation for explosive growth in the mobile sector. Overall tele density moved to 74.5. Lack of clarity on spectrum allocation led chaotic decision making. Broadband and rural telephony yet to pick up.
NTP 2011	AIM: Build upon NTP 1999 to address issues linked to emergence of new technologies, broadband penetration and spectrum management.	RESULTS:

L.KISHAN CHAND
Class of 2013

Mobile Number Portability and its after effects

“MNP has been implemented – now its time for a reality check for all CSPs. Good boys will be rewarded and bad boys will be punished. And, for a change, the verdict would come from none other than the king (the subscriber!) himself.”

 “Mobile Number Portability” means the facility which allows a subscriber to retain his mobile telephone number when he moves from one Service Provider to another irrespective of the mobile technology or from one cellular mobile technology to another of the same service Provider. Hence one can port a CDMA number to GSM and vice-versa.  
The world’s first country to adopt MNP was Singapore in 1997, followed by UK ,Hongkong and Netherlands in 1999. The MNP service was launched across India by Jan 20, 2011 as per the timeline decided by DoT.

In India, it is currently available for intra-circle only. However due to the configuration of each Telecom circle porting can also happen between Madhya Pradesh & Chhattisgarh; Bihar & Jharkhand; Rest of West Bengal & Andaman and Nicobar; within the states of the North East excluding Assam.

The major changes that MNP brought in the telecom domain for the CSPs as well as the subscribers are discussed in the following paragraphs. Firstly, MNP has created a level-playing field for the CSPs and a competitive environment. With the introduction of MNP, customers are empowered to change their operator at the smallest problem they encounter with the services provided. This has led to an increase in the Quality of Service offered by the CSPs. Apart from the QoS, the CSPs have also started to concentrate on improving other services like Customer care,Tariff plans and so on.

MNP has had a few significant implications, both for the subscribers and the Cellular Service Providers(CSPs), but still it has not acted as a game-changer. It has been noticed that the first consumers to switch their mobile operators were the unsatisfied post-paid customers. Post-paid customers are only 4% against a 96% of the pre-paid segment- where number retention is not a priority.Pre-Paid customers usually buy a new connection from a different CSP, if they are not satisfied with their current provider, instead of going through the rigorous procedure of MNP. Even if the Pre-paid customers port-out from an operator they have very low ARPUs and the cost of servicing each customer is quite high, in terms of the revenue losses. Hence, operators expect MNP impact not be quite huge.Also, post-paid customers are those who do not want to change their phone numbers very frequently due to minor reasons. Therefore, if given a chance to walk out on an operator, while still keeping the previous mobile number, post-paid customers would be more than happy to port-in to a better service provider and hence contributing to a major part of the churn caused by MNP.

In India, pre-paid customers outnumber the post-paid customers. Also, a major chunk of the pre-paid customers have multiple SIM cards of different operators. Brand loyalty,thus, is not the reason why customers stay with a particular operator. It is the optimum Quality of Service that a customer desires from a CSP.

Industry sources say, on an average around 200,000 porting requests were received from across the country. "As of now porting request numbers are insignificant in the overall scheme of things," said an industry source. India has around 860 million wireless subscribers, according to the latest numbers by Telecom Regulatory Authority of India (TRAI).This data signifies that MNP has not been able to cause a major churn for the operators.

The rules of MNP say a network cannot refuse a customer coming into the network, and hence cannot control the quality of subscribers that could enter their networks. Experts say the direction of migration could be towards incumbents. Operational costs will go up as a large number of subscribers add into the network. Analysts say this would put pressure on the network causing congestion, and reducing service quality to the high ARPU customers, who are present in larger numbers in incumbent operators' networks.

An IBN survey finding provides that Airtel was the most preferred operator with 26% respondents voting in its favor, followed closely by Vodafone (21%) and Idea (13%). Idea came at a distant 3rd position despite having launched a big advertising campaign – “No Idea? Get Idea”

An important aspect that has been ignored in enforcement of MNP is that consumers are no more able to distinguish between different networks when placing a call. Due to this, the tariff transparency has been lost. That is , if there are different rates applicable for calling to a different network , a subscriber might end up being unaware of the charges that he is paying for a particular call.

One more fact which deters users to go for MNP is the inconvenience caused during the whole process , when the subscriber has to apply for porting out of an operator and moving on to a new one. Also, quite a few documents need to be submitted along with a few more formalities and a fee of Rs. 19. A normal pre-paid customer would find it easier to buy a new SIM instead of porting his existing number to a different operator.

Even after being aware of the fact that MNP is not going to cause a major churn for the telcos, Mobile phone companies are under constant pressure to improve their services so that their subscribers not only stay with them but they are also able to attract subscribers from other networks. Better services mean the companies are setting up more mobile phone towers, upgrading their equipment and providing instant rectification of problems so that the subscribers are always able to get connected, surf the Internet and make full use of their mobile telephones.

Written by :    Ankita Agarwal

                        MBA TM (I)

                            SITM

Is India Ready for 4G?

In the highly competitive Indian telecom market the survival of service providers depends on their ability to come up with innovative and good quality services at regular time intervals. Today the customer wants more customized services at a faster rate, with low latency and at a much cheaper rate. Telecom companies are continuously upgrading themselves with the latest technologies in order to match the ever changing expectations of the consumers. From 1G to 2G, 2G to 2.5G, 2.5G to 2.75 and now from 2.75 G to 3G several changes have been made in the network architecture and air interface technologies.

But in a nutshell the biggest question is whether the telecom companies are getting sufficient rewards for their actions. On the recently held 3G auction telcos spent almost 67,000 Cr to acquire 3G licenses which act as chokers to their balance sheet. It is expected that it will take at least 4-5 years to start making profits out of 3G. Even after almost one year of allocation of 3G spectrum the subscriber base count has just reached 11 million and the overall situation is looking very scary from the service provider’s point of view.

Allocating the BWA spectrum along with the 3G spectrum has lead to another debate in the market i.e. whether 4G will also be deployed soon and, if it happens then how will the operator recover their money out of the 3G, since consumers would prefer to switch directly to 4G from 2G. BWA spectrum has already cost around $5.5 billion to the telecom players and it is expected that telecom operators will need to invest $1 billion further in order to deploy the 4G infrastructure. So how will the operators survive in the future?

Some Analysts believe that 3G and 4G can go hand in hand as 3G is primarily for the voice services whereas 4G will be used for data services. Once 4G will be deployed then it may help the service providers to increase their declining ARPU’s with the help of data services.

There are many other factors too that are driving the operators for adoption of 4G technology such as-

         1.    Need for Converged Networks and Converged Services

         2.  Software Independency

         3.  Low latency Services

         4.  More Customized applications & Application Ecosystem

         5.  Interoperability of Network elements

Analysts believe that these factors will lead to Capex reduction (infrastructure sharing , leasing etc) and will optimize network operation cost with better utilization of spectrum and increased monetization of end to end service and with the help of these two factors operators will get healthy return on their investment.

So Even if operators show readiness in adoption of 4G services, question lies whether the entire Telecom Ecosystem is ready for that?

Early adoption of 4G will lead to several risk factors that may hamper the success of 4G in Indian context. Some key factors are:

1. Availability of Infrastructure – Most of the operators are still doubtful whether they should go for Wimax or LTE. If operators go for LTE, as is expected, then there could be a possibility of demand supply mismatch since the Equipment Manufacturers are not yet ready with the desired infrastructure requirements.
2. Availability of 4G Devices/Handset – It took almost one year for the market to mature in terms of 3G handsets. It is highly expected that the same will happen in case of 4G. Thus in semi urban and rural areas high price of 4G devices in the initial stages could hinge the success of 4G technology.
3. Content Availability – Success of 4G will depend upon the data services and availability of high quality content. Therefore it is highly required for the content providers, content aggregator and technology enabler to start work in advance to leverage the full opportunities that will open up due to 4G. As the present content is not sufficient to fulfill the demands of bandwidth hungry 4G applications.

Thus it can be said that the success of 4G is not just dependent on service providers but also on the entire ecosystem that includes customers, infrastructure manufacturers, device manufacturers, content providers etc and until all of them are not ready there is no point in offering 4G services. The Success of 4G will depend upon how ecosystem challenges and faces the problem in front of them. An effective strategy backed with sufficient planning and proper implementation would lead to effective deployment of 4G technology.

Written by : PIYUSH GUPTA

                     MBA - TM (II)

                               SITM

Latest Telecom News (22nd September - 30th September)

1.    2G: Finance Ministry note casts a shadow.

A document brought out by Department of Economic Affairs (DEA), dated 25^th March, 2011 and submitted to the Supreme Court recently, states that the MoF had implicitly agreed to impose the same entry fees as that which prevailed in 2001 for 2G spectrum licences allotted up to December 31, 2008.

When the 2G licences were allocated, the Finance Minister was Mr. Chidambaram.

The above document was submitted by Janata Party President, Dr. Subramanian Swamy.

MoF raised the issue of updating the entry fee albeit only for the licences allotted after January 1, 2009.

2.    Reliance-Siemens to offer homeland security.

Pan India BWA spectrum winner Reliance Infotel plans to offer fourth generation wireless networking services for safety, security and other advanced applications.

Reliance Security Solutions Limited, a subsidiary of Reliance Industries Ltd. (RIL) and Siemens Ltd have signed a Memorandum of Understanding to jointly develop Homeland Security Solutions for Safe, Secure and Smart Cities and Highways in India.

Reliance and Siemens will combine to leverage the launch Long Term Evolution (LTE) based 4G network (BWA) for the low latency and assured Quality of Service (QoS) required for video and security applications.

According to our sources, Reliance – Infotel plans to launch BWA Data service in approx 700 cities in the first phase of its BWA launch with data speeds from 50 Mbps to 100 Mbps.

Presently RIL is finalizing vendors who would supply broadband equipment based on the so- long term evolution (LTE) technology so as to roll out wireless broadband services by the end of 2011.

3.    Video calling ISD Booths in Kerala.

Idea cellular today inaugurated Kerala’s first Video Calling ISD booth in Malapuram Kerala.

4.    Nokia Siemens launches Liquid Net.

Nokia Siemens Networks announced the launch of Liquid Net a new way to deliver broadband.

Liquid Net will now allow operator to set up its network to self-adapt to meet capacity and coverage requirements based on demand.

Nokia Siemens Networks has created Liquid Net2, to free-up unused capacity and allocate it instantly across the whole network wherever and whenever it is needed.

Liquid Net uses automated, self-adapting broadband optimization to deliver services.

In addition, Liquid Net channels traffic in the transport network along the path of least resistance and lowest cost between operator sites.

5.    BSNL launches mobile Apps Store.

Pan India 3G Mobile Service operator Bharat Sanchar Nigam Ltd (BSNL) officially announced the launch of mobile applications store – BSNL Apps Store.

Now, BSNL mobile (2G and 3G) customers in all telecom circles across India can transform their basic phone into a Smart Phone by accessing over 4500 Apps across 25 categories for their business, games, books, social networking and other needs.

Some applications are available for Free and would display only a “Download” option with Zero price point and Premium apps starting as low as just Rs. 8, BSNL Apps Store will offer local and regional Apps for customers across the country.

6.    Indian Telecom Industry Restructuring.

The telecom industry does not use the word ‘Job cuts’, instead it resorts to ‘organization restructure’ whenever its profits is under pressure.

During June 2011, India’s largest mobile company, Airtel announced its restructuring plan to reduce excesses and drive efficiencies. Even though the company expected ‘minimal impact’ on the jobs, according to the industry observers, the company will reduce nearly 2000 jobs out of its total 11500 employees by the year end.

Approximately 20 days later, Tata Teleservices merged its CDMA and GSM divisions.  It is estimated that this unification will result in the reduction of 15% of its employees.

In September 2011, RCom merged its three business divisions, a move that will make about 10% of its 7,000 executives redundant and result in redeployment of another 2,000 employees to ‘field functions’. The company merged its existing three business regions into a single entity reporting to a chief operating officer. Earlier these three regions were headed by Regional Heads.

Indian Telcos resort to restructuring to ‘drive efficiencies’ which is the need of the hour as the industry is facing dwindling profits, lowest rates in tariff and cut throat competition. 

The other reason for the restructuring is because of the transformation from mobility to data business. The businesses are transforming from being distribution driven to content driven.

7.    GSM subscriber additions continue to dip.

The slowdown in the telecom industry in India does not seem to abate with only 5.33 million users added in August (GSM).

GSM subscriber base thus stood at 611.75 million at the end of last month.

For the fourth month in a row, subscriber additions continued to decline. In May for the first time since October 2009, the subscriber additions were below the 10 million mark when 9.53 million GSM users were added.

8.    Mobile phone shipments into India fall 3%.

Mobile handset shipments to India declined by 3 per cent in the April-June period compared to the previous quarter due to inventory build-up and reworking on product line-up by vendors, says research firm IDC.

However, on a year-on-year basis, the shipments were higher by 6 per cent in the period under review.

Shipments cooled down a bit in the April-June quarter of 2011, partly due to an inventory build-up from the preceding quarters and partly because vendors apparently paused to take a re-look at their product portfolio strategies.

 India-based vendors have particularly been busy planning their debuts in the smart phone category.

9.    Brown labeled ATMs from Hughes Comm.

Hughes Communications India, a broadband satellite service provider, today said it will set up 5,000 brown label ATMs in the country.

In a ‘brown label' ATM, the hardware as well as lease is under the ownership of the service provider, while connectivity and cash handling and management is the responsibility of the sponsor bank.

There are twin benefits here. One is that the capex is associated with the service provider. Second is that since the vendor gets a fee for every transaction from the bank whose ATM card is being used, there is an incentive to ensure efficiency in terms of usage.

Out of a total base of 75,000 ATMs in India, 18,500 have been installed by Hughes.

^{10.  Deutsche Bank looks to TCS for IT solutions}

^{Deutsche Bank has asked TCS to provide IT solutions for its financial services firm's capital markets business unit. Deutsche Bank has taken the decision to align itself with ITIL (IT infrastructure Library) standards.}

^{Deutsche Bank has taken this decision so as to achieve an improved service delivery through the best practice framework provided by ITIL. The improved service delivery will also help in the bank become cost effective. TCS has the enviable task of delivering a global application service desk ITIL services besides deploying its software solutions in all the seven locations of the bank spread across the US, UK, Germany, Hungary, Philippines, Singapore and India.}