Cloud Services: A Marketing Myth or an Essential

The basic difference between the cloud and conventional way to provide internet based services is the server. Cloud services are being provided through the server of cloud computing providers and the conventional way to provide the services are through premise servers of the provider company. An example of cloud services is the online backup and data storage, database management, technical support services, web based e-mail/apps/media services etc. 

Now the question is, “Why are cloud services getting such a hype?” And the answer lies in another question, does cloud services make our day to day internet work simpler or it literally has no significant impact? To get these answers, we have to delve deeper into some of the well-known applications of cloud services and have to understand the ease of working with or without the cloud services. 

Some of the well-known applications of cloud services are –

 Web-based e-mail/apps/media services:  Web-based e-mail services – Hotmail, AOL and Gmail etc.  Web-based apps – Skype, Google Maps, Google Voice etc.  Web-based media services – YouTube, Torrent and Flickr etc. 

 Social Networking: Examples of this category are – Facebook, Twitter, LinkedIn, Instagram, Myspace etc. All the above services are being used to connect, share, spread network, make new contacts, etc. and all the services are based on cloud services so that anyone can access the services anywhere from the world not having bothered about the hardware. 

 Online backup and data storage, database management segment: Google Docs, Dropbox etc. come into online backup and data storage category. And since Big Data has come into the picture, database management has become complicated, so the traditional ways are now irrelevant. Hence adopting cloud services is the best option available. 

Apart from the fact that most of today’s popular services are based on cloud, it is a feasible option for companies too, because by opting for cloud they can save a huge amount which they have to incur on IT department and for its equipment purchase & maintenance. Since all the solutions are web-based, there is nothing to bother about the hardware up-gradation, which literally means a substantial saving for both, the company and consumers. The services which were made possible only due to the cloud technology tell us how significant cloud has become as a part of our lives. We can’t even imagine living without these services as they have become an integral part of our day to day activities. So, cloud services are not just a marketing myth but are an essential need in the present world.

Kislay Bhardwaj

Batch 2016-18

Symbiosis Institute of Telecom Management

How IMS fits into Telecom Business

The IP Multimedia Subsystem (IMS) is an architectural structure for delivering IP multimedia services to the businesses around the world. It was originally coined by the 3GPP or 3rd Generation Partnership Project for developing networks that could surpass GSM. This latest multimedia subsystem will help telecom companies grip the future IMS networks in order to deliver services to the Small and Midsize Businesses. IMS eases the amalgamation of video, voice, IM/Presence, video & voice conferencing over different devices thus providing smooth communication experience while substantially reducing operating costs.

From a service provider outlook, IMS allows for new revenue streams because multimedia services can be rendered over the present IP infrastructure. With this structure in place, providers can offer what we call session-based services. With IMS enabled, any IP device can establish a session with the control servers and then make connections with other IP devices to send voice, video & data sessions between the two end clients. This breaks the regular obstacles affecting end devices. The ability to separate the underlying infrastructure from the services provided is a major benefit of IMS.

IMS is selected by the industry as the lasting technology for IP based communication core networks to ascertain scalability, global interoperability, interworking with both legacy networks & web based services, also evolution to 5G Core. For operators to hold on to the voice and messaging business and stay pertinent to their customers they have the opportunity to deliver new & innovative, cost saving and interoperable communication services.

IMS enables operators to monetize various voice and data intersecting services and synchronize with the operator’s next generation transformation plan. The services act as spur to expand the data usage of end-users. These services not only fill the gap between service provider and social media & internet but also take advantage of capacity and thus enable operator to add new revenue stream. These services will also help operator to enhance their brand visibility with added advantage of social media and internet application packed with their core services. Operators can charge it on per application basis or just carrier and charge for data usage.

The IMS architecture can furnish the following major benefits:

1. Easier to Create and Position New Applications and Services
2. Enhanced apps are uncomplicated to develop due to open APIs and common network services.
3. Third-party developers offer their own apps and use common network services, sharing profits with minimal risk.
4. New services involving consistent sessions of multimedia (voice, video, & data) during the same call are now feasible.
5. Target New Subscribers and Retain Current Subscribers
6. Improved voice quality for business apps, such as conferencing, is possible with wideband coders.
7. Wireless apps (like SMS, and so on) can be proposed to wire line or broadband subscribers.
8. Service providers can more feasibly offer bundled services.
9. Decrease in Operating and Capital Costs
10. Cost-effective application of services is possible across multiple areas, such as Push-To-Talk, Location-Based Services (LBS), mobile video services, and so on.
11. Common facilities, management, and billing systems are aided for all networks.
12. Significantly decreased transport costs result when shifting from time-switched to packet-switched channels.
13. Service providers can take edge of competitive offerings from multiple Network Equipment Providers (NEP) for most network elements.
14. IMS results in decrease in expenses for delivering licensed content to subscribers of various types of devices, encodings, or networks.

IMS is the state of art technology for the telecom industry and is analogous to a toolbox with a rich variety of tools for your application to tap easily in to the world. In other words, IMS uses internet technologies to provide vast services and mobile technology to provide ubiquity. IMS allows user to experience all the services no matter where they are as long as they are connected to internet.

Ankit Talwar

Batch - 2016-18
Symbiosis Institute Of Telecom Management 

Online advertisements influence Consumer behaviour

Online advertising is an essential form of marketing strategy in which the marketing message is conveyed to the consumers through internet. The expansion of internet as an outgoing source has attracted the attention of advertisers to bring in consumers. The various advertising strategies it involves are social media marketing, search engine marketing, email advertising, search engine optimization, affiliated marketing. The common online advertisement layouts are floating, pop up and expanding advertisement.

Creating effective Online Advertisement

1. Establishing clear goals and objectives.
2. Defining target segment.
3. Selecting target rich websites.
4. Choosing Ad placement and sizes.

Scenario of Online Advertisement marketing of India

The fastest growing ad market in the world is India with growth of spending in digital media by 38.2% reaching Rs 6000 crore. By 2020 it is expected to reach over four times its current value of about Rs 25,500 crore due to wide rollout of 4G coupled with “Digital India” initiative. 259 million users in digital space. In 2015, digital advertisement accounted for 9.9% of all ad spending. According to GroupM it will account for 12.7% in 2016.

Consumer perception regarding online advertisement

According to various research and survey it was found that more than 60% of the consumers find online ads annoying and distracting. Placement of online layout should be given proper attention as it is one of the factors that annoy a consumer. Still online advertising such as visually appearing or display ads that include information about the products quality, price etc have a significant influence on consumers, as Indian consumers, while shopping online consider “Word of Mouth” as a reliable source than other sources.

Conclusion

Internet is becoming a standard platform for advertisement. It is offering business advertisement with various media tools, global reach and interaction services. A wide range of consumers can be targeted through online advertisement. Thus to obtain maximum out of this is by understanding the target and strategizing accordingly.

Dipankar Talukdar

Batch - 2016-18
Symbiosis Institute Of Telecom Management

SHOULD MVNOs BE GIVEN LICENSE TO OPERATE IN INDIA?

Indian telecom market is a hot spot for the telecom industry worldwide. Currently there is quite a considerable buzz about MVNOs supposedly due to China’s ‘snail mobile’ entering Indian telecom market as MVNO. The buzz which may seem new to many is actually almost a decade old. TRAI, back in 2008, had floated a consultation paper asking for opinions from major telecom service providers and other concerned entities regarding MVNO. In various countries such as Netherlands, France etc. MVNO is a reality. So what is MVNO?

MVNO is expanded as ‘Mobile Virtual Network Operator’. TRAI paper dated 9/2008 describes MVNO as:

“MVNO licensee is an entity who has no frequency assignments, but who can provide mobile services to users by means of entering into an agreement with a licensed access service provider”.In simple words MVNO is a telecom service provider who provides telecom services but doesn’t own spectrum bands or infrastructure. An interesting point to be noted is that the MNOs (mobile network operators) which serve as the parent company to MVNOs ‘does not’ share any spectrum.

Few observations made by COAI regarding MVNOs are as follows;

1. Does not own or has been allocated a spectrum band
2. Does not have access to the spectrum
3. Does not own or has been allocated a RF spectrum band
4. Does not share spectrum with MNO.

Other than this an MVNO comes under the same guidelines and regulations as MNOs.

An example of MVNO would be virgin mobile and T24 of future group. These companies didn’t purchase actual spectrum instead use the infrastructure and spectrum of the existing telecom service providers. The MVNOs buy bulk minutes from the MNOs and in turn sell them to the end customers.

Proposal for MVNOs

In August 2008 the Telecom Regulatory Authority of India floated a paper calling for opinions on MVNOs. Many telecom companies responded to it, prominent of those being

Tata Teleservices, Reliance Infocom, COAI etc. The reason to introduce MVNOs in the market was given as to promote healthy competition among telecom service providers and enable the growth of telecom sector. Also it was envisaged that spectrum be owned by one party, infrastructure by another and MVNOs doing just the marketing. Introduction of MVNOs would even serve as fixed source of limited income to the other MNOs which have been reeling under the effects of indebtedness to the banks due to spectrum auction.

Implications

The COAI along with others observing global deployments suggested that the concept of MVNOs was possible only if;

• Excess capacity/ supply exists
• Where ARPU( avg. revenue per user) is high
• The market having high penetration

If observed in India the existing operators are struggling with amount of traffic being carried by the network. This is basically due to high population of the country. Operators themselves are pushing hard to increase their traffic carrying capacity so as to cater to the traffic being put on the network. So there is no or very little excess capacity available with the operators right now to lease it to MVNOs. Also if the demand shoots then the band allocated to MVNO will probably not be able to handle the inflow of traffic.

Secondly as per TRAI the penetration in the country is comparatively less compared to US and China. It was just 25% when the paper for recommendations on MVNO was floated. Although the issue remains, the prime metropolitan markets have already been captured by the top service providers. The spending power of consumers in metropolitan areas is also more so they won’t easily be persuaded to opt for services at cheaper rates with an unfamiliar service provider. This leaves the MVNOs with the rural areas. Though a consumer residing in rural area may be persuaded to buy new sim card but the income generated through rural areas is not substantial. This scenario may put an MVNO in jeopardy and if the capital invested in buying bulk minutes from MNO is not recovered as expected then the company might have to shut down.

Finally, the ARPU or average revenue per user in India is not significant. Telecom is a heavily regulated industry in India and due to various government policies and regulation call rates in India remain amongst the cheapest in the world. Keeping in accordance with these regulations, buying of bulk minutes from other operator

and selling them at cheap price to the end customer the MVNOs would have to operate on a very thin margin. This in most cases would not be enough to sustain the company keeping in mind the cost it has to incur on branding an advertising so as to gain foot hold in the new market.

Conclusion

Currently 12-13 mobile service providers are active in India right so a healthy competition already exists. India is the second with respect to the number of mobile phones users still the companies are struggling to turn investments into profits. There is also the case of tax. Net tax on telecom companies is 42%. Although the MVNOs do not own any spectrum the COAI report suggests them to be treated as MNOs. Because of this MVNOs will be charged on same grounds as MNOs. Considering all these factors it can be concluded that conditions aren’t conducive for MVNOs to bloom and sustain in Indian market.

Yash Nalawade

Batch - 2016-18
Symbiosis Institute Of Telecom Management

Li-Fi

It’s impossible to avoid Wi-Fi in today’s world. It’s everywhere; your neighbors have it, it’s free in coffee shops, and essential for smartphones. We all know Wi-Fi, but what is Li-Fi? Li-Fi, like Wi-Fi, enables electronic devices like computers, laptops and smartphones to wirelessly connect to the Internet. Even though Wi-Fi was also originally intended for such devices, it is widely used today to connect all sorts of things: printers, televisions, speakers, headphones, and even running shoes! In simple terms, Li-Fi is equivalent to Wi-Fi, but using light waves instead of radio signals. Li-Fi uses the light waves from LED light bulbs – that are rapidly replacing incandescent light bulbs for their energy saving and safety - to transmit data so it provides illumination and wireless data communications. Imagine a modern LED light bulb – fitted with Li-Fi technology – in your living room, or office, or in a lamp on your desk, or by your bedside. Anywhere that is illuminated by the Li-Fi enabled LED, can also communicate via Li-Fi.

What Is LiFi?

The term LiFi was coined by Professor Harald Haas, and is recognized by the IEEE standardization committee for Optical Wireless Communications. LiFi is high-speed, bidirectional, networked and mobile wireless communications using light (as opposed to traditional radio frequencies). With LiFi technology, data travels in the visible light spectrum through LEDs.  This makes it possible to provide wireless internet access at speeds of over 100 Gbps, although this is still in the Lab. Although Li-Fi can be used to off-load data from existing Wi-Fi networks, implementations may be used to provide capacity for the greater downlink demand such that existing wireless or wired network infrastructure may be used in a complementary fashion.

LiFi is the use of the visible light portion of the electromagnetic spectrum to transmit information at very high speeds. This is in contrast to established forms of wireless communication such as Wi-Fi which use traditional radio frequency (RF) signals to transmit data.

With LiFi, data is transmitted by modulating the intensity of the light, which is then received by a photo-sensitive detector, and the light signal is demodulated into electronic form. This modulation is performed in such a way that it is not perceptible to the human eye.

LiFi is a category of Optical Wireless Communications (OWC). OWC includes infra-red and ultra-violet communications as well as visible light. However, LiFi is unique in that the same visible light energy used for illumination may also be used for communication.

How Does Li-Fi Work?

When a constant current is applied to an LED light bulb a constant stream of photons are emitted from the bulb which is observed as visible light. If the current is varied slowly the output intensity of the light dims up and down. Because LED bulbs are semi-conductor devices, the current, and hence the optical output, can be modulated at extremely high speeds which can be detected by a photo-detector device and converted back to electrical current. The intensity modulation is imperceptible to the human eye, and thus communication is just as seamless as RF. Using this technique, high speed information can be transmitted from an LED light bulb.

Radio frequency communication requires radio circuits, antennas and complex receivers, whereas Li-Fi is much simpler and uses direct modulation methods similar to those used in low-cost infra-red communications devices such as remote control units. Infra-red communication is limited in power due to eye safety requirements, whereas LED light bulbs have high intensities and can achieve very large data rates.

Ranjan Tyagi

Batch 2015-17

Symbiosis Institute of Telecom Management

SPECTRUM TRADING AND ITS IMPACT ON THE TELECOM SECTOR

Spectrum trading refers to trading of rights and obligations of a spectrum, which could be used for various communication needs including broadcasting, mobile telecom and emergency services. Spectrum trading will make telecom sector stronger. It allows the trading of unutilized spectrum. The major players of telecom sector Bharti Airtel, Vodafone India, Reliance Jio Infocomm and Idea Cellular will have spectrum in all areas whereas other small players may only have a regional presence. Hence they are getting the opportunity to exit the sector by selling their spectrum to bigger players.

Spectrum trading also helps the operator to choose their target area, by maintaining their presence, they can grow their market share there. It also leads to the disclosure of unutilized spectrum, which can be further used to grow infrastructure in their targeted areas of strategic importance. Considering spectrum as a natural resource, spectrum trading can lead us to efficient allocation of it compared to spectrum auction. As in spectrum auction there is high variance in price and also soaring prices is making remaining spectrum more expensive.

Telecom operators are trading unused spectrum to the operators who are facing spectrum congestion. In India, spectrum is considered a natural resource but it is relatively small which makes it a scarce resource. Hence spectrum trading will improve quality of service (QOS) and help the issue of call drops. It will also allow better spectrum usage. Hence customer satisfaction and service from the operators will improve. For instance, 800 MHz band, which uses CDMA technology can also have 4G services. So with the rise of 4G services in India one can trade a part of their 800 MHz band at a high price for 4G services. This escalates their revenue also.

Spectrum trading is considered as economically efficient because trade will only take place if spectrum is worth more to the new operator than the old one. As liberalization brings in new technologies and innovations to the market, trading allows better spectrum utilization. Hence trading is only effective when merged with liberalization. This factors provides customer with more choice. Moreover, spectrum trading uses natural resource of our country that is spectrum more effectively and with proper measures.

Devanshi Jhaveri

Batch 2016-18

Symbiosis Institute of Telecom Management

Should Social Media Monitoring be a part of Smart cities

In the present world, the lifetime of a company depends on how well it adapts to the changing requirements of their customers. Thus companies across various industries use a variety of methods to get information about the changing requirements of the customers and what people think about their brand. Social Media Monitoring is one such method that is being used by companies to get the necessary information.

Social Media Monitoring also known as Social Media Measurement involves monitoring of various social media platforms like Twitter, Facebook, blogs, online forums etc. for getting information about a brand and governing the volume and opinions of people about the brand online. As tons of conversations, articles and reviews are available online, monitoring social media provides the companies insight of the public’s opinion for their products/services and they will be able to anticipate the people’s expectation.

With the capability to reflect public opinions on various topics, social media monitoring finds its application in many places. Should smart cities be one such platform that make use of it?

Smart cities are urban regions that have advanced infrastructure, assured electricity supply and efficient transportation facilities. Multiple information and communication technology (ICT) solutions are integrated into a smart city to manage different organizations and their services in the city.

One of the major goals of a smart city is to involve the citizens in governance. Social media comes into the picture here. As most of the communications and discussions are happening over the social media platforms, using these platforms for involving the citizens in governance is a viable solution. Using this, cities can involve their citizens in several governing decisions like building and planning process, efficient urban mobility, health and education etc. The citizens can be involved in taking decisions that influence them.

The cities can also make use of social media monitoring to know whether their policies are generating a positive or negative response among the common mass, they can get feedback from the citizens on various issues and act accordingly.

The impact of social media monitoring in smart cities can best be explained by the experiment called Smart Santander. Santander is a city on Spain’s north coast with a population of 0.18 million. The Santander testbed is composed of several devices and sensors deployed at various locations. Through the deployed testbed, many services have been implemented. Some of them include:

Outdoor parking area management: Around 400 parking sensors were deployed at the main parking areas in the city. As a result, available parking sites were detected and citizens were given the information of them from time to time.

Santander City Brain: It enabled the people to share their ideas with other citizens. The citizens were also able to report about accidents, potholes or broken streetlights directly to the city hall.

Santander city experiment demonstrated the advantages of the IoT and social media monitoring by providing the residents with real time information about bus delays, parking availability etc. The citizens were made a part of the city’s governance using the social media as a platform. For better management and organising in the city and to make citizens involved in governance, social media monitoring could be made a part of smart cities.

Dereddy SabrinathReddy

Batch 2016-2018

Symbiosis Institute of Telecom Management