3G: Unique IDs for a billion-plus Indians
-------------------------------------------------------------------------------- -------------------------------------------------------------------------------- - Ramesh Sharma 3G technology can revolutionise education. Vivek Mohan I had earlier shared my thoughts on how 3G technology can facilitate business in India. However, for India to gain the global leadership in this domain, we need to create an ecosystem of operators, vendors and regulators who work in tandem to usher in the next wave of revolution in the telecom industry. We need to take leadership for "Bottom of Pyramid" customers, to define and satisfy the needs of the emerging markets instead of looking to the developed world for cues. Telecom vendors are of three kinds: Infrastructure providers: Typically, global-scale MNCs provide the electronics (active infrastructure). While global and local players share the market for passive infrastructure (towers, shelters etc), the vendors compete on features, price and speed of execution. In most cases, the products are similar to those used elsewhere. There is little or zero adaptation for Indian market. Applications and content providers: These are typically small Indian companies active in services such as SMS and ring-tones, leveraging the film industry for content. Currently very little India-specific content is available. However, there have been recent attempts to provide unique content such as devotional videos, weather, crop reports and so on. Devices: These are typically global companies with global products that compete on factors such as looks and features. There have been recent efforts to adapt these products to Indian conditions. For example, phones that double as radios or flashlights are designed for India or other emerging markets and they have proved popular. My view is that we are late to the infrastructure game. However, given our strengths in software as well as dynamic device services, we can shape a whole new ecosystem for India and the developing market. Let's explore a few ways in which 3G mobile telephony can transform lives - these applications offer pan-India coverage, fast and reliable data connection, and video streaming. National Id Number For the first time in our history, we have nearly 400 million unique numbers for our citizens, namely mobile phone numbers. We can easily leverage this to fulfil a longstanding need, namely national ID numbers for citizens. We need a few forward-thinking vendors to create massive, scalable, secure applications that allow pooling of numbers across all vendors in a nationwide database that can be tracked and updated as needed. This would also function as a security net that covers all people across time and location. In the West, these applications were created before the advent of mobile numbers; hence, there are two separate entities for these. In India, as well as other emerging markets, we could perhaps use only one as this will be more cost-effective. We could even have a public-private partnership do this. My guess is mobile numbers today greatly surpass PAN cards or even Voter's ID cards. With the steady addition of nearly 9-10 million subscribers every month, it is projected that within the next two years each family will have one phone or a unique number! Hence, mobile numbers can actually become India's social security or national ID numbers. It can be used to track and database information, including details such as a person's spending habits, credit history and so on. In my view, this market alone has a whopping financial potential. Universal Education Over 45 per cent of the Indian population is uneducated, with the majority living in rural areas that lack proper schools or teachers and have very limited government investment. The 3G mobile telephony can revolutionise education by providing universal access to world-quality teachers. It can help set up primary education with flexi-timings; this would allow people to study at timings suited to their convenience. It's heartening that existing telecom operators have already begun to push this idea in recent TV commercials. This is a major area where individual entrepreneurs can set up the infrastructure in different villages and sectors. This would also call for the creation of specific devices such as thin client TV screens powered by solar or other viable alternative energy source. Banking and M-Commerce Mobile commerce is a reality today with online bill payments and shopping. With enhanced video features through 3G, M-commerce can flourish by reaching out to specific audience groups based on gender, area and even location. Mobile advertising can be optimised using specified demography or location - for example, targeted promotions at a shopping mall leading to click-through sales. In rural communities and other places with no banking infrastructure, mobile money transfers can prove a boon. Even in urban areas, land phones are increasingly likely to be replaced by mobile phones. Philippines, for instance, already has a thriving money transfers business between its diaspora and the local population. M-banking, if popularised, can easily turn into a $2-5 billion market both among the urban and rural population. Such applications not only generate additional revenue but also job opportunities and entrepreneurial ventures. M-commerce for the rural/Bottom of Pyramid population can do the same. Brazil already has internet-enabled locations where people gather and view pictures, order stuff and pick it up later, sometimes even after a few days. This would ensure that the rural population has access to the same quality products as those in urban areas, and with lower pricing! The reverse works too: real-time auction of produce - instead of farmers driving to mandis they could display their produce online and use special devices for capturing essential quality parameters of their merchandise. Traffic Monitoring Another key infrastructure that is in disarray in a rapidly developing India are the highways and city roads that carry voluminous traffic. With the entry of low-price and fuel-efficient cars, the situation is expected to worsen in the coming years. The 3G mobile technology promises help. Emerging technologies, such as those at Bell Labs, use cell phones, near-field radio and 3G access to inexpensively detect congestion points as well as travel times. This information can reach users via Web sites, SMS and other 3G-enabled mobile applications to help decide on the best travel routes and thereby evenly distribute the city traffic. I believe that 3G technology can do for India what highways did for the US economy and the Internet did for the world as a whole by providing ubiquitous access to information and social networks over the phone. The reason is simple. India as a whole has much better mobile (GSM/CDMA) penetration than computers. And 3G can power the mobile phones with high-speed internet access. Hence, a 3G phone is likely the place where many people will for the first time access Internet in its full multimedia glory. (The author is Country Head, Alcatel-Lucent India. The views are personal. [email protected]) (This is the second of a four-part series on 3G. The first part appeared on January 16.) http://www.thehindubusinessline.com/2009/01/23/stories/2009012350400900.htm ekamber --~--~---------~--~----~------------~-------~--~----~ You received this message because you are subscribed to the Google Groups "Kences1" group. To post to this group, send email to [email protected] To unsubscribe from this group, send email to [email protected] For more options, visit this group at http://groups.google.com/group/kences1?hl=en -~----------~----~----~----~------~----~------~--~---
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