"Mere Sapnon ka Bhaarat" - Suggestions on Telecom Policy

Suggestions on Telecom Policy

1.     World Telecom scenario

World over today, the Telecom business is driven basically by technical innovation – what we call next generation technology. India has the potential to lead the world and show the way. For this, the government has to play its role- to initiate the right policy moves that can leverage networking power to provide the necessary growth in the tottering GDP. The business is not about the old product set but of a new paradigm altogether – of a set of totally new services that transform the way people live an enhanced life style and the way they communicate with each other – that brings about an efficiency hitherto not even dreamt of. This represents a way to empower users through a new infrastructure platform that keeps customers continuously attracted to a variety of newer and newer services offered to them. This capability allows the Average Revenue Per User (ARPU) to continuously increase with time. The next generation networks also represent an opportunity to reduce capital expenditures by being able to offer all services over a single integrated IP based infrastructure. Likewise, the Soft Switch and IMS architectures would extend multi-fold decrease in operational expenses like space, power, air-conditioning, human resource, etc. Implementation of NGN would therefore ensure increased revenue and profitability on an unprecedented scale.

2.     Objective

While acknowledging the rapid changes in the world Telecom scenario, the government can work on implementing policies suitable for India’s operators and service providers to adopt the world’s best practices in terms of technology and management to place India

(a)   among top 10 countries in Internet usage in terms of bandwidth utilization,

(b)   among top 5 countries in terms of number of Internet users,

(c)    and among top 3 countries in terms of number of voice devices (phones & mobile)

in the next five years.

3.     Considering the following limitations and afflictions 

a.   that Indian market for Telecom particularly for mobile services has saturated over the last couple of years, though there is ample scope for its further proliferation

b.   that reach of mobile service has been stagnant especially in vast tracts of rural areas, leading to absence of requisite signal levels thereby defeating the purpose of connectivity

c.  that quality of service in the case of mobile services has fallen to unacceptable levels in terms of frequent call drops and session breakage at cell crossings and that there is need to ensure remedial measures in the interest of mobile users

d.  that today’s market is getting more and more saturated with vanilla type voice services and that today’s customer can be won increasingly through service offerings involving multimedia with information/content delivery in transactional mode by such applications as Social media, WhatsAp, Blogs, etc.

e.   that telecom connectivity is driven dominantly by wireless technologies notably 3G and 4G, but the spectrum allotted to operators are under utilized as the user base has not risen in necessary proportion

f.    that spectrum is a virtual gold mine belonging to the citizen at large, and that lot of unused spectrum allotted to agencies such as TV Broadcasting, and that re-farming of unused spectrum is an imperative and need of the hour

g.   that there is urgent need to implement the Next Generation framework which brings about convergence between fixed and mobile networks, and makes it possible implement the concept of “Any device, Any Access, Any service, Anytime, Anywhere” through communication networks driven dominantly by Internet based technologies on end-to-end basis that brings with it unprecedented reduction in capex and opex

h.  that Optical Fibre Cable (OFC) though laid extensively by various operators, are heavily underutilized resulting in constraining bandwidth availability impacting its price, both in Core and Access networks

i.      that the public sector companies instead of serving as a model for implementation of  government policy are sliding downward in all major targeted parameters

j.     that the huge potential domestic market remains untapped and if developed through orchestrated policy changes that address the aforementioned limitations is bound to position Indian companies to participate aggressively in businesses around the globe,

Following 10-point policy initiatives are proposed for speedy implementation to be able to achieve the stated objectives.

Ref	Policy Action Plan
a	(i)       Tower usage policy to increase transmitter density       (ii)   Usage policy for OFC/copper cables to implement Passive Optical Networks and Landline Networks respectively in Access segment
b	Policy of connectivity mapping to be implemented for monitoring coverage targets
c	Policy of implementing periodic “drive tests” to cover entire licensed area say every two years
d	(i)   Set national target of 10 fold increase in Internet proliferation in 5 years      (ii)   Policy and implementation target for IPv6
e	(i)   Policy of sharing of spectrum between licensed operators      (ii)   Policy for in-building solutions in urban areas      (iii)    Policy for Sharing of multi-frequency antenna systems
f	Identify un-used spectrum and policy for re-farming, utilizing, valuation & public auction
g	(i)   Policy to encourage operators to achieve Yr-on-Yr growth of 60% p.a.      (ii)   Policy for legalizing Voice over IP services over PSTN networks      (iii)    Policy framework for complying with “Any device, any access, any service”      (iv)   Policy for fixed mobile convergence
h	Fair usage policy for Optical Fibre Cables
i	Innovation & professional management only way to revive PSUs.
j	(i)   Policy to encourage Indian operators to participate in International businesses      (ii)   Policy to encourage Indian R&D to enable manufacture of end devices and export to International businesses

4.  Strategic Thrust in policy:

Since the traditional voice and bandwidth services have become commoditized, there is need for operators to rethink their strategy by transforming themselves from voice centric bit pipe connectivity provider to a multi-service platform provider. The vision is that of creating a new service driven organization. The strategy is to create new value curve by converting the bit pipe into a service pipe and to extrapolate the strategic value profile through innovative factors that enable capture of new markets and services. The Year-on-year growth plan in order to match the 10 fold growth in Internet market in 5 years should be targeted at 60%. This growth figure has not been unknown to Telecom segment even during trying times in the last decade, and considering the enormous potential in technology solutions, the figure therefore represents a do-able proposition. There is credible opportunity here to propel other segments of industry in urban as well as in rural areas and help position the overall GDP back to 2-digit figure.  

Improvement in reliability of long distance network has to be taken up on priority with emphasis on convergence in terms of its utilization by different operators. This calls for new initiatives for setting up of managed IP networks. This also calls for centralizing network operating centre at national level by every operator to monitor their respective national level network through single window.

To bring about quality services for the common man, there must be regulatory focus on ensuring proper coverage of services through performance bench-marking and accountability. The creation of GIS Coverage maps for all access technologies. Mobile drive tests will provide accurate coverage picture which is critical in providing quality service to the common man. Strategic partnerships between the operators and NIC (Dept of IT) could leverage the latter’s GIS digital maps in consolidating associated knowledge base.

The mobile offering is witness to ruthless competition, and it is but a matter of time that this sector too will start experiencing the pressures of churn. It is therefore imperative that operators work on increasing the value of their mobile offerings through such concepts as Customer Home Gateway in accordance with the latest GSM standards that connects any device such as phone, TV set or PC through any access to any service. Key services would be voice, high speed internet, WiFi, DTH and/or IPTV.

India’s regulatory framework has an opportunity to blaze a trail in adapting itself to the powerful technological options available today. For instance, it could take bold initiatives in the concept of sharing valuable spectrum between licensed operators. It could mandate the use of in-building solutions in dense urban areas. It could allow tremendous relief to urban clutter by mandating sharing of multi-frequency antenna systems and software based radio systems in such areas. These measures will subdue the needless clamor by operators for leasing additional spectrum.

After the proliferation of TV cable systems and DTH, the TV broadcast spectrum in the 700 MHz band has been left to waste. In the USA, this spectrum band has been envisioned to be utilized for national broadband by ordering the erstwhile broadcasters to vacate the spectrum through an Act of Parliament. The valuation of the said spectrum runs into mind boggling figures. Yet, no serious attempt has so far been made in India to tap this virtual gold mine. The opportunity can catapult the broadband initiatives stated above to success and render the proposed 5-year objective easily possible.

The OFC deployment across the country represents an indispensable asset, put in place by various operators but not utilized optimally. These assets have been created by pooling the resources of a host of public organizations such as the roads authorities, the municipal authorities, etc. and also cause considerable disruption in traffic at the time of installation. It is high time that such activity is brought within the ambit of regulation, so that the resource is not monopolized by any one operator, rather optimally utilized through a fair usage policy.

The Public Sector companies of the government have been known to be subject to government’s interference for reasons other than the valid ones. The existence of these PSUs should not be justified by vague reasons such as security, etc. Rather, the only justification may be that they represent a platform for the government to showcase their policy through early implementation. The PSUs should therefore show the necessary leadership for this purpose, and must therefore exhibit a very healthy financial outlook, the best among the top service providers. They must lead through example. The turn round of the PSUs therefore represents the top priority for government.

Last but not the least, the aforesaid policy initiatives that are meant to create a strong domestic market will afford India to set its sight on participation in the global arena. Policy initiatives to tap technology talent in R&D need to be taken.

Conclusion:

This article is intended to offer suggestions on Telecom Policy to the new government under "Mere sapnon ka Bhaarat", the implementation of which can place India in a leadership role in the comity of nations. The suggestions can be implemented through strong conviction and belief in collaborative brain-storming culture that must be fostered among the various stakeholders by the government. 

NOTE: Being a technical subject, the author has posted several allied articles in this blog that may be able to lend more clarity to a reader who has no prior knowledge of the subject. The reader is requested to refer to these articles and provide valued feedback/comments.