3G Defining The Road Ahead-II

The key players of the industry came together on a single platform
to discuss the issues pertaining to the 3G Technology

Mumbai
hosted Voice&Data CEO Conclave 2005. The key players of the industry came
together on a single platform. Availability and allocation of spectrum for
existing service providers, licensing policy, and broadening the customer base
by targeting rural areas were salient issues that were discussed. Issues such as
availability of content for mobile and the scope in content development were
also raised. The need for availability of technology to support 3G services was
also highlighted in the panel discussions.

Delivering the keynote
address at the Mumbai edition of the CEO Conclave, Kuldeep Goyal, CGM, BSNL
Maharashtra, said that the new telecom policy that is expected soon, has to
address various issues related to 3G. He said that the policy would focus on the
issue of licensing in terms of whether new licenses should be issued for 3G or
should the existing operators be allowed to offer 3G services. Goyal wondered if
there was space for more operators, given the fact that each circle or state
already has at least six operators.

According to Goyal,
another key issue is the licensing fee. “Some people say that there should not
be any license fee. Others point that Rs 15,000 crore or so, can be raised by
selling 3G licenses,” he said. The other important issue is spectrum, said
Goyal. He was optimistic that the question of spectrum would be sorted out
before operators roll out services. He said interconnect related issues also
need to be addressed in the new telecom policy.

Goyal emphasized that
3G infrastructure must be adequate to support the requirements of a better
quality of service. “Another important issue is the coverage, which will have
to be addressed. If we have to achieve the target of 250 mn phones by 2007, we
have to make sure that we take it to the rural masses. And for that coverage has
to improve,” said Goyal.

Keynote: Kuldeep Goyal, CGM, BSNL Maharashtra

Pointing out that
entertainment content would be the key driver of 3G data services, Goyal hoped
that new content creation would get a boost once 3G services are rolled out.
According to Goyal, cost of 3G devices will have to come down and local language
interfaces will have to be built for 3G to really happen.

Goyal said that both
UMTS as well as CDMA1X EVDO would be there because the operators on GSM and CDMA
would be migrating to these new platforms. He also added that India could even
directly start on HSDPA, the fourth generation mobile technology. “A right mix
of all these things-content, devices, access technology, and of course the
regulatory policies-will give a big boost to 3G,” said Goyal.

Session
1: Regulatory Impediments for 3G

Participating in the panel discussion on regulatory challenges for 3G,
Madhav Joshi, CLO, Tata Teleservices, pointed out that all licenses in India are
technology neutral. So, operators don't really require any new license to
launch 3G services. However, what operators need is spectrum, he said. “We are
starved of spectrum for even our voice telephony. So, if I had the spectrum, I
could launch my EVDO immediately,” he added. He further said in this
background, the statement from the government is that a possibility of some new
operators and licensing for 3G is a bit strange.

Joshi was of the view
that the recommendations made by regulator with regard to spectrum allocation is
unreasonable because it was talking about the IMT2000 spectrum. In that spectrum
the CDMA handsets are not available, he said. Given this, he wondered if the
government wanted a situation where only the GSM operators can start the 3G
services and the CDMA operators would be looking at the sky? Joshi recommended
that government should give operators some space in the existing channel either
in 800 or 1900 band. “As soon as we get the spectrum, we can offer all the 3G
applications and launch EVDO. We don't need any technology changes,” he
said.

Sanjay Sethi, GM,
Wireless Services, MTNL, Mumbai, observed that the non-resolution of the
spectrum issue was making operators impatient.
“It needs to be resolved fast. We are not happy with the present
situation,” Sethi said, pointing out that all operators have planned their
core network for evolution to 3G, but the radio portion is held up due to
non-allocation of spectrum. Sethi hoped that the government could take a
pragmatic view in spectrum allocation considering certain key issues. “The
government should not go for adhoc allocation, but take a long term view,” he
said.

Besides, he said that
the economy of the scale of equipment available should be factored, while
allocating spectrum. Sethi also emphasized on the need to keep out non-serious
players, check hoarding of spectrum, and that allocation should be need-based.
Sethi said government has learnt a lot from international experiences so, it is
unlikely that it will come out with a policy having a negative impact. He hoped
that the new telecom policy would boost 3G.

Session 2: Global Success Stories

Participating in the session on global success stories that focused on
learnings from international experiences, Dr Ishwar Pittampalli, CTO, Lucent,
said that it's the market force that will decide what's going to be the most
efficient way of using the spectrum. “Most of the time regulators are
government bodies and they cannot predict what's going to happen down the
road. Moreover, they cannot keep up with the pace at which the technology is
evolving. So, I think they should know how to use spectrum through the market
force. That's one lesson that I have learned from speaking to operators and
regulators across the globe,” he said. He also said that allocation of
spectrum should be on equal basis. This means it should be technology neutral.
It should be left to the operators to decide how they want to use a particular
band. And the regulators should not dictate what service or application should
be offered in a particular band, said Pittampalli.

Talking about lessons
that India can learn is not just about voice, but much more. Dr G Venkatesh, CTO,
Sasken Communications, said that basically number of challenges from the
perspective of end-to-end testing ensuring that services are stabilized before
they are deployed. “The cycle of planning, stabilizing, testing, and deploying
becomes more complex as we go to 3G. The integration challenges are very hard
because you are bringing in IT related technologies, bringing in security
related things, bringing in video etc. on one platform and then try to deliver
it. All that makes 3G much more complex,” he said. However, many of these
trials and tribulations have been taken care of and many of the technologies
have stabilized before coming to India, which is good for India.

For Mehul Desai, CEO,
C-Sam, 3G is really about applications. “People seem too inclined to pay for
'say something about myself' kind of applications,” he remarked, adding
that it could mean paying a bill on your phone or sending money cross border, it
could mean anything, but common theme would be secure personalized applications.
He also pointed out as much as it is about applications, the need of the
applications from market to market was very different. “You need to go beyond
voice and data, by data I mean content and broadcast data, it needs to be more
about personalized transaction and personalized applications, then whatever is
provided needs to cover the entire spectrum because there are opportunities and
adoption could come from anywhere,” he added.

Delphine Reffet, HP,
emphasized the need to work closely with local application and software
developers. She called upon Indian operators to exploit the vast pool of Indian
developers for developing applications that can make 3G successful. She also
said that the infrastructure that is deployed should be scaleable and standard
compliant. “Interoperability and manageability of applications is a must for
any infrastructure that is deployed,” she added.

Referring to a survey
of operators by E&Y, which found many operators admitting that they were
grappling with 3G implementation and they are still far away from success,
Shailin Desai, Manager, E&Y, as of now there is no one magic formula for 3G
success, but the operators are doing very innovative things. “For instance, in
Australia, Telstra and 3 have got together and to set up the entire network.
Telstra and 3 would use the same network. This is an innovative move to save on
the set up cost of a 3G network,” he said.

John J Sheen, MD, ABSI,
observed that if one looks at how people are approaching convergence, you have
to really learn from how the Koreans have decided to roll our their networks. He
said that when the operators believed the vendors and believed it as a bible,
they paid too much and when they decided to look at the functionality of the
respective networks and how to apply the technology in their deployments, they
started making from that. “It is really about application, it's all about
content,” he emphasized. Referring again to Korea, he said that working on
standard technologies is much better than believing a vendor.

Session 3: 3G Strategies for Indian Service Providers

Talking about 3G strategies for Indian service providers, Anil Tandan, VP,
Networks, Idea Cellular, observed that as far as capex is concerned for existing
operators there is a distinct advantage. They can use their existing
infrastructure and not put exclusively new sites just for 3G network.
He said that at times, the question that arises is, what about those who
have a 900 MHz network and are now going for a network, which is 1800 MHz? How
do you handle that? “Typically what has happened is that all the networks in
the area where you are going for 3G network is going to be a capacity limited so
therefore it is not a coverage issue. So, the existing sites would suffice for
putting up the 1800 or 1900 0r 2100 3G network,” he added. He also said that
operators cannot have a pure 3G, but a 2G and 3g co-existing.

Ajay Madan, CEO, Essar
Spacetel, was of the view that with more competition in the 3G handset space
it's quite certain that prices of 3G handsets would be definitely go down to
the level where they can be affordable to the Indians. He was hopeful that very
soon there would be a 60 dollar 3G handset in the market. “Let's take a case
in point where a new operator comes in who wants to role out a completely new 3G
network alone. What should be the business case for it? What would be the
bottlenecks for these operators” Madan wondered. He was of the view that for a
new operator the capex on the infrastructure would be the same as for a 2G
operator.   He also said that
out-roaming would not be an issue, but in-roaming could be a problem.

Talking about the 3G
infrastructure, Prakash Ranjalkar, COO, GTL Infrastructure, emphasized that if
3G has to reach and benefit the masses covering India as a whole would become
critical. He noted that there is a case for innovation and India is always at
the forefront of innovation for bringing down cost of delivery.

Sandeep Gupte, principle technology officer, Bharti
Cellular, Mumbai, felt that handset costs should not be a worrying point, as
market forces and volumes would drive the handset costs down. He also emphasized
that 3G should not be looked at from a high-end application perspective.
“Let's not only look at high end applications such video streaming, you can
also have a simple application such location-based service. 3G is not only
adding mobility to the Internet it is more than that,'' he added. Referring
to the success of site sharing among operators in India, Gupte said that 60% of
the cost of 3G network can be shared by operators. “If this is achieved, 3G
can surely be a low cost solution,” he added.

Session 4: Content-Enablers and Opportunities

Initiating the discussion on the session on content enablers and
opportunities, Amit Dev, director-Technologies and Content, Time Broadband, said
that 3G is a great opportunity both in terms of content and access. “Most of
the countries where 3G is already there have really done more than just adding
revenue to the ARPU scale. The countries' economy, executive efficiency and
outlook has been multiplied and catalyzed by the broadband delivery and
communication and interactive services, which can ride on 3G. Actually the value
is there,” he pointed out.

Samir Bangara, VP,
Indiagames, said that it's not too much about technology, but the user
experience. Taking the example of multi-player and connected experience in
gaming, he pointed out that the existing platform solutions are not necessarily
providing the users the best experience. This should improve on 3G leading to
larger adoption of gaming.

Arun Gupta, COO, Mauj,
said that besides the speed, operatvors in India need to enable offnet portals
that is now increasingly driving the business in lot of countries such as the US
and Europe. “Operators need to enable third party portals. Besides billing,
reconciliation and settlement issues also need to be taken care of in order to
improve the entire mobile user experience,'' he said.

Vikas Mittersain, MD,
Nazara Technologies, was of the view that unlike in the 2 or 2.5G where in 90%
of revenues comes from voice and just 10 per cent from data and content, it's
going to be opposite in 3. And that's where the opportunity lies for content
developers, he said. He hoped that content developers would become more
important for operators in that scenario.

Ishwar Jha, head-IT,
Zee Networks, wondered if there is a content readiness in terms of putting them
on the mobile platform. The second problem, according to him, is that of
standardization of content so that they can be delivered to any mobile device.
Knowing and understanding what kind of content consumers actually want is also
important, according to Jha.

Pankaj Sethi,
VP-Content and Application, Tata Teleservices, said that the large owners of
content and also the large owners of brands worldwide who have spent years
establishing the brand may ask for off portal present. This is because they feel
that brand is important and keeping control of that would be valuable. He also
talked about several hurdles that need to be crossed.

Stating that it is not
the question of technology, Krishna Durba, head-sales and marketing (Application
Solutions and Content) Reliance Infocomm, said that the key challenge is what
is: the content that can be consumed in the largest quantity? “That will
address whole lot issues in terms of revenue or value for everybody in the
content value chain,'' he added. He felt that the mobile screen seems to be
converging more towards TV then Internet. Given that, he added, in 3G consumer
demand would be more for rich media services.

Cautioning that these
are early days for 3G, Neeraj Roy, MD, Hungama, said that there is going to be
lot of experimentation. A lot has to be done with the way content is marketed,
as a consumer would surely need a trigger to download a content, he said.

Sonia
Sharma


sonias@cybermedia.co.in