Grow Up Associations!

Some time ago, much before Indians made it to the top in the US corporations,
much before the Indian surname got one VC money easily in Silicon Valley, and
much before some of the Indians made it to the lists of the richest in the US,
one NRI gentleman, my friend’s uncle, had made an observation : in the US,
there is Tamil association, Oriya association, Telugu association... but no
Indian association.

Why I cite this is not to discuss the issues concerning Indian diaspora, but
to simply draw a parallel. I am referring to the various associations that we in
Indian telecom have today. We have the Cellular Operators Associations of India
(COAI), we have the Association of Basic Telecom Operators (ABTO), we have the
Internet Service Providers Association of India (ISPAI), we have Indian Paging
Services Association (IPSA), we have Telecom Equipment Manufacturers Association
(TEMA), we have Telecom Cable Developers Association (TCDA)... But there is no
Telecom Association of India.

Many officials associated with various telecom associations think that they won't enjoy the importance they do within the industry, if they are not seen as active lobbyists. How wrong! Shyamanuja Das

What is the need for an association? In India, if you ask this question,
invariably you will get an answer that would put it as lobbying with the
government as the prime function, may be in different words. In the highly
regulated markets, that is largely true. Especially in a segment like telecom
that is still in the phase of transition.

But there are other functions of an association too. Take CTIA in North
America for example. They not only do market development exercises, but are even
involved in standards making. Or closer home, look at Nasscom. Only a small part
of its job is lobbying with the government. No one who is remotely aware of
Indian IT needs to be told what it has done for the Indian IT (and now ITES,
even if I disagree with that terminology) industry.

Yes, telecom is still regulated and requires much more lobbying activity than
computer software. Yet, it is difficult to believe that an association’s job
is restricted to that. All of us acknowledge that Indian telecom has changed a
lot in the last eight years. The market liberalization has happened, though
somewhat slowly, to a great extent. Isn’t it natural to assume that the issues
that remain to be lobbied for have come down drastically?

Many senior industry people agree with this privately. Many of them talk
about the need to concentrate on market development. But few associations do
that.

It may sound a little harsh, but I believe that many officials associated
with these associations think that they won’t enjoy the importance they do
today within the industry, if they are not seen as active lobbyists. While it
may be true partially, it cannot be a reason for not taking pioneering steps.

These pioneering steps could include market development, such as market
research, setting of quality-of-service parameters, helping consumers getting
educated about new services and technologies. With competitive pressure building
up, common awareness building is what the industry has to take on sooner or
latter.

These pioneering steps would include discussing the issue of importance to
industry in a platform that gives true importance to genuine idea sharing–whether
the cause is common or conflicting. After seeing the kind of response that we
get in the Top View series of panel discussions, I am no longer willing to take
the arguments that senior industry executives do not turn up, if the minister
and/or the secretary are not invited. And they come only for networking.

These steps could involve working closely with the government to decide on
standards for India. Tomorrow, India is going to be the biggest telecom market
in the world.

However, all this requires that many times–I will be naïve to assume
always–the different segments of industry should speak in a common voice. That
could mean having a common association of telecom industry in India–which
would do lobbying as well, but give more importance to other industry-wide
issues, which are common to all segments.

Ideally, it should be one telecom industry association with strong technical
and marketing committees that should have experts in the area, drawn from all
sub-segments, who could add value through their contribution to the whole
industry. After all, Metcalf’s Law also holds true for industry networking.

The sooner the associations graduate to next level of industry ‘development’,
the better it is for their future. Else, their role will soon be restricted to
preparing memoranda and providing quotes for the lazy journalists! n