'The simplest way to connect the masses is to make the cost structure more reasonable'

Kevin Kahn is senior fellow & director,
Communications Technology Labs, Intel, responsible for technologies such as
radio, optical, and copper physical layer technologies, CMOS etc. some of his
primary current focus areas are broadband access to the home, wireless LANs and
PANs, spectrum policy, and related Internet issues. Additionally, he helps drive
communications strategies and policy for Intel.

ow does one go about connecting the
masses?

The issue is how do we give access of the great resource of Internet
to more than a billion people. We should seriously think about how to reach out
to the masses and create opportunity for the much larger percentage of the world
population, and give the advantage the top million people are getting today.

No service provider has shown much
interest in going deep into the rural areas?

That is a real challenge. It is a worst problem in India. But the
problem is still present even in the US. There are several areas in the US where
service providers don't want to penetrate. But, eventually as a society, we
have to figure out how to do it, and create technologies to do it cost
effectively. The simplest way to connect the masses is to make the cost
structure more reasonable.

How are you working with the government of
India?

We are suggesting to the government to look for globally harmonized
spectrum and plan accordingly rather than going for India specific spectrum. If
globally harmonized spectrum is located in India, operators will definitely get
advantage of the scale, so that the cost will automatically come down
irrespective of Intel intervention.

Also, in terms of devices, we are not looking just at the Indian
market but also emerging world markets. We work with them to bring the cost of
devices down. When we are talking of low cost devices, we are not talking of
running all the applications on it, but an effective cost device. The device
will address particular community requirement.

Why do you think broadband has not taken
off in India?

I think there is a natural cycle to these things and you may see the
cycle in India soon.

Are you doing some research on people and
technology in your lab?

Over the last six years, our sociologists and anthropologists are
studying how people use technology in their lives. They are also studying
interaction of religion and technology.

What kind of form factor are you looking
for WiMax device?

You will certainly see a laptop, which is the first target. Nokia is
said to be developing a WiMax enabled phone. WiMax is just an enabler of
technology.

Today, we have laptops, cellphones, and PDA kind of devices.
Interestingly, several people carry all of them. They use them according to
their convenience. You would want those devices to talk to one another and do
what the user wants. Today, they all only talk to the networks. In the future we
should see some devices that communicate seamlessly. For example, I want a
cellphone with no screen, and I want it only as an earpiece. It would be great
if the earpiece has some rudimentary voice recognition, so that when I place a
call I will be perfectly happy not to have screen at all.

Sudesh Prasad


sudeshp@cybermedia.co.in