Telecommunications
10,000 mobile phones sold in India every hr
June 19, 2008, Business Standard
The availability of low cost handsets has meant that mobiles are now within the reach of almost anyone. This news-report shows that over the past year (April 2007- March 2008), there has been a tremendous growth in the handset market. In this period, India shipped close to 85 million hand-sets, registering a growth of 29% over the previous year. In the last quarter of financial year 2008, the figure has touched 22.3 million handsets, which accounts for the 10,000 mobiles per hour.
Fixed mobile convergence: subscriber’s ultimate dream!
May 2008, Deepa Tyagi, egov
Surveying India's telecom sector, this article points out the great possibilities that it offers as well as the crucial issues that impede India's progress in this field. The author takes the example of fixed mobile convergence (FMC), which is considered as the telecom business of the future. FMC will enable the user to have a uniform service experience, both while on the move and at the home or office combining the convenience, freedom of movement and personalised services of the wireless world with the high quality and speed of fixed communications.
DoT to allow niche operators in rural areas
March 27, 2008, The Business Line
Teledensity rates in rural India is still quite abysmal, the latest figures showing them to be 20 times less than that in urban areas such as Mumbai and Delhi. However, this sector has been given a fillip by the government which is now allowing niche operators to provide services in rural areas. These operators can lease the telecom infrastructure from the big telecom players and provide services to their particular area.
Broadband and governance: Empowerment or illusion?
September 19, 2007, Vickram Crishna
The communication revolution over the last 50 years has evolved from circuit switched analogue signals to packet based digital transmission. However, telephony and communication services has remained the preserve of large companies and has been based on the resource reservation paradigm. However, recent advances in packet delivery technology has spawned the possibility of developing voice and data delivery systems that move away from the traditional circuit switched model.
Department of Telecommunications (DoT) to fund innovations in telecom technology
December 26, 2007,Indiatimes Infotech
This news article reports that the DoT has decided to fund innovations in communication technologies developed by small companies, entrepreneurs, universities or NGOs. The Universal Service Obligation Fund (USOF), where currently over Rs 10,000 crore lie unutilised, will be used for this purpose.
Spectrum Wars - Why an auction is not the solution
Decmber 26, 2007, The Hindu Business Line
Discussing 'spectrum wars' (the wireless spectrum required for connection from the user to the last network element viz., the radio base station), T. H. Chowdary, Director, Centre for Telecom Management & Studies, Hyderabad, notes that the mindset of the Indian telecommunications administrators is still ruled by the 'permit-license-quota' approach. An example given is the decision in the early nineties to allow licensees of mobile telephony to use only GSM and not any other technology.
SC upholds TRAI's powers to regulate broadcasting sector
January 4, 2008, Business Line
This bureau report is about the dismissal by the Supreme Court of India of the petition by Star, a major Indian broadcaster, challenging the amendment to the TRAI act that aims at regulating the broadcasting sector. The provision introduced in the act after the amendment says that the Centre can bring other services within the ambit of Telecom Act and the Government has issued the notification for regulating broadcasting services by TRAI.
A towering biz for telecom
December 24, 2007, Deccan Herald
As telecom revolution extends to rural India, telecom operators are realising that the infrastructure sharing may be the best way option. To meet national teledensity goals and reach out to rural markets, three companies have merged their infrastructure assets to form Indus Towers, a subsidiary company that aims to provide passive infrastructure services in the form of 70,000 telecom towers to all operators on a non-discriminatory basis.
Telecom sector is fuelling OSS growth
November 28, 2007, Times News Network
This interview with Nandu Pradhan, President and Managing Director of Red Hat India, discusses the future of open source software and the company's new strategies for increasing its market share in enterprise servers to 50%. Pradhan envisions an open source future where users can work freely on any platform, and all platforms are interoperable and not locked to any particular file format.
Phones at the bottom of the pyramid: Telecom accessibility
October 2007, Ayesha Zainuddin and Anu Samarajiva, I4donline
The article takes a look at the prevalent situation with respect to the impact of ICT, and specifically mobile phone technology on most marginalised groups in society today. A recent survey conducted in some countries in the sub-continent and South-East Asia throws up stark contrasts in usage of mobile phones with respect to gender, and shows a distinct male bias with regard to access to such technologies.
