Ficci Frames 2017: Connecting the unconnected consumer

The panel discussed the status of digital infrastructure and connectivity in India, the challenges, the learnings and focus on the way ahead

BestMediaInfo Bureau | Mumbai | March 22, 2017

(L-R) Neeraj Roy, J S Deepak, Anuj Gandhi, Rajan S Mathews and Ranjana Narawane

4G services have finally begun in India and over the last six months have changed the market dynamics in the telecom sector. There have been multiple challenges in terms of pricing, connectivity and spectrum among other matters.

The panel at the 18^th edition of Ficci Frames discussed the status of digital infrastructure and connectivity in India, the challenges, the learnings and focus on the way ahead. The journey of transforming content to adapt to various 4G platforms will only come after overcoming the odds. The topic of discussion was 'Connecting the unconnected -- upgrading technology and infrastructure to the last mile.'

J S Deepak, India's Ambassador designate to WTO, was the keynote speaker while it was moderated by Neeraj Roy, Managing Director and CEO, Hungama Digital Media Entertainment. The panellists included Anuj Gandhi, Group CEO, India CastMedia Distribution, Rajan S Mathews, Director General, Cellular Operators Association of India and Ranjana Narawane, Industry Capacity Lead for Communication Media and Technology, Accenture Technology.

Deepak began his keynote by addressing the challenges and opportunities in the telecom industry. He initially outlined some aspects of the telecom industry. The Indian telecom industry is dominated by private sectors and is completely dependent on the private sector for innovations and investments. The mobile connectivity has been a game changer and has helped leap-frog many stages of development.

“When India got independence, we had 82,000 telephones that increased to about 30 million to 1997. But thereafter when mobile technology came to India in a big way, it snowballed and today we have 1.1 billion subscribers. That's the kind of jump we have had. Today 77 per cent of the lowest quintile has access to mobile phones but only 17 per cent has access to tap water. This is the extent of the telecom revolution. Today we at the same tipping point for data consumption,” he added.

There are three challenges the industry faces. First is the availability of broadband. Only 18 per cent of Indian households have access to broadband. Second is digital literacy, meaning at least one person in a family knows how to access internet on a mobile, laptop or desktop. The digital literacy rate is very low. Lastly, most of the digital content is in English language. There is very little content in other languages. There is lot more potential in terms of expanding into content in other languages. End-to-end connectivity is a problem and is cyber security. There's a huge and growing opportunity for us. Deepak expects 90 per cent of government work to go paperless in the next years.

Adding a content perspective to the discussion, Gandhi said, “I'd like to focus on the content side. There are about 850 television channels, 300 radio stations and tonnes of content is available on YouTube. The infrastructure is building but the challenge is two-folded. One is the wired broadband connectivity. We will get enough speed to consume content. But when we need to consume 4k content we will need to build last-mile connectivity. Some of the work is happening at a telecom level but I think a lot of work has happened by the multi-system operators (MSOs). If you see rest of the world, a lot of the last-mile connectivity was shared between the MSOs and the telecom operators. I think that is something we've missed in this country. If we don't get our act together then I think the gap will remain. While we leap-frog from landlines to mobile phone, we've missed building the last mile. That infrastructure needs to evolve itself for us to get 100 mbps in one line.”

He added, “About two decades back we were an analogue market with only 70 channels. A decade back we didn't even have direct-to-home (DTH). But in the last five years we've grown leaps and bounds in terms of availability of content. I'm very hopeful and hopefully we'll build some of that our self.”

Coming from a telecom association, Mathews enlightened the audience on how India wants everything but at no cost. He said, “We're the second largest voice network in the world and we're the largest market for data consumption. The problem is we all want it free. How do telecom players then monetise? In all developed countries there have been protective measures that have been taken to ensure that the consumer is paying and the telecom provider is making revenues. The lack of that has hit the market and I think we should build that.”

Narawane on the other hand raised the question 'are we covering the needs of that person completely? Answering the question, she said, “There is a huge potential to connect the unconnected. The need to connect the unconnected and is to be able to avail these services. To do so we question ourselves, do we have the network, do we have the content, and the answer is yes we do. We have 2G, 3G and 4G and there are video services delivered via Asha and other mobile devices. We do have the services. The second point I would think about is about data, which is provided to us with a Whatsapp or a video. Lastly, how do we understand if this is what the connected or unconnected person wants? And that is analytics and that is where the focus is. Google already has APIs to do analytics to do frame by frame video. I think the goal is clear, the aspiration of India is clear – the thing is how fast can we get there? It has to be through regulation, our ambition to move forward and through smart commercial model which will help increase this whole digital transformation in India.”

In conclusion, Roy said, “The industry does seem to have a bright future. The panel is certain about 650 million consumers accessing internet but aren't able to make a call as to how many people are going to pay for services. Deepak also expects 90 per cent of government work to go paperless in the next years.”

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