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What are the current trends in EV-DO and WCDMA globally?
What is happening is that EV-DO is being deployed in the USA, and WCDMA in
Europe. Japan and Korea already have EV-DO. There are 38 mn EV-DO subscribers
and 74 mn WCDMA, and almost 369 mn total 3G subscribers-so it's happening in
a big way. But the biggest thing that is happening is that the cell phone as a
device is becoming very important and it's getting the power of the PC, better
connectivity; it also has a very healthy ecosystem of application developers.
Mobile handsets today stand on three pillars: broadband, broadcast and
application. This in itself is becoming a very powerful source of information.
Realizing that and making it happen from the regulation, technology and
partnership point of view is what is needed today.
Which are the challenges and issues delaying deployment of
this technology, especially in a country like India?
First of all we have to create a regulatory environment, which encourages
something like this. Today's regulatory environment is voice-centric, there is
no incentive for people to deploy data. Secondly, from the business point of
view, there has to be a lot of transparency so that different things can be
deployed. As far as people being able to buy it...I think there is a lot of
disposable income. If we are able to create value through technology people will
find ways to support it. They are putting PCs in villages, which is very-very
good, but with the cell phone the impact will be much bigger.
There is a difference of price in WCDMA and EV-DO handsets;
how do you plan to equalize this?
Well, it's very difficult to answer. We can start by asking why we need
3G? We need 3G for good data experience and doing advanced functions. So with 3G
comes better screen, better plastics and people want a well-machined handset,
and all this makes pricing a very complicated issue. The key things that will
dominate the prices will be the things we discussed before-the screen, the
plastics etc.
What according to you is the future in terms of technology
and handsets?
In my view the cell phone is becoming many different things at one time. It
owns at least 50% of the pockets of the population worldwide. Compared to the
PC, the ecosystem of the cell phone is much bigger. The question is what can a
cell phone do? We have already seen it as a TV and soon we will see it becoming
a PC and a wallet or credit card. It can also act as a connection for rural
countries for services such as banking, healthcare, etc. The possibilities are
immense and it gives people scope to express their creativity. There is lot of
interesting things we can do with a phone depending on the requirements of the
countries or communities.
Sonia Sharma
sonias@cybermedia.co.in
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