Direct access to infrastructure of each member country would improve connectivity

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India has been doing its bit in bringing down the tariff of international calls within Saarc countries. What more do you think needs to be done to make Saarc a better connected region?
Currently, the routing of communications traffic within the member states is via various paths on the basis of bilateral agreements between the operators of member countries. There are no direct routes amongst most of the operators in this region. Many of them still route their traffic through other international carriers. This results in higher cost for communication within the SAARC region. Recent studies among the Saarc countries and the rest of the world show that calls to rest of the world are cheaper than within the region. Establishing direct access to infrastructure of each member country would improve connectivity within the region.

What do you think are the key issues of the telecom industry in the Saarc region today, and what must be done to resolve these?
I believe there are certain concerns that need attention to improve regional connectivity within Saarc countries, and they have been discussed at various levels. It has been recognized that an effective and economical regional telecommunications regime is an essential factor of connectivity, encouraging the growth of people-centric partnerships. The need for the member states is to endeavor to move towards a uniformly applicable low tariff, for international direct dial calls within the region.

Secondly, bridging the digital divide and ensuring higher penetration of broadband in rural and remote areas is one of the priority areas for developing countries. There are many emerging access technologies to facilitate broadband in rural areas but no clear framework is available to evaluate these technologies for adoption. Selection of technology has wide implications in terms of availability of spectrum, subscriber and equipment, capability to support future ICT applications, guaranteed quality of service, etc.

A lot of work for multi-lingual support is in progress including some projects in India. Unicode is being adopted to support various languages but it still has glitches. The matter needs to be discussed on a bigger canvas to ensure multi-lingual support in different software and applications.

More spectrum efficient technologies need to be adopted and the infrastructure needs to be upgraded by the service providers in the region, to maintain quality of service being provided to customers.

Developing countries are in the process of migrating to next generation networks (NGN). Telecom service providers have already initiated their move towards NGN by implementing IP-based core network. In addition to investment, there may be regulatory and technological issues, which have to be addressed on a priority basis.

It is argued that regulators must encourage NGN deployments to encourage broadband penetration and convergence. Long-term predictable policies to promote these objectives are a prerequisite when creating an enabling environment for migration to NGN.

Setting up study working groups is an effective way to address the issues, some of which could be country specific, and then working out possible solutions. Working groups under the South Asian Telecom Regulators Council (SATRC) are working on many of these issues.

India has seen a revolution in the field of telecommunications. What lessons can other Saarc regions learn from India?
The key to the growth of telecom sector in India has been liberalization, reforms and competition. Forward-looking and even hand-regulation by the independent statutory regulatory body has promoted competition and consumer interest. The positive regulatory framework has played a major role in achieving the tremendous growth of the telecom sector, which is contributing significantly to the growth of the Indian economy and development process.

The policy objectives of the Telecom Regulatory Authority of India (Trai) has been to facilitate consumer choice and promote competition so as to facilitate availability of service of desirable quality at affordable price by encouraging technological development in the country. The service providers in the region must focus on customer satisfaction.

In India, a large number of new mobile subscribers have to now come from rural areas. Some operators in SAARC have set some remarkable examples in this direction. What models do you think India can pick from there?
The pioneering work of Grameenphone in Bangladesh has extended the benefits of affordable telecommunications access in a sustainable, profitable and empowering way. The challenge of the day is to search for new and cost-effective ways to rollout telecom services in the rural areas. Entrepreneurs in India can take the cue from the Grameenphone model to work out a model suitable to Indian conditions.

Saarc as a region has been lagging behind when it comes to applying green practices to telecom. What can the service providers in region do to make telecom green?
The main issues in green telecom are reduction of green house gas emissions (carbon dioxide nitrous oxide, etc), reduction in power consumption, and proper disposal of unserviceable equipment.

Mobile telecom networks require power for operation. In markets with less reliable grid power, a part of this energy comes from diesel fuel, more so in rural areas. Adding hundreds of millions of rural users can only multiply this destructive environmental impact-unless these users are supported by a sustainable alternative. Gradually awareness to protect the environment has got prominence. Eco-friendly, low-power consuming approaches are to be evaluated and adopted by service providers. Whenever equipments are procured, importance need to be given to the aspect of power consumption and disposability, once the equipment becomes obsolete or unserviceable.

Efforts are being made to use sustainable energy for mass deployment of mobile stations in rural India and to make the solution economically and technically attractive.

How important a role can localization of content play to help mobile services grow in the rural areas in the Saarc region?
Large populations of the Saarc countries are residing in rural areas. Mobile penetration is slow in these areas, and the literacy level of the people is mainly limited to the local language. In such a situation localization of content will play a great role in promoting value added services such as a SMS, etc, on mobile phones, and will help mobile and mobile broadband growth in such rural areas.

What kind of cooperation do you think should be there in the region with respect to telecom?
The South Asian Telecommunications Regulators' Council (SATRC) was formed in 1997 and began functioningunder the auspices of the APT. The Council has been working on issues like radio frequency co-ordination, standards, regulatory trends and strategies for telecommunication development in the region. Effective implementation of the Council's recommendations from these meetings will make these efforts of regional cooperation meaningful.

Heena Jhingan
heenaj@cybermedia.co.in