Wireless bridge to close digital divide
Much
of the recent telecom growth in India has happened out of thin air. Of course,
this is no magic. It is the era of wireless communication enabled by
radio spectrum and guided by robust forward-looking policy and
regulatory framework.
Humans are sociable beings and given an opportunity, they would start
communicate with their fellow beings. Though every zoological species has its
own language, humans have made up their own multiple languages and the ways to
express through them. Robinson Crusoe created his own language to communicate
with Friday at the lonely island.
History as well as folktales has numerous instances of pigeons that were fussed
over and trained to send messages across great distances. Similarly, messengers
traveled great distances to carry the messages of the royals. Scriptures were
memorized and spread literally through the word of the mouth.
Telegraph, Telephones, Radio, TV, mobile and Internet have been some of the
major innovations in the past two centuries. On one hand modern technology
brought progress, on the other it created further distances between the people
who wanted or needed to communicate.
However, the availability, accessibility and affordability of these have not
been uniform. About half of the human population on this planet is yet to have
the first telephonic conversation while only about one-tenth have actually used
the Internet. Situation is more acute in the developing countries due to poor
telecom infrastructure, low GDP per capita and high levels of illiteracy.
National priorities have become more complex such that the focus is on ICT
(Information & Communication Technology) access and not just on the
telephones. For example, India’s National Telcom Policy, 1994 (NTP 1994)
talked more about phones whereas the New Telecom Policy, 1999 (NTP 1999) expands
the scope to include affordable information access as well.
India’s telecom infrastructure is fifth largest in the world if one considers
the number of telephone line capacity installed. However, when we consider the
sheer size of one billinon plus population the penetration level is quite low.
When we include the low level of Internet subscriber base and the high cost of
access with respect to the purchasing power parity (PPP) as well as other
aspects, ITU places India at 117th
rank in its recently published figures for Digital Access
Index (DAI).
The real challenge today is
not to take the tele-density to 15 (as mentioned in the NTP 1999) in the
country but rather to include the large population and make a
significant impact on their quality of life and levels of education, thereby
utilizing their innate capabilities towards socio-economic growth.
Much of the recent telecom
growth in the country has happened out of thin air. Of course, this is no
magic. It is the era of wireless communication enabled by radio spectrum and
guided by robust forward-looking policy and regulatory framework.
Earlier, to make a telephone
line available at a home in urban area through copper laid underground, one
required a capital expenditure of more than US$ 800 whereas now it costs just
around US $ 200 per line through wireless.
Radio spectrum is a natural
resource and its usage is controlled and regulated by governments or bodies
set up by the governments while at international levels, ITU (International
Telecommunications Union) a specialized body under the United Nations (UN)
carries out this function.
Due to strategic nature of
spectrum and the high potential of harmful interference to other users, the
system of licensing was begun such that not only a radio that would talk (like
a broadcast station) but also a receiver that could only listen (e.g. TV or
transistor sets) required licenses. Till about two decades back, one required
a license to even own a transistor set in India! In 1995, the Supreme Court
had held that the airwaves (radio frequencies) are actually public properties
and hence, must be used optimally in the larger public interest.
Technology has evolved such
that the same wire (or, for that matter, wireless channel) coming into a home
is capable of carrying the triple play of voice, video and data. In this
context, it is important to assess the issues related to spectrum usage for
the larger public interest.
The prevailing system of
piece-by-piece licensing just would not work at a large scale, given the
enormous paper-work, slow decision-making and high administered costs.
Considering that the spectrum
is an economic resource, one would tend to place a value thereon. However, in
the absence of any market mechanism such valuations are more often than not
arbitrary. At the same time, due to the ‘first come, first served’
processes for spectrum assignments, there is little scope or incentive for new
technologies to survive, let alone thrive.
In the US, FCC (Federal
Communications Commission) de-licensed usage of 2.4-2.4835 GHz band in the
early eighties through Part 15 rules. WPC did impose some limits on power
emission. This seemingly simple but revolutionary step attracted attention of
many a technologist and innovator.
Microwave ovens, cordless
phones, security alarms, remote car locks and many other usages appeared.
However, Wi-Fi is probably the most significant of these for the discussion
subject. Wi-fi is a shortened version for the term ‘wireless fidelity’ and
is based on the 802.11 series of standards set up under the aegis of Institute
of Electrical and Electronics Engineers (IEEE).
Though Wi-Fi may operate in
the 2.4 GHz band as well as in the 5 GHz band, it is more popular in the
former as this band has been de-licensed in many other countries and resulting
in the continuous lowering of the equipment cost over the years.
Though Wi-Fi was developed as
a wireless LAN (Local Area Network) technology, with slight tweaking and
innovative thinking it can be adopted for long-distance outdoor usage as well.
For example, IIT, Kanpur deployed such a network in its neighbourhood, aptly
titled ‘Digital Gangetic Plains’ (DGP).
Though indoor usage of Wi-Fi
had been de-licensed in April 2003, it is highly desirable that certain
frequency bands (to start with, 2.4-2.4835 GHz) are totally de-licensed, with
some operative parametric limitations only.
IEEE has recently standardized
802.16 (Wimax) technology which makes it possible to deploy wireless networks
in a point to multipoint networks upto 25 kilometers (kms). Major
semiconductor manufacturers have joined the initiative for development of
chips, which can work across a range of spectrum so that the systems can be
tuned to the particular frequencies authorized in different geographies. By
combining the radio on the CPU (Central Processing Unit) of the upcoming
devices, not only the cost would come down but also the systems will be
simpler to design and operate. As the National Frequency Allocation Plan is
currently under revision, suitable provisions must be made for Wimax – both
for outdoor and indoor usage, in line with the WRC-03 (World Radio Conference
– 2003) resolutions. Eminent economist
Arvind Virmani has also suggested differential pricing of spectrum in urban
areas and rural areas rather than the prevailing system of uniform pricing.
Per capita GDP of the local geography could be another variable for
consideration.
Of course, wireless alone
cannot work. Going forward, we shall have enormous bandwidth in the core
networks made largely of optical fiber cables. We shall continue to have
cellular networks based on technologies like GSM and CDMA.
We shall have Optical Fibre
Cable or Wireless point-to-point links going to the rural areas. Beyond that,
in the local vicinity it might be a point-to-point or mesh network, using
Wimax. Again, inside a home, it might be a Wi-Fi network connecting various
devices across the rooms while an Internet-enabled slate (tablet computer!)
and speech-synthesised system is connected via Bluetooth.
In
2002, when Wimax had not yet been standardized, Kofi Annan, the Secretary
General of UN, urged the crème’ de le crème’ of the Silcon Valley to use
Wi-Fi to make Internet access to the deprived in the developing countries
using innovative solutions like Wi-Fi!
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