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India has made giant strides in digital technologies. India has a world-class mobile network<\/a> for voice and data. The large network supports a vibrant digital economy. We have achieved enviable success in our payment systems, and see impressive growth in e-commerce, healthcare, education, transport and entertainment, to name a few.
There are over 100 times more phone connections than the barely 8 million 30 years ago, when India began the telecom reform and deregulation process. We have come a long way from the time when the government was the monopoly provider offering a single service (fixed-line telephony). Mobile services have vastly overtaken fixed-line services. A mix of government and private players provide telephony and data services.
With the sharp growth in access to broadband internet, over 4G, 5G, fibre etc., consumers enjoy hundreds of over-the-top (OTT) services which the large underlying telecom network enables. It is difficult for most internet users a life without access to popular OTT apps and services like Google<\/a>, Facebook, Twitter, WhatsApp, Spotify, Gmail, Uber, PayTM etc. Thanks to the telecom network and OTT services<\/a>, the sector significantly reduced the disruption and pain caused by the Covid pandemic. India and its telecom sector have much to be proud of.
The government is therefore right to support and promote digital services as powerful instruments of growth and governance.
However, an occasion like the WTISD<\/a> merits a closer look at the existing gaps and areas in which India could improve or change direction.
A key shortcoming is the huge digital divide in the country. The divide is sadly greater than what is indicated by the statistics put out by the Telecom Regulatory Authority of India (TRAI<\/a>), which report on the number of live telephone or internet connections but not the actual number of unique users. The numbers ignore many users with multiple SIMs, a fact borne out by the over 100% teledensity in metro cities like Delhi and Mumbai and the significant fall in subscriptions in recent years.
Similarly, statistics downplay the challenge of increasingly expensive smartphones and the need for more relevant content, especially in fewer mainstream languages. Less than half of India’s telecom users come from rural areas where the population is nearly twice that of urban. This explains why India is second in the world in connected people and first in those unconnected. Correcting such a divide needs careful regulatory strategies and a mix of inputs like technologies, research, innovation, smart players, entrepreneurship, and business models.
Robust competition and private investment will make the task easier; high regulatory costs will make it harder. Fortunately, India has sufficient evidence of the benefits of a liberal and competitive telecom market. Given the nature and extent of the challenge posed by the digital divide, there is good reason to expand it and mobilize the available technical, financial and business resources.
Special attention will be needed to promote private investment since the government is no longer a major player in the telecom market and, therefore, cannot be seen as a service provider of last resort.
The above analysis, if accepted, provides a set of criteria by which to evaluate some recent government proposals. The first one is the Draft Indian Telecommunications Bill, 2022, which proposes expanding the scope of an already extensive and burdensome licensing regime in the sector.
While currently, providers of all network services require a licence, the Bill proposes to license even OTT services<\/a> like WhatsApp, Zoom etc. This will fragment internet content into two categories – one licensed, the other not- and violate net neutrality. The higher regulatory burden can only shrink the use of OTT services when we should be making it easier and cheaper to access services of obvious popular appeal and relevance.
The same analysis also tells us the problems with the DoT’s interest in auctioning satellite spectrum<\/a>. DoT recently sought TRAI<\/a> recommendations on how this spectrum can be auctioned. It ignored that the satellite players can, and do share spectrum, globally. They simply do not need exclusive access at all. This spectrum is unlike the mobile wireless spectrum, e.g. 2G, 3G, 4G and 5G, where exclusive access is a prerequisite to offering the service.
So, auctions of cellular spectrum promotes its efficient use while the auction of satellite spectrum<\/a> does the opposite by restricting spectrum usage to one player when many can use it easily to provide services. Insisting on auctioning satellite spectrum will help a bigger player corner it and reduce competition between players and technologies. It will make it less likely for satellite services to be used in rural areas where they are the best option and where services are needed most urgently.
India can take justified pride in world-class cellular services. There is every reason to lower the regulatory burden for such services. However, increasing the burden of providing OTT by licensing them or satellite services by making it prohibitive to access spectrum is a bad way to reward the success of cellular players.
On WTISD India must focus on expanding access to telecom services by doing all possible to improve the economics and ease of providing competitive networks and services.
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世界电信日:在印度,也有失误
“强劲的竞争和私人投资将使这项任务变得更加简单;高监管成本将使它更加困难。幸运的是,印度有足够的证据,一个自由和竞争激烈的电信市场的好处。鉴于所带来的挑战的性质和范围的数字鸿沟,有很好的理由扩大动员可用的技术,金融和商业资源,”Uppal说。
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印度在数字技术已经取得了巨大的进步。印度有一个世界级的移动网络语音和数据。大型网络支持一个充满活力的数字经济。我们取得了令人羡慕的成功在我们的支付系统,并看到令人印象深刻的增长,电子商务、医疗、教育、交通和娱乐,等等。
有超过100倍比30年前几乎800万电话连接,当印度开始电信改革和放松管制的过程。我们已经走过了漫长的道路的时候,政府垄断供应商提供一个服务(固定电话)。移动服务已经远远超过固定电话服务。政府和私人的玩家提供电话和数据服务。
宽带网络的大幅增长,超过4 g, 5克、纤维等,消费者享受数百言过其实的(OTT)服务的大型基础电信网络支持。是很困难的对于大多数互联网用户没有访问的生活流行的奥特应用程序和服务谷歌、Facebook、Twitter、WhatsApp, Spotify, Gmail, Uber, PayTM等等。由于电信网络和奥特服务,该行业显著降低造成的破坏和痛苦Covid大流行。印度和中国电信行业有很多值得骄傲的地方。
政府因此权利支持和促进数字服务增长和治理的强大工具。
然而,这样的场合WTISD优点仔细看看印度的现有差距和地区可以改善或改变方向。
一个关键的缺点是巨大的数字鸿沟。分裂是可悲的是大于由统计数据表示的印度电信管理局(火车),报告现场电话或互联网连接的数量而不是独立用户的实际数量。数字忽略许多用户与多个SIMs,超过100%的事实证实电话密度在德里和孟买地铁等城市和近年来订阅的明显下降。
同样,统计淡化的挑战日益昂贵的智能手机和需要更多的相关内容,尤其是在更少的主流语言。不到一半的印度电信用户来自农村地区的人口是城市的近两倍。这就解释了为什么印度是世界上第二个连接在那些无关的人,第一次。纠正这样的划分需要仔细监管策略和混合输入技术,研究、创新、聪明的球员,企业家精神,和商业模式。
强劲的竞争和私人投资将使这项任务变得更加简单;高监管成本将使它更加困难。幸运的是,印度有足够的证据,一个自由和竞争激烈的电信市场的好处。鉴于所带来的挑战的性质和范围的数字鸿沟,有很好的理由扩大动员可用的技术,金融和商业资源。
需要特别注意促进私人投资因为政府不再是一个主要玩家在电信市场上,因此,不能被视为最后的服务提供者。
上面的分析,如果接受,提供了一组标准来评估政府最近的一些建议。第一个是印度电信法案草案,2022年提出了扩大的范围已经广泛的行业和繁重的许可制度。
而目前,所有网络服务提供商需要许可证,该法案提出许可奥特服务WhatsApp,缩放等。这将片段互联网内容分为两类——一个许可,其他不违反网络中立。较高的监管负担只能缩小奥特的使用服务时我们应该更便宜更容易访问服务和相关性明显受欢迎的吸引力。
同样的分析也告诉我们拍卖的兴趣的问题点卫星光谱。点最近寻求火车建议如何将这个频谱拍卖。卫星玩家可以忽略,共享频谱,在全球范围内。他们根本不需要独占访问。这个频谱与移动无线频谱,例如2 g、3 g, 4 g和5克,独占访问是提供服务的先决条件。
所以,拍卖的细胞谱系促进其有效使用的拍卖卫星光谱做相反的通过限制频谱使用一个球员当许多可以使用它轻松地提供服务。坚持拍卖卫星光谱将有助于一个更大的球员角落,减少玩家之间的竞争和技术。它将使它不太可能使用卫星服务在农村地区,他们是最好的选择,最迫切需要的服务。
印度可以采取合理的骄傲在世界级的移动通信服务。我们完全有理由降低此类服务的监管负担。然而,增加的负担提供奥特通过许可或卫星服务通过禁止访问频谱是一个糟糕的方式奖励细胞成功的球员。
WTISD印度必须专注于扩大电信服务通过所有可能的改善提供竞争力的经济学和减轻网络和服务。
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