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How telecom can enrich billion lives in next few years?

2013-12-14T09:47:00.001+05:30

How telecom can enrich billion lives in next few years?

v Bridging the digital connectivity gap

· Overall telecom penetration gap – VLR (Active mobile customers)- 707.3m; If we exclude multiple connections[1] and ~325m population below age of 15[2], somewhere about 375m Indians do not have an active telecom connection yet.

· Rural telecom penetration gap – Almost 500m rural population does not own a phone

· The rural mobile subscriber base is anticipated to grow at a compound annual growth rate of 12% between 2012 and 2016, at nearly twice the expected growth rate of the saturated urban market. It is likely that 62% of the new mobile subscribers added in the next five years will be from the rural market.^{^[3]}The National Telecom Policy (NTP) 2012 also envisages to increase rural teledensity from the current level of around 39 to 70 by the year 2017 and 100 by the year 2020.[4]

· Internet access gap is likely to be bridged in next few years by mobile broadband. 3G subscribers are expected to reach 142 million by 2015, accounting for 12% of the total wireless subscriber base. Further, 3G subscribers are expected to be more than 300 million by 2020, accounting for 20% of the total wireless subscriber base.[5]

v Financial Inclusion through Mobile Platform

· Primary attribute of inclusive growth is financial inclusion which requires greater access to capital.

· Out of approx 1200 million of Indian population, nearly 70 percent lives in rural locations and over 90 million rural households are on farming.

· Approximately 27 percent are indebted to formal sources and 13 percent are availing loans from the banks in the annual income bracket of INR 50,000 or less.

· Millions of people in rural India have little or no access to credit, even from non-institutional sources. Approximately 50 million farmer households in India have not taken any bank credit so far

· Rural banking does not appear to be a financially viable activity for banks either.

· Banks have ~7.4 lac point of sales, ~ 1 lac ATMs, ~94000 branches of scheduled commercial banks[6] , 18.3m credit cards and 302m debit cards[7]. Whereas Telecom Service Providers have ~150 Lac point of sales and cover 80% of Indian geography.

· Mobile platform by creating a branchless banking system for the communities can be a potential tool for financial inclusion.

· Low tariffs and low cost of handset provide a clear value proposition for driving financial inclusion through mobile platforms.

v Efficient delivery of public services

· By virtue of their ubiquitous nature, mobiles enable anytime, anywhere access to and delivery of services, bridging the last mile gap without huge upfront investments, even from rural and remote areas of the country, where computer and internet penetration is still low.

· Department of IT finalised the Mobile Governance Policy Framework in January 2012

· The Framework addresses many essential issues that can help efficient delivery of public service through mobile

o making government websites mobile-compliant,

o developing mobile applications in open standards to become interoperable across various operating systems and devices,

o use of uniform/single pre-designed numbers in the form long/short codes for mobile services,

o creation of Mobile Service Delivery Gateway (MSDG) as the core integrating infrastructure for multi-channel delivery

· Department of Information Technology (DIT), Government of India, has created National e Governance Division (NeGD) as an autonomous business division within Media Lab Asia, under the Ministry of Communications and Information Technology, Government of India, for taking up the tasks being carried out by the Programme Management Unit National e-Governance Plan (PMU-NeGP) at DIT. NeGD through Centre for Development of Advanced Computing (C-DAC), has been developing the modularly-scalable Mobile Service Delivery Platform and Gateway (MSDP/ MSDG)

· Strengthening this framework and bringing more and more government schemes and services under it in next few years can help to bring in inclusive growth

v Effective transfer of benefits under govt. schemes

· The service, based on mobile phones and biometric authentication, can form the core micro-payment platform for the transfer of benefits under various government schemes

v Creating more jobs

· Research conducted by ITU and several other entities have shown direct correlation of increased telecom penetration and broadband access to economic development

· While the telecom industry in the rest of the world obtains 35-50% revenues from non-voice services, India derives only ~15% of sales from non-voice/ data services. Projections by UBS for major telecom players in India indicate that the non-voice revenues are going to be ~30% of total revenues for these players by 2020 With digitization of cable TV services, convergence encompassing TV, broadband and Telecom is possible. All this will shift the focus towards multi lingual content creation and VAS innovation.

· More jobs expected in telecom related equipment and handset manufacturing, network expansions etc

What should be the policy focus?

· Further improve percolation of internet/broadband

· Improve impediments(like Right of Way and tower site clearances) for creating physical infrastructure

· Further enhancement of network capabilities (esp. Optical fiber network) in rural areas

· Improve resilience/robustness of mobile infrastructure esp. for remote areas

· Bring down cost of entry level handsets to below Rs 500 & smart phones and tablets to below Rs 2500; Make available multi-lingual handsets

· Foster innovation in local/rural content and VAS with a focus on regional languages

· Promote R&D and indigenous manufacturing of telecom and related equipments

· Complete integration of mobile delivery infrastructure with the core e-Government backbone infrastructure.

[1] GSMA report says on average every mobile users in India has 2.2 SIM, compared to worldwide average SIM per person of 1.85; If we take world average of 1.85 it means of 921m subscriptions in India, the unique subscribers are about 497.8m

[2] http://www.nationmaster.com/country/in/Age_distribution

[3] Source – Evalueserve research estimates www.evalueserve.com

[4] http://www.dot.gov.in/ntp/NTP-06.06.2012-final.pdf

[5] Enabling the Next Wave of Growth in India : Ernst &Young and FICCI

[6] excludes rural post offices -1.15 lac , co-operative banks, agricultural credit societies, self help groups etc

[7] http://www.rbi.org.in/scripts/ATMView.aspx

Interesting co-opetition between Apple and Samsung

2013-05-06T11:01:00.003+05:30

Samsung and Apple have been vehemently fighting each other over smartphone patents and the market share in various countries, but very few of us know that the two companies remain close collaborators on manufacturing Apple's iPhone. Samsung has a contract for supplying the application processors used in Apple's iPhone!!!! Interesting example of co-opetition.

However as per market news, Samsung may lose its supply contract for the application processors used in Apple's iPhone for the coming year. Apple is now expected to award the contract to TSMC to manufacture all the application processors (APs) used in the 2014 model of its iPhone. Let's wait for the news to be confirmed officially

Is this the beginning of the end of Google's monopoly as a search engine?

2013-04-27T22:09:00.000+05:30

Well this is something which we all go through each day - unconsciously. Have you come across someone who uses internet but has not used Google. For the netizens Google search engine is same as what a dictionary is to a school-going. Just imagine what would happen if you find that your dictionary does not give you the entire meaning or explanation of the words but rather an explanation that suits the publisher's commercial interest. Well something similar is the contention of European Commission(EC) against Google search.

As per one of the analysis firm ComScore, Google search has over 80% market share in European Union(EU). The EC has been investigating Google since 2010 on suspicions of uncompetitive behaviour in the search market. In March this year, the EC informed Google of four areas where it thought the search giant may be abusing its dominant position. To address these concerns, Google has offered this month a proposal to EC. Some of the salient points of the same are -

a) Label promoted links to Google's own services so that users can distinguish them from other web search results and clearly separate these promoted links by graphical features (such as a frame);

(b) Display links to three rival specialised search services close to Google's own services, in a place that is clearly visible to users.

(c) Google will offer all websites the option to opt-out from the use of their content in Google's specialised search services, while ensuring that any opt-out does not affect their rankings in Google's general web search results.

(d) Google will offer all sites that focus on product search or local search the option to mark certain categories of information in such a way that such information is not indexed or used by Google.

(e) The newspaper publishers will receive a way to control on a web page, per web page basis the display of their content in Google News.

(f) Google agreed to no longer make any agreements with publishers conditional on using online search advertisements exclusively from Google, nor impose obligations preventing advertisers from managing campaigns across competing advertising platforms.

The commitments made by Google to EC would cover the European Economic Area for five years. An independent Monitoring Trustee would advise the Commission in overseeing the proper implementation of the commitments.

Last week, The European Commission has published the above proposal received from Google asking for comments from the market before it decides whether to agree to a settlement with Google and make the proposed changes binding on the company.

Earlier in Feb 2013, a group of 11 European and US online businesses, as well as three German online associations, have written an open letter to European Commission competition commissioner to urge the EC to end its settlement negotiations with Google over search rankings and issue a Statement of Objections instead. The companies who signed the letter were Expedia, TripAdvisor, Foundem, Streetmap EU, Twenga, Visual Meta, Hot Maps and Euro-Cities.. They express their increasing concern that "effective and future-proof remedies might not emerge through settlement. They claim that Google systematically promotes its own services and demotes or excludes those of its competitors.

It would be interesting to see what happens over the period of time. After the EC's decision it is obvious that other countries will follow suit. It seems the Competition Commission of India is also looking into the issue. A precedence set in Europe would help others to ink similar agreements elsewhere.

Google has taken a time lead which is very difficult for other search engines to bridge. But such crack downs on anti-competitive behavior will help in bridging the gap, severely denting the monopoly that the Google enjoys in search engine space. It's too early to predict a trend reversal, but the Google era might have started its journey towards descend.

Indian mobile market to grow 11 percent in numbers and 8 percent in revenues in 2013

2013-04-23T16:45:00.000+05:30

The analyst firm, Gartner, has published its new report on the Indian mobile services market. The highlights of the report are –

· Indian mobile service market is expected to reach Rs.1.2 trillion (US$22.8 billion) in 2013, up 8 percent from 2012.

· The mobile connections in India will grow to 770 million in 2013, an 11 percent increase from 712 million connections in 2012.

· The mobile market in India will continue to face challenges if average revenue per unit (ARPU) does not grow significantly. India will account for 12 percent worldwide mobile connections, but just 2 percent of worldwide mobile services revenue (in constant USD) in 2013.

· Two major challenges that India Telcos will face in near future - growing their profit margin in the face of intense competition and successfully competing with over the top service providers, such as Facebook and WhatsApp.

· With the increased use of voice over IP (VoIP) and the probable termination of national roaming charges, mobile broadband is the area of opportunity for operators. Smaller mobile broadband plans using a sachet-style usage pattern appeal to Indian consumers.

· Further rural expansion of mobile services will come at a cost.

· In India, innovation in utility apps that help bring efficiencies in a consumer's life will bring in sustained revenue and will be relatively more difficult to replicate by new entrants.

· While social and video apps are doing extremely well in India, it is time to look beyond these and deliver apps that can have a sustained business model. Operators need to insert themselves into the value chain of these new apps and services.

Design Elements of institutional framework for Spectrum trading

2013-04-18T15:45:00.000+05:30

What is Spectrum Trading?

ITU study material on radio frequency management[[1]] explains spectrum trading as-

“In the traditional administrative approach to assignment and authorization system, spectrum is first allocated specified uses and then assigned to particular firms or public organisations that carry out the authorized use according to specific obligations as are laid down in a licence or permit. Secondary trading of spectrum, or simply ‘Spectrum Trading,’ permits the purchaser to change the use to which the spectrum was initially put while maintaining the right to use.”

Spectrum trading allows parties to transfer their spectrum rights and obligations to another party, in return for a financial or market benefit. It allows the present user to decide when and to whom the spectrum authorization will be transferred and what sum it will receive in return. The market, not the regulator, determines the value. Further, a consultancy report commissioned by the European Commission, the consulting firm Analysys was cited whereby the following methods for transferring rights of use were identified -

• Sale – Ownership of the usage right is transferred to another party.

• Buy back – A usage right is sold to another party with an agreement that the seller will buy back the usage right at a fixed point in the future.

• Leasing – The usage right is transferred to another party for a defined period of time but ownership remains with the original rights holder

• Mortgage – The usage right is used as collateral for a loan, analogous to taking out a mortgage on an apartment or a house.

Spectrum trading covers a range of possibilities, from straightforward change of ownership of an assignment with no change of use to more advanced variants in which assignments may be divided or amalgamated and use changed.[[2]]

Design Elements of institutional framework for Spectrum trading

The success of spectrum trading depends on appropriate institutional framework that precisely determines how rights of use of spectrum are transferred. In case spectrum trading is to be introduced in a country, the basic design elements that will need deliberation will be –

(a) Definition of property rights and liability rules in terms of [[3]] :

(i) The band which is available for use;

(ii) The geographical area in which it can be used;

(iii) The period for which the licence is entitled;

(iv) The uses to which it can be put;

(v) The licensee’s degree of protection from other users;

(vi) The licensee’s obligation not to interfere with other spectrum user’s rights.

(b) Flexibility or otherwise with Licensees to determine the services they want to provide with their spectrum, using the technology they deem to be the most efficient.

(d) Terms and conditions of compulsory purchase backs (with compensation) if required by government under some extreme circumstances.

(e) Need for defining or otherwise of the emission levels, interference limits

(f) Arbitration mechanisms in case of disputes.

(g) Mechanism of putting in place a public register [[4]] to record changes in ownership and to ensure transparency for private users, effectively displaying information on opportunities and easing entry into unoccupied bands. [[5]]

[1] http://www.ictregulationtoolkit.org/en/PracticeNote.3076.html; The ICT Regulation Toolkit is a joint production of infoDev and the International Telecommunication Union.

[2] Messolonghi, September 2002, REFARMING AND SECONDARY TRADING IN A CHANGING RADIOCOMMUNICATIONS WORLD, Electronic Communications Committee (ECC) within the European Conference of Postal and Telecommunications Administrations (CEPT)

[3] http://www.ictregulationtoolkit.org/en/Section.1704.html

[4] For example the Australian Communications Authority (ACA) maintains searchable register of licences to facilitate trading. - www.aca.gov.au

[5] The ability of regulators and licensees to keep track of current licences is an important component of market-based systems and can be facilitated by a publicly available database. Knowledge of the location of existing Tx’s and Rx’s (where feasible) will allow potential purchasers of rights to accurately model the existing interference environment they are seeking to enter and to enable them to properly assess the rights they seek to acquire. The database :

should enable regulators if called upon to adjudicate spectrum disputes and to enable them to track and assess the usage of spectrum in differing bands;
Should include additional tools to analyze, data on spectrum historical occupancy/usage and to interpret alternative propagation models.

Verizon to buy spectrum leases from Clearwire as US telco's struggle to acquire airwaves rights

2013-04-16T15:50:00.001+05:30

As per a latest news report in Wall street journal, Verizon Wireless has offered to pay as much a $1.5 billion to buy spectrum leases from Clearwire Corp. That’s about 8000 Crores in Indian Rupees. However, Verizon Wireless hasn't made an offer for spectrum that Clearwire owns. Clearwire owns some spectrum but it leases other spectrum from third parties so it can offer a nationwide network. Any bid for Clearwire spectrum could face hurdles if Sprint doesn't approve. Sprint has a number of contractual rights that pose steep obstacles for any outsider trying to do a deal.

The entire news is contrary to earlier reports according to which Clearwire had agreed to sell itself to part-owner Sprint Nextel Corp. and Sprint agreed to sell a controlling stake in itself to Japan's Softbank Corp.

Strangely Sprint has always been looked upon as a company who would be interested in Clearwire’s spectrum. As of 2010, Clearwire was licensed 133 MHz of spectrum, and Sprint had 51 MHz. Their combined 184 MHz represented more twice the holdings of Verizon (83 MHz) and AT&T (77 MHz), and nearly four times T-Mobile's haul (48 MHz). However, Verizon has been quietly amassing spectrum since then. Last year, the company paid $3.9 billion to acquire spectrum licenses from a group of cable companies including Comcast Corp and Time Warner Cable Inc. An access to Clearwire’s spectrum would have given Spirint an ability to compete with rivals like AT&T and Verizon.

Clearwire's spectrum is in the 2.5 GHz (2,500 MHz) range, a band where signals don't easily penetrate walls and weaken significantly over long distances, requiring way more cell towers to transmit signal as lower-band airwaves. Verizon's spectrum in the 700 MHz band, acquired at more than $9 billion because it travels over long distances and easily passes through buildings for indoor coverage. On the positive side, the 2.5 GHz range is potentially perfect for small cells, since the higher bands can carry more data over a MHz of spectrum than lower bands, and they have less potential for interference. Some of the bigger markets like China, India and Japan are planning LTE roll outs in 2.5 GHz band. Thus the Verizon offer seems to throw open speculations that Verizon might complement it’s network in 700 MHz with small cells operating in 2.5 GHz. The U.S. telcos appear to be evolving toward a model in which they will use the lower bands for voice and the higher bands for data transmission including video, streaming tv and cable programming.

Tablet market gearing up; Android gaining market share

2013-04-15T10:56:00.000+05:30

The PC manufacturers are for some tough time ahead. In fact, even if your main business is centered around making Laptops, be ready to face some rough weathers going ahead. Why? Here is the reason - according to latest report from market intelligence firm ABI Research named Media Tablets, Ultrabooks and eReaders Research Service, in 2013 approximately 150 million tablets (up 38% year-over-year) are forecasted to ship globally worth an estimated $64 billion (up 28% from 2012) in potential end-user revenues. This is mainly because of convenience and mobility benefits afforded by tablet

As far as the market share of operating systems is concern, the tide is slowly turning in favor of Android. About 60% of last year's tabletshipments used Apple's iOS operating system software while 37% were based on Google's Android OS (or development forks of Android, such as found on Amazon's Kindle Fire slates). The remaining 3% OS share consisted of Windows (Windows 7, 8, or RT), BlackBerry Tablet OS, and unidentified OS implementations.

Growing appetite for mobile data and suggested approach for India

2013-04-11T11:52:00.002+05:30

Growing appetite for mobile data globally

Juniper has published it’s latest report on Mobile data traffic forecasts. As per them, the total mobile data traffic will exceed 90,000 Petabytes by 2017. What is more interesting is that 60% of this data will be offloaded to Wi-Fi networks and only 40% of the data generated by mobile devices will be carried through the cellular network by 2017. The report also emphasizes the roll that the small cells are going to play going forward.

Mobile data growth – Indian scenario

India today is on the verge of data revolution and in the current decade, data will transform the Indian telecom industry the way voice did in the previous decade. Indications are that data contribution from 2G will continue to rise, and 3G and LTE adaption will augment this growth. while the telecom industry in the rest of the world obtains 35-50% revenues from non-voice services, India derives only ~15% of sales from non-voice/ data services. Projections by UBS for major telecom players in India indicate that the non-voice revenues are going to be ~30% of total revenues for these players by 2020. These projections may well be surpassed if India is able to achieve a good broadband penetration backed by the recent policy pronouncement on National Broadband Plan. As against the current broadband subscriber base of 14.68 million, the National Broadband Plan envisages provision of 160 million broadband connections (22 million DSL, 78 million cable and 60 million wireless broadband) by the year 2014. It is likely that the share of wireless broadband may be much more than the expectations as, like other countries, in India also; the data revolutions will piggy back on wireless broadband. 3G and Broadband Wireless Access (BWA) are expected to aid the growth of economy by boosting broadband growth.

Nokia Siemens Networks (NSN) M-Bit report indicates that mobile data usage in India has grown at 54% growth in 7 months and is likely to double every 12-14 months. This report can be accessed at http://www.nokiasiemensnetworks.com/sites/default/files/document/india_mobile_data_-_mbit_index.pdf . Evolution of data services in China provides some insight for the potential for the data segment growth for India. Data service revenue constitutes 30.6% of total service revenue in China as compared with 12.6% in India in FY11, giving an indication for strong data services growth trajectory in India in coming years. Credit Suisse estimates that over the next three years, data could more than double in size to a US$14 bn industry in India, contributing over half the incremental industry revenue and add 500 bp CAGR to an otherwise slowing voice industry. They estimate 3G’s contribution to mobile EBITDA to rise to 9-13% (from less than 5%) by FY3/14

Wi-Fi offload – a solution to handle growing data volumes and speeds

No doubt more and more carriers are adapting to Wi-Fi. Recently AT&T had inked a pact with Boingo - one of the leading Wi-Fi service provider having more than 600000 Wi-Fi Spots around the globe. Going forward the carrier-Wi-Fi adoption will be gather speed mainly because of two developments –

a) NGH (Next Generation Hotspot) and Hotspot 2.0 specifications along with 5GHz enabled devices.

b) Carrier-grade small cells along with Wi-Fi will enable high levels of capacity and along with the macro network will provide commercial and financial success to the operator.

Now what’s there for India in all this? Ironically, there are not many Wi-Fi hotspots in India currently. Given that almost one-sixth of the world's mobile subscribers are in India and that the country is already spectrum starved, in future offloading the mobile traffic on Wi-Fi is the only feasible and practical solution to cater to the growing hunger for data services.

ITU studies and other major research firms have already pointed out that the data requirements of future can never be met by increased availability of spectrum even if spectrum efficiency improve considerably. India cannot rely on vacation of frequencies by Defense ministry as the chances of this happening are remote. And even if this happens it will be a slow process. Thus demand and supply of spectrum in India will always have wider gaps than in other countries.

India specific approach – A Public Wi-Fi hotspot network

In such a scenario, it becomes important for the India to have a large number of Wi-Fi hotspots in almost all major cities and towns. There are two ways of doing this. The first way of approaching the problem is that the market is left to itself and the telecom operators or third parties like Boingo creates a Wi-Fi hotspot network. However the problem in this solutions can be -

· - The commercial criteria and not the country/public good at large will drive the hotspot creation

· - All operators will target the same places for hotspot creation like Airports, bus and railway stations, big malls etc. They will end up creating duplicate infrastructure and in process may not get the return on investment. India missed the bus while the mobile towers were being erected and this resulted in sheer waste of resources by way of creating redundant infrastructure. All operators invested in mobile towers at same time and at same spots.

· - Such approach slows down the rural penetration as all operators are busy spending their money in big cities. At least for Wi-Fi, we can eliminate this approach.

This leads us to the second and more practical approach of policy intervention to ensure that a common Wi-Fi network is created across major cities that can be shared on payment basis by all operators. This will help in savings on one hand and better ROIs on other. An added advantage can be faster rollout even in tier II and tier III cities. The Bharat Broadband Nigam Limited (BBNL) had been created by Government of India to roll out a common optical fiber network that can be shared across telecom service providers. On similar lines, BBNL can also be entrusted to create a common Wi-Fi network funded through USO. However, the entity will be able to make money once the Wi-Fi network is used by telecom operators. A Wi-Fi hotspot requires back-end connectivity, preferably on fiber so as to ensure that large numbers of users are supported by the hotspot at higher speeds. Suggested approach will ensure that BBNL will identify Point of Presence (POPs) for optical fiber as per the hotspot requirements. If implemented, such a solution can not only help in solving the spectrum crunch, but will also help Indian citizens to get higher broadband speeds at affordable prices – an objective that the NTP 2012 envisages to meet.

252 million domain names have been registered globally by end of 2012

2013-04-11T10:21:00.001+05:30

As per the latest issue of VeriSign’s Domain Name Industry Brief, the total number of registered domain names to a little more than 252 million worldwide across all top-level domains (TLDs). Of these, about six million domain names were added to the internet in the fourth quarter of 2012 whihc equates to a growth rate of 2.5 per cent over the preceding quarter. According to the report, as of December 31, 2012, the base of registered names in .com equaled 106.2 million, while .net equaled 14.9 million.

Global mobile penetration and subscriber numbers

2013-04-10T14:41:00.001+05:30

Wondering how many mobile subscribers are there on planet earth??? Well by end of December, 2012 global mobile subscriptions were around 6.3 billion, growing at about 9 per cent year-on-year - as per a report by European telecom equipment maker Ericsson. According to the Ericsson Mobility Report, total mobile subscription in China stood at 1.26 billion, while in India it was 713 million in 2012. The net additions in the fourth quarter of 2012 were 140 million.

So what is Global wireless tele-density. Well, Global mobile penetration reached 89 per cent in Q4 2012. However if you looking for unique users figures, the actual number of unique users were around 4.4 billion, thanks to people having several subscriptions.

If you are wondering which countries are adding most subscriptions, then the report answers your query. China accounted for about 22 per cent of net additions, adding around 30 million subscriptions, followed by India (11 million), Bangladesh (9 million), Indonesia (8 million), and Nigeria (5 million).

As far as mobile broadband subscribers are concern, In Q4 of 2012, mobile broadband subscriptions grew 125 million to 1.5 billion, reflecting a 50 per cent year-on-year increase. GSM, GPRS and EDGE subscriptions grew 44 million and WCDMA and HSPA grew 70 million. Together these technologies represent 80 per cent of total net additions. That apart, LTE subscriptions grew from 14 million to 57 million in 2012

Using Google Maps while driving may be illegal - New debate around technological advancements v/s legal provisions

2013-04-10T13:04:00.003+05:30

January last year Steven R Spriggs was stopped by police in California, USA for using a smartphone as a navigational aid. As per him, he got stuck in a traffic jam near downtown Fresno and thought nothing of whipping out his iPhone 4 and clicking on the map feature to see if there was an alternate route around the construction mess. He was surprised when he looked up and saw a California Highway Patrol motorcycle officer ordering him to pull over. He showed the officer that he was looking at a map and not texting or talking. He got a $160 ticket. having graduated from a Law school, he obviously sued claiming that it was not explicitly forbidden in the existing legislation covering the use of a mobile phone while driving.

It is reportedly said that he initially brought a paper map to court to argue that it was legal to hold it while driving. Not persuaded, the traffic court commissioner found him guilty. He appealed to the three-judge panel of Fresno Superior Court, arguing in a legal brief that the iPhone has a flashlight feature and other functions that can be useful to a driver and aren't as dangerous as texting or talking. As he is no 'Jolly LLB'; he again lost.

Fresno County Judge, writing on March 21 for the three-judge panel upholding the commissioner's ruling, said "the primary evil sought to be avoided is the distraction the driver faces when using his or her hands to operate the phone. That distraction would be present whether the wireless telephone was being used as a telephone, a GPS navigator, a clock or a device for sending and receiving text messages and emails." The judge also threw out an argument that the term "using" could not be expanded beyond making a phone call to using a phone app -- ruling that if the law had intended to limit the application of the statute to "conversing" or "listening and talking," then it could have done so.

Fortunately, as of now, the ruling doesn't apply outside of Fresno County. However it opens a bigger debate on Technological advancements v/s archaic legal provisions. In this case the driver was holding the smart phone while using the application. What happens when the smartphone is mounted on cradle. Someone may argue that one can talk on speaker phone even while not holding the phone in hand. So ultimately what seems more important to me is the intent. Else, why should a person spent and keep different devices, when a phone can serve as clock, music player, navigator, climate indicator etc........

Samsung's Smart Pad likely to hit the market before Apple's IPad 5

2013-04-10T11:55:00.001+05:30

As per some reports Samsung is planning to launch a 6.3 inch Android smartphone in next 2 to 3 months. So the space between a 5 inch smart phone and a seven inch tablet is going to be filled by a converged device "Smart pad". If rumors are to be believed this is part of Samsung's Project Möbius, the code-name for Samsung's mammoth smartphone device, which is tipped to launch as the Samsung Galaxy Mega. It is quiet possible that Samsung may launch it with Google's next in line Android operating system i.e. Android 5.0 Key Lime Pie further smoothened by Samsung's customized Touchwiz user interface. A dual-core Exynos processor, an 8MP rear-facing camera, a 2MP front-facing camera are likely features. You may have to wait to check for affordability!!!

The Smart Pad is likely to be launched ahead of Apple's next generation iPad whose production is expected to start at the Chinese assembly plants in July-August 2013. The 5th-generation 9.7-inch version iPad is expected to be thinner and lighter than the fourth-generation one and will adopt a slim bezel design, similar to that of the iPad mini.

Disclaimer

Telecom New Zealand unveils its LTE roll out plans

2013-04-09T14:19:00.000+05:30

Telecom New Zealand plans to have LTE live on a large part of its smartphone network in Auckland by October 2013. The company will then extend LTE coverage to Wellington and Christchurch by December and expects to have LTE live on close to half of its nationwide smartphone network during 2014. As per news reported in some papers, the company has selected Huawei to build its network of 4G-capable mobile sites – known as the eUTRAN.

Telecom plans to install dual carrier HSPA+ on more than half of mobile sites, fast backhaul to 90 percent of mobile sites, and – from mid 2013 – rolling out Optical Transport Network (OTN) technology to the network core.

Phases of Policy reforms - Bucket Graph showing the Indian Telecom Story in last decade

2013-04-08T17:01:00.000+05:30

3G Intra Circle Roaming (ICR) issue

2013-04-06T19:18:00.001+05:30

Last week couple of news on 3G Intra Circle Roaming(ICR) arrangements in India raised the interests of the stakeholders. A brief background will help in understanding the issue better. Department of Telecom (DoT) who is the licencor and issues all telecom licences in India had earlier asked 3 Telecom service providers viz. Airtel, Idea and Vodafone to stop ICR based 3G services in the service areas where 3G spectrum was not assigned to them. In reaction to this, these 3 operators filed petitions in TDSAT (the tribunal which hears cases related to telecom in India). Incidentally the two members of TDSAT gave a split judgement. Subsequently DoT asked these operators to stop the 3G services based on ICR arrangements and even slapped penalties. The operators went to High Court and got a stay. Last week the stay has been vacated. To understand the issue of 3G ICR, the best is to go through the split judgement of TDSAT. To help the readers of this blog, I have summarized the same below. However I advise the readers to go through the original judgement so as to obviate any errors that may arise because of my understanding of the judgement. In case you are short of time, here you go ----

Split Judgment by TDSAT on ICR dated 03.07.2012 - Finding the plea acceptable and valid, TDSAT Chairman Justice S B Sinha allowed the operators’ plea against the government's directive to stop intra circle 3G roaming saying that it was violative of natural justice. The Petitions were allowed, the impugned orders dated 23.12.2011 was set aside with liberty to the Respondent to pass appropriate orders upon giving due opportunity of hearing to the Petitioner. However, differing in the decision taken, TDSAT Member P K Rastogi dismissed plea saying that the petitioners who have not got 3G spectrum allotted by the licensor in certain circles, cannot provide 3G services to its customers in those circles by way of making intra circle arrangement with the service providers having 3G spectrum.

Salient points deliberated in judgement delivered by TDSAT Member P K Rastogi

a. On the principal question as to whether the petitioners having UASL/CMTS license along with 2G spectrum in certain circles can provide 3G services to its customers in these circles although 3G spectrum has not been allotted to them and whether such services can be provided by making intra circle roaming arrangements with operators having 3G spectrum in these circles, Member TDSAT has taken a view that the reading of cl. 2.2 (a)(i) of UASL shows that services to be provided by the licensee cover collection, carriage, transmission and delivery of voice and/or non-voice messages over licensee’s network in the designated service area and includes provision of all types of access services. In addition to this, except those services listed in para 2.2 (b)(i), licensee cannot provide any service which require a separate licence. Further he deliberated on the issue –“whether provision of 3G services requires a separate license”. On the issue, he is of the opinion that it is clear from the terms and conditions of license that the provision of 3G services cannot be provided without amendment to the UAS licence under Indian Telegraph Act, 1885 and without getting a license from WPC wing of DOT under Indian Wireless Act, 1933 for the relevant spectrum required to provide 3G services. Thus, in his view, the provisions of 3G services require a separate license. If the UASL licensee does not have separate license to provide 3G servies, it violate clauses 2.2(a) (i) and 2.2(b) (i) of the terms and conditions of the license.

b. 3G services have been defined in the notice inviting applications (NIA) issued in connection with auction of 3G and BWA spectrum as “In case of successful bidders, services offered under the scope of respective service licenses using 3G/BWA spectrum assigned through the auction process.” Therefore, 3G services are those services which use 3G spectrum and 3G spectrum can be got through the process of auction only. In this petition, the petitioners have not got the 3G spectrum allocated to them in the impugned circles.

c. On the question as to whether it is possible to provide 3G service by the petitioners to its subscribers by way of intra circle roaming arrangement with other operators having 3G spectrum, Member TDSAT has taken a view that the definition of ‘service’ and that of ‘subscriber’ show that the petitioner should have the license and the required network to provide particular type of service to its subscribers. The petitioners have established only 2G network and have not setup 3G network which requires separate equipment and separate allocation of frequency. In case of intra-circle roaming, the roaming seeker should also have its home network and the licence for the spectrum for which it is providing service to its subscribers. Its subscribers can roam on the facility of roaming provider temporarily only and not permanently. Such arrangement is not permissible under the terms and conditions of license. In fact, UASL licensee without having the relevant (3G) spectrum providing 3G services to its subscribers will be acting as Mobile Virtual Network Operator (MVNO) where the service provider does not have its network in that frequency still provides services to the subscriber. At present, MVNO is not part of government telecom policy and is specifically prohibited. The arrangement made between the parties are such that it specifically bars 2G roaming, and allows only 3G roaming for the subscribers of the roaming seekers i.e. petitioners herein. The roaming seeker neither has network nor the spectrum for 3G services. As the roaming seeker is providing 3G services by using the spectrum and network of the roaming provider, the Petitioner work like MVNO which is not permissible at present.

d. In its judgment, Member TDSAT also quoted the terms and conditions of the roaming agreement entered by M/s TATA and Aircel and opined that the agreement indicates that the roaming provider having 3G spectrum have limited the usage of its 3G spectrum to the roaming seeker to certain percentage. This shows that the 3G spectrum is being earmarked to certain percentage for roaming seeker. Such arrangement of earmarking the part of the 3G spectrum allotted by a successful bidder to a service provider without any authorization by the licensor is not permissible.

e. 3G and 2G spectrum are allotted with different carrier sizes. While 3G spectrum (in 2100 MHz Frequency band) has been allotted with carrier size of 5 MHz; TDMA (2G)spectrum is allotted with carrier size of 200 KHz each for in 900 MHz/1800 MHz frequency band and 1.25 MHz each for CDMA in 800 MHz frequency band.

f. On the issue of promissory estoppel that was raised by petitioners on the grounds that the DoT in its response to specific query in pre bid conference has said that roaming facility between 2G and 3G service will be available and once that commitment has been made the responses given by the DOT are definitely binding on the licensor, Member TDSAT was of the view that the doctrine of promissory estoppel cannot be invoked by a third party. The petitioners in these petitions are not successful bidders in the auction. No contract was signed between the petitioners and the respondent. Any response given during the process of auction cannot be binding on the licensor vis-à-vis these petitioners. As no promise has been made to these petitioners, the doctrine of promissory estoppel is not applicable. Therefore, the petitioners will not get any benefit out of the response given by DOT during the auction proceedings. The petitioners will be governed by their own license agreement. The query and responses are not in the nature of circular instructions of the department. The responses are for the purpose of auction of the 3G spectrum only. These responses cannot create any new right to the parties having effect of changing the terms and conditions of their licenses.

g. On the issue of Natural Justice raised by Petitioner that the impugned communication of DoT dated 23.12.2011 to stop 3G services violated the principle as neither show cause notice was issued before the said communication by the Respondent nor any opportunity of hearing was given to the Petitioners, Member TDSAT has taken a view that various TERM cells of DoT had issued letters to the petitioners. Thus, they were well aware of the objections raised by the respondent at different points of time. The unsuccessful bidders did not get either the amendment to their licence or the allocation of 3G spectrum from the respondent. It is not understood as to how the petitioner got any right to start 3G services. The licensor did not confer any right to such effect. The show cause notice would have been necessary, if the petitioner were conferred any right to provide the 3G services to its customer under the licenses granted to it and the impugned letter of the respondent dated 23.12.2012 would have curtailed such rights.

LTE deployments in various countries

2013-04-05T14:59:00.000+05:30

This is compiled from various sources. Readers may cross check for data consistencies.

Singapore - SingTel launched commercial LTE service on December 22, 2011 in 1800 MHz and 2.6 GHz spectrum

StarHub has completed LTE testing in 2.6 GHz and 1800 MHz and an LTE1800 network in refarmed 1800 MHz is being deployed for commercial launch in Q4 2012

Malaysia - Celcom is trialling LTE in 1800 MHz and 2.6 GHz spectrum. DiGi plans to launch LTE in 2.6 GHz by 2013. U

Mobile announced on March 15, 2011 plans to launch a commercial LTE network in 2.6 GHz.

Japan - Softbank Mobile, a member of the Global TD-LTE Initiative, commercially launched XGP/LTE TDD services on February 24, 2012 following a precommercial pilot service which began November 1, 2011. The network is deployed in 20 MHz of 2.5 GHz spectrum bought from Willcom (PHS operator).

China - China Mobile HK launched commercial LTE FDD services in 2.6 GHz on April 25, 2012 and is evolving the network to also support LTE TDD this year. In an announcement on December 29, 2011 OFCA launched a consultation on auctioning spectrum in the 2.5/2.6GHz range, offering five blocks of 2 x 5 MHz, by auction which would be held in Q1 2013 at the earliest.

China Mobile plans to have 20,000 LTE TDD base sites covering 500 million people by end 2012, increasing to 200,000 by end 2013. Commercial service launch is anticipated in 2013-2014. China Mobile has 1.9 GHz, 2.0 GHz,
2.3 GHz and 2.6 GHz bands (classified as F, A, E and D bands). The trials use the D and F bands.

Honk Kong - 2 x 15 MHz blocks of 2.6 GHz spectrum were obtained via auction each by China Mobile HK (Peoples Phone), Genius Brand (Hutchison Telecom/PCCW JV) and CSL Limited.

Australia - ACMA announced the first formal steps toward a joint auction of new licences in 700 MHz DD and 2.6 GHz.

Mexico -Telefónica and Telcel have conducted tests of LTE. Telcel is preparing for commercial launch to consumers during April 2012. Telefónica plans to launch LTE by 2013. The government plans to auction new spectrum in 700 MHz and 2.6 GHz.

Brazil -Sky Brasil commercially launched LTE TDD services (2.6 GHz - Band 38) on December 13, 2011 in Brasilia.

More cities will be covered in 2012.

Claro has been testing LTE in 2.6 GHz since Q4 2011

Canada -The 2.6 GHz trial was enabled by a development license from regulator Industry Canada. Industry Canada is preparing to auction 700 MHz and 2.6 GHz spectrum in 2012 and will hold a 6-hour information session on May 30, 2012

Sri-Lanka Mobitel announced on May 6, 2011 completion of an LTE trial, which achieved 96 Mbps downlink speed in

2.6 GHz. More trials are planned in other bands.

Taiwan -Chunghwa Telecom has been trialling LTE in 2.6 GHz and 700 MHz spectrum. The company has

completed LTE tests on the high-speed rail system in TDD and FDD modes using 2.6 GHz.

Vietnam -RusViet Telecom (an Alltech company) trialled an LTE network in 2010 in Hanoi. The company plans

expanding coverage of its 2.6 GHz LTE network in 2012, including to Hi Chi Minh.

Armenia -VivaCell-MTS announced commercial launch of LTE services on December 28, 2011, initially in Yerevan,

using 2.6 GHz spectrum.

Austria -Regulator TKK completed the auction of 2.6 GHz spectrum on September 20, 2010, raising €39.5m from A1 Telekom Austria, Hutchison 3, T-Mobile and Orange. 14 paired and 9 unpaired frequency blocks were sold. License conditions require coverage of at least 25% of the population by 2013. A1 Telekom commercially launched LTE in Vienna and St. Pölten on November 5, 2010. T-Mobile Austria launched a 60-cell site pilot LTE network in Innsbruck in July 2009 and entered a soft launch phase on October 19, 2010. In May 2011, the first LTE base station in Vienna went live. On July 28 the company commercially launched LTE and its Internet All Inclusive LTE tariff.

Orange Austria has tested LTE technology and acquired 2 x 10 MHz of 2.6 GHz spectrum in the 2010 auction.

Belgium -Regulator BIPT auctioned 4G licenses for a total of US$ 103.7 million, comprising 45 MHz of 2.6 GHz

TDD spectrum and 3 x 20 MHz paired blocks in 2.6 GHz for FDD systems.

Denmark -Telia launched the first commercial LTE system in Denmark on December 9, 2010 in Copenhagen,

Aarhus, Odense and Aalborg in the 2.6 GHz band (20 MHz). On October 10, 2011 LTE commercial service
was introduced using 10 MHz of 1800 MHz spectrum (LTE1800) as a complement to the 2.6 GHz service.
Tri-band (800/1800/2600) LTE dongles and routers have been available since the summer.

Finland -20-year 2.6 GHz licenses were auctioned by regulator FICORA on 23 November 2009: TeliaSonera launched the first commercial LTE service in Finland on November 30, 2010 in Turku and Helsinki. LTE1800 was commercially launched as a complement to 2.6 GHz on August 31, 2011. Elisa commercially launched its 2.6 GHz LTE network for corporate users on December 8, 2010, and announced its first client.

France -SFR trialled LTE in Marseille in 2011 and is deploying its commercial network in 800 MHz and 2.6 GHz.

ARCEP auctioned 2.6 GHz spectrum and confirmed the successful bidders and allocations:
Bouygues: 2535-2550 MHz/2655-2670 MHz·
Free Mobile: 2550-2570 MHz/2670-2690 MHz·
FT/Orange: 2515-2535 MHz/2635-2655 MHz·
SFR: 2500-2515 MHz/2620-2635 MHz·

Germany -A multiband spectrum auction was completed in May 2010, covering 360 MHz in 4 bands: 800 MHz (digital

dividend), 1800 MHz, 2.1 GHz, 2.6 GHz. All 4 incumbents acquired 2.6 GHz to be used for LTE.

Italy -3 Italia is deploying LTE1800 and from 2013 intends to offer multicarrier aggregation (an LTE-A feature)

allowing LTE1800 and LTE2600 to be used together.

Netherlands -2.6 GHz FDD spectrum was auctioned in April 2010 and awarded to incumbents KPN, Vodafone, TMobile, and newcomers Ziggo 4 (currently an MVNO on KPN’s network) and Tele2. The TDD spectrum

was not bought. Ziggo launched its commercial LTE service on May 3, 2012 for its Internet Plus business customers in Breda, Oss and Zwolle.

Norway -Norway held Europe’s first 2.6 GHz auction in 2007 which was awarded to incumbents TeleNor and

TeliaSonera (NetCom); total allocation 2 x 90 MHz. TeliaSonera launched the world’s first LTE networks
in Oslo and Sweden in December 2009.

Russia -On February 2, 2012 MTS announced the company had been awarded the first license to provide LTE

services in Moscow and the Moscow region. The license granted is for LTE TDD deployment in the 2595 – 2620 MHz range.

Spain - In June 2010 Ministerio de Industria, Turismo Comercio (MITYC) launched a consultation on reallocation of 2.6 GHz and re-farming of 900/1800 MHz. An auction began on June 29, 2011 for 58 blocks of 800, 900 MHz and 2.6 GHz frequencies, with licences valid to 2030. The auction ended on July 29, 2011 raising €1.65bn for 800 MHz and 2.6 GHz licenses. Spectrum was won by Vodafone, Telefónica and FT-Orange.

Sweden - Tele2 Sweden and TeleNor Sweden deployed an LTE network through a jointly-owned company

(Net4Mobility), which includes spectrum sharing in 900 MHz and 2.6 GHz.

UK -O2 has tested LTE in 2.6 GHz spectrum and has trialled LTE800 in Carlisle since mid 2010. In November 2011 the company began a large-scale LTE trial in central London, to run until June 2012. O2 has 20 MHz of test spectrum in the 2.6 GHz band.

Saudi Arabia -Etisalat (Mobily) commercially launched LTE TDD on September 14, 2011 via its Bayanat subsidiary, in

Najran, Jazan, Al Kharj, Ras tanoura, Algurayat and Aldudam in band 38 (2.6 GHz).

South Africa -MTN is deploying LTE1800 as 2.6 GHz is not available. In the longer term 2.6 GHz and 800 MHz are sought.

UAE - Etisalat launched commercial LTE service on September 25, 2011. LTE USB modems were widely
introduced at Etisalat outlets on December 18, 2011. Etisalat uses 2.6 GHz spectrum indoors and 1800
MHz spectrum outdoors, and is seeking an allocation of 800 MHz for nationwide coverage.

Romania 4G Auction Rusults:
Slice 2: Bands / Block Won (each block is of 15 Mhz)
800 - Cosmote (1), Orange (2), Vodaphone (2)
900 - Cosmote (2), Orange (2), RCS&RDS (1), Vodaphone (2)
1800 - Cosmote (5), Orange (4), Vodaphone (6)
2600 - Cosmote (2), Orange (4), 2K Telecom (2), Vodaphone (1)

Cross Media Ownership restriction in European Countries and New Zealand

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Three European countries – France, Italy, and Germany – have developed specific legislation on cross-media ownership[1]. As per French legislation, cross-media mergers are regulated by Law 86-1067 (Loi Léotard) which was revised on 10 July 2004[2]. According to article 41.1, “at national level, an individual or legal entity can be involved only in two of the following areas: one or more television licences for analogue or digital terrestrial channels reaching four million residents; one or more terrestrial radio services reaching 30 million people; daily papers that have a market share of more than 20 percent of the national circulation”.

In the Italian law framework, where cross-media mergers are currently regulated by law n.122, 3 May 2004 (Legge Gasparri)[3]. This law regulates the media sector as an ‘integrated communications market’ (or SIC, Sistema Integrato delle Comunicazioni) which includes a broad range of industries: television, press, radio, internet, in addition to publishing, cinema and advertising. Cross-media ownership limits do not allow any owner to achieve more than 20 percent of the share of revenues within the entire SIC.

As per the German legislation, under §26 of the German Broadcasting Treaty, assumes that a broadcaster would reach a dominant position “if it achieves a 30 percent audience share, or an audience share of 25 percent if it concurrently holds a dominant position in a related, media-relevant market or if an overall assessment of its activities in television and in related media-relevant markets suggests that the influence of such activities is equivalent to that of a company with a 30 percent audience share” (Just, 2009: 11). A particular weighting system has been developed by the KEK, the German Communication Authority, in order to determine the equivalent share of a media company.

France

A law, enacted in 1986 and the subsequent establishment of the Conseil Superieur de l’Audiovisuel (CSA) in 1989 regulates the governance of the communications industry in France. The CSA also manages issues of media ownership and concentration. While the Competition authorities are obliged to consult with the CSA on mergers and acquisitions in media matters it is the sole responsibility of the CSA to monitor mergers and cross media ownership. Shareholders have the obligation to report to the CSA when their holding exceeds 10% so the CSA can effectively monitor share capital ownership.

Specific ownership restrictions applicable to the media sector

French regulations provide for media ownership restrictions in order to preserve media pluralism and competition. In particular, any single individual or legal entity cannot hold, directly or indirectly, more than 49 per cent of the capital or the voting rights of a company that has an authorisation to provide a national terrestrial television service where the average audience for television services (either digital or analogue) exceeds 8 per cent. In addition, any single individual or legal entity that already holds a national terrestrial television service where the average audience for this service exceeds 8 per cent may not, directly or indirectly, hold more than 33 per cent of the capital or voting rights of a company that has an authorisation to provide a local terrestrial television service.[4] Further, unless otherwise agreed in international agreements to which France is a party, any foreign national may not acquire shares of capital of a company holding a licence for a radio or television service in France and that uses radio-electrical frequencies if this acquisition has the effect of raising (directly or indirectly) the share of capital or voting rights owned by foreign nationals to more than 20 per cent. This provision does not apply to publishers with less than 80 per cent capital or voting rights being held by public radio broadcasters belonging to Council of Europe Member States, or with less than 20 per cent being owned by one of the public companies mentioned at Article 44 of the Law of 30 September 1986[5]. Also, Any modification to the capital of companies authorised by the CSA to broadcast TV or radio services on an Hertz-based frequency is subject to the approval of the CSA[6]

Ownership Television and Radio: There are three limits placed on television ownership; capital share, number of licenses and audience share, and participation in more companies in the same sector. This is regulated to apply as follows: an individual person may not own more than 49% of a national TV channel or 33% of a local channel if the average annual audience is greater than 2.5% of the total audience. If a person holds two licenses, they cannot own more than 15% of the second license and if they own three then they cannot own more than 5% of the third license. A person may not own more than one analogue license or seven digital licenses. No more than two Satellite licenses are permitted. The regulations focus on not concentrating ownership in an individual’s hands but shared ownership of companies seems to be permitted.

There is a ban on owning two regional broadcast TV licenses (analogue and digital) or more than one license if the audience area is greater than 6 million.

For radio, an entity may not control one or more stations or network(s) if the aggregate audience exceeds 150 million.

Newspaper ownership: Companies are not allowed to acquire a new newspaper if the acquisition boosts their total daily circulation over 30%.

Cross Ownership: An owner may not be involved in more than two of the following at the national level:

TV audience area of 4 million people
Radio audience area of 30 million people
Cable audience area of 6 million people
Exceeds 20% share of the national circulation of daily newspapers
Further restrictions are noted at the local level:

Owning a national or local TV license for the area
Owning one or more radio licenses with cumulative audiences of more than 10% for that area
Owning a cable network for the area
Editorial or other control of daily newspapers in the area

Foreign Investment: Non-EU investment is limited to a 20% share of the capital of a daily newspaper, or of terrestrial broadcasting (radio and TV) in the French language. Satellite and Cable foreign ownership is permitted.

Restrictions for Political parties and Organizations: There are no provisions.

New Zealand

Simply put there are no foreign ownership rules and there are no cross media restrictions in New Zealand. Beginning in the 1980s, New Zealand deregulated the entire communications sector (along with a great deal of all their industry and economy).

New Zealand has a small population (4 million people) in what can only be described as a geographically protected market. The measures taken by the New Zealand government in the eighties and nineties, in many ways, have created truly an isolated market experiment. Most media owners of print and broadcasting companies appear pleased with the circumstances and fiercely defend the system. Predictably, cultural nationalists, academics, and journalists are not so enthusiastic and are encouraging change to a more regulated environment to create better local news and cultural expression.

In 2003 the Minister of Broadcasting Steve Maharey said: “For some years from the late 1980s and 1990s, government in New Zealand moved away from a real appreciation of broadcasting as a cultural educative force. In its embracing of market driven policies Government distanced itself from what I believe is its responsibility to ensure that New Zealanders have access to a genuinely indigenous broadcasting system…….” The government did go on in November of last year to announce funding for TVNZ to offer two distinct public service digital channels (a news and sports offering to begin in 2007 and a kids channel to begin in 2008, both commercial free with $78 million in funding over 6 years) as part of their digital transition offering. While the Government has attempted to address the issue of concentration and foreign ownership by these initiatives, they are not structural in nature and the communications sector in New Zealand remains foreign owned and highly concentrated. For example:

Daily newspapers are 81% foreign owned and most readers are served by one daily newspaper in their market. The foreign ownership comes from two international companies and the remainder are New Zealand owned
Television comprises six networks, two of which are controlled by the public broadcaster TVNZ and enjoy 49% of audience share. Media Works has two channels (19% audience share) and is owned by CanWest (currently in process of selling) and Prime TV (5% audience share), which is owned by Sky Television (comprised of Rupert Murdoch and Australian interests). The final network is the State funded aboriginal Channel, Maori TV. There is some regional TV and community based stations but they have insignificant commercial or audience value.
Sky Television Network owns Pay TV in New Zealand and is a monopoly including terrestrial and satellite services with 84 TV channels, radio and audio channels. Rupert Murdoch owns Sky which enjoys a 23% market share.
Radio is comprised of two large commercial networks; an Australian media company and Clear Channel (46% audience share) own The Radio Network with 118 stations and 8 brands. Radio Works has six network brands, operates on 140 frequencies throughout New Zealand, is principally owned by CanWest (70% with minority shareholders) and enjoys a large audience share. Radio New Zealand is a public broadcaster with two networks and modest audience share. There are some community based radio broadcasters.

New Zealand has a Broadcast Standards Authority (BSA) that does administer content standards for radio and television based on codes of broadcast standards and usually involves a process triggered by complaints. However, in terms of indigenous content vs. foreign content there is no requirement. The BSA is starting to touch some of these issues with their mandated research role and two recent papers; The Future for Media Regulation in NZ: Is There One and Issues for Broadcast Content Regulation. These studies indicate an interest in a discussion at the very least.

As of 2011, the vast majority of NZ media (TV, radio, print) are in the hands of companies based in Australia, the UK, Ireland and USA. NZ could well contend for the right to be crowned “the world’s least regulated broadcasting environment” (Comrie & Fountaine, 2006).[7]

[1] http://www2.lse.ac.uk/media@lse/research/mediaWorkingPapers/MScDissertationSeries/2011/74.pdf

[2] http://www.legifrance.gouv.fr/affichTexte.do?cidTexte=LEGITEXT000006068930&dateTexte=20110823

[3] http://www.sviluppoeconomico.gov.it/images/stories/mise_extra/L112-2004.pdf

[4] Articles 39-I and 39-III of the Law of 30 September 1986

[5] Article 40 of the Law of 30 September 1986

[6] Article 41-4 of the Law of 30 September 1986

[7] http://virginauthor.wordpress.com/2012/05/27/media-concentration-mega-media-ownership-in-new-zealand-by-jane-mauret/

Active Mobile subscriber base in India

2013-04-04T13:57:00.001+05:30

Human capacity Building – The ITU-D initiatives

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The Human Capacity Building Division of the ITU Telecommunication Development Bureau (BDT) has been working to achieve its mission of strengthening the human, institutional and organizational capacity of developing countries in a manner that prepares them for the challenges of a digital economy. One of their major strategies to achieve this mission is through information and resource sharing on all major areas covered by ITU-D activities. To achieve this BDT rely on a) their ongoing regular programme activities; b) special projects; and c) partnerships. Over the past few years, for its ICT capacity building and skills development efforts, BDT has mainly relied on ITU Academy which through its portal (http://academy.itu.int) has endeavored to build up high quality training resources and materials.

The efforts of ITU Academy have been further corroborated by the ITU Centres of Excellence(CoE) and Internet Training Centers. ITU Centres of Excellence, distributed around the world, serve as regional focal points for professional development, research, and knowledge sharing and are now being joined together into a single global network sharing training curricula, resources and expertise. The capacity building interventions of BDT target different audiences - ranging from government policy-makers and regulators, to professional business-focused curricula for ICT executives and managers and specialized programmes for technical and operational staff. Gathering and publishing ICT related statistics has also been one of the major activities of ITU that has supported the capacity building efforts

Topics that are currently in focus at ITU academy can be subdivided as follows-

i. Policy and regulation related –

· Accessibility through ICT - Equitable communication for everyone

· Analogue to Digital Broadcasting Transition

ii. Technologies and service related -

· Internet Exchange Points (IXPs)

· IPTV

· IPv6

· Spectrum Management

· Wireless Networking for Development

iii. Business and Management related –

· Cost Modeling

· Human Resources Management

· Open Educational Resources

Verizon + AT&T = Vodafone

2013-04-03T17:23:00.000+05:30

As per reports in some of the papers, the two largest American operators, Verizon and AT&T, are putting together a takeover bid for Vodafone. The bid would offer an around 40 percent premium to Vodafone's current share price, or about 260 pence per share. This would value Vodafone at about USD 245 billion. Under the proposal, Verizon would buy Vodafone's 45 percent stake in their Verizon Wireless joint venture, while AT&T takes over Vodafone's non-US assets. However nothing is official till date.

Mobile phone market booming in India

2013-04-03T16:14:00.001+05:30

According to a study by market research group IDC, Mobile phone market in India grew to 218 million units, a 16 per cent year-on-year growth from CY 2011. Smartphone in the country grew by 48 per cent to 16.3 million in 2012 against 11 million in 2011.

Local vendors have remained dominant in sub-$100 price band while they pose serious competition to the global vendors in the $100—200 price band.

Android continues to be the dominant player in the Indian smartphone market.

As per IDC. the mobile phone market is expected to continue its growth into 2013, driven by the stupendous growth of close to 70 per cent in the smartphone market.”

Smartphones - Market share

2012-12-06T10:10:00.000+05:30

As per the latest reports published by the comScore Google Android continued to lead among smartphone platforms, accounting for 53.6 percent of smartphone subscribers, while Apple secured 34.3 percent. For the three-month average period ending in October, device manufacturer Samsung ranked as the top OEM with 26.3 percent of U.S. mobile subscribers (up 0.7 percentage points).

Top Mobile OEMs

	Share (%) of Mobile Subscribers
	Jul-12	Oct-12	Point Change
Samsung	25.6%	26.3%	0.7
Apple	16.3%	17.8%	1.5
LG	18.4%	17.6%	-0.8
Motorola	11.2%	11.0%	-0.2
HTC	6.4%	6.0%	-0.4

Smartphone Platform Market Share

121.3 million people in the U.S. owned smartphones (51.9 percent mobile market penetration)

Top Smartphone Platforms

	Share (%) of Smartphone Subscribers
	Jul-12	Oct-12	Point Change
Google	52.2%	53.6%	1.4
Apple	33.4%	34.3%	0.9
RIM	9.5%	7.8%	-1.7
Microsoft	3.6%	3.2%	-0.4
Symbian	0.8%	0.6%	-0.2

Mobile Content Usage

In October, the percent of mobile subscribers in USA that used various types of contents are as follows -

text messaging - 75.9 %(up 0.3 percentage points)

Downloaded applications - 54.5 % (up 1.9 percentage points),

Browsers - 52.7% (up 1.5 percentage points).

Social networking sites or blogs - 39.4 % (up 1.5 percentage points)

Game-playing - 34.1 % (up 0.3 percentage points),

Listened to music on their phones -28.7 % (up 0.4 percentage points)

Tablet market forecast by IDC

2012-12-06T09:57:00.000+05:30

International Data Corporation (IDC) has come out with latest quarterly forecasts for tablet market. As per IDC tablet market will increase its 2012 forecast for the worldwide tablet market to 122.3 million, up from its previous forecast of 117.1 million units. IDC also raised its 2013 forecast number to 172.4 million units, up from 165.9 million units. And by 2016 worldwide shipments should reach 282.7 million units, up from a previous forecast of 261.4 million units.

IDC also forecasts a decline in eReader market. IDC now expects 2012 eReader shipments to top out at 19.9 million units, down from the 27.7 million units that shipped in 2011.

As far as tablet operating system splits is concern, IDC now expects Android's worldwide tablet share to increase from 39.8% in 2011 to 42.7% for the full year of 2012. During that same time Apple's share will slip from 56.3% in 2011 to 53.8% in 2012. Long term, IDC predicts Windows-based tablets (including Windows 8 and Windows RT) will grab share from both iOS and Android, growing from 1% of the market in 2011 to 2.9% in 2012, on its way to 10.2% in 2016.

Tablet Operating Systems, Market Share Forecast and CAGR 2012-2016

Tablet OS	Market Share		CAGR 2012 - 2016
Tablet OS	2012	2016	CAGR 2012 - 2016
iOS	53.8%	49.7%	20.9%
Android	42.7%	39.7%	21.0%
Windows	2.9%	10.3%	69.2%
Other	0.6%	0.3%	7.7%
Grand Total	100.0%	100.0%	23.3%

Source: IDC Worldwide Quarterly Tablet Tracker, December 5, 2012

Table Notes:

Windows shipments include Windows RT, Windows 8, and Windows 7 tablets.
Shipments include shipments to distribution channels or end users. OEM sales are counted under the vendor/brand under which they are sold.

Internet Bandwidth consumed in making VoIP calls

2012-10-12T11:41:00.000+05:30

This one is bit technical. As many of us have started making voice calls on the IP in our smartphones, I thought many of you would be interested to know how much internet bandwidth is consumed if you make a one minute of Voive call on IP i.e. VoIP call. Caveat - Some of highly technical stuff required cross-authentication from Geeks (Learnt this from Wiki)

Here you go.....

Number of Bytes Consumed in VOIP

To know exactly how many bytes a voice conversation consumes, one needs to know which codec her VoIP service is using.

CODECS

A codec is a compression engine that transforms your (analog) voice into digital data, removing the silent moments (which make up to half of all conversations), and do other things to render the data load as light as possible. A codec is an algorithm (sort of a computer program), most of the time installed as a software on a server or embedded within a piece of hardware (IP Phones), that is used to convert voice (in the case of VoIP) signals into digital data to be transmitted over the Internet or any network during a VoIP call.

The word codec comes from the composed words coder-decoder or compressor-decompressor. Codecs normally achieve the following three tasks :

Encoding – decoding
Compression – decompression
Encryption - Decryption

Encoding - decoding

Codec digitizes your analog voice to digital. When you talk over normal landline phone, your voice is transported in an analog way. But with VoIP, your voice is converted into digital signals. This conversion is technically called encoding, and is achieved by a codec. At destination, digitized voice is to be decoded back to its original analog state so that the other person can hear and understand it.

Compression – decompression

Bandwidth is a scarce commodity. To make the digitized voice less bulky, it is compressed. By compression, the same data is stored but using lesser space (digital bits). Once it reaches its destination, it is decompressed back to it original state before being decoded.

Encryption – decryption

Encryption is one of the best tools for achieving security. It is the process of changing data into such a state that it no one can understand. This way, even if the encrypted data is intercepted by unauthorized people, the data still remains confidential. Once the encrypted data reaches destination, it is decrypted back to its original form. Often, when data is compressed, it already is encrypted to a certain extent, since it is altered from its original state.

Common VoIP Codecs

Codec	Bandwidth/kbps	Comments
G.711	64	Delivers precise speech transmission. low processor requirements. Needs at least 128 kbps for two-way.
G.722	48/56/64	Adapts to varying compressions
G.723.1	5.3/6.3	High compression with high quality audio. Lot of processor power.
G.726	16/24/32/40	An improved version of G.721 and G.723 (different from G.723.1)
G.729	8	Excellent bandwidth utilization. Error tolerant. License required.
GSM	13	High compression ratio. Free and available in many hardware and software platforms.
iLBC	15	Robust to packet loss. Free
Speex	2.15 / 44	Minimizes bandwidth usage by using variable bit rate.

The approximate values for data consumption of the most common codecs used for VoIP are as follows:

Codec BR NEB

G.711 64 Kbps 87.2 Kbps

G.729 8 Kbps 31.2 Kbps

G.723.1 6.4 Kbps 21.9 Kbps

G.723.1 5.3 Kbps 20.8 Kbps

G.726 32 Kbps 55.2 Kbps

G.726 24 Kbps 47.2 Kbps

G.728 16 Kbps 31.5 Kbps

iLBC 15 Kbps 27.7 Kbps

BR = Bit rate
NEB = Nominal Ethernet Bandwidth (one direction)

Note - The G.729 codec is one of the best performing voice codecs and most good VoIP services use it.

Calculation of Bandwidth required

Example - for one minute of talk with the G.729 codec.

Now G.729 uses 8kpbs of sampling. Normally one packet of 20 Bytes is sent. With a sampling rate of 8kpbs this means that in one sec, 50 packets are to be sent.

If we are using frame relay protocol over ethernet, the overheads to be used are as follows -

Frame relay - 6 Bytes(incl header and trailer)

RTP - 40 bytes (breakup 20 bytes of IP, RTP-12 & UDP - 8) [Note if cRTP is used these 40 Bytes can be converted into 4 Bytes]

Ethernet - 18 bytes

Therefore, for each packet of 20 bytes in this case 64 Bytes of protocol and other header bytes are added. Therefore total 84 Bytes will be send. Overall 50 such packets are semt per sec, therefore bit rate is 50*84*8= 33.6 kbps (Mentioned as ~32 kpbs)

This translates into 1920 kilobits (60 x 32) in one minute, which in turn is 240 kilobytes (KB) per minute (1 byte is 8 bits). Now that’s only for the data going out. Inbound data (which also counts) takes the same load, so one can double the figure to 480 KB. This gives a round value to 0.5 MB per minute of conversation.

However, there are many parameters, that are rather technical in nature, affecting the values above. Among them are the compression technology, the size (payload) of the voice packets, the intervals at which they are sent, packet overhead, network protocol used and whether silence suppression is used. (Pl refer table below). If silence suppression/voice activity detection is used, the bandwidth consumption may drop 50%

Packet voice transmission requirements
(Bits per second per voice channel)

Codec

Voice bit rate

Sample time

Voice payload

Packets per second

Ethernet

PPP or Frame Relay
RTP	cRTP

G.711

64 Kbps

20 msec

160 bytes

87.2 Kbps

82.4 Kbps

68.0 Kbps

G.711

64 Kbps

30 msec

240 bytes

33.3

79.4 Kbps

76.2 Kbps

66.6 Kbps

G.711

64 Kbps

40 msec

320 bytes

75.6 Kbps

73.2 Kbps

66.0 Kbps

G.729A

8 Kbps

20 msec

20 bytes

31.2 Kbps

26.4 Kbps

12.0 Kbps

G.729A

8 Kbps

30 msec

30 bytes

33.3

23.4 Kbps

20.2 Kbps

10.7 Kbps

G.729A

8 Kbps

40 msec

40 bytes

19.6 Kbps

17.2 Kbps

10.0 Kbps

Note: RTP assumes 40-octets RTP/UDP/IP overhead per packet

Compressed RTP (cRTP) assumes 4-octets RTP/UDP/IP overhead per packet

Ethernet overhead adds 18-octets per packet

PPP/Frame Relay overhead adds 6-octets per packet

If we take the value of 50 kbps for any codec, it will give (after calculations and approximations) 0.75 MB per minute of conversation.

Verizon to sell part of 700MHz band spectrum

2012-04-19T13:39:00.001+05:30

Verizon to sell part of 700MHz band spectrum