Recently in Telecom Debate Category

The most unique identity of Telecommunication sector is "Diverse" and it can be debated to the core. Telecom is placed in too many sectors,

Infrastructure sector - your physical links to hook up end customers and in turn to internet points is your primary investment. too many elements goes here physical ground cable infra, tower infra, tower room, server/switching/routing space - typically a Data Center all of these are Infrastructure element. Irrespective of your mode of operation like CAPEX or OPEX investment as infrastructure is inevitable.

IT Sector - Technology competency is the brain. Your investment in investment can result in profit only when you can right technology in place. I have witnessed various key changes in this area, Your ROI should be within 5 years other wise you are dead not just cos of depreciation cos of technology change. When Iphone 4 is out you can not sell iphone 3G volumes will decrease and end up in  zero. you have to be very watchful to travel ahead of technology, every major telecom companies participate in creating technologyu group that helps them in positioning themselves ahead of competition at the worst case in sync with competition.

Service Sector - Why not end of the day what you offer is service "Connectivity" Pay for what you use.  Your whole business should aim at improving the service capabilities and improving the value additions. Companies who could not understand this reality are going no where, One of the over hyped telecom company saw a big dip couple of years agao only cos they did not relaize the importance of service.

Marketing Sector - Its a kind of flip-flop argument, No one can sustain without marketing - Golden lines in business. But Telecom is so simple to pitch-in with idea and complex for many cos of inability in sustaining with key marketing mantras.

Innovation Sector - Over the past 15 years our globe have witnessed 100 different telecommunication technologies. The one who can not innovate is dead man here. You gotta be dynamic.

So, where should i place telecommunication industry? This is not just part. Each legs are so vital to keep going. I personally call it as  "MANAGEMENT SECTOR" those who can strike balance of all the above field only can sustain here. You need to outsource work irrespective of your size and ability, You have to be in sync with technology hubs, Your theme should reflect the mood of the people. When it is summer your product need to be so cool, If it is cricket season you need be with instant access to score. Irrespective of who is governing the country, state, city or panchayat who gotta keep your physical cable safe, Be a diplomat. Learn to be a master in controlling the game. 

After long time of time of isolation from desitelecom.in, I have a  perfect debatable topic to discuss with you all. This snippet is from ITU secretary general's announcement,

ITU Secretary-General Dr Hamadoun Touré today challenged global leaders to ensure that more than half of all the world's people have access to broadband networks by 2015, and make access to high-speed networks a basic civil right.

How many of really agree with such a high level statement from bureaucrat like ITU secretary.  There is a need to bridge digital divide, We live in a world were fundamental needs like roti (Food), Kapda (Dress), and makan (shelter) to every living being is not even take care.

How global leaders can make high-speed network a basic civil right?
Isn't too early to talk about basic civil right?

Above questions are only from a lament perspective, a deep insight in to the idea behind ITU official will let you see the benefits. Today larger population create their own food by farming, what they get out of it by selling them to mandi wallas (distributors) is too less. In most cases farming community not even aware of the real sold price. This leads to low price selling and high price buying, in between distributors eat the big pie. Imagine a situation where high speed networks to remote places help them to decide best price? Most of the farming has deep routed traditional practices with change in weather condition farmers are left in dark. Imagine  a high speed network infrastructure which carries on-the fly information about weather updates, and farming instructions to the community.

A internet TV, Video conferencing, tele presence   are the way forward to minimize the digital divide. Don't look at it as a luxury, see the better part of it in supporting the community and helping the needy people.

Snippets from news release,
"Broadband is the next tipping point, the next truly transformational technology. It can generate jobs, drive growth and productivity, and underpin long-term economic competitiveness. It is also the most powerful tool we have at our disposal in our race to meet the Millennium Development Goals, which are now just five years away," said Dr Touré.

'Broadband Inclusion for All', comprises a detailed framework for broadband deployment and ten Action Points aimed at mobilizing all stakeholders and convincing government leaders to prioritize the roll-out of broadband networks to their citizens.

link between broadband penetration and economic growth. "In the 21st century, affordable, ubiquitous broadband networks will be as critical to social and economic prosperity as networks like transport, water and power. Broadband will serve as tomorrow's fountain of innovation. It represents the ripening of the digital revolution, the fruits of which have yet to be invented or even imagined."

"Information and communication technologies are playing an increasingly important role as drivers of social and economic development, but it will take partnerships such as the Broadband Commission to ensure that those technologies live up to their extraordinary potential," said Mr Ban. "The Commission's report is an important contribution to our efforts to ensure that the benefits of information and communication technology can further the United Nations goals of peace, security or development for all."


It also asks: "What price will be paid in the brave new world of digital opportunity by those who fail to embrace broadband inclusion for their citizens?" - a stark warning in light of huge disparities in broadband affordability worldwide, which means that those who can least afford it pay the most for access, relative to average national monthly income.

While subscribers in the developed world - for example the UK, US, Canada or Australia - pay under 1% of average national monthly income for a fast broadband connection, in many of the world's UN-designated Least Developed Countries, such as Ethiopia, Malawi or Niger, even a relatively slow broadband connection costs many times an average monthly salary.

Affordability has a clear and direct correlation to take-up, so that while fixed broadband penetration stands at around 30% in many of the highly 'wired' countries of Western Europe, Oceania and North America, it is closer to 10% in BRIC countries, and under 1% in the world's poorest nations.

The Commission outcome report stresses the importance of promoting cultural diversity and multilingualism in the online world. It urges governments not to limit market entry nor tax broadband and related services too heavily, and to ensure ample availability of spectrum to support mobile broadband growth. ITU forecasts a total of 900 million broadband subscriptions by 2010 - and predicts that mobile broadband will be the access technology of choice for millions in the developing world, where fixed link infrastructure is sparse and expensive to deploy.

"The new realities and opportunities for digital development must be firmly fixed in the minds of world leaders as a leadership imperative," says the report, urging leaders to replicate the 'mobile miracle' of the first decade of the 21st century in a 'broadband boom' that will created shared high-speed resources accessible and beneficial to all.

http://www.itu.int/net/pressoffice/press_releases/2010/33.aspx