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Parag Kar

Thomas K Thomas

Everyone and anyone related to the telecom industry these days talks only about third generation or 3G services.

But what does 3G really mean for the end consumers? eWorld caught up with Parag Kar, Senior Director (Government Affairs), Qualcomm-India, to break through the technical jargon and explain the basics of this new mobile technology, which Indian consum ers can hope to experience by early next year.

Excerpts from the chat:

What does 3G mean to the consumer?

3G is an evolution of the existing technologies that have limited capabilities, both on the device side and on the network side.

The current technologies limit the capability of service providers in offering advanced services due to network, and device constraints and the inability to support both voice and data services seamlessly.

3G will be able to overcome these limitations by enabling devices with more features and higher processing speeds, and make possible new kinds of value-added services, which otherwise were unthinkable under the realm of the current 2G technologies.

What would be the compelling reason for an existing 2G mobile user to migrate to 3G?

To a regular user, the impact of 3G will be better quality service (voice quality, battery usage, better display, etc), as 3G technologies, with their higher capacities, will be able to decongest networks.

3G will make data usage ubiquitous and thereby enable a common user to experience a host of advanced data services. These services will extend from mobile banking, micro finance, to services such as enabling useful information to farmers and safety information to fishermen, thereby enhancing their livelihood.

Mobile banking services have the potential of extending banking facilities to innumerable people who today do not have a bank account due to lack of accessibility.

Does 3G bring more value to lifestyle mobile users as well?

For a lifestyle user, 3G will enable devices with higher processing speeds and capabilities.

He will be able to use higher megapixel camera, store and listen to more music, watch video, do social networking, play advanced games and send high quality MMS.

What about business users?

A business user using 3G-enabled hand-held devices will be able to download large-sized files quickly; his e-mail capabilities and Internet experience will increase considerably due to higher network speeds, thereby making laptops redundant.

For a business laptop user, 3G will also enhance his mobile broadband experience, by enabling roaming across heterogeneous networks of different kinds (WCDMA, HSPA, EVDO, etc) all using single integrated USB/integrated modems.

Other than these, 3G will enable a host of other useful features, one such being location-based applications.

Through devices with integrated chipsets having GPS capability, working parents can track the movement of small children, pets and others.

Service providers, in collaboration with restaurants, shops and advertisers, can create applications that can track the movement of people (those willing to register for these services) and push advertisements to attract people when they happen to be in the vicinity of their shops or locations.

Using embedded devices, doctors can monitor the vital parameters of the patient on a real-time basis and can suggest medications and take corrective actions.

The government can use 3G devices for dissemination of e-governance services.

Do you think all these services and features will actually be offered or will operators use 3G spectrum to pack in more subscribers for making voice calls?

It will be a step-by-step evolution. Since there is a crunch in spectrum availability, operators may initially use the efficiency of 3G technology to support more voice customers.

But then, since 3G also enhances network capacity, you will start seeing new features and services being introduced.

Agreed that voice is the basic application for a phone service provider, but what 3G brings is the flexibility for the operators to experiment with newer applications that they have never seen before.

For example, mobile broadband is not possible today due to capacity constraints, but 3G will make this happen.

While all services and features may not be rolled out simultaneously, it is also true that not all subscribers would want everything. 3G technology allows operators to cater to the aspirations of the consumers depending on their lifestyle.

Is it true that 3G has not really taken off in other countries and it continues to be basically used for voice calls?

Not true. 3G has been deployed successfully in many countries.

There is data available to show that operators who have introduced 3G services have been able to sustain or grow their average revenue per user (ARPU) due to growth in data services.

India, in fact, is better positioned for the uptake of non-voice services due to the larger ecosystem of subscribers already existing. The uptake of 3G services in India will be faster because of the availability of devices at lower price points.

In India computing (desktop and laptop) today is still far behind when compared with the scale of the mobile phone.

This is due to the fact that mobile phones are more user friendly when compared to computers.

3G has the potential of extending the experience of computing to the lowest strata of society, who otherwise would continue to be deprived of the fruits of this technological advancement.

Since 3G in India will be a mainstream service rather than for the elite, it will reach the remotest part of the country, and open immense opportunity for the government in extending e-governance services.

tkt@thehindu.co.in

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