The Hindu Business Line : ‘Share telecom resources to deliver more value’

By sharing infrastructure, innovation and expertise, by avoiding duplications or re-inventing the wheel or the sliced bread, the public and private sector telecom players can deliver more value, says Brijendra K (BK) Syngal, former Chairman and Managing Director of Videsh Sanchar Nigam Ltd (VSNL).

Let the Government or the public sector create infrastructure and share with the private sector at commercially-agreed terms and conditions, he suggests, during the course of a recent e-mail interview with eWorld.

“The Government sector is excellent in terms of creating infrastructure, but fails in either optimally utilising or marketing the products. They have their own showstoppers sitting at various levels for providing the so-called oversight resulting in the slowdown of decision-making and timely executions.”

Syngal, a B.Tech. (Hons) and M.Tech. from IIT Kharagpur is currently Senior Principal in Dua Consulting, New Delhi, heading the consulting and advisory team of telecom experts in the disciplines of licensing, regulation, policy formulations and Government affairs. Post-VSNL, he was Chairman, Reliance Telecom, and also Vice-Chairman, BPL Communications.

Among his professional activities are: membership of the Board of Governors of the Indian Institute of Information Technology at Allahabad during the formative years; serving as the Governor of the International Council for Computer Communications, Washington DC; being on the Advisory Committee of G. S. Sanyal School of Telecommunications, Indian Institute of Technology, Kharagpur; and serving as Director, Zee Telefilms, and Sonata Software.

Excerpts from the interview, in which Syngal shares his personal views on a variety of connectivity-related issues:

With steadily falling costs of usage, is connectivity headed to become as much a given as a roadway?

The fall in cost of usage is on various counts, such as: Volumes bringing in economies of scale; discovery of connectivity as a tool for increasing efficiency in businesses or remaining in touch with family and friends; affordability increasing volumes; and copying by those uninitiated adding to the volumes. All these result in the downward spiralling of costs.

Therefore, everyone would wish to join the bandwagon of connectivity as the fourth mode of transportation after land, sea and air.

I would say connectivity is already taken as given. It was fun, for instance, to see a roadside vendor lady using a mobile to speak to her son in the village in Mount Abu just two weeks ago.

Does the resulting commoditisation of connectivity come with its own set of problems?

Indeed it does, it would require investments to keep the quality of service within acceptable norms, it would require investments in rural India where the tele-density is low; and it would, on a positive side, require education or familiarisation of the technology for enhanced services. I would say that we should term all this as a virtuous circle to address opportunity.

What are the challenges to regulation that a situation of ubiquitous connectivity poses?

It does pose both regulatory and policy challenges. The ubiquitous connectivity requires a completely fresh approach such as technology neutrality in the licensing regime. It requires a change in mindset at policy-making level.

Everyone should get his share of the pie, the Government its revenues, both from sale proceeds of resources and in perpetuity from licensing fees.

Other than that they should just let go the marketplace, allowing the entrepreneur and the investor to decide.

The multiplicity of a host of licences must stop; this restriction of VoIP or no VoIP must stop.

While any restriction on a technology from the point of view of security is well-taken, we also need to find solutions to tackle those problems.

The key is a licensing regime to reach out to the unconnected by the application of available technology. Such an application of technology must not be restrained by any regulation or policy, which is not the case today.

As I said, it requires a complete change in mindset, towards a licensing regime which changes in real-time when newer technologies emerge, and also an evolving tracking regime with emerging newer technologies.

In what ways do you foresee enterprises differentiating themselves in a connected marketplace? Does one visualise any newer applications?

Voice is considered passé by all. Value additions by newer applications only will provide high-end services. Look where SMS was a few years ago; that has become a commodity.

Look at MMS. Continuous upgradation and provision of newer services will differentiate between winners and losers.

Can connectivity be expected to deliver quickly in areas relating to social development where other conventional methods have not been too effective?

Of course, without an iota of doubt! Let us be clear: knowledge is power, awareness is bliss, initiating the uninitiated is an opportunity. However, we need to move from the speed of bullock-cart to the speed of light to provide connectivity.

Connectivity will enhance e-learning, e-medicine, e-animal husbandry, e-farming, and most importantly e-governance.

It brings people closer, markets nearer, resulting in prosperity. Everything at the flick of either a button or a knob on the key pad.

Rural connectivity — what are the hurdles?

Let the Universal Service Obligation (USO) Fund be used for creating the long-haul, short-haul, backhaul network in addition to the subsidies provided for just creating towers, etc.

The availability of prime power is most important not only for running of the equipment, but for charging of handsets. Charging of handsets is going to be a bigger problem than running the equipment.

Therefore, more focus as well as investments into the other sources of energy would be required.

Subsidy from USO funds for backhaul and alternative sources of prime power are a must.

The key would be cost-effective creation of points of presence by use of technology and innovative solutions for the prime power.

Globalisation is currently taking the blame for economic woes that get cascaded across countries. While any insulation, however, is not seen as a healthy option, do we have the checks and balances to ensure continuity in connectivity within the country despite what happens outside? (Recent instances of under-sea cable snapping threw many businesses out of gear.)

I agree with the fact that remaining insulated is not an answer. The results of keeping us insulated for sixty years are for all of us to see.

If there are economic woes now what about opportunities seen in the 90s and the millennium software exports from 50 million to 50 billion, and the automotive industry using India as an outsourcing hub. There are many such examples.

Snapping of under-sea cables should be considered as any natural calamity, such as the tsunami or earthquakes, terror attacks.

Plan for known eventualities and the unknown; learn to not only look at horizon, but below the horizon; do plan for the danger lurking round the corner.

Each of such mishaps must be used as learning and preparing for the future. Therefore invest in multiple routes.

dmurali@thehindu.co.in

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