Google's Project Loon for India

G Krishna Kumar, Bangalore-based telecom executive, said the widening of internet user base in India will lead to Google improving its advertisement revenues, which currently constitutes over 90% of its total revenue."By enabling internet access to more people, Google's ad revenue can be strengthened," he said.

The Project Loon and Internet Sathi too will help in further penetration of internet in the country, which would translate into higher advertisement revenues for the company.

"Still over 50,000 villages in India don't have internet access and the Project Loon provides a sudden opportunity for enabling Internet access. How well Google is able to handle the operational problems that they would encounter will be critical," he said.

Krishna Kumar pointed that if the system developed by Google is robust enough then it will certainly help the government's Digital India. He said the business model between the search company and the telecom companies (telcos) would also be critical for its success.

In Indonesia, Google recently tied-up with telcos for offering Internet services through Project Loon.

"It will be interesting to see how this will play out and can provide learning for Google's plan to implement in other countries (like India)," he said.

Putin's popularity still high

 This article " Putin's popularity still high" I wrote appeared in the edit page of Deccan Herald on 13th October 2015. The article captures my impression about Russia and their President Putin. 

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Cybersecurity Conundrum and the Right to Privacy

My article titled "Cybersecurity Conundrum and the Right to Privacy" appeared in the Indian express on 3rd October 2015.
The uproar over "full" access to the government is  not specific to India, but is hotly debated in countries  like the UK and US.  This is a great opportunity for India specific
solution by using expertise from India's premier technology institutes. Balancing between national security without breaching privacy is the key

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India’s dropped calls conundrum

My article titled "India’s dropped calls conundrum" appeared in the Hindu Business Line on the 25th Sep 2015. 

India has woken up to the call drop issue, rather late. The situation can be improved with some sustained efforts from the government ( supporting M&A among Telcos, provide more spectrum), Regulator TRAI ( ensure accurate reporting) and the Telcos ( improve infrastructure, Towers alone may not be enough, in-building solutions would be the best)

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Will Digital India be a Dividend or Dilemma?

This article I wrote appeared in The New Indian Express editorial page.

The article points out that India's IDI (ICT Development Index) ranking is low still low at 129.

India needs a three pronged strategy -

a) Improve existing Wireless Telecommunication

b) Create an ecosystem, enable "cash less" economy, bring in transparency

c) Fast track the process of connecting the rural Hinterland  

Please click on the link  Will Digital India be a Dividend or Dilemma? OR Click/Right click on the image to view print replica.  

Getting set for the app economy

This article "Getting set for the app economy" I co-authored along with Dr V Sridhar has appeared in the Financial Express - FE/Reflect on 24th July 2015.

The article provides a preview into the app economy world-wide.
It provides a few statistics on India's app economy ( Developers, downloads, platforms etc). We also suggest a few possible areas for India in the app economy.

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Improve, innovate, implement: Smart cities' mantra

This column I wrote appeared in Deccan Herald on 20th July. Key points
1)      Smart cities is a strategic initiative, long term focused effort needed and implementation will be the KEY. We also need a short term immediate actions to be prioritized.
2)      Government must utilize the synergies between Smart cities and the Digital India program4
3)      Smart cities will be Innovation driven. Prime Minsister’s 'Mera Shahar Mera Sapna' is a great initiative for get ideas from the people.
4)      Need India specific frugal, yet high impact solutions. Just don't copy from other countries.
5)      We need a thrust on smaller local companies. Smart cities should NOT become a monopoly of a few global MNCs

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Make way for a Balanced Net Neutrality

G Krishna Kumar, a Bengaluru-based telecom executive, is also quite amused by the submission of the panel to the telcos' demand.
"It is quite amusing that even after the uproar created due to Airtel Zero, it has been given an okay by DoT panel stating that Trai (Telecom Regulatory Authority of India) would take a decision on a case-by-case basis," he quipped.
Airtel Zero is a platform developed by Bharti Airtel that will charge app developers for data while consumers will get free access to it. Many believe it goes against the tenet of Net Neutrality as it will discriminate between apps.
At the same time, both Pahwa and Krishna Kumar believe that the panel's suggestions have some positives too. One of them being no licence required by over the top players (OTTs) for instant messaging services in the domestic market.
Krishna Kumar is of the view that pure Net Neutrality was just a wishful thinking.
WhatsApp should not be differentiated," he said.
"Telcos will need flexibility on cost and priority of data. While differentiation based on broad category of applications like VoIP (Voice over Internet Protocol), streaming, etc., is okay, we don't want specific content providers' data to be given different priority. For example VoIP apps should be given higher priority, but within the group Viber and

Monday, 20 July 2015 - 8:04am IST | Agency: dna | From the print edition

Will brand Digital India live up to expectations?

G Krishna Kumar, a Bangalore-based telecom executive, said the government needs to measure the real impact of the Digital India initiatives and draw up a clear roadmap for it.

"Grand Vision of the government must be lauded but what is important is the implementation and even if the government is able to achieve partial success over the next 3-4 years, it will be a big achievement" he said.

 According to him, "holistic implementation" of programmes under Digital India was the key to its success.
"News reports of hundreds of computers planned for helping children in government schools not being used for years due to the unavailability of skilled teachers is just one example of that implementation needs to be holistic.

Even if the initiatives are small, it must reach the intended recipients, feedback must be gathered from the end user to close the loop. Regular feedback from the citizens must be taken to claim success of any of the initiative," said Krishna Kumar.

Call Drops ! TRAI report shows the Telcos are doing Fine!

 

 

G Krishna Kumar, a Bangalore-based telecom professional, said, with a "disparity" in the findings of various agencies on call drops and the actual reality on the ground, the government should look at taking direct feedback from consumers to get the real picture.
"Looking at the disparity between what subscribers experience and what is reported by the network operators/auditors and Trai, the government should actively consider collecting customer perception or quality of experience," he said.

Krishna Kumar also called for strict parameters for measuring the quality of service for data to study whether consumers were really getting 3G and 4G data service for the rates they were paying for. "The special audit suggested by the minister is most welcome. But it all depends on how well the operators will respond to the results," he said.

 

 

Interestingly, even as grievances relating to call drops have shot up across all circles lately, as per the latest Telecom Regulatory Authority of India (Trai) report the parameter call drop rate has shown improvement during December 2014 quarter, compared with the previous quarter.
The permissible limit of call drops set by Trai is anything less than 2%. Trai's findings for the December quarter last year shows the call drop rate improved to 2.7% from 3.28% in September quarter.

Wednesday, 8 July 2015 - 6:50am IST | Place: New Delhi | Agency: dna | From the print edition

 

Digital India ! infinite Possibilites , Implementation will be the key

 

Bengaluru-based telecom professional G Krishna Kumar said while Digital India was a great initiative to bridge the digital divide between the cities and the rural hinterland, the government would need to embark on an e-literacy mission for training people and helping them understand the benefits of using e-governance platform.

"Even in cities, we need a strong work flow automation set-up to be established. For example, if I request for some document from the government office, I should know how long it will take for the document to be processed and also what is the current status. This removes anxiety among the citizens, an assured service level would mean better accountability and reduced corruption," he said.
Citing the example of property registration in Bengaluru, he said despite it being digitised, most processes were still done manually and required multiple visits to the local office.
"The assured services and timelines are rarely met. Even if we have the technology and platform, enforcing the system can be a challenge. A strong willingness from the government is much needed," he said.
According to him, Digital India and smart cities initiatives can be aligned and existing e-governance systems should be modified to be brought under it.
Krishna said public private partnership (PPP) model of executing the projects was the right approach. Under this model, private players will look for profits and so it would be important for the government to provide a clear roadmap and blueprint for the same.
He said one successful case of PPP project was the Passport Seva Kendra, where the government partnered with Tata Consultancy Services (TCS).
"Maybe, the government should replicate the best practices (of the Passport Seva Kendra) so that it is a win-win for the stakeholders," he said.

30 June 2015 - 7:10am IST | Place: New Delhi | Agency: dna | From the print edition

Smart city challenge

PM Modi's vision of creating 100 smart cities has caught everyone's attention. The buzz is that the government will make a formal announcement about this pet project later this month and states are likely to be asked to compete ( using a Smart city challenge) to figure in the list of 100 smart cities.

While the government's effort to create a competitive environment must be applauded, constant improvement in the living conditions of all the towns and cities must be a priority- Not just the select 100 cities

Lets wait for the Smart city challenge!

Balanced Net Neutrality?

People sending 150,000 mails to India's Telecom regulator TRAI opposing any move to prevent Net neutrality is quite unprecedented and never heard before.

India's internet penetration is still very low compared to other countries in the world. So, assuming India to follow US may not be correct, at least for now. India is a very price sensitive market, ARPU of the operators is a fraction of other countries. Ditto for Spectrum held by the Telcos.   A report states Indian Telcos will need additional 40-50 Billion USD for improving the infrastructure. 

While on one side as subscribers we need free and predictable access to internet, on the other end we need dependable/competitive service providers.  Instead of  going over board on NN, India should take a mid-path , Perhaps a fine Balance!!!  
 

Need to redesign structure for skilling India

This article "Need to redesign structure for skilling India" I wrote appeared in The Financial Express FE-Reflect on 2nd Feb 2015.  The article tries to argue that there is a severe Demand-Supply mismatch and hence  need to align and rationalize existing skill development initiatives. NSDA should be responsible for this.

 

Skill development to be started at primary school level ( Adapt China’s implementation), OR we can learn from Germany’s DSVET

 

Provide both teachers and students with regular and mandatory industry exposure

 

Digitial India and Make In India can help in fast forwarding the skill development. However, Agriculture sector  should be given importance for promoting innovation and productivity improvements

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Net-Neutrality

While Net-neutrality has been hotly debated in the US with FCC receiving over a million comments on this topic, India's stand is not clear.

Just a quick history -  Net neutrality was coined by Prof Tim Wu of Columbia Law School in 2003. This idea is to ensure Telcos do not exercise control on internet traffic.

President Obama is a proponent on Net Neutrality. He has recently said "an entrepreneur's fledgling company should have the same chance to succeed as established corporations, and that access to a high school student's blog shouldn't be unfairly slowed down to make way for advertisers with more money"

In India Airtel wanted to create separate tariff for VOIP based OTT services - Over the Air services like Skype, Viber. Thankfully Airtel backed-off.

From a Telco's point of view, viewing all data traffic as "same" may not make business sense as they want to cash in on providing "fast lanes" for some customers.

TRAI is expected to come-up with a document soon.  In a country like India Net neutrality is very crucial with millions of people accessing internet over mobile phones