Damp Squib
The platform designed to showcase India’s telecom might, is gradually loosing its sheen, thanks to myriad issues
Aproud Prime Minster while inaugurating the India Telecom Summit 2011, in a very clear and firm voice stated it to the world that the Indian telecommunications industry is the fastest growing telecom market in the world, with the addition of over millions of subscribers every month.
In fact, why only the prime minister, every citizen who has the slightest idea of India’s telecom success story will take pride of the fact. However it’s really unfortunate that when it comes to representing the same telecommunications industry at a common platform, the same enthusiasm and zeal is somehow seen far lagging behind.
Lack of Enthusiasm and Motivation
The recently concluded Indian Telecom 2011 event, jointly organized by the Department of Telecommunications (DOT) and FICCI in the national capital New Delhi, was a testimonial to that. Though the 3-day event kick-started on a high note in the presence of the high dignitaries like Prime Minister Manmohan Singh, Union Minister for Information and Communications Kapil Sibal, Minister of State for IT and Communication Milind Deora, and Minister of state for IT and Communications Sachin Pilot, however many big names of the Indian telecom industry skipped the event.
The main attractions of the event, without any shred of doubt, are and have always been the stalls of various telecom service providers, vendors, or the distributors. And, year after year the number of stalls put up and the participation of vendors and service providers are significantly decreasing.
Big Names Miss the Show
The summit lacked the zest and heat of early days. While Bharti airtel was seen promoting airtel money, Aircel was promoting iphone 4 on their network. Vodafone was seen showcasing their enterprise business inclinations and BSNL and MTNL both were seen promoting IPTV technology on their networks. There were few product launches as well: This helped in the Summit in gaining some momentum.
Regular participants like Reliance Communications, Idea Cellular, Qualcomm,
Motorola, etc, were seen missing during the recent edition of the event, so as the number of footfalls.
Supported and endorsed by the Ministry of Communications & Information Technology of the Government of India, the India Telecommunications International Summit used to be the must-attend high-level international summit addressing the strategic, financial, and technical growth potential and contributions of the telecom sector in India. The journey that started in 2006 seems to be losing its sheen year after year.
Issues Impacting the Show
The lack of interest in participating in the current edition of the event combined with the half-hearted interest of visitors attending India’s telecom show can be attributed to myriad issues the industry has been facing for the last couple of years. Issues like the 2G scam, lack of clear policy guidelines plaguing the industry, the wait for the NTP 2011, sluggish growth of much-awaited 3G services, and financial turmoil in the world arena seem to have impacted the India’s flagship telecom event to a great extent.
Exploring Untapped Opportunities
India telecom 2011 hoped to serve as a platform to promote opportunities in the telecom sector for pushing economic growth and attracting FDI. Speaking on the occasion, Kapil Sibal said, “India is a land of opportunities. There is a huge investment opportunity in the telecom sector, as in the next 5 years there will be 6.5 tn investment.”
Sachin Pilot put forth his views and said that after seeing a hike in the numbers of subscribers, now the focus would be on delivering the quality services. “The government understands that there are significant challenges and will work hard to achieve the targets. The focus will be on exploring new and emerging opportunities in the sector,” said Pilot.
The event aimed to showcase the latest technologies and explore the potential of untapped technologies and services such as green solutions, Wimax, 3G and broadband wireless access, mobile financial services, and mobile number portability through exhibitions and conferences.
Brainstorming Sessions
Based around the theme of ‘M-powering India’, the India Telecom 2011, as part of the conference, organized multiple sessions, panel discussions, product launches, and press conferences on interesting themes like socio-economic impact of mobile connectivity. Chaired by R Chandrasekhar, Secretary, Department of Telecommunications, Ministry of Communications & Information Technology, Government of India, the media briefing sessions were attended by the representatives of leading organizations like Fredrik Jejdling, managing director and head region, Ericsson India; R Sivakumar, managing director, sales and managing group, Intel South Asia; Sandeep Girotra, head, India region, Nokia Siemens Networks; and Dr BK Gairola, director general, NIC discussed how the mobile makes for a business case in rural India with new dimensions in learning called M-education and how M-governance will enable citizens to participate in democratic governance, empowering the rural growth in the country in line with the theme.
Another session chaired by Usha Thorat, former deputy governor, Reserve Bank of India & director, Centre for Advanced Financial Research and Learning, focused on how the mobile has become a powerful tool for enabling financial services. The session witnessed eminent panelists like AP Hota, managing director and chief executive officer, National Payments Corporation of India; R Karthikeyan, chief general manager, corporate strategy and new businesses, State Bank of India; Dr Sumit D Chowdhury, vice president and partner, IBM Global Business Services; and Shweta Aprameya, VP, business management and growth, Financial Inclusion Network and Operations debated on how the mobile services will help in unlocking the potential of mobile financial services in India and the opportunities, challenges, and future for m-commerce in India.
History of the Indian Telecom Summit
The Indian Telecom Summit since 2006 has attracted different kinds of response and dignitaries, which have been discussed below:
Indian Telecom Summit 2006: However the case was much different when it was started in 2006. The first India Telecom Summit was held in 2006 and addressed by the then Hon’ble president, APJ Abdul Kalam, who stressed on the need to discuss issues of invasion of privacy and ethics of utilization of telecom tools and technologies. Connectivity was the key to transformation of billion people into members of knowledge society. Connectivity for the billion people is the connectivity of the planet, which means connecting 600,000 villages and bringing 700 mn people to the 300 mn people living in urban. Baring the fact that it was the first of its kind event that
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represented India on the international platform within the country, the event drew huge influx of service providers, vendors, as well as distributors and proved to be a gala affair for the investors and the most profitable one too.
Indian Telecom Summit 2007: Then came the second edition of Indian Telecom Summit 2007 that also saw huge success and received tremendous response from exhibitors, participants, as well as the business visitors. The event also incorporated in an open house and valedictory session with senior officials from DOT and Trai on policy and regulatory issues.
Indian Telecom Summit 2008: The level of footfalls and business avenues were achieved on the third Indian Telecom Summit 2008. The event provided a platform for interactive sessions between the government, policy makers, industrial leaders, academia, and potential investors to interact and share their valuable ideas. It mainly focused on the networking opportunities through exchange of ideas, leading to future business alliances and deals.
Indian Telecom Summit 2009: Then came the most successful edition of the event, India Telecom Summit 2009, that was concluded successfully with some important announcements like scheduling of 3G auctions, and presented highlights of the telecom industry in the last year. It saw the participation of over 300 companies from more than 60 countries. The theme for this edition of the event was ‘Telecom for Inclusive Growth’. Some very important announcements and insights were given at the event. While Raja promised during the inaugural ceremony that the 3G auction will be held as per schedule, the Prime Minister expressed concern over the digital divide between rural and urban India.
With huge expectations from the rollout of BWA services in 2012 and NTP 2011 expected to iron out many issues currently afflicting the Indian telecom industry, the next India Telecom 2012 might appear in a different avatar all together.
ritus@cybermedia.co.in