“Change is Permanent”
Read the introduction for information and background
I do accept the current market conditions and trends. My questions and analysis are about the CHANGE to facilitate the open Eco-system.
Government should start the process of the conversion and companies should support it. Today Internet is open but it was closed. Internet in India started with “Midnight BBS in India” 200+ web pages were cached and accessed offline between 2:00 PM and 7:00 AM, then to “VSNL shell-account”, slowly evolved to today’s open system.
Similarly , it should happen for the communication industry.
Factors required to realize the openness:
1) Government support by policies and rules
2) Long range wireless OFDM technologies like Wimax
3) Open mobile platform a) openmoko b) Android and so on
4) Web Phones
5) 10 big mobile operators Vs 1000 small W-ISPs
Technology is ready. We just need to define the system with proper business plan. Changing the existing operators mind set is difficult.
It is possible by two means
a) New operator entry with government support and huge investment. Need to come with new business plan.
b) A consortium of small and medium companies .i.e Instead of 10 big mobile operators 1000 Wireless – Internet service providers (W-ISPs).
Advantages for Government (Opening the Spectrum)
With the basis of Macro-economics
1) Small business improvement
2) Improvement in tax income and minimize subsidies
3) Government can be a partner in mobile internet services (direct return)
4) Improvement in education system and information system
5) Internet will reach more people of the country (they might be first time users)
6) Share in advertisement revenue (direct return) – Ex: If google starts a service in India and if government opens spectrum for some share in advertisement revenue then it is a permanent revenue and not a one time revenue as spectrum allocation. Infinite number of services are possible 7) User gets more options to select the services
8 ) Open system will increase service competition which in turn will minimize the price.
Advantages for mobile manufacturers
0) Need not kill technology because of operator restriction.
1) Catering the user need directly
2) Address real problems instead of operator tweaks
3) Sales independence
4) Multiplexing of technologies in Mobile, TV and Internet
5) More 3rd party support
