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Lessons from India for Africa
Connecting
600,000+ Indian villages can happen only if the connections are commercial
viable, not by aid or charity, says
Prof Ashok Jhunjhunwala.
Can the lessons of Indian villages be applied in Africa? India has a dense
population, fibre connections reaching deep into the country, and we have
business models tuned to India’s needs. The situation in other countries
will vary. The key to our model is local entrepreneurship. Technology and
applications can be tuned differently. It should be possible to connect all
villages in the world in the next five to seven years. What is required is
the will to do it!
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Outline of the PowerPoint
presentation. Go
here for full presentation.
Local entrepreneurship for sustainable telecentres: case studies from Indian
villages
Prof Ashok Jhunjhunwala
TeNeT Group, IIT Madras,
Chennai, India
ashok@tenet.res.in
Driving Commercial Internet Connections in Rural India
q
What can Rural India Afford?
q
For commercial viable connections, one needs
l
Technology
l
Business Model
l
Organization
l
Driving Applications
Income and Telecom Spend of Rural Indian
households
How does one serve people with incomes of less than a dollar a day?
q
Lower Connectivity cost
q
Aggregate demand
Lower Connectivity cost
q
CAPEX cost of telephone line was $ 600 plus in India barely
two years ago
l
required ARPU of $20 plus per month to break even
•
affordable to barely two percent of Indian households
q
Innovative Technologies and better buying has reduced CAPEX to
around $ 325 per line
l
moving towards $ 200 per line enabling 50% of Indian homes to
afford telecom
l
rural connectivity cost reduced from $1500 to about
$ 300 per connection
Aggregate Demand
q
in 1987 less than 5% of urban
households had telephones
•
7 years wait for a telephone
•
coin-box street telephones did not work
•
long distance charges too high even for top income families
q
Entrepreneur-driven telephone
booths (STD PCOs) introduced
•
night time long distance charges reduced by a factor of 4
q
Today
•
950,000 STD PCOs covering every street of smallest town
•
generate 25 % of total telecom income
•
300 million people use these PCOs
How does one connect Rural India
q
India has 600,000+ villages
l
650 million people
q
Need
l
Technology
l
Sustainable Business Model
l
Organisation which can think
and act Rural
l
Driving Applications towards
Rural Prosperity
Technology
q
BSNL’s Contribution: on the
average one fibre connected rural exchange for every 150 sq km
•
a wireless system with 10 - 15 km range at existing fibre connected
exchange would cover 80 - 85% of villages in India
q
CorDECT Wireless in Local Loop
Developed by IITM and Midas Communications, Chennai
•
provides a telephone line and Internet connection in 30 Km radius
corDECT Wireless in Local Loop
Organisations with
Innovative Business Models
q
n-Logue :
A Rural Service Provider
l
aggregate demand into a kiosk
using
•
corDECT Wireless in Local Loop
•
ISP in a box : Minnow
•
Reliable power back-up
l
$ 1000 (including taxes) per
Kiosk providing telephone, Internet,
multimedia PC with web-camera, printer and 4 hour
power back-up for PC
•
plus Indian language software
l
set up by a village
entrepreneur on the lines of STD PCOs
•
needs only $ 60 per month to break even
What is the monthly income?
q
STD PCO
$ 20+
q
Children learn
typing
l
all kinds of on-line and
off-line education $ 10+
q
Kiosk is a photography
shop $ 6
l
also a video parlour on
weekend evenings $ 6
q
email and browsing
l
voice mail and video
mail $ 10+
q
e-governance access
l
connect to taluka Government
office for services $ 4
q
and much more
Word-processor in Indian Languages
Multi-lingual Office Package
Mundi . . . .
q
A 60 year old
from a village
near Melur
l
Palaniamma had
lost vision in both eyes since 2 years
l
tie-up with
Aravind hospital --
Doctors confirmed that vision
can be restored in at least one eye
q
IITM trying to
develop Remote Diagnostic tools
l
Blood Pressure, Sugar & Iron,
ECG Monitor, stethoscope
l
at total cost of $ 200
Crop comparison
q
Top: Ladies Finger
Diseased
with yellow mosaic
q
Below : Post treatment
q
Saving of $ 3,000 for the
farmers
q
Cost of information $ 0.40
E- Dr Vet ?
q
In Attapati village , Priya’s
chicken was limping
q
Photo sent to Veterinary
college
q
Identified as Curled toe
paralysis
q
Cost for process
l
Earlier $ 4
l
This case $ 0.40
The Power of multi-party video
communication
Rural Wheel of Prosperity -
The Wealth Creators
Rural Wheel of Prosperity –
The Enablers
Enabling Finance, Commerce and Training and
Information
Can Kiosks become Micro-banks?
q
TeNeT and n-Logue working with ICICI
l
Remote Bill Payment
l
Rural ATM
l
Micro-finance
l
Remittance
q
Credit and Product Marketing is one of the biggest requirement
of Rural India
Knowledge and Training
q
Another Driver of Rural Prosperity
l
Information Dissemination
and Knowledge Enhancement
q
Need a Virtual University in every
District
to enable this
l
Basic Structure would
•
Consist of a Central Hub
•
And Knowledge Extension centres in every village
To Sum Up
q
Connecting 600,000+ Indian villages can happen
l
only if the connections are commercial viable
•
not by aid or charity
q
TeNeT and n-Logue
l
have technology and business model
l
building the organisation
l
driving applications
q
Can this be applied elsewhere -- in Africa?
To Sum up
q
India has
l
dense population
l
fibre reaching deep
l
our business model tuned to India’s needs
q
Situation in other countries will vary
l
But the key to our model is local entrepreneurship
l
technology and applications can be tuned differently
q
Should be possible to Connect all villages in the world in the
next five to seven years
l
what is required is the will to do it….
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