Here's how much subsidy Freedom 251 would need to fulfill 6 crore phone orders

PRAVEENA SHARMA | Tue, 23 Feb 2016-09:10am , New Delhi , dna

Even if we were to put aside all other doubts about Freedom 251, priced at Rs 251 by Ringing Bells, Pankaj Mohindroo, president of Indian Cellular Association (ICA), says it would be impossible for it to fund the subsidisation of the smartphone.

The recently launched Freedom 251 has taken the Indian market by storm with its unbelievable, and as many claim commercially unviable, pricing.

Mohindroo, who has asked the telecom ministry to look into the venture's tall claims, told dna it was a "serious matter" and that just the cost of subsidising the seven crore orders received in three days by the company would be more than daunting.

Even G Krishna Kumar, a Bangalore-based telecom analyst, said Ringing Bells would have to rely heavily on cross-subsidisation model to meet its promise on pricing, with the "bill of material" for a decent quality mobile phone in India currently being upwards of Rs 2,000 per unit.

"The bill of material of a decent quality phone will be upwards of Rs 2,000, that is the bare minimum cost to make a phone. There will also be overheads irrespective of the channel used for selling the phones (e-commerce or brick and mortar shops). So, if they are selling it at Rs 251, someone is subsidising the phone," he said.

After the overwhelming response that the company received for its product, it has stopped taking any more bookings.

dna was unable to reach the company officials on Monday, but according to reports in the media one of the promoters of Ringing Bells Mohit Goel assured all orders would be met on time.

Krishna Kumar observed that the orders that the handset company had received was more than 50% of the current smartphone market. According to the market research and analysis firm International Data Corporation (IDC), India's smartphone market was 103 million in 2015. The three-day order of Ringing Bells of around 70 million comes to about 70% of this.

"Rs 251-phone, if indeed can be realised with acceptable quality, can hugely disrupt the Indian smartphone market. India is among the fastest growing market for smartphones with about 2.5 crore smartphones sold every quarter in the country. That's about 100 million phones in a year," he said.

However, he said India had moved beyond the "cheapest only sells" market. "Just 10 years back before the Indian mobile phone makers entered the market, ultra-cheap Chinese phones were popular, but then they soon lost the market due to poor quality," said the telecom expert.

Imagining life in a Connected India by 2050

G KRISHNA KUMAR | Fri, 5 Feb 2016-06:30am , dna

In terms of preventive healthcare, advancements in wearables would mean real time measurement of body vitals like heartrate, cholesterol levels, blood sugar etc would be possible and predictive systems can anticipate health issues.

By 2050 India is expected to develop into world's number one economy and the most populous country wiyh 50% people expected to live in urban areas.

Such hyper growth would bring many challenges but also opportunities to leverage new technologies and innovations. Let us explore some of the new technologies that could shape our country.

We are sure to go beyond odd-even formula with smart traffic management and reliable/efficient public transportation. Connected technologies like the vehicle to vehicle communication will fully mature within the next 20 years. This means, accidents can be largely avoided as cars will alert the drivers by communicating with other cars and roadside objects.

Another example is when a drunk driver gets into the car. The car would just refuse to start! It calls the nearest rent-a-driver or even better, the car enters into an autonomous or self-drive mode and perhaps even stops at a chemist to pick up some headache tablets that it has pre-ordered.

In case of an accident/crash, the nearest ambulance is alerted, traffic lights altered for clear path to the site of the accident, injuries are pre diagnosed, right specialists are called to the hospital and even the operation theatre is booked. This will dramatically increase the number of lives saved.

In terms of preventive healthcare, advancements in wearables would mean real time measurement of body vitals like heartrate, cholesterol levels, blood sugar etc would be possible and predictive systems can anticipate health issues.

Fully connected intelligent homes will be a norm. But, won't it be amazing if you have a helping hand in the form of humanoid robots? Affordable and easy to maintain robots supporting us with daily chores, be it cleaning the house or preparing a cup of coffee would delight us.

Advanced streaming and virtual reality technologies can bring real life-like effect, experiencing stadium-like feel watching soccer match or a live concert just sitting at home.

Education sector would transform through the creation of highly knowledgeable skilled workforce. In fact, connected classrooms could obliterate the need for visas.

Let us now look at some key factors that can make the above sample cases a reality. Over the next 3-4 decades, we will see affordable and super high speed data rates giving "live experiences" for the citizens all the time.

We will see significant progress in the fields of machine learning, voice recognition and artificial intelligence, there will be a complete new paradigm with which people will interface with devices, gesture and voice support ( in local languages) will replace keyboard to a large extent. This means the digital divide between urban and rural populations will be eroded and access to technology will be simplified.

Energy efficiencies will see significant improvement over the next decades resulting in cars, mobiles, homes and even offices consuming significantly less power. We should not witness any power outages. We will also have close to unlimited data storage and instant access to data through the high speed data connections.

With a highly interconnected world, there could be challenges of too much info about an individual's likes and there could be security challenges. But then, the highly connected world will ensure basic human desires be it communication, search, shopping, entertainment, sports and travel to be much better.

Our journey is poised to be exciting over the next three decades as India gets connected and the citizens are sure to witness a safe, healthy, active and enjoyable life.

The writer is information and communication technology professional

Government will have to cut 700 MHz base price, say experts

PRAVEENA SHARMA | Wed, 3 Feb 2016-08:15am , New Delhi , dna

GSMA terms the telecom watchdog's valuation of the spectrum band as "unrealistic"; one expert says it could be slashed by as much as 20-25%

After the outcry of the Indian lobby body Cellular Operators Association of India (COAI) on the exorbitant pricing of spectrum in the 700 megahertz (MHz) frequency band, international mobile operators' representative organisation GSM Association (GSMA) also on Tuesday termed it "unrealistic" and telecom experts said the government had "no choice but to cut the price".

Hemant Joshi, partner, Deloitte Haskins & Sells LLP, told dna the government would have to come out with a "fair and workable price".

The government has no choice but to cut the base price, which is unrealistic and not reflective of National Telecom Policy 2012 (NTP 2012) and Digital India objectives. They should come out with a fair and workable price and time it (the spectrum auction) in a way that everybody (telecom operators) can participate in the auction, or else a few of them (operators) will corner the spectrum (in the efficient 700 MHz band)."

The NTP 2012 and Digital India programme aims to provide connectivity to all in affordable, secure and reliable manner. Last week, the Telecom Regulatory Authority of India (Trai) came out with its recommendations on spectrum pricing for the forthcoming auction, where it has valued the airwaves in 700 MHz band at a base price of Rs 11,500 crore per MHz.

G Krishna Kumar, Bengaluru-based telecom professional, believes the sector regulator had intentionally set the price high so that it had the margin to further negotiate the price.

"As in the past, the Trai proposes a high base price for the auction, and after the uproar from the telecom companies (telcos), reduces it. Eventually, the reserve price could be reduced by 20-25%," he said.

Krishna Kumar said globally 700 MHz-based data services are being pursued mainly by countries that have matured data subscribers like the US, Germany, Japan or Australia.

According to him, leading service providers like T Mobile and Telstra are aggressively using this spectrum to bolster their data services.

"The benefits of 700 MHz spectrum, also called as the digital dividend spectrum, are very high, offering 3-4 times coverage area. They can be very useful for the rural areas," said the telecom expert.

He sees a challenge in the mass adoption of this spectrum band because currently there are only a few high-end phones supporting 700 MHz.

Deloitte Haskins and Sells's Joshi believes the four times multiple valuation of the 700 MHz band spectrum, based on the discovered price of 1800 MHz in the last auction, did not make sense at a time when the balance-sheets of most telcos were stretched and realisations from voice and data services dipping.