The Telecommunication Engineering Centre (TEC) plays a key role in the Indian telecom sector. From driving the formation of telecom standards to issuing interface and service approvals and supporting manufacturing and network building, TEC is an essential building block in the administrative machinery, facilitating policy-making and strategic planning. Working hand in hand with the Telecom Regulatory Authority of India (TRAI) and the Department of Telecommunications (DoT), the organisation has an important role to play in the future growth of the sector. Head of TEC, senior deputy director-general N.K. Srivastava talks to tele.net about the role of TEC, its goals and objectives, and the future road map for the sector...
What are the key objectives of TEC?
TEC is the technology centre of DoT. This centre has the capacity to provide the necessary technical expertise to DoT and assist it in policy-making and other key decisions.It also provides technical advice to TRAI and the Telecom Disputes Settlement and Appellate Tribunal.
TEC is responsible for the standardisation and certification of telecom network equipment and services and facilitates the interoperability of the same in the current multi-operator and multi-vendor scenarios. TEC is also involved in tasks such as the National Numbering Plan (which covers the numbering requirements of basic, cellular/mobile and new telecom services, and takes into account the allocation of different digits to enable user-friendly dialling and uniform digit length); electro magnetic field radiation; and spectrum related issues. It has to also:
What are your shortand long-term goals?
As far as the short-term goals are concerned, TEC is preparing for uniform standardisation of telecom equipment and services; setting up of testing infrastructure for next-generation network technologies and services; working on the development of necessary expertise in different telecom technologies; and representing India in the activities of the ITU and the Asia-Pacific Telecommunity by involving all the stakeholders in the country. Our long-term goals are developing test infrastructure through accreditation of conformance assessment bodies in the country and becoming a regional telecom standards and certification body.
What are the key technology trends in the telecom sector, in both the domestic and international markets?
The telecom sector is developing very fast and, at times, beyond the imagination and expectations of even the professionals involved in the industry. With over 15 million mobile subscriber additions a month, the key technology trends in the sector are likely to include the migration of telecom operators to next-generation networks and the deployment of unified infrastructure for voice, data and media (video) services.
With TRAI and DoT discussing mobile number portability, it may be implemented very soon. The future will also witness the implementation (on a mass scale, by all private operators) of third and fourth-generation mobile technologies. There is also likely to be impressive growth in the deployment of passive optical networks (PONs) by telecom operators, for which the implementation of fibre-to-the-home (FTTH) is slowly picking up. The government has set ambitious targets for expanding the broadband subscriber base in the country. If one has to improve the penetration of broadband, the deployment of FTTH has to be faster and in higher volumes.
What is your future outlook for the Indian telecom industry? What will drive the new wave of subscriber growth?
It is very difficult to predict what the future holds for us, as there are competing technologies vying for the attention of operators. Similarly, there are different services supported on these technologies, which will attract customers in different ways. On a generic level, however, it can be said that voice services will continue to dominate the segment for many more years. SMS and other value-added services will also generate major revenue streams for operators.
In the coming years, operators will focus on exploring the untapped potential of telecom services, especially in the rural areas. Demand for broadband services will also continue to increase year after year.This will, however, be tagged with the penetration of personal computers in society, which is expected to rise significantly in the future.
What are the key concerns in the Indian telecom sector? How can TEC help resolve these issues?
While national teledensity has exceeded the expectations of many experts and analysts, the growth in rural teledensity has not been very encouraging.
Many also feel that the low quality of services provided by telecom operators in certain regions is an issue that must be addressed. From the operators’ perspective, players are witnessing decreasing average revenue per user, which is a key concern. Telecom research and development as well as manufacturing have to pick up in order to cater to the vast developing market in India.
What steps should be taken to boost rural teledensity?
Rural teledensity currently stands at around 17 per cent in the country. The Universal Service Obligation (USO) Fund under DoT is involved in extending subsidies for various activities to improve rural teledensity. A number of decisions taken by DoT and the USO Fund with regard to tower sharing and incentivising operators to set up infrastructure in rural areas by providing subsidies will certainly lead to increases in rural teledensity. I strongly feel that the use of satellites to cover vast far-flung areas of the country should be focused upon to bridge the digital divide.
What steps should be taken to boost broadband penetration in the country?
I think that with the rolling out of 3G services in the country, the issue of broadband penetration will be addressed to some extent. Also, as mentioned earlier, we should focus on using the satellite medium to provide broadband connectivity using very small aperture terminals (VSATs).One of the major service providers in India has already launched Wi-Max services, which is aiding rural broadband penetration. Other service providers are waiting in the wings to start services.
The C-DOT Alcatel-Lucent Research Centre has initiated a project to develop Wi-Max terminals. This is likelyto expand the availability of Wi-Max terminals in India. In the near future, long term evolution and other 4G technologies will bring in mobile broadband that will give an even bigger boost to broadband penetration.
What is the status of telecom equipment manufacturing in the country? What further steps should be taken to boost domestic telecom equipment manufacturing?
The present outlook of telecom manufacturing in the country is upbeat. A large number of multinational companies are already manufacturing mobile infrastructure products, besides mobile terminals. A few other companies have already started manufacturing and supplying other telecom equipment to service providers. The government is actively working on a comprehensive framework to augment indigenous telecom equipment manufacturing and to boost research and development activities in the field of information and communications technology. TEC will play its role in this process.
Has the global financial crisis affected the Indian telecom sector?
I do not think that the global financial crisis has affected the telecom market in India. This is evident from the fact that there has been rapid growth in teledensity even since the crisis started developing. The packaging of telecom technologies and services in India is such that growth, expansion and diversification of the industry will continue for many years to come.
