Dr Subi Chaturvedi, Distinguished Public Policy Professional, Fr Member MAG – UN IGF and Chief Corporate & Public Affairs Officer, Zupee.
The Indian telecom sector, which is the world’s second largest, has already been catapulting India’s digital transformation. A robust ecosystem of unparalleled smartphone and internet penetration, low telecom tariffs, emerging technologies such as AI, AR, VR coupled with favourable policy reforms is at the core of India’s digital revolution. The outbreak of COVID-19 pandemic last year only accelerated the pace of this tectonic shift as everything from education to healthcare to even grocery shopping moved online. India’s well entrenched telecom industry is undoubtedly the fulcrum and the key enabler of this metamorphosis.
Given the context, the theme of World Telecommunication & Information Society Day 2021, “Accelerating Digital Transformation in challenging times” is very apt. With people spending time at home and looking for entertainment and learning options, the mobile gaming industry has also witnessed a lightening growth, making it one of the sunrise sectors. This sector not only offers immense potential to promote job creation and investments but also offers tremendous opportunity in terms of furthering the knowledge economy though digital upskilling and training. Given the forces at play, India is poised to become a global gaming hub for game creators, studios, students and enthusiasts in the coming times.
India’s flourishing telecom sector, with a gross revenue Rs 682.28 billion, has been receiving fillip with number of policy reforms like target to lay 670,000 kilometre of OFCs, 120,000 wifi access points and 650,000 fibre-to-the-home (FTTH) connections by 2021-22. The key targets of the National Digital Communications Policy-2018 (NDCP-2018) like broadband for all, creating 4 million new jobs in the Digital Communications sector and augmenting the contribution of the Digital Communications sector to 8per cent of India’s GDP from 6 per cent in 2017 are bound to put India’s telecom story on digital expressways.
The COVID-19 outbreak, nationwide or state-wide lockdowns and curfews to contain the spread of the virus, have drastically altered how we led our daily lives – which we now refer to as the ‘New Normal’. With stay at home guidelines in place for safety concerns, everyone is now doing everything online and the telecom industry is the bedrock of this infrastructure in these trying times. Since March 2020, schools and college students are studying online, professionals are working from home, attending meetings online, aspirants are appearing for interviews online, skilling & reskilling themselves online, taking up new academic courses online, consuming entertainment online, and playing games online, amongst others.
With the second wave of the pandemic underway this digital narrative will only evolve with time and allied ecosystems and technological advancements will also play their part to accommodate this very change. In fact, in July 2020, at the very zenith of the lockdown, the number of total online gamers in India surpassed a whopping 400 million. In January 2021, the number crossed 500 million, a growth of 20 per cent in just over six months. In the mobile-first country that India is, more than 90 per cent of online gamers play games on their smartphones or tablets. According to a BARC & Nielsen report, Indians now spend 218 minutes playing games, as compared to 151 minutes before lockdown.
If we take a look back, the gaming market itself has evolved over time, from videogame parlours to in-built mobile games of yesteryears; we have indeed come a long way. People nowadays play one or the other form of mobile games, be it e-sports, fantasy sports or skill gaming. Some of these games require participants to have requisite skills, knowledge, strategic thinking, logic, attention, practice and nimbleness. The EY-FICCI Report released in March 2020 stated that the number of online gamers in India grew 31 per cent in 2019 at 365 million and is expected to reach 440million by 2022.
The increasing interest in online games also meant increased interest in the gaming business with a visible increase in the number of gaming start-ups and investments in the sector. Investment in the gaming sector increased to $173 million in CY2020, an increase of 78 per cent on $97.1 million in CY2019.
Currently, there are several gaming companies in India offering people the opportunity to test their skills, compete with other players for rewards and attain recognition, while adding to their skillsets and keeping them thoroughly engaged and entertained. These start-ups benefited from the unprecedented surge in the number of online gamers.
Therefore, it is right to say, that as the country’s digital transformation continues at an amplified pace, the telecom industry that provides connectivity to support the massive spurt in data usage, also stands to benefit greatly in revenue terms. With the number of internet subscribers in the country anticipated to double to 830 million by 2021, brighter times lie ahead for the digital sector and its multiple facets. As the pandemic impacts emerging and developing economies the world over the International telecommunication union (ITU) has called for all its member states to enhance cooperation, share good and best practices with each other and work to power innovations which bridge the digital divide harnessing information communication technologies for development and accelerating digital transformation. Gaming and gamification of learning and education is one such sure shot way of bridging this gap especially in developing countries, emerging economies and small island nations and land locked states.
With the right impetus and a balanced policy environment India can truly win this game!
