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Thursday, January 15, 2009

WATBlog Update There are 3 new posts in "WATBlog.com - Web, Advertising and Technology Blog in India"

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There are 3 new posts in "WATBlog.com - Web, Advertising and Technology Blog in India"

Event Update: Emprise 09 & 3G and BWA: The Next Frontier

Two more events are happening this coming week. One in mumbai and one in New delhi. Check them out below:

3G and Broadband Wireless Access: The Next Frontier - 19th January - New Delhi - BDA and FICCI will launch the joint report "3G and BWA: The Next Frontier" followed by an interactive panel discussion organized by FICCI on "Demystifying 3G and BWA: Future Strategies & Projections" – BDA is the knowledge partner for the event.
The panel discussion will provide a platform to a very senior gathering of stakeholders in the Telecom sector, including senior government officials, policy makers, and chief executives of the leading operators and vendors to reflect upon the findings of the report and envision the future of 3G and BWA along with the imperatives required for enhancing their penetration.

The panelists include:

* Shri. J.S. Deepak, Joint Secretary (T), Department of Telecommunications, Ministry of Communications and Information Technology, Government of India
* Shri. Kuldeep Goyal, CMD, Bharat Sanchar Nigam Limited
* Mr. Sunil Dutt, Country Head Mobile Business, Samsung India Electronics Pvt. Ltd.
* Mr. Michael Kuehner, Country Head, Nokia Siemens Networks Pvt. Ltd.
* Mr. Neeraj Roy, MD & CEO, Hungama Mobile

* Mr. Kunal Bajaj, Managing Director, BDA Connect (India)

Emprise09 - 24th January - Mumbai - Narsee Monjee Institute of Management Studies (NMIS) is holding an entrepreneurship conclave on January 24th, 2009 in their institute itself. The conclave will have workshops on topics which would benefit budding entrepreneurs and students to understand various aspects of a new entrepreneurial venture.

The confirmed speakers till now for the event are Mr Harish Mehta, Trustee, NASSCOM and Mr Sasha Mirchandani, Director, Blue Run Ventures. It will be a whole day long event starting at 10 am. The sessions before lunch are workshops on start up essentials, funding and new media marketing. The workshops after lunch is going to touch upon; how to build a great team, how to consolidate your venture and how to manage your business in trouble times.

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Rural India Has 3.3 Million ‘Active’ Users - Can Vernacular Content Drive This Number Higher?

IAMAI And IMRB have come up with a release on the number of active rural internet users. The number as of March 08 is pegged at 3.3 million active internet users in rural India. The total number of Internet users that have accessed the internet atleast once is pegged at about 5.5 million.

According to the survey the overall Rural Literate Population around 368 Million while the Rural English-Speaking Population is pegged at just 1/6th at 63 Million. Which means that 5/6th of the literate population speaks their own regional language. Also the report pegs the number of computer Rural Computer Literates at 15.1 million.

As the above statistics illustrate there is a definite possibility that that next 50 million Internet users in India would consist of a large chunk of regional language content consumers. Most definitely this report does make a clear case for content and applications in local languages in order to ensure higher and faster adoption of internet in rural India. So it ain’t surprising then that Rediff is going regional in 22 languages and not too long ago they also acquired mobile firm into regional content.

The question still remains though as to whether Vernacular content can drive the number of internet users?

Well the problem I feel is one of access, usability and value and not just about content. I feel regional content of mobile would be much more successful than on the web. The prime reasons are cost of device and frequency of consumption as well as the low tech knowledge as compared to a computer. I could be terribly wrong on this one as well. Would love to know your thoughts on whether vernacular content can drive usage of internet or it has to be the other way round? First the demand and then the supply? Or can over supply create demand?

The above statistics are from the recent Vernacular content report that we blogged as well. The report coverage and entire report can be downloaded here.

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DoT To Raise 3G & Wimax Auction Base Price by 70%

We blogged recently on how the 3G auction was relentlessly getting delayed due to the conflict on the reserve price between the DoT and Finance Ministry. Now in a bid to get the auction process for 3G up and running DoT has proposed an increase in the reserve price. But this increase isnt upto the Finance Ministries  Rs 4,040 crore figure but its a few hundred crores lesser than than upto 3540 crores which is still about 70% increase over the earlier figure of Rs 2,020 crore.

While the Finance ministry had suggested that the price across telecom circles be doubled DoT has come to this 3000 odd crore figure by doubling the reserve price for metro regions from Rs 160 crore to Rs 320 crore and category A circles, including Gujarat, Maharashtra and Karnataka. While for category B regions, DoT has proposed to increase the fee by one and a half times. While the price in the category C circles such as Assam, Bihar and North East has been retained at 40 crores

One may wonder why is the Finance Ministry so interested? Well Its money that makes the world go round ain’t it? The finance ministry wants to make atleast Rs 30,000 crore from auctioning both 3G and broadband wireless access spectrum even if it means that the players would keep the bid price low

Even the  base price for broadband wireless access spectrum for WiMax is proposed to be increased from Rs 1,020 crore to Rs 1,725 crore while Finance Ministry had suggested this to be increased to Rs 2,020 crore.

Though the price has increased there isnt any increase in the number of slots to be auctioned. A total of 5 operators including one slot reserved for BSNL or MTNL would be the maximum number.

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