It has been quite a long time that we are talking about or listening to the term ‘Convergence’, however, how seriously do we think about the word? IT has made praiseworthy progress in our country, and that has also led us to enjoy the facilities of reasonably fast (written) data transmission. However, even today we are mostly depending on telephony for voice transmission or ‘real time’ conversation – which is much more effective, enjoyable and expected. Long back we have left behind the ‘Rs.15-for-incoming-and-Rs.10-for-outgoing’ era of mobile communication. IT has shown us the better, cheaper, faster and more efficient way for communication through Internet. Thus, a time has come when we need to work on wiping out completely the (already thinning) demarcation line between IT and Telecom.
Just to have an idea of our tele-use at a glance, sale of mobile phones in rural India is surpassing the sale of bicycles. Rural mobile subscribers at 40 million (June 2007) equals to landline connections, installed ever since 1881 – when the first landline telephone exchange was installed in Kolkata by the British. Gartner predicts – by 2011 in India, cellular market penetration will reach 39 per cent against 23 per cent in 2007. Contextually, in developed countries the average teledensity lies between 70-80 per cent. The continuous pressure of allotting new cell numbers has made the service providers consider for allotting 11 digit cell numbers, which we will see shortly.
Let us now have a brief look at the telecom investment and growth potential. Cumulative FDI flow in telecom sector is US$ 5 billion. 11th plan (2007-12) allots US$ 65 billion alone in the telecom sector out of its total US$ 492 billion target for infrastructure. In December 2007 only, we had 3.13 million broadband subscribers.
Thus, obviously ‘Convergence of IT and Telecom’ will open up the next vista of progress for the nation. It will significantly improve our communication system, which will boost up national productivity. As an obvious outcome of it – the era of converged communication will create more employment opportunities, reduce transportation and communication cost, reduce environmental degradation and improve many other areas like mobile entertainment (TV).
Contextually, Indian Merchants’ Chamber, which has been incessantly working on convincing government for further improvement in the field of communication, is now going to organize in Mumbai – a two-day long international conference on communications convergence with the theme “Wireless Communication in Today’s Age.” The event on 6-7th March in Mumbai will deal with a wide range of topics (Mobile Phones & Broadband, WiFi Vs WiMax Vs Wire, New Applications of WiFi & WiMax & Broadband, Wireless Technology, Telecom Revolution, Digital Entertainment and New Generation Phones & Applications) and issues related to the future roadmap of telecom industry in the country.
Obviously, the time is not far when the demarcation line between IT and Telecom will vanish completely, and its effect will influence IT resellers to reshape their business (product) line. There will be tremendous growth potential along with increased customer-base. Many of the progressive resellers have already picked up the telecom line as an additional venture or diversification. However, after this transition stage, all resellers will follow the path. Sooner is better.