Dr Ashok Jhunjhunwala: Rural India’s Torchbearer : Dr. Ashok Jhunjhunwala

Interview Questions

Full Interview with Dr. Ashok Jhunjhunwala

Dr. Ashok Jhunjhunwala :

Dr Ashok Jhunjhunwala: We started the development of corDECT 12 years ago. At that time, India had barely eight million telephone lines and (has) added about one million a year. We wanted to see India have 100 million telephones at the earliest.

One of the reasons why India wasn't getting those phones was because the capital and operational expenditures of telcos were so high that the revenue needed to break even was as much as Rs 1,500 a month (per rural home). Very, very few people in India can afford that. There was no question of reaching 100 million lines in that situation. When we started analyzing this, we found that the local loop - the line between the exchange and someone's home - was the primary cost.

We realized we needed to replace the copper local loop with something else. Going forward, we saw that a wireless local loop was our solution. But people said wireless was expensive. At that time, it was. We argued that it needn't be expensive if it was done correctly. That was when we conceived of the corDECT wireless loop. We proved that wireless was the way to go in the future, and then mobile and everything else came along. I think wireless brought down the cost of local loop by a factor of four or five. Earlier, the capital expenditure was Rs 40,000. But all this is history.

 

Dr. Ashok Jhunjhunwala :

The key today is a similar problem but for broadband. How do you get broadband across? If you have copper, you can do it with DSL. But what if you don't have copper? Today's quest is: can we do broadband wirelessly? We have developed products like broadband corDECT, a product that we have just launched. We are also working on next generation wireless products. We are working on solutions that go beyond WiMax to try and bring broadband to people's homes - at a much cheaper price, while providing true broadband.

 

Dr. Ashok Jhunjhunwala :

We have created a centre called Centre for Excellence in Wireless Technology. It is currently located in IIT Madras, and they are working on the next generation of wireless technology. There is also a consortium we have created that is called Broadband Wireless Consortium of India (BWCI). BWCI is working on next generation of broadband wireless standards.

There are three broadband wireless standards that are emerging in the world. One of them is from the WiMax family, another is 3GPP, and the third one is 3GPP2. We are working on all three standards. And we are trying to define and Indianize a standard that is suitable to our broadband requirements. We are working on these standards, on the IPRs of these standards and on the technological applications for that standard. The most interesting thing is that we are approaching this with a consortium.

Almost all Indian operators are involved; so are Indian manufacturers, the companies that make chips, the government and the academia. This will be an international standard, not an Indian standard alone. India will have its inputs into this international standard; it will
be made in tune with India's requirements.

 

Dr. Ashok Jhunjhunwala :

No. This is a worldwide standard. Once it is an international standard, almost all the companies in the world will participate in it. This is a standard beyond 3G. The standard up to 3G is done, and Indian inputs have largely not been taken. Today, we want to make sure that we are the major players in the world. We want to make sure that our inputs are taken in for the next generation of standards.

 

Dr. Ashok Jhunjhunwala :

The process is ongoing. You will see standards evolving continuously. I think it will take two years to mature totally. Towards the end of 2009, you'll see the technology starting to come into its own.

 

Dr. Ashok Jhunjhunwala :

The government is already playing that role in the BWCI. It should not play an overbearing role, though. The operators and chip manufacturers should take more responsibility, so should the R&D players and the academia. They should come up with what the next generation's standard should be if it is to succeed commercially.

The government should help ensure that India's needs are understood and that sufficient funds are pumped into R&D, so that we can create our own IPRs and don't pay too much in royalty. The government should also help in coordinating the spectrum. I think, the government is playing all these roles.

 

Dr. Ashok Jhunjhunwala :

Today, I think the BWCI has major R&D players, major chip manufacturers and almost all operators.

 

Dr. Ashok Jhunjhunwala :

CorDECT has played a historical role. It has played its role and the job has been done. Today, broadband needs to be done. Today, for basic telephony, you can use corDECT, mobile or you can use wire. Now, the race is toward broadband.

 

Dr. Ashok Jhunjhunwala :

It is taking time because, initially, we tried to make it different from the regular ATM. We tried to make it, so that the ATMs didn't have to interact with switches. But banks find it hard to integrate with that type of system. So, we changed tracks and said that we would make rural ATMs interact with switches. We're testing it today and hopefully, it will be complete and ready in a month.

Dr. Ashok Jhunjhunwala :

I feel that e-governance has been slow in the country. It should have first enabled connectivity. It should have been the first player to provide initial revenue to those who could provide connectivity. e-governance projects have also been distributed unevenly. Some places benefitted, some did not. In some places, a good district collector will make things work for a short time and then, suddenly, all his work disappears. I don't think that e-governance has done enough. Today, the NEGP (National e-Governance Program) is trying to correct this but it still isn't doing enough.

 

Dr. Ashok Jhunjhunwala :

There are two approaches: bottom (up) and top driven. Companies like n-Logue (n-Logue manufacturers corDECT and was set up by the TeNeT Group, a team of professors at IIT Madras, led by Jhunjhunwala) are bottom driven. It is a very tough thing to do. And from the top, there is the government in the form of the DIT (Department of Information Technology). The two work independently. So, the top doesn't have an understanding of what it takes and the bottom players don't have the ability to scale. Unless they join hands, things won't work.

 

Dr. Ashok Jhunjhunwala :

I think this will happen. It has taken time. You should look at e-governance from two perspectives. One, providing government services; second is helping the spread of
ICT, which can then be leveraged for other things. Both these roles already exist, and I am reasonably pleased with what Aruna Sundararajan (CEO of the Infrastructure Leasing & Financial Services' Common Services Center project) is doing at the DIT, or what R. Chandrashekhar (joint secretary, DIT) are doing. Things will move forward.

 

Dr. Ashok Jhunjhunwala :

I think that India, overall, is accelerating very rapidly. To be more precise, urban India is changing very rapidly, rural India is changing very slowly. And, then there are other realities. For one, 700 million people live in rural areas. Two, television has spread, so people in rural areas can see the advances that are taking place in urban areas. Three, we are a democratic country, where everyone has one vote.

And rural people start to ask: why are we moving slowly? Why should this continue? Can I use my vote to change that? This creates political upheaval. Unless you can pull rural areas with you, you will not see political stability. And if you want to pull rural areas with you, the immediate question is: how? At this point, ICT becomes very important. So do roads and electricity, but ICT is even more important. It can help to start the process of changing India and the slow growth in rural areas can be accelerated. This is what needs to be done. You don't have a choice on that.

 

Dr. Ashok Jhunjhunwala :

These are technologies that are enablers. At the end of the day, what do you have to provide in rural areas? Education, healthcare and livelihood opportunities. By the latter, I mean strengthening agriculture, setting up new enterprises like rural BPOs. These are the kinds of things that are needed. We also need to provide microfinance in villages. And work is going on in all these directions. We are already working with banks to do this.

 

Dr. Ashok Jhunjhunwala :

ICT can create business and sources of livelihood, and help set up companies. For example you could set up BPOs in villages. That would increase the GDP of villages.

You could help increase agricultural growth in villages - that too would help increase GDP of the area. You could enable all kinds of manufacturing. Just like manufacturing has shifted from the West to the Far East, can it shift from urban to rural areas? Can ICT be an enabler?

 

Dr. Ashok Jhunjhunwala :

That is an old quote, but still valid. If your policies are such that they try to give as much telecom as is needed to the top few, then ICT isn't going to reach a wide audience. On the other hand, while pricing, you can bear in mind that there are people in the economically lower strata who cannot afford much. You should be asking: can I ensure that people who cannot afford much are able to use this [IT], while not denying the best to those who can afford the most. Every choice should be inclusive. If your policies, prices and choices are not made right, then growth largely takes place in the economically higher strata, and percolates own slowly. On the other hand, if you do it right, growth can start in the middle and spread both ways.

 

Dr. Ashok Jhunjhunwala :

One of the things we have been able to do in our group, especially at IIT Madras, has been to be able to attract young people and get them to do very hard work. We've created an environment, in which they try to do things that are impossible. We guide and enable them with all kinds of knowledge and tools that can get them to try and achieve the impossible. At the same time, we ground them in the realities of India and try to get them to see the needs of this country. That is what motivates them. And, we are able to push them again and again and in large numbers.