Bringing the Net Effect to 700 million Rural Indians

1. Bringing the Net Effectto 700 million Rural Indians Let us Integrate rural India into mainstream economy Prof. Ashok Jhunjhunwala, IITM, Chennai ashok@tenet.res.in

2. Rural Magic !! The next few slides are true stories which have “magically” impacted the lives of people in villages

3. Photographs by an ordinary web camera:Remote feedback given by Aravind Eye hospital Palaniammal’s eyes… • A 60 year old from a village near Melur

4. Agricultural Consultancy • An Okra crop saved • Top: Diseased with yellow mosaic • Below : Post treatment • Saving of Rs 140,000 for the farmers • Cost of information Rs 20 • Built huge trust in the system 4

5. The Vet is on the Net ... • This goat had a wound near its mouth and could not eat for a week • The advice from the doctor cured its problem in 2 days

6. Remote Cardiac care 6

7. The Power of Visual Communication Net Meeting : The Power of Visual Communication A Doctor in Madurai talking to patients in Ulaganathapuram 7

8. Emergencies are no longer Calamities … In the village of T Ulgapitchanpatti, all hens are dying one by one. The symptoms for these hens are: First, their weight reduces and finally, their necks shrink. At this stage they die immediately. Until now, 300 hens have died in this way. How do we stop this? Please give us a solution immediately. From A. Sakkarai" 8

9. A visit from the Government Veterinary Officials to vaccinate all hens … because Help is at Hand 9

10. Epidemics can be prevented with a Doctor on Call • A potential epidemic of Chicken Pox was halted by a simple email to the right people • Instant response from the Government Doctors 10

11. Veeramani, a man with disabilities, used to operate the pump for the Village Overhead Tank • The Village Head removed him from his job and gave the post to one of his relatives • Through the kiosk, he sent an email petition to the Chief Minister’s Cell, attaching his photograph • He got his job back ! Empowerment of People- Attapatti 11

12. Inter Village Singing Competition 12

13. In essence • Information and access to information leads to a significant increase in the quality of life • People pay for improvements in quality of life • This makes it a sustainable option 13

14. How does one connect Rural India? • India has 600,000+ villages • 700 million people (under 1000 people per village) • Can Rural India afford Connections? • Needs • Technology • Sustainable Business Model • Organisation which thinks and acts Rural 14

15.  To PSTN • 35/70 kbps Always-on Internet plus simultaneous telephone • Rs 7500 - 10000 per line price • 1 million lines being deployed To Internet Innovative Technology to connect Rural India • BSNL has fibre connectivity to most Talukas (county hq) • CorDECT WLL developed at IITM • provides a telephone line and Internet connection in a 30 Km radius • can connect 85% of Indian villages • start-up costs very low 15

16. 135 million rural households Use Local Entrepreneurs to drive ICT • Entrepreneur-driven operator assisted telephone booths (STD PCOs) introduced in 1987 • Today in urban areas: • 950,000 such PCOs covering every street of smallest town • generate 25 % of total telecom income • 300 million people use these PCOs • Lesson for Rural: • To serve Rural people with incomes less than $ 1/day, aggregate demand and let Entrepreneurs drive it • Aid/ Grant does not scale • Successful Enterprises can scale to all villages 16

17. Innovative Business Models • n-Logue :A Rural Service Provider • aggregate demand into a kiosk • Rs 50000 per Kioskproviding telephone, Internet, multimedia PC with web-camera, printer and power back-up for PC • plus Indian language software, video conferencing software, training and maintenance • set up by a village entrepreneur on the lines of urban PCOs • provides telephone, stand-alone Computer and Internet services • needs Rs3500 per month to break even (Rs3:50 per person per month) 17

18. n-Logue Services Revenues LSP-1 LSP-2 LSP-3 Kiosk Kiosk Kiosk Kiosk Kiosk Villagers The Business Model

19. Application & Solution Providers • Provides Training and Technical Support • Handles Licensing and Policy issues • Provides Internet Backbone Connectivity • Enables Kiosk Services through Alliance Partners • Creates Awareness Internet Backbone • Markets Connections • Provides Onsite Support and Training • Manages Local Web & Email Services • Manages Local Content Pages • School/PHC • Private Business • Government Office • Rural NGO ACCESS CENTRE Local Service Partner Scope: 3000 sq km 400-600 connections (1 in each village) • Provides Internet Access to Local Community • Provides Awareness and Training • Channels Information needs of Community through LSP to Application & Content Providers Internet Kiosk Operator Financing

20. A Suitably Positioned Kiosk Like this … Tamil Nadu 20

21. Or these… Maharashtra Rajasthan 21

22. The Kiosk Owner • Should have studied up to Class 12 • Need have no prior computer Training • Should be able to communicate to the people in the village 22

23. A Kiosk Owner/Operator 23

24. Kiosk: Bouquet of Services (beside telephony) • A variety of Services and Applications, relevant to Rural people, need to be enabled • No single service can stand on its own • Education • Livelihood • Health • Entertainment • Communication • E-Governance • Learning typing • Computer education • Photography • CD movies • DTP work • Email/voice & video mail • E-Governance • Video conferencing providingTelemedicine • Vet Care • E-learning • E-Agriculture 24

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26. Payment of • Municipal taxes • Electricity Bills • Bus Tickets • Purchase of Seeds / Fertilisers • Entrance and Exam Fees Net Banking • Distribution of Application Forms • Information from Online Databases like • BPL lists • Electoral Lists, etc From Central Website Physical Dispersal • Dispersal of • PDS coupons • Application forms for exams, etc Information Dissemination • Text, Audio, Video formats of various Government / Public service Announcements • Video-conferencing between Collector and villagers • Physical Notice Board outside Kiosk on which Govt. Notices can be pasted VILLAGE KIOSK E-governmentservices at a Village 26

27. The Dream Current Rural GDP in India = Rs 700,000 Crore For a Population = 700 million people GDP / Person = Rs 10000 per year Rural Prosperity DOUBLING per-capita Rural GDP Rs 20000 per person per year 27

28. Agriculture Trade & Commerce Animal Husbandry IT-Based Services Agricultural Processing Industry Rural Micro-Enterprises are the Wealth Creators • Micro-enterprises need • Finance • Knowledge and Training • Buying & Selling • Insurance • Can Communications Enable these ? 28

29. State Live Active Total TN 7 3 10 Maharashtra 6 8 14 Gujarat 1 15 16 Others 5 1 6 Totals 19 27 46 OperationsProject Summary & Plans • Plans • 78 Projects by March 2004 • Maharashtra: 30 • TN: 25 • Gujrat: 16 • Others: 7 • 125 kiosk/project • 10000 kiosks by Jul-Sep 2004 29

30. Technologies & people behind n-Logue

31. Technologies in Use • corDECT WiLL Midas • will enable 100/200 dedicated and2 Mbps shared connection next year • RAS & Router Banyan • Minnow ISP in a box Nilgiri • Billing System Nilgiri • Network Management NMSWorks • Chirag voice/video mail TeNeT • Power back-up Alacrity • Indian Language Office package CK 31

32.  To PSTN To Internet corDECT Wireless in Local Loop IITM - Midas • 35/70 kbps dedicated Always-on Internet plus simultaneous telephone • 100/200 kbps dedicated & 2Mbps shared connection in near future • Price target: Rs 5000 to Rs 7500 per line • 802.16 in future 32

33. Office package in Indian Languages IITM - Chennai Kavigal

34. Network Management System A must with distributed deployment of Intelligent nodes Convergence of Telecom and Internet management Manage traffic, subscribers, subscriber equipment and network health from management centers IITM-Nilgiri Networks IITM-NMSWorks Rural communications software developed in a rural setting BlueBill: real-time billing for voice, Internet and applications Minnow: ISP Data Centre on redundant Linux/PCs

35. Major New Initiatives • Multi-party multi-rate video conferencing OOPS • Live Lecture OOPS • Rural ATM Machine Vortex • Finger print detection HP-IITM • Medical Diagnostic kit NeuroSynaptic • LCD projection system TeNeT • Web Terminal MeTeL Midas • Entertainment Terminal TeNeT • Rural Banking SW TeNeT • On-line eye-testing HP-IITM • Sparse Area Comm System TeNeT TeNeT faculty and 10 companies incubated by it (1000 engineers) working to make the dream true 35

36. Low bit-rate multi-party Video Conferencing (audio + video + chat at 20 kbps onwards)On-line lecturing at low bit-rates IITM - OOPS 36

37. Financial Services with ICICI Bank IITM-Vortex • Kiosk operators to have Credit cards • Collect cash from villager and pay online • Govt. payments, Telephone bills • Kiosk operator to be an agent for • agri-crop loans • Rural Insurance, Health and Crop • Rural low cost ATMs at kiosks • Works along with the PC already existing • Breakthrough pricing envisaged of Rs30000 37

38. VITAL centres : Next 3 months IITM - NeuroSynaptic • Village Internet Test and Analysis laboratory • Upgrade the internet kiosk for basic “non invasive” medical tests • ECG (Sensors connected to the monitor) • Stethoscope (plugged into the sound card) • Pressure ( Digital BP meters ) • Temperature • Eyes ( Charts and Color blindness) • Weight ( Regular weighing scale) • Upgrade PHC with Internet connectivity • For Blood testing (over and above VITAL equipment) • Sugar and AIDS Most of this equipment would be sourced at under Rs10000 38

39. <-- 256 Kbps 2 Mbps --> 128 Kbps -->   3.8 m antenna 2.4 m antenna 15 -25 Kms with 50 connections PSTN Internet IITM - ISRO Sparse Area Communications where there is no fibre backbone • 8-10 voice channels + 64/128 kbps Internet satellite backhaul • Each hub supports 16 to 20 remote sites with 2 Mbps download • Rs 8000 corDECT + Rs10000 backhaul cost per connection 39

40. Summary • Internet is Power • every village need to be connected at the earliest • IIT Madras and n-Logue have a workable business model to revolutionize rural India • Excellent goodwill • Strong support from State and Central Governments • But the challenge is to make this happen in scale • To expand the footprint from 1 million to 10 million people • from 1000 connections in 20 district to 10000 connections in 75 district in next 9 months • and then to 700 million • and simultaneously drive the rural economy to double per capita rural GDP 40

41. To Sum Up • ICT can reach everyone provided there is a big enough Vision behind it • Dream of Doubling per capita Rural GDP • Finance, Commerce, Training & Information are key • Driving Education, Health and Entrepreneurship is the means • Wireless Internet with fibre backhaul can enable these • Sparse Areas will require special technologies & efforts • Large number of innovative technologies and applications need to be developed catering specifically to Rural areas 41

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