Commercial Internet Connectivity in every village - Towards Rural Prosperity

1. Commercial Internet Connectivity in every village- Towards Rural Prosperity Ashok Jhunjhunwala TeNeT Group, IIT Madras, Chennai, India ashok@tenet.res.in

2. The Dream Current Rural GDP in India = Rs 700,000 Crore For a Population = 700 million people GDP / Person = Rs 10000 Rural Prosperity DOUBLING Rural GDP Rs 20000 / Person

3. 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 ?

4. How does one connect Rural India? • India has 600,000+ villages • 700 million people • can Rural India afford Connections? • Needs • Technology • Sustainable Business Model • Organisation which thinks and acts Rural

5. Rs spend per month on Telecom by HH assuming 4% of income can be spent on Telecom 200 360 520 720 1040 1680 2600 7000 Affordability of Indian Urban Households

6. Rural Affordability- Serving people with incomes of less than a dollar a day Rs spend per month on Telecom by HH assuming 4% of income can be spent on Telecom 120 360 520 720 1040 1680 2600 7000 • 75% rural households can spend barely Rs 120 per month on telecom

7.  To PSTN • 35/70 kbps Internet plus simultaneous telephone • Rs 8000 per line price • 1 million lines in 03-04 To Internet n-Logue uses Innovative Technology to connect Rural India • BSNL has fibre connectivity to most Talukas • CorDECT WLL developed at IITM • provides a telephone line and Internet connection in 30 Km radius • can connect 85% of Indian villages • start-up costs very low

8. Aggregate Demand • Entrepreneur-driven telephone booths (STD PCOs) introduced in 1987 • night-time long distance charges reduced by a factor of 4 • Today • 950,000 STD PCOs covering every street of smallest town • generate 25 % of total telecom income • 300 million people use these PCOs

9. Innovative Business Models • n-Logue :A Rural Service Provider • aggregate demand into a kiosk using • Rs 50000 (including taxes) 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 STD PCOs • needs only Rs 3000 per month to break even

10. Telephone Backbone Application & Content Providers Internet Backbone • Scope: • 1 –3 Talukas • 25 Km radius, 2000 sq km • 4 – 500 K population • 2 - 5 towns • 300 -400 villages 500 + Connections (at least 1 in each village) ACCESS CENTRE • Connections: • Individuals • Government • schools and PHCs • Kiosks LSP Banks Rs 50000 / Kiosk KIOSK OPERATOR Banks Micro Finance Organisations n-Logue Deployment Strategy

11. Word-processor in Indian Languages

12. Multi-lingual Office Package IITM - Chennai Kavigal

13. Digital Studio – Low cost Photography Photograph taken with a Web Camera Printed Photograph

14. Video-conferencing ... IITM - OOPS OOPS/IITM with Communications Minister (Shri Thirunavakarasu)

15. Before After In a Village in Madurai, the Lady’s Finger (Okra) crop was turning white The Agricultural Expert is no longer far away … The problem was sent to the experts at the Department of Rural Extension, Madurai Agricultural College and Research Centrewho diagnosed it as “Yellow Mosaic disease”

16. Savings to farmer - Rs 1.5 lakhs Cost of Information - tens of rupees The Farmer’s Field Savings

17. 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 The Vet is On The Net …

18. 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"

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

20. 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

21. This is Veeramani - a man with disabilities • His job was to operate the pump for the Village Overhead Tank • The Village Head removed 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 photograp Ordinary People have a Voice …

22. 58276 In response to the CM’s letter, the BDO sent instructions to the Village Head that he given back his job - permanently A letter came back from the CM’s Cell asking that he be reinstated Even the Chief Minister is not far away …

23. An email is sent to the Aravind Eye Hospital with a photograph attached • The patient is told that her problem was not serious and could wait for some time • The Benefits? • She saved a visit to the hospital • She knows she has to make that visit after 2 months Eye Care

24. Online Consultations

25. General Health – An Online Clinic with a Doctor

26. Talking to an Agricultural Expert

27. Video-conferencing (6 kiosks in conversation)

28. Bridging the Digital Divide – Computer Education for Rural Children

30. Can Kiosks become Micro-banks? • TeNeT and n-Logue working with ICICI Bank • Remote Bill Payment • Rural ATM • Micro-finance • Remittance • Credit and Product Marketing is one of the biggest requirements of Rural India

31. Knowledge and Training • Another Driver of Rural Prosperity • Information Dissemination and Knowledge Enhancement • Need a Virtual University in every Districtto enable this • Basic Structure would • Consist of a Central Hub • And Knowledge Extension Centres in every village

32. The Extension Centre • Virtual Extension of the University • Located in Every Village • Enhanced Village Internet Kiosk equipped with • Computer(s) • Internet Connection • Web Camera and Multimedia • Power backup • Local Language Software • Run by a local person who is trained to facilitate the learning process There will about 1000 such Extension Centres in Every District

33. Sparse Area Communications -- where there is no fibre backbone • Microwave or Satellite back-haul required • microwave link costs have come down • can be optimised further -- tower costs dominate • satellite back-haul needs special design providing significant data-rate at each remote hub • Hub serves 50 to 100 villages in 15-25 Km radius • driving down the total cost to connect a village • villages in sparser areas have less available money • finance and buying/selling may make even larger sense

34.   15 -25 Kms with 50 connections ISRO-IITM For inaccessible Rural Areas <-- 256 Kbps 2 Mbps --> 128 Kbps --> 3.8 m antenna 2.4 m antenna PSTN Internet • 8-10 voice channels + 64/128 kbps Internet satellite backhaul • Each hub supports 16 to 20 remote sites with 2 Mbps downlaod • Rs10000 corDECT + Rs10000 backhaul cost per connection

35. To Sum Up • Doubling Rural GDP will change India • Finance, Commerce, Training & Information are key • Wireless Internet can enable these • Sparse Areas will require special efforts • Internet in Rural Area is the key Infrastructure for a prosperous India