Bringing the Net Effect to 700 million Rural Indians

1. Bringing the Net Effect to 700 million Rural Indians with special reference to NE 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 Nov 03 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 Nov 03 6

7. An Online Clinic … Nov 03 7 *Dr Mala Fenn is a leading Gynecologist in Madurai

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" Nov 03 8

9. A visit from the Government Veterinary Officials to vaccinate all hens … because Help is at Hand Nov 03 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 Nov 03 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 Nov 03 11

12. Web- Durbar: DM talks to multiple villages on video Nov 03 12

13. Inter Village Singing Competition Nov 03 13

14. How is all this happening? • and where is this happening? • and can it scale? • and can it be done in North East? Nov 03 14

15. How does one connect Rural India? • India has 600,000+ villages • 700 million people (about 1000 people per village) • Can Rural India afford Connections? • Needs • Technology • Sustainable Business Model • Organisation which thinks and acts Rural Nov 03 15

16.  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 Nov 03 16

17. 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 Nov 03 17

18. 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) Nov 03 18

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

20. 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

21. A Suitably Positioned Kiosk Like this … Tamil Nadu Nov 03 21

22. Or these… Maharashtra Rajasthan Nov 03 22

23. The Kiosk Owner • Should have studied up to Class 10 • Need have no prior computer Training • Should be able to communicate to the people in the village Nov 03 23

24. A Kiosk Owner/Operator Nov 03 24

25. Kiosk: Bouquet of Services (besides 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 providingTele-medicine • Vet Care • E-learning • E-Agriculture Nov 03 25

26. Nov 03 26

27. 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 Nov 03 27

28. The Dream Current Rural GDP in India = Rs 700,000 Crores 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 Nov 03 28

29. 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 ? Nov 03 29

30. 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 • Gujarat: 16 • Others: 7 • 125 kiosk/project • 10000 kiosks by Jul-Sep 2004 Nov 03 30

31. Technologies & people behind n-Logue

32. 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 • Chiraag voice/video mail TeNeT • Power back-up Alacrity • Indian Language Office package CK Nov 03 32

33.  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 Nov 03 33

34. Office package in Indian Languages IITM - Chennai Kavigal

35. 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

36. 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-ISRO TeNeT faculty and over 10 companies incubated by it (with 1000 engineers) working to make the dream true Nov 03 36

37. Low bit-rate multi-party Video Conferencing (audio + video + chat at 20 kbps onwards)On-line lecturing at low bit-rates IITM - OOPS Nov 03 37

38. 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 Nov 03 38

39. A Diagnostic Kit Consisting of: • BP Measurement • Temperature • ECG • Stethoscope • Weighing Scales • Height Chart VILLAGE KIOSK VITAL centres : Next 3 months IITM - NeuroSynaptic A remote medical kit can transmit all this data on the internet to anywhere In the world in real time ---- at a cost of about Rs 10,000 Nov 03 39

40. Online Eye Testing

41. Can this be done in North East?

42. North East • Plains • Assam and Tripura : mostly plains • rural population density exceeds 300 • Hilly areas • Manipur, Meghalaya & Nagaland: 100 plus rural population density • Mizoram & Arunachal: 10 to 40 rural population density • no fibre backbone • use microwave as backbone • use satellite communications • satellite station in each village is too expensive • use satellite for back-haul / backbone Nov 03 42

43. Satellite backhaul • Satellite Remote will connect 50 villages • 50 telephones at 0.1 E traffic and 5 kbps voice coding will require 25 kbps • Internet connectivity of about 100 - 200 kbps • appropriate caching and mirror server at hub • can provide Internet connections to about 50 villages • RT requires a 128 / 256 kbps dedicated connection • To serve multiple RTs, a shared download of 2 Mbps will help • uplink channels can be 128 / 256 kbps SCPC Nov 03 43

44. <-- 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 Nov 03 44

45. 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 Nov 03 45