Digital communications and India

When Wireless Application Protocol or WAP was launched in India in the year 2000, experts had prophesied that more people would access the Internet through their mobile phones than PCs in the country.

Six years later, with mobile penetration in India standing at 29 per cent (compared to China’s 73 per cent, Malaysia’s 54 per cent, Thailand’s 52 per cent, the Philippines’ 40 per cent, according to a Nielsen survey), that prophesy seems to be coming true.

India today seems to be gearing up for a boom in digital communications, aided by factors like falling telecom tariffs, affordable handsets and, more importantly, convergence.

“Mobile will be the only PC that many people will have in future as convergence is happening on the small screen in communication, computing, entertainment, health, etc,” said Qualcomm Chief Executive Officer Paul E Jacobs. He was making a presentation at a seminar on ‘Regulatory Issues in the Age of Convergence’, organised by Confederation of Indian Industry in Delhi on June 28, 2006.

Outlining the challenges for policy-makers because of the emerging technological trends, Telecom Regulatory Authority of India Chairman Nripendra Mishra said, “Convergence has put serious challenges to regulators, who have traditionally worked in a limited technical scope. Every day, at TRAI, the policy that we envisage is being redefined to broaden the scope.”

Offering glimpses of India’s e-plans was R Chandrasekhar, Additional Secretary, Ministry of Information Technology. He is one of the key architects of Andhra Pradesh’s IT success story (read my interview of Chandrasekhar).

“Paucity of infrastructure is a negative ‘advantage’ with India and, therefore, provides a huge opportunity,” said Chandrasekhar who now heads the e-governance project of the Indian Government. “The Government is planning 100,000 service access points by 2007. To provide faster connectivity to the villages, the Government has decided to provide the last-mile access through wireless connectivity.”

Digital PR in India

Digital communications have been bringing about radical changes in public relations across the globe. The pivotal role played by digital communications in the success of several corporations is acknowledged... Blogosphere is considered the Fifth Estate.

According to a BusinessWeek report, there are some nine million blogs out there, with 40,000 new ones popping up each day. As for the worldwide readership, Pew Internet & American Life Project puts it at 32 million (2005). Technorati, a company that tracks vital blog linking, says growth of blogosphere is faster in Asia and the Middle East than it is in North America.

As for the impact of blogs on the corporate world, reams have been written about how bicycle lock-maker Kryptonite has gone down in history as the first company to feel the full fury of the blogosphere.

“Despite this, there are few if any agencies in India offering online PR,” says Tara Kapur, Vice-President, Euro RSCG PR & Event, in an interview with exchange4media’s Pallavi Goorha... “Euro RSCG PR is one of the very few consultancies to offer online PR in India. However, not very many clients have shown interest in it as yet.”

But change is on the anvil. Watch this space.

Mobile TV: ‘Huge revenue opportunity’

Telephia, a measurement information provider to the mobile industry in the US, has announced a research undertaken shows that more than two million, or 1.4 percent, of the US wireless user base subscribed to a mobile video plan during the first quarter of 2006.

The average US mobile TV subscriber spends $40 a month more on wireless services than non-TV subscribers.

Telephia President and CEO Sid Gorham says, "Mobile TV represents a huge revenue opportunity for companies in all parts of the communications and entertainment value chain."

Electronic public relations

“There are opportunities galore for building cultural, interpersonal, technical and multi-dimensional relationships through e-communications and Internet,” said Professor Nabarun Ghose, Tiffin University, Ohio, at the weekend.

Professor Ghose was giving a lecture on 'Electronic Public Relations: Building and Assessing Profitable Relationships on the Net' under the aegis of the Chennai Chapter of Public Relations Society of India (PRSI), according to News Today.

“Big companies and academia in the US maintain EDIs (electronic data interchange) for sustained rapport with stakeholders,” he said.

Earlier, V S Ramana, Head, Corporate Communications, Larsen & Toubro Limited, briefed the gathering about the recent activities of the Chennai Chapter of PRSI.

Branding and Internet

Is it easy to build a brand on the Internet than in the real physical world? New media pioneer Bill Thompson thinks so.

“It is easy to reach a market online, whereas in the real world, you are limited by geographical factors, distribution hassles, etc,” he
says. “So, more than building a brand, I would say it is easier to reach a market online. If you can reach a market, then you certainly can build a brand.”

Thompson currently has a weekly column on the BBC WebWise site, and contributes to other online and offline media. He was also an advisor to the Labour Party on its Internet policy and helped to write ‘Communicating Britain’s Future’ in 1995.