Digital Gangetic Plains

1
Digital Gangetic Plains
Pravin Bhagwat Dheeraj Sanghi Pricipal
Investigators Digital Gangetic Plains Project IIT
Kanpur

• S.G. Dhande
• Director, IIT Kanpur
• Head, Kanpur Lucknow Lab
• Media Lab Asia

Manoj Kumar Project Manager Digital Gangetic
Plains Project IIT Kanpur
2
Worldwide Mobile Phone Penetration
65
39
22
3.9
21
Source EMC database
3
The key challenge
Wireless systems being deployed in India are
successful in Metro pockets, but providing cost
effective voice and data services to the masses
will remain a challenge for many years to come.
Achieving necessary cost reduction for mass
market penetration
Reaching out to the remaining 83 of the world
market
Generating conducive climate so that seeds of
innovation and entrepreneurship can take root
4
Barriers to Digital Empowerment
Value Pricing of Communication Service
People in developed economies are willing to pay
this price because voice is a very high value
application
Operations
1/3
Willingness to pay for data is much less
Rs. 2-3 per minute
1/3
Spectrum

1/3
We cannot peg our hopes for price reduction on
continued market growth since price elasticity in
this market has already been maximized
Equipment
Cost amortized over seven years
5
Bridging the digital divide
OM
Spectrum
Equipment
6
Strategy 1
Operations
Spectrum
Cost of inventing a new technology is
high Leverage worldwide economies of scale and
customize existing technology for our own needs.
Equipment
7
Promising technology 802.11b

• Replacement for Ethernet
• Supported data rates
• Current 11, 5.5, 2, 1 Mbps
• Future 20 Mbps in 2.4 GHz and up to 54 Mbps in
  5.7 GHz band
• Range
• Indoor 20 - 25 meters
• Outdoor 50 100 meters
• Transmit power up to 100 mW
• Cost
• Chipsets 25 40
• AP 120 - 1000
• PCMCIA cards 60 - 110

8
Technology Customization Example Internet
Access in Rural India
5 - 8 Km
Village
Internet
Metro
9
DGP Research Program
72 Mbps
Turbo .11a
54 Mbps
802.11a,b
5-11 Mbps
802.11b
.11b p-to-p link
1-2 Mbps
802.11
µwave p-to-p links
384 Kbps
WCDMA, CDMA2000, HDR
56 Kbps
IS-95, GSM, CDMA
Outdoor 50 200m
Mid range outdoor 200m 4Km
Long range outdoor 5Km 20Km
Long distance com. 20m 50Km
Indoor 10 30m
10
Three Value Propositions
72 Mbps
Turbo .11a
54 Mbps
802.11a,b
5-11 Mbps
802.11b
.11b p-to-p link
1-2 Mbps
802.11
µwave p-to-p links
384 Kbps
WCDMA, CDMA2000, HDR
56 Kbps
IS-95, GSM, CDMA
Outdoor 50 200m
Mid range outdoor 200m 4Km
Long range outdoor 5Km 20Km
Long distance com. 20m 50Km
Indoor 10 30m
11
Strategy 2
Operations
Spectrum
Let thousand flowers bloom
Equipment
12
Regulatory Issues
802.11a Up to 54 Mbps
802.11b 1, 2, 5.5, 11Mbps
5.15 5.35 Ghz
5.725 5.825 Ghz
2.4 2.483 Ghz

• Indoor use permitted
• License required for outdoor use (4 W EIPR max)

• No indoor or outdoor use permitted as yet

13
Strategy 3
Experiment with new business models. Do not
emulate the west.
Operations
Spectrum
Equipment
14
Example 1 Unwired PCO

• Benefits
• Low cost method of expanding telephony services
• PCOs can offer in-bound call service
• Portability
• Additional revenue stream via offering Internet
  access
• Unlimited potential for offering value-added
  services

Wireless access around each PCO
15
DGP Project Milestones
Digital Gangetic Plains project is a proof of
concept that wireless connectivity in rural areas
is technically and economically viable. Built
using off the shelf wireless equipment
(originally designed for indoor use), DGP is
perhaps the worlds largest rural outdoor 802.11
network today.
IIT Kanpur
River Ganges
16
Current IT needs of Rural Market

• interconnecting geographically disperse govt.
  offices is the first step towards IT enabling
  villages
• Several govt. agencies (state of Uttaranchal,
  Chattishgarh) have approached us to design a
  wireless connecitivity solution for them
• Building a separate network for each Govt. agency
  is costly and inefficient

17
A possible roll out Scenario

• A cost effective solution is to have a common
  infrastructure maintained by a central agency
• Other agencies can make use of it for their
  connectivity requirements

18
Concluding Remarks

• 802.11b,a
• Will continue to grow in US/European market
• Public spaces, home, industry vertical, and
  enterprise market
• Offers a great promise for bringing low cost
  networking services to the Indian mass market

• Recommendations
• Open up license free spectrum for low cost
  wireless connectivity applications
• Work with other partners to harmonize use of
  spectrum across Asia/Pacific region
• Facilitate interaction between technologists,
  govt. agencies, and entrepreneurs by launching a
  focused national initiative on low cost rural
  connectivity