Commercial Internet Connectivity in every

village - Towards Rural Prosperity

Ashok JhunjhunwalaTeNeT Group, IIT Madras, Chennai, Indiaashok@tenet.res.in

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The Dream

Current Rural GDP in India = $ 150 billion

For a Population = 700 million people

GDP / Person = $ 220

DOUBLING Rural GDP

$ 400 / Person

Rural Prosperity

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Agriculture

AnimalHusbandry

Agricultural Processing

Industry

IT-Based Services

Trade & Commerce

Rural Micro-Enterprises are the Wealth Creators

Micro-enterprises need Finance Knowledge and

Training Buying & Selling Insurance

Can Communications Enable these ?

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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

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Serving people with incomes ofless than a dollar a day

75% rural households can spend barely $2.4 per month on telecom

Dollars spend per month on Telecom by HH assuming 4% of income can be spent on Telecom

$2.4 7.2 10.4 14.4 20.8 33.6 52 89.6

102.1

1710

3.9 1.9 1 0.3 0.30

20

40

60

80

100

120

60 180 260 360 520 840 1300 2240

HH Income in $ per month

Nu

mb

er o

f H

H in

mill

ion

s

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n-Logue uses Innovative Technology to connect Rural India

To PSTN

To Internet35/70 kbps Internet plus simultaneous telephone

• $ 150 per line price

•1 million lines being deployed

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

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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

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n-Logue : A Rural Service Provider aggregate demand into a kiosk

$1000 (including taxes) per Kiosk providing 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 $2.5 per day to break even

Innovative Business Models

n-Logue Deployment Strategy

Application & Content Providers

Telephone Backbone

Internet Backbone

Scope:•1 –3 Talukas•25 Km radius, 2000 sq km•4 – 500 K population•2 - 5 towns•300 -400 villages

LSP

Banks

ACCESS CENTRE

500 + Connections (at least 1 in each village)

Connections:•Individuals•Government

— schools and PHCs• Kiosks

$1000 / KioskKIOSK

OPERATOR

BanksMicro Finance Organisations

Word-processor in Indian Languages

Multi-lingual Office PackageIITM -

Chennai Kavigal

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Digital Studio – Low cost Photography

Photograph taken with a Web Camera

Printed Photograph

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Video-conferencing

Video conferencing from a village with the Communications Minister (Shri Thirunavakarasu)

IITM - OOPS

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The Agricultural Expert is no longer far away …

AfterBefore

In a Village in Madurai, the Lady’s Finger (Okra) cropwas turning white

The problem was sent to the experts at the Department of

Rural Extension, Madurai

Agricultural College and

Research Centre who diagnosed it as “Yellow

Mosaic disease”

Saving to farmer - $3500Cost of Information - half dollar

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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

Emergencies are no longer Calamities …

In the village of T Ulgapitchanpatti, all hens are dying one by one. The symptoms for these hens are …... 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"

A visit from the Government Veterinary Officials to vaccinate all hens

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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

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Ordinary People have a Voice …

Veeramani, a man with disabilities was fired as pump operator by Village Headman

Through the kiosk, he sent an email petition to the Chief Minister’s Cell, attaching his photograph

A letter came back from the CM’s Cell asking that he be reinstated

Eye Care

• An email is sent to the Aravind Eye Hospital with a photograph of patient’s eyes

• The patient is told that her problem is not serious and could wait for some time

Enhanced Interaction with the doctor through video conferencing

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General Health – An Online Clinic with a Doctor

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Talking to an Agricultural Expert

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Video-conferencing (6 kiosks in conversation)

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Bridging the Digital Divide – Computer Education for Rural Children

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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

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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

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

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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• finance and buying/selling may make even larger sense

• 8-10 voice channels + 64/128 kbps Internet satellite backhaul

• Each hub supports 16 to 20 remote sites with 2 Mbps downlaod

• $200 corDECT + $200 backhaul cost per connection

PSTN

Internet

2.4 m antenna3.8 m antenna

15 -25 Kms with 50 connections

For inaccessible Rural Areas

2 M

bps

-->

128

Kbp

s --

>

<-- 256 Kbps

ISRO-IITM

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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 Areas is the key Infrastructure