Commercial Internet Connectivity in every

village - Towards Rural Prosperity

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

September 2003 2

The Dream

Current Rural GDP in India = Rs 700,000 Crore

For a Population = 700 million people

GDP / Person = Rs 10000

DOUBLING Rural GDP

Rs 20000 / Person

Rural Prosperity

September 2003 3

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 ?

September 2003 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

September 2003 5

21.2

15.8

12.8

5.8

3.22

0.8 0.9

0

5

10

15

20

25

5 9 13 18 26 42 65 175

HH Income in thousand Rs/month

Nu

mb

er

of

HH

in m

illio

ns

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

September 2003 6

102.1

1710

3.9 1.9 1 0.3 0.30

20

40

60

80

100

120

3 9 13 18 26 42 65 112

HH Income in thousand Rs/month

Nu

mb

er o

f H

H in

mill

ion

s

Rural Affordability- Serving people with incomes of less than a dollar a day

75% rural households can spend barely Rs 120 per month on telecom

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

September 2003 7

n-Logue uses Innovative Technology to connect Rural India

To PSTN

To Internet35/70 kbps Internet plus simultaneous telephone

• Rs 8000 per line price

•1 million lines in 03-04

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

September 2003 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

September 2003 9

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

Rs 50000 (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 Rs 3000 per month 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

Rs 50000 / KioskKIOSK

OPERATOR

BanksMicro Finance Organisations

Word-processor in Indian Languages

Multi-lingual Office PackageIITM -

Chennai Kavigal

September 2003 13

Digital Studio – Low cost Photography

Photograph taken with a Web Camera

Printed Photograph

September 2003 14

Video-conferencing ...

with Communications Minister (Shri Thirunavakarasu)

OOPS/IITM

IITM - OOPS

September 2003 15

The Agricultural Expert is no longer far away …

AfterBefore

In a Village in Madurai, the Lady’s Finger (Okra) crop

was 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”

September 2003 16

Savings

The Farmer’s

Field

Savings to farmer - Rs 1.5 lakhs

Cost of Information - tens of rupees

September 2003 17

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

September 2003 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"

September 2003 19

… because Help is at Hand

A visit from the Government Veterinary Officials to vaccinate all hens

September 2003 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

September 2003 21

Ordinary People have a Voice …

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

September 2003 22

Even the Chief Minister is not far away …

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

In response to the CM’s letter, the BDO sent instructions to the Village Head that he given back his job - permanently

58276

September 2003 23

Eye Care

• 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?1) She saved a visit to the

hospital2) She knows she has to

make that visit after 2 months

September 2003 24

Online Consultations

September 2003 25

General Health – An Online Clinic with a Doctor

September 2003 26

Talking to an Agricultural Expert

September 2003 27

Video-conferencing (6 kiosks in conversation)

September 2003 28

Bridging the Digital Divide – Computer Education for Rural Children

September 2003 29

September 2003 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

September 2003 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

September 2003 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

September 2003 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

• 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

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

September 2003 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