06 Feb 2015|Noida | Amity Campus
“The Manufacturing Sector needs to be strengthened in order to accelerate R&D initiatives in India”, stresses Mr. Manoj Kohli, Managing Director, Bharti Enterprises during Telecom Seminar at Amity
Amity Institute of Telecom Engineering & Management (AITEM) organized 11th Annual National Telecom Seminar ‘Telefocus’ on the theme ‘New & Innovative Business Models for Monetization of Mobile Broadband’ at Amity University Campus, Sector-125, Noida.
Mr. Manoj Kohli, Managing Director, Bharti Enterprises, Mr. Rajan S. Mathews, Director General, Cellular Operators Association of India, Mr. Bhagwan D Khurana, Chairman, Newgen Holding Pvt. Ltd, Lt. Gen. P.D. Bhargava- Group Deputy Vice Chancellor and Advisor, AITEM, Dr. W Selvamurthy- President, Amity Science, Technology &Innovation Foundation and Dr. Sunil Saran-Sr. Vice Chairman, Amity Science, Technology &Innovation Foundation inaugurated the Seminar.
Welcoming the distinguished industrydoyens, Lt. Gen. P.D.Bhargava- Group Deputy Vice Chancellor and Advisor, AITEM said, “It’s a historic day forAmity to witness the conglomeration of a galaxy of telecom leaders who with their experience and knowledge would enrich the students of AITEM. Sharing his views further, he said, “Government of India, under the dynamic leadership of Hon’ble Prime Minister, Mr. Narendra Modi has launched a Flagship Program“Digital India” which promises to transform India into a connected knowledge economy offering world class services in the areas of health, education,finance and other government services at the click of a mouse. Mobile phones will be the backbone of its delivery mechanism ”. He expressed that the Seminar will be fruitful in proposing ‘New & Innovative Business Models for Monetization of Mobile Broadband” at the same time, fulfilling “Digital India”vision of Hon’ble Prime Minister of the country.
Addressing the gathering on the evolution of Telecom sector, Mr. Manoj Kohli said that in the last 20 years the Telecom sector has come a long way and at present, there are over 950 million citizens who have telephone connections. Talking about the various phases of Data era in India, Mr. Kohli briefed that the first phase of Data era was of Blackberry during which the phone was extensively used for sending and receiving mails but it had limited data use, hence, the first era was limited.He shared that during the second phase of Apple and Samsung, consumes had delightful experience as both the global companies excel in innovation, scale,manufacturing and product delivery. He opined that the next 2 phases of Dataera are anticipated to be big ones since globally data is engulfing the consumers; everything a person does is through machines which are data led and data enabled. He commended US for its achievement in 4G technology and said that US has left other countries of the world far behind. He commented that in last few years, India has been doing a great job in services sector but not in manufacturing sector and unless and until, the manufacturing sector strengthens,the R&D initiatives will not accelerate in the country.
Talking about the Telecom Sector in India,Mr. Rajan S. Mathews, Director General, Cellular Operators Association of India said that it will always be about“large scale and small money”, “High volumes and low rates” in the Telecom sector of India because India has 1.2 billion people and increasingly, their will power which is supposedly the commercially viable power continues to increase as the people from the bottom of the pyramid starts increasing. He stressed that the demand characteristics of India make it a very attractive market and therefore, what the Telecom companies cannot make up on margin returns of the rate, they make up in terms of volume, in terms of the size of the market. Dwelling further on the emerging issues in the Telecom sector, Mr.Mathews remarked that Internet has been increasingly becoming ubiquitous across the world. In India, as compared to other countries, there is just one mobilenet work and the growing demand will put lot of pressure on mobile network. The implication of this is that the Spectrum, which is the building block of the Telecom industry is going to be a critical constraint. He stated that the quantum of Spectrum available with Telecom operators in India is very less and the price that is paid for the same is enormous. He expressed his hope that the discussions and deliberations of the Seminar would lead to new, innovative and cost effective models for meeting the users’ requirement, creating a win-win situation for consumers and as well Telecom operators.
Sharing his views, Mr. Bhagwan D Khurana, Chairman, Newgen Holding Pvt. Ltd said that people in India have seen the evolution in the Telecom industry. He quoted, “As per UN estimates, India will be the world’s most populous nation by2025 which offers a great opportunity to the Telecom Sector for expansion,especially when the density of people is still low in urban belt. At the same time, it will require huge investments.” He further briefed the participants about the concept of “Smart Cities” and said that ICT plays a major role in the development of Smart Cities as the pillars of Smart Cities are Energy,Learning, Health, Living Homes/Offices, Entertainment, Safety, Governance,Utilities and Transport which are required to be ICT enabled.
During the occasion, “Telecom Excellence Awards” were conferred upon various companies for their impeccable performance in different categories which included “R&D”, “Innovation”,“Broadband”, “Smart City”, “Rural Communication” and “Make in India”
In the Innovation category, Bharti Infratel was acknowledged as “Top Telecom Towers Company of the Year-2014”, MoserBaer Solar Ltd as“Renewable Energy Company of the year - 2014” and Indus Tower as “Top Infrastructure Innovator for the Year – 2014”
Nokia Networks was felicitated as the “Top Network R & DLeader of the year – 2014” in the “R&D” Category. Ericsson India Ltd was awarded as“Top Smart Cities Designer of the Year – 2014”in the Smart City Category ; Idea Cellular as “Best Rural Service Provider of the Year -2014”in the Rural Communication Category.
In the Broadband Category, Bharti Airtel was awarded with twoAwards “TopDigital Services & Network Provider of the Year-2014” and “Top NLD Operator of TheYear -2014”, Vodafone with “Top Telecom ServiceProvider of the Year-2014”, IBM with “Top Managed Service Company of the Year-2014”, Sterlite Technogy Ltd with “Top Telecom Cable Company of theYear-2014”, Delta Power Solution Ltd with “Top Power Management Company of the Year-2014”, “Tech Mahindra” with “Top Telecom Software Company of the Year -2014”.
The inauguration was followed by a “Panel Discussion” on the theme ofthe Seminar wherein eminent speakers such as Mr. Sandeep Girotra, Country Head , Nokia Networks Ltd, Mr. Sameer Sinha, ChiefS ales & Marketing, Indus Tower , Mr. Manoj Dawane, VP- Head Technology and Govt.& Industry Relation, Ericsson India and Mr. Sameer Rawal,Director-Strategy & Marketing, Huawei Telecom shared their views.