10 Jan 2014|Noida | Amity University Campus, Sector-125 Noida
Dr. Rahul Khullar, Chairman, Telecom Regulatory Authority of India inaugurates 10th Annual National Telecom Seminar ‘TELEFOCUS’ at Amity University
Amity Institute of Telecom Engineering and Management (AITEM) and IETE-Sub Centre, Amity University, Noida organized 10th Annual National Telecom Seminar ‘TELEFOCUS’ on the theme of “Mobile Data Proliferation- Boon or Bane” at Amity Campus, Sector- 125, Noida.
Dr. Rahul Khullar, Chairman, Telecom Regulatory Authority of India, Mr. Akhil Gupta, Deputy Group CEO & MD , Bharti Enterprises, Mr. Rajan S Mathew- Director General, Cellular Operators Association of India, Mr. M L Gupta- Vice President, IETE and Dr. Ashok K Chauhan- Founder President, Amity Group inaugurated the Seminar.
Welcoming the august gathering and highlighting the theme of the Seminar, Lt. Gen. P. D. Bhargava – Group Deputy Vice Chancellor, Amity Universities & Advisor, AITEM said that there is no denying the fact that at present, data is being generated in ever increasing quantities. Government, Businesses are churning out data at enormous rates. With over 2.5 billion people connected to the internet today, over 90% of data in the world has been generated during the past two years. He opined that no technology, in itself, is a boon or bane. It is basically how the technology is being used which will determine its positive or negative impact.
Addressing the gathering, the Chief Guest, Dr. Rahul Khullar, Chairman, Telecom Regulatory Authority of India highlighted the issues faced by telecom sector in developed countries. He stated, “In many parts of the developed world, as speeds of broadband delivery have increased, there has been a huge demand for data and as the data has grown in these countries, even countries like US, have not been able to cope with the increasing demand of data. As a result, which they have to resort to various mechanisms- one, they are asking their regulators to free up more spectrum and second; the companies are now using prices to ration data. If this is happening in rest of the world, it will soon happen in India also and it’s just a matter of time.”
He remarked that “In India, things are not very optimistic. Here, we have very low speeds on our mobiles and on all our devices; our broadband connection growth is poor. The broadband is simply not as ubiquitous as it is elsewhere and we have a low penetration. I think it is important to get the big picture right of what we intend to do. We need to have more freely available spectrum in various bands to enable data growth. We have to build a core infrastructure without which there is no outreach and lastly, we have to increase the penetration of devices whether through cheap mobiles or cheap tablets.”
Outlining the challenges that lie ahead, he said, “Telecom companies need to make huge investments in buying spectrum, deploying technologies and in putting things in place. Second, the Government and private sector have to build the core infrastructure, back hall infrastructure and laying the fiber.”
Dr. Ashok K Chauhan- Founder President, Amity Group extended his gratitude to the industry captains who took out time from their busy schedule to share their expertise and experience with students. He stressed that Indians have unparallel brains and have no comparison across the world. He called upon the students to make the most out of their interaction with industry doyens.
Sharing his views , Mr. Akhil Gupta, Deputy Group CEO & MD , Bharti Enterprises said that Telecom industry, in last 3-4 years, has seen some massive problems; the financial health of the industry was in very dire state. The reason were many- the first and foremost was, some regulatory decisions taken whereby a huge amount of new entrants were allowed and then ensued an irrational competition in the industry. He opined that even the telecom players cannot absolve themselves of the blame since they also indulged in cut throat competition and irrational pricing. He remarked that today, Telecom industry in India is looking, once again, extremely promising. The promise comes from 2-3 reasons- after long time, this industry has seen some improvement in the realized rates of voice. Data has been growing by leaps and bounds; data traffic growth has been growing at 100% per year. Lastly, there has been rationalization of acquisition cost and sales and distribution costs.
During the occasion, Amity Telecom Excellence Awards were conferred upon various Telecom companies for their excellent performance in 17 categories, which were received by CMDs/MDs/Directors/Sr. VPs of the Companies.
“Green Company of the Year” Award was conferred upon Indus Tower and was received by Mr. Sameer Sinha- Chief of Sales and Marketing and “Top Telecom Towers Company” Award was given to Bharti Infratel and was received by Mr. Biswajit Patnaik- Chief Sales and Marketing Officer.
Tech Mahindra was honored with “Top Telecom Software Company” Award and was received by Mr. Jagdish Mitra- Head, Mobility Business and Mr. Amar Agarwal- VP, Mobility. “Top Equipment Manufacturing Company” Award was jointly conferred upon Huawei and Alcatel Lucent. “Bharti Airtel” was honored with “Top NLD Operator” Award; Ericsson India and IBM India were jointly awarded “Top Managed Service Company”
Top Wireless Infrastructure Company Award was conferred on Nokia Solutions & Networks and was received by Mr. Sandeep Girotra, Country Head and Mr. Subhagata Mukherjee , Head Marketing & Communication,India Region.
Delta Power Solutions was honoured with Top Power Management Company Award which was received by Mr. Rajesh Kaushal,Director- Sales, Telecom Business.
Emerging Access Provider Award was conferred onVideocon Telecommunication and was received by Mr. Arvind Bali, Director &CEO
The inauguration was followed by a Panel which was chaired by Mr. Rajan S Mathew, Director General, Cellular Operators Association of India.
Eminent Telecom leaders- Mr. Manoj Dawane, Head- Technology, Ericsson India , Mr Vipin Tyagi, Director –Technology, CDOT, Mr. Sandeep Gupta, Sr. VP- Strategy & Architect, Bharti Airtel, Mr. Ravi Yadav, Director Account- India & Asia, OnMobile , Mr. Sethumadhavan Srinivasan, Director- Strategy & Corporate Marketing, Huawei India and Mr. Ravi Kunwar, Director –North Business, Nokia India shared their views during the discussion.