Download Rural Prosperity

Commercial Internet Connectivity in every village
Towards Rural Prosperity
Ashok Jhunjhunwala
TeNeT Group, IIT Madras, Chennai, India
[email protected]
-
The Dream
Current Rural GDP in India = Rs 700,000 Crore
For a Population
= 700 million people
GDP / Person
= Rs 10000
Rural Prosperity
DOUBLING Rural GDP
Rs 20000 / Person
September 2003
2
Rural Micro-Enterprises are the Wealth
Creators

Micro-enterprises need
 Finance
 Knowledge and Training
 Buying & Selling
 Insurance

Can Communications Enable
these ?
Agriculture
Trade &
Commerce
Animal
Husbandry
IT-Based
Services
Agricultural
Processing
Industry
September 2003
3
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
4
Serving people with incomes of
less than a dollar a day
Rs spend per month on Telecom by HH assuming 4% of income can be spent on Telecom
120
360
520
720
1040
3.9
1.9
18
26
1680
2600
7000
1
0.3
0.3
42
65
112
Number of HH in millions
120
102.1
100
80
60
40
17
20
10
0
3
9
13
HH Incom e in thousand Rs/m onth

September 2003
75% rural households can spend barely Rs 120 per month on telecom
5
n-Logue uses Innovative Technology to
connect Rural India

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

To PSTN
To Internet
35/70 kbps Internet plus
simultaneous telephone
• Rs 8000 per line price
•1 million lines in 03-04
September 2003
6
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
7
Innovative Business Models

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
September 2003
8
n-Logue Deployment Strategy
Telephone Backbone
Application &
Content Providers
Internet Backbone
•
•
•
•
•
Scope:
1 –3 Talukas
25 Km radius, 2000 sq km
4 – 500 K population
2 - 5 towns
300 -400 villages
500 + Connections (at least 1 in each
village)
ACCESS
CENTRE
Connections:
• Individuals
• Government
— schools and PHCs
• Kiosks
LSP
Banks
Rs 50000 / Kiosk
KIOSK
OPERATOR
Banks
Micro Finance Organisations
Word-processor in Indian Languages
Multi-lingual Office Package
IITM Chennai Kavigal
Digital Studio – Low cost
Photography
Photograph taken
with a Web Camera
Printed
Photograph
September 2003
12
Video-conferencing ...
IITM - OOPS
OOPS/IITM
with Communications Minister (Shri Thirunavakarasu)
September 2003
13
The Agricultural Expert is no longer
far away …
Before
In a Village in
Madurai, the
Lady’s Finger
(Okra) crop
was turning white
September 2003
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”
After
14
Savings
Savings to farmer - Rs 1.5 lakhs
Cost of Information - tens of
rupees
The
Farmer’s
Field
September 2003
15
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
16
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
17
… because Help is at Hand

September 2003
A visit from the
Government
Veterinary
Officials to
vaccinate all hens
18
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
19
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
20
Even the Chief Minister is not far
away …
58276
A letter came back
from the CM’s Cell
asking that he be
reinstated
September 2003
In response to the CM’s
letter, the BDO sent
instructions to the Village
Head that he given back
his job - permanently
21
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
hospital
2) She knows she has to make
that visit after 2 months
September 2003
22
Online Consultations
September 2003
23
General Health – An Online Clinic
with a Doctor
September 2003
24
Talking to an Agricultural Expert
September 2003
25
Video-conferencing
(6 kiosks in conversation)
September 2003
26
Bridging the Digital Divide – Computer
Education for Rural Children
September 2003
27
September 2003
28
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
29
Knowledge and Training

Another Driver of Rural Prosperity


Information Dissemination and Knowledge Enhancement
Need a Virtual University in every District
to enable this

Basic Structure would
• Consist of a Central Hub
• And Knowledge Extension Centres in every village
September 2003
30
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
September 2003 District
31
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
September 2003
32
ISRO-IITM
For inaccessible Rural Areas


3.8 m antenna
2.4 m antenna
15 -25 Kms with 50 connections
PSTN
Internet
• 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
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
September 2003
34