The year of the Big W

Across the $40 bn ICT industry in India, the big story in this still-new
century has been mobility. And Wireless. The telecom and voice world had begun
to swing over to the 'big W' in the past three years, but 2004 was decisive.

Voice&Data magazine announced the Crossover: wireless had overtaken
landline connections in India in the third week of October. Indians across the
board, from drivers to plumbers to fishermen to school kids, now own or aspire
to own mobile phones.

But 2004 was really the foundation year for wireless data and for mobility in
India.

For the first time, cellular operators really began to sell data services,
despite the GSM world having had 'data support' for years. This was really
led by the CDMA folks, and especially Reliance. We saw executives all over using
CDMA phones with USB cables, for Internet access. Reliance rolled out wireless
data applications, from credit-card PoS and lottery terminals to ATMs, and it
began to sell India's first CDMA wireless data card for laptop users. The old
guard of GSM operators scrambled to follow, offering GPRS packages and mobility
tools like the BlackBerry handheld and service from Airtel, even as they tried
desperately to push up a declining ARPU (average revenue per user) through
innovations such as 'push to talk' on the voice side.

And India's tiny laptop population really began to expand in 2004. For one
thing, branded laptops dropped below the 50k price point, and came into the
consideration space for PC purchases by small businesses, homes, and mid-level
and even junior executives spending their own money. Notebooks started shipping
with integrated wireless, giving a reason for corporates, small businesses and
even homes to consider a cheap wireless setup.

And Wi-Fi began to happen. The year was rounded off with one more step toward
the unshackling and decontrol of wireless data. The 2.4 GHz spectrum became free
from license and controls for indoor use. Within a campus, you can use any
equipment in that band, whether 802.11g or 802.11b or Bluetooth or a cordless
phone, without requiring a license. The first real 'hotspots' outside
five-star hotels began to pop up at airports (priced at Re 1 a minute, with a Rs
30 prepaid card), even as hotels continued with incredibly stupid and
short-sighted pricing (such as Taj hotels' Rs 3,000 charge per person, even
for a few minutes of Wi-Fi use, to 'non guests').

So amidst all the growth landmarks-the BPO's rising, the domestic industry's
resurgence, a recovery in defence spending-some solid foundations for wireless
were quietly laid in India in 2004. And that spells some real excitement in the
year ahead, for users, and the industry.