Charging neighbourhood

Many of the South Asian countries saw the technology boom in the past few years, but have yet to properly capitalise on it. Although the region is host to a total of one-fifth of the world population, it has an extremely small per cent of the world’s fixed lines and less than one per cent cellular subscribers. Mobile phones have outrun fixed telephone lines only in Nepal and Bhutan.

Following are the brief profiles of the different South Asian countries in terms of the advances they have made in telecommunications technologies.

Afghanistan

The telecommunications sector in Afghanistan has undergone rapid development since 2002. Currently, Afghan Wireless and Roshan are the main domestic companies providing cellular services in the country, while Areeba and Etisalat are the international companies. Moreover, 22 Internet Service Providers (ISPs) are catering to around 535,000 internet users.

Telecom development in Afghanistan was an important part of the reconstruction process. A development policy was formulated in 2002 which called for the establishment of a long-distance network to ensure internet services to every part of the country, establishment of a backbone network, issuing of licenses to ISPs and establishment of tele-centres in smaller communities.

Bangladesh

Although Bangladesh has been enjoying internet facilities from 1996, the real growth of ISPs as well as the internet users has increased manifold during the past few years only. With 180 ISPs currently operating under the authority of Bangladesh Regulatory Authority Commission, the number of internet users has gone up to 450,000. Broadband services are not so common considering their very high cost; however, WiMax is slowly making its mark among the tech-savvy population.

When it comes to cell phones, there are around six mobile phone operators in the country, serving a total subscriber base of around 39 million people. Interestingly, it is Grameen Telecom which is actually targeting the rural subscriber base. Their project Village Phone (VP) is a huge hit where, using the microcredit finance programme of Grameen Bank, a villager can purchase a cell phone and become an operator for his/her village.

This is not only providing a cellular service to rural Bangladesh, but is also serving as an income generation opportunity for some of them.

Bhutan

Even in a country which sounds as remote as Bhutan, there are a whopping 82,000 cell phone users. The National Telecommunications Network connects all the major cities and towns. However, the country has only one ISP, and that is Druknet, owned by Bhutan Telecom which provides dialup service. Internet has been around since June 1999 in Bhutan and currently boasts of 3000 subscribers. Bhutan Telecom also provides B-Mobile, a GSM service.

To provide telecom services in the rural areas, Bhutan Telecom has planned a Rural Telecommunications Project which will utilise technologies like Wireless Local Loop (WPP), Voice over Internet Protocol (VoIP) and Very Small Aperture Terminals (VSAT). The pilot project wasimplemented in selected areas and proved to be cost-effective and flexible with easy installation and good quality of service.

India

India boasts the fourth largest telecom sector in Asia (after China, Japan and South Korea), and is the eighth largest in the world. One of the fastest growing economies, the country saw a number of changes in its policies in recent years that have shaped its telecom sector as we see it today.

Earlier, India’s telecom sector was owned and managed by the state. However, in the early 1990s, a policy change opened doors for private sector investment which resulted in better quality service, lower tariffs, and in effect more consumers for the telecommunication industry. However, private sector had a stake in the India’s telecommunication industry even in the ‘80s when the government opened telecom equipment manufacturing to the sector. These reforms were then followed by National Telecom Policy (NTP) in 1994 and NTP’ 1999 which gave further boost to the industry.

According to a report on the internet, the compound annual growth rate of India’s telecommunication sector is at 21 per cent in the last four years, and has seen the revenues to double during the last three years. The country is now host to 160 million subscribers and generated around 19 billion dollars worth of revenues in 2006 alone. The report also promised that the growth will continue since around five to six million subscribers keep adding every month.

Maldives

There are about 344,000 cell phone users in Maldives along with 20,000 internet users. Domestic communication in Maldives is via microwave links while a satellite earth station is used for international communication.

The biggest challenge for the telecommunication provider, Dhiraagu, is the fact that the citizens of this country are spread out over 200 islands. This company, which is partially owned by the Maldives government, has risen up to the task commendably – with the result that the country now has universal access in terms of telephone coverage. All of the inhabited islands are connected to each other via telephones. Maldives also has the highest pay phone penetration in the region.

Nepal

Nepal has around 200,000 internet users with 26 ISPs catering to them. Nepal Telecom and Spice Nepal provide cellular service to cell phone users.

An interesting feature of Nepal which has increased the people’s access to telecom services is the public call office. There are many public call offices (PCO) which have sprung up in different parts of the country. They get a reduction on long-distance call charges as well as a monthly subsidy – something which lures even more people in this business. Apart from offering telephone services, these offices have a wide range of services ranging from internet and email to fax and photocopy.

Sri Lanka

Sri Lanka boasts of 7.2 million cell phone users – no surprise considering the poor domestic service where telephones are concerned. Internet services, including ADSL, are provided by Sri Lanka Telecom. Two new companies on the block are also providing local connections using the Wireless Local Loop (WPP) Technology.

Telecommunications in Sri Lanka, like many other countries, is concentrated in the urban Colombo – while 80 per cent of its population lives in the rural areas. The government has chalked out a National Telecommunications Policy to induce growth in this sector – this policy mainly calls for a greater participation of the private sector in the telecom industry, cost-based tariff system and improvement in the quality of service.