Overview

Wireless is the way India will connect to broadband in the foreseeable future. As of July 2011, India had around12.5 million fixed broadband subscribers, with a household penetration of less than 5%. This low penetration is primarily due to limited presence of telecom infrastructure, low penetration of access devices (such as PCs, laptops and netbooks) and lack of relevant localised content and applications. In terms of fixed infrastructure, India has very limited wireline network  that could be used to offer broadband service and of the existing fixed lines (34 million lines as of July 2011), only about 15 million can be upgraded for offering broadband services. This makes it very important for India to focus on wireless technologies(such as 3G and 4G) to drive broadband penetration across the country.

The deployment of multiple wireless technologies (such as 2G, Wi-Fi, 3G and 4G) presents an opportunity for operators to drive revenue by effectively addressing the requirements of the various end user segments. However, these deployments increase the network complexity significantly and thus make it important for the Indian operators to focus on developing a next generation wireless ecosystem to efficiently address the ever growing data requirements.

India will also for the first time, deploy a telecom technology at the initial stage of the innovation curve along with the rest of the world. Most of the Broadband Wireless Access (BWA) spectrum winners in India intend to deploy TD-LTE technology for offering broadband services, with first commercial deployment expected by the end of 2011 or early 2012. The anticipated large scale deployment is expected to make India an important global stakeholder in driving the complete TD-LTE mobile ecosystem including technology standards, defining best practices, volumes and price.

Additionally, challenges in device penetration, availability of relevant content / apps / services and affordability of broadband (total cost of ownership) need to be addressed for successfully increasing the penetration of broadband services in India. With a large proportion of the Indian population residing in rural areas (70%),it also becomes imperative for service providers to develop a business model to viably offer its services to this end-user segment.

Against this backdrop and maintaining our continuous focus on the development of the telecom sector, we at Network18 Media & Investments Limited have created a similar platform for both 3G and LTE stakeholders by bringing the Industry, Government, Analysts and the Media to converge into a single congregation to discuss and deliberate the importance and effect of this mega technology at the “NGW 2011 (Next Generation Wireless)” in association with our business channel – CNBC TV18, on 4th November 2011 at the Le Meridien, New Delhi.

The Next Generation Wireless Forum 2011 initiative plans to bring key industry stakeholders such as operators, government agencies, regulator / policy enablers, technology companies, equipment and handset OEMs, VAS providers, international experts and consultants together on a platform to discuss, debate and work out an actionable, relevant and structured framework for deployment of various wireless technologies (such as GSM, CDMA, EVDO, Wi-Fi, WiMAX, HSPA and TD-LTE)  in India. This colloquium shall not only be covered and promoted on our business news channel CNBC TV18, but also in Print Media (HT Mint) and Online media.