CONNECTING RURAL COMMUNITIES

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CONNECTING RURAL COMMUNITIES - BSNLs Perspective

• A.N.Rai
• Dy. Dir. General (Rural Network)
• BSNL

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DEFINITION OF RURAL AREAS

• The rural areas are the human settlements which
  do not conform to the definition of the urban
  areas. According to 2001 Census the area which
  meet one or more of the following criteria are
  classified as urban areas.
• All places with a Municipality, Municipal
  Corporation, Cantonment Board or Notified Town
  area Committee etc.
• All other places which satisfy the following
  criteria
• (i) A minimum population of 5000
• (ii) At least 75 of male working population
  engaged in non- agricultural pursuits and
• (iii) A population density of at least 400
  persons per sq. km.
• Areas which do not satisfy the above conditions
  are classified as rural.

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USO Funding

• Presently funded with Universal Service Levy
  (USL) from all telecom service providers
• 5 of the AGR (Adjusted gross Revenue) collected
  as USL
• Disbursement is designed to be given for various
  activities to the telecom service operator as a
  result of bidding process
• Activities are planned by USO Fund and Telecom
  Service Operators bid for lowest subsidy to
  perform the desired activity

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Modifications suggested from an Operators point
of view

• Universal Service Levy (USL) should be
  progressively reduced after achievement of a
  desired penetration of network in Rural and
  Remote areas.
• More activities need to be designed with broader
  objectives, for example- Coverage etc. and not on
  very specific results.
• Rural subscribers are still very cost conscious
  and incumbent operator with large Rural base need
  to be compensated for continuing with the low
  tariff specially designed for Rural areas.

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RURAL COMMUNICATIONS

• Include both Voice and Data communications.
• Options available for voice - Landline and
  Wireless
• Wireless-(GSM,CDMA,Cor-Dect)
• BSNL focusing on CDMA for voice service in Rural
  Areas.
• For Data-ADSL, Wi-MAX

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ACCESS TECHNIQUES

• Telephone services provided upto 5 Kms. radial
  distance from the exchange on Wireline.
• Connections beyond 5 Kms. Provided on Wireless
  media viz. WLLCDMA, Cor-Dect, GSM etc.
• Remote and inaccessible areas provided with
  Satellite media viz. INMARSAT/ DSPT.

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ACCESS TECHNIQUES
Remote Isolated areas connected on Satellite
Upto 25 Kms radius connection provided on
wireless
Upto 5 Kms connection Provided on wire-line
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RURAL TELEPHONES As on 30-06-2008
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Villages covered with VPT facility by BSNL - As
on 30-06-2008
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TELECOM INFRASTRUCTURE IN RURAL AREAS
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WLL (CDMA) Coverage(Status as on 30.06.2008)

• Total number of SDCAs 2,642
• Number of SDCAs covered 2,585
• Total CDMA BTS locations 9,147
• Urban 2,321
• Rural 6,826
• Number of Villages under WLL coverage 442,806
• (Approx. 74.6 )

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GSM MOBILE COVERAGE RURAL SCENARIO(Status as
on 30.06.2008)
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ACHIEVEMENT OF BSNL IN RURAL AREAS

• 29,502 Rural Exchanges in the country.
• Around 15.141 Million Rural Telephone connections
  on Fixed Network.
• Around 10.6 Million Rural Telephone connections
  on Mobile Network.
• Telecom services even in the remotest part of the
  country by using Inmarsat Terminals at normal
  Landline rates. Incurring a loss Of around 25
  Crore annually.

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ACHIEVEMENT OF BSNL IN RURAL AREAS

• Door-to-door telecom facilities in Rural areas
  through Grameen Sanchar Sevak (GSS) scheme
  implemented with co-operation of DoP.
• 20 commission is given to GSS 5 to DoP.
• 2,668 GSSs covering more than 11,792 villages.

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ACHIEVEMENT OF BSNL IN RURAL AREAS BY NGOs

• NGOs were involved for spread of door-to-door
  telecom facility.
• Pilot scheme introduced in West Bengal in
  2002,with an NGO namely GRASSO.
• NGO, procured around 2130 FWTs for this scheme
  from BSNL
• Similar scheme is approved for Orissa, Jharkahnd
  Uttaranchal
• Upgradation of PCOs to information centres
  through NGOs is also under implementation.

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Major Ongoing Projects of BSNL

• Roll out of 10 million GSM Mobile lines.
• Roll out of 1.3 million CDMA WLL lines.
• Rollout of 0.5 million Broadband lines.
• Introduction of high capacity DWDM systems
• (40 channel- 10g 32 channel 2.5g).
• Introduction of 200 kilo ccts. IP TAX.
• Addition of 500 kilo ccts. TDM TAX.

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Future Plans (Vision 2010)

• Add 100 Million GSM Mobile lines.
• Add 1.92 Million CDMA WLL lines.
• Add 9.0 Million Broadband lines.
• Introduction of very high speed DWDM systems
• (80 Gb/s).
• Add 6.4 Million IP-TAX circuits.

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Future Plans (Contd..)

• Introduction of Next Generation Network (NGN).
• Introduction of 3G services.
• Introduction of VoIP.
• Introduction of Wireless Broadband services/
• Wi-MAX technology.
• Introduction of new Value Added Services on
  Mobile/ Landline.

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BROADBAND INITIATIVEfor

• Empowering Rural People
• Bridging the Digital Divide

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RURAL BROADBAND DEPLOYMENT

• Planned to provide Broadband capacity to all
  Rural Exchanges.
• Launched Pilot project in 4 Rural places in
  Haryana on Wi-MAX.
• Wi-MAX to be deployed for Rural Broadband access
  in rural areas.

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RURAL BROADBAND DEPLOYMENT ( Contd.)

• One Lakh Community Service Centres in one lakh
  villages.
• 25000 will be covered using ADSL2 technology
• Remaining through wireless
• Wi-Max to be used to provide rural broadband in
  1000 Blocks. Connectivity to Community Service
  Centres(CSCs)
• Tender already floated
• For remaining Blocks,USO to invite bids.

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GYAN SANCHAR INDIAN CANADA TELECOM PROJECT

• Funded by CIDA Canada.
• Project executed by BSNL with the assistance of
  Govt. of Canada, Govt. of Madhya Pradesh.
• Project covered 33 villages in 2 districts of MP
  having population of one lakh.

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CIDA

• On site

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ICT APPLICATIONS-CIDA

• Technology used Cor-Dect narrowband _at_ 70kbps
  Broadband _at_ 500 kbps.
• Telephony.
• Hindi speech to text.
• E-goverance services in Hindi.
• Tele-Medicine services with general hospital.
• Multi-media videos documentaries.
• Online printing of BSNL Govt. of MP Application
  Forms

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Wi MAX SOLUTION FOR RURAL CONNECTIVITY

• Wi-MAX technology is being tried on experimental
  basis at few places to enable Data access to
  Rural Areas.
• Wi-MAX is a wireless solution for communication.
• It can be used for Telephony, Broadband services
  as well as Network backhauling.
• It uses IEEE 802.16 standard.
• Promised connectivity upto 50 kms.

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The WiMAX Vision
2004
2005
2006

• Fixed Indoor Portable
• Solution Characteristics
• Consumer self install, auto provisioning
• Portable can move CPE to another location in
  service area
• Applications
• Last Mile Broadband access for consumers
• Portable broadband access

• Mobile
• Solution Characteristics
• CPE Native in Mobile PC
• User can roam within the service area at varying
  speeds\
• Always Best Connected (Simplified Network
  Selection)
• Applications
• Mobile Broadband access for consumers

• Fixed Outdoor
• Solution Characteristics
• Fixed location
• Installed outside of subscribers house
• Requires truck roll
• Applications
• E1/T1 Level Service for Enterprises
• Backhaul for Hotspots
• Fractional E1/T1 for SMB
• Limited residential broadband access (early
  adopters, rural, developing countries)

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CONSTRAINTS AND PROBLEMS IN RURAL AREAS

• Low population spread over a large geographical
  areas and difficult terrain
• Rural population depends primarily on
  agricultural economy
• Lack basic infrastructure like roads,
  electricity, water etc.
• Poor facilities for health, education,
  entertainment etc.
• Heavy investments with low return

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CONSTRAINTS AND PROBLEMS IN RURAL AREAS (Contd.)

• In adequate human development Illiteracy.
• Rising strife and violence, political
  instability.
• Lack of employment opportunities has forced
  displacement of workers from rural areas.
• Economic stagnation.

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Challenges for development of Rural Telecom
Network

• Reliable Power Supply
• Development of rugged low cost equipment
  (including computers)
• Involvement of Rural population in development
  process- Training empowerment
• Development of contents/ services suitable to
  local needs in local language

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Our Thrust Areas

• Increasing Tele-density
• Wireless services
• GSM
• CDMA based Fixed/ Limited Mobility
• Increasing Broadband Connectivity (Triple Play)
• Pre-paid services in Landline
• IP Backbone Network
• Introduction of Next Generation Network

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Conclusion

• BSNL is fully committed to provide connectivity
  to Remote far-flung areas where people are
  still Un- Connected because we believe that
  connectivity is the gateway to opportunity,
  knowledge awareness.

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Thank You