CDMA 2000 1x Comes to India

nilesh writes "Yesterday, Reliance Infocomm launched one of the largest CDMA networks in the world [Google news]. This wireless network will cover 90% of India's population on a backbone of 60,000 kms of optic fibre. They have dreams of providing an Internet-enabled Java-powered CDMA2000 1x phone to almost every Indian citizen for around tariffs as low as 40 paise per minute or 0.8 cents per minute. The Samsung/LG/Kyocera phones will be replete with applications ranging from internet banking to video on demand and online gaming. Now all we need is Quake for Java and we'll have college kids playing deathmatches with each other in classroom at 144kbps. The next game revolution is in sight."

Comments

what the hell is happening in india?

[peripatetic_bum]

I keep hearing and reading stories of Indian taking leap after technological leap (even if its just attempted leaps). First the leaped in the future of programming, then linux (the open source initiative that pretty much may have kicked Microsoft in the balls) and now this network leap.

Has India reached some sort of critical mass that the US hasnt reached? I know they are supposed to be a poor country but hell, it feels like they are just about to leap frog over everyone in the next couplt of months. :)

would like to hear replies and thanks for reading

Re:what the hell is happening in india?

[gabbarsingh]

Answer: The Internet and a booming Consumer middle class.

As an Indian, I grew up amongst the ideas of conseravationist approach to life - use less electricity, lead as less materialistic life as possible - remenant of Gandhi's self-reliance theory. Since we don't have resources so we must consume less.

This changed with the 90s reform, globalization, and the Internet. People learnt to consume - letting go off securities of saving money and spending judicially to credit cards and financing cars. Cable TV and MTV (Asia) encouraged the youth to let go of the seemingly secure shackles and embrace a consumer lifestyle - Ray Bans, Nike, Levis, Budweiser etc. All these "new" ideas found roots and manifestation is spending money on things besides necessities. The circle of consumption is now established and people are open to the idea of faster, better, cheaper.

The Internet acted as catalyst. The two "sects" using the Internet were rich people and academia. And then the students in academia went on to be corporate managers etc so it spread. The Internet brought Linux few were in for ideology while most are in for the coolness factor. In India a brainy chap is cool although with the 'aping the west' the term "geek" has made it into the pop-culture. These "geeks" are wannabe geeks.

So socio-economic transformation and H1B people's exposure to business and s/w has development has tilted the scales in favor service economy. Service economy depends on tiers of services which is another win for business spending. All these factors contribute to a demand for communication among other things.

India has a healthy middle class of 300million - more than US' entire population and more for China who has witnessed fruits of globalization earlier and with Taiwan next doors as an evidence of success, Chinese and Indian are eager to catch up.

IMHO, US has the greatest and strongest economy however current trend of "cutting cost" to serve an unknown master is not doing anyone any good.

Re:waste of money?

[metlin]

You are wrong, and have no idea how wrong you are.

This has absolutely nothing to do with helping the poor, or trying to get a phone to a beggar in India. It has everything to do with the fact that Reliance is providing the right service at the right time.

Reliance is not just a J Random company in India. Reasons why this will be a killer service in India.

They have done their groundwork beautifully well. They have been laying fiber optic all over the country, for quite a while, and have enormous clout. As an example, where other providers have so far been unsuccessful in getting govt. clearance for certain services in India, it looks like Reliance will not be having that problem.

Reliance is using existing technology customised for India, at the Indian Inst. of Technology Madras. Details here.

You have NO idea the way the demand for bandwidth for both voice and data is growing in India. Want figures? Find them here.

Do you know the proposed cost of deployment of RIL's telecom plan? You pay Rs.3000 initially ($60) and Rs.600 monthly ($12) you get the instrument and the service, but will have to service for a period of 3 years, as part of the Rs.600 will go towards your instrument. Just look at their pricing schemes.

In fact, pricing is one of the reasons why Reliance will succeed. Reason? They chose NOT to use GSM as the initial cost is high, but wanted to help atleast the middle class.

If you still are not convinced, goto Chaoszone, run by cygnusx. He has been keeping track of this for a long time, and has very interesting links on the current scenario and WHY this WILL work.

You are forgetting one very basic point. Yes, India has poverty to handle, but you do not solve it by denying all other technology, atleast that's what your attitude sounds like. There is a significant chunk of the middle class for whom the rates that reliance offers is EASILY affordable, and that comes to a significant portion of the population of a billion.

Read this interview with Mukesh Ambani. Forget quality, they'll see gold through quantity. And that is exactly what Reliance is banking on.

And as a geek, I sure as hell hope they do, am looking forward to getting one of their J2ME enabled thingys ;-)

Re:waste of money?

[silverbolt]

Ok, I am way tired of this constant crap of "but they don't have healthcare, they don't have food, blah blah....", everytime some developing country tries to make a technological advance. Do you live in some kind of utopia ? Does every citizen have to have all their basic and not-so-basic needs fulfilled before their country can think of spending money in defence or technology ? WTF ?

Science always advances. Technology makes inroads. The aim is to make lives easier for *most* people, not *all* people. Even the US has not been able to ensure that each of its citizens have their basic needs met, or that the fruits of technology have reached all.

So the next time you hear a story about India or Jordan or Brazil or any other developing country trying to improve the life of its citizens, try to be understanding, if not a cheerleader. And quit your high-horse!

They're progressive, we have telephone sanitizers

[Morgaine]

Easy, they've got their foot on the accelerator of new technology, new ideas, new rules, and new freedoms.

In contrast, we've got our foot on the brake of new constraints like "Intellectual Property", new "growth" areas like patents on everything, and new laws to ensure that old business doesn't succumb to the new.

To which continent do you think the label of "progressive" applies best?

The only reason we're still doing as well as we are here in the "first" world is because we have a large head of steam and massive resources from past years, and a world bank that knows on which side its toast is buttered. If everyone were to start afresh right now, our only growth industry would be in lawyers and related non-producers of wealth. It's kind of depressing.

Technology helps

[Quixote]

I'm sure there are a lot of readers here who'll say "but what about education/poverty/healthcare/yadayada", as always. I think it is time you guys changed your views on this. I know, a cellphone won't cure any illnesses (may even cause some, but thats besides the point..), but it can help in reducing poverty. Here are a couple of examples:

• In some southern Indian states, fishermen have found a great use of cellphones. When they go out to sea for fishing, on the way back they call at all of the local harbors within their range, and find the best price for their catch! Some fishermen have found that their cellphone paid for itself in just a couple of weeks.
• Farmers can keep in touch with their nearby mandis (wholesale markets), and strike deals which will maximise their gain from their harvest (i.e., pick the right time, sell their produce in advance, checkout prices at all nearby places and take their produce to the one with the highest prices, etc.).

These are but 2 examples; I'm sure if someone did a study, you'd find 100s more.

I liken this new technology to what happens when a man-made wreck lands at the bottom of the sea. Nature quickly finds ways to use the wreck to its advantage: new coral colonies bloom, fishes use it as their hideout, etc. Similarly, the people of India will quickly adapt and find ways to leverage this new technology in ways that we, here in the west, can't even imagine. I say more power to them!

Re:Too bad you can't see beyond your own nose...

[metlin]

Every country has a black mark. How do you justify American action in Iraq? Perhaps they have a point, perhaps they do not.

How about Pakistan, which sponsors terrorist activities, is ruled by a military dictator and whose intelligence agency ISI is *confirmed* to have ties with the underworld in India?

India has a rocket scientist for a president, a *democratically elected* president, while being surrounded by a Military Dictatorship (ruling a fundamentalist country) on one side and a Communist Dictatorship on the other.

India is a developing nation, and has it's own set of problems in healthcare and basic utilities, I do agree. But technology IS the ONLY way out of this mess. Only when you educate people about the ill effects of bad environments, AIDS and the like will there be progress. People NEED to know.

Yes, we have sectarian violence. Try having a billion people of disparate cultural differences, with hundreds of languages, who have been exploited by colonialism for 400 years. You will then know.

Keeping them in the dark only worsens the situation. People *need* to be taught that this would not help in the long run. People need to be taught tolerance.

Technology has done a wealth of good for us, with revolutions in the agro sector, IT industry and now communication industry.

More the money the industries make, more the revenue the govt. earns, and the society as a whole benefits. And you have a booming economy, with a growing middle class which is tech savvy.

Please tell me what is wrong with this. I fail to see how something as beneficial as technology is going to do ill to a society.

Unforunately, people like "metlin" forget that their country needs to be brought up from 3rd world status and that will not happen by giving people cell-phones.

Incorrect reference, third world refers to Non-Aligned Nations, and has nothing to do with economic development. Developing nations would be an appropriate usage. Technology is not the end, it is the means to solving world's problems. If you think otherwise, you're a fool.

Most of the achievements in the Western world have come from hardwork and a sincere desire to change. Technological advances were created with the evolution of society not by handing them technology.

Huh? What the hell did you just blabber? Oh so wait, we want to have technology so that we can sit and play Quake all day? Or wait, technology happens on its own without us having to work or just loitering around or what?

What an absurd statement. Technology arms people. Technology gives people the power to do things that they thought impossible, and improves their standard of living. It does not happen overnite, and it does not happen to everybody. But it does happen, it is a process and it will take time.

But that does not mean that its all useless. This is one of the MOST STUPID comments I've EVER read on /.

Duh.