Emerging technology could make downloading data more affordable in 2012
This year will see a host of new service providers who will
offer better and cheaper connectivity for high-speed data.
Making a prediction about which gadget will win the sales battle in 2012 is hazardous. A technology writer like me may well have to swallow pages of print later - I mean, eat my own words - if I do so, accompanied by (hopefully) a glass of crisp Chardonnay!
Honestly, I have no clue to what people will end up buying, or which service will take off this year. All I know is there may be a host of new service providers who will offer better and cheaper connectivity for high-speed data. This - and not any device in particular - is what will make 2012 a device-filled year.
Smartphones are selling very well in India, but how many people with smartphones also use the 3G services available now? Not enough, if you believe the service providers. The reason? 3G pricing plans, which seem bent on making as much money as possible, as soon as possible. Consider, for example, how much I am paying. I pay Airtel Rs 750 every month to download five gigabytes of data, about as much as can be stored on one single DVD.
It seems mobile service providers are scared of the emergence of Long-Term Evolution, or LTE, based data service providers this year. Will LTE really be revolutionary? Very much so. If LTE leads to plans offering data at Rs 10 per gigabyte, the impact could well surpass that of a revolution. It will not be merely about paying 6.7 per cent of what I do now for the same amount of data, it will be about getting 15 times the data I do now at the same price, and for someone who does not use data at all, getting a reliable and cheap highspeed connection.
LTE may still be a long way off. Reliability is also vital. My biggest grouse against 3G - I use 3G services on both Airtel and Vodafone - is that its reception is patchy at best, whether or not I am using roaming facilities. While the Telecom Regulatory Authority of India, or TRAI, has quality of service, or QoS, indicators for voice calls, there is no measure of QoS for data services.
There are still questions concerning the devices that will be able to receive LTE signals. Right now, there are very few devices capable of using LTE, though several are expected to hit the market as the service becomes more popular globally.
We may also see the rise of small devices that receive LTE signals and convert them to close-range WiFi signals. This could be very useful, considering that all but the cheapest devices currently in use have WiFi capabilities. In fact, as satellites grow more effective at transmitting data back and forth, the promise is that these small devices could also play a role in improving data connectivity for people in remote or inaccessible areas.
I heard recently that sales of consumer durables are not as high as they could be in India because of the power shortage. Address the issue of power outages and many more people will be buying washing machines and microwave ovens. It is pretty much the same with access devices - whether they are computers, tablets or phones.
I do not know if the next iteration of the iPad from Apple will be a winner, or whether the Galaxy Nexus from Samsung will scorch the sales charts. But I do know that if data becomes more affordable than at present, as it is likely to, this will be the year of the personal electronic device in India.
Now, about the not-so-small matter of how to charge these several million devices…
Kushan Mitra
Smartphones are selling very well in India, but how many people with smartphones also use the 3G services available now? Not enough, if you believe the service providers. The reason? 3G pricing plans, which seem bent on making as much money as possible, as soon as possible. Consider, for example, how much I am paying. I pay Airtel Rs 750 every month to download five gigabytes of data, about as much as can be stored on one single DVD.
It seems mobile service providers are scared of the emergence of Long-Term Evolution, or LTE, based data service providers this year. Will LTE really be revolutionary? Very much so. If LTE leads to plans offering data at Rs 10 per gigabyte, the impact could well surpass that of a revolution. It will not be merely about paying 6.7 per cent of what I do now for the same amount of data, it will be about getting 15 times the data I do now at the same price, and for someone who does not use data at all, getting a reliable and cheap highspeed connection.
There are still questions concerning the devices that will be able to receive LTE signals. Right now, there are very few devices capable of using LTE, though several are expected to hit the market as the service becomes more popular globally.
We may also see the rise of small devices that receive LTE signals and convert them to close-range WiFi signals. This could be very useful, considering that all but the cheapest devices currently in use have WiFi capabilities. In fact, as satellites grow more effective at transmitting data back and forth, the promise is that these small devices could also play a role in improving data connectivity for people in remote or inaccessible areas.
I heard recently that sales of consumer durables are not as high as they could be in India because of the power shortage. Address the issue of power outages and many more people will be buying washing machines and microwave ovens. It is pretty much the same with access devices - whether they are computers, tablets or phones.
I do not know if the next iteration of the iPad from Apple will be a winner, or whether the Galaxy Nexus from Samsung will scorch the sales charts. But I do know that if data becomes more affordable than at present, as it is likely to, this will be the year of the personal electronic device in India.
Now, about the not-so-small matter of how to charge these several million devices…
