3G-WiMax.. Is it for India?

The 3G-WiMax spectrum auction is happening at a time when the global economy is in doldrums. It does not make sense for India to go ahead with the current format of spectrum auction considering the subscriber base available in other countries


If the 3G and WiMax spectrum auctions happen in the current fiscal, they would see operators grabbing the opportunity to bid for the much needed bandwidth. But is 3G and WiMax indispensable for India? Have their services revolutionized the markets where they have been launched? Not really.

The performance of the third generation technology around the world has been a mixed bag. Though it opened the market for data traffic, the additions were not huge. WiMax deployments faced delays and we cannot even assess their success. According to COAI, for operators in other countries the non-voice revenue is not a major contributor to the total revenue. For Japanese operator NTT DoCoMo, the contribution of non-voice data is a little over 32%, while for O2 in the UK it is 33%. In the US, for Verizon the non-voice revenue share is 33% and for Orange and SFR in France it is 18% and 16.3% respectively.

None Feeling the Impact?
Interestingly, case studies show that 3G hasn't been able to bring any magic to the operators' revenues. SingTel rolled out 3G in Singapore with high hopes, but the technology could see increase in penetration only by end of the second year. By the end of Q3 2005, the penetration was around 3.4%. It grew to reach 44.1% by Q3 2008. Its total wireless customer base in Q1 2006 was over 1.5 mn, and by Q2 2008 it grew to between 2.5 mn and 3 mn.

In Malaysia, 3G penetration hasn't shown a great upswing. For Maxis, the penetration went up from 1% in 2006, to 8.6% by Q3 2008. 3G did not have a great impact on its wireless base either. In Indonesia the technology did not help increase the wireless base. Though the penetration touched 4.6% by end 2008, the number of additions were not very high. The total number of wireless customers were somewhere between 2.5-3 crore by end 2008. Thus, with such a mixed response to 3G in these markets, it is difficult to imagine what the technology will do in India. The poor response at a recently held 3G WiMax spectrum auction review meeting by the government also raises many questions.

The 3G experience in the UK should be a lesson for the Indian telcos. The rollout got delayed here because of the walloping costs incurred by operators for acquiring licenses. The major issue for operators was to break-even on the huge investments made toward bagging the 3G licenses. In the Indian context, over 70% population lives in rural India where the basic requirement is plain voice services. Therefore, getting the RoI is not going to be a cakewalk for operators. However, the reserve price set by the government will be a silver lining.

China Exception
Chinese operators are currently rolling out 3G. The Chinese government hopes the two-year $41 bn investment in the 3G network infrastructure would trigger a total investment of about two trillion yuan in the next three years.

Non-voice revenue in China totaled $157 bn in 2007, according to data by Informa Telecoms & Media, up from $116 bn in 2006. In Q2 2008 non-voice revenue surpassed $50 bn for the first time in any quarters. For 2008 as a whole they are expected to exceed $200 bn.

Revenues are heavily skewed toward emerging markets. Asia Pacific captured 39% of the global data revenue in Q2 2008, but the region is dominated by China, because of its sheer size, along with Japan and South Korea. Europe was the second-largest region, with 25% share of global revenues, followed by North America at 19%. Other regions contributed only 17% to the global revenues. Frost & Sullivan says that WiMax revenue in the APAC region could be around $11 bn, at a CAGR of 45% during 2007-13.

3G will be obsolete soon in some markets. NTT DoCoMo plans to begin commercial 4G use by 2010 in Japan. Technically, 4G is 2,000 times faster than 2G in transmitting data, and almost 20 times faster than standard copper cable-based ADSL services. 4G promises to deliver high-quality video and data transmission.

The WiMax Story
In the mobile computing domain, WiMax is a relatively new technology. It has yet to see mass deployment at a global level. The technology was developed in 2000 and can provide data rate of upto 70 Mbps from larger distances which can reach upto 30 miles.

According to projections by the WiMax Forum there would be over 133 mn WiMax users globally by 2012. Additional data from the study estimates that approximately 70% of the predicted WiMax users by 2012 will utilize mobile and portable WiMax devices to access broadband Internet services. Currently, more than thirty-five WiMax Forum member companies are creating WiMax base stations.

The ease of regulatory environment in many foreign countries have helped operators and companies to scale up opportunities in the WiMax space. Although the technology has made little progress in Asian counterparts such as Indonesia and China, industry experts feel that with the help of government polices, China alone can have over 40% of global WiMax subscribers by 2012.

In one of the most awaited WiMax auctions of Europe in 2006-07, France allotted forty-four regional WiMax licenses in 3.5 GHz spectrum to operators and local governments. As per the earlier plan, 3,564 WiMax locations should have gone live by June 2008. However, merely 14% of the total sites planned have been built during that period. According to reports, the reason for this was the poor performance of the technology. WiMax failed to meet the desired expectations of operators in the country. Also, the late approval of e standard, ie, mobile WiMax, was one of the main reasons for the slow advancement of the technology in the country.

Positive Signs
The technology is shaping up well in Latin America. There are over ninety-five WiMax deployments in the Caribbean and Latin America region. In Argentina alone over 100 companies have expressed their willingness to bid for WiMax. According to Infonetics, the number of mobile WiMax subscribers in Brazil is forecast to skyrocket from fewer than a thousand in 2007 to 3.6 mn in 2011; a compound annual growth rate of 940%. In the Asian region, Japan is likely to have dual mobile WiMax-LTE services by 2011.

Korea Telecom, with nearly 190,000 subscribers, and Wateen Telecom (Pakistan) with more than 25,000 subscribers have been the biggest WiMax deployments in 2008.

There are several factors which are in favor of an increase in WiMax deployment in India. Many Indians will access the net for the first time on their mobile. This trend is similar to wireless subscribers. A significant percentage of Indian households didn't have access to fixed wired telephone services and many subscribers got connectivity for the first time through wireless infrastructure. The same trend is predicted for broadband wireless Internet access services such as WiMax which will provide hi-speed data services over a wireless data infrastructure.

The technologies are heading to take a new leap in some of the Asian countries, though past experiences and regulations can make the transition tricky in the years to come. Indian operators, who have shown better financial and network efficiencies to global operators, should take a cautious approach when they start investing in both 3G and WiMax.

Slow, Not down (recessionary Impacts on Indian Telecom Industry)

“My mobile phone bill has drastically reduced following the current meltdown and job insecurity. I am trying to save maximum sum for my future instead,” says Himanshu Vijay, an employee working with a leading BPO. There is no other better way to understand how badly the slowdown has hit the people. If users cut down on their phone bills then it becomes so obvious that the telecom industry would be affected. How long will the telecom industry go strong if people start saving on the phone bills. Is this also another reason for the declining ARPU?

Every action has an equal and opposite reaction.” (Newton's 3rd Law)

If we look at the present slowdown, it closely resembles this law. It should not be forgotten that the market had been very bullish in the past few years and the dip had to happen sooner or later. It has not been long that the Indian economy has been hit by the slowdown, and everybody is already panicking. Certainly, it cannot be denied that most sectors have been adversely affected including IT, real estate and finance, but is the situation same for the communication industry too?

But Nripendra Misra, chairman, Telecom Authority of India is optimistics, he says, “India's telecom sector is strong enough to sustain and flourish in the current bleak economic environment.”

For some, the situation has not been that bad but some say that it definitely has hit them hard. The situation has been so bad in some cases that companies started feeling paralytic even in these few months of volatility. But for the telecom sector in India things are not that bad. However, one thing is for sure that the slowdown will definitely be an eye-opener for people and would help in seeing better and more innovative business models.

Telecom companies have constantly been stating that they are strong and would continue to be so, but enterprises have definitely cut down on their telecom expense.

Arun Gupta, group CTO, Shoppers Stop says, “We are reviewing the existing spend and are optimizing our resources. We have gone for rationalizing our rate plans with service providers. There has been negotiation based on volumes generated and we are moving towards lower rate plans accordingly.” With so much curtailing and negotiations, it is very obvious that the communication industry will also be on the receiving end of the economic meltdown.

Time for Great Ideas
It has been continuously seen that companies are severely cutting costs during this meltdown. Experts believe that there is a need to reduce overall costs and expense in a smarter way to open new channels of business.

t is noteworthy that such kind of economic crisis can actually help to proliferate new business models. A lot of business opportunities may pop up owing to the market condition. At this point many companies are talking about infrastructure sharing, and perhaps this would soon come up as a new trend to leverage better business.

“Just like tower infrastructure is being shared, we will not be surprised if a call centre is beginning to be shared. Also, complementary marketing campaigns between two competing brands would also be a reality. As an organization, the slowdown has affected our capital. Capital is not easy to come by anymore. We have taken actions in advance to stay fit operationally and we will continue to do so,” says EVS Chakravarthy, CEO, YOU Telecom.

Things might not be that bad in India, but in Europe and different parts of North America, there has been a downward trend in the number of telecom subscribers every quarter. Moreover, the enterprise and vendor segment for telecom companies is under pressure as many corporations have put their telecom modernization plans on hold due to the credit crisis. But there is a strong belief among service providers and vendors that the telecom industry would sustain the sub prime crisis.

“Indian telecom will not get much affected by this current slowdown. The corporate or enterprise spending may reduce to certain extent because of the budget cuts, however the growth numbers of mobile subscribers will continue to remain the same” says Kuldeep Goyal, CMD, BSNL

Through the current economic wave, a lot of the companies are looking towards intelligent business management. With appropriate efforts and concerted approach, the challenges can be converted into opportunities. Following the slowdown, the demand for various commodities is decreasing which has led to a decline in the rates of major items. Companies are ready to adopt new business models to grow in this phase.

For companies like Tandberg, unified communication comes as a very effective way to balance their resources. “Embracing video conferencing in corporate India is now part of larger trend, which not only includes corporate cost-cutting due to higher transport and fuel costs and macroeconomic issues such as inflation and turmoil in global financial markets, but also broader issues such as becoming a greener company by reducing carbon foot print,” says Dinesh Sehgal, regional director, Tandberg, India, Sri Lanka and Bangladesh. Enterprises should invest in key technologies during recession which result in direct savings, and RoI is much better. Even the channels should spend time on educating their respective accounts to invest in a technology like video conferencing.

In spite of all the speculations it cannot be denied that the Indian telecom market has not been amongst the most vulnerable prey to the market melt. This can be proven from the number of deals happening in the telecom sector. This year there have been almost more than twenty telecom deals already. Not only are the inland companies signing papers, but Indian telecom market holds such high potential that international telecom companies are eyeing a share too.

Recently, Japanese telecom firm NTT DOCOMO paid a whopping $2.7 bin for a 26% stake in Tata Teleservices and the deal values the company at $10 bn. Tata Teleservices has already got a global presence, while still being the 6th largest telecom firm in the country. This was not the only deal. The month of November and December saw two more deals worth $2 bn in total. Norway's Telenor picked up 60% stake in Unitech's telecom arm for $1.1 bn and Emirates based Etiasalat paid $900 mn for 45% stake in Swan Telecom.

Some other service providers are adamant that the market would pay them good. Companies like Aircel do not believe that that the meltdown would affect their growth. “You don't see people get fired from telecom business. In this scenario, the more you talk, more you get the opportunity. We are into expansion mode and planning to launch our services in cities like Delhi before March 2009. Our growth plans and strategies will not run off the tracks” says a senior Aircel spokesperson on the condition of anonymity. No matter how much a company boasts about their progress there is in no way that the rippling effects of enterprises curtailing costs would fall on the service providers and vendors.

Is All Really Well?
Since market is inter-related, it becomes difficult to go only with the verdict of the telecoms and rule out all the possibilities of the slowdown hitting them. If the users tend to reduce their telecom spending, there will be an invariable adverse effect on the revenues of telecom players. One of the largest users of the telecom infrastructure is the BPOs. And BPOs are definitely looking at cost cutting measures. Rajendra Sawant, CIO, Adventity says, “Any cost investment that does not add to the top-line or the bottom-line of the company have been rejected. We have renegotiated the telecom cost with the vendors. Apart from that, we are very catious towards new investments. We would go for only the need-based investments.”

Not only BPOs, other telecom users also face negotiations to leverage their revenues. Looking at the other side of the story, a big question poses that if enterprise is cost-conscious then how can there be no retrenchment on the service provider and vendor front? Looking at the larger picture, there is a dilemma as to where the market is actually going. Though it is early to state the future of the telecom business, but one thing that we can be sure of is that ripples will surely knock at the door of telecos.

The broader market sentiments are forcing the industry to take a deeper look at the cost structures and capex investments plans. With the communications industry making investments in large commitments for new licenses and network infrastructure build outs, this is the right opportunity to optimize cost structures and investment return norms.

“Incremental growth which will come at depreciated returns will force the industry to carefully evaluate the RoI involved in employee productivity in areas like customer care, IT and sales acquisition. Most organizations will look towards the telecom industry to provide innovative offerings on S+S/Outsourcing/Managed Services to transform their businesses,” says Amajit Gupta, director, communications and media sector, Microsoft India.

Even the government and the regulatory board have the same views on the telecom industry. The government strongly believes that the situation of the telecom industry is much better than other sectors, and will continue to be so. According to A.Raja, minister of IT and communications, Government of India, “India's telecom sector is strong enough to sustain and flourish in the current bleak economic environment. The country is well poised to surpass the set target of 500 mn telephone connections by 2010 and there are big hopes on the rural front as well.” Though there has been a lot of difference of opinion when it comes to 3G, but the take on slow down does not seem to be different.

“The current global financial crisis is, of course, now one of the major constraints on the pace of economic reform, but the Indian telecom sector, because of its innate strength and resilience, is perhaps one of the few sectors that have remained almost unaffected by this adverse global trend,” says Nripendra Misra, chairman, Telecom Authority of India.

Subhendu Mohanty, country head, home & networks, mobility business, Motorola, India, expresses the same sentiment though he believes companies are on the cautious side,“Every company is taking a cautious approach in the present scenario. Many are clueless about which way to go. However, opportunities exist in the sectors such as broadband. There is plenty of hope for the telecom sector.” Sanjay Jotshi, director, Channels and Enterprise, SAARC, Juniper expresses that there will be a shift in gear, he says “The business models have a potential to undergo changes where there may be a shift from the capital expense model towards an operational expenses model.”

Vineet Sirpaul, Director, Nu Tek expresses a strong opinion,“It will be foolish to say that the telecom Industry will remain totally insulated. We could see an impact on the ARPU's of the service providers which might go down further marginally due to the cost cutting measures that may be adopted by the corporations.”

However, Dewang Neralla, director, Atom technologies reveals a brighter side saying,“New demand drivers need to be created and this can happen, in the current age, through disruptive technologies like mobile payments which would drive mass transformation (and consumption).”

To safeguard the interests of Indian telecom industry, it is crucial that the businesses and governments should not derail their strategies. Furthermore, risk management should be taken as a key priority in the new system to take global economies to the next frontier. Consolidation and virtualization would also be important focus areas for the companies to gain flexibility and agility without making huge investments.

Sudhir Narang, managing director, British Telecom says, “In such situations, disruptive innovation and innovation in general leads to new operating models, on a broader platform. Outsourcing is the general answer. In the network IT industry, companies are now embracing concepts like SAAS, pay- per use/click model, virtualisation, cloud computing etc. The answer lies in innovation.”

It is virtually visible. Irrespective of the fact whether governments and industry acknowledge it or not, the footprints of downturn have benn apparent across the globe. The US sub-prime crisis is being seen as the pressing reason behind the present global economic meltdown. There have been many reports on IT spend being put on hold and companies applying a strategy of 'wait and watch'.

The communication has emerged as the fundamental requirements of individuals as well as organizations. It includes both voice and convergence of voice with data and video. According to Trai, the total wireless subscribers of India stood at 325.73 mn and overall teledensity stood at the 31.5% by October 2008. But whatever it is there have certainly been some level of slowdown in the telecom region. No matter how hard SPs try but it is very difficult to stay away from the economic wave. They might be stronger than the rest but certainly there will be a little unrest in the industry. Current ARPU and low quarter results show signs of the patch the telecos are going through. But without doubt they are doing better than their contemporaries owing to other positive factors.

The telecom industry does not fail to bet big on the existing opportunities, and yet to tap rural India market, there is no assurance that they will be able to generate similar revenue figures as it was earlier. 3G is here and any day it would be all over the market like an explosion. With so many new aspects of telecom in India, there is a bleak possibility for the market to collapse. The economic slowdown might have raised the bar of job losses, but if to believe the voice of the telecom industry it stands an outright exception. The players are ready for the bigger game and to stay here for long.

Mobile Radiation

With the country's mobile telephony user base growing by around 8 mn every month, there is growing concern over health risks due to electromagnetic emissions from base stations and handsets.

The Indian government has recently accepted the draft guidelines for 'Mobile Towers and Phones' submitted by the Telecom Engineering Center of the Department of Telecommunications. The government has decided to follow the International Commission for Non-Ionizing Radiation Protection (ICNIRP) guidelines, which have been adopted by more than eighty countries around the world. The ICNIRP guidelines ensure that the level of emission does not exceed in relation to public exposure to electromagnetic waves from mobile phones and base stations.

Setting New Standards
Licensed in Germany, ICNIRP is an international non-governmental and independent scientific organization that provides guidance on health hazards of non-ionizing radiation exposure. The World Health Organization endorses the ICNIRP guidelines as well. The guidelines were developed based on evaluations of biological effects that have been established to have health consequences.

The guidelines mandate that all handset manufacturers state the specific absorption rate or SAR, which indicates the amount of radio waves absorbed by the body when using a mobile phone. According to ICNIRP guidelines, SAR is caped at 1.6 watt/kg of tissue in the US and 2 watt/kg of tissue in Europe. As of now there is no cap in India.

“The ICNIRP guidelines are accepted and followed by many countries, and we have also decided to follow it. The issue had to be addressed at the earliest since it was eroding the faith of the public in the government. We have decided to follow the self-certification model, where mobile manufacturers, as well as the service operator have to specify the level of radiation. We believe that self-certification will work since the manufacturer would know that he will be penalized if handsets are tested and found to be not conforming to the guidelines,” says RN Padukone, senior deputy director general, Telecom Engineering Center, the technical arm of DoT.

TEC also plans to form a Conformity Assessment Body or CAB to conduct random testing. “We have invited 'expression of interest' and July 31, 2008 is the last date. We have already received ten entries. The tests would be conducted on a random basis and we have to work out the sampling arrangement,” added Padukone.

While the test procedure for random testing of handsets will be written by TEC, the tests would be accredited by the National Accreditation Board for Testing and Calibration Laboratories (NABL). Earlier, TEC was considering displaying of SAR on mobile phones through the menu option. Cellular operators and manufacturers resisted and the option was eventually rejected.

“Most manufacturing units are ISO 9000 certified, and ICNIRP guidelines are part of the process. Most handsets available in the market have the SAR limit printed on the box. However, it has come to our notice that some spurious handsets, which do not conform to the ICNIRP guidelines, are also available. And these guidelines are being put in place to stop the sale of these handsets,” Padukone emphasized. When contacted, the handset manufacturers and service providers declined to comment on the issue.

While India has taken the first step by introducing the guidelines, it should be added that many European nations, notably Austria, have set safety limits lower than the ICNIRP limit. The Salzburg Resolution for Austria recommends safety limit many times lower (0.6 V/m=0.1 micro watts/cm2) for pulsed radiation. Whereas, the safety norms are much more stringent than the ICNIRP guidelines in China, Italy, and Sweden.

The Health Angle
It is believed that the human head absorbs parts of radio waves emitted by a cell phone. And the fact states that radio waves emitted by a GSM handset are typically more than the waves emitted by a CDMA handset. There is a growing concern in the Indian public around this, especially in the absence of any conclusive study.

Recently, health minister A Ramadoss called for a detailed study to assess how mobile phones are a health hazard. Women and Child Development minister, Renuka Chowdhary is toying with the idea of putting a ban on school-going children from using mobile phones. Sometime back there was also a protest by Shaktipunj Foundation, a New Delhi-based NGO, to create awareness about radiation safety at various places.

ong term studies are still not available but researchers have warned about using cell phones, as effects might range from headaches, sleeplessness to various types of brain cancers. A thirteen-country World Health Organization “inter-phone” study suggests a link between long-term use and three types of brain tumors-Glioma, Parotid, and Acoustic Neuroma. Radiations may also break the protective blood brain barrier as seen in diseases like Multiple Sclerosis, Alzheimer or Parkinson,” says Dr SC Gera, consultant, Internal Medicine at Fortis Healthcare.

Gera, however, recommends a precautionary approach since there is not enough information. “Those in the industry argue against the risk of cancer. High frequency radiation like X-ray, Gamma, and ultraviolet rays are known to cause cancer at high doses. Mobile radiations are far less energetic to be able to break chemical bonds in the body,” says Gera.

The World Health Organization recommends a “precautionary approach” as well, which stipulates, “... a precautionary approach to the use of this communication technology should be adopted until more scientific evidence on its effects on health becomes available. Such an approach includes restricting exposure (according to existing guidelines and the European Union directive) and providing the public with information and options.”

Karmajyot Sewa Trust had filed a PIL in the Supreme Court in August 2005, for control of radiation and norms for putting up mobile towers. The trust also claims that in India, nearly 270 mn customers use cell phones, and there are over three lakh towers that emit electromagnetic radiations. Hence, applying to the ICNIRP norms would be a boon for people.

“We are very happy that the government has decided to issue the guidelines, but we feel that guidelines are not enough, and it should become a law. We would be giving a memorandum to the telecom minister soon regarding this,” says Prabha Kiran, president, Shaktipunj Foundation. Shaktipunj Foundation is working with a group of NGOs that are lobbying with the government for stringent norms to reduce the level of emission from mobile towers and handsets.

While there is no conclusive study that links the impact of mobile phones to some health symptoms, many consumers do complain of headaches, insomnia and loss of concentration. “As part of my job, I have to attend long calls over the phone. This has resulted in headache, irregular sleep, and loss of concentration and hearing. Now I have switched to the speaker phone/hands free and find things to be a lot better,” says US-based Ranjan Juneja, onsite engineering manager, Persistent Systems.

Many believe that radiation is especially harmful for people working in BPOs and those working long hours on laptops and desktops. “As per the research from different organizations, there are conclusive proofs that radiation affects brain, fertility and might also cause impotency. There is a strong need to clarify the impact of radiation by policy-makers and the industry to safeguard the interest of masses,” says Zafar Haq, CEO at Cogent EMR Solutions. The company claims to offer a number of products to safeguard the radiation area, for instance, a pouch, which creates a barrier between the handset and the body, thus protecting the person from radiation.

The Other Side
The industry, on the other hand, alleges that RF radiations emitted by mobile communications systems lie in the non-ionizing part of the electromagnetic spectrum and, thus, do not have enough energy to cause any genetic damage. Sources in the industry say that RF emissions from mobile phones and base stations are some 50,000 times lower than the levels at which the first health effect begins to be established. Apart from that, the output power of mobile phones is in the range of 0.2 to 0.6 watts, which is far lower than the emission levels that emanate from the microwave or even the radio.

“We are not against the guidelines being issued by the government. I heartily welcome the ICNIRP guidelines. In fact, our members already follow them. I would also like to add that there exists a general misconception that electromagnetic radiations emitted from mobile systems are a potential source of health hazards,” says TV Ramachandran, director general of Cellular Operators Association of India. He adds that as the network is increasing, the cell sites are coming closer and the radiation emitted from them is decreasing. It is in fact much lower than the permissible limit.

Most handset manufacturers declined to comment. “Although there is a lot of discussion on the effect of radiation on human health, we have not come out with any study in India so far. Our products are compatible with international standards, and we will further follow the guidelines issued by the government,” says Devinder Kishore, director, Marketing, Nokia.

While the ICNIRP guidelines are welcome, they may not be the last word, especially with the advent of new technologies like Bluetooth, Wi-Fi and WiMax, which might further increase the risk of mobile radiation.

“ICNIRP guidelines are at least four years old, and these guidelines may not be effective when a new technology is developed or is put to use without a study of its radiation emission levels and safety norms. This is a grey area,” says Zafar of Cogent. The company has recorded an increase in interest in their products after the radiation controversy started some time back.

The Indian government has taken a step in the right direction by issuing the ICNIRP guidelines, but a lot more remains to be done to protect the public from the harmful effects of cell phone radiation. Many believe that guidelines themselves are not enough and it should be made into a law to further protect the public from the harmful radiation emitted from mobile towers and handsets. It further remains to be seen how the guidelines would be finally implemented.

http://voicendata.ciol.com/content/service_provider/108080107.asp

"E-Commerce has finally reached to common man"

Sanjay Aggarwal, GM (Operations) of IRCTC talks on the growth of the broadband in India, and the challenges faced by IRCTC in an interview with Jatinder Singh.

What do you think about the broadband growth in India. Is it really picking up?

There is no doubt that the broadband growth has been good since last few years, but we are still lagging behind if we compare with other Asian nations like China and Japan. The growth of the broadband is prerequisite of Internet and e-commerce. It's essential especially for the transactional sites like us. For this we are in constant touch with the Ministry of IT, and they're quite serious about the matter. I think it's high time that government sets a standard by investing on broadband.

Assess the role of IT in present business scenario.

In today's environment, technology acts as a spinal cord of any kind of business. It's just because of the IT advancement that we succeeded in creating a mechanism where anyone who has access to a computer and an Internet connection can purchase a railway ticket online in India. The business managers are also waking up to the benefits of IT. Furthermore, if you see the transactional websites, CRM, blogs, you realize that the growth is visible all around. The railway & IRCTC are providing benefits, like online booking to the customers, so that they don't need to stand in long queues -- thereby saving their precious time. This makes the role of IT and broadband crucial, both for business and customers, as it provides an ease of operations at relatively no extra cost.

What are the present challenges for IRCTC?

I think the challenges are in terms of the volume and amount of transactions which we operate. In terms of amount, our transactions might be less; but if you compare the number of transactions, they're much higher. Hence, the challenges lie, firstly, in having a big IT infrastructure and secondly, to sustain and manage the present growth rate. We are in need of an infrastructure, which will be more comprehensive than all other airlines put together in the country.

What are the security measures you have adopted against online frauds?

There is no denial of the fact that security is the primary concern of consumers. At IRCTC, technology is mainly related to payment mechanism. Presently, we provide 3 kinds of payment options to consumers. They can pay through the modes of credit card, Net banking, and cash card. Cash card, according to me, is comparatively more secure than any other mode of payment, as it's comes in denominations -- such as 200, 500, 1000, etc. So, a customer can invest an amount, according to his convenience, and get the tickets at the doorsteps without facing any trouble. We were the first in India to achieve the 3G security mechanism. In addition, we also publish information about the latest threats and protection measures on our website to educate customers.

What is the present customer ratio of overall ticketing through IRCTC?

The growth of online ticketing has been phenomenal and each month more and more passengers are booking their tickets through the Internet. Interestingly, more than 60% of tickets booked on IRCTC are of non-AC passengers. This reflects that the general class books tickets through the websites -- indicating that e-commerce has finally taken a step ahead and has reached "the common man".

Are you coming up with some new addition to IRCTC?

Apart from the ticket booking sites, we have come up with railtourismindia.com; where we are providing complete travel and tourism solutions for various customer segments at a single window surface.

Note: The interview is done by Jatinder Singh and first published on www.enterpriser.in
http://www.enterpriser.in/enterpriser/article.jsp article_id=86657&cat_id=442

New Boundaries of Web Attacks

Security is a critical issue that's creating panic among enterprises today.
The network is now no longer delineating a physical network perimeter, the people who are using the system – employees, customers or partners, constitutes the new boundaries.

Cyber criminals who for financial and monetary gains feel no diffidence in exploiting network vulnerabilities are now using the Web as one of the biggest areas of attack to launch and spread into the mainstream.

Although, there are various security solutions available today, but despite all promises, they are ineffective to secure different sort of vulnerabilities in the network.Moreover, an unsecured broadband connection provides a rattling opportunity to cyberpunks who with the help of efficacious software can successfully hack in to unearth one's account details, steal cash, use one’s email for illegal means and make the system defunct for use.

There's a sharp increase in rate of criminal activities on the Web, and with Indian IT Act failing to curb these, enterprises are facing a new trend of increasing Web attacks and data security breaches. With the current security measures getting urbanized and implemented to guard the computers used by home users and organizations, attackers are rapidly formulating techniques and strategies to outsmart them.

As per the various reports brought out by Forrester, IDC and PwC, over 50% of Indian organizations say that their PCs have been infected by spyware and over 20% of employees believed that they had infected their PCs accidentally by visiting sites containing spyware. In addition over 70% of IT managers across India report that their employees have received phishing attacks via e-mail or instant messaging on their office PC. And 62% of Indian IT managers feel a security breach would put their job at risk. Experts also believe that India's unsafe security environment could be costing its BPO and ITES industry to an estimated $500 million annually.

Vishal Dhupar, managing director of Symantec India, said, "Attackers have moved away from nuisance and destructive attacks toward activities that are motivated by financial gain. Today's attackers are increasingly sophisticated and organized, and they've begun to adopt methods that are similar to traditional software development and business practices."

Threats are increasingly being targeted at specific regions. While there have always been attacks that are regional in nature. Recent analyses indicate that attackers are currently focusing more on targets that share a common language, infrastructure, or online activity. Where earlier threat activity was predominantly global in nature, the expansion of broadband Internet into areas that have traditionally not been served by high-speed connectivity has given attackers new targets. Dhupar further adds that instead of trying to break into the computers of target users, attackers are now compromising trusted sites and/or applications. When an end user visits a particular site or uses an application, the attacker is able to jeopardize the user's computer often - either by directing the user to a malicious website or by downloading a Trojan onto the user's computer.

This trend has been made possible by the increased deployment of Web applications and Web 2.0 technologies.

In today's scenerio enterprises require a solution that provides multi-layered, end-to-end security, which is capable of assessing threats, monitoring controls, 'shielding' individual applications, and protecting desktops. In short, enterprises require protection at all layers of the organization - from gateway, to client, to internal network.

Data breach is cited as highest priority application security risk globally in 2007 (as per the report published by Cenzic). Identity theft, data breach, unauthorized access, and downed websites are the key security risks that security professionals stated as their highest priority to stop. The survey concluded that companies are struggling to protect their Web applications and are anxiously working to stay one step ahead of hackers, whose efforts become more sophisticated with each attack. Addressing the need for strong solutions to protect data in enterprises, Dean Drako, president and CEO of Barracuda Networks, said, "It's imperative for businesses to have strong solutions in place to protect all data because any security breach or attack could be financially devastating to a business. If an attacker were to launch a Denial of Service (DoS) attack on a business website, or if a virus were to get through a user's email and corrupt the system, the damages to the organization would be monumental."

According to the Computer Emergency Response Team in India (CERT-In) and based on an analysis by the Department of Technology, from January to June 2006 nearly 1,752 Indian websites were defaced - 67.5% of them were '.com' domain websites and 15.9% were '.in' websites. There has been a phenomenal increase in the '.in' domain India specific defacements. Furthermore, a high number of country code level domain sites -.co.in, .net.in, .gov.in, .org.in, .nic.in, .ernet.in, .ac.in, and .res.in - were defaced with commercial sector contributing 68.3% of defacements, while the government sector had a 27.3% share.

"Clearly, Web attacks are on the rise (as illustrated in the statistics above), however, email-borne threats such as spam and viruses are still prime concerns for businesses and require powerful means of protection," Dean commented