Towards universal access to mobile connectivity

Abstract

Access to information and communications technologies has become crucial to economic development and poverty reduction in any country. As per TRAI (Telecom Regulatory Authority of India) at the end of June-2016, India has 1.035 billion mobile customers (a mobile density of 81.24%) thus making the India's telecommunication network as the second largest mobile market in the world based on the total number of mobile connections. But as per GSMA (The GSM Association- GSMA' is a trade body that represents the interests of mobile operators worldwide) Report on India 2016, at the end of June 2016, only 616 million unique users (47% of total population) subscribed to mobile services in India. According to India s 2011 census, 29% of the Indian population is under 14 years of age, a section of the population we consider unlikely to subscribe to a mobile service. Mobile subscriber penetration is therefore unlikely to surpass 71%, unless market dynamics change. As per GSMA report Measuring mobile penetration released in May-2014, 2G-GSM mobile networks cover87% of Indian population, which means there are 1.10 billion people in the country (out of 1.26 billion) that can access mobile networks and potentially use mobile devices and services. As Deloitte Report on digital inclusion and mobile sector taxation in India, mobile coverage reached 90% of India s population during 2015. It is generally believed that in India the mobile coverage is growing vertically ie in terms of 3G and 4G network coverage, at a faster rate but horizontal growth ie growth in 2G-GSM network coverage, is almost stagnant or very less for the last few years. Whereas on global level, as per ITU ICT facts and figures 2016, Seven billion people (95% of the global population) live in an area that is covered by a mobile-cellular network. Unlike in Europe, where the ratios of population coverage and geographic coverage are typically 1:1, population spread is uneven in India and particularly in remote rural and tribal areas where population is thinly spread across vast areas. According to the Ministry of Communication and Information Technology, nearly 10% of Indian villages ie55,669 villages out of total inhabited villages of 5,97,608 had no mobile coverage from any of India s mobile operators as of now. In fact, Substantial number of covered villages is only having incidental coverage; hence quality of voice service may be poor and not at all support mobile data services. Therefore a significant proportion of the population is excluded from the benefits of mobile voice/internet/data services, which is creating 'digital divide' and this new type of divide is closely following and supplementing existing income and economic divides. Access to telecommunications in rural areas will have huge impact on healthcare, education, and online government services. Further it will facilitate m commerce and e-commerce to trade along the agriculture supply chain, resulting in the organized aggregation of supply and demand and also access to information that could increase yields and lead to better prices for their crops. Thus provision of Universal access to mobile connectivity is a boon to the society and overall development of economy. Universal Service (US) was one of the main objectives of India s National Telecom Policy(NTP)-99 and keeping in line with this objective, the recommendations of the TRAI on the issues relating to the Universal Service Obligation were sought. Based on the recommendations of the TRAI, the Indian Telegraph Act, 1885 was amended in December 2003 vide the Indian Telegraph (Amendment) Act, 2003 thereby Universal Service Obligation Fund (USOF) was created and Universal Access Levy (UAL) of 5% was imposed on the Adjusted Gross Revenue (AGR) of all Telecom Service Providers. The vision of USOF is enabling rural Indians to achieve their fullest potential and participate productively in the development of the nation by virtue of being effectively connected through a reliable and ubiquitous telecommunications network. Subsequently Government of India announced NTP-2012 policy whose vision is to provide secure, reliable, affordable and high quality converged telecommunication services anytime, anywhere ie Universal Access (UA) for an accelerated inclusive socio-economic development. This policy paper analyzes and evaluates how effective and successful are the existing policy and administrative framework (USOF) and its initiatives, for achieving Universal Access (UA) to Mobile connectivity. This paper also analyses various alternate regulatory strategies and instruments for achieving universal access, which are being in practice in some of the countries and suggests suitable strategies and instruments to achieve universal access to mobile connectivity in India.