Convenor
of the forum introduced and justified the theme of the topic.
‘Broadband is being seen as a media of the future. There
are unlimited avenues in which broad band services are going to
open up different ICT applications such as in the area of entertainment,
marketing, freight logistics, transportation, healthcare, tele
medicine, financial services, cheque transaction, tourism, e-governance,
etc’ said Shri P N Chopra, in his introductory speech. He
expected a boom in the growth of broadband services similar to
the mobile telephony.
The Chief Guest, Shri S Lakshminarayanan,
IAS, highlighted the importance of Broadband in the delivery of
ICT for economic development and growth. He gave an overview of
Government’s plan and targets for increasing broadband access.
He praised engineers both in Govt and private sector for increasing
the teledensity of the country ahead of the planned target dates.
Shri S Lakshminarayanan released the Proceedings of “Optimal
Utilization of Frequency Spectrum” previously held IETE
Apex Forum.
The panelists who presented their views were Shri R N Agarwal,
Former Wireless Advisor, Govt of India, Shri A S Guin, Chief Engineer,
Doordarshan, Shri S N Gupta, Advisor TRAI, Shri M Shanmugham,
Director All India Radio, Dr Rakesh Mehrotra, Managing Director,
Zee TeleFilms and Shri P K Garg Wireless Advisor to the Govt of
India.
Shri R N Agarwal, in his address called ICT as the barometer of
socio-economic development of society. He said that it was the
right time for India to have appropriate penetration of broadband
services. He talked about the different facets, applications,
affordability, quality of services etc. According to him there
should be flexibility in the approach for utilizing different
frequency bands for different services.
Shri A S Guin spoke on Broadband
& IT in Broadcasting. He talked about the importance of broadband
services and its use for TV, HiFi distribution, video retrieval,
data transfer services etc. He described one-way and two-way transport
systems, limitations and advantages of broadband through wireless,
DTT, DTH, DRM, DAB and Cable Satellite.
Shri S N Gupta addressed the
emerging trends in ICT and deregulation. Starting with the development
trends, he covered evolution of VoIP, last mile technologies,
shift from fixed to mobile access, mobile technology trend, convergence,
spectrum utilization and telecom deregulation.
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Shri
Rakesh Mehrotra from Zee Telefilms said that broadband should
be for masses and not for only elite. He described it’s
utility in Indian environment and acceptance of western or Indian
model. Talking of communication and development of economy in
rural India he said everything is doable. He suggested that we
should understand the importance of broadband for rural masses,
eliminate artificial cost, be technology neutral, convert village
PCO’s into community commercial hubs, involve NGOs, learn
to use TV for delivery of ICT and then finally migrate to TV based
ICT services.
Dr Shanmugam’s talk centered around Broadband & Broadcasting.
The impact of Broadband on broadcasting and its access application,
was highlighted.
With the availability of global
connection, increased teledensity, mobile telephony, growth of
Internet, increased data traffic, broadband is required, which
is a faster communication channel said Shri Garg. He also said
that many social problems might crop up if technologies are not
brought to the rural areas. He favoured the judicious mix of wireless
and wireline technologies, wise use of limited spectrum, development
of proper contents, traffic affordability before spreading the
broadband technologies. He strongly believed that delicensing
of the spectrum is not the solution, as the delicensed band cannot
be extensively used.
Prof K K Aggarwal, President, IETE summed up the views presented
by the panelists. He said broadband is necessary to take ICT to
remote, rural and even to urban areas. ICTs are the necessary
tool for desired economic growth of people living in every part
of our country.
The
Board of Recognition of Excellence deliberated the nominations
and after in depth consideration, finalized the list of awardees
for the year 2004. The following are the awardees for various
IETE awards :
27TH
IETE –Ram Lal Wadhwa Gold Medal for outstanding
contribution in the field of electronics and telecommunication
engineering in the broadest sense, during the last ten years The
award consists of a medal and a citation. The recipient is invited
to deliver a lecture based on the work leading to the award at
the Annual Technical Convention of the IETE.
Awardee
: Prof Ashok Jhunjhunwala.
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