IMPACT Annv Spl: Abdul Khan on the impact of telecom

Here are seven core facets of life and work that have changed and will keep changing as a result of ground-breaking changes in the telecom sector.

Connectivity-a necessity: Connectivity is now a part of basic physiological needs, in the category of food, clothing and shelter. The flashpoints were affordability of handsets and connections, people going through situations where they wished they had a mobile, experiencing the power of business productivity and seeing handsets as objects of status. The market exploded from the demand side and every Indian if not every world citizen wanted to go mobile and did! A younger cohort adopted this easily and technology was no longer a real barrier, stemming the growth of this industry. Word of mouth also helped in this. In China, a vast rural to urban migration and the need for young people to stay connected was a trigger. Countries like Bangladesh realised that wireless connectivity was far better than laying fibres. Connectivity seems to be emerging almost like a fundamental right of world citizens and is the cornerstone of today’s networked economy.

Power of enterprise mobility: Organisations have realised this power and the enterprise mobility industry represents a $ 168.8 billion worldwide opportunity by 2015. Given the capabilities of a mobile enterprise to improve agility, response time and flexibility, the Indian market too is poised to touch $ 1 billion by 2015. This phenomenon has been embraced both by emerging as well as large businesses worldwide and sectors such as healthcare, finance; IT & ITES have paved the way. On the supply side, applications such as sales force automation (SFA) have been key drivers of growth.

Objects of desire: The mega rich of the world have today an impressive array of phones to choose from! The one brand that has redefined mobile phones as we know it is undoubtedly Apple’s iphone. From its iconic founder powering its launch with his charisma and brilliance in terms of marketing to it being a cultural phenomenon today, the iphone is truly an object of desire. Smartphones have become all-important, and are set to have over 100 million users in the next year or so. Design and smart features would continue to be a driver and manufacturers would do well to keep an eye on the changing preferences of a 13 or 16-year-old, so they have a head start on winning tomorrow’s market.

Powering a networked world: Recently the head of Facebook Erick Tseng was quoted as saying that he envisions Facebook being a mobile company in the next few years. More people would be connected to the Net, worldwide by mobiles than by computers in the feature. As every application in the world turns social and the world turns entirely networked, it’s very clear that telecommunication would transcend from being just a pipe with some applications to being the heart of the entire networked world. Facebook is today working with phone companies to bake the platform into the applications layer. Every single phone in the world would be social. Even today, out of the 800 million users Facebook has, 350 million are social.

The life hub: With the clumsily-named value added services, mobile phones have been attempting to go beyond voice services. Music has been a key driver in the entertainment space which is expected to reach $13 billion by 2011. Coupled with the sharing facet, mobile music is the most popular application in India, according to a Nokia study, and sharing honours with social networking. Whether it has been the Ovi store or itunes, music in its different forms has and will continue to be centre-stage for mobiles. On the supply side, the big phenomenon powering this is the apps economy.

New value equations: With mobile phone prices and tariffs showing constant downward spiral, consumers worldwide are demanding more for less. It has led to build-up of expectations perhaps unparalleled in marketing. Both manufacturers as well as operators load on goodies to satisfy the demands of audiences. Newer technology standards worldwide have not really resulted in consumers paying much more for what they see is rightfully theirs at price points they are willing to pay.

Bridging the digital divide: The true power of this mega paradigm change would be when information reaches the poorest of the poor; the telecom revolution has not been just about social networking or cool phones!

(Abdul Khan is Head, GSM Marketing & Advisor to MD, Tata Teleservices.)