Article Title: Fillip to Growth - State rides on strong telecom infrastructure About the Magazine: The mission of Gujarat Infrastructure is to put a spotlight on infrastructure development in Gujarat. It will track key developments, analyse emerging trends, discuss key issues, highlight key initiatives, profile noteworthy projects and organisations, feature stakeholder perspectives and prescribe policy recommendations. It is published quarterly.The present edition is a special issue on Vibrant Gujarat held in January 2011.

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Fillip to Growth
State rides on strong telecom infrastructure
Jaideep Ghosh, Executive Director, and Sohag Sarkar, Senior Consultant, KPMG Advisory Services
G
ujarat i a coastal state rich in crafts, 62.84. The urban market is more saturated
history and natural beauty. Besides, it is (with a teledensity of 102.25) than the rural
one of the most industrialised states in market (teledensity of 36.44). The mobile
India with 38 per cent of GDP contributed by segment is the biggest contributor to teleden-
the secondary sector. sity (as is the ca e across India); the segment
According to the Department of Indus- witnessed an average subscriber addition of
trial Policy and Promotion under the 0.9 million sub cribers per month during the
Ministry of Commerce and Indu try, Cujarat period April-June 2010.
attracted 230 million of foreign direct
investment (FDI) during April-Augu t 2010. OFC network
It i ranked the 13th most attractive de tina- set up base in the tate. Gujarat had the largest optical fibre cable
tion in India for FDI. (OFC) network of more than 69,845 km in
Telecom infrastructure the country a of 2008, according to TRAI.
Infrastructure giving the much-needed vibrancy Telecom and IT have played a key role in The tate-owned wide area network is the
to Gujarat increasing work efficiency and enhancing pub- large tIP-based information and communi-
Much of the uccess in Gujarat can be attributed lic accessibility. Gujarat ha focu ed on growth cation technology (lCT) network in the Asia-
to a robust statewide infrastrucrure: and development of new technologies. Pacific region and the second largest in the
• Electricity: A power-sufficient state with H world, connecting 26 districts and 225 talukas
hour electricity in urban and rural area. It Telephony (wireline and wireless) through 12,000 nodes.
has an installed capacity of 11,636 MW Gujarat is a Category telecom circle. Over
(October 2009) and a per capita consump- the past year, it has witne sed a growth of 26 Internet and broadband
tion of 1,446 units of electricity. per cent in terms of wireline and wireless ub- Gujarat ranks eighth in terms of the number of
• Transport: Excellent road and rail network. scribers with wireless alone clocking a growth internet/broadband connections, with 0.93
The state has one international and 12 of 28 per cent. million subscribers and all its villages are con-
domestic airports and one major port at There are eight telecom operators cur- nected via broadband internet
Kandla and 41 non-major ones. rently operational in the Gujarat circle
• Water: The Sardar Sarovar armada River including incumbent - Bharti Airtel, 3G and BWA services
Linkage Project proposes to create continu- Reliance Communication (RCOM), Voda- In early 2010 Idea Cellular, Vodafone and
ous water upply throughout the state. fone Essar, Bharat Sanchar igam Limited TAT. DOCOMO bagged 3G spectrum for
• Gas: The only Indian tate with a statewide (B NL), Idea Cellular and Tata Teleservices Gujarat at an auction price of Rs 10.76 bil-
integrated gas grid network of over 2,200 km. Limited (IT L) - as well a new players such lion. Infotel Broadband (now owned by
• Telecommunications: One of the few states as Uninor and Videocon Mobile ervices). Reliance Industries) and Tikona won broad-
with high teledensity and excellent broad- Within the mobile egment, RCOM, TTSL band wireless access (BW ) spectrum for Rs
band connectivity right up to the village level. and BS. are operating in both GSM and 6.13 billion. BSNL was awarded 3G and
Tata Motors moving to Gujarat for it CDMA technologie . BWA spectrum prior to the spectrum auction
I ano project has also made a difference to BS [l, leads the wireline egrnent with a for private operators.
the investment entiment in India. Currently, market hare of 9 per cent (5.2 million sub-
major business houses like Reliance Indu - scribers) while Vodafone Essar is the overall Satellite
tries, the Aditya Birla Group, Essar and market leader with a 39 per cent (11.5 million The Bha karacharya Institute for Space
Adani, and global conglomerates such as subscribers) market share. Applications and Geoinformatics has satellite
Matsushita, ABB, Shell and Bombardier have The overall teledensity in Gujarat is communication facilities with dedicated band-
90 I Gujarat Infrastructure I October-December2010

3. telecom «
width. Over 194,000 teachers across 4,000 Internet penetration propelling the growth of e-commerce
receiving centres participated in a training pro-
gramme conducted by the institute. With better penetration of internet and broadband services, Gujarat has emerged as one of the top
five online shopping markets in the country. According to e8ay India, the state ranked fourth after
VSAT Maharashtra, Delhi and Tamil Nadu as per the census conducted by the company in 2010. During
All di trict headquarters are provided with the census in 2009, Gujarat was ranked seventh. Ahmedabad was ranked seventh among the e-com-
the back-up support of transportable VSAT merce hubs in the country as per the e8ay census. Also, two rural towns of Gujarat - Sajiyavadar and
terminals. Adala - figure among the top five rural hubs witnessing active buying and selling trends on e8ay.
E-governance projects panchayats and 6 000 citizen common service e-City
The state has been increasingly using ICT to centres as a part of the eGram Connectivity A project to facilitate better performance i.nthe
offer citizen-based services according to conve- Project. Some of the features of the e-Gram delivery of municipal services such as birth and
nience of location with the aim of improving project are videoconferencing facilities; issuing death registration, building plan, primary health
reach, making services more tran parent and documents, certificates and application forms and education, city cleanline s, water supply,
reducing the response time as well as costs. for variou development and welfare schemes; ewage, road, rreet tights and garden through
Gujarat is the first state in the country to have VSAT-based broadband connectivity; free-of- e-governance for the citizens of the city.
made e-governance functional in all its munici- cost communication between pnllchaynts; com-
palitie and municipal corporation. mon service facilitie ; advantages of internet and State Data Centre
cyber connectivity uch as electricity and tele- A state data centre has been er up at
Gujarat State Wide Area Network (GSWAN) phone bills, visa and e-postal services through Gandhinagar. This project, under the central
• Connects seven districts on 8 Mbps, 18 on 4 the e-Gram project website. government's ational e-Governance Plan, is
Mbps and one on 2 Mbps to the state centre identified as one of the core and critical infra-
at Gandhinagar using leased circuits provided e-Dhara structure components needed to con olidate
by BSNL, RCOM and TTSL. The e-Dhara project envisions the complete and ho t essential applications for e-gover-
• Connects 225 talukas to 26 district head- computerisation ofland record across the state. nance services.
quarters on 2 Mbps leased circuits.
• Interconnects more than 3,600 district- and Health Management Information System Conclusion
taluka-level tate government office . (HMIS) Gujarat i a model for the economic progress
• An average of 70 departmental offices at dis- project conceptuali ed by the Department of developing countries. Telecom infrastruc-
trict locations and five offices at taluka loca-
of Health and Family Welfare to ensure qual- ture is widely recognised as a catalyst for the
tions have been connected to GSw. ity health care through IT application. The economic and social development of a coun-
• Facilitates uninterrupted IP-based video- project also aims to provide standard clinical try. Gujarat presents a prospective telecom
conferencing between various state govern- and diagno tic tools, hospital management land cape with high teledensiry and excellent
ment offices. tools and integration of management infor- broadband connectivity right up to the village
mation at the state level so as to ensure online level. Competition has increased with the
Online State Wide Attention on Grievances review and monitoring. entry of new players into the market along
through Application of Technology with the launch of new technolo-
(SWAGAT) gie (3G and BWA), and the future
40
Wlreline and wireless subscribers (million)
The state ha made use of video- looks promising as the gap
_ Wireline _ Wireless
conferencing facilities to address 35 between urban and rural teledensi-
the grievances of the common man. 30 ty narrows.
The chief minister, along with all 25 Along with well-developed
the department heads and the di - 20 physical infrastructure, good power
trier representatives, provide 15 supply, and port, gas and water
immediate solutions to the com- 10 infrastructure, the telecom infra-
mon man online. structure and upbeat e-governance
initiative are here to provide the
e-Gram - Vishvagram September 2009 December 2009 March 2010 June 2010 much-needed fillip to the "new age"
This project connects 13,716 gram in Gujarat .•
October-December 2010 I Gujarat Infrastrudure 191