TelecomLive April-2020

Covid-19 www.telecomlive.com 21 Telecom LIVE April 2020 work. There are a total of 115 crore mobile subscribers out of which 98 crore subscribers are active. Thus, still a large number of mobile users ranging between 35 to 52 cr do not have access to mobile data services. Apart from 'Work from Home', online video streaming also witnessed a spike in its demand which has significantly impacted how the internet service providers handle their daily network traffic. Zee5 subscriptions were up 10 pc in the second week of March over to the first week. Consump- tion of original content has grown by more than 10 pc while the increase is a more modest 5 pc for television content (catch-up TV and live TV) through connected devices like Amazon Fire Stick. Bengali streaming platform Hoichoi claimed traffic has almost doubled since March 18. The average consumption has increased to 60 minutes per day from around 50 minutes earlier. The platform has also seen more consumption in international markets led by Europe, Japan and Bangladesh. Seeing spurt in the online streaming, COAI urged the government to issue immediate instructions to streaming plat- forms like Netflix, Amazon Prime and others to take measures that will ease pressure on network infrastructure. It also urged companies to temporarily switch over to SD (Standard Definition) from HD (High Definition) streaming, removing high band- width-consuming advertisements and pop-ups and replacing them with public announcements on awareness regarding the virus. Following this, various plat- forms begun efforts to reduce streaming bit-rates to help mitigate network congestion. However, Netflix said that it has developed a way to reduce Netflix's traffic on telecom networks by 25 pc while also maintaining the quality of service. So, consumers should continue to get the quality that comes with their plan – whether it's Ultra- High, High or Standard Defini- tion. While Google and Facebook said they are temporarily putting all videos on their respective platforms only on standard definition. Despite various concerns telcos and ISPs are confident about handling the current bandwidth demand. Rajan S Mathews, director general COAI said that the industry, in concert with actions coordinated with the DoT, has seen a flattening of traffic demand on members' networks. Some of these actions relate to streaming services reducing their content from HD to SD, while local municipalities allowed the sealed towers to start radiating, some redistribution of traffic on the network, among other things. As a result, operators believe there is no present need to request for any additional spectrum. With these steps, the operators remain confident that they can maintain relatability and quality of their networks and services. Despite all the challenges, telcos & ISPs announced several consumer centric initiatives to help their low end subscribers (box 'A' on page xx). Mobile phone operators have also written to DoT and Trai T he world has come to a screeching halt after the recent spread of Coronavirus or Covid- 19. The World Health Organisation (WHO) has declared it pandemic. The markets have been affected by this virus with businesses being shut and people locked down at their homes. At this time, Internet has become the main medium to connect with people, do businesses, run administration, besides getting entertained. 'Work from Home' has become norm, which in-turn has increased the demand for home broadband connections. In IT hubs like Hyderabad, Bengaluru and Chennai, telecom operators and ISPs started witnessing a major spike in demand for home broadband connections and internet dongles. In addition, bandwidth demand has also seen upswing. A BofA Global Research report said that telecom operators are going to be benefitted by this as operators are set to benefit from a 10 pc jump in data traffic as more offices switch to 'work from home'. Adding further the report said that Bharti/RIL are to be bigger beneficiaries to this trend and expect both their mobile and fixed broadband business to benefit in near-term. Also as a pure-play telco, Bharti is a bigger beneficiary. India has 63 cr plus mobile (3G/4G) users versus 1.9 cr fixed broadband users. As fixed broad- band penetration is only 6 pc, majority of the 'Work from Home' traffic or about 70 pc plus, is expected to be on cellular net- Role of Telcos & Technology Part-1