Here are five ideas for innovators in the telecommunications domain, to make the most of the eco-system and to extend the reach of their products and applications.

While it is important to understand the issues that are impeding the growth of the country's communications industry, it is equally imperative to think about new workarounds to make the most of existing resources and technologies. That was the agenda for the 17th Convergence India 2009, an Information and Communications Technology (ICT ) event, held recently at New Delhi.

A congregation of telecom operators, value-added service providers and security solutions providers deliberated on the technologies that, despite the challenges, have the potential to lead the world, and India in particular, towards digital convergence. Many issues-ranging from a lack of the infrastructure required for broadband penetration; the potential of technologies like WiMax and the avenues that it can open up for businesses; to the challenges of VAS application developers-were discussed at length. Here are a few ideas that emerged from this event.

1. Video, the next killer app!
Nick Hawkins, director, Service Providers-APAC, Polycom Inc, affirmed that video would become a killer application for service providers in the 21st century and that it would play a very important role in effecting digital convergence. S.S Prasad, CTO, Tirumala Seven Hills, however, felt that if we are able to offer a handheld device that offers voice and video services at a price point that is feasible for even the rural population, the reach of many services that depend on the transmission of visual data, will get a boost.

Ravi Sharma, CEO, Phi Televentures, felt that building a low-cost handheld device that supports video transmission was not a challenge. He added that equipment manufacturers could build such low-cost devices if they were sure that the there would be enough demand. Hakon Dahle, CTO, Tandberg, opined that to drive this kind of demand it was important for entrepreneurs to build applications related to education, entertainment, healthcare, etc, which were relevant to the rural masses, and in turn create a demand for such gadgets in order to access these services.

Video would become a killer application for service providers in the 21st century and that it would play a very important role in effecting digital convergence.

2. Can the idiot box be a key to digital convergence?
With TVs in over 100 million homes across the country, television undoubtedly is a very powerful medium of communication. Considering the statistics and the potential of the medium, many experts at the event felt that it would be a great idea to transform the TV from an entertainment medium to an information medium.

If converted into a productivity medium, television could enable the delivery of services like tele-medicine, tele-education, etc, in a cost-effective manner. It would then also go a long way towards connecting with rural India and disseminating services that have so far been the prerogative of the urban population. Vijay Yadav, managing director-South Asia, UTStarcom, expressed hope that India would soon be at the forefront of developments in video communications because of the high level of TV penetration and lower-cost transmission to the end user, when compared to other countries.

3. Tapping new revenue streams through SMS
Ronan Casey, senior VP, Acision, observed that voice and SMS applications would remain killer revenue drivers for telecom service providers and content developers. He suggested many innovative ideas to maximise the messaging potential and to generate better revenues -- by personalising the messaging experience, extending mobile messaging to fixed lines, using messaging to access the Web, etc.

Innovations galore Convergence 2009 showcased many new and interesting communication tools and technologies. A few innovative ones are listed below. An attempt to make video telephony mainstream: A video phone service was launched by Sai Info Systems India Limited (SIS). It promises to make video communication a lot more affordable. SIS will provide the technology in association with BSNL's broadband wireless/wireline connections, as a value added service. Users will require a specific type of handset at both ends, which will be launched shortly. A platform to send high-resolution videos: A French company, Ekinops, launched the Ekinops 360 platform-a video transport solution. The platform provides a tool with higher bandwidth that can carry video over longer distances without the need to compress it. Solutions to safeguard corporate data: Net Optics launched its 10 GB (gigabyte) Aggregator Tap-a network security solution that can help organisations manage high-speed data flows in a secure environment. According to NetOptics, the product is the only device in the world that can monitor data flow up to the speed of 10 GB

4. The mobile phone arena-where the possibilities are endless!
Casey shared that there are over four million mobile connections worldwide, and over two-thirds of the world's population has access to mobile phones.
The rise of the mobile phone in India has also been phenomenal. With the rate of Indians acquiring mobile phones consistently rising, the players in the communication technologies' arena feel bullish about its role as a medium to bridge the digital divide between urban and rural India.
Siddhartha Behura, secretary, Department of Telecommunications, government of India, felt that all facets of communication have converged digitally into the mobile handset. The new transmission technologies like 3G and WiMAX are also allowing mobile access to voice, data and multimedia over converged networks. This convergence surely means a wider reach, especially if applications like tele-medicine, tele-education, mobile Internet and location-based services, are made available at economical costs.

But to capitalise on this trend, there is a need to build applications that are relevant to a particular set of users in a particular region. The 'one-size-fits-all' model may not work any more, felt Dr Mo Shakouri, vice president, WiMAX Forum. He underlined that each rural market is different, and that applications should be built as per the needs of a community.

Jagdish Mitra, CEO, CanvasM, agreed, stating that there existed a huge market in rural India, but he urged the applications developers to understand that being rural did not necessarily mean being poor. He added that if mobiles could be transformed into a medium to access necessary services related to banking, healthcare, education, etc, by way of creating innovative applications, it could mean a win-win situation for all concerned.

5. The VAS world: Opportunities and challenges
While all agreed on the potential of the cellphone, Mitra said that when building new applications, developers should create effective customer support systems to back it. Vijay Shankar Sharma, managing director, One 97, seconded the thought and said that there are still many drawbacks in the VAS eco-system and that there is no standardisation when it comes to providing a uniform user experience.

He underlined the point by citing an example of users trying to access some sports-related news using a source code. He observed that to provide the same kind of information/service, each operator had a different source code. This confuses the customers and they then hesitate in using such services.
Aveek Roy, regional director, VAS & OEM Sales, AudioCodes, added that the VAS applications developers should understand that with the convergence of technologies, it was important to think globally and act globally. The localisation of an international business model or application may not succeed in these times. Being innovative was the only way forward, he affirmed.

Sharma shared the challenges that most VAS applications developers faced within the country. He complained that the applications are mostly driven from the network providers' side and the developers, despite being the owners of the application, didn't benefit from their creations, as the bigger slice in the revenue pie was always enjoyed by the telecom companies. This is in fact driving content creators to find ways to reach the customers directly. Owing to this practice, we may soon see a D2C (direct to customer) model emerging in a big way, added Kunal Bajaj, managing director, BDA.