Transcript presentation

UNIVERSAL ACCESS:
MOBILE VOICE, DATA, BROADBAND FOR ALL
Robindhra Mangtani, Senior Director, Government & Regulatory Affairs, GSMA
© GSM Association 2009
Agenda
© GSM Association 2009
1.
Access today
2.
Rural economics
3.
Do USFs work?
4.
Conclusion
Population V Geography

100%
100%
The old question:
–
Coverage
Population
Coverage
Population
80%
80%
60%
60%

40%
40%
The fact is:
–
20%
20%
0%
0%
0%
0%
20%
20%
40%
40%
60%
60%
Geographic Coverage
© GSM Association 2009
80%
80%
100%
100%

How do we get
communications across
developing countries and
Africa?
60% population coverage
today, around 90% by
2010
The new question:
–
How can government and
industry partner to get
even further?
Agenda
© GSM Association 2009
1.
Access today
2.
Rural economics
3.
Do USFs work?
4.
Conclusion
e.g. Access in Rural Areas
 Once the problem was connecting Africa BUT
–
–
Mobile operators cover more than 70% of Africa
10 countries have > 90% coverage
 Then the problem will be connecting Rural areas
–
–
A problem of a different type
Release unused analogue TV spectrum - The Digital
Dividend allocated for Mobile Broadband - LTE
 The problems will not be generic but specific
–
Areas with specific problems
–
–
–
© GSM Association 2009
Distance
Accessibility
Regulatory regime
Access & Services

Investment decisions balanced between:
ACCESS
 Increasing
coverage
 Network
sharing
&
SERVICES
 Increasing penetration in
existing areas
 Payphones
 Affordability
–
–
–
–
Lower scratch card values
E-refill
Per second billing
Tariffs
 M – Banking
© GSM Association 2009
Base Station Economics

Each Base Station is a “factory” producing
minutes
–
–
–


It costs money to build (CapEx)
It costs money to run (Opex: Fuel, backhaul
transmission)
It gets revenue from traffic
Operators will evaluate each project separately
All viable investments will be made
© GSM Association 2009
Base Station Capital Costs
100%
100%
90%

Installation
80%
80%
70%
Transmission
(microwave)
60%
60%
50%
The majority of capital
costs are not technology
related

Import Duty
Import duty is a significant
proportion of our costs
40%
40%
30%
GSM Kit
20%
20%
10%
0%
0%
© GSM Association 2009
Tower & Civils

The cost of building a
base station is similar in
Abuja or Abeche
But Operators Build 4 Networks
1
Radio network
–
2
Transmission network
–
3
Generators, green base stations and the means to
supply them
Distribution network
–
© GSM Association 2009
Microwave, Satellite or Fibre
Power network
–
4
Towers, Base Stations
Distribute Pre Paid Cards, collect revenue
Infrastructure Costs
 ICT penetration drives economic development and
raises GDP
 Infrastructure costs
– Power, backhaul transmission, site acquisition
 Government as ‘pump primer’
– When building infrastructure – Roads
–
Consider laying fibre transmission
–
Give long-term contract for use of transmission
–
Encourage provision of competitive
transmission and international connectivity
–
Reduce taxation on ICT infrastructure and
devices
© GSM Association 2009
Rural V Urban Economics
URBAN SITE
 Costs
– Power Grid?
– Local Transmission to switch
– Easy to reach for site
engineers
 Revenue
–
–
–
© GSM Association 2009
Mostly outgoing calls
– Uneconomic if
interconnect is high
High site utilisation
Distribution relatively easy
RURAL SITE
 Costs
– High Fuel Cost
– High Transmission Cost
– Especially on satellite
– Costly to maintain
 Revenue
– Mostly incoming calls
– Uneconomic if
interconnect is low
– Low site utilisation
– Distribution is difficult
Agenda
© GSM Association 2009
1.
Access today
2.
Rural economics
3.
Do USFs work?
4.
Conclusion
Best Practice USFs

Targeting
–
–
–
–
–
–
Network expansion with public /shared access models,
Internet POPs , telecentres in rural district centres
Internet to leading schools & “vanguard” users
Support for commercially run telecentres / cyber cafés (PCO, STD)
ICT Training
E-government, e-health and telemedicine

Low levies, small staff, managed under the regulator

Independent and transparent financial reporting

Seed finance from Government & donors

Competitive Tender for subsidies


Regular review of fund status and achievement
Review targets and objectives; voice, SMS, internet access and
bridging digital divide
© GSM Association 2009
USF Take Aways
 Competitive markets work
 Consider USFs only if the market is failing
 Spend or return unallocated funds
 Commit to market growth
• Help customers connect
© GSM Association 2009
Agenda
© GSM Association 2009
1.
Access today
2.
Rural economics
3.
Do USFs work?
4.
Conclusion
Government As Partner
 Lower rollout costs
 Lower running costs
 Help customers to connect
 Don’t divert revenue
© GSM Association 2009
Development Circle
Regulatory & Fiscal
Policy
Employment
Mobile
Industry
Growth
GDP Boost
Good
Governance
Mobile
Affordability
© GSM Association 2009
THANK YOU!
Restricted - Confidential Information
© GSM Association 2009
All GSMA meetings are conducted in full compliance with the GSMA’s anti-trust compliance policy