How Facebook's OpenCellular platform can work in India

Facebook just introduced its OpenCellular platform , which is an initiative to provide low cost hardware to improve connectivity in remote areas. The biggest place where these wireless access modules can help is augmenting the existing infrastructure. The easy to set up, and hardy devices can work very well in remote areas such as the Andaman and Nicobar islands. Trai had written to the Telecom Secretary on 23rd March this year with a number of recommendations on improving telecom services in Andaman and Nicobar islands. The internet is a gateway to access essential services, including healthcare, education and banking. One of the recommendations was to supplement the capacity of existing 2G and 3G networks to improve reach and traffic carrying capacity. This is exactly the kind of thing that the OpenCellular platform can potentially be used for. At least Facebook has taken care of the research and development costs of these modules. There is the problem of the deployment of telecom infrastructure in dense urban areas. Trai has issued a consultation paper that starts the process of creating a single national level policy for access of telecom operators to dense urban locations . One of the issues is that telecom service providers can tie up with builders in creating the infrastructure that is suitable to only one operator, keeping away the competition from providing access in the same locations. Examples of such locations are hospitals, malls or stadiums. A modular platform meant to work with as many technologies as possible, is a great work around. OpenCellular is doing just that. Trai has taken up the call drops issue and has blamed the telecom operators for not investing heavily enough in building the infrastructure. The OpenCellular platform addresses the cost issue head on. It is cheap to manufacture, easy to set up, and has low operating costs. The OpenCellular modules do not look scary and radioactive. They are not big, and are not visually disturbing. These factors are important because local authorities take down towers based on radiation concerns of citizens, leading to increased incidences of call drops in that area. The towers may be physically dismantled or the electricity supply can be cut. Some telecom service providers are countering this by deploying smaller towers that don’t look scary. Facebook’s OpenCellular models are tiny, provide limited range, but can increase capacity in dense urban areas. Easy attachments to urban features such as trees, streetlights or the exterior of buildings makes deploying these modules easy. As a response to Trai’s consultation paper on increasing broadband penetration in India, the Cable Operators Federation of India (COFI) had a number of suggestions for improving last mile connectivity. The local cable operators understand the features of the environment they are active in, and are in perfectly positioned to help with last mile connectivity. COFI had suggested that “Since cable networks are small, we should use technologies that can be implemented with indigenous equipment. This will also encourage local manufacture. This is how the cable TV technology flourished in its formative days. " This is perfectly aligned with Facebook’s design principles for OpenCellular, one of which is “Localized manufacturing and lightweight supply chain — enable new OEM and support existing operators”. The first reaction when a large corporation takes up an initiative like this, is healthy skepticism about its intentions. The last time Facebook tried an initiative to get more people on the internet, there was public outrage following which Trai banned differential pricing on content. Facebook shut down it’s Free Basics program in India, following which Trai issued a consultation paper on free data  to look for a way that would allow consumption of content without compromising net neutrality regulations. Now, Facebook has started the OpenCellular platform, and this is the reason it claims to be doing this. “Despite the widespread global adoption of mobile phones over the last 20 years, the cellular infrastructure required to support basic connectivity and more advanced capabilities like broadband is still unavailable or unaffordable in many parts of the world. At Facebook, we want to help solve this problem, and we are pursuing multiple approaches aimed at improving connectivity infrastructure and lowering the cost of deploying and operating that infrastructure.” Now, nobody is going to accept that at face value. Facebook wants profits, telecom operators want revenue. However, connectivity in India is a big problem and we need all the help we can get. Facebook has tied up with the Telecom Infra Project this time around, and the hardware is open sourced. Whatever the motivations may be, this seems like a workable effort to connect the underserved. OpenCellular is still only starting, and it is, in some ways at least, aligned with the ongoing efforts in India.