The telecom sector is doing well in India, while telecom companies may take a little longer to get into 5G-focused enterprise use cases, and denser networks and upgrades should see over-the-top (OTT) players share network investments honestly, Mats Granryddirector general, GSMA SahD. In an interaction with ETTlelecom's Muntazir Abbas, Granryd talks about open source initiatives, 5G monetization, OTT, Artificial Intelligence (AI), USOF levy and Vodafone Idea. Edited excerpts.
How do you see the Indian telecom sector? Is it on the right track now?
I would broadly say yes. I think the spectrum allocations are fine. The consolidation of the market has certainly helped. The speed of Rollout of 5G is absolutely unparalleled in the world. And I think this is attracting a lot of attention internationally. 5G and 5G stand-alone are therefore something to be very proud of. And that would only happen if there is an environment that the operators believe is conducive to continuing to do good business.
When it comes to 5G, are revenues still bleak, especially when it comes to 5G use cases?
I think this is very similar to what happened with 4G and 3G. It takes time. It is not that there is one miracle cure, one application, the killer application, that does not exist. What happened with 4G is all these platform companies popped up. Uber, Airbnb, Spotify and a lot of others that just came built their solution, their service on 4G networks. The difference between 4G, 3G versus 5G is that 3G and 4G were intended more for you and me, consumers. To some extent, so is 5G, but it is more focused on business. And companies need more time to adopt it because they need new processes and new support systems internally. Therefore, it may take a little longer for 5G to enter these vertical markets.
GSMA has promoted an open gateway for 5G networks. Can you share insights?
Open gateway is a way for us to open up our 5G networks and for developers to come in and develop applications on our network and put that application into a repository called CAMARA, which is open worldwide so that any other operator that application can integrate into their own network. own network. All operators in a market have the same solution. So as a bank you don't have to have a relationship with Bharti Airtel, and then another with Jio, you have a relationship with Bharti Airtel and then everyone is part of it. So it is not a competition between operators, we work shoulder to shoulder, like with roaming. It's a way for us to help other industries.
Are all telecom operators on board?
Not yet. We have about 60% of the world's subscribers, so you know, mainly. I think we have about 250 to 260 operators, including India, of course Jio and Bharti Airtel. So they are certainly leading the way. We have Telstra, Deutsche Telekom, Telefonica, Verizon, AT&T and American World. It's quite interesting. And we've done a lot of work on the open gateway, even though it's only a year old, but it's a phenomenal pickup.
How does the telecom industry view AI, especially when it comes to networking? Do you think telecom operators are keen to adopt such technologies or do they still need some time?
So I would think that now we'll know if you're going from Bharti Airtel to Jio before you even know it yourself, because your calling patterns have changed a little bit, and our AI will be able to detect that. So we believe that AI is something positive. This is something that will help us become superhumans.
But do you think there is a need for some centralized regulation when it comes to AI?
Well, I think it's dangerous to regulate too quickly because we risk stifling innovation.
If you come to OTT, you must have seen a lot of discussions happening, especially in India. So, what do you think major traffic generators should pay carriers? What should this arrangement look like?
I don't want to go too much into the local debate, but if you take Europe, we call that investment gap, we call it a fair share. It is clearly an anomaly in Europe, where so few clog the network and we as European operators have to build networks for the few, not for the many, for the few. Clearly there is a demand that within a few years there will be four times as much data as you and I will consume. We need more capacity in closer stations and upgrades, etc., while we don't see any revenue coming our way. The OTT players have been free passengers for quite some time.
I think there is an arrangement in South Korea with Netflix. Do you think India should also look at something like this?
I do think it would be wise for regulators to stay away from this and see whether we as commercial parties can reach an agreement instead of a regulator or someone saying that this is how it should be done.
Any question from the Indian government because you know after a few weeks there will be a new government. Do you have a wish list?
I believe India is doing well.
Something about spectrum or roadmap?
I think that's very clear. 6 GHz should be there. The discussion is ongoing and that's great. People now fully understand the situation.
The industry has therefore long been demanding that the USOF level of 5% be reduced. Do you think this is something that can be done?
If done right, it can be good. I'm not saying this is the case in India, but often they are transferred to other businesses, legal and illegal, or they are helped to build roads, or that's not right. It should then come back to the industry. And if that is the case, then as an operator you might say: why do I have to pay the tax and then get it back? It's better that it stays with me from the beginning. That kind of argument could be that the USOF shouldn't be that heavy.
How do you see the future of the Vodafone idea? Has 5G not yet been rolled out commercially?
Not all operators are rolling out 5G at the same speed. Take Sweden, where I come from. Sweden is far behind Norway in terms of 5G rollout, which is shocking to me as a Swede. We should lead, but we don't. These are the circumstances, which is why one operator has chosen to roll out now and another operator has chosen to wait a little longer.
Any advice for Vodafone Idea?
They (Vodafone Idea) are very competent, believe me. They know what they're doing. This also applies to Bharti Airtel and Reliance Jio.
