The importance of infrastructure in any business

We always look at the product or device and its performance as a measure of its success. But frequently, it is the infrastructure that is key and may even make a success of mediocre products. Its absence may mar good products

When the first Dotcom Bubble of the late 1990s burst in the early 2000s, a key point missed at that time was the robust Internet infrastructure that was created. At that time the US had much more bandwidth than was required. That fuelled the dot-com boom that followed the bubble burst.

A similar thing happened in India. C-DOT (Centre for Development of Telematics) was set up in 1984. It pushed telephony, both rural and urban. STD/ISD booths dotted India. Everyone wanted to make calls. C-DOT pushed digital exchanges, software apps, fiber, equipment manufacturing, and even ATM networks. The landline culture helped the Internet piggyback on copper to pervade the country. The transition to mobile telephony was seamless and both 2G and 3G really took off.

Initially, while bandwidth options were unlimited in the 4G era, it really took off after the advent of Jio. At that time certain telecom providers were charging a cool 1K for just 10GB of data a month. Jio gave 1GB a day free. That meant that now 30GB of data a month was free. It wasn’t just about market share and grabbing subscribers. That led to multiple revolutions related to mobile data and smartphone sales. The mobile workforce was enabled. The Indian mobile apps just mushroomed. All that has culminated into us seamlessly adopting the mobile e-commerce culture, surviving the pandemic, and the Indian startup revolution of 2020-22.

When there’s no sign of the infrastructure

This brings us to 5G. Just where is the infrastructure? 5G is highly capital intensive. One survey put the need for specialized 5G towers at “100-350 cells per square kilometer”. That’s far too many for a country like India. We are already reeling from the pandemic. Can we put that many towers all over the country? Sure, they are small, but they are not that easy to implement. India is not a planned country, and it is quite undisciplined. Maintenance and safety could be an issue.

Will we have a class system where 5G will be implemented only in dense urban or industrial centers where it makes economic sense to do so? It all is further complicated by the reality of a very small shrinking telecom level playing field. We have just two strong players (Jio and Airtel) and two weak ones (Vodafone Idea and BSNL).

Similar problems are faced by Electric Vehicles (EVs). Currently, less than 1% of cars are electric. While to ramp that up to 10% is an ambitious target, it’s funny how governments are talking of 100% after a few decades. We don’t have enough lithium in the world to go fully electric. Disposing of these batteries is another nightmare. Very hazardous for the environment.

Then there’s the issue of charging. The infrastructure required to have a network of charging stations all across India is next to impossible and will make the issue of an India-wide 5G cell tower infrastructure look like a walk in the park. That is the same with the so-called green fuel like wind and solar where the ROI on the infrastructure is exceedingly low.

By Sunil Rajguru

sunilr@cybermedia.co.in