US
technology giants are tripping over each other to get a slice of Prime
Minister Narendra Modi's Digital India and Smart Cities projects. In
less than three months, Google and Hewlett-Packard have followed
Facebook and Microsoft to queue up in government offices to show off
their technology wares, highlighting renewed foreign investor interest
as India's economy recovers.
Google, the owner of the world's largest search engine, has sounded out the telecom department about providing 'inexpensive' internet access across India through a network of helium-filled balloons, currently being tested for efficacy under 'Project Loon'. The solar-powered balloons are being run as pilot projects in New Zealand, California and Brazil and are Google's answer to Facebook's solar-powered drones.
"Sundar Pichai wanted to meet telecom minister Ravi Shankar Prasad and discuss the matter personally but their travel dates clashed on Pichai's recent visit to India," a person familiar with the company's plans told ET. Prasad was in Germany during the visit by Indian-origin Pichai, a senior vice president at Google, who is widely seen as the second-most important man in the company after chief executive Larry Page.
As a result, Google executives had met senior officials of the department, including telecom secretary Rakesh Garg. When contacted, the company said it didn't comment on market speculation.
Google, along with Facebook and Microsoft, are vying to deploy their alternative technologies to offer 'last-mile' broadband connections in remote and inaccessible parts of India to provide access to high-speed internet. Under an ambitious Rs 1.13 lakh-crore 'Digital India' initiative, the government plans to use the national optic fibre network project to deliver e-services in areas such as health, education to every nook and corner of the country .
The network, which is positioned to form the backbone of the Digital India programme, will be deployed only at the Gram Panchayat level. Reaching the end consumer — homes, schools, hospitals and other institutions — may require wireless technology, especially in hard-to-reach areas. Google's balloons, Facebook's drones and Microsoft's TV white space technology could fill this gap.
Google's Project Loon uses balloons placed in the stratosphere at an altitude of about 32km to create an aerial wireless network that could provide internet access at up to 3G-like speeds. The layers of wind in the stratosphere, which vary in direction and speed, can be used to steer these balloons to where they're needed. Users on the ground can connect to the balloon network using a special internet antenna attached to their homes or buildings.
The competitive edge between the US behemoths came to the fore when Facebook's Mark Zuckerberg recently played down the effectiveness of Google's balloons, saying they have a shorter life than drones and can't survive the rigour of weather patterns in the troposphere, which lies below the stratosphere, apart from lacking the precision and control offered by drones.
India, which has seen renewed interest from foreign investors after going through an image crisis post the Vodafone retrospective tax episode and the 2G telecom scam, seems to be the latest battleground for the US giants, which are focused on this hot investment destination.
The Bharatiya Janata Party-led National Democratic Alliance government has tried to assuage foreign investors by terming the tax move — initiated under the previous United Progressive Alliance-II government — as a bad idea and has taken steps to attract overseas funds by opening up new sectors such as defence and manufacturing for overseas investment. Inflation is easing and economic indicators are off lows. The stock markets are at an all-time high, boosted by foreign portfolio investments, reflecting new-found confidence in the Indian economy.
Modi's trip to the US was a roaring success and was followed by high-profile visits of top honchos from the US corporate world, including Microsoft's Satya Nadella and Zuckerberg, and also that of Masayoshi Son, Softbank's billionaire founder, all pointing towards an increased investor confidence.
Google, the owner of the world's largest search engine, has sounded out the telecom department about providing 'inexpensive' internet access across India through a network of helium-filled balloons, currently being tested for efficacy under 'Project Loon'. The solar-powered balloons are being run as pilot projects in New Zealand, California and Brazil and are Google's answer to Facebook's solar-powered drones.
"Sundar Pichai wanted to meet telecom minister Ravi Shankar Prasad and discuss the matter personally but their travel dates clashed on Pichai's recent visit to India," a person familiar with the company's plans told ET. Prasad was in Germany during the visit by Indian-origin Pichai, a senior vice president at Google, who is widely seen as the second-most important man in the company after chief executive Larry Page.
As a result, Google executives had met senior officials of the department, including telecom secretary Rakesh Garg. When contacted, the company said it didn't comment on market speculation.
Google, along with Facebook and Microsoft, are vying to deploy their alternative technologies to offer 'last-mile' broadband connections in remote and inaccessible parts of India to provide access to high-speed internet. Under an ambitious Rs 1.13 lakh-crore 'Digital India' initiative, the government plans to use the national optic fibre network project to deliver e-services in areas such as health, education to every nook and corner of the country .
The network, which is positioned to form the backbone of the Digital India programme, will be deployed only at the Gram Panchayat level. Reaching the end consumer — homes, schools, hospitals and other institutions — may require wireless technology, especially in hard-to-reach areas. Google's balloons, Facebook's drones and Microsoft's TV white space technology could fill this gap.
Google's Project Loon uses balloons placed in the stratosphere at an altitude of about 32km to create an aerial wireless network that could provide internet access at up to 3G-like speeds. The layers of wind in the stratosphere, which vary in direction and speed, can be used to steer these balloons to where they're needed. Users on the ground can connect to the balloon network using a special internet antenna attached to their homes or buildings.
The competitive edge between the US behemoths came to the fore when Facebook's Mark Zuckerberg recently played down the effectiveness of Google's balloons, saying they have a shorter life than drones and can't survive the rigour of weather patterns in the troposphere, which lies below the stratosphere, apart from lacking the precision and control offered by drones.
India, which has seen renewed interest from foreign investors after going through an image crisis post the Vodafone retrospective tax episode and the 2G telecom scam, seems to be the latest battleground for the US giants, which are focused on this hot investment destination.
The Bharatiya Janata Party-led National Democratic Alliance government has tried to assuage foreign investors by terming the tax move — initiated under the previous United Progressive Alliance-II government — as a bad idea and has taken steps to attract overseas funds by opening up new sectors such as defence and manufacturing for overseas investment. Inflation is easing and economic indicators are off lows. The stock markets are at an all-time high, boosted by foreign portfolio investments, reflecting new-found confidence in the Indian economy.
Modi's trip to the US was a roaring success and was followed by high-profile visits of top honchos from the US corporate world, including Microsoft's Satya Nadella and Zuckerberg, and also that of Masayoshi Son, Softbank's billionaire founder, all pointing towards an increased investor confidence.
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