Congratulations , Hardik Soni

 

 

Who is Hardik Soni ?

He is CTO & Co-founder at Nav Wireless Technologies Pvt Ltd

Here is what his website reads :

“ Imagine Every Light Could Connect You To The Internet. We Are Not Only Powering The Innovation And Adoption Of LiFi Technology We Are Enabling Ubiquitous, High-Speed, Secure Data Networks Wherever There Is Illumination.”

 

Congratulations for what ?

 

Just came across following news :

 

Two Gujarat villages first in India to get LiFi 

Highlights :

Ø  In the first step towards creating smart villages in Gujarat , an Ahmedabad based startup has powered up two villages with high speed internet using LiFi based technology

Ø  With this facility from the Startup Nav Wireless Technology, schools, hospitals , post offices and government offices in these two villages will get faster and safer internet connection through existing electricity lines

 

Ø  LiFi technology involves transmitting data with a light beam spectrum through open space in indoor and outdoor environments

 

 

Ø  LiFi systems provide ultra-fast data connections and are especially useful in urban areas where radio spectra are congested , and are also handy in rural areas where fibre optic cables or networks are not reachable

 

Ø  The company has invested Rs 20 lakh for executing the project in these two villages

Ø  Soni went on to say , “ We had also implemented Hybrid Microwave LiFi enabled LED lights in schools, hospitals and post office rooms over the existing powerlines of the buildings “

 

Ø  The startup has collaborated with BharatNet for implementing similar technology in about 6,000 more villages of  Gujarat. This will be achieved by the end of the calendar year 2022. Funds worth Rs 500 crore will be allocated for the project

Ø  The startup also plans to provide fast internet connectivity in remote areas of Himachal Pradesh and Uttarakhand where conventional technologies are not available

=================================================

My Take :

[ A ] …. Opportunity for startups like NAV Wireless Technologies

Ø  India has 664,369 villages 

Ø  Out of these, BharatNet has connected 103,416  village Gram Panchayats with Optic Fibre Broadband Internet

Ø  Of these 103416 villages , NAV Wireless is planning to provide Li-Fi high speed internet to only 6,000 villages ( that too, only to schools / hospitals / post offices etc ). NAV will connect at the rate of approx. 10 villages per working day ( 6,000 in 600 working days, over 2 years )

Ø  BharatNet plan is to link up 250,000 gram panchayats with OFB , by next year

Ø  India ( country as a whole ) , has 293 million households – of which 131 million are RURAL households

Ø  As of 2019 , India had 25.5 crore ( 255 million ) LED bulbs installed 

 

[ B ] …. Opportunity for Electric Power Distribution Companies ( DISCOMS )

Ø  Today, almost all the DISCOMS are running at a loss and have accumulated huge amount of losses

Ø  They could consider delivering high-speed internet broadband over their existing power distribution network, to ( say ) 200 million households ( out of total 293 million )

Ø  They could possibly afford to charge a monthly rental of Rs 100 / - as against Rs 500 – 700 PM being charged currently by existing broadband suppliers ( Airtel – Reliance – Vodafone – Hathway etc )

 

      [ C ]  …  Threat to future internet technologies under implementation

Ø  4 G – whose spectrum auction starts today 

( for which Govt has kept the reserved price of Rs 3.92 lakh crore for 2251 mega hertz )

Telecom companies are expected to spend :

#   Reliance Jio………… Rs 50,000 – 70,000 crore

#   Bharti airtel………… Rs 15,000 – 21,000 crore

#   Vodafone Idea……. Rs  2400 – 3300 cror   

    To recover such huge investments, these companies will ( possibly ) charge

    Rs 300 PM

Ø    StarLink ( of Elon Musk )

#  Called the “Better Than Nothing Beta” test, according to multiple

     screenshots of the email seen by   CNBC, initial Starlink service is priced

     at $99 a month – plus a $499 upfront cost to order the Starlink Kit

     that  includes a user terminal to connect to the satellites, a mounting

     tripod and a Wi-Fi router.

        ==============================================

Related Readings :

  Light at the end of the Tower ?........................[ 16 Dec 2020 ]

  #WiFi #LiFi #Broadband #Internet…………………..[ 08 Apr 2018 ]

  Broadband over power lines (BPL) 

Ø       Broadband over power lines (bpl) for Indian Telecom Network

Ø       Study Paper on LiFi (Light Fidelity) & its Applications

Light Communications as a part of 5G and beyond  (  23  Sept  2019  )

===================================================

Dear Shri Ravishankar Prasadji / Dr Harshvardhanji,

 

From my above analysis, you will notice that :

Ø  Our goal of empowering 664,369 villages  through high speed broadband is the crux of DIGITAL INDIA

Ø  131 million Rural Households cannot afford monthly rental being charged by current ISPs

Ø  Current ISPs are , therefore NOT interested in extending their services to rural areas – hence, their coverage will continue to be limited to cities and towns

Ø  New technologies like 5 G and Star Link , do have the potential to take high speed broadband to every nook and corner of India,

BUT,

#  It will take years to get fully launched

#  It will be PROHIBITIVELY expensive for rural folks

Ø  Li Fi high speed internet , riding on standard / existing Electric Power Distribution Network , offers an alternative to DIGITIZE INDIA , very fast and at very low cost

Ø  Central Government has come up with a scheme to bail out “ loss making “ DISCOMS , provided they implement specified REFORMS , in a time-bound manner

Ø  I urge that introduction of Li Fi over their existing network, be made a MANDATORY reform ( to be implemented latest by 31 March 2022 ) , in order to qualify for govt loans / subsidies / grants

Ø  Of course , Govt order should ensure that DISCOM do not charge more than Rs 100 PM per household ( whether rural or urban ). This FIXED charge would cover all the LED bulbs in that household and will not carry any other taxes / surcharges , levied by the State Governments

Ø  This Li Fi monthly rental income in the hands of the DISCOMs will not attract any GST . We must set in motion , a VIRTUOUS CIRCLE of cascading reforms , in order to DIGITIZE India

With regards,

Hemen Parekh  /  hcp@RcruitGuru.com  /  01 March 2021    

===========================================

Added on 04 Oct 2022 :

PM visited NAV Wireless Stall at IMC 2022

 

 

Co-WIN 2.0 : Taking Shape

 

 

What I had suggested in my earlier e-mail :

[  Voting and Vaccination : Compare and Contrast…/ 19 Oct 2020 ]…. is typed under the relevant news, in RED

 

[ Co-WIN 2.0 : a “ Work-in-Progress “ ? / 17 Feb 2921 ]….. is typed under the relevant news,  in PURPLE

 

 

Context :

 

Centre set to charge for vaccines at private hospitals   /  ET  /  27 Feb

Extract :

 

Ø  The centre would acquire the vaccines from vaccine manufacturers and send to the state governments, which in turn, would send it to government facilities and private hospitals

Ø  Private hospitals would directly transfer the vaccine cost to the Centre once they receive them from the State government

Ø  The State government would keep a track of vaccine doses supplied to each private hospital

Ø  This amount ( minus the vaccine administration cost ) would be transferred directly to a government account

Please also consider a centralized purchase of vaccines by your ministry from all vaccine manufacturers

No direct purchase by State Governments or any other govt agency – and certainly not by any private party/person

Your ministry to issue DELIVERY SCHEDULES to all vaccine manufacturers, which will instruct, how many dozes ( vials ) to be delivered to each VDC ( Vaccine Delivery Centre ) – and on what date . These schedules to be visible to all, so that there is no dispute between different States re “non-receipt / less receipt “ of dozes

Each consignment to be tracked by Aushman Bharat website and promptly displayed for all to see

Online confirmation of receipt of each consignment by all VDC – again displayed on website for all – ensuring no debating of FACTS of deliveries / stocks / consumption

Although, website shall not display the names of citizen who have been administered the vaccine ( to protect their privacy ), it will display the DAILY and CUMULATIVE numbers of vaccinations ( for all to see )

 

Ø  While scheduling  an appointment, a beneficiary would be able to choose a vaccination centre but not the vaccine

Ø  Private hospitals offering the vaccines would be required to follow stringent protocols, including active follow up

Ø  The government has also rolled out an updated version of CoWin app to manage the vaccination drive

Ø  The next two days would be dedicated to switching from CoWin 1.0 to CoWin 2.0

Ø  The simplified registration process would be through three routes – self-registration through CoWin website and Aarogya Setu app,  on-site registration at the vaccination centres, and facilitated cohort registration where specific vaccination day will be decided and target groups of potential beneficiaries will be vaccinated in groups

 

Based on the  “ Registration Data “ submitted, the Central Server ( of Aushman Bharat ) will issue a UNIQUE PRIORITY NUMBER to the person ( by SMS on mobile ) . The message will also assign a specific “  “ Vaccine Delivery Centre – VDC “ ( a nearby Hospital – Nursing Home – Lab – Doctor )

Server will, simultaneously send notification to that particular VDC , providing full registration details of the concerned citizen – indicating his PRIORITY

Based on the “ Number of Citizen “ assigned – and the PRIORITY of each such citizen, software installed will send an SMS to the citizens , assigning SPECIFIC DATE / TIME to each person for visit .

This automatic / rule-based “ SCHEDULING “ by the software, will ensure “ No crowding / maintenance of Social Distancing “

Concerned VDC will fill in details such as : Vaccinated on ( …..  ) /  Did not turn up

(  This will alert health worker to visit residence of person for follow-up / reschedule visit )

 

===================================================

  COVID-19 vaccination will be allowed at home in future  /  ET  /  27 Feb

 

Extract :

Ø  “ We have switched from a supply-driven system to a demand-driven one. In the earlier system, some centres were under-utilized  and we were asking people to come and get vaccinated. But now, those who want to be vaccinated would schedule themselves as per their convenience. We expect urban areas to see better turn-out than rural villages “, said Sharma, who is also the chairperson of empowered committee for Covid-19 vaccine delivery technology platform

Ø  The government would allow self-registration from Monday by furnishing name ( as given on the identity proof to be carried to the vaccination centre) , age and gendre

       Govt to launch a Mobile App { VacReg ? )

App will require a citizen to submit following data :

Name / Aadhar Number / Mobile Number / Current Resi Address ( could be different than add in Aadhar ID )

 

Ø  After this registration, the person would be asked to feed State, locality and PIN code number for scheduling an appointment. This would be enabled on the CoWin website, Aarogya Setu and similar online platforms

===================================================

Why ramping up of new phase will take 10 days   /  TOI  /  28 Feb

Extract :

Ø  Not many tech-challenged 60-plus citizens will be able to immediately download and self-register on the Centre’s digital platform for the Covid-19 vaccination program, CoWIN

Also, it is at the moment not known how many names will feature in Co-WIN drop-box for selection of private hospitals

    Question :

Ø  If ( say ) , Mumbai has 200 vaccination centres to choose from ( by, say 5 million citizen of 50 yrs + ),

Will Co-WIN 2.0, display ( on a tiny mobile screen ), a “ droplist “ which reads :

 “ Select your preferred Vaccination centre from the following list ( only one choice ) “

          [  Names / Addresses of 200 centres ]

          And will that tiny screen also have another “ droplist “ which reads,

         “ Select your preferred Time by clicking below ( only one ) “

         [  7 am / 7:10 am / 7:20 am ………………….. 8 pm  ]

 

The probability that 9,876 persons choose :

>     Nanavati Hospital - Andheri

>     9 am 

>     23rd March 2021 ,

is VERY HIGH  !

Expect a PANDEMONIUM  !

And, if the software has built-in LIMITATION RULES ( eg : not to exceed XYZ number for each Vaccination centre / each session / each time ), then there is a distinct possibility that the process of  self - registration , can take 4 hours on the mobile !

===================================================

Dear Dr R S Sharmaji

( cp@trai.gov.in ),

I hope your CoWIN app design / development team will provide some simple online features ( on CoWIN app ) which will make it easy for people to self-register

I urge your team to glance through following article :

7 tangible ways to make vaccine websites more accessible

 

With regards,

Hemen Parekh  /  hcp@RecruitGuru.com  /  28 Feb2021

 

“ Super Follows “ thinks “ Super Clever “ ?

 

 

Context :

Twitter's new 'Super Follow' feature will ask users to pay for special content   / MINT

 

Extract :

In a move to diversify its revenue, microblogging site Twitter has said that it is planning to offer a subscription service, in which users will have to pay for special content from high-profile accounts, as part of an economic model.

"Exploring audience funding opportunities like Super Follows will allow creators and publishers to be directly supported by their audience and will incentivize them to continue creating content that their audience loves," a Twitter spokesperson told AFP.

Twitter said it was exploring new money-making features, including tipping and paid subscriptions to "super follow" some accounts.

The second feature, which lets users charge their followers for access to additional content, will launch this year, a spokesman said.

Super Follows was described during the presentation as a way for Twitter audiences to financially support creators and receive newsletters, exclusive content and even virtual badges in exchange.

Twitter, which currently makes money from ads and promoted posts, might be able to add additional revenue via the Super Follows transactions.

"We know we've been slow," Chief Executive Jack Dorsey said in an investor day presentation. "When you compare us with our peers, it's been especially stark."

Twitter, like Google and Facebook, makes most of its money from digital advertising.

The social media network estimated annual revenue of at least $7.5 billion by the end of 2023.

Meanwhile, Twitter is facing challenges in India, a rapidly growing market with plans to require that social media companies erase certain content and coordinate with law enforcement.

===================================================

MY TAKE :

 

Ø  On part of Twitter, this amounts to a Red Herring – a ploy to divert the attention of the Policy Makers and its Users from the main issue , viz :

             #    Twitter ( like all other Social Media ) is minting a ton of money

                    through targeted advts – based on User Personal Data, collected /

                    harnessed by it – without User permission. It also SELLS this data

                    

             #    Twitter itself is obliged to “ compensate “ its users, for using their

                   data to make money

Ø  Through proposed “ Super Flows “ feature, Twitter thinks it can fool its ( high-profile ) users in believing that it “ cares “ for their content , and provides them with a feature to “ monetize “ their content by asking their followers to “ pay “ for following / viewing their “ tweets “

Ø  Can you imagine a high profile Shri Narendra Modi / Amitabh Bachhan / Virat Kohli / Lata Mangeshkar etc., telling their millions of followers ,

“ You have to pay me Rs 1/-, every time you click notification to view / read, what I just tweeted “  ?

And witness their following drop from ( FREE ) 1 million to ( PAYING ) 10 thousand ?

Or, would they rather wish their follower number to grow from 1 million to 10 million , if that requires posting a tweet every 5 minutes – for all to read for FREE ?

Ø  In the meantime, Google has “ Succeeded ( ? ) “ in diverting the main issue ( of compensating its users for using / selling their PERSONAL DATA ) , from end-users to print News Papers. 

It has agreed to “ compensate “ the News Papers in Australia / EU etc.

Ø  After initially resisting Australian Govt., now even Facebook has “ realized ( ? ) “ that , in the long run, it would be much cheaper to pay the Australian news papers , rather than “ compensate “ millions of Australian citizen . And then figured :

“ Instead of paying $ 100 million / year, for 10 years,  to Australian news papers , why not invest $ 1,000 million upfront, right now, and become “ owners “ of those news papers ? Why not let right hand pay the left hand ?  “

Ø  Not seeing through this “ diversionary tactics “ ( or ignoring it deliberately, in self-interest ? ), now the Indian News Papers Society has demanded that , just like they did in Australia / EU etc., Google / Facebook must pay its member news-papers for their content displayed on Google / FB websites

I am sure, politicians / law-makers in countries around the world would soon raise similar demands

Simply because ,

#   Politicians / Law-makers want a pliable / favorable news media, or

#   They themselves OWN ( directly or indirectly ), news media ( including

     TV channels )

#   News media is well organized to “ make or break “ a government or a

     political party !

Ø  Ploy of Social Media seems to be succeeding . 

 

Ø  Millions of end-users of Social Media have no power to force their respective governments to fight for their right to get compensated by Social Media

===================================================

 

Dear Shri RaviShankar Prasadji,

 

You keep on saying rightly that the Social Media is welcome to do their business in India – as long it abides by the laws of this land

To this end, you have just released a set of GUIDE-LINES for OTT and all DIGITAL MEDIA

Social Media – and their advocates – are bound to cry “ FOUL “ !

Surely these guidelines can be modified as we gather experience of their working

I urge you, not to get misdirected by all this noise from the MAIN OBJECTIVE ie;

Introduction / implementation of :

  

       Digital Dividend from Demographic Data [ 4 D ]…………………..... [ 14 Feb 2019 ]

 

       SARAL ( Single  Authentic  Registration for Anywhere  Login )….[ 10 Feb 2019 ]

With regards,

 

Hemen Parekh  /  hcp@RecruitGuru.com  /  27 Feb 2021

 

===================================================

My last E-Mail on this subject :

“ Pods ” ; Prescribed by ( Dr ) Tim Berners-Lee ………….[ 23 Jan 2021 ]