Can Broadband Spread to the Masses?

In this post, I just want to archieve some facts and opinions given by Arjun Trivedi (NSN-Nokia Siemens Networks) in the first Indonesian Broadband Summit held last April in Jakarta. The title above is taken from Arjun Trivedi's slides, since to my opinion, that title describes the most important message from his presentation. (I was not attending this event and just found his presentation material through a link referred from Mastel website). But don't forget to balance the question with "Where are the Masses?" :-)

Some facts/statistics as of end 2007 (source UN, Ovum, ITU, BIS Sharapnel, Operators, NSN Market Intelligence):

• Population 233 mio.
• Households 59 mio.
• Internet users 31 mio.
• Dial-up access 0.7 mio. subs/month
• Broadband subscription 0.3 mio.
• HSDPA users 0.1 mio.
• PC/laptop households 7mio.
• DSL subscribers 72%, Cable subscriber 25%, other 3%
• Broadband CAGR Indonesia 115% in last 3 years (2005-2007)
  
  

Regions served by broadband according to NSN

Opinions:

• Broadband is still in early stage of development with sporadic coverage (see above)
  
• Broaband access can open up a nation's economy once we overcome challenges in affordability and connectivity: increased competitiveness, better education systems & working environment, savings of operational costs
• Key drivers for broadband penetration : acceptance of Internet, affordable packages, variety of technology choices & availability, government support for ict development
• DSL is still preferred form of broadband access globally; cable modem sparks demand with TV offerings; other technologies such as FTTx, WiMAX are in the pipeline for introduction
  

Profile of indonesian broadband subscribers (NSN surveys 12/2007-2/2008; Jakarta, Bandung, Surabaya, Medan)

• Typical user profile: highly educated people in their early 20's
• Common user habbit: daily home-working, email, browsing & chatting (PC/laptop)
• Perception of broadband: faster internet access, simultaneous use of telephone and internet
• Most familiar broadband service technology: DSL, Cable
• Preferred billing system: post-paid (more specific ? - may be "flat" but "cheap" :-))
  
• Preferred method of payments: ATM, authorized dealers
• Main influence in selecting broadband access: recommendation from friends
• Barriers to have broadband access: price and service availability

Some other important issues for broadband acceptance:

• Good reputation
• Extensive network coverage; connection quality; stable speed
  
• Ease of payment, accurate billing, easy understanding of bill statement
• Price affordability, fast installation, good value for money
  

Case "Broadband in South Korea" :

• Over the past two decades the SK government and its privatesector have built one of the world most advance IT infrastructures
• 76% of Koreans over age of 6 use Internet with e-government, e-commerce and e-education being popular applications
• In 2006, korean IT industry grew approx. 4x more than the non IT industry, and its portion of total GDP is over 16% while telecoms services account for over 5%
• Government established "u-KOREA Master Plan" and part of this is the establishment of "u-Infrastructure" or a 'Broadband convergence Network' (BcN)
• BcN aims to provide broadband multimedia services to 10 mio. households (approx. 55% households) with wired services and 10 mio. subs (approx. 20% of the population) with wireless services by the year 2010 and to achieve telecom/broadcasting equipment production volume of about USD 73 bill. as well as export volume of USD 20.1 bill