DISCUSSING NEW TECHNOLOGY: Deputy General Manager of BSNL Anand Rangarez delivering the inaugural address at a seminar on `Mobile and pervasive computing' in Gulbarga on Friday.

GULBARGA: Deputy General Manager of Bharat Sanchar Nigam Limited Anand Rangarez on Friday said India achieved one of the fastest growth rate in the mobile connectivity in the world after initial hiccups in the mid-1990s, when first the mobile network was introduced in the country.

Inaugurating a seminar on "Mobile and pervasive computing," organised by the PDA College of Engineering and Basaveshwar Engineering College, Bagalkot, Mr. Rangarez said the country witnessed a mobile boom in the last three years.

He said if the mobile connectivity was just one lakh in the country when it was first introduced in 1995, it had gone up to 10 million now. The mobile network and connectivity witnessed a sluggish growth in the initial period due to exorbitant cost of the mobile handsets and also the mobile connections. However, liberalisation and the competition among mobile service providers had ensured growth of the mobile connectivity through competitive pricing and tariff.

Mr. Rangarez said mobile connectivity in India was still cheapest in the world. While the average cost of the mobile connectivity was 2.5 cents in India, it was 3.5 cents in China and 7.5 cents in Nepal.

Referring to the emerging areas of mobile and pervasive computing, Mr. Rangarez said that the day was not be far when all the mobile networks and Internet would be on the IT platform.

Pervasive computing is providing convenient access to relevant information and ability to act on that information any time anywhere. The emerging technology would evolve area that is based on mobile and wireless infrastructure.

Head of the Electronics and Communications Department in Basaveshwar Engineering College Sunil Manvi said the challenge before the research scientists involved in the mobile and pervasive computing was to provide a technology which would enable sharing of the technology through wireless access, and by 2015 this would be achieved. Mobile and pervasive technology had a wide use in the healthcare, defence and environmental issues, he said.

Principal of PDA College of Engineering V.D. Mytri presided over the function. More than 50 faculty members and 15 research scholars from Maharashtra, Andhra Pradesh and Karnataka will present papers at the seminar.

© Copyright 2000 - 2009 The Hindu