Future of connectivity @ TLF India 2020

The TLF India 2020 conference commenced today in New Delhi, India. Delivering the opening keynote on the future of connectivity, Satish Gopalaiah, Partner and Telecom Sector Leader, Deloitte India said that we are all aware that more than 3 billion people do not have access to connectivity. Whatever advancements we are seeing today will be less than the newer advancements coming.

India's market potential is undisputed. There will be over 1+billion users (1.1 billion in 2019), Internet connectivity was ~600 million in 2019. Facebook had 241 million users by 2019. It will move to 261.7 million by 2021. But, the others countries are forging ahead.

The Internet penetration is 96% in mature markets, but 59% in emerging markets. The percentage of backhaul on fiber is 80% in mature markets, but 60% in emerging markets. Similarly, 4G adoption is 84% vs. 62%.

Some technology mega trends we will see in 2020-2030 include vehicles that are autonomous, connected, electrified and pooled. Massive IoT, with 5 devices for every person on the planet. Smart factories, with Industry 4.0 driving additive manufacturing. Internet of senses, where there will be immersive apps. Robots at workplace, where there will be 100+ industrial/professional robots for every 10,000 employees. There will be 180ZB of data annually. In the last two years, we generated more data. Digital twins will see wide scale adoption by large organization. Blockchain, where 10% of global GDP will be stored in blockchain.

There are LEOs (low-earth orbiting) satellites circling the world. 5G maturity with private networks are happening. AI, cognitive and edge computing are gaining ground. Multiple devices, such as smartphones, wearables, AR/VR, etc. are happening. There is an interconnectivity of systems.

The USA, China, Russia, Canada and the European nations lead the pack in satellite broadband. LEOs are gaining traction. LEO can be a game changer. Deloitte predicts that there will be 16,000 +LEO satellites in the coming years.

In 5G, there will be private 5G networks, with the enterprise untethered. China is the forerunner to gain an advantage in smart manufacturing. The Finnish operator, Ukkoverkot, has deployed 26 private 5G networks in the last two years across mining, ports, airports, oil and gas, respectively. There is AI, cognitive and edge computing. In AI, the AI market size will be US $79 billion by 2021. Smartphones had US$459 billion in 2020.

We will generate an unprecendented amount of data in future. There will be an ecosystem of connected devices. We are on the cusp of unprecedented opportunities. We have been successfully able to leap frog to digital adoption.

Earlier, delivering the welcome address, Pradeep Gupta, CMD, Cybermedia, said: "When we launched V&D 25 years ago, the telecom policy had just come out. Telecom was a small business at that time. There was a time when DoT was called Department of Tenders. How the entire market has unraveled since then, is a story in itself! There has since been a fantastic journey. Today is a very nostalgic day for all of us.

"The first time I went to the USA in the 1980s, I called up a number. The reaction was interesting. It was the correct number dialed! Today's generation does not realize all of this. We will be releasing the silver jubilee issue of V&D. We have three-four panel discussions. Each speaker will have a specific time, under two minutes, for discussion and making their point."