After 3G, TD-LTE may drive telecom
MUMBAI: Even as the government hopes to raise around $9 billion from the 3G and BWA auctions, foreign telcos waiting in the wings are eager to unfurl a new technology — TD-LTE —which is akin to 4G technology.
US-based Qualcomm and Sweden's Ericcson aim to piggyback on TD-LTE, hoping that it will help them gain a toe-hold in India, the world's fastest growing mobile market. Qualcomm is to participate in the broadband wireless access (BWA) spectrum auction. If it does secure its bid in the auction, India could well become the first country after China to roll out TD-LTE.
TD-LTE, or Time Division Long Term Evolution, caters to peak download speeds of 100 Mbps on mobile phones, compared to the 20 Mbps for 3G and 40 Mbps for Wimax. LTE brings to the table additional spectrum, more capacity, lower cost, and is essential to take mobile broadband to the mass market.
The government has slotted the sale of two 2.3 GHz blocks of spectrum on April 11, providing 20 MHz spectrum in each of the country's 22 telecom circles. The base price has been set at $ 385 million. However, Qualcomm will need an Indian partner for its TD-LTE foray in the country since foreign direct investment is limited to 74%.
The US telco aims to use the 2.3 GHz spectrum band offered for TD-LTE-based BWA services. Sources in the know told TOI that the company would bid aggressively to corner one of the two BWA slots up for sale. There are 11 bidders for the BWA auction.
Asked to comment on the market dynamics, Sandeep Ladda, executive director, PricewaterhouseCoopers (PWC), said: "Though the Indian market is huge, it won't be smooth sailing post auction. We are adding 1 crore customers a month and in January, we added 1.9 crore customers, but the implementation of the new technology has its own cost. And India is a very cost conscious market."
Eager to play by the rules in India, Qualcomm has notified that it would enter into a joint venture with an Indian partner to launch its services and later exit from the joint venture after the network becomes operable.
GTL Infrastructure and Tulip Telecom are reportedly in the fray as JV partners, but officials at both the firms refused to comment on "market speculation". At a recent presentation, Kanwalinder Singh, president of Qualcomm India, said that 59 networks across 28 countries have committed to LTE. The Indian market, with vast population and low penetration, could well drive economies of scale.

The chilli hand grenade is ready to explode!
TEZPUR (ASSAM): It's ready to explode and not just in the mouth. The 'bhut jolokia' - recognised as the hottest of spices - will pack a punch when mixed with handgrenades to deal with terrorists, as trials by Indian defence scientists have shown.
A defence spokesperson said scientists at the Defence Research and Development Organisation (DRDO) in Tezpur in northern Assam were making a trial run of the hand grenades and other repellents by using the bhut jolokia.
"The chilli grenade is a non-toxic weapon and when used would force a terrorist to come out of his hideouts as the smell is so pungent that it would literally choke them," R.B. Srivastava, a senior scientist and director of the DRDO said.
The DRDO scientists had already carried out trials for the hand grenades mixed with the world's hottest chilli and so far the tests have been satisfactory.
The bhut jolokia belongs to the capsicum chinese family and is native to Assam. It is recognised by the Guinness Book of World Records as the hottest of all spices.
The hotness of the bhut jolokia, measured in Scoville heat units was 1,001,304. It's nearly twice as hot as Mexico's red savina (577,000), the variety it replaced as the hottest. By comparison, a New Mexico green chilli contains about 1,500 Scoville units, while an average jalapeno measures at about 10,000.
"Work is on to develop other such things using bhut jolokia for effective utilisation by the security forces in dealing with riots and tackling insurgency and terrorists," Srivastava said.
The non-lethal grenades devised by the DRDO could numb the enemy and immobilise them without seriously wounding or killing them.
"There are other applications as well, what we call women power. A specially made chilli powder could act as a tool for women to keep away anti-socials and work in this regard is also on," he said.
There were also plans to use bhut jolokia paste or powder in teargas shells for dispersing violent protesters or rioters.
"We are also trying for a scientific validation to find out if bhut jolokia could be incorporated into the food menu for soldiers in higher reaches to keep them warm. Physiological studies are on in this regard," Srivastava said.
And the chilli powder would also be rubbed on the fences around army barracks in the hope the strong smell would keep animals out of bounds.
"The chilli paste could also act as a major repellent against wild elephants in some parts of Assam and other northeastern states," the scientist said.
A kilogram of bhut jolokia sells at about Rs.300.

Super disc to store 1,000 times more data than a DVD
TOKYO: A Japanese research team has found a material that could be used to make a low-price super disc with data storage capacity thousands of times greater than a DVD, the lead researcher said.
The material transforms from a black-colour metal state that conducts electricity into a brown semiconductor when hit by light, according to Shin-ichi Ohkoshi, chemistry professor at the University of Tokyo.
The material, a new crystal form of titanium oxide, can switch back and forth between the metal and semiconductor states at room temperature when exposed to light, creating an effective on-off function for data storage.
It is "promising as a material for a next-generation optical storage device", Ohkoshi said on Monday.
A material that changes colour with light can be used in storage devices as colours reflect light differently to contain different information. His team has succeeded in creating the material in particles measuring five-to-20 nanometres (a five-billionth to 20-billionth of a metre) in diameter.
If the smallest particle is used, the new disc could hold more than 1,000 times as much information as a Blu-ray disc, provided that matching data-writing and reading equipment are developed.
A single-layer Blu-ray disc can hold five times as much data as a conventional DVD.
Titanium oxide's market price is about one-hundredth of the rare element — germanium-antimony-tellurium — that is currently used in rewritable Blu-ray discs and DVDs, Ohkoshi said.
"You don't have to worry about procuring rare metals. Titanium oxide is cheap and safe, already being used in many products ranging from face powder to white paint," the professor said. Ohkoshi said it was not known when a disc with the material would be manufactured and put to practical use, adding that he would start talks with private-sector companies for commercialisation.

Heat-conducting polythene to take place of wires?
NEW YORK: American scientists have developed a new variety of polythene, the most widely used polymer, that can conduct heat like most metals yet remains an electrical insulator.
The new form of polythene can be used as a cheap alternative to metals in electric applications like a computer processor chip where it is important to draw heat away from an object. Polymers are materials made of long, chain-like molecules.
Researchers at Massachusetts Institute of Technology in US found that by getting all polythene molecules line up the same way, rather than forming a chaotic tangled mass, as they normally do, the polymer can be changed into heat conductor.
The team achieved that by slowly drawing a polythene fibre out of a solution, using an atomic force microscope.
The fibre was about 300 times more thermally conductive than normal polythene along the direction of the individual fibres, said team leader, Gang Chen of MIT.
The high thermal conductivity of the new fibre makes its useful for dissipating heat in many applications such as solar hot water collectors, heat exchangers and electronics, said the report published in journal Nature Materials.
Chen said that earlier attempts to create a heat-conducting polymer by adding other materials had yielded modest result as the interfaces between the two kinds of material tend to add thermal resistance by scattering heat.
If such fibers could be made in large quantities, they could provide a cheaper alternative to metals used for heat transfer in many applications, especially ones where the directional characteristics would come in handy, such as heat-exchanger fins and cellphone casings. Other applications might be devised that take advantage of the material's unusual combination of thermal conductivity with light weight, chemical stability and electrical insulation.

Now, a digital master key for all locks
LONDON: Do you find keeping track of your keys a tedious job? Then here’s your dream invention. Experts have come up with a digital master key that’s going to make your life a lot easier.
Computer giant Apple is set to revolutionize the traditional door key with introduction of a hi-tech alternative nicknamed the "iKey". It means people can stop carrying around a bunch of keys, and instead use a single electronic device to unlock their car, front door and gain access to their office.
The technology simply requires the users to enter a pin code and wave the device over an electronic pad fitted beside a door to open it.
Apparently, a newly published patent application, filed with the US Patent Office, contains the details of the new technology. It is speculated that the next model of the iPhone will contain this feature.
The application states: "The device can communicate with an external device to open a lock. By way of example, the electronic device may be a model of an iPhone.
In a home, householders would need to install electronic, computer controlled locks to their doors. The iPhone would need to be registered with the locks so that they could communicate with each other. By rotating the iPhone near the electronic lock, consumers then select their pin numbers on a dial displayed on the screen, as if entering a combination on a safe.
If the combination entered matched the one held by the electronic lock, the door would open.
If not, an alarm could be sounded or alerts sent to the householder to indicate someone was attempting to gain unauthorised entry. For safety purpose, the device may be attributed with a feature to encrypt any information that passes between the iPhone and the computer-controlled lock, preventing hackers from "listening in".
Leander Kahney, a consumer technology expert and author of a book and blog called the Cult of Mac, said there were rumours that Apple has been testing the technology. "If true, it’s a very big deal. As well as opening doors and unlocking your car, it could also turn your iPhone into an electronic wallet and ID card," the Telegraph quoted him as saying.
He added: "You’d be able to pay for buses and trains, as well as your morning coffee and groceries in a jiffy, just by laying your iPhone on a special pad, and the price is electronically deducted from your account.
"The trouble is that the technology hasn’t gone completely mainstream. If Apple were to adopt the technology, they would likely set the standard, and that would drive widespread adoption as everyone scrambles to make their systems iPhone-friendly."
If granted, the application filed at US Patent house will offer Apple legal protection from other companies copying its ideas and technology.
Steve Jobs, Apple’s chief executive, said: "We can sit by and watch competitors steal our patented inventions, or we can do something about it. We’ve decided to do something about it.
"We think competition is healthy, but competitors should create their own original technology, not steal ours."