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Minister says India open to pilot projects by tech companies
08 Jan 2016
  • The government is open to allowing experiments by Google, Microsoft and others to address digital challenges of the future, the Press Trust of India quoted Union Telecom Minister Ravi Shankar Prasad as saying.
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  • "Technology is overtaking us. Google wants to explore the Loon project and also, Microsoft is trying to explore white space. As a minister, I am very clear that all new technologies must be given proper opportunity for experimentation," Prasad said at a National Seminar on Spectrum Management.
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  • The Loon project is learnt to have hit a hurdle, with a committee examining it.
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  • According to Google, each balloon in the project can provide connectivity to a ground area of about 40km in diameter, using a wireless communication technology called LTE, or 4G.
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  • The Project Loon partners with telecommunication companies to share cellular spectrum so that people can access the Internet everywhere directly from their phones and other LTE-enabled devices.
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  • The government, the minister said, will encourage other entities interested in developing new technology.
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  • "A decision on the end use of that pilot will of course be taken by us at a policy level later," Prasad said.
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  • Microsoft has approached the telecom ministry to experiment use of the unutilised airwave space for delivering wireless broadband.
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  • Since spectrum is scarce natural resource, its allocation must be done in "a fair and transparent manner".
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  • "We are in the process of (spectrum) harmonisation, which will be completed soon. The Defence spectrum band in the country has been promulgated. It was pending for the last 7-8 years," Prasad said.

 

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