Rapid development seen in telecommunications

Andreas Setiadi Sanusi ,  Contributor ,  Jakarta   |  Fri, 05/16/2008 12:51 PM  |  Supplement

When Bill Gates visited Jakarta last week, he shared his vision about the technology of the future. He believes that the touch-screen and audio recognition technologies will be the key to ensuring that computer technology will serve human beings more satisfactorily. You can imagine how many people will be helped by the presence of a more "human" computer. In the future, there will be a set of computerized machines integrated with the human body to make up for the shortcomings of people with different abilities.

Bill Gates' dreams are not mere fantasy. He lives in a very advanced age where information technology has been rapidly developed. However, in the early years of inventions, Marconi, the inventor of the radio, and Alexander Graham Bell, inventor of the telephone, Blaise Pascal and Gottfried von Leibniz, inventor of the calculus, no doubt never dreamed that their inventions would inspire hundreds of scientists and innovators and would lead to the present information technology.

Indeed, in the beginning the telephone was made only as a medium to allow two persons separated by space and time to talk to each other. In the same way, telecommunications can be interpreted as an exchange of information between two subjects separated by a very long distance. In this modern age, the medium used may be a radio wave or a cable. When there are more than two users of the medium, we face a more complex telecommunications network.

The telecommunication technology has evolved toward greater sophistication and the radio wave has become one of the spearheads to response to human beings' need for information. A telecommunication network is no longer filled with only a sound but also with digitalized data. Gottfried's calculus became the simple calculator and has further developed into the computer that we all are familiar with. With the computer we entered the Internet era, where all information sources are pooled in the virtual world.

Unfortunately, not everyone can enjoy the usefulness of the Internet to the maximum. Take conditions in Indonesia, for example. In the mid-1990s, the Internet was still something of a luxury here. An Internet provider offered exclusive services only to people who could afford to pay the monthly rate and subscription fee. At that time, the Internet connection was only the provider's cable connected with the backbone of the network.

PT Telkom later introduced a breakthrough by offering Internet services through Telkomnet Instant. You only had to possess a modem and a computer and you could access the Internet. Although the price was still relatively high, the Internet began to gain popularity in Indonesia.

The cell phone has shown very rapid development. In less than two decades, cell phone users can exchange digitalized data via the Internet through a radio wave. There is nothing strange, therefore, if all providers provide this service to increase the variety of the features they offer. Telkomsel, Indosat, Excelcomindo, Axis and 3 in the GSM network and Mobile-8, Flexi and Smart in the CDMA network are trying to win Internet surfers, particularly in major cities.

They use a variety of ways to lure Internet users. Generally they set the GPRS rate calculated on per kilobyte in one session when a page is opened. At present, a cellular senior provider uses a broadband subscription method by selling a certain broadband modem package. Telkomsel Flash, Indosat IM2 and XL 3G are some of the brand names they use in this respect.

There are several indicators that this market is still worth tapping. A change in lifestyle and the demands made by the dynamism of life, particularly in major cities where people are short of time, have prompted people to become more mobile and practical. The Internet can provide a solution as it can overcome various mobility-related difficulties. Slowly but surely, the Internet and telecommunications have not only become part of people's lives but have become one of life necessities.

In the cellular provider world, telecommunications and the Internet may be likened to buying a food package. The package is called infrastructure because when we build a telecommunications network we also build an Internet network. Unfortunately, the development of the supporting technology is rather late when the cell phone business undergoes a boom. However, when it can no longer give added value to the conventional telecommunication corridor as a differentiation, this technology runs fast. Therefore, the cellular provider only has to complement it.

Not only telecommunications providers but also telecommunications supporting businesses can reap a profit from the Internet. One of these supporting businesses is the cell phone industry. Every cell phone maker tries to introduce the latest data transfer technology in their products. In the past, a cell phone could be used as a modem but a computer was needed to access the Internet.

Sony Ericsson recently launched two cell phones: G502 and Z780, both enabling easy access to the Internet through a cellular provider. Martin Winkler, the director of global marketing and head of multimedia web at Sony Ericsson, said that these two cell phones allow users to explore the virtual world through them. Furthermore, with the 3G and HSDPA technologies integrated in the cell phone, a person can check their electronic mail and browse the Internet faster without being limited by space or time.

Another business that has developed following the presence of mobile Internet is the cell phone content business. In this regard, the GPRS path is made use of to transfer data from the content vendor to the buyer. There are two kinds of transactions involving a cell phone. First, using premium SMS and second, by means of access to a cellular provider providing cell phone content via the mobile Internet data path (GPRS). The products in this business are varied in form, ranging from simple contents such as ring tones, MMS template, wallpaper and cell phone screen to print media or novel subscription.

Although the infrastructure is now available, the number of people accessing the Internet is still very limited. Many people remain information technology illiterate. In fact, proper information may improve their welfare through a learning process. That's why the UN has made May 17 World Telecommunications Day and one of the missions in this respect is to open everyone's eyes to the importance of telecommunications and the Internet, or in other words, information technology. This goal can be attained only if everyone has a key with which to open the information gateway.

The writer can be reached at andre_gajah@yahoo.com

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