In India, the ad agencies fight shy of taking another competitive account of the product category they are advertising, say if they are handling a particular chocolate company’s account, they are shut out from handling an account of a rival chocolate company. At the most, they can set up separate business entities, which then can accept the rival’s account. Japanese advertising has adopted the concept of co-opetition which is co-operative competition. They handle several competitive accounts together. Adam and Barry’s book co-opetition in 1996 advocated this ideology that is directly from the game theory. It is accommodative co-existence in business. In recent years agencies have emulated this model. They avoided this under the pretext that the clients are uncomfortable. But why be uncomfortable? If CAs and lawyers can handle competitive business, why the ad agencies cannot? Ad agencies must gain experience in handling a product category by accepting competitive brands for promotion. Co-opetition is a global reality.

It has been a period of growth for India’s M&E industry which is worth Rs.1614 billion today. (2022). It has been growing at the rate of 13 per cent. With this type of growth comes the demand for talent. To fulfill the demand, we have Talent Search Agencies such as One Digital, CAA, Matrix, Bling, Spice and Tulsea.

These agencies represent talent. They take steps to build up talent. They try to diversify talent brand across social causes and films, commercials and web series. They invest in talents by understanding their personalities, likes and dislikes and career aspirations.

There are content creators. These are the source for talents. The agencies discover them and handhold them.

And then there are influencers, film stars, singers and other talents available on different platforms, apps, formats, devices and brands.

There are influencer agencies too. They need creative advisory. The agencies provide opportunities for creators to showcase their talents and monetise their art. Girlfriend Box, an influencer agency handles the digital mandates of OTT firms.

Talent was treated as labour and had to put in hours. Agencies elevate them in stature and make talents wealthier. It is an investment in them for 4-5 years. Agencies thus go beyond bookings and filings. They adopt a 360-degree approach to services. They are facilitated by technology and data analysis. Talents will soon be able to sell their NFTs.

Social media hosting third party content were treated as intermediaries under section 79 of the IT Act providing them exemptions and certain immunity from liabilities for any third-party content and data hosted by them.

It is only when these firms fail to remove or block any content as directed by the government that they are liable to face penal action, which may lead to their executives being jailed too.

The safe harbour provisions are being questioned all over the world. India too is thinking of a law, say Digital India Act, which covers cyber security, social media, digital services, personal data protection etc.

The point is what is applicable to analogue world should be applicable to the digital world too. There should be accountability for the social media too.

Some clauses have been tightened under section 69A of the IT Act which has mandated firms to appoint grievance redressal officers and nodal officers for coordination with the government. It was made necessary for messengers such as WhatsApp to provide the first originator of what is deemed to be mischievous message. Some of these provisions have been challenged in courts.

It is true that the safe harbour concept belongs to the 1980s and time has come to dilute this concept.

Stablecoins, as we know, are pegged to sufficient reserves to collaterize themselves. There are generally three ways to collaterize a stablecoin.

First of all, stablecoins are collaterized by fiat. In other words, these are supported by real assets in reserve. For every stablecoin, there should be equivalent in real currency in assets.

Secondly, cryptos are collaterized with other cryptos, though price volatility remains an issue. This is compensated by over-collaterization, e.g. one stablecoin is pegged to $2 dollar worth of crypto. It is a hedge against the volatility of the cryptos.

Thirdly, cryptos are not linked to any reserve, but make use of smart contracts to monitor price fluctuations and programmes to issue and buy coins accordingly.

A smart contract is a computer programme that responds to external events automatically. Execution of smart contract could result in the exchange of money, delivery of services or other type of transactions.

At present, Web 3.0 is being shaped as decentralised internet. Theoretically, it will lead to disintermediation of Big Tech. Instead of Big Tech, we will witness DeepTech. The content creators will command more power.

The last three decades of the century gone by, namely between 1970-2000, internet was dominated by companies from the developed world. Countries such as India acted as body-shoppers.

These days many new technologies are emerging — AI and ML, NLP, IoT, AR and VR, battery technology. It will affect human civilization profoundly. The government fears loss of control especially in these days of Web 3.0. There are issues of these technologies getting weaponised.

Really speaking, the issues go beyond technology. They become strategic. Digital technology is leveraged for growth. However, we could come across actors who run counter to growth. Policy makers may lag behind the pace with which Web 3.0 is moving ahead.

India has used technology for inclusive policies, e.g. Aadhar, Jan Dhan, UPI, CoWin, Digital Health Mission. India has to decide how it can further the use of technology for common good.

India should take active part in global discussions in setting the standards for Web 3.0. Policy for control is not the only aim. It pushes the technologies into the dark-web. Or else, there is brain drain of the youngsters.

There are issues of cryptos, NFTs, marketplace, IP rights. There are issues of how these should be treated as financial assets.

Metaverse will present its own governance issues. It will be a comprehensive challenge to policy makers.

The Web 3.0 world will be boundary-less. Technologies will affect public narrative. It will affect political ideologies, financial markets and power structures. There will be sociological issues.

Governments will have to balance liberalism and sovereignty. The decade of 2021-2030 is called webade or Web 3.0 decade. There should not be digital colonialism or authoritarianism.

Web 3.0 will contribute tremendously to India’s GDP. India has a humongous base of internet users. It should therefore, lead the formulation of policy for Web 3.0.

As we know, there is short supply of qualified radiologists — we have 1 radiologist per 1 lac people as against the recommended proportion of 1 radiologist per one thousand population. Thus radiologists are overworked and overburdened. It leads to exhaustion and reporting errors, as the time to read reports is hardly of a few seconds. Radiological reports are not transparent to patients as there are no simple explanations about the injury and their correlation with symptoms.

AI is an answer to lessen the burden of radiologists. It can automate several tasks and can generate detailed preliminary reports. Many labs are adopting AI-based radiological analysis.

There are over 30000 imaging businesses in India. They are manned by less than 10000 radiologists. The cost of each of radiologist is very high. It affects the margins. Radiologists too visit multiple centers to increase their income.

If Ai is used in radiological analysis, the radiologist will be free to focus on work that requires his or her expertise.

Synapsica is one such company which offers AI-based radiology software. These products are available in more than 500 plus locations globally including the US, Africa, Bangladesh and Pakistan. It wants to expand in the UK, Australia and Dubai. Synapsia helps the client reduce their operational costs. It increases the earnings by optimisation.

As we know, hemp is another name for Cannabis sativa, and marijuana too comes from the same plant species. However, the difference is about the THC content or tetrahydrocannabinol content. Hemp has less content of THC than marijuana. And it is THC that is responsible for intoxication. Thus hemp does not get you ‘high’.

The Food Safetyand Standards Authority of India (FSSAI) has declared in November, 2021 hemp (seed, oil and flour) as food or an ingredient in a food and these can be sold subject to conforming standards.

The plant has multiple uses as industrial product or as medicinal product. It is used in textiles, shoes, paper, plastics and biofuel industries.

The component CBD or cannabidiol makes the plant suitable for pain alleviation, in anxiety attacks and neurological conditions.

Marketers have to demystify the plant and educate the users about the correct position. Hemp is versatile and can be the basis for several thousand products. It is an intrinsic part of Indian culture too. In digital marketing, the social media has barred the advertising of cannabits products. These products could be promoted through influencers who can educate the followers. There should be content marketing, PR-events, exhibitions and sampling.

There is slow but steady acceptance of these products. There are repeat purchases. There should be attempts to tap new users. The beneficiaries of these products are the biggest influencers.

The Digital Communications Commission (DCC), the decision-making body of the DoT has declined to allow enterprises to set up private 5G networks. They would need to partner with Telecom operators who would get airwaves. This decision must be vetted by the Cabinet. There is a ray of hope for the enterprises. This segment is considered high margin and contributes 10-20 percent to a telecom operator’s revenue.

TRAI, as we have already observed, has suggested to permit enterprises to have private networks by obtaining the spectrum from the government or by using leased spectrum from the telecom operators.

What is needed is the collaboration of all players in the eco-system to address the dynamics of the situation.

Private networks have gained traction across the world for business apps and security-critical apps. Enterprises would like to exercise full control over their operating process and should ensure data security.

As private networks have the capability to exploit various use-cases of 5G, there would greater penetration of 5G into manufacturing, mining, logistrics, transport, healthcare, agriculture, education and entertainment.

Nokia, the Finnish telecom gear maker, is ready to develop jointly private networks for Indian enterprises.

Globally, there is a mix. It is up to regulators to decide how they want to allocate spectrum. Both the models work well.

IPL 2022 edition had a setback in terms of the decline in TV viewership to the extent of 30 per cent in the first three weeks of the season. There was a marginal increase of 9 per cent in the fourth week over the third week. This should not be discouraging. Though TV viewership has been affected, OTT makes up substantial viewership. Thus the total viewership is not so dismal. Previously, because of the pandemic, the home-bound population was glued to the IPL. Of course, there was a cricketing overdose too in the past one to one and a half year.

IPL has upped its ad rates by 15 per cent this season. Established brands have reduced their spend. Maruti Suzuki too shrunk its spend. Disney Star India charges Rs.14 lac per 10 second spot in 2022. It is the last year of Disney’s term. The rights will soon go for bidding.

There is a decline in its core target audience. The channel could provide additional free commercial time (FCT).

IPL has to innovate its format too, before it becomes a fatigued property. Team loyalty should be nurtured as they do in case of football leagues. Big guns of cricket too could not fire up the season. As a matter of fact, IPL has grown by 13 per cent over the past two weeks. Brands are still relying on IPL extravaganza. The cumulative reach matters for the advertiser.

Viewership may increase as the tournament progresses. It is going to be bigger in coming days. The temporary dents will not affect IPL. Even the bid prices for broadcasters are going up. The BCCI had fetched Rs.18000 for TV rights in 2018, and expects to get double the amount, say Rs.32000 crore for the next five year term.

Indian telecom companies have leaned towards O-RAN since it reduces their capital costs and offers better performance. It frees the countries from the monopoly grip of traditional gear makers such as Huawei, Ericsson, Nokia and ZTE. Rautken of Japan has adopted O-RAN powered 5G network whereas the rest of the global players have favoured traditional gear makers.

O-RAN will evolve, and mature in a couple of years. It can scale up by 2023 – 24. It is a matter of speculation as to what percentage of operators adopt O-RAN globally.

O-RAN is based on open architecture. It disaggregates hardware and software. A telecom operator has the freedom of choice to buy off-the-shelf from various vendors and can optimise his costs. Historically, telecom operators have been using proprietary hardware and software integrated by the traditional gear maters. There were lock-in periods and annual maintenance contracts.

O-RAN is virtualised. It essentially means many of the radio access functions done by the hardware would now be done by the software. It will reduce costs, say 30-40 per cent.

There are 5G base stations. There should be availability of chips with high processing capability off-the-shelf to run these base stations. These base stations are like mini-servers. They have lower power consumption. These support virtualisation of the network. Intel intends to make Sapphire range of processors by 2023. Even Qualcom is expected to release its chip for 5G base stations.

There are O-RAN software companies, say Altiostar and Mavenir who are doing software testing. Reliance has aquired the US-based Radisys which is experimenting with O-RAN.

Japanse MIMO radios will be used in hardware space. Indigenous radios could become available in near future.

Indian IT players could play a role of integrators to put together the software and hardware of O-RAN network.

No, doubt, it is a disruptive technology. It is to be seen whether the present gear makers modify their model and offer open architecture.