Arun Mehta (52) is an engineer-activist from India, and moderates various discussion groups in cyberspace. He's also the CTO (chief technical officer) of the Radiophony.com network.

One of the few alumni of India's prestigious Indian Institute of Technology who decided to stay back, and not add to the brain-drain, he has been a long-time campaigner for the apt use of technology. Recently, he also moved into teaching computing science at the JMIT, near Karnal in Haryana. He is known for his work in campaigning to open up radio broadcasting to the citizen in India, and works on ICT-for-disability issues.

Below, an exchange of views with Frederick Noronha:

Q: Why do you see radio as particularly relevant to the 'developing' world? Can you give some examples of how its efficacy actually works out?

We are indeed looking at the innovative uses of low-powered FM.

For one, there's community radio (where low-powered FM broadcasting is opened to non-profit groups). In India, we are relying on the fact that 50 milliwatt FM transmitters are commonly available in the market; we assume the use of this were legal. So we set up a 50 milliwatt transmitter in Oravakal village in Kurnool district of Andhra Pradesh in 2002-03.

It's possible to build a simple, low-powered community radio station for under a thousand rupees (US$25).

The other application we've deployed is simultaneous translation. For example, at the Asian Social Forum in Hyderabad in 2003, we did simultaneous translation for more than 8000 people. In three languages, Telugu, Hindu and English.

We put up three low-powered FM radio transmitters in each hall, one for each language, all set to broadcast at different frequencies. Participants were given tiny Chinese-made FM radios, with earphones. Each participant tuned the radio to his or her language's frequency, and then could walk around and even even get some coffee, but still keep listening.

So basically, this was simultaneous translation for under one-dollar per participant. When you're talking about 8000 participants, you can't do (multiple-language) translation in any other way which is affordable. The radio becomes part of the conference kit, so it becomes a very nice item to carry home too.

Q: You mentioned the use of low-powered FM radio in keeping noise pollution down too....

Yes, concerts without noise pollution. That's another application.

Our concept for such concerts is distributed sound. Rather than having one large set of speakers, what we do is feed the audio to a low-powered FM transmitter. Then, we place radios where the people are actually sitting.

So, rather than producing sound at one end of the hall, and expecting people at the other end to hear it, we produce the sound only where it is actually being consumed.

So, at the Ban Ganga festival near Malabar Hill in Mumbai, held in January each year we tried it out. Incidentally, the organisers were forced to cancel it one year, due to noise pollution reasons.

Earlier, they were consuming something like 2.5 kilowatts of power. Our system only used only 30 watts of power. What that reflects in how much, or how little, sound you're creating. So you go 20 metres away and you can't hear a single thing. Yet, at the venue there's excellent sound.

Q: Wouldn't this result in a loss of quality of the audio, or music?

In fact the quality is better. When you're pumping in a lot of power into one large speaker, it doesn't behave in a linear fashion. If you have small amounts of power going into a large number of speakers, you get better sounds.

Q: Isn't it more than a bit ironic that your work is being appreciated at different international venues, but hardly gets the attention it deserves from the authorities in India?

Yeah. We've demoed this at events like Asia Source (an international event for NGOs held in Bangalore in early 2005), Radiocracy in Cardiff (Wales) around 2000, and at Africa Source II held in Uganda recently.

This is very simple and inexpensive technology. The parts that go into the transmitter for a 50 milliwatt thing is under $2. The parts are available in any small town where radio and TVs are repaired.

Q: What are the legal issues that block the deployment of such solutions in India today?

In India we have the most absurd system for management of spectrum. If you go strictly by the letter of the law, you need to get clearance from 34 governments before putting up a tube-light in your house!

Anything above 1 milliwatt requires a licence. There are only two exceptions -- certain kinds of cordless telephones, and the other is 2.4 gigaherts wifi.

So, the entire approach to the handling of spectrum is a big, big millstone around all our development activities. Because in rural areas you're not able to take wires to people's homes. You need wireless. And, the government has a complete stranglehold on it. It only very reluctantly gives any new licenses; and often takes years.

Q: What's the way forward then, in such a situation?

The dilemma for government in the handling of spectrum is that it basically knows just two ways. One is that you auction out the spectrum. In India, you know what a terrible experiences that is. Take the case of FM licenses, or basic services. The whole thing is a mess.

The other way that governments knows is a 'beauty contest'. You try and identify which are the better applications of technology and allocate spectrum to that. Here, the problem is that this becomes a total vested interests' pull-and-push game. And you're also expecting the government to play technology god, which is ridiculous in this day and age.

The only sensible way to deal with spectrum is Open Spectrum.

What governments can do in Open Spectrum is to lay down rules for social behaviour -- ensuring that you maintain low power levels, that you don't hog any segment of the spectrum. It's the basic rules for wifi.

The classical way of dealing with spectrum is based on old technology, where they gave you an exclusive slice of spectrum, and only you could use that spectrum. Modern technology, where you have smart radios, allows you to do spectrum sharing. Like in wifi, where several users are using the same spectrum. It works spectacularly well.

Related link: www.radiophony.com Email contact: mehta at vsnl.com