Mobile India 2017 is one of the first premier events and will be the curtain raiser for this year’s mobile disruptions in the country. It is associated with the Ninth International Conference on COMmunication Systems and NETworkS (COMSNETS), the world’s premier international conference on networking and communications technology innovation. Pre-event article in YourStory: 2017 outlook: the Top Five technology and business trends for India

---

Theme: Innovations and Disruptions through Mobile

Mobile broadband revolution has been jump started by the entry of new telecom operators, conclusion of one of the largest spectrum auctions, and the continued hyper growth in the mobile start-up space. Bengaluru continues to be in the top 20 in the Global Start-up Ecosystem Ranking, thanks to the continued disruption by the start-ups. The mobile broadband penetration continues to increase and is more than 125 million now with expected exponential adoption this year. Mobile Apps are being integrated into many traditional activities ranging from grocery shopping to calling a cab, a trend that is rapidly spilling revenue from almost every industry in the higher revenue traditional economy into the app economy. It is expected that the spill-overs are greater in emerging countries such as India where there are substantial inefficiencies in the traditional industries. At the same time, a set of government agencies, entrepreneurs, software and hardware companies have been working on India Stack - a set of APIs that allows governments, businesses, startups and developers to utilise an unique digital Infrastructure to solve India’s hard problems towards presence-less, paperless, and cashless service delivery. Projects such as electronic Know Your Customer (eKYC) process, and Unified Payment Interface (UPI) that enable digital money transfer are being rolled out using the India Stack framework and philosophy. Ambitious projects such as cashless society, and Smart Cities have been initiated by the Indian government. In this edition of Mobile India, we will explore the innovation and disruptions caused by the mobile ecosystem in areas ranging from mobile authentication and security, mobile data analytics and privacy, mobile payments.

---

Session 1:  Online Authentication and Digital Identity

(Sponsored by the Fast IDentity Online (FIDO) Alliance)

Traditional online authentication using username/password pairs have not been found to be adequate in countering cyber-attacks. Moreover they are cumbersome and not user friendly. As a result, there have been increased efforts to find alternatives to username/passwords that can ensure security for online transactions while not compromising the privacy on individuals. A distinguished panel representing many participants in the identity and authentication ecosystem will come together for this session to discuss:

What are the key challenges in reliable authentication? How are they being met?

What are competing solutions and standards for identification and authentication?

What is the role of the online service provider/ PC, smartphone, tablet manufacturers/ semiconductor companies/ and application developers in secure authentication and privacy preservation?

What are the policy issues with respect to identification and authentication? How do Indian policies and law address these?

Session 2:  Mobile Payments and Wallets

The demonetization has resulted in huge uptake of digital payments across sections of the society. Telcos, payment wallet firms and financial institutions are finding innovative methods to reduce flow of cash and thus encourage the adoption of digital payments in India amongst citizens of the country. The Unified Payment Interface (UPI) as architected by the National Payments Corporation of India is expected to provide unified, seamless interface for all forms of digital payments including peer-to-peer remittances. This session will explore the nuances of digital payments, the challenges and opportunities in this space and the innovations that can take India to a cashless society.

Session 3:  Mobile Data Analytics and User Privacy

Pervasiveness of mobiles have resulted in the generation of data relating to proximity, user context, tastes and preferences, and finally the complete user profile. Analysis of the user profiles to target goods and services, advertisements, discount coupons, promotion programmes, have been on the rise. Apart from mobile app providers, telcos are sitting on a huge pile of location based data that needs exploration and monetization. In this session, experts will deliberate on issues relating to mobile data analytics, personalization, and user privacy.

Session 4:  Innovations in Mobiles/ wearable Devices and Services

Mobiles, wearable devices and sensors provide unique advantages for easy collection of proximal and contextual data, enable successful engagement models, and deliver services on the go. Sensors that enable data collection and transmission at source are being deployed in large scales to enable efficient operation of cyber-physical systems. With exponential growth in mobiles, wearables, and sensors, start-ups are innovatively using these to render associated services. In this panel, experts will discuss different disruptive ways of using mobiles, wearables and sensors for successful adoption and provisioning of services in areas such as healthcare, IoT, and education. With the ubiquity of these services, security of services rendered also assumes importance. The experts in this session from mobile phone/ wearable firms, services firms, application developers will explore disruptive innovations in this space.

Schedule for the Day

---