Monthly Archive for February, 2005

Eternal Wait for Decent Telecom

Published on 25th Feb 2005 in General Thoughts and Indian Telecom. 0 Comments Tags: , , , , , , , , , , , , , , , , .

Eternal Wait for Decent Telecom

Last week I went to pay my bills for Internet phone taken from BSNL. It is the same argument I have to face repeatedly. As a customer, why do I have to suffer a lack of choice? I do feel cheated time and again. The worst is that I feel helpless each time. The telecom policy dreamt up a hope that we would be able to see a multitude of companies, each falling over each other to serve the customer who is a king. Bah. More than a pauper, I am reduced to nothing. Be it invasion of my privacy, getting those unsolicited calls or ignorant army of morons as customer support staff; I do not think so that I got what I actually deserve for my investment in the services.

The worst-case scenario is for broadband. This is indeed taking ever and ever to materialize. BSNL did launch its broadband. However, I am wary on their past record for customer care and the quality of the infrastructure. It is true that people have started complaining about the poor quality of broadband due to line disturbances. I have always maintained that it is easier to wake up a person from his deathbed than getting anything done out of the so-called customer care.

However, in advertisements I am promised the earth. Sachin Tendulkar has endorsed Airtel brand. How does he being featured in the same get me better quality of services? I remember when I was their customer couple of years back. My folks could not get through my number. Repeated complaints to the customer care made no change. Finally, I had to shoot a letter all the way to their head office. Belatedly after about a month, some dingbat chose to reply in the usual corporate tone. The same kind of language that they choose to advertise. World-class infrastructure? After much haggling and repeated calls, the fault was traced in their switch! So much for their intelligence. This gave me an insight in the way call centers worked. After making repeated calls, I was on friendly terms with some sensible people. Admittedly, not all are dumb. Some are bit more professional in their jobs. I have to know their problems and the way companies chose to deal with their customers. Dude, they said. Prepaid card? Forget it.

Internet remains a bugbear. I need Internet to keep myself abreast of what is the latest in my field. However, the high cost deters me to surf with peace of mind. If at times I am able to get a decent connection speed, the line drops in the middle of a download. Things have changed for the better in the past one year. Earlier it was a harrowing time to connect to the exchange. Often it took me a dedicated patience of about an hour or so before I chose to give up. What of the wasted calls? It profited BSNL in any case.

The other day I went to pay mobile phone bill for someone. I was astonished to see the various kinds of charges that they had levied. This was a GSM phone and the company had charged astronomically for roaming charges. It seemed strange that how can Reliance charge a pittance for the same. Having ones own network is imperative if you have to succeed in the telecom market. It also hinted at the way the GSM operators have ganged up to charge excessively from the customers. Any “arguments” with the bill collection agencies is futile.

The worst-case scenario is the invasion of privacy when GSM customers get unsolicited calls. There have been reports of people buying a brand new number and within a few hours, some moron is offering a credit card from a bank. This only exposes the fact the companies sell the numbers. In this case, they could have alerted the calling agency that the given number is activated. This is not a confirmed fact but it is possible, given the trend here in India. I would suggest that one should avoid handing out numbers in public places. Invariably it finds its way in the databases that can be had for a song.

I really wish that things improve. TRAI is supposed to be a regulator. Why hasn’t it stepped in and said that enough is enough? The recent Gartner report has mentioned that telecom has grown from strength to strength but the last mile connectivity remains pathetic. What of the last mile Sir? Come on in and you would realize that getting a telephone line from government provider is an exercise in patience. If you are willing to swallow your pride and ready to be insulted, well then you can have a look at what broadband means here. One thing that they were absolutely right about. The report mentions clearly that quality of services remains much to be desired. This is what I had mentioned in my earlier posts too.

Established players like Sify call their pathetic lines as broadband. With the absurd data limits of 300 MB, Airtel is offering the “lowest priced” broadband. 300 MB for what Mr.Mittal? Opening up my browser and closing it down? What possible Internet surfing could I do in 300 MB without you ripping me off in the process? Why be so absurd, guys?

I believe that it is the hangover of the past when the powers that be handed out favors because they wanted it to be that way. These people have created artificial scarcity when there is none. Plan a decent connection and sell the product. We customers are ready to pay for something good, Sir! Provided it is reasonably priced, assured services in the event of downtime and go that extra mile in ensuring that your customers remain happy. Does that take too much? Nope. It takes only a little effort on your behalf.

Discuss on: Sify Broadband, Tata Indicom, Airtel Broadband, Reliance Broadband, MTNL – BSNL Broadband, Dial Up, Others

This post was submitted by Dr. Abhishek Puri on the Broadband Blog on Techwhack.

Airtel and Sunil Bharti Mittal – Untold Story

Published on 20th Feb 2005 in Airtel Broadband, General Thoughts and Indian Telecom. 63 Comments Tags: , , , , , , , , , , , , , , , , , .

Airtel and Sunil Bharti Mittal – Untold Story

Sunil Bharti Mittal must be a happy man by now. Hailing from a small town in Punjab, Ludhiana, he has achieved in life what some people dream of. He was a push button telephone manufacturer until recently. It was the winds of change in the telecom sector, which really propelled him in the national limelight. However, Airtel has its own share of bloopers, which are clearly not in the public domain. I shall try and lay out a case as to why their practices are not in the national interest.

There was a cover page in Business World magazine recently whose title said “The man who gave up his network away”. It was clearly unprecedented step in the telecom sector anywhere in the world. Network is one thing that is sacrosanct to any owner. However, in a smart and clever move he did that which could fetch him a lot of savings. I am not going in the details of the dealings or the pros and cons. This is clearly a business move, which he knows best. My only concern is the overwhelming presence of the multinational corporations in the sector and such crucial as this one.

There are two main issues here. In my earlier post here, I had mentioned as to why FDI has not really changed the telecom scenario. More money for expansion invariably comes at the cost of risk to other operators. I shall go in that detail a little later. The overriding concern is the technology that would be used for the switches and telecom equipment. I read in Rediff article recently that low cost equipment is feasible as of now. If we talk of partnership between the academia and the industry, then this would have been a golden opportunity to reclaim our investments in IITs across the country. I am sure that spurred on by the demand they would have come out with some solution. Thus, save the precious foreign exchange. It is clear that overwhelming presence of the MNCs in the sector would clearly benefit their host nations. A poorly thought of strategy indeed, to increase the FDI.

The second crucial aspect is the security. I have a reason to believe that Singapore based companies are actually a front for the Chinese government. Thus, surreptitiously they are entering this sector. Why the mandarins sitting high up haven’t really thought of this at all? This is beyond any logical conclusion. I have opposed FDI on this very ground because these are ill prescribed prescriptions of the donor agencies. The so-called security measures announced were good enough to keep the Left shut up their mouths. Not that these people are not nationalists. The very idea or the foundation of their beliefs is flawed and outdated.

However, the biggest beneficiary has been Airtel after the increase in the FDI. They have realized, although belatedly, that value added services is the way to go. There was one major flaw in the roll out of the subscribers. To ramp up the numbers they concentrated mainly on the prepaid subscribers. The health of any telecom network is determined by the number of post-paid subscribers it has. To correct this they have started resorting to monopolistic tactics. The GPRS subscribers on the prepaid networks can only access the Airtel Live portal. In case they wish to download anything, a hefty charge of Rs 10 is charged per request. This is clearly anti competitive and goes against the established logic. Of course, a better way could have been to introduce a recharge voucher for a fixed monthly fee in case one wishes to access the GPRS and thence Internet. This forces the people to shift to post paid segment where the ownership costs are much higher.

Airtel has invested heavily in building up its brand. However, despite the greatest cricketer of our times, their advertising pitch does not enamor me. I believe that Airtel had consistently fallen behind the TRAI’s parameters in terms of quality of offerings barring a few circles. Hence, the newer ad pitches of “stronger and clearer” network.

The fixed line business is imperative for growth. As I had mentioned, increased funding would now mean that it needs to acquire operators with fixed line business. One that comes to my mind is Connect from HFCL in Punjab. After a relative lull in the roll out of services, it has suddenly woke up to ramp up subscribers. I was surprised to see their advertisement banners recently. Perhaps it could be because of entry of TATA in the Punjab circle. I have a feeling that HFCL wants to ramp up numbers and sell out. As it is, they have a lousy service and customer support in the after sales services. Airtel would want to pick up this stake for good because it does not make any business sense to duplicate the entire infrastructure. In any case, there is not room enough for another fixed line operator given the fact that Punjab has BSNL and Connect offering their services.

It is interesting to note the recent news that was reported in the media. On the announcement of the unified licensing regime, any operator who wanted to have a fixed line license was allowed to pay the migration fee. Airtel slapped a notice on the government asking it refund the same after the second round of policy changes were announced. It was clearly pointed out that fixed line license was voluntary. Airtel could have waited for the same or forego this amount. Is Mr. Bharti keeping his idle legal department busy? I am looking forward for the judgment.

Before I end this post, as the events have unfolded I have a hunch that Mr. Bharti would want to sell out his stake in Airtel. That explains his recent diversification in selling vegetables. It is clearly an untapped market and would go a long way to improve the best agricultural practices. I wish him all the best. The main reason is that despite all his ills, his was the first network that got the mobile network in India. How he pulled it off is another story.

Experiences with Reliance Broadband in WebWorld

Published on 14th Feb 2005 in Reliance Broadband. 0 Comments Tags: , , , , , , , , , , .

Experiences with Reliance Broadband in WebWorld

I admire Reliance only for one thing; their vision. For them the ends matter, not the means to achieve the same. It was with this object they had set up their vast optic fiber network across India. Early on, they realized that for effective delivery of services, they need to have company owned outlets. Hence the concept of WebWorld was born. It was envisaged to be one stop for all the telecom needs. One could apply for a new telephone connection as well as surf the internet at “real broadband” speeds.

True, the advertisements come as “Real Broadband” speeds. However, broadband for most of the people means that their Internet Explorer is loading up pages faster than their dialup. That probably explains the crowded WebWorlds across the country.

However, today I had a taste of the real broadband that they were offering. As I entered the WebWorld, I was greeted by a pretty young thing with yellow teeth grinning back at me. She asked me to choose the starter pack. I wanted to download the Live CD version of Ubuntu Linux, which is a massive 640 MB download. I asked her about the charges to burn the CD. It was amazing 40 bucks! That too after one provides own blank CD. A bit of haggling and it came down to 15 bucks. Still I feel that it is on the higher side.

Then came the actual brass tacks. After logging in the password, I had to contend with Internet Explorer. Even though I do not like it, I could not install any Opera because of the administrator privileges. This is acceptable to majority of the users, still I always prefer Opera. Using any other browser is a crime! After requesting for the particular page, I sat back and clicked on the download page for the image file. Of course, the pretty young thing kept on hovering near me, which is a strict no no when one needs to surf online. I found that distracting. This said and done, the actual “broadband” speed hovered near 30-35 KBps. For a while, it touched a high of 120 KBps. I thought I was getting my moneys worth. Yet this happiness did not last for long. Suddenly the Explorer refused to respond. The download stopped midway.

After flurry of phone calls to the local tech and in Mumbai, they finally discovered that all they needed to do was to switch off and switch back on the router! Time wasted enough because the people hired to oversee the smooth functioning are not trained to troubleshoot. What if any problem comes during surfing? The standard answer is that for everything they call back Mumbai!

While I was at it, the Internet got back to life. The optimism about Reliance turned to despair. For some time I felt that, I was surfing on Sify “broadband”! The image file to Ubuntu was not loaded and it would easily take in about 6 hours more. I had to request the assistant to manage it for me. Somehow, they agreed! Maybe it was my way of persuasion or they were being helpful, I cannot decide about the same. Hopefully by tomorrow I should get the stuff I wanted. End of pity party!

Reliance has indeed a brilliant business plan. It has set up video conferencing in order to help the smaller businesses to achieve economies of scale. I was told, in the course of conversation, that there were very few people who utilized the services. In the same vein, gamuts of electronic resources are being provided. Yet it remains high priced for an average user. For power users who are used to see speeds zipping in MBps factor would be sorely disappointed. I believe that bandwidth at the user end is good enough for video chat on Yahoo. I d agree about the LCD monitors though. They are good enough for the eye candy and I have found no issue with the same. As regards to Windows XP, it is up to those people to deploy it on such a large scale. I have not played any games on the web because I was not happy with the quality of peripherals. Some of the keyboards refused to work and the mice at times were non-opticals. It was not a happy experience altogether.

What Reliance urgently needs to do is to train the end user assistants. Perhaps change their dresses. In greenish overalls and blue trousers, most of them looked like lost peacocks. It ultimately depends on the assistants as they reflect the company’s image. Reliance should be aware of the same. This is bit controversial here because the average user usually does not mind these bloopers. For me, like most of us browsing this article we need one thing. Bandwidth. If this is satisfied, I am a happy Joe. If this is not, expect more whining on the same!

Discuss on: Reliance Broadband

This post was submitted by Dr. Abhishek Puri on the Broadband Blog on Techwhack.

More on: Broadband in India

What Broadband can do for India?

Published on 13th Feb 2005 in General Thoughts. 1 Comment Tags: , , , , , , , , , , , , , , , .

What Broadband can do for India?

Over the past few months, there has been intense speculation and excitement over broadband. Few established players like Sify absolutely screwed up the definition of what broadband is. For Sify users it became marginally better than dial up. At times even worse! Current definition of broadband (as per recommendations from TRAI) applies to always on connection at minimum defined speeds of 256 kbps. However, this was more in realization with the current infrastructure that India has. Download speeds of over and above 2 Mbps are usually taken as a broadband connection. However, it is an approximate indicator of what is possible. While the world moves in towards Mbps, we are still in the kbps era. A small step is a small leap anyway for India!

What broadband can do? I have tried to compile a list of possible scenarios and the readers are welcome to share their ideas on that. Please note that this is suggestive and not an exhaustive compilation.

Broadband is means of fast data transfer over the traditional copper wires or the cable wires that get the cable TV in your homes. This is called a CAT 5 cable. The best mode of transfer for the data transfer is the optic fiber. However, despite falling costs, it is costly to set up and maintain.

For a power user, one who is always connected online, broadband connection gives almost a limitless supply of software through file sharing. The peer to peer (p2p) networks are best described as forms of digital communism. Further discussion is out of scope here though. Broadband helps is fast data transfers that these networks need for file sharing. Entertainment is a big business now. TV shows and live web casts are possible through broadband. This means that one can record a program of your choice and playback whenever feasible. This concept is taking US by storm with the development of TiVo. With the current speeds, this seems to be far-fetched idea in India. I believe that Reliance has collaborated with Microsoft to get this technology to India. The concept would take time to get off the ground.

However, the real broadband can potentially transform India into a knowledge-based economy. The movement towards a paperless office would be a reality. E-governance would soon happen. This means that the government offices would be interlinked with a central server and requesting files over the network. This distinct possibility has already been set up in Andhra Pradesh. The entire land records have been digitized and set up on the network. This removes any scope for ambiguity. ITC also set up its e-chaupals network linking through VSATs. This has had an amazing effect on the local economy, as the farmers are able to get a higher price for their produce.

The connectivity can do wonders for self-employment. With falling prices for computers and laptops, working at home is a distant possibility. This is particularly useful in metropolitan cities where increasing traffic jams take a huge amount of time and effort in commuting from one end to another. Work could be moved from one part of the city or country through networks. Employment through setting up of cyber cafes has revolutionized the way Indians access electronic resources.

Health care remains one area that could potentially benefit from broadband. Regular web casts of continued medical education helps the doctors to update themselves without leaving their practices. That too, in the comfort of their homes. There is a pilot project in United Kingdom, which monitors the asthma and diabetes management using web cameras over broadband networks. This has the potential to reduce the caregiver costs and hopefully reduce the burden of the doctors in the resource intensive settings. E-Healthcare can help doctors sitting in far flung areas to have a second opinion in case of complicated management. The first initiative was again taken by Apollo hospitals as means of outreach in the far-flung rural health centers. Traditionally far-flung villages have been left out of the outreach of health care initiatives. Broadband reach can effectively mitigate the problem to a large extent.

Broadband can of course help one to update about the latest advances in medicine. Increasingly resources are being freed for the developing countries, which mean that it is possible to update with the best in the field. I have personally found my own horizon expanding while interacting with doctors from other countries.

Businesses tend to benefit the most. Trading online in stock markets and up to minute news and tracking becomes a reality, broadband remains imperative. Industrial units needing to set up networking to track inventory or implement virtual networking tend to maximize their profits on their investments. Of course the BPO units employing the maximum number of fresh graduates. Even if the model is flawed, yet it is generating employment.

Another fascinating development is Voice over Internet protocol. Vonage in US is offering traditional calls over broadband networks where plans include unlimited calls across US for a flat monthly fee. Cisco India has recently started offering VoIP across the company’s network. Of course, they need to be connected to broadband networks. The icing on the cake is the p2p VoIP called as Skype. It has challenged the traditional phone networks. It offers free unlimited calls to any other Skype user across the world. This is an excellent avenue for saving on those international calls. VoIP has progressed tremendously and over the broadband networks, the voice clarity is almost similar to the ones over the traditional network.

As I mentioned broadband access has untold benefits. However, it so frustrating when authorities restrict access to the same according to what they think is right. It is not the matter of time though. Already 50+ years have elapsed and we are still bound with the developing country tag. If the popular perception about India is not as an IT superpower or that India aspiring to have a greater role in the world affairs, then perhaps I am willing to be insulted in the name of Internet access. High prices should not be a dampener for a broadband revolution that has to happen now! I came across somewhere on the forums where a Japanese advertisement had been translated. It said “Still stuck at 56 Mbps? Move up”!

Where are we in India stuck up at?

Discuss on: Sify Broadband, Tata Indicom, Airtel Broadband, Reliance Broadband, MTNL – BSNL Broadband, Dial Up, Others

This post was submitted by Dr. Abhishek Puri on the Broadband Blog on Techwhack.

Advertising Trends in Indian Telecom

Published on 09th Feb 2005 in General Thoughts and Indian Telecom. 2 Comments Tags: , , , , , , , , , , , , , , , , , , , , , .

Advertising Trends in Indian Telecom

The way telecom firms advertise, gives an approximate idea about the telecom trends. I would try to uncover some of them, which come to my mind. At the initial launch of the mobile services, they were advertised as lifestyle products. The message that sought to be conveyed was that if you have a mobile phone, you have arrived in life. A few well-healed people could afford the high call rates at that time. It was in no way for the masses. I am sure that the mobile companies made a large profit out of it. Perhaps for the first time, Indians were exposed to concepts alien to them: Customer Care Support. It saw a booming of the ancillary services and fresh graduates, stunted in mental development though, came out in droves for the well-paid jobs.

Airtel then sought the services of Sachin Tendulkar. He was the brand ambassador and saw his earnings sharply increasing. I saw his picture everywhere exhorting me buy the mobile prepaid card. After the initial publicity passed away, A.R. Rahman gave his now famous tune. All the other companies have variously tried other gimmicks to sell their connections.

However, the landscape changed after Reliance came in the mobile services. Mukesh Ambani was seen telling people about his fathers dream. The initial launch was lackluster. With the launch of the prepaid services, the punch line was “mujhme hai who baat” or “I have that thing!” I wonder how many people actually signed up after those ads. I believe that it was solely because of the “Monsoon Hungama” that Reliance was able to ramp up its numbers. Then came the ad line “Kar lo duniya muthi mein”. (Have the world in your fist). I remember that this became the butt of dirty jokes on the GSM networks! So much for imagination of creative heads of the ad agency.

The icing on the cake goes to Hutch. They designed the simple ad with the kid and cute Chinese Pug. It was a hit of all sorts. It conveyed the effectiveness of the message succinctly. I believe that it drove Hutch’s connections across the places where it offered its services. However, it was considered too elitist for the masses. The advertisement should be able to convey the message effectively; one with which people could identify with. In this regard, BSNL could claim something. BSNL’s advertisements depicted typically government mentality for awarding the contract to lowest in the tender process. The quality clearly shows. Is there anyway people could identify themselves with that advertisements? What of those places where BSNL is the sole service provider?

As the title goes, advertising trends are reflective of the current scenario in telecom. Airtel has been advertising its group card labeled as Friends. In fact, until now, the market was treated as homogenous. Over the period, classification has been sought to target the specific customers with specific needs. Airtel took the lead in announcing Senior citizen cards targeted at those above 60. The “Friends card” is for those who wish to restrict themselves to their group with low calling rates and some free messages.

Reliance has realized early on about targeting the businesses. Its offer of flat rate for making STD calls to anyone across its network is unparalleled. This way it can ensure that there would be higher converts towards it services. R-Connect is its portal that differentiated Reliance early on from other operators. It knows that future revenues are going to come from value added services. This way it has foreseen the development in the industry.

Following this, Airtel introduced its Airtel Live! I guess so have the other operators across board. The voice calls would not yield much as much as revenue as would the value added services. Hence, for the same reason they have introduced value added cards, which would help to download ring tones and other fancy stuff.

This is the reason I have always insisted that Telecom operators should get bullish on data services. 3G mobile services look good as technology demonstrators. Until the time, the prices for the 3G enabled handsets fall down to manageable levels, it would not take off. I believe that it takes up a large chunk of the scarce spectrum, which does not make any sense to introduce. WAP and GPRS were heavily promoted but have been more or less non-starters. The real differentiator would be the quality of services, cheap offering if these companies have to venture in the rural areas and the reach of the network.

In this regard, the division of India in circles is not in the right spirit. It should be taken as a homogenous land mass. The day is not far when it would be local call to call anywhere across the nation. Reliance has made this possible to some extent.

Discuss on: Sify Broadband, Tata Indicom, Airtel Broadband, Reliance Broadband, MTNL – BSNL Broadband, Dial Up, Others

This post was submitted by Dr. Abhishek Puri on the Broadband Blog on Techwhack.

The influence of Reliance Infocomm on the Indian Telecom Scenery

Published on 08th Feb 2005 in General Thoughts, Indian Telecom and Reliance Broadband. 0 Comments Tags: , , , , , , , , , , , , , , , , , .

The influence of Reliance Infocomm on the Indian Telecom Scenery

Reliance industries have straddled the Indian economy like a giant. Dhirubhai Ambani knew the value of political contacts. There was a write up on him recently, which Rediff had carried out. It is clear from his public pronouncements that he valued political contacts for furthering the established businesses. For the same, he was known to have “managed the environment”. In effect getting regulatory approvals from the hair brained idiots who had choked the growth of the industry because of their narrow vision. How he created the world’s largest grassroots refinery at Jamnagar, Gujarat is a story in itself. Reliance has always thought big and achieved its aims; the one it sought out to do.

However, platitudes apart, the thrust of the post is on the telecom venture. I had earlier mentioned the concept of choke point. Having interests in the petrochemicals, Reliance has artificially raised the ceiling prices for its products. This has a detrimental effect on the economy. The monopoly does not affect us directly, and out of scope here. Yet the basic ingredient of this post is that Reliance is capable of leveraging its might to capture the market at any cost.

Realizing the potential in Telecom early on, Reliance set out its GSM network in the Northeastern states. However, that was the pet project of the younger brother and is not really much in the news. I had heard someone that the customer service remained excellent, yet the prices were excessively high. I may be wrong since it was not a direct experience. However, these people know the value of first mover advantage that I have been repeatedly mentioning. This explains their breakneck expansion in areas where BSNL had set up their exchanges. By the end of the year, they hope to cover 3/4th s of Indian land mass.

Reliance got a fixed operator license and used the same to provide “mobile” services. The head on collision arose with the GSM operators when Reliance offered, “Roaming” facility using its call divert feature. After the outcry settled down, the government of the day announced a change in the telecom policy and ushered in the ear of unified services. The timing of course is a suspect. Reliance got the spectrum dirt-cheap by paying the license fees for fixed line services. They converted the same into full-fledged mobile services by paying a meager amount that did not hurt them in any way; given the massive plans of 25000 crores investment. Contrast the existing GSM operators who outbid in their enthusiasm to provide “cheap” services to Indians.

The initial foray to provide services was a dampener. The demand projection was over projected and advertising was slack. Then came in the all-infamous Monsoon Hungama scheme, which saw the fastest addition of mobile customers’ Indian telecom ever saw. The reason why it was “infamous” was that people signed on in little realizing the fine print when they would have had to surrender their phones. The billing system threw up glitches that took a long time to rectify. I feel that Reliance’s strategy was right considering that it has healthy mix of post paid and pre paid customers. In fact, unlike GSM operators, who relied on pre paid services to ramp up volumes, Reliance has a winner at its hands.

The launch of pre paid created the real buzz in the market. The prices saw a real drop across board for all the customers. I believe that part of the reason why people remain with the previous operators is that they do not wish to change their numbers. If the number portability across the networks becomes a reality, it would be a serious competition to other established GSM players.

Driving the growth is Reliance’s strategy to dominate the entire spectrum of Telecommunications market. With this objective, it bought over Flag telecom. It laid down its optic fiber throughout the length and breadth of the country. Very soon, it may be launching its broadband. In fact, from insider sources I gather that it may be as early as next month. Yet, the same can be postponed, and cannot be said with certainty. In the scheme of the things, they plan to offer streaming video and triple play over the optic fiber.

All this points towards their quest for dominance and act as choke points. Any ISP needs a gateway; it would have to go to Reliance. Any operator needs a gateway to route its international calls, would have to go to Reliance. Any customer down the line needs to access cable TV services would have to go to Reliance. It is a distinct possibility because Reliance is very aggressive in its approach towards customers.

The financial engineering that its owners did is a case that stands out like a sore thumb. By routing investments illegally, Mukesh Ambani made sure that the Reliance investor indirectly invested in his telecom business. The same was reported extensively in Business World. Though the company has denied such claims, it remains to be seen how this could be sorted out. The matter had barely settled when Reliance was accused of diverting the international calls as local in order to avoid paying the Access Deficit Charge. It is surprising that despite all these events, Reliance managed to get award for corporate excellence! None other than by Business World! Irony of fate; sad reflection on the state of media.

Admittedly, there many issues that need to be pointed out, yet this venture of Reliance is worth looking out for. If media reports are to be believed, Ambani might just sell this off given the right valuation. This remains the topic of speculation and I do not wish to go further in the same.

Discuss on: Sify Broadband, Tata Indicom, Airtel Broadband, Reliance Broadband, MTNL – BSNL Broadband, Dial Up, Others

This post was submitted by Dr. Abhishek Puri on the Broadband Blog on Techwhack.

India as an Information Technology Giant

Published on 06th Feb 2005 in General Thoughts. 0 Comments Tags: , , , , , , , , , , .

India as an Information Technology Giant

Is India an IT superpower? Unfortunately, there is not much of truth in it. The reason is that the actual ground realities are not visible to anyone because the truth is swept under the carpet. It is very convenient to do so because the bosses and the media are hand in glove. Each time I see one of their ilks making forceful and forward looking statements, I have a reason to call their bluff. The IT industry comprises of multitude of companies offering consultancy services or call centers. The apex body is NASSCOM (National Association of software and Service Companies). This is more like a trade union with an official sounding name. NASSCOM has friends in the media. Hence its very easy to deflect the attention from the problems that plague the industry .I have never come across any business magazine or newspaper that has laid bare the truth about the innards of this ghetto.

It can be worst-case scenario described as one. This is because the salaries on board are far less than what a techie elsewhere would be drawing .These are in fact glorified sweatshops that have spawned all over. If Nike and Adidas are doing the same, drawing on the lower salaries paid to the third world countries; these IT companies are no different in employing cyber coolies. However, they feed on the “intellectual capital”. Despite the presence everywhere, these companies have not made an appreciable dent over the employment scenario. The major reason is the job attrition that remains a high on an average of 44%. This means that almost 44% of the people joining in the first year leave the company. Surely, there must be something wrong somewhere.

The companies have started of innovative schemes to lure back the same employees that have left the industry. However, increasingly burns out cases are frequent. Who has the right to feed on the same? However, in the current euphoria Indian IT is considered as a superpower.

Now, for the bitter reality. India has the least PC penetration in the world. The sad fact is that the taxes which remain so high on the computer components. In the previous budget, the Finance minister gave a sop for reducing the prices. However, an analysis of the same revealed that it was merely eyewash. For an effective IT policy, it should envisage almost zero duties on the computers .If you cannot make it cheap, what is the use of crying yourself hoarse.

The internet access remains a bugbear. I have often felt frustrated about the pathetic access, which plagues this country. Insofar there is no ISP has willingly stuck out its neck and gave a cheap and simple access. I had earlier mentioned that corporates are able to extract deals that help them to penalize the service providers in the event of downtime. Such luxury for the home users is unthinkable. In fact, it is as if these companies are doing us a big favor by providing connectivity. In this hoopla, how has this affected the common man on the street? I am sorry to say but in no positive manner whatsoever. However, dialup remains the main mode of access when the world is talking of broadband. Dial up that sucks big time. I have had frequent disconnections each time (BSNL) and no complaint resolution. Broadband access is very different. The recent launch of broadband by BSNL was as if a baby strangled before it could gasp for breath. Why is it that these people like to sit over the infrastructure that is created out of public funds? It’s not to say that the entire corporation has a hung up attitude. The fact remains that the lowermost level of staff is still coy about the fact that their jobs are safe. Making them accountable for the lapses would surely go a long way in changing the situation somewhat.

The optic fiber has reached in majority of homes across US. This is not the way here in India. The broadband penetration remains awful. The recent statistics indicated that it is to the tune of 0.04%. However, despite the announcement of broadband policy, it has not made any difference to the bosses at all. So much for being an IT superpower!

The fact of the matter is that the authorities would like to keep the issue at status quo. In the past 5 years that I have been tracking this industry, there has not been a commendable action on ground. Further, the fat cats seem to enjoy tax-free dollars that come with the outsourcing. This has not resulted in the increase in spending in this country nor have they contributed effectively to the nation building. If employment given by the size of InfoSys or Wipro is any indication, it is still a cause of concern. I guess the CEOs of these firms seem to be poster boys with media fawning on them. They seem to hang on their every word as if their life depended on it. How much of it is paid exposure, which remains a secret. I have a reason to believe that there is a huge market for media management. Exclusive press leaks for friendly journalists or jet setting on the companies accounts are few of the rewards. All you have to do is to elevate these sweat shops and make them venerable.
The coincidences cannot be ignored. This also reflects the need to be aware of the reality, which is far from visible. We need to be vigilant that whatever media is offering for mass consumption; not to be taken on face value.

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This post was submitted by Dr. Abhishek Puri on the Broadband Blog on Techwhack.