Monthly Archives: March 2005

Snippets from the Telecom Situation in India

Snippets from the Telecom Situation in India

At the height of the Reliance imbroglio, the brothers has split apart and all of a sudden, the complex shareholding pattern was revealed; how Reliance India Limited financed the telecom venture of the Mukesh Ambani. Once the resolution was in sight, the charges leveled by Anil Ambani camp in the media ceased to exist. I had been reiterating all the time that much of the media exposure is either paid or favors granted at a later stage. I am glad that the family has rallied behind the two warring brothers and the dispute seems to be heading for resolution. In that case, the telecom venture would land in favor of the younger brother. How would that make a difference? I had earlier mentioned that Reliance had entered in the GSM market in the North East, albeit on a low scale. What wasn’t mentioned was that it was owned and managed by Anil Ambani. By all accounts, the service quality was good enough despite being the lone service provider. I am not aware of the kind of services it offers now. Given the fact that Anil has limited exposure in Telecom, it would be worth seeing as to how he steers the company in the present times.

Clearly, he would have to carry out restructuring at the managerial levels and get in the new team. For too long, Reliance has had to pay out excess money over and above the original license fees. That it chose CDMA over GSM is not disputable. The fact is that it needs to inject urgency in the broadband roll out. BSNL is snapping up its potential customers rapidly. Let us see how this one works out. Finally, when it comes to managing the company, according to media reports, Anil Ambani is more on hands person being able to project a younger profile of the company. As I say it again, telecom is fast changing field here and it would be too premature to say as to how the company would change its fortunes for the better.

TRAI did something that was not expected out of it. It actually admonished VSNL over its decision to challenge the telecom order reducing the international bandwidth rates. For a company used to monopoly for too long, artificially high prices for International bandwidth was a cash cow. TRAI has gone on record saying that the domestic bandwidth prices are to be reduced by the end of this month. VSNL has been cut to size, for a company with Tata brand name; it paints a sorry picture when it comes to execution of projects. Suddenly in tier two cities, it develops cold feet, even though their infrastructure is excellent. But more on that later.

Would broadband become cheaper by that account? Well, as the media goes gaga over the reduced prices and paints a rosy picture of the broadband reach, let us face it. Reliance, Bharti and VSNL own the international gateways. Bharti offering its services under Airtel Broadband can easily offer unlimited data at reduced prices. Yet, it fails to do so. Bharti has always been watching the situation and drops its prices in anticipation of the loss of revenue from existing customers. I remember they had made a positive buzz in the market when they reduced the STD rates for long distance calls. However, it was already in the air that BSNL was looking forward for doing the same. It was enough to fill up the columns in the news papers as to how the true potential has been achieved in the Indian telecom market. At that time, this website was not there too, to refute the “facts”!

Bharti did it again this time with the broadband offering at Rs.249/- only. Yet, the download limit for the same? Remains a few hundred MB. Is that cheap or cost effective even for sparing use? Yet, it was enough to guarantee Airtel enough headlines. In the final analysis, Airtel has been a me too player rather than taking proactive approach in the market. For example, they could have one offering across the board. 512 kbps unlimited starter pack for a fixed sum. I would gladly wait for Airtel in that case. And BSNL would be forced to follow suit; would be “real competition” in terms of speed and customers.

The same argument goes for VSNL. Yet, one can understand their frustration. They are being forced to play on an uneven ground. Setting up a brand new infrastructure in terms of metro Ethernet is expensive. They are forced to provide DSL subscription after laying down their own loops. Herein lies the tragedy of Indian telecom. Unbundle the local loops; force the telcos to offer dirt-cheap prices for broadband access, which would have a multiplier effect in the economy. The bulk of the customers would invest in a Personal Computer only if there are guaranteed returns on investment. As people became aware of what mobile telephones can do to their businesses or perhaps to their lives, it was being considered as a worthy investment. As the benefits of the broadband trickle in over the period of time, it would virtually create a boom. This is what I analyze the trends as. Therefore, infrastructure duplication is avoidable in the long run and some day or the other BSNL would be forced to part with its local loop. British Telecom did the same thing. Yet, no one is happy in Britain with the government owned services.

The current estimate of number of broadband users is around 20-30000 only. That is indeed a minuscule percentage. The estimated number of subscribers in the next 5 years would depend on the proactive approach of the companies. Yet, the figure thrown around in terms of millions is a figment of imagination indeed. For that low cost computing is necessary. How is that possible? Well, that is another matter really. Finally Reliance broadband. The exact date is still not certain. Could be it be next month or two or by the end of the year? This is not certain at any rate as of now. Still waiting for a decent Internet access.

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.

Dial-Up Users are the Biggest Sufferers in India

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Dial-Up Users are the Biggest Sufferers in India

I am speaking on behalf of countless number of Internet users in the small towns of India. The people in the metros have enough to complain about the “broadband service providers” who do not deliver what has been paid upfront. Yet, a larger percentage belongs to the dial up subscribers who are often at the mercy of operators like BSNL.

I have been a subscriber of BSNL for as long as I can remember. The fact is that I never had any choice. Apart from high access charges (one of the highest in the world for dial up – Is TRAI listening?), the whole thing is bundled with lousy customer support. Admittedly, I have come far from the days when it took ages to connect on to the server wasting my calls in the process. Those days I had to use my connection like a sucker because I was afraid of having huge telephone bills. Repeated complaints to the “customer care centre” brought about no resolution and it was frustrating enough to bear the insults of some dead wit moron sitting at the other end.

Things changed slightly for the better when they introduced a telephone line for exclusive Internet usage. I jumped up on the same. The initial charges for my city were Rs.399/- per month. After about 2 months, they increased to Rs.499/- per month. When I enquired about the price increase in the commercial office, the clerk (one of the damned ubiquitous species in government offices) spoke as a matter of fact. He said that the corporation reserves the right to increase prices at its own whims and fancies. Later on, I realized that it has to do something with the number of exchange lines in the city. Yet, it remains by and large very expensive to surf, especially when I need to buy separate Internet packages.

The default Internet package comes with a measly 5 MB in box. Well, since it gives POP3 support, I really do not need the same. There is no provision to increase the in box space or choose any different aliases. For that, one has to depend on the web based email service providers. This in effect defeats the very purpose of a dial up based Internet, as it remains prohibitively expensive to surf or look up information.

Currently, there is no mechanism to ensure security in the service. Anyone can use any other subscriber’s details, which include user name and password. Unlike VSNL, which in its rare far sightedness, introduced crackblok security, which restricts the access number from a particular phone line, such facility is not available with BSNL.

Security is a major lacuna with BSNL.

Spam filtering at the server level is next to nil. In fact, I have been receiving much spam of late. I brought this to the notice of node in charge. His reply was simple. He said that in case I get spam, the best way to deal with it is to delete it. Ignorance is bliss in this country. Why do these ISP’s never ever bother to look in the genuine complaints of the subscribers and have some knowledgeable people hired; instead of poor vegetables?

In my city, a majority of subscribers had to surf on the normal telephone lines. This meant that for long we had to wait endlessly to either connect or buy Internet hourly packages. At times, the desired package was never in the stock and customers were forced to upgrade to expensive hourly packages. The unlimited dial up package was available for a whopping Rs.9000/-(it is still) and valid only for 6 months. Now for that kind of money I can buy a small telephone exchange for myself!

The user experience has been pathetic. There can never be a “Dial Up Blog” for BSNL because; much of the world has gone ahead in terms of broadband, or whatever “faster than dial up” version of access is. Still, I feel extremely frustrated that I am stuck up in a time warp, much because I am forced to deal with thoroughly incompetent idiots.

Ever since BSNL introduced Net-One in my city, there have been a large number of subscribers without having increase in the bandwidth. As a result the speeds tend to crawl down to a drag by midday and tend to improve marginally only during the night. There has been no resolution of the same despite my insistence that available bandwidth is not sufficient to handle the customers. The reason is that early mornings, the web access is decent enough. The response of the “engineer” was that they have mailed to the higher ups and it is a matter of time that action would be taken. Yes Sir, do you expect the bandwidth to fall from the sky? Why is that these people are so callous to do their duties? Why is that a higher up takes forever and ever to take a decision? You have to see them going on a strike in a flash when their demands are unmet. Well, that is another matter though. Yet, when it comes to delivery of services, most of them are comatose with no sense of duty towards their profession.

Realizing this early on, I was extremely happy to hear that VSNL had put up shop there. Since my number was restricted to 172xxx, I was surprised that VSNL was barred from my telephone. Howsoever I tried to contact VSNL customer Care, it was a frustrating response. I had to depend on HFCL Connect to provide me service in my area. Strange ways these people work out. Despite an assured customer, they refused to entertain any queries on my behalf. More on that later though.

Even if I want to complain to the “engineers” about the slow dial up speed, I cannot. Either their complaint number goes unanswered or the person at the other end cannot offer more than anything apart from assurances. Calling up the toll free number would only lead to more frustration since most of the complaints get resolved only on the working days. God forbid if the employees go on a flash strike. It is a possibility that cannot be ignored.

Given my own “proactive” approach, I complained to the top heads of BSNL. No one bothered to reply or at times the mail simply bounced back.

This is the state of affairs in the IT nation of the world where gross idiocies coexist with small islands of excellence. There have been enough problems with the telephone line too. Running after the lineman who would make himself scarce gave me enough insight in the working of this organization. There could be reason enough to sue the company for not providing adequate services, though I believe that this would have been a weak case. As far as I know, the company is responsible for providing connectivity. Quality of services be damned. The Internet is working as of now and this is what they wish to hear. Nothing more than that. So much for the user experiences.

In this backdrop, there is no way we as consumers could make our voice heard. It is a sad reflection of the time gone by when telephone was given out as a dole. Indian telecom revolution may be happening. Whatever the media might report the increase in numbers (which is a suspect anyway); those idiots fail to realize that quality of services has gone from bad to worse. Maybe I belong to “power users” who wish to have the services as I paid out for given to realization that my genuine complaints would be looked into. As someone said so recently, why do you complain so much Abhishek? This is India stupid.

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.

Tata Dial-Up Experience and Eternal Wait for Telecom Revolution

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Tata Dial-Up Experience and Eternal Wait for Telecom Revolution

It has been a topsy-turvy experience with Tata’s even before I became a customer! The fact is that I have been on BSNL dial up for the past 6 years without any respite from their lousy services. I have a reason to believe that all the talk about “telecom revolution” is hogwash because strictly speaking the perceived benefits have not percolated down to smaller cities at all.

My city is a Lok Sabha constituency and one of the bigger cities in Punjab. In no way it could be counted as a marginal place to stay. However, the fact remains that we have a big problem in accessing Internet. There are estimated 10000 Internet connections; a captive market by any means. Yet, there has been no scramble for customers in this place. Most of the bigger companies have ignored because of their own reasons.

My interaction with Tata started when I enquired about their packages. I got a standard reply from “customer care” stating that I have no option but to wait. This was last year. Finally, they tied up with HFCL Connect, who refused to lay down the telephone line in my area (posh enough by any standards). Repeated requests yielded no action and I gave up in disgust.

Yet, it was during this time when they built up a customer base (with the HFCL Connect customers and those who could afford to use the other phone line from BSNL). I have always known that their infrastructure is good, yet let down by shoddy marketing and incompetent staffers. All of a sudden, they withdrew from the market. Now logic dictates that they take care of their existing customers or refund the money back. Well, they did neither. Instead of giving a local number to connect their dial up, the poor customers had to pay Subscriber Trunk Dialing charges to the nearest city where their services were available. Despite all this, the customers were given repeated assurances that their matter is being looked into and finally their connectivity would be restored.

Yet, this did not happen. Finally, a proactive consumer threatened to go to the court. It was during this time that they realized (after 6 months nonetheless) that matters have come to head and they cannot take their existing customers for a ride. In the meantime, I mailed to the top head and explained to him the position on ground.

I would not say that they did not respond. When they did, I talked to certain someone who was outright in his statement that they cannot give any time frame as to when the server would be installed. I had to wait nonetheless since I was a “potential customer” and not an existing one. Therefore, in no manner I could raise my voice. It is their prerogative isn’t it, that they love to get bad press and negative publicity.

3 weeks gone by since then and nothing has changed. I tried my luck again hoping against hope that the in charge of Tata Indicom in my city would have any clue about the dial up packages; since it was pretty much in news that server is going to be installed finally.

The problem is that hired people tend to reflect the company; it is something that the HRD people should note. I mean, it is asinine to have someone who does not know about his job; is drawing salary enough. The primary interaction is with the junior level staffers and in no way it is possible to escalate the routine problems to the seniors. It only adds to their burden and frustration, which leaves no one happy.

In this regard, I came in contact with the marketing manager who insisted that I ought to have the fixed wireless phone for Internet surfing. Despite my phrasing and rephrasing the question that I wish to access Internet only through dial up, they were adamant about selling me fixed wireless terminal. I pointed out that there was some news about having their own server installed in my city for dial up access. Well, then a classical case of non-application of mind; he insisted that all the traffic is routed through Hyderabad. It was enough to piss me off and thoroughly disgusted dealing with them.

This also gave me a clue that work on installing the server is nowhere near completion and I would still be forced to use my existing BSNL Internet dial up packages. Now for the million dollar question. Why am I insisting on Tata’s and not Reliance? The fact is that VSNL has an excellent infrastructure. There is no doubt about the same. They own the International bandwidth and their own gateways. VSNL has recently introduced unlimited dial up packages, which make sense for my existing phone line. I am using the BSNL phone exclusive for Internet access; the outgoing numbers being restricted to 172xxx. It is secondary matter though that I would be paying more monthly charges than BSNL broadband; the only reason I am not picking up the same is because BSNL has so far not clarified their stand on data limits. As for Reliance. They currently have only Fixed Wireless Phones with an inbuilt modem, which does not connect to Linux that I am currently using. I cannot compromise on that for sure.

Therefore, this is Tata’s for you and their attempts to take a share of the “millions” in the telecom market. I heard that the marketing executives are hard pressed to achieve their targets. Fact is that their plans are not really exciting enough to be written about. The big question mark about the quality of infrastructure is always there. During my brief interaction with the “executives”, I came across ugly looking brick like Kyocera handsets. Well, why would someone take that? Understandably that they want to reduce the initial upfront costs but there are definitely far better looking, cheaper and functional handsets for CDMA available.

It is this strategy that has gone horribly wrong. First, they do not take care of their customers, or this is what my understanding says so. Secondly, they desperately need to scale up efficient sales team. The fact is that sales people ought to believe in what they are selling. The Indian consumer is price conscious. It is this fact that would make or break the companies in the volumes segment. Tata’s are eyeing the major volumes segment in terms of Public Call Offices or PCO’s. The retail consumer would matter if, according to them, the hapless poor soul would unquestioningly hand over the money to them. What of those customers who were existing subscribers for dial up and been given a raw deal? What of the people those who placed trust in one of the oldest business houses and in fact one of the finest; almost blindfold? It is finally a matter of principles and the way trust is handled. Unfortunately, traditional mindsets do not change over night.

I am still praying and hoping for an unlimited dial up in my city; admittedly, I have never ever seen one or ever surfed on a broadband connection sitting back in home. That is the day when it really happens. A thought that much of the market is rural; these companies have not given much thought as of now to tap in the same. As and when it happens, perhaps then the telecom revolution would justify its name. Is TRAI listening?

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.