Monthly Archive for April, 2005

VoIP is the future

Published on 29th Apr 2005 in General Thoughts. 0 Comments Tags: , , .

I intend to track down the VoIP business in India. I am aware of the potential that exists for revolutionising the tariffs which would go southwards.

The fact is that riding on the broadband boom, the VoIP( Voice Over Internet Protocol) would seriously dent the existing telecom plans. The fact is that the existing companies offering the fixed line telephony are illprepared to face the new challanges. Cisco is getting agressive over the Enterprise networks; there is no doubt that this is the future.

Bundled phones with VoIP providers( like Vonage) are a rage now. They are seriously challenging the established POTS players like AT&T. Fact is that technology would ultimately benefit the end consumers. It is the way one tends to survive in the changing scenario.

In this blog itself, I have pointed out that basic telephone line companies are jittery over the falling customer base. Hence broadband is only way out to survive. Fact that they would need time to catch the fancy is another matter altogther; in about 5 years time we could see an explosion of VoIP. It would be a common place to see PCO’s based on the same connected by high speed lines. How do these companies would respond to these challanges? Let the future answer this.

The “Dhaba Model” of Indian Telecom

Published on 29th Apr 2005 in General Thoughts. 0 Comments Tags: , , , , , , , , .

This blog allows me some degree of freedom to share my own personal experiences.

I had been to a “dhaba”( road side eatery in literal terms) here in Mohali where I am based as of now. The shop owner started off with serving food and as the business grew, he added on a sweet shop. With more customers, he added a general store. Each time he made sure that personal attention was devoted to maintaining the quality of food. Each individual complaint is handled personally and the prices are rock bottom. Ostensibly he believes in low margins high volume business which is far more profitable from what he would earn if he sold his stuff at fancy prices.

Important to note this is that there is no “image problem”. The fact is that families flock in and so do the people who just “hang out” there.

How is it relevant to Telecom blog? Well, for long I have been stressing on Telecom business in India. This is what I would call it as the “dhaba model” of selling products. As you introduce the plain vanilla telecom service of connecting people, value added services provide the crucial differentiation factor including the possibility of charging exclusive prices.

Riding on the advertising boom, Airtel declared huge profits. Well, frankly I am not impressed. First there is no way that their claims can be verified or atleast I am not aware of the same. Then, I have been reiterating the fact that Airtel may finally be sold off to fund Bharti’s plans in infrastructure where arguably more money can be invested for higher returns. Airtel has been consistent in huge ad spends without being able to increase it’s Average Revenue Per User(ARPU)- this fact that they deny having any importance now.

Reliance has been able to peneterate the market effectively. The believe in the dhaba model of selling. I see their advertisements only when they come out with any new scheme. Infact, very straightforward billing systems. I know that there is a potential for controversy here; fact remains that I am satisfied with their services.

Ultimately, for any new player, this dhaba model is important. This is one way that these companies can survive instead of coming out with promotional offers which does nothing but confuse the potential and existing customers. Infact there is a big scope for cheating too. One never knows that plan shifting is done without the consent or knowledge of the customer.

TRAI is sleeping over it, no doubt.

TRAI- Is it the real Boss?

Published on 28th Apr 2005 in India Broadband News. 2 Comments Tags: , , , , , , , , , .

Another one of those idiocies that plays out in Indian Telecom market.

TDSAT has scrapped the order for reduction of International bandwidth rates; clearly flies in the face of logic to increase the broadband peneteration. This order comes in from retrospective effect. So we all know that it was fools day annoucement. I was guarded in my enthusiasm since I was sure that VSNL would appeal; it won too is a double whammy. A blow again to the cheap broadband access.

As per the article in Economic Times it says that TDSAT wanted TRAI to divulge in a transparent manner as to how the cut in the rates were affected. Further the article says “According to VSNL, the price ceiling set by TRAI was below the basic cost of the company”.

VSNL lost out its monopoly status in carrying international calls to BSNL. Then, it has lousy orientation to the end user and individual customer. Despite it’s advertisements, they clearly need to lead the focus on Internet if they need to survive. Frankly I feel that they have hired a good legal team which was able to force the TDSAT to go against the national interests. Being a monopoly, it feels that it can abuse it to any extent.

Strange strange. No word from Reliance or Airtel. Is it that they are sitting quiet and watching. Or is it that they would not open up themselves at this juncture. Or they have quietly ganged up together? No word from them so far. Of course, the Media would be slow to react as always and fail to question the motives behind this.

GSM majors cut roaming rates

Published on 27th Apr 2005 in General Thoughts. 0 Comments Tags: , , , , , .

This account appears in Rediff which says that despite the cut in the mobile roaming tariffs, they are high enough still

I had earlier mentioned about the high roaming charges being the bane of this industry. Whatever they may claim, it is clear from this account that profit motives by any means is their motto. Agreed the interconnect charges remain a bugbear; yet there is no justification for the high tariffs at present.

One day, TRAI may exert itself more forcefully on ensuring complaince with the same. Meanwhile, Reliance has the lowest roaming charges in the industry; BSNL charges none from it’s customers. This may be explained for those operators who have their own networks. Airtel has its own, yet it believes in spending more on Customer acquistion rather than retaining customers.

Wait and watch more on this madness in the times to come.

HFCL Connect- Running out of Luck?

Published on 26th Apr 2005 in General Thoughts. 0 Comments Tags: , , , , , , .

I was surprised today to read advertisement by HFCL Connect to expand it’s services.

The fact remains that it is a marginal player in Punjab. I was under the impression that recent spurt in advertisements across Punjab was to attract customers and shore up it’s valuation. Nothing could be more far from truth. Given the fact that Airtel entered Punjab with a firm commitment to dominate the Broadband market. There was a clear trend in the market that Airtel would buy out HFCL in order to avoid duplication of infrastructure. The fact is that while there is a clear market for expansion in Wireless, Fixed line is more or less in a limbo. That had prompted BSNL to offer it’s broadband and speed up the deployment. It is expected to touch Mohali by the end of this month.

Connect suffers from the same syndrome as others do; they consider giving out bandwidth as a matter of doing a favour rather than actually serving out the customers. Faced with a lousy customer service and private initiative that had gone horribly wrong, their tarriffs are opaque; no transparency. It was in recent weeks that I started hearing about HFCL Connect in a new light; they had improved their biling and reduced the time frame to address complaints.

For how long can they sustain themselves? Spice Punjab has announced plans to expand in other markets. Connect is opening up it’s browsing centres on the pattern of Reliance Web World. While this is belated entry, it is enough to attract puppy crowds towards what they call as Broadband. It seems that much of the time is spent on chatting. So much for the “millions of Internet subscribers” do to access Internet. It cannot be generalised but a cross section of the surfers mainly use for Emailing and the like. A minorty are power users. It remains to be seen as to how HFCL survive.

Airtel hasn’t made any major moves in the market so far. Watch this space.

Why Creative Commons Licence?

Published on 26th Apr 2005 in General Thoughts. 0 Comments Tags: , , .

Why Creative Commons Licence?

The fact remains that information flow should not be restricted. I have faced many hurdles in accessing information from Internet. As a result of the same, I became a strong votary of Open Access which seeks to disseminate information widely, specially to low income nations.

Copyright issues are sought to be protected in myriad ways. Companies set up subscriptions or set up barriers to information therein. I can justifiably claim that Techwhack is one website that seeks to reflect the Telecom Scenario in an unbiased manner. I had already mentioned a disclaimer that we are not affiliated to any company nor seek any representation. Our purpose is not to malign anyone; we only aim to hold up the mirror to the mess in Indian Telecom. Blogs should serve the purpose of alternative medium of information, rather than report extensively on the Industry moves and shakes.

Why Creative Commons licence? I believe that the content herein is free to be copied, provided the source is credited for. By my own admission, I get information on the trends in Telecom from varied sources; unfortunately I cannot rely on any one of them. Hence, I chose to opt for Creative Commons rather than more restrictive Copyright.

I am glad that Sushubh shares my opinion on the same; we strive to report in an independent manner.

VSNL co branding to survive

Published on 25th Apr 2005 in General Thoughts. 0 Comments Tags: , , , .

It is a known fact that Windows by itself is a lousy operating system. It needs those massive doses of support software without which it is a sitting duck. I remember the first time I ran Windows XP without the mandatory Zone alarm, within 5 minutes, there was a spyware lurking behind somewhere. That I junked it and shifted to linux is another story.

The point here is that VSNL has tied up with Trend Micro to to provide anti virus solutions How would it help?

First by direct promotion of Trend Micro which has recently set up it’s shop here for it’s popular PC Cillin anti virus. They are relying heavily on paid media exposure to sell their product. Hence, the repeated mention. Plus, given the fact that majority of the users are on Windows, it would give them an instant recognition to a captive audience- those who remain online and are vulnerable to attacks.

Add to this, VSNL would have something to crow about the “customer service” orientation. This is horse shit and everyone knows about it. Yet, the attractively priced dossiers would go a long way to “earn them new customers”.

A better way would have been to educate the customers about the pitfalls of using Windows. They could have co branded cheap used systems with a working version of Linux. It is a distribution nightmare; noone wants to take bull by the horns indeed.