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.

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?

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.