I hate to end on a pessimistic note.

The year 2006 was in many ways a sad reflection on the telecom trends. We haven’t been promised the Mbps speeds; Reliance isn’t scaling up; Airtel is becoming slouchy like BSNL; BSNL has refused to up the stakes for others; TRAI is being subverted and we are seeing an all out war for consolidation of oligopolies.

The consumer, i.e. you has already won the asshole of the year award and this isn’t the right tone for shifting in a new year. How so much I try, I hate to admit that there is no “India shining” anywhere around here. Not atleast with the Congress in power.

Yet, the promise is around the corner. We would be f***ed harder for our hard earned money, the congestion in the networks is bound to grow and with the increased entry of the telecom majors, our national security is up for a song. A country like Pakistan just has to turn off our vital communications set up and we would be on our knees in any time.

If I can see the “predictions” right, Reliance is going to slow further on it’s landline business. Arguably, it is a business proposition which is on a loosing wicket; BSNL’s monopoly is well entrenched. Reliance’s CDMA business is not giving it’s returns (I suspect) which should have been well profitable much more than their expectations. GSM provides the scale because it makes it easier to fudge with the sale of the GSM cards and show increased number of subscribers. Its all about valuations and gloating rights.

Much of it has already been explored in the earlier write ups.

What we basically need is the power back to the consumer to take effective decisions.

As we move in the new year, the sale of Hutch is imminent. There are many suitors for the slut and who gets the “cake” is difficult to predict. It’s making headlines for all the wrong reasons. Whether or not it is the “new wave” of Indian Telecom is for you to decide.

On the high note, most of you have asked me about the swearing on here. I believe that this delivers the message far more effectively than saying that I am frustrated by the lack of serious pace around here. Our collective wisdom collapses like the Indian cricket team; which in my opinion mirrors the Indian psyche effectively. We are all bunch of wimps when it comes to taking effective decisions for ourselves.

I believe that the next thrust of the growth would come from the wireless Broadband (or whatever crappy name you want to give it). As the telcos scale up investments in “air” (literally), the growth of Wifi would perhaps mirror the growth in the number of subscribers. However, with a low user base of laptops or access points, I may be contradicting myself. WiMax is all hot air though.

As for the BSNL Broadband, the promised Mbps speeds are in order. Though they are only offering it for Bandwidth on Demand. The unlimited plan subscribers are out of the ambit for the time being. I think, the games portal would be up soon and we’d see even higher latency times for them. IPTV has made it’s presence felt this year; I still have to get a positive feedback from the users. If this is not backed up with a portal for one access, it would be a sheer waste for access. Indians aren’t really getting around and spending cash online. It would need a technology enabler to make this happen. Much like the IT hype (which is of no fucking use to this nation), the telecom hype is bound to peter away.

Sigh.

Still, I hope the new year brings forth happiness and cheer in your lives. For me it is majorly a chnage of calendar; I still have to go for my rounds tomorrow!