This is unrelated post here though. I decided to put up so that it helps others to avoid unwanted calls and sms.
Since I am using Nokia E63, I came across two very nifty applications. One was Advanced Call Manager which blocks all incoming calls not listed on your phone book. You can selectively choose the “white list” or the “blacklist” to filter out the calls. The other is a SMS Manager which works on the same premise.
It’s worth it and has saned my life to a large extent.
Ha! This was totally unexpected. BSNL has alleged that TRAI’s faulty policies are hampering it’s growth across various circles. It was big news but then allegations are difficult to prove otherwise.
A much more prudent option would be to analyze the situation and fix the guilty party. TRAI, to my understanding remains out of bounds for the general public. A public body ought to formulate the policies by LISTENING to them rather than stick around in isolation. Yet, it remains open to lobbyists of all hues and the post retirement bonanza is always an option for the retiring bureaucrats.
Remember Baijal? He had done nothing revolutionary while in TRAI but the worst part was that he went on to join some kind of a rag tag consortium of the private players as a “facilitator”. The exact details elude me since I had read this in one of the weekly magazines (for which I don’t have time now). Loosely translated, it is the big boys club where they are known for their wheeling dealings and lobbying since these guys are fully aware of the levers of power.
What this means for you and me? It means that SMS would be atrociously charged even though it is FREE for the telecom companies; customer care is a farce because these are fronts for these companies as the real buggers hide behind the smokescreen and your hard earned money is being palmed off easily.
My mail in response to Sunil Jain’s write up in Business Standard was published recently (in fact quite a lot of them though). I had clearly mentioned that BSNL does not lack the expertise to roll out the networks but rather it has been ham handed by TRAI and the network expansion plans locked up in court battles which stunts it’s growth. This means that a poor coverage of the private players in rural areas continues as it is because these bastards won’t let the others grow. This also means that behind the glitzy advertisements, your over dependence on these players is being taken for granted and for a ride.
TRAI needs to be dismantled or radically overhauled. It’s time that companies like BSNL speak out against them.
I am putting up the published email in it’s entirety.
The real reason for the loss of market share is the ham handed policies
and has nothing to do with lack of an opportunity. For over many years,
BSNL’s expansion for over 40 million lines for GSM has been held up in
court cases or stuck because of the objections of various ministries. This
speaks volumes about the operational efficiency of the PSU’s.Mr Jain’s write up clearly points the anomaly. The entry of private
telecom players is welcome because they have worked hard to improve the
teledensity. However, this has definitely come at a cost to Indian
industry. None of the telecom equipment is manufactured in India and we
are dependent on the big majors from the Western world. Broadband as a
metric for the GDP languishes. Mobile connectivity based on voice alone
would not contribute to their kitty based on low ARPU’s; most of the
mobile operators have shied away from creating custom applications for
shoring up the value added services. Finally, having a private operator
does not mean that services are automatically ensured. There are a large
number of forums where people recount their horrible experiences with the
telecom operators; no one seems to be wiser than the other.All of this to be kept in mind before they can get a clean chit. The real
public sector needs to be shored up, given operational freedom to choose
with the best practises and ideally no interference from any quarter. This
would be a fair enough ground to test for the acquisition of customers.
Further, the PSU needs to shed their complacency in case they need to
survive instead of relying alone on the taxpayers money.
The earlier avatar was “meh”. Even though I was a “satisfied” customer because Mukesh Ambani’s concern had licked off my hard earned money ( and I wasn’t a man enough to admit it), I was happy to get rid of Reliance. The second time I chose Reliance for it’s unlimited call offer but the fact was that it had a PATHETIC coverage. Repeated emails or customer care complaints were to no avail.
Fuck them.
I was indeed surprised to read about Mukesh’s foray in the telecom business. This time in Broadband. Clearly there is a potential but he’s opted for Wimax delivery. It was all about Dad’s dream (as claimed earlier in the advertisements). It was clear to Mukesh and his team that in order to break through the clutter, they had to get something which was never heard off in the country before. Their “web stores” were one stop “digital hubs”. The idea, in theory was great. Yet, the gaming didn’t work off the way they wanted, it had severe billing issues and it appeared that Anil Ambani was interested to market the cellular version of telecom. Not the broadband variety.
Although, I am quite aware of the fact that they spent a huge packet of money to lay down the fibre optic cables and an attempt was made to provide for end to end connectivity. To add to their assholism (it is a very interesting mix of assholes trying to market something without creating a demand for it), their existing broadband plans sucked.
Any number of idiots mill around the forums to complain about Reliance but are totally unwilling to drag them to the court. You would find the same crop whining and sucking up later for the “new” wireless broadband because limited spectrum would mean that download limits would be rigorously imposed. Screwheads are aware of such issues yet claim a zillion times that they have been “ripped”.
Anyway, this interesting “brotherly rivalry” has no parallels. The billionaires with their army of lawyers are hell bent on making the “first move”. If I were in Mukesh’s telecom team, I would make the access “free”, charge for premium users and for those who wish to clog the networks, would have to pay the maximum. A free net access would mean that if your service has minimum downtime, more and more people would sign up for “premium services”. Simple logic but it’s beyond their thick skulls to understand. They are hard nosed businessmen. They think they know better.