This is owned by Maxis Telecom who had bought a controlling stake from some “maverick investor”. They are in the process of scaling up their services in North India and have look alikes of the Indian Cricket players with Dhoni in the lead.

The fact of the matter is their insipid advertisements and the awful post paid plans which make no sense in the already crowded market. At best, they could have easily offered always on Internet connectivity for a fixed monthly price or some “exciting” post paid plan with the gurantee that the network issues would be sorted out gradually.

As an independent blogger, the usual constraints to write about the companies in glowing terms is not there. I hjave always refused to accept the advertisements for the same reason. This blog remains a medium for my own opinions and I am welcome to them.

I wrote to Aircel about this blog and wanted to know an answer to a simple question as to how Aircel is better than the existing players and why should I shift to an Aircel number; even if the mobile number portability is announced. The mail was sent almost two to three months back; so far there has been no reply from them.

This means, I am forced to assume that it is staffed by some brain dead idiots who donot realise the importance of “alternative media” exposure. Specially when a blog is being indexed by Google.

Any negative (or positive) experience with Aircel? I am keen to know. Please send in your feedback or in the comments below.

Tags: Advertisement, Aircel, Aircel India, Aircel Morons, Aircel sucks, Google, Idiots, India, Internet, Maxis Telecom, Media, Mobile, Mobile Number Portability, Telecommunications India, TRAI

Miscellaneous:

Finally, a ring side view of the Telecom circus. Aptly proved by concerned people in Department of Telecom indulging in a tug of war with TRAI. There have been legal representations and intepretations about the TRAI’s mandated role; companies keeping their lawyers busy for filing in Supreme Court against TDSAT or TRAI or Government of India; even against each other.

Reliance’s break up was another major happening; I am loath to accept the fact that “youth icon” Anil Ambani hasn’t been able to deliver the goods. So far. They too have become “also rans” in the mobile sweep stakes. There was a lot of press devoted to Reliance; it’s complicated share holding pattern and behind the scenes players. It was as if the national soap opera unfolding; over shadowing even another spectacle of the Birla vs Lodha.

The only point of concern is the ubridled entry of the foreign players in Indian Telecom market. Airtel hived off it’s stake to Vodafone; difficult to make a guess as to how much Bharti’s actually own the Airtel brand. I remember a full page coverage to Bharti “who gave away his network”; in effect outsourced the same. There has been no follow up post so I wouldn’t know as to how the experiment has fared.

The oligopolies have set in; long distance telephony has been opened up; there is talk about number portabilty; much vaunted “One India” plan to have a flat rate for long distance calling. The usual denials, objections et al. Media slugfest between the different Operator groups; Wifi and Wimax talk; Sivaskaran investing in AirCell and selling of his stakes etc etc.

For this year, this blog has decided to award “ass**** of the year” title to “ole geezer” in goverment service who claimed that broadband can run ONLY on Pentium 4 PC’s. Rejoice! Such “simple folks” make my blog worth it to rant against them.

On a personal front, I would like to thank you all to come here; contribute your ideas and give me enough reason to keep blogging about Telecom. It has been a year of personal milestones for Vinu Thomas.com which saw recored 20,000 posts recently. I was proudly associated with the same as a “moderator”; something that no one relishes. Way to go Guys! The forums have become a single point source for everything related to BSNL broadband and the present moderators are doing absolutely a fantastic job. Admittedly, ISP shoutbox over there was my baby; sadly no one uses it effectively to abuse their ISP’s. Still glad that it’s hanging in there because of the novelty of the idea! Keep up the good work guys!

Finally, I feel happy to be independently blogging about the telecom shifts and shakes in India. The traffic stats have picked up and despite the obvious allurements, this blog is free of advertising. It costs us money to pay for the bandwidth as well as the backups et al. For the time being, we have been subsiding this via other websites to keep this ad free. A request to you all to click on the ads on the main Techwhack channel to keep the status quo.

Despite all this, we move on. Even in our own private spheres, the life shouldn’t stand still. Personally speaking, humans are resistant to change. We feel afraid of the changes and rather leave the life stale. We don’t realise the potential that newer techologies can have to solve the problem of old with new. Let’s change this mindset.

A Happy New Year to you all.

Tags: Advertising, Aircel, Airtel, Anil Ambani, Broadband, BSNL, BSNL Broadband, Department of Telecom, DTH, India, ISP's, Media, Mobile, Opera, Reliance, Telecommunications India, Telecommunications India, TRAI, Vodafone, Wifi

It was expected. I had mentioned it long time back that Airtel is looking to divest it’s stake in Telecom and look for greener pastures elsehwere. Notably in Agriculture. Yet, what does the entry of Vodafone means here?

For starters, they have only invested in 10% stake in Airtel. Meaning thereby that it would give Airtel some funds for expansion. The exact details for the arriving at the valuation aren’t known but then they wouldnt be known either.

Does it mean that Indian Telecom is “rocking”? No. Because, Vodafone’s strategy seems to be wait and watch. Interestingly, they haven’t applied as independent operator. That would mean buying a licence and setting up a shop here and slowly grow up scales. They just chose to invest- I believe with full knowledge that they have the option to sell of stake in the future whenever the valuation improves.

The news came in with announcement of Q2 results of Airtel. This was much less than the market expecatations and as of date, their share prices went down instead of improving.

Hence Vodafone’s investment needs to be taken with a pinch of salt.

How does this help Airtel in the long run? I believe that extra infusion of funds would help in one way. Further, they might be able to have extra expertise in value added services like content. As I mentioned, the details are not yet known.

How does it benefit Indian Telecom? Well, this comes at the heels of the expected 74% FDI limit to be announced shortly. There had been a proposal but it wasn’t notified. We might see the entry of another player- the smaller players in GSM like Aircel or Spice might decide to sell out. Or the extra funds may give Airtel the financial muscle to buy out the smaller players. They have conciosuly tried to avoid raising money from the banks or financial lenders. Reliance may well be able to hive off it’s GSM network. Though I would be thankful to anyone for providing me the details from North East and so called category C circles.

Is the euphoria warranted? Of course not. Yet, telecom experts of all hues are going to crow about anytime soon.

Tags: Aircel, Airtel, EDGE, GSM, India, Opera, Reliance, Telecommunications India, Telecommunications India, Value Added Services, Vodafone