To,
The Central Public Information Officer
Telecom Regulatory Authority of India
Mahanagar Doorsanchar Bhawan,
Jawaharlal Nehru Marg, Old Minto Road,
New Delhi-110 002
Tele: 011-23211622
Fax: 011-23213294

E-mail: ap@trai.gov.in

Sub: Application under the Right to Information Act, 2005 for information relating to Broadband Internet, Fair Usage Policies and pricing mechanism.

Dear Sir,

I am a citizen of India, and I request you to kindly provide me with the following information under the Right to Information Act, 2005 with regards to information relating to Broadband Internet, Fair Usage Policies and pricing mechanism.

1)Why the definition of “broadband” has been kept at 256kbps and not subject to revision for higher speeds? Is there a proposal to re-define the speed of broadband access? If yes, kindly provide the details of the file, notings and objections if any received from Internet Service Providers. The same to be provided in writing by way of certified photocopies.

2)What is the meaning of the term “unlimited internet”?

3)What is the meaning of the term FAIR USAGE POLICY? Has this been put up or suggested by TRAI? If yes, what is the basis for the introducing such a policy? Has the cross section of the user base been consulted before implementing such a policy?

4)Does fair usage policy violate any of the provisions of TRAI?

5)If it does, what action can be taken against errant Internet Service Provider?

6)Has any Internet Service Provider been ever penalised for violating for introducing “fair usage policy”?

7)Do the Internet Service Providers provide details to TRAI about their various broadband plans?

8)If yes, has TRAI suggested reducing the price for various plan combinations? If yes, what is the base price fixed for an unlimited Internet Connection by any Internet Service Provider? If no, is there any provision whereby TRAI can act on behalf of the customer to reduce the prices?

9) How has the tariff on unlimited broadband (1Mbps unlimited) being offered by Bharti Airtel fixed line been calculated?

I would be highly grateful if the above-mentioned information could be provided to me at my postal address within the statutory period of 30 days from the date of receipt of this application.

The requisite fee is being paid along with this application by way of postal order in favour of the accounts officer.

Should there be any additional fees chargeable as per the Act; the same may be communicated to me by e-mail or postal address with the required work up of the details as to how the increased charges are justified and how you have arrived at the calculation of the same.

Please rush the information to me by speed/registered post. If the information is not with you, please forward this application to appropriate PIO, under intimation to me. Please also provide me file notings and action taken report on this application along with your reply.

I sent them today with “Acknowledgement Due” from a post office with the requisite proof of having sent them the postal order. To my knowledge, they cannot feign ignorance; I would be following this up on a regular basis.

Here’s to the power of the people! I am bracing up for a big fight for sure.

Hence, they have bandied together to implement their “fair usage policy”.

Surprisingly and happily, it has found a mention in the mainstream media. Mint has taken up the cudgels on behalf of the existing customers and I truly laud their efforts.

There is no other way except to show a middle finger to the likes of Tatas (are they not always on the wrong end of the stick?), Airtel boffins (why are you screwing up a fantastic service) and Sify (the original buggers who have bastardised the broadband access in India). There are other smaller players who source their bandwidth (in effect work as re-sellers) and would be glad to limit the access accordingly.

Surprisingly, Internet and Mobile Association of India ( a bealagured body that is a rag tag association of the service providers) has spoken out against it’s members. It’s president (or whoever the self proclaimed titular head) has gone on record to say,

“If the service is provided under ‘broadband’ to the customers when they signed in, it cannot be reduced to 128 (kbps) since the government of India definition of broadband is minimum 256 (kbps). This is a violation of government policy as well as short-changing customers if they had signed in for a broadband service.”

Violation of government policy? Really? Which one dude?

For all practical purposes, I request the readers to sign up the petition to protest against the restrictive access. It can be found here.

We are already having a pathetic state of affairs. The frigging morons expect the users to broadband to check email alone. Thats the state of majority of the users.

Who has given them the right to limit our access? Beats me.

You can follow the news as it happens on the forums or their official website which on expected lines is full of coding errors. I understand that they have invested a lot in the unified billing. I see no sight of the expected IPTV launch.

Its one thing to have the “stars coming home”- who happen to be beautiful people with some talent to be able to market themselves effectively. Apart from that, I see no real merit in having “brand ambassadors” in a crowded segment with the competitors burning equal amount of money to get a pie in your living room.

Sadly, the DTH has not matured enough here in India. Cant we get premium adult channels on the existing networks? Or there is too much of “content regulation”. We are a nation of billion people, but mention the word “sex” and there is a “smell of controversy”.

TRAI needs to learn its lessons fast.

The size of the deal is pegged at $1.5 billion (about Rs 6,700 crore), translating into a $6-billion (Rs 26,000 crore) valuation for the company that runs networks across the country and is planning to expand into GSM mobile services in the near future. Tata Teleservices is a loss-making company. Between 2005 and 2007, its cumulative losses stood at Rs 5,604 crore

This India story has been done to death many a times. There is no real addition of the 8-9 million customers per month. It is simply not possible. Most of the metros have choked and jammed. It is saturated. In order to expand into tier B and tier C cities, telcos need funds and assured returns. For all practical purposes, I dont forsee the market “hot and happening”; although the 3G services would assure monetised returns and would ride on the value added services.

It is no secret that Tatas claim their superiority of services based on some abstract benchmarks. There are people who would swear to God not to ever think of Tatas as their service provider. Frankly, TRAI has been unable to implement its own customer friendly norms; trying to get anything out of the useless idiots manning the customer service is a herculean task in itself.

Tata is a weathered story. They have lost it and the writing on the wall is as clear as the sunlight illuminating the dark dungeons of their minds. Telecom is a failed venture and they ought to accept defeat and ship out of business.

I have a slow (and unreliable) BSNL connection at my home and a fantastic Airtel Broadband at my work place. My daily life revolves around checking my updated RSS feeds and email including the updates on Facebook. I progress to check the new updates in the journals across the world. I get all the twitter updates on my cell, although its difficult to ensure a smooth service. I use Flickr account to update my pictures and trust Opera to keep a track of my preferences, updated bookmarks and speed dial across the platforms and geographical location. I use You Tube to stream the programmes I have favourited and watched.

I dont fancy a Blackberry as yet because I dont need an expensive option to reply to emails. So by and large, I am connected and hooked to the Internet. It hasnt taken over my life as yet but I realise that connectivity can be so important to know about what’s happening in the real world.

All this has become possible recently as part of the “broadband” revolution sweeping in. This sounds like a cliche. It really is. Much of the country is in the dark as far as basic connectivity is concerned. The “deadlines” have been revised umpteen times and no one looses sleep over the fact that in the global race, Indians are left behind only because the system cannot nurture ideas. None of the applications I mentioned are hosted in India nor designed by Indians. There are a host of me too applications chasing the fragmented pie with a “desi flavour”; it remains a disappointing experience to see that they cannot even ensure coding their web sites with existing web standards.

Societal bonds would change with the increasing thrust of Internet. As geographical boundaries melt away, we are going to see an increasing collaboration of people with common interests coming on a common platform with more profusion of ideas to collaborate towards similar goals. All in all, the existing system should facilitate this interaction. Only then, we would see the true wonders of being interconnected and interaction.

Here is the write up by Mr Naveen Roy. You are most welcome to send in your feedback as well and I shall be glad to carry out the same here.

All I wanted was relocation for my Reliance Wimax connection. So I called their Customer No Care. All the automatons tell you is that you have to pay! When I really started digging for more information did they tell me that I have to take the equipment with me! Damn, I nearly missed that and god knows what I would have ended paying up for! Then I had to call and ask what the next step was. They told me that I would have to raise a relocation request. This I did. And this was done 2 days before I moved.

So I took the equipment with me and carted it to the new place. Then I called Reliance Customer No Care to find out what the status of the relocation request was. They said that it will take a week! I said ok and waited 2 days. Then when I called for an update, I was told that I will also have to pay Rs.500. Then I asked how much for a new connection. I was told that its Rs.500. I asked how long that takes. I was told that it can be done in a day. Well, I asked why there is a difference in relocation and a new connection in terms of the days. Well, the automaton there replied that it is company policy. I pushed harder for a resolution. No go. Automaton says that he cannot understand. I ask to speak to the supervisor. I am FLATLY REFUSED access to any kind of help!

I call the next day asking for the supervisor again. Again, no go. The automaton this time even accuses me of calling in just to WASTE HIS TIME!! Damn, I was so damn pissed off that I cut the call cause I am worried that I might transform myself into some electrical noise and burst his goddamned brains!

The next day, I get a call from their Customer No Care asking for my email address! When asked why, I am told that there is a form that I will need to fill up for relocation. By now, I am thoroughly and totally fuming. I ask why they don’t have it in the system when they send me the bills to my email address! When Reliance needs my money, they have my email address so that they can send me the bill. When it is something concerning service, they conveniently forget my email address! And I also ask why this relocation form was not sent to me the day that I raised the relocation request! No reply. Automaton says something that makes me want to puke in disgust. He disconnects call. Remember, I swear like a sailor. But all these calls, I have not used bad language at all. Not even calling these automatons the word STUPID. Which they all are!

Damned automaton then disconnects the call. So I call Customer No Care again and I am told that I was at fault. I am told that “Customer did not respond properly”. I said ok, thats fine. I am done with you guys.

I call Airtel, who even though they provide good service, usually do not have feasibility in many areas. Well the service desk was like a breath of fresh air and assured me that there was feasibility. I did not even have to pay a deposit as I took the corporate connection. The connection was done in 3 days and on the 4th day, there was light. Err no, the internet was working!!

Now, the joke with Reliance does not end there. Some days back, I receive an email from Reliance Broadband with my bill attached. But by now, I am not surprised. I am really frustrated. So where was my email address when the relocation form needed to be filled up?? So damn pissed off again, I send a mail to their generic customer no care email address and hope that this atleast will not be monitored by automatons. Well, wonder of wonders, IT IS!!

Well, rather than lose my head and breaking my head banging against a brick wall, I decide to take it cool and not bother about Reliance anymore. I wonder if I ever will trust Reliance in any form again! And the tag line on their service emails is – Looking forward to build a lifetime relationship with you. Like hell I would want to have a relationship with a company as this.

Makes for a disappointing story indeed. I hope that this gets some mileage and enough warning for others before they put in their hard earned money.

From close conversation, it was clear that the “engineers” are trained IT professionals. This is a drudgery job but someone has to do it. For every “colony”, there is a designated professional who handles about 10-15 complaints on an average. They offer their numbers because once you lodge in a complaint, the call gets “locked” and it is company’s hassle to resolve the issue within 4 hours. They make these claims in the advertisements and it works most of the times under ideal conditions. I was impressed with these people and their handling of the issue in a clean manner.

Airtel Broadband has a long way to go and they are selling their connections majorly on the strength of their Broadband expertise. The jury is out there and I wouldn’t be wrong in claiming that this is one of the best ISP’s in business. I have never faced a downtime; barring this issue but then this was a fault in the splitter wire worn out of use. Excellent.

Here is a message to other companies. Tone up your service levels and customer delight would follow. It only demands an attention to detail, scale up the protocols and review of the services. At end of the day, customer is the king and he deserves it so.

More details on the spat here.

I wanted to embed the clip from Ibn Live; although it works fine but sets up a pop up on this blog which links to their main website. This is very much annoying on their part but they seem to derive major parts of their revenue from these stunts. I am not much conversant with HTML to delete the line causing the pop up; I have removed the offending embeded video totally.

After Bharti, MTN chose to court Reliance. It sounds like a whorehouse. MTN is playing the perfect mistress to the hilt and has no compunctions to court customers; all in order to increase it’s share valuation. Reliance is eager to get a hold of their booty because it realises what Airtel doesn’t. It can easily scale up it’s investments in other parts of the world, negotiate for better prices of it’s equipment and telecom gear and leverage it’s investments in entertainment by offering value added services.

Anil Ambani’s fascination seems to have stemmed in from watching too many movies (1,2) and his scaling up his investments in Hollywood as well as his maiden venture Big Flix Spearheading these investments is Amit Khanna who is a failed producer of Hindi movies.

Entertainment in Indian terms is very coarse to define. Indian laws are “strict” as far as the western counterparts are concerned and what passes through the censor’s scissors is defended in terms of artistic freedom. It’s futile to comment on the various crop of heriones who serve as a fodder for casting couches but this association of money and glamour has been significant. Anil Ambani is trying to marry the two different worlds of films and telecom; hoping that it would click. He bought a chain of theatres to justify his expansion in US and hoping to fructify his couple of millions in Hollywood.

All in all his efforts to bring forth the broadband revolution have come to a naught. Long time back, I could starry eyed kids jamming on the country wide LAN and getting to play the first person shooter games. It was an idea that was well ahead of it’s time and it’s been ages literally that I have visited a Reliance Web World myself. Have they been given a decent burial? I have no clue. But Anil Ambani is very keen to scale up his investments in portals like Zapak. Not only it has a weird sounding name, it has full scale coding errors. Big Flix suffers from patchy server connectivity and it’s easier to log on to You Tube and watch a movie than suffer endlessly on Big Flix and expecting it to load up.

Movie rentals are yet untested success formula and I’d be happy to visit the neighbourhood shop owner who gives me a better service than a nameless dude giving me a DVD. If Anil Ambani really wants to make it big, he should explore the Broadband route and serve the movies from a decentralised server; single server costs would skyrocket once the service catches on. He should ensure minimum downtime and always on connectivity in excess of 5 Mbps. This is a tall order indeed and needs huge investments. Although, the returns would be manifold.

He is on the cusp of launching his DTH platform (one of his significant investments) called as BIG TV and hopes to catch up with the existing players. I don’t endorse his investments as yet; atleast not in the TV and Media (BIG FM for radio).

Can you see a pattern? He’s aiming for a cyber presence and across the cross spectrum of media. As and when private FM channels are allowed to transmit news (which would be a sad day indeed), BIG FM, BIG TV, BIG Flix et al would be at the forefront with perhaps “BIG Paper”‘ too.

If you click on the links to You Tube, you’d find his reason to marry the actress too. Sadly, she doesnt inspire him much for broadband though.

Here is the published story from Business Standard with all legal flotsam. Of note here is the following:

1) Sunil Mittal, the founder of Bharti Airtel, plans to set up a separate company in partnership with Singapore Telecommunications (SingTel) that will be the vehicle for acquisition of the South Africa-based MTN Group.

2)The SPV (Special Purpose Vehicle) may be registered in a tax-haven country, like Mauritius or Bahamas, the sources said.

3)When contacted, a Bharti Airtel spokesperson said: “We have already issued a statement and have nothing further to add to our last statement. “At this stage, MTN is not commenting further than the cautionary announcement released on May 5, 2008,” an MTN spokesperson said.

4)As equipment and software purchases are huge for telecom companies, the merger would give joint bargaining power to Bharti.

5)”The SPV would also look at listing on the New York Stock Exchange, where valuations of telecom companies are relatively higher,” said a source. The SPV would also be the vehicle for the Bharti Airtel-MTN combine’s future acquisition plans in the US and Europe.

I stand vindicated regarding my future predictions and the fact that Bharti is looking forward to leverage it’s position in purchase agreements. This is in addition to create monopolistic telephone operators which would limit the choice to the consumers.

Pity that these morons can’t extend something to Broadband initiatives. All this is being done prior to the auctioning of 3G licences. Bharti wants to have an exciting piece of this cake. Let’s see who spoils their party….