As per the media reports, the mobile number portability is delayed because BSNL and MTNL were not ready for it.

In any case, I am toying with the idea of filing a second RTI application but my attention is fixated on academics and it would be impossible to keep a track of the same. In case anyone among the readers feels motivated enough, please let me know through feedback on drapuri (at) gmail (dot) com and I would happily guide the way out including help with drafting of the application.

Trust me, you’d feel very happy with the process to move the sarkari machinery in motion to respond to you. The idea is to inundate these idiots with RTI applications and make them realize that their own regulations are being flouted.

The context of the RTI application should include pointed questions towards mobile number portability, relevant orders to the same, procedure outlined, whether the telecom operators are filing compliance reports, copies of those reports, penalties to be imposed on operators who delay, cause of delays and what action has TRAI taken to ensure compliance with the erring operators.

This is important because TRAI’s own rules are being flouted, mobile number portability would have benefited the incumbent operators and the biggest losers would have been the Government Operators. With delays in capacity expansion, BSNL is already loosing market share. But then, who cares?

The entry of private operators hasn’t really shaken up the market. With perhaps per second billing as the highlight of the year, there is nothing else to speak of. In any case, it would not result in “drastic savings” because of the complex interconnect and termination charges. We don’t really know how we are being scammed.

A further highlight of the proposed RTI application can be the break up of the call rates and the scope for reduction of the same. The operators are dependent on voice revenues to a large extent; data and VAS accounts for a growing percentage of revenues, but as per media reports, not good enough to impact the bottomline in any significant manner. Therefore, the scramble is on to protect the cash cow; at any cost because the customers can be MILKED.

The big question really is: How much profit is really profitable?

One in every third prepaid subscriber is fake. If this isn’t “chilling”, it ought not to be to you dear readers because I have been asserting here that the valuations of these companies have been artificially bloated.

Of course, it wouldn’t be affecting the execs in their plush offices because it is the deceit that keeps them comfortably on their asses. During a routine criminal investigation in Haryana, the police discovered huge number of connections in a single person’s name. After further probes, they discovered that a number of telephone connections had been booked in the name of fictitious entities. In simple lay man’s terms it means that anyone could potentially “misuse” the phone numbers without the fear of being traced.

The Haryana police booked a couple of Airtel employees and it took considerable resources (my guess) to avoid a PR disaster for them. The whole matter seems to be subdued and suppressed and talked off only in hushed up tones. It is not getting the attention it deserves. By rough estimates, if the proper physical verification takes place now, it would shave off one third of the numbers which the companies gloat about. No wonder, Ramachandran, COAI chief, is keen only for the random verification of the subscribers. They cite huge logistics problems for the same.

This has grave implications for the internal security of this nation. In the name of driving up subscritions and ramping up subscribers, the norms have been thrown out. It didn’t apply to them in the first case either.

Getting a pre paid is simple. One has to furnish a “proof” of residence/ photgraph. That’s it. No questions asked. The “verification” is done at the level of the shopkeepers who is supposed to know the local residents. A little “consideration” and things get rolling for a new connection. Prepaids cannot be traced to the original subscribers and the SIM card can be destroyed and a new one had.

Post paid norms are tougher and no wonder, I get to hear delays on the part of the companies to verify everything at their end.

This wouldn’t be solved overnight and is a clear cut violation of licensing norms. Why haven’t their licences been cancelled?

New Delhi offers a study in contrasts. On one side, in the heart of Lutyen’s Delhi, the ministers reside in their posh bungalows, with 24 hours running water, electricity, telephones, plush greenery, security and almost nil traffic to make it a serene place to be in. A little beyond the comfort zones, the ugly face of Delhi starts showing off. Ever expanding megapolis, a dying city with no basic necessities and real estate prices shooting through the roof. The city is choc a block with murderers, rapists, sodomisers, paedophiles, perverts, criminals, lawyers, media and some doctors(!). Jokes apart, this is a snapshot.

However, the purpose isn’t to highlight the mess about the city. The idea is to mention the best of the best that we ever had in India- The Delhi Metro. This offers a study in contrasts. This is the FIRST project of it’s kind that hasn’t undergone any cost over runs (I may be mistaken, but I have a reason to be almost sure of this statement). No political interference, contractors paid on time, the trains run super smooth, the stations clean as a chimp’s bum and over all it’s a different kind of a experience to be there.

Why am I excited about the project? It offers connectivity. The metro takes the shortest possible time to traverse the distance from point A to point B in air conditioned comfort. Something that could have been thought off earlier. When things came to a boil, this was the BEST way out. The other decision, I believe, is to run the public transport on Compressed Natural Gas or CNG. The environment is cleaner, much much cleaner and thanks to Supreme Court intervention, we can safely breathe in fresh air.

I am driving at the need to unshackle the constraints on public infrastructure and making the people a part of the decision making process. The way the Government has taken the “initiative” in everything. It isn’t the fact that we cannot do it. It is about doing it horribly wrong. For example, take the Defence. We were brain washed about the Light Combat Aircraft being the “best in the field”. While it cannot be denied that the project is indeed prestigious, we cannot afford the delays in cost escalations. Crores have been spent on the project and the “technology demonstrator” that flew in the skies had an American engine!

Similarly, we have a notional presence of the regulator for mobile phones and broadband. As I mentioned earlier on, TRAI is to serve the interests rather than to safe guard the interests of we as consumers. The least it can do is to highlight the present mess in telecom through media. We have the structures, but we are not enforcing the same for greater common good.

At much deeper level, what can be done? I believe that we ought to band together to make this happen. To make the public structures accountable. To bring out the information in the public domain. To be a partner for the progress of the country. The idea is to VOTE. To vote for your rights. In my opinion, the right to recall a non performing idiot should be enforced. And we should collectively demand the same. This would definitely bring in the credibilty in the existing structure. This is of course, germ of an idea; I might pick this up on some other platform.

Some day, we ought to get together and have the country of our dreams and not the flawed institutions that have been left behind.

Wrapping up the post on Connectivity. It is the connectivity of ideas and implementing them on ground. Not to accept the “fait accompli” but instead work to make it happen. Together, WE can do it.