This is important for us to know that the advertising watchdog in Britain works unlike the Advertising Standards Council of India which is toothless “regulator”. No one gives a fuck to the poor sods who claim “moral high ground”.

It seems like a redundant organization; I have emailed them on previous occasions but to no avail. Till the time it is backed by a proper law, this regulation is useless. For the same reason, it is not fair that people from the same fraternity are asked to draw up legislation that is required to govern them! No wonder, it is going to be pathetic because the law by itself would have enough gaping holes to allow an elephant to pass through.

British Telecom was making fraudulent claims (as per the report) and the other “competitors” crowed and brayed to the council to retract it’s misleading claims. UK has allowed for last mile access which means that both incumbent and the company taking advantage of the same are locked in over the same set of customers. Which ultimately means that although there is a strong incentive for oligopolies, the need to grow their customer base would ultimately make them competitive.

In Indian scenario, these bastards get together on a fancy platform and whine about ‘lack of infrastructure”. Unfortunately, it needs some action of ground. Agreed that the corruption is all time high and that companies have ganged up together to throttle the gateways, still if you create enough demand for your product, there is bound to be growth in business. Mobile telephony did not happen in thin air. Companies promoted it heavily; mobiles have grown to a large extent (although the exact numbers are disputed), a genuine “demand” for SMS was created (although there is next to nothing in that space in terms of applications) and it’s now after a “critical mass” of population, has it become profitable. Although I would still dispute the notion of “cheapest fares” which is essentially crap claim.

The same has to be done for Broadband. UK remains a bad example of telephony regulation. Although it is “developed” but large swathes of this tiny nation are lying in the dark (in terms of broadband coverage). BT has feasted on taxpayers money just like our home grown BSNL. Yet, some of the organs of government DO work there.

More on BBC coverage.

Tags: Advertising, API, Broadband, BSNL, Corruption, fraud, India, Mobile, Mobiles, SMS, Telecommunications India

This is a follow up post to the earlier write up.

Whilst it’s difficult to update it on a regular basis, you can follow up on the news. Interestingly, there has been an editorial about the same in Business Standard and this has been followed up with my letter to editor today. Basically I have recapitulated the contents of the blog mentioned yesterday which is repetition but minus any comments on RIM and it’s crapware. The letter has been reproduced here in it’s entirety.

Dear Sir,

I am surprised that there is an opposition to ban on Blackberry. The only gaffe in the entire episode and consequent drama is because this issue has been made public and received widespread publicity which is not warranted.

Agreed that privacy is important for an individual but the moment one connects to the grid, a person can easily be identifiable. The web browsers routinely collect cookies from sites which tracks user behavior and those systems which are infected with trojans or viruses reveal more incriminating details. Worse still. A brand new activated number is leaked out by telecom companies to various telemarketers for unsolicited calls despite Do Not Call lists and registration and SMS spam has assumed alarming proportions. Why the editorials can’t raise that issue as a matter of concern? Whither privacy?

Most of the countries where RIM operates has an explicit understanding that whatever data flows through Blackberries would be available for scrutiny. National security is paramount and if that is the overriding concern for “snooping on public”, so be it. Cellular calls can easily be tracked with equipment available off the shelf and indeed it was the cover story on an English weekly few weeks back. Similarly, a vital telecom infrastructure should be available for scrutiny because of immediate concerns of remote monitoring by foreign powers and the ability to remotely switch it off during national emergencies. We ought to have full control over whatever equipment is installed including the proprietary source codes. It is up to equipment manufacturer to do business with this country based on their needs. If they feel that our demands are too rigorous, they are welcome not to step in this country.

We live in supercharged times where such naiveté is rewarded by loss of life and property. Post Sept 11 attacks, US has passed Patriot Act which gives them unprecedented access to call logs and the like. I would be surprised if RIM or Blackberries are not monitored in US or even Canada where RIM is in active denial mode to the contrary.

Tags: API, Blackberry India, Business Standard, crapware, DNC lists, fraud, India, Media, Opera, privacy, SMS, spam, Telecommunications India, TRAI, trojans, viruses

This is what the headlines in Business Standard say. Let me highlight the relevant portions of the report for your eyes only:

Rising competition (13 licences for each circle), falling tariffs (lowest in the world, falling further because of per-second billing), rapidly declining average revenue per user (ARPU) because the newer subscribers are the low spenders in semi-urban and rural areas, and high taxes (about 30 per cent in all) ……….have put paid to the aspirations of not only the new entrants but also incumbents……..deleted.

Forget about fancy valuations. I have always contested the claim about the “lowest tariff in the world” because it is not in consonance with the actual “gini coefficient”; which means that we pay more than we can actually spend. It is a bitter truth but then the newspapers need a lifeline of their advertising spends, so rest assured, this truth will NEVER be out.

……Nearly 15 million more users came on board in September….. It has also brought into focus the phenomenon of dual SIMs — existing subscribers are acquiring additional connections, resulting in a seeming increase in subscribers but in fact merely leading to a bill being split between two or more service providers….Deleted.

For the first time, to my knowledge, a newspaper daily has mentioned this in black and white. Let me also repeat. The operators keep the discarded number for a period of atleast 3 months before it is “terminated”. So even though, a customer has left in the middle of month, the disconnection would not be reported for another 3 months (which, I believe is an industry practise). The same customer may acquire multiple connections or dual SIMS; so it is the growth of the SIM cards and perhaps not the customers which is reported. In any case, the simple headcount may not be feasible.

Industry executives blamed much of the ills on the government and the regulator. With falling tariffs, they need to cut costs, but their hands are tied because 35-40 per cent of their costs are taxes and other regulatory expenses. They have to pay 5 per cent of their revenue even from rural areas towards the universal service obligation fund which is meant to promote rural telephony. They said there was no need for the regulator to push for pay-per-second billing by all…… Deleted.

Now this is something that industry officials would always bleat about. Let them come out openly against the said “policies”…shadow fighting the Government wouldn’t help. For one simple reason. If these morons had any iota of service towards customers, I would have sympathized with them. But, they treat their customers like dirt; more so like crap cash cows who feeds in their kitties with little change so that likes of Mittal and his ilk can reap in obscene profits. In any case, let them prove their worth with their commitment to service, their willingness to be transparent, their approachability and customer care in the true sense of the term. People need their money’s worth but alas! My countrymen are basically lazy bastards who wish to have everything on platter without fighting for it.

…….the incumbents said they remain committed and focused on growth. “We will continue to enhance our market leadership and simultaneously open new revenue streams like m-commerce, m-entertainment, digital media and many other products……Deleted.

They have no real option but to focus on Value Added Services which is “babes, bikinis and bollywood”. Unless these people want to “focus” on phone sex services which would be a “high revenue earner” for them.

Rest of the write up seems to sum up the gloom and “brave words” just to reassure the shareholders that “we are up to it”. That we would weave our small little web of deceit, of lies and pull wool over the regulators and leave no stone unturned to defraud our customers because they are basically bunch of idiots and nincompoops. No one knows how much unaccounted for wealth flows in and out of system or whether this elaborate system allows them to launder their money in more effective way. There is no accountability to the customers because they are using a PUBLIC resource and merely by adding value to it doesn’t entitle them to the ownership of it.

Sadly, this isn’t mentioned anywhere. This of course, would be mentioned at all.

Tags: Advertising, Airtel India, Airtel sucks, API, Assholes, Business Standard, Digital Media, EDGE, End of Boom, fraud, Idiots, Incumbents, India, Indian Telecom Party, Indian Telecom sucks, Indians, M Commerce, Media, Mobile, Opera, Phone Sex, Sunil Bharti Mittal, Telecommunications India, Telecommunications India, TRAI, Universal Obligation Fund, Value Added Services, vodafone Essar, Vodafone India