Tag Archive for 'India'

TRAI: Filed for RTI application regarding Broadband

Published on 09th Nov 2009 in Right to Information Act. 3 Comments Tags: , , , , , , , .

Here is the text of the email, fax and the registered post sent to TRAI regarding various issues related to Broadband.

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.

3G India: Who needs it?

Published on 08th Nov 2009 in Indian Telecom. 0 Comments Tags: , , , , , , , , , , , , .

The following is the text of the email sent and an edited version appeared in Business Standard on 06/11/2009.

Dear Sir,

This refers to Shyam Ponnapa’s write up on BS dated 05/110/2009 (Managing Spectrum Efficiently).

The big question. Why do we need 3G? Why not focus on the land line business alone for broadband access? Or better still. Community Wifi?

The arguments for doing away with this are many. Community Wifi is deemed to be a security risk but then countries like Singapore have implemented this on a large scale nationwide. The mobile phones required to access 3G invariably have Wifi access too. Unless, the telecom companies are expecting surefire hits like Apple iPhones or flood of other smart phones to access the Internet, it is not happening.

We don’t have accurate numbers about the likes of Reliance and Tata who are offering their 3G access. If initial reports are to be believed, they are plagued by “line of sight” hassles, ‘network congestion’ and lackluster customer support. To top it all, it has the access limitations which means that broadband access, even on the 3G spectrum would be capped for very obvious reasons.

We have enough bandwidth in the country but as anyone would testify, we have problems in implementing the “last mile access”; having a contentious set of issues like 3G is not going to solve the persistent problem of “last mile access” because no one is interested in sinking money for a long term.

We can have a fair idea from the existing companies like Airtel or Vodafone who charge exorbitant rates under the present implementation of “mobile internet”. What is the guarantee that they would lower down the prices once they pay fancy sticker prices in 3G auction?

3G, would most likely be used for carrying more voice traffic because none of the players harbours any disillusionment about the “mobile broadband” across the length and breadth of the country.
The market for value added services is locked up within the “walled garden” of the existing players; it is unlikely that 3G access would “revolutionize” the content.

This pretty much sums up what I have always alluded here and my opposition to 3G remains.

Airtel Fair Usage Policy :”SUCKS”!

Published on 11th Mar 2009 in Airtel Broadband, BSNL Broadband, Broadband in India, Digital Divide, General Thoughts, India Broadband News and Indian Telecom. 1 Comment Tags: , , , , .

There has been a flurry of activity in the blogosphere and a lot of people have bandied together to protest against the assinine policy of Airtel which seeks to limit our choice and control the access to Internet. Screwheads have totally lost out any imagination to spur the Internet access and in this day and age of recession, see no merit in upgrading the existing infrastructure.

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.

Virgin Mobile India: Something “different”?

Published on 26th Oct 2008 in Indian Telecom, Tata Indicom and virgin mobile. 1 Comment Tags: , , , , , , , , , , , , , .

Virgin Mobile is going full throttle with it’s advertising blitz; I remember, there was some issue with it’s licence because it was a virtual network operator. Tata claims that it isn’t. The truth, as to who fathered it, is not known to anyone.

The “bastard” of this company is trying to grab attention like an unwanted company. It makes tall claims about it’s “superior network coverage” and it’s “young outlook”. Pooh. Who the f*** cares about it anyway? On what basis has it made these claims? It’s hard to discount it, nevertheless, we could take it with a pinch of salt anyway.

Their website is an overdose of flashturbation. Its a bad idea to attract the dudes who have no decent access to broadband. In anycase, it chokes on my crappy bandwidth of BSNL at home.

I have no clue about the new “execs” at the helm of the affairs but if their CEO is a rich bored millionaire who has nothing else to do excpet launching himself in hot air balloons or dance with skimpy chicks, it speaks a lot about the professional attitude of a company. It doesnt promote the seriousness with which it needs to be taken; instead I have a creepy feeling that they are just fly by night operators.

The idiots need to realise it that a strong message doesnt go by having whacky advertisements. Drop down the prices, subisdise the cost of the handsets and bleed the new players by being able to offer services based on quality. I still have to come across a subscriber of this company who has said anything positive about there efforts. I wouldnt be surprised if they give in free mobiles with a rider of a locked in period. Unless they have enough balls to do it.

Some late night thoughts

Published on 26th Oct 2008 in General Thoughts. 0 Comments Tags: , , , , , , , , , , , , , , .

I have been travelling over the weekend back to my native place which was untouched by the glitz and glamour of the metros. This Diwali seems to be muted; partially because of the economic recession and partly because of the widespread inflation.

I still cannot understand the “mobile story” and “fastest growth” crap. More and more people are migrating towards parallel connections instead of the trickle down effect as expected. Agreed that “lifetime incoming offers” have appealed to the segment of population who keep their mobiles only for incoming calls, the precentage is far and few inbetween. We have no break up of the demographic profile and if the trends are to be seen, much of the money and the effort is being poured in the metros where there is more of a spending power as compared to other cities.

I have three telephone connections; one for regular use, the other a landline for broadband access and the thrid for calling up other Reliance numbers. Overall, I fail to understand as to how they would account for the “churn” or the “fastest growing segment” because I have never been enamoured of using the VAS. The operators know that there bread and butter segment is the voice calls and I am sure that they would implement the VoIP solutions to cut down on their costs. Everything else is flotsam and media generated hype.

In the same vein, most of the other handset manufacturers are clearly not making any efforts to address the cost of the handsets. Barring the advertising costs, if they implement open source solutions for the newer PDA’s, it can reduce the cost of the handsets to a large extent. Google’s Android would effect this to a large extent; though, I would reserve my comments on it till the time I actually get to use it. It’s still in the nascent stage; I am sure it would mature with the next release as they learn from their mistakes.

Vodafone has not addressed the GPRS connection charges; I still have to come across a reliable operator who can ensure a seamless connectivity across the major highways. I would want to access the Internet on a long boring journey; it remains a pathetic experience to even open up the mailbox. I don’t favor the mobile net on the move partly because of my bais for broadband and partly because it’s assinine to peer in the small screen. Unless of course, one has an iPhone and Safari which makes it a pleasure to surf on the small screen. Brilliant conceptual implementation.

The elections are nearing and I am keeping my fingers crossed for some semblance of the maturity on the following government to provide a clear direction to the broadband access and policy. We can do a lot more once we have a reliable connectivity. We dont need fancy laptops for kids in rural India to demonstrate the “modern with rural” mating. Its assinine to pour in money for something which just remains a showcase and earns you f***ing brownie points for “corporate social responsibility”.

This is just a loose string of thoughts as I was travelling back down. Although, it is a fascinating experience to see the rural landscape change. We realise that there is a lot of untapped potential and there is a chance to “change”.

Writers Block

Published on 10th Oct 2008 in Indian Telecom. 0 Comments Tags: .

I have been keeping very busy off late and frankly been suffering from a writers block. I have lost patience with the policy makers and the companies specifically to improve on their services. Luckily, I have a fantastic ISP (by Indian standards) but the quality of access (512K speeds- yawn) remains pathetic.

I hope to update more frequently.

TRAI: Under fire, again

Published on 10th Oct 2008 in Indian Telecom. 0 Comments Tags: , , .

Another planted story in the media against TRAI. I was surprised that this happened to be Business Standard. They are carrying such witch hunting more like the slimes of India. Policy decisions dont get affected with negative press. TRAI always had a huge army of buffons charging at imaginary windmills in the name of “regulation”. Assholes.