Tag Archives: Indian Telecom Party

Indian Telecom: End of the boom?

Leave a reply

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.

Mobile growth

4 Replies

It is the same thing again and again. The same hacks were crowing about the “fastest growth” in mobile ownership. So far, no concrete numbers have come up.

The mobile companies have had to follow the directive of the Ministry to identify and verify the credentials of it’s subscriber base. This was done in house and so far the compliance has been patchy. It is a no brainer that the “defaulters” would only survive a small rap on their knuckles for their failure to comply with the directives. I am wondering whether they would hand over the data to the Government. One may easly tally the numbers (of the verified customers) and the claims in the media by the “spokespersons”. We could then analyse the trends in telecom and the growth of the subscribers. It would not happen and is just a wishful thinking.

The ministry has announced the auction of 3G spectrum; hold you breath, while following the directives of TRAI! It came as a shock to me specifically when they make a song and dance sequence of following the regulator. Mr Moron’s (sorry for the intended pun) contention is that there is no “serious international” player in the market. This is horse crap and much of the “technology” in India is either European or American. It is the sidelined players elsewhere who wish to become a “part of the growing” subscriber base. Much of the 3G spectrum is planned to be used for voice calls. So you could kiss your dreams of a “mobile broadband” good bye. It is not happening.

More number of players would only mean that our home grown advantage would be lost. If there is any hope of defining our standards for mobile telephony, that too is gone. Moron and his retinue of babus have effectively killed the Indian Telecom party.

Value added services(VAS) is defining the growth part of the mobile phone companies. Yet, I am not getting to see the shake out or consolidation of the market. There are a few defined players in the market but few avenues where they can exploit the ideas. I liked the concept of “ask the question” service which relays back the answer for a question sent across. (via Emergic)

Speaking of VAS, the media companies are seeing the next growth oppurtunity from there. Here is the link from a useless business daily called as The Mint (promoted by Hindustan Times). Excuse the over the top marketing blurb but it should give you an idea where the market is heading next. The mobile companies are no doubt excited about this. (source)

Would your mobile phone be the next computer? I have reasons to doubt. Expensive handsets come crippled in choice of menus, they cannot be tweaked for optimum performance, restricted OS and inability to install software to your liking. We are restricted by what we are offered. At best they excite pre pubescent boys with their ‘toys’ and fuels legions of websites who promote these “gadgets”.

Nevertheless, mobile internet is clearly not happening. With pathetic speeds and access including lack of uniform standards to code the websites optimised for mobile viewing, we are not going to see a suffusion of “mobile broadband” as yet. At best, a few portals here and there. The handset prices still have to come to realistic levels including the taxes payable on them.

Mobile growth needs more success stories.

World Telecom Day

2 Replies

Today is World Telecom Day. As the entry in The Hindu Business Line shows that, my interest perked up to know about the dingbat who was crowing about the “Indian Telecom Party”.

He happens to be retired CMD from VSNL. Full prizes for guessing as to what he did to his organisation during his “rule”. It’s of no use as to rebutt his claims point by point, at the risk of repitition. The most glaring is the annoucement of “India One” package by BSNL as a proof that BSNL has “taken the lead” to “reduce the tarriffs”. This of course makes me sick.

He says:

Such revolutionary price service package is not available anywhere in the world, not even in the US. This is the result of competition.

US does have VoIP which allows for UNLIMITED calls THROUGHOUT the entire nation. In a way, our “worthy Director is right about such plans not being available in US. (Even of certain plan packages, there is unlimited calls to any landline across US. Internet, of course is free in terms of dial up or at a fixed rate by choosing any ISP).

Rest of the write up deals with some proposals for “setting up universities”. Just because they are in China, we must have them too. If China has done it, we would do it to. If Chinese are idiots, we must be BIGGER idiots than them.

I wonder, what it would take these “respected” financial dailies to apply a “little sense” or have some write ups written by more than bird brained idiots.

Ahh. Too much hope is it not?

Update:
BSNL’s CMD too has been “bitten” by the bug of ‘corporate crap”. I chanced on the entry of BSNL’s home page; he has extended his “best wishes” on the occasion of world telecom day here:

We are committed to provide world class state-of-the-art telecom services to our customers. In this endeavor we have introduced various value added services

Hmm. Who knows how best to heap up scorn on them?