Tag Archives: Telecommunications India

2G Scam India: More skeletons tumbling out.

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Reliance Communication Limited

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It’s unlikely “Swan” and “Loop Telecom” would ever be “penalized heavily”. Tata and Ambani, even though being summoned by PAC, would be asked to “pay up the damages”; some crores dealt here and there, permanent stock holdings to some prominent members and post retirement lollies as directors.

It transpires that Swan was a front for Reliance and Loop for Essar. Indeed, the idea was to bid for scarce spectrum, their holdings held in off shore accounts and laundered.

It is a dirty world indeed.

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Indian Telecom: Mobile Number portability

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Truly an idea whose time has come.

I have these feelings that Indians have a “trap mentality”. They tend to whine, cry themselves hoarse and generally straighten themselves out in front of people who are deemed to be “charismatic”. In short, they lack self confidence.

Hence, for the past 15+ years, they have been roughshod by the telecom operators because as a collective mass, Indians are bunch of idiots. Exceptions to the rule always apply (the so called outliers in economic parlance) but by and large they would cower and roll on the ground. This ingrained slave mentality is exploited by smart people; those who rise above the scum so as to say. They become “leaders” (or politicians), media managers, CEO’s etc while rest of them become cogs in the system.

This background is essential because it is collective clusterfuck of assholism is the reason why these telecom companies have not been held ransom for better customer care. No wonder, they are content to outsource their core competencies to army of morons sitting on the switchboards. Neither there is dedicated institutional mechanism to hold them accountable. Given the huge volume of mail to TRAI (regulator), about “complaints” from the customers, they are unable to act on them. Or even if they wish to, the confusion about who the real boss really is sucks the whole issue into vortex. Would it be wise to leave let go of the regulation and leave the sector open to “market forces” hoping that competition would ensure correction?

Mobile Number Portability launched nationwide is a step perhaps in that direction. For the first time in years, I have a reason to cheer. And croon about optimism. It is not that the winds of change have started “flowing” in the system; rather a belated first step towards some degree of customer empowerment.

However, the low end customers paying a pittance would not really benefit. If you rake up huge bills on post paid, thats where it’s going to matter. The most. Seriously. No one wants to leave a cash cow; so thats where the its going to affect.

The impact of mobile number portability is going to be felt slowly over the months. Whether or not it affects you as a customer would be clear. For the time being, I am holding my cynicism back. For once.

Indian Telecom: SMS rates

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There are no backhand calculations done but I find the SMS rates to be very expensive. I cannot really crib about it but I know that something that doesn’t cost the company a single paisa, is being sold at usurious rates. I wish I could research more on that, but for the time being I am linking to an excellent NY Times article (for US based companies) where the mainstream newspapers ARE really vocal about the cost structure. It is not an idealized world but then nothing is perfect.

I quote the relevant text.

Text messages take up very little space — about 140 bytes, as they are being transmitted. That’s really why text messages are kept short. How much are we really paying for them? As much as $1,498 per megabyte. Here’s some of the math:

There are 1,048,576 bytes in a megabyte, so 7,490 text messages are transmitted in each one. The cellphone companies charge about 20 cents a text message, adding up to that $1,498 a megabyte. (And yes, you are charged that rate whether you write 160 characters or just “LOL.”)

That’s a huge margin indeed!!

It may be argued that the rates are not equivalent in dollar terms here. But I have always argued that the voice and the sms calls are way to expensive even after the companies have recovered their expenses. I have also argued that in real dollar terms we are a third world country where it takes less than a dollar to subsist. Companies are content in charging you upfront for the “service charge” of giving you the service and charge you each time you make a call. That’s fair on their part but unfair from a consumer’s point of view.

Here’s more.

But the unlimited plans, generally costing about $20, are only a relative bargain. The average texter sends about 500 text messages a month, according to Nielsen, the media measurement firm. That drops the price of a single text message to 4 cents, or to $300 a megabyte.

Nielsen says the average teenager sends 3,146 messages a month. Even at that volume — an average of about 104 texts a day — the phone company is extracting $47.62 a megabyte.

How far is it true in Indian context?

There is no fancy metric here in India and I distrust the crap being dished out by many self styled firms. It remains high on crap without making any sense.

Still, the very thought is chilling. Really.

With minor modifications, companies are making a HUGE killing. No wonder it is such a profitable business, never mind the huge bloated flotsam claiming that it is a hugely competitive market.

Bullshit.