There is no authoritative verdict on Indian Telecom scene. In the absence of any concrete statistics, it becomes difficult to pin down the exact number of subscribers, the actual growth of the telecom sector and value added services.

TRAI releases it’s numbers from the industry proclamations; it has not thought to independently audit the claims. Neither does the Department of Telecom (or may be that I am unaware of any such publication in the mainstream media). I have criticized 3G on many occasions and I see no merit in sinking in huge amount of funds on a technology which would get outdated in rapidly evolving 4G standards. All the more, India missed a golden opportunity to set up it’s own standards for mobile telephony thus forcing the mobile operators to set up an ecosystem of not only the entire gamut of the telecom equipment but handsets also. It would have spurred on demand for quality and generated much better employment prospects than importing the crap dip shit that we are forced to put up with now.

No handset comes closer in terms of oomph and style; something of the likes of an Apple iPhone with it’s iTunes store. While it is profitable, something similar is next to impossible to find here in India- the market of apps is right there but there is no serviceable product.

Nokia has failed terribly; I am definitely impressed by the new layout of it’s Ovi Store but trying to find an app that works across all platforms is like looking for a needle in a haystack. To worsen the matters, the price quoted is in Euros. If any asshole from Nokia India is reading this, please understand that its not possible to pay in Euros here because THAT is NOT the national currency. Besides that, none of the applications are a must have. No wonder, the Finns are getting clobbered left right and centre; the market share has definitely slid down to 60% as per the estimates.

This brings me to the final question. If we dont really have apps or the snazzy and the jazzy handsets, what are we really fighting for? Why should 3G should really be auctioned?

If Internet connectivity is the SOLE criterion, then public Wifi’s should be set up. The Wifis should be free for access upto a certain speed limit; beyond that a price mechanism be set up for higher access speeds. Or broadband initiative be accelerated with the huge amount of Universal Service Obligation Fund (last heard it had swelled up to 18,000 crores). But well, since the lobby market exists in a big way, we can only hope.

For a better round up of the telecom scenario, please read an insightful write up on Knowledge@Wharton write up.

Tags: 3G, API, author, Broadband, Department of Telecom, EDGE, handsets, India, Internet, iPhone, mainstream media, Media, Mobile, Opera, Telecommunications India, Telecommunications India, TRAI, Value Added Services, Wifi

This should have been done earlier! Huawei has set up a complete infrastructure with loads of Chinese employees; I am sure most of them as “spies”. The ownership structure is very opaque and it is plausible that it is being funded by the Chinese Government in a big way.

Any potential loss of revenue is filled up by more than willing government which makes these companies very aggressive on price front. It is said that their prices are about 20% lower than the competing companies from Europe.

I have always maintained that the so called telecom revolution is a BIG major missed opportunity to shore up Indian manufacturing. Except maybe for heavy manufacturing, we have nothing else to speak of. Much of the technology is “imported” while the so called “software superpower” is basically a euphemism for petty sweat shops; likes of ironically China and Malaysia where the downtrodden are paid a pittance by the hour. We had vast swathes of Chinese mobile phones coming in without the mandatory IMEI numbers; a huge security risk. It was all allowed by these bastards to increase their customers knowing fully well the potential security implications.

If that is not all, China has been mounting a covert and overt cyber warfare. First it was well publicized attack on Google which whined and scampered; then media went into overdrive when it was revealed that “sensitive” documents and files were “hacked“.

NY Times carried out a detailed report on this issue.

If we are “serious” about securing our frontiers, we need to “close our backdoors”. Simple. Chinese must be booted out.

Tags: China, Chinese, Google, India, manufacturing, Media, Mobile, mobile phones, scam, Telecommunications India, Telecommunications India

Husssshhh… Don’t say anything about it. It isn’t mother of all scams but with all kinds of allegations flying thick and fast, I truly believe that it is a “manufactured” dissent. The culpable media is the biggest culprit because we have had scams before or the ones that have not been unearthed as yet. Or is out of public scrutiny or knowledge. Anything goes in the country with right “connections” and will to roughshod over the established procedures.

It the The Pioneer that has been after Raja for over a year now and they have permalinks on their homepage detailing the nitty gritty of the telecom auction. Rules were changed at last minute and it only goes on to say and prove the massive clout that these companies have.

Even though Raja is the face of great Indian Telecom scandal (more than Sukh Ram, if the readers care to remember who had no place to stash his ill gotten wealth), the nameless faceless wheelers dealers and fixers are not known. They would NEVER be known.

Pioneer interestingly had an editorial imploring Man-Moron Singh to sack the wily minister ( in interests on keeping the discussion clean, no one calls him a bastard). It is a scary thought. Companies have access to the corridors of power. At beck and call. They practically own the nation. They RUN the nation. Democracy is notional and till the time we don’t wake up to change the system, it would feed on you and me.

The ill gotten wealth is lost in a black hole. We wouldn’t know the quantum of it because it’s hard to believe the media. Yet, the money gifted away would be recovered from you and me. We would have to pay these buggers in way of “surcharges” or whatever they fancy.

TRAI, as usual, would look the other way. They are in any case, ahem….you know what.

Pioneer breaks the “scandal” causing a ruckus in Parliament.

Google News updates.

Tags: EDGE, Google, India, Media, scam, Telecommunications India, Telecommunications India, TRAI