Image by bhautikjoshi via Flickr

I have experimented with the tone and tenor of the write ups here. It’s impossible to update on a daily basis although RSS as a delivery mechanism is very powerful in it’s context; it’s easy to set up feeds to keep the blog updated regularly.

However, I personally feel that the sector as a whole has not evolved to a meaningful extent to report on the events. Vodafone has been dragged to the court. Airtel has botched up it’s 3G offerings. 2G scam has caught up with its final actors. However, this is still the “tip of the iceberg”. A lot goes behind the scenes and some unlucky few get caught up in the swirl. Indeed, they are just minor fronts for the systematic loot.

Writing on all this is a chore. It’s pathetic to repeat the same thing ad-nauseum.

Image via Wikipedia

Hence, I prefer to write when I get a sudden burst of “inspiration”. This blog has definitely morphed from it’s rigid confines of Indian Telecom to something more of a “digital narrative”.

I could also write on the operators elsewhere; unrestricted data does not flow uniformly. Yet, in most of the developing countries, scarcity is something that is engineered. It holds no relevance for most of us to know about what AT&T is doing with it’s T- Mobile acquisition. Further, we have distanced ourselves, not only from the advertising, but also from reporting any industry sponsored events. I routinely get invitations (off and on) but they are mostly from clueless PR executives.

Daily updates is beyond the scope. Writing is a passion and needs to be stoked. Yet, there is no point in being pointless either!

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Image via CrunchBase

how would it be disruptive for the traditional cellular carriers.

A lot has been written skype’s acquistion (please see the related links below). Some people feel that it’s going to be good for the enterprise market, some feel that it is a useless deal with Microsoft bleeding millions of dollars everyday and a questionable “internet policy”. Perhaps all these rationales look at the whole question piecemeal. But no one has the complete answer.

I have been interested in the VoIP market for long. I have written about it earlier extensively (here, here, here) in the past. Yet, Skype’s acquisition takes the cake.

Image via Wikipedia

In an earlier post, I mentioned:

Image via CrunchBase

TRAI called for implementation of Internet Telephony and Carrier Access Codes.

This was mandated much earlier way back in 2001; however, this was opposed by Bharti. Reliance had entered with the premise of “death of distance” and had made STD calls ridiculously cheap….. If Internet telephony is implemented in it’s present shape, it would

see present rates crashing down to a large extent.

Image via Wikipedia

It would give a new lease of life to ISP’s like Sify and other fringe lunatics to scale up investments. I can foresee the entry of players like Skype as well as other SIP players which rely on open standards. It’s hard not to imagine the real gains to economy as a whole and it would benefit the adoption of setting up of WiFi hotspots on a larger scale.

In another blog post, I had written:

Govind says that Wifi can be used to carry calls which works out to be cheaper. Of course, I have explored these options way back earlier on; the current “competitive” scenario has resulted only in oligopolies and each new talk plan is basically a rehash of the others. Without disclosing upfront about the estimated monthly outgo, TRAI okays each plan without taking the consumer’s advantage in question. As a result we are fleeced to no extent. I really doubt whether WiFi can be used to carry out the calls-the investments are way too huge to justify parallel (and cheaper ) networks. Where would Bharti get it’s crores from?

Assuming that wifi becomes available all around, what is the guarantee that telcos won’t use all means to block the calls via Skype or any other internet phone? High usage charges would spike any consumer interest because in all probability it would be a “value added service” which by it’s own argument, can be priced higher. Unless of course, people set up their own small WiFi networks. A long shot indeed.

And in the winning entry for “Big Ideas Contest”, Skype (or Internet Telephony) was mentioned in passing; actually leveraging the low cost of routing international calls and passing on the advantage to the customers.

Teleconferencing would make it easier for people to people contacts; Gujarat has shown the way! Why can’t India have something similar to Skype? (There is a move to have something similar in the GNU world where encryption would be based on open standards).

I don’t have any love lost for Microsoft; but as any corporation, it does what it has to do to survive. It’s a jungle out there and only the best survive by breaking through the clutter. There can be no easy answers to certain “defining moments”; we must wait for the answers to reveal themselves. The point here is that I have remained consistent in my assertions over the years and have called for opening up the standards instead.

Let’s look at what New York Times article has to say.

Image via Wikipedia

The telecommunications industry is already in a state of flux as more people disconnect their home telephone lines in favor of cellphones. Now the wireless carriers are looking for new ways to make money based on mobile broadband and applications, rather than voice minutes. “Eventually, everything migrates to a data channel,” said Brian Higgins, an executive at Verizon Wireless who is developing products and services for the company’s high-speed 4G network. “We’re moving away from silos of communication to one where everything is combined together.”

This assertion is not valid but rather a corporate spin and gibberish. The reason is that landlines offer higher rate of data transfer and wireless networks can easily get choked. Similarly for 3G networks being pandered about in India; main reason is to offer better voice minutes than spur on the data usage. Had there been any commitment for the same, the market would have reacted in a “bloodbath” to drop the rates and make it better to access the services.

Howsoever clueless these people are, data is definitely not on their minds. Hence, the question of “communication silos” does not arise at all.

But the Skype deal also signifies a larger interest in next-generation communications services. It is not just Skype that the wireless companies need to worry about. A bevy of mobile messaging applications, including WhatsApp, Kik, GroupMe and textPlus, allow people to send messages over data networks, sidestepping the cost of sending and receiving standard text messages.

Carriers already must deal with many new competitors in the communications game. Name companies like Apple, Facebook and Google are making services available that traditionally only carriers could offer. Google, like Skype, offers ways to make free phone and video calls over the Internet. Apple lets iPhone owners make video calls.

The ultimate risk for the carriers, analysts say, is becoming “dumb pipes,” providing only the data connection and not selling any more sophisticated communications services themselves.

Agreed on this count. The newer generation services mentioned here are really disruptive. However, they have not achieved a critical scale; not to the level that carriers start blocking them actively violating “net-neutrality”.

So how would the companies react to such developments? Possibly by lowering expectations of supra-massive profits at our expense and by “signing up deals”. Although Value Added Services (VAS) remains a viable channel, I still have to see any “developments” in that; it remains a subject of a future post.

Carriers have responded to the shift toward digital communication differently. Some seek to leverage the new wave of services to differentiate themselves and gain an edge over competitors. Sprint, for example, recently united with Google to let its customers link their Sprint phone numbers to Google Voice, a service that rings all of a person’s phones and even Gmail when someone calls that person’s number.

However, these efforts are half hearted approaches to the present dispensation. Skype is important, yes, in the VOIP Space. With the development of GNU Public Telephony project on fast track, I am sure something would definitely strike in for alternative access opportunities like SIP phones coming in the mainstream.

I remain positive for a Vonage like service over landlines and I strongly back that company (please, it’s not an endorsement). For a fixed amount, it’s possible to call in major countries and is totally “place agnostic”. I can make unlimited international calls all across for a fixed monthly fees. Thats the real power of broadband for communication. Wireless is not cool because of it’s inherent limitations and POTS (Plain Old Telephone System) is STILL the best bet.

Image via Wikipedia

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• What Will Be The Skype Effect On Telco’s? (viralblog.com)
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• Microsoft Buys Skype for $8.5 Billion. Why, Exactly? (wired.com)
• VoIP Provider EUC Services Launches JiffyCall, an Online Pinless Dialing Service for Cheap International VoIP Calling (prweb.com)
• Microsoft’s Skype Deal Means Monetizing (microsoft-watch.com)
• Microsoft Unlikely to Boost Rates on Skype’s Premium Service (dailyfinance.com)
• Guide To Installing Skype On Fedora (brighthub.com)
• Skype: from start-up to $8.5bn sale (guardian.co.uk)
• Microsoft buys Skype for $8.5bn in its biggest purchase and gamble yet (guardian.co.uk)
• How One Swedish Startup Was Almost Acquired By Skype, Pre-Microsoft Deal (techcrunch.com)
• UAE’s du to offer VoIP this year; Skype still banned/blocked (skypejournal.com)

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16th December 2010

To
The Central Public Information Officer, BSNL,
O/o General Manager Telecom,
Bharat Sanchar Nigam Limited,

Sub: Information sought under RTI Act 2005 regarding the definition of Broadband, the prices and clarification of “limits” sought.

Dear Sir,

THIS INFORMATION IS SOUGHT IN THE PUBLIC INTEREST, AND THERE IS OVER-RIDING PARAMOUNT LARGER PUBLIC INTEREST TO BE GIVEN THE INFORMATION I HAVE ASKED FOR. This information is sought under the RTI Act 2005, and as the applicant I would retain the right to inspect or ask for certified copies of the relevant documents/records/informations.

Please explain the following:

1)What is the defintion of the term “Broadband”?

2)What is the source of definition? Please provide relevant documents to support your contention.

3)Since when BSNL has been offering Broadband services? Please mention the date and commencement of services in India.

4)What are the various speeds being offered by BSNL?

5)What are the charges for various speeds being offered?

6)How have the charges been arrived at? Please provide AN EXACT BREAK UP of the costs incurred by BSNL to provide the broadband services for RESIDENTIAL CUSTOMERS. The break up should include the cost of the overheads, the costs involved in keeping the lines functional, the cost of the bandwidth or any other head as mentioned and filed.

7)What is the cost of Fibre To Home Service (referred to as FTTH) being offered by BSNL?

What is the break up of the cost of Fibre to Home Service? How has BSNL arrived at this cost?

9)Who sanctions the use of Optic Fibre for domestic usage? Under what conditions can a residential customer apply for the same?

10)What is the BREAK UP of the cost incurred by BSNL to provide Internet over optic fibre? How has the cost been arrived at? Please give the relevant file notings regarding the same.

11)Who in your organization decides about the pricing of Broadband? Who gives the order for new plans to be introduced? How are the various plans AND the charges are arrived at?

12)What is the email id AND contact details of the concerned person who deals with Internet and Pricing of broadband?

13)Where does BSNL purchase it’s wholesale bandwidth from? What is the break up of the price paid to the company from where BSNL purchases it’s wholesale bandwidth?

14)Who in your organisation decides about purchase of the modems. Under which rules do you certify the modems? Where are the rules listed?

15)As per media reports, a large percentage of your landline subscribers have surrendered their connections. How many landline connections were surrendered in the past one calendar year (2009-2010)? What initiatives have been taken by your company to sell Broadband on land line as a value added service?

16)Kindly provide the details of the advertising spend for promotion of Broadband in India. How much of it was allocated to promotion of broadband over landline?

17)What is the meaning of the term “UNLIMITED Broadband” listed on the web site: (http://www.bsnl.co.in/service/New_BB_postpaid.htm)?

18)If the plans are unlimited, by natural corollary, the speeds should remain the same throughout the monthly billing period. Why are the speeds to be reduced (under the plans labelled as ULD- unlimited with differential speeds) after downloading a fixed limit of data as listed under various heads on this web site link: (http://www.bsnl.co.in/service/new_BB/BB_home_only_unlim.htm)

19)Who decides the “limit” of data to be downloaded in the “unlimited plans” and speed reduction after the same? What is the file noting/information related to it? Who has signed the official sanction for the same? Why has it been done? How has this figure of “unlimited” been arrived at?

20)Under the clause mentioned on the web page (http://www.bsnl.co.in/service/New_BB_postpaid.htm) it has been clearly mentioned that “For Broadband plans where bandwidth is 1Mbps or more, the uplinking will be maximum upto 768 kbps”. Why has it been done so? What is the justification to arrive at such a clause? How has the figure of 768kbps been arrived at?

21)What is the meaning of the term,” UNLIMITED WITH FAIR USAGE” (ULF) as listed on the web page (http://www.bsnl.co.in/service/New_BB_postpaid.htm). Who decides what is FAIR USAGE? Where has the term “FAIR USAGE” come from?

22)Is the term “FAIR USAGE” mandated by the regulator, Telecom Regulatory Authority of India (referred to as TRAI)? If yes, under which provision of TRAI’s notification has this term been defined? What is the relevant file noting/ notification/ web site address under which BSNL has defined the term “FAIR USAGE”. If this term has not been defined by TRAI, who has authorized the use of the term “FAIR USAGE”? Kindly provide the details of the file noting/ decision taken to issue the term “FAIR USAGE”.

23) Under the web page (http://www.bsnl.co.in/service/bb_ftth.htm#q1) in section related to FTTH bandwidth “UPTO 1 Mbps” has been listed as Rs. 2999. Under the Broadband prices listed on web page (http://www.bsnl.co.in/service/new_BB/BB_home_only_unlim.htm), the price for 1Mbps (upto 15GB) has been listed as Rs. 1000/- (all tariffs listed are excluding the service tax).

I need to know :
a) What is the meaning of the term “upto 1Mbps” ? Can the speed vary from 128kbps to 1 Mbps? Who has defined the term “upto 1 Mbps”? Is this mandated by TRAI? If yes, where is the relevant file noting/notification/web address of the communication received from TRAI? Where has this been mentioned on their web site?

b) Why is there a price difference between the two services when the speeds i.e. 1 Mbps are same in both the plans? Kindly explain this in detail.

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I think that they have screwed it up given the fact that BSNL has upped the ante as far as tariffs are concerned. With the imminent launch of Airtel/ Vodafone and other private players, it remains to be seen how 3G market would shape up. I think that there is a going to be a big market for the data cards given the pathetic landline access.

Interestingly, here’s something from the Tata’s end user agreement:

Mobile internet is not to be used for other activities (e.g. using your handset as a modem, voice or video over the internet, peer to peer file sharing). Should you exceed your fair usage limit or such use be detected, TTSL reserves right to take action by restricting bandwidth, and/or suspension of data browsing and/ or temporarily suspend subscriber account in case of data usage in violation of fair usage policy.

Ha ha ha. For all practical purposes, I wonder whether they can actually “control tethering”!!

I wonder where did these assholes spring from!

This is taken from the forums:

I usually refrain from speculating on the price wars or report on the “latest trends” but to be honest, these people have screwed it up totally.

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The big question mark then boils down to the fact that competing technologies are making a beeline for the customer space. Nokia has upped the stake and launched a slew of handsets which are “3G” compatible. The networks are seeing huge amounts of raw investments in the space. Yet, in the previous write up, I had clearly mentioned that India represents a missed opportunity to shift to 4G instead of the present 3G investments. What the hell is the difference between 3G and 4G?

Here is an idiots guide to 3G versus 4G difference. It all boils down to download speeds. Although, in fair judgment, the download speeds are going to be marginally better than the existing experience on the handsets. We have seen multitude of ringtones and crap shit like that making a neat little profit from all that. Yet, the fad is bound to wear off. Sooner than later. Data can NEVER be the differentiator here because there is NO ecosystem for the same.

It only boils down to “operational efficiency” for the voice traffic.

No amount of crap dip shit research can explain the projected telecom users. Neither the best estimates. Nor the tax collections or the opaque methodology to count the number of customers. It is only a grab of the public resources by private players. Most of the private payers would exit out of the current game, leaving the field wide open for the bigger international players in the market. That would ultimately decide the price for the spectrum running into billions of dollars. That is the reason why Raja conceded to the big national players because the lobbying happens in their backyard. Any new International player has to kiss their ass to get a “toehold” here in Indian market that is supposed to be “exciting”. Fact is that no one fucking cares because we are way behind as laggards in either 2.5G or 3G or 4G (or even any of the new avatars) designed for future use.

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All the more Bharati Telecom now needs to step up it’s customer acquisition for 3G and retain it’s existing customers before the mobile number portability is cleared for final implementation. This MNP would benefit the newer players in a big manner because the existing customer are fed up of the tardy implementation of the customer care by existing operators.

This is a familiar rant here for the regular readers on the blog and frankly, I am at pains to point out anything new or even “exciting” development. There is NONE. All the more, few operators are crying hoarse about EVDO or fancy WiMax (and some operators claiming that the existing technologies would not be able to support the data requests), some of them talk about “blazing speeds”, some like Tata Photon Plus are reducing their prices for the modem and very gladly claim that they would shift the existing customers to “higher speed slots”. Some like Reliance are still persisting with hollowed out infrastructure. Puke.

Assholes. Thats the word that comes on top of mind recall.

Now this is purely a personal opinion. We are a desperate nation. A hungry nation. An impatient generation. My “forefathers” would have been happy to accept the present state of affairs. When standing in a long queue was the norm for landline connections. One needed the “right approach” and ability to swing the deal in your favour. When the bloody lineman was the God because it was “His” mercy that your telephone worked.

We are a far cry from the “bastards”. But that mentality lingers on. It still does.

Maybe, in the backdrop of Bharati buying out the majority stake in Zain assumes more significance. For the first time, a company has thought big. They are planning big. They are now overturning the rules of the game on to favor themselves. I hate them for keeping the pace out; be it broadband or be it mobile service.

Although, “not exciting” but nevertheless, a significant development.

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To me, it appears like a simple game. The “base” access is 256 kbps; anything over and above that is a “value added service”. I have no clue as to how the whole thing is priced but logic dictates that it is incremental profit for the telecom companies. The costs are fixed for “digging” up the roads, fixing up the telephone connections and if they are able to give an “error” free connection, people are loath to change their service providers in a jiffy. In any case, landlines are more reliable than a mobile connection because they are not prone for “congestion” or call drops as the case with the airwaves is.

TRAI has not addressed the customer claims so far. I remember the time when I had to struggle upfront against BSNL to start with “unlimited” connection. It was a long fight and after emailing them incessantly, I managed to get “true freedom”.

Right to Information Act has changed the game plan by giving the customer real power in terms of information. I have earlier mentioned that it is one of the most progressive legislation in the history ii independent India because the grass roots policy can be questioned to bring about a change. The appellate authority has 45 days to respond to the appeal failing which I would be escalating the matter to CIC, New Delhi and press for charges against the respective Information Officers.

I would have been happy had this case got the media scrutiny and then bring TRAI on the mat and screw them LITERALLY. For long, we have suffered enough lobbies because it doesn’t suit them. Trust me, we have enough bandwidth to support millions of ‘unlimited connections’ but are at the mercy of the likes of ISP’s like Sify and Airtel. Those associations have money, legal power and reach in the media. We as individual customers, don’t.

I find the idea to “petition” totally useless. If anything has to happen in democracy, one has to reach out to do something. Clicking on the petition is a SURE SHOT sign that you are a f***ing impotent asshole. This “clickitivism” does nothing because these petitions are as good as useless. If you are so overtly concerned about your rights, it’s a better option to hurl some stones outside their corporate offices after ganging up. Or protest outside naked with a group of people. That would generate more news rather than sitting on your sorry ass for want of doing ‘something’.

I appreciate all of your concerns and do stay glued here for any news. I shall update it as soon as I get any information.

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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.

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Enjoy the part two of this series. Some of the funniest moments on TV ever seen.

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First, the contentious number portability system is going to be launched initially in the four metros. I can bet that this would come into play only after Reliance launches it’s GSM service. For very obvious reasons because it would be betting big on the churn specially from the lower end of the market. It has already placed orders for “millions of handsets” and is looking forward to flood Indian market with “choice”. Expect some rude shocks for the incumbents.

The exact mechanism isn’t clear but there is going to be a big mess initially. I am sure that the operators would want to put across punitive “termination charges”, get host of clearances etc etc before you can heave a sigh of relief from it’s evil clutches. Yet, there is no differentiator between the Shylocks and the Satans in the market because at end of the day, they are all part of the same shit hole. Expect some high voltage drama here.

Second, the 3G licenses would be issued. There is no final word as to how this is going to be achieved; we are waiting for the Minister to feed fat on more money. By the way, Pioneer has a damning expose on their wrong doings over the past one year. (Link Source) Unless,Mr Minister is fed fat in his Swiss Bank account (Indian banking system sucks) we are not going to see anything move in this direction.

Mobile value added services is not going to add anything extra unless operators offer free porn. Imagine, free streaming porn without any restriction and daily MMS scandals! Since, Indians are loath to accept anything that comes out in the open, they could start streaming this for select few, obviously for a higher remuneration. I wonder why no one has thought about it. Callback ringtones are a passe’. So, not much of an action there too.

Mobile Virtual Network Operators would perhaps be legalised under immense pressure from the business house of Tatas. They are very keen to expand their “brand”; I have not seen any major advertising campaign from Virgin Mobile in recent times. They are spiked and spooked and relegated to some corner uncared for. How would that really matter? Does having more operators actually make sense? I believe that one size fits all strategy is not feasible. There are scores of people who would be happy to make unlimited outgoing calls for a fixed sum. Some people like to call telemarketing companies for pranks. Some people like to call fixed “hotline numbers” which offer “anonymity” without realising that the calls are routed within India alone. Some people like SMS alone. I feel that there would be companies to cater to such sections of deviants alone unless someone wants to prove me wrong.

So basically, we are left with no real action. 3G and number portability would be launched when Reliance announces it’s intention to start it’s GSM services. 3G licenses would be auctioned when Mantri ji has a green signal from his swiss banker. MVNO is an old tune from equally old flute; after virgin’s debacle no one wants to burn their backsides.

Where does the landline fit it? What of the frigging e governance issues? What of the “e learning”? Sheesh. Such lofty ideals would be done to waste? Who has the time to bother about such issues?

Although, I do see some reduction in the price when the price of international bandwidth crashes; the demand from the cyber coolies reduces as a result of economic downturn and telecom operators would be forced to deploy their “excessive bandwidth” for residential purposes. We might see the death of dial up; unless BSNL wants to keep it on a life support system. Since, they are only ones on the national scene offering it for free! Morons.

Happy 2009!

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The “pundits” claim that this would give MTNL a first mover advantage over the existing players. 3G auctions have been in a mess; with regulations changed over at whims and fancies of the chosen few. TRAI doesnt have any locus standi over the existing state of affairs which makes for a very disappointing scenario. Nevertheless, the age of the “fast mobile speeds” are in the offing and full fledged services would roll out from next year onwards.

If the MTNL would have applied their minds to this golden goose, they could have easily sold branded 3G handsets. They are expecting a certain percentage of people to upgrade their existing connections or use their handsets as modems to connect to the laptops. A USB dongle is expected to cost around 3.5K with no word yet on the quantum of the downloads allowed. If the boffins are going to restrict the limits to say 500 MB or 1 GB or something like that, it makes no sense and it is a self defeatist service.

I do expect a significant percentage of people to shift to the mobile Internet; partly because of the high cost of access on landline and partly because most of them do not like to stay stuck on one place for net access. The cost of the handsets is falling over; Nokia and their ilk are falling all over the place to bring better technology in your hands. This would be a big differentiator for MTNL to shore up their revenues via value added services since ring tones and call back services have been done to death. The mobile operators have to think beyond their standard fare to increase their share; improve billing and introduce mechanisms for quicker complaint resolution.

Rajesh Jain has interesting take on the “red and blue” mobile market in context to 3G services and the VAS.

I am watching MTNL’s roll out with interest. For all practical purposes, 3G remains the ONLY high point in 2008 in which otherwise has been a flat and dull year for broadband penetration.

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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”.

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Here in the grand strategy of Anil Ambani unfolds. He got the ad labs, poured in money in content creation and would make a huge moolah out of “exclusive” deals with media players. The value added services is a growing market and there is a HUGE space for exclusive content; I was surprised to know that there is a seperate channel for gardening; Tata has one for home tuitions. Although, it cannot replace the classrooms but then parents are keen for any degree of experimentation.

Coming back to IPTV. Does anyone of you readers think that this could make any degree of impact on the viewership? I feel that most of the people mistrust the landline outages (which are so frequent) unless there is a fibre to home coming to their homes with simple instructions to operate the set top box. The present hardware is designed to confuse the first time users; somewhere it ought to ring the bell to make it as simple as possible.

I would reserve my comments on the two competing platforms till the market matures up. Reliance is lying down low with it’s broadband offering. I am still wondering as to what has been the issue at their end. Why are they delaying the commercial launch? There are any number of ideas floating around and if they claim to be India’s number one network as far as the coverage is concerned, they ought to focus on their cherries. Or else, it would die a virgin.

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This was mandated much earlier way back in 2001; however, this was opposed by Bharti. Reliance had entered with the premise of “death of distance” and had made STD calls ridiculously cheap. At that time, Dhirubhai Ambani was still alive and Mukesh and Anil Ambani were still brothers in arms.

If Internet telephony is implemented in it’s present shape, it would see present rates crashing down to a large extent. It would give a new lease of life to ISP’s like Sify and other fringe lunatics to scale up investments. I can foresee the entry of players like Skype as well as other SIP players which rely on open standards. It’s hard not to imagine the real gains to economy as a whole and it would benefit the adoption of setting up of WiFi hotspots on a larger scale.

Carrier access codes means that one can choose his/her service provider and each of the incumbent telecom operator in fixed line business has to provide that option. It means that you can choose Airtel landline to use BSNL’s calling cards to call up you mother in law in Timbuktoo. Granted that mother in laws should remain far away without casting their evil eyes on their kids…..

The major player that’s going to get hurt is BSNL (and MTNL). Unless, they improve their services which are required in the present set up, people are going to abandon them like rats on a sinking ship.

Although, this isnt new and TRAI has probably dusted off it’s old files from it’s dingy offices, still, all compliments to them to even think of doing such a thing. This comes as a breath of fresh air indeed.

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For 300 bucks more than the basic price for unlimited broadband, I am getting double the speed. I have had no issues with the service as a whole and I am extremely pleased about it. Specially, when I get to read what others are going through.

Interestingly, Reliance has had a soft launch in NCR and they are slowly expanding. It would not be wrong to say that Reliance would look at this extremely lucrative segment; but they would have to spend bucketloads of cash to create a demand for their broadband services. Unless, they strike where Sify or Iquara or Hathway have spread their misery far and wide. They would find droves of eager customers flock for their services. I still hold that the broadband plans have to be compelling enough for people to make the switch.

Airtel’s MBA’s need to tighten up their belts. For all their fancy cars and pay hikes (no, I am not jealous) they come out frothing idiots who would not be able to hold up a bulb to a five year old kid. Their collective IQ amounts to zilch.

Prove me wrong morons. 2Mbps unlimited for 1000 bucks? It’s worth it. I ensure that the entire broadband user forums would be singing paens about you and I promise never to trash you or your collective IQ. Mark my “dangerous” words. The truth is out there. Reliance would surely eat up your share and I am sure most of you would desert Airtel’s sinking ship like rotten rats at the first hint of danger.

Update: This was a “top up” offer where the speeds would be doubled in the night. Bah! This is called as being taken for a “ride”! Sheesh. By the way, I called up the Airtel Customer Care Centre and had to bang my head with dead beat assinine women. They had no clue about the “top up” and it took a lot of cajoling and shouting on the phone to make them see any reason.

I dread calling up the customer care centres; unless one wants to let off his/her steam on the phone or act funny with the “dames”.

Useless offer- Airtel sucks!

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Trust the morons to loose an initiative. I wonder as to how do they find enough money to feed an army of MBA’s who sit back and deliberate about doing nothing. (P.S. I don’t like the MBA’s a wee bit). In the past 6 months, ever since I have had Airtel Broadband, there has been a downtime just once. However, others would testify the slackening quality of access elsewhere; Airtel needs to tone up in other parts of NCR.

All said and done, Airtel seriously needs to “take the initiative” and upset other player’s calculation. We would, forever, suffer speeds of “upto” 256k without any appreciable benefit. TRAI is sleeping over the customer complaints and instead of taking any concrete action, prefers to sniff out the babus’ puckered holes. Not a charming thought at any cost, indeed.

If anyone from Airtel is smart enough to read and understand whatever I have written here, take some efforts to have simplified plans and get your IPTV rolling out. It’s high time to wrest the initiative because if Reliance comes calling (as and when they realise that there is a huge stake out in landline business), you guys would be quaking and shitting in your pants. Reliance has already held Airtel’s testicles and turned them blue strangulating them. It would their landline business next. And I dont get my predictions wrong at all.

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COAI finally mustered up guts and filed a lawsuit against Department of Telecom. As usual, the media was frothing at it’s mouth and made this the headlines. Reliance jumped in the fray and counter challanged DoT with their own version of lawsuits galore. It was free for all till they decided to call it sober down and indulge in some back room dealings. Lawsuits have ceased to make any more news for the time being.

Spectrum is the main cause of the “fights”. I have repeated this ad naseum and it makes no sense to highlight this fact that spectrum is a scarce resource and the way Government is frittering away it’s advantages should call for an open discussion. The fossilised babus are barely going to move their butts and would be happy to gather moss. The only people who are happy about the opacity of the laws are the lawyers.

Broadband is a non starter this year too. Airtel introduced their 8 Mbps plans with some assinine download limits. I believe that this seems to be a marketing strategy in order to create a buzz around their product. All the while, most people who sign up “shockingly fast broadband” (or whatever the ads claim), they would become aware of it’s potential. Which means that word of mouth publicity would get them more customers. I am not sure that this is their marketing strategy. I believe that this is stupidity of the first lot to make the available resources scarce and not catering to the existing pent up demand. In any case, their broadband pricing leaves a lot to be desired. Airtel has the bandwidth and the mojo and the works. Yet, it is staffed by perhaps one of the worst idiots who ever sat on a gold mine.

Tatas made a lot of news and perhaps for the first time they made it to the Asshole of the year on this blog. Congratulations to them on winning this coveted award and here’s hoping that they would keep up this record. They had their intentions set right and I remember reading in Business World about their grand plans to set up metro ethernet and their deals with Cisco. This was one off news and it wasn’t mentioned subsequently. VSNL lost it’s dominance in international distance calling cards and then Reliance gave them a good competition for international landing stations.

Speaking of Reliance, they made news for all the wrong reasons. They got into acquiring Adlabs and then fancied making movies. There was a talk of convergence and “lightening fast” broadband. (Notice the way they describe their pathetic products). So far, there has been NO shaking news about broadband; they are stuck in the 128k era. Ouch! Reliance has not ventured much in landline business and they are holding their cards close to their chest. At best, they set up shadown companies like Swan and Cheetah Telecommunications (what names!) to bid for the telecom licence.

Anil Ambani has been a true “also ran” in the marathon all the while trying to carve out some “niche” for himself. He knows that he is being compared to his elder sibling and when crores of accounted and unaccounted money is at stake, blood is thinner than water indeed. Mukesh was sensible to exit out from telecom and focus instead on retail and gas. It was Anil who still seems to be glamour struck (remember Tina Munim nee’ Ambani?) It shows for him.

HFCL Connect is a small time player along with Spice Communications run by Modis. They seem to have mustered up enough courage to apply for pan India licence and spread their wings. They remain, at best, marginal players and would interest the foreign companies in case they wish to set up shop here in India.

Hutch became Vodafone after protracted legal battle and it was a personal victory for Arun Sarin. However, the change of the name and rebranding has not changed anything with this company. I have been after them to improve the quality of their services but then nothing has changed. As usual.

I had expressed hope that the year 2007 would be the year of Broadband. However, this was not to be. This was more about spectrum wars, legal wranglings et a which I am sick of reporting here again and again. This has also resulted in slowing down of the posts here. I believe that the best news of this year is the announcement of number portability, initially limited to the metros. It would be scaled up at a later date to rest of the country. I hope that with low migration charges, the competition to retain the customers would be intense and it would be the quality of services that would speak for itself.

Let’s keep our fingers crossed.

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It all boils down to the various options that we get to exercise when we have the choice and the bandwidth. If you feel you have a “fast” 256kbps “broadband” wait till you get a 8Mbps thingy. It would surely blow off your pants (in terms of user experience that is). Yet, we as Indians would rather perish than stick out our necks and fight for the issue.

My sources deep inside the Airtel complex are not opening up their mouths as yet. There were various conspiracy theories doing the rounds. Some felt that it was the imminent launch of Airtel’s IPTV launch and this was to test the “load on the lines”- whatever that means. For me, it was a good day; better than the dreary existence otherwise.

I hope that we get to see affordable 2 Mbps soon. Here’s hoping. I’d have something less to bitch about then!

By the way, Airtel is the best ISP I have ever used. In terms of service, they are way ahead of the other ISP’s. I have never faced a downtime (by HIS grace) and the “customer care executives” (or whatever you wish to call those poor blighters) are a shade better than the other counterparts. This is not a blanket endorsement of the morons who are sitting over a goldmine without capitalising on their investment. Still, to their credit, I am sure they would be rolling out something better in the future. I have a testimonial of a customer who’s Airtel landline got installed in 24 hours flat! A working connection in 24 hours! Mine took 72 hours and that too after much threats and cajoling the morons in the fray to get my net working.

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TRAI has called for universal implementation of IPTV by the cable service providers. This means that cable companies would provide a direct competition to the telecom companies as far as voice services are concerned. If they are carrying the net to the customer premises, there is no way anyone could stop ultracheap VoIP calls and ineffect telephony service in the guise of IPTV. Plus, they could easily hire oodles of bandwidth from guys like Power Grid Corporation or the Railways and carry them to the end customer premises.

This means that telcos should shit in their pants because all there massive investments would not attract customers at all. I have argued that customers are actually loath to change their landlines and this provides a great oppurtunity to lock in brand new customers with all the lollies. Wireless is good in theory but then wireline can provide a better bandwidth.

Yet, the dickheads are sleeping soundly without realising the potential for the market with their ostrich like attitude. This is specially true for start up companies like Airtel who are clear laggards in the broadband space. BSNL is silently coursing ahead with about a million subscribers. If they play their cards sensibly, I am sure they have a winner at their hands. Unless of course, babus sitting there sell their soul to the devil.

It is this proactive attitude of TRAI that has found much appreciation here. Something surely has happened to TRAI and I have no clue as to how it has found it’s teeth. I am waiting for their salvos on broadband and many companies get going by selling their narrowband as speeds “upto 256 kbbps”. Of course, this is illegal and TRAI needs a kick in the bollocks to wake itself up. Earlier on they mandated a Do Not Disturb list to be maintained which clearly means that our numbers and private details were being sold to the tele marketeers. Not surprisingly, media has chosen not to anger it’s major advertiser and instead chose to keep mum about the whole issue.

Airtel is clearly a laggard and so is Reliance. Whither the oppurtunity of 100 mbps plans? Agreed, it was all hogwash by elder Ambani but the younger sibling is burning his cash on trying to size up the media. Telecom needs his attention and he ought to cough up cash in the wireline space to make himself relevant. Having a website dedicated in your own name is just to score a point over those who don’t have.

Is TRAI reading this blog? Then wake up and do something!

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I quote selectively (emphasis mine):

Despite the free licence, less than half of India’s 338 ISPs have survived. Other ISPs have moved to niche markets. And some, according to TRAI and DoT, are untraceable. Government companies BSNL and MTNL control over 64 per cent of the market.

Unbundling the local loop and open and free entry for anyone to serve any size of area or population are considered sufficient conditions by regulators worldwide to seed booming Internet markets. WHAT THE F*** IS TRAI DOING?

Barring some early efforts, TRAI has been a helpless witness to the growing dominance of the Internet market by state incumbents. Access to network elements on cost-based charges is mandated in most successful Internet markets.

Internet telephony can be a boon for rural areas where most calls – with family members away to make a living in the city – are long-distance. TRAI wants all ISPs to be allowed to provide Internet telephony but in a restricted form – in which PCs may not call landline or mobile phones. This makes ISPs uncompetitive with the big telecom players. TRAI, however, proposes that telcos and ISPs pay the same annual fees to the government. (I had mentioned the same thing in my earlier write up here)

Rather than correct the failure of markets, the intention seems to be to shrink them so that bureaucrats have less work monitoring them. (No wonder. Government of India staffs morons of all hues).

Poor access to Internet and broadband is a sufficiently strong justification to amend the licence for cellular and unified access services to remove features, if any that cripple Internet and broadband growth.

The law empowers TRAI to recommend changes on grounds of public interest and advances in technology. The government and TRAI must wait no longer. (Public Interest? That is not foremost on their minds either!)

Comments welcome. But surely, this is indeed a dismal scenario.

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