Ratan Tata got a lot of flak for his association with the corporate PR specialist; per se the association is not illegal but motivated agendas are. He’s the head of Tatas who had earned a good corporate reputation over the years with the tag line, “We also make Steel”.

Over the past few years, they entered into Telecom; bought over VSNL for their broadband and international telephony needs, misread the market, entered into CDMA and then forked into GSM with two competing brands- Virgin Mobile and Tata DoCoMo. While Virgin Mobile had it’s CDMA avatar (now in GSM), Docomo is spearheading it’s 3G foray.

In all the hoopla, it has carved a niche for itself by being an idiot and super idiot at the same time. There is no parallel in the world (not to my knowledge) where a same company would fight for the same customer pool. Leave aside it’s mobile business (which is opaque as far as the revenues are concerned), it’s broadband strategy is in tatters.

Hence when Forbes India came up with the cover story on Tata’s Telecom strategy, I was eagerly awaiting the web version because this crap is not worth the paper it is printed on (and hence not worth the money spent on this tattered crap rag). I was proved right when the “journalist” in question hammed on the same issue time and again; perhaps without even realizing that one needs to have an in-depth understanding of the sector. The title says a lot about the “telecom strategy” but sadly these morons on Forbes have restricted themselves to “mobile segment” alone.

I refuse to account for the sector changes or even track the people involved in decision making. This is not my specialty or my interest. My only interest is to get a better deal as a customer; see it through the prism of my own understanding and spout out my “wisdom”.

The whole article talks about the sectoral changes due to Mobile Number Portability or Spectrum charges being traded in “business publications” elsewhere. It does not make even one fucking cursory mention about it’s strategy elsewhere; where it has met it’s waterloo and has been drubbed by customers square- Broadband.

I don’t understand; really don’t understand as to why these idiots cant scale up the platform. They have DTH; they make tonnes in carriage fees (as per the media reports) and burning huge amount of cash in customer acquisition. A proper broadband access (and a portal) with content cross ported from DTH (if you take care of the license issues- what the fuck is their army of lawyers doing?) and you have a sure fire recipe for success.

Of course, this has to come with a balance of right targets and marketing. Last mile access alone is a major issue but not for the class B and class C cities and towns where they could have become the default broadband service providers. But because it needs funds, long term vision and skill of execution, Tatas are found wanting.

Forbes India disappoints me. Not that I had expected a stellar reporting from them but at least SOME bloody semblance of balance in the story. It only points towards the idea bankruptcy, lack of sectoral understanding and oodles of stupidity.

Tags: 3G, Broadband, Broadband access, CDMA, DTH, EDGE, GSM, Idiots, India, journalist, Media, Mobile, Mobile Number Portability, Spectrum, Tata, Tatas, Telecommunications India, Virgin, virgin mobile, VSNL

There is a huge variance in the numbers being reported by different news papers. One of the major fall out of mobile number portability is that you can spite your existing telecom operators face; if you are a high value post paid customer, it would be worth it.

We would never know the true numbers because they would be under reported. DoT would not get in the game and the right from the word go, everyone is claiming that mobile number portability is a no show. I disagree. This is one the huge game changers in the long run and once the hoopla settles down, it’s best to switch providers. I would want something like Google Voice (one number) and get rid of the crap services but I am destined to suffer at their hands.

This also means that I have the full freedom to shift over to rival networks who would provide a better seamless coverage for that occasional data access.

Business Standard has a full page story on this issue It says:

The biggest loser was Reliance Communications (both GSM and CDMA), followed by state-run Bharat Sanchar Nigam and Tata Teleservices (CDMA and GSM). Reliance lost 9,837 users, while 192 chose to join its network..

So, no one likes Reliance Telecom. Anil Ambani, here’s one for you; how not to run a damned network.

Industry experts feel MNP will not be a game-changer. Even operators are not expecting the churn due to MNP to be more than one per cent, as against the current rate of four-five per cent. This is based on their experience in the Haryana circle, where MNP was launched in December. Haryana has seen a churn of about one per cent.

Where the F these experts come out from? They are either some way side idiots or “consulting firms”; would the news paper please stand up to explain who are these experts who have been quoted?

Tags: Anil Ambani, Business Standard, CDMA, DoT, Google, GSM, Idiots, Mobile, Mobile Number Portability, Opera, Reliance, Tata, Tata Teleservices, Telecommunications India

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.

Tags: CEO, Idiots, India, Indians, Media, Mobile, Mobile Number Portability, Opera, Telecommunications India, Telecommunications India, TRAI