Tag Archive for 'Mobiles'

3G India: Who needs it?

Published on 08th Nov 2009 in Indian Telecom. 0 Comments Tags: , , , , , , , , , , , , .

The following is the text of the email sent and an edited version appeared in Business Standard on 06/11/2009.

Dear Sir,

This refers to Shyam Ponnapa’s write up on BS dated 05/110/2009 (Managing Spectrum Efficiently).

The big question. Why do we need 3G? Why not focus on the land line business alone for broadband access? Or better still. Community Wifi?

The arguments for doing away with this are many. Community Wifi is deemed to be a security risk but then countries like Singapore have implemented this on a large scale nationwide. The mobile phones required to access 3G invariably have Wifi access too. Unless, the telecom companies are expecting surefire hits like Apple iPhones or flood of other smart phones to access the Internet, it is not happening.

We don’t have accurate numbers about the likes of Reliance and Tata who are offering their 3G access. If initial reports are to be believed, they are plagued by “line of sight” hassles, ‘network congestion’ and lackluster customer support. To top it all, it has the access limitations which means that broadband access, even on the 3G spectrum would be capped for very obvious reasons.

We have enough bandwidth in the country but as anyone would testify, we have problems in implementing the “last mile access”; having a contentious set of issues like 3G is not going to solve the persistent problem of “last mile access” because no one is interested in sinking money for a long term.

We can have a fair idea from the existing companies like Airtel or Vodafone who charge exorbitant rates under the present implementation of “mobile internet”. What is the guarantee that they would lower down the prices once they pay fancy sticker prices in 3G auction?

3G, would most likely be used for carrying more voice traffic because none of the players harbours any disillusionment about the “mobile broadband” across the length and breadth of the country.
The market for value added services is locked up within the “walled garden” of the existing players; it is unlikely that 3G access would “revolutionize” the content.

This pretty much sums up what I have always alluded here and my opposition to 3G remains.

Virgin Mobile India: Something “different”?

Published on 26th Oct 2008 in Indian Telecom, Tata Indicom and virgin mobile. 1 Comment Tags: , , , , , , , , , , , , , .

Virgin Mobile is going full throttle with it’s advertising blitz; I remember, there was some issue with it’s licence because it was a virtual network operator. Tata claims that it isn’t. The truth, as to who fathered it, is not known to anyone.

The “bastard” of this company is trying to grab attention like an unwanted company. It makes tall claims about it’s “superior network coverage” and it’s “young outlook”. Pooh. Who the f*** cares about it anyway? On what basis has it made these claims? It’s hard to discount it, nevertheless, we could take it with a pinch of salt anyway.

Their website is an overdose of flashturbation. Its a bad idea to attract the dudes who have no decent access to broadband. In anycase, it chokes on my crappy bandwidth of BSNL at home.

I have no clue about the new “execs” at the helm of the affairs but if their CEO is a rich bored millionaire who has nothing else to do excpet launching himself in hot air balloons or dance with skimpy chicks, it speaks a lot about the professional attitude of a company. It doesnt promote the seriousness with which it needs to be taken; instead I have a creepy feeling that they are just fly by night operators.

The idiots need to realise it that a strong message doesnt go by having whacky advertisements. Drop down the prices, subisdise the cost of the handsets and bleed the new players by being able to offer services based on quality. I still have to come across a subscriber of this company who has said anything positive about there efforts. I wouldnt be surprised if they give in free mobiles with a rider of a locked in period. Unless they have enough balls to do it.

Some late night thoughts

Published on 26th Oct 2008 in General Thoughts. 0 Comments Tags: , , , , , , , , , , , , , , .

I have been travelling over the weekend back to my native place which was untouched by the glitz and glamour of the metros. This Diwali seems to be muted; partially because of the economic recession and partly because of the widespread inflation.

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”.

Mobiles in India: Value added services

Published on 10th Aug 2008 in General Thoughts and Telecom News. 0 Comments Tags: , , , , , , , .

This is a link to Rajesh Jain’s blog; Emergic. I am glad that he has started blogging again, although he is doing to promote his venture called as Netcore. He used to post across links daily to various tech columns and had amassed a good amount of readership. One of his employees is Atanu Dey who blogs regularly on his own site on Deesha. I am not sure how they are joined in the scheme of the things but Rajesh Jain does have his own crack team.

He does some numbers on the mumbo jumbo that is Value added services and I am more inclined to believe these stats as compared to the crap that gets dished out in the media. All in all, it is not the billion dollar industry but a more sedate estimated $200 million dollars. The number of subscribers may be “booming” but the real revenues are not. The mobile industry is playing a volume game and the new entrants realise it.

I feel that as the market matures and regulation becomes more pro active (i.e. there are no two centres of power- TRAI and DoT), it would be more fruitful for the customers. For starters, we would have more representation in the regulation from the customers; a real watchdog on lines of Ofcom who would penalise the lousy shit heads called as honchos and fair play instead of favouritism to likes of Reliance.

VAS (value added services) would help to extend the utility of the handset. Instead of downloading ringtones (which is an absolute no brainer), the likes of m Commerce might take roots. I had written an article on the same ages ago; Tata had plans to launch it in India. Somewhere along the line, the lost that game and became just another company with a fancy mobile telephone infrastructure.

If the market has to grow, there has to be a shift towards the basics. m Commerce can happen via secure sms based transactions. If the acceptance grows, I am sure there would be a good amount of money to be made in this.

Indian Mobile Industry: Ring in profits

Published on 20th Jul 2008 in Telecom News. 0 Comments Tags: , , , .

They make obscene profits and the all the while claim that they pay the highest taxes in the world. If the market conditions were so difficult, who has forced them the stay out around here and sell their pathetic services? A fair weather indication of their turnover is the news that the mobile tarrifs have increased to over 1.30 lakh crore. If the estimated numbers of millions of Indians joining the mobile bandwagon is true, this is a serious party and money. I would still need a confirmation and no one knows the real picture barring perhaps the telecom operators themselves.

They have fudged the numbers, dodged the taxes and take all of us a big ride. Thats the reality of big businesses all over the world.

Broadband and Microblogging

Published on 24th Jun 2008 in General Thoughts. 0 Comments Tags: , , , , , , , , , .

I came across these two hilarious videos and produce here for your eyes only.

I am becoming a twitter whore myself. Although, I must confess that this novelty does wear off after some time. This is a perfect marriage of Internet with the mobiles with device updates on your cell phone. I have accumulated over 300 sms’s over the past 3 days. There are a variety of people posting in over a million thoughts in a day which makes this a very powerful medium indeed. It makes sense to send a group SMS over the period of time to the people you wish to stay in touch with.

Another beauty of You Tube is that one never knows what they might stumble upon. This enriches the novelty of the medium and makes it very interesting. It is perfectly geared to the demands of the new Gen X which has short attention spans and I love the short and sweet clips. It is a powerful dissemination medium as well. I am not sure about the numerous You Tube clones; there are a number of Indian websites as well. I am wondering as to where do they find the user base to generate the content from.

If I had time enough, I would be integrating this main blog with the microblogging; although, I indulge in it more to let off my steam than serious professional blogging. This might change in the future as newer technologies emerge and I am willing to get a slice of the same. Internet is truly a great leveller; it provides the unfettered access to the available information. That’s why I have always believed in providing an unlimited access so that people can benefit from these technologies. It is a matter of time though.

The new wave of networking

Published on 01st Jun 2008 in Indian Telecom. 1 Comment Tags: , , .

In this broadband era, networking in terms of personal space is increasing at a very rapid pace. Unless you consider the social network retard on Orkut or Facebook hoping to strike gold (there are many), the networking craze has increased manifold. There is an integration of the cyberspace with the mobiles and the instant messengers with people following their friends and associates.

There have been reports of people using Twitter to update the quake affected areas or duing tech conferences. Technology has a way to touch our lives in many ways that we don’t realise. Ideas keep on popping up in cyberspace and so does their execution.

Humans have always networked from the days of “GOPHER” and the old “ARCHIE” and “VERONICA” search engines. It was fun to set up a Bulletin Board System, much like the community calling card. The present day Web 2.0 and the millions of VC funds have brought in likes of Facebook and Orkut to the fore.

We have indeed come in a long way; the present broadband rush has truly brought in more degree of interaction than we could have imagined earlier.