Avoid Sify Broadband like Plague

Boss,

The supposed to be broad band connection is the worst connection which I have ever seen. From the time I had taken thi connection, i have had only problems after problems. Nobody care for your connectivity and speed. The speed what i get is 7 download and a brousing speed of around 60. The game is played up with the collusion of the company and the CTO. The infrastruture of these CTO are deplorable. I think it is time that we all should shift to Data one offered by BSNL. I am supposed to get a brousing speed of 256, and I get 60. Innumberable complaints to their 24 hours support get you no where and the local help line is not bothered. Why, I have been contcting the higher ups like Mr Ajay nambiar and his breed, but nothing has happened. Very sorry state of affairs.

drjoe99

Source:

Advertising Trends in Indian Telecom

The way telecom firms advertise, gives an approximate idea about the telecom trends. I would try to uncover some of them, which come to my mind. At the initial launch of the mobile services, they were advertised as lifestyle products. The message that sought to be conveyed was that if you have a mobile phone, you have arrived in life. A few well-healed people could afford the high call rates at that time. It was in no way for the masses. I am sure that the mobile companies made a large profit out of it. Perhaps for the first time, Indians were exposed to concepts alien to them: Customer Care Support. It saw a booming of the ancillary services and fresh graduates, stunted in mental development though, came out in droves for the well-paid jobs.

Airtel then sought the services of Sachin Tendulkar. He was the brand ambassador and saw his earnings sharply increasing. I saw his picture everywhere exhorting me buy the mobile prepaid card. After the initial publicity passed away, A.R. Rahman gave his now famous tune. All the other companies have variously tried other gimmicks to sell their connections.

However, the landscape changed after Reliance came in the mobile services. Mukesh Ambani was seen telling people about his fathers dream. The initial launch was lackluster. With the launch of the prepaid services, the punch line was “mujhme hai who baat” or “I have that thing!” I wonder how many people actually signed up after those ads. I believe that it was solely because of the “Monsoon Hungama” that Reliance was able to ramp up its numbers. Then came the ad line “Kar lo duniya muthi mein”. (Have the world in your fist). I remember that this became the butt of dirty jokes on the GSM networks! So much for imagination of creative heads of the ad agency.

The icing on the cake goes to Hutch. They designed the simple ad with the kid and cute Chinese Pug. It was a hit of all sorts. It conveyed the effectiveness of the message succinctly. I believe that it drove Hutch’s connections across the places where it offered its services. However, it was considered too elitist for the masses. The advertisement should be able to convey the message effectively; one with which people could identify with. In this regard, BSNL could claim something. BSNL’s advertisements depicted typically government mentality for awarding the contract to lowest in the tender process. The quality clearly shows. Is there anyway people could identify themselves with that advertisements? What of those places where BSNL is the sole service provider?

As the title goes, advertising trends are reflective of the current scenario in telecom. Airtel has been advertising its group card labeled as Friends. In fact, until now, the market was treated as homogenous. Over the period, classification has been sought to target the specific customers with specific needs. Airtel took the lead in announcing Senior citizen cards targeted at those above 60. The “Friends card” is for those who wish to restrict themselves to their group with low calling rates and some free messages.

Reliance has realized early on about targeting the businesses. Its offer of flat rate for making STD calls to anyone across its network is unparalleled. This way it can ensure that there would be higher converts towards it services. R-Connect is its portal that differentiated Reliance early on from other operators. It knows that future revenues are going to come from value added services. This way it has foreseen the development in the industry.

Following this, Airtel introduced its Airtel Live! I guess so have the other operators across board. The voice calls would not yield much as much as revenue as would the value added services. Hence, for the same reason they have introduced value added cards, which would help to download ring tones and other fancy stuff.

This is the reason I have always insisted that Telecom operators should get bullish on data services. 3G mobile services look good as technology demonstrators. Until the time, the prices for the 3G enabled handsets fall down to manageable levels, it would not take off. I believe that it takes up a large chunk of the scarce spectrum, which does not make any sense to introduce. WAP and GPRS were heavily promoted but have been more or less non-starters. The real differentiator would be the quality of services, cheap offering if these companies have to venture in the rural areas and the reach of the network.

In this regard, the division of India in circles is not in the right spirit. It should be taken as a homogenous land mass. The day is not far when it would be local call to call anywhere across the nation. Reliance has made this possible to some extent.

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This post was submitted by Dr. Abhishek Puri on the Broadband Blog on Techwhack.

India as an Information Technology Giant

Is India an IT superpower? Unfortunately, there is not much of truth in it. The reason is that the actual ground realities are not visible to anyone because the truth is swept under the carpet. It is very convenient to do so because the bosses and the media are hand in glove. Each time I see one of their ilks making forceful and forward looking statements, I have a reason to call their bluff. The IT industry comprises of multitude of companies offering consultancy services or call centers. The apex body is NASSCOM (National Association of software and Service Companies). This is more like a trade union with an official sounding name. NASSCOM has friends in the media. Hence its very easy to deflect the attention from the problems that plague the industry .I have never come across any business magazine or newspaper that has laid bare the truth about the innards of this ghetto.

It can be worst-case scenario described as one. This is because the salaries on board are far less than what a techie elsewhere would be drawing .These are in fact glorified sweatshops that have spawned all over. If Nike and Adidas are doing the same, drawing on the lower salaries paid to the third world countries; these IT companies are no different in employing cyber coolies. However, they feed on the “intellectual capital”. Despite the presence everywhere, these companies have not made an appreciable dent over the employment scenario. The major reason is the job attrition that remains a high on an average of 44%. This means that almost 44% of the people joining in the first year leave the company. Surely, there must be something wrong somewhere.

The companies have started of innovative schemes to lure back the same employees that have left the industry. However, increasingly burns out cases are frequent. Who has the right to feed on the same? However, in the current euphoria Indian IT is considered as a superpower.

Now, for the bitter reality. India has the least PC penetration in the world. The sad fact is that the taxes which remain so high on the computer components. In the previous budget, the Finance minister gave a sop for reducing the prices. However, an analysis of the same revealed that it was merely eyewash. For an effective IT policy, it should envisage almost zero duties on the computers .If you cannot make it cheap, what is the use of crying yourself hoarse.

The internet access remains a bugbear. I have often felt frustrated about the pathetic access, which plagues this country. Insofar there is no ISP has willingly stuck out its neck and gave a cheap and simple access. I had earlier mentioned that corporates are able to extract deals that help them to penalize the service providers in the event of downtime. Such luxury for the home users is unthinkable. In fact, it is as if these companies are doing us a big favor by providing connectivity. In this hoopla, how has this affected the common man on the street? I am sorry to say but in no positive manner whatsoever. However, dialup remains the main mode of access when the world is talking of broadband. Dial up that sucks big time. I have had frequent disconnections each time (BSNL) and no complaint resolution. Broadband access is very different. The recent launch of broadband by BSNL was as if a baby strangled before it could gasp for breath. Why is it that these people like to sit over the infrastructure that is created out of public funds? It’s not to say that the entire corporation has a hung up attitude. The fact remains that the lowermost level of staff is still coy about the fact that their jobs are safe. Making them accountable for the lapses would surely go a long way in changing the situation somewhat.

The optic fiber has reached in majority of homes across US. This is not the way here in India. The broadband penetration remains awful. The recent statistics indicated that it is to the tune of 0.04%. However, despite the announcement of broadband policy, it has not made any difference to the bosses at all. So much for being an IT superpower!

The fact of the matter is that the authorities would like to keep the issue at status quo. In the past 5 years that I have been tracking this industry, there has not been a commendable action on ground. Further, the fat cats seem to enjoy tax-free dollars that come with the outsourcing. This has not resulted in the increase in spending in this country nor have they contributed effectively to the nation building. If employment given by the size of InfoSys or Wipro is any indication, it is still a cause of concern. I guess the CEOs of these firms seem to be poster boys with media fawning on them. They seem to hang on their every word as if their life depended on it. How much of it is paid exposure, which remains a secret. I have a reason to believe that there is a huge market for media management. Exclusive press leaks for friendly journalists or jet setting on the companies accounts are few of the rewards. All you have to do is to elevate these sweat shops and make them venerable.
The coincidences cannot be ignored. This also reflects the need to be aware of the reality, which is far from visible. We need to be vigilant that whatever media is offering for mass consumption; not to be taken on face value.

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This post was submitted by Dr. Abhishek Puri on the Broadband Blog on Techwhack.

More Mess in Indian Telecom

The recent cabinet decision for the hike in the FDI needs to be put in perspective. Foreign Direct Investment (FDI) is usually unwelcome in the interests of the nation. It is true that one needs money to grow the physical infrastructure, yet FDI is a contentious issue. Part of the reason that I am wary about the increased role of foreign players in the crucial sectors is national security. More on that later. FDI is World Bank prescription for the supposed ills of the developing economies. I am reminded of the medical term Cretinism. In this due to deficiency of a particular hormone, children fail to develop in height and intellect. They were named as cretins in the old classical medicine because they were so stunted in mental development that they were thought to be incapable of sinning. It is the same bunch of cretins that World Bank is staffed with.

As part of the US based hegemony, FDI is deemed important. It gives enough markets for the Multi Nationals to invest and the government of the host country to be a stooge for the super powers. If that sounds very harsh, that is my current opinion about the FDI or any kind of a role of a foreign national in India.

In the same vein, recent announcement of FDI hike to 74% is ill timed and uncalled for. I believe that it is a part of the concerted effort of the government to give a positive spin to the sensex before the budget is presented. Of course, the timing is a big suspect. Even if the top positions in the company are meant for Indians, with the increased money inflow I am at loss to believe as to how it would be possible for them to exert their independence. It is like giving the crucial telecom sector by proxy to the foreign powers.

Part of the condition for the security reasons that are included in the clauses is mostly eye candy for the Leftists to keep their mouths shut. It is the undeniable association of the leftists with hypocrisy wherein they support the same government at the centre whom they oppose at the state level! Enough said.

Let us face the present scenario with simple reasoning. Reliance and Tata have much wider network than all the GSM majors put together do. In the present scenario, increased FDI does not mean much to them. I believe that much of the money for the expansion has been raised from their internal resources or loans. Reliance is planning an IPO this year to raise funds from the capital markets in India. It has better bandwidth than Bharti and BSNL at present. Why are the GSM operators hungry for the increased FDI exposure? This answer is beyond me. Extending this logic, with BSNL being the credible opponent to the private players in the GSM segment, raised it resources from the public and spread out its network. True the ADC regime is killing but that is out of scope here.

The usual arguments do apply that it is a capital-intensive industry and needs funds because of long gestation period. However, if money is to be raised in the market, it calls for a clear regulatory regime and a massive overhaul of the financial system in India. This means that part of the insurance money and the pension funds so collected could ideally be used. There are increasing arguments for using our bulging foreign reserves to be used for the infrastructure development.

Despite the so-called massive growth of the telecom sector, the new guidelines stipulate that Department of Telecom would enforce the regulations. Whither TRAI? This is again asinine provision because the service provider cannot be regulator itself. Does it sound as if it is a sane proposal?

Further, I see something more sinister. I had repeatedly mentioned earlier also that the number of subscribers is a suspect. The statistics just do not add up. We have four mobile phones per 1000 population. The landlines are around 32 per 1000 population according to the figures from the Asian Development Bank. It would clearly be unreasonable to compare with the developed economies like Singapore and Malaysia. In fact, we are marginally better than Pakistan in the tele-density. Add to this, the GSM operators usually count their subscribers from the first activation of the SIM card. Hutch follows a slightly different pattern. It counts its subscribers from the first recharge.

Preceding the announcement of the hike in FDI, Airtel had been advertising as one crore smiles. That is claiming more than 10 million customers across its circles. I have a reason to believe that there are not as many customers since there is no standardized way to calculate the customers. In addition, the more number of customers shown on paper clearly makes the company attractive for valuation. Now clearly this is conjecture and my assessment is based on the media reports that have been appearing in the past few months. With the increased hike in FDI, it benefits the maximum to Idea, Bharti, and Hutch. Incidentally, the multinationals are a part of the companies per se.

I fail to understand that why media is not questioning this line of logic. It has happily gone ahead with the version dished out. There are enough naysayer who would dispute the foregoing account. However, in the interest of the national security this decision needs to be rolled back. The government should clearly retain the option to nationalize these services in case need so arises. If the foreigners exert diplomatic pressures or raise the same issues in the international fora, our national interests are paramount. In any way, the foreign money has in no way clearly made the quality of services as earth shattering. We still lack in much of the quality of service indicators and after sales services. It is interesting to see that Average Revenue per User (ARPU) for Bharti is the lowest in the GSM segment. It is the highest for Hutch.

I am sure that the decision would not be rolled back. There would be customary noises and everything else would be forgotten as time passes by. For the man on the street and as ordinary customers, there is not much in offer. For the rural customers, they would still be deprived since there is a wide difference in the paying capacity of the rural and the urban customers. Clearly, the interests of these operators lie in tapping the untapped customers in the urban areas and ignore the rural obligations under the pretext of unavailability. This is clearly against what they had pledged while being awarded licenses that rural telecom would get a boost. The telecom muddle is growing murkier and murkier by the day. In addition, so are the claims of the great Indian telecom revolution.

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This post was submitted by Dr. Abhishek Puri on the Broadband Blog on Techwhack.

Telecom Regulatory Authority of India

Over the past few years, there has been a spurt of the telecom growth. Even though it has been in fits and starts. Envisaged in the National Telecom Policy was the role of a regulator. However, as the action on the ground has demonstrated, Telecom Regulatory Authority of India has clearly failed in its mandated role. The Indian telecom has had strange bedfellows. Department of Telecom was the regulator as well as the service provider. It made sure that its two very ugly daughters Bharat Sanchar Nigam Limited (BSNL) and Mahanagar Telecom Nigam Limited (MTNL) remained at the forefront of inefficiency.

TRAI was set up much later and it was envisaged to be a regulator and to safeguard the interests of the consumers. TRAI was in a bind and fix because most of the decisions that it ever took were either challenged in the courts or ignored. This has indeed limited its scope over the period of time whereby it cannot claim its mandate.

Seeing that a large number of cases were dragged to the court, the government of the day set up Telecom Disputes Appellate (TDSAT). TDSAT has however usurped the quasi-judicial powers of TRAI, which does not reflect a healthy regulatory regime.

Chief among the problems that TRAI is facing is the limited scope of its role in the market. Its method of financing wherein the telecom operators need to set aside 1% of their revenues for the same. There have many contentious issues of the fixed licensing fees whereby TRAI mandated them to shift to revenue sharing model. The license fee was unusually high which the GSM operators bid in, before they started their services. The setting up of Universal Service Obligation (USO) fund for subsidizing the telecom services in the rural areas. This has hung fire recently for the refusal of BSNL to expand its services. However, TRAI has been almost powerless to affect the spread of the telecom in areas where it has deemed to be important. Another area is the Access Deficit Charge, which BSNL has been claiming on dubious grounds. TRAI wants this to be phased out over a period of time wherein BSNL is not happy over the idea.

Over the past few years there have many task forces and committees to look into the spread of telecom in unviable areas. One such dealt with the need for the broadband access since the optic fiber has reach in most parts of the country.

TRAI s scope has been limited to procedural matters and some say cynically that the regulator is just an address in New Delhi. However, matters came to head when the broadband policy was announced. Most of the recommendations of TRAI were ignored in the best interests of BSNL. They had envisaged tax holidays and opening up of the local loop to private players. This evidently did not happen and TRAI was left twiddling its thumbs.

In this backdrop, the regulatory regime is ineffectual. Or rather, it has made to be one. This is the main reason why infrastructure funds are not flowing in the sector in a manner they ought to be.

There is a clear reason behind this. As the foregoing account goes, the telecom policy has been changed to suit a few people depending on the proximity of those people in the corridors of power. Reliance got license to start telecom services only as limited mobility clause. However, they announced roaming for the customers in the name of call divert. This obviously hurt the businesses of the GSM operators. TRAI could not really affect Reliance since technically speaking there was not any violation of the license. Paying a paltry sum as compared to the GSM operators, Reliance finally managed to get a unified license for its services and hence started offering full-fledged mobile services.

This kind of twisting of the laid down policy does not really enthuse the investor who would clearly investing his money on a long-term basis. Typically, infrastructure funds remain locked up on a long-term basis. This means that banks typically would not be able to offer the funds anyway. This indeed calls for a radical overhaul of the investment climate. There is a talk of using our bulging foreign reserves for the same purpose. However, at the point of repetition TRAI's role needs to be clearly defined, as well as, clearly mandated for any dispute resolution. It also needs to be armed with more powers than it is currently now. For example, it could cancel the license of any operator who has flouted its regulations. This argument should hold true for BSNL! In the name of national interest, they have made sure that most of the consumers cannot reap the benefits of a robust telecom regime.

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This post was submitted by Dr. Abhishek Puri on the Broadband Blog on Techwhack.