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chetak
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Re: Indian Economy News & Discussion - Aug 26 2015

Post by chetak »

chaanakya wrote:BSNL and MTNL owns towers in more number of locations. As part of restructuring and as a first step they could hive off these tower assets into a separate company and allow all cell phone companies to lease space on them so as to provide better coverage and get revenue out of inefficiently utilised infra.
all cell companies have for some time now, been allowed to use each other's cell towers on commercial terms. It's only that the private companies have bribed taken away prime locations on these towers in terms of coverage by moving PSU antennae to less advantageous positions on these towers with the active connivance of the PSU staff/management. They also hobble many of such antennae by reducing the outputs.
chaanakya
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Re: Indian Economy News & Discussion - Aug 26 2015

Post by chaanakya »

chetak wrote:

all cell companies have for some time now, been allowed to use each other's cell towers on commercial terms. It's only that the private companies have bribed taken away prime locations on these towers in terms of coverage by moving PSU antennae to less advantageous positions on these towers with the active connivance of the PSU staff/management. They also hobble many of such antennae by reducing the outputs.
Yes , I know that. What I am saying is to turn these assets into a separate company. Charge higher for prime locations on tower for setting antenna. if you leave them with PSUs such things would happen. As for Outputs there is restrictions on max output so that can be manages. PSUs employees, by not performing and by taking bribe, are acting as a proverbial Kalidas by cutting the branch on which they are sitting.
Theo_Fidel

Re: Indian Economy News & Discussion - Aug 26 2015

Post by Theo_Fidel »

I don't understand the heartburn on real estate. If the land is worth so much sell and move the damn infrastructure elsewhere. Obviously the land can be put to more productive use which BSNL is squatting on and not able to develop. Why does it need so much money from GOI then. As chanakya pointed out the same logic was trotted out for VSNL and today no one even remembers the damn nightmare it was....

This manner of thinking that expensive land should not be re-purposed is a major reason why Mumbai/Bengluru/Chennai folk live in such limited/miserable circumstances. If I'm not wrong the port trust PSU in Mumbai is still sitting on 1000 acres of land or something obscene like that, even after its entire port business collapsed 40 years ago. Dog - meet - manger.... ...people are paralyzed with fear of losing the 'family jewels' that no logic will shake them from these bad decisions. Paralysis, paralysis, paralysis....

Again, Tax payers should not be running phone company. BSNL is hemorrhaging its business. Its land line customers are abandoning it with 50% already having left and more leaving everyday. It wage bill is unsustainable. It uses 15 times the workers to do the same work the private sector does! This is how disastrous it is as an organization. Back in the day the same 'family jewels' and 'think of the real estate' logic was trotted out for Air India. And I said the same thing back then too. Why is tax payer running an airline... Sell now, get what you can and move on... ..run for the hills if you can. And now Air India is worth less than zero.... Worse it has cost taxpayer staggering sums of money... ..yet we keep repeating the same mistakes, expect different outcome...

Still I recognize there is no consensus within India on this... ..shame really...
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Re: Indian Economy News & Discussion - Aug 26 2015

Post by SaraLax »

Theo_Fidel wrote:And pray tell me what would happen the day after ?

The company will be torn apart and various viable pieces absorbed into other private players.non-viable pieces will vanish.. ..jobs will be lost and people will need to find new jobs. This is normal part of business operations, don't worry nothing will be wasted. Even when King fisher was torn apart, most of the planes and assets were absorbed by other companies....

I have no idea what the rest of your comment means and didn't bother re-reading...
Sir - 'non-viable pieces will vanish' .... that's quite an easy statement to say for you ..sir.
I will bet that those " non-viable pieces" will be the very very lonely but functional BSNL mobile towers + base stations placed a bit deep in rural areas and villages of India where no private player (airtel/vodafone/aircel/idea/Tata docomo/uninor) wants to venture into .... because there is simply no money to be made here currently !!!. I have experienced many such scenarios in a well networked state like Tamil Nadu where BSNL is the only mobile network (of course 2G only) that is available in these rural areas (sometimes just 15-20 kms away from municpality towns ... these municipalities can be thought of as 'Tier-5 towns' if Nasik, Trichy are to be considered Tier-3 towns). If this 'non-viable pieces vanish' logic works - what will happen is that these rural areas will get cut off from rest of the state when it comes to fast & easy communication for any medical emergency, disaster relief, law & order purposes, rural-buses-connectivity-confirmation, everyday business communication for grocery/medical shops in rural areas seeking to stock up on items available at nearby bigger towns and last but not the least - the simple joy of instant communication for some one sitting outside his house in such rural areas. BSNL does bleed money in having to support basic mobile network connectivity in such loss creating rural geographies. There is no business justification to have a network in such areas but there is a moral obligation for the government to provide the same but private players run away from these types of situations. Even in some of the areas in municipal towns that i have been to - phones connecting to vodafone/idea services would be just electronic devices with games to be played rather than to be used for mobile network based communication.

Also BSNL's landline does provide internet facility in most of the urban & rural areas.

For me - BSNL's billing plans for their mobile & home internet services seem to be the most honest among the entire gang comprising airtel, vodafone, idea & etc who provide similar service.

Definitely BSNL can be made leaner, more effective by shielding them from political interferences but lets not forget that they do provide a service that helps in the advancement of the nation in more ways than a private company in same area of work (who provide the same service but restrict their operations to tier-1/tier-2 & tier-3 cities of the country).
chetak
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Re: Indian Economy News & Discussion - Aug 26 2015

Post by chetak »

Theo_Fidel wrote:I don't understand the heartburn on real estate. If the land is worth so much sell and move the damn infrastructure elsewhere. Obviously the land can be put to more productive use which BSNL is squatting on and not able to develop. Why does it need so much money from GOI then. As chanakya pointed out the same logic was trotted out for VSNL and today no one even remembers the damn nightmare it was....

This manner of thinking that expensive land should not be re-purposed is a major reason why Mumbai/Bengluru/Chennai folk live in such limited/miserable circumstances. If I'm not wrong the port trust PSU in Mumbai is still sitting on 1000 acres of land or something obscene like that, even after its entire port business collapsed 40 years ago. Dog - meet - manger.... ...people are paralyzed with fear of losing the 'family jewels' that no logic will shake them from these bad decisions. Paralysis, paralysis, paralysis....

Again, Tax payers should not be running phone company. BSNL is hemorrhaging its business. Its land line customers are abandoning it with 50% already having left and more leaving everyday. It wage bill is unsustainable. It uses 15 times the workers to do the same work the private sector does! This is how disastrous it is as an organization. Back in the day the same 'family jewels' and 'think of the real estate' logic was trotted out for Air India. And I said the same thing back then too. Why is tax payer running an airline... Sell now, get what you can and move on... ..run for the hills if you can. And now Air India is worth less than zero.... Worse it has cost taxpayer staggering sums of money... ..yet we keep repeating the same mistakes, expect different outcome...

Still I recognize there is no consensus within India on this... ..shame really...
you don't get it. nobody should be allowed grab the PSU(s) under the guise of "disinvestment", strip it and sell off the parts because he is some ar$%^&* hole's brother in law.

A few extra workers is infinitely more preferable to political shenanigans of fraud and theft

there will be a solution but not "sell it off for whatever you get" and move on type of
answer. We are getting there, slowly it may seem to some, but WTF is the tearing hurry anyway??

BSNL is not squatting on anything, they own the land and have fully functioning exchanges and offices there, serving a extremely relevant social and commercial purpose. How do you develop a modern exchange further?? and to what purpose??
Their land line service and internet is actually better than any of their competitors for the money they charge.


Their employees are someone's father, brother, son, wife, daughter, whatever. They are all not bad. You want to turf them out for "efficiency" ?? where would they go??
and who would you bring in, duffers, drug addicted, like some (not all) BPO type jokers??

BSNL is not hemorrhaging as you seem to think, it is being systematically stripped of its business, customers, assets and business opportunities just like Air India was by some idiot called patel and people like naresh goyal and vijay mallaya

anti national Indians have raped these companies to benefit themselves and their gora or arab masters and yet you talk glibly of heartburn??

I was a very satisfied VSNL customer earlier and I am a very satisfied BSNL customer now. It's my private player cell phone connections that cause me endless connection and data problems and merciless overcharging with little or no access to their "customer service"
Theo_Fidel

Re: Indian Economy News & Discussion - Aug 26 2015

Post by Theo_Fidel »

SaraLax wrote:Sir - 'non-viable pieces will vanish' .... that's quite an easy statement to say for you ..sir.
I will bet that those " non-viable pieces" will be the very very lonely but functional BSNL mobile towers + base stations placed a bit deep in rural areas and villages of India where no private player (airtel/vodafone/aircel/idea/Tata docomo/uninor) wants to venture into .... because there is simply no money to be made here currently !!!. I have experienced many such scenarios in a well networked state like Tamil Nadu where BSNL is the only mobile network (of course 2G only) that is available in these rural areas (sometimes just 15-20 kms away from municpality towns ... these municipalities can be thought of as 'Tier-5 towns' if Nasik, Trichy are to be considered Tier-3 towns). ....

Definitely BSNL can be made leaner, more effective by shielding them from political interferences but lets not forget that they do provide a service that helps in the advancement of the nation in more ways than a private company in same area of work (who provide the same service but restrict their operations to tier-1/tier-2 & tier-3 cities of the country).
Sir,

Business is in the job of making money. Government is there to pick up the pieces, bail out the people affected and regulate to provide equal playing field. GOI is NOT there to play the game itself...

The tower business is the viable piece as several have said. It could be sold off as one unit. What is killing BSNL is landline disaster + employees + spectrum interference.

BTW Think about what you are asking for sir. You are saying people in these poor areas don't have the money to pay for cell service, yet must provide tax payer support so folks like you and I can use our smart phone when we visit them. If GOI wants rural coverage, which I agree is a public good, then provide a dedicated tax revenue source for that purpose, preferably paid by all phone users to subsidize towers by private providers. It will certainly be cheaper by far than asking BSNL to provide service. If you want coverage to tier-2 & tier-3,4,5 cities, then phone users like you and I should pay for it, not the poor villager who can not afford to pay tax yet pays through his nose.... ..and there maybe even better ways to do this with zero subsidy, in fact if you ask me, GOI needs to get out of the way and full coverage will come to India too with time, the private players want it but need more profit to pull it off... .. if it was upto GOI cellphone would have never come to the masses after all...

BSNL only appears to be honest sir. Because it already has its hands in your back pocket, direct into your tax return. Corruption on a grand scale is being committed here.... ..private players only have bit roles in this.... ..WRT leaner, I gasped when I read that. Are you aware sir that BSNL employs more employees than all the private players combined. Everyone would love to get paid for no work.... This is in fact true of all the quasi-business PSU's India runs... ..Grossly inefficient and destroy national wealth... .. which is why we are so poor...
----------------------
chetak wrote:Their employees are someone's father, brother, son, wife, daughter, whatever. They are all not bad. You want to turf them out for "efficiency" ?? where would they go??
and who would you bring in, duffers, drug addicted, like some (not all) BPO type jokers??
:roll:
Suraj
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Re: Indian Economy News & Discussion - Aug 26 2015

Post by Suraj »

Would the participants of the BSNL debate mind making the discussion more quantitative vs an ideological argument ? BSNL statements, information on past bailout or support infusions etc ? Discussions with data and reference are more suited to this thread . Otherwise the discussion is sidetracking this thread and will be moved elsewhere.
Theo_Fidel

Re: Indian Economy News & Discussion - Aug 26 2015

Post by Theo_Fidel »

I think you are asking for the impossible. Right all the arguments for BSNL are based on sentiment or some un-reasoned fear of rocking the boat.
--------------------------

The cold numbers are dead against BSNL. I'm not even going to mention MTNL which is worse by all accounts...
BSNL is losing subscribers and its network is dated. It wireless market share just dropped below 8%. From experience this is heading to become yet another zombie PSU. I think we all know how this story ends...

http://www.livemint.com/Industry/TYwuee ... 01415.html
According to an official in the Department of Telecom, BSNL lost about 1.78 crore wireless and over 20 lakh wireline subscribers between March 2014 and March 2015. Stating the reasons responsible for the loss of wireless subscribers, the official said BSNL was not able to match the aggressive marketing of services by private telecom operators.

Also, the official added that due to the PSU’s inability to invest in upgradation of its network during the period 2008-2012, there were issues related to mobile network coverage, capacity and quality of service. “The reasons for decline in wireline subscriber base include the general decline in demand for fixed lines telephone on account of shift to mobile services,” he said.
------------------------------------

Here was Deloitte's recommendation on what BSNL should do.
I would point out that another recommendation was that 70,000, or 1/3 of BSNL workforce is not needed and should be pushed out. They said another 50,000 could be eliminated by raising efficiency. Obviously nothing was done.
According to management response most of it has been achieved yet business continues to circle the drain. Time to let go....

http://www.bsnleumh.com/delmc.pdf
---------------------------

From the comedy files here is what happened last week at BSNL. Taxpayers of course get to pick the tab for these shenanigans.

http://timesofindia.indiatimes.com/city ... 113775.cms
Anantharaman had taken charge on September 23, after the BSNL corporate office in New Delhi removed Rao from the post and put him on 'compulsory wait'. Officials close to Rao said the court had referred the petition to the central administrative tribunal (CAT) and asked it to clear the case in two months. "In fact, Rao reached the office within minutes of the court directive. He occupied the office when Anantharaman was out for lunch," :rotfl: a senior official said.
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Re: Indian Economy News & Discussion - Aug 26 2015

Post by Vayutuvan »

chaanakya wrote:true NaMo is not a compulsive privatizer. He has been instrumental in turning around several state PSUs, GSPC, GPCL , Power distribution companies. ... Upshot of it all is there is no one fix for all and I hope NDA-2 ( or is it NDA-3) takes forward these reforms faster.
Exactly what I meant re. Theo's advise of hastily divesting to cut the losses. I visited Gandhi Nagar in 1993 and had links with an industrial house till 1995. There were at least a score large > 100K sft factory space industries which were sick. Probably a hundred smaller ones - all sick. Guess who was ruling the state 1990-1995? INC (with JD(G) as an ally for three years). it was sickening. A friend (highly educated - IIT, US MS, and PhD from IIM) lost his vesti on a 100K sft factory and had to sell it to a well-known south Indian group. The destruction of wealth was incredible. As far I can see the reason was Congress(I) was only playing political games without being business friendly. We had substantial stock options in that company for work done but unfortunately we never recovered anything out of it. The reason? A politically connected dynasty group got licences on a fast track. My friend's business had gone bankrupt. Congress(I) had lot of crony capitalism going on.

That's what leads to hasty privatization. A few cronies grab valuable assets - could be non-operating but still valuable - and drive apolitical innovative competitors out of business. In the end everybody is a loser except a handful of upper crust politicos (mostly) and their hangers-on.
Last edited by Vayutuvan on 27 Sep 2015 11:10, edited 2 times in total.
Vayutuvan
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Re: Indian Economy News & Discussion - Aug 26 2015

Post by Vayutuvan »

Final post - list on Indian stock exchanges (and even SDRs in Lodon, NY, HK, SG - is that even possible under current rules?) to let the market discover the price. Then divest in tranches so as to not adversely affect the market (not too much of supply in one go). If the stock holdings are spread over large number of share holders, an ownership of 25% or less by GoI would be able to maintain control. Waging proxy wars would be impossible for anybody. They would be messing with the entire might of GoI.
hanumadu
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Re: Indian Economy News & Discussion - Aug 26 2015

Post by hanumadu »

Could the losses be that BSNL alone fulfills the Universal connectivity obligations and perhaps its losses are being covered by UC Charges levied on other companies?
Yagnasri
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Re: Indian Economy News & Discussion - Aug 26 2015

Post by Yagnasri »

By removing top level political corruption NM removed most powerful tool of cronies.

On NPA front no serious inaction is there on the part of GOI which I have time and again posted here. Just talk and no action from anyone. The recent RBI guidelines on NPA are also rubbish and in the short term the situation may actually become bad as banks are now forced classify accounts as NPA which they were not doing for one reason or another. While it is good that correct picture is slowly emarging the requirements of provisioning and other aspects of NPA management will create a situation wherein banks will not be going for serious lending activities. Infra will be most hit. Even L&T infra projects like Chennai tool are also becoming NPA.

May be time to look seriously into SMEs only for sometime. Serious need for new insolvency laws is also there. Hope there is some action in this area.
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Re: Indian Economy News & Discussion - Aug 26 2015

Post by Singha »

pvt telcos run very dishonest tactics if you want to let go. I had to cancel my airtel landline entirely after saying I would move house as they sat on my repeated cases for 2 months to cancel my DSL and leave my voice line intact.
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Re: Indian Economy News & Discussion - Aug 26 2015

Post by SaraLax »

Theo_Fidel wrote:I think you are asking for the impossible. Right all the arguments for BSNL are based on sentiment or some un-reasoned fear of rocking the boat.
--------------------------

The cold numbers are dead against BSNL. I'm not even going to mention MTNL which is worse by all accounts...
BSNL is losing subscribers and its network is dated. It wireless market share just dropped below 8%. From experience this is heading to become yet another zombie PSU. I think we all know how this story ends...

http://www.livemint.com/Industry/TYwuee ... 01415.html
------------------------------------
http://www.bsnleumh.com/delmc.pdf
---------------------------
http://timesofindia.indiatimes.com/city ... anthapuram[/b][/u]/New-BSNL-chief-in-no-mans-land/articleshow/49113775.cms
Anantharaman had taken charge on September 23, after the BSNL corporate office in New Delhi removed Rao from the post and put him on 'compulsory wait'. Officials close to Rao said the court had referred the petition to the central administrative tribunal (CAT) and asked it to clear the case in two months. "In fact, Rao reached the office within minutes of the court directive. He occupied the office when Anantharaman was out for lunch," :rotfl: a senior official said.
As a counter to Theo sir's attempts to show the negative & comical sides of BSNL - i am quoting a couple of articles on BSNL's improvements in certain states (as experienced by an 'anti-PSU' senior editor of a pretty serious economy & business newspaper). I think - nobody disputes the fact that BSNL needs to downsize its labour force, right skill the young people in its workforce, provide more the feeling of ownership of their divisions/products to the managers & focus more on customer service through constant training of its employees & periodic technology upgrades to the same.

To me the BSNL employees (atleast in TN) seem to understand that they are in competition with fast moving, relatively more efficient entities like Airtel, Aircel & others and that they are basically fighting for their livelihood. The same employees are also aware that their company have been often sawed off at crucial times by ministers like Sukhram, A. Raja & Dayanidhi Maran. Corrupt politicians can definitely make every PSU a zombie.

The central govt must come with policies that help such PSUs fight out the competition in a more leveled field of competition where political changes & IAS babu transfers (happening every 5 years or less) do not cause delay & adversely affect their functioning (whether they are banks, oil refiners-sellers, power gen & distribution cos or telcos as is the case here).

FYI - I have lost money investing in MTNL shares.

Well - do not miss reading the details given in the comments section too ... more interesting there

JAN 2014 : The transformation of BSNL
For over a decade, I kept away from PSUs as much as I could. I had had bad experiences with both BSNL and a PSU bank, and I swore I would never ever have anything to do with PSU telecom companies and banks.

But I kept hearing about how the two PSU behemoths were changing...and adapting to the times.

My experience at Valparai, a hill station in Tamil Nadu, forced me to get a BSNL SIM card. I had to be without even basic mobile connectivity for two full days at Valparai, as only BSNL had services there. Our family had four SIM cards of three private telecom service providers but they were of no use.
.
.
BSNL customer service changing for the better
.
.
Yes, it's the competition. BSNL has to keep pace with everything - the technology, the pricing and customer service. BSNL HAD to change, else it would have lost out in the telecom race. But I feel, it has more to do with just competition. The entire customer grievance process seems to have been overhauled. Calls are getting through to 'live' customer care officials within minutes and customers are getting multiple call backs. Which is great - from a PSU.
.
.
Yagnasri
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Re: Indian Economy News & Discussion - Aug 26 2015

Post by Yagnasri »

Most of the ills of the Companies - Pvt and Public are due to top management. If PSU top management is very bad, the private people in many cases are worst than PSUs. While we can not allow the Air India to lose 30k Cr, we do not have problem if Kingfisher loses 7k Cr with all the top level management etc. Even this money is to be paid indirectly by you and me with our higher rate of interests on loans, low deposit interest rates, write offs etc.

While mis management etc in PSU may sometimes result in people facing CBI, in private we can still be "king of good times" and watch IPL from the pits.
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Re: Indian Economy News & Discussion - Aug 26 2015

Post by vina »

BSNL is not squatting on anything, they own the land and have fully functioning exchanges and offices there, serving a extremely relevant social and commercial purpose. How do you develop a modern exchange further?? and to what purpose??
Their land line service and internet is actually better than any of their competitors for the money they charge
You gotta be kidding me. The BSNL f*ckers haven't been able to fix the noise in my voice line, I have given up calling them, earlier when I had Airtel, the quality was absolutely top notch, the response always within 4 hours, line men show up to fix problems. BSNL, impossible, lineman wants YOU to be at home between 9 and 5, couldn't care to respond, doesnt give a jack sh*t.

For DSL ,just getting them to set it up was a pain, I ask them for their setup parameters, they say, bring modem to aapees, I google around and set it up myself, and those f*ckers charge me Rs250 for modem setup! .

Just walking into the gigantic BSNL telephone office in Jayanagar is so depressing. Some dozens of counters, with clerks behind them swatting flies, rude to the core, couldn't give a damn, each passing to the other table. That entire place in 5th block is vast and the land so valuable, that they can just put up a giant apartment with one of the major developers and get in a couple of thousand crores. And in the 5th block, they have some massive housing complex for the same critters, and a huge piece of land right along the Marenahalli road in JP Nagar 1st phase. Google earth shows it to be massive.

Just getting rid of these two land parcels and sending the critters in those home will plug the hole in BSNL's books. Oh, you can sell that massive BSNL office too right opposite the AG's office near Vidhana Soudha. Imagine, this is JUST Bangalore alone. Think of Chennai, Mumbai, Delhi and Kolkata. The land parcels are enormous and far beyond what can be justified for business purposes.

Does anyone even know where an Airtel exchange is and where they are and the land footprint they use ? What about the other private telecom mobile guys. Does anyone make a hue and cry of their switch ? Every neighbourhood has as massive BSNL exchange.

The govt should just sell the land, give VRS to all of them, send them home and basically shutter BSNL and MTNL and sell off the operating businesses to private guys and exit.

Tata's petition to sell the VSNL land and hand proceeds it back to the govt is still stuck in litigation and red tape I think.
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Re: Indian Economy News & Discussion - Aug 26 2015

Post by hnair »

Theo_Fidel wrote: Back in the day the same 'family jewels' and 'think of the real estate' logic was trotted out for Air India. And I said the same thing back then too. Why is tax payer running an airline... Sell now, get what you can and move on... ..run for the hills if you can. And now Air India is worth less than zero.... Worse it has cost taxpayer staggering sums of money... ..yet we keep repeating the same mistakes, expect different outcome...
Air-India, Railways, BSNL and Postal Department are integral parts of Indian Govt machinery, that are used as strategic assets by a developing nation with a mind of its own. Mrs G realized that, back in 60s, when she annexed a few more things like banking into this roster. We can bring in all sorts of "But Gene Fama-uncle says Market is beautiful and knows what it wants" logic. Ain't going to happen, until Dilli is convinced about the safety of the nation.

All these shibboleths will putter on till the time the Indian establishment has faith in private sector to jump, when whip gets cracked during National Emergencies with a big E. Until now, the Indian private sector has instilled less than optimal confidence in Dilli, with the IT industries :(( about "what about our customers?" during Op Parakram time. And that is just one teensy sector.

So handing over Strategic Airlift, nation-wide logistics, national comms backbone and government document/fund disbursal is a long way off. But of course, we can keep discussing and suffer the very real intolerable suckiness of their customer service
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Re: Indian Economy News & Discussion - Aug 26 2015

Post by chetak »

Singha wrote:pvt telcos run very dishonest tactics if you want to let go. I had to cancel my airtel landline entirely after saying I would move house as they sat on my repeated cases for 2 months to cancel my DSL and leave my voice line intact.
Just try and cancel a airtel or reliance connection. It will not happen for months and you will not be able to use the facility but the bills keep coming regularly and if you have ever used a credit card to make any of your payments to them, they will immediately file a complaint and ruin your credit rating. This is one action that both these companies do very quickly.

This is blatant harassment, pure and simple.
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Re: Indian Economy News & Discussion - Aug 26 2015

Post by Singha »

same here. I got ripped for 2 months of bband charges like this. its deliberate corporate malpractice not loose customer service. they very well know what they are doing. in the US this would be a class action lawsuit lawyers dream.
chetak
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Re: Indian Economy News & Discussion - Aug 26 2015

Post by chetak »

hnair wrote:
Theo_Fidel wrote: Back in the day the same 'family jewels' and 'think of the real estate' logic was trotted out for Air India. And I said the same thing back then too. Why is tax payer running an airline... Sell now, get what you can and move on... ..run for the hills if you can. And now Air India is worth less than zero.... Worse it has cost taxpayer staggering sums of money... ..yet we keep repeating the same mistakes, expect different outcome...
Air-India, Railways, BSNL and Postal Department are integral parts of Indian Govt machinery, that are used as strategic assets by a developing nation with a mind of its own. Mrs G realized that, back in 60s, when she annexed a few more things like banking into this roster. We can bring in all sorts of "But Gene Fama-uncle says Market is beautiful and knows what it wants" logic. Ain't going to happen, until Dilli is convinced about the safety of the nation.

All these shibboleths will putter on till the time the Indian establishment has faith in private sector to jump, when whip gets cracked during National Emergencies with a big E. Until now, the Indian private sector has instilled less than optimal confidence in Dilli, with the IT industries :(( about "what about our customers?" during Op Parakram time. And that is just one teensy sector.

So handing over Strategic Airlift, nation-wide logistics, national comms backbone and government document/fund disbursal is a long way off. But of course, we can keep discussing and suffer the very real intolerable suckiness of their customer service
This market driven nonsense and bilge is not for us yet. The country has to mature in terms of public access infrastructure and basic services delivery first. We first have to provide basic services to the populace before the "market forces" are unleashed. these private mofos all wish to privatize profits and socialize losses.

Yes, tax payers have to foot the bill.

Communication services, voice or data, is a force multiplier for the economy. You need low prices for the advantages to kick in. what we don't need, is effing politician licking robber barons raping the public under the pretense of "market forces"

Yes, what we can do is stop the baboo(n)s and the politicos from clambering on for a free ride while they monopolize the goodies and the taxpaying public ( which actually includes every tom, dick and harry in the country, all of who pay service and sales tax) gets the crumbs
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Re: Indian Economy News & Discussion - Aug 26 2015

Post by Gyan »

MTNL owns numerous properties worth thousands of crores of rupees worth of super prime land in Delhi. Eg, Vast commercial Properties on "Janpath Road", Imagine the value!


Service is hoooorrrible. I have 2 broadband MTNL connections at home which hardly ever work consistently inspite of hundreds of complaints in last few years.

Rumor is MTNL/BSNL is being screwed over to help Pvt companies just like CDOT/ITI Manufactering capacity was destroyed for getting easy bribes for ordering European/Chinese telecom equipment.
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Re: Indian Economy News & Discussion - Aug 26 2015

Post by chetak »

Yagnasri wrote:Most of the ills of the Companies - Pvt and Public are due to top management. If PSU top management is very bad, the private people in many cases are worst than PSUs. While we can not allow the Air India to lose 30k Cr, we do not have problem if Kingfisher loses 7k Cr with all the top level management etc. Even this money is to be paid indirectly by you and me with our higher rate of interests on loans, low deposit interest rates, write offs etc.

While mis management etc in PSU may sometimes result in people facing CBI, in private we can still be "king of good times" and watch IPL from the pits.
The level of corruption, bribing and sexual harassment in private companies is mind blowing. No one ever seem to see this giant elephant in the room.
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Re: Indian Economy News & Discussion - Aug 26 2015

Post by Theo_Fidel »

hnair wrote:Air-India, Railways, BSNL and Postal Department are integral parts of Indian Govt machinery, that are used as strategic assets by a developing nation with a mind of its own. Mrs G realized that, back in 60s, when she annexed a few more things like banking into this roster. We can bring in all sorts of "But Gene Fama-uncle says Market is beautiful and knows what it wants" logic. Ain't going to happen, until Dilli is convinced about the safety of the nation.
Sir, this is not on. What kinda of argument is this.

And who said anything about railways or postal. Despite losses these are essential services that only governments can provide. No a single person has brought up the idea of privatizing these 2.

Mrs. G was an economic disaster upon the nation that all of us lived through.... ...her nationalization of the banks has been a long term strategic disaster we are still living through. At some point the GOI will have to get out of retail banking as well. To GOI's credit, it has been gradually dis-investing the retail banks, though obviously could go along faster...

The private sector can always be commandeered under essential services maintenance act. While the owners and management maybe concerned about the value of investment and make odd noises, the rank and file are patriots like the rest of us and will show up to man the stations in all conditions. They do it right now. Don't question their patriotism in such a left hand right hand way... ..you think if GOI commandeered Go Air airplanes for an evacuation from ME the pilots and cabin staff and maintenance workers won't show up... ..or the employees of Airtel won't move heaven and earth to keep services going in an emergency... ..think sir before you make such accusations.

If the safety of the nation depends on BSNL, god help us all...
Last edited by Theo_Fidel on 27 Sep 2015 20:24, edited 2 times in total.
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Re: Indian Economy News & Discussion - Aug 26 2015

Post by chaanakya »

Theo_Fidel wrote:
If the safety of the nation depends on BSNL, god help us all...
You are being too hard on us. Even God will not be able to help since calls will get dropped in the middle of prayer call.


BTW: there are enough laws on the Books to commandeer whatever Govt needs in emergency. Collectors/District Magistrates have powers to requisition anything that an establishment posses. Similarly Aircrafts and Wagons can be commandeered in the national interest.
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Re: Indian Economy News & Discussion - Aug 26 2015

Post by hnair »

Theo, you are on thin ice here:
Theo_Fidel wrote: The private sector can always be commandeered under essential services maintenance act. While the owners and management maybe concerned about the value of investment and make odd noises, the rank and file are patriots like the rest of us and will show up to man the stations in all conditions. They do it right now. Don't question their patriotism in such a left hand right hand way... ..you think if GOI commandeered Go Air airplanes for an evacuation from ME the pilots and cabin staff and maintenance workers won't show up... ..or the employees of Airtel won't move heaven and earth to keep services going in an emergency... ..think sir before you make such accusations.
Add "Why do you hate God so much?" to your ridiculous americanisms and it would have made primetime. You have no qualms in dry-humping against a strawman with some hi-falutin patriotic stuff about private sector employees. Strawmen arguments about accusations I never made. Great performance until.....
If the safety of the nation depends on BSNL, god help us all...
you drop a dookie against BSNL employees being unconcerned about national security..

Desist from this line of trolling. Thanks
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Re: Indian Telecom Folder

Post by kmkraoind »

Soon all phones sold in India to have Indian language support
As per the press statement, DeitY has instructed the Bureau of Indian Standards (BIS) to formally come out with an Indian Standard that could be used for implementation of the same. The final standard will be published soon after consultations with the Industry and other stakeholders as per the process followed at BIS.

Some features which are likely to be standard features of all future handsets will be to have a minimum 4MB of memory out of which 2MB would be reserved for official Indian Languages support; message readability in would be provided for all 14 scripts and 22 official Indian languages and inputting of text would be available in English, Hindi and at least one additional Indian Language.
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Re: Indian Telecom Folder

Post by SRoy »

kmkraoind wrote:Soon all phones sold in India to have Indian language support
As per the press statement, DeitY has instructed the Bureau of Indian Standards (BIS) to formally come out with an Indian Standard that could be used for implementation of the same. The final standard will be published soon after consultations with the Industry and other stakeholders as per the process followed at BIS.

Some features which are likely to be standard features of all future handsets will be to have a minimum 4MB of memory out of which 2MB would be reserved for official Indian Languages support; message readability in would be provided for all 14 scripts and 22 official Indian languages and inputting of text would be available in English, Hindi and at least one additional Indian Language.
What kind of idiocy is to impose bloat ware in a device purchased for private use?

Techies would promptly root or jail break a device to throw out such turd. Aam junta would grapple with the bloat ware purchased out of their hard earned monies.
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Re: Indian Telecom Folder

Post by hanumadu »

SRoy wrote:
Techies would promptly root or jail break a device to throw out such turd. Aam junta would grapple with the bloat ware purchased out of their hard earned monies.
Why is it bloatware? How do you intend to bridge the digital divide for 100's of millions not versed with english language?
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Re: Indian Telecom Folder

Post by SRoy »

hanumadu wrote:
SRoy wrote:
Techies would promptly root or jail break a device to throw out such turd. Aam junta would grapple with the bloat ware purchased out of their hard earned monies.
Why is it bloatware? How do you intend to bridge the digital divide for 100's of millions not versed with english language?
Bloat ware -> "software whose usefulness is reduced because of the excessive disk space and memory it requires" and "unwanted software included on a new computer or mobile device by the manufacturer"

This is how the tech world defines it, notwithstanding the problem of digital divide of 100's of millions not versed with English language.

In fact the it is the old / basic phones with hard keypads that will be a nuisance to use. They already are memory constrained devices and juggling character inputs through 9 or 12 hard keys is always error prone and time consuming.

Language problem and digital divide? How are they connected?
I have not seen common stuff like railway reservation forms and pay in slips in banks printed every local language. They don't even print in Hindi.
About private service providers less said the better. How are people still using Airtel and Axis bank?

The option of additional language packs is already there in all (almost all) phone nowadays. These additional packs cater to major Indian languages.

Multiple language input will only add to confusions ... to the app developers ... to users of messaging services. For app developers it will add to development and testing cost. In fact individual / freelance developers will go out of business.

Read this ...
http://blog.shwetankdixit.com/digital-i ... languages/
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Re: Indian Telecom Folder

Post by Avinash R »

How BSNL maintained its services in the city

December 16, 2015 09:25 IST
Despite the torrential downpour taking a toll on vital public installations, Bharat Sanchar Nigam Limited (BSNL) managed to provide landline and net connectivity to a number of its subscribers.

Despite disruption in power supply, BSNL staff managed to operate their exchanges.

On December 2, around 1.25 a.m. power supply to the Haddows Road exchange was suspended.

“Without fuel we could not have run the exchange. Our employees managed to buy diesel to run the generators,” said B. Ramachandran, general manager (central and sales and marketing).

But ensuring continuous supply of diesel was a mammoth task as the exchanges depend on smart fleet card to make payment.

“We have to swipe the cards but we could not use them as internet connectivity was down. We had to ask for credit purchase,” said R. Ravindran, sub-divisional engineer.

N.E. Rajasekaran, who runs the Bharat Petroleum Corporation Limited’s petrol filling station in Royapuram, knew Mr. Ravindran.

“Since we were not inundated, we could supply fuel. As the exchange could not run its vehicles, we offered to send diesel,” Mr. Rajasekaran said.

The three exchanges in Mambalam, Haddows Road and Anna Road, had bought diesel worth Rs. 5 lakh. “Each hour we use around 250 litres of diesel at the Haddows Road exchange. The Anna Road exchange required around 120 litres of diesel every hour,” Mr. Ravindran explained.

According to Mr. Ramachandran, it was important to keep all their 144 exchanges in the city functional as all government communication was through the service provider. Yet, after a certain point, fuel could not be supplied to the Mambalam exchange and that probably explains why parts of the city remained cut off for several hours.

http://www.thehindu.com/news/cities/che ... epage=true
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Re: Indian Telecom Folder

Post by Avinash R »

RIP, GB Meemamsi: The man behind India’s first telecom revolution
December 30, 2015, 11:27 AM IST Rajesh Kalra in Random Access | India | TOI

GB Meemamsi, the founder executive director of C-DoT (Centre for Development of Telematics), which was India’s premier and once rated as among the best telecom development center in the world, died of a cardiac arrest on December 21. For a person who heralded India’s first telecom revolution & received a Padma Shri for his contributions to the field of telecom, his passing away was a non-event.

Not surprisingly, though, for that is how the man was – worked quietly, unassumingly, was a great mentor and team leader, dirtied his hands with his teams, without getting into the limelight, really! That job he left to those who wanted more than just the good of the nation, and they shall go unnamed, even though those who have followed telecom as a sector know who I am referring to.

Back to Meemamsi, not many will dispute if I say that in terms of money spent and rewards, C-DoT has easily been the most successful R&D effort that independent India has put in, even more than the successful space program.

Image

For the current generation, when the mobile revolution has changed the way we look at phone connectivity, it may seem odd, but there was a time when people had to wait decades to get a telephone connection. There were two aspects. We did not have our own switches and the foreign switch manufacturers used to milk us by selling at costs that were astronomical.

Meemamsi and his team worked on something called a RAX (Rural Automatic Exchange), and that resulted in the first real telecom revolution in the country. RAX was a digital switch, didn’t require an AC environment for operations (all other imported switches needed AC and sanitized environment) and cost a fraction of what the biggies then used to sell switches to us for. These biggies included Alcatel, GPT, AT&T.

The cost per line, though I can’t recall the exact cost now, was in tens of thousands. C-DoT’s RAX cost us a fraction of that. This achieved a few things straight away – the biggies panicked and brought down their cost per line significantly, for they could see a huge India opportunity slipping away, we saved a lot of precious foreign exchange, which was a big issue those days, and more importantly, it spawned a new set of Indian manufacturers who doled out these small venerable exchanges that resulted in lakhs of PCO (Public Call Offices) come up all over the country. Suddenly, the nation felt connected. Anyone driving around the country could feel the difference. Almost every tea stall also had a phone connected to these RAXs, and they worked. Instead of having to walk to a different village with phones, people could walk to the mushrooming PCOs.

Meemamsi’s role in all this was palpable. He was always grounded and knew what was missing, and most importantly, he was a nationalist to the core. He used to often tell me: “I have a bunch of people who work for me and if they put their heads together, they can do better than anyone in the world.”

The world acknowledged it. Just as the anecdote mentioned below shows, even AT&T’s Bell Labs did, long before C-DoT came into being. Government used to send Indian engineers to the Bell Labs to get exposure and learn the ropes of telecom R&D. Meemamsi too was sent there. But AT&T sent him back far before his stint ended because “He learnt too soon”. He was seen as a threat. That was AT&T’s stamp of approval to the man’s abilities, competence.

But while the west saw his abilities, our own politicians could not see beyond their own shenanigans. No sooner did C-DoT start making inroads in the national telecom scene, the biggies mentioned earlier pushed the panic button. Here was a nation that had a HUGE potential slipping away from their hands. And they knew how to handle that – approach the all powerful politicians who call the shots. And that is what they did.

A committee was set up with the intent of discrediting C-DoT. Some atrocious and bizarre charges were made against its functioning, but those in the know understood what it was all about. This was a cover-up for killing the organsiation and its redoubtable abilities at the behest of those who could see a huge opportunity slipping away. Sad that our politicians played ball.

But Meemamsi was not to give up. He received offers from almost every biggie in the world, offering salaries that would be more than what he had earned his entire career. But he would turn them all down. He kept working for C-DoT for free, sometimes swallowing humiliation from management that felt his association was not accepted by the political bosses and their benefactors in the west. But he soldiered on.

Just another anecdote to show how right he was. He had built a lovely house in Noida and when he wanted to move back to Bengaluru, he wanted to sell it. The house was easily worth over a crore, but he was adamant – no black component and the entire deal in cheque. He finally sold the house for a fraction of what its market value was, and then used that amount to buy a small flat in a society on the outskirts of Bengaluru.

Death is inevitable, but there are some who leave an indelible mark on several people, indeed the nation, when they pass away. Meemamsi was in that league.

RIP, sir!

Hellocalling anywhere
Thursday 15 September 1994
Author(s): G B Meemamsi

WE WERE in Bombay last Christmas, visiting the son of a close family friend. It was his first homecoming after 7 years of domicile abroad. "Do you notice any change in India?" my wife asked him. "Not much. Nothing has changed, except one thing," he said, "I have just returned from Goa where I had motored down with a couple of my friends from Hong Kong. On the way, we came across a number of villages with a familiar signboard: You can make STD/ISD calls from here. We stopped at 4 of these villages to make calls to our Hong Kong office. We were stunned to raise our office loud and clear on the first attempt! What a difference from my experience in China. During my recent visit to Beijing, I not only had to dial a number of times but had to shout to get across. This certainly is nothing short of a revolution in Indian telecom!"

Good communication networks between rural and urban areas hardly exist in the developing world, where two-thirds of the population lives in villages. The main obstacle to this has been high-cost telecom equipment, hostile environments of temperature, humidity, dust, unreliable power supplies and inaccessibility by normal mode of transport. Also, developing countries are totally dependent on the technology from the industrialised countries, little of which is directed towards the needs of the developing world.

In India, the telecom revolution has been possible due to the Rural Automatic Exchange (RAX) technology developed by the Centre for Development of Telematics (C-DOT). Before the availability RAX, Indian villages were served by electromechanical exchanges and the public call offices installed in the post offices. But the service was very unreliable. Besides, one had to wait for 3 to 4 hours to get a trunk call. In the case of any fault in the exchange, service was not available for days together as it required a skilled technician to repair the fault. The breakdown of open-wire lines during the rainy season also tended to disrupt the service.

World on the wire
Compared to this, RAX provides worldwide automatic dialling by direct connection to the Trunk Automatic Exchange. The PCOs connected to RAX can, therefore, provide for STD and ISD facilities. RAX does not require any skilled maintenance and in the case of a fault, it automatically re-configures itself with a redundant duplicate part. The only maintenance effort required is to take out the faulty circuit board and replace it with a good one. The faulty card is sent to a centralised repair centre. RAX does not require air-conditioning and because of the low power consumption, it can work on stand-by batteries even during long periods of power failure. It can be connected to the trunk network even over radio and satellite links.

RAX has been a boon to villagers, both economically and socially. It helps them to know market prices both for buying their requirements and selling their produce in the nearby district markets. A villager can now speak to a doctor, and call for an ambulance from the district town during an emergency or accident. During dacoities and land disputes, the police can be easily contacted. Similarly, villagers can now get in touch with government agencies for relief during natural calamities.

During 1993-94, C-DOT installed 25 RAXs a day. On March 31, 1994, there were over 12,500 RAXs in the country, serving over 1 million lines. C-DOT has transferred the technology to nearly 35 manufacturers spread over the private, public and joint sectors. The total turnover from these manufacturers has been over Rs 3,800 million as of March 31, 1994. Even the new telecom policy encourages indigenous industry so that it can meet the national demand and compete globally.

India now has a world-class, cost-effective telecom solution to transform the economic and social life of villages in the developing world. The process of globalising the technology has already begun with shipments to Vietnam, Russia, Nigeria, Yemen, Mauritius, Bangladesh and Bhutan. It will thus be India's contribution to bring the villages of the world together.

G B Meemamsi has been a member of the Telecom Commission
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Re: Indian Telecom Folder

Post by A_Gupta »

Reliance Jio Infocomm, the broadband arm of conglomerate Reliance Industries, is planning to raise 150 billion rupees ($2.2 billion) from its parent, ahead of the launch of its much awaited fourth generation mobile services.
http://asia.nikkei.com/Business/AC/Broa ... rom-parent
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Re: Indian Telecom Folder

Post by Suraj »

India overtakes US as second largest smartphone market
With over 220 million active users in 2015, India has surpassed the U.S. to become the world's second-largest smartphone market. Smartphone shipments saw a YoY increase of 15 percent during Q4 2015, with an overall growth for the year at 23 percent, crossing 100 million units.

Counterpoint Research noted that smartphone shipments accounted for more than 40 percent of all mobile sales in Q4 2015, with LTE-enabled handsets in the majority for the first time. Samsung retained its spot as the number one manufacturer in the country with a market share of 28.6 percent in the smartphone segment, and 23.6 percent overall for Q4 2015. The vendor's aggressive push into the budget and mid-tier segments was attributed to strong sales, with the Galaxy J2 being the best-selling device during the quarter.

Micromax came in second with a smartphone market share of 14.3 percent. The vendor's Yu sub-brand, which exclusively licenses Cyanogen OS in the country, has registered sales of 2 million units in 2015, offering budget LTE-enabled devices for less than $100 as well as the fully decked out Yutopia for $375.

Lenovo — including Motorola's sales figures — was the third largest smartphone vendor, with a market share of 11 percent in Q4 2015. 2016 will be an interesting year, as the established vendors are set to face an increased competition from the likes of LeTV, Vivo, Coolpad and Meizu.
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Re: Indian Telecom Folder

Post by Prem »

India to waive regulatory hurdle blocking Apple retail launch, report says
http://appleinsider.com/articles/16/04/ ... port-says-
Apple representatives met with a government committee led by Department of Industrial Policy and Promotion Secretary Ramesh Abhishek on Tuesday, arguing for a special exception to a rigid Indian trade policy, The Times of India reports. The Indian government mandates foreign companies marketing a products from a single brand source at least 30 percent of goods sold within the country from domestic suppliers. In Apple's case, the 30 percent would have to be accounted for in components used to manufacture devices like iPhone and Mac. India late last year relaxed policy limitations, saying sourcing restrictions can be waived for "state-of-the-art" and "cutting-edge technology." Sources told the publication that Apple's products likely meets government requirements and are therefore candidates for a waiver application. Sweetening the pot, Apple hinted at plans to expand production in India, which is currently limited to certain device chargers. As is true for any developing market, becoming a cog in a major tech company's supply chain would give India's economy a significant boost. Finally, the committee asked Apple whether it intends to sell refurbished iPhones in the region, a down-market strategy the company was rumored to be working on as recently as March. Officially, however, Apple said it has no immediate plans to launch previously owned devices in the country. Apple has long been rumored to be plotting an Indian retail debut, with reports in February saying government officials were ready to fast-track the company's application. Most recently, reports in March claimed Apple was looking for an ideal location for its first Indian flagship store, as well as satellite outlets serving major metropolitan areas. The publication said a final decision on Apple's policy waiver application will likely be announced in a matter of days.
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Re: Indian Telecom Folder

Post by chetak »

Image
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Re: Indian Telecom Folder

Post by JE Menon »

This Reliance Jio offer seems incredible value. Is there a catch? Or is it really about €15/month for true 4G 10GB data/20GB wifi and free calls!!!
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Re: Indian Telecom Folder

Post by Sicanta »

No catch. You will get 4 gb data everyday and free calls till 31st December. But ever since it has been opened for public, it is a task getting hold of the sim and then comes a 7-8 day activation period if you are unlucky.

And just to be on safe side, airtel and vodafone are not giving enough interconnection points to jio, so calls to their network will be an issue.
Recently a meeting was held with industry representatives on this issue at PMO. Ambani has already said till this issue is not resolved, they will not commercially charge their customers which may happen after January or so if need be. So the plans you mentioned which will come to effect on 1st jan may not do so at that time.
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Re: Indian Telecom Folder

Post by Mollick.R »

It's Merger Time. So it's now confirmed that only BIG 4 or 5 will survive & stay in market..........

http://economictimes.indiatimes.com/new ... ?prtpage=1
Reliance Communications and Maxis Communications Berhad, promoters of Aircel, have signed definitive documents for merging their Indian wireless businesses, a deal that was in the works for many months and marks major consolidation in the Indian telecom sector. The merger will reduce RCom's debt by Rs 20,000 crore, which is over 40 per cent of its total debt, and also lower Aircel's debt by Rs 4,000 crore, when it closes next year, RCom said in a statement Wednesday.
The RCOM-Aircel combine will be among the top four telcos in India, by customer base and revenue, in which both companies will hold 50 per cent with equal representation on the board and committees.
The new company that would be formed will have the second-largest spectrum holding of 448 MHz across the 850, 900, 1800 and 2100 MHz bands, across all 22 circles, and spectrum will be valid till 2033-35. The merged entity's subscribers will have access to nationwide 4G services on the sub-1 GHz band, under spectrum sharing and roaming arrangements with Reliance Jio Infocomm.
RCom will continue to own and operate its high growth businesses in domestic and global enterprise space, data centers, optic fibre and related telecom infrastructure.......
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Re: Indian Telecom Folder

Post by Mollick.R »

Another one on same subject from Swarajya Mag.

Posting in full
http://swarajyamag.com/business/jio-ent ... s-and-fast
R Jagannathan - September 08, 2016, 1:28 pm
The one thing that both Mukesh Ambani and his main rival in telecoms, market leader Sunil Mittal, agree on is that the number of players will come down due to the need for consolidation.

In an interview today (8 September) to The Economic Times, Mukesh Ambani of Reliance said that the Indian market could sustain four to five players: “I see sustainability for at least 4-5 operators in this market of 1.2 billion.”

A few months ago, Mittal of Bharti Airtel— who has a quarter of the market— said he saw a “massive erosion of tariffs” due to the entry of Reliance Jio, and that only four incumbents will ultimately survive. He said in a June-end interview: “I think in two years’ time from now, we will have four operators and around that time we will see reasonable capital employed.” In other words, to get more investments into this capital-intensive business, you need exits.

Assuming the government-owned BSNL-MTNL combine will be allowed to bleed rather than die, it seems likely that the four survival certainties will be Mittal’s Airtel, Vodafone, Reliance Jio and Idea, unless something dramatically goes wrong with one of them.

The industry currently has eight players in the ring beyond Jio; it means five of them have to exit to bring the total down to four. Aircel and MTS (Sistema) have already indicated a plan to merge with Reliance Communications run by Anil Ambani; that leaves seven in the ring: Airtel, Vodafone, Idea, Reliance Jio, Reliance Communications, Telenor, and Tata Teleservices.

The players with the lowest market shares are Telenor and Tata with around five to six percent each. DoCoMo has already given up on Indian telecom and is now fighting a bitter battle with the Tatas on the exit price.

Logically, the Tatas and Telenor ought to be the two players who could be willing to exit first, assuming there is a good price to be had for their customers. That would leave five players and the government’s white elephants in the ring.

In the long run, the debt-heavy Reliance Communications should also be considered a future exit candidate, leaving only four private sector giants and BSNL to slug it out among themselves.

It is unlikely that Mukesh Ambani will pay big money to buy anybody out since he has invested Rs 1,50,000 crore in Jio. This makes Bharti and Vodafone the most likely buyers for any early exits, unless the exit happens only through share swaps.

Share swaps are likely to be the easiest way to exit an industry where incumbents will need to make even more investments to keep market shares and margins.

The only deterrents to early exits are corporate ego (which may keep the Tatas in the fray), or the possibility of getting no cash for it (and only shares).
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Re: Indian Telecom Folder

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http://tech.firstpost.com/news-analysis ... 38528.html
India’s biggest auction of telecom spectrum kicked off on Saturday morning with seven operators in fray for a total of 2,354.55 MHz across seven bands, towards which a reserve price of Rs 5.66 lakh crore ($85 billion) has been fixed by the government. The companies that are participating in the auction are Bharti Airtel, Vodafone India, Reliance Jio Infocomm, Reliance Communications, Idea Cellular, Aircel and Tata Tele — who have together furnished a total earnest money of Rs 14,653 crore.
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