Spreading Broadband in India

I came across an advertisement in a computer related industry magazine. Those people wish to get together and discuss ways and means to spread the broadband in India. Well, it would have been an honorable attempt if they would have involved the ordinary people like us. Every day passes by and I keep my hopes alive that one day I would have some kind of a decent way to access Internet. And every day I get a major disappointment. The people who are supposed to make this happen are not doing their job good enough. There is no urgency on their part to make this effective means to spread broadband at all! As I had earlier mentioned under the post, Eternal Wait for Decent Telecom, I am still waiting.

Coming to the conference part. What do you honestly expect from the same people who are involved in the Internet services? Assuming Sify's representative is going to be present there. What would he/she have to show in the name of spread of broadband? When they had time, they did not do anything. Instead bastardized the whole concept of access. I am glad I never had Cable Internet running up to my home. Or else there would have been a competing website to this one!

Sitting in the air-conditioned plush offices, it is easier to dictate terms to the media and pour in money in advertising binges. I mean it is asinine to see gobs of money being wasted to allure new customers. Admittedly, everyone around me is frustrated. Fewer people have the will to fight and fewer still come on line to these forums. Hence, what you see here is just the tip of the iceberg.

Most of us are not really bothered to affect the changes. The total cost of ownership runs way beyond the installation charges and monthly charges. The incremental cost of running after your service provider and telephone calls do not get factored in. What of the wasted time? Who can quantify that to compensate you? The irony is that even after running around and having your services restored, there is no guarantee that it would not happen again.

The problem is deeper than what it appears to be. Traditionally in India, it is the educated elite that make decisions without realizing the ramifications of their actions. What rubs salt in my wounds is that when they claim that India is an IT superpower! It would have been easier to ignore them as inconsequential idiots if we had better options. The twist and turn of the events of the telecom policy and subsequent roll out has seen that a handful of operators remain on the scene. Therefore, time and again it becomes extremely important for us to make them realize that they cannot get away with the abuse of their monopolies.

Simple fact is that advance planning is needed to roll out the services in a particular area. This is based on the projected demand. Well, in the event of shortfall, this should be scaled up rapidly. If this fact isn't clear to them, what is the need to hire fancy idiots as showpieces? It is better if all you could just sit dumb and pretty. My only grouse is that at times we need to interact with them, which is a major drain on my patience.

I am wondering what are they really going to discuss in the conference? Are they not dime and a dozen? This is the first instance that I have come across though. For obvious reasons I cannot declare the magazines name or else I would be accused of slander! Well, Microsoft is sponsoring the same. This again gets on my nerves. Why do need such corporate sponsors who abuse their monopolies?

In the event of anything substantial coming up (which I really doubt), how are they going to implement any ideas that crop up? Would these telecom operators really improve on their customer quality? Simple rule of the thumb is that it takes much more to acquire a new customer than to retain one. I have been extremely happy with Reliance over the past 1 year. They have lowered my telephone bill substantially and the best part is that they have expanded all across the country. The roaming rates are the lowest in the industry. Well, they do not have top of the world billing, but for one who uses his phone sparingly, is enough. I declare that I am not a spokesperson for Reliance and see it with extreme cynicism as they move towards establishing their prominence across the country. However, the fact remains that I am satisfied customer. Of course, I am doing this for them free of cost. A first persons account based on peer assumption about the quality of a product is far better than Sachin Tendulkar spreading his arms with a signature tune in the background.

Logic. Just like bandwidth, is a scarce resource. I really pray that people with intelligence, including the ability to use the same ought to get in the telecom industry. Conferences with highflying corporate sponsors achieve little. What is required is the urgency to make this all happen. If I were happy, then the posts would reflect my happiness too. Or else I d remain in the permanent gripe mode!

Discuss on: Sify Broadband, Tata Indicom, Airtel Broadband, Reliance Broadband, MTNL - BSNL Broadband, Dial Up, Others

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