A report here, at Businessweek - titled A Wireless Revolution in India, about the fact that the number of Indian users accessing the Internet via the mobile has doubled to 38 million, quoting the TRAI as a source. How much of that access is really open access to the Internet, and not to operator walled gardens like “Airtel Live” and “Reliance Mobile World”? From what I gather - a majority. All-access GPRS users in the country are pegged at between 7-9 million, and even that fell a couple of months ago after an operator repaired a hack that allowed users to access the Internet via GPRS for free. Having GPRS compatible handsets doesn’t mean that it will be used - so all those expecting a gold-rush in mobile Internet in India...hold your horses. SMS is still big. The story appears to be a follow up on another fisk-worthy story earlier at Businessweek about why number of Internet (dialup) subscribers are falling - something we’d reported as well. Same “mobile Internet” logic there. However, I remain more bullish on wireless Internet than wireline because of serious service quality issues.
Source: contentSutra.com
Tuesday, October 30, 2007
Monday, October 22, 2007
Wireless Broadband Roundup : Indicom-NTT; RCOM-Verizon
-- Tata Indicom has tied up with Japan based NTT to allow NTT subscribers to use Indicom’s WiFi network in India. Indicom already provides a similar service to roaming subscribers of Singapore based Starhub. Indicom has over 350 WiFi hotspots in India, and has plans to increase that number to 1000. One can only hope that their WiFi works better than their broadband or their data card service. [via release]
-- Reliance Communications has tied up with Verizon (NYSE: VZ) to allow subscribers access to the Internet while traveling in the US. The company plans to expand services to Canada and Latin America, followed by Japan, South Korea and China. [via ToI]
-- Reliance Communications has tied up with Verizon (NYSE: VZ) to allow subscribers access to the Internet while traveling in the US. The company plans to expand services to Canada and Latin America, followed by Japan, South Korea and China. [via ToI]
Broadband Growth
Total Broadband subscribers base reaches 2.67 million by the end of September 2007. During September 2007 there is an addition of 0.11 million Broadband connections. The addition during six months (from April to September) in 2007 is 0.33 million as compared to 0.47 million during the corresponding period in the previous year.
Source : http://www.trai.gov.in/trai/upload/PressReleases/506/pr22oct07no91.pdf
Source : http://www.trai.gov.in/trai/upload/PressReleases/506/pr22oct07no91.pdf
Sunday, October 21, 2007
Tuesday, October 16, 2007
BSNL WiMax Network + Motorola
While BSNL is planning to use the WiMax network for its ambitious 50,000 kiosk project, Motorola is planning to make a comeback as wirless giant in the US. BSNL is a truly government organization with several layers of fat making it difficult to move briskly. BSNL has the largest network in India and can very easily use to build broadband kiosks rather then waiting for policies and floating tenders around. Latest, feedback about Reliance WiMax is not very encouraging. [On the Forum, their seems to be a problem with DHCP servers and Reliance folks for some reason don’t fix it and consumers are down with internet for more than week]
Om Malik has an interview with P. Warrior, CTO of Motorola on the road ahead for WiMax. Though WiMax can deliver higher speeds than other wireless technologies, it is unable to keep the same throughput when tested under mobility. Voice over WiMax may be a distant dream.
Om Malik has an interview with P. Warrior, CTO of Motorola on the road ahead for WiMax. Though WiMax can deliver higher speeds than other wireless technologies, it is unable to keep the same throughput when tested under mobility. Voice over WiMax may be a distant dream.
Broadband loses speed
A consumer recently complained that his broadband speed continues to be lower than claimed in the plan and brochures. He opted for it in February. “Everytime I lodge a complaint with the customer service staff, the same is closed without resolution,’’ he says. Another consumer says his broadband works less than 5% of the time. Yet another has not got his connection in the first place- he’s been waiting for almost a year.
Despite Telecom Regulatory Authority of India’s (TRAI) quality of service regulations, complaints of this nature keep pouring in. TRAI chairman Nripendra Misra admits, “There is tremendous scope for improvement in broadband services to consumers.’’
As Pritee Shah of Ahmedabad’s Consumer Education & Research Centre, who herself faced a broadband breakdown during a weekend, says, “Broadband providers don’t give a guarantee for speed in writing. This needs to be questioned.’’
On its part, TRAI has mandated service providers to give a testing link in their websites where a customer can test the speed. “It must be (at least) 80% of the prescribed limit,’’ says a TRAI official.
The official and Rajesh Chharia, president at Internet Service Providers’ Association of India (ISPAI), however, add that speed also depends on the PC, modem and the visited sites. They advise consumers to check whether their PC is virus-free. Shah though says, “These are standard answers.’’
The TRAI official draws attention to the fact that while bandwidth utilisation should not cross 90% of the total capacity, some have reached 92-94%. “Service providers have promised to improve it in the coming quarter.’’
To gauge consumer satisfaction, Consumer Voice of Delhi is independently conducting its own mobile and internet quality of service survey in the four metros. Its report will be ready in the next two months. “Broadband will penetrate very fast. And once that happens, the quality of service (issue) will have to be addressed,’’ says Voice’s Sri Ram Khanna.
TRAI’s Quality of Service of Broadband Service Regulations, 2006, specify that a connection must be activated within 15 working days, subject to technical feasibility. In case a service provider expects delay in activation, Chharia says, the applicant must be immediately informed.
If the consumer has already paid for the connection and yet the activation gets delayed, TRAI guidelines state, “A credit at the rate of Rs 10 per day, subject to a maximum installation charge or equivalent usage allowance shall be given to the customer, at the time of issue of first bill.”
Fault repair and restoration time must not cross three working days. Faults pending for 15 days would draw a rebate equivalent to one month of minimum monthly charge or equivalent usage allowance. The regulations also state that billing complaints should be under 2% per 100 bills and all resolutions must happen within four weeks. Refund of deposit after closure must take place within 60 days. Yet, the above-mentioned cases remain unresolved.
Despite Telecom Regulatory Authority of India’s (TRAI) quality of service regulations, complaints of this nature keep pouring in. TRAI chairman Nripendra Misra admits, “There is tremendous scope for improvement in broadband services to consumers.’’
As Pritee Shah of Ahmedabad’s Consumer Education & Research Centre, who herself faced a broadband breakdown during a weekend, says, “Broadband providers don’t give a guarantee for speed in writing. This needs to be questioned.’’
On its part, TRAI has mandated service providers to give a testing link in their websites where a customer can test the speed. “It must be (at least) 80% of the prescribed limit,’’ says a TRAI official.
The official and Rajesh Chharia, president at Internet Service Providers’ Association of India (ISPAI), however, add that speed also depends on the PC, modem and the visited sites. They advise consumers to check whether their PC is virus-free. Shah though says, “These are standard answers.’’
The TRAI official draws attention to the fact that while bandwidth utilisation should not cross 90% of the total capacity, some have reached 92-94%. “Service providers have promised to improve it in the coming quarter.’’
To gauge consumer satisfaction, Consumer Voice of Delhi is independently conducting its own mobile and internet quality of service survey in the four metros. Its report will be ready in the next two months. “Broadband will penetrate very fast. And once that happens, the quality of service (issue) will have to be addressed,’’ says Voice’s Sri Ram Khanna.
TRAI’s Quality of Service of Broadband Service Regulations, 2006, specify that a connection must be activated within 15 working days, subject to technical feasibility. In case a service provider expects delay in activation, Chharia says, the applicant must be immediately informed.
If the consumer has already paid for the connection and yet the activation gets delayed, TRAI guidelines state, “A credit at the rate of Rs 10 per day, subject to a maximum installation charge or equivalent usage allowance shall be given to the customer, at the time of issue of first bill.”
Fault repair and restoration time must not cross three working days. Faults pending for 15 days would draw a rebate equivalent to one month of minimum monthly charge or equivalent usage allowance. The regulations also state that billing complaints should be under 2% per 100 bills and all resolutions must happen within four weeks. Refund of deposit after closure must take place within 60 days. Yet, the above-mentioned cases remain unresolved.
Delhi To Try WiFi Mesh Network
The Delhi government is planning to install a WiFi mesh network for providing wireless internet connectivity in Delhi, reports CIOL. They’re considering public-private partnerships for shops, marketplaces offices etc in Rajiv Chowk (Connought Place), South Extension and the computer peripherals hub - Nehru Place. The WiFi Zones will be established though public-private partnership. Not that it’s going to happen anytime soon. Last year, there was a story in ET, as per which Connought Place was to be WiFi’ed with free access by Jan 1 2007. That’s the story of broadband in India—all talk very little implementation. WiFi mesh networks have been installed successfully in the hilly town of Dharamsala by a voluntary organization - Air Jaldi. One criticism of mesh networks that I’ve heard is that they’re likely to be far less reliable in a city environment. The spectrum, however, is free.
Do check out the WiFi in India report.
Do check out the WiFi in India report.
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