I beg to disagree.

Standards war is something that keeps happening in the tech field. If we slow down adaptation curve then all that happens is – We fall behind, in the name of leapfrogging tech-generations.

The reality of a vibrant eco-system is how dynamic it is and how rapidly it transforms/changes, rather than how static it is. This is one of the reasons why economists always want an inflation, always want people to have healthy spend/save ratio etc.

It does seem that an investment, by govt. or private entities, in a standard that deprecates has gone waste. but the reality is, it would have provided employment opportunities to many, and would’ve contributed in more ways before dying.

The folks who invest and take risk, may loose, but they’ll gain elsewhere. That’s how business gets done.

US is certainly not the best example in anything, except perhaps for democratic institution that has stood the test of time.

But, my point was more to do with the nimbleness of the govt. in framing the policy, not that of the industry. The reason why US industries like Healthcare and telecom ail, is because of operational stupidity and legal minefield that US is.

Besides, there is also the matter of Price sensitivity and Price elasticity differences between India and US.

Here is the right measure – An US consumer pays less than 1/100th of the per capita income in US for a mobile phone ($46K – IMF2009). In India, even at Rs.150/month, it is more like 1/25th.

By that token alone, Mobile telephony is 4 times as expensive as it is in USA.

Like mining, telecom also has been a happy hunting ground for our ministers – be it Sukhram, Pramod Mahajan and well possibly the biggest crook of them all – Thiru Raja. All have used arcane rules and laws and their discretionary powers to play the crony licensing game. In the bargain they nicely lined their winter nests.

Both the wireless spectrum and minerals are national riches. Both are being sold at below par value and thus causing a great loss to the national exchequer – while few companies and individuals make money hand over fist.

Having said that, we indeed enjoy one of the lowest rate/call in wireless as wireline telephony. This along with cheaper handsets has made something unimaginable a few years back come true – maid, veggie vendor, carpenter..almost everyone owns a mobile phone now. Thus the customer doesn’t seem to be cheated in this game – till now.

Can the rates be still lower? I doubt it. Though the input costs by way of raw materials is absent, the staff cost and A&M costs are considerable in a non-differentiated service that has become a commodity and not to mention the high costs of setting up the network infra.

Lastly perhaps US is not the best example for the early adoption of technology. They are no doubt inventors and pioneers in most of the technical field. However he average American is a bit too cost conscious and would rather wait till the pricing becomes favourable. The age old tech of FDMA still has takers in USA and 3G penetration is nascent.

Europe has been the leader in wireless (atleast 2G GSM) and it’s Japan/Korea who led the market in 3G. It’s the same case in other consumer electronics space too. Mostly the APAC leads in early adoption.

There is an interesting argument in the telecom scene of India that by being a bit slow in the uptake, India has saved quite a bit of money:)

USA/Europe went through FDMA, TDMA, CDMA/GSM cycle with enormous costs involved in each installation and roll-over where as India and many African countries just waited on the sidelines (perhaps not by design but by lethargy!) and got into the play at the right moment when the 2G dust settled between various competing sandards. That’s the case in 3G, 4G and Wimax too. Sometimes these battles between standards can be ugly and debilitating. It is wise to be slow sometimes for the war to be settled in favour of a particular standard and then move in.

Rastrakoota,

“Well….the Govt could certainly do more but it has not done and will not do more anytime soon becoz of vested interests.”

With all due respects Sir, this is boiler plate whining. Please be specific about what the govt. should have done or should do.

“insane to justify”

All three deserve multibillon $s compensation for the work they do. Whether we like it or not, they do take home billions every year.

There was a very good article in Outlook about how the 2G auctions were bungled up.

http://www.outlookindia.com/article.aspx?262570

I couldn’t decide if he was being sarcastic or was actually supporting A.Raja.

Well someone has already called me a dimwit so..

;-)

The talktime you are talking abt may 1/2 sec! You are a whole lot confused with the huge no of adverts these days abt 1/2paise/sec…Well….the Govt could certainly do more but it has not done and will not do more anytime soon becoz of vested interests.

—>the gentleman deserves his multibillion $s compensation

Dont be soooo Insane to justify this crooks billion $ Compenstaion thro’ corruption. Even Laloo deserves it for railways and so does our very own crook Asoka for the State transport is in the Green. (And inspite of Him that is)….

It happened when A Rajaji is the concerned department’s Mantri. Consumers are happy and the entire of telecom industry is happy with his performance .

“There are barriers that are created by DoT and BSNL that causes this kind of non-sense. Even today, VoIP services are not offered the way it is being offered in US. Why?”

You know who is blocking this, the day a robber baron wants this to happen, I think Mantriji will be very happy to get this cleared at policy as well as at cabinet level.

“We are more than 3 years behind in 3G adaptation. Its been 5 years waiting for WiMAX spectrum to be made available.”

If we had a Sukhram or Mahajan at the helm of affairs, we would have got these on time. Poor A Raja does not have enough clout in the govt…….

Twisting the logic at best.

A.Raja did not bring down the cost of Telephony, the competetion, business process innovation and penetration did.

Consider this – Vonage has introduced a plan in US, which allows unlimited calls to any phone in 50 countries for a flat fee of $15.

Now it is cheaper for my friends to call any number in India, than me sitting in India!!

There are barriers that are created by DoT and BSNL that causes this kind of non-sense. Even today, VoIP services are not offered the way it is being offered in US. Why?

We are more than 3 years behind in 3G adaptation. Its been 5 years waiting for WiMAX spectrum to be made available.

For this business process innovation, the gentleman deserves his multibillion $s compensation. If you want to compare, it is still a lot less than Sunil Mittal.

3g auctions are heading in the wrong direction. Dont forget, at the end of the month, it is the consumer who pays the license fees. From September 1st, Churmuri browsing will become expensive.

Mr. Jagan is very much a partner of gaali brothers…. so Congress need to think twice before forcing BJP….

Anyways…Y S Jagan Reddy, Gaali Brothers have created their own regime in the borders of Karnataka and Andhra. Their looting can be stopped only when Non-Congress and Non-BJP governments gets formed in the two states.

In Andhra, seems like only Ramoji Rao’s ETV is crusading the war against Gaali’s power of Money and Power . Rest all media houses might have got kick-backs from Reddy brothers.

What was the case with Karnataka media?

A. Raja, who creamed the Telecom perhaps?