Free roaming?

How many times have you noticed that your operator ( Even a big one! ) without coverage in some places in your circle (state)  while another operator   has decent coverage. Ideally your operator should provide seamless coverage through the other network - This is called Intra circle roaming. But this is not implemented as it is not mandated by the regulator.

The recent NTP-2012 announcement on free inter circle roaming  ( between different states) is obviously good news for subscribers. The timeline for implementing is awaited. National roaming accounts for 6 to 7% of Operators' revenue. Why will operators let go this revenue just like that?

Will call rates go up across the board? very likely. However the regulator could come-up with a sliding rate plan and bring the charges to zero eventually.

What will happen to data roaming ? Here maybe we should take a leaf out of Europe where the EU has mandated a gradual decrease in roaming charges over a period of time. EU has also mandated ceiling charges for Wholesale ( rate agreement between two operators)  and retail rates.

Surge in mobile Non-voice usage still a distant dream

With the advent of 3G in India, it was expected that the uptake in mobile broadband would surge making the Telcos happy. But that is not quite the case. A recent TRAI report states that the non-voice revenue is only 11% of the overall revenue from the telcos. Of this 7% comes from SMS.  While Singapore leads the non-voice revenue with over 30%, US,China,Korea and Japan are not far behind.

With most operators opting for drastic reduction in 3G tarriff  , lets hope for a decent uptake. But until we improve basics education  and e-education, mass adoption will be a challenge.

Addressing IT's workforce woes

This article titled "Addressing IT's workforce woes" authored by me appeared in  Financial Express on 27th April 2012. While Nasscom claims that the demand for IT workforce is going to see a dramatic rise by 2020, where will the people come from? A recent report indicates that employability of Indian engineering graduates is alarmingly low. The article suggests the following. 1) Extend the normal duration of an engineering degree course to accommodate some real industry work experience, Also upgrade the syllabus attune with Industry needs. 2) Create better Industry-Academia interaction and support Innovation and Research, 3) Current Finishing schools are grossly inadequate. The highly visible NSDC ( National skill development council) could play a pivotal role in creating the right platform.

Please click Addressing IT's workforce woes or click on the image for viewing the print replica

BYOD ( Bring your own device)

BYOD is a cool acronym used these days. "Bring  Your Own Device" essentially refers to companies allowing employees to use their personal devices like Tablets and Smartphones for offical work instead of the laptops (higly unlikely to be the latest ones). Reports indicate that BYOD will result in increased productivity. However question remains on how organizations would manage the security aspects.

If the productivity improvements are indeed seen,  Will organizations provide latest gadgets to its employees( instead of the typical "use-it-for-three-years"), which would certainly be far more secure? OPLD ? Organization Provided Latest Device! Mobile Device OEMs will  like it.

Global Mobile Awards 2012 and the winners are....

BEST Smartphone  : Samsung  - Samsung Galaxy S2
Best Feature Phone : Nokia C3-00
DEVICE MANUFACTURER OF THE YEAR: Samsung

BEST MOBILE APP for consumers: Rovio  - Angry Birds Rio
BEST MOBILE APP for Enterprise: Citrix Systems - Citrix Receiver
BEST OVERALL MOBILE APP : WhatsApp Inc - WhatsApp

BEST ENTERPRISE MOBILE SERVICE : Fiberlink - MaaS360

BEST CONSUMER MOBILE SERVICE : Google - Google Maps for Android

NEST USE OF MOBILE IN EMERGENCY SITUATIONS: UBL Omni, efficient cash discbursement service after 2010 Food crisis

Dialling Progress

This article titled "Dialling Progress" authored by V Sridhar and me has appeared in Financial

Chronicle. The article indicates the poor quality of connection and clarity experienced by us as subscribers on mobile networks; outlines the measurement methodology of QoS implemented by TRAI; examines the gap in the metrics and methodology; and prescribes measures for enforcing stricter QoS metrics and measurement procedures. We also suggest empowering TRAI for the imposition of penalty on errants.

Please click on the picture for print replica or click on the link Dialling Progress 

 

122 licences cancelled , another 50K Crore?

@4.4Mhz for each of the 122 circles, about 530Mhz will be Available for auction.  Just to re-cap, 3G auction resulted in @ 71 Blocks * 5 Mhz , 355 Mhz spectrum was sold at roughly 190Crore per Mhz  ( Frequecy pair - UL +DL) 

 Even if consider the say 50%  ( Trying to be Bejan Daruwalla for a moment!!) of the average price realized during the 3G Auction per Mhz, the upcmoing 2G Auction could give more than 50K Crore.  But will the Telcos be able to cough up this with already stretched Balance sheets. Hopefully,  the goverment will make this  530Mhz  technology neutral,  that would make it attractive the operators as they could use the spectrum for 4G whenever it becomes economically viable.

Will large players buy? Spectrum is so scarce that they will bid.  . But what will they do with their existing 3G spectrum. The bigger ones could move their higher ARPU customers to 3G and free-up some space.

Will the operators like Uninor rebid in the auction? They could at least in the circles they are doing well. Infact Uninor wanted additional spectrum in some of the circles where they were doing well like Westbengal.

Dwindling ARPU. Prices will go up and some sanity will set-in. India’s ARPU is about 2USD are perhaps the lowest

Mobile Handset Industry: Is change the name of the game?



Picture source: Rediff

This article written by me has appeared in Rediff. The article tries to argue that 1) The Industry structure has changed dramatically thanks to market outsiders like Apple and Google (2) With no differentiation, mobile phones have become like TV and other consumer electronics market(3) More consolidation in OEM space, patent wars , newer technologies on the anvil makes the industry so dynamic that practically anyone can create an impact in this market.

Please click the link below or click on the image for the article:

"Mobile Handset Industry: Is Change the name of the game?"



Top 5 Smartphone vendors

The infographics below show the dramatic change in  Top 5  smartphone vendors over the past 3 years.

Reading this, you enjoy double subsidy

This is my first attempt at a generic article. I have tried to capture my thoughts comparing news paper in India and abroad based on my experience. This one appeared in the editorial page of Daily Post on 29th November 2011. Reading this, you enjoy double subsidy. Please click on the image to read print replica

Has mobile truly become a commodity

Five  years back, there was  a popular opinion that mobile phone will become a commodity at some point. Looks like we are already witnessing this now. So far, every phone maker had some innovative stuff in terms of hardware or software gettign into the phone every 6 months or one year. Remember teh Razr from Motorola, the mini from Panasonic etc. Now the differentiation is almost negligible aka TV market. What is the difference between a Samsung LCD TV and say a Videocon or Sony?

Infrastructure and Literacy

This article authored by me appeared in the Financial express on the 26th Oct 2011. The article emphasizes the need for improving broadband infrastructure , creating an indigenous ecosystem and focusing on e-education for India to witness superlative broadband penetration. Please click Infrastructure and Literacy or click on the image for the print version