Renewable Energy for Telecom- Need for a Paradigm Shift We often find ourselves, within the telecom Industry,  at cross roads to decide whether CAPEX is worth spending on renewable energy solutions and exacerbate our predicament with RoI calculations. 60 per cent of our land mass provides for one natural resource ( the sun ) or the other (wind). Yet when we get to the drawing board we look at “sizing” of the solution based on the entirety of ele...

Time to take stock We proudly talk about the exponential growth of mobile communications in India and yet we know so little about the infrastructure assets we hold. While we built 350,000 towers and counting, their share ability, readiness to support power needs, space availability, reliability and performance of assets- are all but vaguely known to us. Now that we have some time as we aspire to enhance tenancies, it is best us...

Android 2.1 – the learning curve About three months ago, I decided to start using an Android smartphone out of curiosity. I was quite happy with my 5-year-old Nokia N73 but I wanted to get the hang of the open source OS. So I bought a cheap droid – the Micromax A60, which runs non-upgradable Eclair (Android 2.1).  My attitude was similar to learning to drive on an old cheap car – any damage you caused is financially relatively limited....

HTC 7 Mozart – Brilliance Inhibited HTC 7 Mozart is one of their latest, smart phone running Windows 7 for mobile just about launched in India sometime last month. A dream design, the slick single-piece body with a cool battery compartment also housing the antennae is a masterpiece of art. The look and feel is a unique mix of metal, plastic and rubber in one perfectly shaped handheld. Great ergonomics meets flawless design in a device form f...

Minister Sibal's Update on New Telecom Policy   On New Year’s Day 2011, India’s Minister of Communications and Information Technology, Mr Kapil Sibal gave himself a 100 days to come with a new policy regime. This would attempt to fix the many anomalies and distortions in the rules that lie behind the recent scams that have marred the many successes of the sector On 11 April  at a press conference, he reported on the progress made. The broad...

Revising rural broadband schemes may be a good idea The broadband segment has been on the government’s radar for some time now. After several failed targets, DoT plans to invite bids from operators to provide broadband services to over 60,000 villages across the country. DoT is likely to come out with a tender for rural wireless broadband through the Universal Service Obligation (USO) Fund by end-March 2011. Till January 31, 2011, a total of 261,413 broadban...

MWC 2011 – Mobile Convergence Point for the planet MWC has been a harbinger of things to come, if not for the devices and handsets at least for the mobile infrastructure and network applications space with particular focus on the operators. [Much of the device magic it is believed is lost to CES] – that being the case, it was no surprise that this year’s Barcelona Mecca was resplendent with global bigwigs from the infrastructure space painting the town ...

The last year of the decade has been an eventful one The last year of the decade has been an eventful one, to say the least. On the one hand, after two years of postponement and apprehensions, the 3G and BWA auctions proved to be a stunning success with the government raking in over Rs 677 billion. On the other, the closing two months of the year had the Comptroller and Auditor General’s report pointing to a large-scale scam involving billions of rupees, which...

Active infrastructure sharing: Yet to take centrestage Despite the government notifying guidelines for active infrastructure sharing in 2008, the concept, unlike passive infrastructure sharing, has yet to gain traction in the Indian market, cost benefits notwithstanding. While small beginnings have been made with operators entering into intra-circle roaming agreements, the industry is still evaluating the business models in this segment. However, while in finan...

One more step ahead in the making of Indian Broadband Economy… Growing up as a kid in the ‘70s, one thing that stood out often as symbol of status for the great Indian middle-class was the famed four-wheeler Ambassador. While inside the house, the babus [Indian bureaucracy] also sought two things that were symbols of ‘having arrived’: one was the famous black rotary analogue phone and the other was the 15Amps thick wired cable for the All Electric Home. Looking back i...

India has little choice but to auction spectrum for mobile services Most countries have far fewer operators than India does and rarely more than 6 in any service area. With a dozen or so operators in most service areas in India, the demand for spectrum far exceeds supply.  Auctions can have their problems - e.g. speculative bidding, possibly slower roll out in less lucrative markets etc. They may be unnecessary if all demand can be met easily. But how else do we allocate sp...

India Mobile Broadband: All decked up and nowhere to go? Between 2007-2010, the Indian government continuously delayed / postponed the BWA / 3G spectrum auctions much to the disappointment of the global telecom community. Finally it pulled it off in a flawless manner in mid 2010 when amidst severe competition, operators bid up the prices and the government literally laughed its way to the banks. In the process the BWA aspirants  paid more than a king’s ransom t...

We will do well not to be carried away by the pursuit of the guilty In recent months, the media has exposed serious misdemeanour in the ministry of communications.  This has taken the sheen off the success story that is India’s telecom sector. Ever since the government of India decided to induct private players in the sector, politicians and bureaucrats have taken several decisions that have seemed irrational and partisan to experts and analysts.  It is important...

The year gone by and expectations from the new year One of the major highlights during the year 2010 was the successful completion of auction for 3G and BWA spectrum. We believe that 3G auction would be a game changer for the Indian telecom market. It would help enhance mobile penetration in the hinterlands which is very essential for bringing the real Bharat into the mainstream. Various initiatives undertaken by the government to enhance financial inclusion will...

The industry needs to move on The series of controversies associated with the 2G spectrum scam is all the news that is seen, heard or read these days. The media outrage and analysts’ comments go to show that all is not well with the politics-business nexus. Naturally, the telecom sector is hugely impacted, not so much in terms of growth but in terms of losing face. The continuing duel between the two technology camps is only vitiating the...

We needed outrage in October 2007 The headlines (on TV and in the daily newspapers) today are all about the “2G scam”. The CAG report has been released (or leaked) and the minister has resigned. Everybody is “outraged” and “shocked”. The outrage is a little late even if it is sincere (and most of it is not). There is also no reason for shock because the facts have been known for three years. The horse bolted the stable three ye...

The industry needs to move on The series of controversies associated with the 2G spectrum scam is all the news that is seen, heard or read these days. The media outrage and analysts’ comments go to show that all is not well with the politics-business nexus.Naturally, the telecom sector is hugely impacted, not so much in terms of growth but in terms of losing face. The continuing duel between the two technology camps is only vitiating the a...

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