Tag Archives: telco

TRAI releases official information about MNP launch tomorrow – the stakes are high

Today’s TOI carried a big notification from TRAI about the impending MNP (mobile number portability) launch tomorrow (20th jan, 2011). The terms of the offer are really attractive considering that a consumer spends only not more than Rs.19/- for the porting and about 2 hours disruption in service only during night time during porting.

mnp

 

Vodafone, Uninor and Idea are only offering MNP and downplaying the need for 3G services. They are saying that 2G network is good enough for now and the likes of such statements. This clearly shows that they have lost the edge over Aircel and Docomo who are raring to go in this field along with Airtel. However it is important to understand that if a consumer switches solely for the sake of 3G to another network and later realizes that the signal is not strong enough as his old network then he is likely to port back again.

So the game at stake is a combination of 3G, good voice network and mainly strong signal everywhere. Whatever it maybe, its celebration time for consumers as this is the point at which they can show their current host network how much they dislike their policies. And for mobile operators, TRAI has surely set a benchmark to perform properly and launch services on time. So from tomorrow you are officially free.

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Airtel launching 3G services next week and MNP shortly in Bengaluru

ScreenHunter 01 Dec

 

Slow but steady, Airtel is finally catching on the heels of Tata Docomo to launch their 3g services in Bangalore next week coinciding with the festive season. This blog already had a post on the tariff structure for Docomo post paid 3G services. Compared to those costs, expect Airtel to be a tad bit higher with their offering.

Ushering in both MNP and 3G at the same time, Airtel is bound to attract a lot of new customers even though their customer service quality has deteriorated over the past few months to a year. This is primarily in the backdrop of the 2G scam and the telcos that are now on the firing line by the government. Though many telcos more than rival the features offered by Airtel, the scam will deal a severe blow to these people if they are found to be involved.

MNP itself will be an interesting trend which will redefine and pick out the cream out of the telcos by the next quarter. This will be the only differentiating factor as compared to services, which will define who truly is capable of being a respected telco for time to come.

ScreenHunter 02 Dec

 

Airtel has already listed the steps to enable other subscribers to move to Airtel on their website. Airtel promises real time HD gaming, live video streaming (which might in due course involve live TV), real time video calls, among other offerings. No doubts this will come at a cost, but India deserves atleast 3G in 2011 and 4G in 2012.TRAI surely is working hard to bring more and more streamlined operations in the telco space. With the introduction of 3G the possibilities suddenly seem endless, and the next boom of rural and urban reach would be defined by data usage rather than just voice calls. After having met and spoken to many people who have witnessed the demos at Airtel outlet as well as Airtel insiders who have used the service, their claim is that its blazingly fast, and steady and exciting to use.

So this festive season, look forward to Airtel 3G! Spread the cheer.

 

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Who is the best telco in India? TRAI results speak out!

Today I happened to see a report on mobile providers and their service efficiency standards as provided by each individual mobile provider to TRAI. It would be interesting to note the trends on how these mobile providers are doing, and gauge for yourself who you need to be associated with. First lets look below for what info was shared:

traigetimage

All the information is for a month in terms of percentages. So lets see who fares how ?

  • Downtime: refers to how often network was not available for making calls. Needless to assume BSNL was down 1% of the time (the highest) showing how bad their network setup and problem resolution is. Airtel comes in second as no surprise. 0.49% of the time, their network is down for whatever reason which is bad. While others are all in an average respectable band of 0.1 to 0.2%, the best is Tata CDMA network which is at an all time best of 0.03% (while their GSM suffered at 0.2%)
  • Accessibility: refers to how often you were able to make calls within the network. BSNL and Airtel are two notches below 100%, while Uninor for all practically tops the chart. I have my own doubts on Aircel whether they meet 99% at all, since they do have access issues (not dropped calls) even when their signal is strong.
  • Drop rate of calls: refers to how often your calls were dropped. Airtel and BSNL shamelessly lead the pack aligning with reality. Uninor trails the pack showing a respectable maintainability in connection. I can vouch for uninor in this aspect since I had a long call for 1.5 hours without a hitch using uninor. No surprises here at all !
  • calls with good voice quality: is self explanatory, though what is needed to be stressed on here is that just maintaining call continuity does not mean its a good call. The voice has to be crystal clear. Again here only Reliance and Uninor make it to the top here with over 99%. Again I can vouch that Uninor has one of the best call qualities ever in GSM space. The most pathetic of them remains to be BSNL and Airtel which is very disrespectful for a provider of long experience levels in the country.
  • Complaint resolution: though last, this is definitely not the least point to be noted. Whatever be the quality of connection, service matters a lot to customers if they have to remain with the network. Barring Tata CDMA, everyone else seems eager to keep their customers showing 100% adherence to complaints. So there is an even playing ground here.

So who is the winner? From all these statistics? well this could be very very subjective. But before I come to that, let me add my own points worth noting.

  • Aircel has one of the worst impressions it creates for customers. I had dropped calls, unreachable networks on day one of buying a connection. This is like serving raw chicken in a star hotel, which is totally unacceptable.
  • BSNL has got one of the worst 3G implementations in the country. This is again not surprising at all since they have never known to get their act right the first time they do things. As with broadband, they have also goofed up with 3G. With pathetic networks, and below par customer service, it is only natural they are where they are.
  • Airtel has got one of the best EDGE implementations. Any web page that I have tried loading using an Apple iPhone, has given me data almost instantaneously while other providers give data as bursts which means that I must wait for data to be loaded. With Airtel its a great experience using data based services. Especially once they launch 3G.
  • Uninor has one of the best call quality among all operators. When you talk with a person either within or outside your network, its as good as having a conversation with the person standing beside you. Such is the call quality and I hope Uninor keeps this strong point and works on their EDGE a bit to reach to the top as a desired provider. Its unfortunate that they did not win the bid for 3G spectrum and improving their EDGE makes it all the more important for Uninor to be competitive in some way.
  • Tata Docomo has one of the best customizations possible on their plans. No other operator provides such unique customizations and Tata indeed is the leader of the pack for their uniqueness in their offerings. With the recent 3G license grant things for TATA are only bound to get better if they buck up their customer service to the next level.
  • Vodafone is in a niche of their own, but their network problems is going to pull them down from their leadership vantage point sooner than later if they do not work on it soon. There is no use if they have the best customer service happy to help when their basic services aren’t alright.

Of all the providers we have today, there are a couple of players who look extremely promising for the next decade of operations, and these are the natural winners of the game if they play it properly.

Welcome the winners, Uninor and Tata Docomo!

      Uninor