Mukesh on Broadband via Wireless

3G and BWA auctions are over. After all the important, not so important commented on the lack of Indian Govt. to license and allow to launch 3G at par on time with the developed nations. Here comes the time, when 3G (Third Generation Wireless Services) or BWA (Broadband Wireless Access) is/will be reality in India in few month’s time. 3G or BWA has the speed that you can make babies on net. You can watch your favourite TV show, movie even on mobile.

PM (Pranab Mukherjee, though it hints more at Manmohan Singh) is laughing his way to the bank. Govt.’s (all over the World) make money by giving us the license to live (Income Tax), grow (Wealth Tax) and do business (too many to list). But derisking the whole nation by licensing to source/monetize waves is the masterstroke. Rupees One Lakh Six Thousand Crore Only, it was difficult to count the zeros. Telecom Ministry has become the Jewel in the Crown, especially after Mr. Raja became a big embarrassment for the UPA Govt. in their previous term due to telecom licenses. His name could make the new Govt. fall. He definitely needs to be given a bonus for the monies that the Govt. has earned. The money could easily help the Govt. to reduce the Fiscal Deficit by 100 basis points, after reaching the alarming levels in 2009-10. I fear it may not amount to mere electronic entries for the Govt. of India, wherein, telcos. approach the PSU banks to help them in financing their license fee, as happened in previous PSU market issues (listing on stock market). SBI and LIC filled up the issue numbers of NMDC and NTPC as market (investors) expected little from the Govt.

Let us take a peekaboo at the build up and the outcome of the auctions.

Before the build up, let’s look at the outcome. Mukesh Ambani is back in telecom space. That’s the bigger news in the industry than the money to be parked with Govt. coffers. Mukesh Ambani is famous/known for disrupting the markets with his ambitious and audacious plans. Market players are forced to change their strategies, thinking to stay in business.

People are guffawing for the fact that why BWA has managed to collect double the revenues for the Govt. than 3G. In 3G, only Reliance, Bharti, Vodafone, Tata and Aircel participated. There are whole bunch of players in Internet business. RCOM, Tata and Idea have already backed out of the bids, referring it as too steep prices for broadband business.

Mukesh Ambani has done the trick, bid and bagged all the 22 circles in BWA auction. Mukesh Ambani builds assets at the price at which it is difficult to think even. 22 circles at Rs. 128.48 billion when most others have coughed upto Rs. 6,000 Crore for 5,6 or 8 odd circles. Mukesh Ambani’s in his trademark style has taken the assets at the heavy discount as compared to other players in the industry.

Further to be anticipated, how he moves front and back in the telecom and digital telephony space with BWA license. Listen and just try to interpret, “A single 20 MHz TDD spectrum when used with LTE (Long Term Evolution) has the potential of providing greater capacity when compared to existing communication infrastructure in the country”. Another strange thing, when perhaps it was said, that some of the bigger groups were ready to offer their license to RIL at throwaway prices. Infotel Broadband Services (P) Ltd., I doubt if they anything relating to broadband besides the word in the Company Name. Mr. Nahata is still to pay Rs. 500 odd crores to the bank. Still recording losses at breakneck speed, I really adore their commitment to the Company.

Biggest uproar is the fact, Mukesh Ambani is back into his dream industry days after scraping the non-compete agreement with his litloo (younger brother). Reliance Infocomm set up by Mukesh Ambani now known as Reliance Communications is now in the hands of Anil Ambani in family division. Did that Non-Compete Agreement possess any importance?, when they had fought tooth and nail for the dead gas floating in sea bed of Krishna Godavari basin.

As for the customers, they are going to rake the moolah with the pricing strategy and product development of Mukesh Ambani.
Last time it was Roti, kapda aur mobile.
This time it will be less than that even but still sufficient.

Real life vs. Virtual Life

“I am working on my autobiography”, reads my Orkut profile. Some other random different words for my Facebook profile. The question to be asked, how real our virtual world is, especially in comparison to the time we are dedicating to it these days. There are people who have transported themselves to the virtual world and isolated from the real world. Real world is scrawny, bad and real, it tells and reflects about the real you. But the virtual world is all about the good things about you and in this world. Virtual world comes with no caveat. No bars hold/held, you can do anything you wish to do, they way you wish too. Remain anonymous, even if it is hidden, who is going to find out.

We can do anything with words and with the picture pasted on the computer but not to real life people. At times, it does help us in identifying with ourselves but more or less, it may not be the case for the most. We may not like few people, which is human nature, so we stop interacting with them or perhaps ignore them. But in virtual world, even if somebody is irritating or real boring, we know its just the picture. I had a friend, who was always discussing about his blog and the opinions that his followers framed for his post. We should take and respect opinions about yourself, whether good or bad (most of the times, its good in virtual world) but without ignoring the real opinions. He was concerned about their opinions and not mine to stop living in the dream.

With the advent of Twitter, things are getting more out of hand. Priyanka, Shahrukh, every other celebrity in the world to connect to their fans. But in real life, if any of their fond fan turned friend via Twitter turns up at their door, he/she will be labeled stalker and handed over to the police. Amitabh’s FMxt is always welcome, everyday he is thanking and praying for somebody or the other. A real, noble gesture from the face of Indian Bollywood, albeit on a virtual world. FMxt exists on internet. Is it perhaps the disconnect only, which connects people? On the contrary, in IPL, the ones who twitter have lost their jobs. The seemingly disconnect between real and virtual world is diminishing. People are writing ‘WILLs’ for their digital assets.

The whole online game is very infectious and contagious. I know, we have stopped remembering or memorizing things, want to find some information, Google it. When were you born? I need to Google and check. Online diaries, reminder notes, digital birthday calendar, birthday reminder, online wishes, the world is corresponding through waves and not through emotions or feelings.

And if you don’t have an online presence, you are dumb, stupid and ostracized from this world. People frown at you. There was a time, when people dialed everybody’s number and could write our phonebook front to back. We actually remember the other person’s voice, sounds and now, the cellphone beeps the person’s name. Simple, we don’t remember our home number even or surprised at times, when our parents call from PCO (one in million times) or from their colleague’s/ friend’s and we ask, who is it?

There are certain boons or perhaps the reason for its popularity. The speed with which this medium carries information to one and all. One of the mobile phone companies, is advertising, yesterday was so 317 Updates ago?

I’d suggest to everybody, stop dreaming, start LIVING.

Until then, BrB.

Smile Please

Family gatherings are so much fun. Especially in today’s fast pace world, when everybody is neck deep in their worldly affairs. So an occasion for the family to allow them to come together is the moment to cherish. I was meeting my family, extended family for my elder brother’s engagement ceremony. I meet my elder aunt (mausi), you are getting better with age. Perhaps she found a new world after becoming grandmother. No there’s something with her teeth, her brown pouty teeth were now replaced with white structured dentist’s teeth. She possessed a completely new kind of smile. I somehow found it too fake. But her smile made me remember of somebody, my mother’s aunt (chachi). My mausi’s smile completely resembled her aunt’s smile and pout. I realized we all can sport the same smile with the dentist’s teeth. Imagine the whole world posing with the artificial smile. The smile, the most inherent element of any person’s outside personality and charisma.