[Assam] Indian Cell Phone Myths

Tue Nov 20 10:26:14 CST 2007

I agree with the above statement about REAL and FREE.

  Although there has been move about "Free" markets in India, the bureaucracy is still too stifling and still promotes/encourages underhand dealings. Until India remedies the centrally controlled dysfunctional bureaucratic set up, it will take decades for the people reap benefits free market economy or to get any social justice.

  Yes, the ENRON saga did happen in a free market economy. But "SOVIET and EAST BLOCK saga" or "NO REGULAR ELECTRICITY SAGA in the backwaters of Dhubri district and Namti" also happened in controlled economy with ever meddling dysfunctional bureaucratic set up.

  ENRON saga in the US led to increased pressure from the Feds for corporate transparency and accountability, as it should in a country with Free Market where the role of the government is primarily to enforce the rule of law.  

  Besides signs of stifling bureaucracy and "deeply faulty systemic and institutional structures " (to quota c-da) we encounter another symptom with Indian ethos.  On our last visit to India, I had bought hot coffee from Kolkata airport. The hot coffee was served in ultra thin plastic cups, which proved to be extremely hot to hold. When I protested and asked for an extra cup to lessen the impact of burning heat on my poor hands, the sales person displayed the least concern.

  The emphasis of Indian business is still short-term profit with little respect for customer care. I suspect the same applied to the current cell phone market in India.

  But as market economy grows and if the grip of stifling bureaucracy is reduced and REAL FREE ECONOMY takes shape, things are bound to change.

  At least that's what we have seen in the rest of the FREE world. 

Chan Mahanta <cmahanta at charter.net> wrote:
        I do not take issue with the proven efficacy of  REAL competition and FREE market forces. But the keywords are REAL and FREE. In a land where the make-believe is readily accepted in lieu of the real thing by its intelligentsia EVEN when the truths are open for all to see and that need to tell the world they are no push-overs as far as modernity is involved, the nuances of the REAL and the FREE takes on huge importance. One only needs to look at the ENRON saga. Are there Enron like goings on in the cellphone industry in Assam?  I don't know. But from the comments I heard from users from Guahati to Dibrugarh to Namti to Tawang--I have to suspect there is.

  The fact of Dhubri's or Guahati's or Namti's lack of paved roads, reliable electricity or potable water or sanitation systems and the governments' failure that it points to ought not to be issues to be forgotten or
  explained away as mere  ideology rooted failure of governance  and thus implied that it could be all remedied by the 'free market gods' is  where the fallacy is.

  That Indian governance is dysfunctional has little to do with ideological hang-ups but everything to do with deeply faulty systemic and institutional structures that Indian intelligentsia has neither been aware of nor have been willing to tackle.

  At 9:07 PM +0000 11/19/07, Malabika Brahma wrote:
  Soon Reliance and others will be forced to improve their service if they want to survive and prosper.     But they have achieved to provide at least rudimentary service in 5/6 years of operation (in cell phones) which government failed to provide for (take electricity) in last 60 years.     My village in Dhubri district does not yet have regular electricity, paved roads and clean water supply (we rely on wells) after 60 years but does receive NextTel cell phone signals.     People who never had land phone lines had cell phones as the first phone.  

mc mahant <mikemahant at hotmail.com> wrote:
  .hmmessage P { margin:0px; padding:0px } body.hmmessage { FONT-SIZE: 10pt; FONT-FAMILY:Tahoma } Cellphone Cos are like "Indian IT Miracles".
Each one is a Benami shadow of likes of Eriksson/Siemens/Nokia/Motorola.Even screws are imported.- mostly from China. Customs do not hold them for Minutes. And they were/are being milked for Upfront+Below the Table n000Crores@ time for licensing CeNtrallyat Delhi
Remember Pramod Mahajan's Brother fuming and shooting him dead
-----"You took 5000 crores and did nothing to US?"
Currently there is something bigger happening-all Hush Hush:
Reliance trying to corner huge Spectrum(allowed to be a cOuntry's right by ITU rules)and  all the other players crying out loud"You cannot do that".
So they can Cheat the Economy  as they like--Licensed to Kill.

{Compare mine --a few Welding/Sawing machines not released by Kolkata Customs"Where is it written--the address of the Party to be Notified?"And of course I have to be penalized for Demurrage that longer.As per  Rules. Nedfi--Oh they are Busy Developing Look East!!!    }
mm

---------------------------------
    Date: Sun, 18 Nov 2007 11:50:08 -0600
To: assam at assamnet.org
From: cmahanta at charter.net
Subject: [Assam] Indian Cell Phone Myths

.ExternalClass blockquote, .ExternalClass dl, .ExternalClass ul, .ExternalClass ol, .ExternalClass li {padding-top:0;padding-bottom:0;}  As an addendum to my previous response on the matter of the quality of private  services as in cell-phone, I would be remiss if I did not share what I heard during my recent trip to Assam:  
   *** That service is uniformly bad thruout Assam. And the worst is the darling of the private enterprise  advocates: Reliance; so much so that there was some kind of a 'Bandh' against purported Reliance deceit of consumers.  
  I was loaned a cellphone from a new service provider by a relative, which, amazingly worked from my native village at remote Namti, but would not work from some of Guahati's  most important localities such as Beltola and Rajgarh.  

  *** Most surprisingly the cell phone service that generally is acknowledged to be the most reliable across Assam is that provided by the Indian Govt. operated BSNL, but at a cost. Apparently it is the most expensive of cell phone services.  

  So much for the conventional wisdom about public vs. private enterprise in India, specifically as it relates to cell phone service in Assam.  

  At 5:06 PM +0000 11/18/07, Malabika Brahma wrote:
  Cell phone services are available all over India at a very reasonable rate with excellent service, however electricity is not.

This is because cell phone was considered a luxury and hence left to the market forces whereas electricity was considered essential and left for the government to  provide.

Government always messes up whereas fair  market dynamics does not.

Utpal  

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