wirlez.com : Great options on CDMA handsets

In traditionally GSM markets like India phone users are reluctant to take up CDMA service since it meant that they are restricted to their career in terms of handset choice. CDMA providers. CDMA Development Group (CDG) has taken an initiative over the past year actively to change this scenario with the Open Market Handset. In short, this initiative is to allow buyers of CDMA phones buy the handsets without worrying about which carrier to choose. You can buy any CDMA phone from the retailers and use it with any carrier of your choice. You do not have to stick with the limited choice that used to be the case if you have to choose your carrier first. CDG has chosen the Indian market to pilot this initiative and has done well in the choice. 

If the Open Market Handset initiate gets going in India, it could well be a success anywhere since India is a market where GSM is well-entrenched. India has reached a milestone of 100 million CDMA subscribers and it is just as well that these subscribers finally get the choice they deserve. Handset vendors will also be greatly relieved from having to factor in the carriers at quite an early stage in their development.

Technically, the gizmo which enables this is called the R-UIM, which is the analog of GSM's SIM. When I first encountered the SIM-less handsets of CDMA, initially I was struck by the unimaginative idea of the whole thing, and later on probing came to understand that the vested interest of the carriers was blocking a simple function for the users. Now with mobile number portability (MNP) on the anvil and GSM bloc trying to run away with 3G, CDG has done well to provide the original choice of GSM subscribers to the CDMA lot. All's well that sells well is the golden rule by which this CDG plan of putting more choice in the hands of users will be measured.   

Scaled-down PCs and scaled up smartphones

Netbooks have started to appear in almost all of the PC makers' lines. Removing optical drives and shrinking the form factor has and using new UMPC chipsets have developed a market which was just waiting to mature. These mini-notebooks, priced on par with mid-range smartphones make a good product for selling first PCs to those who don't require a "big" notebook. The PC vendors realize this only too well as one can see from the Linux option available on most netbook lines. The idea is to make it as affordable as it can get for a lot of buyers who don't want to buy a new PC. I was searching a few months ago to see what options there are for getting a Linux laptop from the major PC vendors and the options were too few. The situation has changed a little now with the netbooks. The recent trend in netbooks is to have as closer a spec to normal laptops in terms of computing power and storage.

Now, why are netbooks important? A lot of people are going to have high speed connectivity soon and these are people who did not have it before. There is a need for simple reliable machines which enable people to be connected at work, at play and on the move. Since connectivity on the move makes the machine most phone-like we are beginning to hear stories of netbooks which are more smartphones than PCs. Google which is keen on getting the mobile broadband going to expand its advertising base may well try to leverage the Android platform for netbooks. Microsoft will be bolstered by its own offerings, may well launch a netbook flavor of Windows to make it attractive for the affordable PC set.

I think it makes a good case for telcos to give away netbooks as part of their mobile broadband contract. Since netbooks are costing in the range of smartphones broadband packages can be marketed in two flavors - one with the usual phone connection and the other with the netbook option.

I want to make a post on the features I would like to see evolve on a netbook at a later time.

Image from: eptiger.blogspot.com

Indian 3G spectrum auction process begins Monday

     Image Courtesy : bioteams.com

The process of allocating 3G spectrum to telcos is to kickstart on Monday with the pre-bid conference to select the overseer of the e-auctions for the 3G spectrum for both GSM and CDMA services. 3G spectrum winners will be known by early October. The auctions are expected to raise U.S.$ 10 billion or more of revenue for the government which would make the telecom department one the the biggest profit centers for the government.

Now what is to be seen keenly is how the telcos - both domestic and foreign take to the e-auction. There have been misgivings about competing in the 2G space from foreign bidders. The DOT had changed the rules so that foreign telcos could merge or buy stake in local players on entering the Indian market and this ought to assuage their feelings.

One more aspect to be watched is the final cost of the 3G spectrum and its effect on the 3G rollout. A high floor price would push the final prices so high that bidders would use up their revenue on the licenses and would have to wait for deploying the network infrastructure - the next step for telcos. This has happened in EU markets most notably in UK. In spite of the delay in launch of 3G services, 3G penetration had picked up fairly well. In the Indian scenario such a thing though wished by telcos might not be so easy. This would need very competitive end-user tariffs and very impressive differentiated services. This would call for huge spends upfront before a good monetization trend sets in. Setting an optimum floor price would hence be the challenge for the telecom ministry.

The challenge for TRAI would be to oversee proper timely rollout of 3G services in all circles with undue delays by the telcos. TRAI would also have to keenly look at how and what kind of recommendations are to made on the MVNO policy. This would also be critical as many foreign players might prefer to enter the market as MVNOs in order to avoid high license fees. TRAI's recommendations would some day tell on the rate of penetration of 3G services in India.

The challenge for the telcos would be about offereing high quality differentiated services and  make enough money to reinvest in their new new 3G networks. In this respect the telcos would also need to fix attractive tariffs that would work for them too. Another aspect telcos would be focussing on is MVP - mobile number portability - which might necessitate a rethink of telcos' strategies about retaining and growing subscriber bases.

The challenge for the user is to embrace 3G technology without falling for hype and demand high quality services from the telcos by rewarding the best offering and not to look at price alone.

Entry of foreign telcos

If reports are to be believed the government is very keen on addressing the apprehensions of 3G spectrum bidders who had shown lukewarm interest in the 3G spectrum auction process initially. As per the policy change planned the foreign telcos that win a bid for the 3G spectrum can buy or merge with local players who have 2G spectrum. Whether they have to pay more for it or not, the door will be open for entering into 2G services as well. In the existing framework, winning foreign 3G bidders would have to wait for 3 years before they can get into 2G services which will have them at a disadvantage over local telcos who would have their 2G spectrum added with the 3G spectrum they would be allocated after the auction. This planned move is found to be advantageous to such players as AT&T who have been waiting for long to taste the 3G pie in India. This is also seen to be an opportunity for Indian non-telco majors to get into the scene through tieups with foreign players. Though we don't know at present how such entities will have a piece of the 2G spectrum very essential for a having a level field, we know of wishes of Mahindra and Videocon to
enter the Indian telco scene. It will be interesting to follow the spectrum sweepstakes...