Freedom to Connect

Over the last week or so, there has been some serious buzz in our Telecom sector Now we know that the official India launch of the iPhone 3G is only days away and the countdown has already begun and can only be rivaled by that of the Olympics. But that constitutes only a very small percentage of my excitement. What I am really excited about is the go ahead for the allotment of 3G spectrum (finally) and more importantly some concrete steps towards Number Portability.

There are those who keep changing their phone numbers every now and then, and then there are those for whom their mobile number is a part of their identity or that of their business. The latter can't afford to change their number frequently and have to endure the atrocities of their network provider - be it higher call rates, lack of competitive internet packages, frequent call drops (which are at the top of their game these days; correct me if I am wrong) and the list goes on. Yes, you are always free to move on to a different service provider but then you have to leave your number behind, which is not a feasible option for many. So your freedom of choice is pseudo or at best, partial.

Once Number Portability is in effect, you would truly become the master of your phone number and the industry would transform into a service oriented one in the true sense.

Feel free to switch to another service if there is inadequate signal at your place or you experience too many call drops on your network. Lack of good GPRS/Connectivity packages and the grass seem greener on the other side? Switch! You think SRK is making a lot more sense than Irfan Khan, or you are in love with the stamp-licking dog you know what to do.

The point is that if you are not happy with the service you are getting, you are free to try other options without the fear of losing your number. This will drive the operators to get more competitive in their pricing and even better, raise the bar for the quality of service. So, for once the consumer may be somewhat close to being that proverbial King. I am very much looking forward to it.

Talking of 3G, it's about time it arrived; or should I say overdue, and it is more than welcome. I can only hope than it doesn't go the GPRS and EDGE way in terms of pricing, download limit and quality, as there is a lot more than entertainment riding on its mass availability and mass acceptance. If implemented well, it can truly be a new dawn in communication, given the amount of bandwidth at its disposal. Going by our history, it would be over-optimistic to expect speeds in Mbps from day 1 but what worries me is an official statement that says, users will get "Broadband-type" speeds to start-off with. Given the gross misuse of the word Broadband in this part of the world, I feel my qualms are justified. But let's hope it is just a false alarm and people have learnt from their past mistakes.

All said and done, I see light on the horizon and I would want to believe that it is of the rising sun.