India is a country on the move. The country is moving ahead slowly but surely towards a brighter future; a future where the customer is king and all his preferences are given more priority than it is given now. We have in the past talked about how digitalization and its impact on the customer or how resourceful 3G will turn out to be for the end user. Keeping the customer in mind, after the recently concluded first Open House discussion on National Broadband Plan, TRAI Chairman Dr. J.S. Sarma made some announcements which are bound to be music to customers’ ears.
Stopping Bulk SMSes
Recently, Bharti Airtel stopped Bulk SMS service keeping the customer in mind. We had reported that customers who were enlisted in the Do Not Call Registry are also prone to receiving unsolicited calls. TRAI announced that by the end of the month firm regulations will be set up in order to ensure that customers do not get these unwanted calls. TRAI are thinking of setting up a ‘Do Call’ and a ‘Do Not Call’ registry amongst other ideas. If only they would set a mandatory pricing on Bulk SMS services, the customers will no longer be harrowed by such calls / SMSes.
Mobile Number Portability
Mobile Number Portability has been coming for quite some time now. TRAI announced the advent of this feature quite some time back but for many reasons, MNP just seemed another promise the Government had failed to deliver on. Recently, a deadline of October 31st was given for the same, and according to TRAI, this deadline will be met and the country will finally see the rolling out of MNP. It will be great news for customers if this promise is finally kept, but we have to keep in mind that such promises have been made in the past only to be broken later.
National Broadband Plan
Dr. Sarma had announced at a CII event recently that India will be digitized by 2013. Now, he has announced a National Broadband Plan which will cover 100 million homes by 2014, and will encompass the entire country by 2020. According to Dr. Sarma, Gross Domestic Product (GDP) of a country is affected in a positive manner with proper utilization of broadband. Developing countries have proved in the past that even a 10% increase in broadband utilization increases the GDP of that country by 1.38%.
All these plans sound great on paper. However, implementation is the key here. Whether or not these promises will be kept this time is something we will just have to wait and watch. Do you think the Government will deliver on these promises?
