Mobile, Internet, etc

—Quote—
There is a recent circular issued by Department of Telecommunications to all Internet service providers.According to this circular, Dot has instructed ISPs that every Individual/Company using Wireless Services have to Compulsorily register their Wi-Fi equipment with their Internet provider; failing their service would be disconnected.

The main points given in circular are:-

*
o Every internet user in country has to register his wireless equipment with his ISP. All ISPs make sure that this rules is duly followed.
o The Subscriber is fully responsible if any kind of illegal/anti social activities made through his Internet connection.
o For Existing Subscribers, ISP would inform them about this directive and give a notice for compliance. if a subscriber does not follow, his connection would be suspended until he registers.
—End Quote—
Read Full:
*Indian Govt makes Registration of Wi-Fi Compulsory for all* (http://www.dot.gov.in/isp/Wi-%20fi%20Direction%20to%20ISP%2023%20Feb%2009.pdf)

Totally stupid move, wonder why we have to pay the price:mad:

*Net connection: The top 10 countries
*
India has been ranked at a dismal 115th among 223 countries in terms of average Internet connection speeds. India has an average Internet connection speed of just 772 Kbps compared with the global average of 1.5 Mbps.

At the end of 2008, approximately 19 per cent Internet connections around the world were at speeds greater than 5 Mbps — a 21 per cent increase over the average global connection speed at the end of 2007.

The number of unique IPs or Internet addresses from India grew 42.91 per cent year-on-year, to 2.63 million. Globally, the number of unique IPs grew 20 per cent. In terms of broadband penetration, India had 0.0001 broadband IPs per capita.

This is according to the State of the Internet report, a quarterly study by Akamai Technologies, the US-based Internet content distribution giant. The State of the Internet report tracks average connection speeds for countries around the world. Check out the top 10 nations in terms of average Internet connection speed. . .

*_1. South Korea_*
South Korea rules supreme when it comes to Internet connection speed and broadband connectivity.

It is the world’s No.1 with average connection speed of *15 Mbps*, ten times the global average!

During 2008, South Korea’s rate of quarterly change appeared to be locked into a cyclical pattern, with quarterly decreases being recorded in the first and third quarters, and increases seen in the second and fourth quarters.

For the whole year, South Korea saw a modest 7 per cent rise in their levels of high broadband adoption. South Korea is also ranked first in terms of high broadband connectivity with 69 per cent connections above 5 Mpbs.

South Korea, Sweden, the Netherlands, Denmark, and Norway had more high broadband IP’s per capita than in the prior quarter. This is consistent with what would be expected from the initiatives to bring higher speed connectivity, including fibre to the home (FTTH) efforts, to consumers in these countries.

*_2. Japan_*
Japan ranks 2nd in terms of Internet connection and high broadband connectivity. Japan ranks 2nd in terms of high broadband connectivity. About 54 per cent of the connections in Japan are above *7 Mbps*.

*_3. Hong Kong_*
Hong Kong ranks third with an Internet connection speed of *6.9 Mbps*. The country ranks fifth in terms of high broadband connectivity with 38 per cent of the connection above 5 Mbps.

*_4. Romania_*
Romania is at the fourth position with a Internet connection speed of *5.7 Mbps*.The country ranks third in terms of high broadband connectivity with 45% of the connection above 5 Mbps.

*_5. Sweden_*
Sweden is at the fifth position with a Internet connection speed of *5.6 Mbps*. Sweden ranks fourth in terms of high broadband connectivity with 39 per cent of the connection above 5Mbps.

*_6. Switzerland_*
Switzerland has bagged the sixth position with an Internet connection speed of over *5 Mbps*. The country however does not figure in the top ten list of countries with high broadband connectivity.

*_7. Netherlands_*
Netherlands ranks 7th with an Internet connection speed of *4.9 Mbps*. The country ranks 7th in terms of high broadband connectivity with 28 per cent of the connections above 5 Mbps.

*_8. Belgium_*
Belgium is at the 8th position with an Internet connection speed of *4.7 Mbps*. The country ranks sixth in terms of high broadband connectivity with 31 per cent of the connection above 5 Mbps.

*_9. Slovakia_*
Slovakia bags the ninth position with an Internet connection speed of *4.5 Mbps*.The country does not figure among the top ten in terms of high broadband connectivity.

*_10. Norway_*
Norway ranks tenth with an Internet connection speed of *4.5 Mbps*. The country ranks fifth in terms of high broadband connectivity with 38 per cent of the connection above 5 Mbps

*_United States_*
United States is at the *17th position* with an Internet connection speed of *3.9 Mbps*, up approximately 8 per cent from the average connection speed for the first quarter of 2008.

The country ranks ninth in terms of high broadband connectivity with 25 per cent of the connection above 5 Mbps. The study states that the average speed will continue to grow over time, as new technologies, such as DOCSIS 3.0 enable consumer broadband connections to reach significantly higher speeds.

Most states in the US saw nominal to significant rise in their average broadband speed, with both Nebraska and Kentucky seeing a 33 per cent improvement from the first quarter to the fourth quarter. Several states, including Rhode Island and New Jersey, saw minor decreases over the course of the year.

*_China_*
In terms of Internet connection speed, China is way behind leading economies with an average Internet connection speed of *833 kbps*. The country lags behind in high broadband connectivity with only 0.6 per cent of the connections above 5 Mbps.

*Source:* Rediff (http://specials.rediff.com/money/2009/apr/07slide1-net-connection-the-top-10-countries.htm)

Recently there has been a series of communication between TRAI (Telecom Regulatory Authority of India) and Department of Telecommunications, Government of India about the formulation of regulations for Internet Telephony or VoIP in the country.

As is common with bureaucracy, such correspondences trigger a series of communications between the two parties and the same happened with TRAI and DOT regarding some issues like level playing field, numbering and the emergency number calling. TRAI has replied back to DOT maintaining its initial stand on these issues; which any and every regulator would do.

The TRAI has recommended realistically for issues arising out of Internet Telephony that will give a room for growth for the technology and at the same time lead to a sizeable market of Internet Telephony in India. The philosophy of the recommendations has been to aim at two things - designing a framework for the technology and giving the technology enablers a free hand which is very crucial particularly in the initial stages of the technology to result in a mature market. Only by showing some flexibility more and more players will dive into the market which is always beneficial for the end users.

Among the recommendations, the regulatory authority has recommended that the decision of facilitating emergency number calls over the Internet phones should be left to the service providers. It should not be made mandatory.

This debate over emergency number calling over VoIP networks has been there globally. Most of the regulators concluded that this decision be left over with the service providers as VoIP is primarily an alternative telephone line or a second telephone connection with the users. It is essential that users must be able to call in case of emergency and for that they could use their primary PSTN line.

India is likely to follow the universal trend of Internet Telephony being an alternative route and it will be a secondary line with the users. If not a fixed line, the users will surely be having a mobile phone over which they could make emergency calls.

Another interesting phenomenon is about the level of service offered over emergency numbers and then the usage of emergency numbers. The emergency number service in India only allows users to call for police, fire services and the ambulance services depending on the requirement. No advanced services are offered such as geographic identification of the caller to facilitate prompt services. A caller has to make a number of calls before pin pointing the right person for help. It is not an automatic system like in most of the mature telecom markets. Most of the times making a call is of no use and the person has to use other methods even in the case of emergencies for the callous attitude of the authorities who are approached for the help.

India is a security sensitive country and it is very important to identify the location of the caller for various reasons. In other countries the advanced emergency number call systems help authorities like police and secret services to find out the location of the caller. But in India, location is only ascertained after intervention of the service providers. One very useful tool for this has been CLIP that lets the other party know about the number of the caller. Once the E.164 numbering is followed for Internet Telephony in India (as recommended by TRAI), having CLIP for Internet Telephones will not be an issue and the service providers will have to capability of tracking the callers.

With this scenario, it seems that TRAI has aptly recommended that enabling emergency number calling be the discretion of the service provider. There is no reason why DOT should make it an issue for Internet Telephony to start in India. Once the Internet Telephony is operated in a controlled manner through these service providers, it will be as easy for the authorities to track the calls and callers in case of any need as is with the regular PSTN and mobile telephony. Users will be able to make emergency calls when needed through their primary lines and the callers can be traced through CLIP and other such facilities with the intervention of the service providers.

Over the past few years, TRAI has been among very few regulators who are encouraging emerging technologies than finding out impediments in making them a reality. Be it conditional access, IPTV, DTH, WiFi or the broadband services, TRAI has always tried to develop an atmosphere which would incubate the technology and service leading to the maturity of the telecom market in the country.

*Rebate in rent for delays in repair of fault
*
Did you guys know that you can get rebate in the rent in case of repair of fault in your telephone. I never knew about it. I just came to know about this when I was listening to a AD (Jago Grahak Jago) in between the radio commentary.

In case any fault in respect of fixed line is not repaired within 3 days rebates in rent should be given as follows:
* Faults pending for >3 days and 7 days and 15 days: rent rebate for 1 month.

*Reference:* Steps taken by TRAI for protecting the interest of customers (http://www.trai.gov.in/PRESSRELEASENO952005.asp)

Kindly attempt the survey which can be found on PC World Broadband Survey 2009 (http://tinyurl.com/pcwbb2009)

Bharat Sanchar Nigam Ltd- Latest News (http://bsnl.co.in/newsdetailed.php?news_id=446)

All telcos have opposed sector regulator Trai’s plans to introduce ’special quality of service (QoS) norms’ for mobile services to monitor their performance over parameters such as call drops, fault repair, refunds and billing complaints.

Telcos say that ’such norms should not form a part of regulations’ because ‘the competitive market forces operators to address quality issues to survive and retain their customers’.

Besides, they have also told Trai that since mobile number portability (where consumers to retain their number when they change their operator) is slated to be introduced this year, such regulations will have no relevance.

But, Trai is not impressed with telcos’ views and is likely to go ahead and specify QoS norms to protect the interests of consumers. The regulator will take a final call after meeting telcos on this issue.

Responding to the Trai proposal, the Cellular Operators Association of India (COAI), the industry lobby representing GSM players said that the in an ultra competitive scenario, QoS is driven by market forces rather than by regulatory intervention.

“Even internationally, mostly the regulators do not specify the QoS parameters. Rather than introducing new or additional parameters for QoS, our aim should be to progressively reduce the parameters reported to Trai,” COAI added.

Ditto with Bharti Airtel, India’s largest telco, which is pointed out that country, in addition to having the maximum number of service providers in an area, also enjoyed the lowest tariffs and market forces would therefore ‘drive the cause the customers’ welfare’.

Companies such as Reliance Communications are of the view that regulatory intervention is not required as telcos were already ‘pursuing marketing strategies designed to differentiate their brand from rival offerings based on dimensions of service quality such as superior network coverage, reliability, and voice quality’.

Tata Teleservices, while calling for minimum regulation, has pointed out that several factors that impact service quality were not in operators’ hands. “Some aspects such as spectrum shortage, regular availability of power supply, and steady supply or availability of human resources particularly in rural areas are beyond the control of the telco,” the company said.
http://economictimes.indiatimes.com/News/News-By-Industry/Telcos-oppose-TRAIs-quality-service-norm/articleshow/4156537.cms

Consumers awaiting an over 50% slash in telecom tariffs with the help of new technologies like VoIP or Voice over Internet Protocol, are in for a setback with the government informing Parliament on Thursday that no final decision has been taken by the government so far on the issue of allowing VoIP.

VoIP helps to more than halve tariffs as it moves away from traditional costs and billing systems. Consumers are the main beneficiaries of such a regulatory shift. Taking into consideration the overwhelming consumer support for implementation of VoIP the telecom regulator, TRAI had made suo moto recommendations on issues related to Internet Telephony exactly 6 months ago on 18 August 2008.

While DoT had TRAI’s recommendations it has chosen to stall its implementation as unleashing VoIP promises to rock the boat for existing telecom service providers.

Rajeev Chandrasekhar, Member of Parliament, has asked three questions relating to the implementation of VoIP and whether certain telecom companies are trying to delay the acceptance of the TRAI recommendations on VoIP.

The government in its response, accepted that representations have been made by the Association of Unified Service Providers of India (AUSPI) and Cellular Operators Association of India (COAI) in addition to Internet Service Providers Association of India While the first two associations oppose implementation of VoIP in its current form, the ISPAI has been pushing for Internet Telephony on grounds that significantly lower tariffs will benefit consumers, especially students. “Allowing VoIP would mean lower tariffs and faster Internet penetration”, says Naresh Ajwani, member of the NRO Number Council.

No tariff cut now as VOIP gets delayed-India Business-Business-The Times of India (http://timesofindia.indiatimes.com/Business/India-Business/No-tariff-cut-now-as-VOIP-gets-delayed/articleshow/4157798.cms)