The telecom industry in India is slated to see yet another revolution with the launch of cheaper and better services with the onset of newer competing technologies. The move by Reliance a private telecom service provider to enter into the LTE FDD sector is ruffling many a feathers of its competitors including the state owned BSNL. This new technology is also 4G but it is much faster than the existing 3G and 4G networks and better suited for internet telephony thus making calls much cheaper especially trunk calls and international calls. Earlier it was also Reliance that gave India the cheapest phone of CDMA technology when the tariffs of other networks were costly and so were the handsets.
However Nagaland keeps missing out on such monumental changes in the market due to many factors. Such mega projects with huge investments require favourable local conditions so that the venture is profitable for the service providers and ultimately the people get the benefit to avail better services. Without such conditions in place companies will always look for the cheapest form of investments with the best profits possible leading the consumers being on the losing end of the deal in most cases.
A glaring example is the mobile telecom sector in the state at present. Like in any liberalised market the choices are numerous but on the contrary the service is way below par in Nagaland. Network coverage is lacking and call drops a daily affair. The telecom regulatory authority’s (TRAI) recent directive on call drops might be a little too arbitrary for the service providers but it is never as relevant as in Nagaland. The problem is aggravated with the local energy crises in the state where constant supply of power to the mobile towers has become a problem. The contingency power backups in the form of batteries and power generators also sometimes cannot sustain when there are frequent load shedding and prolonged shutdowns that in turn reduces the lifecycle of these equipments. What would be considered as a choice for additional service to those who can afford it have instead become a necessity in Nagaland where even two SIM cards of different providers for one GSM device is not enough.
Hopefully with the launch of the new technology networks in some of the towns in Nagaland it is expected to improve the services of the existing other players too with the new competition in the market. The state owned BSNL has already pre-emptively doubled the data speeds for their broadband consumers and is also currently offering the cheapest data packs and has also announced free unlimited call on Sundays for their wired consumers. The remaining providers are also expected to follow suit along with rest of the country in coming up with tariffs cuts and added service but the only catch will be the quality of service that is still found wanting in the state.
