I spent the entire Oh-Ohs (00's) decade working on telecom. NTP '99 heralded the real opening up of the Indian telecom sector and every spare hand was diverted to telecom... and boy, has it been an exciting ride! More than 500million subscribers were added during this period; we have seen tariffs hit all-time lows; 8 new submarine cables connected India to the rest of the world... the achievements are endless to recount here.

However, I am saddened by the manner this decade ended. 2009 has to count as the year that promised so much but delivered almost nothing. The most talked about disappointment, of course, was the postponement of the 3G & BWA spectrum auctions. What is more disconcerting was that major decisions that would have created true customer choice - Number Portability, MVNO and Internet Telephony - were put off, on some pretext or the other. Even the one decision (this year) on Calling Cards could not be implemented because the terms and procedures are yet to be finalized.

Most people are happy about the entry of new (mobile) operators and consequent reduction in tariffs. I am not so sure, though. Adding new (facilities-based) players to a reasonably crowded market is not necessarily in the best interest of the industry or the customers. While it does result in some short-term pricing benefits, the common resource used by all of them is scarce spectrum -- the more fragmented it gets, poorer the quality of service. So while we have so-called lowest tariffs, we also have poor service levels. Instead, the Government had the opportunity to introduce new forms of competition (& customer choice) through MVNO and Internet Telephony, but dragged its feet on those decisions.

Telecom policy-making was at its worst this year, with no clarity on who was responsible and in what direction we were headed. What we needed was an NTP 2009; what we got was EGoM meetings and TRAI consultation papers.

2009 saw Bharti losing out an opportunity to become a global leader in the mobile business; in fact, none of the Indian companies could capitalize on the recession (& low valuations) in developed markets to make any large, bold moves/acquisitions. Intense tariff pressures in the domestic market dented their valuations - most analysts reacted with a Sell on the Indian telecom sector, probably for the first time in the last 5-8 years.

Will 2010 be different? I do not see much cause for cheer: the fundamental problem around policy-making is not likely to go away in a hurry. 3G & BWA auctions might happen in early 2010 (only because the Government is counting on the auction money in this financial year!), but networks/services would be available only towards the end of the year, in a limited manner. The camps on both sides of MNP, MVNO and Internet Telephony are strong and therefore, I expect status quo will prevail - for all practical purposes.

It will feel good to be proven wrong.

I've always wanted to make a snowman... however, there are very few places in India where that is even possible. Recently, we were over at Snow Park in Dubai and there was an opportunity, but Christmas was distant then and it was too cold, anyways, for such activity. Now that Christmas is around the corner, I've built my first ever "snowman". I am not telling how : p

Enjoy the holiday season!!!

A blog post by Rajesh Kalra of the Times of India about a Haagen Dazs (ice-cream) outlet in Delhi has set off a nationalistic furore on Twitter and all over the Internet...

Nobody really knows what's the reason behind that poster which "restricted" access only to international passport holders (what does that mean by the way? is there a passport category called "international"?). In the 8 hours since Mr. Kalra posted his story, nobody from Haagen Dazs has clarified. Some websites have said that it was an over-enthusiastic franchisee who made a mistake, since corrected.

So, an ice-cream outlet doesn't want Indians to enter, and we are all crying hoarse? Our national pride is at stake? We want the Government to do something about it? We want Barkha Dutt to do something about it? We want MNS to do something about it? Did I hear that right - MNS?

There are many places that I am not allowed to enter. For various reasons. There are other places I choose not to enter. For various other reasons. What's that got to do with national pride? If a stupid ice-cream vendor wants to turn away 99% of his potential customers, then good luck to him. Remember him, and don't go there when he opens his doors to you. Teach him a commercial lesson.

But for God's sake, don't make this into a nationalistic issue. And, don't drag MNS into this, even as a joke! We want our freedom, right? To speak the language we want. To live where we want. To wear what we want. To call Mumbai Bombay. We don't want MNS involved in our life, isn't it?

Give that ice-cream wallah too the freedom. Eat Amul Ice Cream. Or Baskin Robbins. Whatever.

"You cannot satisfy every customer" the marketing manager said.

In a spirited discussion about the role of Web 2.0 in marketing, the conversation turned towards the large number of negative comments posted on websites and Twitter and such like. How do we know they are even for real? There are so many people out there saying what they want about our brand; we can't take everyone seriously. It could be competitors trying to malign us. Why couldn't the customer provide his mobile number in the complaint? Valid questions.

But are we trying to use these as excuses to delude ourselves that our customers are all happy and have no reason to vent their anger online? Are we using the (relatively) low penetration of the Internet (now) to treat it as a trivial medium? Most customers, when they have a problem, approach the traditional customer service channels. And most of them are willing to accept that a product or service could have a deficiency - nobody's perfect. What they do want are clear responses about what we propose to do about the situation and action to back that promise. It's only when they get automated responses ("thank you; noted; will get back; do not reply to this mail") or a stalling customer service agent ("our servers are slow/down; here's a trouble ticket #; pray") that some customers pour their sorrows in mails to the President of India or messages at mouthshut.com and Twitter.

In some cases, messages on Twitter / FB could cover issues / concerns that traditional customer service channels do not typically address ("xyz airline was late again #fail").

Marketers would do well to heed both types of messages. The first reflect angst or frustration that could lead to the customer not just complaning her case but becoming a brand un-ambassador (e.g. United Breaks Guitars!). The latter type are still not angry but gradually getting there. Registering the feedback and even involving the customer in designing a solution should be the proactive approach to managing the situation.

Every dissatisfied customer we leave out there is potentially raising an army of other similar people and can cause irrepable harm to our business. The Web provides them the platforms. Do we want to provide them a reason?

So the Government has finally agreed to the formation of Telangana state. Rather, it was forced into submission by a politician who decided to sacrifice his life for the cause.

... and laugh too!

There are very few films that I don't crib about - something or the other. Obviously perfect movies are hard to come by. An hour after leaving the theater, I can't find anything in Paa to crib about. Except that it made me laugh loud and cry louder. In public. On a Sunday afternoon. Like Leela, my 6yr old, said while giving the movie a standing ovation, Can we get the dvd and watch it at home again!