If there’s one thing that has an instant and direct relation to development, that’s power supply. The new economy is completely driven by electricity. Switch off the power supply and business and growth comes to a stand still. Considering this, you would expect decision makers to consider electrictiy supply as an item of critical importance.

That might be true in some countries but definitely not in India. The power supply situation just keeps going from bad to worse. You have power cuts for several hours every day in most cities across India. The situation is especially bad in Maharashtra.

India supposedly has a very talented bunch of software engineers. But how can they possibly compete on a global stage if there’s no power to run computers.

Power is just one example, but where’s the water, where are the clean shelters?

What is especially distressing is that Indians just seem to accept atrocities as a part of life. So protests die out quickly and everyone gets used to the suffering. Politicians keep trying to win elections based on religion and caste based issues.

Such instances make it obvious why a handful of foreigners could rule India for over a hundred years. Protesting and demanding rights, is just not part of the Indian psyche. We suffer at the hands of a foreign ruler and then our own leaders and yet we accept it as just a part of life.

Having said all this, even I have to take responsibility as apart from articles and blogs on things I feel are wrong, I haven’t really done much. Need to do more, lot more …..

A few days back, I wrote about how vendors are tricking customers with the “unlimited broadband” packages. Unfortunately there’s another broadband scam happening. Have you noticed?

Broadband vendors claim speeds of 256 kbps, 512 kbps or even more. However the customer never gets speeds anywhere close to this mark. You file a complaint and the vendor claims that the speed claimed is “burstable” speed. He then explains that burstable speed is the max ever possible for your connection. So even if your connection touches that mark once in one month, the vendor would say that he has fulfilled his commitment.

I doubt if that “burstable” speed is reached even once a month. You would normally get max speeds of about 1/2 to 2/3 rd of the speed claimed by the vendor. 

TRAI, the regulatory body for broadband services in India, has stated that only speeds above 256 kbps can be claimed as broadband. Unfortunately it does not state the speed below which the speed should not drop.

If I have bought a connection for 512kbps and the vendor at anytime drops the speed below 400kbps, it should be a failure of service and the consumer need not pay. When you buy milk, we do not accept it if the milkman only delivers pure milk once a month and mixes 1 or two portions of water on all the other days.

It’s true that it is a tough thing to regulate the broadband vendors. The vendors will also never declare true stats on their own. But it will at least be a weapon in the hands of the consumers. As things stand today, broadband vendors claim 512 kbps, rarely deliver even half that speed and still get away with it.

Thinking of it, I have tried VSNL (Tata Indicom), Sify, Reliance and Iqara and none of these providers ever touched the burstable marks they claim.

Privatisation is good, healthy competition even better. But remove the regulator and the companies will gang up and take the customer for a ride. In case of mobile and broadband technology, there is a regulator (TRAI) but as happens so often with technology, the bureaucrats and govt officials don’t quite understand technology and mess up the rules and the law.