A few days ago I received a call late-night to share my thoughts about Sify stopping their internet service for homes (retail). Frankly, I wasn’t aware they were still providing that service.
Today that article was published in ET “Sify to stop supporting lower-speed customers, shift focus to enterprises services“. Few highlights from the article,
What Sify did in earlier was relevant and made sense. But the internet landscape has changed a lot over the last 10 years. Getting a dialup connection from govt owned VSNL (now owned by Tata) was a pain. One had to fill an application, stand in long queues.
Dialup connections were way too expensive as we had to pay for the phone calls and dropping of calls were common.
Remember that “music” of a dialup connection? If not, check this video out
Providing a broadband connection to homes is not cheap. The last mile connectivity cost is really prohibitive. The other telcos like Airtel, BSNL provide voice and data services, hence have a better opportunity to earn more from each customer.
Earlier people had to go to cyber cafes as connectivity was limited. Today mobile broadband is available to almost every user. And for the youth internet means Facebook and Facebook. Nothing more. My 12-year-old nephew recently told me never uses email because he prefers Facebook Inbox. Quite a revelation.
Just yesterday I received an email from Airtel about the increase in price in my broadband connection. My earlier plan was Rs 1400/month, 4 Mbps, above 30GB usage would reduce the speed to 256k. Now it is Rs 1475/- but I can use up to 80GB. If we don’t pay more telcos in India may not even survive.
As mentioned earlier last-mile connectivity costs a lot in India. Also, telcos have to take permission for cutting the road to lay the cables. Costs a lot.
India should learn from South Korea – it should lay the cables all around the city and rent out the infrastructure to telcos. Wish India had a Minister for Internet.
We live in a world awash with digital transformation, and yet filled with painful and…
It is a well-known fact that branding plays a significant role in the success of…
Lately I have been coming across the frustrations faced in the visa application process. Earlier,…
India has the second-largest online population. The rapid Internet access and mobile proliferation is the…
The digital media landscape has changed tremendously over the last decade. Social media has amplified…
It is not surprising to see advertising will grow in the year 2021. It does…
View Comments