I am a master in India

Chapter 346 Worms
India's telecommunications business is currently divided into long-distance and local calls. The most profitable long-distance calls are monopolized by the Department of Telecommunications (DoT), while local calls are handled by MTNL.

Whether it's long-distance or short-distance, this refers to landline calls.

As of this year, 96, there were fewer than 2000 million fixed-line telephone subscribers in all of India.

This penetration rate is negligible compared to a population of nearly one billion.

There was no way around it; just a few years ago, telephones were considered family heirlooms, and back then, only about 800 million households had this service.

The improved economic situation has caused this number to more than double.

Compared to the widespread adoption of television sets in households, the popularization of telephones was much slower.

This is related to the way the two are transmitted: television receives radio broadcasts that break through the limitations of physical space, while telephones rely on complex network coverage.

The Indian government doesn't have the money; where would they get the funds to lay large-scale copper cable installations?

Today's landline users are mostly concentrated in big cities like Mumbai and New Delhi.

In the early days, telephone installation was expensive, often costing tens of thousands of rupees, enough to buy a television set.

For propaganda purposes, the government has also been tilting its policies toward television in various ways.

Needless to say, for the general public, television is an essential form of entertainment, and one television can satisfy the viewing needs of seven or eight people at the same time.

Telephones are more used in business than in residential settings, and many families don't pay much attention to them.

Of course, the most crucial point is that television sets are completely opened to private enterprises, while telecommunications services remain firmly in the hands of the Ministry of Telecommunications.

Three or four years ago, the government nominally sold some shares of VSNL (international) and MTNL (local), and also opened the telecommunications market to private capital.

However, the opening policy is quite peculiar. They divided the country into 21 landline zones, and only allowed one private landline operator to enter each zone.

This artificial segmentation prevents new operators from achieving economies of scale and results in low returns on investment.

At the same time, private operators also have to integrate their lines into the Department of Telecommunications (DoT)'s own long-distance network. The DoT is both the referee and the player, which makes interconnection extremely difficult.

You think that's all? Guess if these landline licenses cost money?
The Indian government operates like a typical businessman; they sell landline licenses at a very high price.

No one dares to take on this kind of business that looks like it's going to lose money.

Ironically, even this year, the bidding for local telephone licenses has still attracted no interest.

Yes, not a single one.

Their behavior is so unseemly that they can't even fool foreigners.

We had to buy licenses for each of the 21 districts one by one to cover the entire country with telephone services.

Businessmen with capital were scared away, while small businessmen couldn't get in.

This model has also been extended to the mobile communications sector, with the entire country of India divided into 20 mobile zones.

Despite using various methods, Ron only managed to obtain licenses in three locations: Uttar Pradesh, New Delhi, and Mumbai.

He simply didn't have the energy to deal with other things.

Under the current policy model, it is almost impossible for telecommunications giants to emerge.

Looking at the television market, not to mention the hardware, there are many manufacturers.

The accompanying television stations are even more diverse, numbering in the hundreds, covering all fields.

This is why Ron got the telecom license last year and isn't in a hurry to get it.

Too many restrictions mean too few competitors.

He has enough time to plan carefully and to investigate the market.

Ron was even more interested in the pager business than in mobile communications.

In the eyes of the Indian government, pagers are considered value-added services, while mobile communications are the legitimate business.

Unfortunately, the economic environment is so bad that mobile phones and similar items are out of reach for most people.

This is why pagers are not valued, and even in a metropolis like Mumbai, their development has been lackluster.

Ron had made an appointment with an MTNL official in advance, and the official naturally gave him face.

Suhr's reputation in Mumbai needs no introduction; he belongs to the very elite.

They met at the Ocean Hotel, a quiet place with beautiful scenery and plenty of privacy.

It wasn't far from Ron's place; he was a diamond customer there.

Without them having to ask, the waiter led them to their designated spot on the balcony.

The cool breeze blowing in from the bay is completely unobstructed; it is a primal gift from nature.

"You'd like to visit MTNL's interactive center? Of course, no problem, you can do so anytime." The official sipped his decanted whiskey with a satisfied smile.

"Yes, I'm very interested, but I'd like to learn more about it."

"Deeper?"

"Yes, such as the workflow, principles, and so on. It would be best to have a layout plan and the construction of base stations."

“Oh,” the official put down his glass, “this is not just deep, it’s complete, unreserved, and frank. I can’t think of a more fitting analogy than that between husband and wife.”

“You know, we just wanted to learn a bit. I got my telecom license last year.”

“Mr. Suer, you always have such a generous spirit.” The official understood immediately.

"So, what do you think?" Ron looked at him.

“This takes a lot of time, and I’ve been very busy lately. My child wants to study abroad, but nothing’s been decided yet. That’s a real hassle, you know, Mr. Sue.”

“Hmm,” Ron nodded, “I have two suggestions, would you like to hear them?”

“Of course.” The official immediately perked up.

“One is Britain. I know a professor there who can help you get into most business and arts schools in London. The other is Germany. You can choose whichever you prefer.” “Britain!” the official immediately exclaimed. “Britain it! As for the schools… we’ll have to go back and discuss that with our child.”

“Okay, let me know when you’ve made a decision.” Ron nodded.

"Thank you! Thank you!" the official exclaimed, overjoyed.

If you were to ask Indians what their most desired country is, it would still be Great Britain.

It's true that India was a colonizer for two hundred years, but its aura is also deeply ingrained in people's minds.

Without Britain, it's debatable whether there would be a unified India today.

Although it's a troublemaker, it manages to stir this large vat of excrement relatively evenly.

The systems, education, railways, and other infrastructure left by Britain have all become India's wealth.

The upper class, or the high caste, is most deeply influenced by various aspects of British society.

Many of India's wealthy individuals now hold permanent residency in the UK or own real estate there.

Indian officials and the wealthy also embrace elite education, with the UK being their children's preferred destination for studying abroad.

Although Ron's business didn't extend to England, he still had some connections.

When I first started my travel consulting firm, my first client, Professor Smith, is still in contact with me.

Asking him to write a letter of introduction wouldn't be a problem, and a super-rich man like Ron can always find a way to get someone in line.

Germany, well, Siemens' Leon still can't forget about human trains.

Ron and he had business dealings; the automation upgrade of Suer Electric's production line used Siemens' solution.

They're definitely big clients and bosses, arranging personal study abroad for them—it's all so easy for them.

In short, the minor trouble for the MTNL officials was resolved smoothly.

In this day and age, studying abroad is not easy, and the same is true for officials.

Foreign exchange controls have shut out many people, and the previous semi-closed policies have also made India's international exchanges very scarce.

Most people don't have connections to study abroad; it's a privilege reserved for a small number of wealthy people.

The official was very satisfied with Ron's arrangements, and he knew how to reciprocate.

"Mr. Suer, I will send someone to deliver the planning information for the interaction center and base station. If your people wish to visit, I will also send someone to receive them, with no limit on the number of visits."

"That's right, everyone is working hard for India's communications industry, and we should exchange ideas more in the future."

"indeed."

The two clinked glasses and smiled contentedly.

Mumbai is a city of corruption; if you want to get things done by officials, you'll always have to bribe them.

Having reached an agreement, Ron didn't mince words. He immediately sent someone to the MTNL telephone exchange to familiarize himself with its operations.

From job positions to operational processes and equipment, everything was copied inside and out.

There were even people explaining to each other how the pager system communicates and what problems it encountered.

It's all industry experience that Ron desperately needs, and it can save them from so many detours.

Finally, all the data was compiled at the Sull Institute, where Professor Singh and his team were responsible for the evaluation and then transformed it into their own solutions.

Ron attended the final project meeting and gained a general understanding of the pager's communication principles.

First of all, this thing does need a base station, but it's not complicated; it's similar to a regular radio broadcast base station.

“Sun Radio has many signal towers that can cover most parts of India. Can this be shared with pagers?” He suddenly remembered that he also had a radio business.

“They are still somewhat different,” Professor Singh replied. “They use different frequency bands, which is based on their respective communication protocols.”

Ron nodded. It didn't matter if it wasn't universally compatible. After all, building the Sun Radio Station hadn't cost much in the first place; they could just build another one.

Broadcast signal towers have a wide coverage area, easily covering hundreds of kilometers, so the investment in base stations is not too large.

"However, if the radio station has spare capacity, it can be used for pager systems by simply modifying the transmission tower."

"That's not bad."

"In addition to base stations, we also need to establish ground paging centers."

"How to say?"

"It mainly involves equipping manual service or automated access devices to process user information sending requests."

Ron understood; this might be similar to the early days of telephone operators.

When someone needs to contact the pager owner, they must first call the paging service and inform the operator of the pager number and a brief message.

The operator encodes the information and sends it to the corresponding pager via the base station. Upon receiving the message, the pager holder, if seeing something like "Please call back [phone number]", will call back using a nearby landline or public phone.

This is the communication process of a pager, which requires a paging station to coordinate and communicate.

Once you have base stations and paging centers sorted out, the path to the pager business will be clear.

This was not a difficult task for Ron, and preliminary preparations could begin.

There's also mobile communication, which needs careful consideration. Leaving aside other places, Mumbai and New Delhi are definitely worth exploring.

He was busy until October before he finally had time to visit Sun TV and check on his media empire.

Wow, I have to say, this year's "Got Talent" has become a national topic of conversation in India.

There were so many cringe-worthy performances that even Ron exclaimed they were grotesque.

(End of this chapter)