DoT Orders Telecom Operators to Stop 3G Roaming Immediately |

In the recent past, the 3G technology has been a bit controversial in India and I think the Telecom Operators must really be thinking that Does it really worth it?
Service Providers including the biggies like Vodafone, Idea and Airtel have entered into mutual-roaming agreements within themselves. And, someone complained about the entire scenario to the TRAI, who issued a notice to all of them to stop doing the same.

The operators in return reported that all this which they were doing was well totally in their rights, with second largest operator Vodafone threatening TRAI to give back their 3G license and Airtel reporting that this would be a policy breach.

The Secretary of DoT (Department of Telecom) Mr. R Chandrasekhar said:

The decision has been taken that this (3G roaming pacts) is in violation of terms and conditions of the licence, DoT will be issuing notices asking them (mobile operators) to stop their service with immediate effect. But on penalty, no decision has been taken yet.

If we consider this as the final decision, it would mean that single provider can give their customers a service of Nation Wide 3G and ofcourse it will be a big inconvenience for almost all. The only telecom-providers who are in a state of  giving all their users a nationwide 3G now, are government owned MTNL and BSNL.

A lot of telecom industry leaders like Sunil Mittal (Bharti Airtel) and Kumar Mangalarm Birla(Idea Cellular) have already voiced their strong opposition to this. The World-wide head of Vodafone Telecom, Vittorio Colao had a personal meeting with PM Manmohan Singh in November to implement a stable Telecom Policy.

Rickshawale - Revolutionizing Transport in India |

Mumbaikars be happy. No longer do you have to risk your lives on the road, stopping an autorickshaw and asking if they would take you to your destination. All thanks to rickshawale.com, with the help of which you will get an autorickshaw waiting at your doorstep, to take you to your destination. And no more haggling of fares too. Rickshawale displays the exact fare on their website, so that you do not get cheated.

 

Following are excerpts from an interview with Hemant Jain, the brain behind Rickshawale.com

HnF : Is Rickshawale your first venture?

Hemant : Yes this is our first venture

HnF : What kind of backing did Rickshawale get?

Hemant : Initially the response from drivers was very poor, almost for 20 days we could not induct any driver as our member but subsequently as we increased our road shows and meeting the response improved and we started getting very good backing both from the drivers and the customers

HnF : What was the inspiration to start Rickshwale?

Hemant : In April 2010, i had a fracture on my leg and i had to use crutches to walk, at that time when i need to travel i had to send someone to bring an auto-rickshaw to my door step and then travel, at that time the thought occurred to me ” that why does an auto rickshaw not do a pick up from home like the Radio Cab”, the whole idea started from this thought and evolved into rickshawale.com

HnF : How is the turnout from Rickshawale?

Hemant : The turnout from rickshaw drivers is excellent and daily we are adding new members to the scheme

HnF : What kind of financing did Rickshawale have?

Hemant : The funding has been done from our own funds

HnF : How is it possible to coordinate between the network of auto drivers?

Hemant : The driver community is driven by groups, we have been able to convince the group leaders and they have been the main force for coordinating between the network of drivers

HnF : What are the marketing strategies adopted by Rickshawale?

Hemant : We presently have not done any marketing, our presence in Mumbai is known through the media and social network site. Our biggest marketing has been word of mouth by satisfied customers. Recently, LOOP Mobile has become our branding partners and through their network we have started our marketing.

HnF : What expansion plans does Rickshawale have in mind?

Hemant : We shall be definitely taking this model Pan-India, we have received many inquires from Chennai, Bangalore, Hyderabad, Pune and are in discussion but all this will only get going once we stablise Mumbai city operations.

Studies Systems Science at IIT Jodhpur. Entrepreneur at heart, believes that Sociopreneurship with the use of technology to revive traditional industries as the way out for India’s socio-economic problems. He is involved in a startup focussing on the same lines. An avid blogger, he realizes the potency of the medium to reach mass audiences. Catch him on twitter at @mohdrehan

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