Chapter 346: Silverfish

India's current telecommunications business is mainly divided into long-distance and local calls. The most profitable long-distance calls are monopolized by the Department of Telecommunications (DoT), while short-distance local calls are handed over to MTNL.

Whether it is long-distance or short-distance, what is referred to here is landline.

As of this year, 2007, there are less than 20 million fixed-line telephone users in India.

This penetration rate is really insignificant compared to the population of nearly one billion.

There's no way around it. Just a few years ago, telephones were considered heirlooms, and at that time, only about 8 million households had subscribed to this service.

Now that the economic situation has improved, this number has more than doubled.

Compared to the large-scale entry of televisions into thousands of households, the popularization of telephones was much slower.

This is related to the way they are transmitted. The radio broadcasts received by television break through the limitations of physical space, while telephones rely on complex network coverage.

The Indian government has no money, so how can it afford to lay copper wires and cables on a large scale?

Today's fixed-line users are basically concentrated in big cities like Mumbai and New Delhi.

In the early days, the cost of installing a telephone was also expensive, often costing 10,000 or 20,000 rupees, which was more than enough to buy a TV.

For propaganda purposes, the state also tilts its policies towards television in all aspects.

Needless to say, television is a must-have for people's entertainment, and one television can accommodate seven or eight people watching at the same time.

Things like telephones are used more for commercial purposes than for civilian purposes, and many families don't care about them.

Of course, the most crucial thing is that television is completely open to private enterprises, while the telecommunications business is still firmly controlled by 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.

But the open policy is very strange. They divided the country into 21 fixed-line areas, and only allowed one private fixed-line operator to enter each area.

This artificial segmentation results in the inability of new operators to achieve economies of scale and low returns on investment.

At the same time, private operators have to merge their lines into the Department of Telecommunications (DoT)'s own long-distance network. The DoT is both the referee and the athlete, resulting in many difficulties in interconnection.

Do you think that's the end of it? Do you think these landline licenses cost money?

The Indian government is a typical businessman, and landline licenses are also sold at very high prices.

No one dares to start a business that is obviously a loss-making business.

It's funny that until this year, no one was interested in bidding for local telephone licenses.

Yes, none at all.

The way they eat is so ugly that even foreigners can’t be fooled.

It takes 21 districts to purchase licenses one by one to cover the entire country with telephone services.

Merchants with capital were scared away, and small merchants could not enter.

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

Ron used various means to obtain licenses in only three places: Uttar Pradesh, New Delhi and Mumbai.

He really doesn't have the energy to deal with other things.

Under the current policy model, it is almost impossible for a communications giant to emerge.

Let’s take a look at the TV market. Not to mention the hardware, there are many manufacturers.

The supporting TV stations are even more diverse, with hundreds of them in total, covering all fields.

This is why Ron is not in a hurry even though he got the telecommunications license last year.

The restrictions are too strict and there are too few competitors.

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

It is said that Ron is more interested in the pager business than mobile phone communications.

In the eyes of the Indian government, pagers are value-added services, and mobile communications are the orthodox ones.

However, the economic environment is in a mess and mobile phones are out of reach for ordinary people.

This is why pagers are not taken seriously and their development is lackluster even in a metropolitan city like Mumbai.

Ron made an appointment with MTNL officials in advance, and the other party naturally gave him face.

There is no need to say much about Sur's reputation in Mumbai. He is among the top few.

They met at the Ocean Hotel, which was quiet, scenic, and private enough.

It's not far from Ron's residence, he is a diamond user here.

Without being asked, the waiter led them to their exclusive seat on the balcony.

The cool breeze blowing from the bay, without any obstruction, is the most primitive gift from nature.

"You want to visit MTNL's interactive center? Of course, no problem. You can do it anytime." The official sipped the decanted whiskey happily.

"Yes, I'm very interested, but I want to know more."

"Deeper?"

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

"Oh," the official put down his glass. "This isn't just ordinary depth. This is complete, unreserved, and frank. I can't think of a more appropriate metaphor than that between husband and wife."

"You know, we just want to learn a little bit. I got the telecommunications license last year."

"Mr. Soul, you are always so generous." The official understood immediately.

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

"It takes a lot of time, and I'm busy lately. My child wants to study abroad, but he hasn't decided yet. That's very troublesome, you know, Mr. Soul."

"Uh-huh," Ron nodded, "I have two suggestions. Do you want to hear them?"

"Of course." The official instantly became alert.

"One is England. I know a professor who can help you get into business and art schools in most parts of London. The other is Germany. You can choose whichever you want."

"Britain!" the official shouted immediately. "Britain, right? As for school, I need to go back and discuss this with the child."

"Okay, tell me when you've made a decision." Ron nodded.

"Thank you! Thank you!" The official was overjoyed.

If we were to say which country Indians most admire, it would be Britain.

It is true that India was colonized by the Troublemaker for two hundred years, but its halo is also deeply rooted in the hearts of the people.

Without Britain, it is hard to say whether there would be a unified India today.

Although it is a shit stirrer, it can hardly stir this large vat of shit relatively evenly.

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

The upper class, or high caste, was most influenced by the British in all aspects.

A considerable number of wealthy people in India now have permanent residence in the UK or have real estate in the UK.

Indian officials and wealthy people also pursue elite education, and their children's first choice for studying abroad is the UK.

Although Ron's business did not reach the UK, it did have some connections.

When I first started my travel consulting company, my first client was Professor Smith, and we still keep in touch.

It wouldn't be a big problem to ask him to help write a letter of introduction or something, and for a super-rich man like Ron, there's always a way to get someone in his way.

As for Germany, well, Siemens' Leon is still obsessed with the human train.

Ron and he have a business relationship. The automation transformation of Suer Electric's production line uses the Siemens solution.

It is easy to arrange for a major client or Party A to study abroad for an individual.

In short, the minor troubles faced by MTNL officials were resolved smoothly.

It is not easy to study abroad in this day and age, and the same goes for officials.

Foreign exchange controls have blocked many people, and the previous semi-closed policy has also made India's international exchanges very rare.

Most people don't have the means to study abroad; that's a privilege only afforded to a few wealthy individuals.

The official was very satisfied with Ron's arrangement, and he also knew how to return the favor.

"Mr. Soul, I'll send someone to deliver the planning information for the interactive center and base stations. If your people want to come visit, I'll also send someone to receive them, as many times as you want."

"That's right. We are all working hard for India's telecommunications industry. We should communicate more in the future."

"That's right."

The two clinked their glasses and smiled with satisfaction.

Mumbai is a city of corruption. If you ask officials to do something for you, you will always have to pay bribes.

Since the agreement was reached, Ron did not hesitate. He immediately sent someone to the MTNL telephone exchange to familiarize himself with the business there.

From job settings, to operating procedures, to equipment, etc., everything was copied inside and out.

At this moment, someone was explaining how the pager system communicated and what problems it encountered.

All of this is industry experience that Ron urgently needs. I wonder how much detours it can save them.

Finally, all the information was summarized at the Sur Institute, and Professor Singh and his team were responsible for evaluating it and then converting it into their own plan.

Ron attended the final project meeting and roughly understood the communication principles of the pager.

First of all, this thing does require a base station, but it is not complicated and is similar to an ordinary radio broadcast base station.

"Sun Radio has many signal towers that can cover most areas of India. Can they be shared with pagers?" He suddenly remembered that he also had a radio business under his name.

"There are some differences," 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 universal. Building the Sun Radio didn't cost much in the first place, so he could just build another one.

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

"But if a radio station has excess power, it can be used for a pager system by simply modifying the transmission tower."

"That's not bad either."

"In addition to base stations, ground paging centers must also be established."

"How do you say that?"

"It is mainly equipped with manual services or automatic access equipment to handle user information sending requests."

Ron understood that this might be like an early cable operator.

When someone needs to contact the owner of a pager, they must first dial the paging station and tell the operator the pager number to be called and a short message.

The operator encoded the message and sent it to the corresponding pager through the base station. After receiving the message, if the pager owner saw a message like "Please call back [phone number]", he would call back from a nearby landline or public phone.

This is the communication process of the pager, and a paging station is needed in the middle to coordinate the communication.

Base stations and paging centers. If you can get these two things right, the pager business will be open.

This is not a difficult task for Ron, and the preliminary preparations can already begin.

There is also the issue of mobile phone communications, which needs to be carefully considered. Apart from other places, Mumbai and New Delhi can still be developed.

He was so busy that it wasn't until October that he finally had time to visit Sun TV and check out his media empire.

Well, I have to say that the "Got Talent" that premiered this year has become a national hot topic in India.

There were so many eye-catching performances that Ron called them perverted.

(End of this chapter)