SexyGurl

Internet access thru GSM is practically useless (... and prices ..huh. Most of GSM are blood-sukkers -- aptly lead by hutch). But reliance distanced itself from being compared to the blood-sukking gsm people. But reliance should reduce prices .... and also launch R-connect prepaid cards for Rs. 200 or Rs. 250 (data of even 100MB is fine -- for those who just want to check emails. No video downloading).

I agree, reliance is ripping off people, right now on the R-connect. And it's almost time to cut to atleast half. Deepu: I plan to join the HR team reliance soon (YES ! -- Anil is on the search for talent across industry to man infocomm. For HR, I'm an obvious choice) My first action after joining would be to hire you (Deepu) into the pricing group of Infocomm (esp. the R-connect pricing group). You just passed the electronic interview, here at rimweb. Congrats !

Another bad news just to add ... IT'S ONLY FOR POSTPAID. They think prepaid are too poor ... to think of carrying a reliance mobile phone all the way to USA !!! Very true: -> People who buy Rs. 149/- prepaid voucher every month are unlikely to USA .... No? But yeah, one of those prepaid guys are more likely to break into Anil Ambani's house and murder him .... postpaid are too goodie goodie to "dare" to do it.

Hello - I am also a lefthander. (though, I write with my right hand). Yet another proof that I am just and expect equal work for equal pay. Anyway ... for some (well, maybe superstitious) info .... I grew up hearing from others that lefties are more intelligent, brilliant etc. All B.S. .. ain't it? But still, I would be an exception, that would be an example supporting the otherwise unfounded superstition

oh ... i just selected rimweb.com from history ... i guess, it redirected, and I never realized that i was in rimweb.in but the new name sounds kewl. btw.. i just wonder, what is the source of funding for rimweb.in (or earlier rimweb.com for that matter)? I don't see any advertisement .... and can't think of any real revenue source. Who owns rimweb?

I use my right hand to do "some not so nice jobs" Left hand ... oh yeah ... again "some not so nice jobs" A pity ... nice jobs get done .... if don't put my hands into them

Should we rename RIMWEB.COM as RTLWEB.COM ? Anil takes the GSM call, to pump in Rs 500 cr THE ECONOMIC TIMES Kalyan Parbat KOLKATA It's not yet official, the buzz is palpable. Reliance Telecom (RTL), the relatively low-profile GSM arm of Anil Ambani-controlled Anil Dhirubhai Ambani Enterprises (ADAE), is preparing to emerge from the shadow of CDMA heavyweight Reliance Infocomm. The stage appears to be set for Reliance Telecom to expand its cellular footprint beyond its seven circles in the backdrop of promoter ADAE's decision to pump in some Rs 500 crore to expand the GSM business, top sources close to the developments told ET. Of the four telecom firms (Reliance Infocomm, Flag Telecom, Reliance Comm Infrastructure and Reliance Telecom) controlled by Anil Ambani, RTL is the only one in which lead promoter ADAE has a direct 65% majority holding. The strategic decision to beef up RTL aims to harness the full potential of ADAE's telecom businesses that combines mobile services on both CDMA and GSM platforms. It is not very clear at this stage, whether RTL will apply for fresh unified access service licences (UASL) or go for strategic acquisitions in the GSM arena, which has lately seen a bunch of mega deals in perhaps the final phase of big-ticket cellular consolidation. “Given that Reliance Infocomm has already emerged as a dominant player in the telecom space, Anil Ambani is working fast to strengthen the GSM arm after RTL fell into his lap as part of the Ambani family settlement,” top sources close to ADAE told ET. With the strengthening of the GSM arm, company circles expect that in the immediate analysis, “Reliance Telecom will target a 54% jump in its gross annual revenue to Rs 700 crore in financial year '05-06 from Rs 453 crore in '04-05.” The company has registered a 22% jump in GSM subscriber growth during the April-June '05 quarter, which is higher than the 9% national cellular industry growth rate during the first quarter of '05-06. At present, RTL's cellular user base exceeds 1.5m across its seven-circle footprint encompassing 11 states - Orissa, Bihar, Jharkhand, West Bengal, Sikkim, Madhya Pradesh, Chattisgarh, Assam, Meghalaya, North-East and Himachal Pradesh. The latest developments assume significance since Mr Ambani was instrumental in the Reliance group diversifying into the telecom space back in 1997. In a recent webcast address to Reliance Infocomm employees, he is understood to have said “in some ways, life has come a full circle...I vividly recall the time, a decade ago, when we at Reliance, bid for telecom licences across the country,” top RTL sources said. Copyright © 2005, Bennett, Coleman & Co. Limited. All Rights Reserved. Source: The Economic Times

FREE R-CONNECT ??? How do you get that?

The title of this sounded very obscene (I just read the bold title, first). Was quite shocked that "such a filthy thing" could be discussed on rimweb ... .which was thus far restricted to x-rated forums only.

I hate him .. for a variety of reasons !! But I can understand the emotional stresses he must be going thru ... it's just human. (why hate him ?? -- Ambani's aren't supposed to be humans .. are they? )

Oh yeah, Mukesh built RIM .... and that's why he seems to fall in Dhirubhai category. And Anil doesn't seem to .... he has REL's Dadri fiasco against his name. Actually, in my opinion, Infocomm was significantly more challenging project than anything else Reliance did ever before ... including the refinery : Consider the mind-boggling risks, investment, uncertainty, political interfaces involved -- 80,000 km of optic fiber spread all over india, including Bihar, Leftist Bengal, heavily forested MP, the Deccan ... political approvals, at all levels for Right of Way .. (Compared to this Jamnagar was a single location investment). Political interface required for Jamnagar, was just the highest: Finance Ministry, PM (narasimha rao). Logistics were also simpler - Reliance already had a base in Gujarat and west india .. (Infocomm was executed in unchartered territory). Then, Jamnagar was a far lower risk .... Infocomm faces major uncertainty because of regulation and validity of WLL services. Jamnagar was far smoother ride: No competition .. ready offtake of product by IOC etc. The biggest stress on Infocomm came around end of June '03 -- Reliance had ordered around 4 million handsets from LG & samsung (costing 2000 crores) .. and they were rotting in inventory. Mobile offtake in June'03 was a paltry 3 lacs or so ... and with clear signs the show would be worse in future. Monsoon 501 did something very good for Infocomm ... I think it saved it. And with prepaid, they had their lessons ... and really the kill began in October '04, with a massive tariff reductions, 440 & 199 cards. Another success followed with Rworld tariffs. And then disaster stuck .... welcome Anil. The chap is seeming to spoil the party.

I would tend not to count REL .. as a Reliance-group company at soul. It's really BSES .... built by someone else .... and very likely yet to absorb the soul of Reliance. (so it continues to carry the good as well as bad things from the past). With that, I am not saying that Reliance is (or is not) good at consumer servives. (that is not the point of discussion) ---> The key strength of Reliance has been doing things at a MEGA SCALE. ... essentially including EXECUTION, MANAGEMENT of such MEGA PROJECTS. It was by no means easy for anyone to execute the Jamnagar refinery project .... or to execute the Infocomm. (.. and not to forget the Hazira complex: about 1 million tpa ethylene cracker) I myself doubt if such executions could ever be done, in all fair and honest way .... they did step over other people's toes .... did a lot of dirty things under the carpet .... but still, they delivered in a phenomenal way, like no one else has known to have done (atleast in India) .. Eh, remember Tata Steel's 10 million tpa steel project at Gopalpur ? (ok, Indica is a rather puny exception) In my opinion, a big problem for Infocomm is that Anil doesn't seem to show those very key features for which Dhirubhai's (and very likely, Mukesh's) Reliance has been known for : MEGA EXECUTIONS !!! To be frank, I am rather glad, bulk of Reliance funds are still in the hands of Mukesh ... from where I think more Mega Projects are likely to emerge. REL, RIC and rest of Anil's cr*p is not showing promising signals, to me atleast.

If the situation is so bad that you need pump out water to the sea ... (i.e. it won't drain out itself) .... I think would be better off with an elevated Metro, (rather than underground). But the elevated Metro does spoil the skyline of any city (... though, for the commuters of an elevated Metro get some very good views, as certain points). Delhi Metro cost about 5400 crores for about 54 kms. ... so around 100 crore per km !!!! Know what my mother said, listening to that figure: They could've distributed 100 crores among the people living that 1 km region. Even if 10,000 people live within 1km ... each would have got 1 lacs Metro is that costly !!

I believe in highlighting what's wrong ... so that atleast no one has the excuse that "we didn't know things were that bad". I am not cursing anyone for causing the bad state .... just that it needs to be improved a lot. EDIT: Actually, I could curse somebody ... Jai LEFT FRONT -- cause of all the problems of India. I am really amazed how seeming sensible people (like calcuttans can vote for LEFT FRONT ????)

so Chirag, how do you have access to power .. and even pc ... (though, given those two, internet can be taken for granted !). --------- But, by the way, I don't have very high opinion about infrastructure in mumbai (.... i know, almost every mumbaikar is going to jump at me -- maybe not now, but they would've before these floods) Except Nariman point and south from it, Mumbai looks too underdeveloped (looks as if you are in lucknow or kanpur) and very dirty... hell high traffic on the roads, too much of waste lying around in dumps. ... and the speed of traffic on the roads -- my god -- it s*cks. In my humble opinion, Delhi is heaven compared to Mumbai (atleast if we compare the lives of middle class people) -- and those who don't mind getting raped, off course. And further I don't think, it is by any means easy to do anything about it. It would need A LOT LOT LOT of MONEY to do anything .... just anything about mumbai. Sub-urban rails - they s*ck, roads - they s*ck, housing - s*ck ... and now, if the only thing that didn't s*ck earlier (electricity) also s*cks. But I'm amazed, u guys still survive !!!!

Maybe because TATA has paid full license fee to the gourment (honestly). Call customer care (of Reliance) and ask them to pay full license fee. That's all I can suggest.

Try your neighbour's electric mixer too ... we need to know the range and the strenght of the changing magnetic flux, before we can diagnose this. It again same result .. try some one in a different locality (or city / country).... what exactly is the sensitivity of r-connect. I hope the range is not too large (else ... you know .... it has dangerous implications for the world). EDIT: what i meant above was that, if the range is across cities .... it could be used by terrorists to transmit coded messages (without anyone knowing)

There are two generally accepted tecniques for explaining, an (as yet) inexplicable phenomenon: 1. Build a hypothesis on the basis on rigorous (proven) physical laws and theories. The hypothesis generally suggests further experiments, whose results further strengthen or disprove the hypothesis. 2. Start with the empirical data, and develop a statistical model to associate the y to the assumed x's. Let's start with the first method: Switching off or switching on the fan, means a sudden change in the electric current flowing thru the wires of your room. Changing electric current created a magnetic field, whose range could extend to the target system (your laptop, mobile phone etc.). Hypothesis: The magnetic field created due to the change in the current, interacts with the software of R-connect on your laptop or with the software on your mobile phone --> leading to unexpected and unenvisaged behaviour of either of these two systems. The effect of this unexpected behavious is seen in the abrupt disruption of r-connect. Suggested further experimentation, as a consequence of this hypothesis -- try to use another electric device, especially which involves mechanical motion (eg. an electric mixer, juice maker, or maybe a washing machine if possible). If the same disruption of r-connect is noticed, the hypothesis is further strengthened. Else, build another hypothesis (eg. it has nothing to do with the fan .. the motion of switching off/on the fan leads to a very tiny vibration, which travels to your laptop, mobile). Now let's consider the second, statistical approach: Y = R-connect disconnects. Possible x's: 1. Fan switching on / off 2. It has actually, nothing to do with on/off of fan, but the ambient air temperature. You switch off the fan, when it become too cold (a near about same temperature), and then switch it on, again at a particular temperature. So, the temperature is important, not the fan. 3. You leave the laptop/mobile alone, when you go to switch on / off the fan. If it gets lonely, it decided to switch off. ... ... ... List all the x's. Collect a lot of data for y against each x's. Try deriving statistically significant conclusions by analysing the data. (do a regression on y and x's .. what is the correlation coefficient). Do a Runs test on the Y .. to make sure that the switching off of r-connect is not a random event (but if so, what is the probability distribution of the disconnections). Does it follow a poisson distribution ? Once you are thru with these exercises ... probably you are bored enough to worry about why the hell, it disconnects. But, be optimistic to start with. God helps those who work hard. God may have pity on all your hard work and solve your r-connect problem, magically. AMEN !

I'd love to work from this office ... but off course, the salary needs to be in line with the looks of the office

Crappy BPL also has 2.6 million subscribers. RTL has 1.3 million. So, just that would reduce the valuation to $ 500 million. But RTL's ARPU has been low-EST in the industry. Believe me, it's true --> just around 210 per month !! Anil should be happy if RTL sells at an enterprise value of 350 to 400 million (without his $111 million i.e. 500 crore input). But anyways, I don't think he's "trying to fatten up the pig with potatoes, before he sells"... Looks like he is trying to make "India's most PROFITABLE GSM company". The simplest way to boost RTL's ARPU is to get rid of ALL subscribers, and ANIL buys an RTL connection .. (being it's only subscriber). Probably RTL's ARPU would then be over 1 lac (A world record for any GSM company around the world)

Yeah, selling to hutch (or maybe idea) would make natural sense. But 500 crores ... looks to me much more than "a lil more"

Depends on what you want. People have listed the positives and negatives of different options. It's for you decide on the basis of information. There is not point saying: "Hello, if I were you, I'd buy a 2000 rupee B&W handset, because I am a miser and like to save money for my future generations." All I said was, if you value the utility of data services (served off the network), reliance offers the best. Functionality (or design) offered by the Nokia set itself, may be better in some GSM sets (eg. sleek design, colors, fonts etc.).

Have some mercy on your phone ... it's too costly, to scr*w.

I have also seen lot of nokia phones .... and from the looks they are attractive (.... and bloody expensive too ). If you are ok, with 10,000 - 12,000 type phones you should surely look at nokias. But then it's the phone you are buying... in my opinion GSM networks in India s*ck, as far as data services are concerned. GPRS is low in terms of data transfer speeds, as compared to CDMA (GPRS cannot support video streaming). In addition, the text (or wallpaper type stuff), in GPRS in inferior to what's available on reliance. But at your price range, you are probably looking at EDGE ... even there the gsm providers have far fewer content than reliance (and inspite of that much costly)

I found a way around the size issue --- took a simple microscope (I was lucky to find one from my school days), and hovered it over the screen to read each and every alphabet. I am really excited about this invention on mine: plan to reduce all imaged i have to thumb nails and then read under a compound microscope (which i plan to buy shortly). Maybe my idea help you too. (Feel free to use it - no charges)