Mobile - the great leveler

Whether you have a Rs. 34,000 handset or a Reliance Classic bought at Rs. 777 (the 8th wonder of the world - how could someone sell phones so cheap in India with no customer loyalty) - you have to share the same spectrum. You can be on Airtel, Vodafone, Reliance, Tata, Aircel, HFCL Connect, Idea, BSNL, MTNL or whoever.

You can be on a Mercedes Benz on a bumpy Delhi road and feel good that at least I have the best suspension in the world cushioned / protected against the potholes and unrepaired dugs (is dugs an English word? I mean to say they dig the road for whatever reason and then just leave it - if you've been in this side of the world, I am sure you got my point, right). But with handsets - no matter what the model, quality of service is the same. Of course you have all the jing bangs like MP3 player, 5Megapixel, trackball, larger screen, and of course this new concept of feather touch screen like iPhone, and all those fancy things that iPhones and Xperias and Omnias have introduced (why was I talking about all these things? I got lost in trying to summarize all these new features in my head that I lost track of why I was saying this ... in fact I forgot to mention FM radio which even big business phone users look for in new phones they are buying ... I remember) but end of the day, what is the phone for? Talk. Voice calls. Delay sensitive - voice. Real time - voice. Some congestion in the spectrum pipe with 335 millon users trying to call and %#&$*((%#@.... your can no more hear your dear friend / credit card bugger / mom / dad / friend / so called boyfriend or girlfriend / prospective job option (in this time of hiring freeze) / neighbour / chacha / mama / accountant / ... / ... / ....

Do you think Sheila Dixit, Chief Minister of Delhi, or in fact Manmohan Singh, Prime Minister of India or even Sunil Bharti Mittal, Chairman of Airtel or Anil Dhirubahi Ambani, son of Dhirubhai Ambani ... oopps! he has made a name for himself ... the Chaiman of ADAG, holding company of Reliance - do you think they have a priority in the queing and their call never gets dropped?!? I don't think so. I do not think either the GSM or the CDMA 1x protocol allows for this. So guys we are all the same. The sweeper with a handset, you, me, PM Singh, Mr. Mittal, Mr. Ambani - we are all the same when it comes to voice calls. Mobile - don't you think it's a great leveler.

Airtel with Nokia or Nokia with Airtel

Airtel is the leading operator in India with over 52 million subscribers. It operates the GSM network - has upgraded to GPRS and EDGE. There is no 3G yet in India, mainly because of policy issues, i.e., government issues.

Nokia is the leader in handsets in India. It caters to everyone - right from the bottom of the pyramid with INR 1,100 (USD 27) handsets to the rich & the famous with INR 30,500 (USD 760).

Recently I saw an ad on TV where it says "Get an Airtel connection on your Nokia". That got me wondering who is paying for the ad. Airtel, Nokia or both?

For Airtel, its a good deal.

For Nokia, not sure if they are benefitting or loosing. Today everyone gets a Nokia and decides which connection to get - Airtel, Vodafone or Idea. This is what I believe. But is the Nokia Airtel tie up hinting that market dynamics have changed? Is Nokia concerned about bundled offers from other operators? Is Vodafone Magic-box with Vodafone branded ZTE phones @ INR 1199 a threat. Does this mean that handset vendors are looking at handset bunding or are operators offering bundling that is forcing handset vendors to partner with operators. Did Nokia and Airtel plann this smart move by advertising together without any subsdidy?