It’s not often that a press release tickles your funny bone, but I found it quite amusing that public sector telecom operator MTNL, which services only the metro cities of Delhi and Mumbai, is pitching the lack of a fair usage policy to its subscribers:
‘MTNL is providing the truly Unlimited Broadband plan without any “Fair Usage Policy” or limitations regarding download and uploads,’ the BSE listed company said in a press release.
The instituting of an unfair “fair usage policy” is a relatively new phenomenon in India, with broadband service providers like Tata Indicom, Bharti Airtel and Reliance Broadband (for data card services), trying to curtail rampant broadband usage of their broadband plans. Honestly, we think they have every right to put limits on their services, but they shouldn’t be misleading consumers by naming broadband plans with limits “Unlimited”. If you can’t afford it, don’t sell it. The Telecom Regulator appears to have, so far, turned a blind eye to such misleading communication practices in the sector.
MTNL has also increased the speed of its existing Unlimited Broadband plan “Triband unlimited 256Kbps” to 384 Kbps, and increased the timing for the ‘Night Unlimited’ plan to 10pm to 8am, from 11pm to 7am. MTNL and BSNL have an advantage when it comes to broadband, in that they only have access to government owned last mile in India. This has stymied the growth of private ISPs in India, and even today, (relatively) large ISPs like Bharti Airtel and Reliance Communications don’t service parts of metro cities, leave alone smaller towns in India. Thus, Wireless appears to be the way forward, and some, like Tata Indicom, have launched fixed WiMax services for consumers.
Related:
– Tata Indicom May Suspend Or Terminate Unlimited Broadband Accounts If Used Beyond Limits
– Tata, RCOM Unlimited Wireless Data Card Plans Have Data Limits Of 10 GB
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