can someone pls share where the so called siphoned money went? Arvind is a smart person and not as it seems like. Can the operators start the clean up process within their VAS functions? It is not secret that bulk of the false charging is actually going in the kitty of the operator. OnMobile, One97, Hungama gets all the blame but no one is questioning that they cannot do anything if the operator or the VAS managers are not a willing party. They say this year we will launch the CLEAN VAS!! Bu#@Sh:disqus #$t. Go check your vas managers and you will see why the operators are fighting tooth and nail against VAS licensing. Their Egos are invertly proportionate to the age. 

Someone pls explain why do you need account managers in VAS companies? All the jugaad account managers are nothing but a relationship manager who is constantly buying gifts, showering money to the VAS managers at HO or the circle VAS managers! Someone pls check the salaries and asset procured by VAS Managers of a new telco starting with U and ending with R.

Please don’t point finger at the person who is held ransom by the vas ecosystem.

Dear Medianama – we do not believe your post since OnMobile is an advertiser with Medianama.

Huh?

Huh?

please stop writing shit medianama we all know how the board members have become power hungry and trying to steal mr. rao’s company from him.trying to discredit him and take his powers.Gross.don’t spoil a persons reputation over some rumor.verify ur fuckin facts.

You say ‘We all know board members have become power hungry’ …. fact is we don’t. Just as medianama should be careful with facts, so should you.

 you know what you dipshit that fact is i do.and furthermore dont reply just for the heck of it.

Fully agree to this. VAS vendors like on mobile, 197, Symbiotic, Verse, Altruist and spice who are cheats and know the cheats should start listing the names of circles – operators and VAS managers who ask for money for promos. All circles ask for fixed 15%-20% of revenue earned from promos. The VAS heads sit on proposals in Mobility until they are greased. Its a fact. MVAS industry is f**Kd. 

I dont blame Arvind. 

1. The allegations of an investigation into a fraud have been reported by ET.

2. We heard the rumors too, but were unable to substantiate, else we could have done a similar story on the basis of rumors in May.

3. After ET reported it, we contacted the company for a clarification. We published the initial refutation of the allegations, so that people know that it’s been refuted. We’ve also since published the press statement.

3. We found the decision to limit the role of the CEO to international operations only unusual, so had asked the company to clarify that and a few other things. 

earlier, we had written to Tony Haight about the change in Arvind Rao’s role, even though we’d been told that an internal mail had gone out about it, and just after that OnMobile issued a statement to the stock exchanges about this

OnMobile’s views have been adequately represented in this and previous reports, and we’ve actually waited in each instance for a response.

We’ve got nothing against Arvind Rao or OnMobile.

@nixxin:twitter  - Why are you not commenting on the corruption charges against operators and vas managers. Why are you not raising the hue and cry about the fact that of all the false charging accusation against content companies and vas companies, the biggest beneficiary is the operator. 
you have to investigate and raise questions why the operator (vas managers) prefer companies like onmobile and vuclip over the actual content owners like hungama and saregama.

Why do you think indiatimes is not going into content game? Do you think it is because hungama can pay more money than the Jains!!! Nope it is because Indiatimes is a dignified company who does not want to bow down to a 30 yr old hot shot vas manager and say –” Sirji = please aaj mera link push kar do na!!!

Whether it’s SMS spam or false billing, we’ve held the telecom operators responsible because its their customer, their pipe, their billing mechanism.

It’s not for us to, on the basis of circumstantial information, raise issues of why one company is being favored over another, but where there is perhaps product differantiation, we have had a basis for comparing, and I’m not sure if we have compared, but that’s a criteria we can look at. 

We can’t just accuse someone of corruption, without proof. Please note that we’ve not accused Rao of corruption. We’ve been digging around for almost a month and a half, but we have nothing. We’ve pointed out that an ET report has made an accusation, and followed that up with the companys clarification.

On Indiatimes, they are in the content game – they’ve got some regional music deals, but yes, they’ve not got a library as large as that of Hungama or Saregama.
http://www.medianama.com/2010/05/223-indiatimes-58888-acquires-digital-rights-for-aananda-audio-video-regional-content/ 

Again, on false billing, we don’t have proof, but the false billing issue is something we’ve raised time and again, even in representation to TRAI. Also raised the issue at the TRAI open house summit in Bangalore. Examples:

1. ”
From what we’ve heard from executives in the Mobile VAS industry, Telecom Operators issue a list of “Revenue Positive numbers” to VAS companies, which are essentially prepaid numbers with balance remaining on their account. In some cases, services are marketed to these numbers, and in other cases services are provisioned without consent. These decisions, we’re told, are usually taken at the Circle level for telecom operators, since Circle heads are under pressure to reach revenue and VAS targets. This is anti-consumer, and there is no redressal mechanism in place. In our opinion, there need to be punitive measures taken against telecom operators in case of such practices. ”

http://www.medianama.com/2010/11/223-fair-usage-policy-premium-calls-false-billing/ 

2. “Our take on this is that these are steps in the right direction, but more can and should be done: false billing in VAS needs to be addressed as well, because while seeking short term revenues, VAS companies and telecom operators end up making customers vary of subscription in the long term. While reducing instances of negative billing, telecom operators still need to address other issues related to billing.” (there’s more in that link)

http://www.medianama.com/2011/06/223-airtel-issues-new-guidelines-for-billing-for-subscription-services/ 

3. 

- Need to bring billing for content and services on mobile in line with m-commerce, in terms of verification.- Need to bring telecom operator billing in line with payment gateway guidelines of the Reserve Bank of India, to enable clearances of payments. 
- Lack of transparency in customer billing, which results in services and being priced inordinately high.- Cartel-isation among telecom operators when negotiating revenue shares 

our detailed recommendations to TRAI are available for download at: http://www.medianama.com/2011/08/223-final-recommendations-regulation-mvas/

@nixxin:disqus  - on your tweet reply to Rohin – you mentioned that you had been waiting for substantial evidence before reporting … Are you treating yourself like a judge? 
If you can’t prove at least pose the right questions persistantly – to all in the vas ecosystem. I remember once you reported being falsely charged for some content. Had you chased that false charging lead to the logical end you would have realised how subscription has become such a big business in India which is killing the VAS business.

The moment you give up, the bad guys feel more confident.

@nixxin – don’t give up! we believe in you.

keep writing is one case. but why did you not follow up with airtel when they charged you for a game download without you even knowing about it.
Why did you not name the telco’s content partner who charged for the content. 
You have known that the same operator’s user interface in Delhi (Metro) is different than the one in Lukhnow (Not a big city). 
Why not take the lead and procure some pre paid sim cards of operators from B and C circles. You would realise how many times you are charged Rs 1 or Rs 2 on a daily basis and by which content partner.
If you short on funds to do such thing, we as an honest content company would like to help you. We can also help set up a group of anonymous vigilant mobile customers who can help you collate such data.

Hello VASGuy look at the list of advertisers on Medianama :) nixxin needs to survive to report such things. It’s a classic catch22. 

@76e272e63145675f94df626a4f032ef0:disqus : Dude!  Nikhil is a Journalist . he is not in business  of  Law/policy  enforcement , customer advocacy or Corportate reform . i am sure you would have asked Chomsky to run for  congress too 

Agree on the fact that we haven’t pursued false billing enough with specific people. We did ask Vijay Shekhar Sharma of One97 to respond to accusations of false billing: 

“Have you raised funds from the perspective of the TRAI guidelines, which, from what we hear, will effect your mainstay – the outbound dialer business? 
But a lot of your monetization through operator billing, and there has been an accusation against you in the comments on our site that you are the company that is responsible for billing on OBDs? 
http://www.medianama.com/2011/10/223-vijay-shekhar-sharma-on-one97s-plans-to-build-commerce-marketing-businesses-post-funding/ ”

You’re one of the few who remembers the Lucknow incident. I was going to add that to the list here, but I couldn’t find it via search, strange as that sounds. We weren’t sure who the partner was at that point in time, and we wanted to be sure before making an accusation. For one, we weren’t sure if the banner said ‘click here to buy’, and the TRAI policy on this type of billing. We spoke with some people and were not sure. Still aren’t. The operator that Preethi was on in Lucknow was Airtel. At the same time, there was an increase in newsflow, and I couldn’t spend enough time on deciding on what to do and how to proceed, so it’s a lapse on my part.You’re right in saying that there are many other things we haven’t followed up on enough, but it’s about allocation of limited resources for us. We did buy 8 SIM cards in Delhi and topped them up, with the intent of monitoring billing, but just didn’t have the wherewithal (time, patience, discipline) to track every day, or even that many devices. 
Thank you for your offer of support, even though i dont know who this is. :) Honestly for us, it’s more of a question of bandwidth and decision making, and the unwillingness to take on liability of legal risks that hold us back on some things. Rumors are news when they’re confirmed, but we get hit with many many rumors, and are stretched to confirm as many of them as we can. Sometimes I say ‘hang everything else’, and then we break a bunch of stories, but it isn’t possible to do this on a regular basis. remember that we’re also looking at the internet domain, policy, among other things. structuring of e-commerce businesses is something i’d like to look into, but don’t have the wherewithal.

However, if I were to make a list of things that we’d like to do over the next two years, playing vigilante isnt one of them.  

We’re a small team, and currently there are growing pains. Money can’t compensate for experience and advice, and while we’re fortunate to have so many well wishers in the media we can turn to for advice, it’s daily madness here. we’re doing what we can, even if it is clearly not enough.

hence my suggestion of anonymous fund …if he needs fund to support a cause we all should chip in. And I don’t think his sponsors are the bad guys. Catch the bad guys who are the main beneficiary. The VAS industry needs an Tehelka kind of expose. nixxin has the opportunity and know how. Question is whether he is willing.

Am making several judgement calls every single day. In cases where there are serious allegations, but we don’t have substantive evidence, it’s a tough call. Like I’ve mentioned in the link below, we have posed questions to one company, and they responded. It’s not always that we have access to companies, but your point is valid – we have to keep pegging away. Thanks for the feedback. Won’t play vigilante, but will keep at it. 

Am making several judgement calls every single day. In cases where there are serious allegations, but we don’t have substantive evidence, it’s a tough call. Like I’ve mentioned in the link below, we have posed questions to one company, and they responded. It’s not always that we have access to companies, but your point is valid – we have to keep pegging away. Thanks for the feedback. Won’t play vigilante, but will keep at it. 

Thank you so much for such prompt revert. You are my hero and always be there but sometimes to get response from you I need to tickle you. Apologies for the same :)
I would like to stay anonymous for a while. 
For Vas/Mobile to grow, you will have to create one Tehelka. See how much manpower support you could get from your twitter community. I will also help you from my insights. 
The easiest thing to do now is just buy few prepaid from all the majors. you create a section on your website. Keep reporting all the false charging. Keep logs of your complaints to the operator by email. So if any idiot wants to legal action (like voda in the past), you can provide the email copies. And as a journalist you don’t need to reveal your sources.
I can bet you that within 30 days of buying your sim card, you would have at least 10 subscriptions on your phone if you maintain a 30rs balance.

Thank you so much for such prompt revert. You are my hero and always be there but sometimes to get response from you I need to tickle you. Apologies for the same :)
I would like to stay anonymous for a while. 
For Vas/Mobile to grow, you will have to create one Tehelka. See how much manpower support you could get from your twitter community. I will also help you from my insights. 
The easiest thing to do now is just buy few prepaid from all the majors. you create a section on your website. Keep reporting all the false charging. Keep logs of your complaints to the operator by email. So if any idiot wants to legal action (like voda in the past), you can provide the email copies. And as a journalist you don’t need to reveal your sources.
I can bet you that within 30 days of buying your sim card, you would have at least 10 subscriptions on your phone if you maintain a 30rs balance.

This happens at a bus stop, If a guy steals 30 Rs from someone’s pocket he is called a pick-pocket and he may get beaten by public.
If the guy continues to steal 30 Rs from hundreds of people. He eventually gets arrested and beaten by police and his photo appears at the local police station.

However, if the guy is in Indian VAS and 
He steals 30 Rs from thousands of un-suspecting prepaid subscribers he is called a small time VAS company learning the trade.
If the guy manages to steal 30 Rs from lakhs of subscribers he is called a very successful VAS entrepreneur waiting for an IPO
If the guy manages to steal 30 Rs from crores of subscribers the guy is called ‘Visionary/Industry Leader’ :-)

And the operator/s who promote this are called Emerging markets’ leading Telcos which are given international awards for innovative VAS and innovative low cost models!!

This happens at a bus stop, If a guy steals 30 Rs from someone’s pocket he is called a pick-pocket and he may get beaten by public.
If the guy continues to steal 30 Rs from hundreds of people. He eventually gets arrested and beaten by police and his photo appears at the local police station.

However, if the guy is in Indian VAS and 
He steals 30 Rs from thousands of un-suspecting prepaid subscribers he is called a small time VAS company learning the trade.
If the guy manages to steal 30 Rs from lakhs of subscribers he is called a very successful VAS entrepreneur waiting for an IPO
If the guy manages to steal 30 Rs from crores of subscribers the guy is called ‘Visionary/Industry Leader’ :-)

And the operator/s who promote this are called Emerging markets’ leading Telcos which are given international awards for innovative VAS and innovative low cost models!!

Liked you rpost. 
Are you willing to join the list of anonymous VAS cleanup operation? Which location? I cn take care of Delhi and Mumbai.

Liked you rpost. 
Are you willing to join the list of anonymous VAS cleanup operation? Which location? I cn take care of Delhi and Mumbai.

Please don’t put me on a pedestal. It’s unnerving and undeserving. 

If there are circles you think we should check out, please let me know via the anonymous tip off. I can’t promise anything, but we might run that false billing test.

Please don’t put me on a pedestal. It’s unnerving and undeserving. 

If there are circles you think we should check out, please let me know via the anonymous tip off. I can’t promise anything, but we might run that false billing test.

Crap

Vvv : wondering what crap you hv seen here. It’s all plain truth.

lol… True!

The comments for this article are really interesting.
The M-VAS Industry is changing now. The ‘Clean up’ act has been started by few telecom operators. Soon you will see others following them.
Most companies have decided to go slow on VAS, but they cannot simply ignore it. VAS will be driven by Pull rather than push..! It will take some more time, but will eventually happen. The VAS ecosystem has been polluted because all startup wants to mint money from Day 1. Many new start up have been able to reach a level which should have taken them 3-4yrs to reach there. Everyone wants to grow and so are these companies. The end user face the brunt. I think the M-VAS is moving ahead towards a cleaner system.
Cheers!

Do you feel that false charging will continue forever?
Companies have been migrating their billing platform which basically means they will have complete control over the billing, which suggests that they have taken initiatives now for cleaning up the system.

But these telco companies was the main reason of false charging. You may blame the OBD companies or content companies. But they can’t still the base without the operator giving them data.
Only companies that can do false billing on their own are the ones integrated on the HLR of the system (like Caller tune service provider).
But again the main beneficiary of these false charging is still the operator. So catch hold of his balls by preparing data and pursuing their customer care.
The best part is that most of the companies have customer care operations outsources and they are on SLAs. The whole situation which was created to squeeze balls of alcatel lucent kinds of good service providers with extensive logging, can now be turned back on the operators.
Keep aksing them why you charged me for this amount. Prepare the email trail and keep pushing.
Like last year one UK based operator in India got into legal tangle with a influential blogger (not that he too wasn’t at fault), we should create such force on their vas managers so that the control goes back to the good cusotmer care management.

“VAS Guy”, I’d love to speak with you in person or over phone to get your views on this entire VAS ecosystem and what ails it. You can reach me at rohin dot dharmakumar at network18online dot com in case you’re up to it.

Rohin Dharmakumar, Forbes India.

P.S. Medianama’s comment boards are often as revealing as its stories. This one being a case in point.