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Facebook Takes $5.7B Stake in India’s Jio

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Re: Facebook Takes $5.7B Stake in India’s Jio

#111

Post by intended »

sbmthakur wrote: post #101
a-ve wrote: post #49

Earlier quoted context omitted.

It's mainly due to his disregard for any rules that may exist. The telecom regulator in India bent rules in favor of Jio: https://m.economictimes.com/news/economy/policy/vodafone-gro... Rs 11,000-Crore ONGC (state owned oil and gas corp) Gas Shifted to Reliance Industries Fields: https://www.ndtv.com/business/rs-11-000-crore-ongc-gas-shift... They literally took out full-page advertisements with Modi's image on it: h…

> The telecom regulator in India bent rules in favor of Jio It's the Vodafone group CEO that's accusing TRAI of favoring Jio. They had a free run charging exorbitant data prices for a good time. No wonder these accusations are coming from Vodafone. > Rs 11,000-Crore ONGC (state owned oil and gas corp) Gas Shifted to Reliance Industries Fields This was fought in courts and eventually an international tribunal favored…

Honestly, Vodafone should be calling out Jio- they’re going to die because of it.

Jio has had some eye opening advantages-

Jio abused the stress test period for their network and essentially launched their service for free saying “join Jio, next few months free! (Fine print, this is technically a stress test.)

The way the auction for spectrum was conducted was magical- they had a front company With impressive bureaucracy wrangling power.

The stench of malfeasance is strong here.

That said fundamentally this is an issue that relates to the death of competition in the market.

Since the bungled SC auction verdict destroyed a vibrant telecom market, we’ve dropped to a triopoly- and heading fast to a duopoly.

What is sad is that the previous governments had done a truly impressive job of threading the economic needle when it came to designing a telecom market with competition.

Indian telecom was a boon to its impoverished customer base. Now it’s becoming a cabal.

Re: Facebook Takes $5.7B Stake in India’s Jio

#112

Post by newyankee »

webmobdev wrote: post #41
statguy wrote: post #24

Earlier quoted context omitted.

and Ambani owns the govt...

True. Our current PM Modi will dance to Ambani's tune. But killing BSNL isn't so easy ... They have lakhs of employees and with the poor state of indian economy I doubt if the government would be able to afford to pay the majority a proper severance package. Not to mention the unions and strikes they will have to deal with.

BSNL mismanagement is the output of decades of lethargy by successive Govts which prevented PSUs from becoming nimble. At least this Govt is trying even when it has limited fiscal options. This kind of extreme one sided scapegoating of PM to earn the approval of Western folks is highly condemnable.

Re: Facebook Takes $5.7B Stake in India’s Jio

#113

Post by sbmthakur »

just42 wrote: post #94
haltingproblem wrote: post #74

Earlier quoted context omitted.

Jumping the gun here. Jio's founder, Ambani has his own ambitions in this space and he is highly unlikely to carry water for FB. This is akin to saying when Microsoft took a stake in Apple that they would carry water for Apple. They are frenemies at best and outright competitors. FB gets to deploy its cash hoard into a relatively safe and perhaps lucrative investment and buy some insurance to being treated fairly on…

So no solace, because it's even worse. Jio is a bigger danger than FB to us Indians, we just don’t seem to realize/care (as in being an information monopoly). I don’t think even Jio realizes it. They may believe that they are doing God’s service in providing affordable 21st century services to the masses. But that’s how the really bad stuff usually starts.

> So no solace, because it's even worse. Jio is a bigger danger than FB to us Indians..

Write for yourself. Jio has destroyed the cartel that ensured high mobile prices for a long time in the country. It's because of their efforts that millions of Indians are connected to the Internet today and could only dream about it a decade back.

Re: Facebook Takes $5.7B Stake in India’s Jio

#114

Post by newyankee »

just42 wrote: post #94
haltingproblem wrote: post #74

Earlier quoted context omitted.

Jumping the gun here. Jio's founder, Ambani has his own ambitions in this space and he is highly unlikely to carry water for FB. This is akin to saying when Microsoft took a stake in Apple that they would carry water for Apple. They are frenemies at best and outright competitors. FB gets to deploy its cash hoard into a relatively safe and perhaps lucrative investment and buy some insurance to being treated fairly on…

So no solace, because it's even worse. Jio is a bigger danger than FB to us Indians, we just don’t seem to realize/care (as in being an information monopoly). I don’t think even Jio realizes it. They may believe that they are doing God’s service in providing affordable 21st century services to the masses. But that’s how the really bad stuff usually starts.

as opposed to what, no cheap internet ? As compared to which comparable country, China ? Where literally the Govt controls everything.

I appreciate the enthusiasm for privacy and all, however the priorities for Indian citizens is having a cheap, reliable internet service that becomes a backbone of the modern economy.

Now i am not defending any business practices here, however you will be hard pressed to find something as succesful anywhere else in the world which is not politicized with currying of influence and favors. That is essentially the nature of an industry which has become a utility.

People are free to educate themselves and use alternatives based on their understanding.

Re: Facebook Takes $5.7B Stake in India’s Jio

#115

Post by intended »

newyankee wrote: post #108
vegiraghav wrote: post #56

Earlier quoted context omitted.

Well Mukesh Ambani with a net worth of $50 billion, is the son of Dirubhai Ambani. Like father son too has all political parties in his pockets, be it the congress or BJP or other parties in India. Word is since Modi didnt coorperate in something with Mukesh, he literally sabotaged an alliance they had in the state of Maharashtra, to screw Modi's party over and stiched up an alliance of political rivals.

Dhirubhai Ambani practiced Jugaad, something which was necessary in license permit Raj. Even average Indians understand the nuance in this and how difficult it was to conduct business in that era.

Let’s not call it jugaad. It was corruption and a lesson on how stupid laws force people to find an illegal way to do things that should be legal.

The reason reliance gets shit though is not because of corruption - Reliance is fundamentally a predatory firm.

Re: Facebook Takes $5.7B Stake in India’s Jio

#116

Post by dang »

throwaway122378 wrote: post #28
sumanthvepa wrote: post #25

I'll take a contrarian view. This is good! All investment into India is good. (Yes even Chinese investment.) We are a poor capital starved country. We need every bit of cash we can get and that $5.7B will generate employment and create another strong telecom player. I strongly supported net neutrality in 2016 in India, but circumstances have changed. Jio needs the money, as does India. The poor cannot afford principl…

The poor cannot afford principles ??? Really how much do you get paid to shill that hard

Could you please stop posting unsubstantive and/or flamebait comments to HN? It unfortunately looks like you've been doing that quite a bit, and it's not what this site is for.

If you wouldn't mind reviewing https://news.ycombinator.com/newsguidelines.html and sticking to the rules when posting here, we'd be grateful.

Re: Facebook Takes $5.7B Stake in India’s Jio

#117

Post by sbmthakur »

webmobdev wrote: post #37
missedthecue wrote: post #11

Earlier quoted context omitted.

>(Bad for us consumers ofcourse.) explain?

- They've crippled the indian telecom industry by driving out many competitors through their anti-competitive behaviour of offering FREE services for nearly a year under the guise of "testing" their network. They were aided in this by the government who ignored the protests from the other players. - Then they offered services for very LOW prices. - Once the competitors were driven out, they've RAISED prices. And are…

Low prices enabled millions of Indians to get connected to the Internet. Interest of millions of Indians will be always given precedence over interests of a bunch of companies that want to keep data prices high to ensure their profits. Please share citations for your other accusations.

Re: Facebook Takes $5.7B Stake in India’s Jio

#118

Post by newyankee »

rgrs wrote: post #73
onetimemanytime wrote: post #68

Earlier quoted context omitted.

Right, since FB cannot move itself the (likely) billion dollar bribes to Gov Official's Inc. https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Corruption_in_India#Bribery

Why it can't? Why do you think Govt is always corrupt? Why judge current govt based on corruption done in previous regimes?

in fact arguably this is the first time in Indian history where i believe the people at the top are not corrupt to the extent previous Govts were (coalition politics !). The middle and low level corruption is slowly reducing as we move to more tech enabled services and transparency is a feature although it can never be eliminated, people find a way. However as the new generation in rural areas start using mobile phones with data and access services like banking online i can see a sea change. I saw farmers taking pics of their cultivations and uploading to Govt websites for availing subsidy in Karnataka. Now they had to pay 10% of the subsidy amount in cash beforehand to their local officer, but i still consider this a win and improvement. The primary reason this happened , digitization and a strong push for it.

Re: Facebook Takes $5.7B Stake in India’s Jio

#119

Post by denzil_correa »

TriNetra wrote: post #72
a-ve wrote: post #49

Earlier quoted context omitted.

It's mainly due to his disregard for any rules that may exist. The telecom regulator in India bent rules in favor of Jio: https://m.economictimes.com/news/economy/policy/vodafone-gro... Rs 11,000-Crore ONGC (state owned oil and gas corp) Gas Shifted to Reliance Industries Fields: https://www.ndtv.com/business/rs-11-000-crore-ongc-gas-shift... They literally took out full-page advertisements with Modi's image on it: h…

You are over-blowing his control: My quick search brings following two things which is opposite to what this thread is claiming. 1. Reliance Jio may not be pleased with govt's spectrum moratorium to telcos: https://www.businesstoday.in/sectors/telecom/why-reliance-ji... 2. India Trying to Stop Reliance From Selling Assets, Times Says: https://www.bloombergquint.com/business/india-trying-to-stop...

You should really read into how Jio got their license and rules were repeatedly bent to favor them.

https://caravanmagazine.in/reportage/government-helping-reli...

Re: Facebook Takes $5.7B Stake in India’s Jio

#120

Post by newyankee »

sumanthvepa wrote: post #25

I'll take a contrarian view. This is good! All investment into India is good. (Yes even Chinese investment.) We are a poor capital starved country. We need every bit of cash we can get and that $5.7B will generate employment and create another strong telecom player. I strongly supported net neutrality in 2016 in India, but circumstances have changed. Jio needs the money, as does India. The poor cannot afford principl…

CHinese investment should be taken on a case by case basis. We do not want them controlling influence by turbocharging certain apps/networks/companies they own. I am sure if you have significant Chinese money on board a valuable app, you will start seeing CCP influence sooner or later.

There was no reason why India could not create its home grown TikTok, WhatsApp , Twitter etc.

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