Tilak Amitava Chowdhury

We have been hearing that mobile network is one of the fastest growing in India and indian tariffs are one of the lowest for many years now. The likes of Airtel and Vodafone basked in the glory. And they failed to see the opportunities that became threats to their survival. Mobile wallets - Paytm and cheap data coupled with free calling - Jio. Airtel and Vodafone were clearly complacent. They were myopic to try and protect their turf instead of focusing on growth and changing consumer preferences. The Indian consumers contributed to the fat ARPUs of the telecom operators were growing out of the habit of calling as the likes of WhatsApp and Facebook's offered free data based calling. The need for data went up as the videos were in demand. Live streaming of movies and music were becoming the preferred mode of consumption. The leading players thought the consumers had no choice but to be content with the high priced poor quality data they offered. How could they take the consume...

One night I was reading The Hungry Tide by Amitav Ghosh. I was enjoying the book so much that I tweeted about it. And I was elated to find a reply from the author. I just loved the sponteinity and the reach of Twitter. No other social media in my view helps in connecting with opinions and brainwaves of your favourite icons better than Twitter. It really pains me to see Twitter struggling. Because I really love Twitter. Why is Twitter struggling? I guess it needs to explore different revenue streams and not just depend on advertising. Also I'm aghast that it is finding it difficult to find a suitable buyer! Twitter, according to me, has taken the concept of 'breaking news' to a different level. If there is an earthquake I look at Twitter for updates as withing few seconds there are details available. The large media and publications have a huge opportunity in Twitter. It's the most instant way to reach the whole world. Most celebrities are active on twitter. Any gossi...