Re: "Free" WiFi in Delhi

Gentlemen,

If I may offer an opinion, based solely on an educated outsider's 
perspective and as someone who has no particular cause to champion 
(other than the belief that a free high speed internet connection is a 
great goal to aspire to, please let me make the following observations.

As to my qualifications, I built a wireless internet network back in 
1999, long before the WiFi standard was formed. I have consulted on 
several projects including one which spanned an entire country. I was 
one of the founding members of WISPA (Wireless Internet Service 
Providers Association) and a spokesperson for the MuniWireless industry. 
At present I live in an area which has pervasive WiFi connected to a 
wireless SONET ring. This type of network could be easily replicated 
pretty much anywhere for far less than a typical wireline network.

To set a premise, it needs to be understood that the frequencies any 
such network would be built upon are finite. I state this knowing that 
without some reasonable amount of planning and coordination, these 
networks can grow to the point where self-interference causes them to 
collapse.

I am somewhat familiar with two of the three people being discussed here 
and would suggest that they seem eminently qualified to provide both 
input as well as make recommendations as to how such a project could be 
rolled out. In fact, it would seem obvious that pretty much any member 
of this august list would be better suited to the job than the 
overwhelming majority of people we could select from.

Speaking directly to Sarbajit Roy's concerns, certainly the expectation 
of transparency is important as long as it is not a delaying tactic. If 
you believe that the people on this committee are unqualified, feel free 
to make that case. If you believe that any of these people are not 
committed to this project and are serving to better their own interests, 
this is also something which might be explored.

Sadly, what I am reading is vague accusations and thinly veiled 
dispersions that something might happen in the distant future. My 
professional recommendation would be to continue closely monitoring the 
actions of this committee and  should such issues come to pass address 
them at that time.

Further, after sharing my experience I would ask, what exactly do you 
plan to bring to this discussion? Do you offer a specific technical 
solution? Can you speak to the economics and sustainability of a project 
such as this? Exactly what kind of management organization would you 
propose to run such a network?

Based on more than a decade of "fighting the good fight" in this arena, 
what I have seen is any number of people - all with the best of 
intentions - manage to cloud the issue with irrelevant chatter which 
typically led to the collapse of these projects. While this might not be 
your explicit intention, for the life of me, I cannot understand what 
else it is that you offer.

Please educate me in this matter.

Respectfully,

Ken DiPietro
Cumberland MD




On 04/26/2015 07:26 AM, sarbajit roy wrote:
> Vickram,
>
> In case you hadn't noticed, the question is about the "committee"
> itself, and which was why I posted to this list in the first place
> seeing as how 3 regular posters here apparently constitute this
> committee.
>
> You may have also overlooked that I had linked to relevant documents
> setting up the case for potential conflicts of interests. I could
> equally allege, and I shall if the silence persists, that A or B were
> appointed BECAUSE they are conflicted - and hence predisposed to a
> certain outcome.
>
> Its also curious that nobody on this list is willing to comment on the
> licencing and other legalities of offering pervasive free WiFi in
> Delhi..
>
> I can also tell you one more thing, my name and that of 3 other
> "activist" persons who had replied to the official public notice were
> removed as speakers at the last moment to prevent us from making
> presentations or voicing our concerns; and also to accommodate several
> telecom corporates who came in through the back door of the Delhi
> Dialogue Commission at the n'th moment sensing the golden goose.
>
> Perhaps Mahesh, as a member of DDC - or its WiFi task force, can
> respond directly, since I haven't imputed any villainy on his part,
> instead of making me complain to the GoNCTD.
>
> Sarbajit
>
> On 4/26/15, Vickram Crishna <v1clist-/[email protected]> wrote:
>> When the question is phrased differently, it kinds of deflates.
>>
>> A. If the committee suggests a monopoly/duopoly... (I have seen no
>> recommendation, and see no point crying fire before the smoke appears)...
>>
>> You have insinuated that Mahesh might contribute to a situation where a
>> company in which he or his fund is invested gets all or part of some unknown
>> cash cow in public WiFi. If he does, he will get some solid flame on this
>> list, and from here it will doubtless spread to both the social and
>> traditional media.
>>
>>
>> But he hasn't.
>>
>>
>> I refuse to be a party to such unfounded speculation, for which the term
>> insinuation is apt. Still, since you doubtless have some reason of your own
>> for believing in his villainy, if he ever does, I am confident we will get
>> to hear about it in two ticks of a cow's tail, and no prizes for guessing
>> who will alert us.
>>
>> Sent from Yahoo Mail on Android
>>
>> From:"sarbajit roy" <[email protected]>
>> Date:Sun, 26 Apr, 2015 at 2:50 pm
>> Subject:Re: [india-gii] "Free" WiFi in Delhi
>>
>> Vickram
>>
>> To dumb it down, since you and Arun and others were the ones fighting
>> for unrestricted micro-FM, micro-cells-wireless mesh etc...
>>
>> A) Do you support creation of monopolies / duopolies of Statewide
>> micro-communication hotspots in a hasty / non-transparent manner ? ie.
>> a hijack in the name of the deprived.
>>
>> As for me, I have done my homework - right or wrong, and I believe
>> that 'Arvind-ki-dukaan' is wide open for business,and I am protesting
>> !!
>>
>> Sarbajit
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