Sandip, sorry about this. I've replied to Anand's comment. It was a technical glitch due to a few hyperlinks. We fixed that within the first few hours of publishing.

Seema Singh

Anand, I'm sorry to see that you think some new principles are in force at The Ken. There's no such thing. On Friday, our CMS was acting up and several hyperlinked words disappeared causing a few sentences to look incomplete. It also affected the text spacing in the story. This was corrected within 2-3 hours of publishing. I'm assuming this comment was also posted during that time. If there's anything else that you find sloppy, please let me know and I'll try to address that.

Seema Singh

Hey Kiran, it's interesting that you say it "felt short" :) This is a standard 2K-word piece even though this series, Counterthesis, is meant to be shorter in order to make a sharp point.

Seema Singh

Anant, I went back to JS Deepak for a response. Here's what he has to say: Thanks for your interest in my interview in The Ken. However, you seem to have misunderstood some aspects completely. I have never anywhere in the interview said that the problem with almost all spectrum being sold at reserve price is the revenue realisation. Rather, it is the absence of a market determined price as selling spectrum at a administratively determined price is not a globally recognised best practice.As a matter of fact, my counterthesis is that revenue maximisation should not have been a criterion in this sale of spectrum looking at the state of the challenges that the telecom sector faces. Again I have said that the government has done well to auction 5G spectrum in all the 3 bands. This will enable telcos to bring in new technology and rollout 5G services in India. But nowhere have I mentioned that *all available spectrum* in these bands should have been put to sale. Reasons for this are given in some detail in the piece. So, where is the contradiction?

Seema Singh

Sweatha, full-fledged 5G, even for urban areas, is still some time away. Telcos have to keep sending out such releases:) Some have run a few pilots here and there. Even if a commercial rollout happens, it'll be sporadic, in a few cities at a time. Simply because even if the telcos are ready, the use cases are not. For instance, how many customers would want to pay significantly more to download movies faster?

Seema Singh

Ani, to your first point, as you rightly said, there's no real business case (aka revenue generation scope) for 5G even in urban areas. Which is why the telecom regulator, Trai, has clearly written it'd take 3-5 years for 5G to penetrate urban India. So for now, it's mostly about slow preparation and having a foot in the door. The Govt's own ask for telcos in this rollout is that they must do it in a few cities in the first year, a few more in the second year and so on. On #2, you may be right. There's definitely something of interest here :)

Seema Singh

Saurabh, I get what you are saying. The person quoted in the story is making a larger point - what is the right quantum of spectrum to be put out for auction. Because as you'd have read in the story, it's no longer an auction. It's become a base price sale which is at a complex and somewhat arbitrarily-determined price. The broader point is that perhaps it's time to get back to the drawing board, drop the legacy issues, and determine the right price of the spectrum in different bands; figure out the right incentives for buyers, and create more competition. Because this is a fast-evolving industry, we don't know what new technologies will come in the next 3-5 years.

Seema Singh

Ahmed, There is no question of "sometimes" here. Nothing is "promotional" at The Ken. I hope you understand that. And it's unfair that you are commenting on a comment without reading the article.

Seema Singh

Gurmukh, I'm responding to the second part of your comment :) The article you are referring to was an interview with a founder who has been building an organic food business for 18 years. It did ask questions about perception and a range of claims sellers make about organic. I, as the writer, (or as The Ken's editor) did not promote it. I hope you see the difference between an interview and a promotion.

Seema Singh

Venkatarangan, please allow me to respond on behalf of the writer. I am rather surprised that you find the article unnecessarily long. The second part shows how Amazon went about lobbying this. You may not find it relevant, but as writers/editors, we do and I know many other readers have found it useful.

Seema Singh

Thanks, Sandeep. Could you please some of those names?

Seema Singh

Thanks, Srikanth. You make an important point. Fractal has been working with a small base until now and it'll be very interesting to see how they buck the IT trend in not just growth but innovation and incubation. I hope I am around (in journalism) to write about it or have it covered at The Ken when they cross a few billions in $$ revenues :)

Seema Singh