With the recent hula-bula created by the MZP about prepaid services in Mizoram and other parts of the north east, let me add my two cents.
When we came back to Aizawl last year, we needed new mobile connections. H went and got a SIM card for both of us. It was done within a day, and he paid some 250 bucks for each. I didn't look that closely at the packet of the SIM card. Some months later, we needed another connection, and this time I went to an Airtel outlet. The lady gave me a SIM card which was again priced at Rs.250. This time I happened to look at the MRP, which was Rs.45. This was more than 5 times the company price. So I asked her why this was so.
The lady explained to me that this card was pre-activated, with someone else's name, that if I wanted a SIM card in my own name, then I would have to go to alot of trouble of submitting a xerox copy of my ID etc. I said I was fine with doing all that, and so to her consternation, I didn't buy her 'ready-made' SIM card.
We went to various outlets, and several places rejected us. We finally found a place in Chanmari where a sweet old couple took our necessary papers and got the SIM ready for us in less than a week.
What I am trying to say is that more than 90% of prepaid cellular subscribers in Mizoram get their SIM card from the 'black' market, using cards issued in God knows whose name. And the worst part is that I'm sure more than 90% of these people are probably unaware that they are paying 5 times the asking price, that they even have an option of getting cards issued in their names, that what they're doing is illegal. The most interesting bit is what part the service providers themselves, AIRTEL, AIRCEL, RELIANCE etc are playing in issueing such large numbers of activated SIM cards into the market. I think this is something the public should be aware of, and what the government should look into. If the authorities from the central government do stop prepaid mobile services in Mizoram, I think we will only have ourselves, our greed and our ignorance to blame.
10 comments:
I mostly use a regular BSNL post-paid since I find it less confusing to deal with but I've bought a couple of pre-paid Airtel sim cards too. The first was in '07 for someone who was home for Christmas. I'd asked around and heard you could get a pre-activated sim card for around 300 bucks so I thought that was fine. But like you, I later saw Rs. 45 written on the envelope and felt a bit hard done by. So last year, when the gas agency I had a connection with, advertised that anyone with their gas connection card could get a free Airtel prepaid sim, I joined up. Paid 50 bucks with the necessary papers, and got my card within a week.
Yes, it certainly reflects badly on us as a people that we do things by illegal short cuts and later create problems for ourselves.
Hi calliopia, I think the trouble with us is that we don't like any hassles. We don't pay attention to detail, we don't mind paying more, getting less, and people who complain or demand their rights are seen to be 'difficult' people. I don't know why we're all like that tho.
Ummm, lawrkhawm-doc-dot.com-ah post kan phal em awww? Last para chauh khi? :D
- BW
Hi BW...lo post rawh. I duh tawkin edit ka phal e :)
:-) Pu Jimmy chu netiquette a follow thiam e. Permission te a dil phawt thlap thlap zel, ka tran a nia. Cheers.
@ Diary: Been through all that you have mentioned whenever I go home for the vacation, and for people like us spending 90% of our time outside Miz, having a postpaid card is not an option.
So every time I come home, I have to go to OFFICIAL AGENTS of such networks and buy BLACK sim card from those official agents! And since everybody's doing it, nobody's complaining. Its done right in public! But then, people don't want to be a whistle blower, lest they are branded an outcast, so I guess its something we just have to live with. :( I call them the Sim card Mafia.
Frankly put it, I always have to borrow a cousins' sim card whenever I come over "there..."
Aaaaa! In changkang tawh lo, Delhi Azadpur leh Gol Market-te in hnaih tawh si lova... H H H, tunge niang awww :))
Congrats for getting through that Civil Hospital exams thingy...Harding ho hi chu in dangdai mai bakah, in 'brite' alawm - :)
Tunah chuan Mizorama SIM card neih a awlsam zia hi State dang pawhin an hre tawh hle, Central lam thlengin, chuvang chuan Black-a SIM card lei hi a harsa tran, CID lam pawhin Black-a zuartute an vai mek! Engemaw zah an man tawh... Service providers hnathawk ho hi vil uluk se, hetiang hi a tlem phah khawp ang!
Tin, retailer zingah mi/chhungte/thiante ID hawhin, an awmhmunah Mobile phone cam hmangin thla han laksak zung2, passport size-a han print sak mai a SIM card book nana hmanga, Black-a hralh leh an tam. (Passport size thlalak chu nuihzathlak deuh2 a tam, a thren chu an hnungah damdawi zawrhlai a in tlar thrut, a thren a sir zawng deuhin, a thren an nui sung, bula mite dar/ban lo lang a awm bawk... an pawm ve zel tho nia!!)
Duh chuan mahni hminga SIM Card book hi a har lo mawle, kan peih lo thrin mai mai ani! Ni 3-5 chhungin a nung hman! Mahni hminga book ngei hi a him ber!
@Jimmy..H chu i lo zin hunah la intro ang che. Chuan exam la awm hleinem, an lak teuh hnu khan an post ruak ah contract in kan lut ve. Still waiting for the exams.
@angaih...chutia an vai tak tak chuan a van tha ve. Hmanni chu chawhmeh bazarah Rs 150 mi pakhat in lo zuar a sin. Chanchinbuah te hian an rawn zuar leh zauh thin. Strict tawh rawh se...a hun ve tawh lom le.
@kima...i lo haw leh hun chu mi SIM card hawh i ngai ve tawh dawn maithei ni.
ka u duhtak:) i dam maw?inhmuh a va khat ve le! hei blog te i lo nei reng a,very nice..ka lo leng thin ang.Chuan nizan zovi bulah ka va riak a i puar lian ve tawh ltuuk a tia kan hmu chak khawp mai che hardonians ho in,all the best for you and the baby:)
Hi Babie..dam maw? nia inhmu khat khawp mai!!Christmas rawn haw lo ni maw? rawn haw hunah in rawn leng dawn nia, ka lo thep tawh ka beisei..hehe. Take care. Midang ho pawh min lo biak vek rawh aw!
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