Transformer by Mint | No WhatsApp without SIMs, no callers without AI
This week we wrote about India’s SIM-linked crackdown on messaging apps, a privately built PSLV takeoff, AI voices running customer support, Tech Mahindra’s stalled revival, and a flagship phone face-off.
On 28 November, India’s telecom department sent directives to major communication app providers — including WhatsApp, Telegram and even Zoho’s marketing-powered Arattai — ordering them not to allow usage on phones without SIM cards.
The goal: curb the rising wave of cyber fraud.
Whether this will be implemented immediately, and whether it can truly curb fraud depends on many moving parts. For now, compliance requirements kick in right away. Telecom operators have long pushed for identity-linked communication, so the move broadly aligns with their demands. For tech companies, the move would not take much to implement, but it could disrupt how a large number of people currently use these apps.
Can it make a difference? One key thing to note is that a lot of scammers that use WhatsApp to video-call victims largely use them through remote over-the-internet platforms—and aren’t necessarily calling from phones themselves. Many of them are, in fact, based outside India’s geographical borders—where Indian regulations won’t necessarily be applicable. This significantly narrows the ability of this regulation to have a tangible impact. But, many spammers and petty callers may face the axe. Jatin Grover gets you all the details.
Incidentally, the anti-cyber fraud rule came the same week when I headed for Hyderabad for a cracker of a long-story on India’s digital arrests economy. Watch this space for it, in the coming weeks.
Privatizing India’s best rocketship
The PSLV is India’s most successful rocket, and in fact, one of the most successful in the world. In 63 total missions and 32 years, the PSLV has failed only twice. Now, in the next three months, the first of its privately-built variants will take off from Indian soil.
This is a massive landmark for India’s space endeavours. In the long run, India hopes for a time when it makes one space launch every week. This would be huge, for until now, our best year has seen us make one launch every two months.
Space is of course the final frontier, but is one that is being slowly but surely commercialized. In the long run, those who have a control on space infrastructure will have a significant leg-up. With the Indian Space Research Organisation (Isro) being globally respected, India has a strong repertoire in space research. But, this isn’t just about research, a private PSLV could improve India’s share in the business of space.
You only need to glance at SpaceX’s commercial prowess to know just how big and world-altering this ability can be. Godspeed, PSLV!
Recognizing AI in customer support calls
This week, our long story on voice AI callers by Shadma Shaikh talks about how AI voices are already impacting customer service to a very large extent. This one’s a definite must-read.
Why? Here’s a bit of an anecdote: over the past decade (well, almost), we’ve all been complaining about how the influx of automated chatbots is the worst thing that could happen to customer service experiences in India. In fact, many luxury brands rode on the fact that they offered real, human customer services to differentiate themselves with those serving en masse.
Recently, a conversation with Amazon executives showed that one of the largest e-commerce firms in the world uses humans in particularly sticky situations. These include, among other things, use cases where a very minutely different version of a wi-fi router was delivered to a customer—and the resolution needs more than just a return-or-replacement decision.
Now, though, it turns out that AI can get more and more nuance into customer service. Tech companies we speak with tell us that they’re building even more sophisticated AI agents: which can understand more complex contexts—and thus make more complicated decisions.
Welcome to the new age—where your next call with a brand is almost certainly going to be with an AI voice. Would you recognize it? Not necessarily.
Tech Mahindra on the spot
Tech Mahindra is a pretty large company by India’s company standards—as I write this, it is India’s 69th largest firm by valuation across any sector. But, it used to be far larger, up until about three years ago.
Over the past two years, Tech Mahindra is going through a transformation under its new chief, Mohit Joshi. There are signs of resilience, but the broad markers of successful recovery remain missing. Analysts have a divided stance, while the numbers themselves also tell a mixed story.
Our resident IT reporter, Jas Bardia, went behind the curtains to find out what’s continuing to ail Tech Mahindra—or if it indeed is on the path to recovery. Here’s what we learnt.
In other news: the iPhone 17 faces the Pixel 10
A couple of weeks ago, my colleague and Mint’s consumer economy veteran Suneera Tandon asked me about a smartphone buying choice: the iPhone 17, versus the Pixel 10. This set the ball rolling for a month-long tryout of the two base versions of two of the latest flagship phones in India right now.
We found the Pixel 10 to be the more handsome of the two, while it also delivers better audio. The iPhone 17, on the other hand, takes better photos and is far better at gaming. There are other points that define this comparison, making this a choice that could shape how either Apple and Google fare in India’s electronics market this year.
Transformer by Mint is a weekly newsletter that brings India’s most important and interesting technology updates under one umbrella. As the world transforms with every day of innovation, Transformer will keep a tab on the impact that technologies will make in each of our lives. Published every week, the newsletter brings some of India’s tech landscape’s most insightful coverages until date.
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