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So Facebook paid 5.7 billion dollar to buy "influence" in India. The biggest influencer of India is Mukesh Ambani who has strong influence in Indian politics. N

So Facebook paid 5.7 billion dollar to buy "influence" in India. The biggest influencer of India is Mukesh Ambani who has strong influence in Indian politics. Now it will be a matter of months and WhatsApp payments will get regulatory approval to go ahead to launch WhatsApp payments in India. That is the boss move here IMO. Jio is just a way to solve for regulatory hurdles in India.

fermienrico 6y ago
For those who don't know - Mukesh Ambani is the 3rd richest person in the world with an estimated net worth of $60B.
- skinnymuch 6y ago
  He lost a lot of net worth in 2020. Regardless, he wasn’t 3rd richest before either. He’s 2nd richest Asian. Also just below Mackenzie Bezos.
onetimemanytime 6y ago
Right, since FB cannot move itself the (likely) billion dollar bribes to Gov Official's Inc. https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Corruption_in_India#Bribery https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Corruption_in_India#Bribery
- rgrs 6y ago
  Why it can't? Why do you think Govt is always corrupt? Why judge current govt based on corruption done in previous regimes?
  - newyankee 6y ago
    in fact arguably this is the first time in Indian history where i believe the people at the top are not corrupt to the extent previous Govts were (coalition politics !). The middle and low level corruption is slowly reducing as we move to more tech enabled services and transparency is a feature although it can never be eliminated, people find a way. However as the new generation in rural areas start using mobile phones with data and access services like banking online i can see a sea change. I saw farmers taking pics of their cultivations and uploading to Govt websites for availing subsidy in Karnataka. Now they had to pay 10% of the subsidy amount in cash beforehand to their local officer, but i still consider this a win and improvement. The primary reason this happened , digitization and a strong push for it.
haltingproblem 6y ago
Jumping the gun here. Jio's founder, Ambani has his own ambitions in this space and he is highly unlikely to carry water for FB. This is akin to saying when Microsoft took a stake in Apple that they would carry water for Apple. They are frenemies at best and outright competitors. FB gets to deploy its cash hoard into a relatively safe and perhaps lucrative investment and buy some insurance to being treated fairly on Jio's platform.
- just42 6y ago
  So no solace, because it's even worse. Jio is a bigger danger than FB to us Indians, we just don’t seem to realize/care (as in being an information monopoly). I don’t think even Jio realizes it. They may believe that they are doing God’s service in providing affordable 21st century services to the masses. But that’s how the really bad stuff usually starts.
  - haltingproblem 6y ago
    Twice Mukesh Ambani has built telecom services that have lowered prices by an order of magnitude and greatly expanded coverage. Reliance Communications which Anil ran into the ground was built by Mukesh and changed the competitive landscape the first time around. Jio did it again and now India has the cheapest data in the world. I am struggling to understand what exactly is the problem and why is Jio a danger? Because in the future they might become some unknown danger to morals and economic well being of Indians/humanity. Crush freedom in some inexplicable way that you cannot imagine but are sure they will. I am genuinely curious.
    - just42 6y ago
      I am not sure why I am biting this, but here goes: If you are the only Internet people know and can afford, it doesn't matter if you are a private entity or the Govt. I can't satisfy your curiosity because I too also sincerely don't know what flavor of undesirable behavior a monopoly creates but that they create bad behavior is as intuitive to me as is breathing to anyone else. A first person anecodote which doesn't necessarily further my point but still - I had Jio fiber installed for a relative, I was visiting in a small north Indian town - unbelievable price, offering, everything great. But it took me 3 days of multiple hours on the phone, and I still couldn't access Hackernews, or reddit or even New York Times. Pages for these and quite a few other sites just wouldn't load. The first canned response - 'Reliance only blocks what the Govt. has told it to block' (paraphrasing). I didn't anymore have the energy to analyze if it was a technical problem, casual censorship or just customer service issues because of fast scaling.
letmelurkaround 6y ago
This is totally true. Just lobby the biggest business instead of the government who didn’t bend for you.
paxys 6y ago
WhatsApp payments already had regulatory approval before this deal.

fermienrico 6y ago

For those who don't know - Mukesh Ambani is the 3rd richest person in the world with an estimated net worth of $60B.

skinnymuch 6y ago
He lost a lot of net worth in 2020. Regardless, he wasn’t 3rd richest before either. He’s 2nd richest Asian. Also just below Mackenzie Bezos.

onetimemanytime 6y ago

Right, since FB cannot move itself the (likely) billion dollar bribes to Gov Official's Inc. https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Corruption_in_India#Bribery https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Corruption_in_India#Bribery

rgrs 6y ago
Why it can't? Why do you think Govt is always corrupt? Why judge current govt based on corruption done in previous regimes?
- newyankee 6y ago
  in fact arguably this is the first time in Indian history where i believe the people at the top are not corrupt to the extent previous Govts were (coalition politics !). The middle and low level corruption is slowly reducing as we move to more tech enabled services and transparency is a feature although it can never be eliminated, people find a way. However as the new generation in rural areas start using mobile phones with data and access services like banking online i can see a sea change. I saw farmers taking pics of their cultivations and uploading to Govt websites for availing subsidy in Karnataka. Now they had to pay 10% of the subsidy amount in cash beforehand to their local officer, but i still consider this a win and improvement. The primary reason this happened , digitization and a strong push for it.

haltingproblem 6y ago

Jumping the gun here. Jio's founder, Ambani has his own ambitions in this space and he is highly unlikely to carry water for FB. This is akin to saying when Microsoft took a stake in Apple that they would carry water for Apple. They are frenemies at best and outright competitors. FB gets to deploy its cash hoard into a relatively safe and perhaps lucrative investment and buy some insurance to being treated fairly on Jio's platform.

just42 6y ago
So no solace, because it's even worse. Jio is a bigger danger than FB to us Indians, we just don’t seem to realize/care (as in being an information monopoly). I don’t think even Jio realizes it. They may believe that they are doing God’s service in providing affordable 21st century services to the masses. But that’s how the really bad stuff usually starts.
- haltingproblem 6y ago
  Twice Mukesh Ambani has built telecom services that have lowered prices by an order of magnitude and greatly expanded coverage. Reliance Communications which Anil ran into the ground was built by Mukesh and changed the competitive landscape the first time around. Jio did it again and now India has the cheapest data in the world. I am struggling to understand what exactly is the problem and why is Jio a danger? Because in the future they might become some unknown danger to morals and economic well being of Indians/humanity. Crush freedom in some inexplicable way that you cannot imagine but are sure they will. I am genuinely curious.
  - just42 6y ago
    I am not sure why I am biting this, but here goes: If you are the only Internet people know and can afford, it doesn't matter if you are a private entity or the Govt. I can't satisfy your curiosity because I too also sincerely don't know what flavor of undesirable behavior a monopoly creates but that they create bad behavior is as intuitive to me as is breathing to anyone else. A first person anecodote which doesn't necessarily further my point but still - I had Jio fiber installed for a relative, I was visiting in a small north Indian town - unbelievable price, offering, everything great. But it took me 3 days of multiple hours on the phone, and I still couldn't access Hackernews, or reddit or even New York Times. Pages for these and quite a few other sites just wouldn't load. The first canned response - 'Reliance only blocks what the Govt. has told it to block' (paraphrasing). I didn't anymore have the energy to analyze if it was a technical problem, casual censorship or just customer service issues because of fast scaling.

letmelurkaround 6y ago

This is totally true. Just lobby the biggest business instead of the government who didn’t bend for you.

paxys 6y ago

WhatsApp payments already had regulatory approval before this deal.