On July 31, 1995, when then Union Communications
Minister Sukh Ram made the first mobile call from the Department of
Telecommunications in Delhi to then West Bengal Chief Minister Jyoti
Basu at Writer’s Building in Kolkata, he told the veteran Bengali
politician that the launch of wireless telephony was the most
revolutionary thing to happen in the country.
At a
time when making that first wireless call cost ₹16 a minute, on a device
that was priced at over $500, not many would have agreed with the
Minister.
Twenty years later, the ubiquitous sight
of people talking, listening to music, watching videos and texting on
their mobile phones is symbolic of the telecom revolution that has
changed the face of India with significant social and economic impact.
Now
a farmer is free to get the latest wholesale price of his produce even
before he leaves his farm, a student can get access to the best lectures
from the comfort of his home, an activist can start a movement with a
single post on social media networks, a patient can consult leading
doctors without travelling miles, a housewife can shop for groceries at
the flick of her fingers, executives have the freedom to leave their
cars to book cab rides through an app and families can watch the latest
flick without having to stand in long queues outside the box office.
“Other than the discovery of electricity, there is nothing more
liberating than wireless communication,” says BK Syngal, who has been
closely associated with the nation’s telecom sector as the former
Chairman of Videsh Sanchar Nigam Ltd.
“One is no
longer tethered and entangled in wires but completely unshackled.
Technologies like 3G and 4G have brought the power of knowledge and
creativity in the hands of everyone. This is true freedom and
democracy.”
The period since 2003 has seen
tremendous growth and dynamism in the Indian telecom sector.
A phone has
been transformed from a luxury good to a necessity connecting millions
of people. Wireless subscriptions have increased from 1.88 million in
March 2000 to over a billion now. Wireline telephony, on the other hand,
has come down from a peak of 54 million in 2004 to 25 million at the
end of March 2016.
There are 3 main reasons why wireless has scored
over wireline.
First, the sheer convenience attached to going wireless
is just awesome. This explains why most technologies around the world
have gone wireless — mouses, keyboards, earphones and even chargers.
Second,
the cost and time taken to lay a wireless system is only a fraction of
laying a wired network.
Third is that the number of
applications that have been developed for a mobile environment far
outweighs a wired network. Which is why even fixed line telephone
service providers are now adopting Wi-Fi technology to offer all the
convenience of wireless communication indoors.
“Wireless
communication has gone beyond just telecom and has been a great social
leveler. What socialism or any other ‘ism’ has not been able to do
wireless has been able to achieve by bringing an affordable and
productive solution to every man on the street,” says TV Ramachandran,
former COAI Director General.
There was no mobile phone in 1954 but the popular song from the Raj Kapoor starrer Boot Polish,
which talks about having one’s destiny in one’s hand, perhaps aptly
describes the profound impact which wireless phones have had on the
people of India.
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