Let us begin with a simple question. What is more expensive—a cup of coffee daily or a prepaid mobile plan bundling daily unlimited voice, 1.5 gigabytes of broadband data, and free access to a wide assortment of content across music, movies, and live TV channels?
Surprisingly, today the daily cup of coffee is more expensive. There is a big difference in the value that the telecom sector provides versus the amount it charges. Indians today connect with their friends and families, their entertainment, their work and even their passion and emotion, seamlessly on their mobile, transforming the way we live, work, play, and socialize.
It is interesting to note that despite delivering this telecom miracle over the last 25 years, the sector is at its paradoxical extreme. Consumer demand is at its peak while pioneering telecom companies are in existential crisis. The poster child of India’s economic liberalization success is gasping for breath.
Let’s start from the very beginning. After NTP 1999, India’s private sector in the decade of 2004 to 2014, built perhaps the world’s widest mobility voice infrastructure on 2G, which connects over 500,000 towns and villages across the country, fulfilling the connectivity needs of 1.17 billion Indians. The phenomenon was termed Telecom Revolution 1.0.
Again, in response to the Prime Minister’s clarion call for Digital India, the sector heralded Telecom Revolution 2.0, with an unprecedented investment in 4G network, of over Rs 6 lakh crore in a matter of four years. Consequently, mobile broadband customers jumped to 600 million and wireless data traffic peaked to the highest in the world at 10 gigabyte per user. It’s amazing how the mobile data rates in India fell to Rs7.70 per GB (USD 0.11 as per TRAI June 2019 report) against an average of USD 12.37 in the USA, USD 9.89 in China, and USD 8.53 per gigabyte globally as percable.co.uk online report.
This story is from the February,2020 edition of Voice and Data.
Start your 7-day Magzter GOLD free trial to access thousands of curated premium stories, and 8,500+ magazines and newspapers.
Already a subscriber ? Sign In
This story is from the February,2020 edition of Voice and Data.
Start your 7-day Magzter GOLD free trial to access thousands of curated premium stories, and 8,500+ magazines and newspapers.
Already a subscriber? Sign In
Navigating Social Media Risks With AI
Amidst the complexities of social media, harness the power of Al to protect privacy, enhance mental health, and combat misinformation effectively
V&D leadership forum explores the future of a connected world
The TLF was attended by 250+ technology and business decision-makers and policymakers across the communication and broadcasting sector
Data, chips, and India's AI mission
The Rs-10,372-crore initiative seeks to position the country as a global Al powerhouse, enhancing its capacity for research and innovation
Where jellyfishes work better than whales
Edge Distributed Computing is revolutionising Supercomputing, offering agility, cost-effectiveness, and real-time decision-making
The unexpected shift
Disillusioned from the Cloud, more organisations are now looking at cost-effective, secure prefab containerised Edge Data Centres for business agility
The Silicon game: Reaping 5G gold
In-built hardware can be a big amplifier for 5G adoption, reshaping connectivity paradigms and fuelling innovations in telecom, IoT, and beyond
New video streaming to shake up the data market
D2M technology paves the way for data-free video streaming, offering broader content access while potentially unsettling the telecom sector
Pathbreakers of the Year (2023)
The vision, determination, and groundbreaking initiatives of three discerning telecom industry leaders have been pivotal in laying the foundation for the seamless deployment of the world's largest 5G networks within record time.
Lifetime Achievement (2023)
Aluminary in India's telecommunications landscape, Mukesh D Ambani stands as a beacon of transformative leadership.
Telecom Person of the Year (2023)
A bureaucrat par excellence, K Rajaraman's visionary leadership has been instrumental in driving domestic telecom equipment manufacturing and streamlining decision-making processes within the DoT.
