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networks and to reflect their popularity or position in a peer
group. The attitude of young people towards their mobile phones
is not purely related to device functionality, but rather to their
own individuality or identity. The youth market is an important
predictor of how the future mobile information society will
develop. Service providers and operators alike are looking at better
ways to target this growing market segment. At the same time,
one must ensure that young people are protected from, among
other things, inappropriate content, invasions of privacy, exces-
sive spending, technological addiction (such as gaming
addiction), and any negative health effects (for example seden-
tary lifestyles and cellular radiation).
Professor Ashok Jhunjhunwala of the Indian Institute of
Technology in Chennai presented a number of examples from
India of the way in which mobile communications are being used
to provide, for instance, low cost automatic teller machines,
remote education and remote health monitoring services, and
open-access Internet kiosks.
In August 1995, when the first mobile call was made in India,
brick-sized cell phones used to cost INR 45 000 and each call
cost INR 16.5 per minute. The cell phone was a status symbol.
Today, there are over 60 million mobile connections in India
(expected to double in number in next 12 months). A local call
costs around INR 1/minute and a cell phone can be purchased
for less than INR 3 000.
Wireless technology has been a boon for India. In a country
where setting up wired infrastructure is very expensive and time
consuming, wireless is the perfect solution to connect remote
villages.
Cell phones have not been just about technology. They have
brought about a cultural change in the country. SMS is the favourite
means of communication for everybody today. Most television
programmes now come with an associated SMS competition. A
recent headline in a Hindi newspaper read: “Cell phone compa-
nies to ban gayi, ab kaun banega crorepati” (‘Cell phone compa-
nies have already become millionaires, now who wants to be the
next millionaire’), in reference to an SMS contest to gain entry into
Kaun Banega Crorepati (Who Wants to be a Millionaire). Of late,
cell phones have brought the ‘citizen journalism’ revolution to
India, albeit in an unexpected way. Camera phones and multime-
dia messaging have created our own papparazi which spares neither
Bollywood personalities nor corrupt officials.
Urban India has transformed completely in the last ten years.
Indians have demonstrated that they are not afraid to embrace
technology and illiteracy doesn’t hinder adoption of technol-
ogy, provided it is useful to the masses. The revolution in
computing in countries like India will also come through mobile
phones. What the personal computer did to offices and then to
masses in developed countries, mobile phones will do in devel-
oping countries.
India aims to have 250 million telephones and a teledensity of
22 per cent by 2007. Of these phones, around 180-200 million
phones are predicted to be mobiles and the public sector opera-
tors are expected to contribute about 50 per cent. The operators
would cover about 5 000 cities and towns within the next few
months. Thus, wireless phones would play an important role in
achieving the plan objective of telephone on demand. By the end
of 2007, the entire country should be carpeted by telecom
networks and all the villages should be connected by phone.
Internet connections shall increase from 5.45 million in
December 2004 to 18 million by 2007 and further to 40 million
at the end of 2010. By 2007, broadband connections are targeted
to reach nine million, with 20 million expected by 2010.
The introduction of 3G technology will enhance voice capacity,
data speeds, etc., which in turn will facilitate government e-initia-
tives such as e-governance, e-health and e-education. With
increasing competition, it is expected that the tariff rates will fall
further benefiting the consumers at large.
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