July 1994 ...as if it was yesterday
In this special issue, Voice & Data recaps the industry highlights from the last 20 years
Based out of Bangalore, I was then managing the Southern Region’s editorial operations for Dataquest and PCQuest. For sometime there was this whiff in the air that we are launching a telecom magazine because the telecom services sector is being liberalized and private players will soon be allowed.
I was quite excited that I will have the opportunity to report on telecom also, although some of my cautious friends believed that IT and telecom have no connection at all.
And then one day my editor Ishan Ranjan called me up from Delhi to fix meetings with heads of some of the telecom equipment companies in Bangalore. We were launching the magazine simultaneously with the announcement of India’s first National Telecom Policy of 1994.
The launch was very interesting. For each meeting, we also carried a box of live pegions - one of the early carriers of messages. And after each meeting, the CEO would walk up to his window or come out in the open, and let the pegions free. Communications was being freed, after being under state control for years.
The journey for Voice&Data has been filled with action - every day and every bit of it - ever since. We have been enjoying every moment as we chronicled the industry, with all its ups and downs. And a big reason for our journey being successful is the support we got from our readers.
The following 20 pages are seen from Voice&Data’s perspective. It covers basically things which the young and enthusiastic team of Voice&Data saw as significant and important for coverage at that respective point of time. So there might be some `big things’ which we might have missed out. That is a gamble everyone takes, journalists included.
How these 20 years passed ! From 85 lakh phones fixed at offices and homes used only for talking in 1994, we now have 85 crore phones used for voice, data, video, and a range of critical services. From a time when my parents waited for 10 years to get their phone connection at home in 1994 to now when you can get a mobile connection sitting at home at a 1 hour notice.
We have a covered these very exciting 20 years, but I am sure that the next 20 years would be very very very excit- ing. Specially from the point of view of technology and applications.
Look forward to continuing the journey with you.
In the ensuing pages of this special issue, Voice&Data recaps the highlights from the last 20 years.