Looking back, looking ahead

— Arvind Bali

As India becomes one of the fastest-growing telecom markets in the world, it is interesting to trace the momentous journey of the Indian telecom ecosystem as it evolved into the giant entrepreneurial venture that it is now. Its growth into a significant contributor to India’s GDP (about 5.3%) was mainly because of the unforeseen hike of tele-density and the sudden decline in tariffs. The telecommunication sector has helped accelerate the growth of other areas of the Indian economy, along with the IT sector. 1851 in Calcutta, as it was an essential city in the British Raj. It was in 1881 that telephone services were first introduced in the country. The call rates were insanely high at that time, as we did not have enough phone lines laid, and it was a rarity for families to have a landline in their houses. India saw calls transition from an absurd rate of Rs. 16 per minute to the unlimited calls pack that exists today.

kilogram and were virtually indestructible. This is a sharp contrast to the extremely light and fragile smartphones that we carry around these days. The mobile device itself was a strange new thing for a long time – its alternatives at that time were pagers. Cameras, music devices and calculators were all sold separately back before the telecom industry blew up. Now, in a single device, we can do a plethora of functions that negates the need for any other device whatsoever.

Data on our phone lets us play games, send and receive social media messages, and helps us keep our life together on our smartphones. Data does not cost much these days, but there was a time when customers got bills that would put them in crippling debt if they forgot to switch their data off. Of course, this only happened when the plans were post-paid, but these days you can get amazing offers like an inclusive international pack for just three thousand bucks a month.