Telecom boom spawns a revolution that is changing lives of Indians in a variety of ways

RING TRUE: While Sejwal takes orders on his mobile (left), Prakash keeps in touch with her charge's mother on the cellIn June 2005, 20 lakh Indians picked up a mobile phone connection-that's 66,666 new users a day.Welcome to India unplugged. The country may have entered the wire-free world relatively late but it took just two years for mobile firms to lure 4.1 crore users, while landline connections rose by just 45 lakh. Last year, mobile users exceeded landline users and the gap is widening daily. The reason is obvious - a cell now costs as little as Rs 1,500 compared to Rs 30,000 a decade ago. Need more?Well, Telecom Minister Dayanidhi Maran says one-fourth of India could have phone connections by 2007.All this is not something Harihar Das understands. But the barely educated fishmonger from Guwahati understands supply and demand. Every morning, while he makes his way to the wholesale fish mandi, his nephews and grandchildren spread out in the main markets of the city. Their mission is to keep track of the availability of fish and pass the information to a mobile-toting Das so that he can take his day's purchase straight to the areas where the product is in short supply..preferred-source-banner{ margin-top: 10px; margin-bottom:10px;}The 55-year-old hit upon this innovative business plan when his son returned from Mumbai two years ago, a cell in hand. "That's when I realised that instead of wasting a day in an overcrowded market, I could use the mobile to sell more fish, and save time and effort in the bargain. I now make a profit of around Rs 100 every single day," he says.Around 2,000 km away, vegetable vendor Ashok Kumar Sejwal decided to pick up his Nokia cell four years ago, despite a landline connection in his stall. The 35-year-old Delhiite has the same logic. "Most customers don't like to come here themselves. CELL SELL: Bashir does business on the mobile while Das tracks fish availability on his phoneTo take their order for home delivery, a mobile was necessary and unlike the landline phone, it does not cease to function from time to time," says Sejwal. The bottom line: since 2001, business has increased by over 40 per cent.Across the city, in a small alley of Noida, Bashir, a 32-year-old kabadiwala, is busy talking on his mobile with prospective buyers, so busy that he insists, quite curtly, that he has "no time for interviews". These are just three examples. Across India, the telecom boom has spawned a revolution that is changing the lives of Indians in a variety of ways. Once a flashy toy to be flaunted by the urban affluent, it has now become a tool for business development and is moving across population segments that just five years ago were off the radars of telecom operators.According to Manoj Kohli, president mobility, Bharti Tele-Ventures, the current market leader, "Mobile phones will soon be a mass product in India. Already fixed line phones cover less than 5 per cent of the population. But the government must take steps to cut taxes, among the highest in the world, so that more people can afford a mobile." Kohli also recommends encouraging local manufacture of handsets, which will bring down their prices even further.10 crore telephone connections are in India Today, of which 5.73 crore are mobile users.20 lakh mobile subscribers are added every month, second only to china which adds 45 lakh a month.900 per cent is increase in tele-density, even after accounting for the rise in India's population since 1993.6,000 rupees is the cost in added infrastructure for a new mobile user compared to rs 24,000 for a landline. A big reason for the mobile boom is that the market is not as weighed down by bureaucratic regulations as the landline - the latter still requires a fixed address but for a mobile, the employer's address will suffice. It is this factor that prompted Ram Bhatt to invest in a mobile early this year. "I am a barber but since I don't have a shop of my own, I go to customers' houses," he says. Till last year, the 50-year-old barber would call on regular clients but of every 10 houses he called on, only two or three people would want a haircut. In the bargain he spent a huge chunk of his earnings on commuting. All this changed with his mobile. "Now my phone number is handed down from one satisfied customer to another," he beams.Sometimes, though, status symbolism meets utilitarianism and a competitive advantage is born. As in the hands of 22-yearold Sheetal Prakash. A nanny to an army officer's toddler, Prakash, who came to Delhi from Nainital after dropping out of high school, says, "Ayahs like me are dime a dozen here. So what special quality do I have that other domestics don't? That's when I decided to buy a mobile. Now I can be reached any time and that makes my employers feel more confident about me." But why so pricey a model? "Because even losers can afford cells now," she says.Innovative ideas are not limited to individuals alone. Take Shyam Telelink, which has introduced mobile rickshaws in Rajasthan. These tricycles, fitted with a mobile, are driven by physically challenged drivers. Village postmen have been carrying BSNL mobiles since 2002 to offer calls along their routes. Is it a wonder then that analysts now claim that when it comes to bridging the digital divide between the rich and the poor, it is the mobile, not the PC, that everyone is betting on?Published By: AtMigration Published On: Nov 30, 1999--- ENDS ---

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Telecom boom spawns a revolution that is changing lives of Indians in a variety of ways

In June 2005, 20 lakh Indians picked up a mobile phone connection-that's 66,666 new users a day.Welcome to India unplugged. The country may have entered the wire-free world relatively late but it took just two years for mobile firms to lure 4.1 crore users.

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