All thanks to Rajiv Gandhi and Sam Pithroda, computers were introduced in India and from there on the success started.
Sent from my iPhone > On 06-Apr-2018, at 7:31 AM, V M <vmin...@gmail.com> wrote: > > https://epaper.timesgroup.com/Olive/ODN/TimesOfIndia/shared/ShowArticle.aspx?doc=TOIGO%2F2018%2F04%2F06&entity=Ar00800&sk=CFE86429&mode=text > > Catapulting ahead of the rest of the world, India is now by far the > largest consumer of digital data via mobile smartphones. Today, the > country uses over 1.3 gigabytes (GB) per month. That’s more than the > data usage of China and the USA combined, which is the result of a > staggering growth rate over the past three years. Just last week, the > Department of Telecom (DoT) posted on Twitter, “Average data usage per > subscriber grew 25 times from 62 MB per month in 2014 to 1.6 GB per > month in 2017.” In tandem, there is an equally spectacular rise in the > number of broadband users, from 61 million in March 2014 to 325 > million in September 2017. We are experiencing a dramatic > technological revolution, with far-reaching effects for every possible > dimension of politics, society, culture and the economy. > > Affordability is one main reason for the seemingly unstoppable surge > in Indian data usage. Over the past three years, mobile internet > tariffs have plunged over 90% to the lowest levels in the world, with > a host of ambitious competitors bringing rates down to the range of > just Rs. 4 per GB per day. This has translated into an explosion in > demand. The DoT says, “Average data usage per subscriber grew 25 times > from 62 MB per month in 2014 to 1.6 GB per month in 2017.” Now global > content providers like Netflix and Amazon are readying themselves to > exploit a potential goldmine. When the latter inaugurated its video > services in India, more new users signed up in its first year than in > any other country. > > Nested right alongside this dizzying growth is another marvellous > success story. That is the exponential buildout of mobile phone > manufacturing in multiple locations. Just last week, the Indian > Cellular Association wrote to Telecom minister Manoj Sinha and IT > minister Ravi Shankar Prasad, ‘India has now emerged the second > largest producer of mobile handset by volume.” While China still > remains the dominant global player, India has quickly passed Vietnam > and now accounts for 11% of global mobile production, which is an > impressive jump from just 3% in 2014. Next year, the industry aims to > achieve production of 500 million mobile handsets, with a value close > to $50 billion. > > The stunning story of Indian telecom stands out particularly starkly > because so much of the rest of the heavily-touted ‘Make in India” > policy campaign has sputtered unevenly, after the twin shocks of > demonetization and the poorly implemented GST regime. While foreign > direct investment is at record levels, including significant emphasis > on manufacturing, an atmosphere of anxiety continues to reign. At last > calculation (around six months ago) the value of stalled manufacturing > projects in India was over $200 billion. Meanwhile, products made in > China dominate countless market segments across the country despite > transportation costs and tariffs upwards of 10%. > > Here it should be noted that India’s fantastically cheap mobile data > has not yet resulted in any appreciable improvements in the overall > quality of service available. According to Ookla, makers of the most > popular and accessible network speed tests, India ranks a lowly 67th > in the world for fixed broadband speeds, and an abysmal 109th in terms > of mobile internet speeds with an average of just 9 megabits per > second (Mbps). For comparison, Norway (1 in the world) averages 62 > Mbps. Even right across the border, China ranks averaged 34 Mbps (26th > in the world) while India is also behind Sri Lanka (82nd) and Pakistan > (92nd). > > Ever since the Internet became widely available to the public, > analysts have predicted that this “information superhighway” would > have the greatest impact in India. This is because decades of poor > infrastructure development – physical, political, economic and social > – could potentially be neutralized, in one great leap to digital > technology. Policy makers have been talking excitedly about this > possibility for decades, but nothing of the sort ever happened, as > computer penetration remained negligible per capita. > > Now, all of a sudden, everything is changing, and all we really know > is this is a huge inflection point reverberating like an earthquake in > the global marketplace. Last week, YouTube reported it has 225 million > active monthly users from India. Indians on Facebook are the single > largest national contingent. These are unprecedented events. Future > generations are certain to point back in time to this precise moment, > when hundreds of millions of young Indians came into the global > marketplace, given access by a technological revolution. Together, > they are going to make history.