India’s telecommunications infrastructure story is remarkable in many respects. It used to be a public sector monopoly not too long ago. Waiting time was measured in years and the service was as poor as the price was high. Things changed rapidly after the sector was liberalized and the private sector was allowed to provide telephone services. As there was practically no wire-line phone system to speak of in the early 90s — around 20 million phone lines for a population close to a billion — the legacy burden was entirely missing. Cellular technology effectively allowed India to leapfrog the older twisted wire landline system. Vigorous competition brought prices that are among the cheapest in the world.
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Day: October 20, 2008
Ramachandra Guha on Sri Sri Ravi Shankar’s Longings for a Nobel Prize
It’s been a while since I wrote a post on SSRS. To remedy that neglect, here’s something about the man.
Ram Guha wrote a funny entry in his Oslo diary with the title “Nobel Longings.” (Thanks to Sushant for the link.)
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Lee Kuan Yew on PURA
In an article in the Business Line titled “Kalam’s PURA will not work,” Lee Kuan Yew makes the case for urbanization of the population for India to develop.
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Life is a Random Draw 