Ask any telecom commentator in India about the success of the industry in the country and he will probably start extolling the reach of mobile telephony in India — 500 million active connections and 15-20 million new ones being added every month. Interrupt him to ask the number of Indian broadband Internet users and the voice often turns into a mumble — 7.5 million.
(This story appears in the 05 February, 2010 issue of Forbes India. To visit our Archives, click here.)
It is interesting when one reads the articles in this issue around 3G, Broadband and finally - "The Pirates Rule the Seas". The proliferation and usage of internet in India is prominently for illegal content. On the contrary, little content is available when one needs to search for restraunts in the neighbourhood with an online menu or availability of a book at a store. The focus on infrastructure (broadband) without the content is comparable to the auto industry where the cars get better but the infrastructure (roads) to run them is neglected. Focus on e-commerce and availability of online services is the key to broadband subscription growth.
on Feb 6, 2010Regarding Ramadhyani's comment, I believe the prohibitively high cost of broadband in India (along with unreliable connections) is responsible for the lack of local content and information. Not everyone with a PC is able to effectively use the internet to share and give information due to slow connections. There is no good reason why mobile is so cheap and broadband so expensive - there needs to be more competition among internet providers to lower costs for consumers.
on Mar 4, 2010