Telecom War: India vs. China

China is mixed bag; it is being promoted at the cost of internal dissensions. It is hailed as the model of communism mixing up with capitalism and therefore, the “most happening country in Asia”. Sarcasm apart, China is groaning and creaking under the weight of its own lopsided policies.

The Hindu (newspaper) makes a pertinent point to project China, come what may. Their panels of “intelligent people” are willing to ignore the ground realities and instead focus on the huge shopping malls and buildings coming in. As globalization spreads its tentacles in there, traditional Chinese way of life is being destroyed. Of course, keeping a tight lid “behind the iron curtain” is the state media.

A recent report insists that Chinese have taken to Short Message Service (SMS for short) in a big way. Further insists,” China’s telephone subscriber base has touched 674 million, including 325 million fixed line phones and 349 million cellular phones, both occupying first place in the world”.

Even if half the numbers are true, India is way behind the numbers. There has been enough controversy about the numbers, rather than actual usage. This is one area where we clearly fall behind China. Given the current juvenile fascination with comparing India and China on the world stage and crop of “analysts” springing up to offer their “insights”, there is an enormous room for skepticism here.

The details for their Telecom Regulation are sketchy. One could really take comfort in numbers for us. It is a classic story of missed opportunities. 50+ years and we are grappling for decent infrastructure.

This post was submitted by Dr. Abhishek Puri on the Broadband Blog on Techwhack.