The India story: An ongoing digital journey of joining India with Bharat

The discussion at a recent Business Standard meeting centred around the overwhelming impact of artificial intelligence (AI) on everything, from information technology to healthcare and hospitality. While nobody could say with certainty how it would play out — would it eat up jobs or generate employment or do both? — there was no doubt that AI would transform the way we live and work, perhaps far more quickly than the connectivity revolution of the past 25 years.

 

That revolution came gradually, before turning into a tide. 

Whether it’s the march from 2G to 5G telecom service, the transition from local kirana to on-tap quick commerce, the growing popularity of UPI payments, the phenomenal dependence on virtual meetings to keep WFH (the pandemic-necessitated ‘working from home’) going, or ditching the big screen for OTTs, the connectivity revolution has today changed the game, empowering everyone with a smartphone in remarkable ways. 

It all began five years before the dawn of 2000, when mobile phone service entered India. On July 31, 1995, Jyoti Basu, then the chief minister of West Bengal, made the country’s first cellphone call, from Writers’ Building in Kolkata to then telecom minister Sukhram in New Delhi. 

The turn of the century ushered in an era of communications convergence.  

The Draft Communications Convergence Bill, 2000, the outcome of numerous high-level meetings involving several ministries and subsequently, a group of ministers chaired by then finance minister Yashwant Sinha, sought to offer a regulatory framework for the convergence of the broadcasting, internet and telecom services. The proposed legislation was inspired by similar legal frameworks in countries such as the US and Malaysia. 

The Convergence Bill, which was introduced in the Lok Sabha in August 2001 and went through several rounds of heated debates, was eventually put into cold storage. The Atal Behari Vajpayee-led National Democratic Alliance government faced opposition from several political parties over the Bill, which was meant to help the converged multimedia technologies meet social and commercial goals. Which ministry would be the administrative authority for dealing with issues related to convergence became a contentious issue that could not be resolved in a coalition setup. Perhaps, convergence was an idea whose time had not come yet. 

Sujit Kumar, founding chairman of the Confederation of Indian Industry’s (CII’s) National Broadband Committee, recalls his experience with convergence back in 1996, when a broadcast legislation was being framed. At that time, Kumar was the managing director of Sony Pictures Entertainment. As technology evolved, there was a need for a convergence law — an idea, which, however, failed to get necessary political backing. 

Neither the government nor the industry, though, wanted to miss the internet wave that had already become an empowering tool abroad. Over the next eight years, Kumar witnessed the transition from a broadcasting law to a broadband policy, which came about in 2004. From then to now, he says, the ecosystem for a convergence economy has come together. “Telecom,” he adds, “is at the core of it.’’ 

Sunil Bharti Mittal, founder and chairman of Bharti Enterprises, the man who has been at the forefront of the telecom and connectivity revolution, believes that the explosion of digital services has made telecom an inextricable part of everyday life. Mittal says: “The Indian telecom sector is characterised by a strong vision to accelerate connectivity across the length and breadth of the country.’’ He adds that “Airtel has been at the forefront of this revolution, steadfast in its mission to enable digital empowerment.’’   

While Airtel has been a leader in the Indian telecom space for the longest period, the entry of Reliance Jio is often credited for sparking a connectivity revolution with rock bottom tariffs that became an industry norm. 

Arvind Singhal, founder and chairman of Technopak Advisors, a business consulting firm, lists three major interconnected events between 2000 and 2024 that made “an incredible impact on India’’. One was the launch of Reliance Jio in 2015, “making mobile telephony and data affordable and accessible to most of India and Indians’’. The other two, he says, were Y2K, which led to the globalisation of the IT sector, and the launch of UPI in 2016, which fast-tracked digital financial inclusion for all of India.           

Convergence happened, enabled by technology, if not by legislation, Kumar points out. He recalls how connectivity between India and Bharat used to be a reference point at the broadband committee meetings. The idea of a connectivity revolution came more from Korea, Japan and China rather than the US and Europe, which, it was felt, were not doing it right at that time, he says.   

The low subscriber numbers for mobile telephony reveal why convergence didn’t take off in the early 2000s. In 2000, mobile telephony penetration (not tracked in an organised manner) was limited to a few millions, and internet subscription was negligible. A 2017 report brought out by the Telecom Regulatory Authority of India (Trai) to commemorate its 20 years shows that in 1997, the total number of phone subscribers was estimated to be a little over 14.5 million. In 2017, this figure stood at 1.5 billion. The report also shows that there were 391 million internet subscribers at the end of 2016, of which 236 million were using broadband. 

Fast forward to 2024. From a few millions in 2000, the number of mobile telephony subscribers has shot up to over 1.1 billion (as of October 2024). From negligible internet subscribers in 2000, the broadband user base stands at over 941 million (as of October 2024), of which some 896.81 million are mobile broadband users. 

As for connecting India and Bharat, urban teledensity was an estimated 131.31 per cent against 58.39 per cent for rural in October 2024, for when the latest Trai data is available.         

Bharti Group’s Mittal, who is now waiting to start a fresh connectivity revolution through satellite telecom once the spectrum allocation row settles, says: “Building on the rapid adoption of 5G, new-age technologies like AI are poised to play a pivotal role in driving innovation across industries, improving efficiency and transforming the way we live and work.’’ He cites the example of Airtel, which recently launched an AI-powered fraud detection tool using algorithms to identify and classify calls and messages as suspected spam. 

According to Mittal, through harnessing the power of emerging technologies such as AI and satellite communication, along with its strong startup ecosystem, “India is expected to propel towards becoming a $1 trillion digital economy by 2028’’. Elaborating on the way ahead for the connectivity revolution, Mittal says: “The growth in mobile and broadband penetration would further deepen financial inclusion, aligning with the government’s vision of the JAM Trinity to empower citizens, improve access to services and enable seamless digital transaction, thereby driving India’s digital transformation.’’       

All of this would translate into a greater demand for services such as digital entertainment, online education and telemedicine, as well as disaster response. Everything would be built on “enhanced mobile and internet connectivity,’’ Mittal says. 

There are roadblocks on the way, though. 

Kumar says though mobile broadband has been a huge achievement, “the accrual of benefit has been substantially different, primarily due to device pricing and literacy necessary for its proper utilisation’’. This has limited its benefits in areas like education and health to the underserved – both in socio-economic classification and geographical contexts. “Suitable policies, funding and interventions are necessary to bring about true convergence between India and Bharat in the information and communication technologies-centric livelihood,” he says. “It ought to graduate to becoming a fundamental right.’’

The next quarter of this century could determine this trajectory.