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World Telecom & Information Society Day: 17 May 2026

Dt: 14/5/26

World Telecom & Information Society Day: 17 May 2026

Telephones in India -2026

Dr T H Chowdary*

17^th of May every year is observed as World Telecom and Information Society Day by all  nations of the world as per advice of the  International Telecommunications Union (ITU).  The ITU was founded in 1865, much before the League of Nations (1920) and the United Nations ( 1945).  It has 194 countries  as Members  and thousands of telecom and  I.T corporations as associates.  Headed Quartered in Geneva, the ITU facilitates the  development of standards and exchange of experts for world-wide telecoms.

Dr T.H. Chowdary was engaged by the ITU for development of services in Guyana, Yemen, South Africa and Nepal.

This article is a brief exposition of the  status of telephone services in India.

In 1994 the first National Telcom Policy (NTP-1994) was announced in sequence  of Prime Minister Sri P V Narasimha Rao’s economic liberation policies. It ended government monopoly on the provision of telecom services.  The telephone situation in relation to population and  prosperity in 1994 and 2026 is:

*number per 100 people

2. In 1994, one had to spend as much as the whole year’s per capita income for an year’s telephone service; now in 2026; he has to spend 1/72 or 0.014% of his annual  income; that is why 87% of Indians have a Telephone in their hand.  The reason is abolition of monopoly of government; entry of competing private Telephone  companies the rate of telephones added  per month was staggering as below:

On 2 Feb 2012, the Supreme Court cancelled 122 licenses awarded in 2008 on the infamous “first -come-first” licensed  race by the DMK Minister, Andy Patti Raja.

3. At the height of competition there were about ten Telcos, some of them like Telenor (Norway) foreign ones.  Plenty of foreign investment and technology came into India’s telecom sector.  Through the natural process of acquisitions and mergers the weak ones disappeared and we are now left with two strong profit-making Private Telcos: Reliance Jio and Bharti Air Tel; a loss-making tottering P-Telco: Vodafone-Idea  (VI for short) and surviving with government help and two loss-making government Telcos (G-Telcos) the BSNL and MTNL .  

4. The Vodafone-Idea, the continuously money and subscriber losing company had a lot of what it owes to government, got converted into equity of the  government to the  extent of  a little less than 50% to stay private and some Rs. 80,000 cr to be paid  over a decade or more !

5. How can a subscriber and money-losing company for the last decade  ever pay off a huge debt is beyond belief.

6. One pleasant consequence of competition  is the continuously increasing speed and volume of information ( all digitized). Successive generations of technology, indicated by the letter “G” are delivering more information and  faster ( as indicate below) .

Note K = 1000 (kilo);  M= 1000,000 (Mega);  G=1,000,000,000 (Giga)

7. While P-Telcos Reliance Jio and Bharati Air Tel are offering 5G service, the rest are struggling to upgrade their 3G.

8. The ultimate proper out come appears to be:

·         Reliance Jio and Bharthi Air Tel will prosper and serve better and more.

·         Vodafone-Idea will convert more of its debt to government into equity becoming a        G-Telco (government Telco)

·         Government will become the benign holder of loss-making Telcos  -  BSNL, MTNL and Vodafone-Idea conferring immortality on them (The late Vasant Sathe’s pronouncement on PSUs)

9. Sri Vasant Sathe, former Communications Minister, GOI  on Public Sector Undertakings  : 

Academicians have attributed several traditional strengths to the public sector .

They primarily are:

-ability to survive without profit

-state-ownership gives them immortality

-wages and high bonuses can be paid even by continuously incurring losses

10. Some interesting  facts about telephones:

·         Telephones in the  world : app. 900 cr for 800 cr people

Ø  Telephones in India:

·         Tele-density in India: 87 phones for 100 people

·         Tele-density in Urban India: 132

·         Tele-density in Rural India: 59

·         Tele-density - Lowest : Bihar -65

·         Tele-density - Highest: Delhi 278; Himachal Pradesh: 174; Kerala:121

·         Tele-density in World: 112

Tail Piece: ARPU ( Average Revenue Per User per month )

R-Jio  & Bharti AirTel= Rs. 250

BSNL=Rs. 150

Vodafone=Rs. 186

(1,494 words)

END