Yet, doing so would boost efficiency and the development of new multi-billion-dollar industries. Music and movie downloads, IPTV, online gaming, telemedicine, e-commerce, online education and e-governance are almost totally dependent on consumers having cheap and easy access to high-speed Internet connections. Growth in these businesses can also help generate millions of jobs. According to a February 2006 report of the US Department of Commerce, broadband adds about 1-1.4 per cent to the employment growth rate and about 0.5-1.2 per cent to the growth of new establishments. More importantly, keeping India hooked to the Internet by slow dial-up lines is a weight around the national economy.

In The Lexus and the Olive Tree, Thomas Friedman talks about how rapid technological change will ensure that in the future, the dividing line between nations and their success will not be whether they are western or eastern, developed or undeveloped, but whether they are fast or slow. India has many of the characteristics necessary to be a fast and innovative nation — spirited entrepreneurs, resilient people, assimilative tendencies and a natural comfort with ambiguity. But slow Internet connectivity, high cost of broadband connections and the resultant tiny base of subscribers could convert the world’s second fastest growing economy into, well, a slow nation.

Elephantine Crawl
India has 2.52 million high-speed connections, compared to 60 million and 55 million for the US and China, respectively. At least 50 per cent connections in India are with corporates; consumer broadband is barely 1.3 million. But there is a sleight of hand even in these dismal numbers. India follows an archaic definition of broadband, using the term to describe any Internet connection that moves data at more than 256 kbps (kilobits per second). This is not enough to download movies, use Internet telephones, etc. To the rest of the world, a broadband connection must be at least 2 mbps (megabits per second). By that definition, India has only about 400,000 high-speed lines. What’s more, broadband providers such as Bharat Sanchar Nigam Limited (BSNL) and Reliance charge Rs 3,300 per month for a 2-mbps connection — itself a rare commodity. That is nearly five times what a similar line costs in Japan and South Korea, and more than three times what it costs in the US.