The Cell Phone Revolution in India

The impact of the mobile phone in India could be compared to the invention of the iconic Colt revolver, according to Professor Robin Jeffrey from the National University of Singapore. Speaking on the University of Melbourne's weekly Up Close podcast, Professor Jeffrey said that the rapid spread of access to mobile phones in India was a great 'equaliser', and not too dissimilar to what happened with the Colt, a staple of many Western movies. 'It gives people, who previously had no capacity or very limited capacity to communicate, that capacity. Until 20 years ago, (the phone) was really regarded as an elite item. Now there are as many as 810 million mobile phones in India for a population of 1.2 billion people.' 'They can use this capacity, of course, for good things, bad things, democratic things, dictatorial things but it does level things out at least in one facet of life; certainly not in all facets but in one.' On this latest episode of Up Close, Professor Jeffrey discussed the rise in use of mobile phones and wireless technology across every facet of Indian society, from politics to courtship, banking to terrorism. 'I think the mobile banking story in India is just beginning. A good example is an organisation called EKO, which has about 200,000 banking customers and about 1200 outlets, but based in Delhi and in the eastern states of Jharkhand and Bihar.