1839 To Independence

The East India Company SIZE="2">

alt="Coat of Arms issued to East India Company." align="left"> SIZE="2">The seeds for a strong telecommunication infrastructure was first sowed in India

by the East India Company. It was quite appropriate that the first great enterprise that

came to trade in India also brought with it the technologies which would in future become

the basic infrastructure for commerce, trade, and business. Although, of course, at that

time, telecommunication was for quite a different purpose. It was a symbol of British

monopoly–both politically and economically–over India.

The East India Company,

which in 1600 started off as a small band of London merchants trading in spices and other

exotica, soon saw in India a political opening and started a series of military conquests,

thus paving the way for the establishment of a vast empire called the British empire of

which India was to be the "jewel in the crown". By 1834, while this body was

still a company with shareholders and directors, the East India Company had ceased to be a

trading company alone, and had become the authorized ruler of the Indian sub-continent and

various other kingdoms in the near about regions. It was somewhere in this scheme of

control over the vast regions that the need of a communication infrastructure was first

felt.

The world, and Britain in

specific, during the early 19th century was the test-bed of various experiments in the

field of telecommunications. And it was not a matter of coincidence that experiments in

telegraphy took off in India at almost the same time as in other parts of the world. The

oldest record found of telecommunications in India was as early as 1839. Dr

WBO’Shaughnessy, a doctor of medicine, carried experiments in electric telegraphy in

1839 in Calcutta. While similar experiments were being conducted in England by Charles

Wheatstone and William Cooke. This was also a time when Samuel Morse was yet to invent the

telegraph code.

The First Great Experiment SIZE="2">

Telegraph service became

available to the public in 1855. In 1850, the East India Company got sanctions from its

Board of Directors to construct a telegraph line between Calcutta and Diamond Harbour. The

Indian Telegraph Department was formed. Under the leadership of Shaughnessy, a team

started the construction of this line on 5 November 1850. The circuit commenced

functioning on 4 October 1851. And consequently, the first telecommunication line between

Calcutta and Kedgeree was opened for traffic on 29 March 1852, primarily for official use.

It was the beginning of large-scale construction of telegraph lines. In 1853, the success

of the telegraph system pushed Lord Dalhousie, the then Governor General, to persuade the

Board of Directors to give further sanctions for construction of telegraph lines linking

the important towns of India. And in 1855 the public finally got to use the telegraph.

This event was a fitful inauguration of telecommunication in the region. In the beginning,

the needle system was in place. But soon with the increasing popularity of Samuel

Morse’s invention, Dr Shaughnessy decided to introduce the Morse code system in India

too. During those days, the operators were trained in England and posted in India. This

team first trained in needle system operation and later in Morse code and came to be known

as Morse Assistants.

alt="The telegraph map of India, 1855." align="right"> SIZE="2">On the historical side, during this period, the fire of independence had made its

first appearance in the Indian heart since the East India Company started forcing its

dominion over one kingdom after another. This fire transformed into a flame when in 1857

"The First War of Independence" was led by a group of Indian leaders–among

them were Bahadur Shah Zafar, Rani Lakshmi Bai, and Nana Saheb–against the colonial

rulers.

Interestingly, the infant

telegraph network came to the rescue of the British. While news of the uprising took many

days to reach the UK via "fast-sailing boats", Lord Dalhousie experienced for

the first time the great use of the network which he had helped put up. With fast

communication between its various headquarters, the British succeeded in quelling the

flame of rebellion. Later, Dalhousie was to state, "Electric telegraph saved

India!"

Though telegraphy in India

was still in its infancy, the first exercise was a watershed in the history of Indian

telecom. The British administration realized the vital potential of communication and gave

out the go-ahead for all-out support for its development in India. The First War of Indian

Independence had its effect in that the East India Company ceased to exist and the British

Government took over the administration. It also gave way to the birth of overseas

communication. The British felt the need of a direct link between London and India. Dr

Shaughnessy, who was later knighted for his efforts, reminisces his great effort in the

General Report of the Electric Telegraph, 1857-58 in India, "It is now just twenty

years since I erected the first long line of telegraph ever constructed in the world. The

subject has been my occupation or pastime ever since and circumstances have enabled me to

extend that line from 20 to over 10,000 miles."

The Inter-continental Link SIZE="2">

About one-and-a-half

decade later, yet another novel exercise took off. The laying of cables from England to

India both via land and undersea took off. At this time, sending a letter from London to

Calcutta took nearly 30 days. A telegraph line connecting India with Great Britain became

a necessity considering the increasing significance of the colony. Though telegraphy was

already partly possible between England and India, the communication was slow and not

directly reaching India. The Turkish State landlines running from Constantinople to Fao in

the Persian Gulf via Baghdad was the sole provider. In 1862, the Indo-European Telegraph

Department, directly reporting to the Secretary of State in England, was formed. Patrick

Stewart was made the Director General. The objective of this department was to link the

existing telegraph network in India which extended up to Karachi with the line in Baghdad

which would join the Turkish landline in Tehran. The alternate plan was to have a

sub-marine cable from India terminate at Bushire, near Fao, in the Persian Gulf. From

there link the cable to the Turkish state line in Tehran. The first telegraphic

communication between England and India was made on 27 January 1865 via the land route.

The time taken for transmission of a message between the two regions had come down from

over a month to less than a week.

The German Connection SIZE="2">

alt="A tariff book of the Indo European Telegraph Company." align="left"> face="Times New Roman" SIZE="2">In 1868, an enterprising German Engineer, Werner Von

Siemens, came to the scene. In March that year, he formed the Indo-European Telegraph

Company in Germany to build an over-land telegraph link from England to Tehran via Germany

and South Russia. To embark on this huge project, he collaborated with various

administrations including the Indo-European Telegraph Department of the Government of

India. The construction of this line soon took off along the route of London, Emden,

Berlin, Torun, Warsaw, Odessa, Kerch, Tibilisi, and Tehran. From Tehran, this

trans-continental line extended to Bushire from where it joined the Indian government line

in Karachi through a sub-marine cable link under the Persian Gulf. After two years of

construction, the 11,000 km Indo-European line from London to Calcutta opened in 1870. The

line which was partly overhead transmission line and partly sub-marine cable was able to

send a despatch from London to Tehran within a minute, while a despatch to Calcutta took

only 28 minutes–a great improvement by those day’s standards. SIZE="2">

At the same time, the

Great Northern Telegraph Company installed another telegraph line from the Atlantic shore

to the Pacific shore across Europe and Asia.

These two great

expeditions also laid the foundations of two big modern corporations, namely Siemens and

Northern Telecom.

alt="A submarine cable used by Pender and his men." align="right"> face="Times New Roman" SIZE="2">Also in 1868, one of the largest railway networks got

established, when the Indian Railways flagged off the first train in the history of India

from Ambala to Delhi.

Under The Sea SIZE="2">

The successful testing of

the insulating effect of the "gutta percha" by Michael Faraday had paved the way

for its use in sub-marine cables. Soon man breached the obstacle posed by the seas. A

number of sub-marine cables got laid in various seas, culminating in the laying of the

Trans-Atlantic cable by Great Eastern in 1866.

alt="Cable being laid at Spezzia by Mediterranean Telegraph Company." align="right">

alt="Cable-laying ships, late 19th century.">

alt="Insignia of the British Indian Submarine Telegraph Company." align="left"> src="falmagib.gif" width="300" height="216"

alt="The cable from Malta and Gibraltar landing at Porthcumo in England." align="right"> face="Times New Roman" SIZE="2">On the Asian and Indian side too, the activity was not

less. The House of Commons in October 1866 recommended the Government to connect Bombay to

Alexandria by a sub-marine cable via Aden. In 1868, the first major sub-marine cable got

laid between Malta and Alexandria by the Anglo-Mediterranean Telegraph Company. A year

later, in 1869, with the creation of British Indian Submarine Telegraph Company and

Falmouth Gibraltar and Malta Telegraph Company, Sir John Pinder made his intention clear

of linking England to India by an under-sea cable. WT Henley, the captain of Great Eastern

took the job of laying the Persian Gulf Cable. The Bombay-Aden-Suez sub-marine link was

linked to Alexandria over land. In 1870, the legendary "Great Eastern" laid the

Bombay-Suez portion of the cable. The Bombay-London line was completed, when later that

year the Alexandria-Malta-Gibraltar portion of the cable finally landed at Porthcumo in

England. On 23 June 1870, the first cable from India over this link was received by Sir

John Pender on Sir William Thompson’s siphon recorder. The next day, on 24 June 1872,

the line was opened to traffic. This marked the beginning of overseas communication in

India.

The Eastern Telegraph Company SIZE="2">

alt="Celebration on the opening of the first submarine cable to India." align="left"> face="Times New Roman" SIZE="2">In 1872, many small telegraph companies were merged to

form the Eastern Telegraph Company, the pride of the British Empire then. Sir John Pinder

became its chairman while Sir James Anderson, the captain who laid the Trans-Atlantic

cable, its general manager. The British India Extension Telegraph Company which had been

formed a few years back laid a 1,800 mile sub-marine cable from Madras to Penang to

Singapore, which was completed in December 1870. This line was opened to traffic on 5

January 1871. So, even at its start, the Eastern Telegraph Company was safely the biggest

telco at that time. Shooting telegrams bearing the hologram "Via Eastern", this

company, in 1872, owned 8,860 miles of cable, owned or rented 1,200 miles of landline, had

24 stations and two repair ships. Its capital was £3,397,000 and gross annual revenue was

£376,900. "Forty million pounds of capital has been sunk at the bottom of the

sea," recalled Sir Pender later, adding, "Where it has been sunk, it

lives."

By 1877, the British

Indian Submarine had 60 percent of telegram traffic to India and 80 percent from India to

China, Java, and Australia. In 1878, a Joint Purse agreement between the British Indian,

the Indo-European and the Indian Government was signed. The Central Telegraph office was

constructed at Flora Fountain in Bombay in 1869 and remained even after Indian

independence as the hub of telecommunications operations.

alt="John Pender, founder of Eastern Telegraph." align="right"> face="Times New Roman" SIZE="2">The Victorian sub-marine telegraph cable network was to

the East with major cable chains to India, Australia, and Africa. With the West Indies and

South America soon getting linked by sub-marine cables, the small companies, set up to lay

cables in the Western hemisphere, were taken over by the Eastern Telegraph Company. And

the company soon adopted a group name, The Eastern and Associated Telegraph Companies. SIZE="2">

alt="Eastern and Associated Telegraph Company's logo." align="left"> face="Times New Roman" SIZE="2">By 1920, there were four cables to Bombay and one to

Ceylon. By 1929, there were three cables from Madras to Penang. By the time of the First

World War, the Eastern operated six out of the nine lines of communication with India and

the Far East. During the war, the upsurge of traffic and inoperability of the

Indo-European land-lines which passed through enemy territory led to traffic with India

and the Far East being transferred to the Eastern Telegraph Company. This large

corporation remained in existence until the formation of Cable & Wireless and Imperial

and International Communications Ltd in 1929.

The Entry Of Telephone ...

The Birth Of Congress

alt="Cover commemorating Eastern Telegraph Company, 1922." align="left"> face="Times New Roman" SIZE="2">The desire of man to transmit voice over distance gave way

to the invention of the telephone in 1876 in the US. Messiers Alexander Graham Bell called

out his assistant Watson accidentally and the voice was transmitted on the talking machine

which he was experimenting. And a new era in communication dawned.

The telephone soon reached

Indian shores, when the Oriental Telephone Company was set up. In 1881, the company was

licensed by the Government of India to establish telephone exchanges in Calcutta, Madras,

Bombay, Rangoon, and Karachi. Eighteen eighty-two was the year when the first telephone

exchange was commissioned and the public got to use this wonderful machine. That year,

India saw the installation of exchanges in the five towns. Bombay had 90 subscribers,

Calcutta 102, Madras 24, Rangoon 17, and Karachi 11. The licence of operating the service

in Calcutta exchanged hands and the Bengal Telephone Corporation was born. This company

had an impressive record and had 11 exchanges existing and more than 19,000 Direct

Exchange Lines (DELs) as of 31 December 1945. Though a few years back, in 1943, the Posts

& Telegraph Department of the Government of India took over this service. SIZE="2">

alt="Some Indian telegrams, 1920-1930." align="right"> SIZE="2">Though the first struggle for independence was successfully crushed down by the

British in 1857, the spirit of independence never died in the Indian hearts. The advent of

education and modern science also saw the emergence of young enterprising men. Mohandas

Karamchand Gandhi, Jawaharlal Nehru, and Sardar Patel were a few of these enlightened

souls. And "Freedom is our birthright" and "Vande Mataram" were few of

the cries that rang out in the streets. India had woken up to the call of Swami

Vivekananda, "Arise, awake, and stop not till the goal is reached." The Indian

National Congress was formed in 1885. The struggle for independence was nearing its

climax.

The press was also born

during this period. The basic infrastructure of a nation was being established on all

sides. The call of the leaders of the freedom struggle reached far and across the country

despite a series of bans and censorship. Ironically, the modern technologies that

the British brought into the country for ruling over the natives came as a help to many of

these struggles. The movement and communication of the public was far improved by the turn

of the century. And the press also benefited from telecommunication facilities like the

telegraph and the telephone. But still many of these facilities were largely in the hands

of the rulers. And they were still the tools of colonialism.

Wireless And The Indian

Radio Telegraph Company

The almost half-a-century

monopoly of the cable telegraphy ended towards the break of the new century. Historians of

telecommunications consider this development as an epoch-making event. Marconi’s

wireless telegraphy system was a trend-setter for today’s digital cellular phones and

pagers. In 1900, Marconi’s Wireless Telegraph Company was formed. And by 1927, Post

Office Beam Services had reached India.

alt="A wireless station at Sommerton, UK, used for overseas transmission." align="left"> SIZE="2" face="Times New Roman">Nineteen twenty-two had marked a watershed year, when for

the first time, a group of Indian entrepreneurs got together to consider the formation of

an Indian company for the purpose of establishing wireless service between India and the

UK. In October 1923, the venture got registered under the name Indian Radio Telegraph

Company. The Indian pioneers who embarked upon this enterprise were Sir Rahimtoola Chinoy,

Sir Cusrow Wadia, Sir Ness Wadia, Sir Ibrahim Rahimtoola, and Sir Purushotamdas Thakurdas.

Necessary licences were obtained from the Government of India and the UK and also from the

Marconi’s Wireless Telegraph Company of London. The agreement of establishment of the

company was signed on 24 February. Dighi-Kirkee and Dhond both near Pune were chosen as

the transmitting and receiving stations, respectively. The Central Telegraph Office in

Bombay housed the controlling traffic department. And finally the day of reckoning came.

On 23 July 1927, Lord Irwin flashed the inaugural message to King George V in England. The

inauguration of Wireless Telegraph Service is a landmark in the history of Indian

telecommunication.

Indian Radio And Cable

Communications Company

Interestingly, the rivalry

between cable and wireless had its birth in the invention of wireless telegraphy.

Marconi’s invention led to huge losses of income on the part of Eastern Telegraph

Company. On 6 July 1928, the British Government merged the Eastern and Marconi’s to

form Cable & Wireless Ltd. Another company by the name The Imperial and International

Communications Ltd was also formed. In 1934, the two companies were renamed Cable &

Wireless (Holding) Ltd and Cable & Wireless Ltd, respectively.

These developments had

their effect in India too. On 1 July 1932, the Indian Radio Telegraph Company acquired

operating rights on the sub-marine cables in Bombay and Madras. It was renamed Indian

Radio and Cable Communications Company (IRCC). In 1932, IRCC introduced radio telephony to

India. The Times of India reported the event, "History was made on May 1, when

telephonic conversation between London and Bombay was established by wireless telephone,

the speakers being Sir Samuel Hoare from London and Sir Frederick Skykes from Bombay.

Reception in Bombay was very good, all those present being able to hear distinctly, by

means of ordinary telephone all that was said." Sir Samuel Hoare said, "It is my

good fortune as Secretary of State for India to be the first Englishman to talk with his

friends in India, and across, 6,000 miles of land and water that divide us."

Interestingly, the tariff at that time was quite high. Rs 100 was the minimum deposit and

Rs 40 was charged for a 3 minute call to the UK. The charge for calls to the US was Rs 88.

Later, in 1943, IRCC also introduced a radio photo service, a precursor to today’s

fax machines.

Second World War And

Independence

alt="The first conference of ITU, 1865." align="left"> face="Times New Roman">Communication is a major facilitator of emergency work. This fact

was reinforced by the use of it in the Second World War. The early twentieth century was a

period of great events. Events of both tragedy and triumph. First came the two horror of

global history. The First and Second World Wars. Men fought with men for the control of

land and wealth. On the other hand was the struggle for independence in many parts of the

world. One being the sub-continent.

India during this period

was one of both violent and non-violent struggles. If there were on one side men like

Bhagat Singh and Chandrasekhar Azad walking up courageously to be hanged for the

country’s sake, there were on the other people like Gandhi leading a non-violent

"satyagraha" against the colonial rulers.

In 1912, the British

decided to shift the capital of India from Calcutta to Delhi. This led to the rapid

development of telegraph lines and other telecommunication facilities in Delhi. SIZE="2">

But the major development

of communication came during the Second World War. By then, India had become a strategic

centre for British troops in their various expeditions in the East. The looming danger

posed by the Japanese from the Far East magnified this importance even more. This was

proved right when the Japanese troop along with Netaji Subhash Chandra Bose’s Azad

Hind Fauj came right up to Indian borders in Burma. Had it not been for some major

reinforcement done in the communication system existing during the period, it would have

been very difficult indeed to stop the Japanese and Netaji on their trek towards Delhi.

Before the start of the War, there were only two radio telegraph services, one between the

UK and India established in 1927 and the other between India and Japan established in

1933. When in 1941 the Japanese entered the War, the India-Japan link was severed and in

early 1942 the Madras-Singapore sub-marine cable link was severed. On the other side, the

Italians cut off the Gibraltar-Malta line delinking the sub-marine lines. A direct

wireless line was the need of the hour. The sanctions for various links were immediately

granted realizing the significance of India’s role in the War. Subsequently, after

the War, India had established wireless links with Britain, Australia, the US, and China.

On 14 January 1942, India-Melbourne-Sydney link was established and on 22 February the

same year, the India-China link came up. While the first link with the US came on 15

August 1944 from Bombay to New York. In 1945, the Comilla wireless station was established

in Bangladesh in the Eastern Frontier. Later, when the Hiroshima and Nagasaki bombs were

dropped, it was this station which played a part in relaying several messages which

culminated into Sir Winston Churchill announcing, "The War in the East is over."

At about this time, a

wireless link between London and Delhi, the new capital, was also established. By the end

of the War, the Indian Radio and Cable Communications Company (IRCC) had 4 international

telegraph links via wireless and three international links via sub-marine cable system. SIZE="2">

alt="Gandhi leading the Dandi March." align="right">Parallely,

during this time, the Indian struggle for independence intensified into a new high. The

Khilafat movement and the Civil Disobedience movement started in 1920 and 1922,

respectively. After the repeated promises of granting freedom did not bear fruit, by 1942,

the public had had it enough. Under the able leadership of the Mahatma, the Quit India

Movement took off. After a number of missions were not able to break the ice, on 3 June

1947 the British were at last forced to announce the plan of partitioning India and

Pakistan and handing over the administration to the two new nations.

alt="Crying, "Go back! Simon"." align="left"> SIZE="2">On the telecom front, the nationalization of various resources took off in April

1944, when the new Commonwealth Communications Council met in London. In July 1945 again,

the representatives of the various governments met in London. And in August 1945, the

"Canbera Proposals" were made. The conference recommended:

• Elimination of private
  
  shareholder interests in the Overseas Communications Services of Great Britain, India, and
  
  Dominions by acquisition of the shares in the companies by the respective governments.

• Acquisition of Cable &
  
  Wireless interests by the respective governments.

• Establishment of a Commonwealth
  
  Telecommunications Board (CTB) with powers under that of the Commonwealth Communications
  
  Council although its function was to be advisory.

On 6 November 1946, the Cable and

Wireless Act was passed in the British Parliament. 1 January 1947 was appointed as the

"day of transfer" of telecommunication to respective governments.

In 1943, the Government of

India had already taken over the licensed telecom companies in Calcutta, Bombay, and

Madras. In December 1946, the government announced its intention of forming a government

corporation for overseas communication. The domestic telecommunications would be placed

under the Post & Telegraph department, under the Department of Communications,

Government of India.

The Tryst With Destiny SIZE="2">

That communication was a

tool of colonialism and monopoly for the British can be seen in the slow development of

the internal telecommunications. At the time of Independence, in India, prior to

partition, there were 9,022 telegraph offices, of which 83 were departmental offices,

4,048 combined public and telegraph offices, and 4,891 railway and canal licensed

telegraph offices. There were 403 departmental telephone exchanges with 91,424 telephones

and 2,348 private and private branch exchanges with 30,245 telephones. In addition, there

were 2,410 telephones in non-exchange systems.

On 15 August 1947, the day of the

reckoning came, of India’s Independence. As beautifully put by Pandit Jawaharlal

Nehru, "At the stroke of midnight hour, when the world sleeps, India will awake to

life and freedom. A moment comes which comes but rarely in history, when we step out from

the old to the new." Indeed, not only had India entered a new era, but its

communications future had stepped out from the old into a new era with a number of

challenges ahead.

After Independence

India became independent

on 15 August 1947. A new country, but a nation with thousands of civilizational years

behind it. However, India, without the minimal telecommunication infrastructure put up by

the British, did not have much to be proud of when it became independent. This was clearly

seen in the basic telephone networks in just a few cities. For a country with millions of

people, this was hardly enough.

One of the most joyous

events in our history came not without one of the saddest. The partition of the nation on

the lines of religion was to remain etched in the minds of two tender countries in the

form of heart-rendering tales of horror. The marks of terror from this period remain

unforgotten even today. Amidst the carnage were born the two nations, India and Pakistan.

Like people, belongings got divided too. Telecommunications was not an exception. The

telecom assets left by the British were divided between the two countries. The Indian part

passed onto the Posts & Telegraph Department, placed under the ministry of

communications.

Independent India SIZE="2">

After partition,

independent India had 7,330 telegraph offices, 321 departmental telephone exchanges with

82,985 telephones, 2,166 private and private branch exchanges with 28,155 telephones, and

2,270 telephones in non-exchange systems. There were 537 public call offices in the

country. The total fixed assets of the Posts and Telegraph Department was Rs 31.51 crore.

Out of this sum, Rs 29.26 crore came from telecom services. But a majority of these assets

were ones run by the ex-princely states. These had to be integrated into one national

network. The taking over of these state-run and private systems took more than one year

and was completed in 1950. The trunk and telegraph communications lines at this time were

completely aerial. There were 80,873 miles of telegraph and trunk telephone lines and

9,746 miles of local telephone lines. The total channel mileage for telephone carrier

systems was 11,832 and for the voice frequency telegraph systems 152,508. SIZE="2">

alt="Central Telegraph Office, Bombay, used to house the OCS." align="left"> face="Times New Roman" SIZE="2">Under the able leadership of Jawaharlal Nehru, the task of

nation-building promptly started. The Five-year Plans got off. The first minister for

communications was Rafi Ahmed Kidwai. He took sincere interest in developing the

infrastructure. The Own Your Telephone (OYT) scheme of that time was credited to him.

Trade and industry were given priority for connection. New exchanges were installed in

many places like Agra, Ahmedabad, Ambala, Barielly, Calicut, Ferozepur, New Delhi, and

Patna. The existing telecommunication infrastructure in the capital city, Delhi, underwent

a major expansion with a 2,000 line exchange getting installed at Connaught Place. SIZE="2">

The First Five-year Plan

coming into effect from 1951 had an outlay of Rs 47 crore for the telecom sector. There

were renovation, automatization, and expansion of telephone exchanges in cities like

Ahmedabad, Calcutta, Bombay, Delhi, Kanpur, Madras, and Pune. It envisaged setting up of a

telegraph office in every sub-divisional or tehsil headquarter apart from every town with

a population of or more than 5,000. It was in 1951 that the first telex service was

introduced in India between Bombay and Ahmedabad. A humble beginning, this culminated into

the development of a nation-wide network for telex which connected the major cities by

1963. On the switching side, things were slow to take off. A large part of the switches

depended on manual boards and Strowger systems. Calcutta had at that time the largest

telephone system in India, which was manual, with over 20,000 lines and 10 exchanges of 50

to 6,000 lines. It was only when some of the big exchanges were destroyed in a fire that

the government decided to automate the system. Consequently, Calcutta Telephones saw the

country’s first automatic exchange in 1953.

International

telecommunication to and from India got established with various countries during this

period. The Overseas Communications Services (OCS) formed to operate this function

established radio telephony to USSR, Iran, Hong Kong, Switzerland, Bahrain, Singapore,

Indonesia, China, and Poland.

alt="Architects of modern India, Gandhi and Nehru." align="right"> width="300" height="426"

alt="Launch of Early Bird, the first communication satellite, 1965." align="left"> face="Times New Roman" SIZE="2">A most important development took place during this time.

The formation of Indian Telephone Industries (ITI) and Hidustan Cables Ltd (HCL) in 1953.

ITI was set up with technical and financial collaboration with the Automatic Telephone

& Electric (AT&T) of the UK initially to manufacture Strowger switching systems

and telephone instruments. HCL was to manufacture pair cables with technical collaboration

from the Standard Telephones and Cables (STC) of the UK. The formation of these two bodies

was most necessary estimating the potential of telecommunications, which even at that time

was immense. At about this time, the Institute of Telecommunication Engineers

(ITE)–which later became the Institute of Electronics and Telecommunication Engineers

(IETE)–and the Telecommunication Research Centre (TRC) were formed. The latter

functioned for over 30 years till it was split–developmental function going to Centre

for Development of Telematics (C-DOT) and the engineering functions going to Telecom

Engineering Centre (TEC).

Also, around this time,

following the decisions by ITU 1951 Extraordinary Administrative Radio Conference (EARC),

the Wireless Planning and Coordination (WPC) wing was constituted in 1952. Its

responsibility was to manage and monitor radio spectrum. It was to fulfil the

international obligations of the country in the field of telecommunications and

orbit/frequency coordination in respect of all types of satellite systems. SIZE="2">

The Posts and Telegraph

Board was constituted in December 1959. This precursor to Telecom Commission had a

chairman, two telecom members, two postal members, a finance member, and an administration

member.

In spite of a lot of

rehauling and new facility introductions, telecommunication was not really national till

National Subscriber Dialing was introduced due to increased long distance telephone

communications. Point-to-point STD was introduced in 1960 between Kanpur and Lucknow. This

service had an access code "9". The Hindustan Teleprinters Ltd (HTL) came into

existence in 1960. It was to manufacture teleprinters and accessories in technical

collaboration with Olivetti of Italy.

Crossbar switching

technology was introduced in the early Sixties. But the first experiment to manufacture

Pentaconta crossbar switches was a cropper to introduction of this technology. The first

Pentaconta exchange manufactured with technical collaboration from BTM of Belgium did not

function up to expectations. There were lots of criticism of this system during that time.

The Space Era SIZE="2">

alt="The Satellite Earth station at Arvi near Pune." align="right"> face="Times New Roman" SIZE="2">In 1957, with the launch of SPUTNIK-I, the world was to

leap into a totally new dimension in the discovery of science and technologies. It was

indeed a giant leap, as was stated by Niel Armstrong about a decade after when he became

the first man to stand on the moon.

For communications,

satellite was a dream come true. Use of satellites for telecommunications had been

outlined by many pioneers, including Arthur Clark. The geostationary concept of satellite

even remains today as a revolutionary step in the history of communication. SIZE="2">

In India, the government

took a refreshing step by taking prompt steps to propel India into the league of the

satellite pioneers. Under the able leadership of Vikram Sarabhai, plans were underway to

establish India’s first satellite station. On 26 February 1971, the station at Arvi

near Pune was inaugurated. Consequently, a satellite station was set up in Dehradun as a

back-up. There was no looking back after that. A series of international telephone links

were established as a result. India became member of many satellite organizations like the

Intelsat and Inmarsat.

The efforts of the early

pioneers paid off later when the plan for India’s own communication satellite for

both communications and broadcasting was kickstarted. In 1976, the Department of Space was

nominated as the nodal agency for the development of a space programme. INSAT 1A was

placed in orbit by the Delta rocket of the US in April 1982. Further, India was to develop

its own launching capabilities later. Today, the stage is set for the launch of our own

Polar Satellite Launch Vehicle. The space is wide open for India, and the potential is

quite immense.

Telecom In Slow Motion SIZE="2">

The middle years between

the first few years and the 1980s was a period of tedious development in Indian

telecommunications. Introduction of new facilities and technologies was really in slow

motion. The result being India was left behind in the race for communication powers. The

importance of communication in the growth of an economy of a country is reflected in the

poor economy of India. Even today, India ranks as one of the poorest nations in the world.

One of the lowest per-capita income, and not to be disattached, a very low teledensity to

mark the completion of 50 years of independence. "If only we had planned our

future", is the question that repeats in our mind again and again. SIZE="2">

alt="Videsh Sanchar Bhavan, Mumbai, the headquarters of OCS and later VSNL. " align="left"> face="Times New Roman" SIZE="2">But not everything was dark. The Telecom and Postal wings

of the Department were separated at the circle level in 1974, paving the way for more

focus on telecommunications. Though the division of assets took unnecessarily many years.

The Advanced Level Telecommunication Training Centre (ALTTC) came up in Ghaziabad near

Delhi in 1975. It was funded partially by UNDP and ITU. It provided short courses in

emerging technologies. This acted as the breeding ground of the nation’s

telecommunication engineers and experts. National Subscriber Dialing (NSD) was made

available in 1968 in Madras. The commissioning of Trunk Automatic Exchanges (TAXes) made

this possible. With the setting up of Arvi satellite station, international links were

made possible. Point-to-point International Subscriber Dialing (ISD) was established in

1976 from Bombay to London. Remote area communication became a reality when in 1973 a

project took off to lease transponder of an Intelsat satellite and establish small earth

stations in Aizawl, Imphal, Kohima, Lakshwadeep, Leh, Port Blair, with a hub in Delhi. In

about five years, this task was completed. And India had really been

"connected".

However, all these

developments took painfully long. The disease of red tapism had infiltrated into our

bureaucracy. An incident symbolizes this negative development. When the selection of a

switching system for a 2 lakh lines factory in Rae Barielly came up in 1972, indecision on

the part of the development surfaced. The search was for an alternative to the Strowger

switch in use at the time. A plan to develop an Indian Crossbar system, which would remove

the deficiencies of the Pentaconta system, was etched upon by ITI. DoT peculiarly did not

even consider electronic systems. In all the debates of choosing a technology, precious

time was lost. The tender process got delayed by two years. It was only in 1979 the search

for a technical partner for the project started off. Tenders were received from NEC of

Japan and Ericsson of Sweden for their proprietary systems. ITI, with technical

assistance from BTM of Belgium, also joined the bid. Finally, the decision was in favour

of the Indian Crossbar system of ITI. Investments were finally made for the factory, and

the production had started. However, it was not even a decade before the production of

this system was discontinued. The Indian Crossbar system idea was a failure. size="1">

Red Tapes And Slow-footed

Bureaucracy

While the world was on a

fast track of communication technology, India lagged behind in adopting new technologies.

When India should have leveraged on the basic infrastructure left by the British and the

first pioneers, increasing red tapism and the comforts of state monopoly made the worse of

existing opportunities. Independent India was to ironically adopt the attitude of the

colonial rulers towards communications. That of considering communication as a state

monopoly. A thing which has to be protected. In the process, the spirit of competition and

business did not get instilled among our telecom service providers for a long time. A

separate telecommunication body did not exist as late as 1974. And an independent

regulator in the form of TRAI came only in 1997, 50 years after independence! SIZE="2">

The 1970s-80s were hectic

for most of the nations. Their governments had realized the need of deregulating the

state-run monopolies. Big telcos got transformed into new global giants, not only being

successful in their own country but also in other continents. To name just a few of these

telcos, AT&T got split into several regional entities–the regional Bells. British

Telecom grew into an international player. European and American giants like Motorola,

Ericsson, Philips, Deutsche Telekom, Nokia, and others began looking for opportunities

abroad. Asia which was developing fast was a natural destination for them. At the same

time, a number of new technologies got implemented in the American and European countries.

After successful operation of analog cellular and paging services, countries were looking

forward to switch over to digital technologies. The need to have a digital telecom network

was increasingly felt as a result of the computer phenomenon. A company called IBM of the

US ushered in the information technology revolution. This set the stage to transform the

world into a digital world.

alt="India, the telecommunication hub." align="left">In

India, a typical mindset had set in whereby the road to digitalization was met with

roadblocks after roadblocks. The government did not attach too much of an importance to

telecomunications. The investment was too little as 1.4 to 2.47 percent of government

outlays. And telephone penetration was as low as 0.50 even in 1990. Technologically, while

the world had switched over to electronic analog switches and were experimenting on

digital switches, India was setting up a factory to manufacture crossbar switches! As late

as 1980, the backbone of the nation-wide telecom networks were the Strowger switches, and

manual exchanges still largely existed. The state of the exchanges was so poor those days

that the disenchantment of the public with the telephone system in India rose to a new

height.

Indigenization SIZE="2">

In 1981, the Sarin

Committee was appointed to look into the problems that the communication industry was

facing. The committee recommended two most important things. One, the switching over to

digital switches. And two, the complete delinking of the telecom department from the

postal department. For the first time, telecom was accorded the importance that it

deserved.

Probably the most

ingenious and bold step in our telecom history was taken when the dream of designing an

Indian digital switch took form in the setting up of the Centre for Development Of

Telematics (C-DOT). This was a brainchild of Sam Pitroda, who is today regarded as a man

of vision, and was supported by our late Prime Minister, Rajiv Gandhi. Rajiv Gandhi was

technologically very savvy and took deep interest in incorporating latest technologies in

every walk of life.

alt="The SEA-ME-WE 2 cable landing at Bombay, 1986." align="right"> face="Times New Roman" SIZE="2">The country advanced very fast in almost every field.

Satellites after satellites got launched into the space. Rocket technologies got

indeginized. India had catapulted itself into the top 5 club of rocket know-how with the

successful test launch of the civilian Satellite Launch Vehicles and the series of Agnis,

Trishuls, Prithvis, and the Nags for its Defence purpose. Those were real days of pride.

The image of Rajiv Gandhi appearing on the national television channel congratulating the

scientists and the countrymen on such occasions still remain vivid in our eyes. SIZE="2">

On the telecom side, the

Eighties was a period of telecom renaissance. Indiginization of telecom took off with all

zeal and excitement. C-DOT began churning out engineers of calibre and soon developed a

good R&D base. The research and development soon yielded into the development of the

rural exchanges called Rural Automatic Exchange (RAX) in 1985 and subsequently the larger

switches called Metropolitan Automatic Exchange (MAX). The low-cost C-DOT exchange was

best suited for the rural areas which needed low-to-medium capacities. The spread of

telecommunication to the rural areas commenced forthwith. Perhaps the start of research

and development in the field of telecommunication yielded results when organizations like

the Telecom Consultant India Ltd (TCIL) showed the potential that our telecom engineers

had. TCIL soon groomed itself into an expert in implementing telecom networks. It was soon

a turnkey implementer both inside the country and abroad. Telecom in the country had come

full circle. It was no more one-way traffic. We had started exporting both

telecommunication equipment and expertise to other countries.

alt="The controversial ex-union minister of communications, Sukh Ram, 1995." align="left"> face="Times New Roman" SIZE="2">Also during this time, the government began developing a

packet switched data network for datacommunication called INet and VSAT-based network

called Remote Area Business Management Network (RABMN). This was the beginning of the

development of a datacommunication network which would later become the backbone for

Internet services. Also during this time, there was a boom in the number of Public Call

Offices (PCOs) in India. Suddenly, the old telephone was more assessable and making a call

across the country was just a walk away from one’s home. Also in 1982, standard

International Subscriber Dialing (ISD) was introduced with the commissioning of the

electronic Gateway Telephone Exchanges (GSS) in Bombay, Delhi, and Madras. SIZE="2">

In 1986, the two largest

telecommunication companies of India, Videsh Sanchar Nigam Ltd (VSNL) and Mahanagar

Telephone Nigam Ltd (MTNL) were born. The assets of the erstwhile OCS was transferred to

VSNL, while those of Bombay and Delhi districts to MTNL. They were established as Public

Sector Undertakings (PSUs) with freedom of operations. They have performed well as

companies and today contribute about a third of the total communication industry’s

revenues. Both the companies have been awarded the "navratna" status by the

government.

alt="VSNL's Internet backbone.">

The Eighties was a decade of great activity. But

it was also a time of a number of controversies. One such was the rivalry between E10B and

C-DOT switch. The E10B came to India through a technology transfer deal between Alcatel

and ITI. ITI was licensed to manufacture the E10B switch. This was done through

co-operation between the scientists of Alcatel and ITI. The successful development of

switches by C-DOT within a short time-frame gave way to the idea of filling India’s

requirements with its own indigenous switches. The rivalry hotted up to the level of

conflict between Sam Pitroda, the then communications minister, and KPP Nambiar, the then

ITI chairman and secretary, Department of Electronics (DoE). Another was the controversy

over the introduction of analog cellular service. This was strongly opposed by a faction

of people who believed cellular was a luxury for a country like India. They reminded that

a world-class wireline network instead was the need of the hour. All in all, the Eigthies

was a decade of controversies and yet good growth.

The Winds Of Change SIZE="2">

Ill-conceived policies,

inefficiencies of the bureaucracy, the incompetence of our sick public sector units, and

various other problems came out in the open when in 1989-90 the country found itself in a

terrible economic crisis. The skeletons could no more be hidden inside the government

closets. The dusty files had fallen all over.

alt="Private basic services being launched in Indore, 1998." align="left"> face="Times New Roman" SIZE="2">Amidst the chaotic period, a drastic rehaul of the economy

was recommended. The liberalization process had been started. The wind of change had

started blowing. And hence, no matter, which party formed the government, the

liberalization process could not be winded back. The Prime Minister’s Office (PMO)

started taking special interest in financial matters. Under the new regime,

telecommunication was rightly identified as a tool for growth. The Telecom Commission came

into being in 1989. It had a chairman, three full-time members, and two part-time members.

The first step in telecom deregulation was taken when Intellectual Property Rights (IPR)

1956 was scraped with regard to telecom. Equipment manufacturing was opened to private

companies.

The coming of Nagarajan

Vittal came as a catalyst to the whole process. The new DoT secretary was fast in both

talk and action. He took up the task of ending all monopolies. He played a major role in

the formulation of the National Telecom Policy (NTP) of 1994. The announcement of the

policy in May that year was a watershed event in the history of Indian telecom. The policy

paved the way for the introduction of all value-added services and the start of

privatization of basic services. However, in spite of the recommendation, a regulatory

body was not formed at this stage. Only after the private services took off that the

government was forced to form a third-party regulatory body.

Though all the value-added

services had commenced, and a few basic service operators licensed, there were many gaps

in the process. The licensing process was too complicated and time-consuming. Financing

the projects became difficult for many of the operators. And oft-repeated complaint of the

private operators has been that the licence fee was just too high for them. SIZE="2">

Also, there arose many

operational wrangles between the licensees and the licensor. And it was indeed a strange

situation when the licensee had to address his problems with the licensor to the licensor

himself. The confidence of the licensee on the Department dipped down to a record low.

This led to the formation of the Telecommunications Regulatory Authority of India (TRAI)

in 1997. This was to be a quasi-judicial body with independent charge and control over

tariff fixing and settlement of inter-company disputes, apart from other powers. The

communications industry welcomed this body. Communications in India had finally arrived. SIZE="2">

Though, we were still

amidst a number of problems, and there were yet miles to go, the implementation of the NTP

started bearing fruits. Cellular telephony has spilled over from the metros to other

cities and towns in the circles. Paging has also reached the country widely. Internet was

quickly available in India too. It was however costly and not easily available because it

was not opened to the private players.

VSNL’s monopoly over

this service is likely to end soon, with the announcement of the Internet policy and the

subsequent IT Task Force report, which recommends the growing of this sector rapidly by

opening it to competition. The first private basic services has also been commenced in

Indore by Bharti Telenet, while the ultimate domains of DoT, long distance telephony and

international telephony, are likely to be opened to the private operators in the next few

years.