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No one can deny the boom that is
being experienced in the networking and network inte- gration markets. Enterprise
networking arena, for instance, went up by over 90 percent. Though
hspace="4" vspace="4"> to a lesser extent, but
so have the VSAT, test & measurement, infrastructure, cables, radio trunking, and
office communications markets gone up. The heartening fact that small, medium and large
organisations are investing in networking, indicates their growing confidence in
technology. This confidence is likely to go up with increasing global competitive
pressures, and decreasing costs. Are these developments not encouraging?
Look at basic and wireless
communication services. In spite of the dip in subscriber base for cellular in metro and
paging in cities, both paging and cellular markets have grown. Such a performance, at a
time when it was being said that these companies were in the process of winding up, is not
just a sign of grit and determination but also of hope. Clearly, this area of
Communications Industry did not do as badly as it was initially being pointed out. Despite
problems there is a great demand. Is this not revitalizing enough?
The entire nation is going
through a turmoil on the economic as well as the political front. Sanctions have been
imposed, an undeclared war is on, the general elections are a round the corner. But this
did not stop the New Telecom Policy 1999 from being announced or the Prime Minsiter from
taking up the Communications portfolio under his belt to sort out the ensuing embroglio.
Not just the Prime Minister of the country, but even several Chief Ministers are taking
personal interest in communications infrastructure and services. Is this not a change for
the better?
These are clear signs of renewed hope. Hope,
which had begun to totter for sometime. In the following essays we look at the reasons for
the renewed hope and analyse them in terms of their impact.