Evaluating the Credibility of Sources (2)

This article was written in 2000 by INDAX, a Canadian-owned, India-based Internet service that develops and designs websites for clients around the world. It is obvious that the biggest problem with the article is that it is not current. The statistics it provides have changed tremendously in the last ten years. After all, it was written only a couple of years after VSNL, a government-owned Internet Service Provider, ended its monopoly. Another major issue is that the writer doesn't cite any of the facts, figures or estimates he uses. For example, he states, "By the end of 1998, after three years of government monopoly, there were barely 150,000 Internet connections in India...Users are now estimated at over 2 million, with a growth predicted to reach 50 million in the next five years" without indicating where he obtains this information. The writer's perception of Net demand is quite inaccurate as well. He is incredibly pessimistic about the future of Internet growth in India because of the "miserly bandwidth" and "overextended" telephone network at the time. Using loaded terminology, he states that the "antiquated infrastructure and government obstructionism" will cause India to fall behind developed countries and not enter the global community. Even though Internet services is still quite expensive and penetration has risen only marginally from less than 1% in 2000 to 7% in 2009 (InternetWorldStats.com), its telecommunication industry is the fastest-growing in the world as of July 2010 (Telecom Regulatory Authority of India).

http://www.indax.com/internet.html

Evaluating the Credibility of Sources

My good source is a July 2010 report by the Indian Brand Equity Foundation (IBEF) on the Indian Information Technology Industry. On the website, it is given than IBEF is a joint-sector institution that was founded by the Ministry of Commerce and Industry in association with the Confederation of Indian Industry. Its function is "to effectively present the India business perspective and leverage business partnerships in a globalising market-place."As per the report, India's IT-BPO (Business Process Outsourcing) industry is expected to grow at a rate of 15.5% in 2010. Moreover, investor confidence is rising and more favorable initiatives are being taken by the government. According to a report by the Internet and Mobile Association of India and market research firm IMRB, the number of active Internet users increased from 42 million in September 2008 to 52 million in September 2009, indicating a 19% annual growth rate. IDC, a well-known Indian company, states that the number of PC sales went up 33% in 2009. From January-March 2010, desktop sales went up 18% and notebook sales went up 72%. After supplying the reader with this reliable data, the report invites foreign companies that are looking to outsource their "back-offices," to consider India for its low-cost advantage, financially-attractive location and availability of skilled people. The report then goes to list some prominent Indian companies that have signed outsourcing contracts with foreign businesses and examines how both parties have gained from this collaboration. As per a study by Springboard Research titled 'Epicenter of Growth–Indian Enterprise Networking Equipment Market Report' released in December 2009, the domestic market for enterprise networking equipment is estimated to grow 15% between 2008 and 2012. The IBEF report then lists some foreign investments in India as well as government initiatives, such as the Technical Advisory Group for Unique Projects (TAGUP), National Taskforce on Information Technology and Software Development, tax-exempt Software Technology (STIs) and Information Technology Investment Regions (ITIRs). Furthermore, the growth of IT is causing new opportunities to emerge in areas such as healthcare and the public sector.
In general, this source provides a wealth of information to foreign companies on why they should invest in and outsource to India. It cites each study from where it procures its statistics. Also, since it is partly run by the Indian government, it is quite credible.

http://www.ibef.org/industry/informationtechnology.aspx

Restrictions on Internet Services in China

I just read a January 2006 Business Week article that Amin posted on our Group Discussion Board entitled "How China Controls the Internet." Practically all of the points made in the article apply to today as well. It's a known fact that discussion forums and social-networking sites such as Facebook and Twitter are banned in China. Yet, it's quite interesting to see how dependent the Chinese Communist Party is on US multinationals to help them impose these restrictions. A few weeks prior to when this article was written, Microsoft officials were requested by government officials to terminate a Chinese citizen's blog. This inevitably resulted in criticism by bloggers and activists, who believe it is not the responsibility of these US companies to assist the Chinese police in enforcing its policy of controlling information flow. It is amazing that in this age of globalization, western IT companies are helping the Chinese government overcome its paranoia by conceding to its undemocratic demands. Nicholas Bequelin, the China research director for Human Rights Watch in Hong Kong, believes that "that is the cost of doing business in China." If they don't cooperate, any Chinese company can refuse to provide them with information from within. Nevertheless, Bequelin goes on to say that "the vilification of companies for being complicit is self-defeating." They're putting their business interests before human rights, thereby assisting the police suppress political dissent. Even if they do pull out, local companies will take over the industry. According to Bequelin, the only solution is that US multinationals must abide by their corporate responsibility charters and codes of conduct, or comply with UN global norms for business. But China will face some concern if these measures are implemented by several corporations. So how is the Chinese government so successful in its endeavor? Well, the fact that it has ownership rights allows it to censor any content being read or watched on the Net. The web site editors of local companies publish only what is approved. The article finally examines the benzene spill in northeast China in December 2005 that contaminated the water supply of Harbin and the criticism of the Party that followed on online discussion boards. Since this was all being archived by the authorities, Bequelin is sure the censors will receive these posts and they will be wiped out in a couple of months, after which there will be no talk of it. While similar conditions exist in the country today, more and more individuals, especially educators, are finding it difficult to work around the blockade.
As per a 2010 article entitled "For Chinese Academics, 'Great Fire Wall' Hinders Networking With Colleagues," which appeared in The Chronicle, numerous professors at Beijing Normal University are temporarily using Google Groups, which is blocked by the Chinese nationwide Internet filters. The writer, Jeff Young, suggests they need to devise an encrypted private network that makes it appear as though they are in a different country. Yet, the bottom line is while the government is increasing its efforts to regulate the Web, frustration is growing amongst the populace.  

Response to 2005 TIME Article

The writer addresses several issues concerning the growing popularity of the Internet. He begins by examining how it’s increasingly being utilized for commercial purposes. Needless to say, the mass of transactions carried out online has risen tremendously since 2005. The system that enables firms to obtain and verify their customers’ credit-card details was only being initiated at that time. The writer also discusses how the Net evolved from being a military research tool to a fantasy world for college students, which further leads into the argument on its security. Internet users definitely have more freedoms today than they did in 2005, primarily because controlling information exchange has become a monumental task with the sheer number of people gaining access every year. The rule that there are no rules still very much applies. However, while cyberspace has expanded, people have become better equipped to control their privacy in many virtual communities. On a different note, the writer, portending “convergence,” comments that the “Internet is becoming Balkanized, and where the mainstream culture and hacker culture clash, open battles are breaking out.” The fight between old-timers and “newbies” probably reached its peak a year or two ago when adults and even seniors began “invading” social-networking sites, the home of youth culture. Yet, in most developed nations today, age no longer segregates people on the Web. After all, we’re not far from the day when every generation will be as tech-savvy as the other. The writer ends by looking keenly at online journalism. He believes that “when writers report on their area of expertise [as they usually do on the Net]…it carries information that is frequently closer to the source than what is found in newspapers.” This is a result of their attraction to the “freewheeling, untamable soul,” as the writer calls the Internet, and is one of the reasons why print culture is on the verge of extinction today.

Historical Background

Compared to several nations in the West, technology applied to communications is still a fairly recent development in India. However, it is advancing exponentially every year, leading to the growth of a more efficiently-run economy. Before determining how many people have had the means or will to keep up with the ever-changing technology, it is important to pay attention to some of the milestones that have helped shape Indian media and telecommunications today. Telecommunication is undoubtedly the foundation of the IT industry in India.

Soon after VSNL launched Internet services via dialup in 6 cities in August 1995, cybercafés were introduced in different parts of the country, the first opening in 1996 in Mumbai, the financial capital. In 1997, ICICI bank initiated online banking. This was also the year when the first job search engine, Naukri.com, was launched. In addition, Sabeer Bhatia’s Hotmail was sold to Microsoft for $400 million, making him the poster boy of India’s Internet age. In 1998, the government privatized Internet services, ending VSNL’s monopoly. Subsequently, Sify became the first Internet Service Provider (ISP). In the following year, Indiacom, another service provider, was sold to Sify for $115 million. As a result, the “e-marketplace” took off. In the same year, Webdunia, India’s first Hindi portal was founded. At the turn of the millennium, the government passed the IT ACT 2000, which authorized transactions carried out by electronic means, commonly referred to as “e-commerce.” Consequently, Bazee.com was established to model Ebay, Indya.com was instituted as part of an intense political campaign aimed at garnering the votes of the youth, and ITC, a well-established, nation-oriented corporation, introduced “E-Choupal” to take the Internet to small villages. Furthermore, foreign companies such as Yahoo and MSN ventured into the Indian market. 2000 also saw the commencement of online journalism. As the number of hackers began to rise in 2001, the dotcom bubble burst and numerous sites shut down. Between 2002 and 2003, new dotcoms with refined revenue models were set up. Indian Railways along with Air Deccan began online ticketing. In 2004, Ebay bought out Bazee.com. Moreover, the first Indian web IPO’s, IndiaBulls.com and IndiaInfoline.com, were inaugurated. By 2005, the Indian Railways accounted for 63% of “e-commerce” and ITC’s “E-Choupal” was serving 3.2 million farmers. Since 2006, the number of broadband users has been increasing, reaching 9.24 million in 2010. However, the broadband connection in India is still one of the slowest in the world. Nowadays, many people are switching to wireless broadband for fixed and mobile services.

The government introduced mobile technology in 1985, a decade before the Internet. When the demand for telephones increased in the 1990s, international organizations like the World Bank and ITO pressured the P.N. Rao administration to liberalize long distance services so as to break the monopoly of the state-owned Department of Telecommunications (DoT) and VSNL. In response, the government divided the country into 20 telecom circles for telephony and 18 for mobile services. It then opened bids to one private company per circle, which would share ownership with the DoT. For cellular service, two service providers were allowed per circle. The Telecom Regulatory Authority of India (TRAI) was established in 1995, which reduced government interference in deciding tariffs and policy making. Better liberalization policies were introduced by Prime Minister Atal Bihari Vajpayee in 1999, which permitted many foreign investors to enter the telecom market. In 2000, the government substantially reduced license fees for cellular service providers. Six year later, in 2006, the total mobile subscriber base reached 10.5 million. Today, in 2010, that number has risen to a whopping 617 million. India’s mobile telecommunications industry is currently the second largest in the world.

References:
http://www.amitranjan.com/2005/08/31/milestones-in-indias-internet-journey/
http://www.indianchild.com/telecommunications_in_india.htm

Introduction

According to a 2010 BBC World Service survey of 27,000 adults in 26 countries, 4 out of 5 people believe Internet access is “a fundamental right.” The people of India, a developing country in South Asia, take this to be true as well. That is precisely why the country has had one of the greatest success stories in the Information Technology (IT) field. Since the launching of Internet Services by the state-owned Videsh Sanchar Nigam Limited (VSNL) in August 1995, the country has experienced rapid development in broadband Internet. With the opening of numerous cybercafés across the country, an estimated 60% of users regularly access the Internet. According to a recent Internet and Telecommunications Market Report, while 1.4 million people had Internet access in 1998, 81 million of the total 1.18 billion have access today. In addition, the country is supposed to double the number of its internet users by 2015.

Presently, the country also has the fastest growing telecommunications network in the world. According to Telecom India Online, the number of telephone subscribers reached 683.05 million in March 2010, of which the total wireless subscribers’ base was 601 million. Furthermore, the overall teledensity had risen to 54.10% in April 2010. It is projected that 75% of the population, or 1.159 billion people, will have telephone connections by 2013. Competition between service providers in India has caused rates to drop to one of the lowest in the world. Despite the nation’s outstanding achievements in mobile technology, a wide range of infrastructure problems hinder the penetration of such services to rural areas. Some of these include the slow growth in public education, strict labor laws, an insensitive bureaucracy and mismanagement on the part of the politicians. Analyzing ways to correct these flaws will help India in effectively allocating its resources to ensure a wider spread of technology.

Being an Indian, I’m concerned about the progress of my country. I want all my fellow citizens to enjoy the benefits of the modern world as I feel it’ll make them more efficient and stimulate the economy. In my research, I hope to examine India’s journey into the technologically-advanced 21st century. I’d like to investigate what the government and private sector companies are doing to expand the communications industry and how students, in particular, are becoming more accustomed to interacting with technology on a more regular basis. Moreover, I’d like to study whether people are using technology for the right purposes. I hope you learn a lot about India through this blog!