India Uncut
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Monday, December 19, 2005
Telephones
In the 1980s, it would take you years to get a telephone in India.
Today, it takes anything from a day to a week.
Q: What has changed?
Ans: Competition.
That's why competition is a good thing, even if the competition keeps messing up. So Tata Indicom may give me sucky service and Reliance may hassle me in different ways, but I have options. And it's because all these options exist that even MTNL's service is vastly better than in the pre-liberalisation days. Competition rocks.
And even though liberalisation is no panacea, without it, I wouldn't be online right now and typing this. Would you be reading this?
Cross-posted on The Indian Economy Blog.
Today, it takes anything from a day to a week.
Q: What has changed?
Ans: Competition.
That's why competition is a good thing, even if the competition keeps messing up. So Tata Indicom may give me sucky service and Reliance may hassle me in different ways, but I have options. And it's because all these options exist that even MTNL's service is vastly better than in the pre-liberalisation days. Competition rocks.
And even though liberalisation is no panacea, without it, I wouldn't be online right now and typing this. Would you be reading this?
Cross-posted on The Indian Economy Blog.
