G lobal C ommunications Important advances in technology and the world’s telecommunications infrastructure has led to revolutionary changes in global communication. Some homes and many offices now have multiple links to the outside world, including telephones (landlines and mobiles), fax machines, digital and cable television, electronic mail and the Internet. Some of you may find many such places. Some of you may not.
This is indicative of what is often termed as the digital divide in our country. Despite this digital divide, these forms of technology do facilitate the ‘compression’ of time and space. Two individuals located on opposite sides of the planet – in Bengaluru and New York – not only can talk, but also send documents and images to one another with the help of satellite technology. The process of globalisation is giving rise to network and media society.
To create global interconnectedness more efficiently, the Government of India has initiated an ambitious programme in the form of ‘Digital India’, in which every exchange will incorporate digitisation. It will transform India into a ‘digitally empowered society’ and a ‘knowledge economy’. You have already seen how outsourcing operates in your earlier chapters. Cellular telephony has also grown enormously and cell phones are a part of the self for most urban-based middle class youth.
There has been a tremendous growth in the usage of cell phones and a marked change in how its use is seen. Globally, the use of the Internet increased phenomenally in the 1990s. In , there were million Internet users worldwide. Of these, the USA and Canada accounted for %, while Asia had %.
By , the number of Internet users had risen to million. India had million Internet subscribers and million users by , and this has now increased to million. (Singhal and Rogers : ) According to a study in – , one in ten households have a computer at home. About a quarter of all homes have internet connectivity via mobile phone or other devices.
The figures themselves indicate the digital divide that continues to prevail in the country inspite of the rapid spread of computers. Cyber connectivity had largely remained an urban phenomenon but widely accessible through the cyber cafés. But the rural areas with their erratic power supply, widespread illiteracy and lack of infrastructure, like telephone connections, still remain largely unconnected.