When India wires up
A bold deregulation of the telecoms industry will, with luck, spread the use of the Internet in India and change millions of lives
AS A Hindu-nationalist, India's prime minister, Atal Behari Vajpayee, wants to be remembered not just as the man who flexed his muscles by testing a nuclear bomb, but also as the leader who ushered in the era of information technology. Mr Vajpayee is planning to clear away many of the roadblocks holding up the deregulation of telecoms in India, and with it the growth of the Internet. If he is successful, the wiring of this nation of 1 billion people will have profound consequences, even for those in some of the remotest villages.
This article appeared in the Asia section of the print edition under the headline “When India wires up”
From the July 22nd 2000 edition
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