Anyone in North America complaining about dropped calls might want to read this story from Forbes. Author Saritha Rai revels that despite the fact that India is the world’s second-largest mobile user market after China, the infrastructure is struggling to manage overloaded cellular networks.
As Rai notes, “In many cities, mobile users have to rush from one room to another or drive around neighborhoods to find better signals (and better voice quality).”
It’s only going to get worse as the country continues to add millions of new mobile users each quarter. In fact the subscriber base is expected to reach a staggering one billion soon. Even the Prime Minister is stepping into the fray to see how things can be sorted out. If they don’t resolve the issues soon, India’s mobile powered e-commerce industry could be at risk. Even worse, people outside of urban centers who rely strictly on mobile phones for Internet access could lose their connection to the world.
For those of us who have become accustomed to always-on coverage, it’s hard to fathom how massive a problem it can be when technology can’t keep pace.
What do you think India’s coverage issues will mean for its economy?
By Werner Sievers, CEO