According to an interesting article on the Australian Broadcasting Corporation website, the cheap mobile phone is the most disruptive personal item since someone invented shoes, and in India it’s more socially explosive than anywhere else. In India, the autonomy brought by the cheap mobile phone can blow up long-standing social relationships. The key element of the mobile phone is not mobility but autonomy.
In 2001, India had about 35 million phones, most of them connected by copper wire. In 2012, India had more than 900 million phone subscribers, more than 95 per cent of them mobiles.
Phone-based banking raises the possibility of providing daily wage-earners with a safe place to get paid, keep their money and send it home to relatives.
The recording and transmitting capacity of mobile phones has given new life to local music. ‘Phones are the CD players of the day,’ wrote analyst Ratnakar Tripathy, describing how village musicians in Bihar state record and disseminate their music. Village artists become region-wide celebrities and find their work carried up and down the country.
Last updated: December 26th, 2025
