IT Lessons From India

["Irfan Khan" <khania2@super.net.pk>]

IT Lessons From India

ITWeb (Johannesburg)
NEWS
November 6, 2002



By Rodney Weidemann, Itweb Journalist
Johannesburg

Despite being classified as a Third World country, India is one of
the fastest growing nations in terms of telecoms and IT, with the
city of Bangalore often being dubbed the "Silicon Valley of India".

"There are many similarities between India and SA," says GB Kumar, GM
of Internet Solutions Group at Intel Asia Electronics.

"However, bearing in mind that India has such a fast-growing IT and
telecoms environment, perhaps there are some lessons that we can
teach the industry in SA."

He says that in terms of telecoms, it is imperative for the paying
public that the deregulation and privatisation of SA's industry take
place in as short a time as possible.

"In India, once the telecoms market - both basic telephony and
cellular - was deregulated, prices were driven down significantly. As
an example, the price of an international call to somewhere like the
US was reduced by about 80%.

"Although the government carrier remains the largest, four
competitors have since emerged. While they each have to realise
around $3 billion to stay in the game, they have nonetheless had to
be competitive, leading to price reductions and a winning situation
for consumers."

What is also significant for SA, particularly in terms of the SA
government's various IT initiatives - such as the GautengOnline
project - is the fact that India's government is putting a lot of
effort into driving the computerisation of schools.

"A project is under way that should see 600 000 computers placed in
60 000 government schools, in an effort to increase computer literacy
among pupils," says Kumar.

He believes the private sector also has a role to play in driving
this issue and that the huge number of cyber cafés in India, coupled
to the relatively cheap prices that are generally charged, has helped
to improve the country's literacy enormously.

"These shops are reasonably priced and so people with little or no
prior experience on computers can still afford to come in and mess
around for a while, thus gaining a better understanding of PCs and
their importance in today's world."

Intel India also has other initiatives on the go, which help to
increase people's understanding of computers. One such initiative is
the hosting of "PC parties" where people can get a chance to
experience how a PC works, perhaps by playing a game on one or
checking out different programs. Kumar says they help to give the
broader population some experience in computing.

"The single biggest reason for India's success in this industry, in
my opinion, is the fact that we have a base of really strong
technical skills to draw on, coupled to the fact that such a large
proportion of our country can communicate comfortably in English."

SA, despite its 11 official languages, is in a similar position.


source: http://allafrica.com/stories/200211060555.html