Remember the good old days when having a fixed-line phone was considered a status symbol? This was also called a basic-phone or a land-line or a PNT. I still have the image of those old-age phones in my memory.
The first time I saw those phones were when my grandmother applied for a connection. That phone was a big rock like device where you had to revolve the dialler till the end to dial someone’s number. If I compare them with the present generation basic phones, they look quite cumbersome. Inspite of looking ridiculous in this age, they did their job well as per the technology limitations. Probably after 10 years the present generation basic phones would look like a silly device.
Call Rates
There was a time when calling someone over 1500kms (or 2000kms) costed Rs 24! No, that is not a typo. I still remember the tariff rates to some extent. Local calls were Rs 1.20 for 3 mins and STD went upto Rs24. Suddenly one fine day in January - (January 14th to be precise) I saw a big advertisement from BSNL. Tariffs have been slashed. The upmost limit was just some Rs8 (approx). The advert had big letters saying - Upto 66.67% tarrif slash. It is a gift from BSNL on occasion of Makar Sankranti.
Previous and Present Situation
If you hear from most of the people these days, mobile is the most preferred form of phone. It’s portable and there are a lot of private players. You have a choice to choose between the options and most important of them - No running from pillar to pillar getting a line repaired. Attribute it a bit to BSNL Linemen too. If your phone died (no ring tone), then you probably need to take a leave from work, goto BSNL office, stand in an infinitely long queue and submit the complaint. They might take their own time and move the complaint at a snail’s pace. Till the time your phone is back again, you would have given up the hope. I admit, the experiences may be different in different parts of the country, but hardly anyone had a pleasant one.
Private Players
There have been a few private players in fixed-line phone market for personal use, but none of them have made much news. Two of the most famous are Tata Indicom and Reliance. I have used the Reliance one only to find that is is actually wireless and uses an antenna to communicate with the closest station. Obviously Reliance wanted to avoid the hassles of laying down cables all of the country when they knew that the real money is in consumer mobiles and not home fixed-line phones. I do have a BSNL fixed-line phone at my home-town which is used for Internet connection and for emergency incoming calls.
Conclusion
The mobile market is the biggest, fastest growing part of the Telecom industry. In my family we have a BSNL fixed-line phone. My mother and father have BSNL Excel pre-paid (which they took long back), my brother has Airtel and I have Idea and Aircel. I had never ever imagined that there would once be a time when we 4 ppl together would be having 6 phone numbers!!
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