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This book makes a case for the fact that any history of telecommunications simply has to be about the past as much as it is about its present. Digital India may be new but it is built on previous layers of telecommunications and in this sense the past can enlighten us about both the present and futures of telecommunications in India.
List of contents
- List of Abbreviations
- Introduction
- 1. The Telegraph
- 2. Cable
- 3. Wireless
- 4. Telecommunications in Post-Independent India
- Postscript
- Index
- About the Author
About the author
Pradip Ninan Thomas is at the School of Communications and Arts, University of Queensland. He has written extensively on the media in India, the political economy of communications, communications and social change and the media and religion. He was the Vice President of the International Association for Media & Communication Research (2012-2016).
Summary
This book makes a case for the fact that any history of telecommunications simply has to be about the past as much as it is about its present. Digital India may be new but it is built on previous layers of telecommunications and in this sense the past can enlighten us about both the present and futures of telecommunications in India.
Additional text
Thomas's consistent focus on the financing and organization of materiel (the military analogy is precise) for official communications is fruitful for the comparisons he wants to make. He has also done a service by highlighting the costs paid by the Indian public as the state and entrepreneurs pursued the expansion of telecommunications to serve empire and capital.
