A phone in every Indian’s hand has been an amazing fairy tale. From a single phone in a colony to a mobile phone in every hand has transformed life and livelihood like never before. Not without reason is the telecom sector considered the poster child of the transformation in India, which has replaced the government monopoly with the fledgling private sector.

But former journalist and author Deepali Gupta makes it clear that the story of a phone in every Indian’s hand is a tale of bitter business rivalries and inept government handling, with a whole lot of support actors.

Spirit of innovation

Through analytical storytelling, Gupta brings to light the spirit of innovation in the high-stakes competition that defines the telecom sector. With data and information the author has woven an absorbing story with a lot of drama and suspense. However, the evolution of the state-controlled monopoly into a private sector oligopoly has its own set of nuances.

The National Telecom Policy of 1999 separated the men from the boys in fuelling the telecom war. This led to the rise and fall of many entrepreneurs and one amongst them was Sunil Mittal, who emerged as the champion of champions. This was also the time when the cellular market had started exploding, adding challenges with the information technology equipment and infrastructure.

It is a fascinating account of the evolution of the telecom industry. Though it is based on information available in the public domain, it is a vivid account of the stiff competition between lead players — Tata, Birla, Reliance, Bharati — to capture a lion’s share of the country’s billion voices. It reads like a Wild West story — with corporate rivalries amidst emerging government policies — generating policies in favour of the private sector.

The voluminous book follows a chronological order, which covers all that which contributed to the process of evolution of the telecom industry.

It was in the late 1980s that the country had established the Telecom Commission to guide the Department of Telecommunications, to take forward the setting up of a single service provider for the entire country. It took nearly two years for the government to realise that the country had empty coffers.

But selling a stake nationally to a new private competitor was not considered even a remote possibility. However, the department was learning on the fly to make exemptions and inclusions in rolling out the process.

The political challenges, spectrum scams and the policy reforms were formidable. The voluminous book provides an insightful look into the complexities of the sector.

Increase in call rates

So much has happened in the telecom sector but what the consumers get to know is the outcome but not the how and why of how it came about. For instance, both Airtel and Reliance Jio have increased call rates at the cost of value-added services.

What seems a small increase in monthly expenditure for an ordinary consumer may translate into significant profit for the service provider. What gets counted is the success story of the service provider, at a cost to the unsuspecting consumers.

Given the fledgling consumer base, the gradual increase in cost towards telecom services may seem a genuine concern.

However, the price of mobile telephony and data services in the country are the lowest, without any state subsidy. With AI on the anvil, the sector is likely to face new challenges.

Even if it does, the sector continues to be a business success story.

No doubt, the consumer-interest stories would add a new chapter to the telecom story. Airtel’s famously composed jingle by the music maestro AR Rahman would have got a new tune. The cancellation of licences, involvement of politicians, and the subsequent series of investigations were all intriguing.

In the first two decades (1995-2015), multiple companies from India and abroad lay claim to a piece of the turf; this gave way later to the powerful few. This part is dealt in detail and is a must-read, as it goes beyond the data to capture human stories that shaped the sector.

Intriguing story

Perhaps no one could have dealt with the subject like Gupta. She followed the ins and outs, ups and downs of developments to bring alive the telecom sector. It has all the ingredients of an intriguing story — corporate rivalries, intriguing practices, government policies — which remained dynamic and not uniform. Fast paced and expertly written, Telecom Wars is a primer on a subject.

Elsewhere in the world, too, telecom has been a natural monopoly of the state. But replacing a reluctant government monopoly with private entrepreneurs has been challenging. The book deals with the dos and don’ts of facilitating such a change.

The reviewer is an independent writer, researcher and academic

Check the book out on amazon.

Published on October 5, 2025