Untimely death of Indian telegram: UAE expats

In this age of Twitter and Facebook (and Vine and Instagram), who sends telegrams anymore, right?

While the internet-savvy generation in Indian metros and other sprouting towns may not have ever seen a telegram let alone sent one, the millions in rural India still use it as a means if near-instant communication, especially in areas where internet is unavailable.

But they will have to now find other means of rapid communication as The Bharat Sanchar Nigam Ltd of India (BSNL), a government-owned telecommunications company, has decided to discontinue the 160-year-old telegraph service in the country from July 15, 2013.

It has, indeed, become a forgotten means of communication for many Indian expats living in the UAE, but now that its official death has been announced, the Indian telegraphic service, often called just the telegram, is being called premature by many.

BSNL blames internet-penetration and a rapid fall of its use for ending the Indian telegraphic service. After stopping the telegram service for overseas communication earlier in 2013, it has now discontinued it within India.

Undoubtedly, India has been witness to mobile communication revolution. Reports put nearly 950 million mobile subscribers and close to 50 million of these mobile subscribers access Internet via mobile handsets.

However, this is a small percentage when we look at those who still remain unconnected. At about 150 million Internet users, India now has third largest Internet population in the world after China (at 575 million) and the US (at 275 million).

At 150 million total Internet users, the Internet penetration in India remains at 12 per cent versus 43 per cent in China and 80 per cent in the US.

In such a case, is the death of telegram premature? Many expats believe the service should have been continued in rural areas, at least.

“The growth of Internet and mobile communications has been staggered. Nearly everyone can be spotted with a mobile phone in the urban cities but what about the very rural areas? There are villages where people are still without a computer or even telephone lines. What should such people do?” Justin George, an Indian expat told Emirates 24|7.

Many others reiterated the same sentiment. Tagging it “too early”, “too soon,” or “premature”, a good section of the Indian community believes the government acted in haste.

“BSNL was a loss-making entity even when I was a child. They should have taken a count of the salaries of their staff, rationalised their work and increased their efficiency. Doing away with the telegram altogether is not a good idea as many still relied on it,” said Matthew Jacobs, another Indian living in Dubai.

The telegram service began in India in 1850, moving from Morse code, through teletype and was converted to a web-based messaging system in 2010.

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