Telecom India
The deregularisation of the Indian telecom sector is expected to open up a huge market. But globally, telecom has been a disaster for everyone. The telecom disaster according to most trade publications is worse than the dotcom meltdown. According to certain studies, investors have lost more than $2 trillion due to stock prices crashing. We have various examples of the debacle in the form of WorldCom, Global Crossing etc. Thousands of people have joined the ranks of the unemployed. Express Computer should do an article on the trends in the telecom industry focusing on the future of this industry.

— Anand Mahadevan (Bangalore)

Kudos to EC!
I am an IT Professional working as head of IT for Honda Siel Cars India. I am also a regular reader of your publication. I would like to take this opportunity to congratulate you for the fantastic August 19, 2002 issue. Sincere initiatives to discuss issues like Technology and Personal Technology are worth praising. My best wishes for the success of the mission called Express Computer.

- Hilal Khan, Manager-IT (Honda Siel Cars)

Act the Act
Apropos your article, ‘IT Act languishes thanks to government negligence’ (Express Computer, August 26, 2002). The article has provided a detailed analysis of the IT Act and where it stands today—two years after it was framed. It is an accepted fact that India is going to witness a ubiquitous adoption of IT sooner or later. The current economic slowdown might have put a dampener on the rapid growth it underwent during the late 90’s. But this state of affairs will not continue for long. Increasing usage of the Internet will lead to a rise in cyber crimes. And if we don’t set up a solid structure now, it will be difficult to handle it later when things get out of proportion. The excuse most government officials concerned with the IT department give is that the IT Act 2000 was meant to serve a limited purpose. It was actually enacted to put the authenticity of electronic documents on par with paper documents. Even if this is the truth, then its high time that the government did something to rectify the situation.

- Adil Seth (Mumbai)

Brain drain
Every other nation in the world seems to be benefiting from the genius of Indian software engineers. Graduates from the IITs and other acclaimed engineering colleges in the country are highly valued by companies abroad. But how has it benefited India? The ITES industry refuses to service Indian companies as the domestic market does not provide the margins earned from US or UK-based companies. Software service companies and even consulting companies prefer MNCs or international clients as they feel Indian companies are too price conscious. The Indian market holds vast potential and if tapped well, our dependence on MNCs will reduce.

- Vipul Bhatacharya

Via e-mail
In defence of the nation
The Indian defence sector has been sadly neglected by our software industry. Worldover, the highest technology spenders are the defence verticals and other government organisations. In India the reverse is true. The government finds it hard to keep up with technological progress and the defence industry trusts imported products more than indigenously developed ones. But the sad truth is—the Indian software industry has not been able to provide the defence sector with anything notable. It is essential for the defence sector to encourage development of indigenous technologies, be it hardware or software. We need to have our own operating systems and security devices in place if we want to avoid the risk of foreign intelligence agencies bugging our systems.

- Neelalohith Luthra (Pune)