In 1992, the opening up of the telecom sector for privatization led to huge growth in both landline and mobile telephony. This article looks at whether this growth will pave the way for the death of the PCO concept, and emergence of a new format for cost-effective quality pay-phone services.

Even Sam Pitroda would not have imagined the rapid pace with which the Indian telecom industry has been marching ahead during the last decade. Every growth estimate of the Indian telecommunication market, published in the last many years, has gone awry. This unforeseen growth will certainly spring more surprises. One of this could be the changing format of PCOs.

The bright yellow STD PCO Boxes are the outcome of Sam's efforts, which began in early 1984 with the foundation of C-dot. As chief technology advisor of the then prime minister of India, he made Rajiv Gandhi's dream true by designing indigenous digital telephone exchanges. In 1988-89, all the telecom services like telex, fax, and long distance national calls became available to the common man directly, and through the PCO1s. The potential of the concept for providing employment helped PCOs mushroom across the country. Today, we see these PCOs at every nook and corner. However, in the turbulent times of Indian telephony, the probable future shape and format of these PCO shops remains uncertain, and forms an interesting topic for study.

About 10 years ago, getting a new phone connection could take anywhere between one to three years; but today one can get it almost on the same day. As cell phone service providers' distribution reach is almost at par with that of consumer goods companies, getting a mobile phone connection is a matter of just minutes! Why then would people visit PCOs?

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