BRIDGING THE LAST MILE: AN EXPLORATION OF ICT POLICY THROUGH BHARATNET Deepti Bharthur A Dissertation Submitted to the Graduate College of Bowling Green State University in partial fulfillment of the requirements for the degree of DOCTOR OF PHILOSOPHY December 2015 Committee: Radhika Gajjala, Advisor Shannon Orr Graduate Faculty Representative Oliver Boyd-Barrett Clayton Rosati © 2015 Deepti Bharthur All Rights Reserved iii ABSTRACT Radhika Gajjala, Advisor India is brimming with new optimism about its economic growth potential and ability to enhance its status. Democratic and demographic dividends play a crucial role in its aspiration. As a key IT player with regard to the services and allied sectors its transformation from telecom as a luxury to appreciable levels of teledensity is a narrative in itself. Its tryst with harnessing communication for development integrates the modernization approaches with all the consequent set of problems and issues. The liberal framework in which telecom reforms were initiated have spread the vision of modern handheld communication devices as harbingers of empowerment, entitlement and entertainment. Connectivity and access in the last mile is no doubt a significant variable and required a major policy articulation and push by the government. It was against this reality shared by many other nations that incremental articulations for broadband access in keeping with the vision of creating an information society were made. Through a historical institutional analysis, this study unravels the pattern leading up to one of the major initiatives by any country in the world, the BharatNet project. The rollout processes of BharatNet examined by applying academic perspectives that draw from three major strands of studies: the discourse of communication, modernization and development; the relationships in policy formation and implementation through political economy framework with regard to information and communication technologies, networks and knowledge societies and the time and space approach with regard to the dichotomies of urban and rural spaces and factors of exclusion and inclusion. The study posits an argument that discourses within a paradigm necessitate choices of technology and articulations of beneficiaries that may or may not factor them. It also reveals the iv many pulls and pressures are commercially dictated and pose inherent contradictions for a state that espouses a consciousness towards welfare within a larger neoliberal framework. v For Amma, Appa and Appu, the tiny personal universe that keeps me going in this big, infinite world. vi ACKNOWLEDGMENTS This dissertation would not have been possible but for the efforts and assistance of a number of people who have helped me immeasurably, since I have embarked on this process five years ago. To my advisor, Radhika Gajjala for taking me under her wing and helping me in the process of developing and honing this project into what it is today, for her boundless support, and for placing in me, unshaken confidence and trust, as we went back and forth on things over endless cups of Turkish coffee. To the members of my committee, my co-chairs, Oliver Boyd-Barrett, Clayton Rosati and external representative, Shannon Orr for their valuable insights, excellent feedback and intellectual stimulation over the last two years from each stage of the doctoral process to the next. To Srinivas Melkote, who urged me all those years ago in a small office at the University of Hyderabad, to consider doing a PhD and for assuring me that I could. To the graduate community at BGSU, faculty and students, for being a supportive and collaborative networks of colleagues, friends and mentors. To my family, my parents and my sister for being the best support system that anyone could ever hope for, for being the bedrock of my sense of self, always. To my extended family in the US - Shalini, Hari, Shray and Saath for sharing their home and hospitality with me, making the last few weeks of this process the easiest in the dissertation process. To countless others who have shared my journey, before I ever embarked on a Bangalore - Paris- Detroit one-way Air France flight… I am deeply and eternally grateful. vii TABLE OF CONTENTS Page CHAPTER I. INTRODUCTION……………………… ...................................................... 1 Notes on a Phone Booth …………………………………………………………… 1 Introduction……………………………………………………………………… .... 4 Statement of Research…………………………………………………………… .... 6 Description of Case………………………………………………………………. ... 8 Research Framework……………………………………………………………... .. 10 Theoretical Framework…………………………………………………………… .. 12 Methodological Framework……………………………………………………. ...... 13 Policy Analysis…………………………………………………………… .. 14 Thematic Media Content Analysis………………………………………… . 15 Rationale and Implications………………………………………………………… 16 CHAPTER II. LITERATURE REVIEW……………………………………………..…… 18 International Development, Policy and Communication Technology: Unpacking the Meta Discourse…………………………………………………… .. 19 The Modernization Paradigm: The Creation of Development as a Third World Problem …………………………………………………… 19 Dependency School and the Media Imperialism Critique……………… ..... 21 Neoliberalism and the Washington Consensus…………………………….. 23 Liberalization of the Global Telecommunication Sector…………………… 25 The Informatization Approach…………………………………………… ... 26 The Participatory Paradigm…………………………………………….. ..... 32 viii Universal Service…………………………………………………………. 34 The Development Question Today: A New Digital Divide………………. .. 37 The Indian State, Development and Communication Technology: An Evolution of Status Quo……………………………………………………………………. ......... 39 “Ultimately, What Counts is the Approach to our Rural Millions.”……. ..... 40 Early Articulations: The Nehru-Sarabhai Approach to Communication Policy… .............................................................................. 43 “You Got Mobile Phones Because Rajiv Gandhi Heard You.” .................... 46 The Last Mile in India: Two Perspectives .................................................... 48 Theoretical Framework .............................................................................................. 51 Theorizing Technology Through Space, Place and Scale ............................. 52 The Right to the City ..................................................................................... 58 Political Economy in Media and Communication Studies ............................ 63 Conclusion……………………………………………………………………….. 66 CHAPTER III. METHOD ………………………. ............................................................... 70 Philosophical Foundations of Study……………………………………………….. 70 Ontology……………………… .................................................................... 71 Epistemology ……………………… ............................................................ 72 Researcher’s Subject Position and Background: Bridging the Personal and the Academic ...................................................................................................... 76 Conceptualization of Site………………………………………………………… 79 Description of Case………………………………………………………………. 80 BharatNet………………………………………………………………….. 80 ix Digital India.................................................................................................. 82 Research Agenda...................................................................................................... 82 Rationale and Implications....................................................................................... 83 Definition of Terms and Constructs Used in Study.................................................. 85 Discourse, Frame and Narrative: Towards a Critical Framework of Policy Analysis ................................................................................................... 89 Method……………………………………………………………………………… 93 Policy Analysis……………………………………………………………… 94 Thematic Media Analysis…………………………………………………… 95 Data Collection and Sampling…………………………………………………….... 96 Establishing the Timeline …………………………………………………… 96 Post-independence (1947) – 1990………......................................... 97 1990 – 2010..................................................................................... 97 2011 – 2015.................................................................................... 97 Sampling..................................................................................................... 98 Policy Documents and Statements.................................................... 98 Media Sample................................................................................... 100 Content Analysis ….................................................................................................. 102 Document Analysis....................................................................................... 102 Thematic Media Analysis.............................................................................. 103 Organizing Findings and Observations..................................................................... 104 Challenges and Limitations........................................................................................ 104 CHAPTER IV. RESULTS .................................... ............................................................... 106 x Setting the Scene: Identifying the Actors and Placing their Voice in the Discourse. 107 The Discourse Coalition................................................................................... 107 Government of India.............................................................................