But in India, you are never far from a STD booth. There, you dial, you speak, you check the display, you pay your money, you're on your way. The concept is so startlingly simple that you wonder why something like it isn't available in those advanced parts of the globe. There is a reason, of course. STD booths need to be manned.
Labour remains cheap enough in India that keeping one manned, even round the clock, is viable.
That does not apply in the advanced countries. But in India, the side benefit to the STD boom is that it has brought jobs to tens of thousands of people. Small jobs, hard work, long hours, yes, but jobs nevertheless. Those people make good money. About a year ago, I chatted about STD booths with Dr S Ramani, head of Bombay's National Centre for Software Technology.