H-ASIA
Sept 6 2012

Pacific Affairs Sept 2012 Issue now available
***********************************************
From: "Grant, Carolyn"
<cgrant@pacificaffairs.ubc.ca<mailto:cgrant@pacificaffairs.ubc.ca>>

Pacific Affairs
Vol 85, No. 3             September 2012

Special Issue - Celling South Asia: The Mobile Phone’s Impact on a Region
Guest Editors: Robin Jeffrey and Assa Doron

The Mobile Phone in India and Nepal: Political Economy, Politics and Society.
By Robin Jeffrey, Institute of South Asian Studies & Asia Research
Institute, National University of Singapore Assa Doron, The Australian National
University

Keywords: cell phone, social networks; consumption; political economy

This introduction scans the effects of mobile-phone communication, particularly
in South Asia. It focuses on three important areas: political economy, politics
and social practices. By 2012 India had more than 900 million telephone
subscribers, 96 per cent of them on cell phones, and the majority of users were
the poor. At the other end of the social scale, the mobile phone provoked
bitter struggles among some of India’s biggest business houses and branches of
government, and was responsible for criminal cases against politicians at the
highest level. The essays in this volume are a reminder that technology is
anything but neutral. The essays examine the many facets of mobile phone
communication and the institutions, agents, mechanisms and networks such
communication relies on. The essays contribute to efforts to interpret the
effects of this technology and to gain insight into the most important aspect
of the mobile phone: the sheer variety of activity (political, social and
cultural) on which it impinges.

Cellular Mobile in India: Competition and Policy
By Subhashish Gupta, Indian Institute of Management Bangalore, India
Keywords: competition, cellular mobile, telecommunications, policy, market
behaviour
Telecommunications has been one of the success stories of economic reforms in
India. From a teledensity of 2% in the not too distant past the sector has
grown to a point where the teledensity exceeds 60%. The Indian cellular market
is marked by strong competition, a large number of operators and some of the
cheapest tariffs in the world. The sector experiences growth rates in excess of
80% in terms of number of subscribers. However, all is not well in this sector.
There have been a number of upheavals in the past and the latest one involves
alleged favouritism in allocating spectrum.This paper analyzes the state of
competition in cellular mobile in India. Standard measures of competition such
as HHI and concentration ratios are used as well as market share, revenues,
access to funds and profits. We also look at the degree of rivalry in the
industry through changes in rankings in market share. We provide a brief
discussion of the major developments in telecommunications and cellular mobile
in particular after the introduction of reforms. Effects of policy making by
different institutions within India are discussed in relation to their effect
on competition and market development.

The Mobile Communications Services Industry in India: Has it Led to India
Becoming a Manufacturing Hub for Telecommunication Equipment?
By Sunil Mani, Centre for Development Studies, Kerala, India
Keywords: telecommunications, fixed, mobile, telecom equipment, India

India has one of the fastest growing and largest telecommunications services
market in the world, Much of the increases in telecom services were met through
imports to begin with The state has now responded to this by attempting to make
India a manufacturing hub for telecommunications equipment. Although there is
evidence of increased domestic production of telecom equipment, the surging
demand has necessitated imports. The value added by domestic manufacturing is
still very low, but is likely to increase as the scale of domestic
manufacturing increases.


Dragon in the Elephant’s Backyard: Chinese Imports in India’s Mobile Revolution
Amitendu Palit, National University of Singapore
Keywords: China, India, trade, import, mobile, telecom, China-India
The explosive growth in India’s mobile telephony during the last decade
coincided with a robust growth in its trade with China. A variety of imported
equipment from China played critical roles in augmenting use of mobile phones
and expansion of networks in India. This paper studies the trends of these
imports and examines the reasons for their penetrating deep into the Indian
market. It argues that Chinese imports bridged a serious supply-side deficiency
in India’s telecom sector: absence of a modern indigenous equipment
manufacturing industry. Pointing out that development of the latter has been
stunted due to low R&D, limited innovations, lack of access to finance, and
liberal access to imports, the paper argues that Chinese imports are likely to
continue till these conditions prevail notwithstanding security concerns over
such imports.

Shutting Down the Mobile Phone and the Downfall of Nepalese Society, Economy
and Politics
By Peng Hwa Ang, Nanyang Technological University, Shyam Tekwani, Asia-Pacific
Center for Security Studies, USA, Guozhen Wang, Zhanjiang Normal University,
Guangdong, China
Keywords: mobile telecommunications, Nepal, blackout, impact of mobile phone,
shutdown in telecommunications
On 1 February 2005, the Kingdom of Nepal cut off all public telecommunication
links to the outside world. According to the king, the shutdown in
communications was to enable security operations against the Maoist insurgents.
Landline and Internet services were restored gradually over the following
weeks. But the pre-paid mobile phone service, the service used by the majority
of Nepalese, stayed off for the public for 88 days. The shutdown in
communications provided the environment for a natural experiment to look at the
impact of the mobile phone. Researchers conducted interviews in three regions
of Nepal that are taken by the Nepalese as representative of the country. Among
those interviewed were politicians, including the then-prime minister, business
owners, journalists, as well as military and police officers. The study found
that the shutdown in mobile communications had limited success in helping
security operations. The insurgents did not trust the mobile phone network and
had developed their own parallel communication network. The larger impact was
negative: it hurt the economy and alienated large swathes of the public,
perhaps even contributing to the downfall of the king. The study suggests that
the mobile phone is a social device and that if there is to be any shutdown of
the mobile phone service, it should be done only briefly and for very clear
security reasons.

Consumption, Technology and Adaptation: Care and Repair Economies of Mobile
Phones in North India
By Assa Doron, The Australian National University
Keywords: Cell phones, Class; Consumption; Informal economy, Appropriation,
Middle class
On the edges of the digital world in India, there are millions of mobile phone
users. To cater for these consumers, an economy of mobile phone care and repair
has emerged in almost every town. Through the experiences of consumers and
repairers, this article explores technology distribution, service practices and
economic opportunity. How do they learn their trade? How do they make a living?
And how do they position themselves in relation to the official branded
manufacturers and licensed agents? Conceptually, the article is concerned with
the nexus between consumer culture, the Indian middle class and the poor and
how they engage global capitalism. It argues that middle class ideologies and
practices of consumption are both exclusive and expansive. At the same time,
the poor seek to engage this economy by tapping into the unauthorized sector
that responds to their demands for local participation in the global economy,
while keeping them also at a certain distance from the forms and symbolic
capital of the new economy.
Re-Sourceful Networks: Notes from a Mobile Social Networking Platform in India

By Nimmi Rangaswamy, Microsoft Research India, Bangalore, India Edward Cutrell,
Microsoft Research India, Bangalore, India
Keywords: Social Media, Mobile Social Networking, India, Case-study
The paper analyzes SMSGupShup, a mobile-centric social networking platform in
India.  It focuses on a set of dominant users (young, male) who are re-defining
the nature of micro-blogging and the creation of mobile networking communities.
Like many social networking sites, assembling, maintaining and growing social
networks are primary behaviors on GupShup. Unlike many others, where
maintaining a personalized profile and conversing with a networked community
take prominence, users of GupShup show markedly different messaging or
broadcasting practices. While captivated by the idea of connecting with people
all over India for the first time through the GupShup platform, the primary
motivation of users is not conversation, forging a “second life” or building
interest groups but optimizing the networking service to expand one’s own group
membership. From a qualitative study of user profiles, the paper demonstrates
how GupShup can inform thinking about facets of mobile communities in
developing countries: specifically, changing ideas about the networking
platform as “second social life” to one of pecuniary “resource.”

Book Reviews

Asia General
Pan-Asianism: A Documentary History. Volume 1: 1850-1920. Edited by Sven Saaler
and Christopher W. A. Szpilman. Reviewed by Jessamyn Abel

Pan-Asianism: A Documentary History. Volume 2: 1920-Present. Edited by Sven
Saaler and Christopher W. A. Szpilman. Reviewed by Jessamyn Abel

APEC: New Agenda in Its Third Decade. By Ippei Yamazawa. Reviewed by Robert L.
Curry

Water: Asia’s New Battleground. By Brahma Chellaney. Reviewed by Richard
Paisley

ASEAN-India-Australia: Towards Closer Engagement in New Asia. Edited by William
T. Tow and Chin Kin Wah. Reviewed by Virginia Watson

Rebalancing Growth in Asia: Economic Dimensions for China. Editors, Vivek Arora
and Roberto Cardarelli. Reviewed by John Whalley

China and Inner Asia

China’s Reform In Global Perspective. Edited by John Wong, Bo Zhiyue. Reviewed
by Arthur R. Kroeber

Beyond the Middle Kingdom: Comparative Perspectives on China’s Capitalist
Transformation. Edited by Scott Kennedy. Reviewed by Stephen Noakes

Negotiating Religion In Modern China: State and Common People in Guangzhou,
1900-1937. By Shuk-wah Poon. Reviewed by Virgil K.Y. Ho

Conflict Management and Dispute Settlement in East Asia. Edited by Ramses Amer
and Keyuan Zou. Reviewed by Pitman B. Potter

Mao’s New World: Political Culture in the Early People’s Republic. By Chang-tai
Hung. Reviewed by Michael Schoenhals

Arrested Histories: Tibet, the CIA, and Memories of a Forgotten War. By Carole
McGranahan. Reviewed by Joseph G. Morgan

The Struggle for Tibet. By Wang Lixiong and Tsering Shakya. Reviewed by Jack
Patrick Hayes

Northeast Asia

Popular Democracy in Japan: How Gender and Community are Changing Modern
Electoral Politics. By Sherry L. Martin. Reviewed by Lynne Y. Nakano

Rethinking Japanese Public Opinion And Security: From Pacifism to Realism? By
Paul Midford. Reviewed by Thomas Stow Wilkins

Spending Without Taxation: FILP and the Politics of Public Finance in Japan. By
Gene Park. Reviewed by Junko Kato

Troubled Natures: Waste, Environment, Japan. By Peter Wynn Kirby. Reviewed by
Scott Schnell

Minorities and Diversity. Edited by Kunihiro Kimura. Reviewed by John Ertl

Civic Engagement in Postwar Japan: The Revival of a Defeated Society. By Rieko
Kage. Reviewed by Daniel P. Aldrich

Imperial Japan at its Zenith: The Wartime Celebration of the Empire’s 2,600th
Anniversary. By Kenneth J. Ruoff. Reviewed by Roy A. Starrs

Airborne Dreams: “Nisei” Stewardesses and Pan American World Airways. By
Christine Yano. Reviewed by Joy Hendry

Sex in Japan’s Globalization, 1870-1930: Prostitutes, Emigration and Nation
Building. By Bill Mihalopoulos. Reviewed by Timothy David Amos

Reconstructing Kobe: The Geography of Crisis and Opportunity. By David W.
Edgington. Reviewed by William J. Siembieda

Mapping Mongolia: Situating Mongolia in the World from Geologic Time to the
Present. Edited by Paula L.W. Sabloff. Reviewed by Dalaibuyan Byambajav

The Korean State And Social Policy: How South Korea Lifted Itself from Poverty
and Dictatorship to Affluence and Democracy. By Stein Ringen et al. Reviewed by
Joseph Wong

South Asia
India Since 1980. By Sumit Ganguly, Rahul Mukherji. Reviewed by Sudha Pai

Nationbuilding, Gender and War Crimes in South Asia. By Bina D’Costa. Reviewed
by Purna Sen

Rethinking Religion in India: The Colonial Construction of Hinduism. Edited by
Esther Bloch, Marianne Keppens and Rajaram Hegde. Reviewed by Chris J. Fuller

No Man’s Land: Globalization, Territory, and Clandestine Groups in Southeast
Asia. By Justin Hastings. Reviewed by David Martin Jones

The Limits of Alignment: Southeast Asia and the Great Powers since 1975. By
John D. Ciorciari. Reviewed by Donald E. Weatherbee

Vietnam and the West: New Approaches. Wynn Wilcox, editor. Reviewed by Tracy
Barrett

The Constitutional System of Thailand: A Contextual Analysis. By Andrew Harding
and Peter Leyland. Reviewed by Andrew Walker

Revolution Interrupted: Farmers, Students, Law, and Violence in Northern
Thailand. By Tyrell Haberkorn. Reviewed by Charles F. Keyes

Saying the Unsayable: Monarchy and Democracy in Thailand. Edited by Søren
Ivarsson and Lotte Isager. Reviewed by Jim Glassman

Chinese Indonesians And Regime Change. Edited by Marleen Dieleman Juliette
Koning, and Peter Post. Reviewed by Wu-Ling Chong

Australasia and the Pacific Region

Experience and Representation: Contemporary Perspectives on Migration in
Australia. By Keith Jacobs. Reviewed by James Jupp

Consuming Pleasures: Australia and the International Drug Business. By John
Rainford. Reviewed by Dean Wilson

The Lihir Destiny: Cultural Responses to Mining in Melanesia. By Nicholas A.
Bainton. Reviewed by Geoffrey Hobbis

Imperial Archipelago: Representation and Rule in the Insular Territories Under
U.S. Dominion After 1898. By Lanny Thompson. Reviewed by Glenn Petersen

Cultures Of Commemoration: The Politics of War, Memory, and History in the
Mariana Islands. By Keith L. Camacho. Reviewed by Stephen C. Murray

Intimate Strangers: Friendship, Exchange and Pacific Encounters. By Vanessa
Smith. Reviewed by Martha Macintyre

Pacific Island Artists: Navigating the Global Art World. Edited by Karen
Stevenson. Reviewed by Anne Allen

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