It's been over four months since I moved to Pune, and I have been trying hard to get a fixed phone at home. Only recently, I actually managed to submit an application form for a landline connection. Now the long wait for the connection to be provided begins... I have 5 wireless connections at home, yet I am desperate for a landline. Surprising...? 1. My mobile phones are quite erratic. I can use them for short, informal conversations where interruptions don't matter. But if I have to be on a 3-hour long conference call without having to endure frequent call-drops or poor quality, Hello Hello Can you hear me.., there is no alternative to a fixed line phone. 2. I have a decent quality wireless broadband connection that gets me 1Mbps to my home. But I cannot get more even if I am willing to pay for it. And I cannot get voice on it, although it would just need 64kbps of capacity. Regulation is to blame for both: there isn't enough spectrum available to offer higher (dedicated) speeds on the wireless network. And the broadband connection comes from an ISP licensee that is not permitted to offer voice. 3. Fixed phones are shared connections, meant for the home. My children who don't yet have mobile phones (and won't for the near future, if I can help it) need a phone at home if the parents are away. The home security system needs to be connected to a good quality phone line for it to provide remote monitoring / control features. India, and many other emerging markets, have chosen to go the wireless way for increasing tele-density. It was a good starting point for connecting the millions of unconnected. Now those millions having tasted the benefits of connectivity are bound to demand more... increasingly data and high speed at that. In the absence of adequate spectrum (that is usually fragmented between defence, space and satellite programs) and without any investments in fixed last mile networks, India and other markets in Asia/Africa will soon face a major broadband disadvantage. The digital divide between the developed countries that have been investing in fiber-to-home networks and the emerging markets that have placed their bets only on wireless is bound to increase. What that will do to the "knowledge" and "services" economy positioning of these emerging markets is to be seen.