I have been spending time lately documenting cell phones for a friend. And one of the most remarkable things about them is how capable they are not.

Many of the phones being distributed in the U.S. lack cameras, sound recording, even messaging capability. They are designed solely for use as phones, with a simple phone book, and it all goes ker-blooey if the SIM card is jostled (requiring that you take it out and replace it, a true cold re-boot).

In essence the U.S. is years and years behind the times when it comes to cellular technology. We are truly a Third World country. (That image, by the way, is from the Georgia Citizens' Coalition on Hunger, which does fine work.)

Where's the First World?

The First World for cellular exists in places like India. A broadband cellular provider in that country has launched live TV feeds, using EDGE (Enhanced Data Rates for GSM Evolution), a 3G enhancement to the old GSM standards. (The image of an Indian woman, on a cell phone, in front of a display of TVs is from the BBC.)

Nokia and Ericsson are the partners of this cellular operator, which is called Idea Cellular. I just got finished documenting an Ericsson phone, and my own Nokia. Both party like it's 1999.

Two things are driving this. First, because there are no wired incumbents to protect (remember that U.S. cellular leaders Cingular and Verizon are both tied to Baby Bells) this is new service, not redundant service, for many people. Second, since there is one, non-proprietary standard, you get enormous competition among re-sellers who ride on the cellular networks...they can buy magazine or newspaper ads efficiently. U.S. carriers are still locked into proprietary standards, and have absolute control over much tinier markets that result.

The bottom line is that mobile connectivity is up 160% in India, year over year, against growth of just three percent in the wireline business. Despite the fact that India started with a single publicly-owned telco while the U.S. supposedly had competing private operators, their digital divide is being bridged, with 86% of villages now getting some form of phone service.

Standards work. Open networks work. Competition works. This is India's experience.

Meanwhile, the U.S. has proprietary networks, no real standards, and no real competition. Thus it continues to lag behind.

I remember how Indians and others used to chafe getting the "free enterprise" model lecture from smug Americans back in the 1990s.

How's it feel to have it thrown back in your face, Yank?