How telecom companies in India have added a whole new group of mobile
phone users—and the tremendous impact of this new reach. Around
2016, buoyed by affordable data plans of telecom companies, an
aspirational neo-middle class of users in India accessed internet for
the first time on their mobile phones. What kinds of digital
infrastructures are emerging for content and money to move and reach
such users? And how does their design impact access, exclusion, and
surveillance as well as the horizon of social behaviors and
expectations in “Digital India”? In Unlimited, Rahul Mukherjee
explores how aspirations shape practices of distribution as well as
how distribution technologies aid state-corporations to set
aspirational targets for consumer-citizens who encounter gender- and
caste-based fault lines. This book traces the supply chains of content
delivery networks enabling streaming video-on-demand services, such as
Hotstar and SonyLIV, and informal ways of circulating vernacular
Bhojpuri music videos through memory cards. It assesses the
possibilities and limits of the platform economy with the rise of
mobile payment and lending services, as well as the accompanying
online scams. Unlimited offers the first systematic examination of
distribution considerations—including localization
strategies—required for imagining mobile phone users across the
varied regional geographies of India.
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Aspirational Politics and Mobile Media Distribution
Product details
ISBN
9780262383578
Published
2025
Publisher
Random House Publishing Services
Language
Product language
Engelsk
Format
Product format
Digital bok
Author