In the 1990s, India faced a familiar infrastructure dilemma. Much of the developed world had already invested heavily in copper-wire landline networks and the expensive upgrades that followed. India, by contrast, had weak penetration, unreliable access, and a system many considered structurally behind. Then something remarkable happened. India did not spend decades trying to replicate the West's legacy telecom architecture. It leapfrogged — moving from limited fixed-line access to mobile-first connectivity at a scale and cost the world had not seen. That leap did not merely change how Indians made phone calls. It helped create the conditions for low-cost data, UPI payments, and a digital public infrastructure of global consequence.
Healthcare may now be standing at a similar inflection point.
