Broadband Tech India 2008
TV may drive Broadband growth
Thomex.com
Over 110 million households may soon be able to convert their television sets into knowledge tools by enabling broadband services over the cable television network across the country. The view was expressed by telecom experts during the one-day International Conference titled '5th Broadband Tech India 2008' organized by Bharat Exhibitions here in Delhi on November 21, 2008. While addressing the conference, the key note speaker, Vijay Yadav, MD, South Asia, UTStarcom said, "Television will be the bridge for the digital divide. With very little additional cost, the broadband facilities can be provided to over 50 million cable TV households right away." This would mean that availability of telemedicine, distance education and many other such facilities at a very negligible cost. "If this becomes a reality, then we can witness the broadband subscriptions to go far beyond the target of 20 million by 2010," Yadav said.While informing the participants about Bharat Sanchar Nigam Ltd’s (BSNL) on-going talks with Reserve bank of India (RBI) for enabling remittances from distant workers to reach their families through mobile phone transaction, S D Saxena, Director Finance, BSNL said that we should learn from the South Korean model where the Government has encouraged people to use broadband at a small additional cost on their existing device. With low prices as ours, one can push broadband services to the people," he further added. The conference felt that the broadband can get into the transaction segment by turning devices like mobile phone into a transaction card, with a possibility of implementing transaction not just between customer and business but also between customer to customer, thereby creating an explosive use of mobile phones.The business secret in India was to make things affordable to customers and also relevant, according to Naresh Ajwani, President, Consumer Infrastructure and Operations, Sify Technologies. He recalled how the PCO model became a huge success in India in making telephone accessible to common people. While cyber cafes have sought to bring broadband access to the masses, but wherever it lacked relevant content it has not been successful. In Chennai alone over 175 entrepreneurs in cyber café have had to close down while in Mumbai where these cafes could provide civic service information to the public they became a roaring success, Ajwani pointed out. "The next billion broadband users could be right within India if you think out an India way of using this technology", Ajwani added."Making wireless broadband services affordable would depend upon the resolution of the spectrum cost and how the proposed spectrum auction would take shape," felt Chandan Ghosh, Head, Long Distance (Global wholesales & Enterprises Business-Voice & Data), Aircel.Yadav predicted that even the cost of setting up fibre-based broadband access had come down sharply. While endorsing Yadav’s key note address, Ghosh said that it will be video and not the voice which will be the biggest driver of broadband services in India.The other issue which was discussed during proceeding of the Conference was the clear divide between the telecom content providers. "The convergence of platforms with content need to take place if we want to witness the desired growth in broadband services," said Sunil K Gupta, Advisor (Converged Networks) Telecom Regulatory Authority of India (TRAI). He further underlined the need for a comprehensive approach to broadband penetration involving all stake holders. Regarding the sustained growth of broadband services and its penetration, Shankar Halder, Chief Strategy & Governance, Bharti Airtel Limited said that while the infrastructure was still struggling to take the broadband services in the interiors of the country, the need for an end-to-end eco-system along with the relevant content was the need of the moment. |
