Thoughts of A Lively Mind

GigaOM » India’s IPTV Unreality
Shailaja Neelakantan @ GigaOM writes about IPTV in India.

There are a few key points missing, both from the article and from the reader comments:

Almost all IPTV services are within "Walled Gardens" i.e. within the service provider's network. Hence the problem isn't about the bandwidth connections people are getting for internet access - its a question of how much bandwidth the service provider can deliver to the DSL network or cable network or Ethernet network (depending on how they reach the consumer). In most cases, bandwidth available today is sufficient to run IPTV services.

Of course, 256kbps connections to the network wouldn't be enough, they would morph into 256kbps (or whatever connection you are paying for) internet access along with a 2+ Mbps IPTV connection.

Today's news shows that even CableTV operators want to be able to bid for 3G licenses and they are not afraid of innovating and trying new services to retain or grow their customer base. In light of this, service providers like BSNL, Bharti/Airtel and Reliance have no choice but to get into this game themselves.

• BSNL and MTNL have adopted a more open model where they partner with content providers who share their revenue with the service providers. BSNL & MTNL's problem is now how to assure quality of service for the IPTV link.
• Airtel is in the process of working out the kinks in their own IPTV service and will roll it out themselves.
• Meanwhile Reliance is adopting the safer DTH route until their Microsoft IPTV service stabilizes (that the service has problems is obvious from the problems AT&T's U-verse is facing in its limited rollout in the US).
• Tata has gone through this entire exercise, seen that IPTV isn't mature enough to invest heavily in and is focusing on DTH via Tata Sky.

So, as the author of the original post on GigaOM said, IPTV is an unreality in India - lets see how it plays out!

Update: I forgot to link this post to another blog post I saw on Broadband and Convergence India: Dish TV or Triple Play?. My comments in this post should answer some of the queries raised in that article!

Technorati Tags: IPTV, Bharti, Airtel, Reliance, BSNL, DTH