2 Mbps Broadband in India - the start of the next growth spurt?
I was reading this blog post by Vijay Anand called The Truth Behind Indian Broadband yesterday and thought I should state a few of my thoughts on this subject here. Vijay leads into the argument with:256Kbps. Thats what they seem to be calling as Broadband here. Actually, even 128kbps is sold in the broadband internet package. The cost, almost seems to be at par with what would cost a 2mbps line in North America. What's this all about?The typical large service provider in India (the usual suspects: BSNL, MTNL, Airtel, Reliance Infocomm and Tatas) either have their own international networks or are in the process of acquiring them (by laying cables or leasing). So its not about the bandwidth not being available. These large providers are capable of servicing 2 Mbps or higher connections to subscribers without any problems. It has been avoided as there has been a lack of understanding on the need for 2 Mbps when even 256 kbps is high for checking email and browsing a few websites. Over the last year, since the adoption of broadband in India has witnessed a growth spurt and also the recent launch of IPTV by some select operators (MTNL and BSNL included) subscriber lines are already being provisioned for 1 or 2 Mbps. For those of us waiting for 2 Mbps connections to be available, the other shoe has dropped yesterday: the Minister for Communications has announced that BSNL will offer 2 Mbps connections to all customers with 256 kbps connections without any increase in price. I believe its only a matter of weeks to see Airtel and the others matching these rates and services. Now for the smaller ISPs: This marked change in the bandwidth of connections available will have a significant impact on the guys who just make money in reselling bandwidth but don't have scale and numbers. Without innovative features and captive portals that give advertising revenue or other revenue, the smaller ISPs will end up spending more money on bandwidth than they receive in revenue. Going back to Vijay's post, its quite likely that based on the announcement from the Minister (and more importantly its implementation by the service providers) the rates for a 2 Mbps connection in India will match the US before mid-2007. Technorati Tags: broadband bsnl india Airtel
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