CABLE OPERATORS URGED TO OFFER INTERNET SERVICES

Media consulting firm Scat Media is urging Indian cable operators to make their networks return-path ready in order to be in a position to offer Internet services and addressability to subscribers. Most cable networks in India do not have the capability to carry signals two ways as operators have installed low-end amplifiers in their networks. This has prevented the migration of networks towards the Internet and addressability.

At a cable operator workshop in Mumbai last week Scat Media director Dinayar Contractor told cable operators that it would be in their interest to become Internet carriers for Internet Access Providers (IAP). "Upgrade your networks up to the subscriber," Contractor told operators. "You can then charge a monthly per sub carriage fee of Rs 100 from the IAP. Currently, you are offering a bouquet of 40 channels and are getting paid just Rs 70-150. You will be able to generate as much revenue from a single channel for Internet services as you are doing today from several channels." The idea seems to have got cable operators excited. An estimate is that at least 10 cable operators India wide, will have upgraded their networks to the last mile and even installed addressable systems by August this year. Some of these will have also taken the fibre optic route; dumping their coax cable in their trunk lines for glass.

Two firms, the Hinduja-run MSO InCablenet and the Murdoch-Chandra-owned Siticable, are reported to be upgrading their networks to fibre optics in various cities in India. Both are bidding to become cable ISPs. A consortium of cable operators in Pune (close to Mumbai) is scheduled to inaugurate a fibre optic link in its network this week. The network is shrinking two head-ends into one with the help of fibre optic cable. The workshop was co-hosted by Channel V."