Broadband in India: Local Content

By Sujai Karampuri, Guest Author

As I discussed in the previous post, the drivers for penetration of broadband in India will be-

* Decreasing cost per line
* Decreasing operating expense
* Decreasing cost of PC (or similar device)
* Social attitudes and habits embracing broadband facilities
* More Indian content

In this post, I will analyze the issue of more Indian content.

What will further fuel the penetration is the content which is more relevant to the masses of India. Subscribers would like to see more content tailored to their needs and desires. More Indian language content, more applications suitable to Indian social context will come up in the next few years which will in turn contribute to increasing broadband penetration.

[Sramana: I talked about local language content on TV, which can easily turn into IPTV over the next decade. In Disney and Globalization, I also discussed how Disney will need to scale to penetrate India. In Indian Anime, I discussed the animation industry in some detail, and suggested an Indian genre like the Japanese Anime to be developed from India. Then, there are, ofcourse, the two key drivers of popular culture in India: Bollywood and Cricket. Both of those need to find their large scale “digital” means of expression such that they can become carriers of broadband to the homes.]

Updates:

[12 Apr 2007] Manoj Kohli, President and CEO, Bharti Airtel, has this to say:

“All I can say is that by 2010 the market is estimated to have 400-500 million subscribers.

We are looking at a market share of at least 25 per cent, i.e. 125 million subscribers. We have stepped up our Broadband penetration plans and will continue to lead the wireless market share with our passion to deliver the best to our customers.”

[12 Apr 2007] In a bid to catch them young, Bharat Sanchar Nigam Ltd (BSNL) is rolling out its broadband services to one lakh schools across the country by December 2008, as part of a project being embarked upon by the Ministry of Human Resource Development.

This segment is a part in the series : Broadband in India