Broadband penetration has been a big worry with the government recently. Inspite of trying so hard, we are much short of our projected connectivity of 9 million by the end of 2007. We are only 2.2 million now but still we want to set a target of 20 million by 2011. Not a tall order if we have good intentions and right approach. Both these things become rare when there are vested interests and a corrupt system.
We had stal warts of the industry talking about the Broadband proliferat last month in a high level seminar organised by ASSOCHAM, a high profile industry association. This issue carries the thoughts of those people and provides an insight into what can be done to meet our targets.
I feel we often bogged down with figures and projections and ignore the ground realities. We have an excellent example of Cable Television industry before us. Here the industry does not chase any targets, rather targets chase the industry. With these 70 million house holds ahead connected, it should be a clear indication to the telecom industry that future is only in the video. The whole process of convergence focuses on this and tries to find solutions for reaching the masses with the video signals. In simple words, all telecom operators want to become cable operators. The very concept of broadband came only up to achieve this. So, in my mind, if these telecom companies want to achieve their targets, they must shake hands with the cable television industry and deploy technologies that can utilise the last mile connectivity of 70 million households. Co-axial cables are any way better than the twisted pair of telephone to carry a high bandwidth signal carrying video, audio and data.
Unfortunately the attitude of the organised telecom industry has been to find faults in the cable TV industry rather than learn from their plus points.
Not that the Cable TV Industry has a smooth sailing. We are still crossing our fingers if the Broadcast Bill and the Content Code see the light of the day. Both the regulations are being hotly debated and likely to come up in the Monsoon Session of the Parliament. News Channel broadcasters are up against the content code set for them because that will curb their freedom to dish out all the trash that they give now to the public. Just imagine, more than 40 news channels are busy day-in and day-out searching for some news or the other. Most of the time one finds news being made out of no-news. Instead of news, it is the worst kind of entertainment that we have.
CAS fever has cooled down. The government wants the Phase I to be implemented well so that further implementation does not get bogged down with problems. The major problem is of billing according to the choice of the subscribers. I feel this will get sorted out soon and we can expect the next phase to rollout soon.
—— Lt. Col. (Retd.) K K Sharma
Editor
Source: http://cablequest.org/articles/editorials/item/1825-use-cable-networks-for-broadband.htmlSource: http://cablequest.org/articles/editorials/item/1825-use-cable-networks-for-broadband.html
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