Broadband , Digital Capability & India : The Game Changer -Part II

In Part 1 of this series, we saw the need for increasing the broadband penetration in India. Continuing on the theme, we need to recognise that the consumer electronics sector is in a transition as service driven model begins to dominate. While assessing the road ahead,I covered the perspective that it is found that for India to emerge as a technological power it needs to provide 50 million broadband connections in the next five years. The growth so far has largely been confined to urban areas, as most operators think rural connectivity is not economically viable. The answer is a combination of policy initiatives and innovation on technological and business models. The GOI itself has an ambitious target and expects the usage to rise to 40 million Internet subscribers and 20 million broadband subscribers by the end of 2010 in India (In the Indian context,download speeds of over and above 256 kbps are usually taken as a broadband connection).

The upside for gaming market is indeed very high - Even in South Korea, where online games are a major diversion, only 7 percent of the PC users employ the Internet for online purchases.Bill Gurley talking about Leisure Time Trends finds that the most amazing shift in free time usage is clearly the move to MMOGS [Massive Multiplayer Online Games]. People are spending hours and hours in the multi-player environments. The biggest bang has been in Asia, but World of Warcraft’s success in the US in the 9 months since launch is nothing short of remarkable. It costs $50 for the CDs and $14/month to subscribe. 3.5m users now. The top success before was Everquest - 400K.People are spending 8-20 hours a week in these “Worlds”.Clearly broadband is redefining the consumer electronics industry - the industry must work more closely with the service provider industry. Broadband - Mobile's first cousin is really creating froth and action in the digital market & India has a huge opportunity to capitalise on this important development..