GigaOM's Shailaja Neelakantan says Indian telcos are dreaming big when they think IPTV is in their future, since a 256 kbps broadband connection still costs $40 a month and there are only 1.7 million broadband users in the country. I must admit those are rather unappealing stats for potential IPTV providers, if true. State-owned BSNL and MTNL have recently signed franchise agreements for content delivery services and private companies like Reliance and Bharti have also promised upcoming IPTV services by the end of this year or early next. The price of broadband services in the country is still a major barrier for any considerable uptake of IPTV services, so Bollywood On Demand will have to wait.
For more on India's IPTV-scape:
- see this blog post at GigaOM
PLUS: MTNL set to pip rivals on IPTV. Article