MUMBAI, February 5: The Hindujas-owned IN Network's plans to offer Internet services over its cable network has hit a roadblock. This is because the Department of Telecommunications (DoT) has disallowed cable operators from using their existing backbone to offer Internet services to their subscribers.IN Network had planned to provide Internet access to its subscribers over its cable TV network and had even drawn up plans to invest an estimated Rs 350 crore in this venture.
DoT, in its Internet policy announced last month, had stated that cable operators would not be allowed to use their existing cable TV infrastructure to provide Internet services.
"We have approached DoT to clear any misapprehension in their minds and allow us to use our cable network for Internet access," said an IN Network official. He added that worldover, there is a convergence taking place between entertainment and communication, and what the company is trying to do is nothing new.
The DoT decision has come as a setback to thecable operator as it has already tested point-to-point Internet services to a few of its subscribers by providing the access offline (by downloading a few web pages at its host computer and offering it to the subscribers).
If the company had been allowed to provide Internet access to its subscribers, it would have been the first in the country to do so and one of the first in the world to take such a step.
Besides, this would have meant a dramatic increase in the number of people connected to the Net as the services would have been available to lakhs of people serviced by the cable operator. Also, it would have resulted in a substantial reduction in costs for the subscribers.
To surf the Net in a service offered by a cable operator, the subscribers would just have to install a set top box and avoid investing in a PC. A set top box displays a computer keyboard on the TV screen, which can be controlled by a remote control. The user can then key in any website address, thus eliminating the need for acomputer.
IN Network has about 2.3 million subscribers in the country of which one million are in Mumbai and another 4 lakh in Delhi.
The company operates its own network in nine cities and operates through franchisees in another 22 cities.
Copyright © 1998 Indian Express Newspapers (Bombay) Ltd.
