By Akash Joshi

The term "couch potato" is set to become obsolete. It will probably be replaced by "mouse mushroom", "rodent rambler", or some such Net-related term.

Cable TV viewers in most parts of the world have begun dumping plain old channel surfing in favour of the Internet. The potential of high speed Internet access over cable has thrown up immense possibilities.

If the formative years of the Internet revolution were about mere access, now it is high speed access, at economical rates, that matters. According to experts, by the end of 1999, around 1.3 million cable users in the US were subscribing to Internet access offered by cable operators. This number is all set to double (maybe treble, quadruple...) by the end of this year. Similar stories are emanating from all over the world.

Latin America is all geared to cash in on this opportunity. Open system, eased regulations, and a tremendous expansion in networks could see cable operators dominating the Latin American market for high speed Internet access. Argentina, Brazil and Mexico are tipped to be the trailblazers in this market.

According to experts at Strategis Group, a US-based consultancy, Latin America has around 54,000 subscribers for cable modem or Internet access over cable. Over the next three years, that number will swell to 1.26 million subscribers, the Strategis Group estimates.

Recently Microsoft invested around $126 million for a 12 per cent stake in a Brazilian company, Globo Cabo SA, the leading pay-TV operator in Brazil.

Globo Cabo SA recently unveiled its high speed residential Internet access service. Called Virtua, this service claims to provide ‘broadband’ Internet access.

Microsoft is also set to purchase 60 per cent of a Japanese cable company, Titus Communications, from the US-based company MediaOne. Earlier, MediaOne, had been bought over by the US telecom major AT&T in synchronisation with Microsoft.This deal is the largest in a series of strategical cable acquisitions by Microsoft. These include the $2.97 billion purchase of MediaOne’s share in the UK’s Telewest Communications.

The US has seen a spate of mergers and acquisitions in the cable business. From being a non-player two years ago, AT&T has now graduated to commanding a 60 per cent share in the largest cable market in the world.

The regulated cable market in China is also opening up to the Internet business. China Netcom (China), a state owned telecom firm, will begin operating its ‘CNCnet’ broadband network in China later this year. It will provide cable operators with a high capacity network.

North America dominates the Internet-over-cable market with around four-fifths of the global subscriber base of around two million subscribers. This share is bound to change as networks expand and cable modems, a device that translates signals transmitted over the cable, develop further. The Strategis Group estimates that there would be around eight million subscribers in another three years.

But actual figures might well exceed these estimates. The numerous mergers and acquisitions in the cable business, indicate an expected boom.

It is not merely to do with high speed Internet access. There are several other advantages, which Internet access conjures up, that have convinced experts in corporate houses of the potential of Internet over cable.

For example, the potential of cable telephony - making telephone calls over the Internet connected by cable systems - is staggering. According to the Strategis Group, cable telephony subscribers will grow from around 50,000 to about 11 million by 2005. And this number seems conservative if one considers the potential of cable telephony. Users are able to make international calls at any time through a high speed Internet connection which is cheap and ‘on tap’ 24 hours a day, everyday, for a fixed rate.

Little wonder then that there is a battle raging in the US for cable networks (read bandwidth).

Cable television honchos have renewed their demand that the US government keep its hands off their high speed networks. They do not want the government to force them to open up their networks to other Internet access providers like America Online Inc. Other access providers, however, argue that like telephone networks, cable networks also ought to be shared. They are, of course, ready to pay for it.