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Num TV unable to uplink from India due to narrow bandwidth
Anand Krishnamoorthy
Chennai: Lack of adequate bandwidth availability is preventing Num TV from uplinking from India. Currently, the entertainment portal is uplinked from Singapore. The bandwidth Num TV would require for uplinking from India is to the order of about 15GB to 20GB which is six times the bandwidth currently available in India, said V. Chandrasekaran, chairman and chief executive officer, Pentamedia Graphics Ltd in a meeting withThe Financial Express.
Welcoming the recent Government guildelines permitting uplinking from India, he nevertheless rues that it has come a couple of years late. He predicts that the move will bring in many players and a lot entertainment work will now get done out of India. He, however, expressed apprehension over the procedural delays that could be involved in obtaining the permission to uplink. The country position must not be viewed in isolation but in competition with neighbouring countries such as Singapore, he maintains. India is called an IT superpower and if it has to become an IT superpower, the country would have to add 100 GB of bandwidth in the next two to three years, he said. In terms of bandwidth, Singapore has at present 500 GB and China has 55 GB. In terms of future plans, the entertainment portal, Num TV now plans to uplink a kids channel in the next six months. The possibility of a satellite broadcast of the channel is being looked at. The kids channel would focus on edu-tainment. Num TV plans to tap the other Asian countries for business too. A similar marketing approach can be used especially in China, he adds. The Chinese and Indian markets account for 50 per cent of the world's population and represent a tremendous business opportunity, he adds. Num TV plans to initially offer English-based content to these audience and then also regional language content. Copyright © 2000 Indian Express Newspapers (Bombay) Ltd.
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