Chennai : For those Indian companies playing in the convergence terrain, there is a word of caution from the global consultancy house, McKinsey and Co, considered as the last word in the convergence business models. Speaking at the media meet on `Impact of Convergence on Media, Mr Ashok Alexander, director, McKinsey said the good news for the convergence players here is that the size of the still untapped market.According to him, McKinsey has estimated the Indian market size to be at 25 million households which is expected to grow exponentially in the coming years. The PC market alone would grow from the current 4 million mark to a 16 million plus size in the next couple of years time. However, just having presence in the convergence world would not help the companies to survive, he says.
The key issues, according to Mr Alaxander are affordability, solving the last mile issue and regulations. The sheer geographical spread of the market poses the question of solving the last mile issue using the appropriate pipe or access delivery mechanism. The second issue is the affordability. For instance, though the DTH is now allowed in India, the moot question is how many Indian's would opt for DTH and how many of them can afford the technology.
The third key issue is about the regulatory mechanism. Though the government has recently allowed a host of issues remain unclear. Similarly, the telecom deregulation started years back have yet to reach any definitive conclusion.
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