Ah! We're now talking broadband

COMMUNICATION

For months, we've been talking broadband while actually offering slimband, narrowband or whatever term that best applies to a trickle. The good news is some of us are getting lucky, in offices and homes, though more so in our offices.

That some of us is maybe 2 million or so of a total user base of 40 million in India. This number will climb to around 12 million by next year. But 2007 seems to be the tipping point year.

Content will see the biggest explosion -- with streaming video or recorded video slowly becoming a part of many news and other websites. Expect more action in the entertainment space as well.

Bollywood-crazy Indians will create and consume more content that is richer and snazzier. I have been quite surprised by some of the Bollywood film websites and their rich content, in graphics, flash animation, videos and of course interactivity.

Check out http://www.lagerahomunnabhai.com or even http://www.bluffmasterthefilm.com. The latter did not work this time but it's worth checking out if it goes up again.

The beauty of enhanced data delivery capability is not the ability to download what's there. Rather, the encouragement to do stuff which you didn't think of or do earlier. Expect serious stuff from serious people and youngsters to post more funny videos on www.youtube.com or sober stuff too, like hobbies.

Education will be the killer app. Depending on of course who uses it and how. Until recently, distance education has been restricted by its ability to be truly interactive. That's because satellites and dishes ensured one-way traffic, desirable as it has been.

With broadband creeping in, programmers can start creating replenishable and renewable education content that responds to and serves students and teachers in schools or colleges all over.

I recently spoke to a group of employees at Satyam Computers' Mumbai office. We were six or seven of us in the conference room.

Interestingly, there were two more conference hooked up through video and over 200 other Satyam employees who were watching the proceedings on streaming video on internet all over the world.

And, occasionally, firing back questions and comments, on a text chat engine. Imagine if the same thing could be replicated en masse in schools -- I mean the rich experience, not just the connectivity. One teacher can now interact with, maybe, 25 schools, in as many towns and take questions from students.

So while speeds are inching up, an objective like this should also force the telecom companies and policy makers to make this a reality for more people.

And if you are the internet-friendly kind, may I urge you to visit www.businessstandard.com and click on the BS Videos section.

You will see what a little bit of broadband can do to our lives - news video from from BS correspondents and cameramen, uploaded several times a day.

You can also visit sites like www.nbc.com or www.cbs.com and see extracts (visitors from outside the US cannot see full shows) of the David Letterman show (on CBS) or The Apprentice on NBC. As in really see.

(govindraj@business-standard.com)