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Preethi J.

Triple play, gaming, video applications to surge

VIDEO PHONE by YOU Telecom

Bangalore , Jan. 4

As the Year of Broadband dawns on us, service providers are preparing to offer applications that will leverage the high speed connectivity for Internet users.

With the upgrade of broadband in the country to 2 MBps, users will be able to do more on the Net. Gaming, video streaming and IP telephony are just a few applications that are expected to take off in the Indian market.

Bharat Sanchar Nigam Ltd (BSNL) expects e-learning, gaming and triple play to appeal to its subscribers.

BSNL will tie up with service providers abroad to offer VoIP (voice over IP, where you can carry an audio conversation over the Internet using software such as Skype) too soon, according to Mr R.L. Dube, Director, Planning and New Services, BSNL.

VoIP will reduce costs by up to 70 per cent — what costs Rs 4 now for a PSTN call to the US, Canada, Hong Kong or the UK, will cost you only Rs 1.25.

GAMING

Gaming developers and distributors alike are ramping up teams to tackle the demands of casual gamers.

"Internet infrastructure in India has been lax, and is bound to change. We expect a significant ramp-up this year in the number of users from the thousands that are currently playing our games," said Mr Venkat Mallik, Managing Director, Level Up, a distributor of two multi-player games — Ragnarok and Guns.

The gaming market in India is expected to double this year.

The firm is launching a game by the end of this month and a couple more this quarter. Level Up will conduct focussed marketing programmes (city-specific) in partnership with broadband service providers.

Mumbai-based game developer Paradox Studios is also talking to 2-3 Internet service providers to offer games to Indian homes. "Multi-player games will see a definite pick-up with the increase in broadband capacity," said Mr Salil Bhargava, CEO, Paradox Studios. Virgin Comics will also launch multi-player games based on Indian comics this year.

VIDEO

Private player You Telecom (previously known as Iqara) is also excited about the higher bandwidth. After offering the upgrade as an option to its 1.4 lakh users, the player expects video to be a buzzword this year.

"More video-based sites will be accessed now, and streaming of videos will be common," said Mr E.V.S. Chakravarthy, Chief Executive Officer, YOU Telecom India, a Citigroup Venture Capital International-funded firm.

The firm is launching a videophone for Rs 17,000 in February and high quality video interactivity in six months' time. This comes as sweet news for home and corporate users, too.

"I am looking forward to using Net-based tools that need high speed Internet connectivity," said Mr Sudeep, a system administrator at Software Data.

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