Telcos To Have A Revenue Sharing Model With Content Industry

India 3G SummitOne idea that has come across in the 3G event is that the content industry has to work in a revenue sharing model with the telecom service providers. “It has to be a partnership model,” said Akhil Gupta of Bharti Tele-Ventures. 3G needs a new range of content services, and they have to be developed on revenue sharing basis. “That’s what we are doing in value added services currently,” he said.

Bharti will invest at least $1 billion in offering 3G services throughout India. He added that that the question whether India is ready for 3G itself is a bit of “over reaction”. “How is India inferior to any part of the world? The question is whether the technology is ready for India,” Gupta said.
Although that’s an “over reaction” from Gupta, the point he is making is that India needs to be in tune with international standards in telecom. “Then only we can expect economies of scale and commercial viability,” Gupta exhorted. He added that the rollout of such services shouldn’t be limited to only the top 10 or 20 cities but all major towns and cities should be covered. “I think the time has come to introduce 3G in India. The earlier the better,” Gupta concluded.

A K Sinha, Chairman and Managing Director of Bharatiya Sanchar Nigam, India’s largest telecommunications player with 45 million subscribers (both fixed and mobile), said that Indian operators are readying for 3G launch in late 2005 or early 2006.
(S Pokkarath, a journalist for our upcoming Indian digital content site, is blogging from the India 3G Summit)

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