User-acceptable content and ease of access—these aredoubtlessly the two most important parameters which will widen Internet usage inthe coming years. This is true of not only India but also the rest of the world.The desirability of the existing content on the Net can be an issue for asubjective debate. What is more pertinent here is that access still remains abig problem for a larger section of people, especially in a developing countrylike India with poor telephone density and PC penetration. So how does Indiatake Internet to a broader section of its people?

Well, there might be many other means but the one in currencytoday and possibly the hottest one is cable Internet. It appears that despitetoo many hurdles India will finally see a lot of action on the cable Internetfront in the coming months. And if all goes well cable Internet might becomeIndia’s ticket to a broadband revolution. While a number of ISPs incollaboration with cable operators have already started offering Internet overcable on commercial basis, many of them are running pilots and testing thewaters.

Cable Internet enthusiasts are optimistic that cable modems,which provide faster Internet access than dial-up modems and set-top boxes (forInternet TV), will soon become the most popular broadband connectivity optionespecially among the home users.

What Exactly Is Cable Internet?

Internet over cable is a technology and service that uses theexisting cable TV networks (made up of coaxial cable lines that bring televisionsignals to TV) to bring Internet data to PC or TV at a very high speed. Thetelevision and the Internet transmission take place simultaneously on the samecable but at different frequencies. This allows the user to view TV and accessInternet at the same time. A head-end unit at the cable TV network receiveshigh-bandwidth data from an ISP. It is transferred through the television cableto the user’s home. At the user’s end, a cable modem is attached to thetelevision cable using a splitter. This is in turn connected to a PC’sEthernet card. This card translates the data received through the televisioncable to the PC. Satyam Infoway has started doing this in Jamshedpur, SpectraNet in Delhi, Icenet in Ahmedabad, in2cable.com in Mumbai and Bangalore, andCyberwave Internet Solutions in Chennai.

The same transmission technology works when accessingInternet on TV. Just connect it to a set-top box. Spectra Net is all set tointroduce Internet TV in Delhi in four to six weeks time. Many others too are inprocess of upgrading cable TV networks to make them sustain Internet TV.