[prakash]

Hi

I am a IT Consultant from India settled in USA. I recently read an article that the Internet usage in India is just 3.5% of the population.

I am sure the likes of Google,Yahoo and other web based businesses will tell you that more internet penetration, more the revenue.

Can we discuss , a business model to increase internet usage in India.

Will people pay for internet, what is the value for a poor man?

Can it help him in what he does like farming,a regular office worker,student etc

I am looking to hear your thoughts.

[CMYKid]

a few years back, when I was hiring staff and leasing space to establish an office in india I was REALLY surprised at the lack of options available when it came to Internet access. Even the crappy, slow DSL that we ended up with was intermittent at best, installation was a nightmare and there was really nothing to do/nobody to call on the occasions that it stopped working.

then again, being able to maintain an office with five highly degreed people including rent and internet for $2000US was pretty nice and made the slow access more tolerable.

[prakash]

In India the city costs (development,Outsourcing) will rise due to higher living costs etc

The rural india is an untapped gold mine, if we can get internet into these rural areas. Millions of untapped talent, waiting to explode.

I am looking to some sources, to understand the entire internet pipeline A-Z

From the root like ISP to the cable/phone line that reaches the customer.

Is wi-fi a cheaper solution?

Any good pointers?

[prakash]

With the explosion of internet and the Macintosh growth, I am seeing a market for a good

Web2.0 (Ajax+ webdesign+LAMP stack) + Cocoa shop

[Hawkeye_a]

I've lived in India. The problem is not value... the problem is basic infrastrusture; there isnt enough.

Power outages were common, heck it was a chore to make an international phone calls.

The fact that almost all people use Windows doesnt help either, as your everyday user cannot figure out how to troubleshoot their windows boxes onto the internet.

Private businesses dont want to invest the large amount of capital into developing infrastructure due to corruption in the governments (or so ive heard).

The problem from a business perspective is risk and ROI, the problem from a consumer perspective is high initial costs. A realistic plan would be to first improve the phone networks and drive down dial-up costs, thus increasing adoption. tackle broadband when you have generated enough income from dial-up services to start investing into broadband infrastructure in major cities first, and then expanding outwards.

[CMYKid]

I'd agree with a lot of that. However I think one of the truths that you've touched on, while a weakness for the typical business/consumer, is what makes this idea viable from an entrepreneurial standpoint. OUR biggest problem in establishing 'Net access for our startups office was the last-mile carrier since they are plagued with problems, outages, the apparent lack of effective centralized governmental oversight a la our FCC, etc.

Due to those and other factors I'm of the opinion that there is a a huge untapped market for penetration by a wireless ISP. The limited range and line of sight requirements are less of a problem in densely populated areas such as your major cities. The limited bandwidth provided by wireless is still much faster than even the high-end DSL type options available presently.

Its relatively inexpensive to install a wireless ISP infrastructure from the ground up, exponentially cheaper than copper installation to each and every potential subscriber, since you're just installing beacons in strategic locations and then individual uplink antennas at the client locations as they sign up.

It becomse even cheaper and more viable when one considers the difference in economies. Its fairly inexpensive to roll out a wireless ISP stateside, even though its not done much because we already have a reliable copper infrastructure into most every home and business. When you convert that cost in US dollars into purchasing power in India your actual cost goes down even more.

[Doofy]

Originally Posted by prakash 

I am a IT Consultant from India settled in USA. I recently read an article that the Internet usage in India is just 3.5% of the population.

Can we discuss , a business model to increase internet usage in India.

All the IT consultants stay in India and lead the way into the Internet age?

Initial Internet takeup has always been led by the geeks in any country. If there's no geeks, there's no initial surge, nobody pushing for services to improve - and it won't filter down to the rest of the population.

[Railroader]

Originally Posted by Doofy 

All the IT consultants stay in India and lead the way into the Internet age?:

That crazy talk! And by that I mean correct, but so obvious that it is easily missed.