PCCW unit to launch convergence platform in India

Hong Kong's Pacific Convergence Corp and its Indian partner said on Tuesday that they would launch their first full convergence platform in Asia next month to enable common streaming of video, sound and the Internet.

PCC, a unit of tycoon Richard Li's Pacific Century CyberWorks (PCCW), could invest up to $100 million in India, senior group official David Manion told a news conference in Hong Kong.

Manion is the head of Li's Hutchison Corporate Access business.

PCCW said last week that it would keep its name after acquiring Cable & Wireless HKT. PCC plans to spend $350 million in its worldwide convergence project.

PCC has its own majority-owned Indian unit to produce content, while Data Access (India) Limited, in which PCC holds 49 per cent, will launch an Internet service provider business to offer dial-up and broadband connections.

"India is an important market for PCC and, therefore, we decided to initiate our convergence revolution with India as our first market in the Asia-Pacific region," Manion said.

The platform would cover Pacific's NOW (Network of the World) television channel, its global Internet portal and an India-dedicated portal, (www.now-india.com), said Siddhartha Ray, managing director of Data Access.

By the end of the year, the platform would have covered the four main cities of Delhi, Bombay, Calcutta and Madras, and the firm planned to cover 26 cities by the end of next year, Ray said.

Ray said the platform would use flexible access mechanisms including cable television, dial-up and ADSL lines and could take telecommunications bandwidth from others in addition to its own infrastructure.

Content would be driven by demand, and local content would increase progressively, he said.

PCC is targeting cricket, India's favourite game, as a key offering on the content side.

Earlier this year, PCCW said it had bought key media rights, including jointly running a Web site, for international cricket matches played in India through 2004.

PCCW would build and operate the official Web site of Indian cricket in association with Indian state broadcaster Doordarshan. A marketing company founded by Ray has close relations with Doordarshan.

The official cricket Web site will carry statistics and information, as well as full audio and video streaming of all live match action and over 1,200 hours of Indian cricket multi-media archive.

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