India is ready to experience another revolution in the digital television space with the launch of Internet Protocol Television (IPTV) service and the mobile TV service in the country. Mobile is speedily emerging as a new medium of entertainment in the country. The growth of mobile TV would cause paradigm shift for TV buffs to mobile TV.

At the same time, Reliance Communications chairman Anil Ambani has joined hands with Microsoft’s mentor Bill Gates for rolling out Internet protocol television (IPTV) services in India. R Com has reportedly planned to tie up with Microsoft for several technological collaborations, including IPTV software, WiMAX and a software development toolkit for the Internet, the personal computer and mobile phones.

Reliance Communications is likely to introduce IPTV by the end of 2007 by the technological support of Microsoft. This is being said that one million Indians would start using the IPTV services by 2011. With the help of this service, the IPTV subscriber would be able to enjoy two-way interactive communication. The IPTV service would allows them to watch TV at the same time when using the telephone line and broadband Internet connection.

However, the low broadband penetration across the country may obstruct the growth of IPTV service and its subscriber base in the country in coming days. An IT research firm Gartner has said that IPTV Service will have to face several problems particularly the low base of broadband connections in the country. It said that the low penetration of broadband connection would likely to hold the growth back for five years at least.

According to the report, IPTV is more advanced technology than any other technology present in India clubbed with additional functionality but still it has not covered the distance to reach to the people as other technology such as direct-to-home(DTH) satellite and digital cable have managed to cover.

This is being said that in the absence of a mass-market broadband usage, the IPTV subscriber base in India would face tough hurdles to increase base to 1 million in the next four years. In 2006, the broadband market in India had 1.6 subscriber lines. It is likely to grow to 6.4 million by 2011. The pricing is another factor that may pull back the growth because IPTV is likely to be priced as similar as digital cable and DTH at Rs 300-500 per month but the analog cable users generally pay Rs 150 to Rs 300 per month.