Of dotcoms, lies and videotapes

The biggest gainers from the Tehelka.com

expose may not be the Congress or the rest of the opposition parties who have

been baying for the Prime Minister’s blood. The scandal that sent shock waves

across the top brass of the Armed forces may not really bring any change in the

current system of transacting defence deals.

But the one entity that has gained the most from the entire expose is none

other than the dotcom industry, more specifically, online journalism. The

efforts of a couple of spycam wielding investigative journalists have only

brought to the fore what was common knowledge and more pervasive in the country

than malaria. However, the event has further established dotcoms as one of the

mainstream media. One thing is for sure. Any request for interviews from online

journalists will now be looked upon with acute suspicion, making their task all

the more difficult. However, the readers will now expect their favorite dotcom

portals to match the information disseminated by their favorite TV channels and

newspapers/magazines.

Indians are fast discovering that the Internet cannot be ignored. A case in

point was the final hours of the second cricket test match between India and

Australia. Logging into your favorite cricket site was easy in the morning.

However, as the Australian wickets started falling like ninepins, accessing

these sites became close to impossible as they struggled to tackle the sudden

flare in traffic. Signs of the dotcom making a space for itself? Both broadcast

and print media will have to make some place for the emerging media so that all

the three can have a symbiotic existence.

Many a dotcom CEO express concern about the low penetration and growth of the

home PC and Internet segment. However, the Net user segment is showing healthy

growth. Rediff.com claims that about one million e-mail users get added to its

list every month! Where are they coming from? In the race for higher revenues

and faster break-evens, the dotcoms want the penetration levels to be much

higher, much quicker.

There is no denying that increase in home base will provide a boost to Net

usage. However, the fact is that Indians do not seem to be waiting for a Net

connection at home. With the Internet infrastructure improving and access rates

going down fast, cyber cafes are emerging as the popular joint. Moreover,

enterprising cafe owners are devising several ways to hook them all.

Notwithstanding the clamp down announced by the VSNL on Internet telephony,

several cyber cafes offer access to the services at Rs 20 an hour. (A call to

the US is now cheaper then a local call!)

While it may be true that several dotcom companies are pulling down shutters,

it would be incorrect to extend this to say that dotcom is dead. Dotcoms may be

dying but the dotcom concept is alive and kicking. The US slowdown, which is

fast spreading to other geographical zones, is throwing fresh challenges to the

dotcoms. However, last year’s experiences have taught most of them a few

lessons which they are now wisely using to move to profitability.

Tehelka.com has not only shaken the corridors of power but also the image of

dotcoms. The familiarity has begun to build. There is a lot more action ahead.

Be prepared.