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PCC to launch convergence platform in India

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CIOL Bureau
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NEW DELHI: Hong Kong's Pacific Convergence Corp (PCC) 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.

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PCC, a unit of Richard Li's Pacific Century CyberWorks (PCCW), could invest

up to $100 million in India, senior group official David Manion told a news

conference. 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) Ltd., in which PCC holds 49 per cent, will launch an Internet

service provider (ISP) business to offer dial-up and broadband connections.

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"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 Data Access managing director Siddhartha Ray.

By the end of the year, the platform would have covered the four main cities

of Delhi, Mumbai, Calcutta and Chennai. The firm planned to cover 26 cities by

the end of next year, Ray said.

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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 favorite game, as a key offering on the

content side.

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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 multimedia archive.

(C) Reuters Limited 2000.

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