In their bid to lower their operating costs, several tech companies have been toying with the thought of setting up centres in inner cities that have an engineering tradition like Coimbatore, Belgaum and Trichy, but these efforts are just not getting off the ground.

Almost every software engineering graduate still considers Bangalore as the one and only destination for his or her career to flourish despite the myriad infrastructure and political problems associated with the city. At the end of the day, any software resume is enriched by the very mention of Bangalore in it as the city continues to be perceived as the only centre of excellence in information technology just as Detroit is for automobiles.

Politicians and strategists of other states, primarily Maharashtra and West Bengal, are attempting to position Pune and Kolkata as credible alternatives to Bangalore, but software engineers are simply not buying this hypothesis even though some gullible voters have bought this story during the last West Bengal state elections.

Those familiar with the software industry will realise that in the US, only the Silicon Valley is identified with excellence in software, despite IBM and EDS being located away from this region. It is no different in India as the general eco-system in and around Bangalore was more conducive to the growth of the IT industry than any other Indian city.

The worrying aspect of this phenomenon is that when companies like Apple, Sykes and Powergen withdraw from Bangalore, they completely pull out of India without considering any other Indian city, regardless of the lower cost structure. My gut feel is that Pune and Kolkata will fail to bridge the gap with Bangalore regardless of the southern city’s chaotic civic situation.

Branding Cities

In a competitive economy where almost every other Indian state is pitching its core competencies to attract both domestic and foreign investment, major cities are acquiring an element of branding. Though Bangalore is readily associated with technology offshoring and its relatively generous weather and permissive culture, it is also being progressively viewed as an expensive and excessively corrupt city.

Mumbai continues be the financial Mecca, though last year’s rain-related havoc has dented the city’s potential of emerging as a truly international financial hub. Chennai, according to a senior foreign risk analyst, is considered both technology and manufacturing-friendly, but at the same time, much too conservative.

Hyderabad is perceived to have probably the best civic infrastructure, but the quality of its talent remains a suspect given the mass faking of educational degrees in this city. NCR is undisputedly the voice based contact centre capital of India where women continue to be at risk. Pune is trying to emerge as a serious contender to Bangalore, but its civic infrastructure and work ethic (long siestas in the afternoon) leave a lot to be desired.

Kolkata is most compelling in terms of costs, but potential labour issues continue to haunt all investors. Kochi is no different from Kolkata especially under the new dispensation, which is known to be labour rather than market-friendly. Emerging cities like Chandigarh, Coimbatore and Vizag need to take a cue from these perceptions and position themselves differently.

Lower costs are a given in these cities, but to be able to wrest the advantage from the big boys, the administrators of these cities need to delve deeper to figure out some unique USPs (unique selling proposition) for themselves. Focusing on their comparatively safer law and order situation could be a smart starting point.

Mobile TV is still a relatively new service in India. Some service providers have been offering mobile TV, but the service has been patchy at best. This is because of a lack of spectrum and bandwidth or the shaky quality of the streaming video.

But mobile TV has been a growing phenomenon around the world, and, according to research firms, it will be a big thing in the next few years. Research firms are, however, divided on how big the market will be, that is how many subscribers will be signed up. According to ABI Research, a technology market research firm, by 2011, mobile TV services will have some 514 million subscribers worldwide, up from only 6.4 million at the end of 2005.

"The fledgling market for mobile television is beginning to build significant momentum, and advertising-supported broadcast services are expected to propel additional growth over the next few years," a new study by ABI Research says. "Broadcast will be the preferred method of access to mobile video for most people," ABI Research says. "Unicast will remain part of the mix for customers who want to access video-on-demand, but ABI Research believes that the majority of subscription services will be for broadcast content, and that unicast-only subscriptions will not be a significant part of the market."

But it cautions, "Most markets will not be able to support more than two broadcast networks due to the high cost of building them and the fact that most markets only have three or four major mobile operators selling wireless services to subscribers."

Giving a different take on mobile TV, In-Stat says that by the end of 2010, mobile TV broadcast subscribers worldwide will reach 102 million, a giant leap from 3.4 million in 2006. "Recognising that using cellular networks to deliver content that millions want to watch simultaneously requires much greater bandwidth than is currently available, carriers are turning to mobile TV broadcast networks, which have a much lower cost per bit for video delivery," the high-tech market research firm says.

"The greatest challenge for mobile TV broadcast operators is to acquire the spectrum necessary to offer services," says In-Stat. "Spectrum availability may determine which of the four standards is chosen and also impacts the business case for the deployment of a network." "Mobile carriers, mobile TV network operators and content providers will soon be testing business models to determine what mobile phone subscribers are willing to pay to watch and what advertisers are willing to pay to reach them," it says.