While a number of players have bid for the rights to stream the ICC World Cup live on 3G, a first in India, NDTV has learnt that Vodafone has pipped ICC World Cup’s on ground sponsor- Reliance Communications and have won the exclusive rights for live streaming of all the 49 World Cup matches this year for a sum of Rs. 55 crore.
"India is a cricket crazy nation.. We do expect an increase in the VAS services, increase in traffic, packages, and subscribers around the World Cup," said Anuradha Aggarwal, VP- brand communications of Vodafone.
So while Vodafone walks away with the exclusive right to stream matches live, telecom players like Airtel and Reliance are planning to sell value added services around the World Cup and are expecting a spurt in the ARPUs as customers migrate to 3G.
Analysts believe that there may be a cricket overkill with multiplexes, internet and now telecom companies streaming cricket content. But with MNP in play now, telcos clearly want to go the whole hog to entice customers.
"At a time when MNP is round the corner offering such services will have a positive rub off," said Bhavesh Gandhi, an analyst, India Infoline.
With telecom players having invested so heavily in 3G, it remains to be seen how it will spin off with events like World Cup lined up. But for consumers like you and me who want to catch the matches on the go real time, it is surely good news, but may not come cheap and surely at a premium apart from the costs of subscribing to 3G services.source
No comments:
Post a Comment