Anil Dubey was among the first who responded to Dishnet, when the latter organised a meeting for cable operators in the city. While other operators also expressed interest in the matter, many did not respond immediately as market feedback and fresh investments were involved. Cable operators are not recognised by banks to avail loans, and the delay in passing of the Cable Bill has created uncertainty in the minds of operators and lenders.

However, Dubey decided to provide the service to his customers in three high rise buildings and has already got 500 subscribers. As this is a pilot project, terms and conditions between the cable operator and ISP remain fluid.

"The initial response from the public has been very encouraging," said Dubey.But subscribers will have to buy a cable modem to access the Net, and this costs around Rs 11,000. There was an initial doubt whether the investment justified returns but as his subscribers already had computers, the realisation that they could save on telephone calls prompted them to take the new service.

According to Dubey, the speed of internet access through cable is 10 mbps, allowing for minimum delay. "We haven't yet fixed the monthly charges for the subscriber, as we are awaiting their response as to how much subscribers are willing to pay," Dubey said.

But he is planning to charge Rs 400 per month for starters. "Customers who end up spending Rs 1,000 for 30 hours on the Net (average one hour of usage a day) should not mind spending Rs 400 a month for a line that is always open," Dubey said.

With the market being so dynamic and with service providers reducing charges by the day, the operator can negotiate for better deals with the ISP. "If our subscriber pays us in advance, and if we get bulknumber of clients, the ISP would give us further discounts," he said.

For the cable operator, the investments are affordable. As long as the server is provided by somebody else (in this case Dishnet), his investments are restricted to providing the return path cable. Currently, cable lines act one way -- they send signals to the subscribers, but do not permit interaction. "It is not necessary to have optic fibre cables that are warranted only when traffic becomes very high," Dubey said. Traffic could become high with the advent of e-commerce, or when more and more people go beyond just browsing and downloading information.

As things stand, demand is expected to boom. At least 1 lakh cable subscribers in Chennai are expected to respond to internet-through-cable in the near future, and the breakeven for the cable operator could happen in 12 to 18 months.