kolkata private telecom major reliance infocomm is gearing up to roll out home netway the broadband solution that provides cable television highspeed internet access and telephony through a fibre optic backbonethough ric sticks to the mid to late2005 date for the muchawaited rollout sources said the soft launch could happen much earlier ric officials have already begun talks with local cable operators to distribute the service ric is focusing on bringing real broadband to the market we will launch a consumer convergence revolution providing highspeed ethernet links to homes an ric spokesperson saidwith home netway you no longer need vcddvd players or even visit movie libraries to borrow discs users will be able to select and watch movies online from libraries of thousands of digital movies songs and other contents other features include categorywise music selection karaoke and antakshari he saidthe 40 gb memory digital settop box will be capable of storing nearly six hours of programming and experience functions such as pausing live tv live and preprogrammed digital recording and electronic programme guide home netway will also usher in convergence of television and internet users will be able to surf the web at high speed and compose emails on their television though ric is yet to divulge the price of the offering sources said the initial priceband was likely to be rs 400600 for the entire bouquettest runs for home netway have already been carried out at the reliance centre in jamnagar with 3000 households of reliance employees at the oil refinery being wired up similar tests are also underway in mumbai and bangalorereliance is committed to give home user customers 100 mbps bandwidth routed through a settop box and a remote that will triple up as a phone a keyboard and a karaoke microphone the spokesperson saidric approached us as it did many operators across the city rics entry is eagerly awaited as it will usher in formatted growth in an otherwise unregulated market since it is entering the market through settop boxes even broadcasters are keen as it will roll in conditional access system that guarantees transparency a kolkata cable operator said