Goa launches super broadband network

PANAJI (GOA): Goa has unveiled plans for a super-ambitious broadband network project to build a state that's "enabled by IT to be efficient and accountable with a global thinking approach".

Prime Minister Manmohan Singh launched the Goa Broadband Network (GBBN) on Friday amid both expectations and apprehensions as to how exactly the project will work and at what cost.

Official statements here said the broadband network, earlier christened Goa Net, would provide privileges to the citizen that include information services on education, healthcare, agriculture, welfare, entertainment and interactive services like IP telephony, video conferencing.

In addition, transactional services will be provided like e-governance services and B2C (business-to-citizen) services.

GBBN connectivity will be given to around 280 government offices, including municipalities, collectorate and state secretariat, promising their enhanced efficiency.

Lauding the project, the prime minister said, "This pioneering project is an important milestone in the use of modern telecommunications and IT capabilities for improving public services and also the quality of lives."

Singh praised the private-public partnership to build this project, saying it was based on a "viable business model".

"Investment in knowledge and in knowledge tools is therefore going to be the key success factor for individuals or regions or nations. I am happy that a state like Goa has realised the significance of this. The Goa Broadband Network is a first step in positioning your state for the future," Singh said.

"As the program scales up from the 10 Citizen Service Centres today to over 200 by the end of next year, it will generate substantial revenues which will meet a major portion of the costs," Singh said.

But others are more sceptical. Samir Kelekar, a US-educated engineer now based in Bangalore, said: "I am hosting internet servers in the US which promise a 10Mbs pipe for $70 (Rs.2,700) a month. It has limits on how much bytes can be transferred. Now, if I can get (as promised) a 10 Mbps pipe at Rs.250 a month, I could host things in Goa. Am I missing something?"

Goa had earlier attempted to build a project of Mahiti Ghars, offering access to government data through private intermediaries. While the government has claimed a success over these, questions were raised over how the partners were selected and whether these brought in the promised benefits.

Source : EconomicTimes

Goa goes Broadband with PM's click

PANAJI: Prime Minister Manmohan Singh on Thursday inaugurated the Goa government-sponsored broadband network — the first of its kind in the country that looks to integrate all state - and taluka-level departments and all households through optic fibre cables. “Knowledge is the key success factor to find gainful employment in new emerging sectors.

We need to invest in technology and its related tools, we need to invest in knowledge capabilities,” he pointed out during the question answer session with localites from the various talukas, who were connected to the main venue via broadband.

And while the economist in him urged people to accept industrialisation and growth of services sector, as a ‘common trend that takes place in all nations’; the PM also laid emphasis on developing agriculture. “We must diversify and focus on horticulture, animal husbandry that creates employment and generates income. This can grow simultaneously along with other sectors,” he said.

The PM laid heavy emphasis on creating BPOs, call centres and other IT enabled online services in Goa, in addition to boosting tourism. According to him, a state with a high literacy rate and good English speaking crowd shows high potential in developing human resource and therefore must focus on service sector. “This broadband network will hopefully open doors to knowledge economy to Goans,” he adds.

The Goa Broadband Network Project will connect households with a bandwidth of 2-10 Mbps; and can be used to access various schemes and projects. The network will provide internet-based services like e-governance, education, healthcare, video conferencing and IP telephony services.

“Our aim is to create a single window clearance system, which offers all government services in one single portal,” said IT minister Dayanand Narvekar. The state government also has plans to use this high bandwidth connectivity to create ‘work from home’ facility through initiatives like tele-education, tele-medicine and also tele-agriculture.

In the first phase of the project which was inaugurated on Thursday, all district and taluka level headquarters have been brought under 10 Gbps connectivity. The second phase will connect all Panchayats with 1 Gbps connectivity to taluka headquarters by March 2008, while in the third phase 2-10 Mbps connectivity by December 31, 2008.

The fourth phase will be wireless connectivity. The Rs 125-crore project is being developed on a Public Private Partnership model.

Meanwhile, Mr Singh promised full co-operation to create world class infrastructure in Goa. The Centre is also to provide an additional sum Rs 150 crore, along with Rs 1,500 crore to upgrade Panjim, besides assisting Goa in hosting the 2011 national Games, adds PM Singh.

Source : EconomicTimes

Broadband growth for the month of November 2007

Broadband (≥ 256 Kbps download) Growth: Total Broadband subscribers base has reached 2.87 million by the end of November 2007 as compared to 2.69 million by the end of October 2007.

The broadband subscriber's growth is tabulated below:



Source : http://www.trai.gov.in/trai/upload/PressReleases/519/pr24dec07no104.pdf

VSNL Partners With Marshall Media For VOD

While several video content firms are busy tying up with local content providers, our very own VSNL has gone one step ahead and decided to deliver HD quality ‘American Infotainment’. VSNL, which claims to have a 500,000 broadband and Internet customer base, has tied up with Marshall Media to deliver content such as “Road to the American Dream” (no pun intended) alongside other programs such as healthcare seminars and comedies. Delivery will be through buffered streaming pushed via Windows Media player. Marshall Media is also planning to broadcast HD events with the help of VSNL’s INMARSAT satellite services. No word on the projected base they are looking at nor what the end user price is going to be.

High definition video even at 720p are a strain to render on most systems. Furthermore, the very size of the file would make it manic to distribute with our 256k broadband connections...it’s hard enough even on 320x240 without a Content Delivery Network. While it sounds great as a bouquet service, I seriously doubt the feasibility of the service. Considering its Windows Media player, it will be riddled with DRM issues as well. As a ray of hope, this is a good sign of non-traditional content, albeit kicking, choking and trashing its way through the network, coming through new pipes.

Source:contentSutra

I-Cube Report 2007: Cyber Cafes Remain Favorites!

The  Internet and Mobile Association of India (IAMAI) and IMRB International have jointly published the I-Cube Internet In India Report 2007. The IAMAI and IMRB have jointly researched the report through a survey in more than 65000 households across India. The cities covered are namely:

Mumbai, Kolkatta, Bangalore, Chennai, Delhi, Hyderabad, Vishakhapatnam, Pune, Ahmedabad, Patna, Ludhiana, Lucknow, Surat, Guwahati, Coimbatore, Nagpur, Durg, Bhopal, Bhubhaneshwar, Trichy, Jalgaon, Panipat, Trisshur, and Bellary.

The analysis according to the report:

According to the I-Cube report, the number of active internet users in India is just 16.8 million in India.

Out of that, the report says that the number of internet users accessing the internet from home was 30 %, higher than as compared to the percentage of people accessing it from offices which is 25%.

Moreover, nearly 36% of the total 16.8 million active internet users are accessing the internet from cyber cafes.

The report states that the access point preferences were based upon the individuals age and professional background. For instance, the report also states that:

1. Aproximmately, 57 per cent of students preferred to access the internet from cyber cafes.
   
   


2. Approximately, 46 per cent of non-working women prefered to access the internet from home.
   
   


3. Approximately, 45 per cent of older men mostly preferred to access the internet from office.

Subho Ray, President, IAMAI, was quoted as saying:

“Access from cyber cafes are being discouraged due to a host of regulatory issues which are discouraging entrepreneurs to set up cyber cafes, while access from schools is being inhibited by a negative mindset about internet; these pose a challenge to the faster growth and adoption of internet.”

Meanwhile, the number of active internet users in India is supposed to be much higher than the number of 16.9 million, probably between 16.9 million and 46 million users which is the total number of internet users according to the report. Moreover, 41 % of the total internet users seem to be accessing the internet from small towns/cities which have less than 1 million people residing within it. There are many other organisations such as NASSCOM, CII, MAIT and others such as ORG-MARG who also conduct a detailed research on the internet trends in India. Thus, readers should not base their conclusion based on anyone report is what I had like to suggest. It is indeed special to see the internet growth story rising on a higher curve as the rise of the internet story has immense influence on India economic development and growth story. Here’s the report. Keep Watching For MORE! ;-)

Source : WATBlog.com

Smart homes may become a reality soon

KOLKATA: Remember all those stories about remote-controlled gadgets at home. These have remained dreams for Indians. Not any more. Bharat Sanchar Nigam Ltd (BSNL) is all set to install and test a killer application that will offer broadband speeds of at least 500 mbps (250 time the current speed) to homes through fibre optics network in Kolkata. Such speeds will be the basic enabler for these dream technologies.

Currently, BSNL offers a broadband speed of 2 mbps that can be stretched to 16 mbps allowing limited internet-based value added services like gaming and steaming video. Mbps is the speed at which a certain volume of data travels every second. Faster speeds help run more intelligent applications.

BSNL is currently working on two technologies. One that will offer speeds of 100 mbps and the other that will allow at least 500 mbps. The 100 mbps project will allow users to make his/her entire house a local area network on which all gadgets like TV, refrigerator, washing machine, micro-wave, gizzard, water filter or the lock at the main door and the gate will be connected. All these can be controlled remotely through a wireless gadget like the cell phone or any other handheld devices.

“These kind of applications require at least 100mbps speeds, termed FTTP (fibre to the premises). Once this speed is achieved a few additional instruments at the users end will enable wireless gadgets to control almost all electronic and electrical devises from remote locations. We are in advanced stage of rolling out this service. It has already been tested and will initially be offered to clusters of housing or large residential campuses. We will roll it out over the next two years,” BSNL’s chief general manager (Calcutta telephones) S K Chakravarti said.

He was talking to reporters on the sidelines of a seminar on telecom organised by Merchant Chamber of Commerce. The 100mbps technology will be based on a combination of fiber optics and ethernet — a kind of a wire currently used in offices to connect PCs on a LAN. “We will supply fibre optics from our exchanges to the premises of a housing complex. A special installation at the base of building will then carry internet (data) to individual flats through ethernet at 100 mbps,” Mr Chakravarti said.

He added: “The second project involves supplying direct fibre optics to individual houses. This technology is technically termed passive optical network (PON) and allows speeds of 500 mbps. A passive optical network (PON) is a point-to-multipoint, fiber to the premises network architecture in which unpowered optical splitters are used to enable a single optical fiber to serve multiple premises, typically 32. PON does not require those installations necessary for FTTP.” “We have decided to install and test this technology. The project will be initiated next month and will be rolled out as demand for faster broadband rises,” he said.

The broadband technology that offers 2mpbs requires fibre optics to the exchanges. Rest is through copper wire. FTTP is through supply of fibre optics to premises and PON is supply of fibre optics to individual homes. All these will be offered in stages. Interestingly, price of fibre optics have declined by as much as 20% every year over the last three years making these technologies affordable.

“Possibilities are immense. PON will allow video conferencing from home. Professors and teachers will be able to hold virtual classes while doctors will be able to examine their patients from home through a very high resolution image transfer process. It will open a new world of possibilities,” the CGM explained.

Source:EconomicTimes

VSNL's WiMAX broadband services by Jan

NEW DELHI: Videsh Sanchar Nigam Ltd (VSNL), a Tata Group company, plans to launch wireless broadband service on the WiMAX platform by January. The company is also mulling a new brand identity, similar to that of Tata Indicom for its WiMAX services. VSNL presently provides broadband services on the Tata Indicom platform only.

“VSNL’s corporate identity would change to Tata Communications from next year, but for retail business we want to have a different brand name,” VSNL senior vice-president Srinivasa Addepalli told ET. He, however, said that there is a possibility that the company may initially ride on the back of Tata Indicom to launch its WiMAX broadband services.

“In the next 2-3 weeks, we will take a decision on the matter,” Mr Addepalli said.

WiMAX is a telecom technology that enables high data output. The technology would be very helpful in extending the broadband penetration across the country, especially in the rural areas. The government is already in the process of allocating 700 MHz spectrum for WiMAX users.

VSNL estimates an investment of about $500-600 million for rolling out WiMAX services in 35 cities across the country over the next three years. It would launch the service in Bangalore and then cover other major cities like Delhi, Mumbai and Hyderabad in the first phase. In the second phase, the company plans to reach to customers in about 35 cities across the country — mainly consisting of all the state capitals.

While the company is planning to have a full-fledged presence in 35 cities only, it has also started working towards spreading its wings to about 125 towns. In rest of the centres the services would be available only for corporate clients. VSNL plans to establish 1700 sale centres for its broadband operations. VSNL would be the first company to launch broadband services on the WiMAX platform for retail consumers in India.

Earlier the company was offering the service to only corporate consumers but the potential in the retail market has attracted the company towards launching it on a mass scale. The Tata Group company has tied up with Telsima of US to procure equipment for the WiMAX service. For spreading its services in the tier-II centres, the company will use Tata Teleservices towers.

It is also looking for short-term lease of BSNL towers in areas where Tata Tele towers may not be available. The company has put a target of 7-9 million subscribers or 25-30% of the total broadband market by 2012.

Source:economictimes.com

Insights on Mobile Internet in India

According to the latest TRAI (Telecommunications Regulatory Authority of India)figures, the number of Indians using their mobiles to login to the internet has almost doubled from 16 million to 38 million just last year. This includes both CDMA and GSM users logging on to the Internet to surf, check email etc.  The number of ‘active’ Internet users in India currently stands at 32.2 million. In my post on the real internet ‘user’ I pointed out the problem with the word ‘active’ and other things that may be painting a picture that’s less than accurate with respect to the number of Internet users in India.  

 

If the figures of the TRAI are to be believed, then it seems like mobile internet is overtaking broadband in a big way. Again the question is how often are people logging in? How much time are they spending? What is their use experience like? What are the capabilities of the Internet vis mobile? 

 

Here are a few reasons as to why the mobile internet phenomenon is likely to be more sustainable than the Internet revolution:

- There are low start up costs and low barriers to entry. A mobile phone is relatively cheaper than a computer. So it is more accessible than a computer.

 - A mobile phone is with a person most of the time. Well a laptop can be with a person as well but the real mobility factor inherent in a laptop is minimal – especially while travelling in crowded spaces which is what a lot of our country’s socio demographic spatial scenario is like.

- Currently, Internet on the go is not available by any players other than telecom players. They use a GPRS or a CDMA format. So there is technically no high quality broadband on the go currently available. So in a sense, the same speeds for the internet on a laptop and the internet on a mobile are technically available. One has to also keep in mind that there are higher start up costs to use the same internet that is available on a mobile phone on a laptop. It costs around Rs. 3000 to buy a USB stick which gives you access via CDMA from Reliance or Tata Indicomm. For the Airtel GPRS enabled USB’s, the cost is slightly higher. So there are obvious cost advantages for the mobile as well.  

 

 

 

One of the key learning’s from the mobile Voice revolution in India is that simplicity is the key to success. With a large population, that’s not extremely literate, success initially comes if a device offers obvious benefits that are simple and easy to access.   In developed countries the name of the game is ‘feature richness’. That phase will come to India as well – but maybe a few years later. Initially its all about getting individuals roped in to a technological phenomenal where there are no or low ‘perceived’ barriers to entry. The access to the internet via mobile must not ‘appear’ elitist. If it does the entire brand of ‘mobile internet in India’ will have an intimidating feel which is never a good thing because operators can make revenues only if they rope in more people and have them using the Internet via the mobile often.   In terms of allaying such fears of the Internet being elitist I do not see much in terms of communication happening. A heartening case study in terms of a brand that’s doing a lot of good to the mobile internet scenario in India is Tata Indicomm.  

 

Tata Indicomm’s cheapest mobile internet phones cost around Rs. 2, 300. They have reasonable browsing capabilities and have been taken on by consumers in a big way.   Apart from offering low cost phones, Tata Indicomm now offers internet packages that are extremely reasonable. 99 Rs/- a month unlimited access. Such pricing strategies will go a long way in accelerating the growth of mobile internet in India. For mobile Internet, pricing is the key element of the marketing mix that will probably allay fears of mass users. I don’t see any other operators doing enough. Some of the plans on Airtel and Vodafone are ridiculously expensive. On the GSM operators, one can pay a monthly fee of about Rs. 500 for unlimited access. For those not willing to pay those kind of fees, the cost is about 10 paise per 10 KB. On standard mobile browsers, a site may take up to 100 KB to load. So that model, even though it seems cheap, really isn’t.  

 

 

 

This takes me to my next point – the mobile internet browser.  One of the other innovations that may aid the spread of mobile internet in India is the mobile internet web browser. On a normal mobile web browser, as stated earlier, it may take about 100 KB to load a website. So generic web browsers are taking up a lot of bandwidth that’s not necessary and also time, which makes the use experience less effective.

 

Apple has gone a step ahead by releasing Safari Mini. There is also Opera Mini. Both these browsers are extremely effective in the sense that a page takes about 15 KB to load.  The problem with these browsers is that they are not effective when it comes to the installing of mobile applications which have to be installed only through the generic mobile browsers. I see this problem being resolved very soon as phone companies will probably buy out technologies that will make the use experience better for their customers or integrate their services with these web browsers.  

 

 Specific specialized web browsers are also really effective when it comes to the arranging of content on the mobile screen. In a sense this is one more thing that probably hook the users on and give them an incentive to browse again.

 

  

 

Infrastructure to provide high speed internet over mobile phones still remains a problem which will have to be solved soon in order to maximize the capabilities of mobile Internet. A lot of phones are now available with Wi – Fi capabilities. In the future one may see 802.16 Wi Max enabled phones as well. That’s where the real action is going to be. High speed low cost internet over mobiles.  This week, a premier operator (Vodafone) experienced a failure of its voice services. Click here to read more on that.  If the infrastructure problem is not solved, and if there is no reinvestment into latest technologies by telecom operators, one can try and optimize the use experience and the prize of handsets as much as possible – the real fruits of internet over mobile can be enjoyed only with an infrastructure that’s superior.

Source : WATBlog.com