NEW DELHI: India, which is expected to have the world’s largest WiMAX deployment by 2012, offers great opportunity and some unique challenges to the wireless digital communications technology. It may perhaps be the market that would define the success of this technology as a solution to connect rural and untapped territories.
With ICT-enabled kiosks or common service centers (CSC) dotting India’s rural map, WiMax could play a major role in delivering various applications to rural India. These include online bill payment, delivery of agriculture, healthcare and entertainment services, solutions for e-commerce activities, including commodity price information, online trading and banking transactions.
Unlike the mobile front, the major initiative for WiMax is set to be from the state-owned telecom provider, Bharat Sanchar Nigam Ltd (BSNL). The company has already announced plans to install WiMAX base stations in 1,000 blocks across India by the end of this financial year and to provide high-speed internet access to 25,000 villages through CSCs.
“Villages will be equipped with infrastructure such as PCs, printers, software and staff for delivery of e-governance services pertaining to health, education and agricultural information,” a BSNL official said. BSNL has also partnered with Intel to promote WiMAX-based broadband access in rural India. Under the pact, Intel will review state-owned BSNL’s road map for the WiMAX rollout in the country and develop basic standards for the rollout and applications.
Private players have not shunned the WiMAX road either. Motorola is strengthening its presence in the hinterlands through extensive broadband wireless access (BWA) projects for state governments. Network major Alcatel-Lucent has set up a joint venture with C-DOT (the R&D arm of the telecom department) to focus on exclusive BWA/WiMAX solutions that are targeted towards rural connectivity.
The company has completed field trials using Aircel’s licensed WiMAX spectrum and the technology is ready for commercial deployment. “WiMAX has the potential to provide India with widespread broadband access that can usher in economic growth, better education and health care, and improved entertainment services,” Alcatel-Lucent chief marketing officer A Sethuraman said. Alcatel Research Centre is also in the process of developing a product that would act as a receiver for WiMAX services, which is expected to cost less than $100.
There remain challenges to these ambitious roll-out plans, including India’s low PC penetration. Players are also watching keenly how the WiMAX spectrum auction will pan out. “While low broadband penetration is a clear opportunity for BWA/WiMAX, the market take-off will require sufficient spectrum, very low cost consumer premise equipment (CPE) and affordable end-to-end connectivity, including the computing platform. A country where broadband’s average revenue per user (ARPU) is estimated at $8-10 requires very low equipment cost,” explains Nokia Siemens Network strategic solution sales head Kai Sahala. Besides Alactel, Nokia Siemens Networks and BSNL, too, are developing CPE costing less than $100. The price is expected to further come down to about $70, once WiMAX rolls out in the country.
Gauging the opportunity in the rural space, new players are also venturing in the arena. “We are developing cost-effective, ready-to-use base stations for rural space. We are attempting up to 70% reduction in base station prices in order to offer low capex to investors,” said Sloka Telecom CEO, Sujai Karampuri. Sloka Telecom is a Bangalore-based wireless infrastructure company.
While Asymmetric Digital Subscriber Line (ADSL) or fixedline broadband services now cover 300 towns with a combined 1.5 million connections, broadband wireless subscriber figures are still negligible in the country. With respect to rural connectivity, the government’s objective is to reach about 80 million rural connections, or one phone per two rural households, by 2010.
Other significant players in WiMAX arena for rural connectivity are Bharti Airtel, Reliance, SIFY and Tata Communications (VSNL), who have acquired licenses in 3.3 GHz range and are in various stages of trials. VSNL has announced Phase 1 pre-WiMAX deployment of Aperto gear in 60 locations, extending to 200 locations within the year.
Source : EconomicTimes
Monday, September 8, 2008
Saturday, September 6, 2008
Airtel, HP to connect more Indians
NEW DELHI: Bharti Airtel announced its collaboration with HP, in a combined effort to promote Broadband and PC penetration in the country. Under the scope of the partnership, Airtel will offer consumers a broadband connection at Discounted Entry Cost with every HP and Compaq notebook and desktop. This alliance is a key initiative by the two industry leaders to join forces to further enhance broadband and PC penetration levels in the country.
Announcing the collaboration, Deepak Srivastava, CEO- North, Telemedia Services, Bharti Airtel said, “At Airtel, it is our consistent endeavor to look at innovative and exciting ways that help our customers derive the most out of their Broadband experience. The synergies of the Airtel-HP alliance will leverage the symbiotic relationship between the PC and Broadband, spurring uptake of best-in-class content and an enhanced on boarding experience for both existing and first time users. This initiative will further enhance our leadership in the broadband space, and is an excellent value for money proposition for our customers.”
According to Rajiev Grover, Director, Consumer Products, HP PSG India, “As the market leader in the Indian PC space, we have continuously worked towards creating an enabling ecosystem by not only creating a diverse product range, but also to create relevant offerings appealing for the dynamic market. With this unique partnership with Airtel broadband service, we have gone a step beyond adding value to the ultimate PC experience that HP has to offer. As more and more consumers log onto the internet for e-commerce, entertainment and gaming, P2P sharing and for downloading applications, this tie up will enable the user to get more from his PC.
Under the offer, Airtel is offering customers buying any HP Compaq notebook an Airtel broadband connection at extremely pocket-friendly/ consumer-friendly terms that include Zero Security Deposit and Installation Fee, Free Wi-Fi connection and Discounts on Broadband Rental upto 14 months.
Source : EconomicTimes
Announcing the collaboration, Deepak Srivastava, CEO- North, Telemedia Services, Bharti Airtel said, “At Airtel, it is our consistent endeavor to look at innovative and exciting ways that help our customers derive the most out of their Broadband experience. The synergies of the Airtel-HP alliance will leverage the symbiotic relationship between the PC and Broadband, spurring uptake of best-in-class content and an enhanced on boarding experience for both existing and first time users. This initiative will further enhance our leadership in the broadband space, and is an excellent value for money proposition for our customers.”
According to Rajiev Grover, Director, Consumer Products, HP PSG India, “As the market leader in the Indian PC space, we have continuously worked towards creating an enabling ecosystem by not only creating a diverse product range, but also to create relevant offerings appealing for the dynamic market. With this unique partnership with Airtel broadband service, we have gone a step beyond adding value to the ultimate PC experience that HP has to offer. As more and more consumers log onto the internet for e-commerce, entertainment and gaming, P2P sharing and for downloading applications, this tie up will enable the user to get more from his PC.
Under the offer, Airtel is offering customers buying any HP Compaq notebook an Airtel broadband connection at extremely pocket-friendly/ consumer-friendly terms that include Zero Security Deposit and Installation Fee, Free Wi-Fi connection and Discounts on Broadband Rental upto 14 months.
Source : EconomicTimes
Thursday, September 4, 2008
Net, broadband fail to catch up with mobile growth
NEW DELHI: The debate over Broadband Wireless Access (BWA) spectrum auctions and internet telephony comes at a time when international organizations and analysts are painting a starkly contrasting picture of the Indian telecom and IT sectors.
Recent International Telecommunication Union (ITU) data reveals that the success of India's telecom revolution is restricted to mobile voice with very little to showcase in fixed line and internet access, or high-speed broadband.
For a country that is the global IT and ITeS capital or the world's back office, its own internet penetration remains one of the lowest in the world. Forecasts are equally uninspiring, projecting high-speed internet access to remain abysmal till 2012.
Internet broadband penetration will limp along to eventually reach a measly 3.9 connections for every 100 citizens by 2012. Even though internet users may be multiple times higher, actual broadband penetration will not exceed 18.1 million at the beginning of the next decade.
In contrast, mobile telephony will add as many as 350 million subscribers during this five-year period to end at roughly 615 million by mid 2012.
These forecasts fall short of the government's conservative target of 20 million high-speed internet subscribers by 2010-end. India's broadband penetration is roughly 4.5 million subscribers. Even with a 300% growth rate over the next five years, the sector will fall short of the 50 million mark by 2012.
"The weak numbers can be attributed to a slew of policy failures including inadequacy of fixed line infrastructure, a barely profitable ISP (internet service provider) business, and low domestic PC penetration", says Rajesh Chharia, president, ISP Association of India. It is learnt that ISPs are actively considering a strong representation to the government on these issues.
Weak broadband penetration could severely slow down overall telecom growth, crippling India's ISPs in the process. It will also hurt ambitious government programmes, such as e-governance, e-commerce, telemedicine and e-education all of which are dependent on high-speed broadband internet access.
This gloomy environment has prompted telecom regulator TRAI to recommend internet telephony for ISPs as it believes this has the potential of becoming the killer application that will kickstart growth.
However, the uncertainty of DoT accepting TRAI's recommendations or succumbing to the interests of existing mobile operators to slap an additional entry fee for ISPs is a shadow over the sector.
DoT officials have been confusing, vacillating between welcoming TRAI's recommendations and airing level playing field concerns. "A policy overhaul to include concepts like shared PCs, enhanced scope of services and expanding e-governance applications is critical for the growth of the sector," says Naresh Ajwani, president, Sify Ltd.
Source : EconomicTimes
Recent International Telecommunication Union (ITU) data reveals that the success of India's telecom revolution is restricted to mobile voice with very little to showcase in fixed line and internet access, or high-speed broadband.
For a country that is the global IT and ITeS capital or the world's back office, its own internet penetration remains one of the lowest in the world. Forecasts are equally uninspiring, projecting high-speed internet access to remain abysmal till 2012.
Internet broadband penetration will limp along to eventually reach a measly 3.9 connections for every 100 citizens by 2012. Even though internet users may be multiple times higher, actual broadband penetration will not exceed 18.1 million at the beginning of the next decade.
In contrast, mobile telephony will add as many as 350 million subscribers during this five-year period to end at roughly 615 million by mid 2012.
These forecasts fall short of the government's conservative target of 20 million high-speed internet subscribers by 2010-end. India's broadband penetration is roughly 4.5 million subscribers. Even with a 300% growth rate over the next five years, the sector will fall short of the 50 million mark by 2012.
"The weak numbers can be attributed to a slew of policy failures including inadequacy of fixed line infrastructure, a barely profitable ISP (internet service provider) business, and low domestic PC penetration", says Rajesh Chharia, president, ISP Association of India. It is learnt that ISPs are actively considering a strong representation to the government on these issues.
Weak broadband penetration could severely slow down overall telecom growth, crippling India's ISPs in the process. It will also hurt ambitious government programmes, such as e-governance, e-commerce, telemedicine and e-education all of which are dependent on high-speed broadband internet access.
This gloomy environment has prompted telecom regulator TRAI to recommend internet telephony for ISPs as it believes this has the potential of becoming the killer application that will kickstart growth.
However, the uncertainty of DoT accepting TRAI's recommendations or succumbing to the interests of existing mobile operators to slap an additional entry fee for ISPs is a shadow over the sector.
DoT officials have been confusing, vacillating between welcoming TRAI's recommendations and airing level playing field concerns. "A policy overhaul to include concepts like shared PCs, enhanced scope of services and expanding e-governance applications is critical for the growth of the sector," says Naresh Ajwani, president, Sify Ltd.
Source : EconomicTimes
Wednesday, September 3, 2008
BSNL seeks franchisees for WiMax rollout
NEW DELHI: State-owned telecom operator Bharat Sanchar Nigam Limited (BSNL), which has got spectrum for pan-India rollout of wireless broadband and WiMax services, will soon float expression of interest (EoI) for identifying potential franchisees for launching these services in 16 circles. BSNL will continue with the franchisee model for WiMax rollout in the country.
As first reported by ET, BSNL had already chosen US-based mobile WiMax systems provider Soma Networks as a franchisee to rollout WiMax services in three states including, Gujarat, Maharashtra and Andhra Pradesh. The alliance is expected to provide broadband data and voice services to more than 200 million people.
The deployment process in these states has already surpassed the deadline of August 15 this year, due to frequency issue, a BSNL source told ET. The current franchisee model has a revenue sharing structure of 70:30, with 70% of revenue reserved for the franchisee. This structure will differ from circle to circle, from state to state, according to the franchisee and the framework for bids, the BSNL executive added.
BSNL is also keen on following the franchisee model for rural WiMax deployment. It has floated a tender for 1,000 base transceiver station (BTS) and is expected to shortlist a potential player for deployment of 1 BTS by end of September this year. The operator expects to set up 500 BTSs by March 2009. BSNL has rights to 1,000 blocks.
With a rapidly growing middle class and highly educated population, India is seen as a country that will have enormous potential for broadband services. By deploying end-to-end mobile WiMax solution through franchisee model, BSNL will bring a full range of multimedia services to the entire country. India has 4.38 million broadband internet users as of June 2008, as per the latest report from telecom regulator Trai.
Source : EconomicTimes
As first reported by ET, BSNL had already chosen US-based mobile WiMax systems provider Soma Networks as a franchisee to rollout WiMax services in three states including, Gujarat, Maharashtra and Andhra Pradesh. The alliance is expected to provide broadband data and voice services to more than 200 million people.
The deployment process in these states has already surpassed the deadline of August 15 this year, due to frequency issue, a BSNL source told ET. The current franchisee model has a revenue sharing structure of 70:30, with 70% of revenue reserved for the franchisee. This structure will differ from circle to circle, from state to state, according to the franchisee and the framework for bids, the BSNL executive added.
BSNL is also keen on following the franchisee model for rural WiMax deployment. It has floated a tender for 1,000 base transceiver station (BTS) and is expected to shortlist a potential player for deployment of 1 BTS by end of September this year. The operator expects to set up 500 BTSs by March 2009. BSNL has rights to 1,000 blocks.
With a rapidly growing middle class and highly educated population, India is seen as a country that will have enormous potential for broadband services. By deploying end-to-end mobile WiMax solution through franchisee model, BSNL will bring a full range of multimedia services to the entire country. India has 4.38 million broadband internet users as of June 2008, as per the latest report from telecom regulator Trai.
Source : EconomicTimes
Tuesday, September 2, 2008
Government to connect 5,000 blocks with broadband
NEW DELHI: The government on Tuesday said it would connect 5,000 blocks through wireless broadband soon after the allocation of the third generation spectrum.
In a statement, the Department of Telecom (DoT) said this will be done with support from DoT's Universal Service Obligation Fund (USOF) after allocation of spectrum through an auction later this year.
Private players contribute five percent of their earnings to the USOF, which is aimed at promoting rural telephony.
The villages that come in the radius of 10 kilometres of the block headquarters will be connected, DoT said.
With this step, schools, public health centres, village panchayats and the community service centres (CSCs) meant to provide e-governance and data services to rural areas would be benefited.
Currently, the state-run telecom operator Bharat Sanchar Nigam Ltd (BSNL) provides broadband to 1,000 blocks out of around 6,000 in the country.
Similarly, about 50,000 out of a proposed 100,000 CSCs are covered by BSNL broadband. DoT's new initiative is likely to cover the remaining blocks and all CSCs.
Besides, DoT also proposes to support wireline broadband by USOF wherever feasible, the statement added.
The government has held discussions with technology providers, telecom operators and Internet service providers for meeting its wireless broadband plan and to formalise the tender procedures, specifications and deliverable formulation, and benchmarks.
Source : EconomicTimes
In a statement, the Department of Telecom (DoT) said this will be done with support from DoT's Universal Service Obligation Fund (USOF) after allocation of spectrum through an auction later this year.
Private players contribute five percent of their earnings to the USOF, which is aimed at promoting rural telephony.
The villages that come in the radius of 10 kilometres of the block headquarters will be connected, DoT said.
With this step, schools, public health centres, village panchayats and the community service centres (CSCs) meant to provide e-governance and data services to rural areas would be benefited.
Currently, the state-run telecom operator Bharat Sanchar Nigam Ltd (BSNL) provides broadband to 1,000 blocks out of around 6,000 in the country.
Similarly, about 50,000 out of a proposed 100,000 CSCs are covered by BSNL broadband. DoT's new initiative is likely to cover the remaining blocks and all CSCs.
Besides, DoT also proposes to support wireline broadband by USOF wherever feasible, the statement added.
The government has held discussions with technology providers, telecom operators and Internet service providers for meeting its wireless broadband plan and to formalise the tender procedures, specifications and deliverable formulation, and benchmarks.
Source : EconomicTimes
Sunday, August 31, 2008
World Phone forays into cable broadband internet services
NEW DELHI: World Phone Internet Services Pvt Ltd, India’s premier VoIP solutions provider, on Thursday announced its foray into cable broadband internet services for Delhi and the national capital region. Along with the launch of this new service, World Phone also announced the lowest tariff of Rs 95 per month for its potential users.
“With the launch of our new service with an affordable tag, we would be tapping the population in Delhi & NCR. We hope that with this price tag and the quality of service we will be able to garner at least 5000 subscriber in the first three months,” said Aditya Ahluwalia, chairman, World Phone Internet Services Pvt Ltd. “Lower monthly commitment would be a strong and bold step by World Phone for enhancing broadband penetration in masses,” he added.
World Phone has entered into agreement with the television cable operators across Delhi & NCR for providing this service. Customers subscribing to World Phone’s new monthly internet service tariff of Rs 95 will get a speed of up to 256 kbps with a 200 MB data download limit. As of now the services would be available in select areas only. After Delhi, World Phone plans to launch broadband in Mumbai, Jaipur, Ahmedabad, Hyderabad and Kolkata in the coming months. It also has other plans like unlimited plan, hourly plan and data limit based plan to suit different requirements of internet users.
Another first from World Phone will be its pre-paid service, wherein one could buy recharge vouchers from the cable operator and start surfing.
Last year, World Phone became the first Indian internet service provider to announce the lowest possible tariff for its international call rates to the US, UK, Australia and Canada.
Source : EconomicTimes
“With the launch of our new service with an affordable tag, we would be tapping the population in Delhi & NCR. We hope that with this price tag and the quality of service we will be able to garner at least 5000 subscriber in the first three months,” said Aditya Ahluwalia, chairman, World Phone Internet Services Pvt Ltd. “Lower monthly commitment would be a strong and bold step by World Phone for enhancing broadband penetration in masses,” he added.
World Phone has entered into agreement with the television cable operators across Delhi & NCR for providing this service. Customers subscribing to World Phone’s new monthly internet service tariff of Rs 95 will get a speed of up to 256 kbps with a 200 MB data download limit. As of now the services would be available in select areas only. After Delhi, World Phone plans to launch broadband in Mumbai, Jaipur, Ahmedabad, Hyderabad and Kolkata in the coming months. It also has other plans like unlimited plan, hourly plan and data limit based plan to suit different requirements of internet users.
Another first from World Phone will be its pre-paid service, wherein one could buy recharge vouchers from the cable operator and start surfing.
Last year, World Phone became the first Indian internet service provider to announce the lowest possible tariff for its international call rates to the US, UK, Australia and Canada.
Source : EconomicTimes
Saturday, August 30, 2008
Mobile Services on WIMAX - Internet Telephony to lift off in a big way!
Get ready to dial a new set of numbers in near future. WiMAX industry in the country received a major boost as the DoT has reportedly modified its policy on wireless broadband technologies including WiMAX services. For long, this medium stayed in the wings as mobile danced its way to glory in India. The earlier announced guidelines had specified that spectrum for broadband wireless can be used only for data services. However, the Telecom Commission, in its meeting on August 21 has taken a decision to remove the restriction.
Unfortunately, the new boost comes at a cost of increased reserve price for WiMAX spectrum in the auctioning process. The Commission now wants the base price to be 50 percent of the 3G base price as compared to earlier 25 percent. A pan-India WiMAX licence may now come at an estimated price of Rs 1010 crore.
It seems that such a decision did not go well with the existing GSM operators. A GSM industry representative echoed,
“The WiMax lobby had argued that reserve price should be lower to enable them to make broadband services affordable. If they are allowed to offer voice services also they should be treated at par with existing mobile operators bidding for 3G spectrum.”
Internet telephony will mean convergence of broadband for voice (calls), data (web surfing) and video (cable TV) for the masses. It will not only be a low cost option, but also a medium that can do much more than just web.
At present, telephony predominantly remains the main source of inter-business consultations and is widely considered a fundamental component in the on-going growth of effective customer service. The Internet today is changing every industry, with telephony being no exception. Traditional telephony is now being accompanied by IP based telephony in order to primarily reduce the cost of telecommunications and effectively provide more communication options.
Benefits of voice services over the internet :
The main advantage of Internet telephony is in the lowering of the costs. The only costs involved are in the setting up of the computer and the operating costs of a data network connection. And once this is in place, there is no additional charge for using it, unless of course the destination of the call is outside the IP network.
The integration of data network and voice can also reduce the number of lines needed to access both services.
Since voice and data can now share the same transfer channel, they can be combined, hence providing real-time applications such as interactive meetings, long-distance learning, and white-boarding. Multimedia applications can now be incorporated into commercial service more readily.
Wireless VoIP would mean that customers would have a single device for communication, unlike at present where we have a mobile, home phone and office handsets etc.
Well, it’s not all hunky dory for voice enabled WIMAX services. Here’s Why :
If you are using the Internet to make calls, then you cannot call up the emergency numbers since their location cannot be determined. For a user, this is one area that cannot be ignored - so this aspect is a major drawback of Internet telephony. Although emergency numbers are hardly as much regarded as in the west, it does provide a drawback.
Moreover, VoIP telephone services are mostly powered by mains electricity and shall turn to a brick in cases of load sheddings, just the way it is for cordless telephones.
Even though Internet Telephony is rapidly progressing, it still has some major issues with reliability and indeed sound quality to battle. These problems are primarily attributed to bandwidth limitation and current compression technology.
Security is obviously a major factor that has to be addressed. All the security problems we have faced with the internet would have to be faced again with VoIP. If it becomes more widely used it will become more attractive for hackers to attack Hackers could eavesdrop on conversations, interfere with audio streams, or disconnect, reroute or even answer other people’s phone calls.
Nonetheless, the decision of allowing voice telephony over the WIMAX networks is a very important step taken by the Department of Telecom in the direction of increased internet penetration and cheaper call rates which are already the cheapest in the world.
Source : WatBlog
Unfortunately, the new boost comes at a cost of increased reserve price for WiMAX spectrum in the auctioning process. The Commission now wants the base price to be 50 percent of the 3G base price as compared to earlier 25 percent. A pan-India WiMAX licence may now come at an estimated price of Rs 1010 crore.
It seems that such a decision did not go well with the existing GSM operators. A GSM industry representative echoed,
“The WiMax lobby had argued that reserve price should be lower to enable them to make broadband services affordable. If they are allowed to offer voice services also they should be treated at par with existing mobile operators bidding for 3G spectrum.”
Internet telephony will mean convergence of broadband for voice (calls), data (web surfing) and video (cable TV) for the masses. It will not only be a low cost option, but also a medium that can do much more than just web.
At present, telephony predominantly remains the main source of inter-business consultations and is widely considered a fundamental component in the on-going growth of effective customer service. The Internet today is changing every industry, with telephony being no exception. Traditional telephony is now being accompanied by IP based telephony in order to primarily reduce the cost of telecommunications and effectively provide more communication options.
Benefits of voice services over the internet :
The main advantage of Internet telephony is in the lowering of the costs. The only costs involved are in the setting up of the computer and the operating costs of a data network connection. And once this is in place, there is no additional charge for using it, unless of course the destination of the call is outside the IP network.
The integration of data network and voice can also reduce the number of lines needed to access both services.
Since voice and data can now share the same transfer channel, they can be combined, hence providing real-time applications such as interactive meetings, long-distance learning, and white-boarding. Multimedia applications can now be incorporated into commercial service more readily.
Wireless VoIP would mean that customers would have a single device for communication, unlike at present where we have a mobile, home phone and office handsets etc.
Well, it’s not all hunky dory for voice enabled WIMAX services. Here’s Why :
If you are using the Internet to make calls, then you cannot call up the emergency numbers since their location cannot be determined. For a user, this is one area that cannot be ignored - so this aspect is a major drawback of Internet telephony. Although emergency numbers are hardly as much regarded as in the west, it does provide a drawback.
Moreover, VoIP telephone services are mostly powered by mains electricity and shall turn to a brick in cases of load sheddings, just the way it is for cordless telephones.
Even though Internet Telephony is rapidly progressing, it still has some major issues with reliability and indeed sound quality to battle. These problems are primarily attributed to bandwidth limitation and current compression technology.
Security is obviously a major factor that has to be addressed. All the security problems we have faced with the internet would have to be faced again with VoIP. If it becomes more widely used it will become more attractive for hackers to attack Hackers could eavesdrop on conversations, interfere with audio streams, or disconnect, reroute or even answer other people’s phone calls.
Nonetheless, the decision of allowing voice telephony over the WIMAX networks is a very important step taken by the Department of Telecom in the direction of increased internet penetration and cheaper call rates which are already the cheapest in the world.
Source : WatBlog
Sify opens data centre in Mumbai
CHENNAI: Sify Technologies on Thursday opened a data centre at Airoli near Mumbai, eyeing higher demand for third-party server and storage service. A sum of Rs 150 crore will be pumped in for the new data centre, which is Sify’s fourth in the country. The investment was made through internal funding, company officials said.
“The demand for third-party service providers is going up as more companies want to outsource server and storage services. This is because maintaining servers is complex and heavy, so they prefer outsourcing such functions,” said PJ Nath, executive president, Sify Enterprise Services. Following the data centre near Mumbai, Sify will open two more, in Delhi and Bangalore, over the next couple of years.
Mr Nath further said that the Airoli data centre is part of the company’s strategy to create network and data centre infrastructure in India. This would enhance demand for services such as e-commerce, online banking and corporate ERP.
“The demand for third-party service providers is going up as more companies want to outsource server and storage services. This is because maintaining servers is complex and heavy, so they prefer outsourcing such functions,” said PJ Nath, executive president, Sify Enterprise Services. Following the data centre near Mumbai, Sify will open two more, in Delhi and Bangalore, over the next couple of years.
Mr Nath further said that the Airoli data centre is part of the company’s strategy to create network and data centre infrastructure in India. This would enhance demand for services such as e-commerce, online banking and corporate ERP.
Thursday, August 28, 2008
Broadband (≥ 256 Kbps download) Growth for July' 08
Total Broadband subscribers base has reached 4.57 million by the end of July 2008 as compared to 4.38 million by the end of June 2008. Comparison table of broadband subscriber’s growth during corresponding periods of 2007 and 2008 is shown below:
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Source : http://www.trai.gov.in/trai/upload/PressReleases/597/pr25aug08no73.pdf
Quickpost this image to Myspace, Digg, Facebook, and others!Source : http://www.trai.gov.in/trai/upload/PressReleases/597/pr25aug08no73.pdf
Tuesday, August 19, 2008
Intel in talks with telecom operators for WiMax rollout
MUMBAI: Betting big on WiMax in India, chip giant Intel is in talks with telecom operators to enable the growth of WiMax ecosystem through its products for boosting the penetration of wireless broadband in the world’s fastest-growing telecom market.
The US-based company is working with ODMs (original device manufacturers) to evolve new products like WiMax USB dongle, mobile internet devices (MIDs) besides WiMax notebooks with an aim to have wireless broadband networks running by the first quarter of 2009 in India.
“The idea is to utilise existing telecom tower, power and fiber backhaul infrastructure of operators to ensure faster roll out of WiMax networks at the lowest costs and time-to-market. Like the USB dongle, a similar PCM express WiMax card will come from Intel’s ODMs. It’ll be a PC add-on card. Laptops will also evolve to have mobile internet,” Intel’s MD, emerging market, Wimax program office, C S Rao said.
“We are talking to operators to evolve good device partnership models with them. India is the market for Intel. If we are able to add even one-tenth of the 8million-9million subscribers being added every month, it will be huge. Volumes in this market are going to be significantly high,” he said.
WiMax or Worldwide Interoperability for Microwave Access is a wireless communication technology, which can offer high speed connectivity in about 50 km radius. Globally, 484 WiMax products are available for commercial use. While a customer premise equipment (CPE, which resides in the user’s premises) is available for around $100 (Rs 4200), a WiMax notebook from Taiwanese technology major ASUS can be bought for as low as $400 (Rs 16,800). An ecosystem of products and infrastructure is crucial for the success of any new technology and WiMax seems to be ready on these counts.
Right now, India has around 4.5 m broadband subscribers, mostly through copper wire. The targeted user base is 20 million by 2020. “With WiMax, the target may be achieved a little earlier because of high demand and existing ecosystem. Intel has strong distribution channels in India. All those will be used to proliferate WiMax devices,” he said.
In India, Tata Communications (earlier VSNL), Reliance Communications and public sector BSNL are strong proponents of WiMax. “Logistics of wireless broadband roll out are much more easier and cost effective. Telecom infrastructure, like towers can be used for WiMax, resulting in sharing of costs between more parties,” he said.
Comparing WiMax with 3G (third generation), which is a competing technology, Mr Rao said WiMax will offer three times more speed and will be cheaper. Operators like Bharti Airtel and Idea Cellular are betting big on 3G. While 3G-enabled handsets are already available in India, the launch of Apple’s 3G iPhone is expected to formally ring in the rollout of 3G in the country.
“3G has the capability to offer high-speed data services but doesn’t have the scalability. You need more base stations for offering 3G at the same capacity of total bandwidth and with this, the capex per subscriber goes up. And if you add more subscribers, the speed goes down. WiMax is a more cost-effective and efficient technology,” he added.
The US-based company is working with ODMs (original device manufacturers) to evolve new products like WiMax USB dongle, mobile internet devices (MIDs) besides WiMax notebooks with an aim to have wireless broadband networks running by the first quarter of 2009 in India.
“The idea is to utilise existing telecom tower, power and fiber backhaul infrastructure of operators to ensure faster roll out of WiMax networks at the lowest costs and time-to-market. Like the USB dongle, a similar PCM express WiMax card will come from Intel’s ODMs. It’ll be a PC add-on card. Laptops will also evolve to have mobile internet,” Intel’s MD, emerging market, Wimax program office, C S Rao said.
“We are talking to operators to evolve good device partnership models with them. India is the market for Intel. If we are able to add even one-tenth of the 8million-9million subscribers being added every month, it will be huge. Volumes in this market are going to be significantly high,” he said.
WiMax or Worldwide Interoperability for Microwave Access is a wireless communication technology, which can offer high speed connectivity in about 50 km radius. Globally, 484 WiMax products are available for commercial use. While a customer premise equipment (CPE, which resides in the user’s premises) is available for around $100 (Rs 4200), a WiMax notebook from Taiwanese technology major ASUS can be bought for as low as $400 (Rs 16,800). An ecosystem of products and infrastructure is crucial for the success of any new technology and WiMax seems to be ready on these counts.
Right now, India has around 4.5 m broadband subscribers, mostly through copper wire. The targeted user base is 20 million by 2020. “With WiMax, the target may be achieved a little earlier because of high demand and existing ecosystem. Intel has strong distribution channels in India. All those will be used to proliferate WiMax devices,” he said.
In India, Tata Communications (earlier VSNL), Reliance Communications and public sector BSNL are strong proponents of WiMax. “Logistics of wireless broadband roll out are much more easier and cost effective. Telecom infrastructure, like towers can be used for WiMax, resulting in sharing of costs between more parties,” he said.
Comparing WiMax with 3G (third generation), which is a competing technology, Mr Rao said WiMax will offer three times more speed and will be cheaper. Operators like Bharti Airtel and Idea Cellular are betting big on 3G. While 3G-enabled handsets are already available in India, the launch of Apple’s 3G iPhone is expected to formally ring in the rollout of 3G in the country.
“3G has the capability to offer high-speed data services but doesn’t have the scalability. You need more base stations for offering 3G at the same capacity of total bandwidth and with this, the capex per subscriber goes up. And if you add more subscribers, the speed goes down. WiMax is a more cost-effective and efficient technology,” he added.
Sunday, August 17, 2008
ISPs too want DoT to review WiMAX policy
NEW DELHI: After telecom regulator TRAI and the finance ministry, the department of telecom (DoT) is set to face further opposition to its WiMAX auction policy. The Internet Service Providers Association of India, the body representing all standalone ISPs, has decided to ask the DoT to review the WiMAX policy, failing which it plans to haul the communications ministry to the telecom tribunal. “We will approach the DoT over this issue next week,” ISPAI president Rajesh Charia told ET.
First, standalone ISPs do not want the base price for the WiMAX auction to be linked to that of 3G. At present, the policy stipulates that the base price for WiMAX spectrum auction will be 25% of that for 3G radio frequencies — this implies, the reserve price of a pan-India WiMAX licence comes to about Rs 505 crore.
“WiMAX is predominantly for wireless high speed internet or broadband services where the platform of usage is computers. On the other hand, 3G is for mobile services,” explained Mr Charia. According to him, if the auctions are carried out as per the base price proscribed in the policy, no ISP would be able to bid. “A minimum of one slot must be reserved for standalone ISPs. Here only ISPs should be permitted to bid against each other,” he added. ISPAI wants an alternate formula where its members be charged only 25% of the highest bid that a telco makes for WiMAX spectrum in that particular circle during the auction.
Meanwhile, as reported by ET first, ISPs such as Sify and Spectranet are also planning to haul the communications ministry to the courts over the government’s decision to take back the 2.5 GHz WiMAX spectrum allotted to them. Any move by ISPs to go to the courts over these issues could delay the WiMAX spectrum auctions which are scheduled to take place by the year-end. Besides, the DoT can only go ahead with the auction if ISPs vacate the radio frequencies they hold in the 2.5 GHz band.
First, standalone ISPs do not want the base price for the WiMAX auction to be linked to that of 3G. At present, the policy stipulates that the base price for WiMAX spectrum auction will be 25% of that for 3G radio frequencies — this implies, the reserve price of a pan-India WiMAX licence comes to about Rs 505 crore.
“WiMAX is predominantly for wireless high speed internet or broadband services where the platform of usage is computers. On the other hand, 3G is for mobile services,” explained Mr Charia. According to him, if the auctions are carried out as per the base price proscribed in the policy, no ISP would be able to bid. “A minimum of one slot must be reserved for standalone ISPs. Here only ISPs should be permitted to bid against each other,” he added. ISPAI wants an alternate formula where its members be charged only 25% of the highest bid that a telco makes for WiMAX spectrum in that particular circle during the auction.
Meanwhile, as reported by ET first, ISPs such as Sify and Spectranet are also planning to haul the communications ministry to the courts over the government’s decision to take back the 2.5 GHz WiMAX spectrum allotted to them. Any move by ISPs to go to the courts over these issues could delay the WiMAX spectrum auctions which are scheduled to take place by the year-end. Besides, the DoT can only go ahead with the auction if ISPs vacate the radio frequencies they hold in the 2.5 GHz band.
27.5 mn WiMAX users in India by '12: Study
NEW DELHI: India will have over 27.5 million WiMAX users by 2012. About 70% of the WiMAX subscribers will use mobile and portable WiMAX devices to access broadband Internet services, according to a study by the WiMAX Forum. Interestingly, as on January 2008, India had only 3.4 million broadband subscribers, less than the target nine million by 2007 set by the broadband policy makers.
WiMAX, or Worldwide Interoperability for Microwave Access, is a telecom technology that provides wireless data in a variety of ways, ranging from point-to-point links to full mobile cellular-type access. According to the study, low operator capex, innovative return on investment (ROI) models combined with the economies of scale are the factors that will drive down the cost of the wide range of diverse WiMAX devices, fuelling the subscriber base in India.
“India is clearly making the commitment and taking steps to ensure wireless broadband services are a reality that enable operators to meet the needs of India’s diverse and growing population,” said WiMAX Forum president Ron Resnick.
However, research firm Gartner was more conservative in its projection of WiMAX users in India. In a report, it predicted that India will remain a niche market for WiMAX until 2009.
India will have just 6.9 million mobile and fixed WiMAX connections by the end of 2011 according to Gartner. The reason Gartner cites is the failure of the government to effectively motivate operators to roll out country-wide mobile broadband. WiMAX is still a niche technology and limited to enterprise and high-end residential users in urban India, according to Gartner.
Whatever the actual numbers in future, WiMAX does offer a compelling option to users to get broadband access. Last week, the WiMAX Forum complimented the Department of Telecommunications (DoT) for the allocation of and upcoming auction relating to the 2.3 and 2.5 GHz frequency bands.
The auction will enable two 20 MHz blocks to be available for WiMAX in both the 2.3 and 2.5 GHz bands. The WiMAX Forum also lauded the government’s plans to auction blocks in the 700 MHz and 3.3-3.6 GHz bands. The Forum expects to certify the first 3.5 GHz WiMAX products by the end of 2008 and views 700 MHz as a strong contender for mobile Internet services, especially in India’s low-density rural areas.
“WiMAX technology has the potential to bridge India’s digital divide, offering broadband services in dense urban and suburban areas, rural broadband connectivity to enable high-speed wireless applications and services,” the study stated.
WiMAX, or Worldwide Interoperability for Microwave Access, is a telecom technology that provides wireless data in a variety of ways, ranging from point-to-point links to full mobile cellular-type access. According to the study, low operator capex, innovative return on investment (ROI) models combined with the economies of scale are the factors that will drive down the cost of the wide range of diverse WiMAX devices, fuelling the subscriber base in India.
“India is clearly making the commitment and taking steps to ensure wireless broadband services are a reality that enable operators to meet the needs of India’s diverse and growing population,” said WiMAX Forum president Ron Resnick.
However, research firm Gartner was more conservative in its projection of WiMAX users in India. In a report, it predicted that India will remain a niche market for WiMAX until 2009.
India will have just 6.9 million mobile and fixed WiMAX connections by the end of 2011 according to Gartner. The reason Gartner cites is the failure of the government to effectively motivate operators to roll out country-wide mobile broadband. WiMAX is still a niche technology and limited to enterprise and high-end residential users in urban India, according to Gartner.
Whatever the actual numbers in future, WiMAX does offer a compelling option to users to get broadband access. Last week, the WiMAX Forum complimented the Department of Telecommunications (DoT) for the allocation of and upcoming auction relating to the 2.3 and 2.5 GHz frequency bands.
The auction will enable two 20 MHz blocks to be available for WiMAX in both the 2.3 and 2.5 GHz bands. The WiMAX Forum also lauded the government’s plans to auction blocks in the 700 MHz and 3.3-3.6 GHz bands. The Forum expects to certify the first 3.5 GHz WiMAX products by the end of 2008 and views 700 MHz as a strong contender for mobile Internet services, especially in India’s low-density rural areas.
“WiMAX technology has the potential to bridge India’s digital divide, offering broadband services in dense urban and suburban areas, rural broadband connectivity to enable high-speed wireless applications and services,” the study stated.
Wednesday, August 13, 2008
Sify to set up two data centers to expand network
MUMBAI: Internet service provider Sify Technologies will set up two data centers in Mumbai and Noida to double its network at a cost of Rs 250 crore.
"We are setting up a data center in Mumbai and (another) near Delhi. We will be doubling our network (point of presence) to 800. All these expansion would cost us Rs 250 crore," a top company official told the media.
The company has begun work on its data center in Mumbai, which would be spread over one lakh sq ft area. It would be ready in 15 months, the official said.
Sify's other data center would come up in Noida, which would be a greenfield project spread over 30,000 sq ft area. The construction on Noida site would begin soon, the official said.
A data center is a facility used to house computer systems and associated components such as telecommunications and storage systems.
The company has been alloted 17 acres of land in Chennai and it plans to set up a Special Economic Zone. "We are planning to offer export-oriented services through the SEZ," the official said.
About 10 per cent of the company's topline comes from exports.
At present the company has presence in 380 points in the country, which would be taken up to 800 in this financial year.
"Last year too, we had more than doubled our network from 180 to 380," the official added.
The 2,500 strong team of Sify would hire 500 more this year, the official added.
Source : EconomicTimes
"We are setting up a data center in Mumbai and (another) near Delhi. We will be doubling our network (point of presence) to 800. All these expansion would cost us Rs 250 crore," a top company official told the media.
The company has begun work on its data center in Mumbai, which would be spread over one lakh sq ft area. It would be ready in 15 months, the official said.
Sify's other data center would come up in Noida, which would be a greenfield project spread over 30,000 sq ft area. The construction on Noida site would begin soon, the official said.
A data center is a facility used to house computer systems and associated components such as telecommunications and storage systems.
The company has been alloted 17 acres of land in Chennai and it plans to set up a Special Economic Zone. "We are planning to offer export-oriented services through the SEZ," the official said.
About 10 per cent of the company's topline comes from exports.
At present the company has presence in 380 points in the country, which would be taken up to 800 in this financial year.
"Last year too, we had more than doubled our network from 180 to 380," the official added.
The 2,500 strong team of Sify would hire 500 more this year, the official added.
Source : EconomicTimes
MTNL cuts broadband charges, launches TV on mobile
NEW DELHI: Public sector telecom services provider MTNL on Wednesday slashed broadband charges by up to 50 per cent to increase user base in the national capital.
The PSU announced a plan that will offer customers high speed (2 mbps) Internet access at a monthly rental of Rs 99 and 150 mb free download. Alternately, users can opt for a monthly rental scheme of Rs 149 with free download of 400 mb.
These plans will be available from August 15. It has also reduced the monthly rental of another tariff plan by 34 per cent from Rs 899 to 599 that would be available to customers from September 1.
MTNL, which has 2.6 lakhs broadband customers in Delhi, plans to attract more customers with this reduction, company's Executive Director-Delhi A K Arora said.
The state-run telecom operator, which was the first to launch IPTV in the country, also added another first to its credit by launching Mobile TV.
"The TV service on mobile handsets 'MTNL-TV' is available in Delhi and the NCR for MTNL customers both on Dolphin and Trump. It will provide 20 channels, and the charges are Rs 99 per month," Arora said here.
Fashion TV and religious channels will be not be available on the service.
Source : EconomicTimes
The PSU announced a plan that will offer customers high speed (2 mbps) Internet access at a monthly rental of Rs 99 and 150 mb free download. Alternately, users can opt for a monthly rental scheme of Rs 149 with free download of 400 mb.
These plans will be available from August 15. It has also reduced the monthly rental of another tariff plan by 34 per cent from Rs 899 to 599 that would be available to customers from September 1.
MTNL, which has 2.6 lakhs broadband customers in Delhi, plans to attract more customers with this reduction, company's Executive Director-Delhi A K Arora said.
The state-run telecom operator, which was the first to launch IPTV in the country, also added another first to its credit by launching Mobile TV.
"The TV service on mobile handsets 'MTNL-TV' is available in Delhi and the NCR for MTNL customers both on Dolphin and Trump. It will provide 20 channels, and the charges are Rs 99 per month," Arora said here.
Fashion TV and religious channels will be not be available on the service.
Source : EconomicTimes
Sunday, August 3, 2008
ISPs cry foul over WiMAX spectrum
NEW DELHI: Internet Service Providers (ISPs) like Sify and Spectranet are up in arms following the government's decision to take back the 2.5 GHz WiMAX spectrum allotted to them. ISPs claim they had already firmed up investment plans and ordered equipment when the Department of Telecom (DoT) shot a letter asking them to return the spectrum. The ISP Association is going to court over the government's decision.
"We had already started our commercial pilots and will incur a commercial loss due to the government's decision. Now, auctioning of the spectrum could lead to inflation in internet service charges, which is not a good thing for India as we are still poorly developed in terms of broadband penetration," says Sify's president for consumer infrastructure Naresh Ajwani.
The government had allotted 2.5 GHz spectrum (for mobile wireless broadband) in 2003 to seven players including Bharti, R-Com, HCL Infinet, Sify and Spectranet. But the government has asked them to return the spectrum. It plans to auction the 2.5 GHz spectrum for a base price of about Rs 550 crore. It will be about one-fourth the bidding price which is fixed at about Rs 2,200 crore for a pan-India licence, according to guidelines.
"The government should talk to industry players to resolve this tangle. Some players who have already started offering wireless broadband to corporate customers based on the spectrum allotted and ordered equipment will suffer a loss," says advisor to Spectranet Amitabh Singhal.
There's no way any ISP will be able to shell out Rs 550 crore for a WiMAX spectrum," says advisor to Spectranet Amitabh Singhal. "It's like changing the rules of the game just when a match is going to start. It will only lead to increase in valuations of universal access licence holders (UASL) or the telecom operators, who will hoard the WiMAX spectrum. We will be going to court against the DoT decision," said Internet Service Providers Association of India president Rajesh Charria.
Based on the IEEE 802.16 standard, WiMAX works on three licensed spectrum profiles: 2.3 GHz, 2.5 GHz and 3.5 GHz. Currently, Pakistan has one of the largest functional WiMAX networks in the world, deployed by Wateen Telecom on Motorola hardware.
In India, the government had got 40MHz vacated from Indian Space Research Organisation (ISRO) in 2003 which was allotted to seven ISP licence holders in 2003. Recently, the government got an additional 30 MHz vacated from ISRO. The government plans to put forth the entire 70 MHz for auction, which the ISPs are opposing.
WiMAX or Worldwide Interoperability for Microwave Access, is a wireless communication technology which can offer high speed connnectivity over a larger, about 50 km radius. It's important also for remote areas and tough terrain where setting up optical fibre cables is difficult.
"We had already started our commercial pilots and will incur a commercial loss due to the government's decision. Now, auctioning of the spectrum could lead to inflation in internet service charges, which is not a good thing for India as we are still poorly developed in terms of broadband penetration," says Sify's president for consumer infrastructure Naresh Ajwani.
The government had allotted 2.5 GHz spectrum (for mobile wireless broadband) in 2003 to seven players including Bharti, R-Com, HCL Infinet, Sify and Spectranet. But the government has asked them to return the spectrum. It plans to auction the 2.5 GHz spectrum for a base price of about Rs 550 crore. It will be about one-fourth the bidding price which is fixed at about Rs 2,200 crore for a pan-India licence, according to guidelines.
"The government should talk to industry players to resolve this tangle. Some players who have already started offering wireless broadband to corporate customers based on the spectrum allotted and ordered equipment will suffer a loss," says advisor to Spectranet Amitabh Singhal.
There's no way any ISP will be able to shell out Rs 550 crore for a WiMAX spectrum," says advisor to Spectranet Amitabh Singhal. "It's like changing the rules of the game just when a match is going to start. It will only lead to increase in valuations of universal access licence holders (UASL) or the telecom operators, who will hoard the WiMAX spectrum. We will be going to court against the DoT decision," said Internet Service Providers Association of India president Rajesh Charria.
Based on the IEEE 802.16 standard, WiMAX works on three licensed spectrum profiles: 2.3 GHz, 2.5 GHz and 3.5 GHz. Currently, Pakistan has one of the largest functional WiMAX networks in the world, deployed by Wateen Telecom on Motorola hardware.
In India, the government had got 40MHz vacated from Indian Space Research Organisation (ISRO) in 2003 which was allotted to seven ISP licence holders in 2003. Recently, the government got an additional 30 MHz vacated from ISRO. The government plans to put forth the entire 70 MHz for auction, which the ISPs are opposing.
WiMAX or Worldwide Interoperability for Microwave Access, is a wireless communication technology which can offer high speed connnectivity over a larger, about 50 km radius. It's important also for remote areas and tough terrain where setting up optical fibre cables is difficult.
Tata Comm to take WiMax services to 115 towns this fiscal
MUMBAI : Tata Communications, formerly VSNL, will take its WiMax services to 115 towns in this fiscal from the present 60 and it will look at taking broadband-WiMax services to four to five cities, a top company official said.
"The government has announced that it will auction spectrum. Once the spectrum is alloted, we plan to take the broadband-WiMax services to four-five cities," Tata Communications CEO and MD N Srinath told shareholders yesterday.
Presently, the company uses underground cable network to provide WiMax services. But it faces "quality problems" because of "last mile connectivity problems".
Using broadband would improve the quality of the WiMax service, he said.
WiMax is a telecommunication technology that provides wireless data.
The company would be investing USD two billion in the next three years as part of its capital expenditure, Srinath said.
The investments would go in laying submarine cable systems and rolling out WiMax services, he added.
Source : EconomicTimes
"The government has announced that it will auction spectrum. Once the spectrum is alloted, we plan to take the broadband-WiMax services to four-five cities," Tata Communications CEO and MD N Srinath told shareholders yesterday.
Presently, the company uses underground cable network to provide WiMax services. But it faces "quality problems" because of "last mile connectivity problems".
Using broadband would improve the quality of the WiMax service, he said.
WiMax is a telecommunication technology that provides wireless data.
The company would be investing USD two billion in the next three years as part of its capital expenditure, Srinath said.
The investments would go in laying submarine cable systems and rolling out WiMax services, he added.
Source : EconomicTimes
Thursday, July 31, 2008
Wipro's pizza box to make high-speed broadband cheaper
BANGALORE: Wipro Technologies’ research team is developing technology to help provide cheaper, high-speed broadband internet access. For this, the company has tied up with manufacturers to make the product overseas for sale in India and the global market. The equipment, to be located on customer premises, will allow broadband speeds of between 100 megabits per second (Mbps) and one gigabit per second (Gbps), with commercial launch expected next year, general manager (telecom) Manoj Dighe said.
The so-called pizza boxes that are under development work on digital subscriber line (DSL ) technology, can support an average of 24 customers with a speed of 100 Mbps to allow applications such as IPTV, and digital television services using internet technology. The ‘ONT,’ or optical network terminal boxes, support one user, with speeds of 100 Mbps to 1Gbps, he said.
The products will be manufactured by Wipro’s partners mainly in Europe and Taiwan with an investment of $70-80 million, Mr Dighe said, but declined to name them citing non-disclosure pacts. “We will be providing the software that will be the brain of the boxes. The products will help our tier-1 and tier-2 customers complement their portfolio. The production is not taking place in India because the margins here are low and manufacturing technology is lacking.” Wipro is aiming for sales of 200,000-300,000 ‘pizza boxes’ — to be distributed by tier-1 equipment vendors — in five years and up a million ONT boxes in 3-5 years.
“They will be cheaper, have right configuration for telecom service providers and help to bring down broadband rates,” Mr Dighe said.
He did not specify the cost of the equipment or by how much it would help bring down rates.
The research team is also looking to develop products in wireless space, including Femto cells, or smaller cellular base stations, and unified communications.
"The infrastructure is already there due to presence of major unified communication companies, but what is required is development of applications on these platforms."
Source : EconomicTimes
The so-called pizza boxes that are under development work on digital subscriber line (DSL ) technology, can support an average of 24 customers with a speed of 100 Mbps to allow applications such as IPTV, and digital television services using internet technology. The ‘ONT,’ or optical network terminal boxes, support one user, with speeds of 100 Mbps to 1Gbps, he said.
The products will be manufactured by Wipro’s partners mainly in Europe and Taiwan with an investment of $70-80 million, Mr Dighe said, but declined to name them citing non-disclosure pacts. “We will be providing the software that will be the brain of the boxes. The products will help our tier-1 and tier-2 customers complement their portfolio. The production is not taking place in India because the margins here are low and manufacturing technology is lacking.” Wipro is aiming for sales of 200,000-300,000 ‘pizza boxes’ — to be distributed by tier-1 equipment vendors — in five years and up a million ONT boxes in 3-5 years.
“They will be cheaper, have right configuration for telecom service providers and help to bring down broadband rates,” Mr Dighe said.
He did not specify the cost of the equipment or by how much it would help bring down rates.
The research team is also looking to develop products in wireless space, including Femto cells, or smaller cellular base stations, and unified communications.
"The infrastructure is already there due to presence of major unified communication companies, but what is required is development of applications on these platforms."
Source : EconomicTimes
Wednesday, July 30, 2008
Blackberry, WiFi system come under security scanner
NEW DELHI: In what may spell trouble for Blackberry and wireless fidelity (WiFi) internet service providers, security agencies are likely to harden their stance for having a fool-proof mechanism in place at the earliest.
The move comes close on the heels of militants of Indian Mujahideen using the wireless fidelity (WiFi) to send an email minutes ahead of audacious Ahmedabad attack.
"We are seized of the matter and it would be taken up with appropriate authorities soon," a senior Home Ministry official said.
When asked about the Blackberry services which were a point of controversy between security agencies and Information and Technology department, the official said the ministry has pointed out its hazards and it was for them to act.
The official said the security agencies had pointed out that password protection should be introduced in every customer using the WiFi technology.
However, the recent hacking in its proxy server while sending the email ahead of the weekend blasts was a glaring violation of the same, sources in the union Home Ministry said, adding that the Department of Telecom may not have placed in stringent measures.
The security agencies, in the case of Blackberry, have asked Department of Telecom to ensure that traffic originating and terminating in India should not travel outside the country.
"There should be a single point of delivery system for the entire Blackberry traffic in India and the traffic originating and terminating in India should not travel outside," they said in a note to DoT.
The move comes close on the heels of militants of Indian Mujahideen using the wireless fidelity (WiFi) to send an email minutes ahead of audacious Ahmedabad attack.
"We are seized of the matter and it would be taken up with appropriate authorities soon," a senior Home Ministry official said.
When asked about the Blackberry services which were a point of controversy between security agencies and Information and Technology department, the official said the ministry has pointed out its hazards and it was for them to act.
The official said the security agencies had pointed out that password protection should be introduced in every customer using the WiFi technology.
However, the recent hacking in its proxy server while sending the email ahead of the weekend blasts was a glaring violation of the same, sources in the union Home Ministry said, adding that the Department of Telecom may not have placed in stringent measures.
The security agencies, in the case of Blackberry, have asked Department of Telecom to ensure that traffic originating and terminating in India should not travel outside the country.
"There should be a single point of delivery system for the entire Blackberry traffic in India and the traffic originating and terminating in India should not travel outside," they said in a note to DoT.
Raja may announce 3G, WiMax, MNP policy on Friday
NEW DELHI: After settling differences with telecom regulator TRAI on reserve price of spectrum, the Government is likely to announce the much-delayed 3G and Wi Max policy on Friday, sources said.
The announcement may come amid indications that at least 10 players would be issued 3G licenses as against five proposed earlier.
According to highly-placed sources, the government has about 60 MHz of spectrum (radio frequency) for the next generation (3G) mobile services and this can accommodate at least 10 players.
The differences between DoT and TRAI also delayed the 3G policy announcement. The political uncertainty following the Left parties withdrawing their support to the UPA government also played a part in the delay.
The other key proposal which is likely to see the light of day is Mobile Number Portability which will allow subscribers to retain the mobile number even after changing the service provider.
On 3G proposals, TRAI has already agreed to the proposals of DoT for hiking pan-India licence fee for third generation mobile services to Rs 2,200 crore and pan-India broadband wireless access (BWA) spectrum, popularly known as WiMAX, to about 840 crore -- Rs 60 crore for five metros and category A circles, Rs 30 crore for category B and Rs 10 crore for category C circles).
DoT has also fixed the base price at Rs 160 crore for metros and category A circles, Rs 80 crore for category B, and Rs 30 crore for C circles, respectively for 3G spectrum auctions.
Source : EconomicTimes
The announcement may come amid indications that at least 10 players would be issued 3G licenses as against five proposed earlier.
According to highly-placed sources, the government has about 60 MHz of spectrum (radio frequency) for the next generation (3G) mobile services and this can accommodate at least 10 players.
The differences between DoT and TRAI also delayed the 3G policy announcement. The political uncertainty following the Left parties withdrawing their support to the UPA government also played a part in the delay.
The other key proposal which is likely to see the light of day is Mobile Number Portability which will allow subscribers to retain the mobile number even after changing the service provider.
On 3G proposals, TRAI has already agreed to the proposals of DoT for hiking pan-India licence fee for third generation mobile services to Rs 2,200 crore and pan-India broadband wireless access (BWA) spectrum, popularly known as WiMAX, to about 840 crore -- Rs 60 crore for five metros and category A circles, Rs 30 crore for category B and Rs 10 crore for category C circles).
DoT has also fixed the base price at Rs 160 crore for metros and category A circles, Rs 80 crore for category B, and Rs 30 crore for C circles, respectively for 3G spectrum auctions.
Source : EconomicTimes
Tuesday, July 29, 2008
Citywide WiFi Planned by BMC in a 50-Crore Plan For Mumbai
The Brihanmumbai Municipal Corporation (BMC) has brought forward a plan, which, if implemented, would allow anyone to use WiFi on their compatible laptops or mobile phones. This initiative by the BMC is a public-private partnership of sorts, in which the BMC plans to cover the entire city with WiFi coverage, albeit not free.
Once the city is WiFi enabled, it will enable any user who has a WiFi enabled device to surf the web from any location in the city. Once he is connected, he will be able to move around in the city at his own will, without worrying about any wires. The project was only recently declared ‘technically feasible’ by Tata Consultancy Services (TCS), which is BMC’s consultant for their e-governance project too. The project, which has been in the pipeline for the last couple of years, was initially limited to the BMC Headquarters, ward offices, zonal offices and the civic hospitals.
The BMC plans to invite tenders in a month’s time for the project. According to the plan, BMC will only be responsible to erect the towers and the infrastructure required for the technology. The rest will be done by the service providers, who in turn will give a part of their profits to BMC. The details of the profit share have not been finalized yet. Revenue will be generated from the subscribers, although BMC maintains that this will be cheaper than other such services.
BMC is following Pimpri-Chinchwad Municipal corporation who have planned the same in their area and the tenders for the same have already been floated. Anil Diggikar, Additional Municipal Commissioner for the BMC was quoted:
The BMC hopes to speed up its e-governance initiative with this move. Senior Officials from the governing body said that such a network would make it easy for the citizens to communicate with each other and the civic body, thus making communications easier and processing time shorter. Cyber experts, on the other hand, see this move from a different perspective. According to them, this would place Mumbai among the top technologically advanced cities in the world.
If the plan does indeed go through, it would be interesting to see how it would be implemented. According to me, it would really help if there was a single system of managing the service. Something on the lines of Mobile Recharge coupons should be implemented, wherein each user will have his own account and he is charged as per usage. We will also need to wait and see what speeds would be implemented along with the service.
But wait, if the city becomes WiFi enabled, what happens to the city’s WiMax providers?
Source : WATBlog
Once the city is WiFi enabled, it will enable any user who has a WiFi enabled device to surf the web from any location in the city. Once he is connected, he will be able to move around in the city at his own will, without worrying about any wires. The project was only recently declared ‘technically feasible’ by Tata Consultancy Services (TCS), which is BMC’s consultant for their e-governance project too. The project, which has been in the pipeline for the last couple of years, was initially limited to the BMC Headquarters, ward offices, zonal offices and the civic hospitals.
The BMC plans to invite tenders in a month’s time for the project. According to the plan, BMC will only be responsible to erect the towers and the infrastructure required for the technology. The rest will be done by the service providers, who in turn will give a part of their profits to BMC. The details of the profit share have not been finalized yet. Revenue will be generated from the subscribers, although BMC maintains that this will be cheaper than other such services.
BMC is following Pimpri-Chinchwad Municipal corporation who have planned the same in their area and the tenders for the same have already been floated. Anil Diggikar, Additional Municipal Commissioner for the BMC was quoted:
In Mumbai, it will be a larger scheme (compared to Pimpri-Chinchwad) as the city covers an area of 437 sq km, almost three times greater than PCMC that is just 171 sq km. We do not have to spend anything, but we only have to set up the towers. The service providers will put in the money and some part of the profits they make will be given to the BMC”
The BMC hopes to speed up its e-governance initiative with this move. Senior Officials from the governing body said that such a network would make it easy for the citizens to communicate with each other and the civic body, thus making communications easier and processing time shorter. Cyber experts, on the other hand, see this move from a different perspective. According to them, this would place Mumbai among the top technologically advanced cities in the world.
If the plan does indeed go through, it would be interesting to see how it would be implemented. According to me, it would really help if there was a single system of managing the service. Something on the lines of Mobile Recharge coupons should be implemented, wherein each user will have his own account and he is charged as per usage. We will also need to wait and see what speeds would be implemented along with the service.
But wait, if the city becomes WiFi enabled, what happens to the city’s WiMax providers?
Source : WATBlog
Tuesday, July 15, 2008
Growth of cyber cafes declining sharply
NEW DELHI: The growth of cyber cafes, which are the largest source of Internet access in India, is declining sharply. According to a CII-IMRB Broadband report, the number of cyber cafes, which was growing at almost 60% in 2004 and 2005, has fallen to almost 20% in 2008.
There are 1,80,000 cyber cafes in the country. Large industry players attribute the decline to lack of subsidy and support provided by the government coupled with increased security concerns and harassment of cyber cafe owners.
Commenting on the issue, Sify president of consumer infrastructure Naresh Ajwani said, “We have also seen a drop in our conversion rates from non-branded cyber cafes into branded Sify I-way cafes.” Sify has around 3,000 I-way cafes, of which many have been conversions from non-branded cyber cafes.
Ridiculously, in some cities like Pune, to open a cyber cafe, one has to take permissions from a municipal health department, just because cyber has got a ‘cafe’ suffixed to it. (The literal meaning of a cafe is a place to have coffee and snacks). Moreover, across the country, the local police has to provide a no objection certificate in order to open a cyber cafe. Experts say that drastic decline of cyber cafes is due to harassment that owners face at the hands of the local police.
According to the CII-IMRB report, the rate of growth in cyber cafes was at its peak in the country at about 85% in 2002. Though it was largely attributable to a small base of about 50,000 cafes in 2003, the growth was still hovering around 60% till 2004. The cyber cafe industry grew at about 57% in 2004. But by 2006 the growth fell to about 20% and it has till now failed to pick up steam.
Internet Service Providers Association of India (ISPAI) president Rajesh Charria says, “The decline in growth has been due to the extra-strict laws of maintaining a log of all sites visited by a customer alongwith a copy of his or her id proof. While there should be no compromise with security, the government should make a central law for cafes and remove local police interference. The government’s laws are discriminatory towards cyber cafes vis-a-vis PCOs.”
Meanwhile, cafe owners say that they have little control over the type of emails sent by their customers. There is also no support provided by the government in educating customers on internet usage. “We can provide free internet awareness programmes in lean hours to citizens in rural or urban areas provided we get a subsidy from the government,” adds Mr Ajwani of Sify.
According to another report by IAMAI (Internet and Mobile Association of India), out of the 46 million web users, college and school students account for maximum use of web in the country at 21%. Students are also the maximum users of web in the country through cyber cafes given the high cost of PCs. The internet users have crossed 52 million in 2007-08, according to MAIT.
Not surprisingly, cyber cafes emerge as the largest access point for internet access at 36% followed by home (30%) and office (25%). But, lackadaisical attitude from the government towards growth of cyber cafes is impeding the broadband growth.
There are 1,80,000 cyber cafes in the country. Large industry players attribute the decline to lack of subsidy and support provided by the government coupled with increased security concerns and harassment of cyber cafe owners.
Commenting on the issue, Sify president of consumer infrastructure Naresh Ajwani said, “We have also seen a drop in our conversion rates from non-branded cyber cafes into branded Sify I-way cafes.” Sify has around 3,000 I-way cafes, of which many have been conversions from non-branded cyber cafes.
Ridiculously, in some cities like Pune, to open a cyber cafe, one has to take permissions from a municipal health department, just because cyber has got a ‘cafe’ suffixed to it. (The literal meaning of a cafe is a place to have coffee and snacks). Moreover, across the country, the local police has to provide a no objection certificate in order to open a cyber cafe. Experts say that drastic decline of cyber cafes is due to harassment that owners face at the hands of the local police.
According to the CII-IMRB report, the rate of growth in cyber cafes was at its peak in the country at about 85% in 2002. Though it was largely attributable to a small base of about 50,000 cafes in 2003, the growth was still hovering around 60% till 2004. The cyber cafe industry grew at about 57% in 2004. But by 2006 the growth fell to about 20% and it has till now failed to pick up steam.
Internet Service Providers Association of India (ISPAI) president Rajesh Charria says, “The decline in growth has been due to the extra-strict laws of maintaining a log of all sites visited by a customer alongwith a copy of his or her id proof. While there should be no compromise with security, the government should make a central law for cafes and remove local police interference. The government’s laws are discriminatory towards cyber cafes vis-a-vis PCOs.”
Meanwhile, cafe owners say that they have little control over the type of emails sent by their customers. There is also no support provided by the government in educating customers on internet usage. “We can provide free internet awareness programmes in lean hours to citizens in rural or urban areas provided we get a subsidy from the government,” adds Mr Ajwani of Sify.
According to another report by IAMAI (Internet and Mobile Association of India), out of the 46 million web users, college and school students account for maximum use of web in the country at 21%. Students are also the maximum users of web in the country through cyber cafes given the high cost of PCs. The internet users have crossed 52 million in 2007-08, according to MAIT.
Not surprisingly, cyber cafes emerge as the largest access point for internet access at 36% followed by home (30%) and office (25%). But, lackadaisical attitude from the government towards growth of cyber cafes is impeding the broadband growth.
Monday, July 14, 2008
Trai hits out at DoT, now over WiMax
NEW DELHI: Telecom regulator Trai has slammed the communications ministry for being secretive about the amount of wireless broadband (WiMAX) spectrum that is currently available in the country.
Trai has also accused the Department of Telecom (DoT) of keeping it in the dark, both on the availability of WiMAX spectrum as well as on the government’s efforts to get other users such as the department of space to vacate these radio frequencies.The regulator has also demanded that the government put in place a transparent and efficient spectrum management regime.
“The results of the efforts made by the Wireless Planning & Coordination (WPC wing of the DoT) to get the required spectrum bands vacated/re-farmed from the incumbents are not available in the public domain. The Authority has time and again emphasized that in the times to come, the spectrum will become the most valuable and scarce resource as with the advent of new data centric applications, its demand will increase and there will be competitive users for the same band of spectrum. Therefore, there is a need to have a transparent, predictable and efficient spectrum management system for allocation and pricing of the spectrum,” Trai said in its communication to the DoT.
Trai has also point blank told the DoT that even as other countries had rolled out WiMAX services, the process in India had been delayed ‘due to uncertainty in the spectrum allocation policies’.
“Unless immediate action is taken for vacation of spectrum and its further allotment is done in a time bound manner with the clear-cut roadmap, little progress will be made in term of penetration of wireless broadband in the country,” the regulator warned.
Trai has also directed the DoT to work with the Department of Space (DoS) to get 100 MHz for broadband wireless spectrum vacated urgently in the 3.4 - 3.6 GHz band for wireless broadband services.
At the same time, the authority also took a dig at the DoT and said: “The Authority does not have any information regarding the efforts made by the DoT/WPC to coordinate with the DoS for spectrum in this band, and also results of the study done to find solution to the interference problem in this band between the satellite and terrestrial wireless services.”
Importantly, Trai has also decided not to make any recommendation for 3.4-3.6 GHz frequency bands unless the DoT assess the compatibility of satellite based services with WiMAX services in a transparent manner.
Again, in the case of 2.5 to 2.69 GHz frequency bands, Trai has asked the DoT to coordinate with the DoS and ascertain the feasibility of vacation of additional spectrum in this band within the next 45 days.
Trai has also accused the Department of Telecom (DoT) of keeping it in the dark, both on the availability of WiMAX spectrum as well as on the government’s efforts to get other users such as the department of space to vacate these radio frequencies.The regulator has also demanded that the government put in place a transparent and efficient spectrum management regime.
“The results of the efforts made by the Wireless Planning & Coordination (WPC wing of the DoT) to get the required spectrum bands vacated/re-farmed from the incumbents are not available in the public domain. The Authority has time and again emphasized that in the times to come, the spectrum will become the most valuable and scarce resource as with the advent of new data centric applications, its demand will increase and there will be competitive users for the same band of spectrum. Therefore, there is a need to have a transparent, predictable and efficient spectrum management system for allocation and pricing of the spectrum,” Trai said in its communication to the DoT.
Trai has also point blank told the DoT that even as other countries had rolled out WiMAX services, the process in India had been delayed ‘due to uncertainty in the spectrum allocation policies’.
“Unless immediate action is taken for vacation of spectrum and its further allotment is done in a time bound manner with the clear-cut roadmap, little progress will be made in term of penetration of wireless broadband in the country,” the regulator warned.
Trai has also directed the DoT to work with the Department of Space (DoS) to get 100 MHz for broadband wireless spectrum vacated urgently in the 3.4 - 3.6 GHz band for wireless broadband services.
At the same time, the authority also took a dig at the DoT and said: “The Authority does not have any information regarding the efforts made by the DoT/WPC to coordinate with the DoS for spectrum in this band, and also results of the study done to find solution to the interference problem in this band between the satellite and terrestrial wireless services.”
Importantly, Trai has also decided not to make any recommendation for 3.4-3.6 GHz frequency bands unless the DoT assess the compatibility of satellite based services with WiMAX services in a transparent manner.
Again, in the case of 2.5 to 2.69 GHz frequency bands, Trai has asked the DoT to coordinate with the DoS and ascertain the feasibility of vacation of additional spectrum in this band within the next 45 days.
Saturday, July 12, 2008
Indian Railways to provide internet service in Kerala
THIRUVANANTHAPURAM: Indian Railways is set to join the bandwagon of internet providers in Kerala with a special provision for those browsing education sites.
The Railways is providing broadband internet connection in the state through the Railtel Corporation of India Ltd. The biggest incentive for those taking the net service of Indian Railways is that they can download education material free.
A Seshagiri Rao, executive director (southern region) of Railtel, said Railtel would provide the service through cable operators who have connectivity across the state.
"The internet service would become operational in the next two to three months," said Rao, who was in the city.
Railtel, which manages the communication sector of Indian Railways, has laid more than 38,000 km of optical fibre cable across the country, which would be the backbone for providing broadband connectivity in the state.
"Our network is such that every railway station in the country can be turned into a source for education centres. But we have decided to provide broadband connectivity to the people through cable operators. The biggest advantage for those using our connectivity is that they would get unlimited download in matters regarding education," said Rao.
Towards this, Railtel has finalized a tie-up with the seven Indian Institutes of Technology (IIT) and the Indian Institute of Science (IISc) in Bangalore where they have ready more than 6,000 hours of lectures by the faculty.
"The biggest advantage of Indian Railways internet is that downloading of education material will be at a speed ranging from 2 mpbs to 30 mpbs," added Rao.
Source : EconomicTimes
The Railways is providing broadband internet connection in the state through the Railtel Corporation of India Ltd. The biggest incentive for those taking the net service of Indian Railways is that they can download education material free.
A Seshagiri Rao, executive director (southern region) of Railtel, said Railtel would provide the service through cable operators who have connectivity across the state.
"The internet service would become operational in the next two to three months," said Rao, who was in the city.
Railtel, which manages the communication sector of Indian Railways, has laid more than 38,000 km of optical fibre cable across the country, which would be the backbone for providing broadband connectivity in the state.
"Our network is such that every railway station in the country can be turned into a source for education centres. But we have decided to provide broadband connectivity to the people through cable operators. The biggest advantage for those using our connectivity is that they would get unlimited download in matters regarding education," said Rao.
Towards this, Railtel has finalized a tie-up with the seven Indian Institutes of Technology (IIT) and the Indian Institute of Science (IISc) in Bangalore where they have ready more than 6,000 hours of lectures by the faculty.
"The biggest advantage of Indian Railways internet is that downloading of education material will be at a speed ranging from 2 mpbs to 30 mpbs," added Rao.
Source : EconomicTimes
Longest broadband terrestrial education grid launched
THIRUVANANTHAPURAM: Panchayati Raj Minister Mani Shankar Aiyar inaugurated the country's longest broadband terrestrial education grid connecting the Indian Institute of Information Technology and Management (IIITM-Kerala) and Nagaland University here on Saturday.
Nagaland Education Minister Shürhozelie appeared on the screen along with a Christian priest offering prayers as Aiyar switched on the button of the grid in the presence of Nagaland Chief Minister Neiphiu Rio and Kerala Education Minister M.A. Baby at the IIITM-K campus, Technopark.
Earlier, talking to reporters, vice-chancellor of Nagaland University, K. Kannan said, ''This is the first phase and students of the School of Engineering and Technology in Nagaland would be able to listen live and recorded lectures from the IIITM-K campus."
The transmission of lectures through 3800- km long link of the RailTel Corporation of India was successfully held in the trial run that started early this month.
"A new optical fibre link has been laid from the Thiruvananthapuram railway stations to our campus and a similar one has been laid from the Dimapur railway station to the campus of the Engineering college in Nagaland," said K.R.Srivathsan, director of IIITM-K.
The project was completed with the help of teachers of various IITs and Indian Institute of Science-Bangalore.
''Lectures on five engineering disciplines, including civil, mechanical, electronics, electrical and computer science would be available for the students of the engineering college in Nagaland through the link. Apart from this, there would be live lectures broadcast from the IITM-K campus here to the students there," said Mangala Sunder Krishnan, professor at the IIT Madras.
In the second phase of this connectivity, using the same link, several premier institutions and universities of the country would be connected to Nagaland to enhance education programmes at all levels, Kannan added.
Source : EconomicTimes
Nagaland Education Minister Shürhozelie appeared on the screen along with a Christian priest offering prayers as Aiyar switched on the button of the grid in the presence of Nagaland Chief Minister Neiphiu Rio and Kerala Education Minister M.A. Baby at the IIITM-K campus, Technopark.
Earlier, talking to reporters, vice-chancellor of Nagaland University, K. Kannan said, ''This is the first phase and students of the School of Engineering and Technology in Nagaland would be able to listen live and recorded lectures from the IIITM-K campus."
The transmission of lectures through 3800- km long link of the RailTel Corporation of India was successfully held in the trial run that started early this month.
"A new optical fibre link has been laid from the Thiruvananthapuram railway stations to our campus and a similar one has been laid from the Dimapur railway station to the campus of the Engineering college in Nagaland," said K.R.Srivathsan, director of IIITM-K.
The project was completed with the help of teachers of various IITs and Indian Institute of Science-Bangalore.
''Lectures on five engineering disciplines, including civil, mechanical, electronics, electrical and computer science would be available for the students of the engineering college in Nagaland through the link. Apart from this, there would be live lectures broadcast from the IITM-K campus here to the students there," said Mangala Sunder Krishnan, professor at the IIT Madras.
In the second phase of this connectivity, using the same link, several premier institutions and universities of the country would be connected to Nagaland to enhance education programmes at all levels, Kannan added.
Source : EconomicTimes
BSNL Plans WiMax Testing In Vizag. BSNL, MTNL To Get 3G Spectrum
BSNL has plans to test WiMax in Vizag, along with Pune and Ahmedabad, reports The Hindu. In the recent times, broadband usage in Vizag has risen tremendously, and this new initiative, said Mr. G.V Ramakrishna, Deputy General Manager, BSNL, will help in meeting the rising demand for the broadband access.
In an interview, Mr. G.V Ramakrishna said,
In another news the Department of Telecommunication has decided to allocate one block of 3G spectrum to state owned carriers BSNL and MTNL , in the circles where they operate respectively, reports Business Standard. The spectrum will be allocated to these players at a price equivalent to the highest bid received for that circle.
A reserve price has been set up for different circles. The reserve price for Delhi, Mumbai and Category ‘A’ circles is Rs.160. And the reserve price for Category ‘B’ and ‘C’ circles is set at Rs. 80 crores and Rs.30 crores respectively.
Both of these things have been pending for ages now. I just hope we can get uniform and ubiquitous Internet connectivity via WiMax and my cell carrier finally offers me blazing fast downloads of Youtube videos.
Source : WatBlog
In an interview, Mr. G.V Ramakrishna said,
“Fourteen locations have been identified, including the special economic zone at Atchyuthapuram, to provide the facility. The cell towers will be used to install the equipment which will be arriving here by September-end. WiMax will take care of the demand for new broadband connections”
In another news the Department of Telecommunication has decided to allocate one block of 3G spectrum to state owned carriers BSNL and MTNL , in the circles where they operate respectively, reports Business Standard. The spectrum will be allocated to these players at a price equivalent to the highest bid received for that circle.
A reserve price has been set up for different circles. The reserve price for Delhi, Mumbai and Category ‘A’ circles is Rs.160. And the reserve price for Category ‘B’ and ‘C’ circles is set at Rs. 80 crores and Rs.30 crores respectively.
Both of these things have been pending for ages now. I just hope we can get uniform and ubiquitous Internet connectivity via WiMax and my cell carrier finally offers me blazing fast downloads of Youtube videos.
Source : WatBlog
Wednesday, July 9, 2008
Ministry may reject TRAI draft on WiMAX too
After turning down TRAI’s recommendations on 3G and deciding to allow foreign players, the communication ministry now plans to throw out the regulator’s recommendations on Broadband Wirelss (also called WiMAX) spectrum auctions, too, and impose its own rules.
While TRAI had said that ISPs, who are successful in the broadband wireless (BWA) auctions, be given licences for five years, the Department of Telecom (DoT) wants to raise this time frame to 15 years. Again, TRAI had said BWA or WiMAX spectrum should be auctioned through a one-stage sealed bid for every circle, but the DoT plans to have a simultaneous ascending e-auction model instead.
Importantly, the DoT’s decision to double the reserve price for the 3G spectrum will have a direct impact on the WiMAX auctions. This is because; the reserve price for the WiMax (Worldwide Interoperability for Microwave Access) spectrum auction is likely to be set at fourth 3G spectrum price.
This implies, when the policy is announced, the reserve price for BWA auctions is set to be double of that prescribed by TRAI, which is yet another deviation from the regulator’s recommendations.
ET has also learnt that the DoT is set to make further changes to TRAI’s recommendations for BWA spectrum issues. For instance, while TRAI has said that each player must get WiMAX spectrum in contiguous blocks of 15 MHz each in the 3.3 - 3.4 GHz and 3.4 - 3.6 GHz bands, the DoT has a completely different plan in mind: “As per present estimate of availability of spectrum four blocks each of 10 MHz in the 2.5 GHz and 2.3 GHz to be allocated,’ the DoT note on the issue said.
On the auction procedure, the note said: “In place of the above (TRAI’s suggestion of a one-stage sealed bid), it is proposed to have a controlled simultaneously e-auction as similar to that in the case of 3G spectrum. Further, here also when the number of bidders left is equal to the number of blocks of spectrum being auctioned, in any service area, the auction will end.
All the bidders will have to match the bid of the highest bidder. In case they do not match, then that block would be offered to the next highest bidder at the highest bid price. If any block is left vacant, then the block would be re-auctioned”.
Source : EconomicTimes
While TRAI had said that ISPs, who are successful in the broadband wireless (BWA) auctions, be given licences for five years, the Department of Telecom (DoT) wants to raise this time frame to 15 years. Again, TRAI had said BWA or WiMAX spectrum should be auctioned through a one-stage sealed bid for every circle, but the DoT plans to have a simultaneous ascending e-auction model instead.
Importantly, the DoT’s decision to double the reserve price for the 3G spectrum will have a direct impact on the WiMAX auctions. This is because; the reserve price for the WiMax (Worldwide Interoperability for Microwave Access) spectrum auction is likely to be set at fourth 3G spectrum price.
This implies, when the policy is announced, the reserve price for BWA auctions is set to be double of that prescribed by TRAI, which is yet another deviation from the regulator’s recommendations.
ET has also learnt that the DoT is set to make further changes to TRAI’s recommendations for BWA spectrum issues. For instance, while TRAI has said that each player must get WiMAX spectrum in contiguous blocks of 15 MHz each in the 3.3 - 3.4 GHz and 3.4 - 3.6 GHz bands, the DoT has a completely different plan in mind: “As per present estimate of availability of spectrum four blocks each of 10 MHz in the 2.5 GHz and 2.3 GHz to be allocated,’ the DoT note on the issue said.
On the auction procedure, the note said: “In place of the above (TRAI’s suggestion of a one-stage sealed bid), it is proposed to have a controlled simultaneously e-auction as similar to that in the case of 3G spectrum. Further, here also when the number of bidders left is equal to the number of blocks of spectrum being auctioned, in any service area, the auction will end.
All the bidders will have to match the bid of the highest bidder. In case they do not match, then that block would be offered to the next highest bidder at the highest bid price. If any block is left vacant, then the block would be re-auctioned”.
Source : EconomicTimes
Sunday, July 6, 2008
Telecom companies waiting to launch Wi-max facilities in India
With the government set to announce guidelines for new broadband services, including Wi-Max, the industry has said that market friendly tariffs and a clear spectrum policy should form the bedrock of this much awaited technology to obtain its full benefit.
Once the government rolls out the framework on Wi-Max, this standard-based technology will enable delivery of last mile wireless broadband access as an alternate to cable and DSL and also augment the country's flagship programmes of telemedicine, e-governance and e-education in rural areas.
"India has tremendous potential for Wi-Max. Improved spectrum options, low cost end user devices and market friendly tariffs can make Wi-Max a success", says Tata Communications VP, (Planning - Broadband and Retail Business) Prateek Pashine.
The company has already launched Wi-Max facility in various Indian cities and intends to enter another 115 enterprise and 15 retail cities by March 2009. "We are looking forward to hear from the government," Pashine added.
"The key reason for Wi-Max not taking off in the country is the absence of a policy decision on spectrum for operating. A clarity on this issue will help us to address the growth opportunity offered by the rural areas of the country", T V Sriram, VP-Technology, Bharti Airtel says.
The permission for mobility in the Wi-Max service will also play a role in determining the future of Wi-MAX services in the country, Sriram noted. Explaining the service providers' woes, Manesh Patel, Partner, Telecom Industry Practice, Ernst and Young says, "The companies that are building Wi-Max networks are doing so within narrow frequency bands- much less than what is recommended by the Wi-Max forum."
At present, these service providers are dependent on the incumbent operators for giving them the last-mile connectivity, he adds. Analysts, however, say that although the Wi-Max was traditionally focused on connecting computers to the internet, high cost of customer premise equipment also needs to be addressed.
The Wi-MAX has a communication range of up to 30 miles and sometimes it is enough to cover an entire city, Patel says. Wi-MAX also offers data speed that is around 10-30 times faster than 3G.
One of the equipment manufacturers for Wi-MAX technology, Motorola has recently said that it is planning to bid for BSNL's urban Wi-MAX project. With its 1.2 billion people, India is filled with opportunities and challenges for tech companies. Consumers are eager to stay connected, snapping up 8 million mobile phones per month, Pashine says stressing for an intrusive Wi-Max connectivity in the country.
Source : EconomicTimes
Once the government rolls out the framework on Wi-Max, this standard-based technology will enable delivery of last mile wireless broadband access as an alternate to cable and DSL and also augment the country's flagship programmes of telemedicine, e-governance and e-education in rural areas.
"India has tremendous potential for Wi-Max. Improved spectrum options, low cost end user devices and market friendly tariffs can make Wi-Max a success", says Tata Communications VP, (Planning - Broadband and Retail Business) Prateek Pashine.
The company has already launched Wi-Max facility in various Indian cities and intends to enter another 115 enterprise and 15 retail cities by March 2009. "We are looking forward to hear from the government," Pashine added.
"The key reason for Wi-Max not taking off in the country is the absence of a policy decision on spectrum for operating. A clarity on this issue will help us to address the growth opportunity offered by the rural areas of the country", T V Sriram, VP-Technology, Bharti Airtel says.
The permission for mobility in the Wi-Max service will also play a role in determining the future of Wi-MAX services in the country, Sriram noted. Explaining the service providers' woes, Manesh Patel, Partner, Telecom Industry Practice, Ernst and Young says, "The companies that are building Wi-Max networks are doing so within narrow frequency bands- much less than what is recommended by the Wi-Max forum."
At present, these service providers are dependent on the incumbent operators for giving them the last-mile connectivity, he adds. Analysts, however, say that although the Wi-Max was traditionally focused on connecting computers to the internet, high cost of customer premise equipment also needs to be addressed.
The Wi-MAX has a communication range of up to 30 miles and sometimes it is enough to cover an entire city, Patel says. Wi-MAX also offers data speed that is around 10-30 times faster than 3G.
One of the equipment manufacturers for Wi-MAX technology, Motorola has recently said that it is planning to bid for BSNL's urban Wi-MAX project. With its 1.2 billion people, India is filled with opportunities and challenges for tech companies. Consumers are eager to stay connected, snapping up 8 million mobile phones per month, Pashine says stressing for an intrusive Wi-Max connectivity in the country.
Source : EconomicTimes
Friday, July 4, 2008
Govt to announce 3G, Wimax guidelines soon
The government said on Friday guidelines on 3G and Wimax will be out in a week and it is separately looking at third party solution to address security concerns attached to accessing Blackberry network.
"Broad guidelines for 3G have been devised and they need some inputs from the Finance Ministry and after that the guidelines will be sent to the Telecom Commission and I expect the norms to be announced within a week," Telecom Minister A Raja said on the sidelines of a function today.
He said the consultation with the Finance Ministry is necessary as the ministry has a say in the Telecom Commission, the policy making wing of the Department of Telecom.
After the consultation is over, the guidelines would be sent to the Telecom Commission for notification.
On the Blackberry issue, Raja said, "We cannot throw (out) Blackberry services but the question is how to keep this service, while taking care of security measures at the same time. We do feel security measures can be taken care of with wider consultations."
Asked where the discussion on security measures with Blackberry licensor RIM was headed, Raja said: "They are offering some solution. Notwithstanding their solutions we are finding other solutions from other companies."
Source: EconomicTimes
"Broad guidelines for 3G have been devised and they need some inputs from the Finance Ministry and after that the guidelines will be sent to the Telecom Commission and I expect the norms to be announced within a week," Telecom Minister A Raja said on the sidelines of a function today.
He said the consultation with the Finance Ministry is necessary as the ministry has a say in the Telecom Commission, the policy making wing of the Department of Telecom.
After the consultation is over, the guidelines would be sent to the Telecom Commission for notification.
On the Blackberry issue, Raja said, "We cannot throw (out) Blackberry services but the question is how to keep this service, while taking care of security measures at the same time. We do feel security measures can be taken care of with wider consultations."
Asked where the discussion on security measures with Blackberry licensor RIM was headed, Raja said: "They are offering some solution. Notwithstanding their solutions we are finding other solutions from other companies."
Source: EconomicTimes
India to have 15.8 mn WiMAX users by 2012: Springboard
India will be the leading market for WiMAX in the Asia pacific and is expected to have 15.8 million WiMAX subscribers by 2012.
With this, India will represent 46.7% of total subscribers in Asia-Pacific and 35.7% of revenues from the region, analyst firm Springboard Research said in a report released on Thursday. It must, however, be pointed out that India had only 3.4 million broadband subscribers as on January 2008, far short of the government’s target of 9 million.
India’s market leadership will be enhanced by support from the government, ambitious investment plans by players like BSNL and Tata Communications, and improvement in fixedline broadband infrastructure, the report explains.
“The next couple of years will be critical for WiMAX growth in Asia Pacific, and during that time, we are expecting services to be available for end users in over 10 countries,” said Springboard research director Bryan Wang.
According to the report, revenues from WiMAX services in Asia Pacific region will grow at a compound annual growth rate (CAGR) of 148% to reach an estimated $5.46 billion by 2012 compared to $58 million in 2007. The chunk of the revenues will be sourced from mobile WiMAX services during the forecast period, the report adds.
“The majority of WiMAX subscribers will be from Korea, Pakistan, India and Australia. At the same time, billions of dollars of investment is going to be spent on WiMAX infrastructures over the next five years, which also creates a big potential market for telecom equipment manufacturers. We see tremendous potential for WiMAX deployment in many emerging markets in the region,” Mr Wang added.
Source : EconomicTimes
With this, India will represent 46.7% of total subscribers in Asia-Pacific and 35.7% of revenues from the region, analyst firm Springboard Research said in a report released on Thursday. It must, however, be pointed out that India had only 3.4 million broadband subscribers as on January 2008, far short of the government’s target of 9 million.
India’s market leadership will be enhanced by support from the government, ambitious investment plans by players like BSNL and Tata Communications, and improvement in fixedline broadband infrastructure, the report explains.
“The next couple of years will be critical for WiMAX growth in Asia Pacific, and during that time, we are expecting services to be available for end users in over 10 countries,” said Springboard research director Bryan Wang.
According to the report, revenues from WiMAX services in Asia Pacific region will grow at a compound annual growth rate (CAGR) of 148% to reach an estimated $5.46 billion by 2012 compared to $58 million in 2007. The chunk of the revenues will be sourced from mobile WiMAX services during the forecast period, the report adds.
“The majority of WiMAX subscribers will be from Korea, Pakistan, India and Australia. At the same time, billions of dollars of investment is going to be spent on WiMAX infrastructures over the next five years, which also creates a big potential market for telecom equipment manufacturers. We see tremendous potential for WiMAX deployment in many emerging markets in the region,” Mr Wang added.
Source : EconomicTimes
Thursday, July 3, 2008
High 3G price spoils ISPs' WiMAX dream
NEW DELHI: The government’s decision to double the reserve price for the 3G spectrum auctions spells bad news for many of the country’s stand-alone Internet Service Providers (ISPs).
This is because, the reserve price for the WiMAX (Worldwide Interoperability for Microwave Access) spectrum auction is likely to be set to be a fourth of that for 3G spectrum.
Put simply, this implies that reserve price for an ISP who applies for pan-India WiMAX spectrum will be over Rs 550 crore.
The final price could be several multiples of this depending on the outcome of the auction. ISPs say that a higher reserve price would create a scenario where they would not be able to enter a bidding war with telcos, who too are keen to launch WiMAX services.
Besides, this also implies that the reserve price for a telco, who wants to bid for both WiMAX and 3G radio frequencies will be about Rs 2,800 crore.
Confronted with this grin reality, the Internet Service Providers Association of India (ISPAI), the body representing all stand alone ISPs in the country, will soon approach sector regulator TRAI demanding that their members be charged only 25% of the highest bid that a telco makes for WiMAX spectrum in that particular circle during the auction.
“We will tell TRAI that in order to have a competitive market, standalone ISPs must be charged a maximum of 25% of the highest bid that a telco makes for WiMAX spectrum. We will also seek that a few spectrum slots be reserved for ISPs during the WiMAX auction. This is perhaps the only way that government can address the dismal broadband penetration in the country. We (ISPs) will offer a much needed competition to telcos in the WiMAX space, without which they will not roll-out these services,” ISPAI president Rajahs Charier told ET.
Sources say that the DoT wants the WiMax launch be initially restricted to only three players who will operate this service in the 2.5 GHz frequency band where one of the slots is reserved for state-owned BSNL/MTNL.
This contradicts the recommendations of telecom regulator TRAI which had suggested that wireless broadband be rolled out in 3.3-3.4 GHz and 3.4-3.6 Ghz frequencies and up to 13 players be allocated spectrum to offer WiMax services.
At the same time, the DoT also wants to allot WiMAX spectrum to other service providers in the frequencies recommended by TRAI at a later stage after compatibility is established.
While WiMAX is still an evolving technology, it is still considered a threat to third generation mobile services. As per global industry experience, WiMax offers data speeds that are 10-30 times faster than 3G.
To put this in perspective, the data speeds of 3G networks are over five times faster than those offered by 2G cellular networks that telcos in India currently use
Source : EconomicTimes
This is because, the reserve price for the WiMAX (Worldwide Interoperability for Microwave Access) spectrum auction is likely to be set to be a fourth of that for 3G spectrum.
Put simply, this implies that reserve price for an ISP who applies for pan-India WiMAX spectrum will be over Rs 550 crore.
The final price could be several multiples of this depending on the outcome of the auction. ISPs say that a higher reserve price would create a scenario where they would not be able to enter a bidding war with telcos, who too are keen to launch WiMAX services.
Besides, this also implies that the reserve price for a telco, who wants to bid for both WiMAX and 3G radio frequencies will be about Rs 2,800 crore.
Confronted with this grin reality, the Internet Service Providers Association of India (ISPAI), the body representing all stand alone ISPs in the country, will soon approach sector regulator TRAI demanding that their members be charged only 25% of the highest bid that a telco makes for WiMAX spectrum in that particular circle during the auction.
“We will tell TRAI that in order to have a competitive market, standalone ISPs must be charged a maximum of 25% of the highest bid that a telco makes for WiMAX spectrum. We will also seek that a few spectrum slots be reserved for ISPs during the WiMAX auction. This is perhaps the only way that government can address the dismal broadband penetration in the country. We (ISPs) will offer a much needed competition to telcos in the WiMAX space, without which they will not roll-out these services,” ISPAI president Rajahs Charier told ET.
Sources say that the DoT wants the WiMax launch be initially restricted to only three players who will operate this service in the 2.5 GHz frequency band where one of the slots is reserved for state-owned BSNL/MTNL.
This contradicts the recommendations of telecom regulator TRAI which had suggested that wireless broadband be rolled out in 3.3-3.4 GHz and 3.4-3.6 Ghz frequencies and up to 13 players be allocated spectrum to offer WiMax services.
At the same time, the DoT also wants to allot WiMAX spectrum to other service providers in the frequencies recommended by TRAI at a later stage after compatibility is established.
While WiMAX is still an evolving technology, it is still considered a threat to third generation mobile services. As per global industry experience, WiMax offers data speeds that are 10-30 times faster than 3G.
To put this in perspective, the data speeds of 3G networks are over five times faster than those offered by 2G cellular networks that telcos in India currently use
Source : EconomicTimes
Sunday, June 29, 2008
Motorola eyes big Wi-MAX deals in India; to bid for BSNL proj
US-based telecom equipment maker Motorola is eyeing big Wi-MAX contracts in India and is planning to bid for state-run BSNL's urban Wi-MAX project.
"We are very much focused on Wi-MAX...we had bid for BSNL's rural Wi-MAX project and our bid is in the technical evaluation stage and after this proof concept would start," Subhendu Mohanty, Motorola India Country Head, Home & Network Mobility Business, said.
Wi-MAX is a standard-based technology enabling the delivery of last mile wireless broadband access as an alternative to cable and DSL.
The rural project of BSNL includes offering broadband connection through the Wi-MAX network in 40,000 odd primary and secondary schools by 2008. Additionally, BSNL will set up 50,000 Wi-MAX kiosks.
The second tender valued at Rs 2,000 crore will see BSNL's plans for urban areas and will include roll out of Wi-MAX services in 70 cities across the country in 2008. Motorola is planning to bid for this as well.
These are opportunities in the range of 100-150 mn dollars, Mohanty said. The US-major is currently engaged in the trial run of Bharti's Wi-MAX project.
Motorola, which faces stiff competition from rivals like Nokia Siemens Network, Ericsson, was last year disqualified by BSNL from participating in its 3G network on technical ground. Although Wi-MAX contracts are much lesser in size, they can supplement a network vender's revenue.
Source : EconomicTimes
"We are very much focused on Wi-MAX...we had bid for BSNL's rural Wi-MAX project and our bid is in the technical evaluation stage and after this proof concept would start," Subhendu Mohanty, Motorola India Country Head, Home & Network Mobility Business, said.
Wi-MAX is a standard-based technology enabling the delivery of last mile wireless broadband access as an alternative to cable and DSL.
The rural project of BSNL includes offering broadband connection through the Wi-MAX network in 40,000 odd primary and secondary schools by 2008. Additionally, BSNL will set up 50,000 Wi-MAX kiosks.
The second tender valued at Rs 2,000 crore will see BSNL's plans for urban areas and will include roll out of Wi-MAX services in 70 cities across the country in 2008. Motorola is planning to bid for this as well.
These are opportunities in the range of 100-150 mn dollars, Mohanty said. The US-major is currently engaged in the trial run of Bharti's Wi-MAX project.
Motorola, which faces stiff competition from rivals like Nokia Siemens Network, Ericsson, was last year disqualified by BSNL from participating in its 3G network on technical ground. Although Wi-MAX contracts are much lesser in size, they can supplement a network vender's revenue.
Source : EconomicTimes
Saturday, June 28, 2008
BSNL launches its EVDO facility in Rajkot
Claiming to be more quicker and cheaper than private operators, Bharat Sanchar Nigam Ltd (BSNL) on Friday launched its EVDO (evolution data only) system.
Talking to reporters, BSNL General Manager (Rajkot circle) Ramchandran said, Rajkot has become the first city in Gujarat to have such facility.
The facility, includes wireless broadband, would gradually be available in Vadodara, Ahmedabad and other parts of the state, he said.
The facility will have speed up to two MBPS and no need to have landline connection.
The users need to have US port in their laptops or desk tops to use this system. BSNL will charge Rs 500 for the activation of the system, said Ayesh Siddiqui, BSNL public relation officer.
Users can use the system unlimited by paying monthly rent of Rs 550 and there will no extra charge for the additional usage of the system.
Source : EconomicTimes
Talking to reporters, BSNL General Manager (Rajkot circle) Ramchandran said, Rajkot has become the first city in Gujarat to have such facility.
The facility, includes wireless broadband, would gradually be available in Vadodara, Ahmedabad and other parts of the state, he said.
The facility will have speed up to two MBPS and no need to have landline connection.
The users need to have US port in their laptops or desk tops to use this system. BSNL will charge Rs 500 for the activation of the system, said Ayesh Siddiqui, BSNL public relation officer.
Users can use the system unlimited by paying monthly rent of Rs 550 and there will no extra charge for the additional usage of the system.
Source : EconomicTimes
Friday, June 27, 2008
Broadband Growth for May'08
Broadband (≥ 256 Kbps download) Growth: Total Broadband subscribers base has reached 4.15 million by the end of May 2008 as compared to 4.01 million by the end of April 2008. The broadband subscriber's growth is tabulated below:
Source : http://www.trai.gov.in/trai/upload/PressReleases/584/pr26june08no60.pdf
Source : http://www.trai.gov.in/trai/upload/PressReleases/584/pr26june08no60.pdf
Wednesday, June 25, 2008
Govt may bring ISPs under USL net
Internet service providers (ISPs) such as Sify, Tulip and World Phone may soon have to subsidise the broadband connection in rural areas. The government is considering a proposal to bring the value-added service providers under the universal service obligation (USO) norms. Presently, telecom service providers are required to pay 5% of their adjusted gross revenue (AGR) as universal service levy (USL) to meet the USO norms. ISPs and other value-added service providers are, however, exempted from this levy.
“The government is contemplating several measures to increase broadband penetration in the rural parts of the country and levying USL on ISPs can be one of the tools for taking the programme ahead,” a source in the department of telecommunication (DoT) said.
Money raised through the initiative would be utilised to subsidise Bharat Sanchar Nigam Ltd’s (BSNL) rural broadband connections. DoT already provides subsidy to BSNL for spreading telecom network in the rural areas.
Progress on the front of broadband penetration has been quite low. Total connections as on April 30, 2008, stood at 4.01 million as against the government’s target of nine-million connections by 2007 and 20 million connections by 2010.
Worried over missing the target—both on the front of broadband and internet—the DoT is in the process of devising new strategy for tackling the situation. The subsidy scheme is a part of that strategy. The scheme would be implemented in phased manner across the country and would also cover remote areas including the north-eastern states. This would cover common service centres (CSCs) being set up by the department of information technology (DIT) schools, primary health centres and gram panchayats in a phased manner.
The government is also planning to subsidise its broadband initiative by using existing USO funds. The DoT has about Rs 15,000 crore of unutilised money under the USOF scheme and is finding ways to spend this in a holistic way.
“The government is contemplating several measures to increase broadband penetration in the rural parts of the country and levying USL on ISPs can be one of the tools for taking the programme ahead,” a source in the department of telecommunication (DoT) said.
Money raised through the initiative would be utilised to subsidise Bharat Sanchar Nigam Ltd’s (BSNL) rural broadband connections. DoT already provides subsidy to BSNL for spreading telecom network in the rural areas.
Progress on the front of broadband penetration has been quite low. Total connections as on April 30, 2008, stood at 4.01 million as against the government’s target of nine-million connections by 2007 and 20 million connections by 2010.
Worried over missing the target—both on the front of broadband and internet—the DoT is in the process of devising new strategy for tackling the situation. The subsidy scheme is a part of that strategy. The scheme would be implemented in phased manner across the country and would also cover remote areas including the north-eastern states. This would cover common service centres (CSCs) being set up by the department of information technology (DIT) schools, primary health centres and gram panchayats in a phased manner.
The government is also planning to subsidise its broadband initiative by using existing USO funds. The DoT has about Rs 15,000 crore of unutilised money under the USOF scheme and is finding ways to spend this in a holistic way.
Tuesday, June 24, 2008
BSNL to start JV for manufacturing broadband equipment
State-run telecom major BSNL is planning to start a joint venture company with private firms to manufacture customer equipment for its broadband service.
Bharat Sanchar Nigam Ltd proposes to set up a Joint Venture with an Original Equipment Manufacturer (OEM) firm for manufacture of the latest generation ADSL 2+ CPEs or customer premises equipment like modems to be used on Bharat Sanchar Nigam Limited's Broadband service, at its Telecom Factory at Kolkata, a company official said today.
It is the largest Telecom Service Provider in India having countrywide presence with over 73 million subscribers.
Telecom Factories are the in-house production units of BSNL and are engaged in the production of variety of Telecom equipments. It has a broadband subscriber base of over 1.5 million subscribers.
The proposed JV will Design and Develop a range of models of ADSL2+ CPEs exclusively for BSNL as per TEC/BSNL specifications taking into consideration the market conditions prevailing in India.
The OEM would be responsible for the transfer of technology for setting up facilities for design, manufacture, assembly and testing of about 1 Million ADSL2+ CPEs per annum. The ADSL2+ CPEs would be launched by BSNL in the market under its own brand name.
The JV partner apart from investing in the production line will also be responsible for arranging of funds to meet the working capital of JV Company at competitive market rate.
After meeting the requirement of the BSNL, the JV Company would be free to sell these items in the open market or export.
Source: EconomicTimes
Bharat Sanchar Nigam Ltd proposes to set up a Joint Venture with an Original Equipment Manufacturer (OEM) firm for manufacture of the latest generation ADSL 2+ CPEs or customer premises equipment like modems to be used on Bharat Sanchar Nigam Limited's Broadband service, at its Telecom Factory at Kolkata, a company official said today.
It is the largest Telecom Service Provider in India having countrywide presence with over 73 million subscribers.
Telecom Factories are the in-house production units of BSNL and are engaged in the production of variety of Telecom equipments. It has a broadband subscriber base of over 1.5 million subscribers.
The proposed JV will Design and Develop a range of models of ADSL2+ CPEs exclusively for BSNL as per TEC/BSNL specifications taking into consideration the market conditions prevailing in India.
The OEM would be responsible for the transfer of technology for setting up facilities for design, manufacture, assembly and testing of about 1 Million ADSL2+ CPEs per annum. The ADSL2+ CPEs would be launched by BSNL in the market under its own brand name.
The JV partner apart from investing in the production line will also be responsible for arranging of funds to meet the working capital of JV Company at competitive market rate.
After meeting the requirement of the BSNL, the JV Company would be free to sell these items in the open market or export.
Source: EconomicTimes
Monday, June 23, 2008
Delhi High Court goes wi-fi
The Delhi High Court is all set to go high-tech as its premises is soon going to get a wi-fi facility.
"We have identified 10 hot spots where the instruments would be put in place so that lawyers and others could have wireless internet access in the court premises without facing any glitches", Delhi High Court Bar association's president K C Mittal told PTI.
Apart from wi-fi, all the lawyer chambers will soon be connected through intercom and lawyers could contact their colleagues by just dialling the concerned chamber number, he said.
"MTNL is working on the projects and we hope that at the end of this month wi-fi would be functional and all the chambers would be connected through intercom," Mittal said, adding that he has been consulting various authorities to implement an e-filing system so that petitions could be filed through internet.
Mittal said steps were also being taken to spruce up the security in the court complex in view of the recent terrorist attacks on court premises in different parts of the country.
"Security is a major concern for us and it is also being spruced up with scanning machines being set up at the gates so that unwanted elements could be prevented from entering the court premises," he said, adding that a railway reservation counter was also being set up inside the court premises.
Source : EconomicTimes
"We have identified 10 hot spots where the instruments would be put in place so that lawyers and others could have wireless internet access in the court premises without facing any glitches", Delhi High Court Bar association's president K C Mittal told PTI.
Apart from wi-fi, all the lawyer chambers will soon be connected through intercom and lawyers could contact their colleagues by just dialling the concerned chamber number, he said.
"MTNL is working on the projects and we hope that at the end of this month wi-fi would be functional and all the chambers would be connected through intercom," Mittal said, adding that he has been consulting various authorities to implement an e-filing system so that petitions could be filed through internet.
Mittal said steps were also being taken to spruce up the security in the court complex in view of the recent terrorist attacks on court premises in different parts of the country.
"Security is a major concern for us and it is also being spruced up with scanning machines being set up at the gates so that unwanted elements could be prevented from entering the court premises," he said, adding that a railway reservation counter was also being set up inside the court premises.
Source : EconomicTimes
Saturday, June 21, 2008
Govt plans to subsidise internet for rural India
Worried over missing the broadband addition target, the government is now planning to give sub sidy for new broadband connection in the rural parts of the country. The subsidy would be up to 50% of the total cost of setting the system by service providers. Also, running cost of internet in rural ar eas would be about half of those in the cities. These steps are being taken in a move to strengthen the e governance network as the government has miser ably failed on this front.
“We are in the process of finalising the subsidy mechanism for rural broadband connections in consultation with the finance ministry,” an official in the department of telecommunications (DoT said.
The scheme would be implemented in phased manner across the country and would also cover remote ares including the north-eastern states, the official said adding the final scheme would be worked out taking in consideration views of all stakeholders. The new scheme would cover common service centres (CSCs) being set up by the department of information technology (DIT) schools, primary health centres and gram panchay ats in a phased manner.
E-governance is one of the key areas of concern for the UPA government. The government has not been able to achieve the desired level of efficiency in the project due to many reasons, including low penetration of internet in rural areas. In fact, the DIT could not utilise the money allocated in the last year’s budget and returned Rs 102 crore due to under utilisation. According to data available with the finance ministry DIT could use only Rs 617 crore against the allocated Rs 719 crore on e-governance projects.
The national e-governance plan (NeGP) covers 27 mission mode projects and 8 support component to be implemented at the central, state and local government levels. The project includes setting up of one lakh CSCs in six lakh villages across the country. On the front of broadband connections, total connections as on 30 April 2008 stood at 4.01 million. This is against the government’s target of nine million connections by 2007 and 20 million connections by 2010.
Source : EconomicTimes
“We are in the process of finalising the subsidy mechanism for rural broadband connections in consultation with the finance ministry,” an official in the department of telecommunications (DoT said.
The scheme would be implemented in phased manner across the country and would also cover remote ares including the north-eastern states, the official said adding the final scheme would be worked out taking in consideration views of all stakeholders. The new scheme would cover common service centres (CSCs) being set up by the department of information technology (DIT) schools, primary health centres and gram panchay ats in a phased manner.
E-governance is one of the key areas of concern for the UPA government. The government has not been able to achieve the desired level of efficiency in the project due to many reasons, including low penetration of internet in rural areas. In fact, the DIT could not utilise the money allocated in the last year’s budget and returned Rs 102 crore due to under utilisation. According to data available with the finance ministry DIT could use only Rs 617 crore against the allocated Rs 719 crore on e-governance projects.
The national e-governance plan (NeGP) covers 27 mission mode projects and 8 support component to be implemented at the central, state and local government levels. The project includes setting up of one lakh CSCs in six lakh villages across the country. On the front of broadband connections, total connections as on 30 April 2008 stood at 4.01 million. This is against the government’s target of nine million connections by 2007 and 20 million connections by 2010.
Source : EconomicTimes
Friday, June 6, 2008
BSNL pulls out of Singapore cable project
NEW DELHI: State-owned Bharat Sanchar Nigam Ltd is understood to have pulled out of the over Rs 1,500 crore Singapore undersea cable project.
BSNL had joined hands with another state-owned telecom firm MTNL in September 2006 to build an undersea cable from India to Singapore and Malaysia.
BSNL confirmed that they would be buying bandwidth from MTNL.
Following this, MTNL will be working alone on the Rs 1,500 crore Singapore undersea cable project. However, MTNL officials declined to comment on the issue.
Scrips of the MTNL was quoting at Rs 94.65, up 1.18 per cent in late afternoon trade at the Bombay Stock Exchange.
Source: EconomicTimes
BSNL had joined hands with another state-owned telecom firm MTNL in September 2006 to build an undersea cable from India to Singapore and Malaysia.
BSNL confirmed that they would be buying bandwidth from MTNL.
Following this, MTNL will be working alone on the Rs 1,500 crore Singapore undersea cable project. However, MTNL officials declined to comment on the issue.
Scrips of the MTNL was quoting at Rs 94.65, up 1.18 per cent in late afternoon trade at the Bombay Stock Exchange.
Source: EconomicTimes
Wednesday, June 4, 2008
Broadband Growth for April'08
Quickpost this image to Myspace, Digg, Facebook, and others!Source : http://www.trai.gov.in/trai/upload/PressReleases/577/pr2june08no54.pdf
Tuesday, June 3, 2008
TATA, Reliance, NOKIA & Motorola - All Ride High On WiMAX
WiMax is planning to ride high on the Indian Market. After TATA & Reliance, it’s Motorola’s turn to endorse WiMAX. Pundits believe that given the geographical features of India, WiMAX provides a much cheaper alternative for providing internet access to every nook and cranny of the country, as compared to the wired connections. More so, the fact, that mobile networks and data cards can also be configured to access te internet using the WiMAX networks, opens up a whole new world of opportunities. It seems watching movies over the internet, absolutely smooth sound and video streaming, video conferencing on the go are no more just ideas of desire.
If one thinks on it more intently, one can visualize how easy it could be for the public sector telecom company BSNL to oust all competition from the private sectors in the Internet market. The most important reason behind companies not setting up WiMAX infrastructure is the huge costs involved and also slim chances of being able to recover the costs in a hurry. This is where a goverment funded organization do the trick! If BSNL manages to WiMAXify (I hope Oxford takes up this word too, one day :-P) a whole metropolitan city, say some place as important as Mumbai, it’s going to a a huge slap on the face of other operators. Of course, with TRAI trying to be as unbiased as it is, it might prove to be quite an issue. Yet, what do you say? Do you think there might be some solid basis to my logic?
Recently, Anil Ambani’s Globalcom had acquired a 90% share in eWave World in his efforts of providing WiMAX connections in the country and abroad. Nokia also expects data traffic to increase by a significant 75% in 2008 with future devices offering better and better services. Now it’s Motorola backing WiMAX as the next broadband technology. Experts in the field say that the rate of data transfer in WiMAX has the potential of 100 megabits per second (using Long Term Evolution technology). However, after reading about an Australian WiMAX provider scrapping the technology, you might feel apprehensive. One just needs to approach the newest technology with some caution and since devices need special hardware to be able to access WiMAX, unless it comes fitted on devices by defualt, it might get a little tough for India to catch up. Today, India lags quite a few years behind in terms of technology. If we plan to take the roads that others have taken, we shall always trail. It’s high time we took a giant leap!
Wednesday, May 28, 2008
BSNL seeks free WiMAX entry
NEW DELHI: State-owned BSNL has sought that telecom regulator TRAI exempt it from paying any entry fee or licence fee for its upcoming WiMAX (Worldwide Interoperability for Microwave Access) as it planned to provide these services largely in rural India. For private telecom operators and internet service providers, BSNL has sought that the government auction WiMAX spectrum and set a reserve price of Rs 10 crore, Rs 5 crore and Rs 2 crore for A ,B and C circles, respectively.
BSNL was replying to the Trai consultation process to determine the allocation and pricing methodology for new WiMAX frequencies—2.3-2.4 GHz, 2.5-2.69 GHz and 3.3-3.6 GHz bands. BSNL also wants Trai to lay a framework that will allow both telcos and ISPs to bid for WiMAX spectrum.
Telecom regulator Trai too favours a reserve price of Rs 10 crore, Rs 5 crore and Rs 2 crore for A, B and C circles, respectively, for WiMAX spectrum. Trai had arrived at this figure by basing the reserve price for WiMAX auction to be a fourth of that for the 3G spectrum auctions. The world’s largest chip manufacturer Intel and telecom network majors too have also written to Trai endorsing their support for the reserve price proposed by Trai for WiMAX spectrum auctions.
However, other private operators GSM through their industry association — The Cellular Operators Association of India — have told Trai that regulator cannot discuss the pricing and allocation of spectrum in these new WiMAX bands until there is ‘complete clarity on the quantum of radio frequencies available’.
“It is also not clear at this stage how much is the quantum of spectrum that is expected to be available in each band, both in the short as well as medium term. It may be appreciated that the time frame for the availability of spectrum as also its quantum, would be relevant both for issues related to pricing as well as for determining the future plans of the operators,” the COAI said.
WiMAX is an evolving technology that is considered a threat to telecom services, especially third generation mobile services. As per global industry experience, WiMAX offers data speeds that are 10-30 times faster than 3G.
Source: EconomicTimes
BSNL was replying to the Trai consultation process to determine the allocation and pricing methodology for new WiMAX frequencies—2.3-2.4 GHz, 2.5-2.69 GHz and 3.3-3.6 GHz bands. BSNL also wants Trai to lay a framework that will allow both telcos and ISPs to bid for WiMAX spectrum.
Telecom regulator Trai too favours a reserve price of Rs 10 crore, Rs 5 crore and Rs 2 crore for A, B and C circles, respectively, for WiMAX spectrum. Trai had arrived at this figure by basing the reserve price for WiMAX auction to be a fourth of that for the 3G spectrum auctions. The world’s largest chip manufacturer Intel and telecom network majors too have also written to Trai endorsing their support for the reserve price proposed by Trai for WiMAX spectrum auctions.
However, other private operators GSM through their industry association — The Cellular Operators Association of India — have told Trai that regulator cannot discuss the pricing and allocation of spectrum in these new WiMAX bands until there is ‘complete clarity on the quantum of radio frequencies available’.
“It is also not clear at this stage how much is the quantum of spectrum that is expected to be available in each band, both in the short as well as medium term. It may be appreciated that the time frame for the availability of spectrum as also its quantum, would be relevant both for issues related to pricing as well as for determining the future plans of the operators,” the COAI said.
WiMAX is an evolving technology that is considered a threat to telecom services, especially third generation mobile services. As per global industry experience, WiMAX offers data speeds that are 10-30 times faster than 3G.
Source: EconomicTimes
Sify launches roaming broadband
CHENNAI: IT solutions provider Sify Technologies has launched a roaming broadband service that would enable its customers access to high-speed wireless broadband on the move. The 'Roam Connect International', supported by enterprise mobility provider iPass, would enable customers to access their data from more than 1,00,000 broadband locations globally, including business-centric venues like airports, hotels and conference centres, a company release said today.
"We are confident that our new service offering will increase management efficiency and response to customers in real time even when are travelling. iPass is a global leader in mobile connectivity for the enterprise and we are happy to partner with them to launch this service in India" Sify Technologies Ltd Executive President P J Nath said.
The iPassConnect mobility manager software is available for notebooks and handheld devices and simplifies user access, unifying global connectivity and streamlining management and support for the end user and the IT department, the release added.
Source : EconomicTimes
"We are confident that our new service offering will increase management efficiency and response to customers in real time even when are travelling. iPass is a global leader in mobile connectivity for the enterprise and we are happy to partner with them to launch this service in India" Sify Technologies Ltd Executive President P J Nath said.
The iPassConnect mobility manager software is available for notebooks and handheld devices and simplifies user access, unifying global connectivity and streamlining management and support for the end user and the IT department, the release added.
Source : EconomicTimes
Friday, May 23, 2008
Ahmedabad to be connected using WiMAX network
AHMEDABAD: For those wanting to access Internet on the move, the Bharat Sanchar Nigam Ltd (BSNL) is planning to connect the city using a wireless network that will provide seamless access to Net.
Under a pilot project, the state-owend telecom firm would soon introduce WiMAX technology - a digital communication system that is intended for wireless "Metropolitan Area Network" -- in the city.
The network would provide broadband wireless access upto 50 km, official sources said here.
Source : EconomicTimes
Under a pilot project, the state-owend telecom firm would soon introduce WiMAX technology - a digital communication system that is intended for wireless "Metropolitan Area Network" -- in the city.
The network would provide broadband wireless access upto 50 km, official sources said here.
Source : EconomicTimes
Thursday, May 22, 2008
Bharti Airtel ties up with smartphone co HTC
NEW DELHI: Country's largest mobile service provider Bharti Airtel on Thursday announced a strategic tie up with global smartphone company HTC to offer a large scale mobile broadband application, including seamless internet and browsing experience.
Under this exclusive tie up, HTC Touch Diamond, the smartphone, will offer a wide range of services, including YouTube application for watching video content. Besides, it will give access to Airtel Live for providing entertainment on mobile.
The price of HTC Touch is Rs 27,500, HTC Corp President and CEO Peter Chou told reporters.
Source : EconomicTimes
Under this exclusive tie up, HTC Touch Diamond, the smartphone, will offer a wide range of services, including YouTube application for watching video content. Besides, it will give access to Airtel Live for providing entertainment on mobile.
The price of HTC Touch is Rs 27,500, HTC Corp President and CEO Peter Chou told reporters.
Source : EconomicTimes
Wednesday, May 7, 2008
New high bandwidth undersea cable system to connect UK with India
NEW DELHI: In a move that will significantly enhance connection capacity and redundancy between India and the UK, major global players in the telecommunications industry have signed an agreement to build the first direct, high-bandwidth optical-fiber submarine cable system from the United Kingdom to India.
The formal construction and maintenance agreement (C&MA) for the project that will cost close to $700 million, was signed by The Europe India Gateway (EIG) cable system, on Wednesday.
Telecommunications companies investing in the project include: AT&T; Bharti Airtel; BT; C&W; Djibouti Telecom; Du; Gibtelecom; IAM; Libyan Post, Telecom, and Information Technology Company; MTN Group Ltd; Omantel; PT Comunicações, S.A.; , Saudi Telecom Company; Telecom Egypt; Telkom SA Ltd; and Verizon Business.
The EIG cable system, targeted to be operational in second quarter of 2010, is an 15,000 kilometer (9,000 mile) system that will connect 13 countries and three continents. Landings are planned in the United Kingdom, Portugal, Gibraltar, Morocco, Monaco, France, Libya, Egypt, Saudi Arabia, Djibouti, Oman, United Arab Emirates, and India.
In addition to serving these regions, the EIG cable system will also provide seamless interconnection with other major cable systems connecting Europe, Africa, Asia and North America. The system will utilize state-of-art next generation technology that is designed to provide up to 2.88 terabits (Tbps) using dense-wavelength-division-multiplexing (DWDM) to provide upgradeable transmission facilities that support Internet, e-commerce, video, data and voice.
In addition to complementing existing high bandwidth cable systems in the region, the EIG cable system will provide much needed diversity for broadband traffic currently relying largely on traditional routes from Europe to India. This is important considering the threat of earthquakes in this region. The EIG cable system, with its large bandwidth and high quality transmission technology, will help meet the present and future growth in telecommunications traffic between the targeted regions.
In addition to the C&MA signing, the EIG Consortium also signed a supply contract with Alcatel-Lucent and Tyco Telecommunications for the cable system’s construction.
Source: EconomicTimes
The formal construction and maintenance agreement (C&MA) for the project that will cost close to $700 million, was signed by The Europe India Gateway (EIG) cable system, on Wednesday.
Telecommunications companies investing in the project include: AT&T; Bharti Airtel; BT; C&W; Djibouti Telecom; Du; Gibtelecom; IAM; Libyan Post, Telecom, and Information Technology Company; MTN Group Ltd; Omantel; PT Comunicações, S.A.; , Saudi Telecom Company; Telecom Egypt; Telkom SA Ltd; and Verizon Business.
The EIG cable system, targeted to be operational in second quarter of 2010, is an 15,000 kilometer (9,000 mile) system that will connect 13 countries and three continents. Landings are planned in the United Kingdom, Portugal, Gibraltar, Morocco, Monaco, France, Libya, Egypt, Saudi Arabia, Djibouti, Oman, United Arab Emirates, and India.
In addition to serving these regions, the EIG cable system will also provide seamless interconnection with other major cable systems connecting Europe, Africa, Asia and North America. The system will utilize state-of-art next generation technology that is designed to provide up to 2.88 terabits (Tbps) using dense-wavelength-division-multiplexing (DWDM) to provide upgradeable transmission facilities that support Internet, e-commerce, video, data and voice.
In addition to complementing existing high bandwidth cable systems in the region, the EIG cable system will provide much needed diversity for broadband traffic currently relying largely on traditional routes from Europe to India. This is important considering the threat of earthquakes in this region. The EIG cable system, with its large bandwidth and high quality transmission technology, will help meet the present and future growth in telecommunications traffic between the targeted regions.
In addition to the C&MA signing, the EIG Consortium also signed a supply contract with Alcatel-Lucent and Tyco Telecommunications for the cable system’s construction.
Source: EconomicTimes
Friday, May 2, 2008
TRAI seeks stakeholders' views on new spectrum bands for BWA
NEW DELHI: In an effort to make more spectrum available for wireless broadband access, telecom regulator TRAI on Friday sought stakeholders' views on pricing and allocation of bands 2.3-2.4 GHz, 2.5-2.69 GHz and 3.3-3.6 GHz which are now available.
With the likely vacation of spectrum in these three bands, the allocation and pricing methodology for the spectrum in these bands need to be decided, Telecom regulatory Authority of India (TRAI) said in a statement today.
With the availability of mobile services in this band, it gives an important opportunity for the introduction of next generation mobile technologies, said the regulator.
TRAI had earlier said 3-3.4 GHz and 3.4-3.6 GHz bands are for broadband wireless and its pricing and allocation should be decided via auction.
Releasing consultation paper on the same, TRAI said when it gave recommendations on "Allocation and pricing of spectrum for 3G and broadband wireless access services", the spectrum in the 2.3-2.4 GHz and 2.5-2.69 GHz bands were not available for allocation.
TRAI has solicited comments from the stakeholders on the limited issues like eligibility for allocation of spectrum, Maximum amount of the spectrum which can be allocated to each bidder and pricing of the spectrum in these bands, it said.
The DoT, as per its recent guidelines on Broadband Wireless Access (BWA), is considering allotment of spectrum in these bands (2.3-2.4 Fez & 2.5-2.69 H) after vacation.
The use of 2.3-2.4 G and 2.5-2.69 Hg band offers good scope for innovation with the potential for induction of new technologies, services, applications and devices.
This consultation paper is another step Howard's accelerating the growth of broadband through encouragement of emerging wireless technologies especially in the rural areas.
Source : EconomicTimes
With the likely vacation of spectrum in these three bands, the allocation and pricing methodology for the spectrum in these bands need to be decided, Telecom regulatory Authority of India (TRAI) said in a statement today.
With the availability of mobile services in this band, it gives an important opportunity for the introduction of next generation mobile technologies, said the regulator.
TRAI had earlier said 3-3.4 GHz and 3.4-3.6 GHz bands are for broadband wireless and its pricing and allocation should be decided via auction.
Releasing consultation paper on the same, TRAI said when it gave recommendations on "Allocation and pricing of spectrum for 3G and broadband wireless access services", the spectrum in the 2.3-2.4 GHz and 2.5-2.69 GHz bands were not available for allocation.
TRAI has solicited comments from the stakeholders on the limited issues like eligibility for allocation of spectrum, Maximum amount of the spectrum which can be allocated to each bidder and pricing of the spectrum in these bands, it said.
The DoT, as per its recent guidelines on Broadband Wireless Access (BWA), is considering allotment of spectrum in these bands (2.3-2.4 Fez & 2.5-2.69 H) after vacation.
The use of 2.3-2.4 G and 2.5-2.69 Hg band offers good scope for innovation with the potential for induction of new technologies, services, applications and devices.
This consultation paper is another step Howard's accelerating the growth of broadband through encouragement of emerging wireless technologies especially in the rural areas.
Source : EconomicTimes
Monday, April 21, 2008
DoT Terminates 35 ISP Licences; Are They To Blame For Lack On Internet Penetration?
The Department of Telecommunications (DoT) has terminated the licenses of 35 companies which never launched ISP services. Some of these include Discovery Infoways, Q-Net Infosystems, Netconnect (India), Infinity.com, KTV Net. As per the Hindu, over 100 other license holders are yet to offer services after five years of being given the license.
As far as my reading of this news goes - it does absolutely nothing to improve the situation in the market: these ISPs weren’t preventing others from launching services. They also weren’t hoarding licenses, since as as many as 770 licenses. Perhaps the mistake was made on the policy front - a gross underestimation of the scale of operations required for a profitable ISP business - only 275 ISPs launched services, and 397 license holders quit.
What compounds the issue is the new policy of having an entry fee, and an annual license fee. Yeah, right - that’s exactly what we need to support a sector that isn’t really taking off. This ends up reducing the possibility of competition in a market that is dominated by government companies - BSNL and MTNL because of their legacy ownership of the last mile. There was a school of thought that the India might well take the wireless route to broadband due to the expense involved with fixed-line deployment. However, there have been quality issues with wireless broadband (wired as well, but that’s another story). If the government was serious about broadband in this country, they’d open up the last mile. Scrapping non-performing ISP licenses is just an eyewash.
Source: contentSutra
As far as my reading of this news goes - it does absolutely nothing to improve the situation in the market: these ISPs weren’t preventing others from launching services. They also weren’t hoarding licenses, since as as many as 770 licenses. Perhaps the mistake was made on the policy front - a gross underestimation of the scale of operations required for a profitable ISP business - only 275 ISPs launched services, and 397 license holders quit.
What compounds the issue is the new policy of having an entry fee, and an annual license fee. Yeah, right - that’s exactly what we need to support a sector that isn’t really taking off. This ends up reducing the possibility of competition in a market that is dominated by government companies - BSNL and MTNL because of their legacy ownership of the last mile. There was a school of thought that the India might well take the wireless route to broadband due to the expense involved with fixed-line deployment. However, there have been quality issues with wireless broadband (wired as well, but that’s another story). If the government was serious about broadband in this country, they’d open up the last mile. Scrapping non-performing ISP licenses is just an eyewash.
Source: contentSutra
Wednesday, April 16, 2008
You Telecom And Red Snapper Form Wireless Network JV: YouSnapper
YOU Telecom, an Internet Service Provider in which Citigroup Venture Capital has a majority stake, has formed a 50:50 joint venture with Red Snapper, a Malaysian wireless and VoIP service provider reports Business Standard.
RedSnapper has a Wide Area WiFi technology; the company is funded by the Malaysian Government. YouSnapper has already begun a pilot in Thane (Maharashtra). YouTele has around 17.5 lakh subscribers according to the report, and intends to expand operations from 12 to 26 cities in 18 months. At present, WiMax services are being piloted in India, with Tata Indicom, and BSNL has been announcing WiMax plans for the last decade (or something like that). GoBroadband lists a number of complaints regarding Tata Comm and Reliance WiMax services.
Source : contentSutra
RedSnapper has a Wide Area WiFi technology; the company is funded by the Malaysian Government. YouSnapper has already begun a pilot in Thane (Maharashtra). YouTele has around 17.5 lakh subscribers according to the report, and intends to expand operations from 12 to 26 cities in 18 months. At present, WiMax services are being piloted in India, with Tata Indicom, and BSNL has been announcing WiMax plans for the last decade (or something like that). GoBroadband lists a number of complaints regarding Tata Comm and Reliance WiMax services.
Source : contentSutra
Monday, April 7, 2008
Wi-fi facility inaugurated at Cuttack
CUTTACK: Chairman of Railway Board K C Jena on Sunday inaugurated the wi-fi facility at the railway station here to enable passengers pursue their professional and personal activities even during travel.
Any passenger could access the internet at the station with the help of a wi-fi enabled laptop and use credit card of any bank for online booking, he said.
Jena said the facility, introduced for the first time in the East-Coast Railway division, would help the bonafide passengers to enjoy wireless broadband access, access to reservation system, check e-mail and surf net at platforms while travelling.
The facility, provided by M/s Railtel, was currently available in 53 stations across the country.
In the near future, Bhubaneswar, Puri and Visakhapatnam stations would get the facility, railway sources said.
Jena inspected and reviewed the work of the second railway bridge over river Mahanadi which was likely to be commissioned soon.
As soon as the bridges over river Kathjodi and Kuakhai were completed, the double track between Cuttack and Bhubaneswar would be operational, he said.
Source : EconomicTimes
Any passenger could access the internet at the station with the help of a wi-fi enabled laptop and use credit card of any bank for online booking, he said.
Jena said the facility, introduced for the first time in the East-Coast Railway division, would help the bonafide passengers to enjoy wireless broadband access, access to reservation system, check e-mail and surf net at platforms while travelling.
The facility, provided by M/s Railtel, was currently available in 53 stations across the country.
In the near future, Bhubaneswar, Puri and Visakhapatnam stations would get the facility, railway sources said.
Jena inspected and reviewed the work of the second railway bridge over river Mahanadi which was likely to be commissioned soon.
As soon as the bridges over river Kathjodi and Kuakhai were completed, the double track between Cuttack and Bhubaneswar would be operational, he said.
Source : EconomicTimes
Friday, April 4, 2008
Bharti, RCom, Tata & BSNL to invest over $4 bn to build undersea links
NEW DELHI: The communication boom in Asia is triggering a fresh round of submarine cable frenzy across the continent and this time around, all major Indian players—Bharti Airtel, Reliance Communications, Tata Communications and BSNL—are riding the boom.
Indian submarine players are stakeholders in almost all key cable projects announced in Asia recently, while in the case of Tata Communications and Reliance’s Flag, they are building the undersea links single-handedly. In total, they will invest over $4 billion over the next two years to build new undersea links. The logic: a significant chunk of the next trillion dollars in global communications space will come from Asian telcos whose bandwidth requirements are growing by the day.
For Indian corporates, the move by service providers to build multiple cable systems implies that they can adapt high bandwidth applications in the coming years without incurring huge additional expenses. The surge in cable capacity will also enable the Indian outsourcing industry to lease capacity on multiple cables without investing large amounts of money, thus safeguarding themselves from service disruptions.
The larger implication of the cable boom is that Indian consumers will have better broadband speeds and provide telcos requisite bandwidth to offer triple-play services including IPTV and HDTV. For Indian IT companies, larger bandwidth will help create and host content at home. Put simply, large number of companies will look to place their servers in India.
Analysts also believe that an important factor that is aiding Indian submarine cable players to go for route diversity is the industry’s demands for better network reliability. Indian and Asian corporates are seeking better protection especially in the wake of the recent cable cuts in Flag and SEA-ME-WE cables. “The impact of the recent outage was heavy on most small outsourcing firms and they are now contemplating building in redundancy to avoid a similar situation. With increased capacity, more such firms will be able to afford redundancy,” explained Integreon Global Knowledge Services senior vice-president, Lokendra Tomar.
“We cannot put all eggs into a single basket,” Bharti Airtel’s President for enterprise services David Nishball recently told ET when announcing that the company had joined hands with five international companies including internet giant Google to construct the ‘Unity’ sub-sea cable system linking the US and Japan.
Bharti was forced to reroute its traffic through its i2i cable when the SEA-ME-WE damaged earlier this year. Bharti has also joined two other consortiums — the 20,000 km-long Asia-America Gateway project and the I-Me-We system that will connect India to France via the Middle East. “Consortiums are the way to go forward. In a growing economy, we see increased demand from corporate and enterprise customers and we are therefore open to joining new consortiums to meet the bandwidth demands on all key routes. I see the need for another cable between Asia and Europe via India,” Mr Nishball had added.
Tata Communications is part of both the TGN Intra Asia and TGN Eurasia undersea cable consortiums. The 6,500 km Intra Asia will cover Hong Kong, Japan, Singapore, Philippines and Vietnam while TGN Eurasia cable system will link Mumbai directly to Paris, London and Madrid via Egypt. Tata Communication executives say that this was part of the company’s plan to invest $2 billion for additional submarine cable systems connecting emerging markets in Asia, Middle East and Africa to Europe to meet the demands of consumer broadband and enterprise customers over the next 5-8 years.’
The most ambitious of these projects is FLAG NGN being built by RCom — The $1.5-billion undersea cable will cover 50,000 km and span 60 countries across continents. Millenium Telecom, a JV between state-owned PSUs, BSNL and MTNL will soon award contracts for both the West Asia and Singapore undersea links.
Analysts also say that the bandwidth boom spells good news for those Indian telecom operators who have not invested in the undersea link businesses. This is because, the increased capacity in addition to keeping bandwidth prices down will also ensure that the prices are competitive.
Source : EconomicTimes
Indian submarine players are stakeholders in almost all key cable projects announced in Asia recently, while in the case of Tata Communications and Reliance’s Flag, they are building the undersea links single-handedly. In total, they will invest over $4 billion over the next two years to build new undersea links. The logic: a significant chunk of the next trillion dollars in global communications space will come from Asian telcos whose bandwidth requirements are growing by the day.
For Indian corporates, the move by service providers to build multiple cable systems implies that they can adapt high bandwidth applications in the coming years without incurring huge additional expenses. The surge in cable capacity will also enable the Indian outsourcing industry to lease capacity on multiple cables without investing large amounts of money, thus safeguarding themselves from service disruptions.
The larger implication of the cable boom is that Indian consumers will have better broadband speeds and provide telcos requisite bandwidth to offer triple-play services including IPTV and HDTV. For Indian IT companies, larger bandwidth will help create and host content at home. Put simply, large number of companies will look to place their servers in India.
Analysts also believe that an important factor that is aiding Indian submarine cable players to go for route diversity is the industry’s demands for better network reliability. Indian and Asian corporates are seeking better protection especially in the wake of the recent cable cuts in Flag and SEA-ME-WE cables. “The impact of the recent outage was heavy on most small outsourcing firms and they are now contemplating building in redundancy to avoid a similar situation. With increased capacity, more such firms will be able to afford redundancy,” explained Integreon Global Knowledge Services senior vice-president, Lokendra Tomar.
“We cannot put all eggs into a single basket,” Bharti Airtel’s President for enterprise services David Nishball recently told ET when announcing that the company had joined hands with five international companies including internet giant Google to construct the ‘Unity’ sub-sea cable system linking the US and Japan.
Bharti was forced to reroute its traffic through its i2i cable when the SEA-ME-WE damaged earlier this year. Bharti has also joined two other consortiums — the 20,000 km-long Asia-America Gateway project and the I-Me-We system that will connect India to France via the Middle East. “Consortiums are the way to go forward. In a growing economy, we see increased demand from corporate and enterprise customers and we are therefore open to joining new consortiums to meet the bandwidth demands on all key routes. I see the need for another cable between Asia and Europe via India,” Mr Nishball had added.
Tata Communications is part of both the TGN Intra Asia and TGN Eurasia undersea cable consortiums. The 6,500 km Intra Asia will cover Hong Kong, Japan, Singapore, Philippines and Vietnam while TGN Eurasia cable system will link Mumbai directly to Paris, London and Madrid via Egypt. Tata Communication executives say that this was part of the company’s plan to invest $2 billion for additional submarine cable systems connecting emerging markets in Asia, Middle East and Africa to Europe to meet the demands of consumer broadband and enterprise customers over the next 5-8 years.’
The most ambitious of these projects is FLAG NGN being built by RCom — The $1.5-billion undersea cable will cover 50,000 km and span 60 countries across continents. Millenium Telecom, a JV between state-owned PSUs, BSNL and MTNL will soon award contracts for both the West Asia and Singapore undersea links.
Analysts also say that the bandwidth boom spells good news for those Indian telecom operators who have not invested in the undersea link businesses. This is because, the increased capacity in addition to keeping bandwidth prices down will also ensure that the prices are competitive.
Source : EconomicTimes
Tuesday, April 1, 2008
Nokia Siemens Networks bags broadband contract from BSNL
NEW DELHI: Nokia Siemens Networks (NSN), which had earlier bagged a greenfield rural tender from BSNL to deploy broadband access across 7,000 villages, has got its contract extended to cover deployment in 25,000 villages. This marks the third broadband contract that BSNL has awarded to Nokia Siemens Networks.
The company is also parallely deploying the urban broadband access for BSNL across 20 circles. For BSNL, the deployment of the NSN multi play solutions, will allow it to deliver cost effective high speed internet access and virtual private networks among others services to its customers. The network will also enable BSNL to provide connectivity to CSCs (Community Service Centres) and other e-governance locations.
India has approximately 3.4 million broad connections, of which 1.7 million connections are provided by BSNL. With the expansion of broadband density in urban and rural areas using ADSL2+ technology, BSNL plans make more than 25000 villages broadband enabled shortly.
“Partnering with Nokia Siemens Networks would give BSNL an edge over other broadband services providers as it would be the first to cover rural areas on such a wide scale”, BSNL’s chairman and managing director Kuldeep Goyal said in a statement. “With high speed Internet service of BSNL, the rural broadband project is suitably poised to bridge digital divide and connect more than 25,000 villages in India by delivering high speed broadband services”, he added.
As part of the contract, Nokia Siemens Networks is deploying its Gigabit Ethernet-capable IP DSLAMs SURPASS hiX5625 (Digital Subscriber Line Access Multiplexers) and chassis based access switch (SURPASS hiD6615). Nokia Siemens Networks will also supply customer premises equipment that will enable BSNL to provide speeds of up to 8 Mbps using ADSL2+ for its subscribers over its existing copper infrastructure.
The company is also parallely deploying the urban broadband access for BSNL across 20 circles. For BSNL, the deployment of the NSN multi play solutions, will allow it to deliver cost effective high speed internet access and virtual private networks among others services to its customers. The network will also enable BSNL to provide connectivity to CSCs (Community Service Centres) and other e-governance locations.
India has approximately 3.4 million broad connections, of which 1.7 million connections are provided by BSNL. With the expansion of broadband density in urban and rural areas using ADSL2+ technology, BSNL plans make more than 25000 villages broadband enabled shortly.
“Partnering with Nokia Siemens Networks would give BSNL an edge over other broadband services providers as it would be the first to cover rural areas on such a wide scale”, BSNL’s chairman and managing director Kuldeep Goyal said in a statement. “With high speed Internet service of BSNL, the rural broadband project is suitably poised to bridge digital divide and connect more than 25,000 villages in India by delivering high speed broadband services”, he added.
As part of the contract, Nokia Siemens Networks is deploying its Gigabit Ethernet-capable IP DSLAMs SURPASS hiX5625 (Digital Subscriber Line Access Multiplexers) and chassis based access switch (SURPASS hiD6615). Nokia Siemens Networks will also supply customer premises equipment that will enable BSNL to provide speeds of up to 8 Mbps using ADSL2+ for its subscribers over its existing copper infrastructure.
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