Broadband India

Taking WiMAX to villages poses next big challenge

2008-09-08T06:28:00.000-07:00

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

Airtel, HP to connect more Indians

2008-09-06T06:44:00.000-07:00

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

Net, broadband fail to catch up with mobile growth

2008-09-04T01:26:00.000-07:00

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

BSNL seeks franchisees for WiMax rollout

2008-09-03T05:52:00.000-07:00

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

Government to connect 5,000 blocks with broadband

2008-09-02T07:07:00.000-07:00

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

World Phone forays into cable broadband internet services

2008-08-31T04:23:00.000-07:00

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

Mobile Services on WIMAX - Internet Telephony to lift off in a big way!

2008-08-30T09:57:00.001-07:00

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

Sify opens data centre in Mumbai

2008-08-30T09:57:00.000-07:00

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.

Broadband (≥ 256 Kbps download) Growth for July' 08

2008-08-28T01:17:00.000-07:00

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

Intel in talks with telecom operators for WiMax rollout

2008-08-19T06:18:00.000-07:00

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.

ISPs too want DoT to review WiMAX policy

2008-08-17T23:22:00.000-07:00

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.

27.5 mn WiMAX users in India by '12: Study

2008-08-17T23:20:00.000-07:00

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.

Sify to set up two data centers to expand network

2008-08-13T05:49:00.000-07:00

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

MTNL cuts broadband charges, launches TV on mobile

2008-08-13T05:45:00.000-07:00

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

ISPs cry foul over WiMAX spectrum

2008-08-03T23:58:00.000-07:00

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.

Tata Comm to take WiMax services to 115 towns this fiscal

2008-08-03T10:30:00.000-07:00

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

Wipro's pizza box to make high-speed broadband cheaper

2008-07-31T03:24:00.000-07:00

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

Blackberry, WiFi system come under security scanner

2008-07-30T04:46:00.001-07:00

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.

Raja may announce 3G, WiMax, MNP policy on Friday

2008-07-30T04:46:00.000-07:00

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

Citywide WiFi Planned by BMC in a 50-Crore Plan For Mumbai

2008-07-29T04:34:00.000-07:00

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:

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

Growth of cyber cafes declining sharply

2008-07-15T09:45:00.000-07:00

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.

Trai hits out at DoT, now over WiMax

2008-07-14T05:34:00.000-07:00

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.

Indian Railways to provide internet service in Kerala

2008-07-12T23:02:00.000-07:00

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

Longest broadband terrestrial education grid launched

2008-07-12T19:42:00.000-07:00

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

BSNL Plans WiMax Testing In Vizag. BSNL, MTNL To Get 3G Spectrum

2008-07-12T05:01:00.000-07:00

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,

“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

Ministry may reject TRAI draft on WiMAX too

2008-07-09T05:49:00.000-07:00

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

Telecom companies waiting to launch Wi-max facilities in India

2008-07-06T20:17:00.000-07:00

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

Govt to announce 3G, Wimax guidelines soon

2008-07-04T03:19:00.000-07:00

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

India to have 15.8 mn WiMAX users by 2012: Springboard

2008-07-04T03:17:00.000-07:00

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

High 3G price spoils ISPs' WiMAX dream

2008-07-03T03:03:00.000-07:00

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

Motorola eyes big Wi-MAX deals in India; to bid for BSNL proj

2008-06-29T01:30:00.000-07:00

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

BSNL launches its EVDO facility in Rajkot

2008-06-28T00:14:00.001-07:00

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

Broadband Growth for May'08

2008-06-27T10:13:00.000-07:00

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

Govt may bring ISPs under USL net

2008-06-25T00:21:00.000-07:00

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.

BSNL to start JV for manufacturing broadband equipment

2008-06-24T00:44:00.000-07:00

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

Delhi High Court goes wi-fi

2008-06-23T01:17:00.000-07:00

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

Govt plans to subsidise internet for rural India

2008-06-21T11:10:00.000-07:00

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

BSNL pulls out of Singapore cable project

2008-06-06T03:23:00.000-07:00

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

Broadband Growth for April'08

2008-06-04T19:46:00.000-07:00

Quickpost this image to Myspace, Digg, Facebook, and others!

Source : http://www.trai.gov.in/trai/upload/PressReleases/577/pr2june08no54.pdf

TATA, Reliance, NOKIA & Motorola - All Ride High On WiMAX

2008-06-03T04:33:00.000-07:00

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!

BSNL seeks free WiMAX entry

2008-05-28T21:55:00.000-07:00

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

Sify launches roaming broadband

2008-05-28T09:54:00.000-07:00

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

Ahmedabad to be connected using WiMAX network

2008-05-23T09:15:00.000-07:00

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

Bharti Airtel ties up with smartphone co HTC

2008-05-22T05:11:00.000-07:00

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

New high bandwidth undersea cable system to connect UK with India

2008-05-07T04:45:00.000-07:00

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

TRAI seeks stakeholders' views on new spectrum bands for BWA

2008-05-02T19:12:00.000-07:00

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

DoT Terminates 35 ISP Licences; Are They To Blame For Lack On Internet Penetration?

2008-04-21T04:48:00.000-07:00

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

You Telecom And Red Snapper Form Wireless Network JV: YouSnapper

2008-04-16T09:19:00.000-07:00

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

Wi-fi facility inaugurated at Cuttack

2008-04-07T04:36:00.000-07:00

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

Bharti, RCom, Tata & BSNL to invest over $4 bn to build undersea links

2008-04-04T04:57:00.000-07:00

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

Nokia Siemens Networks bags broadband contract from BSNL

2008-04-01T21:23:00.001-07:00

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.

Intel develops platform to boost Wi-Fi antenna's range to 60 miles

2008-04-01T21:22:00.000-07:00

NEW DELHI: Wireless mobile internet access is a great tool to have. You can sit by the beach, by the pool side or an airport lounge and surf the net, without any dangling wires. You just have to ensure that the laptop can sniff a Wi-Fi (Wireless Fidelity) hot spot and get going on the world wide web.

The range is about 150 feet and if you want a longer range, say around 30 miles, WiMax (Worldwide Interoperability for Microwave Access) is the way to go. So said the geeks. But there’s a bit of twist in the tale, thanks partly to new research and partly to actual technology roll out.

WiMax is a great way to cover cities and sparsely populated areas, but actual coverage is far less than promised: one to 1.5 km in very densely populated areas to about 10-12 km in others. On the other hand, Intel researchers have developed a new platform that boosts Wi-Fi antenna’s limited range to 60 miles!

So, in effect instead of WiMax, as a wireless access technology in rural and remote areas, Wi-Fi could do the job as well. And being cheaper, companies may find the long range Wi-Fi a better connectivity tool for sparsely populated areas. With this both WiMax and Wi-Fi can potentially cover vast areas and companies might need to revisit their roll out plans for wireless internet access.

``Wherever we don’t have last mile access we have deployed WiMax; in all at about 20 (includes Ahmedabad, Cochin, Trivandrum, Jallandhar and Kolhapur) locations for enterprise use. WiMax is good for last mile access but it is hyped too much. For good connectivity you need to be in line of sight, outdoor range is good up to 12 km but the further you go from the antenna the weaker the signal becomes,’’ says TV Sriram, vice president, technology, Bharti Airtel. However, Mr Sriram has not come across the long range Wi-Fi or the rural connectivity platform (RCP) as Intel calls it.

Ditto’s Cisco’s business development manager for advanced technologies, Paramjit Singh Puri. Says he, ``there could be a lot of slip between the cup and the lip. WiMax has been the buzzword for the last few years, though it may not be practically possible to have a very long range with a single antenna. On the other hand Wi-Fi has seen lot of deployments the world over including India where there are about 700-800 hot spots. A long range Wi-Fi could make a difference.’’

Intel’s managing director, emerging markets WiMax Program Office, Lil Mohan, however, believes that WiMax is living up to its promise and Intel is launching new chips that offer both WiMax and Wi-Fi capability. ``With WiMax quality of service is guaranteed but not so with WiFi. Also, for the long distance Wi-Fi you need a flat terrain and it will work well where population is sparse, but quality could be an issue,’’ adds Mr Mohan.

The new long distance Wi-Fi platform or RCF has been tested by Intel in India, Panama, Vietnam, South Africa. It comprises processor, radios, specialised software and a directional antenna which helps shoot data to a receiving antenna as far as 60 miles away.

Intel was able to achieve this by using new software and radios, increasing the range of Wi-Fi from just about 150 feet to several miles. However, this is good for sparsely populated areas with a flat terrain, that will enable line of sight signal access.

Eventually both, WiMax and the long range Wi-Fi could be deployed together to cover remote areas for wireless internet access. But those who thought Wi-Fi is only for indoors better update their technology strategy and business plans.

Indian WiFi Market To Boom By 2012!

2008-03-27T06:37:00.000-07:00

We recently carried a quote by Oracle R&D head that most devices would be internet enabled and would access the data available on the internet to function better. Well being internet enabled could very well mean that we could soon be in a wifi world. According to a study “Wi-Fi in India: A key enabler of economic, cocial and community development” India’s WiFi market will touch 890 Million dollars by 2012.

Which basically means that wifi enabled device sales will climb 36% year on year from 2008. Also this report doesn’t take into consideration devices like laptops, handsets, and chipsets. The growth mentioned in this report will come from sales of WLAN gear, networking tools, professional services, Wirless Internet Service Provider (WISP) revenues, Wi-Fi applications that are being built for niche sectors, handheld terminals, and system integration services.

I feel with such sales rising there is tremendous potential for a pan india wifi service provider who could also venture into the sales of cheap wifi phones for the masses. Phones like this one launced way back in 2006.

One can download the entire report from here.

Gartner sees 6.9 mn WiMax users by ’11, warns of hype

2008-03-27T06:32:00.000-07:00

MUMBAI: Research house Gartner expects India to have 6.9 million WiMax connections by the end of 2011 but has cautioned that only quicker spectrum allocation and licensing from the government, and not the current hype, can help this wireless broadband technology be adopted widely. “We don’t see much growth in the next one or two years” as the spectrum squeeze drags on, a Gartner analyst who co-authored a report on the sector, said.

The government has touted WiMax as the answer for connecting the so-called last mile to rural households and e-governance kiosks and paving the way for higher Internet adoption. However, its departments and public sector institutions have occupied most of the wireless frequency spectrum that must be allotted to service providers. With whatever little spectrum is available, mobile companies including WiMax operators are jostling with each other to provide connectivity.

“The government had good objectives in mind when they came out with their broadband policy. But they did not really take adequate initiatives in freeing spectrum for broadband wireless,” Naresh Singh, Gartner analyst told ET. “So, the Indian WiMax market is not promising in the near-term, except for niche use like enterprises and high-end users,” he said.

Gartner’s study titled “Beware of WiMax hype in India” said the low personal computer usage in the country as well as the lack of adequate spectrum will act as hurdles to the growth of wireless broadband. As a result, the government will not be able to realise its ambition to take WiMax to villages in the next few years, Mr Singh said.

Seven companies have been licensed to offer WiMax services in India, but in the 3.5 GHz band with a very narrow slot of 5 MHz each, Mr Singh said. The microwave frequency band must be much wider to aid a rapid growth in subscribers, he added. The government also plans to open up the popular 2.5 GHz band and give each service provider double the current frequency, but it would be at least a few months before the rollout happens, he said. “So, till 2009, we don’t expect full-blown WiMax services to be available in India.”

In recent years, several wireless technologies have emerged, but most of them have become obsolete even before the governments and industry got around to standardise and adopt them. The latest “horses in the race”, Mr Singh said, are WiMax and the third-generation wireless CDMA (code division multiple access) technology.

The Indian government has sought to encourage both, letting market forces eventually decide the more popular technology. But Mr Singh said WiMax has seen better traction so far with services already beginning in many cities. Eventually, it would be the mobile phones and not computers that will drive the adoption of WiMax, he said. “Indian users seem to have a propensity for mobile services both for voice and data,” and hence there is a case for encouraging mobile WiMax services.

Source : EconomicTimes

Wi-Fi market in India to touch $891mn mark by 2011-12: Study

2008-03-24T09:21:00.000-07:00

NEW DELHI: Riding on realty, retail and other infrastructure sectors boom, including the Indian Railways, the adaptation of Wi-Fi in India is set to increase massively.

After witnessing a 100% increase in the number of hotspots (locations that are Wi-Fi enabled, where one can log on to the Net without using cables) to about 1,600 in 2007-08, this number is expected to increase by several multiple times during the current year.

A study by the Global Wi-Fi Alliance has estimated that Wi-Fi market in India will grow to $891million by 2011-12. This figure includes WLAN gear, networking tools, professional services, Wirless Internet Service Provider (WISP) revenues, Wi-Fi applications that are being built for niche sectors, handheld terminals, and system integration services, but does not include chipsets, laptops, PDAs, cell phone handsets and other devices.

According to Global Wi-FI Alliance senior marketing manager Kelly Davis-Felner, the addressable base of Wi-Fi-enabled client devices is growing steadily in India since about 90 - 95% of notebooks being sold today had a built-in Wi-Fi capability.

“We have noticed that a small but growing number of Indian mobile subscribers are going in for handsets with Wi-Fi capability. A highly mobile, young generation increasingly expects near-always-on mobile broadband connectivity and is willing to pay for it. These factors will drive increased use of Wi-Fi in India moving forward,” Ms Davis-Felner added.

The global Wi-FI alliance’s study also points out that exploding real-estate market growing at 30% annually, where entire new townships are coming up in tier-2 and tier-3 towns, coupled with the fact that organized retail was expected to add about 220 million square feet of space by 2010, provided the perfect platform for Wi-Fi to take off in India.

More so, considering that the growth in commercial office space requirements is led by the burgeoning outsourcing and information technology (IT) industry-for example, IT and ITeS alone is estimated to require 150 million square feet across urban India by 2010.

Other factors that will ignite Wi-Fi in India include large-scale developments of hotspots by corporates, telcos and PSUs. For instance, the Indian Railways recently announced that all important rail-routes between metros would be made Wi-Fi-enabled together with 50 railway stations (20 of which to be completed by March, 2008).

Tata Communications, which has already rolled out rolled out 350 plus public hotspot locations is set to increase the chain to about 1,000 this year in 2008.

Similarly, BSNL is setting up 100,000 Community Service Centres which will be carrying a powerful info kiosk that has Internet connectivity, plans to make a significant number of these Wi-Fi enabled.

“While new technology solutions (PON, WiMAX, ADSL) will continue to address growing demand for broadband in India, Wi-Fi will continue to play a strong role in sub-tending the last mile to multiple end-points - slashing costs, improving inventory management in organized retail, enabling faster check-ins at airport counters, medical services in rural India, creating jobs in a rural BPOs, spreading education in hinterlands of India and enriching quality of life for many,” the Wi-Fi Alliance study adds.

Expressing confidence in Wi-Fi uptake in India, Ms Davis-Felner added: The biggest strengths of Wi-Fi are its ubiquity (virtually every notebook shipped is Wi-Fi equipped and an increasing number of mobile phones carry the capability now), its maturity as a technology and the demonstrated interoperability it provides today.

Wi-Fi’s complementary nature with a variety of back-haul technologies including DSL, WiMAX or FTTX, make it a natural ally to most service providers in extending the ‘last-mile’ of connectivity to the user.”

Source : EconomicTimes

Broadband Growth for Feb'08

2008-03-24T09:14:00.000-07:00

Broadband (≥ 256 Kbps download) Growth: Total Broadband subscribers base has reached 3.47 million by the end of February 2008 as compared to 3.24 million by the end of January 2008.

Source : http://www.trai.gov.in/trai/upload/PressReleases/549/pr24mar08no27.pdf

BSNL to invite bids for 8 mn modems

2008-03-14T21:45:00.000-07:00

NEW DELHI: In one of the largest orders for broadband services globally, state-owned BSNL is all set to invite bids for 8 million Digital Subscriber Lines (DSL), also called modem. Sources said global majors Alcatel, Lucent, Nokia Siemens, Ericsson, ZTE, Huawei and others have already expressed interest to bid for the BSNL contract, expected to be worth several hundred million dollars. India has about 3.24 million broadband connections and the BSNL tender is more than twice the existing broadband subscriber of all operators combined.

More importantly, BSNL is offering more than broadband services. The company has informed prospective bidders that the modem should not only offer high speed internet access, but also carry content services such as IPTV, internet telephony and VoD (Video on Demand systems allow users to select and watch video and clip content over a network as part of an interactive TV system). It should also offer enterprise services such as Virtual Private Network over broadband. Sources said that tender conditions would also stipulate that a significant per cent of these modems are Wi-Fi-enabled.

It is also learnt that BSNL has called a meeting of all chip set vendors who manufacture DSLs to understand what the PSU terms ‘latest developments in DSL.’ “The meeting is scheduled in the next few days and the tender conditions will be finalised only after that,’’ sources close to the development added.

While the DSLs will cater to broadband services via fixedline, BSNL is also pushing for high speed internet through wireless (also called WiMAX services). WiMAX will also paves the way for high-speed wireless internet on laptops and high-end mobile handsets. The PSU has already earmarked Rs 3,000 crore for it and has decided to follow a franchisee model for its wireless broadband services.

The company has also floated an expression of interest to select the franchisees through a two-stage bidding process. As reported by ET first, BSNL has tied up with US-based WiMAX solutions firm Soma Networks through the franchisee model for what is considered the largest WiMAX deployment in the country covering four states in three circles — Gujarat, Maharashtra, Andhra Pradesh and Goa.

BSNL had earlier received some spectrum in the 2.5 GHz frequency band for its WiMAX rollout. It plans to roll out WiMax services in 70 cities across the country by the second half of 2008 and set up 50,000 Common Service Centres (CSCs) — ICT-enabled kiosks — across the country using WiMAX. The government has set itself a target of 20 million broadband lines in service by 2010 and BSNL is targeting a market share of about 60% of this figure.

Source : EconomicTimes

Jaipur to be Wifi City in 1 Year

2008-03-14T06:50:00.001-07:00

We had blogged about the fact that the first wifi city could be Jaipur in India also the fact that builders themselves are looking at installing wifi in their new buildings is heartening for anyone who wants the internet penetration in India to grow. Now Jaipur has finally got its first wifi hotspot at the Sindhi Camp Bus Stand courtesy Data Infosys Ltd which is looking at wifi’ing the entire jaipur city.

Though these citywise initiatives are great I would love to see a national initiative on the wifi front atleast as far as the top 8 metros is concerned. This is because a wifi city would mean if you have a wifi phone or a voip phone which are available internationally then you would be able to make unlimited calls internationally at a fixed monthly wifi fee (thats assuming the wifi access is charged at a fixed monthly fee).

What this may also do is completely remove the operator from the picture and also bring to fore tonnes of voip providers. But again this is wishful thinking as to actually carry out such a mass wifi project requires a big company like reliance or tata to take up the same which they wont as they are operators themselves.

Source : WATBlog

Delhi metro stations to be Wi-Fi enabled before Commonwealth Games

2008-03-13T04:20:00.000-07:00

NEW DELHI: With an aim of giving Delhi hi-tech infrastructure ahead of the 2010 Commonwealth games, the Delhi government has decided to make all the metro stations Wi-Fi enabled.

At places of tourist interest, railway stations, hotels and at Games locations, Wi-Fi kiosks would be set up. “We are exploring the feasibility of launching the Wi-Fi services at all metro stations ahead the 2010 Commonwealth games. This would enable tourists to get wireless net access on laptops or palmtops,” said an official in IT department of Delhi government.

Currently, the state IT department is working on its Wi-Fi pilot project at Connaught Place, South Ex I-II and Nehru place. These faciliteis would be ready by August this year.

The Delhi government has identified bidders including internet and telecom players such as MTNL, Net4 India, Spectranet, Tulip IT Services and Microsense for these projects. Gemini Communications and Velocis Systems have also emerged prospective bidders. Request For Proposals (RFP) will now be invited later for implementing these projects.

According to sources, Wi-Fi at these hotspots may be free of charge and service providers will garner revenue through advertising.

“The initiatives such as unwire Pune project and Delhi to make whole cities Wi-Fi enabled, at low or no costs for citizens, will increase broadband penetration and lead India faster towards the Vision 2020 goal,” said an official.

The IT department is also exploring the feasibility of information dissemination through portals at all places of tourist interest during the Games.

Currently, all Cafe Coffee Day outlets in Kamla Nagar, South Delhi and Barista Espresso Bars in Connaught Place, Janak Puri and South Delhi are Wi-Fi enabled. All Delhi Wi-Fi spots are working on 802.11g Wi-Fi standard.

Source : EconomicTimes

Is Your Net Connection Painfully Slow?? Welcome To India!

2008-03-10T08:45:00.000-07:00

On one end there is talk of wireless connectivity and wimax being deployed in India by various players and one the other end comes a report that shall surely put a dampner on all those who are setting up web businesses and streaming movies thinking that an audience exists that has the time and patience to fight a painfully slow internet to access that content.

Not sure what im talking about? Well im refering to the recent report by Internettrafficreport.com which states that India had an overall index of 74 and a response time of 253 milliseconds. A higher Index indicates faster and more reliable connection while a response time refers to time taken for a packet of information to reach from one point to another.

Check the image below to see how India is ranked with respect to other countries..

According to Rajesh Chabbria President, Internet Service Providers Association of India (ISPAI) “Indian bandwidth providers have the infrastructure to offer capacity in terrabits but they are making available only a few gigabits. This has resulted in artificial change in the supply and demand equation.” He also stated in this businessline article that smaller isp’s are not able to afford higher bandwidth as its priced higher than what its is priced for its UK and US counterparts.

On the whole this report does paint a sorry picture for those basing their business models on Internet Usage numbers stated by IAMAI in its reports because now the questions arises how many of those supposedly internet users have a good enough internet connection? Also What is IAMAI doing to improve this situation given that its the representative body for the Indian Internet and Mobile Industry. I guess IAMAI needs to do more than just conduct events around India if anything has to improve for Internet players and for IAMAI to be taken as a serious body.

Source : WATBlog

AT&T to increase investment in India to enhance physical infra

2008-03-05T21:29:00.000-08:00

NEW DELHI: Global telecom major AT&T on Wednesday said it will increase its investment in India this year to enhance physical infrastructure, including setting up of three nodes and an internet data centre in the country.

The company also announced global investment of one billion dollar outside the US in 2008, up 33 per cent from last year. AT&T, however, declined to reveal exact investment figures for India.

It already has seven nodes in India and would add three more in Delhi, Pune and Kolkata by the end of this year. The US-based company would also set up an internet data centre in Bangalore in the same period, AT&T's India CEO and Managing Director Sanjiv Bhagat told the media.

He said the company was evaluating the option of setting up a customer briefing centre in India for product demonstrations.

The Indian revenues for the company has increased by 85 per cent year-on-year in 2007, Bhagat said, refusing to give further details.

AT&T holds an ILD/NLD license in India and provide services in partnership with Mahindra Telecommunications.

Source : EconomicTimes

Tatas to invest $500mn for WiMax

2008-03-05T02:52:00.000-08:00

NEW DELHI: Tata Communications on Tuesday said that the company will investment $500 million dollars for its wireless broadband venture or WiMax services over the next three years. The company has also said that it has given the contract to Telsima of Sunnyvale, California for supply of WiMax equipment.

“The company will invest 500 million dollars by 2010 in Wimax technology and is in talks with investors to sell minority stake in retail business,” Tata Communications retail business unit president Shankar Prasad told reporters here.

Tata Communications’s plan is to connect 200,000 retail customers using WiMax by March 2009 and also rollout wireless high-speed internet services in 110 cities for its enterprise customers and 15 cities for retail customers this year, the company said.
Tata Communications was the first company to launch broadband services on the WiMax platform on a large scale for retail consumers in India. In the initial phase, the company’s WiMax network will offer broadband internet access and content services to enterprises and residential customers in Delhi, Mumbai, Pune, Bangalore, Chennai, Hyderabad, Cochin, Chandigarh, and Kolkata.

In fact, as per data provided by the company, Tata Communications currently serves over 5,000 enterprise and retail customers across ten cities where it offers this service.

While India’s telecom (read mobile) is booming, its braodband sector is witnessing rather slow growth and is way behind the targets set by the Department of Telecom. India has just under 3.5 million braodband users as of January end according to the Telecom Regulatory Authority of India (TRAI).

While WiMax (Worldwide Interoperability for Microwave Access) 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

Data centres, broadband kiosks seen positive for telcos

2008-02-29T19:12:00.000-08:00

MUMBAI: The setting up of broadband kiosks and state-wide area networks and data centres announced by the Finance Minister, P Chidambaram on Friday is expected to benefit the telecom sector, analysts and industry players said.

"This is of direct benefit to the telecom sector," said Sourabh Kaushal, industry manager, Frost & Sullivan. "Looking at the potential this is miniscule but is definitely a move in the right direction," he added.

The government is expected to set up these centres through telecom companies and other vendors. It would lead to a huge potential in terms of infrastructure management services, said Jagdish Mitra, CEO of CanvasM a joint venture firm promoted by Tech Mahindra Ltd and Motorola.

Data centres are sites which host servers for companies holding and managing their data for them. In India, companies like Reliance Communications and Bharti Airtel, Tulip IT Services provide data centre services.

The finance minister announced setting up 100,000 broadband rural kiosks at 750 million rupees, state wide area networks for Rs 4.75 billion and state data centres for Rs 2.75 billion.

Shares in Reliance Communications were down 1.9 percent at Rs 573 in the after hitting a high of Rs 585 during the sessions. Shares in Bharti were down 1.9 percent at Rs 828.50 in a weak Mumbai market after opening at 840 rupees which was also the high for the day. Shares in Tulip were up 2.65 percent at Rs 1025 after hitting an all-time high of 1033 rupees in the Mumbai market.

Source : EconomicTimes

Kingfisher To Provide Internet On Flight?

2008-02-27T20:00:00.001-08:00

Not to long ago we blogged about how Kingfisher had added mobile booking for its tickets. Now it seems kingfisher wants to take technology and connectivity to the skies. It has roped in Honeywell International Inc., manufacturer of civil and military avionics to enable telephony and internet access on flight. Kingfisher has reportedly signed a deal worth $100 million (Rs399 crore) for the same.

Even internationally Southwest Airlines recently announced that it would be providing broadband internet on flight through satelittes.

I think this is a very interesting move (if it does come through for the flight passenger!) by KingFisher who seems to understand its target audience and market needs very well. After all most busy professionals in today’s day and age need connectivity 24/7.

Infact I remember hearing Ramlingam Raju Satyam Founder stating in Red Herring summit last year that he was onboard a flight for 30 days in a year! Thats the amount of travel these guys do. I too (im just a budding startup entrepreneur) did 7 flight trips last year! And if you ask me id love free internet on flight! But according to me if kingfisher does launch this it could one of their most sought after premium service.

Source : WATBlog

DLF Plans To WiFi its buildings

2008-02-27T20:00:00.000-08:00

Reality major DLF has said that it will be providing WiFi access across its buildings. The WiFi connectivity will be provided by O-Zone.

The Internet is a necessity now for many professionals. I have been wondering for long about the builders providing the Internet connections along with the electricity and water connection. This makes a lot of sense in the newer buildings for the upwardly mobile IT population. I, for one, cannot do without checking my emails and blogs.

The step by DLF is the beginning of what all the other players will be following soon.

The only glitch is the connection speed. In case of one connection shared between the entire building, the bandwidth of the individual connection can go down considerably.

Source : WATBlog

Bharti joins five global telcos for US-Japan undersea cable

2008-02-27T19:47:00.001-08:00

NEW DELHI: Bharti Airtel has joined hands with five international companies including internet giant Google to construct a new high-bandwidth, sub-sea cable system linking the US and Japan.

These two companies along with Global Transit, KDDI Corporation, Pacnet and SingTel have formed the Unity Bandwidth Consortium which will together invest about $300 million to construct the undersea link.

This new consortium is yet another step towards improving redundancy with resilient networks, especially in the wake of the recent crisis when undersea links were damaged off the coast of Egypt, disrupting internet connections in many countries including India. With multiple undersea cables in place, Bharti Airtel can hedge itself by redirecting traffic via other undersea links.

This is the third major initiative by Bharti Airtel in the recent past aimed at becoming a major player in the international bandwidth business. Last month, Bharti Airtel along with eight leaders of the global telecommunications industry including VSNL, had signed a formal construction and maintenance agreement to build a fibre-optic submarine cable that stretches from India to France via the Middle East.

Last year, Bharti joined the Telecom Malaysia (TM) led 17-member consortium of telecommunication companies to set up an Asia-America gateway (AAG) — the first submarine-cable system linking South-East Asia directly to the US.

Bharti Airtel president for Enterprise Services David Nishball told ET that this was the first consortium in which the company was partnering a non-telecom player (Google). Mr Nishball also hinted at similar deals in future. “We are continuing to expand our capacity. This will not be the last cable we are partnering to build,” he said. Mr Nishball also said that against the traditional model where consortium partners shared the capacity, Unity would follow a different model. “The consortium is offering ownership and management of individual fiber pairs to its members,” he added.

The consortium has selected NEC Corporation and Tyco Telecommunications to construct and install the system. Construction will begin immediately, with initial capacity targeted to be available in the first quarter of 2010. This also marks the fourth major Pacific link between Asia and the US that is currently being built.

The other three under construction are the Trans-Pacific Express Cable System connecting the US, China, Taiwan and the Republic of Korea which will enter service in August 2008, the AAG which will start operations from the first quarter of 2009, and Reliance Communications cable network, FLAG.

Source : EconomicTimes

Bharti consortium to set up undersea cable linking US with Asia

2008-02-27T19:47:00.000-08:00

NEW DELHI: Telecom giant Bharti Airtel on Tuesday said it would set up a new undersea cable linking the United States with Asia in partnership with five global telecom firms.

The undersea cable, Unity, would entail an investment of 300 million dollar and would address broadband demand by providing capacity to sustain the growth in data and internet traffic between Asia and the US, Bharti said in a statement.

Besides Bharti, the consortium includes the US's internet search company Google, Japan's telecom company KDDI Corp, Malaysia's Global Transit Ltd, Singapore's Pancet and Singtel.

The construction would begin immediately and would be ready for commercial use in the first quarter of 2010.

The consortium has selected NEC Corporation and Tyco Telecommunications to construct and install the system.

Bharti already has two international landing stations in Chennai that connects two submarine cable systems-i2i to Singapore and SEA-ME-WE to Singapore and Europe.

"This investment is in line with our strategy to extend our international footprint across the globe to provide seemless connectivity to our customers through partnerships with leading global companies. The Unity cable would address the demand for increased bandwidth between Asia and the US as more and more services migrate to an online environment," Airtel Enterprise Services President David Nishball said.

This partnership would also provide alternate routes to meet the demands of our customers for increased levels of network resiliency and redundancy, he added.

Source : EconomicTimes

Broadband (≥ 256 Kbps download) Growth

2008-02-22T21:16:00.000-08:00

Total Broadband subscribers base has reached 3.24 million by the end of January 2008 as compared to 3.13 million by the end of December 2007.

Source : http://www.trai.gov.in/trai/upload/PressReleases/542/pr22feb08no20.pdf

Free Internet On Shatabdi, Rajdhani Trains?

2008-02-15T19:27:00.000-08:00

I wonder when the announcements will be followed up with actual deployment: Business Standard reports that the Indian Railways is expectged to launch free Internet on select Rajdhani and Shatabdi trains, and DTH on specific tourist trains. Free? Maybe they’re getting someone to sponsor the service...The other announcements in the report, we’ve already covered before, including plans for wireless hotspots at 50 stations, and cybercafes at 82 stations. The Cybercafe network is in collaboration with Sify and VSNL.

Source : contentSutra.com

Alcatel-Lucent signs submarine cable network contract

2008-02-12T21:35:00.000-08:00

NEW DELHI: Alcatel-Lucent has signed a turnkey contract with a consortium of nine telecom players to deploy a new submarine cable network linking Mumbai to Marseilles in France, which is over 13,000 km away.

The new submarine cable network meets the need for enhanced backhaul communication capabilities along the India-Western Europe route as well as for increased capacity to support high bandwidth broadband services, according to a statement by the company.

The companies that form the consortium are Bharti, Etisalat, France Telecom, Ogero Telecom, PTCL, STC, Telecom Egypt Telecom Italia Sparkle and VSNL. With the completion expected in the last quarter of 2009, the network will help support the global traffic growth driven by the need of peer-to-peer IP based services including video applications, broadband internet, downloading, voice and video calling.

Source : EconomicTimes

Prithvi Information bags Rs 309 cr order from BSNL

2008-02-04T07:02:00.000-08:00

MUMBAI: Prithvi Information Solutions has bagged an order valued at Rs 309 crore from BSNL, for supply of transmission equipment that helps to increase the network bandwidth.

Prithvi has tied up with a Chinese telecom company, Huwei Technologies, to source the equipment and is customizing it for BSNL. Prithvi will also be responsible for embedding the networking maintenance software, assembling, quality check, along with the maintenance of the equipment for the next 5 years.

The company's order book stands at Rs 203 crore as on Dec 31, 2007 with orders from companies like T-mobile, Singular of Rs 183 crore in US.

On Monday, Prithvi Information shares closed up 7.42 per cent at Rs 329.95 on BSE.

BSNL, US' Soma Networks in tie-up for largest WiMAX deal

2008-01-25T02:14:00.000-08:00

NEW DELHI: State-run telecom operator BSNL has tied up with US-based WiMAX solutions firm Soma Networks for the largest WiMAX deployment in the country covering four states in three circles. The proposed infrastructure would provide services to about 20 crore people in Gujarat, Maharashtra, Andhra Pradesh and Goa.

Soma Networks was selected after field trials in urban, suburban and rural areas. In the first phase under the tie-up, WiMAX would be deployed in Ahmedabad which would be up and running by June-July this year. The complete deployment will take three years. The alliance between the country’s largest telecom operator and the WiMAX solutions firm is on a revenue-share basis. “BSNL has awarded the contract to Soma for complete deployment in these states. It’s difficult to put a value to the contract since it’s on a revenue-share basis,” BSNL CMD Kuldeep Goyal told ET.

“We would ride on BSNL’s infrastructure and provide our solutions based on the 802.16e-2005 standard, which ensures greater subscriber density,” Soma Networks MD Jatinder Ahuja said. The states, he said, were chosen on the basis of their high industrial growth.

BSNL had earlier received some spectrum in the 2.5 GHz frequency band. It plans to roll out WiMax services in 70 cities across the country by mid-2008 and set up 50,000 Common Service Centres (CSCs) — ICT-enabled kiosks — across the country using WiMAX.

The government has set itself a target of 20 million broadband lines in service by 2010.

Soma Networks is a leading provider of mobile WiMAX solutions. It’s a principal member of the WiMAX Forum. Its solutions are currently deployed in five continents. Headquartered in San Francisco, it has offices in Toronto, Ottawa, Gurgaon, and Singapore.

While WiMax (Worldwide Interoperability for Microwave Access) 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.

Broadband Growth for December 2007

2008-01-22T05:23:00.000-08:00

Broadband (≥ 256 Kbps download) Growth: Total Broadband subscribers base has reached 3.13 million by the end of December 2007 as compared to 2.87 million by the end of November 2007.

Source : TRAI's Press Release : Monthly Suscriber's Growth

Sify unveils new logo, plans wireless broadband

2008-01-08T02:37:00.000-08:00

NEW DELHI: Internet service provider Sify Technologies on Monday unveiled a new corporate identity, and said it plans to launch wireless broadband services.

"The new identity is aimed at contemporising the brand, and giving it a cool image along with its technology credentials," Sify Technologies Chairman Raju Vegesna said.

The new logo - with Sify written in green over a grey background - reflects an eco-friendly and paper-free world, counterpoised by a business-like, dependable grey colour.

Along with the new corporate identity, Sify announced launching value-added services in both consumer and enterprise segments. Sify is also planning to provide broadband through the wireless technology, he said.

"Sify is now poised to grow further by leading the market with new products and services timed to catalyse the markets both on the enterprise and consumer sides of the business," Vegesna said.

In the enterprise segment, which contributes 60-65 per cent of its revenue, Sify is planning to launch storage and disaster recovery programmes. On the consumer side, it plans to form a unified access platform that will allow consumers to use a single identification to access the Internet from anywhere, be it a Sify cafe, a hotel or home, he said.

Source : EconomicTimes

Speed up spectrum allocation for 3G: Trai

2008-01-02T21:11:00.000-08:00

NEW DELHI: Telecom regulator Trai has recommended that the government expedite the process of making spectrum available for 3G and WiMAX to boost broadband growth in the country. “The government should expedite decision on Trai’s recommendations regarding mechanism and pricing of Spectrum for 3G & broadband wireless access,” Trai said in its statement on Wednesday.

Trai issued its broadband recommendations after receiving feedback from stakeholders and taking into account best international practices on impediments affecting broadband growth. It had issued its draft recommendations in September 2007.

“Government announced Broadband Policy in 2004 and made certain projections for broadband subscribers’ growth. It was expected that broadband growth rate would be stepped up. However, it is observed that the growth of broadband in the country is slow and below expected level,” Trai said. The regulator has recommended that the government should ensure availability of more number of Ku-band transponders to roll out broadband services through the Direct-to-Home (DTH) platform. It also suggested encouraging cable TV operators to provide broadband over their network.

Other key recommendations include using the Universal Service Obligation Fund (USOF) to subsidise backhaul charges for the initial three years of broadband roll-out in rural areas and identifying more than two service providers seeking minimum subsidy with a roll-out obligation in rural areas. The regulator said municipal committees should be encouraged to include a clause for making multiple dwelling units/ buildings broadband-ready by adopting suitable internal wiring while giving clearance for the construction of all such buildings in future.

State-run operators BSNL and MTNL should be encouraged to appoint franchisees for providing broadband services to supplement their efforts, Trai added in its recommendations. It has also asked the Central government to work with the state governments to adopt uniform Right of Way (RoW) procedures and suggested formation of district-level committees to study RoW requirements and to take measures to encourage service providers to share ducts.

Source : EconomicTimes

TRAI releases Status Paper on Broadband Speed

2008-01-01T06:11:00.000-08:00

Read by clicking on these links

http://www.trai.gov.in/trai/upload/PressReleases/523/spaper1jan08.pdf

http://www.trai.gov.in/trai/upload/PressReleases/523/pr1jan08no1.pdf

Goa launches super broadband network

2007-12-30T00:24:00.000-08:00

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

Source : EconomicTimes

Goa goes Broadband with PM's click

2007-12-27T20:59:00.000-08:00

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

Source : EconomicTimes

Broadband growth for the month of November 2007

2007-12-24T06:16:00.000-08:00

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

The broadband subscriber's growth is tabulated below:

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

VSNL Partners With Marshall Media For VOD

2007-12-20T05:53:00.000-08:00

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

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

Source:contentSutra

I-Cube Report 2007: Cyber Cafes Remain Favorites!

2007-12-18T01:47:00.000-08:00

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

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

The analysis according to the report:

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

Source : WATBlog.com

Smart homes may become a reality soon

2007-12-13T01:49:00.001-08:00

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

Source:EconomicTimes

VSNL's WiMAX broadband services by Jan

2007-12-12T01:00:00.000-08:00

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

Source:economictimes.com

Insights on Mobile Internet in India

2007-12-11T22:21:00.000-08:00

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

Source : WATBlog.com

IT superpower India not a hot spot for Wi-Fi

2007-11-30T21:08:00.000-08:00

NEW DELHI: IT superpower India ranks at the bottom in the world Wi-Fi index with only 454 public Wi-Fi hotspots. US leads the Wi-Fi hotspot index with 64,670 public hotspots followed by UK (30,613), Germany (21,236) and France (22,799) hotspots. Significantly, all nine of the top 10 Wi-Fi countries also rank in the top 30 in the 2007 UN Human Development Index.

Realising the same, the Delhi government has finalised seven bidders to set up four Wi-Fi hotspots in the national capital. In Delhi, players like Net4 India, Spectranet, Tulip IT Services, MTNL, Microsense have emerged as the front runners to set up Wi-Fi zones in Nehru Place, South Extension and Connaught Place.

Wireless-Fidelity (Wi-Fi) is a technology which allows wireless internet access through laptop, mobile or palmtop or PC. Interestingly, while Delhi makes a start with four public Wi-Fi spots, other metropolises like New York and London have already become the Wi-Fi capitals with 3,483 and 3,195 public Wi-Fi spots, respectively, according to JiWire, a public Wi-Fi registry.

The Delhi government plans to extend Wi-Fi to most areas in Delhi before the Commonwealth Games 2010. According to sources, the usage of Wi-Fi for an initial few minutes will be free of charge followed by attractive schemes for longer usage for both citizens and tourists.

The reason for low Wi-Fi penetration in India is the high cost of laptops (compared to per capita income), low internet penetration and lack of e-governance services in many states.

The initiatives such as `unwire’ Pune and Delhi to make main areas in these cities Wi-Fi enabled for citizens will increase broadband penetration and lead India faster towards wireless internet adoption. India’s technology state Karnataka has about 300 public Wi-Fi hotspots compared to California with 10,700 Wi-Fi spots and Florida which has 4,098 hotspots.

London beats most European capitals (except Berlin) with 3,195 Wi-Fi hotspots. Even small counties and twins in England like Norwich and Newcastle Upon Tyne have over 200 Wi-Fi hotspots. Germans however seem to be most tech savvy with the states of Baden-Wurttemberg (2,353 hotspots) and Nordrhein-Westfalen (4,229 hot spots). The states however have a population much less than Delhi’s population of over 13 million. India, on a whole has about 454 WiFi hotspots, according to Jiwire, a Wi-Fi registry.

All 24 Wi-Fi networks in Delhi are located inside cafes, hospitals or luxury hotels. The only residential colony Wi-Fi hotspot in New Delhi is located in Sujan Singh Park Area in Lutyens Delhi. Currently, all Café Coffee Day outlets in Kamla Nagar, South Delhi and Barista Espresso Bars in Connaught Place, Janak Puri and South Delhi are Wi-Fi enabled.

All Delhi Wi-Fi spots are working on 802.11g Wi-Fi technology - standard for local wireless networks. But the Wi-Fi technology offers internet access only when you are stationary in a network. On the other hand, the advanced 802.16e standard of WiMax offers internet access from your laptop on the move.

On the other hand, Bangalore has over 253 Wi-Fi hotspots, including all Café Coffee Day, Sify I-way and Casa Picola outlets, Whitefield, Luncheon Café Iceware and Freeware, at JP Nagar and Brigade Road are free Wi-Fi zones. Many roads and public parks near Airport Road, WhiteField and Brigade Road are also WiFi enabled.

Pune has about 16 public Wi-Fi zones. The airport is however fully Wi-Fi enabled. The PMC (Pune Municipal Corp) and Microsense have tied up to roll out India’s first city-wide WiMax network spanning a 25 kms radius. It will offer speed of 256 kbps at the rate of only Rs 250 per month.

Mumbai has about 29 hotspots, mostly in coffee bars and luxury hotels and Hyderabad has nine of them. Other Asian cities have already taken a lead with Taipei, Seoul and Tokyo having 2,751, 2,500 and 2.370 Wi-Fi hotspots.

Source : economictimes.com

Broadband Penetration to sky-rocket soon

2007-11-27T22:02:00.000-08:00

The Indian government is planning to introduce ‘broadband-over-power-lines’ (BPL) or powerband in order to boost broadband penetration and internet connectivity within residential areas throughout the country. This technology will enable fast-paced broadband internet access at residential homes.

The Indian Government’s Department of Information Technology has a separate broadband development wing and it has been in the news that the wing is making efforts to cut down the need for installing a transmitter every three meters and is scaling up the process so as to install only one transmitter every 300 to 500 meters. The DIT has received a proposal from the Delhi College of Engineering (DCE) in this regard.

Justifying the same, a DIT official said:

“We have received proposals from some of the leading technical institutions in the country in this regard and the department would allocate some funds to the institutes for carrying out the research and development work to promote broadband penetration,”

Broadband penetration through BPL lines will increase internet connectivity drastically as internet access will be now possible through ordinary power lines. The only requirement will be to plug a BPL modem within the building to be able to use broadband internet access at home.

The step taken by the government of India to spread the availability of the internet to every nook and corner of the country is extremely possible as it would definitely aid in infrastructure creation, solving of logistical problems and bottle necks, increased interaction and communication between different parts of the country which may affect business and hence directly aid economic growth.

A few things that the Government may have overlooked and needs to ensure are that:

Even if the Internet is available across the country, will there be a device available to access it on? Maybe the government should look at players like Novaltium who aim to increase PC penetration by lowering overall costs (which they plan to do by having network based CPU’s).

The government also needs to consider what kind of data transfer speeds and bandwidth speeds can be supported by BPL.

One also needs to consider the constancy of power cuts in our country and whether these power cuts would result in ‘Internet cuts’ as well (my guess is that they probably will think about this first).

The Department of Information Technology (DIT) needs to consider a few questions before they go ahead with the plan:

While using the existing infrastructure to help boost internet penetration is a commendable idea, the DIT can also look at other alternatives such as Wi – Max which has a point to point range of up to 400 km. To then make wi – max accessible (as most PC’s today do not have Wi – Max cards), the Wi – Max waves can be converted to Wi – Fi at the point of usage. Granted that there are a few concerns about the stability of Wi – Max, it is quite clear that it is the technology of the future with respect to Wireless Networking. One may even find that as the technology matures, it would become more cost effective than the plan that the DIT currently wishes to pursue.

Broadband Growth for Oct. 2007

2007-11-27T21:48:00.000-08:00

Broadband (≥ 256 Kbps download) Growth: Total Broadband subscribers base reaches 2.69 million by the end of October 2007 as against 2.67 million by the end of September 2007.
The broadband subscribers growth is shown below:

Source : http://www.trai.gov.in/trai/upload/PressReleases/511/pr22nov07no96.pdf

Broadband hurdle for spectrum-seekers

2007-11-20T01:39:00.000-08:00

NEW DELHI: Companies wanting a piece of the telecom spectrum pie may have an additional conditionality to deal with. The department of telecommunications (DoT) is planning to include the broadband consumer base of a service provider as a criterion for allocating spectrum. This is being done to help the country achieve the target of 20 million broadband connections by 2010.

“Under the new conditions, existing broadband service providers may be required to increase the number of their subscribers by a certain limit apart from improving the condition of their services,” a government source said. He, however, added that the modalities have not yet been finalised.

The government had set a target of achieving nine million broadband connections by the end of 2007 but it was missed by a big margin. At present, the number of broadband connections in the country is hovering at about three million. In fact, there has been a slowdown in the number of new consumer additions. The addition during the April-September period this year was only 3.3 lakh as compared to 4.7 lakh during the same period last year, according to data available with the Telecom Regulatory authority of India (TRAI).

The government is also planning to release additional spectrum for services like WiMax which is expected to play a key role in boosting broadband penetration and providing services such as e-governance, e-health and e-education in India. The technology would also help increase the penetration of mobile voice and video services as these services are mostly dependent on broadband wireless technologies such as WiMax.

Additional spectrum is also required for the effective implementation of the next generation network (NGN) programme announced by the tlecommunication Minister A Raja last month. NGN aims at achieving seamless convergence of voice, video and data by deploying Internet Protocol-based packet switched networks, which would be capable of providing new services at affordable prices.

If DoT makes it a criteria to increase broadband penetration, chances of new players getting spectrum allocation would become even more weak. The Telecom Regulatory authority of India (TRAI) has also suggested that the existing players should get a preference in spectrum allocation.

There are around 40 applicants who have applied for spectrum allocation including newcomers like DLF, Unitech and Indiabulls.

BSNL to float Rs 4k-cr tenders for WiMax

2007-11-19T04:52:00.000-08:00

KOLKATA: Telecom major Bharat Sanchar Nigam (BSNL) is all set to float two tenders with cumulative value of Rs 4,000 crore for rolling out WiMax in the country within two months. While the first tender of Rs 2,000 crore for launching WiMax in rural India will be floated next week, the one for urban India will be floated within two months.

Worldwide Interoperability for Microwave Access or WiMax in short, is a telecommunications technology aimed at providing wireless data over long distances in a variety of ways. It allows a user to browse the internet on a laptop computer without physically connecting the laptop to a router, hub or switch via an ethernet cable.

Confirming the development, BSNL chief general manager (Calcutta) SK Chakravarti said, “The project for setting up WiMax in rural India will be funded out of the Universal Service Obligation fund and it will initially cover 25,000 villages. The project includes offering broadband connection through this WiMax network in 40,000-odd primary and secondary schools by 2008. Additionally, BSNL will set up 50,000 WiMax kiosks. The entire set of service will at least be on 2.5G technology.”

“The second tender valued at Rs 2,000 crore will cover 70 cities including Kolkata and it will be floated within the next two months. Equipment for setting up network in the cities will, however, be funded by BSNL itself. We hope to start offering the service in cities by the end of 2008,” he said. Digressing to broadband speed, Mr Chakravarti said,

“BSNL is also working on a project to offer at least 100 mbps of broadband speed for all. Currently, it is about 2 mbps. This will be done in stages where in the first stage fibre lines to the nodes will be converted to fibre optics.

In the second stage, the plan is to offer fibre to premises and this will allow 100 mbps. We hope to achieve this in the next two and half years.”

Talking about the current waiting list for new broadband connections, Mr Chakravarti said: “There are about 9,000 applicants waiting currently. We hope to bring down the waiting period from three months to about two weeks soon. The delay was the result of exhausted capacity for 1.5 lakh connections.”

Currently, we are in the process of installing additional capacity and the waiting list will come down”.

Source:economictimes.com

Airtel changes name of broadband & telephone services unitAirtel changes name of broadband & telephone services unit

2007-11-18T07:41:00.000-08:00

NEW DELHI: Bharti Airtel, the country's biggest telecom player, has changed the name of its broadband and telephone services unit to 'Telemedia Services' as it gears to launch internet television and DTH operations.

"The change of name is in line with our strategic intent to change the face of this business with the advent of media and SMB solutions," Bharti Airtel CEO and President Manoj Kohli said in a statement.

This name change is in line with Bharti Airtel's growing focus on new media solutions and its foray into IPTV and DTH businesses. The Direct-To-Home (DTH) business, broadband and voice business among others would now form the clear thrust areas for telemedia services.

With this move, Bharti Airtel is poised to play on all the three screens mobile, PC and TV. The soon-to-be launched IPTV and DTH initiatives will help the organisation fortify its offerings in the infotainment domain, the statement said.

The creation of Telemedia Services will support Bharti Airtel's transition towards high customer-focus by its alignment along product, customer and functional verticals, it said.

Source:economictimes.com

India To Auction Wireless Broadband Spectrum

2007-11-13T01:46:00.001-08:00

The Indian government is not very pleased with the allegation that the government is ignoring broadband in India. Telecom minister A.Raja said that releasing spectrum for broadband wireless access might help bridge the gulf between the governments promise of 20 million subs by 2010, and the woeful situation of not even 3 million subs as 2007 (ironically, the Year of Broadband) draws to a close. The government has issued guidelines for BWA services, looking to address the lack of broadband in rural areas:

Spectrum in the 2.5 GHz band is going to be auctioned, limited, however to only Category A ISPs, state owned telcos BSNL and MTNL, and Universal Access Service Licence holders (mostly, private telecom operators). The base price of the auction will be 25 percent of amount for 3G spectrum, and there’s annual charge of 0.5 percent of Adjusted Gross Revenue (AGR), which may be revised to 1 percent after 3 years. There are rollout obligations, no mergers or reselling of spectrum is permitted. [release]

Frankly, broadband is not 3G or akin the same as mobile telephony, so a similar set of guidelines should not have been set. While prevention of hoarding of spectrum (and licences) is welcome, broadband is a business most operators are struggling with. Rollout obligations - particularly in case of a costly rural rollout - coupled with a price discovery mechanism like auctions, might not find many takers, apart from large telecom operators who are willing to take a punt on wireless broadband.

Broadband Pipedream: 2 yrs, 2.3m connections & hardly counting

2007-11-11T23:18:00.000-08:00

India’s experience with broadband is a bit like the cricket team. Both look better on paper. Both have more potential than performance. And both have enormous money riding on them. This year may have been declared the year of broadband by the government, but in every other way, the targets look as distant now as they have been in past two years. Consider this: in 2005, the government announced a broadband subscriber target of 3 million. Two years on, it’s still a target.

According to the latest figures, India has just 2.3 million broadband subscribers. That translates into a 0.2% broadband penetration compared to 19.6% in the US, 20% in the UK and 32% in smaller countries such as Denmark and Iceland. Significantly, India has 39.5 million wireline telephone subscribers compared to Denmark’s little over 3 million. But broadband rollout — now a popular economic indicator — continues to be negligible.

If that sounds damning, there’s more. India stands right at the bottom on a list of 34 countries published by OECD. The list ranks countries in terms of the number of broadband subscribers per 100 people. This, despite all the noise around telecom and IT growth in India.

So, has broadband not taken off in India? The reasons are many — from the high cost of PCs to the lack of content to the failure to make BSNL share its copper infrastructure with others. But the biggest bottleneck is the total lack of vision on part of the department of telecom (DoT).

Despite having over 100 million PCs, 40 million Internet users and 70 million cable and satellite homes, broadband reaches only 2.3 million users in India.

Understandably, industry insiders pin the blame on a variety of reasons. “The unbundling of BSNL’s nationwide local loop has not happened. This is the primary need for broadband in India,” says IAMAI president Subho Ray. “The second biggest need is to make sure the universal service obligation fund (USOF) is allocated to all private operators, including ISPs,” he adds.

Currently, MTNL and BSNL are the only beneficiaries of USOF. Deeper broadband penetration can spiral India’s GDP growth and empower consumers beyond the metro cities.

The high cost of PCs and the lack of killer applications/content is another problem. The government’s current move to bar ISPs with a net worth of under Rs 100 crore from offering IP telephony goes against broadband penetration. Also, the current ban on allowing STD calls through net telephony is another deterrent. “Infrastructure (BSNL local loop) is not being unbundled, the regulations are so hard and the applications which can drive broadband growth don’t exist,” says Internet Service Providers Association of India president Rajesh Chharia.

http://economictimes.indiatimes.com/Under_the_spell_of_Dell/Broadband_Pipedream_2_yrs_23m_connections__hardly_counting/articleshow/2503890.cms

Not Yet a Wireless Internet Revolution

2007-10-30T02:30:00.000-07:00

A report here, at Businessweek - titled A Wireless Revolution in India, about the fact that the number of Indian users accessing the Internet via the mobile has doubled to 38 million, quoting the TRAI as a source. How much of that access is really open access to the Internet, and not to operator walled gardens like “Airtel Live” and “Reliance Mobile World”? From what I gather - a majority. All-access GPRS users in the country are pegged at between 7-9 million, and even that fell a couple of months ago after an operator repaired a hack that allowed users to access the Internet via GPRS for free. Having GPRS compatible handsets doesn’t mean that it will be used - so all those expecting a gold-rush in mobile Internet in India...hold your horses. SMS is still big. The story appears to be a follow up on another fisk-worthy story earlier at Businessweek about why number of Internet (dialup) subscribers are falling - something we’d reported as well. Same “mobile Internet” logic there. However, I remain more bullish on wireless Internet than wireline because of serious service quality issues.

Source: contentSutra.com

Wireless Broadband Roundup : Indicom-NTT; RCOM-Verizon

2007-10-22T05:49:00.000-07:00

-- Tata Indicom has tied up with Japan based NTT to allow NTT subscribers to use Indicom’s WiFi network in India. Indicom already provides a similar service to roaming subscribers of Singapore based Starhub. Indicom has over 350 WiFi hotspots in India, and has plans to increase that number to 1000. One can only hope that their WiFi works better than their broadband or their data card service. [via release]

-- Reliance Communications has tied up with Verizon (NYSE: VZ) to allow subscribers access to the Internet while traveling in the US. The company plans to expand services to Canada and Latin America, followed by Japan, South Korea and China. [via ToI]

Broadband Growth

2007-10-22T00:15:00.000-07:00

Total Broadband subscribers base reaches 2.67 million by the end of September 2007. During September 2007 there is an addition of 0.11 million Broadband connections. The addition during six months (from April to September) in 2007 is 0.33 million as compared to 0.47 million during the corresponding period in the previous year.

Source : http://www.trai.gov.in/trai/upload/PressReleases/506/pr22oct07no91.pdf

Presentation on Spectrum

2007-10-21T23:21:00.001-07:00

Click here to view the presentation.

BSNL WiMax Network + Motorola

2007-10-16T22:14:00.000-07:00

While BSNL is planning to use the WiMax network for its ambitious 50,000 kiosk project, Motorola is planning to make a comeback as wirless giant in the US. BSNL is a truly government organization with several layers of fat making it difficult to move briskly. BSNL has the largest network in India and can very easily use to build broadband kiosks rather then waiting for policies and floating tenders around. Latest, feedback about Reliance WiMax is not very encouraging. [On the Forum, their seems to be a problem with DHCP servers and Reliance folks for some reason don’t fix it and consumers are down with internet for more than week]

Om Malik has an interview with P. Warrior, CTO of Motorola on the road ahead for WiMax. Though WiMax can deliver higher speeds than other wireless technologies, it is unable to keep the same throughput when tested under mobility. Voice over WiMax may be a distant dream.

Broadband loses speed

2007-10-16T06:12:00.000-07:00

A consumer recently complained that his broadband speed continues to be lower than claimed in the plan and brochures. He opted for it in February. “Everytime I lodge a complaint with the customer service staff, the same is closed without resolution,’’ he says. Another consumer says his broadband works less than 5% of the time. Yet another has not got his connection in the first place- he’s been waiting for almost a year.

Despite Telecom Regulatory Authority of India’s (TRAI) quality of service regulations, complaints of this nature keep pouring in. TRAI chairman Nripendra Misra admits, “There is tremendous scope for improvement in broadband services to consumers.’’

As Pritee Shah of Ahmedabad’s Consumer Education & Research Centre, who herself faced a broadband breakdown during a weekend, says, “Broadband providers don’t give a guarantee for speed in writing. This needs to be questioned.’’

On its part, TRAI has mandated service providers to give a testing link in their websites where a customer can test the speed. “It must be (at least) 80% of the prescribed limit,’’ says a TRAI official.

The official and Rajesh Chharia, president at Internet Service Providers’ Association of India (ISPAI), however, add that speed also depends on the PC, modem and the visited sites. They advise consumers to check whether their PC is virus-free. Shah though says, “These are standard answers.’’

The TRAI official draws attention to the fact that while bandwidth utilisation should not cross 90% of the total capacity, some have reached 92-94%. “Service providers have promised to improve it in the coming quarter.’’

To gauge consumer satisfaction, Consumer Voice of Delhi is independently conducting its own mobile and internet quality of service survey in the four metros. Its report will be ready in the next two months. “Broadband will penetrate very fast. And once that happens, the quality of service (issue) will have to be addressed,’’ says Voice’s Sri Ram Khanna.

TRAI’s Quality of Service of Broadband Service Regulations, 2006, specify that a connection must be activated within 15 working days, subject to technical feasibility. In case a service provider expects delay in activation, Chharia says, the applicant must be immediately informed.

If the consumer has already paid for the connection and yet the activation gets delayed, TRAI guidelines state, “A credit at the rate of Rs 10 per day, subject to a maximum installation charge or equivalent usage allowance shall be given to the customer, at the time of issue of first bill.”

Fault repair and restoration time must not cross three working days. Faults pending for 15 days would draw a rebate equivalent to one month of minimum monthly charge or equivalent usage allowance. The regulations also state that billing complaints should be under 2% per 100 bills and all resolutions must happen within four weeks. Refund of deposit after closure must take place within 60 days. Yet, the above-mentioned cases remain unresolved.

Delhi To Try WiFi Mesh Network

2007-10-16T03:33:00.000-07:00

The Delhi government is planning to install a WiFi mesh network for providing wireless internet connectivity in Delhi, reports CIOL. They’re considering public-private partnerships for shops, marketplaces offices etc in Rajiv Chowk (Connought Place), South Extension and the computer peripherals hub - Nehru Place. The WiFi Zones will be established though public-private partnership. Not that it’s going to happen anytime soon. Last year, there was a story in ET, as per which Connought Place was to be WiFi’ed with free access by Jan 1 2007. That’s the story of broadband in India—all talk very little implementation. WiFi mesh networks have been installed successfully in the hilly town of Dharamsala by a voluntary organization - Air Jaldi. One criticism of mesh networks that I’ve heard is that they’re likely to be far less reliable in a city environment. The spectrum, however, is free.
Do check out the WiFi in India report.

OLPC being piloted in India with Reliance-ADA Group; XO Priced At $220

2007-10-15T05:58:00.000-07:00

This comes as a bit of a surprise: the One Laptop Per Child Project (OLPC) project has been launched in India, after reports of having been rejected by the Indian government last year. The first pilot of the XO laptop is supposed to be in tribal village at Khairat (near Karjat, Maharashtra), and by March 2008, the project intends to cover more than 25,000 towns and 60,000 villages. Readers should remember that though the XO laptop has been spoken about as the “$100 laptop”, that pricing is based on large orders. Currently, it’s priced at $220 (around Rs. 8,800).

This time around, instead of approaching the government, the OLPC project has got the support of the Reliance Anil Dhirubhai Ambani Group (R-ADAG), which is providing Internet connectivity for the laptop, and - more importantly - has taken on the mandate of involving governments for creating a successful ecosystem for the project. It is crucial for the OLPC project to get large orders from governments in order to achieve the scale for bringing the price of the laptop down to $100...this pilot appears to be an attempt to woo the Indian government. For the Internet industry in India, anything that gets more Indian eyeballs online is a welcome - whether the OLPC project or Novatium’s NetPC. Mobile still seems to be the pervasive solution, if you ask me.

Source:contentSutra.com