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
Friday, March 14, 2008
Jaipur to be Wifi City in 1 Year
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
Thursday, March 13, 2008
Delhi metro stations to be Wi-Fi enabled before Commonwealth Games
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
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
Monday, March 10, 2008
Is Your Net Connection Painfully Slow?? Welcome To India!
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
Wednesday, March 5, 2008
AT&T to increase investment in India to enhance physical infra
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
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
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
“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
Friday, February 29, 2008
Data centres, broadband kiosks seen positive for telcos
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
"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
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