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
Friday, April 4, 2008
Tuesday, April 1, 2008
Nokia Siemens Networks bags broadband contract from BSNL
NEW DELHI: Nokia Siemens Networks (NSN), which had earlier bagged a greenfield rural tender from BSNL to deploy broadband access across 7,000 villages, has got its contract extended to cover deployment in 25,000 villages. This marks the third broadband contract that BSNL has awarded to Nokia Siemens Networks.
The company is also parallely deploying the urban broadband access for BSNL across 20 circles. For BSNL, the deployment of the NSN multi play solutions, will allow it to deliver cost effective high speed internet access and virtual private networks among others services to its customers. The network will also enable BSNL to provide connectivity to CSCs (Community Service Centres) and other e-governance locations.
India has approximately 3.4 million broad connections, of which 1.7 million connections are provided by BSNL. With the expansion of broadband density in urban and rural areas using ADSL2+ technology, BSNL plans make more than 25000 villages broadband enabled shortly.
“Partnering with Nokia Siemens Networks would give BSNL an edge over other broadband services providers as it would be the first to cover rural areas on such a wide scale”, BSNL’s chairman and managing director Kuldeep Goyal said in a statement. “With high speed Internet service of BSNL, the rural broadband project is suitably poised to bridge digital divide and connect more than 25,000 villages in India by delivering high speed broadband services”, he added.
As part of the contract, Nokia Siemens Networks is deploying its Gigabit Ethernet-capable IP DSLAMs SURPASS hiX5625 (Digital Subscriber Line Access Multiplexers) and chassis based access switch (SURPASS hiD6615). Nokia Siemens Networks will also supply customer premises equipment that will enable BSNL to provide speeds of up to 8 Mbps using ADSL2+ for its subscribers over its existing copper infrastructure.
The company is also parallely deploying the urban broadband access for BSNL across 20 circles. For BSNL, the deployment of the NSN multi play solutions, will allow it to deliver cost effective high speed internet access and virtual private networks among others services to its customers. The network will also enable BSNL to provide connectivity to CSCs (Community Service Centres) and other e-governance locations.
India has approximately 3.4 million broad connections, of which 1.7 million connections are provided by BSNL. With the expansion of broadband density in urban and rural areas using ADSL2+ technology, BSNL plans make more than 25000 villages broadband enabled shortly.
“Partnering with Nokia Siemens Networks would give BSNL an edge over other broadband services providers as it would be the first to cover rural areas on such a wide scale”, BSNL’s chairman and managing director Kuldeep Goyal said in a statement. “With high speed Internet service of BSNL, the rural broadband project is suitably poised to bridge digital divide and connect more than 25,000 villages in India by delivering high speed broadband services”, he added.
As part of the contract, Nokia Siemens Networks is deploying its Gigabit Ethernet-capable IP DSLAMs SURPASS hiX5625 (Digital Subscriber Line Access Multiplexers) and chassis based access switch (SURPASS hiD6615). Nokia Siemens Networks will also supply customer premises equipment that will enable BSNL to provide speeds of up to 8 Mbps using ADSL2+ for its subscribers over its existing copper infrastructure.
Intel develops platform to boost Wi-Fi antenna's range to 60 miles
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.
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.
Thursday, March 27, 2008
Indian WiFi Market To Boom By 2012!
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.
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
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
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
Monday, March 24, 2008
Wi-Fi market in India to touch $891mn mark by 2011-12: Study
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
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
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
Source : http://www.trai.gov.in/trai/upload/PressReleases/549/pr24mar08no27.pdf
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