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Accelerating the Pace

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VoicenData Bureau
New Update

Though there has been a lot of discussion on broadband, the penetration

remains dismally low. Just a look at the figures and the poor situation of

broadband becomes clear-at the end of last January, India had just 3.4 mn

broadband subscribers, far short of the 9 mn target set by the government last

year. Declaring 2007 as the 'Year of Broadband' also did not improve the

situation much.

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To discuss the issues and concerns related to the broadband scenario in

India, industry experts from enterprises across verticals came together and

graced the events organized by VOICE&DATA in New Delhi and Mumbai.

The first event took place in New Delhi, where experts discussed the aspects

of cost-effective broadband solutions that could help India to leapfrog in

broadband penetration. The discussion panel included Naresh Ajwani, president,

Consumer Infrastructure and Operations, Sify Technologies; Brajesh Chandra Jain,

president, ISP Division, Punj Lloyd; Kuldeep Singh, director, Technical, MTNL;

TV Sriram, VP, Technology, Bharti Airtel; ANJ Aradhya, Broadband, BSNL; HS Sai,

CIO, Thomson Press; Shantigram Jagannath, VP, Airvana Networks, and Tarvinder

Singh, head, Marketing and Product Management, Home and Networks Mobility,

Motorola.

Delivering the keynote, RN Prabhakar, member, Trai, said that broadband

exploitation could help India become a truly competitive knowledge-based

economy. “The power of the Internet has brought greater awareness of skills and

resources, helping Indian markets reach a diverse global audience. The only

concern is that it has been confined mainly to major cities and a small group of

the population,” Prabhakar said.

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All Set (L-R): Panelists of

Broadband Summit 08, including Shantigram Jagannath, Airvana Networks; HS

Sai, Thomson Press; TV Sriram, Bharti Airtel; Tarvinder Singh, Motorola;

Vikram Tiwathia, Moderator; BC Jain, ISP Division, Punj Lloyd; Naresh Ajwani,

Sify; Kuldeep Singh, MTNL; and ANJ Aradhya, BSNL, in Delhi

He further said, “If the fruits of broadband have to reach the common masses,

various applications and contents have to be developed to suit their

requirements. It is essential on the part of service and content providers to

take initiatives for speedy growth of broadband in the days to come. Another

alternative for increasing broadband penetration at an affordable cost is the

wireless network. A major hurdle in the rollout of wireless broadband services

is the availability of spectrum.”

According to TV Sriram, VP, Technology, Bharti Airtel, “The broadband demand

in India is really huge. The concepts of e-banking and e-ticketing are getting a

momentum where people really don't need to waste their precious time by standing

in long queues.”

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On the need of substantial improvement on the service level, Kuldeep Singh,

director, Technical, MTNL, said, “Broadband is a much complex service. If many

people access a server that you are accessing, you may not get the requisite

speed. It also depends upon the content provider and even the PC that one is

using. Nothing can be done in a day or two. Most customers are quite happy with

the services we offered and we will certainly improve further.”

“There are a bunch of killer applications for broadband that need to be

popularized among the masses to generate more demand among the consumer,” said

Brajesh Chandra Jain, president, ISP division, Spectranet, a division of Punj

Lloyd.

Highlighting the issues related to spectrum, Tarvinder Singh, head, Marketing

and Product Management, Home and Networks Mobility, Motorola, said that the need

for a universally harmonized spectrum with adequate bandwidth that could open

standards interoperability would increase over the time. These benefits, coupled

with volumes, can drive down costs through higher levels of competition.

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“A major hurdle in the rollout

of wireless broadband services is the availability of spectrum”

RN Prabhakar, member, Trai

“If we compare ourselves with a

country like China, we will realize that we are nowhere”

Sukanta Dey, head, Emerging Business

Unit, Tata Teleservices

HS Sai, CIO, Thomson Press, said: “Quality of service is more important than

anything else, content is also going to play a major role in the success of

broadband penetration.”

The events saw presentations from Dr Shantigram Jagannath. He showed his

concern on security issues. “Security is a big issue for any kind of

communication. It is imperative that all measures should be adopted to guarantee

the security of one's communication,” he said.

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According to ANJ Aradhya, Broadband, BSNL, “There should be a clear focus on

the future of broadband. No doubt, the demand is growing but we should also

understand that there are places where it is not saturated up to a certain

extent.”

Naresh Ajwani, president, Consumer Infrastructure and Operations, Sify

Technologies, said: “Any technology that can deliver cost-effective solutions is

important and creates interest among the masses. There is a need to create a

business model in such a way that it could help the Aam admi in a better way.”

Mumbai



Much like the Delhi event, the Mumbai event, too, saw a strong panel

discussion from across the industry verticals that drew the attention on the

broadband scenario.

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The panelists included Makarand Pawar, GM, VAS and New Technologies, Idea

Cellular; Naresh Ajwani, president, Consumer Infrastructure and Operations, Sify

Technologies; Pradeep Dwivedi, VP, Marketing and Product management, TTSL; Arun

Gupta, Group CTO, Shopper's Stop; Tarun Pandey, CTO, ING Investment Management;

Dr Shantigram Jagannath, VP and MD, Airvana Networks India; and Mohd Arif, VP,

Reliance Communications.

Sukanta Dey, who heads the Emerging Business Unit at Tata Teleservices,

delivered the keynote and threw light on the current market scenario of

broadband in India. “We have around 220 mn households in India-150 mn in rural

areas and 70 mn in urban areas. If we compare ourselves with a country like

China, we will realize that we are nowhere.”

Commenting on the benchmarks for deploying the technology, Makarand Pawar,

GM, VAS and New Technologies, Idea Cellular, said, “Technology selection has to

be driven by business objective. Every organization has some specific business

plans and strategies. The business plan has to be based on what a market segment

organization wants to go after.”

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While sharing the concerns of the main operators regarding 3G, Naresh Ajwani

said, “At some places wireless is effective and at some others fixed is more

effective. I feel a technology that supports the business model and delivers

cost-effective solutions for the customer and addresses the perception of the

consumer is the right technology.”

On concerns about broadband services, Arun Gupta, Group CTO, Shopper's Stop,

said: “For any corporate, broadband has no significance until it offers high

bandwidth and connectivity as they are looking at reliable connectivity which

could connect them across the country with the customer.”

IN PROGRESS (L-R): Tarun Pandey,

ING Investment, India; Makarand Pawar, Idea Cellular; Shantigram Jagannath,

Airvana Networks; Baburajan K, Voice&Data Naresh Ajwani, Sify; Pradeep

Dwivedi, TTSL; Arun Gupta, Shopper's Stop; Mohamed Arif, Reliance

Communications at the Broadband Summit 08 in Mumbai

Echoing similar thoughts, Tarun Pandey, CTO, ING Investment Management India,

said, “If broadband could be deployed properly, it is going to be a huge asset

for any organization. Quality of service is more important for an enterprise

rather than price. There is a strong need to have combined efforts from service

providers, regulators, and the government to improve the broadband picture in

India.”

However, Pradeep Dwivedi, VP, Marketing and Product management, TTSL,

differs. He said, “The problem is not from the government side or from the

regulatory body; it is from the service provider's side.

Mohamed Arif, VP, Reliance Communications, said, “It seems like WiMax is

going to be an appropriate solution in the Indian context. This technology is

really exciting and suits India's needs.”

The event deliberated upon purposeful outputs on the broadband picture in

India. Experts and business decision-makers said that apart from cost-effective

solutions, improvements in infrastructure, quality of service, promotion of PC

penetration, and e-governance initiatives by the government are other crucial

factors that are required for accelerating broadband growth in India. As per

experts, a major challenge for operators would be to deliver quality in the

coming years.

Jatinder Singh & Arpita Prem



jatinders@cybermedia.co.in

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