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Transforming Gradually

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Voice&Data Bureau
New Update

With upcoming services like 3G and WiMax, wireless technology seems to be
attracting a major part of the wireline market share. Mobile technology has
become more capable of supporting higher bandwidths optimally, and of late 3G
and 4G have become popular. However, whether it is 4G or 5G, the thrust remains
on being able to provide more bandwidth on wireless. 3G, 4G or any other
wireless technologies are still nowhere comparable to wireline in terms of
bandwidth or capability on broadband and IPTV.

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For example, in wireline we are already talking about speeds of 100 Mbps for
consumers. In video communications, the average per consumer requirement for
IPTV ranges from 3-4 Mbps for normal standard definition TV, to about 8 Mbps on
HDTV. Enabling such dedicated per consumer bandwidths on any wireless technology
in today's date is an uphill task.

Market analysis reflects the moderate increase of wireline services because
of its ability to offer an unmatched bundled portfolio of broadband, IPTV, and
video communications.

Technologies

Convergence of services needs more bandwidth; and video communications would
be a major growth factor. Video communication as a two-way long distance
communication is an interesting aspect because till sometime back, people used
to believe IPTV would need broadband as a prerequisite. Technically, that still
holds true; however now, we believe that IPTV will emerge as a driver of
broadband, instead of being just a subset of broadband. There may actually be
users willing to take IPTV without using data because they don't have a PC. So,
IPTV will turn out to be a driver for broadband in India.

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Expert Panel

Vish Iyer, VP, SP, India & SAARC, Cisco

Virin Dhir, president, corporate initiatives, Aksh Optifibre

Vijay Yadav, MD, UTStarcom

Apart from IPTV, deployment of fiber based networks like FTTH to deliver 1GB
or 10GB as per the requirement would also find wider acceptance in the coming
future.

MTNL has been using fiber as the backbone for all layouts for the past three
years. From the perspective of an ISP, it is always a good investment to put
money in fiber optics. Using fiber optics, an Internet infrastructure would
require a lower maintenance than a copper wire infrastructure, since fibers are
much stronger. One of the developments of the country is the commercial launch
of FTTH.

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Innovations like FTTH, FTTX are important for certain markets. However, these
technologies are not so relevant from the Indian market perspective, since
operators here need approvals from various municipal bodies for wireline
infrastructure deployments, which is a huge challenge. Most private operators in
India have put a hold on their FTTH wireline deployments.

BRAS as a technology had been around for some time, mainly because broadband
network has been around for long even though a majority of the broadband
networks deployed earlier were based on the copper infrastructure.

Wireline vs Wireless

Wireline infrastructure is facing stiff competition from wireless infrastructure
as far as fixed line voice is concerned. Consumers are increasingly migrating to
mobile phones and not finding enough value in fixed line.

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The growth of wireless services has been substantial, with wireless
subscribers growing at a compound annual growth rate of 60% per annum, since
2004.

However as far as fixed line data (Internet) is concerned, consumers are
still retaining their DSL or cable connection. The high speed and quality that
they can avail through wireline connection is not possible through wireless.

Wireless technologies still have a long way to go in terms of bandwidth or
capability on broadband and IPTV. Further, mobile IPTV is another emerging area
where home wired IPTV would be far bigger than mobile IPTV.

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Emerging Demands

Enterprises nowadays are looking for connectivity combined with flexibility.
Depending upon their business expansion plans, enterprises demand is to be able
to size their communication or connectivity accordingly. For example, an
enterprise wants to start a new office in a new location in a month, the service
provider should be able to facilitate the relocation of the infrastructure with
little hassle and increase or decrease the communications requirement as per the
demand of the business at a later stage.

Besides flexibility in connectivity, enterprises are also demanding
flexibility in configuration, which means while services continue to be
provided, enterprises now want themselves to control user rights of
communications, centrally.

Moreover, enterprises are looking at future-proof infrastructure and as a
result, we are seeing a surge in demand for fiber networks, amongst enterprises.
A quantum growth utilization of the existing copper lines to deploy more
broadband by way of ADSL 2+ technology is taking place. Apart from that we could
see faster adoption of new fiber based technologies delivering 1 GB to 10 GB
where GEPON is the available option.

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For any broadband network that is deployed we are able to deliver voice,
video, and data on the IP network. So essentially all three services on a
broadband IP network is something that UTStarcom enables and that makes for
their USP.

The biggest concern for the wireline infrastructure is speed. The bandwidth
needs of enterprises are multiplying; they are increasingly using video-centric
applications which require greater speed. However, their budgets are not
multiplying, and hence to invest in a new architecture to address their
requirements is becoming a challenge for them.

Challenges

Amongst the major challenges is the fact that the number of wirelines that
are actually capable of delivering a bandwidth of more than 2 Mbps are very few.

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New lines need to be laid to drive growth of wireline broadband and IPTV in
the country. Of the available 40 mn wirelines, very few are capable of
delivering 2-4 Mbps bandwidths, which is the basic requirement for IPTV. It's
not always easy to find the right of way and lay a wireline, which is one of the
biggest challenges. Technologies like GEPON with capability of 10GB and 64-128
splits will play a major role.

CIO Concerns

  • High definition content
  • Better video services
  • Capex to migrate to new technologies
  • Simplicity and QoS on final services
  • Complexity in managing networks
  • Government regulations
  • Pricing for broadband services

Cable operators are also challenged to deliver cable-centric/cable-friendly
FTTH technology that does not require the significant changes to back office and
network infrastructure necessary with earlier FTTH cable architectures.

The Roadmap

While the Indian telecom industry has almost 300 mn plus fixed line
subscribers, the most untapped market still remains the 60% rural and semi-urban
population. The emergence of broadband with new technologies like IPTV, VoIP,
etc, will boost the growth of wireline infrastructure.

While the wireless segment is surrounded by impending spectrum and 3G issues,
for service providers it makes important to provide ubiquitous technology at
affordable prices , and at the same time make marginal revenues. India is a
largely unpredictable market. With spectrum issues playing havoc in the wireless
segment, operators are still unclear on the broadband roadmap. With cheaper
options like WiMax Rev E available in the market, wireline, with its higher QoS
option, is an opportunity yet to be tapped.

In order to support fast connections and high bandwidth, it is imperative to
have wireline infrastructure. The government's focus on e-education and
e-medicine services in rural areas, broadband is one technology which would play
a crucial role in enabling this growth.

Additionally, with Internet banking, e-commerce, matrimonial portals, and
e-ticketing (railways and airline) growing in tier-2 and tier-3 towns, end users
are looking at adopting broadband in a big way. Similarly, in rural areas, the
emphasis is on providing several applications to improve the living standards of
this segment. There is a focus on providing e-gov, e-education, and e-medicine
applications to remote rural areas, and broadband is the key technology that can
make this happen.

Archana Singh

archanasi@cybermedia.co.in

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