DSL / Cable Broadband

Sterlite – OFC & Network Technology Play for the 5G Revolution

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Vedanta group company Sterlite Technologies has over the years transformed from a pure play OFC (Optical Fiber Cable) manufacturer into a Network Solutions provider. The company now has 4 verticals – optical products (optical fibre, specialty cables), virtualised access products (programmable FTTx, virtualised RAN), network software (operating software and business software systems) and system integration services (network design and fibre rollout services). Sterlite’s manufacturing facility span across Asia, Europe and South America. It’s Software Innovation centers are all located in India.

Sterilte’s specialty cable capacity has gone up from 8m to 18m of cables and OFC capacity has scaled from 20m kms of fibre to 50m kms. In India you have seen the evolution from telecom to digital services after moving rapidly, from 2G/3G to now 4G. The industry will undergo further transformation, where apart from voice and data there is a new requirement of

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Airtel gets Serious on 4G / Home Broadband after Jio OnSlaught

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Bharti Airtel’s operating performance improved progressively through the quarter. Smartphone sales (slowdown impacted 4G adoption) are now back to pre-Covid levels. Local and district-level lockdowns continues to cause minor disruptions. However, the management is not seeing any further erosion in its customer base.

Management said that the current tariffs are still at low levels. They have guided for ARPUs to move to Rs200 in the short term and Rs300 in the medium term. Besides tariff hikes, ARPU increase will also be driven by increase in share of 4G subscribers (better mix). Management did not comment on the exact timing for tariff increase. Secondly, the company believes that the current data allowances are way too generous and price architecture needs to

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Internet in India – From Access to Transactions

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India had the third largest (243.2mn) number of internet users in the world in 2014. The pace accelerated over 2015 with 375mn user base in October 2015, according to a joint report by internet and Mobile Association of India (IAMAI), an industry body and IMRB, a market research agency. It is projected to reach 402mn, ahead of the US though behind China, by December 2015.

While the base and growth in internet users has been impressive, the penetration rate performance has been tepid relative to that in the US and China. We believe India

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Why India may bypass G.fast and Vplus broadband in Favor of FTTH ?

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Broadband in IndiaG.fast and Vplus (also known as 35MHz technology and super-vectoring) are two new technologies that will allow incumbent operators to deliver ultrafast 200Mbps+ broadband speeds using existing copper lines. Both technologies use existing fibre to the cabinet networks but enable the utilisation of a wider frequency band down the copper line from the cabinet to the home to achieve greater capacity and faster speeds. FTTH could be the best infrastructure for long-term future demands, but G.fast and Vplus could enable the postponement of FTTH spend for a decade or more where there are substantial number of DSL Subscribers on Copper Telecom Network.

Need for High DSL Broadband Speed

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Network Services: Exponential Data Boom for Tata Communications

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Tata Communications’ Network Services include dedicated point-to-point connectivity (IPL or NPL), IP-based internet connectivity and multi-location connectivity through Virtual Private Networks (VPN). The network service business derived significant benefits from exponential growth in internet traffic. However, due to significant fall in delivery price, the overall network business managed to report mere 12% CAGR over FY10-14. VPN business (less sensitive to pricing pressure) reaped the benefit of higher penetration of remote infrastructure management and cloud computing and

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Broadband Development Under NaMo – DoT Secretary

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Mr M. F. Farooqui, Secretary, Department of Telecom met Analysts and was very optimistic in his views about the Telecom sector messed up by Sonia Gandhi led Congress Government in the last 10 years. Policy making, as well as implementation, is likely to be quicker under the new government, and decisions can be expected to be loud and clear, as per Mr Farooqui.

Broadband Bonanza likely to happen as Mr. Farooqui pointed out,

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Will Internet Economics in US Shift from Content Aggregrators to Carriers ?

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US FTTH RolloutToday, most US households have access to one or two wireline broadband providers. This suggests owners of last-mile infrastructure enjoy a favorable competitive position other segments of the video value chain. However, there are four potential rival technologies that could upset the status quo: 1) Fiber-to-the-home (Google), 2) Next Generation Satellite (EchoStar/ViaSat), 3) Fixed Wireless (Dish Network) and 4) Next Generation Wireless (Sprint). In this note, we explore FTTH economics. Verizon FiOS has built fiber to about 15% of US households. In these markets a new FTTH builder would likely achieve 33%

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200 Mn Internet Users with 55 Mn Subscribers – End of 2013

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India InternetIndia currently has 200 mn+ Internet users growing at 4 mn per month. This compares to 106 mn at end-June 2011. Active users would be around 170 mn. At the end of 2013, India has 55 Mn Broadband subscribers [Speed > 512 Kbps]. However, the real opportunity lies in the mobile area where the number of people who access the Internet through mobile handsets is 130 mn (December 2013). This would rise to 185 mn by June 2014. The number of rural subscribers has gone up to 27 mn as of December 2013 from 4 mn as of June 2012. The increasing affordability of smartphones is driving mobile Internet penetration. Also, given broadband plans are more affordable now, 3G users will rise to 175 mn by 2015 versus 50 mn currently.

Online e-Commerce and Productivity in India
28% of all travel is booked online. 7% of bank users in India access their accounts online. 25% of IT returns are filed online. 47% of classifieds business

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Tata Communications launches Exchange for OTT Mobile Apps Service

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WEChat - Monetization RealityTata Communications, a leading provider international Bandwidth like Flag Telecom, has launched its Mobile Messaging Exchange service. The exchange will enable Over-the-top (OTT) providers [Wechat, WhatsApp, etc] and SMS aggregators to connect to a large community of MNOs globally, while allowing MNOs to monetize the SMS traffic with an added layer of security. This service provides a mutually favourable and profitable solution for all the stakeholders in the value chain.

The new Mobile Messaging Exchange stands to create an effective ecosystem built on efficiency, trust and transparency. It will not only bridge the user communities served by the OTT and SMS aggregators, who want to reach more mobile subscribers, but also MNOs, who want to

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Tata Communications Neotel sale a high probability

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Neotel BroadbandVodacom has entered into exclusive discussions to acquire a 100% stake in Tata Communications subsidiary, Neotel. Neotel is the second fixed-line operator in the South African market and caters to carrier and enterprise demand with a 7% market share in FY13. TCom owns a 67.3% stake in Neotel as at FY3/13. Vodacom, which is majority-owned by Vodafone Plc, is a mobile operator in South Africa and four other African countries.

Neotel has the assets that would interest Vodacom’s

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