ITV

Category: Broadband

  • Insight: Significant growth in FTTH market foreseen till ’25

    MUMBAI: Fiber to the home is a communication technology which delivers the communication signal over optical fiber directly to the home from the operator’s switching equipment. Fiber to the home is replacing traditional copper infrastructures such as coaxial cables and telephone wires. At present, Fiber to the home market is in nascent stage and offers enormous advancements in bandwidth to the consumers which enables fast access to videos, voice, data and internet services. Fiber to the home technology offers high speed of network at affordable prices. Fiber to the home provides support to applications such as tele-health, community based security, social applications, art & education applications, mobility, home automation, video conferencing, online storage, property management etc.

    Fiber To The Home Market Segmentation

    Fiber to the home market can be segmented on the basis of type into Homes Passed and Homes Connected. At present, Connected Homes segment has highest market share in global Fiber to the home market. On the basis of Deployment Provider Type, the global Fiber to the home market can be segmented into Incumbent Local Exchange Carrier (ILEC), Competitive Local Exchange Carrier (CLEC), Municipality/ Publicly Owned Systems, Developer/ Integrator, Multi-system Operator (MSO) Cable and Electric Co-ops. In 2014, Incumbent Local Exchange Carrier segment represents highest market share in global fiber to the home market. Fiber to the home has many applications such as Internet Video, VoIP, File Sharing, Online Gaming, Web/ Data, Video Conferencing etc. The end users of Fiber to the home market can be classified into urban area, sub-urban area and rural area. At present, urban area segment has highest share contribution in global fiber to the home market and sub-urban area segment is expected to reflect highest growth rate over the forecast period.

    Fiber to the home Market: Region-wise Outlook

    The global Fiber to the home market is expected to witness a healthy CAGR through 2025 owing to increasing adoption of fiber to the home among telecom carriers across the globe, an FMI report stated. Regionally, the Fiber to the home market can be segmented into North America, Latin America, Western Europe, Eastern Europe, Asia-Pacific excluding Japan (APEJ), Japan and Middle East & Africa (MEA). At present, among all the regions, North America followed by Japan is expected to account for the highest share in global smart manufacturing market. Latin America and MEA regions are reflecting slow penetration as compared to other regions.

    Fiber to the home Market: Drivers

    Increasing demand of high speed network at home for accessing online entertainment, smart systems and online books, apps and music, supplemented by technological advancement and growing penetration of cloud computing, smart grids, e-learning, e-health and e-governance service across the word are expected to drive the Fiber to the home market growth between 2015 and 2025. Furthermore, FTTH Providers are continuously supporting Greenfield activity by replacing old copper wires with fiber. In addition, more number of telecom carriers have started adapting fiber to the home to offer their customers with high bandwidth to access data. However, high capital investment, stringent regulatory risks and geographic limitations are restricting the growth of global Fiber to the home market, the FMI report stated.

    Fiber to the home Market: Key Players

    The key players operating in the global Fiber to the home market includes 3M Communication Technologies, ADTRAN Inc., Huawei Technologies Co. Ltd, DASAN Networks Inc., FiberHome Networks Co. Ltd., Enablence Technologies Inc., ZTE Corporation, Mitsubishi Electric Corp., Fujikura Ltd. and Superior Essex Inc.. Major players in the market follow the strategy of introducing innovative and cost effective solution to buy out competition. In addition, strategic partnership, collaborations and joint ventures are the other major strategies followed by the Fiber to the home solution provider to outperform competitors, the FMI report added.

  • Jio Fiber & Airtel gear up for broadband plans

    MUMBAI: Reliance Jio is reportedly offering a minimum of 100Mbps for the home broadband consumers, and the plans are expected to be affordable even as Airtel introduced 250 GB free broadband data plan.

    The commercial roll out of Jio’s Fiber to the Home (FTTH) broadband service may happen in June 2017, according to a previous report in Teleanalysis.

    Reliance Jio’s Fiber Preview offer has been rolled out in some areas of Delhi-NCR, Mumbai, Ahmedabad, Surat, Jamnagar, and Vadodara. The service is set for launch in other cities in a phased format.

    In September 2016, some users had discussed how the testing had begun in select residential colonies in the city of Chennai.

    Meanwhile, Airtel has introduced 250 GB free broadband data plan for postpaid customers ahead of the Jio fibre launch.

    Airtel has come up with a promotional offer that gives 5 GB of additional data every month. The company has announced its myHOME offer which is valid for each postpaid connection and digital TV service from 1 July. As per details on the site, the customer will not incur any charges for the extra data given under this offer.

    A user can bundle up to 25 postpaid connections and 25 DTH connections with the broadband service which accounts to 250 GB of additional broadband data per month.

  • Airtel mobile & DTH subs up, Jio-hit data customers & rev drop

    BENGALURU: Saying that Bharti Airtel Limited (Airtel), once touted as the largest cellular operator in the country both in terms of revenue as well as subscriber numbers, has had a tough battle with Mukesh Dhirubhai Ambani’s Reliance Jio Infocomm would be making an understatement. Ambani’s largest startup in the world ever has given a run for the money to all its telecom and internet services provider peers in the country.

    As on 31 March 2017 (Q4-17, FY-17 – quarter and year ended 31 March 2017), the company had 273.6 million (27.36 crore) GSM customers in India as compared to 251.2 million (25.12 crore) in previous year, an increase of 8.9 percent. DTH subscribers for Airtel’s Digital TV Services segment (Airtel DTH) increased 9.3 percent to 12.815 million (1.2815 crore) at the end of the FY-17 from 11.725 million (1.1725 crore) at the end of FY-16. The company had 57.4 million (5.74 crore) data customers (21.0 percent of total customers) as on March 31, 2017, representing a decline of 1.5 percent as compared to 58.2 million (5.82 crore) (23.2 percent of total customers) at the end of the previous year.

    The total MBs on the network for the full year FY-17 increased by 47.3 percent to 733.1 billion (733,100 crore) MBs as compared to 497.7 billion (497,700 crore) MBs in the previous year. Mobile Data usage per customer for the full year FY-17 witnessed an increase of 31.0 percent to 1,049 MBs per month as compared to 801 MBs in the previous year. Data ARPU decreased by 4.5 percent to Rs 185 during Fy-17 from Rs 194 in the previous year.

    Revenue from operations (operating revenue) declined 12.1 percent year-on-year (y-o-y) to Rs 2,193.46 crore in Q4-17 from Rs 2,495.96 crore in the corresponding year ago quarter. FY-17 operating revenue declined 1.1 percent to Rs 95,468.3 crore from Rs 96532.1 crore in the previous year. PAT for Q4-17 declined 69.2 percent to Rs 470.6 percent (2.1 percent of operating revenue) from Rs 1,462 crore (5.7 percent of operating revenue) in Q4-16. PAT for FY-17 declined 38.5 percent to Rs 4,241.4 crore (4.4 percent of operating revenue) from Rs 6,893 crore (7.1 percent of operating revenue).

    In its earnings statement, Airtel’s MD and CEO, India & South Asia Gopal Vittal said, “The sustained predatory pricing by the new operator has led to a decline in revenue growth for the second quarter in a row. The telecom industry as a whole also witnessed a revenue decline for the first time ever on a full year basis. The deteriorating health of the industry was compounded by the tsunami of incoming voice traffic from the new operator as a result of which significant investments had to be made just to carry the incoming traffic on our network. The net result of this was a revenue decline of 7.1 percent in Q4 even as EBITDA margins eroded by 2.9 percent. FY-17 saw a muted top line growth of 3.6 percent vs the double digit growth witnessed in preceding years.

    Our long term commitment to provide the best experience to our customers continues to drive all our actions in every single aspect of the business. This belief coupled with brilliant execution of our people has led to acceleration in market share in an industry that is now rapidly consolidating,” he added.

    Airtel’s DTH segment reported 10.4 percent y-o-y growth in operating revenue to Rs 865.7 crore in Q4-17 from Rs 784 crore in the corresponding year ago quarter. Earnings before interest and taxes (EBIT) in Q4-17 increased 35.4 percent to Rs 97.5 crore from Rs 72 crore in Q4-16. The DTH segment’s revenue for fiscal 2017 increased 17.6 percent to Rs 3,430.6 crore as compared to Rs 2,917.8 crore in FY-16. Average revenue per customer (ARPU) in FY-17 increased to Rs 231 from Rs 226 in the previous year.

    The company’s capex in its DTH segment in FY-17 declined to less than half (declined by 52.9 percent) to Rs 138.6 crore as compared to Rs 294.3 crore in FY-16. Cumulative investments in the DTH segment at the end of FY-17 reached Rs 7,351.3 crore.

    Note: The unit of currency in this report is the Indian rupee – Rs (also conventionally represented by INR). The Indian numbering system or the Vedic numbering system has been used to denote money values. The basic conversion to the international norm would be:

    (a) 100,00,000 = 100 lakh = 10,000,000 = 10 million = 1 crore.

    (b) 10,000 lakh = 100 crore = 1 arab = 1 billion…

  • Restoring Net freedom: FCC seeks public participation

    MUMBAI: With the opening of a new proceeding on Restoring Internet Freedom, the Commission (FCC) anticipates significant public engagement and a high volume of filings. The Consumer and Governmental Affairs Bureau provides this guidance to facilitate public participation and to make commenting easy:

    “Those who wish to file individual comments may submit them electronically via the Electronic Comment Filing System (ECFS) at https://www.fcc.gov/ecfs/. However, we anticipate that some may wish to submit a large number of comments from multiple individuals, each with the same or similar content. We strongly encourage parties who seek to file a large number of comments or “group” comments to do so through the public API or the Commission’s electronic inbox established for this proceeding, called Restoring Internet Freedom Commentsat https://www.fcc.gov/restoring-internet-freedom-comments. We also ask parties who anticipate submitting group comments to contact us in advance so that we can assist with a smooth filing process. You can reach us at ECFSHelp@fcc.gov and (202) 418-0193.

    We expect that filing group comments through the inbox will be simpler than filing through ECFS. We ask commenters to be patient, as there may be some lag time between when filings are made and when they appear in ECFS. We assure all timely filers, though, that their submissions will be part of the record in this proceeding.

    By using the public API or inbox and contacting us in advance of large filings, parties can help us ensure that ECFS functions normally during periods of high volume submissions. Based on past experience, we anticipate that during some periods of the comment cycle, ECFS may experience much higher volumes of traffic, and that some of this traffic may be malicious in nature. Our commercial cloud service is limited in the amount of input it can receive at any one time. Thus, if group filers do not wish to use the inbox above for group filings, we recommend that they use the ECFS function for a single file to be uploaded with the ability to note the number of individuals represented by the filing. This will minimize the possibility that the system will be overwhelmed and unable to take other filings.

    We will continue to monitor ECFS and take steps to minimize any impacts on parties attempting to file and view comments. We appreciate the public’s help, as we want to ensure that all voices are heard in this proceeding.

    We remind the public that the Commission’s ex parte rules apply and that presentations (including comments, filings, and other submissions) are subject to “permit-but-disclose” ex parte rules. See, e.g., 47 CFR §§ 1.1206, 1.1200(a). Participants in this proceeding should familiarize themselves and comply with the Commission’s ex parte rules, including the general prohibition on presentations (written and oral) on matters that are listed on the Commission’s Sunshine Agenda, which is typically released a week prior to a Commission meeting. See 47 CFR §§ 1.1200(a), 1.1203.

    ACCESSIBLE FORMATS: To request materials in accessible formats for people with disabilities (Braille, large print, electronic files, audio format), send an e-mail to fcc504@fcc.gov or call the Consumer and Governmental Affairs Bureau at 202-418-0530 (voice) or 202-418-0432 (TTY).”

  • Vihaan bags BSNL’s north-east connectivity project

    NEW DELHI: Indigenous telecom equipment manufacturer Vihaan Network Limited has bagged a Rs 16.48 billion telecom infrastructure project of state-owned Bharat Sanchar Nigam Ltd for providing connectivity in over 4000 villages in remote areas of Arunachal Pradesh and Assam.

    Emerging as the lowest bidder in the tender opened for the first phase of the project yesterday by BSNL, VNL will get whole of Arunachal Pradesh which will be around 70 per cent share in the first phase of the North East mobile Connectivity.

    This project is part of the Rs 53.3618 billion worth Comprehensive Telecom Development Plan for the North-Eastern Region (NER) comprising eight states which was approved by the Union Cabinet in September 2014.

    The project envisages providing mobile coverage in 8,621 unconnected villages and seamless coverage along National Highways in the North-East region through 6,673 towers, and will be funded from the Universal Service Obligation Fund (USOF).

    The Project earmarked by BSNL for the domestic technology players would give the remaining 30 per cent to second lowest bidder HFCL with around 20 per cent price differential at Rs. 19.7 billion, but will be executed at the same price as that of the lowest bid.

    VNL has been given the responsibility of creating the infrastructure across bordering state of Arunachal Pradesh while the other partner will execute the project in two districts (Karbi Anglong & Dima Haso) of Assam.

    VNL chairman Rajiv Mehrotra said, “It is both a challenge and opportunity for the home grown company and we consider the awarding of the project is also the recognition of our work for connecting the Left Wing Extremist areas in 10 states. We are committed to successfully complete the Prime Minister’s dream project and wish to express our gratitude to the communications minister Manoj Sinha and BSNL chairman Anupam Shrivastava for reposing faith on us.”

    Under the Phase-I of the project, which is to be executed by state owned operator BSNL, 2817 sites are to be installed to cover 4118 remotely located villages and tough terrains in Arunachal Pradesh and two districts of Assam. Projects are to be executed solely through indigenous technology. As per the project condition, the lowest bidder, Vihaan Networks (VNL) in this case, will get to roll out around 1,893 mobile towers in Arunachal Pradesh.

    “Today, such a concerted move will also fulfill the government’s vision of Make in India and bring in significant indigenization which is the need of the hour. We hope that with the successful completion of this project, the North East states will be seamlessly connected with other parts of the country through mobile coverage.”

    As part of the project Eco-friendly green Mobile towers will be erected by VNL using its own technology and will be fuelled by solar power.

    VNL had also completed successfully a BSNL project last year for creating infrastructure in LWE areas after it bagged the contract as the lowest bidder in December last year for providing voice and data connectivity in the most challenging terrain.

    The Union cabinet then chaired by Prime Minister Narendra Modi had accorded an approval to install and maintain 2,199 mobile towers in Naxal-affected states. Funding came through the USOF (universal service obligation fund) supported scheme.

    VNL was instrumental in executing a major part of this project by installing around 1,315 solar empanelled towers in the LWE region in record time.

    Also Read :

    BSNL launches FMT & Ditto TV; 4G planned this year

    BSNL leader in wireline b’band subs addition in Oct-16; Jio joins top five wireless list

    BSNL leads in wireline broadband internet subs addition in Sep-16

    Bharat Net first phase nears completion, provides b’band to village admin

  • B’band deployment & investment barriers: FCC to develop state and civic govt codes

    MUMBAI:  United States Federal Communications Commission (FCC) chairman Ajit Varadaraj Pai has delivered his ideas at the first meeting of the commission’s broadband deployment advisory committee.

    “Last September, at a startup accelerator in Cincinnati, I outlined my Digital Empowerment Agenda, a non-partisan blueprint for communications policy.  At the core of this agenda was my conviction that every American who wants high-speed Internet access should be able to get it.  I suggested several concrete proposals for achieving that goal—for promoting broadband deployment across the country and closing the digital divide.  One proposal was for the FCC to create a Broadband Deployment Advisory Committee — a panel of experts that could advise us on these issues.  How marvelous it is to see this idea put into practice starting this morning!  And it is quite fitting that this first meeting is taking place during Infrastructure Month here at the Commission.”

    “Deploying broadband is hard, expensive, and time-consuming work, whether you’re trenching fiber, attaching equipment to poles, or setting up a gateway earth station.  Red tape shouldn’t make those tasks even harder.  To me, it’s pretty simple: With rules that make it easier to deploy broadband, we will see more broadband deployed.  And in turn, we can empower millions of Americans with digital opportunity,” Pai said.

    “Now, when we issued a call for nominations to serve on the BDAC back in January, I was expecting a few dozen applications.  I couldn’t be more thrilled at how wrong my prediction was. Over 380 individuals applied.  There were nominees from organisations large and small, representing industry, government, and consumer and community organizations.  From this diverse and highly impressive pool of applicants we invited 29 to serve on this new committee.”

    “You are innovators and leaders in the effort to bring broadband and next-generation networks to all parts of our nation.  Your work connects rural and urban areas alike, links people across land, air, and sea, and turns today’s dreams into tomorrow’s realities.”

    “As members of the BDAC, your mission is to give the FCC recommendations on ways to spur broadband deployment and reduce barriers to investment.  One important part of this work, which I previewed last fall, is to develop model codes for state and municipal governments that want to encourage deployment and competitive entry in their jurisdictions.”

    “In fact, the BDAC is being asked to develop two model codes — one for municipalities and another for states.  In developing each, the goal should be guidelines that are forward-looking and fair, and that balance legitimate interests of state and local governments with the ever-growing demands of the American public for better, faster, and cheaper broadband.  I look forward to seeing how you approach this challenge.”

    “The BDAC will also be asked to make recommendations on how to promote competitive access to broadband infrastructure, including utility poles.  New concepts, such as “one-touch make-ready” and “right-touch make-ready,” have great potential to streamline the pole attachment process. The BDAC could help identify solutions for easing access that preserve public safety and advance the interests of pole owners and (would-be) users.”

    “Another key issue is speeding up broadband deployment on Federal lands.  Right now, it takes about twice as long to site infrastructure on Federal lands as it does on privately held land.  Shortening that timeline could help prove the business case for deployment in areas where it might not otherwise exist.  Here, BDAC recommendations could have a major impact on closing the digital divide, especially for rural and Tribal residents who live on or near Federal lands.”

    “The thicket of issues I’ve identified makes one thing clear: the BDAC has a lot of work ahead of it.  But I’m certain that this distinguished group is more than up to the task.  And in the coming weeks, I expect to appoint more qualified nominees to round out the working groups, lending further support to the cause.”

    Also Read: TRAI & FCC sign LoI on accelerating broadband deployment & aligning spectrum policy

  • Offline content delivery: Intertrust acquires Bangalore-based Kiora Media assets

    MUMBAI: Intertrust Technologies Corporation has acquired the assets of Bangalore-based Kiora Media to expand the reach of its media distribution products. Founded in 2010, Kiora Media built a unique content distribution platform that allows service providers to reliably distribute media content in places with limited broadband infrastructure; this includes geographies with poor connectivity, on airplanes, trains, automobiles and remote retail applications.

    Intertrust provides trusted computing products and services to leading global corporations – from mobile and CE manufacturers and service providers to enterprise software platform companies. These products include the world’s leading digital rights management, software tamper resistance and privacy-driven data platforms for AdTech, DNA storage, and IoT.

    “Kiora’s technology is an outstanding force extender for our media products suite,” said Intertrust CEO Talal Shamoon. “By using Kiora-based products, our customers can blanket the entire planet with exciting media offerings regardless of Internet coverage in a given location.”

    Kiora’s secure content distribution solution includes a ready-to-deploy content appliance and publishing backend. Kiora’s content hotspot distribution platform is studio-approved and provides a seamless entertainment experience that avoids using 3G/4G bandwidth. Kiora’s micro cloud architecture instantly converts a telco’s WiFi zone into a content zone where users can acquire content without having to pay for expensive data plans.

    The Kiora platform allows service providers, operators, system integrators and other stakeholders to quickly build a content delivery network (CDN) by deploying content hotspots. Once built, the network is fully capable of providing high-quality VOD and other value-added (VAS) services to the viewers without needing broadband bandwidth.

  • Nasscom projects 730mn Net users in India

    NEW DELHI: There were 391.50 million Internet subscribers as on 31 December 2016. The government has said it is expected that number of internet users will increase in the country owing to fast adoption of digital technology,.

    Minister of communications Manoj Sinha told the Parliament that the National Telecom Policy-2012 envisages 600 million broadband connections by 2020 at minimum 2 Mbps download speed.

    According to National Association of Software & Services Companies (NASSCOM) –Akamai report launched on 17 August 2016 regarding “The Future of Internet in India”, 730 million Internet users are anticipated in the country by 2020.

    The government has allocated 965 MHz spectrum through auction in October 2016 to various telecom service providers for access services. This will enable the telecom service providers to roll out 3G and 4G services which will facilitate proliferation of high speed internet facility.

    The BharatNet project is also being implemented to provide 100 Mbps broadband connectivity to all Gram Panchayats (approximately 2,50,000) in the country by using an optimal mix of underground fibre, fibre over power lines, radio and satellite media.

  • You Broadband-Vodafone proposal accepted, Atria & Netmagic FDI cleared

    NEW DELHI: The government has accepted a proposal by Vodafone India Ltd for acquisition of 100% shares of M/s You Broadband India Limited by way of transfer from resident shareholders and non-resident shareholder. A 100% foreign owned company, Vodafone, will invest Rs 550.9 million as direct investment.

    The finance ministry, on the recommendation of the Foreign Investments Promotion Board, has also accepted a post facto proposal of You Broadband India Limited for acquisition of 9,79,875 equity shares of its downstream company Digital Outsourcing Private Limited (DOPL) in lieu of issue of 20,58,759 equity shares to its resident shareholders by way of swap of shares. This does not involve any fresh inflow of FDI.

    A proposal by Atria Convergence Technologies Private Limited for transfer of 0.99% of shares currently held by resident shareholders to the existing foreign investors Argan (Mauritius) Limited, Mauritius, and TA FVCI Investors Limited, Mauritius, and also for acquisition of up to 100% shares of the investee company by the foreign investors M/s Argan (Mauritius) Limited and TA FVCI Investors Limited, in future depending upon the exigencies of the remaining Indian resident shareholders. This will involve a fresh inflow of Rs 350 million in FDI.

    JC Decaux Advertising India Private Limited, an existing foreign owned company engaged in the activity of Out-of-Home advertising, has been permitted to bring in Rs 350 million for expansion of its business into telecom sector as a telecom infrastructure service provider.

    Netmagic Solutions Private Limited has been allowed to increase the foreign shareholding of the company from 81.63% to 100% by NTT Communications Corporation, Japan, with a fresh inflow of Rs 5.3383 billion FDI. FIPB has referred to the Cabinet Committee on Economic Affairs (CCEA) a proposal by

    Flag Telecom Singapore Pte Limited, Singapore, an indirect wholly-owned subsidiary of Reliance Communications, India, to acquire 100% shares of Reliance Global Cloud Xchange Limited. The amount involved as FDI is Rs 7.89 billion.

    (It may be recalled that Finance Minister Arun Jaitley had in his budget on 1 February announced his proposal to scrap the FIPB.)

  • Airtel acquires Tikona’s 4G biz , adds 2300 MHz spectrum in five circles

    MUMBAI: Bharti Airtel Limited, India’s largest telecommunications services provider, today announced that it has entered into a definitive agreement with Tikona Digital Networks to acquire Tikona’s 4G Business including the Broadband Wireless Access spectrum and 350 sites, in five telecom circles. The acquisition is subject to requisite regulatory approvals.

    Tikona currently has 20 MHz spectrum in the 2300 MHz band in Gujarat, UP (East), UP (West), Rajasthan and Himachal Pradesh circles. Airtel plans to roll out high-speed 4G services on the newly acquired spectrum in the five circles immediately after the closure of the transaction.

    As per the agreement, the acquisition of the 4G business in Gujarat, UP (East), UP (West) and Himachal Pradesh will be undertaken by Airtel, while in the Rajasthan circle, it will be accomplished through Airtel’s subsidiary Bharti Hexacom Limited. Post-acquisition, the combined spectrum holding of Airtel in these five circles will be within the spectrum caps prescribed by the Government.

    The proposed acquisition will enable Airtel to fill BWA spectrum gaps in the 2300 MHz band in Rajasthan, UP (East) and UP (West), thereby securing a pan India footprint in the band. The deal will significantly bolster Airtel’s spectrum position in Gujarat and Himachal Pradesh, taking its overall BWA spectrum holding to 30 MHz each in these circles. Post completion of the deal, Airtel will have 30 MHz in the 2300 MHz band in 13 circles giving it tremendous advantage to handle the surging data demand.

    Bharti Airtel MD & CEO (India & South Asia) Gopal Vittal said, “Airtel’s continued focus on strengthening its 4G capabilities across multiple spectrum bands will be complemented with the BWA spectrum acquisition from Tikona. We believe that combining our capacities in TD-LTE and FD-LTE will further bolster our network, and help us provide unmatched high-speed wireless broadband experience.”