ITV

Category: Broadband

  • President asks for concerted steps to be taken for India’s Internet growth

    President asks for concerted steps to be taken for India’s Internet growth

    NEW DELHI: President Pranab Mukherjee called upon concerned authorities to ensure availability of infrastructure for Internet and ICT-enabled services across the country and use it in a systematic manner.

     

    Noting that India is at the 89th position in Network Readiness Index with countries like Singapore, Finland and Sweden having become leaders, he said Wi-Fi services could be rolled out in public places across the country both in urban and rural India. 

     

    The President was speaking after inaugurating 24 Hot Spots with 30 Wi-Fi access points in the President’s Estate by which the Estate became 100 per cent Wi-Fi.

     

    The President said India, with 244 million, ranks third after China and USA in terms of number of internet users. “However, the penetration of internet use as a percentage of the population is only twenty, indicating not only a huge gap but significant potential for future growth as well. With 960 million mobile phones today, India stands second in the world behind China and soon it is expected to become one billion mobile phones. We have more than 77 mobile phone connections per 100 citizens, which is commendable in terms of the penetration achieved by us in mobile telephony,” he said. 

     

    Mukherjee said that the idea of bringing information to the doorsteps of citizens through network is a revolutionary step to transform India to a Digital India.  

     

    Communications and Information Technology Minister Ravi Shankar Prasad, Electronics & IT Secretary R S Sharma, National Informatics Centre DDG Ms Shefali Sushil Dash, officers and staff of Rashtrapati Bhavan and their family members were present on the occasion.

  • Reliance Jio to set up 4G framework across 880 cities & towns

    Reliance Jio to set up 4G framework across 880 cities & towns

    MUMBAI: As the day of its official 4G launch is nearing, Reliance Jio Infocomm Limited will soon unveil its office infrastructure set up around 880 cities and towns of the country.

     

    At present, the company is carrying on extensive field tests to provide the customers with the best possible service. The tests are being conducted in its plants at Navi Mumbai and Jamnagar amongst other places. The tests will ensure the integration of devices with Reliance Jio’s network, services and platform.

     

    In its annual report for 2014-15, Reliance Industries, which is the parent company of Reliance Jio Infocomm, said that its subsidiary is working hard to fulfill the minimum rollout obligations giving in the Notice Inviting Applications (NIA) for the spectrum sale held in 2010, specified according to Test Schedule Test Procedure. It requires the company to cover 90 per cent of its service areas before 31 August, 2015.

     

    Reliance Jio is setting up a strong distribution and sales network spread across the country. It is also recruiting new talents and experts for multiple posts for all of its locations. Besides, the company is establishing its infrastructure to deal with the future growing demand of data and voice services. It will make use of long term evolution (LTE) technology to give broadband services of high-speed that is 4G.

     

    Reliance Jio increased its spectrum holdings with the March auction sale. The recent auction was termed to be India’s most expensive spectrum auction. The company holds the biggest liberalized bandwidth that authorizes it to offer smooth 4G services across spectrum bands of 800 MHz, 2300 MHz and 1800 MHz with an integrated ecosystem. Reliance Jio had informed that it is making an investment of Rs 70,000 crore for its 4G venture.

     

    The annual report also said that the company has “either finalized or is in the process of finalizing pacts with original equipment manufacturers (OEMs), original design manufacturers (ODMs) and chipset vendors on end-to-end device design and engineering.”

     

    Moreover, the company is also making a tight integration of the devices with its network infrastructure to offer a smooth experience to its customers. In October, 2013 the company had acquired a pan-India Unified License (UL). This license lets the company to give out almost all kinds of telecommunication service across the country, using any technology.

     

    Analysts at Credit Suisse are of the opinion that a soft launch by Reliance Jio will be in mid-July and this will be earlier than what the market is expecting. It also says that the launch of Reliance Jio’s network will have a vital impact on others in the telecom industry.

     

    According to the Swiss brokerage, Reliance Jio has almost finalized its wholesale distributors in many of its telecom regions. It further suggested that the company will team up with retailers just two – three weeks before the official launch of its services.

  • Digital India fails to impact growth of broadband subscribers

    Digital India fails to impact growth of broadband subscribers

    NEW DELHI: At a time when the government is working on programmes like Digital India, there has been an increase of a meager 1.88 per cent in the number of broadband subscribers between February and March this year.

     

    According to a Telecom Regulatory Authority of India (TRAI) report, the number rose from 97.37 million at the end of February to 99.20 million.

     

    As in previous months, the largest increase was in the mobile devices users (phones and dongles) segment from 81.48 million to 83.24 million, showing an increase of 2.17 per cent.

     

    The increase in fixed wire subscribers (Wi-Fi, Wi-Max, Point to Point Radio and VSAT) was from 440,000 to a little above that figure. The rise in wired subscribers was from 15.45 million to 15.45 million to 15.52 million.

     

    The top five service providers constituted 83.39 per cent market share of total broadband subscribers at the end of March. These service providers were Bharti Airtel (22.01 million), Vodafone (19.37 million), BSNL (18.88 million), Idea Cellular Ltd (14.52 million) and Reliance Communications Group (7.94 million).

     

    Some wireless service providers exclude incidental data users from their subscriber base, based on minimum usage decided by them.

     

    As on 31 March, the top five Wired Broadband Service providers were BSNL (9.96 million), Bharti Airtel (1.43 million), MTNL (1.14 million), Atria Convergence Technologies (0.67 million) and YOU Broadband (0.44 million).

     

    The top five Wireless Broadband Service providers were Bharti Airtel (20.58 million), Vodafone (19.37 million), Idea Cellular (14.52 million), BSNL (8.92 million) and Reliance Communications Group (7.83 million).

  • Reliance Jio raises Rs 4500 crore from K-sure for 4G rollout

    Reliance Jio raises Rs 4500 crore from K-sure for 4G rollout

    MUMBAI: Reliance Jio Infocomm has signed a loan for approximately Rs 4500 crore ($750 million) from the Korea Trade Insurance Corporation (K-sure) for a period of 12 years.

     

    The funds will be used to finance goods and services from Samsung Electronics and Ace Technologies Corp, which are being tapped for its infrastructure rollout.

     

    This is the first facility by K-sure with Reliance Jio and its largest deal in India. However this is also the second facility by K-sure with the Reliance Group, including RIL and Reliance Jio.

     

    This deal also marks the second round of financing for Reliance Jio from Korean export credit agencies (ECAs) and the third overall between the group and Korean ECAs in three years, highlighting growing business with Korean organisations.

     

    The facility is funded by nine relationship banks of Reliance including The Hong kong and Shanghai Banking Corporation (HSBC), Australia and New Zealand Banking Group, Banco Santander SA, The Bank of Tokyo-Mitsubishi UFJ, JPMorgan Chase NA, Mizuho Bank, and Sumitomo Mitsui Banking Corporation, ING Bank and DZ Bank AG.

  • Reliance Jio selects Ballard Power Systems for backup power system

    Reliance Jio selects Ballard Power Systems for backup power system

    MUMBAI: Ballard Power Systems has received a purchase order from Reliance Jio Infocomm Limited (RJIL) for 100 ElectraGen-ME fuel cell backup power systems to be deployed in its wireless telecom network in India.

     

    Shipment of these initial 100 systems is expected to be completed in 2015.

     

    The purchase order follows successful completion of a 12-month trial by RJIL of fuel cell systems from various vendors, with Ballard’s ElectraGen-ME methanol-fueled system ultimately having been selected for use in backup power applications. This purchase order is the first of a series of planned deployments in RJIL’s India network.  

     

    “This is an important commercial milestone for our telecom backup power growth strategy in a major emerging market. Based on the performance and value demonstrated by our systems throughout the trial, we are now advancing to extensive commercial deployments with a major telecom service provider,” said Ballard chief commercial officer Steve Karaffa. 

     

    As the only company with a pan-Indian broadband wireless access license, RJIL is in the process of building out a new 4G telecom network, which requires the acquisition of hundreds of new base station towers.

     

    India is one of the fastest growing telecommunications markets, with more than 10 million new subscribers added each month, according to the Groupe Speciale Mobile Association (GSMA). This growing demand for telecom services is also driving increased energy consumption in India, a challenge given the poor quality of the country’s electrical grid.

     

    According to a KPMG report, approximately 300,000 telecom towers in India face electrical grid outages in excess of 8-hours on a daily basis. As a result, telecom network operators have been relying on diesel generators and lead-acid batteries to provide backup power, resulting in the consumption of more than 475 million gallons (1.8 billion litres) of diesel fuel annually, with the attendant negative greenhouse gas impacts. Therefore, there is an acute need for reliable and cost-effective extended duration backup power solutions – such as the ElectraGen-ME fuel cell system – at telecom base station sites.  

     

    To limit the environmental impact, India’s Department of Telecommunications has mandated that tower companies reduce the dependence on diesel generators by powering at least 50 per cent of rural towers and 20 per cent of urban towers with clean energy systems by 2015. Increasingly, telecom network operators in India are considering zero-emission fuel cell technology as an extended-duration solution that effectively addresses this clean energy requirement.

  • Reliance Jio to provide 4G at Wankhede Stadium during IPL

    Reliance Jio to provide 4G at Wankhede Stadium during IPL

    MUMBAI: The telecom venture of Mukesh Ambani-led Reliance Industries, Reliance Jio Infocomm, has chosen the Wankhede Stadium to provide its 4G services through Wi-Fi.

     

    Around 30,000 people who will come to see the eighth edition of the Indian Premier League (IPL) will be able to enjoy the services. At present, the organization has started to test the 4G services at the stadium.

     

    The infrastructure to provide Wi-Fi along the entire stadium has been set up and the company has begun trials of the service. Besides, the company’s executives are working on varied factors so that high-speed services are efficiently delivered to the people.

     

    Out of the eight franchise cricket teams of the IPL, Mumbai Indians, is owned by IndiaWin Sports Pvt. Ltd., which belongs to the group of Reliance Industries. This is the main reason why Reliance Jio has chosen Mumbai’s Wankhede Stadium to offer its services. Seven T20 league matches of Mumbai Indians will be played at Wankhede Stadium. The first match at Wankhede Stadium will be of Mumbai Indians against Kings XI Punjab on 12 April.

     

    Some other league matches that Mumbai Indians will play at Wankhede Stadium will be against Chennai Super Kings on 17 April, SunRisers Hyderabad on 25 April, Rajasthan Royals on 1 May, Delhi Daredevils on 5 May, Royal Challengers Bangalore on 10 May and Kolkata Knight Riders on 14 May. Spectators of all these matches will be able to enjoy the 4G service experience. 

     

    Preparations of Reliance Jio Reliance Jio is gearing up for its official launch of 4G services. It is conducting varied tests in different regions of the country to provide efficient services.

     

    It has chosen few campuses of Indian Institute of Technology (IIT) and high-streets in some of the states, for the same. In January, the organization offered the services to many entrepreneurs from around the world who were present at Vibrant Gujarat summit held in Gandhinagar. Providing 4G internet services for four – five hours at Wankhede Stadium will be completely different than the previous trials. Cricket fans will have a different experience when they will be able to send real-time images and videos and also do video-chats with people outside, using the 4G service.

     

    Reliance Jio is the first telecom company to acquire pan-India unified licence that enables it to give 4G services. After the recently concluded government’s spectrum sale, Reliance Jio on 26 March, bagged rights to use spectrum in 13 regions across the country. 

     

    The company spent around Rs 10,077.53 crores to get spectrum in the frequency bands of 800 MHz and 1800 MHz. Reliance Industries chairman and managing director Mukesh Ambani had then said, “Jio’s seamless 4G services using proven multi-band LTE technology and supported by our large spectrum footprint will provide superior user experience for voice, video and data services in line with the best service providers in the world.”

     

  • Reliance Jio Infocomm extends free 4G wi-fi service in Kolkata

    Reliance Jio Infocomm extends free 4G wi-fi service in Kolkata

    KOLKATA: Reliance Jio Infocomm, the company owned by Mukesh Ambani’s flagship Reliance Industries, has said that four more areas in Kolkata will turn into wi-fi enabled zones by next month.

    In February, the company rolled out a free 4G wi-fi service at Park Street, enabling Kolkata as the first metro city with a 4G-enabled high-speed internet service.

    South City to Lords crossing, Medical College to Barnaparichay Mall and the areas around Lady Brabourne College, National Medical College and Don Bosco School, and Rashbehari crossing to Hazra crossing, are the new public wi-fi zones where the services are likely to be stretched. Two more zones were added last month — Gariahat-Golpark and the area near Jadavpur 8B bus-stand.

    Sources said that it takes a week to set up power connectivity with access points so the system and the wi-fi zones are likely to be active by the end of this month or in the first week of May.

    Sources further added that the company is extending the service to four more areas because of the increasing demand for data services. 

    Around five lakh users have availed of the free wi-fi service since it was rolled out at Park Street on 5 February. Park Street has around 230 wi-fi routers online, allowing around 9,200 people to connect to the wi-fi network at a time.

     

    While inaugurating wi-fi in Kolkata, West Bengal Chief Minister Mamata Banerjee had said that in around next two months, the whole city will be connected with wi-fi.

    The Chief Minister further said that the company has laid down the cable connectivity covering 2,000 km, and around 250-300 km cable laying work was likely to be completed soon. “Reliance Jio Infocomm has completed more than 90 per cent of the work,” she said.

    The company, which is investing around Rs 3,300 crore to roll out 4G in Bengal, plans to offer the free service as part of a sampling experiment. The official commercial launch will take place later.

  • National Optic Fibre Network cost escalates by Rs 10,000 crore

    National Optic Fibre Network cost escalates by Rs 10,000 crore

    NEW DELHI: A total of 97,480 km of National Optic Fibre Network (NOFN) is planned in the first phase out of the total envisaged – 244,729 km – in 36 states and union territories in the country.

     

    The government had set a budget of Rs 20,000 crore for the project, but Ministry sources informed Indiantelevision.com that the cost had already escalated to Rs 30,000 crore.

     

    Communications Minister Ravi Shankar Prasad told the Parliament that work was at various stages in all the planned regions.

     

    The NOFN aims to connect all Gram Panchayats in the country through optical fibre cable (OFC) by bridging the connectivity gap between Gram Panchayats and Blocks for providing broadband.

     

    Meanwhile, the number of fibre to the home (FTTH) and fibre to the building (FTTB) subscribers in Europe has soared, increasing by 50 per cent over the 12 months ending December 2014, according to the latest update to the FTTH Ranking announced at a press conference held at the FTTH Conference in Warsaw.

     

    There are now nearly 15 million FTTH/B subscribers in the European continent (14.5 million) – not including Russia and the Ukraine, which would add a further 14.8 million homes to the total (Source: FTTH market panorama prepared by IDATE for FTTH Council Europe).

  • Govt to launch Internet Safety Plan in collaboration with Google

    Govt to launch Internet Safety Plan in collaboration with Google

    NEW DELHI: The government is launching an Internet Safety Plan throughout the country. In this regard MyGov held the first round table in the capital in collaboration with Google and Computer Emergency Response Team-India (Cert-In) this week.

     

    The Plan is being launched by the Department of Electronics and Information and Technology in collaboration with Google and Cert-In.

     

    DeitY additional secretary Tapan Ray chaired the round table, which was attended by DeitY joint secretary Dr. Rajendra Kumar, MyGov CEO Gaurav Dwivedi, and representatives from Google India, NCERT, CBSE, Cert-In, the New Media Wing of Information and Broadcasting Ministry, and the Department of Personnel and Training (DoPT).

     

    Ray laid out the vision of the Department in promoting Digital India, which is also to be Safe Digital India and complimented MyGov’s efforts in inviting suggestions from citizens in educating the youth on how to be digitally safe.

     

    As part of the Digital Literacy and Internet Safety Campaign initiated by MyGov, Ray suggested a year round programme to raise awareness of key policy makers on issues of internet safety. The programme would include roundtables, workshops, security cafes, and contests for young adults, policymakers, and NGOs.

     

    Speaking about the initiative, Dwivedi said, “We are happy to partner with Google and Cert-In in the cyber security education and awareness campaign.  The Internet offers many opportunities to explore create and collaborate. We are starting a nationwide campaign sensitizing our youth and policy makers in Mission Safer Internet. Google and Cert-In are our partners in this effort and are committed to keeping our users safe and secure.”

     

    MyGov, in collaboration with all stakeholders, is also expected to issue awareness guidelines soon on various safety measures, which can be followed by government officials, schools, guardians and other vulnerable sections.

     

    Google’s Public Policy India head Chetan Krishnaswamy said, “The Internet has brought a number of incredible things to the world. But it’s also important that it be a safe space for families to explore, learn and enjoy together. To enable this and ensure that families and young people across India are safe, we’re working with CERT- In and MyGov to get the word out about good Internet practices and how to keep users safe online.”

     

    Measures to take Internet safety practices for two specific target groups- government officials, children and young adults were discussed at the round table. Over 650 ideas received from MyGov users on the issue were also presented during the today’s meeting and were debated upon.

     

    As a precursor to the round table, MyGov had announced a poster making contest and online discussion among teens and youth in India to celebrate Internet Safety Week from 10 to 17 February.

  • MSOs, LCOs working towards increasing broadband reach: I&B

    MSOs, LCOs working towards increasing broadband reach: I&B

    NEW DELHI: Officials in the Information and Broadcasting Ministry said that several multi-system operators (MSOs) and local cable operators (LCOs) were already helping in increasing the reach of broadband throughout the country.

     

    However, these officials told Indiantelevision.com that they were unaware of any approach to the Ministry by the Department of Telecom (DoT) to seek the help of MSOs and LCOs for this purpose.

     

    They agreed that using LCOs would help as this segment had the last mile connectivity all over the country. In any case, it was felt that MSOs and LCOs – being private businesses – could be approached directly by the DoT.

     

    It was stated by LCO and MSO sources that several LCOs were already involved in the business of broadband penetration in addition to television. Furthermore some MSOs and LCOs already had licences for this purpose. One MSO said that the DoT had in fact already devised different categories of licensing for such purposes.

     

    The Broadband Policy 2004 had also suggested that cable TV network be used as a franchisee network of the service provider for provisioning broadband services, the official added.

     

    Some MSOs and LCOs have held a meeting with DoT in this connection, and sought certain facilities. 

     

    The government plans to provide broadband connectivity across the country and it has to work on many fronts, the official said adding that one is National Optical Fibre Network (NOFN), which will cover villages, and the other will be to ensure Internet connectivity in cities and small towns.

     

    The government plans to utilise Universal Service Obligation Fund to provide incentives to ensure coverage in such areas through viability gap funding, DoT officials said.