Thursday, November 13, 2008
Next time you access the Internet in Hyderabad or Bangalore, don't be surprised if you find that your laptop, mobile or palmtop can connect to the Internet even while you are traveling. Increasingly, broadband companies in India are building electromagnetic wireless highways (EWHs) that allow users to access voice, video and data anytime and anywhere like never before.
Hyderabad-based Applogic Broadband Systems (ABSL) is working on wireless technology that could bring newfound speed to the Internet in India. And according to Venkat S. Meenavalli, the company's CEO and managing director, the service will be offered at only a quarter the cost of satellite or cable options.
Currently, ABSL is using EWHs to connect India's metro areas to remote regions where no wires can penetrate. The company is laying wireless infrastructure, the first of its kind in the Asia-Pacific region, to provide plumbing solutions for clogged Internet connections in India. As a result, Internet connectivity could become uninterrupted and secure. Meenavalli says, “We believe in connecting 'greenfields to global market' as broadband wireless is beginning to emerge as the technology of choice for everyone.”
With a $1.6-million initial investment, ABSL built three towers in Hyderabad, linking to a satellite through its own gateway. Each tower covers a 10KM range. This wireless cable system can, according to the company, transmit 33 'on the move' channels. ABSL has bagged a few orders for its services and it expects to have 400 connections by the end of March 2001.
In India, the availability of bandwidth is 325 mbps, against a demand of 5 gbps. The demand is expected to exceed 10 gbps by 2001 and 300 Gbps by 2005. The number of Internet subscribers is also expected to climb to 35 million by 2008 from the current 1 million.
“Wireless technology offers a dramatic improvement in corporate productivity. Corporations can download files as quickly as possible by surfing 1 Mbps instead of 33.6 kbps,” says H.M. Sudarshan, the company's Asia Pacific director.
But what does this mean to domestic users? MMDS or the multi-channel multipoint Distribution System) also known as “wireless cable” allows the delivery of digital services to urban households for as little as $40 per home - a fraction of the price of direct broadcast satellite or wire networks.
“We will expand our presence to 8 to 10 cities by June 2001. Initially, we want to cater to the needs of corporate world and then go for Indian homes,” says Ram Prasad Kosuri, director of software. “We are mobilizing an additional $10 million fund. With this, we will create a large network through our telephone offering. Once India gives the nod for VoIP, we will be able to offer telephone services to 20,000-30,000 customers.”
Applogic has call center networks in India, the US and Singapore. It has recently signed a contract with a company for handling about 1.6 million minutes per month in Bangalore. The company, set up in 1999, is set to have similar tie-ups with Internet telephony exchanges in Bangalore, Chennai, Ahmedabad, Pune and Delhi. It remains to be seen if the emerging enterprise can turn wireless infrastructure into a large-scale bandwidth solution for India.
