Reliance Industries Ltd (RIL) is in talks with cable operators to buy or take on long-term lease their fibre optic capacity. The company plans to use the capacity acquired to roll out broadband wireless access (BWA), 4G and high-speed internet services.
Cable operators, including large MSOs (multi-system operators), confirmed talks were on with RIL and the company had given them a launch date of June. There are nearly 6,000 cable operators and MSOs in the country.
The CEO of one of the country's top MSOs said, “Yes, the company has been in talks with cable operators and multi-system cable operators, who have fibre optic infrastructure.”
| CONNECTING INDIA |
| * RIL plans to use the capacity acquired to roll out broadband wireless access, 4G and high-speed internet services |
| * The collaboration could go further as RIL is also in talks with manufacturers to install small base-station antennae |
| * There are nearly 6,000 cable operators and multi-system operators (MSOs) in the country |
| * Cable operators and MSOs together have already laid more than 100,000 km of fibre optic across the country |
An RIL spokesperson, when queried on the issue, said, “Infotel Broadband Services Limited is currently in the process of actively evaluating various technologies and infrastructure that will form a part of its pan-India rollout. It is our intention to provide affordable services. At this stage, it is premature to talk about the kind of infrastructure or towers to be used, as we are talking to multiple stakeholders and evaluating all kinds of infrastructure and have not finalised any types required to launch our services.”
The MSOs say, RIL has told them its target is to provide data connectivity with speeds of 50-100 Mbps at cheap rates. That would be much faster than 3G services, which offer 3-7 Mbps currently.
According to industry sources, cable operators and MSOs together have already laid 100,000 kilometres of fibre optic reaching consumers' houses across the country. RIL can leverage this large backbone to roll out services quickly. Fibre optic networks are also being built by telcos and other companies in various parts of the country.
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With the government pushing for digitisation by 2012 in metros and 2014 all over the country, MSOs have already invested money in putting fibre optic networks. A little more than five million households are connected through this.
RIL is making a re-entry into the telecom business after it bought over 95 per cent stake in Infotel Broadband, which has a pan-India licence and spectrum to launch broadband wireless services. Infotel had forked out Rs 12,847 crore for 20 MHz of spectrum in each circle and is expected to invest Rs 15,000 crore for the all-India launch, according to sources.
The new business model, which relies on creating a pan-India fibre optic backbone, is practically in line with Mukesh Ambani's 2002 strategy whereby he launched Reliance Infocomm (now, Reliance Communications).
Ambani has made it public he would bank on a data revolution and create a pan-India fibre-to-home network as the cornerstone of his strategy to ensure high-speed interent access.