VMC Systems to roll out optical line terminal by March

Company developing the product using GPON tech of C-DOT

VMC Systems Limited, a Hyderabad telecommunications and power-conversion equipment manufacturer, is set to launch its first product based on GPON (Gigabit Passive Optical Network) technology by March.

"Using the GPON  technology, our 96-port OLT (optical line terminal) is currently being tested in in-house labs. We expect it to be ready for field deployments by March-end next year," Murthy Suravarapu, vice-president (marketing), VMC Systems, told Business Standard.

VMC has bagged the manufacturing licence from Centre for Development of Telematics (C-Dot), which has indigenously designed and developed the GPON technology.

The products would be co-branded and marketed by VMC and C-Dot.

Braodband connections, at present, are based on DSL (digital subscribers line) technology, which is deployed on copper and provides bandwidth of 256Kbps on average. GPON technology allows bandwidth of 2.5 Gbps (gigabit per second) downstream to end customer located at distances of up to 60 km.

The technology is used to provide triple play services such as voice, video and data, and allows high-speed Internet access, IPTV and cable TV signal through a single optical fibre.

"India currently has more than 20 million broadband customers. Even if we address 10 per cent of the market, we will be addressing 2 million users, apart from the new deployments," he said.

The company's primary focus would be to approach Internet service providers (ISPs) to reach the end customers and provide them value-added services like video-on-demand and landline phone services out of a single box, he added.

The Centre is investing $6 billion for the National Optic Fibre Cable Network. C-Dot has also provided manufacturing licences to six other telecom manufacturers -- Indian Telephone Industries Limited, Bharat Electronics Ltd (BEL), United Telecoms Ltd, Sai InfoSystem (India) and SM Creative Electronics Limited.

"The initiative 'fibre-to-home' will bring a revolution in broadband connectivity by providing high-quality services and also give a push to the broadband connectivity initiative in India," he said.

However, he refused to give the revenue targets. "It is too early to put a number on the revenue figures, as there has been no mass deployment of GPON technology in India yet," he said, adding the company was hopeful of gaining a good market share in the segment given its strong research and development (R&D) team and pan-India service centres.

VMC Systems, which started operation in 2002, recorded a turnover of Rs 1,100 crore in the last financial year. The company is also a supplier of low-cost Aakash tablets to Canada-based DataWind Limited.