In the coming months, India appears all set to get transformed from a scarce international bandwidth country to an excess bandwidth country on the submarine cable front. Even the backhaul scenario is improving at a faster pace with the increase in number of service providers and the faster roll-out of NLD players in different regions of the country. The new ILD carriers who plan to have gateways in Chennai, Kochi, and Mumbai will not have any connectivity problems as these cities have submarine cable landing stations for different submarine cable projects. For other cities, improved backhaul facilities should take care of the problem. The new ILD carriers will also have the advantage to choose which submarine cable to opt for, depending on the location and the quality of service being offered by the service providers.

It is estimated that by July end, India will have a minimum supply of 100 Gbps international bandwidth on the submarine cable front. This is 33 times the present utilization capacity and is going to increase further with the commissioning of DishnetDSL cable. According to Voice&Data estimates, India’s total international bandwidth is currently in the range of 3 Gbps. With SAFE, Network i2i, and Flag becoming operational, apart from the existing cables like SEA-ME-WE-2 and SEA-ME-WE-3, India will have a surplus capacity that will force submarine cable providers to lower their prices drastically. Even on the satellite front, almost all major players like Intelsat, Eutelsat, Panansat, New Skies, Europe Star, Cyberstar, AsiaStar, Thaicom, and Measat are present in India and we have an abundant capacity even on this front.

ILD carriers will have a lot of option to mix and match between different service providers (satellite and submarine) depending on the cost, and quality of service. Connectivity to Southeast Asia can be cost effective through Network i2i and DishnetDSL; SAFE can be ideal for Africa, and SEA-ME-WE-2 and SEA-ME-WE-3 can be ideal for Europe.

Submarine Cable Providers
This year three submarine cable companies are expected to launch their services in the India. These are Network i2i, SAFE, and DishnetDSL. Even the existing submarine cables like SEA-ME-WE-2, SEA-ME-WE-3, and FLAG will provide some extra bandwidth to the carriers.

SAFE (South Africa Far East) undersea cable network that links South Africa with the Far East, will be the first to start operations. The cable network has two pairs of cables with a maximum capacity of 80 Gbps. In India, the cable has a landing station in Kochi which is linked to the main cable from Mauritius and headed for Penang, Malaysia.

The 28,800-km submarine cable system is a JV of 42 companies (including VSNL) from 35 countries. SAFE is a $600-million project, to which VSNL has contributed around $50 million. The cable system has two segments. The first segment, called SAT3, is a 15,000-km link between South Africa and Europe with 10 landing points whereas the second segment is a 13,800-km link from South Africa to Malaysia with landings at Mauritius, Kochi, and Penang.

Network i2i, which has delayed its launch from end-March 2002 to June-July 2002, will be second to begin services, according to industry insiders. However, neither the Bharti Group nor SingTel has commented on this. Network i2i is a joint venture between SingTel and Bharti Group and its present route plan is limited from Chennai to Singapore. From Singapore, Network i2i will connect C2C cable, which will connect Asia-Pacific and North America.

The Network i2i submarine cable system has a total capacity of 8.4 Tbps and it employs eight fiber pairs, each having a wavelength of 105 and each wavelength having a capacity of 10 Gbps. Initially, four out of the eight fiber pairs will be lighted and equipment will be delivered for providing 160 Gbps bandwidth. The capacity will be increased depending on the requirement.

DishnetDSL is likely to launch its service in the fourth quarter of 2002, as against the earlier schedule of June 2002. At present, the company is looking at the Chennai–Singapore route. It has already abandoned its plans for laying submarine cable from Singapore to Guam. Dishnet is funding the project and Tyco’s role in the submarine cable project is limited only to supplying, installing, commissioning, and maintaining the undersea cable system as the company is not involved in any equity investment in this project.

The DishnetDSL cable system has a total capacity of 7.68 Tbps and it employs 8 fiber pairs, each having a wavelength of 96 and each wavelength having a capacity of 10 Gbps.

The fourth submarine cable provider, FLAG can also think of providing bandwidth to ILD carriers in India as it has got the right to sell bandwidth on its own rather than depend on VSNL for the purpose. However, it will have to wait till the commercial terms and agreements are finalized. VSNL is yet to come out with co-location or landing charges for connecting to FLAG’s landing station which is located at VSNL’s premises in Mumbai.

In spite of getting the choice of four submarine cables, the carriers are faced with problems of auto restoration facility. It is believed that none of the cables landing in India have auto restoration facility. Since all the cables will be mechanically rectified if there is a cable cut, most of the ILD carriers in the country will go for multiple submarine cable providers as it will help in providing redundancy to the network.

Satellite Service Providers
Bandwidth from submarine cables, however, is something that won’t be available in plenty in the immediate future. As of now, none of the cables are operational except those that land at VSNL’s premises. Both Dishnet and Network i2i projects have been delayed and VSNL is yet to announce landing charges for FLAG. But carriers should not worry as they have the option to take the satellite route. There are more than a dozen companies whose satellites have their spot beams focussed on India and there is an increasing number of satellites planned to be launched keeping India in the focus.

Intelsat has a wide reach and six of its satellites provide solutions to India, according to Sachida N Padhi, country manager, Intelsat India. The company also supplies a major portion of international bandwidth to VSNL and Software Technology Parks of India (STPI) and is looking very actively at the Indian ILD market along with Cyberstar, New Skies, and EuropeStar.

It is expected that a sizable amount of traffic will go through satellite as it has been used internationally by carriers to transport voice traffic. The biggest advantage is that it is quickly deployable and allows service providers to market the services faster. It also provides higher availability and compliments fiber by providing redundancy. Talking about the past, Jan Grondrup Vivanco, regional director (Middle-East and Asia), Eutelsat, says, "Seventy percent of all ILD traffic to and from India today goes via satellite, and our assessment is that satellite will continue to play a significant role for ILD delivery."

A good deal of traffic is bound to take the submarine route once the cables get commissioned. Nevertheless, Raghu Das, V-P and general manager, Indian Ocean region, Cyberstar, anticipates that 20 percent of the voice traffic to and from India will be continue to be through satellites.

In spite of such large bandwidth on the submarine front in months to come, Padhi feels that there is still a niche market for satellite services in India, especially in areas where there is no fiber or where there is little infrastructure in place.

STPI utilizes international bandwidth of around 150 Mbps and most of it is through satellites, according to SN Zindal, director general, STPI. In future, the body is planning to increase its bandwidth utilization by another 50 percent. It is also planning to increase the component of the submarine bandwidth as it is cost effective and the latency is also less.

International Bandwidth Cost
With increase in bandwidth supply over submarine cables by around 30 times, India will have enough bandwidth for at least 4–5 years. According to industry onlookers, such huge capacity will result in dropping of prices by 60–80 percent for an STM-1 link. At a retail level, the drop will be 30 to 40 percent over a twelve-month period.

The drop in international bandwidth prices, coupled with the number of carriers increasing on the ILD front, is bound to result in a win-win situation for both carriers as well as end-consumers.

Pravin Prashant