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In FY 2003-04, the broadband equipment market was negligible as majority of service providers were firming up their plans. Dishnet DSL (now VSNL), Bharti Infotel, and I-Spatial were the only operators providing broadband connectivity. In total, the country had around 61,500 broadband subscribers. In terms of net additions, the country would have witnessed around 15,000 broadband connections in the last fiscal. In terms of equipment costs (which includes DSLAM), it translates to around Rs 5 crore.

Nowadays, broadband does not mean surfing the Net at higher speed but it also means surfing net, watching video, and making telephone calls (triple play) using IP technology.

All integrated players are providing or are in the process of providing triple-play service, which will have a catalyzing effect for the faster deployment of broadband services in the country. And it seems that things will start in full steam by end of 2004 or beginning of 2005. Players are working out strategies to attract subscribers. Pricing will be the key for broadband to take off.

The Service Provider
Dishnet DSL is leading the race followed by Bharti and Ispatial. Large integrated players like Reliance Infocomm and Tata Teleservices are creating broadband infrastructure by putting in place fiber to the building. Both the companies are looking at large scale deployment of broadband in the country. With the acquisition of Dishnet DSL by VSNL for Rs 270 crore, VSNL has an edge over Reliance Infocomm. And so, the company is in a great hurry to start service as it can catch Reliance on the wrong foot and is presently struggling with bandwidth scarcity.

BSNL is looking at both franchisee as well as direct models. For franchisees, the company has signed with I-spatial and Atlas Telecom. It is also in talks with UTStarcom and Xalted Networks for a revenue sharing agreement to start triple play services using BSNL's copper network. The company is open to revenue sharing with all the vendors and has signed MoU with KT, the Korean broadband provider. BSNL also plans to start of its own and has tendered for around 0.5 million lines.

With these deployments one might see fresh orders being issued by BSNL by the end of FY 2004-05. In order to make its infrastructure broadband ready, BSNL has creating a National Internet Backbone (NIB). Phase I of NIB focused on core and edge router, phase II on narrowband RAS where UTStarcom is the winner, phase III on broadband RAS which is at an advanced stage, and phase IV will focus on messaging and billing. This will help BSNL to compete with private service providers on equal footing.

The broadband equipment market in India has started to look attractive. Major companies like Alcatel, Siemens, UTStarcom, Cisco, Ericsson, and Lucent are aggressively pushing their products in the Indian market. UTStarcom has opened an account with Reliance Infocomm and has supplied DLCs with broadband capability. According to VOICE&DATA, Reliance has bought around 1,800 boxes of AN- FTTB from UTStarcom for around Rs 45 crore. The company has deployed these boxes in building complexes in 30 odd cities. The boxes can be used for providing POTs, leased line, and ADSL connections. BSNL has invited tenders for 0.5 million lines and is in the finalization stage. Apart from this, BSNL is also working on a franchisee model with I Spatial and Atlas Telecom where one can expect small amount of broadband infrastructure deployment.

The Outlook
UTStarcom is presently the numero uno. But the real winner in the infrastructure equipment will be decided when Tata and BSNL finalize their requirement. It is estimated that the country will witness around 750,000 additions on the broadband front in FY 2004-05.

Pravin Prashant