Flag Announces First major project with Reliance

[neel 0]

Hi,

I think we also discuss about Reliance infocomm's PAN india Network,

Reliance has led down 60,000kms of optcal Fiber throughout india,

We will be receiving broad band services lile ISDN,Lease line,VPN,Video Conferencing,Centrex etc services .

Can we discuss and compare with other broadband service provider in India?

Pls give ur open comments and suggestion.

Thanks

Neel..

[sunil_jok 2]

when r they planning to give broad band service?

what is the expected rent?

what is the speed?

does anyone have any idea bout it?

[Chirag 5]

i have heard they r planning on some package deal for their customers. For example a small wire that pops in ur home/office will offer Telephone with 2 parallel connections and cable TV and cable Internet....

Any idea how far this has gone? and wht would be its cost?

[Arun 795]

Reliance's Broadband Strategy:

The most exciting of the Indian telecom companies’ broadband projects unquestionably is Reliance Infocomm’s venture.

According to an informed source, the company’s broadband offering has two key components. Unlike many other telecom companies, Reliance is not looking at offering TV and broadband services through DSL lines, a route taken by most international telecom companies.

Instead, Reliance is laying high speed fibre optic cable to the basement of residential buildings all across the country. From this point, individual homes will be connected through an ethernet – or a special cable (called CAT 5).

The second element to the Reliance strategy is an indigenously developed set top box connected to its high-speed highway.

The multi-purpose box will virtually transform your television set – it will provide TV channels (with or without CAS), pay TV, video on demand, video conferencing capabilities, high speed internet services and up to 40 gibabytes per second of storage capacity.

With this kind of storage, you can record programmes (cricket matches, for instance) or download matter from the internet. And if you attach a phone to it, you’ll get IP and internet telephony services too. The aim, apparently, is to price the set top box at between Rs 4,500 and Rs 6,750.

A company spokesman declined to comment on Reliance Infocomm’s plans, but Reliance, it is understood, will use its existing infrastructure at its telecom exchanges.

Reliance will put in servers and other equipment at its telecom equipment centres where channels will be downloaded and content stored for redistribution to homes.

Why has Reliance adopted a different model of distribution? Explains a close Reliance watcher: “The DSL route makes sense for incumbents like BSNL which can leverage its copper wires. Reliance does not have that advantage. So it can chose a more cost effective technology where the price of the set top box is more affordable than that of a DSL set top box. It has also gone in for a technology which is more scaleable.”

Reliance Infocomm is also looking at other ways to reduce the cost of broadband services. One answer is to see whether the hard disc of a set top box can be shared among households that do not require large storage space. That would again make the total package cheaper for customers.

The Ambani company has worked closely with Microsoft to jointly create, test and deliver next-generation Internet Protocol (IP)-based television services such as video on demand, on-demand storefronts, interactive programme guides and managed content services.

Says a broadband industry analyst who has closely followed the Reliance broadband model: “Realising that PC penetration is low, Reliance is virtually converting the TV set into a PC monitor with the set top box being the hard disc or the central processing unit of a PC and the remote being the key pad of a computer and offering customers as much broadband capacity as they want.”

[Chirag 5]

wow.. this is like some Fantasy coming true! 6-8 grands is cheap man !

[JAX 1]

I wonder when they will start their service...

[Arun 795]

Financial Express

Reliance Infocomm will commercially launch its broadband service over its optical fibre network during the next few weeks as a part of which the company would offer bandwidth ranging from 64 kilo bits per second to one giga bits per second. Over the next two-three months, the company plans to reach 2,00,000 homes through its fibre-to-the-home (FTTH) broadband plan, informed Reliance Infocomm president Prakash Bajpai.

As part of its broadband offerings, the company plans to offer leased line and virtual private network (VPN) among others, said Mr Bajpai.

[sunil_jok 2]

i hope they will give it to regular house hold too... i cant wait to change to something more fast than this asianet cable

[Arun 795]

Reliance to offer broadband in Pune

Capitalising on the massive network of optic fibre cable (OFC) it has already laid, Reliance Infocomm is all set to offer broadband services in Pune and Nashik. To be launched within the next two months, the offer will initially be restricted to commercial customers.

Addressing a press conference at the launch of Reliance India Mobile (RIM)’s cellular pre-paid card, group president V V Bhat said the company is finalising its plans to offer broadband services. ‘‘To begin with, we will only provide data services. The remaining value-added services and content will come later,’’ he said. Bhat said the company is working on collecting data for various value-added services.

He was, however, unable to put a time frame by which the company would be ready to offer the entire gamut of broadband services, saying content development may take a while.

Bhat added that the company has already started beta-testing of set-top boxes. ‘‘At present we are testing the set-top boxes at 5,000 homes, most of which are Reliance townships,’’ he informed. Bhat clarified that the Reliance set-top boxes would be different from the regular ones available under the Conditional Access System (CAS). Refusing to speculate on its price-tag, he stated that it would be offered at an attractive rate, feasible for middle-class families.

Answering queries on the broadband services, Business Head (Maharashtra and Goa) Dinesh Gulati said, ‘‘The company will implement the broadband plan in two phases. For first phase we have identified 25 big commercial centres in Pune for providing last-mile connectivity from their OFC network. Each building will have approximately 1,000 connections. In the second phase the company will give connections to 25 more buildings to take the total to 50,000 connections in Pune.’’

[Arun 795]

Reliance is currently targeting corporate customers, but the company also plans to take the Ethernet to residential areas, where it will compete against cable operators and ISPs like Sify. Reliance Infocomm has already selected its vendors. Besides Nortel and Cisco, the company is also buying equipment from a start-up called Atrica.

Reliance Infocomm's requirement is so huge that Atrica got another round of funding because of the order. Atrica has received a total of $134 million in funding till date.

[niket 0]

Flag Telecom Announces Major New Middle East Loop Terabit/S Submarine Cable System With Links To Egypt And Hong Kong Via India

· First major project after amalgamation with Reliance

· FALCON Project unlocks broadband opportunity

· Strengthens FLAG's market leadership position

HIGHLIGHTS

Satisfying regional demand with first self-healing submarine loop network in the Gulf region with links to Egypt, India and Hong Kong

15,000 km terabit/s submarine system to be in service by early 2005

Providing high-capacity connectivity into and out of India

Reliance Infocomm to provide landing stations on east and west coasts of India and loop connectivity across terrestrial network linking all major cities

Seamless integration with FLAG's global network to provide worldwide diversity and industry-leading resilience

DAKC (Dhirubhai Ambani Knowledge City), Navi Mumbai February 17, 2004

FLAG Telecom, the wholly owned subsidiary of Reliance Infocomm and a leading provider of international wholesale network transport and communications services, today announced FALCON, a new high-capacity resilient loop cable system providing multiple landings throughout the Gulf region, with submarine links stretching to Egypt in the west and to Hong Kong in the east. Across India the FALCON system will interconnect seamlessly with Reliance's 80,000 km high-speed domestic infrastructure, allowing customers to access major cities connected along the network.

Commenting at today's announcement, Patrick Gallagher, CEO, FLAG Telecom, said: "FALCON will dramatically change the global communications infrastructure balance. We have recognised for some time that the exploding market demand from major growth economies could not be served by the bandwidth connectivity serving the Middle East and Asia today. Across India, FALCON will also provide access to all major cities, offering customers direct connectivity into and across one of the world's largest growth economies from any metropolitan centre connected to the FLAG global network, and all at the level of quality and reliability for which FLAG is renowned.

"Our announcement today follows months of project development work and we are now in final negotiations with a shortlist of suppliers. All initial engineering work has been completed and preparations for the marine survey are well under way. With a forecast initial service date of within 12 months, this is an extremely challenging project, but we believe it is essential to support the growth economies of the Middle East, India and China."

Mukesh Ambani, Chairman and Managing Director of Reliance Industries Ltd., said: "Since our foundation 40 years ago, we have always sought to harness the latest technology to provide world-beating services for our customers. FLAG's FALCON project is such an initiative, and underlines the growing optimism in today's telecommunications marketplace. Today's announcement provides the backbone to deliver advanced broadband services to the Middle East, India and China, which have been traditionally underserved with high-capacity broadband connectivity. FALCON is the culmination of discussions with valued customers and leading global operators and is designed to unlock the broadband opportunity."

FALCON will include the Gulf region's first self-healing submarine network ring providing all countries connected to the high capacity cable with extremely reliable, high quality connectivity. Countries that have the potential to directly access this resilient connectivity include Oman, Bahrain, Kuwait, Iran, Qatar and Iraq. All of these countries have expressed interest in joining FALCON and most are in advanced discussions with FLAG Telecom regarding their participation. Branching units can be added along the entire FALCON cable route to allow more countries in the region to connect to the system as their communications needs continue to expand.

Spokespersons from major operators commenting on the FALCON project, said:

OmanTel: "Oman is geographically ideally located at the heart of the FALCON route, providing important communication links from the world's business centres to India and Asia to the east and to Egypt in the west. We believe in the FALCON project and that it will meet the burgeoning broadband demand from the fast growing Gulf and wider Middle East region."

Batelco: "FALCON will be the first cable system to bring fully protected connectivity to the Gulf and will allow Bahrain to diversify its current capacity arrangements. FALCON will also have many times more capacity than the existing regional links and will enable Batelco to confidently provide new services to customers, at faster speeds and more cost-effectively than before."

Telecom Egypt: "As a key regional provider of advanced services, Telecom Egypt has committed to participate in the FALCON project. Telecom Egypt has been a natural hub for many international cable crossings. FALCON allows us to both consolidate our strategic position and provides a catalyst for supporting the introduction of broadband, ADSL and other such initiatives throughout Egypt."

Ministry of Communications, Kuwait: "With the geographic position of Kuwait at the head of the Gulf, FALCON will enable us to address several strategic development opportunities and offer resilient connectivity to support advanced broadband applications throughout the area."

The western link of the FALCON system will land at Telecom Egypt's Landing Station at Suez, where the cable will integrate with FLAG's global network. FALCON will then follow a route through the Red Sea along the East African coast and across the top of the Arabian Sea before landing in Oman.

Travelling from Oman along its easterly link, FALCON will cross the Arabian Sea to a new Reliance-owned landing station at Mumbai, India. At this point FALCON will interconnect seamlessly to Reliance's pan-India 80,000 km high-speed backbone network linking approx 1100 cities and towns across the length and breadth of the country. At Chennai, on the East coast of India where a second Reliance landing station is being built, FALCON will again become a submarine system, linking India to Hong Kong, where the cable will once again integrate with FLAG's global network.

FALCON will be funded by FLAG, Reliance and commitments from participating operators.

FLAG's cable network already spans the globe and the company has an acknowledged reputation for a centralised end to end network management underpinned by exceptional quality and service support. FLAG offers customers east and west routing, meaning traffic can be switched at any time to avoid a cable cut or natural disaster. FALCON will also provide additional resilience across the major route from Egypt to Hong Kong and particularly around the Middle East.

About FLAG Telecom

FLAG Telecom, a member company of the Reliance Group, has an established customer base of more than 180 leading operators, including all of the top ten international carriers. FLAG owns and manages an extensive optical fibre network spanning four continents and connecting key business markets in Asia, Europe, the Middle East and the USA. FLAG also owns and operates a low latency global MPLS based IP network, which connects most of the world's principal international Internet exchanges. FLAG offers a focused range of global products, including global bandwidth, IP, Internet, Ethernet and Co-location services. In the first international acquisition by the Group, FLAG Telecom became a Reliance Group company on 12 January 2004. Recent news releases and further information are on FLAG Telecom's website at: www.flagtelecom.com.

[Chirag 5]

with this pace, Reliance Infocomm will jus push this company and take it to greater hts, in some months i guess!!! I wouldn't be amazed if Reliance breaks even with its investment in purchasing the company in some 200crs in a couple of yrs! if they do so, that'll be one more FIRST in the pockets of Reliance!! Gr8 goin... Keep it up!