abhay 0 Report post Posted September 5, 2006 Bandwidth prices may tumble as Reliance launches FALCON cable Reliance Communications Ltd today launched commercial operations of its 2.56 tb undersea cable connecting the Middle East region with India in an effort to provide bandwidth to end-users like IT, BPO and international voice telephony companies. The whopping capacity of 2.56 terabit FALCON submarine cable system connects 11 countries and four continents as its stretches 11,859 km from Mumbai to Egypt. It covers Oman, Kuwait, Bahrain, Qatar and Saudi Arabia, where FALCON is expected to bring down the bandwidth costs. Telecom Minister Dayanidhi Maran, who inaugurated the cable system, said: "FALCON heralds a new era in the telecom landscape of the country by providing a cost-effective source of international bandwidth. "The initiatives of Reliance and others will provide healthy competition and robust growth. The carriers will further bring down their tariff in line with the prevailing market prices. The benefits would soon be experienced by Indian enterprises and consumers." Reliance is pitted against Bharti and VSNL in the bandwidth space. "The availability of high quality international connectivity would catalyse the broadband revolution and at the same time boost the vistas of the burgeoning ITES and BPO enterprises" said Maran. He also asked the ambassadors of the Middle East countries connected through the FALCON cable, present on the occasion, to work together to bring down the landing costs. Landing costs of submarine cables passing through these countries in Middle East are considered to be high. FALCON has 14 landing stations. Reliance-ADA Group chairman Anil Ambani said: "we are glad that the falcon project has been completed in a record time and is being launched four months ahead of schedule with significant cost savings. "The cable will provide seamless connectivity on one single network in the fastest-growing international bandwidth demand areas of India, China and the Middle East." He said the entire cost of laying the cable was estimated at 500 million dollars (nearly Rs 2,309 crore) but the company has been able to complete the project with 400 million dollars (nearly Rs 1,847 crore) with 20 per cent cost saving. Communications solutions provider Alcatel partnered with Reliance for the project to supply equipment. "We will create value for all the stakeholders," Ambani said. The demand for bandwidth is also growing within India where software services sector and the banking industry provide huge potential. International voice telephony (ISD) services also need bandwidth for operationlisation of network. FALCON will be a part of Reliance Communications' Flag Telecom Global Network, which already has cables running through 35 countries spanning four continents. With today's launch of FALCON cable, Flag Telecom Global Network became the world's largest undersea cable system covering 65 000 route kms. "Our pre-sales initiatives have resulted in an overwhelming response are an encouraging indicator of the future business prospects," Flag Telecom CEO Punit Garg said through a 11-country video conference from Egypt. http://www.zeenews.com/znnew/articles.asp?...=54&sid=BUS Share this post Link to post Share on other sites
vahuja 0 Report post Posted September 7, 2006 we hope the prices of Internet are reduced, presently reliance is charging very high from its rconnect customers. reliance charges are very high....we hope they should be comparable to other operators..... Share this post Link to post Share on other sites
spdf 0 Report post Posted September 11, 2006 just curious to know when can we expect a price cut in Broadband services. Share this post Link to post Share on other sites
abhay 0 Report post Posted September 11, 2006 not in near future !! Share this post Link to post Share on other sites
linuxguy 0 Report post Posted September 12, 2006 when will this trickle down to us retail customers? Share this post Link to post Share on other sites
abhay 0 Report post Posted September 12, 2006 when competition comes along we will get the best possible Internet services in the world and the ONLY thing holding back competition is LASTMILE and i again would like to say wireless is the only way (economic and advanced) to eliminate lastmile problem Share this post Link to post Share on other sites
spdf 0 Report post Posted October 24, 2006 Nearly two months over after the FALCON launch...but nothing exciting is happening in the BroadBand sector... Share this post Link to post Share on other sites
linuxguy 0 Report post Posted October 24, 2006 sheesh, the sector is looking more and more bleak by the day Share this post Link to post Share on other sites
