“CWG village deployment was a unique project"

Please give a brief introduction about Neutral Access Network Operation.

Radius Infratel holds an innovative proprietary technologicalsolution-Neutral Access Network Operation (NANO), which isdesigned to seamlessly deliver all IP-enabled next-generationservices at the last mile. This technology is operator-agnostic,and is being deployed, owned, operated and maintained by thecompany, which is an IP1 license holder and fully integratedtelecommunication infrastructure solution provider in the wirelinedomain. The NANO network which offers future-ready approachtakes 'open access' to the next level by integrating not onlyInformation, Communication and Technology services (ICT) butalso all Building Management Services (BMS). The company offersoperator neutral technology for converged wireline and wirelessservices that facilitates entertainment and security solutions.

How innovative is your offering, as well as good in quality?

NANO is unique and has the capability to deliver multiple services(voice, video and date) of multiple operators, all through a singlefiber connected at home/office. The ability to integrate all of theabove plus also the various other services offered by a realestate developer into one network makes NANO a uniqueproposition, relevant simultaneously for consumers, telecom companies, real estatedevelopers and also other VAS players. The high quality of service of this systemis ensured by the exceptionally high quality of equipment procured from Ericssonand equally dependable operation and maintenance skill from Radius. This hasbeen displayed recently in running similar system in CWG Village.

What are the key challenges in the deployment?

The primary challenges of this deployment are the laying of both passive and activeinfrastructure with utmost accuracy and quality, configuration of end equipmentkeeping in mind the exact requirement of the customer and finally making totalintegration of all the services as per the requirement of the end users.

What are the benefits that an end-consumer can derive from this offering?

There are numerous advantages of this 'future-ready' solution.The primary benefits include; 'smart home' at low cost, freedomfor users to choose multiple service providers, maximum choicefor consumer across content areas, eco-friendly environment,future-proof convergence solution and no clutter of wiring forall BMS, telecom and IT services. Besides, uninterrupted lastmile network with QoS is assured with a bandwidth scalable upto 1GB.

How can your services enhance ARPU and savings in capex and opex?

ARPU will be enhanced automatically as more and morebandwidth hungry applications like localised value-addedservices, Community networking and high definition video aredelivered through the same infrastructure. eg inclusion of IPTV-Standard Definition/High-Definition (SD/HD), Video-on-Demand(VoD), Music-on- Demand (MoD), Games-on-Demand (GoD) etc.Provision of multiple TV systems in the same MDU will furtherenhance the ARPU. The service providers will save huge amountof capex as they don't have to spend for the completeinfrastructure but pay for customers per a 'Pay-as-you-use' mechanism. The opexis also reduced to a great extent as very little manpower is needed to deliver theirservices and the last miles woes are taken care of through assured quality of service.

What is your vision for 2020?

To enable, empower and entrust every citizen to the digital equality by establishingconvergence network of telecom, IT and media through NANO to encourageeducation, entertainment, employment and e-governance (By 2020 everynew MDU project will be deploying only FTTH telecom infrastructure).Moreover, majority of existing housing projects having conventional copperinfrastructure will attempt to convert into FTTH as it is happeningin Dwarka.

What are your current and upcoming projects?

Presently, our deployment target is projected to cover 600,000 homesby 2013. We will not be able to divulge project specific details asof now, but of course our focus is on clusters like Dwarka wherework is in progress and we are enabling 40,000 homes in a phasedmanner.

Please give some insight on CWG- 2010 deployment.

CWG Village deployment was a very unique one, where IPTV wasdeployed in about 1,200 locations. The regular IPTV feed from Airtelwas blended with direct feed by MTNL in high definition from nearly30 games venues so that the athletes and delegates could view thehappenings at each venue while staying at the games village. Further,each flat was also provided with intercom facility through our GPON.More than 75 country offices within the CWGV were provided withdesired number of VoIP phones from MTNL, direct wireline broadbandfrom Airtel of which few dedicated connections with symmetricalspeed of 20mbps and Wi-Fi through the connected routers. At theCWGV, Radius also put together a secure Wi-Fi network in certainhot spots in the village, which was used extensively by the athletesand delegates to transmit about 2.5 terabytes of data.

MUNTAZIR ABBAS
(muntazira@cybermedia.co.in)