‘The Indian market is one of our strongest growth engines’
How has the Indian market performed for Orckit-corrigent?
In the private sector, we are currently participating in extensive lab trials and demos of our entire Packet Transport Network (PTN) portfolio. In addition to BSNL, which is our key customer, we are also investing in developing our business within the Indian defense sector. Putting all of this together, we consider the Indian market to be one of our strongest growth engines.
What solutions are you providing to BSNL, who has selected the company’s solutions for a nationwide broadband network?
We provide BSNL with Gigabit Passive Optical Network (GPON) aggregation solution for a nationwide Fiber-to-theHome (FTTH) project. Initial deployment is already underway. For this strategic opportunity, we received a Technical Specification Evaluation Certificate (TSEC) and established successful partnership with 2 local channel partners.
How do you view the competitive dynamics of the Indian market in your field (PTN solutions)?
The Indian telecommunication market is currently gearing up for the massive, nationwide launch of 3G and LTE mobile networks. In addition to mobile networks, the local industry is being driven by a clear demand for high-speed broadband services among both the residential and enterprise fixedline customers.
In the current competitive environment, local service providers are undergoing significant upgrades that are placing short-term pressure on the networking vendors to provide scalable, cost-effective, and future-proof PTN solutions. This combination is challenging and requires dedicated investments to current carrier ethernet switches and routers or packetoptical gear.
What challenges are you facing in the Indian market?
One strategic issue that requires immediate attention in the Indian market is how to migrate existing transport networks to enable next-generation broadband services to mobile and fixedline subscribers. Some of the key challenges regarding networking infrastructure migration include the following: How to migrate smoothly while preserving legacy subscribers and margins; how to enable a large capacity of packet based services to a very large customer base; and how to integrate these changes quickly, while minimizing capital and operational expenditures.
India also presents significant scale and cost challenges. From a technical point of view, advanced packet technologies for next- generation transport are urgent issues that need to be addressed immediately. One example is packet synchronization. GPS is not a valid solution since TD-LTE is heavily based on indoor units. Another important example for the Indian market is high availability at the equipment/network/service levels and quick protection for complex scenarios of multiple fiber cuts.
akankshas@cybermedia.co.in