‘I am always impressed with people who take the challenge of building versus reselling’
How is the telecom backbone infrastructure in India with respect to service providers?
First, the transport infrastructure is going through a significant transformation with drivers like cloud, massive amount of video and mobile data putting lot of pressure on network infrastructure. Second, technology is emerging with new and enhanced capability, capacity, and flexibility, which are forcing the infrastructure to change. We understand that the challenge is to improve the network and its economics and customer experience.
How do you see Indian operators versus global operators in terms of backbone infrastructure?
Significant IP transformation is inescapable and it’s true for the Indian operators too, but how and when they go for transformation will depend upon their own circumstances. Strong simulation of IP transformation infrastructure is going in a very specific way. Indian operators have a different timing and adoption of 3G. The context might be different, but the scale of infrastructure and base technology will be the same vis-à-vis a global operator.
How do you see the rollout of the national optical fiber backbone (NOFN) with respect to India?
Two observations based on Singapore, Australia, New Zealand, and Canada broadband networks are: First, communication is an important national topic in many places; and second, there is an incredible amount of value created in the country with the deployment of a broadband network. It’s an interesting topic for the government interested in learnings, however the right way to execute such rollouts is a context based issue.
Building and running a service provider is a challenging task. I am always impressed by the kind of people that take the challenge of building versus reselling. Service providers are having a clear view about what their core capabilities are and how they are going to provide value to their customers and stakeholders. One can provide examples of asset light and asset heavy; and there are no right or wrong answers with respect to infrastructure.
How do think the technology will move with respect to backbone network?
DWDM networks can scale a long way as only 10% capacity is utilized in a day. So, one has to invest in technologies like 100G and multi-terabit ODM switch. 100 Gbps in a single carrier is the way to move forward and there is no other commercial solution available, hence all operators are moving in that direction.
We have to keep 200-400 Gbps and this is very interesting and challenging, as we have invested due to our experience in Bell Labs. And, that’s the kind of network needed in a transport network. There should be an interplay between transport players and IP players. We are in a unique position to drive interplay between IP and TDM by focusing on the best network and customer experiences.
pravinp@cybermedia.co.in