DISHNET DSL: On the Broadband Wagon

Sridhar Subra—maniyan is a Net freak. He spends a minimum

of four hours everyday on the Net. But of the four hours, he spends most of the

time waiting for the page to download. Elsewhere, in a software development

center, there is chaos. The reason: their ISDN lines are choked because of

overloading. These are just examples that show the plight of the Indian Internet

user. Given the present state of infrastructure, the country not only needs a

technology that resolves basic connectivity problems, but one that can also be

easily adopted widely. Digital subscriber line (DSL), a technology being

aggressively promoted by Chennai-based Dishnet DSL, is gearing up to address

these issues.

According to a study conducted by Nasscom, the country will

require a bandwidth of around 300Gbps by 2005, while another survey done by

Fujitsu puts the bandwidth requirement at 210 Gbps for the same time. And

meeting such requirements would be an uphill task. With Dishnet’s

infrastructure and services already in place in Delhi, Mumbai, Chennai, Pune,

Bangalore, Hyderabad, Cochin and Coimbatore, the company hopes to capitalize on

its early mover edge. Says R Ganesh, vice president, field engineering, Dishnet

DSL, "We made a strategic decision to enter into the broadband arena and we

are the first company to introduce DSL in the country. To provide our services

to a wider audience, we are now on an expansion spree. To this end we have set

up around 350 DSL AMs (Access Multipliers) across the country, which will be

able to provide DSL connectivity to 40,000 users. As the demand for broadband

grows, we will extend the network substantially."

Market potential

The DSL market in India is still in a nascent stage, but the

company hopes to cash in on the increasing number of Internet users. In the last

few years, the country’s Internet subscriber base has increased from a meager

1.7 lakh in 1998 to over 2.3 million in 2001, says a Nasscom survey. Says Ganesh,

"Our DSL subscriber base is currently at about 15,000. Today there is a

pressing need for quality bandwidth and uninterrupted connectivity, which we can

provide."

Among the target segments are software development centers,

corporates, hospitality, SMEs, SOHO and the home segment. It is interesting to

note that 5% of the total Dishnet DSL connections are in the home segment,

clearly indicating that the segment has been an early adopter. Applications like

audio-video streaming, Web-enabled ERP, telemedicine, VPN etc call for faster

data transfer speeds and they will act as major drivers for DSL in the country.

Says Rustom Irani, CTO, Satyam Infoway, "When we look at

the Indian Internet scenario, the maximum cost is being paid by the subscriber

for the telephone connect charge incurred through dial-up connections. A

technology like DSL would be able to provide the always on connect without

consuming the telephone charges. This makes it attractive to the Internet

user." However there is a flip side, the cost of the DSL modem is

reasonably high and could act as a deterrent. Also, the telephone companies are

refusing to allow the co-location model of DSLAM, which is being used in some of

the developed countries. Irani of Sify points out, "The Indian market is

still not ready for this. While there is a lack of critical mass, DSL deployment

is also a very costly affair. Besides, the killer applications that demand

broadband are still not here."

Notwithstanding conflicting opinions, Dishnet is pitching

hard that this is a technology of the future. While leased lines are much

costlier, dial-ups and ISDNs don’t offer as much access speed. The company has

rolled out innovative schemes and packages to leverage its offerings to a wider

mass. In the US, DSL competes with Cable Internet, which is still in a fluid

stage in India. But in the absence of competition, it certainly has potential to

take off in the Net access market.

g Shrikanth in Chennai