RELIANCE INFOCOMM : A Latecomer with Goodies

Born out of Dhirubhai Ambani’s dream and ambition to make it big in the

knowledge economy, his son Mukesh Ambani fashioned a strategy which was

conceptually simple and sweeping in its impact–he encouraged the Reliance

Infocomm team to look for the best technology in the world and use it to reduce

the cost to the consumer.

Mukesh Ambani, chairman and managing director, Reliance Infocomm, said at the

launch of the initiative–"We will offer revolutionary data, video and

value-added services at a cost affordable by all, in the largest and most

complex rollout in the history of the information technology and communication

sector worldwide." And indeed, it was the kickoff of a giant network, an

enormous campus and the boldest initiative in the Indian information and

communications sector so far.

 

Reliance Infocomm has created an overarching digital infrastructure using

state-of-the-art technology on the strength of a 60,000-kilometer terabit

capacity optic fiber network covering over 600 cities. The goal of Reliance

Infocomm is to progressively expand its optic fiber network and eventually cover

116,000 km, with the ability to seamlessly connect every individual, home, and

office in all 640,000 villages and 2,500 towns and cities of India.

The plan

What exactly is the master plan that Reliance Infocomm has held close to

its heart so far?



The first phase is to kick-off a mobile revolution, in the form of the

Reliance IndiaMobile service through a nationwide wireless network.

Intelligently, Reliance Infocomm is using its basic services license to do it

and exploiting the wireless-based limited mobility option. Not many anticipated

the large-scale attack; and that’s why cellular operators are yelping in pain.

Once unleashed, the service is expected to witness a mass following and the

frenzy that ensues will envelop the entire nation since the service is being

launched throughout the country in one sweep.

By mid-2003, Reliance Infocomm plans to take businesses in its sway. They

call it the ‘enterprise Netway revolution’. Already, the company is ready

with its data-centers, managed network services, and a host of applications like

GIS, vehicle monitoring system, broadband Wi-fi applications, videoconferencing

solutions, mobile ATMs, fixed wireless ATMs using CDMA, and VoIP. The plan is to

provide 100 mbps Ethernet links to desktops and devices to half a million

enterprise buildings initially and eventually to ten million buildings.

And by the end of 2003, the time would be ripe for a consumer convergence

revolution triggered by providing high speed Ethernet links to 80 mn homes

initially and eventually to every home. This revolution will enlighten every

home with an entire range of television channels, high-speed telephony, audio

conferencing, videoconferencing, and video-on-demand.

This then is the overall scope of the Reliance Infocomm initiative.

Of course, with time the company will also offer basic wireline telephony

services nationwide, international long distance, rural telephony, and

manufacture CDMA-compliant handsets–all of which does not require much

preparation now. Of the Rs 25,000 crore investment planned, Rs 15,000 crore has

been raised–Rs 6,000 crore through equity and Rs 9,000 crore through debt.

Till date, Rs 11,000 crore has been committed and it includes all of what has

currently been done in terms of infrastructure, redundancy, incremental ducts

for the next decade, and so on. An international listing is a possibility over

the next two-three years to raise further cash and unlock shareholder value.

The headquarters for all these services, programmes and operations of

Reliance Infocomm is located in the Dhirubhai Ambani Knowledge City, a brand new

and modern campus built on a 140-acre site in Navi Mumbai, conceived by Nita

Ambani, President of the Dhirubhai Ambani Foundation. The campus hosts a

national operations center, applications development laboratories, data centers,

and contact centers, spread over 2.2 million square feet of office space.

The Infocomm network



Reliance Infocomm has built a nationwide optic-fiber based network

infrastructure intended to cover 90% of the population. It is a 100% digital

network capable of carrying terabits of data per second and could well be the

largest private information and communication network in the country. The

network infrastructure spans 60,000 kilometers of optic fiber cable, 250,000

kilometers of high-density polyethylene ducts, 30,000 kilometers of other cables

and 2,588 BTS towers. Wherever optic fiber could not be used due to difficult

terrain, digital microwave towers (15 to 42 m), with equipment shed to house

multiplexing and radio equipment, have been used.

The network architecture consists of nodal functional elements and transport

layers in a ring and mesh topology. The nodal functional elements are media

convergence nodes (MCN), building access nodes (BAN) and building nodes (BN).

The transport layers assemble these functional elements on three functional

transport layers–the backbone, main access ring, and building access ring.

Each transport layer, along with their nodal elements, performs specific

functions supporting customer traffic services and connection to the national

network operations centre (NNOC) and operations support system (OSS). The

transport layers carry information from one city to another. The national

backbone interconnects major cities throughout India. It consists of a

survivable optic fiber network configured as several interconnected rings and

mesh.

The design is a two-tier one. An express ring reduces passage through nodes

and improves reliability for traffic between major metros and all major node

cities. The collector ring transports traffic from other short distance calling

areas (SDCA). The ring topology provides necessary protection to traffic in

terms of alternate paths in the eventuality of breakage of optic fiber or

equipment failure, thus ensuring smooth and uninterrupted operation of the

network.

The fiber to the building (FTTB) architecture is achieved through the access

network. It enables end users to connect to the larger telecommunication

network. Access network consists of metro network and building access network.

Metro access is deployed in a three-layered approach–the backbone (MCN), main

access ring (MA ring) and building access ring (BA ring)–in order to provide

both narrow band as well as broadband requirements on wire line. Building access

rings aggregate building nodes and associated traffic up to the MCN (which

interconnects to the national backbone), except for intra city traffic, which is

handled by the BAN to BAN network.

Network redundancy has been built to protect the network from cable cuts.

Network redundancy is also required to avoid loss of traffic due to equipment

failures. The ring and mesh topology achieves this. Use of synchronous digital

hierarchy (SDH) within the city and dense wave division multiplexed (DWDM) for

the national backbone ensures reliability, fast restoration from failures and

low probability of outages. Use of several self-healing rings enables a high

quality of service.

A stringent fault, configuration, accounting, performance, and security (FCAPS)

requirement has been taken care of in the network management system (NMS), as

per the guidelines of the telecommunications management network.

Built on multiple software modules, the service delivery platform supports

service order management, service delivery, service/network activation, network

inventory management, resource and workforce management. The service assurance

package includes fault management, performance management, trouble ticketing

management, SLA management, test and maintenance management, SS7 management and

traffic management. The configuration management module enables service

creation, provisioning, test, and maintenance. The fault management module

enables detection, isolation, and correction of abnormal operation. The NMS

carries out real time alarm surveillance, fault location and fault correction

through testing, and trouble administration.

Getting the men and the brains together



To fulfill the scope of the Reliance Infocomm initiative, the company will

need mammoth human and intellectual resources. It is following a smart approach

here. Branded as the ‘Dhirubhai Ambani Entrepreneur Program’, it will create

an extended enterprise and a new paradigm in sales and distribution management.

It will enroll 200,000 individuals committed to acquiring customers, building

the brand, and provide information and feedback to the company. Saturation

advertising will create the pull, and the channel would satisfy the demand.

Multiple points of physical presence, branded as Reliance WebWorld (earlier

called Web Stores)–an Internet café, entertainment center, and digital

products shop rolled into one–will serve as outlets.

The sheer amount of software that needs to be developed for all the

applications that the company envisions is humongous. In the words of Mukesh

Ambani, " from managing queues in temples, to connecting all police

stations to delivering e-governance solutions to all citizens" suggests the

scope of application software development.

Software talent, though abundantly available within the country, cannot all

hope to be employed on the rolls of Reliance Infocomm. Instead, a developer

programme, branded ‘Dhirubhai Ambani Developer Program’ seeks to tap into

the intellectual resources of India’s software army. In a specific comment to

Dataquest, Ambani said, "The program will harness India’s formidable

software talent to develop products for the local as well as global markets, in

the opensource mode." One thousand developers of software solutions are

being enrolled now to eventually grow to 100,000 developers by December 2003.

Reliance Infocomm will provide the infrastructure, unlimited access to

comprehensive technical documentation and support and offer special rate plans

designed for the developer community.

These two programs are a tribute to Dhirubhai Ambani’s conviction that the

best way a business can contribute to society is by encouraging other

enterprises, and creating economic opportunities for millions of young Indians.

In the final analysis, Reliance Infocomm’s strategy rests on intelligently

using the provisions of the deregulated telecom environment along with the

remaining regulations to its advantage to gain a start. A huge domestic consumer

market would be tapped through the pricing strategy. Having invested so much in

the infrastructure, it can be used for offering enterprise solutions. Increasing

scales will turn the tide in the company’s favor because it owns a large part

through which the traffic will flow. Its brand equity, brand building

capabilities and saturation marketing will keep up the steam. The vision is

commendable, and the execution flawless up till now…

Easwardas Satyan

Reliance India Mobile The Early Bird Gets the Worm

This is a basic service that will compete with the cellular phenomenon

because Reliance Infocomm has chosen to take the wireless route. No longer would

wireless be restricted to the hilly terrains or the rural areas. Reliance

Infocomm is using it to stir up the telecom market and redefine its economics.

Its value proposition–mobility, data-capability, bandwidth, and applications–all

at rates cheaper than everything else.

Liken that to getting ‘Shahi Korma’ at rates cheaper than a bottle of ‘Bisleri’.

The star attraction is the ‘Dhirubhai Ambani Pioneer Offer’ under which

for an initial payment of Rs 3,000, one gets a free digital mobile phone (worth

Rs 10,500) and unlimited free incoming calls. For a monthly payment of Rs 600

thereon, one gets 400 minutes of outgoing talktime that includes all local

calls, all state long distance calls, and long distance calls to any Reliance

phone in the country. Over 40 % discount is being offered for national long

distance calls where Reliance network does not exist. And unused minutes can be

carried forward till the end of the quarter.

All

the value-added services like voice-mail, Internet access, call hold, call

divert, call conferencing, caller line identification, and text messaging are

free. The company has developed a suite of applications–a set of basic

applications will come free for a period of three years. An incremental set of

applications will be free for the initial 90 days. Such applications include

audio streaming, video streaming, web browsing, news, ticker services, and

games.

A handset exchange program whereby one can exchange old handsets for

international long distance calls worth Rs 7,200 is an added attraction. But

that’s not all for the early adopters. They are also entitled to a mega-saver

coupon book with discount coupons worth Rs 1 lakh from leading lifestyle brands

and branded retailers.

The Dhirubhai Ambani Pioneer Offer is intended to gather the critical mass of

customers. The bookings would officially start from January 15, 2003 onwards and

the Pioneer Offer is valid till March 2003. The Pioneer Offer is also available

if you make a payment upfront. The two other schemes are–the

"regular" scheme with an upfront payment plan covering only talktime

and the ‘standard’ plan, which is a monthly payment plan.

Under its licence agreement, Reliance Infocomm is not allowed to offer

roaming facility as in cellular phones. Services can therefore be availed only

within the SDCA (short distance charging area). The same handset can however be

used in any other SDCA. The Reliance IndiaMobile service will be available only

on CDMA 2000 1X handsets specially imported by Reliance. The phones, currently

from Samsung and LG, are light, sleek, Java-enabled, multimedia-ready and have

other advanced features.