Optical fibre cable (OFC), with their unlimited bandwidth capacity, is emerging as the key technology for catering to the country’s surging data demand. To this end, several operators have started replacing their legacy copper infrastructure with fibre, ramping up their existing fibre capacity and devising strategies for future expansions. Despite OFC’s several advantages, OFC roll-out and its deployment by operators remain sluggish. Issues related to right of way (RoW) and high equipment costs continue to hinder operators’ ability to leverage OFC’s potential. Leading operators share their views on the status of OFC deployment, the key growth drivers, challenges and the road ahead for the segment…

Sudhir Bawa

At Idea Cellular, we started deploying OFC in a big way about seven years back. That was when Idea was in the process of becoming a pan-Indian player and there was a huge need for a strong backbone and core network. In the past seven years, we have been able to deploy about 100,000 route km of fibre on the ground in our backbone and within the state network. The fibre has been deployed as a combination of Idea’s own network and through its partnerships with other operators like Bharti Airtel, Vodafone India and, recently, with Class I infrastructure providers.

Further, we have witnessed a strategic shift in decision-making with respect to fibre roll-out. During the past few years, with the introduction of 3G/4G services, we have been compelled to decide between adding microwave backhaul and deploying fibre. We have undertaken a substantial shift towards rolling out fibre and, in the past three to four years, have been one of the main operators to roll out OFC.

However, fibre deployment comes with several challenges. The key ones relate to RoW. Many states have now come up with new regulations, and municipal and other corporations too demand money. RoW is now being considered a means of generating revenue. In addition, some states have introduced an annual rent on fibre deployment, putting pressure on operator opex. Issues related to RoW have, in fact, been the single biggest hindrance in establishing uniform fibre roll-outs across our access networks. As a result, we end up laying fibre in those areas where deployment is easy and either lose customers in other areas or underserve them.

Other challenges impeding OFC deployment are the lack of quality resources, the dearth of vendors and contractors, and the shortage of skilled manpower on the operator side.

That said, we strongly believe that OFC will be the way forward. In 2015, we plan to install approximately 10,000 route km of OFC. While in the access network the demand will be driven by businesses and enterprises, on the backbone side, OFC will mainly be used for redundancy and coverage. Going forward, with the growing uptake of 3G and 4G services, we plan to regularly increase our OFC deployment every year.

K.D. Lakhmani

Bharat Sanchar Nigam Limited (BSNL), being the legacy network operator of the Department of Telecommunications, has the largest OFC network in India at 700,000 route km. Of this, while 200,000 route km covers the main districts, 500,000 route km go beyond these. It is a huge network and therefore the equipment demand on this network is also very high. We try to cater to this need by regularly placing orders with vendors for the latest technologies.

However, the cost of fibre and equipment is a key deterrent that prevents us from undertaking huge expansion. Providing affordable telecom services is the key focus area for every operator in India. With the advent of 3G/4G services, the profit margins of operators have been shrinking. Therefore, there is constant pressure on operators to utilise OFC networks in the best possible way so as to ensure affordability as well as profitability. To this end, we have been talking with our equipment manufacturer partners and other cable manufacturers to explore options for bringing down the price of fibre and related equipment.

In addition, a lot of our existing fibre has been destroyed due to digging of roads. So, we plan to expand by at least 25,000 route km every year. Further, there are certain pockets where we are mandated to roll out fibre infrastructure. These are typically remote locations in Jammu & Kashmir and the Northeast where private operators do not invest much. We have concrete plans in place; the only issue is in implementation, which is difficult due to state regulations. Despite being a government operator, exorbitant RoW charges are levied on us.

Meanwhile, BSNL, like its peers, is now planning to deploy equipment that is 100G enabled. To this end, we have requested our partners to manufacture fibre as well as equipment at affordable prices. Also, we are looking at how we can enhance our existing fibre network to make it 100G-enabled.

Providing the best quality to our customers and ensuring affordability will be central to BSNL’s roll-out and expansion strategies in the future.

Deepak Sanghi

For many years, voice was the most important component of mobile telephony. Since the capacities required for the delivery of voice services were minimal, fibre build-up was not so relevant, and that is the reason we see a lot of microwave in operators’ existing backhaul networks. Today, however, the scenario is very different. The capacity requirement has gone up manyfold with the introduction of 3G and 4G, which calls for the deployment of additional fibre in the network.

However, there are several on-the-ground challenges that have prevented operators from deploying fibre in a big way. These include fragmented regulations around fibre installation – state-level regulations, local authority-level regulations, etc. These problems have made fibre build-up a daunting task. Besides, the cost of fibre build-up in India is huge.

That said, as we enter the era of data, fibre deployment will become inevitable. In fact, fibre will become crucial for all aspects of future communication, be it fixed broadband, backhaul, data centre interconnect, enterprise connectivity or the last mile.

At Bharti Airtel, we have around 160,000 route km of fibre network and we are expanding it rapidly, as we believe that is not substantial enough for the kind of data explosion we anticipate going forward. A good chunk of our fibre network is in the metros and that again is being ramped up significantly. We currently have a base transceiver station (BTS)-to-fibre ratio of around 12 per cent and there is a target to ramp this up to 25 to 40 per cent. In general, the annual addition ranges from 10,000 to 20,000 route km and that is not limited by the strategic bill that we are targeting, instead it is limited by the issues faced in fibre roll-out.

K.K. Sharma

Till about a few years back, when all the networks were 2G driven, we used to aggregate the bandwidth at one place, retail it and send it to the respective BTS locations through microwaves. At that time, 2-8 Mbps bandwidth per BTS used to be enough. However, with long term evolution being launched, each Node B will need a bandwidth of around 100 Mbps, which is difficult to achieve through any other medium other than optic fibre. Apart from the mobility aspect, we have fibre to the x (FTTx) roll-outs gaining momentum. At Videocon, we are aggressively rolling out fibre-to-the-home (FTTH) connections, particularly in the Punjab circle where we have been operating for a long time. In Punjab, we already had around 5,000 route km of fibre in both the backhaul and the backbone and we also have an aggressive plan for the FTTH roll-out. In 2015, we plan to roll out 30,000-50,000 ports, which will result in 2,500-3,000 route km of fibre. In other circles, we currently do not have fibre and are leasing bandwidth from other operators. However, we alsohave plans for fibre roll-outs in other circles. In 2015, we plan to roll out fibre in Gujarat and Haryana. This would involve the installation of 2,000-3,000 route km of fibre.