With the Indian economy growing at a rapid pace and companies undertaking heavy expansion, connectivity and telecom infrastructure are playing an increasingly large role in enterprises. Reliance Communications (RCOM) is one of the key players providing these services. Prakash Bajpai, president of the company's enterprise and broadband business, discusses the importance of the segment for RCOM and the company's future plans...

What are the recent initiatives taken by RCOM to improve its enterprise offering?

RCOM's enterprise and broadband services, launched in the first half of 2005, focused initially on the top 40 cities in India. In these cities, we are leveraging our existing metro fibre optic networks to establish direct building connectivity on net. We currently have over 666,000 buildings directly connected to our network and over 792,000 access lines, and operate in 42 cities in India.

In cities where we currently do not provide wireline services but direct building connectivity, wireless local multipoint distribution services have been selectively deployed to access buildings in accordance with customer requirements. In Pune and Bangalore, we have augmented building connectivity through deployment of Wi-Max 802.16d (fixed WiMax) technology.

We are the largest integrated and converged communications service provider in India, offering all voice, data and video content through a single network. As an integrated communications service provider, we see the convergence of telecom, media, entertainment and the internet as the way ahead to offer integrated services on a single network. In this regard, we are working towards providing rich media content, be it music, video, TV, films, radio, gaming, advertising or internet portals. To make things easier for our customers, we are developing systems to provide all these functionalities on a mobile phone.

We will soon be entering the remote infrastructure management (RIM) segment in a big way, and will provide customers with remote monitoring, hosting and storage services. Doing so has been made possible by our network that supports all forms of communication, from voice and video to data.

What are the key offerings in this segment?

RCOM's portfolio of enterprise voice, data, video, internet and IT infrastructure services is more comprehensive than that of any other operator in India. The services include national and international private leased circuits, broadband internet access, audio and video conferencing, multi-protocol label switching virtual private networks (MPLS-VPNs), Centrex (a PBX-like service which provides switching at the central office instead of at the customer premises) and managed internet data centre services. We offer unique, value-added products and services to large and medium enterprises across the country for their communications, networking and IT infrastructure needs.

What are RCOM's strengths in the enterprise and broadband segment?

Our state-of-the-art infrastructure and network coverage across the top 40 cities in the country are our primary strengths. RCOM's NetConnect is the largest selling data card among professionals who need to stay connected while travelling.

Globally, our acquisition of the world's largest undersea cable company, FLAG Telecom, has allowed us to serve our enterprise customers in over 40 countries.

What are the rural broadband initiatives taken by the company?

RCOM has a huge presence in the rural market through its extensive public call office network. On the broadband front, one of the major broadband initiatives announced by the company is the Rural Broadband project. We are expanding our network and intend to cover over 600,000 villages by March 2008. We have undertaken a project with the West Bengal government to set up e-kiosks across villages in the state. The project has already begun.

We have also tied up with the One Laptop Per Child Foundation to provide free laptops to schoolchildren in the rural areas. Under the tie-up, we will provide network support and internet connectivity to boost e-learning and help students get used to the internet. The company's ongoing ambitious network expansion plan to cover 97 per cent of the Indian population will further drive rural broadband initiatives.

Where does Reliance stand vis-a-vis its competitors?

We welcome competition as we believe that it is in the interest of the customer. As the leading CDMA player, we have a significant advantage over operators using competing technology. CDMA has better data-carrying capability which is vital for mobile data content and services. An excellent example is our recently launched series of CDMAbased BlackBerry handsets, which allows users to send and receive e-mails and important business documents such as presentations and graphs.

CDMA allows RCOM, as a service provider, to bundle various products in the same network, right from mobile telephony, data and video content to broadband services and Wi-Max networks. Our 165,000 km international and national long distance network allows us to cover all significant regions in the country and connect to various important destinations abroad to deliver data services.

We have established an enterprise customer base that includes over 800 of the top 1,000 Indian enterprises and multinational corporations. RCOM is expanding rapidly in the small and medium enterprise segment. Reliance Data Center is the clear market leader in internet data centre services with over 60 per cent market share. The company has also maintained its leadership position in other high-growth segments of the market such as MPLS-VPN and Centrex solutions.

What are the company's investment plans in this area?

As of December 2007, the company has invested about Rs 35 billion this year on broadband initiatives and infrastructure upgradation. Overall, RCOM plans to invest Rs 200 billion for various initiatives, which include installing 23,000 towers at Rs 4 million each, and launching direct-tohome and internet protocol TV services.

We will also undertake massive network expansion, and develop special economic zones which will be focused on the IT and IT-enabled services segment. We are aiming to create a global-sized business in the outsourcing space.

Which will be the thrust areas in the near future and in the long run?

As a leading telecom player predominantly operating in the CDMA space, RCOM is looking forward to the launch of GSM services. This will enable us to increase our subscriber base significantly across the country.

Moreover, with the metros and tier I cities almost covered, we believe that the next wave of telecom growth will come from tier II and tier III towns and the rural areas. Under our ongoing network expansion programme, we intend to set up the single largest wireless network in the world. The network will be available in 23,000 towns and more than 600,000 villages across the country by March 2008. This would in effect cover 97 per cent of the Indian population.

We will cover almost 100 per cent of all national highways, and 84 per cent of all state highways. We will provide millions of users with the power to talk, text, surf, play, chat or simply stay in touch across nearly the entire length of India's 200,000 km road network. We will cover almost 100 per cent of all rail routes, providing seamless voice, video, radio and internet connectivity to 14 million commuters every day.

With BPOs moving into tier II and tier III cities, we expect to witness significant growth in demand for broadband in these places. We have already installed over 700,000 rural telephone lines in over 40,000 villages under the Universal Service Obligation (USO) Fund scheme. RCOM operates India's largest network, providing employment and business opportunities to over 2 million people including those from tier II and tier III cities and villages.

Moreover, to further enhance reach and customer satisfaction levels, we have plans to expand our Wi-Max network to places where RCOM does not provide wireline connectivity.

What percentage of the company's revenue comes from the enterprise and broadband business?

The broadband business is an important venture for RCOM. It is an integral part of the converged services we offer. The broadband business accounts for 10-15 per cent of the company's revenues, and we believe that the share will increase in the time to come.