MTNL, the state-owned telecom utility for Mumbai and Delhi, is set to become the first operator to unveil its ultra high speed fibre-to-home broadband and entertainment services next week.
State-owned telco will become the first operator to offer the platform next week
MUMBAI: Mahanagar Telephone Nigam Ltd (MTNL), the state-owned telecom utility for Mumbai and Delhi, is set to become the first operator to unveil its ultra high speed fibre-to-home broadband and entertainment services next week. Sources said the company has planned a technology demonstration at a location in Dwarka in Delhi.
“The service will utilise MTNL’s existing investments into internet protocol television (IPTV). However, it will offer higher speeds and provide newer services such as high-definition video and even high-definition TV channels, gaming etc,” said a company official.
Even though most of the flat-panel televisions (LCD and plasma) support high-definition (HD) content, cable operators and direct-to-home (DTH) service providers don’t provide the service as it consumes a large amount of data bandwidth.
MTNL’s IPTV service too does not provide HDTV due to bandwidth constraints.
The official, however, said MTNL is unlikely to commercially launch the service immediately.
“Technically, it is a much simpler network than the traditional copper line-based service. However, it will require us to lay fibre from the exchanges to the homes. All the exchanges are already interconnected with fibre,” he said.
While opportunities in fibre-to-home segment are being explored by many operators, including Reliance Communications which has been running trials for years, most have shelved their plans in favour of DTH. Both Reliance Communications and Bharti Airtel recently launched their DTH services. But MTNL is “more serious” about the fibre alternative than the others, the official said.
The move comes as fixed-line operators the world over replace their last-mile copper connections with fibre.
According to a report released two weeks ago by the Organisation for Economic Cooperation and Development, fibre has overtaken copper as the most popular method of accessing data in homes in Japan, where it accounts for 46% of the total connections.
A UK-based broadband research firm Point Topic said China alone added 2.5 million fibre optic subscriber homes in the first quarter of this year. India, in comparison,
has none.
Romal Shetty, head of communications industry at audit and advisory firm KPMG India, said, “The killer service for fibre-to-home is IPTV. But IPTV has not been a success in India.”
Shetty sees telecom operators’ current infatuation with DTH as a phase. “It is not a question of if, but when. But for the next 3-4 years, most private operators are likely to keep their focus on DTH,” he said.
State-owned telecom operator Bharat Sanchar Nigam Ltd (BSNL) is assessing the fibre-to-home technology.
e_sreejiraj@dnaindia.net
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