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Friday, August 17, 2012

Interview with Rajnish Wahi,CEO of Radius Infratel

If you are interested in telecom infrastructure industry, you have already heard of Radius Infratel. Radius Infratel is country's fastest growing and fully integrated FTTH infrastructure company with qualified IP1 License.

Radius is noted for the expertise in last mile connectivity right upto the customer’s door through Neutral FTTx infrastructure, which provides most optimal solutions for advanced triple-play residential and business services. Using NANO platform Radius's single OFC based infrastructure can be used by multiple service providers.

Radius is now engaged to provide extensive FTTx broadband coverage in top cities of India, the first commercial launch may be in Gurgaon and is expected to provide 1Gbps connection speed to end customers.


We got an exclusive opportunity to have a conversation with the man behind the internet in India at speed of light - Mr. Rajnish Wahi,CEO of Radius Infratel

1. We know that Radius had showcased the potential of FTTH in 2010 Commonwealth Games Village. Can you provide the details? Who are the service providers used Radius' fiber infrastructure?

During the CWG 2010, the optic fiber infrastructure installed at CWGV was used by Airtel, MTNL and Prasar Bharti. In addition, the intercom network across the village was run by Radius, as also a part of the wi-fi network. All the apartments occupied by athletes and country offices were provided high speed Airtel broadband through Radius’ NANO Network. After a gap of 2 years, the CWGV is now home to its new residents, as apartment owners are now moving in to their new homes. All of them will now enjoy the benefits of staying in a fiber-connected community.

2. Radius Infratel has promised to bring 1Gbps OFC based broadband to home users by 2013. Can you share the details? Which cities your are working in? Who are the operators you are working with?

Details are confidential; the most likely launch market will be Gurgaon.

3. We know that in India laying fiber is not easy and it is costly too. How did you manage? How do you offer last mile connectivity to the home users who are not in a real estate park? As per reports Gurgaon is already covered with Fiber, can you tell the details of progress of laying fibers in other cities?

The installation of infrastructure needs meticulous planning and strong execution skills. Radius’ leadership team has rich experience in the installation of wireline networks across India, which enables us to efficiently deploy FTTx networks under diverse conditions. As per the operating requirements, Radius seeks permission from land owning / controlling agencies including municipal bodies, statutory agencies, developers, RWAs and others and implements its optic fiber network in accordance. The network is laid per robust architecture design, using latest deployment techniques, which cause minimal disruption on the ground. Radius’ network is well spread out over NCR Delhi, including in Gurgaon, Noida, Indirapuram, parts of Delhi. It is also available in Bengaluru, Chennai and Chandigarh.

4. Can you explain NANO for our readers? Why did you choose Ericsson's GPON platform?

NANO is RIPL’s unique and proprietary technology that allows well multiple service providers to simultaneously use the same physical network to deliver multiple services to their consumers.

The USP of NANO is its ability to integrate a range of telco and non-telco services from multiple service providers on a single integrated infrastructure platform. Thus, one infrastructure, is able to transmit, what otherwise would require a mélange of individual networks, all deployed for limited usage with short life spans. In summary, NANO enables a customer to access all services on a single strand of fiber!!

The NANO FTTx Network innovated and developed by RIPL is operator agnostic and designed to seamlessly deliver all IP enabled next generation services at last mile by integrating not only Information, Communication and Technology services (ICT) but also all Building Management Services (BMS). It also works with all IP based home automation & BMS automation solutions & devices.

Neutral Access Network (NANO) works as a neutral last mile, which is deployed, owned, operated and maintained by RIPL, under a “managed network” arrangement for long tenures. . It is open for access by all service providers who would like to reach out to residential and commercial users for their Information, Communication and Technology (ICT) Services.

The R&D team at Radius has done extensive work in the field of neutral last mile and has developed a full eco-system of the services that will run on NANO. The ability to relay multiple services from different service providers on the same fibre is a technique developed by Radius. Various patents have been applied for globally with respect to NANO Network and patents have been received in twenty four countries, including in Germany, Denmark, Australia, South Africa, Ukraine, Nigeria, Mongolia and more are awaited shortly.

5. Are you working with India's BWA/4G players? Is/Will Radius provide backhaul to 3G/4G players? How is Radius helping their data demand?

Data traffic from smartphones and devices is the biggest reason for spike in the data traffic on mobility networks. Connecting mobile towers through fiber is the most effective way to improve their ability to cater to this enhanced traffic. Radius’ fiber deployment in a catchment is designed to connect telecom towers in the arean. The adoption of fiber for providing backhaul connectivity to towers is a well-established practice, which will accelerate due availability of Radius’ neutral fiber network.

6. FTTH from service providers are bit costly. Breaking the price barrier is needed to see the broadband revolution in India. Do you think Radius can do this?

Radius’ shared network drastically brings down the network cost for telecom service providers and also helps them reach additional customers, who may, otherwise not be served by captive networks, due adverse network economics. Together, this will help the impact to broaden and deepen the market. The superior capability of the fiber network vis-à-vis copper or spectrum based plans will also help service providers launch a suite of plans, customised to various kinds of residential and commercial users. The economics of shared networks and increased choice for consumers, will definitely bring down the prices, especially for higher speed plans.

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