In an effort to revolutionalise bandwidth and internet usage among the masses in India and abroad, Reliance Communications has announced its ambitious next generation network project to take connectivity to five billion people across 60 countries in the next three years. The project cost is estimated at $1.5 billion (Rs 7,000 crore).
Addressing a press conference at the Reliance Center, Anil Ambani, chairperson, Anil Dhirubhai Ambani Group, said, "We will build the world's largest Internet Protocol network over submarine cable systems. It would be 115,000 km long and connect all countries with a combined GDP. The project will democratize digital access."
Flag Telecom, a hundred percent subsidiary of Reliance will undertake the project. He added, "We want to transform the organization and redefine the way in which the world operates. It is a strategy to expand Flag's global optic fiber network."
The cables will be laid 35,000 feet below the sea. The pay-backs, expected to be in the range of 15-20%, will be visible only after five years. The company is speaking to vendors, but Ambani refused any comment saying, "Those are at negotiating stage. We would announce something soon."
The project will first connect Asia (India, Malaysia, Singapore, Indonesia, Vietnam, Philippines, Brunei), Africa, Mediterranean and the Trans-Pacific.
Once the submarine cables are laid, the project will enable 2.5 billion simultaneous mobile calls across the globe, 300 million people would be able to web chat (120 million in India), 52 million global video chats of which 22 million would be in India. Ambani hoped that the project would benefit the e-learning and e-commerce initiatives undertaken by various agencies.
To a query on spectrum requirements, he replied, "40 MHz of defence spectrum will be released in the next two months. Our existing GSM base will continue to grow and there is a lot of scope for the CDMA in the 800 MHz spectrum."
The project would scale the company's presence among the top three in the world and make it numero uno in India, he claimed. "We would be the carrier of carriers. This is just a cornerstone of the sustainable value we want to create. We want to flag up the value chain and would enter content delivery system in the near future."
The company also has plans to launch IPTVs by end 2007, in ten cities of India.
