COMMUNICATION SERVICES: Advantage Symbiosis

In recent days,
attention-grabbing headlines in newspapers related to
telecommunications and licensing might have interested the channel
partners as a whole, especially those who are providing
communications services. Three decades can be called as one
generation for human beings. However, today, telecommunications
sector needs no such vast interval to move from one 'generation'
to another 'generation.' The 'twin brother' of IT sector,
telecommunications or telecom, as it is fondly called, has witnessed
a massive growth in the recent years. The solution providers involved
in the communications-related services have ascended themselves both
in terms of business values as well as cash realizations.

Increasing demand
for high-speed and highcapacity access by individuals and
corporations is chara c terizing the broadband wireless access
market. This has led to the evolution and increased adoption of
WiMax, which represents superior performance and lower cost. With the
increasing popularity of WiMax, its subscriber base is estimated to
reach 14 mn mark. By 2013 and thereafter, the annual growth is
expected to be around 30% for the next 4 years. India is estimated
to house around 20% of the global WiMax users, making it a $13 bn
market. According to a communications services related forum, WiMax
services providers cover more than 823 mn people worldwide as of
December 2010, which is again expected to see a growth and will
cover around 1 bn people by December 2011. Long Term Evolution (LTE)
supports higher performance due to its data speeds, higher capacity
bandwidth, and lower latency. Globally, LTE has been adopted by few
commercial networks on test basis, though large scale deployments of
LTE are expected to happen in 2012. The global market size for LTE
equipment for FY12 is expected to be around $5-6 bn. The industry
views co- xistence of both WiMax and LTE appropriate for meeting the
growing demand for wireless broadband network. Point Red believes
that both these technologies will co-exist in the network ecosystem.

According to
Interactive Data Corp (IDC) research, total global investments in
basic WiMax infrastructure is estimated to reach $3.585 bn by 2011.
The Topology Research Institute (TRI) estimates the WiMax chips
market to be worth $1.105 bn with a total of 41.1 bn users by 2011.
With the exception of few countries, the Asia Pacific region has a
low broadband penetration rate and lacks the relevant infrastructure.
Moreover, with a population of 3 bn (almost half of the world's
population), Asia Pacific is set to play a decisive role in global
WiMax. The communications, today, is gradually moving from voice to
data, as we can wit ness the trans formation from 1G to 2G to 3G and
has ended up in 4th generation services. Telecom munications services
companies are about to roll out 4G services. Mobility and convergence
are the 2 key areas where every telecom provider and system
integrator is focused on. Since information is hand-held and any
solution provider with an expertise in communications services is
working hard to ensure that any data for a customer, be it an
individual or a corporate, having the access to computer should reach
them without any barriers. Communications is made possible everywhere
across the country, since con nectivity is made easier even in remote
villages in the country. Gemini Communication, through a sub sidiary
firm, Point Red Solutions has registered its presence for a long-term
evolution telecommunication plat form. However, in future, the next
chal l en ging task is going to be the remote con vergence with
high-end connectivity and convergence.

Since
communications service has been the toppriority for any customer, the
demand is growing and the customer segment has diversified into
various sectors. Com muni cations service providers nowadays are
focusing on offering services to customers, who have secured spectrum
from the government. Not only that, the major new trend which has
given a huge opportunity for communications service provider is the
'work-from-home' option, which has been into existence for few
companies and are about to practiced by many companies.

“However, the
biggest challenge lies is giving a high-speed data for an individual.
Apart from that, the next challenge lies in the issue of the content
for the customers. In the value chain, the customer, as well as the
end-user has to get a hassle-free communication. Today, the usage of
3G has not reached the end-users to a great extent of the 2G
services. However, once the 4G is rolled out, the services of 3G will
be made accessible for all customers and end-users,” says
Pradhyumna T Venkat, CEO, energy and utilities business, Gemini
Communication.

Point Red, a
subsidiary of Gemini communications, which manufactures and supplies
pre WiMax, mobile WiMax, LTE and 4G (fourth Generation) products for
telecom operators worldwide has utilized this opportunity to a great
extent. Point Red's product suite provides complete end-toend
offerings in unlicensed and licensed bans for carriers. Point Red has
various range of products in pre WiMax, mobile WiMax-a commercially
deployed project, LTE and 4G products comprising WiMax 2 and LTE,
which is an advanced stage of product development. Point Red's
range of products also includes base stations, ASN Gateways, customer
premise equipments. With a client-base of more than 40 countries,
Gemini com munications serves the needs of more than 120 network
operations across the globe. Plans are also in the pipeline to
increase their marketshare in Africa, Latin America, CIS countries,
Middle East and BRIC nations, so as to meet the growing demand and to
grow in accordance with the increased penetration of broadband. Point
Red has also made substantial investments in the R&D to
accelerate the on going 4G pro duct deve lop ment program. The firm
also wants to establish a new facility to manufacture mobile WiMax
and 4G products.

Point Red is
currently engaged in advanced research on 4G tech no logies compro
mising WiMax2 and LTE advanced along with upgrading its existence
suite of WiMax products in accordance with evolving technology. Apart
from Point Red, the Gemini Telecom Services Group (TSG), which adds
value to the firm, has made bigger deployment in the
telecommunications sector through the successful imple mentation in
WiMax, MMDS, GSM and CDMA technologies. Some of the recent
assignments completed by the company are in India, Middle East and
Africa, covering projects which involve submission of bids, network
designing, network optimization and telecom installation as well as
maintenances services.

If one thinks that
communications services are reaching only to the 'creamy layer'
of business sectors, it is absolutely wrong. Nowadays, even rural
India is making use of the communications services through video
conferencing technologies. Many 'isavvy' states use technology,
video conferencing even for unveiling their schemes and projects. Col
Balwinder Singh, director, Targus Technologies, foresees the growth
in much positive manner. “According to the latest buzz, a double
digit growth has become a clichéd trend in the video
conferencing
sphere. It is clear that within the next 5 years, the video
conferencing market would easily be doubled. This is because
communications through a video con ference has become a top trend
worldwide, which is pretty evident from the growth of the video
conferencing industry in the last 3 years. Geographically, the
highest demand for video conferencing equipment is coming out from
North America, China, India and Brazil,” he avers.

Targus
technologies has partnered with Polycom and Cisco, which provides
best-in-class video conferencing facilities. Speaking on the growth
of communication services in the non-metros, he says, “Many
organizations have moved to tier-2 and tier-3 locations for their
larger centers. This has resulted in a scattered workforce across
different locations. However, it is extremely vital that the
workforce is able to collaborate with one another keeping the travel
cost minimized. Video conferencing has thus become a necessity for
such organizations and various others who have multiple office in
different locations.

“The future is
pretty bright because the video conferencing model generally works on
a fixed cost model and is simple to use. It lowers costs and
increases productivity as different dispersed teams can work together
as one. It also helps in decreasing the resolution cycle, and follow
new business opportunities by delivering more rapidly with
interactions of partners and customers,” he opined on the demand of
video conferencing. G Suresh, CEO, e-caps computers, who has
witnessed a growth of more than 30% in communications services alone,
too backs Singh's statement. Suresh sees the communications
services as the lifeline for every individual and business. Some of
his key operations are merging voice and video data. Speaking on the
growth of the com muni cation services in tier-2 and tier-3 loca
lities, he says, “The growth is com paratively slow than the big
towns. However, the growth is always steady.” “However, on the
other hand, skilled man powers for main tenance and implementations
are the biggest challenges while easily adopting any new technologies
are the positive sides of the growth in non-metros,” he concludes.

THE CHAMP

On account of its
involvement as well as the domain knowledge, Gemini Communications
surely emerges as the 'Solution Champ' in the communications
services area.