Broadband set to take the gigabit leap with new tech  ( August '4,2005, HBL)

IF you thought that 256 kilobits per second was the highest Internet speed that you could get, then wait till the latest in broadband technology, Gigabit-capable Passive Optical Network (GPON), hits the market. The new technology, being jointly developed in India by the State-owned C-DoT and the US-based Xalted Networks, is set to bring in speeds of over one gigabit per second for Internet users. The technology will be commercially launched over the next few months.

GPON is an optical fibre cable access technology for delivering high-capacity broadband services. It not only gives carriers plenty of capacity to deploy IP video services, but also leaves room for services such as high definition television, that now have the eye of the nation's largest carriers like Reliance Infocomm, Bharti and BSNL.

Mr Pratap S. Kondamoori, Chairman, Xalted Networks, said, "This is going to be really big in the coming years. Through the joint venture, we will first target European and US markets. Our discussions with Indian operators have also generated interest in the new technology." C-DoT plans to rope in 200 engineers to work on the technology over the next eight months. The two companies will hold the IPR jointly. The technology will compete with existing wireline broadband systems such as the Digital Subscribers Loop (DSL) and cable modem technology, but promises to offer 100 times more speeds.

"We expect that the uptake in India will come from corporate users initially because they are looking for high-speed data transfer capability. However, in Europe, even the retail customers will want it. We already have an agreement to conduct trials for Italian operators," said Mr Kondamoori.

Other global telecom equipment vendors are also in the race to develop the latest broadband standard. French major Alcatel has unveiled its plans for its first optical line terminals based on GPON. Though Tellabs, Lucent, Calix and Hitachi Telecom USA are tight-lipped today, all admit that GPON is on their roadmaps.

One of the biggest concerns for operators is the migration cost from copper-based DSL to optic-fibre-cable based GPON. BSNL, for instance, which has the most aggressive broadband roll out plans in the country, is basing its strategy on copper-based DSL. According to Xalted, it will be private players such as Reliance that would make the first move in deploying the new technology.