Satellite & Cable

October 4, 2002
VSATs complementary to leased lines

Although ND Satcom was a late entrant in India, it has a strong presence in the strategic segment with over 50 terminals installed. The company has a 30 percent share in the complete mesh networks. In an exclusive with Convergence Plus, M.P. Singh, country manager and regional director, India and SAARC countries, touched on ND Satcom's history, its markets and activities in India, and what should be done further to boost the VSATs market in this country. Excerpts from the interview.

On the background of ND Satcom.
The company has been around for over 20 years. Dornier -- who is known for their aircrafts, started it. Later, it was bought by Daimler-Benz/Aerospace and renamed Dasa. When Germany became unified, the banks there started demanding VSATs. We developed the ABCS -- advanced business communication system -- a TDMA system that was introduced during CeBIT 1994. Since 1994, it has become a WAN solution -- now known as SkyWAN.

People required more bandwidth in places such as Europe and the United States. We added frequency hopping and provided 16Mbps bandwidth in the network. Next, Nortel wanted to enter Germany. Consequently, Nortel-Dasa was formed as a 50:50 joint venture in 1995. In July 2000, ND Satcom was floated as a 100 percent subsidiary of Nortel Networks, Germany. New shareholders came on board in 2001, following the industry shake-up -- Augusta AG, Germany and Astra, Luxembourg.

On ND Satcom's activities in India.
We entered India quite late, in 1997. We have high-end systems. However, the 64Kbps barrier stopped us from entering the private operators' segment. We got a break in 1998 via the Nuclear Power Corporation. ECIL is our partner and system integrators. This was followed by orders from the Department of Atomic Energy in July 1999, followed by Bharat Electronics in late 1999.

We have around 50 terminals installed in India. Since 1999, we have had a 30 percent share in the complete mesh networks. It is a hubless system.

On SkyWAN MF-TDMA VSATs.
The SkyWAN is a MF-TDMA is a multifrequency TDMA system. It is a bandwidth-on-demand, complete mesh system. Bandwidth is allocated to each user side/port as per the demand. It supports broadband applications up to 8Mbps per site. The SkyWAN system provides instant bandwidth-on-demand through its fully dynamic bandwidth allocation scheme. We have made it Frame Relay.

On the VSAT market in India.
The VSATs market in India is doing well. In terms of numbers, the around 17,000 VSATs have been installed so far. Last year, the growth was around 25 percent to 30 percent. However, in terms of value, the growth was only 10 percent. For example, prices of DAMA VSATs dropped from $25,000 to around $7,000 to $8,000. The market in India currently has 75 percent of TDM/TDMA type installations and around 25 percent mesh terminals.

On the market for mesh terminals.
Mesh is going to be a critical market. You should be able to target specific segments and see how critical the applications are. The numbers would not be what it used to be. Defense would be the largest user of mesh systems. These systems would be very useful for rural telephony applications as well.

On the potential of VSATs.
The potential of VSATs needs to be exploited further. Satellite operators should be able to decide what sort of capacity and bandwidth should be allowed. It should also be a decision for users to make. VSATs are not a competing technology against leased lines. On the contrary, this is a complimentary technology. There is a need to have a backup network. Satellites would be a very good solution for such a network.

On the vertical markets addressed and role in Asia.
We address 10 percent of the high-end market. Our solutions are available in all bands. Our vertical markets include air traffic control, defense and security, disaster recovery, embassies and government, Formula 1 and other events, maritime and media.

ND Satcom comprises of four divisions: broadcast, corporate, military satcom and IP networks. In broadcast. we are offering SNGs [that are like OB vans], news contribution networks, TV uplink earth stations, HPAs, TVROs, antenna control units, etc. VSATs come under corporate. We have military satellite communications. Finally, there are IP-enabled VSAT systems -- the DVB-RES under IP networks. DVB-RES has been designed and developed by us. A DVB platform, It is based on an open architecture.

We have over 100 installations in South Asia [the SAARC countries]. We also started late in Asia and currently have over 400 installations. Worldover, we have over 3,000 installations.

Contact:
ND Satcom India Liaison Office
Tel: 91-11-301-7491/92
Fax: 91-11-301-7494
Email: mpsingh@ndsatcom.com
Web: www.ndsatcom.com