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What is the overall market scenario in the enterprise broadband space?
Historically, the Internet service market in India was monopolized by VSNL. However, the private players have also entered the Indian market, thereby providing more options to the enterprise customer. While government organizations like BSNL have focused on strengthening the backbone infrastructure with laying of fiber optic cables, the private players have also laid their own fiber optic network throughout the country. The primary players in this sector have been Reliance and Bharti. As per earlier estimates, major cities in India would have a bandwidth requirement of over 60Gbps in 2006. It is estimated that the broadband players in the market have the capability to provide the required bandwidth for enterprises.
What kind of broadband applications are going to be in demand among the SMEs?
The demand for broadband in the SME market will be quite high, as more services are being made available on the Web for this segment. A typical example could be the online office packages on offer from Google and Zoho. If the enterprise can become 'always connected', they can move to virtual storage space thereby bringing down their infrastructure costs. Moreover, the advent of such solutions means that SMEs can also look at 'always available' secure storage for employees on-the-move. Cheaper broadband would mean that these enterprises would be able to make better use of audio- and video-conferencing facilities, enabling them to expand to various geographical locations through a virtual office.
What are the solutions required by enterprises for their broadband requirements?
The primary requirements for enterprise users would be connectivity, security and mobility. Most providers in India have structured their services considering these requirements. Enterprise users are looking for flexibility so as to provide more and more services through an online platform instead of conventional channels. From this aspect, sustainability and ability to expand become key criteria. With this view, the broadband providers should offer service-oriented solutions to enterprise customers.
Shipra Arora
shipraa@cybermedia.co.in
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