HEADLINES
JOBS
COM:PORT
POLICY POLICE
ARCHIVES

Bharti Enterprises pushes optical fibre cable tech

The company is negotiating with Reliance Telecom, Tata Teleservices and Hughes Ispat that have licences to offer basic services in Gujarat, Andhra Pradesh and Maharashtra respectively.

T O D A Y

• DoT in a spot • Bharti's fibre tech • Zenith's US office • Navy and IT • India at the ITU • Teleworking

"Our negotiations with those companies are at final stage. We are also negotiating with the Department of Telecommunications for the new technology," Bharti Enterprises Managing Director Rakesh Bharti Mittal has been quoted as saying.

Bharti is already using the technology for its basic services network in Madhya Pradesh. "The technique will replace the manual process of laying cable by an automated method, wherein optical fibre cables will be blown by a machine through ducts of improved quality," he said.

The company has tied up with an American company Duraline Corporation for accessing the technology. Both Duraline and Bharti have 50 per cent stake each in the new joint venture Bharti Duraline.

For manufacturing duct, Bharti Duraline has set up a plant at Goa with an investment of Rs 145 million. The company got about Rs 70 million loan from the Oriental Bank of Commerce, while the rest comes from equity.

"We have chosen Goa primarily because of the 5-year tax holiday from which the company will get a tax concession on 40 per cent of the total revenue," Mittal said.

According to Mittal, the advantage of the new method lies in lower operational cost in laying cables and maintenance of network compared to traditional ones. While in a manual method one requires to dig a manhole at every 300-500 metres, in automated blowing a manhole is required at every 1.5 km, resulting in 15-20 per cent saving in cost, he said.

Another advantage lies in faster laying of cables. While manually one can cove 2-4 km per day, by automated method it is possible to cover 12-15 km. It is also easy to expand the network by pulling out fibres and adding more number of fibres.

One can also keep a parallel duct for future expansion of network. Lesser number of manholes also prevents stealing of cables and better quality duct gives complete protection from water and sand, he added.

The blowing of fibre cables is done through a machine called 'cablejet'. At present, the company has seven of these.

The fixed cost in automated method is also comparable to the manual method as the cost of high-destiny polyethylene duct is comparable to that of the duct available in the country. "Our HDPE duct with silicore lubricant reduces friction to the extent of 80 per cent," Mittal said.

- Compiled from the Indian media

Tell us what you think