BSNL to roll out IPTV in 98 cities by November

Bharat Sanchar Nigam Ltd, or BSNL, the state-run telco that is India's largest by revenue,
plans to use franchisees to roll out its IPTV, or Internet protocol television services, across 98 cities by the
end of November as it tries to grow this business even as demand for alternative ways of receiving
television signals increases.
BSNL has already appointed five franchisees: Aksh Optifibre, Smart Digivision Pvt Ltd, IOL Broadband
Ltd, Times Broadband Ltd and Maharashtra Knowledge Company Ltd (MKCL).
Apart from BSNL, which has already launched its IPTV services in some parts of the country, Bharti Airtel
Ltd and Reliance Communications Ltd, the country's largest and second largest mobile telephony firms by
customers are also preparing to launch IPTV services.
"The IPTV roll-out is being done on a private-public partnership (PPP) model and three franchisees are to
be allowed in each city after 4-5 months (of the launch by BSNL), depending on the potential of the area
of operation. We have done three commercial launches in Jaipur, Jodhpur, and Kukas, a small village
30km away from Jaipur city," said Anil Jain, deputy director general (broadband), BSNL.
Jain added that the company expected to serve 150,000 customers by March. "For the IPTV to take off,
there should be some differentiating factor for the users to subscribe to the service," said Kunal Bajaj,
managing director of consultant BDA Connect Pvt. Ltd. "The compelling factor will be interactive features
and value-added services."

Intel unveils first Made-in-India chip

The world's largest chipmaker, Intel, on Tuesday unveiled its latest microprocessor for servers,
designed entirely by its Bangalore team and developed in a record two years. The Intel R&D centre in Bangalore designed the Xeon 7400 series processor and it marked the first time that work on the 45 nanometre technology was taken up by the company outside its US home base. The six-core microprocessor is based on Intel's x86 architecture.
A 300-member team from Bangalore undertook the work with support from units in the US and Costa Rica,Intel India president Praveen Vishakantaiah said.Intel's Bangalore R&D operations, which started a decade ago, have grown to become one of the largest centres outside the US. Besides the six-core microprocessor, the India R&D team has made important contributions to the teraflop and quad-core Xeon processor.Mr Vishakantaiah described it as a validation of the Bangalore operations and termed the country as a strategic destination as Intel India continues its focus on high-end technology development. The company said that upgradation costs in moving to the new server chips would be limited as the existing technology platform would support its new microprocessor. R Ravichandran, South Asia sales director Intel said the
new processor would allow a10-fold reduction in power consumption while substantially increasing performance.

Quick Facts about India

Industry/Manufacturing

• India has the fourth largest billionaire population in the world, according to the Forbes list of world billionaires.
• India's financial capital Mumbai ranks as the seventh largest city, in terms of billionaire population, according to Forbes.
• Five Indian companies have made it to the Top 10 global outsourcing leaders list, compiled by International Association of Outsourcing Professionals
• 
  Mobile phone production in India will grow at a rate of 28.3 per cent - from 31 million units in 2006 to 107 million in 2011
• India's market for business intelligence (BI) platforms grew by 35.6 per cent in 2005-06, making it Asia's fastest growing BI geography, says Gartner.
• Indian cement industry is poised to add 111 million tonnes (MT) of annual capacity by the end of 2009-10 (FY10), riding on the back of an estimated 141 outstanding cement projects.
• India's steel production, growing at 15 per cent in the first half of 2007, is expected to touch 124 MT by 2011-12, going beyond an earlier official estimate of 80 MT.
• India's fast moving consumer goods (FMCG) industry has seen the launch of 251 new products up to October CY07, against 191 in the same period last year.
• India's telecom industry is expected to reach a size of US$ 87.33 billion by 2012, with a growth rate of over 26 per cent
• The Indian biotechnology industry is growing 37 per cent annually, and is expected to become a US$ 5 billion industry by 2010.
• India remains the undisputed leader in offshore services, accounting for about 65-70 per cent of the global offshoring pie, according to a recent research from Gartner Inc
• The Indian animation industry is expected to touch US$ 950 million by 2009, as global players like Walt Disney, Imax, and Warner Bros tie up with Indian animation companies. 
• With 27 per cent growth in 2007, India's IT-enabled services (ITeS) sector is set to cross the US$ 25.43 billion mark in 2008, says IT research company IDC (India).
• According to Nasscom, India's gaming segment touched US$ 48.26 million in 2006, is likely to cross US$ 427.35 million by 2010.
• The Indian healthcare IT market is the fastest growing in Asia - with an expected growth rate of 22 per cent - says a Springboard Research report.
• India's food and beverages sector, growing at 9 per cent, is expected to touch US$ 117.25 billion by the year-end.
• .India's foundry industry, the world's fifth largest producer of castings, is on a growth curve with an estimated potential to produce 10 million tonnes by 2012
• India is rapidly emerging as one of the world's media powerhouses. With 54 per cent of its 1.1 billion people aged under 25, it is potentially one of the world's largest markets for TV.
• India's food service entrepreneurs are executing massive expansion plans, with the industry expected to grow 48 per cent - to US$ 667.49 million - in the next two years.
• India's life insurance sector is expected to grow by around 30 per cent, to over US$ 50 billion, in this financial year.
• India has overtaken the US to become the second largest cotton producing country in the world, as per the International Service for the Acquisition of Agri-biotech Application
• Times lists the Tata Nano along with legendary cars - like Ford Model T and Volkswagen Beetle - in 'The dozen most important cars of all time starting from 1908 to the present'. 
• According to a PriceWaterhouseCoopers report, India could grow to almost 90 per cent of the size of the US economy by 2050.
Market
• 
  
  The National Stock Exchange has become the world's second fastest-growing bourse in terms of number of listed companies, while the Bombay Stock Exchange is the biggest bourse.
• 
  
  The size of the luxury market in India is estimated at around US$ 3.5 billion, and could easily leapfrog to US$ 30 billion by 2015.
• 
  
  As many as nine Indian banks, led by HDFC Bank and ICICI Bank, have made it to the list of top 50 Asian Banks, as per this year's Asian Banker 300 report.
• 
  
  India's e-commerce market is expected to touch US$ 2.33 billion by FY2007-08, as per a survey by the Internet and Mobile Association of India and Indian Market Research Bureau.
• 
  
  Indian consumer spending could more than quadruple to US$ 1.77 trillion by 2025 - from about US$ 431.69 billion in 2005 - steered by a ten-fold jump in its middle-class population and a three-fold rise in household income, according to a McKinsey study.
• 
  
  India has recorded a 126 per cent jump in the amount spent on merger & acquisition (M&A) deals outside the Asia-Pacific region
• 
  
  India's internet user base grew by over 40 per cent to touch 46 million in September 2007 from 32.2 million in the same month last year.
• 
  
  GSM mobile subscriber base grew 62 per cent in 2007, from 105.4 million in December 2006 to 171.8 million at the end of December 2007
• 
  
  The Indian product engineering offshoring market is expected to witness a 23 per cent CAGR by 2012, as large captive centres of global corporations continue to expand their activities
• 
  
  The University of Oxford offers a new degree - MSc in Contemporary India - in response to the growing interest about India and its economy
• 
  
        Investment
• 
  
  India has ranked second in capital market inflows and fourth in mergers and acquisitions in Asia Pacific, with transactions worth US$ 65.033 billion reported in the first eight months of calendar 2007, according to Thomson Financial.
• 
  
  With an estimated intangible assets component of 74 per cent (as proportion of total enterprise value), India is just behind US (75 per cent) and Switzerland (74 per cent), according to Global Intangible Tracker 2007, the most extensive global study ever on intangibles assets by the London-based Brand Finance Institute
• 
  
  Indian firms listed in the US have a reason to smile - their total market value has grown by close to US$ 20 billion since the beginning of 2007.
• 
  
  Indians are expected to have US$ 1 trillion in investable wealth by 2012, with the country's robust economic growth driving a four-fold surge from just US$ 250 billion in 2007India Inc has announced M&A deals worth US$ 70 billion in 2007 - up 150 per cent over the previous calendar year - with the volume of deals involving Indian companies also having crossed the 1,000 mark for the first time.
• 
  
  India has recorded a huge rise in the number of corporate entities, with about 55,000 companies incorporated annually in the last two years
• 
  
  India receives the world's largest remittances - US$ 27 billion per year - according to a World Bank study, and global wealth managers are targeting the Indian diaspora to invest in the country.
• 
  
  India at second place in AT Kearney's 2007 FDI Confidence Index, continues to attract investors in the high value-added services industries like financial services and information technology
 
• 

Your Ad Here

Industry/Manufacturing

• India has the fourth largest billionaire population in the world, according to the Forbes list of world billionaires.
• India's financial capital Mumbai ranks as the seventh largest city, in terms of billionaire population, according to Forbes.
• Five Indian companies have made it to the Top 10 global outsourcing leaders list, compiled by International Association of Outsourcing Professionals
• 
  Mobile phone production in India will grow at a rate of 28.3 per cent - from 31 million units in 2006 to 107 million in 2011
• India's market for business intelligence (BI) platforms grew by 35.6 per cent in 2005-06, making it Asia's fastest growing BI geography, says Gartner.
• Indian cement industry is poised to add 111 million tonnes (MT) of annual capacity by the end of 2009-10 (FY10), riding on the back of an estimated 141 outstanding cement projects.
• India's steel production, growing at 15 per cent in the first half of 2007, is expected to touch 124 MT by 2011-12, going beyond an earlier official estimate of 80 MT.
• India's fast moving consumer goods (FMCG) industry has seen the launch of 251 new products up to October CY07, against 191 in the same period last year.
• India's telecom industry is expected to reach a size of US$ 87.33 billion by 2012, with a growth rate of over 26 per cent
• The Indian biotechnology industry is growing 37 per cent annually, and is expected to become a US$ 5 billion industry by 2010.
• India remains the undisputed leader in offshore services, accounting for about 65-70 per cent of the global offshoring pie, according to a recent research from Gartner Inc
• The Indian animation industry is expected to touch US$ 950 million by 2009, as global players like Walt Disney, Imax, and Warner Bros tie up with Indian animation companies. 
• With 27 per cent growth in 2007, India's IT-enabled services (ITeS) sector is set to cross the US$ 25.43 billion mark in 2008, says IT research company IDC (India).
• According to Nasscom, India's gaming segment touched US$ 48.26 million in 2006, is likely to cross US$ 427.35 million by 2010.
• The Indian healthcare IT market is the fastest growing in Asia - with an expected growth rate of 22 per cent - says a Springboard Research report.
• India's food and beverages sector, growing at 9 per cent, is expected to touch US$ 117.25 billion by the year-end.
• .India's foundry industry, the world's fifth largest producer of castings, is on a growth curve with an estimated potential to produce 10 million tonnes by 2012
• India is rapidly emerging as one of the world's media powerhouses. With 54 per cent of its 1.1 billion people aged under 25, it is potentially one of the world's largest markets for TV.
• India's food service entrepreneurs are executing massive expansion plans, with the industry expected to grow 48 per cent - to US$ 667.49 million - in the next two years.
• India's life insurance sector is expected to grow by around 30 per cent, to over US$ 50 billion, in this financial year.
• India has overtaken the US to become the second largest cotton producing country in the world, as per the International Service for the Acquisition of Agri-biotech Application
• Times lists the Tata Nano along with legendary cars - like Ford Model T and Volkswagen Beetle - in 'The dozen most important cars of all time starting from 1908 to the present'. 
• According to a PriceWaterhouseCoopers report, India could grow to almost 90 per cent of the size of the US economy by 2050.
Market
• 
  
  The National Stock Exchange has become the world's second fastest-growing bourse in terms of number of listed companies, while the Bombay Stock Exchange is the biggest bourse.
• 
  
  The size of the luxury market in India is estimated at around US$ 3.5 billion, and could easily leapfrog to US$ 30 billion by 2015.
• 
  
  As many as nine Indian banks, led by HDFC Bank and ICICI Bank, have made it to the list of top 50 Asian Banks, as per this year's Asian Banker 300 report.
• 
  
  India's e-commerce market is expected to touch US$ 2.33 billion by FY2007-08, as per a survey by the Internet and Mobile Association of India and Indian Market Research Bureau.
• 
  
  Indian consumer spending could more than quadruple to US$ 1.77 trillion by 2025 - from about US$ 431.69 billion in 2005 - steered by a ten-fold jump in its middle-class population and a three-fold rise in household income, according to a McKinsey study.
• 
  
  India has recorded a 126 per cent jump in the amount spent on merger & acquisition (M&A) deals outside the Asia-Pacific region
• 
  
  India's internet user base grew by over 40 per cent to touch 46 million in September 2007 from 32.2 million in the same month last year.
• 
  
  GSM mobile subscriber base grew 62 per cent in 2007, from 105.4 million in December 2006 to 171.8 million at the end of December 2007
• 
  
  The Indian product engineering offshoring market is expected to witness a 23 per cent CAGR by 2012, as large captive centres of global corporations continue to expand their activities
• 
  
  The University of Oxford offers a new degree - MSc in Contemporary India - in response to the growing interest about India and its economy
• 
  
        Investment
• 
  
  India has ranked second in capital market inflows and fourth in mergers and acquisitions in Asia Pacific, with transactions worth US$ 65.033 billion reported in the first eight months of calendar 2007, according to Thomson Financial.
• 
  
  With an estimated intangible assets component of 74 per cent (as proportion of total enterprise value), India is just behind US (75 per cent) and Switzerland (74 per cent), according to Global Intangible Tracker 2007, the most extensive global study ever on intangibles assets by the London-based Brand Finance Institute
• 
  
  Indian firms listed in the US have a reason to smile - their total market value has grown by close to US$ 20 billion since the beginning of 2007.
• 
  
  Indians are expected to have US$ 1 trillion in investable wealth by 2012, with the country's robust economic growth driving a four-fold surge from just US$ 250 billion in 2007India Inc has announced M&A deals worth US$ 70 billion in 2007 - up 150 per cent over the previous calendar year - with the volume of deals involving Indian companies also having crossed the 1,000 mark for the first time.
• 
  
  India has recorded a huge rise in the number of corporate entities, with about 55,000 companies incorporated annually in the last two years
• 
  
  India receives the world's largest remittances - US$ 27 billion per year - according to a World Bank study, and global wealth managers are targeting the Indian diaspora to invest in the country.
• 
  
  India at second place in AT Kearney's 2007 FDI Confidence Index, continues to attract investors in the high value-added services industries like financial services and information technology
 
• 

Your Ad Here

Industry/Manufacturing

• India has the fourth largest billionaire population in the world, according to the Forbes list of world billionaires.
• India's financial capital Mumbai ranks as the seventh largest city, in terms of billionaire population, according to Forbes.
• Five Indian companies have made it to the Top 10 global outsourcing leaders list, compiled by International Association of Outsourcing Professionals
• 
  Mobile phone production in India will grow at a rate of 28.3 per cent - from 31 million units in 2006 to 107 million in 2011
• India's market for business intelligence (BI) platforms grew by 35.6 per cent in 2005-06, making it Asia's fastest growing BI geography, says Gartner.
• Indian cement industry is poised to add 111 million tonnes (MT) of annual capacity by the end of 2009-10 (FY10), riding on the back of an estimated 141 outstanding cement projects.
• India's steel production, growing at 15 per cent in the first half of 2007, is expected to touch 124 MT by 2011-12, going beyond an earlier official estimate of 80 MT.
• India's fast moving consumer goods (FMCG) industry has seen the launch of 251 new products up to October CY07, against 191 in the same period last year.
• India's telecom industry is expected to reach a size of US$ 87.33 billion by 2012, with a growth rate of over 26 per cent
• The Indian biotechnology industry is growing 37 per cent annually, and is expected to become a US$ 5 billion industry by 2010.
• India remains the undisputed leader in offshore services, accounting for about 65-70 per cent of the global offshoring pie, according to a recent research from Gartner Inc
• The Indian animation industry is expected to touch US$ 950 million by 2009, as global players like Walt Disney, Imax, and Warner Bros tie up with Indian animation companies. 
• With 27 per cent growth in 2007, India's IT-enabled services (ITeS) sector is set to cross the US$ 25.43 billion mark in 2008, says IT research company IDC (India).
• According to Nasscom, India's gaming segment touched US$ 48.26 million in 2006, is likely to cross US$ 427.35 million by 2010.
• The Indian healthcare IT market is the fastest growing in Asia - with an expected growth rate of 22 per cent - says a Springboard Research report.
• India's food and beverages sector, growing at 9 per cent, is expected to touch US$ 117.25 billion by the year-end.
• .India's foundry industry, the world's fifth largest producer of castings, is on a growth curve with an estimated potential to produce 10 million tonnes by 2012
• India is rapidly emerging as one of the world's media powerhouses. With 54 per cent of its 1.1 billion people aged under 25, it is potentially one of the world's largest markets for TV.
• India's food service entrepreneurs are executing massive expansion plans, with the industry expected to grow 48 per cent - to US$ 667.49 million - in the next two years.
• India's life insurance sector is expected to grow by around 30 per cent, to over US$ 50 billion, in this financial year.
• India has overtaken the US to become the second largest cotton producing country in the world, as per the International Service for the Acquisition of Agri-biotech Application
• Times lists the Tata Nano along with legendary cars - like Ford Model T and Volkswagen Beetle - in 'The dozen most important cars of all time starting from 1908 to the present'. 
• According to a PriceWaterhouseCoopers report, India could grow to almost 90 per cent of the size of the US economy by 2050.
Market
• 
  
  The National Stock Exchange has become the world's second fastest-growing bourse in terms of number of listed companies, while the Bombay Stock Exchange is the biggest bourse.
• 
  
  The size of the luxury market in India is estimated at around US$ 3.5 billion, and could easily leapfrog to US$ 30 billion by 2015.
• 
  
  As many as nine Indian banks, led by HDFC Bank and ICICI Bank, have made it to the list of top 50 Asian Banks, as per this year's Asian Banker 300 report.
• 
  
  India's e-commerce market is expected to touch US$ 2.33 billion by FY2007-08, as per a survey by the Internet and Mobile Association of India and Indian Market Research Bureau.
• 
  
  Indian consumer spending could more than quadruple to US$ 1.77 trillion by 2025 - from about US$ 431.69 billion in 2005 - steered by a ten-fold jump in its middle-class population and a three-fold rise in household income, according to a McKinsey study.
• 
  
  India has recorded a 126 per cent jump in the amount spent on merger & acquisition (M&A) deals outside the Asia-Pacific region
• 
  
  India's internet user base grew by over 40 per cent to touch 46 million in September 2007 from 32.2 million in the same month last year.
• 
  
  GSM mobile subscriber base grew 62 per cent in 2007, from 105.4 million in December 2006 to 171.8 million at the end of December 2007
• 
  
  The Indian product engineering offshoring market is expected to witness a 23 per cent CAGR by 2012, as large captive centres of global corporations continue to expand their activities
• 
  
  The University of Oxford offers a new degree - MSc in Contemporary India - in response to the growing interest about India and its economy
• 
  
        Investment
• 
  
  India has ranked second in capital market inflows and fourth in mergers and acquisitions in Asia Pacific, with transactions worth US$ 65.033 billion reported in the first eight months of calendar 2007, according to Thomson Financial.
• 
  
  With an estimated intangible assets component of 74 per cent (as proportion of total enterprise value), India is just behind US (75 per cent) and Switzerland (74 per cent), according to Global Intangible Tracker 2007, the most extensive global study ever on intangibles assets by the London-based Brand Finance Institute
• 
  
  Indian firms listed in the US have a reason to smile - their total market value has grown by close to US$ 20 billion since the beginning of 2007.
• 
  
  Indians are expected to have US$ 1 trillion in investable wealth by 2012, with the country's robust economic growth driving a four-fold surge from just US$ 250 billion in 2007India Inc has announced M&A deals worth US$ 70 billion in 2007 - up 150 per cent over the previous calendar year - with the volume of deals involving Indian companies also having crossed the 1,000 mark for the first time.
• 
  
  India has recorded a huge rise in the number of corporate entities, with about 55,000 companies incorporated annually in the last two years
• 
  
  India receives the world's largest remittances - US$ 27 billion per year - according to a World Bank study, and global wealth managers are targeting the Indian diaspora to invest in the country.
• 
  
  India at second place in AT Kearney's 2007 FDI Confidence Index, continues to attract investors in the high value-added services industries like financial services and information technology
 
• 

What is WiMAX?

WiMAX is a wireless digital communications system, also known as IEEE 802.16, that is intended for wireless "metropolitan area networks". WiMAX can provide broadband wireless access (BWA) up to 30 miles (50 km) for fixed stations, and 3 - 10 miles (5 - 15 km) for mobile stations. In contrast, the WiFi/802.11 wireless local area network standard is limited in most cases to only 100 - 300 feet (30 - 100m).

With WiMAX, WiFi-like data rates are easily supported, but the issue of interference is lessened. WiMAX operates on both licensed and non-licensed frequencies, providing a regulated environment and viable economic model for wireless carriers.

WiMAX can be used for wireless networking in much the same way as the more common WiFi protocol. WiMAX is a second-generation protocol that allows for more efficient bandwidth use, interference avoidance, and is intended to allow higher data rates over longer distances.

The IEEE 802.16 standard defines the technical features of the communications protocol. The WiMAX Forum offers a means of testing manufacturer's equipment for compatibility, as well as an industry group dedicated to fostering the development and commercialization of the technology.

Soon, WiMAX will be a very well recognized term to describe wireless Internet access throughout the world.