Teleglobe to provide bandwidth to Satyam, GNFC

Balaka Baruah Aggarwal


New Delhi, Sept 9

Teleglobe Inc, a Canada-based satellite bandwidth provider has signed up with Satyam Infoway and Gujarat Narmada Fertilizer Corporation (GNFC) to provide bandwidth for their Internet services through the INTELSAT series of satellites.

Teleglobe will provide Satyam with 12 MBPS of satellite bandwidth while GNFC

will have 8/2 MBPS where 8 MBPS will be for inbound traffic and 2 MBPS for

outbound traffic.

Both Satyam and GNFC have set up their gateways that are not operational yet.

According to Sharat Jain, Country Manager, Teleglobe of the Indian liaison

office, "We will uplink the traffic on INTELSAT through Europe and

thereafter carry it through our transatlantic cable, Cantad."

Currently Teleglobe provides around 91 MBPS to VSNL out of which 45 MBPS is

on satellite while the rest is on submarine cables. STPI has also brought around

12 MBPS from Teleglobe during the last six months. The company is also in the

process of closing deals with two A category ISPs although Jain declined to name

the ISPs. Spectranet and Jain TV are also in the process of closing deals with

Teleglobe.

Speaking about the bandwidth scenario in India, Jain said, "Despite the

demand for bandwidth, the fact is that transponder space over the subcontinent

is fast drying up. And the back-haul infrastructure in the country to distribute

the domestic requirements of bandwidth is not sufficient."

Meanwhile Teleglobe has also invested in a $ 50 million in a submarine cable

project called South Africa Far East (SAFE) that will connect Europe with the

Eastern part of the globe through Africa. Starting at UK, the cable will touch

South Africa and India and then Malaysia. As Jain said, "From Europe to US,

there is enough capacity and it was critical to provide more connectivity in

this region." The SAFE-SAT3 project will have a landing station at Cochin.

The SAFE project which will provide a capacity of 50 GBPS to India is expected to be commissioned by the end of 2001.