Blog-2: Network Infrastructure & Call Basics

RIL acquired 95% stake in IBSL soon after the latter acquired a pan India 4G license (22 circles). IBSL had bought the spectrum for 12,750cr way back in June 2010. If we consider a risk free interest rate of 7.5%, RIL is losing on an opportunity cost of close to whopping 2.5 crores a day, forget the fact that funds may be raised through debt. On top of this RIL will have to follow a minimum roll-out obligation of 90% of service area within five years of acquiring spectrum which turns out to be Aug 2015. The vision of Digital India proposed by Sh Modi is also heavily dependent on how quickly and with what stability the network is rolled out. Traditionally RIL has launched big initiatives on Sh Dhirubhai’s birthday (28^th Dec) but it seems too late this year. We speculate a Diwali launch.

In my last write-up, I covered briefly the history of telecom in India. We discussed different generations of mobile telephony in detail. I ended with a brief comparison between 4G and the rest of the technologies. In this write up we will continue with the comparison but a little later. First we will look at what constitutes a telecom network both from an infrastructure and architecture point of view. We will discuss the architectural similarities between 2G and 4G network and conclude by understanding the mechanism of a phone call in a 2G network.

Blog-1: 4th Generation Mobile Telephony

As someone who has been only 8 months into telecom, writing a blog with the purpose of educating others is a little audacious. I intend to learn first. What follows is a mix of research and field experience that I have gained as a part of my job.

An investment of over 70,000 crores. Optical fibers running up to 125,000 km and more than 35,000 Own built towers. Such is the sheer scale of the upcoming 4G project by a certain private player in India. For a company which has traditionally built plants and factories in few select locations, this is a different ballgame. However, the firm has had experience in Telecom industry. About 14 years ago, they started their first telecom venture. This time around they are making it bigger and better. It is a massive project.

This topic of 4G in India is so huge that I can start anywhere I like and write endlessly. But I’ll try to remain focused in my approach. This piece will deal with the history of Telecom in India followed by the different generations of telephony. Once we get a fair idea of 4G we will touch upon network basics and the kind of infrastructure that is required to maintain such a complex network. We will finish off with the business basics in this industry.