1. Enabling MSO Transition to ISPs
Ashish Diwaker
Sr.Manager - Datacom Business
Logic Eastern India Pvt. Ltd.
ashish@logiceastern.co.in
The Dwindling Cable TV Business
● Uncertaintyindigitizationisleadingtoreducedrevenuesfromthe digital cable TV business.
Lack of clarityfromthe Governmentinthe implementationof Analogsunsetdeadlineleadsto
competingMSOsnot switchingoff theiranalogsignals.Asaresult, subscribersare nottookeen
to purchase STBs.At the same time analogchannelsneedtobe reducedotherwisethere isno
motivationforthe subscriberatall to purchase a STB. Insuch a scenario,the subscriberdoesnot
pay willinglyforlowernumberof channelsandthe MSOis stuckwitha partial digitization
status.
● Althoughthere willbe anincrease incollectionfromsubscriberswhendigitizationeventually
doesgetcompletedandanalogsignal isswitchedoff,therewillbe acommensurate rise in
payoutto Broadcasterstoo.Plusthe tax paymentswill increase. The MSO marginsper
subscriberisactuallyexpectedtoshrinkinthe CAS/DASregime.
● The expensesof runningaDigital Headendandthe salariesof muchbettereducatedengineers
requiredtooperate andmaintainthe Headendandthe digital cable networkare afurtherdent
inthe MSO economicstoday.
Unique Opportunity with MSOs
● Althoughthere hasbeenatremendousincreaseinwirelessInternetdeliveryinIndia,the
wirelinebroadbandpenetration remainsdismallylow.Lowerthan10%!!This isdue to the fact
that for lasttenyears,all telecomoperatorswere tryingtooutruneachotherinvestingin
Spectrum,Towerinfrastructure andmarketingforhighermarketshare.Inthisrush,there were
little ornoinvestmentsmade inwireline infrastructuresince the wirelessmarketshare leadsto
much highervaluations.
● However,there isonlysomuchone can do withwirelessbroadband.There are several futuristic
servicesthatcannotbe deliveredonwirelessbroadband.Infactwithvoice revenuesalmost
hittingzero,mosttelecomoperatorsare realizingtheirmistake becausealmostall future
revenue generatingapplicationswouldneedwirelinebroadbanddata.The attemptsare being
made to achieve the same with4G but how ubiquitousorhow scalable thatmodel willbe,only
time will tell.

2. ● In thisbackdrop,MSOs are in a veryfortuitouspositionsince theyare the onlycandidate that
has wiresgoingintohomestoday.There isastrong betthat MSOs will emerge asthe strongest
contenderforrollingoutwireline broadbandservices.
● Anotheradvantage toMSOs isthat theyalreadyhave the man powerneededtomaintainthese
networksandovera periodof time,theyhave perfectedalow cost model of suchmaintenance.
So withlittle ornofurtherincrease inmaintenance costs,MSOscanmaintainISPnetworkstoo
and significantlyincrease theirincomeswhilecontributingsubstantiallytonation'sgrowthtoo.
Present state of Internet Delivery
Currentlythe wireline InternetDeliveryinIndiaisdone inone of the fourways…
● BSNL of course remainsthe largestproviderwithover10 MillionWirelinebroadband
connections.Butasis well known,publicsectorcompanieshave theirlimitationsdue toissues
of laborunions andalsopurchase practice restrictions.Whileinsome geographies,BSNListhe
onlyoption,generally,mostsubscribersare notverysatisfiedwiththe reliabilityandavailability
of the service.Evenif we setaside these issues,the phone lineconnectivityof BSNLislessthan
15% todayand because itisbasedon DSL technology,onlyasmall subsetof thisconnectivity
can be connectedforbroadbanddelivery.Althoughthere are some small investmentsmade in
FTTH infrastructure,BSNLhasnotbeenseen ininvestinginmore wireline penetrationinlastfew
years.
● Airtel isthe onlyothersignificanttelcowireline broadbandprovider.Airtel customersare in
general more thansatisfiedandthere islittlechurn.The profitabilityof the broadbanddivision
and howmuch more investmentthatdivisionwouldcontinue tomake,however,remainstobe
seen.Itishoweversafe tosay thatevenwithcomplete focus,there will be more thenplentyof
marketstill leftforotherplayers.
● Thenthere are "large"non-telcoproviders.These providersuse amix of varioustechnologies
like Fibertothe Curb,FTTH, DOCSIS,EthernetoverCoax etc.Some of themuse first-grade
routingand switchingequipmentwhile othersuse low cost,un-reliable ones.Some of them
have grownto over100k subscribersandhave reachedreasonablesubscribersatisfaction.There
isno organizedmethodtocarry optical cables,CAT-5cables. Mostly,there isnocomplex
software infrastructure toenable advancedserviceslike OTT,VoD,GamingorCollaboration
services.Mostof these companieshave grownsince there wasnocredible servicesavailable
fromtelcosinthese areas.
● Andfinally,there are small LCOswhoprovide lessthan1k subscribers.The networkhere is
completelyad-hoc"somehowmanage"category.The reliabilityof the networkisdismal.

3. Distinguishing Features of “Good” Internet Delivery
● Reliability
○ Thisis the mostimportantattribute of an goodISP network.Subscriberscanlive
withoutcable TV for a few hoursbutcannot survive even15minswithoutInternet.
Especiallywith"competitors"like Airtel,subscribers'expectationsfromthe network
have gone up to a level where even10minsof downtime leadstochurn.
○ Reliabilitycannotbe achievedfromone equipment.Itisthe sumtotal of a varietyof
thinkingandeffort.Itismore a resultof a "culture"thenanypointequipment.
○ What all is neededto "assure"reliabilityiscoveredlaterinthiswhitepaperalongwith
whatLogic Easternhas done towardsthat end.
● Pre-paidbilling
Unlike inearlierdays,today'sbusy,educatedandsmartsubscriberswouldnotappreciatethe
needtotalk to a humanto pay theirbills.Also,sometimesdue totheirbusyschedulesorother
reasons,theyare not able topay intime and the service getsdisconnected.Howeverinsuch
cases,whentheypay,theydemandthattheirservicesbe revivedthe minutetheyhave paid.
They alsolike a minute byminute reportonhow muchdownloadtheyhave consumedand
where.Thisneedsasophisticatedbillinginfrastructurethatisdesignedforsuchyoung,tech
savvyusers.
● OTT ChannelsandVideoonDemand
WithReliance Jionowofferingover200 channelsof SD videoand30 channelsof HD, thiswill
nowbecome the benchmark of InternetServices.Once again,videodeliveryneedsarethinkof
networkdesignandalmostnone of the playersidentifiedearlierare readytoprovide scalable
videodelivery.MSOshave a particularadvantage here thattheyalreadyhave accessto, and
understandVideocontentconsumptionandrevenuegeneration,sothisisrightintheircomfort
zone.Thisisa greatopportunitytothe MSOs that the technologyneededtoenable video
deliveryisnowmuchcheaperthanitwas whencompetingnetworkswere beinglaid.SoMSOs
can enjoya "late mover"advantage justlike Reliance Jio.
● Bandwidthavailable On-demand
The worldin general ismovingtowardseverything-on-demand. Increasingly,the subscribersare
askingformore bandwidthforspecificpurposesandtheywantitinstantly.Once againmany
productsneedstointeroperate correctlytomake thispossible.
● Roamingservices
As the geographical areaservedbyMSOstendsto be fairlylarge now-a-days,theywouldlike to
offerbroadbandconnectivityinthe entire area.Howeverthere are differentLCOsthatcoverthe
geographyandtherefore the revenue generatedwhenasubscribermovesfromone LCOareato
anothershouldbe sharedinsome ratiobetweenthe LCOwhose areaisvisitedandthe home
LCO. Thisenablessubscribersto"pay-once-use-anywhere"service andthe LCOswhole
heartedlysupportthissince theyalsogetashare in the revenue fromthe "guestsubscribers".

4. Enablingthissharingof revenue tendstogetquite complexandneedscareful software design
and implementation.
● Future Scalability
Many of the previousimplementationmethodslike DOCSIS,EthernetoverCoax andsome
implementationsof FTTCsufferfrominherentlimitationsintermsof non-scalabilityof two-way
and sometimesevenone-waybandwidthdelivery.
● Service Richness
○ Surveillance
○ Electricmetering
○ Gaming
○ Hyperlocal E-commerce
○ BuildingManagementSystems
● Enterprise delivery
Equipment Needed for Internet Delivery and
provided by Logic Eastern
● Home Unit - Fibertothe Home (HU-FTTH)
● Home Unit - Fibertothe Pole (HU-FTTP)
● Pole Unit- Fibertothe Pole (HU-FTTP)
● ACSServers
● AAA / RadiusServers
● BillingServers
● IntegratedBRAS
● IntegratedFirewalls
● IntegratedDNS,DHCP,PRTG servers
● Mobile Appservers
Logic Eastern Solution
● BusinessConsultingwhereinLogicEasternwouldprovideonetime assistance toISPtodecide
and setBusinessProcess,Policies,Plans&Packages,StandardPartnerAgreements,Payment
Gateways,SMS Gateways,CustomerCommunicationFormatslike Invoice Design,Statement
Design,variousservice e-mailersetc.

5. ● Information&Core NetworkTechnologywhereinLogicEasternwouldprovideTechnology
Equipment,CRM,PrepaidBillingSystem, RadiusServerinsharedCloudHostedModel.Logic
Easternwouldalsoprovide Onetime Implementation&Configurationof suchequipment.
● Managed ServiceswhereinLogicEasternwouldmanage completeTechnologyInfrastructure,
BackendTechnologyoperations,L2/L3support,MonthlyBill Runfor Enterprise Customersetc.
The detailsof these contributionsare asfollows:
Business Consulting
● Marketing
○ Plans& Packages
○ CAFForm
○ MonthlyStatementFormat
○ Enterprise Invoice Format
○ PaymentReceiptFormat
○ E-Bill MailerFormat
○ ReceiptMailerFormat
○ PasswordChange Mailer
○ UnbilledCDRMailer
● CustomerServicesDelivery
○ BusinessProcesses&Policies
○ QRC Planning
○ Workflows
○ SMS Scripts
○ TicketInitiation/Status/ClosureMailerFormat
○ Call CenterSetup
● Finances
○ PaymentGateway
○ SMS Gateway
○ E-Mail Gateway
● Legal
○ BusinessPartnerAgreement
○ DistributorAgreement
○ Bipartite NetworkPartnerAgreement
○ Tripartite NetworkPartnerAgreement
● Core Network
○ BGP AS Number
○ PublicIPPool
○ EscalationMatrix
● KnowledgeTransfer

6. Information & Core Network Technology
● Software Customisation
○ PaymentGatewayIntegration
○ SMS GatewayIntegration
○ E-Mail GatewayIntegration
○ SMS TemplatesIncorporation
○ E-Mail TemplatesIncorporation
○ Logo, BrandingandColourCustomisation
○ Social MediaConnectivity
○ OtherCustomisationasperdefinedprocesses
● Core NetworkSetup
○ B-RASConfiguration
○ RadiusConfiguration
○ Firewall Configuration
○ InternetGatewayConfiguration
○ PublicIPPooling&Routing
○ P2P Configurations
● Software Setup
○ DNS Setup
○ DHCP Setup
○ PRTG Setup
○ CRM Setup
○ My AccountSetup
○ Mobile AppSetup
● TechnologyIntegration&Hosting
Managed Services
● NOC
○ Monitoring24x7
○ Technical HelpdeskforOrganisation
○ Technical HelpdeskforCustomer
● Core Network
○ L2/L3 Support
○ DailyOperations
○ InternetLease Line Configurations
○ CustomerConfigurations
○ P2P Uptime
○ InternetUptime
○ BandwidthMaintenance

7. ○ BandwidthTrafficShaping
○ NetworkEquipmentConfigurations
○ CyberCell Escalations
○ TRAI Reports
○ NetworkMISReports
● IT Technical Operations
○ SystemAdmin
○ Database Management
○ Backup Management
○ CRM/ BillingSystemManagement
○ RadiusManagement
○ SMS GatewayManagement
○ E-Mail GatewayManagement
● BusinessOperations
○ Month End Billings –Enterprise
○ L2/L3 Support
○ BusinessMISReports
○ DailyOperations
● Software ProductEnhancements
Conclusion
The opportunityisripe forMSOs to take a leadingrole indeliveryof Internetservicestosubscribers.At
the same time there wasnevera more pressingneedforMSOsto make thistransition.However,it
takesa lot of thoughtand technological expertisetoroll outreliable andprofitableInternetdelivery
networks.LogicEasternhasbeenworkingforlastseveral yearstoput togetheranend-to-endsolution
to make thishappen.LogicEasternhad a great successincable TV networkswhere itprovidedasimilar
endto endsolution.Itintendstoreplicate the same successata muchlargerscale in the Internet
Deliverybusiness.