Broadcom Drives Innovation in Networking, STB and Wireless Connectivity

Right from its research and development center in Bangalore, India – global wired and wireless semiconductor solutions provider, Broadcom is thriving on innovations in the areas of networking, Set Top Boxes and wireless connectivity.

In an interaction with Zia Askari from TelecomDrive.com Rajiv Kapur, MD – Broadcom India talks about some of the current technology trends and how Broadcom is focusing on India.

What is Broadcom’s strategic focus and roadmap for India in 2015 and beyond?

India remains an important R&D center and end market for Broadcom. We continue to work on global projects for the company contributing to latest technologies in chip, software or system engineering in domains such as networking, STB and wireless connectivity.

As an end market, our portfolio diversity brings many touch-points for both Govt. as well as private operator initiatives to leverage. We have been working on unique technology solutions to address India’s unique problems created by last mile access, power, and infrastructure status, and will continue to do so.

Please share some thoughts on Broadcom India’s latest innovations and technologies for the country’s Pay-TV and Broadband market?

A few examples of innovation for countries like India are:
In Pay TV – even the lowest-end basic STB from Broadcom has a high focus on quality and differentiating features. We have a unique hardware-software algorithm for fast channel change. It improves time to change from channel A to channel B.

Also, our AVL technology automatically adjusts volume when viewers change channels to avoid sudden jerk in the decibel levels. These innovations have been specially designed keeping the Indian conditions and Indian consumer needs in mind.

What more can be done to reinvigorate India's Pay-TV and Broadband market?

Pay-TV does not need much stimulation and the Y-o-Y growth rates are quite healthy. One word of caution for us all is that we must consider the need to spend capital on digitizing India to serve our country for the next decade or more. As a result, we must focus on:
a) The quality of STBs to deal with power surges and lightning conditions,
b) Providing differentiating features to give subscribers “free” higher quality digital experiences, and
c) The installation of platforms to provide tomorrow’s TV watching needs.

Broadband initiatives are gathering steam and are moving forward, both from the private and public sectors. It will be good to see an increased focus on providing content and services to offer a “value” for the broadband, and not just limit the offering to a pipe. Also, the use of the latest technology allows last mile challenges to be overcome in CapEx friendly ways. These factors must be leveraged to strengthen the market and the eco-system overall

How does Broadcom look at the government's ongoing digital India initiative? Is there any role being played by Broadcom here?

Our diverse portfolio fits squarely into the nation’s digital initiatives. We are technology providers in all types of wired and wireless infrastructure, networks, data centers and wireless solutions, as well as solution providers in devices such as mobile, tablets, STB, PC and IOT.

Together, they help the diversity of the vision of a digital India being implemented. As a market leader in most of these technologies, Broadcom also has the responsibility to keep innovating for the unique needs for the country and to work closely with partners to bring solutions that are made for India.

As an initiator of tech innovations - How does the company look at the emerging importance of Wi-Fi, NFV and IoT in the telecom world?

In countries like India, it is hard to lay down cables to deliver wireline access in every place. Today, wireless technologies like microwave are heavily used in India, making it the world’s largest market for this technology. We see Wi-Fi also playing such a role in India, as the demand for broadband rises. Introduction of 802.11ac truly provides wireless solutions that allow videos to also be transmitted. Microwave now offers 5GBps and E-Band 10GBps.

Connectivity can be viewed as the last mile for IoT solutions. Broadcom is a leader in connectivity technologies – and is investing to ensure that we are able to reduce the time taken by the ecosystem to build IoT solutions.

Broadcom is working closely with several partners in India, such as TCS and Anaren, to help make the IoT dream come true. We are also engaging Universities and students to help them build prototypes of solutions in the IoT space.

IoT brings a unique opportunity for a diverse range of issues to be solved. Many of India’s needs can be addressed through IoT solutions. Some examples are safety, eHealth, education, among others. I foresee enormous opportunities for ‘Made in India’ to happen in the IoT space.