Railtel Corporation of India

Railtel Corporation of India is a Government of India enterprise focusing on providing broadband and VPN services. RailTel was formed in Sept 2000 with the objective of creating nation-wide broadband, telecom and multimedia network, to modernize Train Control Operation and Safety System of Indian Railways. RailTel's network passes through around 5,000 stations across the country, covering all central business districts, towns, cities, mini/major-metros.

RailTel has created state of the art multimedia telecom network using SDH/DWDM based transmission systems and high end routers for MPLS-IP network. Indian Railways have seamless Right of Way along 63,000 KM of Railway Track passing through 7000 stations across the country. The stations in major cities are located in central business districts. Indian Railways already had established a strong Telecom Network to meet its communication requirements. With the formation of Corporation, Indian Railways' Right of Way and OFC assets have been transferred to RailTel. Presently, about 32500 KM of OFC has already been laid and over 29500 KM has been commissioned. Works on another 10620 KM are in various stage of completion.

Presently RailTel holds the following licenses using which it is offering various services across India:

National Long Distance

Class "A" ISP (with Internet Telephony) IP-II IP-I

Backbone

RailTel has rolled out a transparent, robust, reliable, high speed OFC Backbone Network covering about 32000 km presently and ultimately covering 45,000 km across the country by 2010. Currently over 3200 cities/ towns have been connected on the network.

The backbone networks have been configured in multiple 'self healing' rings consisting of more than large no. of rings and linear sections, which provide for redundancy by automatically redirecting traffic away from failed/ de-graded route for fault-free service.

The long haul network of RailTel is presently on STM-16 which has already been upgraded to 100 G DWDM which can be further augmented up to 400 Gpbs.

MPLS-IP Network

The MPLS network has been built using Junos M-20 and M-10 high end routers of Juniper. The network supports services like layer 3 and layer 2 VPN services, broadband internet access, multicast services etc. The MPLS network has POPs at 40 cities across the country and is in the process of being extended to other important cities/towns also. The IP services at more than 3000 POPs in the country will be extended through Ethernet interface available in the SDH networks at these locations which will intern be connected to MPLS-IP backbone network at the 40 cities. Currently the MPLS backbone supports multiple STM-1 capacity. The network is also being upgraded to Giga capacity overlayed on new DWDM network, so as to provide gigabit VPN ports for IP based voice, video and data applications.

NGN Network

RailTel has also built a NGN network which is being used to transit Inter circle Voice call of various mobile and basic operators. Initially the network has been rolled out in 18 cities and will be increased to more cities in the future. These cities are Bangalore, Chennai, Mysore, Coimbatore, Secunderabad, Madurai, Mumbai, Pune, Nagpur, Ahmedabad, Chandigarh, Jaipur, Jallandhar, Lucknow, New Delhi, Bhubneshwar, Kolkata and Patna On the strength of this network RailTel is offering not only Class 4 services but can further enhance its service portfolio by offering various value added services (VAS) like enterprise VoIP, etc.

Internet Backbone

RailTel is providing nationwide Internet services on its state of the art MPLS backbone. Currently RailTel sources STM-1 level Internet bandwidth at three different locations i.e. New Delhi, Mumbai & Chennai using three different service providers. In future the capacity will be augmented to multiple STM-1s/ STM4s at each location.

Wi-Fi & WiMax

RailTel is all set to Unwire rural areas with High Speed Broadband connectivity using the future proof WiMax technology. On the strength of this network, RailTel plans to offer Broadband Internet, VoIP and other Value Added Services including E-Governance applications at your finger tip instantly. RailTel has already been allotted spectrum in 2.7 GHz band by DoT in this regard. For this project RailTel has entered into an MoU with private organizations under PPP (Public Private Partnership) initiative. In addition RailTel has already started making various Railway stations Wi-Fi/ WiMAX enabled thereby enabling passengers to connect to Internet using their Laptops, Handhelds and other Wi-Fi devices in Railway stations.

Railwire

With the formation of extensive and robust Pan India Fiber network RailTel is in a position to offer various bandwidth intensive application to its customers. One such initiative is RailWIRE, a joint venture with MSOs to provide Voice, Video and Multimedia access on a single wire at home/office. Customers in urban and even rural areas can now experience the power of Triple play services. Digital cable channels can be broadcast to the end users on the strength of this network along with broadband Internet, VoIP and other services simultaneously. For more details please log on to www.railwire.co.in.

Cyber Cafes

RailTel plans to open Cyber Cafes on various Railway Stations across the country. In First phase 83 cities have been identified for cafes. Out of which 24 cafes is already operational.The remaining cafes are already under implementation and are expected to be operational in a year time. The Cyber Cafes are fully Air-conditioned. The services offered at Cafes:- Internet browsing, Internet telephony, Scanning of documents, Video conferencing, Audio video chatting, printing of documents and CD writing etc.

BANDWIDTH SERVICES (From 64 kbit/s to 10Gbit/s) RailTel has a vast OFC network capable of providing bandwidth services at a large number of towns and cities across the country. RailTel is uniquely positioned to provide these services with following features.

Bandwidth at various granularities

Secure and protected OFC path

24 Strand single mode fibre armoured OFC

Network engineered for SDH, and DWDM

Edge & access layer by STM1/4 /16

Network enabled for IP, ATM, frame relay, Gigabit Ethernet and seamless connectivity

Extensive reach although STM-1/ 16 dropping at every small/ remote location

Centralized and regional NMSs.

INTERNET SERVICES

RailTel is also offering internet services as an ISP (Internet Service Provider). It has an ISP category-A license to provide these services. This service is available all along the OFC network of Railtel.

Features

RailTel is offering Internet Services all along its network. Corporates as well as individual or groups can avail of it.

The network supports voice over internet protocol (VOIP) or internet telephony.

An unrivaled network infrastructure with multiple Internet backbone providers to keep your data flowing and your access to the Internet protected, 24/7.

Rock-solid, always reliable based on state-of-the-art systems.

The Internet connectivity and speed provided by RailTel supports all kinds of usage including VOIP and Video Chat

The Internet connectivity and speed provided by RailTel supports all kinds of usage including VOIP and Video Chat

RailTel plans to open about 250 Cyber Cafes on Railway Stations across the country . In First phase 83 cities have been identified for cafes. Out of which 7 cafes is already operational ( New Delhi, Hyedrabad, Banglore, Gorakhpur, Asansol, Jhansi and Pune ) .The remaining cafes are already under implementation and are expected to be operational in a year time. The Cyber Cafes are fully Air-conditioned . The services offered at Cafes :- Internet browsing, Internet telephony, Scanning of documents, Video conferencing, Audio video chatting, printing of documents and CD writing etc.

CO-LOCATION FACILITIES

Towers space is available for installing antennae at more than 1000 locations. There are various such locations which are being used by over a dozen satisfied customers including basic service operators, cell operators, Entertainment and Media organizations Towers locations are spread throughout the country. Space available for installing electronic equipment. Electricity and Co-Location facilities available in secure railway premises in nationwide Railway infrastructure. RailTel is also tying up with tower Infrastructure companies to provide managed services and establishing new Towers. List of Existing Towers

Northern Region 257 Eastern Region 434 Western Region 162 Southern Region 156 Total Towers 1009

VPN Services

RailTel is capable of providing virtual private networks for corporates. The RailTel infrastructure for VPN is based on MPLS (Multi protocol Label Switching) technology ensuring top class IP VPN services. MPLS system allows full control over parameters that are critical to offering secure and efficient VPN service. Thus the industrial houses can have a very secure fiber connectivity and RailTel can meet all their voice and data VPN requirements.

NLD

RailTel has launched NLD business by signing IUC (Interconnect) Agreement with major operators across India. The NLD infrastructure has been built, is based on Next Generation Network (NGN) Technology. This will enable operators to offer cheaper STD (National Long Distance) services to subscribers using RailTel's NLD Network. Network has been rolled out in 18 cities and will be increased to more cities in the future. The proposed cities are Bangalore, Chennai, Mysore, Coimbatore, Secunderabad, Madurai, Mumbai, Pune, Nagpur, Ahmedabad, Chandigarh, Jaipur, Jallandhar, Lucknow, New Delhi, Bhubneshwar, Kolkata and Patna On the strength of this network RailTel will be able to offer not only Class 4 services but can further enhance its service portfolio by offering various value added services (VAS) like enterprise VoIP, etc.