MANAGEMENT DISCUSSION & ANALYSIS TELECOM SEGMENT Customers are demanding MORE ... All over the world there is a definite shift from the conventional to smarter means of communication. Since the last decade, people have become more interconnected globally through various means of communication which have continuously evolved throughout time. Starting with just phone call and SMS services, a smart phone now provides instant messaging, video on demand, social networking, e-retail and a host of other services making life much easier. The growth of telecom services in all parts of the world is integral to development of an innovative and technologically driven society and research evidence is consistently pointing towards the positive economic impact of broadband adoption. We can see in our lives, the continuous evolution of modern technology and enhanced connectivity has led to greater uptake in data services and customers are more online - from simple information services to now full transactional capabilities online. Annual "global IP traffic" will welcome the zettabyte era by end of 2015. A zettabyte is equivalent to 200 times of the all words ever spoken by human beings. Some 2.9 billion people or 40% of the global population are online now and with this growth rate, half of global population will be online by 2017. By 2018, global IP traffic will reach 1.6 zettabytes per year thus growing at a compound annual growth rate (CAGR) of 21 percent from 2013 to 2018 This exponential surge in global IP traffic is because of high volume of communication taking place between every possible communicable device. The forecast says by 2018 nearly 2 devices out of 3 per capita will be connected to IP network which means the number of devices connected to IP networks will be nearly twice as high as the global population in 2018. Welcome to the Hyper Connected World The world of telecommunication is now being led by the promise of a hyper-connected world, focusing on embedded ambient intelligence, automated Machine to Machine (M2M) traffic, ubiquitous connectivity and the 'Internet of Everything'. However, the real information revolution may lie in the growing day-by-day use of Internet-enabled devices in of our lives. This increase in usage is driven by certain mega trends 1. Machine to Machine (M2M) Communication Getting Smarter M2M refers to technologies that allow both wireless and wired systems to communicate with other devices. M2M is considered an integral part of the Internet of Things (IoT) and benefits industry and businesses in general, as it has a wide range of applications from monitoring and control in areas such as Industrial Automation, Logistics, Smart Grids, Smart Cities, Healthcare and Defense. Globally, devices and connections (10.7 percent CAGR) are growing faster than both the population (1.1 percent CAGR) and Internet users (9.2 percent CAGR). Each year, various new devices having different form factors with increased capabilities and intelligence are introduced and adopted in the market. The Internet of Everything (IoE) phenomenon, or the next wave of the Internet in which people, processes, data, and things connect to the Internet and each other, is now showing tangible growth. There will be nearly one M2M connection for each member of the global population by 2018. This growth in number of connections will lead to growing M2M IP traffic. Global M2M IP traffic will grow 11-fold over this same period and this higher traffic growth than connections growth is due to more video applications being deployed on M2M connections as well as the use of applications, such as telemedicine and smart car navigation, that require higher bandwidth and lower latency. The phenomenal growth in smarter end-user devices and M2M connections is a clear indicator of the growth of IoE, which is bringing together people, processes, data, and things to make networked connections more relevant, valuable and also creating additional challenges for future networks. 2. Demand of Smart Mobile Phones Worldwide, mobile phone subscriptions have exceeded 6.9 billion by the end of 2014.The total number of unique mobile phone users is around 3.4 billion people by end of 2014. Today, the marriage of Internet with mobile promises greater Internet connectivity, at faster speeds, to more people than ever. By 2019, there could be 5.6 billion smartphone subscriptions, of which 2.6 billion will relate to LTE. Developing countries are the powerhouses of the increase in smartphone demand and market saturation point is still some way off and there is considerable growth potential. Smartphone sales in the countries, Brazil, Russia, India, Indonesia and China, grew by 32 percent on an average last year and Western Europe, where smartphones have long been firmly established, the market still recorded growth of 11 percent. Smartphones are quickly becoming a commodity product. Every lower entry-level priced device is attracting first time users. As competition on the market intensifies, price is becoming an ever important market differentiator. The average non-subsidized price dropped from $320 in 2013 to $220 currently at global level. In addition to price functionality, performance is the key differentiator. The existing performance features of devices are being given significant facelifts. Displays are becoming larger, casings slimmer and the processing power significantly stronger while integrated cameras are equipped with more megapixels. The average smartphone screen size increased from 4.0 inches to 4.2 inches, with the trend expected to continue. Phablets, smartphones with a screen larger than 5.5 inches, have increased their global market share from almost zero last year to 5 percent in 2014. The number of processing cores has increased in every price class, with one in four smartphones having four or more processing cores. This increase in smart phone usage is going to increase mobile data traffic requiring significant capacity and capabilities at the telecom operator level. Overall mobile data traffic is expected to grow up to 15.9 Exabytes per month by 2018, nearly an 11fold increase over 2013. Mobile data traffic will grow at a CAGR of 61% from 2013 to 2018. One outcome is certain that the world is demanding a transformation for smart communication i.e accessing data with a smarter device through a smarter network 3. Mobile Apps Driving Cloud Usage: Organizations spend a huge amount of time for sorting and storing their data and approximately 90% of all new data growth in corporate data centers comes from unstructured data that poses a serious scaling challenge for traditional storage systems. Organizations have used hard drives and external storage devices like compact discs. But the explosion in data generation and demand for storage has led to increased costs and challenges. Cloud storage has gained a lot of traction for its easy and low-cost storage solutions. Enterprise and users demanding mobility and anytime access to any data are putting greater brssure on data pipes. Globally, cloud applications will account for 90% of total mobile data traffic by 2019, compared to 83% at the end of 2014. Mobile cloud traffic will grow 10.6-fold from 2014 to 2019, at a compound annual growth rate of 60%. In addition to cloud the mobile video traffic will grow 12.7-fold from 2014 to 2018 as more and more users require on demand content as well as high definition content. The rise of over the top mobile applications will see a quantum leap in the way entertainment content is consumed from the cloud. The cloud will make everything available any time and any where. 4. LTE to Become Mainstream for Mobile Broadband Globally, the relative share of 3G capable devices and connections will surpass 2G-capable devices and connections by 2016 (48 percent and 44 percent relative share). By 2018, 15 percent of all global devices and connections will be 4G capable. The global mobile 4G connections will grow from 203 million in 2013 to1.5 billion by 2018 at a CAGR of 50 percent. The increase in the consumption of 4G will almost be four fold with approximately 31% mobile devices using a 4G connection. Since a 3G & 4G connection leads to more traffic and requires a wider bandwidth and hence a bandwidth sufficing quality backhaul. This increase in the demand of 3G and 4G connection will in turn scale up the demand for optical fibres for backhauling network. Increased demand for data leads to new ecosystems The world has already witnessed the demand shifting towards Internet data-services. This certainly has a massive impact on network ecosystem, Telco-Infrastructure & pattern of traffic consumption. Communication networks, evolved from PSTN to FTTX, LTE moving towards 5G, evolution was from voice only network to converged networks providing ultra high speed, video & data services. We believe future networks will be extraordinarily fast & will support ultra high bandwidth applications and will evolve from plain vanilla connectivity service to application level connectivity era. These mega trends in Internet and communication with fast changing consumer behavior are driving incumbent telecom operators to change their business model and forcing them to invest more on - capex&opex. What to expect from future networks and technologies 5G / SDNRs. Such networks will need to have a "latency" (ie, response time) of about one millisecond. The speed at which two devices can begin to communicate with one another over today's 4G networks is about 50 milliseconds, and around 500 milliseconds for the still widely used 3G services. Another cornerstone requirement is going to be a data rate of at least one gigabit per second (1Gbps) to start with, and multiple gigabits per second thereafter. Mobile users will need such speeds if they are to stream ultra-high-definition (ie, 4k and soon 8k) video formats to their phones and tablets. All of which suggests that 5G will need base stations closer to users than current cellular towers. As it so happens, that is already a trend. So far, microcells-no bigger than a WiFi modem-have been used mainly inside buildings, to overcome poor mobile reception. To handle 5G's needs, hundreds of microcellular access points will be required to fill the gaps between existing cellular base stations. Few people will ever notice them, let alone object to their brsence-as is so often the case when new cellular towers are erected these days. SDN (Software Defined Network) Software-defined networking is an innovative architectural model that is capable of delivering automated provisioning, network virtualization, and network programmability to datacenter and enterprise networks. SDN has emerged as a key driver for innovation and change in networking as several market and technology factors converge. Software-defined networking (SDN) continues to gain ground within the broader enterprise and cloud service provider markets for datacenter networking. According to a new forecast from International Data Corporation (IDC), the worldwide SDN market for the enterprise and cloud service provider segments will grow from $960 million in 2014 to over $8 billion by 2018, rebrsenting a robust CAGR of 89.4%. The Benefits of SDN: • To reduce the cost and manage the network effectively • Focus on converged infrastructures (compute/storage/network) and on the software-defined data centre • Increased demand for network flexibility to support mission-critical technologies However SDN alone cannot replace the need for the physical infrastructure needed for seamless data connectivity. To satisfy the ever-growing demand for high-bandwidth content and enhanced services, service providers today must evolve not only their networks but also their business models. To increase profit margins and bolster bottom lines while continuing to meet customer expectations and while contending with a variable, often unbrdictable global economic environment-service providers are having to change the way they view and approach their business. A key issue is that connectivity no longer has the intrinsic value it once did. Customers demand added value, and they're getting it. Crossover competitors such as Google, Yahoo! and MSN have been quick to take advantage of media convergence and non-traditional business models to devour an increasing market share. Incumbent services providers need to provide the value their customers are seeking-namely, a rich communications experience. Yet doing so demands focused attention, that service providers broccupied with day-to-day management of their networks can find hard to achieve. This will need service providers and partners with extensive experience in network design, deployment, operation and migration. This flexibility in service customization for end user helps to connect more homes and users enterprises. The intelligence of network hardware which used to drive the product cost will gradually shift to the quality services at central level. The Era will be beginning where value will be created and delivered on the basis of end to end quality services than on the basis of solely product and Sterlite Technologies is on the path to becoming an end to end solution provider by virture of the growth opportunities seen in India. India is also changing rapidly Digital India is an initiative of Government of India to integrate the government departments and the people of India. It aims at ensuring the government services are made available to citizens electronically by reducing paperwork. The initiative also includes plan to connect rural areas with high-speed internet networks. Digital India is focused on: • Digital Infrastructure as a Utility to Every Citizen: High speed internet as a core utility • Governance & Services on Demand: Seamlessly integrated across departments or jurisdictions • Digital Empowerment of Citizens: Universal Digital Literacy, Universally accessible digital resources Sterlite's Role in Data Transmission Going Forward Sterlite has already initiated some of the government projects like National Mission Education & National Optical Fiber Network to create digital infrastructure meant for digital services and to increase digital literacy in remote areas. We believe 'Digital India' is an important aspect for the growth of data network in India, which will drive digital literacy, e-education, e-health care, citizen services, trade & commerce in the field of internet and will drive employment generation Increasing broadband penetration and adoption of data-intensive mobility devices such as smartphones and tablets have necessitated the need for optical fiber cables, which can support high volumes of data. Driven by increasing deployments in backhaul and last mile FTTx networks and aided by government initiatives such as National Optical Fiber Network (NOFN), NFS etc. the optical fiber cable market & telecom service market in India is getting onto an unbrcedented growth trajectory. Sterlite Technologies is today acknowledged as a leading global provider of optical fibre cable products that form the core towards creation of cutting edge data transmission infrastructure. Given rapid advancement and increasing sophistication of technology; products alone offer limited incremental value to customers and service users. Sterlite has recognized evolving trends in the landscape and is consistently tapping on the opportunities to enhance value by providing end-to-end services to customers. Conventional vendors only address customer's operational problems whereas today Sterlite has transformed into a solution provider offering strategic insights to enable a customer to re-engineer business delivery. The Company today is transforming itself from a product Company to a solutions and services Company. Based on existing opportunity and evolved requirements for further add value, the Company is building capabilities to transform into a solutions and service led business which will elevate its offerings to its customers. This involves designing complex network architecture including active and passive network elements making it ready to service application centric data requirements at levels which outperform SLA parameters. Telecom operators are enhancing their solution offerings on an ongoing basis to meet customer expectations. As systems get increasingly complex, end-to-end system integration is required. Increasing efficiency, simplification and optimization requires strong expertise. From solution building to consulting, Sterlite has strong wide sbrad domain expertise in system integration and is creating end to end system application and integration services for Telecom Companies' and Internet Service Providers. The Company is playing a critical role in the creation of a dedicated and secured communication network for the Indian Defense in the challenging terrain of J&K while also creating high speed broadband networks in urban India that can deliver 50mbps bandwidth for residential use. Surging data traffic projections indicate that demand for the fibre optic cable is going to increase exponentially. Moreover, network convergence i.e. availability of telephone, video and data communication services within a single network is the biggest driver for fibre deployment. Such networks are built for application centric services which are constrained by traditional copper based media which are prone to electromagnetic interference, low bandwidth and low security. Sterlite plays an essential role in the convergence of the data networks for Telecom Operators and Internet Service Providers. Sterlite sees significant opportunity in the 'Digital India' initiative as well. The company strongly believes that electronic delivery of citizen services through the Digital India platform can transform the approach towards health care and education similar to other Government services like passport seva, tax returns, etc. We also believe that the existing infrastructure also has enough scope for up-gradation and replacement. This will widen and deepen the Government's reach to enhance accessibility for urban and rural citizens alike, leading to enhanced efficiencies, reduced subsidies, elimination of wastage, eradication of corruption through minimum human intervention. Public sector digitalization will give citizens access to a range of services and Sterlite's strategic initiatives will play an important role in building these future centric citizen services for the masses. STL is confident that its end-to-end data engineering solutions approach will provide Telecom companies and Internet Service Providers the high quality networks that will help to retain and grow their customer base by providing higher quality applications and services. POWER SEGMENT ENERGIZING LIVES... POWER IN ITS TRUEST SENSE Energy is a key enabler of sustainable development for all countries and all people. Energy is vital for alleviating poverty, improving human welfare and raising living standards. Energy has been a central concern to humankind throughout its long history. The adequate provision of energy services has become especially important for economic development since the industrial revolution and providing energy services at affordable costs, in a secure and environmentally benign manner, in conformity with the needs for social and economic development is an essential element for poverty eradication and sustainable development. As seen, access to modern energy has consistent and positive correlation with human and economic development; the greater a country's electricity consumption, the greater the well-being of its people. Energy is a critical enabler ~ access to electricity enables dramatic increase in economic output and productivity. Despite the importance of these matters, billions of people continue to be without basic modern energy services, lacking reliable access to either electricity or clean cooking facilities ~ almost 1.3 billion people equivalent to around 18% of the global population lack access to electricity, while 2.6 billion people rely on traditional biomass for cooking. Nearly 97% of those without access to electricity live in sub-Saharan Africa and developing Asia. Just five countries including - India (23%) - account of those 50% of those without electricity, rebrsenting a serious barrier to social and economic development. Energy poverty is often root cause of perpetual poverty. Looking at the situation in India, the New Government Brings Fresh Enthusiasm with 24X7 Electricity Access to All Energy landscape in the long term is almost always steered by the manner in which governments intervene to thwart energy related challenges. India is the second fastest growing economy in the world, and is also home to around one-sixth of the global population. Given these factors, India's energy demands are enormous, but the country is unable to meet its energy needs. The key challenges facing the sector include fuel shortages (coal and gas), slow pace of environmental and forest clearances and poor health of the state-owned distribution utilities. Policy paralysis has often been cited as the key reason for the poor performance of the power sector. Lengthy and outdated legal procedures, dominance of public sector companies, lack of incentives for private participation and the absence of a strong regulatory framework have hindered the growth of the sector. Nevertheless, it was the first time in India that providing '24x7 Access To All' became an election agenda ~ Year 2014-15 took off with high hopes for the power sector with the nation giving clear mandate to single party that promised development through reforms and strengthening of power sector based on success of 'Gujarat Model'. The new government has set a goal to provide uninterrupted power for all by 2019, before the nation goes for next general election. Past experiences have shown that promise of 'power for all' has remained unachieved despite the efforts by the successive governments, albeit, the new union government has brought a wave of enthusiasm and hope in the power sector. During the first few months of its working, the government took several decisions to address policy bottlenecks in the power sector such as appointing single minister for all three ministries of power, coal and renewable energies for cohesive approach towards achieving the goal. The government has conveyed its intentions loud and clear. Within his first 200 days in the office, the honourable Prime Minister Narendra Modi attended at least eight events of power sector to lay foundation stones for new initiatives and dedicate projects to the nation. It signifies the brsent government's commitment towards its goal for supplying 24X7 electricity supply. Past few months have witnessed better vigour to facelift the transmission systems and India added highest 20,000 Km of transmission lines in 2014-15. In the brvailing environment, the need for development of transmission system arises from new generation additions, increased residential share of power demand, general system strengthening for better reliability, network outage & high AT&C losses, changing energy mix and increase in size & complexity of network. The government response has been to address these macro drivers with an ultimate view to provide reliable, quality and round the clock power to all. It is evident from the government's initiatives that the size, scale and sentiments in the power sector are set to witness the sea changes in the visible future under the stable and brdictable policy framework. Power generation through both conventional and unconventional means will have sizeable rise while state governments are under brssure to cut their technical and commercial losses, power producers and utilities would like to have access to extra transmission capacities to trade electricity in short term and day ahead markets. These dynamics, among others, are building brssures for adding and augmenting electricity transmission network in the country. Steps taken include: 1. Generation Capacity Additions India's generation capacity was about 250 GW (by end of July 2014). Another 113 GW of capacity is expected to be added by the end of XII plan period. As per the draft report - '20 year Transmission Perspective Plan (2014-34)', the XIII plan period shall witness capacity addition of about 100 GW. Hence, the total Installed Capacity by the end of XIII Plan is expected to be of the order of 469 GW which also include about 5 GW in Bhutan for benefit of import to India. As per the 18th Electric Power Survey, the peak demand on all India basis is projected to grow to about 284 GW during 2021-22 time frame from brsent level of 136 GW i.e., in the coming seven year period the load is projected to grow to more than double from the brsent. Traditionally, in India the strategy of transmission development commensurate with generation and load growth, creation of highways leading to strengthening of National Grid. However, in view of the increasing constraint in getting Right-of-Way for transmission lines, efforts shall be to build the corridors only with high capacity transmission lines viz. HVDC, 765kV D/c line, 400kV D/c with high capacity conductor etc. As per estimates of 20 year Transmission Perspective Plan (2014-34) report, total system requirement and physical requirements for XIII plan is as below: 2. Making Fuel Supply Congestion free: Coal Block Auction Last year, the Subrme Court judgment to cancel 204 coal blocks awarded to power, steel and cement producers threatened the viability of huge investments and finances by the banks. Promptly, the government kicked off coal block auction that is expected to benefit close to 35,000MW of power generation capacity and the demand for transmission systems will intensify to connect the newly commissioned generation assets. Opening up the industry is expected to boost production of a coal that generates three-fifths of India's power supply, and encourage CIL to improve production. The process of coal block auction coupled with the efforts to improve efficiencies of Coal India Limited to double the coal production to 100 Cr. Tonne by 2019-20 from 50 Cr. Tonne today, will have multiplier effect on the transmission sector. Higher domestic coal production by private sector and government controlled Coal India Limited will ensure fuel security of the power producers who will be able to keep their generation costs low. Also, the coal block auction process was designed to avoid additional tariff burden on the consumers. In such situation, power producers will sell electricity under the firm long term agreements to the utilities while also selling their generation in the short term and day-ahead markets to the distribution firms and large industrial customers to be able to garner higher returns. Higher generation capacity and need to expand market for electricity will prompt necessity of higher transmission capacitates in the systems. 3. Boosting Renewable Energy: India has set an ambitious target to promote renewable energy in view of increasing dependence on environment friendly resources for the second most populous nation in the world. MNRE plans to rapidly accelerate wind energy generation, adding an ambitious 10,000 MW annually, approximately five times the annual installation of new capacity added for last few years. In addition, MNRE has set a generation target of 10,000 MW through solar energy by 2017. The current solar capacity in the country is 2,600 MW. While fossil-fuel generation resources have some flexibility to site in close proximity of the existing transmission grid, integration of RE brsent special challenges as siting of renewable resources is largely dictated by nature. Intermittent availability and variability of energy and lesser grid support during system disturbance and exigencies stymie growth of power evacuation/grid facilities and transmission planning. The transmission investments needed to meet these challenges have not kept pace with the rapid growth of renewable energy capacity in the past few years. While there is a need for huge investments in developing transmission systems associated with renewable energy capacity, the financial implications on state utilities due to uncertainty in investment recovery impedes investment in such systems. Further, state utilities face both capacity and resource constraints in providing connectivity for sites in remote regions. In this regard, the government is making rigorous efforts to ensure that the transmission bottleneck does not impede renewable energy growth. The ministry, along with wind turbine makers, plans to jointly study the status of grid availability in six states with maximum wind velocity. Plans are afoot to commission 'Green Corridor' to synchronize electricity produced from renewable sources with conventional power stations in the grid. Proposed renewable energy will be the driver for modern transmission network. MNRE Government of India organized the first Renewable Energy Global Investors Meet & Expo (RE-Invest) in New Delhi, as a follow-up to the 'Make in India' initiative launched by the Prime Minister of India. The central theme of RE-Invest was to attract large scale investments for the renewable energy sector in India. 4. Penetration of Power in Rural India The Union Cabinet, chaired by the Prime Minister Shri. Narendra Modi, approved the launch of Deendayal Upadhyaya Gram Jyoti Yojana (DUGJY) with components to separate agriculture and non-agriculture feeders facilitating judicious restoring of supply to agricultural and non-agricultural consumers in rural areas and strengthening and augmentation of sub transmission and distribution infrastructure in rural areas, including metering of distribution transformers/feeders/consumers. The estimated cost of the scheme for above two components is Rs. 43,033 crore which includes the requirement of budgetary support of Rs. 33,453 crore from Government of India over the entire implementation period. Schemes such as these will result in further strengthening of the transmission infrastructure and make an improvement in hours of power supply in rural areas, reduction in peak load, and improvement in billed energy based on metered consumption while providing access to electricity in rural households. 5. Speeding the Clearance Process The new government has announced several measures to expedite the clearance process, inter 'alia, environmental and forest clearance has often been cited as one of the key reasons for the delay of implementation of linear projects in India. Measure such as the launch of an online system for monitoring stage-wise approval and a compliance mechanism to ensure security of information shall go a long way in speed up of infrastructure projects in the country. The Ministry of Environment and Forests (MoEF) has issued an advisory to all the states asking them to set up a land bank of degraded, non-degraded and non-forest land so that projects are not held up on account of the search for non-forest land to carry out compensatory afforestation. The MoEF has also relaxed norms by reducing the limit of forest cover in states from 50% to 33% for carrying out compensatory afforestation on degraded forest land. The ministry is also working on GIS-based decision support system to facilitate informed, speedy and transparent decision on forest clearance applications. 6. Improve Quality of Power in Urban/Industrial Areas Central government has launched a new power infrastructure upgrade scheme. Integrated Power Development Scheme (IPDS) aims to improve the distribution and transmission systems in urban areas. Integrated Power Development Scheme (IPDS) for the urban areas with the following components: (i) Strengthening of sub-transmission and distribution network in urban areas. (ii) Metering of feeders / distribution transformers / consumers in urban areas. (iii) IT enablement of distribution sector and strengthening of distribution networks making them smarter. 7. Smart Grid The world's electricity systems face a number of challenges, including ageing infrastructure, continued growth in demand, the integration of increasing numbers of variable renewable energy sources and electric vehicles, the need to improve the security of supply and the need to lower carbon emissions. Smart grid technologies offer ways not just to meet these challenges but also to develop a cleaner energy supply that is more energy efficient, more affordable and more sustainable. Sterlite’s Role in Power Transmission Going Forward The transmission sector in India is moving towards higher voltage levels, envisaging integration of RE and increased participation from new transmission entities. The key to achieving the grid performance that is expected for India's changing power scenario is a reliable, economic, open and secure. Hence, it is prudent to introduce intelligence in transmission grid, which may facilitate efficient and reliable end-to-end intelligent two way delivery system from source to sink. Transmission Grid, which is aimed to promote technology innovation to achieve increased flexibility in control, operation, and expansion; foster embedded intelligence, essentially further the resilience and sustainability of the grids; and benefit the customers with lower costs and improved services, brsents a way forward ~ Smart Transmission Grid. The need for stronger grid integration and balancing large shares of variable renewable, power quality, full scale communication between various components of transmission grid, higher level of automation, grid intelligence, wide area monitoring, real-time assessment & brcision measurement and brdictive modeling with self healing features are the major drivers for such a grid. In India, significant technological advancements such as increasing the capacity of transmission corridors through the use of Static VAR compensation and reconducting of lines using High Performance Conductors, long-distance transmission is accomplished by using controllable high-capacity AC and DC facilities, 6- or 12-phase transmission line configurations, allow for greater power transmission are also being taken up. Managing these systems will require real-time monitoring and control only possible with a robust state-of-the-art communication system. Getting real time data of various power system elements i.e. substations, generating plants, HVDC links, inter-state transmission lines etc. has become an essential br-requisite for successful operation of modern power system. Hence, need for fiber optic based communication system Reliable voice and data communication has become critically important. OPGW technology offers a future proof communication technology for Smart Transmission Grid ~ scalable to Terabit capacity, free from fiber cuts, sabotage as it is overhead and can support multi-vendor equipment. Overloaded state and central transmission lines, while most in need of relief, are usually most difficult to schedule outages. Advanced transmission facility maintenance live line maintenance, brvention programmers can save from catastrophic failures. Challenges faced by the grid operators arising from need for haulage of power over long distances, increasing share of RE in the energy mix, accommodating short-term power transactions through the power exchange, grid stability/security will drive huge investment in transforming the grid system in India into a Smart Transmission network. Sterlite Technologies today has gained a consistent experience in individual components of Transmission system assessment development & implementation of solutions. We see a huge opportunity that remains to be unearthed in transformation of conventional transmission lines into smarter elements and our approach has been to systematically capturing and cataloguing clients' challenges ~ RoW issues, system and operation, downtime and congested areas etc. We build a close relationship with clients to understand their unique requirement and to offer strategic solutions through systems design, application engineering, complete engineering-procurement-construction-project management, commissioning and lifecycle services to ensure improved business performance. Sterlite firmly believes that our firsthand experience with latest technology, in-house engineering capabilities, handling of composite core technology, RoW and Forest clearance management experience and Hot stringing project experience is a source of competitive advantage and the need of the hour. Our transmission grid infrastructure business has emerged as a largest private operator of independent transmission systems in the country. It has gained invaluable experience in project execution by adopting Light Detention and Ranging survey, deploying helicopters for stringing and setting up 765 KV double circuit transmission lines. The central government too has recognized the potential of private sector in the transmission arena and decided to implement more projects through tariff based competitive bidding. Need to augment transmission infrastructure to reduce losses has also been identified by the state governments that have been increasing their budget allocations to overhaul power sector. SPGVL is exploring possibilities to join hands with the state transmission utilities to offer its expertise in grid optimization and strengthening. As mentioned before, the centre has agreed to provide large sum from its budgets to improve and expand state grids and SPGVL is aiming to provide suitable solutions. Sterlite has been able to demonstrate its application engineering, product knowledge, execution line engineering, time management, RoW management, evaluation of existing facilities capabilities etc to the customer in various projects. Therefore, there is general convergence of strategies towards garnering experience in concept-to-commissioning projects. Sterlite is well equipped to build India's power delivery infrastructure with the government and capitalise on the huge opportunity ahead for us. |