| Work Detail |
Ankit Goel, founder and chairman of Space World group, has revealed to Business Standard the companys bold initiative to establish an optical fibre network linking all data centers in seven major cities within a year.
The endeavor is spearheaded by Space Worlds subsidiary, Constl, a fiber-based digital infrastructure provider. Constl is currently in the process of rolling out the largest network of neutral, point-to-point optical fiber connections to various data centers. Already, 17 data centers in Delhi and 14 in Chennai have been linked through multiple pathways, according to Radhey Sharma, co-founder and director of Constl.
Specializing in services such as data center interconnectivity, private lines, and dark fibers, Constl aims to address the escalating demand for data transmission capacity. Despite Indias existing extensive fiber optic network, which spans over 4 million kilometers primarily owned by telecom operators, the surge in data consumption has outpaced the available capacity. To bridge this gap, Space World is actively deploying new fiber infrastructure and interconnecting data centers in major cities including Delhi, Mumbai, Chennai, Bengaluru, Hyderabad, Pune, and Kolkata through a ring-mesh network.
Constl owns the fiber assets and leases point-to-point bandwidth to a diverse range of customers, including internet service providers, large cloud service providers, telecom operators, and over-the-top service providers. Ankit Goel emphasizes the creation of a neutral network, enabling any customer to utilize their infrastructure upon payment of service charges.
Industry estimates indicate the presence of 152 data centers in India, with numbers rapidly growing due to the exponential rise in data consumption and cloud computing. The cumulative capacity across the top seven cities is projected to more than double to 1,800 MW by 2026, attracting investments of $10 billion, as highlighted in a joint report by the Confederation of Indian Industry (CII) and Colliers.
Despite these ambitious plans, executives at Space World highlight ongoing challenges related to securing right-of-way permissions. The companys recent endeavors in laying down 300 km of cables in Delhi-NCR necessitated permissions from 17 different local authorities, underscoring bureaucratic hurdles.
Looking ahead, Constl aims to extend its network to Tier-II cities such as Lucknow within the next two to three years. Launched in December 2023, Constl plans to invest $500 million into its optical fiber network across 13 cities over the next four years, with financing partly sourced from global infrastructure funds. Discussions are underway to secure $300 million in funding, with an anticipated deal closure in the first quarter of 2024.
Apart from its foray into optical fiber infrastructure, the Space World group is engaged in diverse sectors including chemical manufacturing, radio frequency components manufacturing, and metal fabrication. In 2021, Ankit Goel and Radhey Sharma sold their previous venture, Space Teleinfra Pvt Ltd (STIPL), a shared telecom infrastructure provider, to Tower Infrastructure Trust (Tower InvIT) for $150 million, marking a significant milestone in their entrepreneurial journey. |
