Broadcom is a leading global provider of semiconductor solutions for wired and wireless communications. The company is making significant investments in new age chipsets and processors to help device manufacturers offer affordable handsets to consumers.
In an interview with tele.net.in, Ravi Manik, director, business development, India and South-East Asia, Broadcom talks about company?s business strategy in India and use of smart technology in smartphones for enhancing end user experience.
What are the key focus areas for Broadcom in India?
In India, Broadcom is focusing on three segments or business streams. These include extending broadband connectivity to homes, infrastructure business and delivering mobile and wireless connectivity to end users.
Under the first segment i.e. extending broadband connectivity to home, the company focuses on promoting technologies and products such as gigabit-capable passive optical networks, digital subscriber line, satellite-based connectivity, set-top boxes and modems. Broadcom?s infrastructure business caters to backhaul and other network requirements of the operators. And the organisation?s mobile and wireless connectivity business is all about bringing Wi-Fi, Bluetooth technologies closer to the end-user through smartphones and wearable devices.
The company has a portfolio of 20 products in each of the three categories. With industry thrust on digitisation, Brocade sees a lot of business opportunities in areas such as direct to home and broadband.
What are the challenges being faced by the company in India? What are the initiatives being taken by Broadcom to address the same?
One of the key challenges is to cater to the requirements of emerging challenger brands such as Lava and Micromax. The company is working towards providing these brands a turnkey platform to enable them to come up with affordable smartphones for consumers. The aim is to offer our partners flagship products i.e. Broadcom connectivity solutions which would help them come up with high quality devices at competitive prices.
What is the potential uptake of Near Field Communication (NFC) technology in the Indian telecom market?
NFC technology offers huge potential for simplifying customer experience for the end user. At present, the technology is being used widely for facilitating money transactions. In order to realise full advantage of the NFC technology, the industry needs to widen the scope of its usage for applications other than money-centric transactions.
Broadcom on its part is offering its clients a single chip solution which provides both Bluetooth and Wi-Fi connectivity. The Broadcom BCM4354 a dual-band combo chip for smartphones and tablets supports 5G Wi-Fi 2×2 MIMO and Bluetooth. Going forward, NFC technology is going to be widely adopted by automobile industry and play a greater role in helping users personalise their home settings. Since, NFC-enabled chips allow secure communication, increasingly local brands too will start using NFC technology in their devices.
What are the initiatives being taken by Broadcom in promoting the use of smart technology in smartphones?
Smart technology is all about improving connectivity. At present, chip sets being used in majority of the devices are bringing smart technology closer to consumers. With the usage of smart technology in devices, players can significantly improve the ability of global positioning system (GPS) to deliver faster and accurate user location.
How big is the global wearable market and how does it compare with the Indian market. What is the role of GPS in advancing wearable market gear in India?
Various industry reports indicate that over the next one to two years, four out of five consumers will opt for wearable devices. Going forward, wearable devices will emerge as potential medium to fulfill user requirements currently being met by smartphones. Particularly, in India, local brands will take the lead in leveraging wireless connectivity and Wi-Fi technlogy to offer users wearable devices at affordable prices. Further, for wearable devices to become a success story in India, it is critical that players ensure that these devices offer high processing power and are low on energy consumption.
Within wearable devices segment, Broadcom has been in the forefront of innovations. In February 2014, the company introduced the industry?s first global navigation satellite system (GNSS) system-on-chip, designed for low-power, mass-market wearable devices such as fitness trackers and smart watches.
