C-Dot Develops First Large Digital Exchange

The Centre for Development of Telecommunications (C-DoT) has developed the country's first large digital exchange, MAX (XL), opening avenues for low-price indigenous technology to replace requirements of trunk automatic exchanges (TAX) in metros and urban centres, now being met by imported technology. The first MAX (XL) exchange was dedicated to the nation by Prime Minister H D Deve Gowda on March 2 at Indiranagar in Bangalore.

The development of the MAX (XL) exchange has disproved the majority report of the Nambiar committee four years ago that the present C-DoT design would not be able to cater to the country's demand for big switches either as local or TAX, former C-DoT executive director and one of the four dissenting members of the committee, G B Meemamshi said.

Meemamshi said that the MAX (XL) at Indiranagar, produced by the model plant of Indian Telephone Industries (ITI) at Bangalore, has a call-handling capacity of three lakh busy hour call attempt (BHCA) compared to two lakh BHCA of the E10B technology which the committee had recommended. He said that unlike the MAX (XL), the E10B cannot be upgraded to provide facilities. The telecom commission was considering phasing out of E10B production shooting down the recommendation of the committee which wanted manufacturing capacity with a minimum of five lakh lines set up at Bangalore and Rae Bareli.

A C-DoT expert said the building of the MAX (XL) showed that C-DoT had redeemed its pledge of developing large digital switching systems on its own.

But for the Nambiar committee report and its aftermath of political vendetta against C-DoT, this mandate would have been achieved at least four years earlier and would have served as a great stumbling block for the large scale entry of multinational switch companies in our metro areas, Meemamshi said.

The former member of the Nambiar committee said the 1990 onslaught on the C-DoT had led to demoralisation, de-motivation and massive brain-drain from C-DoT. It was aggravated by the luring away of talented staff by joint venture projects of multinational companies (MNCs) for manufacture of their large digital switches in the country.

However C-DoT has now vindicated the stand of the four dissenting members who had declared that it was possible for C-DoT to accomplish what the majority of nine experts of the Nambiar committee reported as mission impossible, Meemamshi said.