Seven Firms Shortlisted For Banknet Project

The Reserve Bank of India has shortlisted seven firms for its Rs 320-crore Banknet project, which will set up a countrywide banking network using 500 very small aperture terminals (VSATs) initially.

The seven firms shortlisted are AT&T Tridom, Comsat Max, Hughes Network Systems (HNS), Hughes Escorts Communications Ltd (HECL), India Satcom Ltd, BT-India and RPG Satcom. These shortlisted vendors , who were to submit price bids on May 5, had requested for extending the deadline. This was accepted by the apex bank . The formalities for submitting price bids will be completed by the end of this month and the final vendor for the project will be announced by the end of June.

 

The network is expected to become operational within five months from the date of the selection of the final vendor.

Initially, 28 bidders had responded to the RBI tender which opened on January 15. Hyderabad-based Institute for Development & Research in Banking Technology (IDRBT), an autonomous body of the RBI which looks after the apex banks communication, computerisation and training needs, has been chosen for conducting the technical evaluation aspects of the project. CMC Ltd has been appointed the consultant and will aid IDRBT in evaluation of the tenders.

The Banknet project, which will provide wide area connectivity to public sector banks, will be open to the private banks as well. The project will also connect RBI with the ministry of finance.

In the first phase of the project, a dedicated hub will be installed at Hyderabad. Of the 500 Vsats to be installed, 400 will be TDM/TDMA and 100 demand assigned multiple access (DAMA) type.

Time division multiple access (TDMA) technique is suitable for data communication but not so convenient for voice since it has a double hop time-delay factor. The single channel per carrier (SCPC) or SCPC/DAMA is a single hop technique and thus useful for voice traffic.

Banking operations will be carried out by a hybrid technique which will use TDM/TDMA for data communication and SCPC for voice using the same outdoor unit. In the second stage, that is by the end of next year, the number of Vsat terminals are likely to increase to 1000.

And by the turn of the century, the network will have around 5000 VSATs given the projections of increased banking activity.