Vivek Seal

New Delhi: Hughes India, the satellite broadband services provider, has bagged the contract to set up the first dedicated VSAT hub for the Indian Railways, to strengthen its communication network. The initial phase of the deal is valued at Rs 8 crore.

The installation of the first dedicated VSAT hub will allow the Railways to offer applications such as disaster communication system, accident relief train, unreserved ticketing system and freight operating information system, in remote locations.

It will also help connect 1,000 locations across 19 states as against 200 earlier, and will have voice and data connectivity for Railways’ services at remotely located stations.

In addition, the Railways plans to introduce internet access on running trains and is currently undertaking a proof of concept in one of the trains between Mumbai and Ahmedabad.

K Krishna, AVP (marketing) at Hughes India, told DNA Money, “There is a huge expansion opportunity for this type of project with the Railways, and we expect much more revenue to come up from this deal.”

Sources close to the deal said the contract has an opportunity to provide Rs 100 crore to Hughes India, and the current Rs 8 crore is just the tip of the iceberg. However, Krishna did not comment on the total project deal.

For disaster management, the trackable terminals will be installed in one accident relief train (ART) for each of the 67 divisions in the Railways.

“Indian Railways is expected to replace cardboard ticketing with paper tickets, and the terminals for the unreserved ticketing system would be installed in 3,000 sites all over India,” Krishna said.

Recently, Indian Railways shortlisted six information technology firms for the commercial portal management for its web portal with the deal value pegged at Rs 250-300 crore.

Hughes has a current turnover of about Rs 225 crore from the Indian operations.

Source : DNA