STL launched the Gram Galaxy solution at IMC 2022 to accelerate last-mile rural connectivity and village digitalisation.
India aims to fiberise all 6,25,000 villages. But ~60% of the rural population is still unconnected. Key challenges like sheer scale (50Mn fKm), rugged terrains, network economics and deployment speed (~4X increase) must be addressed. STL has 30 years of optical expertise and execution capabilities for large-scale projects. With its purpose of transforming billions of lives, the company has now developed Gram Galaxy – an India-focused solution that will solve these challenges.
STL’s Gram Galaxy includes:
1. National long-distance network design – Uses open-source data with AI and GIS databases that enable first-time-right design and detailed Bill of Materials
2. A comprehensive optical cable suite:
-
- Weather-resistant aerial cables – Long span all-weather cable to connect rugged terrains
- Outdoor distribution retractable cable and accessories – This cable can be direct-buried, aerially deployed, or installed along facades and walls in rough terrains, offering significant time and CapEx savings
- Indoor/outdoor last mile connectivity cable – A universal cable for Wi-Fi hot-spots, home broadband and 4G/5G micro-sites
3. Fibre Automation Services – Brings automations like robotic trenching, 360o photogrammetry, and GIS database visualisation to increase deployment speed and network lifetime
4. Skilled talent pool – STL Academy is focused on creating a skilled talent pool for technologies like 5G, fibre blowing, cable preparation, and splicing. It has trained more than 1,00,000 professionals on 5G and ~600 BSF personnel on fibre splicing
5. An application ecosystem Digital Cafe – to enable internet use cases such as e-health, e-education, digital payments, smart surveillance
Ankit Agarwal, Managing Director, STL, comments:
“We are very proud to have developed a solution which will take India on the path of becoming a digital economy. Gram Galaxy will enable faster, and highly scalable rural network buildouts. We look forward to engaging with the government and telcos to implement this solution on the ground.”
