Page 15 - The Channel Issue 2 2010

THE CHANNEL | ISSUE 2 2010 | 15

IN CONVERSATION | THE CHANNEL

n this part of the world, being green is basically a necessity. In 2005 we started this initiative without calling it Green Initiative – we focused on three things: first, to reduce conventional fuel consumption, second, to save energy at every level, and third, to improve satellite usage capacities. The challenge is the long-term contracts. If we are signing a contract today which is terminating in 2017, we need to be careful about the price of power /energy at that point in time. Our target was to reduce our conventional fuel consumption to half within two years, and we initiated the process by small steps. By setting our air conditioning at 23 degrees – one degree higher - we saved almost one week of our power bill. By starting the air conditioning earlier at 7.30am instead of 9am, we found that the cooling was very effective and used less energy. In fact these were really small initiatives but in terms of cost savings they have given us large benefits. We don't plan to use any campus illumination and lighting

with conventional energy, it's all solar. Internally we are changing everything to LED from conventional lighting in a phased manner. All our hot water requirements are to be fulfilled by solar energy. We are very close to the optimum that can be achieved.

The third initiative is the most important for our business - the ef-ficient utilisation of the satellite. Today worldwide the capacities are there but they are not being used. We ensure that a transponder is used to the last bit of its effective-ness – that has really given us the advantage to sustain the business in which we are today.

Can others follow this?

Yes, I think so. Of our initiatives, the third one is relevant globally. If a teleport is covering a huge area and out of 4 antennae maybe one antenna is used and three are just waiting for use, the operators have to really look at consolidating and utilising those bandwidths they are holding on to.

What are your core services for broadcasters and media companies?

We have a very large portfolio of services. Most of the media groups in this region are our customers. We have done major projects with NDTV – the first project was a news gathering network way back in 1998/9 and that set the tone. We have worked with Eenadu Television, with Star TV, CNN, etc., we do a lot of our business with most of the major media companies. We are the premium service provider in DSNG (Digital Satellite News Gathering) and we've covered the cricketing action in the Indian Premier League for the last three IPLs. IPL is a high pressure and very demanding event – like a military operation basically where you have to manage 56 matches at 11 venues, with HD and 3D transmissions. On the teleport side we have recently added the Star India Group (Fox Group, Indian entity) – we are shifting their transmission and origination operations from Hong Kong to India.

How is HD progressing in India?

Many of the major media groups have either started or are planning

I

GREEN

SAVINGS

Essel Shyam is a very interesting story. From the inception of the company, the Telecom/IT & Media Broadcasting Technology service provider based in Noida, India, had one basic objective: to provide anything, everything related to satellite communications and broadcasting services comprehensively so that the customers are not looking at too many vendors. The target was not to lose money on any job, and operating the business efficiently and meticulously that has been achieved. Today, Essel Shyam has more than 350 people on board and provides origination and uplinking services for over 70 TV channels, constantly adding more and growing as a company. It is listed in the 'Independent Top 20' and the 'Fast 20' list of the WTA and has won the WTA's first 'Green Teleport' award. We spoke to Essel Shyam co-founder and director Mahendra N. Vyas to find out more “

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In this industry the team, the people behind the brand, are themost important