SPECIFIC PROJECTS UNDER T-I-M BUSINESS AREAS

 

TBGI has programmed specific projects for identified opportunities in various business areas under the broadband wireless access (BWA) services. The projects essentially need funding for full implementation. These projects which may be classified to fall into major categories of Telecommunications, Internet Data Services, and Media Advertising, are as follows:

 

 

 

TELECOMMUNICATIONS

 

Nationwide Telecommunications Project

TBGI is undertaking fund raising for its Broadband Wireless Access en route to implementation of its 4G Telecommunications Project. Equipment supplier has submitted its response to TBGI Request for Information for vendor assisted financing. At the same time, potential equity sponsors have been invited for the equity component of the project.
Industry revenues for cellular services was reported at US$ 3.3 billion in 2006, and TBGI is targeting market share of 20% starting by the third year of cellular project rollout.

Call Center

The Philippines is competitive in the Call Centers business because of the English medium used in its education system. TBGI can enter the call center business with a significant infusion of capital by a strategic partner. TBGI points of presence in schools can provide the call center sites, especially in the provinces where unemployment and underemployment rate is high. Project impact comes in the form of employment and revenue potential for TBGI of $ 50 million annually.

 

Communications in Mining Operations and in similarly situated business.

The regime of high metal prices in the world market that is expected to last for at least ten years due to Chinese infrastructure development has resulted to opening of new mining operations in the Philippines. Communications in the mining areas can only be done effectively by VSAT that TBGI has provided to one gold mine site. TBGI revenues from VSAT in mining operations targeted at $ 1 million per year may be small compared to other revenue streams but the major impact lies in its being able to facilitate mining operations.    
VSAT service in remote island resorts will promote tourism by keeping tourists in touch with their respective homes or businesses.

 

AFP Communications
TBGI can provide the Armed Forces of the Philippines (AFP) with alternative communication system. Broadband wireless will be valuable not only in telecommunications but also in security of base camps, counter-insurgency operations, and logistics operations of the military. AFP expenses for the cost of conventional telecommunications are estimated to reach $100 million annually. TBGI is targeting $20 million share of the AFP market, offering cheaper alternative of communications system via virtual private network (VPN) based on VSAT technology. 

 

PNP Communications

The Philippine National Police (PNP) operates its own telecommunications system separate from that of the AFP. The PNP needs its own system for keeping peace and order, hunting down criminals, and liaison with local government units as well as ordinary citizens. The PNP will benefit from reduction in the cost of telecommunications through cheaper BWA services, which TBGI is targeting $30 million in annual revenues.   

 

INTERNET DATA

 

Global Knowledge Center

TBGI provides internet connectivity and computer laboratories to 150 schools presently but TBGI is mandated to provide the same service to 6,000 schools. The computer laboratory with internet connectivity is TBGI’s version of the Global Knowledge Center, a project of the United Nations and World Bank for attaining Millennium Development Goals. Funding from strategic equity investor provides an opportunity for TBGI to realize an estimated $ 50 million per year from this project.   

 

Adopt-a-School Program

The Adopt-a-School Program of TBGI is an adjunct of the Global Knowledge Center. It is targeted to provide the same internet connectivity and computer laboratories to schools that cannot afford the service through donations from corporate sponsors who would be entitled to 150% tax deductibility on said donation. The tax deductibility feature is allowed by the government under Republic Act No. 8525. TBGI expects $1 million annual revenues from schools that otherwise are unable to avail of the TBGI service. 

  

Beauty Portal

TBGI is host to the Beauty Portal of affiliate Managed Care Philippines Inc (MCPI). The annual revenue contribution expected from the service may not be much but the portal will contribute much to the marketing efforts of MCPI and the beauty and health tourism of the country.

 

Philhealth Clearing Center

The Philhealth Clearing Center Project of TBGI is intended to facilitate filing of claims of members of the Philhealth Insurance Corp. The system will likewise reduce the processing time of the claims in Philippine hospitals and clinics, which take as long as one year, and assist the doctors in collecting professional fees that are passed on to Philhealth insurance. TBGI can help hospitals and clinics that avail of this Philhealth clearing service save millions of pesos from shorter turnaround times for, and more accurate, reimbursements from Philhealth.  

 

Pharmaceutical Drug Distribution

TBGI affiliate MCPI will undertake a pharmaceutical drug distribution project in partnership with a charity organization to make cheap drugs available to the masses especially in remote areas. TBGI will host the nationwide operating system of the project for a nominal generation of revenue of $1 million per year.   

 

National Treasury Cash Management

TBGI has signed an agreement with Deutsche Bank (DB) for a joint effort to provide cash management service to the National Treasury (NT). TBGI will contribute nationwide connectivity while DB will operate its cash management software for the client. Based on a 30% share in the savings of the float in cash management of the NT, TBGI can help the government save at least $1 billion annually.   

 

Department of Budget Management System

This project with the Department of Budget and Management (DBM) is complementary to the cash management service to the NT. The DBM needs the service for control of disbursements and monitoring of cash balances.  TBGI can help the government save at least $1 billion annually from this project.    

 

Bastion Credit Card Authentication System

TBGI will host the Bastion Credit Card Authentication System once its BWA rollout is completed. The authentication system will provide security against fraud and theft of the card as well as convenience for authorized extension users of card holders.  

 

 

Forwarder Electronic System (e-LBC)

TBGI has signed an agreement with forwarder company LBC for an electronic system that will track down cargoes for continuous monitoring and control, and data bank management.

 

Business Continuity Center

The Business Continuity Center Project of TBGI will provide corporate clients with data banking services that will ensure survival of data after a disastrous event. The project will leverage TBGI operation of data banks in various locations for its BWA infrastructure.

 

ATM Machine National Link

The completion of the BWA rollout will enable TBGI to operate its ATM Machine National Link Project. TBGI will give prospective customers significant savings in fees for local remittance of funds, which currently fetch as much as $5 per transaction for out of town deposits.

 

Tele-health Portal

TBGI will host the software for health care and medicine of the Tele-health Portal Project of a group of doctors and medical practitioners.TBGI’s income will be from a revenue sharing agreement.

 

Health Care Content/ Nurse Training

TBGI can deliver distance education in general, but health care education is the preferred area of content on account of its relationship with affiliate MCPI, which is immersed in the medical practice business. TBGI will provide distance education in health care, and deliver content for training of nurses. The project will accelerate medical services education in the countryside.

 

Medical Transcription

Medical transcription is a labor arbitrage outsourcing that takes away business from high labor cost countries like the USA. Medical transcription is currently done in major cities in the Philippines, but TBGI will provide the service by making use of its nationwide presence in schools. The project will generate employment in the provinces as well as new revenues for TBGI.

 

Radio Frequency Identification (RFID) Tracking System
The TBGI Radio Frequency Identification (RFID) service is targeted to serve logistics and transportation companies for tracking of cargoes to reduce or eliminate the incidence of thefts and hijacking, which is rampant in the transport of high value products like electronic items. The RFID service will likewise enable bus and taxi operators to monitor movements of their individual mobile units. TBGI expects to generate revenues from RFID, which needs funding for market acquisition.    

 

E-Commerce Support for PEZA Locators

TBGI affiliate company ATN Holdings Inc. owns a significant part of Summit One Tower where tenants enjoy tax incentives available to locators in a PEZA registered building like Summit One.  The concentration of these locators in the same building where TBGI operates its network monitoring and control gives TBGI the opportunity to provide all services at its disposal and at the same time make the services conveniently available to the locators. TBGI can generate revenues from all types of services available to the locators.  

    

DIGITAL MEDIA ADVERTISING

 

Below-the-line Advertising
TBGI started below-the-line advertising with its project “School Crossing” where Heinz brand of canned pork and beans was promoted in schools. The project can be revived and expanded if new sponsors come in and if more content talents can be developed with availability of more funding. Project impact comes in the form of additional knowledge and information on nutrition, good health habits, etc. given to students, and potential revenues for TBGI.    

Electronic Billboard
TBGI affiliate Data Cast is inactive pending implementation of the electronic billboards project. Electronic billboard is more effective than static billboard owing to its moving images and smaller footprint. Impacts from this project are: better safety features compared to static billboards which showed high incidence of collapse of structure during typhoons, more attractive advertising presentation from moving images, and revenue potential for TBGI.    

 

TV Home Shopping
TBGI experience in TV shopping broadcast can be revived with available funds for market acquisition.

 

Streaming Video and Data
TBGI will implement streaming video and data advertising service to allow business clients who cannot afford expensive full scale advertising in TV networks. This service is consistent with the points of presence of TBGI in the provinces where small business enterprises thrive.

 

 

Primer on Broadband Internet over VSAT Satellite

 

TBGI chose VSAT technology for satellite broadband service offerings to maximize its chances of commercial success.  VSAT technology, explained at a basic technical level below, has several key factors:

• It offers unlimited subscriber service capacity, availability and scalability on a node-by-node basis, without the expense of fixed line backbones or cell tower installation suffered by traditional telecom operators;
• It integrates seamlessly with WiMax and other WAN / WiFi systems for further coverage of the “last mile” to remote subscribers’
• It allows TBGI to maximize return on its investment in transponder bandwidth (the “space segment”) as attainment of a reasonable number of subscribers (estimated at around 300 60-seat school computer laboratories) will bring the system into a so-called “Erlang state of equilibrium” at which no further transponder investment is necessary in order to accommodate all future growth in the subscriber base; and
• It supports all essential business functions and practices, such as:  service activation and management, customer care, billing, remediation, content control, etc. easily and systematically.

 

 

The Central Hub

The central hub of TBGI’s network, its satellite earth station at Clark, Pampangas, has a large dish antenna 9.3m in diameter.  The large size means high receive gain and sensitivity and this minimizes the transmit power and dish size required by the remote customer terminals. The large size also means high transmit gain and this reduces the transmitter power at the hub, where a high speed outlink carrier, similar to a satellite digital TV type carrier, needs to be transmitted. High speed means anything from 2 to 60 Mbits/s
The transmit Hub Common Equipment (HCE) consists of a router to interface to the external ISP network, a DVB-IP encapsulator to embed the IP data into an MPEG-2 format, a DVB multiplexer, a continuous modulator, a timing clock, an up-converter and high power amplifier.
The receive HCE consists of a low noise amplifier, down-converter, timing and distribution MF-TDMA demodulator unit and multiple MF-TDMA demodulator units for each inbound carrier to be received simultaneously. Each demodulator receives an inbound link from a large number of remote RCSTs. The number of optional demodulators depends on the number of inbound links.

 

The Satellite
To work well for small dish transmit services the satellite uplink needs to have high sensitivity (gain to noise temperature ratio, G/T). This is most readily achieved if the uplink beam coverage area is small. Also the satellite transponder has to have a sufficiently high gain setting. This is not technically difficult but does need to be specified before satellite construction starts. The gain of a satellite may be adjusted in orbit by remote control of a gain step attenuator. For large dish services a lower gain setting is attractive.  The Mabuhay Agila II satellite used by TBG is optimized in these areas and has the necessary coverage area to serve all of the Philippines, as well as most of the ret of Asia (see coverage map below)

 

Frequency Bands

The frequency bands can be any of C band 4/6 GHz, Ku band 10-12/14 GHz or higher (Ka band). Ku band is most popular. C band, which is used by TBGI, is most appropriate in tropical areas with heavy rainfall. The higher Ka bands are rather unused and futuristic; there is more bandwidth available but the technology and rain margin required are negative factors.

 

Transmission Technique

A large outlink carrier signal from the hub is shared amongst all the customer terminals. The bit rate is up to 60 Mbits/s rate and is ETSI-compliant (EN-301210) for modulation and FEC. The format of this carrier is Quadrature or 8 phase Phase Shift Keying (QPSK or 8-PSK). These are ways of transmitting digital data. For a particular bit rate both need the approx the same power from the satellite but 8-PSK concentrates the power into half the bandwidth. If you have a really powerful satellite and perhaps slightly larger remote terminals, then 8-PSK becomes feasible with a doubling of the satellite transponder bit rate capacity. The carrier is formed by a series of symbols where each symbol has 4 or 8 possible states, thus conveying 2 or 3 binary bits per symbol. To achieve a negligible bit error rate for the information, forward error correction systems are used which add extra bits to create a higher transmission bit rate. With QPSK a convolutional inner code is concatenated with an outer Reed Soloman block code. With 8-PSK the inner code is a pragmatic Trellis type. The data stream format is MPEG-2 with DVB Multi-Protocol Encapsulation (DVB-MPE) format for IP data.
At the customer receiver, the extra forward error correction bits are used to detect errors and normally to correct all of them.

 

Return Channel Satellite Terminals (RCST) outdoor unit (ODU)

The outdoor ODU equipment comprises a parabolic antenna reflector, feed, ortho-mode transducer, filters and transmit / receive radio frequency modules.  The reflector (“dish”) collects the received downlink from the satellite. The larger the size the better. Most dishes used are of offset front fed parabolic shape with the feed at the bottom on an arm. The beam comes off the dish at an upwards angle. Reflectors vary in size: the dish must be large enough to receive the signal, according to site location in the satellite coverage beam. Further, in some cases, the next larger size may be selected if a high transmit bit rate is requested as there is a trade off between say doubling the dish area and doubling the transmit power amplifier size. A larger dish rather than a more powerful transmitter is the technical preference as this gives an improvement in the receive margin as a bonus. 

The reflector surface must be smooth and accurate and not suffer from surface irregularities or from overall bending distortion. At 14 GHz the tolerance is +/- 1.5 mm.

The feed is where the radio signal emerges from the radio equipment and into the air. Its function is to distribute the power across the dish area. The feed must be at the focus of the parabolic dish shape. Behind the feed there is an ortho-mode transducer (OMT) which separates the two polarizations which are linear and at right angles. (Left hand and right hand polarizations are used in some applications). One polarization is used for transmit and the other for receive. The feed and OMT assembly and feed must be rotated to line up the polarization accurately with the satellite. Accuracy of +/- 1 degree is required to avoid interference with services on the other polarization. Filters are inserted to avoid the transmitter interfering with the receiver and finally the receiver and transmitter are attached. The receiver module is called a low noise block down converter (LNB), similar to that used for digital satellite television. Typical LNB noise temperatures and gain are 59K and 54 dB. The transmit module (Block Up Converter BUC) up-converts the signals to the transmit frequency and amplifies them before transmission. Lower or higher powers are associated with lesser or greater transmit bit rates. C band BUCs are available with powers of 2 or 5 watts.  Two coaxial cables with F type connectors join from the outdoor to indoor units. These cables, one for transmit and one for receive, each carry DC power and radio signals

 

 

Dish Pointing
Site latitude and longitude are established by consulting a map or GPS receiver. The satellite orbit location (longitude above the equator) is used to determine the correct elevation angle and polarization for the dish, which are then set using an inclinometer (allowing for the dish offset) and compass.

 

ViaSat’s LinkStar indoor unit

 

Return Channel Satellite Terminal (RCST)

The RCST is an integrated unit with connections for the two coax cables to the antenna and a CAT5 10/100 Base-T connection for an Ethernet cable direct to the customers’ premises equipment. There is also the mains power input. Put the indoor box in a cool, clean, dry place. Apart from the initial set up the box is entirely controlled from the hub.
The received MPEG-2 stream is recovered from the outbound signal by an integrated circuit consisting of a DVB-S demodulator and de-multiplexer. This logic demodulates the outbound signal and the demux recovers the IP packets intended for the specific customer terminal are then delivered to the external network via the Ethernet interface

When it is required to send data the RCST prepares the data into short packets or bursts which are transmitted in accordance with a time division multiple access (TDMA) system. Bursts are sent typically each time the mouse is clicked on a web page hyperlink, with relatively long non-transmitting gaps in between. Average individual terminal bit rates are typically less than 10 kbit/s. If a larger file is to be uploaded to the hub then a rapid sequence of longer bursts is typical. Modulation method and burst timing techniques are designed for maximum efficiency. QPSK modulation is used with rate 2/3 Turbo Coding   The transmission rates are shown below.  

 

 

Latency

Satellites orbit at a high altitude, which means that despite the high speed of the signal (radio waves travel at the speed of light), there is some delay, or latency, approximately one quarter of a second, associated with an end to end satellite transmission.

 

Safety

Dish assemblies at node sites are always mounted securely and with great with care so that they do not fall down on anyone.  The view upwards from the dish to the satellite must be clear of obstruction and with no possibility that people, vehicles, animals, trees etc. will get in the way of the beam. The radio power transmitted out of the feed is comparable to that from several cell phones and the head, eyes etc are never to be put at the feed opening or between the feed and the dish. The beam up to the sky, analogous to a flashlight beam approximately the same diameter as the dish, is also to be avoided, although the power density here is very much less than immediately at the feed opening.

Connecting PCs and Local Area Networks

The least complex installation is a single PC connected with an Ethernet cable to the indoor unit  (IP address and subnet mask must be assigned). In the case of TBGI’s school computer laboratories, local internet routers are used to harness all lab computers on a local area network.  The largest current installation in TBGI’s network is a laboratory with 600 seats.

Network Management

Management and control functions are performed by an NMS (Network Management System), which allows Configuration, Control, Performance, and Alarm Management, as well as Accounting, and User Administration. It also provides for the download of software to the remote terminals.

 

Technology Suppliers

 

For its network, TBGI has assembled and integrated complementary technology from the following suppliers.  TBGI enjoys good business relationships with all of its technology suppliers, and has entered into a more far-reaching teaming relationship with Lucent Technologies, based in Singapore.

• Airspan Networks (USA) (www.airspan.com – providers of PMP radio and wireless signal processing equipment)
• ViaSat, Inc. (USA) (www.ViaSat.com – provider of VSAT signal processing equipment)
• Lucent Technologies (USA) (www.lucent.com – providers of telephony-related electronics) TBGI has entered into a Teaming Agreement with Lucent under which both companies are jointly pursuing various new markets in the Philippines.
• Mabuhay Philippines Satellite Corporation (Philippines) (www.mabuhaysat.com – provider of transponders on Agila II satellite)
• Andrew Corporation (USA) (www.andrew.com – provider of earth station antennas / dishes)

 

Technical Overview

 

The hub of TBGI’s VSAT network is its main earth station at Clark, Pampanga (see Figure 1).  Clark is a Special Economic Zone and the site of the former primary US Air Force base in the Philippines; TBGI’s earth station is the former USAF Satellite Communications station . 

 

TBGI’s facility also houses 20 studios for media production and post-production services inside 277 square meter area of industrial-grade raised flooring, with an enclosed soundproof broadcast studio.  

TBGI utilizes multiple redundant connections to the Internet:

• Five E1 fiber-optic lines connect the Earth Station at Clark with the Philippines Internet backbone,
• VSAT access from TBGI’s Clark hub to the Mabuhay Agila II satellite links the Philippines to Hawaii, and the UUNet fiber optic line completes the link from Hawaii to the US Internet backbone, and
• A fiber-optic E1 line connects the data hub and network control center at TBGI’s Metro Manila Headquarters, which supports TBGI’s intranet as well as linking via MMDS radio transmitters to its many Metro Manila subscriber sites.

From the earth station hub, internet traffic is beamed to the Mabuhay Agila II satellite, on which TBGI leases transponder bandwidth, and then is relayed by the satellite to the many node earth stations -- 1.8-meter VSAT antennas located onsite at the Local Area Networks (LANs) and Wide Area Networks (WANs) installed by TBGI around the country. 

 

The ‘footprint” of the Mabuhay Agila II satellite (see map below) covers most of Asia; TBGI’s network can easily be expanded into any area covered by this satellite. There is no limit to the number of sites which can be supported. TBGI calculates that when the schools network has increased to approximately 300 schools (17,500 PCs; approx. 321,500 users), a so-called “Erlang State of equilibrium” will have been reached in the network, meaning that little or no marginal transponder bandwidth will be necessary after that point to handle greatly increased traffic volume.

Geographical Coverage Area of Mabuhay Agila II Satellite.

 

1.8m diameter earth station at a typical TBGI school node

 

TBGI’s networking and other services can be delivered to any location – no matter how remote -- within the shaded areas ranging from India in the West to northern China, south to Indonesia and eastward to the Western Pacific Islands, with additional spot coverage of Hawai’i

 

 Students enjoying internet access and training.  TBGI’s VSAT-enabled School Computer Labs are a focal point of interaction among students, faculty, community users…

Expansion Markets

 

The following figures , showing internet users per 1,000 population, illustrate the fact that there is significant growth potential for the internet in the Philippines.  With just under 40 people per thousand enjoying internet access, the Philippines has one of the lowest per capita use levels in Asia –only 6% of South Korea’s, 8% of Hong Kong’s, and 11% of its close neighbor, Malaysia. 

 

World Rank	Country	Internet Users Per 1,000	Multiple  of Phils. usage
1	Iceland	657.1	16.5
2	S. Korea	600.7	15.1
16	Hong Kong	465.7	11.7
18	Japan	448.9	11.3
20	Malaysia	362.9	9.1
21	France	361.1	9.1
34	Guam	296.6	7.5
39	Macau	267.1	6.7
76	China	72.0	1.8
80	Fiji	61.6	1.5
84	Micronesia, Federated States of	55.5	1.4
91	Maldives	43.0	1.1
94	Philippines	39.8	1.0
101	Indonesia	33.1	0.8
117	Mongolia	17.9	0.4
118	India	17.1	0.4

 

Cellphone penetration in the Philippines, by comparison, stands at 173 users per 1,000 population. Cellphone use is higher per capita than internet use because much of the country, including rural (although not remote) areas, is now covered by one or another of the major cellular networks; lower-range cell phones are inexpensive compared to PCs needed for internet access, and no special training is required to use a cellphone.  However, assuming connectivity is provided at a “group” or “institutional” level (as opposed to a “home” level) for medium- and low-income users, and computers are made available on affordable terms, it is reasonable to expect that internet penetration will move up steadily.  Even if it only doubles over the next 5 years, to the current level of, say, China, this will mean some 3 million new users coming online. If the Philippines’ internet use reaches the level of its close neighbor Malaysia (a country with a similar urban/rural mix, but where 360+ per 1,000 population has internet access), an additional 26 million Filipinos will need to be brought online.

 

TBGI is ideally positioned to help bring about (and to profit from) this growth in internet access by focusing on reaching student users, particularly in rural and underserved areas, using the Private Schools Network, which covers the country, as an already-established institutional vehicle through which to propagate internet connectivity.  TBGI’s VSAT technology enables this by freeing it (and its subscribers) from the high cost / low capacity of cellular internet access and from the severe limitations of existing Philippines fixed-line telephone infrastructure, which serves primarily large and medium-sized cities.

In addition to its core schools market, TBGI can also attract bandwidth subscribers in the following categories, and intends to expand its penetration of these markets in parallel with its build-out of the Private Schools Network.  TBGI is also strategically positioned as a private sector counterpart of government in the implementation of the ICT policy under the Medium Term Philippines Development Plan.  With its operating facilities and low-cost technology, TBGI is in the midst of a mega trend created by the government policy framework, which aims to "develop ICT as an effective instrument for job and wealth creation, and poverty reduction". 

Specific expansion markets include:

 

• ~9,000 Non-sectarian private schools in the Philippines (potential subscribers at multiple campuses each);
• 500+ State Universities and Colleges in the Philippines (multiple campuses each);
• 40,000+ Public (Government-run) schools in the Philippines, few of which currently offer internet connectivity (the Philippines government has instituted several recent programs, including the e-Commerce Act, the “Adopt-a-School Act” and other initiatives  to focus development resources on educational resources.  TBGI is well-positioned to benefit from these initiatives);
• NGO, community-based, and commercial internet café and connectivity providers & ISPs (particularly in rural areas);
• Multilateral- and bilateral-backed rural ICT and telephony projects anywhere in the coverage area of the Agila II Mabuhay satellite (or other satellites which TBGI can access using its facilities).  Of particular interest are the Pacific and Mekong regions;
• Corporate and governmental clients anywhere in the coverage area of the Agila II Mabuhay satellite (or other satellites which TBGI can access),  with far-flung or remote locations requiring internet connectivity, e.g. in mining, forestry, agriculture, shipping, etc.

 

New Strategic Partnerships

 

TBGI is actively pursuing value-additive strategic partnerships with corporate, government, multilateral, investment banking, and hedge fund management institutions as well as overseersof sovereign wealth funds globally and locally.  These potential partners include cellular operators, television broadcasters / cable operators, content providers, and technology innovators who can assist TBGI in offering new communications options and content in the Philippines.