Nakul Sharma

The Centre for Development of Telematics (C-DOT) is the Telecom Technology development centre of the Government of India. It was established in August 1984 as an autonomous body. It was vested with full authority and total flexibility to develop state-of-the-art telecommunication technology to meet the needs of the Indian telecommunication network. In the initial years, C-DOT triggered a telecom revolution in the rural India that was responsible for allround socio-economic development. Rural India gained access to a whole new world of opportunities as they got connected globally. As part of its development process, C-DOT has spawned a wide base of equipment manufacturers and component vendors for the industry. The state-of-the-art R&D facilities at its Delhi and Bangalore campuses are comparable with the best in the world. Within a very short span of time, telecom switching products ideally suited to Indian conditions started revolutionizing rural telecommunication in India in the form of small Rural Automatic Exchanges (RAXs) and medium size switches as SBMs for towns. This was followed by induction of higher capacity digital switches known as Main Automatic Exchanges (MAXs). Nearly 50% of present fixed line infrastructure, after allowing MNCs entry into the Telecom Market is from C-DOT technology and that in itself is a testimony to the Centre achieving its objectives fully. That C-DOT engineers have been striving to add value through regular up gradation to the fixed line infrastructure is a tribute to the commitment of C-DOTians to the original cause.