RCOM s subsea cable business
Overview of RCOM s subsea cable business Assets Operates one of the world s largest private subsea cable networks Covers six of the eight major global data traffic routes Metropolitan networks in 25 countries and 45 cities Nine owned data centres Customers 386 ISPs, content providers, mobile carriers, and telecom operators Products International data and internet connectivity products: IRU, O&M, IPLC, IP, restoration and co-location Source: Company s data, TeleGeography
Investment highlights Presence in key markets and global reach High entry barriers Cost, Time, Right of Way Significant available capacity, low incremental upgrade costs, long useful life High quality network, Global Ethernet enabled Low latency IP Strong customer relationships 4x IP traffic growth expected over next 5 years
Contents Section 1 The Global Telecommunications Infrastructure Industry 1 2 Overview of assets 8 3 Sales & customers 23
Section 1 The Global Telecommunications Infrastructure Industry
Evolution of the Global Telecommunications Infrastructure Industry Introduction of the first Trans-Atlantic optical fibre cable with 100 km repeaters Introduction of satellite transmission to augment optical fibre capacity and provide a backup system Introduction of subsea Branching Unit ( SBU ) enabled the utilization of local and express routes Construction of the first two privately owned subsea cables In 2001-2002, the industry witnessed bankruptcy and reorganisation of operators including Global Crossing, Asia Global Crossing, 360 Networks, FLAG, and MCI WorldCom 1980 1990 2000 2010 First Trans-Atlantic subsea fibre optic cable system built in 1988, TAT-8, consisting of 35 consortium operators In 1991, the first private subsea cable system, PTAT-1, was constructed A total of US$22 billion was invested in subsea cable systems between 1999 and 2001 to support the anticipated growth in internet usage Expected growth of internet usage did not materialise as anticipated, leading to excess supply of capacity Over the last 10 years, few new cables were constructed following the bust of the industry. However, bandwidth demand began to grow rapidly, leading to a slowdown in price erosion Source: Company s data 1
Subsea cable design Metro PoP Area Cable Landing Station Metro land backhaul links Subsea repeaters PoP- Point of Presence Cable Landing Station Metro PoP Area Branching Unit Metro PoP Area Metro PoP Area Cable Landing Station Cable Landing Station Source: Company s data 2
Evolution of fibre transport technology Time frame Technology evolution Technology Per fibre pair capacities (in Gigabits) (a) Late 1990s Wave Division Multiplexing (WDM) and Zero Dispersion Shifted Fibre (ZDSF) 2.5G 5 (2x2.5G) Early 2000 10G 320 (32x10G) to 640 (64x10G) 2009 40G 1,600 (40x40G) to 2,560 (64x60G) Dense wave Division Multiplexing (DWDM) and Non-zero Dispersion Shifted Fibre (NZ-DSF) 2,900 (29x100G) to 2012 2013 100G 6,400 64x100G) 2014 2015 500G Estimated 10,000 (20x500G) (a) Per fibre pair capacities is dependent on age of the fibre, fibre characteristics, technology deployed and link length. Source: Company s data 3
Technological advancement of fibre optic cables Advancements in optical technology have dramatically increased the capacity of subsea fibre optic cables Extended useful life of existing subsea cable systems by 10-15 years Enabled capacity upgrades for existing cable systems as compared to building new subsea cables, with marginal cost Upgrades to existing cables using new technology often exceed original design capacity of the cable systems High barriers to entry Average time to build new cable systems is 3-4 years, while average time to complete capacity upgrade is 6-12 months Investment in new cable systems is significantly higher than upgrading existing cable systems The capacity upgrades often exceed the original design capacity of the system Congested Right of Way for laying new cables is becoming a problem in the most important interconnection cities, including New York, London, Alexandria, Suez, Tokyo, Taipei, Seoul Source: Company s data 4
Four key trends are driving the growth in IP traffic Increasing number of devices By 2015, there will be nearly 15 billion network connections via devices (up from 7 billion in 2010), including machine to machine, and more than 2 connections for each person More internet users By 2015, there will be nearly 3 billion internet users more than 40% of the world s projected population Faster broadband speed Average fixed broadband speed is expected to increase four-fold from 7 Mbps in 2010 to 28 Mbps in 2015. The average broadband speed has already doubled in the past year from 3.5 Mbps to 7 Mbps More video By 2015, 1 million video minutes the equivalent of 674 days will traverse the internet every second Global IP traffic has increased eightfold over the past 5 years and will increase fourfold from 2010 to 2015, resulting in a CAGR of 32% Source: CISCO VNI (Visual Networking Index) Forecast of June 1, 2011 5
Global IP traffic is expected to grow 4x between 2010-2015 Central / Eastern Europe North America Western Europe 2.3 billion 902 million 20 Mbps ( 229%) 2.2 billion 36 Mbps ( 290%) 3.7 EB/month ( 424%) Japan 27 Mbps ( 266%) 18.9 EB/month ( 295%) 727 million 22.3 EB/month ( 218%) Asia-Pacific 63 Mbps ( 312%) Latin America 1.3 billion Middle East / Africa 1.3 billion 5.8 billion 25 Mbps ( 359%) 4.8 EB/month ( 235%) 8 Mbps ( 191%) 7 Mbps ( 154%) 24.1 EB/month ( 350%) 4.7 EB/month ( 604%) 2.0 EB/month ( 699%) Source: CISCO VNI (Visual Networking Index) Forecast of June 1, 2011 Connection Broadband speeds IP traffic growth 6
Connections will double and speeds will quadruple by 2015 2015 3 Billion Global internet users 14.6 Billion Annual Global IP Traffic Global network connections 966 Exabytes 7.2 Billion 24.8 Gigabytes World s 2015 Population Traffic generate by average internet user per month January 2015 1.9 Billion Global internet users 28 Mbps 7.4 Billion Global network connections 300% 100,000,000 Average Global Fixed Broadband Speed Growth 100,000,000 2010 Source: CISCO VNI (Visual Networking Index) Forecast of June 1, 2011 January 2010 7.0Mbps 7
Section 2 Overview of assets
RCOM s subsea cable assets FA-1 FEA (a) HAWK FALCON FNAL Backhaul RCOM s subsea cable assets have a market share of 20% of all capacity sold across its six routes Source: Company s data, TeleGeography 8
RCOM s subsea cable assets are privately owned and covers six out of eight major global routes Routes Cables India-West India-East Middle East-West Middle East-East Intra-Asia Trans-Atlantic FA-1 FEA FNAL FALCON HAWK Tbps Lit capacity Europe Asia 7 Intra Asia 11 Trans-Atlantic 16 Sub-total 34 Trans-Pacific 12 Latin America 8 Total 54 RCOM s share of routes 63% The routes covered by RCOM s subsea cable assets collectively account for 63% of the global data demand as measured by lit capacity Source: Company s data, TeleGeography 9
RCOM has a market share of 20% of capacity sold on its routes Market share of lit capacity across 6 routes (Gbps) (a) Total capacity sold by market Capacity sold by RCOM Market share India-West 700 134 19.0% India-East 567 31 5.4% Middle East-West 601 345 57.4% Middle East-East 218 31 14.1% Intra Asia 9,493 1,730 18.2% Trans-Atlantic 13,036 2,531 19.4% Total 24,615 4,800 19.5% (a) Excludes IP services Note: as of 31 December 2011 Source: Company's data, TeleGeography 10
Competitive advantages of RCOM s cable systems 1 Wholly-owned cables with strong regional connectivity 2 Benefit of cable assets on key routes 3 Significant saleable capacity 4 Substantial remaining useful life 5 Landing stations at strategic locations 11
1 Wholly-owned cables with strong regional connectivity Private subsea cable operators have greater flexibility in operating cable systems Concurrence of all members of the consortium not required for upgrades Network changes, routing, and terrestrial backhaul upgrades can be done independently Ease of linking new landing stations to existing subsea system Easier to adopt new, cutting edge technology i.e. 10G to 40G to 100G Simpler to execute strategic deals Regional capacity sales, presales of capacity with future pricing No internal price competition as private operators maintain 100% control over its inventory Source: Company s data 12
2 Benefit of cable assets on key routes Existing operators have significant advantages over new entrants due to the construction cost of subsea fibre cables Upgrade existing system cost ~US$50m-US$75m from 10G to 40G versus cost of ~US$800m-US$900m for new build The cost of subsea fibre cables (with repeaters) represents approximately: 90% of the costs for linear systems 2x cable landing stations 80% of the costs for multi systems 5-7x cable landing stations Source: Company s data 13
3 Significant saleable capacity Route (a) Design capacity (b) at 40G (Gbps) Installed capacity (c) (Gbps) Current lit capacity (d) (Gbps) India-West 9,560 2,710 580 India-East 240 170 55 Middle East - West 9,880 3,740 960 Middle East - East 240 170 55 Intra -Asia 10,120 6,530 1,860 Trans-Atlantic 18,720 4,750 2,840 Total 48,760 19,430 6,350 (a) As of 31 December 2011 (b) Design capacity at 40G is defined as the maximum capacity of a cable between the start and end points if it were upgraded to 40G (c) Installed capacity is defined as the maximum capacity available between the start and end points of a cable (d) Current lit capacity is defined as the capacity available or being used currently between the start and end points of a cable Source: Company s data 14
4 Substantial remaining useful life Subsea cable Year of completion Stated life at completion End of design life FEA November 1997 25 2022 FA-1 June 2001 25 2026 FNAL July 2002 25 2027 FALCON September 2006 25 2031 HAWK April 2011 25 2036 Source: Company s data 15
5 Landing stations at strategic locations A total of 46 landing stations with 31 partners, in the following countries: China Qatar India Bahrain Japan Iraq Korea Kuwait Malaysia Yemen Thailand Republic of Maldives Egypt Hong Kong UAE Sri Lanka Jordan France Saudi Arabia Cyprus Italy Iran Spain Sudan UK US Taiwan Oman 16
Cable systems Third-Party Networks Subsea Cable Route Purpose Capacity (Gbps) Length (Rkm) Tata Trans Pacific Japan to United States Resale 550 22,300 Japan US Japan to United States Resale 1 22,682 SMW4 France to Singapore Resiliency and diversity 100 38,000 EAC Singapore to Hong Kong Resiliency and diversity 15 19,500 C2C Singapore to Hong Kong Resiliency and diversity 10 17,000 APCN2 Singapore to Hong Kong Resiliency and diversity 3 19,000 Total 678 138,482 Flexibility to purchase capacity on an as needed basis at market price to complement its own systems from a combination of private operators or consortium cable members to meet specific customer requirements Source: Company s data 17
Metropolitan network Europe Europe Ring FA-1 Ring Europe s metropolitan network allows flexibility to connect to multiple data centres and Meet Me Rooms ( MMR ) Source: Company s data 18
Metropolitan network Egypt New Ring Existing Ring Four routes across Egypt which makes it one of most resilient network globally. The metropolitan network crossing Egypt is the most vulnerable terrestrial fibre segment between (i) Europe and India and (ii) Middle East and Asia for fibre cuts Source: Company s data 19
Metropolitan network United States The US Metropolitan network connects FA-1 cable landing stations to data centres in the Eastern US namely 111 8th Avenue, 60 Hudson, 325 Hudson, and 165 Halsey, extending up to Equinix Ashburn Source: Company s data 20
Data centres Owns nine data centers in the US, UK, France, Hong Kong, and Taiwan with a total potential floor space of approximately 85,000 square feet Country # of data centers Floor space ( 000 sq ft) USA 3 27.98 UK 2 21.39 France 2 18.68 Hong Kong 1 12.32 Taiwan 1 5.38 Total 85.75 Provides carrier neutral functionality at key business hubs offering open access to all carrier customers Source: Company s data 21
Network asset strategy Leverage on owned asset Differentiation Growth plans Technology Price erosion vs demand growth Sophisticated subsea cable network design Express routes allow lower latency Local routes provide connectivity to underserved markets Providing connectivity on six of eight routes, reaching 46 landing stations in 26 countries Extensive Metropolitan network in Europe, plus diverse terrestrial backhaul in US, Egypt, India, and Japan Global reach, routes covering 63.0% of the global data demand Private subsea cable operators vs Consortium subsea cable operators Less subjective to price competition Low latency routes: FA-1 offers the lowest latency route between: Paris and New York: 70.92 ms RTD Slough and New York: 64.877 ms RTD Skewjack and Northport: 59.5 ms RTD HAWK offers the lowest latency route between Cyprus and London: 48.2 ms RTD Route diversity: Offering 2 systems on most routes Demand growth outpacing price erosion Existing cables will remain in service longer due to technological advances Offer competitive pricing to customers in key regions of the world 10G to 40G technology allows existing cable systems to increase capacity 2.4x to 3.5 x for marginal incremental cost vs new cable builds 100g technology which is expected to be available by the end of 2012 allows existing 40G cable systems to increase capacity by approximately 2.0x to 2.5x Demand for international internet bandwidth has more than doubled over the past two years, offsetting the price erosion in the range of 20-30% for routes covered by RCOM s cable systems Source: Company s data 22
Section 3 Sales & customers
RCOM s subsea cable business customers Revenue breakdown by customers Customer diversity Revenue breakdown by geography Other customers 38% Top 20 customers 34% Europe 13% United States 13% Middle East 29% RCOM 28% (a) Asia 17% India 28% (a) The large increase of revenues from RCOM is due to the increase in 3G data usage in India Note: For the nine months ended December 31, 2011 Note: For the nine months ended December 31, 2011 Loyal customer base FY2009 FY2010 FY2011 9M ended Dec 2011 Number of customers 448 447 410 386 Number of multi-product customers 200 228 271 194 Number of customers > 3 years 75% 75% 70% 70% Equal access and carrier-neutral strategy allows it to cultivate relationships with multiple companies in each market in which it operates Source: Company s data 23
Global sales network Regional office map London New York Ashburn Dubai Mumbai Hong Kong Sales and marketing team (number of employees) FY2009 FY2010 FY2011 9M ended Dec 2011 Marketing & product management 40 31 18 14 Sales and sales force 80 74 73 72 Total sales and marketing team 120 105 91 86 24
Customer and sales strategy Account management Every customer has a dedicated Account Manager to address their requirements and ensure end-to-end support on all aspects of the Sales process from quote to cash i.e. presales support, contract negotiations, pricing, delivery, service assurance and billing Sales and marketing Differentiation from our competition on value proposition End-to-end ownership of our infrastructure that offers greater flexibility and end-to-end service The trusted partner for our customer s network infrastructure needs Pricing Benchmarking prices in line with current market, while maintaining the desired profitability of the organisation Pricing positioned as per competitive intelligence, volume discounts, contract terms and aligned to specific customer requirements Pricing based on partnership arrangements with various suppliers in different regions, for B-end termination requirements Forward / customized pricing based on volume and strategic value Specialized pricing on new technologies/routes based on financial models 25
Customer and sales strategy (continued) Cross selling Promotional offers for various products on periodic basis for cross selling and upselling Development of new products and services Increase the revenue market share of the carrier business through the effective management of the existing product portfolio and through the introduction of new services / enhancements across the transmission services, IP services, and co-location services Develop the product roadmap and long term business strategy in line with customer requirements, to leverage technological advances in the market place Customer Loyalty Attracting the right customer and getting them to buy often and in higher quantities A major portion of our business is through repeat orders from our existing customers 70% using services for more than 3 years Provide high levels of service quality to build and maintain customer loyalty Training & education A large percentage of our staff are educated to the degree level and are actively encouraged and supported to gain technical qualifications and professional memberships of key technical institutions Regular training on all systems and equipments is mandatory for all operations staff Sales organisations are regularly imparted product training and notified about changing market dynamics through internal product advisories / newsletters to build awareness 26
Investment highlights Presence in key markets and global reach High entry barriers Cost, Time, Right of Way Significant available capacity, low incremental upgrade costs, long useful life High quality network, Global Ethernet enabled Low latency IP Strong customer relationships 4x IP traffic growth expected over next 5 years 27