We add considerable value for new entrants in OTT space and bring them on a level playing field with larger players without escalating the associated costs. Limelight Networks has 120 PoPs across the globe via direct connections with over 1,000 Internet Service Providers (ISPs), says Ashwin Rao, Director, Limelight Networks, India in conversation with Anupama Mehra of Elets News Network (ENN).

Please tell us about your investment in the last few years in the country?

India is the fastest-growing market with an increasing appetite for online content, especially streaming video. To support the demand we have made investments in building out our network including additional Points of Presence (PoPs) in Chennai, Mumbai and New Delhi to offer much-needed capacity.

What are your key focus areas?

Our primary target areas include the over-the-top (OTT) segment, E-learning, Media Broadcasting, E-commerce, and Online Gaming.

How Limelight assists new entrants in OTT and enables them to deliver the right user experience?

At Limelight, we provide avant-garde solutions to the new entrants in the OTT space. We add considerable value for them and bring them on a level playing field with larger players without escalating the associated costs. Limelight Networks has 120 PoPs across the globe via direct connections with over 1,000 Internet Service Providers (ISPs). This ensures that the OTT content doesn’t experience bottlenecks such as network congestions which is otherwise too common over the internet.

Further, we are equipped with 100 GbE (Gigabit Ethernet) and more than 40Tbps egress and ingress capacity, or the volume and substance of traffic getting transferred between a host network and an outside network. Also, thanks to our in-house technological innovations, we further allow sub-second delivery of content globally including live video feeds through our network.

These factors have enabled us to onboard several clients of all shapes and sizes including Napster, Nintendo, DoCoMo, BBC, and Marvel alongside others. By availing our services, new entrants can also deliver their content with the same service quality to their customers.

What are your expectations from the Indian market?

The Indian digital market is on a rapid rise with the advent of digital services for across-the-board needs within the country. At present, smartphone penetration is expected to have reached 29% and will further increase to 60% by 2022, clocking around 829 million smartphone users in total.

According to Cisco, in 2017, the nation also had around 1.6 billion connected devices. This figure will simultaneously become 2.2 billion by 2022. Another key takeaway from the study is that our national data load will increase to 646 petabytes per day, which is 490% or about 5 times higher than our data load back in 2017. This data surge will require advanced technological solutions to seamlessly manage traffic and makes the market very promising for Limelight Networks.

What are the top markets?

Currently, Mumbai is the top market for OTT and broadcasting space. The demand from Tech Startups and IT Companies is the highest in Bangalore.