savramesh 37 Report post Posted June 8, 2009 The Hindu Sunday, June 7, 2009 : 1300 Hrs New Delhi (PTI): Concerned at the slow pace of growth in broadband, telecom regulator TRAI may come out fresh recommendations for the sector focusing on rural areas and using optic fibre infrastructure. "Broadband has broadly remained an urban phenomenon. It needs to spread to rural areas where the need for it (is) maximum. "We need to examine it in more depth. We need to study the issues afresh and see if instead of copper wires the huge optic fibre (can be) used to carry broadband services to the rural areas to reach high broadband growth", Telecom Regulatory Authority of India Chairman J S Sarma told PTI. He said in rural areas broadband can help in a lot of critical areas like education, tele-medicine, and health, among others. Broadband policy was announced by the Department of Telecom in 2004 and it set a target of 2 crore broadband subscribers by 2010. As the year is approaching, the figures are nowhere near the target. According to TRAI's estimates, India's total broadband subscriber base reached 62.8 lakh by the end of April 2009, as against 62.2 lakh by the end of March 2009. In April, 60,000 new customers subscribed to high-speed connectivity, a 56.61 per cent growth rate on a month-on-month basis. Share this post Link to post Share on other sites
