New Broadband Policy Announced By The Government

[rEdshiFt 1]

The Hindu_ Friday, Oct 15, 2004

NEW DELHI, OCT. 14. The Government today announced a new broadband policy intended to promote the use of "always-on high speed" Internet. Unveiling the policy, the Communications and Information Technology Minister, Dayanidhi Maran, said it envisaged economic growth as well as enhancement in the quality of life through various applications such as e-governance and tele-medicine.

"The prime consideration guiding the policy includes affordability and reliability of broadband services, incentives for the creation of additional infrastructure, more jobs and the induction of latest technologies. I am confident that broadband at speeds of 256 kb and above would be available for Rs. 500 to 800 a month'' said Mr. Maran. He said he expected companies to roll out broadband services within the next two to three months.

related news - 'Broadband policy is technology-neutral' The Hindu_ Friday, Oct 15, 2004

NEW DELHI, OCT. 14. A main feature of the broadband policy announced today by the Communications and IT Minister, Dayanidhi Maran, is that it is technology neutral. In other words, operators will be free to employ any technology of their choice but the spread of fibre networks will be emphasised because in the long term it can provide huge amounts of bandwidth in the last mile as well as a true converged network.

All companies, including MTNL and BSNL, had been permitted to enrol franchisees to sell their broadband services. Service providers had also been permitted to enter into franchisee agreement with cable TV network operators.

However, Mr. Maran said broadband would spread more through wireless and a little by copper wire. The Government had not put a price cap because it expected competition to drive down prices and step up speed. "I hope that demand and competition would determine higher data rates,may be up to 8-10 mbps," he said.

A salient feature

Another salient feature was the de-licensing of certain frequency bands to promote outdoor and indoor usage of low power Wi-Fi systems (high speed Internet in designated `hot spots' through wireless). More frequency bands would be freed in due course. To simplify mandatory governmental clearances, VSAT operators would be allowed to start operations within a month of submitting all the relevant documents to the authorities. However, the height of the installations must be less than five metres above the rooftops of authorised buildings. The Government was framing a transparent scheme for other clearances.

The Government had given priority for the indigenous manufacture of broadband-related equipment and would work closely with the Ministries and manufacturers' associations concerned so that the equipment was made available at affordable prices.

The Government decided against "unbundling" the local loop of BSNL and MTNL as a similar approach had failed to promote broadband usage in several countries. Under unbundling, the last mile access from the exchange to the customer premises is thrown open to other players for providing bit stream access. Resistance to unbundling was voiced during the consultation stage by BSNL and MTNL who felt the initiative would cause chaos.

The Communications Ministry is also unable to push its case for an open sky policy under which it wants VSAT service operators to connect directly with any international satellite. Discussions on certain aspects with the Department of Space are still on.

On the lack of fiscal incentives that would have driven down prices further, Mr. Maran said that while he expected some announcements from the Union Finance Ministry, the fact remained that import duty would automatically come down to zero in 2005 due to the World Trade Organisation agreement. However, he admitted that the tax breaks sought by the Communications Ministry was another matter.

The Broad Band Policy 2004 is available on the website www.dot.gov.in, says a release from the Press Information Bureau.

check out the government's Broad Band Policy 2004 @

http://www.dot.gov.in/broadbandpolicy2004.htm

[zombiee 0]

<OK people LETS CROSS THOSE FINGERS>

[biosbhai 0]

When the last mile local cable operators play mafia and prevent ISP's like Sify and Hathway from rolling out their services properly, will such policy announcements have any effect?

[zombiee 0]

WELL lets Keep those toes crossed TOo

Cheer up bhai .. future looks kinda bright.. but as usual no promises.

[rEdshiFt 1]

Stage set for broadband revolution: Dayanidhi Maran

The Hindu_Saturday, Oct 16, 2004

NEW DELHI, OCT. 15. In his first interview after unveiling the broadband policy, the Union Minister for Communications and Information Technology, Dayanidhi Maran, told The Hindu that the stage had been set to usher in the broadband revolution. More initiatives will be announced over the next few months to fulfil the policy's intention of popularising "always-on" high speed Internet throughout the country by December. The policy, he says, has attempted to ensure that private as well as public sector telecom companies promote broadband in equal measure.

Taking a cue from his experience with extremely slow Internet speeds, Mr. Maran has ensured that the policy precisely defines the broadband speed so that consumers are not taken for a ride. The Telecom Regulatory Authority of India (TRAI) will monitor the speed offered by the Internet Service Providers (ISPs) and consumers can cite the broadband policy and take the ISPs to court if the speed is less than the minimum of 256 kbps.

"There was no broadband and no classification. We were stuck at the dial-up network stage. My feeling is that people using dial-up will migrate to the `always-on' 256 kbps. They are paying Rs. 1,000 per month for low Internet speeds. Our initiatives will bring higher speeds for less than Rs. 500 per month."

Promoting `Indo-mail'

A major initiative planned in the coming days will be to promote "Indo-mail" to give more business to infrastructure providers as well as to conserve foreign exchange. Mr. Maran explains: "We have a major problem in India. Every time an Indian uses a hotmail account, he makes a long distance call out of India to park his mail in the U.S. and his neighbour makes another long distance call to pick up that mail. A lot of foreign exchange and bandwidth is being wasted. Besides, traffic is not being generated within the country. In Korea, Internet is cheap because there is huge internal traffic and there is no need for foreign bandwidth which itself saves a lot of money."

The broadband policy has also attempted to cut through red tape. VSAT dish owners can start operations one month after all the documents are submitted for approval. "The moment I took over, I saw [that]the [Communications Ministry's] Wireless Planning Centre was stagnant and there were complaints. There was no transparency. I have taken the automatic route. I have cleared 7,000 applications. We have also increased the bandwidth to 2 mbps. It is a free-for-all situation. Anyone who is in an entrepreneurial mood can do so," says Mr. Maran.

Wi-Fi, a technology that is a big success for laptop owners in the West, has been Indianised to enable PC owners plug in effortlessly. "My initiative on broadband is going to be on various technologies. After copper, we are depending on Wi-Fi. People are mistaken when they think Wi-Fi is only for laptops. Fixed Wi-Fi receivers are in. It is going to be much cheaper to give subscribers wireless Internet where they do not have to lay physical cables to the computer. This is going to be much more in the rural areas. They are still on dial-up which is very pathetic," explains Mr. Maran.

`Not just for the rich'

Seeking to allay criticism, the Minister points out that, "Wi-Fi is not for the rich alone. I read the papers this morning and everyone got confused with Wi-Fi. Earlier I opened up indoor use of Wi-Fi. Now I have opened up outdoor use, which is a major breakthrough. The speed at which Internet is going to be deployed by wireless is going to be faster than cable."

Although the cable network in India is the largest, it is also the most unorganised sector. Mr. Maran feels that the sector will miss the broadband revolution unless it invests in its cables. "We are trying to get them enter into franchisee agreements. But the investment has to come from their side. Their forward path is very good but the return path is not. It is high time the cable TV operators realised that if they do not do that someone else will do it and they will lose business. We are trying a friendly approach by involving them in the franchisee route. We can show the carrot to the donkey but we cannot force anyone."

Social objectives

The Government also plans to leverage the power of Internet to further social objectives such as promoting e-governance by launching Statewide area networks. Many more initiatives of this nature will be announced in the coming months in keeping with his promise of unveiling a dynamic and evolving policy, says Mr. Maran. "Next week we are going to have a Statewide area network policy. We are trying to use the infrastructure we have and go right down to the block level. I have to make the youth get into it. There should be employment generation. These policies will cover all."

On the absence of a financial package, Mr. Maran says the consultations are on with the Union Finance Minister and "we know his limitations." Anyway next, the WTO pact on IT will come into effect and all imports will attract zero duty. On the stalled `Open Sky' initiative, the Minister referred to security considerations and said his Ministry appreciated the reasons forwarded by the Ministry of Home and the Department of Space.

 

[rEdshiFt 1]

...AND THE STORY CONTINUES.....

check out The Hindu's Editorial on

BROADBAND AND BOTTLENECKS

Looks like BSNL has a bigger role to play than i ever imagined...

[zeus 0]

da future sure looks good ...

although a lot will depend on how da cablewallas go around this

[city02 63]

http://economictimes.indiatimes.com/articl...775,curpg-1.cms

Will broadband start IT boom ver 3.0?

ECONOMICTIMES.COM[ MONDAY, OCTOBER 18, 2004 12:43:11 AM ]

Union Communications & IT Minister on October 14 announced the government’s broadband policy. Though the government allowed direct-to-home (DTH) operators to offer broadband services, it also rejected a number of recommendations made by the Telecom Regulatory Authority of India (TRAI).

The policy has also delicensed the 2.40-2.48 Ghz band for low power outdoor use.

Given the increasing power of the Internet, this policy was in the offing for a long time now. Now, that it is in place, a lot of things will become clear though it has left a number of sections disgruntled.

What is broadband?

Broadband is a transmission facility having a bandwidth sufficient to carry multiple voice, video or data channels simultaneously.

Each channel occupies (is modulated to) a different frequency bandwidth on the transmission medium and is demodulated to its original frequency at the receiving end.

Channels are separated by “guardbands” (empty spaces) to ensure that each channel won’t interfere with its neighboring channels.

This technique is used to provide 50 CATV channels on one coaxial cable.

The term “broadband” is widely used to describe Internet connections with download speeds which are faster than dial-up, including DSL services, cable modem services, as well as satellite connections.

What are the different types of broadband connections?

The main types of broadband connection are optical fibre network, DSL, cable and satellite. Newer technologies, like Wi-Fi, are also coming up.

Fibre optics technology can provide nearly unlimited bandwith potential and is steadily replacing coper network specially in intra-city backbone networks. This is being deployed in commercial buildings and some metros and big cities having high density potential broadband users.

Hybrid fibre coaxial (HFC), fibre to the curb (FTTC) and fibre to the home (FTTH) networks make use of fibre cabling into the last mile.

There are three types of DSL lines – symmetrical digital subscriber line (SDSL), ISDN digital subscriber line (IDSL), and asymmetrical digital subscriber line (ADSL).

SDSL is a symmetric service - the upstream speed is the same as the downstream speed. SDSL can deliver high-speed data communications at up to 1.54 mbps. This service is delivered via a single copper pair of wires and is ideal for business applications that would have otherwise been served by an expensive T1.

IDSL is a symmetric service that can deliver high-speed data communication up to 128 kbps.

In many non-urban areas, the distance between a telephone company's central office and a user's business or home can be substantial. IDSL's strongest asset is its ability to reach up to 36,000 feet for the telephone central office. This is twice the distance of SDSL.

ADSL is an asymmetric service, which means the downstream speeds are faster than the upstream speeds. This service is ideal for single users with high-speed data needs. It is an excellent solution for home Web users who would like to conduct quick, efficient Web surfing, Internet research, large file downloads, video streaming, audio streaming, and 3-D image posting.

ADSL operates at speeds of 384/128 kbps or 768/384 kbps, depending on a user's distance from their telephone company's central office.

ADSL is an asymmetrical service that is most commonly offered by telephone companies. ADSL is not suited for business uses such as hosting Web or e-mail servers. In addition, ADSL often uses a bridge instead of a router which provides little to no security, making your network vulnerable to attacks.

ADSL is available in most urban areas and some rural areas where the distance from the exchange is less than 5.5 kilometers. This will also be dependant on line quality and testing.

After DSL, comes the cable connection. Your neighbourhood cable operator is already delivering digital information to your home or office in the form of cable television. This cable also has the ability to allow you to be connected to the Internet at speeds ranging from 128kb through to 1mb.

To receive broadband via cable you need to live or work in a location serviced by one of the cable providers, and have additional network equipment installed.

There are two forms of satellite broadband – one-way and two-way. One-way satellite broadband provides a fast download speed of up to 60 times that of a modem: 3 mb. This is only one way of course and your computer has to be connected to the Internet via a modem to request the data.

Two-way satellite broadband will provide a fast link in both directions, and should be available anywhere throughout the country. The downside is likely to be the cost of this option. Two-way satellite broadband is still in the R&D stage with no field trials planned yet.

[biosbhai 0]

as usual nothing is said about any download limits. the ISP's will provide even 10 mbps speeds, but set a miserable 500 MB/1 GB download limit.

[abhay 0]

right said biosbhai , true true. this is with

mtnl which offers adsl but bandwidth limit

tata indicom offers good speeds personally seen 50 KBps which is (400 kbps) during peak hours also but download limit

and many many others

[biosbhai 0]

hope reliance provides unlimited download and does the same thing as they provided free incoming long time ago!

[Ganesh 0]

They will mostly provide.cos they have LOTSA bandwidth with them and provide thier own last mile connection too

[linuxguy 0]

what about the amount of international bandwidth they?? Anybody have any idea? If thats choked then there is no hope for us

[eskay 0]

what about the amount of international bandwidth they?? Anybody have any idea? If thats choked then there is no hope for us

18540[/snapback]

With FLAG and TYCO and other cables/links, things are getting better.

[abhay 0]

things are getting better but not @ required speeds !! china which was way behind us is now far ahead of us. have to gain much more momentum.

[linuxguy 0]

Chinese people have progressed at a very high pace. We should certainly learn from them.

eskay, almost all of the new international bandwidth will go to the corporates. They are just hungry for bandwidth and with the increased number of call centres and BPOs in India we are going to choke if we dont utilize all of Tyco & Flags possible bandwidth

Ok, i had to edit my post. We are backward Indians!

* IT industry in China is four times the size in India

* 7 million PCs are in use in China and only 1.7 million in India

* Adult literacy rate in China is 82 per cent, whereas it is 55 per cent in India

* China has 125 million telephone lines compared to India's 30 million

* 70 million mobile phones operate in China compared to India's 2.5 million

* 22 million are connected to the Internet in China while only 1.5 million in India are subscribers

* International bandwidth of 1.2 Gbps is available whereas 860 Mbps is all that India can show

* 454 scientists and R&D personnel per million population in China versus 149 per million in India

* IC Valley is getting ready in Pudong compared to the non-silicon based Silicon Valley in India

* General Research Institute of non-ferrous metals, China, developed a 20 cm long silicon chip

* Peking University got patents for 32 bit and 16 bit microprocessors

* China exported computer hardware of value $24 billion last year.

Edited November 9, 2004 by linuxguy

[abhay 0]

increase in bandwidth for consumers is v diffcult until & unless they (ppl from UK AND US need bandwidth frm us). @ this point of time we need to connect to them for eveything it seem internet's home is in US AND UK, and we are clients. they are server's. so now we have to spend money to connect to them.

if the sutitution improves n we prove to be the servers n they clients they have to connect to us not us to them. costs of laying undersea cable's is v v v high which is y the bandwidth is high.

cost of having a 0c-x series cables in india are very high may be in multiple crores / month. u can get a hint here

http://www.relianceinfo.com/Infocomm/Broad...tariffplan.html

this connection is not even close to oc-x series. and in US the cost is very less compared to india. number1 reason bethind this is that they dont need undersea cables to connect much. most of their bandwidth start & end in US only. whereas ours start in india and most of the bandwidth ends in western countries.

these our my views , need some comments

[linuxguy 0]

dude, China is just as far away from the US as we are but they have a hell lot more bandwidth than India! Their bandwidth was 2.7GHz in the last year and this year it has doubled to 5.4GHz! Just think of how much infrastructure these guys have built in just one year >

[abhay 0]

right said linuxguy but what i ment was that being so far from the servers (USA) and having a good and enough bandwidth for a population like india or china is a very very expensive option . but not a impossible one and very diffcult to attain.

[linuxguy 0]

abhay, incase you didnt understand the point of my post.... China has a hell lot more bandwidth than India(and they are expanding) hence they have a lot more broadband connections than India. It doesnt matter if the server is in the USA. If you have enough bandwidth then it will be as fast as any server in India. Though, inherently due to the physical proximity of Indian servers, the access to Indian sites will be a bit faster .

[abhay 0]

you dint actully get what i wanted to say

1) for a higher number of people greater the bandwidth we require ( relation is in direct proportion)

2) the greater the bandwidth the greater its costs of installing undersea cables and stuff (comparitively it not technically)

3) so its a difficult and a expencive option for one to get so much bandwidth.

4) Though the point if the physical proximity of the servers in certian place the costs of high bandwidth is lowred further.

5) many of the servers are hosted in (US). so they have the added advantage of having lowers costs of bandwidth with super fast speeds

6) while i have rarely seen ne servers hosted in india. (reliance is the first data center i have seen in india i dont know if there was ne1 before that or still there)

[linuxguy 0]

Here are my counter arguments to your points:

1. China has a larger population than India. Also, broadband subscribers in China is greater than India

2. Not necessarily, TATA has recently bought Tyco which has 11000 terabits of unused bandwidth. Also, there are other companies which provide cheap and reliable bandwidth.

3. Same as 2

4. I agree

5. I agree but thats what mirrors are for

6. Wrong...VSNL datacentre was here long before reliance .

[abhay 0]

linuxguy its a strait cut logic

that transfering bandwidth from  PLACE A TO PLACE B (which are few hundreds of km's apart) 

               is cheaper and easy than transfering bandwidth from 

PLACE C TO PLACE D (which are thousands of km's apart)

i dint say its impossible i said its a MORE diffcult and expencive than implementing the same in US

[linuxguy 0]

abhay, i am not debating whether it is easier or not. All i am saying is China has improved its internal communications system more rapidly than we have. They have more than doubled their bandwidth in about a year and a half. Did you know Sweden has an internal gigabit(1000Mbps) switched network just for their universities? The average home user gets a 512Kbps internet connection without any limits for as low as $10 per month??? They are also much richer than us and have about 1/100th or lesser population of India so an average Joe over there can afford a semi-expensive connection of 10Mbps(YES 10Megabits per second). While the upper middle class can afford a 100Mbps(One Hundred Megabits per second!!!) connection.

Does that ring some bell? We, being the foolish IT "super power", are still riding on our age old copper wires laid in the old British days while countries which hardly speak English, a disadvantage in the international market, are doubling their internal bandwidth in their country(viz. China). Why I mention "hardly speak English" is because when you want to implement technology and infrastructure the technical know-how comes from the west. Thus there are extremely large language barriers. But that doesnt scare away the Chinese. We dont even have those barriers. We are "hard working" extremely educated Indians(Utter BS)!!

It took the Chinese almost 20-25 years to build infrastructure to get their bandwidth to 2700MHz and imagine they just doubled it in 1/20th the time! 1 year!!!

And why do you think companies set up mirror servers?? Because they want to waste their money? No! They want to do it because the users in a particular geographical area should get maximum bandwidth.

Why do you think we have yahoo.co.in and a yahoo.com?? Just for fun eh? yahoo.co.in's server is physically located in India(VSNL Mumbai datacentre to be precise). That makes our access to it a bit faster. But what the hell!! We are still in the stone age! We dont have decent DSL, ADSL, Cable, Vsat, E1, T1 connection in this country! So when do you think will access to the yahoo.co.in's server will be faster? When us bloody Indians will have a faster internal network. That will be possible only when we will have a fast fibre optic network connecting each an every city where power can reach AND BANDWIDTH BECOMES CHEAP!

I am not angry at you I am just angry at the f**king politicians who are so corrupt that they dont want to improve anything!

Edited November 21, 2004 by linuxguy