BIF backs minimum broadband speed of 2 mbps

Given that our present broadband speeds are significantly low in comparison to international good practices, revising the minimum broadband speed to 2 Mbps is an essential step, both as per the national policy mandates as well as global benchmarks, BIF President TV Ramachandran said in a statement.

Industry body Broadband India Forum (BIF) on Wednesday said revision of minimum broadband speed to 2 megabit per second is an essential step both as per national policy mandates and global benchmarks. At present, the government defines internet services with minimum download speed of 512 kilobit per second (kbps) as broadband. The Telecom Regulatory Authority of India (Trai) on Tuesday recommended to the government to revise minimum download speed for broadband to 2 mbps and create new categories for high-speed data services. ''Given that our present broadband speeds are significantly low in comparison to international good practices, revising the minimum broadband speed to 2 Mbps is an essential step, both as per the national policy mandates as well as global benchmarks,'' BIF President TV Ramachandran said in a statement. He said the growth and development of new technologies as well as the evolving quality of experience (QoE) requirements imposed by new applications and services used by consumers make the step all the more relevant. Trai has recommended slew of measure to increase broadband connectivity in the country, including incentives for telecom service providers, implementation of direct benefit transfer (DBT) for accelerating growth of fixed line broadband services in rural areas by reimbursing up to Rs 200 per month per subscriber for their broadband connection charges, among others. The regulator has also pitched for addressing issues relating to computation of Adjusted Gross Revenue (AGR) for cable operators in order to encourage them to provide broadband services. Ramachandran hailed the the recommendations and said regulator's historic suggestion to create a practical demand-side pull by incentivising the consumers through a DBT program could help proliferate rural digital connectivity like never before. Trai also said the central government should come out with a National Right of Way (RoW) policy in coordination with the state governments to clear bottlenecks that come in the way of telecom networks across the country.

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