Monday, October 29, 2012

INDIA: CONNECTIVITY

Wireless networks are not enough

In a country with Internet penetration at just about 1%, we cannot afford to let a huge majority of our population miss the information age. Although the auctions of 3G spectrum may happen very soon, the real implementation would take a while, as thousands of base stations need to be set up and 3G enabled mobile devices need to be rolled out. Even then, speed will remain an issue. When we talk of rural India, we need to understand that with their very basic education, they would be needing more information in the form of pictures, videos, et al, rather than text; so the bandwidth requirements are huge.

Thankfully, there is hope that the government is going to utilise a part of its massive USO (Universal Services Obligation) fund, for which operators, and (hence customers) have been paying since 2002. The government plans to set up 5,500 telecom towers, improve fibre optic connectivity and provide all rural kiosks with broadband access, besides bringing in WIMAX services. This one-size-doesn’t-fit-all approach is immensely crucial to ensure that millions of Indians are able to stay connected.


Source : IIPM Editorial, 2012.

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