With demand for high-speed Internet on the rise, optical fibres appear the only medium that can provide relief. But there are bottlenecks. Worse, the failure to execute a pan-India fiber optic installation plan can lead to a disastrous outcome.
According to a 2012 ‘State of the Internet’ report by Akamai Technologies, the average broadband speed of internet in India is 0.95 Mbps, while that in China is 2.1 Mbps. Even Philippines, Vietnam and a host of other countries that you would term “Third World” record internet speeds far greater than in India. And since we are already talking comparisons, Asian countries like Japan and South Korea are years ahead of India with 10.5 Mbps and 14.7 Mbps of average Internet speeds respectively. And India? Thanks to 40 million copper loops (last mile connectivity count as per TRAI) spread across India and owned mostly by state-run telcos MTNL or BSNL (of which only 50 per cent can support even 1 Mbps of internet transfer), except for rare glimpses of real broadband connectivity, internet users (on various devices including tablets and mobiles) in the country are still feeding on “pseudo-broadband” connections! The advent of fiber optics can however improve the situation. But given the current ecosystem, fiber optics in India appears a thing of the future.
Lack of infrastructure is one of the reason why accessing world class internet speed has been a dream for an average Indian. The present co-axial cables are of no match to the optical fibre cables which can transmit the data over a very long distance, without any significant loss.
The expansion of optical fibre networks in the country has not taken off as per TRAI’s recommendations made two years back (the National Broadband Plan). The plan had outlined a target to deliver Internet at an average speed of 2 Mbps per household in the country by 2012. As mentioned before, we are sitting at 50 per cent achievement rate. Reason – in the absence of an alternative, fiber optics networks have not increased adequately. India’s excessive dependence on copper based DSL (Digital Subscriber Line) has worsened the cause. Optical fibre’s share in the overall telecommunication mediums is an insignificant 0.53 per cent, while DSL has 86.53 per cent (as per TRAI’s 2012 report).
Policy issues have also restricted the growth in the sector. While speaking to B&E, Chandan Kumar, Deputy Director – Fixed Network Solution, Huawei India, says, “The biggest regulatory issue is ‘right of way’. Obtaining the right of way before laying down the network is time-consuming. It also reduces the ROI on the project for the investor.” Right of way (for permission to dig up roads) is obtained after paying money to respective municipal authorities.
However, not everything on the policy front is disheartening. There is good news for rural India. Recently, the government announced a plan to connect more than 250,000 villages through a high speed optical fibre network. The project is expected to be completed by end-2014. Laying out of fiber optics will also help city dwellers get rid of the menace called ‘transmission towers’.
Policymakers, and public and private operators of voice and data services should take inspiration from beyond national borders. Finland has become the first country in the world to recognise broadband internet access as the legal right of every citizen. Every citizen of that country has the legal right of accessing broadband Internet at a speed of 1 Mbps at present. By end-2015, the Finnish government has announced that this would be raised to 100 Mbps. South Korea has more then 94 per cent of its population using broadband connections. Looking at these initiatives at various national levels, the Draft National Telecom Policy 2012 of the government of India seems a dead duck.It is however heartening to see some private players in action. Call it an impelling mental force, with hope to do good to communication technology in India, where consumers are being bombarded with newer devices every day, but little do they realise that a dangerous situation awaits. By 2014, we will run out of copper cables that will be usable for carrying additional broadband signals. And why is this a potential ominous sign? Currently close to 90 per cent of our mediums that transmit telecom signals are copper DSL cables.
Therefore the other 10 per cent of mediums will thereon get overloaded with fresh broadband frequencies, disrupting and killing quality of services for users already feeding on that small chunk!
The handful of private brave souls that are striving to make fiber optics a present truth include names like RIL and Bharti Airtel. RIL is executing a $10 billion plan to build one of the most advanced telecommunication network in the world. The company has put Alcatel-Lucent to the job. Its subsidiary Reliance Infotel has also tied up with Himachal Futuristic Communications Ltd (HFCL) to lay optical fibre network cables in Delhi, Mumbai and other cities. RIL is expected to launch its 4G services on this network by end of this year. While Bharti Airtel already operates 83,389 km of optical fibers in India, Tata Communications is yet to mark a pan-India presence in this respect (though the company currently has a 9,280 km-long TGN-EA system that connects India to Europe).
According to a 2012 ‘State of the Internet’ report by Akamai Technologies, the average broadband speed of internet in India is 0.95 Mbps, while that in China is 2.1 Mbps. Even Philippines, Vietnam and a host of other countries that you would term “Third World” record internet speeds far greater than in India. And since we are already talking comparisons, Asian countries like Japan and South Korea are years ahead of India with 10.5 Mbps and 14.7 Mbps of average Internet speeds respectively. And India? Thanks to 40 million copper loops (last mile connectivity count as per TRAI) spread across India and owned mostly by state-run telcos MTNL or BSNL (of which only 50 per cent can support even 1 Mbps of internet transfer), except for rare glimpses of real broadband connectivity, internet users (on various devices including tablets and mobiles) in the country are still feeding on “pseudo-broadband” connections! The advent of fiber optics can however improve the situation. But given the current ecosystem, fiber optics in India appears a thing of the future.
Lack of infrastructure is one of the reason why accessing world class internet speed has been a dream for an average Indian. The present co-axial cables are of no match to the optical fibre cables which can transmit the data over a very long distance, without any significant loss.
The expansion of optical fibre networks in the country has not taken off as per TRAI’s recommendations made two years back (the National Broadband Plan). The plan had outlined a target to deliver Internet at an average speed of 2 Mbps per household in the country by 2012. As mentioned before, we are sitting at 50 per cent achievement rate. Reason – in the absence of an alternative, fiber optics networks have not increased adequately. India’s excessive dependence on copper based DSL (Digital Subscriber Line) has worsened the cause. Optical fibre’s share in the overall telecommunication mediums is an insignificant 0.53 per cent, while DSL has 86.53 per cent (as per TRAI’s 2012 report).
Policy issues have also restricted the growth in the sector. While speaking to B&E, Chandan Kumar, Deputy Director – Fixed Network Solution, Huawei India, says, “The biggest regulatory issue is ‘right of way’. Obtaining the right of way before laying down the network is time-consuming. It also reduces the ROI on the project for the investor.” Right of way (for permission to dig up roads) is obtained after paying money to respective municipal authorities.
However, not everything on the policy front is disheartening. There is good news for rural India. Recently, the government announced a plan to connect more than 250,000 villages through a high speed optical fibre network. The project is expected to be completed by end-2014. Laying out of fiber optics will also help city dwellers get rid of the menace called ‘transmission towers’.
Policymakers, and public and private operators of voice and data services should take inspiration from beyond national borders. Finland has become the first country in the world to recognise broadband internet access as the legal right of every citizen. Every citizen of that country has the legal right of accessing broadband Internet at a speed of 1 Mbps at present. By end-2015, the Finnish government has announced that this would be raised to 100 Mbps. South Korea has more then 94 per cent of its population using broadband connections. Looking at these initiatives at various national levels, the Draft National Telecom Policy 2012 of the government of India seems a dead duck.It is however heartening to see some private players in action. Call it an impelling mental force, with hope to do good to communication technology in India, where consumers are being bombarded with newer devices every day, but little do they realise that a dangerous situation awaits. By 2014, we will run out of copper cables that will be usable for carrying additional broadband signals. And why is this a potential ominous sign? Currently close to 90 per cent of our mediums that transmit telecom signals are copper DSL cables.
Therefore the other 10 per cent of mediums will thereon get overloaded with fresh broadband frequencies, disrupting and killing quality of services for users already feeding on that small chunk!
The handful of private brave souls that are striving to make fiber optics a present truth include names like RIL and Bharti Airtel. RIL is executing a $10 billion plan to build one of the most advanced telecommunication network in the world. The company has put Alcatel-Lucent to the job. Its subsidiary Reliance Infotel has also tied up with Himachal Futuristic Communications Ltd (HFCL) to lay optical fibre network cables in Delhi, Mumbai and other cities. RIL is expected to launch its 4G services on this network by end of this year. While Bharti Airtel already operates 83,389 km of optical fibers in India, Tata Communications is yet to mark a pan-India presence in this respect (though the company currently has a 9,280 km-long TGN-EA system that connects India to Europe).
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