The Telecom Regulatory
Authority of India (TRAI) has today issued its Recommendations on “Delivering
Broadband Quickly: What do we need to do?”.
The Authority issued the Consultation Paper on
“Delivering Broadband Quickly: What do we need to do?” on 24.09.2014 to discuss
issues contributing to broadband penetration in India and to solicit
stakeholders’ views on action required to be taken both by the Government and
the private sector to accelerate the proliferation and use of broadband in the
country. The comments and counter-comments received from the stakeholders
were placed on the TRAI’s website. An Open House Discussion was held on 30.10.2014
in New Delhi with the stakeholders.
The Authority has noted with serious concern
the slow penetration and adoption of broadband in the country. Facts
are:
· India ranks 125th in the world
for fixed broadband penetration with only 1.2 per 100 inhabitants having access
to fixed broadband; the global average is 9.4 per 100 inhabitants.
· In terms of household penetration within
developing countries, India is ranked 75th with a penetration
of 13%.
· In the wireless broadband space too, India is
ranked 113th with a penetration of 3.2 per 100 inhabitants.
· In terms of ‘ICT access, ICT use and ICT
skills’ India ranks 129th out of total 166 countries. Indonesia
(106), Sri Lanka (116), Sudan (122), Bhutan (123), Kenya (124) are ranked above
India.
· India is categorized in the Least Connected
Countries Group of 42 countries that fall within the low IDI group.
Some of the problems identified during the
consultation are as follows:
· RoW charges were identified as single biggest
impediment to the adoption of wire line technology for access networks.
· The lack of availability of a sufficient
quantum of globally harmonized spectrum in contiguous form is the biggest
impediment to the deployment of wireless technology in the access
network.
· Another reason for poor quality of broadband
is non-availability of adequate bandwidth in the backhaul.
· Civic authorities have imposed stringent
punishment on the erection of towers.
· Procurement of satellite capacity on foreign
satellites through Department of Space (DoS) often results in long delay and
increase in prices due to some process flaws.
· BBNL, the organization for implementing
National Optical Fiber Network (NOFN) project, is a multi-layered structure
with the control vesting in the Government, the decision making process is
stymied by the normal bureaucratic process (red tape).
· In BBNL, at the delivery and implementation
stage, the responsibilities are diffused with far too many executing and
supervising agencies.
· There is a disconnect between the agency
(BBNL) for implementation of the project and stakeholders including private
operators who shall ultimately utilize the fiber for provision of broadband to
the consumer. This has practically rendered BBNL dysfunctional,
defeating the very purpose for which it was set up – to make independent and
quick decisions.
After considering the comments from the
stakeholders and further analysis, the Authority has come out with its
Recommendations on “Delivering Broadband Quickly: What do we need to
do?”. The salient features of the recommendations are as follows:
Institutional revamping
· WPC should be converted into an independent
body by de-linking it from the present DoT hierarchy and either converting it
into a statutory body responsible to Parliament or transferring it to an
existing statutory body. Even in a more limited role of assigning solely
commercially available spectrum, there is a strong case for an institutional
overhaul of WPC to realize goals of institutional efficiency, transparency in
decision-making and full disclosure of decisions.
· The multi-layered structure for decision
making for national project NOFN is just not suitable for a project that needs
to be executed in mission-mode. The structure needs immediate
overhaul.
Spectrum
· Align spectrum bands with globally harmonized
bands to achieve interference-free coexistence and economies of scale. Current
availability of spectrum in our LSAs is about 40% of that available in
comparable countries elsewhere. Clearly, there is a crying need forassignment of additional spectrum for commercial
telecom services.
· There is a need to lay down a clear roadmap
for spectrum management which should state the requirement and availability of
spectrum for each LSA as well as for the whole country. This roadmap
should be made available publicly to ensure transparency.
· There is an urgent need for audit by an
independent agency of all allocated spectrum both commercial as well as
spectrum allocated to various PSUs/Government organizations. This ought to be a
national priority and must be undertaken within 3 months.
Right of Way (RoW)
· Single-window clearance is an imperative for
all (Right of Way) RoW proposals at the level of the States and in the Central
Government. All such clearances have to be time-bound so that TSPs and
infrastructure providers can move rapidly to project execution. Ideally,
single-window clearance should be administered online with a defined turnaround
time. The reasons for denial of RoW permission should be recorded in writing.
· There is a need for enunciating a National RoW
Policy to ensure uniformity in costs and processes.
NOFN
· Project implementation on Centre State
Public-Private Partnership (CSPPP) mode by involving State Governments and the
private sector.
· Award of EPC (turnkey) contracts by BBNL to
private parties through international competitive bidding needs to be planned.
Such contracts can be given region-wise with clear requirements for
interconnection with other networks, as well as infrastructure sharing with
other operators who would like to utilize this network. A commercial model
around this will need to be suitably deployed.
Towers
· Single-window, time-bound clearance should be
encouraged for installation of towers to ensure the rapid development of
national networks.
· Extensive consumer awareness and education
programmes should be organized so that consumers fully understand the latest
scientific information on EMF radiation and its potential impact on health.
Fixed line BB
· To promote fixed line BB, the license fee
on the revenues earned from fixed line BB should be exempted for at least 5
years.
· The infrastructure of PSUs is lying
unutilized and thus they should be mandated to unbundle their network and allow
sharing of outside plant (OSP).
CATV
· Cable operators should be allowed to function
as resellers of ISP license holders to enable them to take advantage of their
cable network to provide BB.
· Implementation of digitization of cable
services to tier 2 and tier 3 cities in a time-bound manner.
Satellite
· Separation of Licensor, Regulator and Operator
functions in the satellite space domain to conform to best international
practices of free markets.
· The issue of coordination of additional
spectrum in the 2500-2690 MHz band with DoS needs to be addressed urgently, so
that this band can be optimally utilized for commercial as well as strategic
purposes.
Hosting of Content in India
· The Government needs to encourage local and
foreign companies to build ‘Data Centre Parks’ on the lines of industrial
parks, SEZs etc. by providing them land, infrastructure and uninterrupted power
supply at affordable rates.
Universal Adoption
· Governments, both Central and State shall have
to act as model users and anchor tenants through delivery of e-Government
services including e-education, e-governance, m-health, m-banking and other
such services.
· Schools are the ideal and convenient point for
early initiation to BB services. Government schools in the rural and
remote areas can be provided subsidy from the USOF for BB connectivity.
· Cost of CPE (desktop/laptop/tabs etc.) are
major barriers to the adoption of BB services. TSPs may be allowed
to offer CPE bundled tariff schemes. Revenues from such offers ought
to be exempted from the applicable license fee at least for a certain number of
years (say for three years).
In addition, there are a large number of
recommendations of the Authority on which decisions of the Government are still
awaited. The Government needs to act quickly on these recommendations as we
have already lost too much time. These include, inter alia, on Spectrum
Trading, Spectrum Sharing, Open Sky Policy, Infrastructure Sharing, Microwave
Access and Backbone Spectrum.
PIB
