In a recent Slashot post (April 27), a contributor identified as Zonk shared info from another contributor, Codecracker007, indicating that the government in India is planning to roll out free, 2 Mbps broadband access for all resident of the subcontinent by 2009. This is according to an April 26 article in The Economic Times which said that the service will be provided by government owned operators BSNL and MTNL.
That report warned that this plan, if implemented, “holds the potential to kill the telecom business as we know it.” That being said, it not too surprising, given that “the Indian government and its autonomous regulatory bodies are very proactive in holding the consumer interests above the operators.” The Slashdot post said that this heavy-handiness on the part of the government has helped reduce long distance and wireless tariffs by up to a factor of 20 during the past seven years.
So what does all this have to do with wireless? Well, as another Economic Times article (dated April 27) pointed out, much of the success of this initiative will rely on how wireless spectrum is doled out.
“The government must quickly decide on the modalities of 3G rollout and the spectrum issues, as 3G is essentially high-speed wireless broadband and the key to providing internet services in remote areas,” the article said.
In related news, WiMAX Day reported May 2 that the Department of Telecommunications in India is coming under increasing pressure to release radio frequencies for WiMAX network use. WiMAX, for those not familiar, is the souped-up cousin of WiFi that provides stronger signals capable of traveling greater distances between transmitters (often referred to as nodes). In many regions, WiMAX has been championed as the solution to providing wireless broadband in rural areas.
WiMAX Day said in its report that an Intel-hosted seminar was held last week in New Delhi, during which the chipmaker “urged the government to allocate 2.3 ~ 2.4 GHz, 2.5 ~ 2.69 GHz and 3.3 ~ 3.6 GHz frequency bands for use with WiMAX.”
The report noted that “The Telecom Regulatory Authority of India (TRAI) has already recommended 3.3 ~ 3.6 GHz frequencies to the DoT, however the government has yet to release this spectrum.”
According to WiMAX Day, TRAI proposed that 200 Mhz of the spectrum in question should be doled out in blocks of 15Mhz. But, Intel and many local operators say that 30 Mhz is more appropriate for minimum bandwidth requirements.
Keep one eye peeled on India. It definitely looks like an interesting wireless broadband battle is heating up there. Depending on how it plays out, who knows—maybe we’ll all be able to learn something from India.
That report warned that this plan, if implemented, “holds the potential to kill the telecom business as we know it.” That being said, it not too surprising, given that “the Indian government and its autonomous regulatory bodies are very proactive in holding the consumer interests above the operators.” The Slashdot post said that this heavy-handiness on the part of the government has helped reduce long distance and wireless tariffs by up to a factor of 20 during the past seven years.
So what does all this have to do with wireless? Well, as another Economic Times article (dated April 27) pointed out, much of the success of this initiative will rely on how wireless spectrum is doled out.
“The government must quickly decide on the modalities of 3G rollout and the spectrum issues, as 3G is essentially high-speed wireless broadband and the key to providing internet services in remote areas,” the article said.
In related news, WiMAX Day reported May 2 that the Department of Telecommunications in India is coming under increasing pressure to release radio frequencies for WiMAX network use. WiMAX, for those not familiar, is the souped-up cousin of WiFi that provides stronger signals capable of traveling greater distances between transmitters (often referred to as nodes). In many regions, WiMAX has been championed as the solution to providing wireless broadband in rural areas.
WiMAX Day said in its report that an Intel-hosted seminar was held last week in New Delhi, during which the chipmaker “urged the government to allocate 2.3 ~ 2.4 GHz, 2.5 ~ 2.69 GHz and 3.3 ~ 3.6 GHz frequency bands for use with WiMAX.”
The report noted that “The Telecom Regulatory Authority of India (TRAI) has already recommended 3.3 ~ 3.6 GHz frequencies to the DoT, however the government has yet to release this spectrum.”
According to WiMAX Day, TRAI proposed that 200 Mhz of the spectrum in question should be doled out in blocks of 15Mhz. But, Intel and many local operators say that 30 Mhz is more appropriate for minimum bandwidth requirements.
Keep one eye peeled on India. It definitely looks like an interesting wireless broadband battle is heating up there. Depending on how it plays out, who knows—maybe we’ll all be able to learn something from India.
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