Broadband | Science & Technology for UPSC CSE PDF Download

This covers three sub components, namely Broadband for All - Rural, Broadband for All - Urban and National Information Infrastructure (NII). 

Broadband for All - Rural

2,50,000 village Panchayats would be covered under the National Optical Fibre Network (NOFN) by December 2016. Department of Telecommunications (DoT) is the nodal Department for this project.

Broadband for All - Urban

Virtual Network Operators would be leveraged for service delivery and communication infrastructure in new urban developments and buildings would be mandated.

National Information Infrastructure (NII)

NII would integrate the network and cloud infrastructure in the country to provide high speed connectivity and cloud platform to various government departments up to the panchayat level. These infrastructure components include networks such as State Wide Area Network (SWAN), National Knowledge Network (NKN), National Optical Fibre Network (NOFN), Government User Network (GUN) and the MeghRaj Cloud. NII aims at integrating all ICT infrastructure components such as SWANs, NKN, NOFN, GUN and GI Cloud. It will have provision for horizontal connectivity to 100, 50, 20 and 5 government offices/ service outlets at state, district, block and Panchayat levels respectively. DeitY will be the nodal Department for this project.

Broadband Highways to rural India

National Broadband Mission

Significance–  It will help in achieving fast track growth of digital communications infrastructure, bridge the digital divide, facilitate digital empowerment and inclusion and provide affordable and universal access of broadband for all.
Objective– To empower those people who are living in India’s rural and remote regions with digital connectivity on the back of ongoing BharatNet initiative that aims to connect 250,000 gram panchayats or village blocks with an optic fibre network. Some of the objectives of the Mission which is structured with a strong emphasis on the three principles of universality, affordability and quality are:

• Broadband access to all villages by 2022
• Facilitate universal and equitable access to broadband services for across the country and especially in rural and remote areas
• Laying of incremental 30 lakhs route km of Optical Fiber Cable and an increase in tower density from 0.42 to 1.0 tower per thousand of the population by 2024
• Significantly improve the quality of services for mobile and internet
• Develop innovative implementation models for Right of Way (RoW) and to work with States/UTs for having consistent policies pertaining to expansion of digital infrastructure including for RoW approvals required for laying of OFC
• Develop a Broadband Readiness Index (BRI) to measure the availability of digital communications infrastructure and conducive policy ecosystem within a State/UT.
• Creation of a digital fibre map of the Digital Communications network and infrastructure, including Optical Fiber Cables and Towers, across the country
• Investment from stakeholders of USD 100 billion (Rs 7 Lakh Crore) including Rs 70,000 crore from Universal Service Obligation Fund (USOF)
• Address policy and regulatory changes required to accelerate the expansion and creation of digital infrastructure and services
• Work with all stakeholders including the concerned Ministries / Departments/ Agencies, and Ministry of Finance, for enabling investments for the Mission

Funding for the mission:
The mission demands an investment of $100 billion (₹7 lakh crore) which include ₹70,000 crores from Universal Service Obligation Fund (USOF).

What is the Universal Service Obligation Fund (USOF)?
Providing telecom services in the rural and far places is not profitable so most of the telecom players are reluctant to invest there, due to fewer market forces and need to eliminate digital divide goal, the government is charging  Universal Access Levy (UAL) which would be a percentage of the revenue earned by the operators under various licenses. It is in accordance with the National telecom policy 1999.

Broadband Connectivity
Under the Policy broadband connectivity is defined as:
An always-on data connection that is able to support interactive services including Internet access and has the capability of the minimum download speed of 256 kilo bits per second (kbps) to an individual subscriber from the Point Of Presence (POP) of the service provider intending to provide Broadband service where multiple such individual Broadband connections are aggregated and the subscriber is able to access these interactive services including the Internet through this POP.  The interactive services will exclude any services for which a separate licence is specifically required, for example, real-time voice transmission, except to the extent that it is presently permitted under ISP licence with Internet Telephony.

The key characteristics of broadband connectivity are

• Always on data connection
• Ability to support interactive services including internet access
• Minimum download speed of 256 kilo bits per second
• Does not include any services for which the internet service provider to procure separate licence such as real time voice transmission.

Targets of the Broadband Policy, 2004
The Policy had the following targets:

Technology Options for Broadband Services

The Policy envisioned the following technology options for better access to internet and broadband

• Optical Fibre Technologies
• Digital Subscriber Lines (DSL) on copper loop
• Cable TV network
• Satellite Media
• Terrestrial Wireless and
• Other Future Technologies

The Policy emphasized on the implementation of broadband services through the copper loop. It also mentioned that Mahanagar Telecom Nigam Limited (MTNL) and Bharat Sanchar Nigam Limited (BSNL) would aggressively use their already existing broadband infrastructure to provide broadband services. It also indicated that the private internet service provider will enter into commercial agreements with the MTNL and BSNL to utilize their infrastructure to provide internet services.
Cable networks reached more people than copper telephone connections and therefore, the Policy envisaged that the cable networks can be utilized to provide broadband connections. The Policy also mentioned its intention to use very small aperture terminals (VSAT) and direct-to-home (DTH) for increasing broadband penetration as such technologies can be implemented in remote areas.
The Policy also mentioned that the Government had de-licensed 2.40-2.4835 GHz bands for low power indoor use (including Wi-Fi technologies based on the IEEE 802.11b and 802.11g standards).[2]

Quality of Service
The Policy recognized that the qualities of service parameters were of great importance and it requested Telecom Regulatory Authority of India to prescribe quality of service parameters for broadband service.

Other Mandates of Policy
The issues regarding cost of bandwidth for providing internet and broadband should be resolved Government and TRAI at the earliest.
The National Internet Exchange of India was set up by the Department of Information Technology to ensure that internet traffic originating from and destined for India should be routed within India.
Role of Other Agencies: Growth of broadband and internet services is dependent upon personal computers and content and application available on the internet. Therefore, it is necessary that other departments such as State Electricity Boards and the Department of Information Technology and other relevant authorities should also contribute to spreading broadband services in the rural areas.
Fiscal Issues: The Policy gives a high priority to indigenous manufacture of broadband related equipments. The Government to should endeavour to, make available, broadband and associated equipments at a low price.
The Policy aimed at providing broadband (minimum speed of 256 k bps) to 20 million subscribers. However, only 13 million subscribers have broadband connectivity as in May 2012.