The Hindu : National : Stage set for broadband revolution: Dayanidhi Maran

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Saturday, Oct 16, 2004

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National

Stage set for broadband revolution: Dayanidhi Maran

By Sandeep Dikshit

NEW DELHI, OCT. 15. In his first interview after unveiling the broadband policy, the Union Minister for Communications and Information Technology, Dayanidhi Maran, told The Hindu that the stage had been set to usher in the broadband revolution. More initiatives will be announced over the next few months to fulfil the policy's intention of popularising "always-on" high speed Internet throughout the country by December. The policy, he says, has attempted to ensure that private as well as public sector telecom companies promote broadband in equal measure.

Taking a cue from his experience with extremely slow Internet speeds, Mr. Maran has ensured that the policy precisely defines the broadband speed so that consumers are not taken for a ride. The Telecom Regulatory Authority of India (TRAI) will monitor the speed offered by the Internet Service Providers (ISPs) and consumers can cite the broadband policy and take the ISPs to court if the speed is less than the minimum of 256 kbps.

"There was no broadband and no classification. We were stuck at the dial-up network stage. My feeling is that people using dial-up will migrate to the `always-on' 256 kbps. They are paying Rs. 1,000 per month for low Internet speeds. Our initiatives will bring higher speeds for less than Rs. 500 per month."

Promoting `Indo-mail'

A major initiative planned in the coming days will be to promote "Indo-mail" to give more business to infrastructure providers as well as to conserve foreign exchange. Mr. Maran explains: "We have a major problem in India. Every time an Indian uses a hotmail account, he makes a long distance call out of India to park his mail in the U.S. and his neighbour makes another long distance call to pick up that mail. A lot of foreign exchange and bandwidth is being wasted. Besides, traffic is not being generated within the country. In Korea, Internet is cheap because there is huge internal traffic and there is no need for foreign bandwidth which itself saves a lot of money."

The broadband policy has also attempted to cut through red tape. VSAT dish owners can start operations one month after all the documents are submitted for approval. "The moment I took over, I saw [that] the [Communications Ministry's] Wireless Planning Centre was stagnant and there were complaints. There was no transparency. I have taken the automatic route. I have cleared 7,000 applications. We have also increased the bandwidth to 2 mbps. It is a free-for-all situation. Anyone who is in an entrepreneurial mood can do so," says Mr. Maran.

Wi-Fi, a technology that is a big success for laptop owners in the West, has been Indianised to enable PC owners plug in effortlessly. "My initiative on broadband is going to be on various technologies. After copper, we are depending on Wi-Fi. People are mistaken when they think Wi-Fi is only for laptops. Fixed Wi-Fi receivers are in. It is going to be much cheaper to give subscribers wireless Internet where they do not have to lay physical cables to the computer. This is going to be much more in the rural areas. They are still on dial-up which is very pathetic," explains Mr. Maran.

`Not just for the rich'

Seeking to allay criticism, the Minister points out that, "Wi-Fi is not for the rich alone. I read the papers this morning and everyone got confused with Wi-Fi. Earlier I opened up indoor use of Wi-Fi. Now I have opened up outdoor use, which is a major breakthrough. The speed at which Internet is going to be deployed by wireless is going to be faster than cable."

Although the cable network in India is the largest, it is also the most unorganised sector. Mr. Maran feels that the sector will miss the broadband revolution unless it invests in its cables. "We are trying to get them enter into franchisee agreements. But the investment has to come from their side. Their forward path is very good but the return path is not. It is high time the cable TV operators realised that if they do not do that someone else will do it and they will lose business. We are trying a friendly approach by involving them in the franchisee route. We can show the carrot to the donkey but we cannot force anyone."

Social objectives

The Government also plans to leverage the power of Internet to further social objectives such as promoting e-governance by launching Statewide area networks. Many more initiatives of this nature will be announced in the coming months in keeping with his promise of unveiling a dynamic and evolving policy, says Mr. Maran. "Next week we are going to have a Statewide area network policy. We are trying to use the infrastructure we have and go right down to the block level. I have to make the youth get into it. There should be employment generation. These policies will cover all."

On the absence of a financial package, Mr. Maran says the consultations are on with the Union Finance Minister and "we know his limitations." Anyway next, the WTO pact on IT will come into effect and all imports will attract zero duty. On the stalled `Open Sky' initiative, the Minister referred to security considerations and said his Ministry appreciated the reasons forwarded by the Ministry of Home and the Department of Space.

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