India
India continues to be one of the fastest growing telecom markets in the world. India’s official definition of Broadband per DOT (Department of Telecommunications) Broadband Policy published in 2004:
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.
To summarize, the Indian government considers any connection providing bandwidth equal to or over 256 Kbps to the customer's premise to qualify as broadband.
Major Access Technologies
Optical Fiber
Being deployed in commercial buildings and complexes, and some metros having high-density potential broadband subscribers. Last mile connections are either FTTC (Fiber To The Curb) or FTTH (Fiber To The Home).
Digital Subscriber Line (DSL)
Gaining ground of late thanks to providers like Touchtel (now under the umbrella of Airtel) and Dishnet.
Cable Internet
Better penetration due to localized reach. Only alternative to dialup for most consumers.
Satellite Based Internet
VSAT or DTH, primarily in remote educational institutes/areas where Cable or DSL penetration is not feasible.
Terrestrial Wireless
Last mile wireless access through Wifi and other wireless technologies.
2.5G Wireless
Using 1xrtt, Reliance provides a 115 Kbps service across India that is comparable at times to wired 256 Kbps connections. It is reliable, cheap -- US 1 cent per minute at peak times, half that otherwise -- and widely available across India.
3G Wireless (GSM, GPRS, CDMA)
Speeds offered in Indian markets do not qualify as Broadband.
Penetration
According to a recent audit by TRAI (Telecom Regulatory Authority of India), the number of broadband connections in the country crossed 450,000 at the end of July 2005. Another estimate puts the current number at 700,000, which represents a penetration of less than 0.1%.
Per a DOT survey, the following projections have been made regarding future growth in Broadband subscriptions
| Year Ending | Internet Subscribers | Broadband Subscribers |
| 2005 | 6 million | 3 million |
| 2006 | 18 million | 9 million |
| 2007 | 40 million | 20 million |
Wifi
As per an article featured in Feb 2005 at rediff.com:
At present, of the nearly 300 public hotspots in the country, over 80 per cent are in Bangalore. Also, less than 1 per cent of the world's hotspots are in India.
A Jwire hotspot search on India, shows the following numbers:
261 Wi-Fi locations in India Delhi (11) Goa (3) Gujarat (1) Haryana (1) Karnataka (225) Maharashtra (11) Punjab (1) Tamil Nadu (8)
Key Broadband Providers
- Tata Indicom/VSNL
- Reliance Infocomm
- Sify (Satyam Infoway)
- BSNL (DataOne) / MTNL (TriBand)
- Airtel
Usage Characteristics
Consumers
A large 60% of Indian users regularly access the Internet via over 10,000 cyber cafés in India, analogous to the PCO STD/ISD concept that is still prevalent in India. Better penetration is dependent on the affordability of PCs and equipment; the high costs (for the market) involved lead most people to stick to cyber cafes rather than investing in a PC at home.
Enterprise
Corporations usually make use of leased lines for their Internet needs.
Cyber Cafes
Since a large percentage of Indian netizens access the Internet via cyber cafes, it is important to profile some of the major players in the organised Indian cyber cafe market. The market today is more or less disorganised, with the profile of the cyber cafes run by young entrepreuners, but the market dynamics are changing as more and more organised players enter this fast growing market.
Major cyber cafe networks:
- Reliance Webworld
- Sify Iway (over 2500 cafes in over 90 cities)
Costs
| ISPs | Basic Tariff Plan (Rs.) | Areas Covered | Technology |
| BSNL | 250 | 177 | DSL |
| MTNL | 199 (USD4.50)~ | 2** | DSL |
| TataIndicom/Vsnl | 414 | 43 | DSL |
| Bharti | 250 | 7 States* | DSL |
| Hathway | 275 | 8 | Cable |
| Sify | 550 | 58 | DSL & Wireless |
- Delhi, Haryana, Madhya Pradhesh, Karnataka, Tamil Nadu & Maharashtra
- Except BSNL tarrifs are for Mumbai and Delhi.
~400MB data download limit
(Source: Business Week India)
Hello, I just want to put this up for discussion.
According to the this article,(Fat-pipe links find favour),in Business World India,
_
The number of broadband connections (defined as a minimum downloadable speed of 256 kBps) was 47,000 till January 2005. The Telecom Regulatory Authority of India's (Trai's) September report says the number of retail broadband subscribers has shot up to 6.1 lakh (600,000), with the growth coming mainly from the metros._
The numbers of connections are far les then the projected numbers,3 million for broadband connections in the India page.There is no way Trai will achieve its target of 3 million subscribers by December. One million is the best it is hoping for.
It would be interesting to here you're views on how India can accelerate broadband usage.
contributed by Akshay Mahajan on Oct 18 7:41am
Here's a recent editorial from The Hindu titled Making Speed with Broadband on what are the issues facing broadband penetration in India.
Major Shortcomings
The two biggest problems faced by consumers are:
- Frequent Downtimes: Many ISPs(except probably DSL providers) have huge downtimes, which occur due to a variety of reasons such as power outages, cable faults etc. Downtimes vary from a few hours to a couple of days, at times. These are more common in the providers who offer internet access through RASPPPOE.
- Capped usage: This is almost an unwritten rule followed by the ISPs. Heavy users are capped either by data limits(as low as 400 MB-state owned MTNL, BSNL), and private ISPs(1-2GB). They do however offer unlimited downloading at night(times vary; 12-8 etc.). Other ISPs also follow packet-shaping, or automatic reduction in speeds when a certain limit is crossed. Some ISPs like BSNL and Bharti offer unlimited downloads (@256Kbps) for approximately Rs. 900 (~ $20).
Many providers continue to market 'capped' services below 256kbps as broadband, violating the TRAIs nomneclature of what is termed as 'broadband'.
How India can accelerate broadband usage
5 words: Unbundling of the local loop
Doing this will open up the bandwidth for the private players. The sector will become more organized and due to more ISPs entering in, competition will surely increase, leading to better services, faster speeds, and more importantly, cheap, stable, uncapped high speed internet.