Internet has become an inevitable demand irrespective of region, population, age group or profession. With a huge surge in the smartphone market reported for the last quarter of 2014, analysts predict that data consumption will rise more in coming times. It becomes sort of mandatory for the government as well as the private companies to focus on such needs. Efforts for the same were seen by BSNL providing free WiFi services. Similar is the plan by Reliance Telecom and Facebook Inc, the launch of internet.org service in India. Aiming at providing broadband internet services in smaller cities the Department of Telecommunications (DoT) is planning to handover the task to Multiple-system Operators (MSOs) and cable operators.
On account of popularity and demand of TV services, Cable TV operators have become the ‘last mile connectivity’ providers for majority of the areas. This includes cities in tier III and other remote villages. Officials from DoT said that penetrating the broadband services in these areas will also help the cable operator companies by providing them with a new business model and additional revenue sources. Earlier in the Broadband Policy of 2004, it was suggested that Cable TV network can be used as franchisee network of service provider for providing broadband services.
Some officials said that initial meetings have already taken place between DoT and some Cable TV operating firms last month and some in this month. But with the ambitious plans of DoT claiming to make broadband internet a basic right, it has to cover on other grounds like National Optical Fibre Network (NOFN) which intend to do the same.
Cable operators are said to reach almost all the cities and towns, but some inaccessible regions which require high investments and running on low revenue sources. But it is said that the government plans to use the Universal Service Obligation Fund (USOF) to incentives for ensuring coverage in such regions. USOF is also funding the NOFN program which according to previous reports, DoT seemed to be positive about these plans.
According the latest data from TRAI, number of fixed wireless subscribers including WiFi, Wi-Max, VSAT and point-to-point radio displayed no rise in the period of November, 2014 to December, 2014 with 0.43 million users. With DoT working hard on such initiatives, these stats are bound to change once the plans are put in hard actions. So one should not be surprised to hear major plans from the likes of Digi Cable, Hathway Cable and InCablenet. Such plans will help in penetration of broadband services into the rural areas with only the masses at benefit.
The iPhone Help
The iPhone Help