Let146;s think digital: Commission

The Planning Commission has listed a series of policy prescriptions to ensure that rural telephony, broadband and PC penetration take off in...

The Planning Commission has listed a series of policy prescriptions to ensure that rural telephony, broadband and PC penetration take off in a couple of years.

In its deliberations over the Tenth Five-Year Plan, the Commission has listed 8216;8216;policy interventions8217;8217; that could permit Internet telephony over public-switched networks and allow the government to directly negotiate favourable prices from international software companies.

Also in the works are fiscal measures to bring PC prices down to the 8216;8216;psychological benchmark8217;8217; of Rs 10,000, and generous support from the Universal Service Fund for rural broadband efforts.

These, and a host of other measures 8216;8216;would have to be taken to bring Internet accessibility and services to international standards,8217;8217; the Commission says. It lists 8216;8216;primary principles8217;8217; to guide future ICT policy 8212; all rural broadband services should be voice-video-data enabled, capital and bandwidth costs should be shared in rural areas for five years, and operators should be offered promotional entry and service conditions.

The target to telephonically connect all villages with more than 2,000 population in three years 8212; 5,000 villages in the first year, 30,000 in the second and 45,000 in the third year. For Internet penetration, the Commission says 25-30 per cent of rural networks will cost 250 million to connect. The long-term target for 2020 is 35 million subscribers for 5.4 billion.

One of the most significant changes is suggested for Internet telephony, which has failed to take off though allowed in April 2002. Describing the technology as a 8216;8216;killer application8217;8217;, the Commission now says a suitable time-bound policy must be framed to make it feasible over existing telecom wires.

This, it says, will help resolve the 8216;8216;disconnect8217;8217; between India8217;s resolve to be an IT superpower and the availability of Internet access to realise this vision. 8216;8216;The present policy of fixed-line voice telephony-based rural connectivity has proved unviable8230; The annual financial burden works out to about Rs 12,300 crore.8217;8217;

Story continues below this ad

Going further, the Commission notes that telecoms must completely unbundle the local loop 8212; implying assured access for smaller players to last-mile links of bigger telecoms. The document highlights that the huge funds sunk into rural telecom and fibre-optic networks are lying vacant because of last mile difficulties. To take Internet to a planned 80,000 villages by 2020, it says policymakers must make interconnection mandatory for all broadband services 8216;8216;on any media technology platform with a national backbone8217;8217;. It adds, government must enable viable business models to promote investments and entrepreneurship and 8216;8216;minimise the need for direct investments by government8217;8217;.

The PC Gameplan

		Targets 8226; Permitting Internet telephony over public-switched networks 8226; Bringing PC prices down to Rs 10,000 8226; Getting aid for rural broadband 8226; Telephonically connect villages with more than 2,000 population Money matters 8226; For Internet penetration, 25-30 per cent of rural networks will cost 250 million 8226; Present fixed-line voice telephony-based rural connectivity policy works out to about Rs 12,300 crore