Making the connect

New telecom policy doesnt go far enough in telephony but brings broadband up to speed

New telecom policy doesnt go far enough in telephony but brings broadband up to speed

The National Telecom Policy 2012,cleared by the Union cabinet,is a year late,does not promise time-bound implementation on some key issues and is not a magic wand that can immediately spark investor confidence. It cannot sweep away the anxieties of the sector,which have accumulated since A. Rajas tenure. In fact,it supports the controversial policy of refarming the 800 MHz band and redistributing spectrum to fresh applicants. But from the consumers point of view,it could mark the beginning of a new golden age in communications. In mobile telephony,numbers will be portable across providers and circles in the country. Roaming charges will finally go,kicking and screaming. In an increasingly migratory population,the resulting ability to retain a number for a lifetime is valuable.

Unfortunately,the policy has stopped short of the game-changer abolition of long-distance charges on national routes. In the US,cheap coast-to-coast telephony at flat rates facilitated economic growth and improved access to goods and services,especially before the internet came to be widely used. In India,where illiteracy denies Net access to millions,long-distance calling at local rates would be a great enabler even today. However,the policy proposes major upgrades in the internet sector,having prioritised the implementation of the IPv6 carrier protocol. This is long overdue since at least two major global jurisdictions ran out of IPv4 addresses over a year ago and the system is clearly on its way out. Rural teledensity is another important priority,with a commitment to provide phone connections to the entire rural population by 2020.

But perhaps the most significant proposal is to progressively hike the minimum broadband speed to 2 Mbps by 2015. This is how the world defines broadband and it is a shame that Indian providers have been allowed to pass off far slower services as the real thing. This will be a game-changer since pre-literate and semi-literate populations cant use text-based services and dont have the speeds to access multimedia. Higher speeds will ramp it up and,over the years,produce benefits across the developmental spectrum,in education,health,employment and e-governance apart from business and scientific research to enormous cumulative effect.