Have Subscribers, Get Spectrum
In a move that is expected to help India achieve its target of 20 million broadband connections by 2010, the department of telecommunications (DoT) is planning to include the broadband consumer base of a service provider as a criterion for allocating spectrum.
“Under the new conditions, existing broadband service providers may be required to increase the number of their subscribers by a certain limit apart from improving the condition of their services,” a government source told Economic Times. He, however, added that the modalities have not yet been finalised.
The government is also planning to release additional spectrum for services like WiMax which is expected to play a key role in boosting broadband penetration and providing services such as e-governance, e-health and e-education in India. The technology would also help increase the penetration of mobile voice and video services as these services are mostly dependent on broadband wireless technologies such as WiMax.
At present, the number of broadband connections in the country is hovering at about three million. In fact, there has been a slowdown in the number of new consumer additions. The addition during the April-September period this year was only 3.3 lakh as compared to 4.7 lakh during the same period last year, according to data available with the Telecom Regulatory authority of India (TRAI).
There are around 40 applicants who have applied for spectrum allocation including newcomers like DLF, Unitech and Indiabulls.
Filed under: India, News, Statistics