The
Indian Broadband Policy 2004, was promulgated by the Department of Telecommunication (DOT) under the Ministry of Communications & Information Technology, Government of India. Further, the Indian Broadband Policy 2004,came into existence as a result of economic reforms implemented by the Government of India to align its economy with the world economy. Furthermore, the economic renaissance of India catalyzed the need for the opening of Indian telecommunication industry which necessitated the development of the Indian Broadband policy. The Government of India was more focused on fast Internet connectivity and drafted the broadband policy of India, 2004, to attract investments for the growth of Indian broadband Internet industry. The Indian Broadband Policy 2004 offered host of fiscal incentives and tax rebates to attract investors, both domestic and foreign investors.
The main objectives of the Indian Broadband Policy 2004 was to identify the potential of the use of Internet in the development of Indian industry. Further, the Indian Broadband Policy 2004 was drafted to align Indian industry with that of the international market to foster growth of the Indian markets. Furthermore, Indian Broadband Policy 2004 facilitated the growth of India's GDP and helped to enhance the quality of life through applications of Internet.
The main area of such applications are as follows -
- Tele-education
- Tele-medicine
- E-governance
- Entertainment
- Employment generation
The introduction of Indian Broadband Policy 2004 facilitated access to high speed information and web-based communication. The Government of India ratified this policy to accelerate the growth of Broadband services across India. The huge market demand for Internet Broadband connection is primarily driven by increased Internet and PC penetration. The government of India realized that the current status of Internet and Broadband access in India is very low in comparison to international standards and the penetration of Broadband, Internet and Personal Computer (PC) in India was 0.02%, 0.4% and 0.8% respectively, till the end of December, 2003.
Presently, the high speed Internet connections are available at various speeds. The Department of Telecommunication (DOT) offers Internet broadband speeds from 64 kilobits per second (kbps) onwards and Internet connection at 128 kbps is considered as 'Broadband' in India.
The different access technologies offered as per the Indian Broadband Policy 2004 are as follows -
- Optical Fiber Technologies - provide nearly unlimited bandwidth potential and is steadily replacing copper network specially in intra-city backbone networks. The fiber based models are future proof as they are able to provide huge amounts of bandwidth in the last mile as well as provide a true IP and converged network that can deliver high quality voice, data and video
- Digital Subscriber Lines(DSL) on copper loop - DSL has proved to be an important technology for provisioning of Broadband services through the copper loop
- Cable TV Network - has more penetration power than the Internet broadband and thus can be leveraged for provisioning Broadband services
- Satellite Media - Very Small Aperture Terminals (VSAT) and Direct-to-Home(DTH) services are encouraged for penetration of Broadband and Internet services and help to serve remote and inaccessible areas
- Terrestrial Wireless - is another upcoming technology platform for Broadband. It was agreed upon to de-license 2.40-2.48 GHz band for low-power outdoor use on non-protection, non-interference and non-exclusive basis
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