The Government of India is thinking to increase the minimum broad band speed which is currently 512 Kbps to 2Mbps. This would mark a four-fold increase in the internet speed.
In August 2015 government has doubled the broadband speed from 256 Kbps to 512 Kbps. Union Minister of Information Technology Mr. Ravi Shankar Prasad said “I propose to take up the matter with the communications ministry.We will consider laying down a policy for increasing the minimum broadband speed from the current levels.”
The mushrooming start-up ecosystem, delivery of various consumer services via mobile apps, such as cabs, social media and online shopping, etc. are the reasons behind this move.
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Private telecom companies have come up with 4G services which promise an internet speed of 10mbps. The reduced 4G handsets are witnessing this increase in 4G usage. Hence government feels that there is a need to increase
TRAI had also backed growth in the broadband speed. “Speed must be above a certain threshold to enable the use of desired applications such as video viewing or gaming. Higher electronic communication speeds are relevant in knowledge-based communities. This is because it spurs productivity, and hence increases competitiveness,” said Trai in a report.
Globally India runs at a very low broadband speed of 512 Kbps. According to the reports of global content network Akamai, South Korea has the fastest average connection speed at 29 Mbps and is followed by Norway at 21.3.India has the lowest in Asia.
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India has 1059.29 million Telecom connections & 151 million Broadband subscribers at the end of April 2016 reported TRAI. By the year 2020 the Internet subscribers may increase to 730 million and the data required will be high. Along with the broadband speed, a better FUP must be set for better results. FUP is the Fair Usage Policy which limits the internet speeds after a particular bandwidth limit is reached.