India is still waiting to enjoy unprecedented broadband speed. Apprehensions loom large in the wake of top service providers' apathy toward covering the nook and corner of even a metro like Delhi. Customers want to experience new content and applications on the move. We celebrated 2007 as the 'Year of Broadband' without achieving the number targeted, but Indians are gradually opting for the idea of getting a broadband connection. Surprisingly, MTNL has more than 30,000 customers on its waiting list, eagerly waiting for their Internet connection. After achieving 250 mn wireless phone subscribers, are we going back to the '90s when we used to wait for a wireline phone connection? It's a shame.

Indian customers neither want to stand in the queue to book a broadband connection nor do they want to wait for good connectivity. The telecom ministry should intervene in such conditions to halt the long waiting period and ensure the availability of connections in locations that have been ignored. Customers are ready to have Internet access at competitive prices, provided quality of service and speed are assured. Both enterprises and retail users are apprehensive of broadband access and speed, and feel they are still lagging behind other countries. Service providers need to gear up to meet the customer needs. India is one of the leading telecom markets and a benchmark for many developing countries when it comes to best standards and cost effective services. Operators in the United Kingdom are talking about special discounts being offered to their customers on mobile broadband, while India is yet to have a spectrum policy for broadband wireless access. We cannot lose the edge in broadband services.

Private service providers have answers ready: starting from shortage of spectrum, looking for the right business model, availability of equipment at best prices, slow customer additions across the country, etc. Private operators, who have already climbed the broadband bandwagon and those who are readying to enter, should step up their investment and speed up rollouts. Private operators are offering mobile phone services at best prices and are showing the entire world that we are one of the best telecom markets in the world. They should continue their predatory rollout and pricing strategies for broadband too.

Mobile broadband can create ripples in the industry in the coming years, considering the Indian condition. Several operators are ready to wait till spectrum issues are cleared in order to offer mobile broadband services. According to a recent survey by a comparison site, mobile broadband may overtake fixed broadband connections by 2010. For this, the government, which is considering auctioning spectrum for broadband wireless access too, should hasten the process and offer the much-delayed spectrum to the needy mobile operators and Internet service providers urgently. In order to ensure broadband connectivity to rural masses, the government can impose rollout obligations on telecom operators. Rest will follow.

Baburajan K
baburajank@cybermedia.co.in