Telecom Regulatory Authority of India Recommendations on Roadmap to Promote Broadband Connectivity and Enhanced Broadband Speed
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Telecom Regulatory Authority of India Recommendations on Roadmap to Promote Broadband Connectivity and Enhanced Broadband Speed New Delhi, India 31.08.2021 Mahanagar Door Sanchar Bhawan, Jawahar Lal Nehru Marg, New Delhi – 110002 CONTENTS Chapter Topic Page No. Chapter 1 Introduction 1 Chapter 2 Review of Broadband Definition 15 Chapter 3 Broadband Proliferation Issues 39 Chapter 4 Broadband Speed Enhancement 68 Chapter 5 Broadband Infrastructure Creation 104 Chapter 6 Incentives for Proliferation of Fixed Line 200 Broadband Chapter 7 Summary of Recommendations 257 TABLES Table 2.1 Global Broadband definitions 20 Table 2.2 Download speed for various applications 25 Table 2.3 Download Speed for Light, Moderate, and 34 High use cases Table 4.1 LSA-wise Spectrum holding per Operator 78 after auction 2021 Table 4.2 Spectrum Holding per Operator in Various 79 Countries Table 4.3 Fiberisation of BTSs as on 31st May 2021 81 Table 4.4 Status of available MW Access Carriers 84 Table 4.5 LTE user equipment (UE) categories 101 Table 5.1 Non-uniformity and excess one-time fees 112 levied by the states i Table 5.2 Co-Deployment of OFC along various 165 infrastructure Table 6.1 Internet Subscribers as on 31st March 206 2021 Table 6.2 LSA-wise Broadband Density as on 31st 206 March 2021 Table 6.3 Wireline Broadband Rural Urban 207 distribution Table 6.4 Growth of Fixed line Broadband 224 subscribers Table 6.5 Growth of top 10 ISPs in 2020-21 226 ANNEXURES Annexure A DoT Reference I 279 Annexure B DoT Reference II 280 Annexure C DoT Reference III 283 Annexure D DoT Reference IV 284 Annexure E Format of Statement for License Fee 291 Exemption Claim List of Acronyms 294 ii CHAPTER 1 INTRODUCTION 1.1 Broadband is a basic infrastructure essential for improving the socio- economic development, job creation, civic engagement, global competitiveness, and a better quality of life. For developing countries in the low- and middle-income brackets, broadband is a key driver of economic growth. According to a study by the World Bank, every 10- percentage-point increase in broadband penetration provides a boost of 1.38 additional percentage points to GDP growth — higher than any other telecommunication service”1. The positive effect of increase in internet subscriptions on GDP is higher in developing countries than in the developed countries as it helps developing countries in leapfrogging the scarcity of physical infrastructure. 1.2 Access to secure, reliable, and affordable high-speed broadband services is a clear and urgent priority for every Indian citizen. Proliferation of high-speed broadband across the country requires fiberisation and densification of networks. Investing in the expansion of broadband is becoming more and more vital just to make sure that everyone is connected. Accordingly, the objective of these Recommendations is to recommend a roadmap to the Government for infrastructure creation, fiberisation and densification of networks, and proliferation of high-speed broadband services in the country. 1.3 It needs to be emphasized that the policy measures suggested in these recommendations are closely linked with one another; and therefore, a coordinated and integrated approach is required towards implementation of these recommendations. It is expected that to ensure 1 Broadband: A Platform for progress, A report by the Broadband Commission for Digital Development 1 an overall positive impact on the digital infrastructure and broadband landscape of the country, these recommendations would be considered by the Government in entirety. Further, keeping in view the Government’s declared policy objective regarding Ease of Doing Business for attracting investment in infrastructure development and facilitating growth of the sector, the Authority is proposing the timelines for certain activities like time bound settlement of claims of licensees, development of national RoW portal etc. 1.4 The COVID-19 pandemic has introduced new challenges to our way of life forcing an unprecedented number of people all over the world to change their workplace from office to home and causing widespread disruptions in everyday life. There was never a better time to understand the importance of broadband than now. Whether it is working from home or a child studying from home, live video conferencing or communicating with friends and relatives in different parts of the world or accessing entertainment programs through OTT platforms, broadband has emerged as basic requirement for the Indian households. As new digital behaviors are forming, the critical role of broadband service providers to support the society with flawless pan India internet connectivity in times of crisis has become all the more important. I. Broadband in India 1.5 The first step in addressing our country’s broadband needs is to understand the status of broadband that is where broadband is available and where it is not and what are the barriers in adopting and leveraging the technology. The broadband subscriber base in India has been growing at an accelerated pace over the last 4-5 years. There has been a 33% Compounded Annual Growth Rate (CAGR) between 2016 and 2020. As of December 2020, there are approximately 747 Million 2 broadband subscribers in the country. Figure 1.1 depicts the growth of broadband subscribers on a half-yearly basis2. Figure 1.1: Broadband growth in India (half-yearly basis) 800 747.41 698.23 700 661.94 594.38 600 525.36 500 447.12 400 362.87 300.84 300236.09 200 BroadbandSubscribers(in Millions) 100 0 Dec-16 Jun-17 Dec-17 Jun-18 Dec-18 Jun-19 Dec-19 Jun-20 Dec-20 Source: TRAI 1.6 The following is a snapshot of India’s broadband landscape: i. As per Nokia MBiT 2021 report, overall average data usage per month registered a CAGR of 76% from 2015 to 2020 reaching 13.5 GB in December 2020. This could happen due to continued upgradation of mobile networks to 4G which facilitated increased online education, remote working for professionals and higher OTT viewership. ii. There was total of 724.46 million mobile broadband subscribers at the end of December 2020, which is around 97% of total broadband connections. iii. More than 96% of these mobile broadband subscribers were having 4G connectivity. As per Nokia MBiT 2021 report, 4G constituted 98.7% of total data traffic consumed across the country. 2 TRAI Performance Indicator Reports 3 Figure 1.2: Mobile Broadband Subscribers (technology-wise) 698.04 700 600 500 400 300 200 100 26.42 Subscribers (in Million)(in Subscribers 0 HSPA/WCDMA (3G) LTE (4G) Mobile Broadband Technology iv. India’s digital revolution continues to be propelled by the rural masses with rural India comprising a sizeable 38% of broadband users in 2020. There are 284.64 million broadband users in rural India. Rural data consumption accounts for around 45% of overall mobile data usage.3 v. However, at the end of December 2020, there were 22.94 million fixed broadband connections. In terms of penetration, it implies that only 9.1 per 100 households4 have access to fixed broadband. vi. Also, there were only 6.89 million FTTH broadband connections at the end of December 2020, which is only about 30% of the total fixed broadband connections in the country. vii. Despite the rapid spread of broadband, and the increasing agreement on the opportunities it brings, nearly 45% of the India’s population still does not have access to broadband. viii. As far as speed is concerned, as per Ookla speed test global index March 2021 report5, India is experiencing download speeds of 12.15 3 Nokia MBiT 2021 report 4 Based on census 2011, India has 249.5 Million households 5 https://www.speedtest.net/global-index 4 Mbps in case of mobile broadband and around 56.1 Mbps in case of fixed broadband. ix. As per this global index, India ranked 131st among 140 nations in terms of mobile broadband speed and 66th among 177 countries in fixed broadband. II. Broadband across the globe 1.7 The current broadband penetration in India is at around 55%, which is significantly lower as compared to that of China at 95%, and other European nations at around 95-115%6. Fixed broadband penetration in India is among the lowest in the world at only 1.69 per hundred inhabitants.7 Fixed broadband subscriptions per 100 inhabitants across major countries of the world is depicted in Figure 1.3: Figure1.3: Global Fixed Broadband penetration (per 100 inhabitants) Global Fixed Broadband Penetration 50 44.6 42.8 42.7 41.2 40.5 40 36 35.2 33 30 20 10 1.69 0 Subsriptions per 100 inhabitants inhabitants 100 per Subsriptions Source : OECD statistics for June 2020, TRAI Dec2020 6 TRAI Performance Indicator Report October - December, 2020, Nokia MBiT 2020 Report. 7 Indian population 1358.97 Million as per TRAIs Performance indicator reports 5 1.8 Despite rapid growth of mobile broadband subscribers during last 4-5 years, India’s global ranking is again not so encouraging. Mobile broadband subscriptions per 100 inhabitants across major countries of the world are depicted in Figure 1.4: Figure1.4: Global Mobile Broadband penetration (per 100 inhabitants) Global Mobile Broadband Penetration 200 182.4 160 151.6 127.1 120 113 102.1 93.1 87 81.1 80 53.45 40 0 Subscriptions per inhabitants100per Subscriptions Source : OECD statistics for June 2020, TRAI Dec 2020 1.9 Reliable and high-speed broadband connectivity is a pre-requisite for its effective commercial and economic use. The highest mobile broadband speed, experienced in South Korea, is around 100Mbps. Whereas, for fixed line broadband, highest speed reported is that of Singapore at 205 Mbps.