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Broadband Policy to be finalised
KATHMANDU, APR 11 -
The Nepal Telecommunications Authority plans to finalise the much awaited Broadband Policy within a month and get it endorsed by the government.
The Broadband Policy is considered to be key to development of information and communication technology and implementation of e-governance. It is expected to make service delivery easy and effective in remote areas by expanding wireless broadband internet as other means of communication are difficult because of rough terrain.
"We have gathered much feedback from the draft policy," said NTA director Ananda Raj Khanal. "Now we are planning
to recommend to the government that it be approved after reviewing the different aspects of
the policy."
The regulatory body has also formed a four-member committee under the coordination of director Khanal to this effect. It will organise workshops to gather inputs. The term broadband has not yet been defined in the context of Nepal even though it has been 15 years since the internet became available in the country.
According to the draft policy, broadband will identify the minimum speed in Kbps -- uplink and downlink -- wherever the service is offered. It will guarantee the quality of service -- throughput on a shared or dedicated basis -- on services that a service provider offers. If a tele-centre, for example, claims to have broadband internet, then it should satisfy the criteria defined by the Broadband Policy.
At present, broadband has nothing to do with speed or quality. Khanal said that local internet service providers (ISPs) were advertising their services as broadband internet without knowing its standards.
According to the working committee formed in December 2008 to make recommendations to the Nepal Telecommunication Authority on the Broadband Policy, broadband in Nepal is, irrespective of the access technology used, an always-on internet connection with minimum upload and download speeds of 64 Kbps and 256 Kbps, respectively. These speeds shall not be on a shared basis, and the service provider should guarantee these minimum speeds to qualify as a broadband service provider.
Subscribers can choose from broadband or non-broadband internet service like dial-up. The quality of service will be guaranteed if a customer chooses to subscribe to broadband.
In India, the term is defined as "an always-on data connection that is able to support interactive services including internet access and has the capability of the minimum access and has the capability of the minimum download speed of 256 Kbps to an individual subscriber.
Posted on: 2010-04-12 08:09
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