TRAI to government: Fix 2Mbps as the minimum broadband internet speed across India – Times of India

The Telecom Regulatory Authority of India (TRAI) has come up with its recommendations to boost broadband internet connectivity in India. As part of its recommendations to the government, TRAI has proposed that a minimum of 2Mbps speed is required for an internet connection to be called ‘broadband’. At present, the minimum speed for a broadband internet connection is set at 512Kbps, upgraded from 256Kbps in 2014.
As per TRAI’s new definition of broadband connectivity, “Broadband is an always-on data connection, provided over fixed or wireless infrastructure, that is able to support multiple information and interactive services such as Internet access and on demand video, and offers a minimum downlink and uplink speed of 2 Mbps to an individual subscriber from the point of presence (POP) of the service provider intending to provide the Broadband service.”
It also stressed on the fact that the data connection should have a minimum download speed of 20 Mbps and minimum upload speed of 10 Mbps, to an individual subscriber from the POP of the service provider intending to provide broadband service.
Globally, broadband is defined either with respect to speed of the technology used. For example, in the US, a broadband internet connection should provide a minimum download speed of 25 Mbps and upload speed of 3Mbps. On the other hand, if you look at Europe, broadband is simply defined as “high-speed internet access that is always-on and faster than the traditional dial-up access.” In Germany, fixed broadband should have a capacity equal to or higher than 144 Kbps download speed and for mobile broadband, it should be “3G and higher speed mobile technologies”.
TRAI also recommended that broadband should be categorised in three segments: basic, high-speed and ultra high-speed. Basic broadband services should offer at least 2Mbps to 30Mbps download speeds while high-speed plans should offer anywhere between 10Mpbs to 100Mbps download speeds. Ultra-high speed broadband connection should provide up to 1Gbps speeds and a minimum of 100Mbps.