(2 January 2008 2:00 pm)

NEW DELHI: In a push to ensure rapid expansion of broadband deployment, the Telecom Regulatory Authority of India (Trai) has said that spectrum for 3G and WiMAX should be made available at the earliest.

Issuing its recommendations on 'Growth of Broadband' on Wednesday, Trai said that the two state-owned telecom operators BSNL and MTNL should be encouraged to appoint franchisees for providing broadband services to supplement their efforts and any procedural restrictions or limitations must be addressed immediately.

Trai is keen to push broadband to remote areas and has said that Universal Service Obligation (USO) fund should be utilised by the government to provide subsidy for providing broadband services through satellite in remote and hilly areas.

It has also said that broadband must be pushed across both cable and DTH platforms.

Trai has said that TEC (Technical Evaluation Centre) under the ministry of telecommunication should undertake certification of different Consumer Premises Equipment (CPEs) model for interoperability for provisioning of the broadband.

Incumbents may declare future plans for providing broadband using DSL technology to encourage manufacturing of CPEs within the country.

Trai says also that the government should expedite decision on Trai's recommendations regarding mechanism and pricing of Spectrum for 3G & Broadband Wireless Access, as the progression has been slow till now.

"The government had announced Broadband Policy in 2004 and made certain projections for subscriber growth," Trai has said and noted: "It was expected that broadband growth rate would be stepped up. However, it is observed that the growth of broadband in the country is slow and below expected level."

Trai's recommendations have come as a final document after incorporating the comments from stakeholders on the draft recommendations it had brought out on September 17 last year, aimed at identifying various impediments affecting the growth of broadband "and to adopt forward looking approach to address all such impediments".

Apart from the recommendations, the Trai has also suggested several other measures for the expansion of broadband penetration, like streamlining Right of Way (RoW) procedures

It says that the central government may take-up with the state governments discussions to adopt uniform Right of Way (RoW) procedures, and says that district level committees may be formed to study RoW requirement and to take measures to encourage service providers to share ducts.

"The government should ensure availability of more number of Ku band transponders to roll out broadband services through Direct to Home (DTH) platform," Trai has said.

The Authority has suggested that cable TV operators should be encouraged to provide broadband over their network.

An important suggestion also is to utilise USO funds to subsidise backhaul charges initially for a period of three years to support the broadband rollout efforts, but has said that the precondition for a service provider to avail of the fund is that it should provide broadband and have spectrum for suitable technology.

"In order to increase the competition to provide broadband in rural areas, more than two service providers seeking minimum subsidy should be identified with a rollout obligation to ensure the establishment of network," Trai has suggested.

It also wants that government should encourage municipal committees to include a clause for making Multiple Dwelling Units/ buildings broadband ready by adopting suitable internal wiring while giving clearance for the construction of all such buildings in future.