Trai likely to plan cut in broadband costs

Trai,Telecom Regulatory Authority of India is expected to come out with national broadband plan in next few days which may trigger cuts in broadband tariffs which is on the higher side due to the lack of competition amongst many service providers.

Trai chairman J. S. Sarma told reporters on the sidelines of the IAMAI India Digital Media Summit event"I think we would aim at more than 100 million (10 crore) subscribers by 2014 and this is other than wireless mobile broadband, which itself is expected to be more than five crore".He said it was targeting a 10- fold increase in broadband subscribers to 100 million by 2014. The country has 1.03 crore subscribers now.

Trai has stated in a consultation paper that the non- availability of national broadband network to provide connectivity up to village level, non- availability of content in vernacular language and affordability of broadband were factors affecting the growth of broadband in India.

As for pushing broadband growth in the country, Sarma said Trai will come up shortly with recommendations on the National Broadband Plan.In recommendations, all gram panchayats will be covered by 2012 and by 2013, all villages with more than 500 people will be covered by broadband connectivity.

Sarma also informed that it was planning for a licensing regime for value added services (VAS). Trai will soon float a consultation paper on VAS that include caller tunes, ringback tones and MMS, which are offered by various applications and service providers."We will bring out a consultation paper on VAS in next few days. We will see how to bring VAS into the active mainstream," Sarma said."

VAS operators constantly complain that as they provide features, content and a wide range of services like ringer tunes to mobile operators for their customers in the absence of a proper regulatory structure, they don't get adequate financial returns from telcos.