Broadband :

Standardization will remove speed barriers

Sanath Siriwardena

\According to the ITU’s definition (I.113) broadband defines as a transmission capacity that is faster than primary rate ISDN at 1.5 or 2.0 Megabits per second. Apart from ITU’s standard there is no common agreement for broadband in the world. Consequently broadband definition varies country to country.

Recently the FCC, US regulator has revised their outdated broadband definition from 256kbps to 4Mbps. However many countries in the world still operates without having a properly defined broadband definition in their countries. For example most of the European countries do not have their own definition for broadband. Instead they use a common definition set out by the OECD.

However irrespective of the low end (256kbps) definition set out by the OECD, many European countries have exceeded the limit 8Mbps in broadband services. Thus, no valid reason left over for the European authorities to set up a standard or revise the existing standard in their countries. Disregard of the standard, competition and proper regulation have contributed much towards the broadband development in European counties. In Sri Lanka broadband operates in a policy vacuum situation and no definition has ever been designed.

Recent statistics have shown that the majority of broadband subscribers in Sri Lanka are still using 512kbps services to access the Internet. In developed countries sub broadband services have totally wiped out due to the limited bandwidth capacities in respective services. It is not difficult to understand the situation what it would be like when the speed drops significantly in a 512kbps service. However the majority of broadband subscribers in Sri Lanka are frequently experiencing these difficulties when accessing the Internet. National standard for broadband If we really want to develop high speed broadband Internet (HSBB) in the Island, there is no argument, we need to introduce a standard for broadband soon. In this exercise we have to develop our own standard for broadband nationally.

When defining a standard it is important to consider the future bandwidth requirements that are suitable for our country in the time to come. It is a well known fact that the broadband bandwidth is an evolving thing that changes rapidly with the innovation of applications. If the bandwidth is inadequate to support the delivery of rich content over the Internet at faster speeds, running novel applications on the Internet would not be possible. Speed defines what is possible in broadband Introduction of standardization will resolve the existing QOS issues in broadband services.

Addressing broadband QOS is a must and should not be delayed any further. The speed has been recognized as the key driver in broadband development. If the available speeds are not sufficient to cater the subscriber to accomplish his or hers tasks quickly and efficiently, people will never consider of using the Internet in their daily tasks. Therefore it is essential to uplifts the broadband services in Sri Lanka with the introduction of QOS standards.

This allows citizens to reap the harvest of information technology without a difficulty. In all over the world, the majority of broadband services are being used for the domestic purposes. The commercial organizations that require reliable end to end guaranteed Internet service could use IPLC (Internet Private Leased Circuit) and can pay a premium price for the service. However due to the highly priced IPLC charges in the country, the majority of Government institutes and other commercial organizations are using domestic broadband services that intend to cater the residential subscribers.

Here we need a fair deal. This can be done by providing users with more options in the market. In this context leased circuit prices must be reduced to an affordable price by allowing small and medium entrepreneurs to use them for their business applications instead of using domestic broadband. In addition to International circuits, the price of a local leased circuit (DPLC) must also be reduced to an affordable level with immediate effect. The operators will get more revenue in return and at the same time providing a better quality of service to the end user thus increasing the total productivity.

Quality matters in residential broadband services To promote high speed broadband Internet services in the country, we must focus our main attention to the residential broadband market. As we all know, the country’s business community is well aware about the benefits of Internet and they have been using the Internet for their business activities for a quite a long time.

Here our major task would be to get more ordinary citizens to the Internet platform in the time to come. To make sure more residential users can use the Internet, we must provide them a better quality Internet services at an affordable price. The applications such as e-education, e-medicine, e-Governance and other public utility services will flourish vigorously with the speed. The speed can enhance the overall quality of an application that ultimately helps broadband growth. In this context the quality of broadband services must be increased with immediate effect to a proper standard where the subscriber could access any web server in the world at a reasonable speed.

This allows the public to experience the broadband to identify its potentials and benefits through their experience.

This condition will create a favourable condition in the country that would turn broadband promotion process in to a more effortless exercise. Having identified the importance of broadband speeds and its quality, under the national broadband development initiative, a unit has been established at the TRCSL to monitor the broadband QOS in the country.

This unit is equipped with broadband services of all providers that facilitate broadband monitoring. These findings will be useful to the regulator to identify the issues related to broadband speeds in the process of making a future standard for broadband in Sri Lanka.

The results will also be shared among the operators prior to publish them for the knowledge of the public. This would help the operators to correct the broadband speed levels where necessary.

The broadband has become a public utility. The speed is the under layer that carries broadband forward.

The Sri Lankan society must be provided with a high speed broadband service that capable of unlashing the features of modern Internet.

Therefore, the speed element in broadband must be addressed and rectified through the introduction of standardization.

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