BROADBAND: Bridging the Digital Divide

Telecom is supposed to provide the bridge to cross the digital divide. There

is a lot of talk, but a lot more needs to be done to bring the benefits of ‘digital

opportunity’ to the people.

Also, to be part of the emerging global ‘information society’, it is not

enough any more to just provide POTs to all. We also need to provide access to

the Internet, and today, at broadband speed because of the nature of interactive

multimedia content. And to combine the access to POTs as well as broadband the

fastest approach used in most of the countries is through local loop unbundling

(LLU).

LLU for Broadband



LLU has long been feted by as a way out of the stranglehold of incumbent telcos
on telephone lines and Internet services. It promotes competition and fosters

growth of broadband.

LLU is expected to make the incumbent operator’s local network available to

other operators/service providers who are then able to use DSL technology to

offer broadband as well as services on high-speed Internet access to the

customer.

Sub-Loop unbundling



The European Union (EU) Regulation on LLU requires incumbents to offer

shared access (or line sharing). Line sharing enables operators and the

incumbent to share the same line, thus fostering competition with more choice

for consumers. Consumers can acquire ‘data services’ from an operator while

retaining the ‘voice services’ of the incumbent. Some operators may choose

to offer data services only, so with line sharing, consumers can retain the

incumbent’s service for voice calls while getting higher bandwidth services

from another operator without needing to install a second line.

The EU Regulation also requires that other operators can interconnect with

the local access network at a point between the incumbent’s site and the end

user. This arrangement is referred to as ‘sub-loop unbundling’. Sub-loop

unbundling can be used for emerging technologies such as VDSL where the

equipment needs to be much closer to the home to deliver very high bandwidth

services. An optical fiber would deliver high-speed services to the local green

cabinet and VDSL used to send them along the copper pair to the consumer’s

premises.

Indian Scenario



In India, the reason given for not taking up LLU issue is that the ‘local

loop’ is in deficit i.e. the copper pairs are all used up and not available

for sharing. However, we have to consider optimum utilization of non-voice

spectrum on the copper pair for DSL application through whatever regulatory

policies it may be feasible. We may have to soon make serious effort for

broadband with options like xDSL, CATV, and WiFi (802.11b).

The experience worldwide in Europe, US and Asian countries like Korea has

shown that the success of broadband depends not only on the cooperation of

incumbents but also on their active participation. As broadband content-based

services become key revenue drivers in a falling ARPU scenario such

participation should happen. That will ensure that the digital divide does not

increase at broadband speed.

Niraj K Gupta