National broadband plans from around the world
Encyclopedia
Broadband
is a term normally considered to be synonymous with a high-speed connection to the internet
. The term itself is technology neutral; broadband can be delived by a range of technologies including DSL, LTE
or next generation access
. This page presents an overview of official Government plans to promote broadband based on official sources. The literature in the field is extensive and changes often.
as part of its e-Development program. It has released the World Bank Broadband Strategy Toolkit to assist in policy development.
Furthermore, the close relationship of universal wired broadband and smart grid plans is the subject of much study particularly in the US and Europe
. The US plan has ambitious energy demand management
goals (see National Broadband Plan (United States)
for more details on these and their relationship to other US national goals) and its broadband plan is generally considered to be a pre-requisite to its communications-intensive energy strategy. This is also true to some degree of other countries' broadband plans.
confirm that the current national broadband strategy is a short statement in the 2009 budget:
"Canada
was one of the first countries to implement a connectivity agenda geared toward facilitating Internet access
to all of its citizens. To this day, Canada remains one of the most connected nations in the world, with the highest broadband connection rate among the G7 countries. However, gaps in access to broadband remain, particularly in rural and remote communities.
"The Government is committed to closing the broadband gap in Canada by encouraging the private development of rural broadband infrastructure. Budget 2009 provides $225 million over three years to Industry Canada to develop and implement a strategy on extending broadband coverage to all currently unserved communities beginning in 2009-10." The budget specifically includes:
"Providing $225 million over three years to develop and implement a strategy on extending broadband coverage to unserved communities." On March 6, 2009, Mr. John Duncan
, Parliamentary Secretary
to the Minister of Indian Affairs and Northern Development
and Federal Interlocutor for Métis and Non-status Indians
, announced that the Government of Canada will contribute $7.86 million to the First Nations Emergency Services
Society (FNESS) and their partner, the First Nations Technology Council (FNTC) in British Columbia
, for the construction and provision of satellite broadband network capacity connecting 21 remote First Nations communities in British Columbia.
In a June 4, 2009 news release
, the CRTC endorsed the National Film Board's call for a national digital strategy.
– known as the stimulus package – Congress charged the US Federal Communications Commission
with creating a national broadband plan. The Recovery Act required the plan to explore several key elements of broadband deployment and use, and the Commission now seeks comment on these elements, including:
The plan was published in March 2010, on the same website used to gather public comment during its preparation.
of which 5 million, by late 2010, where broadband users (82% of which were residential and 81% of which connected at a speed of least 512 kbit/s), and over 1.3 were wireless and satellite users.
Among residential users, 38.3% were located in Buenos Aires Province
(including Greater Buenos Aires
), 26.0% in the city of Buenos Aires
, 8.2% in Córdoba and 7.4% in Santa Fe Province
.
According to a 2010 report by IDC Consulting, Argentina has a rate of 9.3 broadband accounts per 100 inhabitants, only surpassed in the region by Chile, which registered 9.7. Despite this relatively good national indicator, the penetration of Internet is not the same in all provinces, and some provinces, like Jujuy
, have only 0.2 per 100 inhabitants; Formosa Province
0.3; Corrientes Province
0.4; and Tucumán Province
0.7.
To reduce this disparity between provinces, in October 2010 the government presented a five-year plan, with an initial inversion of 8,000 million pesos, called Plan Nacional de Telecomunicación "Argentina Conectada" ("Connected Argentina" - National Telecommunications Plan), under command of the state-owned entreprise AR-SAT.
Most of the financing is intended for the acquiring of high-tech material required. The main goal is to expand the broadband to the whole national territory, and to reach, by the year 2015, a coverage of more than 10 million homes with a connection. This is supposed to duplicate the present number of residences which have access to these services, and to quintuple the penetration of optical fiber in the country.
is seeking to tighten up rules on domestic broadband service providers which, if implemented, could force firms such as Telefónica
of Spain and Mexico's América Móvil
to increase their investments in the country, according to local daily O Estado de S. Paulo reports. It is understood the new rules are designed to improve customer service with a specific focus on the delivery of stated broadband connection speeds; around 50% of users are currently thought to receive less than half the speed promised by their Internet service provider
(ISP). New legislation could enter into force in 2010 requiring domestic broadband providers to comply with stricter standards on service quality. Anatel's move comes in the wake of an explosion in demand for broadband internet access which has seen user number swell to around 18 million, but also resulted in major disruptions to services - such as the recent high profile outage of Telefonica's Speedy service which left millions of customers offline.
's president, Michelle Bachelet
, announced this week the countries' most ambitious telecoms subsidy plan ever, in terns of public investment and area of coverage. The project, which is aimed at boosting SMEs competitiveness in rural areas, will provide connectivity to more than three million people in 1,474 rural communities. The development is expected to cost US$100 million, 70% of which will be provided by the government through the Telecoms Development Fund.
In January 2008, Chile announced its 2007-2012 Strategy for Digital Development that will articulate the efforts of the public and private spheres as to new technologies during the next years. The project was prepared by the Committee of Ministers for Digital Development and seeks to provide further impulse to the ICTs in the Trans-Andean country.
The goals on which the Chilean government
will place more emphasis are to double the broadband connections to reach 2 million by 2010, to increase SMEs competition, to advance on the digitalization of the public health system, and to implement new technologies in areas deemed key, such as the provisional reform and education.
In June 2009, Chile launched a new portal in which consumers may compare offers of all internet providers.
's subscription penetration average remains sixth in Latin America, with a majority of internet subscriptions concentrated in Colombia's three largest cities. To promote information technologies
(IT) and telecommunications services in rural areas, Colombia's Ministry of Information Technologies and Communications
developed a comprehensive ten-year National IT plan. A USD 750 million public-private Communications Fund administers plan implementation, with 60 percent of funds targeted to the Compartel rural and community development program. United States Agency for International Development
(USAID) also supports the development of telecommunications networks in rural areas, as well as provides technical assistance to GOC telecommunications authorities.
The percentage of internet users has grown from 1 to 40 percent of the population—or approximately 17 million people—within the last decade. Permanent internet subscribers have also grown at an annual rate of 75 percent in the last five years, although the actual number of subscriptions remains low at 2 million. Colombia's penetration average (the internet subscription to population ratio) is 4.3, ranking it sixth in Latin America behind Chile, Argentina
, Uruguay
, Mexico
and Brazil. Likewise, 55 percent of subscriptions remain concentrated in the cities of Bogotá
, Medellín
and Cali
.
Colombia has 1.45 million internet subscribers with broadband access—approximately 73 percent of total subscriptions.Colombia's Telecommunications Regulations Commission (CRT) defines broadband as an internet service with a minimum download speed of 512 kbit/s, which is faster than the 128 kbit/s download speed defined as broadband by the International Telecommunications Union (ITU). DSL (63 percent) and cable (32 percent) dominate the broadband market share, with Wimax (5 percent) a distant third. The main providers according to market share are: Empresa de Telefonos de Bogota
(25 percent); EPM Telecommunications
(24 percent); Colombia Telecommunications
(20 percent); Telmex Hogar (19 percent); and independent providers (12 percent). These providers focus on triple-play packages combining internet, television and telephone services, which has contributed to the rapid expansion of internet usage. Carlos Forero, the Vice-President of the CRT, said that broadband and associated value-added services are now seen as the market differentiator between telecommunications providers.
Last year the Ministry of Communications (MOC) announced a National IT Plan, establishing three main goals to be achieved before 2019: 70 percent of Colombians with internet subscriptions, 100 percent of health and education establishments with internet access, and 100 percent of rural areas with internet access. The MOC plans to achieve these objectives through its flagship community and rural development program Compartel, which is funded by a USD 750 million public-private National Communications Fund.All telecommunications providers are required to assist the Ministry of Communications in financing the Compartel program, with private sector contributions equaling 15 percent of Compartel's total budget in 2008. Compartel provides subsidies or investment incentives to establish internet networks and telephony services in Colombia's most rural and impoverished areas. Since 2008, the program has invested USD 421 million in rural networks, benefiting 16,000 rural educational,health and government institutions.
In addition to Compartel, the GOC also supports additional programs in the educational, health, entrepreneurial, competitiveness, online-government and research sectors. Activities in 2008 included the distribution of refurbished computers to educational institutions (USD 86 million), connectivity financing for small and medium enterprises (USD 15 million), conversion of all public institutions to online institutions (USD 70 million), and e-medicine (USD 5 million).
USAID also promotes telecommunications connectivity for underserved and rural populations, as well as education and content to support economic and social development, through its Last Mile Initiative. Major contributors to this public-private alliance are Avantel
, Intel
, Cisco
, Microsoft
, Google
, Polyvision, regional and local governments, and the MOC. Through the program, USG-provided equipment and training will connect 50 municipalities in the departments
of Meta
, Huila
and Magdalena
, including 21,000 small businesses and 325,000 institutions such as schools, hospitals, justice houses and local government offices. On the technical side, USAID assisted the MOC with the development of its National Plan and presently advises the CRT on "unbundling the local loop" to increase competition in broadband provision.
Colombia remains behind Latin American neighbors such as Mexico, Brazil and Argentina in most IT indicators, but since the GOC privatized its state-owned National Telecommunications Company in 2003, the IT sector has expanded rapidly. The sector contributed a record 3 percent of total GDP in 2008. Local experts agree that IT sector will continue to experience accelerated growth as Colombia's domestic security situation improves and the legal economy strengthens. However, they also emphasize that continued private investment is key to the GOC achieving its lofty goals by 2019.
's telecoms regulator, Instituto Dominicano de las Telecomunicaciones (INDOTEL), has said it has plans to roll out fixed line telecoms services to an additional 1,000 rural communities as part of an initiative aimed at providing broadband and home voice services to all towns with more than 300 inhabitants. According to TeleGeography's GlobalComms database, the announcement comes just over a year after fixed line incumbent CODETEL inked a deal with INDOTEL to undertake a rural connectivity project that will see investment of USD100 million.
In April 2009, this cable presents initial reporting on broadband deployment initiatives in the Dominican Republic (reftel). There is one ongoing government initiative to provide broadband access to 508 rural communities that is scheduled to finish by September. While future incentives are being considered by the regulatory agency, no others currently exist and broadband expansion is further hampered by 28 percent in taxes levied on all telecommunications sales. A Senate committee announced on March 30 it would review and update of the 1998 telecommunications law.
The Dominican Telecommunications Institute (INDOTEL), the GoDR regulatory agency, launched a tender in 2007 for a Rural Broadband Connectivity Program. At that time, only 30 percent of the country's 383 municipalities had broadband capacity. The tender offered a subsidy of up to USD 5 million. The winning bidder was Codetel (Mexican-owned), the largest company in the market, which offered to connect the 508 communities with no cash subsidy but rather in exchange for the rights to a WiMax frequency in the country. INDOTEL Executive Director Joelle Exarhakos told EconOff that the program has proceeded successfully and more than 100 rural communities have already been connected. She said Codetel would complete the broadband deployment plan by September 2009. By that time, every municipality in the country will have broadband access. Under the program, Codetel provides 256 kB/second or faster service to rural communities at prices that match the prices charged in urban centers where Codetel competes with other providers.
Exarhakos told EconOff that INDOTEL does not have current plans for a second stage for the rural connectivity program, noting that with the completion of this plan, every municipality in the country will have broadband access. She said that in many of these communities, local entrepreneurs have built connections to the networks servicing even smaller communities nearby. Nonetheless, INDOTEL does not foresee a second stage of the rural program to venture into even smaller villages. But Exarhakos told EconOff that she believes such incentives might not be necessary; part of the goal of the Rural Connectivity Program was to demonstrate rural residents' capacity to pay and it has. In Monte Plata
, a national provider, Dijitec, is developing infrastructure without any government incentive to compete with Codetel.
In many of these communities, INDOTEL has set up Informatics Training Centers (CCI), where schoolchildren and residents can access the Internet and learn how to use computers. These centers are among the 846 centers around the country that INDOTEL has established as part of an information technology promotion program. INDOTEL provides the hardware
and software for the centers and community groups, schools, churches or town governments maintain and operate the facilities. EconOff visited one such site in October 2008 at a church in Samaná which was inoperable because there were no funds to pay the electricity bill. Asked about these issues, Exarhakos candidly acknowledged that some of the committees have not succeeded in maintaining the facilities.Following the meeting with INDOTEL, EconOff learned from the Samana church pastor that the facility remains closed six months later. Although the electricity bill is paid, they have been waiting for two weeks for INDOTEL to provide a needed battery. He said he does not know how to fund the CCI in the future.
Sur Futuro is one of the non-governmental organizations that has taken on the operations of CCIs, and runs three centers in communities where the organization is also otherwise involved. The group's education director told EconOff that while INDOTEL's CCI program provides an excellent service to communities, the lack of long-term funding limits its impact. She said it costs between USD 500 and 850 monthly to operate a CCI, funds that are difficult to come across in poor communities. Sur Futuro's president noted that she is aware that the Catholic Church struggles to maintain the CCIs it runs.
Codetel's participation in the rural broadband program has been directed by Ahmed Awad, who said the company's total cost of the program is about USD 50 million. He said that while Codetel views it as a social investment, it has also proven relatively commercially successful.
In addition to installing and maintaining the infrastructure for broadband connectivity in the 508 communities, Codetel is responsible for setting up an entrepreneur program, establishing an Internet portal
for the program and providing training in each community participating in the program. In the entrepreneur program, Codetel has helped small businesspeople in many of the communities invest an average of USD 1000 to start up internet cafes
or international call centers
. The Internet portal, which Codetel hired an NGO to construct, features geographic, demographic and interesting facts about each of the 508 communities. Awad told EconOff he believes it is the only database of information about these forgotten locales. The training provided by Codetel is limited to a one-hour workshop provided to the highest level of school taught in each municipality. Awad said that while the schools have received the trainers positively, he noted that one hour was insufficient to provide much training to the students.
Awad told EconOff that the installed connections are 80 percent wireless, but that despite the fact that this provides the opportunity for cellular-only service in these areas, many customers want wired hardware in their homes despite the higher costs. Because the service is wireless, many locales contiguous to the participating communities have gained broadband access, Awad said. "In addition to the 508 municipalities, another 150 or so villages will receive service because of the wireless reach," he told EconOff.
Awad said he hoped that INDOTEL would launch a sequel to this program, noting that there are another 1500 communities that lack broadband access. However, he lamented the fact that the sector does not have an ongoing focalized subsidy that would reduce costs to rural users, which would make these consumers a more attractive target for private investment. He also commented that the country needs more investment in information technology (IT) education in order to take advantage of the growing broadband penetration and stimulate demand for these services. Perhaps most importantly, though, he cited the lack of reliable electricity as one of the highest hurdles impeding broadband growth both in rural communities and nationwide.
Instead of providing incentives for growth, the GoDR has a policy of discouraging it with high taxes. In an April 2 interview with the newspaper Hoy, Codetel President Oscar Pena complained that the Dominican Republic has the fourth highest taxes on telecommunications of any country in the world, at 28 percent, and a 3 percent municipal tax appears likely to increase this burden even further. Pena said that the implementation of the 3 percent tax would send a strong negative signal to investors.
's telecoms watchdog Senatel aims to end 2010 with 9,000 schools connected to the internet via broadband networks under a national scheme, compared to 1,900 today, with 4,000 of the new connections to be made this year. A further 11,000 schools are to be covered by other public-funded social programmes, universal access fund Fodetel told BNamericas, adding that state-run telco Corporacion Nacional de Telecomunicaciones (CNT) is currently handling all rollouts, and as yet there had been no plans announced to open up tenders to private sector broadband operators. The news site wrote that telecoms regulator Conatel lists ongoing projects to connect 759 schools at a cost of USD4.56 million, or an average of USD6,000 per school.
considers that the goal to connect 15 million to broadband by 2012 is impossible. This is reportedly one of the administration's goals. The Government also hopes that by that date 70 million people will be able to connect to the Internet. According to data from INEGI, 20% of the population had access to the Internet.
is one of the seven flagship initiatives of the Europe 2020
strategy. The objective is to bring "basic broadband" to all Europeans by 2013 and also to ensure that, by 2020, all Europeans have access to much higher internet speeds of above 30 Mbit/s and 50% or more of European households subscribe to internet connections above 100 Mbit/s.
On 20 September 2010 the European Commission
published a Broadband Communication, which describes measures the Commission will take to achieve the targets of the Digital Agenda.
called on the Austrian telecommunications regulator, RTR, to suspend the adoption of regulatory measures governing the broadband access market, finding that RTR provided "insufficient evidence" that mobile broadband connections can be considered substitutes for fixed-line DSL (digital subscriber line) and cable modem connections. RTR had proposed to define the broadband access market for residential customers as including mobile, DSL, and cable modem connections and to consider that market as competitive. RTR allegedly found that the retail broadband market for business customers was not competitive and that wholesale regulation of the market, including requiring "bitstream access", remained necessary. The EC disputed the conclusion that mobile connections are substitutes for fixed-line broadband connections, which would require that all three types of connections can be equally used for downloading music or films or providing sufficiently secure connections for Internet banking
. The EC also questioned the definition of the relevant wholesale product market "as a sufficiently detailed forward-looking analysis of the different wholesale inputs is missing."
Previously, in 2003, the Campaign for Broadband Internet Connection initiative was launched, seeking to achieve blanket broadband by 2007. Information is scarce on whether the campaign was continued since the 2007 has come and passed without their goals being met.
, so there seems to be some difficulty in stimulating competition.
As of April 2009, at the request of BIPT (the Belgian Institute for Postal service and Telecommunications), the consultancy firms Analysys Mason and Hogan & Hartson
has drawn up a report regarding the development of the broadband market in Belgium and suggested a certain number of possible actions to promote competition on this market.
At the request of Mr Vincent van Quickenborne, Minister of Enterprise and Simplification, the suggested action items have been submitted to the sector for consultation.
”, issued by the State Agency for Information Technologies and Communication, set the following targets by the year 2013:
adopted the "National Broadband Access Policy" in January 2005. The Policy is based on the OECD
Council recommendations on promoting broadband development. Its main goal for the CR is to achieve a level of about 50% of the population to use broadband by 2010 at the latest.
is based on the 2001 broadband plan 'From hardware to content'. The Danish Government
follows up this strategy annually. According to a hearing in 2005, Denmark will continue to follow the main principles of the strategy.
The political objective of the Danish Government is high transmission capacity for all, and strategies such as a national infrastructure that is rapid, inexpensive and secure, are needed to achieve this objective. The rollout of the IT infrastructure shall be developed by the private market with the Danish public sector
serving as the driving force. For example, own IT investments by the public sector are intended to boost the demand for a digital infrastructure.
In order to finance the State contribution required for the target for 2015, it is proposed that certain radio frequencies coming up for allocation be auctioned. In the event that auction revenues are insufficient to cover the State’s public aid for telecommunications infrastructure construction, the shortfall would be made up with a telecommunications network compensatory payment to be collected from telecommunications operators. The auction revenues and the compensatory payments could be entered as income and decisions on their use made either through the Budget or by means of a fund outside the Budget.
Finland
has passed a law making access to broadband a legal right for Finnish citizens. When the law went into effect in July 2010, every person in Finland, which has a population of around 5.3 million, will have the guaranteed right to a one-megabit broadband connection, says the Ministry of Transport and Communications
announced sweeping measures to make France
a leading digital economy by 2012. The plan outlines a strategy that the government will follow in the coming years to make France a leading digital economy. While many of the measures are obviously aimed at helping French companies, foreign companies will be able to benefit from the plan simply by creating a French subsidiary or by entering into strategic agreements with French companies or universities. The new plan will create opportunities for telecommunications operators, equipment manufacturers, content providers, web-based
delivery platforms, game and software publishers, and universities.
's broadband strategy, approved by the Cabinet
in February 2009, seeks to accelerate telecommunication and internet connectivity, close gaps in underserved areas by the end of 2010, and ensure nationwide access to high speed internet
by 2014. Here will be a "digital dividend" frequency auction schedule to support the initiative, the legislature must take a few more steps before this is realized. Goals include closing gaps in underserved areas, upgrade existing broadband infrastructure over the short-term by deploying the entire range of feasible technologies - whether cable, fiber optics, satellite
, or wireless - and utilize the digital dividend resulting from frequencies no longer needed for broadcasting following digitalization.
in which broadband services are not currently available and are unlikely to be available in the near future. Following a broadband coverage mapping exercise to identify underserved areas and a competitive tendering process, a contract was awarded to "3
" (a Hutchison Whampoa
company) in December 2008, to implement and operate the NBS. Under the contract, 3 will be required to provide services to all premises in the NBS area that want service. In order to facilitate competition, 3 also will be required to provide wholesale access to any other authorized operator who wishes to serve the NBS area.
FTTH plan of 2M homes passed absolutely reasonable despite what has been said so far by many about the necessity of such an investment in terms of scale and scope.
carried out several small projects to increase internet access in Latvian provinces and a single major-scale project to increase broadband access in rural areas. The projects were implemented and co-financed by local governments and the central government
, with the majority of the funding provided by EU structural funds. Latvia has listed internet access and availability promotion as an activity eligible for EU structural funds for the 2007-2013 EU budgetary period, but this activity is not designed to target rural areas or specifically increase broadband deployment. However, given Latvia's severe economic decline and the associated budgetary issues, the outlook for additional projects in the future is grim.
Falling budget revenues have significantly limited Latvia's ability to co-finance any EU projects. There are bureaucratic obstacles as well, since Latvia has not yet adopted guidelines and evaluation criteria necessary to launch this program. One reason behind this delay is the GOL plan to reprioritize the national list of activities eligible for EU money in response to the crisis, increasing funding to the export sector. Internet access is not viewed by Latvian authorities as a significant problem; therefore, an increase in funding to communication infrastructure projects is unlikely. Furthermore, Latvia has decided to divert the funds the European Commission allocated to expansion of broadband networks, as part of the European Economic Recovery Plan
, to projects in the dairy sector.
002 project
The Development Strategy of the Broadband Infrastructure of Lithuania
for 2005-2010 was published in the official gazette on 31 December 2002. The Strategy goals are as follows: to create conditions for public administration institutions, bodies and individuals to obtain broadband access; to promote competition in the field of the Internet access provision on the market using public and private capital investments; to seek that the national social and economic growth would be influenced; to reduce the exclusion of the population in the territory of the country.
When connecting public administration institutions and bodies to the broadband networks and creating an opportunity for small and medium-sized enterprises as well as the population to use the broadband infrastructure and e-services all over the country's territory (especially in peripheral/uncompetitive locations where the level of use and development of wideband connection services is low), the following assessment criteria are important:
writes that the Polish government
has drafted a new law regulating broadband network deployments and will put it to a parliamentary vote in late October or early November. The law would, for example, require every multiresidential house in the country from 2010 to be connected with fibre, define rules for local governments to invest in broadband in areas that are not viable for commercial roll-outs, as well as set a framework for using utility infrastructure to accommodate network equipment. If approved as planned, the legislation could become effective as of January 2010.
Significance
The new regulations are part of the government's broadband strategy, which aims at bringing 100% of Poland's households and businesses within the coverage of broadband infrastructure by 2013 or 2014, partially using European Union (EU) fundingSee Poland: 2 April 2009: Polish Government Plans to Direct 300 mil. Euro to Broadband Expansion. In the meantime, telecoms regulator UKE is also in discussions with the local incumbent, TP, over the company's mid-term capex strategy, trying to agree on an investment level that would contribute to the goals of the national broadband strategy. In order to boost the investment, the UKE has softened some of its policies upon the incumbent, most significantly in regard with vertical separation, which it has put on hold for the time being, and wholesale access fees, which it has reportedly offered to freeze for the next couple of years.
announced an 800-million-euro credit line for the roll-out of next-generation broadband networks in the country. Prime Minister José Sócrates
announced the funding, saying he hoped the country's main telecoms operators would invest one billion euro to build NGNs during 2009. The credit line forms part of an agreement between the government and the operators Portugal Telecom
, ZON Multimédia, Sonae
com, and ONI on the roll-out of fibre networks, and is the first step in a 2.18-billion-euro plan announced in December 2008 to boost the country's economy.
Prime Minister Socrates said the credit line would pave the way for improvements in high-speed internet, television and voice services, adding: "This is the launch of the first measure of the stimulus plan to combat the economic crisis."
Development Through Fibre
Portugal's PM said he hoped the investment would allow up to 1.5 million homes and businesses to be connected to the new fibre networks. He added that the government has no preference regarding how the networks are rolled out by the operators, leaving them to reach a decision among themselves on whether single or multiple networks are constructed. Although the terms of the credit line have not been disclosed, they are likely to be highly favourable to the operators, and may represent a timely cash injection—as the global economic crisis bites, operator spending in reined in and private investment sources dry up. Portugal's broadband market has showed strong growth, not least due to widespread cable and DSL networks. ADSL2+ services are also available from alternative operators such as Vodafone
and cable data speeds at up to 100 Mbit/s were trialled in 2007. The Portuguese government had set a goal of 50% home broadband penetration by 2010, and this latest investment should allow the operators to significantly surpass this target.
's penetration rate is still half that of the EU average. Both the newly-reorganized National Authority for Administration and Regulations in Communications (ANCOM) and the renamed Ministry of Communication and Information Society (MCIS) have repeatedly expressed interest in further expanding broadband access. To this end, MCIS issued a new broadband strategy for 2009 to 2015, but has yet to identify how to implement or fund the strategy. This cable responds to Department's reftel request for information on country broadband deployment initiatives.
In his first press conference on April 9, new ANCOM President Catalin Marinescu stated his main goal would be to increase the number of broadband Internet connections. Due to the expansion of the 3G network, mobile access connections to the Internet reached 2.7 million users in 2008, which is almost double the number in 2007. Despite a 30 percent increase in access in 2008, Romania's broadband penetration is still only about 11.7 percent, which is less than half of the EU average of 22.9 percent.
ANCOM suggestions for increasing broadband deployment in Romania include:
A precondition for accessing EU structural funds in this area is the adoption of a national broadband strategy. The MCIS's 2009-2015 strategy for broadband wireless access establishes an inter-ministerial working group responsible for implementation of infrastructure projects for broadband service expansion. Additionally, Minister of Communication Gabriel Sandu
claims he will identify other financing sources, such as crisis funds, governmental funds and private funds to increase broadband deployment to rural areas.
issued the Strategy for Development of Broadband Networks, effective 2004-2006. The main principles included:
Slovenia is preparing a new strategy for development of broadband networks, which will focus on simulating of private sector development of rural and scarcely populated areas.
In order to ensure consecution of the programme objectives, not duplication of investments and not distortion of competition, specific service and operative requirements were required to both projects and beneficiary operators.
Service requirements consisted on providing broadband access with a minimum download speed and a maximum monthly fee. Additionally, the program operative requirements consisted on:
Taking into account cabled technologies such as DSL are distance sensitive, and generally only feasible within a few miles of the nearest central office switch, PEBA projects were not limited to a single technology. At present, several technological solutions (ADSL, WiMAX, Satellite and HFC
) are being used to provide broadband access to the PEBA population centres, depending on their geographic features, roll–out dates and available technology.
Following Peba achievements and within the Avanza Infrastructures Program, the Ministry has continued working to increase broadband coverage in very small population centres. Additionally and taken into account advances in technology and the need not only to provide broadband access but also to improve the service quality and speed, the objective was also to improve bandwidth and network capacity provided by telcos at rural areas. Two action lines compose the broadband strategy under this funding program:
F1 action line projects will be based mainly on wireless broadband access technologies such as: HSDPA
, WIMAX and Satellite although some of the beneficiary operators are already planning to provide ADSL connection at some population centres. F2 projects will mostly improve transport networks by means of fibre optics and WiMAX radio links.
On 15 October 2009, Spain's Ministry of Industry
has opened a public consultation on extending the concept of universal service to cover broadband access. The consultation concerns topics such as the minimum speed, the use of wireless technologies for broadband provision, related pricing models, and the schedule for service implementation.
Significance
At the moment, the mandate for universal service covers narrowband internet access, but as speeds of such services have become increasingly inadequate for responding to typical user needs, the government is now assessing whether connection over broadband should be defined as a legal right. As of end-June this year, according to regulator CMT, accesses defined as narrowband accounted for 2.4% of all 9.547 million internet subscriptions, against 5.2% a year earlier; in meanwhile, of the broadband accesses those at speeds below 1 Mbit/s accounted represented 0.4% of the total. IHS Global Insight
's view is that the allocation of lower frequency bands such as 800 and 900 MHz for data services will be in the main role if the Spanish government wants to bring broadband to every citizen. Thus far, incumbent Telefónica has used WiMAX and satellite connections to live up its universal service mandate in some of the more remote areas of the country, yet we believe that by expanding its mobile broadband network by using the lower frequencies it could achieve the same more cost-efficiently.
's Information Technology Policy is that Sweden should be a sustainable information society for all. This implies an accessible information society with a modern infrastructure and IT services of public benefit, so as to simplify everyday life and give people in every part of the country a better quality of life
.
IT should contribute to a better quality of life and help improve and simplify everyday life for people and companies, but it should also be used to promote sustainable growth. An effective and secure physical infrastructure for IT, with high transmission capacity, should be available in all parts of the country so as to give people access to, among other things, interactive public e-services.
For broadband, the Swedish and European IT policy aims to increase accessibility to an infrastructure with capacity for broadband transmission. Broadband among other things, promotes economic growth by creating new services and opening up new investment and employment opportunities. The objective is broadband for all households (permanent housing) and business and public operations. According to the Swedish Post and Telecom Agency, 'broadband' in this objective, refers to connections that can be upgraded to a transmission rate downstream of at least 2 Mb per second.
Between 2001-2007, Sweden's broadband support program included:
issued its "Digital Britain" report on June 2009.
In August 2009 the UK Government published its Digital Britain Implementation Plan setting out the government's roadmap for the rollout of it's plans mentioned above.
adopted on 13 October 2006 the Strategy for the development of broadband access to the Internet in the Republic of Croatia until 2008. The Strategy aims to reduce the gap between Croatia and European Union
member states concerning the density level (penetration) of broadband Internet connections. Therefore, an ambitious goal has been set to achieve the density level of at least 12 percent, i.e. to number at least 500,000 broadband connections until the end of 2008. In January 2009, the government declared success. However, accepting the fact that in the area of the development of broadband Internet, new challenges stand before the Republic of Croatia. The Ministry of the Sea, Transport and Infrastructure and the Central State Administrative Office for e-Croatia have initiated the drafting of the new Strategy for the development of broadband access to the Internet which would define strategic goals for the forthcoming period.
for the parties in Government7 dated 13 October 2005, the level of ambition for broadband rollout is to rise. The rollout of broadband throughout the entire country offers great potential to the business sector in the form of development and the setting up of more businesses, while reducing the difficulties of great distances. The tangible objectives of Government policy include:
stated that the government viewed the construction of main communications lines and the development of broadband and digital TV services as the top priorities of the telecoms industry.
Significance
The words of the deputy prime minister and communications minister highlight the importance with which the development of broadband services in the country is viewed. Broadband has taken over from mobile as the sector of highest growth potential in Russia, with the Communications Ministry reporting a fourfold increase in internet traffic in 2008. The market is heterogeneous, with no single dominant operator, but instead a number of players employing a variety of technologies. Although uptake has typically been centred on the economic hubs of the capital Moscow
and St Petersburg, operators are increasingly expanding towards the regions for further opportunities. With operators continuing to invest in the broadband sector, subscriber uptake growing, and now increasing signals of interest from the government, IHS Global Insight expects the sector to continue to grow healthily in the short and medium terms.
Federal Office of Communications (ComCom) has revealed that round table discussions on the deployment of fibre-to-the-home (FTTH) networks are producing concrete results. According to the regulator the major players are now in agreement on uniform technical standards, meaning that there are no technical barriers to the rapid expansion of the fibre network. A consensus has also been reached on coordination, which will prevent the parallel construction of new networks by laying multiple fibres in every building (known as the multiple fibre model). At the same time the participants at the round table have agreed that all providers must have access to the fibre-optic network under the same conditions, so as to protect end-users' freedom of choice. The participants drew up further recommendations for standardised network access by services. Thanks to an open interface, service providers will enjoy network access to customers at all times via network operators. If, at a later date, the customer opts for a different service provider on the same fibre-optic network, the switch will be possible without any technical complications.
The roundtable discussions involve cable network operators, telecoms companies and electricity utilities. Further roundtables and working groups will be held to clarify points. ComCom will also examine whether new regulatory measures are needed to govern FTTH deployment, with the aim of reporting to parliament by mid-2010 at the latest.
telecommunications sector in 2004, the Government embarked on a new licensing structure in 2006. That action was designed to move the country from the pre-existing licensing framework, which made the distinction between the various telecoms services, to a service-neutral structure with the view of accommodating technological convergence.
Currently, the only operator offering fixed-line broadband services is state-owned Botswana Telecommunications Corporation
(BTC), which has launched ADSL services. However, the larger ISPs are also rolling out broadband wireless networks, mainly in Gaborone
(the capital), to serve corporate customers in particular. Mobile operator Orange launched its broadband wireless service
in June 2008 using a WiMAX network in Gaborone. The total number of broadband subscribers increased to an estimated 3,500 in 2007, up from 1,800 in 2006 and 1,600 in 2005, with broadband comprising a growing proportion of total internet accounts.
BTC offers a range of data services including Frame Relay, ISDN, ADSL, MPLS and a broadband wireless service known as Wireless FastConnect. The data market has been liberalized, with ISPs now holding value-added network service (VANS) provider licenses. BTC enjoyed a monopoly over international bandwidth until February 2001 when the regulator began issuing international data gateway licenses. BTC's international bandwidth reached the 200-Mbit/s mark during 2008, some 90% of which (180 Mbit/s) was supplied via cross-border fiber networks to neighboring countries and 10% (20 Mbit/s) by satellite.
During 2004, BTC began the deployment of ADSL and a domestic two-way VSAT network for areas beyond the reach of terrestrial infrastructure.
During September 2008, BTC completed the roll-out of the Trans-Kalahari
fiber-optic project, connecting Botswana to the neighboring countries of Namibia
and Zambia
. The 2,000-kilometre system was built in three parts: phase 1 runs from Jwaneng
through Ghanzi
to Mamuno (the border with Namibia); phase 2 runs from Ghanzi via Maun
to Orapa
; and the phase 3 runs from Sebina via Nata
, Kasane
to Ngoma (the border with Zambia). The network is designed to provide onward connectivity to submarine cables, removing the dependence on transiting through South Africa
to reach the Sat-3/WASC
and S.A.F.E (Southern Africa Far East) submarine cable systems
.
BTC is a signatory to three submarine cable projects (EASSy, WAFS and AWCC) and the government is in tripartite discussions with Angola
and Namibia to assist each other in realizing the most effective means of achieving connectivity to these cable systems:
initiative in May 2004 that mandated a 50% tariff cut for unbundling. As part of the government's e-Readiness initiative, a strategy of public-private partnership is being aggressively pursued in the Internet sector to accelerate Internet and broadband uptake.
has signed a USD150 million contract with Chinese equipment manufacturer Huawei Technologies
for the supply of advanced telecoms infrastructure to ensure broadband internet access countrywide within the next two years. The Minister of Communications, Haruna Iddrisu
, told delegates at a conference on Business process outsourcing
(BPO) that the infrastructure would link internet Point of Presence
(POP) in all district capitals under the government's ICT Backbone Development Programme. The minister added that the government was committed to ensuring it developed the human resources needed to promote the country as a prospect for BPO companies, and said Ghana was working hard to ensure the legislative regime was right encourage inward investment under the e-legislation programme. 'During the year the Ministry of Communications will also facilitate the development of additional legislations in the area of data protection and intellectual property for investors in the area of data capturing and management to operate within the confines of international guidelines and rules,' he said. His words were echoed by Vice President John Dramani Mahama
who stressed Ghana's commitment to developing the nation's ICT backbone capabilities. 'In addition to the SAT3 connectivity, GLO-1
and MaiOne will commence the construction of two additional landing stations by the end of this year to take care of the issues of bandwidth redundancy,' he said.
In May 2007, the government of Ghana launched the "Wiring Ghana" project, a $250 million nationwide 4,000 kilometer fiber-optic backbone project that promises to dramatically increase Ghana's broadband bandwidth supply, reportedly to a capacity of STM-16 nationwide. The government's goal is to provide an open-access, nationwide broadband connectivity to boost economic development. As of May 2008, Phase I of the project that covers the south and mid-country had been completed. Rollout of the second and final phase is underway and is slated to be completed by December 2009.
Ghana's project will also provide fiber-optic connections with the neighboring countries of Burkina Faso to the north and Togo to the east.
Ghana's broadband market, divided between ADSL and wireless broadband services, was small at the end of 2008, a total of about 26,500 subscribers, ADSL 53% and wireless WiFi/WiMax 47%.
will revolutionize its telecom industry when it initiates its first fiber optic internet connection on June 27. This broadband connection will vastly improve the quality of internet access to Kenya and contiguous landlocked countries. With increased internet capacity, the fiber will improve local bandwidth quality and potentially decrease communication costs, as it complements the existing and widely used satellite communication networks. The increased bandwidth capabilities will improve the competitiveness of existing businesses, create growth in new industries such as knowledge-based businesses and business process outsourcing, and significantly increase access to information for end-users, schools, and universities. The Government of Kenya
(GOK) expects foreign investment in the sector to hit $10 billion in 2009. Septel will report how this connection and other broadband initiatives will affect rural and underserved areas.
From Patrick Boateng's June 2009 report: on broadband, the Kenyan government has recently taken several steps to boost the country's future international bandwidth by committing to several planned submarine cable projects. As an example, in September 2006, Kenya's cabinet decided, after further delays to the proposed East African Submarine Cable System (EASSy), to proceed with its plan to build its own submarine cable, the East Africa Marine System
(TEAMS) Ltd. In November 2006, the government signed a memorandum of understanding
(MoU) with UAE
's fixed-line incumbent, Etisalat, to build a submarine cable from Mombasa to Al Fujairah
in the UAE. In a February 2007 Kenyan government contract award to U.S. Company, Tyco Telecommunications
, the company conducted an undersea survey for the project. In October 2007, after the completion of the marine survey, Alcatel-Lucent won the bid to build the cable, and service is expected to begin at the end of the third quarter 2009.
In 2008, Kenya adopted a National ICT Policy and enacted the Kenya Communications Amendment Act. Backed by a new ICT Sector Master Plan (2008–2012) and a projected budget of $812.5 million, the main goals of this move are to develop regulations that will provide an enabling environment for leveraging the new broadband capacity, and to improve the ICT sector in general.
Meanwhile, a third submarine cable funded by South African and other investors, Sea Cable System (SEACOM), landed in Mombasa in May 2009 and is expected to be operational by July 2009. EASSy is slowly in progress and is expected to land in Mombasa in 2010. Also on the horizon are two additional submarine cables, France Telecom
's Lion which will run from Mombasa to Madagascar
to Mauritius
and Reunion
; and FLAG Telecom NGN System II cable.
(NCC) has partnered with Nigerian WiMAX operator ipNX to bring broadband access to all 36 states in the country through the 'State Accelerated Bandwidth Initiative' (SABI). Ifeanyi Amah, executive director of ipNX, commented: 'The move to empower Nigerians with broadband internet access started almost two years ago. Our intention is to take our products and services to other regions. Our commitment in that direction can be seen through our partnership with NCC on SABI'.
The project has been long-delayed, having been postponed because of government red tape and a lack of budget. According to TeleGeography's GlobalComms database, at the start of 2009 three companies were given letters of intent from the NCC: ipNX, MTN and a Wi-Fi alliance of several ISPs. The first phase of the project will cover the 36 state capitals, before being extended to government buildings.
Nigeria as a whole can be classified as unserved. The Project arm of SABI consisted of a reverse bid process where broadband providers were invited to state the minimum subsidy each provider required to deploy broadband coverage to all 37 state capital cities in the Country and the three lowest bidders would be appointed.
The subsidies were limited to:
The process is complete and three providers have been selected and approved by the Federal Government
and they are IPNX, MTN, and NAIJA-WIFI (The latter being a consortiim of about 15-20 ISPs.) One of the providers has started deployment and completed Kano
(capital of Kano State
in Northern Nigeria) which was launched in May. They are scheduled to launch in Ibadan
, capital of Oyo State
next month.
Currently, the broadband market in Nigeria is in its infancy and is predominantly wireless, rather than wireline, and is dominated by the fixed wireless access operators. Consequently, the market structure has been determined more by the licensing and regulation of the radio spectrum space rather than by unbundling of the local loop. VSAT
remains the predominant form of broadband Internet access. It is estimated that 51.1% of Internet users are connected by VSAT, 24% by broadband wireless, 3.4% by DSL, 9.3% via dial-up, 8.7% by cable/satellite and the remainder by Wi-Fi and leased lines.
The introduction of a unified licensing regime from February 2006 is having far-reaching consequences by increasing the scope of the operating licenses of different fixed-line and mobile operators.
At least two Nigerian ISPs have expanded services into other countries in West Africa
. Intercellular, one of the PTOs, has been granted a license to operate in Sierra Leone
. It has also applied for licenses in Benin
, Chad
, Guinea
, Liberia
, and Mali
. Meanwhile Hyperia, a leading Nigerian ISP, has announced the launch of two new wireless broadband services: a new WiMAX service in Port Harcourt and a two-way broadband VSAT service. Hyperia awarded a contract to Navini Networks, and has now launched the 3.5 GHz WiMAX service in Port Harcourt.
The ISP also awarded a contract to Gilat Satellite Networks
, to provide a SkyEdge broadband satellite hub and several hundred VSAT terminals. The VSAT network uses both C band
and Ku band
, and its hub and will be deployed at Hyperia's network operations center in London
(U.K.). The VSAT network will enable Hyperia to expand its services in West Africa and to provide multiple services including broadband IP, telephony, and videoconferencing
.
Transmission networks are the crux for the whole Nigerian telecommunications sector. New mobile operators, fixed-wireless access (FWA) operators, and ISPs require a robust national transmission backbone to link base stations, mobile switches, and POPs together with long-haul upstream bandwidth. In the absence of a reliable backbone, satellite has provided transmission and backhaul capacity, as well as international connectivity. NITEL
has access to Sat-3/WASC and is gradually upgrading its national transmission capacity. Globacom
launched its "Glo Xpress" long-distance transmission service in July 2005, and private operators continue to invest heavily in the roll-out of their own microwave and wireless networks.
The regulator Nigerian Communications Commission (NCC) has liberalized the long-distance market, and in addition to the two national carriers, there are now seven national long-distance operator
(NLDOs) that are investing in the roll-out of fiber backbones in different regions of the country. The mobile operators have also deployed their own independent national fiber and microwave backbones, and the unified access license granted to the mobile operators would allow them to commercialize these backbones. A key factor has been the entry of foreign operators into this market, through the acquisition of Nigerian operators.
Nigeria has several Gbps of international bandwidth, of which NITEL was only serving some 310 Mbit/s using the Sat-3/WASC cable, even though this only represents a fraction of the capacity that it owns on the cable. The balance of Nigeria's international bandwidth is provided entirely by satellite. Of up to six new submarine cables that would land in Nigeria, contracts have been awarded for two: Glo-1, and Main-1 (the others include AWCC, WAFS, Infinity, and Uhurunet). Glo-1 is expected to enter into service in 2009 and Main-1 from May 2010. In the medium term, the introduction of new submarine cables and national backbones linking Lagos to inland cities and towns will squeeze satellite operators, which have met the demand for services and filled the vacuum for data infrastructure.
Following is a list of key broadband networks underway:
passed the Electronic Communications Act in 2006 and is dramatically restructuring the sector towards a converged framework, converting vertically integrated licenses previously granted to PSTN, mobile, USAL, PTN and VANS operators into new Electronic Communications Network Services (ECNS), Electronic Communications Services (ECS), or broadcasting licenses. In January 2009, the Independent Communications Authority of South Africa
(ICASA) granted ECS and ECNS licenses to over 500 VANS operators.
The South African market is in the process of being dramatically restructured, moving away from old-style, vertically-integrated segments under the 1996 Telecommunications Act and 2001 Telecommunications Amendment Act towards horizontal service layers, and the new-style licensing regime is being converted to accommodate this. This process involves the conversion of pre-existing licenses into new Individual or Class Electronic Communications Network Services (ECNS), Electronic Communications Services (ECS), or broadcasting licenses. Licenses are also required for radio frequency spectrum, except for very low power devices.
ICASA granted ECNS licenses during December 2007 to seven new under-serviced area licenses (USAL) operators. The new licensees include PlatiTel, Ilembe Communications, Metsweding Telex, Dinaka Telecoms, Mitjodi Telecoms, and Nyakatho Telecoms.
South Africa had an estimated 6 million internet users in 2008 and the number of fixed (wireless and wireline) broadband subscribers is estimated at 750,000. Telkom reported 491,774 ADSL subscribers (Q3 2008), with the remainder using wireless broadband networks.
South Africa's total international bandwidth reached the 10 Gbit/s mark during 2008, and its continued increase is being driven primarily by the uptake of broadband and lowering of tariffs. Three new submarine cable projects will soon bring more capacity to South Africa from 2009---the SEACOM cable is expected to enter service in June 2009 and supply contracts have been awarded for both the EASSy and WACS cables.
While the internet user base increased to an estimated 6 million in 2008, the growth curve of paying internet accounts is recognized to be flattening. Meanwhile, the number of broadband subscribers is estimated to have grown quickly to reach about 750,000, split between Telkom's ADSL service (491,774 subscribers by 30 September 2008), and broadband wireless services provided by WBS, Sentech
and others. Dial-up subscribers are migrating to broadband, and then escalating to higher-bandwidth packages as they become available.
The South African market is split into two main tiers: top-tier internet access providers; and downstream retail ISPs. ISPs are licensed as value-added network service (VANS) providers, although under the Electronic Communications Act of 2006, these licenses were converted in January 2009 to individual or class electronic communication service (ECS) licenses. All domestic ISPs gain international connectivity through one of the internet access providers: SAIX (Telkom), Neotel, Verizon Business, The Internet Solution, MTN Network Solutions, DataPro and Posix Systems.
Following the deregulation of the VANS industry in South Africa, a number of leading operators have diversified from being a top-tier ISP to becoming a converged communications service provider offering a range of voice and data services, particularly VoIP, through the conversion of VANS licenses into ECS licenses.
The total number of wireless broadband subscribers overtook that of fixed broadband subscribers in South Africa during 2007. The total number of broadband subscribers is estimated at 750,000 by late 2007, of which Telkom reported 335,112 ADSL subscribers. Wireless Business Solutions (WBS) launched the iBurst system in South Africa in late 2004, and had a subscriber base of 45,000 by July 2007, up from 2,500 subscribers by February 2005. Sentech had about 4,000 MyWireless subscribers in 2007, up from 2,500 in 2006. With delays to local loop unbundling (LLU), which would give ISPs access to exchanges, operators are deploying a range of broadband wireless networks. While the mobile operators are deploying HSDPA, W-CDMA and EDGE networks and entering the broadband space, operators are also deploying WiMAX, iBurst, and CDMA systems. Telkom, Sentech, Neotel, WBS and the under-serviced areas licensees (USALs) have currently been given commercial WiMAX licenses. Telkom launched full commercial WiMAX services in June 2007, first at 14 sites in Pretoria, Cape Town and Durban, and a further 57 sites are planned for 2007/8. Another 10 operators, including M-Web and Vodacom, were granted temporary test licenses and are awaiting spectrum to be allocated by ICASA. In May 2008, WBS partnered with Vodacom and Intel Corporation to roll out an 802.16e WiMAX network.
The key upcoming development is that supply contracts have been awarded for three submarine cables that will land in South Arica—SEACOM, EASSy, and WACS. The data sector is a key area for growth in both the corporate data and residential data markets.
South Africa is currently served by two submarine cables: SAT-2 and the SAT-3/WASC/SAFE system. Contracts have been awarded for the following three additional submarine cables that will land in South Africa from June 2009:
's ICT Minister Aggrey Awori
announces the establishment of the Uganda Broadband Infrastructure Strategy Team (UBIST). The team he said comprises representatives from Government
, Regulator, Operators, Internet Service Providers, Other investors/consumers, Civil Society and academia. UBIST will provide government with a well informed position for enabling it to access International Broadband Infrastructure. The government is also studying a number of policies for the effective implementation of the National Broadband strategy.
of the Hong Kong Special Administrative Region
to set out the government's vision of developing Hong Kong
into a leading digital city. As a living document, updated in 2001 and 2004, it has taken into account the evolving needs of the community and technological advancements. The 2008 edition notes that Hong Kong offers the world's most affordable Internet connection
and mobile phone
services with penetration rates among the highest in the world. Cyberport
and Hong Kong Science Park
have been developed as strategic hubs bringing together clusters of high-tech information and communications technology
(ICT) companies and professional talent from all over the world. The Government is pursuing a vigorous e-government
program that has achieved good progress over the years. The Digital 21 Strategy sets out a vision of building on Hong Kong's position as a world digital city through advancing our achievements and seizing new opportunities. The realization of the Digital 21 Strategy vision requires the participation of the entire community including the ICT industry, business sectors, academia and the general public. As an integral part of the Strategy, key indicators of Hong Kong's ICT development will be measured and tracked over time for public reference. The Office of the Government Chief Information Officer
(OGCIO) is the focal point in the Government for dialogue with the public on the Strategy, for coordinating with all parties within the Government on its implementation and for tracking progress on an annual basis.
vary from 256 kbit/s to 12 Mbit/s, with speeds of up to 100 Mbit/s available in very few areas, though plans of 8 Mbit/s and above are becoming more common from BSNL, Airtel, Beam Telecom, Honesty Net Solutions and MTNL but they are super expensive & out of reach of most Indians. The demand in India is for affordable 1Mbps plans with no download limit forcefully imposed .
The price of Broadband in India is very high compared to Europe or other parts of Asia, with a 1 Mbit/s connection costing between US$20 and $30 per month. Because of this, broadband is yet to filter down to the masses, with a penetration rate of 8.03 million (December 2009), or about 9.9% of the estimated 81 million total Internet subscribers.
In addition to the high prices, many providers have introduced a Fair Usage Policy on "Unlimited" plans, while data plans still have very low data transfer limits (typically 5-20 GB) after which speed is always reduced to 256kbps..
Domestic Fiber
The National Internet Backbone (NIB), owned and operated by the government, is the largest backbone in the country. Bharti (Airtel), GAIL
Tel, Railtel
, Reliance Communications
and Tata Communications
also own and operate large amounts of backbone fiber throughout the country.
International Connectivity
n telecommunication officials announced the start of an auction process for 2.3 GHz radio frequency for broadband wireless access. Only companies or their subsidiaries that are majority Indonesian-owned are able to compete per the 2007 Investment Law and accompanying Negative List.
The Department of Communications and Information (DEPKOMINFO)laid out the following process for interested bidders:
Indonesian officials plan to hold future auctions for the 3.3 and 3.5 GHz frequencies. No date is set for these future auctions. Earlier this year, DEPKOMINFO issued a Ministerial decree instructing operators using those frequencies to migrate to other frequencies.
Because of the Indonesian Negative List on Foreign Investment, U.S. firms will not be able to participate in the auction unless they partner with local companies to create a subsidiary that is majority Indonesian-owned. Interestingly, DEPKOMINFO officials said Indosat
may not be able to compete because they are majority owned by a Qatar
firm. The official added that a majority Indonesian-owned subsidiary of Indosat could still participate in the auction.
released the e-Japan Priority Policy Programme. It stated that the private sector is to play the leading role in information technology, and the government
's role is to implement an environment in which markets function smoothly through the promotion of fair competition and removal of unnecessary regulations. It also stated that government must play an active role in areas in which the private sector's activities do not fulfill the goals of facilitating e-government, closing the digital divide
and promoting research and development
. The e-Japan program extended tax incentives
and budgetary support for carriers building fiber optic networks.
To implement this program, the Ministry of Public Management
, Home Affairs
, Posts and Telecommunications (MPHPT; it later changed its name to the Ministry of Internal Affairs and Communications, or MIC) pursued two policies: the National Broadband Initiative, which mandates that federal and local government
s deploy fiber to underserved areas; and the e-Japan Strategy, which set forth the goal of providing access at affordable rates by 2005 to high speed Internet networks for at least 30 million households, and to ultra-high speed Internet networks for 10 million households. Japan reached this goal with a broadband household penetration rate of 41.7 percent in 2004.
These policies provided $60 million to municipalities investing in local public broadband networks
, as well as low-interest loans to carriers to encourage them to build other broadband networks, including DSL, wireless, and cable systems. The loans were made through the Development Bank of Japan
and the Telecommunications Advancement Organisation, both of which were largely funded by the government of Japan. In 2004, MIC issued its "Ubiquitous Japan" (u-Japan) policy. Its goal is to achieve a ubiquitous network society
in which anything and anyone can easily access network
s and freely transmit information from anywhere at any time by 2010. MIC is reviewing its regulations regarding broadband as part of its work towards achieving that goal.
will put up 1.3 trillion won, with the remainder coming from private telecom operators. The project is also expected to create more than 120,000 jobs - a win for the Korean economy. In November 2006, the government
had announced it would invest 26.6 trillion won (US$28.3 billion) to upgrade networks—including fiber-to-the-home (FTTH), optical LAN and hyper fiber co-axial cable
—in the country over the next four years. The government aims to upgrade a total of 20 million subscriber lines—10 million lines for fixed and wireless services each. The government is expecting industry to contribute funds toward the national upgrading project.
The decision to focus on broadband began in the mid-1990s and intensified after South Korea's economy was crippled by the collapse of the Asian financial market
s in 1997, when policy makers targeted technology as a key sector for restoring the country's economic health. Korean regulators set a path for the industry with well-publicized national goals. All big office and apartment buildings would be given a fiber connection by 1997. By 2000, 30 percent of households would have broadband access through DSL or cable lines. By 2005, more than 80 percent of households would have access to fast connections of 20 Mbit/s or more—about the rate needed for high-definition television.
Most of the country's consumers were already served by the dominant carrier Korea Telecom
, but the government encouraged competitors with a low-interest loan program for companies that built their own broadband facilities. The program offered $77 million in two years alone, with a particular focus on rural areas. The government offered other incentives for Korea Telecom. Once a state-owned monopoly, the company began the transition to private hands in 1993. But the government, which retained some shares until 2002, allowed the process to become final only on the condition that Korea Telecom bring broadband to all the villages in the country.
The government also offered Internet training for the portion of the population deemed likely to be left behind in the digital age. About 10 million people fell into this category in the first round of the government's initiative, including stay-at-home wives, military personnel
, disabled citizens, and even prison inmates. That program was ultimately expanded to anyone who wanted it.
. The Broadband plan would bring larger, high speed communication pipes that would allow Lebanese citizens to have faster access to information and change the way they live, work, play, and learn. Lebanon's outdated communications infrastructure puts Lebanese industry at a competitive disadvantage, costing jobs, decreasing revenue, and slowing economic growth. The Partnership for Lebanon is working with the Lebanese government
and business leaders to modernize Lebanon's communications infrastructure through innovation and investment. In so doing, the Partnership is helping Lebanon update technology, reduce connectivity costs, and improve ICT quality across the board.
The Partnership is working specifically with the Telecommunications Regulatory Agency (TRA) to develop a national broadband strategy designed to bring broadband to Lebanon's urban and rural communities. As part of this effort, the Partnership is conducting broadband business analysis, developing network architecture options, and crafting a regulatory framework to facilitate the successful implementation of a modern communications infrastructure. The Partnership is also working with the government owned telecom operator, Ogero, to increase Lebanon's international bandwidth capacity. The Partnership has provided Ogero with an Internet Exchange Point and is assembling the equipment needed to install two state of the art International Internet Gateways. To help educate local stakeholders about the benefits of a modern communications infrastructure, the Partnership and in coordination with the LBSG Committee which represents economic councils, private sector leaders and professional assiociations, launched a recent Advertising Campaign. The objective of this campaign is to raise awareness and educate the Lebanese public on the need of a True Broadband Infrastructure in Lebanon. The True Broadband Infrastructure will encourage economic growth and social development. The campaign second objective is to drive people to sign the manifesto.
To understand the deployment of HSBB, the role HSBB plays in the larger world of broadband deployment in Malaysia must first be understood. Broadband deployment in Malaysia is carried out using two approaches – normal broadband, known as Broadband to the General Population (BBGP) delivered via wired (DSL) and wireless technologies (WiMax, WiFi, 3G/HSDPA) while the other will be through HSBB.
BBGP (via both wired and wireless modes) is deployed nationwide while HSBB ( available only through the wired mode) will only initially be concentrated in the Klang Valley, Iskandar Malaysia and key industrial zones throughout the country. It is expected that 1.3 million premises will have the ability to access HSBB coverage by end 2012.
an government
will provide up to S$750 million (US$520 million) in grants to build the Next Generation National Broadband Network. It will be wireline and wireless, and have speeds ranging from 100 Mbit/s to 1 Gbit/s. The network will be open to all service provider
s, threatening SingTel
and StarHub's market dominance. The government will not prevent companies from building their own networks, however. Bidding is taking place in two stages - first, for the passive infrastructure, and then for the active infrastructure. In September 2008, IDA selected OpenNet, in which SingTel has a 30 percent stake, to design, build, and operate the passive infrastructure.
Wireless@SG is a wireless broadband
programme developed by IDA as part of its Next Generation National Infocomm Infrastructure initiative. It will be run and developed in the next two years by three local wireless operators who will deploy a wireless broadband network in Singapore. Users can enjoy free, both in-door and outdoor seamless wireless broadband access with speeds of up to 512 kbit/s at most public areas.
. The authorities expanded E-Government to include "E-Society," "E-Industry," and "E-Opportunity" initiatives under 2002's "E-Taiwan" plan. According to James Lo, Section Chief in the National Communications Commission (NCC) Department of Planning, from 2003–2007, the Taiwan
authorities and private sector partners spent over USD 10 billion on the broadband development. By the end of 2007, there were six million broadband internet accounts in Taiwan.
.
The event, held at the Oriental Hotel, was the first meeting of the Meaningful Broadband Working Group, led by Craig Warren Smith, a visiting professor of Chulalongkorn University
's Center for Ethics of Science and Technology. Sponsored by NTC, the event released a white paper on Meaningful Broadband.
The report rejects the path to broadband favored by Singapore
and other advanced nations which serves affluent citizens who can afford high speed internet. Instead, it calls for a new "broadband ecosystem" for Thailand
, that is focused primarily on the Middle of the Pyramid (MOP), a middle-income group of Thais who make from $2 to $7 dollars per day. By bringing 28 million of these MOP Thais into subsidized meaningful mobile broadband applications, Smith predicts a "wealth effect" that could bring equity and sustainability to the Thai economy.
Responding to the framework, Khun Supachai called was one of several members of the group that advocated a follow up study that would prepare for a meeting with Prime Minister Abhisit
along with ministers of Finance, Education, ICT and other relevant parties. "We need to figure out the roles of government, the regulator and the telecomunications operators in establishing broadband that brings optimal benefits to Thailand." Supachai, agreed to be host and sponsor of further research in preparation of the next meeting of the Working Group to be held in September.
"Along with painting the big picture of how broadband could serve the nation, we should focus specifically how it can serve education and human resources development," said Montchai Noosong, Executive Vice President of TOT.
"Central to the 'meaningful' idea is a new approach to Ethics, said Chulalongkorn University Soraj Hongladarom. "We want Thailand to develop a way to help users choose broadband applications that will lead them to happiness not addiction," he said.
, announced fundamental reforms to Australian's telecommunications landscape.
In April 2009, the Australian Government
announced that it would establish a new company that will invest up to $43 billion over 8 years to build and operate a wholesale-only, open access National Broadband Network
. The new network will provide fiber optic
to the home and workplace, supplemented with next generation wireless and satellite technologies to deliver superfast broadband services. The Government plans to sell down its ownership of the company - NBN Co. Ltd. - 5 years after the network is built.
Again in April 2009, the Government released a discussion paper entitled "National Broadband Network: Regulatory Reform for 21st Century Broadband". The paper is based on public comments on the NBN. The paper appears to be similar to an FCC
NPRM or NOI. It outlines the method of establishing the NBN and also sketches general regulatory reforms to assist the market in the future. To facilitate fiber build-out, the government will simplify land right of way procedures.
The Australian Government had previously (in 2007) planned to subsidize a privately-operated fiber-to-the-node project. The collapse of capital market
s altered that plan.For a full history of the decision process
to arrive at the current strategy, see: http://www.dbcde.gov.au/__data/assets/pdf_file/0007/110014/Summary_observations_for_website.pdf.For an overview of the national plan and links to details see: http://www.dbcde.gov.au/all_funding_programs_and_support/national_broadband_network.
Broadband Internet access
Broadband Internet access, often shortened to just "broadband", is a high data rate, low-latency connection to the Internet— typically contrasted with dial-up access using a 56 kbit/s modem or satellite Internet with inherently high latency....
is a term normally considered to be synonymous with a high-speed connection to the internet
Internet
The Internet is a global system of interconnected computer networks that use the standard Internet protocol suite to serve billions of users worldwide...
. The term itself is technology neutral; broadband can be delived by a range of technologies including DSL, LTE
3GPP Long Term Evolution
3GPP Long Term Evolution, usually referred to as LTE, is a standard for wireless communication of high-speed data for mobile phones and data terminals. It is based on the GSM/EDGE and UMTS/HSPA network technologies, increasing the capacity and speed using new modulation techniques...
or next generation access
Next generation access
Next-generation access is term used by British Telecommunications describing a significant upgrade to the telecommunication access network replacing some or all of the copper cable with optical fibre...
. This page presents an overview of official Government plans to promote broadband based on official sources. The literature in the field is extensive and changes often.
Comparisons
Most countries considering such plans conduct their own comparative evaluations of existing national plans. The US, for instance, in September 2010 published a comparison of seven other countries' plans. The OECD tracks closely policy in this area and publishes links to relevant policy documents from its member (developed) countries. Developing countries' plans are studied most closely by the World BankWorld Bank
The World Bank is an international financial institution that provides loans to developing countries for capital programmes.The World Bank's official goal is the reduction of poverty...
as part of its e-Development program. It has released the World Bank Broadband Strategy Toolkit to assist in policy development.
Furthermore, the close relationship of universal wired broadband and smart grid plans is the subject of much study particularly in the US and Europe
Europe
Europe is, by convention, one of the world's seven continents. Comprising the westernmost peninsula of Eurasia, Europe is generally 'divided' from Asia to its east by the watershed divides of the Ural and Caucasus Mountains, the Ural River, the Caspian and Black Seas, and the waterways connecting...
. The US plan has ambitious energy demand management
Energy demand management
Energy demand management, also known as demand side management , is the modification of consumer demand for energy through various methods such as financial incentives and education...
goals (see National Broadband Plan (United States)
National Broadband Plan (United States)
Connecting America: The National Broadband Plan, unveiled March 16, 2010, is a FCC plan which deals with improving broadband Internet access throughout the United States. One goal was providing 100 million American households with access to 100 Mbit/s connections by 2020...
for more details on these and their relationship to other US national goals) and its broadband plan is generally considered to be a pre-requisite to its communications-intensive energy strategy. This is also true to some degree of other countries' broadband plans.
Canada
As of early March 2009, colleagues in Industry CanadaIndustry Canada
Industry Canada is the department of the Government of Canada with responsibility for regional economic development, investment, and innovation/research and development. The department employs 6104 FTEs across Canada....
confirm that the current national broadband strategy is a short statement in the 2009 budget:
"Canada
Canada
Canada is a North American country consisting of ten provinces and three territories. Located in the northern part of the continent, it extends from the Atlantic Ocean in the east to the Pacific Ocean in the west, and northward into the Arctic Ocean...
was one of the first countries to implement a connectivity agenda geared toward facilitating Internet access
Internet access
Many technologies and service plans for Internet access allow customers to connect to the Internet.Consumer use first became popular through dial-up connections in the 20th century....
to all of its citizens. To this day, Canada remains one of the most connected nations in the world, with the highest broadband connection rate among the G7 countries. However, gaps in access to broadband remain, particularly in rural and remote communities.
"The Government is committed to closing the broadband gap in Canada by encouraging the private development of rural broadband infrastructure. Budget 2009 provides $225 million over three years to Industry Canada to develop and implement a strategy on extending broadband coverage to all currently unserved communities beginning in 2009-10." The budget specifically includes:
"Providing $225 million over three years to develop and implement a strategy on extending broadband coverage to unserved communities." On March 6, 2009, Mr. John Duncan
John Duncan (Canadian politician)
John Morris Duncan, PC, MP, is a Canadian politician sitting as a member of the Canadian Parliament from 1993 to January 2006 and again from October 2008...
, Parliamentary Secretary
Parliamentary Secretary
A Parliamentary Secretary is a member of a Parliament in the Westminster system who assists a more senior minister with his or her duties.In the parliamentary systems of several Commonwealth countries, such as the United Kingdom, Canada and Australia, it is customary for the prime minister to...
to the Minister of Indian Affairs and Northern Development
Indian and Northern Affairs Canada
The Department of Aboriginal Affairs and Northern Development is the department of the government of Canada with responsibility for policies relating to Aboriginal peoples...
and Federal Interlocutor for Métis and Non-status Indians
Federal Interlocutor for Métis and Non-Status Indians
The position of Federal Interlocutor for Métis and Non-Status Indians was created in 1985 as a portfolio in the Canadian Cabinet. As the Department of Indian Affairs and Northern Development is officially responsible only for Status Indians and largely with those living on Indian reserves, the new...
, announced that the Government of Canada will contribute $7.86 million to the First Nations Emergency Services
Emergency service
Emergency services are organizations which ensure public safety and health by addressing different emergencies. Some agencies exist solely for addressing certain types of emergencies whilst others deal with ad hoc emergencies as part of their normal responsibilities...
Society (FNESS) and their partner, the First Nations Technology Council (FNTC) in British Columbia
British Columbia
British Columbia is the westernmost of Canada's provinces and is known for its natural beauty, as reflected in its Latin motto, Splendor sine occasu . Its name was chosen by Queen Victoria in 1858...
, for the construction and provision of satellite broadband network capacity connecting 21 remote First Nations communities in British Columbia.
In a June 4, 2009 news release
News release
A press release, news release, media release, press statement or video release is a written or recorded communication directed at members of the news media for the purpose of announcing something ostensibly newsworthy...
, the CRTC endorsed the National Film Board's call for a national digital strategy.
United States
In the American Recovery and Reinvestment Act of 2009American Recovery and Reinvestment Act of 2009
The American Recovery and Reinvestment Act of 2009, abbreviated ARRA and commonly referred to as the Stimulus or The Recovery Act, is an economic stimulus package enacted by the 111th United States Congress in February 2009 and signed into law on February 17, 2009, by President Barack Obama.To...
– known as the stimulus package – Congress charged the US Federal Communications Commission
Federal Communications Commission
The Federal Communications Commission is an independent agency of the United States government, created, Congressional statute , and with the majority of its commissioners appointed by the current President. The FCC works towards six goals in the areas of broadband, competition, the spectrum, the...
with creating a national broadband plan. The Recovery Act required the plan to explore several key elements of broadband deployment and use, and the Commission now seeks comment on these elements, including:
- The most effective and efficient ways to ensure broadband access for all Americans
- Strategies for achieving affordability and maximum utilization of broadband infrastructure and services
- Evaluation of the status of broadband deployment, including the progress of related grant programs
- How to use broadband to advance consumer welfareWelfare economicsWelfare economics is a branch of economics that uses microeconomic techniques to evaluate economic well-being, especially relative to competitive general equilibrium within an economy as to economic efficiency and the resulting income distribution associated with it...
, civic participation, public safety and homeland securityHomeland securityHomeland security is an umbrella term for security efforts to protect states against terrorist activity. Specifically, is a concerted national effort to prevent terrorist attacks within the U.S., reduce America’s vulnerability to terrorism, and minimize the damage and recover from attacks that do...
, community developmentCommunity developmentCommunity development is a broad term applied to the practices and academic disciplines of civic leaders, activists, involved citizens and professionals to improve various aspects of local communities....
, health care delivery, energy independenceNorth American energy independenceNorth American energy independence is a stated goal of those who believe that the North American nations - the USA, Canada and Mexico - must reduce their reliance on oil purchased from outside the continent....
and efficiency, education, worker training, private sector investment, entrepreneurial activity, job creation, and economic growthEconomic growthIn economics, economic growth is defined as the increasing capacity of the economy to satisfy the wants of goods and services of the members of society. Economic growth is enabled by increases in productivity, which lowers the inputs for a given amount of output. Lowered costs increase demand...
, and other national purposes.
The plan was published in March 2010, on the same website used to gather public comment during its preparation.
Argentina
The number of Internet users in the country has been estimated at 26 million (2010),of which 5 million, by late 2010, where broadband users (82% of which were residential and 81% of which connected at a speed of least 512 kbit/s), and over 1.3 were wireless and satellite users.
Among residential users, 38.3% were located in Buenos Aires Province
Buenos Aires Province
The Province of Buenos Aires is the largest and most populous province of Argentina. It takes the name from the city of Buenos Aires, which used to be the provincial capital until it was federalized in 1880...
(including Greater Buenos Aires
Greater Buenos Aires
Greater Buenos Aires is the generic denomination to refer to the megalopolis comprising the autonomous city of Buenos Aires and the conurbation around it, over the province of Buenos Aires—namely the adjacent 24 partidos or municipalities—which nonetheless do not constitute a single administrative...
), 26.0% in the city of Buenos Aires
Buenos Aires
Buenos Aires is the capital and largest city of Argentina, and the second-largest metropolitan area in South America, after São Paulo. It is located on the western shore of the estuary of the Río de la Plata, on the southeastern coast of the South American continent...
, 8.2% in Córdoba and 7.4% in Santa Fe Province
Santa Fe Province
The Invincible Province of Santa Fe, in Spanish Provincia Invencible de Santa Fe , is a province of Argentina, located in the center-east of the country. Neighboring provinces are from the north clockwise Chaco , Corrientes, Entre Ríos, Buenos Aires, Córdoba, and Santiago del Estero...
.
According to a 2010 report by IDC Consulting, Argentina has a rate of 9.3 broadband accounts per 100 inhabitants, only surpassed in the region by Chile, which registered 9.7. Despite this relatively good national indicator, the penetration of Internet is not the same in all provinces, and some provinces, like Jujuy
Jujuy Province
Jujuy is a province of Argentina, located in the extreme northwest of the country, at the borders with Chile and Bolivia. The only neighboring Argentine province is Salta to the east and south.-History:...
, have only 0.2 per 100 inhabitants; Formosa Province
Formosa Province
Formosa Province is in northeastern Argentina, part of the Gran Chaco Region. Its northeast end touches Asunción, Paraguay, and borders the provinces of Chaco and Salta to its south and west, respectively...
0.3; Corrientes Province
Corrientes Province
Corrientes is a province in northeast Argentina, in the Mesopotamia region. It is surrounded by : Paraguay, the province of Misiones, Brazil, Uruguay, and the provinces of Entre Rios, Santa Fe and Chaco.-History:...
0.4; and Tucumán Province
Tucumán Province
Tucumán is the most densely populated, and the smallest by land area, of the provinces of Argentina. Located in the northwest of the country, the capital is San Miguel de Tucumán, often shortened to Tucumán. Neighboring provinces are, clockwise from the north: Salta, Santiago del Estero and...
0.7.
To reduce this disparity between provinces, in October 2010 the government presented a five-year plan, with an initial inversion of 8,000 million pesos, called Plan Nacional de Telecomunicación "Argentina Conectada" ("Connected Argentina" - National Telecommunications Plan), under command of the state-owned entreprise AR-SAT.
Most of the financing is intended for the acquiring of high-tech material required. The main goal is to expand the broadband to the whole national territory, and to reach, by the year 2015, a coverage of more than 10 million homes with a connection. This is supposed to duplicate the present number of residences which have access to these services, and to quintuple the penetration of optical fiber in the country.
Brazil
In October 2009, the Brazilian Agency of TelecommunicationsBrazilian Agency of Telecommunications
The Brazilian Agency of Telecommunications is a special authority created by the general telecommunications law in 1997 and regulated by the decree 2338, 07/10/1997...
is seeking to tighten up rules on domestic broadband service providers which, if implemented, could force firms such as Telefónica
Telefónica
Telefónica, S.A. is a Spanish broadband and telecommunications provider in Europe and Latin America. Operating globally, it is the third largest provider in the world...
of Spain and Mexico's América Móvil
América Móvil
América Móvil is a Mexican telecommunication company headquartered in Mexico City, Mexico. It is the fourth largest mobile network operator in terms of equity subscribers, one of the largest corporations in Latin America, and the world. America Movil is a Fortune 500 company...
to increase their investments in the country, according to local daily O Estado de S. Paulo reports. It is understood the new rules are designed to improve customer service with a specific focus on the delivery of stated broadband connection speeds; around 50% of users are currently thought to receive less than half the speed promised by their Internet service provider
Internet service provider
An Internet service provider is a company that provides access to the Internet. Access ISPs directly connect customers to the Internet using copper wires, wireless or fiber-optic connections. Hosting ISPs lease server space for smaller businesses and host other people servers...
(ISP). New legislation could enter into force in 2010 requiring domestic broadband providers to comply with stricter standards on service quality. Anatel's move comes in the wake of an explosion in demand for broadband internet access which has seen user number swell to around 18 million, but also resulted in major disruptions to services - such as the recent high profile outage of Telefonica's Speedy service which left millions of customers offline.
Chile
In October 2008, ChileChile
Chile ,officially the Republic of Chile , is a country in South America occupying a long, narrow coastal strip between the Andes mountains to the east and the Pacific Ocean to the west. It borders Peru to the north, Bolivia to the northeast, Argentina to the east, and the Drake Passage in the far...
's president, Michelle Bachelet
Michelle Bachelet
Verónica Michelle Bachelet Jeria is a Social Democrat politician who was President of Chile from 11 March 2006 to 11 March 2010. She was the first woman president of her country...
, announced this week the countries' most ambitious telecoms subsidy plan ever, in terns of public investment and area of coverage. The project, which is aimed at boosting SMEs competitiveness in rural areas, will provide connectivity to more than three million people in 1,474 rural communities. The development is expected to cost US$100 million, 70% of which will be provided by the government through the Telecoms Development Fund.
- Significance: At 30 March 2008, only 0.8% of the households in rural areas in Chile have internet access. Upon completion of the project, internet network coverage will reach from 71.6% of the population to 92.2%, according to the country's telecoms regulator.
In January 2008, Chile announced its 2007-2012 Strategy for Digital Development that will articulate the efforts of the public and private spheres as to new technologies during the next years. The project was prepared by the Committee of Ministers for Digital Development and seeks to provide further impulse to the ICTs in the Trans-Andean country.
The goals on which the Chilean government
Politics of Chile
The politics of Chile takes place in a framework of a presidential representative democratic republic, whereby the President of Chile is both head of state and head of government, and of a formal multi-party system that in practice behaves like a two-party one, due to binominalism. Executive power...
will place more emphasis are to double the broadband connections to reach 2 million by 2010, to increase SMEs competition, to advance on the digitalization of the public health system, and to implement new technologies in areas deemed key, such as the provisional reform and education.
In June 2009, Chile launched a new portal in which consumers may compare offers of all internet providers.
Colombia
In April 2009, Internet usage has grown to 40 percent of the Colombian population in the last ten years, with internet subscriptions rising at an annual rate of 75 percent. Over 73 percent of internet subscribers use broadband. Despite the growth, ColombiaColombia
Colombia, officially the Republic of Colombia , is a unitary constitutional republic comprising thirty-two departments. The country is located in northwestern South America, bordered to the east by Venezuela and Brazil; to the south by Ecuador and Peru; to the north by the Caribbean Sea; to the...
's subscription penetration average remains sixth in Latin America, with a majority of internet subscriptions concentrated in Colombia's three largest cities. To promote information technologies
Information technology
Information technology is the acquisition, processing, storage and dissemination of vocal, pictorial, textual and numerical information by a microelectronics-based combination of computing and telecommunications...
(IT) and telecommunications services in rural areas, Colombia's Ministry of Information Technologies and Communications
Ministry of Information Technologies and Communications
Ministry of Information Technology and Communications , is the national executive ministry of the Government of Colombia responsible for overseeing the information and communication technologies, telecommunications and broadcasting industries....
developed a comprehensive ten-year National IT plan. A USD 750 million public-private Communications Fund administers plan implementation, with 60 percent of funds targeted to the Compartel rural and community development program. United States Agency for International Development
United States Agency for International Development
The United States Agency for International Development is the United States federal government agency primarily responsible for administering civilian foreign aid. President John F. Kennedy created USAID in 1961 by executive order to implement development assistance programs in the areas...
(USAID) also supports the development of telecommunications networks in rural areas, as well as provides technical assistance to GOC telecommunications authorities.
The percentage of internet users has grown from 1 to 40 percent of the population—or approximately 17 million people—within the last decade. Permanent internet subscribers have also grown at an annual rate of 75 percent in the last five years, although the actual number of subscriptions remains low at 2 million. Colombia's penetration average (the internet subscription to population ratio) is 4.3, ranking it sixth in Latin America behind Chile, Argentina
Argentina
Argentina , officially the Argentine Republic , is the second largest country in South America by land area, after Brazil. It is constituted as a federation of 23 provinces and an autonomous city, Buenos Aires...
, Uruguay
Uruguay
Uruguay ,officially the Oriental Republic of Uruguay,sometimes the Eastern Republic of Uruguay; ) is a country in the southeastern part of South America. It is home to some 3.5 million people, of whom 1.8 million live in the capital Montevideo and its metropolitan area...
, Mexico
Mexico
The United Mexican States , commonly known as Mexico , is a federal constitutional republic in North America. It is bordered on the north by the United States; on the south and west by the Pacific Ocean; on the southeast by Guatemala, Belize, and the Caribbean Sea; and on the east by the Gulf of...
and Brazil. Likewise, 55 percent of subscriptions remain concentrated in the cities of Bogotá
Bogotá
Bogotá, Distrito Capital , from 1991 to 2000 called Santa Fé de Bogotá, is the capital, and largest city, of Colombia. It is also designated by the national constitution as the capital of the department of Cundinamarca, even though the city of Bogotá now comprises an independent Capital district...
, Medellín
Medellín
Medellín , officially the Municipio de Medellín or Municipality of Medellín, is the second largest city in Colombia. It is in the Aburrá Valley, one of the more northerly of the Andes in South America. It has a population of 2.3 million...
and Cali
Calì
Calì, also written in English as Cali, is an Italian surname, widespread mainly in the Ionian side of Sicily.For the surname Calì is assumed the origin of the Greek word kalos , or from its Sanskrit root kali, "time."The surname refers to:...
.
Colombia has 1.45 million internet subscribers with broadband access—approximately 73 percent of total subscriptions.Colombia's Telecommunications Regulations Commission (CRT) defines broadband as an internet service with a minimum download speed of 512 kbit/s, which is faster than the 128 kbit/s download speed defined as broadband by the International Telecommunications Union (ITU). DSL (63 percent) and cable (32 percent) dominate the broadband market share, with Wimax (5 percent) a distant third. The main providers according to market share are: Empresa de Telefonos de Bogota
ETB S.A.
ETB is the largest provider of local telephone services, and DSL internet access in Bogotá, Colombia....
(25 percent); EPM Telecommunications
Empresas Públicas de Medellín
Empresas Públicas de Medellín was established 55 years ago as a residential public utilities company which, initially, only served the inhabitants of Medellin, its hometown...
(24 percent); Colombia Telecommunications
Telecom Colombia
Telefónica Telecom is the largest telecommunications company in Colombia. It is headquartered in Bogotá, D.C.....
(20 percent); Telmex Hogar (19 percent); and independent providers (12 percent). These providers focus on triple-play packages combining internet, television and telephone services, which has contributed to the rapid expansion of internet usage. Carlos Forero, the Vice-President of the CRT, said that broadband and associated value-added services are now seen as the market differentiator between telecommunications providers.
Last year the Ministry of Communications (MOC) announced a National IT Plan, establishing three main goals to be achieved before 2019: 70 percent of Colombians with internet subscriptions, 100 percent of health and education establishments with internet access, and 100 percent of rural areas with internet access. The MOC plans to achieve these objectives through its flagship community and rural development program Compartel, which is funded by a USD 750 million public-private National Communications Fund.All telecommunications providers are required to assist the Ministry of Communications in financing the Compartel program, with private sector contributions equaling 15 percent of Compartel's total budget in 2008. Compartel provides subsidies or investment incentives to establish internet networks and telephony services in Colombia's most rural and impoverished areas. Since 2008, the program has invested USD 421 million in rural networks, benefiting 16,000 rural educational,health and government institutions.
In addition to Compartel, the GOC also supports additional programs in the educational, health, entrepreneurial, competitiveness, online-government and research sectors. Activities in 2008 included the distribution of refurbished computers to educational institutions (USD 86 million), connectivity financing for small and medium enterprises (USD 15 million), conversion of all public institutions to online institutions (USD 70 million), and e-medicine (USD 5 million).
USAID also promotes telecommunications connectivity for underserved and rural populations, as well as education and content to support economic and social development, through its Last Mile Initiative. Major contributors to this public-private alliance are Avantel
Avantel
Avantel is a telecommunications company based in Mexico City.Avantel was founded in October 1994 by Mexican investors partnered with Banamex and MCI after the deregulation of the communications industry in Mexico...
, Intel
Intel Corporation
Intel Corporation is an American multinational semiconductor chip maker corporation headquartered in Santa Clara, California, United States and the world's largest semiconductor chip maker, based on revenue. It is the inventor of the x86 series of microprocessors, the processors found in most...
, Cisco
Cisco Systems
Cisco Systems, Inc. is an American multinational corporation headquartered in San Jose, California, United States, that designs and sells consumer electronics, networking, voice, and communications technology and services. Cisco has more than 70,000 employees and annual revenue of US$...
, Microsoft
Microsoft
Microsoft Corporation is an American public multinational corporation headquartered in Redmond, Washington, USA that develops, manufactures, licenses, and supports a wide range of products and services predominantly related to computing through its various product divisions...
Google
Google Inc. is an American multinational public corporation invested in Internet search, cloud computing, and advertising technologies. Google hosts and develops a number of Internet-based services and products, and generates profit primarily from advertising through its AdWords program...
, Polyvision, regional and local governments, and the MOC. Through the program, USG-provided equipment and training will connect 50 municipalities in the departments
Departments of Colombia
Colombia is an unitary republic formed by thirty-two departments and a Capital District . Each department has a Governor and a Department Assembly , elected by popular vote for a four-year period. The governor cannot be re-elected in consecutive periods...
of Meta
Meta Department
Meta is a department of Colombia. It is close to the geographic center of the country, to the east of the Andean mountains. A large portion of the department, which is also crossed by the Meta River, is covered by a grassland plain known as the Llanos. Its capital is Villavicencio...
, Huila
Huila Department
Huila is one of the departments of Colombia. It is located in the southwest of the country, and its capital is Neiva.-Geography:The south of the department is located in the Colombian Massif...
and Magdalena
Magdalena Department
Magdalena is a department of Colombia, located to the north of the country by the Caribbean Sea. The capital of the Magdalena Department is Santa Marta and was named after the Magdalena River...
, including 21,000 small businesses and 325,000 institutions such as schools, hospitals, justice houses and local government offices. On the technical side, USAID assisted the MOC with the development of its National Plan and presently advises the CRT on "unbundling the local loop" to increase competition in broadband provision.
Colombia remains behind Latin American neighbors such as Mexico, Brazil and Argentina in most IT indicators, but since the GOC privatized its state-owned National Telecommunications Company in 2003, the IT sector has expanded rapidly. The sector contributed a record 3 percent of total GDP in 2008. Local experts agree that IT sector will continue to experience accelerated growth as Colombia's domestic security situation improves and the legal economy strengthens. However, they also emphasize that continued private investment is key to the GOC achieving its lofty goals by 2019.
Dominican Republic
In October 2009, the Dominican RepublicDominican Republic
The Dominican Republic is a nation on the island of La Hispaniola, part of the Greater Antilles archipelago in the Caribbean region. The western third of the island is occupied by the nation of Haiti, making Hispaniola one of two Caribbean islands that are shared by two countries...
's telecoms regulator, Instituto Dominicano de las Telecomunicaciones (INDOTEL), has said it has plans to roll out fixed line telecoms services to an additional 1,000 rural communities as part of an initiative aimed at providing broadband and home voice services to all towns with more than 300 inhabitants. According to TeleGeography's GlobalComms database, the announcement comes just over a year after fixed line incumbent CODETEL inked a deal with INDOTEL to undertake a rural connectivity project that will see investment of USD100 million.
In April 2009, this cable presents initial reporting on broadband deployment initiatives in the Dominican Republic (reftel). There is one ongoing government initiative to provide broadband access to 508 rural communities that is scheduled to finish by September. While future incentives are being considered by the regulatory agency, no others currently exist and broadband expansion is further hampered by 28 percent in taxes levied on all telecommunications sales. A Senate committee announced on March 30 it would review and update of the 1998 telecommunications law.
The Dominican Telecommunications Institute (INDOTEL), the GoDR regulatory agency, launched a tender in 2007 for a Rural Broadband Connectivity Program. At that time, only 30 percent of the country's 383 municipalities had broadband capacity. The tender offered a subsidy of up to USD 5 million. The winning bidder was Codetel (Mexican-owned), the largest company in the market, which offered to connect the 508 communities with no cash subsidy but rather in exchange for the rights to a WiMax frequency in the country. INDOTEL Executive Director Joelle Exarhakos told EconOff that the program has proceeded successfully and more than 100 rural communities have already been connected. She said Codetel would complete the broadband deployment plan by September 2009. By that time, every municipality in the country will have broadband access. Under the program, Codetel provides 256 kB/second or faster service to rural communities at prices that match the prices charged in urban centers where Codetel competes with other providers.
Exarhakos told EconOff that INDOTEL does not have current plans for a second stage for the rural connectivity program, noting that with the completion of this plan, every municipality in the country will have broadband access. She said that in many of these communities, local entrepreneurs have built connections to the networks servicing even smaller communities nearby. Nonetheless, INDOTEL does not foresee a second stage of the rural program to venture into even smaller villages. But Exarhakos told EconOff that she believes such incentives might not be necessary; part of the goal of the Rural Connectivity Program was to demonstrate rural residents' capacity to pay and it has. In Monte Plata
Monte Plata
Monte Plata is a province of the Dominican Republic, and also the name of its capital city. It was split from San Cristóbal in 1992.-Municipalities and municipal districts:...
, a national provider, Dijitec, is developing infrastructure without any government incentive to compete with Codetel.
In many of these communities, INDOTEL has set up Informatics Training Centers (CCI), where schoolchildren and residents can access the Internet and learn how to use computers. These centers are among the 846 centers around the country that INDOTEL has established as part of an information technology promotion program. INDOTEL provides the hardware
Hardware
Hardware is a general term for equipment such as keys, locks, hinges, latches, handles, wire, chains, plumbing supplies, tools, utensils, cutlery and machine parts. Household hardware is typically sold in hardware stores....
and software for the centers and community groups, schools, churches or town governments maintain and operate the facilities. EconOff visited one such site in October 2008 at a church in Samaná which was inoperable because there were no funds to pay the electricity bill. Asked about these issues, Exarhakos candidly acknowledged that some of the committees have not succeeded in maintaining the facilities.Following the meeting with INDOTEL, EconOff learned from the Samana church pastor that the facility remains closed six months later. Although the electricity bill is paid, they have been waiting for two weeks for INDOTEL to provide a needed battery. He said he does not know how to fund the CCI in the future.
Sur Futuro is one of the non-governmental organizations that has taken on the operations of CCIs, and runs three centers in communities where the organization is also otherwise involved. The group's education director told EconOff that while INDOTEL's CCI program provides an excellent service to communities, the lack of long-term funding limits its impact. She said it costs between USD 500 and 850 monthly to operate a CCI, funds that are difficult to come across in poor communities. Sur Futuro's president noted that she is aware that the Catholic Church struggles to maintain the CCIs it runs.
Codetel's participation in the rural broadband program has been directed by Ahmed Awad, who said the company's total cost of the program is about USD 50 million. He said that while Codetel views it as a social investment, it has also proven relatively commercially successful.
In addition to installing and maintaining the infrastructure for broadband connectivity in the 508 communities, Codetel is responsible for setting up an entrepreneur program, establishing an Internet portal
Web portal
A web portal or links page is a web site that functions as a point of access to information in the World Wide Web. A portal presents information from diverse sources in a unified way....
for the program and providing training in each community participating in the program. In the entrepreneur program, Codetel has helped small businesspeople in many of the communities invest an average of USD 1000 to start up internet cafes
Internet cafe
An Internet café or cybercafé is a place which provides internet access to the public, usually for a fee. These businesses usually provide snacks and drinks, hence the café in the name...
or international call centers
Call centre
A call centre or call center is a centralised office used for the purpose of receiving and transmitting a large volume of requests by telephone. A call centre is operated by a company to administer incoming product support or information inquiries from consumers. Outgoing calls for telemarketing,...
. The Internet portal, which Codetel hired an NGO to construct, features geographic, demographic and interesting facts about each of the 508 communities. Awad told EconOff he believes it is the only database of information about these forgotten locales. The training provided by Codetel is limited to a one-hour workshop provided to the highest level of school taught in each municipality. Awad said that while the schools have received the trainers positively, he noted that one hour was insufficient to provide much training to the students.
Awad told EconOff that the installed connections are 80 percent wireless, but that despite the fact that this provides the opportunity for cellular-only service in these areas, many customers want wired hardware in their homes despite the higher costs. Because the service is wireless, many locales contiguous to the participating communities have gained broadband access, Awad said. "In addition to the 508 municipalities, another 150 or so villages will receive service because of the wireless reach," he told EconOff.
Awad said he hoped that INDOTEL would launch a sequel to this program, noting that there are another 1500 communities that lack broadband access. However, he lamented the fact that the sector does not have an ongoing focalized subsidy that would reduce costs to rural users, which would make these consumers a more attractive target for private investment. He also commented that the country needs more investment in information technology (IT) education in order to take advantage of the growing broadband penetration and stimulate demand for these services. Perhaps most importantly, though, he cited the lack of reliable electricity as one of the highest hurdles impeding broadband growth both in rural communities and nationwide.
Instead of providing incentives for growth, the GoDR has a policy of discouraging it with high taxes. In an April 2 interview with the newspaper Hoy, Codetel President Oscar Pena complained that the Dominican Republic has the fourth highest taxes on telecommunications of any country in the world, at 28 percent, and a 3 percent municipal tax appears likely to increase this burden even further. Pena said that the implementation of the 3 percent tax would send a strong negative signal to investors.
Ecuador
In August 2009, BNamericas reports that EcuadorEcuador
Ecuador , officially the Republic of Ecuador is a representative democratic republic in South America, bordered by Colombia on the north, Peru on the east and south, and by the Pacific Ocean to the west. It is one of only two countries in South America, along with Chile, that do not have a border...
's telecoms watchdog Senatel aims to end 2010 with 9,000 schools connected to the internet via broadband networks under a national scheme, compared to 1,900 today, with 4,000 of the new connections to be made this year. A further 11,000 schools are to be covered by other public-funded social programmes, universal access fund Fodetel told BNamericas, adding that state-run telco Corporacion Nacional de Telecomunicaciones (CNT) is currently handling all rollouts, and as yet there had been no plans announced to open up tenders to private sector broadband operators. The news site wrote that telecoms regulator Conatel lists ongoing projects to connect 759 schools at a cost of USD4.56 million, or an average of USD6,000 per school.
Mexico
According to CEO Telecom Briefings, Latin America 2009, TelmexTelmex
Telmex is a telecommunications company headquartered in Mexico City that provides telecommunication products and services in Mexico, Argentina, Colombia, Brazil and other countries in Latin America. In addition to traditional fixed-line telephone service, Telmex also offers Internet access, data,...
considers that the goal to connect 15 million to broadband by 2012 is impossible. This is reportedly one of the administration's goals. The Government also hopes that by that date 70 million people will be able to connect to the Internet. According to data from INEGI, 20% of the population had access to the Internet.
European Union
The Digital Agenda for EuropeEuropean Union
The European Union is an economic and political union of 27 independent member states which are located primarily in Europe. The EU traces its origins from the European Coal and Steel Community and the European Economic Community , formed by six countries in 1958...
is one of the seven flagship initiatives of the Europe 2020
Europe 2020
Europe 2020 is a 10-year strategy proposed by the European Commission on 3 March 2010 for reviving the economy of the European Union. It aims at "smart, sustainable, inclusive growth" with greater coordination of national and European policy...
strategy. The objective is to bring "basic broadband" to all Europeans by 2013 and also to ensure that, by 2020, all Europeans have access to much higher internet speeds of above 30 Mbit/s and 50% or more of European households subscribe to internet connections above 100 Mbit/s.
On 20 September 2010 the European Commission
European Commission
The European Commission is the executive body of the European Union. The body is responsible for proposing legislation, implementing decisions, upholding the Union's treaties and the general day-to-day running of the Union....
published a Broadband Communication, which describes measures the Commission will take to achieve the targets of the Digital Agenda.
Austria
In October 2009, the European CommissionEuropean Commission
The European Commission is the executive body of the European Union. The body is responsible for proposing legislation, implementing decisions, upholding the Union's treaties and the general day-to-day running of the Union....
called on the Austrian telecommunications regulator, RTR, to suspend the adoption of regulatory measures governing the broadband access market, finding that RTR provided "insufficient evidence" that mobile broadband connections can be considered substitutes for fixed-line DSL (digital subscriber line) and cable modem connections. RTR had proposed to define the broadband access market for residential customers as including mobile, DSL, and cable modem connections and to consider that market as competitive. RTR allegedly found that the retail broadband market for business customers was not competitive and that wholesale regulation of the market, including requiring "bitstream access", remained necessary. The EC disputed the conclusion that mobile connections are substitutes for fixed-line broadband connections, which would require that all three types of connections can be equally used for downloading music or films or providing sufficiently secure connections for Internet banking
Online banking
Online banking allows customers to conduct financial transactions on a secure website operated by their retail or virtual bank, credit union or building society.-Features:...
. The EC also questioned the definition of the relevant wholesale product market "as a sufficiently detailed forward-looking analysis of the different wholesale inputs is missing."
Previously, in 2003, the Campaign for Broadband Internet Connection initiative was launched, seeking to achieve blanket broadband by 2007. Information is scarce on whether the campaign was continued since the 2007 has come and passed without their goals being met.
Belgium
Government owns over 50% of the incumbent telco provider BelgacomBelgacom
The Belgacom Group is the largest telecommunications company in Belgium, headquartered in Brussels. Belgacom Group is primarily state owned, with the Belgian state holding 53.3% + 1 share...
, so there seems to be some difficulty in stimulating competition.
As of April 2009, at the request of BIPT (the Belgian Institute for Postal service and Telecommunications), the consultancy firms Analysys Mason and Hogan & Hartson
Hogan Lovells
Hogan Lovells is an international law firm co-headquartered in London, United Kingdom and Washington, D.C., United States. It was formed on May 1, 2010 following the merger of Washington-based Hogan & Hartson and London-based Lovells. The two firms' agreement to merge was announced on 15 December...
has drawn up a report regarding the development of the broadband market in Belgium and suggested a certain number of possible actions to promote competition on this market.
At the request of Mr Vincent van Quickenborne, Minister of Enterprise and Simplification, the suggested action items have been submitted to the sector for consultation.
Bulgaria
In March 2009, the “National Program for Development of Broadband Access in Republic of BulgariaBulgaria
Bulgaria , officially the Republic of Bulgaria , is a parliamentary democracy within a unitary constitutional republic in Southeast Europe. The country borders Romania to the north, Serbia and Macedonia to the west, Greece and Turkey to the south, as well as the Black Sea to the east...
”, issued by the State Agency for Information Technologies and Communication, set the following targets by the year 2013:
- 100% coverage of population at 10 Mbit/s in large cities
- 90% coverage of population at 6 Mbit/s in medium cities
- 30% coverage of population at 1 Mbit/s in rural areas (90% mobile broadband)
Czech Republic
To speed up the broadband network development and stimulate its use mainly by households and individuals, the GovernmentPolitics of the Czech Republic
Politically, the Czech Republic is a multi-party parliamentary representative democratic republic. According to the Constitution of the Czech Republic, the President is the head of state while the Prime Minister is the head of government, exercising supreme executive power...
adopted the "National Broadband Access Policy" in January 2005. The Policy is based on the OECD
Organisation for Economic Co-operation and Development
The Organisation for Economic Co-operation and Development is an international economic organisation of 34 countries founded in 1961 to stimulate economic progress and world trade...
Council recommendations on promoting broadband development. Its main goal for the CR is to achieve a level of about 50% of the population to use broadband by 2010 at the latest.
Denmark
The existing strategy for the rollout and use of broadband in DenmarkDenmark
Denmark is a Scandinavian country in Northern Europe. The countries of Denmark and Greenland, as well as the Faroe Islands, constitute the Kingdom of Denmark . It is the southernmost of the Nordic countries, southwest of Sweden and south of Norway, and bordered to the south by Germany. Denmark...
is based on the 2001 broadband plan 'From hardware to content'. The Danish Government
Politics of Denmark
The Politics of Denmark takes place in a framework of a parliamentary, representative democratic, constitutional monarchy, in which the Prime Minister is the head of government, and of a multi-party system...
follows up this strategy annually. According to a hearing in 2005, Denmark will continue to follow the main principles of the strategy.
The political objective of the Danish Government is high transmission capacity for all, and strategies such as a national infrastructure that is rapid, inexpensive and secure, are needed to achieve this objective. The rollout of the IT infrastructure shall be developed by the private market with the Danish public sector
Public sector
The public sector, sometimes referred to as the state sector, is a part of the state that deals with either the production, delivery and allocation of goods and services by and for the government or its citizens, whether national, regional or local/municipal.Examples of public sector activity range...
serving as the driving force. For example, own IT investments by the public sector are intended to boost the demand for a digital infrastructure.
Estonia
The Estonian Information Society Strategy 2013 and the Estonian Electronic Communications Act reflect the basic principles of encouraging infrastructure investment, practicing technologically neutral policy and regulation and the primary role of the private sector in the expansion of broadband.Finland
On 8 May 2008, Ms Suvi Lindén, Minister of Communications, appointed Mr Harri Pursiainen, Permanent Secretary, to study the means of ensuring a comprehensive broadband supply throughout the country and of organising its funding especially in non-built-up areas. The first part of the study includes a proposal for a government resolution and the second part examines the reasoning behind the proposal topic by topic. The report proposes that the public sector introduce business subsidies to enterprises that upgrade the public telecommunications network into a condition that makes available to most all citizens by 2015 an optical fibre or cable network supporting 100 Mbit connections. Prior to this goal, the speed of the broadband connection included in the universal service obligation must be raised to an average of 1 Mbit/s by 31 December 2010 at the latest.In order to finance the State contribution required for the target for 2015, it is proposed that certain radio frequencies coming up for allocation be auctioned. In the event that auction revenues are insufficient to cover the State’s public aid for telecommunications infrastructure construction, the shortfall would be made up with a telecommunications network compensatory payment to be collected from telecommunications operators. The auction revenues and the compensatory payments could be entered as income and decisions on their use made either through the Budget or by means of a fund outside the Budget.
Finland
Finland
Finland , officially the Republic of Finland, is a Nordic country situated in the Fennoscandian region of Northern Europe. It is bordered by Sweden in the west, Norway in the north and Russia in the east, while Estonia lies to its south across the Gulf of Finland.Around 5.4 million people reside...
has passed a law making access to broadband a legal right for Finnish citizens. When the law went into effect in July 2010, every person in Finland, which has a population of around 5.3 million, will have the guaranteed right to a one-megabit broadband connection, says the Ministry of Transport and Communications
France
On October 20, 2008 the French governmentGovernment of France
The government of the French Republic is a semi-presidential system determined by the French Constitution of the fifth Republic. The nation declares itself to be an "indivisible, secular, democratic, and social Republic"...
announced sweeping measures to make France
France
The French Republic , The French Republic , The French Republic , (commonly known as France , is a unitary semi-presidential republic in Western Europe with several overseas territories and islands located on other continents and in the Indian, Pacific, and Atlantic oceans. Metropolitan France...
a leading digital economy by 2012. The plan outlines a strategy that the government will follow in the coming years to make France a leading digital economy. While many of the measures are obviously aimed at helping French companies, foreign companies will be able to benefit from the plan simply by creating a French subsidiary or by entering into strategic agreements with French companies or universities. The new plan will create opportunities for telecommunications operators, equipment manufacturers, content providers, web-based
World Wide Web
The World Wide Web is a system of interlinked hypertext documents accessed via the Internet...
delivery platforms, game and software publishers, and universities.
Germany
GermanyGermany
Germany , officially the Federal Republic of Germany , is a federal parliamentary republic in Europe. The country consists of 16 states while the capital and largest city is Berlin. Germany covers an area of 357,021 km2 and has a largely temperate seasonal climate...
's broadband strategy, approved by the Cabinet
Cabinet of Germany
The Cabinet of Germany is the chief executive body of the Federal Republic of Germany. It consists of the Chancellor and the cabinet ministers. The fundamentals of the cabinet's organization are set down in articles 62 to 69 of the Basic Law.-Nomination:...
in February 2009, seeks to accelerate telecommunication and internet connectivity, close gaps in underserved areas by the end of 2010, and ensure nationwide access to high speed internet
Broadband Internet access
Broadband Internet access, often shortened to just "broadband", is a high data rate, low-latency connection to the Internet— typically contrasted with dial-up access using a 56 kbit/s modem or satellite Internet with inherently high latency....
by 2014. Here will be a "digital dividend" frequency auction schedule to support the initiative, the legislature must take a few more steps before this is realized. Goals include closing gaps in underserved areas, upgrade existing broadband infrastructure over the short-term by deploying the entire range of feasible technologies - whether cable, fiber optics, satellite
Satellite Internet access
Satellite Internet access is Internet access provided through satellites. The service can be provided to users world-wide through low Earth orbit satellites. Geostationary satellites can offer higher data speeds, but their signals can not reach some polar regions of the world...
, or wireless - and utilize the digital dividend resulting from frequencies no longer needed for broadcasting following digitalization.
Ireland
The National Broadband Scheme (NBS) aims to encourage and secure the provision of broadband services to targeted areas in IrelandIreland
Ireland is an island to the northwest of continental Europe. It is the third-largest island in Europe and the twentieth-largest island on Earth...
in which broadband services are not currently available and are unlikely to be available in the near future. Following a broadband coverage mapping exercise to identify underserved areas and a competitive tendering process, a contract was awarded to "3
Hutchison 3G
3 is a brand name under which several UMTS-based mobile phone networks and Broadband Internet Providers are operated in Australia, Austria, Denmark, Hong Kong, Macau, Indonesia, Ireland, Italy, Sweden, and the United Kingdom...
" (a Hutchison Whampoa
Hutchison Whampoa
Hutchison Whampoa Limited or HWL of Hong Kong is a Fortune 500 company and one of the largest companies listed on the Hong Kong Stock Exchange. HWL is an international corporation with a diverse array of holdings which includes the world's biggest port and telecommunication operations in 14...
company) in December 2008, to implement and operate the NBS. Under the contract, 3 will be required to provide services to all premises in the NBS area that want service. In order to facilitate competition, 3 also will be required to provide wholesale access to any other authorized operator who wishes to serve the NBS area.
Greece
The governmentalPolitics of Greece
The Politics of Greece takes place in a large parliamentary representative democratic republic, whereby the Prime Minister of Greece is the head of government, and of a multi-party system. Legislative power is vested in both the government and the Hellenic Parliament...
FTTH plan of 2M homes passed absolutely reasonable despite what has been said so far by many about the necessity of such an investment in terms of scale and scope.
Latvia
In 2006 and 2007, LatviaLatvia
Latvia , officially the Republic of Latvia , is a country in the Baltic region of Northern Europe. It is bordered to the north by Estonia , to the south by Lithuania , to the east by the Russian Federation , to the southeast by Belarus and shares maritime borders to the west with Sweden...
carried out several small projects to increase internet access in Latvian provinces and a single major-scale project to increase broadband access in rural areas. The projects were implemented and co-financed by local governments and the central government
Government of Latvia
The Government of Latvia is the central government of the Republic of Latvia. The Constitution of Latvia outlines the nation as a parliamentary republic represented by a unicameral parliament and the Cabinet of Ministers of the Republic of Latvia, which form the executive branch of the Government...
, with the majority of the funding provided by EU structural funds. Latvia has listed internet access and availability promotion as an activity eligible for EU structural funds for the 2007-2013 EU budgetary period, but this activity is not designed to target rural areas or specifically increase broadband deployment. However, given Latvia's severe economic decline and the associated budgetary issues, the outlook for additional projects in the future is grim.
Falling budget revenues have significantly limited Latvia's ability to co-finance any EU projects. There are bureaucratic obstacles as well, since Latvia has not yet adopted guidelines and evaluation criteria necessary to launch this program. One reason behind this delay is the GOL plan to reprioritize the national list of activities eligible for EU money in response to the crisis, increasing funding to the export sector. Internet access is not viewed by Latvian authorities as a significant problem; therefore, an increase in funding to communication infrastructure projects is unlikely. Furthermore, Latvia has decided to divert the funds the European Commission allocated to expansion of broadband networks, as part of the European Economic Recovery Plan
2008 European Union stimulus plan
On 26 November 2008, the European Commission proposed a European stimulus plan amounting to 200 billion euros to cope with the effects of the global financial crisis on the economies of the members countries...
, to projects in the dairy sector.
Lithuania
Rural Area Information Technology (RAIN) project002 project
The Development Strategy of the Broadband Infrastructure of Lithuania
Lithuania
Lithuania , officially the Republic of Lithuania is a country in Northern Europe, the biggest of the three Baltic states. It is situated along the southeastern shore of the Baltic Sea, whereby to the west lie Sweden and Denmark...
for 2005-2010 was published in the official gazette on 31 December 2002. The Strategy goals are as follows: to create conditions for public administration institutions, bodies and individuals to obtain broadband access; to promote competition in the field of the Internet access provision on the market using public and private capital investments; to seek that the national social and economic growth would be influenced; to reduce the exclusion of the population in the territory of the country.
When connecting public administration institutions and bodies to the broadband networks and creating an opportunity for small and medium-sized enterprises as well as the population to use the broadband infrastructure and e-services all over the country's territory (especially in peripheral/uncompetitive locations where the level of use and development of wideband connection services is low), the following assessment criteria are important:
- By 1 January 2007 in 50% of the country's territory to create an opportunity to connect to the available broadband networks for all small and medium-sized enterprises willing to do so as well as the population and to connect at least 40% of public administration institutions and bodies (i.e. educational institutions, libraries, health care institutions and bodies, etc.) to the broadband networks.
- By 1 January 2008 in 50% of the country's territory to create an opportunity to connect to the available broadband networks for all small and medium-sized enterprises willing to do so as well as the population and to connect at least 60% of public administration institutions and bodies to the wideband connection networks.
- By 1 January 2009 to connect 100% of public administration institutions and bodies (except for some diplomatic representations of the RepublicofLithuania abroad) to the broadband networks.
- By 1 January 2010 in 98% of the country's territory to create an opportunity to connect to the available broadband networks for all small and medium-sized enterprises willing to do so as well as the population.
Netherlands
Nederland BreedbandLand (NBL) is the independent national platform for the provision of aid and incentives to the social sectors for the 'better and smarter' use of broadband.Poland
Newspaper Gazeta WyborczaGazeta Wyborcza
Gazeta Wyborcza is a leading Polish newspaper. It covers the gamut of political, international and general news. Like all the Polish newspapers, it is printed on compact-sized paper, and is published by the multimedia corporation Agora SA...
writes that the Polish government
Politics of Poland
The politics of Poland take place in the framework of a parliamentary representative democratic republic, whereby the Prime Minister is the head of government of a multi-party system and the President is the head of state....
has drafted a new law regulating broadband network deployments and will put it to a parliamentary vote in late October or early November. The law would, for example, require every multiresidential house in the country from 2010 to be connected with fibre, define rules for local governments to invest in broadband in areas that are not viable for commercial roll-outs, as well as set a framework for using utility infrastructure to accommodate network equipment. If approved as planned, the legislation could become effective as of January 2010.
Significance
The new regulations are part of the government's broadband strategy, which aims at bringing 100% of Poland's households and businesses within the coverage of broadband infrastructure by 2013 or 2014, partially using European Union (EU) fundingSee Poland: 2 April 2009: Polish Government Plans to Direct 300 mil. Euro to Broadband Expansion. In the meantime, telecoms regulator UKE is also in discussions with the local incumbent, TP, over the company's mid-term capex strategy, trying to agree on an investment level that would contribute to the goals of the national broadband strategy. In order to boost the investment, the UKE has softened some of its policies upon the incumbent, most significantly in regard with vertical separation, which it has put on hold for the time being, and wholesale access fees, which it has reportedly offered to freeze for the next couple of years.
Portugal
In January 2009, Portugal's governmentPolitics of Portugal
Politics in Portugal take place in a framework of a parliamentary representative democratic republic, whereby the Prime Minister is the head of government, and of a multi-party system. The President of the Republic is the head of state and has several significant political powers, which he...
announced an 800-million-euro credit line for the roll-out of next-generation broadband networks in the country. Prime Minister José Sócrates
José Sócrates
José Sócrates Carvalho Pinto de Sousa, GCIH , commonly known by José Sócrates , is a Portuguese politician who was the Prime Minister of Portugal from 12 March 2005 to 21 June 2011....
announced the funding, saying he hoped the country's main telecoms operators would invest one billion euro to build NGNs during 2009. The credit line forms part of an agreement between the government and the operators Portugal Telecom
Portugal Telecom
Portugal Telecom is the largest telecommunications service provider in Portugal. Although it operates mainly in Portugal and Brazil, it has also a significant presence in Guinea-Bissau, Cape Verde, Mozambique, Timor-Leste, Angola, Kenya, the People's Republic of China, and São Tomé and...
, ZON Multimédia, Sonae
Sonae
Sonae is a conglomerate, and is the largest private employer in Portugal. The company is primarily engaged in the operation of retail stores through its subsidiary Modelo Continente....
com, and ONI on the roll-out of fibre networks, and is the first step in a 2.18-billion-euro plan announced in December 2008 to boost the country's economy.
Prime Minister Socrates said the credit line would pave the way for improvements in high-speed internet, television and voice services, adding: "This is the launch of the first measure of the stimulus plan to combat the economic crisis."
Development Through Fibre
Portugal's PM said he hoped the investment would allow up to 1.5 million homes and businesses to be connected to the new fibre networks. He added that the government has no preference regarding how the networks are rolled out by the operators, leaving them to reach a decision among themselves on whether single or multiple networks are constructed. Although the terms of the credit line have not been disclosed, they are likely to be highly favourable to the operators, and may represent a timely cash injection—as the global economic crisis bites, operator spending in reined in and private investment sources dry up. Portugal's broadband market has showed strong growth, not least due to widespread cable and DSL networks. ADSL2+ services are also available from alternative operators such as Vodafone
Vodafone
Vodafone Group Plc is a global telecommunications company headquartered in London, United Kingdom. It is the world's largest mobile telecommunications company measured by revenues and the world's second-largest measured by subscribers , with around 341 million proportionate subscribers as of...
and cable data speeds at up to 100 Mbit/s were trialled in 2007. The Portuguese government had set a goal of 50% home broadband penetration by 2010, and this latest investment should allow the operators to significantly surpass this target.
Romania
In May 2009, while broadband Internet access increased by 30 percent last year, RomaniaRomania
Romania is a country located at the crossroads of Central and Southeastern Europe, on the Lower Danube, within and outside the Carpathian arch, bordering on the Black Sea...
's penetration rate is still half that of the EU average. Both the newly-reorganized National Authority for Administration and Regulations in Communications (ANCOM) and the renamed Ministry of Communication and Information Society (MCIS) have repeatedly expressed interest in further expanding broadband access. To this end, MCIS issued a new broadband strategy for 2009 to 2015, but has yet to identify how to implement or fund the strategy. This cable responds to Department's reftel request for information on country broadband deployment initiatives.
In his first press conference on April 9, new ANCOM President Catalin Marinescu stated his main goal would be to increase the number of broadband Internet connections. Due to the expansion of the 3G network, mobile access connections to the Internet reached 2.7 million users in 2008, which is almost double the number in 2007. Despite a 30 percent increase in access in 2008, Romania's broadband penetration is still only about 11.7 percent, which is less than half of the EU average of 22.9 percent.
ANCOM suggestions for increasing broadband deployment in Romania include:
- Review local loop access conditions that were unsuccessfully regulated in 2003;
- stimulate operators with existing 3G licenses to expand services and/or reorganize the 3G band in order to grant one or two additional licenses to companies (there are currently four 3G licensed operators in Romania);
- reissue a WiMax tender for the 3.5-3.7 GHz band. A 2008 attempt to grant WiMax licenses failed due to the high cost. ANCOM hopes the Government will lower the cost in order to increase commercial interest in the coming year.
A precondition for accessing EU structural funds in this area is the adoption of a national broadband strategy. The MCIS's 2009-2015 strategy for broadband wireless access establishes an inter-ministerial working group responsible for implementation of infrastructure projects for broadband service expansion. Additionally, Minister of Communication Gabriel Sandu
Gabriel Sandu
Gabriel Sandu is a Romanian economist and politician. A member of the Democratic Liberal Party , he was a member of the Romanian Chamber of Deputies for Brăila County from 2004 to 2008...
claims he will identify other financing sources, such as crisis funds, governmental funds and private funds to increase broadband deployment to rural areas.
Slovenia
In 2004, SloveniaSlovenia
Slovenia , officially the Republic of Slovenia , is a country in Central and Southeastern Europe touching the Alps and bordering the Mediterranean. Slovenia borders Italy to the west, Croatia to the south and east, Hungary to the northeast, and Austria to the north, and also has a small portion of...
issued the Strategy for Development of Broadband Networks, effective 2004-2006. The main principles included:
- The primary role of the market and competition in broadband development;
- formulating measures to activate the public sector, especially where private sector interest is lacking;
- expanding broadband connections in public administration and stimulating e-government services;
- stimulating competition between different types of infrastructure and services.
Slovenia is preparing a new strategy for development of broadband networks, which will focus on simulating of private sector development of rural and scarcely populated areas.
Spain
Since 2005, the Ministry of Industry, Tourism and Trade has granted financial aids to operators in order to encourage their investments in areas where there would unlikely have been any broadband deployment. Two main programmes compose the Spanish strategy to provide broadband Internet access to rural and isolated areas:- National Programme for Broadband roll-out in rural and remote areas: PEBA (2005–2008)
- Avanza Infrastructures Programme (2008–2012)
In order to ensure consecution of the programme objectives, not duplication of investments and not distortion of competition, specific service and operative requirements were required to both projects and beneficiary operators.
Service requirements consisted on providing broadband access with a minimum download speed and a maximum monthly fee. Additionally, the program operative requirements consisted on:
- Technological neutrality so that any type of broadband technology could be deployed and to avoid technology obsolescence;
- the duty of the beneficiaries to open up the financed networks to competition;
- infrastructure investments in well-defined and not serviced areas in order to avoid duplicative investments.
Taking into account cabled technologies such as DSL are distance sensitive, and generally only feasible within a few miles of the nearest central office switch, PEBA projects were not limited to a single technology. At present, several technological solutions (ADSL, WiMAX, Satellite and HFC
Hybrid fibre-coaxial
Hybrid fiber-coaxial is a telecommunications industry term for a broadband network which combines optical fibre and coaxial cable. It was commonly employed globally by cable television operators since the early 1990s.-Description:...
) are being used to provide broadband access to the PEBA population centres, depending on their geographic features, roll–out dates and available technology.
Following Peba achievements and within the Avanza Infrastructures Program, the Ministry has continued working to increase broadband coverage in very small population centres. Additionally and taken into account advances in technology and the need not only to provide broadband access but also to improve the service quality and speed, the objective was also to improve bandwidth and network capacity provided by telcos at rural areas. Two action lines compose the broadband strategy under this funding program:
- F1: Projects intended to deploy access infrastructures in order to satisfy the demand for broadband connection from population in isolated and rural areas.
- F2: Projects intended to improve speed and capacity of rural backbone networks
F1 action line projects will be based mainly on wireless broadband access technologies such as: HSDPA
High-Speed Downlink Packet Access
High-Speed Downlink Packet Access is an enhanced 3G mobile telephony communications protocol in the High-Speed Packet Access family, also dubbed 3.5G, 3G+ or turbo 3G, which allows networks based on Universal Mobile Telecommunications System to have higher data transfer speeds and capacity...
, WIMAX and Satellite although some of the beneficiary operators are already planning to provide ADSL connection at some population centres. F2 projects will mostly improve transport networks by means of fibre optics and WiMAX radio links.
On 15 October 2009, Spain's Ministry of Industry
Ministry of Industry (Spain)
The responsibilities of the Spanish Ministry of Industry have varied greatly over time, until 2000 grouped industrial competence and energy. Then created the Ministry of Science and Technology that took over most of its powers...
has opened a public consultation on extending the concept of universal service to cover broadband access. The consultation concerns topics such as the minimum speed, the use of wireless technologies for broadband provision, related pricing models, and the schedule for service implementation.
Significance
At the moment, the mandate for universal service covers narrowband internet access, but as speeds of such services have become increasingly inadequate for responding to typical user needs, the government is now assessing whether connection over broadband should be defined as a legal right. As of end-June this year, according to regulator CMT, accesses defined as narrowband accounted for 2.4% of all 9.547 million internet subscriptions, against 5.2% a year earlier; in meanwhile, of the broadband accesses those at speeds below 1 Mbit/s accounted represented 0.4% of the total. IHS Global Insight
Global Insight
Global Insight is the world's largest economics organization, serving over 3,800 clients in industry, finance and government worldwide, with revenues of over $95 million and employing more than 600 economists and other staff in 23 offices in 13 countries...
's view is that the allocation of lower frequency bands such as 800 and 900 MHz for data services will be in the main role if the Spanish government wants to bring broadband to every citizen. Thus far, incumbent Telefónica has used WiMAX and satellite connections to live up its universal service mandate in some of the more remote areas of the country, yet we believe that by expanding its mobile broadband network by using the lower frequencies it could achieve the same more cost-efficiently.
Sweden
The goal of SwedenSweden
Sweden , officially the Kingdom of Sweden , is a Nordic country on the Scandinavian Peninsula in Northern Europe. Sweden borders with Norway and Finland and is connected to Denmark by a bridge-tunnel across the Öresund....
's Information Technology Policy is that Sweden should be a sustainable information society for all. This implies an accessible information society with a modern infrastructure and IT services of public benefit, so as to simplify everyday life and give people in every part of the country a better quality of life
Quality of life
The term quality of life is used to evaluate the general well-being of individuals and societies. The term is used in a wide range of contexts, including the fields of international development, healthcare, and politics. Quality of life should not be confused with the concept of standard of...
.
IT should contribute to a better quality of life and help improve and simplify everyday life for people and companies, but it should also be used to promote sustainable growth. An effective and secure physical infrastructure for IT, with high transmission capacity, should be available in all parts of the country so as to give people access to, among other things, interactive public e-services.
For broadband, the Swedish and European IT policy aims to increase accessibility to an infrastructure with capacity for broadband transmission. Broadband among other things, promotes economic growth by creating new services and opening up new investment and employment opportunities. The objective is broadband for all households (permanent housing) and business and public operations. According to the Swedish Post and Telecom Agency, 'broadband' in this objective, refers to connections that can be upgraded to a transmission rate downstream of at least 2 Mb per second.
Between 2001-2007, Sweden's broadband support program included:
- Total state governmental funding 817 million $ (5.25 billion SEK)
- Total investment: Government 51%; Municipalities 11%; Operators 30%; EU structural funds 7%; Regional policy funds 1%
- Concentrating on rural and other areas where the market will not supply infrastructure
- Open procurement process
- Requirement that networks should be operator-neutral
- 85% of investments used for new infrastructure
United Kingdom
The United KingdomUnited Kingdom
The United Kingdom of Great Britain and Northern IrelandIn the United Kingdom and Dependencies, other languages have been officially recognised as legitimate autochthonous languages under the European Charter for Regional or Minority Languages...
issued its "Digital Britain" report on June 2009.
The Universal Service Commitment. More than one in 10 households today cannot enjoy a 2Mbps connection. We will correct this by providing universal service by 2012. As such, the UK's Commitment leads Europe. It has a measure of future-proofing so that, as the market deploys next-generation broadband, we do not immediately face another problem of exclusion. The USC is also a necessary step if we are to move towards digital switchover in the delivery of more and more of our public services. The Universal Service Commitment will be delivered by a mix of technologies:
DSL, fibre to the street cabinet, wireless and possibly satellite infill. It will be funded from £200m from direct public funding,2 enhanced by five other sources: commercial gain through tender contract and design, contributions in kind from private partners, contributions from other public sector organisations in the nations and regions who benefit from the increased connectivity, the consumer directly for in-home upgrading, and the value of wider coverage obligations on mobile operators arising from the wider mobile spectrum package. The Commitment will be delivered through the Network Design and Procurement Group, with a CEO appointed in the Autumn. We will also discuss with the BBC Trust the structure which gives them appropriate visibility in the delivery process of the use being made of the Digital Switchover Help Scheme underspend, which will be realised in full by 2012.
The Next Generation Final Third project. Next generation broadband networks offer not just conventional high definition video entertainment and games (which because of this country's successful satellite platform are less significant drivers here than in some other markets) but also more revolutionary applications. These will include tele-presence, allowing for much more flexible working patterns, e-healthcare in the home and for small businesses the increasing benefits of access to cloud computing which substantially cuts costs and allows much more rapid product and service innovation. Next-generation broadband will enable innovation and economic benefits we cannot today predict. First generation broadband provided a boost to GDP of some 0.5%-1.0% a year. In recent months the UK has seen an energetic, market-led roll-out of next generation fixed broadband. By this Summer speeds of 50Mbps and above will be available to all households covered by the Virgin Media Ltd's national cable network: some 50% of UK homes. Following decisions by the regulator, Ofcom,which have enhanced regulatory certainty, BT Group plc has been encouraged by the first year capital allowances measures in Budget 2009 and the need to respond competitively to accelerate their plans for the mix of fibre to the cabinet and fibre to the home. BT's enhanced network will cover the first 1,000,000 homes in their network. The £100m Yorkshire Digital Region programme approved in Budget 2009 will also provide a useful regional testbed for next generation digital networks.
In August 2009 the UK Government published its Digital Britain Implementation Plan setting out the government's roadmap for the rollout of it's plans mentioned above.
Croatia
The Government of the Republic of CroatiaPolitics of Croatia
The politics of Croatia are defined by a parliamentary representative democratic republic framework, where the Prime Minister of Croatia is the head of government, in a multi-party system. Executive power is exercised by the government and the President of Croatia. Legislative power is vested in...
adopted on 13 October 2006 the Strategy for the development of broadband access to the Internet in the Republic of Croatia until 2008. The Strategy aims to reduce the gap between Croatia and European Union
European Union
The European Union is an economic and political union of 27 independent member states which are located primarily in Europe. The EU traces its origins from the European Coal and Steel Community and the European Economic Community , formed by six countries in 1958...
member states concerning the density level (penetration) of broadband Internet connections. Therefore, an ambitious goal has been set to achieve the density level of at least 12 percent, i.e. to number at least 500,000 broadband connections until the end of 2008. In January 2009, the government declared success. However, accepting the fact that in the area of the development of broadband Internet, new challenges stand before the Republic of Croatia. The Ministry of the Sea, Transport and Infrastructure and the Central State Administrative Office for e-Croatia have initiated the drafting of the new Strategy for the development of broadband access to the Internet which would define strategic goals for the forthcoming period.
Norway
According to the statement of the political platformParty platform
A party platform, or platform sometimes also referred to as a manifesto, is a list of the actions which a political party, individual candidate, or other organization supports in order to appeal to the general public for the purpose of having said peoples' candidates voted into political office or...
for the parties in Government7 dated 13 October 2005, the level of ambition for broadband rollout is to rise. The rollout of broadband throughout the entire country offers great potential to the business sector in the form of development and the setting up of more businesses, while reducing the difficulties of great distances. The tangible objectives of Government policy include:
- Broadband should be available throughout Norway by the end of 2007
- Unreasonable geographical price differences for broadband connection should not exist
- Government funding will contribute to broadband rollout in those areas where rollout is not ensured by market players.
Russia
On 17 September 2009, Deputy Prime Minister Sergey Sobyanin has indicated that a special government commission will meet in October to discuss the development of broadband services in Russia, reports Prime-Tass. Issues to be considered will include the enhancement of broadband access quality and the increase of data-transfer speeds. Sobyanin also stated that the government would allocate 10 billion roubles (US$326.7 million) towards the development of various high-tech projects in 2010, aimed at carrying out technological upgrades in various sectors of the Russian economy. Earlier in the week Communications and Mass Media Minister Igor ShchyogolevIgor Shchyogolev
Igor Olegovich Shchyogolev is a Russian politician. Since May 12, 2008, he is Minister of Telecommunications of Russia.Shchyogolev is a graduate of the University of Leipzig.- References :* Ministry of Telecommunications of Russia....
stated that the government viewed the construction of main communications lines and the development of broadband and digital TV services as the top priorities of the telecoms industry.
Significance
The words of the deputy prime minister and communications minister highlight the importance with which the development of broadband services in the country is viewed. Broadband has taken over from mobile as the sector of highest growth potential in Russia, with the Communications Ministry reporting a fourfold increase in internet traffic in 2008. The market is heterogeneous, with no single dominant operator, but instead a number of players employing a variety of technologies. Although uptake has typically been centred on the economic hubs of the capital Moscow
Moscow
Moscow is the capital, the most populous city, and the most populous federal subject of Russia. The city is a major political, economic, cultural, scientific, religious, financial, educational, and transportation centre of Russia and the continent...
and St Petersburg, operators are increasingly expanding towards the regions for further opportunities. With operators continuing to invest in the broadband sector, subscriber uptake growing, and now increasing signals of interest from the government, IHS Global Insight expects the sector to continue to grow healthily in the short and medium terms.
Switzerland
On 7 October 2009, the SwissSwitzerland
Switzerland name of one of the Swiss cantons. ; ; ; or ), in its full name the Swiss Confederation , is a federal republic consisting of 26 cantons, with Bern as the seat of the federal authorities. The country is situated in Western Europe,Or Central Europe depending on the definition....
Federal Office of Communications (ComCom) has revealed that round table discussions on the deployment of fibre-to-the-home (FTTH) networks are producing concrete results. According to the regulator the major players are now in agreement on uniform technical standards, meaning that there are no technical barriers to the rapid expansion of the fibre network. A consensus has also been reached on coordination, which will prevent the parallel construction of new networks by laying multiple fibres in every building (known as the multiple fibre model). At the same time the participants at the round table have agreed that all providers must have access to the fibre-optic network under the same conditions, so as to protect end-users' freedom of choice. The participants drew up further recommendations for standardised network access by services. Thanks to an open interface, service providers will enjoy network access to customers at all times via network operators. If, at a later date, the customer opts for a different service provider on the same fibre-optic network, the switch will be possible without any technical complications.
The roundtable discussions involve cable network operators, telecoms companies and electricity utilities. Further roundtables and working groups will be held to clarify points. ComCom will also examine whether new regulatory measures are needed to govern FTTH deployment, with the aim of reporting to parliament by mid-2010 at the latest.
Botswana
Following the further liberalization of the BotswanaBotswana
Botswana, officially the Republic of Botswana , is a landlocked country located in Southern Africa. The citizens are referred to as "Batswana" . Formerly the British protectorate of Bechuanaland, Botswana adopted its new name after becoming independent within the Commonwealth on 30 September 1966...
telecommunications sector in 2004, the Government embarked on a new licensing structure in 2006. That action was designed to move the country from the pre-existing licensing framework, which made the distinction between the various telecoms services, to a service-neutral structure with the view of accommodating technological convergence.
Currently, the only operator offering fixed-line broadband services is state-owned Botswana Telecommunications Corporation
Botswana Telecommunications Corporation
Botswana Telecommunications Corporation is a telecommunications and Internet service provider in Botswana. BTC is headquartered in Gaborone. It provides telecommunications services all over the country and the majority of its services are in the capital city, Gaborone and the second largest city,...
(BTC), which has launched ADSL services. However, the larger ISPs are also rolling out broadband wireless networks, mainly in Gaborone
Gaborone
' is the capital and largest city of Botswana with a population of 191,776 based on a 2006 survey, about 10% of the total population of Botswana....
(the capital), to serve corporate customers in particular. Mobile operator Orange launched its broadband wireless service
Orange Livebox
Orange Livebox is an ADSL wireless router available to customers of Orange's Broadband services in the United Kingdom, Kenya, Guinea, France, Tunisia, Spain, Jordan, The Netherlands, Switzerland, Orange's Mauritian partner MyT, Lightspeed communications in Bahrain and TPSA in Poland and Orange...
in June 2008 using a WiMAX network in Gaborone. The total number of broadband subscribers increased to an estimated 3,500 in 2007, up from 1,800 in 2006 and 1,600 in 2005, with broadband comprising a growing proportion of total internet accounts.
BTC offers a range of data services including Frame Relay, ISDN, ADSL, MPLS and a broadband wireless service known as Wireless FastConnect. The data market has been liberalized, with ISPs now holding value-added network service (VANS) provider licenses. BTC enjoyed a monopoly over international bandwidth until February 2001 when the regulator began issuing international data gateway licenses. BTC's international bandwidth reached the 200-Mbit/s mark during 2008, some 90% of which (180 Mbit/s) was supplied via cross-border fiber networks to neighboring countries and 10% (20 Mbit/s) by satellite.
During 2004, BTC began the deployment of ADSL and a domestic two-way VSAT network for areas beyond the reach of terrestrial infrastructure.
During September 2008, BTC completed the roll-out of the Trans-Kalahari
A2 highway (Botswana)
The A2 highway is a road in Botswana running from the Namibian border at Buitepos through Jwaneng, Kanye and Lobatse to the South African border at Pioneer Gate....
fiber-optic project, connecting Botswana to the neighboring countries of Namibia
Namibia
Namibia, officially the Republic of Namibia , is a country in southern Africa whose western border is the Atlantic Ocean. It shares land borders with Angola and Zambia to the north, Botswana to the east and South Africa to the south and east. It gained independence from South Africa on 21 March...
and Zambia
Zambia
Zambia , officially the Republic of Zambia, is a landlocked country in Southern Africa. The neighbouring countries are the Democratic Republic of the Congo to the north, Tanzania to the north-east, Malawi to the east, Mozambique, Zimbabwe, Botswana and Namibia to the south, and Angola to the west....
. The 2,000-kilometre system was built in three parts: phase 1 runs from Jwaneng
Jwaneng
Jwaneng is a town located in the Southern District of Botswana, but it is not part of this, being a separate district, with its own Town Council. -History:...
through Ghanzi
Ghanzi
Ghanzi is a town in the western part of the Republic of Botswana in southern Africa. At the time of the 2001 census, there were 9,934 people living in the town with another 861 nearby. It is the administrative center of Ghanzi District and is known as the "Capital of the Kalahari"...
to Mamuno (the border with Namibia); phase 2 runs from Ghanzi via Maun
Maun
Maun is the fifth largest town in Botswana. As of 2001, it had a population of 43,776. It is an eclectic mix of modern buildings and native huts. Maun is the "tourism capital" of Botswana and the administrative centre of Ngamiland district...
to Orapa
Orapa
Orapa is a town located in the Central District of Botswana. It is the site of the Orapa diamond mine, one of the largest diamond mines in the world, and is considered to be the diamond capital of the country...
; and the phase 3 runs from Sebina via Nata
Nata, Botswana
Nata is a village in Central District of Botswana. It is located in the northern part of the district, and is served by Nata Airport. The population was 4150 in 2001 census. The village of Nata lies along the Nata River which carries its rainy season flow to the Makgadikgadi Pans, a seasonal...
, Kasane
Kasane
Kasane is a town in Botswana, close to Africa's 'Four Corners', where four countries almost meet: Botswana, Namibia, Zambia and Zimbabwe. It is at the far north-eastern corner of Botswana where it serves as the administrative center of the Chobe District...
to Ngoma (the border with Zambia). The network is designed to provide onward connectivity to submarine cables, removing the dependence on transiting through South Africa
South Africa
The Republic of South Africa is a country in southern Africa. Located at the southern tip of Africa, it is divided into nine provinces, with of coastline on the Atlantic and Indian oceans...
to reach the Sat-3/WASC
SAT-3/WASC (cable system)
SAT-3/WASC or South Atlantic 3/West Africa Submarine Cable is a submarine communications cable linking Portugal and Spain to South Africa, with connections to several West African countries along the route. It forms part of the SAT-3/WASC/SAFE cable system, where the SAFE cable links South Africa...
and S.A.F.E (Southern Africa Far East) submarine cable systems
Submarine communications cable
A submarine communications cable is a cable laid on the sea bed between land-based stations to carry telecommunication signals across stretches of ocean....
.
BTC is a signatory to three submarine cable projects (EASSy, WAFS and AWCC) and the government is in tripartite discussions with Angola
Angola
Angola, officially the Republic of Angola , is a country in south-central Africa bordered by Namibia on the south, the Democratic Republic of the Congo on the north, and Zambia on the east; its west coast is on the Atlantic Ocean with Luanda as its capital city...
and Namibia to assist each other in realizing the most effective means of achieving connectivity to these cable systems:
- East Africa Submarine System (EASSy), which will run along the eastern coast of AfricaAfricaAfrica is the world's second largest and second most populous continent, after Asia. At about 30.2 million km² including adjacent islands, it covers 6% of the Earth's total surface area and 20.4% of the total land area...
from Port SudanPort SudanPort Sudan is the capital of Red Sea State, Sudan; it has 489,725 residents . Located on the Red Sea, it is the Republic of Sudan's main port city.-History:...
(SudanSudanSudan , officially the Republic of the Sudan , is a country in North Africa, sometimes considered part of the Middle East politically. It is bordered by Egypt to the north, the Red Sea to the northeast, Eritrea and Ethiopia to the east, South Sudan to the south, the Central African Republic to the...
) to Mtunzini (South Africa) via MombasaMombasaMombasa is the second-largest city in Kenya. Lying next to the Indian Ocean, it has a major port and an international airport. The city also serves as the centre of the coastal tourism industry....
(KenyaKenyaKenya , officially known as the Republic of Kenya, is a country in East Africa that lies on the equator, with the Indian Ocean to its south-east...
), Dar es SalaamDar es SalaamDar es Salaam , formerly Mzizima, is the largest city in Tanzania. It is also the country's richest city and a regionally important economic centre. Dar es Salaam is actually an administrative province within Tanzania, and consists of three local government areas or administrative districts: ...
(TanzaniaTanzaniaThe United Republic of Tanzania is a country in East Africa bordered by Kenya and Uganda to the north, Rwanda, Burundi, and the Democratic Republic of the Congo to the west, and Zambia, Malawi, and Mozambique to the south. The country's eastern borders lie on the Indian Ocean.Tanzania is a state...
) and MaputoMaputoMaputo, also known as Lourenço Marques, is the capital and largest city of Mozambique. It is known as the City of Acacias in reference to acacia trees commonly found along its avenues and the Pearl of the Indian Ocean. It was famous for the inscription "This is Portugal" on the walkway of its...
(MozambiqueMozambiqueMozambique, officially the Republic of Mozambique , is a country in southeastern Africa bordered by the Indian Ocean to the east, Tanzania to the north, Malawi and Zambia to the northwest, Zimbabwe to the west and Swaziland and South Africa to the southwest...
). - West Africa Festoon System (WAFS), the planned cable that will run along the western coast of Africa from Nigeria through GabonGabonGabon , officially the Gabonese Republic is a state in west central Africa sharing borders with Equatorial Guinea to the northwest, Cameroon to the north, and with the Republic of the Congo curving around the east and south. The Gulf of Guinea, an arm of the Atlantic Ocean is to the west...
, Democratic Republic of the CongoDemocratic Republic of the CongoThe Democratic Republic of the Congo is a state located in Central Africa. It is the second largest country in Africa by area and the eleventh largest in the world...
, AngolaAngolaAngola, officially the Republic of Angola , is a country in south-central Africa bordered by Namibia on the south, the Democratic Republic of the Congo on the north, and Zambia on the east; its west coast is on the Atlantic Ocean with Luanda as its capital city...
and possibly Namibia. - Africa West Coast Cable (AWCC), planned to run along the western coast of Africa from South Africa and Namibia to the United KingdomUnited KingdomThe United Kingdom of Great Britain and Northern IrelandIn the United Kingdom and Dependencies, other languages have been officially recognised as legitimate autochthonous languages under the European Charter for Regional or Minority Languages...
. The proposed AWCC was replaced by the West Africa Submarine Cable (WASC), which awarded a supply contract to Alcatel-LucentAlcatel-LucentAlcatel-Lucent is a global telecommunications corporation, headquartered in the 7th arrondissement of Paris, France. It provides telecommunications solutions to service providers, enterprises, and governments around the world, enabling these customers to deliver voice, data, and video services...
in April 2009.
Egypt
Broadband access, mainly the DSL variety, is still in its infancy. Local loop unbundling for DSL access was introduced in April 2002 to kick-start broadband uptake, but real growth occurred only after a governmentPolitics of Egypt
The government of Egypt, as of February 27, 2011, is a republic currently under military rule of the Supreme Council of the Armed Forces after the President of Egypt Hosni Mubarak stepped down following several days of mass protests. Legislative power is vested in both the government and the...
initiative in May 2004 that mandated a 50% tariff cut for unbundling. As part of the government's e-Readiness initiative, a strategy of public-private partnership is being aggressively pursued in the Internet sector to accelerate Internet and broadband uptake.
Ghana
On July 23, 2009, the government of GhanaPolitics of Ghana
Politics of Ghana takes place in a framework of a presidential representative democratic republic, whereby the President of Ghana is both head of state and head of government, and of a multi-party system. The seat of government is at Golden Jubilee House. Executive power is exercised by the...
has signed a USD150 million contract with Chinese equipment manufacturer Huawei Technologies
Huawei
Huawei is a Chinese multinational networking and telecommunications equipment and services company headquartered in Shenzhen, Guangdong, China...
for the supply of advanced telecoms infrastructure to ensure broadband internet access countrywide within the next two years. The Minister of Communications, Haruna Iddrisu
Haruna Iddrisu
Haruna Iddrisu is the Member of Parliament for Tamale South and the Minister for Communications in Ghana.-Early life and education:...
, told delegates at a conference on Business process outsourcing
Business process outsourcing
Business process outsourcing is a subset of outsourcing that involves the contracting of the operations and responsibilities of specific business functions to a third-party service provider. Originally, this was associated with manufacturing firms, such as Coca Cola that outsourced large segments...
(BPO) that the infrastructure would link internet Point of Presence
Point of presence
A point of presence is an artificial demarcation point or interface point between communications entities. It may include a meet-me-room.In the US, this term became important during the court-ordered breakup of the Bell Telephone system...
(POP) in all district capitals under the government's ICT Backbone Development Programme. The minister added that the government was committed to ensuring it developed the human resources needed to promote the country as a prospect for BPO companies, and said Ghana was working hard to ensure the legislative regime was right encourage inward investment under the e-legislation programme. 'During the year the Ministry of Communications will also facilitate the development of additional legislations in the area of data protection and intellectual property for investors in the area of data capturing and management to operate within the confines of international guidelines and rules,' he said. His words were echoed by Vice President John Dramani Mahama
John Dramani Mahama
John Dramani Mahama is a communication expert, historian, writer, former Member of Parliament and Minister of State, and Vice President of the Republic of Ghana.-Early years and education:...
who stressed Ghana's commitment to developing the nation's ICT backbone capabilities. 'In addition to the SAT3 connectivity, GLO-1
GLO-1 (cable system)
The GLO-1 submarine communications cable is a cable system along the west coast of Africa between Nigeria and the UK.The submarine cable system is 9,800 km long, and became operational in 2010 with a minimum capacity of 640 Gbit/s....
and MaiOne will commence the construction of two additional landing stations by the end of this year to take care of the issues of bandwidth redundancy,' he said.
In May 2007, the government of Ghana launched the "Wiring Ghana" project, a $250 million nationwide 4,000 kilometer fiber-optic backbone project that promises to dramatically increase Ghana's broadband bandwidth supply, reportedly to a capacity of STM-16 nationwide. The government's goal is to provide an open-access, nationwide broadband connectivity to boost economic development. As of May 2008, Phase I of the project that covers the south and mid-country had been completed. Rollout of the second and final phase is underway and is slated to be completed by December 2009.
Ghana's project will also provide fiber-optic connections with the neighboring countries of Burkina Faso to the north and Togo to the east.
Ghana's broadband market, divided between ADSL and wireless broadband services, was small at the end of 2008, a total of about 26,500 subscribers, ADSL 53% and wireless WiFi/WiMax 47%.
Kenya
In May 2009, KenyaKenya
Kenya , officially known as the Republic of Kenya, is a country in East Africa that lies on the equator, with the Indian Ocean to its south-east...
will revolutionize its telecom industry when it initiates its first fiber optic internet connection on June 27. This broadband connection will vastly improve the quality of internet access to Kenya and contiguous landlocked countries. With increased internet capacity, the fiber will improve local bandwidth quality and potentially decrease communication costs, as it complements the existing and widely used satellite communication networks. The increased bandwidth capabilities will improve the competitiveness of existing businesses, create growth in new industries such as knowledge-based businesses and business process outsourcing, and significantly increase access to information for end-users, schools, and universities. The Government of Kenya
Politics of Kenya
The Politics of Kenya take place in a framework of a presidential representative democratic republic, whereby the President of Kenya is both head of state and head of government, and of a multi-party system. Recent constitutional amendments have enabled sharing of executive powers between the...
(GOK) expects foreign investment in the sector to hit $10 billion in 2009. Septel will report how this connection and other broadband initiatives will affect rural and underserved areas.
From Patrick Boateng's June 2009 report: on broadband, the Kenyan government has recently taken several steps to boost the country's future international bandwidth by committing to several planned submarine cable projects. As an example, in September 2006, Kenya's cabinet decided, after further delays to the proposed East African Submarine Cable System (EASSy), to proceed with its plan to build its own submarine cable, the East Africa Marine System
TEAMS (cable system)
TEAMS is an initiative spearheaded by the government of Kenya to link the country to the rest of the world through a submarine fibre optic cable. It was first proposed as an alternative to EASSy, the East African Submarine Cable System...
(TEAMS) Ltd. In November 2006, the government signed a memorandum of understanding
Memorandum of understanding
A memorandum of understanding is a document describing a bilateral or multilateral agreement between parties. It expresses a convergence of will between the parties, indicating an intended common line of action. It is often used in cases where parties either do not imply a legal commitment or in...
(MoU) with UAE
United Arab Emirates
The United Arab Emirates, abbreviated as the UAE, or shortened to "the Emirates", is a state situated in the southeast of the Arabian Peninsula in Western Asia on the Persian Gulf, bordering Oman, and Saudi Arabia, and sharing sea borders with Iraq, Kuwait, Bahrain, Qatar, and Iran.The UAE is a...
's fixed-line incumbent, Etisalat, to build a submarine cable from Mombasa to Al Fujairah
Fujairah
Fujairah is one of the seven emirates that make up the United Arab Emirates, and the only one on the Gulf of Oman in the country's east instead of Persian Gulf .-History:...
in the UAE. In a February 2007 Kenyan government contract award to U.S. Company, Tyco Telecommunications
Tyco International
Tyco International Ltd. is a highly diversified global manufacturing company incorporated in Switzerland, with United States operational headquarters in Princeton, New Jersey...
, the company conducted an undersea survey for the project. In October 2007, after the completion of the marine survey, Alcatel-Lucent won the bid to build the cable, and service is expected to begin at the end of the third quarter 2009.
In 2008, Kenya adopted a National ICT Policy and enacted the Kenya Communications Amendment Act. Backed by a new ICT Sector Master Plan (2008–2012) and a projected budget of $812.5 million, the main goals of this move are to develop regulations that will provide an enabling environment for leveraging the new broadband capacity, and to improve the ICT sector in general.
Meanwhile, a third submarine cable funded by South African and other investors, Sea Cable System (SEACOM), landed in Mombasa in May 2009 and is expected to be operational by July 2009. EASSy is slowly in progress and is expected to land in Mombasa in 2010. Also on the horizon are two additional submarine cables, France Telecom
France Télécom
France Telecom S.A. is the main telecommunications company in France, the third-largest in Europe and one of the largest in the world. It currently employs about 180,000 people and has 192.7 million customers worldwide . In 2010 the group had revenue of €45.5 billion...
's Lion which will run from Mombasa to Madagascar
Madagascar
The Republic of Madagascar is an island country located in the Indian Ocean off the southeastern coast of Africa...
to Mauritius
Mauritius
Mauritius , officially the Republic of Mauritius is an island nation off the southeast coast of the African continent in the southwest Indian Ocean, about east of Madagascar...
and Reunion
Réunion
Réunion is a French island with a population of about 800,000 located in the Indian Ocean, east of Madagascar, about south west of Mauritius, the nearest island.Administratively, Réunion is one of the overseas departments of France...
; and FLAG Telecom NGN System II cable.
Nigeria
On 6 March 2009, the Nigerian Communications CommissionNigerian Communications Commission
The Nigerian Communications Commission is the independent regulatory body for the Nigerian telecommunications industry. The NCC was created under Decree number 75 by the Federal Military Government of Nigeria on 24th of November 1992...
(NCC) has partnered with Nigerian WiMAX operator ipNX to bring broadband access to all 36 states in the country through the 'State Accelerated Bandwidth Initiative' (SABI). Ifeanyi Amah, executive director of ipNX, commented: 'The move to empower Nigerians with broadband internet access started almost two years ago. Our intention is to take our products and services to other regions. Our commitment in that direction can be seen through our partnership with NCC on SABI'.
The project has been long-delayed, having been postponed because of government red tape and a lack of budget. According to TeleGeography's GlobalComms database, at the start of 2009 three companies were given letters of intent from the NCC: ipNX, MTN and a Wi-Fi alliance of several ISPs. The first phase of the project will cover the 36 state capitals, before being extended to government buildings.
Nigeria as a whole can be classified as unserved. The Project arm of SABI consisted of a reverse bid process where broadband providers were invited to state the minimum subsidy each provider required to deploy broadband coverage to all 37 state capital cities in the Country and the three lowest bidders would be appointed.
The subsidies were limited to:
- CPECustomer-premises equipmentCustomer-premises equipment or customer-provided equipment is any terminal and associated equipment located at a subscriber's premises and connected with a carrier's telecommunication channel at the demarcation point...
s for the first 3,000 subscribers per city. (to enable a critical mass for each city sustainable network) - Bandwidth supply for the first one year.
The process is complete and three providers have been selected and approved by the Federal Government
Politics of Nigeria
Nigeria is a Federal Republic modeled after the United States, with executive power exercised by the president and with influences from the Westminster System model in the composition and management of the upper and lower houses of the bicameral legislature. However, the President of Nigeria is...
and they are IPNX, MTN, and NAIJA-WIFI (The latter being a consortiim of about 15-20 ISPs.) One of the providers has started deployment and completed Kano
Kano
Kano is a city in Nigeria and the capital of Kano State in Northern Nigeria. Its metropolitan population is the second largest in Nigeria after Lagos. The Kano Urban area covers 137 sq.km and comprises six Local Government Area - Kano Municipal, Fagge, Dala, Gwale, Tarauni and Nassarawa - with a...
(capital of Kano State
Kano State
Kano State is a state located in North-Western Nigeria. Created on May 27, 1967 from part of the Northern Region, Kano state borders Katsina State to the north-west, Jigawa State to the north-east, Bauchi State to the south-east and Kaduna State to the south-west...
in Northern Nigeria) which was launched in May. They are scheduled to launch in Ibadan
Ibadan
Ibadan is the capital city of Oyo State and the third largest metropolitan area in Nigeria, after Lagos and Kano, with a population of 1,338,659 according to the 2006 census. Ibadan is also the largest metropolitan geographical area...
, capital of Oyo State
Oyo State
Ọyọ State is an inland state in south-western Nigeria, with its capital at Ibadan. It is bounded in the north by Kwara State, in the east by Osun State, in the south by Ogun State and in the west partly by Ogun State and partly by the Republic of Benin....
next month.
Currently, the broadband market in Nigeria is in its infancy and is predominantly wireless, rather than wireline, and is dominated by the fixed wireless access operators. Consequently, the market structure has been determined more by the licensing and regulation of the radio spectrum space rather than by unbundling of the local loop. VSAT
Very small aperture terminal
A very-small-aperture terminal , is a two-way satellite ground station or a stabilized maritime Vsat antenna with a dish antenna that is smaller than 3 meters. The majority of VSAT antennas range from 75 cm to 1.2 m. Data rates typically range from 56 kbps up to 4 Mbps...
remains the predominant form of broadband Internet access. It is estimated that 51.1% of Internet users are connected by VSAT, 24% by broadband wireless, 3.4% by DSL, 9.3% via dial-up, 8.7% by cable/satellite and the remainder by Wi-Fi and leased lines.
The introduction of a unified licensing regime from February 2006 is having far-reaching consequences by increasing the scope of the operating licenses of different fixed-line and mobile operators.
At least two Nigerian ISPs have expanded services into other countries in West Africa
West Africa
West Africa or Western Africa is the westernmost region of the African continent. Geopolitically, the UN definition of Western Africa includes the following 16 countries and an area of approximately 5 million square km:-Flags of West Africa:...
. Intercellular, one of the PTOs, has been granted a license to operate in Sierra Leone
Sierra Leone
Sierra Leone , officially the Republic of Sierra Leone, is a country in West Africa. It is bordered by Guinea to the north and east, Liberia to the southeast, and the Atlantic Ocean to the west and southwest. Sierra Leone covers a total area of and has an estimated population between 5.4 and 6.4...
. It has also applied for licenses in Benin
Benin
Benin , officially the Republic of Benin, is a country in West Africa. It borders Togo to the west, Nigeria to the east and Burkina Faso and Niger to the north. Its small southern coastline on the Bight of Benin is where a majority of the population is located...
, Chad
Chad
Chad , officially known as the Republic of Chad, is a landlocked country in Central Africa. It is bordered by Libya to the north, Sudan to the east, the Central African Republic to the south, Cameroon and Nigeria to the southwest, and Niger to the west...
, Guinea
Guinea
Guinea , officially the Republic of Guinea , is a country in West Africa. Formerly known as French Guinea , it is today sometimes called Guinea-Conakry to distinguish it from its neighbour Guinea-Bissau. Guinea is divided into eight administrative regions and subdivided into thirty-three prefectures...
, Liberia
Liberia
Liberia , officially the Republic of Liberia, is a country in West Africa. It is bordered by Sierra Leone on the west, Guinea on the north and Côte d'Ivoire on the east. Liberia's coastline is composed of mostly mangrove forests while the more sparsely populated inland consists of forests that open...
, and Mali
Mali
Mali , officially the Republic of Mali , is a landlocked country in Western Africa. Mali borders Algeria on the north, Niger on the east, Burkina Faso and the Côte d'Ivoire on the south, Guinea on the south-west, and Senegal and Mauritania on the west. Its size is just over 1,240,000 km² with...
. Meanwhile Hyperia, a leading Nigerian ISP, has announced the launch of two new wireless broadband services: a new WiMAX service in Port Harcourt and a two-way broadband VSAT service. Hyperia awarded a contract to Navini Networks, and has now launched the 3.5 GHz WiMAX service in Port Harcourt.
The ISP also awarded a contract to Gilat Satellite Networks
Gilat Satellite Networks
Gilat Satellite Networks is a public company headquartered in Israel that develops and sells VSAT satellite ground stations and related equipment...
, to provide a SkyEdge broadband satellite hub and several hundred VSAT terminals. The VSAT network uses both C band
C band
The C band is a name given to certain portions of the electromagnetic spectrum, including wavelengths of microwaves that are used for long-distance radio telecommunications. The IEEE C-band - and its slight variations - contains frequency ranges that are used for many satellite communications...
and Ku band
Ku band
The Kμ band is a portion of the electromagnetic spectrum in the microwave range of frequencies. This symbol refers to —in other words, the band directly below the K-band...
, and its hub and will be deployed at Hyperia's network operations center in London
London
London is the capital city of :England and the :United Kingdom, the largest metropolitan area in the United Kingdom, and the largest urban zone in the European Union by most measures. Located on the River Thames, London has been a major settlement for two millennia, its history going back to its...
(U.K.). The VSAT network will enable Hyperia to expand its services in West Africa and to provide multiple services including broadband IP, telephony, and videoconferencing
Videoconferencing
Videoconferencing is the conduct of a videoconference by a set of telecommunication technologies which allow two or more locations to interact via two-way video and audio transmissions simultaneously...
.
Transmission networks are the crux for the whole Nigerian telecommunications sector. New mobile operators, fixed-wireless access (FWA) operators, and ISPs require a robust national transmission backbone to link base stations, mobile switches, and POPs together with long-haul upstream bandwidth. In the absence of a reliable backbone, satellite has provided transmission and backhaul capacity, as well as international connectivity. NITEL
NITEL
Nigerian Telecommunications Limited, or NITEL, is the principal telecommunications company in Nigeria, and was owned by the government of Nigeria until it was sold to Mtel by the Bureau of Public Enterprises...
has access to Sat-3/WASC and is gradually upgrading its national transmission capacity. Globacom
Globacom
Globacom Limited is a Nigerian multinational telecommunications company headquartered in Lagos, Nigeria. GLO is a privately owned telecommunications carrier that started operations on 29 August 2003. It currently operates in 4 countries in West Africa namely Nigeria, Republic of Benin, Ghana and...
launched its "Glo Xpress" long-distance transmission service in July 2005, and private operators continue to invest heavily in the roll-out of their own microwave and wireless networks.
The regulator Nigerian Communications Commission (NCC) has liberalized the long-distance market, and in addition to the two national carriers, there are now seven national long-distance operator
Long-distance operator
In telephony, the long-distance operator is a telephone operator available to assist with making long distance telephone calls, answering billing questions, making collect calls and other functions, including emergency assistance....
(NLDOs) that are investing in the roll-out of fiber backbones in different regions of the country. The mobile operators have also deployed their own independent national fiber and microwave backbones, and the unified access license granted to the mobile operators would allow them to commercialize these backbones. A key factor has been the entry of foreign operators into this market, through the acquisition of Nigerian operators.
Nigeria has several Gbps of international bandwidth, of which NITEL was only serving some 310 Mbit/s using the Sat-3/WASC cable, even though this only represents a fraction of the capacity that it owns on the cable. The balance of Nigeria's international bandwidth is provided entirely by satellite. Of up to six new submarine cables that would land in Nigeria, contracts have been awarded for two: Glo-1, and Main-1 (the others include AWCC, WAFS, Infinity, and Uhurunet). Glo-1 is expected to enter into service in 2009 and Main-1 from May 2010. In the medium term, the introduction of new submarine cables and national backbones linking Lagos to inland cities and towns will squeeze satellite operators, which have met the demand for services and filled the vacuum for data infrastructure.
Following is a list of key broadband networks underway:
- National Carriers: Both national fixed-line operators NITEL and Globacom, and leading national mobile operators, MTN and Zain, are all rolling out their own fiber-optic network infrastructure.
- Alheri Engineering Co Ltd: Alheri Engineering, which was awarded one of the 3G licenses, has a two-pronged strategy. First, it will provide a carriers' carrier service to other operators, and plans to roll out a fiber transmission network in three phases. The first phase runs from Benin to Warri, the second from Benin to Port Harcourt, and the third from Aba to Jos. The second prong is to offer 3G services, and in May 2007 the company submitted a bid for the fourth mobile operator M-Tel.
- Backbone Connectivity Network Ltd (BCN): BCN began the roll-out of fiber backbone in the northern states of Nigeria in July 2006. The first phase involves the roll-out of 700 kilometers of fiber from Abuja (the federal capital) to Kano via Kaduna and Zaria. The second phase will form a ring running from Kano via Katsina, Malumfashi, Funtua, Zaria, Abuja, Akwanga, Jos, Bauchi, Gombe, Biu, Yola, Bamboa, Maiduguri, Damaturu, Potaskum, Azare, and Dutse back to Kano. The third phase will run from Sokoto to Abuja via Birnin Kebbi, Kamba, Yelwa Yauri, Kontagora, Bida, and Minna.
- Multi-Links Telecommunications Co Ltd (MLTC): Multi-Links, which was acquired by South African incumbent Telkom SA in March 2007, is deploying a fiber network in the south-west of the country, and has a fiber backbone running from Lagos to Abuja. Multi-links had deployed some 2,500 kilometers of fiber-optic network by mid-2008, completed a metro Ethernet ring in Lagos, and will roll out Ethernet rings in Kano, Kaduna and the Niger Delta region.
- Phase3 Telecom: Phase3 Telecom won a 15-year concession in March 2006 to operate the fiber-optic cables strung over the high-voltage electricity transmission network of the Power Holding Company of Nigeria (PHCN) in the west of the country. The current fiber network included in the concession is some 1,500 kilometers in length, including a 900-kilometre stretch from Lagos to the federal capital, Abuja (via Ibadan, Oshogbo, Jebba, Shiriro, and Minna), and the operator plans to expand this to 3,000 kilometers over an 18-month period. Phase3 Telecom plans to wholesale service and provide long-distance carrier services to other licensed operators, including mobile operators, private telecommunication operators, ISPs, and others. In December 2008, Phase 3 entered into a deal facilitated by the Economic Community of West African States (ECOWAS) to extend its carrier network to Benin, Togo, Ghana, Côte d'Ivoire, and Senegal using the high-voltage power transmission lines in these ECOWAS states. According to the Phase 3 Telecom's CEO Stanley Jegede, the project is part of ECOWAS' Intelcom II program to interconnect West African countries by fiber-optic networks.
- Suburban Telecoms: Suburban Telecoms has formed a joint venture with Ocean and Oil Holdings (OOH) Ltd to deploy a fiber MAN along a gas pipeline currently being deployed in Lagos by Gaslink. Suburban awarded a contract to Huawei and ATC that covers the deployment of 3,500 kilometers of fiber-optic cable. Suburban Telecoms has ambitions to become not just an MAN in Lagos, but also in other major Nigerian cities. The operator has a three-phased approach: in the first phase, it will connect major cities including Lagos, Ibadan, Abuja, Kano, Kaduna,Benin, Makurdi, Enugu, Onitsha, and Port Harcourt; in the second and third phases it will connect secondary population centers between these cities, and then extensions to other cities after that.
- Victoria Garden City Communications Ltd (VGC Communications): VGC had a customer base of 20,000 in 2007, and operates a fiber MAN in Lagos, where it has laid some 120 kilometers of fiber-optic cables connecting the suburb of Victoria Garden City with Victoria Island, Ikoyi, Ikeja, Marina, Costain, and MayfairGardens.
- Submarine Cables: In addition to the Sat-3/WASC submarine cable that lands at Lagos, contracts have been awarded for at least two more cables. NITEL retains exclusivity on access to Sat-3/WASC, and so the introduction of competition is expected to increase capacity dramatically and drive down prices.
- Glo-1: Globacom, the SNO and mobile operator, announced in August 2008 that its Glo-1 submarine cable, which will run from the United Kingdom to Lagos and Port Harcourt (Nigeria), was "nearing completion" and would be finished by May 2009. Alcatel-Lucent began laying the Glo-1 cable from Bude in May 2007 and by October 2007 it had been deployed as far as Senegal. In August 2008, Globacom said that the final phase is due to begin shortly and will see the remaining section of cable laid from Lagos northwards to reach the other half of the cable in Senegal. The 9,330 km submarine cable will have a capacity of 32 STM-64 circuits (totaling 318.4 Gbit/s). A dedicated link will also be leased through the trans-Atlantic Apollo 2 cable from Cornwall (U.K.) to the United States. Globacom had initially secured access to Sat-3/WASC through a leasing agreement with NITEL, but abandoned this and in August 2004 unveiled a plan to build its own private submarine cable, called Glo-1, from Lagos to the United Kingdom.
- Main-1: Main Street Technologies, a Nigerian company, announced in April 2008 that it had awarded a supply contract to Tyco Telecommunications to build its Main One submarine cable. The 14,000-kilometre cable has a capacity of 1.28 Tbit/s and will be built in two phases that are both scheduled to be completed in May 2010: phase 1 will connect Nigeria, Ghana, and Portugal, and phase 2 will connect to Angola and South Africa. The Main One Cable is a private system that will provide open access to regional telecom operators and ISPs.
- Other submarine cables: At least five other cables are planned to land in Nigeria. The Africa West Coast Cable (AWCC) would run from South Africa to Europe via Nigeria, the West African Festoon System (WAFS) would run from Angola to Nigeria, connecting those countries that do not have Sat-3 landing points, the Infinity Worldwide Group of Companies plans a West African cable that would include Nigeria, NEPAD plans a cable, called Uhurunet, which would encircle the whole continent and have a landing point in Nigeria, and the proposed ACE (Africa Coast to Europe) cable would run from Gabon to France via Nigeria and 19 other African countries.
South Africa
The governmentPolitics of South Africa
The Republic of South Africa is a unitary, parliamentary republic. The President of South Africa is both head of state and head of government; in the same manner as the prime minister of other nations, the President is elected by the National Assembly and must enjoy the confidence of the Assembly...
passed the Electronic Communications Act in 2006 and is dramatically restructuring the sector towards a converged framework, converting vertically integrated licenses previously granted to PSTN, mobile, USAL, PTN and VANS operators into new Electronic Communications Network Services (ECNS), Electronic Communications Services (ECS), or broadcasting licenses. In January 2009, the Independent Communications Authority of South Africa
Independent Communications Authority of South Africa
The Independent Communications Authority of South Africa is an independent regulatory body of the South African government, established in 2000 by the to regulate both the telecommunications and broadcasting sectors in the public interest....
(ICASA) granted ECS and ECNS licenses to over 500 VANS operators.
The South African market is in the process of being dramatically restructured, moving away from old-style, vertically-integrated segments under the 1996 Telecommunications Act and 2001 Telecommunications Amendment Act towards horizontal service layers, and the new-style licensing regime is being converted to accommodate this. This process involves the conversion of pre-existing licenses into new Individual or Class Electronic Communications Network Services (ECNS), Electronic Communications Services (ECS), or broadcasting licenses. Licenses are also required for radio frequency spectrum, except for very low power devices.
ICASA granted ECNS licenses during December 2007 to seven new under-serviced area licenses (USAL) operators. The new licensees include PlatiTel, Ilembe Communications, Metsweding Telex, Dinaka Telecoms, Mitjodi Telecoms, and Nyakatho Telecoms.
South Africa had an estimated 6 million internet users in 2008 and the number of fixed (wireless and wireline) broadband subscribers is estimated at 750,000. Telkom reported 491,774 ADSL subscribers (Q3 2008), with the remainder using wireless broadband networks.
South Africa's total international bandwidth reached the 10 Gbit/s mark during 2008, and its continued increase is being driven primarily by the uptake of broadband and lowering of tariffs. Three new submarine cable projects will soon bring more capacity to South Africa from 2009---the SEACOM cable is expected to enter service in June 2009 and supply contracts have been awarded for both the EASSy and WACS cables.
While the internet user base increased to an estimated 6 million in 2008, the growth curve of paying internet accounts is recognized to be flattening. Meanwhile, the number of broadband subscribers is estimated to have grown quickly to reach about 750,000, split between Telkom's ADSL service (491,774 subscribers by 30 September 2008), and broadband wireless services provided by WBS, Sentech
Sentech
Sentech is the signal distributor for the South African broadcasting sector. The organisation began operations in 1992 as the signal distributor of the South African Broadcasting Corporation...
and others. Dial-up subscribers are migrating to broadband, and then escalating to higher-bandwidth packages as they become available.
The South African market is split into two main tiers: top-tier internet access providers; and downstream retail ISPs. ISPs are licensed as value-added network service (VANS) providers, although under the Electronic Communications Act of 2006, these licenses were converted in January 2009 to individual or class electronic communication service (ECS) licenses. All domestic ISPs gain international connectivity through one of the internet access providers: SAIX (Telkom), Neotel, Verizon Business, The Internet Solution, MTN Network Solutions, DataPro and Posix Systems.
Following the deregulation of the VANS industry in South Africa, a number of leading operators have diversified from being a top-tier ISP to becoming a converged communications service provider offering a range of voice and data services, particularly VoIP, through the conversion of VANS licenses into ECS licenses.
The total number of wireless broadband subscribers overtook that of fixed broadband subscribers in South Africa during 2007. The total number of broadband subscribers is estimated at 750,000 by late 2007, of which Telkom reported 335,112 ADSL subscribers. Wireless Business Solutions (WBS) launched the iBurst system in South Africa in late 2004, and had a subscriber base of 45,000 by July 2007, up from 2,500 subscribers by February 2005. Sentech had about 4,000 MyWireless subscribers in 2007, up from 2,500 in 2006. With delays to local loop unbundling (LLU), which would give ISPs access to exchanges, operators are deploying a range of broadband wireless networks. While the mobile operators are deploying HSDPA, W-CDMA and EDGE networks and entering the broadband space, operators are also deploying WiMAX, iBurst, and CDMA systems. Telkom, Sentech, Neotel, WBS and the under-serviced areas licensees (USALs) have currently been given commercial WiMAX licenses. Telkom launched full commercial WiMAX services in June 2007, first at 14 sites in Pretoria, Cape Town and Durban, and a further 57 sites are planned for 2007/8. Another 10 operators, including M-Web and Vodacom, were granted temporary test licenses and are awaiting spectrum to be allocated by ICASA. In May 2008, WBS partnered with Vodacom and Intel Corporation to roll out an 802.16e WiMAX network.
The key upcoming development is that supply contracts have been awarded for three submarine cables that will land in South Arica—SEACOM, EASSy, and WACS. The data sector is a key area for growth in both the corporate data and residential data markets.
South Africa is currently served by two submarine cables: SAT-2 and the SAT-3/WASC/SAFE system. Contracts have been awarded for the following three additional submarine cables that will land in South Africa from June 2009:
- SEACOM: The SEACOM submarine cable landing at Mombasa is due to enter commercial service in June 2009. The cable runs from South Africa to Egypt via Mozambique, Madagascar, Tanzania, Kenya, Djibouti and Saudi Arabia, connecting eastwards through to India and westwards through the Mediterranean.
- East African Submarine Cable System (EASSy): The planned EASSy will run from South Africa (Mtunzini) to Egypt via Mombasa (Kenya) and other East African countries. The cable will run as far north as Djibouti and Port Sudan, with onward connectivity to Europe provide by the Europe India Gateway (EIG) cable. In March 2007, a 23-member consortium behind EASSy signed a supply contract with Alcatel-Lucent.
- West African Cable System (WACS). In April 2009, the WACS consortium signed a construction and maintenance agreement, and awarded a supply contract to Alcatel-Lucent for a 14,000-kilometre cable to provide connectivity between South Africa, Portugal and the United Kingdom via 11 other African countries. With a minimum design capacity of 3.84 Terabit/s, WACS will connect South Africa to the United Kingdom with landings in 12 countries: Namibia, Angola, DRC, Congo, Cameroon, Nigeria, Togo, Ghana, Côte d'Ivoire, Cape Verde, the Canary Islands, and Portugal. The WACS consortium comprises 11 parties: Angola Telecom, Broadband Infraco (see below), Cable & Wireless, MTN, Portugal Telecom, Sotelco, Tata Communications, Telecom Namibia, Telkom SA, Togo Telecom and Vodacom. The cable is expected to be ready for service during 2011.
Uganda
On 13 October 2009, UgandaUganda
Uganda , officially the Republic of Uganda, is a landlocked country in East Africa. Uganda is also known as the "Pearl of Africa". It is bordered on the east by Kenya, on the north by South Sudan, on the west by the Democratic Republic of the Congo, on the southwest by Rwanda, and on the south by...
's ICT Minister Aggrey Awori
Aggrey Awori
Aggrey Siryoyi Awori is a Ugandan politician and a member of the ruling National Resistance Movement party. He was the Minister for Information & Communications Technology in the Ugandan Cabinet, from 16 February 2009 until 27 May 2011. In the Cabinet reshuffle of 27 May 2011, he was dropped from...
announces the establishment of the Uganda Broadband Infrastructure Strategy Team (UBIST). The team he said comprises representatives from Government
Politics of Uganda
Uganda is a presidential republic, in which the President of Uganda is both head of state and head of government; there is a multi-party system. Executive power is exercised by the government. Legislative power is vested in both the government and the National Assembly...
, Regulator, Operators, Internet Service Providers, Other investors/consumers, Civil Society and academia. UBIST will provide government with a well informed position for enabling it to access International Broadband Infrastructure. The government is also studying a number of policies for the effective implementation of the National Broadband strategy.
Hong Kong, S.A.R. of China
The Digital 21 Strategy was first published in 1998 by the GovernmentPolitics of Hong Kong
Politics of Hong Kong takes place in a framework of a political system dominated by its constitutional document, the Basic Law of Hong Kong, its own legislature, the Chief Executive as the head of government, and of a multi-party system...
of the Hong Kong Special Administrative Region
Hong Kong
Hong Kong is one of two Special Administrative Regions of the People's Republic of China , the other being Macau. A city-state situated on China's south coast and enclosed by the Pearl River Delta and South China Sea, it is renowned for its expansive skyline and deep natural harbour...
to set out the government's vision of developing Hong Kong
Hong Kong
Hong Kong is one of two Special Administrative Regions of the People's Republic of China , the other being Macau. A city-state situated on China's south coast and enclosed by the Pearl River Delta and South China Sea, it is renowned for its expansive skyline and deep natural harbour...
into a leading digital city. As a living document, updated in 2001 and 2004, it has taken into account the evolving needs of the community and technological advancements. The 2008 edition notes that Hong Kong offers the world's most affordable Internet connection
Internetworking
Internetworking is the practice of connecting a computer network with other networks through the use of gateways that provide a common method of routing information packets between the networks...
and mobile phone
Mobile phone
A mobile phone is a device which can make and receive telephone calls over a radio link whilst moving around a wide geographic area. It does so by connecting to a cellular network provided by a mobile network operator...
services with penetration rates among the highest in the world. Cyberport
Cyberport
Cyberport is a creative digital community with a cluster of technology and digital content tenants. It is owned and managed by Hong Kong Cyberport Management Company Limited which is wholly owned by the Hong Kong SAR Government...
and Hong Kong Science Park
Hong Kong Science Park
The Hong Kong Science Park is a science park in Hong Kong, located in Pak Shek Kok, New Territories, on the boundary of Sha Tin District and Tai Po District...
have been developed as strategic hubs bringing together clusters of high-tech information and communications technology
Information technology
Information technology is the acquisition, processing, storage and dissemination of vocal, pictorial, textual and numerical information by a microelectronics-based combination of computing and telecommunications...
(ICT) companies and professional talent from all over the world. The Government is pursuing a vigorous e-government
EGovernment
E-Government is digital interactions between a government and citizens , government and businesses/Commerce , government and employees , and also between government and governments /agencies...
program that has achieved good progress over the years. The Digital 21 Strategy sets out a vision of building on Hong Kong's position as a world digital city through advancing our achievements and seizing new opportunities. The realization of the Digital 21 Strategy vision requires the participation of the entire community including the ICT industry, business sectors, academia and the general public. As an integral part of the Strategy, key indicators of Hong Kong's ICT development will be measured and tracked over time for public reference. The Office of the Government Chief Information Officer
Chief information officer
Chief information officer , or information technology director, is a job title commonly given to the most senior executive in an enterprise responsible for the information technology and computer systems that support enterprise goals...
(OGCIO) is the focal point in the Government for dialogue with the public on the Strategy, for coordinating with all parties within the Government on its implementation and for tracking progress on an annual basis.
India
The typical speeds for consumer broadband in IndiaIndia
India , officially the Republic of India , is a country in South Asia. It is the seventh-largest country by geographical area, the second-most populous country with over 1.2 billion people, and the most populous democracy in the world...
vary from 256 kbit/s to 12 Mbit/s, with speeds of up to 100 Mbit/s available in very few areas, though plans of 8 Mbit/s and above are becoming more common from BSNL, Airtel, Beam Telecom, Honesty Net Solutions and MTNL but they are super expensive & out of reach of most Indians. The demand in India is for affordable 1Mbps plans with no download limit forcefully imposed .
The price of Broadband in India is very high compared to Europe or other parts of Asia, with a 1 Mbit/s connection costing between US$20 and $30 per month. Because of this, broadband is yet to filter down to the masses, with a penetration rate of 8.03 million (December 2009), or about 9.9% of the estimated 81 million total Internet subscribers.
In addition to the high prices, many providers have introduced a Fair Usage Policy on "Unlimited" plans, while data plans still have very low data transfer limits (typically 5-20 GB) after which speed is always reduced to 256kbps..
Domestic Fiber
The National Internet Backbone (NIB), owned and operated by the government, is the largest backbone in the country. Bharti (Airtel), GAIL
GAIL
GAIL Limited is a state-owned natural gas processing and distribution company headquartered in New Delhi, India. It has six segments: Transmission services of natural gas and liquefied petroleum gas , Natural gas trading, petrochemicals, LPG and Liquid hydrocarbons, GAILTEL and Others.- History...
Tel, Railtel
Railtel Corporation of India
Railtel Corporation of India is a Government of India enterprise focusing on providing broadband and VPN services. RailTel was formed in Sept 2000 with the objective of creating nation-wide broadband, telecom and multimedia network, to modernize Train Control Operation and Safety System of Indian...
, Reliance Communications
Reliance Communications
Reliance Communications Ltd. is an Indian broadband and telecommunications company headquartered in Navi Mumbai, India. RCOM is the world's 16th largest mobile phone operator with over 144 million subscribers. Established on 2004, a subsidiary of the Reliance Group...
and Tata Communications
Tata Communications
Tata Communications Limited ) is a telecommunications company located in Mumbai. They own a submarine cable network, a Tier-1 IP network, and also rent data center and colocation space. They operate India's largest data center in Pune...
also own and operate large amounts of backbone fiber throughout the country.
International Connectivity
Indonesia
In April 2009, IndonesiaIndonesia
Indonesia , officially the Republic of Indonesia , is a country in Southeast Asia and Oceania. Indonesia is an archipelago comprising approximately 13,000 islands. It has 33 provinces with over 238 million people, and is the world's fourth most populous country. Indonesia is a republic, with an...
n telecommunication officials announced the start of an auction process for 2.3 GHz radio frequency for broadband wireless access. Only companies or their subsidiaries that are majority Indonesian-owned are able to compete per the 2007 Investment Law and accompanying Negative List.
The Department of Communications and Information (DEPKOMINFO)laid out the following process for interested bidders:
- Apr 29-May 5 Pick-up bidding document;
- May 6 Submit written questions;
- May 11–20 Submit pre-qualification documents;
- May 29 Announce prequalification results;
- June 1–5 Prequalification appeal period;
- June 3–9 Pre-auction clarifying
- June 10–12 Implement three round auction;
- June 12 Announce auction results;
- June 15–16 Auction appeal period;
- June 17 Confirmation of auction results.
Indonesian officials plan to hold future auctions for the 3.3 and 3.5 GHz frequencies. No date is set for these future auctions. Earlier this year, DEPKOMINFO issued a Ministerial decree instructing operators using those frequencies to migrate to other frequencies.
Because of the Indonesian Negative List on Foreign Investment, U.S. firms will not be able to participate in the auction unless they partner with local companies to create a subsidiary that is majority Indonesian-owned. Interestingly, DEPKOMINFO officials said Indosat
Indosat
PT Indosat Tbk., formerly known as PT Indonesian Satellite Corporation Tbk. is a provider of telecommunication services in Indonesia. It is the third largest telecommunication company for mobile services in Indonesia after defeat by XL Axiata...
may not be able to compete because they are majority owned by a Qatar
Qatar
Qatar , also known as the State of Qatar or locally Dawlat Qaṭar, is a sovereign Arab state, located in the Middle East, occupying the small Qatar Peninsula on the northeasterly coast of the much larger Arabian Peninsula. Its sole land border is with Saudi Arabia to the south, with the rest of its...
firm. The official added that a majority Indonesian-owned subsidiary of Indosat could still participate in the auction.
Japan
In 2001, the Japanese CabinetCabinet of Japan
The of Japan is the executive branch of the government of Japan. It consists of the Prime Minister and up to fourteen other members, called Ministers of State. The Prime Minister is designated by the Diet, and the remaining ministers are appointed and dismissed by the Prime Minister...
released the e-Japan Priority Policy Programme. It stated that the private sector is to play the leading role in information technology, and the government
Politics of Japan
The politics of Japan is conducted in a framework of a parliamentary representative democratic monarchy, where Prime Minister of Japan is the head of government. Japanese politics uses a multi-party system. Executive power exercised by the government. Legislative power is vested in the Diet, with...
's role is to implement an environment in which markets function smoothly through the promotion of fair competition and removal of unnecessary regulations. It also stated that government must play an active role in areas in which the private sector's activities do not fulfill the goals of facilitating e-government, closing the digital divide
Digital divide
The Digital Divide refers to inequalities between individuals, households, business, and geographic areas at different socioeconomic levels in access to information and communication technologies and Internet connectivity and in the knowledge and skills needed to effectively use the information...
and promoting research and development
Research and development
The phrase research and development , according to the Organization for Economic Co-operation and Development, refers to "creative work undertaken on a systematic basis in order to increase the stock of knowledge, including knowledge of man, culture and society, and the use of this stock of...
. The e-Japan program extended tax incentives
Tax exemption
Various tax systems grant a tax exemption to certain organizations, persons, income, property or other items taxable under the system. Tax exemption may also refer to a personal allowance or specific monetary exemption which may be claimed by an individual to reduce taxable income under some...
and budgetary support for carriers building fiber optic networks.
To implement this program, the Ministry of Public Management
Public management
Public management is a term that considers that government and non-profit administration resembles private-sector management in some important ways. As such, there are management tools appropriate in public and in private domains, tools that maximize efficiency and effectiveness...
, Home Affairs
Interior minister
An interior ministry is a government ministry typically responsible for policing, national security, and immigration matters. The ministry is often headed by a minister of the interior or minister of home affairs...
, Posts and Telecommunications (MPHPT; it later changed its name to the Ministry of Internal Affairs and Communications, or MIC) pursued two policies: the National Broadband Initiative, which mandates that federal and local government
Local government
Local government refers collectively to administrative authorities over areas that are smaller than a state.The term is used to contrast with offices at nation-state level, which are referred to as the central government, national government, or federal government...
s deploy fiber to underserved areas; and the e-Japan Strategy, which set forth the goal of providing access at affordable rates by 2005 to high speed Internet networks for at least 30 million households, and to ultra-high speed Internet networks for 10 million households. Japan reached this goal with a broadband household penetration rate of 41.7 percent in 2004.
These policies provided $60 million to municipalities investing in local public broadband networks
Broadband Networks
The ideal telecommunication network has the following characteristics: broadband, multi-media, multi-point, multi-rate and economical implementation for a diversity of services [1][2]. The Broadband Integrated Services Digital Network provides these characteristics in today's networks...
, as well as low-interest loans to carriers to encourage them to build other broadband networks, including DSL, wireless, and cable systems. The loans were made through the Development Bank of Japan
Development Bank of Japan
is a Japanese corporation incorporated on 1 October 2008 under the Development Bank of Japan Inc. Law . Current ownership structure of DBJ is solely owned by the Government of Japan through Minister of Finance.- Overview :...
and the Telecommunications Advancement Organisation, both of which were largely funded by the government of Japan. In 2004, MIC issued its "Ubiquitous Japan" (u-Japan) policy. Its goal is to achieve a ubiquitous network society
Network society
The term Network Society describes several different phenomena related to the social, political, economic and cultural changes caused by the spread of networked, digital information and communications technologies. A number of academics are credited with coining the term since the 1990's and...
in which anything and anyone can easily access network
Access network
An access network is that part of a telecommunications network which connects subscribers to their immediate service provider. It is contrasted with the core network, which connects local providers to each other...
s and freely transmit information from anywhere at any time by 2010. MIC is reviewing its regulations regarding broadband as part of its work towards achieving that goal.
South Korea
In February 2009, the Korea Communications Commission (KCC) announced plans to upgrade the national network to offer 1 Gbit/s service by 2012. Currently, Koreans can get speeds up to 100 Mbit/s. The plan will cost 34.1 trillion won (USD $24.6 billion) over the next five years. The central governmentCentral government
A central government also known as a national government, union government and in federal states, the federal government, is the government at the level of the nation-state. The structure of central governments varies from institution to institution...
will put up 1.3 trillion won, with the remainder coming from private telecom operators. The project is also expected to create more than 120,000 jobs - a win for the Korean economy. In November 2006, the government
Politics of South Korea
Politics of the Republic of Korea takes place in the framework of a semi-presidential representative democratic republic, whereby the President is the head of state, and of a multi-party system. Executive power is exercised by the government. Legislative power is vested in both the government and...
had announced it would invest 26.6 trillion won (US$28.3 billion) to upgrade networks—including fiber-to-the-home (FTTH), optical LAN and hyper fiber co-axial cable
Coaxial cable
Coaxial cable, or coax, has an inner conductor surrounded by a flexible, tubular insulating layer, surrounded by a tubular conducting shield. The term coaxial comes from the inner conductor and the outer shield sharing the same geometric axis...
—in the country over the next four years. The government aims to upgrade a total of 20 million subscriber lines—10 million lines for fixed and wireless services each. The government is expecting industry to contribute funds toward the national upgrading project.
The decision to focus on broadband began in the mid-1990s and intensified after South Korea's economy was crippled by the collapse of the Asian financial market
Financial market
In economics, a financial market is a mechanism that allows people and entities to buy and sell financial securities , commodities , and other fungible items of value at low transaction costs and at prices that reflect supply and demand.Both general markets and...
s in 1997, when policy makers targeted technology as a key sector for restoring the country's economic health. Korean regulators set a path for the industry with well-publicized national goals. All big office and apartment buildings would be given a fiber connection by 1997. By 2000, 30 percent of households would have broadband access through DSL or cable lines. By 2005, more than 80 percent of households would have access to fast connections of 20 Mbit/s or more—about the rate needed for high-definition television.
Most of the country's consumers were already served by the dominant carrier Korea Telecom
Korea Telecom
KT Corporation is a South Korean integrated wired/wireless telecommunication service provider. KT has an information & communications business, and has the largest portion of the South Korean local telephone and high-speed Internet business...
, but the government encouraged competitors with a low-interest loan program for companies that built their own broadband facilities. The program offered $77 million in two years alone, with a particular focus on rural areas. The government offered other incentives for Korea Telecom. Once a state-owned monopoly, the company began the transition to private hands in 1993. But the government, which retained some shares until 2002, allowed the process to become final only on the condition that Korea Telecom bring broadband to all the villages in the country.
The government also offered Internet training for the portion of the population deemed likely to be left behind in the digital age. About 10 million people fell into this category in the first round of the government's initiative, including stay-at-home wives, military personnel
Soldier
A soldier is a member of the land component of national armed forces; whereas a soldier hired for service in a foreign army would be termed a mercenary...
, disabled citizens, and even prison inmates. That program was ultimately expanded to anyone who wanted it.
Lebanon
The National Broadband Strategy is a project initiated by the Partnership for LebanonLebanon
Lebanon , officially the Republic of LebanonRepublic of Lebanon is the most common term used by Lebanese government agencies. The term Lebanese Republic, a literal translation of the official Arabic and French names that is not used in today's world. Arabic is the most common language spoken among...
. The Broadband plan would bring larger, high speed communication pipes that would allow Lebanese citizens to have faster access to information and change the way they live, work, play, and learn. Lebanon's outdated communications infrastructure puts Lebanese industry at a competitive disadvantage, costing jobs, decreasing revenue, and slowing economic growth. The Partnership for Lebanon is working with the Lebanese government
Politics of Lebanon
Lebanon is a parliamentary republic within the overall framework of confessionalism, a form of consociationalism in which the highest offices are proportionately reserved for representatives from certain religious communities. The constitution grants the people the right to change their government...
and business leaders to modernize Lebanon's communications infrastructure through innovation and investment. In so doing, the Partnership is helping Lebanon update technology, reduce connectivity costs, and improve ICT quality across the board.
The Partnership is working specifically with the Telecommunications Regulatory Agency (TRA) to develop a national broadband strategy designed to bring broadband to Lebanon's urban and rural communities. As part of this effort, the Partnership is conducting broadband business analysis, developing network architecture options, and crafting a regulatory framework to facilitate the successful implementation of a modern communications infrastructure. The Partnership is also working with the government owned telecom operator, Ogero, to increase Lebanon's international bandwidth capacity. The Partnership has provided Ogero with an Internet Exchange Point and is assembling the equipment needed to install two state of the art International Internet Gateways. To help educate local stakeholders about the benefits of a modern communications infrastructure, the Partnership and in coordination with the LBSG Committee which represents economic councils, private sector leaders and professional assiociations, launched a recent Advertising Campaign. The objective of this campaign is to raise awareness and educate the Lebanese public on the need of a True Broadband Infrastructure in Lebanon. The True Broadband Infrastructure will encourage economic growth and social development. The campaign second objective is to drive people to sign the manifesto.
Malaysia
High Speed Broadband (HSBB) is a broadband service that offers bandwidth delivered at network speeds of 10 Mbit/s and above when compared to normal broadband (Broadband to the General Population (BBGP)) which delivers bandwidth through wired and wireless technologies at network speeds ranging between 256 kbit/s and 4 Mbit/s. Eventually Malaysia will see basic HSBB packages offering network speeds between 20-50 Mbit/s and up to 100 Mbit/s for consumers while businesses will have maximum network speeds available up to 1,000Mbit/s (1Gbit/s).To understand the deployment of HSBB, the role HSBB plays in the larger world of broadband deployment in Malaysia must first be understood. Broadband deployment in Malaysia is carried out using two approaches – normal broadband, known as Broadband to the General Population (BBGP) delivered via wired (DSL) and wireless technologies (WiMax, WiFi, 3G/HSDPA) while the other will be through HSBB.
BBGP (via both wired and wireless modes) is deployed nationwide while HSBB ( available only through the wired mode) will only initially be concentrated in the Klang Valley, Iskandar Malaysia and key industrial zones throughout the country. It is expected that 1.3 million premises will have the ability to access HSBB coverage by end 2012.
Singapore
The SingaporeSingapore
Singapore , officially the Republic of Singapore, is a Southeast Asian city-state off the southern tip of the Malay Peninsula, north of the equator. An island country made up of 63 islands, it is separated from Malaysia by the Straits of Johor to its north and from Indonesia's Riau Islands by the...
an government
Politics of Singapore
The politics of Singapore takes the form of a parliamentary republic whereby the President of Singapore is the head of state, the Prime Minister of Singapore is the head of government, and of a multi-party system. Executive power is exercised by the cabinet. Cabinet has the general direction and...
will provide up to S$750 million (US$520 million) in grants to build the Next Generation National Broadband Network. It will be wireline and wireless, and have speeds ranging from 100 Mbit/s to 1 Gbit/s. The network will be open to all service provider
Service provider
A service provider is an entity that provides services to other entities. Usually, this refers to a business that provides subscription or web service to other businesses or individuals. Examples of these services include Internet access, Mobile phone operators, and web application hosting...
s, threatening SingTel
Singapore Telecommunications
Singapore Telecommunications Limited , commonly abbreviated as SingTel, is a Singaporean telecommunications company, with a combined mobile subscriber base of 416 million customers from its own operations and regional associates in 25 countries at end of June 2011 increased by 19 percent from a...
and StarHub's market dominance. The government will not prevent companies from building their own networks, however. Bidding is taking place in two stages - first, for the passive infrastructure, and then for the active infrastructure. In September 2008, IDA selected OpenNet, in which SingTel has a 30 percent stake, to design, build, and operate the passive infrastructure.
Wireless@SG is a wireless broadband
Wireless LAN
A wireless local area network links two or more devices using some wireless distribution method , and usually providing a connection through an access point to the wider internet. This gives users the mobility to move around within a local coverage area and still be connected to the network...
programme developed by IDA as part of its Next Generation National Infocomm Infrastructure initiative. It will be run and developed in the next two years by three local wireless operators who will deploy a wireless broadband network in Singapore. Users can enjoy free, both in-door and outdoor seamless wireless broadband access with speeds of up to 512 kbit/s at most public areas.
Taiwan
Over the past ten years, the Taiwan authorities have pursued a series of ICT infrastructure development projects, beginning with the "E-Government" initiative in 2000 that aimed to create more efficient, networked public servicesPublic services
Public services is a term usually used to mean services provided by government to its citizens, either directly or by financing private provision of services. The term is associated with a social consensus that certain services should be available to all, regardless of income...
. The authorities expanded E-Government to include "E-Society," "E-Industry," and "E-Opportunity" initiatives under 2002's "E-Taiwan" plan. According to James Lo, Section Chief in the National Communications Commission (NCC) Department of Planning, from 2003–2007, the Taiwan
Taiwan
Taiwan , also known, especially in the past, as Formosa , is the largest island of the same-named island group of East Asia in the western Pacific Ocean and located off the southeastern coast of mainland China. The island forms over 99% of the current territory of the Republic of China following...
authorities and private sector partners spent over USD 10 billion on the broadband development. By the end of 2007, there were six million broadband internet accounts in Taiwan.
Thailand
Some of the nations most powerful telecommunications executives and the regulatory agency, Nation Telecommunications Union (NTC), met for the first time on July 2, 2009 to formulate a plan for Meaningful Broadband. The plan calls for interacting with Prime Minister, and a spectrum of Thai ministries to establish the role of broadband in achieving public-policy reforms in the Abhisit governmentPolitics of Thailand
The politics of Thailand are currently conducted within the framework of a constitutional monarchy, whereby the Prime Minister is the head of government and a hereditary monarch is head of state. The judiciary is independent of the executive and the legislative branches.Thai kingdoms and late...
.
The event, held at the Oriental Hotel, was the first meeting of the Meaningful Broadband Working Group, led by Craig Warren Smith, a visiting professor of Chulalongkorn University
Chulalongkorn University
Chulalongkorn University is the oldest university in Thailand and is the country's highest ranked university. It now has nineteen faculties and institutes. Regarded as the best and most selective university in Thailand, it consistently attracts top students from around the country...
's Center for Ethics of Science and Technology. Sponsored by NTC, the event released a white paper on Meaningful Broadband.
The report rejects the path to broadband favored by Singapore
Singapore
Singapore , officially the Republic of Singapore, is a Southeast Asian city-state off the southern tip of the Malay Peninsula, north of the equator. An island country made up of 63 islands, it is separated from Malaysia by the Straits of Johor to its north and from Indonesia's Riau Islands by the...
and other advanced nations which serves affluent citizens who can afford high speed internet. Instead, it calls for a new "broadband ecosystem" for Thailand
Thailand
Thailand , officially the Kingdom of Thailand , formerly known as Siam , is a country located at the centre of the Indochina peninsula and Southeast Asia. It is bordered to the north by Burma and Laos, to the east by Laos and Cambodia, to the south by the Gulf of Thailand and Malaysia, and to the...
, that is focused primarily on the Middle of the Pyramid (MOP), a middle-income group of Thais who make from $2 to $7 dollars per day. By bringing 28 million of these MOP Thais into subsidized meaningful mobile broadband applications, Smith predicts a "wealth effect" that could bring equity and sustainability to the Thai economy.
Responding to the framework, Khun Supachai called was one of several members of the group that advocated a follow up study that would prepare for a meeting with Prime Minister Abhisit
Abhisit Vejjajiva
Abhisit Vejjajiva , , ; born Mark Abhisit Vejjajiva; 3 August 1964 in Newcastle upon Tyne) is a Thai politician who was the 27th Prime Minister of Thailand from 2008 to 2011 and is the current leader of the Democrat Party...
along with ministers of Finance, Education, ICT and other relevant parties. "We need to figure out the roles of government, the regulator and the telecomunications operators in establishing broadband that brings optimal benefits to Thailand." Supachai, agreed to be host and sponsor of further research in preparation of the next meeting of the Working Group to be held in September.
"Along with painting the big picture of how broadband could serve the nation, we should focus specifically how it can serve education and human resources development," said Montchai Noosong, Executive Vice President of TOT.
"Central to the 'meaningful' idea is a new approach to Ethics, said Chulalongkorn University Soraj Hongladarom. "We want Thailand to develop a way to help users choose broadband applications that will lead them to happiness not addiction," he said.
Australia
On 15 September 2009, the Minister for Broadband, Communications and the Digital Economy, Senator Stephen ConroyStephen Conroy
Stephen Michael Conroy is an Australian politician and the current Minister for Broadband, Communications and the Digital Economy in the Gillard Ministry...
, announced fundamental reforms to Australian's telecommunications landscape.
In April 2009, the Australian Government
Politics of Australia
The Politics of Australia take place within the framework of a parliamentary democracy, with electoral procedures appropriate to a two-party system. Australia is governed as a federation and as a constitutional monarchy, with an adversarial legislature based upon the Westminster system...
announced that it would establish a new company that will invest up to $43 billion over 8 years to build and operate a wholesale-only, open access National Broadband Network
National Broadband Network
The National Broadband Network is a national wholesale-only, open-access data network under development in Australia. Up to one gigabit per second connections are sold to retail service providers , who then sell Internet access and other services to consumers...
. The new network will provide fiber optic
Optical fiber
An optical fiber is a flexible, transparent fiber made of a pure glass not much wider than a human hair. It functions as a waveguide, or "light pipe", to transmit light between the two ends of the fiber. The field of applied science and engineering concerned with the design and application of...
to the home and workplace, supplemented with next generation wireless and satellite technologies to deliver superfast broadband services. The Government plans to sell down its ownership of the company - NBN Co. Ltd. - 5 years after the network is built.
Again in April 2009, the Government released a discussion paper entitled "National Broadband Network: Regulatory Reform for 21st Century Broadband". The paper is based on public comments on the NBN. The paper appears to be similar to an FCC
Federal Communications Commission
The Federal Communications Commission is an independent agency of the United States government, created, Congressional statute , and with the majority of its commissioners appointed by the current President. The FCC works towards six goals in the areas of broadband, competition, the spectrum, the...
NPRM or NOI. It outlines the method of establishing the NBN and also sketches general regulatory reforms to assist the market in the future. To facilitate fiber build-out, the government will simplify land right of way procedures.
The Australian Government had previously (in 2007) planned to subsidize a privately-operated fiber-to-the-node project. The collapse of capital market
Capital market
A capital market is a market for securities , where business enterprises and governments can raise long-term funds. It is defined as a market in which money is provided for periods longer than a year, as the raising of short-term funds takes place on other markets...
s altered that plan.For a full history of the decision process
Decision making
Decision making can be regarded as the mental processes resulting in the selection of a course of action among several alternative scenarios. Every decision making process produces a final choice. The output can be an action or an opinion of choice.- Overview :Human performance in decision terms...
to arrive at the current strategy, see: http://www.dbcde.gov.au/__data/assets/pdf_file/0007/110014/Summary_observations_for_website.pdf.For an overview of the national plan and links to details see: http://www.dbcde.gov.au/all_funding_programs_and_support/national_broadband_network.
New Zealand
- National Broadband Availability
- Digital Strategy 2.0
- Digital Strategy Main Page
- Broadband Initiatives