Mobile Broadband by 4G: Technology, Present Status in the World and Prospect in Bangladesh -Sayeed Mahmud*

Introduction

The evolution of information superhighway through internet technology has generated unlimited prospect for learning, developing and rendering service provisioning. To tap the benefits and to build a knowledge-based information society, Bangladesh needs to ensure superior service platform, affordable and easy access to the ICT for its customers. Broadband presents a platform for faster aceess and a wide range of value-added service through different applications. Considering the fact, the Government has decided to build Digital Bangladesh by 2021. Exclusive plans have already been taken to achieve this goal. Action programs are going on as per approved ILDTS (International Long Distance Telecommunication Service), NBP (National Broadband Policy) and ICT policies. For example to achieve broadband pentration of 30% by the end of 2015, following targets have been set in NBP:

• To connect all the villages with the broadband through community access points.

• To connect all the higher secondary, secondary and government/MPO listed educational institutions with the broadband.

• To connect all the cultural centres, museums, post offices and archives to the broadband network.

• To bring all the union parishad offices under the broadban network.

• To bring all the farmers market under the broadband network.

Definition of Broadband

Broadband is now commonly used to denote fast speed data communication which replaces conventional dial-up technologies. Any speed equal to or above the usual speed of internet is termed as Broadband. Considering the situation of Bangladesh, NBP 2009 defined broadband as an ‘always on’ data/ internet connection that ensures a minimum bandwidth of of 128 kbps subject to its revision as and when necessary. This minimum level of bandwidth shall be ensured at the subscriber’s end.”

Wireless Broadband by 4G Mobile

4G, short for fourth generation, is the fourth generation of mobile telecommunication

technology succeeding 3G. A 4G system, in addition to usual voice & othet services of 3G system, provides mobile ultra-broadband internet access, for example to laptops with wireless modems, to smartphone, and to other mobile devices. Conceivable applications

include amended mobile web access, IP telephony, gaming services, high-definition mobile TV, video conferencing, 3D television & cloud computing.

Technical Specifications of 4G

The specifics of the 4G network include better reception, with less dropped data, and faster information exchanges. In March 2008, the ITU-R specified a set of requirements for 4G standards, named the International Mobile Telecommunications Advanced

(IMT-Advanced) specifications. An IMT-Advanced cellular system must fulfill the

following requirements:

* Sub-Divisional Engineer, Bangladesh Telecommunications Company Limited

WORLD TELECOMMUNICATION AND INFORMATION SOCIETY DAY 2014

• Be based on an all-IP packet switched network.

• Have peak data rates of up to approximately 100 Mbit/s for high mobility such as mobile access and up to approximately 1 Gbit/s for low mobility such as normadic/local wireless access.

• Be able to dynamically share and use the network resources to support more simultaneous users per cell.

• Using scalable channel bandwidths of 5-20 MHz, optionally up to 40 MHz.

• Have peak link spectral efficiency of 15 bit/s in the ownlink and 6.75 bit/s in the uplink.

• System spectral efficiency of up to 3 bit/s/Hz/cell in the downlink and 2.25 bit/s/Hz/cell for indoor usage.

• Smooth handovers across heterogeneous networks.

• The ability to offer high quality of service for next generation multimedia support.

Commercially Deployed 4G Mobiles

Two 4G candidate systems are commercially deployed, though there is some debate regarding their status:

(1) the Mobile WiMAX standard

(2) the Long Term Evolution (LTE) standard.

Mobile WiMAX (Worldwide Interoperability for

Microwave Access)

It’s a wireless communications standard ratified by WiMAX Forum. Features of Mobile WiMAX:

• Known as Mobile Broadband Wireless Access (MBWA).

• Offers peak data rates of 128 Mbit/s in downlink and 56 Mbit/s in uplink over 20 MHz wide channels.

• Provides a wireless alternative to cable and Digital Subscriber Line (DSL) for "last mile" broadband access.

• Provides data, telecommunications (VoIP) and IPTV services.

• Originally based on IEEE 802.16e-2005 which was revised, such as 802.16m-2011.

• 802.16e-2005 uses scalable Orthogonal Frequency Division Multiple Access (OFDMA) Time Dvision Duplex (TDD).

• 802.16e-2005 brings multiple antenna support through MIMO (Multiple Input Multiple Output).

• It’s a long range system, covering many kilometres, that uses licensed or unlicensed spectrum to deliver connection to a network.

• Limited roaming service. The world’s first commercial Mobile WiMAX service was opened by KT in Seoul, South Korea in June 2006. Sprint in USA has begun using Mobile WiMAX as of 29 September 2008, branding it as a “4G” network. In Russia, Belarus and Nicaragua WiMAX broadband internet access is offered by a Russian company and is also branded 4G, Yota. Mobile WiMAX is not available for the European market since April 2012.

LTE (Long Term Evolution)

Commonly marketed as 4G LTE, is a standard for wireless data communications technology and is part of the GSM evolutionary path, following EDGE, UMTS, HSPA (HSDPA and HSUPA combined) and HSPA Evolution (HSPA+). It supports IP-based voice, data, video and messaging traffic. The capacity and speed of wireless data networks are increased by use of new DSP (Digital Signal Processing) techniques and modulations. Network architecture is of IP-based. The standard is developed by the 3GPP (3^rd Generation Partnership Project) and is specified in its Release 8 document series, with minor enhancements described in Release 9.

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Features of LTE:

• Theoritical peak speed: 100 Mbit/s in download and 50 Mbit/s in upload if a 20 MHz channel is used.

• Has the ability to manage fast-moving mobiles and supports multi-cast and broadcast streams.

• Supports only packet switching with its all-IP network. The IP-based network architecture, called the Evolved Packet Core (EPC) and designed to replace the GPRS Core Network, supports seamless handovers for both voice and data to cell towers.

• Physical radio interface was High Speed OFDM Packet Access (HSOPA), now named Evolved UMTS Terrestrial Radio Access (E-UTRA).

• Support for both FDD and TDD communication systems as well as half-duplex FDD with the same radio access technology.

• Simplified architecture: The network side of E-UTRAN is composed only of eNodeBs. The eNodeB performs tasks similar to those performed by the NodeBs and RNC (Radio Network Controller) together in UTRAN. eNodeBs are connected to each other via the X2 interface, and they connect to the packet switched (PS) core network via the S1 interface.

• Packet switched radio interface.

• Support for inter-operation and co-existence with legacy standards (e.g., GSM/EDGE, UMTS and CDMA2000). Users can start a call or transfer of data in an area using an LTE standard, and, should coverage be unavailable, continue the operation without any action on their part using GSM/GPRS or W-CDMA-based UMTS.

• Increased spectrum flexibility: 1.4 MHz, 3 MHz, 5 MHz, 10 MHz, 15 MHz and 20 MHz wide cells are standardized.

• Support for all frequency bands currently used by IMT systems by ITU-R.

• Use smart antenna arrays MIMO. The world's first publicly available LTE service was launched by TeliaSonera in Stockholm (Ericsson and Nokia Siemens Networks systems) and Oslo (Huawei system) on December 14, 2009. As of November 2012, the five publicly available LTE services in USA were provided by (a) MetroPCS (b) Verizon Wireless (c) AT&T Mobility, U.S. Cellular (d) Sprint (e) T-Mobile US. Airtel launched the LTE service in India in April 2012. T-Mobile Hungary has offered commercial 4G LTE services since 1 January 2012. In South Korea, SK Telecom and LG U+ have enabled access to LTE service since 1 July 2011 for data devices. KT Telecom completed the nationwide LTE service by June 2012. In the UK, LTE service launced by EE in October 2012 and by O2 and Vodafone in August 2013. Adoption of LTE technology in the world as of February 15, 2014.

  Countries with commercial LTE service Countries with commercial LTE network deployment on-going or planned Countries with LTE trial systems (pre-commitment)

WORLD TELECOMMUNICATION AND INFORMATION SOCIETY DAY 2014

Commercial 4G Vs. True 4G- View of ITU-R

Although marketed as a 4G wireless service, first-release versions of Mobile WiMAX and LTE are not fully IMT-Advanced compliant. However, due to marketing pressures and the significant advancements that WiMAX, HSPA+ and LTE bring to the original 3G technologies, ITU later decided that LTE together with the aforementioned technologies can be called 4G technologies. Mobile WiMAX Release 2 (also known as WirelessMAN Advanced) standardized by IEEE 802.16m and LTE Advanced (LTE-A) standardized by 3GPP are IMT-Advanced compliant. And to differentiate LTE Advanced and WirelessMAN Advanced from current 4G technologies, ITU has defined them as "True 4G".

LTE Advanced- True 4G

LTE Advanced is a candidate for IMT-Advanced standard, formally submitted by 3GPP organization to ITU-T in the fall 2009.

• It’s not a new technology, but rather an improvement on the existing LTE network.

• Similar to the upgrade from WCDMA to HSPA.

• LTE and LTE-Advanced will also make use of additional spectrums and multiplexing to allow it to achieve higher data speeds.

• Coordinated Multi-point Transmission will allow more system capacity to help handle the enhanced data speeds.

• Release 10 of LTE (LTE Advanced) is expected to achieve the IMT Advanced speeds. Peak download: 1 Gbit/s Peak upload: 500 Mbit/s

IEEE 802.16m or WirelessMAN Advanced-True 4G

It’s under development with the objective to fulfill the IMT-Advanced criteria of 1 Gbit/s for stationary reception and 100 Mbit/s for mobile reception.

Present Broadband Scenario of Bangladesh

At this moment, three types of infrastructures are being used in Bangladesh for providing broadband internet services: (1) Fiber optic cables (2) WiMAX (3) 3G Mobile Network. Among them, Third Generation (3G) mobile telecommunication network is being used for making video calls, high speed internet (UMTS, HSPA) and for many day-to-day economic activities. 5 (five) GSM Mobile phone operators are now providing 3G services. For this, BTRC has issued 10 MHz spectrum license to Teletalk and Grameen Phone, 5 MHz each to Robi, Banglalink and Airtel. On the other side, Qubee and Banglalion are providing 4G Wireless Broadband service using 4G WiMAX technology. BTRC has assigned 35 MHz frequency to each from 2.3GHz and 2.5 GHz band. Recently, Banglalion has obtained the permission from BTRC to deploy more advanced TD-LTE (Time Division Long Term Evolution) network with existing frequency to provide Broadband Wireless Access services nationwide. Through this technology, Banglalion would be able to provide even faster mobile broadband connectivity more effectively. LTE would enable the customers to enjoy blazing speed and more stable, uninterrupted connectivity in both fixed and on the go environment. Banglalion is expecting to start offering LTE based services from Mid 2014. After awarding the WiMAX as well as the 3G license, the internet penetration of the country has increased significantly. At present, the number of internet subscriber in Bangladesh is about 37 million. 56 percent of the district towns of Bangladesh are now under wireless broadband network. Increase of internet users is clear from the below table:

Table: Total number of Internet Subscribers in Bangladesh in March 2013 & March 2014 (Source: BTRC web site) Category Subscribers (in thousands) March 2013 March 2014

Mobile Internet 30099.166 35336.011

ISP + PSTN 1220.62 1228.02

WiMAX 481.559 301.73

Total 31801.345 36865.756

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In the mean time, government has decided to introduce mobile broadband (4G LTE) service in the country through BTCL. For this a project, financed by EDCF, Korea has been taken naming “Installation of Wireless Broadband network for Digital Bangladesh (4G, LTE)”. Aim is to provide blanket coverage for broadband access. 3G will provide broadband accessibility to mobile devices (mobile hand set or Tablet), while LTE is for broadband access for PCs or Laptops. For extensive network coverage eNodeB BTS will be installed at all metropolitan cities, District HQ, Upazila and growth centers. To increase internet penetration, BTRC has lowered the bandwidth price after analyzing the overall scenario and consulting with the ministry. Lowering the price of bandwidth will have effect on spreading the internet service at the grass-root level and developing the telecommunication infrastructure. But it has also been observed that the cost of establishing the infrastructure to reach the internet to the people of remote areas of Bangladesh is very high. If the infrastructure cost can be reduced then it is possible to rip the benefit of lowering the bandwidth price.

Prospect of 4G in Bangladesh

Since government has decided to make “Digital Bangladesh” by 2021, hence mobile broadband internet facility has to be extended to all district headquarters, upozilla headquarters and subsequently to important union parishads. The bandwidth capacity and availability have to be ensured all over the country at a reasonable cost to encourage the growth of internet, e-commerce, e-health, ICT industries and e-government (e-forms, e procurement, e-recruitment, e-results etc), transportation, tourism, agriculture, environment etc. Since 4G provides very high speed internet, has mobility and maintenance is comparatively easier with respect to fixed high speed fibre optic network, hence it can be used in all important government and corporate offices, educational institutions and libraries etc. It can be used to improve the efficiency, availability and reach of private and public sector services in areas of health, education, and government services.

Conclusion

When we use the slogan “Digital Bangladesh”, then at first comes the question of broadband internet. If anyone wants to see the dream of “Sonar Bangladesh” without broadband services in mass population level, then it will be a wrong thinking. Because if we consider the concept of Digital Bangladesh, then broadband services will be the next fundamental right of mass people of Bangladesh after food, clothes and accommodation. And it’s our idea that except mobile network it will be not possible for us to provide broadband services at all location of our country within the next few decades. Broadband is transforming the people’s way of communicating, doing business and accessing the information. Considering further development of Bangladesh in telecommunication and ICT sector, there is a huge prospect for 4G mobile broadband internet services. Proper implementation and utilization of 3G & 4G technology will pave the way towards achieving the goal of Digital Bangladesh set by Bangladesh government.

Sources:

1. http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/4G

2. http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/LTE_(Telecom munication)

3. www.btrc.gov.bd

4. www.btcl.gov.bd

5. www.4gamericas.org/index.cfm

6. www.wisegeek.com/what-is-a-4g-network .htm

7. www.banglalionwimax.com

8. My writeup about 3G published in BUET87 Foundation Suvenior in 2012

Demystifying Broadband Perceptions

A. K. M. HabiburRahman Director, BTCL[1]  

1.            Introduction

We all know that concept of Internetworking of network originated from the ARPANET (Advanced Research Projects Agency Network) project of Dept. of Defense, USA. There are now millions of computers world-wide connecting each other forming the Internet. Although the word “Internet” was used for the first time in 1982, an American Internet Service Provider, The World (www.theworld.com), was the first public dialup Internet Service Provider on the planet started service in 1989. Until Digital Subscriber Line (DSL) and Cable Modem become common in most of the households, the only way to access the Internet was using dial from PSTN (Public Switched Telephone Network) connection.

Dialup technology uses digital modem which transforms digital signal of computer into analog signal for traversing over PSTN and vice versa.The first commercial modem,Bell 103, was manufactured by AT&T in 1962. Finally the 56 kbps modem was invented by Dr. Brent Townshend in 1996. Dialup Internet using 56 kbps modem is termed as “Narrowband” Internet.

The main drawback of this dial-up connection was that a single phone line could only be used for modem transmission, or phone calls – it was not possible to use both services simultaneously.  The speed was also painfully slow. Business users had to install a second phone line dedicated to the modem. The need to use the same phone line for modem transmission and phone call simultaneously was the mother of invention of broadband.

2.            Birth of Broadband

Nothing much changed about modem and internet technology until a great leap occurred to overcome the problems of analog PSTN system by inventing the Integrated Services Digital Network (ISDN) technology. The ISDN is comprised of digital telephony and data-transport services offered by the telephone carriers. The ISDN offers two types of services: (i) Basic Rate Interface (BRI) with two B channels @ 64 kbps and one D channel @ 16 kbps providing its total bit rate to 192 kbps. (ii) ISDN Primary Rate Interface (PRI) service offers 23 B channels and 1 D channel in North America and Japan, yielding a total bit rate of 1.544 Mbps (here D channel runs at 64 kbps). ISDN PRI in Europe, Australia, and other parts of the world provides 30 B channels plus one 64-kbps D channel and a total interface rate of 2.048 Mbps.

Unfortunately ISDN technology did not spread-over and become popular all over the world. However, the technology continues to use till now. A quantum leap in the data communication speed in the last mile happened during the mid 1990’s, when Digital Subscriber line (DSL) technology made it possible to provide both internet access and telephone calls through the same telephone line simultaneously.  Since then different variants of a particular technology as well as alternate technologies have been developed to increase data communication speed. Initiatives have been ongoing in both the wired and wireless telephony to increase data communication speed.

3.            Defining Broadband Worldwide

3.1          International Telecommunication Union

ITU-T Recommendation I.113 defines the term broadband [wideband] as “Qualifying a service or system requiring transmission channels capable of supporting rates greater than the primary rate.” The primary rate is ISDN primary rate which is 1.5 Mbps in North America and Japan or 2.0 Mbps in Europe and other countries. ITU-T Recommendation Series I is related to Integrated Services Digital Network (ISDN) and Recommendation I.113 is about Vocabulary of terms for broadband aspects of ISDN. The Recommendation was published in June 1997.

In September 2003, ITU published the report“ITU INTERNET REPORTS: BIRTH OF BROADBAND”. The report statesthat Broadband is commonly used to describe recent Internet connections that are significantly faster than today’s dial-up technologies, but it is not a specific speed or service. Recommendation I.113 of the ITU Standardization Sector defines broadband as a transmission capacity that is faster than primary rate ISDN, at 1.5 or 2.0 Mbps. Elsewhere, broadband is considered to correspond to transmission speeds equal to or greater than 256 kbps, and some operators even label basic rate ISDN (at 144 kbps) as a “type of broadband”. In this report, while not defining broadband specifically, 256 kbps is generally taken as the minimum speed.

The report recognizes that“The term “broadband” is like a moving target. Internet access speeds are increasingall the time. As technology improves, even ITU’s recommended speeds will soon be considered too slow.”Recently, ITU in its document “Core ICT Indicators2010” released in January 2010 has considered the broadband as follows:

“Fixedbroadbandrefers to technologies at speeds of at least 256kbit/s,in one or both directions, such as DSL (Digital Subscriber Line), cablemodem, high speed leased lines, fibre-to-the-home, power-line, satellite,fixed wireless, Wireless Local Area Network and WiMAX.”

“Mobilebroadbandrefers to technologies at speeds of atleast 256kbit/s,in one or both directions, such as Wideband CDMA (WCDMA), known asUniversal Mobile Telecommunications System (UMTS) in Europe; High Speed Downlink Packet Access (HSDPA), complemented by HighSpeedUplink Packet Access (HSUPA); CDMA2000 1xEVDO and CDMA 20001xEVDV. Access can be via any device (handheld computer laptop ormobile cellular telephone etc.).”

3.2          OECD Countries

The Organization for Economic Co-operation and Development (OECD)defines broadband as an Internet connection that is capable of sustaining download speeds to individual users greater than or equal to 256 kbps. It is observed that broadband speed defined by most of the countries is less than or equal to 256 Kbps.

3.3          Some other Countries

Bangladesh: National Broadband Policy 2009 of Bangladesh defines the broadband as “An ‘always on’ data/internet connection that ensures a minimum bandwidth of 128 Kbps subject to its revision as and when necessary.”The Bangladesh Telecommunication Regulatory Commission (BTRC) has revised the definition of broadband service in January 2013. As per BTRC notification,always on connectivity with minimum 1Mbps bandwidth shall be defined as broadband.

India: Broadband Policy 2004 of India defines broadband as “An ‘always-on’ data connection that is able to support interactive services including Internet access and has the capability of the minimum download speed of 256 kilo bits per second (kbps) to an individual subscriber from the Point of Presence (PoP) of the service provider intending to provide Broadband service where multiple such individual Broadband connections are aggregated and the subscriber is able to access these interactive services including the Internet through this PoP. The interactive services will exclude any services for which a separate license is specifically required, for example, real-time voice transmission, except to the extent that it is presently permitted under ISP license with Internet Telephony.”

Department of Telecommunications, India has declared that only those wireline Internet subscribers with at least 512kbps as should be treated as ‘broadband’ with effect from October 2013. Consequently, the number of broadband connections in India has come down to 14.91 million connections from 15.3 million (the rest are classified as “Internet” connections).

Pakistan:Pakistan Broadband Policy 2004 defines broadband “As most applications can be adequately supported if the minimum user speed is around 128kbps, accordingly broadband in Pakistan will be defined as ‘Always on Internet connection with a download speed of at least 128kbps connectivity’. This download speed target will be subject to an increase as the bandwidth prices reduce, local content becomes available and there is a general increase in awareness of broadband.”Pakistan broadband policy also recognizes the variations in the definition of ‘Broadband’ ranging from 128 Kbps to 2 Mbps or higher among different countries.

South Africa: South African Government Gazette No. 33377 published on 13 JULY 2010 mentions that the Standardization Sector of ITU defines Broadband as a speed of 1.5 to 2 Mbps while the Development Sector defines Broadband to be 256 kbps.  The Gazette declares “South Africa will follow the guideline from the ITU Development Sector and as such Broadband will be interpreted as an always available, multimedia capable connection with a download speed of at least 256 kbps.”

United State of America: Federal Communications Commission defined “broadband” as the capability of supporting, in both the provider-to-consumer (downstream) and the consumer-to-provider (upstream) directions, a speed (in technical terms, “bandwidth”) in excess of 200 Kbps in the last mile.

Figure 1: Minimum Broadband Speed in Different Countries/regions (in kbps)

Scotland: Broadband is “a very high speed ‘always-on’ service connection allowing large amounts of information to be conveyed quickly, such as data, graphics files or video generally defined as a bandwidth more than 512 Kbits/s.”

4.0          Reasons behind Variations in Definitions

4.1          Country Landscape

Comparative research demonstrated that the definition of Broadband in different countries varies between 128 kbps and 10 Mbps.Due to each country’s unique needs and history, including economic, geographic and regulatory factors, definitions of broadband vary widely. It was also observed that in most cases the "advertised" throughput speed has a weak relation with the actually delivered speed, which will actually vary over time, depending on the application, the server, and many other factors.

4.2          Statistical Reason!

It should be kept in mind that defining a broadband with a higher value of data rate is not a panacea. It depends on the availability of the service, subscribing power of the users and on the overall economic and social conditions of the country. If a higher value is set, connections below that data rates will not be officially recognized as broadband and eventually not included in the statistics. This will contribute a negative impact in the computation of different indices (e.g. Digital Opportunity Index, ICT Readiness Index, E-readiness Index, ICT development Index) prepared and published by different international and regional bodies. These indices indicate one country’s ICT capability and help build country image in the international arena. To have a better position in the ‘index table’, some countries might have still set a lower value to define broadband which must supports common broadband applications with an intention to upgrade the cut-off value periodically.

5.            Impact of Broadband on ICT Development Index

Figure 2: Indicators of ICT Development Index developed by ITU

The ICT Development Index (IDI) has been introduced by ITU in 2009 to monitor and compare status of ICT developments across the countries. It was developed as a composite index combining eleven ICT indicators, grouped in three clusters: access, use and skills. ICT access and ICT use are the two major components of the IDI giving equal weight whereas ICT skills have been given less weight. The composition, reference values and weight of the sub-indices for determining the IDI have been pictorially shown below.

Figure 3: Composition of ICT Development Index

It is understood that broadband has a substantial contribution to the measurement of ICT Use sub-index in the computation of the IDI.  The statistics based on national reference value for broadband are collected by ITU from different national regulators and used for computation of the IDI. So, the national definition of broadband has some impact on the competitive status of the ICT capabilities of the nations around the world. A comparison table of the ICT use indicators of 6 nations of SAARC countries shown below will demonstrate the status of Bangladesh with respect to ICT Use sub-index of the IDI.

Table-1: ICT Use Indicators for Six Nations of SAARC Region for 2011 & 2012

Country	Percentage of individuals using the Internet		Fixed (wired)-broadband subscriptions per 100 inhabitants		Active mobile broadband subscriptions per 100 inhabitants		ICT Development Index Ranking
	2011	2012	2011	2012	2011	2012	2011	2012
Bangladesh	5	6.3	0.3	0.3	0.4	0.5	139	135
Bhutan	21	25.4	1.8	2.2	0.9	2.5	117	118
India	10.1	12.6	1.1	1.1	1.9	4.9	120	121
Maldives	34	38.9	5.4	5.5	17.5	21.5	71	73
Pakistan	9	10	0.4	0.5	0.4	0.7	128	129
Sri Lanka	15	18.3	1.7	2.0	2.3	4.4	107	107

6.            Shifting of Fixed-broadband Speed

Advertised Speed (Mbit/s	2008	2012
0.256	45.1	20.8
>0.256 - 0.512	18.8	16.0
>0.512 - 1.024	17.4	18.1
>1.024 - 2.048	7.6	13.9
>2.048 - 10	9.0	20.1
>10 - 50	-	6.9
Speed not specified	2.1	4.2

The ITU report “Measuring the Information Society 2013” presented a statistics on minimum advertised fixed-broadband speeds of 144 nations over the period 2008 to 2012 as given in the table.It is observed that 45% countries offered fixed-broadband with 256 Kbps minimum speed in 2008 which came down to 21% in 2012. Number of countries offering broadband with minimum speed in 256~512 Kbps segment and 512~1024 Kbps segment have not changed over the study period. But number of countries doubled in 1024~ 2048 Kbps segment and 2.048~10 Mbps segment during that period. It is remarkable that still 4.2% countries do not advertise any minimum speed for fixed-broadband. The statistics demonstrate the fact that upward movement of minimumfixed-broadband speed occurred although one-third countries still offer minimum 256~512 Kbps speeds forfixed-broadband service.

7.0          Misunderstandings on Broadband

Figure - 4 : Broadband Value Chain

The common misunderstanding is about the width (broad) of the band up to what level in the full path of delivery of the service. When a subscriber subscribes a 256 kbps broadband connection, he/she expects to get 256 kbps Internet at all times! Here misunderstanding is the main reason behind such expectation. Before clearing up the misconception, it is very necessary to understand the broadband value chain. As depicted in Figure-2,full path of the broadband value chain consists mainly of three parts. The last mile part consisted of Service Provider’s PoP to End User is called access part, Service Provider’s PoP to International Internet Gateway (IIG)/National Internet Exchange (NIX) is composed of National Long Distance Transmission Part and IIG to Overseas network consists of national backhaul & overseas upstream connection part. It is universally understood that broadband connectivity is meant for access part i.e. between the end user to the service provider Point of Presence (PoP).

Although broadband is sometimes interchangeably used with Broadband Internet, but the perception in not fitted in Bangladesh Context. Bangladesh is geographically situated in such a location of the planet; it has to bear longer transportation to connect with the global Internet. Due to serious lack of local content availability, most of the Internet trafficshave to traverse the overseas upstream network. Hence, broadband to be perceived as broadband Internet seems to be very costly. Availability of all necessary contents locally will lessen the burden on overseas bandwidth and make the users feel true broadband.

The second misunderstanding is about minimum bandwidth to be assigned as dedicated or shared for the full path of broadband delivery. This is related to quality of service and price of the service to be paid. It is unrealistic to consider subscribed bandwidth for the full path in terms of value of the broadband package. Many operators formulate package to offer dedicated bandwidth for full path at higher price and term the service as “Leased Line Internet”. There are big differences between Broadband Services and Leased Line Internet Services. The service providers offer the broadband service at cheap rates because this does not guarantee subscribed bandwidth availability at all time beyond the Service Provider’s PoP. These services are always on best effort basis. But in case of Leased Line Internet, the service providers have to ensure 100% availability of bandwidth at all time for full path for what has been paid for by the customer.

The regulators specify different criteria to maintain quality of broadband service by the service providers. As for example, TRAI issues ‘Quality of Service of Broadband Service Regulations 2006’ and directs the service providers for “Subscribed Broadband Connection Speed to be met>80% from ISP Node to User.”

8.            Conclusion

There is an alternative approach to define the broadband by some countries. They define broadband in terms of functionality instead of defining in terms of speed. Brazil is an example where broadband is defined as the internet connection with sufficient capacity to provide access to data, voice and video applications that are common or socially relevant to users. This allows for the government to adjust the set of Internet applications that serve as the benchmark. However, as far as country’s competitive status is concerned,it needs to follow a common metric. If it wants to be able to track its growth in broadband availability from year to year, it needs to set a standard that can be easily and reliably measured over time. In the midst of controversy of defining broadband in different countries, Canada has set a clear position in this regard. The Canadian Radio-television and Telecommunications Commission distinguishes between “high-speed Internet service,” defined as at least 128 kbps, and “broadband service,” which must be at least 1.5 Mbps. This is an interesting solution indeed!

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[1]Currently working as CEO, Bangladesh Research and Education Network (BdREN)