The government is bucking up to unveil the Broadband Policy within this fiscal year. To finalise the much awaited policy, the Ministry of Information and Communications (MoIC) has directed Nepal Telecommunications Authority (NTA) to submit its draft within a month.
Even though the NTA had prepared the draft five years ago, the policy had been shelved due to ‘procedural delays’, which affected the development of broadband infrastructures and service expansion. Based on the instruction of MoIC, the telecom authority is revising the final draft by hiring an IT expert, Manohar Bhattarai.
“We are positive we will be able to submit the final draft to MoIC for approval within the given time,” said Ananda Raj Khanal, officiating chief of NTA. The policy is considered to be the key to development of broadband infrastructure, high speed data connectivity, and implementation of e-government by expanding broadband internet as another means of communication.
National IT Roadmap — a guideline for ICT sector’s development for next five years that is being prepared by the Ministry of Science, Technology and Environment — has also listed the task of devising a broadband policy a major component. Basically, the policy will set agendas on broadband infrastructure development and service expansion, according to NTA officials.
The policy will define the broadband by identifying the minimum speed in Kbps — uplink and downlink — to guarantee the quality of service. For example, if an internet service provider claims to have provided broadband internet, then it should be under the criteria defined by the policy. The term broadband has not yet been defined in the context of Nepal, even as it has been nearly 20 years since internet became available in the country.
Normally in Nepal, as per the draft policy, broadband, irrespective of the access technology used, is always ‘on internet’ connection with minimum upload and download speeds of 128 Kbps and 256 Kbps, respectively. And, these speeds shall not be on a shared basis, and the service provider should guarantee these minimum speeds to qualify as a broadband service provider.
MoIC has showed urgency to bring the policy amid the growing need to increase the broadband service and infrastructure for sustainable development. Khanal said that the policy in offing would also incorporate the recommendations of the Wireless Broadband Master Plan. The master plan was prepared in 2012 with the technical assistance of International Telecommunication Union (ITU). However, it is yet to be implemented by the government.
NTA officials said that even as the master plan had not been implemented, its suggestions had been included in the frequency policy and unified licence provision. The plan had set a timeline for up to the year 2020 for deployment of affordable access to broadband data service in the country. It focused on achieving the maximum gains in terms of coverage and on ensuring that the provision of fast and effective broadband service be achieved in a short period of time.
Highlights
- NTA revising the final draft by hiring an IT expert to
- National IT Roadmap has also listed the task of devising a broadband policy a major component
- Policy will set agendas on broadband infrastructure development and service expansion
- It will define the broadband by identifying the minimum speed in Kbps to guarantee the quality of service
- Policy will also incorporate the recommendations of the Wireless Broadband Master Plan
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Quelle/Source: The Himalayan Times, 29.05.2014
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