BT Openreach to offer 300 mbps broadband in UK

The UK will get 300 mbps broadband speeds next spring. BT Openreach, which manages backend telecom infrastructure, will deliver these speeds through fibre connections to customer premises. Customers with existing copper connections will also be able to get their speed bumped up to 80 mbps. This will further improve the UK’s 10th rank in the global ICT index through increases in both the penetration of broadband (currently at 31 per 100 people) and in the highest possible downstream speeds (currently at 41 mbps).

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Read more at Openreach to transform broadband speeds.

Related articles

• BT Openreach launching 300Mbps broadband in the UK – high in fibre, low in fat (engadget.com)
• BT to speed ahead of Virgin with 300Mbps broadband – for some (guardian.co.uk)

India to get fast internet in limited quantity

BSNL has announced that it will offer 100 mbps internet speeds in Pune. While this is the fist time such high speeds will be available to residential customers, the pricing and availability will be at a premium. Charges will range from $30 to a whopping $1700 per month for 2 to 100 mbps speeds respectively.

Offering such high speeds requires operators to invest heavily in fiber optics at the last mile. Hopefully this move and its resulting revenues will enable operators to invest more in India‘s information & communication technology (ICT) infrastructure and thus improve in the global ICT rankings.

Read more at BSNL offers city 100 Mbps with fibre network – Mumbai – DNA and Optical fibre-based 100Mbps broadband connections to debut in India.

What will drive the tripling of Internet users in India by 2014?

From 100 million to 300 million in 3 years is the readily accessible part of the market. There are a potential 500 million more users. Key to this growth will be cheap 2G internet access ($1 per GB) over $50 smartphones – not 3G/4G on $250 phones. Data-sipping apps and contextualized websites will be important. Facebook Zero is leading the way.

Internet users to triple in India by 2014: Google – TNW India.

Google thinks that the proliferation of high-speed third- and fourth-generation telecom networks in the country, coupled with the spread of low-cost smartphones, will further the spread of Internet use in India.

Long way to go in global ICT (telephony & broadband) stakes for India

As per the International Telecommunications Union‘s latest report, India has some way to go in the global ICT (telephony and broadband) stakes. The report measures ICT Development Index as a composite of ICT Access, ICT Use and ICT Skills. ICT Price Basket is measured as a composite measure of fixed, mobile telephony & broadband prices as a percentage of average income. India ranks 116 in ICT Development and 87 in ICT Price Basket.

Though real prices for ICT access in India are among the lowest in the world, they form a substantive percentage of an average Indian’s income. An urban / rural breakup of these factors in the Indian context would provide interesting insights into the digital divide and illuminate potential pathways towards inclusive growth.

Another link to the report is here.