NEW DELHI: With stakeholders saying that various technical and network issues are involved, the Telecom Regulatory Authority of India has once again extended the last date for views on ensuring transparency and customer awareness regarding data speeds under wireless broadband plans.

Stakeholders can now give their comments by 10 August and counter-comments by 24 August 2017.

In a Consultation Paper on ‘Data Speed under Wireless Broadband Plans’ early last month, TRAI had also suggested various tools that may be deployed for measuring data speeds.

At the outset, it had said the National Telecom Policy of 2012 (NTP-2012) has the vision of Broadband on Demand and envisages leveraging telecom infrastructure to enable all citizens and businesses, both in rural and urban areas, to participate in the Internet and web economy thereby ensuring equitable and inclusive development across the nation. It provides the enabling framework for enhancing India’s competitiveness in all spheres of the economy.

The questions raised in the paper, which discusses the various initiatives that have been taken by the Authority in relation to broadband speeds in India and their current status and provides a summary of the international experience on similar issues, are:

Q1: Is the information on wireless broadband speeds currently being made available to consumers is transparent enough for making informed choices?

Q2: If it is difficult to commit a minimum download speed, then could average speed be specified by the service providers? What should be the parameters for calculating average speed?

Q3: What changes can be brought about to the existing framework on wireless broadband tariff plans to encourage better transparency and comparison between plans offered by different service providers?

Q4: Is there a need to include/delete any of the QoS parameters and/or revise any of the  benchmarks currently stipulated in the Regulations?

Q5: Should disclosure of average network performance over a period of time or at peak times including through broadband facts/labels be made mandatory?

Q6: Should standard application/ websites be identified for mandating comparable disclosures about network speeds?

Q7: What are the products/technologies that can be used to measure actual end-user experience on mobile broadband networks? At what level should the measurements take place (e.g., on the 26 device, network node)?

Q8: Are there any legal, security, privacy or data sensitivity issues with collecting device level data?

a) If so, how can these issues be addressed? b) Do these issues create a challenge for the adoption of any measurement tools?

Q9: What measures can be taken to increase awareness among consumers about wireless broadband speeds, availability of various technological tools to monitor them and any potential concerns that may arise in the process?

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Wireless b'band speed: TRAI invites transparency & customer awareness ideas