How India’s data transmission architecture should shape up

Context: Pandemic-related lockdowns have accelerated the need for more effective work-from-home and school-from-home solutions through the Internet.

Issue with internet services in India: 

• Low internet speeds: Ookla study

• India ranks 132nd in the world (behind Pakistan and Bangladesh) with a download speed of 9.8 megabits per second (Mbps) for mobile data. 
• South Korea has the fastest average mobile data speed of about 88 Mbps.
• India ranks 71st  in the world with average broadband speeds of 32.4 Mbps as compared to 1,000 Mbps elsewhere in the world. 

• Issues with the telecom sector:

• Compromised quality for the mediocrity of service: High capital cost and preference to copper wire instead of fiber-optics has limited the speed of the internet.

• Adjusted gross revenue (AGR) dues have paralyzed the incumbent telecom operators and put most of their balance sheets into distress.

Future of emerging internet technology: 

• “10G" broadband: 10G will deliver residential internet speeds of 10 Gps, 10 to 50 times faster than most services today. Its backbone will be multiple fiber-optic wires and technologies, using some innovations that will enable a single fiber to handle signals moving in both directions.
• 5G Mobile Data: It requiring new network architecture and updating radios and other equipment on cell towers. 
• Satellites in low-Earth orbits (LEO) based internet: OneWeb, an LEO-based communications firm, has tied up with Airtel, promises ubiquitous high-speed internet using satellites.

Way forward: Rising work from home demand has necessitated a robust communication framework.

• India will have no choice but to encourage both broadband and 5G based data. 
• New apartment buildings should be pre-wired for fiber (in the same way they were wired for cable and telephones in an earlier era). 
• The fiber grid in many smart cities remains incomplete and should be completed soon.