Over the past few years, India has witnessed a sea change in
its telecom regime and the authorities have kept abreast with
global trends by formulating policies which are not only liberal
but which also adequately protect the interests of the end
customer.
In 2006, the Telecom Regulatory Authority of India (“TRAI”)
introduced regulations on “Quality of service of Broadband
Service” which stipulated benchmarks and parameters for
bandwidth exploitation and network connectivity (“2006
Regulations”). One of the main purposes of the 2006
Regulations was “to protect the interests of consumers
of broadband service and enhance consumer satisfaction”.
There has been a tremendous growth in the subscription of
internet /broadband services and alongwith this growth there
have been numerous complaints from subscribers regarding the
shortfall in broadband connectivity / speed. Most of these
complaints allege that the available broadband speed is lower
than the subscribed speed and the 2006 Regulations failed to
confront this issue. TRAI via its consultancy paper dated
January 15, 2009 on “Bandwidth required for ISPs for better
connectivity and improved quality of service” invited comments
from stakeholders for setting up standards to resolve issues on
broadband connectivity / speed / congestion.
In furtherance of the same, TRAI on March 2, 2009 issued
guidelines FOR SERVICE PROVIDERS PROVIDING
INTERNET/BROADBAND SERVICES FOR ENSURING BETTER QUALITY OF
SERVICE (“Guidelines”).
Salient features of the Guidelines are as follows –
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All service providers
providing Internet/broadband services so as to ensure
transparency and awareness shall provide adequate
information to subscribers regarding Internet/broadband
services being offered and marketed by them.
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All the service providers
shall provide information regarding Contention Ratios in
their tariff plans submitted to TRAI, manual of practice,
call centers and on their websites.
Contention Ratios – The Guidelines define contention ratio
“as the number of users competing for the same bandwidth”.
It can also be defined as the number of subscribers sharing
the same bandwidth capacity. Thus the quality of Internet
access / speed will be better, if the Contention Ratio is
lower.
-
The service providers
providing Internet/broadband services shall on a quarterly
basis publish Contention Ratio for different
Internet/broadband services on their website.
-
All service providers
providing Internet/broadband services, shall ensure
availability of minimum bandwidth on their network according
to the Contention Ratio as suggested below -
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Services
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Max. Contention Ratio
for Home users
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Max. Contention Ratio for Business users
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Dial up
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1:70
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Broadband
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1:50
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1:30
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High Bandwith Services
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1:1 to 1:4 (to be
defined by Service providers in customer package)
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Leased Line
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---------
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1:1 to 1:4
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Conclusion
These Guidelines further the
spirit of transparency along with subscriber satisfaction as the
subscriber will not only have the ability to examine and choose
the most viable option but shall also have an assurance for
adequate broadband speed. Even though broadband speed and
connectivity are not solely dependant on Contention Ratios,
these Guidelines will ensure that service providers do not
accommodate excess number of subscribers on the desired
bandwidth.
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You can direct your queries or comments to the
authors
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