A. NEED FOR SPEED:
In today’s society all
over the world, accessibility to the Internet, with all its possibilities, is a
greatly important part of people’s everyday life. This holds true seen anywhere
from an individual’s perspective to large organizations on a macro scale. In
order to use common Internet services, a fast connection is essential. Broadband,
which is a collection of high-speed techniques for Internet connection, which
is still under constant development, is a very indispensable focus now a day.
In very common classification BROADBAND technology is
a high-speed Internet connection, which is always available and has a minimum
speed of 256 kbit/s (kilobit per second). However, since broadband technologies
are always changing, the definition of broadband also continues to evolve.
Today, the term broadband typically describes recent Internet connections that
range from 5 times to 2000 times faster than earlier Internet dial-up
technologies. However, the term broadband does not refer to either a certain
speed or a specific service. Broadband combines connection capacity (bandwidth)
and speed. Recommendation I.113 of the ITU Standardization Sector defines
broadband as a “transmission capacity
that is faster than primary rate Integrated Services Digital Network (ISDN) at
1.5 or 2.0 Megabits per second (Mbits)”.
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Figure 1:
Internet User Penetration, 2000-2015 (Source: ITU)
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Broadband has three main benefits, such as- (1) Broadband speeds are significantly
faster than previous technologies, making it faster and more convenient to
access information or conduct online transactions using the Internet. The speed
of broadband service has also enhanced existing services, such as online
gaming, and enabled new applications, such as downloading music and videos. (2) Depending on the type of
technology deployed, there can be economic gains associated with broadband. For
example, with DSL, users can use a single standard phone line for both voice
and data services. (3) Broadband
enhances existing Internet applications, while paving the way for new
solutions, which were too expensive, inefficient or slow to consider in the
past. This may include everything from new e-government services, such as
electronic tax filing, to online health care services, e-learning and increased
levels of electronic commerce.
B. EVALUATION OF SPEED:
The
development of broadband started with the expansion of the Internet. The
Internet was available to the public in the 1980s but with no real means for
“regular people” to access it. The initial connections were slow and the maximum
speed capacity of 56 kbit/s (using dial-up connection) was not enough to really
enable the demanded services. In the late 1990s broadband connections entered
the market and brought the evolution of the Internet and its related services
to a new level.
Today, an increasing number of people all over the
world are gaining broadband access and the average broadband speed is increasing.
This development is possible due to global initiatives and decreasing
subscribing costs. The improved usability of Internet services has created a
global demand for higher broadband speed. The broadband market is growing and
governments of the countries are willing to support the progress, the rising
number of Internet subscribers worldwide makes broadband studies of particular
interest.
Like most new technologies, broadband was extremely expensive
when first launched, and not nearly as fast as it is today. As the technology
improved and the competition grew, the prices went down and the market
expanded. As the demand increased, the Internet service providers began to
compete with each other to offer faster broadband to affordable prices. In
order to support the growing demand, new technologies such as ADSL, cable and
satellite were developed. This has led to a present maximum speed that is
thousands times faster compared to the first broadband connection (1024 Mbit/s
vs. 0,256 Mbit/s), and the available connection speeds continue to rise. The
progress of broadband has tremendously enhanced the growth of the World Wide
Web. Today the public has access to a countless number of Internet applications,
scripts and enterprise software that are enabled by high-speed connectivity.
The present developed society is more or less
depending on the ability to communicate information quickly. In less than 20
years, broadband has become an established technology in a wide range of key
sectors, such as, politics, transportation, construction, education, health and
agriculture. In these parts of the world, Internet services are used on a daily
basis, often several hours a day. Today, high speed Internet is accessible on
PCs, cell phones or smart phones and other devices. People use it at work, at
home, when travelling and during other activities. Broadband has visibly contributed
to the modern society.
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Figure
2: Mobile Broadband Bridges the Gap: Fixed
Broadband and Mobile
Subscriptions, 2009-2018
(Source: Ericsson Mobility Report, June 2013.)
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The
stellar growth in mobile is helping bridge the basic digital divide in access
to ICT services (Figure 2). Expanding the availability of high-speed broadband
could have several positive social, economic and environmental effects. Some of
the achievable effects are: improved communication, increased innovation and
productivity, new jobs and reduced environmental impact.
Even
more significantly, by the end of 2013, the number of broadband subscriptions
in the developing world will exceed the number of broadband subscriptions in the
developed world for the first time, in both fixed and mobile, respectively.
Much of this fresh growth is located in emerging markets. Much of the growth is
located in developing countries, which now account for over half of all fixed
broadband subscriptions. However, overall, fixed broadband penetration rates remain
low, at 6.1% in developing countries, compared with 27.2% in developed
countries in 2013.
C. RELATION OF BROADBAND WITH SUSTAINABELE
DEVELOPMENT:
Broadband
technology also has the potential to support sustainable development. But what is Sustainable Development? -
"Sustainable development is development that
meets the needs of the present, without compromising the ability of future
generations to meet their own needs."
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| Figure 3: Simplified illustration of sustainable development. |
The concept of sustainable development can be
interpreted in many different ways, but its an approach to development that
looks to balance different, and often competing, needs against an awareness of
the environmental, social and economic limitations we face as a society. All
too often, development is driven by one particular need, without fully
considering the wider or future impacts. Sustainable development recognizes
that growth must be both inclusive and environmentally sound to reduce poverty
and build shared prosperity for today’s population and to continue to meet the
needs of future generations. It is efficient with resources and carefully
planned to deliver both immediate and long-term benefits for people, planet,
and prosperity. The three pillars of sustainable development – economic growth, environmental stewardship,
and social inclusion – carry across all sectors of development.
For sustainable development, the progress of
technology is essential, but the technological development alone is not
sufficient to ensure a sustainable future. In order to overcome the different
global challenges, such as rising population, poverty, epidemics, climate
changes and simultaneously maintain the economic growth, the world need
powerful tools. Cooperation and communication are essential to unite nations
and to engage people on all levels of society. Broadband is rare in that
respect that it has the potential to address many sustainability challenges,
while simultaneously increasing socio-economic development. From a political
strategy perspective, there are therefore strong incentives to invest in both
broadband penetration and upgrades of the average broadband speed.
Whilst many previous studies observed accessibility,
penetration, deployment and adoption to broadband technology, few studies
concern broadband speed. However, Rohman and Bohlin (2012) from Chalmers
University of Technology, Sweden recently found from a study that not only the
availability of broadband, but also the speed of the broadband drives economic
growth on a macro level. One of the main findings was that doubling the
broadband speed for an economy increases GDP
growth by 0.3 percent.
D. SOCIO_ECONOMIC
BENEFITS OF MOBILE BROADBAND SERVICES:
Mobile broadband
services generate significant economic and social benefits, in both developed
and developing countries, either directly by investment in infrastructure
deployment, or through the use of the infrastructure to start new business
activities, improve efficiency and productivity. Internet infrastructure
contributes towards economic development by facilitating access to information,
IT literacy, news, current events and links to remote markets.
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| Figure 4: Impact of Broadband speed up gradation on society |
The
use of digital dividend spectrum for mobile broadband will boost accessibility
and speed. These bands offer attractive propagation characteristics and an
optimal balance between transmission capacity and coverage, of great advantage
for remote and poorly connected rural areas. In developing nations, mobile
broadband can connect remote populations and strengthen health, education,
livelihoods, financial inclusion and access to government services for marginalized
populations:
D.1. Education – Awareness is
growing of the possibilities offered by mobile-learning. The falling cost of
smart phones, the advent of lower priced tablets, cloud-computing and the rise
of Open Education Resources (OERs) can increase access to education in
underserved areas.
D.2. Health – Health
applications available via mobile broadband can reduce costs (e.g., through
access to health records); allow physicians to provide care remotely via remote
monitoring and diagnosis; and support preventative care. GSMA/PWC (2013)
estimate that mobile health could save developed countries US$400 billion in
2017 and save one million lives over five years in Sub-Saharan Africa.
D.3. SME growth,
entrepreneurship and job growth – Mobile broadband can open up regional
and global markets to local entrepreneurs. SMEs (Small and Medium Enterprises)
can generate more revenue, lower costs, higher productivity, and jobs. SMEs
which spend more than 30% of their budget on web technologies grow their revenue
nine times as fast as SMEs spending less than 10% .
D.4. Agriculture – Mobile internet can boost revenue by improving
access to financial services/agricultural information and by promoting supply
chain efficiencies. Investments in broadband infrastructure and
broadband-enabled applications and services can help to protect the environment
and promote a more efficient use of natural resources. New systems built on
comprehensive information to help farmers and others to plan and make the most
of existing assets. Simple but valuable information can help people managing
risks, which in the farmer’s case can contribute to a more secure supply of
food and water
D.5. Financial
Inclusion
– Mobile technologies offer a way to access banking services which have been
traditionally unavailable to large parts of the population. It is estimated
that 2.5 billion individuals are unbanked worldwide. Mobile financial services
represent an opportunity for many nations to achieve financial inclusion of the
poor.
D.6. Government
Services
– Local and national governments can keep citizens up-to-date with new and events
and offer immediate and interactive access to services (e.g. for licenses or
voting).
E. BROADBAND BASED ICTs FOR MDGs:
Millennium
Development Goals (MDGs) can be possible to achieve with the progress of
broadband. Some critical impacts of broadband technology over MDGs are
describing below-
E.1. End Poverty
& Hunger-Growing
evidence suggests that broadband can boost GDP,
jobs and incomes, helping to combat poverty and hunger. In the Dominican
Republic, a 10% increase in broadband penetration could reduce unemployment by
2.9%7. In Indonesia, mobile broadband could boost GDP
by 2.9% or US$22.6 bn. In India, broadband has already generated nearly 9
million direct and indirect jobs, while a 1% increase in broadband penetration
could add US$2.7 bn or 0.11% to Indian GDP
in 2015. In South Africa, wireless broadband and related industries may
generate US$7.2bn and a further 28,000 jobs by 2015.
E.2.Universal Education-Governments and
NGOs are providing schools with PCs and connectivity to foster primary education.
Examples- in Nigeria, the USF has teamed up with Intel to deploy computers in
over 1,000 schools since 2008, helping improve exam results. In Uruguay, there
is a policy of one computer per child in primary and secondary education. In
Singapore, all Schools promotes ICT usage by deploying teaching, learning and
assessment systems, with apps deployed in 95% of schools.
E.3.Gender
Equality-Closing
the mobile gender gap and bringing 600 million more women online could increase
global GDP by US$13-18 billion16.
Connect To Learn (CTL) has equipped 10,000 students (especially girls) in
schools in Brazil, Chile, China, Djibouti, Ghana, India, Malawi, Kenya, Senegal, South Sudan,
Tanzania and Uganda.
E.4. Child
Health-Mobile
applications are also assisting parents in adding and monitoring information such
as immunizations, height, weight, and other development milestones. Aggregated data
collected through public health applications are allowing health professionals
to access child health and wellbeing, compare indicators across localities and
regions, and make better-informed public policy decisions. The One Million Community
Health Workers Campaign (1mCHW) is making strides in accelerating CHW program
in sub-Saharan Africa to meet the health-related MDGs.
E.5.Maternal
health-Ultrasound
tests through telemedicine can play a key role in the monitoring of maternal
health via text, voice messaging and mobile apps. Online platforms are also
serving as an information and communication hub for health facilities and
supporting conversations between community health workers, midwives, clinicians,
and expectant mothers. Computer-based surveys are changing the scope of HIV
research and prevention. Broadband allows collaborative research of scientists
around the world by integrating data much faster than previously, where
repositories were isolated. Patients can share stories and experiences, support
each other, reach counselors, manage their personal health records and receive
reminders for appointments/medication via mobile.
E.6.Environment-Smart use of
ICTs can reduce GHG (Green House Gas) emissions by up to 25% (Broadband Bridge report).
Mobile technology alone could lower GHGs by 2% by 2020. E-commerce could lower
energy consumption and GHG emissions by 30% over traditional retail. Teleconferencing
and telecommuting could replace air and land travel via video/ audio
conferences. ICTs could potentially save up to 7.8 Gigatons of carbon dioxide emissions
by 2020 (Source: GESI, 2012). Shifting newspapers online could potentially save
57.4 million tons of CO2 emissions over the next decade (Source: ACI, 2007).
E.7. Partnership-The benefits of
new technologies, especially ICTs, should be made available by Governments in
cooperation with the private sector. ICTs are facilitating and enabling new
global partnerships, including crowd-sourcing, collaborative authoring,
teleconferencing and tele-working. The UN Secretary-General’s Panel of
High-Level Eminent Persons recently renewed calls for global partnerships as
part of the post-2015 development agenda.
F. GLOBAL ADVANCMENT
OF BEOADBAND:
Although
in many countries, broadband deployment has been realized through the efforts
of the private sector, Governments play an essential role in ensuring a stable regulatory
and legal framework to foster and incentivize investments, create a level
playing-field amongst the different factors present in the market, establish
adequate spectrum policy and reasonable spectrum allocation, and ensure long-term
and sustainable competition. Governments can also implement programmes such as
e-government, digital literacy initiatives and connected public institutions
and locations. Progress on policy leadership is relatively recent, with an
explosion in the number of countries introducing broadband plans in 2009-2010 (Figure 5). Prior to 2006, most plans
focused on information society issues, with broadband coming to the fore from
2008 onwards. More recently, Digital Agendas have grown in popularity, incorporating
a cross- sectoral perspective. By mid-2013, some 134 or 69% of all countries
had a national plan, strategy, or policy in place to promote broadband, and a
further 12 countries or 6% were planning to introduce such measures in the near
future. However, some 47 countries (or nearly a quarter of all countries) still
do not have any plan, strategy or policy in place. Even when countries have
plans, achieving progress in implementation may prove challenging or slow.
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Figure
5: Growth in National Broadband Plans, 2005-2013
(Source: ITU/UNESCO Broadband Commission
and ITU Telecommunication/ICT Regulatory Database.)
|
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Figure
6: World Map, according to status of National Broadband Plan (NBP)
(Source: ITU/UNESCO Broadband Commission
and ITU Telecommunication/ICT Regulatory Database.) |
G. SCENARIO OF BROADBAND IN BANGLADESH:
The internet
came late to Bangladesh. Starting in early 1990s, Bangladesh has only dialup
access to e-mail using the Bulletin Board Systems (BBs) of a very few local
providers and the users were not more than 500. Users were charged by the
kilobyte. In June 1996 first VSAT based data circuit was commissioned and the
then BTTB granted licenses to two ISPs. In the last few years it has grown
considerably, although obviously from a very low base. With an estimated
internet user-base of around 10 million coming into 2013, representing just fewer
than 7% user penetration by population, the local internet industry has been
preparing to move into the next stage of its development.
In
2009 there were 50,000 fixed broadband internet users in Bangladesh but the
charges were too high in comparison with other countries. Moreover that time in
Bangladesh 128 kbit/s was legally defined as broadband which was not in line
with ITU’s definition. Then at the end of 2009 two companies name Banglalion
and Augere ( Branded as Qubee), launched commercial WIMAX. After that broadband
speed in Bangladesh actually got a pace. At the same time State owned Company,
BTCL, also started ADSL, which were also giving high speed broadband service. The
first 3G license in the country was awarded to Teletalk and the state-owned
operator Teletalk launched a pilot 3G offering in September 2012. Although the 3G licensing process for private
operators had become bogged down for some time, the planned auction taken place
in September 2013 and at the beginning of 2014 four other Mobile operators
(Banglalink, Robi Axiata and Bharti Airtel) started 3G business also. After 3G
Subscriptions to ‘mobile internet’ services were growing at a rapid rate. Mobile
penetration had grown to 72% by September 2013; The 100 million mobile
subscriber milestone had been reached in 2013;
Bangladesh
Telecommunications Regulatory Commission Chairman Sunil Kanti Bose recently told
that they had decided to award LTE (Long term Evaluation) license to facilitate
speedy internet access. The five companies- Banglalion, Qubee, Bangladesh
Internet Exchange Limited (BIEL), Mango and state-owned Bangladesh
Telecommunications Company Limited -will have to pay Tk 2.46 billion for the
licence.
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Figure7:
Mobile Phone Network Technology and Data Speed Progression
(Source: Huawei TNMA 2013)
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The
4G technologies i.e LTE are designed to provide IP- based voice, data and
multimedia streaming at speeds of at least 100 Mbit per second and up to as
fast as 1 GBit per second. 4G LTE is one of several competing 4G standards
along with Ultra Mobile Broadband (UMB) and WiMax. In the licensing guideline
of BTRC, the regulator has kept the option for LTE service. If any mobile operator
shows interest to offer LTE service, it does not need to take license again, as
the 3G license will permit it to provide the services.
H. CONCLUSION:
Studies show that increased broadband speed has a
positive impact on the economy of a country. Broadband enables more flexible
work arrangements and help people to save time. Higher broadband speed leads to
increased household incomes and GDP
growth, both in develop and developing countries. A main reason for poverty is
isolation from the rest of the global community. In order to help developing
countries out of poverty, it is necessary to invest in broadband, both in
availability and speed. If this fails, developing countries risk missing out on
the economic and social benefits associated with broadband. To maximize the
impact of broadband on ICTs, policy- makers must come together and formulate
common strategies on a converged ICT policy aligned with other policy areas
such as energy, health and education. Today a growing number of countries have
a national broadband plan, policy or strategy in place; this is crucial when it
comes to extend the benefits of broadband. Nevertheless, our future is undoubtedly
based on broadband. Although some end-users may believe broadband is about downloading
bigger files more rapidly, broadband actually represents so much more. Broadband
is introducing new ways of doing things across our personal and professional
lives, in the many and varied ways we communicate – integrating information
infrastructure into the world around us through seamless, always-on
connectivity delivering a range of services simultaneously. Governments, health
managers, businesses, consumers and teachers are all getting to grips with the
positive and transformational impact of broadband for improving economic and
social welfare.
All those discussions show that digital development is a transformative
tool to fast-track sustainable development. In order to realize its full
potential it is essential to roll-out high-speed broadband networks, making it
affordable and universally accessible. Very sensibly International
Telecommunication Union (ITU) takes "Broadband for Sustainable
Development" as the theme of World Telecommunication and Information
Society Day 2014. Which will focus attention on multi-stakeholder commitment to achieve universal access to
broadband connectivity and content and foster political will on achieving this
objective; identify key gaps in broadband research and development,
infrastructure, and packaged development of applications and services; define
policy priorities for action in the areas of allocating radio frequency
spectrum for broadband, universal access obligations and innovative financing
mechanisms; and lead to technological solutions, particularly in the extension
of broadband access into rural areas, least developed countries and small
island developing states.
(Source: Internet)
Written By
Mamun Monzurul Aziz
Assistant Divisional Engineer
BTCL, DHAKA
mamunmaziz@gmail.com
mo: 01550151437
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