Still buffering! Poor Net connectivity ails India

Twenty-two years after the Internet was formally launched in India, connectivity — both in terms of reach and quality — remains a huge issue. Only 30 per cent of India's 1.2 billion mobile users have Internet connectivity, thanks to infrastructure constraints and pricing. And those who are connected are facing poor speeds and erratic customer services.

The total number of broadband subscribers — both wired and wireless — stood at 316.48 million at the end of August this year. Staying connected through computers, laptops, tablets and mobile phones is now a necessity and not a luxury. The recent spurt in growth in the broadband segment has been possible only because of wireless technology, mainly mobile and WiFi.

But users are still facing problems. Noida's Shreya said her broadband service provider promises 40 Mbps of speed but it often drops to 1 Mbps, which means even surfing becomes a problem, forget downloading a movie or listening to music. Umpteen calls to customer care representatives do not help as they advise customers to buy booster packs when existing data has not been exhausted. End result: the customer has to pay full bill amounts despite a few days of slow connectivity.

A report by Akamai says that for the first quarter in 2017, the average Internet speed in India has grown by 87 per cent year on year at 6.5 Mbps. India and the Philippines once again had the lowest average connection speeds among Asia Pacific countries and regions surveyed during the first quarter of 2017, the report says.

India is way behind chart leader South Korea where the average Internet speed is at 26.1 Mbps. However, India gained eight spots to reach the global rank of 89.

The situation is much worse with public sector companies BSNL and MTNL which have old systems.

These companies depend on linesmen for fault repairs and have no customer service after working hours and on holidays. Many users told DNA they have junked the broadband services of PSUs and shifted to private ones.

Last month, Mumbai resident and RTI campaigner Bhaskar Prabhu's MTNL broadband connection became very slow. He posted his experience on Facebook, only to receive comments from people facing similar problem and those recommending him to switch to a private operator. Someone also asked him to keep his area's local linesman in good humour by way of tips.

A user in Kolkata is so satisfied with the services of Alliance Broadband that he has completely shifted his web and TV viewing to broadband and cut off his cable TV service. "There is no buffering even when I watch two TV channels simultaneously," he said.

In Hyderabad, ACT Fibernet scores over established players in giving consistent Internet speed with alluring data packages. It has become the first company to launch a broadband service with a speed of 1 Gbps.

Though the competition ushered by Mukesh Ambani's Reliance Jio, which solely provides 4G data services, has improved both wired and wireless services. Users nowadays enjoy unlimited data in fixed tariffs. With the rollover facility that allows unused data to be carried forward to the next month, data consumption in India has hit a new high. Main wired broadband players include BSNL, MTNL, Airtel and other regional entities. Main wireless broadband players include Reliance Jio, Airtel, Vodafone, Idea, BSNL and others.

"Broadband service provider Nextra used to have bad connections. Till a year ago, its customer service would deal with issues taking their own sweet time. But since the competition has begun, its service has improved substantially. Internet connectivity has improved, too. Even if it goes away, it comes back quickly," says a user from Delhi-NCR whose monthly data consumption is around 100 GB.

The growth in the Internet, launched in 1995, did not kick off initially in a big way as speed was very low, around 56 kbps through dial-up modems. Cyber cafes were the places for Internet access for all in the 1990s and the early 2000.

The government stepped up its action in 2004 with the announcement of a policy, which defined broadband as an always-on Internet connection with download speed of 256 kbps or above. Currently, the minimum speed is 512 kbps and the proposal to make it 2 Mbps is pending with the government.

The actual growth happened with wireless mode of accessing Internet — 2G EDGE (enhanced data rates for GSM evolution) technology, then the CDMA (code division multiple access) and now, a mix of 3G, Wi-Fi, LTE/4G services.

Seamless internet connectivity is far away unless investments are made in improving and upgrading infrastructure, said Mahesh Uppal, a telecom consultant. "Wireless networks have their own limitations and cannot guarantee a consistent speed on the go because of various factors. Investments are not being made by telecom players because projects seem unprofitable at this stage. Also, there is lack of transparency... telcos offer connections to more people than what their bandwidth can support," Uppal said.

There have to be enough incentives to invest in the setting up of any network. Broadband penetration is low in India compared to global countries only because of lack of investment in infrastructure.

(With inputs from Ashish Tiwari and Ateeq Shaikh in Mumbai, Sumit Moitra in Kolkata and Rangoli Agrawal in Jaipur)

Consumer woes

• Only 30% of India’s 1.2 billion mobile users have Internet connectivity, thanks to infrastructure constraints and pricing 
• And those who are connected are facing issues like poor speed and erratic customer services