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The term 'broadband' has become a houshold term in recent times. Telecom companies and Internet service providers are offering their versions of 'broadband' on a platter to customers. Yet, the rate of adoption of broadband services does not seem to be very exciting, as indicated by a recent research report on the APAC consumer technology adoption study by Forrester. According to the research, India figures in tier III, category with the lowest broadband penetration rate at 3%, while Korea and Hong Kong are leading with 67% and 57% respectively. Sigi Achappa from CIOL, talks to APCTAS Researcher, Micheala Ion from Forrester Research on the trends and travails of broadband penetration. Excerpts.
 Considering India's vast rural populace, and rough terrain dont'you think WiMAX technology is better suited than broadband?
Yes, WiMax technology is certainly preferable, both for rural and urban areas. WiMax can solve last mile connectivity issues which are currently hindering broadband propagation. It’s certainly difficult to develop an infrastructure in a short period of time on such a large territory as India, where telecom wires in some rural areas are non-existent, so to avoid last mile connectivity issues, the government and service providers should continue to invest in and focus on WiMax. The time associated with deploying WiMax connections would be shorter than the time it would take to wire the rest of unwired India. There would still be stumbling blocks there, such as the coverage radius of a tower, and connections speeds, but those can be fixed.
What are the driving factors for broadband adoption in countries such as Korea, Hong Kong, Canada, etc -- climatic, cultural or otherwise?
There are several different factors in all these countries:
-high PC adoption rates – PC access is a stepping stone for Internet access, and the latter cannot happen without the former
- government effort and commitment to broadband deployment - Korea, Japan, Canada, have all seen a big push from the government toward broadband access
- existence of local content, in local languages
- earlier adoption of the Internet than India, and therefore longer online tenure
What are the advantages that these countries have over India and the other countries in Tier- III, pertaining to rate of adoption of broadband?
This goes hand in hand wit the previous answer. First of all it’s the infrastructure: PC adoption is much higher than in India, and then broadband access is much better developed. Secondly, the local content helps in creating a desire and a need for consumers to reach to the Internet for information.
What measures in your opinion should India take to drive broadband penetration?
Besides developing the actual broadband infrastructure (either via wires, WiMax, or a combination of both depending on the region), two things:
Drive PC penetration – basically create an awareness campaign around why professionals, children, families, housewives, etc., need PCs in their homes and what access to information can bring into their lives, and pair this campaign with an affordable PC offering from local or international manufacturers.
Drive development of local content – take advantage of all the IT professionals coveted by international companies, and offer them incentives to use their talents for the creation of local content in local languages, so that all consumers can become interested in the Internet, not just the English-speaking, well-educated, young population, for whom PCs are already second nature anyway.
Next page: On last mile connectivity issues
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