BROADBAND TO PANCHAYATS

Transcription

1 BROADBAND TO PANCHAYATS Empowering Panchayats & Rural India by DEMOCRATISING INFORMATION through Broadband WHITE PAPER AUGUST 2010 Office of Adviser to the Prime Minister Public Information Infrastructure & Innovations

2 CONTENTS Page INTRODUCTION 3 VISION 5 OBJECTIVES 5 TECHNOLOGY 6 GLOBAL MOVE TOWARDS FIBRE BASED BROADBAND 9 BROADBAND FOR RURAL INDIA: THE OFC ROUTE 10 PROPOSED APPROACH 11 OPERATIONAL ASPECTS 12 IMPLEMENTATION 13 CONCLUSION 15 2

3 INTRODUCTION Empowering Rural India by DEMOCRATISING INFORMATION through Broadband One of the core challenges in nation building today is to create an equitable society where the citizens have universal access to information and knowledge to benefit them. With 70 per cent of India s population residing in villages, the inclusive growth agenda of the government can only be successfully realised by addressing the growth and development issues in rural India. Towards this end, the thrust of major policy interventions, schemes and programmes of the Government of India has been towards benefiting the rural community. As the Government plans to further its agenda of inclusive growth geared towards rural India, there is an urgent need to build effective and efficient Public Information infrastructure and associated organisational and governance mechanisms which are scalable, reliable, and sustainable. Access to information will be the fundamental pillar of this new governance paradigm to challenge the current power equations premised on denial of information or limiting access to information. For the rural community to be truly empowered, information has to be placed in their hands to create a sense of ownership, awareness of rights and the ability to question the system for inefficient delivery. The key hence, is to democratise Information and make it freely and easily available to the people at large to improve transparency, accountability, collaboration, cooperation, productivity and efficiency. At the core of the governance structure in rural India are the 250,000 Panchayats which are the foundational nodes of information collection and dissemination and the service delivery points for Government administration. The successful implementation of the various social sector schemes and programmes of the Central and State Governments at the grassroots level is inextricably tied to the Panchayats. A case in point is the flagship MGNREGS (Mahatma Gandhi National Rural Employment Guarantee Scheme) programme designed to ensure livelihood security to rural households, which has had a tremendous impact on rural upliftment. Panchayats are the key administrative interface of this programme and provide the requisite resources for capturing data and information about job cards, allocation of works, and payments to the beneficiaries. Similarly, Panchayats can play a pivotal role in the delivery of other key services and programmes such as food security, financial inclusion, agriculture, health, education, etc. where efficient mechanisms of identification and authentication of beneficiaries, and monitoring and disbursal of benefits to the rightful beneficiaries are required. Panchayats are also critical for community participation in development, growth and prosperity. 3

4 All this points to an urgent need for strengthening the Information infrastructure and associated administrative machinery at the Panchayat level, geared towards creating systems of interaction and efficiency among government agencies for coordination and service delivery. This change in the governance paradigm at the Panchayats can be realised by harnessing the benefits provided by new tools and technology. In this context, the creation of a robust Public Information Infrastructure at the Panchayat level is critical to provide the necessary tools and empower rural people. The core of this public information infrastructure at the grassroots level can be operationalised by providing internet connectivity to Panchayats. This will enable unprecedented democratisation of information at the grassroots level which will have an impact on governance at the local, State and Central levels. The vision of providing Broadband connectivity to Panchayats to improve governance has also been underlined by the Honourable President of India in her address to the joint session of the Parliament on 4th June 2009 where she highlighted the Government s commitment to connecting every Panchayat to broadband by saying, the rural telecommunication target will be set at reaching 40% rural tele-density in the next five years and expanding broadband coverage to connect every Panchayat to a broadband network in three years. Apart from providing Broadband connectivity, it is essential to develop appropriate applications platform for government services, education, health, agriculture, employment, etc. Along with this, it is necessary to provide hardware, software, and trained staff to assure utility and sustainability. This means that the Panchayats will have to be equipped with not just broadband connections but also with computers, software and people to create, organise, distribute and deliver relevant and useful information related to government programs and services to the people at large. This function cannot be outsourced to private businesses. Increasingly, the importance of broadband as a contributor to national development and growth is being highlighted the world over. According to a World Bank Report 1 a 10% increase in broadband penetration leads to a 1.38 per cent increase in per capita GDP in developing economies. This finding is the average of several countries data. However, the broadband penetration in India is just 0.74% compared with a tele-density of around 60% and hence a growth in broadband deployment can unleash a significant wave of growth in the country, as was the case with voice telephony. 1 Information and Communication for Development 2009: Extending reach and increasing impact, World Bank 4

5 Broadband will enable wider public access to government information, a prerequisite of good governance, and also lead to effective administration and monitoring of quality of delivery of government programmes as well as provide a platform for delivering applications. Services such as birth certificate, death certificate, land records, police reports, school admissions, health records, court papers, government documentation, renewal of licenses, tax submissions, etc. can be facilitated through broadband connectivity. It will thus enrich G2C (Government to Citizens) and C2B (Citizen to Business) interactions leading to greater collaborations. The overall objective of the Public Information Infrastructure is to build six national platforms in the next months. In a sense we have taken essentially 20 years to build the nationwide voice platform with digital network and wireless access. The key challenge now is to build on top of this six more national platforms for Broadband, UID (Universal Identification AADHAR), GIS ( Geographical Information System), Cyber Security, Application and Payment. This document focuses only on broadband connectivity to Panchayats. VISION Improve governance and service delivery at Panchayats through DEMOCRATISATION OF INFORMATION for transparency, accountability, collaborations, training, management and decentralised decision-making Provide state of the art ICT infrastructure, architecture tools and technology to organise, access and mobilise information at Panchayats Realise the inclusive development agenda of the Government by empowering people, communities and institutions in rural India OBJECTIVES 1. Establish Optical Fibre cable (OFC) based high capacity broadband connectivity at every Panchayat in the country to benefit from convergence of voice, data, and video for improving training, education, service delivery and governance 2. Develop relevant applications, processes, programs and standards for Panchayats to meet local, state, central government and public needs 3. Build Infrastructure and institutional mechanisms to including OFC connectivity, computer hardware, software, trained human resource, 5

6 management, organisation, etc, to assure utility, scalability and sustainability The combination of broadband connectivity, applications platform and institutional mechanisms at the Panchayat level will have a significant impact not only in terms of improving local governance, but also in implementation of schemes and programmes of the State and Central government. It will also yield tremendous benefits to the citizens through new employment and opportunities. It will offer an opportunity for rural India to become the back office of urban India to create high paying jobs and increase income. TECHNOLOGY Broadband is known by two distinct characteristics, speed or capacity and a user experience of relatively seamless integration. Future broadband implies higher capacities and ubiquitous seamless integration which in turn requires bringing fibre networks ever closer. Supplemented by wireless technologies this can create a network connecting anyone, anywhere, at the best possible speeds. Broadband is increasingly being transformed from a means of high-speed connectivity into a platform for interaction which allows content creation and sharing among users. The prime driver to define broadband is minimum average speed, which can support popular applications, and it is a relative concept, which is used variably by different nations. The figure below summarises various applications in the Indian scenario and the bandwidth required to support such applications. As on March 2010, India had million Internet subscribers including 8.75 million broadband connections with a speed of more than 256 Kbps. The next wave of broadband connectivity will be driven by bandwidth intensive applications such as e-medicine, e-education, geospatial planning, audio/video, monitoring of government programmes and service delivery. 6

7 The tentative bandwidth requirements to run various applications range from 256 kbps to 100 mbps. While certain applications like and voice can be supported by a bandwidth of 256 kbps, real-time applications such as video and multi-media require much higher bandwidth (greater than 10 mbps) and low latency. Certain applications like VoIP, tele-education, tele-medicine can be effectively served only with high speed broadband. Bandwidth requirements for Panchayats will be even higher due to sharing of connectivity and the extensive use of audio/video application because of low literacy levels. It is difficult to predict the capacity requirements of providing connectivity to Panchayats. However, the technology chosen must be premised on the ability of providing almost future proof capacity for accommodating growing demands of communication and collaborations. Currently broadband can be provided through various access technologies as listed below: 1. Digital Subscriber Lines (DSL) DSL is typically used by telephone companies to offer additional data, voice, and video services over existing copper telephone lines used for analog phone. Both analog phone and broadband services are simultaneously offered on the telephone line. Advantage: At present, 86% of broadband connections in India are provided using DSL technologies. Limitations: More than 60% broadband subscribers belong to the top ten metros/tier-i cities and more than 75% connections are in the top 30 cities. DSL is non-existent in rural areas due to low penetration of copper pair. Service providers are not planning for further deployment of copper cables as they see future growth for broadband only through wireless or the optic fibre medium. DSL connections presently being provided support a maximum speed of up to 2 Mbps within a limited distance of 3 Kms from the exchange. Due to the limited capacity and range DSL is not suitable for broadband connectivity to Panchayats. 2. Cable modem Cable modems are primarily used to deliver broadband Internet access, taking advantage of the high bandwidth of a cable television network. Advantage: Cable TV networks have the capability to become a cheaper and convenient source of providing broadband to households as cable TV networks already have access to a large number of households. Presently there are 85 million cable TV households in India. 7

8 Limitations: By and large, cable TV networks are analog and one way. These networks require up-gradation for providing broadband. Cable TV broadband access networks have low capacity and limited range. 3. Wireless Technology There are many wireless technologies available such as 2G, 2.5G, 3G, WiMAX, Wi-Fi, VSAT to cater to the ubiquitous, nomadic and fixed service of varied data rates. Advantage: Out of these WiMAX (Worldwide Interoperability for Microwave Access) is the latest and most capable of providing high data rates, better coverage and mobility which makes it the best available wireless broadband technology. Limitations: Wi-FI networks are excellent means of broadband, but their coverage is limited only to hot spots. VSATs are useful for connectivity to remote areas although their low data rate and high latency are not suited to present day applications. The fundamental unit of all terrestrial wireless networks is a cell providing coverage to a limited area. A cell has a fixed capacity shared dynamically by all users in that cell. The cell is further connected to network using high data rate backhaul provided through fibre. This architecture does not provide sustained high data rates to users. In a practical situation WiMAX broadband is well suited to a 2-3Mbps mobile service which may be excellent for an individual or household user. With the allocation of spectrum for 3G and BWA services, high-speed wireless access would be possible soon. Since these services are being launched with commercial interest as priority, they may not provide coverage to low user density rural areas for a long time. 4. Optical Fibre Technologies Optical Fibre is capable of providing high data rates with low latency over long distances and hence qualitatively is a far superior technological option. Currently India has low penetration of fibre in access networks and does not figure in the top 20 countries. At present only 0.53% broadband connections are working on optical fibre. About 750,000 routes Km (rkm) of optical fibre network is available in India which includes 500,000 Km optical fibre network of the state owned BSNL. Advantage: It has almost unlimited bandwidth which takes care of all future requirements and that makes it the most sustainable and robust solution. Optical Fibre is being extensively used by all service providers in their high capacity intercity backbone since a long time but its use in access networks has only started recently. It is now being deployed in commercial buildings and complexes and metros having high-density potential broadband subscribers. 8

9 Hybrid Fibre Coaxial (HFC), Fibre to the Kerb (FTTK) and Fibre to the Home (FTTH) networks make use of fibre cabling into the last mile. FTTH technology is ideally suited for high capacity broadband as it provides downlink speed of 2.5Gbps and uplink speed of 1.25Gbps up to a distance of 20-60Kms from service providers Point of Presence (POP). In order to support the rising demand for broadband and bandwidth for near future applications, it is imperative to single-mindedly focus on OFC, to avoid duplication of costs and efforts. Limitations: Fibre laying requires Right of Way and involves labour intensive work subject to cost escalation and delays. Initially this exercise will require coordination among multiple stakeholders, but the immediate benefits and dividends are significantly higher. GLOBAL MOVE TOWARDS FIBRE BASED BROADBAND Internationally, it is observed that there are national level broadband plans to increase the reach of broadband to rural and remote areas. Considering the long term sustainability, security, and reliability aspects among multiple technology options available for countries, most countries have adopted optical fibre based connectivity to meet rural connectivity needs. Several advanced economies like US, UK, South Korea, Japan, France, Canada, Australia, Germany, Singapore, Taiwan and Finland have either already created or in the process of deployment of nationwide optical fibre. Some of the international initiatives for fibre-based connectivity are as under: United States: There is a national broadband plan to provide nationwide broadband coverage including rural areas. Government will provide US$ 11.6 billion under various broadband programs. Further US$ 2.5 billion is made available by grants loan and loan guarantees. United Kingdom: Government invested US$ 1.6 billion for development of Next Generation Access Networks in rural areas. Aim is to bring the super fast broadband to 90% of population. Private investment is expected to cover 70% of optical fibre cost by This initiative is part funded by proposed landline duty of US$ 0.8 per month on all fixed lines in the country. South Korea: The government has adopted a plan to upgrade national broadband infrastructure in order to enable speeds of 1Gbps to broadband users by

10 Australia: Government has invested US$ 30 billion in national broadband plan. The government targets 90% of population to be connected with fibre based connectivity and to provide a minimum actual broadband access speed of 100 Mbps. Singapore: Next Generation Broadband plan was started in 2006 with a government subsidy of US $ 0.7 million with an objective of providing broadband to 95% population by 2012 with initial speed of 100 Mbps rising to 1 Gbps using FTTH network. Malaysia: High-speed broadband network in Malaysia plans to connect 1.3 million homes in major cities on FTTH/FTTK network by Government has plans to invest US$ 0.7 billion out of total cost US$ 3.2 billion. An additional US$ 250 million has been planned for IT infrastructure in rural areas. Taiwan: As part of the National Information and Communication Initiative the government plans to spend US$ 1.7 billion on continuing to strengthen the nation's information infrastructure with key objectives: (1) To give at least 80% of Taiwan access to a highspeed convergence network of over 30Mbps; (2) To let at least half of the public enjoy applications and services associated with a digital lifestyle with an 80% satisfaction level; (3) To let 55% of the public utilise e-government services with a level of satisfaction of 60%; (4) To have three billion items seamlessly connected to the high-speed internet convergence network. BROADBAND FOR RURAL INDIA: THE OFC ROUTE Currently 5% of present broadband connections are in rural areas as compared to about 31% of total mobile telephone connections. The primary cause of low penetration of broadband in rural areas is non-availability of required transmission channels to villages, due to high cost of service roll out and lack of viable business models. This further creates a vicious cycle where due to lack of supply, demand also remains latent. Selecting the most optimal solution that meets the high bandwidth requirements at Panchayats requires a focus on a channel that is: A long term option and sustainable Cost effective 10

11 Robust and scalable Able to provide low latency with high actual speed Able to ensure maximum coverage Keeping in view the above requirements, and contextualising it in the demographic and geographical spread of India, Optical Fibre based connectivity to Panchayats may be the most suitable, reliable and sustainable technology option for providing broadband access. It will break the vicious cycle and create a virtuous cycle of providing access to enable creation of applications. Areas where providing fibre is not feasible in the near future, suitable and feasible wireless technologies may be used to connect Panchayats as an interim measure. PROPOSED APPROACH Laying optical fibre cable networks on a large scale will be critical for providing high speed, secure and reliable Internet access and network connectivity to Panchayats. There is an urgent need to focus attention on optical fibre so that most of the internet traffic is handled by the optical fibre network and the last mile is taken care of by WiMAX/ Ethernet/ copper cable based connectivity. Though optical fibre connectivity to all the villages may be desirable, in exceptional cases such as geographically scattered and inaccessible areas, and when the optical fibre option is not feasible, deploying wireless infrastructure and establishing satellite based connectivity may be considered. Presently, optical fibre connectivity is largely available up to the district headquarters. In the rural domain, OFC connectivity is available up to block headquarters and is primarily provided through the BSNL network. This necessitates exploring options to strengthen optical fibre connectivity from Blocks to the Panchayats and working out alternative plans to lay optical fibre network up to the Panchayat level on a priority basis. In addition, existing long distance fibre optic connectivity can be used for inter district/block connectivity. Realising the impact of connectivity on economic development, governments in most developing and developed economies have invested resources in increasing optical fibre to create a robust IT backbone. The cost of laying optical fibre cable primarily consists of digging trenches, cost of the HDD pipe, cost of optical fibre cable, cost of the end equipments and ensuring the Right of Way (RoW). Considering the high investments involved, and the long term dividends that this infrastructure investment will pay in governance and service delivery, the Government should make available the requisite resources for creating the optical fibre network (aerial and underground) up to the villages to boost broadband penetration. 11

12 OPERATIONAL ASPECTS Optical fibre connectivity from existing Exchange/POP to Panchayats requires laying of optical fibre from service providers Point of Presence to 250,000 Panchayats. Braodband over fibre is extended from POP to the Panchayat using Fibre to the Home (FTTH) technology. FTTH mainly comprises of a Gigabit Passive Optical Network (GPON) equipment to be installed at each Exchange/POP and an Optical Network Terminal (ONT) at each Panchyat. This will enable each Panchayat to get a down link speed of 2.5Gbps and an uplink speed of 1.25Gbps. Fibre to Panchyats can be used as the backhaul and provide the necessary penetration from where last mile connectivity to villages can be provided to serve the rural population in key areas such as health, agriculture and education. This will also facilitate sharing of this infrastructure wherein fibre is laid down by the Government up to the Panchayat level and then provided to all players including ISPs on equitable and sharable terms. An estimate of the investments required to be put up by the Government is detailed below: Investment estimates: Item Estimate ( ` Crores) Optical Fibre Cable (OFC) to Panchayats 10,080 Network up gradation district level upwards 965 GPON Equipment at Block level Exchanges 695 Equipment at panchayat 1,398 (ONT, Splitter, Solar Panel with batteries) Project management and misc. costs 150 Total cost 13,288 The estimated cost for connecting the Panchayats using the fibre is Rs. 13,288 crores. (Including development of new fibre links, GPON and customer premises equipment with three years maintenance) 12

13 Source of Funding: Project is proposed to be funded from the funds available with USOF. USOF has sufficient availability of funds and its mandate permits such use. Timeline: months IMPLEMENTATION The task of bringing fibre to Panchayats will require systematic planning, management and effective coordination among multiple stakeholders. Coordination among various stakeholders involved in the execution of the project would be of prime importance for smooth and timely implementation of the project. In order to meet this objective an institutional mechanism has to be established which is independent and has the requisite autonomy. This mechanism may be in the form of a Special Purpose Vehicle (SPV)/organisation, which will design, deploy, and operate the fibre based connectivity for village Panchayats. To operationalise this, the following steps are envisaged: Implementation plan Step I: Formation of a nucleating group Establish a nucleating group under the aegis of the Adviser to the Prime Minister on PIII to prepare and finalise the contours of technology and detailed implementation plan for broadband to Panchayats. Include stakeholders such as BSNL, C-DOT, National Informatics Centre, PGCIL, Railtel, USOF, Min. of Panchayati Raj (MoPR) and other pre-identified agencies/experts. Prepare a roadmap for implementation and establishing necessary charters of responsibility, execution details, and timelines. Facilitate necessary steps for effective implementation of the project. Group to be formed within two weeks after the 13

14 Step II: Formation of a SPV/ company approval of the competent authority and to facilitate the formation of Special Purpose Vehicle (SPV) for project implementation. Form SPV/company, under DoT, to execute tasks based on the implementation plan with equity participation from BSNL, Power grid, RailTel, USOF, CDOT, NIC, MoPR, etc. The SPV may be tentatively named as Rural Telecom Corporation. The nucleating group mentioned in Step I will move to the SPV. The SPV is proposed to be an autonomous and self sustaining organisation that will have its own source of revenue based on the service provisions made to the citizens and organisations at Panchayat and village level. It will act as an institutional bridge to address technological aspects of infrastructure upgradation and maintenance. This SPV shall be formed within six months after the approval of the competent authority. Step III: Establishing and managing Panchayat level network and services Possible The SPV shall be responsible for: Establishing OFC based connectivity and services at Panchayats level by leveraging OFC based infrastructure available upto the Block level. Installation, commissioning, and operation of Panchayat level network. Facilitating household connectivity at village level by leveraging upon Panchayat level OFC network. Collaborating with various stakeholders at Panchayat administration level to address their needs in respect of connectivity and value added services. OFC laying requires permissions from various agencies for Right of Way (RoW). Unforeseen delays in getting RoW can cause significant delay in project implementation. Any changes in charges on account of RoW will impact 14

15 Bottlenecks financial estimates months Timeline CONCLUSION ICT tools of the 21 st century will play a pivotal role in realising Government of India s commitment to empowering rural citizens and unleashing the growth and development potential of rural India by changing the governance and service delivery paradigm. A robust, reliable and scalable public information infrastructure, with Broadband access at every Panchayat at its core, will be the bedrock of this new paradigm and will offer unprecedented dividends to the Government and citizens. As delineated above, keeping in mind the issues of cost and sustainability, the way forward in this regard would be a plan for providing Broadband connectivity at Panchayats through the optical fibre route for long term growth and development. 15