Following complaints about poor mobile Internet download speeds in India, the Telecom Regulatory Authority of India (TRAI) has started a consultation process, for setting a minimum download speeds of 1Mbps for 3G connections and 56Kbps for 2G connections. Read the consultation paper here, and submit your views on the questions below by May 5, 2014 and counter comments by May 12, 2014 to advqos@trai.gov.in Questions for consultation: 1: What are your views on prescribing benchmarks for minimum download speed as above? Please give your comments with justification. 2: Should the service provider be mandated to inform the minimum download speed to customers along with each tariff plan? Please give your comments with justification. Issues raised in the consultation paper 1. Variance in Mobile Internet speeds offered by Telecom operators in India: The minimum speed offered currently varies from 21Kbps to 97Kbps on 2G and from 399Kbps to 2.5Mbps on 3G depending on the operator and service area. What the TRAI wants to do: The TRAI has recommended (and put up for consultation) that telcos should offer a speed of 1Mbps for GSM 3G and CDMA EVDO plans. It has recommended a minimum speed of 512Kbps for CDMA HSD and 56Kbps for GSM 2G and CDMA 1x connections. How will the speed be measured? The download speed in these regulations is defined as the data transmission rate that is achieved for downloading a test file from a test server to a test device. The minimum download speed should be calculated from…
