State-run telco BSNL has increased its Fair Usage Policy (FUP) speed limits in all postpaid broadband connections to 1 mbps, from the previous 512 kbps limit. This was notified to customers via an injected HTML ad (attached below). All postpaid broadband plans including the combo, flexi, and unlimited plans are now automatically upgraded to minimum FUP of 1 mbps, and 2 mbps for certain combo plans. In addition, some broadband plans will also receive more bundled data. (List of BSNL plans here). Note that the 1 mbps FUP limit also applies to its promotional unlimited broadband plan for Rs 249. Earlier, BSNL had increased the minimum broadband speed to 2 mbps from 512 kbps in September 2015. Customers received the upgrade at zero-costs. However at that time, the 2 mbps speed applied to pre-FUP data consumption following which speeds were throttled to 512 kbps. Minimum speeds and FUP regulations in India In August, India’s telecom regulator TRAI had recommended setting the minimum broadband speed to 2 mbps from the existing 512 kbps. This according to TRAI was will lead to more jobs, trigger more innovation, increase competitiveness and increase the GDP by up to 0.3%. TRAI used to consider the minimum broadband speed in India as 512 kbps but it had once issued a consultation paper in September 2014 which proposed increasing the minimum speed to 2 mbps. But we have not seen any significant improvement in overall speeds yet, as Akamai reports continue to suggest that India’s Interned speeds is lowest…
