Now minimum broadband speed is 512 kbps: TRAI

July 9, 2014

As per a notification released by Telecom Regulatory Authority India (TRAI),the minimum broadband speed has been raised to 512 kilo bytes per second (kbps). The earlier minimum broadband speed of 256 kbps was as per the Broadband Policy 2004.
The telecom regulator has made amendment to the Telecom Consumers Complaint Redressal Regulations, 2012 and the regulations will be called the Telecom Consumers Complaint Redressal (3rd Amendment) Regulations.
The new definition of “broadband” is: “A data connection that is able to support interactive services including internet access and has the capability of minimum download speed of 512 kbps to an individual subscriber from the point of presence (POP) of the service provider intending to provide broadband service”.
The regulations will come into force after publication in the official gazette. The broadband speed has been revised by the Department of Telecommunications (DoT) in consonance with the National Telecom Policy 2012 and TRAI suggestions. As per the National Telecom Policy 2012, the government aims to enhance the broadband download speed of to 512 kbps from 256 kbps and subsequently to 2 Mbps by 2015. As per TRAI data, total broadband subscribers in the country increased by 5.82% to 65.33 million at the end of May 2014 from 61.74 million at the end of April 2014.