With the total subscriber base almost reaching the 900 million mark, India boasts of the fastest growing and the second-largest telecommunications sector in the world after China. The mobile phone which was once considered a luxury that few could afford has transformed into a device potent enough to make a difference in the life of each and every Indian. The positive regulatory environment and favourable policy reforms have played a crucial role in the success of the sector in the last decade. The Indian telecom sector now stands at the crossroads as it moves away from the dominance of the voice segment and the urban market to explore the growth potential in the data segment and the rural sector.

The government is well cognizant of the myriad possibilities that the telecom sector presents for inclusive and equitable growth of the country. A reflection of this is the draft of the National Telecom Policy – 2011, that was released in October 2011, in the run up to the actual policy expected by early next year. The draft hints at a progressive policy that can propel the Indian telecom sector to new heights of growth. The key focus areas of the draft policy include the growth of broadband, the relatively un-penetrated rural sector, domestic manufacturing and R&D, the licensing framework, spectrum allocation and management and security. The key highlights of the draft policy are as follows:

• Infrastructure status to the telecom sector

• One nation-one license

• Inclusive growth with special focus on rural market

• Focus on indigenization of telecom equipment products and equipment

• Technology neutral unified license –licensing of network operators and service providers

• Trading, sharing and pooling of spectrum to be permitted

• Convergence of voice, data, video, Internet, multimedia, broadcasting and value added services

The industry has perceived the draft as forward looking and directionally encouraging but keenly awaits details on time-lines and manner of implementation. The industry also expects the Government of India to consider the following:

• According “critical infrastructure” status to active and passive infrastructure in the telecommunications and broadband sector
• Clear outline on the migration of existing licenses and spectrum to the new licensing framework, pricing of existing 2G spectrum at the time of migration and the policy on exit of licensees, both currently and in the future
• Consolidation policy
• Mechanism for market discovery for future spectrum allocation
• Policy pronouncement on liberalization of Foreign Direct Investment (FDI) into the sector

The draft policy is a step forward to create a win-win ecosystem where the utmost beneficiary is the subscriber. A detailed policy framework with a longer-term view will help foster balanced growth and competition in the sector. The industry takes immense pride and satisfaction in deliberating on the draft policy to help push the vision of providing the people of India with high quality, reliable and affordable converged telecommunications services.

HIGH PERFORMANCE N600 WIRELESS DUAL BAND GIGABIT ROUTER—Premium Edition NETGEAR WNDR3800

Features

• Dynamically selects clear Wi-Fi channels
• Access and share USB hard drive remotely‡
• Time Machine^® compatible
• Popular open-source Linux^® firmware

Advanced Features

• Clear Channel Selector—Dynamically avoids busy Wi-Fi channels for clear and fast wireless connections automatically
• ReadySHARE^® Cloud‡—Access and share files on an attached USB hard drive anywhere you have an Internet connection
• ReadySHARE^® Printer—Wirelessly print from your Mac or PC to a connected USB printer
• ReadySHARE^® USB—Wirelessly share a USB hard drive with Macs and PCs
• Time Machine^® compatible—Automatic Mac backup to connected USB hard drive, wirelessly
• Live Parental Controls with flexible and customizable filter settings
• Simultaneous Dual Band—Runs both 2.4 and 5 GHz bands concurrently
• Video mode—Dedicated wireless network for video streaming
• DLNA—Stream media to DLNA^® HDTVs, Blu-ray™ players and game consoles
• Extend TiVo^® Storage—Playback archived TiVo^® recordings from attached USB Storage
• Broadband usage meter measures Internet usage
• Power and Wi-Fi on/off buttons

Pricing: MRP of NETGEAR WNDR3800 is Rs. 11780/-

Reviews

CNET Editors Rating: Excllent
The bottom line: The Netgear WNDR3800 N600 Wireless Dual-Band Gigabit Router makes an excellent router for any home.

SmallNetBuilder
High performance dual-band, dual-radio 802.11n router with bandwidth metering external USB drive and printer sharing w/ UPnP AV / DLNA media server, ‘cloud’ file access and completely new admin GUI.