BROADBAND AS A SOCIAL DEVELOPMENT TOOL :

AN IMPACT ANALYSIS ON EDUCATION

Abstract

The success of any country is measured by its Social and Human Development (SHD). Different methodologies
and strategies are adopted and implemented to improve the Human Capital. The buzzword of the day has been the
Knowledge economy and to build it Education is one of the major factors that contribute to the development of Society.
This paper analyzes the impact of education in Social Development briefly touching upon the Telecom space especially
Broadband and how it provides the required environment and access for education. Sketching on the evolution of
telecom & ICT industry, this paper studies the impact of Broadband on the education industry.

Keywords : Broadband, Education, Social and Human Development, Telecom, ICT application

Introduction
Social and Human Development (SHD) has been the key for the success of any and every country. Each and
every country has been adopting different strategies and methodologies in improving the Human Capital. Education is
one of the major factors that have pre-dominantly contributed to the success of Social and Human Development.
This paper will analyze the impact of education in Social Development and how Telecom especially
Broadband/ Data services can provide the required platform and access for education in achieving the objective.
Discussing about the Telecom Evolution and the growth of Telecom in Social Development, this paper will focus on
Internet and Communication Technology and its impact on the education industry, with an emphasize on the problems
in education sector. The focus will be made on the impact of Broadband, ICT for the growth of Education and in turn to
the Society.
The telecommunications trend has been changing across the world during the past two decades and India has
also progressed significantly. With the exponential growth on telephone connections it has expanded on the data front
also especially on the broadband services. The success of broadband has paved way for lot of projects on all sectors
including education. The paper will study how broadband can contribute to the growth of education sector and thereby
contribute to Social and Human Development.
Development may mean different things to different people. In general, Development has referred the capacity
of the National Economy. Social and Human Development (SHD) has been the key for the success of any and every
country. Each and every country has been adopting different strategies and methodologies in improving the Human
Capital. Education is one of the major factors that have pre-dominantly contributed to the success of Social and Human
Development. When many developing nations reached their economic growth targets, the masses of people and their
levels of living has remained unchanged which gave the signal that something was wrong in defining the development
only based on the economy. The economic development was redefined in terms of the reduction or elimination of
poverty, inequality, and unemployment within the context of a growing economy. “Redistribution from growth” became
a common slogan.

Social Development

Social Development is not only improving the economy by eradicating inequality of the society but also in
improving the literacy, environment, and health and socio political background. Social development concerns itself with:
promoting the inclusion of poor, vulnerable and excluded groups (especially youth and women); strengthening social
cohesion and the capacity for collective action towards development and; enhancing the capacities of citizens and civic
groups to hold accountable the institutions that serve them. The challenge of development.... is to improve the quality
of life. Especially in the world‟s poor countries, a better quality of life generally calls for higher incomes – but it
involves much more. It encompasses as ends in themselves better education, higher standards of health and nutrition,
less poverty , a cleaner environment, more equality of opportunity, greater individual freedom, and a richer cultural
life. (World Bank, 1991)
Development is to be conceived of as a multidimensional process involving major changes in social structures,
popular attitudes, and national institutions, as well as the acceleration of economic growth, the reduction of inequality
and the eradication of poverty. Precisely, Development should represent the whole gamut of change by which an entire
social system movew away from a condition of life widely perceived as unsatisfactory toward a situation or condition of
life regarded as materially ad spiritually better.
Even the Millennium Development Goals of the UNDP speaks about eight Goals which are required for
building a better society out of which Achieving Primary Education is one of major goals. The Middle East and North
Africa (MENA) region which has a rich historical, cultural and religious heritage is endowed with human, natural, and
financial resources, has valuable biodiversity, and exhibits a high level of infrastructure development. Extreme poverty
in the region is quite low and aggregate human development indicators are generally fair, owing to extensive government
transfers, supplemented by remittances and widely shared traditions of family and social responsibility among the
population. The Social Development can be achieved with better education and tools.

Education helps Social Development?

Education is Empowerment. Education is one of the most important drivers of India's social and economic
development. Higher levels of literacy lead to greater economic output, higher employment levels, better health, better
social structures, and higher marks along a number of other development indicators. More specifically, the impact of
educating girls and women has been shown to result in rapid improvements in family planning, nutrition, health, and
income and is seen as one of the best tools for promoting social and economic development.
The 1986 National Policy on Education (NPE) first emphasized universalization of elementary education (UEE)
as a national priority. Yet, despite a huge expansion in India‟s formal education system in the last few decades, there are
still roughly 50-60 million children out of school in the age group 6-14 years, or nearly 25 percent of total child
population in the elementary age group. The key challenges to achieving UEE are Access, Retention and Quality.
Access: The reasons for children being out-of-school are to do with lack of physical access as well as social
access. In several parts of the country, especially in small, remote habitations, children still do not have access to
schooling facilities and thus remain out of school. Seasonal migration of families in search of work for several months
every year is another reason which deprives children the chance to go to school. In addition, a sizeable proportion of
children live in villages and habitations where formal schools exist, but due to social reasons such as caste and gender
they are either not allowed to go to school, or not given the proper treatment in school.
Retention: This is an issue of serious concern. According to statistics 53% of children drop out of school before
completing the elementary level, or grade VIII. This high dropout is due to poor functioning of schools, for example,
dilapidated school buildings, overcrowded classrooms, irregular attendance of teachers and children, lack of teaching
learning materials, ineffective teaching, unintelligible language used by the teachers and the discriminatory attitude of
teachers towards children of the marginalized sections of society.
Quality: Many studies have shown that children who do complete primary schooling attain abysmal learning
levels. A majority of grade V children are estimated to be at a level no higher than grade II or III. The causes stem from
the poorly functioning educational system which is transmitted down to the schools.

Telecommunications and Internet influence towards education:

World‟s telecommunications arena have been changing enormously in the past two decades which includes
Satellite communication, Optical fiber communication, Personal computing, highly sophisticated Information Systems,
Broadband services, VoIP services and other value added services. New technologies have all exploded in their
importance and have helped in internationalizing the communications industry, market and users. During the same time,
economic regulation has been revised in US, Japan, Western Europe, and a number of emerging third world capitalist
economies. Social welfare and economic equity policies, both domestic and international, are thus crucially and directly
affected by changes in telecommunications and telecommunications policies.
As and when a new technology has arrived, it has made a revolution and considerable progress in the society.
The development path started with the Agricultural Revolution then the Industrial Revolution. It was followed by the
invention of Telephones which led to the Telecommunication / IT Revolution bringing in Computers and Information
Super Highway. Now we are into the Convergence of all these. In a nutshell, whenever a new technology has arrived,
there has been a major development in the society.
India started its Data Communication‟s journey in 1991, after conducting a pilot project in 1990, with the
launch of the Packet Switched Public Data Network (Inet) at 10 locations which was further extended to 103 locations.
Before this it was providing the Leased Lines/ Dedicated Circuits for the needy customers. The first installations were
used to transmit speech and voice, which then was utilized for the Data communication purposes. Because of the
utilization of the Copper cable for the communication during the late 1980s and early 1990s, the speed of the circuits
that were offered were below 64 Kbps. (Bharat Sanchar Nigam LImited - Data Networks Circle, 2008). It brought in
Internet services during 1994 with the Educational Research Network (ERNET) at specific locations through Premier
Educational Institutions like IITs, IIMs, etc. It started installing Nodes through Department of Telecommunications and
provided Internet Connections (Shell Type access, TCP/IP access) to all the population of the country during 1997-98.
The efforts continued to provide Internet Access to the customers across the country by installing nodes and providing
connections in line with the Category of Nodes of Inet Network. The state Capitals, Industrially important locations and
the telecom districts were taken as Nodes for the installation, commissioning and provisioning of Internet services.
Huge Amount of Fibre has been laid in the country to ensure the HIGHWAY connectivity. This National Internet
Backbone of BSNL (Bharat Sanchar Nigam Limited) has been built to enable the inter-connectivity between various
Service providers, to build a highway for the country and to provide various types of internet connections to the citizens
of the country. Internet is also seen as one of the catalyst for the growth in the telecommunication space. To provide
Internet to the wide spread rural and urban community various technologies and solutions has to be worked out and all
the service providers of the country with DOT and TRAI guidelines are running to capture the customers and increase
their customer base thereby increasing the penetration figures of the country.

Brief of Broadband Access in India

Broadband Internet services have been labeled as one of the major catalysts for growth of the economy,
infrastructure, and Internet traffic of a country. Due to the interconnected nature of a country's information
superhighway, the development and deployment of information and communication technologies are crucial for
increasing and improving awareness and productivity. With newer technologies and improving telecommunications
infrastructure, domestic market segments are becoming part of small businesses, enterprises, and government markets.
This is enabling close collaboration between previously loosely bound entities to provide a plethora of services
connecting more communities socially as well as technologically. (Tanguturi, 2007)

India is one of the leading emerging markets in the world today. Developed economies view India as a major
destination for offshore research and development (R&D). Companies want to invest in setting up R&D initiatives in
telecommunications, automobiles, software development, business processing outsourcing (BPO), and knowledge
process outsourcing (KPO). In the last decade, the Indian economy has grown at a rapid pace, posting an average growth
rate of 7% since 1994; in 2004–2005, the growth rate was 7.5%.

India is one of the first countries to benefit from telecommunication services. The Telegraph Act of 1885 was a
major milestone in the history of Indian telecommunications, and since that time India's telecom industry has continued
to adopt new technologies. Nevertheless, the adoption and proliferation of telecom services has always lagged behind
other developing countries. This can be attributed to many reasons, but a few stand out, such as war with other nations,
and strict monopolistic rules and regulations concerning telecommunications. These regulations hampered the provision
of basic telephony services and failed to connect communities as well as rural areas to urban centers. According to
Dayanidhi Maran, Ex. Minister of Communications and IT for India, it is expected that by the end of 2007, there will be
250 million telephone lines (fixed and mobile) in India, with a teledensity of 22%. India has become the fifth largest
telephone network in the world, behind China, the US, Japan, and Germany. It was not until 1990 that the Department
of Telecommunications (DOT) began purchasing new digital equipment and was able to add new phone lines. Demand
has always overwhelmed supply, but this was the first ray of growth in the telecom sector. The government realized that
telecommunications services contribute to economic growth whether a country is developed or developing. This changed
outlook occurred as the government adopted ideas for reforms, with the objective of putting India on the world map as a
hub of business opportunities. To achieve these objectives, the government undertook several initiatives: streamlined the
foreign direct investment (FDI) process; worked to attract FDI in industries like telecommunications, software, and
electronics; opened new investment avenues; created software technology parks; and identified new profitable sectors.
These efforts ensured that India would become part of the global economy.

Policy Initiatives of Government of India

The Indian telecom market has three major policies: National Telecom Policy 1994 (NTP ‟94), National
Telecom Policy 1999 (NTP ‟99), and Broadband Policy 2004. With the implementation of NTP ‟94, the government
embarked on improving India's infrastructure, competitiveness, exports, and its attractiveness to foreign investors via
growth in telecommunications. When the NTP ‟94 policy was tabled, telephone density in India was approximately 0.8
per 100 people, compared with the world average of 10, and lower than neighboring China, Pakistan, and Malaysia. An
important point to consider is that until NTP ‟99, the government did not recognize the relationship between
telecommunication infrastructure development and social and economic growth of the country. When the intended
results were not achieved, the government began to realize the importance of telecom services; also that its policies
should be forward-looking. They were meant not only for the development of the IT industry but were intended to have
widespread impact on the entire country.

When setbacks and obstacles arose, the government decided to revisit its telecom policy framework and the new
National Telecom Policy (NTP ‟99) was born. For the first time in the history of Indian telecom, the government
welcomed corporate involvement in providing paging services, cellular mobile telephone services (CMTS), and later,
fixed telephone services (FTS). In addition, 100% of FDI was allowed when providing Internet services. With NTP ‟99,
the government decided to separate policy from licensing and service provisions, as a precursor to corporatization.

Broadband Internet Subscriber targets as per the Broadband Policy 2004

Access Internet Subscribers Broadband subscribers
2005 6 million 3 million
2007 18 million 9 million
2010 40 million 20 million

Some key points noted in the Broadband Policy 2004 document included:
1. The spread of the networks of private service providers have to play an important role in bringing optical fibre
to homes as well as the rural areas and they are expected to focus on it.
2. The owners of copper loop have to be given a high priority because their role is critical as key drivers in the
Broadband service market using DSL. BSNL and MTNL, as well as other access providers, are expected to
aggressively use their copper loop infrastructure for providing Broadband services through this technology.
3. Access providers shall be free to enter into mutually agreed commercial arrangements for utilization of
available copper loop for expansion of broadband services. The owner of local loop shall be free to decide the
areas in which investment is to be made to upgrade the infrastructure for broadband services. The information
regarding the areas in which Broadband services are being offered by a service provider shall be available in the
public domain.
4. It is noted that cable TV connection as last mile infrastructure reaches more people than even the telephone
copper infrastructure and can be leveraged in providing cable operators a new business model while giving a
stimulus to Broadband penetration. Therefore, Cable TV network can be used as franchisee network of the
service provider for provisioning Broadband services. However, all responsibilities for ensuring compliance of
terms & conditions of the license shall vest with the Licensee. The terms of franchise agreement between
Licensee and his franchisee shall be settled mutually by negotiation between the two parties involved.
5. Very Small Aperture Terminals (VSAT) and Direct-to-Home (DTH) services would be encouraged for
penetration of Broadband and Internet services with the added advantage to serve remote and inaccessible areas.
6. It is the intention of the Government to make available transponder capacity for VSAT services at competitive
rates after taking into consideration the security requirements. Department of Space is already interacting with
VSAT service providers. Department of Telecommunications, in consultation with the concerned Ministries,
will soon propose measures in the direction of Open Sky Policy for VSAT operators. The role of the
Department of Space is critical in such an endeavor.
7. Recognizing that terrestrial wireless is another upcoming technology platform for Broadband, it has been
decided in principle to de-license the 2.40-2.48 GHz band for low-power outdoor use on non-protection, non-
interference and non-exclusive basis. Necessary notification shall be issued. Further, notification regarding de-
licensing 2.40-2.48 MHz band for low power indoor permitting use of all technologies, which inter-alia include
those based on IEEE 802.11b and 802.11g standards, has been issued.
8. In the changing technology scenario, there is a possibility of new options being used for provisioning of
Broadband services such as Wi-FI, WI-MAX etc. These technologies can also be utilized for provisioning of
such services within the licensing framework of the service provider and the spectrum management policy of
DoT.

In the India Vision 2020 document of the Planning Commission of India, Education is considered the second most
important area for the development and growth of the country next to employment. The Deputy Chairman of the
Planning commission says “Education is the second main thrust area of this document. Greater coverage and better
quality education at all levels from basic literacy to hi-tech science and technology is the essential prerequisite for
raising agricultural productivity and industrial quality, spurring growth of India’s budding IT and biotechnology
sectors, stimulating growth of manufactured and service exports, improving health and nutrition, domestic stability and
quality of governance. The report calls for concerted efforts to abolish illiteracy, achieve 100 per cent enrolment at
primary and secondary levels, and broaden access to higher education and vocational training through both traditional
and non-traditional delivery systems”
“Simultaneous efforts are needed to strengthen the rural infrastructure relating to education, health care,
transport, telecom, power and water. Unless bold steps are taken to promote a geographically more dispersed and
equitable development paradigm, widening disparities between rural and urban centres will accelerate the migration to
cities and the rapid expansion of urban slum areas.”
The Vision 2020 document also insists on the “Rapid flow of information as a catalyst for social development”.
Vision 2020 conceives of India evolving into an information society and knowledge economy built on the edifice of
information and communication technology (ICT), of which telecommunications is the springboard. Rapid expansion
and extension of the country‟s fixed and mobile telecom infrastructure is essential for stimulating growth of both the ICT
sector and the economy as a whole. The number of fixed telephone line services will multiply another seven-fold in the
next 18 years. As the fixed line market matures, more and more users will cross over to mobile communications as well,
spurring a mobile revolution in India. Mobile telecommunications and the Internet will set the contours of technological
progress over the next two decades. The third generation mobile devices with access to mobile data and voice should be
within reach of wide sections of the population by 2020.

Impact of Broadband on education across countries

India started its broadband operations and services in 2005 and has crossed 3.1 million connections now. The
increase in the fixed lines concurrent with improvements in wireless technology has contributed to wider use of the
Internet. The internet conquered the user community and as the number of users increased, the need for higher
bandwidth connection was felt. This need for the High Speed High Bandwidth connections gave rise to something called
as Broadband access. Prior to this, all over the world the internet was provided with the help of PSTN and ISDN lines.
Broadband connection by definition in India is “always on Internet connection with a minimum speed of 256
Kbps from the nearest Point of Presence: (TRAI, 2004). Broadband is an access technology which is available through
multiple medium i.e, copper, fiber, power lines, wireless etc. The PSTN (Public Switched Telephone Network) which is
normally referred as a Telephone Connection was used to provide 64 Kbps and lesser and ISDN (Integrated Services
Digital Network) was used to provide 144 kbps and 2 Mbps based on the type of access (David E Bloom, 2001). The
requirement of Broadband access generated additional demand for this service.
In 2006, there were 3 broadband subscribers per 100 people in Asia and the Pacific, compared with 20 in North
America and 16 in Europe. The Republic of Korea, with 29 subscribers per 100 populations, leads the region and ranks
as the 5th country with the highest number of subscribers to broadband in the world. Denmark, the Netherlands, the
Iceland and Switzerland were leading before Korea. Hong Kong, China also has a high number of subscribers, at 25,
while Australia, Japan and Macao, China have 20 broadband subscribers per 100 population. (UnitedNations, 2007, p.
111). Table 2 displays the Enrolment ratio for the Primary education in the Asia Pacific Region. Comparing the
statistics of the Education of the Asia Pacific countries and the broadband penetration, there has been a correlation
between these figures. Studying the countries with higher enrolment ratio, Republic of Korea is leading with 99.6.
Hongkong China and Macao, China also have 99.0 and 97.0. Analyzing the Broadband Penetration in the Asia Pacific
community, Republic of Korea leads the list followed by Hongkong China, New Zealand, Australia, Japan, Singapore
and Macao, China. It is evident that there is a correlation between the Broadband penetration and the Education level of
the society.
From Table IV, Comparing the HDI/GDP/GER/Literacy Rate figures of Select Countries clarifies that
Australia, Japan, USA, UK and Germany are leading with the Highest Literacy rate of 99.0 while India is at 61. The
Combined Gross Enrolment Ratio for Higher education for various countries project that Australia is leading with 113%
, followed by USA & UK with 93%, Japan, Germany, Singapore and Brazil in the 85-88 range whereas India is with
63.8%. The literacy rate as well as the Gross enrolment ratio for Higher education of India is at 61 and 63.8% which
indicates that there is a lot of progress required to be taken in improving the education of the Society. Correlating these
figures with that of the Broadband connections across various countries, portrays that wherever broadband penetration is
high, the literacy & Enrolment figures for both primary as well as Higher education is positive. By improving the
Broadband penetration of the country the societal growth is ensured and the deployment of various technologies and
solutions will help in achieving this objective.
A comparative analysis has been carried out at Table V on the Human Development Index of various States of
Government of India, its per capita Net State Domestic product at current prices, Gross Enrolment Ratio in Higher
education and the Broadband connection in these states. Interestingly it gives an indication that the states where
broadband connections are higher are prospering either with the High HDI or with GER. Thus the broadband seems to
help the society in improving the prosperity of the states by concentrating on both rural and urban sector. Broadband
because of its simplicity can penetrate the rural community without any difficulty thereby bringing the rural to the
forefront as the urban sector through information dissemination and improving the knowledge economy. Increasing the
number of broadband connections will increase the HDI/ GER of the society thereby improving the society. Suitable
measures for the marketing of broadband initiatives, services and applications should be worked so that the broadband
penetration increases bringing up the states where there is very less growth. If we visit the Broadband figures of Table
V, we can clearly come to a conclusion that the GER/ HDI and the per capita income of various states like UP, Assam,
Bihar can be brought up bridging the gap between the top ranked states and them.

Present day limitations and Challenges:

The limitations with the data connections provided by PSTN / ISDN connections are:
1. Speed is very low
2. Time taken to establish the connection is very high since the communication devices ( Modems, Line
Drivers) are to sync with each other for effective communication.
3. Additional equipments are required along with the PC
4. Not many applications can be enjoyed with this type of low speed connection
5. Increased cost of implementation
6. This is more rigid especially since it has limitations of locations, speed, end devices, and resources that
can‟t be installed in remote / rural space.
7. Focus is towards the urban community and not towards the Rural community since the Latest technology is
deployed based on the demand thereby focusing in the urban area.

Along with Global Challenges and Marketing challenges, each country continue to struggle with the issues of
improving its economy through regulation, Policies and procedures, employment, education apart from various other
Measures & Strategies. While they focus on improving the education and literacy levels of the wide range of society,
they deploy their forces on all types of education starting from the Primary education till the Higher education including
the adult & continuing education, vocational education, etc. They face the issues of children out of school, illiterate
youths and adults. The inequities in education opportunities, quality of educational services and level of achievement
persists by gender, rural/ urban locality, ethnic background and socio-economic status. Means and scope of education
continue to be narrow and confined to historical models of delivery, and the use of other channels continue to be ado and
marginal. The increase in quantitative and qualitative demand for education is not matched by an increase in resources.
There is lot of infrastructural problems in the rural areas. There are many schools where there is only one
teacher. In many rural areas, the teacher visits the school for a specific part of the day. There is lesser number of
teachers than the school in the rural areas. The lack of access to facilities and effective education tools for those who
live in the rural areas are a serious concern for the growth. Though there are lot of rural development initiatives that are
implemented across the country the progress seems to be minimal because of this information asymmetry and the access
to information. They are forced to live in their own world without even knowing what is happening in the urban
community.
Many a times, there is a lot of surprise and shock when they come to learn about things and facilities that are
enjoyed by the urban population. Their interaction with the world is very minimum which also doesn‟t allow them to
prosper further. Japan, Korea and china have developed and reached the maximum only because they are
communicating in the medium similar to the mother tongue. Medium of exchange is not restricted for those who are
speaking their mother tongue. In India, only those who speak English are having the access to most of the facilities and
those who speak their own mother tongue (regional languages) are being deprived because of the lack of information in
these languages.
Though there are many agencies in India which is developing tools and information in the regional languages,
they are not carried across because of the lack of media which can carry such huge amount of information. This again
was because of the Non availability of high speed media to send this information across the network. If it is to be sent on
the previously available Low Speed links, the information doesn‟t come in one shot and used to come in multiple stages
which was creating a bad impression on the process itself thereby reflecting on the image of e-governance initiatives.
The above challenges pose serious questions for the planning of education and training systems and force rethinking
in the way education is perceived, delivered, and managed. The education department has to work on the far-reaching
implications (Haddad, 2006) which are:
 1. Holistic Education Structure. The workforce of the future will need a whole spectrum of knowledge and skills to
deal with technology and the globalization of knowledge. Countries must embrace a holistic approach to
education, investing concurrently in the whole pyramid of basic education, secondary education, skill training,
and tertiary education.
2. Focus on Learning. The ancient objective of education, to teach how to learn, problem solve, and synthesize the
old with the new, is now transformed from desirable to indispensable.
3. Education for Everyone. Modern economic, social, political, and technological requirements demand that all
members of society have a minimum level of basic education.
4. Education Anytime. The need for continuous access to information and knowledge makes learning lifelong and
the traditionally neat distinction between learning and work unreal. Education thus becomes a continuum, with
no marked beginning and end, which provides opportunities for lifelong learning to help individuals, families,
workplaces, and communities to adapt to economic and societal changes, and to keep the door open to those
who have dropped out along the way.
5. Education Anywhere. To cope with the diversity, complexity, and changing nature of demands for education
services, learning cannot be confined to the traditional classroom. It is unrealistic and unaffordable to continue
to ask learners to come to a designated place every time they have to engage in learning. Delivery must extend
beyond the face-to-face institutional modality to include distance education, enrichment mass media, and
nonformal settings.
6. Preparation for the future. We are moving out of the industrial age into the age of free trade, information systems,
knowledge economy, and technological innovations. The best and most efficient of our past and present schools
have served a different age. Schools of the future have to meet the needs of the future.

Effective Utilization of Broadband

The Broadband comes in handy and provides the required interconnection between the Network and the user.
Broadband is a connection provided with the help of Copper which provides High Speed access. Broadband is used as
the access solution for the Information Highway/ Knowledge Highway. Broadband acts as a bridge between the world
wide Network and other Educational Networks. Broadband has the beauty of adopting or operating with multiple access
solutions. Broadband, because of its ease of providing connection has been conceived for implementation on Power
lines, Cable connections, Wireless media (Wi-Fi, WI-MAX) etc.
To provide enough connectivity and to achieve the target of the Broadband Policy 2004, the technology
available to implement or provide Broadband connections have to be explored and increased. Till now, the Data
connections have been provided with the help of the Copper cable laid for the purpose of telephone connections, PSTN/
ISDN lines, dedicated circuits between fixed end points and via the cable connections. Since population of India is
increasing, to increase the penetration of the country the provisioning of connections also has to be multifold to match
with it.
Civilization perceives education as an essential tool to maintain a normal civilization. The broadband solves the issues of
access, connectivity and easy distribution. The impact of the Internet and broadband on education depends on the quality
of material to which the students have access, whether Internet-sourced information is complementary to or replacement
for, face-to-face. While schools typically attempt to limit student time on the Internet, this is typically economically
driven. Internet addiction („excessive and non-productive‟ use) among some personality types should be the platform for
determining use protocols.
Broadband, while making downloads quicker, also increases the potential distraction level. Although parents
typically cite education as the main reason for buying a computer, getting the Internet, or broadband, it may be important
to evaluate the educational impacts more systematically. There are various initiatives and measures through which the
performance of broadband can be evaluated like primary education, rural education, secondary education, Higher
education, Adult and Continuing education, Faculty education, knowledge dissemination. The outcomes of Internet and
broadband in education include Impacts on Budgets, Student performance, Faculty Performance, Performance in
National examinations and Preparedness for the innovativeness:
Impacts on budgets: According to Mann (cited in Schacter, 1999), the introduction of computer education is more cost
effective in achieving improved student results than are reducing class sizes, increasing instructional time, and cross age
tutorial programs. Nevertheless, as set out above, e-learning is preferable as an add-on.
Student performance: It seems to be clear that once the decision to embark on computer-enhanced learning programs
has been made, that broadband improves the efficiency of that learning experience by reducing download times and
enabling participation in interactive programs.
Faculty Performance: The faculty has a wide range of online books and collections with latest trends and technologies
which increases the depth of the knowledge on the subject across the globe. The faculty develops modules which can be
loaded and shared in the net which brings lot of recognition for his hard work and sincere efforts. The faculty‟s
performance increases with the knowledge database available across the net.
Performance in Competitive Examinations: (enabling comparison and competition for places) and problem solving
and creative skills. (Schacter (1999) in a review of several studies found that generally a „technology rich‟ environment
improves performance and the enjoyment of learning, but not necessarily in ways that are measured in standardized
tests.
Preparedness for the innovativeness: Some argue that electronic delivery of course material offers advantages in self
directed learning. If Internet-based education does not encourage self-directed learning, it may cultivate passivity, restrict
imagination and inhibit creativity, observation, common sense, and curiosity. It may also restrict interest in the physical
and social world and the desire to experiment, the qualities that will enable us to produce inventors rather than managers
of technology.
We cannot predict the future. The only thing we can predict is that it will be beyond our wildest imaginations.
The future is changing so dramatically and quickly that it poses a nightmare for the traditional educational strategist and
planner. We can no longer draw occupational pyramids or do manpower planning. We are educating students for the
unknown; the best we can do is to equip them with the necessary conceptual, cognitive, attitudinal, and social tools to
continue learning anytime, anywhere, on demand. The skills include:
 A conceptual open-ended foundation of the physical, human, environmental, and cultural world
 Skills to access knowledge, assess it, and apply it.
 Skills to analyze, critique, and apply knowledge to generate solutions and test options.
 Interpersonal skills to interact and work collaboratively
 Social skills to exercise good citizenship, tolerate diversity, and respect other perspectives and rationalities
With Broadband in place, the services that can be offered through broadband have no practical limitations.
Apart from the Voice and Low Speed applications that was provided with the conventional telecommunication links, the
broadband focuses on Video Conferencing, IPTV, Distance Learning, Virtual class rooms, Multi-Play or Triple Play
and the customized contents for the specific community. We are removing most of the hurdles in providing a better
education such that the Kannada classes are conducted in Assam / UP and Tamil classes being conducted live in Jammu
and Dehradun.
The typical speed with which we can access broadband is typically of the orders of 2 Mbps (ranging from 256
Kbps to 20 Mbps) which gives confidence for those content developers who have literally stopped because of the
bandwidth hunger applications.
Broadband can assist education in contributing in the following areas:
 Reducing the time, distance and cost.
 Enabling to build multiple networks (District wide/ State Wide/ Nationwide Networks)
 Enable Huge amount of Data collection and build a Huge Knowledge base
 Provide connectivity to any Network seamlessly and allow integration across them
 Provide the scalability and flexibility in working out solutions to the whole education fraternity.
 Potential of satellite based education for development,
 To have a lively interactive e-class environment (virtual class rooms)
 Internet based education in real classes
 Potential for training teachers in emode
 Potential for geometric explosion of knowledge in the virtual world
Thus, Broadband deployment on Copper cables that has been laid across the country shall be brought in to life. This
will help in serving the Schools, Educational Institutions, Universities and Boards to get connected to the Educational
Network. The network that was built and kept ready can be accessed with broadband after due authentication and
verification. The fibre rings that are spread across the country can be tapped wherever the broadband connection is
required for High Bandwidth applications.
Wherever the rural population needs the connectivity and does not exist now can be provided with the help of
Wireless Media which includes Mobile connectivity, Wi-Fi and Wi-Max connectivity. A hybrid solution can be worked
integrating all these technologies to ensure the reachability of the remote community to the International world. There is
no limitation in providing connectivity to any location in the country with the launch of broadband applications and its
ease of seamless integration with other networks. This should be put in practice to achieve the objectives of providing
education anytime, anywhere.

Recommendations
 Education is no longer a monopoly of the state or a “protected industry.” Local and transnational private entities
have entered this field as a result of expanding economic liberalism, increasing political pluralism, and rising demand for
education. Government funding has not been able to cope with the evolving demands, and new providers have entered
the market in large numbers. In fact, the growth of private tertiary education institutions in developing countries has been
more rapid than it has been in industrialized countries. A large number of the new providers are private,
nongovernmental institutions, many of them established in partnership with institutions of higher learning, and most are
profit-driven and, therefore, accessible only to those who can afford them.
ICTs including Broadband, which have facilitated this trend, allow for flow of information and educational
services across borders and over geographic and social barriers. Open and virtual universities and high schools as well as
Internet-based lifelong educational programs have simultaneously internationalized and decentralized education.
Education and training can now be practiced by anyone, anytime, anywhere.
We should promote the Rural Initiatives coming from various corners.
 State Governments and Local Government authorities should be pooled into the promotion of education to the
area under jurisdiction.
 There should be a knowledge bank for the whole district/ state which can be effectively utilized for the whole
community including the educational fraternity.
 The NGOs/ SHGs are already taking various measures to implement some solution or other focused towards the
rural community for education, employment, health care, nutrition, animal husbandry etc and that should be
encouraged.
 Government should provide subsidy or facilities to those who are coming forward or volunteering such that the
social cause is well appreciated & more and more volunteers take up the job of social development through
broadband applications.
 There are lot of Institutions and Corporate who are willing to contribute to the society either as a measure of
their corporate social responsibility or as a measure of promoting their environment which needs to be
leveraged.
 The ICT initiatives should be encouraged to Develop Community based rural applications in Education, Health,
and economic Development for local needs which will lead to sustainable ICT programs and will also act as
incentive for getting connected individually.
 Use of Speech / Icon (touch based) interfaces should be worked out to make ICT applications user friendly such
that more and more citizens (especially rural community) is inspired to use these systems.
 As the Broadband ensures the connectivity, there is a thrust on the Content Development process. Content
rather than connectivity should be focused for successful ventures. We have lot of Government initiatives
which were at various stages (successfully commissioned, being implemented, being conceived and yet to be
implemented, etc) like Bhoomi of Karnataka, e-Seva of Andhra Pradesh, various SWANs (State Wide Area
Networks). These networks should be encashed to build an effective “GYAN” network across the country.
 For every project, the success depends on the owner. For this project there should be an active owner.
Unfortunately, since this is a social development issue a steering committee can be formed by picking experts
from various departments and the academician who can fix targets to various states and bodies. The success is
not in the planning but in implementing and monitoring. Effective monitoring of such initiatives should be
done such that the progress is updated then and there on a daily basis.
 National Commissions (Knowledge commission, Planning Commission, Education Committees, etc) should be
invited to take part in the decision making process just to expedite the process across states and to trigger the
project initiatives.
Whatever be the initiatives and activities of the government, the progress is stated to be minimal. As such the poor
continues to be poor and the rich becomes richer. It is said that “money only can make money” and this needs to be
broken. This necessarily gives an indication that there will be lot of barriers and opposition from various segments
of the society. All those barriers are to be eradicated either through education, negotiation or by regulation such that
the objective of promoting education through broadband is surpassed.

Case Studies: Projects that can be used

Bhoomi network which is providing land records to the rural population can be used for the rural education with a
specific time and specific package which helps the rural community to get benefitted. A touch screen based application
can be worked out which caters for the whole community ranging from Primary education till the Adult & continuing
education. They can be allowed to practice the handwriting on the screen itself to learn about numbers and scripts. The
knowledge about the development of their environment, crops, farming, which are of interest to them, can be developed
for their benefit.
There are various companies and organizations which are working for the promotion of education among schools and
universities. M/s. Pacsoft solutions is an organization which is working with ICSE/ CBSE based schools to compile the
records of the students, update the whole process of schooling including attendance, courses, conducting Examinations
and awarding marks, release of mark sheets, updating the course contents, allowing tutorials, organizing virtual
webinars (web seminars) etc. They were not getting proper support from service providers to establish their networks
and solutions. They were not getting any motivation, inspiration or incentives for providing these services. They had to
initially spend from their organization to prove the solution and to run the solution for more than a year. If the
Government identifies and recognizes such volunteers and works out for their betterment, the society will get benefitted
much faster.

The challenge, therefore, is to rethink learning objectives and teaching methodologies, and to align learning
technologies with them. It was never satisfactory merely to be efficient in helping learners to achieve mastery of content
and basic skills, but the issue has now become vital. As knowledge in itself becomes a perishable item, the ability of
learners to think independently, exercise appropriate judgment and skepticism, and collaborate with others to make sense
of their changing environment is the only reasonable aim for education. Perhaps the most profound shift is from systems
of teaching and supervision of learning to systems of learning and facilitation of learning. These shifts will be difficult in
different ways for both rich and poor school systems. In advantaged communities, change is an upheaval for established
authorities, systems, and capacities. In disadvantaged communities, the infrastructure must be put into place, along with
serious attention to pedagogy.
There is also a basic difference between using technology as an add-on to make the current model of education
more efficient, more equitable, and cheaper, on the one hand, and integrating technology into the entire education system
to realize structural rethinking and reengineering, on the other. It is the difference between a marginal addition and a
radical systemic change. It is in the second scenario that technology can have the greatest impact.
Information technology is the fundamental underpinning of the science of structural re-engineering. It is the
Conclusion
force that revolutionizes business, streamlines government and enables instant communications and the exchange of
information among people and institutions around the world. But information technology has not made even its barest
appearance in most public schools.... Before we can get the education revolution rolling, we need to recognize that our
public schools are low-tech institutions in a high-tech society. The same changes that have brought cataclysmic change
to every facet of business can improve the way we teach students and teachers. And it can also improve the efficiency
and effectiveness of how we run our schools.

The most successful technologies are those that are taken for granted. We do not think anymore of the spectacle
of printing every time we read a book, the phenomenon of TV every time we watch a movie, or the miracle of the
telephone every time we make a call. The ultimate success of ICTs for learning will be attained when we stop marveling
about the ICTs and apply our minds and emotions to the wonders of learning.
The social development interestingly can be achieved by the promotion of broadband in those areas. This study
has given an insight into the ways through which the education of the society can be improved for developing the society
at large. The Information Highway is available but not the applications which are addressing the needs of the
community. All the stakeholders involved in the process should take the sense of ownership into this project such that
the project of rural development, urban development and social development takes place seamlessly. The society should
start thinking that these initiatives though not are useful to the individual who is involved in the planning and
implementation, it is useful to the society and should be promoted. A selfless approach to these problems and adopting
the learning from various countries like Korea, Singapore, China and Hongkong from the Asia-Pacific family, USA and
UK should be taken religiously for successful improvement of the society. A fixed target time frame should be worked
out for various initiatives which can be made open to the public through portal access such that they also understand the
criticality of the social development is realized and whole heartedly supported.
References:

1. Bank, W. (1991). World Development Report . In W. Bank. New York.

2. Haddad, W. D. (2006). ICT For Education (Reference Handbook). In W. D. Haddad, ICT for education
(Reference Handbook) (p. 216). New York.
3. Tanguturi, V. P. (2007). Broadband in India: Strategic investment opportunities. In M. V. Harmantz. Stevens
Institute of Technology, Telecommunications Management, NJ.
4. Worldbank Website - External. (2008). Retrieved December 28, 2008, from World Bank website:
http://web.worldbank.org/WBSITE/EXTERNAL/COUNTRIES/MENAEXT/EXTMNAREGTOPSOCDEV/0,,
menuPK:583439~pagePK:34004175~piPK:34004435~theSitePK:583433,00.html
5. TRAI website : http://www.trai.gov.in
6. BSNL website: http://www.bsnl.co.in; MIS / status report of various Telecom Circles
7. Telecommunications and Development: The Cellular Mobile Revolution in India and China, Keval J Kumar
and Amos O. Thomas.
8. The Impact of Telecoms on economic Growth in Developing Countries, Leonard Waverman, Meloria Meschi
and Melvyn Fuss. (web.si.umich.edu/tprc/papers/2005/450/L%20Waverman-%20Telecoms%20Growth
%20in%20Dev.%20Countries.pdf viewed on 13/02/2009)
9. Telecommunications and Rural Development – A study of private and public sector innovation, Edited by
Jurgen Schmandt. Frederick Williams, Robert. H. Wilson, and Sharon strover. (University of Texas).
10. India Vision 2020 Planning commission document accessed from the Planning commission website.
11. ESCAP 2007 Handbook
12. ICT for education Toolkit for policy makers, planners and practitioners by W D Haddad. 2005 & 2006.
Table I:
Table II:

Table III: Select Countries HDI/GDP/GER/Literacy Rate Comparisons

Table III: HDI Ranking, PPP per capita GDP, Literacy Rate and the GER in Higher Education.
Combined GER in
PPP Per capita GDP
Countries HDI Ranking Literacy Rate Higher Education
(US$ 2005)
% 2005

Australia 3 31,794 99.0 113.0

Japan 8 31,267 99.0 85.9
United States 12 41,890 99.0 93.3
United Kingdom 16 33,238 99.0 93.0
Germany 22 29,461 99.0 88.0
Singapore 25 29,663 92.5 87.3
Malaysia 63 10,882 88.7 74.3
Brazil 70 8,402 88.6 87.5
China 81 6,757 90.9 69.1
Sri Lanka 99 4,595 90.7 62.7
India 128 3,942 61.0 63.8
Pakistan 136 2,370 49.9 40.0
Bangladesh 140 2,053 47.5 56
Table IV: Networked Readiness Index 2007-2008 rankings:
 Table V: Per Capita Income, GER, HDI, Broadband status of Selected States of India.

Per Capita Net Gross

Human Development Index (HDI) Broadband connections
State/Union State Domestic Enrolment
Territory Product at Ratio in Higher
current prices Education in %
Value Rank Services started on 2005

(Year) (2002-03) (2002-03) (2001) (2001) (2007-08)

Kerala 21853 9.92 0.638 1 176428

Punjab 25855 8.53 0.537 2 143641

Tamil Nadu 21433 10.91 0.531 3 190862

Maharashtra 26386 12.3 0.523 4 292127

Haryana 26632 10.56 0.509 5 127692

Gujarat 22047 9.65 0.479 6 206835

Karnataka 18521 8.12 0.478 7 349919

West Bengal 18756 8.21 0.472 8 226712

Rajasthan 12753 8.77 0.424 9 128532

Andhra Pradesh 18661 9.51 0.416 10 266281

Orissa 10340 8.71 0.404 11 51929

Madhya Pradesh 11438 7.66 0.394 12 92218

Uttar Pradesh 10289 7.03 0.388 13 69425

Assam 11755 8.67 0.386 14 32447

Bihar 6015 7.3 0.367 15 31460

(Source: Economic Survey 2004-05 and CABE Committee on Higher Education Financing Agarwal (2006) and
Planning Commission (2002); and National Human Development Report 2001, GOI, New Delhi). Data collected from
various Telecom Circles and the TRAI report 2008.