COAI favours minimum broadband speed of up to 2 Mbps for 4G network

Industry body COAI Wednesday said it favours minimum broadband speed of up to 2 Mbps (megabits per second) for 4G networks.

Currently, the minimum broadband speed is 512 Kbps.

Asked if the association was in favour of minimum broadband speed being prescribed at 2 Mbps, especially given the proliferation of 4G services in India, Cellular Operators' Association of India (COAI) Director General Rajan Mathews told reporters: "Yes, we have supported this, on a 4G network."

 Mathews said most of the telecom operators are de facto already providing more than 2 mbps on an average and "at peaks a lot more", which is borne out by the data speed test results of various firms.

"The problem is in basically saying you are giving one measure for your whole network. If you are saying on my 2G network, you should expect this speed, and on a 3G network you should expect this speed, and on a 4G network you should expect this speed,"  Mathews said

"when we talk about our submission we said up to, because no operator anywhere in the world can guarantee you a certain amount of speed on the network,"  he added