Bringing internet to far-flung areas of India

There are more than 80 million internet users in India, who use the World Wide Web for a number of activities, including writing emails, looking for jobs, online banking, trading stocks and even searching for love on countless matrimonial sites.

But so far only about five million people access the internet via broadband, and many Indians are keen to get a faster connection.

Scientists from India’s universities and electricity companies are working to create access via power lines that will allow high-speed connections that are faster than 256Kbps. This will make it much easier for internet users to download movies or music, as well as to watch sport on television and other programs via live streaming.

Young professionals are excited

Samik Moitra, a young IT professional, is looking forward to the development. "It is very difficult to access live streaming of matches because of the low speed and connectivity problems, but it seems this system will solve speed problems."

Broadband over Power Lines works by transmitting high frequency signals through the same power cables that are used to provide electricity to households.

P.K. Roy from the Bengal Engineering and Science University explains that "the signal comes right from the point of injection into a household socket. A particular gadget called the Customer Premise Equipment is put into the back of a computer so that the Internet can be browsed."

He adds that the Customer Premise Equipment is a portable device that can be plugged into any socket, thus providing a "Plug and Play" broadband at home.

User-friendly system given the thumbs up by testers

Dilip Sen, the Executive Director of the Calcutta Electric Supply Corporation, lists the advantages: "It doesn’t consume airwaves so it preserves the frequency band, which is a national resource. Secondly, you don’t require any hardware or other infrastructure as it is the same power cable that you have at home."

90 percent of those who have tested the system in pilot projects rate it as being "excellent" compared to other broadband services that are currently available in India.

Scientists are currently working on international standards for BPL technology. It has already been implemented in parts of Spain and Russia and experts say it stands good chances of taking over the global market.

Revolutionary applications?

Excited engineers are already thinking about the way the system might develop in the future. Some think it will enable people to program household appliances and command them from a distance.

Manju Mukherjee, a working mother, has great expectations: "The system will help me very much as I will be able to use a microwave to warm up food while sitting in my office when my kid comes home."

However, such applications are only in their pilot stage right now and it might take some time before they become part of everyday life.

Author: Debarati Mukherjee
Editor: Anne Thomas