Why does no broadband ISP come to Assam and NE

[Zaman2011]

Assam (and other NE states) is now like virtually living in a different country in spite of being part of the same nation. I have been to many parts of India and there is perhaps no part of India as neglected as Assam and NE India.

I am from Guwahati and have been a loyal BSNL broadband customer for nearly 8 years now. If you just search my threads in this forum, you would realize that it has been a pathetic broadband connection which does not work half of the time in recent years. But I am in a way stuck with BSNL broadband as there is no other decent ISP that is present in Assam. Not only in Assam but I am saying about the capital city Guwahati which is also the business center of North East. I used to call Airtel, Reliance etc. customer care nos. regularly in the past to come to Assam as a broadband ISP but none came. That was 6-8 years ago. But now it is 2016 and the whole world has turned digital. Even in today's date, there is no other decent ISPs. Jio was the last hope (wired Jio FTTH) but that seems to have been postponed indefinitely now too. Jio's 4G is taking ages. So, I doubt they would launch their FTTH anytime soon and that too in Guwahati.

So, why does no ISP come to Assam. Some smaller ISPs like YouBroadband, Beam etc. could have come. This is like a market which is waiting for some alternative to BSNL. Everybody is waiting for an option and is virtually ready to jump ship as soon as some reliable and stable broadband connection comes. Hope some ISPs are hearing. You just need to enter Guwahati or rest of Assam and NE and you would have agonized BSNL users come to your ISP (if the connection is stable with good customer service) almost immediately.

 

[Sushubh]

Reliance Jio is the only option for you and me.

 

[hobolife]

 

[Amateur Expert]

Not only with Broadband. its indeed neglected with all facilities compared to what we get in rest of the country, Making NE too backward. sad but true!

 

[Zaman2011]

Reliance Jio is the only option for you and me.

I had also high hopes from Jio. I doubt their 4G connection is going to be anywhere comparable to wired services. So, I have been more eagerly waiting for their FTTH service. The Jio lines in my road were laid around 4 years back. And the Jio guys also came 3-4 times in these years to ask for possible tower space on the top of my house.

But a few months back, when there was some road relaying work by the govt. going on in my road, I sent them a message through their online form to check for any possible underground Fiber cuts during the road work. But nobody replied or checked. So, I am not very sure about the quality of their customer service. I am also slightly doubtful that their underground cables might have been cut. I sort of saw the colored big cables (like the ones we see in Jio lines all over the country) lying in the drains after the road was completed. Maybe those were cut during the JCB digging for drains. I hope that they are still there underground. I would love to test a Jio connection as soon as they start Jio Fiber in my area.

If Jio can provide FTTH plans at anywhere near Reliance Rcom (Anil Ambani) prices and speeds, I doubt almost all customers would shift to Jio very soon.

 

[Sizzler]

You have raised a very valid point, the NE of the country would develop faster with better infrastructure. Why not write to Modi et al ? Perhaps they can put this on their agenda for development.

 

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[Sushubh]

This is the same government which keeps on blocking cellular internet whenever an opposition leader sneezes about a protest organization.

J&K I believe has had their mobile internet down for 90% of the times in the last couple of months.

 

[Sushubh]

why do you charge extra for peering?

 

[Sushubh]

hmm. i missed the wireless part.

 

[Prakash Sethia]

Guys I have been using bsnl ftth for past 8 months. Services are exceptional. I get constant download speed of900kbps to 1mbps in tor rent and other download sites. I play online games a lot and currently division. I do get 130 to 150 ms ping in hongkong server in division. Thier is none problem till date. But 2 days back I shifted to geeta nagar from uzan bazar in guwahati and I doubt that ftth will be available here. I might go for rail wire or catla fibre still searching...

 

[Smh]

Even in Delhi many people are stuck on mtnl or using mobile, if you live in a society you may have some good options as it is more profitable and easier for isp to provide services is societies where they can directly provide service bypassing lco so, it is not very shocking if major isp do not want to expand in NE.

 

[smith.pranjul]

There is a vlogger from Assam who recently got Jio FTTH connection during unlock 1. I think Jiofiber will roll out soon in your neighborhood.

 

[krishna1997]

it took 15 years for FTTH connection to come to my area even i live in metro city chennai so wait the nationwide FTTH rolout is onway most probably railwire or jiofiber will come to your region

 

[ashakantasharma]

Guys, we have now Airtel and Jio fiber in Guwahati