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India announces plan to connect 600k villages with optical fiber in 1000 days

indianexpress.com

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Re: India announces plan to connect 600k villages with optical fiber in 1000 days

#71
post #54

Earlier quoted context omitted.

If you happen to be standing near a highway sure it’s ugly, but they have minimal impact on low population density areas.

I am not sure about that, few of the issues I saw was - inconsiderate cutting/blasting in landslide prone areas. - destruction of vegetation by throwing away the waste/debris from the cutting/blasting downhill which covers the slope. [1] - non disposal of the same waste impacting river flow paths and debris narrowing the river bed There are far more issues relating to local population and ecology which have been docu…

Again that’s from standing next to a highway, try and work out the percentage of land being covered by highways in that region. They are highlighted on maps and travelers tend to spend a lot of time on them, but they don’t actually cover that much surface area compared to local roads, houses, etc.

Re: India announces plan to connect 600k villages with optical fiber in 1000 days

#72

Earlier quoted context omitted.

> As an Indian, I've heard countless plans like these every few years I agree the previous Governments never did act on their plans. I find a lot of difference between them and the current Government when it comes to desire, commitment and execution. Take Highways for instance. Rapid construction across the country. In 2014, when Modi came to power, it was 4260 km per year. In 2018, 10800 kms of highways were built.…

> Yes it fails in some (demonetization) and wins in most but at least there is no policy paralysis like in the UPA era. This is OP's personal perception and opinion of the current and the former government.

Not OP, but those are well known facts. Quick Google search would show dozens of articles from multiple sources of media.

Re: India announces plan to connect 600k villages with optical fiber in 1000 days

#73

As an Indian, I've heard countless plans like these every few years. I'll get excited when it actually happens.

Comments like this should not be allowed on HN, they add nothing to the discussion. If there is specific critique about a particular minister, department, project (or just about anything specific than a generic "government"), that's more valuable to read.

Comments like these give proper context to foreigner like me who don't know how inclined the Indian government is to follow through on their promises.

Re: India announces plan to connect 600k villages with optical fiber in 1000 days

#74
post #3

I think fiber would be the best option for speed.

No doubt, though I'm also curious about architecture. Most of these types of deployments tend to go with a GPON variant, with passive optical splitters: * https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Passive_optical_network However sometimes 'Active' (transitional?) Ethernet is used, which may cost more from a fibre perspective, but the gear at the end can then be traditional Ethernet which allows for taking advantage of economies…

It will likely be point to point optical networking (Ethernet/OTN) on these links. Once you get to the last mile, PON (probably GPON for now; XGS-PON is starting to come down in cost now, but is still probably 2x GPON generally).

Point to point kit is cheaper till you get to the customer-facing aggregation, at which point per-port cost of PON vs PtP is much more in PON's favour, and PON customer kit is very cheap from benefits of scale.

PON on the other hand isn't good for long range links. Even amplified (which is £££, and not normally sensible) it has quite a low range compared to point to point at the higher split ratios that make the cost of kit per user so attractive.

Re: India announces plan to connect 600k villages with optical fiber in 1000 days

#75
Wow! This is really good.

Few days back my brother-in-law happily announced that Jio Fiber has reached their homes and that I can visit my home-town and stay longer without swearing about the Internet "availability". For context, I'm from Manipur[1], a pretty remote corner at the extreme north-east corner of India.

Earlier, I was consulting with a friend who owns a part of an ISP there. I wanted to pull a fiber all the way home and setup station there I can replicate work (and school for the kids) and actually be able to work from there. Now, I've asked my brother-in-law to get any plan possible. When I go back there, I'm going to just carry a whole bunch of equipments to wire and wi-fi the whole home. The homes there are really massive and few stories, so this is going to be fun.

1. https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Manipur

Re: India announces plan to connect 600k villages with optical fiber in 1000 days

#76

Earlier quoted context omitted.

> As an Indian, I've heard countless plans like these every few years I agree the previous Governments never did act on their plans. I find a lot of difference between them and the current Government when it comes to desire, commitment and execution. Take Highways for instance. Rapid construction across the country. In 2014, when Modi came to power, it was 4260 km per year. In 2018, 10800 kms of highways were built.…

I have backpacked through one of the regions where some of the construction you are talking about is going on. In one of the Himalayan states, one of their ambitious highway projects has caused destruction with little benefit to the local populace and far negative consequences to the terrain and environment. Pursuing development is good but it shouldn't come at the cost of destroying your ecology and environment, spe…

I am not disputing that there might be some bad ecological impact of road construction projects. I bet such issues exist in every part of the World where development is taking place. Here is a list of all the Highway revolts that took place in United States alone for various environmental violations: https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Highway_revolts_in_the_United_...

The numbers are staggering in comparison to what violations happen in India. But still I am not justifying it by saying that it should continue to happen. I am just saying that these issues exist everywhere and there is no point singling out India for this. And those 20,000+ kms highways are not built in Himalayas alone but in the entire Country. But yes, I understand and share your concern that ecology must not be affected for any project whatsoever and will 100% support you on that point. I just wish that people take things holistically when it comes to any project that happens in India in the same way you would take projects that happen in your own countries. After all, India has to develop and for that to happen you have to clear out land, build roads, construct buildings, dams etc. It can't happen on virgin soil. Something has to be removed for the development to happen. Isn't it? If you have an alternate way of going about it please suggest.

Re: India announces plan to connect 600k villages with optical fiber in 1000 days

#77
post #73

Earlier quoted context omitted.

Comments like this should not be allowed on HN, they add nothing to the discussion. If there is specific critique about a particular minister, department, project (or just about anything specific than a generic "government"), that's more valuable to read.

Comments like these give proper context to foreigner like me who don't know how inclined the Indian government is to follow through on their promises.

So what facts did you glean from that comment?

> Comments like these give proper context to foreigner like me who don't know how inclined the Indian government is to follow through on their promises

You do realize that India is a Democracy and that there is no one "Indian Government" but successive Governments that set their own policies right? Just because it was the case some 10 years ago doesn't mean it will continue to be so in the present or the future. Governments change. Policies change. That is Democracy for you. What promises are made by the Government to the people, if not kept, will be voted out.

Re: India announces plan to connect 600k villages with optical fiber in 1000 days

#78
post #56

Earlier quoted context omitted.

> As an Indian, I've heard countless plans like these every few years I agree the previous Governments never did act on their plans. I find a lot of difference between them and the current Government when it comes to desire, commitment and execution. Take Highways for instance. Rapid construction across the country. In 2014, when Modi came to power, it was 4260 km per year. In 2018, 10800 kms of highways were built.…

In 2018, the definition of length was changed to count each lane separately.[1] In 2019, the govt stopped building highways at the first sign of economic distress.[2] 1: https://www.hindustantimes.com/india-news/now-new-concept-to... 2: https://www.livemint.com/industry/infrastructure/pmo-s-sugge...

> In 2018, the definition of length was changed to count each lane separately.[1]

Did you actually read the article? It was changed to meet International Standards on how lanes are measured. What is wrong with it?

The old numbers were revised to the new definition too. It doesn't change the facts.

Just because the old Governments weren't following International Standards doesn't mean the new Government continues to do the same. This is actually more transparent as we know exactly what is the cost needed to build 1 lane of a highway as opposed to masking the actual costs by saying 1 lane actually equals 2 or 4 lanes.

Re: India announces plan to connect 600k villages with optical fiber in 1000 days

#79
post #71

Earlier quoted context omitted.

I am not sure about that, few of the issues I saw was - inconsiderate cutting/blasting in landslide prone areas. - destruction of vegetation by throwing away the waste/debris from the cutting/blasting downhill which covers the slope. [1] - non disposal of the same waste impacting river flow paths and debris narrowing the river bed There are far more issues relating to local population and ecology which have been docu…

Again that’s from standing next to a highway, try and work out the percentage of land being covered by highways in that region. They are highlighted on maps and travelers tend to spend a lot of time on them, but they don’t actually cover that much surface area compared to local roads, houses, etc.

Sure, the area of highways is less but the impact is not localised. If you see the articles that I had quoted in my original comment, two of them mention impacts which bubble up to other areas as well.

Also, it is not necessary that even area around highways has to be an eyesore/badly degraded. Mountainous roads are some of the most beautiful paths to travel on and there are plenty of examples where construction has happened keeping that in perspective.

Re: India announces plan to connect 600k villages with optical fiber in 1000 days

#80
post #56

Earlier quoted context omitted.

In 2018, the definition of length was changed to count each lane separately.[1] In 2019, the govt stopped building highways at the first sign of economic distress.[2] 1: https://www.hindustantimes.com/india-news/now-new-concept-to... 2: https://www.livemint.com/industry/infrastructure/pmo-s-sugge...

> In 2018, the definition of length was changed to count each lane separately.[1] Did you actually read the article? It was changed to meet International Standards on how lanes are measured. What is wrong with it? The old numbers were revised to the new definition too. It doesn't change the facts. Just because the old Governments weren't following International Standards doesn't mean the new Government continues to d…

The old numbers in comparisons were not changed.

I've no problem with the measure itself, but all comparisons are misleading.

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