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As India's Internet access industry emerges from a monopolistic regime, government owned ISPs like the Videsh Sanchar Nigam Limited and the Department of Telecommunications are overhauling strategies to play in the new environment.

DoT, in particular, has a lot to lose or gain. After all, it runs most of the country's telephone network, a legacy from the days of telecom monopoly.

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Obviously, it is in a flurry. DoT now plans to launch its own ISP venture over the next three months. "We will be launching our services by March next year,'' an official claimed.

DoT is planning to set up 45 points of presence in 25 cities. This will enable it to offer dial-in connections in 106 locations.

It is also planning to set up 'server farms'. These would be a collection of Web servers offering scalable support for Internet related services in Bombay and Delhi.

Currently, VSNL offers Internet connectivity in six locations and the other centres in the country are serviced by DoT.

But the DoT's new ISP venture would be independent of VSNL. DoT has completed pilot studies and is in the process of a technical evaluation. Earlier, it had floated a tender that called on private sector IT companies to set up the entire network.

Tariffs for its services will be decided once the price evaluation is completed which is next on the agenda after the technical evaluation.

However, a DoT official says the tariff plans would largely be in line with the current ones but "they may change depending on market conditions".

DoT's offering will be twofold. On the one hand, it plans to provide access to subscribers, and on the other, it plans to become an ISP to ISPs.

DoT plans to offer connectivity services to category 'C' ISPs. As per the ISP policy, category 'A' players have national reach, category 'B' has statewide reach and category 'C' ISPs are local players with local reach.

For most of such ISPs offering connectivity comes at a premium, and this is what the DoT is planning to exploit.

Besides, the server farms that DoT is planning to set up offer other value-added services such as providing content to category 'C' ISPs.

DoT is planning to set up an entirely new backbone infrastructure to offer connectivity. According to sources, it would be awarding the tender over the next month or so.

- Compiled from the Indian media

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