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February 19, 1999

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Briefly speaking... Here's a quick take on the govt's plan for the ISPs.

N Parmeshwaran,
DDG, DoT

The ISP policy has finally been announced. There are many questions that have come up since and the most important among them is who can become an ISP and how.

Email this story to a friend. Any Indian company registered under the Indian Companies Act can become an Internet Service Provider.

Foreign equity up to a maximum of 49 per cent is permitted.

The entire service area has been divided into three categories: 'A', 'B' and 'C'.

ISP's that would like to operate at a national level will have to apply for a category 'A' license.

The category 'B' license will cover the four major cities and metros of the country in addition to 20 telecom circles.

Category 'C' will include the smaller areas.

There is no limit on the number of players in an area and a company can apply for as many licences as it wishes to.

The application form costs Rs 1,000. The processing fee is Rs 5,000. And the license would be valid for 15 years. It would be free for the first 5 years and then would cost Re 1 for the subsequent 10 years.

The prospective Internet service provider would have to furnish bank guarantees at the time of applying for licenses.

An ISP applying for category 'A' license will have to give a bank guarantee of Rs 20 million. A category 'B' applicant needs to give a bank guarantee of Rs 2 million and a category 'C' applicant needs one for Rs 300,000.

Private ISPs can establish their own international gateway after obtaining security clearances. They also have the option to use the Department of Telecommunications or Videsh Sanchar Nigam Limited's gateways.

ISPs can also interconnect among themselves and provide services to VSAT sub-stations.

ISPs can use different sources for transmission links:

  • DoT,
  • Licensed basic service operators,
  • Railways,
  • State electricity boards and
  • National Power Grid Corporation or they can
  • Establish their own.

It is likely that many of the operators who were providing only email services earlier would turn into full-fledged ISPs.

There would be some restrictions on the ISPs themselves. Internet telephony would not be permitted. The ISPs would have to maintain detailed logs and ensure that there is no flow of obscene, objectionable and unauthorised material.

Though ISPs are free to fix their own tariff, the Telecom Regulatory Authority of India would take the final decision on tariffs.

Last-mile linkage for ISPs is freely permitted within the local area by either fibre or radio. The term 'quality of service' has yet to be decided on.

The ISPs would have to get interface equipment connected to the DoT network cleared by DoT before actually using the equipment.

If ISPs want to employ foreign personnel in any capacity, those employees would require security clearances.

In case of any disputes the chairman of the Telecom Commission will appoint an arbitrator as per the Arbitration Act of 1996.

The Internet dialling codes are

172 1XX - for all-India ISP (Category A).

172 2XX - for circle/metro ISP (Category B).

172 3XX - for SSA ISP (Category C).

The XX stands for anything between 00 to 99.

Companies that have been issued category 'A' ISP licences...

  1. Sukhkarta Fin Trade, Bombay.
  2. Satyam Infoway, Madras.
  3. Indusind Distribution, Bombay.
  4. Wipro, Bangalore.
  5. Zee Telefilms, New Delhi.
  6. Global Electronic Commerce Services, New Delhi.
  7. Dishnet Limited, Madras.
  8. Ircon International, R K Puram.
  9. C G Faxemail, New Delhi.

Companies that have been issued category 'B' ISP licence...

Sr #

Name of company

Service area

1

MTNL

Delhi

2

MTNL

Bombay

3

ROLTA India

Bombay

4

Eleclipse Network

Ahmedabad

5

Weikfield Mnemonix Infonetworks

Pune

6

Trikon Electronics

Bombay

7

Indusind Cable Television

Bombay

8

Manipal Control Data Electronics Commerce, Bangalore

Karnataka

9

Southern Online Services, Hyderabad

Andhra Pradesh

10

Punjab Communications, Mohali

Punjab

11

Internet Promoters India, New Delhi

Delhi

12

Ankhnet Information, Bombay

Bombay

13

Swastik Netvision Telecom, Ahmedabad

Gujarat

14

Wilnet Communications, Ahmedabad

Gujarat

15

Compuwave Interactive Television

Madras

Companies that have been issued category 'C' ISP licence...

Sr #

Name of company

Service area

1

Ortel Communication

Bhubaneshwar

2

Surevin Consultants

Ghaziabad

3

United Internet Communication

Jaipur

4

Bareilly Communication

Bareilly

5

Paliwal Financial Services, Panipat

Karnal

6

Somani Overseas, Surat

Surat

7

Arun Girija Communication, Patna

Patna

8

Kinjaru Appliances, Ahmedabad

Rajkot

9

S N C Infotech, Ghaziabad

Ghaziabad

10

Zaverchand Cyber Infotech

Baroda

11

Srishti Open Systems, Trivandrum

Trivandrum

12

Suchibh Communications, Satna (MP)

Satara

13

S K Digital Technology, Durgapur

Durgapur

14

C S Prosof Tech Informatics, Madurai

Madurai

15

Cosmos Link Network, Surat

Baroda

16

Cosmos Link Network, Surat

Surat

17

Jain Studios, New Delhi

Ghaziabad

18

Gateway Internet Service, Kakinada

Rajahmundry

19

Yog Kshem Communications, Gwalior

Indore

20

Yog Kshem Communications, Gwalior

Bhopal

21

Bharti Communications (India), Valsad

Valsad

22

Vasnet Communications

Mangalore

23

A-Team Information Technology, Erode

Erode

24

Bohra Pratisthan, Rajasthan

Udaipur

25

Czar Oleoresin

Gulbarga

26

Czar Oleoresin

Mangalore

To build the 'National Internet Backbone' we have proposed some locations that could be Internet stations.

Type 'A' location

Nodes that would have international gateway are

  • Bangalore
  • Calcutta
  • Madras
  • Pune
  • Delhi
  • Bombay

Internet stations that would be without international gateway.

  • Ahmedabad
  • Bhopal
  • Ernakulam
  • Hyderabad
  • Jaipur
  • Jalandhar
  • Changer
  • Patna

Type 'B' Locations

  • Agar
  • Allahabad
  • Ambala
  • Amritsar
  • Baroda
  • Bhubaneshwar
  • Coimbatore
  • Calicut
  • Chandigarh
  • Faridabad
  • Guwahati
  • Indore
  • Jabalpur
  • Jammu
  • Lucknow
  • Ludhiana
  • Madurai
  • Meerut
  • Mysore
  • Nagpur
  • Noida
  • Panjim
  • Jodhpur
  • Rajkot
  • Ranchi
  • Shillong
  • Shimla
  • Surat
  • Trivandrum
  • Vijayawada
  • Vizag

The proposed connectivity for the National Internet Backbone is illustrated below:

Proposed connectivity for national Internet backbone.

There would be six nodes that would provide international gateways. The nodes will be inter linked using 8 MBPS connectivity. The six proposed nodes are to be at Bombay, Calcutta, Bangalore, Delhi, Pune and Madras.

There would also be smaller nodes that would not have international gateways and would be linked to any two of the six main nodes with 2 MBPS connectivity.

Sub-nodes would also be created that would link to only one of the smaller nodes.

Click for clarity.

The nodes are graded into three zones for security reasons: Open zone, demilitarised zone and secured zone.

The open zone would be the zone that would allow access to all users.

Only subscribers would be allowed access to the demilitarised zone.

The secured zone would be accessible only to the system administrators.

N Parmeshwaran is the deputy director general at the Department of Telecommunications. He is in charge issuing ISP licenses.

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