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DoE may break VSNL monopoly on direct Internet access

The department of electronics is all set to become the second provider of direct access to the Internet after Videsh Sanchar Nigam Ltd.

If the proposal, awaiting clearance from the new government at the Centre, is cleared, the competition is expected to bring down prices and improve quality of Internet access. Currently, VSNL has a monopoly on all international telecom links from India.

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The DoE is expected to be allowed use of earth stations at seven software parks - at Pune, NOIDA, Bangalore, Hyderabad, Gandhinagar, Thiruvananthapuram and Bhubaneshwar. It may also move the Education and Research network, its own Internet service for academic and research workers, to the new gateway.

But by bringing in the DoE the government is still in control of international telecom services. It has promised to review governmental monopoly on telecom services in 2004.

The government had earlier refused DoE permission to set up a gateway last year, citing security reasons.

-Compiled from the Indian media

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