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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.

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:

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.

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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